The
Continuing Ironman Saga of Roede and Taoni - Taoni_the_Fell
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The
Continuing Ironman Saga of Roede and Taoni - Taoni_the_Fell
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As we left Normal, a grateful townspeople offered to identify all our items. What we carried out of the game was as follows: Roede.Orm carried out -- Saintly Gothic Plate, Ivory Gothic Shiield of the Wolf, a crown, Crimson Breast Plate of the Stars, an Iron Flail, a Mace of Vampires, a Mace of Speed, a Blade of the Stars, a King’s Dagger of the Stars (!!!, nice!), a Bow of Shock, a Staff of Heal, an Amulet of Precision, a Silver Ring of Power, a Ring of Vigor, and several pieces of lesser jewelry along with some scrolls (res and ID). Taoni_the_Fell carried out -- Mail of Accuracy, Cobalt Small Shield of the Tiger, an Iron Blade, Helm of Eagles, An Ammy of the Titans, a Crystal Ring, an Ammy of the Tiger, a Helm of Sorcery, an Amber Full Helm, a Short Battle Bow of Fire, a Staff of Resurrect, an Azure Longbow of the Moon, a Bow of the Moon, and various pieces of lesser jewelry and some scrolls again. As we entered Nightmare difficulty with our 64k of gold (the amount allowed into Nightmare according to KoP’s website regarding continuing Ironman games), we first checked with Wirt. He offered the rogue Rags of the Lion (bah!) and the warrior a Kite Shield of the Ages (Bah!). Griswold’s pickings were also bad -- we actually mulled over not purchasing anything and saving the money to carry over to Hell difficulty, but since this contingency is addressed on KoP’s website we decided we shouldn’t try to set a precedent at this time. Instead, we bought various poor, cheap items hoping that Gris would replace them with better. It was not to be so. We finally ended up with some Mail of Sorcery, a Crimson Large Shield, and a Jade Long Battle Bow, along with various shields, helms, and swords of the ages that we were not planning on using. Then, while handling the Jade Bow while still in town, lag ATE it! This certainly did not bode well! We also purchased the 16 potions allowed at game start, and 2 ID and 2 Res scrolls and recharged all our staves and repaired what arms and armor we could. PART TWO: THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHTMARE Seventh Session -- Dec. 4th 2001. Total playing time 8 hours. Nightmare Level One -- the usual suspects. Shrines: none. Drops: book Heal, book CB, staff heal(34), ID scroll, ID scroll, ID scroll Becasue the warrior
eventually falls behind the rogue in getting experience, we had Roede
solo this level (indeed, the whole Church). Roede’s gear brought
over from Normal proved more than up to the task; as soon as a decent
weapon dropped, Roede switched so as to spare the durability of his good
gear. Nightmare Level Two -- Scavengers, Plague Eaters, Rotting Carcasses, Burning Deads, Fiends Shrines: none. Drops: ID scroll, ID scroll, ID scroll, staff heal (38), amulet (scavenger), amulet (Burning Dead), unique bow (Deadly Hunter by its stats, although we did not ID it; dropped by a plague eater), quilted armor (Butcher), Hunter’s Bow (Shadowbite). Roede soloed except
for the Butcher, who was stair-trapped and eliminated by the rogue. Nightmare Level Three -- Corpse Axes, Burning Deads, Skeleton Captains, Dark Ones Shrines: Magical; Purifying Spring! Drops: Res scroll, book FW, long battle bow, long war bow, short war bow, amulet (Corpse Axe), Crown (Leo). Roede soloed entire
level; even Leo was no contest. Nightmare Level Four -- Devil Kin, Dark Ones, Burning Dead Captains, Corpse Captains, Horror Archers, Black Deaths. Shrines: Glimmering (!), Blood Fountain(!!), Murky Pool. Drops: elix Str, res scroll, book TK, hunter’s bow, claymore, amulet (Horror Archer). Roede soloing. The
