Actually, i like Stealth, the summoning prebuff in the camp goes a lot smoother, and it seems that i'm used to like the faster movement too. The arctic fur went to the rogue companion.
I toght that i wait the 18 level to face Andariel, but i feel Yahiko is ready now. The cannot be frozen affix was not a big deal so far, but Yahiko is not the drinking type, so he keep on wearing the Death Guard. With the animal companions tanking, the rogue is more deadly too, she can concentrate on her work with the bow. I like the poison creeper vine too: it's the first who attack enemies, and give a good distraction.
Against Andariel with Yahiko was the easiest fight from all of the first time fights, as i remember from my characters. She killed 4 wolf and the vine, but the battle was over in seconds. I know, that this is only chapter one Act I, but it was Yahiko's first great victory. Oh, sadly no loot from Andariel to mention.
Time to travel to Luth Golein and fetch the cube!
First i sold my stored wands then changed my mercenary for a defensive desert one named Fazel. I gave him a previously stored rare bardiche and went for bug hunting.
Ok, so i'm thinking on using some missile weapon, because it would be safer maybe, and i could be reach the boss monsters mummies over their minions. At this time it's non an issue, because the spirit wolves cut throug the undead hordes without losses, but we shall see. Also, the lightning bugs are dangerous a little (as always), because ravens, the vine and wolves all do multiple minor damages to the bugs, and charged bolts are flying everywhere. The summons bear the charges so far though.
Yahiko reached the temple of the dead third floor and he aquired the Horadric relic. Time to cube, and build up some gems! Oh yes, and i imbued a falcon mask at Charsi. The result was good, but not for Yahiko.
Ok, so i decided to go missile with Yahiko. As i see these are my options: gambling a rare axe, crafting a blood one, or making a Zephyr runeword in a bow/crossbow. I tend to a throwing axe, because with that i still can use a shield.
I have the necessary ort rune for the blood craft, but after visiting 50 shrines without a gem one i decided to go back to Luth Golein and gambling a rare axe. Balanced axe would be great, but i dumped a little the dexterity so far.
With defeating Radament Yahiko gained the Book of Skills and so he has the heart of wolverine spirit. The throwing axe proved to be a good choice, it has good damage, and Yahiko is in a much safer position now with the ranged style.
I decided to follow a calmer pace from now on, so Yahiko visited the Stony Tomb and explored the desert areas thoroughly. In the tomb Yahiko found a 3 socketed pole arm, so i create a malice weapon for the mercenary for fun.
In the desert Yahiko found a civerb shield. It is not a set he will use, but the shield has better blocking rate, than his current one, so a chaned them.
Also, here's a secret video featuring The Countess, what was left out from the finished game. Maybe you can use it for something in the enhanced version @God ?
Before visiting the deepest tunnels of Maggot Lair Yahiko went back to make a perfect ruby on the Stony Field.
He purchased some magic finding gear, and a magical balanced axe for the crafting.
Yahiko managed to craft a decent blood axe, with not too high level requirement and acceptable stats.
Yahiko found a Cleglaw shield in the process too.
Yahiko defeated Coldworm. The tunnels were not a welcoming place for the druid, the wolves stucked in the narrow corridors constantly, unable to reach the enemy and attack them. The poison vine was the first to attack the bugs and worms, but its damage was inconvenient against the tunnelliving creatures. The only working solution was, when facing great numbers Yahiko resummoned the wolves in the middle of the opposing force.
Coldworm itself died a messy death, but died easily as always. Now i explored the Lost city, except the ancient tunnels. With the dexterity bonus of the Stealth armor Yahiko now can use the balaced axes. I decided to do a new Stealth in a bigger armor, and do some more perfect gems for various uses. I would like to do a magic finding gear, and maybe some hitpower item for the mercanery (i would like to try out, if frost nova is good). Oh, and before leaving for the rogue camp i use some chippy gems and necro wands to make money and inventory space.
I thought another, and now i'm upgrading gnarled staves. There's "some" chance to do one with teleport charges
I needed two visits at the Countess to get the neccesary runes for Stealth. Now i can concentrate on gem upgrading.
I add here, that the Dark Wood waypoint is very close to Treewood, so everytime i visit it too. Treewood gave me one set item from 50 visit so far.
