Lvl 11, Dlvl 6, Hum, Bar, killed by a hallucinagen-distorted giant ant, or something

I gave up on interesting characters and went back to where the survivability is. Strength. Barbarians. Had a good run too. Finished the mines (then I lost my cat on the lowest level, something was slowing me down and I didn't get to my cat before the troll killed it, damn troll). Finished sokobon, and had gone back to Minetown which had a co-aligned alter. I was gonna try and scarifice something into existence. I had a few piles of stuff set about near the altar. A kobold shaman came in and grabbed a cursed scroll of create monster and then read it. Not a problem, I was planning on doing that myself. I cleaned everything up and then something caused me to hallucinate. I'm not really clear on what that was. I had set my unicorn horn down while doing something else. I went to go pick it up but being hallucinating and all I didn't realize that there was a guard, or maybe the priest standing in my way. I hit him (her, it) then almost immediately got zapped by a wand which paralyzed me. Then I got whacked until I died. Kind of a bummer there, it was shaping up to be a good game.

Lvl 4, Dlvl 4, Dwa, Arch, killed by a coyote

Another try with my pseudo-Indiana Jones thing here. I ran into a bugbear and really didn't stand a chance so I beat feet out of there. But there were a couple of coyotes and a rat on my tail. I didn't outrun one of the coyotes.

Lvl 4, Dlvl 4, Dwa, Arch, killed by a kobold while helpless

I really wanted telepathy. I know just whacking floating eyes is a bad idea. I had thrown everything I had at it without killing it. I thought, maybe if I hit him just one more time that'll do him in. Not so much. A kobold wandered up while I was frozen and offed me

Level 1, Dlvl 2, killed by a kobold's dart

Female gnome healer. Letting the computer choose for me might not be the best idea. My cat bought it under a falling boulder trap. That was not a good sign. Shortly after that a kobold was chasing me down the hallway throwing darts. I tossed a couple back but not enough.

Level 1, Dlvl 3, zapped by a shopkeepers wand

Nuetral healer. Human I think, although I didn't really play long enough to notice. Fell through a trap door into a shop that was closed. I had to kick the door open, as it was locked, and he wanted to charge me 400 for it. I actually had it but thought that maybe if I left quickly things might blow over after a while. But it was not to be. I don't even know what kind of wand it was. Doesn't really matter as he could probably have just whacked me over the head with it and that would have done me in.

Level 2, Dlvl 2, done in my a small mimic in a shop

I really knew that it was a mimic. I did. It was 4x4 sized shop but I walked into it anyway. I let the game choose my starting race, class, and alignmnet this time. A female lawful dwarven archeologist. I really saw this one going places. Such a shame.

Level 16, Dungeon level 6 (Quest), Choked on a Hill Giant corpse

This was my best game ever. It was also a ridiculous way to die. I had been as far down as Medusa's level, I didn't have a good way of crossing the water so I was meandering around working on some other stuff. I was on the lowest level of the Valkyrie quest getting the rest of the loot and and trying to bump my strength on all of the giants. This was dumb as I already had gauntlets of power. Anyhow, I didn't wait near long enough to try to eat another one, and I died. Kind of anitclimactic, no?

Dlvl 4, XP 3, Tourist caught between a giant bat and a little dog

I was thinking if I went out as a Tourist I might be a little more careful. I had Sting 'cause I found a runed dagger and my coach clued me in on naming it to that effect. I saw the little dog when I entered a room (hey those suckers are mean). It was only two spaces away. My cat had stepped on a teleport trap in the previous room so I decided to retreat back to it and try my luck. It only put me over one room where the dog was soon following. Two doors to choose from. I took Door Number One on the left. Which opened right into a giant bat. Not much chance after that.

Dlvl 2, XP 2, killed by a gas spore's explosion

The rock that hit me on the head just kind of softened me up. Another rock from the same trapdoor killed my cat. The gas spore that I bumped into around the corner finished me off.

What got me started

This is something I posted elsewhere that was my original inspiration for this blog:

A few days ago I was playing some nethack at work. I was playing a Valkyrie, I think and had just cleared out the Gnomish mines. And on the bottom level I had even taken out a vampire and a vampire lord. I was up to level 12 after eating a wraith. From somebody's bone file I had a cursed Frost Brand which I was pretty sure I could uncurse to some good use. I was back up in Minetown gathering stuff and about to head back down to pick up some more. I had been in a store and had therefore dropped and picked back up my dwarven mattock which I was using as my primary weapon. On the way to the stairs I ran into a cockatrice. It hit me once or twice but nothing happened. So I figured I could take it out. So I hit it. But I hadn't re-wielded my mattock. So I hit it bare-handed, and promptly turned to stone. Game over.

Just now I was rocking in another game. This time I'm a barbarian and I've again just cleared the Gnomish Mines. I've got the artifact Cleaver and I'm gathering stuff back upstairs with me. I'm down a few points of intelligence after the mind flayer I met at the bottom of the mines, but I'm a barbarian, so no big deal. I see a cockatrice via telepathy as I've got my towel over my eyes. And I kill it. But I never took the towel off. So when I step over the corpse I FEEL what is there. Hmm, it's a cockatrice corpse. That's interesting. I've just turned to stone. Game over.

I had something very similar happen a year or so ago with my best game to date. Damn cockatrices. And it's not like it isn't entirely preventable. I need to practice safe dungeon-crawling or something. Get me some gloves.

Dungeon level 2, a kobold with a wand of fire

That was quick. Experience level 2 on dungeon level 2. A frickin' kobold.

Level 9, Gnomish Mines, Fire Ants

I ran into some fire ants on my way back down the Gnomish Mines after a teleport trap sent me back up to dungeon level 2. They hit me before I knew what was happening. And then my potion of paralysis boiled and burst. Paralyzing me. I tried praying when I got the chance, had about 12 HP's left. Set kept them back for a round or two, but the bastard didn't heal me. Turns out I had a wand of teleportation I hadn't ID'd yet. Oh well.