(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Unnnnngh, so tired. Mostly from sleeping badly.

Finally beat the Naughty Sorceress this morning. If you really wanna feel impressed, try this: I have two "younger" multis, a pastamancer and a sauceror, and I beat the Sorceress on all three accounts this morning. But damn if I didn't want to stab somebody by the time it was done.

First of all, I've been living on this page for a few days now. If you're reading this and going, "WTF is she talking about?," that is an excellent wikipedia-style site where you can look anything I'm talking about up. And trust me, by the time I get to "furry suit," you might want to.

Anyhoo. You absolutely have to equip the Wand of Nagamar. The third part of the battle requires this to win. I equipped the furry suit (furry pants and wolf mask) all three times. I equipped an acid-squirting flower all three times, because it's the only item I know of that damages your opponent every time you take a hit. (Any buffs or effects, such as the similar elemental saucesphere, will be stripped off when you start fighting.) The pastamancer got two kickback cookbooks equipped, because for some reason she's got a really good amount of HP/MP and didn't need any help there. At first I put an amulet of extreme plot significance on the sauceror, because she's got crap HP, but really, you need the kickback cookbooks to make a dent in the Sorceress. Really, you need three, but seriously, I ended up taking the bitch down three acid-soaked points at a time. The wiki site tells you to use the disco face stab if you're a disco bandit (my woefully leveled-up account) and low-level attack spells if you're a mysticality class (so you don't use up all your MP; also, the top-level spell won't work on her). Star throwing-stars and plot holes are also good. However? Everything I did, she'd yank it out of my character's hands or distract her or block her or something. I'd say maybe one out of every five actions worked, and that's being generous. And that's on all three characters, so it's not like it was my disco bandit in particular.

So the strategy I came up with was this: lower your moxie (and therefore hers, because her stats apparently match yours) with the furry suit. Get the acid flower so she's taking some kind of damage no matter what happens. And lay hold of a shitload of healing potions. After I saw how many she'd break or steal or throw over the wall, I was kind of reluctant to go to all the trouble of making red pixel potions, but in theory, those are good. (So are green, which heal HP and MP, if you're using spells.) I felt less bad about blowing a few hundred Doc Galaktik elixirs. And I am not kidding about "a few hundred," either--I probably blew 200 or so every time I fought her. So get in there. Open up with a disco face stab, or chronic indigestion, or whatever low-level spell you want. Wait until you've burned off about twenty HP, because there's no point in healing until then. Then start trying to use the healing potions. Trust me, she won't let you, but you need to go ahead and start trying, because by the time you do get one or two in, you're gonna need them. So just hang in there with the potions. Throw in another stab or spell once in a while, but mostly let your acid-squirting flower and your attack familiar do the work. (I used a 25 lb sabre-toothed lime with two characters and a 25 lb angry goat on the other. If I'd had a ghost pickle, trust me, I would have used it.)

You won't win the first time (and if you do, I will totally stab you). Fight her a couple of times and get a feel for how you often you need to play your attacks vs. your healing potions.

So now: to ascend. I almost don't want to ascend on my disco bandit account--I kind of want to keep leveling up and working on trophies and doing Fernswarthy's Basement and training up familiars and stuff like that. I mean, I can always ascend later if I change my mind. But I hate having a character that strong and then just starting all over. Sigh. (I got myself a coffee pixie, though!) As for the other two characters, I'm ascending as soon as I've gathered up some food and/or booze. Here's my question: do they let you keep quest items like the intragalactic rowboat and the meatcar? Or do I need to untinker those so I can take them out of storage and put them together again? (I've already blown up my chef- and bartender-in-a-box and put them back together, so I can just install them back at camp first thing.)

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I'm familiar with and enjoy KoL, but I do love the fact that ignoring that knowledge makes your post sound like a Mad Lib after nine Jell-o shots.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee! It so does. Particularly with the stuff about the saber-toothed lime and the ghost pickle. : )

[the-wanlorn.livejournal.com]

*tips pirate hat at your icon*

[irishmastermind.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty accurate description of KOL in and of itself.

[edda.livejournal.com]

You win. Totally.

[the-wanlorn.livejournal.com]

Guh, I've been trying to beat the fucker for close to a month now. Thanks for LJing your strategy. =D Maybe this is the one that will work for me.

[candidlily.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend's very into KoL and I see him play it all the time. It scares me, though, that your post made perfect sense to me.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

So what are your plans, creatively, now that your book is finished?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Heh. "Enough with the games!"

Well, I have four Lost recaps and two Empire recaps I owe y'all. I'm trying to straighten out the ending of a children's story (picture book text, basically, although it's kind of at the high end of the age level for that) that's finished, but just not working. I need to finish the last chapter and a half of Black Ribbon, but I don't know that I'll be posting that online, sadly--the good news being, of course, that I would be trying to publish it for real instead.

