An Amazon of Limited Means

Day 13

"Wake up!"

"Wha…?"

"Diablo will find the True Tomb of Tal Rasha soon!"

"Oh, hell. Cain, would you please get a grip? It's still dark."

"Reunited with his brother, Baal, he will—"

"Put a sock in it, old man! What do you want me to do, stroll into the tomb and make scary faces at him? I need more experience."

"I sometimes think, missy, that your love of adventure is greater than your commitment to our cause."

"I need coffee. You need to remember what breezes you were swinging in before you met me." Kitsilan rubbed her temples and sighed. "Tell me you made coffee. Please. Lie if you have to, as long as when I open my eyes again, I see coffee."

"I did. Here," Cain replied, setting the steaming mug in front of her. "Don't forget why we're doing this. The entire world depends on you!" He shuffled off, leaving Kits to drink in peace.

Pausing to check Fara's inventory before returning to the Arcane Sanctuary, Kitsilan remarked, "I swear, that man is getting loonier by the day."

"He's under a lot of stress," Fara said, "It can't be easy being the last Horadrim Mage. Now, shoo! There's nothing here you need. I'll take care of Cain."

Back in the relatively soothing space of the Arcane Sanctuary, Kitsilan headed down the arm where she'd encounted the boss Specter yesterday. Another one was there, Chaos Skull the Wraith, and wonder of wonders, was also possessed of Stone Skin. Kitsilan wanted to stamp her feet and cry, but instead lured him and his minions to a straight stretch of walkway and ran back and forth, eventually wearing them down and one by one, shattering them. Chaos Skull's drop was a +3 to Life belt. This was going to be one of those days, it seemed.

Back and forth and up and down she went, finding and hitting her targets. Every now and then, one would drop something interesting enough to divert her attention, but in the end, none of it was useful enough to keep. She tried the unique breastplate (Venom Ward) dropped by a nameless Ghoul Lord, but found the addition of poison damage to be everything she'd ever been warned against. Why poisoning monsters neutralized the stun effect of her arrows was a question for which even Fara had no answer, but it did and she sold the plate on her next trip to town.

A rare short battle bow dropped next:

Bitter Song

7 - 16 damage

+3 to Light Radius

Cold Resist 9%

+19 to Attack Rating

+1 to Maximum Damage

Increased Attack Speed

She kept it for the IAS, but found herself returning to Rune Thirst for its life steal.

Kitsilan full-cleared the Sanctuary for a second time, killing the Summoner by feel rather than sight, and leveled to 22. She increased her knowledge of Guided Arrow, sold everything she found and readied herself to do it all over again.

Cain seemed to be his old cheerful self once more, and Kits did not care why; it was enough that he was letting her get on with her training. After a short nap to regenerate the monsters, she stepped onto the waypoint and headed down the southwest arm.

This time, the local boss was a Hell Clan—Storm Poison the Hungry (fire enchanted), stuck with his minions on the wrong side (for him) of a Teleport Pad. He dropped a blue falchion, but Kitsilan was relieved to have had such an easy time after dealing with stone skinned Specters, and went on her way, tossing it in her pack.

Going back to town shortly after, she idly gambled on a Ring in Elzix' shop and turned up:

Wraith Knot

+1 to Mana after Each Kill

Damage Reduced by 1

+34 to Mana

+8 to Strength

This rather made up for the times she'd found herself looking at Glimmering Studded Leather and Glowing Chain Boots. The additional mana made itself felt right away, and damage reduction was always welcome. An unexpected bonus came in the +1 to mana after kills—now when Kitsilan shot off into the distance, she could tell not only when she hit (the life steal of her bow) but when she killed.

Kitsilan went counterclockwise round the arms of the Sanctuary, saving the Summoner's arm for last. Along the way she finally found a Ring with 4% life steal, but swapping with her magic damage reduction ring proved to be less than effective. She stashed it away, though, in case she could get MD reduction on something else and found a killer mega-bow without leeching.

It's important to be prepared.

With the Sanctuary cleared for a third time, Kits felt she'd had enough of starry skies for the day and turned her attention to the Canyon of the Magi.

Stepping off the waypoint she eased around it, hearing huffing noises in the near distance. Crushers appeared, great furry wookies, which at first worried her with their numbers and their apparent ferocity, but she found it didn't take much more than a couple arrows apiece to lay them down. She sent a few arrows questing in all directions, just for fun, and then headed toward a chittering noise. As she'd thought, Devourers and their hatchlings were scurrying about, and again were easily picked off. Her 25% poison resistance proved adequate against their spittle, and she settled down to combing the area and killing anything that huffed or chittered.

