The demoness smelled the blood, fear, and excitement on her victim. There was no reason to be hidden anymore as she dropped her guise and sauntered towards her victim.
The woodcutter was paralyzed . The demoness knew that part of him wanted to flee into the woods, but something inside him yearned for her seductive embrace. She approached the terrified man and savored the scent of his lust and fear. A flick of her forked tongue on his nose, dropped him quivering to his knees. She savored the moment before tearing and draining his soul .
After she finished devouring her victim her own blood lust faded. Her situation became clearer. She knew she shouldn't be hunting so far and so openly from home , but the thrill of the hunt and the feast of fresh souls was too overpowering and intoxicating. Her master was the only one she feared. She guessed she would be punished if he discovered her forays . Her prey on the other hand, that was another matter. She had nothing to fear from them.
"Hurry up Raoul ! A tidy sum awaits us, but only if you pick up your pace !", said a cheerful Martinez from further up the uneven road.
The large half giant grumbled but stoically sped up his stride. Despite his employer's simple request, it was not an easy task. To begin with the large man at arms/porter was carrying a heavy load, and the roads they were traveling were not in the best repair. The Third Holy Crusade against the gnomes was in everyone's opinion the most successful, but it bore a tremendous drain on the Empire. Sadly simple road maintenance in this region was one of the neglected sacrifices of the grand Grom bureaucracy.
"Why such a rush?", asked the large Raoul as he finally caught up to the much smaller Martinez.
The tall thin man named Martinez simply flashed a smile at his big lackey. He was dressed in the manner of an aristocrat, but upon closer inspection his leather garments were heavily patched and worn. Despite his layers of clothing , he appeared young, lean and athletic, he possessed a runner's or duelist's physique. His dark brown hair was well groomed , long and curly like a lawyer's wig, and he sported an immaculate mustache and goatee. A well maintained silver rapier hung from his belt to complete his appearance, it served more to impart an air of nobility to his image rather then one of danger.
"Aww, c'mon. A hint ? Let me know what we gonna crush?" , the brutish Raoul pleaded. The large half giant was short for his race , he was only seven feet tall, but he more then made up for his "diminutive" stature with his huge knotted muscles. His bare arms , neck, and even his face were a patch work of scars and crude tattoos. The imposing mercenary wore a battleworn chain shirt, and carried a heavy but crude broadsword at his side.
Martinez snickered at his companion's curiosity. It didn't really matter what they were hunting, he was sure Raoul would happily chop it up if the pay was right. "We are hunting demons of course! ", joked the duelist. Although they were technically demon hunters, the pair tracked and exterminated any type of lower planar creature that plagued Grom's cities and country side. This was normally a job for clerics and paladins, but most had gone south to participate in the Third Crusade. Unfortunately , the monsters and demons that inhabited the realm were too much for the remaining holy servants that remained. Even though many people called the Empire of Grom, the Land of the Demon King, demons were definitely not tolerated by any level of government or nobility. The various churches and militant organizations that normally handled this type of invader were stretched to maintain the peace and had to resort to hiring mercenaries to deal with the seemingly never ending horde of monsters. This left a very profitable window of opportunity for those with the proper skill sets. People like Martinez and Raoul were called to battle demons. They were just as willing to battle the forces of hell and the abyss as any cleric or paladin, for a price that is.
"C'mon. Tell me. ", whined the big giant. Even though he was at least twice as old as the youthful Martinez, his immaturity often surfaced.
The duelist chuckled again and finally relented. "We are heading to the town and barony of Veb. A little piss water community a few days north of Lower Lueders. Veb is a rather uninteresting little mud hole , except that it is often associated with a few minor legends. Supposedly the mighty Sampson once bested a great beast called rather unimaginatively , "The Mad Cow of Veb", and the Great General Monte Nabisco once took refuge there after his army was almost routed by goblins. The town has escaped calamity for the last one hundred years, the last disaster to befall it was a Frost Giant raid that happened during the sacking of Grom City, in the year of the New Emperor. To my knowledge , since that time the Baron and his family has ruled the surrounding lands fairly and more importantly profitably. Of course when the call to arms for the Crusade came out, the current Baron and most of his family answered, thus leaving his lands defenseless. Which is where we come in. Apparently my contacts at the Church of Koryis has notified me that several mysterious attacks had occurred in this quaint little town, and the local priestess requests assistance. Seems people are dying left and right there, five so far this month , eight or nine in total. The victims seem to be drained of life. Also there have been recent sightings of a beautiful winged woman in the woods surrounding the country side. Doesn't take much to put two and two together.", grinned the duelist.
