Difference between revisions of "Tearlach (Chapter 11)"

Latest revision as of 14:59, 12 February 2017

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Tearlach (Act II)#Chapter 11

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-The sun shone red through the room's single small window as someone came knocking on Tearlach's door.  He'd rented a bed -- sleeping outside was just about impossible.  As soft as sand was underfoot, it was harder and less comfortable than bare rock under his back, and the insects in this country were impossible.  At least in a room, he could shut the door; the bugs inside would sate themselves on his blood soon enough, and no more could get in to renew the feast.  Enough blood would be lost to Diablo's demons, there was little to spare for fleas and biting flies.  But now, someone was knocking on his door.
-"Go away!" Tearlach delicately entreated.
-"It's 6 o'clock," the mangled innkeeper's voice replied.  "Someone wants to see you."
-"Who wants to see me at dawn, a giant lark?  Anyone who goes visiting at this hour better expect to learn patience.  He's gonna spend a long time waiting."
-"No, it's 6 o'clock at night.  The sun's going down.  It's that wizard guy who hangs around in the marketplace.  Says it's important."
-"Nothing he says is important.  It's always 'stay a while and listen' this, and 'you honor me with your presence' that.  Then he blathers into his beard about something that happened to some stupid fool centuries ago in another country.  Ah, show him in.  He'll get nervous and start drooling on himself if he doesn't get to say what's on his mind."
-It was time to get up anyways.  Tearlach started pulling his armor on as Cain hobbled into the room.  "I've been telling you those stories of 'stupid fools' because I thought you might find them instructive."
-"I don't need someone to teach me to be a fool."
-With visible effort, Cain held his tongue.  "Do you remember this scroll?  I have translated the runes it bears, and what it says relates to your quest."
-Frowning, Tearlach tried to remember.  "Scroll... with the sewer monster?  He had many of them down there, and books."
-"All of which contain much valuable information, though none so important as this.  Ages ago, when Tal Rasha was imprisoned, the Horadrim crafted his tomb so that it could not be opened except by the use of a Horadric ceremonial staff.  Years later, after one was stolen by a madman trying to free Baal, the Horadrim broke their staves and scattered the pieces."
-Tearlach was pulling on his boots.  "Does it say where the tomb is?"
-"The Horadrim chose not to record the location, so that the knowledge could never be used by Hell's forces. They did record how the pieces of a Horadric staff could be reunited, using an alchemical tool called a Horadric Cube.  When I spoke with Emilio earlier, he said that you found a peculiar box... may I examine it?"
-"It's in the corner.  Weird thing.  Who's Emilio?"
-After glancing up to make sure he wasn't joking, Cain sighed.  "The soldier who has fought by your side for the last few days.  I hope it's just that you're not good with names."  When he saw the cube sitting under a pile of charms, he crowed, "Yes!  You have indeed found a Horadric Cube!  That is quite a treasure, and will prove invaluable on your quest."
-"It's a folding box with a button.  What does it do?"
-"The Horadric Cube is a transformative tool, with many valuable uses!  It's quite simple to operate: place the correct items inside the cube, and press the button.  Three gem chips and a magical sword will make a new enchanted sword with three open sockets!"
-"Hmm... that could be useful.  What of an axe?"
-"I fear the Cube will not transform anything but a sword.  Peculiar, that.  There are many other uses for the Cube: two quivers of bolts will make a quiver of arrows, or two quivers of arrows make a quiver of bolts!"
-"So it can change junk into junk, and back again."
-"Well... a stack of javelins can be made from any spear and --"
-Tearlach laughed!  "A spear?  How do you propose to fit a spear in that box?  Or a sword, for that matter?"
-"A Horadric Cube is much larger than it appears.  Since you doubt my word, I'll leave it to you to experiment, and perhaps discover other formulae."
-"Can you stuff a demon inside and turn them into gold?  Or just keep them in there?"
-"I do not invite you to try."
-"Well enough," Tearlach grinned.  "You said Baal's tomb is opened with a staff, and the staves were broken and scattered around the desert?"
-"Ah, you were listening.  The highest-ranking Horadrim used ceremonial staves as badges of their office, and guarded them well.  I am sure the pieces were hidden carefully, in the darkest and most dangerous parts of the desert."
-"Figures.  Wizards think they're so subtle.  All you need to do is go to the most dangerous place in the land and thrash their feeble guardians to find their precious secret things.  I still think Diablo would have been smarter to hide in the sewers."
-"Yes, you've said that repeatedly.  It would Diablo little good to hide himself in the sewers, I fear.  He is trying to find his brother."
-"Don't worry, I'll find his brother first and make him wish he'd never been born.  No one will ever find him once I'm done with him!  Next comes Diablo.  Who's the third one?"
-"Mephisto.  He was imprisoned in Kurast."
-"There next.  Might as well make it three for three, and teach you southlanders a lesson in how to handle demons.  'Imprison them for all time.'  Ha!"
-"And what would you have done?" Cain inquired mildly.
-"Kill them, of course.  Send them screaming back into the pit that spawned them."
-"Yes, that sounds obvious.  But 'the pit that spawned them' is the source of their demonic power; they come back from it renewed, stronger than ever."
-"Hmm.  Does that mean Andarial will come back to the Rogue monastery?"
-"In time, she will return... perhaps not there, but somewhere."
-Tearlach smiled. "They'll need someone to guard them, then."
-"Perhaps not.  She was there to guard Diablo's way, and not of her own choice.  According to legend, Andarial greatly prefers male victims to female ones."
-"She also doesn't like them to put up a fight.  Never mind, that's for tomorrow.  We might die today... but not if I have something to say about it."
