started with yet another Amazon. Atma? Down the drain, last time I had to format my pc I didn't bother all that much to make a backup for what I had farmed previously. Lots of decent/good/very good stuff lost, but, what the hell, since I was moved yet again by SD's naked chick and her exploits, I shouldn't complain with a SP 1.12 vanilla untwinked pointy stick/bow wielding girl.I'm not sure why I am posting this since everyone seems to be grandmaster of the beautiful game, owners of every single item no matter what colour/lvl/whatever, though some (I feel like home already) of the abovementioned seem to still be puzzled as to why D/A/E freezes even the ueber leet itamz pawnzorz godesses. Love it!
So, in true greenhorn style, I am about to amaze everybody with my latest love, Briseis. As her name suggests she started from humble beginnings, and I DO mean humble - the javs, a tincan for a shield and my shabby skills. I go softcore, but p8, full clears plus a HC mindset, Briseis must stay alive. I have no supercool goals to achieve (Superdave, Insane Wayne, and the like have already covered that area), I just want to mat Briseis without having to see that infamous screen "You have died. Press ESC". I loathe that.
So the real challenge is to impress Tyrael without biting the dust, AND, most importantly, taking advantage of my usual "luck" in finding stuff. I'm no friend of any leprechaun, trust me.
...
So, let's see what I've "achieved" this far: meet Briseis and her ueber leet gear (no, really!):
lvl 27 (@ Canyon of the Magi, no tomb completed yet)
Str 51/Dex 80/ En Vita - base (with gear, bow side - a whopping +1 dex!!!)
Jav side - consider the Perla Lunata shield (found somewhere in Act1)
Skills: +1 Crit and Penetrate (as Nightfish sugests in the Fishyzon guide) aiming for +1 Pierce
10 Charged Strike (CS) + prereqs, waiting for the right time to invest in LF
2 CA, 1 Ice Arrow, drooling for FA.
And, drrrumz pleassse: as Nightfish said that there would be skill points left after completing a Fishyzon, but we don't really need them, and as CDM once wrote to me (God bless him!), and I quote: "you've got the gear of a fishy, but the physical bowazon's mindset" (not that I have any gear now, but the part about the mindset rings a bell), I've decided to put 2 hard points in Strafe +3 in prereqs...
...
Gear:
Bow: the infamous Stone Quarrel short battle bow that does, well..., not much 7-15 damage (in your face, WF lovers!), +1 to dex (which increases damage, mind you), and 5%ml.
Pilum with 5%ml and the Pelta Lunata
A gemmed ring mail socketed with three PTopa..., ahem, 3 chippies for 27MF
Boots, gloves + one ring that give me (combined) 54MF + ... nothing else really, one other ring with 4%ll, ammy 4%ml, H'sarus belt, and, really unexpected a Biggin's Bonnet, for extra dammage
LCS... well, nevermind.
Charms? My pride and joy is a Russet Grand Charm of the Icicle (19FR, 2-4CD).
Briseis travels with her friend from school, a rogue who likes to chill. Chill others that is. You might imagine Liene's gear, based on that of Briseis. Yes, it is crap.
...
So, in a nutshell, I intend to take Briseis and Liene all the way on p8 full clears (no rerolling maps the first time I get to them), no Act2 Moron or any other, Liene stays, almost naked (with my luck and the leet itamz I find - that's almost true), boss reruns as I see fit (not that it helps much), NO decoy or Valk, nor D/A/E. My skills are mediocre (at my very best), but they got me to the Act2 tombs on p8 with THAT gear.
This is a poor noob's Amazon attempt for glory, for fortunately (?) I am, after all this years, (almost) as lowsy at playing D2 as I was 10 years ago.
Wish me luck, as I intend to further annoy you with Briseis' story, until she deeds (not for real, she's SC, but for this thread).
...
Waiting (from those who had the stunnig patience to read all this) for opinions on when you think Briseis's journey will end. This might be as fantastic a thread as SD's!
|||Welcome back to the wonderfully addicting world known as Diablo II. I am impressed with your gear. 
Keep up the good work and eventually you will have that big, fat ATMA stash too. Just a quick word from the wise, if you are playing SP you should probably be backing up your .d2s and stashes.|||you go girl!|||@ Nevius - I knew my gear would cause mass(ive) drooling!@ superdave - thank you, Sir!
Seeing as the huge request for updates never ceases, I'll give into your demands and post a quick follow-up.
I left you on a cliffhanger, just previous to clearing the Tal Rasha tombs. It went surprisingly well and uneventful, as Charged Strike made short work of the Unravelers (in a banzai type of attack), while Ice Arrow was extensively used to freeze those darn beetles and their lightning beams.
Normal Duriel, one of the most annoying bosses at this early level, was a pushover. And that's on p8, with crappy gear, a rogue as sidekick and this LCS:
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...eenshot059.jpg
(Yes, it's a Nokozan that gives me 85FR, the same Lunata and charms for the +life)
Took the bug head on with CS. Got a 24 MF Nagel for the effort. On a sidenote, I remember that Superdave wrote when he got to this point that he tried to get his Anna to clvl 30. I don't know if that is possible on SP, no re-runs, even if full clears, as I (and SD) went.
