I'm giving up ....
... on Roguelike as a difficulty level. For now.
Honestly, maybe it's just too damn ambitious to believe, I could just waltz in here an beat this fine game the way it's 'meant' to be played, before ever having played through a few (dozen?) times on an easier level.
I mean, I really, REALLY used to be able to get to T2 with most of my characters. Get into the Fortress nearly every game. That was before my glorious run with a Drem Writhing One to level 50 (https://te4.org/characters/16429/tome/49e13bec-0702-4c25-9cbf-bd72de55f6bb) followed by attempts to really break into the Orc campaign. Seems like I sorta lost all mojo, as I can't even get into the Fortress anymore.
These days, I'm running an (at least) 4 game streak of games with Zero (0) items to solve the breathing under water problem for Lake Nur. What's that tell you?
So anyway, 11 years and 5 weeks, and 309 characters (most all of them dead) I give in to advice you basically read all over the place: Start on Adventure, you clueless nit!
Wish me luck. :)
Edit: I finally have a Winner!
https://te4.org/characters/16429/tome/d7ffd991-b238-4049-a080-66148f57df27
I'm pretty sure that Elemental Fury played a vital part in this, but either way, my drought is over!