In Training, a Role-playing (minorly) Tournament!

Vang

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In Training, a Role-playing (minorly) Tournament!

Story

Your a nephalem. But are unaware of your power. The elders have been foretold that one day, someone from the village would harness the power of the nephalem and protect them. During the night, the village guard saw strange lights emitting from your home and woke the elders. The elders came to you in the morning and spoke of the prophecy to you about the strangeness that happened the night before. The village elders knew that although you maybe the one they call a nephalem, you would need to be trained, because you are clumsy and untrained with weapons and spells to protect the village. The elders took to the surrounding areas and reached out to Kaysha, the Rogue trainer to teach you the ways of the bow. To Greiz tasked to Lut Gholein and tactics with spears, polearms, and javelins. If you live you shall then learn to harness one of the elemental powers from the Iron Wolves Clan and reach out to Asheara, to be start your training in fire, lightning , or cold. Finally once you have learned an elemental power make your way to Harrogath by any means necessary to learn from Qual-Kehk and his barbarian brothers in the way of the sword.

Play style by act for Normal and Nightmare:

Act 1: During Act 1 you will either hire a mercenary at level 8 or upon Blood Ravens death, and drop your primitive tools and learn the ways of the bow. You may utilize a bow -1, the same, or +1 from what they are using. (Detailed later)

Act2: You shall contact Greiz and enlist a guard of your choices. You may use a Spear, Polearm, or javelin type weapon with restrictions tied to each class. (If you use a javelin, a shield maybe used)

Act3: You shall enlist an Iron Wolf who cast the element you wish to learn. During this act you shall only deal elemental damage of your chosen element type and physical damage. (Magic and Poison damage go away!) (No weapons are restricted, just elements so a weapon(or skills) that adds magic, poison, or an element that you are not choosing can not be used.)

Act4: You may hire and use any mercenary at the start of the act, but once they are vanquished in Normal or Nightmare, you may not resurrect them and must go the rest of the Act without a mercenary.

Act5: You shall hire a Barbarian that you saved who has sworn and oath to train you in the ways of the blade. From their one you and your oath-bound Barbarian shall press forward until certain doom as you face the hordes that are Baal’s minions.

NM only: Go back to normal and hire the mercenary before you venture out at the start of the act if they are quest bound (applies to Act 3 and Act 5)

HELL:
For those of you that are actually a nephalem, you shall choose a specialty from your chosen master and use them the entire difficulty following their weapon restrictions . Choose wisely as you may not switch to a new mercenary. They maybe resurrected in Act 4.

Restrictions

You are restricted to the weapon type of your mercenary for Act 1,2, and 5 mercenaries. You may use a weapon of their type they have equipped at a -1, same or +1.

Example of a Rogue is you may use a Short Bow, Hunting Bow, or Long Bow if your Rogue is using a Hunting Bow. If they are using a Long War Bow, you may use a Short War Bow, Long War Bow, or Edge Bow.

Act 2 mercenary can equip Spears, Javelins, and Polearms. Each type follows its own path. You may use a shield if using a javelin.

Act 5 Barbarian’s utilize one or two handed swords and each are considered separate types.. If you are using a 1-handed sword you may utilize a shield or dual wield (You may dual wield two-handed swords if a barbarian).
(Example, Your barbarian mercenary has a Giant Sword equipped, you equip a Claymore and a Bastard Sword)

Act 3

The Iron Wolves force you to specialize in an elemental type.

You must find a way to equip in the following average damage of an element (use a skill such as Fireclaws, sorceress skills, auras, etc.), weapon, circlet, charms, socket with runes some elemental damage of the chosen element to meet the minimum damage requirement, must include how obtained in write-ups)

Normal
Cold: 15
Fire: 20
Lightning: 25

NM
Cold:50
Fire:75
Lightning:100

Hell
Cold:100
Fire:150
Lightning:200

*You may cast armors, teleport, and energy shield if a sorceress with any element. Any damage attack, spell, or aura that adds elemental damage must be from that type of element (Example, Fire aura if using fire)

*Note, if using skeletal mages you may utilize your element +poison. A necromancer may use a Fire Golem and Corpse explosion if choosing fire for example.

Spirit of the tournament:

Some classes will be easier than others and be open to many builds. You may roleplay as much or as little as you would like. There is no reason you can’t be a fully viable sorceress wielding a bow as you don’t know as a character that a powerful bow doesn’t exist that is made for a sorceress.

