Diablo II: The Epic Behind the Game
Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo II, I, or anything else that blizzard created. In fact, some of my dialogue comes directly from the game,
For accuracy purposes only.
The Characters however are of my own design, directly from my chars on Battle.net
About One Hour later
On the Blood Moor, twenty miles from the Rouge Encampment
*****************************************************************************
"...And To Top it all off, we still haven't seen anything that looks like a Den of Evil! Just a bunch of Zombies, quill rats, and even more Zombies! DAMN I HATE THIS PLACE!!!" The frustrated barbarian screamed off into the distance while his two traveling partners rested under a nearby tree.
"You'll have to try better than that, Tozam." The young necromancer said, looking up to the loud warrior. "The point of the Taunt ability is to make the monsters want to fight you, not make them feel sorry for you, Little Bugga."
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" The large Barbarian, Tozam, howled.
Cathim the Necromancer and Priest of Rathma was not impressed.
"Like I said before, Tozam, You have to have the taunting ability in your voice to make the enemy attack you without thinking. It doesn't matter what you SAY to them so long as they hear your voice. Am I not right, Natthilea?"
The beautiful young sorceress shook her head and continued to scrub the blood stain that had plagued her skirt since the last encounter with the quill rats over an hour ago.
"I don't see why anybody would call a monster to fight him, Cathim." She said finally satisfied with her skirt. "It is far more efficient and less gory to sneak past the foul beast when the chance presents itself."
"Spoken by a true Zann Esu woman." Tozam said quietly, "I don't see why we brought her along from the camp anyway Cathim. It's not like she does much except talk and throw those little fire and ice bolts into the fray while you and I do all the work."
"You're just mad because she hit you with one of those fire bolts." Cathim said before letting Tozam go back to practicing his taunting.
"You'll have to forgive Tozam, Natthilea. To his society, women are merchants and magic is a curse word. He really is a decent person once you get to know him."
"I'll take your word for it, Cathim. But, I really just want to get through this quest before he and I try to kill each other."
"Well, if you do, I promise not to try and resurrect him."
"Thanks, but don't try to resurrect me either. I would rather stay dead than be brought back as your skeleton."
The two magic users chatted for a bit longer about theories of magic and debated the use of her natural elemental magic's against his death studies and soon came to a single agreement.
"Regardless which is better, we could both easily beat Tozam with both hands tied behind our backs."
"I HEARD THAT!!!"
"Ha-ha, Well, we've rested long enough as it is. We should start searching for that Den of Evil encampment." Natthilea said, standing up and grabbing her gnarled staff.
"Hold on a bit..." Tozam said, "I think that I've got it."
"Tozam took a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs,
"COME AND FIGHT, YOU WEAKLINGS!!!!"
The sound echoed off into the overcast sky until it finally died out in the distance.
"And so, Tozam the Barbarian of Horragoth has thus learned the Taunt ability"
"Do you have to say something like that every time one of us figures out a new ability, Cathim?" Tozam asked
"Somebody has to; otherwise we would never know just when we each learn these things would we?"
They both laughed for a moment before Natthilea interrupted them.
"Umm, Tozam. That may have not been the best skill to learn right now."
"Oh and why is that Zann Esu?" Tozam asked, paying the girl no serious heed
"THAT'S WHY!!!" She pointed out to the south where she had been facing.
Cathim and Tozam turned around and looked into the direction she was pointing.
Their jaws dropped in unison.
An enormous horde of small, but deadly red imps were charging at them from the south. All equally enraged.
"I guess it worked..." Tozam said
"FALLEN ONES!" Cathim shouted as he pulled out his Necromancer wand and readied himself to summon a clay golem. He really wished that he could summon a Fire one, but unfortunately clay was as advanced as he had been able to learn in the short weeks that he had traveled here from his home in the eastern jungles.
"I don't see a shaman with them, so we don't have to worry about them being raised from the dead." Natthilea told them, taking up battle stance like she had learned in training.
"Seeing as how our Necro hasn't learned how to do that yet..."
"SHUT UP!" Cathim yelled.
The charging imps came closer. So close that the three could now take a decent count as they readied themselves for battle.
"At least one hundred, maybe another fifty if they are really short."
"Guys," Tozam said, a trace of uncertainty in his voice "If we don't survive this i just want ya to know i really love you two."
"OH hush up, that kind of talk doesn't suit a barbarian." Cathim said.
"And, I want you to know that if we survive this, I will personally kill you for learning taunt Tozam." Natthilea threatened
Tozam smiled," I hope that we live for you to keep that promise."
