Hardcore Happenings

2005-07-31

Day 10: Pre-Party

Moxie alignment complicates affairs. For example, I don't want to waste adventures farming for disembodied brains, beer lenses and boxes.

As per previous days, the Daily Dungeon is item #1 on the program. Mysticality should finally have stopped to be a problem, but heck, I've proven able to deal with that if it isn't. Next I plan to finish the mining outfit, and get at least one chrome ore, to smith the meaty helmet turtle into a chrome helmet turtle. This results in losing 7 muscle, but I'm overpowered for the area's as it is, I just need to do damage with that headbutt. I'm also compensated by extra moxie. Miner's pants will also be a boost to my equipment.
I'm assuming that the bigger part of my adventures from there on will be spent mopping up the Cyrpt.

A lihc eye pie, a shot of flower schnapps, and a can of hairspray should provide enough of an edge to get the Bonerdagon to his knees.

The question remains...what to do with the final adventures? Toil them away getting beat up for linoleum? Waste stat points with the Crimbo Elfling looking for campground enhancers (brains, boxes, Feng Shui books, beer lenses or Jick forbid, Hey Deze/Palindome stuff)? Or maybe, I could sewer for more spices and gain no stats...
I also by and by want my familiar-specific items (for Crimbo Elfling and Cheshire Bat), but this is meat-costly and statless...

Also, this list has some items I want:
Ghostly Shell: 4000 meat
Gnome Skills: 5000 meat/skill
Tenacity of the Snapper: 6000 meat
Tao of the Terrapin: 7000 meat
Empathy: 8000 meat

Stat-rich would be the pirates (I still need a stuffed shoulder-parrot(and guitarr)), the Orcs would give some premium booze. If I had been unlucky with mining for chrome, the Goatlet might have open, which would supply stats, booze AND food.

I think my decision should be to not go Cheshire Batless today, first loot the pirates (undisguised), then mine the mine and then hunt goat in the goatlet, as far as adventures allow it. On day 11, I can mop up for items with the Crimbo Elf, to be followed by going for the big meat.

Day 9: Momentum Rolls!

A bit of a rough start, but I gained momentum. The DD went fine, except for room 9, where a seal needed smoking, but resisted my attempts. Damn mysticality challenges.

I decided to PvP for a flower, but I'm obviously not cool on the mini-games...too many damn shore-adventures in my life.

My first assault went down like this:
Your PvP Ranking decreased by 9 points
You lose 14 Beefiness.
You lose 15 Enchantedness.
You lose 13 Cheek

I picked an utter and complete tool for the next combat, two levels lower and with obviously no moxie boost. I scratched by that one on the skin of my knuckles. The end of my PvP career? Who knows. I have my flower, which has been transformed to schnapps form.

So, I thought the pirates would like to see me next. I told them a joke (from the new choice adventures), helped some Beached Boys and got beat up in the first combat encounter...

So far, so bad. I cooked up an indigestion-causing burrito (yay!) and stole some meat from the Knob Goblin Treasury, to take a well-deserved moxie-holiday. My new attempt at the Daily Dungeon (difference, one myst point gained) was succesful, and another Breath Spray has been added to my collection. Actually, 5 extra moxie might be enough to tilt the balance in my favour, but I ended up running away from another pirate (but not without first taking swashbuckling pants from a choice adventure).

Orcs. Drunken Orcs. A couple of booze bottles later, I noticed I had no trouble with Orcs. A gobling is a lesser Orc, so I tried my luck in the menagerie in the skimpy harem outfit. No damage! A Royal Assassin became me! Finally, his long-desired crown! His meat was spent on a couple more skiing holidays, and I got a meatglobe from my travelling agent. What was left was spent on a cocktailcrafting kit.

With the King gone, the next item on the list were the friars. Statwise, I had no problem with even the toughest of demons, although I was bothered with all the hellion cubes. I continued my adventures in the Dark Neck for a wussiness potion and a Ruby W. Only after those two were in my possession, did I seal the gate and learn the secret of a steel liver.

On to the Cyrpt! That went pretty well, 'till I had to confront the first mini-boss. I was underpowered. My Chronic Indigestion skill required me to have more fullness, so I ate the herb brownies, and spent the confused adventures doing the clover->sewer->spice loop, after which I ate some delish spicy enchanted bean burrito's. With some added healing, I did clear out the zombie-infested part of the cyrpt, but no luck finding the skeleton boss again. A plethora of skeleton keys is available for the Daily Dungeon challenges, though.

The smart skulls also made me try to farm Fernswarthy's Tower for brains for a few turns with the Elfling. But stat gains are so minimal, that the turn loss for cooking/cocktailcrafting is far less detrimental than adventuring like that on a moxie day. So, I went back to the Cyrpt to face more of the endless hordes of skeletons. Some cocktailcrafting and IPA's later, and helped by the Cheshire Bat, I had gained enough stats to reach level 8! A call from the tr4pz0r was waiting for me with the Council and I made a spurt to the mountains to dally around for my final few turns at the mine. Loot: A miner's helmet.

To celebrate the break with inertia and the generally upward trend of the day's performance, I felt frisky enough to finish the day off with a Lumbering Jack special!

