My CSB journey.

[RogerS]

I've started on the Ku path now. I've killed a lot of mummies, picked up the Executioner, and went down in the basement and killed the dragon.

I did get an Onyx key from a giggler I encountered in the basement. I tried it on the door behind the secret wall there, but sadly all that was behind the door were some bombs, arrows, magical boxes, and an Ee potion.

I'll probably have a quick trip to Ros instead to check if the Boots of Speed landed there again.

[RogerS]

I went back to the place in Ros where I had found the Boots of Speed the last time, but unfortunately they weren't there this time.

On the way there, I made a couple of deth knights fall into a pit by luring them over it and pulling a lever

I went back to Ku and killed all the vexirks there, together with a couple of deth knights who were guarding them. I filled up with water at the fountain, and also unlocked the secret passage and picked up the chest. With only 2 characters, chests are very useful.

Current stats:

Buzzzzz:
Adept fighter
Craftsman ninja
Expert priest
Expert wizard
Health: 458
Stamina: 381
Mana: 215

Petal:
Adept fighter
Craftsman ninja
Expert priest
Expert wizard
Health: 449
Stamina: 546
Mana: 220

[Ameena]

As this is your second playthrough, you should now also have some idea as to which items you actually want to hang on to due tot hem being actually useful/important, plus knowing your way around the dungeon a bit better might mean you can more easily navigate back to various known locations if you need to top up on food and stuff. So hopefully you won't need to carry loads of heavy stuff around .

[RogerS]

I've certainly been leaving more stuff behind this time than in my previous run.

I've also decided to not pick up plate armor this time (except Powertowers). I'm going to wear mithril and Flamebain instead.

Total load shouldn't be an issue, because my characters are constantly buffed up on Ku potions.

[RogerS]

I've reached DDD now.

I thought the room on level 3 by DDD needed a gold key to open, but I had misremembered. It turned out that I needed the sapphire key for that, so I had to slug my way through the black flames to get it.

When I was casting my first few Mon level fire shields in DDD, it would sometimes fail saying that I need more practice with that spell. Hopefully they will be able to cast it 100% reliably soon.

I did notice that 2 Mon level fire shields don't always block damage from the fireballs the demons are hurling, although it does protect me most of the time. I was also able to turn to the side to avoid the fireballs a few times if they were casting it from a distance, but it's difficult to react fast enough if they are standing right in front of me.

I gained a ninja level for each of my characters by punching the rock piles to death, and I've also gained a fighter level and a priest level.

After I had dealt with the rock piles and demons, and picked up the sapphire key, I went down the stairs again and unlocked the door. There I discovered a flaw in my plan to get the first Boots of Speed early.

I had assumed that the items would appear in the alchoves in a random order when putting coins in the coin slots, but it turns out they appear in the same order every time (but it's random which of the two alchoves they get sent to), and the Boots of Speed are the very last item.

I was only able to get to the armet before running out of gor coins. I would need 11 coins to get the boots, and I've only found 7 so far.

Current stats:

Buzzzzz:
Expert fighter
Artisan ninja
Lo master priest
Expert wizard
Health: 518
Stamina: 458
Mana: 228

Petal:
Expert fighter
Artisan ninja
Lo master priest
Expert wizard
Health: 517
Stamina: 653
Mana: 230

[Ameena]

I've never bothered with any of the buff spells so lacking the levels to cast them has never been a problem for me - I think about the only spells I ever use are Fireball, Harm Non-Material Being, health potions, cure poison potions, erm...Zokathra for those couple of instances across DM/CSB where you need it to do a thing...ohh duhh and good old Ful for the light. No torches for me!

[RogerS]

I dropped all but one gor coins on the floor by the coin slot, then went to the "scare and teleport the skeleton" area in the Ros path on level 3 (killing the demon on the pressure plate behind the gate on my way) and unlocked the gold door and had a look. All I found there was a compass, so I reloaded.

