Part One: The Desert
Ember arrived in Act Two at clvl 32 with the following skills, stats and equipment:
Firebolt @ max (+3 from staff)
Fire Mastery @ 3
Warmth @ 13
Str 12, Dex 25, Vit 123, Nrg 80
Primary Gear:
Gemmed Battle Staff: +3 Firebolt, +2 Frozen Armor (unused), w/ flawless ruby and diamond, normal amethyst
Greyform: +20 Cold and Fire Resist, -3 Magic Damage - gambled Act 3 Normal
Burgundy Leather Gloves of Tiger: +18 Fire Resist, +29 Life - bought from Gheed in NM
Amber Light Belt of Tiger: +32 Lightning Resist, +28 Life - bought from Gheed in NM
Rare Boots: Faster Run, Fastest Recovery, +14 Lit Resist, +11 Life, +7 Stamina - gambled Act 2 Normal
Rare Ring: +37 Lit Resist, +29 Life, +1 Light, +130 AR - gambled Act 1 NM
Ring: -2 Damage, +35 Cold Resist - flesh spawner boss, Outer Steppes in Normal
Amulet: +45 Fire Resist, +12 Dex - beetle boss in the Disused Fane in Normal
Rare Cap: Fastest Recovery, +53 Life, +2 Light, +8 Poison Res, +3 Mana - gambled Act 1 NM
Alternate Gear:
Rare Quilted Armor: +49 Lit Resist, +29 Cold Resist, +34 Life, -50 Poison Dur, -20 Req - gambled Act 1 NM
Rare Cap: +49 Lit Resist, +25 Poison Res, Fastest Recovery, +6 Life, -25 Poison Dur - gambled Act 1 NM
Rare Light Belt: +26 Cold Resist, +15 Lit Resist, Fastest Recovery, +19 Life, +6 Mana - gambled Act 1 NM
Rare Ring: +29 Poison Resist, -1 damage, +1 Light, Half Freeze, +2 Mana, +79 AR - Duriel in Normal
Ring: +43 Fire Resistance - Act 4 Normal
Amulet: +29 Cold Resist, +13 Dex - Act 4 Normal
Amulet of Defiance: -75% Poison Length - boss drop, Act 1 NM
Amulet: +49 Life - LEB Archer boss in Barracks, Act 1 NM
Sash: +59 Life
Gemmed battle staff with +3 Blaze (for use on Duriel ONLY).
Lennymo, Broc, Hotspur, Snakecord, Biggins Bonnet saved for High Durability Rare purposes (gambling).
Ember arrived in Lut Gholein and was immediately accosted by a strange woman (Atma was her name) who seemed eager, even desperate to get attention. Ember steered around her and headed out into the desert, eager to get on with some real business. The desert was eager too (lots of eagerness going on here) and sent a whole welcoming committee to meet with Ember. There were sand leapers by the half dozens, including a purple one (boss), there were vultures, there were kitty-kitties and a mob of dung beetles swarming around four beetle champions. This was all at once, mind you, right at the gate (well, the running the first batch forced me to do woke up all the rest and the dance was on!)
Ember found herself in genuine trouble and was honestly over her head trying to fight all this at once. The leapers are NOT cooperative in that regard and will swarm and pounce and if three of them hit you at once you know about it immediately from the dramatic and instant reduction of red in your life orb.
Well, dammit, I'm not get pushed out of the DESERT for goodness sake! So I committed to the "backdoor" maneuver perfected by my friend Cyrene: run far, run fast, pied piper the mob AWAY from any entrance or loop zone, open a portal and strand the chasers there. So I did that: I ran north, north and farther north, a mob of at least ten leapers and some cats in pursuit, ported out and returned to the city gate.
There I dealt with the beetles and some birdies and a leaper or three who'd been less than dilligent in pursuing me to the back door.
