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-{{Bodiccea nav}}
+#REDIRECT [[Bodiccea (Act III)#Chapter 30]]
-"Hi, Ashy-babe!" Bodiccea bounced in the next morning.  "Whatcha up to?"
-Mildly irked, but smiling, Asheara said, "I thought I told you never to call me that."
-"Yeah, I remember," Bodiccea grinned brightly.  "Is it my fault it suits you?  You'll just have to deal with it."  As Heather and Aphelia walked in behind her, Bodiccea said, "Asheara, meet Aphelia, my new bud."
-"Is that what that is?" Asheara said, holding up a hand to shield her eyes.  "Kinda glowy."
-"She always was brighter than me," Bodiccea smirked.
-Aphelia snerked.  "Remember, I didn't say it."
-"But we all knew it," Heather smiled a little.
-"Heather!" Bodiccea gasped, putting on a show of being greatly offended.  "Someone woke up b!tchy today!"
-"Maybe she got kicked out of the wrong side of bed this morning," Asheara speculated.
-"Nah," Bodiccea laughed, "she and Aphie have been ganging up on me."
-"Ooh," Asheara smiled.  "Sounds like fun.  Can I join in?"
-"Oh, no!" Bodiccea wailed dramatically, throwing one hand up over her forehead.  "All those I counted as friends are turning against me!  What have I done to deserve this cruel fate?"
-The room went quiet.  Asheara broke the silence by saying, "I'm not touching that one."
-"Aw, c'mon!  I give you all a perfectly good straight line and nobody does anything with it."
-Asheara shrugged.  "So I'm no good with straight lines.  Where'd Aphelia come from?"
-"She's a gift from Heaven," Bodiccea said.
-"Oh... so the armor comes off, huh?"
-"Asheara!  No, she's canned like tuna and stays that way."
-Asheara opened her mouth to say something... then quickly closed it again.  Aphelia quietly said, "I don't do material things."
-"Yeah.  I can't even give her potions."
-"Huh," Asheara said.  "A blonde who doesn't drink and keeps her clothes on.  Not much of a gift from heaven, if you ask me."
-"She's always been little miss goody-two-shoes," Bodiccea hmphed, sticking her tongue out at Aphelia.  "I can't do a thing with her."
-Asheara's eyes went wide.  "I'm REALLY not touching that one."
-"Could Ormus heal you?" Heather quickly changed the subject.
-"Yes," Aphelia said.  "Mages manipulate energy directly instead of storing it materially.  It's kind of an inconvenience in the field, I suppose."
-"What are you complaining about?" Bodiccea said.  "You're not dying anytime soon, you've got, like, three times as much life as me."
-"True," Aphelia looked Bodiccea up and down.  "You don't have much vitality."
-Asheara's gaze swept over Bodiccea, pausing here and there.  "Could have fooled me.  She looks like a healthy young lass."
-"I needed a lot of strength and dex for the war fork," Bodiccea grumped, "so there wasn't much to spare.  I don't have much stamina either."
-"Aw." Obviously disappointed, Asheara shook her head pityingly at Bodiccea.
-"I'm working on it!  Besides, I get places so fast, I don't need much."
-"There are places you don't want to go fast," Asheara laughed.  "I don't get what you say sometimes, Blondie, but you're ok.  How'd you swing getting an angel?"
-"I'm not an angel," Aphelia said.  "We Valkyrie are the handmaidens of Athulua, our goddess of storms and winds."
-Asheara's eyebrows rose. "Is she the one who's with Kethryes?"
-After a short pause, Aphelia nodded.  "Yes."
-"Oh." Asheara nodded, a knowing smile creeping onto her face.  "I've heard of them."
-The room went quiet again.  Bodiccea broke the silence with a nervous laugh.  "Aphie!  We don't need to talk about them, Asheara might think we're weird or something.  How's about we get back out there and get that black book, hmm?"
-"The book of Lam Esen?" Asheara asked, her expression immediately changing to one of curiosity.  "Zakarum took that years ago.  If you can find it, I will be impressed."
-"Great!" Bodiccea glanced around, grinning a little too broadly.  "So, let's forget about weirdo goddesses who I have absolutely nothing in common with at all, and concentrate on our very important quest!  You remember the quest?"
-"Yes," Heather nodded.  "It's nice someone does."
-Frowning, Bodiccea tsked and said, "Wow, you are in a bad mood this morning.  Let's go kill things, how about that?"
-"Sounds fun.  Lead the way, Miss B."
