After flying to the harbour and talking to the merchants and NPCs there (bought the Bow of Orobas from the smith, though I probably should have waited until I meet the level requirements), I cleared the path to High Hall, reaching level 25 a little before getting there. I finished the troll quest in the mine, but left the well cave for later.
Having the first 3 zeppelin parts, I headed to Aleroth, but the merchants there didn't offer any good equipment; I did get a weapon with a level 10 Mana Leech enchantment from one, and some potion formula from the other (Healing 9, Revitalizing 8 and Rejuvenation 8).
Next I mostly cleared Barnabus' cave. Through the highest teleporter, I saved before entering the room at the top of the stairs, then again before opening the chests. In D2:ED I reloaded a few times for one of the chests, figuring if the key was a little difficult to find the reward should be decent (it wasn't). In DKS, the key is much, much easier to find, but all I got was gold and a potion, so I decided to try one reload, but accidentally loaded the save before entering the room. It was just as fast to clear the room again as load the later save, so that is what I did... and got just gold from the chests. However, I did get a cuiras from one of the vases with a +7 Vitality bonus and +8 Spirit (not good enough to break up my mining guild set for, but possibly worth considering later... if not, at least worth a bit of gold).
Barnabus was easy to defeat. The first time I did so he gave me a bracelet with a +2 Ranger Stealth bonus, which could have come in handy if I hadn't already maxed that skill. Reloading a few times, I got (in addition to the pre-determined items) earrings with strength and Life Leech bonuses, just a couple charms, and a ring almost the same as one I was using, but with 2 enchantment slots rather than 1.
I ran into an interesting glitch the third time I defeated Barnabus; I fired off an explosive arrow as he was summoning another abomination, and when the dust settled Barnabus was dead and the abomination was just standing there, looking around occasionally, neither attacking or able to be targeted. The next try I made sure to kill the abomination first, and the next summoned one was also neutral (didn't kill Barnabus until a few seconds after the summoning was complete). On the next (and last) 2 reloads, though, the second summoned abomination was hostile.
In D2:ED Barnabus gave me a very nice hammer suited to my build in a couple reloads, so I decided leave him for now, and see if I can get something worth upgrading to if I come back at a higher level (probably not, but it can't hurt to try).
Since Barnabus was easy, I decided to head back to the well cave in High Hall. Just past the first camp area there is a chest at the top of a three level scaffolding section across the width of the cave. On my first try I got some gauntlets (+8 Vitality, +6/1/1 Melee/Ranged/Magic Armour Rating, 2 charm slots, 1 enchantment slot), which replaced the Orobas Bracers I was using. Heading down the stairs past the scaffolding, I fired off an explosive arrow at the 3 demons below, killing them all and giving an epic class necklace (+7 Magic Damage, +5 Indomitable Will, +3 Summon Undead, 3 charm slots and 2 enchantment slots - Poison Aura 10 and Damage Aura 10). A couple reloads resulted in nothing, so I reloaded the save with the mage necklace and continued, getting an epic belt from the next group of demons (+57 Hit Points, +0.09 HP Regeneration, +58 mana, 3 charm slots, 2 enchantment slots). A couple reloads resulted in no loot, and of course this is a modest upgrade for the belt I just put the healing aura on.
Anyway, the final group of demons did not give any loot on the first encounter, but on the third I got a ring, which I upgraded to (+56 Hit Points, +5 Critical Chance, +0.09 Mana Regeneration, 3 charm slots, 2 enchantment slots - Poison Aura 9 and Static Charge 2, which I upgraded to level 8).
The mana regeneration bonus for this ring does not show up in the inventory or status listing. There is a topic about this issue, but it is the first I have noticed it.
When defeated Kezzz dropped an elder amulet (+2 Rush Attack, +6 Conditioned Body, 2 charm slots, 2 enchantment slots). It seemed strange that the last defender before Zagan would drop lesser quality loot than the common opponents, so I reloaded to try again, and he dropped a legendary bracelet (+4 Heightened Reflexes, +2 Splitting Arrows, 2 charm slots, 1 enchantment). I don't use Splitting Arrows that much, though it is very effective at close range, so would stick with my current bracelet (Ranger Strength). I reloaded the save with the epic amulet, since I assume it is worth more (didn't bother checking the listed values).
