Chapter 3: In Search of Deckard Cain

As I reached the gate, Ulysses came up from behind and walked with me, keeping pace.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"As ready as I will ever be," I replied.

When we had exited the encampment, the Rogues slammed the gate shut, the same as the last time I had passed through them. We started down the path, following the worn trail until we came upon the man-made channel I had come across earlier.

Together, we drew our weapons, readying them in front of us. We exchanged glances, and walked into the chokepoint. When we emerged on the other side, we looked over towards each other, and broke into laughter; we had been on-edge over nothing. When we had caught our breath, Ulysses strode over to the waypoint. Examining it, he recorded a picture of it in his mind, thus enabling both of us to use the waypoints. He stood up and motioned that we should leave. I was strangely distraught at this gesture; it had seemed that he was joining me, not the reverse. However, I did follow him.

Eventually we came upon the crossroads. We knew that right led to the Rogue's graveyard, so we took the other fork, going left.

As we continued walking we began to relax, unwise as the wilderness becomes more dangerous by night.

"What was that?" Ulysses asked.

"What? Did you hear something?"

Twang! Twang! The sound of a bow filled the air. We looked in the direction of the sound, and then took off running. We came upon a Rogue, firing into a fray of Fallen while dodging their attacks.

Ulysses shouted to the Rogue and me to attack the shamans, as they resurrect the smaller ones.

The Rogue turned her fire to the taller among the enemy, while Ulysses and I flung ourselves into the mass of Fallen, stabbing and hacking our way towards the shamans, decimating the easily slain Fallen.

With a shout, I dodged one of the shaman's fire attacks, and plunged my sword into its chest. I pulled it out and turned to look for the next shaman, when I heard a strange sound. I looked around, trying to locate the noise. A cry escaped my lips as I was hit sharply in the back with a wooden club. I backed off, and looked behind me. Standing there was the shaman that I had just slain! I ran from it, not wanting to be hit with one of its fireballs.

"What could be keeping these things alive?" I shouted to the other two fighting with me.

"It's the green one, over there!" the rogue shouted back. I looked over and saw the head shaman. Before I could react, an arrow was growing out of its neck. The creature fell, and did not get up again. I turned to the other shamans, and began swinging my sword at them. I was pleased to see them die, and stay dead. Once the shamans were taken care of, the remaining fallen were easily exterminated.

When the last of the demons had been slain, I looked around for the Rogue, but didn't see her. I shrugged and turned in the direction of the path to continue our search for the ancient tree.

"Captain, something is amiss in the Catacombs!" "Don't tell Akara yet, I'll take a look myself". I headed down the stairs…why? The hole in the floor. How could I have known? I go down, I see the Maiden of Anguish. Why did I continue, did I not know there would be horror? If only I knew what abomination I would see. I turned and ran. Blood Raven. Genina. All of them. Mindless, blank stares. I tried to stop them, I tried. Must tell Akara. Must tell…

Kaysha awoke, simultaneously drawing her dagger and raising her shield, readying them to face whatever attacker there was in her tent.

"Captain, Akara calls for your presence immediately." Flavie stammered, fully frightened by the knife at her throat.

Kaysha nodded, and motioned for Flavie to leave. Once she was gone, Kaysha put on her armor, and left to see what Akara needed to speak so urgently about.

"Griswold, can you not hear me? We must escape this accursed town. I will explain all as we escape!" exclaimed Deckard Cain, in a futile attempt to save the last survivor of the horrors Diablo brought in his wake.

Deckard turned, to look at Griswold, and immediately wished that he had not. Seeing his last friend's countenance sent Cain into despair; one that is felt only by those who have no further reason, no will, to continue life.

Diablo had stretched and torn the face of Tristram's blacksmith. The skin bubbled, as if being boiled, and what remained of the body had been deformed by metal hooks and chains, effectively destroying what remained of Griswold's humanity. His clothes were but rags, hanging precariously off his bloated form.

Deckard Cain gave no resistance as rough demonic hands grasped him, and unmercifully shoved him into a cage. Deckard cried openly at the sight of his destroyed town as the cage was hoisted up into the air. "I should have told them. I should have told them…"

"You think these are the Cairn Stones Akara mentioned?" Ulysses asked. We had come across a small group of fallen without a shaman on our way to the Tree of Yggdrasil. We pursued them until they lay slain on the ground. On our return to the path, we had come across six stone pillars in the surroundings.

