Eremis got his tankard silently refilled and continued, making a show of how he looked into the distance as his story unfolded.
"We were standing on top of the Burial Mound of the last dwarven king, Thor Grimbeard. An unsurmountable riddle protecting a mighty treasure hoard beneath our feet, as I later found out."
Seemingly intrigued, the fat bard with the lute looked up and laughed. "Pray Sir, please tell us more. What kind of treasures are contained in that mound, and how do we solve the riddle?" With a twinkle in his eyes, the bard seemed to know more of it than anybody else here.
"I can only tell you, what I later heard from the mayor. Never, in hundreds of years it had been opened. He tried for thirty, fourty years, but was stuck. But then, one day, there came two adventurers, who succeeded to solve the riddle. They came out with magical weapons, items of power and more treasure than they could carry. But after them, it closed again and as they left, they took with them the secret of how to open the mound."
Seeing that the bard was slowly beginning to grin and sitting up more straight, Eremis feared that his story would end prematurely, the bard using the moment to tell his own story. Quickly, he held the horn above the fire of a sconce. The black horn beginning to glow with a red shimmer, attracting the attention, as he lowered his voice and rekindled the mood.
"In cover behind dwarven ruins, I was able to rekindle the spirit of my companions. One by one I evoked their courage, bravery, fear for their loved ones, and lastly, their duty to mankind. The swiftest and stealthiest of us, FoxRouge, was to warn surrounding settlements. And as she departed, the rest of us watched as the Doom Children approached their master, the Demon Lord, and his voice boomed across the city. He spoke to them and then to the citizens. He would spare any that came forward and pledged their fealty to him, he said. And as we collected our joint knowledge about demonkind, which was sparse, we actually saw four people approach that entity of Hehl's fiery domain. He turned two of them to Doom Children, and killed the other two with a flick of his whip. Never have I seen a cut so smooth. The reach of that mighty weapon was going to cost us dearly, if my plan was to fail. But we had to do it now."
Looking around, Eremis was glad that he had once again catched everyone's attention. And even the bard didn't seem to mind.
"Nichuan and Benedikt approached the market place from side alleys, keeping out of sight, while Hrgungdvar and me approached the Demon Lord openly with sheathed weapons. Each step was heavier than the last. A creature covered in flames and towering above us. Approaching an ogre, as I had done before, was nothing compared to this. But then he noticed us."
Eremis' head suddenly flicked around as he played the towering creature. Gazing at the customers from on top of the heavy oaken table, he imitated the deep growl. His face was lit from below and the horn in his one hand, the bone mace in his other created a tension in the air that made everybody hush.
"Seeing adventurers approach, armored and heavily armed, the creature turned his full attention to us. He growled and his hand flicked back to give us a good licking with his burning whip. But I raised my hands and called out to him, praising his beauty, his magnificience, reducing ourselves to mere pawns in his coming conquest. And I found the right tone. It laughed arrogantly and waved us nearer, so that we could get a good look at our new master, as I had intended. Step by step we intruded into the reach of his whip. Step by step it would have been more difficult for him to attack us with it. And as I praised the wonderful horns on his head and asked for a better look, he stooped down, convinced of my earnesty. And as I gazed at the horn, I loudly exclaimed:
Legends will be told about this!
And as the Demon Lord beamed with pride convinced that I had meant his great horns, it was then, with this phrase, that I called upon the others, called forth the joint attack against it."
The bard's eyes widened with surprise, his expression showing that he hadn't thought that a mere mercenary would be using words to conquer a Demon Lord and get the better of him. His mouth curled up to a smile.
"It was Hrgungdvar who brought forth his axe the quickest. With a mighty slash he cut off the demon's hand holding the whip. This had been the most dangerous of all situations. If he hadn't succeeded, if I hadn't catched all of the demon's attention, then it could have used it against Benedikt or Nichuan, who were by far less armored and vulnerable. Also, he could have flewn up into the night sky and attacked us with that mighty weapon from afar. But now, the table had turned. Fighting off Doom Children as they approached in masses with our off-hand, we focused our attacks on the Demon Lord itself. Hrgungdvar's axe hacked into him time and again, slicing pieces off of the great monstrosity. A bright searing streak of light burst from the corner of the market, blinding it and filling his darkness with Solus' Light. It screached in pain as Brother Benedikt called forth the power of the Lord of Light. Furiosly, it tried to jump up into the sky to use its wings for a better position. But then a hail of bright flames shot down on it from the other side of the market place. Nichuans encantations a high tone against the brutal bellowing of the fight. Hole upon hole burned into his wings and made his attempts to get out of reach fruitless. With my shield I fended off the Demon Lord's powerful attacks, concentrating all of his rage upon myself. And I resisted barely by pure strength and gritted teeth. With a crack, my shield suddenly broke and as I deflected his final blow with the rest of what was left, I called upon Hrgungdvar to concentrate on his ankles. Simultaneously, we hacked at his ankles from both sides, and with a loud boom he fell onto his knees. Terribly exhausted but seeing our unlikely chance, I collected the last of my strength, ignored the knives pushing into my body by the hands of Doom Chlldren, and hauled myself up with a mighty thrust, jumping by mere strength of will, up and up towards its fiery head. Our gazes locked for an instant and I smelled his rancid breath. Pure anger showing in his eyes. And then, I shouted: 'For mankind!' as I brought down the mightiest of all weapons. Carrikal broke his skull. She tore into him and broke off her prize. This horn. Its expression that of unbelief as he fell down onto the broken ground. Its body dissolving leaving only the spectators and the tip of the horn as proof. We had killed the Demon Lord of Auheim! We vanquished the Army of Darkness and freed the country of its menace!"
And there the tale ended. Eremis did say nothing about the Eye of Hehl that they later found, he said nothing of the vampiric plague that had infested Auheim, foremost the mayor himself. The people only heard of the Killing of the Demon Lord of Auheim and they forgot the Bleaching Plague. Only later they would notice, that this was not the whole tale...
Eremis had to recount the tale many times in the following days and weeks. And often, he was drunk by ale and excitement thereafter. But he was delighted that his legend had begun!