Grishok the Craven grumbled under his breath as his shaman barked at him to keep up the pace.

He hated this cold wet land he had been summoned to. He hated the dark rogues who gave him and his kind sneering looks whenever they crossed paths. He hated being stuck on guard duty outside the mistress's walls while others got to play with the captives.

Things had been so much better a few days prior, when he and the rest of the glorious fallen army still held sway over the lush lowlands where they had been camped. There was always a homestead to burn there, a farm to raze, or some humans to poke holes in.

But then the three had appeared.

Grishok remembered them well: the horned giant, the hissing death, and the burning man. They had come upon his army's camp in the night and tore through it, killing shadow priest Bishibosh and Rakanishu the Stormcrazed. He had never come across humans of such power. Grishok was no fool. Grishok had run. Now the fallen at the mistress's side mocked him, calling him a coward.

He sometimes wondered if the three hadn't been the Three in disguise, come to test them: horned terror, hissing hatred, and burning destruction. But why would the mistress pull back all her forces to defend her lair if this was simply a test?

He was jolted out of his thoughts when something flashed in the corner of his eye, and he stopped in his tracks, squinting at the point where he thought it came from. Imps had little trouble seeing in the dark, but the fog made it difficult to spot anything.

A moment passed before another barked order pulled his attention back to his patrol. He hurried to catch up, all while imagining ways to horribly maim and kill his shaman: gut him and strangle him with his own innards? Pour burning charcoal down his gullet while he sleeps? Or better yet, feed him to the mistress's pet spiders…

As he was wishing all manner of painful demise upon his leader, something hissed and the shaman in question dropped dead on the ground.

For one brief instant, Grishok was filled with a glorious, inebriating sense of power; had he just conjured death with his mind?

More hissing sounds and the others began to fall as well, arrows sticking out of their corpses.

The patrol scrambled, trying to find the source of the attack, but all any of them saw was a blur before it was too late. A few fools charged into the mist, waving their curved blades around; he heard the sound of twanging bows and falling bodies, then nothing.

Grishok was no fool. Grishok ran.


With the last of the fallen patrol scattering, Dana gave the signal to move forward.

For the past hour she and the rogues had stalked the misty highlands like apex predators, hunting silently and unseen. Corrupted rogues and demons alike fell to their arrows without ever knowing what befell them. The party followed at a distance but remained out of the fray, allowing them to carry out their deadly work. Now they were at the monastery's gates, and no more patrols stood in their way.

The grounds around the entrance seemed almost welcoming, dim magical torches flickering gently in the night, their enchantments untouched by the surrounding evil. Paige walked up to the great doors that were currently closed, followed closely by the other rogues. There was something religious about their manner.

- "Home," she said matter-of-factly, but there was an underlying tone of longing and reverence. She turned to her sisters. "It's finally time to take it back."

Their only answer was to nod grimly. Dana moved to stand beside Paige, staring up at the enormous structure before locking eyes with her.

- "We're with you, come what may."

- "Thank you," the smaller woman responded, holding the Askari's gaze, and the torches' enchanted light glimmered warmly in her eyes.

- "Shall I knock?" Aan proposed while tapping the head of his new great mace on his palm.

- "We have the element of surprise," Dana remarked. "Maybe we should maintain it."

- "I doubt that will last long once we barge through those doors," the necromancer countered, "but I'll follow the amazon's lead. I can blend into the shadows when I need to."

- "Prepare yourselves, then," Galen prompted, "there may be an army waiting for us within."

With that, he gave the northman a nod and they both pushed at the massive gates. They opened with surprising ease and the party rushed in, steel and spell at the ready.

Inside the entrance a lone quill rat squeaked in surprise, then growled threateningly. It arched its back, preparing to shoot its razor-like spines at the intruders, but was immediately silenced by an arrow from Paige.

The band walked in to the echoing sound of their own footsteps. The place was unnervingly dark and silent.

- "Well, this is a much quieter welcome than I expected," the amazon announced. "Not sure if that's a good sign or a bad one."

- "Maybe the demon bitch's forces are spent?" Paige offered hopefully.

- "Optimism is the fool's liquor," Cyrus sneered. "It soothes, but dulls the senses."

- "What our jovial friend here means to say is we shouldn't let our guard down," the paladin explained.

- "There's a good chance the enemy is waiting in ambush," Dana confirmed.

