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SweetSpearGirl's Adventures - Chapter 8: The Fall of Mephisto
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Cast of Characters
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SweetSpearGirl, level 70 Spearazon using Jab
Debi Euyfura, Rogue merc
Miss Frequent Cast 2003, the Ubiquitous Valk
Mephisto, TC 78 Prime Evil
The High Council, a bunch of troublemakers
TAKE HEED AND BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTHS THAT LIE HEREIN, FOR THEY ARE THE LAST LEGACY OF THE HORADRIM...
SweetSpearGirl - now level 71 - was writing up her diary. It had been a day of equal parts good and bad - two deaths, two uniques, a Rune, the loss of much gold, and the defeat of Mephisto. She allowed herself precise recollection of place and detail as she jotted down her memories...
SweetSpearGirl was never sure in these parts whether it was morning or evening; and the humidity made her perspire profusely in her heavy armour. Black Hades socketed with a Gemstone and a Magestone and an Ort rune was a great piece of armour, but it didn't half weigh a person down, especially a lightly-built Amazon like herself. She wondered if sorceresses were ever able to cope with armour this heavy. Especially here, in Kurast.
Her day had started as she twinked into Lower Kurast, the waypoint right near the entrance where she'd found it the day before. Casting the Ubiquitous Valk, SweetSpearGirl and Euyfura began slowly venturing into the heart of the corrupt city of the Zakarum. Tree Lurkers - relatives of the annoying little desert leapers they'd encountered near Lut Gholein - leapt up and clawed at our heroes but Lycander's Flank and Euyfura's Kuko made short work of them. More annoying were the Zakarumites and their ilk - after taking a certain amount of damage they had a tendency to run off and be healed by the lurking Cantors and Hierophants. This was a day in which poor Euyfura required frequent resurrections; the first was when SweetSpearGirl encountered Bane Maggot - a lightning enchanted, cold enchanted Zakarumite who was also Extra Strong. All too often, SweetSpearGirl was dumping gold by the 50k handfuls into Asheara's coffers; the leader of the Iron Wolves was no doubt pleased by her new-found wealth but SweetSpearGirl wasn't so happy! She was starting to run low on full rejuvs as well and bought a few fat reds from Ormus that she could throw to the Rogue as and when.
Alkor wanted a word; seemed he'd lost a book in a ruined temple in the Kurast Bazaar and guess who he wanted to go and find it? Yep, our intrepid heroes. SweetSpearGirl was about to cry 'Onward and downward' as she entered the temple, but only got as far as 'Onwa - ' before the words were stopped short. The Ruined Temple was wall-to-wall Spider Magi, Wailing Beasts and Flesh Hunters; indeed, *three* boss packs were congregated near the entrance and she had to fall back to town several times and drink many of her precious purples! Now she found *herself* needing to use some of the fat reds she'd purchased from Ormus and as the battle slogged on she was downing them more often than Euyfura.
The causes of all the trouble were Night Kill the Witch (who didn't look like a witch but did in fact look like a bloody big spider) - cold enchanted with a spectral hit and that damn Amp Damage curse; the Battlemaid Sarina (also cursed with a spectral hit, adding extra fast and teleportation to the mix!); and a Wailing Beast boss whose name and attributes she didn't catch as she was too busy trying to stay alive!
Eventually these were out of the way and she was able to collect the Black Book of Lam Esen; Alkor very kindly gave her a set of stat points - to add to the ones she had from her recent level up to 71 - which she sank into vitality and boosted her life to 1006.
Next, was the Kurast Sewers. "Yuchh," SweetSpearGirl shuddered; as humid as it was on the surface, the dankness of the sewers was frankly disgusting. "Searching for bits of dead guy in a sewer is not my idea of fun!"
"Nor mine," Euyfura commented; "but Cain said - "
"Oh, bugger Cain," SweetSpearGirl muttered. "He's a Horadric Mage, why can't he do some of this stuff for a change?"