And then all conversation and final farewell were cut short as the Fallen one's reached them and the battle began.
Tozam, as always leaped straight into the fray and, with his two long swords, began to cut down any of the fallen in his reach. Cathim first summoned a clay golem to protect him as he began to focus on cursing the Fallen with his Amplify Damage spell. Unfortunately, his clay golem was overwhelmed and quickly brought to the ground, forcing Cathim to defend himself with his teeth spell and physical blows from his wand.
Natthilea was faring rather well at first, nailing fallen warriors left and right with her ice and fire bolts and providing much needed cover fire for her friends. That was of course before she ran out of mana potions, after that she managed to knock away the imps with her staff until she had forced her way to be back to back with Cathim the Necromancer.
"Do you have any mana potions left!?" She screamed over the mad babbling of the fallen warriors.
"I gave all of mine to Little Bugga!" He answered, smacking one of the fallen with his wand and then slaying it with a flying bone tooth.
"WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!"
"If I had given them to you, you'd have already used them all up."
"Oh..."
The two heard a loud yell as Tozam barreled through the swarm of gathered demons until he reached his magic using companions.
"Damn beast! I lost one of my swords to them!" He shouted above the din, swinging his remaining blade and felling five of the Fallen in that single sweep.
Natthilea quietly took back what she had said before about magic being so much better than raw physical power.
At least he did not need to rely completely on mana.
"Hurry!" Tozam screamed, jumping heroically in front of his friends, "I'll hold them off while you two escape!"
"Don't be a fool Little Buggy!" Cathim yelled back at him as he used the last of his mana in one last teeth spell, "You can't keep up that pace forever!"
"Besides!" Natthilea said, sending another Fallen One limping back without any teeth. "We're surrounded! We couldn't get away if we wanted to!
She swung her staff one last time and it broke over the head of the target Fallen, leaving her weaponless.
"Ahhh!" She called out as the little demons rushed at her. Luckily, Tozam stepped in front of her and repelled the beast before they could get at her.
They did not have to fight for very much longer, as the Fallen stopped blindly attacking and instead formed a large wall before the three humans and backed them into another stone wall, leaving only five feet of space between the menacing hoard of Fallen and the battle-exhausted warriors.
An uneasy silence overtook the landscape.
"Why did they stop?" Natthilea whispered
"Maybe they're surrendering." Tozam said hopefully.
From out of the sea of red, horned heads pushed forward a small blue Fallen wearing a crown of human finger bones. The little bastard had a wicked evil grin on his face.
"I get the feeling he's not going to surrender, Tozam." Cathim whispered.
"Tonite..." The blue fallen yelled in its high scratchy voice, "...Wee Eat MAN-MEAT!!"
The hoard cheered and clashed their weapons together.
"Somebody come up with a plan, quick." Tozam said, holding up his remaining sword threateningly to the Fallen Leader, who did not seem very worried at all.
"I'm thinking...I'm thinking..." Cathim said hurriedly
"Annd Wee Willl Enjoy Woman-Flesh!" The Fallen leader shouted triumphantly. The hoard cheered even louder.
"THINK FASTER!!!" Natthilea whispered her voice on the edge of panic. "WE NEED AN IDEA NOW!"
"Okay, I think I have an idea" Tozam said with a smile
"WE NEED A BETTER IDEA!!!"
Tozam took no notice of the Zann Esu and stepped forward boldly, clearing his voice.
"FALLEN WARRIORS!!!" He called out to the hoard, his voice filled with a fearful tone that could only be the power of the Howl, an ability of the people of the north barbarian tribes that was meant to drive foes away. It didn't seem to scare the confident Fallen Ones, but it did get their attention.
"WE NOW GIVE YOU THIS CHANCE TO LEAVE THIS PLACE ALIVE!" Tozam bluffed, "TO MY RIGHT IS THE GREAT SORCERESS, HABACALVA! AND AT MY LEFT IS THE GREAT PRIEST RATHMA HIMSELF! AND I AM BUL-KATHOS, THE MIGHTY BARBARIAN KING! IF YOU WISH DEATH, STAY. FLEE IF YOU WISH TO LIVE. LEAVE NOW, OR ELSE!"
The entire hoard looked about at each other as if asking if they thought the man human could be serious.
"That's your big idea!" Natthilea whispered her disbelief too low for the Fallen to hear, "To say that we're legendary warriors who have been dead for thousands of years!"
