This was the last time he was going to try. Traa'Loulan took the scroll in hand once again in hopes that the magical capabilities of the wand would become known to him. He spread the pieces of parchment out over a rock and ran the wand over it. Words slowly appeared on the small scrap of brittle paper. The man's eyes widened as the words came to their potential. He read alloud "Luumas Graem Weand fa", translated reads "Grim Wand of the Sun." He took hold of the handle and the area around him lit up and if hundreds of candles were lit. He knew this would help him in the dark forrest. He returned the tome to his pack and continued his journey through the Flayer Jungle. He was looking for The Gibdinn, a magical dagger, imbued with powers by Orimus, Kurast's mage of choice. Traa'Loulan had come by what seemed to be hundreds of Flayers, small men weilding incredibly large knives and blow guns with sharp, pointed darts. Each group he had come across had a shaman, another Flayer on the shoulders of a lesser Flayer. These shaman had the power or resurrection, which made it hard to take out large groups of Flayers. But, with the help of a Blood Golem, Traa'Loulan completed the daunting task. He felt tired as he ran through the jungle, searching for the dagger. He found several items he thought would have some worth. He frequently used scrolls that provided a portal to the Docks, where he would recharge his strength and his spiritual life force. While there, the brave warrior was visited by a local named Natalya .
"There are two visitors form the Barbarian village of Harrogath. They have come to help you in your quest to defeat The Prime Evils. They are very resourceful, knowledgeble, and powerful. They have been rumored to have killed Blood Raven, a general of the Rogues of the Sisters of the Sightless Eye, with surprisingly powerful attacks. They have a speciality in pikes and swords, so I believe they will be of much help in your quest. I must be going though, the barbarian brothers are awaiting my return. You may follow if you wish to become aquainted."
Traa'Loulan agreed and followed Natalya to a desolate straw hut near the edge of the small city. As the two entered the hut, the first thing they noticed was the abundance of weapons and armor, scattered about the room. Traa'Loulan introudced himself with the traditional Rathmatic introuduction and began speaking to the men.
"My name is Traa'Loulan. I am a Necromantic priest of the Cult of Rathma. I understand that you two will be helping me in my quest to defeat Diablo."
The largest man stood up. He was a huge man, at least seven feet tall with bulging muscles covered with ancient, runic body paintings. He weilded a sword he was sharpening in one hand. He extended it in friendship. It almost covered Traa'Loulan's hand.
"My name is Maximus. This is my brother Jay. And yes, we shall be helping you in your brave search for the last of the Prime Evils"
Traa'Loulan knew that these men were true to their word and could be trusted. He decided that he should rest for the rest of the night and get to know hsi two, future battle partners. For the rest of the night, the three men sat in the local pub and discussed their plans for the next day of searching for the Gibdinn. The barbarians knew this area well and would be able to take Traa'Loulan to the Flayer camp where the dagger was held.
They knew that they would have to face the strongest Flayer in the tribe, since the powers of the Gibdinn were unimaginable. They also knew that it would take a long walk to get to the camp, so they had to rest up. After drinking several tankards of ale and losing several hundred pices of gold to the brothers, Traa'Loulan retired to his room in the local boarding house.
The next day, the three warriors gathered their materials and set off. Traa'Loulan carried his most prized posession, a Grim Wand passed down to him by the ancient mage Ume. He wore an embossed plate that was incredibly strong. The two barbarian brothers weilded extremely powerful pikes and swords and bore ancient armor that was the strongest in the land. They stepped into the magical platform and were instatly transported to a remote area in the Kurast Jungle. As soon as they stepped out of the platform, they were ambushed by four Jungle Beasts. In the blink of an eye, the barbarian brothers became battle ready and poised to strike. Jay released a howl that frightened away two of the Beasts while Maximus leaped into the air and landed atop the one of the remaining beasts. He took hold of its head, and with one quick thrust, removed it from its body. The beast fell onto the ground and Maximus stood by it and stared into its lifeless eyes. Traa'Loulan glanced at Jay and noticed him thrust his pike into the beasts neck, causing it to bleed unstoppably. Traa'Loulan knew that this would be a great team.
They treked on throughout the jungle and finally came across the Flayer camp where the Gibdinn was held. They braced themselves for battle. Traa'Loulan took hold of his wand and released an arcane chat, one that the barbarian brothers had never heard. The lifeless body of a Thorned Hulk began to twitch. Its back began to crackle and shake. It looked as if something was trying to be released from it. The skin on its head began to tear and a figure appeared. Then violently, the corpse exploded in a bloody mess and a skeleton warrior arose from the bloody entrails. It bore a large shield and a humongous axe. It seemed to be under the Necromancers complete control.
"Did you just bring a skeleton out of that corpse??" pondered Jay.
"Well, thats what it looks like now doesn't it?" replied Traa'Loulan scornfully.
