Apostles of Doom

Usiris smiled. “It did indeed. She let him return to the party and then made contact with me to relay this information.”

“So have you talked to Sekhmekt or pêTah?” Astet asked.

“They were not responding at their palace this morning; they may have spent the night,” Usiris replied.

“Or they were still passed out,” Bess said with a chuckle.

“So, back to this greater demon… he is the Master of Doom? What exactly is there to master with a dead volcano?” Astet asked.

Usiris chuckled. “Apparently it is no longer dead. Your greater demon has relit Mount Doom and all the D’Orcs have sworn allegiance to him.”

Bess nodded thoughtfully. “He would have had to in order to defeat a Chaos Maelstrom and an army of demons.”

“Although, if Sekhmekt was there?” Astet countered.

“She would have lived — probably won in fact, but all the rest would be dead. The fact that they were having a victory feast means the greater demon is, as we suspected, much greater than a greater demon,” Bess said.

“A demon prince then?” Usiris asked.

Bess shrugged. “Orcus was a demon prince; it would make sense.”

Astet tilted her head. “Wasn’t Orcus technically a god? At least to the orcs and various jötunnkind?”

Bess shook her head, but not completely convincingly. “He had tremendous power, but as far as I know, he had no god pool, nor home on the Outer Planes…”

“We no longer have a home on the Outer Planes,” Usiris noted.

“Yes, but we all have god pools and a pantheon pool.” Bess shrugged. “I suppose if we really need to clear it up, we could ask pêTah; he obviously knows this new Master of Doom, and I believe he knew Orcus as well.”

Usiris nodded. “I have to assume Lilith thinks he’s a demon prince. If she thought he was a god, she would not have attacked so hastily, and if she thought him an archdemon, she would not have sent an entire Chaos Maelstrom after him.”

Astet was staring off over the horizon. “If they defeated an entire Chaos Maelstrom, then the Lords of Chaos are going to take notice.”

Usiris groaned. “Ugh. You really did not need to bring that up. I had not thought of that; I had only focused on the fact that we may have found a good ally. If the Lords of Chaos get involved, things are going to get exponentially more complicated.”

Bess sighed. “I am really not sure how that is possible; however, I agree.”

Freehold

“Where have you been?” Randolf asked Crispin as the djinni walked into the breakfast atrium.

“Early morning visit to Djinnistan. Remember, with these wards up, I have to physically leave the city and pop to Djinnistan to get updates. I can’t commune with the wards up.”

“Could you not just step outside the wards and commune?” Randolf asked, buttering his toasted bread. He gestured for Crispin to sit down and have a late breakfast with him.

“If I am going to physically leave the city, I might as well zap to Djinnistan. Besides, standing in the middle of the road in a trance attracts too much unwanted attention,” Crispin said, sitting down and pouring himself some orange juice.

“And pickpockets, I’d imagine.”

“Not if they know what’s good for them.” Crispin grinned.

“So, any news from the Grand Calyphos?” Randolf asked before taking a bite of his toast.

“Well, if you consider locating Lenamare’s considerably-greater-than-greater demon news, then yes.”

Randolf set down his toast. “Ah, so he has appeared somewhere? As I recall, the djinn have no access to the Abyss, so he must have materialized somewhere.”

“That has changed,” Crispin said, grabbing a strawberry. “We have reopened diplomatic relations with Mount Doom.”

Randolf shook his head, puzzled. “Mount Doom? Sounds like a rather overly melodramatic place. I take it that this Mount Doom is located in the Abyss?”

“It is indeed.” Crispin nodded. “It is a giant volcano full of D’Orcs.”

“A volcano filled with dorks?” Randolf frowned.

“I have to suspect that sort of confusion must get very old for them,” Crispin observed.

“I am completely not following,” Randolf said.

“Duh Orcs, or D Orcs. As in Demon Orcs.”

“Demon Orcs? That sounds worrisome,” Randolf said.

“I suppose it does, but not for the djinn. Mount Doom and its previous lord were longtime allies of ours.”

“Really? Orc demons allied with djinn?” Randolf sounded extremely skeptical.

“Believe it or not, historically they were much more pleasant and infinitely more reliable than regular demons.”

Randolf sipped on his tea and nodded. “Well, I suppose when you put it like that, it makes sense.”

“So the djinn once more have access to goings-on within the Abyss. I assume this is tied to Lenamare’s demon?”

“It is; he is the new Master of Mount Doom. He relit the volcano,” Crispin said, reaching for an apple.

Randolf raised an eyebrow. “I see. So I assume this confirms that he is much more than a greater demon?”

Crispin nodded. “Indeed. Millennia ago, Mount Doom was the counterbalance to the Courts of Chaos, an alternative demon empire within the Abyss. Rival to Lilith and Sammael.”