MAGGOTS IN ANDARIEL'S LAIR – Part II

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"So, why did you leave like that?" Asked Roine as Exxos slashed at some devilkin that came his way.

"None of your concern." he answered simply. He kept on killing endless amounts of devilkin, yet they kept on coming. Exxos grunted in annoyance. 'Didn't I already kill these?'

"Common, I'm part of this too now, so why won't you tell me?" Pleaded the sorceress, as she cast an ice blast spell distractedly, thus killing the shaman that was hidden behind some barrels.

Exxos looked at the shaman, then at Roine. Then turned around and continued on his way.

"We're going to kill the Smith." He said finally.

"The wha?"

"The smith."

Roine rolled her eyes. "I heard you the first time. But why are we going to kill him?"

"He's got Charsi's Hammer."

"Ooohh…" Said Roine slowly and suggestively, raising her eyebrows and smirking at Exxos. "Charsi's eh?"

"Yes." replied Exxos, who was starting to feel uneasy without knowing why. He avoided her piercing stare and tried to change the subject. "I think this is the right way." He turned into another dimly lit path.

"Do you know what it looks like? The smith I mean."

Exxos, relieved that she didn't pursue the previous subject, answered this question gladly. "I'm not quite sure… But it's not human. Perhaps we should look for something big and -"

His sentence was cut off by a loud crash and a deep dangerous voice echoed through the cold stone walls.

"I'll make weapons from your bones!"

"- something like that…" continued Exxos, his voice faltering as a huge brute of about ten feet appeared, with sinister horns on it's head, and with a bluish tinge. The smith was not only large, but also wide and he sure ran fast. It dived head first towards the two heroes and was brandishing a big hammer in its right hand. But Roine could see no more of the monster because Exxos had come between her and the Smith.

"Stay back." He said unsheathing his humongous axe.

Roine had always wondered how he had managed to carry that thing around, but now she was too annoyed to think of the axe. It was like Mikaela had rubbed off on him. He too, was treating her like a child. But she didn't have time to voice any complaints because Exxos had lunged at the Smith, and they were now engaged in battle. She thought it unwise to interfere, lest it would break his concentration, so instead the sorceress focused on killing the minions around them. They were small, and didn't offer a great challenge, but they were many. The little devils scrambled around as she cast ice balls at them, but they couldn't escape. They froze in mid-run, and Roine seized this chance to whack them hard till they blew up into tiny pieces. Her main focus however, was the shamans. And that's where she directed her main attacks.

Meanwhile, Exxos was slashing at the big brute. However, the little devilkin kept on scratching at his arms and legs, so he had to divide his attention. He was doing fine until a particularly pesky devil bit him hard. Exxos hissed and quickly introduced his axe to the pest, but this fraction of a second was enough for the smith to aim a hard blow at his right shoulder. A shout of pain escaped him as he lost his grip on his axe, which fell on the floor with a loud clang. The Smith hit him again until he ended up on the floor, the devilkin all jumping on him, some trying to choke him, others clubbing at him and scratching every inch of his flesh that was exposed. A second later they all scrambled away in panic and Exxos saw, with a horrified expression, that the Smith was aiming a blow straight for his head. Just when he thought that everything was over, the Smith had frozen in mid-swing, and he saw the tip of a staff hitting it behind the knees, so the smith fell on his back on the floor. Then Roine's face appeared. She extended a hand, and Exxos gladly took it.

"Thanks…" He breathed shakily, and she nodded.

"Finish him off quickly while he's still down."

Exxos seized his axe as Roine froze the Smith again, seeing as he was just starting to get up. The barbarian seized his chance and sliced the smith's head, and he heard Roine make a disgusted sound. He turned to see her, but she was keeping herself busy by finishing off the last of the devilkin, and determinately not looking at the spot where the now headless Smith lay.

His heart was still pounding hard in his chest. If it hadn't been for the sorceress, his brains would be scattered all over the floor by now. He shuddered just as she turned around, and was going to thank her again but was stopped by her squeal of delight.

Roine had just spotted something behind Exxos, and she darted towards it. He followed her with a puzzled expression and saw that she was standing in front of a big stone statue and was placing a yellow gem in a hole.

"What are you doing?" He enquired, not being able to hide the curiosity from his voice.

She wheeled around and beamed at him.

"A gem shrine!"

A muffled rumble was heard from the stone pillar and the flawless Topaz that the stone statue had sucked in, was now replaced by a perfect Topaz. Roine took it carefully and examined it with delight.

