ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

I haven't played all that much ToME at high levels, because I have had too much fun trying new characters. So I had no idea how out-of-level vaults can get.

I was happily opening a pigeon-hole vault in Dreadfell with my level 28 paladin, telling myself that I will stop as soon as something moderately nasty shows up. For 10-20 cells,, everything was around level 50, and nothing did as much as 100 damage to 900+ hps. And then I open a cell with three dragons, at least one of them a level 62 Greater multi-hued wyrm. Before my character could act, they blew through a 500+ 50% damage mitigation (retribution), 500+ shield, 800+ health, and managed to both silence me and disable my teleport torc.

I raised another 500+ shield, but that did not last the turn... and this was it for my seemingly sturdiest character so far. I never expected a level 62 monster, let alone three of them. Now I will know not to dig through this type of vault before my character is max level.

te4.org/characters/5367/tome/016f372c-3 ... b4e056ac05

Ouch. The deity known as RNG is indeed a fickle beast. There is no appeasement.

I loved the irony when my first goul found Blood of Life on level 2 of the starter crypt.

Actually if I'm thinking of the same vault there's only two multi hued wyrms. The third must have been a drake or similar. :p
This is why it's recommended to get a torque of psychoportation as early as possible, but definitely until Dreadfell, or at least a movement infusion.

Marson wrote:Ouch. The deity known as RNG is indeed a fickle beast. There is no appeasement.

Not the RNG's fault. That vault is designed to lull you into a false sense of security, giving you room after room of isolated high-level enemies that aren't that scary, and then...

Ah, thanks. I'm still somewhat new and thought vaults were random. I will most definitely have to remember that.

It does raise a question... Who do you fear more: the RNG or darkgod's capricious whim? I'm going with the latter. I hear he can be appeased by redheads, but I have none I'm willing to spare.

If you are new, here's an often repeated tip: stay away from dreadfell vaults.

My archmage experienced that lesson, though I didn't learn it so well myself. My next visit, I led my stone warden through clearing them all, including Demon Nest 3. But that was only because I barely escaped the wyrms and then came back after defeating the Master. I don't think I'll being attempting that again and just leave them shut.

I've read through a lot of the wiki, but have avoided certain sections for the sake of the experience, like the vaults. It's cool to have them there though, so I didn't have to rely on my lousy memory. If this were a fireside story, I would be swearing it was [3-5] wyrms and 20+ drakes.

I learned from a high level eternal bone giant corruptor. I could almost damage it, while I was pinned like a fly.

Protip: Always have a means of scouting those vaults. Arcane Eye works wonders here. You'll eventually learn to recognize them on sight, but a lot of them can still surprise you.