Act3 was a breeze, especially after I hit clvl 30 and feverishly clicked on FA. I love it that it's synergy (CA), gives it significantly more damage without having an impact on the blue bulb. Swamps, Sewers (bleah) gone, here I come to the Promise Land, Lower Kurast that is. I've decided to farm here for a while, as my gear was well above anything SD's Anna had ever seen, but below par even in my books.
It was well worth it: 40MF Chancies
AND a yummy ammy with +8 ene +9 dex, 53 life, and +8 allres (and +1 to shapeshifting skills 
), plus some low level runes that will come in handy... or so I hope....
Liene died for the first time (and only, thus far) in the ruined temple, courtesy of a combination of champion wailing beasts plus Sa(b)rina plus me beeing cocky.
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...eenshot063.jpg
I think that Liene's death really helped me realize that life is fragile. Especially when Vita is still @ base... So thank you, kind of..., Sarina!
...
The Council was a joke, easily lured them one by one, didn't even need to use any potions, there was a fountain nearby. A joke was their drop aswell. Durance - easy, a few dolls, but patience and carefully placed FA's took care of them. Weird map (at least for me) @ Durance 2:
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...eenshot065.jpg
Moated Meph with Briseis, the heroine that still wears the gemmed ring mail for that 27MF, H'sarus belt, Boots with 25MF (that's all), And a +1 to bow skills 3os bow socketed with +9 to max jewel, a tal and a ral
The best drop was Mephisto's Soulstone!
...
Get ready for another enthralling episode of Briseis' Unfortunate Adventures next week!
|||i cannot wait! (and no i am not sarcastic for a change!)|||These posts are always fun. Keep us updated 
|||Hello again!I started Act IV a bit reluctantly, as I knew I had to watch out for those gloams, even in Normal. Nothing spectacular happened, as I was mowing my way through, with much needed aid from the blue pots. Izual took a looooooooooooooooooong way to "retire":
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...210/Izual1.jpg
Aside from the extra fast Balrogs, the way to the CS was pretty plain, and that meant I had to stay extra careful - it's not easy to remain focused while you empty an entire quiver of arrows on creepy crawlies.
Cleared the Seals without getting into a lot of trouble, due to being extremely careful. The Infector went down with CS easily as his blietzkrieg was no match for mine
Not even death can save you from me! said the overgrown lizard. You're on, mate!
"I am using the latest in no white marks, anti-perspirant 48h protection deodorant. Here, check my armpit!"
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...iac0210/D1.jpg
Liene fell quickly, so I had to be alert, better safe than sorry
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...iac0210/D2.jpg
DIablo's fire walls are lame, but to get there I had to escape lots of deadly lightning hoses
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...iac0210/D3.jpg
Finally he went down, and left me crap
At this point I made a mistake: I was so happy that I got past Big D that I went on to my favourite part of the game Harrogath without taking a break. As my self appointed rules proclaimed, I had to finish every area I entered and kill every monster in it. Ended up poking myself to stay awake at 5 o'clock in the morning while clearing this area:
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...0/Glacial1.jpg
There was one MAJOR breakthrough: I found a Skystrike somewhere, don't remember exactly where, as I was struggling to stay awake.
Next, routine. Until I cleared the Ancients Way and got to the Arreat Summit. I got scared, really scared. No surprise as my gear was, and still is, crap, as I'm wearing armour and belt that I bought from Larzuk, that give me 98 life and 2 sockets I filled with a Ptopaz and a flawless T for 44MF... Need I say I'm still wearing Biggin's Bonet? Got lucky with Anya, who sold me a pair of shoes with 33MF and 23LR.
So I did some runs (Eldritch, Pindi, Schenk, Cellars) hoping for something useful. After 30 or so runs I finally got myself together, changed the boots with some rares that gave me 20FRW and some res, filled my stash with blue (especially) and red pots, and said:"What the He... am Normal, let's give it a try!"
Here we go, taking them straight on, with CS
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Ancients1.jpg
This can't be...
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Ancients3.jpg
It was a walk in the park... Such an anticlimax
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Ancients5.jpg
Went further on to WSK2, where I took this LCS
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...0/WSK2bLCS.jpg
Found a Wizendraw that might come in handy later
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...aWizendraw.jpg
And managed to get an invite from Baal MC to his latest party
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...0210/WSK3b.jpg
The strategy is obvious: freeze them with FA
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...0210/WSK2a.jpg
then hit'em hard with LF/CS. Dance accordingly.
This is a pretty cool character. Total points spent on Vita? O (i.e. zero, nada). Twinks? No, thank you. Cool sidekick? Mmmm, yes, my rogue is cool.
I will spend no points in Vita, I will not change my rogue, I will not go down from p8, I will clear areas in full when I first get to them, I will give up when I die, although I'm going SC. It may not be very spectacular, but I still think this might prove to be worthy of the Amazon Basin should I manage to, at least, get to Hell. FOr this is my goal - to get past Nightmare.
In a day or two I'm planning to have a chat with Mr. Baal, then I'm off to Act1NM.
Thank you.
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