Amanita (Chapter 28)
Template:Amanita nav Just past the Hellforge was another waypoint. It activated like all the others, and took me back to Pandemonium. Convenient. Past the waypoint was an island with six larger-than-life statues of evil knights, looking at me as I approached. Ooh, spooky. Hovering above the far end of the island was an angel. This one was smaller than Tyrael, and his armor was silvery instead of gold. Maybe that's the difference between archangels and angels.
PROCEED, AMANITA, INTO TERROR'S LAIR.
DIABLO HAS CONCEALED HIMSELF WITHIN HIS INNERMOST SANCTUM
TO CONFER WITH HIS GENERALS.
IN AGES PAST, THEY STROVE AS
ONE AGAINST HEAVEN'S WILL
AND SHOOK THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE
WORLD STRIVING TO OVERCOME ALL THAT IS
HOLY. DIABLO'S SANCTUM IS HIDDEN
BEYOND THE SIGHT OF MORTAL HUMANITY,
PROTECTED BY MYSTICAL SEALS,
IN TURN GUARDED BY THE REMNANTS
OF HELL'S LAST GREAT ARMY. IT IS GOOD THAT YOU DESTROYED
MEPHISTO'S SOULSTONE. NOW, UPROOT TERROR FROM HIS PLACE OF CONCEALMENT
AND DESTROY
HIM, OR ALL YOU
CHERISH WILL BE LOST.
Ok, I was right. It's an angel, one of Tyrael's attendants, here at his master's behest since I won't talk to him myself. I don't think I needed him to draw me a picture, though. Anything like that, I think I can figure out for myself what it is.
Beyond Waypoint Island was a maze of cut stone paths, and a new kind of pain. The Abyss Knights I'd seen before. They love sniping in wide-open areas with difficult terrain almost as much as I do, so the maze was ideal for them. The new pain was the worms. First, there's the mother-thing, a mass of rotting green flesh on four legs. When one sees something good to eat, like me, it rears back and gives birth with all the maternal beauty of a constipated leper taking a dump, and their little wormy spawn comes slithering for me, teeth gnashing. Unlike maggots, they're all demon: fast, full of hate, and hungrier than any actual need for food. I think I was cured of any last vestiges of my maternal instincts.
Speaking of burning into my head... the river was spitting rocks into the air now. Sometimes they came down on the path and exploded. The lava got choppier and a lot more active the further up I went. What was going on down there? Did I really want to know? Dodging falling river rocks, I kept going until I could see a black shape through the shimmering haze in front of me.
Diablo's sanctuary looked just like the picture in my head: tall, buttressed walls with arched doorways, and lots of windows. In fact, it looked like a cathedral in ashy black rock instead of white marble. I kind of liked it, it had a lot of style. Too many windows for a fortress, though. The defenses must be mostly magical. Too bad I don't play that way. The walls had plenty of gouges and holes, and the windows were all broken. Made it easy to see the shadows of the Balrogs waiting in ambush on either side of the door.
Balrogs are easy kills, but take forever to die. The flying starfish are smarter, but not nearly as tough and kind of timid. One time, I confused one enough to think I was its friend. The stupid thing floated over and hid behind me from the other demons. The worst thing in "the remnants of Hell's last great army" was, as always, the upper ranks: Oblivion Mages, also known as a Necromancer's most delirious wet dream. I only met one or two at a time. Each had Doom Knight bodyguards, a typical Necro "wall of meat" strategy. Confusing the guards took several mind blasts, and by the time I'd gotten them fighting each other, I was cursed with something and had at least 2 Skull Spirits on my ass. Even after they got shot, the damned mages kept casting and cursing, right up until they died.
The sanctuary was laid out like a cathedral: a long part leading up to the center where the altar sits, and three wings branching off to the cardinal points. Back when it wasn't a wreck, maybe there were pews lined up to face west instead of east. There wasn't an altar in the center, just a pit emptying into the river, capped with a black iron pentagram. Human skulls littered the floor. Say what you want, you can't accuse the big D of subtlety.
