"Not even death can save you from me!" Grumbled a deep voice, seemingly from beneath the earth.
"Hey, that's my line!" said the necromancer, mostly to himself.
"Well, now we know who you stole it from, don't we?" asked the assassin. Amrit gave her a brief look of loathing and then turned his attention to the uncurling form of the Lord of Terror.
___
The ensuing battle was brief, and with Diablo's suspiciously Necromantic abilities, he managed to cage them all in prisons of sheer bone. All except one.
___
Amrit leaped to the side and narrowly avoided being fried by the stream of lightning fire that was issuing from Diablo's mouth. His fire golem was hit directly, but it didn't seem to mind so much. The necromancer cast a curse of Amplify Damage on Diablo, then leaped at him with a poisoned dagger. Diablo turned and whipped his tail around, sending the pale man across the dungeon into and nearly through a sturdy-looking brick wall. The necromancer slumped down, barely conscience, and started to get up with an almost futile effort.
The demon stomped up to the man, looking down at him with a mixture of loathing and interest. The others, who had been trying for several minutes to free themselves, stopped struggling long enough to watch what was about to happen.
"You may be useful, mortal. I sense a darkness within you, and you have much knowledge. Rejoin our side, and you shall have great power.
There were gasps heard all around the dungeon as the necromancer, holding his bleeding head, thought to himself, "Yes...I knew he would offer...This is what I've been waiting for," and nodded a "Yes".
His former comrades screamed, some in disbelief and anger, the assassin mostly for the later. "I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE SLAIN YOU!" she howled from her bone cage.
Diablo summoned a chalice from what appeared to be the very air itself. He then sliced his arm with his long talon, and poured his own blood into it. Placing it on the ground, Diablo straitened and traced a design in the air, the lines of which glowed as his claw shaped them. The final figure, an upside down pentagram, glowed brightly then dashed into the cup of blood, causing some of it to splash out, sizzling. "You know what to do," growled Diablo, tapping his gigantic feet impatiently, nearly knocking the goblet over from the vibration.
Amrit reached over and picked up the rusty tumbler, the contents of which had become a deeper, almost purple red after Diablo's gesture had infused de-transformation
with it. The necromancer brought the cup to his lips and poured the bubbling, steaming concoction down his throat as his former companions looked on in mute horror.
As the necromancer tossed back the last of the blood, he suddenly sputtered and threw the cup from him. He screamed in agony as the goblet flew through the air and smashed into a wall. It rolled away, slightly lopsided due to the newly acquired dent.
Amrit's hands balled into fists as he panted from the pain of his entrails mutating inside of him. He screamed again as a huge spike broke skin at the neck, curving back, then screamed again and again as numerous spikes launched themselves from his body, as his bones stretched and enlarged, as his mussels rippled and expended. Five faces stared at the necromancer in disgusted fascination as his flesh turned both leathery and scaly. One looked at him seemingly without emotion. "It seems the assassin was correct, we should have killed him when we had the chance," sighed the paladin, mostly to himself. No one else was able to hear over Amrit's screams.
At last, the former human stood up, a newly formed demonic beast. Indeed, his new appearance seemed to be almost identical to Diablo himself, only about a third the size. He lifted his face and roared, flames licking from his mouth and arching to the ceiling.
Diablo smiled at his new ally. The Lord of Terror then turned and stomped over to the remaining heroes. "Now your time has come. Prepare to have your souls trapped in Hell!" yelled Diablo, raising his beastly arms into the air and began forming a huge ball of fire enchanted chain lightning deep in his throat. His arms came down, preparing to unleash the force that would easily kill the six warriors, and missed completely.
The reason for his failed aim was that Amrit, having shaken loose the mental effects of his transformation had bound across the dungeon and landed on Diablo's chest, scratching and biting at his throat. The great demon roared, tearing the insolent beast from his body and hurling him into the complicated series of bones that formed the Skeleton Prison's. The structure rattled, then partially collapsed as Amrit collected himself once more and leaped again at his "master".