And i found Death's Hand! That was my secret hope with farming Treehaed, the two death set item is one of the few useful low level set/unique!
I've yet to do the hitpower item, and i need a perfect sapphire for it.
Here is it, and an additional set, Infernal Cranium.
Now let's do a hitpower helm:
Nice! We shall see, how Fazel would benefit from it.
Yahiko did a little exploration in the Ancient tunnels, to try out the new items.
Yahiko with the two death item is... deadly!
Now to the vipers!
With caution the vipers meant little threat to Yahiko.
Necromancer was confirmed as coming to Diablo III in 2017.
As I see it, it's been confirmed since they added Lord Foreshadow Xul the Cryptic Necromancer to the HotS roster. May be just me though, with my weird gamedev sixth sense kind of thing
I believe that there is a difference between confirmation and hinting at something.
Anyways, as for now I am dissapointed about what we learned over at Blizzcon, regarding Diablo. Even at 20th anniversary for the entire franchise, there is very little announced. Next patches for Diablo 3, that was a given. New in-game event based on Diablo 1 once per year. Necromancer as a paid DLC... As a fan I've expected 20th anniversary to be huge thing, with something significant to announce. But the way I see it, Blizzard doesn't care about the franchise anymore.
We have Diablo 1 that, by current standards, doesn't offer anything interesting gameplay-wise We have Diablo 2, a good but flawed game that can annoy the sh(t out of me. And we have Diablo 3, which can be found, but it is also misguided and going into totally wrong direction, as I feel... I don't care about pets, banners, portraits. I want a good game that gives me reason to invest time into it. D3 starts to feel pointless at this point...
And no, I still don't feel like doing an update on Paladin.
Blizzard doesn't care about the franchise anymore.
I know. It's awful. But don't worry. A worthy spiritual successor to the Diablo series is on my to-do list. Not quite at the top, as I'm currently working on codename Jerusalem 1257 a different game. But I will get to it, eventually
Will add another very interesting piece of info that may have evaded those not professionally involved in the industry.
ActiBlizz spends a small sum of $5.9 billion to acquire King, so as to cross-promote their stuff with Candy Crush Saga. No joke. That's right... Super cute Diablo Gummies, Tyrael Lollipops and Limited Edition DLC Candy Cane Guns for Call of Duty 50% off TODAY ONLY 19.99$ 9.99$. Buy NOW! WHY AIN'T YOU BUYING?! BUY IT! BUY IT NOW! Damn, people ain't buying, we must advertise on this soap opera everyone is watching. Do they have a diabetic character? Perfect! MWAHAHAHAHA HAHA HA HA.
It seems that a lot of gamers overreact and lose perspective whenever the words "Candy Crush" are uttered. Candy Crush is a profitable, popular game, so of course Activision picked it up. Someone was bound to. We're not going to see the absurdities you recited.
It seems that a lot of gamers overreact and lose perspective whenever the words "Candy Crush" are uttered. Candy Crush is a profitable, popular game, so of course Activision picked it up. Someone was bound to. We're not going to see the absurdities you recited.
I'm not a gamer. Also, don't tell me you took my mockery as a serious prediction of what might happen. I was making fun of ActiBlizz's management and their naïvety, as IMHO this acquisition was even more ridiculously unreasonable than Microsoft's buying Minecraft for $2.5 billion. If they feel like spending billions, they'd be way better off buying FC Barcelona
Why is it unreasonable? They purchased a profitable company.
I explicitly said it was unreasonable in my opinion. My reasoning is my own, and normally much different from another's.
King are indeed quite profitable and even somewhat leanly structured, at least as far as today's bloated corporations go. However, ActiBlizz paid a whopping $5.9 billion to acquire them. That's a lot. One could enlist a regular army with this kind of money, or purchase what is probably the most celebrated football club in the world. Or, hell, even build as many as 500000 schools throughout Africa, and indoctrinate an entire continent with ActiBlizz loyalty, while fighting illiteracy for the common good of mankind. Talk about CSR done right.
