Yes! She's BACK!

SWEETSPEARGIRL'S REVENGE
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Chapter 1: This Is Not Happening
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Cast of Characters
SweetSpearGirl, Jabazon
WizOfTrapasin, Trapassin
Various and sundry Goblins, Demons and assorted Badly Behaved Beasties

TAKE HEED AND BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTHS THAT LIE HEREIN, FOR THEY ARE THE
LAST LEGACY OF THE HORADRIM...

Bright was the day when SweetSpearGirl woke, yawned, stretched - and her
feet hit the stash.
"What the...?"
She scrambled to her feet.

She was not in her and Euyfura's little house in Lut Gholein.
She was in the Rogue Encampment!

Warriv sat nearby warming his hands over the embers of the fire. Kashya
stalked past, hustling Euyfura along to guard duty.
"Oh, frak," SweetSpearGirl said to herself. "Not again! I was enjoying my
retirement!"

She stumped along to Charsi, realising as she did so that all her gear was
gone ("probably still in Lut Gholein in the Hell world" she muttered to
herself) and that she could no longer summon the Valk. She sighed, selling
off a few potions and a shield to Charsi, and headed out.

"Badly-behaved beasties watch out!" she said, deeply frustrated with this
turn of events. Attacking goblins and Quill Rats in the Blood Moor, she
scooped up their meagre drops, and - glory be! she got herself a level, and
enough gold for a weapon! Selling a few arrows and a socketed Staff to
Charsi and purchasing herself a three-socket Spear and a point in Jab, it
was back out to the fight.

It wasn't long before she had company - a young assassin, WizOfTrapasin (an
odd name, our heroine thought, but shrugged). The assassin was already
hunting beasties in the Stony Field, having heard of the lost Horadric Mage,
Deckard Cain, who could identify stuff for free, so SweetSpearGirl on
reaching level 3 ("ooh goody, 1 point in Critical Strike. Bah") shrugged
again and joined up.

Someone dropped a chipped sapphire which she plugged into her spear, and
something else dropped a Lizard's Sash of the Jackal (+4 to mana, +3 to
life); her first piece of gear after the weapon. She girded it on and
dropped a few light reds and light blues into the slots.

Up and down the Stony Field the pair ranged, stabbing and firebombing
goblins, undead, and anything that even looked remotely crossly at them. Her
Speariness found a socketed bow for Euyfura (when Kashya ever let her off
guard duty!) and after finding the waypoint they ventured into the
Underground Passage. It was dark and spooky, and a boss Misshapen, Black
Jade the Hammer (teleportation) barred their way. Various potions needed
drinking before the intrepid duo could move on, but his demise did give
SweetSpearGirl a level up!

A little farther on they encountered Seethe Weaver (fire enchanted), backed
up by a few skeleton archers and some Vile Hunters; dealing with him boosted
SweetSpearGirl to level 5. SweetSpearGirl picked up a chipped amethyst from
his remains which she added to her spear before moving on.
"Onward and downward," she muttered to herself as they ventured into level 2
of the Passage.

Only to encounter Flesh Crow the Tainted, a Tainted (oddly enough!) who was
generating an (un)Holy Freeze aura and spat balls of lightning!
SweetSpearGirl found herself doing a corpse recovery run, trying to avoid
and kill the beastie, until eventually he went down, leaving the duo to pick
through his loot and replenish their pots. (By this time, several thin
purples had dropped, too.)

Finally, however, they emerged into the Dark Wood. Vile Lancers and Spike
Fiends and lots and lots of goblins were the order of the day, and a Cursed
boss Spike Fiend made our spearazon bite the dust again shortly before
finding the waypoint! By now her frustration at finding herself back at the
beginning again had developed into full-blown rage, and she took cruel
revenge on her foes, boosting her Vitality and her Jab at level 6. After
giving TreeWood HeadFist a bit of a beating, they obtained the Scrool of
InfiWinfiWossIsName and headed back to the Cairn Stones.

By now SweetSpearGirl had filled the last socket in her weapon with a
chipped Topaz, and feeling ready for what awaited her, stepped through the
red portal.

