I still had a little bit of the Glacial Trail to clear, and this time, I faced Frenzytaurs. These guys are one of the few types that can consistently dice up a mighty valkyrie. The last bit of the map had a nasty Extra Fast/Strong/Might boss pack, and a dreaded urn. (I once lost a tourney HC character to an Act 5 frenzytaur urn.) This time, I was safe. The urn spawned wimpy mages.
Frozen Tundra had vultures, goats, and witches. Not too bad, so I went to p5. This would hopefully get me to level 87, before the final cave areas.
p3 for the Infernal Pit bonus area, with salamanders, witches, and damn frenzytaurs
again. I took a minion salamander charge, which cost me over 900 life!
It was tough clearing those maps, but I did hit 87, then lowered the setting to p1.
When it comes to rough monster types, Ancient's Way is usually a mixed bag, and this time was no different. Upon entering, the merc chose a path towards some quill rats and cold mages. Easy!
Thirty seconds later, I'm frantically positioning my team to withstand 6 champ frenzytaurs. Ouch! We slowly lost ground, but at p1 Mizan was able to inflict big damage in between valk recasts. After the third one fell (a Berserker), I regained control. Again I faced the possibility of Frenzytaur urns, and again I lucked out with cold mages. I cleared the whole map, and finally found the Icy Cellar entrance. Time to see what good ol' Snapchip has to offer.
Good entrance, free of monsters, into the corner of the map. (Much better than the nasty center island entrance). The merc decided to follow the bottom wall, and I slowly followed, casting decoy scouts. I find it's best not to fight the merc when choosing a random path, lest I risk waking monsters from both sides.
I expected gloam lightning, but it never came. The entire bottom edge was clear. The next decoy got slaughtered. Frenzytaurs again!! A horrible CEFE Spectral Hit boss pack. I plugged the bridge with a valk cast, and tried to cast a Decoy next to her. But the decoy spawned on the opposite side of the pack, alerting a second boss pack (LE Extra Strong Spectral). Have mercy!
I couldn't hold the bridge; they were too tough. Mizan killed a couple minions, before getting himself killed. This happened a couple more times. Each portal trip, we lost more ground, until I was getting uncomfortably close to the cave entrance. I portaled out, and re-entered the main entrance. Rather than continue that fight, I took the only other option: venturing onto the center island.
No luck there, we got amped by CE boss pack witches and rushed by champ Frenzytaurs. My team was dead by the time I used my safety portal.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place! I used the main entrance again, and made a "last stand" against the remnants of the dual-boss pack. I brought at least 20 full rejuvs, and used most of them to keep Mizan going. Success! But now I was low on purples.
At least now I had room to work with, so I separated the champ frenzytaurs. Mizan blinded and killed the witches. After the center island was clear, I glimpsed across the river to Snapchip's area. It was obscene!
Amping witches, champ frenzytaurs, Holy Freeze/Cursed/Teleport frenzytaur pack, a few snow beasts for back-up, all brightly lit by Snapchip's Fanaticism! And all of them glaring at me... give me a break!
I teased most of the witches over, and lured small groups aside with Decoys. It was painfully slow, but I cleared it safely. There was one evil urn, which spawned witches.
A few unusual finds thus far:
Sazabi's Ghost Liberator (set Balrog Skin)
Marrowwalk
Boneweave Boots (grail item)
Bloody (+3 min) Grand Charm of Sustenance (31)
Carmine (+9 min) Jewel of Bliss (+8 max)
--------------------------
Hell Ancients
After a few rerolls:
Korlic- Extra Fast/ Teleport
Talic- Extra Strong/ Mana Burn
Madawc- Spectral Hit/ Holy Fire
I made a run to the bottom of the map, where Mizan hit Talic with Woestave. I quickly ran all the way to the top, and left Talic in the dust. Mizan battled Korlic while the valk attacked Madawc. This worked for a while, and then suddenly Talic rejoined us. No problem, the valk tanked him and Madawc. Mizan
worked on Korlic, and the position held until Korlic was slivered and began teleporting. Madness ensued, and I was targeted as our formation broke down. Talic clipped me down to 500 life, then killed Mizan. As I ducked behind pillars, the valk finished Korlic. No problems after that. She easily finished Talic and Madawc.
I jumped right into the WSK. Flayers, unholy corpses, and witches. While amped, the zombie charges hit hard enough to kill Mizan a couple times.
Level 2 was another tense barn burner, with 3 kinds of lightning foes: shocking bats, scarab beetles, and BLACK SOULS!
Mizan got the Woestave again. It was a trench war, I darted from one obstacle to another, shielding myself with anything available.
What fun!
I took a few stray bursts, but nothing removed more than half my life. I regretted not having Blackhorn's available for Mizan, but he held up pretty well with a few rejuvs. Decoy held up well too. Nevertheless, it was so tense, I didn't even care when a semi-rare Lem rune plopped in front of me.
Level 3 was another cruel joke. PI Cursing Witches, Oblivion Knights, and why not some more Frenzytaurs? Slow progress (with lots of resurrections) clearing one wing. The next wing started with Extra Fast/Extra Strong Frenzytaurs and champ knights. If I had started that wing first, with zero retreating room... I don't want to think about it! :shocked:
The Throne level had a minor stair trap of witches and vampires, easily handled. Did you think I was done with Frenzytaurs? Not a chance! 5 out of the last 8 maps had them, let's do it again! This time there were no boss packs. Even so, the minion waves were a welcome relief!
I attempted Baal at p3. Eventually, I lured him out, and Mizan hit him with Woestave. All that slowing/chilling tamed him, so I added some
punches. Alkithoe loves to help out. CB from Mizan's Duress wore him down, after which I switched his armors with topaz gear. Baal dropped one S/U, Tal's mask.
Guardian is a nice title, but I won't be satisfied until I defeat Hell Cows. Nothing is certain, but I like my chances. So much has gone right for Alkithoe, I can't imagine a bunch of stupid cows will defeat her. :scratch:
If all goes well, my next post will have a full breakdown of Alkithoe's final stats.
Guardian Alkithoe, 1.11 naked HC zon, level 87, Act 1 Hell, Cow Level