The half giant's brow furrowed as he took in the information, " Sounds like a succubus, but I wouldn't rule out vampire or some type of undead harpy.", he noted as his demeanor turned serious.
Martinez shrugged, "Possibly , but the reports say they still had blood in them. Also some of the attacks happened during daylight. There's something else as well, but I'll keep that little tidbit for myself. ", the duelist teased.
Raoul nodded at this information he was given, "I hope they are paying us well. A succubus will be hard to find. They can change shape you know, and the critters are damn clever. Even if we are properly warded against its magical attacks, if it suspects its being pursued it will flee. If we don't get lucky, the best we can hope for is simply driving it off. We won't get top coin if we just chase it away.", grunted the half giant.
Martinez smiled, " There will be coin a plenty my large friend, and don't worry I did my research. I think we can bag this demonic whore fairly quickly."
Priestess Stille performed the last rites on Karl the woodsmen. A paltry dozen townsfolk had gathered for the ceremony, but Stille did not blame them. Fear of another attack kept them nervously away , and the priestess found herself powerless to defend them. Karl was typical for his profession , a grumpy old loner but he was still a good man in the priestess's opinion. He did not deserve the fate that befell him. He only came to town to restock his supplies, and was slain by the town's tormentor.
Despite its outward tranquil nature, Veb was a frontier town , situated next to the Darkforest and the Scaled Fens. Marauding humanoids and wild beasts were a constant threat to the populace. Normally the heroic Baron of Veb and his noble knights would handle such invaders but they had gone south to battle the invading gnomes and reclaim the southern territories. Despite their absence the people of the barony were still a tough and resourceful lot. Twice they repelled raiding lizard men last year, and a few months ago they even drove off a ravenous owl bear. This new menace however, was something they could not handle .
Stille was positive it was a succubus or something similar. Reports of sightings of a beautiful demonic woman in the woods, and of course the nature of the deaths convinced her of this. The victims were just slain, but their souls devoured and torn from them. Realization of their grizzly fates, caused the priestess to shudder . She often wished her son would return from the south from the crusade, but she secretly hoped that he would stay there till this danger had passed. It was something that simple force of arms or even magic could not combat directly.
The priestess tried a diplomatic approach with this creature, hoping she could negotiate some sort of peace or truce with it. If her church found out about her overtures she was sure she would be denounced, but she was always considered an unusual cleric . She hoped that whatever terrorizing them could be reasoned with, her own mentor,the eccentric but enlightened lady Wayland would have approved. Despite her attempts, the monster did not respond . It was with careful judgement that Stille finally decide to request aid from her church. Veb had always been a close knit community, one with careful guarded secrets hidden in it. The baron like his father before him , welcomed visitors but was careful to keep their own privacy. Stille hoped that the holy warriors she summoned would not break the delicate balance of the besieged community.
Martinez noted the ten fresh graves as they passed the small hilled cemetery. From the flowers and small gifts adorning the most recent one, he guessed the succubus had claimed another victim. The duelist stopped at the sturdy church next to the cemetery but was disappointed to find it empty.
"No sign of this Sister Stille person. Though the place is well maintained, maybe she will come back later. ", shrugged Raoul as he examined the empty place of worship.
Martinez shook his head. "Normally a good idea, but I notice no living quarters attached or near this church. I'm guessing she must reside in town. A small community like this wouldn't have a dedicated priestess like a larger community. I'm assuming she's a minor cleric, most likely a cloistered one, an adept, or even someone with no divine connection. That would explain their request for outside assistance. This demon is too powerful for her, so she called in the pros. We would be better off to proceed to town and seek this sister Stille out there."
Raoul scratched his head but nodded in agreement. "Hmmm...I guess that's why you get paid the big bucks."
Martinez noted the wards and crude sigils surrounding the town as they entered. Most were just random scratches by superstitious country bumpkins, but a few were expertly place protective runes. The towns folk apparently had taken much more elaborate precautions then the duelist had expected.
As Martinez scanned for signs of the priestess, his large companion poked him heavily on the shoulder and pointed to the tavern.
"Oww...watch it you big oaf. Now's no time to have a drink. We have a priestess to find. ", declared the duelist as he rubbed his most likely bruised shoulder.
