Today was the El Dia de Los Muertos Borrachos day, one of the best holidays. With some save dtrns, I farmed a lot of corpse drinks. And then I ascended, perming Pastamastery.
A Turtle Tamer is me.
With the Tome of Sugar Shummoning, the progress was better than on my last run, but I had two problems. First, reaching 10 mysticality and then reaching level 4 soon enough. In the end I managed to solve them both, using sugar sheets (1 shield, 1 shirt, 1 pants).
I managed to kill Baron von Ratsworth using the Toss skill 2 times after buying Empathy (the sugar shield broke down before).
Final stats:
Class: Turtle Tamer
Level: 4
Muscle: 15 (5 left to level 5)
Mysticality: 11
Muscle: 11
Days played this run: 1
I must focus on eating better tomorrow - that means reaching level 6. Drinks are taken care of with the tavern swill and one spare lesser corpse drink.
Ascending again
End of farming getting near
After a couple of days of heavy farming, I finally got enough meat to purchase the Tome of Sugar Shummoning, it should be of great help during the first days of my future runs. It did cost almost 7 000 000 meat, the prices are really high due to a series of high quality items of the month.
I had to do some very bad deals on the way to get the meat and I had to sell all the floaty stuff. If the next item of the month is as good as the previous ones, I expect the floaty stuff to drop even more. If it is not as good, the floaty stuff may rise again as people like me would like to regain what they had to sell. I'll probably buy as much as possible and hope the second variant comes true.
Tomorrow is the El Dia de Los Muertos Borrachos KoL holiday and also my black mushrooms will be ready - an ideal day to ascend.
Chaos
Farming gets boring pretty fast. I even forgot to do the bounty today. Oh, well. Transcendent Olfaction is one more day away.
Need more meat...
Back to farming
I had to finish a fairy quest and it took damn long.
Then I invested some meat and finished building my El Vibrato megadrone. The missing part of the Misshapen animal skeleton is still too expensive and I am in no rush.
Other than that, I spent most of the time in the cloud castle farming.
Pastamancer strikes back
Heh, I finished the Island quest and got the Order of Silver Wossname medal. It did take just one more day and I collected quite a lot of stuff on the battlefield, also the wreath of laurels from a frat boy boss or the Elmley shades.
Into the lair:
No problems at the gates (used clover to get a bubble-gum).
Finished digital key in 2 adventures.
Topiary golems are piece of cake for a Pastamancer with fettucini and noodles.
Tower:
1. giant fried egg - got that bastard with a pepper I zapped yesterday :-).
2. Pretty Fly - tons of spider webs in my inventory (due to the neverending search for Harold).
3. Bronze Chef - I am quite picky and I always have lots of leftovers.
4. Giant Desktop Globe - plenty of letters this run.
5. Flaming Samurai - ouch, 9 turns of farming with makeshift scuba gear on ;-).
6. collapsed mineshaft golem - ouch, ouch, one vacation and I can help him get better again.
Minor problems, but manageable.
The doors, the shadow (2nd try using 2 poultices and 1 massage oil), the pets (lead necklace, magic whistle, irradiated pet snacks, knob goblin pet-buffing spray).
The sorceress:
I decided to do a little experiment the first time. Since I am already level 14 due to the longer battlefield and because I collected a couple of muscle boosting items and I have the stainless steel shillelagh, I tried to take her down by hand. The spell block rate would be too high anyway.
It did not work. With 211 muscle and 145 mox, I was hitting her for about 40 damage per round and so did she (I also stupidly left the detuned radio on 10).
With a different gear, the fight was easy. 1x noodles and 2x fearful fettucini on the first form and 3x on the second form and she was down. The rock lobster helped as well. From the 350 MP I used about 100. 86 out of 203 HP left.
Stats when defeating NS:
Class: Pastamancer
Level: 14
Muscle: 125 (175 with equipment)
Mysticality: 177 (217)
Moxie: 125 (155)
Days played this run: 14 (2224 adventures)
Equipment:
* wreath of laurels
* white hat hacker T-shirt
* Staff of the Black Kettle
* keg shield
* Boss Bat britches
* pirate fledges
* badass belt
* Order of the Silver Wossname
Familiar:
* Rock lobster with lead necklace
Well, my previous Seal Clubber run was faster by one day and 201 adventures, but I blame this on the Order of the Silver Wossname that prolonged the fight by over 200 adventures.
