Hardcore Happenings

2005-12-31

Day 4: Some Action!

A rollercoaster ride of adventuring. It started off all pretty well, doing some adventuring at the Pantry and Knob. Got myself the Dolphin King Crown and his 150 meat. A true fortune!

And off I was, to Crimbo Town. Taking advantage of the time of year, I started beating up elves. Good stats, but more importantly, great toys. I got some yoyos, but more importantly, I got a doll house. Four tiny plastic familiars, which are going to help me a great deal against the Sorceress. And while I had no other accessories, they gave me a small boost in stats too. For the future (it requires 40 myst), I got a sock-monkey as well. The shillelagh is one-handed, so I can wear it. The unexpected bonus, however, was a "Unionize the Elves Sign", which is a power 50 weapon. Much better than anything else I would come across at that low level.

Time for some more serious questing. It took a while to get the larvae, sadly no wooden stakes or barskin. So, I'm camping out in a good old NewbieSport. Getting a car (and the screwdriver) was a piece of cake. So, I confronted the rats. Glad that I had done the Pretentious Artist's quest, because looking for the Baron took me through the entire cellar. Picked up 20 rat whiskers, which is a cool 1000 meat. I used the Dodecapede to kill the Baron. When you enter your Guild, you get a bunch of homepathic elixirs, which came in handy to heal :-) I should've gone for the monocle, instead I went for the Top Hat...kinda fixated for some reason. It ain't a bad hat, though, but for a SC, the Goblin King Crown is better. Oh well, now I can get the cape from the Goblin King.

After this, I hit a bit of a snag. Got beat up by the bossbat...and the pixel creatures, even when I had turned the machine down again. Decided to gather some pieces for a meat maid and that was a smart move. Getting poisoned by a disease-in-the-box (sadly, didn't get the actual disease, after killing it) was a good sign to chill out and make some jewelry. I plied a hamethyst necklace, baconstone bracelet and porquoise necklace. I look like mr. T with all those necklaces. I had enough Muscle now to equip the Shillelagh and pulverize the Boss Bat.

Since I was running low on adventures, I took my coffee sprite and forced the last few meat maid items. Only 2 adventures left before I finally got that smart skull, but now she's purring on my campground.

In the end, not a bad day, although I could've done some stuff better. Meat is quite non-scarce, which is a good thing. I should've remembered hairspray earlier and maybe was a bit on the late side with jewelry-plying. Also, should've taken the monocle instead of the Top Hat, but oh well. Also, I forgot to actually finish the Tavern Quest by closing the faucet. It's in the top row, in the middle column (3rd from left and right), so that's the first adventure I can spend tomorrow.

At the end of day, I swallowed some soda water and made some reagents (9 MP with the bracelet :-))

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 6
Malamute Basher
Turns Played (this run): 200
Days Played (this run): 4

I broke my hippy stone and chose to PvP. It's a bad choice, because the flowers give NO advantage, and you only run the risk of losing stats, but hey...it's something fun I can do, when not playing. Ain't got that hamethyst necklace for nothing...

Really should take care in picking my fights.

PvP Ranking: 46
Fights Won/Lost: 9/1

2005-12-30

Day 3: Arena Antics

I sold two porquoises to pay for competing in the arena. Really doesn't matter all that much *when* I spend those adventures, since no statgains are involved.

Perhaps not the best Arena Run, but my Coffee Pixie got 40 points of experience in 9 fights, which is an average of 4.44 per fight, which isn't that far from the theoretical maximum of 5 per fight. My Cheshire Bat got the Smile-Sharpening Stone.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 1
Lemming Trampler
Turns Played (this run): 10
Days Played (this run): 3

2005-12-29

Day 1 & 2: Oxycore!

So, exciting, these first few days. I've visted the Pretentious Artist, Shady Guy and Mystic Crackpot for their quest instructions and free goodies, and that was it. Oh wait, I also got the goodies from Toot. 3 porquoise, a hamethyst and a baconstone.

Riveting!

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 1
Lemming Trampler
Turns Played (this run): 0
Days Played (this run): 2

*Crimbo Intermission*

Two days worth of chowing down on herb brownies, slaying Elves and Reindeer. It allowed me to get the two known Crimbo Trophies. It also got me about 5% closer to the Hippy Trophy. And even some progress towards the 99 Red Balloons trophy.

Trophy Progress:
Red Balloon 11/99
Trivially Skilled 4/6
Bouquet of Hippies 85/420
Gourdcore - Going to attempt this one after my DB Oxycore.

In the meantime, I forgot to get the teddy bear and snowy owl familiar for my collection.

2005-12-26

Day 9: Ascension Surprise!

The Meagre reagents I had collected, proved more than enough to empty the Hole. My dungeon run was lucky and gave me the final Sneaky Pete's Key.

I used Clovers to get Grabbags (and consequently, knob sausages) from the kitchen, but again was faced with a lack of Knoll Mushroom. The Knoll is quite the overcrowded area. It warrants splitting up, or dropping a few less useful adventures, such as the One-Eyed Gnoll. After about 20 turns, I did get the Gnollish Warchef, and he dropped 2 Knoll Mushrooms. I decided to use the Knoll Mushroom I already had, and the two I had gotten to make knob sausage chow mein. My other meal would be a bat wing chow mein. So I farmed the hole for 8 adventures, before I got a bat wing (all dropping skills, Crimbo Elf, whine, whine, whine). Then I discovered I still needed a dry noodle. Luckily, the second Knob Goblin Master Chef dropped that.

From there on it was adventure-time at the Castle. Stats quickly accumulated, I used the Crimbo Elfling to get a wolf mask (got extra wolf masks, later) and reached level 11, with lots of adventures to spare. The Entrance Cavern was a piece of cake, I only needed to kill two Topiary Golems, to solve the Hedge Maze puzzle and started going up the tower. All was going well, until I hit level 6. Moo! Holy cow! 6 trips to the shore later, I had 24 adventures left and was at the top of the Tower.

The arena was a bitch to level your familiars. Well, at least the first few fights, it was hard to find a match. So that cost me some time. I was lucky that I already had the two Tiny Plastics Crimbo Familiars. The Sorceress went down without too much trouble after that, and with 6 adventures left, I had done it again.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 11
Reindeer Threatener
Turns Played (this run): 1,261
Days Played (this run): 9

I decided to PvP a bit, and better would've left that. I lost a few fights, which were costly in rank. This because I lacked reagents, and am, in the words of the wise Soulcake best described as "Reagent hor".

PvP Ranking: 96
Fights Won/Lost: 43/13

Well, close to a hundred points taken to the other side, anyway. Not completely worthless. And my oxy runs aren't going to get me on the Ancestral leaderboards any time soon. Although I do wish I had some idea where in relation to that leaderboard I stand.

And then:
- Unpacking presents
- Getting tattoos
- Managing the museum
- etc.

I'm planning to hold off ascending until I have those Crimbo Trophies!

Day 9: Making Resolutions

Ascension is technically possible, but I neither have the N for the Desktope Globe's NG, or the fence for the cow.

I also have a significant lack of Sneaky Pete's Key, but I could and should run the dungeon tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm best served going off to the Dungeon of Doom with my Crimbo Elf in tow.

If I ascend, I should hang around for the tattoos, some trading, ordering the museum, opening presents, and all that.

Day 7 & 8: Merry Crimbo!

Day 7? I hardly remember, except that it involved finishing the Rofl'Mao quest. And getting that lowercase N. What a tough quest. I got the dental pliers for Flip, because the #$@# pr0n wouldn't drop the N!

