I decided you guys deserved another update before I leave. You are welcome.
Welcome back to Let's Play Angband! This update is brought to you by the Volvo I test-drove today (today being Saturday, the day this update was written). This is a car that is almost my age. If I buy it I am going to put my "Sam & Max: Freelance Police" sticker on the door. Sorry that I can't save you for when I can actually buy a DeSoto Adventurer, Sam and Max sticker. Maybe I will just get it spraypained on when I can actually afford one. Like if I had a van, and wanted a wizard (the wizard is shooting lighting from his crystal ball at a dragon) to adorn it, or maybe "FREE CANDY."
Enough about the car that I don't even own yet. By by the time you (yes, you) are reading this... I might! (As of today, I don't.)
Armed with an ID spell, Gob checks out all the shit he's carted up from the foul depths of Angband that haven't been checked out yet, and he was a smart man to not sell them. There's a total boost of +9 to his AC going on here, which is fantastic! That doesn't even count the other awesome shit he picked up and can sell.
From now on, whenever Gob levels up, I think that I'm going to link you to a youtube video of some horrible powernoise that's provided to me by my friend Blake. Here's how this is going to work:
Stiv: REQUESTING: link to youtube video feat. horrible powernoise.
Blake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpP60z1mqDU
Blake: I own that album.
Stiv: Perfect.
You are welcome. If you're too lazy to click up there, click ---->here<----. By the way, all of these links should be considered relatively "unsafe for work" and definitely "unsafe for ears."
This is notable because it's the first time Gob has been in any real danger the whole game, which is honestly kind of startling for a mage. Fortunately the weird new pack monster AI makes it possible for him to hide out in this little tunnel in the south and rest up.
The orcs, of course, get what's coming to them. The spiders do too, but that's not pictured. By the way, you are welcome. That one's actually pretty good (and safe for ears).
Gob also gets his first good feeling. Could he maybe... find an artifact? SPOILERS: No.
Some of the mages in the guild are apparently very bad about checking their Middle Earth equivalent of email. I believe that it is delivered by a shirtless man who rides around on a unicorn. That flies.
Just in case you didn't swipe that spoiler text that is probably still on your screen, it's okay to go ahead and do it now. I ID'd this on a lark, because I thought it would be hilarious if the level feeling was generated by a broken item - and guess what! I totally love the ego item changes made in the 3.0.x line. I love them.
Gob takes down his first real unique monster (Grip and Fang don't count) in what must be a battle so amazing that I forgot to take screenshots of it in my undoubtedly drunken haze. There's not really a whole lot to say about it; it's not like he killed Smeagol or anything. Killing Smeagol is a big deal.
For his trouble, Gob gets a potion of Healing, a sword he'll use even less than the broken ego-item, and a shield that's good enough to replace what he's toting around right now.
Why did this not happen last game.
This levelup nets Gob another spell he's not using, so he decides to learn Detect Monsters. By the way, you are welcome.
I am introducing the gun in Act 1 so that it can be used in Act 3. I think it was Nabokov who told me to do this.
Gob's had some pretty good luck today! These will fetch him enough that he can start slowly working his way up the food chain in town to get a potion of Strength or something. He very badly needs some of that.
Alright, so let's go back to being serious and actually discussing the game for a moment. Gob is stuck in a situation here where he doesn't have enough mana to teleport a safe distance away or attack, and is obviously too much of a wuss to rush three monsters head on. So what does he do?
He puts them all to sleep and takes a nap. That's just the kind of dude Gob is. Nothing gets him down. Doing this nets him enough SP back before they wake up that he can teleport to safety. Now, if he'd teleported into a room filled with more monsters, there'd be a second part to this story and I don't think any of us would like it.
Instead, you'll like this. Our old friend Smeagol is back, but this time he's far too traumatized from being touched by elves to do anything other than stumble around, lonely and scared.
This is the problem that most uniques are going to give Gob; he'll run out of mana long before they run out of health. Instead, what he's going to have to do is rely on secondary attack items that he's picked up along the way.
Like.. say.. a wand. That might involve lightning.
Some wand zapping occurs, and Smeagol turns into dust once again, presumably sentenced to be touched by elves for all eternity now. Or at least until a new character is rolled. Either way, you are welcome.
Man, that's a good sword. Gob's going to stash it at home until he gains another point of strength and can comfortably carry a weapon that heavy without getting loaded down too much between that, his armor, and his magical doodads.
Gob steps on a trap and becomes confused. Fortunately, the "smart" monster AI saves him when he gets a lucky command input and steps back into the hallway.
NEXT TIME: I eat eel pie.