I finally did it, the Naughty Sorceress has fallen. But it was a pain, and it took 2 days longer than I wanted. My stats when defeating NS were:
Level: 13
Muscle: 125
Mysticality: 171
Moxie: 145 (211 with equipment)
Run length: 16 days, 2299 adventures
(faster by 2 day, but slower by 4 adventures than my previous run with AT)
With live lobsters prices at 95000 meat (and 97700 for the wok lobster) decided to take a chance and buy 2 rockfish stomachs instead (40000 per one). Fortunately, one of them provided a live lobster and the second one a sand dollar. I expect the lobster prices to drop, but to be on the safe side, I secured mine now. The rock monsters may stop appearing without warning and then I expect the prices to skyrocket. Now, I need to collect 125 handfuls of floaty sand (25500 meat in the mall).
By the end of the day, my stats were:
Level: 14
Muscle: 127
Mysticality: 174
Moxie: 148
I am not going to rush the leveling. Instead I am going to farm floaty sand (have 35 now), filthy lucres (37) and I'll try to build the Misshapen animal skeleton (16).
Finally
And again
I am ashamed. I lost to NS. Several times. The skill blocking ability really makes things complicated. Anyway, I ended the day as:
Level: 13
Muscle: 123
Mysticlaity: 168
Moxie: 134 (199 with equipment)
Days played this run: 15
The first battle (with lower moxie and beer bong) did cost me almost all bombs and healing items. In the last battle, I finally obtained Happiness and the first form was not a problem. The second one did not fall to my spells.
Floaty sand drops were bad as well even with a baby fairy. I got just one in the whole day. Mall price is at 28400. Rising, hmmm. Lobsters are 124500 and 145000. Still high, but at least falling. Cannot buy them anyway due to naughty NS! ;-)
There are now 59 lumps of saccharine maple sap cheaper than the my one. I guess people are losing nerves
Guess what...I did not make it
A nightmare. Farming the whole day. Bubbly potion and some stars came quickly. But then I spent ages while looking for a guitar. Well, at least I got a grungy flannel shirt (and another bandana). Topiary golems were easy. But then the tower. I had to go back for every item and I am still at level 5. First a hair spay - not hard but still one turn lost. Then ninja stars. Ouch, I did not spend a single turn there during the run. And then NG. Another 40 turns in the chasm (got f3d0r4 at least). And then black pepper. And another 40 or more in black forest. Still no pepper, but I got whole black armaments and spend about 20 turns trick-or-treating and finally got the pepper on my very last adventure today (and that was the whole Halloween for me). At least I won't have to spend more time in the black forest tomorrow.
Final stats:
Level: 13
Muscle: 117
Mysticality: 160
Moxie: 118
Days played this run: 14
One thing is clear. Tomorrow is the second moxie day and with my current moxie and equipment (the flannel jacket is +11 mox), I shall be able to defeat NS without much trouble. With base moxie of 126+, I expect be able to get to 200 with equipment.
Live lobster prices jumped to 189000 and wok lobsters are at 195000. Hopefully it is just due to the Halloween and it will drop again. If not, then I had missed my chance to buy one yesterday and I still cannot do it due to HC limitations. Floaty sand is at 22500.
War is tough
I hoped to accomplish more today, but the war proved troublesome. First, I spent s lot of adventures retrieving the meat, because I missed my semi-rares. The other nightmare was Sonofa beach, where I wasted over 70 adventures. Having 18 valuable trinkets, 21 limes, lemons and bottles of rum and 3 wool hats is nice, but I could have lived without it. That's with the monster bait equipped.
On the other side, the junkyard and the jam fliers were swift.
I finished the day as:
Level: 13
Muscle: 111
Mysticality: 150
Moxie: 105
Days played this run: 13
There were few turns left after defeating The Man, but I did not even pass the three gates. A Dungeons of doom potion was my doom. The only one I did not have was the one I needed. And while trying them I got drunk :-(. That's a real pity, because wanted to use today's zap on one of the keys and now I need to find something else to zap.
I hope to destroy the Naughty sorceress tomorrow. It is a moxie day hence I hope it is not unreasonable to expect to reach 120 moxie. With equipment, I should be able to reach 180. Not enough for safe adventuring, but the 23 filthy poultices I bought today should compensate. I pray. We'll see.
Live lobsters are at 47500 meat in the mall and wok lobsters are at 54500. Since making a wok lobster from a live one costs 1000 + skill, I expect wok lobsters to drop a bit more. Floaty sand keeps floating around 21800 meat.
I have a lump of Saccharine Maple sap in my store for 120000, there are 55 cheaper in the mall. It should be interesting to watch how the prices rise as the supply diminishes.
Nothing to write home about
Today was not good. A Clod Hopper has overridden my semi-rare adventure I really needed. Retrieving the sisters' meat will be troublesome. Too bad I do not know the right demon to ask for help. The farm and the orchard are clean (I only got a single flaming feather and no duct tape :-().
The level 11 quest is finished, farming for lion oil took quite long.
I have zapped an original G into a metallic A and made the WAND. I have one spare G. I have the star key and star hat, but only 2 stars left and 14 lines. Bad luck. And I also do not have any guitars. More farming.
