Difference between revisions of "Thaddeus (Chapter 4)"

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Thaddeus (Act I)#Chapter 4

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-I am the man that has seen affliction
-Burning the foundations of the mountains.
-Our enemy has stretched out his hands
-Over all our precious things.  Fear
-Has defiled the kings of the earth.
--- Visions of Akarat, c. 87, v. 1-5
-After having his equipment cleaned and repaired, Thaddeus resumed his trek towards the monastery.  Moving up the mountains, a series of switchbacks allow wagons to ascend or descend safely.  Travelers on foot did not have to walk back and forth all the way up to the pass, however; an underground passage had been built through a series of natural caves, allowing rapid ascent.  Many travelers skipped the passage, as the taverns along the pass were well known for their hospitality.
-The closer Thaddeus got to the monastery, the more corrupted Rogues he found.  They were still outnumbered by the demons and undead, but their growing numbers were disheartening.  The changes in their bodies had gotten worse too.  Many had horns, long teeth, or the beginnings of tails.  Not all bore axes or spears anymore -- there were archers, with a look of crafty awareness in their eyes.  They also wore more clothing; mostly the high boots Rogues favor, or a padded leather jerkin cut off to expose the breasts and midriff.  This preference for displaying their womanly charms continually mystified Thaddeus.  The first few were a shock and a distraction, perhaps, but any gains it gave them were far outweighed by the loss of protection.
-Using the Umbral Disk, Thaddeus could blind an enemy by willing a burst of light to blaze out of the shield's central gem; this made capturing Rogues much easier.  He brought a few back to camp, but Akara could do nothing for them.  The exorcisms exhausted her and produced very little by way of results, so Thaddeus eventually stopped bringing Rogues back.  He could do nothing for them but crush their bodies and send them to whatever reward was most fitting.  Still... he was sure there had to be a way.  Stalking the fields, he turned the problem over and over in his mind, wondering what strange new technique the demons could be using to resist the rituals of exorcism.  Knowing what demon lord was responsible could help; each has known habits and weaknesses that might be exploited.
-While in camp, Thaddeus stopped to talk with Warriv.  "I do not suppose you have been in the deserts east of the pass recently?"
-"Not for a few months.  Are you worried about what might lie on the other side of the mountains?"
-"Partially, but the monastery and these poor corrupted women concern me now.  It occurs to me, some of the demon lords have a weakness for the defilement of women's bodies.  The demon lord Baal in particular is fond of it; he is purported to keep an army of female demons on hand to satisfy his depravities."
-"I know nothing of that, my friend!  Demons and kings are things best avoided, to my way of thinking.  Well... the king will only invite you to dinner, but you risk getting hit on the nose by the cherry pits."
-Thaddeus thought about that for a moment, then laughed.  "You speak from experience?"
-"Much experience!  It is good to be close to kings, but not too close.  The closer to the king, the closer to the gallows.  What does this demon lord you are thinking of have to do with us?  You said the Lord of Terror was imprisoned here in the west."
-"His brother Baal was imprisoned in the deserts near Lut Gholein, on the other side of the Rogue's pass.  I wonder if things I have seen here do not bear his imprint.  He, I think, would want the Rogues to wander about as they are, and change their bodies to suit him."
-"That's an unpleasant thought.  Two of the Three would be terrible indeed."
-"Yes.  So, if you had seen anything like this when you were crossing the desert..."
-"I assure you, no.  Let us not think things any worse than they must be.  If I am to die, I will be happier not knowing what awaits me."  Then Warriv laughed. "I made a rhyme!  The last line is a bit long... hmm, let me think on that a while."
-"Many new proverbs will be born in these times," Thaddeus smiled.
-"Like cold water to the thirsty, or good news from a far land.  I am sure we will hear some good news soon."
-"From who?" Thaddeus asked.
-Warriv snorted with laughter.  "From you!  You're not that thick-headed, are you?"
-"Oh!  Well, I intend to bring some, when I can."
