stimac@tymix.UUCP (Michael Stimac) (01/15/86)
Several weeks ago I posted the outcome of a game in which I had retrieved the amulet, only to find out upon leaving the dungeon that it was a cheap, imitation amulet, worth only a couple of Zorkmids. No one offered any suggestions why this had happened. Since then, rather, I have seen more discussion about going down to level 39 (via confusion, certain rings, and a scroll of teleportation), killing the wizard and his dog, and thereby gaining the amulet. I obtained my amulet by precisely this method. I know that amulets obtained from a wishing wand are imitations, but everyone still seems to think that the one from the Hound of Hell is the real McCoy. Not so! At least not so under certain unknown conditions. My suspicions: 1) I had taken advantage of the postman. Maybe the game punishes the player for this by making the real amulet into a fake ??? 2) I had read a scroll of mapping to find the Wizard and his Hound. In the middle of the moat I noticed an "@" which I did not go near. It puzzled me, but I did not want to take a chance on some 39th level shopkeeper doing me in after I had gotten what I thought was THE amulet. Maybe this "@" character was the true key to the amulet? Why would a shopkeeper be on level 39 in the middle of the wizards moat? 3) Maybe all the net chatter about the Wizard and his Hound is just a red herring. Those who have REALLY won the game are just teasing the rest of us??? I have not been able to get to level 39 without the postman to test theory 1. Can anyone shed some light on what happened to me? We have version 1.0.3, on Berkeley 4.2. I am willing to accept any and all spoilers at this point. Michael Stimac
kneller@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Don Kneller%Langridge) (01/17/86)
In article <618@tymix.UUCP> stimac@tymix.UUCP (Michael Stimac) writes: >Several weeks ago I posted the outcome of a game in which I had >retrieved the amulet, only to find out upon leaving the dungeon >that it was a cheap, imitation amulet, worth only a couple of Zorkmids. > >No one offered any suggestions why this had happened. Since then, >rather, I have seen more discussion about going down to level 39 >(via confusion, certain rings, and a scroll of teleportation), >killing the wizard and his dog, and thereby gaining the amulet. > >I obtained my amulet by precisely this method. I know that amulets >obtained from a wishing wand are imitations, but everyone still >seems to think that the one from the Hound of Hell is the real McCoy. > >Not so! At least not so under certain unknown conditions. My suspicions: > > .... > >2) I had read a scroll of mapping to find the Wizard and his Hound. >In the middle of the moat I noticed an "@" which I did not go near. The '@' is the ghost of someone who died on level 39. On bones levels with the amulet, the amulet is made fake in case the ghost was carrying it. If you would have walked up to the next maze level you would have seen another wizard's moat, with the true amulet. -- Don Kneller UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!kneller ARPA: kneller@ucsf-cgl.ARPA BITNET: kneller@ucsfcgl.BITNET
carl@proper.UUCP (Carl Greenberg) (01/17/86)
I've been all the way down and back in Wizard mode (I debugged it, I installed it, it's MINE!!!). There is the wizard down there inside his moat. He's got his pet Hound of Hell with him. I take out my trusty wand of digging and blast a hole in the centre of the room he's in (no doors, as I remember). I then teleport over in front of the wizard and then proceed to dismember him with a +3 crysknife and my 18/** strength. When the Wizard of Yendor dies, I throw a tripe ration to the Hound of Hell and acquire the Amulet without fighting the dog, too. I wonder how many points hack gives you if you escape with around five dogs.... Maybe we should have a gold-to-gems scroll. That would be a nice improvement. Also, I like the idea of a food preservation scroll, so that you could carry a dead cockatrice around and touch monsters with it without the thing decaying on you. And to stabilise a dead acid blob or two in case of meeting a cockatrice... Carl Greenberg
stephen@dcl-cs.UUCP (01/21/86)
In article <618@tymix.UUCP> stimac@tymix.UUCP (Michael Stimac) writes: >Several weeks ago I posted the outcome of a game in which I had >retrieved the amulet, only to find out upon leaving the dungeon >that it was a cheap, imitation amulet, worth only a couple of Zorkmids. A wand of cancellation zapped over the Amulet will do this. I bet this is how you killed the wizard! You probably entered the moat from the left rather than from the right as I guess the wand of cancellation would have hit the hell hound rather than the amulet had you not killed it first. >No one offered any suggestions why this had happened. Since then, >rather, I have seen more discussion about going down to level 39 Actually, as I said in a previous article, level 40 is the deepest. The amulet will actually be created on any level between 30 and 40; depending on which of these you entered first. >1) I had taken advantage of the postman. Maybe the game punishes the >player for this by making the real amulet into a fake ??? No. I presume you mean you sold a scroll of mail to the shopkeeper? If not, nothing you do to the postmaster damages your chances. >2) I had read a scroll of mapping to find the Wizard and his Hound. You didn't *have* to. >In the middle of the moat I noticed an "@" which I did not go near. This is a bug. It doesn't happen on my version (1.0.3 on 4.2BSD on a VAX). Maybe the game was corrupted? -- UUCP: ...!seismo!mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!stephen DARPA: stephen%comp.lancs.ac.uk@ucl-cs | Post: University of Lancaster, JANET: stephen@uk.ac.lancs.comp | Department of Computing, Phone: +44 524 65201 Ext. 4120 | Bailrigg, Lancaster, UK. Project:Alvey ECLIPSE Distribution | LA1 4YR