Chapter Eight
By Hdogg
Told by Stuart Derhund, The General Nerd
A Quest Unfolds, Conflicts Arise
Note: Hmmm….Well, what is there to say? Not much. The last chapter ended with Larry thinking, "It's a wonderful day." In the neighborhood. Oops, I didn't just say that did I? Ehh, well, I got questions that need to answered and a story to write. So, Onward to Victory!
~*~*~
The ominous sky was pouring out rain and I was soaked to the bone. "I bloody hate rain." I muttered to myself. I ran my hand thought my short dirty blonde hair. It was soaked just like the rest of me. My clothes clanged to my body. I had changed from my geekish clothing to a more Diablo two look. I was basically wearing what the Diablo two necromancer wears.
"Hey! Could someone help me with this tent thingy!" Shouted Mo from across the clearing. She was trying to put up a large canvas so we would be dry. Everyone was soaked to the bone.
"Yeah! Hang on!" Called out Danny jogging over to help Mo. "Hang on to that end and tie it down! I got this end!" He shouted over the howl of the savage wind. The rain was now pelting down from the east like needles stinging our skin.
"Blimey, why couldn't it be sunny and warm? Blimey, it's cold too. It has to be at least forty degrees at here." I said to no one. Larry was at the blacksmith getting his equipment repaired, while Jen and Dru huddled in Akara's warm, dry tent. Aly was enjoying herself in the rain. She was practicing with her bow and arrows, which she really sucked at, by aiming at Gheed.
"Stop that, you insane child!" He would shout over the wind. Aly just smiled wickedly and kept on firing at him. He eventually retreated into his wagon after barely being missed by a dozen arrows. "YOU INSANE WOMAN! LEAVE ME ALONE!" He roared as arrow was shot and got stuck in the side of his wagon. "WITCH!" He called out before locking himself up into his wagon.
"Man…now there's no one for target practice anymore…Hey Stu!" She called out but I had all ready taking off to the pavilion which was mostly up.
"That lady is bloody insane!" I shouted at Mo, who was helping Danny fasten the last corner of the tent structure.
"Uh-huh. Danny move over a bit I can't hit the nail with your hand in the way." She said aiming to strike the stake. Danny quickly moved his hand and Mo drove the stake into the ground with a well placed hit. Aly came running into the pavilion with Dru and Jen close behind her.
"Hiya! We need to get a fire going, ya know. It's freezing." She said helping to enclose the tent on three sides. Larry came back with his arms full with a pile of dry firewood in his arms.
"Hey guys! Looky what I got." He said beaming as he dropped the wood into the center of the pavilion. "Charsi gave them to me. Cool, eh?"
"Thanks, Lar. Just what we needed." Aly said picking up a few logs. She placed them into a log house formation. She also stuck pine needles in the center for kindling. "All right, anyone got some matches or a lighter?" We all said no. None of us had any of that. "Great…Okay, Mo, you were the Girl Scout. Work your wonders with a sword and some flint."
"Hehe, the wondrous Girl Scout to the rescue, eh?" Mo said smiling mischievously. She grabbed Larry's sword away from him and pulled out a piece of flint. "Funny, I never thought this thing would be useful…except for throwing at Larry or Stu of course." Mo struck the piece of rock on the steel. Sparks flew and a few landed into the small bit of kindle in the middle of the logs. She quickly got to her knees and blew on the few sparks until they were merrily burning the logs. "The wondrous Girl Scout/Ranger rules again at wilderness survival skills. We praise me." Larry actually did praise her. We all looked at him strangely.
"Wot, are you a ranger now too?" I asked turning back to Mo. A ranger was a branch off the boy scouts but you had to be fourteen to join them and Mo was only thirteen. Girls could join that branch too not just boys.
Mo looked sheepish and replied, "Eh, well, I was a recruit…Not quite a Ranger yet…but I was in the Girl Scouts for countless of years. I did make it to senior scout, ya know." She triumphed over me. Larry gloated as he took Mo's side.
"Bloody American…" I muttered out of the side of my mouth. That girl really got on my nerves at times. Acting all high and mighty at times then she's a whiney little witch when things got bad. "You do know, you could have used inferno or fire ball?"
"Oh yeah! I remember now!" Mo said hitting herself in the head with her hand. "I'm a sorceress." The others cracked up at Mo.
"Haha! You forgot! I can't believe it!" Said Larry clutching his stomach. Danny was laughing too but not as loud as the others. The tent was finally secured from the rain and was smug and warm. I didn't join in the laughing. I didn't see anything funny about it. Mo was just a stupid sorceress with a bad temper. 'And of course had fire balls to throw at me…'
Aly jabbed me in the ribs, "Come, Stu, laugh! Isn't Mo a riot!"
"More like an idiot to me." I muttered in reply.
"Oh lighten ol' chap! It's just a bit of fun!" Said Mo slapping me on my back hard. She was grinning like manic(gee, isn't that a surprise?).
"Owe! Damn it, girl. Watch it." I growled out, glaring at the mischievous witch. "I'm leaving. I'll be back later." I left the tent.
"Stu! What's wrong, man?" Mo yelled out after me. I kept on walking to no where. After a moment or two, I looked up to find myself at Akara's tent. She was standing in the opening.
"Come in, young general." She said beckoning me in. I followed obediently, like a lost puppy. "Sit down, please. Tell me, what's bothering you?"
"I…uh…Why do you ask?" I asked. She handed me a small tankard filled with mint tea. I accepted it.
"You seem troubled. Is there something bothering you about one of your comrades? Say the young sorceress?" Akara asked patiently. I was clutching the tankard tightly. My hands were white. Akara waited patiently for me answer her. I finally did.
"Yes, it's Maureen, that sorceress. She's so rude, cruel, mean…bossy and there are other wonderful attributes to her too." I burst out.
"You two seemed to be such good friends though. Why the sudden hostile ness towards the young girl? She's only a love struck teenager." She watched me intently with her bright yellow eyes. There were many secrets locked in them. Of happiness, of tragedy, of everything imaginable was sealed away in those yellow eyes.
