Diablo 3: Hell's Eclipse

It took Haedrig some time to mend the breaks in the crown and restore it to what it had been before it was reduced to the state Luna and Leah had found it in, but the pair were more than happy to wait for him to do his work, especially since Leah was still getting used to being an adventurer.

"There... it's finished. It's now as new as it was when it was first placed on the Black King's head." Haedrig said, where it was easy for the pair to see that he wiped the sweat from his brow for a moment, which was understandable given the state of the black crown they had brought him, and once it was fully cooled down he picked it up and handed it to Luna, "There, it should be able to break through that barrier that's in the cathedral, the one Leah mentioned... honestly, I wish I had more materials to work with, to give you some armor to wear."

"I'm fine, Haedrig, your work is better suited helping the people and the Militia." Leah replied, which was the truth, she felt that it was better if the blacksmith focused on New Tristram and not her, especially since most of their enemies focused on Luna, so there was no reason for her to wear armor right now, "Still, thank you for fixing the crown. Now we can head into the depths of the cathedral, track down the Fallen Star, and deal with the Skeleton King... should be able to stop the risen if we take him out."

Haedrig nodded and returned to the forge, just in time for Rumford and the rest of the Militia to return with the gear they had been able to salvage from the slain members of the Militia, since they didn't need it anymore, where he got to work on fixing things up and making new items for everyone. Luna and Leah, on the other hand, wished Deckard well before using the teleportation device to return to the outside of the cathedral, to the device the old man had brought them to, before stepping into the secret passage once more. Once they were back in the chamber that they spotted the old man in, and had discovered that the Skeleton King was in spirit form, Luna held out the crown to the large door, only to watch as it's lock just turned and opened, allowing them to head down some stairs and reach a new level. To Luna's surprise they found more of the hulking risen, the ones she called the unburied, surrounded by some of the lesser risen, to which she had Leah focus her fire on the lesser foes as she slashed through the hulking undead, this time imbuing her axes with a bit of magic to help cut through the unburied's thick skin.

After dealing with those enemies the pair spotted what Leah called 'treasure goblins', demons who were greedy and carried sacks of gold and treasure with them, and if they were slain they could obtain whatever loot the pair had, where Luna used a bit of magic to trap them so she and Leah could cut them down and loot their sacks.

"Plenty of gold, a couple of enchanted weapons to add to the arsenal, a few gems, and some bits of armor." Luna said, which in her eyes was a good haul, even though she hadn't been expecting to find the treasure goblins down here in the first place, which meant they must have been after the rest of the treasure that the adventurers hadn't been able to loot, "Maybe we can bring some of this back to Haedrig, the armor anyway, and let him break it down so he can have the resources he needs for the Militia?"

"Or me, since he seemed serious about making me armor." Leah remarked, as she trusted the blacksmith to remain true to his word, if he felt that she needed something to keep herself safe, even if Luna was the main target of their enemies, then she expected him to make some gear for her, but she also agreed with her friend, there was a chance that the blacksmith might make stuff for the Militia.

The pair made sure to collect the gear that was around them before continuing to explore the rest of the floor they were on, where Luna found weapon racks and armor stands, each possessing bits of gear that had been left behind, to which Luna raised an eyebrow before coming up with an idea. She channeled a bit of her magic into a bag, like she was creating a bag of holding, before teleporting herself out of the cathedral for a moment, surprising Haedrig in the process, before she picked one of his containers and linked some magic to it. She made a warp system, allowing her to slip the excess items into her new bag and they would end up in Haedrig's workshop, allowing the blacksmith to have all the materials he could ever want, causing him to smile and nod before she teleported back to Leah's side. She made sure to explain things to Leah as well, so she understood what was going on, and while Leah was surprised by this discovery she didn't question it at all, since she had learned that there was no questioning an alicorn or their magical powers.

Neither of them were surprised to find large groups of risen and skeletons as they explored the new floor of the cathedral, where Leah focused on bringing down any and all necromancers that happened to get in their way, as she noticed that there were some human ones in addition to the risen summoners. She honestly had no idea why someone would want to devote themselves to the dark arts, to bring down the people of the lands and just bring despair to everyone else, but she decided to think about it later as she loosed her arrows into the groups of enemies. Luna tore through the skeletons and risen with ease once more, finding that the only difficult ones were the unburied and the skeletal warriors that were no doubt guards for the Skeleton King, an indication that they were getting closer to their target. She also noticed the human necromancers that were down here and had to wonder where in the world they had come from, since there was no other way down into this place, at least not according to Deckard and those in New Tristram.