When I went back down from the hellhound area, the rock piles had moved, so the pit had opened again. I climbed down the pit, and fortunately was able to dodge the dragon and take the correct path to the stairs up to DDD.

Up there, I met a demon who had wandered into that room earlier and gotten stuck. Luckily a couple of fire shields were enough to block the damage from his fireballs, so I killed him easily.

While battling my way back through the black flames, Buzzzzz went up to Lo master wizard, so I handed the vorpal blade over to Petal and she also went up to Lo master wizard right afterwards.

By the way, it says that a random item from the item launcher is supposed to land at 02,14,20, but that corner of the room is empty. Does the item launcher fire at random intervals instead of firing all items in rapid succession, meaning that an item might appear there later?

I guess I'll have to go for a little scavenger hunt to look for gor coins on level 0 after I've picked up the corbum. I'll also use the two keys of B that I've found so far and see if maybe the boots landed there. If they didn't, at least I'll have freed up two inventory slots.

This is slowly turning into "The Quest For The Elusive Boots Of Speed"

[RogerS]

I'm now in the dragon den and have killed the first two dragons, working my way from room to room counter clockwise.

On the first dragon, I cast a few Pal level poison bolts at it through the gate until I was getting low on mana, then stood in front of the gate and let it spit fireballs at it. It took a few fireballs before the gate finally blew open.

I had managed to lure it back into the room it had escaped from and gotten myself into a position to follow it around in a circle, constantly hitting it the back. When my mana had gotten nearly full again, I prepared a couple of Ee level fireballs and chucked at it. That's when I discovered that if you're following a dragon around like that and then hit it with a fireball, it seems to disrupt their pattern. This meant it ended up facing me again and I had to maneuver myself back into position behind it again. Luckily I'm starting to get the hang of that.

They've both gained a ninja level (from punching a whole lot of rock piles) and a fighter level (Buzzzzz when fighting the deth knights in the dead end section and Petal when fighting the second dragon in the den) each by the way.

I've also killed the dragon below DDD. I stood on the pressure plate and patiently waited for it to come to me, then went to the stairs and fought it from there with the hit and spin around tactic. It was harder to kill than I remembered, and in the end I was very low on mana from casting party shields, fire shields, and occasional healing potions. In hindsight, I probably should have used berzerk and melee instead of chop.

Making steady progress

Current stats:

Buzzzzz:
Lo master fighter
Adept ninja
Lo master priest
Lo master wizard
Health: 592
Stamina: 535
Mana: 246

Petal:
Lo master fighter
Adept ninja
Lo master priest
Lo master wizard
Health: 588
Stamina: 768
Mana: 245

[Antman]

By the way, it says that a random item from the item launcher is supposed to land at 02,14,20, but that corner of the room is empty. Does the item launcher fire at random intervals instead of firing all items in rapid succession, meaning that an item might appear there later?

So there's a few bugs (in my opinion) associated with that launcher. It's triggered by the wanderings of gigglers in the room to the left, which also trigger the teleporters.

1. One of the launcher locations is that giggler room itself, meaning that one of the items becomes permanently inaccessible. I think the location was meant to be the level below.
2. The teleporter for 02,14,20 is never hit, it deactivates too quickly. This means the item flies to the last teleporter which is always on, 02,12,08. So usually there's two items there.
3. If two gigglers happen to activate the launcher at the exact same time, only one item will actually launch and the last item (an EE potion, or multiple items if it occurs multiple times) will never launch and be inaccessible.

1. and 3. annoyed me a lot since items become inaccessible, so I edited the dungeon to prevent them from occurring for my play throughs (in CSBWin).

For the dragon beneath the DDD, I like fighting him from the "trust me, enter the pit" area as you can fight him at the stairs

[RogerS]

Thank you Antman


I've picked up the first corbum now.

I then went up to level 0 and fought the flood of worms and picked up Dragon Fang. I picked up a gor coin in front of a door in the eastern part of the level, and another 2 coins by the key of B lock.

