Tale of Fendazon- the .. ehm, fendazon

Hi,
since I realised, that hoarding wealth in D2 (not that I have any), or pushing for highest of lvls (not that I ever seriously did that) is something I do not enjoy, my main goal in D2 is having fun (yep, just that).

I have spent quite some time on vanilla SP and it was quite refreshing. One thing I took from this experience is, that playing untwinked with non cookie cutter build is much more fun, than being rushed to a5 hell, get top equip asap and spend rest of the life leeching xp at baalruns

I decided to make one of these chars here, on our server. Thats why amazon named Fendazon was born.

I will post the progress here, starting from the end of a2 normal till her inevitable death. I am playing her on HC, purely untwinked, with no help from other people.

So, the summoner - wasnt hard at all, even tho his spells did hurt.


Duriel, here I come!


Well, that was a quickie!


Neat weapon upgrade!



There are weird people in A3 - more life for some ugly statue? Yes please!


Ohh, my precious!

(It was a manald, mana leech and life? I will take it!)

Hmm, maybe new boss gun?


Oh, sweet boots upgrade!


Oh, wait, I am Fendazon, there is something wrong!


Hey, a book! Hmmm, wonder if its worth anything...


Major glove upgrade!


Council, here I come!


Nice chat, your belongings are now mine!


Gun upgrade!


Secret staircase? Wonder where it leads. That crazy grey old man in town, who is stalking me since Rogues camp, was talking about some Mr.Fisto or something like that..


Armor upgrade.


Another council guys? How many were there, back when Kurast was a thing? Such a bureaucracy in old Kurast, no wonder its long gone... At least they dropped the pike, which has chance to cast amplify dmg. Nice upgrade for merc.


I felt insecure, like something dangerous was ahead of me. I remember some tales of ancient witchers, so I drank a lot of antidote and thawing potions, to be prepared whatever is ahead of me.


It was Mephisto! That old grey fool was right! Luckily, the amplify dmg from hirelings weapon proced, he was down in no time. No good drop tho. Cheap guy, this Mephisto.

 

Izual? He looks scary!


Looks like he is true fallen Fallen now!


I have met Smiths older brother, he wasnt particularly happy when I told him what I did in act 1.


Hellforge time!

 

Out of the ordinary post, kudos! Screenshot explanations are lovely too .
Keep it up and keep us posted, everyone likes a good story!

 

After I killed Hephasto, will all the treasures from underneath his hellforge, I decided to take a day off. Went back to Rogues camp and thought about my journey so far. There was one missing thing. I had to do it, I had to relearn everything. Nomen Omen after all.


I had to dodge the Avoid and avoid the Dodge! No sister in arms, sadly


But here it is, Fend!


Before I went back to Pandemonium Fortress, I stopped at my fellow bureaucrats at Kurast, to improve my gear a bit. I was quite lucky! I had a feeling I will need all resistances I can find, if I want to survive that weird sanctuary of Chaos!





First nice rune, right at the doorstep! Lets make a Lore!



More life? Sure!


Oh, here he is. Feared corrupted Red Bull.


Fend gives you wings!


Not much of a drop, but I will stash these, for future boss fights, where my damage alone will not cut it!


Nice upgrade for merc. Hope that everything around him will stay cool!


Right after I arrived to Harrogath, local blacksmith gave me a quest. Kill someone by the name of Shenk. Wonder what Shenk did to him, that first thing he says to strangers is to kill him. Maybe Shenk is the reason why Larzuk - as the blacksmith is called - has only one eye? Well, he probably was that reason.


After I killed gang of living Frozen Abysses (seriously, who comes up with these names?), I found a a body trapped inside an icicle. Wim Hoff? No, it turned out, her name was Anya and she was from Harrogath. What a coincidence. She was chilling there because of some dude called Nihlathak. I recalled that I saw him in Harrogath before.


After I saved her from her prison, she gave me a reward. She noticed I was using spears, unfortunately, she didnt have any good.


Nihlathak had to be removed. There was a bounty on his head!


He was malevolent even in his death. I want spears!

 

Another fine rune drops!


New gun, double the damage!


After I climbed a Mount Arreat, there were these 3 guys. As soon as I got closer, they started flexing on me.