"Just look powerful and almighty, alright, Habaclava. These little demons don't know that those names are long dead." Tozam whispered through his teeth as he tried to look as fearsome and powerful as possible.
The murmuring passed through the ranks of the hoard as some showed frightened faces.
Could these humans be as powerful as they were being told?
Seeing his minions falter, the blue fallen turned to Tozam.
"Orr Else, whaat, human?"
Tozam raked his brain for retaliation.
"OR ELSE... or else..."
Nothing was coming to him.
"OR ELSE!" Cathim stepped forward, "I WILL SUMMON A MONSTEROUS DEMON OF SUCH POWER THAT NONE OF YOU WILL ESCAPE its WRATH, WHILE I AND MY FRIENDS WALK AMOUNG YOUR CORPES AND LAUGH AT YOUR STUPID RACE'S TINY BRAINS!!"
Panic nearly took the crowd of Fallen and Tozam, Cathim, and Natthilea thought for a moment that the bluff might have worked.
Then the Blue Fallen One laughed
"HAAHAAAHAAAA-HA" It cracked, "No demon in this land exist outside the power of Master Andariel, The Maiden of Anguish! You lie about your power, humans. The Great Evil's rule all demon-kind. COME MY MINIONS, TEAR THEM TO MEAT!! SHOW MORTALS TRUE POWER!"
The hoard laughed and slowly began to advance.
"Well, I suppose that plan failed." Tozam said
"Still, I would rather die than become these beast plaything, so at least I can thank you for that, Tozam." Natthilea told him.
"Well, I just hope that Habaclava, Rathma, and Bul-Kathos forgive us for using their immortal names."
The Fallen drew closer
"Goodbye, Rathma." Natthilea said, ready to fight and die. "Goodbye Bul-Kathos."
"Goodbye, Habaclava." Cathim said.
In one final attempt to turn the Fallen hoard away, Tozam stepped forward valiantly and threw his head back with a full and powerful Howl.
"AARRRROOUUUUHHHHH!!!!!"
The Fallen stopped in their tracks, but did not retreat.
"HAHAHAHAAHAAHA..." The Blue Fallen laughed, "Is thatt the best youu cann do, Human?" The other Fallen, influenced by their overlord, began to laugh and jeer at the barbarian themselves.
"Cumm on, human. Do it again."
Tozam, not willing to give up, threw his head back again.
"ROOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!" A huge, thunderous roar tore through the air, causing the Fallen to jerk around in search for the source.
It seemed to come from every side.
"Whoa, Toz... I mean, Bul-Kathos, I didn't know that you could do that." Cathim said, astounded.
"I didn't do anything." Tozam said equally amazed.
Shouts and screams came from the Fallen as they turned and twisted in panic.
Then, it started.
First, the screams grew in pain and fright as a sudden wall of fire burst up from the ground around the three humans, incinerating the closest Fallen warriors within seconds. Once the Fallen were turned to ashes, then the fire died out and it appeared, for the first time.
It leaped over the shocked band of Fallen with agility unlike any that the human companions had ever seen before and landed right in front of Tozam, Cathim, and Natthilea, facing out toward the sea of no longer very confident Fallen.
The... thing... or... demon or.... whatever it was, was quiet a bit larger than an adult wolf with shiny, jet black scales that would have made it almost impossible to see at night, but made it very visible and menacing on this dreary cloudy day. It walked on all fours, each leg ending in four wicked claws, and a long powerful looking tail with three sharp bone blades running along the side. And its head was not so much foul as just plain frightening.
The snout was sleek and elegant, and two short curved horns protruded from it's crest, but these noble features could not cover the fact that It's mouth hung open, showing a row of razor sharp teeth, and letting an almost slimy green drool run out of it's mouth and onto the ground.
Then the eyes. They were were burning red, glowing like heated steel. Showing no mercy, no pity, only a raw desire to ravage all that was before it.
And the hoard of Fallen was now before it. So after a moment of stunned silence, it attacked.
The thing hurled itself forward and tore through the first rank of demons like butter before the ones closer to the back had any clue what was going on. Those that were not right in front of its teeth were sliced to ribbons by the powerful claws or chopped in half by its tail. Then of course it also bit off heads and limbs of anything that got too close to the teeth. In mere moments, it reduced the hoards numbers to that of only a small mob and showed no sign of slowing. In fact, if Natthilea did not know any better, she would say that the demon was having fun.
"By the ancients, Cathim. I thought you were just bluffing." Tozam said with a smile as he watched the beast rip quickly through several Fallen.