Final stats:
Level: 12
Muscle: 103
Mysticality: 138 (10 left to level 13)
Moxie: 98
Days played this run: 12
Reaching level 13 tomorrow should not be a problem, but beating the sorceress will be hard for me. I have no chance to have moxie high enough to avoid the damage and I still remember how hard it was to defeat her with Pastamancer the first time. And I was level 14 then and I was able to buy some good equipment. Now, in HC, I only have the stainless steel suspenders, pulled porquoise ring and the war medal, things will be tough.
Live lobster prices in mall are at 50000 (wok lobster under 60000) and floaty sand is at 21000. Not surprising.
Mysticality day
With 25% bonus on mysticality gains, the progress was not bad. I ended with the following stats:
Level: 12
Muscle: 95
Mysticality: 127 (21 missing to level 13)
Moxie: 88
Days played this run: 11
I managed to do about half of the Holy MacGuffin quest. I did not want to farm for the missing lion oil on myst day and focused on getting to level 12 asap. I also still need to find the worm riding manual.
The frat boy - hippy war did not start yet, but I obtained the War Hippy Fatigues, so it should not take long now.
My original plan was to ascend on the next moxie day (which also happens to be Halloween) and get bonus in both runs, but spending a bit of time hunting the rock monsters looks more and more interesting. Prices of lobsters are falling (48000 meat) and that is good. Floaty sand is at 22200, still ridiculously high in my opinion. Too bad my charged magnet is locked at Hagnk's.
Loved by RNG
Getting all the items for F'c'le is usually a lengthy process. Not today, I got the two missing pieces and my pirate fledges in less than 5 adventures. Now, how probable is that with +0% item drop?
Then I spend a couple of turns in the Haunted Bathroom and said Guy Made of Bees twice while I was waiting for level 11. A thoughtful Clod Hopper stopped by and left 2 handfuls of floaty sand behind. Its price has dropped to 20000 per unit.
A visit in the spooky forest revealed the hidden temple.
Then I realized tomorrow is a mystical day and decided to save some turns, ate 2 lich eye pies, a fortune cookie (74,79 are the lucky numbers) and a bought 2 mole molé molé. Not having Pastamastery sucks. I am also out of my supply of cocktailcrafting accessories, I would have to ask demon for favors. Anyway, 102 turns saved. May the RNG be with me (tomorrow).
Final stats:
Level: 10
Muscle: 81
Mysticality: 100 (4 left to level 11)
Moxie: 69
Days in this run: 10
Not good, not bad
Today was a lazy day without much surprises. I met the clod hopper twice, but not a single floaty sand. Bad clod hopper!
The progress was adequate and I ended as:
Level: 10
Muscle: 77
Mysticality: 94
Moxie: 67
Days in this run: 9
I have finished the level 10 quest. I also gained access to The F'c'le and collected the rigging shampoo.
In the the cloud castle, I got the furry fur. Item drops were pretty bad, because I was using my Sombrero and no item drop modifiers.
I burned a lot of potions today, I am down to 5 spare scrumptious reagents and since I do not expect to beat NS in less than 5 days, I must be careful with them. I hope that Saucegeyser would allow me to take greater risks and save some potions. I need 10 more mysticality to get to level 11 to get the spell.
An adventurer is me
I have been playing KoL (Kingdom of Loathing) for a couple of months now and it just keeps getting better. Who would expect that hacking unreal monsters in my browser can be entertaining for so long...
Anyway, why not blog about it? It will be fun to read this blog after a couple of years and since I'll be documenting my accomplishments day by day, it may also be a good guide for KoL newbies (and yes, I still consider myself a newbie).
History
Since I have been playing for 115 days now, I'll summarize my accomplishments so far.
My initial character was a Pastamancer. I knew nothing about KoL then and it took me 67 days to ascend, the KoL wiki was a great help when I realized the game was too tough. I permed the Pastamestery skill, but since I jumped directly into hardcore, I had no chance to use it since then.
After my first ascension, I chose to play as the Disco Bandit. Playing a moxie class was much easier and I managed to beat the Naughty Sorceress in 21 days. I played with a muscle moon sign and I had to wait for my first black mushrooms to mature before ascending again. I spend that extra time hunting ducks and grabbing handfuls of sand on the desert and built and sold a sand castle. Advanced Coctailcrafting was my first hardcore permanent skill.
Since the next skill I wanted was Torso Awaregness, I was free to choose any class I wanted. I know that this skill is not something veteran KoL players would recommend to get so soon, but I just liked it. Hence I became an Accordion Thief for 18 days. I wanted to do this run as fast as possible and AT seemed a good choice. It probably was, but for some reason I did really liked more the Disco Bandit. I guess it was due to AT's lack of healing skills.
After my third ascension, I decided to improve my cooking skills and became a Sauceror. You may think that I like magic more than might. And you would be right. I just can't help myself even if I expected having trouble beating the Naughty Sorceress. We'll see.
Today
Class: Sauceror
Level: 9 - Basillusionist
Muscle: 66 (2nd muscle day was today)
Mysticality: 80
Moxie: 57
Days in this run: 8
Something is happening in the land of KoL. Rock monsters are appearing and leaving strange floating sand behind. The prices of floating sand in the mall are outrageous (27000 meat was the cheapest toady). Initially I wanted to ascend as fast as possible, but for a poor player like me, it would make sense to farm a bit of floating sand and make some meat.