A young rogue called Sylvia had heard many stories about an evil force destroying the village of Tristram. She also heard it was Diablo himself who terrorized the town, and if he wouldn’t be stopped, his dark powers would surely destroy more than Tristram alone. She decided to thwart his evil plans by killing him. (That should do the job.) She grabbed her bow and other wargear and left her safe home in the forest.
After a few days she met several people who travelled in the opposite direction as she did. When she asked where Tristram was they told her they were coming from Tristram and that she would be better off if she travelled with them. Sylvia said she just had to go there. One of the men shook his head and gave her the directions.
The next day after noon she found Tristram. She met a stout bearded blacksmith called Griswold. Sylvia told him of her plans and asked him where to find this Diablo. Griswold looked at her with a beady eye and asked the girl with a Scottish accent how old she was. “I’m 18 Sir.” she said. Griswold started laughing at her. “18 you said eh? Hahaha. Listen, the evil that lurks underneath our village is greater than you could understand let alone combat. Going down there means suicide, especially when you are a young girl like yourself.”
“I’m quite capable of defeating evil creatures!” Sylvia said. She tried to look self-assured, but she began to doubt her skills in combat. After asking Griswold what he had for sale, she went to the town tavern. She ordered a beer and sat down. She looked around and noticed an even sturdier man than Griswold; a warrior with black hair. She found him pretty attractive and decided to talk to him. “Excuse me Sir, can I sit down here?” she asked. The warrior looked at her for a short while, and the said it was ok.
It turned out to be that this warrior actually was Hero Aragorn, an invincible knight with lots of experience. She had heard a lot about him, and it felt great to meet him. Aragorn told her he had killed Diablo before even when all monsters fought like hell! When Sylvia asked how it was possible that Diablo was here again. He told her that the soulstone he took from the corpse was smashed into his helm and he hid the helm with the stone. “Someone must have found it, and took the soulstone out and then smashed it into his own head. That’s why I always wear a helm.” He said with a smile on his face.
After a long chit chat, Sylvia asked if she would be capable of defeating this Dark Lord of Terror. She also said Griswold didn’t think she could beat him. Aragorn made eye contact and then deliberatly threw an empty jar of whine from the table. Sylvia was a very agile girl, and managed to grab the jar before it hit the ground. “As long as you go slow and be as agile as now, you will be able to defeat him.” He said. “So I am strong enough?” she asked.
“Strength has nothing to do with it, well at least not much. Think wisely, and you will be able to. Besides I see your armor increases your strength and that your sword is very light so you can swing it fast. You will do just fine as long as you believe in yourself.”
When she asked him why he wouldn’t go with her, he said said he would sleep for a little while and then leave to the East to find a particular temple of the Zakarum where Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, should be. It was his job to kill him.
“Go now, and slay the Dark Lord of Terror.” He said after a short silence. Sylvia thanked Aragorn for his advise and trust, and left the tavern. After talking to Cain, a true sage, and Pepin, a healer, she went to a rift in the earth behind Pepin’s hut. Then after a short hesitation, she went down….
She found cave vipers and black knights there. She did as Aragorn told her, and went slow. She activated just a few of them at once, and she had no big problem defeating them. Because it took quite some time to find the cursed stairs, she had to deafeat many creatures of darkness, and levelled up.
After taking the stairs down, she encountered some magistrates and gold vipers. She used the sword/shield setup to get rid of the vipers and the bow for the magistrates. This bow was quite an item; it fired the arrows with such power that the target was pushed back after each hit.
She only had to kill a few mages and several vipers before she found the stairs down. But first she went to town again to let Griswold repair her items. At first she didn’t like him, because he said she was too weak, but later on she found him a nice guy because she found out he just said that to protect her. When she spoke with Cain again, he told her about Lazarus. Lazarus was a betrayer who was now on Diablo’s side. Cain asked her to kill him.
Sylvia took the town portal down, and immediately after she took the stairs further down. According to Cain, that level was the level where Lazarus should be.
Sylvia used a scroll, and made another portal to town. She had her bow equipped still, and walked around a bit. She saw a big Doom guard heading her way, but her bow pushed him further and further back till he died with a spectacular whirlwind. After whacking that one knight, she levelled up again.
Sylvia knew she was in the South West of the level, and went North. After killing some hell spawn, which she lured to safe ground, she found Lazarus’ Lair. Two unique and powerful witches were drawn out seperately, and killed. Two hellspawn were drawn out as well, and Lazarus saw her. Sylvia managed to kill all the advocates. She almost died, but her will to remain invincible just like Aragorn was stronger than the fireballs. Only Lazarus was left, and Sylvia went back in. Lazarus was a powerful opponent, but not strong enough to kill the young rogue. Sylvia used several potions to remain alive, and her arrows kept hitting the betrayer. After an intens battle Sylvia prevailed! She created another portal to town, and went up to tell everybody Lazarus was dead. Unfortunately Aragorn was asleep, so she could not tell him. According to Ogden he would leave when the night would fall. Since it was day still, Sylvia decided not to wait.