Horror Archers create some problems, but with a Purifying Spring and a
Blood Fountain in the maze, Roede drinks whenever he needs to. Nightmare Level Five -- Hiddens, Horror Captains, Dark Ones, Shadow Beasts, Stone Clan Mace Goats. Shrines: Fascinating, Goat, and Goat (ignored). Drops: Elix Mag, book Heal, book Heal , book Heal, short war bow (noted: high durability), studded leather, great axe (Shadowdrinker), ring (Shadowcrow). Taoni solos most of
level, calling to Roede for help when she ran into bosses. Some desynce
here, with Roede and Taoni seeing different drops from foes, and bookcases
that remained “active” after being used by one or the other
party member. Roede drops turned out to be “ghost drops”, in
that when he would attempt to pick them up they would simply disappear. Nightmare Level Six -- Flesh Clan Goats, Sone Clan Goats, Familiars, Bone Gashers, Acid Beasts. Shrines: Creepy(Taoni)/Holy(Roede). Drops: book HO, book TK, book Inferno, tower shield 13, amulet (dog), amulet (Deathspit), kite shield 15 (Deathshade). Taoni successfully
soloed most of the level, but our first death occurs here too. Taoni is
handling the opponents well when she sees a tell-tale boss glow in a very
small room. She opens the door and no foes are activated. She quickly
tosses in a stone curse and steps in. The curse was good, it got Deathshade
Fleshmaul, but a single Familiar is in the room also. As Taoni begins
shooting Deathshade the Familiar attacks. Taoni -- health already low
due to other encounters -- has to switch to the Familiar and quickly guns
it down. But she isn’t quite quick enough, as Deathshade comes out
of stone curse and steps up next to the rogue. From that point he pummels
her (with stunlock) to death. Roede hears the deathcry and comes geared
to the max. When he enters the level, Deathshade moves to try to intercept,
but instead walks to the end of a dead end corridor. Roede finds Taoni’s
body and resurrects her. Together they hunt down and kill Deathshade --
sweet revenge! Nightmare Level Seven -- Acid Beasts, Familiars, Stone Goat Archers, Fire Goat Archers. Shrines: Religious. Drops: book Heal, book CB, book Flash, book MS, book Inferno, elix Vit, ID scroll, ID scroll, amulet (dog), Axe (Blightfire). Taoni started solo
on this level while Roede returned to finish level four, but the archer
goats pretty much kicked her @ss. She would engage in one battle and then
have to go to our fountain/spring to drink. Adding to this the fact that
the opponents were severely damaging the durability of her armor, we decided
Taoni should wait until Roede can help out and hopefully “freeze”
some of the archer opponents. This frees Taoni up to work over the goats
at long range without receiving return fire. The rest of the level is
complete classic teamwork, with no incidents. Even Blightfire and his
minions are befuddled by the warrior/rogue combo set at a doorway. Nightmare Level Eight -- Familiars, Night Clan goats, Fire Clan Archers, Night Clan Archers (ouch!). Shrines: goat, weapon’s rack. Drops: book Fb, book Fb, book Fb, book Fb, book Heal, elix Vit, Elix Vit, Elix Str, ID scroll, short war bow, gothic plate, amulet (Night Goat), ring (Night Goat), Maul (weapon’s rack). Classic teamwork defeats
all foes -- except Mr. Murphy! Just before we finish the level, Taoni
(game creator) loses her internet connection, and since Roede plays from
behind a firewall, this means we cannot bring in mules to “mule out”
any of the major items we have found in levels One through Eight! Doh!
In order to know if we should make room in our inventories for some specific
items, and to try to get an edge for the upcoming levels, we decide to
ID 4 shields (looking for a “fast block” shield) and some jewelry.
Our luck is bad -- no fast block, and the jewelry is nearly all crap.