Exxos sighed, shook his head and went back to get the Charsi's Horadric Malus. When he returned, he saw that Roine was still admiring her new perfect gem.

"It would have been much better if it had been a blood fountain…" Muttered the barbarian thoughtfully to himself.

This seemed to snap Roine out of her dream world. "A blood fountain?"

"So we could heal."

"Ooooh, you mean a health fountain?"

"Yes." He started walking away and Roine followed him.

"Why did you call it a blood fountain?"

"Because," explained the barbarian, "It's made of blood."

Roine stopped dead in her tracks. Exxos turned to look at her and saw that she was wearing a horrified expression.

"Made of blood? It didn't taste of blood when I drank from it…" She mumbled feebly. "Is it… really made of blood…?"

"No."

The sorceress blinked a few times and her expression turned to annoyance. "Ha ha. What a revelation. Not only can you talk but you also have a sense of humor."

Exxos just smiled at her sarcastic comment, and made a portal to town.

"Oh! And you can smile too!"

Exxos again didn't reply. He just stepped in the portal, Roine following his example.

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The barbarian headed for Charsi's forge as soon as he had gotten through the portal. Roine, wanting to see the show, followed him.

Charsi and the barbarian exchanged a few words quietly which Roine couldn't hear, but when Exxos took out the Malus she let out a scream of joy and jumped at him.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" She said, choking him with her arms around his neck. After a while of squeezing she let go, her face was radiating happiness. "Thank you so much. Oh, my goodness! When I told you the story of how I lost the Malus I didn't really expect you to go and fetch it for me! Oh, thank you Exxos! But I'm so sorry that you went through all that danger for me."

"No trouble at all." muttered Exxos feeling very self conscious. Roine grinned at him mischievously but he turned his reddening face away from her gaze. Roine left the scene and headed for Akara's tent, hearing something about imbuing an item of choice with magical powers before they were out of earshot. Once she reached the priestess' tent she asked Akara to help her with some minor scratches, courtesy of the devilkin, and stocked up on potions when Exxos joined them. He was worse than Roine, but nothing too serious.

"Sooo, you gots a crush on Charsi eh?" she asked when there was no one around. Upon seeing her grin and hearing her comment Exxos started reddening again but was saved from answering this embarrassing question.

"What the hell are you two doing!" cried an angry voice. Roine and Exxos turned and saw a very battered-looking Faelach limping towards them. He looked livid. "Where the hell were you! If there's ever a time when you would be needed it is now!" He shouted in their faces.

Both Roine and Exxos were taken aback by his outburst since they had never seen the usually calm druid in this state of distress.

"Calm down, what's wrong." asked Exxos.

The druid's eyes flashed dangerously. "What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong! A huge horde of monsters just ambushed us in the catacombs! The others sent me to stock up on potions and perhaps see if you two had returned." He finished breathing deeply. Since he had apparently let out all his anger, he now sighed heavily.

"Where's the portal?" enquired the barbarian in a serious voice.

"Follow me -"

"No." interrupted Exxos. "You go heal and get more potions, like they said. Just tell me where it is."

Faelach, being too tired to protest, pointed to the direction of the portal. Exxos and Roine didn't have to be told twice. They dashed in that direction and as soon as they found the druid's portal, they went through.

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As soon as Roine and Exxos entered the scene, they received grateful and angry looks. Grateful looks from Zeke, Estele and Andros, and angry ones from Mikaela. None of them had much time to thank the heavens or curse the new arrivals however, since they were all very busy fending off the abominations that had previously ambushed them.

Andros was battling with what looked like the leader of the misshapen giant monsters. He fought until the monster was against the wall then began smiting it with its shield. He couldn't focus only on that though, for others were attacking him from all sides. At least the misshapen leader was stunned for a while. Mikaela jabbed her spear vigorously at everything that came near her, and every now and then threw a javelin or two in order to fend off the monsters that came near Zeke. The latter was also busy blowing up corpses and raising the dead, and didn't even receive sour looks from Mikaela since she was so absorbed in what she was doing. Estele seemed quite wounded, but she kept on slashing despite her disadvantage.

