Episode One
This place reeks of the dead. The fallen star must be near. It's very dark in Tristram, dark enough that night never seems to end. Dark enough that you can sense the grief and fear of the place. Tristram hasn't seen the end of its troubles, and I doubt it ever will.
I walk down Overlook Road, glancing at the overturned wagon and the blood-soaked body near it. How terrible. May they rest in peace.
I have been traveling for days, pressing forward to Tristram where the star fell. Where my destiny lies. But I never expected this display of horror.
In front of me is an animated corpse. The dead have risen after all. Its flesh is rotting away, leaving a black mess on its painfully thin and pale skin. Blood soaks the creature like water. It was feasting on the bodies of a man and woman before it noticed me. A couple whose time had come too soon.
I shoot it down with one strike of my magic. It will not rise again after that wound. Arcane is deadly, poisonous, and a fine weapon against monsters.
I walk on, killing five more of the creatures down the road. More dead, more suffering, more grief.
Finally, I reach the scene of a battle. Five men, four archers and one swordsman, fight against the remnants of an army of risen. I'm impressed that they were able to fight off that number of the creatures. But I cannot think of that. From my place, I fire three missiles at the remaining risen. They fall to the ground, dead, and the defenders turn to look at me in surprise.
"Prophecy sent me in search of the star that fell on this land," I inform the swordsman, stepping forward. By the way the archers on the ground flank him, he's obviously the one in charge. He gapes at me for a moment.
"It fell on the old cathedral," he sputters. "There was only one survivor- Leah. You should speak with her." Suddenly, I smell the reek of death again.
"Captain Rumford! More dead are coming," an archer warns, just as they erupt from the ground. Captain Rumford pulls out his sword.
"We can't open the gates until we drive them back!" he shouts. The captain rushes forward, and sighing, I ready my wand.
The battle is short. However strange they are, these monsters are not the strongest things. It may be because they were once human.
Captain Rumford gapes at me again. "I've never seen anyone fight like that! Open the gates!" The gates creak open, and I nod my thanks before hurrying through them.
Tristram is in an awful state. As soon as I walk through the gates, I smell blood. Bodies of the risen are piled onto a cart, and I watch as a militia man heaves them one by one into a fire. A priest shouts frightened words against his god, and the merchants all look nervous and eye me warily. The town looks empty save for a few lucky souls, all of which look at me with empty eyes. They've already given up hope.
I see a sign that reads: The Slaughtered-Calf Inn. What a horrible name. But that may be where I can find Leah. I enter the building.
A woman near the entrance stares at me with sunken eyes.
"Are you here to 'save' us?" she asks hopefully. "The other adventurers who came through didn't look so deadly." I nod, though her words dug at me. Did I look that dangerous? I was wearing simple, brown clothing, and my black hair was tied back. Was it something in my eyes that she saw?
"Do you know where I can find a woman named Leah?" The woman points at a woman in a red tunic and trousers. A bow is slung around her shoulder, and her brown hair is cut short. I nod my thanks to the woman and approach Leah.
"Are you Leah?" She nods, looking confused. "Rumford said you survived the fallen star." Again, Leah nods.
"I did," she croaks. She sounds as if she hasn't slept in ages. "But it blasted my uncle, Deckard Cain, into the depths of the old cathedral. I tried to search for him, but the dead were already rising." Leah sighs sadly. I can see how much she worries for her uncle.
"I came back to rally the militia, but the..." Leah's eyes go wide, seeing something behind me that I do not. "Watch out!" she cries. "The wounded are turning." I spin, and I watch as men erupt into the creatures outside the town.
No. How much will this town lose?
Leah catches my eye, understanding my thoughts, but she quickly draws her bow and fires a killing shot at one of the risen. This snaps me out of my stupor, and I place my hands together, drawing the magic running through my veins towards my palms. A concentrated ray of ice shoots out of my palms, freezing the risen instantly. They shatter into a million pieces, littering the floor.
Dead. All of them dead. The woman who pointed to Leah collapses and starts to weep.