"We were friends once…She's turned for the worse somehow. She's changed since this the end of the school year. She was a nice quiet girl, read a lot too, but now…she's a loud mouth, bad tempered, evil minded, woman!" I exclaimed. I was also thinking, 'Love struck? Mo? Her? Really? Can't be…'
"Did you perhaps think why she would acting this way?" The old woman asked me.
"Well…no…" I looked at my hands. Then Akara explained the problem of my world, Maureen Wolfe. The woman of terror.
"Maureen, your young sorceress friend, is going though a large trail of her life. She's faced with heavy decisions." Akara started calmly.
"Like what? Her life is perfect. She even has two boys falling head over heel for her! What can be possibly wrong!" I broke in.
"You stated the problem. The boys or young men how ever you think of them. Daniel and Larry I believe they're called. The Paladin and the Barbarian. They're the ones that are causing her great stress. She has to decide between them. She can't have both. You two should talk to her. There are many over things causing her distress too. Maureen will explain everything to a trusted friend but can you be trusted with what she has to tell you?" She said. I stared at her. Mo was stressed over two boys? This was new in the life story of Maureen Wolfe. And she is stressed over other matters? I wondered what else was bothering Mo. "You better be going, young necromancer. I hope you talk to you soon."
"May the Great Eye watch over you and the rogues, Akara." I said to her bowing like an English gentlemen. When I was about to step out of the door I was shoved a side by Kashya.
"Akara, we have a serious problem. Deckard Cain has been taken by those foul creatures from beyond the grave!" The soaked rogue captain exclaimed. The wind raged outside. "What are we going to do?!"
"Let us send our young warriors." Akara replied with calmness in her voice even though her eyes twitched nervously.
"Them? Send that bunch of hooligans? Are you insane?" Kashya voice raised to a screech. "We're putting the life of Cain in children's hands? Are you mad!? They can't even get along for an hour without someone trying to kill each other! The sorceress is breaking down as we speak over something. AND YOU'RE THINKING OF SENDING THESE CHILDREN INTO BATTLE!?" I was huddled in a corner of the tent listening to all of this. Rain was coming though the tent entrance, drenching me. 'I hate the rain. I really, really hate the rain.'
"These children are perfectly able on taking on these demons. They're teenagers you know. Don't you remember your teenage crisis's?" Akara smiled. She had taken Kashya completely off guard.
"Umm…well, that's not we're here to talk about." She stammered wringing water out of her brown hair. I was soaked now from head to toe. "We need to rescue Cain!"
"Necromancer, come here please." Said the old woman. I slowly rose out of my little hiding place and waked nervously forward to them. "Do you think that you and your companions are able for this task?"
I was standing in front of two very sensible women. I think one was insane too. I had a feeling if I agreed with one of them, the over would chop off my head or poison me when I'm asleep. "Well, m'ladies, perhaps I should talk this over with my jolly ol' chaps, wot?" The two seemed to agree with me on this.
"Yes, that would a sensible thing to do. To talk it over with your mates." Said Kashya nodding in agreement with my plan.
"I agree. Come back later and tell us what you have decided, young Necromancer." Replied Akara. "Tomorrow at the latest. If you're not here by noon or so, we'll come and find you." I hastily bowed to both and bolted out of the door. I ran over to the tent. Mo and Aly weren't there but everyone else was.
"Guys," I started but Dan held up a firm hand.
"Stuart, go lye down and rest. We will take care of everything in the morning." His voice was harsh. I didn't argue with him. I didn't noticed how late it was. It was the end of the third day we were here. I lay down on my straw pallet. Thunder roared outside of the small shelter. It was warm and cozy. It was all ready pitch black because of the storm raging outside. Lighting flashed every now and then while thunder rumbled in the distance. My eyelids grew heavy. I rolled over on my pallet and faced the fire. I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
~*~*~
The next morning of the fourth day we were here, I woke up to the smell of sausages cooking. "Hmmm…Smells good. Who's cooking the food?" I asked sitting up. I noticed that Mo wasn't here but Aly had returned and she was cooking. I hoped she wasn't burning the food too.
"Good Morning, twit. Nice to see ya awake. Now Mo can kill ya." She said taking the sausages off the fire. She handed three out to everyone but only gave me two. Larry and Dan were talking about something and, Dru and Jen, were chatting about their lives in the real world. It seemed that no one wanted to talk to me. I ate my sausages in silence and walked out of the shelter.
"Weird…" I muttered to myself. "It's like I'm invisible or I'm at school again." The ground was soggy but the day was bright and sunny. It was a decent temperature about 60 or so. I tried to recall the date. It was spring back home and it seemed that the seasons in our world reflected here. 'Okay, it was February 28th when we got here so…it was March 3rd today since it ain't a leap year. Larry had just turned 13 in January and the next closet birthdays were…Jen's and Dru's on the 21st. Jen was going to be 15 and Dan was going to 14…Hmm…interesting." Amazingly, Larry who was only 5'5" in real life had grown two inches and gained a lot of muscle in the arm and leg area, so far. I noticed everyone else, including myself, was growing in some way or other. As freaky as that was, I thought it was cool. I wandered around until I saw Mo standing near the entrance of the camp. "Hello, I think. Are you planning to kill me?" I asked as I carefully approach her.
"Perhaps." I noticed that she had been crying. Her eyes were red and puffy like a rabbits. I remember what Akara had said to me yesterday about her. "Ya know, life is funny at times. One moment your on the top of the world, the next you sink down into a sink hole in the ground down to Hades." She shook her head and stared at across Blood Moor. It was a peaceful screen even though monsters roamed out there.
"Yes, it is weird. Life can be full of adventure and yet, full of sorrow. Full of love and full of hate." I replied standing next to her. "You know, if you ever need a shoulder to lean on, I'm for you, ol' girl. Like ya also been for me."
She sighed. "Yes, I know. That's why you're my friend and that's why I got you addicted to Diablo two like Aly and Jen. So we all could enjoy a nice game or two and not kill each other."
'Not kill each other, ha. That's funny…' I thought to myself. "Yes, well, is something bugging you? Do you need to talk?" I asked genteelly.
She smiled, "You always concerned about me aren't, twit?"
"You're the same, you know. You never leave me alone until I tell you what's bugging me and you always seem to help. As in that one time when I got detention for something I didn't do and you cleared my name because you saw what had happened. It's a good thing that the teachers trust you a lot. So, now it's my turn to help you. What's bugging you?" I asked, standing next to her. She shook her head. I knew she wasn't going to tell me much but perhaps something that I could help her with.
"You probably all ready know what's going on between Dan, Larry, and I. They want me to decide between them but how can I? They're both so wonderful." She sighed again. I could tell she was depressed. This issue had taken a lot out of her. Least she wasn't killing me this time, thank God.
"Perhaps, you should wait and find out what your true feelings are. You never know what may happen between then and now. Don't you go making hastily decisions either. Just be yourself." Why did I just say that? "Relax and have a good time." And don't kill me.
"Okay, dude, I guess I should trust ya." Then she thought for a minute. "Hey, wasn't that my advise to you about Mal?"
I smiled slyly, "Perhaps, ol' girl. You never know." Thanks to her advice the incident went well and I got a girlfriend. Her advice usually always worked so well.
"Why you little sneak. Your using my own advises against me, aren't you?"
"Uh, yes? Err, I mean no. Wait, yes. DON'T KILL ME!" I begged as I started backing away. She laughed. It was a sane laugh which was good.
"I ain't gonna hurt ya right now. Perhaps later, dude. Thanks for the advice." She hugged me and totted over to shelter for food. "I'M SO HUNGRY! GET OUT OF MY WAY, LARRY! FFFOOOODDDDD!" Well, she's better. I was a bit shocked of being hugged and not hit.
"ARRG! THAT'S MINE YOU LITTLE TWIT!" Yelled Danny chasing Mo with his sausages in her hand.
"MWHAHAHA!! MINE NOW! MWHAHAHA!" She run past me and winked. 'Oh yeah, our Mo is back and with vengeance.' Then I remembered about the quest.
"Hey! Chaps! I need to talk to you now! I got some news!" I shouted over Mo's commotion. She was running over the camp with Dan hot on her trail. She was eating while running. She took a head drive into the ground but recovered quickly and kept on going.
"Yeah? Really? What is it?" Asked Jen running over followed by Dru.
"Get the others and I'll tell you, mate." I said sitting down on a wet log. "I can't believe I just sat down on a soggy log." Jen snickered while Dru dragged the others to the barren bonfire site.
"All right, you, what's the news?" Asked Dan, trying to squeeze the life out of Mo. Fortunately, Aly whacked him and told him to sit down. Mo grinned evilly as she ate the rest of Dan's sausages.
"We are now on day four of being here." I stated to them. They all nodded. "I talked to Akara last night about certain things." I related the incident of Kashya running in and telling Akara about Cain. Dan nodded gravely. The others sat in silence. "That's all I got to say. What shall we do, chaps?"
"I say we go." Said Mo. Jen, Dru, and I agreed with her.
"Hmm…there may be a slight problem here. It's probably gonna be a long trip to get to the Dark Woods then to the Stony Field again. We'll need vittles and a tent to sleep in if it rains again." Said Dan, thinking ahead. "But I'm not sure this is a wise decision."
"Well, I say we go. We need Cain and I like sleeping in the wilderness. We can backpack it like they do in Rangers, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts. It would be a jolly ol' adventure, ya know." Replied Mo. Dan thought about it.
"Hmm…Larry what do you think?" He asked the Barbarian.
"Let's see. First, I think it's highly dangerous. Second, why do we really need Cain? All he does is give quests and identify stuff for you. And Third, I just don't like the idea of carrying the tent, since I'd probably have to." Larry replied. His answers made much sense, for once, and they made us think about what to do. Mo, Jen, and Dru were still up for it but now I was debating with myself on what to do.
I played with the ground, pulling up grass and stuff. I was unsure of myself about this. I did think we should do this but the facts stated by Larry, minus the third one, also made sense to me. "Blimey, now you have me confused. I can't decide whether I should or not." I said to the gang. It was about noon when we having our discussion of what to go. Akara and Kashya came up to us as they said they would.
"Hello, warriors. I hope you slept well. Have you come to your decision?" Akara asked politely.
"Miss Akara, Lady Kashya," Replied Dan, acknowledging both Akara and the Rogue captain as they walked up to us. "We are at uncertain terms between ourselves about this and have not made up our minds yet. Dru, Jen, and Mo want to go. I do not want to. I believe, Larry wishes not to and Aly hasn't said a thing yet and Stu is now uncertain, thanks to Larry."
"I told you. These children should not go! They can't even make up their minds, Akara!" Stated Kashya, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"Perhaps, us children, don't want to get killed, rogue." Growled out Aly, giving the rogue a death stare. "I for one, say we go. You guys do want to get home, aren't I right?" She turned around to look at us. We all nodded in agreement. Aly turned back to the rogue. "There. You have it. We are going and if you got a problem, rogue, deal with it."
"Yeah! Go Aly!" Said Mo, jumping up and punching her fist into the air. She messed up her landing and landed on Dan. "Hiya Cutie!"
"Good Day, Mo. Nice to see you." Said Dan smiling. Mo climbed off him and sat between him and Larry. Dan and Larry were glaring at each other again. Hopefully a fight wouldn't break out between them.
"Thank you, baka." Aly replied sitting down on her dry rock.
"Okay, we are going. First we need to take down that shelter over there and pack it for Larry to carry." Larry groaned. "We each have to carry out own provisions. We will prepare salted meat tonight and tomorrow. I need you all to do that and find dried fruit for a trail mix. We need to this as quick as possible. Every minute we wasted is another minute lost unto getting home. You got your instructions. Lets get moving, people."
Akara and Kashya smiled at each other. They left us silently walking back to their posts.
We took down the tent first. Which wasn't too hard. We undid the canvas from the ground first. I tried to pull out a stake and when I did, I feel backwards and the stake went flying. Mo got hit in the head by the flying stake that I pulled out. She didn't know it was me but she was steamed. I made sure I stayed well away from here, just in case. Aly, Jen, and Mo folded up the canvas while me and the boys up rooted the poles and laid them down next to the stash box. While we were up rooting the poles, the girls were trying to kill each other, again over how to fold the canvas.
