My strength grows.






Now that the citizens of Harrogath see me as one of their own, Malah confided in me about her missing friend Anya. Anya mysteriously disappeared just before I arrived. Malah suspects the elder Nihlathak has something to do with her disappearance. When I questioned him about it, he said she set out beyond the ice caves to rescue her mother after having a dream. All the other townsfolk distrust Nihlathak, he was the only elder to survive the assault of the gates from Baal. Anya's father was one of the elders that died during the attack, ever since she has been at odds with Nihlathak. I must find the truth of this matter. I returned to the frozen mountain and began scouring the lands for any clue of Anya's whereabouts. I came to an ice filled cave that sparkled as if made out of crystals. Baal has most certainly passed through this desecrated place as new demons lurked within. Undead warriors charge vigorously at me from the distance, shortly after slaying them they rise up and charge again. Frozen beasts that spit icy breath seek to freeze me in place, but they are slow and easy to move around. The worst of them all are the death lords, encased in steel armor wielding axes in both hands. They are fast and hit with mighty force. I am careful to not get caught by a group of them. In combination with the freezing monsters, it could be a deadly combo. All of them take extended battles to kill but my endurance for battle is high. Finally, I come to a cellar deep within the cave. This must be the place Nihlathak told me about. If he is involved, silly of him to lead me to her. Perhaps he did not think I would make it this far. In the cellar, I am swarmed by hellish seductresses. The fly around half naked shooting red balls of light that curse and weaken me. Luckily, they fall quickly. I followed a long and winding path and came upon Anya sealed in an icy prison guarded by a pack of frozen yetis. I took them down with the swiftness and she revealed Nihlathak imprisoned her there. I returned to Malah as she instructed and received a cure to her prison but Nihlathak had already fled the town. I freed Anya from her prison and returned her home to Harrogath.

Nihlathak, the coward, already left town before we made it back. Anya explained that Nihlathak struck a deal with Baal and plans to hand over the relic of the ancients to allow Baal to pass through Mount Arreat without facing The Ancients in hopes to spare Harrogath. She opened a portal for me to chase him down and stop him from handing over the relic before it is too late. Given that I have fell short every step of the way, I suspect he has handed over the relic already. I decided to not chase him down and head straight for The Ancients and face them myself in hopes to catch Baal before he destroys the world. I returned to the Crystal Pass and found an exit leading me to another frozen pathway. Fighting my way through, I finally came to an opening that lead to a giant Frozen Tundra. It was riddled with enemies but I prevailed and came to another cave. I entered and slowly made my made my way through Baals demons. I know I am going the right way, why else would this place be cursed with monsters? Eventually, I came to the resting place of The Ancients. A great altar stood at the center of 3 stone warriors. Their names etched onto it. Talic The Defender, Madawc the Guardian, and Korlic The Protector. As I came close to the altar, I could hear their voices whispering to me. I listened intently, when their story was complete all 3 stone statues became living and proceeded to attack me all at once. What great Barbarians the ancients are, each mastering a different style. There is no possible way I can survive being pummeled by all 3 at once. I ran around the area as to separate them and face them 1 at a time. First Korlic, easily the weakest of the 3. He jumps high into the air and reigns down with his mighty axe, but I am hopper, master of the air. His pathetic attempts to bash me from above are foolish. I took him down without a single sweat from my brow and after my final blow, his body returned to stone near the altar. Then, I lured over Madawc, he is much more fierce! Wielding his tomahawks, he runs from me and throws them at a distance. Once again, my skin is too thick for the piddly axes he wields. He is only able to damage me slightly as I swing away at his face with my poisoned blades. We play cat and mouse for some time but eventually he succumbs as well, his body returned to stone near the altar. Finally, the last of The Ancients, Taric. He wields a sword and shield. Silly Taric, Barbarians are not meant to wield a shield. Though it does him well, he spins furiously blocking my attacks while simultaneously dishing out his own. I nearly fall to his onslaught multiple times. I cower in fear to recover from his blows. I learned quickly to dodge his spins, otherwise he would best me. We do a sort of dance for a long period, I strike him and run and he chases me down, whirling away. After a long drawn out battle, he falls to my poison and returns to stone. The gates to The Worldstone Keep open.



