The Deck of Many Things (Round 11)

I haven't had much luck finding the deck of late - the last 3 times I've found it someone else has beaten me to it first but today that changed:

The Deck of Many Things lies in wait for a brave soul.

>exam deck
You take a closer look at the Deck of Many Things on the ground...
The deck takes the appearance of a very finely wrought and veneered wooden card case, yet the strong magical aura surrounding it offers proof that this artifact is not simply what it appears to be.
The Deck of Many Things appears to be full.
The Deck of Many Things contains:
     the Key to the Deck of Many Things

>g key deck
You get the Key to the Deck of Many Things from the Deck of Many Things.
The Key to the Deck shudders menacingly.
You drop the Key to the Deck of Many Things.
Vl'aresch gives you one gold coin for your sacrifice of the Key to the Deck of Many Things.
Be Forewarned : You could lose all that you own.
Sashell has been given the chance to draw from the Deck of Many Things.

>exam deck
You take a closer look at the Deck of Many Things on the ground...
The deck takes the appearance of a very finely wrought and veneered wooden card case, yet the strong magical aura surrounding it offers proof that this artifact is not simply what it appears to be.
The Deck of Many Things appears to be full.
The Deck of Many Things contains:
     a card

>g card deck
You get a card from the Deck of Many Things.
A mystical being appears and points at you. Your senses reel as you are flung through the void to another place.
The card twists and wriggles in your hands.
A great flash of light envelopes the room, blinding you momentarily.
When your vision returns, you see that the Deck of Many Things lies before you once more.
It is highly recommended that you examine the deck before drawing from it. When you are ready, simply take the card.

>g card deck
You get a card from The Deck of Many Things.
You see that you have drawn the Tower in Ruin.
As you gaze upon it, the scene upon the card comes to life and is acted out.
Ruin stretches out to engulf you, but by some happy fate you evade it.
A warm feeling fills your body and a scroll of fine parchment appears in your hands.
The cold winds of never rush through the void, whipping the card from your hand and returning you to the mortal realm.

>i
You are carrying 10 items and have room for 10 more:
     a rat tail
     a small birch chest
     an icicle wand
     a journal
     an ancient dagger
     the pearl of serpents
     a white scroll with blue writing
     a small green mineral sponge
     shield of the panther
     Sashell's free immortal cr scroll.

>save
Saved...

>exam scroll
You take a closer look at Sashell's free immortal cr scroll. in inventory...
The fine parchment of the scroll has a short phrase inscribed upon it in letters of gold...
This scroll is worth one free immortal corpse retrieval and is good only for the person whose name appears upon it.

>c id scroll
Object 'Sashell's free immortal cr scroll.' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 50 treasure, weight 1.
Special properties:  none

One of the exciting parts of the deck is that it all happens so fast and you get a screenful of text. The text that jumped out at me was the word "ruin" and thought I'd had a bad pull. The next words that I read were "happy fate" and "fine parchment" which lifted my hopes of getting a rename scroll. Getting a free CR scroll will be handy though it is only for the character the pulled the card. I have been thinking of changing my cheapo Halfling vampire into a devout character to try running a few obscure mobs and now I have this insurance policy I'll have to make the most of it.

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.