An Amazon of Limited Means

Day 12

Kitsilan waved to Cain and hurried off before he could get in any cracks about Tal Rasha, Baal or the rest of it. She had unfinished business with a few Hell Clan, Ghoul Lords and Specters in the Arcane Sanctuary, and Fara'd assured her the drops would pick up markedly in that place, it being magical and all.

Picking the southwest arm ("eenie, meenie, minie moe, catch a goat boy by the toe…") she cautiously strode forward along the walkway. It ended abruptly, a glowing red Teleport Pad at its furthest point, and just beyond another Pad signaled the resumption of the walkway. Ghoul Lords and Hell Clan jiggled excitedly near the far Pad, practically waving their arms and crying, "Shoot me!" "No, shoot me!" and Kits was happy to oblige. A few Specters floated into view and homed in on her. She got used to falling back to deal with them and then stepping up to the edge of the walkways to take care of the fish in the barrel. The Ghoul Lords rained fireballs on her, but these didn't seem to burn very hot and she was able to ignore them for the most part, SMing as and when.

"Light Radius" had been a theme in Fara's stock-in-trade that morning and seemed to carry over here as well. A Ring dropped from one Hell Clan, cheering Kits immensely till she noticed it was +5 to Light Radius. Then she found a Gem Shrine and forgot about the ring—she had a chipped skull in her stash just waiting for this day. After upgrading her skull, she became a touch too bold in her approach, and went through the next Pad too soon. Hell Clan swarmed her from two sides, with Ghoul Lords providing artillery support. As she tried to sidestep out of this mess, Specters flew in from fore and aft. It was ugly, and getting worse by the second. She slammed down rejuv potion after potion, SMing and firing point blank at the goat boys between her and the Pad, gaining it only after emptying the first row of her belt.

With a little breathing room, the Specters were easy to dispose of, and then Kitsilan grimly gunned down anything moving on the far platform. Stepping back, she found a wealth of gear littering the floor, a fancy Grand Scepter making up for the Glimmering Amulet.

As she neared the end of that arm, she stirred up a nest of Specter minions surrounding Death Bang (stone skin). Kits used up another two and a half rows of potions wearing them down, as she ran back and forth along a stretch of walkway. Stone skin found its way to the top of her list of unfavourite attributes.

A few more Hell Clan and Ghoul Lords, and Kits shot out the Lightning Spire to become the sole possessor of the treasure it guarded. A rare Double Axe fell out of one of the chests, but nothing else of interest to Kitsilan, who sold all of it posthaste.

The remaining monsters on that arm were few, and easily dispatched. Kits continued immediately onto the southeast arm, whose walkways were connected by a series of curved stairs. The Hell Clan sometimes had difficulty negotiating these, Kitsilan noticed, thinking their teeny dancing hooves might catch on the treads. "Or maybe they're just stupid," she muttered, taking out four in a bouncing clump at the foot of one set.

She met no bosses or champions as she moved purposefully down one side of the arm, luring Specters out of the waiting packs and then SMing Ghoul Lords and Hell Clan alike. Just as she was even with the end platform, she blasted two Specters and leveled to 21. To top it off, there was a rare Composite Bow in one of the chests!

Back in town, the rare bow turned out to be less than spectacular:

Cruel Song

8-14 damage

Very Fast Attack Speed

Lightning Resist 7%

+72 to Attack Rating

Adds 1-2 Damage

Kits shrugged and decided to try it out anyway. Learning the Penetrate skill effectively doubled her attack rating, due to wearing Tarnhelm, and she stepped back through the portal ready to tackle the up side of the arm.

The extra speed of the new bow was nice, but what really made the difference, Kitsilan thought, swapping back to Rune Thirst, was the extra AR from Penetrate. She had to do much less running and luring than before, as her percentage of one-shot-kills rose. She zipped up that side and went straight for the northeast arm.

Many more Lightning Spires, and as the walkways were all on a level and connected so that even a monster could figure out how to traverse them, Kits was even more glad she'd picked up Penetrate when she did. She reached the furthest platform in no time, sold the contents and headed down the far side.

Still no bosses or champions, so Kitsilan concluded they were confined to the two western arms, along with the Summoner. She sold the remainder of her gleanings to Fara and headed off for a bite at Atma's before turning in. She didn't think she was quite yet done with the Arcane Sanctuary—too many close calls for her liking.