Act1Act2Act3Act4Act5Epilogue
The Den of Evil
Blood Raven
The Rescue of Cain
The Countess
The Horadric Malus
Andarial		 Radament's Lair
The Horadric Staff
The Claw Viper Curse
The Arcane Sanctuary
The Summoner
The Tomb of Tal Rasha		 The Jade Figurine
The Ghidbinn
The Pieces of Khalim's Will
Lam Esen's Tome
The Kurast Council
The Durance of Hate		 The Fallen Angel
The Hellforge
Diablo's Sanctuary		 The Siege
A Rescue of Friends
Put on Ice
The Betrayor
The Ancients
Final Destruction		 Act 1, Nightmare
Act 2, Nightmare
Act 3, Nightmare
Act 4, Nightmare
Act 5, Nightmare
Hell


Tyrael strode boldly into the open tomb of Tal Rasha. The Dark Wanderer, the poor mortal who had defeated Diablo, and then become him, turned around. Tal Rasha was still bound to the pillar, the magical wards keeping Baal chained. "Tyrael," he whispered, "what an unexpected surprise to see you here."

Tyrael held his ground, saying nothing as he watched the warrior cross the bridge back to him. "Not an angel of many words, are you?" The two stood there for a moment, eye to eye. "Finally decided to give up on these lowly humans and do the job yourself?" Diablo laughed sarcastically.

Still Tyrael said nothing, simply raising a hand and conjuring a blade of pure white light. The Wanderer stepped backwards, raising a hand to shade his eyes, but not as far as Tyrael had expected. "Still, these mortals have some advantages over you."

With a sudden explosion, Tyrael was knocked from his feet, lurching sideways into one of the walls. When the angel looked up, three of the Prime Evils confronted him. "So I was too late after all," he lamented, straightening proudly. The demons snarled, and the battle was fierce but brief.

Briefly, Tyrael lamented that angels could not lose consciousness, as they chained him to the pillar where Baal had so recently been kept. Duriel laughed, frosty fetid breath washing over the angel's face. Baal smirked from the other side of the bridge, waiting as Diablo and Duriel joined him. "Sorry we can't stay and chat, Tyrael, but we have to visit our other brother."

They turned away, moving towards the exit, but Tyrael's whisper cut through the air like an arrow. "Why did you choose the darkness so long ago, Baal?"

The eldest and most powerful of the Prime Evil stopped, looking over his shoulder in contempt. "We knew, you and I, that from the beginning of time this battle must be fought. And if I must choose a side, I would rather be a Lord in my own realm than anything less under you."

They exited the chamber, leaving Tyrael hanging there, chained to the pillar, trapped like an insect in amber.



Several weeks later, Warriv's caravan stopped at the gates of Lut Gholein. Mercenary guards, all dressed with a red badge, warily searched the caravan with long spears and shields always at hand. But at last, the guards stood aside, waving the caravan into the city.

They traveled not far, pulling the wagons into a semi-circle in an open plaza. As the adventurers started to unload goods from the wagons, Lord Jehryn approached the train with guards in tow. "Warriv, welcome back. Thank goodness you've arrived. We've been waiting for weeks."

The two friends talked for several minutes about the affairs at the Sister's monastery, before Jehryn turned his attention to the group of seven heroes. "So Warriv, tell me about these heroes you bring with you."

The trader chuckled. "Well, they may not look like much, but they not only rescued Deckard Cain from the ruins of Tristram. They cleared out most of the Monastery, and banished Andariel back to Hell." He carefully pointed to Rupert, carefully organizing crates and barrels of goods. "The paladin there dealt the final blow, but they were all in on the fight."

Jehryn nodded, watching each one in turn. But soon the unloading was complete, and the adventurers crowded around Warriv to meet the leader of Lut Gholein. "Welcome, heroes. I hope you can do such a good job here. The deserts outside our walls have been growling thicker with monsters. Your caravan is the first in many months."

Tharos nodded. "Trust me, we noticed. The last two days we've slain dozens of giant bugs."

Jehryn nodded, narrowing his eyes at the necromancer. "Indeed. At any rate, you might want to talk with Atma. She runs the tavern on the northern side of the city. I also suspect that Greiz, the mercenary captain, will want to speak to you as well."

Jehryn turned and walked away towards the palace, and the group slowly turned towards the north side of the city. They passed dozens of small merchants, most set up on nothing more than a folding table, hawking wares. Garou stopped at one stall to sniff in disdain at the stuffed Moose head and carved ebony bird.

Near the center of the marketplace stood Cain, sitting on the edge of a large stone well, telling tales to a group of excited children. But they turned aside, stopping at another booth. "Hey there, I'm Lysander! I can serve all your potion needs, for Jews or Gentiles! All potions made with completely kosher ingredients!"

Erris and Tharos shared a look of confusion. "What the heck does kosher mean?" the amazon asked.

Garou just shook his head, pushing them through the crowd. "Keep moving, ignore Mel Brooks." The necromancer glanced back once more though, reading the sign over his stall displaying, "All circumcisions - half off!" and winced.



After a tiring walk through the marketplace, and several streets of sunbleached homes, the group finally reached the tavern that Jehryn had spoken of. The main room was fairly well packed, with several off-duty guards and many townsfolk taking a break from the scorching heat of midsummer.

Behind the bar stood a sad-looking woman, dressed all in black, pouring drinks and serving strips of lamb and fish to the customers. Garou's eyes lit up at the sight of the kegs behind the counter, but the crush of patrons inside was too thick to force their way to the bar.

Jezebel finally managed to get everyone's attention. "Let's come back later," she shouted over the bustle. "When it's less crowded." Slowly, the five forced their way back to the slightly less crowded streets.



After a little more wandering, and some directions from red-tunic guards, they saw a man standing on a corner, dressed up as a military commander. While his clothes looked designed for a ball at the palace, the spear he carried was still fresh with blood. As they approached, they saw him tense, and spear another rat, casually tossing it off the spear behind him.

"Ah, you must be those heroes everyone in town is talking about." He held out a hand in greetings. "My name's Griez. Most of the mercenaries you see around here are my men. Yep, we're the only ones who can keep law and order in this town, not like …" His voice slowly faded away into silence, though his mouth kept moving. Finally Jezebel reached over and tapped him. "Hmm? You had a question?"

Jezebel looked at him oddly. "Well, your voice sort of faded away."

Griez groaned. "Curses! There's a tribe of Claw Vipers, fairly far out in the desert, but we passed them on our way here. Damn beasts cursed me, so whenever I start to go off on a monologue my voice just disappears. It's really not fair, with all the places I've been, to not be able to talk about them. Like that battle in …"

The group slowly conferred as Greiz silently prattled on. "This guy is a looney," Erris muttered.

Oksana licked her lips. "I dunno, men in uniforms look yummy."

Rupert groaned. "Whatever. He's a mercenary captain, let's see if we can hire a soldier who knows the area fairly well."

They turned back to Greiz, Jezebel tapping his arm again. "Mister Greiz, do you have any soldiers we could hire, who know the area pretty well?"

The captain nodded. "Of course, you must be going after Radament!" At their blank looks he tried to explain. "The undead leader down in the sewers? Eating lots of townfolk until my soldiers started guarding the sewer entrances. Yeah, he'll be a tough one to get out of there, just like …"

Erris smacked his arm impatiently. "What? Oh, right, soldier." Greiz whistled piercingly, and waited. A few moments later, a soldier waddled out of the barracks behind the captain. The new soldier was so fat he looked round enough to roll, and was dressed in a garishly orange cloak, with the hood pulled up over his head. "Here you go, Kenny will go with you."

In astonishment, the group stared at Kenny. Erris whirled back on Greiz. "That bucket of lard? What good is he in a fight?"

As Greiz started to open his mouth to respond, the sewer trapdoors near him burst open. Several skeletons clattered out, the one in the lead firing an arrow that swiftly buried itself in Kenny's head. In perfect unison, every soldier within sight cried, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny! You bastards!"

In a frantic rush, the soldiers all charged the trapdoor, battering skeletons apart with their spears and shields. As the last one fell, the soldiers closed the trapdoors and returned to their normal activities.

Tharos looked at Kenny in shock. "Well, so much for a mercenary."

Greiz waved a hand airily. "Oh no, don't worry. He'll be up and about in a few minutes. The Claw Vipers cursed him that he can't die, poor bugger." Indeed, as they watched, the arrow slowly was forced from his flesh, the wound closing and healing.

With their new mercenary in tow, the group of heroes returned to the central marketplace. Garou and Tharos looked at each other. "Ever get the impression that you were trapped in a really bad story?" the druid asked.

The necromancer nodded. "Sometimes. Like right now. Why do you ask?"

Garou sighed. "Well, when this is all over, I want a big reward. Either the author's life, or a bottomless cask of wine."

Hearing the last part, Jezebel snorted. "I still can't believe the two of you drank a cask five times your size in two days."

Ron Bars grinned. "Ron Bars drink well!" he boomed.

As the afternoon wore on, the sweating adventurers stumbled back into Atma's tavern. Off in a corner, a loud drunk was shouting out a drunken tale of his exploits. But the group ignored him, Ron Bars pushing a way through the smaller crowd to a large table. After a few minutes, Atma came over to their table. "Greetings, adventurers. What may I do for you?"

They quickly ordered meals, but before Atma could turn away, Rupert asked her, "I've heard something about you, and a monster in the sewers named Radament?"

She nodded sadly, adjusting the black veil that held her hair in place. "Yes. He is a horrible monster. Some weeks ago, shortly after nightfall, my husband and son were returning from the marketplace with more supplies for the tavern. Radament and a score of skeletons came out of the sewers, slaying some people and dragging others down to the sewers with them."

Erris frowned. "How is it that everyone knows this monster's name?"

"Fara, the blacksmith in the main square, is a follower of Zakarum. She and Drognan, the lord's advisor, did some research after Radament appeared, and named the beast. That was when Lord Jehryn hired Griez and his mercenaries to keep order in the town."