When I defeated them, they laughed their bottom armour parts off and turned into the gold. What kind of witchery is this?


After I got to the very bottom of the keep inside the mountain, I finally met the Boss. I challenged him into fair fight - me and my merc vs him, but out of nowhere, he started throwing monsters on my head.


These were easy.


These were eeeaaas... they froze me! And that Baal guy did slow me! It took forever to deal with them, and I had to drink a lot of potions.


Ohh, the bureaucrats! Unfortunately, they didnt take any valuables with them. Will have to pay them a visit in Kurast again!


These guys were nice. Died quickly.


But these! I didnt meet them before. They were stunning. Me. Painfuly.


Fortunately, they got distracted, divided and slain!


Baalboss ran away, but I chased him to his glowing chamber hidden behind his now abandoned throne!


He was acting kind of tough at first, but then the amplify damage proced.


Drop not worth of a boss of his importance.


This angel showed up again, when the fight was done. He doesnt want to get his hands dirty, does he? Anyways, he was so polite to throw the red portal behind the edge of that little bridge, so I couldnt reach it. Bastard.


Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds

 

So, after I finished the normal difficulty, now as a proper Fendazon, I rerun Baal one more time before I went to NM. Drop wasnt worth mentioning. Generally speaking, NM wasnt that hard so far (I am at the beginning of A4), obviously I had to be cautious about infamous CE/FE monsters, large bosspacks with might/fana etc., but nothing more than one or two NDEs happened.

Some screens:

Déjà vu?


Oh, wrong neighbourhood, dont mind me, I am out.


This grey old stalker found a spot in my heart, so I saved him again.


Hmm, I sense Smoke armour coming.


More HP? Nice!

 

Killing blow!


Hmm, upgrade (22 res to 24)! Nice. I dont know, why I dont use that Smoke TBH.


Farewell Durga, you were a good friend. But this Italian Stallion, he is so cool!


MOAB! Mother of all bugs! I have heard that some people do eat that. This one could have fed a whole village.


More life. Yes.


I can understand why Indiana Jones didnt like the snakes. They dont know what social distancing is and charge right at you to greet you! Amulet was fine tho.


Poor fella. Left alone with just one servant.


HOLY SH*T! This much damage for 7k?


And two sockets as well!


Hi, worm!


Bye, worm! Perfect 35 res viper this time!


Wow, high runes time! This will give me plenty of mid runes, for Lionheart, Treachery or something like that.


Major helmet upgrade. Will have to pick up couple of levels tho.


My dear bureaucrats! I thought this lance might be better than my magical pike, but it wasnt. Slower and only with a couple of more dmg.


Hi Mephisto, we meet again! Remember, you were cheap last time, so I expect you to be more polite now!


Hmm, maybe on Hell, then.

 

So, after I killed Mephisto (again, even on NM) I knew I have to gear up to stand a chance in upcoming battle with Diablo itself. So I paid a visit to my beloved High council of Kurast. And they were dropping!

More CB and DS? More damage for my fend, Ill take it!


Raven! Great one too! No more slow-mo!


Decent merc armour upgrade...


And a great upgrade of my belt!


High runes from the left, high runes from the right!


Hellforge time. Um maybe? So I can use those Puls for something else?


Never lucky!


After I geared up, I decided to give it a go. I was able to pick a LR wand on my way, which made boss fights much easier!


No good drop tho.


Have you ever noticed, that when you play an untwinked char, you always drop usable stuff? But for other classes? Damn. I am an Amazon, god damnit!


Went to Travincal couple of more times. Couple dozens more times, to get that unique Yari I have heard of - Hone Sundan. I was slaughtering those bureaucrats without mercy, stealing their no belongings and forget the most important thing. To pay taxes out of the loot. I had it coming. Financial police was standing behind the pillar and as soon as I finished the first council, they insta-ended me. Lesson to be learned: You will never beat bureaucracy!

 

Sequel?

 

Well, I have one character created, did not start playing it yet

 

Can we have another story?

 

Greedy bureaucrats bursted in desperation and their stashed gold and melted you from the hydras :/ RIP. Thanks for sharing the story, Fendazon.
Just watch out for Barthuc Fire enchanted + explosion next time.