That was Hell
The Flames of Hell
Balboa wasn't looking forward to the River of Flame. He'd heard reports of infernal maggots that filled the path as far as the eye could see. A long, labourious ordeal seemed likely.
There were two reasons why the ordeal was anything but arduous. First, no maggots were in evidence and second, employing an archer instead of a spearsman makes for a better kill rate, it seems. Gumby
held the monsters at bay and Aliza loosed arrow after arrow. It wasn't all plain sailing, of course. Balboa was often engaged in a
battle of wits against bands of Abyss Knights.
It seemed that Gumby could hold off
any number of enemies, but immediately after this picture, the dam gave way and we were chased for many, many yards by Venom Lords. It took some time before we were able to make a stand and restore order. Time and again, Aliza
proved her worth.
We met Hadriel and so had to double back as we had missed the Hell Forge somehow. Hephasto
looked strong, but was
no match for Gumby and Aliza. An Ort rune was found after we smashed Mephisto's Soulstone - excellent, this is one of the runes Balboa wants for his Lore helmet. The gate to the Chaos Santuary was
well guarded, but inevitably fell to us.
Diablo's Sanctuary
The group asked more and more of Gumby as they neared the Seals. Sometimes it was necessary to
help him out. Balboa's research had suggested that he turn left at the pentacle, as there was a rumour that the creatures are somewhat weaker that way.
He was right.
The middle spur was taken next and revealed a
former thief, but still dangerous opponent. The final spur and the last seals nearly proved our undoing.
Unsure which of the Seals would release a hoard of monsters, Balboa guessed wrong and was unprepared for the sheer speed and number of Venom Lords that descended on our group. A single golem could not hope to stem the tide and minions of the Infector of Souls charged Balboa and Aliza. We were forced to portal out and retry. A cautious return was met with massed ranks as before and our group fled from them. In the footrace that followed, it was the Infector himself, plus a single minion, that were left when we abruptly
turned to face them. Isolated, they were no problem for us. The rest of his evil gang were hunted down and slain.
The final Seal was opened and we braced ourselves against the shaking ground. We rushed to the Pentacle where we assumed Diablo would appear. Decrepify was readied, and cast the instant Diablo appeared. Gumby was a split second behind. The battle had begun.
The lightning hose attack took Aliza down in a heartbeat - Balboa had to rally himself and think fast. Retreat was the only option, a terrible start to the encounter.
Aliza was resurrected and battle re-joined. Careful placement of the team was important, we strove always to form a triangle around the Demon. Aliza couldn't always be relied upon to
follow orders. The lightning from Diablo couldn't kill Gumby in one go, but put him deep in the yellow, making him vulnerable to Diablo's fire attacks. Regular recasting of the golem, plus occasional healing for himself, played havoc with Balboa's potion supply. AmpDam replaced Decrepify, as the damage rate was just too low and the mana cost too high. And then, when you thought things could not
get worse ...
Balboa didn't panic, to his credit. The portal he cast was out of reach, but he had the Crushflange in his backpack, and so set about freeing himself (keeping an eye upon the battle whilst he did so). Once free, and in desperation, Balboa charged Diablo with the unique mace. He was unable to score many hits though, as his priority was always to avoid being the primary target. Aliza required another resurrection at one point but after what seemed a long time,
Diablo was weakening. He still had
some tricks up his sleeve, off course. And then, incredibly, it was
all over. Breathing heavily, our group gazed around them; Diablo's treasure looked like
this.
Tech Stuff/Blurb
Before I entered the CS, the four unspent Skill Points I had were placed in GM. 30 Stats points were put into Vitality, giving me over 300 life - I'm glad I did this! The battles were pretty much as I had envisaged them although I must say the Infector of Souls upset me somewhat.
The two greens I received from BigD were Civerb's Ward (stashed) and Sigon's shelter (on the merc). The rares were junk.
The sheer amount of running around I did against Diablo was mind-boggling, all the while shuffling or drinking potions, re-casting curses and CG, and looking out for Aliza. When I added my own attack with Crushflange, I found I was near the limits of what I could manage. I don't know exactly how long the fight lasted, probably a little over fifteen minutes. That was one fun battle! :thumbsup:
Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 35, Act 5, Harrogath
