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| Months went by as Tylassa completed quest after quest, killing more demons and twisted creatures than she'd thought were possible to exist. The island she had grown up and trained so rigorously had been free of such tainted and twisted creatures. Not that there hadn't been dangerous animals, but they were natural creatures of the jungles and worthy of honor and respect. The things she slew were perverted and sickening. The worst by far were the humans that had been corrupted by the evil that was stalking the land, especially the ones who smiled and mouthed soundless words of thanks as they died. Soon the battle against the Dark became Tylassa's and she quickly forgot her despair. |
| Eventually the ancient monastery of the Sisters got cleared of the foul demons that inhabited it, and Tylassa went eastward with a caravan to the port city of Lut Gholein, having been set on the trail of yet another demon, possibly one of the Greater Evils, if not a Prime Evil. While the archer (like her mother before her, she'd settled on the bow as being her primary weapon) was a strong woman in body, mind, heart and soul, she truly hoped that she wasn't on the trail of one of the more powerful demons. She'd had a hard enough time dealing with what had been lurking far below the stronghold of the Sisters, and knew that she wasn't cut out to be a demon-hunter. But oaths were oaths, even ones made to oneself on a grim and bloody field of war, and not to be broken. And like a foolish child, Tylassa had sworn by the blood upon the ground, and upon her weapon that she would see that the evil that had warped all things around it, would be brought down. Blood oaths especially could never be broken, else the oath giver would be no better than the twisted beings that served the Dark. |
| So bound by her oaths, Tylassa traveled with the caravan to the distant city that straddled the meeting place of the hot sands of the Aranoch Desert and the cool, blue waters of the Twin Seas. A little over a month passed and Tylassa's bow saw plenty of use as the caravan was attacked many times by creatures that were even more strange and warped than anything else she'd seen thus far. Though she grew rapidly tired of the Fallen and their ilk, the small demons were seemingly the most prolific and appeared to be used as cannon fodder by the larger and more cunning demons. But despite the demonic hordes that attacked, the caravan arrived intact to the port city. |
| Having never seen a true city, Tylassa was greatly impressed, but soon her amazement wore off as she found the inhabitants of the city a cowardly folk (at least in her opinion) who wouldn't fight to protect themselves. And the few mercenaries that were for hire, couldn't meet her stringent requirements. More time passed as she tried to locate the Tomb of Tal Rasha, as had been suggested to her by the Elder who had accompanied her from the encampment of the Sisterhood. He seemed to be under the belief that one of the Greatest Evils were loosed upon the land again...and while she thought his imprisonment by the creatures of the Dark had drove him mad, she was willing to humor him, since many of his other suggestions had proven to be useful. As well as the fact he was trying to help her find the origins of the Sunblade |
| Eventually she found the Tomb...and with it, the guardian that had been set there to watch for would-be heros like herself. After an incredibly long, drawn out battle with the giant maggot-like creature, Tylassa had the pleasure to watch it thrash about in it's death throes from her arrows that were imbued with her magic, as well as the bow she had been gifted with by the shade of a long dead warrior. Staggering from exhaustion, she entered the Tomb, only to be greeted by an irrate (not to mention ungrateful) angel, that claimed to be Tyrael. He didn't look as impressive as the stories made him out to be, the armor he was wearing looked as if it has seen better days, and the ribbons of light at his back were drooping. |
| Skeptical, Tylassa propped herself up by leaning against her bow and listened to the wretch go on about how long it took her to make her way to the Tomb. That Diablo himself was on the loose with his brother Baal. Unable to take it any longer, the young woman snapped at the angel "Then dammit, give me some help if you want me to get this done quicker! I'm but a lowly little mortal who's doing the best she can with the weapons she has to hand." |
| The angelic being seemed more than a bit taken back at the fact that she neither showed any deference most mortals used around him, and the language she used. Then he grinned to himself and thought that whomever decided to set the girl on the mission had chosen well. He let the girl rant at him a bit longer, then was amused when she realized he was humoring her, and got even angrier. Her emerald eyes blazed brightly with suppressed emotion, and was just opening her mouth to make another scathing comment, when the unmistakable sounds of battle echoed throughout the room the two were....discussing matters in. |
