Moving through the Wayward Plains south of Ked Bardu, he reached the Khurel Passage once more, only this time he continued west instead of south toward Orbei Monastery.
It was there that he met a rather unusual monster called a Bloodhawk.
[ Bloodhawk (Minion) - Level 56 ]
The bird monster looked more like a harpy than a hawk, but Michael got rid of it all the same. Curiously, its body didn't disappear upon its death, making it evident that it was a beast rather than a monster.
Thinking it might make for a good 'chicken' material for cooking, he stuffed it into his inventory to check later when he had time.
He also encountered some of the tusked boars he had killed previously, which the Sanctuary lazily named 'Beast.' Another four heavy cooking 'materials' joined the stash.
They were perfect for some barbeque!
When he finally left Khurel Passage behind, he reached an area named Path of the Ill-Fated by Sanctuary. It made the Necromancer want to turn on his hills since he had enough bad luck as it was, but with three Quests in this area, he had no choice but to bravely step forward.
Surely enough, after moving a bit forward, he encountered heaps of Shambling Corpses, Bloated Corpses, Plague Swarms (the insect type), and many disgusting Plague Maggots.
It wasn't difficult killing them, but it made him feel sick to his stomach. It was similar to stepping on a cockroach to kill it. You could do it easily, but would you do it willingly if you were barefoot?
Fortunately, he had reached the general location of the ship's graveyard and began looking around. He had already wasted a full hour traveling here, so he couldn't afford to lose more time on foolish matters.
"*Sigh* Let's see... Ragged Shore... what a delightful name. It's also full of Plague Maggots around here and tons of 'cocoons' chuck-full of their offspring. Well, since I'm here, I can at least clean up the place a little."
Fifteen minutes later, with his minions surrounding him, Michael erased every trace of the disgusting creatures on this Ragged Shore.
Then, he continued his search for the Zakarum Trail Marker mentioned in his Quest. In his zealous clearing, a familiar object dropped from one of the Bloated Corpses killed, making the Necromancer scratch his head.
"Well... this isn't the marker, but according to the Sanctuary, it's still linked to the Zakarum. Since the Quest area overlaps with my other three missions, let's take care of it on the way."
[ Side Quest issued - Sealed Penitent's Cache
Objective: Harvest spirit energy from the undead
Description: You found an old Zakarum Cache sealed by magic. To open it, you must slay undead and gather their spirit energy. ]
Putting the matter of the sealed cache at the back of his mind, Michael approached the coast buffed by waves and took in the scenery.
As far as the eye could see, he counted over twenty ships that had most likely collided with the reefs and been washed ashore by the waves.
The salty air of the ocean was slightly polluted by the scent of putrid wood, making the Necromancer scrunch his nose. It was a bit unbearable.
[ Side Quest updated - Exhuming Faith
Objective: Read the first Trail Marker. ]
Looking at the strange assembly of wooden sticks, Michael scratched his head and approached it curiously.
It was nothing more than a road sign made out of driftwood. Once he got closer to it, he could tell from its disgusting smell.
In the middle of it stood a wooden plank on which some words were inscribed.
[ Toward the light where the remains of our folly wander the twisted paths, seek the high place. ]
Before he could ponder the meaning of the words, the Sanctuary reacted first.
[ Side Quest updated - Exhuming Faith
Objective: Find the Zakarum Trail Marker on the Overlook. ]
Unfortunately, the Sanctuary completely ruined whatever fun he could have with this scavenger hunt. It highlighted a smaller area, forcing the Necromancer to return to the path he came from.
After dealing with about twenty undead on the way, he easily located the second Trail Marker.
[ Up the coast to where we watched our brave crusaders set for to the western lands. ]
Reading the words and seeing the marked location, the Necromancer paused and read through the words one more time.
'Set for the western lands, huh? So, in the end, this continent, which holds five regions, is indeed only a small part of the Sanctuary. Leaving the western lands aside, there is also the mention of the eastern lands where the Triune was located. Even legendary locations such as Tristram are not here, or I would've already heard about it from the girls or maybe even found Quests related to it.'