"ALY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Yelled Mo as Aly tried to fold the canvas. "THAT'S NOT HOW YOU DO IT!" They got into a yelling fight then into a fist fight. More like a karate fight with Mo. She was kicking and jabbing with her fists at Aly. Aly was ducking and weaving.
Jen yelled at them, "YOU TWO IDIOTS! STOP THAT!" She tried to stop with force but Mo and Aly started killing her while trying to kill each other. Us boys, watched in amusement. Dru was cheering for Jen, Dan and Larry were for Mo (who could have guessed they would do that?) while I was cheering for Aly. Dan and Larry were still holding the fifty pound stake on their shoulders, while jumping up and down and cheering on Mo.
Mo kicked at Jen then punched at Aly. Aly blocked the attack but Jen unfortunately was kicked in the jaw by the insane Mo. Scarlet blood flowed from Jen's lip from where Mo had hit her. They finally stopped killing each other after Mo had knocked out Jen by kicking her in the head with a back round off kick. Jen's bottom lip was bleeding and so was her head right above her eyebrows. The gash was deep across her forehead. The blood flowed freely out her wounds unto her dark clothes. I noticed she was wearing something different from her usual set of clothing.
She wore a short sleeve black t-shirt, black pants, black heavy boots, and she wore black gloves also. It went well with her black hair and green eyes. It gave her a dangerous look of an assassin.
"Oh, shit! Jen are you okay?" Mo asked trying to help Jen. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to seriously hurt ya." Jen woke up after a couple buckets of ice cold were poured on her by Dru. He kneeled beside her. He pressed his white sleeve against her forehead.
"Mo, remind me to never get ya mad again. You go berserk and are really dangerous." Jen said, rubbing her jaw which was now one bring bruise.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt ya! I meant to kill Aly!" Mo cried out. Jen waved her off and limbed over to Akara's tent to get healed. Aly and Mo came out with minor wounds.
"You're so kind Mo…" Mumbled Aly checking over herself for wounds.
"I know I am." Mo replied. She had a cut from her shoulder to her elbow on her right arm that was healing quickly thanks to Dan's healing aura. She also had a cut across her cheek. All Aly had was a deep cut on her left leg. Danny's healing aura was healing her also. Aly folded the rest of canvas and shoved it into a sack which would strap across Larry's back for him to carry. At least I didn't have to carry it but I was the weakest boy here too. Which I am thankful for now.
After Dan lectured the ladies about their little engagement in combat, it was well past dinner time and it was dark. I had found some fruit earlier while Dan was lecturing the girls and a bird and I was making a Birdie Cherry Berry Roast. The food demons arrived when they smelt the food from all over camp. The others were preparing for the trip by buying us provisions that we needed and backpacks for the vittles, blankets, and other things we had to have for this quest. The fire was dying again. I added more wood to it. Mo and Larry were hovering over the food drooling like two dogs. Aly sat sanely next to me but I could tell she was hungry too. After the food was done cooking, the food demons scuffed their food quick while the rest of us ate it calmly. We all had to protect out food from Mo too.
After dinner, Dan told us for what we were going to do tomorrow. "Akara has kindly donated us dried meat, dried fruits, cheese, and bread for our trip. Now, I have stuff here that needs to be given to you. It was left by a friend of ours two days ago I believe. Aly, you have all ready picked up your stuff so stay where you are." Aly was edging for a ring and amulet but sat back down grumbling. "Now, Mo, you come here and get your ring, amulet, and helm please." Mo walked up and took her equipment. "The ring adds to your skills by +2 and the amulet adds +50 to your mana but I believe you can't use those yet, so I suggest you stash those. The helm is a normal helm. Thirty defense." Mo walked over to the stash and put her stuff into there. She also put on her helm. I sat patiently waiting for my stuff. "Larry, this maul, belt, armor, and…thing are for you." Dan held up the thing. I knew what it was. It was an assault guard for the barbarian. Dan read the piece of paper he was holding. "This says it has 45 defense then adds 30 to your defense, adds one to all your skills, and 6% life and mana stolen per hit. The maul is Bonesnap, I think you know what it does cause you have it on your barbarian on battle.net. The belt is mesh belt and the armor is one hundred and fifty defense."
Larry put on his armor. It was plate mail. The assault guard gave him the look of a true warrior. He put on his belt and attached potions to it and picked up his maul. "How do I look Mo?"
"Like a warrior and quite handsome too." She replied twiddling with her ring. She was wearing her old ring. We're still not sure what it does. Mo didn't have her helm on at the moment.
Dru picked up an Alfa wolf head helm, scale mail, and an amulet that added to his summoning skills. Jen received a unique wrist blade and a circlet like Aly's. I received a new wand that added two to all my skills, chain mail, and wormskull which I couldn't use yet. Dan got new armor, a war hammer to use, and boots. After he had given everything out he told us to get some shut eye before. Tomorrow was going to long day. We were to leave by the way point to get to the cold plains at noon. We would pack tomorrow morning.
"Good night, chaps." I said. Everyone muttered something different to me. I was tired. There was an exciting day ahead of us tomorrow and I could wait for it. I drifted into sleep with no dreams and no nightmares. Just a restful slumber.
~*~*~
Tomorrow will be an eventful for our warriors. The fifth day in the world of Diablo two. They have adapted quickly to their settings in order to survive. But will they survive in the wilderness they have to travel though to get to Cain? Who will Mo chose as her boyfriend? The courageous Paladin, Danny? Or the Mighty Barbarian, Larry? Did the fight between the "ladies" affect their relationship with each other? Only time will tell in this tale of fate.
Onward to Victory! Is their battle cry.
~*~*~
Note: So…Is it getting better? I would love to hear suggestions on making battle screens seem more realistic. Anything is welcomed to improve my story. I hope I got ya hooked on my fishing line so you'll keep coming back to read my story. Well, Hope you enjoyed it so far. Chapter Nine will come soon. And I believe its Dru Berry's turn to tell the story. Time to get inside his head. Well, Ja Ne, peeps! Hope you come back for the next chapter!
Disclaimer: This is getting on my nerves…I don't own nada. Kay?