- "Then let's not keep them waiting," the barbarian announced, sauntering casually forward with his weapon on his shoulder. "That would be rude."

Their courage is truly contagious, Paige thought, and followed suit with the others in tow.

Moving inside, they found the entire outer cloister of the monastery abandoned, with the exception of the occasional quill rat that served as target practice. Walking about the moonlit gardens was a strange experience, as though they were lovers out on a pleasant stroll instead of warriors in mortal danger.

Eventually, they made it to another set of big doors that barred their way.

- "This is the gate that leads to the inner cloister," Paige spoke up. "Inside lies another dormant waypoint. If you can activate it as you have the others, Kashya stands ready to step through with reinforcements."

Aan walked up to the doors and pulled, but they remained shut. He then tried kicking them open, but they wouldn't budge. Grunting with frustration, he lifted his mace high and was about to smash the gate in when Galen caught his arm.

- "Wait. It's no use. Akara told me she had placed an enchantment on this door to allow her and the other rogues to flee the monastery when Andariel took over. We don't have time to try to breach it when the demons haven't managed it in all this time. They must have found another way. Paige?"

- "The barracks," the young rogue declared. "We can access the jail from there, which connects to the inner cloister. But the way will be heavily guarded; the dark rogue forces are likely to reside there."

The paladin sighed heavily before speaking up.

- "It can't be helped. We have to deal with your fallen sisters sooner or later."

Paige nodded and led the way to a long side corridor that opened onto another courtyard, this one packed with archery targets and training dummies. It felt so familiar, and for a moment she could almost imagine that none of the woes that had befallen her order had ever happened, and this was simply another night patrolling her home.

That was until she saw that some of the training dummies weren't dummies at all: rotting corpses that she could clearly identify as once belonging to some of her sisters were tied up on poles or nailed upon targets, countless cuts and arrows adorning their desiccated flesh.

She stopped, and a tremor made its way through her lithe frame. The other rogues also stopped, staring in horror at the desecrated remains of their kin. Dana placed her hand on Paige's shoulder; she could feel her shaking.

- "We will make sure to offer them a proper burial once we've cleared Eastgate of foes," the amazon murmured gently. "For now, have courage." The rogue made no answer as tears pearled at the corner of her eyes and her jaw clenched, and Dana realized it was not grief or despair that shook her body, but raw, barely contained fury. The loss, pain and rage that were written on her features were all too familiar to the amazon. "Paige," she insisted, and turned the rogue around by the arm to look at her face to face, "I need you to stay focused."

An unspoken understanding passed between the two women; Paige's breathing calmed, and her features softened into stern determination. She gave a soft nod and moved to the barracks' gates. Testing them, she found they were unlocked.

- "Weapons at the ready," she intimated.

With that, she pushed the doors open and stepped through. Only darkness greeted her as the others came behind. Darkness and silence. No candles flickered on the shadowy walls, and no sound echoed off of them. The place looked abandoned.

- "I was expecting a welcoming party," the barbarian mumbled dejectedly.

- "Rogues don't fight in the open. You may yet get your wish," Paige responded.

- "You think they're lying in wait for us?" Dana piped up.

- "That's what I'd do," came the answer.

Though nothing barred their way, the party inched forward, senses on high alert. They met no one as they cleared the foyer, and no one was there when they entered the dormitory, though in the dark Talia's mind conjured dark rogues hiding beneath the sheets, ready to pounce. She gave one of the beds a good poke with her staff just to be sure. Satisfied with the soft give of straw-filled mattress, she hurried up after the others as they reached another hallway. The oppressive silence and sense of dread did not abate, yet still no flash of naked blade or hiss of bowstring disturbed it. Only their cautious footfalls.

Soon, the hallway opened on a large space with long benches and tables, as deserted as the rest of the building. No fire glowed in this dining hall's central hearth, and what little visibility there was came from the dim moonlight that filtered through the high windows on the walls of the upper gallery. The band quietly made their way through the maze of large tables, carefully stepping over the mess of discarded plates and silverware so as not to make a din. They had reached the middle of the room when a voice rang out in the dark.

- "Welcome, sisters! We were waiting for you..." All at once corrupted rogues appeared across the entire upper gallery, bows drawn and pointed at the intruders who now stood surrounded, back to back. A tall figure stepped forward from among the archers, clearly their captain.

