Roguelike Roulette [Slot 1p]
Level 23: "This place looks uninteresting"
Uninteresting means head down. But no downstairs in sight. There are, however, groups of gnome mages and cave orcs to the west of her, and Marash feels adventurous enough to hope making a path through them will take her where she wants to go.
A quasit, invisible minor demon killed along the way. Out of its depth, really.
The Phial of Galadriel wakes some of those orcs and gnomes, as expected. She peppers them with arrows.
This may have been foolish. A gnome or two taken down. Encroaching orcs push her back into the corridor, while a gnome shatters some of her healing potions with a bolt of frost, and another magically darkens the room. She hears sounds of spellcasting and soon an umber hulk approaches, no doubt summoned by one of the mages.
Marash is pushed back again and the gnomes summon more aid. Once the umber hulk is down, the sasquatch they called forth proves more troublesome. She turns her rod of drain life upon it; the sasquatch screams in agony and turns to flee but, blocked by the mages who summoned it, is unable to escape and now quickly disposed of.
She quickly decides the water vortex they have summoned is the biggest threat. Its sprays of acid corrode several of her equipment in short order, and destroy loot on the floor. The vortex is not especially tough, but pains her worse to bring down than anything else in a while.
The wolfpack the gnomes summoned do not scare her, but too take a while to mop up. On the far side at last she finds a path down. Although she senses a group of black ogres in the distance, Marash chooses to descend.
Level 24: "This place looks uninteresting."
Another place that does not feel up to much. Marash is distracted by digging a vein of treasure out and surprised by an umber hulk bursting through the wall behind her. Her first attempt at protecting herself from evil fails, by the time she succeeds it is upon her.
After cracking its shell and putting the creature down she sets off to explore down the tunnel it has carved, finding herself in a large, dark chamber with a set of stairs leading deeper into the dungeon.
The Phial of Galadriel illuminates the chamber, revealing nothing to fear. The only life here is a patch of brown mold on the far side, and that cannot harm her so long as she stays away. Marash descends.