Onward to Victory!
By Hdogg
Told by Stuart Derhund, The General Nerd
A Quest Unfolds, Conflicts Arise
Note: Hmmm….Well, what is there to say? Not much. The last chapter ended with Larry thinking, "It's a wonderful day." In the neighborhood. Oops, I didn't just say that did I? Ehh, well, I got questions that need to answered and a story to write. So, Onward to Victory!
~*~*~
The ominous sky was pouring out rain and I was soaked to the bone. "I bloody hate rain." I muttered to myself. I ran my hand thought my short dirty blonde hair. It was soaked just like the rest of me. My clothes clanged to my body. I had changed from my geekish clothing to a more Diablo two look. I was basically wearing what the Diablo two necromancer wears.
"Hey! Could someone help me with this tent thingy!" Shouted Mo from across the clearing. She was trying to put up a large canvas so we would be dry. Everyone was soaked to the bone.
"Yeah! Hang on!" Called out Danny jogging over to help Mo. "Hang on to that end and tie it down! I got this end!" He shouted over the howl of the savage wind. The rain was now pelting down from the east like needles stinging our skin.
"Blimey, why couldn't it be sunny and warm? Blimey, it's cold too. It has to be at least forty degrees at here." I said to no one. Larry was at the blacksmith getting his equipment repaired, while Jen and Dru huddled in Akara's warm, dry tent. Aly was enjoying herself in the rain. She was practicing with her bow and arrows, which she really sucked at, by aiming at Gheed.
"Stop that, you insane child!" He would shout over the wind. Aly just smiled wickedly and kept on firing at him. He eventually retreated into his wagon after barely being missed by a dozen arrows. "YOU INSANE WOMAN! LEAVE ME ALONE!" He roared as arrow was shot and got stuck in the side of his wagon. "WITCH!" He called out before locking himself up into his wagon.
"Man…now there's no one for target practice anymore…Hey Stu!" She called out but I had all ready taking off to the pavilion which was mostly up.
"That lady is bloody insane!" I shouted at Mo, who was helping Danny fasten the last corner of the tent structure.
"Uh-huh. Danny move over a bit I can't hit the nail with your hand in the way." She said aiming to strike the stake. Danny quickly moved his hand and Mo drove the stake into the ground with a well placed hit. Aly came running into the pavilion with Dru and Jen close behind her.
"Hiya! We need to get a fire going, ya know. It's freezing." She said helping to enclose the tent on three sides. Larry came back with his arms full with a pile of dry firewood in his arms.
"Hey guys! Looky what I got." He said beaming as he dropped the wood into the center of the pavilion. "Charsi gave them to me. Cool, eh?"
"Thanks, Lar. Just what we needed." Aly said picking up a few logs. She placed them into a log house formation. She also stuck pine needles in the center for kindling. "All right, anyone got some matches or a lighter?" We all said no. None of us had any of that. "Great…Okay, Mo, you were the Girl Scout. Work your wonders with a sword and some flint."
"Hehe, the wondrous Girl Scout to the rescue, eh?" Mo said smiling mischievously. She grabbed Larry's sword away from him and pulled out a piece of flint. "Funny, I never thought this thing would be useful…except for throwing at Larry or Stu of course." Mo struck the piece of rock on the steel. Sparks flew and a few landed into the small bit of kindle in the middle of the logs. She quickly got to her knees and blew on the few sparks until they were merrily burning the logs. "The wondrous Girl Scout/Ranger rules again at wilderness survival skills. We praise me." Larry actually did praise her. We all looked at him strangely.
"Wot, are you a ranger now too?" I asked turning back to Mo. A ranger was a branch off the boy scouts but you had to be fourteen to join them and Mo was only thirteen. Girls could join that branch too not just boys.
Mo looked sheepish and replied, "Eh, well, I was a recruit…Not quite a Ranger yet…but I was in the Girl Scouts for countless of years. I did make it to senior scout, ya know." She triumphed over me. Larry gloated as he took Mo's side.
"Bloody American…" I muttered out of the side of my mouth. That girl really got on my nerves at times. Acting all high and mighty at times then she's a whiney little witch when things got bad. "You do know, you could have used inferno or fire ball?"
"Oh yeah! I remember now!" Mo said hitting herself in the head with her hand. "I'm a sorceress." The others cracked up at Mo.
"Haha! You forgot! I can't believe it!" Said Larry clutching his stomach. Danny was laughing too but not as loud as the others. The tent was finally secured from the rain and was smug and warm. I didn't join in the laughing. I didn't see anything funny about it. Mo was just a stupid sorceress with a bad temper. 'And of course had fire balls to throw at me…'
Aly jabbed me in the ribs, "Come, Stu, laugh! Isn't Mo a riot!"
"More like an idiot to me." I muttered in reply.
"Oh lighten ol' chap! It's just a bit of fun!" Said Mo slapping me on my back hard. She was grinning like manic(gee, isn't that a surprise?).
"Owe! Damn it, girl. Watch it." I growled out, glaring at the mischievous witch. "I'm leaving. I'll be back later." I left the tent.
"Stu! What's wrong, man?" Mo yelled out after me. I kept on walking to no where. After a moment or two, I looked up to find myself at Akara's tent. She was standing in the opening.
"Come in, young general." She said beckoning me in. I followed obediently, like a lost puppy. "Sit down, please. Tell me, what's bothering you?"
"I…uh…Why do you ask?" I asked. She handed me a small tankard filled with mint tea. I accepted it.
"You seem troubled. Is there something bothering you about one of your comrades? Say the young sorceress?" Akara asked patiently. I was clutching the tankard tightly. My hands were white. Akara waited patiently for me answer her. I finally did.
"Yes, it's Maureen, that sorceress. She's so rude, cruel, mean…bossy and there are other wonderful attributes to her too." I burst out.
"You two seemed to be such good friends though. Why the sudden hostile ness towards the young girl? She's only a love struck teenager." She watched me intently with her bright yellow eyes. There were many secrets locked in them. Of happiness, of tragedy, of everything imaginable was sealed away in those yellow eyes.
"We were friends once…She's turned for the worse somehow. She's changed since this the end of the school year. She was a nice quiet girl, read a lot too, but now…she's a loud mouth, bad tempered, evil minded, woman!" I exclaimed. I was also thinking, 'Love struck? Mo? Her? Really? Can't be…'
"Did you perhaps think why she would acting this way?" The old woman asked me.
"Well…no…" I looked at my hands. Then Akara explained the problem of my world, Maureen Wolfe. The woman of terror.
"Maureen, your young sorceress friend, is going though a large trail of her life. She's faced with heavy decisions." Akara started calmly.
"Like what? Her life is perfect. She even has two boys falling head over heel for her! What can be possibly wrong!" I broke in.
"You stated the problem. The boys or young men how ever you think of them. Daniel and Larry I believe they're called. The Paladin and the Barbarian. They're the ones that are causing her great stress. She has to decide between them. She can't have both. You two should talk to her. There are many over things causing her distress too. Maureen will explain everything to a trusted friend but can you be trusted with what she has to tell you?" She said. I stared at her. Mo was stressed over two boys? This was new in the life story of Maureen Wolfe. And she is stressed over other matters? I wondered what else was bothering Mo. "You better be going, young necromancer. I hope you talk to you soon."
"May the Great Eye watch over you and the rogues, Akara." I said to her bowing like an English gentlemen. When I was about to step out of the door I was shoved a side by Kashya.
"Akara, we have a serious problem. Deckard Cain has been taken by those foul creatures from beyond the grave!" The soaked rogue captain exclaimed. The wind raged outside. "What are we going to do?!"
"Let us send our young warriors." Akara replied with calmness in her voice even though her eyes twitched nervously.
"Them? Send that bunch of hooligans? Are you insane?" Kashya voice raised to a screech. "We're putting the life of Cain in children's hands? Are you mad!? They can't even get along for an hour without someone trying to kill each other! The sorceress is breaking down as we speak over something. AND YOU'RE THINKING OF SENDING THESE CHILDREN INTO BATTLE!?" I was huddled in a corner of the tent listening to all of this. Rain was coming though the tent entrance, drenching me. 'I hate the rain. I really, really hate the rain.'
"These children are perfectly able on taking on these demons. They're teenagers you know. Don't you remember your teenage crisis's?" Akara smiled. She had taken Kashya completely off guard.
"Umm…well, that's not we're here to talk about." She stammered wringing water out of her brown hair. I was soaked now from head to toe. "We need to rescue Cain!"
"Necromancer, come here please." Said the old woman. I slowly rose out of my little hiding place and waked nervously forward to them. "Do you think that you and your companions are able for this task?"
I was standing in front of two very sensible women. I think one was insane too. I had a feeling if I agreed with one of them, the over would chop off my head or poison me when I'm asleep. "Well, m'ladies, perhaps I should talk this over with my jolly ol' chaps, wot?" The two seemed to agree with me on this.
"Yes, that would a sensible thing to do. To talk it over with your mates." Said Kashya nodding in agreement with my plan.
"I agree. Come back later and tell us what you have decided, young Necromancer." Replied Akara. "Tomorrow at the latest. If you're not here by noon or so, we'll come and find you." I hastily bowed to both and bolted out of the door. I ran over to the tent. Mo and Aly weren't there but everyone else was.
"Guys," I started but Dan held up a firm hand.
"Stuart, go lye down and rest. We will take care of everything in the morning." His voice was harsh. I didn't argue with him. I didn't noticed how late it was. It was the end of the third day we were here. I lay down on my straw pallet. Thunder roared outside of the small shelter. It was warm and cozy. It was all ready pitch black because of the storm raging outside. Lighting flashed every now and then while thunder rumbled in the distance. My eyelids grew heavy. I rolled over on my pallet and faced the fire. I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
~*~*~
The next morning of the fourth day we were here, I woke up to the smell of sausages cooking. "Hmmm…Smells good. Who's cooking the food?" I asked sitting up. I noticed that Mo wasn't here but Aly had returned and she was cooking. I hoped she wasn't burning the food too.
"Good Morning, twit. Nice to see ya awake. Now Mo can kill ya." She said taking the sausages off the fire. She handed three out to everyone but only gave me two. Larry and Dan were talking about something and, Dru and Jen, were chatting about their lives in the real world. It seemed that no one wanted to talk to me. I ate my sausages in silence and walked out of the shelter.
"Weird…" I muttered to myself. "It's like I'm invisible or I'm at school again." The ground was soggy but the day was bright and sunny. It was a decent temperature about 60 or so. I tried to recall the date. It was spring back home and it seemed that the seasons in our world reflected here. 'Okay, it was February 28th when we got here so…it was March 3rd today since it ain't a leap year. Larry had just turned 13 in January and the next closet birthdays were…Jen's and Dru's on the 21st. Jen was going to be 15 and Dan was going to 14…Hmm…interesting." Amazingly, Larry who was only 5'5" in real life had grown two inches and gained a lot of muscle in the arm and leg area, so far. I noticed everyone else, including myself, was growing in some way or other. As freaky as that was, I thought it was cool. I wandered around until I saw Mo standing near the entrance of the camp. "Hello, I think. Are you planning to kill me?" I asked as I carefully approach her.
"Perhaps." I noticed that she had been crying. Her eyes were red and puffy like a rabbits. I remember what Akara had said to me yesterday about her. "Ya know, life is funny at times. One moment your on the top of the world, the next you sink down into a sink hole in the ground down to Hades." She shook her head and stared at across Blood Moor. It was a peaceful screen even though monsters roamed out there.
"Yes, it is weird. Life can be full of adventure and yet, full of sorrow. Full of love and full of hate." I replied standing next to her. "You know, if you ever need a shoulder to lean on, I'm for you, ol' girl. Like ya also been for me."
She sighed. "Yes, I know. That's why you're my friend and that's why I got you addicted to Diablo two like Aly and Jen. So we all could enjoy a nice game or two and not kill each other."
'Not kill each other, ha. That's funny…' I thought to myself. "Yes, well, is something bugging you? Do you need to talk?" I asked genteelly.
She smiled, "You always concerned about me aren't, twit?"