- "Isolde?" Paige piped up incredulously, a ripple of recognition on her face.

- "Paige!" the dark captain exclaimed with a crazed joviality. "How nice of you to bring guests. Won't you stay for dinner? I'm sure the mistress would relish some fresh meat."

- "She wouldn't get much out of this bunch, they're all skin and bones," Aan demurred.

- "I'm afraid I must insist," Isolde replied dangerously. "Lay down your arms and things will go much easier on you. The mistress likes them live and squirming."

Paige heard Galen whisper something to his companions and she spoke up to cover his voice.

- "What happened to you, Isolde? You were a faithful sister of the Sightless Eye. How did you fall so low?"

- "Why tell you when I can show you?" came the hungry reply. "Come peacefully and I will personally twist you into one of us. It will be painful at first, but once you unshackle yourself from you own sanity, you will grow to love it."

Paige was about to retort when the paladin's whispering voice floated to her ears.

- "Cover your eyes!"

The dark room suddenly burst with light as his silver aura, along with Dana's spearhead and the tip of the sorceress' staff, flared to life with a fierce glow. The flash blinded the dark rogues as Galen raised his shield and charged towards the exit, knocking furniture aside to open a path.

- "Behind me!" he cried as the barbarian rushed to pick up one of the thick oak tables and lifted it to cover their retreat.

- "Shoot them!" Isolde bellowed, and, their eyes still burning, her minions loosed haphazardly, showering the group in a hail of arrows from every side.

The ones from the back slammed into the northman's makeshift barrier and Galen did his best to shield his allies from the front, but some arrows from the sides found their mark: one rogue caught two in the shoulder; another dropped her bow as her arm was pierced, as was Aan's elbow, though he kept the table held firmly aloft; Dana was hobbled by a shaft through the thigh; the other missiles' impacts were neutralized by the aura or blunted by armor, and Talia made a mental note to always listen to the paladin as her leather cuirass was pin-cushioned by several arrows.

Paige stopped to help the limping amazon as the group pushed through to the door before another volley was sent their way. Last through the door was the barbarian, who pivoted the table he was carrying vertically so as to block the entire exit.

- "Go!" he roared, "I'll hold them off!"

- "No need for such heroics, northman," Cyrus berated as he stepped forth and placed his hands on the ground, a droning incantation pouring from his lips.

The hum of his voice seemed to resonate within the earth, and it began to rumble slightly as it slowly pushed out a thick wall of bone right between Aan and his table. The barbarian stepped away as the very bones of the earth rose to completely block any chance of pursuit.

- "That…was both creepy and amazing," he laughed and clapped the necromancer on the back, which almost sent the smaller man tumbling.

- "You're wounded," Galen said as he walked up to Dana and took her from Paige's arms, laying her down against a wall.

- "I'll be alright, tend to the others first," the amazon protested.

- "A major artery could be hit," the paladin insisted as he inspected the wound.

- "Sweet stubborn boy," she sighed resignedly.

- "Stubborn selfless woman," he retorted with a smile and placed his hand on the shaft to remove it before looking at her expectantly.

- "Well, this looks familiar," she mused.

- "We've got to stop meeting like this," he quipped.

- "Oh no, I enjoy having handsome young men at my feet," she replied slyly.

The only response he offered was a timid smile.

- "Um…the arrow?" She reminded him.

- "Oh right," he stammered. "Sorry."

And with that, he removed the shaft and healed her wound, then moved on to the other wounded. Last was Aan, who began speaking conspiratorially as the paladin poured healing light to mend his elbow.

- "You know we might all be dead soon. I've seen the way you look at her. Tell her. Young lad like you going to his ancestors before even knowing a woman's touch…it'd be a shame."

Galen stared dumbfoundedly at the barbarian, trying to muster a verbal defense, but coming up short. He finally decided the best strategy was a diversionary attack.

- "Since we're all likely about to die, maybe you should tell us your real name. Just so I can put in a good word for you with the angels."

- "You have not yet earned the right to know it," the northman retorted wryly, before his expression turned serious. "And I have not yet earned the right to wear it."

- "We should get going," the necromancer interrupted loudly. "That barrier of bone won't hold forever."

- "We're almost there. Follow me," Paige intimated as she led the way once again with the others in tow, and after exchanging a nod the paladin and barbarian brought up the rear.

As they walked, a faraway clanging sound seemed to add another beat to their footsteps.