King Leoric, deep within the throes of madness, went into a rage when he learned that his son was missing. After scouring the village with the few guards that remained with him at the monastery, Leoric had decided that the townsfolk had abducted his son and hidden him somewhere. Although the townsfolk denied any knowledge of Prince Albrecht?s whereabouts, Leoric insisted that they had crafted a conspiracy against him, and that they would pay the price for such treachery. The mysterious disappearance of the Arch-Bishop Lazarus left no one in Tristram with whom the King would take council. Overcome by grief and dementia, Leoric had many of the townsfolk executed for the crime of high treason.
As Lachdanan and his fellow survivors returned to confront their King, Leoric sent his few remaining guards against them. Believing that Lachdanan was somehow part of the townsfolk?s conspiracy, Leoric decreed that he and his party were to die. Lachdanan, finally realizing that Leoric was beyond salvation, ordered his men to defend themselves. The ensuing battle carried them down into the very halls of the darkened Monastery, bringing a final desecration to the once holy sanctum of the Horadrim. Lachdanan won a bittersweet victory as his men were forced to kill all of Leoric?s deceived protectors.
The once noble King screamed an unearthly death-cry, and as his madness finally overtook him, he brought down a curse upon those who had so betrayed him. Calling upon the forces of Darkness that he had spent his entire life combating, Leoric condemned Lachdanan and the others to eternal damnation. In that last, fleeting moment within the heart of the Monastery, all that was ever virtuous or honorable about the stewards of Khanduras was shattered forever.
It was long ago that the enigmatic Arch-Angel Tyrael bestowed upon us the secrets of the mysterious Soulstones. Tyrael bequested upon our Order three of these Stones so we could contain the vile essences of the Three Prime Evils who had been let loose upon our world. Although the artifacts were constructed in realms far removed from our own, we found that they were simple to understand.
The Soulstones affect only beings that are non-corporeal and thus have no power over living, breathing creatures. When invoked, the Soulstones bring into being a strong ?spiritual? vacuum. Any non-physical entities caught within this vacuum are drawn into the burning recesses of the Soulstone and are forever trapped within. These spirits are released only when the Soulstone is deactivated or destroyed.
The power of the Soulstones proved to be much more difficult to employ when used against the great Prime Evils. Voraciously disposed to possessing hapless mortals, the Three Brothers found that they were immune to the effects of the Stones while occupying human souls. Sadly, we were forced to hunt down and kill the innocent victims of the Prime Evils so that their demonic essences could be subject to the effects of the Soulstones.
Mephisto and Diablo, once found, were easily lured into the Soulstones. The capture of their brother Baal, however, became complicated when the Soulstone that was to be his eternal prison was shattered and fragmented. We found that while the shards still held the power to lure the demon to them, they could not properly contain it. Tal Rasha, a fellow Initiate who has been since immortalized in Horadrim lore, theorized that a mortal of strong will might be able to contain Baal within his own mortal soul. This sacrifice meant that the essence of any mortal so chosen would be forever tortured while locked in eternal conflict with the enthralled demon.