Completed Let's Die Together in ADOM: I have no idea what I'm doing Edition

[Andnjord]

The Adventures of Dayyaladina

CHAPTER 2: Wretched Mutt!
Part 1

Spoiler

Very well, He Who Rageth hath answered me. He hath told me a young girl hath a quest that is worthy of my talents in the village of Tenriyo. Thou shall lead me there at once, impudent one!

Yes, mistress.
Wait, the little girl at Tenriyo, are you sure?

Art thou doubting me and He Who Rages?

No, no, I never would :D

Thine impudence hast been noted and shall be punished in time. Onwards!

********************************************

Little one! Reveal thy need to me, He Who Rageth hath deigned it worthy of my faith!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hell of a quest your God has given you!!!!!

Impertinent scoundrel! It is obvious that He Who Rageth hath sent me to use this girl as a lesson for the others! As she learneth to rely on others for her needs, she shall grow weak and defenseless and perish in the most horrendous of sufferings! The others will learn from her tale and avoid that wretched weakness so typical of humans!

Ooookay mistress. Anyways, let's buy some supplies and go to that cave, who am I to judge.

*********************************************

Mistress, you bought too many supplies and it is slowing you down, are you sure about it?

Nonsense! I am merely proving my strength to He Who Ragths, in return, he will make me stronger!

Spoiler

When carrying heavy loads for too long you can end up raising your strength level. Despite the malus we'll be fine against most varieties of monsters, and if something scary comes along we can always drop a ration.

A staircase leading downward! I shall remember its position but cleanse this level first to prove my worth!

I feel stronger now.

It really is quite something to see the difference in leveling speed compared to Trollbaud.

Thank you Dayyaladina! You've already gone far above that poor Trollbaud!

I shall now attempt to read that tome I found before, I should learn to harness to power of magic in my search for perfection!

Harry Potter Was An Inside Job: How The Ministry Of Magic Controls the Masses

Spoiler

Let's take a brief moment to look at the magic system now.
...

...

Oh, the mistress is letting me do it? Sweet!

In ADOM, you learn magic spells by reading them off Magic Tomes like the ones that Trollbaud couldn't read. Depending on your literacy, you will earn a certain amount of Spell Points that will be consumed every time you cast the spell contained within the book. You can only read a book a limited amount of times, however, so you should always cast spells sparingly. Furthermore, reading a book takes a significant of in-game turns, so you can't just replenish your supply in the middle of combat.

You can also cast directly from reading the books, which doesn't take more than one normal turn. The issue is that this counts as a normal reading of it, meaning that you get just one cast out of a reading rather than the several when you memorize from it.

Stop right here!

Casting from books doesn't use up the book in any way. This is the main appeal of this option. You can actually consider this to be a decent trade-off: it takes roughly 3x the time to cast the spell and ~4x times the mana cost (depends on class), which can be brought down with certain talents. Bookcasting also doesn't increase your proficiency with the spell.
And also, you need to carry the 100s thing around which can become a bother at some point.

For practical applications, this obviously lets you cast a spell forever, which is nice for spells you tend to use a lot and don't care about casting it quickly in combat. There are a few, but I feel like I'm spoiling you enough already. It also lets you train your concentration (and iirc the Mana attribute should be trained by casting), because it eats up a good chunk of your mana, and you want to train your concentration as it helps with mana regeneration but also with reading further spellbooks (higher chance and more knowledge gained).

Ah, thank you for your contribution kind sir!

Casting spells uses you Power Points (PP) of which Dayyaladina only has 13 currently. You get PP from the Mana and Willpower stats, albeit at a higher rate from the former but the latter has additional benefits. IF you were to run out of PP, you can also use some of you HP to cast, obviously a riskier proposition.

There are also scrolls, which function as normal RPG fare that can be read for a one-off spellcast. Quoting from the wiki:

"All scrolls weigh 2 stones which allows most PCs to carry large amounts of them at all times. This is often considered a practical approach, as scrolls provide a broad range of effects invaluable in both common and critical situations."

The PC can also write down his own scrolls.

That's it for now, there is more to magic in the game, but I haven't gotten into it yet, so we'll go back to it in due time.

Also, for all of this reading to work, you need a decent literacy score.

Pathetic creature of leather and paper! How dare thee refuse thyself to me! I shall attempt to conquer you again soon!

Mistress, your....your you know what seems to be...perkier than usual.

