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
Author stands on stage behind podium
Ummm, Hello. My name is Robin Shirewood and about a year ago, I started to write a fan-fiction based on the popular PC game, Diablo Two. For the next month or so after I first posted the Prologue, I continued almost constantly to update until the middle of May last year. At that point, I graduated and suddenly became preoccupied with several projects, including College and every now and then a bit of adventure gaming. I also started on two projects that I hope to publish before the end of the year. However, these projects also took away time to continue posting for Elric's Online fans.
Some of these fans, however, managed to contact and threaten...
-sound of a shotgun cocks from behind the stage's curtain.-
PERSUADED! PERSUADED me, to continue on with the story of Elric and the others. I have been touched, and on multiple occasions stabbed, by their concern for our heroes and the continuation of the tale. So for them, I continue.
This revamping and continuation is dedicated to TenshiNoAkuma, Some-Boy (my first fan and commenter), Shani, dr, Solarious (Who threatened to poke needles in my eyes) and lastly, to Elric's biggest fan, Ramaon (Who tracked me down and is now holding a shotgun to my head with all of the love in her heart)
For all of you: thanks.
Now, after a far too long absence I present:
Diablo: The Epic Behind the Game
When we last left Elric...
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"Dear Gods..."
"Well, good morning Elric." Natalie said, sitting up and setting the gold that she had been counting aside. "It certainly took you long enough to get here."
"I...I... How...???" Elric was speechless. There, in the large cavernous chamber, was Natalie, Cathim, and Tozam, each putting aside small piles of treasure and spoils that they must have gotten off of the many bodies of gargantuan and fallen ones that littered the floor. Slowly, Elric walked over to his sister, and, for the first time in a very, very long time, Elric was speechless.
"Where the hell did you guys come from?!" He demanded once he found his voice.
"That's no way to greet your sister, Elric." Tozam started.
"Yeah, demon." Cathim called over to him as he jumped to his feet and set aside a crude looking wand that he must have found on a shaman. "Didn't you learn any manners while you were 'roughing it' out in the wilds for all that time."
"Watch it, Necromancer!" Elric snarled, unsure whether to be angry with them or grateful that he had been wrong about how skilled they were. "Tozam, why didn't you do as I say and watch over them? I didn't want you guys to get involved in my mistake."
"Easy, Elric." Natalie knelt down beside him and put her hand on the back of his neck. He didn't feel any less agitated, but he did stop snarling. "It's not your fault that we came here. I knew what this place was when we first arrived."
"Yeah,"Cathim said, "And the last thing that we needed was some cocky, overly protective sibling/warrior/beast/thing taking up all of the experience and glory that we could get from this place. Not to mention the 'spoils' of the battle."
"Too bad that most of the spoils are spoiled anyways. I swear, these monsters really need to learn how to make polish for their equipment." Tozam said as he tried desperately to scrape rust off of a long sword that he was hoping to use as a replacement for the one that he had broken on the Blood Moor. "Ugh, this will never do. These rust stains are the worst"
"Most of these things have never even heard of soap, Little Bugga. What makes you think that they would have access to metal polish?" Cathim said, picking the wand back up and reading over some of the runes engraved into it.
This was just a little too much for Elric.
At first he had thought that he had met up with his sister and a couple of other novice warriors, yet here they were; Sitting among the corpse of fallen foes and chatting away as though they were untouched by the true horror of the scene at their feet.
He didn't know whether to feel sorry or proud for them.
"Well, uhhh..." He started sheepishly as Natalie turned back to sweep the coins into her pouch and pick up a new staff that she had found. "I guess that I was wrong."
"Yes, you were very wrong." Natalie told him flatly. "Don't think that I spent the past fourteen years sitting on my arse, Elric. You may be surprised to discover that I am an actual sorceress."
"Aye," Tozam looked up from his futile polishing, "If we plan on traveling together, then we need to learn to trust..."
"Ahem!" Cathim interrupted.