With a small bow, Atma left the group. Tharos drummed his fingers on the tabletop. "After we eat, let's try to find this Drognan. He will probably know more about the nature of Radament."

Jezebel scoffed at him. "What, the powerful necromancer doesn't know the nature of the dead?"

He smiled thinly. "Jezebel, there are at least a dozen different kinds of undead that have to eat living human flesh to continue their existence. Since Drognan already seems to know which kind it is, I prefer to ask him, so that we may prepare ourselves ahead of time."

As the two argued, Garou tapped Ron Bars on the shoulder, pointing at the large casks behind the bar. "Bet you a hundred gold that I can drink one of those before you."

The barbarian laughed. "Ron Bars drink well!" he boomed, as the two prepared to raid the wine stocks.

But Oksana and Erris grabbed them, and forced them back to their seats. "No more drinking for you two!" the assassin admonished. "Or have you forgotten there's a man-eating giant zombie in the sewers?"

"Ron Bars kill!" Oksana simply rolled her eyes and sighed.

But he fell silent as Atma returned, pushing a small cart and revealing their meals. As they started to eat, Atma managed to get their attention. "If you are truly here to help the city, as the rumors say, then there is no harm in my asking.

"I do not expect this of you, but …"



Tharos handed a lit torch to one of his skeletons, and descended into the sewers, holding his nose. The others followed after him, trooping down the narrow, muck-covered stairs into the smelly darkness. "Tharos, are you sure we're prepared for this?" Erris asked him.

He just nodded. "Yep. Drognan explained it to me."

Rupert looked around the narrow tunnels. "So how do we kill Radament then?"

Tharos chuckled darkly. "Same way you kill any other undead. Hit it until it stops moving, hit it some more for good measure, then sprinkle some salt on it."

Jezebel sighed, trying to avoid stepping in anything. "You make it sound so simple," she muttered.

The group turned a corner, coming face to face with a large pack of red-colored skeletons. "Burning dead!" Tharos cried as his skeletons clattered forward to shield him. Ron Bars charged forward, but stopped as a burning arrow clanged from his helm.

Kenny lumbered forward as well, holding his spear out. But one of the skeletons just stepped aside, tripping the mercenary and watching as Kenny impaled himself on his own spear.

But the battle was quickly over, Erris firing arrows of cold into the ranks of skeletons. She snorted at the impaled Kenny. "I still say we should go back and ask for a different merc."

Garou shrugged. "Why? He'll do well enough. As long as he distracts the enemies long enough for us to get in the first blow, does it matter?"

With a sigh, the group waited until Kenny had recovered, and set about exploring for the bottom level of the sewers.



Two floor, several piles of sewage, and many hordes of skeletons and decaying zombies later, they found the bottom floor. Oksana stopped, looking at a wall for a moment, before starting to use her katar to clear away some of the grime. The others stopped to look over her shoulder.

Etched into the wall was a rough outline of a book or a box, and an arrow pointing deeper into the sewers. With several cautious glances around, the group slowly walked deeper into the tunnels. They followed the direction of the arrow, finding more etchings in the walls to guide them further.

Finally, Rupert halted the group, gathering them into a small circle. "Doesn't it seem odd that there aren't any undead down here?" he whispered. They all shared worried looks, but against followed the arrows deeper into the sewers.

Then from up ahead came the glow of torchlight. The group slowed, taking the torches from Tharos' skeletons and grinding them out. The necromancer crept up to the corner of the wall, carefully peering around it.

In a small chamber, several burning dead stood there, holding torches. Sitting on a rough crate was Radament, or at least that's what Tharos assumed. But the undead leader did not appear human any longer - one arm had been replaced with a scythe blade, and the head had been transformed into that of a jackal. And on his lap was a great tome, that Radament was softly reading to himself.

Tharos stopped to consider for a moment, then made a gesture with his hand. His two skeletons clattered forward, walking into the chamber. As the necromancer had thought, Radament paid no attention to his minions. Not until his skeletons stepped up and shattered two of the burning dead.

Radament slammed the book closed, rising to his feet. As the undead leader stepped forward, one of Tharos' skeletons flipped him the finger. With a roar of anger, Radament slashed with his scythe-arm, shattering one skeleton. Tharos promptly raised another one, turning it against the burning dead.

This game went on for several minutes, Tharos and Radament fighting by proxy with the skeletons. But finally Tharos waved Erris forward, whispering to her as he controlled his minions. "Get an arrow ready with this," he murmured, handing her a salt crystal. "When he turns this way, shoot him in the chest."

As the others watched, Erris quickly replaced the arrowhead with the salt crystal, testing the balance before preparing her bow. As she pulled back the string, Tharos had one of his skeletons stab Radament in the back, causing the undead leader to spin around. Erris quickly let fly, and the arrow burst on his chest, showering Radament with tiny shards of salt.

The giant undead staggered for a moment, moaning as the salt crystals sucked away his magical life. Then, with a crash, and a cloud of poisonous vapors, he dropped to the floor, the withered body disintegrating.

With a few more arrows, and a lightning bolt from Jezebel, the last of the burning dead fell. Tharos' last skeleton came clattering back, holding forth the tome, and they all gathered around to read it. But as they flipped through the first few pages, none of them recognized the language it was written in.

Garou tapped the book. "Let's take this back to Cain. He might be able to read it." Munin cawed agreement, and the group turned around to head back to the surface.



The adventurers trooped back onto the city streets, to the amazement of all who stood near the docks. Some of the people cheered, but most just looked at the group in astonishment. Finally they reached the tavern, and Atma stood outside waiting for them. "Is it true? Is Radament dead?"

Tharos nodded silently. Drognan also stepped out of the tavern. "You did make sure to cut him down before you applied the salt, didn't you?"

"Well, actually, oof!" Rupert cut off as Erris elbowed him sharply. "Of course we did," the amazon continued.

Just then, a roar sounded from the sewer entrance near the docks, sounding too much like the undead they had left behind. Cursing, the adventurers rushed back towards the dock, Garou and Erris rolling Kenny along after the mercenary tripped.

As they came in sight of the docks, they could see Radament standing there, controlling almost three score undead, battling with Griez' beleaguered men. But Erris winked at Garou, and with a final shove, they hurled the rolling Kenny straight into the crowd of skeletons.

With several crashes, Kenny bowled straight through the bony ranks and into Radament, launching them both into the air, off the side of the docks, and out into the ocean. As the undead hit the salty water, his body shattered, the bones dissolving into the sea. Without the leader to guide them, and with Oksana and Ron Bars merrily joining the melee, the other skeletons were quickly turned into little piles of splinters.

Drognan finally limped up to them, shaking his staff at Erris. "You said he was dead already!"

She shrugged. "Hey, not my fault. We threw salt at him, he fell down and didn't get back up. Now we now for sure he's dead."

Lysander covered his eyes with one hand. "Oi Vey," he muttered.

Away from the group, Atma looked out to sea where Radament had fallen in. She whispered something, then turned and walked up to the adventurers with tears in her eyes. "Thank you for providing me with vengeance. I have talked to all the merchants, and they have agreed to offer you reduced prices on their goods and services."

From the back of the crowd, Lysander muttered, "And don't think we're not regretting it, either."

Drognan shot the apothecary a dark look, and he subsided as Atma continued. "At any rate, I believe Lord Jehryn will likely want to speak with you again. You can find him at the palace.



The group approached the palace, set into the wealthier corner of the city. Here, the streets were more uniformly paved, and the citizens they passed wore finer clothes, even silk for many. Finally they reached the open plaza in front of the palace, with several of the royal guards posted around the square.

They all stopped to stare at the gleaming structure. Gold and brightly covered ceramic mosaics covered the entire building, showing pictures of the history of the city and people of Lut Gholein. The spires above flew several banners, and more guards stood on the balconies, their spears or swords held tightly with pride.

"Shiny," Ron Bars said, in a quieter voice than usual. Jezebel snorted, poking the barbarian in the ribs. The group slowly mounted the marble steps leading to the palace entrance. A decorated guard stood outside, holding his spear sideways to block the doors.

"You may not enter the palace," the guard said.

Ron Bars looked at him. "Shiny building," he said.

"You may not enter the palace," the guard replied.

"Shiny building," Ron Bars growled back.

As the two of them went on like this, Jezebel tapped Rupert on the shoulder. "Well, what now? How are we supposed to talk to the lord if we can't go in to find him?"

As Rupert opened his mouth to answer, Munin cawed, and flapped off a short distance to land in a palm tree. From that direction though, Lord Jehryn came walking down the street, chatting with the townsfolk as he returned to the palace. Erris thwaped the barbarian with her bow to get his attention, and the group turned back to face Jehryn.

The lord of the city looked at them with narrowed eyes. "I have heard many reports of your defeat of Radament. So far, you do not fill me with great hope for my city, but unfortunately, you are the best chance I have." He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with one hand. The seven looked between themselves, mostly showing a bit of embarrassment and a little bit of outrage.

"Since you are the best chance my city has for survival, and because of my discussions with Cain, I will tell you what I know. Several weeks ago, a Dark Wanderer passed through here. It is well known there are seven Horadric tombs …"



The seven trooped back across the city toward the gates into the desert. Suddenly, Rupert stopped dead in the street, almost causing Jezebel to crash into him. "Wait a minute, what happened to Kenny?" he blurted.

The others looked around, a slow look of horror creeping over their faces. With Erris in the lead, they turned and ran back for the docks, finally skidding to a halt where the mercenary had gone in. There, out a ways in the harbor, floated the fat Kenny.

Erris grabbed Tharos by the shirt. "Go in, go after him!"

He looked back in astonishment. "I can't swim," he said.

She looked at Ron Bars, who waved his hands in front of his chest. "Ron Bars dog paddle," he boomed.

