[crawl] a story

Khuth the Mummy Necromancer goes down to the third level of the Orcish 
Mines and immediately sees a long line of orcs approaching him with 
hostile intent. All were common orcs except the one at the end, who 
seemed a little smarter than the others and wore a funny looking wizard's 
hat. 

Khuth amused himself by slowly killing the orcs one at a time, 
alternating casts of Pain and Magic Dart. These orcs, like the others, 
were easy to kill. Khuth noticed that the orc wizard had disappeared. 
"Well, maybe a smart one for a change. This one ran away before I could 
kill him".

Khuth suddenly heard a voice from somewhere, but there was nobody around 
him. "I'm Zorch the Orc Wizard, and I'm here to avenge my brothers and 
sisters. You have killed many of us and looted our treasures. Prepare to 
die".

Khuth: Where are you?
Zorch: I can see you, but you can't see me, oh flammable one. Prepare to 
die!

Khuth points his finger at where he though the voice came from and a 
powerful black jet of energy erupts from his fingertips, but it doesn't 
hit anything. At the same time, a large burst of fire came from the air, 
burning Khuth seriously.

Khuth: Ouch!
Zorch: Here's more!

At this point Khuth realizes he's severely injured and points a silver 
wand at himself. He runs as fast as he can (in fact even faster than he 
normally can) to the staircase a few squares away...

Zorch: You're not wanted here! Leave these Mines forever!

Khuth runs away, finds a safe place to regain his health and returns to 
his sanctuary in the Temple. He sits down and thinks (well as hard as 
something with Intelligence 14 can think) and has an idea. "My program of 
painstakingly learning how to identify things and identifying every piece 
of treasure that could possibly be useful will now bear fruit. There are 
those who though I was silly, or even Loonie, for doing so".

Khuth walks over to his treasure trove and pulls a strange contraption 
from the wall, looks at the piece of paper he had attached to it noting 
its powers, and grins.

Khuth goes back to the stairs to the third level of the Mines, and 
carefully puts the black staff he uses to help power his magic in his 
backpack and takes out the contraption, then walks down the stairs.

Zorch: I see you're back for more. (Laughs) Do you know what this thing 
you're wielding even is?
Khuth: It's a crossbow. A very good one. See, it glows.
Zorch: You probably don't even know how to use one! Do you know that you 
need bolts to fire with that? (Laughs harder)
Khuth: Yes, but I'm not carrying any. I don't need them.
Zorch: You're even dumber than I thought! Prepare to die!

Another large burst of fire issues from Zorch's hands, but Khuth is only 
slightly injured. Meanwhile, Khuth produces another black bolt from his 
fingertips, though it doesn't have the ferocity of the one he fired 
earlier. This one scores a direct hit, hurting Zorch badly.

Khuth: I can see you now! You're right over there, oh ugly one. You're 
going to have a much harder time burning me to death now as well! You're 
the one that's going to die!
Zorch: Have you found some fire resistant underwear? (Laughs) And how can 
you see me all of a sudden (checks that his invisibility spell is still 
up)?

Another black bolt issues from Khuth's hands. The very last thing Zorch 
hears before dying is "It's the crossbow, stupid".


 b - the +8,-1 crossbow "Xom's Favour"   

   It protects you from fire. 

   It enhances your eyesight. 

Larry