Thaddeus (Chapter 10)

Template:Thaddeus nav Praises be to the Light eternal!

We build, protect, and honor.

The hammer on the chisel

Shapes the stone for the wall.

The hammer against the nail

Holds the beam o'er the child.

Blessed Hammer, from my hand,

Move against the foes of light!

-- The Book of the Hammer, c. 1, v. 1-8

Holding the precious volume, Thaddeus wondered if he should read it. It would be a terrible thing if he were to damage it accidentally. While he was always careful with books, this one was very old, and the pages might tear easily. On the other hand, the desert's dry heat can preserve things in good condition for centuries... the book might not be any more fragile now than the day it was made. But on the first hand, this book might be the last of its kind, and the knowledge within irreplaceable. Risking it would be unconscionable, and his responsibility would be to find an absolutely safe place for it, then tell the Protectors.

As he sat there, staring at the book's cover, Cain glanced over from his chosen text. "You seem to have found something interesting."

"This is a piece of Zakarumite scripture, thought to be lost."

"Ah!" Cain said, glancing at the cover. "The Book of the Hammer. A rarity indeed! There must be all manner of interesting things hidden in Lut Gholein's many ancient tombs."

"This may be the last copy in the world. I would love to read it."

Cain laughed. "You will not damage it. Radament's tomb has kept these books very well. Go ahead. A book is meant to be read!"

One of Thaddeus' teachers told him that when faced with a quandary, go to a holy book and open it at random. Meditate on the first passage of scripture your eyes light upon. That will usually resolve your dilemma. Here was a holy book. The pages did not feel brittle; it would not fall apart if he opened it once. Casually, he opened it, and his eyes found: "To use thy chisel blunts its edge. Not to use it wastes its edge utterly." Things are meant to be used. Even a relic like Knell Striker is valuable only in use. Left in a cathedral reliquary, the finest scepter might as well be nothing but sticks and lead. Cain was right; a book is meant to be read. That is its use.

However, he should not be the only one to read this book. Chisels can be resharpened, but the Book of the Hammer contains knowledge, which cannot be discovered again so easily. Before starting into the text, Thaddeus drafted letters, one to Akara, telling her he had arrived safely and of his discovery, and another to the head of his order, with more detail about the book. Across town, Warriv was buying raw iron and steel, hides for leather, and other raw materials the Rogues could use.

"Ah, hello there!" Warriv smiled. "I'll be returning after I've made some purchases, to outfit the Rogues more properly. Just let me know if you want to tag along."

"I would be indebted if you would carry my words with you," Thaddeus said, entrusting the letters to him. "I have made what may be an important discovery."

"So soon? No wonder everyone's talking about you! But after all you did back at the pass, I'm not surprised."

"Fortune has been with me, but it is best never to rely on it. If my luck should change, others must be able to follow in my steps. When will you be leaving?"

"In a few days. There are a lot of things the Rogues need. You know, I've gotten a lot of letters to carry west. Do you think they've missed us?"

Hopefully, nothing would happen to Warriv on the way back; Thaddeus could not go with him this time. Maybe hiring guards would be a good idea, if they could be spared. The only thing he could do was make sure there were guards to spare, by reducing the threat from outside the walls. In the morning, he would start; the sun had set, it was getting cold and dark, and he didn't want to start exploring the desert at night. Elzix had a rule against burning lights in tenant's rooms; the inn was very old could burn down easily. More likely, he didn't want to risk any of the magic items stored there. For reading, Atma's tavern was well-lit, and things never got too loud or boisterous, so Thaddeus sat down in a back corner to study.

The Book of the Hammer was one of the shortest pieces of scriptures Thaddeus ever read, only 18 pages. Even going through slowly and carefully, he read the whole thing three times before going to sleep. On the surface, the way of the Hammer looked surprisingly simple. The only martial technique was invoking the spiritual hammer, a combination of mana and the diffused energy of Maccabee's Hammer. The description sounded like summoning a Holy Bolt. Unlike Holy Bolts, the spiritual hammer seemed to be an effective offensive weapon, as the Hammerdins of old were some of the greatest fighters the church had. Much of the book was devoted to a rather stern code of conduct the Hammerdins were expected to observe, and some spiritual philosophy. That would need more contemplation; Thaddeus felt he already knew enough to call on the Hammer.

Come morning, Thaddeus prepared his equipment and himself, then sallied forth from Lut Gholein's north gate. At first, all was just flat, rocky wastes, with a few vultures flying high up in the sky, looking for something dead. A short distance from the gates, Thaddeus came upon a large slab of stone, covered with archaic writing, now mostly buried in the desert sands. Near it, half sunken, a gigantic head rested, with a curly beard, conical helm or hat, and a smile of utmost benevolence. The time of these antique things was obviously long past. A dead body, one of Greiz's mercenaries by the look of him, stained the sand next to the head. He wasn't long dead, but none of the vultures had come near him. Strange.

