And Qual Khek is looking for a few good men. (According to Occhi, so are the rogues, and women love a man in uniform!)
Qual Khek's Finest. (This is a partial draft)
Barbarian's only. Remember. Barbarian's shun outsiders. How could somebody from Kurast become employed by Mr. Khek? They can't.
You will travel to the Rogue camp at Mr. Khek's request, to find a woman named Akara. She will employ you to clean out a Den of Evil. You will arive naked and poor. (Ditch that starting buckler and whimpy axe. Real men use swords) Go out and bash things senseless with your fists. Soon, your bashing technique should become profound. (Start cranking Bash) Your first task is to find a sword. Any sword. That cracked short sword of crap will have to do untill you can get your mitts on a hefty two hander. When the Den is cleared, Akara will pay you. She will teach you one skill of your choice. She will offer to teach you the secret of swordplay. Accept it. (One point, for now, is allowed into sword mastery)
Now Kashya will want to hire you for your services. Slay Blood Raven. You will now have a cute little rogue begging to follow you around. (Well they are looking for a few good men.) Either accept her, or, select from one of the others. So many choices, so little time. What ever you do, don't let harm to come to her. Protect and serve at all costs.
Find Cain. Mr. Khek told you to look out for the old goat. He may practice strange Juju, but, these are desperate times. Juju might be needed. You must find him, and then escort him to the Barbarian homeland.
The Countess is optional, but, who could pass up good loot? You are, after all, all noble intents be damned, in this for the money.
Some time around this point, Charsi, a good looking gal of obvious Barbarian decent, will bat her eyelashes at you, and ask you to return a hammer. In a flash, you will set out to do so, avoiding the slaps and stares of the little Rogue you have offended by accepting Charsi's advances.
And you will run into the Smith. Bash his face in. In the battle, you will observe how hard he hits, and you will figure out how to emulate these actions. (You can learn Stun) After the battle, you will explore his workshop to get the hammer. After looking around, you will see swords, and how they are made, and the fine art of steel in action. (One more point allowed in Sword Mastery)
When you return to camp, Warriv will tell you that you can hitch a ride to go east, but, only if you kill Andariel. Go. Pound her into mush.
Some time along these travels, you will find relics, ancient Barbarian helms dropped from your fallen foes. When you place them on your head, you feel funny. Strange even. These helms are imbued with the spirits of ancient warriors, and you can hear them telling you secrets of many great things and abilities. (Skills are allowed if they are on Barb Helms. Meaning if you find a hat with +1 leap, you can use it. Or +2 Shout. Hold on to that +3 BO helm) These old spirits will channel their knowledge through you, and grant you a boon in your quest to free the homeland from evil.
Act 2. Have a blast. Go smash face. You can do it! Along the way, in old ancient tombs, you will find weapon racks. On the sheer chance of luck that a sword drops from the rack, your knowledge of sword mastery will increase. If armor falls from these racks, you will learn more about how to defend your self. (Iron skin becomes allowed when you get a suit of body armor from a rack. Not a helm, or boots, or gloves, it must be armor. And it must be made of metal. Leather armor does not count.) Many will hire you for your services, but, for one, you must rush to her assistance. Atma. She will ask you to kill a creature. Knowing that she is poor, and unable to pay you, but, she is a woman in distress, you will ask for nothing, but, proceed to go and crush this odd creature. After slaying the creature, you will find a book. Have your well educated hireling read it to you. It will tell you how to hone of your skills.
In act 2, you can hire mercenaries from a man named Greiz. He has heard of the mighty Mr. Khek, and wishes to offer his services, for a price. Choose wisely. Dismiss your Rogue if you will.
Eventually, you will find a giant maggot named Durial. You have heard stories of this mighty maggot, his favourite food is squash. Squashed merc that is. Teach him a lesson he soon wont forget. Show him what it feels like to be smashed silly and knocked stupid. After this terrible battle, you will be hurting and bruised. It comes into your mind to start checking around for potions after a major battle. (Find potion is allowed.)
After a long sea sick journy over the sea, you will arive, green and ill, in Kurast. Once on land, you still feel green and bloated, and sickly. A cure must be found. Barbarians are creatures of the open plains, and steep mountains, and the sea just does not agree with them. You hear rumors of a jade statue from the locals. Feeling queasy, you go out to secure more wealth. Once finding the statue, you will, through a series of trades, be able to secure a cure for what ails you from Alkor, and it makes you feel more vigorous to boot. (Get your life potion.) procede to kick major butt. Clean out act 3. Any weapon or armor racks found that have steel armor or swords allows more points into Iron Skin and Sword Mastery. (Remember, the Bazaar is filled with racks. Happy hunting) Hire an Iron Wolf if it is your wish.
