The caravan had stopped some distance from his goal, but such a small thing had never stopped Benedek.  He was dropped at the border of Ataiyo and the lightning plains, and set out for his goal on foot.  The small ghostly pup followed silently at his heels, and the exorcist shook his head in amusement at the little creature.  It had been following him around for months now, and he had determined that the pup would harm no one if he allowed it to remain on this plain.  Besides, it had provided him with a manner of protection, and Benedek appreciated the practical reasoning.  Besides, ghosts more often than not were not harmful.  Demons on the other hand…

The man was jarred from his reverie by a blast of lightning not too far from his path, and Benedek rubbed his eyes.  He regretted not getting a hooded cloak, but there was only so much that he could think of.  And the village he sought out was not too distant, only a few miles.  It was only a matter of reaching it without becoming a lightning rod.  And then there was the rumor of the golems that wandered about the plains without any masters.  But he had yet to see any tracks yet.

An hour's walk brought him to the ridge overlooking the ruins he sought, and Benedek checked his map once more.  There were rumors plenty of restless ghosts still walking the nameless village.  And those ghosts tended to make meals of whomever was foolish enough to wander into their home.  But more interesting were the rumors of a shrine hidden beneath a monastery, near the ruined village.  It was the reason the village had been built, and the reason the ghosts remained.  If you listened to the rumors, anyway.  And Benedek intended to find out just what was truth, and what was rumor.

With her last visit to the ruins of Tinashe having ended in a divine abduction, Natsumi's sense of adventure in the realm of golems and ancient automata had sufficiently diminished. Areas containing these marvels were already dangerous enough without the need to worry about childish goddesses laying down curses; so there was little balance to be had in the risk vs. benefit relationship that revolved around the endeavor anymore.
 
For better or worse, however, Chae's most recent fall had marked the end of that impasse. Without so much as a trace, the halfling had vanished, and was later proclaimed fallen by the high scribes who oversaw such matters. Even before the announcement had gone out, however, Natsumi knew the deity was gone. The curse she received courtesy of the runt was fading in strength in direct pace with her fall, making it all too obvious that the source was gone.
 
As a result, the druid was now free to pursue the interests she had once been barred from. She moved to continue her research on the enigma of Tinashe in the absence of the Knowledge Hoarder, specifically by expanding her field of study to include the lightning plains of Eldingarheim. Ruins in that treacherous area were of particular interest to her, given their involvement with golems, and she had already mapped out a few, known locations before venturing out to the wastes in search of lost knowledge.
 
One such area, Site A, lay about an hour from the mountains bordering Eldingarheim to the North. It was a relatively unremarkable ruin by most accounts, but also rumored to be particularly haunted. Ghosts and daemons lay in the accounts of foolhardy adventurers that had strayed too close, but the presence of such creatures did little to dissuade Natsumi's advance; especially since the lightning overhead was bound to be a far more worthy adversary.
 
Travelling by foot in those plains, as any still-living explorer of Eldingarheim would tell you, was already a suicidal endeavor; flying even more so. Natsumi was forced to use portals and earth meld liberally because of those restrictions; and, even with her precautionary steps, she was never completely out of danger. By the time she reached Site A via portal, it had already been an entire day since she entered the plain because of how staggered her path had been.
 
Whence the final stretch of the journey occurred, arcane energy started crackling next to the exorcist and ghost puppy. The causative gate was swift to open and close as a heavily covered Ice Queen stepped through, but its sound was sure to cause a stir regardless of brevity. Natsumi, however, proceeded as if no one was present to be bothered. She simply adjusted her gloves while sealing off her spell, and cinched up her winter coat to keep her entire form – wings and tail included – covered. Rain made her colder than she wished to be, and the chill was distracting enough to keep her from noticing Benedek until Kino whispered into her mind.
 

"Didn't think anyone would be out here at Site A, but then I don't mind so long as you don't go destroying the ruins," Natsumi said once her eyes finally found the stranger. "It becomes significantly more difficult to do research when the remnants of history are swept away by careless hands, after all."

His ears still ringing from the thunder in the air, Benedek almost missed the strange arcane crackling that heralded magic being cast near by.  But when a woman emerged from the gate, he paused.  Though her appearance was strange and not something he was used to, there was nothing to suggest demons' taint.  At least not yet.  His hand dropped to the glimmering sword at his side for a few moments, though he made no other aggressive action.  It had always been in his best interest to listen first, and to learn.  Action could come later, if need arose. 

