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Tre looked around, studying the battleground. Zombies, skeletons, and fallen all surround them. Each person in the group doing what they could to fight off these corrupted beings. Tre saw Tilika crouched over Algranon, oblivious to the tow zombies approaching him from behind.

Tre shut his eyes and concentrated for a moment. He felt the energy of Sanctuary around him. Its warmth that filled the air flowed into him, fueling his own powers. He opened his eyes and aimed at his two targets with his arms. A small spark grew into a flame around Tre's body. He focused his energy and flowed the flame from his body down his arms and sent it traveling towards his targets. The flames traveled across the ground searching for the zombies. Once finding them, the flames rose up, scorching their bodies. The two zombies fell to the ground, the flesh burned to black ash.

Tre continued to survey the fight. The other necromancer was making quick work of the other fallen, even destroying their shaman leader. The newly met rogue was firing from a distance, shooting victims that Tre could not even see. It appeared that the fight was ending, all of the demons lying dead on the floor. Tre walked around looking for any useful materials. He spotted a leather cap, lying next to one of the zombies. Tre picked up the cap and inspected it for any damage. Despite a small hole in the side, it would serve to help protect him from further blows. He placed it upon his head, adjusting it to fit his head.

With a calm now replacing the intense fight, Tre walked back to the rogue. "Celia, can you please take us to the Den of Evil. It is apparent that these attacks will not stop until we are able to cleanse this area of its foul corruption. My men are eager to complete this quest given to us and there is no time to waste."

Algranon got back up and said

"Damn what happened here? Did we do this? I dont even remember getting here..."

Algranon saw something on the ground and stooped down to take a look at it. It was a pair of rough gloves.

"They may be in bad condition but I could use these" Algranon whispered to himself while inspecting the gloves.

The battle was slowly easing. Yet Anagra felt weak. A lot weaker than before, which came to surprise him. He looked at his dagger, and then he realized that, unfortunately, he did not have enough strength and energy to maintain his bone armor along with his skeletal minions. He valued his curse too much to abandon it, so he chose to get rid of his protective bone armor, figuring that he would aid the others from a further distance, letting his minions attack instead of he himself engaging in close combat.

Perhaps later...

With a flick of his dagger, the bone armor fell to the ground. And with that, the last of the fallen were slowly falling.

The ground around Tilika had risen to flames for a short moment and lowered the numbers of the attacking fiends. Shortly after the paladin had yelled he suddenly felt refreshed with energy and life rushing through his body. With what could be called ease, but what was actually far from it, the band of heroes had withstood a severe attack by the foul demons.

Bodies lie spread across the camp, the fog seemed to have almost eased out and not even a handful fallen could be seen. Algranon had already risen from the ground, and Tilika the same. With the refueled energy that now flowed through his veins, Tilika plunged forward to the nearest fallen, avoiding his quickly striking dagger, rapidly lifting a fatal blow to the demon's side with his knee. As the demon fell to the ground like a sack of wood, Tilika bashed its head open with a precise strike with his now crimson axe.

Scouring the field, he noticed the 3 other fallen fleeing for their lives. He pointed in their direction. "I don't mind staining my axe with the blood of those, but if anyone else wants to join in on the fun, this is the time." Tilika said with a grin on his face.

"Why stain anything but the ground?" quipped Celia as she moved up beside the Barbarian, bow raised.

On the end of the bow perched a single glowing arrow, shining dimly in the light. The Rogue closed her eyes and adjusted her aim, clearly deep in concentration. A moment later, the fleeing fallen seemed to glow as well, with the same hue and intensity as the arrow. Confused by their sudden change in appearance, they huddled together, expecting another attack.

"Wrong move."

Eyes still shut, she fired the arrow. It flew through the trees and struck the first fallen between the eyes. There was a release of energy, creating a sound not unlike the crack of a whip, and the little demon flew backwards, skewering himself and the other two creatures against the tree behind. As their glow faded, the Rogue opened her eyes and turned back to the group.

"We must make way to the Den quickly. The sky will stay dark even into day and with no permanent defenses, we don't stand a chance outside. At least down there the monsters generally only come from one direction."

With the rest of the grouper as eager as Tre to cleanse this evil, the heroes followed Celia to the Den of Evil. They picked off demon after demon, anything that came across their path but staying diligent to make it to their destination. Just as the sun began to rise up from the horizon, its orange glow filled the once black sky. The demons seemed to disperse with the light of the sun, lessening their burden on their way to the den.

