Apostles of Doom

Timbly nodded. “From what I can gather, I believe it was about nine to ten quarter-months ago, Astlan time.”

“So they suspect a plot by the Storm Lords?” Hilda asked.

“Indeed. Further, new activities of the Storm Lords is making it difficult for the arch-diocates to assemble to select a new High Pontificate,” Stevos said. “In particular, there is increasing evidence that they are moving to attack this particular stronghold, the largest fortress of the Five Siblings upon Nysegard.”

“So these movements of the Storm Lords’ minions, that is what is limiting their resources for assisting us?” Hilda asked.

“Yes, in large part,” Timbly said. “In particular, the Dark Fleet seems to be working to blockade Namora’s vessels trying to reach the Citadel. Ships are making it out, but none returning have been able to pass.”

Hilda shook her head slightly. It was quite disturbing if Namora’s ships could be blockaded. That was not something that happened in Astlan. Ever. “Well, I had not really thought to go by sea,” she said. “I was rather expecting to locate a luminary closer to where Talarius was and use that link to open a portal.”

“Not so easy,” Stevos said, shaking his head. “Apparently there are no priests or other illuminaries of Tiernon upon the Isle of Doom.”

“There may be a few Rangers, but we are having trouble tracking them down,” Timbly said.

“The priests of Torean here don’t know where their Rangers are?” Hilda asked.

“The Rangers are heavily deployed and concentrated around our various strongholds,” Timbly said. “Those that are far afield tend to be very far afield. Travel to the Isle of Doom is very time-consuming, short of a portal. So there may be some Rangers there, or they may be en route to or from. The infrastructure is far more concentrated and limited in Nysegard, compared to Astlan.”

“And I cannot say that our contacts here are as helpful as we might like,” Stevos said.

That caused Hilda to do a double take. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it appears that they, or at least the servants of Tiernon, are feeling a bit underserved by their avatars,” Stevos said drily, taking another sip.

“Underserved?” Hilda asked.

“They seem most put out that no saint or avatar of Tiernon has shown up on Nysegard in a thousand-plus years, despite the often urgent need, given their fight against evil, yet a small Heavenly Host appears out of the blue to rescue a single Knight Rampant from Astlan,” Stevos answered.

“As Inethya was told, rather sternly, Nysegard has lost a large number of Knights Rampant in the last thousand-plus years, and yet no assistance from Tierhallon appeared,” Timbly said. “And to be fair, Toreanhold has generally followed Tierhallon’s lead in this regard. Although not quite as rigidly. There have been a couple minor interventions.”

“This is due to Sentir Fallon’s desire to not lose any more avatars?” Hilda asked.

Stevos nodded, raising his glass slightly.

“I understand the desire to not lose avatars, in particular saints, who would be the front line. However,” she said, gesturing around at the Citadel, “clearly such a battle-rich environment would provide more than ample opportunities for ascension of new saints?”

Stevos nodded slightly. “That was my thought. Having seen a good part of this fortress, and listened to reports of what is going on, I would think there would be more than enough heroic deaths in the face of evil to merit a steady stream of saints.” He shrugged. “And yes, many would be younger, newer saints, but that would still allow for greater holy resources than that which any mortal could provide.”

“Certainly there is more than sufficient mana generation and worship to provide very good mana streams relative to the population size,” Timbly added.

“Yet Tierhallon is not promoting more?” Hilda asked.

“Correct. Inethya was rather silent on this; however, it was clear that she was aware of the issue and seemed genuinely frustrated by it.” Stevos said.

“As in her hands were tied, so to speak?” Hilda asked.

“Exactly.” Stevos nodded, as did Timbly. Hilda simply shook her head.

Mount Doom: Late Second Period

Tom returned to his suite from the Library of Doom, where he, Vaselle, Tamarin and three D’Orc shamans from Nysegard had spent the last several hours going over their preparations for the “D’Orcing.” That was Tom’s preferred term, although technically it was considered an ascension by the orcs. He’d reserved his comments upon his thoughts about the term, but given that they were sending the orc to the Abyss, he felt “descension” might be a better term. That, however, would be counterproductive to team morale.

He opened his door and stopped in surprise at the sight of Boggy, Estrebrius, and Tizzy playing poker at this late hour. “You three are still up?” he asked.

“No rest for the wicked!” Tizzy quipped. The others grinned.