FAQ:
0. CTC do not apply to restrictions, we are going off the LCS!
1. Vengeance can’t be used with Iron Wolves
2. Holy Bolt and other magic damage can not be used in Act 3.

Last but not least:

Basic tournament rules:


1. 1.07+ and any forum accepted mods with patches
2. HC only
3. No limit to tries.
4. Single pass or rerunning, players choice (Noted non-SP will lose bragging rights if they are successful against the minions of Hell and Baal)
5. You are heavily restricted to weapons and some skills.
6. Atma/GoMule is allowed as extended stash only.
7. No save and exit when your about to bit the dust.
8. Any player settings. You may choose to cheese for chest. You master maybe a master of thievery and train you well!
 
From the diary of Iwein, a young man from Shetford:

The strangest thing happened today: The Village elders of our little town of Shetford sought me out this morning, while I was (again) still dreaming a restless dream about horrors beyond imagination: good people being tortured by beings without form, fire engulfing the world and one terrible being, whose name brings shudders to my bones and who is so terrifying that my brain refuses to even acknowledges its existence...for weeks I awoke in terror...but I digress (the beer from yesterday's party at my friend's place might have something to do with all of this, but I am not sure...)

The village elders woke me, and while I was still trying to shake of the nightmare dreams I had (and grabbing for my blanket trying to hide my parts - gosh would that have been embarassing to show off my bum to Gayala, the eldest among elders who everyone calls grandma!) I slowly realized what they were telling me: that I was to be a Nephalem, whatever that may be, and that I had to be trained. I was mostly chopping wood and mucking out the stables so far in my life, and I was not sure what they meant by training. But sure it souned better than that.

They told me, I was to travel to a woman named Kaysha, who was meant to train me in the art of the bow. Well, I always wanted to learn archery and travel the world, so they gave me my old grandpa's Short Sword and Buckler and sent me on my way.

Upon reaching the Rogue Encampment, I was a bit disappointed by the woman Kaysha: She was the bossy type and a redhead on top of that, not really what I was looking for...
Screenshot004.jpg

The others were much nicer though, and one guy named Warriv said something about Diablo...upon hearing that name, me hearing vanished, my sight too, and I found myself on the floor again. That name...I thought I knew what, no, who he meant...

Anyways, there seem to be some maidens in distress at this camp here, so of course I will show them what a good lad from Shetford is able to do.



Great idea there, Vang (again!)! This will heavily cut into the time I have for the random tournament, but what is another tournament character parked among the other 28?

Introducing

Iwein, level 1 (supposedly?) Nephalem-to-be, gaining Paladin powers as he rises in power.
 
I probably won't join, but if I do - I'm assuming the spirit of the tournament is that your kills must come from the weapon (or elemental damage in A3)? If I roll a druid for example, I can't just go for a wind druid that happens to wield a bow?
 
I probably won't join, but if I do - I'm assuming the spirit of the tournament is that your kills must come from the weapon (or elemental damage in A3)? If I roll a druid for example, I can't just go for a wind druid that happens to wield a bow?

Nope, a Wind druid wielding a bow is perfectly acceptable. RP as much or as little as you like in this tournament, the weapon restrictions alone will dampen your almighty wind power I imagine.

@Grisu well, that was one hell of a write-up. Maybe I should of did my two line intro prior, guess I'll have to expand it a bit!



I have joined with Felnor, the druid in training.

Felnor comes from a long line of woodsman who are used to chopping down trees for firewood. Felnor enjoys spirits, but is unsure about who he is now. He feels like he has an inner beast that is waiting to escape from him. Unable to quell the beast, Felnor begrudgingly accepted the elders request to go train.

Felnor was quite happy along the route to the Rogue encampment as it was a 3 day journey and 3 days of hard good drinking at local inns as the elders gave him some "good riddance" gold as he set off. Upon finally reaching the Rogue encampment and talking to Kaysha she scoffed as his statue and gave him a club and a buckler. She told him that darkness has befallen and that for a mighty woodsman who chops trees for firewood should have no trouble dispatching an undead rogue in the cemetery. Seek me out after you vanquish our fallen undead sister and we shall then teach you the ways of the bow.

Felnor, Woodsman turned druid and maybe a nephalem.
 