Now, assuming King will be consistent in their net profits and calculating this like there's no inflation, it may take up to ca. 12 years for ActiBlizz to get return on that investment. That's really like an eternity in the gamedev industry; AAA game budgets increased at least tenfold over the last twelve years. With no guarantee of returns whatsoever, it's not too smart to freeze this large an amount of assets for a period of time this long. By my book, at least. Then again, I hear there are people who invest in state pension schemes. I won't be the judge of that.
Me, I just roll differently than everyone else
What time is it? How about a Paladin update? What about now? Can we throw rocks at him? What about now?
What time is it? How about a Paladin update? What about now? Can we throw rocks at him? What about now?
Oh, you can throw rocks at him. I don't like him anyway ;].
I will most likely do an update after I install some programs on my PC, as I was forced to recently install new operating system, and thus lost all data from one of two of my partitions. After that, I'll have to pressure my internet provider to fix my now faulty connection. Then, I can surely make update on the paladin and.... on something else.
The journey to the Lut Gholein was longer than I have expected. It was also wexing, as on my way some primitive people attemped throwing stones at me. Multiple times.
But I could not be distracted by something so trivial. I was pursuing Diablo himself. As I found out, Lut Gholein was in trouble, most likely because of that foul demon.
After arriving in the so-called "Jewel of the Desert" I've rest for a while, getting to know the citizens. Greiz, who let me hire one of his warriors. Drognan, the sorceror. Atma, the former Paladin - I can't blame her for that. There were others.... And there was Atma. The foul beast that was living under the city took life of her family, and I agreed to kill it. Not only for that poor woman.... the beast could lead me to Diablo, as it was sure it wasn't natural
This thing turned out to be Horadric mummy, that left it's tomb. I destroyed it for good, avenging poor Atma's family. I also found a scroll with Horadric crest on it. Old Deckard could read it, perhaps. I cannot, for I don't know this runes.
As it turned out, the scroll spoke of Tomb of Tal Rasha and the "key" to get to it. The tomb was most likely Diablo's goal, since Baal, the Lord of Destruction was imprisoned there. I will do anything to prevent it from happening! According to Deckard, I have to find pieces of the Horadric Staff and merge them, using device know as the Horadric Cube. The old man told me where the artifacts could be found, and I went out together with my new companion, Durga.
I found the Cube in one of the Horadric tomb. It saddened me that late members and allies of the Horadrim could not rest in peace. I had to grant it to them with my sword. Horadrim could not rest in peace... I wonder how Zakarum follower would fare? I am glad I am not one of them anymore...
The Staff of Kings was found in the Maggot Lair, beneath the Far Oasis... What could you expect from lair of maggots but maggots? Durga felt uncomfortable there, I must say... Especially when he saw the huge one. No matter, the staff was ours.
Sudden solar esclipse caught us, while traveling through ruins of the Lost City. I was thinking to as Drognan about it, but I deemed pursuing my quest much more important. And finally, we found Claw Vipers temple. There, we slew dozens of snake-men and in the lowest level of the temple, we found a altat radiating with dark magic, with Amulet of The Viper being placed on it. The probable high pierst of Claw Vipers was slain, his lightning discharges being extraordinary strong, and then the altar was destroyed. Turns ot, the Claw Vipers' rituals were reasons as to why sudden esclipse had occured..
No matter. Now I have to return the artifacts to Cain...
----
Here it is. Finally, update for the Faithless paladin. I have one other thing to make, hopefully soon. Also, regarding this playthrough, I have a lot material to share, but I decided to not do mega update.
I merged the two parts of the Horadric Staff together using the Cube, as per old Deckard's instruction. The Horadric Staff was restored, now I have to bring it to the Tomb of Tal Rasha, preferably before Diablo makes it there. But where to seek the Tomb?
Luckily, Drognan gave me some clue. Apparantly, the ancient Vizjerei mage recorded the placement of the Tomb in his Arcane Sanctuary. And Lut Gholein was build on the ancient Vizjerei fortress. So, this Sanctuary should be somewhere below Lut Gholein. In the sewers, perhaps?
Turns out to be not the case. The lord of the city, Jerhyn, told me the truth about what is going on inside of his palace. His guards are fighting demons that were invading the town from below. I'll do something about that.
