YAAP

I've just successfully ascended an illiterate-genoless-polyless orcish
barbarian. This is my second major conduct ascension, after a
weaponless monk. I'm almost embarrassed to claim this one since the RNG
was so kind to me. I got no less than six pre-castle wishes: two from
magic lamps in a bones pile, one from a lamp in a shop, one from a
fountain, and two from smoky potions (extra healing!).

I used those for:
Master Key of Thievery
+2 SDSM
+2 Frost Brand
+2 CoMR
BoH
RoC

All that plus some scavenging and donations got my AC down around -18.
I twoweaponed FB alongside a silver saber. The castle wand, with three
charges, got me:

RoFA
+2 gauntlets of power
+0 speed boots (wished for +2 and didn't get it)
+2 Hawaiian shirt

bringing my AC to -22 where it remained for the duration of the game.

Gehennom was relatively uneventful. I kept my RoC on the whole time
and used it wherever I could.
The shop in Orcus Town had two AoLS; I ended up not needing them. I
also found one more magic lamp, which I used as a light source, and two
wands of death, which I used for Rodney. I bribed Asmodeus and
Baalzebub. The return trip was a pain thanks to several MMFs who made
me forget nearly every level. I was killed once by Rodney while
searching for staircases.

The elemental planes gave me a scare. The crystal ball that I brought
along for locating portals turned out to have only one charge, which
got me through Earth. On Air I rubbed my lamp to acquire a second
ball, which also had only one charge and made me hallucinate, leaving
me with no means of finding the remaining three portals, so I wielded
the AoY and hoped for the best. I ended up getting very lucky,
locating the first two portals almost immediately. Water took longer
but fortunately Rodney didn't show up while I was searching (I killed
Rodney 20 times so by that point he was NASTY). The Astral Plain went
fairly smoothly. I located my altar on the second try. I used
conflict and killed only the enemies which blocked my path, keeping
angels between myself and the riders until the riders were killed.

Lessons learned:
1. The Heart of Ahriman is a godsend on the elmental plains. It
allowed me to levitate while keeping on my RoFA, RoC, and speed boots,
so I could outrun most of the nasties.

2. An AC in the -20's isn't that big a problem if you have conflict.

3. Twoweaponing is a good idea even if you can achieve only basic
skill, especially since FB gives a +5 hit bonus.

4. All the potions you really need can be identified by observing
monsters quaffing them, so it's better to turn unidentified potions
into holy water than to try to ID them by quaffing.

5. Don't use the castle wand until you've explored the VotD: it's full
of goodies.