THE DUNGEON LABYRINTH
You head back north, and as your hand reaches out to touch the iron door, You notice all the runes in the room flash as if they had been struck by lightning and you are thrown backwards by a silent explosion. As you regain your feet and shake your head to clear your eyes, you smell the stench of sulphur and hot metal. You look up... and up... into the face of DIABLO, Lord of Terror! Standing in front of the iron door his malevolent yellow eyes boring into you. He is trapped within a glowing pentagram surrounded by runes, surrounded by a sacred circle. He keeps reaching and lunging for you, like a slavering werehound straining at its leash unable to cross the encircling runes of power. Every time he attempts to reach you the runes on the walls and around the doorways glow brighter as if adding their power to the pentagram on the floor.The same powers that entrapped Diablo within that pulsing, spinning circle prevented you from attacking him with either arcane or mundane weapons. Even "The Dagger of Penetration" you had discoverd in Stonekeep and that you carried now was of no use against this embodiment of pure evil.
DIABLO
You know all to well the legend of Diablo, Mad King Leoric, Arch-Bishop Lazarus and the tragic unsung hero Lachdanan. How a lone adventurer entered the Monastary of Tristam and level by level, lower and lower had defeated all of Diablo's evil minions had finally entered The Lord of Terror's lair and defeating him in an epic battle had carried out the Soulstone containing Diablo's spirit. Where it was taken to and to who it had been entrusted to had been a mystery...... till now. Now you understand the dire warnings concerning venturing down here!
HAVING NO CHOICE....
You slowly back up towards the south archway and never taking your eyes off the foul beast. Whatever protective binding spell you set off by trying to open the iron door from the inside seems to be fading pulling Diablo back into the nether dimension he has been cast into. You watch him grow smaller and more transparent till he fades from sight. The light from the runes on the walls and around the doorways also dim, except for one square stone on the small narrow door, which still shines brightly.It must mark the mechanism for opening the door. You trace the still glowing protective runes with your finger and from within the wall you hear a quiet "click". As the door swings open you crouch and turn sideways. And stepping through....
