🚀 go-pugleaf

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:56:05 -0400, EvilBill <quake2lives@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Okay, so entering act IV at level 25 may not have been the best idea.
>Amarice remembered her older sister, Kheperkare the Younger, who had
>been slain by a pack of Abyss Knights at level 24 some years before*.
>But she had defeated Mephisto, and even Paige had survived the fight.
>How hard could it be?
>
>She was about to find out. After replacing her two-socket Stag Bow with 
>a rare, she had given up all her mana leech, so she could use no attack 
>more powerful than a normal arrow - not even her level 1 Magic Arrow, 
>which drained her meagre mana reserves in only a couple of dozen shots. 
>Doom Knights, Venom Lords and Flesh Spawners menaced the two of them in 
>the Outer Steppes, backed up by a boss pack of Doom Casters, but they 
>slowly persevered - the damage they were doing, thankfully, was 
>sufficient to slay most of the demons at a distance - and eventually 
>they full-cleared the Steppes and headed out to the Plains of Despair.
>
>"I hear this Izual fellow we're supposed to look out for packs quite a 
>wallop," Amarice commented.
>
>"Well just keep shooting," Paige advised. "Maybe my cold arrows and 
>those cold damage charms you're carrying will slow him down enough for 
>us to puncture his scaly backside?"
>
>"I hope you're right," Amarice replied. "Because these - ouch! - Abyss 
>Knights are pretty nasty! I wish I had better lightning resist, I tell you."
>
>"Stop complaining, at least your fire resist is up to the max!"
>
>"True," Amarice said, and shot a Corpse Spitter in the - well, I suppose 
>you could call it a face.
>
>Up and down and around the Plains they went, shooting everything that 
>threw elemental projectiles, spat corpses or sent streams of lightning 
>their way. (Yes, the Burning Souls were out in force today, and boy did 
>they hurt.)
>
>"I thought the swamp ghosts back in the jungle were bad enough," Amarice 
>muttered as a glowing red Soul sent a searing lightning bolt straight at 
>her that sizzled over her ring mail.
>
>"You need some lightning resist charms," Paige said.
>
>"They're not exactly growing on trees. Even if there were any trees in 
>Hell. Which there aren't."
>
>"I know, but if you replaced that 1-6 lightning damage grand charm with 
>three 8-10% lightning resist charms, you'd be a lot happier."
>
>"Oh sure, can we just ask Izual to drop them for us?" Amarice shot back; 
>she was in a bad mood, thanks mainly to the poison-slinging Abyss 
>Knights and the Burning Souls.
>
>"Hey, don't take it out on me," Paige said. "I'm just making suggestions."
>
>"I know, but I haven't seen any worthwhile charms in forever. The last 
>time anything even dropped a charm was back in Travincal and that was a 
>+6 to defence large charm." She shook her head. "Demons have no taste in 
>equipment."
>
>"You ain't kidding," the Rogue agreed, and shot an Abyss Knight whose 
>cold projectile narrowly missed them.
>
>Finally, Izual - looking like a cross between a big blue lizard and your 
>worst nightmare - hove into view. He shot a blistering Frost Nova which 
>chilled the duo almost to the bone, but Amarice remembered her Decoy 
>just in time and cast a few in sequence to distract the big bugger while 
>she and Paige filled him with arrows.
>
>Finally, his body collapsed and his spirit wafted away.
>
>"Oh look," Amarice said, poking his remains with her foot. "Four hundred 
>gold pieces, give or take, a blue spear, and a yellow War Axe. No charms 
>whatsoever."
>
>"Just our luck," the Rogue said.
>
>"No kidding. I guess it's a few more gold though."
>
>Amarice spent Tyrael's appreciative reward of two skill points, putting 
>them both into Strafe in the hope that one day she would have mana leech 
>again and could use it.
>
>Then onward they went, heading into the City of the Damned where big, 
>black Corpse Spitters loomed, more Abyss Knights fired away at them, and 
>Pit Lords seemed to emerge from every dark corner. Finally after a lot 
