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

(Breaths in deep the sea air) Ahhh, Another day, another fic. I am a little disturbed that I'm breathing salty sea air when the closest ocean is about three hundred miles south and east of here, but what you gonna do.

For those of you having trouble keeping up with the increasing numbers of characters, I have this quick, cheat chart. (Tacks list on wall)

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Characters:

Elric Tasslewind-Half-Demon Cathim-Necromancer Raid-Amazon Natalie Tasslewind-Sorceress Tozam-Barbarian Preen-Paladin

Kashya- Rogue (meanie) Akara-Rogue (not-so-mean) Gheed-Idiot Charsi-Rogue Smith Den of Evil- Dead Blue Fallen King- Dead 6 Bandits-Dead

Current Party Body Count: 226 (220 monsters, 6 humans, 0 Evils)

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Ahhh, now that we are all up to date, It is time to get this party started!

Rogue Encampment: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you trying to tell to me that the art of necromancy, the raising of the damndable walking dead, a power held dear by the foundations of the seven hells and countless demon armies, is not evil?" Preen cocked an eye at the smug necromancer sitting across the table from him at the Food Hall.

"Oh, for the love of...Here we go again." Raid brought a mug of ale to her lips and drank deep, hoping that the fresh brew would help her keep from killing her obnoxious paladin companion.

"Would you two shut up! I mean, you haven't talked about anything but religion and philosophy since you met..." Natalie tried to reason, mostly with Cathim, but was cut off as the Priest of Rathma, fresh back from the healer's tent, figured out his reply.

"YOU SEE!" Cathim looked to Natalie for support. "Evil... evil...Good and Evil. That's where the Zakarum have it all wrong." Cathim looked back to Preen with an superior, intelligent look. "If we are going to work together, Preen, You have to understand that it is not a matter of good and evil. It has never been about Good and Evil. Even during the Sin War, when angels and demons brought their battles to Sanctuary, it was never about good verses evil. Those are simply the extremes of human tendencies, what we see as being right and wrong and everything in between. Such things that are evil in one culture, may not be evil in another, so it changes from place to place. The real fight, what really matters, is the balance between the two absolutes of the universe: The balance between Order and Chaos. Heavens and Hells. Angels and Demons. In that aspect, Necromancy is really no different from your magic's, the elemental magic's that Natalie wields or the physical or goddess given skills given to Tozam and Raid. They are all proponents of order and the strict discipline"

"Ordered, yes they are. But in essence, demons and the magic's they weave, including the creation of the minions of Mephesto, the undead, are beyond any ethical reaches of good. They are, without a doubt, evil. If mankind is ever to succeed in growing beyond the temptations of hell, it must learn the glory of the light."

"Which at times, has the nasty side effect of being able to burn away the flesh of those of us with something called 'oh, I don't know': "AN OPINION!"." Cathim banged his fist into the table. "If there is anything that the Zakarum can't do, it's understand and accept the point of view of another culture, magic clan, or religion. All that you can figure out is how to do is to conquer and convert. How the Zakarum ever came to be as powerful as it is now is a mystery to me."

"We do not quash the beliefs of others," Preen replied, "We simply give them guidance, laws, and a sense of morality."

"And who appointed you to set those standards?"

"Akarat." Preen said simply, naming the prophet whose visions were the foundations of Zakarum teachings.

"Right..." Cathim rolled his eyes, wondering if he ever came off sounding this arrogant when he spoke to others of the teachings of Rathma. "And do those teachings say that the teachings of Rathma are, what's the word you people like so much, 'blasphemy'?"

"No," Preen shook his head truthfully.

"Then why...?"

"But that was only because Akarat was before Rathma's time. If they had been alive at the same time, I'm sure that Akarat would have made a believer of Rathma."

Cathim's normally pale face turned bright red as he gritted his teeth and tried to process just how grievous an insult this paladin dope had just heaped onto the founder of his faith. After about a second, Natalie (who was sitting right next to the necromancer) heard Cathim chanting the Amplify Damage curse under his breath while one hand slipped subtlety toward the dagger at his belt.

Thankfully, this course of action was quickly halted.

"Hey all!" A cheerful-looking, green-eyed boy now wearing a bright red tunic and black trousers walked up to the table. On his back was strapped a large, metal mace that really looked far too heavy for the young warrior. "I see that everyone is getting along now." He smiled.

"Elric?" Natalie cocked an eyebrow, "Where have you been for the last two hours?"

