The Heavenly Host

“I think we get the idea,” Tom cut him off. “So they are orc demons?” He was not sure if he had seen any orcs in Astlan, but if it was a fantasy world, it probably had them. Tizzy nodded. Tom looked to the others, who seemed about as puzzled as he was. Antefalken looked as if he was searching his memory for something.

“So are you saying there are distant planes with orcs on them that get summoned by orc wizards?” Tom asked.

“I’ve never heard of an orc wizard,” Talarius said firmly. “Orc shaman, yes; wizard, no. Doesn’t seem in their nature.” The knight looked at Tom more intently. “However, I am not sure I follow you.”

“We can go over that later; it’s part of why I brought you to the Abyss. However, at the moment, it’s most likely not useful to our current situation,” Tom said. “Tizzy?”

Tizzy shrugged. “Sort of, but not really. There used to be a cult of orcs that worshipped an orc god who would reward the greatest, nastiest, meanest warriors by transforming them into D’Orcs upon death. I suppose it was sort of like sainthood, but rather than being saints, the orcs ended up being demons in the Abyss.”

Tom shook his head. “So one deity’s idea of punishment is another’s idea of reward?”

Boggy snorted and said, “And neither is accurate.”

“So what was the point of this? Why would the orcs want to end up in the Abyss?” Tom asked Tizzy.

Tizzy frowned as if it were obvious. “Orcs love battle, and their god promised them the right to fight for him for all of eternity. Why would they not jump at that? That’s a promise so-called ‘good’ gods make all the time.” Tizzy glanced over at Talarius, who said nothing.

“Uhm, so where is this god of theirs?” Rupert asked, looking around nervously.

Tizzy shrugged, “He called down the final battle and lost. Bummer when that happens. He died, as did all those with him. These guys must have been left doing rear guard or something. Huge disgrace to not die in battle with your god.” Tizzy was shaking his head. “You really have to feel for the poor saps.”

Boggy shook his head, staring at Tizzy. “You really are daft, mate.”

Talarius sighed. “No, the octopod makes a lot of sense. The sense of failure must be crushing for them.”

Tom shook his head. “So what are they doing here?”

Tizzy shrugged. “Where else would they go? They wouldn’t have been welcome in the Courts, so it would make sense to get far away and hole up in a defensible location.” He gestured to their surroundings. “Seems like this place would do nicely.”

Antefalken chuckled. “Well, we were thinking about holing up in the Crystal Caverns to avoid Lilith, so yes.”

“By the way, I’ve changed my mind. I want to go back to Tom’s cave,” Boggy said. The others nodded in agreement.

“Okay, well, we don’t want to go that way” — Tom pointed back to the lit area they’d just left — “so let’s go back to the last T and take the other direction.”

They returned to the T and continued on straight. This corridor went along for about four hundred feet before it made a turn to the right. Antefalken went ahead and looked around the corner carefully before gesturing them forward. This passage seemed to be going downward at an angle; that was not a particularly good thing, Tom felt. Down was further from the surface and closer to the floor of the barracks room.

The passageway eventually led to a landing with a large iron door that opened onto it.

“Hmm, not so good,” Antefalken said softly. “I’ll try listening at the door to see if I hear anything, but it appears rather thick and soundproof.” The demon put his head up to the door, twisting it awkwardly to get his ears as close as possible despite his protruding horns. Everyone remained silent while the bard listened.

Tom examined the seals around the door. They seemed pretty tight. He had been thinking that if there had been space below the door, he could have turned to flame and gone through; unfortunately, that did not appear to be the case.

Antefalken pulled his head back, shaking it. “I don’t hear anything. Whether that’s because there is nothing, or because the door is thick, I don’t know.” The short demon shrugged.

Talarius sighed. “That seems to be the norm. I had hoped perhaps your demon hearing would be better than human or alfar, but the same thing always happens when I find an iron door in a dungeon.” He flexed his hands. “We need to be ready for whatever is there, and be prepared to fight or flee as the case warrants.”

“You do this often?” Boggy asked, rather surprised.

The knight made an exaggerated nodding motion in his armor so they could see it. “Yes. In the quest to rout out evil, one often has to march through underground warrens, mazes and dungeons.” He shook his helmeted head back and forth. “For some odd reason, evil seems to prefer the underground, away from the light of day.”