Let's farm. Oh, but first, let's get today's bounty hunt done.
I was using my shiny new rock lobster this run and it was a positive experience. In the 270 fights it dropped 6 handfuls of floaty sand. That is a nice bonus. It seems like the drop rate is around 2%.
Working on the Order of Silver Wossname medal
At the beginning of the day, I decided to finish the Holy MacGuffin quest. It took just 17+7 adventures. I have reached level 13 in the process.
Then I wasted 10 adventures in the haunted ballroom, but the required non-combat did not came. Tried the hole in the sky and made the star hat and the star crossbow, but it took quite long.
Alternating between the battlefield in hippy uniform and the Sonofa beach for recharging...
Since there was no chance to finish the battlefield in time, I decided to bountyhunt near the end of the day. It took 42 adventures, but at least I have enough of dusty bottles now (it is Merlot this time).
The Sonofa beach took a total of 44 adventures (and I did not get the demon name). Not great, but it still saved over 80 adventures on the battlefield and I now have lots of valuable trinkets. Wow.
Final stats:
Level: 13
Muscle: 116
Mysticality: 164 (9 left to level 14)
Moxie: 116
Days played this run: 13
Things to do tomorrow:
Finish frat boys: 110 adventures
End the war: 1 adventure
Collect 7 white pixels: ~15 adventures
Do the sorceress quest: ~30 adventures (if no major problems occur)
I got the black pepper by zapping today. That should eliminate the biggest problem in the tower.
I suppose I will be level 14 when fighting the sorceress and the fight should not be overly hard. I am using fairy on the battlefield to make more items and hence meat.
Going for the Silver Wossname
The decision has been made, I am going to get the Order of Silver Wossname medal this run (if I do not screw up). I was working on the island side-quests today.
Clearing the farm and finding the tools on the junkyard was easy. Distributin the rock band flyers was harder, I went the Guy made of Bees way and got the pollen.
With leprechaun, 2 inhalers, winklered, pet buffing spray and money clip, I managed to get +385% meat drop. I worked on retrieving the meat for 23 adventures and made 7000 meat using meat vortices (and forgot to save one for the tower). Considering the cost of the inhalers in mall, I lost meat but saved a lot of adventures. If I had the undead macaroni, things would be even better.
This means, I can start fighting the frat boys and do so for 124 adventures.
I need to finish the pyramid quest, then switch the undead quartet song, and then go on the dreaded Sonofa beach. But that would have to wait until tomorrow.
With a single milk of magnesium, I stopped adventuring today and saved adventures from food for tomorrow.
Final stats:
Level: 12
Muscle: 102
Mysticality: 146 (2 left to level 13)
Moxie: 102
Days played this run: 12
I tried to zap ancient spices into black pepper as a precaution, but no luck. Zapping sucks this run. On the other hand, I am unnecessary rich (35k without selling the dictionary) and have lots of spare clovers.
What needs to be done:
Finish Ed: ~40 adventures
Get 10 missing pixels: ~20 adventures
Get missing stars: ~15 adventures
Do Sonofa beach (3 reodorants): ~35 adventures
Finish the frat boys: 107 adventures (did some today)
Finish the hippies: 124 adventures
The tower: ~30 adventures (assuming no major problems)
That is ~371 adventures. Even with 84 saved from today, I would be very lucky to have total of 300 have tomorrow. Looks like 2 more days will be needed.
Spellstorm
Progress was good on this mysticality day. I did almost all the Holy MacGuffin quest except the final part. I still need to turn the wheel 6 times and kill Ed the Undying. That should not take more than 30-40 adventures.
Once I reached level 12, I started working on the island quest, because the subquests give advantages each day. I managed to obtain both outfits and start the war. Thanks to Pulverize I got some twinkly wads and I did complete the organic orchard subquest as a hippy and got some meat this day.
With the chefstaff, the epic hat, a cookbook and springy fussili adventuring was easy. Occasionally, I took the lobster to the 8-bit realm to recharge. But not often enough, I still need lots of white pixels.
Final stats:
Level: 12
Muscle: 93
Mysticality: 134 (14 left to level 13)
Moxie: 94
Days played this run: 11
I bought the Gazpacho's Glacial Grimoire to be more MP effective on the battlefield. If I wanted to save the 4000 meat, I could try to zap my old and trustworthy Cookbook of the Damned in attempt to get the Sinful Desires (are they zappable?), but I'll need it to finish Ed. And 4000 is no big deal at this point. This way, I'll be using the cheaper Stuffed Mortar Shell on both hippies and frat boys.
