An Amazon of Limited Means

Day 10

Kitsilan munched her morning scone and turned her mind to the Lost City. "Bound to be something there," she thought, "and it's not like I have anywhere else to go." Brushing crumbs off her fingers, she strung her bow and set the waypoint for the Far Oasis.

A quick circuit around the area, and several Sand Maggot Champions later, Kits strode through the entrance to the Lost City. Darkness fell, not the gradual dark of a simple evenfall but a thumping, sudden absence of light. Polishing off a few Night Tigers and Night Slinger Champs, Kitsilan figured maybe there'd been a reason for the Lut Gholein locals' complete lack of interest in her report of finding the Lost City yesterday. "They might've warned me," she grumbled, filling her pack and casting a portal.

Back in Lut Gholein to dump her loot, Atma and Cain told her to talk to Drognan. His insistence that the Dark was caused by Claw Vipers seemed the utter ravings of laudanum-soaked frontal lobes, but a quest's a quest. One of the Sand Maggot Champs had dropped Chain Boots of Haste, so Kits swapped with the ones of Stability and zipped back to the fray.

A minion Plague Bearer shambled toward her, followed by Dark Elder (extra fast, magic resistant). Kits took him down easily, wondering how slow he'd be if he weren't extra fast, and then more Night Slingers appeared, hurting her eyes with the speed of their approach after watching Plague Bearers. Their choking gas potions actually caused Kitsilan some problems, as she had no poison resistance or reduction. On her next trip to town, rather than blow her savings on poison res/red gear, she frugally picked up a few antidotes from Lysander and stuck them in her belt.

She'd finished clearing the lower section and found the stairs to the upper, near the Lost City waypoint. Mauraders awaited her, along with more Night Tigers, and she was glad she had the antidotes. It didn't take long to finish off the Marauders and remaining Night Tigers and Slingers and locate the trap door to the Ancient Tunnels.

Kitsilan had high hopes for the Ancient Tunnels. After all, lost cities were legendary for their heaping piles of treasure and gold and neat things and pretty much the height of her experience so far had been a bundle of superior spears and a cracked mask. So she figured it was all stored away underground.

Such is the innocence of youth. Invaders, Lighning Mage Skels and Embalmed clustered around her, or tried to, but none of them had the grace to drop much better than ordinary items. She found the glowing chest fairly expeditiously, and sold its contents as none of it was of much account. The only boss was Sharp Break the Sharp (extra fast), and Kits led him backwards just to watch him scurry. "Embalmed are not built for speed," she thought, flipping his corpse and tossing a blue kite shield in her pack.

A little older and wiser if not richer, Kitsilan headed for the surface and an enticing canyon that led off and away from the Lost City environs. "Valley of Snakes, eh? Ick."

She fooled the fire towers guarding the temple entrance into shooting at pillars instead of her and reduced them to rubble. A quick check of the area revealed nothing else and she stepped into the Claw Viper Temple. The entry was laid out like the first floor of the Stony Temple, three doors opening off of three sides of a hollow square. A few Claw Vipers greeted her and went down quickly.

Casting SM in front of each door, she found something waiting for her behind the southeast one, and opened it. Salamanders and Embalmed, plus more Claw Vipers hissed and grunted toward her. Working her way down the hall and then up when it jogged northeast, she carefully placed her shots where they would do the most good, hanging back and giving the monsters time to show themselves from behind the nooks in the walls. The turn up to the northwest led to a closed room and a salamander waiting right at the door. It punched Kits hard, chilling her in the process, and she resolved to avoid that as much as possible. Eventually the hall led her back to the entryway, leaving her only one more door to open.

Plowing through the Salamanders and Claw Vipers and Embalmed, she ended up in a room apparently guarded by Dire Touch the Hungry, probably cold-enchanted, almost certainly not extra fast since she only saw him when he needed one last shot to take him out. His death nova was surprisingly powerful, but not enough to win his revenge. He dropped a bone shield with +24 to life, which Kitsilan thought revenge enough.

Halls turned and twisted, doubling back on themselves and Kits often found herself standing where she'd been only a little while before. Snakes, more snakes and walking dead fell before her Magic Arrows, nearly emptying her mana ball on several occasions. Finally, the stairs to the second level were clear and she could proceed to the heart of the temple.

No one greeted her at the foot of the stairs, which she thought somewhat rude, but not so much as to cause complaint. Peeking round the corner, she found her welcoming committee only slightly late in arriving. Fangskin (lightning enchanted, extra fast) she nullified by getting right in his face and being quick with her potions. His minions and the accompanying Bone Warriors she barely noticed, taking them out and moving right along, looking for the real troublemakers. All she found was a lone Guardian, undecided as to if he should be raising the dead or poisoning Kits, neither of which attacks were terribly effective due to Kitsilan's SMing him. Once the area was clear, Kits stepped up to the altar and kicked over the sun-blocking slab.

She turned away from the blinding rays of light as they fled upward, noticing a small object had fallen to the floor. "Huh. Looks like a headpiece. I'll bet I was supposed to be looking for this," she muttered, casting a portal. As she walked up the street, Atma stopped crying long enough to congratulate her on restoring the sun. "Oh, yeah, guess I did," Kitsilan replied, privately noting she'd need to renew her sunblock. Cain was beside himself exclaiming over the headpiece she'd found, saying it was just the thing to finish off a Horadric staff. Kits could see the staff Cain used was getting ratty at its foot, and decided to wear the headpiece as an Amulet around her neck. For safekeeping. Just in case. Not that he would, of course, but… best to be sure.

Drognan wanted to chat about some sorcerer who did nasty things with demons, sounded a lot like the Horadrim to Kitsilan, but she listened till he was done and picked up the salient bits of his speech: she should go talk to Jerhyn about a Palace invite. "Maybe he'll want to do up a banquet," she thought, "after all I've been through, I could use a decent meal."

It was an invitation, sure enough, but not what she'd had in mind. Seems everyone Jerhyn had let into the Palace before had died horribly (except him, hm.) and now it was Kitsilan's turn to face down the boogyman.

"I really was hoping for at least a light lunch," Kits grumbled to Fara as she sold off the kris Fangskin had dropped.

"Well, you've gotten a Horadric Staff now, or at least the makings of one," the smith replied.

"Don't you start with that. First Cain, now you."

"I hear there's plenty of loot in the Palace."

"Yeah?" Kitsilan, ever hopeful, brightened.

"Uh-huh. Check it out tomorrow; might be worth your while after all."