I hadn't expected seeing so many guards die. Durga didn't either. We cleared our way thorugh multiple cellar levels, only to find out the strange machine, that was matching the description of portal used by Vizjerei. And like that, we found the Arcane Sanctuary.
By the non-existed gods, was this place even possible? Things floating in middle air. Paths that were defying laws of the nature... No matter. We started our search for Horazon's journal, slaying hell minions along our way. And finally, we found the foul sorcerer, who cast fire and ice on us. Durga provided to be a good distraction, while I ran to this mageling and slayed him with one clear cut from my claymore. Then, we slayed the rest of his minions and got a clue as to where Tal Rasha's Tomb lies.
We used the portal in the Sanctuary to get into Kanyon of the Magi. After that, we used the near WAypoint to report back to CAin and Drognan. Now, only to find the one tomb among other false ones.
We eventaully did, and started exploring inside of it. It was invaded by hordes of undead and lightning-enchanted maggots, but we prevailed. What was disturbing was presence of this creatures - it's as if Diablo was already there. Let have hope...
The hope was wain, however. Even thought the burial chamber was sealed and required usage of the Horadric Staff to open, inside we found a giant demon. That couldn't have been Baal, could it? The demon killed Durga rather quick, but I was not defeated so easily. I slayed the foul creature with the unique saber I found in the tomb.
Further in the chamber, I found.... I still can hardly believe it... an Angel. So, they existed after all. The name of that Angel was Tyrael. He told me that Baal was already freed, and together with Diablo, they wanted to free Mephisto in Kurast. That cannot be allowed!
I returned to Lut Gholein with the grave news, holding Durga's corpse in my arms. The fallen guard fortunately could be brought back to life, but our time was short. Almost immediately, Jerhyn ordered Meshif to prepare the ship for me and the Cain.... and for Durga, who insisted on accompanying me. No longer as a mercenary, but as a companion.
I am to travel to Kurast, where Zakarum was founded. Just please, don't tell me that the corruption of the faifth, and throught it, the things I had to do.... was all because of Lord of Hatred...
Turns out, it was Lord of Hatred's doing, after all. While sailing to Kurast, I took my time to stay with and listen to Deckard Cain. He told me about how Diablo was freed in the first place - by archbishop Lazarus, servant of the Zakarum Mephisto corruped my former faith, and initiated the events in Tristram, even if not first hand. I won't be able to rest until Lord of Hatred was destroyed.
Kurast has lost much of it's former glory. Now, it was just hell jungle. Local inhabitians, Ormus and Hratli among them, told me what should I do to be able to face Mephisto and redeem Zakarum. I needed to collect relics of Khalim, the later Zakarum elder who resisted Mephisto for the longest time, and ufse them together, destory the ward that seals the dungeon under Travincal and then kill Mephisto.
It sounds like a lot of trouble, so long story short: I managed to find Khalim's relics... or rather organs, while also returning the ancient, magical Skatsimi blade to Ormus. The blade's magicks helped in protecting the docks from hell minions. I also brought back Lam Esen's tome to Alkor, the alchemist. The tome contained knowledge regarding the Prime Evils. It will take some time for him to desypher the contents...
And now. Travincal, the City of Temples...
On my way there, I had to slay many Zakarumites, now driven mad with Hatred. But I was not expecting to see the Zakarum Council became... this. Demonic, half-deformed abominations, attacking me with rage. I didn't show them any mercy, neither did Durga. My sword and his spear was more than enough to end those abominaitons.
As per Cain's instructions, I merged Kahlims relics with the Flail together, and used the newly acquired weapon to destroy the Orb that was designed to seal the dungeon, where Mephisto resided, but was altered to mind control and corrupt Zakarumites. The orb was shattered, but so was Khalim's Will. No matter. Ordinary sword will have to do against Mephisto. I am coming for you, Lord of Hatred...
The confrontation with Lord of Hatred was dangerous, but also swift. Mephisto casted cold orbs and ligthing bolts at us, but we couldn't be stopped. His magicks were powerful, but the body he possesed - very fragile. Durga distracted the demon for long enough for me to cut Mephisto's spine in half. Drawing the lfie out of him afterwards was very easy. One of the Prime Evil was slain!