"Look again big shot. ", sniffed Raoul.
Martinez looked at the inn and nodded. Besides being a typical quaint and inviting inn, it sported a large holy symbol of Koryis , the god of knowledge, peace and prosperity. The inviting palm symbol almost caused the duelist to gag . If these people worshiped a proper war patron like Rawk or Nirrodin , then they would be prepared to deal with the demon plaguing them. Guessing from the large holy symbol, Martinez assumed that this Stille person most likely worked or own the tavern. If that wasn't the case at least who ever worked there would be the most likely to be able to locate her.
The pair changed direction and headed towards the tavern. As they approached a grey haired woman stepped outside and waved at them. Martinez noted they must not get many visitors , and their arrival was probably the talk of the town. He noted the woman was of average height and was dressed in a plain black but friendly dress. Typical innkeeper outfit he chuckled to himself. As they got closer his suspicions were confirmed as he noted the woman was wearing a prominent holy symbol of Koryis on a chain around her neck. Although her tidy and trim shoulder length grey hair betrayed her age she was still blessed with generous curves and a pleasing appearance. A hint of wrinkles around her steel blue eyes were the only thing that marred her smooth comely face. In a word , she was breathtaking.
Raoul elbowed Martinez heavily as he noticed his easily distracted companion almost drooling towards the priestess.
"Owww...that's twice now you big oaf. Errr...Greetings you must be the Priestess Stille. I am the famed Demon hunter Martinez and this is my clumsy but dependable companion Raoul . We came as soon as we received an urgent request from the main church of Koryis. We are here to rid you of your demon problem!", declared the duelist as he rubbed his most likely bruised ribs.
Stille seemed a bit shocked at their introductions, "Wait...I was expecting paladins, clerics, even inquisitors. I didn't expect outside...contractors.", she said nervously.
"Please. You can call us adventurers. We won't be insulted by the term. We are well aware of the negative but justly deserved connotations associated with that word. I can assure you we are professionals. We will fix the problem and be out of your ...lovely hair ...before you know it. ", replied Martinez with a bow. He wanted to be as professional as he professed to be , but he couldn't help but flirt with the beautiful older woman.
"I do not doubt your competence. It's just..our...my situation here is unique. The church knows of the intricacies of the House of Veb, and I was hoping for their ..discretion.", replied the flustered priestess, ignoring the duelists compliment.
"Listen lady, we're the best in the biz. We got rid of the pack of forge halflings terrorizing the village of Thunfische this spring. We slew the Cambion haunting the watch tower by Upper Lueders, and we banished a pair of Babau demons hiding out in the ruins of Boryis's tower two weeks ago.", boasted Raoul before Martinez could reply. The duelist normally did all the talking and negotiating , and immediately wanted to kick the oaf for speaking out of turn. However he saw that his big companions words gave the lovely priestess pause.
"Hmm...you called them Babau demons. At least you got their names right, even my father could never get that right. I guess you two are at least knowledgeable. ", she commented . At her own mention of her father, the priestess seemed to smile to herself , reflecting on some past pleasant memory. Martinez took a note of this in case he had the opportunity to spend more time with the enchanting lady Stille later. She was obviously older then him, but the duelist considered himself a fine connoisseur of beauty, regardless of age, and the beauty of the specimen before him would put most noblewomen half her years to shame.
"I guess since you two came all the way here, I should accept your help. Please come inside my inn, its called the Orange Hero, but everyone here just refers to is as the Orange inn. ", relented Stille .
"Ah , named after the hero...what's his face. The right hand of the emperor , or something, the guy with the skin condition.", commented the duelist smugly.
"Yes, many inns and buildings were named after the hero Zax's exploits. I have the honor of meeting the man when I was just seven years old, as you can see I parlayed that experience and named my inn after him. ", replied the priestess nostalgically as she showed them some chairs in the empty inn. Only the sounds of a serving wench preparing for this evenings meals, and the soft patter of a house cat broke the silence of the near empty tavern.
"Nice inn. ", commented Raoul curtly and the priestess beamed a smile at the half giant for the compliment . Martinez glared at his companion again, he would have to talk to the oaf and remind him his role.
"Our situation here is dire. A demon which I believe is a succubus or some form of offshoot is preying on the townsfolk in our town. The attacks began three months ago ,we lost the miller. We chalked it up to a random monster attack at first, but the deaths continued . It seemed whatever is attacking us sees us as easy prey as our casualites have accelerated. As a priestess of Koryis I first tried a non violent approach to battle this creature, I tried to make contact with it but met with no success. After diplomacy failed , I attempted to battle it directly but sadly I've had made no in roads to flush it in the open. Normally my son would assist me to track such a monster down, he's a master ranger, but sadly he's participating in the current pointless Crusade. ", she said with disdain.
"Pardon me, but you're a priestess. Why don't you use divination or detection magic to track it. ", asked Martinez . He was impressed Stille had attempted to not only talk to the demoness but also was ready to confront this creature herself. She guessed despite her god's peaceful nature she most likely had some combat experience in the army in her youth.
Stille shook her head, "It's the woods. Although they look benign, they radiate an evil aura. On most maps its known as the Darkwoods, Greenwood, or the Great Forest, but around here its simple known as the Devil's Woods. As you can surmise, it helps mask the local denizen's auras to some extent. This won't be a problem . Will it?"
Martinez grinned, "Normally it would be, but we came prepared . "
Stille nodded and continued her tale, " As you can see from the recent graves, all our efforts to deter and battle this creature has failed. I do not fear the creature , but it apparently has no desire to fight in the open. It just wants to feast on my friends and neighbors." , she said in frustration as her eyes welled up.
Before Martinez could cheer her up with his brilliant plan to capture and slay the beast, Raoul shrugged and offered the priestess a handkerchief. Stille took it and flashed a genuine heart melting smile at the half giant. Martinez caught the gesture, and was livid. What was he doing horning his way on his action? The dashing handsome duelist was gonna be the hero to rescue the maiden in distress, not the stupid half giant !
Before Martinez's temper erupted, Stille turned to the duelist. "You said you can track this demoness. Explain. "
"Yes my dear priestess. As I said before, I am a professional. ", stated the duelist, making sure to distance himself from that oaf Raoul. " As a demon hunter, I don't run head long into dangerous situations. The prey I hunt can rend one with both claw and magic. If your guess is correct, a succubus is a very dangerous foe to confront, especially without the use of magical divinations. They can change shape, and are experts at blending into a crowd. "
Stille nodded, "I know all of this, but please continue."
At that moment the formerly unseen barmaid entered the room. Although Martinez did not recall Stille summoning her, the young but plump serving wench began pouring the trio wine from a pitcher. Raoul rapidly drained his cup , and crudely motioned for a refill. Martinez smiled at the pleasant looking but gap tooth waitress and was surprised at the quality of the cordial offered to them. After a satisfying sip he continued his story.
"I've done some research on this area and found some interesting facts about its history. ", smiled the confident duelist. At mention of the barony's history , Martinez noticed a barely perceptible quiver mar Stille's upper lip, but she was careful to maintain her cool composure.
"First off , the Von Vebs have maintained a fairly open rule over this land for centuries. They weren't inspired rulers but at least competent. They were a typical degenerate noble family, they had their own little make believe local knight order to make themselves feel important , maintained a contingent of man at arms to keep the local serfs in line, and paid lip service to the various higher ups in the area to legitimize their control. Typical noble bull shit. All of this changed approximately a hundred years ago. After a particularly violent giant raid, the youngest son of the family took over the barony. That in itself was not that surprising, but what was particular was that he took a particularly young and beautiful woman as his bride. It was said she was uncommonly beautiful and the fairest maidens from the courts of Grom City to the pampered daughters of the merchant lords of Lower Lueders were shamed in comparison. That's all great for the new Baron von Veb, but subtle changes began occurring. First off the entire clan became more reclusive and secretive. That also is not particularly remarkable, but I also discovered that they reduced the size of the militia, only the baron and his closest companions were in charge of the countrysides defense.", stated Martinez.
Stille shrugged. "As you said , all of that is not really interesting. I've heard all of this before, since I do live here. Also I want to point out the Baron Halvor was a great warrior and his companions were equally deadly. He didn't dissolve the militia, he just down sized them and participated in the barony's defense more actively . Partially to save money and to improve efficiency. ", defended the priestess.
Martinez nodded,"Yes of course. This Baron Halvor was a hands on kind of guy , a bit odd but otherwise typical for the nobility. ", he said to humor the priestess. He smiled to himself as he wanted to see her reaction when he presented his special discovery.