Since I have both war uniforms, I'll attempt to get the Order of Silver Wossname this run. It is a nice piece of farming equipment after all. The biggest problem (aside from counting kills) will be the Sonofa Beach - I cannot skip it this time because without it, the battlefield fights will take much longer.
The goal for tomorrow is to do as much of the side-quests as possible. Since I only have one milk of magnesium left, I should eat at the end of the day to extend the Got Milk effect to the day after tomorrow.
I should do the Arena subquest first via guy made of bees, use the arena buff help with the bandits (I have 2 inhalers this time), then finish the MacGuffin and, turn off 5% boost to non-combats and then defowl the farm.
It seems like I am a bit ahead of my Sauceror run now and only a bit behind the Seal Clubber run.
Preparing for myst day
I found a yield shield in my inventory today - reward from Sneaky Pete. Not useful form me, but muscle classes early in their runs would be happy about it.
First adventure was a semi-rare and a got my first inhaler for the bandits quest.
Then I spent 17 adventures under the friar blessing farming goat milk and I got the needed 2 glasses.
The mushrooms have matured and I got my stinky fairy - the last one I did not have. It is probably not worth it to finish the quest now. The wines are fine, but I do not have black mushrooms this run and finding all the items can cost adventures. I have more important things to do.
The bounty today is on raver giants, which is fortunate - I need to level up. Into the Castle in the Sky then. I bought Springy fusilli to save some clicking and MP with +ML. The pacifiers came after 50 adventures and I managed to almost reach next level there. With the epic hat and the chefstaff, I only recharged MP twice in the 8-bit realm with my lobster.
After that I spent a while in the Barr and when I reached level 11 I went into the black forest, found the black market and the diary. Then I managed to find the hidden temple and open Spookyraven manor cellar.
Final stats:
Level: 11
Muscle: 75
Mysticality: 107 (18 left to level 12)
Moxie: 75
Days played this run: 10
To my surprise, I easily made it to level 11 today despite saving 70 adventures for tomorrow.
I am still about 1.5 days behind my previous SC run and about as fast as in my last (and first) Sauceror run. I hope to narrow the gap to 1 day tomorrow. This definitely will not be my fastest run and I am considering getting the Silver Wossname medal - it is going to take me about one additional day on the battlefield, maybe a bit more. On the other hand, I will be stronger and beating NS will be easier.
I have made Pulverize a Hardcore Permanent skill last run and it was not particularly helpful so far. I used one elemental powder to bypass the daily dungeon test and a couple of twinkly powders in tight spots. I expect to use some twinkly wads for more adventures and a little combat boost soon. I suppose if I had Transcendental Noodlecraft, it would help me to make some of the other chefstaves soon in the run.
Getting drunk on St. Sneaky Pete's Day
St. Sneaky Pete's day offers an opportunity to obtain unique items. Though, you have to drink a lot to get them, you need to get to 26 drunkenness.
Here is a couple of guides how to get drunk cheaply or if your options are limited.
Without Liver of steel, you'll be falling down at drunkenness of 15 or above. With Liver of steel, the limit is 20 drunkenness.
The first step is to drink to 14 (or 19 with Liver of steel) drunkenness.
With access to mall
Pick the final drink of the day - it should give as much drunkenness as possible without costing too much. Considering all options, an fruity girl drink is all you need. If you do not have advanced cocktailcrafting, just drink something cheap giving 3 drunkenness. Buying cocktails giving 6 drunkenness does not make sense due to their price. Exceptions apply to people with Tiny Plastic Sword or Astral Badger (get the Ice stein).
Given the conditions, you may have from 17 (no liver, basic drink) up to 23 (liver, fruity girl drink), or even 25 (liver, TPS or Ice stein) drunkenness.
Now, simply buy one or more of the ! potions that gives drunkenness. If you do not know which one it is, this is the perfect time to find out, because Teleportitis does not matter when adventuring in drunken stupor.
Getting to 26 drunkenness with access to mall is easy and it will cost you just 300-1500 meat depending on your skills.