Impudent insect! How dare thee even notice this! Thou shall give yourself the whip to cleanse thine impure mind!

But thou art correct, something is not right here.

Of course, carrots!

Mistress, I beg to differ, it has to be something else.

What could this be...He Who Rageth, grant me Thy Wisdom.

Honestly I have no idea what that thing was. Was it an Altar? I had forgotten what the key for sacrifices was at that moment, so I didn't test it.

Let's leave it for now mistress, we can always come back to it later.

Very well sinful one, thine advice is sound for o...I feel stronger now!

Again? Oh...

My labour hath been rewarded.

We meet a few slightly nastier creatures than usual while exploring the level, but most of them are isolated and prove to be no match.

Also...

What is this sorcery?!?

I think that's a corruption trap, I'll tell you about it later.

Pah, no matter this level needs to be cleansed of its weak...AAAAAIEYGGGG!!!

There's too many of them mistress, run!

Nonsense, they shall all fall to my spear! I shall fight in this corridor and defeat them one by one!

We kill a few of the more nondescript ones, but then the scariest opponent takes its turn.

Kill-kill! Me score touchdown now!

Come and taste my blade, miserable insect!

You can't fight defensively, he's regenerating too fast!

YYYYYAAAAAR! BERSERKER MODE!!!!!

SPLAT

The rest of the opponents are quickly defeated.

I feel stronger now. And He Who Rageth hath blessed me with the first of many powers.

For context, Trollbaud lasted 2000 turns. Also, new talent.

Great job mistress, now let's loot the bodies and continue onward!

Quick update for now, but rest assured Part 2 is coming soon (tm)

 

[spectre]

A few notes to your notes on the magic:

Spoiler

In ADOM, you learn magic spells by reading them off Magic Tomes like the ones that Trollbaud couldn't read. Depending on your literacy, you will earn a certain amount of Spell Points that will be consumed every time you cast the spell contained within the book. You can only read a book a limited amount of times, however, so you should always cast spells sparingly. Furthermore, reading a book takes a significant of in-game turns, so you can't just replenish your supply in the middle of combat.

You can also cast directly from reading the books, which doesn't take more than one normal turn. The issue is that this counts as a normal reading of it, meaning that you get just one cast out of a reading rather than the several when you memorize from it.

Also, for all of this reading to work, you need a decent literacy score.

Unless it was changed in some of the recent versions, casting from books shouldn't use up the book in any way. This used to be the main appeal of this option, so I'd be rather surprised.
You can actually consider this to be a decent trade-off: it takes roughly 3x the time to cast the spell and ~4x times the mana cost (depends on class), which can be brought down with certain talents.
Bookcasting also doesn't increase your proficiency with the spell.
And also, you need to carry the 100s thing around which can become a bother at some point.

For practical applications, this obviously lets you cast a spell forever, which is nice for spells you tend to use a lot and don't care about casting it quickly in combat. There are a few, but I feel like I'm spoiling you enough already.
It also lets you train your concentration (and iirc the Mana attribute should be trained by casting), because it eats up a good chunk of your mana, and you want to train your concentration as it helps with mana regeneration
but also with reading further spellbooks (higher chance and more knowledge gained).

While it's good practice to have decent literacy and concentration before starting to read books, you shouldn't be too discouraged when you fail your first reading,
especially since you're playing a magically-inclined class.
If you attempt to read something that is too powerful for you... you will know. But unless nothing bad happened, feel free to try again.

 

[tindrli]

More abuse!

Never played System Shock actually

you lucky bastard. if you like scyfy you'll enjoy it A LOT!

 

[Andnjord]

The Adventures of Dayyaladina

CHAPTER 2: Wretched Mutt!
Part 2

Spoiler

Mistress, there is something not saintly here.

Thy cowardice hast been noted impudent one, but I shall continue onward and plunder the depths of this pathetic place.

A Dorf!

An insect, like all the others

Mithril! No idea what we can do with it, but let's grab it.

If thou dost not know, then what is thy purpose here, cowardly one?

Well........I am your chronicler recording your deeds for future inspiration, to teach the coming generations?

Thou art a useless one then, once I will have ascended there will only be chaos and strife, and the strong that have survived shall have no need of thine 'chronicles'.

You hurt me mistress.

It is for thine own good!

**************************************************

We finish exploring the level, adding a varied fauna to our knowledge, but to no real risk to ourselves.