-Bodiccea walked to the waypoint, with Heather and Aphelia running along behind.  On the way, Heather whispered.  "So, what do you think of Asheara?"
-Aphelia laughed.  "She's got a lot of attitude.  I mean, the snake..."
-"She always has that thing with her.  I think maybe she's compensating for something."
-"Overcompensating.  And my gaydar was pinging like crazy."
-"Oh, I know!  Everyone is totally sure she is."
-"And what does Bodiccea think?"
-"She thinks she's hot and cool.  She's been trying to get her to act less like a guy."
-A guffaw burst out of Aphelia before she could properly rein it in.  "Yeah, right!"
-Bodiccea turned around.  "Hey, what's going on back there?"
-"Nothing!" Heather said.
-Aphelia laughed.  "We're just ganging up on you again!"
-"Damnit, at least gang up on me in front of me where I can see you!"
-"Well, quit running so fast that we can't keep up with you!"
-"I'm not running, I'm walking.  Phoo.  Maybe a ton of extra movement isn't such a hot idea when you've got mercs to take care of.  You're really slow in all that armor, Aphie."
-Aphelia shrugged.  "Well, maybe you don't need the Stealth armor anymore.  Is it doing anything for you besides the extra movement?"
-"Mmm... nah, not really.  I hardly cast anything, don't need the dex bonus anymore, and I have more than enough movement bonuses."
-Heather smiled.  "I think the Mule has Iceblink.  Wouldn't having 'Hit Freezes Target' work really well with Fend?
-"Yeah," Aphelia nodded.  "And Duriel's Shell has 'Cannot be Frozen.'"
-"There's Shaftstop.  Shaftstop and String of Ears would be great together."
-"Even Skin of the Flayed One has life replenishing, not to mention even more life leech."
-"OK!" Bodiccea shouted, holding up her hands.  "Jeebus, when I said you were ganging up on me, I didn't mean literally.  I'm not high enough level for most of those anyway.  Iceblink would rock, but it's not like we need to make Normal any easier."
-Looking a little disappointed, Heather shrugged.  "Maybe you could upgrade Iceblink?"
-"No dice; we're still in version 1.09.  Heather, we'll be fine.  Act III isn't that tough.  Heck, we breezed through the Flayer Jungle, and that's the worst part."
-Heather nodded.  "If you say so."
-"I do!  Relax, I'm sure I'll get better armor sometime.  So will you.  Heck, you'd probably be wearing Iceblink if 'Hit Freezes Target' worked with ranged attacks."
-Heather nodded.  "Maybe.  Sparkling Mail has worked out pretty well."
-"Sparkling Mail rocks on a Rogue.  Extra damage, lightning resistance; it's all good.  Come on, let's go.  We can play dress up the Amazon later."
-Luckily, both of the temples and one sewer entrance were in the same corner of the Kurast Bazaar as the waypoint, and there were hardly any monsters.  The Ruined Temple was empty except for Battlemaid Sarina and a gang of two minions; Bodiccea blinked and almost missed the fight.  She dropped Vidala's Barb, and the black book was in its usual place.  A stone skin Wailing Beast met them right inside the entrance of the Disused Fane, which was a bit of a surprise but hardly a serious one.  A Lightning Enchanted Wailing Beast down the hall wasn't much of a problem either, nor were the Night Lords who populated the rest of the temple.  Stifling a yawn, Bodiccea brought the Tome of Lam Esen to Alkor.
-"You have found the book!  It should contain important information about the Prime Evils.  But as for you..."
-"Say Alkor, how do you give people five unused stat points, anyway?"
-Alkor grinned toothlessly.  "Would you believe me if I told you it came from an injection of prime A-1 grade man juice?"
-Bodiccea blinked.  "And where would you get some of that?"
-"From a natural source.  Turn around and let me see your buttocks."
-"Not unless you can convince me you did this to Tearlach and lived to tell about it."
-"No back-talk, silly girl!  You are too suspicious.  Of course it is a potion, to be injected into the muscles.  Drinking would destroy it."
-Bodiccea smiled.  "Then you can do it in my arm."
-"You have more muscles elsewhere!  I remember the large Barbarian.  His went between his ears." Holding up a large syringe, Alkor said, "I am the alchemist!  Let me put this where it will do you the most good.  Later, I will weep and clutch at myself in despair."
-Sighing, Bodiccea turned around and bent over.  "Whatever.  Thank you, Alkor, for once again adding a note of just-plain-wrong to my day."
-"It is my speciality," Alkor grinned.
