Apostles of Doom

Citadel Command Center: Late Fourth Period

Teragdor, taking a break from the battlements and working on preparations for things he and Rasmeth could do when darkness came this evening, nearly jumped out of his chair as the main doors to the Command Center were slammed open by the guards that had been just outside. They were both smiling brightly. Karis entered the room, yelling at the top of her lungs.

“Citadel! We are Doomed! Lord Orcus has returned to fight by our side; the Forces of Doom have come to our rescue!” she shouted joyfully.

The entire room went silent for a moment, and then turned to see a completely unexpected sight. Behind Karis came two knights in armor, one with a large cloak; behind them was some sort of young wizard with curly black hair and a seriously magical metal staff with a demon’s skull on top. Flanking the wizard were two of the scariest-looking D’Orcs Teragdor had ever seen — although, given that he had only seen about a dozen D’Orcs in his life, that was not as strong of a statement as it might have been.

“What the…?” Grob Darkness Slayer spluttered, moving towards Karis before stopping dead in his tracks and staring at the wizard. Grob shook his head, even as Diocate Aeris came to his side. “Prince Orcus?” the vicar general said in shock before his eyes moved on to the two D’Orcs. Grob fell to his knees. “Praise be to Tiernon! He has delivered us the Lord Orcus reborn!” he shouted. Aeris rested her right hand on his shoulder to steady herself. She seemed in shock.

Teragdor quickly glanced to the avatars. Those of Krinna, Namora and Hendel remained oblivious, but Tiernon’s avatars, along with Timbly and the avatars of Torean, stood to get a better view.

Suddenly, Arch-Diocate Iskerus surged forward. “Talarius!” he shouted in surprise, rushing over towards the party.

The knight without the cloak, the one with the giant sword on his back, took off his helmet to reveal a man who appeared to be about thirty, wearing a broad grin. He quickly moved forward to embrace the arch-diocate.

How could a man so young be the greatest Knight Rampant in Astlan? Such a reputation would take decades, Teragdor wondered.

“Iskerus! I would never in a million years have expected to find you in Nysegard!” the Knight Rampant proclaimed.

“And I cannot believe you were able to escape your demon captor!” Iskerus exclaimed as the two embraced in greeting.

Teragdor shook his head. He had personally told Iskerus that they suspected that the demon that took Talarius was Orcus. So that’s a little awkward, Teragdor thought to himself. However, to be fair, he did not see the demon that had captured Talarius. There were two D’Orcs, a second knight and the wizard. Wizard? Or Animage? Teragdor wondered, suddenly recognizing some of the symbols on the robes the young man was wearing. Wasn’t there an animage involved in this? The one who had burnt the Oorstemothian ship? He didn’t remember exactly what he’d heard, but it seemed like at some point, the demon the Rod was chasing had been caught up with an animage.

“Well, Arch-Diocate, I did not exactly escape,” Talarius said, pulling back from the embrace.

“What do you mean?” Iskerus asked, frowning in puzzlement.

“I am here under an Oath of Hostage. I have come to fight at the Citadel’s side along with Lord Tommus here — sorry, Lord Orcus. It’s a rather long and confusing story.”

Iskerus looked to the animage and then back to Talarius again, not understanding. “But what about the demon that you battled and that dragged you to the Abyss?”

The animage tilted his head in a small nod. “Good to see you again, Arch-Diocate Iskerus, although I do not believe we were properly introduced before you had your priests attack me. I trust that Verigas and his compatriots suffered no long-term damage from my possession of them?”

Teragdor could not see the arch-diocate’s eyes, but he suspected they were extremely wide. Yep, he thought, confirming it as Iskerus reached out to the priest beside him for his balance.

“You?” Iskerus shook his head. “You are the demon?”

“I am,” Lord Orcus replied.

Or was it Lord Tommus? Lord Tommus Orcus? Teragdor was not at all sure about the names.

“You!” Beragamos said, standing with his hand resting on the arm of his chair. He was clearly multi-tasking at the moment. “You claim to be the demon prince Orcus?”

The animage looked at Beragamos. Teragdor could not be sure due to the distance, but it almost seemed if Lord Orcus’s eyes lost their focus. He did not respond for several moments, as if thinking about what to say. “Beragamos Nesferalem# Antidellas,” he finally said with a gentle smile and a slight nod of recognition. Teragdor had not known that the archon had a middle name. “It has been quite some time since we last worked together.”