She found the entrances to the Tombs along the northwest and northeast walls of the Canyon, and mapped them. Each had a symbol on stiles by the doors. Kitsilan made a note to try to get the meaning of this out of Cain without letting on that she'd forgotten all about how to find the True Tomb.

Working her way more or less clockwise through the Canyon, she levelled to 23 somewhere well south and east of the waypoint, but waited till the area was entirely cleared before heading back. The drops weren't that good, anyway, though she did find a rare Mask.

Time to increase her understanding of Penetrate, according to Akara's notes. Fara figured that Kits' rare ring was so useful in shoring up her strength and mana that Kits could concentrate on pumping dexterity and vitality exclusively, always good news for a Bowazon.

"Are you going back to the Tombs?" Fara asked, as Kitsilan checked her gear.

"Yeah, thought I would. There's certainly enough of them, isn't there?"

"There's only one True Tomb, though."

"Ah… yes, only one of those."

"The Summoner should have indicated which one it is. You do remember, don't you? You did read the Summoner's Journal, yes?"

"Of course I remember! It's, it's—"

Fara glared at her. "Check your notes."

"I was just about to, you know," Kitsilan grumbled as she pulled out her tattered journeybook. "It's the one with double V's on the door. There!"

"Just be glad I don't make you write it fifty times on a scroll and pin it to your collar."

"Good heavens, does everyone know about that?! Can't a girl live anything down?"

"Well, I don't think they've heard about it in Kurast. Yet."

"Right. Okay. I am going to go save the world now. You can just… do whatever it is you do when I'm not around!"

With that, Kits stumped off to the waypoint. By the time she materialized in the Canyon, she'd set aside her vague plans to swap Fara's Malus with Charsi's. The first Tomb was before her.

She knew it was a false one, but felt she needed the practise. As she carefully walked further into the entryway, she was met first by Burning Dead and then by Preserved Dead. Somewhere behind them, an Unraveller was raising more.

No sooner had Kitsilan taken care of these than even more appeared from somewhere farther away. She cast Slow Missiles, shooting as she went, and gradually cleared that hall, the room it led to, the hall beyond, and the room beyond that. All the doors were open, so she had no breathing space and had to keep going or be overwhelmed. Sharp Dancer the Hungry, a teleporting Gorebelly, met her in the second room. As he and his minions appeared, she kept hearing a strange, dissonant 'waaah' sound that unnerved her slightly. She figured it out as she stepped into the third room. A boss Unraveller, also named Sharp Dancer the Hungry, was aura enchanted and it was the aura making the noise as its minions and creatures came near it. Kitsilan wasn't quite sure what aura it was, but then she was busy enough shooting Unraveller minions and trying to keep the lot of them from surrounding her with Burning Dead.

She lured the skeletons and corpses away from the Unravellers and shot them, then raced back into the room, enduring painful blows from the few remaining skels as she punctured first the minions and then the boss. After a short rest, she took the door on her left and found herself in a hallway. With company. More Unravellers, and Preserved Dead, but they were easy pickings compared to the crowd she'd just dealt with, and the next room had the glowing chest.

It was guarded by the third boss of the tomb, Grief Wolf (cursed). He and his minions weren't really an issue, as they were Preserved Dead and too slow to cope with Kitsilan's footwork. The chest contained nothing remarkable, so after clearing the last room and hallway, Kitsilan portalled back to Lut Gholein.

Returning via the waypoint, Kitsilan jogged over to the next Tomb and slipped down the stairs. The entryway was a large room with three doors opening off it, and populated with Apparitions and Preserved Dead. Two of the doors were open, but one led only to a short hallway terminating in a closed door. Kits left that for last, and headed down the opposite hall running away northwest. More Preserved Dead and Apparitions greeted her. Kitsilan was beginning to wonder just what the ghosties meant by addressing her as "Hey there, tough guy". The drops in this area were pretty good, and Kits filled her pack before tracking down an adjoining hall to a room full of Preserved Dead and not a lot else.

She finished up there and headed back to the entryway. The middle door was next, and it terminated in a room with another job lot of Preserved Dead. The last room held Blade Poison the Wraith (aura enchanted), a boss Gorebelly who favoured Fanaticism. Kitsilan lured him out as soon as she could, since she didn't relish facing a stack of Fanatic Apparitions or Preserved Dead. Once they were dealt with, it was just her and a glowing chest.