Champion Night Clan were the first up, followed by skelly archers and the
usual complement of goblins. SweetSpearGirl pulled Cain out of his cage and
shoved him through a town portal as Blade Touch the Axe (night clan,
teleportation) hove in on the warriors. SweetSpearGirl was by now level 7
and such a beast held no terror for her, although she was wishing for some
mana leech!

They drew Griswold out and put him down (slowly; he was fat and Cursed),
returning to camp for identifying stuff and Akara's useless ring (+10 to
attack rating. Blah).

SweetSpearGirl rested for a while, sat near the fire with her back leaning
against the stash, and when she woke WizOfTrapasin had departed for parts
unknown. SweetSpearGirl however was ready for more fighting, so she blinked
out to the Dark Wood and began circling, hunting for the Black Marsh
entrance. She levelled to 8 shortly thereafter, and decided to return to see
if Euyfura was off guard duty yet.

As luck would have it, the Rogue was bored and only too happy to rejoin her
Amazon to liberally kick butts. They ran into Flame Thirst the Dark (stone
skin) and put the wench down, then moved on. Skeleton archers and goblins
harrassed them, but nothing fazed our heroes. SweetSpearGirl even began to
recover some of her old battle joy. She found a socketed skull cap into
which she plugged a chipped amethyst ("better than nothing, Rogue!" she
remaked; Euyfura rolled her eyes. She was wearing only a Hard Leather armour
and a short bow, no hat).

They entered the Black Marsh and straight away encountered a boss. Sharp
Froth the Grim was a cold-enchanted Brute, and SweetSpearGirl had to run
circles around him and his minions, taking stabs and jabs where she could.
Euyfura finally put the last arrow into Sharp 'Frost' himself and then all
that remained was a stray minion and loot.

Packs of goblins menaced them from burning houses and beasties converged on
them from all sides. SweetSpearGirl wished she had a Valk or even a Decoy to
call upon to distract the buggers, but as she remarked to Euyfura, "Soon
enough, I hope!" Vile Archers and Champion Vile Archers encroached on the
duo's personal space, ensuring tough battles, but at the end of it all
SweetSpearGirl was level 10 and Euyfura had gone from level 4 to level 8, so
it certainly wasn't wasted effort! They found the waypoint, and then the
entrance to the Tower, by moving in decreasing circles around the perimeter.

"Bosses first," Euyfura offered, and SweetSpearGirl let herself down into
the Tower.

It was dark and spooky, and Devilkins emerged from the shadows, soon
followed by a boss Dark Archer - Blade Bite (cursed). SweetSpearGirl nearly
didn't survive the fight, but they made it through; only to encounter Storm
Widow (devilkin, mana burn) at the way down to level 3. He was much more
easily dispatched, however!

Onward and downward. The gloom was thick as they worked their way down;
shadows seemed to move of their own accord, thronging and whispering in
corners. Rats and spiders skittered, and unfamiliar (and icky!) insect life
made chittering sounds from cracks in the walls. Champion Blood Clan emerged
on level 4, laying into our heroes, but they just weren't quite tough
enough, and one of them dropped an Infernal Cranium which SweetSpearGirl
happily replaced her amethyst'd skull cap with.

Finally down into level 5! A boss pack of Ghosts led by Storm Razor (stone
skin) was soon dealt with; packs of goblins emerged from the side areas but
soon SweetSpearGirl was picking up tons of gold.

El Contessa herself was guarded by various Dark Archers and Dark Stalkers,
but when they were out of the way her fire-enchanted self went down pretty
fast, dropping El and Tal runes.

Finally back in the fresh air, SweetSpearGirl levelled to 12 (dumping points
in Slow Missiles and Avoid), and she and Euyfura made a at a swift run
through the Tamoe Highlands (a pack of Champion Returned Archers killed our
hero once but she avenged herself swiftly!) and into the Outer Cloister,
facing Bone Growler the Wraith (returned archer, multiple shot) along the
way. Devilkin Shamans lurked there, raising their goblins, but
SweetSpearGirl snagged the waypoint and as it was getting dark, decided to
call it a night.

TO BE CONTINUED...