Diablo again spun away, lifting his tail to swipe the necromancer from the air. This time, however, Amrit's new found claws bit deep into Diablo's scaly flesh, latching on to it with all his might. As the great demon began to buck and try to throw off the lesser, his allies began to crawl out of their imprisonment through the opening that had been made. The Lord of Terror finally whipped his tail upwards with such force that Amrit was unable to keep his grip, and soon sailed through the air, his claws trailing bits of Diablo's tail flesh.
The necromancer stretched out his limbs, desperately seeking some form of hold as he tumbled blindly through the air. To his complete astonishment, he suddenly stopped flying though the air and was now hanging upside down in it, swinging back and forth somewhat violently. It slowly dawned on him, when trying to get a glimpse of what was holding him up, that he had wrapped his tail around a gargoyle out of instinct.
Down below, the six warriors were quickly launching a counter offensive. They took advantage of the distraction Amrit had caused, and were now attacking blindly, despite their injuries and fatigue. The Lord of Terror was almost outmatched, but he was not defeated yet. He whaled upon the heroes, trying not to feel the blistering cold of the sorceress's Frozen Orb, or the shredding pain of the barbarian's axes. Despite being beaten back by their renewed efforts, he knew it was only a matter of time, that irrelevant of the amount of action going on, it was a stale mate. The only determining factor would be which side lasted longer. That is, until...
Amrit, after finding out a bit of how to use this rather useful tale of his, had finally judged the jump correctly. He rocked back, pressed his hind claws against the wall, and pushed back out, at the same time unraveling his tale from statue. He dropped like a rock, and realized to his dismay he hadn't aimed correctly at all, and was now falling towards what he was positive was the hardest looking piece of floor in the building.
Diablo decided he needed some space to think about how he truly felt about this situation. He punched the barbarian once more, then rolled backwards, narrowly avoiding the blunt of yet another Frozen Orb and ducked under the druid's claws, his nimble body quickly putting several yards between him and the champions. He focused his energy for one more firey lightning blast, when his vision was suddenly obscured.
Six humans, nearly falling down from exhaustion, watched as the demon lord retreated and prepared once more for the finishing blow. They lacked the strength to even move out of the way, the adrenalin that had been pumping through their veins finally depleted. The paladin even stopped radiating any form of aura, torn between praying for enhanced healing ability or salvation from the elemental attack about to be unleashed. It was with a combination of shock and relief then, when they witnessed the only demon they had a personal acquaintance with fall right on top of Diablo.
It was difficult at first to tell who was more surprised, Amrit or Diablo. Amrit, however, definitely recovered first as he scrambled out of Diablo's arms and began to apparently bite at Diablo's face. With a roar, the full blast of the lightning nova blast launched its self into Amrit, sending him flying across the room and smashing part way through a brick wall, sizzling with intense heat the entire way.
Diablo roared again, in what must have been triumph. It soon dawned on the group, as they slowly retreated behind the pillars, that he was in fact howling in pain, his huge paws clasped across his forehead where he'd been bitten.
A bright light began to shine through Diablo's knuckles, and as his hands fell away, they revealed a hole in his skull from which the light was immerging. Slowly the figure of the great demon shrank and dissolved, mutating into the shape of a human, his body lifeless and cold.
They all stared in wonder at the fallen demon, radiating a gentle blue from the paladin's healing aura. Then their attention was turned to Amrit, who was carefully picking himself up from the rubble, using one hand so cradle his enormous chest. Once standing, he lifted his other hand to his toothy mouth and removed a bright red stone that seemed to almost radiate evil. He flung the crystal through the air, and it landed with a loud clink at the barbarian's feet. "Hell's Forge," gasped Amrit as he stumbled away from the wall, trailing blood. "Now!"
The barbarian quickly scooped up the crystal and started off, followed closely by the others. Under the impression that most of this quadrant of Hell had been cleared out, they were surprised by the amount of opposition they quickly found. "What the bloody hell is this?" shouted the assassin, not realizing her pun as she slashed her way past the beasts.
