Why I love Ironman rooms

[Therem Harth]

(Or: be smart, stay safe, and don't push your luck.)

In ToME 2: Dogma, a level 18 Gnome Zombie Alchemist running with Ironman rooms, is moping around level 1 of the Barrow-downs and comes across a Greater Cell Vault. With the help of his handcrafted Acidic Battle-axe, he charges through the bottom row of cells... And soon finds a Dagger (1d4). He hopes it's Chaotic so he can make another Potion of Corruption (which he recently acquired a taste for), but he can't drain any essences from it; so, scratching his scraggly beard, he picks it up...

It's {special}. And when he wields it and uses it on the monster in the next cell, it gains a level. It a 'thanc! And on the floor in the very next cell... is another (1d4) {special} dagger.

Grinning like the lunatic that he is, Dogma whips out his Pick of Digging (+5) and pounds his way into the next cell... And comes face to face with a Vrock. The demon, already awake courtesy of the aggravating Troll Blood corruption that Dogma picked up earlier, steps right up and brings the Gnome down to 14 HP.

The alchemist attempts to blink away... Panics... Flubs the spell... And gets shredded. RIP.

(For those not in the know, Gnomes in T2 get an intrinsic Phase Door ability. As I just learned the hard way, this is no substitute for a stack of Phase Door scrolls.)