Without access to mall
Without access to mall, your options are limited. You are either in a hardcore or even in a badmoon run. Clover access is limited or nonexistent. Having liver of steel and access to dungeon of doom prior to St. Sneaky Pete's day is crucial. Do not underestimate the preparations, it can take the whole day to get enough ! potions or clovers and ice-cold drinks.
Clovers can be obtained from Valley beyond the Orc chasm from 31337 scrolls or from the hermit. Ice-cold drinks are available in the Frat house.
After drinking the last drink of the day, use the ! potions and green beer.
Hardcore, Oxygenarian?
Don't forget that you can drop your dietary path or lifestyle if you consider worth it.
A long day
With almost all quest complete, I did various non-essential tasks today.
I completed the level 9 quest and then went for another 31337 scroll for more clovers and trinkets since it is St. Sneaky Pete's day.
I adventured in the haunted ballroom and I now have +5% noncombat modifier running.
I managed to get both filthy hippy and frat boy ensemble outfits, collect the Spanish flies, get around the world, let Rodorick built me a chefstaff (Staff of the Black Kettle), and bought Spirit of Rigatoni. Killing monsters with spells should be much easier tomorrow.
This Pastamancer run is very different than my last Sauceror run. I was too scared to use Sauceror's spells. They seem to be weak and limited compared to the Pastamancer ones. Maybe I just gave up and went the potion-way, which was much easier.
The level 10 quest was not hard to do. Even adventuring in the cloud castle was not particularly taxing. My rock lobster used for mana regeneration + backfarming is a good thing. (So far it provided 3 handfuls of floaty sand in the 190 adventures I used it this run - and I plan train it to 20 pounds and use it against the sorceress.)
The familiars I have used so far are Frozen gravy fairy (20 pounds), Rock lobster (14 pounds), Hovering sombrero (12 pounds), Leprechaun (9 pounds) and Blood-faced volley-ball (8 pounds) I am not using anymore.
Final stats:
Level: 10
Muscle: 70
Mysticality: 91 (13 left to level 11)
Moxie: 70
Days played this run: 9
I am falling behind my previous Seal clubber run more and more - I am about 1.5 days behind now. I am also slightly behind my Sauceror run, but not much. Hopefully, the chefstaff will speed me up, I expect having less problems in the final fight.
Tomorrow, I should prepare myself for the level 11 and level 12 quests and save adventures for mysticality day. I must collect goat's milk and use it at the end of the day - this strategy proved useful today/yesterday.
Today is St. Sneaky Pete's day and I saved a couple of adventures and tried to explore the new content. I received the wad of cotton and then the Yield adventure in 20 turns. I hope a nice price awaits me tomorrow.
Finally some good luck
I go the wand in few adventures. Then I went to haunted bedroom to get ballroom key and English to A.F.U.E Dictionary. A short visit to the haunted library and I picked the sleazy tome (to do double damage to spooky monsters) and learn fearful fettuccini. Then I hurried to outskirts of cobb's knob and collected the lunchbox.
Time to get to next level asap, but first I had to obtain the boat. The swashbucking outfit came in time and I went beyond the valley and finally collected a bounty there. The 334 scrolls did not want to drop and I had to make the 31337 scroll first to get clovers from hermit for free. The quest can wait, LOL.
I have traded one of the clovers for brain and built a meat maid. With all the other parts at my disposal, it is a logical investment.
Since I only have a single milk of magnesium left and getting more goat milk is troublesome, I am going to eat at the end of the day and do not adventure again to make use of the effect again tomorrow (cooking meals is not a problem now).
Final stats:
Level: 9
Muscle: 59
Mysticality: 76 (9 left to level 10)
Moxie: 61
Days played this run: 8 (93 adventures saved)
Tomorrow, I should level up as fast as possible, prepare guy made of bees, instruct the quartet in the haunted ballroom, finish the LOL quest and get a good chefstaff after selling the dictionary. I'll probably not enjoy the special adventures on the St. Sneaky Pete's Day tomorrow - I do not have a ice-cold drinks.
Questing
I have finished the older quests today. Goblin king and Bonerdagon are dead, trapper is happy and white citadel burger was delivered. I got the Boris's key during my first trip to the daily dungeon.
I only got half of the hippy outfit and I still do not have the boat. Trouble is on the horizon. On the other hand, I may try playing without access to the hippy store.