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 9
Caribou Smacker
Turns Played (this run): 856
Days Played (this run): 7

PvP was a straight hit-up of the top-ranked Level 8 players

PvP Ranking: 117
Fights Won/Lost: 23/3

Day 8 was Crimbo day. All the gifts are nice. First I wasted a lot of adventures farming so I could have Crimbo Dinner of 4(!) knob sausage chow mein. After that, I whacked Yeti with efficiency, till I reached level 10. I found an incredible amount of Penultimate Fantasy Chests on the Airship. It took a while before I had the Metallic A. Soon, I did reach the Castle and didn't have too much trouble there. With my last adventure, in fact, I opened up the Hole in the Sky. My secondaries are looking good, although Myst might require a small amount of boosting. We'll see. The content is rolling out nicely and I'm enjoying it tremendously. Well-orchestrated build-up, in retrospect. And no less than 3(!) new familiars. It sure helps for the Black Hole trophy.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 10
Moose Harasser
Turns Played (this run): 1,076
Days Played (this run): 8

PvP-wise, I violated the Christmas Treaties and went for 11/12, wishing everyone a Merry Crimbo.

PvP Ranking: 138
Fights Won/Lost: 36/9

p.s. Special Crimbo <3 to Aletariel, Soulcake and LaurDragon.

2005-12-24

Day 6: Pot Luck

What an enervating day! I randomly got to play, but I was giggling all the way. Lag was terrible, of course, but it didn't dent the fun.

I went to the Cyrpt and giggled at the poor Grave Rober Zmobie, always trying to rob his own grave. I actually managed to nail the Bonerdagon, but I'll wait with opening his chest 'till tomorrow, because my moxie is overmoxing already. I decided to focus on the side-stuff, so killed Gorgolok, the Infernal Seal and helped the Pretentious Artist. Hopefully I won't forget to get the Time Tattoo at the end of this run. Another great giggle is the program of the BASIC elemental.

Eventually, I even got to finish the tr4pz0r quest. Great stuff. I got too much crap from the mines, though. Enough to (accidentally) smith 2 asbestos weapons, and a chrome sword. The chrome sword, plus the dead guy's watch, plus the Tiny Plastic Crimbo Raindeer means +5 adventures :-)

Also, serious PvP ahoy. Got 11 (ridiculous) wins and got attacked by and lost from 1 (All hail Bernini!).

And for tomorrow? We'll see tomorrow. I'm planning to be at the 'rents, celebrating the real-life Crimbo.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 8
Otter Crusher
Turns Played (this run): 647
Days Played (this run): 6

PvP Fights Won/Lost: 11/1

2005-12-22

Day 5: Dallying in the snow.

Throughout all the lag, and real-life business, I've been able to make some progress. Although obviously very sub-optimal. I did enjoy it. When not being timed out, that is.

Old habits die hard too. So I've got the Pixel stuff, two DD keys, killed the Goblin King (and didn't forget the MCD, this time). I'm not 100% sure that the Cape (+7 moxie) is better than the Crown (+10 muscle), but it's not bad, that *is* for sure.

I also managed to beat the Deep Fat Friar's and drop the path. Now, Crimbo Town is another advantage, because not only did I eat the horribly candy food there, just to not totally waste everything, but I did have a cheap, accessible source of booze. I'm up to 19 drunkeness, on an incredible sugar rush :-)

Other notable tricks: I've gotten access to the Island and Hippy Shop. I've landed myself a supportive bra. (Go bra!) And, I forgot to kill my hippy stone before overdrinking, so I could PvP here and there.

Nonetheless, I can go to bed satisfied that I've got way too many turns to play tomorrow, that I'm incredibly slow, but that I'm not in a horrible, horrible position to slightly salvage the run over Christmas.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 7
Narwhal Pummeler
Turns Played (this run): 425
Days Played (this run): 5

p.s. Tiny Plastic Crimbo Elf! Yay!

2005-12-20

Return of the Lag!

Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells
'tis Crimbo All The Day
Oh what crap, it's called the lag
Which halts me from actual play

Crimbo Town looks GREAT. Really, I love it. Santa's trailer, the Toy Factory. The toysmithing idea, all the whacky elves. Especially the Elves strike a nerve with me.

But, sadly the game is nearly unplayable. It regularly crashes my browser as well. Combined with the fact that workwise, things are getting busy, I don't see much point in keeping detailed records. I can just wing it, mostly.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 5 or so, Seal Clubber
Turns Played (this run): ~ 200
Days Played (this run): 3

2005-12-19

Lagged out!

40 adventures is really not a lot. Especially not if 10 of them are spent in the arena, 19 plying jewelry, and 2 (or was it three?) resting. I did kill the bossbat.

After that, I could've eat stuff and played, but really, the lag turned me off. This isn't going to be a speedy run anyway.

I just didn't want to waste my fulness alltogether, so ate 3 bouillabaisses.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 4
Ermine Thumper
Turns Played (this run): 150
Days Played (this run): 2

2005-12-18

Day 1: Off the Wagon

So, teetotal and Opposum, to get a feel for the Mysticality sign. So far, so good, I guess. Level 4 isn't bad for the first day. I haven't been able to make any Jewelry yet, but I couldn't have worn it anyway (requires 10 base myst).

The mosquito quest and rat quest are done. If this was Oxycore, I would have noted the location of the Faucet, but not yet closed it. The meat from autoselling the three DB drinks is nice, but not as nice as being able to kick the ass of Ratsworthy. Also I'm not spending any more bloody time in the spooky forest looking for a barskin tent. The Newbiesport is going to have to do. In Oxycore, I would've fought rats to level up.

I did get to meatsmith sticky meat pants. Stylin'. Furthermore, against regulations, I ate my Advent Calendar cookie. And then decided to go for a puissant meal at Chez Snootee. Two Bouillabaisses and a Peche a la Frog later, I had gotten everything for a Bitchin' Meat Car from the Degrassi Knoll. I showed the car to the Council, then turned it into a fearsome Autoplunger!

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 4
Ermine Thumper
Turns Played (this run): 110
Days Played (this run): 1

p.s. The Hidden Temple clover adventure is useless at a low level. I got 3,2,1 substats, respectively. It might actually be a good booster at somewhat higher levels, but it remains to be tested.

Day 9: So long, Sauceror

For your information, the level 6 tower monster was the Fickle Finger of F8. It took 23 adventures to get the lowercase N. The first pr0n I met dropped it.

Her Naughtiness went down on the first attempt.

PvP netted me 12 wins and a leaderboard rank, before I jumped into the gash.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 11
Bay Leaf Brujo
Ascended under the Wombat zodiac, in 1,223 turns, spread over 9 days, under Hardcore restrictions. (no path)

2005-12-17

Day 9: Ascension Ahoy!

First things first. If I'm to ascend at all, I need a wand. I'll take my Crimbo Elfling to the Valley and see how long it takes before I have a lowercase N.

Foodwise, I would like to eat as little as possible, so I can put in those herb brownies. The same goes for drinking, so I have liver left for White Canadians.

If I *do* need to eat, here's the menu:
* lucky surprise egg (I'll eat this anyway)
* candy cane
* candy cane
* hell ramen
* hell ramen

The 6th tower monster could very well be the dreaded cow. I'll have no option other than to continue to visit the moxious shore, seeing as how I blew up my wand, yesterday.