When I checked behind that door, I found a chest with 5 gor coins in it, meaning I could finally afford the Boots of Speed

I immediately headed back towards DDD, picking up a couple of water skins from the alcove right below where I had picked up the first corbum. I had to fight some newly spawned deth knights in the dead end corridor.

I put the coins in the coin slot one by one (removing the item that had spawned in the alcove before inserting the next coin), until I finally had my first Boots of Speed

Next I'll head back to level 0 again to pick up the second pair. Maybe I'll sneak around to get the second corbum as well, although I kind of want to see the second part of the Ros way from DDD onwards, since I skipped that part in my first play through.

By the way, my characters have leveled up to Um master priest.

Current stats:

Buzzzzz:
Lo master fighter
Adept ninja
Um master priest
Lo master wizard
Health: 613
Stamina: 558
Mana: 259

Petal:
Lo master fighter
Adept ninja
Um master priest
Lo master wizard
Health: 605
Stamina: 799
Mana: 259

[RogerS]

I now have two Boots of Speed

[Ameena]

Woo, nice - sounds like it's going well .

[RogerS]

I've reached DDD now from Ros.

On my way down from level 0, I picked up the second corbum with the help of the fake pit, and then dropped down the pit to the starting room.

I checked the supplies for the quick, but nothing really interesting there besides a gold key. Some armor parts of Ra had landed in the hidden part of the supplies area, but I don't want to wear heavy armor this time around (and the Ra boots are useless to me now anyway).

By the way, with the Boots of Speed, I had problems with the run and jump section, and kept going too quick and falling into the pit before it could close. After a couple of attempts, I decided to go the other way instead. Spawning a couple of worms is not a big deal at this point anyway, and it saves me spawning the flying eyes.

I've picked up the Dexhelm and a third Key of B, and dropped a bunch of dragon steaks down the pits into the starting room.

I also picked up the Emerald key of course.

I dropped off a bunch of stuff (including two chests of dragon steaks) in the room with the coin slot below DDD. Now they are carrying 3 chests each and have a load of ~50kg, down from ~60kg+. That reduces the risk of them becoming accidentally overburdened if the strength buffs drop too low if at some point I end up having to spend my mana on fireballs, shields or other spells for an extended period of time.

I also realize I misremembered where the Flamebain was. I had thought it was in Ros, but I realize now it was actually in the second part of Neta (as was the "scare the skeleton" area). In light of that, I plan to go up and use a gold key to get the second set of mithril armor for now (although I only need the aketon).

Hopefully the pit in DDD blocking the second part of Ros has closed, because I don't know how I got it closed the last time, it just happened automatically at some point for reasons unknown to me.

[Ameena]

Yeah, stuff happening "for reasons unknown" is pretty much a running theme in CSB, as I'm sure you've gathered by now .

[RogerS]

Yeah, stuff happening "for reasons unknown" is pretty much a running theme in CSB, as I'm sure you've gathered by now .

I sure have

[RogerS]

I went up and got the Mithril Aketon.

When I went back down, I found out that the pit blocking further progress unfortunately hadn't closed.

After I had tried a few things without success, I went to the map and saw some notes based on hints by Paul R. Stevens.

I went to the skeleton area and tried to teleport a skeleton. It was a bit harder because a wall was missing compared to my last play through, but I was eventually able to teleport it. It didn't get hit by a lightning bolt though.

I decided to try teleporting another skeleton there to try to telefrag it, but it didn't seem to do anything. After I had teleported a few skeletons, I gave up and started throwing rocks and daggers at it until it died, and the gate opened. Once it did, all the additional skeletons I had teleported there to try to telefrag the first skeleton came teleporting back and pouring out of the gate.

After I had killed them all, I used the magnifying glass on the eye, then went back up and saw that the pit had closed. I had wasted a lot of time though, so my mana bars were now completely full meaning I had wasted a lot of mana, so I decided to reload.

This time I threw a couple of daggers at the skeleton after teleporting it, and it died after only 2 daggers.

I went back up and disabled the teleporter using the buttons on the walls, and unlocked the door with the emerald key. I then ended up in a zoom maze.