She threw most of her stuff on the ground, and kept the rest in her inventory. Why? You will fnd out later… After throwing some money on the ground as well, she took the portal again. Once down, another portal had been summoned, and she walked to the North East room in order to find the pentagram. Unfortunately the Entrance of the room was infested by knights, and the room itself counted lots of hellspawn. She already had a feeling the pentagram room was severely guarded, so it was no surprise. She tried to run to the pentagram (this was her plan; just run), but got stuck and hit the ground in the wink of an eye. There she lay on the ground in front of all those knights and witches. She felt like she was dead, and she probably was for a few seconds. The evil creatures thought she was permanently dead, and didn’t look down anymore. Sylvia managed to drag her own body to the portal. Once she reached Pepin, she fainted, and thought she was dead again. Fortunately Pepin managed to heal her, and after a mere hour she felt as healthy as ever before! Sylvia went to Adria to buy a scroll of phasing. Fortunatly she had one, and Sylvia went down again. She walked to the room, but did not head for the entrance; she used the scroll to get to the other side of the wall. She was lucky; it worked immediately. She ran the last few meters to the pentagram while many witches attacked. She was very quick, and managed to get there without getting severely hurt.
Down to Diablo…
She found herself in front of Diablo’s Lair and created another portal. She went to town, and grabbed her stuff. She went down again, and cast another portal.
After killing a few advocates she encountered three blood knights. She walked away while equipping the shield and the brutal sword. It didn’t take long before Sylvia realized she was absolutely no match for them. The three attacked ferociously, and Sylvia was not able to block all the attacks. She got hit pretty badly, and could not hit back. She managed to escape their attacks, and equip the bow again. The three followed, and Sylvia started shooting. When they came close, she walked away again, and because the knights didn’t follow fast, she had some time to fire some arrows, and hit them back a bit. Still they managed to get close again, and Sylvia had to take her distance again. But not much later she had killed them all.
She worked her way around the lever room, killing some more knights and advocates with the bow. Now it was time for the ultimate test. Diablo awaited! She switched the levers after equipping the shield and sword aigan. Diablo’s Lair was now open! She walked towards the Lair, and started shooting holy bolts into the dark.
There he came! Diablo the Dark Lord of Terror! Sylvia wisely retreated. She ran to the place behind the lever room, and stopped in one of the corners. There she waited for Diablo, but he didn’t show up. She walked back, found him, and retreated to the same place as before. There she remebered the wise words of Aragorn. She had to use her brains as well to defeat Diablo. She cast two firewalls in front of her. More was not possible; Diablo was already there!
The fight started. Sylvia was a pretty good melee fighter, but she had quite some problems with the Dark Lord. She was capable of blocking most of his apocalypse attacks, but not all. The ones that hit her, hit her pretty badly. Because she had her back against a wall, she could not be pushed back. The firewalls perished, but the Dark Lord was still there. Sylvia tried to cast some more, but she got hit, and the spell got lost. After several attempts, two firewalls finally appeared. She already began drinking potions straight out her inventory, and didn’t want to think about what would happen if she ran out of them. Unforunatley they did ran out. She drank her last potion, and sincerely hoped he would die before she did. He won, she died. Some sort of guardian angel must have helped her, because after several seconds of being dead, she felt the life force had returned. Just like the knights and witches before, Diablo didn’t notice she crawled away straight to the portal. She came up, and went to Pepin. The healer was shocked to see the young rogue being so injured. She had been dead for several seconds for the second time. Pepin did everything he was capable of, and after more than an hour Sylvia was ready for combat again.
She went down again. Just like all the other times she entered a level, she cast a town portal. Just in case. She walked to the place where she had been killed before. Diablo must have noticed her corpse wasn’t there anymore, so he’ll might suspect another attack. So much for the element of surprise. There he was again! She put her back against a wall, and threw two firewalls in front of her. Diablo approached with an evil grin on his even more evil face. His apocalypse hurt Sylvia pretty good again, but she was ready for combat.
Diablo stepped into the fire and attacked again. Sylvia attacked as well, but more ferocious than ever. She looked into his evil red eyes, and notcied he was about to die. She was right! Not much later he died! His blood colored her face red, and it’s taste lay in her mouth for the rest of that day.
She went to town again. Her arms quivered when she lifted herslef up from the rift in the Earth. She walked towards Pepin, but she didn’t notice a black knight had followed her and raised his sword. Sylvia was injured, and would have surely died when she would be hit. At that moment a sword penetrated the air, and hit the black knight in the head. The sudden sound of the whirlwind it made when it died frightened the young rogue. She immediately looked back, and saw the corpse of the knight, with a sword next to it. Then she saw Aragorn walking towards her. “Thank you.” she stuttered. “You’re welcome.” he said.
“Diablo is..”
“I know. Well done! I have to go now. Farewell.” He said, and after picking his sword up, he left. How long Sylvia stood there, she could not say.
After a while she heard Pepin’s voice. “How did it go my friend?”
“Very well! I will tell everybody who wants to hear about it in half an hour. I’ll be at Ogden’s.”
Pepin healed the young rogue first, and then told everybody about the good news, and that the whole story would be told at Ogden’s. Not much later Sylvia told the whole story to everybody who was left in Tristram. That night there was a great feast in town. After quite some time people actually laughed again in Tristram.
The next day Sylvia left. She had done what must be done.
The End.
