Apostles of Doom

They’d had to carry Karth on a stretcher, as the shaman needed to conserve all the energy he had left for the ascension. Tamarin’s magic was currently keeping his body intact; at this point a very loose tethering point for his animus and mana. Tamarin did not think it would take much demon weed to get him, an experienced shaman, out onto the Astral Plane where Tom and the shamans could “capture” him.

The shamans would act as spiritual guards and escorts on the Astral Plane, while the D’Orcs, D’Wargs and orc warriors there would provide physical security for the henge. It was critical that nothing intrude on or interfere with Karth either in Excelsion or the Astral Plane before Tom summoned him.

Tom was feeling more than a little queasy about this whole D’Orcing thing. Having gotten brain dumped on by Tamarin and spending the last day or so planning the ritual, there was no way he could avoid noticing the similarities to his own summoning. Vaselle had even confirmed that the D’Orcanization ritual was basically a shamanistic version of the wizard spells of demon summoning and binding.

Which meant, logically, that the stuff that Reggie had brought to the party had not actually been pot, but rather demon weed. Something he’d been suspecting since he learned of the plant. Given that both of them had smoked the stuff and both ended up demons, it was rather irrefutable evidence.

The only question was, where had their demon weed come from? According to his orc shamans, demon weed did grow on the material planes; they were, when lucky, able to get small amounts from traders. It was extremely expensive due to its scarcity and because shamans, wizards, animages and priests all used it in very small doses for magical rituals.

If it was completely naturally occurring, then he supposed it could grow on Earth; but given there were no mana wielders on Earth, or at least not many powerful ones, it might not be cultivated. However, given that it looked like pot, one would think more people would have tried it, been summoned and died. This would have had to raise some red flags with authorities over the years, yet it had not. As far as he knew, he and Reggie were the only people on Earth to die of a pot overdose. One would think with modern legal medicinal, and in some places even recreational pot, more people would have found the stuff and overdosed to the far ends of the Astral Plane.

Although, to be fair, Boggy had said that a large number of demons did come from Earth or alternate Earths, so apparently there had been a lot more people smoking demon weed and exiting stage left, so to speak; it just did not rise to a high enough threshold to garner significant notice.

He shook his head. There was no time to debate this with himself; the ritual was about to commence. While it would take time for those in Etterdam to get set up and secure, the Nysegard side also had a lot of work to do. They needed to link everyone and bring up the necessary wards and protective circles around the henge and those clustered around it, providing mana.

Tom took his place on a small backless throne that someone had dug up. Vaselle and Tamarin stood to either side of him — experienced observers, tightly linked to him, who could advise or assist him as needed. He nodded to Muzga Death Tusk, the oldest and most experienced D’Orc shaman they had. She would lead the initial rituals; Tom would be doing the actual summoning and binding. He hoped he could remember the words.