okay, here are some stories about Baltharsar, the Priest, in Hack and Slash at 'Master' difficulty, starting at 7th level.
1st Death (5 min): After a crazy chase through the wilderness followed by a huge crowd of monsters, Baltharsar finds himself in the Ice Cave with no light source (oops). He doesn't even see what kills him.
City of Tarlumain: Skillfully zig-zagging through the wilderness B. finds the City. He is greeted by a band of orcs who bash him up pretty bad, but he manages to evade them long enough and decides to summon a mighty spectre (12th level) with a scroll he had brought along. The specter bodyguard is of great use and B. finds some needfull things in the city and manages to find Little Billy. He is now 9th level.
2nd death (30 minutes): Baltharsar enters the desert camp. Like in the city B. is greeted by a band of orcs. This time he dies.
B. hasn't really trained enough with his scepter, he only has a 30% hit chance. On the second try, knowing that the orcs are coming, B. goes 'Berserk' with a scroll. Not only does that increase his damage a lot, but also his chance to hit. The orcs don't stand a chance this time and B. heals himself back to maximum.
3rd death (40 minutes): Two bands of giant spiders web Balthasar to the ground, while a pack of giant flies rip him apart.
B. must use all availble resources to survive the Desert Camp. The first pack of Spider dies to a combined use of Lightning Storm and a summoned water elemental. Dodging the webs, B. manages to slay a few stray monsters. When he must fight, he charges up his weapons with fire, and ice, and lightning. He also makes a brave stand battling two monster Groups at once, after he used his scroll of Vigor to recharge his hitpoints quickly during the fight.
Having spent all his scrolls, B. leaves the desert with the fire key in hand. Now he must face the Ice Cave, the place of his first demise...
to be continued...
Ice Cave: apart from a vicious battle at start with three bands of monsters, the Ice Caves pose no problem for our brave Priest. He advances to 10th level and finds the Ice Key. On the way back to the village Baltharsar finds the wizard Gargamel. Since he has no monster hordes on his tracks at the moment, he decides to engage the wizard and slays him. "Hmm, nice amulet", B. thinks, "I think I'll keep that for a while. I bet the jester won't miss it much..."
to be continued...
next: the Old Mine at Nurtred
deaths 4 to 10 (or so), after 3 hours: Orc Berserkers just behind the mine entrance and practicly around every corner in the mine are a big problem for Baltharsar. He has no bow or efficient magic to strike from distance (hmm, I always thought Priests and Druids should be able to use slings... but that is another topic) and is not strong enough to take them on mano-a-mano. Maybe he should rather head for the Cave of Tarlumain...
to be continued
[ April 12, 2003, 01:05: Message edited by: Rollo ]