A demon lord, a dragon, and a wizard team up to fight against those that would harm the innocent. And, sadly, their main opponents tend to be those that claim their causes are "holy" and the innocent villages are the "guilty ones." Whatever happened to beings who claim to be of the light actually helping people? -- Anon Guest
[AN: There is only one Demon Lord, usually, and that's the one who lights the Blood Throne of Whitekeep. However, the Hellkin children of the ruler can also be known as Demon Lords. Which causes some confusion after Kosh breaks the family curse]
There were days when Pass kind of regretted his Adventurer Name. Using his full one might cause more trouble than it solved. Just like Dad had said, one was prone to panic first and regret it later.
None of his other siblings could tease him about it, either. They went through the exact same thing. Dad thought it was funny. He also thought that adventuring was a good thing for a Noble to undergo. Just to show them the truths of the real world.
The really annoying part was that Dad was right. People lied to Nobles all the time. White lies, honey-glazed and softened to the point of being near to unrecognisable. Pass was fast growing his Dad's innate knack for "filtering horseshit from haybales" as he put it. The Dragon and the Wizard were two very interesting truths that Pass had become very nervous about lately.
They knew he was hiding things from them, but they also knew his reasons for hiding them. Incomplete reasons, but reasons nonetheless.
Everyone had secrets. The Dragon, Wysayra, liked to pretend they were a perfectly ordinary Moon Elf. The Wizard... didn't speak hir real name. Pass couldn't really object. He hadn't given anyone his truths either.
Their adventuring took them far and wide, to many places that had never heard of the "Demon Lords" of Whitekeep. To many realms that needed the firm hand of justice.
Ironically, Pass could relax a little there. They couldn't care who he really was and had probably never heard of Pax Infernus.
But they were paranoid enough to be wary of Adventurers with agendas.
Hallowed spells could hurt Hellkin, if the caster hated the Hellkin. This particular hagiarchy held that Hellkin deserved every punishment they could deliver. Thus, a Hellkin Cleric of Tyr gave them more than a modicum of pause. He could pass by their gauntlets with the blessings of his own devotion, and did not writhe in pain when he uttered the prayers.
Interestingly, nobody in this place followed the Dawn Lord, Aurorus. In fact, none of the local gods were inclined towards second chances.
Unfortunately for them, neither was Tyr.
Unfortunately for all of the leaders, they insisted on making one gauntlet a barrier of truth.
"Speak your true name and pass," said the guardians of the hall.
Fuck.
Wysayra passed without comment, though the barrier stripped them of their Elven guise.
Pass took a deep breath and sighed, "Compassion Visor Battleborne Whitekeep, first of the name. Prince of Whitekeep and heir to the Blood Throne." At least until his big brother Korm spawned some little princes and princesses of his own. And, because this place pissed him off, he added, "And a legal arm of Pax Infernus." Let the high muckety-mucks go looking that one up. He hoped they choked on their sacramental wine.
The Wizard grumbled under hir breath and took an even longer sigh than Pass had. "Wraithvine the Eternal," ze said, and passed through the barrier without any further fuss.
Oh shit. They were in big trouble now.
[Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash]
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