Xellia stretched her body beneath the satin sheets of the large four corner bed, luxuriating in the sensation of the high quality sheets as they shifted around her skin. The sheets were a source of satisfaction for the succubus, the fruit of many hours spent convincing Errol that luxury is not always the enemy of efficiency. The sheets were also a source of some frustration, being the only item Xellia worked to obtain. All her other masters had quickly assented to the various luxury purchases she requested, but Errol denied actually purchasing the sheets, and had even insisted that she only get them through means that wouldn't weaken his attempt to bring back the primordials. She wouldn't have minded so much, except she rarely had time to herself when she visited cities on business dealings for Errol, and rural nobility were generally unimpressive targets for her affections. Fortunately life in the Nine Hells quickly culled out one's sense of reluctance for any manner of horrific act, including the seduction of less-than-suitable targets.
As her mind touched on the subject of her home plane Xellia went through her mental catalogue of consorts. The biggest disappointment during her time with Errol Jadeis was the lack of suitable drow candidates for becoming her consort. Xellia initially thought a land ruled by the drow would make it easy for her to expand her collection. After a couple of weeks on the Material Plane Xellia knew the opposite was true: all the drow she met were complacent with their situation, their success over the other races dulling their senses. It was quite a pity, too, as such weakness was quickly eliminated by competition before the drow expanded to cover most of the surface world. Errol often commented on the irony of the situation, how now that the drow were spread out they weren't their own greatest enemy anymore, which ended up weakening them as a whole. Xellia didn't appreciate the irony as much as she would appreciate a suitable male, or even female, specimen for her collection.
Tired of her consort woes, Xellia peeked her head out of the covers and looked over at the figure of the mage who summoned her back to the Material Plane: Errol Jadeis, often called a lord by the primordial cultists he led. Not that he looked much like a lord now: after helping Xellia break in the new sheets he had quietly left the bed, put on a pair of trousers, and was currently sitting on a stool in front of his austere oaken desk working on a large tome. As her eyes scanned over Errol's physique and the various scars crossing over his body, she considered his viability as a consort candidate. Although she generally enjoyed roguish individuals for her collection, variety was just as important to the succubus. The biggest problem she had was Errol's own considerable power, as well as the zeal he had for displacing the drow from their seat of power. In all likelihood neither she nor Errol would succeed if they turned on one another, and Xellia would rather not risk her time summoned to the Material Plane on the off chance she could add another mage to her collection. Xellia looked down toward where Errol was working and recognized the same voluminous book he had been working on for the past week or so. She wasn't surprised to see the Tome of Arcane Knowledge, although the powerful artifact had surprised her the first time she saw Errol with it. The most impressive detail was how Errol didn't even require the powerful magical object: his current work was actually adding enchantments to the artifact, although she still didn't know for what purpose.
As she pondered why Errol would be adding his own enchantments to a magical book, especially one he didn't need any more, Xellia began shifting in the satin sheets. The sound of the sheets gently swishing around themselves eventually permeated the room, warring with the soft scratching sound of Errol's pen as he marked arcane symbols onto the Tome of Arcane Knowledge. Eventually the sounds were loud enough that even the distracted mage took notice, the sounds of his pen dying as he set it aside and turned his body partially around to look at the succubus lounging in the sheets behind him. The image of Xellia on the bed would have broken a weaker man there, her naked body lying seductively entwined with the heavy sheets. Xellia didn't feel much disappointment at Errol's reaction of a single raised eyebrow, the succubus already well aware of Errol's tight control over his baser instincts. Instead she put on a soft pout, the slight curl of her lips indicating her discomfort as she noticeably looked at the Tome of Arcane Knowledge. After several moments thinking Errol would continue to leave her in the dark, the mage sighed then turned fully to face the succubus.
"Since we'll be meeting them soon, I guess it's time I finally let you in on why I've been working on the Tome of Arcane Knowledge," Errol remarked before picking up the large ome easily with one hand and tossing it gently on the bed. It took only a couple of seconds for Xellia to recognize the enchantment Jadeis was working on and her interest peaked even further.
"I would think a powerful mage spends his time unlocking the workings of his ancient artifacts," Xellia purred while tracing one of the runic symbols with a finger, "not in specifically sealing away aspects of its power. Why toy around with something you don't need?" It was an ironic question coming from a succubus, but one wholly appropriate to ask the mage: Errol was notoriously focused on efficiency in an attempt to make sure his efforts to bring back the primordials were a complete success. The room was quiet for a few seconds while the mage appeared to consider his response, although Xellia was sure that he already knew what he was going to tell her and was simply stretching out his response merely to annoy her as punishment for breaking him away from his work on the book.
"How about I first ask you something, my dear?" Errol didn't mean the term seriously, of course, but Xellia suspected certain mannerisms of his speech were remnants of a past he had left behind but hadn't bothered with completely eliminating. Ignoring the obvious quip she nodded her head and Errol continued: "You know how several of our operations have been attacked by that group of adventurers, right?" Xellia once again nodded, although she already suspected she knew where Errol was going with this line of thought. "One of them is definitely a gifted mage, disciplined as an artificer. He's young but will go far, and if I can direct his path at all he should be an excellent way to recoup my losses from the operations." Xellia fought to not raise an eyebrow at Errol's statement, her surprise almost palpable as he continued. "I didn't tell you, my dear, because it wasn't relevant to your part in the operations until now. However, if word from Westgate is right, the party may be at our southern operating center sooner rather than later. Don't you think this would make an excellent welcoming gift to future colleagues?"
