-Crawl- YASD: Boris in the Snake Pit

So I had going what I thought might be another first-victory-possible
game, with my usual DECj combination. I'd found lots of good
spellbooks, including of the Sky and Enchantments, and when I
quaff-ID'd a potion of mutation, I got a AC + 3 DEX - 1 mutation, plus
clarity and poison immunity. Wheee! Was going through the Snake Pits
when I stepped around the corner and met Boris. I thought "Well,
monsters aren't out-of-depth outside of the main dungeon, an Iron Bolt
with my staff of conjuration should take care of him". Then he Iron
Bolts me back for 70 damage, killing me with one shot.

*sigh*

I guess it's true the only way to learn from Crawl is by dying in it.
Or, at least for me, it seems like that.