-"I know you will.  We all have hope.  I just hope it will be soon."
-As Thaddeus explored, he came across a ring of five standing stones, with a heel stone close to the circle.  A little blue demon and its cohort guarded them.  That was a painful fight, his most painful yet; every time he struck the demon, lightning sparked from its body, causing great pain.  The demon itself was no great threat at all.  A few smashes from the Umbral Disk quieted it.  After killing it, its minions fled as quick as their trembling legs could carry them.  The worst thing about true demons, Thaddeus decided, was chasing them down after they run away.  The standing stones, Akara told him, were a gateway the Rogues used to use to travel to distant locations.  Touching the five stones in a certain order would open a gate, and several destinations had been ensorceled into the ring in days of yore.
-The ring was important, because Akara wanted Thaddeus to go to Tristram, in the hope that Deckard Cain might still be alive.  One of the ring's destinations was Tristram.  Unfortunately, no one in camp could remember which combination opened the right gate.  The Horadrim had built waypoints in many parts of the world, so the older gates were not used very often, and much had been forgotten about them.  The correct combinations were recorded in the monastery's library, but Thaddeus might not need to go that far.  Through the underground passage, there was a fenced-off field overseen by the Inifuss family.  Outside their inn was a huge dead tree, which served as a sort of community message post.  Over time, many people had carved names, dates, obscenities, and the like into it; among the older inscriptions, high on the tree, Kashya was sure at least one combination for the ring was mentioned.
-The entrance to the underground passage was very near the stone ring.  The passage itself was full of monsters, including demons who were not quite as cowardly as the Fallen Ones.  These were the Tainted Ones, another set of nameless minor demons that hide in dark places and scurry away when challenged.  Having huge, weighty heads and short, weak limbs, they don't scurry very well, but can do harm at range.  From their energized guts, they can spit a ball of lightning, which makes them a minor sort of threat, if you're slow enough to let them gain any distance.  After smashing a few, Thaddeus wondered who could possibly be so slow that these things would be dangerous.  A feeble older person, perhaps, or a very young child might be this beast's preferred prey.
-On the other side of the passageway, Inifuss's inn was a blazing ruin packed with Fallen Ones.  The stables were inhabited by Rogues, Skeletons, and still more Fallen Ones.  The dark woods beyond the light of the burning inn were filled with even more Fallen Ones.  They hid behind trees, dropped rocks from the branches, or just tried to set the woods on fire while Thaddeus was among them.  If the trials a man must undergo are the driving force in shaping his will, Thaddeus knew he'd come to hate the little bastards.  Being attacked by Fallen Ones is like being nibbled to death by ducks, only the ducks are braver.  Finally, he worked his way around to the other side of the inn, where the tree of Inifuss stood.
-A group of huge brutes guarded the tree.  Their leader was terribly strong and quick, but Thaddeus stood his ground and blinded his minions with bursts of radiance from the Umbral Disk.  The leader seemed resistant to this, but without the others, he fell quickly.  Looking over the tree, Thaddeus saw much of the paper that had been nailed to it was burnt away.  Some writing had been carved into the wood itself, and high up near the branches, he saw a few drawings of the stone ring, with directions.  But the writing was archaic, using names of towns Thaddeus was not familiar with.  Was Tristram even represented?  Standing a bench on its end, he climbed up and carefully copied all the writing for Akara.
-It turned out that in the days of yore, Tristram went by a different name.  When a local king moved his seat of government there, he renamed it Tristram.  The combination was on the tree, and armed with the knowledge, Thaddeus immediately took the waypoint back to the stone circle.  After touching the 5 ring stones, the sky went dark, and heaven's power struck down at the heel stone.  Chains of lightning arced among the ring stones, and though he did not fear the heavens' power, Thaddeus stepped back out of the ring, so awesome was the sight.  A web of power leapt from stone to stone, and as five identical lightning bolts leapt skyward from the stones, a red gate appeared in the center of the ring.