"Is everyone okay?" I ask quietly. Everyone nods except the woman on her knees.
"That was her husband," Leah explains quietly. I feel a twinge of guilt at that.
"The dead will overwhelm us all unless something is done." I was amazed at how tired this young woman sounded.
"I will make certain that does not happen," I reassure her. "Your town is safe." She looks up with grateful eyes.
"Thank you. You should speak with Captain Rumford at the gate. He can tell you what to do." Leah shoots another grateful look at me and then walks over to the woman to comfort her.
I look away from the sight and leave the inn. The woman was right; I am dangerous. And I'll have to be in order to save this town and find my destiny.
I rush through the town, hearing tidbits of conversations.
"Sixteen militiamen went out."
"Only Rumford came back."
"The dead will overrun us."
"Even in death, Diablo torments us."
These people hold no hope in their hearts. I walk faster. The sooner I get to Rumford, the sooner this town will be saved.
"What can I do to fight the risen dead?" I ask Rumford, touching his shoulder lightly. He looks back at me, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
"Our biggest problem at the moment are the wretched mothers. They're the ones vomiting out these- horrors." He shudders and closes his eyes for a moment. They snap back open. "But I can't let you go and die. It's too dangerous."
"I'm not planning on dying today, Rumford." He still does not look convinced.
"It doesn't matter how well you fight. There are hordes of the risen out there! And their numbers only get-"
"They're attacking the barricades!" An archer shouts, pulling an arrow back. The wooden barricades they had set up collapses under the force of the risen.
The creature behind the horde of risen is very similar to the risen. Rotting, black flesh, blood-soaked pale skin. But I know what sets it apart. Its long, ratty hair for instance. The female risen smiles gruesomely at me and bends forward, vomiting out a poisonous substance that quickly forms into even more risen.
A wretched mother.
Anger flows through me, and I fire a missile at it first. But a risen intercepts its path, falling down dead. I see now. The risen will protect their "mother" to the last breath. But if I take the time to kill them first, the mother will only vomit more.
"Wait!" Rumford cries, as I rush towards the risen. I know what I must do. The wretched mother must not be allowed to live any longer.
The risen take swipes at me with their ugly claws, and one hand catches my forehead. I hiss in pain but continue through them.
The wretched mother shrieks, bending over to vomit again. My missile catches her first.
I cannot even stop for one moment, as there are more behind me. Turning, I fling out more missiles, shooting down the monsters before they can get to me. Together, Rumford and I are able to kill them all.
Rumford, breathing heavily, glares at me. "That was a stupid thing to do, but I respect your strength. I assume you recognized the wretched mother? There are more down the road." I nod, thanking him silently for his acceptance, and start up the road.
I will save Tristram.
Old Tristram Road houses hordes and hordes of the risen. On my search, I run into five wretched mothers, and countless monsters. I kill them all using either my magic missiles, or my ray of frost. But I also notice other things. Wagons burn as the aftermath of an attempted escape. Militiamen lay scattered on the ground, as do the bodies of dead adventurers. Ransacked cellars hold monsters... and more bodies. I am the only living thing on Old Tristram Road.
I'm exhausted by the time Old Tristram Road is emptied of monsters. There. The attacks should stop. For now. I slowly make my way back to Tristram.
The walk is painful. My head wound has been joined by the scratches of risen and the needles of a spiky creature I guess is a quill fiend. My quest against the wretched mothers has resulted in blood loss.
But I must return to Tristram. This is my only thought as I stumble back down Old Tristram Road. I must return to Tristram.
The flicker of fire and the shouts of men alert me to the fact that I've arrived. Relief pours through me, and I stumble forward.
"Rumford," I mumble.
"I'm here. Good lord, man, you're bleeding!"
"The wretched mothers. They're all dead. I've killed them all. Even the queen." I can barely hear his awed mutterings.
The world is blurry, and my head spins.
Blackness.
