Part 16: Unexpected

Last time on Heroes...


Hiro stands on the brink looking down into the very deepest level of Hell, knowing that his next step must be down. No rest for the weary over the next several thousand turns.

Chapter 16 - Unexpected

Once you've woken up Rodney, all you should be focused on is getting the Amulet and getting to the Astral Plane in as few turns as possible. Run at all opportunities and don't waste time killing enemies unless you have to. The rest of the game from this point on is pretty exhilirating (well, maybe except for the mysterious force).

At this point, you no longer need the invocation items. However, they're pretty nice items to keep around. All 3 give you a pretty substantial score bonus at the end of the game. Also, the Bell of Opening acts like a wand of secret door detection, while the Candelabrum is a light source of radius 4 (most lamps are only 3). The Book of the Dead can tame undead if blessed, but that's not quite as useful. I usually ditch the Book of the Dead, but the other two are worth holding onto.


First, make sure you turn off your candelabrum. It only has the lifespan of a single candle, and you shouldn't be wasting it.



Now we're going to use a little trick to speed up our descent in Moloch's Sanctum. Once you've opened up access to Moloch's Sanctum with the invocation ritual, you can levelport into it. In fact, it's easier to go down this way then to use the stairs - Moloch's Sanctum is considered a "special level", and it has a specific designated region that you can levelport into. Sometimes you'll just end up by the stairs, but more often than not you'll bypass a lot of the enemies and end up in the courtyard.


Yup, looks like we get lucky. Moloch's Sanctum has a large graveyard on the right side of the screen that we just bypassed. Any enemies you skip over is that much less time that Rodney can come find you again.


Unfortunately, the courtyard is full of priests of Moloch. These guys have quite a bit of HP and cast all sorts of spells at you. I'm going to avoid them as best as I can and walk/#jump around them.


In addition to not having magic mapping, I've actually been mapping Gehennom without a lamp either (since I have yet to find a magic lamp and my two oil lamps died out long ago). Looks like I'll need to start my candelabrum ticker a bit earlier than expected.


We're looking for the secret door into the inner temple, which is randomly hidden in one of the walls. This is where the Bell of Opening (or a wand of secret door detection, if you've ID'd those already) is a lifesaver. Ring/zap it and it'll find the door for you, if it's on that side. You can also do it the old-fashioned way by standing next to the wall and either searching or using a stethoscope, but as you can see the temple is lined with fire traps and that's just no fun.


Ah, there we are. Good thing too, since the Bell had no more charges.


The high priest of Moloch holds the Amulet of Yendor. It's a bit funny, since he starts as peaceful until you step foot inside his temple.




And here we go. High priests are not an easy fight by any means - he does an average of 28 physical damage a turn and can also cast clerical spells at you like blindness or cause serious wounds.



On top of that, as soon as you start hitting the high priest, Moloch will start raining lightning down on you, same as for attacking any priest in their temple. I suppose it's only fair, we are killing his high priest after all. Fortunately, reflection protects me from the lightning. Speaking of high altars, I wonder what happens if you try and #offer the Amulet of Yendor on this altar...


Ouch, 50 damage in a single spell.


Done.





Cradling the Amulet of Yendor in his hands, Hiro can feel it begin to drain his power with every passing tick. He knows that he must make it to the Astral Plane before the Wizard of Yendor decides to pay another visit. Fortunately, there's only one way to go, and that is...