Ha! A mighty amulet! He Who Rageth has seen fit to bless me again! I shall wear it at once.

Wait, you how come you're not turning back to your original self?

He Who Rageth hath decided to keep me in this form for a reason, he shall take it away when and if neces...

IMPUDENT WENCH!

Pardon me mistress.

I shall flagellate thy skin immediately, that will be thy punishment!

Yes mistress!

*********************************************

We reach the second level without much more incidents, but after going through a few mobs we open a door and ....

FLAAAAAAAAAASH!

Our dearest mistress is actually right at the center of the screen, we can act normally enough but we can't see ourselves or enemies nor can we reveal more of the map.

THY FLASH IS AN INSULT TO THE PERFECTION HE HATH GRANTED ME!!!

*quickly checks wiki* Don't worry mistress, the effect will be only temporary!

Very well, I shall wait patiently for HIM to give me back my sight.

Squeak?

Insolent one! Thou triest to sneak up on me! Now taste my wroth!

Well done mistress!

*********************************************************

Sinful one, what is this unholy thing standing in front of me?

Ooooooh, that is an altar. It's an altar of neutrality mistress.

An affront to He Who Rageth!

Kick!

*holds breath*

Please don't do that again mistress, please.

Very well, I shall grant thee thy wish this once. He Who Rageth hath already established His dominance now.

Apparently you can break altars by kicking them. I have no wish to see what happens when you do.

*******************************************

We meet new and fascinating creature while continuing to explore, studying them thoroughly and in great detail before eviscerating them in great lumps of gore. Also, random skill-ups.

Until a great danger arises!

Thou movest like an insect. Thou think like an insect. Thou will die like an insect!

I feel stronger now

Those ants are not too bad, but their numbers are starting to tell as they keep respawning rapidly.

THOU SHALL DIE BY MY SPEAR!!!

Oh noes...there's too many of them...they will overwhelm you mistress...what a great tragedy....what will the world ever do without you...

HE WHO RAGETH! GRANT ME THY STRENGTH IN THIS HOUR! DO NOT LET THY FAITHFUL SERVANT FALTER!

shit

Spoiler

Shame Trollbaud didn't know about healing prayers

Got to...reach...the stairs

I try to run away from them in the hopes they'll give up, but they follow Dayya all around the level, even the ones that spawned out of sight. Only chance is to change level. Down we go then.

MISERABLE IMPUDENT WRETCH! I HEARD THINE REJOICING AT MY IMPENDING DOOM! COME HERE FOR I NEED TO CHASTISE THEE!

While our narrator is enjoying suffering his just chastisement, let us take a moment to look at the updated stats of our mistress.

Strength has gone up as well as Dexterity. Our speed should be higher too but we are still encumbered. Our To Hit bonus has also gone significantly up, I think it was at +7 when we started.

Most notable skill increases are Dodge, Healing and Literacy. I'd like to keep on increasing Literacy (not good enough to decipher the one Tome we have found so far) and start working on Concentration next (helps with PP regen and other stuff I believe, more on that when we actually start casting magic).

Pole arms have gone up obviously, but so have Clubs and Hammers (no idea why). Should we find a decent one we might consider switching to that and a shield.

Back to our regular programming.

That is enough punishment for now, we shall continue later and thou will thank me for it.

Thank you mistress

***********************************************

Not much of note, until we find this seemingly non-descript room with only a few weak mobs...

Until one of them randomly disappear, having apparently stepped on this:

Maybe I'll consider stepping on it if our esteemed audience desires so.

******************************

Insolent door, thou will not stop me!

Kick!

It's a trap!

After kicking down a door, a few sections of wall disappear leaving behind a horde of gobbos that immediately attack our mistress.

Miserable insects! I shall end thee!

Artist impression of Dayyaladina as she slaughters the 30-odd gobbos:

These creatures are no match for my spear.

Would you care for a higher challenge?

Insufficient

Splat

Maybe this one?

His magic is pathetic and too feeble to stand against my faith.

Strunk

I have now reached the fourth level of this miserable place. Time for me to rest and administer thee thy penance. Now come here, impudent wench!

Yes mistress...

 

[spectre]

I like it how your first instinct when interacting with things is to kick it.

