To my luck, Warriv, the only one I knew who knew the way over the mountains
and into the east, had survived by hiding in a secret area of Charsi's
smithy. By the way, smithy is another word for metal forgery for those who
don't know. No offense intended. He thanked me for my skill and bravery,
and offered to take me with him on his way to the east. I didn't refuse.
Excuse for a moment if I use this journal for purposes other than recording my own abysmal life, and say this. Diablo will pay for each and every life he has taken from me. This I swear.
Anyway, to avoid digression, I will move on. For weeks we traveled, over the freezing mountains that made me tighten my armor for a little more warmth, and then into the harsh deserts. This is the fourth week now, and I have been in a slow boil in my armor. I badly need a drink, and Warriv tells me that the port city of Lut Gholein is only half a day away. My wolves whine from the heat while my ravens swoop overhead in expectant vulture pattern, soaring higher on the thermals. I seriously wish they wouldn't circle over me like that though. I can't help but think of Erika and what Diablo could have done to her. Now, I'll only be able to sleep easy when she's safe. They call him the lord of terror? Too bad he's going to shaking in fear when I tear that absurd soulstone from his forehead, and slit his throat with it. I'm going to close out now, and take off my armor before I deep fry.
I arrived in Lut Gholein only a short time ago. Warriv is still unloading his caravan, and making sales. He had changed clothes from a regular blue mountaineering outfit to a white desert heat resistant burka- like outfit. I have no idea what it's called.
This guy walked up to me. He was wearing clothes similar to what Warriv had on, only they looked more distinguished.
He said to me," Greetings, honored traveler. I am Jehryn, lord of Lut Gholein, and I bid you welcome to my fair port city. I wish I could welcome you under better circumstances though. For some time now, we have been under siege by an evil power I cannot identify. Strange, it all began when a dark wanderer cam this way, looking for the tomb of Tal Rasha. No one knows exactly where Tal Rasha, keeper of Baal is entombed, but it is certain to be far out in the desert. Now, I need to return to the palace. I apologize, but I can't invite you in. Things are. rather a mess right now" Jehryn spun on his heel, and started to walk, rather hurriedly back to the palace. What was wrong with him? Could things really be that messy at the palace? Or is it that I smelled really really bad?"
Anyway, time for a drink. I searched around for a bit, and met some people including a shifty innkeeper, named Elzix, a potion master that was nearly deaf, Lysander, a former paladin turned armorer and healer, Fana, and the anxious captain of a ship, Meshif. All nice people to be sure, but a little too weird for my tastes.
At last, I found the tavern and ordered a huge glass of root beer. All around me, people were laughing and talking. I had left my wolves outside to not arouse any suspicion. Druids weren't the most liked people in this world, so it seemed. When my drink came, I asked the tavern keeper, Atma, to fill three bowls with water and set them outside for my wolves.
As I took a huge swing of my root beer, I felt my thirst flee like a fallen I just hit with my sword. Then I noticed that Atma, for some reason, had her face in her hands and was crying. I got up, and asked her what was the matter.
She said to me," Oh, I'm sorry. I get that way when I'm oblivious to the world. I don't expect this of you, but if you want to help me, I would be grateful. In the sewers below our city, there lurks a horrid creature that hungers for human flesh. The creature has killed many. including my son and my husband. Please, be careful though. That monster has taken enough from us already"
I placed a rough hand on her shoulder and said," I know what it's like to lose loved ones. I'm searching for someone as well. I would be glad to help you, Atma. And I'll bring you back the head of this demon. after I fill up on water, though" I walked back inside, my wolves following me, and finished up my root beer.
I started out, but three huge men blocked my path. They said something like," You've got some kind of nerve coming here, nature boy" I simply glared at them and told them to move. "Your kind think that you own the place just `cause you can talk to those stupid animals of yours. Well, not in my town you don't" By now, I was thoroughly pissed, and told them to move or die. The speaker threw his fist at my face, which I easily sidestepped. Before he was able to pull his arm back, I grabbed his wrist, and, with the palm of my hand, popped his elbow out of alignment. Doing this is extremely painful to the victim, and takes some of the fight out of him. Then, his two buddies back off, and I was able to leave.
I went up the street, and opened the trapdoors. A man who was standing nearby laughed at me.
"What?" I asked him.
"Oh nothing. I just pity that you would throw your life away like that"
"What do you mean?"
"You're thinking of going after Radament, aren't you?"
"If that's the thing that killed Atma's family, then yes. I am"
"You're throwing your life away, druid. That devil has more minions than you or any spirit of nature could ever hope to handle."
"So, what do you suggest?"
"Stay up here on the surface, and let that thing stay sealed down there in the sewers."
"Not an option. I told Atma I'd help her, and I can't back out now"
"Listen here, pal. I've personally found some of that monster's victims washed up out of the sewers. They're often missing an arm of a head, and their bodies have always been skinned. Do you honestly want to end up like that?"
"I honestly don't care what could happen to me. I took down Andariel, the maiden of anguish. How much tougher can Radament be?"
As I climbed down, I heard the man distinctly utter the words," Idiot" Behind me, three of my wolves and five ravens descended behind me. This may have been a bad idea, but my honor wouldn't allow me to abandon this quest now. Radament couldn't really be tougher than Andariel, could he?
I descended deeper and deeper into the sewers, all the while getting the distinct feeling someone was watching me. On the second level down, I heard something, like the shuffling of feet, behind me. I whirled around to see about two dozen walking corpses coming at me. My wolves bared their teeth, and I unsheathed my sword. I rushed in at them in a frenzied rage, swinging my sword madly. With each strike, I took a limb off of an undead, but they didn't seem to mind. They just kept getting back up. Great, now I could kill them all day long. My wolves were engaged in their own battle. A group of skeletons were trying to flank us from the left, and they were trying to hold them at bay. I transformed into werewolf mode, and slashed at them again and again and again. They fell before me like a deck of cards, but, for some reason, they just kept getting back up. I tell you, it was really kind of creepy seeing a pair of legs walking at you with no torso.
My wolves yelped, telling me that the second undead group was about to break through. I realized that we were losing this battle. In their own language, I told my wolves to run away, and that I had a plan. We led them down a series of rooms until we came to a narrow gateway. I resumed my normal form, and lied in wait. Within a matter of moments, we saw the undead coming closer. When they were in the right spot, I opened the earth, and fried them all with vents of steam. Yeah, that was awesome. Then, I stupidly walked backwards, and ran into something dry, but slimy at the same time. I whirled around to face a sixteen-foot tall mummy. It body was in wraps, but its face was canine-like, and had no flesh to speak of remaining. It was my guess that this was Radament.
It really back, and belched out poison from its innards. I had enough sense to get out of the way, and make my own strike while it was off guard. Radament seemed to laugh at me as my sword cracked its skull. Then, it belted me across the hall. I coughed up a little blood, and struggled to my feet. I accidentally called forth a minion of nature, and a small, snake- like vine tunneled up through the ground. It looked around with blind eyes, and smelled a corpse. It went back to the area where I killed the undead, and did something disgusting. It ate the corpses. During this time, I felt my wounds start to close up. Somehow, this vine was linked to my own well- being. Being a druid was cool, but very strange indeed.
However, all the while, Radament had been lumbering forward to take a huge bite out of me. I remember screaming in pain as it took damn near my entire shoulder, and swallowed it. Because of this, the cracks in its skull seemed to disappear.
Instantly, my vine went to work, and started eating corpses to heal my shoulder. While this was going on, I reeled back with my good arm, and punched Radament square in the mouth. The punch by itself wouldn't do much, but with the fire energies I combined with it, Radament was very lucky he could still stand.
He realigned his jaw, and sank back into the shadows. I would have gone after him, but a whole horde of zombies, whom I had just killed, started to get up again. My vine had eaten some of the corpses, and, thus reduced the number of zombies and lesser mummies coming after me again. But, even so, this did not look good.
Quickly, I reached to the side of my belt, and a pulled out a poison gas potion, courtesy of Lysander, and hurled it into the pile of baddies. It shattered on contact with the ground, and released some sort of noxious green vapor, which the stupid bastards walked right through.
True, they were dead, but they needed to breath to sustain their undead flesh. The vapor began to eat away at their lungs, making them through up disgusting green fluid as they walked. Some dropped dead, and others died on the spot.
This seemed to get me on Radament's bad side. He, or rather it, lunged at me, and tried to suffocate me with poison again. This time, I wasn't exactly ready, and inhaled a nasty mouthful of greenish vapor. It burned my lungs, and made my eyes water. I coughed it out, along with a bit of my own blood. Radament grabbed me by the throat, and prepared to skin me alive with its clawed hand when one of my wolves dashed forward, and caught Radament's arm in its jaws. This gave me the opportunity I needed. I wiggled out of Radament's grasp, grabbed my sword, and slammed it right between his eyes.
