Chapter One: Something to Prove

It was not her fault that Sissy was born the only girl into a family of eleven brothers. She didn't ask her parents to keep having more and more babies trying to get a girl. No, that was Mother's fault. Poor Mother, who died giving birth to Sissy -- which did not sit well at all with Father.

It took Sissy many years, painful childhood years of yearning, to realize that Father blamed HER for Mother's death. Stupid Father! Like she had any say in it anyway! But he couldn't blame Mother, and he had to blame someone. He was just that way: not the most imaginitive man around. Look at the name he chose for her! "Little Sister". That's worse than naming your dog "Puppy" for Strength's Sake!

Oh well. She was used to it now. Her brothers were the ones who raised her anyway. All big strong warriors, but really only kids themselves when they were bringing her up. They taught her how to hold a sword before they taught her how to hold a spoon. They were almost adorable that way, except that they were even more frustrating because they always treated her like she would break or something, and as if she didn't know anything at all, while of course she actually knew everything important! Couldn't they SEE that?

And Father would praise them. When they learned their first warcries, well, that was cause for a week's celebration. If one of them placed well in wrestling, leaping, mock combat, footraces, endurance runs, iron skin challenges, or accuracy contests, well Father just gushed over them endlessly. But all of Sissy's accomplishments were overlooked, ignored, unnoticed.

One day she got fed up and demanded, in front of the entire clan, that father sponsor her for martial training as a warrior. Father was mortified and banished her from his sight, which only infuriated her. Her two closest brothers tried to calm her down.

"Sissy, you can't be a warrior. You know that. You don't have the voice to do warcries. You couldn't scare a rabbit with your squeaky voice. You sound like a dozen nightingales singing a lullaby!"

"Oh yeah?" she said. "Well Old Tripper Mad Axe, he don't do any warcries. He can hardly talk at all, and he's a warrior! I can swing a sword or throw a knife. I can be a warrior! And I will be. And that's that."

"Well, uh... um... maybe so. But he Leaps. And you are too small and skinny and weak to leap across a campfire, much less leap as a warrior must. And, well, you are too weak to use two weapons. Look at your arms, they are like twigs, Sissy. You couldn't stun a fly with two swings! You can't be a warrior, you silly little thing. You just can't!"

"Fat Maul Waterman don't leap at all neither. He'd cause an earthquake if he did! And he's a warrior. The whole Crane clan throws axes and whatnot and they don't ever stun opponents."

"But Sissy..."

She would have none of that! Double standards, is what it was. Mannish stupidity. But she would show them. She would show them all!

That night she packed a bag and ran away. She ran and ran and ran and ran, so far and so fast that they would not catch her. She ran for months, and finally she happened into an old woman on the road.

"Where are you headed, child?" the woman asked.

"I'm no child! I'm a warrior of the northern lands!"

The old woman chuckled. "Warrior, then. Are you off to fight a war?"

"Well, no. Um... I'm not quite sure where I'm going. But I'll know when I get there!"

"Will you, now?" The woman chuckled again. "Since you're going my way, do you have time to escort me? Protect me from bandits and rogues, as it were? Like a warrior would."

Sissy puffed up with importance. "Of course I will! I can spare the time to be kind to an old hag like you."

The woman chuckled again, and the two walked along the road together.

They travelled for days, and Sissy found herself telling the old bitty about herself and her brothers, her infuriating father and the mother she never met. The woman seemed poor as dirt and unable to hunt, yet she always had plenty of food, and Sissy didn't even have to supplement it with squirrels, rabbits or berries.

Then one morning they were set upon by bandits. There appeared to be only six of them, so Sissy drew her sword and went after them. She tried a warcry, but the men actually started laughing at her, which really made her fume. She tried to go into a frenzy like her elder brother could, but she found herself on the ground, arms pinned by two bandits, and the bandit leader standing over her, still laughing.

"Let her go," said the old woman.

The bandit leader laughed. "Or what?"

"Let her go."

"Shut her up," the bandit leader told two of his mean. "Permanently."

They started toward the old woman. Sissy watched in humiliation, as she was supposed to be protecting the old bitty, and here she was in deep deep trouble instead, and the old one about to be killed. Then brilliant white light shot across the road as huge licks of lightning danced among the bandits, searing them. Four of them fell over dead on the spot and a fifth writhed in agony on the ground. The bandit leader stood with mouth open in a big O, his jaw slack and eyes peeled wide in disbelief. He turned and ran, and a meteor fell right out of the sky and smashed him to a fiery pulp. The rest of the bandits scattered into the woods.