The Lock, Bolt and Shadow I take for granted. Then it's Familiar Fighting time. It seems familiar, but I still like to do some math here.
Required level is 20. I already have 11 pounds (empathy, sympathy, tiny plastic familiar) taken care off. That means 9 pounds per familiar to be reached.
9 * 9 = 81 kills required. 81 / 5 ~ 17 fights won. Yet, after 10 fights I get a reward.
Let's assume it's a lead necklace. I only need to reach level 6 then. 6 * 6 = 36 kills. 36 / 5 ~ 8 fights won.
This means that if I fight 9 times with the first familiar, then force a lead necklace to drop on the tenth fight, I only need to fight 8 times with the other, for a grand total of only 18 turns. If the familiarspecific item would drop, I would have to fight at least 20 turns. 2 turns saved!

Then there's her Naughtiness herself. How do I dress for the occassion? Wolf Mask, Goth Kid Shirt, Wand of Nagamar and Furry Pants are a given. Since I don't have much spellpower or other accessories available, I'm going to wear an acid-squirting flower and two flaming talons. My tactic will be to plothole her and use some regular attacks, intermingled with LTS and healing potions. I hope my dodecapede will take care of the brunt of the damagedealing. The acid-squirting flower will keep her on her toes while she attacks me.

After defeating her Naughtiness:
I want to get a decent PvP-rank, so I can scrounge up 3 reagents, farm for gr8pes with my Elfling and buff up with gr8ness, grapefruit, arse-a-fire, hairspray and goofballs.

Then I can break the prism and spend any remaining turns farming the Yeti.

Ascension:
The skill I'll keep is Elemental Saucesphere. My new run will be Seal Clubber, Teetotal, Oppossum, Hardcore.

Day 8: Starry-eyed Sauceror

The trick with the Wrath serum did it. I gathered just enough stars and lines to make a Star Staff, Buckler and Richard's Star Key.

I lost a lot of turns farming for Bat Wing Chow Mein. The knob mushrooms posed few problems, but the bat wings took ages. Probably would've been faster making Gnocchetti di Nietschze and an insanely spicy enchanted bean burrito. I also wasted a few too many turns beaten up, or in the wrong area. Oh well, I did get to the base of the Tower and zoomed through the Entrance Cavern. The Hedge Maze Golems were unfriendly, but quite beatable.

The Tower itself was nasty. I had to get a spider web, spend my single lowercase N on the Desktop Globe and more such unpleasantness. I've got a single Tower level left and I hope it's not the Cow.

I do like that I have all the time to plan my Ascension tomorrow and am not pressured in the Arena.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 11
Bay Leaf Brujo
Turns Played (this run): 1,162
Days Played (this run): 8

PvP went okay, with a 9/10 result. I didn't quite maneuver for rank. I'll see what I can do after defeating her Naughtiness tomorrow.

PvP Ranking: 107
Fights Won: 74/27

2005-12-16

Day 7: Silly Sauceror

Not much eventful today. Got the wand, zapped a key, zapped something useless and *BOOM*. Reached level 10 and switched the Peak for the Fantasy Airship, the Airship for the Castle and am now in the Hole. Only a few potioned up turns were spent there, though.

The problem is that the Hole is an environemnt quite hostile towards Sorcerors. I have been using reagent potions for PvP, so I cannot easily afford *both* an orange potion and a grapefruit potion. The challenge is as follows:
Going into the Hole *as is*. I'll get pwned. So, I have 3 options, to boost a single stat.
#1 Using a potion to double my muscle. I'll kill them on the first hit, but they'd get the jump on me, hurting me real bad. With the extra HP, I might suvive and be able to heal.
#2 Using a potion to double my mysticality. I'd get the jump on them, but would I be able to kill them with the first strike?
#3 Using a potion to double my moxie. They'd hurt me less, but significantly so? Also, since I wouldn't get the jump on them, would I be able to kill them in 2 strikes, without them killing me in 2 strikes?

Tomorrow, I'll try option #1 first.

In other news, I drank a White Canadian, took several more trips to the Shore, but got shirt nor fence. I did get a Meat Globe, which I'll use tomorrow. (Already have too much muscle). And, last but not least, I ate 3 bat wing chow mein. Yummy!

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 10
Coriander Conjurer
Turns Played (this run): 1,001
Days Played (this run): 7

In PvP news. I reached the leaderboard and scored another 13 out of 13. Are people even trying? The problem is, of course, that any people serious about these affairs leave the field upon reaching level 10. I kind of have to agree with the people that say that PvP is broken. Then again, I mostly win based on at least one mini-game...

PvP Ranking: 162
Fights Won/Lost: 65/21

2005-12-15

Day 6: Smashing Sauceror

Alliteration is getting a bit silly now. I Lunge-Thrust Smack my way through the game. Today the RNG smiled on me a lot. I got easy trinkets, a one-turn abridged dictionary, etc. etc.

I had been silly and forgotten to get the screwdriver, but that was just a three-turn trip. With penguinskin shorts, my iniative improved and it got even better. I really look forward to having the over-developed sense of self-preservation in the future. I also needed a few more melee damage bonuses for some monsters, but now that I've found talons in the valley, I'm all set. The valley went quite easily as well, I might say. I got another Jarlsberg from the dungeon and gave my muscle a good boost with the three statboosters (leaflet, bonerdagon chest, stat script).

I ate two bat wing and one knob sausage chow mein. I have some spare clovers for today to get grabbags, but I should thing about alternatives to bat wing chow mein, since I'm out of bat wings and it's hard to get knob mushrooms as well. Still might want to go for three bat wing chow meins with the grab bags...

My goals for tomorrow are getting the zapping wand and reaching level 10.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 9
Basillusionist
Turns Played (this run): 850
Days Played (this run): 6

PvP went spiffy too. Especially considering I had two flaming talons for accessories. A straight 13 for 13 and a boost in ranking.

PVP Ranking: 138
Fights Won/Lost: 49/15

2005-12-14

Day 5: Slow Sauceror

Basking in the post-Boris glut, today was pretty slow. I ate some cranberry sauce and tofurkey gravy leftovers, together with two bat wing chow meins.

Again, I was struggling for meat. In Oxycore, at least I will be autoselling all the food and booze, nor have to spend anything at the Brewery. I still don't have Elemental Saucesphere, nor can I start to think about getting the Wand. The Yeti's are looming however as is the Baron's quest, so meat is on the horizon.

I finished the Cyrpt quest, even though I got beaten up by the big Ghuol twice (second time was due to stupidity, I had forgotten to actually use my newly bought HP restorers). I also got through the mines. To evade being beaten up, I wasted my well-earned meat at the Beach, hoping to get the barbed-wire fence, but I didn't even get a shirt. Cheese mining went pretty well at first, and I already have 4 of the 6 required cheeses. I went to get reagent buffs to defeat the Bonerdagon and of course I forgot to switch out of the Hippy Outfit. I still nailed him, which was a nice ending of the day.

Tomorrow is a muscle day, which will be a nice boost for that stat. I saved the chest of the Bonerdagon for it. I might even get the meatglobe. I only need 3 more trips, and still don't have a fence (or a shirt!).

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 8
Oreganoccultist
Turns Played (this run): 689
Days Played (this run): 5

I had won a few PvP-fights overnight, while buffed only with a single grapefruit potion. I again went for the easy flowers.

Ranking: 117
Fights Won/Lost: 33/9

Day 5: Systematic Sauceror

Yeah, planning post. I really liked that spiffy table I created several days ago. Most of it got done in two days, too. Let me try that again, with all the new tasks that have popped up. I've chopped up some of the quests in bits.