You can see the gold and potions dropped by two of the champions. And now look what these beasts have gone and done: made me reveal the principle behind my strategic plans for coping with Act Four, assuming I get the opportunity. Well, so be it. Surprise can be overrated sometimes anyway. :)
Because of how nasty this mess became, and out of desire to avoid repeating this fight in this way ever again, I made a beeline for the Dry Hills, circling around the perimeter of the Waste and wasting no time on anything not directly in the way. Leapers required three or four shots and were stubbornly annoying, doing that rush of theirs that at times you just can't avoid unless you out and out RUN from them at top speed. Vultures were not a problem, being slow and not very robust. Just don't get careless and they're easy for Ember to kill. Cats are hyper but fortunately not particularly strong nor swift on attack. Before I knew it, Ember was around to the far side of the Waste, coping with a Fire Enchanted Teleporting vulture boss (oh what fun it is to dance with a FEB-Bird I can't slay-ay!) and entering the Hills. (I did kill that bird, btw, but it took a while).
Now every time I ported back to town, I would check with Elzix for gambles and with Drognan for a better blaze staff, and I would have to run past that annoying Atma female over and over and over again. She'd run out into the street and try to physically block Ember's way, saying "Hello" and "Hello" until she was blue in the face and I just kept wishing she'd shut up, go back into her tavern and tell it to a mug of ale. Good grief.
More vultures and leapers in the hills, and potion-throwing cats. The Halls entrance was JUST inside the Hills area but I ignored it for now. In the middle of the area (I was down in the "valley" as opposed to up on the "ridge" above the cliffs) I ran into a Fire Enchanted Lightning Enchanted potion thrower. For a cat, this little purty was pretty tough.
The valley cleared, and no waypoint. So up the stairs I go onto the plateau, found the waypoint in the far north corner. Entrance to the Oasis was around to the southwest and over there I was immediately set upon by beetle champs. The place was also filled with maggots. Filled. There were a lot of maggots there. Ember saw maggots end to end as far as the eye could see, at times. She ran into a lot of maggots. There were so many maggots I got pushed back to the Hills once while fighting them off. A goodly number of maggots showed up and Ember had to deal with plenty of maggots. Did I mention the maggots that were there??
As if that wasn't bad enough, what's worse than a Fanatic leaper boss? A Fanatic Teleporting vulture boss backed by an army of maggots!
We got orange maggots, orange maggots glowing with an orange aura, oranges growing from the trees, orange dirt, orange buildings, orange maggot eggs and orange mothers overseeing orange babies glowing with bright orange auras under the orange sunset. Orange you glad I didn't say orange again??
After that, Ember killed a lot more maggots. ("No! You don't say!" "Yes, really. It's true!")
Ember even found the Maggot Hole, but you can understand as she ran screaming from there, foaming at the mouth. Do you blame her? The waypoint was not far from the hole, and up on the plateau could be found Beetleburst and crew guarding the entrance to the Lost City. I quite nearly charged in there (anything to get out of maggotworld) but I had already made the decision not to attempt to reach the Altar of the Sun until clvl 34, slvl 5 Mastery, and +60% Fire Damage. So I would do a little more "leveling up" here in the desert first, and no sense doing all of that in the dark! So I didn't go in.
Back to town again and as I'm desperately running past that tavern, out comes the wench and TACKLES POOR EMBER! "I don't know blah blah blah blah, but if you WANT to help me I would be grateful. Blah blah blah."
Ember picked herself up off the cobblestones and was completely livid. "Listen here, you. Tell it to some SF/Orb sorcie or Whirlwind fanatic. All I've got is FIREBOLT! I'm not going down into no stinking old sewer to clear out three levels of undead at more than a DOZEN shots each just to serve your need for revenge! You, your monster, his stupid little skill book, and that whole army of fire freaks he commands can all get lost down the nearest maggot hole for all I care! OK??? YOU GOT THAT?"
The woman ran back into her tavern weeping as if Ember had been the one to assault her, not the other way around. Hmmph. Well, at least she seemed content to leave Ember alone after that, but I now had to live with an activated Quest 1 for the rest of Ember's days. Blah to that, I say.
What next? Back to finish the Waste? Well, hmm, there's the Halls of the Dead entrance...
You know, it might be a good idea to go down there and test the waters. I'd have to deal with the Viper Temple and it seemed unwise to do that cold. It's not as if I was volunteering to clear the false tombs and deal with hordes of burning dead. Returned would die in a few shots and I could bail if I actually got stuck somewhere nasty.