At once Roine and Exxos started helping their companions. The sorceress summoned a frosty blizzard storm and glacial spikes which froze and slowed down the enemies, giving the others a fraction of a second to recover their breath. Exxos unsheathed his giant axe and started slicing the monsters as if they were onions or tomatoes, while Roine focused on those pesky shamans. After they had cleared the place quite a bit they were joined by Faelach. Now refreshed, he ran towards Estele and handed her the potions, taking over for her. The party, after killing the last of the bastards that had cornered them, breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing that they had sent Faelach to town, and it was a very good thing that he had found Exxos and Roine there… And speaking of which…

"Where were you two!" demanded Mikaela furiously after she had recovered her breath and had sheathed her javelins and spear.

"We were running an errand for Charsi." Replied Exxos calmly.

The Amazon was about to say something else but Andros cut her off.

"It's ok Mikaela. The important thing is that they came just in time to help us out." He too, sheathed his weapon and paced around the place a bit. "It appears like the others that have come here before us had cleared the way to the lower levels of catacombs, but they haven't strayed to kill the rest of the monsters. That's why we were attacked by so many of them at once. So if we want to go straight for Andariel we should go through the cleared corridors. They will lead us to the right way.""

"Let's go then." said Faelach quietly, after a bit of hesitation.

Andros nodded and waited for the approval of the rest of the party. They all seemed worried and nervous as well. Even Exxos felt the tension of the upcoming battle, and he couldn't help expressing it. Nevertheless they all agreed to the plan seeing as there was no other choice. So they followed the cleared corridors, the dim light of the torches clinging to the walls lighting their way as they went.

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Sure enough, the empty corridors lead them to the lower levels of the catacombs, and the lower they went, the darker it became, and everyone swam in their memories once more. A dark shadow that Mikaela couldn't explain came over Andros and she looked at him worriedly, thought she didn't dare interrupt his thoughts, whatever they may be. Zeke was thinking how different he had thought this adventure would be and finally understood why Mikaela would leave him and Roine behind. As for Roine, she had adapted to the circumstances far better than Zeke had, since she had received training at the Academy, but was as unnerved as the others. None of them said a word.

They were in the third level of the catacombs when they heard battle noises. The more they progressed, the louder they became.

"They must be fighting Andariel already…" said Faelach, breaking the silence.

"Yes, that's what it sounds like." replied Estele, speaking for the first time since they had entered the place.

They went on a little more and they saw the last staircase or the catacombs. The party took out their weapons and got ready for battle. The first to go was Andros, followed by Mikaela and Exxos. The three didn't hesitate a moment. They did have more battle experience than the rest after all. The rest were more apprehensive. They took a few deep breaths just before they descended.

Chaos had broken loose. There were even more monsters than those that had cornered them, but there were other warriors there as well. Another paladin was throwing hammers everywhere, while a werebear acted as a meat shield for his Necromancer companion, who in turn was cursing every enemy that he could see. Andros, Mikaela and Exxos were nowhere to be found. They had gone directly to Andariel, perhaps. Faelach immediately summoned his wolves and began smashing at some skeletons. Estele busied herself with some sinister looking zombies, while Zeke summoned skeleton warriors. They were confronted by a group of ghosts, which sucked the energy right out of everyone. Roine quickly froze them while another sorceress summoned meteors.

"Yana! How did you end up here?" exclaimed Roine.

"Just like everyone else I guess…" answered the other sorceress. "This has been very ugly. There's even more monsters in the other chamber. And I don't even want to think of how Andariel will be."

"There are other chambers? Where?"

Yana pointed at a door at the far end of the room. Roine immediately teleported close by where there was no monsters. She entered it and saw even more chaos. Blood and corpses were strewn everywhere. Other heroes, werewolves, assassins who were putting up traps, amazons who shot homing arrows, necromancers, rogues, paladins in grand armor, even more sorceresses, barbarians who looked so brutal that made Roine wonder if Exxos was a phenomenon of his people. He didn't resemble them at all. Exxos seemed calmer somehow. Estele had joined her a moment later. She too recognized school mates and merely had time to greet them before she rushed into action. She was smooth and swift, attacking the monsters and finishing them off with graceful but deadly combinations. 'Wow, she's good…' thought Roine. 'And she seems so focused too.'

A giant double door was open, and the two companions only caught a glimpse of what was inside when an equally giant harpy looking woman came out of it, sending waves of poison all over the warriors that were inside. She had four long tentacles with stings on the ends coming out of her back, her hair was literally on end, and she had claws for hands. She was also topless with pierced nipples, and most of the males stared stupidly until a finally a paladin snapped out of it and helped everyone by spreading a cleansing aura. Everyone rushed forward and attacked her with whatever they had and Estele and Roine did the same.