After kill Mephisto, you will arive in Hell. Ah Hell. Sorta hot. Makes you kinda sweaty. Tyreal, the meddling angel, will make you a deal. Kill Izual, and he will teach you how to be fleet of foot. Tempted by this deal, you will go out and slay this fallen angel. In return, Tyreal teaches you both stamina and speed. (Increased Stamina and Increased Speed is allowed at this point.) Procede to kick butt in Hell. Along the way, you will find a forge, deep down into the very bowels of Hell. Guarded by a fat little troll, this is the key to victory. Smash the Soul Stone. Collect your loot, and continue. You will soon find the very lair of nightmares. The Chaos Sanctuary. Lure out Diablo, and whomple him.
And return home. You will find your home a wreck, torn apart by evil forces. Mr. Khek will be happy to see you, and so will the others. You will hear stories of how everything fell apart shortly after you left. And right outside of town. Shenk, a Demon of great power, has laid siege to the town. Go forth and destroy him. Qual Khek will soon ask you to go forth and free your brothers. You will do so with great gusto, slaughtering everything in your path. (The entire area must be cleared. Butcher everything, vent your rage, nothing must live.) You will now have a chance to hire one of your own kind, a choice left up to you.
About this time, Malah, will tell you that Anya is missing, and that Traitor is responsible. Go forth and find her. Once she is secured, go to her and get your payment. (Hey mercs must be paid. And she is rich. She was wealth. Sock it to her.) And Malah will teach you the secret to resistance. (once you break the scroll, natural resist is allowed, any time you need it) Slaughter the Traitor.
And now your greatist challenge. The Ancients. Go forth and challenge them, let them know they face but a humble soldier, and crush them in combat. Prove once and for all that it is upon the backs of humble mercenaries that wars are either won or lost. Celebrate your victory.
Enter the Woldstone Fortress and Kill Baal. Win a victory for mercs everywhere.
Some guidelines. After a lot of thought about things like Phys immunes, and other tough fights, it came to me that skills on helms are the answer. If you find a +1 or what ever Berserk helm, hold on to it at all costs. The spirit in the helm will guide your rage
If you find a + Whirl Wind Helm feel free to use it. These skills will never be over powering kill all skills, seeing as how they will be very restricted as to the skill level allowed on the helm. Your bread and butter skills will always be Bash and Stun, which should always be worked on. These will give you much needed AR, damage, and the ability to survive. However, a slvl 2 WW will allow a little clean up of mobs, but, will not make you a one hit wonder.
The weapon racks and the rewards involved will encourage you to hunt for both items, and much needed skill points in iron skin and sword mastery. Metal armor must be found, body armor, and swords. These will allow you to raise these skills. Given enough time, you will be able to max sword mastery after enough hunting. In nightmare, after killing Durial, Find Item is allowed. In Hell, Find Item. Natural resist can be pumped any time it is needed after getting the scroll from Malah.
Your ideal helm would be of course, a +3 BO, +3 Berserk, +WW or LA, good luck finding one.
Total skill placement
Bash at any time.
Stun after fightning the smith, may be pumped endlessly afterwords.
Sword Mastery. One point from Akara, one point after killing the Smith, and one point any time you find a sword in a weapon rack.
Iron Skin. Allowed any time you find a suit of metal armor from a weapon rack.
Increased speed and Stamina. Gained from the Izzy quest.
Natural Resists. Gained from getting the Scroll from Malah.
Important things to look for. Bul Katho's Children. Use the two hander, keep the one hander in your stash. On the odd chance you find this, you deserve to brag. Show it off to anybody who will look. Any item, Unique, rare, or set, that has Pride, Glory, or Honour. This also includes rune words. Pride Glory and Honour mean everything to you.
Code of ethics. Never run away from Battle. There are two exceptions to this. If your party runs away, run with them. They must be kept safe. If your merc hits the red, RUN AWAY! let them live to fight another day. Do this to save their life, but, not your own. Always look after those smaller and weaker looking than you. Be a meat shield. Be kind. Offer assistance. Put your best face forward. The reputation of mercs everywhere depends on you.
Above all else, have fun. Play nice. And kick ass.