As she thought about that Luna released a burst of magic into the heart of one of the unburied and destroyed it, but before they got moving again she pulled Leah back into one of the side rooms so they could rest a little, as she didn't want to totally overwhelm the girl.

"I don't understand... how are there necromancers here?" Leah asked, taking a moment to huff as she drank some water, as she and Luna had some waterskins with them and her friend was in the middle of drinking from hers, though she couldn't stop thinking about the strangeness of what they were seeing.

"And not just any necromancers, ones that are no doubt former holy users... one was wearing plate armor, something you usually don't see on them." Luna remarked, because while the few necromancers back home had worn robes, and there had been a few that she and her sister had dealt with over the years, she had noticed that some of the necromancers in this dark place were wearing armor that made her think of the plate hearing heroes Deckard had told her about, "As for how they got down here, I can think of two possibilities: first, they found another way in, either via a secret passage known to Leoric's own followers and passed down the generations, or by digging into this place before the Fallen Star even happened. Second, I would guess someone might have teleported them down here... how, I have no idea, but that's the best answer I have right now."

"At least they can't wake the Skeleton King... Uncle Deckard said that only the crown can let his spirit rejoin his body, giving him full control over himself and his powers again." Leah said, though this was one of the few times where she was glad to have listened to her uncle's many tales and theories, as some of them had come true and this one had a nugget of wisdom that actually benefited them and the rest of New Tristram, before she sighed as she put her waterskin away, "Come on, now we've got one more reason to be down here."

Luna nodded and they emerged from the room without wasting time, where she rushed out and hacked into the risen that were nearby, opening the way for Leah to loose a few arrows into the fallen bodies and caused many of them to ignite, just as she planned since that made others get set on fire as well. She also checked the area that was around them and found that the cathedral's underground area was definitely far larger than she had been expecting, made into a labyrinth like what they found in the tombs previously, so finding the way forward was definitely a challenge. The downside to this, in addition to the danger that the town was in while the Skeleton King remained alive, was that Luna's weapons continued to get weaker as time went on, none of them were made to withstand her might and that saddened her. It also made her long for her own weapon, even though she was resisting the urge to call Nightfell to her side, as that would take some of the fun out of this, even if the skeletons and risen weren't much of a challenge to her and Leah right now.

One thing became clear to Luna as they finally found the stairs leading deeper into the structure, this was more like a base of power than a place of worship and prayer, it was like the Skeleton King had this place built to gather his army to prepare for whatever Diablo's will might be. If she went forward with that in mind the sudden maze-like nature of the cathedral made a lot more sense, as it would then be in the sense of stopping intruders and forcing them to die so they could be raised by the dark magic of the one who ruled over this place. The necromancers were definitely focused on serving the will of the ruler of the dead, that much she could see as she beheaded one and let their blood spill on the ground, before chopping them up to make sure they stayed dead, because Luna didn't trust them to not have something to raise themselves as undead servants as well. Leah continued to loose fire arrows into the risen, they were the easiest for her to use and she was going to use her power as much as she could, though at the same time Luna found that she was getting used to combat and was figuring out where their enemies were located to help her out.

Eventually Luna sensed something in the depths of the cathedral, where she had Leah stop for a moment as a massive red creature, dressed as a butcher and wielding a large cleaver, moving through what appeared to be a massive hole in the area that the cathedral was built in.

"And there's our answer... as well as something to watch out for." Luna remarked, though at the same time she found herself wanting to clash with the demon at some point, because that was what the creature was, it just radiated demonic energy, not to mention the horns that were on it's head and everything, all while the demon moved through a large hole it must have dug to get down here previously.

"Um, Luna? We've got more necromancers." Leah said, gesturing to the area in front of them, where there was a sunken part of the chamber that had a number of the dark magic users channeling their energy into what appeared to be a buff warrior, no doubt someone they caught beforehand and were trying to corrupt.

Luna nodded and they dropped down into the area, where she crushed the necromancers with her axes as Leah loosed four arrows into the air, pinning her targets to the ground in a flaming heap, and when enough of them were slain the warrior was freed from his prison, allowing him to crush the last with his bare hands.

"You two fight well. These necromancers have stolen my gear, and I have need of my gear to complete my mission... will you aid me?" the warrior asked, where Luna stared at him for a moment, he was definitely clean of dark energy, meaning they had either stopped the conversion process or stopping the necromancers had liberated him entirely.

"Sure, I have a feeling we're after the same thing: the destruction of the Skeleton King." Luna replied, where she found that she was right, part of the warrior's mission must have been to come here after hearing about the necromancers, likely to do whatever he could to stop the dark magic users from raising the figure, even if the Fallen Star had partly done that, and the moment the warrior nodded she did the same to Leah, "Very well, let's get a move on."

