Next up was Keara's flying fortress. The first 3 fortifications brought me up to level 30. I ran into a couple areas here with opponents inside wizard towers. The first had the entrance blocked off, so it was relatively easy to approach and attract their attention, then move back to draw them out. The second fort was larger, and the opponents on the end I approached first (a short jump down to the wall from a platform above) were much less inclined to move closer. I jumped down towards the farther side (where there was an entrance), and had better luck getting them to move out. There was one spot in an earlier fort in Stone's fortress where I stood at the edge of the top of a wall and summoned my creature, so it would drop down and act as bait to bring several opponents into range; I tried that a couple times in the second fortification, but it didn't appear close enough to the edge of the wall to fall off.
In the upper part of the fortress there is a large ramp that just dead ends, with the last support column ending about 5 feet off the ground. An opponent on there dropped some epic earrings, which, of course, were mage focused (+3 Summon Mastery, +9 Intelligence, +6 Indomitable Will).
Towards the top of the fortress, in the area with the chest containing the Scorpion Earrings, I made it to level 31. Just before then I left to check merchants, and in Aleroth bought a level 10 Strength potion formula (earlier in the fortress I found a level 10 Dexterity formula). Nobody else had anything; in D2:ED the merchant in High Hall started carrying legendary class equipment once you reached level 30, but his inventory stays poor in DKS.
After I finished off the opponents in that area, I got an epic ring from the chest with the Scorpion Earrings (+68 HP, +5 Critical Chance, +0.11 Mana Regeneration). While it was only a modest upgrade to a current ring (12 extra HP), one of the enchantments on it was a level 10 Healing Aura, so it improved my HP and mana regeneration. I reloaded a few times to see if I could get something better, but was only offered mage jewellery (a bracelet with +3 Confusion and earrings with +3 Way of the Battle Mage) and a cuirass similar to the one I had (an extra 3 armour rating, but it was strong on ranged protection, where I was already strong, and weak on magic, where I was lacking due to not boosting Intelligence), and a couple loads with just charms or creature parts (I was watching TV during this, so reloaded more than I ordinarily would).
After that there wasn't much left to clear in human form (leaving the headquarters for later).
In what is sure to be a shocking turn of events, I decided to head to Kali's flying fortress next. I flew to the lowest part of the large northern rock, landing near the crashed zeppelin. At the end of the spiral path upwards, I got an epic sword from the chest there (two reloads didn't give anything better). A short flight up to the top level, and I cleared the large fortification, getting to level 32. Clearing the 3 small northern rocks and then heading to the southern one was relatively uneventful (a couple semi-hectic fights, but nothing worth describing), and got me about 3/4 the way to level 33. In the fortification in front of the headquarters teleporter, I got an epic shield and one of the skeleton mages on a ramp dropped an epic ring (+66 Mana, +6 Critical Chance and +0.11 HP Regeneration).
With the human portion of the Kali's fortress cleared, I headed back to Stone's fortress, to get started on the dragon defences and headquarters of all of the fortresses.
Clearing the dragon defences from Stone's fortress brought me up to level 33. Even then the fight with Xanlosch could still be a bit of a challenge, primarily due to my character's Indomitable Will rating of 2. If I got hit with a stun arrow it would end up hurting, but usually not too bad. The main danger was getting stunned after destroying the generator, before being able to move away. Approaching the fortification from the front, after flying above the anti-dragon zone and transforming, I found the best way to take out the generator was to fire an arrow through the gap in the barrier around it, after moving over to the right inside the fortification; moving to the larger break in the barriers would put me much closer to Xanlosch and make it harder to avoid the Stun Arrow after the summoning cutscene. It is possible to survive after being stunned, but not if all 4 opponents target you at once (in one try I was hit with simultaneous attacks from both demons about a half second after being stunned, with an attack by Isabelle and then an exploding arrow about a half second after that, killing me). Keeping close to the right wall, the conversation with Xanlosch would be triggered at the entrance, but he would not fight right away afterwards, making it much easier to destroy the generator and get outside to where there was enough room to transform.
The first time I defeated Xanlosch he dropped an epic ring (+64 HP, +58 Mana, +5 Critical Chance), which would be an OK upgrade for one of my rings (slightly less HP and Mana, but with a Critical Chance bonus). I decided to reload a couple times to see what else I could get (wanted to try the fight again anyway). I was offered some epic earrings unsuited to my character (+3 Battle Rage), a couple pieces of mage focused elder equipment, and finally an epic belt (+63 HP, +62 Mana, +5 Critical Chance). The belt was a better upgrade than the ring, so I went with it, swapping it out for the one I put the level 10 Healing Aura enchantment on.
The first time I defeated Stone the only item of interest in any of the loot bags was a bracelet with +3 Wisdom. While that wouldn't have been a bad item to get, you'd think out of all that loot something would be usable. The second time I defeated Stone I got nothing; the third I got some epic earrings (+3 Stun Arrows, +8 Dexterity, +8 Heightened Reflexes); finally some earrings suitable for my character... but I don't really use Stun Arrows that much any more. The forth time, though, the castle stayed up... no wait... the forth time I got several items of note: epic earrings (+3 Mindread and a couple mage type bonuses), an epic ring nearly the same as the first one Xanlosch dropped (+64 HP, +57 Mana, +5 Critical Chance) and an epic necklace (+3 Explosive Arrows, +9 Ranged Damage, +6 Heightened Reflexes). I swapped out my current necklace right away, though I'll need to turn in the skill trainer's quests to increase the level cap for Explosive Arrows before I can take advantage of the third level. I also equipped the ring, for the extra critical chance (my HP went down by 2, which is negligible, and mana dropped by 14, which doesn't matter since I never get close to running out any more); one of the existing enchantments was a level 5 Healing Aura, so I left that and replaced the other low level enchantment with level 9 Static Charge.
After retrieving the invoker jewel from the arena and returning to the headquarters to pick up the other 4 and disable the generator spawning walking armours, I got some epic leggings (+10 Vitality, +8/2/10 Melee/Ranged/Magic Armour Rating), which I upgraded to.
In Raze's fortress, after clearing the anti-dragon defences and the start of the headquarters, I tried fighting my namesake without using the levers to disable the regeneration chambers. WTF is up with instant teleporting into the chamber, running to the chamber while stunned, etc? After getting him very near death a few times (once I couldn't even see anything left of his health bar, hit him with another exploding arrow, and he still made it to the regeneration chamber), I decided to hit the levers, but after the first one I tried to jump back out of a group of walking armours, got hung up on something, couldn't move for a second and died. After reloading, the fight went much, much easier disabling the chambers first, and he dropped a couple mage focused elder items. The second time he dropped some epic earrings (+3 Master Herbalist, +9 Intelligence, +10 Magic Damage) and the third an elder necklace (+2 Fear, +10 Intelligence). The Master Herbalist skill bonus would at least provide some small benefit, so I reloaded that save and left.
On my way to Broken Valley I stopped by Barnabus' cave, and killed him a couple times, getting a legendary quality belt and a charm the first time and 2 charms the second. Waiting until a higher level didn't seem to have much, if any, affect on his loot drops.
