Diablo 3: Hell's Eclipse

Luna discovered that Tyrael was the only one who didn't seem to like the idea of raising Kulle from the dead, even if it was just his head right now, because of his 'crimes' against nature and everything else, but Luna insisted that he tell them what Kulle had done to earn his fate.

"He was a great man who was driven mad by his long quest to hunt evil, and he delved into powers that weren't meant for men to use." Tyrael stated, eventually giving Luna what she wanted, since time was wasting and he figured that if he told her what Zoltun Kulle had done it might convince her that this was a bad idea, even though he didn't have another one that could match using the legendary Black Soulstone on the last two Lords of Hell, "He sought to capture the souls of demons and angels to fuel his empty heart, seeking to gain immortality and power for his own schemes... that is why he was slain, even though the order never recovered from his demise."

"Look, just because someone learns about an enemy and wants to use their power to bring them down doesn't make them a mad or insane person." Luna said, though she resisted the urge to groan from this information, because Tyrael's lack of a true answer, like he didn't want to go into detail about what Kulle's crimes were, made her wonder if the other members of the Horadrim were just jealous of Kulle's power and responsibilities, "But, for the time being, we should focus on tracking his head down... we can worry about everything else after we've secured his head."

With the others aware of what they were doing Leah brought them back into the city and tracked down one of the other sewer entrances, as her mother had found one that would bring them to the area that Kulle's head had been stored in after he was slain. Luna, again, shrouded them from view as they tracked down the entrance and opened it, allowing everyone to drop down into the sewers without delay, and once she was sure that everyone was present Luna dismissed her magic, as the shroud wasn't necessary at the moment. From what they could see there were a few unfortunate people who had to be peasants or even beggars, though for the most part it looked like they were sleeping and weren't aware of the fact that the group was even there. The only thing that seemed out of place was the locked door with a magical projection standing near it, a projection of the Emperor himself, causing Luna to glance at her friends for a moment as they nodded, the Emperor had proven himself to be a potential enemy and that meant they had to keep their guards up.

Luna, at the very least, didn't trust him since he had sentenced them to their deaths and he felt like there was a power to him that didn't belong at all, like a demon, but for now she was keeping her guard up as they walked over to the locked gate and stopped in front of the projection.

Listen to me, I cannot talk for long: Belial's guards are keeping a constant watch of my movements, but I was able to find a way to slip away for a time. the Emperor stated, though as he said that he reached into his neck area and withdrew what appeared to be a necklace of some kind, like he was explaining something, but since there was no way to sense things right now Luna couldn't tell if it was a magical amulet or a normal necklace, I took this from a member of the Vizjerei Clan, and have learned how to use it to speak with people I deem important to the survival of my domain... I apologize for the act, back when we first met, but it was important for me to appear loyal to Belial's schemes. I will help you now, to the best of my abilities.

Sure enough he undid the lock that was on the gate, which seemed to have been magical in nature, before vanishing, like a guard had been close to uncovering what he was doing, but for the time being Luna opened the gate and they walked into the other portion of the sewers, which should bring them to the oasis. Sure enough they found more skeletons roaming in their way, which wasn't much of a surprise if they were being honest with themselves, so Luna cut through them with her sword while the others focused on clearing out the path that was beyond the skeletons. That wasn't the only enemy down in the sewers for them to worry about, as there were more of the powerful poison wasps and even some of Belial's serpent demons, one of which had a yellow glow around it as it summoned lightning to defeat them. It provided Leah with a brand new way to utilize her magic, as Leah focused on channeling her magic into a shield that stopped a small bit of the lightning that was coming towards her and the others, while Eirena helped deal with the rest before showing her a few things on how to use protection type spells.