The seals were off in the wings, behind Diablo's army. After a round of "eeny, meeny, meiny, moe" I went straight up the middle. The wing wasn't completely open, but narrowed down to a twisted path through the lava before I got to the one seal. The Oblivion Knights liked the chance to snipe, but so did I, and their guards couldn't get in my way as easily. It was kind of funny watching them fight each other, nothing coming near me. I kicked in the seal with a smile. Hell's best weren't that tough.
On my way out, I saw a Doom Knight, and he saw me. No, wait... that's an Oblivion Mage, without any guards. There's another, and another, and they've got this evil-looking orange aura around them... oh, shit. I ran back to a corner, and looked across the lava, wishing I'd learned how to do super-jumps like the martial artists. Three Skull Spirits came cackling in to make friends with me. Nothing for it: I was in a dead end with only one way out. I ducked my head, ran past the spirits, and took it.
There were half a dozen of the bastards, resplendent in their jeweled and rotting finery. I didn't bother to fire the bow; that would have taken a quarter-second away from running. Where in Hell did these guys come from? Wait... Diablo is conferring with his generals. The Oblivion Mages I killed before must have been lesser officers. Since I broke a seal, he sent the big guys to take care of me. Sending minions is typical of demons, I guess. I'd go with them to make sure the job gets done, but I'm not a demon lord. Well, if I don't have to fight Diablo and his best troops at the same time, I won't argue about it.
Slowly, I inched my way back, until I saw the mages again. They'd stayed in a tight group, and didn't chase me at all -- smart. Also perceptive. One cast a spell, and suddenly my joints creaked and the armor weighed a ton. I gritted my teeth and, as Skull Spirits bit into me, took aim and fired. They spread out, forming a line, and fired volleys of spirits and curses. I ran several times, battered their minds, did everything I could think of, but they would not break formation. Finally, I had to take a portal out, back to Pandemonium. I'd actually run out of healing potions. I don't think that's ever happened before.
I came back by waypoint instead of my gate. I was sure they'd set a trap around it -- that's what I'd do. The gate was still there, so I approached from another side, looking across the lava. Two mages had died while I was gone. Smiling, I ran slowly away, listening to Skull Spirits chattering away behind me, and lined up for a shot. One more died, then another. I got out the katar and charged the last two. They bunched up tight, and both cast curses at the same time; discipline had broken down. A single slash killed one. I backed the last into a corner and pounded his bony face in. Damn, that felt good. You'd think a high-ranking mage would have better magical stuff than leather gloves and a club, though.
The next wing also twisted down to a narrow path, a perfect trap. I really should have seen that coming. There were two seals. Maybe those Oblivion Mages were all the generals Diablo had, but betting my life on it would be stupid. I kicked in the nearest seal and ran like a bunny. Little crackles of lightning chased me along the floor -- flying starfish. I stopped, turned around, and shot them. They flew up to me, made little crackly noises, flew away, and died. General Starfish lasted longer and didn't run, that was about all the difference.
The last wing had two seals, and a lot of Oblivion Mages and Balrogs spread out along the narrow path. Balrogs smash Doom Knights good. Doom Knights smash Balrogs good. Oblivion Mages die very stylishly. I admire that in a wizard. After clearing everyone out, I looked over the seals. Judging from recent trends, when I break the seal, Diablo will send another general after me. I've seen Oblivion Mages and starfish, so this time they're likely to be Balrogs. Balrogs are big, strong, tough, and stupid. Getting cornered by them is bad, but they're so easy to turn it's almost impossible for them to be a threat. I kicked in the seals, and ran to the back corner.
Balrogs appeared, right on schedule. The crowd was huge, at least a dozen of them. I've never seen demons that big in my life. The smallest one was still bigger than anything in the rest of Hell. Obviously, General Balrog didn't choose them for their brains. I opened their minds and told each of them that the guy next to him said something rude about his mother. While they were sorting things out, I ran past into the main sanctuary.
