The Misadventures Of Three Sorceress Archmages - Topic

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Jul 10 2024 01:20am

With some breathing space in reach, they take a closer look at the effects in the city. It would seem that his Drognan had at least a grain of sensibility and knowledge in his brain and recommended all to boil their water before consuming it. It has been mentioned as an effective precaution in insanitary times...in other words in settled areas. Still the sickness is spreading. Vanji has an idea.

"Wilhelmina, take a look at those bottles."

"What about them? The city has a glass industry, little wonder with the abundant raw materials."

"No, look closer. When was the last time someone washed the dishes here? Not to mention the corks."

"Oh. Eeeew... People are corked."

Time to plunder themselves some ingredients for cleaning things up. The flora of Aranoch may be unwelcoming on the surface but saps and roots are at times quite useful. Unfortunately most grow further inland away from the coast and the witches need to contend with angry cats and sly scarabs. Wilhelmina behaves outrageously and wastes time in the middle of battle to comment how useless throwing potions are against the Sol'ed shell of her guard.

Said cats are so infuriated that they forget basic tactical principles of pathfinding and expose themselves to further taunts and ridicule.

Silliest of all is however the arcane transportation hubs of Aranoch. It is clear that no integrated transport policy has ever been implemented here to do away with the surplus facilities.

Maltacus

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#62

Jul 10 2024 01:22am

Wilma on her hand encounters taunting enemies like the leaping menace that mocks both iron wolves and her main spells.

Not intending to be provoked by such base creatures, Wilma takes it slow and steady through the nearest wastelands.

Wanja meanwhile stays in the palace perfecting the fire wall security system. Although...it is a little too perfect. Or rather imperfect. The denial of access has struck indiscriminately and affected Kaelan the daft door guard in a most dim-witted way. Wilhelmina makes the following observations:

Code

When a technical spell application suddenly appears in your inventory it is often indicating fundamental problems. Some formulas are snuck past the scrupulous reviewers and beta testers to entice uninformed customers with misdirecting hype-articles filling entire scrolls. I never thought that the fire wall home security spell application would turn out to be one of those rotten products.

"You may not pass!" the voice shouts at me as I start up the fire wall spell application. It is nice to be reminded about the main purpose of it if memory fails. A vast, hollow and rickety spellogramme of the palace is rendered before my eyes. It is so full of access points and confused sentinels that it is quite comical.

"You may not pass!" Thank you once again kind sir.

Everyone is running around wildly waving their spears but never catching any potential intruders. It is time to seal those n00b back doors once and for all. I prepare to target the abandoned pipes when the connection terminates. It seems the spell application has been interrupted by a patrol of bugs passing through Jerhyns ill-maintained kitchen windows.

"You may not pass!" says the man harshly again. I detect a hint of taunting in the voice but that is probably just my imagination.

Bugs or not, this time I will seriously burn something down. The windows are going to go infernal next and woe to any assailant trying to sneak in like an uninvited Persian prince. My plans are however once again thwarted as my eardrums are drowned in buzzing, no, buzzard, noise. Pretty soon the source of the cacophony appears, a blocky and ugly pack of carrion birds of some kind. The spell screen freezes and the fire wall turns black. I storm off to get some sugared lemon juice and stop the wave of obscene statements waiting to flood my surroundings. Standing in the shade across the street I hear a familiar voice:

"You may not pass!"

Wanja feels almost as if she in another life had been reviewing a hopelessly bug-filled game where a stern voice shouts the title at you as it freezes and crashes at any given moment. She makes a mental note not to reread the old reviews in the northlander version of Player Character Gamer any time soon. One can only stomach so much silliness at once.

To clear her head Wanja dives into battle in the lower levels of the sewers and takes out her irritation on Radament the apprentice flesh golemancer. At least the original edition of the fire wall spell is both bug-free in itself and ensures a bug-free working environment.

Energy shield at work, a rare sight to be seen on pictures since more sensible sorceresses would be more concerned with the combat rather than taking screenshots...

The mob has been placated for the moment and everyone has survived Aranoch so far. Even though they may still not pass the palace door.

Maltacus

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#63

Jul 18 2024 01:53am

28. Material Witches World

In the ancient ages, known more precisely as episode 18, I remarked that each witch had some holes in her otherwise quite developed wardrobe. After finishing off Andariel I thought it time to try to deal with the noted deficiencies. While the countess' habitat can be explored at ones convenience later on, the stair traps of Act II are not so optional and while offering more space the foes are generally stronger too. Many are the valiant squires who have met their doom in that region. It would also be a bit relaxing to take a break from hells dual immune captains for a while.

Wanja had moved steadily away from the regular use of Riphook and relied on her developing lightning and lower resistance reserve staff to break resilient enemies. I decided to finally get to it and drop the Nadir helmet as main gear and replace it with Narphets Lore helmet. It added both valuable protection and skill level. Narphet in turn would need something suitable as replacement and found it in a bought Artisans Great Helm of the Wolf, of course of the Iron Wolf! Enormously fitting, isn't it? With an Ort rune still needed to make up for the lost lightning resistance, it gave him an additional 7 PDR and some life, far more relevant than skill levels for his ice spells.

While looking for Sol runes Wanja had the outrageous luck of running into nothing less than a Lum rune. With the countess unable to drop those as part of her special rune drop it must have been her or a companion who dropped it instead of another item, insanely rare this early in nightmare but quite welcome. With a couple of Hel runes saved Wanja soon had the runes for crafting another Memory staff provided she could find a better base than her current one which offers her access to a weak thunder storm.

A random log in Lower Kurast gifted her with an even more outrageous present, a Lem rune! If only she had been a combat character... I don't see any specific use for the latter but maybe something could come up. For all her luck she might get an Ist next time...

Maltacus

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#64

Jul 18 2024 01:57am

When chasing staffs in random tranquil places in early nightmare and normal, normal Baal dropped a cute regeneration ring that would complement her amulet of regrowth well. I am however hesitant to lose the mana bonus from either current ring as mana is Wanjas primary weakness. Perhaps she can some day find a way to gain both mana and more healing.

All in all Wanja had grown notably tougher with higher resistances and 7 more PDR, making her take very little damage so long as the energy shield is up. Her great deficiency of mana has not stopped her so far.

Wilma lacks skill levels and her amulet is a weak spot where there is room for improvement. She didn't acquire any skill levelling amulet on her shopping trip but crafted one very interesting example still. What a hideous level requirement...

Well, it offers some additional resistances compared to her current amulet, at the cost of some mana. The big question is of course if the attract charges could be made useful. It is not completely implausible. Since attract can be used on a group in combination with another curse such as lower resistance she could maybe use it to herd monsters together to make the most of her blizzards. On the other hand the duration of a level 1 attract is minimal in hell and I bet the monopolistic smiths charge extortionate sums for recharging the amulet.

Wilhelmina at last located a jewel with fire resistance, completing Vanjis Sword of Bejewelled Resistances.

Maltacus

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#65

Jul 18 2024 02:02am

That unlocked the spot in his shield occupied by a Ral rune no longer needed. Thus he could add one Sol rune to his shield without being too burned.

Finally, Wilhelmina had some time before found a devastatingly smart suit of dashing red, going smashingly well with iron wolf robes. Into this suit she socketed four Sol runes, offering one more than Vanjis former bland socketed gothic plate in addition to the added life and fitting colour.

With some improvements for all and especially Vanji looking much tougher the WWW are ready, or at least less unready, to brave the dangers of stair traps and ambushes in the dark.

Maltacus

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#66

Jul 27 2024 01:31am

29. The Countess' Wine Cellar

The filthy and easily manipulated Lut Gholein mob has been placated by a timely concession and service of the community by the WWW but remains not trusted by witches. In order to dampen the rabid throng Wilma, Wanja and Wilhelmina have chased various demonic inhabitants away from the near vicinity and enabled access to more of the well near the city. To speed up the recovery of those already afflicted with fevers Wilhelmina orders buckets of water assembled and bombards them with ice blasts, whose improved freeze length turns the water to ice in no time. The feeble-minded onlookers stand uselessly like the towns guards staring at the phenomenon.

"Come on, gather up the ice in those water skins now and distribute it to the sick! Water turning to ice is a perfectly natural occurrence. Morons..."

