hey, a wand. it's described as a "jeweled gold wand", but like scrolls and potions i won't know what it does until i've identified it. wands are magical devices which can be fired in any direction. i could figure out what this one does by zapping it at a monster or at myself, but i risk either doing something beneficial to my enemies or dangerous to myself. plus this would use up one of the wand's limited number of charges without telling me how many i have left.

instead i use a scroll of identify, revealing that the jeweled gold wand is actually a wand of frost with eighteen charges. a wand of frost shoots powerful bolts of ice. its limited charges mean i shouldn't rely on it (especially since i already have a distance attack), but it'll make a good emergency weapon.

shortly thereafter, i run into an ogre. ogres are strong creatures who wield huge weapons and hit hard. this is another monster i want to kill from a distance.

uh oh - i've run out of arrows. i don't want to engage the ogre hand to hand, so it's time for my wand.

i press the z key, for "zap", and select the wand of frost. wands are aimed just like arrows. i fire a bolt of ice and the ogre is destroyed!