"Oh, just went out for a bite to eat and a walk to calm my nerves."

"Where did you get that mace?" Tozam looked up from his heaping, half-eaten plate of mutton and bone for the first time since the five of them had first sat down.

"Found it." Elric said flatly, pulling up a chair between Natalie and Cathim. First nodding to his sister, then turning to the blond amazon across from him. "Hi, I'm Elric. Elric Tasslewind. I'm afraid I didn't catch your name before."

"That's because I didn't throw it." Raid said coldly.

"You know, beautiful, That line is about as old as the goddess Althulua."

"And what do you know about the goddess?" Raid asked, contempt for this inferior man more than apparent in her Icy cold skepticism.

Elric sucked in a deep breath. "Althulua: Premier Goddess of the Amazon religious hierarchy. According to legend, she pierced a cloud with the first-ever arrow to make the first rain-storm, and thus created the rain forest of the Amazon isles. Then, with the help of her friend Kethryes, she tamed the spring wind, the summer heat, the autumn colors, and the winter chill and gave them order, thus securing the four seasons in a balanced harmony all around the world. She rules over and protects the Amazon Isles and is credited with the creation of the Bow and the Arrow. Her insignia is the white bow crossed with the gold thunderbolt."

And he said this all very quickly and in one breath.

The other occupants of the table looked at him with blank expressions. Tozam's mouth hung open with bits of mutton falling out of his mouth.

"Learn something new everyday..." Natalie smiled, shaking her head.

Raid gave Elric more than just a blank look now. Now her eyes contained both a respect and admiration that had been lacking in her previous glance.

"How...how..." Raid stuttered, "That tale, the part about Kethryes and the taming of the seasons. That's only taught to clergy and warriors of Philios."

"Well," Elric shrugged, "I guess you could say that I have a passion for myths and legends."

Raid was past impressed with this 'inferior male' now.

"I'm Raid DeAlkirk. Pleasure is all mine." She shook Elric's hand.

"And I am Preen. Defender of the Word and Knight of the Zakarum." Preen nearly leaped to his feet and extended a hand across the table to the green-eyed boy. "No hard feelings about before, aye?"

Elric looked up to the paladin, a questioning contempt in his eyes, then looked back down to the extended hand. For a moment, Natalie feared some sort of repeat of the earlier verbal assault, but was both relieved and surprised when Elric smiled.

"You look somewhat familiar. Have we met before?" Elric looked at the paladin curiously. He had been so mad before at the sight of the Zakarum warrior that he hadn't noticed that there was something strangely familiar about him.

"No, I don't believe so. Not before today."

"Oh, well. Never mind. I'm Elric. It's alright. No hard feelings." He took the paladin's hand.

Preen, however, faltered for a moment and went slightly paler.

-FLASH- Glowing red eyes, Flashing teeth, Blood...everywhere... -FLASH-

Preen saw it for only an instant, in his mind's eye, but the moment it was over, he could not remember any of it. Like a passing dream, the images faded almost immediately, but left a lingering uneasy feeling.

Elric noticed the sudden change in the paladin's complexion and became rather uneasy himself.

Thankfully, nobody else seemed to notice.

"Finally, we're all here." Natalie said, folding her hands together and leaning back slightly in her chair. "Now, if 'some of us' are done talking philosophy or stuffing our faces, we can get down to business."

At this, Raid perked up.

"How much gold?"

"Ummm, as much as we find...?" Natalie said quickly, not wanting to disappoint the gold hungry amazon. Then, not losing any momentum. "Akara told me about the battle for the monastery and how we can get into the keep. But she said that before the rogues were driven out, there was a great explosion of dark magic's. She thinks it was an unbinding spell."

"A what?" Tozam asked, losing the conversation right after the word 'magic'.

"A spell of unbinding severs the ties between a denizen of another plane and allows them to walk on an alternant plane of existence like our world, 'Sanctuary'." Elric interjected, beating Preen, Natalie, and Cathim to the punch. "In short, it makes it so that a really powerful demon or angel can come to our world without losing any of it's power like it would if it tried to force it's way into our world." Elric added, hoping not to confuse Tozam. He wasn't even going to go into the other uses or applications of the Spell of Unbinding. It tugged at too many memories.

"Right." Natalie continued, "And because of that, Akara believes that the Maiden of Anguish, Andariel, is actually living, flesh and blood, in the lower reaches of the monastery."

"Andariel?" Raid was suddenly shocked. This wasn't what she had signed on for.

"To vanquish the lesser evil would be to strike a mighty blow against the powers of The Hells, But that leaves the question: How are we going to overcome such a powerful devil?"

"Send her back." Cathim reasoned, then, when everybody looked to him, he explained. "If we were to cast a spell of unbinding against Andariel, it would force her out of the moral world and back into hell. Then, with a sizable army, we could over take the monastery."

"That won't work." Natalie shook her head, "The theory is sound, but A.) None of us have either the knowledge of the spell or the power to cast it. And B.) We don't have a sizable army, we just have us six."

"Can't we find a scroll?" Preen asked, having sat back down in his seat besides Raid, who was now looking from face to face as though she thought them mad. "Someone must have written it down and between three magic users, we should be able to figure it out."

"Four magic users." Elric said quickly, indicating to the Paladin that he, also, had the ability to twist mana for his own purposes.

"Akara said that she did hear tale that there was such a thing in Tristram..."

"No there isn't." Elric injected quickly, "I think it was destroyed when w... I mean...the three heroes collapsed the underground monastery in Tristram. Besides, it would take at least a month of constant travel though monster infested forests to get back to Tristram and then a year and hundreds of workers to excavate the fallen temple and find the scroll, if it did survive."

"Nevertheless, the road to Tristram is our road." Natalie said frankly, taking a quick sip of ale.

"..." All eyes were on the sorceress.

"But, Elric said that the scroll was likely destroyed. There's nothing left in Tristram that we could use to our advantage unless our deaths guarantee victory." Cathim reminded her.

"It is not the scroll or the ability to unbind Andariel that we seek. Akara says that even with an Unbinding, Andariel would have lost her immortality the moment she set foot in our world. We do not wish to banish Andariel back to the hells were she is little less than a god." She paused for dramatic affect. "If we strike as soon as possible, I think we can defeat Andariel and kill her once and for all."

Silence overtook all of them.

Until Preen finally broke it.

"Let's do it."

"This is madness." Tozam said under his breath.

"You're saying that we...'WE' might have a chance against a queen of the armies of Hell?" Raid asked, only half-believing what she was hearing. This had to be some sort of cruel joke. "How can we even begin to consider...I mean, come on Natalie... we can't... it's impossible."

"Not if we know how to do it." Natalie started again, gaining their undivided attention once more. "Akara told me: 'There is only one man, schooled in the ways of high sorcery that might be able to help us in this crisis. Only he, in all the world, might possibly know the true weaknesses of Andariel."

"What sort of man are we talking about?" Cathim asked, genuinely curious.

"The last of the great sages of the ancient Horadrim. One who has been trained his entire life to know, hunt, and destroy the great evils." Natalie said, "His name is Deckard Cain."

"WHAT!!!???" Elric practically exploded out of his seat, standing up so quickly as to draw the attention of the entire staff of the establishment and the few people drinking at the bar. "You're out of your mind!"

"I think that you missed that part of the conversation a minute ago, Elric." Tozam said, "You know, where she said that we have to go in and kill Andariel."

Elric scoffed. "Look, I knew the Elder Cain once." He said truthfully, "That old man was far more trouble than he was worth. He most certainly wasn't a Horadrim. They died out almost a hundred years ago. Yes, he knew a lot about magic items, and...dead languages....and demons...and ancient history..." Elric lost himself for a moment. He HAD known the town elder of Tristram, Deckard Cain, to be an amazingly wise man... but Horadrim? No way. Elric had read hundreds upon hundreds of books in Atisar and the fallen monastery in Tristram, and each one that included the Horadrim spoke of powerful and wise mortal men and women who would stop at nothing to see the legions of chaos defeated.

Cain simply could not have been one of these people. And even if he had been...

"But, Deckard Cain was in Tristram. Tristram was destroyed. How then, do you purpose that we get him to help us." Elric mocked, "Have Catty over here bring his corpse back as a mindless skeleton?"

"Hey..." Cathim started to protest.

"We have to get to Tristram and hope to the gods that he is alive." Natalie said, standing up and now facing her brother eye to eye.

"But it is so far away..." Preen pointed out, trying to drag himself back into the conversation. "Even if he managed to stay alive to this point, even the mightiest magic user in the world would run out of luck sometime. We do not have weeks to travel there and find him."

"Akara told me that there is an ancient portal out on the Stony Fields. It is protected by six standing stones called the Cairin Stones that act as the combination keys to activate the magic." Natalie continued, "A portal that, once opened, will take us directly to Tristram."

"Wow..." Tozam nodded, "That's a stroke of luck."

"But, in order to open the portal, we need the combination which is etched into the bark of a tree in the black forest called the Tree of Inifuss."

"What the hell is the combination to a magical portal doing sketched on a tree?" Raid asked.

"Because..." Natalie thought for a second, but realized, "I have no idea. It was some safety precaution that the Horadrim thought of when they built the thing, I guess. Akara said she used to have an instruction manual in her office, but that was destroyed when the monastery fell."

"Then, if we do find this 'Deckard Cain', I suggest that we ask him why his people had to make things so difficult for us modern day adventurers." Tozam said again.

"So, let's see if I've got this straight." Elric decided to make sure that they all understood the plan thus far. "We need to find the Tree of Inifuss so that we can open a portal to Tristram, which was torn apart by demons. Then find a guy who is most likely dead, bring him back here, ask him to tell us how to kill Andariel: 'The Maiden of Anguish' who rules as a goddess in the Hells. Then we have to fight our way into the Rogue Monastery and actually set onto the task of killing said goddess in order to open the way to the east and then..." Elric reached the end.

"And then...Why are we trying to get to the east anyways?"

Natalie, Cathim, Tozam, and Preen all looked at Elric as though he were stupid. Raid, on the other hand, was just as curious about the question. To her, this was all just one big treasure hunt. The fact that she hurt demons was a nice perk, but she was obviously more into all of this for the treasure and the fame that came from obtaining that treasure.

"The Dark Wanderer, Elric. We..."

All answers had to wait though, for at this time, the relative quite outside the Food Hall was broken by the tolling of a great bronze bell. Every one, tenant, drunkard, and adventurer alike, turned and looked out the windows and doors.

Everyone knew what the tolling of a High Bell meant.

It was a call to arms...

A cry for help.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"This is all?" Kashya asked, looking over the handful of gnarled, filthy mercenaries that had come and gathered to the location of the High Bell in the center of the encampment. Out of the crowd, she could only recognize perhaps two or three that she would consider honorable. Among them also was Warriv The Wagon Master, Head of the Caravan to Lut Golein.

"I'm afraid so, Battle-Eagle." The scout, who had been promoted from 'Ground-Pigeon' (lowest of all ranks) to the rank of 'Swift-Kite'(More than a six rank jump up the ladder). "A good deal of the men and travelers in this camp are not fighters at all, they're merchants. More than few have never even lifted a sword, I'd wager."

"We wouldn't be able to secure the encampment with the addition of this rabble to our current forces, much less leave the encampment in their hands and try to lay siege to the graveyard." The Battle-Eagle moaned.

She knew that even if there had been enough mercenaries to pull off defense of the encampment while the rogues marched to try and retake the graveyard, the price that they would ask for would be beyond what little the rogues still had in their coffers.

"What should we tell them?" the scout asked, "They will all be wanting to know why they've been summoned."

"Get word down there to Warriv and the others," Kashya ordered, "We call for volunteers to defend the encampment."

"And what should I say is the reward, Battle-Eagle?" The scout asked.

Kashya glared at the scout, hating the fact that she had to explain out loud to both the scout and herself. "For helping to defend the encampment, they can stay. If they want rewarded, there is another assignment that they must take. Any who wish to take on a suicide quest can..."

"Battle-Eagle? Isn't that the half-breed?" The scout interrupted, her attention having been drawn away by the sudden arrival of a much different, more motley group of adventurers.

Kashya looked down to see the late arriving sorceress and her companions, who now seemed to include an Amazon that she had received several reports about and a paladin.

'What a lovely irony.' The Battle-Eagle thought. 'A Zakarum choosing one of those things to travel with rather than an average mercenary.'

But most importantly, she saw the human-looking monster that had infiltrated her encampment, now wearing a bright red tunic and a large mace that was simply too big for him.

"Wait!" Kashya turned to the scout. "How did you learn of what 'that' is?" She asked cautiously, her tone more like that of a person giving an order.

"High Priestess Akara informed the barracks, Battle-Eagle. She advised us to keep an eye on that one, but to keep our distance and not interfere unless something 'sinister' occurred."

Kashya grunted. Akara! Why? As much as Kashya admired and respected the high priestess, Akara was becoming more and more of a pain every day. First giving a direct order to Kashya not to disclose the creature's true nature with the camp, then circumventing her own orders to warn the other Rogues about it.

