SweetSpearGirl Returns
Chapter 3
The Magic Bollux
Cast of Characters:
- SweetSpearGirl, the Intrepid Jabazon
- Euyfura, the Indomitable Rogue
- Charsi, the Blonde Blacksmith
TAKE HEED AND BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTHS THAT LIE HEREIN, FOR THEY ARE THE LAST LEGACY OF THE HORADRIM...
Early next morning as SweetSpearGirl and Euyfura drank their morning coffee, Charsi surprised them by bursting in with a request.
"Hey guys, you know when us Rogues fled the Monastery? Well, I left my Horadric Malus behind!
SweetSpearGirl and Euyfura exchanged a look which clearer than words said, "Again?"
"Well, we're going that way anyway," SweetSpearGirl said. "We'll hunt it up for you if we get the chance."
They arrived in the Black Marsh during one of the western lands' frequent rainshowers. It wasn't long before bad guys trotted up; Night Clan goatmen mincing along and getting stabbed. OK, so SweetSpearGirl's weapon was pretty rough-and-ready, but it did do the job.
Their first real challenge came in the shape of Haze Burn the Axe (lightning enchanted) whose minions peppered Euyfura with a volley of arrows and whose charged bolts easily bypassed SweetSpearGirl's sorely lacking lightning resist. On the upside though, the boss Vile Ranger's demise did bring the latter closer to another level, and a pack of Carvers and a pair of Brutes completed the job.
Slapping her points into Dex, SweetSpearGirl portalled back to town to find a friend had arrived in the meantime - long-time adventurer Vandraedha, who had very kindly brought along some nice gear that SweetSpearGirl would be able to use as she levelled. After passing the time for a while, the two headed off in opposite directions - SweetSpearGirl back out to the Black Marsh and her friend to pastures greener where the experience was greater (but so was the danger...).
It made SweetSpearGirl wonder why she'd ever let her skills get so rusty, and as the zon and Rogue dispatched a carver camp and entered the ruined Tower, she mused as such. Euyfura shrugged.
"Well don't forget how ticked off you were with Tyrael after that last fight. We both needed a break."
"Yeah, I guess. Still should've kept in practice though. I'm sure the sand maggots didn't stop breeding just because we killed a bunch of 'em."
The Rogue shuddered as they slaughtered their way through the Dark Archers and descended to the third floor of the Tower dungeons.
"Don't remind me. I still have nightmares about Coldworm's chamber."
The level contained Sin Crawler the Slayer, a cold-enchanted ghostie, and friends. Sadly his name was quite appropriate; both spearazon and merc needed several red pots and the former needed blues as well! The drop was predictably nondescript and they ignored it and pressed on...
Ice Call the Hungry (lightning-enchanted Dark Archer) was even less forgiving. SweetSpearGirl died to this one's barrage of arrows and charged bolts; swearing profusely, she gathered in her Rogue and embarked on a corpse recovery run.
"Just my freakin' luck," she snarled, "to not have a portal standing!"
"Could be worse," Euyfura said. "Could be Coldworm's chamber!"
SweetSpearGirl muttered something rude the Rogue didn't hear and probably didn't want to...
Finally they found the last floor. Met by Ice Shard the Grim (mana burn), who was quickly taken care of (Devilkin are not exactly powerful...), they advanced on the Countess. There was gold everywhere, more than making up for their losses - thankfully, since the Countess' drop was less than spectacular.
"Two Eld runes?" Euyfura exclaimed incredulously.
"Hey, better two Eld runes than no Eld runes at all!" SweetSpearGirl said, leading to a moment of frank hilarity as the two released the built-up tension.
And the rain had stopped by the time they emerged, too.
Dark Lancers and Returned Mage Minions (led by Pulse Cloud, fire-enchanted) were the order of the hour as they progressed along the Tamoe Highlands path. Purple pots dropped and lightning mages met them at the Monastery Gate. Nothing survived except for SweetSpearGirl and Euyfura, and as they entered the Outer Cloister, SweetSpearGirl said, "Now to find Charsi's Horadric Bollux."
