Apostles of Doom

Doom Control Center

Tom entered the Doom Command Center, where multiple D’Orcs were monitoring the various systems, and oddly enough, Tizzy was munching on what appeared to be a bagel with butter on top. Arg-nargoloth was the commander on duty.

“Is that a bagel?” Tom asked Tizzy.

Tizzy swallowed, moved the bagel up to eye level, and looked at it closely before replying, “Looks like it.”

“Where did you get a bagel?” Tom asked, more than a little curious.

“I had some extra ingredients left over from the cookies and I’d bought a few other things on the side as well,” Tizzy said with a shrug, “so I made some early this morning.”

Tom closed his eyes briefly in frustration. “If you made the bagel yourself, why did you have to examine it to know it was a bagel?”

Tizzy shrugged again. “I’m not that good of a cook, so you never know. I only know how to make bagels, pizza and cookies.” He paused for a moment. “Well, I can make brownies too, but I prefer cookies.”

Tom shook his head at this. “So you made bagels, and aren’t sharing?” He grinned at the demon, hoping Tizzy would take a hint and offer him a bagel.

“Well, I can’t make that many, don’t have enough ingredients.” Tizzy replied. “Plus they aren’t kosher, so you know…”

Tom frowned. “How do you know about kosher?”

Tizzy pulled his shoulders back and made a shocked expression. “What? You think there aren’t any Jewish demons? The kabbalah is full of them, or so I’m told. There are lots of Jewish demon conjurors, and demons, of course.” He took another bite.

Tom had to admit his point. There must be Christian demons and Muslim demons as well. He was just used to thinking in mythological terms when it came to gods and such. But considering that most demons came from regions around Earth, those demons would have to have been of religions on Earth.

Tom was suddenly struck by a rather chilling thought. He had met people that literally had been gods on Earth. He had met people who had been at Ragnarök. If all those mythological deities were real, was he going to run into Jesus? Or Moses as an avatar? He shook his head. Clearly he would not, since his god, or at least the one he had grown up with, was not so much a physical person, but an all-powerful entity. The mythological gods like the ones he’d met had always been known and seen as actual people who, while powerful, were not all-powerful and omniscient.

He shook his head; he didn’t have time to think about this now. He had some questions before they all headed down to the Oubliette for more training. “Arg-nargoloth?” he asked.

“Yes, Lord Tommus?” The D’Orc commander responded.

“Last night before going to bed, I noted that Doom’s mana pool reserves had fully recharged, thanks to the battle and all the mana it generated,” Tom began.

“I bet those Knights of Chaos were good for a serious charge up!” Tizzy interrupted.

“Uhm, yes, they were,” Tom agreed before continuing. “Anyway, I also noted that we had finally managed to reach breakeven on mana generation versus mana expense.” Which was pretty good, in Tom’s opinion.

“However, this morning I noticed we seem to be draining mana again and I’m curious if you can pinpoint what the new draw is?” Tom asked.

“Hmm.” Arg-nargoloth frowned. “Give me a minute.” The D’Orc walked over to the mana monitoring panels. He stared at them for a few moments, flipping switches to various displays before finally nodding and saying, “Found it.” He turned to Tom with a small grin and said, “Following our old powering policies, Doom began charging the first of the Doomalogues in the charging queue.”

“Yeah, that would make sense. Was wondering if they’d come back online automatically,” Tizzy said before eating the last of his bagel.

“What is a Doomalogue?” Tom asked cautiously. Here was another one of those things he probably really needed to know but did not.

“They are Doom Analogues,” Arg-nargoloth replied, sounding quite pleased.

“Doom Analogues?” Tom asked, not understanding.

“They are like satellite Mount Dooms; our primary outposts in the Planes of Orc,” The D’Orc answered.

“Little Temples of Doom scattered across the multiverse,” Tizzy added.

“Outposts? You mean like fortresses?” Tom asked.

“Exactly like fortresses, and temples,” The D’Orc commander agreed.

“Temples?” Tom shook his head and Arg-nargoloth shrugged.

“Temples to Orcus,” the D’Orc said matter-of-factly. “People would come to ask for assistance in battle, advice, dispute resolution and often bring tribute to celebrate victory or give thanks—”

“So really like a god’s temple?” Tom asked.

“Temple?” Völund asked, entering the DCC to join them on the way to the Oubliette.

“The Doomalogues are starting to power up,” Arg-nargoloth told the smith, who nodded in understanding.

“No, not like a temple to a god. Far more useful,” Völund told Tom.

“How so?” Tom asked.

“The temples were manned by senior D’Orcs who could provide both advice and assistance,” Völund said.