Which was trapped, by a perpetual fire. Kitsilan thought that hardly fair, or nice, as she negotiated the flames for the loot.

In Lut Gholein, she found that a pair of chain boots dropped by a Preserved Dead in the first hallway had Fire Resist 15% and Poison Length Reduction 25%, which seemed a good deal considering how much poison and fire she's currently coping with, so she put them on and headed back to the Canyon.

The third False Tomb held Ghoul Lords, several sarcophagi producing Preserved Dead and a handful of Apparitions. Short and sweet, Kitsilan found it had a kick at the end—an Unraveller boss, Star Hawk the Flayer (extra strong) who could toss poison stars about twice as fast as regular Unravellers. So could his minions. Kitsilan was bedevilled by the Apparitions they raised in between dodging stars, and avoiding the firewalls the Ghoul Lords raised. She finally got a bead on Star Hawk and his gang, and then there were none.

Someone dropped a chipped skull, and with that and the goodies in the glowing chest, Kits headed back for a breather. After milk and cookies with Atma, she was ready to see what the fourth False Tomb held.

This one was set in a corner of the Canyon, and promised to be somewhat larger than the first three had been. It did not disappoint. After being accosted by several Ghoul Lords plus Preserved Dead, Kitsilan gained control of the main hallway and proceeded up a turning off it. Ancient Kaa the Soulless (magic resistant, extra strong, lightning enchanted) was right there, along with his Unraveller minions and more Ghoul Lords. Kits gritted her teeth and took him on, avoiding his charged bolts while sending arrow after arrow in his direction. Once he was down (dropped a blue kite shield, ohboy), his minions were relatively easy to handle. Kits figured she'd got the worst out of the way, but it was only beginning.

There were twelve rooms in this Tomb, all crammed together and interconnected with short hallways and very few closed doors. No room seemed to have less than five Unravellers plus Ghoul Lords, and assorted Preserved and Burning Dead. Kitsilan fought hard for every room and hall, and had cleared about half of the Tomb when she stood before a door, cast SM and opened it.

It was as if floodgates had been released. Kitsilan fell back before the masses of Burning Dead, fighting through firewalls that seemed to spring up from the stones, down a hall to another room and on past, shooting over her shoulder.

She picked up a few of them with her, maybe ten, and shot them down. Returning, she was again assailed and had to retreat before being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Back and forth she went, until a gap appeared in the oncoming hordes and she could target first one, and then another of the Ghoul Lords who were giving her so much grief with their firewalls. (It wasn't that they hurt so much as that they slowed her down and obscured her view.) Then she was able to dash into the room and target the Unravellers themselves. With them out of the way, she rounded up the remaining undead and led them toward the previous room where she could pick them off as they entered.

The gear she'd packed up to that point was getting heavy, so she portalled back to town to unload. Someone had dropped a bone wand that netted Kits 10,000 gold, so she was feeling fairly optimistic about the rest of the Tomb. The remaining rooms were still one grueling fight after another, until at last there was only one left—the one at the other end of the main hall.

Kitsilan SMed, opened the door and started shooting. A nasty green aura formed at her feet, and the cause floated through the doorway—Soul Pus the Wraith, aura-enchanted Apparition, and his minions gave chase as Kits dived down the hall, thankful she hadn't gone that way at the start. She dodged and weaved in the corridor, shooting over her shoulder as opportunity permitted. The minions followed her much farther than the boss, and she lost the aura. Returning down the hall after shattering the minions, she found Soul Pus rather unfortunately stuck between a pair of pillars. She felt almost sorry for him. He dropped a fancy bone shield; turned out to be quite a nice shield. If you like shields.

Peeking into the room once again, Kitsilan found yet another surprise waiting for her—Ghoul Lord Champions. After all she'd been through just in this one Tomb alone, she was not about to retreat any more. She blasted them apart where they stood.

Once again, she gathered up everything that wasn't nailed down and took it all back to be sold. Her net gain for this Tomb was on the order of 25,000 gold, and she earned every yellow coin.

For a diversion, and wanting to use up excess gelt, Kitsilan wandered over to Elzix' and laid a packet on a heavy belt he had on the table. It ID'd as Iratha's Cord, and its +5 to Min Damage convinced Kits to swap out her old belt for it, reluctant though she was to part with Fastest Hit Recovery.