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 8
Salamander Subduer
Turns Played (this run): 913
Days Played (this run): 9

Extra-curricular action

Today, I was bored. Not being able to spend those adventures, I looked for other stuff to do. So, I lost all my liquid meat (+- 15 million) on rafflebot with my trading multi. At least I bought some mafia wines before doing something that stupid, so I didn't squander that meat.

Let's see that as a valuable lesson.

On a less stupid note. I broke my PvP stone. Hardcore player-versus-player is very friendly. When you are attacked, you can lose or gain "rank". Rank being an intangible thing, having no effect on your ascension progression. When you attack, I don't know the punishment for a loss, yet reckon it's a small stat penalty, but you can win "rank" or a pretty flower. The pretty flower being actually useful for your ascension.

I got attacked twice, (had to ask for it) and lost some rank. I might attack a sure victim tomorrow (or later), for a flower. The "flower power" bonus is better than goofballs!

2005-07-30

Day 9: Pre-emption

The moons are aligning. Moxious!

Even though I said this before, the Daily Dungeon should really be a cake-walk under this lunary constellation. My plan is to swiftly sneak through it, before I retreat myself to my campground cottage. There, in an act of clever disguise, I will don some hairspray, dab on some perfume, slip into a harem girl outfit and set off to kill a King.

My recently, and somewhat unintendedly, acquired access to the hippy store has ensured me a supply of cocktail fruit. Combined with impending visits to a certain bunch of rum-smuggling pirates and a particular group of booze-laden orcs, this seems like an excellent opportunity to acquire a cocktailcrafting kit. Or even an entire bartender-in-a-box. Especially because my chef-in-a-box has started to make clunking sounds, I need to adventure for that gear anyway. Although I might postpone it 'till after moxie day, in order to avoid the low-gain area's.

And then there's the Fat Friars. Still in need of my help. Willing to teach me secrets in return for my help. In due time....in due time.

Day 8: Time out? 4:20!

The Daily Dungeon proved to be a bit tougher than initially reckoned. All was well, until I met a certain seal, that needed to be smoked.

After conferring with my clannies, I decided to get the mysticality boost from running to the hippies and get a phat bead, in order to craft a bracelet with it. Especially with hairspray, I was surprisingly able to deal with the hippies (suffered 8-11 damage, occasionally). But of course, everything but the phat bead would drop. I switched to the Cheshire Bat to get stats, instead of drops.

The result:
3 filthy knitted dread sacks
filthy corduroys (pants!)
2 herbs
uncle jicks brownie mix
tambourine bells
2 bracelets, a piercing post and a necklace chain
3 wads of tofu
windchimes & decorative fountain

At least I got better pants, a hippy outfit and the tambourine. I also mixed up some herb brownies. The Bounty Hunter was buying dread sacks, so I sold him one. The special at the brewery was "bloody mary", which gives a few moxie substats and was relatively cheap, so I bought a few. The rest of the dungeon was uneventful, except that a lizardman gave me apathy, which meant the next door poisoned me, which led me to play it safe and burn off the effects by adventuring in the haunted pantry.

So, did I get the final key? No, all this trouble and general lack of saving of adventures netted me a Sneaky Pete's Breath Spray. At least it's better to equip than clown shoes.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 7
Iguana Driver
Turns Played (this run): 748
Days Played (this run): 8

2005-07-29

Day 8: Time-out!

Seeing as my priorities are Moxie, Moxie, Moxie and Moxie AND the fact that the day after tomorrow is a moxie day, I will be saving up my adventures tomorrow.

I *will*, of course, run through the Daily Dungeon, and I might adventure one or two times for meat, if there's a moxie-giving special drink. I will also do the clover-sewer cycle for spices, if applicable. At +49 adventures per rollover, I should be doing okay with maxing out the adventures for Moxie Day.

This does, of course, not absolve me from devising a plan for Moxie day itself.

Day 7: Another day...

So, this is what happens when you have no plans. Of course, the hermit lacked clovers. Deciding that this wasn't going to be a record run, anyway, I went for the gnauga hide plan.
Which netted me 4 flanges and a clockwork key, but no gnauga hides. I decided to make the clockwork maid then, which cost me quite a lot of adventures looking for a frilly skirt.
On the upside, I now have enough beer to last me 'till the end. I also upped the depleted shroomkabob reserves.

I then realized I still needed to run the Daily Dungeon. Aside from a "heat resistance" test, it was a cinch, with the nice touch of Boris Key accomplished. Enough meat was gained for a single shore trip: anti-cheese! My campsite must now be one of the most luxurious of any level 7 Hardcore player. A chef-in-the-box, clockwork maid and a cottage.

The Fat Friar's quest is still beating me up. Not only the Fallen Archfiend is too tough, it's also the G Imp. My priorities for tomorrow are Moxie, Moxie, Moxie and Moxie. Damage absorption with ghostly shell/Tao of the Terrapin is a costly second priority. Better pants take the Bronze medal for ideas. Later, I will write this out in a more comprehensive post. After all, that Goblin King is still a thorn in my pride, as well.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 7
Iguana Driver
Turns Played (this run): 689
Days Played (this run): 7

Note to self: IPA > any special that does not give moxie points.

2005-07-28

Day 7: Any ideas?

