In general, I try my best to obtain fire resistance by buying up any available ring or cloak of it in the shop. (I'll even wish for it if I must!) If I cannot manage that, then I try for searching and still search once myself for each step I take. (Paranoia can save lives!
) As a last resort of survival, I'll use up a detect material scroll for every floor I can and detect "iron" since all mines in the standard IVAN game are made of iron. (It will just show you a bunch of blank spaces, but that is because those are hidden mines. Also if you explore near them you may forget again where they are, so I suggest stepping next to them, please be careful, and using "s"earching until you flag them.) If I have nothing and I find myself stepping into the Gloomy Cave, I will search at least two times for each step (Extra paranoia!
) and only stop searching if I am sure I am traveling where either I or another, non-levitating monster, have traveled before.
Regardless, I consider myself doomed if I do not have fire resistance when I set foot in the Gloomy Cave, but I have had characters survive doing these more extreme measures. :wink: