Part 16: (Nightmare) Blood Moor, Den of Evil, Cold Plains, Burial Grounds, The Crypt, The Mausoleum, and The Cave
I decided to skip the Cow level. I never was a fan of big udders anyway.
But there was one other thing I had to do before starting on Nightmare, namely having Anya name one of my items. So just for the hell of it...
Kroesus the General...I like the sound of that.
Starting on Nightmare difficulty I soon find another Unique item.
Can it be...Chance Guards?
But no, it's something completely useless to me.
This is more useful for me needs:
Gold Find is now up to 432%.
In the Cold Plains we meet some nasty women. Instead of being the MILF hunter, Kroesus almost ends up being the hunted.
The experience was so unnerving that he forgot to switch weapons after checking out the smoking hot bodies. So he whirlwinded a large group of two mobs, of which one of the two bosses were Lightning Enchanted, having only 7 L. Resistance, and ending up a hairs breath from death. This was the closest so far...
I decided I need to don the Stealth armour again, and Magic Find plummets.
But I find my first 4 socket weapons.
I can't do much with the Fuscina, but I could make an Insight Runeword with the Poleaxe. It doesn't have Life Steal, though, so unless I can find an exceptional 4 socket polearm, I will not spend the runes required.
I find a new Set item, a Ring. Tail's, it's Caithan's. Crown, it's Caithan's.
Oh well, the Angelic rings one usually want for the massive boosts to Attack and Magic Find doesn't give any Gold Find anyway.
We face Blood Raven again. She was surprisingly weak.
She drops a double edged pair of Gauntlets, though.
Gold Find is up to 495%, but now I can't equip the Mana Steal gloves anymore, and the only possible source of Mana Steal now is the weapon.
Despite abysmal Magic Find, I find a new Unique item in the Mausoleum when checking to see if the sarcophagi are safe from grave robbers.
Very nice damage, but no Life Steal or IAS. I let the Merc try it out, though. If he runs into health problems I can always give him back his old weapon with LS.
We save The Cave in the Cold Plains for last, since that's where that nasty bitch Coldcrow will be waiting. En route we find another Set Item.
This is Tancred's Skull. IIRC the whole Tancred's Battlegear is not good due to a weak weapon, but the Amulet + Boots is a nice combo for a big bonus to Magic Find. The whole set also gives +75% Gold Find. But I already get much more from my Amulet and Boots.
Finding yet another Charm of Greed elevates my Gold Find to 502%.
I also find the most damaging 1H weapon so far (I think), which would have been excellent if I was using the Double Swing skill.
We meet Coldcrow and her crones again. They practice their archery on the Merc, scoring several bulls eyes. I decide to TP out, resurrect the Merc and explore the rest of the Cave first.
When we return the Cannot Be Frozen from my shield saves the day, and the Merc positioned himself with more tact(ics).
At the end of this session I'm up to 1.22 million gold. So I'm almost halfway to my goal.
Along the way I also picked up a 4 socket Flamberge. This could eventually become a Spirit Runeword.
It has Life Steal, and massive boosts to Mana and Hit Recovery, but also does Cold Damage which will ruin too many corpses. So not an optimal choice. But I will need an Amn rune first in any case, so we'll see.
I decided to skip the Cow level. I never was a fan of big udders anyway.
But there was one other thing I had to do before starting on Nightmare, namely having Anya name one of my items. So just for the hell of it...
Starting on Nightmare difficulty I soon find another Unique item.
But no, it's something completely useless to me.
This is more useful for me needs:
Gold Find is now up to 432%.
In the Cold Plains we meet some nasty women. Instead of being the MILF hunter, Kroesus almost ends up being the hunted.
The experience was so unnerving that he forgot to switch weapons after checking out the smoking hot bodies. So he whirlwinded a large group of two mobs, of which one of the two bosses were Lightning Enchanted, having only 7 L. Resistance, and ending up a hairs breath from death. This was the closest so far...
I decided I need to don the Stealth armour again, and Magic Find plummets.
But I find my first 4 socket weapons.
I can't do much with the Fuscina, but I could make an Insight Runeword with the Poleaxe. It doesn't have Life Steal, though, so unless I can find an exceptional 4 socket polearm, I will not spend the runes required.
I find a new Set item, a Ring. Tail's, it's Caithan's. Crown, it's Caithan's.
Oh well, the Angelic rings one usually want for the massive boosts to Attack and Magic Find doesn't give any Gold Find anyway.
We face Blood Raven again. She was surprisingly weak.
She drops a double edged pair of Gauntlets, though.
Gold Find is up to 495%, but now I can't equip the Mana Steal gloves anymore, and the only possible source of Mana Steal now is the weapon.
Despite abysmal Magic Find, I find a new Unique item in the Mausoleum when checking to see if the sarcophagi are safe from grave robbers.
Very nice damage, but no Life Steal or IAS. I let the Merc try it out, though. If he runs into health problems I can always give him back his old weapon with LS.
We save The Cave in the Cold Plains for last, since that's where that nasty bitch Coldcrow will be waiting. En route we find another Set Item.
This is Tancred's Skull. IIRC the whole Tancred's Battlegear is not good due to a weak weapon, but the Amulet + Boots is a nice combo for a big bonus to Magic Find. The whole set also gives +75% Gold Find. But I already get much more from my Amulet and Boots.
Finding yet another Charm of Greed elevates my Gold Find to 502%.
I also find the most damaging 1H weapon so far (I think), which would have been excellent if I was using the Double Swing skill.
We meet Coldcrow and her crones again. They practice their archery on the Merc, scoring several bulls eyes. I decide to TP out, resurrect the Merc and explore the rest of the Cave first.
When we return the Cannot Be Frozen from my shield saves the day, and the Merc positioned himself with more tact(ics).
At the end of this session I'm up to 1.22 million gold. So I'm almost halfway to my goal.
Along the way I also picked up a 4 socket Flamberge. This could eventually become a Spirit Runeword.
It has Life Steal, and massive boosts to Mana and Hit Recovery, but also does Cold Damage which will ruin too many corpses. So not an optimal choice. But I will need an Amn rune first in any case, so we'll see.
