Even Slaylie and the stoic Sela were awe-struck as they crossed the portal leading to Horazon's sanctuary. The whole place seemed to be floating between the stars, and Earth was nowhere to be seen.
"I wonder what could happen if we fell down..." said Melissa casually leaning to see the dark abyss under them. However she discovered that an invisible wall surrounded the platform on which they now stood."
Arcadio too had noticed it. "Of course... It is just an illusion... Those are plain walls, but they are bewitched to make it look as if we were in outer space." he said.
"Powerful magic it must be indeed, if it had endured for all these years." commented Melissa enthusiastically. Though she never cared much for the deeper study of magic, she always delighted in seeing powerful spells at work.
"I doubt it... Magic wanes, no matter the power of its caster. Someone or something is revitalizing the spell." said Arcadio grimly.
"And apparently there are four ways out of this place." added Sela, examining the four paths that led away from the central platform where the portal to the Palace cellars was placed.
The unasked question remained unanswered as none of them could guess the right way.
"We might as well get started." sighed Welfor as he turned to his left and went forward. The others followed, and although they knew it to be an illusion, they all found it rather unnerving to walk on that thin marble path with an endless abyss beneath them...
"I wonder what kind of demons Horazon has enslaved here..." said Melissa conversationally.
"We will soon find out." said Welfor darkly. "I've heard something". The demons where approaching, some kind of half-goat, half-man beasts, hideous in appearance as well as in smell, bearing axes.
Suddenly Slaylie let out a cry. "I can't use my powers here." she said, as she struggled to summon her shadow cloak. "See if you can use yours Sorceress !"
"I've felt it too." said Melissa shaking her head sadly "I'm afraid I won't be able to help much."
"I can't summon the Light either... Horazon's magic must be blocking all other powers. We have to rely on our weapons solely." he said, unsheathing his sword.
"At least we won't need to fear sneaky murder from the Assassin." muttered Sela, though loudly enough for Slaylie to hear. Despite her animosity toward the Assassin even she knew what a major blow that could prove to their mission. Actually only Welfor was glad to hear this, for his friendship with Melissa hadn't totally eliminated his despise for magic. And he charged furiously into the plain melee combat he loved.
The place proved to be much larger than they expected, as the path divided itself in two several times. They were now taking the third path, which took them through strange red-looking portals which teleported them from one place to the other.
"I'm getting dizzy with all these portals." commented Welfor.
"The worst is that I don't know how to get back from here." said Sela worried, looking back.
"I think we are in the right way. If Horazon is somewhere it should be over there !" said Melissa excited, spotting a construction seemingly floating in space not very far from them. From what they could see, it was some kind of platform. They advanced carefully, getting closer to it, and finally they could see that it was covered by lots of demons : the half-goat monsters they had fought all throughout the Sanctuary and vampires, the fire-casting undeads. They were now in front of the portal which would ( hopefully ) take them to that platform.
"There'll be some heavy fighting over there... We'll be surrounded in a second.." said Arcadio. Before any of them had time to say anything else, several things happened. A huge surge of power, greater than anything any of the group had ever seen hit the demons on the platform killing many of them instantly. They all turned and spotted a cloaked figure over the platform, but then a blinding light came from the figure, and they all had to close their eyes from the burning light, still hearing the dying screams of the monsters. When Melissa was able to see again, she saw the platform covered by the corpses of all the demons that looked so threatening before. A red portal had appeared on the platform. "What was that ?" she asked, still slightly shaken.
"I think... it was Diablo." said Arcadio darkly.
"He's ahead of us then. We must hurry, or he'll get to Baal before we do !" said Welfor alarmed.
"Yes..." said Arcadio walking in the portal after his friend. 'But I fear it is already too late...' The same thought was on all of their minds.
"Well, according to Cain and Drognan we will find Horazon's sign here." said Arcadio. He walked to Horazon's diary which was laying on the ground. It had been destroyed by the previous attack of Diablo, and was soaked with blood."It's impossible to read this. How are we going to figure out the symbol then ?"
"I suppose it is one of those." said Sela, pointing at six symbols which were floating all around the platform, with an eerie blue light.
"The tales tell of seven Tombs, and there are only six of them." said Slaylie.
"What about the ones carved on the ground ?" asked Welfor, realizing that there were symbols on the ground. "There are seven of them." he said.
"Then the one which is on the ground but not among the blue symbols must be the real one." suggested Melissa. "Look. It's the square." she said.
"I guess there is only one way to go than." said Welfor heading to the portal. He entered it, and found himself on the desert again. It was already night though, and a chilly wind was flying over the dunes. He saw Sela appear from nowhere, then Arcadio and Melissa and finally Slaylie.
"It would be better to camp here for the night." said Sela.
"I doubt Diablo will stop for the night.." said Arcadio grimly "But we have no choice."
When the day came, the five adventurers ( though Slaylie was nowhere to be seen, they assumed she would still reappear by their side ) were able to see that they were in fact in some sort of canyon with high cliffs all around it. Assuming that the entrance to the Tombs would be built on the rocky wall they walked toward it.