Looking up, Thaddeus saw the vultures coming down. Each one had four legs, as well as wings, and their eyes were locked on him, not the more convenient corpse. Ah, he thought, no wonder; this one's been dead for much too long, they want something fresher. Demonic meddling with living creatures can physical change them in many ways, but the motivations given to the afflicted animals are very predictable. As Thaddeus moved away from the stone head, the vulture demons landed and stalked towards him on foot. Perhaps they were too heavy and ungainly in flight to dive at a victim, unlike the smaller Blood Hawks found in Khanduras. When enough had landed, Thaddeus stopped running, concentrated, and flung his arm out to summon a blessed hammer.

Just as the scripture said, a small bronze hammer spun away from Thaddeus' hand, whirling around his body. As it spun, it moved further away from him, eventually reaching the vulture demons. The spinning hammer smashed through the group of demons, scattering and tossing them before it, before continuing blindly on its way. Eventually, it came around Thaddeus again, but the vultures had moved now, and were inside its arc. He backed up a bit, and let another hammer go; it moved much the same as the first, hitting each vulture at most once before they had moved out of its path. Some it did not hit at all, instead passing on their right, left, before or behind them. Satisfied, Thaddeus beat the vultures to death normally.

Blessed Hammer was indeed powerful; even two hits from the hammer had greatly hurt those vultures, who were fairly tough as demons go. But it spun blindly about, undirected. The random nature of the attack bothered Thaddeus; he valued precision and discipline in war. While he did not expect the hammer to fight for him, he had hoped it would be easier to aim and direct. Perhaps that was why the Hammerdin's path required such stern discipline; the Paladin must choose his position and await the right moment. It is not a sorcerous attack; a sorcerer can simply stand there and unleash blast after blast at his foes. Blessed Hammers would require careful positioning and timing to get the best use of them.

As he moved further into the deserts, Thaddeus experimented with Blessed Hammer. Large rocks would stop the hammer, so it would be useless in narrow areas. Having more than one hammer spinning through an area greatly confused the demons, with so many attacks to try to avoid. The hammers would not harm him, so he could walk through battlefield without worrying about them. Sometimes, Thaddeus could send the hammers spinning and stroll from demon to demon almost unchallenged. But much of the time, Thaddeus did not use the hammers. As he got deeper into the desert, the demons were growing more dangerous, and he was quite unskilled with them. While back in town, Thaddeus stopped to ask Cain about some of the demons, but Cain had something for him first.

"Ah, there you are! I have just found this scroll among the treasures you brought from Radament's lair. This is an important find!"

Thaddeus smiled. Cain thought just about everything was important, or at least worth telling him about for hours. "There is something I wish to ask you about..."

"This is a Horadric scroll!" Cain smiled triumphantly.

"Wasn't Radament a Horadrim mage, so every scroll he had would be a Horadric scroll?"

Cain thought for a moment. "That is most probably true! In fact, the wealth of knowledge you have brought to us with may be the greatest treasure anyone could find! The return of the glories of our past, tempered by the hard experiences suffered since then, could..."

Now that Cain was started, Thaddeus could look at the scroll himself and see what it was without wasting too much time. It was written in glyphs. "Ah, Cain, what is this?"

"... in the 4th decade of the Moon King's rule, so he was... ah? Oh, yes, the scroll! This is a description of Tal Rasha's tomb, where Tal Rasha and Baal are kept imprisoned!"

"There is someone in the tomb with Baal?"

"Don't you know about this?" Cain asked. "You seemed... well-read, I thought."

On secular history, Thaddeus' learning was a bit weak. But if Cain knew that, he'd never hear the end of it. "Cain, what's in the tomb?"

"It says here, that to safeguard the tomb, it can only be opened with a Horadric Staff, the mystical weapon of a great Horadrim mage. There is an inner chamber, you see, where Tal Rasha and Baal were entombed together, to wrestle for all eternity."

Thaddeus vaguely recall hearing about that. "So Diablo could not open the inner chamber without one of these staves? Or could a demon lord as great as Diablo simply smash his way into the chamber by brute force?"

"Well... to use an analogy, the staff is the key for a lock. But many locks can simply be broken. Hmm. Well, the Horadric Staves were all broken centuries ago, to prevent anyone from opening the way to Baal."

"Very sensible."

"However, if Diablo does not need a staff, you might, to reach the inner chamber. If he is there, with no one to challenge him, he will be able to free his brother. If you were find the pieces of a staff, they could be repaired with a Horadric Cube."

That could not be allowed. "A Horadric Cube?"

"An alchemical device, used for transformations and transmutations."

Thaddeus looked at Lysander's shop, still smoking from something unsuccessful he'd done earlier. "Let me guess: most of them have been destroyed over the ages?"