"I must ask, what would make you think myself to be one who would destroy ruins.  Especially those containing knowledge," he said, his voice accented.  He had taken pains to learn the trade language of Adeluna, finding it quite useful on his travels.  The ghost pup peered out from behind his legs, trying to figure out what this stranger was up to.  "I only seek to guide the restless souls to rest.  And to ensure that something more… sinister is not at play here.  I hear many things of this place, rumors, secrets to be found.  And darker being perhaps laid to rest under the ruins.  I seek the truth behind those words," Benedek explained.  He spoke only the truth, seeing nothing to gain in lying.  Perhaps he would gain an ally here.

Always one to measure her guests, Natsumi did not move closer to Benedek upon arrival. She patiently waited for his defensive reaction, and only formed an opinion once expressions of intent were clear.
 
'Ah, he's Hazan,' the woman initially thought. 'Eagle-Owl bloodline, if I'm to guess.' Natsumi held up the edge of her hood so that her face was more visible in the dark storm, and then cleared her throat in order to change the language she was using.
 
"Personal experience tells me two things," she said in the native language of the Bőr Séta. "One, never judge a book by its cover, because the most upstanding looking gentleman can be the most depraved beast. And two, a great majority of people exploring ruins often become so self-absorbed in their pursuit of riches that they forget treasure is not always silver and gold." By treasure, she was referring to knowledge and secrets, from which she derived the most pleasure in her life. That truth was pretty obvious, given her earlier remarks.
 
Alas, discussions of secrets would have to wait between the Exorcist and the Archaeologist. A sudden tremor shook the landscape, directing attention away from social interaction. Unsettling roars tore the atmosphere apart shortly thereafter, and the giant shadow of a monster loomed over the lost city. The umbral manifestation lasted only a moment, but the implications of it were clear.
 

"If by "sinister" you mean demons, there's little debate in my mind," Natsumi iterated once the area had calmed back down. "Malevolent shadows like that don't just appear in the absence of demons. I'll likely have to clear them out in order to get any research done. Perhaps you, exorcist of the Eagle-Owl Bloodline, would assist me in that endeavor?"

When the woman spoke his language, he smiled.  She was intelligent, that was a certainty.  His native tongue was not the easiest to learn, and she spoke it well.  But the calm smile faded when something worse than thunder made the ground quake, and Benedek found himself reaching for his prayer beads.  The… thing looming over the city was enormous, and just exactly what he had expected to find, given the rumors.  "There is a story about this place I have heard.  That a monastery was built over where an ancient evil was buried. After some time, the demon corrupted its jailers, and was loosed upon the village built around the monastery.  A hero came along, as they always do, and defeated it.  But what happened to the hero is unknown…" he said, eyes still staring at where the apparition had been.

"That I would, my lady.  Perhaps we should exchange names, if we are to work together?  I am Benedek, and what you have already divined of myself is true.  The hero I spoke of earlier was rumored to have carried an artifact of some manner, one of demon warding.  I seek to know what became of the hero, and of it," he explained.  The exorcist wanted to know just how the rumored artifact had worked, and why the hero had disappeared. 

[Small time jump here where I'm assuming that Natsumi is already a deity by this time.]
 
Natsumi quirked an eyebrow when Benedek mentioned the story he had heard about the ruins below. It was might bit more detailed than the Goddess had garnered beforehand - especially given the fact that she had voluntarily foregone the use of her divine powers for this particular investigation – but the reason she was taken aback was not related to that aspect of the story. Oddly enough, the true reason she regarded the exorcist with a questioning look was because she swore she had heard this story before. It took her a few moments to realize from where she had heard the tale; and, when she did recall the connection, she let out a subdued laugh.
 
'Always into the East,' she thought as a smile subconsciously formed on her face. The dialogue that followed would have sounded utterly insane to most people in Revaliir, but the fox obviously didn't care as she opened her mouth. "So you're saying we're in the plot of Diablo and that this is the town of Tristram where the Dark Wanderer comes from," she began? Perhaps the Exorcist would think Natsumi was referring to a book, even if that was definitely not the case. Regardless, she continued."I'm only joking, but of course that joke would be lost on anyone in this world. I don't know why I'm telling it other than for my own amusement."
 
Finally, the jargon humor died down with that comment. The snow white woman was done with her fun for now, and moved onto more serious matters while adjusting her overcoat in the perpetual rain.
 

"At any rate, I am Natsumi, former archaeologist of Wyllmochvar Mage Academy. Nowadays I explore ruins and catalogue their knowledge for my own purposes rather than working under someone else. It is not profitable, true, but I've already garnered enough assets from my many lines of work to where I never want for anything. Now, with that said, Mr. Benedek, let us descend into the ruins. Since you are the exorcist here, I would ask that you lead the way. Should any of the demons decide to ambush, you are the one best equipped to counter them."

