Forum:Lost bell of opening
After killing The Dark One, I stashed the Bell of Opening on the Sokoban entry level under a boulder. There was also a locked chest (my primary stash) and a cursed item under the boulder. When I went to add the Candelabrum of Invocation to the same place, the Bell was not there.
I had a stupid moment at some point (cannot remember exactly when) when opening the stash chest (or something like that). I typo-ed an “apply” selection getting a wand of digging and then (stupidly) ignored the usual warning and broke it. I extracted the chest contents, relocated them, remove the chest from the pit, relocated it and refilled it. I think I also moved the other stuff in that pit to the new stash location. Then I used an uncursed scroll of earth to create boulders used to cover the new stash and fill most of the pits.
When I realized much later the Bell was missing, I used the “detect treasure” spell to see if I had accidentally buried the Bell. No sign. I dug up the hexes where I filled the bits from the digging wand destruction anyway. No Bell. Since then, I have searched for the Bell on every level down to the Valley of the Dead plus down/up all branches above that point. No Bell. I used up a wand of probing checking as many peacefuls as I could along the way.
The Bell is supposedly indestructible. Could the digging wand explosion have destroyed it anyway? Could I have accidentally buried it on the Sokoban entry level and be unable to detect it or find it by digging?
I have a very good human neutral Wizard game in progress and do not want to quit it. Do I need to keep searching down (and back up Vlad’s Tower) until it is the point where I need to do the Invocation and can’t? Can I find the game state files and somehow learn the Bell’s status/location from them. Or am I simply screwed?
JohnRDelaney (talk) 02:25, 21 September 2023 (UTC)
- Ha ha, I've been there! Not in this precise scenario, but remembering where I put the damn thing a year ago can be a chore. But to address your questions: unique items like the Bell cannot be buried, instead they appear on the floor after the pit is filled. Wand of digging explosion cannot destroy any items AFAIK, only dungeon features. Could your Bell be under another boulder? You wouldn't notice it with object detection as the boulder is also an object and is on top. Tomsod (talk) 11:33, 21 September 2023 (UTC)
Thank you, Tomsod. Did that almost immediately. No Bell.
Now, thought, I know why. The Bell never made it to my Sokoban stash. After killing the Dark One, I must have gone up one level from his dungeon to a temporary stash I established before taking him on. It was apparently my usual locked box under a boulder. I stashed there stuff I would not need fighting The Dark One. That included various items of unknown beatitude to be tested on the Dungeon altar after conversion. Apparently I put the Bell in that location and left it there until recently found.
Embarrassingly, I found it the second time I searched the Quest levels for it. And that was after wasting an inordinate amount of time (and resources) in-game and in my life searching for the Bell.
Lessons for those who read this missive. First, do not panic! Second, search only along the path taken from killing The Dark One to your primary stash and around said stash. Only Rodney would steal it, not any other monster. A pet might pick it up but would drop it soon.
JohnRDelaney (talk) 14:09, 22 September 2023 (UTC)
