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SweetSpearGirl's Adventures - Chapter 5: SweetSpearGirl Meets the Summoner
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Apologies for the lack of screenshots in this chapter. They got lost somewhere :(
Cast of Characters
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SweetSpearGirl, level 66 spearazon
Euyfura, level 66 rogue merc
The Ubiquitous Valk, frequently recast
The Summoner
TAKE HEED AND BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTHS THAT LIE HEREIN, FOR THEY ARE THE LAST LEGACY OF THE HORADRIM...
The day before, after hard fighting through the Claw Viper Temple and Jerhyn's palace cellars, our intrepid heroes had reached the Arcane Sanctuary waypoint, but so far, had gone no further than that. Today was the day when they decided to brave the horrors that lurked within Horazon's lair, in their attempt to discover whether the ancient Vizjerei was still alive...
SweetSpearGirl was not in a particularly good mood this morning, after their close call with Fangskin and his boss Unraveller friend the day before, and this was only made worse when just off from the waypoint they encountered Grief Killer the Shade - a boss Ghoul Lord who as well as being Lightning Enchanted, was Extra Fast and even had Teleportation thrown into the mix. The Valk promptly expired as lightning spewed out - fortunately, the spearazon and rogue both had maxed lightning resists! Before the battle was over - a pack of ghosties hadn't helped matters by wandering in at the wrong moment - the Valk had needed recasting a further two times, but as Euyfura commented, "At least he wasn't physical immune!"
And he did drop a full rejuvenation potion, alongside various unremarkable items and about 1700 in gold.
This was not the only nasty boss they'd meet strolling along the narrow walkways of Horazon's sanctuary, though. Spirit Maim - a fire-enchanted goat demon with mana burn and a godsdamned Conviction aura - was quite a handful too at first. Oddly enough, it was the mana burning that was hardest to deal with - a level 26 Jab needed a surprising amount of mana to keep going and of course it did make Valk recastings difficult, but Grief Killer had conveniently dropped a couple of mana potions so SweetSpearGirl downed one before returning to the fray. In the end, Spirit Maim went down and coughed up some more purple potions, which were highly appreciated. (His other drop was some sort of fancy sword, which was utterly useless to everyone!)
The Valk got stuck on a bit of stairway further on, so SweetSpearGirl and Euyfura had to take on the next pack of ghosties on their lonesomes. Instead of teleporting to meet them, the dumb blonde just vanished, so yet another recast was in order... this was getting tiresome, and SweetSpearGirl was starting to wonder whether she shouldn't just leave the Valk in the spirit world and save the distraction! The next pack of goatboys dropped a yellow Colossus Voulge, which SweetSpearGirl was hoping, would sell for a stupendous amount of money. Either that, or she'd give it to Greiz for one of his guards to use!
More ghosties, more Ghoul Lords, a quick portal back to town for repairs, and oh good grief, the Colossus Voulge sold for less than Spirit Maim's sword. At least they both fetched over 15k in gold.
Back to the fray, and working their way along the western arm they encountered a dead end with lots of chests and gold, guarded by a pack of ghosts and a Lightning Spire. While this meant that Horazon - if he was here at all - wasn't on this arm, the chests did contain a staggering amount of loot! Loot that, when sold to Fara, fetched something over 200k in gold! The Sol rune was much appreciated too...
Back to it. The next battle was tough! Spectres, Ghoul Lords and goat boys swarmed them on a stairway and to her great surprise SweetSpearGirl had to down *three* fat purples. The few drops garnered from that fight were poor at best and this did not help her mood any! She needed more coffee!
Back at the waypoint, they worked their way in the opposite direction, along the eastern arm; picking up a combat shrine and recasting an errant Valk along the way. The fights blended one into another, SweetSpearGirl battling her way through as her experience bar slowly crept upwards.
Suddenly she gave a gasp of horror; her weapon - her faithful Lycander's Flank that had helped her defeat Diablo in the Nightmare world that seemed so long ago - split all along its length! It was useless! Quickly, she pulled her companions back, casting a portal and dragging them through it just as a pack of spectres and Ghoul Lords converged on their position.
Fara looked over the badly damaged weapon. "I can fix this, but it'll cost," she said.
"I thought as much," the speargirl groaned, making a mental note not to go gambling with the Gheedmeister anytime soon...
Her gear repaired and polished and her loot sold to pay for it, SweetSpearGirl and her team headed back into the fray. In the middle of fighting a trio of Ghoul Lords - one of which had just chilled her - she noticed something. The Valk was standing back round a corner, doing bugger-all!
"Oi! Valk!" she yelled. "I summon you to help me fight monsters, not stand there admiring the view! Dumb bint!"
Fortunately the minion in question, while stupid, wasn't deaf...
Another dead end. Euyfura sighed. "This is frustrating!"
"You're telling me??" the zon replied. "I haven't even had coffee this morning! For which I feel very much like throttling Deckard Cain right now..."
The northern arm of the Sanctuary was studded with red portals which led over gaps in the walkways and platforms. These were actually quite useful since goatmen and Ghoul Lords couldn't pass through them (spectres just floated over them), enabling Euyfura to plink away at them from a distance. The portals also had the effect of making the Valk catch up with the other two from wherever she'd gotten stuck, so as Euyfura reflected, "they can't be a bad thing."
Suddenly as they fought they way along, a bolt of ice came whistling out of the void, and a curse swirled into existence around them.
"Is that Horazon?" yelled SweetSpearGirl into the darkness, but was answered only by a demented laugh. Monsters closed in on them; she fought them off and peered outward.
A mage stood on a large platform where symbols of blue light danced and swirled. He laughed, a hollow, insane sound which seemed to freeze the adventurers' very blood. SweetSpearGirl opened a portal and they piled in, eager to get back to the safe, sunny environs of Lut Gholein!
Where Drognan told them that no, they weren't dealing with Horazon. This was a mage who'd been in the battle at Tristram, and had been poking around here a few months earlier. A mad one, it seemed! Mad enough to try and take Horazon's place in the Arcane Sanctuary!
He was hard to fight, too. He'd surrounded himself with a lot of goat-men and at one point one of his ice-bolts chilled the trio to the bone. But with his minions dealt with, he went down easy. And gave SweetSpearGirl a huge amount of experience.
And dropped 12000 gold and a really heavy sword that sold for another 35k!
There was a book on the platform which SweetSpearGirl leafed through. Reading it, she was able to open a portal to the Canyon of the Magi where the Seven Tombs were located. She went through, activated the nearby waypoint, and twinked back to town, needing rest. And coffee...!