With a cry of frustration, the amazon threw down her bow, stripping off her armor, and most of her clothes. Several men in the street stopped to whistle and catcall as she dove off the pier into the salty water. In silence, they watched her swim out, and start dragging Kenny back to the side of the pier.

Rupert, Garou, and Ron Bars all strained to help pull Kenny up the ladder onto the docks, but finally the mercenary rolled onto the boards, gasping and coughing up water. Oksana helped Erris up the rest of the way, pulling the amazon into a close embrace before being loudly slapped.

Tharos chuckled at Oksana as they both watched Erris wring the water out of her hair. "You just couldn't resist, could you?"

The assassin smiled seductively back. "Funny, I didn't hear you complaining when I did that to you," she purred. He coughed, blushing a bright red.

Finally, with Erris re-armed and armored, the group turned again for the gates to the city. Garou tossed his raven up into the air, letting Munin take flight to scout out the closer reaches of the desert for them. The druid squinted up at the sky, looking at the position of the sun. "I think we can reach the closest watering hole before nightfall, and set up camp there," he said.

Jezebel nodded, narrowly missing two playing children with her staff. "Then what?"

Rupert looked back at them. "Maybe before we head out to the desert, we should ask Cain if there's anything important in that book we found Radament reading?"

Garou clapped him on the back. "Good thinking." They turned down a street, heading back for the central marketplace.

The group sat around waiting while Cain finished telling a story to a group of children. But finally, the sage motioned them over, and the gathered near to listen. "I've managed to decipher a great deal of this book," he said, tapping the leathery cover. "It's an old Horadric journal, and it tells of how the mages sealed Tal Rasha into his tomb. To get inside the tomb, you need to construct a Horadric staff, and I think I know where the parts are. But first, go into the desert and find the Halls of the Dead …"



As night began to fall, they reached a large watering hole on the edge of the Dry Hills. With Erris and Garou on watch, the others quickly pitched their blankets and prepared to sleep for the night. The night air was thick with insects, and the group found it hard to sleep, constantly slapping at biting flies. But finally, they drifted off, trading watches as the moonless night wore on.

With the morning sun, the tired group pressed onward where Cain had directed them. As midday approached, they stopped at another water hole to refill their empty canteens. But soon, Munin came winging back to perch on Garou's shoulder, cawing weakly before winging off again. "Well?" Jezebel asked.

The druid sighed. "He says that there is a building sticking up from the sand not too far away. I hope it is the one we seek."

Erris snorted. "Come on, how many can there be?"

Rupert kicked at a small swell of sand. "Remember the small sandstorm we went through with Warriv's caravan?" She nodded slowly, and the others remembered it with horror. "Imagine a big sandstorm. It could bury a building for years, maybe centuries, and until another windstorm came along to blow away the sand, no one would ever know about it."

Jezebel looked horrified. "So what if the tomb we need to find is buried under the sands?"

Tharos waved a hand towards his laden skeletons. "These two can dig, though not very fast. As long as we knew the right place, assuming it's buried, we could reach it in a few days, I think."

The sorceress shook her head sadly. But from the rise of the next dune, they saw the dark granite stone of the temple Munin had seen. The outside had been worn away from countless years of exposure to the harsh winds and sand, but in a few spots they could still see remains of elaborate carvings.

As they reached closer, Erris looked into the darkened interior. "Well, these stairs go down. So we must be at the top of this thing." She turned, looking at Kenny. "You first, merc." As he waddled forward, she shoved him down the stairs with a clatter. Somewhere at the bottom they heard a crash, the sounds of breaking pottery and bones.

With torches and magelight held aloft, they trooped down slowly. Sure enough, there at the bottom lay Kenny, the broken pieces of several skeletons sticking out of his body. Sandwiched between him and the wall were the remains of several decorated urns. Tharos examined them gravely. "If there were undead here before Kenny crashed in, then they surely know we are here now."

Oksana furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you talking about? How can a dumb skeleton know we're here from a broken pot?"

The necromancer shook his head. "Many tombs in these deserts were ensorcelled with Horadric magic after the fall of the three Prime Evils. In tombs like this one, necromancy was often used to discourage looters and graverobbers. If any of the burial provisions are disturbed, it awakens the entire tomb. And if Diablo has passed by here, there will be even more and stronger undead and demons waiting for us."

As Kenny finally recovered and started to stand, several burning arrows whizzed out of the darkness, all of them striking him. With a clash of weapons, the seven stood victorious over the dead archers. "You sure there will be more, Tharos?" the paladin asked. As he nodded, Rupert knelt in prayer. To their surprise, he began to glow as his prayer finished. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" Rupert asked nervously.

Jezebel shook her head. "Just never seen a paladin, let alone you, do that." With the glowing Rupert in the lead, they headed into the tomb. Rupert's aura shattered skeletons, and the few demons and spear cats fell easily to arrows and axe.

Finally, they reached what appeared to be the bottom floor of the tomb. Garou held his torch closer to the wall, looking at the fanciful frescos and mosaics that adorned the walls. As the group started down the hallway, he grabbed Jezebel by the arm. "Look at this picture here," he pointed, "what is that thing he's holding there? It looks like some kind of strange box."

The sorceress also puzzled over it for a moment. "Probably some chest with gold or jewels in it," she said. "I can't read this language." They hurried to catch the rest of the group, stopped some distance away.

But as they grew closer, Garou saw why his companions had stopped. The end of the passageway was blocked by a large slab of stone, almost perfectly fitting the doorway, and carved with more hieroglyphics. Tharos kept roaming his eyes over the door, muttering to himself as he pointed out symbols.

Finally, Erris grew tired of waiting. "Well, can you open this door or not, Tharos?"

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Sure, opening it is easy. Just push on it, and the counter-weight will lower it into the floor. It'll also kill us." Jezebel squeaked nervously. "If I can figure out what this 'curse of slow poison' is, and how to avoid it, then I'll open the door."

Oksana shrugged, sitting down and sharpening her katar. Ron Bars also sat down, yawning and closing his eyes. The others also relaxed, except for Kenny - no one was sure whether he was relaxed or not, as he was too round to sit on the ground.

Finally, muttering obscenities under his breath, Tharos threw his wand to the ground in disgust. "I give up. I can't read enough of this ancient script to figure out what to do."

Rupert thought for a moment. "I guess then, let's retreat back to the stairs, and we can use one of your skeletons to push open the door." The others nodded, as none of them had any brighter ideas, and Erris kicked Ron Bars to wake up.

They quickly walked back to the stairs, leaving only the two skeletons standing by the door. As they watched, Tharos held his wand, and one skeleton shoved against the stone slab. Slowly, it retreated into the floor. But no apparent traps were triggered, and Erris snarled. "Kenny, go check it out!"

Mutely, the mercenary wobbled forward, spear held ready. But nothing invisible in the hallway killed him, and no monsters appeared in the room to slay him either. As the skeletons followed him in, their torchlight revealed an empty room - except for a single pedestal, holding a strange, wooden box.

Kenny greedily rested his spear, picking up the box. With a loud grinding noise, the walls of the hallway split open, hordes of skeletons swarming out. Ron Bars shouted in glee, charging at the skeletons. Rupert was only a moment behind him, still glowing brightly and bashing skeletons away with his shield.

Over their heads, Oksana threw a trap, which landed near the doorway, spewing flames at the skeletons. But all too soon, the undead were vanquished, and the heroes carefully walked back to the room. Tharos clucked his tongue, noting the poisoned blades the skeletons had wielded. "So that's what the symbol was," he muttered to himself.

Kenny, of course, had been nailed to the pedestal with a poisoned blade sticking out of his chest. In disgust, Erris pulled it out and tossed it into a corner. Jezebel picked up the box, looking at the carvings on every side. "What a curious thing," she said. "But there doesn't seem to be any way to open it."

One by one, the others all took a try at the box, but no one could understand the strange, wave-like carvings or decipher how to open it. Garou sighed, handing the box to Tharos' skeleton. "Let's take this back to Cain, too. Maybe that book told him we had to come get it."

Wearily, they trooped back to the surface, occasionally watching Ron Bars shatter a skeleton they missed. But back in the arid evening air, they hoisted their packs and prepared for the long walk back to the city.



Back in the city, Rupert presented the box to Cain. The old sage's eyes widened in great surprise. "A Horadric Cube! Then I was right!" He pulled the book back out, flipping through pages and muttering to himself in an unrecognized language. Finally, Cain stopped and look up at them again. "Do you remember passing an oasis with the caravan?"

Rupert nodded. "Sure, I remember. That's almost three days out in the desert."

Cain nodded again. "There are some tunnels underneath the oasis. By now, they have probably been overtaken by some of the giant insects, but in those tunnels is the Staff of Kings. Find it and bring it back here."

"But that will take us a week," Erris complained. "What about Diablo?"

Jezebel rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. If I can find a scroll of town portal for sale, then we only have to walk out there."



Their first stop was to see Lysander. As they approached his booth, they noticed the curtains were closed. As Rupert reached up to tap on them, they heard a snik and a cry of pain from inside. Lysander hurried out of the curtains, almost knocking Rupert down. The apothecary called over his shoulder, "Just put some ice on it, and it'll be fine!"

Jezebel cleared her throat, and Lysander turned to regard her. "Ah, yes, the adventurers? What can I do for you? Maybe you came here to buy some sacramental wine?"

Garou's eyes lit up, but Erris smacked him before he could say anything. "No, actually," Jezebel said, glaring at her companions, "we were wondering where we could buy a scroll of town portal."

The old man hummed, stroking his beard as he thought. "Well, not from me. Drognan might have some. Where are you headed to, anyway?"

Tharou sighed. "A set of tunnels out in the desert, probably taken over by those giant maggots."

Lysander clapped his hands together. "Then you do need sacramental wine! Just a minute." He turned and rushed back into his booth, coming out with several small vials. "Sacramental wine, guaranteed to cure what ails you! Hurts, poisons, weariness," with a wink and nudge to Rupert, "problems with the ladies, anything!"