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Smiling at the thought of traveling to another part of this world, the Necromancer shook his head to get his mind to focus back on the matter at hand and proceeded to search for the next Trail Marker.
On the way there, he had finally killed enough undead to complete the sudden Quest related to the sealed cache.
Unfortunately, his high expectations were dashed upon opening it and gaining only a Magic item and 200 Gem Fragments each.
Shrugging, he continued his search for the next clue, only to stop in front of a weird scroll glowing with a dark red energy.
Even stranger, irrelevant to the windy cliff he found it on, the thin paper didn't seem to be affected by the elements and just calmly stood there, waiting for someone to pick it up.
The Sanctuary's description of the item didn't help much either.
[ Strange Scroll
A sinister energy emanates from it. ]
Rolling his eyes, Michael had Pathfinder approach the scroll and try to grab it in case it exploded or something.
Nothing happened, so it didn't appear to be a trap. Having the item brought to him, the Necromancer opened it and curiously read its contents.
[ You who have followed the path speak the words of power given by the Light and commune with the divine. ]
The words were written in a strange script and appeared to move on the page randomly, making Michael wonder if there was anyone capable of reading them without suffering from a stroke.
Surprisingly, though, he immediately understood what the words meant and said them aloud.
*ROOOOAR*
Again, unsurprisingly, after a large summoning circle appeared, a four-meter-tall demon joined the fray and slashed at him with a giant cleaver.
Seeing the horns on its ugly head and the bat-like wings on its back, the Necromancer immediately understood that this was a trap left behind by the Zakarum or maybe even the demons themselves.
[ Izzoth the Deceiver (Elite) - Level 59 ]
Seeing the pitiful Elite with no modifiers attack him like a rabid dog, Michael quickly disposed of it, and the Quest was completed in the most anticlimactic way ever.
[ Side Quest complete - Exhuming Faith
Reward 1: 33,792 experience points
Reward 2: 2,600 gold coins
Reward 3: Murmuring Cache. ]
Though a bit bummed, he gathered his spirits and continued traveling south toward his second destination.
He could only hope the Triune wouldn't disappoint too much.
"Huh!? Is this..."
Not even five minutes later, he stopped in front of a statue covered by strange fog, in front of which a strange purple pattern was glowing.
The statue, similar to the ones he found in the Fractured Peaks and Scosglen, was that of a humanoid creature with a skeleton face. It appeared to be well dressed, wearing a crown on its head and a large broadsword in his hands, firmly stabbed into the ground.
[ Most of the inscription has been lost to time.
A few barely legible words read: ...dare ... PROVOKE... ire ... fate... ]
Scratching his head at the statue, which put into question the previous ones he found, the Necromancer decided to further investigate the continent thoroughly.
He somehow felt that it might be linked to the Triune since he found only three such statues in Fractured Peaks and one near Cerrigar in Scosglen.
'I'll return to exploring when I have the time. Surely, there must be a secret related to it.'
Returning to traveling toward the next Quest location, Michael left behind the Path of the Ill-Fated and the Ragged Shore and stepped foot into the Undying Marches.
As the name implies, there were LOTS of undead that ambushed him on the way, most of them being of the Skeleton kind.
Then, he reached the Ashen Tread, where plenty of Phantoms joined the fight.
Almost an hour later, he reached the Tamuur Hinterlands, and his experience had reached 329,210/1,666,350, showing just how many monsters he killed on the way.
But that's when things got strange and worrying.
[ Mother's Chosen (Minion) - Level 57 ]
[ Mother's Disciple (Minion) - Level 57 ]
[ Mother's Herald (Minion) - Level 58 ]
Leaving aside the familiar but annoying 'monsters,' Michael was more worried about the five-level restriction no longer applying to him, as even the most basic Minion-level enemies he encountered were now at least 6-7 levels above him.
