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.
Enough is enough
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.