Luna also showed her a few things as well, since there was no harm in allowing her to grow stronger and use her magic in more ways, in fact Luna encouraged such growth since Leah had a lot of latent power inside her, though Leah did find piles of diseased bodies that she set fire to, to make sure they didn't produce new enemies. At the same time she thought about how weird it was for them to have more of Belial's serpent demons down here, since only the Emperor knew where they were right now, meaning he was either betraying them or someone had traced the magical connection. Luna had no idea which one was accurate right now, but either way she didn't trust the Emperor, there was something about him that simply rubbed her the wrong way, and her friends were keeping an open mind on the matter. She did have to wonder if the boy Emperor was actually Belial, as this would be an effective way for the Lord of Hell to keep tabs on what his enemies might be doing, even though he wasn't doing a great job of keeping the suspicions off his host if that was the case.

Eventually they found the way out of the sewers and Luna used a bit of magic to banish the sewer smell, where they quickly discovered that it had brought them to the right place, water was flowing behind them and the area in front of them seemed to be a large open area.

"So, we've found the oasis... how are we going to find Kulle's head?" Kormac asked, because from what they would see there were caves, houses that doubled as mines or farms, potential tombs that could hold who knew what, altars for enemies to gather near, and who knew what else.

"That, I don't know. The Horadrim never wrote it down, out of fear that he would be raised by Hell." Luna replied, which was a smart idea, because if Kulle was betrayed by both the Horadrim and the Archangels, those he was working with to bring down the Lords of Hell, there was a chance he could be corrupted by demons and turned into a true terror, hence why his remains were so well hidden, "Leah, are you feeling anything?"

"Yes... I think so." Leah said, because this was just like before, with the fragments of Tyrael's blade, she could feel something calling out to her, in fact there were multiple somethings that were scattered around the area of Caldeum they were in, but one was stronger than the others and it was far closer than the others, before she pointed towards it, "There's something in that direction that's drawing my attention... something that wants to be found. I think it's Kulle, leaving one last trick to make sure he could be found in case someone had need of his services."

"How does she know that?" Eirena asked, though at the same time Luna patted Leah on the head as they moved away from the passage they had emerged from, tearing through some of the dark warrior demons, fallen they realized, forcing her to catch up with the others as she hurled a bolt of magic at one, "I'm not feeling anything."

"Leah is special, as she was able to track the shards of Tyrael's blade... plus she's been trained by Luna, who has all sorts of magic that we haven't seen yet." Kormac replied, which was followed by him blocking an attack with his shield before he used his spear to pierce the heart of his demonic foe, allowing him to shove the demon onto the ground before facing the confused enchantress as she dealt with another enemy in the distance, "Trust me, you'll get used to it."

Lyndon, on the other hand, remained quiet as he loosed a bolt into the head of a cultist in the distance, as it looked like the Coven had been split to cover more ground, before they destroyed it anyway, so these were survivors that had only learned of their mistress' death. In addition to that discovery there was another they made, a tall demon that could spin around and use the bladed edges of it's robed attire to knock back projectiles, as if it was using the wind itself, causing Luna to grin as she clashed with one to test it's power. She found that it could, in fact, use it's attire and it's magic to manipulate the wind to attack it's enemies and defend itself from harm, it was actually a refreshing enemy as she used the Ashbringer to turn back it's attacks, only for her to be surprised when the demon actually lightly cut into her arms. It was amazing, that their foes were now capable of harming her, which only put a smile on her face as she applied a little more power and slashed the new demon in half, surprising it in the process, and once the coast was clear Kormac quickly mended the minor injuries.

"I'm going to need to be more careful, as it seems like the demons we're fighting are getting stronger... also, I need to talk to Haedrig about some new armor." Luna commented, as she hadn't changed her armor since she and Leah started searching for Deckard, which had turned into a massive adventure that neither of them had been expecting, but she also knew that it was only a matter of time until she was forced to replace her gear for something better.

Leah nodded as she resumed leading the way to their destination, where they cut and blasted their way through the rest of the enemies that were in front of them, and there were plenty to pick from since this was a watering hole that many species gathered around, both natural and demonic. She brought them to what appeared to be an elegant stone circle area that had a bit of magic attached to it, where Luna tapped into it and a portal opened in front of them, one that could only be held open for a short period of time, causing Leah to step through so it could be held open on both sides. Such a thing allowed everyone else to step in and Luna brought up the rear, so when she was on the other side she closed the gate, preventing their enemies from realizing where they had gone, before finding that they were in some sort of shadowy realm that looked like an elegant stone archive of some kind. With a look around she realized something, this was only part of the domain that Kulle must have created, a secret only he had known about before he was slain and his body was beheaded, which had to be when the rest of his former allies learned about his archives.