Final stats:
Level: 8
Muscle: 51
Mysticality: 65 (3 left to level 9)
Moxie: 53
Days played this run: 7
Reaching level 9 and doing the quests will be easy tomorrow. The getting to level 10 is probably out of question.
Giving up on speed
It seems more and more likely, I will not improve my speed record this run. So, I'd rather focus on enjoying the game.
First, I picked up mushrooms and finished the Nemesis quest. The epic Pastamancer hat with regeneration is worth it.
Then, I have worked on the steel margarita and tried to find a brain when recharging MP. And I got it.
I found one brain, built a chef and cooked 2 reagent dishes.
Fighting in the cyrpt provided another smart skull. After finding a clover in a barrel, I used it to get another brain and spent a few adventures in the inn to get the needed components for a bartender in a box.
The rest of the day I worked on unlocking second floor of the manor.
Final stats:
Level: 8
Muscle: 40
Mysticality: 53
Moxie: 40
Days played this run: 6
Tomorrow, I should check the daily dungeon and maybe the wand.
End of rock monsters
I did the friar's quest, finally found the bell and made meat, bought the mushroom field and did most of the extended nemesis quest.
Final stats:
Level: 7
Muscle: 33
Mysticality: 43 (10 to level 8)
Moxie: 30
Days played this run: 5
Tomorrow, I should get steel margarita, finish the nemesis quest, try to obtain some brains for the campground items, get hippy outfit an build a boat.
The rock monsters stopped appearing. Too bad. I did poorly, since I only have a single floating rock left and no floaty gear.
Back and forth
A single turn on the cola battlefield got me to level 6. 12 adventures in in the bugbear pens and I have the pitchfork.
Got 2 sausages and cooked spaghetti with skullheads. I cannot wait for the mushroom field.
Still no luck with Harold's Bell.
I headed to the fun house to finally collect a bounty and finish the legendary epic weapon.
Final stats:
Level: 6
Muscle: 27
Mysticality: 36
Moxie: 25
Days played this run: 4
Bad luck the whole day
Reaching level 5 was not hard, but getting enough meat was a big problem. I had to buy Lasagna bandages for 1800 and I was down to 700 meat. Count in the fact that I did not get the Harold's bell despite spending a lot of adventures in the back sleazy alley.
I only managed to get the 5000 because started selling items from the barrels (I only got 1 advanced drink and I could not mix it - no little paper umbrellas). I found a clover and went to the treasury. But it was no big win at that point, because I only had 6 fullness left - 2 spicy noodles took care of that saving me from eating mugcakes again. I hope never to have such trouble with meat as I plan to make Pastamstery hardcore permanent.
Bad luck in the misspelled cemetery as well - I found the key after a lot of turns. Then I spent a while on the cola battlefield, getting the cloaca-cola outfit and leveling up almost to level 6 and was the end of my mysticality day.
Final stats:
Level: 5
Muscle: 20
Mysticality: 28 (1 left to level 6)
Moxie: 20
Days played this run: 3
If I found the Harold's bell or got to the battlefield sooner, things would be much better. I am lagging more and more behind the my previous Seal Clubber run. At least I have Pastamastery now and I bought the hammer for pulverizing things.
Meat is still a big problem - I'll need 2500 to get to the island and 5000 to buy a mushroom field. Getting the Harold's bell tomorrow and farming the beefy bats is a must. Beside that, I should be finally collecting a bounty (clowns), boxes, brains and skulls.
Floaty sand prices have risen to almost 7000 meat, lobsters and crystallized memories are a bit up as well.
How to defeat Baron von Ratsworth
This guide is for low-skill hardcore adventurers. Others should just buy a big grenade and throw it.
According to the KoL wiki, Baron von Ratsworth is a scaling monster and he gets more powerful when you do. And he also gets more powerful with the number of ascensions.
Wiki says:
atk = moxie + (3 + #ascensions, max 12)
def = muscle + (3 + #ascensions, max 12)
This means...
After 1 ascension:
His hit chances = ~50%
Your hit chances = ~50%
After 4 or more ascensions:
His hit chances = 100%
Your hit chances = 0% (you'll be hitting him on criticals only)
Hence you cannot rely on ordinary attacks after the first one or two ascensions.
General tips
NO muscle/moxie increasing equipment
Every stat increase applies to your opponent as well. You may think that it does not matter if both your and your opponent stat is higher, but that is not true. Higher muscle means higher hit points, but the power of your weapon or spell stays the same. That means you'll need to hit more times.