Rupert turned bright red, but Oksana grabbed several. "Thanks so much! We'll tell you how they work out!" The group quickly walked off, looking for Drognan.

Fara walked over to stand next to Lysander. "Are you sure those seven know what they are doing?"

He chuckled. "Does it matter? There's not anyone else, but I'm sure Tyrael has his hands full keeping them alive." He chuckled some more. "Boy, I think they're going to get really shnookered with that wine!" Fara rolled her eyes and walked back to her own booth.



Three days later, they finally reached the edge of the Far Oasis. As the sun rose, the group awoke to the scent of Ron Bars frying sand maggot eggs over a small fire. Jezebel walked over to look, and made a face. "Oh, that looks disgusting!" she cried. "I hope you weren't expecting us to eat that?"

In answer, the barbarian picked up his portion and swallowed the greasy thing whole. Garou came over as the sorceress fled, and tried a small bite of the eggs. With a face, he managed to swallow it. "No offense, Ron Bars, but your cooking skills leave much to be desired." The barbarian looked at him in confusion, then shrugged and downed the rest of the eggs.

As they started walking the perimeter of the oasis, Oksana asked, "How are we supposed to find these tunnels, anyway? I certainly didn't notice them on the way in with the caravan." The others shrugged.

Suddenly, with a wail, Kenny dropped out of sight, a hole in the sand suddenly appearing. Jezebel almost fell in as well, but her staff got stuck in the sand, with her desperately hanging from it, halfway into the hole. Ron Bars carefully lifted her up, and they all looked at the hole.

Erris sighed. "This must be it. I'll go down first." But as she started to step forward, Tharos blocked her way with an arm.

"Don't be stupid. We don't know how far down the hole goes. You could be killed." He carefully stepped backwards from the hole.

The amazon bristled. "I suppose you want to be a dumb male and shield me from all the danger?"

Tharos rolled his eyes, and gestured. One of his skeletons clattered forward, and jumped down the hole. "I'd prefer to shield all of us from pointless death, if I can," he said, smirking. "The hole curves a few feet down, and it's a safe landing."

With a shout of glee, Oksana dove into the hole, and they could hear her laughing all the way down. One by one, they dove after her, until all stood in a roughly circular chamber, some thirty feet below the surface. Jezebel held her ball of light aloft until the others could light torches. Finally, they looked around.

The chamber seemed to have only one exit, covered by a thin membrane of some slimy mucus. Rupert carefully set it on fire, wrinkling his nose at the smell. But it burned away quickly, revealing a tunnel leading deeper into the sands. "Well, I guess this is the way we should start," he said, stepping forward.

They wandered for almost an hour, through the twisting passages and occasional chambers. Finally, Garou stopped in one chamber. "I think we're going in circles," he said. As he opened his mouth to continue, a gout of poisonous mucus came from the passageway behind him, coating the druid's head and back and sending Munin tumbling to the ground.

With a roar, Garou turned around, shifting into a werewolf as he tore the sand maggot into pieces. The others all stayed well back until he had finished, and turned to regard them, covered in ichor. He looked down at himself, and growled. "Damnit, I hate these accursed bugs!" He spun around angrily, stalking down the tunnel.

That was how he found the hole down to the next level, another long slide down to another set of circular tunnels. Several more hours of walking in circles later, they found a third slide down. "I sure hope we find this staff soon," Oksana muttered. "I'm starting to run out of traps."

The others nodded, walking along wearily. Even Ron Bars was dragging his axes along the ground, and only the animated skeletons showed no sign of exhaustion. But this third level seemed different than the others, with only one long, straight tunnel from the original chamber.

Finally, they could see ahead of them the tunnel widening out into a very large chamber. They doused all but one torch, and dimmed the magelight, as they grew closer. At the chamber entrance, they stopped and stared in wonder.

The chamber itself was almost fifty feet across, and twenty feet high. Near the center was the largest sand maggot any of them had ever seen, almost thirty feet long, slowly pumping out egg after egg into the sand. Other sand maggots were moving the eggs slowly into piled in another part of the room.

The adventurers quietly prepared themselves, and Rupert counted down with his fingers. As he reached zero, arrow and lightning bolt flew towards the huge queen maggot, a lightning web arced across the eggs and worker maggots, and the others charged into battle. It was over very quickly, the adventurers all covered in gore and mucus from the sand maggots.

Rupert dug into the pile of shattered maggot eggs, pulling out an ornate box. As he opened it, the staff inside began glowing. Jezebel whistled at the sight of the staff. "Well, that's certainly interesting, don't you think?"

Oksana poked the sorceress. "Where's that scroll? I want to go take a swim in the ocean and clean all this muck off of me." The assassin carefully scraped away a line of green ichor off her cheek.

As they started to leave through the portal, Erris growled, stepping over to the wall and prying Kenny loose from the sand, where a gout of maggot spit had plastered him.



As they stepped into town, the people of Lut Gholein quickly parted, leaving a big hole in the crowd for the stinky, gore-covered adventurers. Without a word, they all trooped down to the docks, climbing in even in armor to clean away the sticky green maggot blood.

Finally clean, they staggered back to the main square of the marketplace and collapsed at Cain's feet. Rupert carefully pulled the glowing staff from his pack and handed it to Cain. "Yes, this is it!" he said triumphantly. "Good, you only need one more piece to create the Horadric Staff necessary to open Tal Rasha's tomb!"

Tharos held up a hand. "Hold it. Why do we need to open the tomb that holds Baal?"

The sage glared at him. "How are you going to prevent Diablo from freeing Baal?"

Tharos frowned. "Hey, I'm just worried that we might accidentally free Baal ourselves."

"Oh, that's quite beyond your skills. I fervently hope so, anyway." He frowned, and leaned the staff against the well next to him. "At any rate, the other piece for the staff is the Viper Amulet. It should be in the Claw Viper temple."

"Now wait a minute!" Erris cried. "Claw Vipers curse people. If we go in there and loot their temple, won't they curse all of us?"

Cain rolled his eyes. "Once you take the amulet, the Vipers won't be able to curse anybody! Now quit arguing, and ask Griez where the stupid temple is already."

Oksana shook her head. "Alright, we'll get there, but first, I need some … sleep." Cain groaned and shook his head in despair.



As the sun rose the next morning, they stepped back through the town portal, and began the slow task of climbing back out of the Sand Maggot Lair. Once back at the surface, they all cleaned off at the oasis, and started off across the desert again. As the day passed from morning to afternoon, they came upon a gutted building, the clay bricks slowly being worn down by the sand and the wind.

Rupert looked around, noting pieces of more buildings. "This must be the Lost City Griez mentioned." He tapped the wall with his scepter, and part of it broke away, crumbling back into the sand.

Erris sighed, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Great, so now we just need to found our way through this to the old temple the Claw Vipers have been using."

As she spoke, Erris pointed into the desert. Indeed, there was a group of Claw Vipers, gathered around and intoning something. But even as they charged, the vipers let fly their curse, and the group stopped, confused, as the Vipers slipped away. Tharos shook his head to try and clear away the fuzziness. "What the heck did they just do to us?"

Jezebel groaned. "I'm not sure, but that was definitely a curse. It shouldn't take very long before we find out what it was."

Oksana shrugged. "So what. Too much talk, not enough action."

Rupert glared at her. "We have to find out what they did to us before we continue."

Oksana tossed her hair back, opened her mouth, and started to sing. Everyone in the group joined in, dancing and singing along with her. (Those of us in the modern world would recognize the song as "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley.)

As they finished the song, with Oksana pressed up against Rupert, all of them sort of stumbled. Erris groaned. "Oh no, this is horrible! How are we supposed to deal with each other if all we do is break into song?"

They looked at each other nervously, and Rupert seized the opportunity to escape from Oksana. Ron Bars suddenly started shaking uncontrollably, and finally clapped a hand over his mouth. Rupert hurried over to him, looking concerned. "What is it? What's wrong?"

The barbarian lowered his hand, and boomed out in an operatic tone, "Ron Bars not sing!" In horror, he clapped his hands over his mouth again. The others groaned.

"Come on, let's find this temple, quickly," Rupert said. "I have no desire to be stuck like this any longer than I have to." The others, nodding agreement, followed him deeper through the Lost City.



As sunset came on them, they stood at the entrance to the temple. Set back into the cliff, the sides of the temple still bore faint impressions of the carvings they once held. With some worrisome gazes, and firmly shut mouths, they headed down into the temple.

They found the second set of stairs very quickly. Rupert carefully spoke, trying hard to resist bursting into song. "Right down here, we kill the head priest, wreck the altar, and steal the amulet." The others nodded and followed him down the stairs.

They stepped out into the chamber, and saw the altar there in the center of the floor. From around the room they could hear Claw Vipers hissing and preparing to meet them in battle. Tharos ran forward, leaping onto the altar and landing heavily. It cracked beneath him, and one of the vipers screamed, lunging forward.

But Ron Bars leapt over the necromancer, landing on the edge of the altar, his axes halting the viper's charge. The altar started to crumble apart as the others laid into the other monsters, turning the altar room into a mess of chopped up snake corpses. Erris carefully picked up the amulet, and slipped it into her pocket. "Well? Now that it's safe to talk without bursting into song, can we get back to town and find out what else we have to do?"

Jezebel nodded silently, producing a town portal scroll and reading it. With a last glance around the room, they returned to Lut Gholein.



Back in town, the people were eerily quiet, moving and bargaining in bare whispers, saying only the smallest bit necessary. Wondering what new evil might be threatening the town so, the heroes hurried to the market square, and Erris produced the amulet to Cain. "Why is everyone whispering?" she asked loudly. Everyone within earshot cringed, several people trying to shush her.

Cain took the amulet and examined it carefully, opening the book and comparing it to something illustrated. Finally, the sage let out a sigh of relief. "It's all over. No more singing."

The news swept through the market and into the streets of the city, and shortly everything was back to the usual chaotic babble from before. Garou stared at Cain in surprise. "You mean, everyone here was compelled to sing as well?"

