Having dealt with the immediate threat, the companions took a while to survey their surroundings. Tristram may once have been a bustling village, but it is a haven of death now. As far as the eye can see, there was nothing but razed hovels and thoroughly decomposed corpses. The stench of death was a spear that seemed almost physical to the nose.
A nearby corpse caught Amplissa's attention. "Poor kid… His body is still warm. He must have died recently. If only we had come earlier." She bent down to stroke the hair of the peg-legged boy. Rayna, being a pragmatic sort, immediately set about the task of unscrewing the boy's wooden leg. She figured that it may come in handy as a club should the need arise. Amplissa frowned at her friend's actions, but Rayna only gave an innocent shrug in response.
Meanwhile, Steve was busy thinking what in the Abyss he was doing here. A large hand tapped his shoulder. "Not now Pulp, can't you see I'm thinking you idiot!" The hand however seemed insistent and had moved towards his neck. Turning around to reprimand his wayward guardian, he found himself facing a hulking zombie. The zombie courteously greeted him by giving him a friendly nudge. Steve flew a good twelve feet before crash landing on the hard ground.
A moment later, something heavy joined him in the dirt. Steve was shocked to see his trusty sidekick lie unmoving beside him. Growing angry in spite of himself, he tackled the lumbering giant head on. Steve's lanky frame crashed against his opponent's massive one. The creature formerly known as Griswold hardly registered the annoyance. In response, he punched Steve on the midriff. Steve kissed some rocks a dozen feet away.
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Steve struggled to think. Pulp was dead and 'the guy currently wanting him dead' was too strong to kill by conventional means.
Griswold slowly lurched his meal with a single-mindedness found only in zombies and 'leaders' of very large organizations. By now, the rogues had noticed the skirmish and were rushing to Steve's aid. Unfortunately, Rayna's makeshift club and Amplissa's hurled stones did no visible damage to the big undead. Steve's mind had taken a short holiday, a condition often incurred from too much concussions. Right now, he was in a far away land munching on some potatoes, and hugging a gargantuan yellow bunny he had befriended. The bunny returned his squeeze with great enthusiasm.
Amplissa had to admit that Steve was a really brave man to be trying a bear hug on that huge thing. But she had no doubt that her friend would soon be turned to mush if no one intervened. Picking up a sharp rock, she aimed it straight at the zombie's left eye and scored! Griswold loosened his grip and stumbled backwards, where Rayna's club smashed his thick skull. Growling, he let loose a wild backhand that connected with Rayna's chest. Slightly disoriented, he moved towards Amplissa.
The friendly bunny morphed into a rather hideous thing, forcing Steve completely awake. His abdomen promptly reminded him of the abuse it had taken. But all thoughts of bunnies and stomachs left his mind when he saw the huge zombie staggering in Amplissa's direction. Seeing the girl literally petrified, Steve took a moment to curse everything that is directly or indirectly involved with bringing him into this mess, especially yellow bunnies. He then ran towards Amplissa and gave her a timely shove. As such, the fist intended for her met his chest instead.
Knocked down yet again, he had time to listen to the peaceful sounds of a nearby river flowing just a few feet away from where he was. The heavy footsteps beside him told him he didn't have much time left. Rolling back to his feet, with the river behind him and his adversary in front of him, Steve decided to make one last insane attempt. Predictably, the zombie lashed out with its right hand. Instead of dodging, Steve sidestepped and pulled its hand, using its own momentum to bring it to an inch of the river.
Balancing precariously on one leg, Griswold stubbornly refused to enter the swift flowing river, until Steve returned the friendly nudge the zombie gave him earlier… Griswold swam like a brick and was soon gone.
The two girls gave boisterous shouts of congratulations to Steve who was having the delusion of fending off yellow bunnies and purple monsters. However, Rayna's hug quickly brought him to attention. Her chest crushed against his face and for an uncomfortable moment, he thought he had escaped the zombie only to be killed by Rayna's bosom. As his face was just turning blue, Rayna released him. Thankfully, Amplissa's pat on the shoulder was quite tame and resulted in no major injury. Still, Steve felt devastated by the loss of Pulp. He walked around and surveyed the area where he had last seen his clay comrade. Alas, he was still not moving. The now visible amulet was glowing though. Before he could think on the significance of that, a sinister voice greeted him. "Stay a while and listen!"
The owner of the voice happened to be an old wizened man wearing a baggy blue garment that looked suspiciously like a dress. Steve wondered if the old man was a crazy cross-dresser. The loony wasted no time in regaling the battered heroes with his stories.
"Wait, did you say your name was Cain sir?" Amplissa asked. "Of course! Now where was I? Yes the Horadrim, they were my ancestors! Did I tell you that I was the last of them? Speaking of which…" For the first time, the mad man paused to draw a breath. Rayna promptly seized the opportunity to hit him on the head with a rock. She gave Amplissa and Steve an innocent smile.
"You know, you're scary sometimes. Beautiful, but scary." Steve had made the grievous mistake of calling Rayna beautiful. It took quite a while to extract Steve from the vice-like grip of Rayna. That task done, Amplissa hastily opened a portal back to town, before anything else could happen.
Steve panicked when he awoke. He was on a bed in a large tent with a male demon. "Argh demon!" With no weapon nearby, he swung a pillow at the vile creature's head, where it broke, making a shower of feathers. "No demon here outlander!" The demon spoke severely, hands on its broad hips. "Argh woman!" Steve screamed at Rayna. In time, Kasha and Rayna realized that he had lost his memory. Rayna walked over to the yelling man and chopped him on the neck, causing him to slump over. Kasha looked disapprovingly at Rayna. But it was hard to maintain an imposing visage with white fluffy feathers all over your body, so Rayna just stuck a tongue at her and skipped gaily out of the tent. "That girl needs more latrine duty." Kasha told the comatose form of Steve which remained rudely silent.
And somewhere in the rogue encampment, a mangled form made of clay twitched.