I figured out the swarm of insects. Done with the maggot lair. Eeeww, glad to be out of there. Not hard but sure a lot of squishy bugs. I was wading in green goo at the end. Just made level 18.

Hi all,

Pokey you can also use melee on the bugs and it will work.

I probably did the same thing you did in getting Andriel the last time I played and will have to do that again. Draw her near the stairs and pound on her and run to heal hehe.

Hope she doesn't heal while I run upstairs.

Sound like you are doing OK too Pib.
Keep up the good work and all of us will make it to the end.

Jeeze...sorry you lost some good stuff Pokey.
I don't understand why you didn't get all of your stuff back if you went back to where you died. The stuff should still be there...I thought.

I have been exiting the game and going back in to get my stuff in Town.

I wonder if those sneaky monsters took it. Hmmm.

I just thought of something funny.
The little guys which I don't remember what they are are saying something that sounds like, "I'm gonna eatcha." LOL and I say to them,"I don't think so." Hehe.

Pib, I've gotten much faster with experience.

Magic, a plain sword didn't hurt the insects, but my axe with poison, fire and cold worked well. I saw my sceptor drop right beside the waypoint, but when I went back, it was gone.

After last night, level 8 and ready to touch the Cairns Stones in order.

And I've found the trigger for the next quest, but may as well finish this one first.

I really messed up this time. I got to the temple of the vipers and cleared it out. Then I started down to the second level and met Fangskin and his many cohorts. I carefully disposed of all except Fangskin and I had him down to the tiniest sliver of life when he killed me. It was quick. Now I have to fight through all the first level again and I am running out of health potions. I tried running past all of them to the second level door but then I don't have a sanctuary to fight Fangskin from.

Fangskin is speed enhanced, he hits very quickly, do you have a Paladin aura that will chill him to slow him down? Or maybe a weapon with that same effect. Always best to slow them down. Also, he has helpers, so try to pull some of them into the hallway to lessen their numbers before facing Fangskin.

In any case, it's actually beneficial to kill the respawns on the other level, you get more XP and different loot will drop, you may get a unique item or two from them.

After many deaths, I finally finished the viper temple. This time I was super careful with Fangskin. There were so many enemies that it was hard to move and I was afraid to get trapped, so I stayed close to the door. Then I neglected to pick up the amulet, but I had a town portal open, so went back for it.

I don't have any aura that would slow him down. I did have a bit of magic effects on my axe.

Hi all,

Well my assassin is moving right along and she is getting closer and closer to Andriel so anytime now (hopefully) she will be done with this area.

She is much stonger then the Necromancer is so maybe she won't take as long to do damage. I hope.

I love her skills like the fire that spreads along the floor to damage enemies but it seems to hurt her too if I am not careful.

Good going on the Viper Temple Pokey. Glad you were able to finish that one.

I will be right behind you but it will take longer since I have 3 people with all of their different skills to move along.

I found Cain and got him back to the encampment. I found the portal in the Black Marsh, but not the tower. I always try to find the portals first. Makes life easier if you should happen to die on the way.

I did die once in the area with Cain, but that was carelessness. Ran straight into the middle, surrounded by enemies then stopped to fight. Not the bright thing to do.

The tiny backpack in Diablo certainly means you either sell stuff very quickly or you just stop picking it up entirely. I've stopped picking up anything that doesn't look special already.

Magic, you have a lot of patience to move four characters along. At least you know where the entrance to the next level of a dungeon is and don't have to search the entire thing. It always seems to be the last room I enter.

Pib, that is my biggest complaint--small inventory. You will get a bigger belt for your potions soon and the cube also adds some extra space. I rarely pick up an item anymore unless it looks valuable. I know I was hanging on to too many weapons.

Hi all,

Well Pokey...I don't really know where the next level of a dungeon is because every time you start a new game you get a different setup for you town and dungeon areas. They each feel different then the others.

The inventory area really **** for space but at least with Town Portal you can stop and unload when you get to much stuff.

My chest mostly gets gems to use in my equipment, 2 extra Tomes for scrolls, maybe some extra arrows or bolts and just one weapon if I need it. I also deposit my money so I don't loose it when I die.

My Paladin who is near the end of the game has a limit of 160,000 for coins in the chest so he has to carry the extra coins with him.

He has got the best of everything so doesn’t need to buy anything.
He also is alone with no help at this point.
He has no one to hire where he is.

Oh, random maps? That's why no site seems to have real Diablo maps. I would have thought general locations remain the same but that doesn't seem true in this case.

Just reached Jail level 1. So I'm on the way with the last quest of Act 1.

Yes, I have been trying to remember to stash coins in the chest. And at least once, almost immediately thereafter, death would have stolen them all.

Random maps, eh? Then you don't have that advantage. I have just gone through the palace and the cellars and have arrived at the Arcane Sanctuary. The journey through the palace and cellars was strangely easy. My health hardly dropped at all, even fighting masses of enemies. I thought something had gone wrong with my game. I had just changed from sacrifice attack to normal, but don't think that would make much difference. When I got to the Arcane Sanctuary, the difficulty swung to the opposite extreme--insanely difficult. I can hardly move away from the waypoint since there is no room to maneuver on these walkways. I am at level 19 still--may have to go buff up. I think there is a definite shortage of good weapons. I am still using my gemmed axe with 3-11 damage and poison, cold and lightning damage. Even the Haradric staff doesn't seem any more effective.

I have never hired anyone after my free archer died so quickly. It might help me past a difficult spot though.

Any tips for the Arcane Sanctuary? I am so tired of dying every couple minutes. I bought a better sword, 7-17 damage, but when I put my emerald in it, it would not allow any jewels of lesser quality. So I only gained 1 point in poison damage.

There are so many places that you get surrounded by enemies and can't escape.

I keep resurrecting my little rogue archer. She's useful. The assassin goes in to the fray with blades flying. The archer picks off the outer layers of enemies.