The Cairn Stones
Chyemme
A spinning sensation overcame me once more as the portal worked its magic and flung me through space and time. When I was perfectly sure I was no longer moving, I opened my eyes and gingerly stepped off. I still felt dizzy, but overall it was an improvement. In a few moments, everyone was safely back in the encampment. We started the walk back to Akara's tent, but she met us halfway.
"Back already? Good," she said with relief as she looked us over, "and none of you are badly injured. Excellent," the wise old rogue said in relief as she walked over to Sovellis and magically healed his arm just by waving her hands over it. Next she walked over to Alminus and gingerly ran her hand over his shin, healing the bruise that had formed there and fixing his limp. He stood up straight without pain.
"Thank you," both he and Sovellis said in unison.
Akara nodded with a smile and then addressed the current quest. "Now, I'll have a look at the scroll," she said taking it from Ryelass' outstretched hand. I didn't know how long it would take the esteemed woman to read and translate the scroll. I assumed it would take a considerable amount of time, given that the runes were ancient and no longer used. I was surprised when it took only mere moments before Akara handed the scroll back to us with writing upon it.
"Ah, very good. I have translated the runes on this scroll. You must find the Cairn Stones and touch them in the order that I have written."
Ryelass handed the translated scroll over to Scorpious, whom nodded to him first and then to Akara. "Thank you my wise lady, we will depart immediately," he replied with a bow.
Akara's old face was painted with concern. "Take care all of you, beware the dangers that lie ahead," she warned.
Scorpious gave her a reassuring smile. "Fear not my Lady, we will."
Piricus whom had been silent for a while, decided to chime in again. "Well, I don't know about that, paladin. Knowing you and your oh-so-natural sense of direction you'll walk straight into an enemy sword, or I can hope anyway," he laughed sarcastically before he stepped back onto the waypoint and vanished.
Scorpious threw his head back to the heavens. "God PLEASE give me patience and understanding!" he cried almost desperately before shaking his head and stepping onto the way point. One by one all the members of the party passed through the waypoint. When only Laurella, Ryelass, and myself remained, Akara called us aside.
"May I have a word please?" she asked politely. All three of us huddled together in confusion and made our way over to her. "I just have a quick word for you, Laurella dear," she began. "Charsi needs to see you as soon as you return, and I wanted to make sure that things are well and your treatment fair?"
Laurella's eyes brightened and she nodded. "Yes my lady, my treatment is completely hospitable, I've had to bear no unpleasantries from the others," she assured. Akara nodded to her and she left.
Next she turned to me. "Lady Chyemme, your mother has sent a letter and a gift for you. I feel the gift would serve you best now," she informed, handing me what I instantly recognized as an amazon buckler shield by its rich, gold color and delicate engravings around the edges. I took the shield with thanks and held it on my arm as she finished. "I'll hold the letter for you until you return."
I nodded and excused myself. On the way to the waypoint, I heard her conversation with Ryelass.
"Good Lord Ryelass, please forgive me for taking up your time, but I feel I must stress this. I admire your courage and do not doubt your fortitude, for you seem to be doing fine after the news of this morning, but I must stress that what you are about to see, should you choose to accompany the others, would break a normal man's spirit into shards. I know this pain better than what you would think. I too have had my home taken from me and my own sisters march against me in the service of my enemy! Perhaps you do not realize that the home you once knew is gone. My Inner Eye tells me that you are struggling with this concept. I know it is difficult, but I wish for your own sake that you will please not leave here thinking that all will be the same as you left. You'll go mad if you do. Also, it is my understanding that you seek your brother, Marcus. My Inner Sight reveals that you have hope of finding him there. I do not wish to crush your hopes, but from what we know, you, a handful of townspeople, and possibly Deckard Cain are all that remains from Tristram. Your brother is not likely to be there, therefore I urge you not to wander through town, but to find Deckard Cain and leave immediately. It does not do well for one to constantly relive the past. It will not change the present. Although I cannot stop you, I beg of you to stay here. No one will think less of you and there are enough of the others to safely handle matters," she finished pleadingly.
