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Early morning in Harrogath. The snow fell gently as Kitsilan sat with Kyle, sipping coffee and making bets on when Larzuk would next step on Anya's toes. Harrogath's heir apparent was determined to teach her smith to dance in time for the next festival. Kyle was winning.
They reached the bottom of the pot as Anya ended the lesson, and it was time to get to work. Kits swapped headgear with Kyle, giving her the Coif of Glory and taking Tarnhelm back. The Rogue wanted to try blinding monsters, and Kits wanted to add Tarnhelm's skill bonus to her castings of Valkyrie and Decoy. With a quick "players 8" chant, they were off to the Frigid Highlands once more.
This time Kitsilan varied their program with a side trip to face Thresh Socket. He failed to drop Skystrike, as did Eldritch, and Shenk, and several handfuls of Imps and Maulers and Enslaved. However, she picked up several gems and one Ort rune, and Kyle levelled to 44, before they re-entered Harrogath through its Main Gate. Cain waved them over to where he sat with Qual-Kehk.
"Kitsilan," he said, "it's time to press onward after Baal. You've fooled around quite enough."
Qual-Kehk stepped in before Kitsilan could respond. "We're all very grateful for everything you've done for us. You need to know, though, that if you want to pursue Baal into the Worldstone Keep, you'll have to get past the Ancients."
"The Ancients? Who are the Ancients?"
"They're the Guardians of the Keep. They're very powerful, but not bright. They let Baal past them because he carried the Relic Nihlathak gave him. You, they'll fight."
"You don't happen to have a second Relic, do you? Maybe a note from Malah with the root password?"
"Maybe they'll take Cain," Kyle muttered, "and all be Ancients together." Cain glared at her and she blinked innocently.
Qual-Kehk shook his head. "We're Barbarians, after all. Ours is not a subtle culture. That whole Relic business was started up years ago only to impress a Druid Malah was dating back then. When it comes right down to it, we really just like fighting."
Kitsilan could understand that. Tucking the quest notes Qual-Kehk offered into her notebook, she and Kyle stopped off first at Malah's hut and then down the far stairs to Larzuk's forge. They found the smith humming and skipping about his work. He was almost too cheery to do business, but luckily Kitsilan needed no repairs and only had ordinary items to sell.
Still dreaming of the elusive Skystrike, Kitsilan led Kyle and the Valk into the Crystalline Passage and the Glacial Trail, where she levelled to 45. They beat their way down the tunnels, looking in every corpse, jar and Evil Urn. Kyle was frankly bored, at one point forgoing the fighting in favour of a bit of interesting graffiti scrawled on the wall in a niche. "Hey, boss! Check this out!"
"I'm a little busy!" Kits replied, shattering a Frozen Terror nuzzling her Decoy.
"'Morgana & Wulfstan 4evur'" Kyle read. "Ha! I knew it!"
The Valk wandered over. "Those striations in the rock are fascinating, indicative of the early upheavals in the formation of the—"
Kitsilan grabbed them and hustled them away. "Bows. We're looking for a gold bow. Focus, both of you!"
Her hopes went unrealized, though, and finally convinced of the futility of further searching, they passed through the opening to the Frozen Tundra. More Imps, Crush Beasts, Enslaved and Catapults awaited them. Kitsilan started them off at 'players 1' but quickly returned to 'players 8' out of sheer boredom. Kyle levelled to 45 while turning an Imp into a slush pile. Kits picked up a pair of Thul runes before they reached the far end, and doubled back for a look-see in the Infernal Pit.
"What do you think?" Kitsilan asked, as they surveyed the jumble of blue and white items littering the ground beside the gold chest.
"This place is a dump, boss."
"Ain't it, though? What's next?"
Kyle consulted the map. "Ancient's Way. Guess we're getting close."