My head aches. I groan, and my eyes flutter open. Two faces stare anxiously at me: Rumford and... Leah? What was Leah doing outside the...
That's when I remember. I lost consciousness; the loss of blood must've caught up with me.
"Where am I?" I ask gruffly, struggling to get up.
"Don't," Leah tells me. "You've lost a lot of blood." I lay back down, not wanting to frustrate her.
"After you passed out at the gates, I and Landry took you to the Inn. That's where we are now," Rumford informs me. I wince. I was stupid to put myself in dangerous situations.
"I apologize. I shouldn't have taken..."
"No, no!" Rumford interrupts. "I believe I can speak for the whole town; we're grateful you've done what you have. There hasn't been an attack in a whole day! My men were able to get some sleep for once. I don't believe you've completely solves our problems by killing the wretched queen, but you've sure lessened them."
His words irritated me. No attacks in a day? How long had I been asleep?!
"A day," Leah says, as if reading my thoughts. She seems to do that a lot. "Thankfully, it looks as if you won't turn, and you seem to be healing quite fast."
"The magic in my blood helps," I mutter. She smirks.
"It sure does. The injuries you had would've taken another man a couple of days to scab, and you're almost completely healed in a day." Leah sighs, tugging on her tunic.
"I'm sorry, but I've got to tend to the other wounded. They'll be needing me." She turns to leave, but before she does, she smiles tentatively at me. "Thank you, wizard."
Rumford chuckles. "It's good to see, Leah smile again. The disappearance of her uncle has taken a lot out of her."
I sigh heavily. It's good that Rumford and Leah have had their troubles eased. They believe that Tristram is saved.
But I know better. I have not yet found the star. And until I do, I'm not sure that Tristram's troubles will end.
I unwrap the bandages around my hand and forehead, ignoring Rumford's protests.
"You can't go out now; you need more rest!" he exclaims. I inhale, struggling not to show my irritation. Rumford, while naive, has been a great help.
"The dead never rest, and neither shall I," I reply, tearing off the bandage on my chest. Rumford eyes the pink scars in surprise. "Besides, as you can see, I'm healed. Now hand me my tunic." Rumford complies, and I pull the fabric over my head.
"Fine. If you're going to fight more, could you first talk some sense into Leah? She won't give up on the idea of rescuing her uncle." I shot an irritated glance at Rumford.
"Nor should she," I decided. "I will help her find him." Maybe Leah's uncle, Deckard Cain, will be able to help me in my search for the fallen star." Rumford groans, and I leave the room.
Leah is standing outside of a house near the inn. Rumford told me that it's her uncle's. Now, however, the door is shut and the windows dark. I see a few tears fall from her lashes.
"Come," I say, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Let us search for your uncle." Leah stares at me with amazement.
"Really? You're not going to discourage me?"
"No. I will save as many people as possible, and Cain is no exception." Leah smiles, and the expression lights up her face. I never noticed before, but Leah is actually sort of pretty when she smiles.
I shake my thoughts away.
"We'll need to open the cathedral first. The guards locked it up before they were ambushed. Rumford told me they fought their way back to Adria's hut. The key must still be there."
"To Adria's hut then."
"Oh," Leah says, stopping. "Before we go, would you mind telling me your name? You know mine, but I don't know yours." The request surprises me. Most people don't care enough to know my name. Most people just see my wand and scorn.
"It's Esorin. Now let's go." I turn, but not before I see her smile.
We travel back onto Old Tristram Road and through Old Tristram. I feel a shudder as we walk through the demolished village. Diablo himself had walked these paths. His evil had not left.
Leah leads me to a padlocked gate. She pulls a key out of her pocket and unlocks the gate, waving me through. We continue onto a road leading away from Old Tristram, and I relax a little the farther away we get.
"Adria was my mother, but I don't know much about her," Leah mutters. She glances back at me. "She died when I was very young. I was raised by Uncle Deckard."
"What about your father?" I ask.
