Voyage to destruction

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Diablo II in any way. I don't need to make it clearer than that.

Sitting on the back of the small horse powered trailer, Thoraro and Azuron had time to consider what they were doing here, on the way to a rogue encampment. They had heard rumours of great struggles in far off lands, in Kurast, Lut Gholein, and other neighbouring cities. But why were they heading this direction? Sure, they were treasure hunters, but that seemed to be an excuse for everything. Azuron was a tall and mighty barbarian from Harrogath. Even though Azuron was a strong fighter, Thoraro wasn't as great of a fighter, he wasn't a saviour, but he was a merchant. He sold whatever Azuron found, and they kept each other alive, money wise.

By now, it had started to rain. They, of course, didn't have any shelter besides a few crates which shielded them from very few rain drops. These crates were carrying Thoraro's merchandise. From regular items, to magic weapons, he had a humongous selection.

"Hey, Az. . . Do you think we'll find anything to sell here? In this dump?" asked Thoraro.

"I've heard of many things being found here, great rare and magical items being found here. These monsters are monsters from hell. Not our everyday quill rat, I hear." He replied with an incredibly deep voice.

Thor just looked forward. He stared off into the rain, and the darkness, there wasn't much to see. The sun had long set and most of the trees were dark and weird looking. By now, he had started to get tired. Leaning on a crate, he had begun to nod off, the world was becoming black and dark until Azuron shook his shoulder saying: "We're here, Thor."

He looked up. He saw many females with bows, immediately placing them into his mind as rogues. There were many small and large tents around the camp. He jumped off the trailer, thanked the driver, and gave him a few gold coins for his troubles. When he turned to unload it, Azuron had already taken all the crates down, and had begun to set up the tent.

"Damn. . . He works fast," Thor muttered to himself.

The Barbarian looked at Thor. "Are you just gonna stand there? Or are ya gonna help me?"

"Wha. . . uh. . . sorry."

Thor began helping Azuron setting up the fairly large tent. It was perfect for storing crates full of valuables, weapons and various items plus has room to set up a table and a resting room. After setting it up, bringing in the crates and changing from their damp clothes to dry ones, they each set up their sleeping bags and fell asleep. But Thoraro woke up. He just couldn't sleep on damp earth, just couldn't. Azuron had set their tent up on a puddle. He made a mental note to hurt Azuron for picking their ever so wonderful spot.



As she walked, a lightning bolt struck the horizon and it began to rain. "Damn it!" she muttered. Gwelin was a sorceress. She had just finished her apprenticeship and was already demon hunting. She heard rumours of Diablo being on the loose in Tristram and then being defeated, then she heard about a dark wanderer. A Dark Wanderer who had appeared, leaving destruction and terror behind him. She just had to check it out. Although, a master of the elements, she hated rain. "Why does it always have to rain when I go on trips?"

She began running, and regretting it. Even though she was in great athletic shape, she was just too tired and hungry to run. Gwelin was just about ready to set up camp, under a few trees until she spotted it, the Rogue Encampment. "I'm here!" she said, sounding enthusiastic as can be. Once again, she began to run, and driven by hope that she could find a dry, warm place to sleep she had no trouble getting there.

When she got there, all the lights were out. It was way after sundown and no one was found outside their tents. Except for one man, who was sitting by the unlit fire pit. "Uh, Hi. My name is Gwelin? I was wondering if I could find a place to sleep. here."

The man looked at her, and his mind, she was a sight for sore eyes. She was at about 5'4" with long brunette hair, with matching brown eyes. She was slim, and in great form. What topped it off, she was wearing barely decent clothing. It was covering only half of her torso. He just stared at her, until he realized what he was doing.

"Where are my manners? The name's Thoraro Delius. Unless you brought your own tent, most of the ones here are full." He said, as the water droplets dripped across his face. It was still raining, but it had lightened up.

"Oh." she said, sounding depressed.

"You can. . . Well I'm sure Azuron won't mind. . . You can sleep in my tent, there's plenty of extra room, and we managed to keep it dry. The ground's still a little damp but. . . Come, follow me."

A smile crossed her face, with all the adventurers here, she didn't expect any kindness from them, especially to strangers, like herself. As she followed him, she noted that there were at least 10 tents in the area. "I wonder how many are here about Diablo and his brothers. . ." she asked herself.

"In here. . . Hey Az, we've got company."

"Ugggh, more sleep. . ."

"Az, this is. . . what was your name again?"

"Gwelin."

"Yeah. Gwelin. She'll be bunking with us."

"But I don't want to go to school today. zzzz" Azuron said, and began to snore.

"So what were you doing wandering outside in the rain like that?" Thor Asked.

"I. . . wanted to reach the camp as soon as I can, to defeat the three prime evils." She then turned and looked at Azuron. He was huge. "Is he a Barbarian?"

"Yeah, sleeps like a baby though . . . wait a second. . . Prime Evils? You mean. . . uhh those demons?"

"Diablo, Mephisto and Baal."

"Yeah, those guys. you're here to kill them? You crazy?"

"No Thor, I'm not crazy and yes, I'm here to kill them. They've been terrorizing this area and others to the east. I'm here to stop them."

Thoraro didn't say anything after that. Besides handing a dry sleeping bag to Gwelin, and saying good night, he didn't say anything for the rest of the night.





With all the sounds of armour, Gwelin woke up. "What in the." She slowly stood up, the sun was barely rising. Thoraro was gone, and Azuron was putting on his armour. "Odd," she muttered to herself. She hadn't even heard Thor wake up.

"Good morning." Azuron said to the barely Gwelin.

"Ughh." She blinked. Azuron looked big in his sleep, but with his armor on, he was huge compared to her.

"You better get armoured up. Thor told me you're gonna kill the Prime Evils. If you want to do that, you gotta learn to wake up early."

She stood up. Her clothes had now dried off, and it seemed to be a sunny day. "This will be a good day" she told herself. She grabbed her staff, and was about to walk outside until Azuron spoke. "You're going to kill the Prime Evils with a stick?"

"Magic." She said with a grin on her face. Azuron just look at her oddly. He had never seen magic before, let alone a sorceress. Besides the small magic spells an Amazon could cast, he had never seen elemental magic.

Thoraro walked into the tent, bumping into Gwelin by accident. "Ah! Excuse me. I didn't see you standing there, sorry. Az, the sage woman here, Akara wants you to clear a cave to the south. They call the Den of Evil. I'll stick here and set up the shop. There seems to be a lot of warriors here, so we should g."

His attention was diverted to the no differently dressed Gwelin, but with a staff. "You're. . . a sorceress."

She looked at him. She couldn't tell if it was fear, or shock. He just wasn't moving, just staring at her. "Hey, stop staring at me. . . You're scaring me. And what's wrong with being a sorceress?"

"Well. . . when I was young. . . It's not important, I'll tell you later. You can go with Az, if you want, to the den of evil." And with that, Thor left the tent and starting putting things up, preparing his shop for business.

"I won't ask." added Azuron. "Well, will you accompany me to slay a few demons or more?" He said while extending his arm, as if asking to dance.

"Certainly." She accepted.



Author's Notes: Alright - Ahhh! I proofread it. Sorta. I am "French" after all. (. . .stupid inability to spell in both languages. . .) If you feel up to it, tell me where my errors. I'm not FORCING ANYONE -- *holds a knife to the next reader's head* "Correct! Correct!" -- E-mail me at Joshpc@angelfire.com if you're not up to reviewing to the public.