Those dag nab GMT +x time zones will get you every time.

The other reason: April Fool's!

It's 11:11 PM, close enough to over for my tastes.

No, I'm referring to when the game opens up a bones file for you at random when you run down the stairs. Seems like when that happens, the file gets deleted same as a save file does when you load it.

As for multiple bones... it's only as cool as it sounds if you're killing off the ghosts before you die. If you're dying to the ghosts, or before you meet the ghosts to something nastier, then you get something like what Eagle V is showing off. It's also not as cool as it sounds because usually if you die multiple times on the same level it's because you are either fighting a unique and are consistently lacking the power to slay it or it's something ridiculously overpowered that just showed up to kick your ass like a kobold who decided to trade in its balsa spear for an arcanite quarterstaff on UT2 or an apprentice dark mage who pops up and lightnings you to death before you're able to move off the stairs. Jenny's UT3 is probably the only place with an enjoyable multi-bones opportunity because she picks you off with lots of plants that can be fought individually in later games when they're not surrounding you; everybody else is considerably more deadly & mobile, and thus can and will slay the hell out of you without having to wait for the ghosts to get their turn.

Far as I know, yes. Also seems like once you open up a bones file it and everything it had is gone for good (unless of course you die on the same level).

I read Al's "amassed lots of HP" comment as meaning that Al was saying that he could take advantage of the 500 HP from bear-ness for the purposes of delving into GC. Maybe that was wrong but I don't really see the alternative of getting full health back when your polymorph goes away as really making sense in the context of the statement.

Ischaldirh is a mage who does not need to be anywhere near you to kill you due to massive amounts of Int. He is very good at his job. Trying to find and fight him without cheating is extremely unwise, as is staying on the level he is at any longer than necessary (assuming you can actually live long enough to get off it).

Also, he *could* have gone into GC but a) it's a polymorph, they don't last forever and b) IME the stats you come into a level with affects the kind of monsters who spawn, which means plenty of kamikaze dwarves and/or other monsters that he probably would not be equipped to fight as anything less than a bear.

Note: As you found out yourself the only exception to the "UT doorbombs are as dangerous as a kobold" statement is that explosions, even really weak ones, can break stuff. If you're holding a mine or attack wand (striking, fireball, lightning) and it breaks, you're going to feel a lot of pain if not wind up dead. Even if you're not, you may want to put breakables like wands or bottles away (either on the ground or in a chest) before kicking down doors. Generally though I don't find myself with many wands/bottles of healing/troll blood before the UT is done, so I feel free to kick down locked doors.

Without a scratch? Was this a locked door in the underwater tunnel? If so then no, you're not all that lucky since the teleport wand would not have saved you from any damage inflicted from the explosion. Even if this was the gloomy cave your luck was in the part where a doorbomb there didn't hurt at all (as those get considerably more painful and also become likely to kill you) rather than in the wand saving you, because teleportation can only help avoid damage that has not been inflicted yet; if the bomb had been powerful enough to hurt you, you would have been ported away fine but you would still have found yourself damaged.

Sorry if this bursts your bubble. It is indeed a nice thing when you survive things that are really dangerous in this game (it's just that doorbombs in the UT are about as threatening IME as a kobold who is still holding onto a balsa spear).

I believe the spider's name is Lohb-se.

Hm, strange that the 'very fast' has no apparent speed effect. Now I wonder what it was meant for.