"You're the same, you know. You never leave me alone until I tell you what's bugging me and you always seem to help. As in that one time when I got detention for something I didn't do and you cleared my name because you saw what had happened. It's a good thing that the teachers trust you a lot. So, now it's my turn to help you. What's bugging you?" I asked, standing next to her. She shook her head. I knew she wasn't going to tell me much but perhaps something that I could help her with.
"You probably all ready know what's going on between Dan, Larry, and I. They want me to decide between them but how can I? They're both so wonderful." She sighed again. I could tell she was depressed. This issue had taken a lot out of her. Least she wasn't killing me this time, thank God.
"Perhaps, you should wait and find out what your true feelings are. You never know what may happen between then and now. Don't you go making hastily decisions either. Just be yourself." Why did I just say that? "Relax and have a good time." And don't kill me.
"Okay, dude, I guess I should trust ya." Then she thought for a minute. "Hey, wasn't that my advise to you about Mal?"
I smiled slyly, "Perhaps, ol' girl. You never know." Thanks to her advice the incident went well and I got a girlfriend. Her advice usually always worked so well.
"Why you little sneak. Your using my own advises against me, aren't you?"
"Uh, yes? Err, I mean no. Wait, yes. DON'T KILL ME!" I begged as I started backing away. She laughed. It was a sane laugh which was good.
"I ain't gonna hurt ya right now. Perhaps later, dude. Thanks for the advice." She hugged me and totted over to shelter for food. "I'M SO HUNGRY! GET OUT OF MY WAY, LARRY! FFFOOOODDDDD!" Well, she's better. I was a bit shocked of being hugged and not hit.
"ARRG! THAT'S MINE YOU LITTLE TWIT!" Yelled Danny chasing Mo with his sausages in her hand.
"MWHAHAHA!! MINE NOW! MWHAHAHA!" She run past me and winked. 'Oh yeah, our Mo is back and with vengeance.' Then I remembered about the quest.
"Hey! Chaps! I need to talk to you now! I got some news!" I shouted over Mo's commotion. She was running over the camp with Dan hot on her trail. She was eating while running. She took a head drive into the ground but recovered quickly and kept on going.
"Yeah? Really? What is it?" Asked Jen running over followed by Dru.
"Get the others and I'll tell you, mate." I said sitting down on a wet log. "I can't believe I just sat down on a soggy log." Jen snickered while Dru dragged the others to the barren bonfire site.
"All right, you, what's the news?" Asked Dan, trying to squeeze the life out of Mo. Fortunately, Aly whacked him and told him to sit down. Mo grinned evilly as she ate the rest of Dan's sausages.
"We are now on day four of being here." I stated to them. They all nodded. "I talked to Akara last night about certain things." I related the incident of Kashya running in and telling Akara about Cain. Dan nodded gravely. The others sat in silence. "That's all I got to say. What shall we do, chaps?"
"I say we go." Said Mo. Jen, Dru, and I agreed with her.
"Hmm…there may be a slight problem here. It's probably gonna be a long trip to get to the Dark Woods then to the Stony Field again. We'll need vittles and a tent to sleep in if it rains again." Said Dan, thinking ahead. "But I'm not sure this is a wise decision."
"Well, I say we go. We need Cain and I like sleeping in the wilderness. We can backpack it like they do in Rangers, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts. It would be a jolly ol' adventure, ya know." Replied Mo. Dan thought about it.
"Hmm…Larry what do you think?" He asked the Barbarian.
"Let's see. First, I think it's highly dangerous. Second, why do we really need Cain? All he does is give quests and identify stuff for you. And Third, I just don't like the idea of carrying the tent, since I'd probably have to." Larry replied. His answers made much sense, for once, and they made us think about what to do. Mo, Jen, and Dru were still up for it but now I was debating with myself on what to do.
I played with the ground, pulling up grass and stuff. I was unsure of myself about this. I did think we should do this but the facts stated by Larry, minus the third one, also made sense to me. "Blimey, now you have me confused. I can't decide whether I should or not." I said to the gang. It was about noon when we having our discussion of what to go. Akara and Kashya came up to us as they said they would.
"Hello, warriors. I hope you slept well. Have you come to your decision?" Akara asked politely.
"Miss Akara, Lady Kashya," Replied Dan, acknowledging both Akara and the Rogue captain as they walked up to us. "We are at uncertain terms between ourselves about this and have not made up our minds yet. Dru, Jen, and Mo want to go. I do not want to. I believe, Larry wishes not to and Aly hasn't said a thing yet and Stu is now uncertain, thanks to Larry."
"I told you. These children should not go! They can't even make up their minds, Akara!" Stated Kashya, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"Perhaps, us children, don't want to get killed, rogue." Growled out Aly, giving the rogue a death stare. "I for one, say we go. You guys do want to get home, aren't I right?" She turned around to look at us. We all nodded in agreement. Aly turned back to the rogue. "There. You have it. We are going and if you got a problem, rogue, deal with it."
"Yeah! Go Aly!" Said Mo, jumping up and punching her fist into the air. She messed up her landing and landed on Dan. "Hiya Cutie!"
"Good Day, Mo. Nice to see you." Said Dan smiling. Mo climbed off him and sat between him and Larry. Dan and Larry were glaring at each other again. Hopefully a fight wouldn't break out between them.
"Thank you, baka." Aly replied sitting down on her dry rock.
"Okay, we are going. First we need to take down that shelter over there and pack it for Larry to carry." Larry groaned. "We each have to carry out own provisions. We will prepare salted meat tonight and tomorrow. I need you all to do that and find dried fruit for a trail mix. We need to this as quick as possible. Every minute we wasted is another minute lost unto getting home. You got your instructions. Lets get moving, people."
Akara and Kashya smiled at each other. They left us silently walking back to their posts.
We took down the tent first. Which wasn't too hard. We undid the canvas from the ground first. I tried to pull out a stake and when I did, I feel backwards and the stake went flying. Mo got hit in the head by the flying stake that I pulled out. She didn't know it was me but she was steamed. I made sure I stayed well away from here, just in case. Aly, Jen, and Mo folded up the canvas while me and the boys up rooted the poles and laid them down next to the stash box. While we were up rooting the poles, the girls were trying to kill each other, again over how to fold the canvas.