"Do not be fooled by this temporary break. I am sure that deep within this den, the sun's glow will not do anything to stop the demons that dwell within. It will surely be more dangerous than anything else we have encountered thus far. We need to stay alert and cover each other's blind spots. We cannot just rush in their with axes swinging and magic flying about. We ill exhaust ourselves too quickly. I do not know exactly what awaits us at the heart of this corruption but we will surely need our strength to fight off whatever is causing this."

Just as Tre was finishing his speech, the group saw what had to be the Den of Evil. A protrusion from the ground that seemed to almost open the ground to the depths of its core. Dimly lit, Tre walked up to the entrance, unable to see even five feet in front of them. It was as if the corruption of this placed was even able to corrupt the light that sat within it. Tre found two torches that marked the entrance of the cave. Holding his hand out to the tops of the torches, a small glow started in his hand. A small flame sat in his palm, lighting the torches.

Tre took his first step into the Den, the musty smell of death overwhelming his senses. Again, he whistled, calling his raven to his side.

"Alright everyone, here the moment we have all been waiting for. Akara has asked to cleanse this den. Not a single monster must remain. We must kill all the evil that dwells here."

The eerie fog still remained in the den, and as Anagra walked in, he slowly noticed something wrong. The den was somewhat empty and silent. Something he did not expect at all from a cave named the "Den of Evil". The stench did not symbolize the emptiness, since the rotting flesh that hung on the wall added that peculiar smell in the air. The group remained silent.

There was one torch that hung from the ceiling, and it was only at the entrance of the Den. The rest was protruded in darkness, a silent dismay of reality. One person had to walk into that that darkness, and it seemed that the answer to the den would be awoken if someone did.

One person...

The aura of light from the torch seemed anybody's last chance. They can turn back, or they can stay, and continue on this quest. For Anagra, this question was nonexistent. There was only one choice.

Anagra stepped forward, right into the darkness of the cave.

At once, there was a loud scream, and the entire cave lit up immediately. The spirit of the cave alerted its minions, and the entire den was filled with light, revealing the terror within.

The were hordes of fallen minions, and the shamans were well protected at a hill in the cave. Zombies were roaming around aimlessly, and there even seemed to be animals the size of three men. The entire den stood silent for a moment, and the minions stared at the newcomers. Yet at once, they all got up, and stampeded toward the intruders.

"Here we go..."

Algranon was listening to Arry when he realized that Arry was being pinned to the ground by three fallen.

Algranon began to chant and his chanting produced a pair of teeth that skewered one of the fallen.

Algranon kept chanting and produced yet another pair of teeth to kill the second fallen.

He kept chanting and summoned yet another pair of teeth to kill the last fallen.

Then Algranon stopped chanting and gasped, falling to the floor while doing so.

Anagra watched as the endless hordes of demons were charging at the group. Anagra knew that the only way they could ever stand a chance is if they killed the shamans, and so he amplified the nearest fallen, and his skeletal minions were taking care of them. They would need to get into the heart of the cave in order to destroy the heart of the evil here.

Faster...

He ordered his minions to push toward the heart of the cave, where there would surely be some sort of leader. The minions, who were storming at them, were simply no match. Quantity over quality. It was surely Evil's view.

And Anagra smiled.

The massive amounts of demons in this small space worried Tre. He wondered how many more demons had infested his beloved Sanctuary. Now was not the time to concern himself with such thoughts. He needed to focus on the demons that he was face to face with. He found himself in the middle of a horde of fallen imps. In his travels around the world, he had learned about these imps. Demons of their former selves, suffering a fate of humiliation. Tre would end their humiliation once and for all.

Tre singled out one of the monsters. He looked it deep in its red eyes, locking in on his target. The monsters mouth dripped from its fangs, his mouth opened to let out a screech as it yelled out its leader's name. Tre charged at the beast with his club in the air. Once he was close enough, Tre slammed his club into the monster's skull. The monster dropped to the floor from the force of the blow. The monster continued to cry out as he writhed around on the floor. Tre continued to slam his club into the demon's head cracking open his skull as his brains spilled out onto the cave walls and floor. Tre looked up and saw the rest of the horde running away from him.