"No wonder no one could find this place." commented Welfor, looking up to check the cliff's height.
"Look ! There is the first Tomb." said Melissa excitedly, pointing at a doorway that at been built on the rock. It was a truly amazing sight, as it even got runes and sculptures carved on the stone.
"Where is the symbol then ?" asked Sela. As usual Melissa's keen sight was the first one to find it : as the only one with real knowledge in magic she was delighted to outshine her more experienced companions.
"It's over there ! A star."
"So it's not the Tal Rasha's tomb. Off we go..." said Arcadio, but Melissa was curious to get a quick look of the Tomb's inside, but as she was about to enter it a horrible shriek came out of it and Welfor pulled her back.
"We don't want to know what's in there." the Barbarian stated simply.
"I'm sure we'll see some blood-thirsty beast in Tal Rasha's Tomb, though, so don't be too disappointed." said Sela in one of her rare laughs. After passing three fake Tombs they made it to the real one, and without hesitation entered it, weapons firmly in hand. However in the first room, a huge hall very poorly illuminated, they didn't find demons but Slaylie, who was calmly studying the runes carved on the walls of the room.
"Hello ! So you found the Tomb too." she said smiling.
"I wondered why there were no demons on the way... I should have guessed." grumbled Sela. Slaylie just laughed, but she kept reading the inscriptions. She didn't follow them when they started heading toward the end of the main hall, where a huge stony door blocked their way. Arcadio touched it and the stone fell through a crevice under it.
"Clever" he said and went through.
"Aren't you coming with us Slaylie ?" asked Melissa to the Assassin.
"I'll join you later. Just go ahead." she answered mysteriously. Melissa glanced at the runes, but she had never been very good at reading them, so she shrugged and followed her friends through the doorway. Ahead of them was a large pack of skeletons, and they were pleasantly surprised to discover they were weak and easy to dispatch. Realizing that the skeletons were being revived, they rushed to the next room and killed the great mummies there rather easily too. Unbeknownst to them, however, Arcadio, Welfor and Sela who fought from close range, had been poisoned by the toxic tissues that covered the mummies bodies. They kept fighting carelessly, until Sela began to feel the effects of the poison. The initial dizziness was replaced by a growing lack of oxygen in her lungs. Panicked, she turned to her companions who were still unaware of what was happening. Arcadio's breathing was shallow and Welfor was leaning against the wall in order to keep his balance.
"The... mummies." she hissed, through clenched teeth, before her legs gave in, and she fell on her knees. Melissa, the only one who had been spared by the poison, started frenetically searching in her pack for antidotes, as Arcadio and Welfor fell to the ground too. Before they lost consciousness Melissa found the antidotes and quickly gave it to her friends. Their breathing soon returned to normal, but they needed at least another thirty minutes to fully recover, while Melissa watched worriedly.
"I guess we owe you our lives Melissa." said Welfor, still panting.
"That was close... " said Arcadio still shocked.
"You really scared me.. That must have been a powerful poison." she said apprehensively.
Sela was still silent, blaming herself for being so careless. As the most experienced warrior of the group she should have foreseen this, as she had heard tales of such poisoned foes. "We'll have to be more careful next time... How much antidote have we left ?" she asked.
Melissa blushed "None.. when I saw all of you collapsing, I... used it all."
"That's okay." said kindly Sela, forgetting her stern attitude for a moment. "At least we're still alive."
"We'll have to take the mummies from long range from now on... " said Arcadio "Melissa ?"
"I'll do my best." said Melissa.
"My traps should help too." said Slaylie appearing behind them.
"So, you actually came.." said Sela sarcastically.
"I'm sorry, I should have come with you... I didn't know it would be so dangerous.." there was really concern in her voice, which surprised all of them. "I've got some antidote vials, but try to avoid getting poisoned again... I don't have many."
"Well, now that we're all here we can resume our search." said Welfor.
They advanced with more precaution, fighting the greater mummies with spells and traps while Sela, Arcadio and Welfor fought the hordes of skeletons. They also had to avoid the Tomb's traps, like a wall which fell over Arcadio, who was only slightly injured thanks to his strong armor. His helm, however, was so badly damaged that the Paladin had to throw it away. Welfor was poisoned again after being hit by a poisoned dart, and had to use one of Slaylie's antidotes. The group eventually made it to a huge hall, the bigger they had seen in the depths of the Tomb. The seven symbols they had seen in Horazon's sanctuary were engraved on the floor, in the middle of the room, forming a circle in which stood a pedestal.
"Obviously, we have to place the Staff there." said Melissa pointing to the pedestal. She took the Staff she had been carrying during their journey to the Tomb and thrust it deeply into the orifice in the pedestal. The wall in front of her collapsed, revealing a dark passage.
"Baal awaits us in there." said Arcadio solemnly. With a slight thrill of dread, one by one they entered the dark chamber.