"ALY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Yelled Mo as Aly tried to fold the canvas. "THAT'S NOT HOW YOU DO IT!" They got into a yelling fight then into a fist fight. More like a karate fight with Mo. She was kicking and jabbing with her fists at Aly. Aly was ducking and weaving.
Jen yelled at them, "YOU TWO IDIOTS! STOP THAT!" She tried to stop with force but Mo and Aly started killing her while trying to kill each other. Us boys, watched in amusement. Dru was cheering for Jen, Dan and Larry were for Mo (who could have guessed they would do that?) while I was cheering for Aly. Dan and Larry were still holding the fifty pound stake on their shoulders, while jumping up and down and cheering on Mo.
Mo kicked at Jen then punched at Aly. Aly blocked the attack but Jen unfortunately was kicked in the jaw by the insane Mo. Scarlet blood flowed from Jen's lip from where Mo had hit her. They finally stopped killing each other after Mo had knocked out Jen by kicking her in the head with a back round off kick. Jen's bottom lip was bleeding and so was her head right above her eyebrows. The gash was deep across her forehead. The blood flowed freely out her wounds unto her dark clothes. I noticed she was wearing something different from her usual set of clothing.
She wore a short sleeve black t-shirt, black pants, black heavy boots, and she wore black gloves also. It went well with her black hair and green eyes. It gave her a dangerous look of an assassin.
"Oh, shit! Jen are you okay?" Mo asked trying to help Jen. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to seriously hurt ya." Jen woke up after a couple buckets of ice cold were poured on her by Dru. He kneeled beside her. He pressed his white sleeve against her forehead.
"Mo, remind me to never get ya mad again. You go berserk and are really dangerous." Jen said, rubbing her jaw which was now one bring bruise.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt ya! I meant to kill Aly!" Mo cried out. Jen waved her off and limbed over to Akara's tent to get healed. Aly and Mo came out with minor wounds.
"You're so kind Mo…" Mumbled Aly checking over herself for wounds.
"I know I am." Mo replied. She had a cut from her shoulder to her elbow on her right arm that was healing quickly thanks to Dan's healing aura. She also had a cut across her cheek. All Aly had was a deep cut on her left leg. Danny's healing aura was healing her also. Aly folded the rest of canvas and shoved it into a sack which would strap across Larry's back for him to carry. At least I didn't have to carry it but I was the weakest boy here too. Which I am thankful for now.
After Dan lectured the ladies about their little engagement in combat, it was well past dinner time and it was dark. I had found some fruit earlier while Dan was lecturing the girls and a bird and I was making a Birdie Cherry Berry Roast. The food demons arrived when they smelt the food from all over camp. The others were preparing for the trip by buying us provisions that we needed and backpacks for the vittles, blankets, and other things we had to have for this quest. The fire was dying again. I added more wood to it. Mo and Larry were hovering over the food drooling like two dogs. Aly sat sanely next to me but I could tell she was hungry too. After the food was done cooking, the food demons scuffed their food quick while the rest of us ate it calmly. We all had to protect out food from Mo too.
After dinner, Dan told us for what we were going to do tomorrow. "Akara has kindly donated us dried meat, dried fruits, cheese, and bread for our trip. Now, I have stuff here that needs to be given to you. It was left by a friend of ours two days ago I believe. Aly, you have all ready picked up your stuff so stay where you are." Aly was edging for a ring and amulet but sat back down grumbling. "Now, Mo, you come here and get your ring, amulet, and helm please." Mo walked up and took her equipment. "The ring adds to your skills by +2 and the amulet adds +50 to your mana but I believe you can't use those yet, so I suggest you stash those. The helm is a normal helm. Thirty defense." Mo walked over to the stash and put her stuff into there. She also put on her helm. I sat patiently waiting for my stuff. "Larry, this maul, belt, armor, and…thing are for you." Dan held up the thing. I knew what it was. It was an assault guard for the barbarian. Dan read the piece of paper he was holding. "This says it has 45 defense then adds 30 to your defense, adds one to all your skills, and 6% life and mana stolen per hit. The maul is Bonesnap, I think you know what it does cause you have it on your barbarian on battle.net. The belt is mesh belt and the armor is one hundred and fifty defense."
Larry put on his armor. It was plate mail. The assault guard gave him the look of a true warrior. He put on his belt and attached potions to it and picked up his maul. "How do I look Mo?"
"Like a warrior and quite handsome too." She replied twiddling with her ring. She was wearing her old ring. We're still not sure what it does. Mo didn't have her helm on at the moment.
Dru picked up an Alfa wolf head helm, scale mail, and an amulet that added to his summoning skills. Jen received a unique wrist blade and a circlet like Aly's. I received a new wand that added two to all my skills, chain mail, and wormskull which I couldn't use yet. Dan got new armor, a war hammer to use, and boots. After he had given everything out he told us to get some shut eye before. Tomorrow was going to long day. We were to leave by the way point to get to the cold plains at noon. We would pack tomorrow morning.
"Good night, chaps." I said. Everyone muttered something different to me. I was tired. There was an exciting day ahead of us tomorrow and I could wait for it. I drifted into sleep with no dreams and no nightmares. Just a restful slumber.
~*~*~
Tomorrow will be an eventful for our warriors. The fifth day in the world of Diablo two. They have adapted quickly to their settings in order to survive. But will they survive in the wilderness they have to travel though to get to Cain? Who will Mo chose as her boyfriend? The courageous Paladin, Danny? Or the Mighty Barbarian, Larry? Did the fight between the "ladies" affect their relationship with each other? Only time will tell in this tale of fate.
Onward to Victory! Is their battle cry.
~*~*~
Note: So…Is it getting better? I would love to hear suggestions on making battle screens seem more realistic. Anything is welcomed to improve my story. I hope I got ya hooked on my fishing line so you'll keep coming back to read my story. Well, Hope you enjoyed it so far. Chapter Nine will come soon. And I believe its Dru Berry's turn to tell the story. Time to get inside his head. Well, Ja Ne, peeps! Hope you come back for the next chapter!
Disclaimer: This is getting on my nerves…I don't own nada. Kay?
Onward to Victory!