Cain groaned and sagged against the stone well. "I thought I had been in some horrible situations before. King Leoric turning evil, the Arch Bishop Lazarus bringing Diablo back to power, being hung in a gibbet for several days with Fallen Ones torturing me - none of it compared to listening to that old fool sing for five minutes!"

They all turned to follow Cain's pointing finger at Lysander's tent, just as an agonized shriek came from inside. Lysander hurried out quickly, pulling the curtains closed behind him. The apothecary in turn stared back at the adventurers. "What?" he asked, looking confused. "I can't sing a little Chanukah song without everyone complaining about it?"

The heroes shrugged, and turned back to Cain. "Now then, I've been speaking with Drognan about your mission here to stop Diablo. He agrees with me that you aren't capable, but the only choice we have."

At that point, the wizard came up, his eyes narrowed at the heroes. "I suppose I have you fools to thank for the non-stop singing? I couldn't do any reading at all because of that drunken fool Geglash spouting 'Ninety Nine Bottles of Ale on the Wall' all day at the top of his lungs!" He glared at the assembled group. "Why couldn't you have gotten a normal curse, like darkness or a plague of frogs, or a rain of blood? Those would have been paradise!

"At any rate," he finally continued, "A mage named Horazon once lived in this area, and did a great deal of research into Tal Rasha and apparently he had an Arcane Sanctuary on the spot this city now occupies. I believe that you might find some information about the Sanctuary by talking to Lord Jehryn about what's happened recently. With that, I wash my hands of it." Drognan turned and walked away, still muttering angrily under his breath.

The group shared several moments of indecision, before finally turning and heading across the marketplace towards the other side of the city. As they walked away, Kara and Lysander stood there watching them. He finally called after them, "Bye bye, boys! Have fun storming the palace!"

Kara glanced at him. "Do you think it'll work?"

He shook his head. "It'd take a miracle."

In unison, they both shouted again, "Bye bye!"



They walked up the steps of the palace, and the guards out front reluctantly waved them into the entryway. One of them turned and headed deeper into the palace, as the heroes stood there marveling at the opulent entryway. The hall seemed to be dipped in gold and silver, and valuable gems were abundant. The ceiling above them has gems of all types put together in a mosaic, showing a battle between the forces of Heaven and Hell.

Finally the guard returned, with Lord Jehryn following him. The leader looked at the ragged assembly, and sighed heavily. "I hear that you've managed to destroy the altar in the Claw Viper temple. I suppose I should be impressed at your luck, but frankly I'm too surprised that it's lasted this long.

"But that's not why I called you here. Shortly before the troubles began, a traveling sorcerer came to the palace and asked to do some research in the palace cellars. I didn't think much of it at the time, but apparently he never reappeared. With the demons appearing at the walls, I allowed the harem guilds to take shelter inside the palace."

Oksana interrupted him, looking positively delighted. "Harem girls? Oh goody, when do we get to meet them?"

Had Jehryn been a mage, his look would have turned the oblivious assassin to stone. Instead he continued, slowly and deliberately. "One night, my guards heard screams, and rushed into the cellars to find demons pouring out of a portal and slaughtering the harem girls. My guards have been fighting desperately to keep the demons from pouring out of the palace and into the city. That's why I had to hire Griez and his mercenaries to take charge of the city walls."

Oksana murmured something under her breath, but Jehryn ignored her. "Drognan tells me that a place called the Arcane Sanctuary might lie underneath the palace. So feel free to go down to that portal and take a look. The stairs are over there, and please don't track any more dirt and blood around than you already have."

With a snort of disdain, Jehryn turned and marched back into another part of the palace. Rupert and Erris took the opportunity to glare at Oksana, while Garou and Tharos snickered. "First thing you thought of, Oksana?" the druid chortled. "The rest of us aren't enough company for you?"

The assassin smiled seductively. "Some of you don't want to keep me … company," she purred out, rubbing up against Erris. The amazon frowned in distaste and shoved her away. "Oh girl, you like it rough?" the assassin asked again, running a tongue over her lips and winking. Erris gave a strangled cry, and turned away, the others all laughing at her.

Rupert waved a hand to get them to quiet down. "All right, enough of that. We have to get down into the cellars and find that portal. Tomorrow," he said, looking out at the darkening sky. "Let's head back for the inn and get some sleep."

As they walked the streets through the dispersing crowd, a ragged looking dog suddenly lunged out of the crowd and hid behind Garou. The heroes looked around, surprised, as a small group of kids came charging out after the dog. "So much for getting dog meat," one of them muttered when they saw the dog with the adventurers.

The druid looked down and offered a hand to the dog. "Dogmeat? Is that a name for you?" The mutt whined and licked his hand enthusiastically. "Come on, Dogmeat. Meet Munin," he said, moving the raven from his shoulder to the dog's back.

Jezebel looked at the dog in disgust. "Please tell me you're not serious about taking that … thing with us? I've killed cleaner looking monsters."

Garou chuckled and scratched Dogmeat's head. "Don't worry, I'll give him a bath in the morning. He'll be fine." The sorceress groaned again.

"Great, instead of dirty dog, we get wet dog."



The next morning, they returned to the palace, Dogmeat cleaner, but no less scruffy looking. The palace guards reluctantly admitted them, and they headed down the stairs into the first level of the palace cellars. The first two levels, the ones originally set aside for the harem girls, were very quiet, hardly any monsters about at all.

Erris finally snarled as an arrow shattered a skeleton mage. "I don't like this at all," she said. "It's too quiet down here. Jehryn said that his soldiers had trouble keeping the demons from spilling forth out of the palace, so where all of them?"

"Isn't that the sixty-four thousand dollar question," Garou muttered in reply, swinging his sword loosely. Dogmeat whined as they approached another staircase down. "You know, wouldn't it make more sense to have one central staircase, instead of having to walk through half the floor to go down again?"

The others just shrugged at him, and they trooped down another flight of stairs. Ron Bars kicked open the door at the bottom, and Jezebel muttered "Oh, crap." Before them, in a fairly open hallway, stood rank upon rank of skeleton archers. Rupert barely closed the door in time as all of them fired at once, the arrows splintering the door like a thunder of hail.

"Now what?" Oksana cried, quickly preparing a lightning trap.

Jezebel tapped Tharos with her staff. "Do those skeletons burn easily?"

Another hail of arrows shattered across the door, one bursting through to bury itself in Kenny's neck. "Yes!" the necromancer replied.

The sorceress shoved Rupert out of the way, pushing the door open again. Quickly, several large sheets of fire rose up, blocking the doorway and charring several of the skeletons. A few arrows came flying through regardless, but when the walls of fire died, all that remained were charred bits of bone.

"Well, at least we know there are hordes down here," Tharos muttered.

"Ron Bars smash!" Erris patted the barbarian on the shoulder, pushing him out into the hallway first.



These next two floors were packed with monsters. One room was so full of Abominations that the door was quickly blocked by a pile of corpses. Erris took a moment to wipe the sweat from her eyes. "Great Gabriel in Heaven, no wonder the guards are getting their butts handed to them!"

Tharos looked over at Kenny, recovering from a fatal head-bite by an Abomination. "Erris, amazons train in the use of spear and such, right?"

She frowned, but nodded to him. "Yeah, why?"

He pointed at Kenny. "Do any of your friends suck so badly at using them as he does?"

Oksana started chuckling as Erris turned slightly red. "Most of my friends are skilled archers. My mother has been known to split an arrow from a hundred paces away." She turned away in a huff. Ron Bars and Garou grunted, finally managing to tip over the wall of corpses, and the fighting began again.

When the wall had piled up yet again, the druid looked down at his blood-stained wolf fur. "I should have listened to my father," he lamented. " 'Don't go into shape-shifting,' he said, 'learn how to control the wind and flames.' I'm an idiot." Dogmeat whined and licked his hand, and Munin sat on the corpses cawing in laughter.

Jezebel frowned at the thick, blood-leaking wall. "We're not going to get through here. Let's see if we can find another way through."

Rupert nodded. "The portal has got to be around here somewhere."

Oksana frowned at him. "How do you figure that?"

He smiled. "Easy. We always came down in one corner of the floor, and the next staircase was in the opposite corner. Which is where we are now, and look - no more stairs."

The assassin rolled her eyes and walked back to the other door, back the way they came. As she reached it, the door shuddered from two hits, and then fell over. Ducking to fit through the doorway strode a massive monster, eight feet tall, holding wicked scimitars in all four of his hands. Seeing them trapped by the corpse wall, he smiled, sharpened teeth glinting blood-red. "Fresh meat," he snarled.

Ron Bars knew they were in trouble, so he picked the most effective course of action - he picked up Kenny, straining mightily, and threw the mercenary at the monster. The beast had only a moment to shriek in horror before the five-hundred pound Kenny smashed into him. The monster went flying back, his head taking out a chunk of the stone doorway.

The others all stared at the hole for a moment, then looked at Ron Bars. Then Rupert and Garou gave a loud cheer, clapping the barbarian on the back. Their joy was short lived, however, as the monster again appeared in the doorway. "Now you've really pissed me off," he growled, preparing all of his scimitars.

"Aw, nutbunnies," Oksana muttered. The monster charged, running straight into Ron Bars and Garou. Both of them took dangerous hits, and their own attacks were foiled by flashing blades.

Erris muttered something darkly, and grabbed a whole handful of arrows in her hand at once. She closed her eyes briefly, then readied the arrows. She fired them, one at a time, but at a speed so fast the twang of the bow seemed more like a hum. Though the monster was able to block the first few, the barrage of arrows quickly left him nailed to the wall. Jezebel stepped forward then, breathing out a gout of flame until the body was incinerated.

Tharos looked at the amazon in respect. "That was certainly impressive. What was that, fifty arrows?"

She preened, putting the last few arrows back in her quiver. "My mentor called that the 'chain bow' for some reason. Just put out enough arrows that it's impossible for them to dodge every one."