Needless to say, he didn't like that. I stabbed it in deeper, despite his protests, and tore his head clean off. His body crumpled to the floor, turning to dust on the way down. The mummies and zombies he had raised also fell over, dead for a second time, and, hopefully, forever.
I surveyed the scene. My wolves were covered with the blood of their enemies and of themselves. I was also pretty badly fucked up. My armor had been pierced in several places, and showed that it had blocked several blows that would have killed me. Strange, ever since I was teleported into this realm, my near death experiences had gone up quite a bit. Coincidence? I think not. (For those of you who don't know. That was a joke)
I noticed a large chest made of solid gold in Radament's main chamber. I hobbled over to it, and opened it. Immediately, a scroll flew out, and smacked me directly between the eyes. After cussing more than Richard Nixon did in his entire career, I picked it up and read it. Unfortunately, it was quite indecipherable, and this frustrated me to no end.
Without my knowledge, my shoulder, which had been cut quite badly by Radament in the pervious battle, had been bleeding very badly. I felt myself going faint, and tried to stop the bleeding. But, it was like trying to stop a cannonball with a mosquito. I fell backward, and drifted into an unconscious state.
I've just woken up in Elzix's inn, the desert rain, strangely enough. After I had been missing for a few hours, Griez, the man who had laughed at me before I went into the sewers, had taken several of his men and dragged me out. My shoulder was wrapped up, allowing me to heal up some. I got out of bed, and went downstairs. Elzix greeted me with a smile, despite the fact that he was missing an eye and a leg, and acknowledged the fact that I almost died.
I said something like," I know, and it wasn't too pleasant. Now, do you know where Atma is? I need to talk to her"
"At her tavern. It's just down the street" I thanked him, and went on my way. I was blinded by the bright desert sun, due to the fact that I had been in such a dark environment for so long, and had to squint. My wolf helmet shielded me somewhat, but not enough to make a serious difference. Confident with the knowledge that I had made a serious victory, I strode down the street to talk to Atma, and maybe Griez afterward.
When I walked in, I was greeted by a hailstorm of cheers, whistles, and other noises. It was so loud that I was almost blown backward into the plaza behind me. One of the men who had tried to beat the crap out of me earlier, slapped me on the back, and offered to buy me a drink. Of course, I refused, as I needed to get moving again immediately after I talked to Atma. Erika was still being held against her will, and, as always, I was more than willing to rescue her.
Excuse for a moment if I use this journal for purposes other than recording my own abysmal life, and say this. Diablo will pay for each and every life he has taken from me. This I swear.
Anyway, to avoid digression, I will move on. For weeks we traveled, over the freezing mountains that made me tighten my armor for a little more warmth, and then into the harsh deserts. This is the fourth week now, and I have been in a slow boil in my armor. I badly need a drink, and Warriv tells me that the port city of Lut Gholein is only half a day away. My wolves whine from the heat while my ravens swoop overhead in expectant vulture pattern, soaring higher on the thermals. I seriously wish they wouldn't circle over me like that though. I can't help but think of Erika and what Diablo could have done to her. Now, I'll only be able to sleep easy when she's safe. They call him the lord of terror? Too bad he's going to shaking in fear when I tear that absurd soulstone from his forehead, and slit his throat with it. I'm going to close out now, and take off my armor before I deep fry.
I arrived in Lut Gholein only a short time ago. Warriv is still unloading his caravan, and making sales. He had changed clothes from a regular blue mountaineering outfit to a white desert heat resistant burka- like outfit. I have no idea what it's called.
This guy walked up to me. He was wearing clothes similar to what Warriv had on, only they looked more distinguished.
He said to me," Greetings, honored traveler. I am Jehryn, lord of Lut Gholein, and I bid you welcome to my fair port city. I wish I could welcome you under better circumstances though. For some time now, we have been under siege by an evil power I cannot identify. Strange, it all began when a dark wanderer cam this way, looking for the tomb of Tal Rasha. No one knows exactly where Tal Rasha, keeper of Baal is entombed, but it is certain to be far out in the desert. Now, I need to return to the palace. I apologize, but I can't invite you in. Things are. rather a mess right now" Jehryn spun on his heel, and started to walk, rather hurriedly back to the palace. What was wrong with him? Could things really be that messy at the palace? Or is it that I smelled really really bad?"
Anyway, time for a drink. I searched around for a bit, and met some people including a shifty innkeeper, named Elzix, a potion master that was nearly deaf, Lysander, a former paladin turned armorer and healer, Fana, and the anxious captain of a ship, Meshif. All nice people to be sure, but a little too weird for my tastes.