Spoiler

An unaligned altar is obviously of little use to you, but an attempt can be made to convert it by triggering a power struggle between the entities.
I think it's a rather in-charater thing to do for a paladin. It's a bit risky, because the results can be unpredictable, but the typical approach is to sacrifice a live critter on the altar.
The command is Shift + O and you need to lure the critter over the altar for it to work.

 

[garren]

Troll beastfighter, name: Long John

Tip: don't use weapons, beastfighters fight with their fists or they get massive penalties. Also a tip about altars, don't EVER EVER stand on them directly when there is a sentient enemy nearby, close all the doors to the room before you step on the altar. Err... just a hint

 

[Andnjord]

A few notes to your notes on the magic:

Spoiler

In ADOM, you learn magic spells by reading them off Magic Tomes like the ones that Trollbaud couldn't read. Depending on your literacy, you will earn a certain amount of Spell Points that will be consumed every time you cast the spell contained within the book. You can only read a book a limited amount of times, however, so you should always cast spells sparingly. Furthermore, reading a book takes a significant of in-game turns, so you can't just replenish your supply in the middle of combat.

You can also cast directly from reading the books, which doesn't take more than one normal turn. The issue is that this counts as a normal reading of it, meaning that you get just one cast out of a reading rather than the several when you memorize from it.

Also, for all of this reading to work, you need a decent literacy score.

Unless it was changed in some of the recent versions, casting from books shouldn't use up the book in any way. This used to be the main appeal of this option, so I'd be rather surprised.
You can actually consider this to be a decent trade-off: it takes roughly 3x the time to cast the spell and ~4x times the mana cost (depends on class), which can be brought down with certain talents.
Bookcasting also doesn't increase your proficiency with the spell.
And also, you need to carry the 100s thing around which can become a bother at some point.

For practical applications, this obviously lets you cast a spell forever, which is nice for spells you tend to use a lot and don't care about casting it quickly in combat. There are a few, but I feel like I'm spoiling you enough already.
It also lets you train your concentration (and iirc the Mana attribute should be trained by casting), because it eats up a good chunk of your mana, and you want to train your concentration as it helps with mana regeneration
but also with reading further spellbooks (higher chance and more knowledge gained).

While it's good practice to have decent literacy and concentration before starting to read books, you shouldn't be too discouraged when you fail your first reading,
especially since you're playing a magically-inclined class.
If you attempt to read something that is too powerful for you... you will know. But unless nothing bad happened, feel free to try again.

You're right, I double checked the wiki and got it completely backwards. I'll edit the magic notes with your corrections!

I like it how your first instinct when interacting things is kicking it.

Spoiler

An unaligned altar is obviously of little use to you, but an attempt can be made to convert it by triggering a power struggle between the entities.
I think it's a rather in-charater thing to do for a paladin. It's a bit risky, because the results can be unpredictable, but the typical approach is to sacrifice a live critter on the altar.
The command is Shift + O and you need to lure the critter over the altar for it to work.

That's a great idea! I saw you could do something like that from the wiki, but forgot to try it. I'll give this a shot as soon as possible.
And yeah about the kicking. One has to try things out in rigorous empirical research, right?

Troll beastfighter, name: Long John

Tip: don't use weapons, beastfighters fight with their fists or they get massive penalties. Also a tip about altars, don't EVER EVER stand on them directly when there is a sentient enemy nearby, close all the doors to the room before you step on the altar. Err... just a hint

Welcome to The List! And you know that I'm going to have to try that at some point.

you lucky bastard. if you like scyfy you'll enjoy it A LOT!

It's been on my To Play list for a long while now, together with Thief and actually finishing Deus EX. (I know, I shall go and castigate myself now)

 

[shywn]

You need to work on your thee/thy/thine. You use 'thine' when 'thy' would be correct.

Spoiler

○ Thine impudence - correct.
ｘ thine need - wrong. thy need.
ｘ refuse thineself to me - not sure thineself is even a word that exists. use thyself.
ｘ grant me Thine Wisdom - wrong. thy wisdom.
ｘ Thine cowardice - wrong. thy cowardice.
○ for thine own good - correct.
○ grant thee thy wish - correct.
○ administer thee thy penance - correct.

simple rule: a need? an existence? thy need. thine existence.
use thy when the word following requires 'a', use thine when the word requires an 'an'.
(also use 'thine' when you would use 'mine' -- this cowardice of thine.)

Also, kicking is a pretty good response. Many noobs have been thwarted by the first locked door, never realising that you can kick them down.