At the malachite veins just before reaching Zagan, it seems getting one gem is a lot more probable than in D2:ED. I'm not sure if higher numbers of gems are much less likely, or if I just don't have the patience I did with D2:ED. The first vein I reloaded while I was watching TV, switching back whenever I skipped commercials or sometimes when there was a break in the scene, and eventually got 2 malachite gems. When the show was over, I reloaded repeatedly for the second vein, starting off with a 15 minute time limit. I got 2 malachite gems after the 2 minute mark, then again at 5 minutes; there may have been 1 or 2 instances I didn't make note of and then I got another set of 2 gems at the 15 minute mark, so I bumped my time limit up to 30 minutes. I got 2 gems again at 25 and 27 minutes (maybe once or twice before then), but the last couple minutes were pretty much gem free (even the relatively common single gem).
For the rest of the malachite veins in DKS, I'll be stopping at 2 gems. In D2:ED I got 3 gems out of most veins (2 from the first and 4 from the last), though missed the ones in the well cave.
Zagan himself wasn't terribly difficult to defeat, but the rest of the opponents in there were a pain. It would be easy with more space, but if you loose track of where you are going or bump into something and stop moving, that is likely to prove fatal. I tried repeatedly heading to the exit cave to transform back to human, but returning for hit and run attacks wasn't doing damage fast enough (by the time I finished the transformation animation there could be 2 or 3 opponents shooting at me, and maybe 1 or 2 casting Dragon Sphere). I tried making a couple runs at the nest tower, but the first time I stayed too long finishing it off with Dragon Breath, and died shortly after it did. The second run I broke away sooner, but got caught up on something and couldn't move for a second, so I died.
I reloaded my save before triggering the cutscene with Zagan, and will go back later to finish everyone off.
Having had enough of narrow paths and caves for awhile, I headed to Stone's flying fortress. At the end of the section across the bridge and then to the left, there is a chest; the first try I got some creature arms equivalent to the set I am using. Hoping to get a creature part upgrade, I reloaded, getting a Divine Vitality charm and an epic ring (+60 Mana, +5 Critical Chance, +0.09 Mana Regeneration, 3 charm slots and 2 enchantments); the mana regeneration rate was not reflected in the inventory or status listings. Now, if the chest would have given me a couple crappy loads I would have been happy with the charm (that I probably wasn't going to use), and sold the ring. However, it kept mocking me, offering creature parts essentially the same as what I had or epic equipment that didn't fit my character build (a sword, shield and a couple pieces of armour with Spirit bonuses). Determine to put it in its place, I kept reloading a dozen times, or so, until I got an epic belt (+57 HP, +5 Critical Chance, +0.1 Mana Regeneration, 3 charm slots and 2 enchantments) and a Divine Indomitable Will charm. This belt is arguably better than the one I got from the well cave, since the critical chance bonus helps with damage, and the mana regeneration (which is shown properly in the inventory) mostly makes up for the lack of a mana bonus.
Approaching the first fortification, the first demon I killed brought me up to level 26. The rest of that area was relatively easy to clear, since the opponents were mostly spread out, though the level 29 beholder took awhile to kill. Opening the chest by the beholder, on my second try I got some elder leggings (+9 Vitality, +1/1/8 Melee/Ranged/Magic Armour Rating, 2 charm slots and 2 enchantments), as well as a level 8 fighter head, which I decided to try out.
Flying up to the next higher level, there was an increase in difficulty. That combined with the creature's behaviour means I'm not sure how long it will last as a warrior. Using a fighter head seemed like it helped if the creature actually attacked the opponent I was attacking, but after finishing off the skeleton archers and mages on one of the wall sections, I moved back down to the ground level. I attacked a Black Ring mage, and the creature ran over to attack him after a few seconds (I would have preferred it use Rush Attack), but then got distracted, and veered off to attack someone else, drawing them into the fight. Even if the creature changed targets because it was attacked, I think that might just render the Ranger Stealth skill useless. Anyway, the creature seemed to change targets again (my view was mostly blocked), and then ran back to me, bringing at least 4 Black Ring members with it, one of whom Rush Attacked me as soon as he came into view, as an archer fired off a Stun Arrow through a gap in one of the ramps, so I never saw him, just the arrow coming at me. I (barely) survived the initial group attack and withdrew a bit, then after healing turned to attack those who followed me. I had to let them get closer that I would have liked since I couldn't target the first two, just the farthest one (I had a similar problem in the well cave with Zagan, where only some opponents showed when trying to cycle through targets, even if the one you wanted was close enough and in front of you). Once they were a couple seconds closer I could target them, and a volley of Splitting Arrows finished them both off. After that I targeted the third Black Ring member, but unfortunately didn't realize another had taken the long way around an obstruction until he was almost up to me, at which point it was too late to do anything.
Next time I play I'll keep the fighter creature, but if it becomes distracted again and gets me killed, I'm going back to using a mage head.