| Tyrael shook his glowing ribbons slightly, "I believe that is the help you were asking about. I would suggest getting to him before the scum out there overwhelm him." |
| The amazon gave the angel a scathing look, muttered something to herself, and headed off to see what was happening. The sight of the battle stopped her in her tracks. What appeared to be a human man dressed in old, battered plate mail was fighting one of the largest hordes of demons she'd seen before, somehow he was holding them off with a blade that had also seen better days. Tylassa shook her head slightly, yelled out to the swordsman to duck down, and sent a flurry of arrows, crackling with lightning from the enchanted bow, into the frenzied crowds of demons. Between the two, they made short work of the monsters and the two took the time to regard one another. |
| The man was only a half head taller than she, with short cropped black hair, skin that was tanned from exposure to sun and the elements, his pale blue eyes were tired, world weary, yet kind. He appeared to be at least fifteen years older than Tylassa, possibly older, but moved with the fluid grace of a man half his age. He greeted her with a forearm clasp that was common amongst warriors giving honor to an equal, "Ledain Fortis." |
| Tylassa returned the forearm clasp and introduction. "So what brings you to this hellhole?", she asked as she began looking through the corpses of the monsters, sorting the loot into various piles. Ledain leaned back against a wall, cleaning the blade of sword with care, while keeping a watch out for any trouble. "The same thing that brought you here, more likely than not." |
| "You don't strike me the sort that kills monsters for fun and profit." She had to suppress a grin as Ledain worked to keep his expression under control. There was something about the quiet man that made the impish side of Tylassa come out, a side that she hadn't been able to display in a very long time. |
| Sheathing his blade in a fluid movement, Ledain pushed himself up off the wall and started to help dispose of the corpses of the twisted creatures the two had destroyed. "No I was called here to help deal with the rising tide of the Dark. For some reason I was under the impression you were here also because of that." |
| With a soft sigh, Tylassa nodded, then flipped the cover to pack closed and tied it down. "Yes, because of oaths sworn to blood and by blood that I'm here. My apologies if I offended you, but I couldn't resist the feeble attempt at a joke." |
| Ledain smiled slowly, "Perfectly understandable. How long have you been on doing this." He helped her get to her feet, and quietly healed the wounds she had. Tylassa's eyes widened, "You're a paladin?" |
| The smile left Ledain's face abruptly. "I was once, a long time ago. Had a falling out with the church over some of their practices and was cast out. Been wandering since then." |
| "Apparently the god you follow doesn't feel the same way, since you still have your powers." |
| If Ledain was going to respond to that, he never had the chance, mainly because when they opened up the door to the way out of the Tomb, they were greeted by a huge horde of monsters. Quickly shutting and barring the door, the two warriors looked at each other. "I hope you have a good idea on how to get out of here!" Tylassa yelled as the door began to heave from the blows from the mass of creatures that were on the other side. "I was hoping you might have one...I don't suppose you have any portal scrolls?" |
| She shook her head, "The scrolls I had were burnt...there's a waypoint nearby, but we'd have to get through them first." The look the young woman gave the former paladin very clearly told him to not ask what happened to the scrolls. Being the smart man that he was, he didn't. |
| As the two began to prepare for the upcoming battle, Tylassa handed Ledain a belt loaded with potions. "You look like you could use them." He accepted them with a wordless nod of thanks as he buckled the belt of potions over his swordbelt, checking to be sure that he could easily draw his sword. |
| "How good are you at throwing things?" Tylassa asked as she filled her quiver with extra arrows from her pack. "I have decent aim, why?" The archer then handed him two large bottles of some sort of clear, amber-colored fluid. "It's oil, if you toss it at the monsters, I can set it on fire with a few fire arrows. If we're lucky it'll cause some of those bastards to become flaming pyres that'll break the horde up somewhat." |
| Grimly, Ledain accepted the bottles, and the two went into battle. |
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