Akara was undermining everything that Kashya had been able to accomplish thus far and, worse, was diminishing the already small respect for her position that her troops had.

"Should we have the creature and his party turned away?" The scout asked. "Surely we are not so desperate as to need that thing's help."

As she was about to confirm the scout's plan, Kashya was struck with a sudden inspiration. "No..." She said, thinking for a moment. "Belay that last order. Continue to call for volunteers to defend the fort, but I also want you to have the half-breed sent to my tent. Alone. I something else in mind for him."

-------------------

"Well, greeting's stranger. I must say, I'm not surprised to see your kind here." The man wearing the blue robe nodded.

Elric stood back for a moment from the man and eyed him suspiciously. Was his disguise really so transparent, he wondered. It seemed the only two people in the camp who hadn't noticed or been told were now going to be traveling with him.

"My kind?" He asked, somewhat untrusting.

"Aye, Adventurers and the like. Many have passed this way since the recent troubles began."

"Oh, adventurers. Right." Elric breathed a sigh of relief. "And you are?"

"Oh, forgive me Stranger. I am Warriv. I run this caravan and hope to soon be on my way to Lut Golein. That is, of course, if the shadow that devoured Tristram does not consume us all. Some of us have even heard rumors that Diablo, The Lord of Terror walks the world again."

"I'm Elric Tasslewind." Elric decided to try and make small talk. "Tell me, do you take those sort of rumors seriously?" Elric asked, trying to pass time while Natalie and the others were trying to find out what was going on.

"Well, I don't know about that. But, now that you mention it, I do remember that there was a dark wanderer who tried to barter passage on my caravan a some time ago. He became enraged when I told him that the Caravan wasn't scheduled to go east over the mountains for over a month and then he stormed off. Maybe it's nothing... but this evil seems to have trailed in his wake. It was shortly after that that the Rogues were forced out of their Monastery and the passage east was closed off."

"Dark wanderer?" Elric asked, a strange feeling of uneasiness. "You didn't happen to get a name or see his face did you."

"No, afraid not, friend." Warriv said, "He wore a tattered black cloak with an insanely deep hood that covered his entire face. Aside from that there is nothing much to tell. In fact, I don't even know why I said it. I had completely forgotten about it until now. Strange."

"Quite..." Elric wondered about this sort of this thing. His previous experiences with the Arch-Angel Tyrael had proven to him that there were no such thing as random coincidence. "You travel to Lut Golien?"

"Yes. I hope to lead my caravan there when this is all over." Warriv smiled, taking an unexpected liking to the inquisitive boy. "If you're still alive by that time, I'll be sure to invite you along."

"Elric Tasslewind!" A loud, demanding female voice tore at the air.

"Wow, I have a fan-club." Elric turned about, not at all surprised to see almost a dozen rogue archers. But, being the smart-ass that he was, Elric was not going to let the opportunity slide. "Sorry, I won't be signing any autographs today. But if you come back later, I will be sure to see each and every one of you in turn."

"Battle-Eagle Kashya demands an audience, Elric Tasslewind." The apparent leader of the small mob announced, a sort of repulsion echoing in her words.

"Well, I appreciate the Battle-Eagle valuing my judgment, but first I would like to know what she is performing and if her singing is so horrid that she has to order or demand people to come and listen to her."

Warriv found the last comment to be very funny. The rogues, however, were not laughing.

"I swear...no sense of humor whatsoever. You know, just because all of Kanduras is going to Hell in a hand basket doesn't mean that you can't smile. Come on, just once? I promise not to tell anybody."

Twelve rogue archers tensed up with more than a few of them nearly diving for the bows strapped to their backs.

"No takers? I'll settle for a giggle... No. Okay, Fine. I'll follow you."

--------------

"We should leave. Now. Every second that we delay is another second that could end Deckard Cain's life."

"Why are we not taking the rogue's job?" Raid asked Natalie and the others as they walked away from the mass of other disappointed mercenaries. "Is it because they don't wanna pay anything or because we already have a dangerous, near suicidal mission to go on?"

"Pick one." Natalie answered bluntly.

"It would be a noble cause to fight to defend the encampment, but it would be far greater to defeat Andariel once and for all and free the land of her tyranny." Preen said, oblivious to the fact that no-one was paying attention to him.

