Part 5

In the last session, I noticed our weapons really were not cutting it. So I picked up two new things.

First, I grabbed a Well-balanced Spear (1d6|1) +5,+4 from the weapons shop. We get four blows per round with it, which makes the total damage competitive with our magic longsword. We stash the mace; two physical damage types is probably enough, and I'm always short on inventory space.

Second, we grab an enchanted .45 Revolver and a mixture of enchanted & silver ammunition, on the hypothesis that maybe it'd be useful against ghosts like the Vorkolak from earlier?

(It is not.)

Then we recall back to level 40.

Our first notable encounter this episode is a cool bit of Victorian myth.



Thematic, but not any kind of a challenge for DEATHBOT PRIM(E).

(If you enjoy Steamband's gonzo Victorian style, I'd also recommend The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack. It's fun pulp trash. And there are giant death robots!)

Moving on, we get into another tangle with a trog pit. I dawdle a little too long, and end up around 50 HP before I notice, panic, and teleport out.



What an embarassing way to go that would have been!

After healing up, we find this fine fellow:



Charming!

But not a threat to anyone but himself, poor bastard. We put him out of his misery and move on.

In a dark pair of rooms near the top of the map, we get this alarming message:



Rust! We've no shortage of curse removal (nor any particular need for it so far, for that matter), but I don't want to dally here any longer. The source, once found, is... peculiar.



(It attacked us before we could see it, so its attack is not recorded.)

We destroy the terrible teapot and move on, and -





Shit! This is actually pretty unfortunate - that ring was useful, though not critical, and we didn't have a spare. Those lightning attacks really smart, too. Luckily it dies very quickly once we get into melee.

A little bit later on the same level, we find another unique! Steamband certainly has no shortage of them.





I can't imagine this guy would be a challenge for any character that's made it this far. And he drops us a very nice gift!



This ring gives us a permanent +6 to our speed. Combined with our Systems Cypher speed buff, we're going to be moving at 260% speed in combat, making us The Amazing Speeding Death-Robot. Thanks, Godahl!

We swap it out for the ring of See Invisible we were wearing earlier; we'll put that back on as needed, though we'll probably swap out our Ring of Muscle +4 instead of the Ring of Celerity.

After heading up a floor to level 39, we get into yet another pointless trog pit brawl. A few dozen turns into the fight, this happens:



He was inside a wall, but I still didn't realize he was a unique until after I killed him in one round. (He's 'normally found on dungeon level 47', 10 levels ago.) Sorry, doggy!



Thanks to pointless trog slaughter, we've made it to level 17, which means we can max out Onslaught Cypher. (The skill that unlocks robot combat powers.) And guess what that means?



"High-Yield Devastation", which fires several powerful rocket blasts scattered around the target. It still isn't enough to clear the damn trog rooms, but it's a lot of fun.

After I get bored of butchering trogs and retreat to another room, we meet a new friend.





He's got a name I'm faintly familiar with, and I seem to recall him being dangerous for earlier characters. It's time for a fateful duel. We haste up with Systems Cypher (which also heals us to full HP), and...







He got off one rifle shot, which knocked off a sixth of our health. Good thing we didn't take any chances!

He gives us a nice gift too, which was considerate of him.



This replaces the lamp we've been using since the beginning of the game. It's the same, except that it doesn't use up fuel. If there was a meaningful food game in Angband, this would be very useful, because it means our light source is no longer competing with our hunger for oil. As it is... well, it's still cool!

Our inventory is getting pretty full, so I decide it's time to head back. While I'm in town, I grab two things. First, a new quest:



Our reputation has decreased since we failed our last quest. Does this mean this 'General Zaroff' is someone we can actually kill? Maybe!

We also pick up an item for an empty equipment slot. It took me this long to remember that, while robots can't equip most types of clothes (since their replaceable body parts take up the relevant equipment slots)... they can wear pants. Unfortunately, we sold the only decent pants we'd found, last episode. Luckily, the Black Market has a very nice pants-slot item in stock!





We have now entered the triple-digit AC range, thanks to our giant death robot's incredibly powerful enchanted petticoats.

I think that's a good note to end on for now.