In the Way, Kitsilan once again chanted 'players 1' in preparation for completing a quest. She had been honing her Dodge skills and boosting her vitality, and these attentions were paying dividends as they punctured clumps of large, ugly-tempered monsters. Between the Valkyrie and Decoy, very few of their opponents even saw them, let alone came close enough to do them injury, and Kitsilan returned to Magic Arrow exclusively to leave her casting arm free for spamming Decoy. They found the entry for the Arreat Summit and decided to forego full-clearing the Ancient's Way.
The Summit itself was a small plateau about the size of Nihlathak's courtyard. The door to it, Kitsilan noticed, was one-way. Shrugging, she walked over to a book set on a pillar surrounded by three gold statues of Barbarians in energetic poses with edged weapons. They looked quite young.
"I thought we were supposed to fight some old guys," Kyle said. She looked annoyed.
"Mm hm. Korlic, Madawc and Talic."
"These 'Ancients' are in the prime of health!" The Rogue strolled over to the statue holding a massive axe aloft. 'Korlic' was inscribed on a plate affixed to its base. "Look at this fellow," she said, grabbing one golden arm and hoisting herself to his shoulder, "I couldn't get my arms around his chest if I tried!"
"Would you come down from there? We're supposed to be Questing. If Malah saw you, our lives wouldn't be worth a carrion bunny's!"
"Okay, okay. There's been pigeons or something up here anyway." She slid back down and readied her bow.
"I think the real Ancients use stand-ins for this job," Kitsilan said, checking Kyle's and the Valkyrie's health. All was in order. Kits cast Decoy near Madawc and began reading from the Book of Threats and Promises.
As she stepped back from the Book, the statues swirled into life, red fog pulsing at their feet. Kitsilan's view of the proceedings became confused, and she shot wildly at what she hoped was an opponent. Korlic leaped suddenly in her face, and she sidestepped him, casting Decoy in an attempt to distract him. Wherever she turned, though, he seemed to be there. She saw Kyle crossing the platform in search of a decent vantage point, and the Valkyrie expired once again. Kitsilan noticed that in all that she and Kyle had also been poisoned.
She concentrated on downing the one who'd attached himself to her before assisting Kyle with her headache, Talic. He kept whirling back and forth at the Rogue, while Madawc threw axes at everyone indiscriminately. More quickly than Kits would have thought, given the fury of their attack, the three were sent back to their pedestals. A Voice boomed from the Book, acknowledging the victory of Kitsilan's party. The Worldstone Keep was open to them.
Back in Harrogath, everyone was glad to see them and kept going on about how the Ancients had honoured them and wasn't it great and didn't they feel special? Kitsilan just nodded politely, breaking away as soon as she could to check over her kit. She wasn't sure what they'd encounter once in the Keep, but she knew it wouldn't be friendly.
"I suppose all those Moon Lords were honouring us, too," Kyle muttered, brushing down Greyform, "and Shenk's whiplashing was actually a pantomimic ode to our nobility of purpose. Wonder what Baal will offer? Celebratory dance troupes?"
"Just make sure we honour them more than they honour us, is all," Kits replied, as she replaced the two full rejuvs she'd used in the Ancients battle.
On the Summit once again, she paused a moment to enjoy the view. Below her spread rank upon rank of blasted catapults and ragged trenches, all of which they'd fought through, time and again, in order to get where they were now. Somewhere beyond the horizon, she knew, were the fetid jungles of Kurast, the deserts of Lut Gholein and the rainy moorlands guarded by the Rogues. They were a long way from where they had started so long ago, when Kitsilan had first wandered into the Rogues' Camp carrying a bundle of pointy sticks she'd hoped to trade for a bow.
"Kyle?"
"Yes, boss?"
"Thanks for coming with me."
Kyle grinned. "Thanks for asking me. We done with the sentimental stuff now?"
"Yeah, that should do it. Let's us go kick some demon butt and save the world."
