I have been going to the New Scary Dungeon for a few trips now. I have been doing 2000′ instead of 2900′ because the stuff Down There is really bad for my health.
So it turns out that I forgot to use the stairs and recalled down instead, this time. I didn’t notice until much later.
Anyhow, I zot in, and am immediately confronted by and Ancient Green Dragon. I started to sweat, remembering how deadly these beasties are in IMoria. But in Zang, I’m a vampire, and I seem to recall some type of poison immunity. So I start zapping the AGD, and it’s closing, and then it breathes gas.
…
Not a single hit point lost.
Vampires turn AGDs into dinosaurs that burp once in awhile! Very nice.
Once I figured that out, the AGD went down quickly.
I looked around the area, and there were and Ancient Blue Dragon and a Greater Titan that were jockeying to get at me in a nearby corridor.
I thought I’d leave them alone for the moment and look around a bit to see if I could find any easier loot. I saw a strange little pile of stuff in a corner of the hallway, a couple scrolls, a ring, and a staff. I targeted the ring to see what it was…
Moonstone Ring of Speed.
I’ll just go get that first. I didn’t immediately see any monsters standing on it, but I knew they’d be there. So I pulled a little closer, detect monsters:
Young Gold Dragon
Mature Bronze Dragon
Mezzodaemon, and
Bleys, Master of Deception
In a word, *yikes*.
Nothing says “none shall pass” like a Blood Prince of Amber.
But, I decided to head in there and see if I could hit him with Teleport Away or something, so I could get the ring and get out.
Yeah, he can’t be TP’d away.
But he started to close with me, so I backed off and started whacking him with Doom Bolt, and he blinked… *behind me*. So I snuck in, nabbed the Ring, and teleported out before any of The Buddies saw me.
I landed in the room on the other side of the aforementioned ABD and Titan. I decided to ID the ring.
Ring of Speed +11. This dovetails perfectly with my Ring of Speed +9 to make me exactly Speed +20 (which turns out to be Speed +2 in IMoria parlance; 3 moves for every move a “normal speed” monster makes).
Needless to say, I saved my game immediately. No computer crash is going to deprive me of such a precious acquirement.
Then the sadness hit me. I was going to have to remove the Ring of Fate.
snif.
I miss my Ring of Fate. It’s sitting in my house, reminding me of how helpful it’s been.
And, as expected, the loot is terrible without it.
But everyone else in the game is now in slow motion.
She is that which goes bump in the night, she arrives in a rush of fangs and terror. All shall love her, and despair!