SWEETSPEARGIRL RETURNS

Chapter 13
Up The Airy Mountain

TAKE HEED AND BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTHS THAT LIE HEREIN, FOR THEY ARE THE LAST LEGACY OF THE HORADRIM...

After the hot, oppressive atmosphere of Hell, SweetSpearGirl and Euyfura were happy to breathe the crisp, clear air on the slopes of Mount Arreat. Of course, as Cain said, "the sands of time slow for no one!", and it was soon time to head out to fight Baal's armies.

"And his sleevies," Euyfura muttered under her breath, prompting SweetSpearGirl to give her a playful swat.

They both knew what to expect in the Bloody Foothills - Enslaved and Death Maulers guarding catapults. Euyfura was often able to shoot down packs of Maulers from across the spike-filled trenches and the intrepid duo's experience bar went up, and up...

SweetSpearGirl found that, on the whole, she took more damage from the poison missiles of the catapults than she did from the monsters, although she was running out of mana a lot!

"This thing," she said, referring to her Tannr Gorerod, "does lovely damage, but I miss my mana leech!"

Back and forth across the Foothills they ranged, making sure the whole area was cleared of bad-tempered beasts. There were many Barbarian fighters in the Foothills and SweetSpearGirl helped protect them, knowing they'd assist with monster cleanup. They were needed around halfway up the Foothills when our heroes encountered Dac Farren (teleporting imp, cold enchanted), whose death nova was surprisingly strong and chilled SweetSpearGirl to the bone! She had to wait a few while Euyfura and the barbarians cleared up the minions!

No-one and nothing deigned to cough up anything more interesting than a flawed diamond and Eld rune, and it was "Onward and upward" as they moved towards Shenk the Overseer (fat bastard, extra strong). SweetSpearGirl levelled to 28 just as they located him and veered off to find some unexplored areas to clear and to allocate her new points - 5 Dex, 1 more point in Jab. Then it was back to Shenk the Fat Git, who died easy. Oddly enough, a fussilade of catapult missiles opened up on the spot, despite all the catapults having been destroyed... Shenk dropped a purple, which cubed with two others and gave SweetSpearGirl a nice phat purple. The rest of his drop was unremarkable, serving only to pay for repairs.

A few more Death Maulers and there was the Frigid Highlands waypoint.

And there also was a very nippy Enslaved boss, Eldritch the RectumFryer (extra fast), who thanks to a well-placed decoy, went down easy. He dropped a Battle Staff - no good for anyone except a sorceress, but did sell for an astonishing amount of gold.

Sadly, Enslaved were thin on the ground in the Highlands, which seemed mainly swarming with those damn teleporting imps and their Crush Beast mounts... the only other living things in the area were imprisoned Barbarians that Qual-Kehk and Malah both wanted home (so SweetSpearGirl, thanks to her naturally kind nature, set them free and sent them home...)

There was a red portal to Abaddon, a River of Flame-like hell pit, in the Highlands, so out of a desire for loot and experience they went through it.

"Gaah! More imps!" SweetSpearGirl yelled as they ran into packs of Demon Rascals.

Euyfura was amused. "You really don't like those, do you?"

"They're so annoying!" the Spearazon responded.

Also present were Blood Lords (no relation to the fire-throwing undead of Mephisto's Durance) and a pack of minion Slayers led by a Shenk-alike fat git, Haze Burn the Axe (mana burn). The Blood Lords hit hard, and SweetSpearGirl often found herself downing mana potions to keep up her Decoy and keep them off her while she worked! She levelled to 29 shortly after fighting the fat git boss, and hopped back to town to see what fresh gear she could use.

She'd definitely been wanting to try out the Peace-runeword armour, as well as the String of Ears. She donned both and felt her abilities soaring. She grinned.

"Time to go forth and kick ass!"

Abaddon's last gasp was a lone imp guarding a glowing chest filled with loot, and then it was back to the Highlands, where more imps and Crush Beasts awaited. And where - finally - the Ubiquitous Valk returned to SweetSpearGirl's side! Admittedly, mind you, the first thing she said on appearing was, "Oh no, not you again."

Up and down the trio ranged, skewering, shooting and generally slaying all manner of badly-behaved beasties. The Valk expired on a regular basis, but as Euyfura remarked, "Just like old times, eh?"

Finally they encountered the final group of imprisoned Barbs, and guarding them, yet another fat git - Sharptooth Slayer - and his Ice Boar minions, as well as a veritable swarm of imps and so forth. Sharptooth dropped a decent yellow Ghost Armour which SweetSpearGirl gave to Euyfura, and then nothing lived in the Frigid Highlands aside from our intrepid adventurers.

Entering the Arreat Plateau, on the other hand, they were met by a band of Slayers, more imps, and Death Mauler minions led by Eyeback the Unleashed (extra strong, extra fast). They all died, of course - but so did the Valk. Again. It was, at any rate, an opportune moment to head back to town. Qual-Kehk was happy to have his boys back and showed his gratitude in runes, while Malah shared some dark suspicions about the fate of the disappeared Anya...

Back on the Plateau, the Slayers were often led by Lashers, cousins of Shenk and co, who whipped their followers into a frenzy causing them to explode. "Damn suicide bombers," SweetSpearGirl muttered in frustration when one blew up right next to her. Euyfura on the other hand, the lucky wench, seemed completely unaffected by the explosions, not a hair on her head out of place!

"Some Rogues have all the luck," the amazon said, stabbing another imp and ignoring its useless drop (arrows. Sigh...)

The waypoint was near, but so was level 30, so "Onward and upward!" SweetSpearGirl cried, while Euyfura just rolled her eyes and said, "Onward and DOWN if you don't watch out!" as a few Slayer minions hove into view. They were led by Moon Eye, a lightning-enchanted lasher, whose charged bolts hurt! SweetSpearGirl's lightning resistance was her weakest, but she had no choice but to grit her teeth and go to it.

BING! she hit level 30 and could summon her own Valk, instead of relying on the chance to cast of her armour...

There was another Hell pit in the area, the Pit of Acheron, so driven by curiosity SweetSpearGirl took a look. It was populated by Ice Boars and Overlords, as well as Night Lords - nothing too strenuous, just a nice little challenge. At least - until the Hell Lord boss pack barrelled out! Moon Bite the Dark (cursed) took out Euyfura with a few blows and if it wasn't for Valk and Decoy, SweetSpearGirl may have ended up kissing basalt too! Fortunately, there were no other nasty surprises in store and soon they stood by the glowing chest, which contained a nice lot of booty.

"Well, I think we did well," smiled SweetSpearGirl.

Euyfura just swatted her Amazon's ass and the Valk just glowed...