Except for sewering for spices, which might easily be thwarted by a lack of clover, I have little clue as what steps to take. The Daily Dungeon, of course, but that won't take the bulk of my adventures. Shoring for the Meat Globe seems like a sensible thing, but I really want to save that boost 'till next Moxie day, so I can take my sweet time on that, even though anti-cheese would be nice.

Pants, then. I could adventure for Gnauga Hides. Somehow I'm a bit obsessed with Gnauga pants. And I also hope that "accidentally" three flanges and a clockwork key would drop :D (clockwork maid).

The problem with this approach is that I would need to adventure with the Elfling in low meat, low stat area's. Which means: No meat AND little stats. I could also take the Cheshire Bat for a spin, but I'm a bit at a loss which area is most efficient in my current outfit/at my current level...

Speaking about which, I forgot to post this:
Keypunch (#30036)
Level 6
Frog Boss
Turns Played (this run): 580
Days Played (this run): 7

Day 6: Sewers & Smithing

I did complete the Daily Dungeon, but not smoothly at the first run. The final treasure *was* a Sneaky Pete's Key, so that was pretty cool. With todays gains in stats, I'm quite sure that any subsequent run will be far easier.

When you want to defeat the Goblin King, there is a pesky problem. You have to wear crappy gear to get close. You can carry a huge weapon, no problems, but you have low-power pants and hat. I wonder where you hide the weapon? ...nevermind. A good test is to fight a monster in the first level of the menagerie in the particular outfit. They are of similar strength to the Goblin King. I failed miserably, so I didn't even attempt for real.

Instead, I went for the sewer plan. With two trinkets in reserve, the spoils were splendid. The meaty helmet turtle was smithed, and I subsequently shored my way to Island access, with the added bonus of barbed wire. I had to run from a pirate, and the hippies were a bit strong as well. I did manage to snag some herbs, which together with sewer spices, made for a Kentucky Fried Meat Sword. With basic meat pants for 200 spent meat, my equipment upgrade was complete.

The menagerie monster still owned me. I ended up simply being a bit wasteful with meat, buying Tequila with Training Wheels from the Microbrewery (Hey, it was tequila!), instead of going all IPA. Another 2k went to the Leatherback skill. Still not strong enough for the King, though.

From my stated goals, only the Council Quests remain. The King is too strong, The Friars are too demanding, and I don't even have access to the Cyrpt yet. The Island is out of my league.

Accomplishments a plenty, yet inertia creeps.

Still, I don't want this day to end on a bad note. I, again, learned a couple two very valuable lessons about clovers:
- A great way to raise meat for those high-value skills and equipment.
- Granted, I only learned this one after I looked it up, *after* I had failed to cook today with the jabanero pepper, but farming the sewers for spices will double the stat bonus from burrito's. Considering today was mysticality day, that would help a lot. It's even very efficient on non-mysticality days, so next clover day, I will farm for them :D

2005-07-27

Day 6: Investment Strategies

I already experienced it a little on Day 5, but I'm starting to fear that inertia is setting in. While researching my options for Day 6, I found that a lot of cool stuff would require at least level 8.

Anyway, that gives the chance to stand back and take a bit of a breather. My most urgent need at the moment is an equipment upgrade and meat. Some extra skills wouldn't hurt either. With any luck, tomorrow will be a clover day at the hermit.

Task List:
- Finishing the Daily Dungeon
This might require some additional adventuring for a resistance here or there (lihc eye), or an extra turn of healing, but all in all, it should be not too hard to achieve.
Priority: Very High
Difficulty: Easy

- Killing the Gobling King
This requires the acquisition of harem girl pants, but can be attempted at earliest convenience.
Priority: Low
Difficulty: High

- Helping the Fat Friars
All three items need to be recovered. Fire protection (asbestos helmet turtle and/or swords) would be really neat. The reward would be very helpful, but it looks like I'm simply too weak, yet.
Priority: Low
Difficulty: Very High

- Clearing the Cyrpt
It's not unthinkable I gain access to the Cyrpt. Some cool (and useful) goodies drop there and it will eventually requires clearing. My power is on the low side. All-in-all, it might be a bit too tough to attempt right away.
Priority: Very Low
Difficulty: Very High

- Tools & Skills
A Tenderizing Hammer and Armorcraftiness are at the top of the list (especially considering the long run), but some protective skills would be appreciated as well. The Gnomish skills would be neat to have too, even if they are expensive. Several thousands of meat are needed (10k, or so, at least).
Priority: Medium
Difficulty: Medium

- Equipment Upgrade
Here, inertia has struck. Any worthy upgrade requires adventuring at area's that are not yet open, but the current setup is underpowered to fight at the area's that provide the fastest progress towards opening them.
*Possible hat: Meaty Helmet Turtle (expensive), Crown of the Goblin King (requires defeat of the Goblin King)
Priority: Medium
Difficulty: High
*Possible weapon: homo-erotic frat paddle, kentucky-fried meat sword, crowbarr (all require island access), spiked femur (require Cyrpt access), grave-robbing shovel.
Priority: Medium
Difficulty: Medium
*Possible pants: orcish cargo shorts, filthy corduroys, swashbuckling pants (Island), basic meat pants (expensive), uberpants (require clover), gnauga hide chaps (expensive + hides), elite pants.
Priority: High
Difficulty: Easy to High

-Island Access
Although I already got planks earlier, I have no access to the Island. This requires 5 more adventure and meat-expensive shore adventures.
Priority: Medium
Difficulty: Medium

Plan of attack:
All in all, first things first: The Daily Dungeon. If necessary I adventure for a lihc eye and hope a grave robbing shovel drops my way. After that, an attempt on the life of the Goblin King. Fully healed and fully ready, me and my Crimbo Elf can try to kick his arse. Whether that succeeds or fails, the next priority is meat. In case of success, I can use the gained meat to go shoring for dinghy plans (and anti-cheese?). Then I can make a choice where on the island to adventure for a new weapon and pants.