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So I ventured into the Blood Moor, using my old granpa's Short Sword to send them to their afterlives (do Demons have an afterlife, I wonder?). It was really no difficult task to cleanse the Den of Evil of Evil (heh - see what I did there?), and so - who would have thought? - only Akara was satisfied with me, but Kaysha still wanted proof of my abilities before she would offer one of her rogues to train me in the pointy skill of archery...*grumble* well, so I went on to the Cold Plains, where more strange monsters tried to "dissuade" me from my adventure. I disassembled them in return, and after a big pile of undead and demon bodies I was finally allowed to choose my future mistress of the Bow. Screenshot005.jpg

I felt some strange affinity to fire grow in me, and man was I surprised when suddenly fire started blazing around me and monsters started screamin in pain when I came near them! Every blow I delivered and every arrow I fired seemed to be bestowed with - dare I say it? - heavenly fire...so no surprise I picked Elexa and her Fire Arrow Skills to teach me the way of the bow.

We started with point blank range shooting:
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And continued with bigger targets, slightly increasing the firing distance (man, my word plays are so clever!)
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Then we did some taget shooting under pressure and into the frey, trying to hit the critical targets first:
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and then...that name again...that name that still haunts me in my dreams...
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Of course my first thought was: Why me!? But on second glance, it made sense: If I was a glorious Paladin in shiny armor already, slaying Evil left and right, wouldn't Diablo already have come after me? So I took the place as the underdog willingly, smiling inwardly: being the underdog was no news to me! It was the same back at home, where I was always the underdog when it came to girls...wait, maybe that is a bad comparison, after all, I never got a girlfriend...anyways, you know what I mean! (err, do you?)



Anyways, on I went and I found one of the legendary weapons of old in a place I least expected - in the jail! For all I know, this might even be the weapon of choice when I have to face Diablo and maybe even more terrors (have I told you, my dreams are hinting at this? Also, in stories, you have to do everything 3 times...why should it be any diferent in my story??)
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My archery training (and this mysterious fire I was able to wield) paid off in the end, when I was facing Andariel. Yeah, sure, I do like girls dressed sparingly, but come on, this is kind of looking ridicuolous...especially on a 16 feet tall demoness...

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...did anyone ever notice, that every major Evil seems to be female? Blood Raven, the Countess, Andariel...(if someone wants to point out that the Smith is missing...he really can't hold a candle to those ladies...he can't even keep hold of his hammer!)

And thus opened the skies and a heavenly beam of fire *splash* *kaboom* disintegrated the Maiden of bad wardrobe taste.
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On we go...(turn page to read more of my adventures!)
 
I followed Diablo into the desert, where according to the village elders I first had to talk to Greiz, who offered to teach me the way of the Spear. I wanted to thank Elexa for teaching me the Way of the Bow, but she avoided looking me into the eye:
Goodbyes.jpg
That startled me - was she just being shy? Or did she see something of the madness in me that befell me each night? Or - worse - was it ... me being the underdog with girls again and still losing? I will never know, I guess. She went without a word and left me with this Hazade fellow, who seems like a nervous guy, running this way and that way. I constantly have to tell him what to do:

Screenshot031.jpg

I quickly learned, that the Way of the Spear was my certain way to death:


Hit RecooveryFrames
CharacterEquipped weapon171615141312111098765432
PaladinSpears and staves0371320324875129280
Other weapons0715274886200

So I sat down with Hazade and diplomatic and articulate me discussed the definition of "Way of the Spear", resulting in "long staff-like thingy with pointy or blady end". Hey, nobody told me I couldn't teach my masters something in return for their teachings! So here is how we went out into the desert:
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Good thing I am not a Paladin or I would have wept tears of joy when I found this relic of old:
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But growing up on a farm, a scythe was more to my liking - "look at meee, I'm shi-hi-nyyy"
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Was there a sellout of legendary items at Walmarts?



Walmart sale.jpg


Well, I somehow got the notion of becoming a porn star all of a sudden...never thought about that before ("thou shallst not lie!" a voice thundered in my head), but in the back of my brain a strange name kept popping up...no, not Diablo, it sounded more like "Diggler", although I don't know what that is supposed to mean...

anyways, that ring looked nice and felt good, so I tried to put it on but discovered that besides having 10 fingers, I was only able to put on 2 rings! Every time I tried to put on a 3rd ring, it seemed to shrink to a size too small to fit my fingers...but once I removed one, there was nothing like that. I wonder, what the meaning of this is...but I guess, only the bearded guy above knows...
DavidBrevik.jpg


Even with only two rings I was able to face Duriel, although I should have maybe worked out more and done something about my health...but I was holding back in case I needed to train for heavier weapons.

