Apostles of Doom

The summoning didn’t take long, unlike what could happen in demon conjuring. Karth was already linked to Tom and a willing target. So, with a not-unexpected swooping sensation, Karth sort of stretched, elongated — well, telescoped — into the center of the pentacles.

What was rather unusual was that Vaselle could clearly see that it was Karth. This would happen if summoning a known demon from the Astral Plane; however, one seldom did that. Typically, only new demons were summoned this way, and they were always formless blobs of light.

“Karth Mauhur Lugdog Gahsagr, son of Lukil Agral tal Veng Death Cheater, I now bind thee in the orcish tradition of Abdimman Fal Tregnon and the Bringers of Chaos, Destruction of Order and Birth of Justice for the Oppressed and Maligned,” Tom intoned to Karth. “I am Tommus, Heir of Orcus, Lord of Doom, Father of D’Orcs! Do you hereby invest yourself in my cause, myself and my destiny?”

“I do,” Karth replied.

“Do you swear upon all that you hold true, the core of your being, at peril of eternal shame, dishonor and condemnation, that you will forever serve me and my cause, even unto and beyond the true and final death?” Tom asked.

“My lord, I so swear!” Karth replied.

“Take now my binding,” Tom ordered as an even brighter strand of pure light flowed down and over the existing link. Karth reached out and took the link with his astral hand.

“Consume the link!” Tom commanded.

This part was unlike anything Vaselle had ever seen with demon binding, but the intent was clearly the same as the more coercive binding fixation spells. They had gone over it several times, so Vaselle had a good idea of what was happening, and intellectually he understood it, even if it was foreign to how wizardry did these things.

Karth’s astral hands began shoving the link down his throat. Given that everything in the Astral Plane was translucent, rather ghostly, one might say, Vaselle could actually see the link sliding into his esophagus, where it seemed to start curling up in the center of his chest. Vaselle blinked; the link was settling where an orc’s heart would be, except that astral forms were simply manifestations of an anima body and did not actually have any organs.

“Wrap yourself in my link; surround yourself with my power. Tie yourself, your soul to mine!” Tom commanded. Karth started turning around, winding the link around himself, wrapping himself up.

This was very trippy; no wonder one had to get high for this. Vaselle shook his head, feeling a bit dizzy. He felt the power of the drums beating through his body as Tom pulled them back to Nysegard. Suddenly the drums stopped with a loud, thunderous final stroke. The horns blew; the dancers stopped for a moment and then reversed as the drums started a different beat.

“Karth Mauhur Lugdog Gahsagr, son of Lukil Agral tal Veng Death Cheater, I, Tommus, Lord and Master of Doom”—Vaselle’s master was holding his Rod high above his head—“summon you to Nysegard, by the power of the D’Orcs and the Defenders of Nysegard. We demand that you appear before us in your true D’Orc form!”

Loud wails expressing a large variety of emotion came from the outer dancers. They seemed to move into overdrive, their dancing becoming even more frenzied as the drumbeats picked up speed and intensity.

“We, the Defenders of Nysegard, demand that you appear before us in true form. Reveal yourself in all your D’Orcish splendor!” Tom shouted. Vaselle noted that all the inner shamans were chanting rapidly; a few were making semantic gestures along with mouthing words, apparently doing rituals.

The darkened sky above lit up brightly as five bolts arced through the sky, and the wind began picking up. Vaselle was beginning to get sensory overload. Tom was still shouting, but he could barely concentrate on it, even with the link, over the roar of the drums, horns, shamans, and the wailing dancers.

Suddenly there was a huge crash of thunder and lightning struck the center of the pentacle. The material components they had placed there burst into flame, roaring higher and higher. Inside the flame, a very large winged creature unbent and stretched out, screaming in soul-rending agony.

Vaselle grabbed Tamarin’s hand and squeezed. They were watching the birth of a D’Orc, the first created one in over four thousand years! He glanced at her, she was smiling every bit as brightly as he was.

~

“Dear Lord Tiernon above!” Talarius rocked back and forth on his heels as the new D’Orc screamed from within the henge. Its agonizing scream was somehow audible above the insane cacophony of the drug-addled partiers.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Sir Stainsberry said.

“And more than a little bit frightening. By the way, I am also seeing colors I have never seen before. Not sure where they came from, or where they’ve been,” Talarius said, blinking rapidly as some smoke got in his eyes.

At last, the new D’Orc quieted down. Lord Tommus asked it a few more questions in that very odd language, to which it replied in the same tongue.