Despite this, I felt no satisfaction. Mephisto corruped my faith, which made me turn from the Light of Zakarum. Yet, I felt like nothing has changed. Perhaps Zakarum needs time to truly recover... Or perhaps it cannot be recovered if any of the Prime Evils was still alive.
I was too late from stopping Diablo and Baal from reunion with their eldest brother. But I still can make things right. I grabbed Mephisto's soulstone and told Cain what I was about to do, giving him the choice of following me or not.
Comments
Yahiko the cubist
Actually, i like Stealth, the summoning prebuff in the camp goes a lot smoother, and it seems that i'm used to like the faster movement too. The arctic fur went to the rogue companion.
I toght that i wait the 18 level to face Andariel, but i feel Yahiko is ready now. The cannot be frozen affix was not a big deal so far, but Yahiko is not the drinking type, so he keep on wearing the Death Guard.
With the animal companions tanking, the rogue is more deadly too, she can concentrate on her work with the bow. I like the poison creeper vine too: it's the first who attack enemies, and give a good distraction.
Against Andariel with Yahiko was the easiest fight from all of the first time fights, as i remember from my characters. She killed 4 wolf and the vine, but the battle was over in seconds.
I know, that this is only chapter one Act I, but it was Yahiko's first great victory.
Oh, sadly no loot from Andariel to mention.
Time to travel to Luth Golein and fetch the cube!
First i sold my stored wands then changed my mercenary for a defensive desert one named Fazel. I gave him a previously stored rare bardiche and went for bug hunting.
Ok, so i'm thinking on using some missile weapon, because it would be safer maybe, and i could be reach the boss monsters mummies over their minions.
At this time it's non an issue, because the spirit wolves cut throug the undead hordes without losses, but we shall see.
Also, the lightning bugs are dangerous a little (as always), because ravens, the vine and wolves all do multiple minor damages to the bugs, and charged bolts are flying everywhere.
The summons bear the charges so far though.
Yahiko reached the temple of the dead third floor and he aquired the Horadric relic.
Time to cube, and build up some gems!
Oh yes, and i imbued a falcon mask at Charsi. The result was good, but not for Yahiko.
Axe or bow?
Ok, so i decided to go missile with Yahiko. As i see these are my options: gambling a rare axe, crafting a blood one, or making a Zephyr runeword in a bow/crossbow.I tend to a throwing axe, because with that i still can use a shield.
I have the necessary ort rune for the blood craft, but after visiting 50 shrines without a gem one i decided to go back to Luth Golein and gambling a rare axe. Balanced axe would be great, but i dumped a little the dexterity so far.
With defeating Radament Yahiko gained the Book of Skills and so he has the heart of wolverine spirit.
The throwing axe proved to be a good choice, it has good damage, and Yahiko is in a much safer position now with the ranged style.
I decided to follow a calmer pace from now on, so Yahiko visited the Stony Tomb and explored the desert areas thoroughly.
In the tomb Yahiko found a 3 socketed pole arm, so i create a malice weapon for the mercenary for fun.
In the desert Yahiko found a civerb shield. It is not a set he will use, but the shield has better blocking rate, than his current one, so a chaned them.
To the Maggot Lair next!
Yahiko's Death
Before visiting the deepest tunnels of Maggot Lair Yahiko went back to make a perfect ruby on the Stony Field.He purchased some magic finding gear, and a magical balanced axe for the crafting.
Yahiko managed to craft a decent blood axe, with not too high level requirement and acceptable stats.
Yahiko found a Cleglaw shield in the process too.
Yahiko defeated Coldworm. The tunnels were not a welcoming place for the druid, the wolves stucked in the narrow corridors constantly, unable to reach the enemy and attack them. The poison vine was the first to attack the bugs and worms, but its damage was inconvenient against the tunnelliving creatures.
The only working solution was, when facing great numbers Yahiko resummoned the wolves in the middle of the opposing force.
Coldworm itself died a messy death, but died easily as always.
Now i explored the Lost city, except the ancient tunnels. With the dexterity bonus of the Stealth armor Yahiko now can use the balaced axes. I decided to do a new Stealth in a bigger armor, and do some more perfect gems for various uses. I would like to do a magic finding gear, and maybe some hitpower item for the mercanery (i would like to try out, if frost nova is good).