Inside the Keep, Kitsilan knew instinctively that the way to survive was to keep moving. The air was charged with a hostile energy that threatened them at every turn. Harpies shot bolts of colourful magic balls, simultaneously cursing and wounding them, while gangs of Defiled Warriors lurched after them, egged on by Rank Defilers, who resembled nothing so much as floating giant fleas. They cleared the first level handily, using Kitsilan's tried and true formula of sending Valk and Decoy ahead of herself and Kyle, and shooting everything that twitched in response.
The second level tended more to Hell Spawn, who were often frenzied to the point of exploding suicidally, but only one got close enough to Kitsilan to hurt her. Kyle, as usual, was completely unaffected by this form of attack.
"What's your secret?" Kits shouted as she activated the waypoint.
Kyle shrugged. It was all just so much wind to her.
The stairs down to level three were right by the stairs up to level one, but they went through the full area anyway. Kitsilan still had a secret, faint hope of seeing her golden bow.
Kitsilan levelled to 46 halfway through the Keep's level three. She studied up on another layer of Piercing and once again boosted her vitality. They left heaps of Death Lords and Imps behind them as they searched out the path to the last staircase.
Once again, Kitsilan portaled back to Harrogath. Their progress through the Keep had been fast, furious and deadly. Larzuk checked over Kitsilan's gear and pronounced it fit. Earlier that day Kitsilan had gambled for some very handsome light gauntlets:
+15 to Attack Rating 3% Life Stolen per Hit +22 Defense (based on Character Level) +4 to Dexterity Lightning Resist +28% Repairs 1 durability in 20 secondsWearing them dropped her fire resistance, but they were so pretty that she didn't care. With them, her life steal was between 9% and 15%, depending on if she wore Cathan's Seal or not.
It all was, she felt, as good as it was going to get. She let go her dream of the legendary Skystrike and stepped through her portal back to the Keep, and from there into the Throne of Destruction.
Reddish gold bolts of energy pummelled them, hurled by bands of harpies in the corners. They dodged the bolts, targeting the harpies and the gangs of Death Lords charging them from behind. Every section of hallway was packed with harpies and Death Lords, and Kits and Kyle sported near-permanent Amplified Damage headlamps. So did her Decoy and the successive incarnations of her Valkyrie. Kyle had long since gotten over her aversion to the Valk's presence, appreciating how her disdain for pain meant that much less pain for Kyle herself. She cheered the Valk on now, offering suggestions for rhymes when the Heavenly One's inventiveness flagged.
They cleared the four arms in succession—east and north, then south and west. Back toward the centre, Kitsilan threw up a portal and sent a Decoy into the Throneroom itself. A few remaining Death Lords converged upon it and were sent to oblivion.
Baal laughed, then, as Kitsilan entered the Throneroom. She could just see the Throne at its far end, and spatters of blood splashing at its foot. A Decoy went up just in time, as Colenzo the Annihilator (fire enchanted, immune to fire) and his Shaman minions appeared. They fixated on the Decoy immediately, and were shot down easily. Next came Achmel the Cursed, who with his Greater Mummy buddies was merely Undead and Immune to Poison, but not to all the rest of Kitsilan's and Kyle's arsenal. Bartuc the Bloody, Lightning Enchanted Council Member, followed, just as enthralled with the Decoy and the Valkyrie as his fellows. Ventar the Unholy Venom Lord needed two Decoys to keep him amused, but then he was extra fast.
Finally came Lister the Tormenter (spectral hit) with his Minions of Destruction. They towered over Valk and Decoy, slamming the latter around like a hockey puck. Kits watched wide-eyed as it was flung some way past her, and she and Kyle scrambled to stay ahead of the pack. They retreated almost to the hall before finally doing away with the last Minion, but never got surrounded. Kits didn't like to think about how that would have turned out.
With the defeat of this last pack, Baal retired the field, disappearing into his Worldstone Chamber. Kits and Kyle took the chance to breathe, repair their gear, and check potions.
Kits' belt was full and her armour unmarred, both of which surprised and heartened her. One more fight remained.