The next Tomb in line was marked with the sign of the True Tomb, so Kits gently backed up and strolled over to the one beyond it. Down the stairs and into the waiting arms of Preserved and Burning Dead. Kitsilan rolled her eyes and sought out the Unravellers making all the trouble. With the entry room clear, she opted for the middle doorway. The hall beyond had already emptied itself, and it was a by-now academic exercise for her to handle the Unravellers, etc., in the room beyond. Another hall opened off to the southeast, and she cleared it before casting SM at the far door.

Lots of bright spots were immediately apparent—nothing for it but to open the door and shoot fast. Corpses and skeletons trudged out, followed and then passed by Ghoul Lord minions in an ugly mood. Their boss, Foul Fist (lightning enchanted), chased Kits closely right into the main entry room before dying, and the aggressiveness of his minions proved their undoing, as Kitsilan was able to target them without having to chase them into dangerous corners.

Just as she'd settled with the Ghoul Lords, another boss, Doom Vex the Unholy (fire enchanted) and his Apparition minions floated out. Kits tried to lure them into the entry as well, but only drew one minion. Questing back for the rest, she found them stuck in a doorway. Kits was frankly bemused—this made the third boss ghostie she'd encountered that had difficulty with narrow openings. "Whatever," she thought, "I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it." Disposing of him and his minions, who were also stuck with him, she cleared the rest of the Preserved Dead from the room beyond and collected the contents of the glowing chest.

The rest of the Tomb was uneventful, and back in town Kitsilan gambled on a pair of greaves, realizing too late that she wasn't strong enough to wear them yet. She was somewhat annoyed with Elzix about this, thinking he should have mentioned it, but that worthy just shrugged and said it was her lookout, he had no idea what she could and couldn't use.

Kits had to acknowledge that he had a point, and anyway, it was just gold. Off she went to see what wonders the last False Tomb held in store.

Gorebellies, Apparitions and Preserved Dead pretty much summed it up. This Tomb was mostly hallways, which Kitsilan found useful in lining up the monsters in her sights. One Gorebelly dropped a very pretty pair of light gauntlets, which turned out to be Iratha's Cuff. They had some Freeze reduction and cold resist, but weren't immediately useful so Kitsilan put them in her stash, wondering if Iratha was also going to show up soon.

Having cleared all but one room, Kitsilan was pretty sure where she'd find most of the higher-level monsters. Opening the door, she immediate had to fall back, and back, and way back, before Apparition Champions who chased her at an alarming clip and who were irritatingly durable. Finally finishing them off, Kits trudged back down the halls, puncturing stray Gorebellies as she went. At the doorway, she rapid-fired arrows, noting from patterns of red and blue that she was evidently killing off Preserved Dead. She was getting good at recognizing the signs. She tired of that quickly, and once more stuck her head in the door.

Fireballs rained around her, singing her eyebrows. Kitsilan backpedalled hurriedly, casting Slow Missiles and shooting. Ghoul Lord minions skated after her, and their boss, Gray Lust (extra fast) outpaced them, simultaneously chilling Kits and setting fires at her feet. Kitsilan kept moving, however, and managed to cull the minions and then Gray Lust.

After that there was naught left but a few Preserved Dead. Kits opened the chest, filled her pack, and portalled home to Lut Gholein.

On a whim, she purchased a Full Helm of Health (damage reduced by 1) and put it in her stash. She had an idea that it might be useful on certain occasions, more useful even than Tarnhelm.

Time to enter the True Tomb of Tal Rasha. Kitsilan paused at the foot of the stairs. There were several hallways diverging almost at once, and dead things coming toward her along most of them. Luckily, they weren't travelling that quickly. She had time to pick them out and sort her options. Gorebellies, Preserved Dead and, yes, Unravellers raising them and the Burning Dead skels. Shucks. She carefully cleared the immediate areas, then nearby rooms with opened doorways. Working her way down the southeast corridor, she came round a bend and found a boss pack of Gorebellies, led by Mind Ripper (lighning enchanted). "Beats finding a boss Unraveller," she thought, as she laid Mind Ripper low and avoided his charged bolts. Further along past the bend, the hall opened into a strange room whose centrepiece was a hole in a platform, light streaming out of it. Kitsilan felt it was probably important, but she was too busy killing Unravellers to think about it just then.

With that room cleared, she inspected the platform and put two and two together—this was the Horadric Orifice that the Horadric Staff rests in. (Okay, yeah, she had help. She read the nameplate, all right?) Kits made a note of the room's location and set out to finish cleaning up the rest of the Tomb. In a northeastern dead-end hallway, she levelled to 24 and portalled back to town to further her studies.

"More Penetrate," Fara told her, putting away her reading glasses and returning to her forge.

