A/N: Hey y'all, I know it's been awhile! This is not a story that I have had plans for - it was a spur of the moment thing that I am planning on taking places, I just need... time to do it, and inspiration. On the plus side, it means that I get to play through Diablo LoD again, but it's a slow process to get it written down, plot cross-checked, and make sure that everyone is as in-character as I can make them. Obviously I'm taking liberties with the Diablo characters, so expect some ooc-ness.
TL;DR: This updates slowly and will probably be ooc. Enjoy the read, and constructive criticism is always welcome! Complaints with no suggestions as to fixing issues will be read, carefully considered, and deleted.
Hari decided to pick up the pace a little as she made her way through the Blood Moor, jogging as she followed the path to the edge of the Moor where one of the Rogues was waiting. Her name was Flavie, if Hari remembered correctly from some of the gossip from the Rogues in town. "Beware! The evil is strong ahead," Flavie warned her as she moved beyond the Blood Moor and into the Cold Plains. Hari nodded in response, tightening her grip on the long knife on her hip, ready to draw it at the first sign of trouble. And trouble came indeed, in the form of undead Rogues wielding axes and rapidly moving toward her, far more intelligence in their eyes than had been noticeable in any of the monsters she had met before.
Rolling out of the way of one heavy swing, Hari rebounded and swept upwards with her knife, wincing as the blade caught the skin of the undead rogue's throat just above her armor and tore through it like cold butter. She let out a gurgling scream as she died, hopefully for good this time. Hari had no time to mourn, as another undead rogue was quickly upon her, striking a glancing blow against her armor on her shoulder that would bruise, but thankfully heal. Hari whipped around, catching the axe in one hand and slashing across the rogue's eyes, ignoring the grunt of pain and quickly rebounding to stab through a crack in her armor. As there had only been those two for the moment, Hari took a long minute to catch her breath, noting the way her knife had chipped rather precariously. Grimacing, Hari sheathed it once more, pulling the rather nicely-made axe from the undead rogue's hand – she really had to think of something better to call them – before picking up the gold that the pair had dropped.
The trek through the Plains was a little more treacherous than she had initially anticipated; it was a whole different level of difficulty that she was, at first, having trouble managing. Not only did she have to deal with more of the demonic-looking creatures from the Den of Evil, but their resurrecting shamans as well, not to mention more of the gargantuan beasts that she had struggled to kill one of in the Den, and multitudes of the undead Rogues – which she had decided to classify by their weapon choice; Dark Hunters for those who preferred swords and bucklers, and Dark Spearwomen for those that still chased after the living with spears and javelins in hand. She had yet to meet an undead rogue that had retained her skills with a bow (though she supposed that Blood Raven would be one such opponent), but supposed that the classifications would also work there – they would simply be Dark Rangers, since she had no desire to relate them to the archer mistresses that made up the Rogues.
Hari had decided that making her way around the edge of the Plains, marked off by a masterfully-made stone wall that looked as though it had kept the borders of each area marked off for generations, was the fastest and likely safest way to find the Burial Grounds that Blood Raven had made her encampment, her base for resurrecting the dead. Initially she had found an entrance to another area of grasslands – she had asked about the areas further on when returning to town and having Charsi repair her armor and purchasing a new weapon – called the Stony Field. Upon realizing that it did not, in fact, lead to the cemetery she was searching out, Hari retreated, continuing her loop around the Plains until she came upon her goal.
She had found Blood Raven, finally; though it had scarcely been a day it felt as though an eternity had come and gone. Knowing that she had cleared the direct area of monsters, Hari seated herself, taking a moment to rest and come up with a plan, and to go over the Grimoire to see if there were any other spells she could learn outright to help her in this battle. She felt as though her strength had grown enough for her to add another skill to her repertoire, without exhausting herself too much in the process of learning it.
"Not any lightning spells, not yet," Hari mumbled to herself, paging through the Grimoire. "Not until I know I'm strong enough to start learning that teleport spell. This nova spell won't be strong enough to kick a bitch like Blood Raven back." She skipped on to the fire spells; the fire bolt spell would come in handy at some point, but not yet. Fire purified, yes, but she needed to be able to slow Blood Raven down – there was no doubt that she would be outmatched by the undead Rogue Captain. Flipping back to the cold spells, which she had initially dismissed – she didn't want to overspecialize, after all – Hari looked over them before deciding on going for the powerhouse spell rather than the defensive spell. If this Ice Blast (an upgrade to the Ice Bolt) would be able to freeze Blood Raven for even a few seconds, it would give her a major advantage. It was likely that it would cost much more energy, though, so Hari knew that she would have to use it conservatively.
Channeling her magic exactly as she had before, Hari used the Grimoire to teach herself the spell, this time noticing a subtle difference she had missed before – the air around her grew cold enough for her breath to frost in the air before dissipating back into the normal (muggy, dismal) temperature of the Plains. Hari could feel her body thrumming with energy, and with her armor (a heavier leather now, with gloves and boots and a helmet to match) comfortable and far more funcional, and her weapons (a hand-and-a-half sword slung across her back to use for reach, though it wasn't too functional with how much the weight slowed her down, and a scimitar to use only until Kashya was able to begin teaching her how to use a bow) sharp and ready to use, Hari was practically tearing at the seams to go and complete the quest she had been given.
Entering the Burial Grounds was eerily silent; she had expected something a little more... she wasn't sure, exactly. There was a tall fence, broken down in several places, surrounding the graves. Hari wasn't surprised (sad, but not surprised) to see that there were several zombies and skeletons approaching her from around the area of the Burial Grounds.
"My army will destroy you," a vaguely demonic-sounding voice growled from the first second Hari stepped past the crumbling metal gate of the cemetery. Hari's head snapped towards the sound – like all of the undead rogues, Blood Raven's skin was now a sickly, paper-white color. She wore a helmet the same shade as her skin with horns pointing up, looking remarkably like the skull of a demon. Given that she had been resurrected directly by the Lesser Evil Andariel, Hari didn't discount that as a possibility. The main difference that she could see so far was that Blood Raven seemed to have retained her intelligence to a degree; she harbored some kind of resentment for the Rogues that fueled her anguish (that which Andariel had used and corrupted to use the Captain for her own means). Still; Hari couldn't let that cloud her judgement, and she refused to as she ducked under the swing of a skeleton's scythe, swinging her own scimitar up through the creature's spine in response. Without thinking, Hari cast the Frozen Armor spell, feeling the comforting chill of the spell settle over her skin like a shroud as it formed a visible protective circle around her.
Ducking and weaving through the dead that Blood Raven directed towards her and brushing off the few arrows that stuck in her armor (not deep enough to pierce her skin yet, thankfully), Hari made her way closer to the demon, managing to get in a hurried swipe with the scimitar and gashing open her arm before Blood Raven was hurrying off again, covering her escape with a horde of zombies surrounding her as they popped up from the ground like daffodils as spring approached.
Groaning in frustration, Hari sheathed the scimitar and swapped the speed of the one-handed sword for the range and power of her bastard sword, letting herself swing it around with an angry cry and succeeding in clearing her immediate area (quickly realizing she had just powered raw magic through her arms and the blade, cutting through the undead around her as though they had been warm butter). Blinking off the realization, Hari hefted the sword and ran towards Blood Raven, using the momentum the weight of the blade gave her to her advantage. She spun on a heel, using the weight of the heavy blade to make her spin even faster and rip at least the first inch of the blade through Blood Raven's side. It was by no means a crippling wound to an undead creature, but since she was still moving, still functioning enough to think, Hari figured she still needed the blood to pump somehow. Without blood, she couldn't think, and if she couldn't think, she couldn't fight.
"Matron Andariel commands your death," Blood Raven hissed, drawing her bow and sending an arrow at Hari that gouged deep in her cheek, an unavoidable blow as her helmet merely protected her temples and the back of her neck.
"Matron Andariel can bloody well deliver it herself," Hari growled back, swinging the sword once more and managing to knick Blood Raven's drawing hand. "I'm sorry that it's come to this, Blood Raven." Hari dropped her bastard sword, lunging forward at the sudden lack of weight, and drew her scimitar just in time to thrust it up through one of the cracks in Blood Raven's armor, swallowing thickly at the quickly-congealing blood gushing over her hands as the sword sank up to the hilt, the end piercing through Blood Raven's back. Even as she did this, she could feel her strength waning – Blood Raven's arrows had been poisoned.
It seemed to take a moment for her second death to process, but as Blood Raven died, she screamed – an agonizing sound even to Hari, who was quick to let go of the scimitar once it became clear that the lightning exuding from Blood Raven's corpse was ending whatever foul magic she had used to raise the dead. She let herself fall to the ground on her hands and knees, panting as the poison drew from her strength and blood dripped steadily down her face in several long streaks. She fumbled for a healing potion, coughing as she swallowed it down. It was far from enough for her to go back to full strength, but it was enough for the poison to stop drawing from her strength, and it was enough for her to catch her breath before standing up.
The potion had been more focused on the poison than the wound, but still Hari could feel the dull ache on her face (the wound stretching from just under her left eye to nearly her ear) telling her that the wound was nearly days old now, rather than moments fresh. Another potion would help that, but Hari didn't have any on her at the moment, and returning to the Encampment to assure the Sisters that Blood Raven was finally at peace was a far more important goal. She could deal with another scar; the pain that these women faced every day knowing that one they had trusted before was against them so was far more important.
Drawing one of the Town Portal scrolls from her belt, Hari channeled her magic into it, panting lightly as she stepped through, relieved to see the familiar fire that Kashya stood by. The woman seemed surprised and relieved both to see her, and while she clearly noticed how ragged Hari was at the moment, she was going to give her the dignity of making her approach herself.
"Kashya," Hari greeted softly.
"Hari," Kashya responded with a nod. "You look as though you have done battle."
Hari quirked a smile in response to the words. "That is one way of putting it," she agreed. "I killed Blood Raven. Her death triggered the destruction of the undead she had created that remained in the Burial Grounds."
Kashya seemed to take a moment to process this. "I can hardly believe that you've defeated her," she admitted, a little proudly. "Though she was once my closest friend, I pray that her tortured spirit remains banished forever. As promised, I place several of my best Rogues at your disposal."
Hari gently put a hand on Kashya's forearm. "Betrayal is a hard thing to bear, though I doubt that it was all of Blood Raven's doing. Andariel is a Lesser Evil, the Maiden of Anguish. She likely twisted the feelings that she felt at the moment of her death until she was unrecognizable as the person she used to be. I'm sure that the person that Blood Raven used to be is as mournful of the actions just past as you are," Hari suggested.
"I hope you are right. If my friend is still there at all then she may have still had a chance at redemption," Kashya mused, smiling at Hari. "I thank you, young sorceress, for the actions you have taken to redeem our Sisterhood."
"Of course," Hari promised easily. "I'm glad that I was able to help. With any luck, you'll have your home back in no time." The two shared a grin, Hari hopeful at the thought of being able to help and Kashya with pride at the young sorceress' bravery.
"Go on and see Akara. She will heal the rest of your wounds," Kashya insisted, nudging Hari towards the Priestess' tent. "We can speak more later."
Hari let a giddy laugh escape her as she moved towards Akara's tent, scratching absently at the half-healed cut on her face.
"Good day," Akara greeted. "You look triumphant. I take it that the battle went well?"
Hari nodded with a small smile. "Blood Raven is at rest once more."
"Andariel must be made to pay for her sacrilege," Akara said with a grimace after a moment. "Come, let me heal your wounds. Blood Raven favored poisoned arrows even in life. If not dealt with carefully, they could have lingering effects, even if you are healed." Slowly, she worked her hands, glowing with power, over the most obvious of the wounds. "You will always have a scar there. I suggest investing in a helmet that covers more of your face."
Hari smiled and relaxed as it didn't cause pain pulling at the freshly healed skin. "I will. Thank you, Akara."
"Before you go... It is clear that we are facing an Evil difficult to comprehend, let alone combat. There is only one Horadrim sage, schooled in the most arcane history and lore, who could advise us... His name is Deckard Cain. You must go to Tristram and find him, my friend. I pray that he still lives." Akara looked grim, more serious than Hari had seen her yet – which was saying something, considering their situation. "I trust in your ability to remain safe."
Hari swallowed thickly before she nodded. "I will do my best, then. I will return with Deckard Cain."
Akara relaxed into a tense smile. "Tristram is too far to journey by foot... Cain would likely be dead, when you arrived. However, there is a magical portal that will take you there instantly. To open it, one must stand within the circle of Cairn Stones and touch them in a certain order. The proper order can be found in the runes written on the bark of the Tree of Inifuss. You must find the sacred Tree of Inifuss and bring back its bark. I will translate the runes to unlock the Stones' mystic pattern."
