Jump to details about Ancient Domains of Mystery
Play style: Random character, everything default.
Text in red is game mechanics.
Text in green is fiction from outside of the game.
Text in quotation marks is in-game text.
Intro (summary from the manual)
“For 6000 years, the world of Ancardia was left untouched by the incursions of Chaos, but finally the sinister forces of evil and darkness have found this young and teeming world. In a remote mountain complex, huge dungeons were formed by great magical powers. They seem to contain some kind of dimensional gate which allows terrors from unknown dimensions to enter the world of Ancardia and wreak havoc.”
“Finally Khelavaster, the great sage, uncovered an ancient prophecy foretelling the Coming of Chaos -- a dark and sinister time when the skill, power and valor of a single hero would determine the future of the world. The ancient scrolls of prophecy hinted at a remote mountain range -- the Drakalor Chain -- which was destined to be the final battle ground for an epic fight between Chaos and Order.”
“You were told to visit a small village by the name of "Terinyo" and talk to the village elder for he might have the latest information about the region. Steady yourself and be prepared to engage in a heroic struggle for the fate of your home world!”
Endorfir the Gray Elf
Gray Elves train in the following skills: Dodge, Listening, Literacy, and Stealth.
Fighters are trained in the following skills: Athletics, Archery,
Dodge, Find Weakness, Metallurgy, Stealth, Swimming, and Two Weapon Combat. He is also of basic skill with sword and shield.
Endorfir gets one extra talent because he is born in the Candle sign. He chooses Alert (+1 Perception) and Quick (+2 Speed).
Endorfir has very good strength (St), average learning (Le) and willpower (Wi) exceptional Dexterity (Dx) average or below average toughness (To) and charisman (Ch), he is of very good appearance (Ap), has average magical power (Ma) and exceptional perception (Pe). He is of neutral alignment (N=). He is hard to hit (defensive value of 19) but has little protection (protection value of 5). He can take a lot of damage (H: 18) but has low magical power (P: 3). He is in the wilderness (DrCh?) and is a little faster than normal (Sp: 104).
He has an elven chain mail made of mithril. It is very light and gives some protection (+5 protection value). His light cloak and small shield makes him harder to hit (+1/+2 defensive value). The leather boots give a boost to his melee and armor attacks. In his right hand he wields a long sword (1-8 damage).
Terinyo
“The weather is mild and comfortable. A slight wind is blowing. A road.” Endorfir starts on a mountain road. He follows the road and spots Terinyo, a tiny hamlet, in front of a forest.
He enters the hamlet.
In the hamlet there are some houses and people. He meets a baby water dragon that seems sad. He chats with it and it asks: “Hast ye seen me mommy?” Endorfir then meets a couple of farmers, a child and a fool. The fool is saying some mystical things and the child wants candy.
He then meets Rynt, the village elder, outside his house and talks to him. He wants Endorfir to rescue the village carpenter from the dungeons to the southeast. He continues his stroll through the hamlet.
He hears someone counting money and finds a shop. He enters the shop and gets greeted. “Welcome to Munxip’s Magnificient Munchies Mall.” The shop is filled with large food rations. They are quite expensive and heavy but he buys one. He now has only 4 gold pieces left. He leaves the shop. Munxip says: “Have a nice expedition, Endorfir.”
He meets a Druid that says “Aye, champion, yer time will come…” A tiny girl asks Endorfir to rescue her lost dog from a dungeon. He then meets Tywat Pare, the Sheriff. He asks Endorfir to kill Kranach, a raider gang leader.
Endorfir looks at his notes.
He then leaves Terinyo.
He goes southeast through a forest and finds an ancient stairway leading into the depths of the hills. 19 hours and 40 minutes has gone by since he started his journey. He enters the cave.
Village Dungeon Level 1
He finds a scroll labeled: ”IDNUM AIROLG TISNART CIS” Better not read it yet; you never know what foul magiks it can conjure. There’s a door in the room. He opens it and goes through a corridor and enters another room. He finds 33gp on the floor. He tries another door; it’s stuck but opens on the second attempt. In the next corridor he encounters a creature. He examines it.
The Large Bat attacks. Both miss with their attacks a couple of times. The third time Endorfir misses but blocks the Bat’s attack. He then hits and slays the Bat.
In the next room a Goblin attacks. Endorfir is faster and hits the goblin with full force and transforms him into a mangled heap. He finds a purple wand and a harp.
In the next room there’s a Kobold, but it doesn’t care about or sees Endorfir so he picks up a small shield from the floor. He equips it and it’s identified as a [+5, +0] small shield. It offers better defense than his other shield (Defensive Value (Dv) goes from 19 to 22). The air of this room is filled with a very rich flavor (a spoiler reveals that such a room is a good place to rest without getting hungry).