Wanja is meanwhile busying herself with annoying Wilma and other useful pastimes.

"Come see the hideous witches brew! Witness the bubbling of the foul contents of her magical cauldron!"

The mob is shuffling nervously next tot hem, suspicious but cowardly.

"Be quiet Wanja, and set the table instead. Only because you live on chilled deserts doesn't mean the rest of us can do it..."

Noticing the company Wilma irritably clarifies.

"...this is soup, made from potatoes, leeks and onions and some salt and pepper, it is very wholesome and tasty and should be easy to swallow for those with a sore throat. Cooked by me, so obviously a witches brew technically speaking."

The happy and bright gathering is interrupted by a startled cry from the tavern. Atma is rushing out and calling for help and it appears Geglash is lying on the floor as if struck by a level 24 lightning spell after Atma informed him that the town is on its last barrel of date palm liquor. No one seems to know what to do but Wanja has an idea. During all the time spent doing other things than their assigned homework the witches have read about many interesting theories about potential spell applications in their search for offensive means against professor Tape. One seemingly less useful idea was to cast a miniaturized version of the lightning bolt spell at someone's chest if said someone experienced severe heart problems.

The fools around Geglash are standing too close though, risking being targeted by residue lightning effects and interfering with her concentration when directing her lightning. Static interference is such a pain for any ambitious professional.

"CLEAR!"

Wanja casts her modified lightning spell at the first opportunity.

"...Out! I mean clear out, make some space. WAKE UP, GEGLASH!"

"Uuuuh..."

While bedside, or rather streetside, manners as well as manners in general might be lacking, Wanjas badass medical aid performance has captivated the crowd. Perhaps she will in time have given rise to a genre of popular culture centred on stories with main character physicians spending all their day shouting at other people.

To prevent further crisis Atma implores the WWW to search for more non-water drinkable supplies. The trade routes are severely hampered with only Warriv daring to make the journey with witch escort but perhaps there is a shortcut available thanks to the old Horadric Waypoints. In the old tower in the Black Marsh there seemed to be a cellar left standing and if the site was the residence of a countess then it might house the remnants of a wine cellar. The untrustworthy tales of the commoners around imply that the countess was a steady drinker of red, which sounds promising. Distinguished drunkards such as Geglash would call such obscure rumours of wine as something heard through the grapevine.

Scandalously enough, it would seem that various demonic and undead intruders dare to make their lair in the lower levels of the tower and impede the progress of recovering recovering drinks. WIlma, Wanja and Wilhelmina must battle their way through the gaudy Blood Clan, ghostly ghosts and dirty devilkin along with blueblooded, and blue, nobility that think little of common sorceresses trickling their filth through the halls.

Not even the countess herself has had the decency to sod off by herself. The immune countess chases Narphet and Wanja away and is being generally annoying. Perhaps an attack from another direction can take the heat and cold off them.

On her way down, Wilma is stairtrapped by a trio of thuggish goats. How underhorned! Underhanded is the term when humans attempt such a thing but the Blood Clan sinks to even lower levels. None the less, Wilma puts them in their place, literally, with a few glacial spikes while Haphet is bravely making a threatening gesture with his sword while unleashing the least effective attack of all the games minions against the immune enemies.

The countess, as immune and mobile as ever by now, is resting in her alcove with her chambermaids no doubt busy with much more important things than standing guard or keeping watch, not to mention investigating where those annoying and mildly accurate bolts keep coming from. Everyone knows the tower is drafty after all, no wonder it starts hailing now and again. No reason to get up, nothing to see over there...

The WWW have survived the insidious inside stair traps with all their iron wolves intact. Speaking of iron, there is a slightly metallic smell of the bountiful red liquor they are able to gather for Geglash but if it was good enough for a countess it should surely be good enough for even such a seasoned connoisseur.

Lazybumi

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#67

Jul 28 2024 04:51am

Love it as always
Have you ever considered writing a novel for fun?

Maltacus

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#68

Jul 28 2024 12:00pm

Quote (Lazybumi @ Jul 28 2024 11:51am)

Love it as always
Have you ever considered writing a novel for fun? :P

Not exclusively for the fun of writing, but for commentary and interaction with others mostly.

