Fire it up, fire it up!

Dankness assaulted Renza before anything else in when she entered the mine. The clickety-clack of the mine elevator echoed down the shaft. As the elevator shuttered to a halt Chevron gave a quick whimper. It was going to be a long time before he would breathe clean air.

Renza could see several miners in the low lantern light.  In spite of the onslaught of ratlins and rock trolls, the miners continued their work. That was is the power of Ember. Without Ember, the town of Torchlight would be less than marginalized; it would cease to exist.

The Vanquisher and her companion moved cautiously through the mine. ratlins skulked in the darkness but were sniffed out by Chevron. Renza’s arrows found their mark, but the she could hear many more were the came from. She continued further in the mine and came upon group of ratlins who had a miner cornered. The burly but exhausted miner swung his pick ax clobbering one of the rat creatures, but the creatures continued to press the miner with attacks from their crudely sharpened weapons. The Vanquisher took a second to measure her opening shot. The arrow pierced the throat of the first ratlin, then bounced off the now gurgling creature into his unsuspecting neighbor. Not quite dead, the ratlin turned to face Renza, only to find Chevron at his throat. The miner smashed another ratlin as another ricocheted shot dropped the rest of the small gang of rat men.

The miner thanked Renza. He said he saw a crazed man chase a group of creatures down to the lower levels just moments ago. Renza took a second to look over the corpses of the ratlins. A bit of gold, a potion and a scroll were among the spoils. Renza disliked magic. While she understood its usefulness, she preferred her bow. Though Chevron could not speak, he was attuned to magic. It was not unheard of for such companions to be able to learn a magic spell or two. Renza looked at the scroll then at her dog, then at the scroll. The rough parchment had an ornate drawing of ball of flame in the midst of the magic mumbo jumbo.  Against her better judgment, she gave the scroll to Chevron.

Chevron’s eyes scanned the scroll, and the images on the parchment vanished.

‘Now I can set them on fire? Most excellent.’

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to...Torchlight?

As I recently stated on the podcast (Lobbycast ep. 121) I am attempting a fun little self-imposed writing assignment. I have started yet another playthrough of Torchlight on hard AND hardcore (permanent death). I will be writing a sort of character journal, a bit of the ol' roleplaying if you will. So pull up a chair and welcome to Lou's Storytime Lunch Break-

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The Vanquisher

Meet Renza the Vanquisher

Renza had to pee. She really, really had to pee. The floodgates were being knocked with each footstep. Torchlight was just up the road so she didn’t want a denizen of the boomtown to catch her with skirt down. ‘I am a Vanquisher. I am the Baroness of Bows, Radiant Countess of Revolvers. I can snipe a ratlin’s wart from across a field. Now please let me finish my tinkle,’ was something she didn’t want to deal with so early in her prospective employment. The Vanquishers had standards, and public urination was not among them, at least not chiefly.

Her short-legged companion trotted alongside her obediently. His fur was matted and his breathe wreaked of dog, but he was an excellent co-worker. He was always ready for his shift, carried his (and Renza’s) load and worked for table scraps. She called him Chevron, for he was like an insignia of honor and loyalty. He called her Jiggly. He was bred to be an adventurer’s pet infused with hyper intelligence. Hyper intelligent for a dog is still not that far from the cognitive capacities of a 12 year old boy. And she did wear a leather corset very well. Give the dog a break.

 It’s not like he could talk, but Renza felt that her scruffy companion did occasionally eye her too intently to be comfortable. She would just distract him by saying, “you wanna get the ball? Get the ball Chevron, get the ball,” only to throw the classic invisible object. Magically enhanced mutt or not, dogs love balls.

The lovely Vanquisher squirmed the last few paces until she saw Torchlight; the town where the Ember flows like water. Ember, that magic and rare ore that can be used to imbue crafted items with great power or corrupt the most pious heart. However things did not seem well in Torchlight the day that Renza first arrived and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better any time soon. The town was under attack.

Renza looked down at Chevron and said, “Pee first, then, we battle!”