An Amazon of Limited Means

Day 8

Kitsilan dug out her dayplanner over a mug of strong cocoa. "Hm… Stony Tomb, yeah, then maybe the Dry Hills? There's something I'm supposed to look for there… oh! Halls of the Dead, that was it. Horadric Thingie in the Halls. Right."

A girl's got to face up to stuff sometimes, and what Kitsilan had to come to terms with was her poor showing against the giant beetles yesterday. So without further ado, she set out determined to dance rings around any Scarabs that might be scurrying along the desert floor.

First things first, though—anyone venturing forth from Lut Gholein must get past the welcoming committee which always seems to be stationed there. Kits readied her bow as she passed under the great arch, and it was well she did so, for Leapers and Birds and Slingers all converged upon her before she'd got fairly past the doorlamps. Another boss kitty, Rust Fester the Destroyer (stone skin) dashed up and Kitsilan had no trouble stunning her and her minions with fast volleys of arrows.

Every couple of steps after that found her wasting whole flocks of Carrion Birds, until finally their numbers diminished to occasional sightings. By then she was upon the Stony Tomb, but before entering it, she wanted to clear a wide area around as well as see to any Dung Soldiers. She crossed west to where she'd encountered them yesterday and found more in the exact spot, this time led by Ooze Skull the Slayer (still lightning enchanted). Shouting imprecations, she did indeed dance rings around the lot, and dodged most all of their charged bolts. She separated Ooze Skull from his pack with a single shot and then running. He of course chased her, and when she had him far enough away, she peppered him with Magic Arrows, staying on the move the whole while. He dropped a blue long staff, which turned out to fetch over 5,000 gold at Fara's, and Kitsilan went back at her leisure to clean up his pack.

Much pleased with herself, she headed for the Stony Tomb. Once down the stairs, she carefully walked around the inner hall, which ran around three sides of a tight square. A door opened off each wall, and behind the centre one Kitsilan could sense there lurked something tough and ugly, but with a very pretty rosy pink aura. She cast Slow Missiles and felt its aura change, hoping this disturbed it. "What the heck?" she thought, opening the door and firing in its direction. "Might as well go this way as any other."

The enchanted monster turned out to be a pack of Horror Champions, backed by a baker's dozen of standard Horrors and lightning Mages. Kits blasted each one as it came through the doorway. When the bones settled, she walked up the hall and took care of the stragglers. Her worst injury came from a trapped urn that burst into flames, but a little ointment and it was forgotten.

The rest of that level was short and easy pickings, and Kitsilan decided to empty her pack before continuing. Stopping by Elzix' to see what he had on tap, she was once again tempted to wager her little all on the chance of the throw. An ordinary skull cap lay on the table, a bit scuffed around the leather, and Kits couldn't pass it up.

Obviously, she has a problem. And maybe that's why she became an adventurer, instead of opening up that little dry goods shop her mama was so keen on. Adventurers just like to gamble. It's their whole lives, after all. So, anyway, Tarnhelm fit perfectly, and Kits just hoped she'd pick up damage reduction on something else in the near future.

Level 2 was routine; Night Maim, spectral hit Horror, guarded the room with the glowing chest. The room with the sarcophagi was filled with Poison Mages, and the last room held Creeping Feature, the extra strong, cold enchanted Decayed. Kitsilan barely had to string her bow to deal with these lunks, and with a quick stop in town to once again empty her pack, Kits headed for the Dry Hills.

A pack of Saber Cat minions (flinging exploding potions) and their boss, Doom Killer (extra strong) met Kitsilan as she was walking peacefully and innocently through the canyon leading to the Dry Hills. She was forced to defend herself, which was easier than it might have been had Doom Killer not stopped to ponder the meaning of life and her place in the grand scheme.

Once in, Kitsilan wandered in a clockwise circle, encountering largish groups of Saber Cats and Cave Leapers. These were hardier than their counterparts in the Rocky Waste, and Kits moved with care. The area to the west closed off almost immediately, so she easted a bit and found herself walking the length of the top of a cliff edge. She found the Halls of the Dead near the stairs down to the other half of the Dry Hills, and the waypoint southeast of the stairs.

She finished clearing the rest of the area before heading back to town. The only opponents of note were the three Saber Cat Champions she found in the south section. They were a lovely shade of rose pink in the light of the setting sun, and Kits almost forgot to shoot. But then they hit her, and the honeymoon was over.

Again nosing around Elzix' casino, she tried her luck with quilted armour, thinking it might have turned for good today. She hadn't seen any jewelry since a boss spider dropped a ring in the Catacombs, and you'd think this would be a clue. The quilted armour turned out to have some miniscule amount of lightning resistance, so she returned it to Elzix to tease some other hapless adventurer with.

"So, Cain," she said, stopping by on her way to the waypoint, "I've found the Halls, I guess I'm looking for some kind of Horadric Thingie in them?"

"The Horadric Mages, after binding Baal within Tal Rasha—"

"Thanks, great, gotta go, bye!"

Safely to the waypoint, Kitsilan walked over the sands and up the cliff stairs to the entry of the Halls of the Dead. She took a deep breath of the cool night air of the desert, and plunged in.

She was greeted by Returned and Decayed, in about equal numbers, and no wonder, something was raising them. O shades of Radament the Ugly, these Hollow Ones are enough to give a nice girl nightmares. Luckily for her peace of mind, Kitsilan's been around the block a bit, and she only grimaced in aesthetic distaste as she sought out their weak spots and let the air out.

Heading down the southwest hall, she rounded a corner and into a large side room. She could see extra Returned pouring from it, and tried to get past them to deal with the Hollow One she knew was in there. Just in time she noticed it was a minion. She snuck a quick peek anyway—there were four of them in there, plus a boss named Spirit Kill the Sharp (teleportation). She backed off as far as the hall, luring a number of Returned to follow where she could pick them off without them being raised again, then slipped back into the danger zone. It was remarkably clear, as Spirit Kill and his remaining fellows (several were dead somehow) hadn't bothered raising more than a set number of Returned, and she was able to concentrate fire on them. Despite his teleporting once, Kits punctured Spirit Kill thoroughly, and levelled up upon his death.

Shucks. She was only halfway there last she checked. Gosh. Okay, a little mop-up ("ooh, lookie, a rare spear. whee.") and back to town for study time. "This next skill is a three-parter," Fara explained when the hopeful scholar approached her. "And don't give me that look—I just proctor these. If you don't like it, go complain to Akara."

"All right, all right. What's the first part?"

"Multiple Shot."

"Sounds dicey."

"It's not optional, I'm afraid. I checked."

"Okay. Let's do it."

"Done!"

Feeling fairly chuffed at this milestone, Kitsilan tried her luck with Elzix' chain boots. They came out enhanced defence and +8 to life, but by now she was used to throwing her gold away and merely shrugged.

She cleared the rest of the level without incident; there wasn't much left. Just a long straight hallway leading to the stairs to Level 2. She did find that SM works wonders for slowing the poison bursts of the Hollow Ones.

The stairs ended in a large entryway with three doors leading out from it. Also with approximately a zillion Desert Wings flapping around and another Hollow One raising Returned and Decayed. Regaining her feet and doing a true count, Kits revised the estimate of Desert Wings to about 10, but several were minions, clustering around Flesh Eater the Dead, who had Kits' favourite attribute, Spectral Hit. "One of these days I should let one live long enough to find out what that is," she thought, gunning it down and reversing fire toward the Hollow One, "but not today."

Heading first through the southeast door, for no particular reason, she cleared out more Decayed and located the stairs to Level 3. All well and good, but there's still monsters on this level and she wasn't about to let them think they had her scared.

The next door (southwest) led to the room with weapon and armour racks, plus mummy sarcophagus burping out Decayed. Kits reduced it to rubble, after running a fast circuit around the room to locate and destroy Hollow Ones. She's noticed that if she doesn't get them fairly quickly, their Returned and Decayed tend to crowd her and jog her shooting elbow.

Nothing exciting dropped from either monsters or racks. She went back to the previous room, thinking she'd find the waypoint a little farther southwest, and for once she was right. There was another Hollow One hanging around in there, which struck her as just plain wrong—waypoints should not have monsters camped on them. So she killed them, and headed for the northwest section of the level.

It proved to be just a long right-angled hallway, with no more than two Hollow Ones plus Returned gangs. They dropped nothing of interest, so Kitsilan prepared to tackle Level 3.

Stair trap! Yikes! There were five Hollow Ones in the near vicinity, five or six Desert Wings fluttering about and confusing the view and three thick packs of Returned right there at the stairs in her face. Kits thought there were some Decayed as well, but she'd seen as much as she wanted to and just started running and gunning, avoiding the floor traps and staying out of crowds.

Running around the walls kept the Returned in one tight bunch in the centre while she laid into the nearer Hollow Ones. SM proved very useful here, as it lit up her targets like torches. Nipping in and around the packs, Kitsilan eventually took out the Hollow Ones and most of the Returned, and a few more careful shots allowed her to lay claim to the entryway and the three halls leading off from it.

Following the long hall northeast to where it jogged west, Kitsilan found another pair of Hollow Ones lurking in the corners. "And what's this?" she thought, peeking behind a column. "One of them dropped a rare Long Bow? A rare bow? Will wonders never cease in this fairy land of joy and splendour?"

It had 5% mana steal, plus a bit of fire damage and poison resist. Kits squealed, frankly, which alerted a few Decayed to her location and she hastily put it away.

Kitsilan then continued counter-clockwise, following the hall to where it opened into a large room with torches and more floor traps. The Returned coming out of it appeared to have the Might aura, and sure enough, the Desert Wings were minions. Kits suckered them around the corner and took them out. SM'ing her way into the room, she spotted the troublemaker, Seeth Heart the Hunter. Three Magic Arrows and he was a smudge on the floor, and the rest soon followed.

Checking her map, Kitsilan saw that there was but one door left, at the end of the southwest hall. She cast Slow Missiles before opening the door, noting how the room seemed to light up in a rather alarming fashion. "This must be it," she thought, nudging the door open and firing simultaneously. Only a few Returned came to greet her, so she stuck her head in to see what there was to see. "Ow! Hell Cats.. ow! minions… owwie, quit that! Hollow Ones… ouch!"

It was getting a bit chancy, so she once again did her trolling thing, luring a few Hell Cat minions and Returned to their doom around the corner. Third dip in the room suckered the boss, Bloodwitch the Wild (extra strong, cursed) who was really quite nimble on her feet. Kits took her all the way back to the room with the torches, and stunned her with Magic Arrows and SM so thoroughly she hadn't time to find out which curse Blood Witch favoured. "Probably that nasty amp damage one," Kits thought, shooting the last Hollow Ones and Decayed and popping open the chest. Out fell a blocky object. "A cube! That was it! Now I remember!" Kits grinned as she stuffed it in her sack and cast a portal. "Bet I can fit some of this junk I'm carrying in it."

Back in town Cain started going on about how wonderful Kits' cube was, to the point where she thought he might be looking to take it away, and here she'd just barely found it and hadn't even got to play with it herself, so she changed the subject as quickly as she could ("What kind of axe is this?") Then Fara told her how to make Full Rejuvs and Kits finally had a use for all those potions and chipped gems she's been hanging onto. All in all, a very satisfactory conclusion to a long day.