In the case of failure, plan B is to rest and recuperate, hopefully combined with visiting the sewer and then the treasury, in order to smith a meaty helmet turtle (cost: 7k, for hammer + armorcraftiness + dense meat stack). This also is highly likely to net me the Elite Pants. Any spare adventures can be used to gain Island access.

Day Five: A Room Too Far

The plan worked fine. Except for the Daily Dungeon mysticality challenges. I was too weak for those. So, I adventured for pixels instead. The Digital Key and Red Pixel potions were secured. The other pixels can be autosold. Yet, I was still not magical enough.

Next goal, I adventured for the meatcar. I got an empty meat tank from my third toolbox, but I was still not magical enough. Which led me to adventure for some enchanted beans in the meantime. A nice stack of enchanted bean burrito's will keep mu tummy in tip-top shape. I tried adventuring with the Deep Fat Friars, but I'm just a tad too weak, even with hairspray and headbutt (now achieved). Since the Goblin King still needs slaying as well, I visited to the harem, to prepare, which went relatively well. All I need are harem pants.

Then I tried once more to see if I was magical enough. I dispelled the hairy barrier. I dispelled the ghost shell and was out of adventures. The loot was right in front of me! A spurt to the shore to buy the final IPA for some more adventures....and...."too drunk to spelunk".

So close, yet so far away. On a consoling note: Tomorrow, I'll breeze through the Dungeon. I need to think of a good plan of attack, though.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 6
Frog Boss
Turns Played (this run): 472
Days Played (this run): 5

2005-07-26

Day Five: Preludary Musings

Daily Dungeon seems paramount.
As well as pixels.

The problem is that neither nets meat, which I need for the IPA. I have cooked enough foodstuffs to last me a day (maybe two). I also have no more meatcar.

The plan of attack will be thus:
First: Attempt the daily dungeon. I'll use my gathered resistances to make it to the end. Eat that lihc eye pie, if I have to.
Second: I'll eat whatever raises my moxie, then muscle, then mysticality, in a fashion such that either my stomach is full or the foodstuff runs out.
Third: Adventure at the Knoll till I get an engine.
Fourth: Pixels. Till the ads are up
Fifth: Drink an IPA, unless meat is up or drunkeness hits.
Sixth: Use Cheshire Bat for meat at the Treasury
Seven: Repeat steps four to seven, till drunkeness hits at step four.

It looks boring in writing and probably will be in practice. But that's how it can be.

Day Four: Wrapped in a Wad of Dough

Achieved goals: Amphibian sympathy, a chef-in-the-box, dead boss-bat, meat maid.

Mistakes: Chef's hat don't drop in the kitchen, apparently. Also had to untinker the meatcar for the engine for the maid and did so before drinking myself over the limit with an IPA.

I'm officially in love with the Crimbo Elfling. Before ascension, I thought it was the familiar with the coolest theme and attitude. During softcore, I wished I could use it more often, but preferred the coffee pixie, for obvious reasons. In hardcore, I love him. Helping me kick the asses of the baddies, while dropping extra loot.

I'm learning a hell-of-a-lot about cooking. I so totally forgot about it during softcore times (I just bought chow meins. The end.). It's pretty fun, actually. It's also interesting to see what's happening to my consumption statistics. The diet is getting way more diverse (and funny)!

The Microbrewery is less cool than I thought. IPA's are fine and dandy, but the "special" is rarely worth it. A shot of tomato schnapps costs a fortune, for example, for relative little bonus. Maybe tomorrow will be another ESD day, but I'm going to stick with IPA and ice-cold ones.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 6
Frog Boss
Turns Played (this run): 374
Days Played (this run): 4

2005-07-25

Day Three: -hic-

I did get the screwdriver, and was carefully maneuvering between getting a wig, meat and finding a brain, when I overdrank. All the gnome drinks are 3 drunkenness, and I forgot, thinking the cheapest was just 1.

I was able to eat to satiety and get enough adventures.

For the rest: Fuck.

All the goals of yesterday still stand, although I might add:

The bosses:
Defeat the Boss Bat and the Goblin King. It requires getting some items, but the rewards are high.
Disadvantages: Might get beat up, requires lots of preparation
Difficulty: Hard

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 5
Newt Herder
Turns Played (this run): 245
Days Played (this run): 3

2005-07-24

Day Three: Options

Having reached level 5, a lot of options have opened up, and I need to seriously consider what has priority.