"I'm told he was a great warrior who was lost when Tristram fell to the demons." She gulps and looks back to the road. I can relate to that. My mother also died when I was young, and my father handed me over to the masters as soon as I could talk. I was learning magic from the time I could walk.
"Here we are," she says, gesturing to a molding building. The door is nonexistent, and the roof is caving in.
"Come on," I say, walking into the hut. There's only a moth-eaten bed, and a broken table, but there are bookshelves on the walls. I study them carefully. The books one reads can tell you a lot about them. These are books about magic.
"Look around," I order Leah. "There's more to this hut than there appears. We move around the one-room hut, studying its every crack. I'm fingering the spines of the books when there's a loud, grating noise. Leah's on the floor, an inch away from a ladder.
"A hidden cellar," I say, satisfied that I was right. Leah looks up at me.
"How did you know?"
"Your mother was a witch. She studied magic books." Leah nodded, looking at the dark cellar.
"People always whispered that when they thought I wasn't listening. I never believed it could be true though."
"Come," I say, "And learn your mother's secrets."
I go down the ladder first, holding my wand out in case of some danger. I've been in a witch's cellar before, and she had many "pets" that wanted to rip my head off. Leah follows me down.
A fire still flickers deep in the underground cellar. It illuminates the room, allowing us to see the endless books and potions that are scattered around the room. But before we can explore more, a pale hand explodes out of the dirt.
"Risen," I snarl. Leah pulls out her bow, but her eyes flare in recognition. Her hand flies to her mouth.
"Captain Daltyn!" she mumbles. I fire a shot at one of the risen, and it's sent flying.
"Leah," I snap. "That's not Captain Daltyn anymore." I fire another shot, sending another of the risen back. But there are still five others, "Captain Daltyn" included. They advance quickly.
"Leah, he can't rest until we kill him!" She seems to snap out of it, notching an arrow and firing it at one of the risen. I pretend not to notice that it's not the man she once knew. We send missile after arrow until the risen are all on the ground, and blood seeps from their bodies.
"Search them for the key," Leah says suddenly. "If Captain Daltyn was here, so will the key. Sure enough, as soon as I bend down, I see the bloodied metal. I pick it up, and turn to show it to her, but Leah's not behind me anymore. I turn around.
There she is, at the other end of the cellar. She's furiously turning the pages of a book. I walk up beside her.
"My mother's diary," she whispers, swallowing hard. "What I've seen so far is disturbing. I want to know more about her, but that can wait. We have to save Uncle Deckard first!" She looks up, a fire in her eyes.
"I'll search the cathedral," I offer. "You stay here and learn what you can." Gratitude shines in her eyes.
"Thank you, Esorin. Maybe I can find something helpful." She turns back to her mother's diary.
"Just make sure you get back to Tristram safely," I tell her, but she's already absorbed in the past.
And I have work to do in the present.
I climb the ladder back up into Adria's Hut and follow the road leading to the cathedral. Along the way, risen attack me, but they all fall to my hand. Just as I thought, the risen problem did not end with the fall of the wretched queen. And it probably won't until I find the fallen star.
The cathedral comes into view quickly, and it's an ominous sight in the shadows of Tristram. I make quick work of some risen and unlock the cathedral doors.
The fallen star must've hit the cathedral hard, for I cannot see the end of the hole it created. Blue magic oozes from the pit, and I can sense some strange presence. This is the thing that caused the dead to rise. This is the thing that I've searched for so long.
I drop down into the hole, landing lightly. The cathedral is a maze of passageways, doors, and stairs. It's also a perfect place for risen to live. I kill hundreds of them as I search for Cain, which worries me. With so many monsters around, how can Leah's old uncle still be alive? Still, I search on for any sign of her uncle.
I reach some large double doors, quite the difference from the small, wooden doors I've gone through so far. They're easily opened, however, at my push. They lead into a large room. Below me, on the left, another glowing pit marks the path of the fallen star. But that's not the only thing that gets my attention.
An old man runs across a ledge near the pit. He reaches firmer ground just as the ledge crumbles away. I see what he was running from; a group of animated skeletons with swords. They fell with the ledge.