His head tilted to one side, he wasn't entirely sure as to what the lady was referring to.  It sounded somehow familiar… but then not at all.  When she admitted to it being a joke, Benedek only shook his head.  The woman was strange, but powerful at the same time.  For the displayed eccentricities, it would likely be in his own best interest to stay at her side.  "I see…  That sounds like you have quite the story to your life.  And I do agree, I would appreciate you preventing any ambushes from the rear," Benedek said, before pulling something from the bag he carried.

The silver gleamed even in the gloom of the ruins, and Benedek said a short prayer in his native tongue.  Then he lit the incense within the censure.  "A tool of my trade.  It allows me to see the intangible, and effect them to a degree.  It certainly evens the odds in my work," he explained.  The myrrh had an earthy scent to it, reminding Benedek of the trees of Haza.  But there was a harsh undertone to it as well, reminding him that his work was never an easy thing.

With the smoky before them, the exorcist felt more confident, and made his way further into the ruins.  He fell into silence, only pausing to read the scratched runes written on a stone pillar.  "Hm.  Now this is interesting…  A moment, please," he said, squinting at the runes.  Oddly enough, they seemed to shift, changing into something more readable to him.  It made him blink for a few moments, but that was the only hitch in his motions.  "Abandon hope, ye who enter here.  The Savaged Baron is…" and with those work, Benedek stopped, color draining from his face.  He could not force himself to go on, faced with evidence of a horrific legend.

Normally averse to revealing legends from beyond the mortal realm, I half-expected myself to leave Benedek in the dark about the truth of my mentioned fable. However, given the proximity of my coming departure from Revaliir, I soon realized there was little harm in indulging him. Everything would come to a close soon. The final key was in these ruins, and I would have it regardless of any unnecessary, information sharing.
 
"The story is not about my life," I said while adjusting my hood in the downpour. "It's merely a fable that I heard in another place at another time: one that shares remarkable similarity with the legend you just described. Diablo was the Lord of Terror in that foreign tale; and he possessed the hero that originally slew him in the first story. This hero became the Dark Wanderer from whom Diablo was reborn in the sequel. It is most peculiar how a fable such as that, which should not even exist here, has found a way to rebirth itself in the local lore: provided the rumors you've heard have even a kernel of truth to them and not just local superstition."
 
I followed Benedek beyond that point, bringing up the rear as he requested. He explained about his current tool along the way, but I paid him no mind. My eyes wandered the stone, looking for hidden passages and anything out of the ordinary; as was customary for any archaeologist worth her salt. The next time I even spoke up or acknowledged my companion was when he found a set of runes that caused him to go remarkably pale.
 
Truth be told, I hadn't heard much about the story of the Savaged Baron that frightened Benedek so much, but I knew enough to recognize it as a figure in Hazan lore. Despite the message that mentioned him, however, the runes in question didn't actually say what my companion thought they did. I walked up to the same pictograms, only for them to flutter into an entirely different message. I didn't even bother to read what that new script said, knowing that it was just a lie.
 
"A trick of the eyes," I said while quickly casting a dispel incantation on the ruined pillar. The force binding the message split into shards of ethereal glass the instant my magic touched it, and those rainbow pieces hovered in the air for a moment before finally disintegrating into puffs of dust. There was no shimmer beyond that point, and the text was plain to see even if completely foreign. "This is a rare type of defense used to guard against grave robbers and anyone too nosy for their own good. It's similar to a mirror that my teacher encountered before his demise. They feed off of our fears and insecurities; and, failing that, try to turn our proudest moments into our greatest shame. There may be more where this one came from."
 
With the mostly benign trap now disarmed, I examined the inscriptions to find their true meaning. The translation wasn't hard, though the contents were quite surprising. 'They knew,' I thought before proclaiming anything to the exorcist behind me. The ancient keepers of the ruins, now long dead, had known the importance of what they guarded, and had possessed the foresight to put it in the entrance warning.
 
"Ye who hold the power and perceptiveness to dispel our enchantment, hear us. Though you seek the knowledge of this land, you do so at your own peril. Even in death, the Tree retains power. It will be your undoing. Turn back, if you value your life, for it is worth more than simply one half of the key to knowledge."

The tale that Natsumi spoke of was quite curious, and he found it to be both interesting and cautionary.  "Was the hero slain?  Or did this Diablo prevail?  I've noted in stories like that evil never quite dies.  I would imagine that he found a way back into the world," he said, speaking with a certain amount of authority.  Benedek had studied more than a few legends and stories of evil entities, and he filed away quite a few bits of useful information. 