" As I dug deeper , I made an amazing discovery. Many stories indicate that the woman he married was only seven years old when they tied the knot. Political marriages sometimes engage in the abhorrent practice of child brides, but by all reports the baroness was at that point a fully developed young woman. I dug deeper and found in most descriptions that this mysterious woman had light blue hair and in some of the wilder stories she has horns, tails and even bat wings which she takes great care to hide. Although she came from a noble family, there's documented proof that she was adopted from a tiefling orphanage in Lower Lueders. Can you see the connection now? ", asked the duelist smugly.
Stille gave a skeptical and offended look to Martinez. The duelist of course expected such a reaction, that would be how he would react if his sheltered view of his own tight knit community was suddenly bursted by the cold logical deductions of a brilliant but handsome demon hunter.
The priestess did not reply but just gave the duelist a cold stare. Raoul however responded, for once in a manner that did not make Martinez want to kick him.
"Ohh...ohh...I get it! A tiefling is a half demon thingamiggy. So this baroness probably was a succubus critter all along, probably blended in with those tieflings .",replied Raoul to the question Martinez posed.
Stille smiled and posed her own question, "Alright, suppose your theory is correct. If the baroness is a succubus why would she wait a hundred years to start preying on her subjects? "
Martinez shook his head, " I fear the worse I'm afraid. I'm going to hazard a very well educated guess here. The baron smuggled victims into the keep from outside the barony. Although slavery inside Grom is officially illegal , we all know people can get around it. To my research there weren't any reported disappearances from the surrounding towns , but the baron was known to have his hand in the caravan buisness and it wouldn't surprise me if he bought slaves from foreign lands to sate his wife's desires. It is my hypothesis that this was the arrangement the baron and then his son had maintained for over a century. Everything of course was fine , until the recent crusade. As you know this last expedition has been long and draining for the empire, it wouldn't surprise me that due to the length of this conflict, any arrangements the current baron had in place to keep his pet, or more correctly his mistress satisfied could not be honored. Therefore the creature had to take matters into her own vile hands. She's like a bloated demonic queen bee, a ravenous creature that demands a tithe from her drones. ", declared the duelist as he melodramatically waved his fingers evilly.
Stille appeared livid but kept silence at the abhorrent suggestion of her quaint town's history.
"I know, I know...this is pretty hard to accept. This quaint little town you thought was all peaceful has been nothing but a nesting ground for a vile demonic harlot. Your problem is you can't find the succubus, my solution is simple. We ask for an audience with the baroness or if that is not possible we sneak into her keep. I'm sure she has appropriate guardians and traps, but nothing my associate and myself can't handle. When we confront her, we'll quickly dispatch her and "Poof" problem solved. Succubus often work alone since their insane jealousy often drives them to tear apart perceived rivals, but we will thoroughly scour the keep incase it has charmed minions, and of course help ourselves to any valuables we encounter. That's typical in most adventuring contracts by the way. I suggest you raze the nest of evil to the ground, but that's up to you. We can get this all done tonight if you want. ", smiled the duelist confidently.
Stille shook her head in disbelief, "I can't believe this. It's all a bad joke, why would the church send you two fools instead of a properly informed paladin or cleric I can trust. "
Martinez was a bit offended by the last comment. What could a cleric or paladin kill that he couldn't. Sure his services cost more, but he got the job done. Quickly and efficiently without the moral holier then thou bull crap. " I am hurt by your lack of trust in me. Listen Lady Stille, can you get us an audience to the baroness? If you want, I can prove to you she's a succubus before I kill it . If that makes you feel any better. I just need to meet her. ", said the duelist feigning a hurt pride at her mistrust.
"She's right. That is a pretty crazy story. I'm not sure I would get you an audience with the baroness if I was in her position either. ", added Raoul giving his boss a "are you an idiot ? " glare. Once again Martinez contemplate kicking his half giant companion, but instead returned a "you are this close to being kicked in the nuts " gaze.
As the pair of demon hunters glared at each other, they were interrupted by an enchanting almost haunting laughter from the priestess. She shook her head slowly an regained her composure. "That is an interesting theory ..and an even more interesting plan you have. However there is just one small problem. ", she said stifling another burst of laughter.
"Oh? What's that?", asked Martinez , confident of the success of his brilliant plan.
"Well...you see...I am the baroness. Or , as you put it...the bloated demonic queen bee. ", the priestess Stille said as her eyes flashed like lightning.