Tuesday, October 27, 2009

All You Need Is Loot: A Torchlight Diary (#1)

This is the story of a bow.

The bow has a name: Freezing Horned Bow. It does 199 damage per second. It does 41-82 physical damage per shot. It's in the fastest attack speed class.

Oh, but it does more:
+12 ice damage
+24 health stolen on hit
+10 knockback
+9 damage
+4 health recovery per second

A wondrous device, certainly, but how does one obtain such a magnificent weapon?

Well, I knew a guy.

His name is Duros the Blade, and he lives out of a covered wagon in the Southeast corner of Torchlight. His reputation is questionable, at best, but he sells unidentified magical items, and while I am regularly outraged (I paid 2000 gold pieces once for a belt that does nothing more than hold up my pants), I've occasionally had my revenge by purchasing items far greater in value than their price.

That's how I acquired the Freezing Horned Bow. It was a mere shadow of its current self, though, dealing only 144 damage per second. I saw, however, that it had two sockets for gems.

Oh, yes.

I had already found a few gems in the Mines of Orden, so I decided to visit Duran the Transmuter. If you give him gems of the right type, he can combine them into a single, more powerful gem. Nothing's guaranteed, unless you combine two identical gems, but luckily, I had a few that matched.

Soon, the sockets on the Freezing Horned Bow were filled, and now my bow could both steal and recover health--useful qualities, I'm sure you'll agree.

I wasn't done yet, though. I had spare gold, thanks to my considerable forays into the mines and dungeons, so I paid a visit to Goren the Enchanter. He can place enchantments on items, but he's prickly--you have to pay in advance, you can't choose the enchantment, and there's a small chance he could destroy the item.

Yet somehow he stays in business.

Over a period of weeks, I had the bow enchanted twice, both times successfully, although I was sick to my stomach the second time at the thought of losing my coveted bow.

That's how I got my bow.

I'd like to say that I'll treasure this magnificent weapon for the rest of my life, but that would be a lie. I'm covetous--always have been--and I already have my wandering eye on a Recurve Bow Of the Vampire, which is superior in all respects.

Why don't I already have it? Well, I do, but I, um, can't quite use it. It's a demanding bow, and I'm a bit embarrassed to say that my dexterity isn't quite up to the task yet.

Sure, I have an emotional attachment to the Freezing Horned Bow. Who wouldn't? I've faced Rizguzan The Mangler and Gorag'Thak the Defiler and walked away without a scratch. Of course I'm sentimental about the weapon that's seen me through so many pitched battles.

The first rule of adventuring, though, will always be this: sentiment can get you killed.

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