So down goes Ember, and in the first room of the first level are two Hollow Ones with attendant mobs, and it's a SMALL entrance room and I'm forced to open a door and run willy nilly into uncharted lands. Not five seconds into this venture and already I'm seriously questioning the wisdom of doing this. Ember got nicely sandwiched by about six or seven skels in a tiny hallway. I dared not open the next door, as it led not to a wide room, but to a twisty curve with no wide spaces. If more Hollow Ones were in there I'd be done for, one way or the other. So basically Ember danced with skeletons in a sardine can and don't ask me how I managed to win that fight without drinking my entire belt because even I have no idea. I finally broke past the surviving half of that mob to slay the Hollow Ones and the game, as they say, was afoot.
I probably should have done this in Act One: risk it and go down some of those holes. Riskier, yes, but Ember does have a lot of life and it might have helped relieve the tragic boredom of leveling up. Oh well, maybe it's best I didn't, thanks to possible archer traps. Here, the worst I could run into was spear cats, and while bad as that might become, arrows are harder to dodge than javelins. Forget the Viper Temple even, what this really and truely was, was practice for Tal Rasha's Tomb. I had a gut feeling I'd be wading through the burning dead there, like it or not, and if I couldn't handle the Halls, how was I going to deal with THAT? So this was, in a sense, a form of strength training and light practice in anticipation of dire perils to come.
On that note, I enjoyed the challenge and the workout. Painstaking at times, dangerous at others, nevertheless I cleared out almost all of level one and pressed on through to the waypoint on level two.
Oddly enough, the Returned here in the Halls were about the only thing in Act Two I was earning full experience for! (Bone Warriors in the Viper Temple would be the other possibility for that). In Normal, by the time you get this far you're almost always more than five levels beyond their monster level and earning pennies on the dollar for experience. (I've seen 3 XPs per kill on Bone Warriors with a clvl 18 character, for instance). By contrast, experience in the Halls was raking in at a decent clip.
Ah, and then I found a Combat Shrine on the level and decided to have some fun. Remember what Ember socketed into her staff? A flawless Ruby (for color), a flawless diamond (increasing damage vs undead) and a normal amethyst (adding +38 AR). Well, between 22 extra dex as side effects on items, 130 AR from rare ring, the amethyst, and such, well it added up to a lot of AR actually, and the combat shrine multiplied that total by six, to get an astronomical Attack Rating. The shrine boosted damage too!
See! Ember told you those gems in her staff would come in handy some day. Time to kick skelly ass!
I cleared a whole mob this way, with good old-fashioned elbow grease. Ember hadn't swung a staff since clvl 3 but she apparently remembered how. :) I had a fun time as Ember opened up a case of Whoopass on these chumps and beat them silly. I even meleed a couple after the shrine wore off, amazed that Ember had an incredible 70ish percent chance to hit even without shrine help!
This got Ember's mind working, and she starting to scheme about potentially switching careers or at least switching gear and trying some new tactics. She'd consult with Elzix and see what he thought of her plans.
In the mean time, might as well keep on working and pushing the limits. The next room had a mummy toaster and two Hollow Ones. Ah yes, now it's getting interesting. Well, lure out the undead minions, patience with the Hollows then nab them as they get too close to the door, then over to the toaster...
Now you may know, the mummies that pop out of this thing are worthless. Zero experience. This is true also of crow nests and most (not all) maggot young. As such, there is NO reason to let it keep making more if you can stop it. And you can stop a mummy sarcophagus by standing in front of it and blocking the way.
Of course, that leaves you vulnerable to any monsters nearby, because if you move, the mummy maker resumes spitting out more bodies. So this was a careful dance of shooting down the mummies it made (barely faster than it could make more) and then choosing the right moment to step in and take the heat. I believe if you let the mummy maker expire on its own (it will only make so many, then just collapse) you get no experience points.
There was one more room, then stairs down to level three, but I didn't like the situation down there at all and bailed out a portal. Too many bodies in too short a space. I would need to try opening a different door first next time I went down there, if there was a next time.