I noticed a button on one of the walls while zooming by, and I repeatedly tried pushing it whenever I hit that square but it didn't seem like I was able to (or if I did hit it, it didn't seem to have any noticable effect or make any clicking sound). I then tried stepping off at various points until I ended up in a hallway which gradually teleported me towards a pit, and when I fell into it I took a deep fall to a floor below by the stairs next to the mummies that were behind the wall opened by picking up a torch from the wall.

I reloaded and tried again. This time I was able to step off and faced a demon. When I had killed it, I opened a door which led to an area full of pits.

I took the stairs up, then tried climbing down some pits there. Two of them made me fall down to the fake walls area where all the dragons had been, but the third one took me to the area where I had picked up the corbum earlier.

I had a look around there for a while. I also briefly found myself up at level 0, where I found a button which revealed a locked door which opened with an Onyx key (without swallowing it) and after going through a fake wall I found the section with the Key of B lock.

I went back down and tried to find a way to get back to the zoom area, but wasn't able to. Eventually I went over the fake pit to the Ku section instead, and ran back to DDD that way (fighting some respawned deth knights on the way).

I went to the map and had a look at the zoom section to figure out how to get to 02,12,08. I fought a couple of demons, then went to the door locked by a gold key. I saved and then unlocked the door, and there I found a Dragon Shield and the Boots of Speed I had been searching so hard for earlier, but were of no use to me now I guess one of these items were supposed to have landed at 02,14,20 according to Antman.

Next up, Neta.

My characters have gained a ninja level and a fighter level by the way. Buzz got his fighter level earlier than Petal. I guess that's because the Executioner has chop, which is almost twice as fast as thrust, so in situations where I'm forced to stand and fight (while facing monsters that don't require berzerk to do decent damage against them), I can do two chop attacks with the executioner for every thrust attack with the Dragon Fang. I moved the Executioner and Powertowers over to Petal once Buzz had gained a fighter level (which happened when I was cornered and fighting a couple of demons just before I went up to get the Mitral Aketon), but Petal didn't gain hers until I was fighting the two demons guarding the gold door in the zoom section.

Current stats:

Buzzzzz:
Um master fighter
Expert ninja
Um master priest
Lo master wizard
Health: 676
Stamina: 637
Mana: 259

Petal:
Um master fighter
Expert ninja
Um master priest
Lo master wizard
Health: 666
Stamina: 923
Mana: 259

[RogerS]

I did a little training session in DDD, and gained a ninja, priest and wizard level. That's enough training for this play through.

Current stats:

Buzzzzz:
Um master fighter
Lo master ninja
On master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 732
Stamina: 730
Mana: 293

Petal:
Um master fighter
Lo master ninja
On master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 719
Stamina: 999
Mana: 292

[RogerS]

I'm now at DDD from the Neta way. It went pretty quickly.

I grabbed a few worm rounds from the junction and used them to check when the first teleporter was active, then waited at the second teleporter to take me to the Key of B.

I then went and vexed the vexirks.

I killed the screamers and an oitu, and went down to the basement where the worm flood had happened in my last run.

I quickly grabbed the chest and backed out, ran up the stairs and dropped off the chest, then went down again and prepared for the flood.

Only two worms showed up, and when I went back to where I had picked up the chest, it was now completely surrounded by solid walls. This means I couldn't get the iron key and gor coin. Oh well, it's not like I had much use for those items anyway.

I went up and scared the mummies onto the pressure pads, and clicked the button to uncover the Cross of Neta that I then decided I didn't need anyway, so I left it behind.

Went up and got hit by the flying key and scroll, then stepped forward with purpose, trusting that I would be guided

I encountered a giggler that dropped the skeleton key, and I replaced Petal's Mitral Aketon with the Flamebain (since she was the one with the lowest anti fire).

Somewhere along the way, I also waited for a wall behind a fake wall to open, to reveal a Vi potion and a Mon level Ful bomb. I left the potion behind. It's highly unlikely I'll ever end up using the bomb though.