"Better to be off fighting the good fight somewhere else, I'd say." Tozam was telling Cathim, his mind serious for a change. "The location of this encampment is badly thought out. A small force of monsters could easily encircle it and then storm right though the gate while every one of those killer-for-hire's is busy trying to keep the other monsters busy."

It was Cathim, however, that noticed the most important detail and flaw of their plan to leave as soon as possible.

"Hey. Where's Elric?"

The entire party stopped and looked around in panic.

------------------

"I am so pleased that you wanted to invite me to your tent, Kashya. But was the armed-guard escort really necessary?"

"I have no time for your foolish wordplay!" Kashya snarled, looking to the ground and hating herself for what she was preparing herself to say. "I called you here because...because..." She found herself on the verge of tears. Then, in a very small voice. "We need you."

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear. What was that?"

Kashya looked up again, pure hatred raging behind her eyes. Elric took this as a sign that this was, indeed, not a time for his usual jokes.

His smile vanished in seriousness and his bright green eyes lost their amused gleam, suddenly appearing flat in color, but possessing of another, more advanced, intelligence.

"What do you want?" He asked, his voice sounding completely different. It took her a moment to realize that there was simply no joy in it anymore.

Kashya looked at the boy again in a long hard silence before finally managing to put her thoughts to words.

"My rogue scouts have reported an abomination in the monastery graveyard." Kashya said, expecting another wayward comment. When she realized that it would not be forthcoming, she continued. "Apparently, Andariel is not content to take only our living. She has sent a foul servant we have named 'Blood Raven' into our ancestral burial grounds to raise our honorable dead as zombies."

"And that means 'what' to me?"

"Blood Raven was once of The Order of the Sightless Eye and knows our defensive tactics all too well. When she raises a suitable army from our fallen dead, she will attack us and shatter our fighting force. The Sisterhood can not survive such an assault and we can not spare the resources to take the graveyard from Blood Raven by force." She looked up and did her best to make the next part sound more like a request than pure begging.

"I...We need your help."

"From 'monster' to 'help me' in just a few short hours. Now that is progress." Elric said flatly, not trying to get any laughs. "Sorry, Battle-Eagle. But my party and I have something more important to take care of. And seeing as how you have been wanting me to leave ever since you found out what I was." He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again.

Kashya took a step back, barely choking back a frightened cry as the full extent of what she had been hap-hazardly referring to as 'half-breed' struck her nearly as hard as the glare from the now bright red eyes of the boy.

Until now, Elric Tasslewind had come to symbolize everything she thought she hated about what had happened to the Sisterhood. As far as she had been concerned, he had been as much to blame as Andariel, with the slight exception of the fact that she thought he was at her mercy. Kashya had thought she had control of the situation and, if it really suited her, she could have the beast killed on the spot.

That thought left her once and for all when she looked into those glowing red eyes. A more honest and dangerous side of his personality than the joker that she had thought was the whole of it.

She realized now that this was no mindless or mischievous monster that she was dealing with, intent on causing misery, pain, and death. But a creature with the calm, calculating cunning of a scholar and the cold, killing efficiency of the most deadly of demons.

This creature was beyond her. "I will take my leave with my party now and be sure to try and stay away from your precious fort in it's final hours." He said, closing his eyes again and turning his back to the Battle-Eagle. "Forgive me, but I have something more important that protecting this hovel in mind." Elric started to walk out of the tent.

"You said that you only wanted to help!"

"I did. It's you that didn't want my help." Elric answered, reaching the exit to the tent and getting ready to pull the flap open. "You just wanted something close at hand to kill so that you could feel better about the situation."

Kashya knew that she only had one chance left in this.

"Blood Raven betrayed and killed Alisa."

The half-demon froze in place.

For several long, agonizing moments, nothing happened at all.

Then, the half-demon spun around and glared at Kashya again, this time with a much more intense red gaze that nearly sent the battle hardened veteran swooning.

"Keep talking..." Elric said, his voice degenerating slowly into an angry growl.

-----------------

"Elric! There you are!" Natalie shouted almost in joy as she finally found her missing brother, who was now walking toward her at a quick pace. "We have made ready to begin the quest so..."

"I am not going." Elric said flatly, his eyes still green and human, but their color was dull. Quickly, he moved past her and continued to move toward the gate of the camp.

"What? But, we have to find the Tree of Inifuss." Natalie tried to remind him, falling into step behind him.

