She needed to fashion something to hold the spells to keep the wards at bay so she did not have to actively keep the ritual going herself. This would be only her third holy artifact since she had graduated from saint school, but she felt confident that she would have no problems. Once the necklace was working, she could, with luck, also use the chapel’s sanctity to boost her ability to contact the archons off plane and file her report. These stupid wards were a huge pain in the butt.
“Decisions, too many decisions!” Tom complained. He was sitting on his chair. He felt bad that he did not have furniture for anyone else, but he had never expected to have so much company. Nor had he really had time to build more. He had offered to let anyone who wanted to sit in his single chair, but it was really too big for anyone, including Reggie and Boggy.
“That’s not a common demon problem,” Boggy observed.
Tizzy nodded emphatically up and down while chewing on the stem of his pipe.
“Well, let’s see,” Antefalken mused. The bard had returned a few hours ago from the Courts and brought them up to speed on the reactions there. Tom had introduced him to Reggie as an old friend who had shown up when he had heard about the commotion in Astlan. Boggy then introduced Estrebrius to Antefalken and explained Vaselle’s request for a meeting.
“We’ve got an invitation from Lilith to stay with her at the Courts, and you’ve got a business proposal from Estrebrius’s accursed master, but we don’t yet know what that proposal is. Further, as I said, I think half the Abyss is looking for you and your guest,” Antefalken said, pointing to Talarius.
“I suspect a lot of people will be coming out of the woodwork to be your friend,” Boggy noted.
“Or to kill him permanently,” Tizzy added. Tom glared at the octopodal demon.
“Clearly, Lilith wants you to come to her, and she can protect you from other demons, but she’ll also have you all to herself at that point,” Antefalken said.
“This Lilith, who exactly is she?” asked Tom. “From what you have said, and what I read in Freehold, she sounds like she’s pretty important. I know the name, but they cannot be the same person. Different mythologies.” He made a shrugging motion.
Talarius seemed to shuffle in his armor over in the corner, where he was sitting and listening to them. Tom assumed the knight had also heard her name. Antefalken gave him a puzzled look, apparently wondering if Tom had been living in a cave, given that he did not know who Lilith was. Fortunately, Tom felt their current environment was sufficient evidence that he had, in fact, been living in a cave. Tom would just have to live with that lapse; he was not up to revealing his story to everyone today. Not with Rupert here, in particular.
“Well, don’t be too sure of that.” Tizzy chuckled. “She’s multiversally famous. Nearly every religion features some version of her.”
“Bad breakups will do that.” Boggy nodded.
“Yeah, and this one was bad.” Tizzy puffed out some smoke. “Really an epic breakup.”
“And of course, she came out looking bad,” Boggy said. “Women often do. Even if it’s the man’s fault, the ex-wife always ends up with the bad reputation.”
“I will refrain from joining this discussion,” Antefalken said.
“Are you still sleeping with her?” Boggy asked.
Antefalken gave him a surly look. “I’m not joining this discussion, and not discussing my love life.”
“Okay, I’m not that interested in her past. I am more concerned about the present. Who exactly is she today? If she’s so powerful that everyone knows who she is, is it safe to turn down her invitation?” Tom asked.
Antefalken shrugged. “To be completely honest, I don’t know which is more dangerous: accepting her invitation or declining it.”
“So who is she?” Reggie interrupted.
Tizzy shook his head. “She’s the Empress of the Damned, of course.”
“The Empress of the Damned?” Tom asked.
“She is about as close to being a ruler as the Abyss gets.” Boggy shrugged.
Antefalken continued, “She is one of the two Co-Factors, she and her consort, Sammael. They are the two most powerful demons in the Abyss, after the Concordenax.”
Reggie asked, “The Concordenax?”
“The Demon Father, the creator of all demons,” Estrebrius chimed in.
Tizzy suddenly started coughing loudly, pulling the pipe from his mouth and billowing out clouds of smoke. He looked up, realizing everyone was staring at him. “Sorry, inhaled the wrong way!”
“And where is he in all this?” Tom asked. “I read about him in a treatise, but it says he’s been missing for some time.”
Antefalken shrugged. “No one knows. Other than Lilith and Sammael, I do not know anyone who has ever claimed to have met him, or so much as seen him. And Lilith has no idea where he went, but he’s been gone for an extremely long time, even by demon standards.”
“This is all getting much more complicated than I’d expected.” Tom sighed.
Tizzy made a harrumphing sound.
“You think this is complicated, wait until Tiernon’s folks show up on your ledge with an arrest warrant!” Talarius chuckled, apparently with glee.
“I don’t think they’re going to come down into the Abyss.” Antefalken shook his head.
“That would be considered a broach of détente.” Boggy was nodding.
“But it would be kinda interesting,” Tizzy whined.
Estrebrius was shaking his head, clearly wanting no part of such an invasion.
“Yes, but more important, I’m not sure if they’d have access to all their resources here,” Antefalken said.
“What do you mean?” Tom asked.
“Well, look at our friend over there.” He pointed to Talarius. “You can’t feel your deity right now, can you?” Antefalken asked.
The knight simply glared at the bard. Antefalken continued after a moment of the knight’s silence. “I mentioned this earlier; clerics tend to get disconnected from their gods here, and no souls can escape without being intentionally released somehow. From what I have seen, and what Lilith has said, clerics can only do minor rituals here that draw on their own mana, or the mana from any followers in their immediate party. Those links they have to the higher planes don’t work here.”
“So his agents would be cut off from him?” Tom asked.
Antefalken shrugged. “That’s what I’m thinking.”
“And that’s why it would be interesting!” Tizzy exclaimed, pounding one of his fists into its opposing palm. “We could capture them, torture them, eat them!” He got a slightly wild look in his eye. “All that super-sweet angel mana!” He closed his eyes. “I bet their souls are really tasty!”
“You foul beast!” Talarius spat at Tizzy.
Tizzy turned and grinned at him. “I bet they’re even tastier than Paladins!”
The knight shrugged. “I’m not a Paladin, I’m a Knight Rampant, and so your ignorant point is wasted.”
“Enough!” Tom said. “No one is eating anyone, and we aren’t going to worry yet about Tiernon’s people coming for a visit. We take this one day at a time!” Tom was really starting to stress out. He was definitely in over his head. He sighed. “I think we need to consider this Lilith thing a bit more. How about Estrebrius’s accursed master? Do I take this meeting?”
Estrebrius grinned rather oddly and wrung his hands. “Great One, do as you please. I’m just so grateful you are considering it. I swear, my master is no threat to you. He does not have that much power, and as humans go, he is a good man. He’s never tried to screw me over; he’s really the best master I’ve ever had!”