"Well, we at least need to get along and know that we can count on each other."
"Okay." Elric cocked his head to the side, "But, who said that you guys were coming along with me and Natalie in the first place?"
"She did." The two humans said in unison.
"I did." Natalie confirmed when Elric's eyes washed over to her. Just as Elric was about to argue with his sister about the danger of keeping the two humans anywhere within a hundred leagues of him, Natalie sat down on a boulder beside him and started to stroke her hand down his scales and pet him as she had so many years before when he had been much, MUCH, smaller. Feeling the long forgotten, and very pleasant, caress of Natalie's soft, gentle hands after so many years, Elric suddenly lost the will to argue his point and felt his irritation lift as he abandoned himself to her soft touch.
"As it turns out, we work rather well together. Although I don't much care for Cathim's way of magic, it does tend to be useful when he pulls off one of those curses. And Tozam proved long ago that he had the heart and the strength of a great warrior."
"Yeah!" Tozam nodded with a proud enthusiasm.
"Now," Cathim interrupted, "If only he had the brains of one."
"Yea... Hey!"
"And, my dear brother," Natalie continued, "How often is it that you can find two such fine people who can accept having one of your... unique... situation."
"Well," Elric started, resisting the urge to lay his head in Natalie's lap and start purring, "I guess not a lot of warriors want to have a halfling in the party. And that was one of the reasons that I thought that the two of us would be going off on our own way after this was over. But, if you guys want to tag along..."
"Safety in number." Tozam said thoughtfully, "It would be suicide to try and go questing alone in these dark times and it helps to know that there are still adventurers who pay more attention to what is the right thing to do rather than what will make his purse fatter."
"Not only that, Elric." Cathim smiled as sly smile. "But I also want to keep an eye on you and make sure that you don't try to take over the world or torture lost souls or any of that 'demon' garbage."
"Alright, Cathim." Elric retorted playfully, enjoying his head and neck rub far too much to be insulted. "And while you're at it, you can watch and make sure that I floss between all of my pointed little teeth and say all of my twisted evil prayers."
"Well." Natalie stopped petting Elric and put her hands together as she stood up. Though Elric didn't like the fact that his petting had stopped, he couldn't help but think of how commanding and intelligent Natalie looked as she stood there and faced the three of them. "Here we are then. An initiate sorceress, a barbarian warrior, a death priest, and my dear baby brother." Her face broke into a smile. "I'm sure that the rogues will have no choice but to trust us now."
"In any case," Tozam started, taking one last look at the lost cause he was trying to clean and then throwing it into a heap on the ground. "This cavern has been cleansed, so we may continue on and return to the rouges encampment to stock up on supplies."
"And, while we're at it," Elric started, getting up on all fours. "Will somebody give me a mana potion and tell me what is going on?"
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"No doubt you've heard of the tragedy that befell the town of Tristram."
"You have no idea." Elric said with a knowing smile on his now human face.
"Actually, I've heard quite a few tales about it." Tozam started up again, growing bored with watching the surrounding blood moor for dangers. "As I understand it, after the Black King went mad and the prince went missing, The Lord of Terror, Diablo, turned up in the tower outside of the town and started to prey on the village. After a buncha guys got slaughtered, a group of mortal heroes went down and beat the demon to a bloody pulp." He smiled; felling proud that he had been able to keep the tale in order.
"This has been yet another 'in depth' report by our little Bugga." Cathim rolled his eyes mockingly at the over eager warrior. "Tune in next time for 'The Mage War in a nutshell.' Presented by the master of the short, short version of stories, Tozam."
"In all actuality," Natalie giggled while the barbarian pushed the necromancer playfully (nearly tossing him off of the road). "Diablo had been in the tower for some time, and it is believed that it was the Prime Evil who drove King Leoric to madness and enslaved the mind of the Arch-Bishop Lazarus."
"Trust me." Elric frowned, speaking almost to himself. "Lazarus didn't need to be enslaved, he was eager enough for the work that Terror had in mind for him."