"I WAS BLUFFING YOU DOLT!!!"
"RETRREATT!!!" The blue Fallen screamed as he started to run for his life, " FULLLL RETRREATT!!!"
With all honesty, there really wasn't much left to retreat as the were only about six Fallen left from the original hoard. The Black beast turned to where the Blue one and the last five fallen were running (about 20 yards away) and, pulling his head first back and then quickly forward, spit a large green wad of saliva at them which caught four of the six retreating Fallen, including blue.
The hit Fallen stopped in their tracks and screamed in pain as their two unaffected comrades continued to flee. The green gunk ate away at the Fallen like a powerful, unrelenting acid until the screams stopped and there was nothing left but a pool of green, red, and slightly blue slime.
This left Tozam, Cathim, and Natthilea standing in shock of what they had just witnessed. They were now alone with the beast and almost a hundred Fallen corpses.
The demon thing walked until it was about 10 feet in front of the three adventurers, sat down on its hind legs like a dog, and closed its eyes as it turned its head to spit little bits of green, acid-like saliva on the ground.
"Oh... Gods." Natthilea started
"Hang on, it could be friendly." Cathim said, sounding very doubtful about what he had just said. "Whatever you do, don't attack..."
"RAAAAAAA" Tozam, seeing that the demon thing was occupied with spitting out the green stuff, lunged forward with his sword.
"NO YOU FOOL!!!!" The magic users said together.
Tozam rushed quickly at the unmoving beast, hoping to get the first and last blow while the thing was distracted. He was sorely mistaken as, in the last instant before the barbarian's sword came into striking range, the demon hopped aside and whipped out it's tail (the blades now retracted) to effectively trip the barbarian up into a heap on the ground.
Tozam turned himself over and saw the thing standing over him. Uncertainty clouded his mind before the beast stepped back. It seemed that while it had been occupied with Tozam, his friend the necromancer had rushed forth and jumped on the beast back in an attempt to bash it in the head with his wand.
Unfortunately, this did little more than frustrate the creature, which reached over its back with its tail to grasp the necromancer by the neck and drop him into a heap with the barbarian.
Now, they were both at its mercy as the thing opened its mouth in what Cathim and Tozam thought was a horrid smile.
Then, it jerked forward with a grunt as a decent sized fire bolt hit it in the back of the head. Forcing it to close its jaw and look behind it and thus taking its eyes off of the two humans and turning with an infuriated growl and a red-hot gaze to the last one.
"HURRY!" The sorceress commanded, seeing the fury in the thing's eyes and realizing that it must not like fire.
Before she could ready another spell, the thing had leaped forward and knocked her off her feet, laying her out on her back with the demon pinning her body down. Quickly, it lowered its head to her throat and grasp her neck firmly in its jaws, just loose enough to where the sharp teeth did not cut her skin.
She screamed as she felt the demon's jaw tense up, getting ready to administer the killing bite that would likely take her head off.
"NATTHILEA!!!!" Cathim and Tozam screamed, knowing that they would never move fast enough to save her.
It stopped.
Though she couldn't see, Natthilea could feel the teeth slightly loosen around her skin.
Was it playing with her, hoping to make her squirm?
She jumped as she felt some of the demon's drool touch her throat, it did not burn, but it was still scary beyond any mortal belief.
Then she felt it run its long tongue over her neck.
She cried, of that she could not deny. And she would have dared anybody in the same situation not to. She was frightened, after all. She had only just finished her training. She still had so much to do. She didn't want to die yet.
Surprise and relief filled her as the jaws suddenly released her and the demons weight disappeared. Still, she heard the thing over her face.
"Sniff...sniff...sniff...sniff"
It was smelling her? Why.
The demon's presence lifted up and she opened her eyes and sat herself up to find she was face to face with it.
Her heart stopped as she saw bright green eyes looking back at her. Human eyes which showed her disbelief and concern. All of the human emotions that she had thought were void in the thing's formerly red eyes came to life.
The air stood still as it opened its mouth and much to her surprise, spoke.
"Natalie?" It asked, as though its familiar voice could not believe what it was seeing
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YAAAAHHHHHAAA Chapter one is up... I know I said I'd do it by Tuesday and I did, but I forgot that it takes 24 hours for fanfiction.net to put the thing up on the site. Any way's I hope you will Read and Review. I will post the second chapter when I get at least two signed reviews sent to me.
Come one, come all, come often, always R&R... I will be updating soon.