Jezebel shrugged. "Real nice. Now, give me a minute to throw up a few fire walls and maybe they'll burn through all these corpses."



An hour later, the heroes finally finished mapping out the now-empty floor and found a rather curious metal lattice-work frame. The thing seemed to have been constructed from razors, and a curious star-like piece, made of arrowheads, sat atop the frame, spinning freely. "Well. I think this is the portal Jehryn must have been talking about." Oksana cautiously tapped the frame with her cestus, and it chimed softly.

Jezebel examined it for several minutes. "I think we have to adjust the star to open the portal," she said. Rupert reached up with his scepter and spun it slowly, but nothing seemed to happen.

Tharos leaned close, and pointed with his wand at one spot. "These are bloodstains right here," he said. "Perhaps it needs some small amount of blood to activate the portal?"

Erris grabbed Kenny by the arm. Even as the mercenary squawked in protest, she slashed his hand open on the razors of the frame. With a roar and a gush of wind, the framework filled with the blue, swirling energy of a portal. "Yep, that works," the amazon said. "Forward the Light Brigade!"

Ron Bars charged through the portal first, Erris and Garou fast on his heels. Kenny, wailing and holding his cut hand, tottered through next. Oksana looked at Tharos before she stepped into the portal. "Think we'll find anything interesting?"

The necromancer laughed. "There's an old curse I read about. 'May you live in interesting times.' I think we're already cursed with that, don't you?"

The assassin gave him a wink. But before she could say anything further, Jezebel impatiently shoved her through the portal too, and shook her staff at Tharos. This managed to nail Rupert right in the crotch, but she didn't notice that. "Enough flirting, Tharos. We have a Prime Evil to catch, remember?"

The necromancer smiled sardonically. "Once we catch him, can we sell him as a collector's item?"

Rupert growled in annoyance and pain, and shoved them both through the portal.



They came out in the Arcane Sanctuary, on a small platform hanging above seeming nothingness. Stars twinkled in all directions - and by twinkled, I mean they danced around, orbiting each other in the bizarre surrounding sky. The platform led down to a crossway, walkways leading off into the darkness. The area around them seemed to be lit by a sourceless, aimless light that cast no shadows. Tharos looked over the edge of the platform and shivered. "Long way down," he said quietly.

Ron Bars and Garou had already descended the stairs to the crossway, carefully looking and sniffing around for any tracks. As the others also walked down the stairs, the druid looked up. "There's demons all around this place. So I guess just pick a direction, and explore. If we're lucky, the mage who built this place left a journal or something."

Rupert pulled out a dagger, stood in the center of the walkway, and dropped it, and the others all watched the dagger spin, finally pointing off towards one walkway. "All right, we go that way," the paladin said, picking up the dagger and putting it away. Slowly they walked off again, into the formless light.

Goat-headed demons, and fire-throwing ghouls seemed to rise up out of the darkness as they walked, but the monsters were no obstacle to them. They followed the winding staircases and walkways around, finally reaching a small fortified area. Spires throw lightning bolts at them, and incorporeal wraiths swooped out of the darkness, sucking away their mana. But arrows shattered the crystal of the spires, bursts of flame sent the wraiths cowering back into the darkness, and axe and claws cast the demons off the walkways to fall, screaming, into the endless night.

They strode forward onto the platform, looking at the small chest that sat in the center. Jezebel walked up and tapped it with her staff. "It's locked," she said, turning to look at Oksana. The assassin sat down in front of the chest, producing her lock pick again, and easily springing the chest open.

They eagerly pulled the lid open, and stared uncomprehendingly into the chest. Inside was a simple piece of paper, which Tharos picked up and read aloud. "Horazon - came back for my leathers. The Cow King." He reread the paper silently to himself, then crumpled it up and dumped it back in the chest. "What the hell is this?"

The others shrugged. "Damned if I know," Erris said, "but let's keep exploring. There's still three other pathways to check out, and maybe one of them has something we can use."

Disgruntled, the heroes turned and walked back towards the crossway where they had appeared.



The second walkway was very similar to the first. Winding stairs, and sloped paths that curled around on top of each other gave them some trouble at first, but soon Erris and Jezebel were blasting anything that appeared. They found the final platform, again guarded by large numbers of demons and wraiths, but fought valiantly through them.

Again, they gathered around the chest, and excitingly flipped it open. This time, however, the contents was not a note, but a small pile of gold coins. Rupert counted it out slowly. "Twenty five gold coins. That's it? A hundred monsters between the crossway and here for a lousy twenty five coin?" He kicked the chest in disgust.

To their surprise, the chest went flying off into the endless sky, and beneath it was the lid to another chest. They examined it carefully, and finally Oksana bent down and flipped it back carefully. Inside was a much larger pile of gold, and a scroll of town portal. With a cheer, they divided up the gold, and Jezebel slipped the scroll into a hollow point in her staff.

"Well, at least this wasn't a total loss," the paladin said, grinning. "Two down, two to go." In much higher spirits, they trooped back to the crossway again.



The third walkway was nothing but straight lines. This made it remarkably easy for the party, as Ron Bars just rolled Kenny down the path in a straight line. Any monsters that were not thrown off the sides or tramped to death were quickly finished by scepter or claws. They reached the last platform very quickly, and fought to the chest even faster.

This chest was empty, except for a layer of fine dust at the bottom. In eagerness, Oksana bent down and threw it out of the way. The resulting trap explosion knocked all of them down, and threw her backwards to the very edge of the platform. She screamed as she started to slide off the edge, her hands frantically grabbing for any purchase to keep her from falling into the abyss.

Tharos was up quickly, and his skeletons clattered forward to grab the assassin's wrists. But their bony hands could not hold her, and she slipped again, to the very edge of the platform. "Help me!" Ron Bars crawled forward, his powerful hand clamping over one arm, while Garou kept him from sliding away also. Erris extended her bow, trying to get Oksana to grab that as a lifeline.

They held there for a minute, the heroes unable to get the leverage to pull Oksana back up to safety. Then Ron Bars' hand, slick with sweat, lost its purchase, and Oksana fell, screaming in horror, down into the abyss. They all stood there, staring, as her voice faded away and they lost sight of her. Rupert fell heavily to his knees, his eyes staring sightlessly at the edge where she had fallen.

The others seemed likewise in a daze, staring out at the endless dancing stars. Finally, Erris bent her head. "Tyrael, watch over her soul," she whispered. Tharos sat there, tears rolling silently down his cheeks.

Then Jezebel rapped her staff against the platform sharply, the crack echoing. All the others looked at her in surprise. "I think we can go after her!"

Erris stared at the sorceress. "Have you gone mad? Sure, we could go after her, just jump off! Then we'll be dead too!"

Jezebel shook her head in irritation. "No you fool. It's simple. We tie ourselves together with a rope, and jump off the platform in the same spot. If we work it carefully, we'll fall the same direction, but faster. Then when we catch up to Oksana, I read this," she brandished the scroll of town portal, "and we're all safe. We can go back through the palace to reach the crossway again."

Garou's eyes widened, and he shifted back to human form. "It just might work. Of course, we'd have to be very careful to go straight down from the edge of the platform, but if we stay linked together, then we'd just fall into the portal."

Ron Bars suddenly looked around. "What noise?" he boomed. The others all went silent, listening as well. Then the barbarian gave a cry, pointing up into the sky. Falling towards them came Oksana, still wailing. They leaped to their feat, bracing Ron Bars as the barbarian prepared to catch her.

Oksana hit him with a crash, knocking everyone down again. But this time, no one fell off the platform. They all got slowly to her feet, and Oksana looked around carefully. "This must be Hell, you're all still here!" Tharos laughed, quietly, and the group carefully embraced. Then Oksana turned back to the chest and the trap. "Alright, what's in this one?"

Again, they gathered around, though this time braced a little more carefully. Oksana gingerly flipped open the lid, and they stared down carefully. Inside the chest lay seven small rings. They eached picked one up, Erris smacking Kenny's hand when he tried to grab hers. Each ring was decorated slightly differently, and they silently passed the rings about, until all of them were satisfied with their choice.

They stood there for a moment longer, admiring their new jewelry (with Kenny silently glaring jealously) before Rupert straightened up, taking a new grip on his scepter. "Right then, on we go. Just one last walkway to check out, and we'll see if there's anything in this strange place."

Oksana frowned and tapped him on the shoulder. "Wait a minute. If you just circle around in this crazy sky, what happens to all the monsters we tossed off?"

Jezebel laughed. "They probably went careening off, and when they get close to a walkway, they just bounce off. If you hadn't fallen straight down, you probably wouldn't have come back."

The assassin glared back. "Thanks for the optimism, mage."

The sorceress smiled back with false sweetness. "Anytime, girl."

Tharos stepped between them, deftly guiding Oksana back toward the crossway. "It's not worth arguing about. Besides, we might find another set of rings."

She nodded, admiring the dragon ring with a small, ruby eye. "Yeah, maybe." She then turned, grabbed him for a big kiss, and ran back towards their starting point. Tharos chuckled, watching her and blushing slightly.

Garou came up beside the necromancer and grinned. "Careful, I think she likes you."



They started down the last crossway, and stopped. It ended a short distance in, with another frame, swirling with a red portal. Two dozen feet beyond it was another walkway, with another red portal. They approached it slowly, and Jezebel cautiously put the end of her staff into the portal and pulled it out again. Erris growled at her in annoyance, and shoved Kenny through.

They saw him stumble out of the portal on the other side, and promptly get swarmed by goat-headed demons. Ron Bars gave out a battle cry, leaping through the portal. The others followed quickly, casting monsters dead and dying from the floating walkway.

They traveled down this set of floating, disconnected paths, often using arrows, spells, and thrown traps to whittle down the number of monsters until they grew closer. Soon, they reached the last area. Above them, linked by winding stairs, was a large platform. Around the edges floated magical symbols, casting blue light, though they could not tell what the symbols were.

