Hello friends! Thanks for checking back in for the third article in our series about a game I've been playing and loving on and off for more than 20 years: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup! Dungeon Crawl is one of the early generation of rogue-like dungeon crawlers that has inspired so many modern game with it's deep and lore filled world, randomized environments, and permadeath based character progression. This is my favorite kind of game ever and, because Dungeon Crawl can be a bit complicated to pick up, I wanted to write a series of articles as guides to the project.
Without further adu, let's jump back in!
When we last left our character, M3ss the Grappler - Troll Monk of Okawaru, he was slamming random potions like his life depended on it! He had recently quaffed one that resulted in some very strange effects. Mainly, it seems to be turning m3ss into some soft of troll / moth hybrid. Suddenly m3ss has antenna and seems to have gained the ability to recharge wands? Fantastic! That sold really help considering very possibly our best piece of treasure this run has been a Wand of Polymorph!
As soon as m3ss set off in search of his challenges for the day we discovered something huge. Those antenna seem to have powers!
While walking down a random hallway M3ss was able to sense enemies around him before he could see them! That's really neat! These are the kinds of little things that can give you an edge in battle and keep a run going for longer. After killing a heard of Yaks (that somehow had made it to the 5th floor of a dungeon?) our lovable troll hit level 9 and we once again selected Dexterity as our stat to gain. This run is going fantastic!
At the end of the floor we were able to find a quiet corner of the dungeon containing a shrine to Ru, a pack of jackals, and some major treasure!
If you've been following along you'll notice the new treasure is a and of iceblast and a +6 ring of strength. These are both huge. As a monk I cant use weapons or armor so items I can use like jewelry, wands, and clothing are key to a good run and I must be blessed by Okawaru because I'm finding everything I need! Now I can open tough engagements by iceblasting my target from range. before moving ahead I press P (for "put on") to equip the ring of strength.
Hint: The commands of Dungeon Crawl can seem impossible to memorize but stuck with it and know you can always press '?' for a handy dandy list of button uses. Some key commands to get started are:
o: auto-explore
q: quaff (drink) a potion
r: read a scroll
< >: move up or down stairs
Speaking of scrolls, a bag full of unidentified scrolls held by a troll with an empty head isn't nearly as useful as an empty bag and a troll with a filled head. Let's get reading and find out what these scrolls can do for our run.
Well, pain. Thats what the scrolls provided. Scroll of Immolation, Scroll of Torment, Scroll of Noise, Scroll of Vulnerability, a Scroll of Teleportation. I weakened myself, blew myself up, made a ton of noise, and teleported away. These are not the results we were hoping for but, in the future, we will now recognize these scrolls when we found them again. We do have an extra scroll of teleportation which can be an absolute lifesaver in the right situations. All and all we are getting really strong here and building up a collection of "Oh shit" buttons to use in case of emergency.
Dropping to the next floor we made short work on a centaur archer and his hunting hound before finding an extremely rare weapon on the ground.
You can immediately see the care and level of work thats gone into this game when you examine items. As a staff this beautiful lajatang is one of the very few weapons I have the option to wield as a monk.
That said, I'm pretty far into my run and and have been doing really well with Unarmed Combat thus far. Im going to keep the weapon just incase I locate a treasure trove of weapon enchantment scrolls I cannot use on my claws anyway. These are the little things that make the dungeons of Dungeon Crawl feel lived in and unique to me.
This run has been going amazing so far but, just like that, things got serious. After battling some water moccasins who were able to pull my HP down with poison I was set upon by a group of 4 orcs. They all fell under the claws of m3ss but, as they did, a massive two headed Ogre came around the corner. Leaping into battle m3ss slashed and clawed but took some major hits from the ogres club and now, it's anyones battle.
My health is extremely low and honestly, I made a poor decision leaping in three battles in a row. It likely would have been a good idea to have used my Wand of Ploymorph on the ogre before it got close but now that we are locked in battle my options are fewer.
I could try and run, Im likely much faster than an ogre but he'll get some shots in and could kill me before I get away. I don't wanna die running. The scroll of teleportation takes a few turns to activate after reading so it has similar problems.
Spells that end with blast often have an AoE effect so I'm nervous about casting it on an enemy right next to me while I'm so low. It would have been really handy to have found a potion of heal wounds earlier but, unless we want to start chugging random unidentified potions, now is not the time.
Friends, this is Dungeon Crawl. When the game grinds to a halt and you are trying to figure out how to save a character you've grown to love, you are playing the game correctly! So, let's make some decisions...
First, I took the risk and stepped away from the ogre. So far so good, he didn't club me like a seal. Let's see if I can get a bit further away before he moves. Pressing backwards for more times has the ogre keeping pace with me. Looks like running is not an option. I think the safest thing to do here is to read a scroll of teleport and play keep-away long enough for it to work. So that's what I did.
Ahhh, an empty room has never been so nice to see. Time to use that troll healing and, when Im strong again, find that ogre and blast him from across the dungeon!
We meet again.
I blasted the ogre while it charged me and found out iceblast does not seem like a very powerful spell! By the time the ogre was upon we I'd been able to hit it with 4 blasts and it was down to half help. Honestly, the fight after that was still neck and neck but, as ever, m3ss wins! Not only that but we're up to level 11 unarmed skill and our god Okawaru was extreamly impressed by our ogre kill and gifted us a boon: 5 datura-tipped darts.
Monks travel light to gain extra dodge skill but I've still collected some nets and boomerangs as throwing is one of the few ways Monks can get ranged capabilities. I'm going to want to use them to train up my throwing a bit before I need to use these amazing darts to stay alive or win glory!
That seems like a good place to end today! Thanks for continuing this adventure with me and I hope you'll be here for the next edition soon! Long life M3ss!
Dam what an old RPG, 😁
Hahaha! That must make me ancient! Thanks for reading!
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