On the forty-fifth day of our campaign, we caught up with Baal near the towering walls of the exalted Imperial captial, the ancient port city Lut Golein. We had tracked the great Lord of Destruction all the way from the vast, southern desert lands of Marrakesh some months before. Our leader Tal Rasha, believed that Baal was heading north, through the mountain pass of Sidi Yusuf and the royal gates of Bab Mansour, but for some reason the demon chose to forfeit his lead and to take refuge within the sandblasted city.
Wishing to avoid confrontation in which innocents might be hurt, Tal Rasha ordered us to stay our attack until Baal had left the city’s walls. We waited and watched for 3 days and 3 nights before the treacherous creature emerged from Lut Golein. Heading north as Tal Rasha had predicted, Baal set off once more. The beast ran with unprecedented velocity, knowing that a confrontation with us would be his inevitable and disastrous end. We knew the certainy of the outcome and took courage within our hearts as we pressed on with incredible swiftness, having gathered our much needed strength while we watched for the creature’s emergence. We pursued the horrendous monster for many miles, and knew from our locality that the mighty city of Fès was only but a few miles away. Before the demon could claim sanctuary within giant maze of the fortified city, we caught up to the monster in the plains of the surrounding desert. With the strongest spells we could muster, we battered the great Lord of Destruction and forced him to give ground before us.
The enraged demon let loose the full fury of his powers. The earth itself exploded under our feet, swallowing many of our brave and courageous brethren. The heat of the blazing desert sun and the fire that the beast let loose and unleashed from beneath the burning desert sand seemed to scorch and to consume every last one of us. Destruction spiraled around us in every conceivable form, but we had traveled too far to be stopped just then. Weakened by his exertions, Baal let loose one final strike against Tal Rasha; but, thankfully, the battle-battered Mage was left relatively unhurt. Unfortunately, the ancient Soulstone that he had been given by the Archangel Tyrael was shattered into several small pieces. Reeling in panic, we pressed our attack and succeeded in temporarily subduing the raging demon.
Knowing that the Soustone’s broken shards would not be enough to contain Baal’s powerful essence, Tal Rasha quickly devised a reckless plan to contain the demon forever. With a feverish light in his eyes, he coldly walked over to Baal’s withering body and slit the creature’s throat. As Baal’s spirit fled the dying body, Tal Rasha chose the largest of the Soulstone’s shards and jammed it into the open wound. Just as with Mephisto, Baal’s spirit was sucked into the golden shard’s vacuous recesses and trapped. The shard pulsed and hummed as though unable to hold its terrible content in check. Though we questioned his judgement, Tal Rasha seemed confident that the shard would hold Baal until our task at hand as complete.
At this moment, the Archangel Tyrael appeared and held Tal Rasha in his penetrating gaze. The angel’s shimmering visage was beautiful beyond all comprehension, and I distinctly remember his whispering to Tal Rasha in the vernacular Aramaic tongue, “Your sacrifice will be long remembered, Noble Mage!” With that golden shard in hand, Tyrael led us to a series of secret caves buried deep beneath the burning desert sands. There we found seven ancient tombs, which we were told by the Archangel, were built by the great Moulay Idris the First, the founder and builder of the Old Kingdom; a long-forgotten kingdom and people, whose glory and grandeur had faded from all recollection and now, was nothing more than a relic of antiquated history. Our grim procession finally came to a sudden halt as we reached the last enormous vault. It was there that Tyrael bade us to begin constructing a binding stone at the chamber’s center. It was then that I realized what he and Tal Rasha had in mind . . .
We etched powerful runes of containment upon the binding stone and used our magic to craft unbreakable chains from the chamber’s walls. Once preparations were completed, Tal Rasha ordered that he be shackled and bound to the stone. To our horror, Tyrael walked forward and brandished the glowing shard before him. Before any of us could react, the Archangel drove the shard into Tal Rasha’s chest. We gaped in awe as the realization of what had transpired took firm root in our minds. Tal Rasha had made the ultimate sacrifice: He would remain chained forever, cursed to wrestle with Baal’s foul spirit for all eternity.
Sorrowfully, we made our way back into the sunlight and watched as Tyrael closed the tomb’s giant doors forever. The last sound to escape the cold tomb was a tormented scream not born of this world. I pray that Tal Rasha’s sacrifice was not in vain. I pray that the evil buried under the desert sands remains bound until men forget that there ever were evils that walked among them in the land of setting sun.
At this moment, the Archangel Tyrael appeared and held Tal Rasha in his penetrating gaze. The angel’s shimmering visage was beautiful beyond all comprehension, and I distinctly remember his whispering to Tal Rasha in the vernacular Aramaic tongue, “Your sacrifice will be long remembered, Noble Mage!” With that golden shard in hand, Tyrael led us to a series of secret caves buried deep beneath the burning desert sands. There we found seven ancient tombs, which we were told by the Archangel, were built by the great Moulay Idris the First, the founder and builder of the Old Kingdom; a long-forgotten kingdom and people, whose glory and grandeur had faded from all recollection and now, was nothing more than a relic of antiquated history. Our grim procession finally came to a sudden halt as we reached the last enormous vault. It was there that Tyrael bade us to begin constructing a binding stone at the chamber’s center. It was then that I realized what he and Tal Rasha had in mind . . .
We etched powerful runes of containment upon the binding stone and used our magic to craft unbreakable chains from the chamber’s walls. Once preparations were completed, Tal Rasha ordered that he be shackled and bound to the stone. To our horror, Tyrael walked forward and brandished the glowing shard before him. Before any of us could react, the Archangel drove the shard into Tal Rasha’s chest. We gaped in awe as the realization of what had transpired took firm root in our minds. Tal Rasha had made the ultimate sacrifice: He would remain chained forever, cursed to wrestle with Baal’s foul spirit for all eternity.
Sorrowfully, we made our way back into the sunlight and watched as Tyrael closed the tomb’s giant doors forever. The last sound to escape the cold tomb was a tormented scream not born of this world. I pray that Tal Rasha’s sacrifice was not in vain. I pray that the evil buried under the desert sands remains bound until men forget that there ever were evils that walked among them in the land of setting sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment