What's going on when it looks like a 6-damage attack knocked out 29 HP and killed me?
I just started playing Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (I'm maybe twenty short games in) and there are tons of things that I'm learning as I play, of course. But I don't even know how to look this one up. A game just ended with the following description:
Bob the Skirmisher (level 4, -1/34 HPs)
Began as a Demonspawn Abyssal Knight on Aug 14, 2012.
Was a Believer of Lugonu.
Killed from afar by an orc wizard (6 damage)
... with a magic dart... on Level 3 of the Dungeon.
The game lasted 00:33:21 (2345 turns).
The problem is that I had 29 HP before the attack and there was nothing else on the log of events.
These orc wizards are bad-asses and I was prepared to flee if I needed to; they've killed me three or four times before. But I just went from healthy to dead with no explanation...
Update:
So the orc electrocuted me and I guess I paged through the info to the next screen of or something. From the morgue file:
The orc wizard hits you but does no damage.
You are electrocuted!
Ouch! That really hurt!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The orc wizard points at you and mumbles some strange words.
The magic dart hits you!
You die...
Solution 1:
The orc wizard had an electric brand weapon. It did not do direct damage but did do electric damage. They really hurt. Another orc wizard (probably) then hit you with a magic dart from a wand. They are often found in little packs. Finding them on D3 is harsh, but crawl is harsh, very harsh. Die and learn.
Solution 2:
Speed is an important variable in Crawl and it is very possible for the enemies to get in multiple attacks between your moves. This can happen if they are hasted, or if they are an enemy that moves quickly (such as a bat). This can also happen if you make a move that takes a long time, such as climbing stairs or putting on/removing armour.
From the messages in your morgue file, it appears that the orc wizard had a weapon of electrocution. Even though the attack did no damage, the electrocution effect went off and caused a great deal of damage (24 hitpoints, if my math skillz are working today). Then, before you were able to move again, he fired off a magic dart and killed you (or as noted in Ohmi's answer - there were 2 orc wizards).
Ah, Crawl... where death is possible after every move! (Pro tip - run (don't walk) from orc priests...)