Sacrifices of a person who planned to go to Extended:
You are missing a hand.
Your cowardice makes you less effective in combat with threatening foes.
You cannot train Armour skill.
I wanted to go to Extended for awhile now but every time I got a strong character to endgame the temptation of winning a new combo always won over me. That’s why this run I started as Merfolk Shapeshifter with whom I already have two wins.
Getting Rimehorn talisman from protean meant I’m getting to S branches as long as I’m paying attention. Then, I got Serpent which is basically a rimehorn of tier-3 talismans - really, REALLY good stuff!
I started worrying when I realized I clear floor after floor and my only tier-4 talisman is Granite which I don’t really want. (Reminder that I sacrificed my hand so I can’t use shields.) Thus, I started training summoning for some support.
At first, it wasn’t much helpful - wow, an inugami in Swamp who dies after one (1) turn of co-existence with an alligator. But when I got Mana Viper and Forest online things stopped looking so grim.
I’m not sure which of my sacrifices I hate the most: sacrifice ring slot or sacrifice courage. Being a coward might not seem like a big deal early on but in late game and extended, when most enemies trigger the debuff, it gets really annoying.
Then I cleared Vaults:5 with a few close calls (still a serpent btw) and finally found it - Storm talisman, the end of all struggles for an end-game shapeshifter.
Since stepping into Zot and Extended, the only spell I kept using is Vhi’s Electric Charge. Why do I need those stupid Sphinx(es?) when my electrified hands removes anything on the screen. The only thing that I really need is to cut the distance ASAP.
Before going into Pandemonium, I decided to get slimy and abyssal runes - just to be sure. For the first time I dealt with The Royal Jelly without using Immolation, in melee then Apocalypse. Teleported away, removed all the remaining enemies, swooped the loot. Abyss was so easy I don’t even remember what was there. Ah yes, I Apoc’ed away all the rune chamber, of course.
My first panlord was Cerebov - and it was my first time meeting them too! I had no fire resistance, so I drank a potion of resistance alongside might and haste, Vhi’ed to the boss, got a Fire Storm in my face, killed the lord in three hits, Vhi’ed away from the clouds. Lightning: 1, Fire: 0!
Next was Lom Lobon who I already dealt with on my only other try on Extended. I knew that a melee brute wants to pop !attraction to prevent Lolobom from blinking away. Amusingly, Lob’s Polar Vortex launched me right through a wall which was confusing. But the next turn I returned to the wizard who successfully received their portion of electric punches to their ehh face I guess?
The demonic rune was in an ice-themed vault with lots of Blizzard demons, icy statues and of course the lord themselves. The only notable thing about the lord was Paralyze at 38% chance but the main problem for me were all the freezing clouds which could quickly run down my health. It didn’t happen though because Apocalypse. We’re talking a Ru run after all. Ironically, the lord was paralyzed by Apoc.
Somewhere after the three runes I finally got the Death talisman. A very good timing since the other two panlords really ask for some anti-bullshit treatment. Similarly to Lon Lobom, I met and killed Gloorx in another run and know very well that this panlord is full of shit. Mnoleg is a new for me and was the closest for me to lose consider fleeing. Death wasn’t on my side this time preventing me from curing confusion while I’m fragile. Somehow I got through though. Thanks Death form!
Stay tuned to learn which of the Hell branches will put this merfolk to rest!