She glanced at the others and they nodded, after she confirmed that she could return them to the camp in an instant, which was for when they located Kulle's head, before Luna stepped forward as she held her weapon at the ready, allowing the rest of the group to do the same thing as they started to explore this strange place.

That was followed by them discovering a few things, such as the large groups of skeletal warriors that seemed to have been placed by the Horadrim to ensure that Kulle remained in his current state, but the real surprise was the spires that came out of the ground, like constructs, and summoned tall slim constructs that looked like skeletons. It spoke volumes to the power that Kulle possessed while he was alive, he had done something no other person had, mastering the art of summoning and even likely created something that allowed him to mass produce the spider-like constructs. Luna had to wonder if there was a heart or core of some kind Kulle had made and this place was partly linked to it, so he had guardians to defend his work from potential intruders, and resolved to ask Kulle about it if they were able to revive him from the dead. She also found that cutting down the spires prevented the constructs from entering that point of the archives, at least for a time, while Leah did note that some came equipped with fire, some with frost, and others with poison.

After some time the group discovered that this portion of the archives was actually smaller than they assumed, as each of them spotted a floating severed head bound in magic, and when Leah claimed it a large stone construct appeared to defeat those who would seek to revive Kulle. Luna found that it was definitely stronger than the others of it's kind, both in terms of strength and it's defensive power, but fortunately it didn't take long for Ashbringer to cut through the creature, allowing the group to make sure there was nothing else in the area before getting ready to leave. With that in mind she opened the portal back to the hidden camp and they stepped through, where Adria was pleased to see that they had returned with Kulle's head and Tyrael didn't seem happy with how they were calling on Kulle for aid. Adria approached Leah with a spell for her to use, which would bring back Kulle in spiritual form, and Leah channeled her magic into the head without wasting time, as in she took one look at the spell and then cast it.

Sure enough a phantom figure appeared before them, a middle aged man who was dressed as a mage, fitting Kulle's role just before his death, where the spirit took a moment to realize what was going on before he glanced at the group, no doubt pleased that his spell had worked, someone had found him at last.

"Zoltun Kulle, we have brought you back in spirit form to request your aid in retrieving the Black Soulstone." Tyrael stated, as he wanted to get this over with while silently hoping that this didn't come back to bite them, since he didn't trust Kulle after all of the things that happened in the past, but for the sake of Sanctuary he was willing to hold his tongue and work with the Dark Horadrim, "We plan on using it to trap the last two Lords of Hell."

Tyrael, I would recognize your voice anywhere... be it as an angel or as a mortal. This is interesting. Kulle replied, though in the following moment he laid eyes on Luna and floated around her, taking in the fact that she was unlike anything he had seen before, and yet she had a feeling that he had a good feeling about her, before he came to a stop nearby, You... you are different. An unknown in our tale. What are you?

"I am Luna, the Lunar Princess, and I'm an alicorn from another world." Luna stated, as most of the people in their group already knew those facts, in fact she was still surprised that many were willing to accept such a thing, even though Sanctuary was linked to the High Heavens and Burning Hells, "I take it we have to recover your body before you can grant us access to the Black Soulstone?"

Yes. Come, speak with me for a few minutes while I adjust to my current form, then I'll tell you what to do next. Kulle said, showing that he was a scholar who was more interested in a new creature, even though she suspected that he wanted more information before fully dedicating himself to Tyrael's schemes, no doubt a remnant from the time when he was alive, but she nodded and walked to the side as Leah sat down to recover.

She had a feeling that things were going to get more interesting now that Kulle's spirit was part of their group, yet she had a feeling that this was going to be a good thing for everyone, so she decided to humor him and answer some questions before facing whatever else the rest of Caldeum could throw at them.