He then enters a new room with a hostile Kobold and Goblin. Endorfir waits in the door and kills each creature with one blow as they attack him. He finds studded leather armor and a short bow. He picks up the bow. A stair is leading downwards but Endorfir decides to explore the full first level of the dungeon.
(Uses walk mode to move automatically through explored corridors) He encounters an Orc. It doesn’t care about Endorfir. He examines the Orc.
He then sees a Kobold, but it doesn’t care about Endorfir. Level is now fully explored and he goes down the stairs.
VD Lvl: 2
In the room below he encounters a hostile Kobold. He examines it before he attacks.
Endorfir has now seen enough Kobolds to know some things about them. Both misses their attacks. Endorfir then hits and transforms the Kobold into a mangled heap. He finds the stairs down and six arrows. He equips the arrows to the missiles slot and equips the short bow as a missile weapon.
He is becoming hungry and eats a ration. In the next room there are a Skeleton and a Rat. Endorfin kills both and advances to experience level 2. He now gets to improve three of his skills. He chooses Athletics, Dodge and Stealth. There’s a Rat corpse and a scroll on the floor. A distance into the room there’s some frog legs, light boots and a Large ration. The light boots has the same characteristics as his leather boots but are 5 stones lighter so he drops his old leather boots.
He encounters a Large Bat. He shoots an arrow but misses. The Large Bat engages in close combat but Endorfir deflects the attack and then transforms it into a mangled heap. He then eats the Large Bat corpse. It tastes like chicken. He finds an onyx ring and picks up the arrow he fired earlier.
He kills a Kobold and finds a short bow. He tries to wield it notices that he can’t let go of his other short bow, now identified as a (+1, +0) short bow (cursed). It is a good bow and Endorfir might as well continue to use it.
When Endorfir enters the next room an Orc surprises him by throwing a crude knife but it misses. Endorfir targets the Orc and releases an arrow, killing the Orc right away! He picks up the arrow, the crude knife and an iron ration.He spots a giant Rat in a corridor outside the room. He tries to shoot it but hits the wall, destroying the arrow. He kills the rat with his sword and finds a Large ration. He encounters a hostile Orc and Goblin and kills them both with arrows and advances to level 3 (29 Hp). He gets three skill improvements as usual. He chooses Archery two times to make his skill level Fair and then chooses Dodge. He also gets to choose one new talent. He chooses Affinity with swords (+2 to hit).
He encounters a Skeleton and hits with an arrow but do no damage. Maybe Skeletons are immune to arrows. He kills it with one blow from the sword instead. He then slays an Orc and a giant Rat. The level explored he goes down to the next level. He has now been exploring the dungeon for about seven hours (game time).
VD Lvl: 3
A giant Frog comes jumping down a corridor. Endorfir hits it with an arrow, severely injuring it. The second arrow misses but his sword hits and slays it. Endorfir moves into a dark room. He decides to leave the room until he finds a light source. He finds a watery potion. He enters a door into yet another dark room, or it might be the same one. Endorfir turns around to leave and feels something passing very closely beside his head. He goes a few steps down the corridor and an Orc comes out of the dark room behind him. Endorfir kills it with an arrow.
He tries to open a door but it is locked. “He shatters it with a mighty kick! By smashing it he activates a trap protecting the door. The door suddenly falls in his direction! He barely evades it by jumping backwards.” The room is empty.
In the next room he kills a goblin with his bow. His skill with bows have improved to level 1. In the next room he spots a Bugbear and a hostile wild cat. He retreats and checks out another room. He kills a Claw Bug and loses the arrow but finds 77gp. He kills another Claw Bug with an arrow and advances to level 4 (35 Hp).
He goes back to the room with the Wild Cat and kills it. “Suddenly the cat’s spirit rises from its lifeless body. Moaning pathetically, it plunges into the ground. Endorfir hears a faint echoing roar filled with hate and sorrow!” A fire Beetle attacks.
Endorfir tries to flee to shoot arrows at it but can’t outrun it. He hits the Beetle with his sword and slightly wound it. The Fire Beetle misses. He hits a gain slightly wounding the Beetle. He misses and then hits but do not manage to harm it. Endorfir blocks the attack from the Beetle. They fight for a while and finally Endorfir slays it.
Returning to the room the Bugbear now has become hostile. Endorfir fires his two remaining arrows but misses. He notices another Bugbear and rushes the first one with his sword. It picks up an arrow but Endorfir kills it with one mighty blow. He picks up the arrow and fires it at the second Bugbear, moderately injuring him. The Bugbear throws a couple of blows but Endorfir blocks them and then hits the Bugbear slaying it.
He encounters a Goblin Slavemaster. He kills it with his two last arrows, destroying both. He goes down the stairs.
