“Yes, well I certainly wasn’t expecting to find an unbound demon today, let alone one of that power.”
“So much for demonstrating the summoning of bound demons.”
“Well, the students shouldn’t have anything to complain about today. Quite strange to find an unbound demon so carelessly wandering around.” Lenamare defended himself. He noted the twist in her mouth; she knew she had him on the defensive.
“As I recall, it’s only the fourth one captured this decade,” said Jehenna.
“Yes and probably the most powerful in at least 100 years. What I don’t understand, besides the fact that it initially let itself go around unguarded, is why, when we first spotted it, did it appear as nothing more than a first order demon.”
“I don’t know, by its lights it only appeared a minor demon, yet when cornered we needed fourth order bindings to hold the creature. I am thinking that perhaps we shouldn’t have gone after it.”
“Do you think I would have knowingly gone after a fourth order demon, with a group of students and with no more preparation than we had. No, I was just so surprised to find any unbound demon out there, and then when I thought it was first order... well, how could I refuse the students a chance to bind a demon. As you said it is only the fourth one this decade.”
“Well, they did get a lesson, we almost got toasted,” replied Jehenna a bit more emphatically, but still reservedly.
“I was sure that it was first order up until it began to flee, then with its speed, I figured maybe second. Especially when it so readily gave its name.”
“Then it turned and blasted you with an energy bolt, and then twice more.”
“I must admit that somewhat took me off guard.”
“‘Off guard’ my ass. It damn near laid you flat. Don’t lie to me; I was in the link next to you. I felt that blast.” Jehenna’s concern for his well-being was showing through. Lenamare knew it wasn’t the student’s safety she worried about, but rather his.
“OK, so it did put a strain on me; but, I did manage to maintain my pose and concentration, and not reveal my weakness to the demon.”
“Granted. I admit that if that blow had hit me directly, I might have faltered a little more than you did.”
“Needless to say, that’s when I first realized we had a higher order demon on our hands. However, by that point, as you well know, if we’d stopped, it could have come rampaging back on us and thrashed us severely. Our pentacles could never have stood against it, no stronger than the wards we had set were.” He gestured to the six pentagrams on the workroom floor. As any observer could have noted, the wards were set to guard against bound demons and unbound minor demons, but not a major unbound demon. The room itself contained only the six pentagrams, five braziers within the five pentagrams sympathetic to the primary pentagram, the chair in which Lenamare sat beside a small table with chalk and a few vials of conjuration supplies. The walls were, as a matter of course, curtained solidly, so that the demon could not find a way out, or tell where it was in the world of men. “It was sheer providence that we had some Orl wood in the room and the few other supplies necessary for the fourth order binding.”
“Actually, as to that, I am surprised we got it even then,” commented Jehenna, “Its dodging upward, and then attempting to dematerialize from the astral plane, actually suggests fairly high intelligence. Why it didn’t try a few other fourth order tricks, I’m not sure.”
“That plays to my first question, why was it wandering around unguarded, posing as a small demon anyway?”
“To lure silly wizards into trying to capture it, so it could possess them?” suggested Jehenna.
“Well, if that was its game, it might have succeeded if any of the students had broken. Again, I’m mad at myself for not taking better precautions today.”
“Well, luckily they didn’t break, and there is no way for you to have anticipated finding an unbound greater demon.” By this time, Jehenna had finished putting out the braziers and her internal fire seemed to be subsiding; she walked over and put her hand on Lenamare’s shoulder; staring down at him the cold mage light hovering above their heads.
“The whole thing still bothers me; why did it act so confused about the whole thing?” Lenamare sighed, shaking his head.
“That, I have no answer for, so we won’t worry about it for now. OK?” Jehenna asked, trying to put the matter to rest.
“If you insist.”
“I do,” and with that she kissed him on the forehead and left the room.
Chapter 3
At the party, Paul was freaking out. He had been leaning over Tom, trying to get him to come to. At first, he had thought Tom was joking, but when he noticed how pale his friend was he became worried. He shook and yelled at Tom to wake up.
Finally after several minutes Tom looked like he was about to come to, then the lights had flickered and the iPod spontaneously rebooted and the powered speakers turned off; Tom screamed and stopped breathing. Everyone had all gone wild then, as fast as they could Paul and Jack had tried CPR, but they had only seen it done, never actually been trained in it. Mike called an ambulance, and the entire party had stopped to watch them try to help Tom. It didn’t do any good.
Now the ambulance was here and the police were on the way. The medics worked over Tom for a few moments and then decided there wasn’t much they could do. He was dead. Paul and Jack cornered Reggie in the back room.
“What the fuck was in that joint you gave him, Reggie?” Paul demanded.
“Nothin’, the guy I bought it from said it was just a new special high grade shit grown in Puerto Rico. I swear! I don’t know what happened.” A terrified Reggie pleaded, he was scared to death someone would tell the cops he gave Tom the joint. “He was even smoking it out of this big ass old fashioned tobacco pipe when I met up with him. Or that’s what he said he was smoking.”
“Are you sure, cause if you’re lyin’, I’m gonna bust your balls and turn you into the police for murder. Tom is dead because of your fuckin’ shit,” raged Jack.
“I swear to god, man. I didn’t know. I had part of one this evening, it had an incredible high but otherwise seemed perfectly normal to me, I didn’t pass out or anything. Please, I swear to you, I didn’t put anything in the joint. You’ve gotta believe me.”
“What are we gonna do?” Paul asked Jack.
“Shit, I don’t know. You got any more of those damn joints?”
“Yeah, sure, four. Here.” He handed four joints to Jack.
“Anyone else smoke this shit?” asked Paul.
“No, I swear.”
“What do we do?” asked Paul.
“Let’s just flush ‘em and ride it out, it’s all we can do. Pretend he had a heart attack,” Jack answered.
“I hope it works,” said Paul.
“So do I. So do I.”
Introduction to the Astral Plane
By Ase Onan Archimage of Turelane 1334–1362 Ani Chronia
WARNING: The following treatise is intended only for those skilled in the Wizardly Arts. All others shall most assuredly be stricken with befuddlement and confusion.
The Astral Plane is a plane of spirit and energy. It is completely unlike the planes of men. The wizard (or other spell user) journeys there in spirit form (raw animus). Only the caster’s spirit goes, all of his or her material possessions remain on the planes of men with his or her body.
On the Astral Plane the caster’s spirit is attached to his material body by what appears to be an umbilical cord of a silvery colour (thus called the Silver Cord). This cord is not in fact unique to the Astral Plane, the silver cord is an extension of the network that attaches or anchors animus to the body. If a wizard were to use the spell Anima Travel, to travel in spirit form in the planes of men, the silver cord would still connect the caster’s animus to his or her body. This silver cord is the life link. If it is cut, or severed, the owner of the silver cord has some severe problems. Certain spirit and demonic creatures may damage or sever the silver cord as may some magic artifacts and certain spells. If the silver cord is damaged, the caster should return to his or her body for 24 hours to let the silver cord ‘repair/restore itself.’