Do you still have the torch equipped, by the way?

Well, now we know why Dayyaladina shows so much skin.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Fucking door runes.

 

[vazha]

Reporting for duty, Vazha The Blessed, Dwarf Beastfighter. Basically roleplay BRIAN BLESSED snout-punching polar bears and grabbing silverbacks by cojones. Excellent lp so far!

 

[Johannes]

Reporting for a Male Drakeling Barbarian. Once did a speedrun with this class, it was the fastest non-caster playthrough when I did it (may still be, don't know - that was in the old 1.1.1. version, would have to play a bit differently in the new one). Maybe it'll work for you as well.

 

[Andnjord]

The Adventures of Dayyaladina

CHAPTER 2: Wretched Mutt!
Part 3

Spoiler

Thy punishment is completed for now, sinful one.

Thank you mistress. We're on our last ration, should we head back out and resupply?

In time, I shall finish exploring this level first. Something untoward lives here and needs to be cleansed.

Into level 4 we go.

Kill-kill! For the brood-mother!

Yes-yes! Kill Orc-thing!

Welcome to my world, rodent!

Mistress! More of those ants!

Wretched insects! I will use a heavy stone to stop them!

I Drop a stone on the entrance the ants use to spawn. I think it worked, but I didn't stick around very long to double-check.

*****************************************

Mistress, you are not going to drink from this?

I will! It shall be a test for my strength!

As I had foreseen, it is powerless over me!

Was something supposed to happen?

*********************

I feel stronger now

Swooon. Mistress, you're looking more...savagely beautiful...

It is only natural that thy weak nature would notice. I shall be merciful and let thee castigate thyself this once.

Thank you mistress. Time to go back to Tenriyo mistress, our rations are finished. We only have a bit of candy left, should be tasty though.

Ugh, the food of weakness. I shall consume it nevertheless, to test my resolve.

***********************************************

We make a quick trip to Tenriyo and the evil village familiar to Trollbaud to sell some junk. To sell items in ADOM, you have to stand inside the shop, go into your inventory, select an item, drop it on the ground, then accept the offer the merchant makes you (I assume your haggling skill influences that offer). The trouble is my game crashes all the time when interacting with the inventory screen, so I have to save all the time (which being a rogue-like means exiting to the main menu then reloading the save). It's a painful process.

And we still can't manage to decipher the sooty tome!

I shall conquer thee! One day!

**********************************************

Level 5:

We finally reach what isn't some small winding corridors, I was starting to be worried that we would be able to corridor camp all game long.

Feeble creatures!

Excellent! I shall use this scroll with great wisdom and discernment, only to identify the mightiest of...

SPLAAAASH!

....nevermind...

Impudent wench!
This is gonna be good

I beg your pardon?

I shall smite thee for thy weakness!

HERETICAL SINNER! HOW DARE THEE USURP MY HALLOWED SHAPE!

Let me chastise thee!

I shall scourge thee!

Thou shall suffer!

Thine arrogance shall be thy downfall!

SEXY MUD-WRESTLING CAT-FIGHT!

I condemn thee to three-hundred and thirty-three years in the deepest ring of hell!!

AAAAAYEEEGH!!!

Well done mistress!

Do not think I didn't notice thy lurid excitement, thou shall...

Squeak? (Avez-vous besoin d'aide mademoiselle?)

Insect! Do you not see I am administering divine justice! Thou shall pay the price for thine impudence!

SQUEEEEEEK! (Mais je ne faisais que passer! Laissez moi tranquille mademoiselle!)

Witness true power!

...squeak...(Dites à ma femme et mes 23 enfants que je les aime....)

That guy was marked as a boss, but beyond making our equipment smell I didn't notice him doing anything too dangerous.

*****************************************************

Gigglesquee! Let me sing you the song of my people!

Such heretical sounds, I must stay strong....stay strong...stay....

Mistress! Wake up!

Make them suffer! Extreme pain is what they need to feel for the rest of their lives! Misery and Despair leave their souls when infinity ends!

Spoiler

Whoever guesses the band or song gets bumped by one in The List. I trust your gentlemen's honor to not google it

GIGGLESQUEEEEEEEEaaaaaaargh....

All this fighting has made me hungry, I shall consume the meat of that creature I vanquished earlier.

Spoiler

The beast in question. It didn't put up much of a fight. Apparently you can get some extra powers from consuming the corpses of select monsters, so it pays to have a varied diet.

