The Tower is located in the Black Marsh, beyond the Dark Wood. The book relays the story of a ruined castle in the wilderness that was once inhabited by a wealthy, yet evil Countess. The book, known as the Moldy Tome, can be found on a stone pedestal within what appears to be a ruined chapel in Stony Field. Unlike the other quests in Act I, it is activated by reading a book rather than by talking to an NPC. The Forgotten Tower is the fourth quest in Act I: The Sightless Eye of Diablo II. Since she’s more likely to roll to drop additional items when more players are in the game, even though her drop is hardcapped at two magical items, this cuts down on her odds of dropping a rune.'.And so it came to pass that the Countess, who once bathed in the rejuvenating blood of a hundred virgins, was buried alive.' -The Moldy Tome (Even though she’ll never drop more than two items, her rune drops come from special treasure class sequences that are accessed if the game doesn’t think she should drop other items. Her Treasure Classes are uniquely modified, and as a result the odds of her dropping multiple runes are actually increased when there is only one player in the game. This TC has a 3/5045 chance for Mal and a 2/5045 chance for Ist. If she drops a rune from her special TC then she drops a rune from “Runes 12” TC. Her odds to drop one from her special rune drop tables are far better. Her odds of dropping a high level rune from her normal drop tables are as astronomical as they are for every other monster in the game. She also has special rune drop calculations for her bonus rune drops these do not allow her to drop such high level runes Io on Nightmare and Ist on Hell. Why are two runes listed as her top drop? She has normal item drops like any other monster these can go up to the highest runes listed Ko on Nightmare and Lo on Hell. Hell: El (r01) - Ist/Lo (r28) above Ist (r24) is much rarer.Nightmare: El (r01) - Io/Ko (r18) above Io (r16) is much rarer.This ability was enhanced and modified in v1.10, and in v1.11 she is now almost certain to drop at least one rune every time (1/64 chance of none dropping), and has the capability to drop up to six, though more than 2 or 3 is a very rare sight. Starting with the v1.09 patch, The Countess was given the ability to drop one or more runes almost every time she died.

Diablo 2 countess dropds