"Diablo's sending out a hail from the crystal," replied Amrit tersely, fending off a few demons himself. "He's ordering all his minions to stop us and retrieve the crystal."
"How do you know that?" asked the sorceress, grabbing a lucky mana potion off the ground and downing it quickly.
"Because I can hear it," Amrit growled in reply, unleashing a rather paltry energy blast at another group of rivals. It did the job never the less, sending them flying.
The huge necromancer took the lead, using his tail to swash the opposition out of the way, leading them one step at a time towards their goal. Using a large combination of wide radius attacks, spells, and traps, they made it to Hell's Forge, where the barbarian hefted up the hammer he had acquired earlier and prepared to bring it down on the Soul Stone, containing the second Prime Evil.
"Wait!" gasped a voice in the barbarians head. "I can give you great strength, great power. All it would take is a little pain on your part and together, we could form a team like never seen before!" The voice had ensnared the barbarians mind. He felt like his will power was draining out of him like sand through chain mail.
"Yes...It could be that easy..." the barbarian said to himself, his eyes glazing over. Was it he that had just said that? He felt like his mind was swimming. Diablo was using all his power to seep into the barbarians soul.
"Just pick up the stone, and push it into your..."
"Gimmie that, I'll do it!" roared Amrit, snatching the hammer away from the barbarian. This wasn't a difficult task, as his arm was now limp at his side. In one deft stroke, Amrit lifted the hammer above his head and sent it smashing into the crystal, showering both himself and the barbarian in its tiny shards. They could hear the voice of the Lord of Terror bellowing at them, as the remaining monsters and demons turned and fled. Amrit stumbled backwards, and fell down, causing the floor to shake slightly beneath him.
"What's wrong with him?" asked the druid, returning to his human form.
"Well, the form he took was given to him by Diablo, who knows what will happen now that Diablo has been permanently destroyed," replied the sorceress, going over and examining their demon comrade.
"What silliness..." thought Amrit to himself as the darkness swirled around him. He knew perfectly well what was going to happen. He had known the effect of this kind of thing for months. The natural effect of the de-transformation, coupled with the damage he had received while in this form, meant that he was going to die...
"Hey, that's my line!" said the necromancer, mostly to himself.
"Well, now we know who you stole it from, don't we?" asked the assassin. Amrit gave her a brief look of loathing and then turned his attention to the uncurling form of the Lord of Terror.
___
The ensuing battle was brief, and with Diablo's suspiciously Necromantic abilities, he managed to cage them all in prisons of sheer bone. All except one.
___
Amrit leaped to the side and narrowly avoided being fried by the stream of lightning fire that was issuing from Diablo's mouth. His fire golem was hit directly, but it didn't seem to mind so much. The necromancer cast a curse of Amplify Damage on Diablo, then leaped at him with a poisoned dagger. Diablo turned and whipped his tail around, sending the pale man across the dungeon into and nearly through a sturdy-looking brick wall. The necromancer slumped down, barely conscience, and started to get up with an almost futile effort.
The demon stomped up to the man, looking down at him with a mixture of loathing and interest. The others, who had been trying for several minutes to free themselves, stopped struggling long enough to watch what was about to happen.
"You may be useful, mortal. I sense a darkness within you, and you have much knowledge. Rejoin our side, and you shall have great power.
There were gasps heard all around the dungeon as the necromancer, holding his bleeding head, thought to himself, "Yes...I knew he would offer...This is what I've been waiting for," and nodded a "Yes".
His former comrades screamed, some in disbelief and anger, the assassin mostly for the later. "I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE SLAIN YOU!" she howled from her bone cage.
Diablo summoned a chalice from what appeared to be the very air itself. He then sliced his arm with his long talon, and poured his own blood into it. Placing it on the ground, Diablo straitened and traced a design in the air, the lines of which glowed as his claw shaped them. The final figure, an upside down pentagram, glowed brightly then dashed into the cup of blood, causing some of it to splash out, sizzling. "You know what to do," growled Diablo, tapping his gigantic feet impatiently, nearly knocking the goblet over from the vibration.