"Yes we do, but you guys will have to take care of that on your own. I have something personal that I have to take care of." Elric said, reaching down into his pocket and pulling out a small scroll. "I made this for you with some ink that I managed to get from Akara's stores. It's a portal spell that will bring you all back to the Way Stone in this camp after you get the inscription off the bark of the Tree of Inifuss. It'll save you all time by cutting out the journey back."

"What...?" Natalie couldn't even start the conversation and suddenly found herself jogging just to keep up with her brother.

"After you get back here, watch the Way Stone and wait for another portal to open up. That will be me after I find the Carin Stones and secure the area. Be sure to bring as many supplies and healing potions as you can. We are going to need them in Tristram after we open the Carin Stones."

Natalie was beside herself with this sudden and unexpected change of plan. "Where are you going?!" She asked as they came to the gate (Which, for some odd reason, was already open.) "Should someone go with you?!"

"No, I travel fastest alone." He answered over his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll be in touch. Just find the tree, get the inscription, and get back here as soon as possible and keep an eye on the Way Stone. The portal's that the scroll's summon only last for about thirty seconds, so you have to get everyone though quickly, and remember that it is a one-way portal, so once you go though it, you can't get back."

"Can't you at least take a weapon? Where's that mace that you were carrying around?"

"It was just for show anyways. Besides, Natalie, haven't you figured it out yet? I am a weapon." And, with that, Elric waved goodbye and started to run off into the Blood Moor.

Natalie watched him go with mixed emotions. She would miss him, but not having him around while they tried to figure out the intentions of their newfound companions might be a good thing. One way or another, they had to set off as soon as possible.

Every second they delayed would bring Deckard Cain another second toward inevitable doom.

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The small fallen demon scrambled past the much larger behemoths and creatures that guarded the deepest level of the former Rogue's catacombs. They knew simply from it's small stature that it could only dare come to this place if it carried news, so he managed to pass, unhindered by the normally brutal guards of the Maiden.

Glancing from side to side as it ran, it saw bone white spikes exploded forth from the ground at awkward angles all over the floor of this place, where the Mistress had made her temporary home. A fitting addition to the new coat of blood that was being used to paint the walls, ceilings and floors. Not to mention the occasional rack or torture device with the broken or decapitated rogue corpse lying completely stripped of clothing and items of value, but not always of meat.

At times, the little fallen was almost tempted to stop it's run and indulge for a moment. To sample a taste of the still bleeding flesh of a mortal who had tried to defy the Mistress and paid dearly for the act.

It still felt panicked, though, from the event before that had nearly eradicated an entire tribe of Fallen. It's panic drove it on.

But that was not the worse of it.

The power of the Maiden of Anguish was now in question. And she would not take well to such doubt among her followers.

Much to the exhausted Fallen demon's surprise. The two enormous tainted creatures that guarded the great doors that led to the Maiden's Throne room pushed aside the great doors at the small creature's coming.

This filled the fallen warrior with both a sense of dread and pride.

'They open door for me! I bear important information! They open door for me!' Was about as intelligent as the warrior could think.

Then it ran down the final hallway and entered the circular throne room of it's Mistress and Master. On a great throne constructed of human skulls, shin bones, and stretched skin, sat the Maiden of Anguish herself.

Nestled in the center of the mayhem and stench of death, was Andariel.

At full height, here in the mortal plains, the lesser evil was close on to ten feet tall, having taken over (and altered to her liking) the body of the woman who had led the attack on her when she was first being brought into this pathetic, human-filled, waste of a world. She had preserved the face and torso of the woman because she discovered that human women took great pride in those two areas and human men would always look to those parts of uncovered flesh first before they realized the true, deadly beauty of the form that was Andariel.

She had reformed the legs and arms of this body to more suit her hellish persona, completing the scaled extremities with claws and a pair of uncloven hooves. And of course, the four, great, finger-like extensions from the woman's spine that came around over her shoulders and on the sides of her hips in a spider-like fashion.

How many of these mortal rogues had she enjoyed skewering on these lovely spines? Andariel had lost count somewhere in the fifties.

Now she sat on her throne. Bored, and hating the fact that the mortal women who were supposed to guard this citadel so well had been so easily and quickly evicted.

Perhaps this pathetic little fallen demon that had so boldly run into the monastery seeking her out would provide some amusing tale of slaughter and bloodshed.

It wouldn't matter which side won so long as she would savor the idea of glorious battle.

'Perhaps,' She though hopefully, 'The humans have roused an army to try and retake the fort. Oh, how wonderful it would be to wade out into the thick of battle and lay waste to pathetic human armies again.'