The old lady walked over and offered Sissy a hand up. "Are you all right, my dear?"

Sissy nodded dumbly, staring at the old woman with half fright and half awe. "Could you teach me to do that?"

The old woman chuckled. "You're a warrior. Warriors don't need tricks like that."

Sissy bowed her head. "This one does."

"Do you now?" the woman grinned. "Very well, then. We'll talk about it."

...

A year later, Sissy was truly ready to head out on her own and make her fortune as a warrior. She took some assorted jobs as a caravan escort or private bodyguard, but she longed to be a true soldier, and no army would accept her. All over the northern and western lands she roamed, in search of her destiny, until one day she heard news of a dreadful place known as Tristram...

...

After investigating this news and tracking down rumors of a Dark Wanderer for weeks, Sissy finally arrived at a small camp in the wilderness, where it appeared that she was finally on the right trail. The people there enlisted her help, actually GLAD to see her and have her warrior skills at their disposal. Sissy was so happy! She fought bravely for these people, clearing out the forces of evil from a nearby den, then battling a corrupt sister of the order known as Raven.

Sissy used her skills for Frozen Armor to good effect, shielding herself from the enemy while smiting them with her shortsword. She found some armor and boots, then a nice fat magical spiked club, and some throwing javelins. She was not quite your typical Barbarian warrior, but her brothers had been right about some things: she really WAS too scrawny to leap, too small to run really fast, and her voice wasn't right for warcries, but she had real talent with the elements, or so the old one had told her over and over. The Water she could use to shield herself. The Fire should could use to enchant her weapon. And the Wind she could use to transport herself short distances through the ether, as well as to absorb damage. She needed more practice at some of these skills, but she felt she would be able to use them all to good effect fairly soon.

If she could save the world from this evil Dark Wanderer, then Father would HAVE to accept her a true warrior!

...

"Little Sister" had THE worst item/shrine luck I've ever seen through the first half of Act 1. No rare, no set or unique items, no good blue items even. Junk armors (still wearing plain leather in the Tamoe Highlands) and not much on sale at Charsi or Gheed either.

After reaching the Outer Cloister, I was tempted to skip the Pit altogether, as that was a bunch of boss packs down there that I really didn't NEED to fight. However, I decided to do it anyway, and good thing I went back for it, as I found my first ever Biggins' Bonnet there: unique cap that adds 15 to life and mana, enhances damage a little bit, and adds a little to attack rating! Just what Sissy needed! I got the cap off a shaman in the last fight in the Pit, on level 1.

Upon reaching clvl 12, everything changed. Frozen Armor was really of little help. Perhaps the extra DR helped me more than I can know, or perhaps not, but mostly Frozen Armor was irrelevant. By contrast, Shiver Armor, even at level 1, started doing up to half my damage and killing for me, and it would do so just by them swinging at me, whether they hit me or not, so that ruled. Sissy started owning from that point.

In the Jail, I ended up killing Pitspawn Fouldog and crew with some throwing knives I found. Everything else I meleed. Shiver armor took out some foes and badly damaged and slowed the rest. I found the Inner Cloister and got the waypoint but had not cleared Jail 3 yet. I thought about just pressing ahead, but instead I went back, and in a secret room in the Jail on lvl 3, I found a unique hand axe with +30 to AR, 20% chance Crushing Blow and 50% chance of Open Wounds. Wow!

See, this is one reason why I like to full clear. I find so many more interesting bosses to fight, and so much more decent items I can actually use, as compared to when I rush through. This is not the first time I went back for an area only to find some artifact there, but it was the first time I did it twice in Act 1 on same char. But then I did it a THIRD time, finding an Arctic Furs on Cats level 2 long after I'd found both the waypoint and the stairs down. :)

Andariel was NOT impressed with Shiver Armor, nor with Sissy in general. I tried meleeing her and took a beating. I believe I could have done it, but it was so much easier just to pelt her with knives, javelins, and even a stack of cracked pilums I had found. Since I wasn't out to be diehard melee-only, I happily threw stuff at her until she croaked. Other than Andariel, though, Shiver Armor made it pretty easy to melee the latter half of Act 1.

Little Sister is clvl 15 entering Act 2. She wasted a skill point in the following prereq skills (which she never has and never will use):

Fire Bolt @ 1
Ice Bolt @ 1
Charged Bolt @ 1
Ice Blast @ 1
Lightning @ 1
Fire Ball @ 1

She has the following skills:

Frozen Armor @ 1
Warmth @ 1
Shiver Armor @ 4
Telekinesis @ 1

- Sirian

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