Oh, and I'm taking a lit class (American Renaissance--early/mid 1800s) starting tomorrow.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I don't follow your recaps because I don't watch those shows. But I look forward to your children's book and to "Black Ribbon" -- and wish you the best of luck in your lit class.

My poetry class starts ... um ... well, sometime early in September. I think.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Thanks. And I know the recaps are of limited interest--that, and it's not like I can publish them or anything. But I feel like once I start something, I ought to finish it. Mostly because finishing things is usually really difficult for me...

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

Finishing things is really hard for me to. It's hard for me to finish a twenty-line poem, forget about a fifty-page book.

But you finished your "Movies in 15 Minutes"! That is SO excellent. I hope you are duly proud of yourself.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

I posted a comment here. Did it vanish?

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. It only appears if I make a fool of myself by asking where it went. Thanks, lj.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Aww. You're so mighty.

The thing is, I don't think anyone wants you to feel like you "owe" us anything, though. You've shared so much with us that if Cleo needs to come first -- be it for work or school or just decompressing -- you should do that. Your legions of fans will always be here, y'know. It's just that when you work on projects of the scope that you do -- you don't do anything in moderation, you realize -- burnout lurks around every corner, and you need all the de-stressing you can get.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee, I know. I'm so Sagittarius that way--think big, start off running... pass out two miles into the marathon. I'm currently trying to talk myself out of recapping Rome, because--seriously, I don't need to do that. That would be sooooo bad.

[akathorne.livejournal.com]

You don't get to keep quest items, so untinker everything and squirrel it away. You planning on doing a path? I did Hardcore Oxygenarian on all three of my characters, and I just want to die. Never again, dude, never again. I'm almost ready to fight the Sorceress now, or I would leave the path and never look back.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Do you have to do softcore the first time around? I was thinking of pretty much going the easiest way possible until I got my bearings.

[akathorne.livejournal.com]

You can do softcore or hardcore at any time. Even if you chose hardcore, you can opt out at the account page and go into softcore mode.

Next time I'm going softcore, for sure. (This sounds suspiciously like porn, and is now one of the oddest conversations I've had in a while. Hee.)

[denimjo.livejournal.com]

In addition: softcore just means that you can only take out up to 20 items or 20,000 meat from Hagnk's storage area (Right Side of the tracks; this is where all your stuff goes, meat included)per day (for the first 600 adventures, that is), or in any combination therewith (5 items, 15,000 meat; 17 items, 3,000 meat, etc.).

As someone who has ascended multiple times already, I can tell you that hardcore is, well, hard! Oxygenarian (even in softcore) is hard too, because you can't eat or drink anything, erego, you only get the base adventures per day (plus anything that gives you more from your campground, like the meat maid, etc.). So Hardcore Oxy is REALLY hard!

If you want to make the game slightly more challenging, choose a path like teetotaler (cannot drink anything) or boozetafaria (cannot eat anything), and if that makes it too hard for you, just end that path from your Account menu. :)

Personally, I am loving the new content/areas/adventures that ascending gives you. :)

I just love the fact that I am telling you all of this when you were the person who first introduced me to this game in the first place with a throwaway mention to the game in your LJ. *big smile*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee! Well, I finished all the existing content, and by the time Jick finished the Sorceress stuff and added ascension, I was too busy to play on a regular basis. : )

[faequeentitania.livejournal.com]

Hardcore Oxy is EVIL. My strategy is to go teetotaler until after I finish the Deep Fat Friars quest, so instead of liver of steel, you get stomach of steel and thus can eat more and get more adventures. Then, I usually dump the teetotalerness. I tried hardcore once, and it lasted about two days before I wanted to rip all my hair out in frustration.

[akathorne.livejournal.com]

Oh, all the word there is. I've now spent an entire week just trying to get through the damn Sorceress's gates and courtyard. A WEEK, people! Never, evah again!

[draconifers.livejournal.com]

...?

[skyblade.livejournal.com]

I was looking at that Wiki-type site you linked me too, and as I understand it, a couple of the trophies rely on you ascending. (You have to be able to access Little Canada for one of them.)

God luck with your class tomorrow. DO you have a lunch packed? (Wait--it's an evening class isn't it?)

[lannamichaels]

Heh, I was just squeeing about KOL in my journal. I love Visual KOL like madness, and I wish I could give Smiles of Mr. A to that lovely generator. I've spent hours at the puzzle, trying to get it to work by the formula that should. Then, poof, the generator gave me exactly what I needed.

That's a great idea about acid flowers. I've been using kickback cookbooks as a pastamancer and throwing stars as a turtle tamer. I have beaten her the first time, but that was definitely a fluke. I've found that if I don't hit her with spells for the first five times I try, I'm never going to win. But if I do, easy win. I've been using ghost pickles constantly and they make post-ascension a lot easier. Give me your KOL name and I'll send you one.


I didn't want to ascend with my main, but I did it because of the 500 pound load trophy. I couldn't afford to get Mr. Store familiars, so I needed the ones you get while ascending as a muslce class. They don't let you keep any quest items, so untinker the meat car. You can't untinker the rowboat, sadly. I recommend buying a clockwork maid in the mall and ascending under a moxie sign so you can make more of them yourself. They give you 8 adventures a day.


Also, tip for ascending, if you're planning on ascending a lot, do it while level 11. It's much harder to beat her with higher levels. My first life with my main was level 22 and it took ages to beat her since she scales. I almost resorted to using goofballs.

[denimjo.livejournal.com]

I almost resorted to using goofballs.

...and you would have discivered quite quickly that they wouldn't work because the NS strips all effects off of you before you fight her. ;)

I hope everything is treating you well.

[lannamichaels]

I never tried to see if she took off goofball withdrawel. I meant the fact that if you have enough goofballs, your stats are permanently lowered.

[denimjo.livejournal.com]

...now that I wasn't aware of. Thanks for the info. :)

[eisoj5]

*been lurking for a long time, got into BPAL 'cause of your reviews...* *waves*

I'd been putting off dealing with the Lair forever because I didn't feel like getting around to ascending; I *like* being my nearly-20th-level Turtle Tamer! But your link to the wiki is not only helpful but also somewhat convincing...

[edda.livejournal.com]

Dammit! I was trying to leave KoL behind and now you roped me back in. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY.

*last of free time disappears in poof of smoke and pixels*

[sapphires13.livejournal.com]

I really, really should get back into KoL, but I just had so much trouble playing it, because I was being really obsessive compulsive about everything, and it was making the game no fun.

And ooh, CleoLinda is listening to U2, all of my obsessions keep crashing into eachother!
Just the other day I found out that Adam Clayton (the bass guitarist) reads Harry Potter. It was like my world is finally complete XD Apparently he takes the books on tour with him to read for relaxation.

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

They took so long getting around to finishing the NS quest that my old account expired out of boredom, so I just Ascended for the first time with a new account a couple of days ago; I'll heartily second the KoLWiki recommendation, because otherwise I think I'd have given up in frustration after the first 3 or 4 times I tried the final battle...

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

I totally need to get back to KoL. That game is so addictive.

[state-champion.livejournal.com]

Ghost Pickle is awesome. You may also try some of the new familiars like the Raincloud [called Personal Raindrop in the mall, it's expensive because it was a Mr. A familiar] or the Whirling Maple Leaf familiar which is in the Mysticality sign area. Both restore HP and MP during battles, and also deal out a good 22-32 damage sometimes.
I found the pixel potions and other hp restorers don't really help in battle because by the time you actually get to use one without the Sorceress taking it away, she's already dealt you the damage it is going to be restoring you.

[faequeentitania.livejournal.com]

The pixel potions don't work very well, but casts do. It seems that the less powerful the item/ability/spell is, the more often it works. So you can't hit her with a top level attack, but take it down a couple of notches, and she's your bitch. And casts work the same way - you'll get healed less per use, but you'll get to use more of them. And combine that with a 20 lb Micro Mech, and you're set.

[theevilgenius.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...do you have any suggestions for defeating the Goblin King in Cobb's Knob?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

http://kol.thraeryn.org/wiki/Cobb%27s_Knob_Quest

Hmm... besides that, I think I used cosmic lemonade, potion of temporary gr8tness, and/or Meleegra--that is, something to temporarily boost my stats.

[grnarmadillo.livejournal.com]

"Then start trying to use the healing potions. Trust me, she won't let you, but you need to go ahead and start trying, because by the time you do get one or two in, you're gonna need them.

This could be the random number generator messing with my head, but it feels to me like she gets into a rut of blocking either items or skills. Keep using one (e.g. items), and you'll keep hitting the wall. Switch to items after you've been unable to cast spells twice in a row, and you'll probably get a heal off (or at least persuade her to switch to blocking item use so you can more easily cast spells).

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

There could be something to that. Sometimes I'd try to switch up after a while and it would work--you may be on to something.

[myriad69.livejournal.com]

(I'm reading back through my friends list, which is why I'm just commenting on your post now....)

I've been playing KOL since the winter, and I ascended a few months back. I don't even remember how I killed the Naughty Sorceress back then, but I probably cheated within an inch of my life using that fantastic KOL FrontPage site. Now I'm trying to get my meat up (that sounds so DIRTY!) by selling bat wing chow meins in my store. I've told myself that when I hit five million meat I can ascend again.

Damn, I am so addicted to this game....