Oh, and before leaving for the rogue camp i use some chippy gems and necro wands to make money and inventory space.
I thought another, and now i'm upgrading gnarled staves. There's "some" chance to do one with teleport charges
I needed two visits at the Countess to get the neccesary runes for Stealth. Now i can concentrate on gem upgrading.
I add here, that the Dark Wood waypoint is very close to Treewood, so everytime i visit it too. Treewood gave me one set item from 50 visit so far.
And i found Death's Hand! That was my secret hope with farming Treehaed, the two death set item is one of the few useful low level set/unique!
I've yet to do the hitpower item, and i need a perfect sapphire for it.
Here is it, and an additional set, Infernal Cranium.
Now let's do a hitpower helm:
Nice! We shall see, how Fazel would benefit from it.
Yahiko did a little exploration in the Ancient tunnels, to try out the new items.
Yahiko with the two death item is... deadly!
Now to the vipers!
With caution the vipers meant little threat to Yahiko.
Next Yahiko will visit the harems.
You seem to become a master of crafting. Never actually tried it in Diablo 2, very intersting to read.
PS. I have to update on "my" Paladin...
EDIT: .... but I don't want to....
Lord ForeshadowXul the Cryptic Necromancer to the HotS roster. May be just me though, with my weird gamedev sixth sense kind of thingAnyways, as for now I am dissapointed about what we learned over at Blizzcon, regarding Diablo. Even at 20th anniversary for the entire franchise, there is very little announced. Next patches for Diablo 3, that was a given. New in-game event based on Diablo 1 once per year. Necromancer as a paid DLC... As a fan I've expected 20th anniversary to be huge thing, with something significant to announce. But the way I see it, Blizzard doesn't care about the franchise anymore.
We have Diablo 1 that, by current standards, doesn't offer anything interesting gameplay-wise
We have Diablo 2, a good but flawed game that can annoy the sh(t out of me.
And we have Diablo 3, which can be found, but it is also misguided and going into totally wrong direction, as I feel... I don't care about pets, banners, portraits. I want a good game that gives me reason to invest time into it. D3 starts to feel pointless at this point...
And no, I still don't feel like doing an update on Paladin.
But don't worry. A worthy spiritual successor to the Diablo series is on my to-do list. Not quite at the top, as I'm currently working on
codename Jerusalem 1257a different game. But I will get to it, eventuallyActiBlizz spends a small sum of $5.9 billion to acquire King, so as to cross-promote their stuff with Candy Crush Saga. No joke.
That's right... Super cute Diablo Gummies, Tyrael Lollipops and Limited Edition DLC Candy Cane Guns for Call of Duty 50% off TODAY ONLY
19.99$9.99$. Buy NOW! WHY AIN'T YOU BUYING?! BUY IT! BUY IT NOW! Damn, people ain't buying, we must advertise on this soap opera everyone is watching. Do they have a diabetic character? Perfect! MWAHAHAHAHA HAHA HA HA.I was making fun of ActiBlizz's management and their naïvety, as IMHO this acquisition was even more ridiculously unreasonable than Microsoft's buying Minecraft for $2.5 billion.
If they feel like spending billions, they'd be way better off buying FC Barcelona
King are indeed quite profitable and even somewhat leanly structured, at least as far as today's bloated corporations go. However, ActiBlizz paid a whopping $5.9 billion to acquire them. That's a lot. One could enlist a regular army with this kind of money, or purchase what is probably the most celebrated football club in the world. Or, hell, even build as many as 500000 schools throughout Africa, and indoctrinate an entire continent with ActiBlizz loyalty, while fighting illiteracy for the common good of mankind. Talk about CSR done right.
Now, assuming King will be consistent in their net profits and calculating this like there's no inflation, it may take up to ca. 12 years for ActiBlizz to get return on that investment. That's really like an eternity in the gamedev industry; AAA game budgets increased at least tenfold over the last twelve years. With no guarantee of returns whatsoever, it's not too smart to freeze this large an amount of assets for a period of time this long. By my book, at least.
Then again, I hear there are people who invest in state pension schemes. I won't be the judge of that.
Me, I just roll differently than everyone else
What time is it? How about a Paladin update? What about now? Can we throw rocks at him? What about now?
