ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

This is my first character so I am not sure what to expect. I am XL 31 Dwarf Berserker and I have a couple of questions.
1) Is it a good idea to choose Massive Blow as prodigy? I mean will there be many walls in late game? I selected Steamroller but it looks like it was a bad decision as I start running into monsters with huge HP who cannot be killed in 3 turns.
2) Is it a good idea to choose Hidden Resources? Unstoppable costs a lot and I am not sure how much stamina I will have later and if there are enough monsters to take advantage of Unending Frenzy (I have 2 points in Unstoppable and 4 points in Unending Frenzy currently).
3) How to get Legacy of the Naloren prodigy? Description says I should side with Slasul and kill Ukllmswwik. I took quest from Ukllmswwik to open entrance to Slasul (Temple of Creation) but I didn't have any option to talk with Slasul so I killed it. Is the only way to get the prodigy by random teleport into Temple of Creation after using Fareast portal? Also I killed Ukllmswwik, does it affect anything except giving me some extra achievement?
4) I entered some cave (sorry, I don't remember its name) and third level was a small square room with only boss inside. I defeated the boss but there were no doors, no diggible walls, teleport sent me into the same room, racial escape didn't work no matter where I tried it. How am I supposed to leave the level? I used Rod of Portal to get back into Fortress but I think it is dangerous because it can break the Rod according to description.

Thanks in advance.

Massive Blow/You Shall Be My Weapon/Windblade/Superpower/Arcane Might are all pathetically small damage increases compared to Flexible Combat. I've never found a use for them.

Slasul should be friendly initially. You probably somehow damaged him before you tried to talk to him.

Was that small level accessed through the farportal in the fortress? If so, upon killing the boss, there should be a portal on the ground to return through. (with new ones generated every X number of turns (randomized). Only time using the rod can break the farportal, is if you're actually in it.

And yes, sometimes exceedingly small levels are generated, both in farportals, and I've seen them in Telo's Tower as well.

Yeah, Massive Blow/Weapon/Windblade aren't very good right now. They're being buffed (again!) next version.

Superpower's also getting buffed to be a better Mindpower booster, so its role is changing somewhat.

Arcane Might is, to be honest, really good at damage; Flexible Combat does not linearly do more damage(It depends on how much Dex/Cun you build and how much physical power you have from non-weapon talents), and for Sword/Shield users in particular(who have poor APR and poor raw Damage, but great multipliers on talents, especially factoring in Counterstrikes), Arcane Might is a way, way better skill if you're building Magic at all. (Unless you very strongly value the on-hits from Flexible Combat, but that's very subjective-they're hard to compare to anything else.)

I ran a Bulwark that specifically build Str/Dex/Mag and took Arcane Might. Was very pleased with the results. It's not as special for dualwielders, though, and two-hander users, with their low talent multipliers and high raw base damage/physical power, should definitely go Flexible Combat.

(Also, they stack, but that's beside the point.)

Oh, and Hidden Resources is a talent I would mostly recommend to Paradox Mages and Necromancers. Most classes don't ram into resource limitations enough to really care.

Thank you all for the replies!
I didn't expect Flexible Combat to be useful because I don't understand how unarmed combat works, I thought I would need to get some Combined Points or something. I will read more about it.
I rushed to Slaisul without checking whether it is neutral, it is my fault that I am not used to monster colors yet, I am constantly surprised by rares if I am not checking every monster stats.
That small room with boss was at level 3, I entered corresponding level 1 from world map after using fareast portal to get into Unremarkable Cave. Next time I got into Fareast I found that a teleportation portal back to west got generated after killing some boss.
This character died to Shadows and some invisible warrior who had Shadow talent, too sad there is no warning when you lose 800 hp during a single turn to invisible monsters. The screen didn't turn red because I still had about 400 hp (based on reading after death log) so I recklessly attacked a shadow without noticing I am going to die next turn. I guess I should check hp every turn, that's so time consuming, especially with Cornac Bulwark (my current character).

The only dungeon with 3 floors and enemy at the bottom that I can think of that you would access in the far east is the spider cave, or the shadowy crypt. Or orc breeding grounds. But those would all be at least screen width levels, not really tiny ones with no teleporting. I'm not sure where you were that did that...

Crim, The Red Thunder wrote:The only dungeon with 3 floors and enemy at the bottom that I can think of that you would access in the far east is the spider cave, or the shadowy crypt. Or orc breeding grounds. But those would all be at least screen width levels, not really tiny ones with no teleporting. I'm not sure where you were that did that...

I think it was Spider Cave since I died in Shadowy Crypt before reaching bottom floor.