Quest:Difficulty:Priority:
Daily DungeonLowHigh
Strange LeafletLowHigh
McLargeHuge: Ore MiningMediumHigh
McLargeHuge: Cheese MiningMediumMedium
Pirate OutfitMediumHigh
Valley: Baron QuestHighMedium
Valley: H4xx0rHighLow
Cyrpt: ClearingLowMedium
McLargeHuge: Cold Weather GearLow/HighLow
Cyrpt: BonerdagonHighLow
Zapping WandMediumMedium
NemesisLowNil


The Zapping Wand becomes a bit more of an idea, while the Nemesis quest has lost all priority. Getting the Bonerdagon and the Cold-Weather gear sorted would be nice, but can also wait another day if it turns out to be too tough. The Cold-Weather gear part is also really easy to tackle if I get Elemental Saucesphere, hence the dual rating.

Wishlist:
Elemental Saucesphere (4000)
Gnefarious Pickpocketing (5000)
Chrome Helmet Turtle (1000 + 1 chrome + 1 turn)
Penguin shorts (100 + 1 penguin skin + 1 turn)

Plan:
Firstly, I'll try to get in the mines, if I get beat up, it depends if I can get my myst up high enough to simply pop a pungent unguent and keep at it, or if I have to do side-tracks. This is actually the one place where the jarlsberg earring might help. Possible sidetracks are the knob goblin kitchens, for food farming, or the dungeons-of-doom-to-be, for wandfarming. I'll probably spend a lot of time with goats, before possibly reaching level 9 and getting a chance to go into the valley. After cheese farming is a good idea to try for the Pirate Outfit and to clear out the Cyrpt. I could even use my PvP-buff potion for taking on the Bonerdagon. If I have elemental by then, it will be even easier.

It's interesting to see how few are on my wishlist. Most of them are simply made obsolete by my shillelagh/LTS combination. It will get even worse if I get talons from the Valley.

2005-12-13

Day 4: The Stuffed Sauceror

I actually had forgotten, but today was Feast of Boris. And a veritable Feast it was. The extra room in my stomach really gave my adventuring a boost and the special foods that dropped (I ate one of each and even two of the herbs) was great. I even have a can of cranberry sauce to spare. The advent calendar had an aspirin. I used that to heal a beaten up. It was pretty good, it removed my beaten up effect and gave me HP as much as my beaten up maximum.

I got most of the quests on the list done. Goblin King -> Assasinated, Pixels -> Found, Island -> Accessed, Hippy Gear -> Extracted, Deep Fat Friars -> Rescued. Although not neccessarily in that order. The greatest breakthrough was when I hit 30 muscle. Shillelagh + Lunging Thrust Smack + MMJ = Cheap, cheap, cheap killing. Seriously, I deal over 100 damage without breaking a sweat for a measly 8 MP. The Daily Dungeon was also ran, but it only gave me a pathetic jarlsberg's earring. Of all the DD items, that's the most pathetic. What was not on the list was getting a chef-in-the-box, but I managed that, nonetheless, I even cleared a corner of the Cyrpt and got two pieces of the mining outfit.

I still had to manage the old meatflow and spent more adventures in the Knob Goblin Treasury then I would've liked, but I did get an entire outfit, a visor and, I've realised, the goblins are the funniest drawn pictures in the game. Seriously.

All the adventuring took me a better part of the day. Not only because the extra fullness gave me so damn many adventures, but also because, especially in the evening, the lag got horribly horrible terrible. Luckily, the new servers are really, really close to being taken into service.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 8
Oreganoccultist
Turns Played (this run): 548
Days Played (this run): 4

For PvP, I just took on Pastamancers that were level 6 and ranking 10. Cheap shots, but with all the lag, I didn't particularly want to waste time doing research. I used my tenth adventure to take a shot at Soulcake. Buffed Myst was better, I missed the other two stat comparisons and sadly lost one of the two mini's. I'll have better luck next time. My campground flower collection is complete however.

PvP Ranking: 52
Fights Won/Lost: 19/7

2005-12-12

Day 3: Spicy Sauceror

How long can I keep the alliteration up?

Today was quite steady, even for the buttload of adventuring I did. Mostly because I felt today one shouldn't speak about a drop rate, but rather a non-drop rate.

I gave up on my Crimbo Elf and just staid with the Bat. Eventually I did get the Airfreshener and so could make haste with the slaying of the Boss Bat. When that was done, I tried the Friar's. I got the Birthday Candles in one turn. Nice! On to the next spot. A single demon-ninja explained me in no unclear terms why going there was not such a good idea. Ouch!

I decided to hang in the Kitchen, Treasury and Harem, and that went fairly nice. I got beat up a few times and hung out in the Haunted Pantry while healing, secretly hoping to get the Dolphin King's Map (That crown ain't bad, and the meat's a mini-fortune at that level) or at least an asparagus knife. No such luck. I hung out in the kitchens, hoping to get knob mushrooms. Those were scarce too. I did get a handful of knob sausage, but that ain't my thing. Eventually, I decided to go for Insanely Spicy Enchanted Bean Burrito. I'm not 100% convinced the turns and meat spent are worth it, but it's spicy.
In all my adventures in the Harem I did get perfume from the Harem girls, but not pants or a veil. Luckily, there's the choice adventures for that. The Elite Guards and Bean Counters were scarce with their drops as well. I only got 2 items. Ironically, 2 elite shirts. Yay! for shirts. Getting those like this is exactly why I love having Torso Awaregness as a permanent and a nice compensation for the lack of other drops (helmet? visor? pants? pole-arm? Where are you!).

At the end of the day, I broke my hippy crap and started pounding on people with low, low, low ratings and, oh yeah, that one guy that attacked me. 10 flowers! I'll soon be in Soulcake's range!

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 7
Tarragon Thaumaturge
Turns Played (this run): 335
Days Played (this run): 3

2005-12-11

Day 3: Saucy Plans

Looking forward, this run will have some late-run muscle stat days. If anything, I should be focusing on moxie, a bit. I already have the Wombat sign, but foodwise, I guess rat appendix chow mein goes for knob sausage chow mein, even though for the latter, I've got better ingredients.

My plans for tomorrow include killing the boss bat, hanging a bit in the treasury and kitchens to be able to buy low-level skills/spells, maybe doing a DD run. I also want a zapping Wand. I'm a Sauceror, dammit. Let me prioritize the quests. I'll also put in a wishlist of skills/items.

"Quests":
Quest:Difficulty:Priority:
Store AccessLowHigh
Boss BatLowMedium
NemesisLowLow
Deep Fat FriarsHighHigh
Goblin KingHighMedium
Pixel HuntMediumMedium
Island AccessLowMedium
Hippy GearHighMedium
Zapping WandMediumLow
Daily DungeonMediumHigh


Wishlist:
Elemental Saucesphere (4000)
Expert Panhandling (3000)
Gnefarious Pickpocketing (5000)
Meaty Helmet Turtle (1000)

Questing plan:
First of all, I should drink the two DB drinks and get Guild store access. Then I can easily refresh MP and start using LTS against monsters. Getting the meatdropping skills (eventually) should help me to pay for it. Foodwise, I'm best off farming a bit for the knob mushrooms for two Gnocchetti. I'll get more meat that way, anyway. Then I can take aim at the Boss Bat, getting an insanely enchanted spicy bean burrito, while I'm at it. Then I should test whether I can already handle fighting Friars, or should take on the Goblin King, first. If I've got decent meat, but not enough to go for Island Access, I can farm for pixels instead.
After that, I can see where I stand.