"Get back here and suffer your fate" Tre yelled out to the other demons. He found himself his next target and began rushing after it. Just as he was about to swing his club, a burning force pushed him to the ground. He turned around quickly to see one of the fallen shooting fireballs at him. Tre whistled as his raven came to his aid. The raven located the shaman and dove. The dark feathered bird attached its claws to the monsters shoulder. Using his razor sharp beak, the raven shredded the monsters eyes, leaving him blind. With a screech the bird flew back into the air ready to strike again.

Now blinded, the shaman was no longer a threat to Tre, or at least he thought so. Even blinded, the shaman could sense the empty corpse of his fallen brethren. The shaman thrusted his staff into the ground as the slain fallen rose back up from the ground, his lack of brain obviously having no effect on its second life. The monster charged again at Tre. Tre got himself back onto his feet and studied his club in his hands again. He swung with all of his strength, sending the small demon flying into the cave wall.

Tre realized that if he were to defeat these corrupted beings, he would have to take out this shaman. Tre knelt down and placed his hand on the floor. Moments later, a vine shot up from the ground underneath the shaman. It wrapped itself around the shaman's body. Giant thorns ripped through its flesh. The vine quickly disappeared again back into the ground. While the shaman seemed to not even be phased by the large lacerations the vine had left, Tre knew the real damage was yet to come. The shaman's wounds began to turn a pale green color, the lacerations growing in size as the vines poison began to eat its flesh. The shaman dropped its staff and began to cringe as he held his stomach. Without any other force, the demon dropped to the ground, his insides had been completed destroyed by the poison left from the vine's cuts.

Tre continued his assault on the remaining fallen, clubbing each of the death, their blood splattering over himself and the cave. Just as Tre thought he had cleared the area around him of the demons, he felt a massive force hit him against his side, throwing him ten feet from where he was standing. Tre looked up to see a gargantuan of a beast, standing at least ten feet tall, covered in hair attacking him. Tre went to swing back with his club but the blow had knocked it out of his hands.

The druid lost its weapon, and the beast was advancing on him. Anagra froze for a moment, and pondered.

Do it...

It was the perfect time to let the leader die, and let Anagra take over his personal quest, perhaps leading the others to his quest, and abandoning them. Yet he hesitated. For some reason, he hesitated. And, to his astonishment, he found himself ordering his minions to protect the druid. At once, the 3 skeletal minions went between the druid and beast, and Anagra was acting like he wasn't himself.

He amplified the beast, making its defensive hide melt off. Howling in rage, the beast went on a frenzy. Yet his skeletal minions dug their swords in its revealed self, killing it rather quickly. Seeing the beast fall, Anagra picked up the club on the floor.

"Need this?"

"Need this?" the necromancer asked vainly.

"Thank you. It is good to know there are people who I can trust my very life with here." Tre responded as he took his club back and stood back up. The group ventured further and further into the cave, cleansing an corruption from this cave. In annoying numbers, Tre continued to kill fallen after fallen. Pulling the heat from the world, he unleashed a wave of fire the crawled along the floor, burning it victims on its way. Tre sent out wave after wave of fire, attempting to lessen the numbers of the corrupted. Taking out two or three with every blast, Tre began to exhaust himself. He stood there trying to unleash one more wave but he no longer had the energy to pull the heat from his surroundings.

"How many of these monsters can there be?" Tre asked rhetorically to the rest of the group. He stood for a moment hoping to regain the strength needed to continue fighting. Tre looked around, unsure if he or the rest of the group could cleanse all of the evil from this den. The end of the cave out of sight, it was anyone's guess just how much further they had to go, not even knowing what did await them if they were able to make it to the end.

"How many of these monsters can there be?"

"There are as many evil spirits here as there are cracks in the wall."

The Rogue turned to Tregan as she moved up beside him, the flaming arrow readied on her bow providing some semblance of visibility. She peered into the darkness beyond as she spoke;

"These lands were once used as a burial grounds for the wicked many many centuries ago, before the sisterhood came here. This cave likely held the bodies of countless criminals, murderers, and dark sorcerers. Now, as the evil spreads, it re-awakens those lost souls to battle with the living. If we can find the source of their resurrection, some ghoul or barrow-wight that continues to motivate their attacks, then perhaps we can open the moor once again to my sisters."