We do keep and pack a topaz Tower shield, a snakes ring, and a ring of
zest. Eighth Session, December 12th, 2001 -- 3 hours 45 minutes Nightmare Level Nine: Horned Demons, Gargoyles. Shrines: none. Drops: long battle bow, long sword, falchion. We have a nice set
spot right next to the entry stairs; it’s where a wall, lots of barrels,
and a peninsula lead opponents to a point where we can finish them off
with bows. After about 40 foes were dispatched in this way, we call it
a warrior’s level and have Roede finish it. Nightmare Level Ten: Lava Lords, Toad Demons, Pit Beasts. Shrines: none. Drops: elix Mag, elix Str, elix Dex, staff lightning, cape, falchion, small shield, amulet (dog). From this level onward
Roede has to use his “iron” weapons for better results. We had
troubles at the start of this level, where the rogue accidentally triggers
too many opponents, who then spill past the warrior’s set point to
engage and kill her. Roede managed to fight a retreating battle and kill
them all, but uses up his entire belt of reds doing so. We are warned,
and take the level very slowly after that. End of Session Ninth Session, December 11th, 2001 -- 5 hours 15 minutes. Nightmare Level Eleven: Cave Vipers and Lava Lords. Shrines: none. Drops: book FWave, book Fb, elix Dex, long war bow, ring (ground), amulet (Fangspeir). Roede drops down the
stairs first and finds a Cave Viper waiting to greet him. The combat with
that single foes drops his life by 1/3! Today will be tough going. We
carefully work from set to set, encountering some heavy desync along the
way. Eg.#1: A Lava Lord approaches, and for Roede it looks like he is
appearing/disappearing like an Advocate! It eventually ends up BEHIND
Roede, pounding on Taoni; Roede steps back from his set point to engage.
Then BOTH the foe and Taoni disappear; Taoni reappears three tiles away,
and the Lava Lord one tile away. Roede finally engages it and kills it.
Taoni complains the Lord ignored Roede almost the entire time and pounded
on her. Roede can only shrug, saying he can’t fight what he can’t
see. Eg.#2: when Taoni activates Fangspeir and crew, Roede steps up to
a fence to attract them while Taoni runs down the fence, through a gate,
and closes the gate behind her. From this point, both adventurers break
out bows and begin culling the horde. When Fangspeir falls and there are
only three foes left, however, the remaining minions walk the fence and
then come THROUGH the closed gate! As the warrior has only his bow ready,
they quickly slay him. For Taoni it’s a wild chase-and-stone scene,
with her finally dispatching the last foes and then retrieving a res for
Roede. Bizarre. Nightmare Level Twelve -- Storm Riders, Maelstorms. Shrines: none. Drops: elix Dex, short bow, mace, full helm. Tough going right from the start, with numerous foes pouring in from our right side. No decent trap spot, no narrow passage to funnel foes into, no short alleys to activate only a few opponents. Lag and desync were everpresent. Bad news. However, early on the lag works to our favor in one situation: we face five foes, and when Roede and Taoni cut them down to three, the warrior drops out of the game due to timeout! However, his “ghost” still appears on the screen, and the Storms furiously attack it. In the meantime Taoni slays all three, and Roede returns to the game asking what happened. Taoni politely thanks him for his ghost. But more frequently this would happen: for Taoni, three Maelstorms are brought to the set point in sequence to be dispatched. For Roede, all three appear simultaneously and swarm him under. Dead warrior. Or: two Maelstorms approach and stop just outside the warrior’s set point and begin throwing lightning. The warrior can’t move into the rogue’s line of fire, and the rogue can’t dispatch the foes fast enough. Game disk begins to spin; in the next instant the warrior is dead due to lightning, and the rogue must resort to Stone Curse to dispatch the foes. (Why not use SC all the time? -- after all, there is a Purifying Spring for recharges. The rogue cannot do this as the warrior has to get experience to level up to face Diablo, so the rogue HAS to let opponents attack and then be killed by the warrior.) After both times, Taoni fells the foes and gets the Res staff. Finally, after Taoni
has drawn the entire map and declares the level clear, Roede steps out
from his set point and nine (count ‘em, NINE) Storms appears out
of nowhere! Literally, they materialize out of thin air! Luckily we’ve
each set portals at separate spots, so we each fight retreating actions
and make it to our portals. Afterwards we both come back down via the
stairs and ambush the foes. From then on we have to “double scout”,
as although the level is clear for Taoni (the first scout), as soon a
Roede walks into areas, more foes appear lag /desync/ Mr.Murphy at work
here). It’s a mixed blessing: further chances to be killed weighed
against further possible drops and more experience to be gained. End of Session Tenth Session, December 12th, 2001 -- Seven hours, 20 minutes. Nightmare Level Thirteen: Maelstorms, Snow Witches, Lava Maws (Argh!). Shrines: none. Drops: elix Vit, composite bow, broadsword, small axe, amulet (dog), shortsword (Witchmoon), Field Plate (Doomcloud). We are fortunate to
have a very good set between the stairs and the wall, funneling opponents
down to single file and given some protection against ranged attacks.