Day 2: The Sauced Sauceror

First of all. Lag. A very real and very big problem. It could strike you! It is not an excuse for what happened today, but it *is* getting out of hand.

Anyway, I had a great party, slept late, so had to play during lag-hours. All went reasonably well. It was close in getting the meatcar, so I could reach the shore, but I made that. And then I drunk and then I had a bit of a snag in getting any wooden stakes (so no barskin tent, or scarecrow) and pine-fresh airfreshener (the boss bat still lives).

I could've made it to 200 turns, if I hadn't been so dumb. I saw I had 6 adventures left and thought, it costs 2 to cook gnocchetti. I can just adventure 4 times. Somehow, I suddenly found myself with 0 adventures. I decided to overdrink on the DB drink from finishing the Tavern quest (should've drunk two more of them today, instead of all IPA, but at least I can compensate that more easily later). Then I cooked the Gnocchetti and a boring spaghetti (would've wanted an insanely spicy enchanted bean burrito) and ate those. A bit of smithing later and I've got 30 adventures in the bank. Wish that I could've spent them today. I would've reached level 6.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 5
Rosemary Diviner
Turns Played (this run): 181
Days Played (this run): 2

PvP: Unbroken

2005-12-10

Day 1: The Shirted Sauceror

I'll never be unable to wear a shirt again. This skill is actually more of a gimmick, but one gimmick I love about the Kingdom. I was planning to go Oxycore, but seeing as this might be my last month of uninterrupted internet access (not counting days like yesterday), I better make the most of it. So, I'm going Sauceror for the Elemental skill. Then I'll go Seal Clubber for "Tongue" and a nice start in Oxycore life. I should be able to wrap that up before 2006.

My hardcore skill list:
Powers of Observatiogn (G)
Torso Awaregness (G)
Lunging Thrust-Smack (SC)
Eye of the Stoat (SC)
Armorcraftiness (TT)
Empathy of the Newt (TT)
Amphibian Sympathy (TT)
Pastamastery (P)
Advanced Saucecrafting (SA)
Mad Looting Skillz (DB)


Adventurewise, I did very little. I got free goofballs and a continuum transfunctioner. I equipped my saucepan and visited Mt. Noob. I sold the gemstones, and arena'd my Crimbo Elfing ('tis the Season) and my Cheshire Bat (got the smile-sharpening stone).

I might come back later, purely to get a bunch of clovers.

[edit]

16 turns later, I have 6 (disassembled) clovers and 3 extra spices (total:4) in inventory. Will be handy tomorrow to get grabbags. With those, I can eat two Gnocchetti di Nietscze and an (insanely) spicy enchanted bean burrito, if I reach level 5. Otherwise, just a bunch of spicy enchanted bean burrito's.

I have no meat in reserve though for things like the tenderizing hammer, although I could of course take a clover to the Treasury.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 1
Allspice Acolyte
Turns Played (this run): 27
Days Played (this run): 1

Reminders for tomorrow: Drop the silly "Oxycore", equip the Cheshire Bat and get adventuring.

Day 7 & 8: An overview

On day 7, I ate two gnochetti and a bean burrito, drank myself silly with IPA and Imp Ale. I fought and lost two PvP fights, setting me back to level 9. End of day 7.

On day 8, I did the adventuring thing, quite effectively. Stormed up through the castle, Had to use a bit too many adventures for my liking in the Hole-in-the-Sky, relying on reagent potions, because Wereseal wasn't working today. Zapping the key worked fine, but I took a lot of adventures finding a disease, a broken skull and a lowercase n (I tried zapping an Original G, but no luck). The disease really took close to twenty adventures for the monster to show up...I got the n on my second pr0n.

I used the third (and final) zap to zap furry pants into a wolf mask and complete the Furry Suit. The entirety of the Sorceress hide-out was uneventful. With 10 adventures left, I PvP'ed myself to a nice +- 150 rating and...ascended.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 11
Reindeer Threatener
Ascended in 1163 turns, spread out over 8 days, as a hardcore Seal Clubber under the wombat sign.

2005-12-08

Day 7: And on the Seventh Day, Keypunch...rested?

Tomorrow, I could be facing a worst-case scenario of being forced to actually *work* during the daytime, while I have a pressing social engagement with the venture capitalists of Keypunch's Future in Life, Inc. (also known as "parental units") in the evening. What to do? Wake up early, fight the roll-over lag trying to do something useful? Stay up late, fighting the pre-roll over lag trying to do something useful?

Just eat and booze, pvp and play it all on the next day?

Let's see wat I can scrounge up with zero adventuring on a non-clover day:.
Bean burrito, two Gnochetti di Nietszche.
Not bad, considering.
Or, to go whacky: Hell ramen, pr0n m4nic0tti, enchanted bean burrito and a herb brownie.

On the other hand, even when it's not a clover day, it seems to make sense to hit the Kitchens for Knob Sausage (and some spice).
The menu would then read: Knob sausage chow mein, Spaghetti-with-skullhead, knob sausage pizza / (insanely) spicy bean burrito, mugcake/gingerbread bugbear.

If it's clover day, I would still be limited in my options, but at least be able to spice things up a bit (pun intended).
Knob sausage chow mein
2* Spicy bean burrito
Insanely spicy enchanted bean burrito
mugcake/gingerbread bugbear

Or I could try zapping a knob mushroom, and see whether it succesfully becomes a knoll mushroom. Then I wouldn't be able to zap anything else, as I can't afford the Wand to explode.
2 knob sausage chow mein
Insanely spicy bean burrito
trollhouse cookies.

In the end, it really depends on the time available. The booze spots have been reserved already, for my loyal friend, IPA.

Adventuring itself, if I get to it, will be simply trying to LTS my way through all the bad guys, helped by the clock, 3 flaming talons and a ridiculously huge sword ( +25 * 3 damage bonus). Once I reach the Castle I get Torso Awaregness, turn the Wheel clockwise over Mysticality, don't forget to visit the Council, use some Wrath Serum potions to get the star stuff, turn the wheel back, counterclockwise over Mysticality to gain enough stats to visit the Tower and start the process of ascending.

Now, if I get anywhere close to that tomorrow (which I doubt) I've got another dilemma. It would be my fastest ascension yet, by a day, if I got there tomorrow. However, I don't have the fence yet. If I got cowed, and the wand was already broken from the second zap (I need to zap at least one key), if I had zapped for food, I'd be forced to shore for moxie. I don't want more moxie. Anyway, this seems far-fetched. I probably won't get this far, and if I do, I will have only a small reserve of adventures, making it more worthwhile to save them up.

Consequent plan for Day 7:
- *zap a knob mushroom*
- Cast Empathy (I always forgot that)
- Use up some more MP
- check for clovers
* hit up the sewer and kitchen for grabbags
* farm the kitchen for sausages
- Go LTS-ing (keep a decent MP stock) in the Airship/Castle as best as I can, turning the wheel over Myst
- drink my PvP potions and PvP mostly the same people I PvP'ed today

Day 6: The reckoning

No clovers today, my luck has gone away. So, I ate 2 gingerbread bugbears and a fruitcake instead (besides my knob sausage chow mein).