I enter The Worldstone and am surrounded by Baal's demons, he is already here. Hideous kamikaze gnolls charge at me and explode themselves all over me, they are getting desperate to stop me but it only slows me down. I fight my way through the hordes until finally reaching Baal at the portal to the Worldstone Chamber. He laughs in my face profusely, not fearing me at all. He raises his mandible and spawns a horde of demons that resemble those that I faced at the beginning of my journey outside the rogue camp. A shaman and his minions. They are weak and fall with no challenge. Again, he raises his vile arm and spawns another horde, this time from Lut Gholein, an army of skeletal warriors with their overlords. They are great in numbers but that is all they are. I swing furiously and chop them down. The raisers quickly revive the skeletons and they swarm me but I just leap over them and focus the raisers down. Baal laughs again and spawns more hellions. This time from Kurast, Mephisto's corrupted council members. They spawn hydras to burn me just as before, but Charsi's candle wax drippings prepared me for this day. The council was a challenge as they run away while in danger and heal each other, but it is not enough. I cut off all their heads and taunt Baal. He giggles and spawns Diablo's strongest foes, the venom lords. When will they learn, no fire is hot enough to melt my skin. They are resistant to my blades but not entirely. I chop chop chop and leap away when they surround me over and over and eventually they all go down. One last trick up his sleeve, Baal spawns enemies I have not encountered before. They are stronger than anything I have faced. Giant mammoth sized creatures with unfounded strength in their blows. I have no choice but to run away and separate them, they are too strong to face at once. They chase me out of Baals throne and through the halls, around and around. I slowly hack at them and flee. It's all I can do, if they all strike me at once, I will die. It takes an eternity but I finally deliver the final blow to the mighty demon Lister The Tormenter and return to Baal. He was not expecting me to succeed. He cowers and runs through the portal into the Worldstone Chamber and I follow him through. Baal is a despicable one third bug one third crab 1 one third ugly MF creature. I can't even count all his limbs. His crab like shell is seemingly impenetrable. My swings do not even phase him. I chop swing chop but he just teleports away and shoots freezing pulses at me from a distance. Whenever I get close he sucks all of my energy away and runs off again, spawning slimy tentacles that whip me. Hell must have some twisted brothels. I manage to scratch his tainted shell and he spawned another copy of himself... now there are 2 crabs. It looks grim but I don't give up. I just think of my beloved Charsi, we are so close now. Our battle rages on forever and a day. I deliver the final blow, Baal hurls his insides violently and collapses. His spirit visibly rises and spirals all around. Tyrael appears just as he corrodes to nothing and opens a portal to safety and I enter.




I wake in Charsi's bed back in the rogue encampment. What's this? I venture out and speak to the townsfolk. Gheed tells me to save Cain from Tristram, Kashya tells me about her sisters being corrupted by Andariel, Akara asks me to clear the cave outside the encampment walls. I've heard this all before, was it a dream? NO! IT WAS A NIGHTMARE.

nice





forgot to s/s bastard sword drop in cows.. moving on

after reroll of course
will come in handy later






grailer

sexy profile! uh.. i meant sexy barb build!

What was that nightmare? Were the lords of hell giving me a glimpse into the future, or perhaps it was the heavens. I rush out of the encampment and immediately I can tell, this is not the same as before. The demons strength have increased significantly. My poisoned blades are not effective anymore, it takes at least 50 swings to slay a single undead. If the dream I had was any indication, I have thousands of demons to face before I face Baal. A change in tactic, I will resort to the Barbaric art of shouting them to death. I rush to clear the Den Of Evil, kill the gargantuan beasts, retrieve the scroll and save Cain, then furiously speed to Andariel's lair. No time can be wasted if I seek to alter the result of my dream. Andariel's poison was far more potent but my shouts prevailed, I melted her face off and met up with Warriv to head to Lut Gholein.




Nothing has changed in Lut Gholein, I speedily cleansed the sewers from Radaments stench, located the den of bugs and hopped past them all to get the staff, the same eclipse occurred from my dream, I hunted down the snake lair and grabbed the amulet and made the staff. It's all the same, only the demons have changed in power. I rush to the arcane world and hopped past all the enemies and slayed The Summoner, leading me to Tal's tomb. I opened the hole and shouted down the king cockroach and met up with Meshif to travel to Kurast.