"And, after dozens of would-be saviors fell against the legions of the monastery, a trio of warriors managed to delve to the depths of the labyrinth and defeat the Prime Evil."
"Well, that's about right... WHAT!" Elric reeled in shock. "TRIO!"
"Yes," Cathim nodded, spinning his new wand in his fingers, "A vizjerei, a rogue of the Sightless Eye, and a warrior of Khanduras I believe."
"Is that so..." Elric shook his head, wondering why he was surprised to hear that there was no fourth warrior who faced the Monastery. "If I ever get my claws on that bloody minstrel...Yeah, I've heard this story before. Heroes came in and whipped up on Diablo, blah-blah-blah, heroes-be-praised, and the people of Tristram live happy ever after. The End."
"If only, Elric." Natalie shook her head.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Well, you see, shortly after the heroes left the town, the demons returned and ravaged Tristram to the bone. The monastery may have fallen, but the evil that dwelled within did not die as the hero's believed. To my knowledge, there were no survivors."
"What..." Elric was speechless.
Everything that he thought that he and his friends had accomplished.
Everything that he had fought for under the unhallowed grounds of Tristram.
All of it had been in vain.
He hadn't really been able to save anyone. He had only bought them a little time.
"I... I had no idea..."
"It get's worse Elric." Cathim said, still examining the bone wand that he had found in the den of evil.
"Worse? How can it get any worse?"
"The evil is spreading."
"That's right." Tozam nodded grief apparent in his body language. "After Tristram fell, it's been like a plague spreading throughout the Western Kingdoms. Then, about three months ago, a large faction of the Sisters of the Sightless Eye went mad and slaughtered their untainted sisters. The battle raged until the true rouges were driven from their homes. Now, they say that the Doors to the East and the only way though the Rogue Pass is held under the power of the Maiden of Anguish."
"The Maiden of Anguish..." Elric repeated, trying to recollect where he had read that name before. The answer did not surprise him in the least bit.
"Andariel! The Bitch Queen! Here in the mortal plains? What's she doing here? Andariel and the other lesser evils are..." Elric stopped, seeing that his three companions were giving him curious looks.
"The other lesser evils are what, Elric?" Natalie asked.
"Do you know something about all this, Halfling?" Cathim inquired seriously.
"I only know what I've been taught." Elric answered. "The four lesser evils have had the Hells locked in a civil war since the days before the Mage Wars, when the Prime Evils ravaged the world."
"Well, something's changed for the worse." Natalie nodded, "Andariel controls the passage west, and the rouges have been forced into an encampment a bit further east of here. All caravans and travelers have been forced there, or torn apart in the wilderness by the tainted sisters."
"WAIT! This makes no sense." Elric stopped and pondered for a moment, "With Diablo dead, they shouldn't have anything to hold on to, no center command, and no organization. Andariel wouldn't have any reason to come to the human world!"
"That is not so, Elric..." Tozam said softly, "It is speculated that the Lord of Terror did not fall Tristram as believed."
"WHAT!!!????" Elric's eyes slipped into glowing red as his anger and frustration at this news grew darker. "I KNOW FOR A FACT..."
"We can't know anything for certain, Elric!" Natalie interrupted, hoping to calm the tense demon. "That is why we accepted this quest to rid the land of the creatures massing in the Den of Evil. The High Priestess of the Rogues, Akara, agreed that we could get the rogues full cooperation and they would tell us what they have learned if we helped destroy the threat to their encampment. They don't have enough warriors left to do more than defend the small encampment from normal dangers. And if even a legion that small had attempted to attack en masse, they would have stood almost no chance."
"There it is." Cathim stopped, pointing further down the trail to the east.
Elric looked up, the red dropping from his eyes as anger was replaced with surprise.
"That's it?" Elric started, looking at the crudely made wall of sharpened logs and weak plaster. "That's the rogue's encampment?"
"'Afraid so." Tozam answered sadly.