Yesterday, I learned a little trick, also due to the thread on LTS. I took up Strangerest on his offer to play his character and I learned that the power of LTS is, for a large part in the fact that it not only triples the regular damage, but also the damage bonus. Since I had taken my Crimbo Elf to the Valley, I had plenty of flaming talons. Two of them equipped gives a whopping +30 on damage already. Using a clock for initiative, I ripped the Yeti to shreds with a single-hit. The only thing I had to really adapt to, was that I would keep running out of MP. I lost probably close to ten turns on that. I was running from the Yeti like an Orcish Snowboarder on those ocassions.

I also blundered once on soda water, using up the 30 I just bought. Whoops. That would've been much better spent at the Hall of Legends. With my last adventures I reached level 10 and even could adventure up the Beanstalk. A ridiculously huge sword for me (that's +30 damage with LTS) !

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 10
Moose Harasser
Turns Played (this run): 895
Days Played (this run): 6

PvP was a bit of a saga in and of itself. Due to being pushed up so much in rank, I really had to cherry-pick my targets. I obviously would regularly lose the raw-stats based challenge, so I would have to make sure I'd win at least the buffed stats challenges and also make sure I had good chances with the mini-games.
In the end, I defeated one level 10, five level 11, three level 12 and three level 13 characters. All of them with a PvP ranking of 140 or upwards.

PvP Ranking: 213
Fights Won/Lost: 74/45

PvP Madness!

With a ranking of 207, I suddenly find myself on the top (#6) of the PvP Leaderboard. Which is ridiculous for a level 9, I knew I did something wrong with those potions.

Being unsuccesfully attacked twice by Tina Inferno didn't help that. Hopefully someone like Soulcake or Hojo Hominygrits will attack me during my adventures and I can actually focus on getting a few honest flowers.

2005-12-07

Day 6: Beefs

Day 5 is the fastest I've ever reached level 9. Can't imagine how good it would have been if these had been muscle stat days. But I digress.

Quest-wise, day 6 is simple. Get the Dictionary, cross into the valley, kick the shit out of the meat begz0rs and other assorted creatures there, make sure I've got at least one lowercase N and continue chopping up Yeti like today. If I reach the Airship, or even castle, the only thing I gotta remember is to turn the Chore Wheel clockwise.

Booze: It'll be more IPA, I presume.

Food: 2 Knob Sausage Chow mein are a given. If it's not a clover day, I'm thinking of zapping a pr0n chow mein and hoping it becomes a tofu, knob sausage or bat wing one...if it turns tofu, I can tuck in some herb brownies.
If it *is* a clover day, I will get a bunch of grabbags, so I can cook up reagent food on day 7.

Crafting: I should craft the Chrome Sword (I already have the two chrome parts, after all). Also a pair of yakskin pants and another penguin skin buckler.

Misc.: Check the bounty hunter for penguin/other skins.

Day 5: Moxious!

With the two stat days, and today two stat boosters, my Moxie has gotten awfully high. Nothing to be too uncomfortable about, but I'll overshoot for the Sorceress.

Yes, it was a clover day! Two knob sausage chow meins and a bat wing chow mein later, I did most of my adventuring. I finished up the trapz0r quest, followed up with clearing the Cyrpt, got the Swashbuckling outfit and then spent the majority of my time bonking Yeti on their big fat heads. You really have to love soda water, though. I used the wand two times, once to zap a piece of the cold-weather gear and once for a piece of the swashbuckling get-up. I shouldn't take that risk with the wand anymore, because I will need it to zap a key and might need it to zap a fence.

I used my PvP buff-up to whack the Bonerdagon. He succumbed without hassle, but PvP was a bit weird. I think I ended up only 8 for 11. I attacked Hojo Hominygrits, and lost on all 5 counts, he struck me back, and lost 3 out of 5. I've taken him off the Vendettalist for that loss.

I did make level 9, but didn't feel like risking overdrinking for the dictionary and I'll postpone that 'till tomorrow. I feel like making a small planning post. Quest-wise, it's straightforward, but I can note some minor details.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 9
Caribou Smacker
Turns Played (this run): 753
Days Played (this run): 5

PvP Ranking: 150
Fights Won/Lost: 53/40

Going in for the Skill

Since Skilled to the Core, I haven't paid much attention to the veracity of my claims there.

On the Essentials:
It's interesting to see how now, the opinion on "Eye of the Stoat" has so completely come around, when people actually took the trouble of ascending twice and picking it and LTS up. The list of essentials is still pretty spot-on. Pastamastery, Saucecrafting, Amphibian Sympathy are the top 3 (to be gotten in that order), without a doubt. Madrigal and Mad Looting Skillz aren't far behind. Then suddenly, a bunch of Seal Clubbbing skills have become popular. I had some arguments about Eye of the Stoat, because it needed the combination with Lunging Thrust-Smack, but as a combination, it has gotten so fatal, it's a heated debating issue on the forums, considered "too powerful" by a bunch of top players.

On the cool skills:
Armorcraftiness isn't considered as cool by many people as by me, but I'm a special case. In retrospect Advanced Meatsmithing doesn't belong with the cool skills. It's application is way too limited and I would replace it with any other Seal Clubbing Skill when judging for usefullness, except for Oxygenarian runs. I stand by the skills for the magical classes, except that Sauciness is pretty darn cool, but harder to get and less directly applicable as "Expert Panhandling". Now, for the Disco Bandit, I have changed my opinion on Crossbow Fever. With the changes in the Muscle class and the advent of LTS, moxie/crossbow-based strategy is limited to the actual moxie class (mysticality class can use spells). Now, when they are able to hit something, they need it unable to hit themselves, or it's game over. Ergo, increased "to hit" is useless. I would actually replace it with Cocktailcrafting. Drinks are one of the area's that's improved, but the gains remain so limited, Cocktailcrafting can give a nice boost to that, although it really has to contend with Nimble Fingers. My "cool" AT picks were just crap and based on a lack of experience. I still have that lack, so my new picks will probably still be crap, but I'd go for Powerballad (helps LTS/Stoat) and Canticle of Celerity (for initiative). The Gnome skills remain unchanged.

This all leads to my changed plans for going Hardcore Oxygenarian. I was supposed to go for the Grand Slam of Oxycores after this run. But then the idea had formed in my head to insert at least one extra HC Seal Clubber run, to get "Tongue of the Otter". I would go Teetotal/Oppossum and drop the path. That way I would get a feel for being low-level with few adventures, be able to test out being a mysticality sign, and be able to relatively speedily get out of it, with the big stomach. Also, this would give me a shot at eating another three-tiered wedding cake, but that was a bonus. Now, I think that Elemental Saucesphere would also *really* be a timesaver, and since Ascension is moving so relatively fast, I could fit both of them in.

So, that's Torso Awaregness this run, Elemental Saucesphere the next, and then Tongue of the Otter. From the first HCO run, I can then keep, finally, Advanced Meat-smithing.

Now, another thought, but this is far into the future, is to insert a "break" into the Oxycore Grand Slam. This would especially work well, since I would already have Elemental Saucesphere, one of the few skills that I think would really shorten my runs significantly, rather than be a convenience. The break would be after the third leg of the Grand Slam. I'd go Discobandit Oxycore -> Discobandit Pathless Hardcore -> Accordian Thief Hardcore. I could use that break to actually get the Gourdcore trophy. I would, at that point, have almost all itemdropping skills, and plexiglass pants, which, hopefully would shorten that run in that respect.
Anyway, this is all futuristic talk, first I'll have to manage that crucial, first, Seal Clubber Oxycore. I might be postponing it, but I'm sure as hell not going to ditch it.