Her forebodings about the unpleasantness of the Sewers were only confirmed when they met Warp Skull - a boss Undead Stygian Doll who was not only lightning-enchanted but fire-enchanted with a spectral hit. SweetSpearGirl stood ready with a fat purple but even with that, 1006 life and maxed fire and lightning resists, Warp Skull's death explosion was too much. A one-hit kill and corpse recovery run later, SweetSpearGirl was thoroughly miffed and when the boss back of Preserved Dead led by Viper Cloud the Hungry - a bloody physical immune also possessing a spectral hit and teleportation - strolled out to greet her round a corner, she just laid into them like someone really miffed laying into a boss pack of Preserved Dead...
It didn't help either that just as she was about to bypass Icehawk Riftwing (attributes uncertain but including lightning-enchanted) and head down to level 2 of the Sewers, the Valk was (once again) taken out, by a boss pack of Horadrim Ancients which began raising the nearby Preserved Dead the intrepid adventurers had previously dealt with.
"Sod this," SweetSpearGirl muttered, throwing the lever and charging down the stairs.
Level 2 was small, and contained - as well as a pack of Preserved Dead and a few Stygian Watchers - many golden chests filled with loot. This lifted their spirits somewhat and they were only helped when, shortly after emerging from the Sewers into Upper Kurast, a nameless Zealot dropped a Vex rune. SweetSpearGirl pounced on it straight away, already wondering about making a Silence bow for Euyfura if a powerful six-socket bow showed up...
A few bosses later, someone dropped a nondescript set amulet at the entrance to the Kurast Causeway; but SweetSpearGirl's attention lay ahead. On Travincal, and the High Council.
Travincal was a nightmare. Boss packs of Ghoul Lords and Hierophants launched painful elemental projectiles; dodging Zealots and Zakarumites that kept getting healed up, SweetSpearGirl concentrated on the Hierophants as much as she could and gradually they worked their way up toward the Council's domain.
Ismail Vilehand appeared. SweetSpearGirl hit him once, realized his attributes, and fled! Extra Fast he was, yes; but it was the Cursed, Multishot Lightning-Enchanted attributes that made her backpedal! Euyfura went down more than once here; Geleb Flamefinger was Fire Enchanted, Cold Enchanted, Extra Strong and - like his friend Ismail - also extra fast. He dropped Khalim's Flail as he went down, so SweetSpearGirl pulled out via waypoint to once again recover Euyfura, and to empty her cube and transmute Khalim's Body Parts with his weapon.
Back in Kurast, she was able to overcome Ismail thanks to judicious use of pots. Toorc Icefist however, was another matter - he was Physical Immune, Cold Enchanted and - yep, Extra Fast! as well as possessing a Fanaticism aura. Yeeek! After realizing that she wasn't making a dent, she speedily equipped Khalim's Will, smashed the Compelling Orb, found three hydras trained on her and the merc, and ran down into the Durance before Toorc could get a bead on them!
The Durance was a nightmare too. Boss packs of Blood Lords loomed at them from everywhere and somehow, almost every monster they met - boss, minion or just ordinary creature - was acquiring a Blessed Aim aura from somewhere! Stepping on the Durance level 2 waypoint, SweetSpearGirl was happy to discover that the way down to level 3 was only a room and a corridor away.
"Onward and downward..." she murmured with trepidation. It wasn't Mephisto so much that worried her... it was the company he was bound to be keeping.
She was right to be nervous. After another corpse recovery - slain by Bremm Sparkfist and his bloody LE and Conviction aura - they had to run from a physical immune Maffer Dragonhand (comparatively, Wyand Voidfinger was easy to deal with!) and venture up onto the dais where the Lord of Hatred awaited them.
"MY BROTHERS HAVE ESCAPED YOU!" he howled as he spotted them. Despite his bravado, and the big clouds of poison he swirled around him, he went down easily, dropping *two* uniques - Gerke's Sanctuary and a Gavel of Pain - as well as his soulstone, a blue War Axe and a couple of useless Rares. SweetSpearGirl saw piles of gold beyond the pillars behind him, but a boss pack of Blood Lords swarmed out complete with Might aura, so she decided discretion was the better part of valour and headed into the Infernal Gate, dragging Euyfura and a protesting Valk behind her. Farewall to Kurast!