Not another word was spoken between them as they approached, nor was any real noise made at all until they stood before the twigs and mortar that the rogues were calling 'a gate'.
"Gods, I've faced breezes that would put up more resistance than this sorry excuse for a door." Elric commented quietly before he was even aware that the others were standing completely still.
At about this time, Elric realized that there were about two dozen arrows trained on the small group.
"Ohhhh..."
"HOLD YOUR FOOTING AND MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN!!" A loud, demanding, feminine voice called out from the top of the makeshift fence. The demand sounded more full of bluster than of threat to the half-demon, who couldn't keep out of his mind the idea that he could quickly and efficiently bowl over this meager welcoming committee by himself. Still, he held himself in check as Natalie took a cautious and deliberate step forward.
"I am Natthilea Tasslewind of Zann Esu." She announced. "My party has returned from the mission given us by Akara. And we now, humblely, request entry."
A moment of silence passed, with Elric only barely able to make out a slight murmur from behind the gate. Apparently, Natalie's request had been enough, for only a few moments later, it opened wide and allowed the party within the wooden walls of the Rogue Encampment.
Their march into the encampment was short, as they were halted once on the other side, and the doors closed behind them.
"Hold your place and keep your hands in the open." The commanding feminine voice came again. Now, they could see the speaker as a deceptively young red-headed rogue wearing a heavy mantle of dignity that she took in stride.
"Battle-Eagle Kashya." Natalie gave a slight bow before this woman. "We thank you for allowing our entry."
'Battle-Eagle?' Elric thought. This young woman was a Battle-Eagle? The Sisters of the Sightless Eye had a rigid hierarchy in their militia, and the Battle-Eagle was considered to be the commander-in-chief of the rogues in wartime.
So, this was their military leader.
She couldn't even be out of her twenties yet.
"You should feel grateful indeed that we allowed this... party... of yours to enter our glorious little hovel." Kashya nodded a sour grimace on her face. "I find it strange though. The few groups that come back from the Blood Moor usually lose members of their group, not gain them." The Battle-Eagle threw a sideway glance to Elric.
"We come bearing news for your leader, Akara." Tozam stated, undaunted by the impressive display of bravado by Kashya. "And you would do well not to hinder us."
Kashya, likewise, was not intimidated by the barbarian's large size and wasted no time to get up in Tozam's face.
"Know this, outsider worm!" She hissed, "Akara MAY be our spiritual leader, But I command the rogues in battle."
"We do not question that," Natalie stepped in, "We merely need to report our successful mission to Akara."
"'Successful'?" Kiyasa turned her attention to Natalie. "Don't try to inflate a single, minor victory into a heroic standing for me, sorceress. I have enough on my mind without adding such dung to my attention. It will take more than slaying a few beasts in the wilderness to earn my trust."
"Then we won't take any more of your time, Battle-Eagle." Elric interjected swiftly, taking his sister's arm quickly pulling her aside before she could talk back.
"I...I Never..."
"Not the time, Natalie. Nor is it the place." Elric whispered, "Let's just do what we came to do and go. Alright?"
It took a moment before Natalie saw the truth to Elric's argument, but in the end, she nodded apologized to the battle-eagle, who then marched off with her armed archer escort, muttering about how she had an outhouse to defend.
"Hmmm, pleasant sort isn't she?" Cathim sighed, "The arrogance, the firm discipline. Why, she's simply aglow with the all the love of rabid crocodile."
"She still has a pulse though, Cathim. And I think that in itself puts her WELL out of your league." Tozam joked, clapping the necromancer heartedly on the back and easily knocking the frail priest to the ground.
This, at least, got a laugh out of Elric and lightened the overall mood of the party.
"I'm off to seek Akara and report our victory." Natalie announced, "Are any of you coming?"
"Ummm, I think I need to take Cathim to see a healer." Tozam observed, "Sorry, buddy, I didn't mean to clap you so hard."