Rupert pointed upward and whispered, "Jackpot!" The others nodded, and Oksana started slowly climbing the stairs, drawing the darkness around her to stay unnoticed. When she reached high enough to see what lay on the platform above, she almost fell off. Slowly she retreated, and the heroes backed away from the platform some distance.

"The whole platform is packed," Oksana whispered urgently. "It looks like every monster who wasn't wounded when we tossed them off has gotten back to here. And some fool in bright blue robes is up there too."

They all crouched there, silently, and Rupert nodded. "Well, Ron Bars will take one set of stairs, Garou the other. The goat-demons can't approach us more than one at a time, and Erris and Jezebel can take down the crowd from below." With no better plan in mind, they moved back to the base of the stairs.

Rupert counted silently. When he gave the signal, Ron Bars let out an ear-splitting war cry, and barbarian and werewolf druid charged up their staircases, with the paladin and assassin close behind them. Several demons fell right off the platform in surprise, but a quick flurry of arrows, lightning bolts, and bony spears left them falling in a cloud of their own blood.

The heroes moved up quickly, axes and claws sending monsters flying off into the gloom, often missing heads or limbs. But then the blue-robed mage turned his fury on the party. A wall of flame rose up around Garou, and the druid screamed in pain as it scorched away his fur. He fought forward, biting and clawing at the demons in his way, but the flames followed him.

Oksana jumped up on Ron Bars' shoulders, and the barbarian tried to look up at her. "Throw me!" she shouted, and he grunted, burying both axes in the demon before him. He grabbed the assassin around the waist, and hurled her over the crowd toward the mage. She spun in the air, landing almost exactly the way she wished, knocking both of them to the ground.

The mage looked up at her face from between her legs. She smiled impishly, then twisted her legs, snapping his neck. As the mage died, so did his fire, and the others were swiftly at her sides, killing the last of the demons. They took a minute to rest and regroup, Rupert healing the druid from the fire wounds.

Finally, Erris started searching the robes of the fallen mage, pulling out a small book. She flipped it open, and started reading through. Finally, she closed it in disgust. "Whoever wrote this had absolutely horrible handwriting," she complained.

Tharos ignored her, looking at the circular mosaic on the center of the platform, then up at the six glowing symbols hanging in the air. One by one, he counted off the symbols, then pulled out a small piece of charcoal, and noted the missing symbol. Then he turned to Jezebel. "Any idea what these are?" he said, pointing at the mosaic.

The sorceress moved over, and followed his pointing finger. "Yes, I think those are the symbols the Horadric mages used for the tombs where they buried Tal Rasha."

Rupert frowned. "How many tombs are there?"

She sighed. "Supposedly, they made seven tombs, and put them all in the same canyon. Then they sealed off Tal Rasha, filled all of the tombs with traps, and sealed up the entrances. They didn't want anyone getting to him."

Tharos nodded. "I can imagine. But how are we supposed to reach this canyon?"

Jezebel shrugged, looking down at the mosaic. "I don't know for sure, but …" she stepped to the side, to look at the tiles from a different angle, and disappeared. The others all stared at the empty air for a moment, then rushed forward.

Rupert held them all back, and carefully stepped onto the same space where the sorceress had disappeared. Likewise, the paladin vanished. One by one, they all followed his lead.

They emerged in the middle of a canyon, the bright, desert sun scorching down. They stood on a large stone platform, that looked as though it was once the top of a pyramid, buried beneath the sands. But the wind was starting to pick up, bringing with it sand and insects, flying by and stinging the heroes. Ron Bars led the way, everyone holding on to each other as they fought through the wind to the shelter of a large rock.

They huddled around, trying to avoid the abrasive winds. "We have to find a better shelter or get out of here!" Rupert shouted over the wind.

Jezebel shook her head. "I can't read a scroll in this wind! We have to find someplace else!"

Tharos grabbed her arm, and pointed along the line of the cliff not too far away. The surface seemed to be carved, and something like a cave entrance was a darker blot through the sand-filled storm.

Again with Ron Bars leading the way, they staggered through the sandstorm, abrasive wind rubbing their skin raw. They reached the entrance and collapsed inside, crawling away from the wind and favoring their raw skin. They sat there for several moments recovering, and watching as Kenny regrew his sand-blasted face. Then Jezebel gasped.

"We found it," she said. "We found one of Tal Rasha's tombs." They looked around, at the carvings and painted walls, legacies of the Horadric mages long since passed. Not too much further in was a staircase down into further darkness. Above the archway was carved a plain circle.

Tharos pointed up at the symbol. "That was one of the seven on that mosaic," he said, and Jezebel nodded. "It was also one of the six glowing ones on the platform."

Erris frowned. "So what?"

Garou smiled. "I think what he means, is if there were seven symbols on the mosaic, corresponding to the seven tombs, but only six glowing symbols, then the missing symbol is probably the tomb we want to explore first." He sat back looking smug.

Oksana shrugged. "Whatever. Can we use that scroll of town portal now? I really want to go back to the inn and take a nap."

Rupert held up his ring, faint light glinting off the gold sword etched into it. "And find out what these do, as well."



After a long nap, with magical rings identified, and heroes carrying thick, sandstorm-weather cloaks, they stepped back into the portal. The storm outside was not yet raging, but they kept the cloaks with them. Garou climbed the large rock they had sheltered behind, and looked up and down the canyon in both directions.

"There's two tombs in that direction," he pointed to the right of the circle-tomb, "and at least three the other way. I can't see further than that."

Rupert nodded. "Alright, let's check out the two first. The symbols aren't too far inside, and if the wind picks up it'll give us somewhere to shelter."

The tombs were spaced almost a mile apart, and barely marked out of the surrounding canyon walls. The sliding sand, moved around by the storm the day before, did not make their travel any easier. Ron Bars had to pick Jezebel up after several falls, and at one point carried her across a sliding dune.

But both of those first two were not the matching symbol either. Tharos pulled out the paper, showing everyone the star, almost shuriken-like. So, wearily, they headed back up the canyon, fighting their way across the shifting sands. Finally, as night began to fall, they had barely reached their way back to the circle tomb. They stopped again near the large boulder, everyone but Ron Bars falling to the sand to rest.

Erris coughed, spitting out sand. "We need to get back to town and rest," she said. The others nodded wearily with her, panting with exertion. But even as Jezebel started to reach for a scroll, a feline scream echoed through the canyon. They all looked around warily, not sure where the noise came from.

Then a javelin came flying through the twilit night, knocking Kenny back to the ground. They all readied their weapons, Jezebel holding her staff high and conjuring up a ball of magical light. It revealed several spear cats, who squinted into the light and threw their javelins.

Erris fired, her arrow knocking two javelins out of the air. And Jezebel quickly brought up a wall of fire on one side of the party, even as Garou roared and leapt over it. But the group was surrounded, more and more cats appearing as though conjured out of thin air. Ron Bars had dropped his axes, grabbing the javelins out of midair and throwing them back.

Soon they were forced back into a circle, Tharos conjuring new skeletons constantly as they were shattered. And even with fire walls surrounding them on all sides, more and more cats were dashing through them to attack the party with whips and javelin. "We have to get out of here!" Oksana screamed, throwing another lightning sentry over the fire wall and hearing it discharge.

Jezebel quickly conjured again, as her fire walls started to die out. "I know!" she screamed back. "If I could, we'd be out of here already!" Rupert slammed into another saber cat with his shield, knocking it to the ground before Oksana killed it. "We should retreat to the tomb!"

The group started slowly, Jezebel conjuring new fire walls as they moved up against the side of the cliff and into the narrow passage that made the entrance to the tomb. The corpses of saber cats piled up quickly outside the passage, but the monsters kept fighting, climbing over the bodies of their dead comrades. Finally, Tharos stepped forward, ducking a javelin, and started intoning.

His magic went on for several minutes in harsh, gutteral tones, and though he dodged javelins constantly, he voice never stopped. Then he ended with a flourish, wand pointing at the pile of corpses. Nothing happened for a moment, then the bodies shifted. In a sudden movement, all the bones tore free at once, towering into the sky and rearranging themselves. The bones crashed down again, a skeletal monster thirty feet high and twice that long.

Tharos pointed out at the saber cats, and the bony beast went mad. It tore into the crowds of cats, skeletal paws flinging them away to crash, hundreds of yards away, into the walls of the canyon. The necromancer turned back to the group, and promptly fainted.

Rupert and Garou looked out into the canyon as Jezebel quickly read off the scroll. "I hope he knew what he was doing," the paladin muttered.

Garou nodded. "We'll find out when we come back, I suppose. At least it won't be able to reach us in here."

Erris overheard them, sniping back as she stepped through the portal, "We hope so, you mean."



At noon the next day, Tharos finally awakened. He looked around the room at the Inn, finally noticing Oksana asleep in a chair by the door. He managed to sit up, and took a drink of water from the jug next to the bed. The door latch clicked, and Oksana awoke as the others peeked into the room. "You're awake!" she blurted in surprise.

The necromancer nodded, his voice raspy and soft. "Yeah. Did we get out alright? What happened to the creeper?"

Rupert shuddered. "Is that what that bone monster was called? After you fainted, we dragged you back through the portal while it was playing football with the cats."

The necromancer nodded, again, then winced in pain. "My head hurts like I've been drinking that cask of wine again." Garou snickered from somewhere out in the hallway. "What time of day is it, anyway?"

Jezebel walked over and pulled open the curtains. "It's almost noon, why?"

Tharos smiled weakly. "Well, because the creeper should be destroyed by now. The magic dies when sunlight touches them." He tried to swing himself out of bed, and nearly fell right into Oksana's waiting arms.

Erris frowned at him. "Isn't that thing still under your control?"

He shook his head. "Not since I fainted. But like I said, direct sunlight destroys it." He stopped as the others all stared at him. "What?"

Erris rolled her eyes. "You'd just better hope that the creeper did get caught in sunlight. Because otherwise, we're in very big trouble."