If I put it this way; search the web for Maltacus and you shall have your answers

I used to go by Maltatai on this forum before but lost my password and can't get a reset e-mail. Some of the old stuff appears to still be there though;
https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=75216691&f=161

Thanks for reading!

This post was edited by Maltacus on Jul 28 2024 12:05pm

Maltacus

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#69

Aug 2 2024 01:03pm

30. A Dead Hall

There are some ancient heirlooms whose return Deckard Cain of all people is prepared to offer a substantial if somewhat undefined reward for. Apparently an old staff of royal office as well as an amulet of religious significance needs to be found and acquired forcefully from the local inhabitants. Desecrating ancient tombs may be necessary as well, for as every foreign pillager...archaeologist...knows about such things, it belongs in a museum!

One apparently needs a Horadric Cube and one of those could possibly be found in the Halls of the Dead where they were used in sacred embalming rituals to honour the revered deceased. Wilma, Wanja and WIlhelmina already possess one each but it never hurts to have spares so theyd ecide to raid the place anyway and see what they can lay their hands on.

The dead are moderately amused by the idea and gather to show their depreciation.

The hordes of the Halls of the Dead pose a problem chiefly due to the resurrecting greater mummies. In other cases any pack could easily be thinned out and weakened by repeatedly skirmishing with the forward line of monsters. Now on the other hand a spellcaster must either make sure all undead remain frozen and shatter or advance to hit the greater mummies more directly. Both approaches are viable and sometimes work better or worse than one another. Adding to the complexity the spear cats that sometimes mix with the undead harass any spellcaster waiting to take aim and should be dealt with expediently.

Wanja and Wilhelmina can melt hordes of returned skeletons with ease with barrages of glacial spikes and frozen orbs. Both can also strike effectively against cats or greater mummies behind the lines with their fire walls and meteors. Wilma is the one in greatest trouble for while the hydras can eat most things from a, for Wilma, safe distance, her erratic blizzards frequently leave enemies unscathed and make it tremendously tedious to melt down the last skeletons of a pack. Worst of all however, are the desert wing bats. Fast, small and immune to fire they dive around falling ice as often as being hit it seems and neither chain lightning nor Wilmas now very inaccurate shooting is effective against them.

Wanja display the WWW:s typical reverence for the elderly when encountering a group of senior embalmers.

There doesn't seem to be any cubes left for the taking but no harm done, except of course to Aranochian spiritual traditions, cultural heritage and other mundane and petty details.

Wilma, Wanja and Wilhelmina move further out in the deserts, passing into the remote regions of the Far Oasis where water is sometimes found, if now frequently polluted by demonic interferences. The witches enjoy thoroughly the enlightening experience of coming into contact with the fascinating local fauna.

Sand maggots quickly become a favourite target for all but mostly for Wanja. Setting fire to such a tough but immobile target is leaves one with a serene sense of fulfilment and hope for the future.

Not all dangers are so easily escaped however. When you least expect it, your employer might burst out in a tiresome tirade about insufferable and unbearable academic nonsense that leaves your ears rotting. Haphet quietly decides to make a precautionary sweep of the surrounding areas in the meantime which will, regretfully, take such a long time that he will miss the entire lecture.

Maltacus

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#70

Aug 2 2024 01:06pm

Also, those scarabs are considerably more dangerous than the other creatures and can advance rapidly while their lightning bolts whittle away energy shields and puts frail spell casters into hit recovery. In danger, they are not on par with Wilmas endless ramblings, but still rather risky to face.

That is, when the scarabs are not eaten far, far, away by even hungrier predators.

The desert also bear witness to the subtle ways of Wilhelmina. One could well take note of the awesome duration of the heavenly flames at skill levels nearing 30. Hitting with a meteor is infamously hard but setting a trap with four meteors fire and leading enemies to it and freezing them is so much easier.

Or you can just take your time to actually aim and reap the rewards.

With the first pesky lairs of undead dealt with the WWW can turn their attention to the pesky lairs of slimy maggots and icky snakes. On second thought, Wanja and Wilhelmina decides that the undead perhaps aren't that bad after all. Wilma on her hand can't wait to be rid of skeletal heaps of any variety.

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