Enough is enough. Between snide remarks from my trainer about "bloody ugly Mountain Dwellers" and the strange looks I kept getting from people when I pointed to my cousins and said we were related, I've decided that I want my old looks back. It took me a while to track down S.A.S., but I did, and rerolled again, this time going back to my original City Dweller appearance.
What a difference it makes! I can reach that top shelf where I hid my copies of Playnork magazine, I don't need a footstool to reach the counters in stores anymore, and people seem much more comfortable around me now. I even noticed a tendency in the trainers to charge me a bit less. My new body isn't quite so strong as the last one, but oddly I haven't really noticed the difference all that much. I don't hit the critters *quite* as hard as I used to do, but the difference is minimal, and I seem to be hitting more often - it's a bit easier to aim that greatsword now that it's not bigger than me... What I have noticed is a definate increase in luck - I've found more magical items in the few days since I rerolled than I have in months before.
It's definately a lot easier to retrain yourself after you reroll. The knowledge is all there, it's just the reflexes which need training. A day or so down in the dungeon and I'm already back into fighting trim.
In fact, I was feeling so good, I took another jaunt through Ratburrow yesterday. Somehow, it doesn't seem as tough as it once was. I wasn't taking the slow, methodical approach I had in the past - I wanted to touch the boundaries of the place, testing my new mettle, driving the old boundaries back a ways. I got a bit carried away, though.
A Gnoll Champion and one of his companions hit me hard when I wasn't looking, and blam, I was dead. With nobody in earshot, I incanted RESTORE and found myself back in Nork, with everything intact except my glowing greatsword. Fortunately, I had a spare stashed in my locker, so I took it, ran back to where the Gnolls had run me down and taught them a lesson they would never forget (if they were still alive to forget it, that is...).
Later on, I found a portal. Still quite reckless, I went through and found myself in a rather familiar place - just outside the small town of Ratburrow itself. I'd reached here before from a stair in the Nork dungeon, but had yet to find a way from the rest of the Ratburrow dungeon to here.
Since time was on my hands, and I was feeling good, I loafed about Ratburrow town for a while, chatting with the locals, tossing back a few Stan's with a guy named Gabagimli, even having a nice talk with the Mayor, who's looking for a few good heroes. Actually, the items she's interested in as proof don't sound so hard to find - I've already picked up some eggs in Ratburrow.
Continuing my exploration, I ran into another area with a lot of skeletons, and some phantom like creatures you can't see until they've tried to hit you. I read a book in the area, and it sounds like someone's rituals went a little bit wrong...
Starting from the main Ratburrow entrance again, I went on a long exploration trek. I killed a whole slew of Trolls and Trollkin, when I ran into a very weird place. There were spider webs all over the place. And where the webs are, there are spiders. The spiders were a bit tough - not so much because they bit hard, but because their poison lingers on for a while, hurting you even after you've drunk a heal potion. I twigged out because I ran out of heals, but couldn't resist going back to see what lies beyond the webs. Besides, I wanted a few spider eggs, as I had some good uses for them.
Well, I found out what was there. The biggest spider you ever did see. A Queen of all Spiders, it looked. Still, I thought I had it whipped. I was hitting, and you could see it was starting to hurt, but it was taking a long time to wear it down. Then it hit with one massive hit, and I didn't heal in time. I was dead. Again.
I decided after restoring this time that it was better to hold off the exploration a bit while I trained myself up to my former skill. So it was back to hunting the SW corner of -3 again. But that spider queen should start counting the days... I'll be back.
Ah, the joys of acquisition. Skulking about in the shadows had lost some of it's appeal, so I decided to try my hand at relieving certain unsavory types (Orcs and Goblins and Rockmen and Trolls) of their ill-gotten wealth. With nimble feet and healing potions at hand, I boldly stepped forth and taunted the critters, laughed at their stupidity while I relieved them of the goods in their sacks, and faded into the shadows when they got angry enough to try to kill me. Mind you, such weak creatures offer little in the way of monetary goods, but the practice has been invaluable. I'm certain it will serve me well as my skills grow.
And my skills have indeed grown. In fact, I've learned a number of interesting things recently. One of the first was the learning of a few Mentalist disciplines which the Guild had, ahem, obtained for our use. Unfortunately for me, the local Nork trainer isn't too intelligent and hadn't been able to learn them himself, but he told me of another Guild branch in a town near a Volcano, where I might be able to learn these things.
Now, I had heard of this town before, which was fortunately quite accessable by passing through a couple of portals, first to a town called Maeling, and then to Volcano Town, as it is known to some people. Before leaving, I took the intelligent precaution of obtaining a Succor scroll from the local scroll vendor, and made a twig back to home, just in case...
Passing through the portals, I found myself in Volcano town, near a large hole in the ground, of which my sources had warned me to stay clear. It took only moments to locate the Guild trainer, and, after showing my credentials to him, he taught me the necessary skills to use some of the Mentalist disciplines. I'm sure I'll find a use for them soon enough, but right now they're downright painful to use. Fortunately, I brought along some healing potions ("Don't leave Nork without 'em!"), so first aid was forthcoming.
The Guild in VT is a pleasure to behold, too. Past the main entrance, there's a stair up to the main Guild rooms. I gave the Highsign, and that day's password ("Gimli sent me" - they change it daily, so I wouldn't try using it to get in...), and entered a spacious and well provisioned Guild hall, complete with our own merchants and bankers, not to mention a few real surprises!
I happened to be wandering about, and stumbled down a short corridor, when I found myself once again transported. A hidden portal! To my great surprise, I found myself wandering the streets of a large city. Yes, the legendary city of Frore! I didn't stay too long, however, they have some Gold Dragons just wandering the streets there! Fortunately, they didn't seem inclined to attack me outright, but I didn't like the way they looked me over and licked their chops. I twigged back home quick, then.
Having had enough excitement for the day, I decided to skulk about in the shadows on -2 and pick off a few Ogres with my bow. Taking the gems off their dead corpses may not be as much fun as picking their pockets, or exploring new cities, but hey, it pays the rent, no questions asked...