hopp@nbs-amrf.UUCP (03/13/86)
> Something odd happened to me in a recent game that I was hoping someone on > the net could explain. > > Playing as a caveman, I found a wand. Not knowing what it was, I zapped a > homonculous that was clobbering me. It turned out that the wand was a wand > of polymorph and I had polymorphed the 'h' into a nurse. > > With only a couple of hit points left, I was hit by the nurse. Instead of > getting better, however, I was killed. > > What happened? Is a polymorphed nurse not the real thing? > > (I am playing an early copy of PC-HACK version 1.0.3.) We are running version 1.0.2, but I suspect things have not changed. A nurse is quite an unfriendly monster unless you (a) are not wielding anything (anything at all, not just a weapon) and (b) are wearing no armor. Only then will the nurse help you along. By the way, don't bother killing a nurse. Just let it keep following you around and pounding on you. The results are rather pleasant. In fact, nurses (and, I suppose, dogs) are good reasons for saving a wand of hasten monster (an item that otherwise is only useful as something to sell to shopkeepers). If you really want to get rid of a nurse, wait for it to go away for a while -- nurses wander off and come back occasionally -- and drop down to the next level. The only problem is when you get trapped with a monster you can't deal with without your armor or a weapon. Remember, though, that you can always go under Elbereth, and the nurse is right there helping you as you mix it up with the meanies. I once fought off an umber hulk and a xorn at the same time, bare-handed and defenseless, while two nurses helped me stay alive. -- Ted Hopp {seismo,umcp-cs}!nbs-amrf!hopp