The high levels of profanities that came from the crumpled pile of flesh that had moments before been the necromancer has been tastefully omitted from this tale.
"And after that, I need to go and find a replacement for my swords at the local shop."
"I'll stick with you, Natalie." Elric stated, "Besides, I need to see if this 'Akara' can help me find a friend."
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"Dear gods!!!" The caravan's healer proclaimed, making the holy sign of his faith. "This man looks as though his collar bone has been shattered, both shoulders have been dislocated, and every one of his ribs has been pushed outward to leave their impression in the underlying flesh of his torso!!! WHAT SORT OF MONSTER DID THIS AND DIDN"T EVEN HAVE THE HEART TO MERCIFULLY LET THIS MAN DIE?!"
"Ummmmm, so, can you fix him?" Tozam asked sheepishly.
"Of course I can fix him, it's just that I've never had heal a living corpse before."
"#$&#$&#&#&$#&&%#&#($#&&#$&#$&&#%&#$&#&$&%&#$#&$&#$&#$#&$&$##$!!!!!!!!!!"
"Uh, doc? What sort of bizarre language is that that he's shouting at me?"
"I'm not positive, but I do believe that your skinny friend here, despite the immense pain it is causing him, has just managed to gargle out every profanity in every language he knows in one sentence."
"Oh, Whew," Tozam breathed a sigh of relief, "For a moment, I thought that he was mad at me."
"I can have your friend here fixed up in about an hour or so, but he will be sore for a few days. Now, about my fee..."
"Oh, no problem. After all, what are friends for, right buddy?" Tozam smiled wide as he kneeled down and started to loosen Cathim's money pouch from his belt.
"&#&$%&#&%$&#%$%&#$%#$&#$(#$&%&#$&#$&#$"
"I know brother, you feel sorry for taking advantage of me after that nasty fall you took down the gorge, but it's the least I can do for my bestest friend in the whole of Sanctuary." Tozam turned to the doctor, "You do accept gold, right?"
"&#%$&#$&%&#$%&%!%#%%!&#&%#%" Cathim said before passing out from pain.
"Say, while you're fixing him up, can you do something that will make him forget about this?"
"It'll cost extra."
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"Ahhhh, an hour until Cathim recovers and me with Cathim's mostly empty purse and my own really fat, bulging purse of gold and small gems. Now, what am I going to do to pass time in this stronghold of traders and merchants before I go out again with little to no hope of possibly returning to discredit a con-artist?" Tozam asked himself loudly as he strolled down the west wall where the caravan's under the protection of the Sisterhood were stationed.
"GOOD-Day to you, Partner!" A slick and oiled looking merchant wearing a turban and a smile called out.
"Hmmm, who, me?"
"Yes you, come on over here. Have I got a deal for you. You see, I'm Gheed, and I can already tell that I'll be your best friend in this forsaken camp."
"Uh, sorry, that position is already filled. My best friend is in the hospice with a broken something or other and two other dislocated things."
"Uhhhh, well, anyways..." Gheed looked the large, heavily muscled barbarian over again and though it wise to not con this dangerous looking man TOO much.
"I have a revolutionary form of shopping that I will allow for you, my friend. You see, I have many magical weapons and potions that have come from all over the world and I would be more than happy to let you take some of them off my hands."
Almost half an hour and more than two hundred gold coins later, a happy Tozam walked away from Gheed's tent with two half rusted looking long swords.
'Hmmm, a sucker born every minute.' Gheed thought, counting the coins he had just acquired. 'Take a couple of rusty looking swords out from a wizard's garbage can and you can make a small fortune. That fool must have taken a week of suckers to be born.'
Gheed thought himself a genius. Two hundred gold for two worthless looking swords with the word 'Blood-Letter' on each of them. What kind of fool would trust a name to show the effectiveness of a weapon?
------------------------Meanwhile-
Natalie and Elric were approaching Akara's tent when a very particular stone tablet half-buried in the ground caught the half-demon's eye.