Things only got worse when he found a Dungeon named Komdor Temple with an even more interesting description.
[ A Triune sect cursed to forever walk the Sanctuary as goatmen. ]
There were many implications to that description, most of which led to a very puzzling question: were the goatmen enemies that came into Sanctuary through incursions just like the demons, or were they humans cursed by someone or something into becoming these creatures, as the Dungeon's description implied?
Even weirder, upon reaching the Quest area, what he found weren't Triune members, but rather a group of five demon Elites surrounding a huge axe, performing some kind of strange ritual.
All five were Succubus-type monsters, and they didn't seem to appreciate Michael's intrusion very much. Three had the Poison Enchanted modifier, while the other two had the Plaguebearer one.
Ten minutes later, he collected five Rare item boxes and grabbed the axe from the middle of the ritual circle on the ground.
"Well... Gerti won't be happy about this... Looks like the Triune messed with the axe a bit too much and ruined it. It's kind of broken. *Sigh* I can only hope I won't be caught in the middle of some bullshit because of this."
He threw the legendary weapon in his Quest Inventory and set forth toward the third Quest area marked on the MAP.
Dealing with all the monsters he found on his way to Alzuuda, the Necromancer found the outpost to be... strange.
Just at the entrance of it, five people - seemingly guards and some other residents - were arguing above the corpse of a freshly killed person.
In the end, nothing happened, and someone came to drag the dead man away after one of the residents paid some gold coins.
Following behind the guard dragging the dead person, Michael saw him throw him on a pile of rotting corpses, which the Sanctuary gave a rather interesting insight into.
[ They've been stripped of all weapons and armor. Even so, the bodies still have value, and those looking for loved ones must pay a fee to retrieve them. ]
Keeping his thoughts to himself and stopping them from showing on his face, the Necromancer kept moving around the outpost. There were few people talking among each other, so there wasn't anything useful he picked up on.
On the contrary, compared with other locations he visited, Alzuuda appeared to have more Wanderers than normal people residing there.
After passing by a large signpost, he found something worth of interest. A notice was plastered under the signpost.
[ All brave volunteers are needed to help rebuild this broken world. Train under Larken, the master builder, and help save Sanctuary.
Tools and coins will be provided. ]
After many attempts at a conversation, he finally found a woman mercenary willing to talk.
"What are you doing out here?"
[I'm from Qara Yisu, far to the east of here. My father is a miner, but work is hard, and gold is scarce. Being a mercenary is dangerous, but this way I can send money back to him.](Tuya)
The woman took him on a quick tour of the outpost, and Michael paid her 1,000 gold coins.
He didn't lack money, and there was little chance she would try to rob him after seeing him be so generous.
In the end, he saw many strange things about this place, such as a barrel of water next to a large bowl.
[ Those emerging from the Fields victorious may wish to clean their hands of blood before conducting business in the town. ]
Seeing his confused expression, the woman laughed and brought him in front of a man named Erol.
The man smiled kindly and shook his head at the newbie.
[Anything strange you saw on your way here and around Alzuuda?](Erol)
"The closer I got to the outpost, the more the land appeared to be soaked in blood. The smell and the humidity of the soil are strange, no matter how I think about it. What exactly is happening here?"
[So, you felt it, too? Hatred... boiling just beneath the surface of this wretched place. I offer what shelter I can here, but we are never far from Mephisto's influence. His temptations.](Erol)
"Wait! Mephisto!? The Prime Evil? Lord of Hatred?"
[Yes. Heed my warning. Hatred is a poison you drink to kill someone else. It will tear you apart as surely as your enemies. May Light protect you in these dark days.](Erol)
If that 'description' wasn't strange enough, the Sanctuary's next actions were even more puzzling.
[ Priority Quest complete - Fields of Hatred
Reward 1: 4,224 experience points
Reward 2: 1,560 gold coins. ]
Asking Tuya about it, the woman said that the Fields of Hatred is an area renamed after being corrupted by the influence of Mephisto.