Apostles of Doom

Suddenly the area at the front of the zombie line erupted in a whirlwind of blood, zombie guts and random pieces of goo-covered severed limbs. This was clearly visible due to the fact that the whirlwind was glowing extremely brightly. It appeared to be a gigantic, self-propelled, metal spinning glaive, about five feet in width.

The glaive whirled out of the mass of zombies, causing Hilda’s squad to move to full defensive crouches, preparing for an attack. However, instead of attacking, the spinning glaive came to a halt and suddenly started rearranging itself. Within moments, there was a humanoid sword golem standing in front of them.

“Hilda of Rivenrock!” Ruiden shouted.

“Stand down, he’s with us. This is Sir Talarius’s sword, Ruiden,” Hilda shouted to her squad.

“His sword?” Jacob asked her in disbelief.

“It’s a very long story, but yes, we know each other. He used to store himself in my inn room,” Hilda said. Jacob looked at her in puzzlement. Hilda shook her head. “Yes, I know how crazy that sounds.”

Ruiden walked over to them. “Good to see you again, Hilda!”

The sword seemed much more sociable than it had been in Freehold. It almost seemed relaxed.

“Good to see you, Ruiden. So I take it you found Talarius and that is how you came to be here?” Hilda asked.

“Indeed, I have seen and learned a lot, much of it very disturbing, but yes, I was on his back when he entered the Command Center with Lord Tommus, or Lord Orcus as he is known here,” Ruiden said.

Hilda smiled somewhat thinly. “Well, we certainly have much to catch up on, but perhaps we could hold off on that until after the Storm Lords are vanquished?” Hilda asked.

“Certainly. Where are you off to? Would you like me to clear a path?” the sword asked.

Hilda tilted her head, nodding. “That would be most generous of you.” It would certainly speed their progress. She’d need to Lay To Rest the zombie parts that Ruiden would end up strewing in their path, but it would be far safer for her squad.

Hilda blinked as off to their left and overhead, a brilliant flash of light erupted and continued. Hilda turned to see a figure her Holy Sight revealed as Ashena Brightfeather, flying over a regiment of the Army of the Night. The extremely bright light was Krinna Fire emanating from a large mirrored shield bearing the symbol of Krinna and blasting down upon the army below a concentrated beam of Unlife-incinerating light. Clearly, Krinna’s archons had arrived on the planet in full force.

Praelgeis’s Command Center: DOA + 20, Early First Period

“Where are these avatars coming from, and where is their mana coming from?” Praelgeis demanded of Exador.

Exador shook his head. “They must be relaying the mana from somewhere else on Nysegard. Local runic gateways to their other fortresses. My guess would be that they are dropping archons to other fortresses they have. From those fortresses, they are then ferrying in combat-ready avatars.

“We have not encountered this much resistance since the Battle of Night’s Helm,” Daerth Tromlane hissed.

Praelgeis’s helm shook. “This is worse. Much worse. I do not recall ever seeing this many senior avatars. Ramses has noted that the winged saint with the Krinna Fire is Ashena Brightfeather, Prophetess of Nysegard. I have counted at least eighteen other avatars. At no point in history have the Forces of Light deployed this level of force.”

“And they come with a reborn Orcus,” Baba Smirt’ hissed. “With Orcus returned, he and the Siblings should be at each other’s throats, fighting each other! That was the Dark Apostle’s contingency plan should we fail to permanently slay Orcus.”

“How did this happen with no warning?” Praelgeis asked.

Exador kept his mouth closed. It happened with no warning because it had happened incredibly fast; a matter of quarter-months. Nothing happened that fast for immortals. These ventures took centuries, not months or quarter-months. He was not, however, going to reveal this information. The fact that he had been aware that Lenamare’s demon was suspected of being Orcus reborn, and not told them, would only aggravate his relationships with them.

“If we are going to have any hope of salvaging this fiasco, we are going to need to go big,” Baba Smert’ hissed. “Very big.”

“Hmm. Well, while you figure out what’s very big,” Exador said, watching Ashena cook untold numbers of troops, “might I suggest something that is modestly big, and unusual?”

“And what would that be?” Praelgeis asked.

“Fire, cold and lightning don’t do much to slow the D’Orcs down. I don’t know if you have it in your spellbooks — it was a surprise to me when the Council of Wizardry used it against me — but it would at least knock that flying torch out of the sky and keep the D’Orcs pinned down.”

Ankle-Deep in Zombies, Doom First Regiment: One Hour Later

“These are the days, my friend!” Darg-Krallnom shouted to his second-in-command, Ergda Doom Wraith.