Screenshot053.jpg

Man, this bug hit hard! I was lucky to have some purple potions with me (and Hazade - thanks for taking some hits for me, bro!) because he did not kid around! Luckily my heavenly fires really did bother him very much, and he went down quickly without the chance to hit me more than 3 or 4 times.
Screenshot054.jpgScreenshot055.jpg

Now Meshif is going to ship me and Hazade to a town called Kurast...I wonder, what awaits me there? I mean, come on: Half-nude kink demoness, big bad bug, what is next? The day of the tentacle?
 
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Yeah, Felnor has passed.

Felnor started out and was able to dispatch the deadite rogue Blood Raven to prove himself worthy as to be trained.

Screenshot112.jpg

Felnor learned the power of molten rocks and was able to subdue many enemies. Upon reaching the monastery Kyoko led him to fight a Demon they called the Smith who forged weapons for the foul demons they faced. Kyoko and him dispatched the demon after many close calls. Kyoko told Felnor to press on towards the Jail. Felnor tossed a molten rock at spear women who must have been given powerful weapons by the smith as they scoffed at his rocks. They surrounded him while Kyoko called to him to stay close, but a demon spearwoman blocked his escape. Kyoko tried to save Felnor and was unable to slay the demon who blocked his path.

Kyoko told Kashya about Felnor's dead and she paid her respects and told the village elders that Felnor was not the chosen one, but maybe someone else from his family maybe. The village elders spoke to Felnors brother who was a skulking pale looking man, Igor. Igor saddened by the news stated he would avenge his brother and hoped that he himself was the chosen one.

So Igor the Necromancer who summons his dead brother as a golem has decided to answer the call!
 
Igor upon entering the Rogue camp was greeted by the inhabitants warmly. They heard that Igor, Felnor's brother was coming prior to his arrival. He had learned a minor ability to raise a skeleton with a magic wand prior to coming. Igor fancied the teachings of Rathma and wanted badly to speak to his brother again. Having read about the art of raising a golem, he decided to dabble in it to learn to raise something so at some point he could put his brother's soul in to. This would allow him to trap it in the mortal realm to help him finish his quest.

Igor learned that earth makes a slow, but hefty golem.

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He continued to learn in the way of the bow.

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Igor continued on and found the malus that was dropped by the Smith that his brother dropped and was not recovered. He then pressed on and found his way into the Catacombs which led him to Andariel, a nasty vile demon that stood no match for Raissa and Him while being pelted with a barrage of arrows while Igor conjured the words to curse the she-witch.

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Igor sought out the guardsman and after much debate wanting a Healing mercenary to help heal his army of the dead so they could fight on until the spell wears off. Upon talking to Atma, he was given the task to dispatch the undead menace in the sewer, who it came to be was Radament, and old man who was jealous he was not to succeed the throne. Upon looting his chest he came across:

HoradricScroll.gif

This powerful scroll contained the binding spell to a golem that would transfer metallic objects to the life and thus maybe, through time and training he could get his brother's spirit to attaching and they could speak again.

The scroll told him he would need to slay an undead powerful spellcaster who was know just a trapped soul swinging a sword. Upon his death the spellcaster would teach him this binding. Thus we set out to rid the desert of evil and to obtain the knowledge we need!

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We searched the Halls of the Dead and found only another Horadric Artifact capable of powerful transmutations, but it was not what we wanted.

Then finally while seeing the remnants of a Lost City we came upon an opening and their was the undead spellcaster name Bone Fist. We slain him and we able to now use material objects to create golems!

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Arise my brother!

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Igor continued on his path and became the hero of the desert after the demon Duriel took Baal's place! These demons must have a grand plan up their sleeve. Duriel posed a challenge to my brother's encasement and after the second resurrection he told me that a golem made of blood that could return damage would be a better fit against Duriel. I followed his advice and he was correct. He was then made of a sword that had a leeching property, hopefully this would help bind his soul.