The maid:
Quite some extra days still need to be spend, so the benefit of a meat maid is relatively high. A clockwork maid would even be cooler. Adventuring at the Knoll for a maiden wig (and extra meat tank), followed by hunting for clockwork keys and flange is an option.
Difficulty: Hard
Disavantage: Costly in adventures, low meat/food reward

The meat:
I haven't bought any skills, yet. They are expensive buggers. Armed with the Cheshire Bat, I could adventure at the Knob Goblin Treasury for masses of meat, to buy skills, such as Amphibian Sympathy and fighting skills for the higher levels.
Difficulty: Medium
Disadvantage: Costly in adventures, low long-term items/food reward

The food:
Spending adventures to cook is a bitch and a waste. A disembodied brain and a chef's hat would make life easier and give easy access to higher-quality food.
Difficulty: Easy
Disadvantage: Few long-term items.

The long-term:
In the end-game, I'll be needing pixel potions and a Digital Key. Right now, the stat gains from the 8-bit realm are reasonable for my level, so delays from pixelhunting will be minimal.
Difficulty: Hard
Disadvantage: Low meat, low food reward.

The Daily Dungeon:
Another long-term thing is the fact that a lot of people get stuck on the Legend Keys, which will set you back days. The earlier I start spending adventures here, the less delay is likely.
Difficulty: Medium
Disadvantage: Low reward chance. Low meat/food.

I probably can achieve two/three of above goals maximum, so I need to pick them carefully.

Day Two: The plot thickens

Much was achieved today, but some goals are still open. Hardcore is fun! I'm not following a worn-out path, but I'm experiencing that there are options, and once again realizing the depth and breadth of the game.

Equipping the Crimbo Elf, I quickly got Knob Goblin Tongs (and some yummy cottage cheese!). At the Knoll I got a frilly skirt, which I promptly equipped and reached level 4. I started adventuring at the Bat Cave with my own bat, and used the meat to buy more arena wins. A lead necklace owner is me. Constantly, I forget to switch it when I switch familiars, and the process is a bit arduous, but oh well. Took the Crimbo Elf back to the Knoll and got the last stuff for the Cave adventure.

My head proudly adorned with an Elder Turtle Shell, I set off to the "Fun" house, hoping to get bloody clown pants. I got a disease, an acid-squirting flower, clown shoes and some boxes instead. Not bad. My next stop, pixelhunting, turned out to be still a bit to tough. Maybe I could use hairspray, but I need that meat. I started to focus on the Boss Bat, destroyed two of the walls and reached level 5.

My adventures running to a close, I thought I might aim for a Chef-in-the-Box. I could afford an oven already, which I used to cook up shroom-kabobs, rat-appendix kabob and even a ghuol-egg quiche. The Knoll had dropped enough beer to be able to drink to the limit. I did get a skull, still need a brain and a chef's hat. Collaterally, I found a dead guy's watch, which is pretty neat.

I drove to the shore to drink myself over the limit and was faced with choosing between a 100-meat IPA or 270-meat Lumbering Jack...meat being such a limiting factor, I picked the IPA. I autosold some non-essential stuff to up my meat supply. Then I thought I might untinker the meatcar for today...when I visited the untinkerer, I was in for a unpleasant surprise, yesterday I had been to low-level to get the screwdriver quest., and I had not visited him today. Then again, I didn't have a maiden wig yet, either, so the issue was moot.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 5
Newt Herder
Turns Played (this run): 183
Days Played (this run): 2

Day Two: Expectations

First of all, thanks to Zair for giving me some feedback. Secondly, I must reflect on myself. A few days of being somewhat detached from KoL has given me the feel that I am more free to just play. The leaderboards have left my direct aim, and I can really pressurelessly enjoy the game. Which doesn't mean I don't want to optimize it, just that I can do it more anonymously.

Goals for tomorrow:
- Finish Cave adventure
- Get a Bitchin' Meat Car
- Boss Bat
- Meat maid
- Equipment Upgrade

Some adventures at the "Fun House" should provide me with better pants, and maybe the acid-squirting flower. Accessories are hard to get, so this would be pretty helpful. Adventuring at Cobb's Knob should get me items needed for the Cave adventure, but also some extra autosellable goods to buy Arena wins and drink IPA from the Gnome Area, for which I need the meatcar. Some of the extra firecrackers that drop, could get me another gourd potion. It sounds like I need to use an itemdrop improving familiar. Crimbo Elf Time! The extra gourd potion should help compensate the loss of stats, compared to the Bitten.

2005-07-23

The Score

07/23/05 06:38:03 AM - Welcome back to the Kingdom of Loathing. Noob.

First off, I looked wrong at the Coldfront moon phase map, and thought it was a moxie day and muscle day was far away. So, my first action was to drink my bottle of single-barrel whiskey, instead of saving that one for tomorrow. The stat bonus made me realize my mistake. I should have saved all my adventures as well, but then again, I'm playing this game for fun, and this ascension isn't going to go down in any record book, anyway.

Drinking whiskey made me an instant level 2, so when I checked with the Council, they wanted larva. One trip to the forest later with a helmet turtle slapped on, they had their larva, and I had 500 meat to spend. A sweet ninja sword was the first investment, and it would turn out no better weapon was found that day. Thirteen adventures later, fairy gravy was begotten, so that goal was stricken off the list as well.

