Terror in the Countess Tower

Diablo II Notation Basic Class Skill Item Ally Quest Area Monster Tale Iron Frenzy Hardly-Able GotDex Poorman Homocide Squad Kwikwilyaqa Terror in the Tower Guardian Thorn SenSitiveSkin nOOdists Advance Mizor I II III IV V Xanthippe I II III IV V Thaddeus I II III IV V Tearlach I II III IV V Varnae I II III IV V Amanita I II III IV V Bodiccea I II III IV V Well, this week I once again received the honour of stepping into the shoes of a charming and talented Zon, and well, this is what happened. (to be read in your best corny Batman-narrator type voice) It started out as just another mission for our group of irrepressible archers. They rescued a long-winded old man from a cage in ruined Tristram. After clicking through his tiresome speeches, the intrepid band set out for the Marsh to investigate rumours of an abandoned tower cellar (cue spooky music here). The tower found, the members (and guest) of the Gathering headed down and cleared the first four levels without much ado. But then.... they reached.... LEVEL FIVE (cue even spookier music). The bosses.... oh, the bosses! One was enchanted with the feared orange fanaticism aura... and it only went downhill from there. Our heroes didn't stand a chance against such numbers and such mods. Within seconds of descending those stairs, all were cut down. It was a long, hard battle, and many of our brave adventurers fell... multiple times... (luckily, this being softcore, our heroes are immortal, and death is only a momentary annoyance http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/html/emoticons/tongue.gif). There were a few gallant attempts at body retrieval missions, as the warriors urged each other to head once more into the fray. But alas, it was a near hopeless situation. The TPs were trapped... the stairs were trapped... it was without a doubt the most dreadful scenario that this brave band had ever faced! What was this heroic group of friends to do? Naturally, it was imperative that they wreak revenge on these nasty beasts and show them who was boss... but how? The answer came in the form of a valiant warrior who feared neither ugly mods nor trapped portals... the incomparable CadsDragon (insert heroic theme here)! The humble untwinked group could only wait in town, awed, as she set her deadly traps and cleared the way for them to finish exacting their revenge. Then, the job done, she vanished once more into the night, as suddenly as she had appeared. With the way cleared, our heroes returned to the field of battle. What a sight! Corpses littered the areas around the stairs and in the main hall area... some of them the enemies', but most of them belonging to our heroes. But now, re-equipped, with as much precious experience salvaged from these shades as possible, and with morale boosted from the mysterious appearance of their uber-godly ally CadsDragon, they made quick work of the rest of the demonic/undead forces and exacted their revenge on the Countess and her cronies. Exhausted by their battles, the heroes then retired to exchange tales of valor and sing rowdy songs in praise of the mighty CadsD. Okay, I made up that part. No actual singing took place. http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif And I think the part about staring in awe at their "uber-godly ally" was a bit of a stretch. But the basic facts remain: the group ran into what I was assured was their ugliest battle ever, and the first time they actually had to give up on trying to clear it themselves and bring in someone to clear for them... that someone, of course, being Tina's (admittedly incomparable) CadsDragon. http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/html/emoticons/happy.gif The battlefield was littered with the corpses of slain adventurers, I'm not exaggerating about that one... I didn't even try to count the number of times we all died. So there you go, someone said theire should be a writeup, and so a writeup you now have, written by me, at 1 in the morning, in a goofy mood. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back (oh wait, you didn't pay anything for it... well then you know how much it's worth!). Author's Note: CadsDragon was Cadsuane's level 94 trap assassin. Credits Heather Fleming, May 2004. Reprinted by the author from this post.