They trooped back to the marketplace, and back through the portal to the tomb entrance. Waiting anxiously, they peered out at the bright desert day. But there seemed to be no dangerous monsters, and they climbed over the steaming pile of corpses, avoiding the small scavengers that picked away.

With weary resignation, they started north towards the other four tombs. The walk was slow in the shifting sands, but they made better time, despite the summer noonday heat. The first tomb was not what they wanted, nor the second.

As they left the second tomb, Erris looked up and almost screamed in shock. The others followed her pointing finger across the half-mile span of the canyon. In the other rock wall was a large crack, extending back for a few hundred feet. But of more interest, there at the front, barely in the shadows, was the creeper.

It paced back and forth, occasionally moving its mouth soundlessly, as they watched it. Erris turned on Tharos with a furious look. "Sure, it gets destroyed in daylight, huh? Didn't it occur to you that maybe the beast would find somewhere to hide from the sunlight?"

The group argued on for several minutes amongst themselves, as Rupert stood there and watched. Finally, he sat down on the sands, pulling out a polishing cloth and using it on the inside of his metal kite shield. He sat there, turning the shield one way and another, looking at the opposite wall of the canyon. Soon, the reflected light was shining on the creeper. The giant beast scuttled from side to side, trying to avoid it, though the reflected light seemed to have little effect.

But then, on one step, the creeper's foot collapsed, bones starting to break away. Rupert smiled grimly, keeping the light aimed, as it slowly fell apart, one bone at a time. When the whole pile lay there, unmoving and unresponsive to the light, he stood up. Refastening his shield to his arm, the paladin started away across the desert again.

Garou noticed him first. "Rupert! Where are you going?" he called after the paladin, confused. Without answering, the paladin simply pointed across the canyon. One by one, they all turned to regard the fallen pile of bones.

With a cry of surprise, they all ran after the paladin and onward to the next tomb. "How did you do that?" Jezebel asked him in surprise. But Rupert merely smiled enigmatically and said nothing.



Another hour later, they reached the third tomb. Stopping to rest, they examined the unremarkable front of the tomb, nearly scoured clean and smooth by the desert sands. "I sure hope this is it," Oksana muttered. "We don't even know where the seventh tomb is."

Ron Bars shrugged in response, stepping inside and walking down the entrance corridor. "This tomb!" he boomed back.

The others walked to the entrance. "How do you know that?" Erris asked. Her question died unanswered, as she saw the human skeletons lying in that corridor, most of them with broken javelins still stuck through their ribs. And above the archway was the carved star, the symbol of the last tomb. The barbarian stood there, leaning against the archway with his arms crossed.

Garou chuckled as he picked his way through the corridor to the stairs. But when he reached the archway, Ron Bars had disappeared. A roar echoed from below, and Jezebel groaned. "That combat hungry fool! Couldn't he have waited for the rest of us?"

They quickly joined the battle below, saber cats fighting in concert with wraiths. With the magical might to drive away the wraiths, they quickly freed the beleaguered barbarian, and set about exploring the tomb. Traps seemed to be almost scattered everywhere, but most of them had been disarmed to allow the cats safe passage.

Soon, they reached a room, deep within the tomb, with a strange stand in the middle of the room. After they had killed the last of the saber cats, Tharos circled it, examining the stand carefully. "Any idea what the heck this is for?"

Rupert nodded, pulling the Horadric staff from his backpack. "Cain gave this to us while you were sleeping. He said we're supposed to put it in the orifice, whatever that meant."

Jezebel pointed at the top of the stand. "Stick the bottom in here and let's see what happens."

They all gathered around carefully, even Kenny, watching Rupert carefully place the staff into the stand and lock it into place. Then the staff started to glow, and the room began to shake. They all backed away from the staff slowly. Then a bright light shot out of the staff, straight at Kenny, who squeaked in fear and dropped to the ground.

The light played over one wall, a mosaic of the capturing of the three Prime Evils. Slowly, a portion of the wall began to glow as well, until suddenly it collapsed, masonry and tiles flying everywhere. Kenny had just began to stand up when a giant claw lashed forth from the darkness.

"Looking for Baal?" the voice oozed from within the darkness.



Duriel pulled himself free from the opened room, blood dripping from one claw. The heroes swallowed nervously and prepared themselves for battle. But the demon's first move caught them by surprise. He lunged first at Tharos, and even as the necromancer intoned, Duriel swallowed him whole.

The others screamed in shock, and Erris let fly a half dozen arrows in the first second. Yet only one found a mark in the demon's tough hide, and both axe and claw tore into him with great reluctance.

The battle raged for close to a quarter hour, the heroes falling only at the very end, exhausted and wounded, and out of magical tricks. Duriel stood there, panting, blood oozing from dozens of wounds and scorch marks. The demon screamed out in satisfaction, roaring his victory over the champions of the light.

Then he suddenly stopped. The look of pain that crossed his face was grotesque, and hinted at dire possibilities for the demon. He clawed at his own sides, belching out infernal curses as the pain grew worse.

Then his abdomen sliced open from the inside, the small dagger in a human hand cutting open a hole. Duriel screamed, ripping himself open and plucking Tharos out. The necromancer's face was twisted, his skin blistered and burned from the acid within. Yet his dagger still dripped poison, and he lunged forward, burying it in Duriel's neck.

The demon coughed, sliding backwards and dropping Tharos to the floor. Slowly his eyes glazed, and the giant, bug-like body sagged to the floor, twitching limply for a moment before all was still.

The necromancer managed to somehow get back to his feet. He groped at his belt, and pulled forth a single vial. "Last one," he coughed out, and staggered over to Ron Bars. He fell heavily beside the barbarian, lifting up his head and pouring the vile red mixture down his throat.

Ron Bars coughed heavily as well, spitting out blood as the healing potion started to do its work. Tharos managed to sit up, leaning against the wall. "Your turn, get everyone healed. I suggest you don't use Duriel's body, due to the very large amount of poison that killed him." The barbarian nodded, staggering back into the main part of the tomb for corpses and his special healing power.

One by one, they all recovered, helped by Rupert's paladin skills as well. When they were all able to walk straight, they limped into the open room, past the sickly corpse of Duriel, and continued exploring.

The murals in this part of the tomb had been painted with astounding colors, possibly magical. The images of Tal Rasha and the capture of Baal almost leapt off the wall, and the heroes gazed around in wonder as they walked through the hall. Then, ahead rose up a red light, from a deep fissure. Spanning the fissure was a bridge, and on the other side was an obelisk with a shining figure tied to it.

Carefully they crossed the bridge, approaching the obelisk and the shining figure bound to it. But, head bowed in contemplation, the figure noticed them not at all. Finally, as the seven stood there in a circle (poor Kenny was still recovering from Duriel cutting him in twain), the glowing figure raised his head.

"Who the heck are you miscreants?" Tyrael asked.

Oksana looked at Rupert. "I say we leave him. Ungrateful angels." She turned and started to leave.

"Wait just a minute!" Tyrael boomed, his heavenly voice shaking the room. "I don't know who you are, but it you fought and defeated Duriel, you are obviously capable warriors. Just, your appearance …" The angel spread his shackled hands slightly. "You don't inspire confidence.

The group shared an annoyed look, before Rupert and Jezebel stepped forward to free Tyrael. Dogmeat barked happily from behind Garou, still favoring a wounded paw. The angel looked them all over again, and frowned. "How did you know to look in this tomb?"

Jezebel shrugged. "We've had some help from Cain and Drognan."

Tyrael nodded. "I see. I suggest you travel on to Kurast. Since that is where Mephisto was imprisoned, I believe that was where Diablo and Baal were headed. Now, if you'll excuse me -"

"Wait!" Jezebel cried. Tyrael paused to regard her. "You don't have a scroll of town portal, do you?"

He closed his eyes, almost as though pausing to ask for strength. A portal opened on the bridge, and he vanished.

Erris looked at the portal, and sighed. "Kurast. Middle of the jungle. Lots of mosquitoes, from what I hear. Do we have to go there?"

Garou chuckled, patting her on the back consolingly, as they stepped back into town.



As they stepped through the portal and into town, the people started up a great cheer. To their great surprise, the seven were hoisted upon shoulders and carried to the palace, with Kenny trundling along behind them. Jehryn stood there atop the gleaming palace steps, Drognan and Cain flanking him.

They were put down, and walked to the base of the steps. In a loud voice, Jehryn proclaimed, "My people! Look upon these seven warriors, who despite the odds against them have defeated Duriel, and cleared the desert sands of many the demons that threatened us. Give them a great cheer, before they continue on their journey to stop Diablo!"

The people, as commanded, gave a rousing shout, making the walls around them tremble. They all smiled, as Jehryn gestured for them to ascend the steps. As they reached the top, he gave them each a handshake, the crown cheering louder with each one. As he reached Erris, she asked, "No reward?"

Jehryn smiled predatorily. "After you looted my palace cellars, and allowed Diablo and Baal to escape, be glad I don't throw you in a gibbet out in the desert. Set sail with Meshif and don't come back!" He almost shouted the last few words through a clenched smile, but they were barely audible over the crowd.

With the ceremony over, they did head for the docks, the seven heroes walking along with Cain. Rupert turned to the old sage, saying, "There's still one thing I don't understand. When we destroyed the altar in the Claw Viper temple, wasn't that supposed to end all the curses?"

Cain frowned at him, nodding. "It did. Why do you ask?"

Rupert shrugged. "Just wondering why Kenny still kept coming back to life."

Cain rolled his eyes. "Because he was too stupid to realize that the curse was lifted!"

He angrily thrust his way ahead of them, stalking forward onto the docks. Rupert looked at the others and shrugged. "Wonder how long it'll take us to get to Kurast?"

Garou grinned at Ron Bars. "I don't know, but I hope there's enough wine for the trip!"



Lord of Distractions and everything not already owned by Blizzard is copyright BlueNinja

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