Finally back to the Rocky Waste, and that huge mob of leapers I had parked at that backdoor. Cleaned up all of that and decided to head down into the Stony Tomb. The Stony Welcoming Committee:
Yes indeed, that's the sort of champ pack I want to tackle: some mostly-harmless skel mages, shooting stuff I've got the resistance and -md to stand up to for who knows how long without any danger. One of them dropped me a nice ring: +22 Lit Resistance and -2 Magic Damage. I added it to my spares in inventory and expected to be using it more than once in days to come.
I put on my Defiance ammy to deal with the poison throwers to come. Down on level two was the worst ambush and biggest "Real Fight" I have ever encountered there in seven months of playing this game (and unlike most players, I have spent a lot of time in the Stony Tomb, I kind of like it there).
Creeping Feature was LEB but, being slow as dirt, Ember handled him with no problems. Cleared the rest of the place and this game session was in the history books. But before we go...
Ember consults Elzix for fashion advice. "I'm considering becoming a Paladin. What do think of this big old helmet, Elzix?"
"Big old helmet?" He chuckled a bit. "Well Ember, I don't think it's quite you, to be honest. You look like a sturdy adventurer in that cap... er, "helmet"... but I wouldn't go as far as to say you'll intimidate anyone with it. You know? Besides, I kind of like the way you look now."
Ember sighed. "Well this is the only helmet I've ever tried on that didn't weigh like an elephant."
"Why do you want to be a Paladin anyway? Monsters are much more afraid of your mighty fire magicks."
Ember brightened up. "OK. You've convinced me."
Next session begins with the Dry Hills waypoint, up on the plateau. A couple vultures, a few leapers, a CEB leaper boss, then down the stairs to the valley. Those stairs proved a comfy spot to make a stand, as these birds would try to fly up to attack Ember but get stuck and not be able to move. Why? Not sure. Maybe they were too close to the edge. I've definitely seen birds fly onto the steps, but this was the Hardly Able crew and Ember slew them where they stood. The leapers too.
The FE-LE cat thrower was there again, as was the Vulture boss in the Waste, though only FEB, no teleport this time. Beetle champs near the gate, burning dead mage champs in Stony, aura horror boss and LEB Creepy on level two. No beetle bosses in the Oasis though and NO MAGGOTS! Yay! Instead, itchies and black crows. And oh my, many of the itchies died in one shot!
Clvl 33 for Ember now, more mastery, more Life. Desert now cleared, and down into the Halls we go, where some Hollow champs danced with Ember and she got another crack (hehe) at a Returned mob thanks to that Combat Shrine again. Gotta love that thing. I got my fill of the Halls more quickly this time, though.
Next session went about the same. Same bosses, same champs, same fights, same maps, except in the Oasis there were vulture boss packs this time, and I decided to clear out the ENTIRE Halls of the dead, except for the Cube chamber (Blood Witch could take the same hike to a maggot hole as Atma and her quest, as far as Ember was concerned. The only date she would set with an Extra Strong Cursed bastard would be Sszark the Burning, and she had plans to stand him up anyway, but more on that if we come to it).
Well down on level three, some Spear Cat champs. Ouchie ouchie.
I used the same patience I had with the archer champs in the barracks and made sure to fight these hussies one on one, not one on three like they wanted. Ember did in fact successfully clear every room in the Halls this game except for the Cube treasure room. Very satisfying, and I now felt comfortable with her abilities and limitation in the tomb environment.
Now clvl 34 and it was time to head on toward the Lost City. So a new session, start at Dry Hills, work through Oasis, and into the Lost City. All goes Dark, and Ember is wearing her Defiance amulet now, also her Duriel ring, to take poison resist above zero. Cats throw potions and Ember just ignores them until she's good and ready!
Not far inside the City is that big rectangular building shell with the balcony. That proved to be a wondrous tactical vantage point for dealing with a Marauder boss and his attendants.
A little farther in I found the town square, with one Fire Tower active and the Dark Elder and crew on guard. I slew the minions without a hassle but old grumpy was sturdier and I led him back to that balcony. If he was auditioning for a part in Romeo and Juliet, his technique could stand improvement. Just not enough life to his performance, you know? :)
In fact, he just stood there like a... well, like a mindless zombie, and let Ember blast the crap out of him. :)
That fire tower offended Ember and she had to destroy it. "This desert isn't big enough for two fire shooters," she told it. If it had gotten up and walked out, she'd have let it go, but no. No, it thought it was Hot Stuff and fired off shots three at a time. Well... Ember showed it that precision is more important than volume. Maybe it COULD shoot three at a time, but that's worthless if none of them hit. :)
Cleaned out the City (and earned some nice experience, woohoo! This ain't the Dark Woods, let me tell you). Then back to town to prepare for the big adventure into Viper country.