I'm just about to call out to the old man when a shock of power goes through me. Evil. Something evil is here. I watch, shocked as a ghost appears in front of the old man.
"The Skeleton King?" the man gasps. The Skeleton King certainly lives up to his name. Old, rusting armor rests on his decaying bones, and an old crown rests on his grinning skull.
"The power of the fallen star awakened me," The Skeleton King roars, "And soon all will suffer as I have suffered. Guards! Bring me his bones!" He dissipates with a cruel laugh, green smoke racing towards the old man. Skeletons rise up from the green smoke behind the man, and they all advance towards him.
I snap out of my shock, firing at the skeletons.
"Cain!" I call. "I will save you!" For who else could this man be, except Leah's uncle?
"No!" he shouts back. "Stay back!" Ignoring him, I run down the steps of the balcony, getting on even ground with the skeletons. They turn to me, raising their swords. I take three of them down with a cry, ice daggers shooting out from me.
One of them is different from the others. He is larger for one, but there's an eerie golden glow around him. He won't die easily.
I shoot at him, and he swings at me. Though I try to keep the skeleton away from Cain, it always seems to turn me around. Gritting my teeth, I place my hands together, firing my ray of frost of him. It slows it down, but not enough for me to escape his sword. The sword tears through my shirt, cutting my skin.
Now I have to buy another tunic. With an angry roar, the ice daggers shoot out from me again. One buries itself into the skeleton's skull, and the skeleton falls apart, its bones clattering on the ground.
I am breathing heavily, and my chest is bleeding. Cursing, I tear off my shirt, pressing the cloth against the cut.
"Are you alright?" I ask Cain. He nods.
"Thank you. But why did you risk yourself for me?" I'm impressed by his voice. He sounds incredibly wise.
"I'm here to bring you back to Leah." His eyes brighten.
"Oh! It is good to hear that Leah is well! I feared the worst." He turns away to a bookshelf embedded into the wall and beckons me to his side.
"I learned of this secret passage through old maps that I found," he says, sounding amused. He pulls at one of the books, and the bookshelf slides away, revealing the outside air.
"We must discuss the fallen star," Cain states, glancing at me. I jump a little. How did he know? "Come, we must make our way back to Tristram."
I follow Cain out of the grounds of the cathedral and onto Old Road Tristram. We follow the road until we see the gates of Tristram where Rumford waits for us. He stares in shock at Cain.
"Cain! You found Cain!" Then he notices my bleeding chest. "And you got yourself hurt again. Well, at least Leah will be happy. She's at the inn." I nod, and Cain and I walk to the inn.
There, Leah is speaking to the woman whose husband was killed. When she sees us, her whole face brightens and she jumps up.
"Uncle! You're alive!" she cries, leaping forward and hugging Cain. I step back, giving them space to reunite.
"Thanks to you and your friend here," he chuckles, hugging her back. She looks up from her uncle to me. I duck my head, a little embarrassed.
"Thank you, Esorin. Thank you for bringing my uncle back to me." I wave her off.
"Our time is running short. What can you tell me about the fallen star?" I say, trying to move the conversation away from me. Cain sighs.
"Not much, I'm afraid, though the Prophecy of the End Days surely points to it as a sign that the end has begun..." he trails off in thought. Leah sighs.
"Please Uncle, not more of your stories. All that matters is that you're back and..." she stops short, suddenly noticing my wound.
"Esorin! Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because it doesn't hurt that much," I grumble, but she shoves me into a chair anyway.
"Just be quiet and let me clean it. It's the least I can do." The least you can do is nothing. But I let her clean the wound anyway.
I have saved Deckard Cain, Leah's uncle, and gained the trust of Rumford and Leah. There is new hope in the eyes of the townspeople. But something still irritates me about this. The Skeleton King. Who is The Skeleton King, and does he mean to stand in the way of the fallen star? If so, I will have to dispose of him.
And anything else that decides to get in my way.