“Sound familiar?” Darg-Krallnom asked.
Everyone around the table was looking stunned. This would, of course, be the first time any of them had heard of what had actually happened. Of course, Tom himself had only learned of it this morning, so it was truly new information.
“And you think that was Sentir Fallon’s doing?” Beragamos asked.
“He was leading the attack against me, at Aodh’s side. He, Aodh and Lilith worked as a team to defeat me,” Tom said.
Darg-Krallnom nodded in agreement; they had spent quite a bit of time discussing this as part of their plans on how to avoid a repeat.
“These are serious charges,” Beragamos said sternly.
“We are in a truce, Beragamos. These are not charges; they are facts that are immediately relevant to the situation at hand,” Darg-Krallnom said. “Orcus has dealt with this sort of thing before. We intend to fight it differently this time.”
“But saying that Sentir Fallon was in league with Lilith?” Beragamos asked skeptically.
“Well, you admit that he was working with Nét’s minion, Aodh, and you know what happened,” Darg-Krallnom said, and Beragamos nodded. “We, the D’Orcs at Doom, have always known that Lilith took down Orcus’s connection to the Abyss. We know this because her troops came marching into Doom from Etterdam. You think this was a coincidence?”
Beragamos was silent for a moment. “I will admit it is suspicious timing.”
Darg-Krallnom shook his head. “We have known each other for nearly forty thousand years, worked together many times. You know my opinion of coincidence.”
Beragamos got a sour look on his face. “Clearly, once this is over, this must be investigated.” The archon looked at Tom. “Understand, it was never Tiernon’s intention that Sentir Fallon kill you or your people permanently. He only wanted Sentir Fallon to preserve Etterdam. Your war with Nét was destroying the planet.”
Darg-Krallnom looked at Beragamos very oddly. “Then perhaps he should have tasked Sentir Fallon with driving Nét from the plane instead?”
Tom said, “Again, we will deal with this after the Storm Lords are defeated.”
Beragamos and Darg-Krallnom both nodded.
Tom noted that Grob Darkness Slayer seemed relieved by his pronouncement. He could certainly understand why. One didn’t want one’s two strongest allies at each other’s throats. He turned to Beragamos again. “What have you set up to get your people to the Outer Planes should they be killed?” he asked. That had been his number one concern about coming to the Citadel.
“We have nothing. We have no idea what to do about that,” Rasmeth said.
“When your people die, what links do they follow?” Tom asked.
“Their souls can take any link they have that will get them to their respective Outer Plane,” Beragamos answered. “But, obviously, there are no links at the moment.”
“So why haven’t you sent avatars outside the interdiction and made sure everyone has links that pass through those avatars?” Tom asked.
All the avatars not concentrating on processing mana stared at Tom in surprise. He looked back at them, puzzled why they were shocked by this. “Yes, you could use those same avatars to channel mana streams from the god pools to priests within the interdiction,” Tom said.
“A relay avatar!” Beragamos said.
“Yes. That’s essentially what I’m doing, only I am using the Doom of Nysegard as the relay. You would need to use avatars. They wouldn’t be able to channel as much, but it would be better than this,” Tom said.
“That is brilliant! I can’t believe we did not think of that,” Aeris said. At least Tom was pretty sure that’s who the woman was. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the new people he had just met.
“How do we know where the interdiction ends?” Asferóth, the winged Arch-Diocate of Krinna asked. Tom had originally mistaken him as an avatar; he certainly looked like a very colorful and majestic angel.
“Wait!” Karis, who was standing behind Grob Darkness Slayer, interjected. “Lord Orcus? Couldn’t they just use your runic gateway to go to the Isle of Doom? We already know that is outside the interdiction!”
Beragamos looked to Tom and then to Darg-Krallnom.
Tom sighed. “I am sure you understand why we are leery of this idea?” he asked the archon.
Beragamos nodded. “I swear by my immortal soul that we shall do nothing to sabotage the Doom of Nysegard, nor Mount Doom, even after the battle is complete. I so swear on behalf of the Five Siblings.”
Darg-Krallnom nearly glared at the archon. “We shall hold you to that.”
“Actually, Darg-Krallnom, we do not need to, remember?” Tom said with a tight grin. “I have Hephaestus, also known as pTah, and his wife Sekhmekt guarding the Doom of Nysegard, along with an army of their avatars. The rest of their pantheon is available within minutes.” He looked at Beragamos. “As you probably know, the Nyjyr Ennead want nothing more than to tear down Tierhallon, along with all of the Five Siblings’ Outer Planes.”
Hilda, the heavyset saint who had been chasing Talarius, looked up from her concentration on mana processing towards him. “You are working with Bastet and her people?”
“All of them.” Tom nodded. “We were both wronged, betrayed, by the Five Siblings.”
Beragamos closed his eyes. Hilda looked to Beragamos, apparently seeking the truth of the matter.
“Is it true?” Talarius suddenly demanded of Beragamos.
Beragamos opened his eyes to meet Talarius’s. “Is what true?”
“Sekhmekt shared a vision, mortal memories, of what happened in Natoor, in the city of Memphis. Her vision showed the Rod and Rangers ravaging and terrorizing the city, conversion by force,” Talarius stated angrily. “Doing things that are clearly in violation of everything the Church and Rod stand for. She said this happened all over Natoor and Najaar.”
Beragamos sighed. “There were issues with that venture. Oversight was not what it should have been. The Siblings have been working to correct what occurred there. The attending archon was transferred out; a new one brought in shortly after that.”
Talarius had a look of complete horror and revulsion on his face.
Tom shook his head and asked, “Who was the attending archon?”
Beragamos looked at him sidelong and grimaced. “I take it you know?”
Tom did not know, but he had a pretty good hunch. “Based on what you have told me, I can make a guess.”
Talarius looked at him, puzzled.
Sir Stainsberry asked, “Sentir Fallon?”
Beragamos nodded quietly.
“If I were to believe what you said about Tiernon not intending his treachery, that Sentir Fallon acted on his own both times, then I would suggest that Tiernon has seriously failed as a god of Justice,” Tom said coldly. He was actually more than a little surprised at how angry he was feeling at the moment. The horrors of this Sentir Fallon were old, well before Tom’s time, but for some reason he found himself taking all of this personally.
Inethya, the Prophetess of Tiernon on Nysegard, spoke up. “Even before Sentir Fallon was promoted to the role of Elder Archon of the Localverse, while he was Attendant Archon for Astlan, he had been advocating for a decreased ground game on Nysegard. He is the one primarily responsible for the reduction in the number of saints joining battle here.”