Amrit reached over and picked up the rusty tumbler, the contents of which had become a deeper, almost purple red after Diablo's gesture had infused de-transformation
with it. The necromancer brought the cup to his lips and poured the bubbling, steaming concoction down his throat as his former companions looked on in mute horror.
As the necromancer tossed back the last of the blood, he suddenly sputtered and threw the cup from him. He screamed in agony as the goblet flew through the air and smashed into a wall. It rolled away, slightly lopsided due to the newly acquired dent.
Amrit's hands balled into fists as he panted from the pain of his entrails mutating inside of him. He screamed again as a huge spike broke skin at the neck, curving back, then screamed again and again as numerous spikes launched themselves from his body, as his bones stretched and enlarged, as his mussels rippled and expended. Five faces stared at the necromancer in disgusted fascination as his flesh turned both leathery and scaly. One looked at him seemingly without emotion. "It seems the assassin was correct, we should have killed him when we had the chance," sighed the paladin, mostly to himself. No one else was able to hear over Amrit's screams.
At last, the former human stood up, a newly formed demonic beast. Indeed, his new appearance seemed to be almost identical to Diablo himself, only about a third the size. He lifted his face and roared, flames licking from his mouth and arching to the ceiling.
Diablo smiled at his new ally. The Lord of Terror then turned and stomped over to the remaining heroes. "Now your time has come. Prepare to have your souls trapped in Hell!" yelled Diablo, raising his beastly arms into the air and began forming a huge ball of fire enchanted chain lightning deep in his throat. His arms came down, preparing to unleash the force that would easily kill the six warriors, and missed completely.
The reason for his failed aim was that Amrit, having shaken loose the mental effects of his transformation had bound across the dungeon and landed on Diablo's chest, scratching and biting at his throat. The great demon roared, tearing the insolent beast from his body and hurling him into the complicated series of bones that formed the Skeleton Prison's. The structure rattled, then partially collapsed as Amrit collected himself once more and leaped again at his "master".
Diablo again spun away, lifting his tail to swipe the necromancer from the air. This time, however, Amrit's new found claws bit deep into Diablo's scaly flesh, latching on to it with all his might. As the great demon began to buck and try to throw off the lesser, his allies began to crawl out of their imprisonment through the opening that had been made. The Lord of Terror finally whipped his tail upwards with such force that Amrit was unable to keep his grip, and soon sailed through the air, his claws trailing bits of Diablo's tail flesh.
The necromancer stretched out his limbs, desperately seeking some form of hold as he tumbled blindly through the air. To his complete astonishment, he suddenly stopped flying though the air and was now hanging upside down in it, swinging back and forth somewhat violently. It slowly dawned on him, when trying to get a glimpse of what was holding him up, that he had wrapped his tail around a gargoyle out of instinct.
Down below, the six warriors were quickly launching a counter offensive. They took advantage of the distraction Amrit had caused, and were now attacking blindly, despite their injuries and fatigue. The Lord of Terror was almost outmatched, but he was not defeated yet. He whaled upon the heroes, trying not to feel the blistering cold of the sorceress's Frozen Orb, or the shredding pain of the barbarian's axes. Despite being beaten back by their renewed efforts, he knew it was only a matter of time, that irrelevant of the amount of action going on, it was a stale mate. The only determining factor would be which side lasted longer. That is, until...
Amrit, after finding out a bit of how to use this rather useful tale of his, had finally judged the jump correctly. He rocked back, pressed his hind claws against the wall, and pushed back out, at the same time unraveling his tale from statue. He dropped like a rock, and realized to his dismay he hadn't aimed correctly at all, and was now falling towards what he was positive was the hardest looking piece of floor in the building.
Diablo decided he needed some space to think about how he truly felt about this situation. He punched the barbarian once more, then rolled backwards, narrowly avoiding the blunt of yet another Frozen Orb and ducked under the druid's claws, his nimble body quickly putting several yards between him and the champions. He focused his energy for one more firey lightning blast, when his vision was suddenly obscured.
