An Amazon of Limited Means

Day 3

Kitsilan awoke full of determination to finish clearing the Dark Wood and work her way into the Black Marsh. The waypoint to the Wood was trapped, as usual, and 14 dead Vile Lancers and five broken up Skeletal Archers later, Kits was not amused to see they'd only dropped 16 gold pieces and one Minor Healing. Circling the area, she cleared out the same nest of Carvers and Fallen she'd noted just to the north on the day before, then worked her way with faithful Kyle through the patch of trees that gives the Dark Wood its name. Treehead Woodfrost (extra strong, extra fast today) trotted up with his wookie pals and gave Kitsilan and Kyle a few seconds' worry, but no real trouble. As he dropped only Boots of Stability, Kits was glad some anonymous beastie had been carrying a rare club, if only to pad her nest egg a bit.

It didn't take long to walk through the rest of the Dark Wood, though Kitsilan found nothing of note. Sticking her nose just inside the Black Marsh, she encountered a number of Night Clan goat boys, Returned Skeletons and Vile Archers. Ew. Disposing of these, she and Kyle swung north and east of the entryway and right into a pack of Carver Shamans with a boss Shaman (Vile Somethingorother) raising them as fast as she and Kyle could shoot them down. Their fast cast fireballs were hurting Kyle, so Kitsilan backed out to the entry and cast a town portal. With Kyle healed up, they returned and circled around the pack to the north till Kitsilan could see the boss Shaman and pepper him with her Magic Arrows. Once he was down, it was a simple matter to round up the remaining Shamans and stray Skeletons, Vile Archers and goat boys.

Somewhere in there, she leveled up to 11. Just in time for Kyle to feel stronger instead of dead. Kitsilan put her skill point into Critical Strike, giving her a 46% chance for double damage.

Meandering down southwest, they ran into a pack of Brute Champions (!), noteworthy only because of there being no other wookies in the area. The way to the Hole was located in the east, near the Countess' tower. In a masterpiece of weird layout, the waypoint itself turned up in the far northwest. As it is semi-close to the entrance to the Tamoe Highlands, Kitsilan can live with that.

Back in camp, Gheed pulled out a long bow pretty enough to catch Kits' eye. 6% life steal, plus 9% fire resist. She hesitated over a Hard Leather with 13% poison resist and Magic Damage reduced by 1, but in the end decide to stick with her Quilted (damage red. by 1) as her skull cap had magic damage reduction already.

Having cleared the Black Marsh, found the waypoint and the extra areas located, Kitsilan decided to take a break for a while. Charsi was certainly content to wait a while longer for her Bolus, unlike some Rogues who seemed to think Kitsilan wandered into their camp expressly to run their errands, rescue their buddies and whack their ex-girlfriends. All in all, there was no real hurry.

After her nap, Kitsilan jogged from the waypoint to the Hole and dove in. It was disappointingly quiet, perhaps because their wild and free arrow shooting had clipped a large pack of Misshapen. A little way down the corridor, Brute Minions waddled toward Kits and Kyle, followed shortly by Chaos Widow (mana burn). Kits switched to normal arrows for him, to avoid being caught short with the mana burn thing and even managed to get a picture of the fight in progress!

The northeast arm of the Hole was eerily silent. Kitsilan and Kyle found the entrance to the second level, shrugged their shoulders and went for it. The only boss monster down there was a hyperactive green Carver who needed two Magic Arrow's to dispatch, in in contrast to the normal one for standard Carvers. Kits is rapidly becoming almost unhealthily attached to her new long bow.

Not much in the pretty chest, aside from money, Mana potions (always welcome) and Healing potions. One fancy blue hand axe. Kitsilan didn't need any kindling chopped just then, so she set it aside for Charsi.

Back on the first level, they trotted to the south and finally found some of the inhabitants. Gut Grumble the Hunter, a Vile Archer boss (cold enchanted) barred their way at one point, and noting the cold attribute, Kitsilan wisely shot from well back. Kyle got too close and was caught up in the death nova, but other than being chilled for a bit she was unharmed. Picking through the remains of Gut Grumble, Kitsilan found an amulet that added slightly to strength and AR. She decided it wasn't useful right then, but might be later.

The rest of the Hole was uneventful, and Kitsilan walked back up to the surface and portalled to camp.

It was time to challenge the Countess.

Level 1 of the Forgotten Tower held no monsters at all. A few barrels to kick asunder, a few graves to rob, that was all. Kits' adrenalin level cranked up a notch. Level 2 could be dicy.

Then again, maybe not. Gut Fang (cold enchanted Vile Archer) and her minions were no match for Kitsilan and Kyle. More barrels and graves, and there's the entrance to Level 3.

Level 3 was populated with a few Ghosts and oh, gosh, Haze Lust (cursed) and his minions! Kitsilan didn't like the cursed experience one bit (Amp Damage, owwie), as she had to drink a healing potion and it's been awhile since she's had to do that. On to Level 4, and when are the Fire Clan goat boys gonna come out and play?

Not on Level 4, which had more Ghosts. Their boss was a spectral hit enchanted fellow (Grief Hawk the Destroyer) who unfortunately for him got stuck in a doorway and could only hiss as Kitsilan punched holes in his firmament. She reached level 12 as he shattered, dropping an Iron Ring (+25 to AR), which boosted her chance to hit to 75%. Now, with CS at 6 and Magic Arrow at 6, Kitsilan jumped down the stairs to Level 5.

And jumped right back up again. "There's monsters down there!" she exclaimed.

"Told you," muttered Kyle, shaking out her pack of bandaids. She wasn't looking too well following her sudden encounter with a pack of Dark Rangers and Storm Snarl the Unholy (mana burn), boss ghostie, and his minions.

"Well, okay, but there's tons of gold, too. That's what that book said."

"Uh huh."

Kyle looked more dubious than ever, so Kitsilan portalled them both back to camp and got Akara to heal her. Then, remembering what she'd heard about the Countess, Kits swapped out her Vulpine Amulet for her Crimson one with an extra 6% fire resist and back they went.

Knowing what to expect helped. Storm Snarl went down, his minions followed, and the Dark Rangers were mere bagatelles. Blood Clan goat boys jogged out of the southeast room, but there were only three of them. Kitsilan chose to go through the north arm to get to the Countess' chamber, and her minions ran right out to greet them. For some reason, Kyle, normally so level-headed and all, raced suicidally into the chamber and tried to take on the Countess alone.

Kitsilan saw this before it was too late, and hurried to back up her Rogue. Four Magic Arrows later, bu-bye Countess, and hello 2500 or so gold pieces.

The Countess dropped a short staff. Storm Snarl dropped an axe and there was a blue Quilted Armour in the chest. All in all, nothing to write home about but it was fun.

Kitsilan shook out her bedroll for the evening. The day's accomplishments included two level-ups, final clear of the Dark Woods, clear of the Black Marsh, the Hole, the Forgotten Tower and the Countess' death. And contrary to her private expectations, Kyle lived through it all.