“And against whom? The dwarves?” Ramses added.
“The orcs,” Morthador replied.
“Orcs?” Ramses’ face twisted in consternation. “The orcs in Astlan have not been a serious threat to anyone in thousands of years.”
“In Murgandy, in the town of Murgatroy, a sizeable contingent of orc warriors on D’Wargs, accompanied by D’Orcs, showed up on what appears to have been a supply run,” Morthador told them. “The alfar in the Grove are also claiming similar reports in Etterdam, Ithgar and Romdan.”
“I’m sorry, but what? Dorks and dwargs?” Exador asked. Ramses seemed equally puzzled.
“No, D’Orcs and D’Wargs. Demon Orcs and Demon Wargs,” Morthador replied instructively.
“Demon orcs?” Exador looked at Ramses. “Have you ever heard of such a thing? I thought we all came from human stock, except of course for the dragon demons… I suppose we should call them D’Dragons or something.”
“No, I have never heard of them,” Ramses said.
“They predate you,” Morthador said.
“Exactly how old are you?”
Morthador was silent for a while before replying. “Time has little meaning in the shadows in the belly of the ground. I do not know.”
“Okay then,” Exador said. “What do you know of them and why do the alfar hate them?”
“The D’Orcs were the minions of Orcus. He led them and the orcs in numerous battles against the alfar and their allies, on many worlds,” Morthador explained.
“Orcus?” Ramses grimaced. “I am pretty sure he was put down before my time; by an avatar of Tiernon, as I recall.”
“Yes, I’ve heard Damien’s bard sing the tale before the Courts. It was one of their favorite ballads. It was also indescribably long and tedious.” Exador shook his head. “But I am fairly certain it made good money for that bard.”
“Yes, you are right. I have heard it once.” Ramses tilted his head. “Wasn’t Damien’s bard also with the extra-greater demon?”
Exador grunted a short laugh. “I have to admit, this is getting curious.” He shook his head and turned back to the dark recess of the room. “What more can you tell me?”
“I assume that I speak for us all in saying that it has been an exhausting day?” Gandros Ysandr-Eranos, Lord Chairman of the Council of Wizardry, asked wearily, resting his gavel after calling the Council to order. It had been two days since the main entranceway to the palace had been destroyed in the Council’s battle with Exador, and the entire Council had been working extremely long hours shoring up their defenses and dealing with structural damages to their fortress and city.
Meteor storms tended to be rather devastating. While Exador had been felled by half a dozen good-sized meteors, several smaller rocks had been drawn in with the larger one and rained down upon the city proper, causing collateral damage, as had Exador’s geo-quake spell. Miraculously, there had been only minor injuries.
“That would be an understatement,” Sier Barvon stated. The councilors had not only had to go out and inspect the damages, reassure people who were now worried about impending demonic vengeance, but also start preparing new defenses for what they were sure was coming soon.
“This is an unprecedented crisis and we are nowhere close to our full strength!” Tureledor complained.
“We were down a councilor as it was, awaiting the yearly meeting for the next election, and now one of our most formidable members has become our most formidable enemy,” Davron agreed.
“Trevin is out chasing down a goddess we could currently care less about and Damien appears to have gone missing,” Zilquar said.
Randolf shook his head. “Damien had to attend to some issue involving that Lord Edwyrd fellow, and took a few days leave. It was therefore Council business, given this Edwyrd fellow was pursuing leads regarding these demons.”
“So he said,” Sier Barvon complained. “Mighty convenient that he leaves a few hours before all hell — and I clearly mean that literally — broke loose!”
“I do not believe he could have anticipated that sword golem’s actions,” Jehenna said drily.
“Still, one of our foremost conjurors and demonologists is not here when we need him,” Alexandros Mien reminded them. “These things do happen, but we could certainly use his assistance now.”
“Randolf, Lenamare, Jehenna?” Gandros inquired, looking at the three wizards. “You have been pooling all your information on Exador?”
“Indeed,” Lenamare said before the other two could answer. “I also have Hortwell working with Randolf’s people in examining the history of the Exadors — or rather, Exador, since we now know he is but a single individual.”
“Have you been able to glean anything useful yet?” Davron asked.
“Only that, having been bested by the Council, he shall certainly seek a ruthless and unsparing vengeance,” Randolf said somberly.
“You have studied him for years, as a demon, yes?” Alexandros asked Randolf.
Randolf nodded. “My entire life, as did my father and grandfather.”
“I must admit, Randolf has an interesting contraption he is working on,” Lenamare told the Council. Randolf blinked in surprise at the public compliment.
“Indeed?” Gandros asked.
Randolf nodded. “I have been working for many years on a trap for him. Since it is highly unlikely that we could permanently kill an archdemon, I’ve been working on neutralizing him.”
“Neutralizing him?” Zilquar asked.
“Containing him, taking him off the playing field so to speak,” Randolf said.
“What trap could you devise that would hold an archdemon?” Tureledor asked.
“It’s not like you can just toss one of them in a deep dark hole, never to be heard from again,” Zilquar noted.
“It is a remarkable variant of a Vergian Time Stasis trap,” Lenamare said before Randolf could reply. “I had such a trap at my school, and in fact, presumably a number of Exador’s wizardlings are still stuck in it. Being in a complete temporal stasis, they would not have been hurt by my parting gift to Exador and his army.”
Randolf nodded. “The problem is that casting a Vergian Time Stasis is, as we all know, completely impractical in the midst of combat. Thus, I have been working on a means of getting him into an existing VTS. Something that Lenamare”—Randolf gestured to his colleague—“was able to do with his teleportation trap. Now, of course, it might be tricky to get Exador to teleport near us…”
“And we would need to ensure that none of our people accidentally teleport in the vicinity of such a trap.” Lenamare smiled in what appeared to be gentle concern for the wellbeing of his colleagues. Jehenna, by Lenamare’s side, cocked an eyebrow but said nothing.
“So we are working to come up with some alternatives. I have had some previous success, and I hope that with Lenamare’s assistance, we can perfect something demon-specific,” Randolf said.
“Excellent.” Gandros nodded. “However, we also need to worry about the wards, and maintaining them. Lenamare, between this trap, the wards and researching Exador’s methods, will you have any time to assist the newly formed demonic defense team?”
Lenamare sighed in resignation, but gave a weary smile. “It is a great load, but I am sure with the support of all my esteemed colleagues, I shall be able to accomplish what must be done!”
Jehenna twisted her head rather quickly to glance at Lenamare, as if in surprise, most likely at his unusually flattering comment about their colleagues.
“How are our supplies for maintaining the wards?” Gandros asked.
Jehenna spoke up. “If we stay in demon-repulsion mode only, we are good for another week. We are going to need to send out carpets to acquire more material components. We will need to scour the Council States and surrounding regions.”