The next stop was Cobb's Knob. The Sub-Assistant Mad Scientists were dropping quite a lot of stuff. One dropped a firecracker, a strongness elixir and some pants. The pants were quickly equipped and I was fully dressed! Some more crackers and elixirs later, I exchanged for a gourd potion, which will be consumed tomorrow...when it is Muscle day. All that adventuring was enough to reach level 3, so I revisited the Council, and got ordered to take care of some rats.

The first few rats were easily dispatched, but a few bit back and beat me up. I slept on the ground for one turn, fished 2 worthless trinkets out of the sewer, and then defeated the rats (I required healing potions, though). Resting on the ground wasn't all that great, so getting and combining the barskin tent was the next achievement. All of which was enough action for one day. Considering the benefits of muscle day tomorrow, I decided to kick back, open up the gifted six-pack and knocked those beers down. Which made me realize I had MP to spend...all of which was put into reflecting on the nature oftortoises. I couldn't reach the microbrewery, so I visited the gift shop for cake. To compare, I bought both mugcake and Claude-cake. Mugcake gives more adventures per meat spent. I don't know about fullness, but I suspect a similar advantage for mugcake.

Still not completely done, and with 550 meat left, I looked for good investments and stuff to do. 72 ounces-of-steak proved too much for me, but I did get some free goofballs and a transfunctioner. Pre-emptive acquisition of sweet rims was achieved and some hairspray was cool too. Then I remembered the Arena. A familiar item for the Cheshire Bat would be really useful. 4 wins! Then, after some conferring with clanmates I autosold some stuff, including the elixirs. It seems way more advantageous to use that meat to get some arena wins for a familiar item (7 wins down, 3 to go), than to use them for the substat boost.

Keypunch (#30036)
Level 3 Frog Director
Turns Played (this run): 80
Days Played (this run): 1

Day One

Today I will be reborn as a Turtle Tamer. I have little clue as what I can expect in hardcore. My first point of order will be simply to look around and learn. How much stuff will drop? What can I equip?

I will go for a visit to the Haiku dungeon, as soon as it opens up. Fairy gravy is useful, after all, and it would provide good stats for my level. Also, I plan to pick up enough firecrackers for a gourd potion. My campground should be adorned with a bar skin tent. Hopefully, the day will end as a level 3.

We'll see! Back to the realm of mortals!

I'm dead, Jim.

It took me two days, after all.

The first day, when I got out of Ronin, I failed to gain enough stats. Very interesting from a tactical perspective though, all the things I tried, which might be helpful for my hardcore run. The second day it was a cinch. Only defeating the Naughty Sorceress required a lot of my resources, but she went down at the first attempt.

I sent my millions to my multi, as well as some high-value items. Then I hit ascend and logged off. Most of the personal stuff seems settled, so I can enjoy KoL a bit more.

2005-07-20

Tock!

A reasonable drop rate greeted me once more and I've achieved the trophy. After that, it was back to the ascension grind. I rofl'ed my ao helping the Baron and summoning the 1337 h4x0r. After which I had to spend a few adventures grappling with Yeti's to get trash falling in the plains. My beanstalk has been planted and I'm hoping to wrap it all up tomorrow, with a bit of luck.

Getting out of Ronin in 67 turns should be a good boost as well.

On a side note, real life has been a bit hectic and eating into my KoL time. I might not ascend per direct.

Tick

About 150 adventures later...

One key.

To compensate, I pulled some fruity stuff, like my backpack, orange traffic cone and dungeoneer's dungarees.

2005-07-18

Like Clockwork

Today, all my adventures were spend gathering keys (and a bit of flange on the side). I got six, one of which I used to make a clockwork maid. Halfway there!

On the ascension. I reconsidered and then deconsidered the "first run boozetafarian"-approach. I'll save that for a Disco Bandit, sometime after my TT ascension.

Drunk As A Turtletamer

In my newfound clanmates, I've discovered a wealth of hardcore ascension information and experience. Thinking about it, I realized that my goal in HC ascension is to explore the game and reap the rewards of them. One of the things I realized is that a lot of HC ascenders will go for the foodmaking skills. In fact, I plan to do the same. But I also want the "Path" tattoos. This considered, I think I might as well go Boozetafarian the first time 'round...it will allow me to benefit from the food-making skills later to full effect.

I also dislike the idea of doubling skills with my softcore. The real dilemma is between Armorcraftiness (my preferred skill) and Amphibian Sympathy (which I already got, softcore). I could replace Amphibian Sympathy with Empathy...but then, I might as well do *two* Turtle Tamer hardcore runs...First run, I could get Empathy, second one the Craftiness. (Rationale: Empathy being more expensive, and useful from turn 1.)

Which leads to a daring ascension schedule.
Hardcore Boozetafarian TT (moxie)->
Softcore No Path (moxie/myst) ->
Softcore Oxy (muscle) ->
Hardcore Oxygenarian TT (myst/muscle) ->
Hardcore No Path PM (myst/moxie) ->
(Undefined Runs ->)
Hardcore Teetotal (muscle/myst)

I wouldn't miss out on my current path reward benefit, I can write any problems off in my first ascension as exploratory gains, in my second to the heaviness of hardcore, and I won't be forced to eat mugcakes in the near future, or ever. Sweet! Also, the first three planned hardcore runs, I would in each situation be able to get +10 on the familiars, come Sorceress time.

