Part 57: Totes, HOPr - Five

OK

Hill Orc Priest: Part 5

Fair warning, this update is slightly boring because I go the safe route of grinding for EXP rather then going straight up diving for runes.

Roka doesn't join us. Nearly all possible unique orcs have shown up, and none have joined our cause. This puts us at a nasty disadvantage the deeper we go, but for now it isn't as much of a big deal.



This, however, is a huge deal. We encounter Mennas and a Fire Crab. Mennas isn't the issue here, our Warlords can tank him fine. The issue is that he's making it really hard to kill the Fire Crab, who will engulf our entire army in flame. Our army, as you may recall me saying, handles AoE attacks very poorly.



So poorly that we're forced to abort the fight, lest we lose our entire army to the fire crab.



Mennas falls before the teleport kicks, but we also lose our Warlord. Since Warlords take so long to make, its a fairly strong kick to the dick. Hopefully one of our knights is close to promoting, or else Vault 8 will be very tough.



Roaming Ogre packs are abound in the lower vaults, but they're nothing worse then what we faced in the Orcish Mines.



Frederick isn't that bad. He's a caster, capable of Bolt of Cold, IMG, and Iron shot. The way caster AI is set is that they'll only target you with spells, unless they're self-cast or no-target (summoning, etc).

Since he's a caster, he's fairly weak, and gets beaten down before he decides to cast bolt of cold.



During the plunder of the vaults, we pick up a few potions that I immediately quaff, generating new mutations. Almost all of them were terrible, so I just burn a cure mutation to get rid of them. On the plus side, we kept pretty much all the good mutations we generated, leaving only HP-10% behind as a bad one. An acceptable trade for innate MR, don't you think?

Well, not me. I'm far too paranoid of a person to walk around with less HP. Magic Resistance isn't that big of a deal for us, since if we get paralyzed we still have an army to fight for us. I quaff another cure mutation to get rid of all 3 remaining mutations.



A new staff for our army.



I wasn't able to get a screenshot of Mara before she Misleads me, sorry. Mara is actually super, super easy for a HoPR. Mislead does nothing to your army, and if she takes a clone of you, well, you're not that strong on your own anyway. The Orcs tear Mara apart in a scant few turns.



I never understand why they put vaults like this in the Vault. The enemies inside are so easy for this stage. And how would you even make an ant hill out of metal? That is silly.



Taking a diversion from the main vaults, we enter the Hall of Blades. Because it always has a bunch of branded weapons of generally high quality, it is the easiest and most efficient way to gear our army up.

We manage to make a Knight into a Warlord here, as well as gaining a Battleaxe of Venom and a Scimitar of Holy Wrath.



And just a little bit later, we get a second warlord! We're really getting in shape to take on Vault 8.

But to do so is to accept the death of our army. We still have use for our army.



We get to clearing the floors we can without committing to any slugfests.
Snake 5 WILL be a slugfest. Vault 8 WILL be a slugfest. Shoals WILL be a slugfest. We need EXP for ourselves now, and to keep our army with us for safety.

Constriction isn't that big of a deal when Naga's die instantly. The worst of it will be when it comes to floor 5.



Even a horde of Hydra spontaneously showing up isn't that big of a deal.
Well, its a small deal. We lose a High Priest, simply because their low HP is starting to show.



Norris is melee. He turns into EXP.

The rest of the Snakepit is otherwise boring.



Time for something totally different!

Elf is easy. Low HP, low AC. They have spells but few bolts until later on. Then it becomes a quagmire. But, until then...



Really? Bees, at this point? Why are elves harvesting bees?

It should be mentioned that Elf is also a good place to pick up orcs, since Orc Packs can spawn here, as well as kills time to repopulate Orcish Mines.



Jozef is another melee only unique, capable of teleporting himself and you.
The problem is that Jozef has HP, we're in a corridor, and the conjurer is throwing lightning bolts down the line.



Luckily, we've picked up enough Orcs that a Recall Orcish Followers spills them out to the other side of the hallway, ending the debacle quickly and painfully.



Very soon after, we're delt the wombo combo of Erolcha and Donald. Donald is a melee-only who usually carries a great weapon and shield, both things that are great for us. Erolcha is a generic Ogre Magi with a few nastier spells and slightly more HP, but still no defenses.

They both drop.



Often times, while going through floors, your orcs will wander off on their own, chasing after a monster. Usually, this is alright. They kill it, and return. However, sometimes they pick up on something particularly nasty. Here, we see our entire army charging a Fire Elemental. This isn't bad by itself, but Fire Elementals mean Azrael, and if our Orcs are out of position when they find him...



Luckily, I manage to get into the fight with Azrael in my LOS, and none of my Orcs nearby. Since he'll only Hellfire me, our Orcs are safe.



Ah, Nergalle! She's a great Orc unique. An Orc Sorcerer with a modified spellset, Summon Spectral Orcs, Death's Door, Regeneration, Bolt of Draining, Dispel Undead, and Haste other. She's unliely to die if she joins you, and will greatly help out with Bolt o draining and haste other. Plus, if she joins



Nevermind.

We also encounter Aizul and Agnis, but neither are worth writing about, sadly.
With them down, we finish up Elf 4, running out of places to grind before going for a rune.

Who have we left behind...



I had forgotten about Roxanne right up until the point where I ended up next to her again. Getting fed up with avoiding her, we charge.

Did you know Shield blocks Iron shot? I didn't! It helped.



The crypt is full of undead, which isn't really a great thing for us. Mostly because our Orcs can and will rot and lose exp. If it gets bad enough, they will de-promote. Not to mention, some nasty combos can spawn here. For example, this Golden Dragon Zombie.



We find a scroll of aquirement, popping it to generate this. Eveningstar's are rare, and very powerful. Pound for point they do more damage then Demon Whips, but attack slower. It ends up being +8, +0.

The crypt is...the crypt. Its wall to wall undead, with not much to speak of. An orc dies, we mourn him. We pick up a shield that grants +RC.



We clear the crypt, leaving 5 waiting.

We gear up, getting ready to finish the rest of the dungeon.

Next time: Runes! The Treasure trove! Zot! (maybe)