They awoke the next morning bruised and sore, but they had vented their jealousies and anger. It was a quiet breakfast they shared before they donned their armor, gingerly, and set out via the waypoint again to the Black Marsh. It took them a couple of days, but they finished clearing out the marsh and the underground pit they had found back near the countess' tower.
It was a strained silence that surrounded them. Thane and Martenus had little to say to one another, and Meize was afraid of sparking another round. So instead they just concentrated on their contributions to the fight, and the demons got the brunt of their frustrations.
Finally the marsh was clean and they planned to travel the next day into the Tamoe Highlands to work their way to the Monastery Gate. The rogues had assured them that there was a waypoint just within the outer cloister of the Monastery. Depending on how the day went, this was where they planned to call it a night and take the waypoint back to the encampment.
It was going to be a hard day. The closer they got to Andariel, the stronger the monsters got that they were fighting. But, in turn, they continued to grow stronger themselves. Their skills and their bodies were honed daily by the hard work of fighting, and at night, especially now when they had so little to say to one another, they worked on developing their innate magical abilities, developing new ways or improving old ways of fighting their enemies. They had to grow in order to succeed, and they had to succeed, there was no other option.
Martenus cast his aura of Thorns, Meize cast her Frozen Armor, and Thane readied himself to raise a fresh golem the instant they arrived back at the waypoint in the Black Marsh. There was the brief moment of "nothing" as they passed through the physical boundaries of space, and then they were suddenly there.
They could see a group of Carvers in the distance toward the highlands. It was always disheartening how the little buggers could proliferate so quickly and within one night be infesting areas that had already cleaned out. But it would end with the death of Andariel. Just a few more days and this dirty work would finally be done.
Meize laid out the cover fire from a distance to frighten and confuse the enemy group as the men rushed in to finish them off. It didn't take long as they were fresh and full of fight, and they set off down the path into the Tamoe Highlands.
It was a long, difficult journey, forcing the men to reaffirm their dependence on one another, and they set their grudges aside. They had to fight endless numbers of stronger and stronger creatures now that they were getting so close to the monastery and the source of all the evil. They ended up camping out in the highlands that night, unable to return to the rogue camp without losing the ground they had gained if they took a town portal back. The portals only stayed open for so long, certainly not the entire night, and the chance of demons getting through into the camp at some point during those hours was high. The rogues had learned that lesson the hard way. So without an active waypoint nearby, they were forced to stay.
With the necromancer's small army around them, Martenus stood first watch uneventfully, and Thane stood second watch, again uneventfully. Just as he woke Meize for the last watch, however, was when it happened. It all happened so quickly, he didn't have time to think. He gently shook her awake, and just as she stood up to take his place her eyes suddenly widened in surprise, and she collapsed into him. He caught her as she fell to the ground, the shaft of an arrow protruding from the back of her leather armor. Rage poured through him.
"DESTROY THEM!!" He cried out to his minions, and he sent forth a curse more powerful than any he could ever replicate again. The force of the emotions in his command sent the skeletons slashing about in a blind fury, damaging themselves as well as the dark rogue archers they had flushed out of ambush. The clay golem made his kill and then continued to just bash the dead body into the ground until there was nothing left.
Martenus was up with Thane's cry, sword and shield in hand, ready to defend their camp. And from out of the darkness they poured, dozens of assorted monsters.
Thane hated to let go of Meize, but he had to help the paladin. He summoned fresh skeletons, but these still contained the power of his anger, and formed into mages themselves. Staying as close to Meize as he could, he fought with everything he had. They decimated the oncoming onslaught quickly and decisively.
When nothing again moved in the pre-dawn light, Thane put down his weapons and gathered Meize into his arms. There was so much blood and she was so pale.
Martenus opened a town portal for him.
"I'll take her to Akara and be right back. We are taking the monastery today." He stepped through the portal and into the camp. He ran straight to Akara, his precious burden light in his arms.
He began to call Akara's name as he neared her tent, and she met him, bleary-eyed but worried as he stepped in. She ushered him over to her operating table and had him lay Meize down there, calling for her assistants who were already entering the tent. She then pushed Thane out the door and told him to go wash off, they would send word when they had news.
He looked down and saw that his hands and his armor were covered in blood. Oh God, he thought, she's not going to live. He wanted to let the numbness that threatened to wash over him take control, he didn't want to feel anymore, but he knew had a job to do. He would do it in her name.
He quickly washed and cleaned his armor, then went back to the portal at the edge of town.