In the room below DDD, I dropped off the chest I had picked up from the basement.

[RogerS]

I've started on the Neta way now, and have picked up the second Vorpal Blade.

I've finally discovered what those slime devils that gets spawned by a push of a button are useful for, soaking up huge fireballs

They've removed all but the last couple of fireballs. The last slime devil seems reluctant to step forward though, I wonder why

[RogerS]

I realize in my previous post I forgot to mention I picked up the third corbum before entering the Dain way, and that I had said Neta instead of Dain

I'm now at DDD again.

I took the "Prove you're a wizard" path this time. It was a bit tricky, but eventually I figured it out.

Once I had gotten up to DDD, I realized I hadn't gotten the last Key of B, so I ran down to the junction of the ways again (the boots of speed were very handy in this situation), then used some items to check for the first teleporter and stepped into the second teleporter when it was clear.

I picked up the Key of B and ran back up to DDD.

[Ameena]

Sounds like you're getting to the end much faster than in your first run .

[RogerS]

I went up and picked up the 4th corbum. It was a very short walk to it from DDD, quicker than I had remembered.

Afterwards, I went down to the stairs below, and found Diamond Edge in the alcove at the pillar. I gave it to Petal instead of Dragon Fang.

I went back to DDD and went up to level 0 via Ros, and unlocked the passage with the last two Keys of B.

When arranging the corbums so they were next to each other in my inventory, I found out I was missing a corbum. I then realized that when checking for the first teleporter in Dain to get to the last Key of B, one of the items I had used was what I had assumed at the time one of the Zo Kath Ras I had cast earlier (when I tried throwing them over various pits in the "Bridge" area), but it was actually a corbum. Whoops

I went down and climbed down a pit and dropped down to the starting area, then climbed down the pit and fell to the Junction of the Ways.

I had suffered a couple of injuries from the long fall, but nothing a couple of Vi potions couldn't cure.

I waited at the first teleporter at Dain until it teleported me to where the corbum had ended, and picked it up.

Initially I got a bit confused at the area I had ended up in, because I seemed to get teleported to a different area, but when I headed back in the direction of the altar I ended up in the original area again. After a couple of tries, I figured it out though and took a visible teleporter which took me to the southern part of the junction of pressure plates.

I fought an oitu, then ran up towards DDD again. I encountered a couatl on the way, but a couple of fireballs took care of it and I quickly continued up to DDD.

I ran up to level 0 again via Ros, and ran into the opened hallway until I came to a lightning door with a lock next to it.

I unlocked the door with the master key I had gotten from the second vexirk I had vexed, and stepped into the room.

The room was immediately filled with poison gas, but luckily I was able to find a niche in a fake wall just in time. I was down to about 25% health or less afterwards.

I quickly stepped into the room a few times to try to figure it out, quickly stepping back into the niche again before I took too much poison damage. Eventually I found a button on the wall which opened up a wall behind the fake wall.

I went into the room that had opened, and encountered Lord Chaos.

I quickly sidestepped and ran past him, and ran to the Fulya Pit, making sure to close the door behind me (although I'm sure he could have opened it or teleported through it if he wanted).

I quickly threw the corbums over the pit, and I had officially completed CSB for the second time

[RogerS]

Sounds like you're getting to the end much faster than in your first run .

Yes indeed

[Antman]

Congrats again, that was quite quick

Only two worms showed up, and when I went back to where I had picked up the chest, it was now completely surrounded by solid walls. This means I couldn't get the iron key and gor coin.

Note there's another way to get those items, from above

Also, if you're playing with CSBWin you can always try the CSB Challenge, it's in the menu options. It guarantees you've visited everywhere and taken out all the monsters.

[RogerS]

Thank you

Maybe I'll try the CSB challenge some time, but for now I'm taking a break from CSB after having just completed it 2 times in a row.

I think CSB is probably my favorite dungeon crawler so far

[Ameena]

Woo, gratz on your second victory . Now go and play all the custom dungeons .