Mistress, are you alright?

Labor is a commodity, like any other, and its price is therefore determined by exactly the same laws that apply to other commodities.

This doesn't sound good...

In a regime of big industry or of free competition – as we shall see, the two come to the same thing – the price of a commodity is, on the average, always equal to its cost of production

Mistress!

Yes sinful one, what is thy problem? Dost thee require thine punishment?

Oh, nevermind mistress, you're back to normal.

*****************************************

Level 6:

At last! I can sense that I have reached the final level! Glory awaits!

I was right! Witness here the final resting place of that monstrous creature that girl called 'pet'.

Honestly mistress, sometimes I think we see the world slightly differently.

That is because thou art weak. But worry not, I shall teach thee and in time thou shall see more clearly.

Yes mistress.

***********************************

We find four rooms like these, jammed packed full of gnolls, but thanks to our superior tactics (standing in a corridor) they never pose a threat.

We do get a lot of XP for it though.

**************************************

Does someone need an operation? I have some candles here at the ready.

Infidel! Thou defiles the sanctity of death!

Please be quiet lady, you are disturbing the rest of my friends here. Now why don't you...strunk!

Well fought mistress, look at all the gold he was carrying!

Ah yes, the famous Danegeld.


***************************************

Icewind Dale or BG II, which is better and why? Discuss!!

Well, they both have their merits, and each should be taken in the context of...

It's a trap mistress! Don't engage at all!

Arrr! Thine incoherent babbling have gone on for too long!

****************************************

Excellent, this place has been cleansed of its sin and weakness. Let us head back to the village and announce the good news to the little girl. I have become stronger

Back at Tenriyo

Yes pathetic one, thy puppy was torn to pieces, its head mangled beyond all recognition and its belly torn apart. I have brought thee its mortal coil so that thou might feed upon it.

That was pretty harsh mistress.

Nonsense, I am merely hardening her to the travails of the world. If she wants to ascend to the Heavens she will have to learn the bitter truth that the world is strife and suffering.

Hum....certainly. Let's have a look at our loot and figure out where we're going next.

Yes, He Who Rages has blessed me with many items of great power.

Spoiler

In the absence of a chaotic altar we can actually use (yes, you can identify items at altars in ADOM. There are also spells and racial traits, but we have neither), our only means of identification so far is by directly equipping the items. We are SO going to get a cursed item sooner rather than later

And He has made me stronger.

And I have finally vanquished thee, miserable book!

Our first spell! We'll look at it a little bit more later on.

Now leave me, I need to pray to He Who Rages for counsel now.

Spoiler

Alright, voting time!

A. Do the Druid quest.
B. Finish the first dungeon.
C. Wildcard. Propose something different, doesn't matter if you have any idea what it actually is. I'll count the total of C votes and if C wins I will pick one of the suggestions at random and do my best to fulfill your desire.

 

[tindrli]

C

 

[Andnjord]

Just realised I made a mess of the voting options, it now sane and rational. tindrli , I'm assuming you want to finish the first dungeon, correct?

You need to work on your thee/thy/thine. You use 'thine' when 'thy' would be correct.

Thanks A LOT for this. I am not a native english speaker and never had that stuff explained to me, I was just going by instinct.

Do you still have the torch equipped, by the way?

Sure do boss.

Reporting for the duty, Vazha The Blessed, Dwarf Beastfighter. Basically roleplay BRIAN BLESSED snout-punching polar bears and grabbing silverbacks by cojones. Excellent lp so far!

Reporting for a Male Drakeling Barbarian. Once did a speedrun with this class, it was the fastest non-caster playthrough when I did it (may still be, don't know - that was in the old 1.1.1. version, would have to play a bit differently in the new one). Maybe it'll work for you as well.

Welcome aboard gentlemen!

Well, now we know why Dayyaladina shows so much skin.

Impudent wench! I am only showing what He Who Rages has deigned sufficient, no more, no less! Thou shall recite the gospel of Sauron thirteen times as penance!