VD Lvl: 4
He meets Jharod, the healer. Jharod offers to heal Endorfir or teach him something. Endorfir isn’t wounded so he chooses to learn something. But Endorfir has to prove that he is able to exert mercy before Jharod will teach anything. There’s a stair leading down in the room but he moves on.
In the next room he kills an Orc and a Bugbear and finds a scroll. He follows a Lizard Man through a corridor and kills it when it becomes hostile. Next up is a Large Kobold. It drops a tiny key. It’s a long corridor that ends with a door. Behind the door a Kobold fires an arrow but misses. Endorfir rushes into the room and kills the Kobold and equips the arrow. He becomes hungry and eats the frog legs. Slimy.
He finds an ancient altar of black obsidian. He leaves it alone and encounters a Goblin Slavemaster. He easily deflects his blows and kills him and advances to level 5 (38 Hp). He finds a Clean Robe. He doesn’t try it on. He kills a Hobgoblin and advances to level 3 with swords. He goes down the stairs.
VD Lvl: 5
He finds some raw meat and a bubbly potion. A Bandit attacks but Endorfir slays him. He then kills a White Worm and a Goblin Slavemaster. He finds a huge iron hammer. It weights 200 stones so the drops his [+2, +0] small shield to not become burdened.
He kicks a locked door and avoids a sudden flash. But the door is still locked. He kicks it again but it wont budge. He tries again and it shatters revealing a corridor. It ends in a room with stairs down. The raw meat is beginning to rot, so Endorfir eats it, but he doesn’t like raw meat very much.
He encounters a Ratling Archer.
Endorfir targets it and kills it right away.
(The image above shows that a straight line of sight isn't required to target enemies in ADOM) “He became one with my missile, that’s for sure.” Endorfir thinks with a smile on his lips. He then encounters a Gnoll standing seven feet tall. He hits it with the arrow and severely injures it and then waits for it to come into range and slays it with the sword. A Raider Skeleton attacks but gets killed. He finds a glass amulet, some clothes and a chain mail weighing 400 stones. That’s a lot compared to Endorfir’s elven chain mail with a weight of 10s, so he leaves it.
He enters a room with an Orc. Endorfir notices a slurping sound. He kills the Orc with an arrow getting skill level 2 with bows. He is about to get his arrow when he notices a Swordsman. The Swordsman hasn’t detected Endorfir yet. He picks up the arrow and a hostile Ogre appears behind the Swordsman.
Endorfir backs away and zaps the purple wand at the Ogre. It’s a wand of Magic Missile with one charge left. The Ogre closes in but Endorfir has time to hit it with an arrow. Two hits from the sword finally kill it. The Swordsman has now become hostile and attacks.
Endorfir hits him and slightly wound him. A couple of blocks and deflections later Endorfir severely wounds the Swordsman and he suddenly seems to panic. He runs away and Endorfir chases him for a while but then returns to pick up the arrow and a sling. He later kills a Gnoll and finds the Swordsman and kills him. He finds a square key. He hears a slurping sound.
He moves to the stairs leading down and finds the room full of spider web. He kills the spider and manages to get stuck in some webs for a few seconds while retrieving the arrow. He picks up six rocks for the sling. He heads down the stairs.
VD Lvl 6
He finds 100gp beneath the stairs. He spots an army of Kobolds hanging out in a room down the corridor. They seem somewhat experienced.
Endorfir backs out into the corridor and begins defending. He is burdened and hungry when the battle begins. He transforms a few Kobolds to mangled heaps and tries to eat a ration when there’s a gap in the enemy line. But a Kobold is attacking Endorfir before he has time to finish eating the ration. He kills a couple more Kobolds and advances to level 6 (47 Hp). As a 6:th level fighter he now gains a +7% Protection Value bonus from some items. He chooses the talent Careful (DV +1).
He kills three more Kobolds and when no more seem to come down the corridor he swallows an iron ration. It tastes good. He kills a giant Rat, a Cave Lion and one last Kobold. He finds a leather girdle [+0, +0] in the corridor but the room is empty.
In the next room he finds a watery potion and stairs leading down. He checks out the last door in another room and encounters a Barbarian and a Black Hurthling. He kills them and picks up a hand crossbow, a crude knife and a dwarven sausage. There’s a corpse from an Orc here. Suddenly a Huge Bat attacks.
Endorfir kills it with one single blow. In the next room there’s a black obsidian altar. He drops some clothes on the altar as an experiment. “Suddenly several figures appear out of nowhere.”
It’s rats!