Signed... Robin
Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo II, I, or anything else that blizzard created. In fact, some of my dialogue comes directly from the game,
For accuracy purposes only.
The Characters however are of my own design, directly from my chars on Battle.net
About One Hour later
On the Blood Moor, twenty miles from the Rouge Encampment
*****************************************************************************
"...And To Top it all off, we still haven't seen anything that looks like a Den of Evil! Just a bunch of Zombies, quill rats, and even more Zombies! DAMN I HATE THIS PLACE!!!" The frustrated barbarian screamed off into the distance while his two traveling partners rested under a nearby tree.
"You'll have to try better than that, Tozam." The young necromancer said, looking up to the loud warrior. "The point of the Taunt ability is to make the monsters want to fight you, not make them feel sorry for you, Little Bugga."
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" The large Barbarian, Tozam, howled.
Cathim the Necromancer and Priest of Rathma was not impressed.
"Like I said before, Tozam, You have to have the taunting ability in your voice to make the enemy attack you without thinking. It doesn't matter what you SAY to them so long as they hear your voice. Am I not right, Natthilea?"
The beautiful young sorceress shook her head and continued to scrub the blood stain that had plagued her skirt since the last encounter with the quill rats over an hour ago.
"I don't see why anybody would call a monster to fight him, Cathim." She said finally satisfied with her skirt. "It is far more efficient and less gory to sneak past the foul beast when the chance presents itself."
"Spoken by a true Zann Esu woman." Tozam said quietly, "I don't see why we brought her along from the camp anyway Cathim. It's not like she does much except talk and throw those little fire and ice bolts into the fray while you and I do all the work."
"You're just mad because she hit you with one of those fire bolts." Cathim said before letting Tozam go back to practicing his taunting.
"You'll have to forgive Tozam, Natthilea. To his society, women are merchants and magic is a curse word. He really is a decent person once you get to know him."
"I'll take your word for it, Cathim. But, I really just want to get through this quest before he and I try to kill each other."
"Well, if you do, I promise not to try and resurrect him."
"Thanks, but don't try to resurrect me either. I would rather stay dead than be brought back as your skeleton."
The two magic users chatted for a bit longer about theories of magic and debated the use of her natural elemental magic's against his death studies and soon came to a single agreement.
"Regardless which is better, we could both easily beat Tozam with both hands tied behind our backs."
"I HEARD THAT!!!"
"Ha-ha, Well, we've rested long enough as it is. We should start searching for that Den of Evil encampment." Natthilea said, standing up and grabbing her gnarled staff.
"Hold on a bit..." Tozam said, "I think that I've got it."
"Tozam took a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs,
"COME AND FIGHT, YOU WEAKLINGS!!!!"
The sound echoed off into the overcast sky until it finally died out in the distance.
"And so, Tozam the Barbarian of Horragoth has thus learned the Taunt ability"
"Do you have to say something like that every time one of us figures out a new ability, Cathim?" Tozam asked
"Somebody has to; otherwise we would never know just when we each learn these things would we?"
They both laughed for a moment before Natthilea interrupted them.
"Umm, Tozam. That may have not been the best skill to learn right now."
"Oh and why is that Zann Esu?" Tozam asked, paying the girl no serious heed
"THAT'S WHY!!!" She pointed out to the south where she had been facing.
Cathim and Tozam turned around and looked into the direction she was pointing.
Their jaws dropped in unison.
An enormous horde of small, but deadly red imps were charging at them from the south. All equally enraged.
"I guess it worked..." Tozam said
"FALLEN ONES!" Cathim shouted as he pulled out his Necromancer wand and readied himself to summon a clay golem. He really wished that he could summon a Fire one, but unfortunately clay was as advanced as he had been able to learn in the short weeks that he had traveled here from his home in the eastern jungles.
"I don't see a shaman with them, so we don't have to worry about them being raised from the dead." Natthilea told them, taking up battle stance like she had learned in training.
"Seeing as how our Necro hasn't learned how to do that yet..."
"SHUT UP!" Cathim yelled.
The charging imps came closer. So close that the three could now take a decent count as they readied themselves for battle.
"At least one hundred, maybe another fifty if they are really short."
"Guys," Tozam said, a trace of uncertainty in his voice "If we don't survive this i just want ya to know i really love you two."
"OH hush up, that kind of talk doesn't suit a barbarian." Cathim said.
"And, I want you to know that if we survive this, I will personally kill you for learning taunt Tozam." Natthilea threatened
Tozam smiled," I hope that we live for you to keep that promise."