 

[spectre]

In the absence of a chaotic altar we can actually use (yes, you can identify items at altars in ADOM. There are also spells and racial traits, but we have neither), our only means of identification so far is by directly equipping the items.
We are SO going to get a cursed item sooner rather than later

Just dropping by to say, altar identification doesn't really identify the item's stats, only its blessed/uncursed/cursed status. I'm pretty sure you didn't go over this yet, so I'll let you do it at your own leisure.
Wielding and item will ID its stats and tell you immediately if it's cursed, but it shouldn't tell you if it's blessed (because it's not a characteristic that's immediately visible). If you want to avoid this inconvenience,
scrolls of identify are rather plentiful, and will identify all your shit in one reading if blessed.
There is also one more "level" of identification, scrolls of greater identify will give you a super detailed list of item properties, most importantly if they give you any special abilities that are not listed in the standard inventory view.
(like resistance to something) It's a waste to use it on ordinary items, but rather useful on special items.

Finding the good stuff among all the trash is one of the challenges in ADOM, but there are some tricks that can help you. First thing to look at is item weight and how they stack and see if anything looks out of the ordinary.
Let's look at this screenshot for instance:

Spoiler

Looking at that pile of weapons above, you will notice two battle axes stand apart from the stack of three, meaning the stack of three is most likely uncursed, because that's the most common item condition, one of the axes is probably cursed and the other might be blessed.
Probably not worth it to try it out.
You will also notice that the large hammer has an atypical weight (most often these will be nice, rounded values), which should draw your attention to it.

Spoiler

It's actually made of adamantium - normal large hammers weight 120s, generally speaking, lighter stuff is better and indicates high quality metal is used

In ASCII mode you could also tell if an item was "interesting" if it had an atypical color. Not sure if the sprites reflect that as well, but it pays to be attentive.
Since this is a devious roguelike, sometimes the "shiny stuff" is not really what it seems, but let's... not spoil the surprise.

Can't tell by the screenshots if you cleaned that vault level good an proper, but you got some phat lewt, so I assume you did. Pays to be anal with the search command on every dead end.

On a final note: if you want a quick and dirty resource for your Early Modern English:
https://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xThou.html
https://amovitam.ca/tag/i-havethou-hasthe-hath/
especially the latter should slightly up your game as far as verbs are concerned.

 

[CappenVarra]

A Do the Druid quest

who knew displacer-kitten snacks could teach one so much about marxism?

 

[tindrli]

No. Clean the dungeon first.

 

[Dayyālu]

B

As long as we don't starve, easier targets.

Also congrats for the.... uh... roleplay. Yes. Roleplay.

 

[baud]

B. Finish the first dungeon.

 

[Andnjord]

Just a head's up guys, I haven't had time to play let alone LP this in the last few days. Expect an update tomorrow though.

 

[spectre]

Just a head's up guys, I haven't had time to play let alone LP this in the last few days. Expect an update tomorrow though.

Oi, it's the characters that should be dying, not the LP.

 

[Andnjord]

Sorry gentlemen, had to drive around the country for the week to bring my mother to a specialised clinic ( ) and only came back home yesterday after an all day drive. I'll get back to this tomorrow and at least play some more, won't promise an update yet but this is totally not dead lads!

Also, as might be obvious, I was going into a lot of detail initially as everything was new and shiny (compare Baud's first updates to Dayya's last one), but moving forward I'll skip a lot more stuff. That way we'll get to see more characters once Dayyaladina inevitably dies horribly ascends to divinity.

 

[Andnjord]

The Adventures of Dayyaladina

CHAPTER 3: Her future ascension

Spoiler

Impudent one, where hast thou been?

I'm sorry mistress, my familial duties prevented me from attending my tasks towards you.

Then thy family is weak and should be left to fend for itself, thy chronicling of my future ascension is of paramount importance!

...Yes mistress...

Good! Now takes notes, I have been busy in thine absence.

I came back to that wretched altar of neutrality, its taint was unbearable to me and I had to cleanse it in the name of He Who Rageth!

The one who kills, although offended by my actions, was too weak to stop me from defiling his altar. Sacrificing a few of his creatures was enough to convert the altar to His side, He Who Rageth.

Spoiler

There are some shenanigans happening with what is the alignment of the creature being sacrificed, but I can't pretend to really understand it all just yet.

I proceeded to dedicate to the altar as a first sacrifice the corpse of that wretched dog, as a symbol of the weakness of the local populace.

Using the altar, He Who Rageth blessed me with the knowledge of my equipment. I had acquired many an item of great power thanks to his blessings.