Instead of the Doplhin King's crown or Viking helmet, wear a simple pail you get from the artist, asshat, or summon a coconut shell.
Basic meat pants, mariachi pants or even nothing is better than the sticky meat pants or knob goblin uberpants against the baron.
Regarding weapons, pick one with highest power, elemental damage (like the asparagus knife) or bonus spell damage if you rely on spells (silver butcherknife, knob goblin tongs or even little paper umbrella). Avoid any muscle or moxie boosting weapons, especially the epic weapons or moxie and muscle classes.
Regarding other gear, a dirty hobo glove is a good thing, a basic or improved foon is a handy off-hand item for spell casters if you are willing to invest the clover.
If in trouble, fight beaten-up
Beaten-up effects lowers your stats and hence your opponent stats. This lowers your opponent's HP and you have a better chance to bring him down with one hit.
Fight him soon
You want to fight the baron as soon as possible (level 4 is good). When you are strong enough to kill the rats, you are strong enough to kill the baron. Waiting longer only makes the battle harder, because he grows stronger and your gear (grenades, spells, non-enchanted arms and armor) does not.
Pastamancer/Sauceror way
Mysticality classes have easy time killing the baron. If you are low enough level (or at least beaten-up), just throw your spell and he should be dead in one turn.
Get silver butcherknife or knob goblin tongs, buy Ravioli shurikens/Stream of salsa if Spaghetti spear/Salsaball are not enough. Or get the foon.
If you are too high level, you would have to get better spells and equipment. So - kill him soon. You want the ring and the swill asap anyway.
Since you should have no problems, winning in 1 round, a volleyball familiar is probable best choice.
Disco bandit/Accordion thief way
If you have access to a powerful-enough permed spell, using the Pastamancer/Sauceror way might be easiest for you as no extra gear is necessary.
Having high moxie means that baron's attack will be high and his defense will be low. Hitting him with ranged weapon should be possible, but he will hit you as well and much harder. Therefore you may wish to equip a melee weapon and use Moxious maneuver while maximizing the difference between moxie and muscle.
If that tactic does not work, try using items doing damage like the cheap cigar butt, possessed tomato, Colon Annihilation Hot Sauce, or hand grenegg. These you can easily pickpocket before the quest. Having minimal stats (low level, beaten up) is crucial for these items to be effective.
Later, you can use items from the cola battlefield and healing potions. Though this is a suboptimal strategy since you'll be wasting meat.
A deleveling/blocking familiar like barrrnacle or levitating potato is a plus.
Seal clubber/Turtle tamer way
Muscle classes without skills would have a hard time defeating the baron. Your attacks will mostly miss, while baron's will mostly hit.
With Eye of the Stout and Lunging Thrust-Smack, you should be able to hit the baron and kill him with one hit. Because (it is believed that) the Eye of the Stout bonus is relative to your muscle and baron's bonus is absolute, you should keep your muscle high. This means that one of the rules state above does not apply: you should be higher level and not beaten up if you are trying this approach.
Without skills, you must rely on items. Since you cannot pickpocket the early combat items, you must wait for the cola battlefield or get the knob goblin elite uniform and buy them from the goblins.
An alternative strategy that can be effective early is to get the chronic indigestion skill. This is not easy as it requires adventuring in tower ruins, bat hole and getting spices and jabanero pepper from the hermit.
An attack/healing familiar like cocoabo can help. Healing items may be necessary.
Still lagging behind
Progress was slow, just like yesterday. At least the drinks improved a bit and I was able to drink 2 advanced cocktails, redrum and accidental cider. Food was still terrible - from the Haunted kitchen, Outskirts of Cobb's knob - and mugcakes (kind of cheaper than fortune cookies).
I managed to kill baron von Ratsworth and get its money clip easily with ravioli shurikens. Though it took a lot of time to find the baron in the cellar.
I collected the artist's tools and sold rat whiskers for 1000 meat. I also got the goblin encryption key and the ring of half-assed regeneration.
I still do not have a chef's hat and Harold's bell.
Final stats:
Level: 4
Muscle: 11
Mysticality: 18
Moxie: 12
Days played this run: 2
Almost all the goals from yesterday are still valid and I should do them tomorrow. I have 2500 meat and I'll need another 2500 to buy Pastamastery. I got 3 coconut shells today, hopefully a paper umbrella will come tomorrow, on the myst day. I will collect the lunchbox to get me more turns.
