10-24-2003, 10:05 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-31-2012, 09:05 PM by MongoJerry.)
IRENE: THE PIT
Now where were we? Oh, yes. (In a hoarse whisper) The Pit of Despair. Don't even thi... (clears throat)
Oh, right, right. Irene and Aliza. You know, I frankly don't know if I've ever entered The Pit with any of my previous characters. I occasionally visit some of the side areas to relieve some of the tedium of leveling up, but I can't think of any time even when I first played the game that I visited The Pit. By the time I get to the Tamoe Highland, I'm usually so eager to get to the next waypoint that I follow the road directly to the Rogue Monastery. I had no idea what to expect when Irene and Aliza entered The Pit Level 1.
![[Image: BuHza.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/BuHza.jpg)
The moment our heroines walked down the stairs, they were accosted by a swarm of dark stalkers. Luckily, though, the entrance area looked familiar to our heroines. In fact, it looked exactly the same as the entrance portion of the Underground Passage. They remembered that there was a nice large loop just below the entrance, so they led the dark stalkers there and used the loop to break up and take apart the pack.
The next monster park to enter the picture was made of devilkin. Irene and Aliza had learned to not be fooled into a false sense of security around devilkin. After all, they can quickly swarm a character, and their shaman can be very troublesome when they revive dead devilkin behind you. Irene and Aliza cautiously killed a few devilkin in preparation for what they figured would be an assault on a devilkin/shaman camp.
They then received a pleasant surprise. The devilkin weren't being revived! Irene and Aliza walked forward cautiously and confirmed that there were no shaman about. Nice. It turned out that The Pit Level 1 had no shaman in it, so all of the devilkin there could be killed quickly, safely, and permanently. There were also bone warriors there, and our heroines had to carefully pick apart a bone warrior champion pack, but otherwise, they made smooth progress through The Pit Level 1 and at the end of the cave, they found the stairs to Level 2 and walked down them.
![[Image: BBaI3.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/BBaI3.jpg)
]
Hmmmm... Our heroines didn't like the look of this. The area near the stairs had very little maneuvering room, and it opened up quickly onto a wide platform that invited monsters to swarm Irene and Aliza from several directions. Irene crept forward step by step to get as good of a look at the terrain as she could get and to see if perhaps she could wake up only a small pack of monsters that perhaps she and Aliza would be able to handle.
The tactic worked at first. Two bone warriors walked up the stairs on the left. Irene backed off, and she and Aliza took them down. Irene inched forward again, and two devilkin came from the right. Again, Irene backed off, and she and Aliza took down their assailants.
Then, they received a disturbing shock. The devilkin were being revived. There were shaman here! The entrance area was no longer safe as there was now no way to clear it while there were shaman about. What's more, more monsters were starting to wake up and were making their way to the stairs on both the right and left. If that wasn't bad enough, on the right, there was a conviction enchanted devilkin boss (visible at the bottom edge of the above screenshot), and his pack was starting to make its way toward the entrance area. If our heroines didn't act soon, they would be boxed in. They had two choices: retreat up the stairs and leave The Pit Level 2 forever or charge forward in the hope of finding a loop or other terrain formation that would allow them to more easily separate and deal with the monster packs.
Our heroines charged forward.
![[Image: xK00i.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/xK00i.jpg)
While running in a controlled panic, they received some disturbing news. There were no looping paths to run around. Instead, The Pit Level 2 was one big chamber filled with monsters. There was not just one shaman; there were four of them. In addition to the devilkin boss pack, there was also a bone warrior boss pack. And to top it all off, several fast running dark stalkers were always on Irene and Aliza's tail, never giving them a chance to catch their breaths or complete any fights with other monsters.
![[Image: CaGWq.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/CaGWq.jpg)
This was like being in an enlarged version of Duriel's chamber that has been packed with hordes of cows. No way. Uh, uh. No sane person would attempt to deal with this. Irene opened a portal and our heroines returned to camp.
Now where were we? Oh, yes. (In a hoarse whisper) The Pit of Despair. Don't even thi... (clears throat)
Oh, right, right. Irene and Aliza. You know, I frankly don't know if I've ever entered The Pit with any of my previous characters. I occasionally visit some of the side areas to relieve some of the tedium of leveling up, but I can't think of any time even when I first played the game that I visited The Pit. By the time I get to the Tamoe Highland, I'm usually so eager to get to the next waypoint that I follow the road directly to the Rogue Monastery. I had no idea what to expect when Irene and Aliza entered The Pit Level 1.
The moment our heroines walked down the stairs, they were accosted by a swarm of dark stalkers. Luckily, though, the entrance area looked familiar to our heroines. In fact, it looked exactly the same as the entrance portion of the Underground Passage. They remembered that there was a nice large loop just below the entrance, so they led the dark stalkers there and used the loop to break up and take apart the pack.
The next monster park to enter the picture was made of devilkin. Irene and Aliza had learned to not be fooled into a false sense of security around devilkin. After all, they can quickly swarm a character, and their shaman can be very troublesome when they revive dead devilkin behind you. Irene and Aliza cautiously killed a few devilkin in preparation for what they figured would be an assault on a devilkin/shaman camp.
They then received a pleasant surprise. The devilkin weren't being revived! Irene and Aliza walked forward cautiously and confirmed that there were no shaman about. Nice. It turned out that The Pit Level 1 had no shaman in it, so all of the devilkin there could be killed quickly, safely, and permanently. There were also bone warriors there, and our heroines had to carefully pick apart a bone warrior champion pack, but otherwise, they made smooth progress through The Pit Level 1 and at the end of the cave, they found the stairs to Level 2 and walked down them.
]Hmmmm... Our heroines didn't like the look of this. The area near the stairs had very little maneuvering room, and it opened up quickly onto a wide platform that invited monsters to swarm Irene and Aliza from several directions. Irene crept forward step by step to get as good of a look at the terrain as she could get and to see if perhaps she could wake up only a small pack of monsters that perhaps she and Aliza would be able to handle.
The tactic worked at first. Two bone warriors walked up the stairs on the left. Irene backed off, and she and Aliza took them down. Irene inched forward again, and two devilkin came from the right. Again, Irene backed off, and she and Aliza took down their assailants.
Then, they received a disturbing shock. The devilkin were being revived. There were shaman here! The entrance area was no longer safe as there was now no way to clear it while there were shaman about. What's more, more monsters were starting to wake up and were making their way to the stairs on both the right and left. If that wasn't bad enough, on the right, there was a conviction enchanted devilkin boss (visible at the bottom edge of the above screenshot), and his pack was starting to make its way toward the entrance area. If our heroines didn't act soon, they would be boxed in. They had two choices: retreat up the stairs and leave The Pit Level 2 forever or charge forward in the hope of finding a loop or other terrain formation that would allow them to more easily separate and deal with the monster packs.
Our heroines charged forward.
While running in a controlled panic, they received some disturbing news. There were no looping paths to run around. Instead, The Pit Level 2 was one big chamber filled with monsters. There was not just one shaman; there were four of them. In addition to the devilkin boss pack, there was also a bone warrior boss pack. And to top it all off, several fast running dark stalkers were always on Irene and Aliza's tail, never giving them a chance to catch their breaths or complete any fights with other monsters.
This was like being in an enlarged version of Duriel's chamber that has been packed with hordes of cows. No way. Uh, uh. No sane person would attempt to deal with this. Irene opened a portal and our heroines returned to camp.