He repeated this process until he had amassed a small army of revived skeletal warriors. He then spoke another chant and seemingly caused the air surrounding the men to burn. These flames came together until they formed a golem, made entirely of flame. The necromancer was now in control of an army of undead warriors. The group of braves charged into the encampment, only to find it barren. Traa'Loulan saw what appeared to be an altar set up in the middle of the village. On it was a small dagger, surrounded by barbs and thorns. Maximus took a sword he was carrying and cut the barbs, exposing the blade. Jay reached out and grabbed it. But as soon as it was in his grasp, the men heard footsteps behind them. They turned around and saw five of the Flayers. They were weilding humungous kinves and looked enraged. The brave warriors looked at eachother and then at the Flayers. They knew what to do.
Traa'Loulan yelled a Runic chant and cursed the Flayer group, making them weak and some almost harmless. He then signaled the barbarians to attack. Jay let out a warcry that stunned and harmed the Flayers and then charged them, pike ready. Maximus attacked the shaman, weilding two massive swords. With one quick strike, he took off the heads of two of the Flayers and was hacking away at the shaman. Traa'Loulan released a spear made entirely of bone and impaled two of the Flayers on the projectile. He then aimed for the shaman, but found that he was on the ground, gasping for air and bleeding from a seething wound on his side. Maximus had gotten the job done. Jay had the body of another Flayer on his pike. He had impaled it and kept it on his pike as some sort of macabe trophy. They had retrieved the Gibdinn and had rid the village of the Flayers. Traa'Loulan reached in his pack and pulled out a blue tome. He opened to a page and read it alloud. A blue portal appeared infront of him. He replaced the tome and stepped into the portal, followed by the barbarian brothers.
They walked over to Orimus to give him the dagger, but noticed something that confused them. On the altar where the Gibdinn was to be placed sat another dagger, one that looked exactally like the one Traa' had in his hand. He walked to Orimus and asked him
"Why is that dagger on the Altar of the Blade?" asked Traa' inquisitively.
"It is such a great day! A great Rogue came into town earlier today and returned the Gibdinn to us! He was a barbarian, like you two, but much, much larger. He said he was from the west, but did not give his name. He did have an intresting carving on his armor. It looked like and eye, but with no pupil in it, like an eye without sight." Orimus sounded exhilarated.
Traa' knew exactally where to go. He talked to Meshif, the captian of the boat he took from Lut Gholein to Kurast. He had him take them to Lut Gholein where he would meet up with Warriv to take them to the Rogue Encampment in the west. When they got there, Traa'Loulan would talk to Akara, to find out about the mysterious Rogue.
When they arrived at the Rogue Encampment, they were greeted with a shock. The encampment was in literal ruins. Food and other supplies were strewn about the camp. They went to find the leader of the camp, Akara, but she was no where to be found. They searched strenously for hours, but could not find her in the tiny encampment. They finally found her, sitting underneath a cloth that was once her tent.
"What happened here?" asked Traa'
"Our local hero, Lumas, abandoned the camp to go to The Pandemonium Fortress to search for Diablo. As soon as he left, the Undead Warriors outside the camp attacked us. They destroyed most of our supplies. But a brave Paladin, who just happened to be wandering in the Blood Moor, heard the screams and came to our rescue. I believe he said he name was Brandon. He left just as you arrived. Im sure you will be able to find him not far outside the camp. And if you find him, give him our deepest regards."
Akara had a shake in her voice, but it seemed confindent. The three helped clean up the camp, and after a small meal they went off to find this mysterous Brandon. They gathered their things and walked out of the camp. After walking for about a mile, they started seeing corpses, scattered across the Cold Plains. They looked ahead and saw a figure slashing what appeared to be zombies. They ran up to him and noticed the Cross on his breastplate. He had to be the Paladin.
"Are you Brandon?" asked Maximus.
"Yes, who asks?" replied the Paladin.
"My name is Maximus. These are my battle partners Jay and Traa'Loulan. We hear that you saved the Rogue Encampment." answered Maximus.
"Yes, that is true."
"Will you join us in our quest against Diablo?" invited Maximus.
"To avenge the destruction of my clan, anything" replied Brandon.
"Your clan will be well avenged." noted Traa'.
The newly made foursome returned to the encampment and after much praise took the next caravan east to Lut Gholein, where they would sail to Kurast and take the magical waypoint, which was built during the Sin War, to the Durance of Hate, where the gate to Hell has been opened by the defeat of second Prime Evil, Mephisto. The journey was a long one, but they knew that Diablo would be defeated only if the journey was taken. To pass the time, Brandon, Maximus, Jay, Traa' and several others who were taking the boat to Kurast would play bar games, winner recieving a small piece of gold from each contender. The game of choice was a fairly easy one. Everyone would take a turn and throw an axe at a segment of a large tree. Whoever got closer to the red dot, rougly one inch in diameter, would win. Of course, the Barbarians had an advantage at this game, since they were higly skilled at throwing weapons, not only axes, but knives and blades. But, the others were too intoxicated to notice the evident skill of the brothers. They would just stare in amazement at the accuracy of the Barbarians, and pay the gold whenever prompted to.
It took less than three days to reach Kurast, a surprisingly short time, seeing how the ship had to drop off cargo at the Amazon Islands. When the boat arrived, the men saw a desolate, depressing town filled with gloomy residents. But they bade no attention to them, seeing how they urgently needed to get to the Durance of Hate to take the portal to Hell.