But first... Ember consults Elzix for fashion advice. "I'm thinking of doing more physical combat. What do you think of this war staff?"
Elzix shook his head. "Bigger is not always better, my young friend. You look like a sturdy adventurer with that staff, but I don't think it's quite your style. For one thing, it's twice as big as you are and for another, well, that color is definitely OUT of vogue this season. You look so fetching with your current staff, those gems really do your hair justice."
"Hmm..." Ember sighed. "Yes, I do like these gems." She grinned. "That's what I need. More gems. Thanks."
"Any time. There's my girl."
"Oh, any advice for me facing the Claw Vipers?"
"Don't let them freeze you, don't let them stun you, and don't let give you any silly ideas about braiding your hair for desert's sake! That would be a complete disaster, a real snake's nest. All right?"
"You're the man, Elzix. Thanks again!"
Ember listens to Elzix and prepares for the temple:
Three instances of Fastest Recovery, plenty of added Cold resistance. If that won't ward off freeze and stun, Ember didn't know what would! Into the depths we go, and the opening is the east-facing T hallway, there are Claw Vipers there and plenty of Embalmed and it's too tight to fight in that tiny space. I run Ember north just a tiny bit, then down around to the east leg, back to the entrance, then north again. Hairy stuff, lively action, Ember takes some chilling charges but recovers almost instantly. Here come some Bone Warriors up from the south? Yikes. Probably means Guardian champs down there, with this monster mix. Oh well. Retreat north and take em out, secure room to work and then venture south to take on those champs. Yep, champs, but only two of them. Situation in hand.
I decided to venture north in exploration, and there was a segment with fire towers. I ignored the first one but not the second as that end was just too busy and I didnt need the thing behind me firing distractions while I was fighting. Two more rooms to clear and I come to the end of the line. The stairs are in the northern end of the northern-most hallway, a whole map screen north of the temple entrance.
I switched gear again. This time I wanted Half Freeze on top of the cold resistance, and also to beef up that Lightning resistance to maximum in case I came face to face with Fangy. Also hired a merc, of course, one without jab, to be sure. Ember at clvl 34, just short of 500 Life. Should be enough, right? Right??
With Teleport this would have been a snap. For a Hot Babe (especially one as "alternately able" as Ember) this is a grueling trek through dire peril. I had no need, for Ember's purposes, to full clear the room as I had with previous Hot Babes, but just getting to the altar was going to be a big dice roll. Countess Astra had been forced once to Quit and Save here, and she had strong Blaze and Meteor, not Firebolt. Blue had been trapped here in Hell difficulty and forced to drink more rejuvs in a row than poor Ember could even CARRY on her tiny belt. But... Ember was as prepared as I could make her, so it was time to face the music.
Down we go...
Along the wall and up to the west immediately. I hoped to see a largely empty corner, instead I am faced with at least ten Embalmed. I duck behind the Merc, hesitant to charge headlong into such a big crowd. And just like that, the opening is gone and Ember is cut off with no way around the top of the room. I tried anyway but there was no way through and Ember took a big melee hit (or two, or three) and got badly poisoned by it from the mummies. Retreat time, but sure enough, here comes Fangskin charging like a cannon shot from the east. I think, "Well, maybe I can run past and around to the east." Bad decision. I take a hit from Fangy and hear the Curse sound played. OH MY GOD EMBER'S DOWN TO ONE THIRD LIFE.
I actually said "OUCH!" out loud. I swear I did.
Gulped a full rejuv, tried to just keep running east but the way is blocked by minions and Ember is almost trapped now up against the altar platform. Run around Fangy, break free, and back up the stairs to level one.
So much for that. Lucky just to get out of there, to live to try another day. More than can be said for the merc.
Ember will see you back in Lut Gholein.
- Sirian
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