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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sagiro" data-source="post: 2293289" data-attributes="member: 726">Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 236A Poor SuggestionThe Company mulls Tapheon’s request for a few seconds, after which Dranko asks, “And why should we want to do that?”“It is part of the bargain we are making,” says Tapheon coolly,  “where my part of the bargain is, I let you live, I give you an escort out of the Demon Slices which you will certainly need, and I will point you to your destination.  It won’t be a great burden.  He will attack you.  You will simply be acting in self-defense.  You will want to kill him anyway.”Lord Tapheon has to try.  It burns, how the Lord of the Roses has taunted him, defied him, and these lesser beings are his best chance for revenge.   But he harbors no illusions about his chances, and will only press them so far.   Morningstar is the first to see the obvious problem with this 'bargain.'“But if we don’t agree to kill him, and we don’t reach an agreement, then you won’t escape from here.  And if he has something, and we need it, and we get it, I don’t see how his death has anything to do with it.”“His death will satisfy me,” says Tapheon, and the undertones of malice in his sonorous voice grow stronger.  ”He dared insult me.  Here.  Here!”“He’s either very brave or very foolish,” comments Dranko.  “But our goal, Lord Tapheon, is to free you and everyone else, returning you to your own planes of existence.   And I would assume that someone of your great power could assault the Lord of the Roses with even more force, once you are returned to your own demesnes.”  “What do you know of demons?” rumbles Tapheon.“Well, until recently, I thought they lived with devils in hell,” admits Dranko.  “So, apparently, not very much.”“No, not very much.  I will have different priorities once I am home again.  This is a matter to be resolved sooner, not later.  I have options, Morningstar of Ell.  I prefer this option, but I’m sure I could find new ones if I had to.”“We’re simply not comfortable agreeing to kill someone we’ve never met,” says Aravis. “You’re not going to make me get inside some great piece of machinery, are you?” asks Kibi with sudden worry.  “And Chaos hasn’t been whispering into your mind?  Right?”“What a strange creature you are.”   Tapheon’s eyes fix again on Kibi.  His alien face betrays no sign of his fear, that Kibi’s elemental familiar houses such power as could tear his throne room to pieces.  “If you don’t mind my asking,” says Aravis.  “Why are Kibi and Step so important to freeing you?”Tapheon chuckles in their minds.  “Kibi... may I call you Kibi, master dwarf?”“Apparently,” says Kibi insolently.The chuckle stops.  Palpable anger fills the air between the Demon Lord and his audience.  To be talked to in such a way!  Tapheon grips his unholy rod, prepared to make Kibilhathur Bimson suffer in ways mere mortals could not imagine, and he nearly... ...No.  Not the dwarf.  It is too dangerous, risking his wrath.  Tapheon masters his anger and says simply: “I beg your pardon?”Kibi senses immediately that he has overstepped his bounds.     “Yes,” he says humbly, looking at his boot-tops.  “Yes, my Lord Tapheon, of course.”Tapheon composes himself.  “Kibi has a great power... with him.  It is the best chance we will have against the Lord of the Roses.  One Certain Step’s role lies beyond that.”  Two of Tapheon’s eyes focus intently on Step.  “But we will come to you presently, paladin.”Ernie puts a hand on Step’s arm.“Assuming we actually deal with the Lord of the Roses,” says Kibi, “how do we go about breaking up the Slices?”“You go to the source of the phenomenon.  You put a stop to it.  All I know is that it – whatever it is – lies beyond the Lord of the Roses.”“Heading that way, and getting out of here, has been our intention all along,” says Morningstar.  “Do you have anything substantial to contribute?”Tapheon glowers again.  “I don’t think I like your attitude.”Ernie immediately jumps in to change the subject.“How do we fight the Lord of the Roses?  If he’s so powerful that even a being of your great might is wary...?”Tapheon exhales.  “I’ll tell you this.  Even with Kibi’s power brought to bear, it will be very difficult.  You’ll be hard pressed.  So here’s something I’m contributing:  good advice.  When you go before the Lord of the Roses, be girded for battle.  Be sure you will survive.   He has gathered powerful servants to his side.”  “He does not want the Slices to be returned?” asks Morningstar.“My sense is, no.”Damn.“Can the Lord of the Roses fight directly,” asks Dranko, “or will he only fight through his servants?”“I don’t know.  My knowledge of him is imperfect.  I see many things, and my consciousness spreads through the fabric of this great prison, but the Lord of the Roses is like a bright light into which I cannot look.”“Has he wanted to fight us all along?” asks Kibi worriedly.“I think he’s wanted you all along.”  A second of Tapheon’s eyes flick down to Scree.  “I sense he enjoys how things are here.”  “There’s a man, one of the humans who created the Slices,” says Dranko.  “He’s been wandering around carving statues of Kibi.  Have you seen him?”  “Ah, him.” Tapheon nods.  “He came close once, but eluded my grasp.”“We think he’s probably really important,” says Dranko.  “I disagree.  I don’t think he’s important anymore.   He is broken.  But, back to the matter at hand...”“We basically want the same thing,” says Kibi.  “And we’ll certainly do our utmost to make that happen.”“If killing him the only way to accomplish our task, then we will,” adds Aravis.Tapheon sighs.  “I don’t know that it is.  I am asking you to do it regardless.  And here is a thing that perhaps has not occurred to you.  I need Kibilhathur alive, and I need One Certain Step alive.  But the rest of you... ““I was wondering when he’d get to that,” mutters Grey Wolf under his breath.But Morningstar is undaunted.  “I’m certain that Kibi and Step would be unwilling, if not unable, to fulfill their part of the bargain by themselves.”“The only thing we will agree to,” says Aravis, “is to attempt to break up the Slices and free you, by whatever means are necessary.”“What could I offer, then, that would make you change your mind and agree to kill the Lord of the Roses for me?”There is a pause of a few seconds while the Company ponders, before Dranko answers.“You could renounce evil, give up your demonic throne, and free all the souls you have captive,” he suggests.Some of Tapheon’s Succubae cannot help but gasp at the audacity of this proposal.  The three of Tapheon’s eyes that are not locked on Kibi and Scree all focus on Dranko, and again the anger of the Demon Lord rises up to fill the iron chamber.  Such impudence!  To suggest something so outrageous, to his very face!Tapheon’s hand grips the Despoiler of Flesh and the tongues on the rod start to flap and wiggle.“I think I hit a sore spot...” says Dranko, gulping.Tapheon makes the slightest of motions with the rod, and Dranko changes.  His body twists and morphs horribly.  In a matter of seconds he has been polymorphed into a paralyzed, man-sized fish, balanced on his tail.  Tapheon flicks the rod a second time, and Dranko’s body is torn and stretched, as if someone had sunk claw-fingered hands into the fish and pulled it apart like taffy.  No parts of him are actually torn away, but the horrified Company can see organs pulsing in the rent gaps of Dranko’s form.  As for Dranko himself, the pain is immeasurable.  Beyond the haze of agony he realizes that he cannot breathe, no matter how hard he tries. Aravis is the first to find voice.“That’s not a very good negotiating tactic, if you want us to kill...”Tapheon cuts him off.  “We are now negotiating for something else.”...to be continued...</blockquote>

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