He blanched at the scripts imprinted on the stone… but when Natsumi explained what he was seeing, Benedek stared hard for a moment.  And it turned out that she was right.  It was an interesting bit of magic, and something else that he filed away for later use.  "I thank you, my lady, for your perspective.  I would not have thought of that.  Curious how it finds a deep fear, and feeds on that," he said, his voice sounding more curious now.  The idea of using such a thing in his work was a thread he wanted to tease later, once they were out of the ruins.  And it seemed that she knew more about this place than he did, which could be quite useful.

Once the words left her lips, there seemed to be a breath of magic that expired.  Or changed, he wasn't wholly sure.  "I get the feeling that even that warning will not stop you?  I am quite curious now to see what lays below.  The key to knowledge?  That could mean many things," he added.  There was more at play here than Benedek had first realized, and he also felt like it was just a bit too late to turn back.

Benedek's inquiry into Diablo's fate was only natural, especially given his exorcist disposition. He was correct about fables such as this one. Just like most tales of incomprehensible evil go, the villain is never truly vanquished.
 
"The series has many installments in it," I responded absent mindedly once the question came. "And, while the Dark Wanderer is long dead in the present story, Diablo hasn't been truly killed. Believe it or not, an angel of death freed him during the last tale. The moral of the story is that evil can lurk in every creature, whether they come from paradise or hell"
 
Following this description, our encounter with the flickering runes established my waypoint. My company asked if I still planned to proceed: a notion that rightfully elicited my ridicule.
 
"That warning is an invitation to me," I said with my voice steady amongst the thunder. "Because I already have the first half of this key. It is a key to a machine that only I can access, and I grow impatient for its use."
 
In hindsight, I can definitely say I was much too impatient for my own good during the search for the seed and branch. Rather than take my time – like I should have – I rushed off at the slightest scent or hint of my prey.  Soon as I read that message upon the stone, for instance, I combed the area for any residual energy resembling the Tree. I found such a thing 100 meters below the surface of the earth, and immediately began a descent that only deities could accomplish.
 
"Might wanna brace yourself. The first time is always a bit disorienting." Having given my warning to Benedek, I took both of us and altered our bodies so that we would fall through the earth like a stone sinks through water. We passed through several layers of rock and traps completely unharmed until finally landing in an eerie chapel of indeterminate origin. 
 
I released the spell at this point, having seen the seed was on the high altar at the back of the chancel. Its glow was unmistakable, and mirrored the power I had just demonstrated in the exorcist's presence. There was also a giant skeleton blocking our way, understandably: the possessed hero from Benedek's tale who was now cursed to forever pray to a long dead God.
 
 Skeletons lined the pews of this place, likely the only patrons to visit in decades other than the dust bugs and spiders. The cobwebs were thick, shimmering in the light of the faerie candles that burned along the walls.  Truly, the place was like a glimpse into the underworld; and, while the gothic nature of this place would have been captivating to any archaeologist, there were more important things that occupied my attention. The skeletal guardian praying at the general altar, for instance, stood up as soon as he sensed our presence, and then turned to attack us with all his might. He stood at least 10 meters tall at full height, and carried a sword that even highlanders would be jealous of.
 
He proved little match for me, though. Impatient as I was, I just walked toward his initial charge with reckless abandon. From Benedek's point of view, I would have looked insane, even though I had everything under control. As soon as that giant sword came down, an ethereal barrier deflected its edge into a nearby churchgoer. A secondary barrier formed shortly thereafter, slamming into the skeleton's face and stunning it. A singular tooth went flying from this assault: one large enough to crush the brittle skull of another patron whilst I nonchalantly strolled past the guardian.
 
Thus, with very little effort, I was able to grab the seed from the high alter. The skeletal guardian turned to face me as I threatened to take his prize, but he was too far away to do anything in retaliation. Thanks to that predicament, I was able to gather the artifact up into a blanket without any resistance, and then turn back to the rest of the chapel before disappearing into the darkness.
 
"You can banish the demon if you wish. I have what I want. Farewell, Benedek. We will never meet again."
 

After saying that final farewell, I disappeared from the temple, leaving Benedek alone in the bowels of the earth. Taking the seed had actually opened a portal to the surface in the chancel, so the exorcist wouldn't be stranded even if he no longer had my magic at his disposal. He just had to figure out a way to get past the behemoth skeleton that still lived in order to reach his escape.