Roede starts the level with his King’s dagger, and then after the
set is established switches back to the blade of the stars for the melee
opponents. Witches are Taoni’s responsibility; they end up mostly
frozen by the warrior anyway, their shots ineffectively hitting the staircase
up. Nightmare Level Fourteen: Black Knights, Fire Drakes. Shrines: two cauldrons (both ignored). Drops: res scroll, staff Fb, breast plate, rags, shor bow, short bow, blade, amulet(viper), amulet (chest), ring (viper). We are cut down to
size right at the start: a Knight and Drake together kill the warrior
at the set point. Taoni has to Stone Curse and dispatch them, then raise
Roede. We decide to use the Religious shrine at this point, as Taoni’s
bows are all getting well worn and a dead warrior can’t use his repair
skill. Repaired are: the Saintly Plate, mail of accuracy, crimson plate
of the stars, helm of eagle, helm of sorc, cobalt shield, Leo’s crown
(unided still), the King’s dagger, blade of stars, iron blade, and
the unided short war bow found on level five -- it must be “of plenty”
as it’s durability is 165! Nightmare Level 15: Doomguards, Snow Witches. Shrines: a cauldron (ignored), and a weapon’s rack. Drops: elix Dex, elix Vit, elix Str, warhammer, hunters bow, small axe, short battle bow, ring (knight), broad axe (weapons rack), Messerschmidt’s Reaver (Bloodlust), gothic shield (indestructible; from Black Jade, quilted armor (Red Vex), book of Guardian (Lazarus). The knights are brought
to the set and the warrior takes them; the witches are “frozen”
by the warrior and are the rogue’s business. The warrior switches
between the King’s dagger and the iron blade. Laz’s bodyguards
are brought to the set and stone cursed and killed. Laz himself is frozen
by the warrior standing north of the room; the rogue kills him from long
range shots from the south. After the Laz room is cleared we decide that
the warrior needs to take part in more kills, and so Roede breaks out
a bow while Taoni readies a sword and shield. This proves unworkable as
Taoni can block a knight but not kill it, and a bow-wielding Roede misses
too often and can’t outright kill a knight either. When Witches show
up on the scene, it becomes life-threatening. Taoni stone curses everything
in sight and bails out a scrolled TP, while Roede switches gear (back
to S/S combo) and runs to the far edge of the screen. By the time everything
gets un-cursed, they have lost track of our heroes. Roede carefully walks
back and teases the witches one by one, then runs them into corners and
kills them. The knights are also activated single, and the King’s
dagger dispatches them all. When it’s all clear Roede sends Taoni
a TP to rejoin him; we stay with our traditional roles and finish the
level. At this session’s end we use the Glimmering Shrine and come up with the following: buckler of skill (good!), crimson crown (from Leo), gold blade (very good!), silver falchion of slaying (again, very good!), plate of the wolf, shield of the wolf, massive mace of slaying, and a bunch of cheap jewelry, mostly dex adders and magic adders (glasses). Eleventh Session, December 18th, 2001 -- Six hours Nightmare Level Sixteen, part one: the usual suspects. Drops: elix Str, book FW, staff TP, kite shield, long battle bow, tower shield, short bow, buckler, long war bow, crown (Sir Gorash). Dungeon setup had
the long corridor running North-South, effectively quartering the entire
