Keseph walked past the cracked sign and into Tristram, his eyes wide as saucers.  The Tavern of the Rising Sun, once owned by Ogden, was a burnt and bloody ruin.  As a child he had worked for Ogden and his wife, some of his fondest memories had come from his times at the tavern.  Out of the corner of his eyes he saw movement and whirled to face it, drawing his sword instinctively.  The thing that had moved was a zombie, one of the living dead.  It groaned and came for Keseph, its eyes were stark white and merciless.  Hands tipped with razor-sharp claws slashed at him, but he dodged them with a quick step back.  He sliced with his sword, aiming high, and separated the zombie's head from the rest of it.  The head rolled into a nearby ditch and zombie fell to the ground still twitching.

"What is going on here?" Keseph said aloud.

Other zombies were crawling out of the woodwork, all of them lumbering slowly towards him with mindless resolve.  Keseph concentrated, focusing his mana into holy barrier that sprang from him in a circle of blue-white fire.  The zombies clustered at the outer ring of the Sanctuary, each of them trying to get at him with their claws.  There were too many to engage in hand to hand combat, but not with magic.  Still maintaining his barrier, Keseph drew even more power to him, drawing on the last of his reserves.  A ball of luminous blue-white light appeared in his hands, lighting the whole area.  The zombies drew back, their moans now tinged with fear.  Keseph took part of this sphere of energy and hurled it at one of the undead; it struck the zombie and knocked it of its feet, sending to the ground.  The others tried to flee but he used his Holy Bolts on all of them, destroying the anti-life that sustained them.  He went to one knee, exhausted beyond all belief.

"Who are you?" a new voice spoke up.

Keseph opened his eyes and looked up, seeing a man dressed in a dirty, blue cloak.  The man's features were harsh and deeply lined, but his eyes shone with infinite wisdom. 

"Deckard?" Keseph spoke, amazed.

"You… you know me?"

"Deckard Kain?" Keseph got to his feet, shaking off his weariness with newfound excitement.

"Who are you?  How do you know me?"

"It's me, Keseph.  I have returned from my errantry."

"Keseph!"  Kain looked the Paladin in the face, then embraced him.  "You're back!  Oh by the grace of God, you're back!"

Keseph patted the old storyteller on the back and he hugged him fiercely.  When they parted he saw Kain's eyes shining with tears.

"I knew someone would come, I knew…"

"Kain?  What happened here, what happened to Tristram?"

"It was horrible, Keseph, everyone is dead." Kain looked down at his feet.

"What happened?"

"It all began a year ago, with the slow madness that fell upon King Leoric.  He… he went to war with Westmarch, because he believed that they were going to attack Khanduras."

"But Westmarch and Khanduras had such peaceful relations when I left here, everything was well."

"And they had peaceful relations when he declared war, as well.  Many were killed pointlessly, and then the King began to draw levies upon all the villages of Khanduras, saying that they were all pits of treason and sedition."

"This is crazy!"

"It gets worse, soon after that, Prince Albrecht disappeared from the castle, and King Leoric accused the people of Tristram of hiding him.  He had his knights raze most of Tristram, but Lachdannan would not submit to such an atrocity.  He went to face Leoric, to try and pierce his madness with reason, but he could not.  The King attacked Lachdannan, but the madness had stripped him of his nobility and his strength, Lachdannan was forced to kill Leoric, who cursed him and all his knights, saying that they would serve him forever in the darkness of Hell."

"By Tyrael's Word, how did this all come to pass?"

"You have heard the legends of the Horadrim and of the Soulstones… yes?"

"I have."

"Then know that far beneath the castle, in the caves dug beneath the lowermost catacombs, there once rested the Soulstone that contained the essence of Diablo, the Lord of Terror.  Somehow, Lazarus was possessed by the Soulstone, by Diablo, and managed to free the demon by sacrificing Albrecht so Diablo could take mortal form.  It was Diablo that corrupted Lazarus and King Leoric.  There came a Hero from a far land that faced Diablo in combat, but I do not know what happened.  All that I know is that the Hero emerged from Hell, and in his forehead was the Soulstone of Diablo.  It was the Hero, and the creatures from the depths, that did this.  Only I escaped the massacre that followed…"

A creature leapt from one of the roof of the tavern and landed in front of them, it was a stunted demonling carrying a rusty pike.  Keseph brought his sword up and slashed down at the creature, severing it in two.

"What was that?"

"A Fallen One… one of the minions of Hell.  This place is not safe, we must go."

More hissing, Keseph could see shining yellow eyes in the shadows of Tristram.  They were surrounded by the demonlings, the Fallen Ones, and while they might be physically weak they had might of numbers. 

"More of them, Kain, can you fight?"

"I can… but not for long."

"Then Zakarum be with us."

The Fallen Ones came out of the shadows, each one snarling and drooling like a mad thing.  Keseph reached behind him and pulled his shield off his back; he strapped it to its appoint place on his forearm.  Kain readied his staff, taking a combat stance from the ancient Vizjerei art of staff fighting.