No matter how much I race, I can't seem to get ahead of my dream. It's the same in Kurast, I leap my way to the spiders and retrieve the eye, leap my way to the dungeon and grab the heart, hop hop hop all the way to the temple and claim the book, back to the sewers and find the brain... Will I make it? Up the Travincal and kill The Council, forge Khalim's Will and smash the orb. Race to Mephisto's entrapment but his brothers are already gone. It takes many shouts but he falls just as before and I enter the portal.

Cain is here waiting just as before, I head out and find Izual and take him down, then hop my way down to the Hellforge, get the hammer and break Mephisto's stone.




Hippity hoppity all the way to Diablo's seals, I break them all and summon him to face me. His lightning breath seems to have gotten weaker, he is no challenge, screaming away at him for a period then he falls.



Back to Tyrael to be transported to my homeland, just with the other cities, nobody remembers me. I warn them of Nihlathak but they don't believe me. I travel to the top of the siege and slay Shenk, proving myself yet again. I hop away past all the demons and find Anya frozen in place and save her then make my way to The Ancients. I take them down with haste and speed to stop Baal. He summons all the same demons from before and heads to the Worldstone Chamber. I follow him and proceed to yell at him until he falls. Tyrael appears and transports me to safety. I wake up next to Charsi again, WHAT IS GOING ON??? I realize, this is not a nightmare, I AM IN HELL.

This helps.



I fear the worst, I am inside some kind of hellish loop that I can't escape. What is causing it? It seems like a dream but all the equipment I have gathered is with me. However, all my actions have been undone and nobody remembers me. Is there something different I can do? I venture out once more of the Rogue Encampment and am met with even more ferocious hell spawns than before. My howls are still effective against them, but they have certainly gained resistance to them. I have no choice but to press on and hope it will be enough. Every demon seems to be empowered with the elements and curses, their blows inflict heavy damage. My iron skin no longer protects me against attacks that once could not even scratch me. I must venture with great care. I rid the Den once more of imps, shamans and zombies and press on to save Cain. The cave to the tree is riddled with archers and their arrows must be avoided, they pierce my body with ease. My only hope is to leap and avoid them entirely, too many arrows will cause me to fall. I make it to the end and find the tree, guarded by the Wendigos. Speed is on their side, but they can't hit me in the air. I leap to the tree and then portal to safety. Whoever invented these portals is a life saver. I return to find the stones and free Cain, I leave Griswold to roam the lands indefinitely to save time, my screams are ineffective against him. Back on track, I speed to the Barracks, down through the Jail and into the Cathedral. Here I come, Andariel. Into her lair, I clear the surrounding area before engaging with her. Her color has changed to black, is this her true form? She chases me around endlessly, shooting poison and stabbing me with her mandibles while I shout shout shout. Thank Akara for her ungodly tasting poison potions. Without them, I would be doomed. I circle a pile of barrels to recover many times, does she not know she can crush these barrels? Silly wench, it was her downfall. At long last, the final shout lays her to rest and she disintegrates in a puff of fire. I return to Warriv and travel to the desert once again, a long trek but it is well received to recover from all of Andariels stabs.



Just as the cave to the tree, the Lut Gholein sewers are filled with archers in even bigger groups. I jump past them knowing I will have to face Radament's swarm of undead soon. I locate him and lure as many of his spawns as I can away and shout them down. Before we battle, I chug Lysander's poison and cold potions in preparation. I leap on his face and shout seemingly 1000 times before he falls. My shouts stun the surrounding skeletal mages and warriors, if it weren't for that, they would have taken me. I race out to the desert again, cleanse the hole of the queen maggot and grab the staff, find the snake tomb and lift the eclipse. A swarm of snakes nearly kill me, for having no bones, they pack some serious strength. I forge the staff and head to the arcane world. The ghosts in here are completely immune to my abilities, I have no choice but to run from them. I find The Summoner, slay him and get the symbol for the right tomb. I return to Lysander to prepare with cold potions before fighting the giant cockroach. My loyal companion, Jamali is the only reason I can face him. He distracts and takes the blows while I yell at Duriel profusely. The battle was long and drawn out, I lost count of my shouts. It seemed as if they did nothing to him ,but eventually he was returned to the dirt. At this pace, there is no way I can gain speed on Diablo and Baal, these demons take so long to kill. I return to Meshif and we sail for Kurast.