Part 27: Matchstick, MuWz - One

The Legend of Matchstick, Mummy Wizard


Matchstick descends into the dungeon, for some... unknown reason. He's already dead after all, why should he care about the fate of the world?


Matchstick is a mummy, which means he burns easily, is immune to life damage and by extension torment, and cannot eat or drink. Pros: no food colck means no starvation, means no hunger cost for spells. Cons: I'm an easily burning hunk of crap. Let's see why:


Magic dart is the easiest spell in the game to pick up and use, and I fail it 17% of the time. What the hell?


Look at those negatives. LOOK AT THEM. Not pictured: EVERYTHING ELSE also being -2 aptitude. Mummies are shit characters. They're hard to start up, hard to play, have no safety options like a heal wound potion to fall back on...

And yet they're my favourite race to play. I have no idea why. Also, we see my battle plan: grind the fuck out of conjurations.


Moving out, we get an early saviour. This whip will save my unlife time and time again. Given I can't actually save my life with spells yet.


Level 3, I grab intelligence because I really need it. I also learn a couple of spells that will eventually be useful to my cause:


Just AWFUL. 1/3 shot of failing mephitic cloud? Ugh... At least Magic Dart is usable now. I boost up fire magic, giving it and conjurations a 50-50 split of the experience.


Couple of things here: 1. I hate checkerboard patterns on maps. 2. I learned blink at level 4, and it's also terrible to try and cast. I get translocations to level 3, then turn it back off to give the sweet exp into my damage spells. 3. Pikel is nearby. Let's deal with 3, shall we?


Mephitic cloud and the whip save Matchstick. Gaining two levels off Pikel isn't uncommon at lower levels. Dude give a lot of experience on death.


Edmund rounds a corner almost dead. I put him out of his misery. Poor guy.


My favourite unique in games I use meph. cloud in. Why?


Because when he's confused he's no longer crazy. And he has some of the best lines an enemy says to you in this state.


New plan: Conjure flame is castable. Many enemies are too stupid to realize they're dying the moment they enter the first cloud. Like this orc warrior. What a fool.


Grinder too succumbs to "Must Kill Player!" syndrome, and walks through multiple clouds of flame in a feeble attempt to reach me.


Level 9, and a mini vault I can't access yet. With no potions of levitation, I need to rely on finding either boots or a ring that have it. This place gets left behind for now.


Coincidentally, I love some of the vaults in the game now. The first one is new to 0.10, and is a jerky factory. Goblin's been working hard. Since I can't eat it, that jerky will remain on the ground for eternity. The second vault? Fuck oklobs, and fuck slimes.


Psyche is actually a minor threat. Wand of flame combined with my innate fire weakness makes for a bad fight. Of course, I have my advantages...


Advantage: Matchstick. He's overcoming his aversion to fire.


More vaults I haven't seen before. Bunch of kobolds with scimitars of flaming, and a three headed hydra. Poor hydra was being abused.


Now he's REALLY being abused.


Yeah, that's not happening. I'm pretty sure that player ghost of mine is a High Elf Wizard. I can't compare to his damage output. Back upstairs I go!


Let's try from a different angle.


Beautiful. I clear up the yaks as well, so lets see what was in that armour shop.


I can live with that. Also some boots of levitation (which grant infinite Lev, which is always nice), as well as...


Oh HELL YES. Damage problems are getting closer to being over. Robes of the archmagi enhance damage of all spells. Think of it like a ring of fire boosting fire spells, only do that for everything. All spells I now cast come with "You feel a surge of power!"


To add to the love this floor has given me, a staff I will likely love having once I find a new spellbook. I've hit a snag though. God altars are guaranteed by dungeon 9. The Temple didn't house Sif Muna, the God I want. Which means it's somewhere above me. Backtracking I go!


But first, I deal with this vault. It wasn't worth it, the ring was a cursed ring of teleportation.


Oh Crawl, you sneaky bastard. You mean I could have had Sif since D:2 if I was psychic? Really? Oh well, we have Sif Muna. I will detail her abilities as we get them.

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Back down on D:10, I find this armour shop. A bronze shield... I know what that is, and I MUST HAVE IT.


Fuck. Yes. Once I find a buckler to start training shields, this thing is being equipped for all time. There is no shield I would rather have on just about any character. Idiotically, I missed seeing the runed cloak in the shop. I'll have to go back and get that.


This begins a segment I like to think of as "Chumps not resistant to poison." Are you ready? First, Maurice. Chump gets nailed by conjure flame and meph cloud.


Grum? Chump, along with his dogs. Killing this group gives Sif's first ability, a channeling ability that gives 1d(2+invocations/4) mp per cast, with a mere 100-300 hunger cost for it. Wait a second...


Operation: Infinite Mana is go. With no hunger clock, Mummies don't have a cost for this channeling. Relatedly, Invocations gets focused alongside conjurations and fire magic. I also turn on dodging and fighting for some survivability, and spellcasting for sweet spell levels.


Back to the game: Erolcha? Chump, but I don't kill her here. I get swarmed and have to bail out of there. She gets something more amusing soon enough.


Jozef? Tough chump, and one who will wander into the flames without mephitic cloud forcing him.


Erolcha? Drowned chump. Also get Sif's second ability at two stars, selective amnesia. This used to be a spell alongside this ability from Sif, and in 0.8 it was converted into a scroll to give Sif a little more use. Kinda useful, will likely see some usage in my run.


Joseph? Such a chump that he dies from the mephitic cloud damage.


The entirety of the orc army guarding their mines? Drowned chumps too.


Nessos? A chump in close range. If he's confused he can't blink, and he gets torched like so many others this game. Also can't fire his flaming arrows at my ignitable body.


Cyclops? Standing in flames, won't retreat, and the manticore is blocking his path to me, so he stands there in the fire and wonders why he dies.


Four stars gives Miscast protection at a rate of piety+1-in-150; 100% a little below ******. Useful if you're thinking of overextending yourself. Which I probably will. Also, hill giant? Chump that I don't use meph cloud on. You'd be surprised how effective place conjure flame, back a step away, repeat works on enemies dumb enough to walk into that initial one, as the AI doesn't step out of it once they're in it to begin with. They will follow a straight line to you, no matter the risk.


Oh look at that, more chumps to the slaughter. Can't get to me, I effectively have infinite mana at this point. Leads to a chunk of EXP and piety.


Lindwurms? Fire breathing chumps. Seriously. They don't have rPois, and they enjoy hanging out by lava. Enjoy the incineration. This is a vault as well.


Salvation in the form of the Lair. Almost time to go in, but first, that vault.


And nothing of value was gotten. Except that ring was +4 evasion, and since I have nothing decent for rings, it goes on.


Frog dies, and we are safe. For now. Unless I get another book with better spells, I can still easily die to the threats here.