I had to use the last of Ember's minor rejuv potions and a full as well, but microtempting combined with sheer determination and lots and lots of Vitality, saw Ember through this part of the battle. I managed to kill the first three. Unfortunately, I could not hit the two stuck on the door, and had to set them free to kill them.

Back to town, hire new merc, restock belt now with all full rejuvs, and back to the fight. I then had four more of these Dark Shapes to deal with, the new merc bought me enough time to kill one and wound another, and I tempted my way out of another bad mess. And there was still the Shaman boss to deal with. I decided I had better kill him, so back to town, grab the stockpile of rancid gas potions I'd been saving up to use on the Witchdoctor, and here we go:

This fight went the full twelve rounds, and the shaman bastard won several of those on points, teleporting right next to Ember and lighting her up with a furious flaming jab. Ten minutes and 20 rancid gas potions into this fight I was seriously questioning my ability to win it, but I stuck it out anyway. I lost count of the number of times I had him below ten percent health only to watch him teleport four or even six times in a row, rapidfire, until his health was back up to half. That REALLY is a stupid ability, out of balance with everything else and aimed, seemingly, at characters just like Ember to provide a roadblock. I'd like to see it revised and improved, but I won't be holding my breath. Eventually Ember nabbed this little snot and won the right to proceed deeper into the dungeon, but what did that really prove? Only that I had the patience to sit through the drudgery out of sheer determination to get my second relic without a restart.

This floor was wall to wall Dark Shapes, nasty stuff. At least they weren't fire resistant, but that's the only good thing I can say about them. They ate my last available lightning merc, too.

The next room was more of the same, and a fire merc bit the dust. I lost track of how many killed in action on this level, but I do think it's more than I've enumerated. They paid so quickly, there was no time to catch their names before it was tagged to their toe and the body shipped out for burial. Even so, they helped. This was a tough tough floor for Ember.

By contrast, level three was mostly cake. A few flayer packs here or there, as usual, and the Witchdoctor, but he's rarely a problem for a ranged character. I drew that strange map layout where Endugu and crew aren't posted at the chest, but rather in a corner you must pass through to reach it.

Ember was grateful to acquire a brain at last. She'd always wanted one but never knew where to look.

All right, so the time has come to make the fateful decision: what about Lam Esen's?

I knew that if I went down there and died, that it would be THE stupidest thing and a lot of Ember's fans would never forgive me. I also had an undeniable urge to try.

As fate would have it, guess which side of that debate won out?

I went back to town, stashed Ember's shiny new brain. (What use did she have for a brain? She was about to do a very brainless thing anyway). Hired a new fire merc, Barani, picked up Broc and my purples in preparation for possible Save and Exit, took a deep breath and clicked on "Kurast Bazaar Waypoint".

Somewhere across the sea, Warriv was shaking his head.

Would this be The End of the Road for Ember??