-After collecting his mercenary, Tearlach used the waypoint to get back to the desert.  He forgot the guy's name again, but that's because it's one of those weird southlander names with lots of vowels.  Instead, he decided to call his merc "useless."  It was either that or "hey you" and "useless" fit him better.  On a wide plateau above the hills, several springs of water came to the surface, making a bunch of closely-spaced oases.  For around here, it was a lush setting, full of spiny desert plants and date palms heavy with fruit.  The bad part was that biting flies also liked water; they were so thick he got a mouthful of little bastards every time he drew breath.  "Useless" wrapped one of his head cloths around his nose and mouth; a good idea, so Tearlach followed suit with an old rag.
-Then the flies started coming in tight clouds, every bug moving together to push aside cloth and leather and get the flesh and blood underneath.  I knew it, Tearlach thought.   They're tiny little demons here to torment me.  Demons never kill cleanly; they have to draw it out, slowly suck you dry or flay the flesh from your bones.  The flat of his axe was much more useful here, swatting the bugs and breaking up the cloud.  Sometimes, the flies dropped an item.  How in the nine Hells does a bunch of bugs carry a poleaxe, anyway?  And WHY would they carry around a poleaxe?  Never mind; there's too damn many of these bugs to worry.  Concentrate on killing them.
-In the open areas, little blood hawks flapped languidly around, and huge segmented worms twice as long as a man is tall burrowed in the earth.  "Useless" said the big bugs were farmed out here; their eggs were good eating once, but now they were all poisonous.  The bastards were poisonous -- they even spat venom, and they were tough and hard to kill.  They still laid eggs, which hatched into little hordes of flesh-eating young with Hellish speed, and hid under the sand rather than die with dignity.  After going through a group enchanted with lightning, Tearlach was sure he had a new least-favorite enemy, and even more reason to find Diablo and give him a taste of his axe.  If he came back to earth for another beating, that would be just fine.  Tearlach had a lot to dish out for him.
-The big bugs came out of a round hole in the ground.  Lowering himself in, Tearlach saw it was a network of round caverns and openings, like an ant nest on a giant scale.  Rather than stone, the walls were lined with some kind of mucus, hardened in the dry desert air.  Now, Tearlach didn't mind mucus, but this much of it was another matter.  The ceilings were also incredibly low; he couldn't even stand up straight.
-Tearlach jumped out of the hole.  "Never mind this place.  There's nothing here."
-"Hey, that's a nest," Emilio said.  "They never used to dig those.  I'm betting whatever's corrupting the sand cows is down there."
-"Sand cows?"
-Sighing, Emilio shook his head.  "The big bugs.  I told you that already."
-"Is it my fault you don't speak up?  I'm not here to kill insects.  I've more important prey."
-"Whatsa matter?  You chicken?"
-"WHAT!?"  Tearlach had his axe to the merc's throat in a moment.  "Say that again, so I have an excuse to kill you."
-"I saw how pale you looked when you climbed out of there!" Emilio grinned.  "Paler than usual, even!  Is it dark and scary down there?"
-"I fear no man or beast.  There is nothing of importance down there."
-"Buck buck buck bu-COCK!"
-That did it.  With the stupid mercenary behind him, Tearlach went through the entire bug nest, killing everything that moved.  Big sand worms, insect clouds, even three packs of the damned lightning beetles he'd grown to hate almost as much as the worms.  Strangely, there were several storage chests in the nest, full of valuable weapons and armor.  He couldn't see how or why the bugs had brought them in, and packed them up so neatly.
-"It's damn weird, wizard," Tearlach told Cain as he looked over the loot.  "They're stupid bugs, beneath humanity.  Even beneath you.  Why do they have these?"
-"Some demons collect artifacts with the intent of devouring them," Cain mused.  "There has been speculation that demons can absorb enchantments, at some risk to themselves.  It may explain those odd creatures with strange powers and abilities for their type."
-"Ah, ha!  There must be a powerful demon in there, to have so many rare and wondrous things!  Diablo himself could be in there.  And to think 'useless' wanted to ignore it!"
-"What?!" Emilio blurted out.
-"Why do you think I call you that?  For your charming personality?  I'll be back soon, with some demon's head.  And don't be surprised if it looks familiar."
-Back in the bug nest, Tearlach went chewing his way through insect after insect.  "Useless" was upset over something and not helping, but he didn't need help to clear out bugs.  In a strangely cold chamber in the deepest part of the nest (it's always the deepest part) a fat worm five times the size of all the others lay.  It was spewing out eggs and grown bugs as fast as its bloated body could make them, and dozens of tiny worms were crawling to attack and feed.  It was a long, tedious fight, surrounded by unworthy but hungry and numerous foes.  Even "useless" broke out of his reverie long enough to kill a few.
-A thorough search of the nest didn't turn up Diablo.  There was a neatly-packed chest in the bug-mother's lair, with a few valuable items and a broken old staff.  Hmm... an incredibly ancient staff, broken into pieces, hidden in a dark and dangerous place.  Who says wizards aren't predictable?  Sure enough, it was what was left of the shaft of a Horadric staff.
-"A destiny is a comforting thing, wizard.  Far greater than any magic."
-"I wouldn't know," Cain replied. "I've never cast a spell in my life."
-"You're even more useless than most wizards!" Tearlach laughed.  "What's that up there?"
-Cain followed Tearlach's gaze upwards.  High in the sky, a dense black cloud was flowing out of the desert, towards the sun.  "I have no idea.  In all my years I have never seen such a thing."
-The cloud oozed across the burning blue sky, and passed in front of the sun.  Everything went black.  "Damn that demon," Tearlach muttered.  "He's summoned enough damn bugs to blot out the sun."

Difference between revisions of "Tearlach (Chapter 11)"

Latest revision as of 14:59, 12 February 2017

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