And then all conversation and final farewell were cut short as the Fallen one's reached them and the battle began.
Tozam, as always leaped straight into the fray and, with his two long swords, began to cut down any of the fallen in his reach. Cathim first summoned a clay golem to protect him as he began to focus on cursing the Fallen with his Amplify Damage spell. Unfortunately, his clay golem was overwhelmed and quickly brought to the ground, forcing Cathim to defend himself with his teeth spell and physical blows from his wand.
Natthilea was faring rather well at first, nailing fallen warriors left and right with her ice and fire bolts and providing much needed cover fire for her friends. That was of course before she ran out of mana potions, after that she managed to knock away the imps with her staff until she had forced her way to be back to back with Cathim the Necromancer.
"Do you have any mana potions left!?" She screamed over the mad babbling of the fallen warriors.
"I gave all of mine to Little Bugga!" He answered, smacking one of the fallen with his wand and then slaying it with a flying bone tooth.
"WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!"
"If I had given them to you, you'd have already used them all up."
"Oh..."
The two heard a loud yell as Tozam barreled through the swarm of gathered demons until he reached his magic using companions.
"Damn beast! I lost one of my swords to them!" He shouted above the din, swinging his remaining blade and felling five of the Fallen in that single sweep.
Natthilea quietly took back what she had said before about magic being so much better than raw physical power.
At least he did not need to rely completely on mana.
"Hurry!" Tozam screamed, jumping heroically in front of his friends, "I'll hold them off while you two escape!"
"Don't be a fool Little Buggy!" Cathim yelled back at him as he used the last of his mana in one last teeth spell, "You can't keep up that pace forever!"
"Besides!" Natthilea said, sending another Fallen One limping back without any teeth. "We're surrounded! We couldn't get away if we wanted to!
She swung her staff one last time and it broke over the head of the target Fallen, leaving her weaponless.
"Ahhh!" She called out as the little demons rushed at her. Luckily, Tozam stepped in front of her and repelled the beast before they could get at her.
They did not have to fight for very much longer, as the Fallen stopped blindly attacking and instead formed a large wall before the three humans and backed them into another stone wall, leaving only five feet of space between the menacing hoard of Fallen and the battle-exhausted warriors.
An uneasy silence overtook the landscape.
"Why did they stop?" Natthilea whispered
"Maybe they're surrendering." Tozam said hopefully.
From out of the sea of red, horned heads pushed forward a small blue Fallen wearing a crown of human finger bones. The little bastard had a wicked evil grin on his face.
"I get the feeling he's not going to surrender, Tozam." Cathim whispered.
"Tonite..." The blue fallen yelled in its high scratchy voice, "...Wee Eat MAN-MEAT!!"
The hoard cheered and clashed their weapons together.
"Somebody come up with a plan, quick." Tozam said, holding up his remaining sword threateningly to the Fallen Leader, who did not seem very worried at all.
"I'm thinking...I'm thinking..." Cathim said hurriedly
"Annd Wee Willl Enjoy Woman-Flesh!" The Fallen leader shouted triumphantly. The hoard cheered even louder.
"THINK FASTER!!!" Natthilea whispered her voice on the edge of panic. "WE NEED AN IDEA NOW!"
"Okay, I think I have an idea" Tozam said with a smile
"WE NEED A BETTER IDEA!!!"
Tozam took no notice of the Zann Esu and stepped forward boldly, clearing his voice.
"FALLEN WARRIORS!!!" He called out to the hoard, his voice filled with a fearful tone that could only be the power of the Howl, an ability of the people of the north barbarian tribes that was meant to drive foes away. It didn't seem to scare the confident Fallen Ones, but it did get their attention.
"WE NOW GIVE YOU THIS CHANCE TO LEAVE THIS PLACE ALIVE!" Tozam bluffed, "TO MY RIGHT IS THE GREAT SORCERESS, HABACALVA! AND AT MY LEFT IS THE GREAT PRIEST RATHMA HIMSELF! AND I AM BUL-KATHOS, THE MIGHTY BARBARIAN KING! IF YOU WISH DEATH, STAY. FLEE IF YOU WISH TO LIVE. LEAVE NOW, OR ELSE!"
The entire hoard looked about at each other as if asking if they thought the man human could be serious.
"That's your big idea!" Natthilea whispered her disbelief too low for the Fallen to hear, "To say that we're legendary warriors who have been dead for thousands of years!"