-After giving thanks to the Light for guidance, Thaddeus stepped through the gate, and found himself outside a small town.  Smoke and the stench of death filled the air.  The demons had not even spared the beasts of the field: a cow lay nearby, its belly swollen with rot, a huge gash through its skull telling that its death had not been quiet.  Every building was a burning mess, and bodies lay exposed in the fields, full of arrows and defiled countless times.  A huge group of Fallen Ones and Skeleton archers greeted Thaddeus as he approached the town.  Never having known that Skeletons could be intelligent enough to use bows, he decided to retreat, and let them come to him, before he heard a cry for help.
-Entering the square, Thaddeus saw two separate groups of Fallen, a crowd of Goatman clan champions, another Skeleton archer group (led by a spectral one) and a cohort of Skeletons wielding scythes.  Near a fountain in the center of town, an iron cage was hanging from a spar, with a man inside.  Fighting so many in such an open area would not be wise, but if he ran, the monsters might kill that man.  His only hope would be to distract all their wrath to himself, and hope he could survive it.
-First, Thaddeus ran towards the Goatmen.  They were nearest, and probably the most dangerous.  Quick use of the Umbral Disk blinded them for a few seconds; then he ran to the archers.  The cage was high enough that the Fallen Ones were no threat to the imprisoned man, unless their shamans decided to roast him, but that was unlikely.  While smashing the Skeleton archers, Thaddeus looked beyond them, and saw the biggest Zombie he had ever seen slowly plodding towards him.  He must have been a smith or something in life.
-Leaving the last of the archers before the Zombie smith reached him, Thaddeus went back to the Goatmen.  By the time the Zombie reached him again, he had killed all of the Goatmen, so he went back around to the archers.  As usual, the Fallen Ones were not a concern.  Even their shamans were unable to goad any courage out of them, so they just scampered around, squeaking with rage or shrieking with fear, depending on which emotion was strongest at the moment.  After killing the shamans, Thaddeus turned to the Zombie.  While it took forever to lay down, eventually it dropped with a sigh, and Thaddeus cleaned up the last of the Fallen.
-Inside the cage was an old man; he looked uninjured.  Hopefully, it was the right old man.  After lowering the cage, Thaddeus pulled him out and handed him a Portal scroll.  "Go if you value your life!"  The old man began to stammer his thanks.  Thaddeus read the scroll and pushed him through the gate.  More Goatmen were coming; better to be rough with him now, and ask forgiveness later.
-After searching the town, Thaddeus came to the conclusion that no one else was left alive.  The bodies were everywhere, trampled into the dirt repeatedly, burned, stabbed, abused long after their deaths.  The destructiveness of demons was well-known to him, and they had obviously been at their work here for a long time.  To the northeast of town, the cathedral stood empty; it was too large to have been built for such a small place.  The graveyard was completely defiled; every grave was dug up, and two magnificent tombs stood open.  One tomb was decorated with bat-winged women; the look of them disturbed Thaddeus.  Of the great items which supposedly had been in the cathedral, nothing now remained.  That was a shame; Thaddeus had developed an idea that those items were important, somehow.  It might have been useful to examine one.
-When he returned to the Rogue's camp, Akara gave him a ring from her own hand, and they went to see the old man, Deckard Cain.  Cain was exhausted, hungry, and needed water badly, but had recovered most of his strength while Thaddeus explored Tristram.  Everyone else in Tristram had been slaughtered, but the demons hardly touched him.  He had been forced into the cage, hung in the wind and rain for days, but otherwise ignored.  Thaddeus could sense nothing malevolent in or about him, but was still disquieted.  Was the old man some sort of Trojan Horse, an unknowing carrier of evil?  The Sightless Eye told Akara nothing was out of the ordinary with him, but Thaddeus still wanted answers.

Difference between revisions of "Thaddeus (Chapter 4)"

Latest revision as of 13:09, 12 February 2017

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