"A Way Stone!"
"A what?" Natalie asked.
"Way Stone." Elric explained, "During the Mage Wars, the Horadrim constructed them to teleport troops all over the world. All you need is a scroll of paper and Way Ink to draw the insignia here and you can zap back to this stone whenever you want. Or, if you find other stones, you can travel back and forth between them instantly."
"What? How come I've never heard of them?"
"Because the secret to the Way Stones has been lost since the Mage Wars. Now, only a few sages across Sanctuary know about them. I learned about them in Tri..." Elric broke off, berating himself for letting his excitement over this discovery loosen his tongue.
"Interesting... Very. I'll have to come back and write that down. Now, On to Akara's tent."
Natalie agreed, and then the two continued on to their destination before they finally approached the tent of the spiritual leader of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye. Marking the boundaries of high priestess was a low half-wall at which Elric stopped suddenly.
"Elric, what's wrong?"
Despite a sudden, ill look, Elric looked up and smiled.
"It's nothing, Natalie." He said, taking a hesitant step past the half wall and then falling back into a steady walk.
The two siblings found Akara, a tall, gentle featured woman wearing a long purple robe and hood, kneeling at a makeshift alter featuring a relic of the legendary Sightless Eye, the philosophical stone of the Sisterhood's Religion. She was praying, Elric guessed, for they could hear her soft murmuring as she counted her prayers on beads.
Natalie approached her cautiously.
"Priestess Akara? I'm sorry to disturb you, but..."
"No problem at all, young sorceress." Akara answered, her age and experience suddenly made apparent by the melody of her voice. "Indeed, it brings me great joy to hear your voice again." Akara opened her eyes for the first time and turned around to see Natalie.
"I have already heard of your success. You have my thanks and support of the rogues. But, enough of the niceties. What can I do to help..."
Akara faltered as her eyes slid over Elric and lost their luster as she looked over the green-eyed human. Her smile likewise vanished.
"You would dare to desecrate this hallowed ground?" She asked her voice suddenly dangerous.
"Uhhh, I...I'm not quite sure what you're talking about." Elric smiled, shrugging coyly.
"Oh, no?" Akara looked downward.
Elric followed her gaze down to a simple stump where he was absently resting his human hand. He also saw Akara bringing around the hand which held the prayer beads that he had noticed her holding before.
What he hadn't noticed was that the beads were made of alchemical silver.
Demon's-Bane!
Startled, Elric pulled his hand back immediately and was unable to hold back a sight, animalistic yelp.
"Okay..." Elric took several steps back, still fighting back the nausea that had been threatening to overwhelm him since the moment he had passed the boundaries of this miniature sanctuary. "Maybe I do."
"Do you realize what this thing that follows you is?" Akara brandished the prayer beads menacingly at Elric while diverting her attention to Natalie again.
"Akara, please." Natalie took hold of Akara's wrist and gently lowered the elder woman's arm down before turning back to her brother. "Elric, please. Go. Akara, I'll explain everything. Please."
"I'll listen, to you only child." She said to Natalie, turning her attention back to the half-demon. "You, on the other hand. I will be keeping a close eye on."
With that, Akara motioned Natalie into the small tent that had become her home while Elric quickly, and without remorse, moved off of the hallowed ground and promptly vomited.
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And so the story continues.
I will be striving to update every Friday, but please understand if I happen to miss a deadline by a few days.
Next week: The Amazon & the Paladin
Tozam gets to show off his muscles for the rogue's blacksmith. Cathim recovers from his 'attack' to realize that he has been robbed. And Elric gets into a high tension religious debate with a paladin...bring bandages. Don't worry, the story will also move on.
Now, would somebody please be kind enough to remove the needles that Solarious jabbed into my back. ., They hurt very very badly.
(Revamped on Tuesday May 11th to address several spelling and content related errors)
And don't forget to R&R always.
Until next week. This is Robin Shirewood, the wayward fan-fiction author, signing off.