In the minute it took them to figure out that demons don't have mothers, I'd poisoned just about all of them and was waiting patiently. When they came after me, I corrected their misperceptions: it wasn't their mother, it was their sister. They took 3 or 4 bolts each, but I was never under any threat. As the last one burned up and died, the whole sanctuary went red. A howl Cain could probably hear made my ears ring, and a deep voice announced, "NOT EVEN DEATH CAN SAVE YOU FROM ME!" It's official. The Big Red Cheese is in the house.
I put extra venom on my bolts and went to the center of the sanctuary. He'd be there, of course. It wouldn't occur to him to show up anywhere else. The long trip across the world, always in disguise, must have been a terrible strain on him. He needs a nice long rest. As I approached, he came running up to me on all fours. I stepped away just as he charged in, and put my first bolt right in his rosy... er, scaly red butt. The second bolt skittered off. Damn, that's going to be inconvenient if it happens too often.
It wasn't much of a fight, I guess. There was no striding into the infernal maw, standing toe to toe with Evil Itself and smiting it most valiantly. That seemed to confuse Diablo. I think he'd been expecting something else. Don't know why. He ran around, shot lightning from his fingertips and fire from his mouth, but I just didn't come anywhere near him. Every now and then, I put a new bolt in, like sticking a fork in to see if he was done. Finally, he bowed to reason and kicked the bucket like a good boy. That one general of his gave me more trouble.
Diablo's Soulstone was red where Meph's had been blue. Might have something to do with their powers -- bloody terror as opposed to cold hate -- but they smashed just the same. Back at Pandemonium, Cain was almost crying.
"I knew there was great potential for good in you! You have done amazing work!"
"Oh, you weren't sure I was a good person?" I asked.
"No, no!" he said, immediately aghast at his words. I've got to learn not to be sarcastic around Cain, he has a bad habit of taking me seriously. "All I meant was --"
"I know what you meant," I said, giving the poor old bastard a hug. "I was just trying to be cute. I do that sometimes. You should know by now."
Cain laughed, still looking embarrassed. "I am just glad I was able to help you find your way. Our world has never seen such deeds as you have wrought."
"Yeah, yeah. Now, we've done good, but we're only 2 out of 3. Do you or Tyrael have any idea where Baal is? We need to --"
"YOU BOTH MUST RETURN TO YOUR WORLD." Man, Tyrael sounds impressive even when he isn't in your head. "BAAL HAS REMAINED ON EARTH, AND RECOVERED HIS SOULSTONE. WITH ITS POWER, HE HAS SUMMONED AN ARMY AROUND HIMSELF, AND FORGED DEEP INTO THE HIGHLANDS OF THE NORTH. BAAL KNOWS, AS TAL RASHA KNEW, THAT THAT IS THE LOCATION OF THE MYSTIC WORLDSTONE! DIABLO AND MEPHISTO HAVE BEEN BANISHED FOREVER FROM YOUR WORLD. YOU HAVE DONE THIS, AND DONE IT WELL. BUT IF BAAL FINDS THE WORLDSTONE, ALL YOUR EFFORTS WILL HAVE BEEN FOR NAUGHT. YOU MUST GO TO HARROGATH, LAST BASTION OF ORDER ON THE SLOPES OF MOUNT ARREAT, AND STOP BAAL FROM FINDING THE WORLDSTONE!"
I blinked. "Well, crap."
Cain nodded. "Mount Arreat is the highest peak in the northern ranges, and it has long been the most sacred duty of all the disparate Barbarian tribes to protect it. Scholars have long debated why this is so."
"Looks like we just found out."
"It would appear so." He smiled. "There will be much to learn in Harrogath, and perhaps something for you as well. At the very least, we will be back in our world. Heaven's gates are a marvel to behold, but like you, I do not wish to go through them for many years. Let us go."
Concluding Thoughts:
- Heavy Crossbows are very slow without Burst of Speed. The more I play, the more playing with BoS instead of Venom makes sense. Maybe if I was using a 6-socket bow instead, I'd feel more comfortable not using BoS.
- High hit point monsters like Izual aren't any less boring to kill with poison than not. Maybe I should have shot Izual, cleared the rest of the level, and come back to him.
- On the other hand, Act V should be fairly simple. :D