Floaty sand prices have risen to 5300 meat, lobsters are at 19000/29000 and memory at 300000 meat. It seems like I have sold the goods when prices were lowest :-(. I hope they fall again.
Enough is enough
Floaty sand has risen to 5000. Crystallized memory is at 200000. I have put my rock lobster into the terrarium and I will be using it as an attack/recharge familiar from now on to get some sand out of it. I have one spare floaty rock and 1.9M spare meat. If the rock monsters are here after I free the king again, I expect the floaty sand prices to be lower than today and I will use that meat buy more. If they disappear and the price goes up, well, at least I have the lobster and one spare rock.
The Misshapen animal skeleton would have to wait. Missing a single bone sucks, but the Dusty left third rib is still too expensive. I do not need the familiar so badly.
I got the easiest demon name today: Vug Beeloo will grant me +30 stench damage when summoned :-).
The farming days are over, I decided to ascend again. The permed skill is Pulverize.
I shall live my next life as a Pastamencer. I considered to be a Turtle tamer, but since the muscle day was yesterday and I still miss Pastamastery, Pastamancer it is.
I decided to try a different start this run and headed to the arena. 10 wins (and one lose) took my volleyball to 3 pounds, my fairy to 5 pounds and I received the lead necklace.
Then I spent some adventure in the haunted pantry with the volleyball, leveling up, collecting razor-sharp can lids and shredded can labels for the bounty hunter. It would be nice to get another lucre today.
Joined the guild and smashing barrels got me 3 drinks and one mimic -> fishing in the sewer, I got one trinket and spices. Nice. Summoned one little paper umbrella and mixed a little sump'm sump'm - but I cannot drink it. With only 9 adventures left, I need to get 119 substats. That is bad, I do not feel like smashing the stainless steel shillelagh for a little combat help.
Seeing that getting to level 4 will require to give up a lot, I decided to rather collect the bounty and summon reagents and cocktail accessories.
Final stats:
Level: 3
Muscle: 6
Mysticality: 12
Moxie: 7
Days played this run: 1
Very bad, I had to eat fortune cookies and drink snaps and basic booze. I also managed to lose my clover in the haunted pantry instead of the lemon party slot. The arena probably was not a good idea at all. My previous run with Seal clubber was better.
Tomorrow, the priority should be food and booze. I must make enough money to buy the E-Z cook oven (I have 750 meat) and then gather resources to cook food and make booze. If possible, I should adventure in the cemetery and in the tower ruins to get skulls and brains. The cola battlefield proved to be a good leveling place previous run and I shall head there asap.
How to lose 30000 in one adventure?
It is easy, have a ten-leaf clover in your inventory while attempting to collect the Goblin lunchbox. I actually had the clovers from yesterday, but I was adventuring in places, where they are not used for more than 100 adventures.
Other than that, the day was average one, I have collected one El Vibrato power sphere and 8 handfuls of floaty sand. Mall prices are fluctuating, but on average, the price was 5000 meat. Lobsters are 10000/15000, crystallized memory is at 250000 meat.
Framing the castle brought some meat, trips to the stone-age camp brought some as well.
I bought 34 dusty animal for about 8000 meat. I am still missing 5 bones, but these are too expensive. Either they are more rare or someone is manipulating the mall prices. Nasty.
I was tempted to ascend today, but resisted. For one more day at least.
Through the shimmering portal
The farming is boring, but I decided to keep farming until I have all the crystal recipes and 5 floaty rocks. I need about 1500000 meat to get there, less if prices keep falling.
I have collected 10 handfuls of floaty sand today, mall price is floats around 4500 meat. Crystallized memory costs 250000, lobsters are at 10000/16000.
Today, I got my free trapezoid, turned it into a portal and spent my 20 adventures on the other side. I also bought 3 punchcards for 20000 meat. Not sure if it was worth it, but now I have a repaired El Vibrato drone and the punchcards needed to augment it. I also have one spare sphere, but I am not willing to invest it to get 5 turns behind the portal, and so I'll wait for next ascension to continue this quest.
The drone can be a powerful attack familiar, but it does not seem to be useful in hardcore. Punchcards are needed to set its function and the El Vibrato helmet is needed to increase its weight.