Ryelass spoke softly and with determination. "Lady Akara, with all due respect, I appreciate your concern, but I feel that this is something I MUST do. I will regret it forever if I do not, for I was going to return home someday anyway. If things are truly as bad as you say, then please take solace in knowing that I am there in the presence of caring friends. I must know what has happened to my brother and my heart tells me that the answer lies there, maybe even with Deckard Cain. I feel that it is my duty to at least be a part of his rescue if nothing else. Besides," he said in reply as I stepped onto the waypoint, "I don't want this to be an opportunity for Piricus to ridicule me so painfully with for the rest of my days."
Next thing I knew, I was shakily stepping off the waypoint into the Stony Field, where the others were waiting.
"What kept you?" Vendra asked.
Maria glanced me over and nodded. "Nice shield. A gift?" she asked examining it at eye's distance. I nodded in reply.
"Oh how touching, another gift from mommy amazon?" Piricus stated in a mocking voice.
"Shut it," I heard Vendra growl, as well as, "I don't think your parents even know you exist." A dangerous green light sparkled in Piricus' eyes, but he didn't respond.
"Where's Ryelass?" Scorpious asked, taking a headcount. I was about to reply that I didn't know when he suddenly appeared through the waypoint.
"Finally," Piricus grumbled, "If you were any slower, my Decripify Curse would have actually made you faster."
Ryelass glared at him. "Lady Akara wanted a word," he said bluntly.
Scorpious turned his head to him. "Are you ready to continue?" he asked with an undertone of concern.
Ryelass merely nodded and Laurella began guiding us across the boulder-encrusted landscape. As we walked, I threw a side glance at Ryelass. Alminus was talking to him, but like before he didn't appear to be listening. He looked deep in thought. I hoped what Lady Akara said was sinking in, because I agreed with her. I didn't think he was ready to see his homeland again and most assuredly not the slaughter that was wrought there recently. I resolved to keep an eye on Ryelass, because as I looked at him, my Inner Sight picked up the image of a strange building. It might have been his house; I didn't know, but the building probably was not the current residence of Deckard Cain. Akara had probably been right when she believed he was likely to go wandering off. I would make double sure to watch him, just in case nobody else did.
We walked through the Stony Field for about ten minutes in the east direction, when Laurella had announced with urgency that we were very close. We didn't encounter any demons along the way, so Scorpious had released our auras. He must have been tired of holding them anyway, for his prayers were like my mana and they drained his energy. I was grateful that we didn't have to stop and fight.
"Rakanishu!" came the annoying cry from beside us.
"Guess we must have missed one coming through here last time," I growled and turned, stabbing the Carver that was rushing me.
"We missed two," Vendra said in irritation as she dispatched an arm of lightening from her fingers into a chest of another of the demons.
"Three," said Alminus as he swatted yet another one away with the edge of his axe.
"It's obvious that we missed a shaman," Piricus pointed out, rolling his eyes. "Must I do everything myself?" he continued, and walked just a slight bit ahead. He conjured more of those weird balls of light with fangs and dispatched into something over the ridge that I couldn't see. He motioned us over to him.
"Looks like we only missed three," he said sarcastically.
Down below us was a group of thirty or so carvers, three shamans and a strange little one that was bright, lime-green. There was an odd glow around him. Vendra squinted her eyes for a better look.
"Monster has lightening power," Sovellis announced matter-of-factly.
"I sense it too," Maria affirmed. "Keep an eye on him, but we need those shamans first, otherwise they'll just revive him."
"Are those the Cairn Stones?" Vendra asked, looking ahead to the strange circle of upright grey stones that the small army had been massing around.
"Sorceress, are you really that stupid? Do you really have to ask? Maybe the paladin's aura addled your brain," Piricus said in distain, "I wouldn't doubt that it had a flaw somewhere."
"My brain is just fine thank you, but your mouth won't be if you keep talking. I'll zap you until you lose all the control in your muscles and mercifully, that includes your tongue."
"I know something that can help us," Scorpious interjected thoughtfully, "I have another aura that will work nicely for this." He said something in Latin, sending a spiritual appeal to the heavens. Something must have heard him, because for the second time today a strange, tingling sensation washed over me and my body gained an unusual aura. I felt as if my skin had become insulated some how.
"Whats this one, Scorpious?" Alminus asked, whisking a large hand through the glow.
"It helps protect from elemental lightening, magic or natural. It lessens the natural conductivity of our bodies," he explained.