Endorfir slays them all. It seems that he angered some god, and the black altar is probably built to some chaotic god. He finds a loaf of bread and some copper bracers. He tries them on and they are bracers of protection [+0, +2] giving him better protection (Pv: 7)
There’s a locked door but the square key fits and he unlocks it. Endorfir is shocked when he finds a copy of himself on the other side of the door. It is a Doppelganger. Endorfir fires an arrow at the Doppelganger but it just deflects it and closes in for the attack. They both block each other’s attacks, but Endorfir gets the next hit and the Doppelganger gets seriously wounded and flees. An Ogre Zombie attacks. He kills it and next up is a Lizard Man getting killed. He then corners and kills the Doppelganger.
He kills some larger creatures and gets skill level 4 with swords. When the level is fully explored he moves to the stairs. Before going down Endorfir decides to read the scroll labeled “IDNUM…” After reading it he suddenly loses bits and pieces of his memory and the map becomes filled with blank holes. He reads another one labeled “IAZNAB”. “It’s suddenly hard to remember things.” What has happened? Am I losing my mind? Maybe it is not wise to read any more scrolls right now. He has now been in the cave for 25 hours.
VD Lvl 7
There’s an empty room without exits. He searches and finds a secret door. He walks through long corridors. “Suddenly an extremely bright light flares up! He closes his eyes just in time to avoid being blinded.” It was a light trap.
In the next room there’s a Dark Elven Archer. Endorfir engages the Dark Elf but has to retreat when a Large Kobold and a Mimic closes in. The Dark Elf begins to fire small bolts but misses. The Dark Elf engages in close combat and Endorfir gets skill level 2 with shields. After a longer fight with the Dark Elf it finally dies and Endorfir advances to level 7. The Mimic is wounded and flees and the Large Kobold dies from Endorfir's mighty blows.
He encounters a Harpy and engages in close combat. The Harpy stings and Andorfir falls asleep. It misses a few attacks and Endorfir wakes up. Both misses some attacks but finally Endorfir hits and kills the harpy. Down the corridor comes a man running with a hatchet over his head. He is wearing bloody clothes and an insane smile. It is the Carpenter gone mad.
The Carpenter chases Endorfir down a corridor. Endorfir doesn’t want to kill him and tries to lead him out of the dungeon. A Chaos Sister is blocking the path. Endorfir hits her and she turns to flee. She is very fast and disappears into the darkness in the distance. Arriving in the room with the stairs Endorfir finds both the wounded Chaos sister and Mimic. He kills the Chaos Sister and attacks the Mimic but the Mad Carptenter hits Endorfir (taking away 3 Hp) and is causing a bleeding wound. Endorfir heads for the stairs. He loses some blood (1 Hp) but then the bleeding stops. Endorfir rushes up the stairs.
VD Lvl 6
The map has blank spots but Endorfir thinks he remembers where the stairs up are located. He reaches the right room but a Gelatinous Cube blocks the way up. The Carpenter has disappeared. Endorfir gets trapped between a Large Kobold and the Gelatinous Cube but manages to kill the Kobold. He equips a crude knife, he doesn’t want to damage his sword if the cube is acidic, and attacks the Cube. He kills it with two hits. Now the Mad Carpenter attacks again and Endorfir has to flee through a long corridor to fool the Carpenter.
A Giant Rat blocks the path and while Endorfir kills it the Mad Carpeter manages to penetrate Endorfirs armor and wound him (47/55 Hp). A Goblin Berserker attacks and hits Endorfir causing a bleeding wound. Endorfir kills it and finds a dusty tome. He continues to move back to the stairs (46/55 Hp) but meets a Ghul. He avoids it and is now chased by the Mad Carpenter followed by the Ghul. A Pixie blocks the path, but Endorfir slays it and finds 244gp.
VD Lvl 5
He reaches the stairs without any fights. The Mad Carpenter is still following him.
VD Lvl 4
Jharod the Healer is in the room. He touches Yrrigs the Mad Carpenter and heals him from his insanity. Yrrigs bows to Endorfir and puts down some items before he leaves. It’s a hatchet, a potion and a huge manual. Talking to Jharod he now agrees to teach the skill of healing to Endorfir. He touches his forehead and Endorfir now has the healing skill at 14 points (mediocre). Endorfir heads for the exit.
On VD Lvl 1 he slays an Orc that drops a leather girdle. It’s a Girdle of Carrying allowing Endorfir to carry more stuff without becoming encumbered.
Back in the village the sheriff informs Endorfir that the Raider Leader no longer seems to be in these parts so Endorfir doesn’t have to look for him anymore. Endorfir walks to the Village Elder. He says: “You deserve our eternal gratitude.” He tells Endorfir that the shop will adjust the prices. He then says: “Now try to find the source of all this Chaos stuff.” He talks about some ancient dungeon in the western central part of the mountains. Endorfir then talks to the Carpenter, and he agrees to train Endorfir in the skill of bridge building. Endorfir buys a couple of melons at Munxip’s Mall and then starts walking to the puppy cave.
To be continued...
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