The fallen warrior started to bow incessantly and gibber in it's native language. A crude sound it was, and annoying to boot.

Something about... a human...no, three humans. A fight... and a stand off.

"Boring." Andariel yawned, wondering if there was any point to listening to the rest of the tale. Then she heard something that did intrigue her. Something about a new beast...a demon...a rebel.

"Show me!" The lesser evil ordered in a form of High Demonica that the little creature could not possibly know. It stood in place for a moment and quivered in fear. Andariel moaned slightly, realizing that she would have to do this meager little task herself.

Fiercely, she reached down one enormous clawed arm and snatched the pathetic creature right off the ground. With it first frozen stiff in her clawed fingers, then it came to life, kicking and screaming in fear.

'Oh, these poor little wretches.' Andariel thought to herself for a moment. 'They simply don't know how to properly serve their masters.' With that thought, the Maiden of Anguish reached down and, with two fingers, crushed the skull of the fallen and ripped the head clean off, letting the rest of the body fall limply to the ground. It took a moment of shifting though the gray matter of the brain and white skull fragments to find the creatures eyes. But once she had found them, she discarded the rest of the beast's head and popped the two eyes into her mouth, savoring the flavor for a moment, then swallowing them whole and closing her own eyes.

-FLASH-

She was looking over the heads and horns of perhaps fifty other, nearly identical fallen warriors, but she could make out the three humans cornered against a tumble down half-wall somewhere in the wilderness. Two males and a female. -FLASH- She saw the vision swinging back and forth wildly as though the fallen creature was panicked and didn't know where to look. Then... She saw IT. -FLASH-

A youthful, wolf sized demon cub of jet black scales and curved horns. Thrashing about wildly, cutting and tearing into each side with deadly efficiency. It's tail, claws and teeth worked almost in unison to bring death and taste the blood. An impressive feat for so young a demon. -FLASH-

The vision was now seeing from the cover of tree's and shrubs, as though the creature who's eyes she was seeing though had been hiding. She saw the black demon sitting on the ground, spitting green bits of gunk on the ground. And then she saw both males attack it to no effect. The female then attacked with magic, enraging the demon and bringing it down on her with it's teeth around the moral girl's throat. -FLASH-

It...It...It Stopped? It let the woman up and... they embraced?!?!?!"

Andariel chose to end the vision there and surrendered what memory the eyes had to her digestive system.

This was certainly an interesting thing. A demon...that had allied itself with the mortals? It was unheard of! Most certainly, in the millions of years of the Great Conflict and the Sin Wars, neither demon or angle had ever defected entirely to the opposite side.

Unless... The Master had warned her of something like this. In fact, she realized, this was the EXACT beast that her Liege had told her of.

This was the half-breed child that had stood against Master Diablo and foiled the Binding plan. This beast had destroyed all that the Lord of Terror had nearly accomplished in the Horadrim Temple in the land the mortals called 'Tristram'.

The Dark Wanderer had left instructions that, if this creature should come to light, she should destroy it herself...personally.

"My, my, my... This boring little assignment just became, ohhhhh, so much more interesting." Andariel giggled to herself in her throne of bones and blood.

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An Early Post! Whoa... Once I got into it with Cathim and Preen, I just couldn't put it down, so here's an early present from me to everyone. I just hope that Solarious will forgive me now. With any luck, I can still manage to get another chapter up by Saturday or so -.

Next Chapter: Blood and Gore at LAST!

Non-stop (Okay, it does pause at some points, but only so the story can move along) action. Elric goes on his quest for vengeance against the creature: Blood Raven, and encounters a very unlikely ally in the Monastery Graveyard.

Natalie and the gang set out to find the Tree of Inifuss. When they find it, it all comes down to a simple question of ownership. ( Okay... HOW many guardians does this stupid tree have!? There are thousands of trees in this forest. WHY THE HELL DOES EVERYONE HAVE TO FIGHT OVER THIS ONE???!!!)

(Yawns) Oh, I can't wait to start and finish the next chapter. Hope to get it up for everyone by Saturday. If not, then sorry, but I might get completely thrown off schedule and just do random updates until I either run out of ideas or I figure out why I was able to write this in only like four days.

R&R Plz. Your opinions really matter to me. And the more Reviews I get, the more motivated I am to type faster and put up faster. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Till next time, this is Robin Shirewood, signing off.