Advice for a lost newbie

[Big McStrongmuscle]

I'm relatively new to the game (only played for a couple of months now) and especially new to playing mages, and *extremely* new to playing mages with any degree of success. I'm just about as far in the dungeon as I've ever gotten, and I seem to have run out of objectives.

Executive Summary:

• I'm a level 24 High Elf Mage at 800'
• Have learned every spell my level can get from the four easy books; haven't found any of the others.
• Killed all the uniques that I know of (~a dozen) below Boldor. Boldor is the strongest one on my list so far, but remains elusive.
• Accumulated some terrific swag, especially a Ring of Ice. The 75-point Frost Ball invocation is nothing short of glorious.
• Found a couple of artifacts, and I think I've got most of their powers worked out, but I can't seem to find any *Identify* scrolls to make sure.
• Currently wielding an Bastard Sword of *Slay Demon* over Dethanc (the artifact dagger with lightning), both for an intelligence boost and because I rarely melee much of anything besides those bloody Tengu. Not sure if the intelligence boost actually helps anything.
• Also switching off between two pairs of artifact gauntlets. The 17 points of AC, a bolt invocation, and (I'm guessing) a resistance seemed worth the hit to spell power.
• Other than the food and the mushroom, the equipment in the dump file is pretty much exactly what I zap into the dungeon with.

I just found the Phial and learned Satisfy Hunger and Stone to Mud yesterday, so I can last for indefinite periods of time in the dungeon without a lot of supplies. Thing is, the monsters here seem to be just tough enough that most of the big monster groupings force me to retreat, so I'm a little hesitant to go all-out and Dive for Glory.

Basically I'm looking for something I can do besides aimlessly mill about hoping for a rare spell-book, gain ability potion or *Identify* scroll from the Black Market. Does anyone have any advice?