At last, I found the tavern and ordered a huge glass of root beer. All around me, people were laughing and talking. I had left my wolves outside to not arouse any suspicion. Druids weren't the most liked people in this world, so it seemed. When my drink came, I asked the tavern keeper, Atma, to fill three bowls with water and set them outside for my wolves.
As I took a huge swing of my root beer, I felt my thirst flee like a fallen I just hit with my sword. Then I noticed that Atma, for some reason, had her face in her hands and was crying. I got up, and asked her what was the matter.
She said to me," Oh, I'm sorry. I get that way when I'm oblivious to the world. I don't expect this of you, but if you want to help me, I would be grateful. In the sewers below our city, there lurks a horrid creature that hungers for human flesh. The creature has killed many. including my son and my husband. Please, be careful though. That monster has taken enough from us already"
I placed a rough hand on her shoulder and said," I know what it's like to lose loved ones. I'm searching for someone as well. I would be glad to help you, Atma. And I'll bring you back the head of this demon. after I fill up on water, though" I walked back inside, my wolves following me, and finished up my root beer.
I started out, but three huge men blocked my path. They said something like," You've got some kind of nerve coming here, nature boy" I simply glared at them and told them to move. "Your kind think that you own the place just `cause you can talk to those stupid animals of yours. Well, not in my town you don't" By now, I was thoroughly pissed, and told them to move or die. The speaker threw his fist at my face, which I easily sidestepped. Before he was able to pull his arm back, I grabbed his wrist, and, with the palm of my hand, popped his elbow out of alignment. Doing this is extremely painful to the victim, and takes some of the fight out of him. Then, his two buddies back off, and I was able to leave.
I went up the street, and opened the trapdoors. A man who was standing nearby laughed at me.
"What?" I asked him.
"Oh nothing. I just pity that you would throw your life away like that"
"What do you mean?"
"You're thinking of going after Radament, aren't you?"
"If that's the thing that killed Atma's family, then yes. I am"
"You're throwing your life away, druid. That devil has more minions than you or any spirit of nature could ever hope to handle."
"So, what do you suggest?"
"Stay up here on the surface, and let that thing stay sealed down there in the sewers."
"Not an option. I told Atma I'd help her, and I can't back out now"
"Listen here, pal. I've personally found some of that monster's victims washed up out of the sewers. They're often missing an arm of a head, and their bodies have always been skinned. Do you honestly want to end up like that?"
"I honestly don't care what could happen to me. I took down Andariel, the maiden of anguish. How much tougher can Radament be?"
As I climbed down, I heard the man distinctly utter the words," Idiot" Behind me, three of my wolves and five ravens descended behind me. This may have been a bad idea, but my honor wouldn't allow me to abandon this quest now. Radament couldn't really be tougher than Andariel, could he?
I descended deeper and deeper into the sewers, all the while getting the distinct feeling someone was watching me. On the second level down, I heard something, like the shuffling of feet, behind me. I whirled around to see about two dozen walking corpses coming at me. My wolves bared their teeth, and I unsheathed my sword. I rushed in at them in a frenzied rage, swinging my sword madly. With each strike, I took a limb off of an undead, but they didn't seem to mind. They just kept getting back up. Great, now I could kill them all day long. My wolves were engaged in their own battle. A group of skeletons were trying to flank us from the left, and they were trying to hold them at bay. I transformed into werewolf mode, and slashed at them again and again and again. They fell before me like a deck of cards, but, for some reason, they just kept getting back up. I tell you, it was really kind of creepy seeing a pair of legs walking at you with no torso.
My wolves yelped, telling me that the second undead group was about to break through. I realized that we were losing this battle. In their own language, I told my wolves to run away, and that I had a plan. We led them down a series of rooms until we came to a narrow gateway. I resumed my normal form, and lied in wait. Within a matter of moments, we saw the undead coming closer. When they were in the right spot, I opened the earth, and fried them all with vents of steam. Yeah, that was awesome. Then, I stupidly walked backwards, and ran into something dry, but slimy at the same time. I whirled around to face a sixteen-foot tall mummy. It body was in wraps, but its face was canine-like, and had no flesh to speak of remaining. It was my guess that this was Radament.