"Amazing!" Laurella exclaimed in awe. "You can protect people from magic just by praying?"
"Faith is a powerful thing, but I cannot stress enough that God is the one that has graced us with these gifts. He is protecting us, not me. I am merely a vessel for his power," he said modestly.
"Paladin, please," Piricus laughed. "You're just casting spells like the rest of us. God does not exist."
Scorpious sighed. "You are mistaken," he said simply.
"People don't rise from the dead paladin , unless I make them. Your God is a myth," Piricus insisted harshly.
"To you maybe, and that would make you wrong," Scorpious said simply, although not without looking directly into Piricus' eyes with righteousness.
"Oh, I don't think so paladin. Care to test it sometime?" he goaded.
"I'm not getting into a fight with you, Piricus. It would be senseless violence. I have nothing to prove to you. I settle my differences with words, not with my sword." Scorpious assured.
"If that was true, what the hell do you call the recent Zakarum crusade? It was only a minor inquisition, really," Piricus shot back. "You all think you're high and mighty, you say that you fight only with words, but that's a boldfaced lie, making you break one of your precious ten commandments in the process. Paladins are nothing more than warriors with a fancy name."
"I only fight against other people when I have no other choice. Demons and the undead," Scorpious said with an accent on the last word while he looked pointedly at Piricus, "are a different matter entirely. I'd have no remorse about dispatching your minions if you step out of line," he retorted.
Maria scowled at Piricus and pointed a katar at him threateningly. "If he even puts one toe out of line, it will be last move he makes. Scorpious may have qualms about killing other people, but I don't, especially when they've gone renegade," she growled.
"And you think I'm cold, assassin? You're no better than what you're hunting," Piricus said bluntly, though with a scowl.
I could see that this statement received a response from more than just Piricus. Vendra flinched. I knew that this hadn't helped her opinion of Maria in the slightest. It had undoubtedly just made it worse. Sovellis blinked and wore a strange expression on his usually jovial face. The closest guess I had to what it was, was discomfort. Even Cloudyous looked offended to a degree.
"Don't bite off more than you can chew, assassin," Piricus added dangerously, that eerie light flashing behind his eyes.
"Companions?" Alminus interjected awkwardly, "It's getting dark. We probably don' want ter try 'n rescue Cain in the dark."
"He's right. This distasteful discussion can wait until later," Cloudyous said giving Alminus his support.
"We need to take care of this quickly," Ryelass said, eyeing the green monster wearily.
"Carvers are cowards," Laurella remarked, reiterating what we already knew. "Start striking them down and they will scatter. Especially if you kill Rakanishu, he's their champion," she added, nodding at the green one.
Vendra rolled her eyes. "So that's Rakanishu?! The one they keep yelling about all the time? God, please let me kill him, just to shut them up!"
"They annoying," Sovellis nodded in agreement.
"Be my guest, sorceress, go get fried to a crisp, I am need of some amusement anyway. This aura," Piricus said in disgust, "isn't going to save anyone from a direct blow."
"I have an idea," Alminus said confidently. "I can attack 'im in the air."
"And how do you figure that, barbarian? You're so heavy it would be like watching a boulder try to fly." Piricus snickered.
Ryelass smirked. "Obviously you've never been to the Steppes, Piricus. The barbarians have incredible muscles and are well versed in their use. Alminus can easily jump clear over that group down there."
"I intend to," Alminus replied with a nod.
"Whatever works. With luck you'll dodge straight over whatever magic this thing's got," Cloudyous nodded at him.
"Let's go. Vendra, Sovellis, can you two split up and take the two shamans to the far right? Chyemme, can you get the one on the left?" Scorpious asked me.
I nodded. "You know, I think if I can get to the bottom of this ridge, I can peg him from there," I admitted.
Laurella looked at me with bewilderment. "Really? You can throw that far?"" 'O course she can!" Alminus said loudly and with a smile, "She's an amazon! A good, strong group of women they are! I saw one once, she came to the Steppes, gave our most accurate masters of throwin' weapons a run fer their money."
"What about all the little ones in the way?" Laurella continued.
"I'll take care of that," Cloudyous assured.
"Very well, here I go," I stated and carefully made my way down to the bottom of the ridge. "Coming?" I asked to Vendra and Sovellis.