I will most likely do an update after I install some programs on my PC, as I was forced to recently install new operating system, and thus lost all data from one of two of my partitions. After that, I'll have to pressure my internet provider to fix my now faulty connection. Then, I can surely make update on the paladin and.... on something else.
The journey to the Lut Gholein was longer than I have expected. It was also wexing, as on my way some primitive people attemped throwing stones at me. Multiple times.
But I could not be distracted by something so trivial. I was pursuing Diablo himself. As I found out, Lut Gholein was in trouble, most likely because of that foul demon.
After arriving in the so-called "Jewel of the Desert" I've rest for a while, getting to know the citizens. Greiz, who let me hire one of his warriors. Drognan, the sorceror. Atma, the former Paladin - I can't blame her for that. There were others.... And there was Atma. The foul beast that was living under the city took life of her family, and I agreed to kill it. Not only for that poor woman.... the beast could lead me to Diablo, as it was sure it wasn't natural
This thing turned out to be Horadric mummy, that left it's tomb. I destroyed it for good, avenging poor Atma's family. I also found a scroll with Horadric crest on it. Old Deckard could read it, perhaps. I cannot, for I don't know this runes.
As it turned out, the scroll spoke of Tomb of Tal Rasha and the "key" to get to it. The tomb was most likely Diablo's goal, since Baal, the Lord of Destruction was imprisoned there. I will do anything to prevent it from happening! According to Deckard, I have to find pieces of the Horadric Staff and merge them, using device know as the Horadric Cube. The old man told me where the artifacts could be found, and I went out together with my new companion, Durga.
I found the Cube in one of the Horadric tomb. It saddened me that late members and allies of the Horadrim could not rest in peace. I had to grant it to them with my sword. Horadrim could not rest in peace... I wonder how Zakarum follower would fare? I am glad I am not one of them anymore...
The Staff of Kings was found in the Maggot Lair, beneath the Far Oasis... What could you expect from lair of maggots but maggots? Durga felt uncomfortable there, I must say... Especially when he saw the huge one. No matter, the staff was ours.
Sudden solar esclipse caught us, while traveling through ruins of the Lost City. I was thinking to as Drognan about it, but I deemed pursuing my quest much more important. And finally, we found Claw Vipers temple. There, we slew dozens of snake-men and in the lowest level of the temple, we found a altat radiating with dark magic, with Amulet of The Viper being placed on it. The probable high pierst of Claw Vipers was slain, his lightning discharges being extraordinary strong, and then the altar was destroyed. Turns ot, the Claw Vipers' rituals were reasons as to why sudden esclipse had occured..
No matter. Now I have to return the artifacts to Cain...
----
Here it is. Finally, update for the Faithless paladin. I have one other thing to make, hopefully soon. Also, regarding this playthrough, I have a lot material to share, but I decided to not do mega update.
I merged the two parts of the Horadric Staff together using the Cube, as per old Deckard's instruction. The Horadric Staff was restored, now I have to bring it to the Tomb of Tal Rasha, preferably before Diablo makes it there. But where to seek the Tomb?
Luckily, Drognan gave me some clue. Apparantly, the ancient Vizjerei mage recorded the placement of the Tomb in his Arcane Sanctuary. And Lut Gholein was build on the ancient Vizjerei fortress. So, this Sanctuary should be somewhere below Lut Gholein. In the sewers, perhaps?
Turns out to be not the case. The lord of the city, Jerhyn, told me the truth about what is going on inside of his palace. His guards are fighting demons that were invading the town from below. I'll do something about that.
I hadn't expected seeing so many guards die. Durga didn't either. We cleared our way thorugh multiple cellar levels, only to find out the strange machine, that was matching the description of portal used by Vizjerei. And like that, we found the Arcane Sanctuary.
By the non-existed gods, was this place even possible? Things floating in middle air. Paths that were defying laws of the nature... No matter. We started our search for Horazon's journal, slaying hell minions along our way. And finally, we found the foul sorcerer, who cast fire and ice on us. Durga provided to be a good distraction, while I ran to this mageling and slayed him with one clear cut from my claymore. Then, we slayed the rest of his minions and got a clue as to where Tal Rasha's Tomb lies.
