An Amazon of Limited Means

Day 17

Kitsilan awoke feeling… not quite herself. Meshif's tea tasted bland, and then neither Hratli nor Asheara had anything new or interesting in their bins. She roped in Yatiraj and headed for Lower Kurast.

Hell Buzzards and Doom Apes descended upon them as they stepped off the waypoint. Kits shot them as Yatiraj chilled them, and mused as she flipped over their bodies for their belongings. Something was bugging her. Zakarumites distracted her only momentarily as the two meandered toward the entrance to the Kurast Bazaar. Even a Thrasher boss pack in the Bazaar couldn't shake her sense of mild depression, and the Faithful with their Heirophants and cries of "Hi! Hi! Go away!" were but irritants. She knocked over a stash block and a socketed long battle bow popped out. Then it hit her.

She wanted a new bow.

It wasn't any fault of her current bow—Rune Thirst, which Charsi had made for her last week. It was a very nice bow. Kitsilan just wanted a new one.

And she had three flawed gems sitting in her stash—a sapphire, a topaz and a skull.

Thinking about this as she continued north through the Bazaar, she slapped down a Hell Swarm boss (Devil Touch the Wraith, spectral hit) and its minions, then another pack of Faithful. The waypoint was sitting right on the entry to Upper Kurast, and she went back to the docks to unload her pack.

Asheara had a socketed long battle bow in stock, so Kits bought it rather than go back to the Bazaar and search out the ones she'd let lie since her pack was full. She stuffed it with her gems (sapphire first, it made the bow gleam such a pretty blue) and hefted it. This might just be a good day after all.

Returning to the Bazaar, they were greeted right away by another group of Faithful, and Kitsilan's sense of childlike joy in maiming and killing monsters began to return as she found herself simultaneously icing, shocking and stealing vital energies from her attackers.

With the Bazaar proper cleared, Kitsilan decided to head down into the Disused Fane. Death Bender (cold enchanted) a Flesh Hunter boss, and a small group of Night Lords met her in the entry. The Fane was quite small, and after disposing of these she and Yatiraj quickly covered all the rooms. Kitsilan found her first fancy suit of Plate Mail, which was much too heavy for her to wear but which did sell for an astounding sum.

The Ruined Temple was next, and here Kitsilan found first a pack of Flesh Hunter Champions and then Battlemaid Sarina, whose extra fast spectral hit was no match for Kitsilan's magic chilly shocking arrows. More Night Lords circled the two as they stepped over Flesh Hunter bodies and entered the main room, targeting Wailing Beasts. When all was quiet once more, Kitsilan picked up Lam Esen's lost book and carried it back to Alkor. He was very happy to get it, and Kits was happy to make him so happy, since it resulted in her having a set of stat points with which to boost her dexterity.

"Now, why can't you be so happy to see me?" she asked Cain, who just rolled his eyes.

"You'll find Khalim's Heart in the Sewers," he replied.

"Is there a stat point or two in it for me?"

"Don't be impertinent. There's glory in it for you, missy."

"Likely a nasty cold, too. All right, then, to the Sewers. Later!"

Kitsilan and Yatiraj descended into the Kurast Sewers. As Kitsilan had thought, they were dank and cold. Effluvient channels ran between islands of masonry, and rats ran indiscriminately around on the islands. Kitsilan peered into the gloom and, seeing no immediate threat, started forward.

As they made their way around the pillars, Undead Soul Killers whisked up, followed by Horrors. Kitsilan's new gemmed bow made short work of both, foiling the attempts of the Horadrim Ancients to re-raise the dead. Water Watchers spat poison at them from the relative safety of the larger pools; when possible, Kits targeted these especially as they plain pissed her off. Not to mention how sick they made her feel when they connected.

Despite the temptation to go haring off into the central parts, Kits resolutely stuck to her plan of methodically walking the outside ledges and then the inner ones in each section. The Ancients sent many Horrors after her, but as she could shoot them down from wherever she was, she kept her head and didn't get herself or Yatiraj lost. Eventually, they ran into Icehawk Riftwing (cold enchanted, teleportation) and his Fiend minions who were hanging around the lever that opens the way to Level 2.

Fiends are normally easy to deal with, and Icehawk was no exception. Throwing the lever, Kits and Yatiraj made their way down. Level 2 was remarkable both for being small and for being full of treasure. True, there were three Water Watchers and a boss pack of Preserved Dead hanging around, but what price these nuisances?

There was also Khalim's Heart in a box, which Kitsilan shoved into her pack without looking. They hauled everything worth selling back to the docks and continued clearing Level 1.

Beyond Mold Claw, a cold-enchanted Fiend, there wasn't much to catch their attention. Three or four more Horadric Ancients calling up more undead, and then the area was finished.

Kitsilan retired to her place on deck early that evening, well pleased with her accomplishments and with the performance of her new bow. And the hot cocoa tasted as good as it ever had.