I revisted the game a few times about 8 years ago (NetHack this time,
even tried the tiles) and remember a Ranger and Monk getting somewhere
between Vlad's tower and the Wizard towers but I just couldn't make
it.

This time I played on NAO, took my time, read and learned a whole pile
of stuff and15 games later ascended my Barbarian. Of course, not
without some close calls. Here's the highlights and some stuff I
learned the hard way:

The Mines weren't too bad since I got a cloak of MR early - polymorph
traps in the mines are a bitch. Got my 6 candles (stupid RNG!) and
spent a lot of time sacrificing (co-aligned altar!) and price ID'ing.
Got Cleaver out of the deal so it was worth the time.

Got amulet of reflection in Sokoban, kinda hoping for BoH since I was
sick of running to my stash and I thought I needed everything I was
carrying (turns out you often don't!)

Got my XL 14 and completed the quest without too much difficulty.
Stealth and a WoD works well on the quest nemesis! Troll regeneration
can get annoying if you can't eat all of them or find a box to put
them in. The arguably weak quest artifact replaced my luckstone I
found at the end of the Gnomish Mines. It's levitation feature was
moot since I had a ring of levitation already.

I located the portal to Fort Ludios and entered for the first time. I
didn't have a BoH yet so I wasn't expecting to take too much out of
there. I made a pile of armor (14 pages long!) with all the soldiers I
killed in a doorway and took out the dragons but didn't get any grey
or silver scales out of the deal (I guess I didn't need them with the
cloak of MR and AoR but I was looking for options).

Onward to Medusa where I wore my blindfold (overkill I guess with
reflection) and thought I got rid of Medusa with her own gaze. Note to
self: Make sure you see the statue of Medusa before assuming you
turned her to stone. Took off the blindfold and went down the
staircase and the two empty spaces beside it were occupied by L's. I
went for my blessed scroll of genocide I was saving for such an
occasion and *poof* no more L's. I continued on, confident that I
could handle anything else that came along. All of a sudden I was
being attacked by Medusa's gaze, which would have been a YASD if I had
taken off my AoR for some silly reason. Whew!

Got the WoW from the castle and figured I'd wish for a scroll of
charging first so I could get more out of the wand. Second wish...
Nothing Happens. And I was all psyched up for at least one more wish!
Maybe all castle WoWs are 0:1? Anyway, I have my scroll of charging.
Wait a sec, can't you wrest one more charge from these things? Yes,
apparently you can BUT IT DESTROYS THE WAND! Lesson learned. At least
I got my BoH.

Prepared myself for Gehennom by cleaning out Fort Ludios and buying
protection with the gold, making holy water and blank scrolls (I found
two magic markers!), and improving my AC to -26. The only thing I wish
I had was a lamp (I used them up in the Gnomish Mines). Without it my
jumping boots are useless.

Made the dive to Valley of the Dead, danced with a nurse (don't know
what I was thinking with a graveyard full of monsters down the hall)
and continued down. With my supply of scrolls and magic markers I used
the alternate map/digdown strategy which worked well. I was able to
pay off the major demons (what's a few hundred zorkmids in trade for
safe passage?) and made my mandatory visit to Vlad. Got the AofLS
(I'll need this later), ventured down and saw the Wizard towers for
the first time.

I cleaned the towers out as much as I could without waking Rodney and
continued to the bottom where I *finally* found the vibrating square.
Now at this point I was ready to ascend except I was hoping for a
quick way to move from Rodney's tower to the VS and then out of the
Sanctum. I had a ring of teleportation but no control. I had a potion
of gain level but no unholy water to curse it. I figured I'd polypile
the less important rings I had in chance for a teleport control.
Unfortunately, the RNG was not benevolent and I decided it was time to
make the run anyway.

Shortly after I ran into a (master?) mind flayer but I had a ring of
sustain ability so I thought I was safe. From intelligence drain yes,
brain eating no. (Some could argue at this point that my intelligence
was already drained, but I digress). My helmet stopped a few brain
sucking attempts but then "The mind flayer eats your brain!". Great,
what consequences are in store for me now? At least I'm not dead. One
zap and he was though.

My WoD made quick work of Rodney and I got down to the VS with one
more encounter. The RNG had made up with me and given me more candles
from a monster corpse to make my 7. In the Sanctum I lucked out and
found the door to the temple with my WoSDD on the first try. Tried my
hand at melee attack on the high priest but found out he was *pretty
tough* and whipped out the WoD. Time to high-tail it.

Apparently being chaotic (which I was) helps reduce the times the
"mysterious force" pulls you back as you ascend the dungeon. It was
still annoying, I can't imagine what it's like for a neutral or
lawful. Speaking of annoying, the part of my brain the mind flayer had
for lunch contained some map levels and on further inspection, some
wand and ring IDs. My free action ring was part of that but I figured
I knew which one it was (from memory, not notes) so I named it and put
it on. I didn't think of it at the time but I guess this could be
considered cheating. However, I get what's coming to me - keep
reading.

Previously digging paths between staircases helped for those levels I
forgot, I dealt with the Wizard a few times and made it to Dlvl 1. I
had my 4 scrolls of gold detection and a forgotten spell (much better
than my first plan of getting four potions of booze/confusion) along
with the rest of my ascension kit so I climbed the stairs.

The Plane of Earth was easy after getting rid of a double-trouble
version of the Wizard. One wand of digging is all it took to get to
the portal. I guess I'll dump the rest of them.

The Plane of Air was a bit trickier. I outran everything to the other
side of the clouds but then tangled with some air elementals. Bell of
Opening got me out quick but I was engulfed immediately. Had to resort
to a wand of teleportation a few times - much better choice.

The Plane of Fire was just a race to the portal levitating over the
lava and avoiding the nasties. Nothing exciting there.

The Plane of Water was pretty cool with the floating bubbles. I donned
my oilskin cloak but I was quick enough to avoid all sea monsters but
one lowly eel.

The Astral Plane gave me my guardian angel and I tamed another for
good measure (it turns out they didn't help me out a whole lot). I put
on my blindfold and found Famine close by so I got my food out and
went on the warpath. I open the door and before I could line up a good
shot I find myself stunned, weak, and burdened. Someone cursed my BoH
and the ring I thought was free action, well, wasn't. Serves me right.
After that things were a blur. I tried eating, my hit points went down
like the Titanic, my AofLS saved my ass and I thought I was doomed.
Somehow, I got a couple turns to unstun myself and zap a WoD at
Famine. That was WAY too close!

I used a WoT to clear a path to the temple and, what do you know, it's
my chaotic altar. First try. I can't believe it.

---

Iceburner the Reaver St:18/50 Dx:23 Co:18 In:13 Wi:16 Ch:10 Chaotic S:
1681382
Astral Plane $:0  HP:238(240) Pw:48(48) AC:-35 Xp:20/8646155 T:67859

May I recommend =oC for Plane of Air?

Castle WoW are randomly 0:1  or 0:2   or 0:3.

Dragon scale mail is good armor even if you don't need the resistance
it provides.

Congratulations are of course in order. A fun read.

Eskimo