Apostles of Doom

Muzga gestured for everyone to get into their initial positions, all seated. She and Uzgash Death Smasher, the third of the first-generation D’Orcs, along with Tom, were providing the base triad; one at each corner of a triangle formation, inside the henge. Outside of them were five younger-generation D’Orc shamans, including Valg, stationed at each of the five points of the pentacle they had drawn in blood upon the ground stones of the henge.

Next came seven orc shamans, arranged around the pentacle, then eleven D’Orc warriors. The seven shamans and eleven D’Orcs would be doing a very powerful dance of protection. Outside of them were thirteen additional participants; one standing on top of each of the henge pillar stones in the inner ring.

The thirteen consisted of Darg-Krallnom, Targh Bowelsplitter, Vargg Agnoth, Helga Dourtooth, Gulogd Death Cheater, Eldebra’s father, and then seven shamans. The seven shamans included three orc shamans, Buga Breathstealer, Gorga Greatsword, and Gishnakh Stormsurge, and two human shamans, Mery Messwirth and Anfrith Hallworth.

The final two shamans were perhaps the most unusual, at least in Tom’s mind. Thakad Stonemason was a dwarven shaman and a woman, which made Tom feel awkward about all the dwarven woman jokes he used to make with his gaming buddies. Contrary to popular misconception, Thakad did not have a beard or any other excess body hair. The last shaman could probably only exist on Nysegard: Elyelwith Flores, one of the Forial Alfar — a wood elf — and for the last thousand years a shaman on the Isle of Doom, now sworn to Tom.

In the outer ring were three concentric circles of dancers. The first ring had seventeen dancers, the middle circle had nineteen dancers, and twenty-three were in the final circle. On top of each of the outer twenty-nine pillars were two drummers and a young assistant, the pipe holder. At the base of each stone, inside the circle, were horn players, each with an assistant with a pipe ready for them to inhale during breaks in their playing.

The outer dancers would be harvesting mana from those outside, not directly in the ritual. It was the job of the thirteen shamans on top of the inner circle to channel that mana to the inner dancers and the inner circles.

The dancers would be passing pipes between them; D’Orc dancers would pass pipes of demon weed, and the mortal dancers would exchange mortal stash pipes. Each pipe was carefully color coded to avoid accidentally creating any more D’Orcs or demons. Or so the joke went; technically, they’d need to specifically summon the person by name.

The region outside the drum circle held the general population, who would be chanting and dancing as they felt the spirit and energy. They too would be passing color-coded pipes. The stationary inner participants each had their own pipes, as Tizzy had instructed.

Tom shook his head, thinking about the massive drug rave he was about to throw. His mom and former stepdad would be so disappointed in him. He assumed his actual father would be as well, if he had not died in that giant fireball at his lab. But if this was how one made D’Orcs, then so be it. I mean, these are shamans, witch-doctors, curanderos. If it was okay for Carlos Castaneda, maybe it is okay for me. Certainly it should be okay for trained shamans. Right?

~

“Drug-fueled paganism!” Talarius shook his head in disapproval from his perch atop a nearby stone that was not part of the henge.

Sir Stainsberry laughed. “As a wizard, I would like to agree with that. A clear head is required for wizardry. However, I know from my mother’s people, as well as from other members of the El Ohîm, that there are many paths to truth and the Light.”

“Alvar and the El Ohîm use drugs?” Talarius looked at the Knight Magus in shock.

“Not all, of either group; not even most. However, ‘spice,’ as this special demon drug is called among the alvar, is used sparingly by sorcerers and a few other wizards, and several animages, such as Voyagers. Some alvaran shamans and even priests of the El’adasir occasionally use various mind-altering substances to achieve higher states of consciousness, or enhanced states of being,” Sir Stainsberry said. “Spice, in particular, is used to assist in astral projection. The true danger of that drug, for mortals, is that if you take too much — and by too much I mean more than a small pinch — you can find yourself lost in the far parts of the Astral Plane and have quite a bit of trouble returning. Particularly if you are untrained and have no clue as to what is going on.” The Knight Magus shook his head ruefully.

Talarius frowned in disapproval. “So let me understand this process,” he said. Stainsberry nodded, so Talarius continued, “The old orc shaman is going to take this spice, and travel to the Astral Plane with attendants.”