2005-12-06

Day 4: I got it, I got, I got it.

I actually alternated between adventuring at the Gate and the Laboratory. I eventually found the laboratory preferable, in sheer meat gains. I did reach level 8, before gaining enough meat, so I also fought in the mines a bit.

The wand allowed me to zap the hippy outfit and I tested my luck and also zapped a fountain into windchimes. From here on, I'll have a zap a day, which I can use to give me crucial pieces of Outfit. The final adventures were used to continue the level 8 quest. I used trick-or-treating (in Hippy Outfit) to get rid of beaten-upness in the mines. Nice to have herb brownies.

I've also smithed a Kentucky-fried meat sword, with the only spice I had gotten while sewerfishing to get rid of Teleportitis.

All in all, adventure-wise was a bit single-sided, but having the wand opens up opportunities, such as not having to visit the DD anymore. I hope tomorrow is a clover day, so I can start to chow down on chow mein. Tomorrow, I can also clear out the Daily Dungeon.

For booze, I drank some martini's at the brewery. Actually not as good as IPA, but what the heck. They're as sophisticated as they're delicious.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 8
Otter Crusher
Turns Played (this run): 598
Days Played (this run): 4

A note on PvP:
I dished out some revenge, and only broke my teeth on Vladjimir. I went positive in Won/Lost too :-)

PvP Ranking: 107
Fights Won/Lost: 37/30

2005-12-05

Day 4: I wand it, I wand it, I wand it

Planning.

ToAdventure:
I definitely want the wand. However, that requires +- 6000 meat. I'm pondering between 5 contenders:
* Knob Goblin Laboratory - Pro's: Good meat, Scrumptious Reagents, decent stats
* Menagerie Level 1 - Pro's: Okay meat, great stats
* Deep Fat Friar's Gate - Pro's: Good stats, good meat, ridiculously small chance of ultrarare
* Orcish Frat House - Pro's: Okay meat, booze, guaranteed fights
* Knob Goblin Treasury - Pro's: Top meat, ridiculously small chance of ultrarare.
Seeing as meat is more of a priority than anything else, the menagerie and frat house drop as options. Seeing I still want to progress, the treasury is gone too. That makes it a toss-up between the laboratory and the Gate, with the Gate, even though it has non-stat adventures as a con, as my choice.

ToEat:
This depends on whether it's a clover day or not.
Clover day:
* Insanely Spicy bean burrito
* chow mein
* chow mein
* two olive stir-fry
Non-clover day:
*hell ramen
*hell ramen
*boring spaghetti

ToDrink:
IPA seems just fine.

ToZap:
Filthy Corduroy -> Filty Knitted Dreadsack
decorative fountain -> windchimes
Later on in the game, I can mostly zap for Outfits.

Post-Wand, I can simply work towards level 8 in the Menagerie.

Day 3: Evasive Maneuvers

I experienced a bit of the ennui and inertia of previous runs. Gaining stats is fine and dandy, but where can I do it that it's a bit interesting? I tried to go for the Hippy Outfit, but only got two corduroys. I did get the Liver of Steel and all mandatory items, but I still had turns left. I didn't seem to be able to get "the" break I wanted. Since it wasn't a clover day, I eventually called farming for sausages quits and ate a Spaghetti-with-Skullheads, a Gnoccheti di Nietschze and some boring spaghetti. I would've replaced the boring spaghetti with a spicy bean burrito (for stats), or insanely spicy enchanted bean burrito (for Chronic Indigestion...although it doesn't seem all that useful). Booze was the advent eggnog and IPA.

I did get a second dungeon key.

Eventually, I decided to go for the wand. I already have the plus sign, but now need to get the meat for the consultation and Mimic. Menagerie Level 1, perhaps.

My PvP went well, except against one person. I had a bad feeling about his turn count and was doubting between levelcamping and clueless. I decided it was the latter and it turned out to be the former.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 7
Narwhal Pummeler
Turns Played (this run): 465
Days Played (this run): 3

PvP Rank: 70
Fights Won/Lost: 24/26

p.s. To note several key issues, I'm going to make a smallish planning post.

2005-12-04

Day 2: Wrath of Keypunch

I had to correct a lot of issues. And I did.

My focus was mostly to get all the low-level stuff done with. The bossbat was easily dispatched (hurray for lunging thrust smack) and I farmed for a chef-in-the-box. It cost me a few adventures too many for it to be wortwhile, but it's just so convenient. I got the gear to kill the Goblin King and Knob sausages from the Kitchens. Two spaghetti-with-skullheads and a boring spaghetti were the meals of the day, while an advent eggnog and the pink ponies from the Tavern filled the majority of the booze budget.

I also opted to go for pixels quite early. I accidentally made 5 red pixel potions, but the Digital Key didn't take too long. The Distant Woods still seemed to tough for me, and I tried my luck in the Knob Goblin Laboratory. I got beaten up a handful of times and that was not right. A bit more attentive playing could've saved me there, but I just chose the easy option, some meatfarming in the Treasury.

In my final adventures, I cooked up a reagent potion with some grapes, and smacked down the Goblin King. Being able to wear stainless steel slacks helped too :-)

Time to PvP:

Overnight, I had been attacked several times, and besides the initial two losers, I was mostly pwned. Not surprising if people up to 5 levels higher take a swing at you. Still, I won one fight! I made a list and my aim was to get back all those that had taken a flower from me. One person, I was unlucky, against, I lost the raw stat comparison and both mini's. From his own attack, however, I knew that my mini's were better, so I took a second go and now lost the alternate stat fight, but thankfully, won both mini's. I did win all other figths, but only had 8 flowers, afterwards. Probably accidentally attacked for rank somewhere. Four bouquets for the campground.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 6
Malamute Basher
Turns Played (this run): 313
Days Played (this run): 2
PvP Ranking: 68
Fights Won/Lost 12/15

p.s. In spoilerific news, via via I've gotten a glimpse of what Crimbo will bring the Kingdom. Suffice it to say that part of the goodness will come in Tiny Plastic form.

2005-12-03

PvP absurdity

So, I thought, with my weirdness of breaking my stone early, and then the stupidity of overdrinking somewhere halfway, I would surely be PvP'ed into the ground.

But like a bad habit, I autosold a wad of dough and bought a can of hairspray. Fat lot of good that will do, you think.

Yet, so far, I've been attacked by two level 5. I won the third, alternate stat match on both and also the minigames. I knew my minigames weren't bad, but to gain 36 ranks like this...it's weird.

Edit: Also, this seems a good place to record a devious plan that's forming. If I manage to Ascend before December 13th, I could do an extra run, SC teetotaller (hardcore), drop the path when I get the stomach and eat a three-tiered cake. I could use the extra run for Tongue of the Otter. Then again, I already *have* that Trophy. Maybe I'm just looking for ways to postpone Oxycore.

Day 1: Iron Chef

Everything started out pretty fine. Drinking the three bottles of single-barrel whiskey and a free advent eggnog to boot. A little adventuring, setting up a tent, some weaponscrafting, finishing the typical tavern, getting your own car, and then I, for reasons totally stupid, that I needed a 3 drunkeness drink to get just below the limit.

While in actuality, as soon as I downed that IPA, I was at 15 drunkeness. To make it extra stupid, I had several ice-cold beers in inventory.

