378 damage. That's how much the boss did to me in single player. In an 8-way, that would come out to 2143 damage. That's too much for all but the biggest, baddest, most robust barbs with high Battle Orders running. That's just way too much, and it's no wonder undead flayers are completely avoided by Hardcore ladder players soloing in large games. I bet few if any would even risk fighting them with no one else in the game. That's too bad, because they are one of the more interesting challenges. Blizzard ought to remove the damage scaling from their death explosions. It's simply unfair, and IMO, broken.

It took me a few moments to collect my wits enough to take the screenshot. By then, my belt had regenerated two points of life. Note also that my cold resist is low. Ha! I was still wearing the -3 MD ammy I had put on in Travincal to negate the firewalls. I picked up some treasures and returned to town. Foolish to fight that battle, perhaps, but I knew the risks and took my chances. Sometimes you've got to fight. It gets into the blood. And after all, aren't those the battles to play for in the first place? They are for me. Maybe some people would rather beat up on urdars all day and night, but I much prefer a worthy opponent to fight.

Travincal is already all but cleared. Astra returned to find Toorc waiting for her patiently.

No fire resistance? Yeah, sure. Poor guy. You see him on the left, then rocks drop, and ten seconds later, you see Khalim's Axe on the right.

I'm sorry, but if you don't have fire resistance, don't even come to the party. You won't be staying long.

I ignored Khalim's Short Spears for the moment and peeked inside the temple. That seemed to piss them off, as one minion came running out. He MUST have been one of Ismail's minions, as he was very zippy, and he did a fine impression of a tweaker sorcie, raising a pack and a half of hydras all by himself.

That's right. Those are not my hydras! Woo, boy, look at em go!

After I pounded that minion, I peeked inside again. Oh look, there's Geleb and Ismail. Oh, tsk tsk. No fire resistance for Ismail? Give me a few moments, he's gonna hit the floor. Oh I saw the Teleportation. I saw the Lightning Enchanted. Those aren't going to save him, you know, not even with his Extra Fast.

So the showdown has arrived. Geleb Flamefinger vs the Hot Babe. It took me most of an hour to win that fight with Hotfoot. I alloted forty minutes to try it here with Astra.

Long story short, forty minutes later, out of mana potions, been to the well a dozen times, can't keep the mana recharge shrine going because sparks hit me and the curse wipes out my blessing... I led him out, down to the bottom corner, my traditional Geleb parking spot. See ya, big guy. I've got a date with Mephisto.

I went back, picked up Khalim's War bow, jumped to town, transmuted it, smashed the orb.

First encounter in the Durance, a Cadaver boss.

Then...

Then I hear the pitter patter of tiny feet. Oh fun. Is it a boss? Champs? Or normal critters?

Ah, normal critters. That much at least is a blessing.

Astra shut down her blaze, tempted the little snots, then dropped a rock on them.

After wiping out a Warped One boss pack, I woke up about four undead flayers at once. I tempted one, killed it, tempted another, then... oops. Somehow I walked into a niche along the wall. Astra is TRAPPED between the wall, a brazier, and two undead flayers. She can't move.

I didn't hesitate. I gulped a rejuv and dropped a rock. The midgets exploded and Astra got tagged for almost two hundred damage. Ouchie.

Gah, that's the first time I ever cornered myself in the Durance. If that had been a boss and minions, I would have either Saved and Exited, or died there. Must be more careful in future.

Some Dark Lords around. We played at Meteor duels. They were outmatched, poor guys.

More undead flayers. I played it cautiously, took them down with no damage to Astra.

Found the way to level two. Look, there's a welcoming committee!

With three of them, I had to tempt more than shoot, at first. I worked on them slowly, with top priority being not to get hit and not to run any blaze. The battle lasted perhaps two minutes, perhaps three.

More Dark Lords around, a few Cadavers, a few undead flayers, one Mauler boss. Found the waypoint and secured a path from there to the stairs. I left a few rooms unexplored.

So we come to level 3.

Astra killed a couple of Blood Lords, then three Council minions. Then...

Extra Strong? No thanks. Remember, I'm out of surplus mana. Used it all on Geleb, to no end. Bremm is slow and not fire resistant, so he's doable, but I'm just not in the mood for it now. Astra has paid her dues for the day. Time to get this over with.

So I hired some mercs to distract Bremm ever so briefly while I dropped rocks on about eight more blood lords in the main room. One picked up a Might aura on Maffer's side. Oh crappity-crap-crap. Well, no way am I going over there now. Sorry. (Not that I was planning to anyway).

Once the vampires were dead and my return portal set, I lured out Wyand.

You can see the portal location.

The two bosses I left parked at the stairs. I walked back to the waypoint and returned to town. Time to gear up for Mephisto: cold and lightning resistance, life, and some -MD. Yes, I took off my Stone. Mana wasn't going to be a problem. Staying alive was more important. That Gidbinn ring really is crap, though. Look at it!

So I went to wake Mephisto. For some reason he wouldn't chase me, so I started hitting him with meteors right there at his start location.

I believe he got stuck on something. Heh. Dreadful pathfinding in this game.

He wasn't even able to attack me. I heard his attack sounds playing, but nothing came out. Still, I didn't trust that at all, so I kept the happy feet going anyway. Eventually, I dodged too far to the right and he broke free enough to be able to attack, but he still didn't move. And not moving when you are standing in stacked flames from beyond-max meteors is not a good battle plan. Scratch one Prime Evil! What a pathetic fight. At least Andariel gave it the old college try, chasing me for two laps before she expired. Oh well.

He dropped three pricey (yet useless) items. I carted two to town, sold them, came back and got the last, then ducked through the Portal to Act Four.