Xellia pondered Errol's last statement, surprised at the arrogance he was showing. Even if he had no more use for the tome, that didn't stop it from being an artifact of considerable power; could he really be that confident that he could turn the party to his side? She stared at Errol, considering the man's fanatical devotion to eliminating the drow, and wondered whether or not he would be willing to trust in someone else to finish the job. Xellia knew that the mage wanted to use the power of the primordials to completely wipe out the drow, but could it be that he was even willing to play the longest game of all? She pondered whether or not she should ask Errol the question burning in her mind, whether he intended this party to be their allies or if he wanted to be sure that the drow would be taken care of even if he failed. Before she decided, Errol began to talk again as if he knew her concerns.
"Of course, the adventurers will probably be too distracted with trying to kill me to accept a gift for our first meeting, so I think I'll leave it like a treasure at the top of the tower. That probably won't fool them, but they should be smart enough to know that a magical artifact is still worthwhile even if the enemy leaves it behind. Most importantly, it may impress upon their minds how outmatched they are, planting the seeds of doubt in their mind whether or not they should oppose me. From that point it should be a simple matter to convince them to set methodologies aside to focus on a common goal. Isn't that right, my dear?" Xellia was impressed by Errol's logic, which spoke to her inner devil: the Nine Hells was a place where the weak quickly fell in line with the strong lest they meet a quick and tragic end. She was concerned, though, that Errol was overestimating how logical the adventurers might be. Centuries of seducing members of the various races had taught Xellia that there were no universal traits they all shared, but most held reason in poorer regard than Errol. She decided to hold back her concern, though: even if the party wouldn't join Errol, Xellia was personally interested in seeing if any of them would make good consorts. She had even heard that one of the members was a dashing drow rogue…
Errol Jadeis watched the succubus lounge on the bed, her mind clearly distracted in thought even while her body continued to pose itself seductively. For all the inconveniences, though, Errol didn't regret summoning Xellia to his side: the greater succubus had already proven herself a useful, if tiring, companion in his work on the force sealing the primordials away. Even the fact that he could never truly relax around her was a boon, the constant threat to his will a whetstone to keep his will ever sharp. If the growing drow complacency was caused by the reduced chance of conflict amongst them, then the constant threat of Xellia would ensure he was at his best until he could bury all the drow under an avalanche of primordial rage. He moved off of the stool and walked over to the bed to retrieve the Tome of Arcane Knowledge, aware that the adventurers would probably launch their assault too soon for him to let his work be interrupted much longer. He didn't realize how distracted his thoughts were until his hand touched the book's cover only for a velvet-soft hand to softly brush over his arm. He looked at Xellia and noticed that the succubus was clearly aroused, her eyes blazing with lust and her black wings outstretched as if to envelope him.
"Why don't you come back to bed, my lord?" Xellia purred, the words laced with magical seduction. It took an immense effort, even more than he feared, for Errol to tear his eyes away from Xellia's inviting curves, somehow perfectly hugged by the satin sheets wrapped around her. Errol picked the book back up and moved it quickly to the desk before turning back to the passionate succubus, her attention unabated from the short interruption. Errol didn't have the time or energy to indulge her, so he muttered a short cantrip to cause a small concussive blast of sound to occur right next to Xellia's head. He saw a shadow of rage pass across her eyes before the fires of lust dimmed enough that Xellia came to her full senses. Before she could say anything Errol decided a little peace offering might be best.
"My dear, I would gladly indulge you in this regard if we had the time, but the tome isn't ready yet and I fear the adventurers will strike within the week. Fortunately, I have a gift I was going to leave until after we dealt with the party." He waited to make sure the succubus was lucid enough to make out his words. After a moment he saw interest dawn in her eyes and he continued, "In the most current batch of sacrifices an entire of family failed to be successful candidates, including the three strong, hardy young men of the family." Even as he finished, he saw the desire flare up in Xellia's eyes again as she nimbly disengaged from the sheets and walked towards the door, wrapping her wings around herself as the only consideration for her nakedness. Xellia would reach the dungeon soon and dispose of the poor young fools quickly, their screams a haunting mixture of both pleasure and pain. Errol often gave the sacrifices that failed to Xellia for her own personal enjoyment, finding some measure of satisfaction in knowing he was getting use out of all the villagers he took as sacrifices, even the ones that couldn't be bonded to primordial power. The more efficient he could make his operation, the greater his chances were at succeeding at wiping out the drow.
Errol turned to continue his work on the Tome of Arcane Knowledge, about to dismiss his thoughts on Xellia, when her visit to the dungeons made him realize something. It would be even easier for the adventurers to accept the artifact if they thought they had earned it, like if they found it after having a hard fight with a monstrous entity. Unfortunately, binding such a powerful creature often required a much more significant sacrifice than some random yokel abducted from the local village. It only took a couple of seconds for a smile to spread across Errol's face as the perfect candidate came to mind, a former teifling associate who just recently went from being an asset to being a liability. He rang a little bell on his desk and waited for one of his cultists to show up. After the briefest of moments on rushed through the door, bowing low before standing completely upright and waiting silently for his orders from his Lord, Errol Jadeis.
"I want you to go down to the dungeons and wait outside for Xellia to finish. After she's had her fun, tell her that I need her to pick up Trandeira against her will and bring her to the teleportation circle. I think these adventurers deserve something a little bit grander than a welcoming gift, so I'm going to throw them a party as well."