https://crawl.montres.org.uk/morgue/damerell/morgue-damerell-20260125-185651.txt

7 games to get this one home; 5 DECKs (dead on Lair:4), one DsHu (got
about three steps into Lair), but at least I got DgSu home on the
first attempt.

The early game was pretty bad owing to only identifying remove curse
after hitting the Lair, meaning I was struggling up until that point
with a +0 hunting sling which was really not cutting the mustard on
things like death yaks. This was especially annoying since I was
trying a new approach of scroll-IDing scrolls not potions until I
found remove curse, which I expected would have worked rather more
quickly - as it was I found RC not by scroll-ID but by eventually
read-IDing a stack of two - and of course this also meant I knew fewer
potions than I otherwise would have done. I would not have survived
without a scarf of spirit shield and Sticks to Snakes.

I didn't get far into the starting book, learning Lightning Spire but
not getting it online (until the end of the game) because of finding a
kite shield then a tower shield and also a +8 plate then GDS; for a
while it seemed to be constantly just out of reach. I didn't make huge
use of spells because of this heavy armour, but had Yara's and
Irradiate online for Zot. The kite shield came from a D:3 armour shop
that also sold me the scarf, +2 gloves of strength, a +2 scale armour
of poison resistance, and some boots; so thanks shopkeeper, you were a
huge help.

D:8 was the first time I seem to have had real trouble, making a note
after coming down two stairs "would I rather be killed by a gargoyle
or by killer bees" - and then the third stairs turned out to be full
of wights. After that I hit the Lair on D:9, cleared D:10 (why?
Dunno), very nearly got collected by a berserk polar bear in an ice
cave, and then it was off to Orc. Lair:3 did have the Hat of the
Alchemist which I'd go back and forward on, being otherwise quite
short of resistance gear.

By comparison Orc was easy enough and I bought a randart plate which
turned out to be +8 with {*Silence +Inv rPois rCorr} - the silence was
a mild pain but rPois, rCorr, and a big lump of AC was just what I
needed. I'd wear this until getting GDS in Depths. I also got the
first of three rings with stats and slaying; by the endgame I had 11
slaying on rings which made up for not being able to enchant my
weapons to +9 (I'd dumped early enchant weapons into a scimitar just
to be able to survive).

I cleared down to D:14 but didn't fancy the Depths entrance so went to
Spider; nasty moment on Spider:1 but after that it was OK until the
rune vault (the one with emperor scorpions and ghost moths) which
looks worse than it was in the log; I teleported away and picked them
off one at a time. However, I had to teleport twice and was very short
of teleport scrolls at this stage.

Next was Shoals, having bought a ring of flight; I got Abyssed by a
merfolk with distortion, nearly died to a balrug, escaped, and then
got Abyssed again by the same merfolk! It was very satisfying when I
escaped the second time and killed it. Ilsuiw's pack gave me pause for
thought on Shoals:2 but after that it seems to have been tolerable
aside from the rune vault, and I found the boots of the Assassin on
Shoals:2, which made me somewhat stealthy even in plate - and later,
even in a CPA. I wear-IDed a ring with {*Contam rPois Slay+4 SInv
Stlth+} and thought, eh, maybe I'll just keep that on all game.

Next was Vaults... but one serious problem I had was MR, and I got
Marked twice on V:1 ending up having to fight half the level each
time, and while I survived I did so only by bleeding away heal
wounds. This wouldn't do and I thought Elf:1-2 would be more tractable
(it was, but didn't give me much new stuff).

However, I did have all the javelins of penetration from Shoals and a
reasonable amount of Throwing, as well as rCorr - time for Slime? The
actual fight with TRJ got very nasty, and Dissolution turned up when I
was healing up, but I prevailed, getting a manual of Throwing (which
I'd rather have had earlier), a fustibalus, and the macabre finger
necklace which eventually let me wear all three slaying rings.

MR was improved but I had loads of enchant armour scrolls and decided
to go to Depths to see if I could get GDS; not only would it mean a
chunk of extra AC, but the rF/rC would let me get out of Alchemist and
get another decent chunk of AC. I got a +4 demon blade on U:1 which
I'd eventually brand to flaming (ideally I would have had a different
brand on demon blade and fustibalus, but you work with what you have),
had a bad moment with the Enchantress, but did indeed get GDS on U:5
and bought the third slaying ring (with {+Blink Int+4 Dex+4 Slay+2
Stlth+}) on U:4.

Next was E:3 - the room of bastards was not much of a problem, and I
opened a runed door vault with some trepidation only to find it was
full of not much worse than deep elf knights. Here I also got a +4
helmet with {rPois rN+++ MR+++ Dex-2} - MR problems solved, so back to
the Vaults.

I hit a bazaar on V:3, buying some scrolls, then worked my way down to
V:5... having a slightly bad time with titans until I remembered that
without Alchemist I was not rElec. I learned Insulation - couldn't
cast it right off the bat, but now I remembered about the
vulnerability I could prioritise killing titans and storm dragons. I
also got caught out by a tengu conjurer's battlesphere repeatedly
landing on a Zot trap; with more care I would have kited the tengu
away from the trap, but in fact it gave me enough Contam to malmutate
Subdued Magic - which given I was struggling to cast spells in GDS,
was not really a penalty; better low spellpower than not being able to
cast at all. I'd get a second level of it from Hell effects and again
I was not greatly upset.

With rN+++, it seemed like time for the Crypt... some annoyance with
Sojobo, but then on C:3 I acquired a +11 CPA with {rC+ Str+4
Int+4}. Even given I had to put Alchemist back on to cover resistance
holes, this improved both AC and spell failure chance. C:3 also had
three randart rings on the Tomb entrance, but while none of them was
actively terrible, none was as good as what I had.

Then, of course, the tricky extended rune question. I bought all the
consumables and cleared the Vestibule; normally I expect to face
Geryon and a mob of monsters immediately, but not this time, making
life much easier even given Murray turned up. After that I thought,
well, I'm rC++ and it's been a while since I did Cocytus (April '24, I
find), so off I went.

It was relatively straightforward; I remembered that Antaeus can be
curared, and that let me kill him easily enough, getting the rune. I
suppose I could have gone for more runes, but I felt I'd been lucky so
far and should probably just take it safe and bank the win, so it was
off to Zot.

Z:2 gave me Ignorance (worth losing 4 I nt for 7 SH) and then I hit
orbs of fire on Z:2, 3, and 4. Z:5 however was ridiculous - 4 ancient
lichen and eight orbs of fire. The first lung I tried had a Zot trap
on it which I spotted too late not to have to fight one orb of fire -
but another one turned up wandering and luckily I lost it by
immediately reading fog. The second lung then had half a dozen OOFs
(and at least one ancient lich) and while I survived I was using up
haste and resistance potions. It also had a Zot trap on it, so I had
to blink my way in - and out.

However, I grabbed the Orb; I was out of hastes so had to walk out the
slow way, a bit nervous but in practice the orbrun went OK. One
panlord on D:13 but I holy worded it and killed it in melee.

Next is DgFE. Another character with no god, bah!