We used the portal in the Sanctuary to get into Kanyon of the Magi. After that, we used the near WAypoint to report back to CAin and Drognan. Now, only to find the one tomb among other false ones.
We eventaully did, and started exploring inside of it. It was invaded by hordes of undead and lightning-enchanted maggots, but we prevailed. What was disturbing was presence of this creatures - it's as if Diablo was already there. Let have hope...
The hope was wain, however. Even thought the burial chamber was sealed and required usage of the Horadric Staff to open, inside we found a giant demon. That couldn't have been Baal, could it? The demon killed Durga rather quick, but I was not defeated so easily. I slayed the foul creature with the unique saber I found in the tomb.
Further in the chamber, I found.... I still can hardly believe it... an Angel. So, they existed after all. The name of that Angel was Tyrael. He told me that Baal was already freed, and together with Diablo, they wanted to free Mephisto in Kurast. That cannot be allowed!
I returned to Lut Gholein with the grave news, holding Durga's corpse in my arms. The fallen guard fortunately could be brought back to life, but our time was short. Almost immediately, Jerhyn ordered Meshif to prepare the ship for me and the Cain.... and for Durga, who insisted on accompanying me. No longer as a mercenary, but as a companion.
I am to travel to Kurast, where Zakarum was founded. Just please, don't tell me that the corruption of the faifth, and throught it, the things I had to do.... was all because of Lord of Hatred...
An excellent narrative!
Turns out, it was Lord of Hatred's doing, after all. While sailing to Kurast, I took my time to stay with and listen to Deckard Cain. He told me about how Diablo was freed in the first place - by archbishop Lazarus, servant of the Zakarum Mephisto corruped my former faith, and initiated the events in Tristram, even if not first hand. I won't be able to rest until Lord of Hatred was destroyed.
Kurast has lost much of it's former glory. Now, it was just hell jungle. Local inhabitians, Ormus and Hratli among them, told me what should I do to be able to face Mephisto and redeem Zakarum. I needed to collect relics of Khalim, the later Zakarum elder who resisted Mephisto for the longest time, and ufse them together, destory the ward that seals the dungeon under Travincal and then kill Mephisto.
It sounds like a lot of trouble, so long story short: I managed to find Khalim's relics... or rather organs, while also returning the ancient, magical Skatsimi blade to Ormus. The blade's magicks helped in protecting the docks from hell minions. I also brought back Lam Esen's tome to Alkor, the alchemist. The tome contained knowledge regarding the Prime Evils. It will take some time for him to desypher the contents...
And now. Travincal, the City of Temples...
On my way there, I had to slay many Zakarumites, now driven mad with Hatred. But I was not expecting to see the Zakarum Council became... this. Demonic, half-deformed abominations, attacking me with rage. I didn't show them any mercy, neither did Durga. My sword and his spear was more than enough to end those abominaitons.
As per Cain's instructions, I merged Kahlims relics with the Flail together, and used the newly acquired weapon to destroy the Orb that was designed to seal the dungeon, where Mephisto resided, but was altered to mind control and corrupt Zakarumites. The orb was shattered, but so was Khalim's Will. No matter. Ordinary sword will have to do against Mephisto. I am coming for you, Lord of Hatred...
The confrontation with Lord of Hatred was dangerous, but also swift. Mephisto casted cold orbs and ligthing bolts at us, but we couldn't be stopped. His magicks were powerful, but the body he possesed - very fragile. Durga distracted the demon for long enough for me to cut Mephisto's spine in half. Drawing the lfie out of him afterwards was very easy. One of the Prime Evil was slain!
Despite this, I felt no satisfaction. Mephisto corruped my faith, which made me turn from the Light of Zakarum. Yet, I felt like nothing has changed. Perhaps Zakarum needs time to truly recover... Or perhaps it cannot be recovered if any of the Prime Evils was still alive.
I was too late from stopping Diablo and Baal from reunion with their eldest brother. But I still can make things right. I grabbed Mephisto's soulstone and told Cain what I was about to do, giving him the choice of following me or not.
We are going to hell.
When, or rather if at all, Seltsamuel finishes his D2 GFX extension, I imagine applying simple shaders like this should be possible.