Chapter 1
Rogue Encampment
As Glacian reached a small rogue encampment, after following wanderer for days, he decided to let Marius go alone. Glacian's feet were unprotected in the snow and rain and he had only rags on for armor. His gloves were worn out and his scepter and shield were weighing heavily upon his back. He had lost his cap on the third day after leaving the outpost.
Walking into the encampment, he was greeted by three people. Charsi, the rogue blacksmith, Kayasha, the rogue leader, and Akara, the rogue elder and potions master.
"Hello." said Glacian, sitting down by the fire, warming his hands.
"Hi there."
"Hi."
"Hello." came the replies.
"Do you possibly have a place for a wandering paladin to den for the night?" asked Glacian, eagerly, hoping to get his first wink of sleep in over 48 hours.
"Sure, ask Warriv, the merchant. He probably has a place in his tent. He travels to Lut Gohlien and back bringing warm good from the deserts in the south." replied Kayasha.
"Thank You."
As Glacian walked away towards Warriv, he saw Kayasha and Charsi talking to each other, it looked like gossip, until a guard ran up and took Kayasha away towards the wall. He decided to forget about Warriv and find out what was wrong. Soon, a bugle sounded and around 20 rogues around the camp grabbed assortments of bows and crossbows, arrows and bolts, and ran to the wall. Glacian grabbed his scepter and ran with the rogues asking one what was going on.
"Rats! Attacking!" came the hurried answer.
He ran as hard as he could and focused on fixing his scepter to a fire aura, as to burn any enemies who got too close. When he reached the ladder leading to the wall-top, he saw through the cracks what appeared to be large porcupines and walking corpses. When Glacian reached the top, the rogues had already loaded their bows and were waiting for Kayasha's orders to fire.
"FIRE!" Kayasha screamed. Nearly 50 arrows and bolts pierced various demonic minions; some fell, some got up and walked slowly towards the wall.
As Glacian watched the battle, he remembered his aura and activated it. Through the powers of his righteousness and his scepter a fiery blaze whipped out around him and passed the rogues, not toughing them, and hit the rats. The rats burned to ash while the rogues stared in amazement at Glacian. They had never seen such a powerful aura. Kayasha walked over to Glacian and shook his hand eagerly.
"Thank you, good paladin. Our arrows have been running low the last week and that would have been the last of them. We have a quest for you. It involves one of our fallen sisters, here name was Tania, but she was slain by Izual, Diablo's personal servant himself, so she became corrupted and evil. Our rogues have nicknamed her Blood Raven after the sacrifices she gave the three evil brothers. We need someone of your strength to seek her out from the burial grounds and put her soul to rest. You have certainly proven worthy of this task. If you choose to accept, you will be outfitted with two of our finest rogues and anything Akara has to offer in the ways of potions."
"I will need boots and a cap." replied Glacian.
"Anything you need that we can offer you will have." came Kayasha's answer.
"I will also need a good night's sleep."
"You will have it." offered Kayasha.
"We will meet here at say, 10:00 tomorrow morning then?"
"Yes."
"Good night then." Glacian headed off to Warriv to find a place to bed down for the night. He wanted to do anything he could to help the desperate rogues, but his supplies were quite low and his eyes were anvils pulling on his forehead. He thought of tomorrow, Blood Raven, a test of strength.
Glacian awoke the next morning to find a pair of boots next to him, his scepter and shield in perfect condition and a belt full of healing potions at his side. As he suited up he noticed a nicely folded chain mail in the corner of his tent. As he picked it up he noticed it was a very unusual mail indeed. It had chains linked together in the tightest formation he'd ever seen. When he put it on he noticed that his strength increased as well as his energy. The strangest thing about this mail, however, was that it seemed to weigh nothing.
He ducked under the flap of his tent to see the courtyard of the encampment filled with rogues eating breakfast. It smelled delicious so he had a piece of bread and some chicken meat. It tasted better than anything he had ever eaten before. This he attributed to the fact that he hadn't eaten in days. As he ate, he thought about Marius and his quest to follow the wanderer. His thoughts were soon interrupted by Kayasha's tap on his shoulder, behind her were two rogues. They were equip with the finest bows he had ever know. Hunter's bows, nearly 4 feet tall and strung with a line so taunt that even the slightest pull could send an arrow 20 feet accurately. The rogues had on leather armor and chained gloves. On their feet were heavy boots with metal tips. Their hair was tied back with leather and their eyes gleamed with a vengeance.
"Here are your partners for the day," Kayasha smiled slightly " Maeko and Elly."
"Hi." said Glacian, smiling politely.
"Hello." replied the rogues together; they had obviously undergone intense training, as they had the discipline of any paladin Glacian had ever known.
"How ranged are your weapons and how accurate are they?" asked Glacian, trying to find out how far away they should stay and what formation they should use.
Without a word Maeko fired a shot at a target set up for practicing rogues nearly 50 feet away and hit a direct bull's-eye. Elly aimed and split Maeko's arrow.
"Nice, very nice." said Glacian, very impressed.
"Thank you." said Elly. Maeko nodded in agreement.
"Shall we proceed then?" asked Glacian, gesturing to the doorway out of the camp. Elly and Maeko trotted slowly toward the door and Glacian followed.