"Just look powerful and almighty, alright, Habaclava. These little demons don't know that those names are long dead." Tozam whispered through his teeth as he tried to look as fearsome and powerful as possible.
The murmuring passed through the ranks of the hoard as some showed frightened faces.
Could these humans be as powerful as they were being told?
Seeing his minions falter, the blue fallen turned to Tozam.
"Orr Else, whaat, human?"
Tozam raked his brain for retaliation.
"OR ELSE... or else..."
Nothing was coming to him.
"OR ELSE!" Cathim stepped forward, "I WILL SUMMON A MONSTEROUS DEMON OF SUCH POWER THAT NONE OF YOU WILL ESCAPE its WRATH, WHILE I AND MY FRIENDS WALK AMOUNG YOUR CORPES AND LAUGH AT YOUR STUPID RACE'S TINY BRAINS!!"
Panic nearly took the crowd of Fallen and Tozam, Cathim, and Natthilea thought for a moment that the bluff might have worked.
Then the Blue Fallen One laughed
"HAAHAAAHAAAA-HA" It cracked, "No demon in this land exist outside the power of Master Andariel, The Maiden of Anguish! You lie about your power, humans. The Great Evil's rule all demon-kind. COME MY MINIONS, TEAR THEM TO MEAT!! SHOW MORTALS TRUE POWER!"
The hoard laughed and slowly began to advance.
"Well, I suppose that plan failed." Tozam said
"Still, I would rather die than become these beast plaything, so at least I can thank you for that, Tozam." Natthilea told him.
"Well, I just hope that Habaclava, Rathma, and Bul-Kathos forgive us for using their immortal names."
The Fallen drew closer
"Goodbye, Rathma." Natthilea said, ready to fight and die. "Goodbye Bul-Kathos."
"Goodbye, Habaclava." Cathim said.
In one final attempt to turn the Fallen hoard away, Tozam stepped forward valiantly and threw his head back with a full and powerful Howl.
"AARRRROOUUUUHHHHH!!!!!"
The Fallen stopped in their tracks, but did not retreat.
"HAHAHAHAAHAAHA..." The Blue Fallen laughed, "Is thatt the best youu cann do, Human?" The other Fallen, influenced by their overlord, began to laugh and jeer at the barbarian themselves.
"Cumm on, human. Do it again."
Tozam, not willing to give up, threw his head back again.
"ROOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!" A huge, thunderous roar tore through the air, causing the Fallen to jerk around in search for the source.
It seemed to come from every side.
"Whoa, Toz... I mean, Bul-Kathos, I didn't know that you could do that." Cathim said, astounded.
"I didn't do anything." Tozam said equally amazed.
Shouts and screams came from the Fallen as they turned and twisted in panic.
Then, it started.
First, the screams grew in pain and fright as a sudden wall of fire burst up from the ground around the three humans, incinerating the closest Fallen warriors within seconds. Once the Fallen were turned to ashes, then the fire died out and it appeared, for the first time.
It leaped over the shocked band of Fallen with agility unlike any that the human companions had ever seen before and landed right in front of Tozam, Cathim, and Natthilea, facing out toward the sea of no longer very confident Fallen.
The... thing... or... demon or.... whatever it was, was quiet a bit larger than an adult wolf with shiny, jet black scales that would have made it almost impossible to see at night, but made it very visible and menacing on this dreary cloudy day. It walked on all fours, each leg ending in four wicked claws, and a long powerful looking tail with three sharp bone blades running along the side. And its head was not so much foul as just plain frightening.
The snout was sleek and elegant, and two short curved horns protruded from it's crest, but these noble features could not cover the fact that It's mouth hung open, showing a row of razor sharp teeth, and letting an almost slimy green drool run out of it's mouth and onto the ground.
Then the eyes. They were were burning red, glowing like heated steel. Showing no mercy, no pity, only a raw desire to ravage all that was before it.
And the hoard of Fallen was now before it. So after a moment of stunned silence, it attacked.
The thing hurled itself forward and tore through the first rank of demons like butter before the ones closer to the back had any clue what was going on. Those that were not right in front of its teeth were sliced to ribbons by the powerful claws or chopped in half by its tail. Then of course it also bit off heads and limbs of anything that got too close to the teeth. In mere moments, it reduced the hoards numbers to that of only a small mob and showed no sign of slowing. In fact, if Natthilea did not know any better, she would say that the demon was having fun.
"By the ancients, Cathim. I thought you were just bluffing." Tozam said with a smile as he watched the beast rip quickly through several Fallen.
