[IMG]http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u79/SharpshooterJack/markerGerald_zps253683a8.png[/IMG]
[h3]Duchy of Pelgaid, secluded pond[/h3]
The fact that the seal holding back the Grand Master was primarily fueled by the power of his own generals was quite interesting to Gerald, as was the fact that all five of these generals – apparently all of them still in their prisons at the time – were required in order to undo the sixth prison. But as much as Gerald wanted to examine the mechanics behind such an enchantment more closely and perhaps learn how to replicate it or something similar, and as much as he would almost have been liable to consider setting the Grand Master free simply to save himself from his imminent undoing at the hands of the Withering, there was really no way to do either without possessing all five imprisoned demon lords, of which they currently had none.
Interestingly, this also provided a rather unusual insight into just why the crafty Ancient One had not managed to free himself in all this time, and why he had not just arranged for his mortal servants – such as the so-called Fixer he apparently had so much confidence in the abilities of – to collect the prisons and destroy the seal. To Gerald’s knowledge, up until now – with the discovery of the prison of Hazzergash – only one prison had officially been found during the entire history of Rodoria. Even with Hazzergash’s prison they were still missing three out of five, none of which they had even the faintest idea of where they might be. Maybe, in time, one would be able to track them down if one looked for disfigurement of nature similar to the one he had witnessed in Anaxim Forest around where Hazzergash’s prison had been buried, among the roots of the Tree of Life... but far from all hiding places would have surroundings so easily corrupted as the trees there. The other prison had been found in the old Gazzeral city on top of which Wenal City had been erected, enshrined in a tomb of stone, so chances were that the others could have been placed under similarly solitary circumstances. And if they found the three other prisons? They would still need to get the fifth one from deep in the bowels of Castle Wenal, past royal knights, court sorcerers and an entire army of soldiers and guardsmen... Wenal was supposedly the strongest of the ten duchies of Rodoria. It would take a army of their own to get in there.

Another thing that Gerald could not help but to wonder was just how bad it would actually be if the Grand Master was indeed set free. Obviously he was a demon, which meant that it was generally a fair assumption that things would only get worse by unleashing him upon the world, but how did he compare to the alternative? Right now the Withering was steadily working to wipe out all life in Reniam, all the while feeding Kreshtaat more and more power as it did so, which presumably meant that if the Withering was not stopped, Kreshtaat would eventually grow strong enough to cross the Divide and inflict the full horror of his being upon all the planes.
Kreshtaat killed; that is what he did, according to the Gazzeral records of the Age of Darkness Gerald had managed to read. During Kreshtaat’s rule demons reigned supreme in a fashion unlike any other period of history, with no demands being made to the mortal populace besides offering themselves to the demons as entertainment. Demons and mortals alike had run amok during this time, robbing, murdering and raping ravenously, and as long as these demons and mortals were sworn to follow Kreshtaat, opposing any of them meant dealing with the Lord of Darkness himself, who only administered death. Anyone who met him was killed. Kreshtaat literally did not care about anything beyond obliterating any opposition against his absolute rule.
In comparison, the Grand Master must have seemed like a generous ruler, as would mortal tyrants in the ages since. While Kreshtaat had not cared about anything and was content to watch the world burn, the Grand Master had been recorded as being someone who actually wanted an empire, and who was happy to ensure that his realm was sustainable. He had technically enslaved all mortals and made them his servants, that was true, but he also assigned them all land to call their own to cultivate and maintain, allowed them a right of ownership much like one Rodorians had today, and enforced laws that served not just to keep his subjects subservient, but to keep them relatively content and enable them to live. Records showed that he had not only outlawed thievery and murder among mortals, but he even enforced a prohibition against demons abusing mortals, and was known to have punished demons who failed to show restraint severely. Naturally the records of such a distant age were vague, incomplete and – in this case – in a mostly dead language, but by the sound of it the Grand Master definitely seemed like the proverbial lesser evil, and perhaps not even all that  worse than some of the horrid mortal rulers the world had known since.
Still, avoiding to unleash ancient forces of evil – no matter how well-behaved they had apparently been in the past – was probably a good idea.

“If I was the ‘grandest of masters’,” the Grand Master remarked when Jillian said her goodbyes, “I would be speaking to you in person, not through an enchanted stone. Feel free to -”
Just what she, or they, could feel free to was anyone’s guess, however, as the projection of the Grand Master atop the water’s surface abruptly vanished and his voice was silenced, the connection with the sigil stone apparently severed.
“Such an unpleasant and abominable individual,” Crone grumbled unhappily as she moved past them to get to the water’s edge. “But you desired immediacy and certainty to a path of lesser hazards.
Now that you have entered into an infernal wager with temporal limitations with that despicable creature, do you still foremind your participation and assistance in reimprisoning Hazzergash before he can retreat to safety?”