"They look like it don't they," I mused, "Still; they are useless until we know what sequence in which to activate the stones."

He nodded, and we continue along the path. Presently, we came upon a cave, dug into the cliff wall. We met eyes, and then simultaneously entered the cave. As we entered, it was evident that the cave was man-made; the entrance was met with a staircase that led down into the main chamber. Wearily, we made our way through the cave.

"Did you hear that?" Ulysses asked.

"I did," I said. The noise sounded like creaking wood. We fell silent, doing the best we could to muffle our footsteps as we moved toward the sound. We saw a fallen shaman standing in a fire, committing some demonic rite. Standing around him were hundreds of fallen warriors. The creaking was caused by a few wooden giblets, each containing a decaying corpse.

Unconsciously we took a step away from the horrific scent. Our retreat was foiled when I noted a crunching sound from under my foot. I looked down to see the remains of a human skull; I had stepped on it in our backwards retreat. I looked back at the fallen horde, and saw all of the warriors begin to run towards us, each eager to replace one of the hanging bodies with a fresh victim. We turned and ran, knowing that we did not have a chance of defeating the innumerable foes. As we ran, I could hear their war cry, "Rakanishu!" With each utterance, the mass became more frenzied, and began to run faster.

We ran, but while we were dodging the occasional thrust of a crude knife or flying fireball, we realized that there was no chance of escape. Unexpectedly I heard a feral growling ahead of me, and moved to avoid being tackled by the five wolves running towards us. As they crashed into the fallen, I shouted to Ulysses, "I hope they're yours!"

"No worries!" he shouted back, grinning as he spoke. Occasionally, I would see him perform some foreign movements as we ran. When he completed each sequence, I would see another wolf charging into the fray.

Sooner than expected, we emerged from the exit of the cave tunnel. We turned, and the Druid sent a molten boulder into the cave. As it hit the front of the fallen mass, it exploded. He dove for cover, and as I realized what the explosion would do, I followed suit. As I hit the ground, the cave began to collapse from the cracks formed by the exploding boulder. When the dust settled, I could still see what little daylight there was left through the cracks in the rubble.

I unburied my body, straining to do so, and stood up, looking around for Ulysses. I heard a grunt, and looked as a relatively large rock tumbled to the ground. Where the rock was, now stood Ulysses. He clambered out of the rock pile, and I was surprised to see five wolves follow him out. I figured they must have run out of the cave before the boulder exploded. He whistled, and the canines ran off into the surrounding forest.

After climbing out of the rubble myself, I said, "Nothing like running through a cave, away from hundreds of evil pygmies, trying to find a way out before they carve you up and roast you for dinner to get the blood pumping. Shall we?" I finished, motioning to leave.

"Lead on," he said in reply, motioning that I should go ahead myself. I nodded, and sauntered down the path leading away from the cave, and into the foreboding darkness of the forest.

A chilling voice emanated from the depths of the Catacombs. "Gather my slaves. Ready them to attack their brethren."

After the order, he monotony of life in the Rogue Citadel changed; the Smith used his Malus instead of his customary hammer, and Fallen everywhere scurried about on their errands.

"Captain! Scouts have reported a massing of our fallen bretheren in the Citadel! Almost all of the demons in the wilderness are gone!" Genevia shouted as she burst into Kasha's tent.

"What!" she exclaimed, jumping from her desk, "Are you sure?"

"Yes captain. Should I order the fortification of the walls?"

"Yes. You do that," she said. When Genevia had left, Kaysha scurried out of her tent muttering, "I must warn Akara."

"Its getting late and we haven't found a waypoint. We should probably retire for the night," I said, stopping, "Unless you care to trek back to that cave?" I added, knowing full well that we weren't going back.

Errata: I realize that the tree is Inifuss; I changed it for my own purposes.

Author's note: I do apologize for taking longer than expected in updating this story; I had a fifteen-piece compilation project for English, and now I must memorize my lines for Romeo, that being produced by my English class. (Curse that teacher.) Do not expect another update until mid to late April.

In response to a review, I had not been intending to create "matchups" though I will certainly try in later chapters. No guarantee, if/when they are made.