Six humans, nearly falling down from exhaustion, watched as the demon lord retreated and prepared once more for the finishing blow. They lacked the strength to even move out of the way, the adrenalin that had been pumping through their veins finally depleted. The paladin even stopped radiating any form of aura, torn between praying for enhanced healing ability or salvation from the elemental attack about to be unleashed. It was with a combination of shock and relief then, when they witnessed the only demon they had a personal acquaintance with fall right on top of Diablo.
It was difficult at first to tell who was more surprised, Amrit or Diablo. Amrit, however, definitely recovered first as he scrambled out of Diablo's arms and began to apparently bite at Diablo's face. With a roar, the full blast of the lightning nova blast launched its self into Amrit, sending him flying across the room and smashing part way through a brick wall, sizzling with intense heat the entire way.
Diablo roared again, in what must have been triumph. It soon dawned on the group, as they slowly retreated behind the pillars, that he was in fact howling in pain, his huge paws clasped across his forehead where he'd been bitten.
A bright light began to shine through Diablo's knuckles, and as his hands fell away, they revealed a hole in his skull from which the light was immerging. Slowly the figure of the great demon shrank and dissolved, mutating into the shape of a human, his body lifeless and cold.
They all stared in wonder at the fallen demon, radiating a gentle blue from the paladin's healing aura. Then their attention was turned to Amrit, who was carefully picking himself up from the rubble, using one hand so cradle his enormous chest. Once standing, he lifted his other hand to his toothy mouth and removed a bright red stone that seemed to almost radiate evil. He flung the crystal through the air, and it landed with a loud clink at the barbarian's feet. "Hell's Forge," gasped Amrit as he stumbled away from the wall, trailing blood. "Now!"
The barbarian quickly scooped up the crystal and started off, followed closely by the others. Under the impression that most of this quadrant of Hell had been cleared out, they were surprised by the amount of opposition they quickly found. "What the bloody hell is this?" shouted the assassin, not realizing her pun as she slashed her way past the beasts.
"Diablo's sending out a hail from the crystal," replied Amrit tersely, fending off a few demons himself. "He's ordering all his minions to stop us and retrieve the crystal."
"How do you know that?" asked the sorceress, grabbing a lucky mana potion off the ground and downing it quickly.
"Because I can hear it," Amrit growled in reply, unleashing a rather paltry energy blast at another group of rivals. It did the job never the less, sending them flying.
The huge necromancer took the lead, using his tail to swash the opposition out of the way, leading them one step at a time towards their goal. Using a large combination of wide radius attacks, spells, and traps, they made it to Hell's Forge, where the barbarian hefted up the hammer he had acquired earlier and prepared to bring it down on the Soul Stone, containing the second Prime Evil.
"Wait!" gasped a voice in the barbarians head. "I can give you great strength, great power. All it would take is a little pain on your part and together, we could form a team like never seen before!" The voice had ensnared the barbarians mind. He felt like his will power was draining out of him like sand through chain mail.
"Yes...It could be that easy..." the barbarian said to himself, his eyes glazing over. Was it he that had just said that? He felt like his mind was swimming. Diablo was using all his power to seep into the barbarians soul.
"Just pick up the stone, and push it into your..."
"Gimmie that, I'll do it!" roared Amrit, snatching the hammer away from the barbarian. This wasn't a difficult task, as his arm was now limp at his side. In one deft stroke, Amrit lifted the hammer above his head and sent it smashing into the crystal, showering both himself and the barbarian in its tiny shards. They could hear the voice of the Lord of Terror bellowing at them, as the remaining monsters and demons turned and fled. Amrit stumbled backwards, and fell down, causing the floor to shake slightly beneath him.
"What's wrong with him?" asked the druid, returning to his human form.
"Well, the form he took was given to him by Diablo, who knows what will happen now that Diablo has been permanently destroyed," replied the sorceress, going over and examining their demon comrade.
"What silliness..." thought Amrit to himself as the darkness swirled around him. He knew perfectly well what was going to happen. He had known the effect of this kind of thing for months. The natural effect of the de-transformation, coupled with the damage he had received while in this form, meant that he was going to die...