Apostles of Doom

He chuckled. “I am almost certain that I am. In fact, I believe that several of those hills are where I buried my enemies. There are very few plains in this world where I have not been victorious.”

Arg-nargoloth’s eyes suddenly narrowed, his brow furrowing as he stared straight ahead.

“What is it?” Ragala-nargoloth asked, concerned at the D’Orc’s sudden shift from humor to concern.

After a moment, Arg-nargoloth shook his head, as if clearing it. “Nothing. My thoughtless bragging reminded me that my greatest failure was also upon this world.”

“Your greatest failure?” Ragala-nargoloth asked, puzzled.

“Orcus was betrayed upon this world — my home world. I should have been at his side. My victories here are made hollow by his loss, the loss of thousands of D’Orcs.”

“Thousands of D’Orcs?” Ragala-nargoloth blinked. “What could kill thousands of D’Orcs?”

Arg-nargoloth snorted. “That is something those of us left at Mount Doom have pondered for all these years. It seems inconceivable.”

“It is inconceivable,” Ragala-nargoloth stated.

“Well, in that case, we are going to need to conceive of such a thing, and do it quickly. If it remains unconceivable, then we will be blind when it strikes again,” Arg-nargoloth replied somberly.

Mount Doom: DOA + 11, Early First Period

“I cannot believe we are finally done swearing every man, woman, child and assorted variations,” Tom said, sinking into the Tom-sized couch in his sitting room. Estrebrius and Boggy were playing cards; Reggie was with his mistress. Vaselle and Tamarin were in the library and Tizzy was apparently running around somewhere else, hopefully not bothering Tamarin and Vaselle.

“Is that going to be standard procedure?” Antefalken asked, looking up from where he was scribbling away on one of his ballads.

“What?” Tom looked at him, puzzled.

“Taking oaths from mortals as well as demons and D’Orcs?” Antefalken replied.

“Going to get very time consuming, even for an immortal,” Boggy said, not looking up from his cards.

Tom shook his head. “I don’t believe so. My understanding is that traditionally only the D’Orcs and allied demons swore oaths. Nysegard, because of its beleaguered state, is an exception.”

“So, what are you going to do with all your free time starting tomorrow?” Antefalken asked with a grin.

“You could play cards with us,” Estrebrius suggested.

Tom shook his head and grinned at Estrebrius before turning his head back to Antefalken. “What free time? Phaestus and the rest of the remaining Tartarvardenennead want us to get back in the Oubliette classroom.”

Antefalken shook his head. “The headaches and responsibilities associated with running the most famous dungeon in the multiverse…”

Tom chuckled. “Well, to be fair, I did prefer to be the dungeon master, rather than the player.”

Antefalken frowned, not getting the reference.

“Never mind.” Tom waved it off. He had preferred being DM, but now, with these invasive memories, he was at risk of being one of the monsters from the Monster Manual. The dreaded “wandering Orcus.” He had to chuckle, remembering his frustration with amateur DMs who thought you could just drop a demon prince, a unique individual, into a dungeon with no motivation or even logic. At least he wasn’t Demogorgon. He’d never liked the two-headed demon.

No, he, Tom, was not some imaginary demon prince wandering around in a sub-volcanic labyrinth. He was a real person in an unreal situation. The thought of actually being the reincarnation of some mythological creature… Inconceivable.

Vosh Anon’s face suddenly flashed before his mind’s eye, the D’Orc’s sardonic grin mocking his trepidation over some endeavor. Tom shook his head at the vividness of the memory. I keep using that word, inconceivable; perhaps it does not mean what I think it does, he suddenly thought to himself, hearing the voice of Inigo Montoya.

“You okay?” Boggy asked.

“You sort of blanked out,” Antefalken said.

Tom shook his head. “No, just thinking, lost in my thoughts. But there’s no time for navel gazing! I need to get Vaselle and set up his portable portal links with Ragala-nargoloth and Farsooth.”

“And then I need to make a gateway for Beya to send another two dozen D’Wargs for their allies.”

“No rest for the wicked!” Antefalken said with a grin.

“What? Only two dozen? Ragala-nargoloth wanted a hundred!” Boggy said.

“She’s going into hostile territory,” Tom noted.

“Yes, but forty D’Orcs?” Antefalken shook his head in disbelief, shifting back to seriousness. “That’s like forty greater demons!”

“Orcus had a lot more than that last time he was in Etterdam. That did not turn out so well,” Tom said morosely.

“Yeah. Okay, then,” Antefalken agreed.

Chapter 134

The Inferno: Mid Third Period