It really back, and belched out poison from its innards. I had enough sense to get out of the way, and make my own strike while it was off guard. Radament seemed to laugh at me as my sword cracked its skull. Then, it belted me across the hall. I coughed up a little blood, and struggled to my feet. I accidentally called forth a minion of nature, and a small, snake- like vine tunneled up through the ground. It looked around with blind eyes, and smelled a corpse. It went back to the area where I killed the undead, and did something disgusting. It ate the corpses. During this time, I felt my wounds start to close up. Somehow, this vine was linked to my own well- being. Being a druid was cool, but very strange indeed.
However, all the while, Radament had been lumbering forward to take a huge bite out of me. I remember screaming in pain as it took damn near my entire shoulder, and swallowed it. Because of this, the cracks in its skull seemed to disappear.
Instantly, my vine went to work, and started eating corpses to heal my shoulder. While this was going on, I reeled back with my good arm, and punched Radament square in the mouth. The punch by itself wouldn't do much, but with the fire energies I combined with it, Radament was very lucky he could still stand.
He realigned his jaw, and sank back into the shadows. I would have gone after him, but a whole horde of zombies, whom I had just killed, started to get up again. My vine had eaten some of the corpses, and, thus reduced the number of zombies and lesser mummies coming after me again. But, even so, this did not look good.
Quickly, I reached to the side of my belt, and a pulled out a poison gas potion, courtesy of Lysander, and hurled it into the pile of baddies. It shattered on contact with the ground, and released some sort of noxious green vapor, which the stupid bastards walked right through.
True, they were dead, but they needed to breath to sustain their undead flesh. The vapor began to eat away at their lungs, making them through up disgusting green fluid as they walked. Some dropped dead, and others died on the spot.
This seemed to get me on Radament's bad side. He, or rather it, lunged at me, and tried to suffocate me with poison again. This time, I wasn't exactly ready, and inhaled a nasty mouthful of greenish vapor. It burned my lungs, and made my eyes water. I coughed it out, along with a bit of my own blood. Radament grabbed me by the throat, and prepared to skin me alive with its clawed hand when one of my wolves dashed forward, and caught Radament's arm in its jaws. This gave me the opportunity I needed. I wiggled out of Radament's grasp, grabbed my sword, and slammed it right between his eyes.
Needless to say, he didn't like that. I stabbed it in deeper, despite his protests, and tore his head clean off. His body crumpled to the floor, turning to dust on the way down. The mummies and zombies he had raised also fell over, dead for a second time, and, hopefully, forever.
I surveyed the scene. My wolves were covered with the blood of their enemies and of themselves. I was also pretty badly fucked up. My armor had been pierced in several places, and showed that it had blocked several blows that would have killed me. Strange, ever since I was teleported into this realm, my near death experiences had gone up quite a bit. Coincidence? I think not. (For those of you who don't know. That was a joke)
I noticed a large chest made of solid gold in Radament's main chamber. I hobbled over to it, and opened it. Immediately, a scroll flew out, and smacked me directly between the eyes. After cussing more than Richard Nixon did in his entire career, I picked it up and read it. Unfortunately, it was quite indecipherable, and this frustrated me to no end.
Without my knowledge, my shoulder, which had been cut quite badly by Radament in the pervious battle, had been bleeding very badly. I felt myself going faint, and tried to stop the bleeding. But, it was like trying to stop a cannonball with a mosquito. I fell backward, and drifted into an unconscious state.
I've just woken up in Elzix's inn, the desert rain, strangely enough. After I had been missing for a few hours, Griez, the man who had laughed at me before I went into the sewers, had taken several of his men and dragged me out. My shoulder was wrapped up, allowing me to heal up some. I got out of bed, and went downstairs. Elzix greeted me with a smile, despite the fact that he was missing an eye and a leg, and acknowledged the fact that I almost died.
I said something like," I know, and it wasn't too pleasant. Now, do you know where Atma is? I need to talk to her"
"At her tavern. It's just down the street" I thanked him, and went on my way. I was blinded by the bright desert sun, due to the fact that I had been in such a dark environment for so long, and had to squint. My wolf helmet shielded me somewhat, but not enough to make a serious difference. Confident with the knowledge that I had made a serious victory, I strode down the street to talk to Atma, and maybe Griez afterward.
When I walked in, I was greeted by a hailstorm of cheers, whistles, and other noises. It was so loud that I was almost blown backward into the plaza behind me. One of the men who had tried to beat the crap out of me earlier, slapped me on the back, and offered to buy me a drink. Of course, I refused, as I needed to get moving again immediately after I talked to Atma. Erika was still being held against her will, and, as always, I was more than willing to rescue her.