"I WAS BLUFFING YOU DOLT!!!"
"RETRREATT!!!" The blue Fallen screamed as he started to run for his life, " FULLLL RETRREATT!!!"
With all honesty, there really wasn't much left to retreat as the were only about six Fallen left from the original hoard. The Black beast turned to where the Blue one and the last five fallen were running (about 20 yards away) and, pulling his head first back and then quickly forward, spit a large green wad of saliva at them which caught four of the six retreating Fallen, including blue.
The hit Fallen stopped in their tracks and screamed in pain as their two unaffected comrades continued to flee. The green gunk ate away at the Fallen like a powerful, unrelenting acid until the screams stopped and there was nothing left but a pool of green, red, and slightly blue slime.
This left Tozam, Cathim, and Natthilea standing in shock of what they had just witnessed. They were now alone with the beast and almost a hundred Fallen corpses.
The demon thing walked until it was about 10 feet in front of the three adventurers, sat down on its hind legs like a dog, and closed its eyes as it turned its head to spit little bits of green, acid-like saliva on the ground.
"Oh... Gods." Natthilea started
"Hang on, it could be friendly." Cathim said, sounding very doubtful about what he had just said. "Whatever you do, don't attack..."
"RAAAAAAA" Tozam, seeing that the demon thing was occupied with spitting out the green stuff, lunged forward with his sword.
"NO YOU FOOL!!!!" The magic users said together.
Tozam rushed quickly at the unmoving beast, hoping to get the first and last blow while the thing was distracted. He was sorely mistaken as, in the last instant before the barbarian's sword came into striking range, the demon hopped aside and whipped out it's tail (the blades now retracted) to effectively trip the barbarian up into a heap on the ground.
Tozam turned himself over and saw the thing standing over him. Uncertainty clouded his mind before the beast stepped back. It seemed that while it had been occupied with Tozam, his friend the necromancer had rushed forth and jumped on the beast back in an attempt to bash it in the head with his wand.
Unfortunately, this did little more than frustrate the creature, which reached over its back with its tail to grasp the necromancer by the neck and drop him into a heap with the barbarian.
Now, they were both at its mercy as the thing opened its mouth in what Cathim and Tozam thought was a horrid smile.
Then, it jerked forward with a grunt as a decent sized fire bolt hit it in the back of the head. Forcing it to close its jaw and look behind it and thus taking its eyes off of the two humans and turning with an infuriated growl and a red-hot gaze to the last one.
"HURRY!" The sorceress commanded, seeing the fury in the thing's eyes and realizing that it must not like fire.
Before she could ready another spell, the thing had leaped forward and knocked her off her feet, laying her out on her back with the demon pinning her body down. Quickly, it lowered its head to her throat and grasp her neck firmly in its jaws, just loose enough to where the sharp teeth did not cut her skin.
She screamed as she felt the demon's jaw tense up, getting ready to administer the killing bite that would likely take her head off.
"NATTHILEA!!!!" Cathim and Tozam screamed, knowing that they would never move fast enough to save her.
It stopped.
Though she couldn't see, Natthilea could feel the teeth slightly loosen around her skin.
Was it playing with her, hoping to make her squirm?
She jumped as she felt some of the demon's drool touch her throat, it did not burn, but it was still scary beyond any mortal belief.
Then she felt it run its long tongue over her neck.
She cried, of that she could not deny. And she would have dared anybody in the same situation not to. She was frightened, after all. She had only just finished her training. She still had so much to do. She didn't want to die yet.
Surprise and relief filled her as the jaws suddenly released her and the demons weight disappeared. Still, she heard the thing over her face.
"Sniff...sniff...sniff...sniff"
It was smelling her? Why.
The demon's presence lifted up and she opened her eyes and sat herself up to find she was face to face with it.
Her heart stopped as she saw bright green eyes looking back at her. Human eyes which showed her disbelief and concern. All of the human emotions that she had thought were void in the thing's formerly red eyes came to life.
The air stood still as it opened its mouth and much to her surprise, spoke.
"Natalie?" It asked, as though its familiar voice could not believe what it was seeing
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YAAAAHHHHHAAA Chapter one is up... I know I said I'd do it by Tuesday and I did, but I forgot that it takes 24 hours for fanfiction.net to put the thing up on the site. Any way's I hope you will Read and Review. I will post the second chapter when I get at least two signed reviews sent to me.
Come one, come all, come often, always R&R... I will be updating soon.
Signed... Robin