level. Before attempting the last room we set two portals, one near the third (two lever) room and one in the corridor itself but to the North. Taoni begins working the bodyguards, bringing them back to Roede and his set point. When Diablo gets activated Taoni gives a yell, and we both take off running for the North portal near the top of the corridor. Diablo obligingly give chase. We bail out the top portal, relax in town a bit (allowing big D the time to “cool down”), and then return via the other portal and take out the rest of the bodyguards in the fourth room. No noteworthy drops. Part Two, the finale. When only Diablo himself
remained, we went back to town to load up mules, ready our setups, and
have Roede repair whatever looked like it needed repairs. The rogue wanted
better equipment, and since we still had five unused ID scrolls with us
we used four and identified: Cobalt Tower Shield, Long War Bow of the
Giants, Long Battle Bow of the Heavens, and a Short War Bow of Vigor. Pre-Diablo, Nightmare setting: Roede.Orm, Level 27
Ironman Warrior AC 59, to hit 199%, damage 49-57, resistances all zero. Equipment: ring mail of accuracy +14 dex, Crown of vigor +18 vit, Buckler of skill +10 Dex, amulet of titans +29 Str, Ring of precision +18 Dex, Silver Ring of Power +17% to hit and +11 strength, King’s Dagger of the Stars (+77 to hit, +168% damage, +9 all) Taoni_the_Fell, Level 28 Ironman Rogue Str 32/62 AC 53, to hit 119%, damage 29-42, resistances 0/21/0. Equipment: Crimson Plate of the Stars (+10 all), Helm of the Eagle (+27 life), Ammy of the Tiger (+49 life), Long War Bow of the Giants (+20 Str), Ring of Vigor (+17 life), Ring of the Wolf (+35 life). When we came back
down, Roede set in a corner of the third (double lever) room while Taoni
searched for Diablo in the corridor proper. (Comic relief: a single knight
had followed with Diablo and followed Taoni back to Roede as a “training
run”. We creamed him.) Taoni then activated the Demon Lord with bow
shots and high-tailed it back and ran past Roede. Diablo turned the corner,
hesitated, tossed off an apocalypse (Roede blocked, Taoni almost killed,
drank a large yellow), and then attacked the warrior BUT stepped to the
warrior’s flank rather than engaging him head-on. This means that
Taoni had to run another 90 degree to flank Diablo and not hit the warrior
with Final Comments: Roede, the Warrior. On this game we were a little luckier with the shrines. Still, only one stat adder (Creepy only seen by the Rogue), but the PS and BF, Glimmering, and Religious sure helped. For the warrior, that Saintly Gothic Plate from level 15 Normal and the weapons we brought from there really made a difference. His AC was valid all the way to the Hell levels, as was his damage and to hit %. With that equipment mentioned above and the additional stuff revealed by the glimmering, we had the option of change our gear/tactics for the finale. We put Roede into an all Dex setup, pumping his block up to 75% (as opposed to the 44% we could get it up to in Normal), and using the King’s Dagger meant that he was hitting 95% of the time and with stunning power. That gave us the confidence to let the rogue do what she does best -- fire arrows -- while the warrior fought Mano y Demano, one on one, with the Dark Lord himself. Although Diablo hit much harder, he didn’t hit more frequently, and after the battle started, the issue was not in doubt.
Things That Go Bump in the Nightmare
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