Sure enough there were more necromancers ahead of them, where Luna pulled out a sword and tossed it to the warrior, as he needed a weapon and she had some to spare, to which the three of them tore though the dark magic users and all of the skeletons they had raised into undeath. Some of the skeletons were slightly stronger than those they had fought previously, one even shattered the axes that Luna was using, though she didn't mind that as she pulled out the battleaxe she had picked up previously and crushed her foe. The stronger one happened to drop a glowing sword, where she handed it to Leah, since the warrior insisted that he would be fine once they found his gear, and while Leah wasn't very skilled with a sword she did know that having something to fall back on in case she ran out of mana was a good thing. After that it wasn't hard to track down the location of the warrior's gear, as there was a pair of necromancers down to the left, beyond a hole that was part of the Fallen Star's path of destruction, and they freaked out when they realized the warrior had been freed.

Luna and Leah took out the necromancers before they could escape, allowing the warrior to approach the chests they were guarding and opened them, putting on impressive looking armor with a good looking shield and a powerful lance, and once he was armed he smiled.

"Now then, allow me to introduce myself: I am Kormac, a warrior of the templar order." the warrior said, his expression one that told them he was pleased to have his gear back, since it meant he would be able to do battle more effectively, while at the same time Leah found another teleportation device for them to awaken, which Luna did while Kormac had put on his gear, "I have business with one of the necromancers in this place, a traitor to the templar order, but I will help you destroy the Skeleton King. I know not who you two fair ladies are, or what you might be my winged friend, but I would like to fight by your side for as long as you'll have me."

"I'm always open to having more allies on the team. I'm Luna, and this is Leah." Luna replied, gesturing to herself and then to Leah for a moment, allowing their new friend to understand who was who, before she glanced down the path and found that the necromancers were already calling more skeletons and risen to do battle with them, "And it looks like we're going to have some fun while we hunt down this traitor of yours, not to mention seek the tomb of the Skeleton King."

Kormac nodded and followed Luna into battle, where Leah found that he was just like her, a melee fighter that used a shield to protect himself from harm, while at the same time opening holes in the defenses of his enemies, and with the pair at the front of the line Leah knew she could focus on ranged combat. It was actually a far better lineup than Leah could as for, as it definitely made sure none of the risen or skeletons could reach her, not that any could get by Luna in the first place and the addition of Kormac reduced that probability to zero. In addition to that they learned a little about their first target, the traitor known as Jondar, who had been captured by the Coven, who these necromancers were a part of, and was tainted by evil, a fact that meant death for those who betrayed the templar order. Fortunately it didn't take them long to find the figure, who was a dark version of Kormac in terms of armor and weapons, so the group smashed the barrier, dark spikes, and walked down to where the traitor was standing.

Jondar, upon seeing them, lashed out at the group without really saying anything, causing the two templars to clash while Luna cut down the skeletons he raised to aid him, and she found that the battle was over rather quickly as Kormac cut down his foe, showing them that the pure templar was far stronger than the corrupted former templar.

"P... Please spare me, Kormac. My vision was clouded by the Coven's dark magic, making me see them as my brotherhood and forcing me to believe that their masters would rule this world." the fallen templar said, where Luna could see that he was lying, about being corrupted by this 'Coven', rather it seemed like something else had convinced him to betray his own brotherhood and the Coven had been the ones to take him in after he left the Order.

"Betrayal cannot be forgiven." Kormac replied, where Luna could tell his mind was made up, that Jondar had to die and that he had to be the one to do it, to which he stabbed his lance into the fallen templar's heart, killing the traitor in seconds, and once that was done he pulled his weapon out and faced the pair, "Thank you for your aid, and for allowing me to finish my business with Jondar. As I said earlier, I will join you in your quest to destroy the Skeleton King, but I have a request: if we discover any sacred tomes, that belong to the Templar Order, they are to be given to me."

"Well, I'm honestly not sure if we'll find any, but if we do you can have them." Luna stated, where Leah agreed with her, this seemed like a decent trade off in the grand scheme of things, in fact both wondered if Kormac might continue to fight beside them once they figured out what the Fallen Star was, but that was something they could worry about later, before she and her friends glanced down the next set of stairs, "Now, let's go find the Skeleton King and the Fallen Star."

Leah and Kormac nodded their heads as they followed Luna down the stairs, as they were eager to bring down the Skeleton King and bring peace to New Tristram, even if Kormac was just learning about all of this while traveling with them, as all three of them wondered what the next few hours held in store for them and the town.