-Newly fortified with 11 vitamins and minerals, Bodiccea and her crew went down into the Kurast Sewers.  They were dark, gloomy, and full of dead things -- also, baskets of goodies, so many that Bodiccea wondered where Little Red Riding Hood was hiding.  The monsters were Horadrim Ancients and Preserved Dead, neither of which should have been around in such a damp place, and Gloombats.  No exploding Flayers, though.
-The sewers are a huge level, so exploring them systematically is a must.  Bodiccea went to the right, keeping the outside wall in sight.  Occasionally they broke away to deal with a greater mummy or a River Stalker, but for the most part Bodiccea tried to keep everyone moving in one direction.  There were several boss Horadric Ancients, including a Lightning Enchanted one.  His poison breath was more of annoying, even when Bodiccea was Jabbing.  Massive amounts of life leech is your friend.
-The next greater mummy boss was hanging out next to a River Stalker, and a big crowd of Preserved Dead was nearby.  That made things difficult; the spitter repeatedly knocked Bodiccea away from the Ancients and into the crowd of resurrecting lesser dead.  She had to kill it first before dealing with the boss.  After the battle, everyone was fine, though Aphelia was green with poison and stayed that way until they went back to town.
-"Aphie," Bodiccea said with disappointment, "you know better than to walk through the poison clouds.  They taught us about that in javelin school."
-Aphelia scratched her head.  "I know... it was like..."
-"Like you couldn't help yourself?" Heather said.
-"Yeah!  It's like some kind of bizarre compulsion!"
-Heather nodded.  "It's like the green stuff is some kind of drug that's only for mercs and summons.  It stinks, it hurts, but you keep going back to it."
-"Yeah..."
-"Whatever.  Stop doing it.  It took me forever to break Heather of the habit, I don't want to have to start on you."
-Heather laughed, and tapped her arm.  "Missy B!!  I need some!!"
-"Shut up, Heather.  What's gotten into you today?"
-"I dunno," Heather smiled.  "But I kind of like it."
-While exploring the sewers, they ran across several interesting things.  Several sewer nodes had boats in them.  Why is anyone's guess.  Bodiccea stood in one with a mask on, singing about Christine, but neither of the others got it.*  Bodiccea found a pike and tried it out for grins; even with Jab and all her extra attack speed, it was too slow.  Sigh.  That confirmed it: the pike-wielding Amazon had pretty much been nerfed out of existence.  At one point, they passed an island out in the middle of a sewer node, with 4 Preserved Dead standing around in complete isolation.  Heather killed them.  At least they didn't drop anything nice; seeing a good treasure they couldn't reach out there would have been annoying.
-On and on, and on they went.  Eventually they found an entrance to Upper Kurast, and then another.  Those would come in handy later.  There seemed no end to the sewers or the pesky undeaders, until they found a super chest that dropped 5 blues.  That was good for money, at least.  According to the map, they'd come around nearly to their starting point when they found the golden chest of joy.  It popped open with 6 blues, including a halberd Bodiccea tried out.  It looked pretty spiffy, but spears are better.
-Finally... FINALLY... just to the left of the entrance they came in originally, they found Icehawk Riftwing and the level 2 entrance.  Down on level 2, there were 3 -- count 'em -- 3 exploding Flayers and three Stygian Watchers.  As a reward for being so snotty, Bodiccea let Heather kill them while she looted the chests.
-"There," Bodiccea said as she dropped the heart in her stash.  "Let it be known that I have the heart of a saint."
-"Along with his brain and eye," Heather noted.
-"But not his thingy." Bodiccea laughed. "Ew, gross.  Man, that took forever.  I wonder why they didn't put alligators down there?"
-"Why would they?" Aphelia asked.
-"'Cause it'd be fun.  Never mind.  Let's check out the loot."  Bodiccea dumped her pack open at Cain's feet... and picked out a flamberge.  "Oh."
-"What's with the sword?" Heather asked.
-"Nothing," Bodiccea grasped the hilt and gave it a few swings.  "Just remembering an old swordmistress I once heard about.  This was before your time.  Her name was Sapphidia, and she used a flamberge."
-"Oh."  Heather waited, but no more explanation came.  "Gonna sell it?"
-"Yeah, it's not much good.  It's getting kind of late.  Wanna hit Upper Kurast and try to find the waypoint?"
-"You're the boss.  It would be better."
-"Ok, then.  Let's go."
-<nowiki>*</nowiki> For readers who don't get it: it's a Phantom of the Opera reference.

Difference between revisions of "Bodiccea (Chapter 30)"

Latest revision as of 18:46, 13 February 2017

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