The zodiac signs might need some thinking. I'm truly enamoured with the Mind-Control Device, but I also would like to complete the muscle familiars. The muscle area store seems only minimally beneficial, while the Moxie drinking ground, together with the uber-cool shirt skill seems like a plus.

What intrigues me the most, is the fact that once I go down one path, I'm stuck there, and have to suffer the consequences. Picking my cocoabo to go through with me on my first ascension, was a similar annoyance. I didn't make a bad choice, necessarily, but I could have made so much more optimal a choice!

2005-07-17

Keys? Knott Yeti!

The weird feel of adventuring without pressure (or clear goals) continues. I'm just hacking it. Spent 20 adventures in the Haiku Dungeon, just to see if I could get fairy gravy, then just pulled it. Most of my adventures were spent at the Peak. Eventually pulled linoleum ore and goat cheese, just to get over that. Then I found out, I didn't have the 40 myst to equip my pulled eXtreme mittens.

Even donated some to the Hall. The Snowmen Ninjas don't drop meat though, so I simply had to spend a *lot* adventures to get the stats. Discovered that fighting the yeti's was a matter of hairspray. With it on, I could beat them easily. Without it, I would get beat bad. Immediately bought 100 cans of the stuff and put them all on. Cheshire Bat + Polka + Pickpocketing + Nimble Fingers is good meat. Used it to quickly buy the other Gnomish skills as well. Made level 9, in the end, and adventured a bit at the pirates.

Tomorrow I need to get a bit serious about the trophy. My goals will be: Get the epic hat, finish the Rofl'Mao quest and then hunt for keys.

2005-07-16

No Keys for 'Punch

A true boozetafarian day-two fest. A vesper, followed by the bottle of single-barrel whiskey I had bought pre-emptively, followed by an especially salty dog. Then adventuring to get the liver of steel, followed by a vesper.

Got the meatglobe gift from the shore. The crypt wasn't that hard to clear, but I did have trouble with the bonerdagon. Might be the ranged weapon effect. I equipped the Coffee Pixie instead and went at it in the Thugnderdome. That did net me some flanges, but not a single clockwork key. For the final few adventures, I pulled lavender polka-dot eggs, put on some hairspray, and moxie-boosting gear. Strangely enough, I don't have an asbestos crossbow handy! Nor do I have any leather chaps...

Anyway, it still was enough to take care of the Bonerdagon, and after cracking his chest, I leveled up and bought Phat Loot. That ought to help me finally gather some keys.

In style, I slugged down a vesper and ended the day, with 25 adventures extra adventures, when I snore off my hangover.

2005-07-15

Smooth Moves and Tunes

I did make the class leaderboard with the teetotal sauceror. :-)

The new character is a female, boozetafarian Accordion Thief. I have no plans of leaderboardage, in fact this character needs to leave Ronin, so I'm playing quite relaxed, and even have a bit of a goofy feel. I think it's the vespers. In advance, I forgot to check which moxie sign I hadn't done yet, and in astral form, you can't check your profile. I (correctly) picked The Blender on gut feel and appropiateness.

I'm already level 6, which I didn't expect, and already taken care of the Boss Bat and Goblin King. All standard pulls aside, I got to take out a pirate shirt and a polka-dot egg for shits and giggles. Forgot to untinker my car (again), but had a spare set of dope wheels at the ready (foresight!). Also pulled the flyswatter, to get the epic hat, which I sadly didn't get with the sauceror. Then I found out that although the cave doesn't cost turns, you can't fool around in there all drunk.

All the meat gathering skills (nimble fingers, expert panhandling, level 30 cheshire bat) are starting to add up, and I used my money to buy Polka of Plenty to go with it.

I have no plans what to do tomorrow. It's relaxing not to feel the pressure of wanting to maximize it all.

[edit]
Heh, turns out it was Moxie Day, today...that explains the lev 6. Tomorrow another moxie day :-)

Ding Dong!

That auto-pilot bit...what a lie. I actually had to pay close attention. I adventured in the 8-bit realm to level up the needed familiar, but got not enough for red pixel potions. I did adventure for a few of the anti-tower monster items, yet still ended up using up all my 20 pulls.

Hedge monster RNG was not kind on me either...and I sucked at figuring out the door code as well.

Never mind all that, I beat the ugly bitch in one go! I still have the jitters from that, as I was a bit worried about that. Saucestorm + 3x extra spell damage really made a difference.

2005-07-14

A bit of her own recipe

I'm pondering what outfit best to use against the Naughty Sorceress tomorrow. Lots of spell damage boosters are recommended, but the acid-squirting flower has served me well in past battles...

Currently, I'm thinking, wolf mask, star shirt, wand of nagamar, furry pants, enchanted toothpick, baconstone pendant and either another baconstone pendant or kickback cookbook.
Familiar: Dodecapede.

They Might Be Giants, But They Still Lose!

And another level was gained! The day started off with a bunch of pickles and a few more trips to the Peak. Then I hit level 10.

A single fight in the Beanbat cave was enough to get the enchanted bean. I raced up the beanstalk, had no trouble worth mentioning on the airship, and started slugging it out in the Giant Castle. I did lose a bunch of turns by not paying attention and getting beat up. I might have already made it to level 11, if it hadn't been for that. Also interesting to note is that the small amount of extra damage done by the newly acquired jalapeno and jabanero saucespheres was, in fact, necessary to finish the giants off. I was pretty lucky in my chore wheel adventures, so the stat gains from that were well-timed. I'm slowly bleeding dry in the meat department, with all the recuperating costs incurred from buying Doc Galactik potions and Magical Mystery Juice.