"I fear so." Cain thought for a moment. "Many Horadrim originally came from this area. There may be others entombed here and there. Have you found any tombs yet?"

"Just one, full of the foulest demons and undead creatures. I wanted to ask you about something: I have met groups of humanoid felines, which attacked me. They are in league with the demons, and I do not recall any account of such creatures in the deserts, but their bodies do not seem twisted. They are in their natural shape."

"There are tales of Saber Cats, a species of felinoid men from Kurast. I cannot know how any would come to be in the deserts. Being jungle creatures, they would have difficulty surviving in the barren wastes."

Another creature from Kurast, here where it should not be. "Thank you, Cain. I shall keep an eye out for anything Horadric."

As he trudged across the dunes, Thaddeus began to feel the weight of his armor under the heat of the desert sun. There were oases here and there, with trees he could rest under, but the monsters seemed to congregate there too. The swarms of insects were the worst; they had a way of crawling into the armor with one mind, biting and stinging. Finding a tomb was almost a blessing, even if they were full of undead, more mummies than you could shake a scepter at. The open areas of the tombs gave him ample opportunity to practice with Blessed Hammer; it was very effective against the undead. The hammers smashing through everything but a stone wall helped a little against the big Horadric mummies, who resurrected lesser undead. It was still more efficient to distract the lesser ones and charge the greater; with more practice, Thaddeus was sure he could make better use of the hammers.

This particular tomb complex was extensive and very deep; many of Lut Gholein's citizens must have been entombed here. Sarcophagi were everywhere, ordinary mummified people, others so old they were completely skeletal, and every now and then, one of the Horadric mummies. Whatever creature had donated the bone for their hand scythes, Thaddeus did not want to meet. They must have been three feet long, and sharp. The Horadrim's heads had been replaced with crocodile heads; how did they keep their own brains, Thaddeus wondered? An idle thought; he wasn't about to go over the corpse to find out.

In the darkest deeps of the tombs, fuzzy bats hung from the ceiling. Though strangely cute, these were Lightning Bats, denizens of Hell's outer reaches. One tomb held another surprise: giant beetles, standing the height of a man on two of their six limbs. These creatures were slow moving, but looked very heavily armored and tough. When Thaddeus hit one, lightning spat out; he began to regret neglecting his defensive disciplines, which included resistance to electricity. By backing up, then charging and hitting hard, he was able to knock them down without suffering too much damage himself.

One room in particular was full of the tomb's worst denizens. A group of javelin-hurling Saber Cats, a swarm of bats, and a pack of Horadrim Mummies filled the room. One Horadrim was bad enough; Thaddeus was forced to retreat. A horde of lesser undead came out after him, joined by the cats. Luring them a short distance away to a pillared hallway, he used the pillars to hide from the javelins while smashing the skeletons. The cats were much easier to deal with afterwards; then the bats, and finally the Mummies. Dividing and conquering was as good a strategy as ever. The tomb held a great deal of treasure, as well as a strange box. A cube-shaped box. How curious that Cain should have told him about Horadric Cubes, and he would find this almost immediately.

The box was a Horadric Cube. By pressing two catches on opposite sides of the box, the sides fell away from each other and the box opened into a cross shape. Even though the closed box was no larger than a helm, you could pack swords, long bows, even a spear into the box and close it up again. Watching the objects as they were folded up, then unfolded, was fascinating. They were also protected inside the box: you could put a chunk of granite, a honeycomb, and an egg inside the cube, and nothing would be crushed or befouled by the other things. All sorts of things could be transformed with the cube; three small gemstones could be made into a single larger one; potions could be transmuted. And most important, broken objects could be rejoined into a single whole.

Thaddeus had collected a lot of gemstone chips. They were useful, if placed in equipment socketed to hold them, but bigger gems had stronger effects. Nothing he was using had sockets, but now that he had a few good-quality gems, he might find a use for some new equipment. But when he opened his footlocker, he found something strange. Nothing was missing, Elzix had not come to visit. Someone had added a few things, and a note:

Your worshipfulness:

Congratulations on the whole Horadric Cube thing! Yes, you were meant to find that little item, it will be very helpful for you. As a kind of reward for being such a good boy, we've decided to hold Christmas early this year! No need for a midnight mass, but here's a couple of presents. The scepter isn't perfect, but it's the best we could do. The shield word is "Ral-Ort-Tal", the Pledge of the Ancient Ones. You can send your old stuff back with Warriv. There's a cathedral reliquary that could sure use those shinies. Good luck with the hammers, they sure are fun, aren't they?

-- The Mule

Thaddeus was confused. Whence this? That pale fellow called himself a mule, but he sure wasn't in Lut Gholein. Even if he was, how did he know what Thaddeus had been up to? Maybe he was an angel, or other spiritual messenger? That might explain it, but Thaddeus expected angels to have a bit more dignity.