Apostles of Doom

“And in other worlds. It is a mountain-hedged grove in an extra-dimensional space that resides on multiple worlds of the localverse simultaneously,” Stainsberry told him.

“It resides on multiple worlds at once?” Talarius frowned. “How is that even possible?”

“Really good magineering, I’d suspect,” Thrinarv said, bringing his mug up to his lips. After drinking, he lowered and tilted the mug, eyeballing the inside skeptically. “Should have ordered sooner, getting pretty dry in here.”

“It acts as sort of diplomatic refuge for our localverse,” Stainsberry said. “They have also been very active on Nysegard; however, due to their very close relations with the alvar and the alvaran royalty, they do not work that much with Doom. Certainly not since Orcus was slain. Prince Ariel of Astlan, who alternates with his sister as one of their Elders, is a close ally of Prince Elyas of Etterdam, who was key in the whole Etterdam situation.”

Talarius shook his head. “Okay, now you have me truly intrigued. How did you each make it to Nysegard and decide to work on the Isle of Doom?”

“Lad, that’s a long story,” Thrinarv said. “We are going to need quite a bit more ale.”

Talarius put a small bag on the table. “I assume they’ll take Astlanian silver?”

“Silver?” Stainsberry exclaimed.

“You are in the right place, lad,” Thrinarv said, smiling. “You have us to guide you. Silver in Nysegard is more valuable than gold! It’s much more useful here.”

Stainsberry nodded in agreement. “Indeed.”

“Makes for excellent trading opportunities for those who travel off-world,” Thrinarv added. “Currency hedging has been very lucrative for my ministry.”

Stainsberry shook his head, grinning. “You will also note that priests of Hephaestus swear no vows of poverty.”

“It’s for the church, my good knight. We’re smiths — making things costs money!” Thrinarv said, laughing.

Nimbus: Supper

Jenn stared into her soup. They had returned to the Nimbus about an hour earlier. Having missed dinner, they had all agreed to meet for a meal after Trevin had spoken with Prince Ariel via a mirroring. Jenn had been in a very troubled mood for the entire evening.

After her argument, or discussion, or whatever one wanted to call it, with Gastropé, the two had returned to the tent with the orcs and D’Orcs, and Gastropé had introduced her as a friend and ally of Lord Tommus. That was a stretch. However, she had not objected to the description, as she had not felt like upsetting the extremely large demon orcs, nor the entire negotiation. For another thing, her relationship towards Lenamare’s demon was something she could not explain to herself, let alone a group of strange orcs and D’Orcs.

She was not sure who she was more upset with: Gastropé, Edwyrd, Damien or herself for being blind to these shenanigans. Probably Edwyrd. While surprisingly skilled, he was, like Gastropé, still young and inexperienced. Maelen’s suspicions about his age to one side, she was a good judge of people and he seemed to have neither the confidence nor maturity of someone much older than he appeared. Taking a little kid like Rupert plane hopping with what now turned out to have been a demon prince was stupidity on a scale that she could barely even comprehend. And as for Damien, a councilor of wizardry should have had more common sense than to continue any sort of cooperation with the demon Tom.

In any event, they had sat down and she’d had some water when offered glargh. She had no idea what glargh was, but she was fairly certain it was something like really crappy beer. After being around Trisfelt for so long, she could not tolerate the swill most taverns served. In truth, she generally preferred wine to beer; something they would surely be having after they finished their supper.

The orcs had filled her in on what they had told Gastropé before she arrived, and then proceeded into an extremely graphic description of the battle. While she was not experienced with soldiers, she had been through a siege or two by this point — she still could not believe she could say that; it was not how her life was supposed to go — and she had never met any soldiers so excited about the seriously gory details of combat.

Jenn’s thoughts were interrupted as the door to their dining room opened and Trevin entered. Somewhat to Jenn’s surprise, the Enchantress had changed into something close to age-appropriate clothing. Maelen, Elrose, Gastropé and herself were already seated and enjoying their soup, warm bread and cheese.

Maelen smiled and rose, moving to the sidebar where the food was laid out. “Can I get you some soup, bread and cheese?” he asked Trevin.

Trevin shook her head and sighed as she seemed to collapse into a stuffed side chair, not at the table. “I am going to skip supper and go directly to brandy — if you don’t mind?” she inquired. Maelen nodded and moved to the small cart in the room that contained wine and spirits.

“I take it the discussions with the Alvar did not go well?” Elrose asked.