Jenn smiled and shook her head; apparently satyrs, in accordance with legend, had very little self-control when it came to alcohol and other pursuits of pleasure. She yelled, “Good morning Zed! How are you on this fine fierdy morning?” and was amused to see the satyr wince.
“You really don’t need to shout. My hearing is not impaired,” he replied sourly.
“Long night out playing cards?” Gastropé asked.
Zed nodded. “It got worse after I met your friend Vaselle, who was drinking with Teragdor.”
Jenn looked at Gastropé. “You have friends in Murgatroy?”
Gastropé frowned. He was also looking a bit paler, although it was hard to tell exactly what Gastropé’s various shades of pale meant. “Uhm, more of an acquaintance.”
Zed shrugged. “He also knows your demon, the four-armed and — legged one that you summoned to fight the Storm Lords.”
Jenn frowned and turned to face Gastropé. “How does an acquaintance of yours know Tizzy?” she asked suspiciously. She really did not like their demonic affiliations being made known.
“Uhm, well…” Gastropé hedged, as if trying to come up with an answer.
Jenn suddenly wondered if Gastropé might have also gotten drunk with this Vaselle character. But surely he wouldn’t have summoned Tizzy while drunk?
Zed answered for Gastropé, “Vaselle works for a good friend of Gastropé’s. An animage named Edwyrd.”
“Edwyrd!” Jenn blurted in shock and surprise. “Is he here in Murgatroy?” How would he have gotten to Murgatroy? That would mean Rupert was here too! She could finally get him back safely. But thinking on it some more, maybe not. This was not a particularly safe operation they were undertaking. However, it was far safer than chasing down expelled demons with his senseless cousin, Edwyrd. Further, if Rupert had stayed in Freehold, like he should have, he’d have had to come with them anyway. Then, she and Elrose could certainly have continued the boy’s studies.
“The way Vaselle talked, I don’t think so. We were all pretty drunk. I sort of think he was waiting for Edwyrd to show up to get him back to Freehold,” Zed replied, wincing as he tried to recall.
“How in Astlan is Edwyrd going to get him back to Freehold? For that matter, how did he get here?”
Zed shrugged.
“Uhm, maybe Edwyrd is a Voyager like Gamos?” Gastropé volunteered.
Jenn turned back to Gastropé. “Really?” she asked dismissively, shaking her head. “If he was a Voyager, why didn’t he use his Voyager skills to get us from Gizzor Del to Freehold? It’s a lot shorter distance!”
Gastropé was at a loss for words for a moment before weakly replying, “Maybe he just learned?”
Jenn sighed loudly and rolled her head in frustration. “He just learned? In what? The twelve days since we last saw him? Seriously?”
She shook her head and looked at the two men. “Where is this Vaselle staying? I want to talk to him!”
“Uhm,” Zed hemmed. “I didn’t ask. I sort of think it’s the inn next to the tavern? There are only three inns in Murgatroy, so it’s probably one of them.”
“Fine, then let’s start there. Follow me.” Jenn started marching towards Murgatroy, not waiting for the others to agree.
Talarius and the rest of Tom’s entourage stood in the center of the Oubliette, staring up silently as Phaestus recited the same information from yesterday. When he lit the door to Tartarus there were audible gasps.
Tom smiled as he watched Talarius twist and contort in his armor to peer through the visor and take everything in. “The atmosphere and temperature here is perfectly fine for humans,” he told the knight. “There are a lot of electronics in the other room, so, like the Tech Command Center, we have to keep it cool. You can take your helmet off to look around.”
The knight paused, considering, and then tentatively pulled his helmet off. Finally verifying that Tom was telling the truth, he put his helm under his left arm. Now he could rubberneck with the rest of the visitors.
“This is insane!” Reggie exclaimed. “I can’t even begin to imagine the resources it would take to build something like this!”
Phaestus chuckled. “But for the rest of Doom you can?”
Reggie frowned at him. “Well, that too, but since you guys said you built it, I didn’t want to imply doubt.”
Phaestus laughed. “Both took tremendous resources and thousands of years. However, it was Tartarus that provided the resources.”
“What do you mean?” Talarius asked the god.
Phaestus grinned. “It took a lot of mana, a lot of technology, lots of money and lots of labor. The building and then operation of Tartarus is how we got those resources. We did presentations before various deities and got them to back us in the construction of Tartarus. And, of course, we charge per prisoner. With all of this, we had the resources to eventually build everything here.”
“I was wondering about that. Given how resource constrained the Abyss is, and how much more sophisticated Doom appears compared to the Courts, I was curious as to how Orcus and you guys managed all of this.” Tom said.
“I wouldn’t take the sophistication or complexity of the Courts at face value. The underlying infrastructure is very impressive and sophisticated. It appears the way it does for a purpose and it’s all carefully crafted,” Antefalken said. “As are its defenses.”
“Indeed,” Phaestus agreed.
Vaselle groaned as a loud pounding came at the door. He was pretty sure some demon was trying to crawl out of his skull. That nasty ale left one horrible hangover!
“Are you expecting anyone?” Damien asked, looking up in surprise from his book.
Vaselle tried to shake his head no, but it hurt way too much. “No.”
“Wizard Vaselle, open the door. I am looking for Edwyrd!” A young woman’s voice came from the other side of the door.
Damien rolled his eyes and then stared at Vaselle. “What did you say to people in the bar?” the inquisitor asked.
Vaselle grimaced, trying to remember.
“That’s Jenn, Gastropé’s companion,” Damien said. “She can’t find me here. I am going to teleport back to yesterday’s campsite. Come get me when you get rid of her.”
Damien stood, closing his book and putting it in a large pocket. He quickly whispered the verbal components while gesturing the semantic components of the Teleport spell, and vanished in a brilliant flash of light.
“What was that light?” Jenn’s voice yelled through the door. “Did you just teleport out of there?”
Vaselle groaned and said, “Give me a bit, I’m coming! I don’t feel well.” He got out of bed and made his way to the door, an incredibly distant four feet, and opened it. Gastropé, Zed and a young woman dressed as a thaumaturge were standing outside the door. The woman was the one talking and knocking.
“Gastropé, Zed,” Vaselle said, nodding to them. He stared at Jenn. “I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure…” He squinted at them. There was way too much light in the dim hallway.
“Jenn Rean. I work for Councilors Lenamare and Trevin D’Vils of Freehold. I am looking for an animage named Edwyrd, whom Zed tells me you work for,” Jenn said, trying to peer into the room behind him.
Vaselle stepped back, gesturing for her to enter the seven-by-eight room. “As you can see, he’s not here. I haven’t seen him in several days.”
“What about Rupert?” Jenn asked.
Vaselle was not in any good condition to improvise, but he had to try. “Last I saw him, he was studying with a friend of his named Fer-Rog at Edwyrd’s home.”
Jenn stared at him as if she did not believe him. “Edwyrd’s home? What? In Eton someplace? He’s never mentioned having a home.” She turned to inspect the room, as if looking for holes in Vaselle’s story.