Apostles of Doom

“Targh Bowelsplitter!” Karis burst in, nodding happily. “We have a statue of the Oracle of Doom. Everyone will recognize him!”

Targh chuckled.

“Okay, well, this is Sir Stainsberry, Knight Magus of the El Ohîm,” Tom said.

Stainsberry nodded politely to Karis. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Mine as well. Oh, I am so happy to meet you, all of you,” Karis said, beaming.

“And this — this is Sir Talarius, Knight Rampant of Tiernon!” Tom told her.

Karis’s eyes grew wide. “Sir Talarius? Of Astlan?” the battle priestess asked in surprise.

Now it was the Doom delegation’s turn to be surprised.

Talarius took his helmet off. “You know of me?” he asked.

“Well, of course! That’s how we ended up having so many avatars here! They came looking for you!” Karis said.

“They what?” Talarius asked again in shock. Tom wasn’t sure if the knight’s eyes could get any wider. Talarius’s brow furrowed. “Is one of the avatars Saint Hilda of Rivenrock?” Talarius asked, sounding almost puzzled by his own pronouncement.

“Yes! She is here, along with Stevos, Teragdor and Beragamos!” Karis said, clapping her hands together.

Now Tom was the one who was puzzled. So, the avatars that Tamarin had told him were investigating the Freehold incident were here? That was not a good thing. But how did Talarius know their names?

Talarius furrowed his brow again and shook his head a couple of times, his mouth moving slightly as if he was talking to himself.

“Are you okay?” Tom asked, concerned.

After a moment, Talarius looked at him. “I’m sorry. I’m talking to Ruiden in my mind.” He then noticed Karis’s odd look. “My sword — we communicate mind to mind.” Karis nodded.

Tom had momentarily forgotten that Talarius and Ruiden talked that way. Talarius had told him this, as had Tamarin. In fact, that would be how Talarius knew of the avatars. Tamarin had told him that Ruiden had been traveling with Tiernon’s avatars, which is how he had ended up in Murgatory. Things were starting to add up, and come together. It was just getting very difficult to keep all of the insanity straight in his head. Who knew who, and what and when did they know it? It could really make one’s head spin.

“Ruiden has worked with Hilda and Beragamos before,” Talarius said.

“Well, excellent! What a happy coincidence,” Karis exclaimed. “Oh! Before I forget, your horse is here, along with her barding.”

Talarius shook his head. “War Arrow is here? How?”

“Arch-Diocate Iskerus brought her. I believe they were going to use her to somehow help you escape the demon that kidnapped you!” Karis said and burst out laughing. “Little did anyone suspect that Lord Orcus would beat them to the punch and rescue you first!”

“Uhm, yeah…” Talarius said.

Tom smiled slightly at Talarius’s discomfort. It was not very nice of Tom, but it was rather fun, nonetheless.

“So! Shall I take you to the Command Center?” Karis asked hopefully.

“We need to try something first, rather quickly. We need to test this plane-blocking thing.” Tom said, motioning Targh to step around him. Tom then reached out and closed the runic gateway.

“How does closing the runic gateway do that?” Karis asked.

“I will open it again in a moment, but I need to see if Targh can follow my link to the Nysegard Doom and then back to the Abyss,” Tom explained. He nodded to Targh, who promptly took a deep breath as if preparing to relax. He then faded from view, even as a normal demon returning to the Abyss would do.

Tom nodded. “Excellent!” he turned and moved the table with the communication stone out of the way. “Targh Bowelsplitter, I summon thee from the depths of the Abyss!” Given his link to Targh, he didn’t need to use a true name or any real spell.

Within moments Targh reappeared in the room, fading in even as he had faded out. Tom grinned.

Karis gasped. “How did you overcome the dimensional blockage?” the battle priestess asked in surprise.

“I am linked to the Doom of Nysegard, which in turn is linked to Mount Doom. While I cannot go directly to Mount Doom from here, I can get to Mount Doom through the Doom of Nysegard,” Tom explained.

“Excellent!” Karis said. “So Mount Doom and the Doom of Nysegard are both once more fully operational?”

“They are indeed,” Tom smiled, raising the Rod of Tommus slightly.

Karis shook her head in sudden realization. “The Wand of Orcus, of course! I guess I was expecting something a bit smaller.”

Tom chuckled. “I understand. When I am in this form it’s a staff; however, when I change into other forms of different sizes, it stays the same size. So in battle, for example, it looks like a wand.”

“Of course!” Karis said. “Should we head to the Command Center?”

“Sure,” Tom said. Might as well confront these avatars before getting any deeper into this mess, he thought to himself. At least he had his full power, unlike them.

“I just want to open the runic gateway and update everyone there. We’ll have a few more people come through to start preparations,” Tom told the battle priestess. “I am also going to have Darg-Krallnom join us.”