What a miserable experience level 7 is. You've got endless repetitive terrain. You've got invisible, silent teleporters that give you little clue you've been teleported because they just warp you into more corridors that look exactly like the ones you just left. You've got inescapable monster pits that you can only get out of by using flying boots or teleportation items. You've got cursed enemies that inflict karma when you kill them. You've got invisible teleporters that drop you right into the inescapable monster pits. You've got a nasty, Amidar-style maze occupying a big slice of the map, which has dead-ends you can't escape from without using a teleporting item.
And when you find the dungeon, it's curiously abandoned!
Instead of monsters, you've got a maze of one-way passages and non-euclidean wrapping. Starvation is a legitimate threat here as you wander around in circles! Thankfully, I've got the non-euclidean wrapping figured out already, and I'm able to make a quasi-sensible map.
 |
| Wrapping left shifts you up one row, wrapping right shifts you down one row. |
A few fire drakes guard a handful of rooms with minor treasures toward the end of the maze, but the real prize here is the third crown guarded by a Hindu god.
 |
| Kartikeya gave up and died so as not to insult Murasame. I think. |
 |
| Crown #3 plus some assorted goodies |
Few enemies means not much gold for healing, but I'm not too worried for now - I've got enough red potions for 16 full heals, plus the three elixirs.
If you've been following how I approach Xanadu, then you may be wondering - do I stand a chance against the Silver Dragon in level 9, who I assume guards the final crown? Could I possibly grab it, and with it learn the whereabouts of the Dragon Slayer while there are still monsters weaker than the Red Dragon himself to practice on?
 |
| Nope! |