Spoiler

Our starting spear is better as it is both blessed AND made of mithril so I switched back to it

Spoiler

As pointed by spectre, there are two phases to identification, first, wether an item is Blessed/Normal/Cursed, which can be determined by dropping an item on an altar, and second by equipping and/or using an Identify Item spell (or scroll) where you see if an item gives you bonuses. It's worth pointing out that many items can have extra properties that only get revealed eith the Identify Item spell.
We got lucky because one of the Identify Item scroll was of the Blessed variety, which identified a ton of items as you can see on the two above screens.

It should be obvious that blessed Identify scrolls are extreeemely useful considering the amount of loot one can find. Mercifully, it is actually quite easy to obtain them. Grab a Bottle of Water, drop it on an altar of the right alignment and you get some Holy Water. You can then dip any scroll in the Holy Water and it becomes blessed! I don't believe you can do that with normal items, however.

Some pathetic creatures tried to stop me on my wait out, but they were of no consequence.

I then proceeded to finish cleansing the first dungeon I had encountered several days ago, but it turned out to be of no consequence as it contained only a single unexplored floor and a pathetic succession of weak creature unworthy of my rage.

Spoiler

No seriously, we were completely outleveling that dungeon, and the only amusing thing was that nonhostile kobold that kept barking and laughing.

I am most impressed mistress, do you have any plans now?

Indeed I do sinful one. First of all, the leader of the village full of weaklings informed me of two quests, thus revealing his wretched weakness by asking for my help.

But first, I have other plans. In my recent travels I discovered a charming and inviting cave North-west of the village that I desire exploring first. Hopefully, its denizens will prove more of a challenge to my abilities.

Hum...very charming indeed.

I knew thou could appreciate such exquisite and tasteful decoration,

*****************************************************************************

Pah! Kobolds and bats! Beneath my abilities!

Yes mistress, but they seem to be awfully tougher than the usual breed of their kind.

Nonsense! I shall dispense with these creatures as with all the others....There is something in the air here...

Yes mistress...there is some form of corruption happening....

Spoiler

We get these "You are getting corrupted" semi-regularly. From having a look at the wiki it shouldn't be much of a problem for a good while

He Who Rageth shall protect me. I fear nothing!

This creature is too dangerous mistress, we need to run away!

....ouch...Thou might have a point here.

Use a potion of speed, we need to run away as fast as possible!

Nonsense! I shall not rely on any artificial help! Either I shall survive of my own skills or perish for my lack thereof!

Spoiler

I actually ran into a huge problem there. Everytime I tried to access the inventory or cast a spell the game would do this crash thing that I told you all about. Normally that's not too much of a problem, I save and quit often and oftentimes the game will be able to auto-save despite the semi-crash, and I've always been able to perform the action required after reloading.

Not this time though, the game auto-saved at the point I took the screenshot but never allowed me to use a spell or item

You're doing it mistress! The Rust monster is too slow!

Huff...puff...now t'is high time to heal myse...

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!! (Vengeance pour mon père bien aimé que vous aviez sauvagement occis dans l'épisode précédent!)

Oh for fuck's sake...

He Who Rageth, hear me in my hour of need! Do not abandon your champion in her darkest hour!

SQUEEEEK!!! (Point de salut pour vous, catin! Je ne vous laisserai point le temps de prier)

It's not working! The rat keeps interrupting your prayer!

Then I shall continue my quest in another plane, He Who Rageth will...

Impudent wretch!

Can't punish me if you're in the wrong plane!

Squeek. (L'heure de son glas a sonné. Qu'elle puisse expier ses péché dans le plus cruel des enfers.)

Thus ends the tale of Dayyaladina, a cruel mistress dedicated to eradicating weakness in the world, but also love, beauty, and art. Her alluring features were but a mask hiding a dark heart and a nefarious soul bent on the destruction of all that was good. May her dark soul forever be tormented in the deepest of hells, never to plague these peaceful lands again.

Bitch.

 

[Andnjord]

Going forward, I'm going to have to take things a bit slower, so expect a slighly longer update once a week hopefully. Life is not quite at murderfucking levels, but it ain't all easy ridin' at the moment.

In the meantime, enjoy ValeVelKal 's avatar for those who haven't looked into The List yet.

Spoiler

"Rock'n roll, babe"

 

[Dayyālu]

My only complaint is, why the hell it's always rats?

I've never progressed far into ADOM, and this is deeply amusing. I'll miss the costant abuse, it was .... proper. Yes. Proper.