3rd farming day
More farming, it is getting boring. I got 2 lobsters and 9 handfuls of floaty sand today. The castle, the penultimate air ship and the stone-age frat house were the places for me.
At level 15, I am not really strong enough for the sea without potions. I am considering ascending again even if the rock monsters event is still in progress. Sand prices are under 5000 meat, lobsters are around 10000/160000 and crystallized memory is sometimes under 300000.
In a hurry
I did not have much time to play so I only quickly played the adventures I needed to spend not to go over the 200 limit.
Prices of floaty sand were very low, sometimes they reached even 4000 meat. Lobsters were cheap as well, around 15000/23000.
Castle and camp
Farming is not particularly interesting, I collected bounty and 2 31137 scrolls in the chasm, some meat in the castle, one duct tape and some cups of primitive beer on the island.
With buffs, equipment and 4-d camera, I managed to collect 16 handfuls of floaty sand. Its price is below 6000 meat. Lobsters are at 14000/24000. Crystallized memory is under 300000.
Clubbed 5 hermetic seals at the end of the day. I shall bash more seals tomorrow.
Final stats:
Level: 14
Muscle: 192 (8 left to level 15)
Mysticality: 130
Moxie: 143
Reaching level 15 tomorrow and buying Pulverize should not be a problem. I am not sure, whether to continue farming or jump into another HC run. I'll probably stay for two more days.
SC vs NS
Hunting pixels with +90% item drop: 19 adventures
Hedge maze puzzle (with tomato juice of powerful power): 6 adventures
The tower:
1. fancy bath slug: 1 adventure
2. flaming samurai: 10 adventures (using NS familiar to get them to 5 pound)
3. fickle finger of f8: 1 adventure
4. bowling cricket: 3 adventures
5. beer batter: 1 adventure
6. collapsed mineshaft golem: 5 adventures
Fighting shadow (4 filthy poultices): 1 adventure
Time to test the sorceress: 214 muscle and 140 moxie with equipment. I had my doubts whether I'll be able to defeat her. And I lost. I have defeated the first form, but with only 15 HP left. She was hitting me for 44 HP per round. The first blow of her second form for 52 HP was the last.
I tested her immediately again with 207 muscle and 145 moxie. The first form was hitting me for 40 HP, the second for 48 HP. I defeated the first form sooner, because she did not heal this time.
One more test with 203/153 mus/mox. I was loosing about 37 HP per round to the first form and 46 HP to the second one. I was hitting the second one for 50-60 HP per round without using any skills.
What now? With 3 loses, the block rate should be down and I may try using thrust-smacks, filthy poultices, bombs or stun items. With ambidextrous funk-slinging, my chances would be good. Without it, it is a risk and leveling a bit could not hurt - since there was a bounty on cubist bull, I headed into the gallery.
32 adventures in the gallery and I missed my semi-rare adventure.
I bought Eye of the stoat, put on a different equipment and tried NS again with 216 mus, 146 mox, and 330 HP. Thrust-smack did go through, but due to lower damage reduction, she was hitting me for 50 HP. The second form got me after I dealt ~200 damage and wasted 3 poultices. More training is needed.
Another try, this time with 212 mus, 157 mox, 322 HP. She has beaten me again.
Decided to part with another 10000 and bought LTS. That did it. The damage delivered was in 150-200 range and with 1 poultice I defeated her.
Stats when the Naughty Sorceress fell:
Level: 13 - seal clubber
Muscle: 163 (212 with equipment)
Mysticality: 116 (138)
Moxie: 130 (157)
Days played this run: 13 (2023 adventures)
Gear:
* Scalp of Gorgolok
* bronze breastplate
* frozen seal spine
* Hammer of Smiting
* Boss Bat britches
* Orange Star of Sacrifice
* pirate fledges
* badass belt
Familiar:
* Sleazy gravy fairy with hot pink lipstick
I managed to improve my ascension time by 3 days and 272 adventures. I am still pretty slow speed ascender, but the situation shall improve a bit once I get HP Pulverize. That is, in a few days. A lot of credit has to be given to the frozen seal spine - it has been a tremendous help since I got it.
My nearest goal is to make some meat, get to level 15, buy pulverize and farm some lobsters and floaty sand. Mall price is about 6400, lobsters are at 25000/31000 meat. Crystallized memory is around 400000.