Rogue Encampment
As Glacian reached a small rogue encampment, after following wanderer for days, he decided to let Marius go alone. Glacian's feet were unprotected in the snow and rain and he had only rags on for armor. His gloves were worn out and his scepter and shield were weighing heavily upon his back. He had lost his cap on the third day after leaving the outpost.
Walking into the encampment, he was greeted by three people. Charsi, the rogue blacksmith, Kayasha, the rogue leader, and Akara, the rogue elder and potions master.
"Hello." said Glacian, sitting down by the fire, warming his hands.
"Hi there."
"Hi."
"Hello." came the replies.
"Do you possibly have a place for a wandering paladin to den for the night?" asked Glacian, eagerly, hoping to get his first wink of sleep in over 48 hours.
"Sure, ask Warriv, the merchant. He probably has a place in his tent. He travels to Lut Gohlien and back bringing warm good from the deserts in the south." replied Kayasha.
"Thank You."
As Glacian walked away towards Warriv, he saw Kayasha and Charsi talking to each other, it looked like gossip, until a guard ran up and took Kayasha away towards the wall. He decided to forget about Warriv and find out what was wrong. Soon, a bugle sounded and around 20 rogues around the camp grabbed assortments of bows and crossbows, arrows and bolts, and ran to the wall. Glacian grabbed his scepter and ran with the rogues asking one what was going on.
"Rats! Attacking!" came the hurried answer.
He ran as hard as he could and focused on fixing his scepter to a fire aura, as to burn any enemies who got too close. When he reached the ladder leading to the wall-top, he saw through the cracks what appeared to be large porcupines and walking corpses. When Glacian reached the top, the rogues had already loaded their bows and were waiting for Kayasha's orders to fire.
"FIRE!" Kayasha screamed. Nearly 50 arrows and bolts pierced various demonic minions; some fell, some got up and walked slowly towards the wall.
As Glacian watched the battle, he remembered his aura and activated it. Through the powers of his righteousness and his scepter a fiery blaze whipped out around him and passed the rogues, not toughing them, and hit the rats. The rats burned to ash while the rogues stared in amazement at Glacian. They had never seen such a powerful aura. Kayasha walked over to Glacian and shook his hand eagerly.
"Thank you, good paladin. Our arrows have been running low the last week and that would have been the last of them. We have a quest for you. It involves one of our fallen sisters, here name was Tania, but she was slain by Izual, Diablo's personal servant himself, so she became corrupted and evil. Our rogues have nicknamed her Blood Raven after the sacrifices she gave the three evil brothers. We need someone of your strength to seek her out from the burial grounds and put her soul to rest. You have certainly proven worthy of this task. If you choose to accept, you will be outfitted with two of our finest rogues and anything Akara has to offer in the ways of potions."
"I will need boots and a cap." replied Glacian.
"Anything you need that we can offer you will have." came Kayasha's answer.
"I will also need a good night's sleep."
"You will have it." offered Kayasha.
"We will meet here at say, 10:00 tomorrow morning then?"
"Yes."
"Good night then." Glacian headed off to Warriv to find a place to bed down for the night. He wanted to do anything he could to help the desperate rogues, but his supplies were quite low and his eyes were anvils pulling on his forehead. He thought of tomorrow, Blood Raven, a test of strength.
Glacian awoke the next morning to find a pair of boots next to him, his scepter and shield in perfect condition and a belt full of healing potions at his side. As he suited up he noticed a nicely folded chain mail in the corner of his tent. As he picked it up he noticed it was a very unusual mail indeed. It had chains linked together in the tightest formation he'd ever seen. When he put it on he noticed that his strength increased as well as his energy. The strangest thing about this mail, however, was that it seemed to weigh nothing.
He ducked under the flap of his tent to see the courtyard of the encampment filled with rogues eating breakfast. It smelled delicious so he had a piece of bread and some chicken meat. It tasted better than anything he had ever eaten before. This he attributed to the fact that he hadn't eaten in days. As he ate, he thought about Marius and his quest to follow the wanderer. His thoughts were soon interrupted by Kayasha's tap on his shoulder, behind her were two rogues. They were equip with the finest bows he had ever know. Hunter's bows, nearly 4 feet tall and strung with a line so taunt that even the slightest pull could send an arrow 20 feet accurately. The rogues had on leather armor and chained gloves. On their feet were heavy boots with metal tips. Their hair was tied back with leather and their eyes gleamed with a vengeance.
"Here are your partners for the day," Kayasha smiled slightly " Maeko and Elly."
"Hi." said Glacian, smiling politely.
"Hello." replied the rogues together; they had obviously undergone intense training, as they had the discipline of any paladin Glacian had ever known.
"How ranged are your weapons and how accurate are they?" asked Glacian, trying to find out how far away they should stay and what formation they should use.
Without a word Maeko fired a shot at a target set up for practicing rogues nearly 50 feet away and hit a direct bull's-eye. Elly aimed and split Maeko's arrow.
"Nice, very nice." said Glacian, very impressed.
"Thank you." said Elly. Maeko nodded in agreement.
"Shall we proceed then?" asked Glacian, gesturing to the doorway out of the camp. Elly and Maeko trotted slowly toward the door and Glacian followed.