"No, you may can hit him from down there, but we'll be just fine up here. Fireballs have better range than bows or javelins," she said with pride.
"Very well," I said, feeling slightly outdone. To me, the range of my attacks were a source of pride. So what my magical friend had just said was something of a challenge. I would have to find a way to increase my range. Maybe if I had a good bow I might could best her. I'd definitely try it sometime when there was time and under different circumstances. So for the moment, I put my pride on a shelf. According to Scorpious it was a sin anyway.
I focused my attention on my target. I tuned my Inner Sight and illuminated it. The trail of stars guided my line of action. The creature had just enough time to look confused before I loosed my javelin. It struck true, impaling the creature right between the eyes.
The rest of the small army noticed immediately and began charging our position with shouts and squeals of surprise. In the blink of an eye, two balls of fiery energy soared over my head and smashed clean into their targets, causing the demons to burst into flames. The demons shrieked and screeched in unbelievable pain before falling, charred and dead to the ground.
"RAKANISHU! RAKANISHU! RAKANISHU!" the little devils began to shout as a war cry, calling the green creature to them. The monster shouted something I didn't understand before it charged forward, sending lightening balls sparking in all directions, even through some of its comrades.
I readied myself, seeing as I was the only one at the bottom of the ridge and they were rapidly gaining on me. They had almost reached me when I heard Cloudyous make some type of call, it was a blowing sound. The wind began to race and I realized what he was doing. The air around me began to twist and turn violently as it manifested itself into a fierce gale. Like in the cemetery, the carvers were sucked in, banged around and then tossed wildly around in disheveled groups.
Rakanishu was the first to gain its feet, but Alminus had already taken to his as well. I watched in amazement as he took a powerful leap off the ground, like a tiger onto prey. He had to have jumped at least twenty or so feet into the air and he brought his full weight and leverage down onto the monster. His axe sliced cleanly through the monster and he shook the earth as he landed. The shockwave sent several of the carvers sprawling into the air. Lightening branched in all directions and up Alminus' axe, much to my dismay.
The shock went into his arm, but as it did the aura around his body shone brightly, and absorbed most of it. I could see Alminus' enormous muscles twitch underneath his skin and he winced slightly, but other than that, he simply shivered to shake it off.
Once the rest of the demons had recovered, they saw that their champion had fallen, and as predicted, they began to panic. And as a testament to their intellect, instead of massing to attack us where they might have stood a chance, they squeaked, and turned and ran like the cowards they were infamous for being in all directions. I didn't need to be told what to do. We couldn't let them live and run amok so I grabbed my new full length spear off my back and charged forward.
Ryelass hastily jumped down beside me and joined my charge to my right. Alminus had readied his axe and joined me to my left. Together, we began swathing a path of bladed objects into the turned backs of our adversaries. I thrust my spear roughly forward and impaled straight through one and into another. With some effort, I managed to hoist them up into the air. While grabbing my spear at the butt, I swung it like a huge sword straight into another group of demons, flinging the carcasses on it into yet more demons, knocking them onto the ground. Ryelass rolled them over roughly with his foot and then dispatched them.
Alminus had made another superhuman jump into the middle of a group of creatures and the impact knocked them over. He mercilessly stomped on them, breaking all the bones beneath his feet and squashing them flat.
I saw bolts of all types of magic: fire, ice, lightening, twisters, and barbed energy balls flying into collections of demons, rendering them all dead. Laurella was expertly firing off repetitive shots that found their marks without difficulty, and Scorpious and Maria were busy martially dealing with their opponents as well. For the most part, it was a swift slaughter. Within moments all of the demons lay dead.
Piricus didn't waste any time raising skeletons once we were done. Corpses exploded all around us as their bones were forcibly summoned from their bodies. Vendra hissed at him as guts flecked her shoes and an undead skeleton, with poisonous energies around its fists emerged at her toes.
"One guess what type of magic this one has," I heard Piricus mumble as green-yellow energy cascaded off his hands into Rakanishu's split corpse. Magically, the cleaved bones sealed back together, and a skeletal mage with lightening power emerged.
"Oh great, just what we need, more death," Vendra snapped at him.
Piricus laughed at her. "Death? No, dead is what they are when they don't move anymore. I'm giving them life, though you seem to be to witless to tell the difference."