Algranon overheard the rouge talking and said

"If it truly is a form of demonic resurrection then perhaps Anagra or I could detect the source?"

"If it truly is a form of demonic resurrection then perhaps Anagra or I could detect the source?" Algranon said.

"Dark arts have never been on my good side, but you are growing on me, dark sorcerer." Tilika said to Algranon casually. "Concentrate on the source and be sure to call me forth when you find it. Whatever 'tis that rules these demons trapped here is bound to be strong. We have to make sure their numbers are greatly inferior to ours." He added with a grin on his face.

As soon as he had spoken, he picked up his axe, holding it steady, and ran towards a group of two red-skinned fallen. The first one was knocked down on his back with a kick from Tilika's mighty boot. Tilika raised his axe, all the while he managed to kick another back away from him with his boot. His axe fell down swiftly into the chest of the demon struggling to get back onto his feet. A gargling echoed through the cave as blood trickled from the wound of the fallen on the ground. Still alive, the ruffled second fallen charged back in towards Tilika, club held in one hand and a sharpened blade in the other. Again, the barbarian picked up his axe. He looked at the oncoming fallen with fire in his eyes and prepared himself.
Tilika groaned in agony as a club hit him in the back and he fell to his knees. He took a quick look behind his back to see what had hit him. There stood yet another red-skinned demon who had too easily snuck behind him. His lungs filled up, almost looking about to burst, and he howled loudly with a barbaric roar forcing the demon behind him to drop his weapons and stumble over his feet as he started backing away from Tilika. The demon in front of him had paused in his rush when he heard the barbaric roar.

"Now is my chance." Tilika thought, and jumped back up on his feet.

Finding the heart of the Den would seem to be endless if they did not find a way to get there. Anagra needed a way to find the middle, where surely the main demonic soul would rest, waiting for the travelers to come. Yet the answer would be easier than Anagra thought.

Inside his belt, he pulled out an orange potion, glimmering with an essence of a flame. Brewed by the ancient sorcerers as a quick getaway, he could use this in these tight quarters, setting a flame that would frighten the cowardly fallen, and then eating away the giant beasts within.

Yet when he was about to throw it, he felt a sudden pain in his arm, causing him to drop the flame potion. Yet he did not care. In his split second of not being cautious, a shaman aimed a fireball right at him, and it caught him in the arm. The pain was immense, and what seemed like slow motion, he saw the potion fall right next to him.

The glass was made easily breakable, so that the energy within could be easily released, and the rocks below them were hard and could easily break the glass. If the potion exploded here, many would get injured, and the battle would be lost, because of him.

No....

Yet in his astonishment, it didn't break. It found a soft spot in the ground, and it rolled away from him. A sigh of relief came from Anagra, and his skeletal minions were circling him, protecting their master to buy him time to recover from the agony in his arm. He would need any type of healing, as he had the inability to move. The fallen were closing in fast, and his skeletal minions could only do so much.

"Someone one help me..."

Algranon overheard Anagra's comment and saw the explosive potion rolling away from him

Algranon ran towards Anagra while directing his minions to protect him

"Might you recquire some assistance?" Algranon asked as he stooped down to pick up the orange potion and handed it to Anagra. "Or do you just want to lie there on the ground?"

"I need... a potion..."

Anagra's arm was burned and useless. He grabbed his magical dagger with his left hand, and stood up.

"Take my potion, and throw it in the middle of the passage" Anagra said. " I am too injured to even attempt to do anything."

Now Anagra was worried. He did something he swore to never do. He put his faith into another individual.

"Take my potion, and throw it in the middle of the passage" Anagra said. " I am too injured to even attempt to do anything."

Algranon stared at Anagra for a second then said something

"Whatever you say!" Algranon chucked the orange potion as hard as he could into the middle of the passage then stared as the potion flask shattered!

As the explosion reverberated through the narrow dank cave, a wave of heat washed over the group. Celia darted forwards, into the heatwave, bow raised and arrow ready. As she approached the injured necromancer, she fired at a charging beast, it's scaly green skin illuminated in the light of many small fires now lining the cave as pieces of fallen burned. Her arrow sailed true and struck the beast in the back of it's hideous throat as it lunged forward, aiming for a bite out of Algranon.

"Here," she said to Anagra, holding out a red vial. "This will heal your burn. Hold out your arm and I'll pour it on for you."