Dying Isn't All Bad

I've been very slow on the updates again lately. It's not that I've stopped playing though the Christmas/New Year period did slow me down, but more a combination of procrastination, not having anything exciting to write about and not having any major success of late until a small breakthrough today.

One area I've been working on exploring lately is D'Morian's Land. I'd heard of a rumour of an item that could be only gained through an unusual way - death. This is unusual in that to get an item you normally need to find it lying around, put it together from the other pieces or from the cold dead hands of the mob they are on. The hard part is you need to die to a particular mob in a particular room.

The room you need to die in is the following:

At the Back of the Tower Knoll
A short flight of steps leads from the path up to the back of the knoll. The steps are badly chipped and also caked with the thick dried blood that seems to be so liberally spread about here. The air here is mysteriously calm, although the heather further down hill still ripples in the wind.  A few odd looking items are scattered about on the stony ground at the foot of the steps, they seem to be broken pieces of armor and a few blood-soaked rags.
Exits: northeast northwest

You can examine both armor and rags which gives some clue that there is more to this room than meets the eye:

>exam armor
A steel vambrace lies bent and discarded at the foot of the steps, while
what resembles a pouldron is sticking out of the heather off to the side.

>exam rags
A few fragments of clothing are caught tangled in the heather, or glued to
the steps with blood. 

The mob you need to kill you in this room is a decaying zombie. This is made hard as the rooms in this part of the area have a program where the wind blows you out of them. Add in zombies then chasing you and casting spells that drain your movement points quickly and things start getting tricky. I've been most successful by killing all the zombies and then waiting in the room for repop to die. However, when you do get lucky:

A decaying zombie's bite wounds you!
You wish that your wounds would stop BLEEDING so much!
The Zombie's hands clutch around your neck.
(claws of the mole gets damaged)
Curse the gods, you've lost 0 experience!

..Everything begins to fade to black.

You feel yourself leaving your body... rising up into the air, you feel more free than you have ever felt before...

However, before your deity comes to collect your soul, you feel a strange pulling sensation as strange and colorful mists swirl around you...

If you are lucky (pop rate isn't 100%)... When you do your corpse retrieval the following item will be in it:

>c identify dented

Object 'dented vambraces of a fallen warrior' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 50 armor, weight 6.
Locations it can be worn:  arms
Special properties:  metal
This armor has a gold value of 3000.
Owner:  Charix
Armor class is 14 of 14.
Affects damage roll by 6.
Affects armor class by -10.
Affects constitution by 1.
Affects strength by 2.
Affects hp by 10.

>exam dented
You take a closer look at dented vambraces of a fallen warrior in inventory...
You see nothing special.
As you look more closely, you notice that it is in superb condition.
It appears to be within or below your level range.

Frustratingly they are owner tagged - this one to a cleric of mine.  I'm not sure what the best use of these arms are for - maybe a barbarian or to replace a few cheapo evil characters using Shimmergloom arms? It's an option though that not many have heard of before. Now hopefully I can figure out a few more things in this area.

Vampire Equipment

One of the things I like about vampires as a class more than other classes is that they are relatively easy to equip for a simple set up that is usable. By this I mean maximise the important stats of strength, dexterity and intelligence and have hit points and damage roll at a decent level. On the other hand you can spend a lot of time and money dressing a vampire up to a high level of hit points and damage roll while still maximising stats. I currently have three level 50 vampires of which one is very well equipped and two have a basic set up.

My best vampire is dressed is Vilexur the half-troll. He has 131 damage roll and stats below:
You report: 1752/1752 hp 59/60 blood 666/666 mv 176592194 xp.
Your base stats:    17 str 17 int 10 wis 18 dex 16 con 9  cha 13 lck.
Your current stats: 20 str 22 int 8  wis 24 dex 16 con 3  cha 18 lck.
Equipment used is as follows:

You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) Collar of Abyssal Servitude
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) Collar of Abyssal Servitude
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) Spiral of Daeva
<worn on head>       (Red Aura) Maniacal Tendencies
<worn on legs>       hellfire leggings
<worn on feet>       (Red Aura) Malignant Boots of the Hellion
<worn on hands>      the Inquisitor's Grasp
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a strand of polished jade
<worn about body>    (Humming) the cloak of Death
<worn about body>    (Red Aura) A shroud of darkness
<worn about waist>   a girth of mangled hide
<worn around wrist>  (Red Aura) (Humming) the wristlet of the hellborne
<worn around wrist>  (Red Aura) (Humming) the wristlet of the hellborne
<wielded>            (Red Aura) Lifebane
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) Lifebane
<worn on ears>       (Red Aura) Demonic Whispers
<worn on eyes>       the Eye of the Beholder
<worn on back>       a thick piece of lizard hide
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  (Humming) Blackened Spurs of the Nazgul Lord
<worn around ankle>  (Humming) Blackened Spurs of the Nazgul Lord

A much cheaper set up with a half-orc vampire and 108 damage roll and stats below:
You report: 1549/1564 hp 51/60 blood 595/595 mv 176474704 xp.
Your base stats:    16 str 16 int 10 wis 18 dex 13 con 9  cha 13 lck.
Your current stats: 20 str 21 int 9  wis 25 dex 15 con 8  cha 15 lck.
Equipment used is:

You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) Demonspawn Stormcloud
<worn on head>       a black, brimmed hat
<worn on legs>       (Red Aura) godskull shinguards
<worn on feet>       (Glowing) demonscale Boots
<worn on hands>      (Red Aura) Sin
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a shadowy pair of dragonscale arm guards
<worn about body>    (Red Aura) (Humming) a Cloak of Demons
<worn about waist>   circle of mists
<worn around wrist>  a solid bracer of Cold Blue
<worn around wrist>  a solid bracer of Cold Blue
<wielded>            (Red Aura) Black Dragonskull Ax
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) Black Dragonskull Ax
<worn on ears>       (Glowing) a sliver of glass
<worn on eyes>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) Visage of Bloodlust
<worn on back>       [nothing]
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  a demonskin ankle bracer
<worn around ankle>  a demonskin ankle bracer

My third vampire is a Halfling. I have it wearing some Halfling only equipment which works quite well for cheaply equipped vampire. This vampire has 107 damage roll.
You report: 1568/1568 hp 13/60 blood 743/743 mv 176473688 xp.
Your base stats:    14 str 15 int 10 wis 17 dex 13 con 12 cha 14 lck.
Your current stats: 20 str 22 int 11 wis 25 dex 13 con 12 cha 15 lck.
Equipment used is:

You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) (Humming) Golden Plate
<worn on head>       a fallohide's leather cap
<worn on legs>       a fallohide's leather breeches
<worn on feet>       (Glowing) demonscale Boots
<worn on hands>      (Red Aura) Sin
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a shadowy pair of dragonscale arm guards
<worn about body>    a fallohide's cloak
<worn about waist>   a fallohide's pipeweed pouch
<worn about waist>   a fallohide's waist sash
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) a crystal dragon bracer
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) a crystal dragon bracer
<wielded>            (Red Aura) (Glowing) darkness
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) darkness
<worn on ears>       ears of the fox
<worn on eyes>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) Visage of Bloodlust
<worn on back>       a simple pilgrim's cloak
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  a turqoise anklet
<worn around ankle>  a blue, glassy chain

You can see that the difference between the well equipped vampire and the second two vampires is 200 hit points and 23/24 damage roll. As for the difference in the value of equipment... The second two vampires you could buy their total equipment for less than 100 million gold coins each while the first has 11 pieces of equipment worth over 100 million each.