"Still," Maria growled, eyeing the army he had amassed, "If you can call that twisted magic of yours life at all."
Scorpious twitched as an undead soldier elbowed him aside in an effort to come to its master. He had his hand on the hilt of his sword, but relaxed it. I could tell that he was seriously debating whether or not he should act upon this display. It was true, Piricus had summoned these creatures before, and while he clearly objected, Scorpious had acknowledged them grudgingly. But I could see why this time was different. There were a substantial amount of them this time, about fifteen or so. Ten warriors and five mages. I followed my paladin friend's thoughts to conclusion. Piricus didn't need that many warriors when he had all of us. That, and a battalion of that size meant Piricus was very powerful. He didn't stop there, he conjured up another one of his clay golems.
"Is this really necessary?" Scorpious asked aloud in discomfort.
"No," Maria said flatly, clearly objectionable as well.
"You're not scared, are you paladin?" Piricus laughed.
Scorpious' lip curled, the closest thing to an unpleasant expression I had ever seen on him. " Hardly."
"The way I look at it, we're going into a place Diablo himself was imprisoned. We already know that the warrior's pathetic little town was completely obliterated by an army of Trag 'Oul knows what. Chances are that whatever did it is still around. I'm covering my own ass paladin, and if you get in the way, kicking yours."
As if to emphasize, one of his skeletons kicked air with a snapping sound. The sound, or perhaps the motion didn't sit well with Belthem, who ran up to the skeleton snapping his jaws and barking loudly with fangs barred. The undead creature actually took a swing at the wolf, making Clouyous snarl.
"Control your creatures, Piricus, or I'll let Belthem rip them apart," he snapped with rage.
"I am controlling them, you just don't like what I'm doing. Control your mutt, druid, or I'll wear it as a coat. Mine," Piricus retorted, raising his hands, snapping all of his undead to attention, "are bigger than yours."
Nobody could argue with that, especially Cloudyous, so he reluctantly whistled, calling Belthem back to him.
"Stop wasting time," Ryelass snapped, "Deckard Cain needs us."
"Stop hindering my progress, moron, and maybe we will," Piricus spat. He snapped his fingers and walked forward, all his minions walking around him. After that confrontation, we continued up to the Cairn Stones unchallenged.
"Wow, these stones have a tremendous magical energy within them. No wonder the demons were drawn to them," Vendra stated with awe as gingerly she ran a hand over the a symbol engraved on one of the stone's surfaces.
"Yes, very powerfuly magic. Wonder how they get here," Sovellis agreed looking the circle over.
"These lands are littered with ancient magical sites. Remember the Horadrim used to be prevalent here in the west," Laurella informed.
"They used to be everywhere. They were humanity's greatest hope," Maria said with an undertone of reverence.
"And possibly our greatest failure. After the imprisonment of the three, everything fell apart. Especially the truce between the mage clans. We went from allies back to enemies and the squabbles, I imagine, only served to strengthen the Three," Cloudyous admitted out loud.
"You can't blame everything on mages," Vendra barked defensively. "Remember, it was Tal Rasha, a mage, that opted to sacrifice himself to stop Baal."
"It a story we know well," Sovellis agreed.
"Well, I agree with the warrior for once," Piricus announced plainly, making everyone give him an odd look, "the longer this irrelevant history lesson continues, the stronger the chance that this Deckard Cain will be already dead when and if we find him. I take that back, he probably is already dead, I can't imagine that some old burden would be able to fight off even one demon, let alone an army bent on destruction."
"Deckard Cain is far from a defenseless old man, Piricus, he is the last of the Horadrim," Scorpious informed simply.
There was a sudden bright blue glow as a symbol burst into light on one of the Cairn Stones. Ryelass had the scroll open and was studying it intently. He walked over to another one and placed his hand directly over the symbol. It too sprang to life with a vibrating sound. One by one, he touched all five stones.
Our immediate area suddenly darkened and the clouds began to rumble overhead. Magical lightening began to rain down all around us, striking together at the center of the Cairn Stones. The ground was shaking too, as the shockwave traveled. Within moments and with a final clap of thunder and a flash of bright light, a shimmering, orange-red portal erupted into existence. I was the closest to it, so I collected myself, took a deep breath, and stepped through.