"I understand," Hari said with a nod and a short bow. "Thank you for helping me. I'll go as soon as I can." She waved a short goodbye to the Priestess, pushing her hair back out of her eyes and wished that she knew how to braid it. She headed to Charsi, hoping to get her things repaired and trade out some of her weapons for lighter and better ones.
"Whatcha need?" Charsi asked with a grin as Hari approached, shoveling some charcoal into her forge. Her hair was braided, Hari noticed – she'd have to ask how to get it like that.
"A few repairs and some upgrades. I'm looking to get a bow," Hari explained. "And maybe some of that ring mail. The added protection is worth the weight," she said with a huff of a laugh.
"I think I've got just the thing for you," Charsi said with a smile. "I've got three different kinds of bows here, and I think this one will work best for you. It's a long bow, with a draw that you'll be able to pull back on repeatedly while you're fighting. If you take care of it and bring it in for repairs when you hear any unusual creaking or the bowstring starts to wear, this should last you until you get to Lut Gholein. I don't doubt that you will," Charsi said with a knowing grin. "Warriv and the rest of us in camp know it, too. He's started making preparations to move his caravan back."
"That's rather trusting of you all," Hari said with a deep blush. "I'll do my best to live up to expectations. Y'know, not die and all." She managed a laugh as she pushed her hair back again. "So, I'll take the bow. Any ring mail I can try?"
"I've been playing around with some enchanting. If you don't mind paying a little more, I'm calling this the Ocher Ring Mail of Thorns. It gives you some lightning resistance and the enchantment gives it a little bit of a kick to anyone who hits you," Charsi explained. "If you don't want that I have some that one of the other Rogue scouts found without any enchantments."
"No, I'll take the one that you made. I know that'll be high quality," Hari said with a grin. "While I'm here... Do you think you could show me how to wrangle this mess of hair? I noticed you've got a pretty tight braid there and I've never learned how."
Charsi laughed. "Sure! I've got to keep mine wrapped fairly tight because of working at the forge. Although I don't think that my hair has ever been quite so untameable as yours. Come over here, let me try and brush through it a bit for you."
Hari moved over, shifting so that Charsi could start pushing her fingers through her hair. "I really appreciate your help with everything, Charsi. You're not just a blacksmith to the people here, you're a part of a community, a part of the Sisterhood. Even though you're not out there fighting like you want to be – don't say that you don't want to, I've seen the look in your eyes," Hari said before Charsi could cut her off. "Even though you're not out there, you're doing one of the hardest jobs in any war. You're hanging back and keeping things going here, so that they all have someplace safe to come when they get home," Hari said sagely. "It's one of the most important jobs, too. I mean, can you think about how hard it would be if Kashya and her Rogues didn't have someone here to mend their armor when they've come from a long rotation on the Plains?"
"I suppose you're right," Charsi said, beginning to plait Hari's dark hair into a tight braid. "It isn't easy, though. But I guess it's better that I never have to fight – that the camp has never come so close to being overrun that we have to fight."
"Gheed described Akara as a slow river of magic once to me," Hari started softly, closing her eyes as Charsi tugged on her hair to keep it tightly plaited. "And Kashya as a viper of war. If one was to keep with the comparison, I have no doubt that you would be a lot like a badger."
"A badger?" Charsi asked skeptically, stilling as she frowned. "Why a badger?"
"Well, they're fiercely loyal. And while they aren't complacent or docile, they're tolerant until one begins to desecrate their territory, their home, or hurt their family or those under their protection," Hari explained. "You're like that, I think. You don't look dangerous at first but your face would hold a war grin as easily as any of the Rogues. And your weapons work as well as any badger's claws." Sure, maybe she was a bit biased as to the abilities of badgers after Cedric, but it was well suited to Charsi, too. She rather thought that the two would have gotten along.
"Huh," Charsi said after a moment. "Here, hold on to this for a moment while I get a tie for the end. I've never really thought about it like that before." She tied the strip of leather around the end of the braid before stepping back, grinning at Hari. "I won't charge you for that one," she teased. "Now, I heard Akara sent you to go looking for the Tree of Inifuss. I don't know if it's any help, but the best way to it is through the Stony Field and the Underground Passage to the Dark Wood. It's guarded by one of the Beasts Andariel has charmed. As far as we can tell, it's faster than any other of the Beasts. It's also more resistant to damage, so... be careful."