Hell Chapter 1; The Seventy-Two

Baal, Valac and friends all assemble for a meeting for their conspiracy. Everyone was a little skeptical, since they were all peasant folk and had only been briefly debriefed about what was going on. All they knew was that Baal had another idea and Valac was backing him up, which was why anyone came anyway. Otherwise, they would have just humored Baal like the usually did.

"Well, what's this all about, Baal?" one of them said to him. "Is this just some way for you to get rich and powerful?"

Baal gulped. "No! Not at all, my good sir! In fact, it's a way for all of us to have this Kingdom and to not have to pay anything to that King any longer!"

Valac quickly took over for Baal, saying to the group, "Don't worry about what Baal is doing! Just worry about yourselves! He wants us all to take on these secret names and build our own community under the King's nose! It won't be much different than it is now."

The others were skeptical about this plan to take on different names in order to create their own City, but once Valac explained it a little more, -- with Baal's input every now and then, since it was his idea -- they became more open to the idea. "Yeah, okay," some of them said in agreement, looking to each other and nodding.

"But Baal," one of the people -- of which there were seventy-two, inclusive to Baal and Valac -- interjected, "What will we do AFTER we take on the names? Sure, we can make a secret community out of us alone under the King's nose, but... What then? We still will be poor, weak, feeble sinners. And a meager seventy-two of us will not do much against the countless Knights and followers of the King." He made such a good point that the others started to grow skeptical again, partially out of fear.

But Baal said, "Have no fear! When we take up our names and places in the community, we will also take up roles to fulfill that will bring the City to our knees!" Baal shuffled his hands mischievously.

Brows were raised. "Oh yeah? And what about all of the people LIVING here?"

Baal: "They will be our servants, of course! It will start with just us, but we'll command many people under us... And eventually outnumber the King's soldiers, which do not rival the people in number."

That sounded rather pleasant to the lot of them. Especially since taking advantage of other people was basically life in Hell. They smiled deviously, looking to each other and nodding. "We'll do it," someone said, waiting for Baal now. "What are our names, places, and roles in this scheme, Baal?"

To the one who spoke, Baal responded, "I'm glad you asked, my good man!" He placed his hand on his shoulder with vigor and said, "You will be the Knight of our new and improved System, my good man! The name you shall don is..." Baal thought for a moment, tapping his chin a bit as he would think. "... Forcas! That is your new name as the Knight of what we'll call the New System!"

The man -- a grisly person with a long beard and a rough appearance -- stood for a moment, thinking about the Knights of the King. "Knight, eh?" he inquired, "Well, that doesn't sound too bad! Just what is it that I have to do, being this 'Knight'?"

"I'm glad you asked! You're a farmer, right? All you have to do is get on your horse and grab a pitchfork as well as twenty of your best men together!" Baal said. "You must teach people the ways of the alignment of the stars so that they can understand how to make formations against the King! Also, you must bring people into our ranks -- you and your twenty men -- until you have twenty legions of men under you, all who know about the ways of the stars and the formations we will make against the King!"

Forcas stroked his long, white beard. "Hm. Horse and pitchfork, eh? Yeah, I've got those. I know the ways of the stars because of my time as a farmer, too." Sounded easy enough. "Anything else, Baal?"

Baal thought again. "Hmmm... OH! You must also teach people about how to read signs of life and how to use fire for destructive purposes. Not only this, but you must also explain to them the logic of our System so that they may decide to join us! And if they don't..." Baal grinned. "You can just use your pitchfork to kill em dead!" Baal pat him on his shoulder again, looking him dead in the eyes, "You're one of our most important piec-- I mean, people in this System, Forcas! As the Knight, you will be the one to go out to the people and be their protector! With pitchfork in hand, you and your twenty legions will slay the oppressors and shovel their bodies into fire!"

This, Forcas was starting to like. "Yeah..." he started to say with a bit of vibrance, "Yeah, YEAH!! I'm the Knight! Just like the Knights of the King!" He was certainly proud of his role. "That sounds great, Baal! I'll go do those things right now!"

And so, the newly Knighted Forcas went out to his farmhouse to collect the items and beings necessary for his purpose.

After hearing what their good friend -- and now Knighted -- Forcas had become in the new system, the others were getting eager to hear about their roles and what their names would be. So, a rather spirited man stepped forward and said, "Me next!"

Baal responded, "SURE! Come right along! Yes, I have a good role for you, my good man!" Baal sat him down and began to explain. "Now. Since we have our Knight, we need to have people that can govern over other people, see. So you're going to be a President!"

The man's face lit up at the prospect of being a 'President', like the one that presided over a nation.

And Baal continued, "You must inspire people to join our ranks! You and thirty-six of your friends must be inspirational speakers that light the flame of rebellion in the hearts of our fellow men! Like Forcas, you will teach them about the stars and the formations so that they can understand how to be organized. But, you will also teach them about liberal arts so that they can speak for themselves about their own liberties that the King oppresses."

The man pondered the idea of being the leader of a rebellious faction and smirked. "Hell yeah!" he exclaimed, "And what is my cool name going to be?"

Baal: "Amy."

Amy: "AMY?! Isn't that a girl's name?!"

Baal: "Nawww, it's a name that breaks the mold between male and female! You will be inspiration for the people, and your name will be a symbol of that!"

Amy made a wry face for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it can't be helped. I'll go get some of my friends and start talking about the rebellion." With a flame in his heart, Amy took off.

After that, Baal continued to assign people their new names, positions, and roles in the community as their secret society of seventy-two. Each of them gathered their throngs of people after initially collecting their small number, who told a greater number, who told a greater number, until nearly all of Purgatorio was in on the plan of Baal, serving under one of the seventy-two.

Baal, who was more than pleased by the turnout of his plan, knew that he had to create an assembly for the people so that the Purgatorians would know what they needed to do next in order to overthrow the King. So he gathered up the seventy-two and said to them, "This conspiracy must be kept secret. All of Purgatorio may know about it, but none of the King's men nor the King himself know what's going on. We must keep it that way until the seventy-two of us have collected enough money and gained enough power to take on the King."

One of the seventy-two asked, "How do you plan on getting this money and power, Baal?"

And Baal said, "Easy. We're going to have to gain the powers of Hell itself... From Satan!"