Gastropé had to chuckle at himself. Ever since the storm lich battle, he had pretended to others on the ship that traveling through the Abyss was old hat for him. Apparently it was, because this just seemed so routine at this point.
“I have to run a small errand,” Gastropé told Jenn.
“What? Where?” Jenn asked, setting her iced tea down.
“Just have a small favor I have to return. I will meet you out at the investigation site by the wargtown.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Jenn asked.
Gastropé forced a smile. “Nah, it’s no big deal, and if we both show up late, people will wonder where we are. You go and let them know I’ll be there in no more than half an hour.”
Jenn shrugged. “Okay. Have fun returning a favor or whatever.” She shook her head, apparently displeased by his rather vague answer. However, he was positive she would not want to know about this.
Gastropé got to the location he had staked out, figuratively. It was about a ten-minute walk from the north gate, over a hill and near a small copse of trees. You could not see the town gates from here. He quickly gathered some branches and cleared the ground for a small fire. He lit the fire and chanted the spell for summoning Tizzy, linking the spell through their binding.
“Greetings, accursed master. What may I do for you?” Tizzy asked in his head. The octopod was standing in what looked like a stable of some sort. Rather odd, Gastropé thought; he had not known there were stables in the Abyss. Previously he had been buried in lava and called it a spa treatment; now he was in a stable?
“You asked me to call you now,” Gastropé replied; had the demon forgotten already?
“Oh, yeah. For Tom. That’s why I am here with these guys. Sorry, I just finished baking for two days straight and probably need to go take a nap!”
Gastropé blinked; the demon making even less sense than normal. Baking? Was that some sort of spa treatment in the Abyss? “Wait. I thought you said you never needed to sleep — that demons did not sleep?” Gastropé asked.
“That was before we were Doomed. Getting Doomed makes you sleepy!” Tizzy nodded to someone Gastropé could not see. “See, Rupert agrees!”
“Rupert is there? Is he coming through? Jenn will be thrilled!” Gastropé said. Tizzy peered off screen for a bit. “He says not today, but he and Fer-Rog want to come through soon.”
“Who is Fer-Rog?” Gastropé asked.
“They’re schoolmates, training together,” Tizzy said after a few seconds.
“Rupert is going to school? In the Abyss?” This really made no sense. “Do they have demon schools or something?”
“That would be interesting! I wonder what punishments would await those who tried to play hooky!” Tizzy grinned. “Nah, it’s combat training.”
“Combat training?” Now Gastropé was really confused.
“Anyway, Tom wants to open the gateway now, and I need to get some rest. Handing you over!” Tizzy shouted. Suddenly Tom was on the other end of the link.
“Hey, Gastropé, good to see you.” Tom came into focus and Gastropé suddenly realized he was looking at Edwyrd. “I’m coming in as Edwyrd, since Damien and I have some work to do.”
“Damien?” Gastropé shook his head. “What? Damien is there?”
“Yes, as is Vaselle and the rest. As soon as we come through, we will do introductions.”
“Uhm, okay... what do I need to do?”
“Not much, I can feel your summoning for Tizzy; let me work with that for a moment.” Edwyrd seemed to be concentrating on something and suddenly the flames leaped higher than one would have thought possible.
“Where are you, by the way?” Edwyrd asked.
“A place called Murgatroy.” Gastropé said. “It is south and east of — ”
“What a weird coincidence!” Edwyrd interrupted. “That will be great for Tal Gor. It’s close to our allies there.”
“Wait, what?” Gastropé asked. “What are you talking about? You know where Murgatroy is?” He was suddenly quite nervous.
“Sure, Tal Gor was there shopping just the other day with the rest of his clan and some of my people!” Edwyrd said even as the hole in reality split the bonfire in two.
“You were here the other day?” Gastropé asked aloud, even as he felt a cold dread coming over him.
Edwyrd jumped through the hole in the flames, carrying a very large staff of some sort. That was new. He then reached through and helped a young wizard, maybe six or seven years older than himself, step through. Following him came Damien, and then Antefalken after the councilor.
“Actually, I was only out by the wargtown,” Edwyrd continued. “I just opened the portal to haul the supplies through.” He turned toward the fire and said, “Good news, Tal Gor! We are coming out in Murgatroy, so you will be within flying distance of your tribe’s campsite.”
“Excellent!” An orc suddenly stepped through the portal.
Gastropé felt like he was going into shock. He was sure the blood had drained from his face.
Suddenly there was a terrible hissing and spitting noise and someone cursed. “Then get your lazy hind end through the portal!”
Gastropé blinked as some sort of nightmare from the Abyss angrily stomped through the portal. He stepped back awkwardly, narrowly avoiding tripping on the long grass. This thing was huge! At first, it sort of looked like a cross between a wolf and a bear, a seriously ugly crossbreed. But it had wings! What was this monster?
Edwyrd noticed his fear and said, “Don’t worry, Gastropé. This is Schwarzenfürze, Tal Gor’s D’Warg. She won’t hurt you.” Edwyrd grinned at him.
“D’Warg, as in Demon Warg? Like as in a D’Orc warg?” Gastropé asked.
It was now Edwyrd’s turn to blink in surprise. “Wow, I am impressed. Very few people remember anything about the D’Orcs or Mount Doom!” He was grinning from ear to ear and chuckling. “You continue to amaze me, Gastropé!”
“How...? What...?” Gastropé was having trouble thinking or speaking.
“Long story. We’ll have plenty of time to go over it. Short part is, I screwed up on making plans for returning my guests home after the party, and that’s why we needed your help!”
“Party?” Gastropé was not following this. Or was he? He was seriously terrified that he was following all of this way more than he wanted to.
Edwyrd nodded, even as another older, female orc in ornate clothing stepped through the portal. “Yeah, that’s why my people were here shopping. They were picking up supplies for the party after the swearing-in ceremony!”
Another orc, this one male, stepped through the portal; he too was dressed ornately, like the other two orcs.
“Ceremony?” Gastropé somehow managed to spit out.
“Yeah. I just took over this place called Mount Doom.” Edwyrd waved the large staff around. It appeared have a metal demon head at the top. “Came with a whole bunch of mighty warriors, D’Orcs. Anyway, we had a swearing-in ceremony for them to pledge their loyalty to me.”
“Ohh-kay,” was all Gastropé could manage before he felt the ground suddenly attack him.
Jenn was waiting in line to fill a bucket of water from the wargtown well when an orc behind her bellowed out, “Hilda! You have returned! It is my turn to buy you a drink!” Her first thought was that it was odd to hear an orc speak perfect trade tongue. All the orcs she had spoken to sounded very brutish and barbaric, so it was strange to hear one speak without an accent. The second thing was the name “Hilda,” particularly in the context of drinking.
The next voice left Jenn blinking furiously.
“Toothsetter!” Hilda — Trisfelt’s Hilda — said. “Good to see you again! I have an errand to run yet, but I will be back a bit later and we can drink!”