"Die Maggots!" she hissed as she sent a werewolf and a paladin who was trying to throw hammers at her flying. They crashed on some barrels which exploded. But the demon lady didn't stop there. She grabbed a nearby necromancer and pierced him in the chest with one of her sharp tentacles. This done, she threw him away as well.

"Dennis!" cried a sorceress just as she was sending out chains of lightning. She teleported to where the necromancer lay and started shaking him. "Please…Dennis, please…" When she received no reply she started crying hysterically and shaking the necromancer more fiercely than ever, begging him to say something, until a trap assassin grabbed her and tried to teleport her to town.

"NOOO! Let go of me! I won't go without him…"

But the assassin was aided by the paladin who had used the cleansing aura. "There's nothing you can do now…" The paladin said, before they disappeared.

But this wasn't the last warrior Andariel slew that day, for more heroes went to the other world, together with Dennis the necromancer. The rest of the heroes were shaken by the loss of their allies, but they continued to fight valiantly, despite the venom Andariel threw at them. No matter how many antidote potions they used, they got infected again. Mikaela threw poison javelins with immense speed, Roine slowed down the demon by shooting ice bolts, Andros, Exxos and Estele relentlessly attacked. Meanwhile Zeke and Faelach also entered the scene and sent the wolves and skeletons towards Andariel. Not only did they have to fight Andariel, but also her minions who kept coming out of the chamber with the giant double door.

Finally, all their strength combined defeated Andariel, but the ones who had lost their companions didn't have the heart to celebrate. They merely recuperated the bodies and returned to town. The paladin who dragged the sorceress away came back to take the body of Dennis. Andros and the rest of the party returned to the encampment also. Thankfully none of them was dead, but Exxos had a deep gash in his chest which needed immediate healing, and Estele appeared to have a broken arm. Roine dragged herself with what strength she had left, since the venom had depleted most of her health Faelach and Zeke were less wounded, but they were quite shaken.

As soon as they entered the Encampment they were helped by the Rogues.

"Take the barbarian immediately to Akara's tent. The Assassin will need her assistance as well." said Andros to the Rogues that had come to help them. "Roine, Mikaela, come with me. We may not be in dire need of Akara, but we still need assistance. Faelach, Zeke. Go to my tent and you'll find some rejuvenation potions on my bed."

Faelach and the necromancer did as they were told, while Roine and Mikaela followed Andros. Just then Kashya, the captain of the rogues appeared in front of them.

"I wanted to thank you all," she said to Andros, as he was the leader of the group "for helping us by disposing of that foul demon. The Order of the Sightless Eye will be forever in your debt. We realize that you went through dangers, as we saw the bodies of fallen heroes, and we appreciate your help even more. But you need assistance. The healing tent is right by Gheed's wagon. The nurses will take good care of you, I assure you. They have been trained in healing magic since before the fall of the Zakarum church."

Andros nodded, ignoring the mention of the Zakarum church and led the way to the healing tent. It was a very large one, gray as most of the other tents in the encampment were. There were many rows of beds. At the far end some beds were surrounded by drapes. All the beds were occupied by the hurt heroes. Male and female healers hurried about, helping many at the same time, but they were overwhelmed by the wounded.

"Who do you think is occupying those beds with the curtains?" asked Roine quietly. "Do you think it's the dead heroes?"

"No." replied Mikaela. "There's a special tent for them." She nodded towards a black tent opposite to the nursery. The three could see the sorceress still crying and writhing before a bed where the corpse of Dennis probably lay covered with a thick gray cloth, while the assassin held her tight and rocked her back and forth. The paladin was standing right beside them, sadness etched on his features.

But the three didn't look at the scene too long. Instead, they entered the healing tent. Roine saw Yana again; a young male healer was bandaging up her hands. Roine gave her a small smile and she returned it. Andros left Mikaela and Roine under the care of a middle-aged female, turned around and headed for the exit.

"Where are you going?" Mikaela called after him. "You need healing too."

"I need to talk to Warriv about a ride to Lut Gholein. I won't be long."

"But why can't it wait?"

"Because that's where they say the dark wanderer went." Replied Andros as that dark shadow fell over him again. He said no more as he left the tent, leaving Mikaela staring at his back, wondering and worrying about that ominous shadow.

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