Return of the Witch King
Chapter 11
"Wands? Indeed? How fascinating. I have been able to bind some lesser wights of minor wizards to various objects, but never wands. Of course the wands I have been using were more fragile, and I never thought of fortifying them appropriately to carry such power. I wonder what could make them so strong as to hold a demon?
Well, my Master Smith, the dark elf Amalthiel knows a great deal about precious metals and their use in magic. He could probably point us to the right materials and the process required to construct such a wand.
Then, there is my mage expert, the clever little goblin Barokh. I have generously allowed him to collect a large library of magical scrolls and it has proved instrumental on more than one occasion. He might be the one to find references about demons, or at least the names of the wizards who were able to achieve such a feat. That was a very useful tidbit for you to remember, dear Smaug. A little more information like this, and we might find ourselves controlling the demon after all," the Witch King happily considered, his earlier uncertainty replaced with confidence.
"Well I am aware of nothing else, unfortunately for all of us," Smaug said dryly. "What of the Udun? Are you able to speak to it? If you believe it returned you because of this demon, one should think it would make information pertinent to the situation available to you.
Currently I only saw in the orc child's mind this humanoid demon creature in the company of a band of lizard looking creatures that are near human sized. As I mentioned earlier they walk upright on two legs but the child perhaps wisely, did not stick around to note if they had any particular threatening powers. I got the sense that something about them was changed or enhanced by magic, but if this is an ability of the demon or if something else befell them, I have no way to know."
The Witch King frowned his displeasure at the commotion outside. The Uruk Hai were always too expressive for his liking of their battle fury when practicing the fighting techniques, but now the unholy howls of the wargs seemed to have blended with the screams like the most disruptive of disharmonies.
Enhancing his silencing spell around them, and directly it as much outward as he previously did inward, the Witch King continued the conversation.
"A changed lizard, how fascinating. I seem to recall reading a theory of how the fell beats came to be, but I cannot remember the technical details, since my main purpose was to quickly craft an army at the time. Nonetheless, I should be able to find a tome on how to reverse the spells that added them, or at the very least, return them to their origin point without comprehending the nature of the enhancement.
Such spells cannot be easily countered, could be unexpected by the performer of the magic, and thus quite destabilizing over short term, hopefully. I could work with that part.
I am less certain about the will of the Udun. I am mainly guessing that for it to retrieve me, back from the dead, it needed higher stakes, like a demon to justify such a strong intervention. But perhaps we have been wrong all along about how such things are possible. The Udun did hint that the Valar were not the only power around, or at least not the only active powers around.
I do wish I could contact my benefactor again, but despite the invisible realm being open to my magical powers, the Udun seems to hide, or perhaps dwell at a different plane of existence than the one I can access.
I have hoped that the Orc's mind would eventually grow to allow me an easier communication with the Udun. But given how it can barely handle common visions, perhaps the Orc was never suited for that. If there is another race you can work with, and augment their minds, I have several to offer.
I would not mention the trolls, but I do have the dark dwarves, the dark elves, some renegades maidens of the spear, a few witches of unspecified genesis, shape shifters, multiple tribes of Orcs, and a few kinds of goblin. If any of them would serve as a conduit to hearing the commands of the Udun, I shall be most pleased to offer them to your ministrations, and can possibly replace them by a similar kind, if their life span burns too quickly due to the enhancement.
The other option may lie with my elf smith. Amalthiel has been working on some rings. None were of course as grand as the work of Celebrimbor, but his spells do touch in some from on the invisible realm.
If we use one of my followers to communicate with the Udun, I could have Amalthiel design a special ring and make our tool into a ring bearer. If wearing it, makes the prospective vessel of communication capable of better understanding, I will expedite the crafting of the ring.
So, do you think a further enhancement of the mind would work, a ring, a combination of both, or do you have more efficient dragonic lore to aid communication with the Udun," the Nazgul curiously wondered.
Smaug found the idea of goblin mages fascinating in the way humans could find it fascinating that ants could carry so much weight. He spent a few seconds thinking of this before directing his attention to the rest of what the witch king had said.
"A goblin with some magecraft or an elf would work if you wish to attempt communication with the Udun concerning the demon. However one must wonder why said Udun didn't make its wishes more clearly known in the beginning, so perhaps it wouldn't be helpful. If you attempt it, however, I could enchant a crystal helm to broadcast thoughts to and from the wearer if you could have such a device magically crafted," Smaug said consideringly. "Any other enchantment the elves wish to lay upon the thing to further this goal should not interfere."
He directed his attention once more to the Orc child and directed general rest and healing magics at the creature almost absent-mindedly.
"The wand should be thick and heavy. A demon could crack away at something thinner eventually, one would think," he added aloud, mind returning to the wand as the possibility of binding the demon, if said information could be found, was the most appealing to the dragon. A bound demon was far less likely to kill a none. Of course the bound demon could turn a wand into The One Wand, but sadly some evils were better contained if they could not be killed.
"You are making good points, dearest Smaug. Perhaps communication with the Udun shall be our secondary priority. But first we shall proceed with construction of the wand itself and exploration of the relevant lore. One moment please, as I summon the goblin mages to give them their first assignment, unless you want to instruct them yourself? That should prove most entertaining for me and educational for them," the Nazgul openly admitted with some amusement.
Emitting an inaudible sound that was crafted of softer goblin notes and would only be clear to the goblin mages, he let his goblin officers know their presence was required.
Smaug snorted in disdain at the idea of instructing anyone. "I think not," he said haughtily.
"I suggest speaking with your goblin mage to see if he has come across any scrolls referring to demons or demon binding and that you attempt this Udun communication with an elf and a goblin alike. I am leaning toward the elf being more successful but who knows," the dragon concluded expansively, mind already on the magical construction of the crystal helm he had in mind. "I shall need as much crystal as you can get and gold."
He hated to use gold and even more to relinquish any that even came into his line of sight, but this was a helm he could reclaim if he so desired. Unfortunately it was unlikely to be one he would ever wish to truly own if he could correctly craft it. Golden Smaug was not particularly drawn to communicating with other beings from foreign dimensions even if they did touch this world with their will and whatever passed for their good intentions.