>of shooting and dodging, they found the waypoint, and the stairs down 
>into what Cain assured them was the River of Flame, where lurked the 
>vile demonic smith called HeyFatso the Arserer (or something. Amarice 
>could never get half those names right the first time). She decided to 
>delay that venture for a while, instead focussing on trying to get 
>herself some better gear. The stuff waiting in her stash wouldn't be 
>usable until level 30 at the earliest, and she wanted something before then.
>
>Sadly, all she was able to turn up at Jamella's gambling establishment 
>was a +11% to poison resist plated belt, and she gave up, figuring the 
>rest of her gold might well be needed for healing potions and Rogue 
>revival if HeyFatso proved too tricky.
>
>Finally, they took the waypoint back and descended into the River of Flame.
>
>To be met by venom-spitting maggots that spawned their young so quickly 
>and in such numbers that it was very easy to be swarmed!
>
>"This is disgusting," Paige commented, shaking poisonous slime off her 
>shoes.
>
>
>"I know," Amarice said. "I hope these things don't swarm us. They spawn 
>so much!"
>
>They persevered through the maggots, the Pit Lords and yet more Abyss 
>Knights and oh look, more maggots, to say nothing of a boss pack of Maw 
>Fiends which lumbered out to meet them, until finally, the River 
>waypoint lay beneath their feet. Two paths branched off from it, one 
>straight ahead towards a towering black edifice that had to be Diablo's 
>Sanctuary, the other leftwards along a precarious ledge.
>
>"That must be the way to the Hellforge," Amarice guessed. "We need to 
>give this Fatso guy what-for and then smash Mephisto's stone."
>
>"Do we have to?" Paige asked. "Can't we just go and whack Diablo and be 
>done with it?"
>
>"At level 26?" Amarice shot back. "I doubt it! Let's at least try and 
>make 27 before we make the attempt, all right?"
>
>"Okay," Paige said. "I just didn't like the sound of the Fatso guy."
>
>"You like the sound of Diablo any better?"
>
>"Not really."
>
>"Well then, let's go this way."
>
>She led the way along the narrow path towards the Forge. Maggots spat at 
>them, Knights flung projectiles. A pack of Pit Lords tried to breathe 
>all over the two of them, but were swiftly put down.
>
>Oddly enough, despite his fearsome appearance and the big Malus he 
>lugged around, Mr Fatso was more easily dealt with that the Abyss 
>Knights and maggots clustered around the Forge, and soon he gave up the 
>ghost. The gems the Forge spat out as Amarice smashed the Soulstone 
>included a pleasant surprise for once: an Amn rune, which she stashed, 
>and a flawless skull which, Amarice knew, she could pass to the family 
>retainer, a young in-training Sorceress, who would combine it with two 
>others to make a perfect skull.
>
>"That'll give me back my mana leech if I ever get to socket that 
>Endlesshail bow in my stash," she said.
>
>"That's twelve levels away, can you really do without till then?"
>
>"I can try," Amarice said. "I can at least kill most things with a 
>normal arrow right now!"
>
>"Right now, sure..." Paige said, leaving the ominous thought unfinished.
>
>Back to the waypoint they headed, following the Angel Hadriel's 
>direction onward, battling their way through more maggots and Knights.
>
>The gates of the Chaos Sanctuary beckoned...
>
>TO BE CONTINUED...

I'll settle (again) for Spot!, even if it's not the most current ;-)

ald
"Knowledge is Power"
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K) (RIP :-( )
Matriarch Sis-West level 82 Bowazon (US West)
Champion RingsNThngs level 61 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Matriarch Sis-AR level 99 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Champion Creepy-AR Level 91 Necromancer (AR)
Slayer Zan-AR Level 79 Sorceress (AR)
Slayer SisEight-AR Level 78 Bowazon (AR)
Gems-AR Level 55 Barbarian (AR)
Matriarch Sis-otSEye Level 78 Bowazon (US West, co-op)
BtaSisEight-ald Level 50 Bowazon (LoD 1.10 SP)
Aragorn-AR Level 51 Zealadin (AR)
Champion LTwoSis-ald Level 79 Bowazon (US West Ladder)
CotSRSig #16