More Penetrate it was, then, and back to business. Slowly working her way down the halls, into the rooms, more halls and more rooms, Kitsilan sent Unravellers, Gorebellies and miscellanious walking dead back to hell. Down to the final few, she ran into Gore Bender (fire enchanted) and crew, a fast-moving set of Ghoul Lords who'd been helping Gorebellies hold down the flooring of an out-of-the-way room.

In Lut Gholein once more, Kitsilan prepared to transmute the pieces of the Staff and open the way to Tal Rasha's final resting place. She didn't know what she'd find there, but she had an idea it wouldn't be easy.

She therefore put on her damage-reducing helm, her tiger amulet, loaded her belt with the Full Rejuvs she'd been accumulating, and hired a merc. Waheed, Boy Jabber, was available, but Kitsilan felt she'd put him through enough and chose Hazade instead. They went down and she stuck the Staff in the Orifice.

Lights flashed and lightning struck the far wall. An opening widened in the masonry. Tal Rasha's Chamber lay open before them. Casting a portal, Kitsilan squared her shoulders, adjusted her helm (it was a touch too big), and stepped through.

"Looking for Baal?" growled an inhuman voice from an inhuman throat grafted onto a inhuman form.

"Only if he's prettier than you!" Kits yelled, silently waving bye-bye to Hazade the Unfortunate. Arrow after arrow she sent into Duriel's face, holding her own nicely right up to the point where she fumbled a potion and Duriel got in a second hard hit.

She could see her body, near that of Hazade, and Duriel, the bug of her nightmares, skittering around them. "That's it," she said, "I have had it. It's been a bloody long day and I'll be damned if I let it end like this."

Turning, she stepped forward onto the streets of Lut Gholein. She ran straight for her stash, and pulled out her spare bow, Bitter Song, and her spare belt. She found her potions back in her pack, and refilled the belt. Then it was back to Greiz, the mercenary captain.

"Where's Hazade?" he asked conversationally.

"Shut up," Kits replied. "Waheed! Front and centre, boy!"

With Waheed in tow, Kitsilan marched into her portal to the Orifice Room. She set up another, out of habit, and grabbed Waheed by his epaulets. "In we go!"

Duriel saw them immediately, but Waheed's ferocious jab attack distracted him for that instant Kits needed to bag her corpse. This time, nothing could stop her. Within minutes, Duriel was an ugly blotch on the stones.

Kitsilan poked around the remains. Duriel had dropped a blue long sword and, oh look—Goldwrap. She'd been wanting that. Checking her pack, she was reassured to see that both Rune Thirst, her favourite bow, and Iratha's Cord were safe.

Wandering around the rest of the Chamber, Kitsilan ran across what looked for all the world like an Archangel on a Stick. Keeping that thought to herself, she listened to Tyrael explain how he hadn't quite managed to keep Tal Rasha/Baal in the Tomb when Diablo'd stopped by earlier.

"That's okay," she assured him. "Done's done, and it can't be helped now. I'll see what I can do about tracking them both down."

He raised a portal for her and she went back to Lut Gholein. Cain was disappointed at the news of Baal's escape, but full of plans to help her try to get to Mephisto before they could. Fara fixed her gear and told her to check in with Ormus when she got to Kurast. "He'll help you with your studies," she assured Kitsilan.

Thanks to Jerhyn, Meshif took her and Cain on board his ship. She found a quiet place and settled in for the voyage. It had been a very long day indeed.

Kitsilan was level 24 when she killed Duriel. She used Magic Arrow exclusively. She died once in the fight, and she's feeling just a bit sensitive about it.

Stats:

strength: 55

dexterity: 72

vitality: 50

energy: 26

Magic Arrow damage: 17-32 (85% to hit)

Magic Arrow Attack Rating: 699 (51% to be hit)

Defense Rating: 170

stamina: 137

life: 214

mana: 100

fire resistance: 15

cold resistance: 9

lightning resistance: 22

poison resistance: 0

Skills:

Bow:

Magic Arrow 6

Cold Arrow 1 (prereq)

Multi-Shot 1 (prereq)

Guided Arrow 2

Passives & Magic:

Critical Strike 8

Dodge 1

Avoid 1

Inner Sight 1

Slow Missiles 1

Penetrate 3

Equipment:

Bitter Song short battle bow

coral breastplate of health

Chance Guards chain gloves

garnet belt of stability

burgundy chain boots of remedy

full helm of health

ring of warding

Wraith Knot ring

amulet of the tiger