Besides the food pulls, I took out a bunch of Star stuff (Hat, Shirt, Crossbow) to aid in giant slaying. All other pulls were to pre-emptively get stuff needed for the inevitable run through the Sorceress Lair tomorrow. Tomorrow (like today) will basically be a run on autopilot. All I got to remember is that it'll be more efficient to pull chow mein than pickles.

2005-07-13

Fireworks on the Peak

A good third day, made it to level 9. Starting off with a few spectral pickles, I proceeded to pull all linoleum ore and headed for the goatlet. Slowly collecting goat cheeses, I realized I hadn't finished the Cyrpt. Mopping that up was a piece of cake, with the extra stats. Tweaked the "device", so that I got the rib of the bonerdagon, which was a good thing to boost my moxie, and better evade the goats. In fact, I could access the Orc Chasm quest. A few everything-but-outfit drops later at the Pirate Cove, I pulled the entire set, got the dictionary and headed for the Orc chasm. Noticing the relative ease of fighting ther, but little drops, I pulled all the relevant scrolls, finished that quest, headed back to Seaside town, used the leaflet, pulled two more goat cheeses, learned elemental saucesphere and with a brief intermission at the tr4pz0r, headed up to the top of the Icy Peak, filling my remaining turns (quite a few) with slaying Yeti.

I lost some turns by getting beat up, even though I could easily sustain my Doc Galactik and Mystery Juice habits with all the Yeti-meat. It's just that I wasn't all that attentive, and failed to really look at my HP/MP indicators. At one point, I found myself out of MP once more to cast a second saucestorm (two of them take down a Yeti). I crossed my fingers and hoped the stream of sauce would just pack enough punch. Nope...and not enough MP left.

My chances of running away were 50/50, especially because I think it's based on combat initiative whether you succeed or not, and I was wearing a dragging ball hat to increase my moxie and avoid getting damage. So, I desperately searched my pockets. I decided to save the remaining handful of adventures for the next day.

I finished the day by pulling my chrome staff and 2 oyster eggs for spleen-based stat boosts.

2005-07-12

Full, yet unsatisfied

Today was mysticality day, and I advanced quite far into level 8, but the experience was somewhat unsatisfactory.

As expected, I did finish the friar's quest, but I also made some minor errors which broke me up. When fighting the Goblin King, I forgot to tune down the Super-Secret Device, so I didn't get the special extra reward. I didn't complete the bonerdragon (got my ass kicked twice by the Conjoined Zombie mini-boss, while I could have had him, I just misclicked), so that's a nice stat boost on a stat day I missed. Even if I had defeated him, chances were slim that I would have had enough adventures left to get to the Bonerdagon.

Looking back, it's better to have stat day on day 3 than day 2. I'm all but guaranteed to have gotten the Internal Organ of Steel by that day, so you can save adventures for the stat day and really make the most of it.

My last three pulls of the day were to get the Bow Tux Outfit. That's a rocking set to wear!

2005-07-11

Sauceroaring

I can't help myself from trying to tinker here, and put in a few notes on my pre-hardcore ascensions.

Today was pretty sweet. I got the bugbear trophy and the Toastdieb trophy (the latter was a bit of a setup, but I think that I'm not the only one who got it less than in full honesty). Re-ascending as a teetotal sauceror (Platypus) went without a hitch. Of course I forgot that I had Leash of Linguini for the first 30 or so turns...I did set the "Super-Secret Device" to 10, so my stat gains were pretty okay nonetheless. Still, I ended up one mysticality point short of being able to use the imitation nice watch. So, I pulled the dead guy's watch, instead. The hellions are also a bit too strong for me, so no luck in getting the dodecagram today. Which is the last item I needed to finish the Friar's quest (and would've netted me a Stomach of Steel). I'm confident that will be solved tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a stat day, incidentally, and I will be eating one of the deluxest diets: pickles, pate and a radio button candy. "Tiny wafer mint, sir?"

Rafflebot & Rares

Waiting for a long roll-over, I today discovered rafflebot. Now that *is* addictive. I must say that I enjoy the Grue-Fire-Water game more than the simple "flip a coin", although I revert to a good old "double or nothing" if I need to recuperate losses. The best approach is just to have some playing money that you can afford to lose. However tempting to go for the big rollers (which, in my case, is anything in excess of a million), I find that would be too much responsibility to stake on a single Grue (or flame or water).

I seem to have more success with rafflebot though, than with trading rares. Instead of buying low and selling high, I seem to be doing the exact opposite. I just don't have the patience for it, maybe, whereas the rafflebot simply gives you your "quick fix" of meatmakingness (or losingness!).

2005-07-10

First post

OMGWTFBBQ!

It'll be quite some days before I ascend hardcore, but this is the place where I'll post about my exploits, adventures, tricks and mishaps.

My basic plan is to have two posts a day: One setting out my goals, hopes and ideas for the day, and another at the end, wrapping up how it all went, summarizing what went right, and what went wrong.

In between, I might even have some posts pondering over general matters, KoL or non-KoL.