"Horadric What!" Euyfura snorted.
Bone Fist (cursed Razor Spine) barred the route to the nearby waypoint, but our heroes ignored his curse and killed him anyway. Black Rogues joined in, just as easily put down.
Although SweetSpearGirl was definitely feeling the need for a new weapon and Euyfura complained about her bow's low power as well.
"Nothing I can do," Charsi said as they stopped by her shack for repairs. "You've got my best equipment."
Thankfully, others weren't as limited. Some fellow adventurer had dumped their useless loot in the middle of camp and among it, SweetSpearGirl picked out a nice new bow for Euyfura, reading off the stats.
Grim Dart
Composite Bow
15 Enhanced Damage
+1 Cold Damage
5 Life Stolen Per Hit
5 Mana Stolen Per Hit
Lightning Resist +7
"Sweet," the Rogue said, tossing her old weapon down. "Beats this Gemmed Hunter's Bow any day of the week."
They entered the Barracks, SweetSpearGirl close to level 13 as she stuck Devilkin Shamans while Euyfura shot the Devilkin. The zon knew she could don one of Vandraedha's gifts at 14: a nice Darkglow Mail...
Bone Mages clanked into view, followed by Black Rogues led by Doom Eater the Tainted (stone skin). SweetSpearGirl noted that she really needed a stronger weapon; it was taking far too long to destroy her foes and they in turn were hitting her much too hard. Euyfura levelled to 11 during an exchange of fire with Bone Archers while Stone Venom the Flayer (Death clan boss, extra fast) barred the way onward.
"Onward and downward," SweetSpearGirl smirked as she picked through his drop.
More Mages, more Archers, more goats. Another goat boss (Pulse Poison, mana burn) presented a brief diversion before keeling over; he was followed by a pack of Bone Mage Champions and then another Mage boss, Sin Tongue (extra strong). SweetSpearGirl pulled Euyfura out of that fight quickly, noticing her companion was taking most of the fire, and grimly proceeded to stab the enemy to bits.
And there in the next room was a big fat bastard with a hammer. The Smith bellowed something about making weapons from SweetSpearGirl's bones, but this was clearly not going to happen as he keeled over quickly.
There on a stand was a small smithing hammer, humming with inner magic: the Horadric Bollox! And miracle of miracles, a weapon for SweetSpearGirl too! A Trident of Maiming (+3 to maximum damage) was a reasonable upgrade from her Gemmed Spear...
Charsi was overjoyed to have her Bollux back ("It's a MALUS!" she said), and imbued a pair of boots for SweetSpearGirl. OK, so the result wasn't wonderful, but it was a lot better than plain boots!
Back down, and into the Jail after hearing Cain's spiel about Andariel. The waypoint wasn't far from the stairs and shortly after that, an encounter with Star Head (Bone Archer, teleportation) boosted SweetSpearGirl to level 14.
"Yes!" she cried, hurriedly swapping her Angelic mail for Darkglow; she grinned as the resistance boosts and extra defence made themselves felt.
Euyfura hit level 11 as they headed downwards to level 2 of the Jail, and whispered in SweetSpearGirl's ear with a smile, "another level and you can chuck me that Angelic armour."
Dark Ones surrounded them, Rrrrakishuing annoyingly. With a Slash! Stab! Poink! "Aoww!", goblins were dying and our heroes were charging onward.
Turning a corner, they met Pitspawn Fouldog (Disfigured, cursed, cold-enchanted), whose death nova hacked a large dent in SweetSpearGirl's life ball, but he had dropped several red pots so it wasn't a problem. Save for a secret room and a few mana-draining Wraiths led by Bone Growler the Wraith (lightning-enchanted), the remainder of the level was nondescript and it wasn't long before SweetSpearGirl and Euyfura fought their way through Vile Fester (Bone Archer, lightning-enchanted) and level 3, to the Inner Cloister waypoint.
Night had fallen outside and the campfire burned brightly, so they immediately doffed their battle gear and spent the rest of the night sleeping the sleep of the just.