Ok. First speedrun done. Used the basic human speedrun rules for MS-DOS. The party began as follows:
- 1x Dwarf Paladin
- 2x Half-Orc Hunters
- 1x Conjurer
Basically I farmed Ogre Lords and Stone Giant and Samurai until Conjurer had FLRE spell.
Next step was farming Catacombs level 1, enter, take the autofight room at 3n2e. Then the autofight rooms at 0n7e and 0n8e. Leave and return as needed for mana/healing/elemental. Once all the melee chars had at least 120hp (survive Grey Dragon breath), then it was off to Harkyn’s. The Conjurer might still die to the dragon breath, but the party had enough gold to resurrect and heal him up.
After some fun with the Grey Dragon, we then farmed one or more autofights in Harkyn 1. Again, leaving and returning to heal/mana/elemental. Additional farm was obtained as needed from the autofight rooms behind the golem at 10n6e.
Eventually all party members were level 13. APAR was used to obtain the crystal sword and to access the stairs for the silver square. Conjurer was promoted to Sorcerer, and entered Harkyn’s at level 1 (cheap to resurrect). Farming then commenced on Harkyn’s level 2, focusing on the two rows of rooms in the middle (13n8e then around to 11n8e, along with various other nearby autofight doors at 12n6e, 16n0e, etc.). This enabled upgrades all around to adamantine armor, shieldrings for all, Pureblade and a Luckshield for the Paladin, a Bloodaxe and Crystal Sword were given to the Hunters. Sorcerer got some Bracers[6], Exorwands, Ali’s Carpet, and a Shield Staff.
Once Sorcerer was around level 12, the two level 1 magicians were added and the party returned to Harkyn’s castle. Level 1 was farmed to get a few levels for the magicians. Once the mages had DRBR, we got the eye and returned to Harkyn level 2 to go to Kylearan’s Tower.
In the Tower we immediately triggered the door opening, got the Silver Triangle, killed the crystal golem, and went straight to Kylearan for the Onyx Key. Almost every creep encounter we fled from, taking only the easy fights in hopes of an interesting item drop. The Level 14ish Paladin with a Luckshield meant that almost all fights could be avoided.
With the Onyx Key, we went back to Harkyn’s Level 2 and to get more XP and the last few necessary -AC items and upgrades. Once Sorcerer was 14 (got halfway to 14 and realized I over-did the XP and it made sense to finish it out), he was promoted to Wizard. Barbarians were farmed only 2 or 3 times. It’s not particularly effective because the item drops and gold are a limiting factor in a speed run. Running around Harkyn level 2 is roughly on par XP wise with the 400 barbarians and drops the needful items.
When the melee heroes were roughly lvl 16, Wizard lvl 4/5ish, and Magicians lvl 13, then some brief excursions into Mangar’s was attempted. The Silver Circle was obtained directly via APAR. Some additional farming was done on Mangar Level 2 via the autofights along the northwest area (11n15e through 10n19e) to get an Arc Hammer, Diamond Helm, Bracer[4], 2x Mage Staffs and a Conjurer staff. Exorwands and Dragonwands were also obtained. APAR to level 1 and back up again was used to reset the level.
During this time, some lessons were learned after two full team wipes and several partial deaths (particularly the sub-70hp magicians) that set me back about an hour. Run from: all demons, dragons, basilisks, and vampires. Target magic casters early and hard, even if it’s slightly overkill. Wizards summoning (multiple) demons can turn easy XP into a team wipe.
Eventually, it seemed like there was nothing else to do but level up. Being kinda bored, I figured I’d just try once and see how the team looked going into Mangar 4 and 5. Apparently they looked really good. The first and only run at Mangar’s crew was made as follows:
Lvl 18 Dwarf Paladin
- Max stats except Luck 17 (sad)
- 261hp
- Mithril Plate
- Diamond Helm
- Luckshield
- Arc’s Hammer
- Silver Square
- Admnt Gloves
- Shield Ring
2x Lvl 18 Half-Orc Hunters
- Max stats except Luck 17 (frustrating)
- 246 / 240 HP
- Mithril Scale
- Shield Ring
- Admnt Gloves
- Admnt Shield
- Admnt Helm
- Silver Circle/Square
- Bloodaxe/Crystal Sword
Lvl 9 Elf Wizard
- Max Stats
- 259hp / 229 SP
- Ali Carpet
- Shield Ring
- Luckshield
- Mithril Gloves
- Bracers[4]
- Magestaff (swapped to Conj. staff mid-journey)
- Onyx Key
Lvl 13 Elf Magician
- 16 CN / 15 Luck / Rest Max (really perturbing)
- 66hp / 93 sp
- Ali’s Carpet
- Bracers[6]
- Shield Ring
- Mage Staff
- Exorwand
- Dragonwand
Lvl 13 Elf Magician
- 15 CN / 16 Luck / Rest Max (just wow)
- 56hp / 89 sp
- Ali’s Carpet
- Bracers[6]
- Shield Ring
- Conjurstaff (swapped with Wiz’s Magestaff mid-journey)
- Exorwand
Luck is critical to the Mangar adventure, and I was rather annoyed that it didn’t get maxed on any of my heroes. But surprisingly, it turned out ok.
The trip to Mangar’s crew went something like this. Enter via Sewers. All forced and random fights were fled from successfully. Once in Mangar 4, fled from first set of forced fights, but did wipe the 60 or so ghouls at 11n6e (the WIDR is your best friend). There I got a really important and lucky drop of a Deathring! I put it on one of the Magicians. This ended up saving the run later on.
Next as a stroll to the pair of Red Dragons (these are not your friends). This is a really critical spot, and I fully expected a team wipe, as they each have a 50% breath chance. Gratefully, my friendly WIDR got the first hit, killing the first Red Dragon. The second Red Dragon attacked and missed and then died. In retrospect, I should have done things different in advance of that fight.
I was lucky and the remainder of the fights were easy or were successfully fled from, and Mangar 5 was entered successfully. The Storm Giants were very unpleasant, but the fight was won in two rounds due to some lucky misses (first flee failed, second round I think I just went for it because there were only two left and I wasn’t playing seriously). Once they were beaten, I realized that there was a reasonable chance of success if I kept moving forward. So I did.
We successfully fled, fought, or if flee failed, fought a round and fled all the autofights in Mangar 4 and 5. The possession trap snagged a hunter who got first strike on the Wizard, but exorwand saved the day.
Mangar and company was a really lucky adventure. The company barely survived and after obtaining spectre snare and healing up was very low on mana. Mangar was mostly useless, casting nothing spells or dragon breath. Demon lords summoned more demon lords, but no breaths. Vampires were wiped with REDE and DEST but did manage to summon a few wraiths/ghouls and cast a DEST. But in the end, they all died, and we won.