They followed Baal down. Kits hit the ground running, racing to a point where she hoped to pin Baal into place. By the time she rounded the corner, he'd cloned himself. She wasn't sure which was which, but as one was between her and the other Baal, she shot the one she could. As the clone (of course it was the clone) died, Baal teleported behind Kitsilan but was successfully Decoyed away again. By that time, Kyle had come up into firing position just ahead of Kitsilan and was adding her input. Baal seemed to ignore her entirely, concentrating his wrath, his huge chilling wedge and his orange balls on Kits and her Valk. Evidently, he didn't like the taste of the Decoy.
The ice wedge slapped Kitsilan backward half a hall length. She drank a potion or two as she sidestepped the orange balls. Baal was hurting now, and she poured on the Magic Arrows.
With Kyle's chilling, and the distraction the Valk offered, Baal lost points rapidly, unable to continue the savage attack he'd begun with. Suddenly, he collapsed on the floor, choking, and then spasms shook his carcass as his ghost wrenched free and dissapated.
Kitsilan nudged his drop with one toe. "Check it out, Kyle—Vidala's Fetlock. And joy of joys, some fancy Battle Darts."
"And sixteen hundred in gold, give or take," noted the Rogue.
Something moved in the shadows above them. Kitsilan looked up, not quite believing her eyes. Tyrael was descending, looking for all the world like bait on a fishing line. He seemed quite pleased with Kits and Kyle, and with himself, and babbled on about how he now had to destroy the Worldstone since Baal looked at it crossly and undermined its hard-won self-image.
"Won't that destroy the world?" Kitsilan asked.
"Well, yes, there is that, but into each life a little rain must fall, there's a fly in every ointment, you know, a cloud inside each silver lining—"
"We get the picture," Kitsilan interrupted hastily.
Tyrael drew himself up on his stick and a glowing red portal appeared. "Now," he said, "you two can remain here, if you like. I'm sure most of the shards will miss you when I shatter the Stone. Or you can step through this nice portal I've made especially for you."
Kitsilan took Kyle aside. "Can you get a bead on him?"
"Nope."
"Me neither." She looked over at the portal, helpfully labelled 'DESTRUCTION'S END'. She shrugged. "Shall we?"
"Bosses first," replied Kyle, with a bow.
They stepped through.
Kitsilan used Magic Arrow almost exclusively to take down the Ancients, Baal's Minions, and Baal. She tried Guided Arrow out a few times, but between its mana cost and her own liking for placing Decoys at will, it remained a very secondary attack. Magic Arrow is what she does best, after all.
She ended Act 5 without dying, though Kyle needed resurrecting once or twice, and never after Kitsilan began using a Valkyrie. She was level 46 when she killed Baal and earned her new title, Slayer.
strength: 79 dexterity: 127 vitality: 112 energy: 26 Magic Arrow damage: 46-156 Magic Arrow Attack Rating: 1111 Defence Rating: 228 stamina: 254 life: 459 mana: 160 fire resistance: 36 cold resistance: 67 lightning resistance: 71 poison resistance: 58 Magic Arrow 10 Cold Arrow 2 (prereq) Multi-Shot 2 (prereq) Guided Arrow 6 Critical Strike 10 Dodge 6 Avoid 7 Evade 2 Inner Sight 2 Slow Missiles 2 Decoy 2 Valkyrie 2 Penetrate 6 Pierce 4 Snowy Short War Bow of the Leech, 2 sockets: pTopaz, Ral rune Stealth runeworded gothic plate Tarnhelm jade amulet of the bat Stone Turn crafted blood ring Corruption Coil rare ring garnet plated belt of might amber light plated boots of speed Bone Grip light gauntlets iron large charm of inertia azure small charm of strength azure grand charm of inertia snake's grand charm azure large charm large charm of the glacier rugged small charm of blight small charm of life iron grand charm of dexterity azure small charm of shock small charm of frost