Upon reaching act 3 I sought out Asheara, who told me about the Iron Wolves.
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After speaking to her I talked to Jabari who taught me some about the elements and asked what abilities I have learned thus far. He then looked down at my trophy I was using and stated that would not work if I was to be trained in the elemental arts. I said it allows minor poisoning and he stated, part of my training forbid poison damage while learning elemental magics. I was saddened and he handed me a small shield.

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Going to have to find a new one. We continued discussing items and he had me seek out Ormus for a new wand that inflicted fire if I needed to use it in defense and told me to focus on fire during my training. He said you may summon Fire magi to assist you, no other element and I reluctantly agreed to the terms. He said my ability to blast a corpse was suitable for the fire task and while using the golem I needed to find a way to incorporate fire damage if I choose to use the Iron golem.

And so the Spider Forest awaits my entrance.
 
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Well its been a long time my friends, Slam thought to himself as he wandered into the local tavern.
"Barkeep, where have my friends gone?" Inquired Slam.
"They all perished when the village elders told them they were Nephalem and sent them on a journey," replied the Barkeep.
"Felnor, Igor, and our secret friend who thought she was an assassin that never made it to the charts and name who is forgotten?"
"Yep, all of them" Barkeep said.
"Well I, Slam, am the Nephalem and this I decree! I should use my righteousness and destroy them all, or at least up to Kurast Slam," smugly stated.




Slam has made it to the Flayer Jungle. His is using Fire aura for damage and is focusing on the element of fire during Act 3.

During Act 1 he utilized a bow to great success against the vile demoness.
During Act 2 Leharas taught him the way of the spear and utilized it until Tal Rasha's Tomb. Leharas said, you are a paladin Slam and thus you need to carry your shield against the vile demon we will face soon. Learn the ways of a javelin type weapon so that you may throw it and then close the gap to melee yourself to victory. And that is what happened.

Slam, Level 25 Fire-aura-din to be changed soon!

Screenshot178.jpg
 
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Slam and Scorch waded through the jungle, the ancient city of Kurast (even the tunnels underneath!), and was able to dispatch the council that guardian the entrance to Mephisto. We slayed him quite easily after we found a new weapon (Bloodrise) which gave us a hefty amount of attack rating and caused bleeding (open wounds).

Heading into the Plains of Despair we found Izual and dispatched him to help Tyrael rest a bit easier.

Upon entering the City of the Damned, Scorch was surrounded and was killed by demons.

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Slam, now most face the Lord of Terror by himself. He shuddered in fear. He did found that getting to Diablo was rough and the Balrogs guarding the seals were vicious in nature causing Slam to retreat and CHARGEEE into them and doing repeated ambush attacks to spread them out so he could go toe to toe with their inferno breath!

The Lord of Terror was summoned and Slam had gathered even strength to increase his resistances to Diablo's lightning breath and was able to vanquish the Lord of Terror quite easily.

After rescuing the Barbarians, one came to show him the way of the sword. Upon reaching Anya, she gave Slam a shield she happened upon that was great (upgraded instantly!)

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Slam dispatched minions and minions upon minions for 10 levels to increase his strength before finally slaying Baal and those undead minions dropped Skystrike so that he could use it to train again when he needed a bow to finish his mastery of archery with the Rogues.

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(Holy shock smokes through Act 1 on /p1 really effectively with just the aura)


Slam, level 51 Telsadin visiting the dark and grim Jail below the Monastery
 
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Well to summarize without any RPing, I got killed in flayer jungle by a lightning enchanted monster with stumps for arms. He hit hard.

Grisu, its up to you know as I don't think I'll be re-entering this tournament.


Thinks I liked: Fun to roll through with different weapons and mercenaries. Things I didn't like: Act 3 mercenary.

dead.JPG

Narrowly escaped death here (notice the conviction aura from Lightning archers...)

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Need the almighty attack rating!
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Not the worst drop.

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I fully intend to continue my character, but I find it hard to switch between different tournament characters - so for now, I will focus on my orange tournament character, and come back to this later (as well to some other unfinished tournaments from 2006 to 2019...). I think this tournament really is a great idea and it would be a shame not to continue!
 
I fully intend to continue my character, but I find it hard to switch between different tournament characters - so for now, I will focus on my orange tournament character, and come back to this later (as well to some other unfinished tournaments from 2006 to 2019...). I think this tournament really is a great idea and it would be a shame not to continue!

Yet another case for Exhibition Mode! I will get around to getting that up and running at some point, I swear!
 
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