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As soon as these words were uttered, the rogue's image flickered ever so briefly, as he vanished from the tavern but left behind an illusion that he was still there. However, even if someone had noticed the flicker, their memory of the momentary reality adjustment would be eaten away until seconds later, they could not recall what strange thing they had thought they witnessed...
Three Days Earlier...
The hellish realm of Malevora was in chaos, once again. However, it was not a slave uprising that had caused it this time, nor a civil war between the gods of hell. Malevora's chief god Dakhon had been exiled by his junior, the dark, psychotic warlord who had earned the horrific title The Infamous by conquering and torturing and slaughtering his way through the multiverse; most educated in extradimensional travel had at least heard of him, but rarely had anyone seen him and escaped to tell the tale, unless he wanted them to.
Once his mentor, Dakhon had become more of a hindrance to The Infamous. Yet, the revolt that had taken place after that unexpected shift was nothing compared to the factions war that had erupted in Malevora once The Infamous' previous-loyal subordinate Alexandra, a human in charge of the spy/assassin guild called The Citadel, turned on him and led the humans and reptilian Skaar Demons against the Malevoran loyalists. But this had sparked something in the hearts of the other subjugated Malevorans. Millions of slaves and soldiers and even some nobles joined forces with others of their respective species and sought more than freedom now, but also the right to rule the dimension of Malevora.
With so many factions vying for power, The Infamous had no choice but to go underground, most of his powers stripped from him by a goddess he'd thought was faithful to him. She turned out to be leading the other pagan gods against the man...and a man he was - mortal.
Fleeing Malevora, The Infamous found himself at the mercy of others, manipulating them into getting him more power and a way to another realm. Though he managed to retain the ability to teleport within planes, he could not teleport or portal out of one. The Infamous traveled to half a dozen worlds before he found this one...
Present
"Maximilian. I am not here to fight." The Infamous said in an slight Irish accent after he teleported into the cave of ghosts deep in the black forest; he was standing in the shadows behind the elven mage. "Do ye know who I am?"
The Mad Jester Maximilian sat in the ghost deep cave, where the Mad Hell met earth to create a small pocket dimension in the main chamber. He was meditating on many things which to the average mind would seem absolutely demented, mad philosophies, dark secrets, death and murder. It was surprisingly peaceful. It was a bright paradise where there was a lush jungle, the grass and plants were many colors, there were colorful birds, the temperature was warm and sunny, there were many delicious and brightly colored fruits, there were also giant mushrooms growing out of the ground, and the sun was in the sky and had a face on it with a happy grin.
...And then, a shadow and the voice of fallen warlord. The Mad Jester opened his eyes, smiled, and then starting laughing in a crazed maniacal insane joker like manner, "Oh yes my fallen starling, I do know who you are... In fact I have been expecting you for a long, long time. The Mad God knows many things, and he shows me many things, and my what a story yours has turned out to be. The betrayer becomes the betrayed, the man who owns the world loses everything. The Infamous becomes a footnote, one fallen warlord among many in that hellish realm, how the mighty have fallen. I suppose you have come to me to seek the Mad God's aid in getting your kingdom back; am I correct in this assertion?"
The Mad Jester stopped for a second in thought and the continued, "it is always the nature of those with evil in their heart to seek more for themselves, power, wealth, women, reverence. This is also the nature of good men as well, they just seek different things, friendship, love, admiration, the state of feeling good about oneself for the good actions they do. Both peoples can never fill the void in their hearts no matter what they do... nothing satisfies, everything leaves them feeling empty. The mistake that they make is that they take for granted that the world makes sense, that they either have a purpose or that they can make a purpose for themselves. All their lives they find solace in many things, religion, hedonism, morality, ego, love, and nothing truly satisfies, because it's all a falsehood, we are puppets on a string here to live, reproduce, and die until finally our world ends, or it doesn't, who really cares right? My point to this warlord, is to ask you the question... So what? So what if you get your kingdom back, and so what if you gain more and more power, what's the use? What value does it have? Well, my infamous lordling... SPEAK! What value does your kingdom have to you, to me, or to anyone most especially the Mad God Loki?"
"You've made your last mistake old man..." A calm female voice spoke, echoing softly around the room as the source of the sound appeared in the doorway of the bar, a dark mist swirling together until it formed a person in a dark hooded cloak out of the air. The woman's mouth was just barely visible under the shadow of her hood as she smirked at the bartender, her lips not moving even though her words could be heard by all in the tavern, clear as day.
"You on the other hand, Barbarian. I've been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time?" She phrased the statement as a question as her form walked closer to the man at the bar, her footsteps making no sound as she crossed the room, passing through patrons, tables, and chairs alike as if she were merely a vision made of smoke. Those wise enough to recognise this form of magic began to back away from the woman, some even going so far as to simply get up and leave the bar. Once she was close enough to the men they might notice the necklace she wore, a symbol of those loyal to the Mad God. Her eyes began to glow a soft yellow as she turned her gaze on the bartender, a smile on her face as he backed away in fear.
"Any last words?" She cut him off before he could say anything, her smile revealing wicked sharp fangs in the corners of her mouth now as a dark smokey wind sprang up around the man. "You say you want no part of this, but you became a part of it the second you were told to relay the message. You should have known better than to think that we'd leave you un-sup-er-vised." As she drew out the syllables of the word the black smoke in the air began to cut into the man's flesh, deep red lines covering his body as it fell to the floor behind the bar. She looked at him for a moment as he lay there, before Tching at the sight.
"Not even worth killing, not at all..." She mumbled to herself, her mouth actually moving as she used her real voice for the first time since stepping into the tavern. The cloak made it hard to tell, but her voice definitely gave it away now that she wasn't using any magic to enhance it. She was young, and now that she was standing still many would probably guess by her height that she was still just a teenager (she's not) -though there was no mistaking the fact that this woman was definitely a follower of the Mad God, considering she'd just killed a man for his purposes.
She shook her head slightly, her gaze turning to meet the Barbarian's as her eyes began to glow brighter, the yellow glare from underneath the shadows of her hood an unsettling sight as she spoke to Hrothgar, using her mental voice again. "He's served his purpose though, just as you will serve yours." She grinned at him, continuing. "I'm here to tell you that you have no chance against dear Max, although all of us are going to enjoy seeing you try to bring him down. So, gather as many as you can who are as willing and as dumb as you are to try and take up swords against him. You'll need all the help you can get."
@aspie3000
Hrothgar the Barbarian looked to the dead Tavern owner and back to the shadowy girl who had barged in the tavern to deliver her message. Hrothgar picked up the jug of mead he had ordered and chugged it down in one gulp, then spit toward the ground in which the shadow woman walked, "aye, the elf sends a little girl to do a mans job. It seems that he is a weak livered coward hiding himself in that hole in the forest and sending... Ah wait, I see that you're a vampire! It has been so long since I've killed one of your filthy kind! When I was apart of the Children of the Sun we used to murder your kind and use them for sand bags and target practice, those were some of the best times of my life! Thank you for bringing back such beautiful memories, for that I will give you a clean honorable death!"
Hrothgar whipped out a potion and drank it then he unsheathed his great sword and ran toward the girl ready to cleave her head off.