What to do? I hadn't eaten, so I became an emergency chef. Whipping something up with what I had.
Two spices with two dry noodles became spicy noodles. 6 fullness down, 9 to go.
Skewering a bat wing made a bat wing kabob. 8 fullness down, 7 to go.
Skewering a rat appendix made a rat appendix kabob. 10 fullness down, 5 to go.
250 meat spent at the giftshop, gave me five mugcakes. 15 fullness down!

It might not be a great meal, but this way I made the most of it and saved my knoll mushrooms for knob sausage chow meins. I also managed to whip up 3 reagents, for future usage.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 4
Ermine Thumper
Turns Played (this run): 80
Days Played (this run): 1

PvP:
Fights Won/Lost: 0 / 3
Rank: 19

Just for the heck of it, I already broke my stone, I'm not planning to seriously PvP 'till a day or two.

p.s. Shouldn't forgot to get the screwdriver tomorrow.

Day 14: The Ascendination

I PvP'ed a couple of times, but the risks were greater than the possible rewards. So, I took the plunge.

I indeed, met the easel on level 6. Bugger. At least that was solved in two trips to the fun house.

The door riddle was solved on the first try, the bolt reflected, I did have some fear build-up inside me when I used the third red pixel potion. If it had given as little HP as the previous one, it would've been the end of me. A possible costly affair, but luckily, it didn't happen like that. Both familiars required 10 adventures at the arena (Goat and Mosquito).

The Sorceress herself was easy. The Disco Dance of Doom is a great debuffer. The second form posed a bit more trouble before the Disco Dance connected, but when it did, it went easy.

I put a Tiny Plastic Disco Bandit on the Museum Shelf, untinkered my meat car. Stuffed myself with brownies and sloshed myself on White Canadians. Always a weird moment, to be able to eat, after you break the Prism.

A hop-and-skip later:

Ascension.

Keypunch (#30036)
Ascended as Disco Bandit, in Hardcore mode, under the sign of the Blender in 1221 turns, spread out over 14 days.

Only one day faster than my previous Boozing run :-)

2005-12-02

Day 13: How Now, Brown Cow?

Long story short: Desktop Globe and an Enraged Cow.
Short story long: Anything by Dickens.

So, yeah, adventuring went okayish, although I did make some mistakes. Even if it hadn't been Cow and just Globe (or not Globe and just Cow), I wonder if I would've succeeded. If it had been neither, success was imminent.

I did get the lowercase N when facing the first pr0n of the run. It took up to 16 trips (that's 11 on top of the mandatory trips, it's ridiculous, it's not even funny) to get the fence. And I didn't even get a souvenir shirt.

For tomorrow: Tower level 6. With myluck it'll be the disease that's required. Because I got both of the other missing items too (baseball, razor-sharp can lid). I'll have plenty of time to raise my familiars. No drinking required, although I might want to do a little of that...because of PvP.

Because, while I had a cow, that left me the adventures I otherwise would've spend on levelling familiars to cook up and overdose on a handful of reagent potions. Washing them down with some Hatorade, I was ready to go on a "Enraged Cow Stampede Attack!". And I did. 13 out of 13 flowers, and a nice, solid-looking position on the leaderboards. Tommorow, I can perhaps add a few points and hope I can fly under the radar while I'm (quite) vulnerable during my fight against the Naughty Sorceress.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 11
Boogie Brigand
Turns Played (this run): 1,193
Days Played (this run): 13

PvP Ranking: 202
Fights Won: 172/73

2005-12-01

Bwahaha! Drunk!

So, I used my bonus 668 scroll, just for the heck of it.

I got the "drunkeness" result. I'm now 32 drunk and made the leaderboards with that. Hardcore drunk! Bwahahahaha. A Boozetafarian is me :-)

Day 13: Planning to Push My Luck

The thirteenth day is unlucky, but maybe if I properly plan...

Getting the stats is straightforward: adventure in the Castle, hope for the wheel, donate to the Hall.

As for items:
Entrance: Wussiness potion, tasty fun rice candy, thin black candle. Check. Check. Check. All in the closet.

The cavern:
Keys: Sneaky Pete, Boris, Jarlsberg, Digital, Richard's Star, skeleton. All in closet, except Sneaky Pete, which is in inventory.
Mariachi: Stolen accordion. No stringed instrument (but I have strings and a clover). No rhytm instrument. The easiest is to go for a broken skull in the batcave. It has more dropchance and less unwanted stats than the tambourine bells. I also already have a skeleton bone to combine it with, while I don't have a gnollish pie tin for the tambourine.
Other cavern items: Star buckler, star weapon in inventory. Clover in the closet.

Hedge maze:
I've got a few spare reagents, if it's really tough, but I expect Disco Face Stab will do, really.

The tower:
Haves: meat vortex, sonar-in-a-biscuit, photoprotoneutron torpedo, frigid ninja stars, can of hairspray, spider web, chaos butterfly
Have-nots: baseball, barbed-wire fence, razor-sharp can lid, NG, disease.

I might get the baseball, while adventuring in Guano Junction. The razor-sharp can lid and disease are also (fairly) easy fetches. The NG is a matter of time with the pr0n, yet could be an ascensionbreaker. The real bitch is the fence. Seeing as there are new shirts, I will go for the holiday option, rather than the white picket fence/wand option. I'm even thinking of doing this pre-emptively, considering my stat requirements. Yup. I'll do that.

The lair:
I have 4 pixel potions in the closet.
I'll have to spend 20 adventures leveling the appropiate familiars.

Plan
First check the brewery for drinks. If it's a moxie-drink I'll have two immediately, else I'll drink IPA (or if it's base TPS, the special) when needed.
Then, a few skiing holidays, maximum of 6, till I have the fence.
I'll smith some Furry Pants.
Take the Pixie to Guano Junction, till I get a broken skull.
Take a clover to the Lemon Party.
Make the two missing instruments.
Adventure at the Castle/donate, 'till I have the right moxie.
Do the Lair. (minimally, 20 adventures for the Familiars, blast)

With good luck, I can make it. With bad luck, I fail.

Day 12: Close, but no cookie

When I said it would be tight, I would've been right, if I hadn't had my relatively bad luck with drops. I still wouldn't have made it, perhaps.

As it is, I'm missing a fair amount of moxie substats, have way too much muscle and am just about on track with mysticality. The airship was manageable on my regular moxie plus hairspray. For the Castle I required Disco Face-stabs. I used a bunch of orangish aphrodisiacs for the Hole. Now I'm back to the castle, the wheel is in the right position, but I just *need* those stats.

Father Crimbo dropped by with an advent calendar. It gave me eggnog, which is always great. Especially since the brewery only had white lightning. I currently still need to overdrink and am in serious doubt whether to pick the lightning or the IPA. It would keep my favourite drink unsullied for another day. Tomorrow, when I ascend, I will quite surely be drinking IPA. Choices, choices.

PvP-ing was fine. I first gained a bit of rank, in order to make a sprint tomorrow, but I secretly hope my defenses are nifty enough to be pushed up some by attackers already. Then I went for a bunch of flowers. My thirteenth attack was a vanity charge at Hooligan, a high-ranked Iocaine Powder player. I got wiped-out. Lost 33 substats of each, 3 rank points and a little pride :-) Still, 12 flowers.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 10
Vibe Robber
Turns Played (this run): 1,094
Days Played (this run): 12

PvP:
Fights Won/Lost: 146/69
Rank: 155

p.s. I also toyed around a bit with the new Mr. Store familiar. It's got a strong snap, but in the few uses, I didn't get a buff. It might prove interesting against the Naughty Sorceress.