Nathrrya snickers. "Kobold, he thinks you are his lost love from the Abyss. He thinks Nessa is some kind of rodent. I don't know what he sees when he looks at me, though. Didn't hear that part."
Deekin scowls at the drow and wags his scaly finger at her. "This be all YOUR faults, creepy drow lady! Deekin knows what you did!" The drow raises her eyebrows, "It's only too bad you didn't eat it as well. THAT would definitely be entertaining. Not that this hasn't been fun, mind you."
Nessa's mouth falls open as she looks between her companions. "What are you two going on about?"
Deekin points his finger accusingly at Nathyrra and shrieks, "Creepy drow lady…" but before can finish, a splash in the water calls his attention. Valen has apparently caught lunch and is holding up a rather large, ugly fish by the tail.
Pleased with his success, the tiefling begins to walk out of the water, waving the gasping fish at Deekin-Lairani.
As he emerges further from the water, the elven bard's eyes almost bulge out of their sockets, "Oh. My. Gods."
Her jaw drops since his height isn't the only thing about the tiefling that's "super-sized."
Nathrrya following the direction of her gaze elbows her, "What? You think mortal women take demons as lovers for their good looks and pleasant dispositions? Come on…we have to get out of here."
Nathrrya grabs Nessa and drags her out of sight, back down the dark passage way.
As they hide behind a rock outcropping, waiting for a chance to rescue Deekin, Nessa hisses at Nathrrya, "What was Deekin on about?"
Nathrrya shrugs, "I don't think Deekin likes me very much. He keeps calling me "creepy drow lady". I do have name, you know. Can you talk to him about perhaps using it?"
Nessa considers this for a moment and lapses into silence. She recalls all too well what Tomi and Deekin were like. Nathrrya, watching the elf's face closely, nearly chuckles to herself.
She's managed to turn aside the elf's curiosity with a few quick statements. She smirks, thinking that the Seer's "Chosen One" is a bit light both in brawn and brains.
Nathrrya looks at the patches of glowing fungus on the walls and chuckles to herself. "This "Chosen One" has about the same IQ as the lichen," she thinks to herself.
She turns back to the scene at the pool and decides that it won't be coin that the tiefling will have to put up in order to ensure her silence. Well, at least not all coin.
&&&&&&
Nessa sighs heavily, realizing that Deekin was trying to tell her something, but feeling helpless because she can't figure it out. She knows that Nathrrya is behind it all somehow and that Deekin knows something, too.
She looks down at the faintly glowing patch of fungus and kicks it. For her part, she finds the sight of the naked tiefling to be riveting, for reasons she can't quite explain.
All that rippling muscle and a prehensile tail. "I wonder what that gets used for?" she muses.
She looks away from the pool for a moment and into the darkness, grateful that it conceals the rising heat in her face. She turns back, drawn to stare at the naked tiefling once more and it occurs to her that there might be more to do on this little jaunt than just keeping watch at night.
Watching Valen with Deekin-Lairani, she's struck by how gentle he seems now. His causal nudity, his obvious endowments, his tenderness, the stark contrast between this sudden bout of tenderness after his snarling savage rage earlier makes her want to trade places with Deekin.
&&&&&&
Since Deekin-Lairani seems repulsed by the fish, the tiefling, in a lightening fast gesture, whips the still-flopping fish around. The fish's head hits the cave wall with a loud "THWACK!" The sound is followed by an immediate dispersal of the fish's head into the surrounding area.
He proffers the fish again, but Deekin-Lairani seems even more repulsed by it now. Thinking that perhaps, she'd rather bathe first, he tosses the fish aside and sits quickly.
He murmurs adoringly to the kobold and nods, "Yes, love… You're right. You should bathe first. It will make you feel better. Come…I'll help you."
He grabs Deekin-Lairani and pulls her into his lap. As he starts trying to help her undress, she begins to struggle against him.
He stops for a moment and whispers to her soothingly, still in abyssal, "I don't care what they've done to you. Shhh…. I'll help you. It'll be alright."
&&&&&&
The fish's head shatters, covering Deekin in smelly goo. Deekin grimaces but doesn't have much of a chance to clean himself before the tiefling proffers the fish to him again.
Deekin grimaces at Valen, "Ugh! Goat man, now Deekin be dirty. Deekin not likes baths, but now Deekin smells bad."
Deekin, who doesn't find anything at all attractive about Valen, grimaces again as the tiefling pulls him into his lap. When the tiefling starts trying to remove his clothing, Deekin starts swatting at Valen's hands.
Finally, in frustration, he slaps Valen in the face - hard. Realizing his error, the kobold cringes, awaiting his demise. To his surprise, Valen doesn't become violent even though his eyes flicker between red and blue for a few moments.
&&&&&&
Valen's head rocks with the sudden impact. He sucks in a sharp breath and rubs his cheek, frowning at Deekin-Lairani.
He struggles with his temper for a few moments while he decides on his next course of action. Deciding that Deekin-Lairani is obviously in no shape to care for herself, he grabs and with a sudden yank, rips both his shirt and pants away.
The rest of the clothing follows quickly as Deekin squeals in horror, "Boss! Boss! Deekin thinks now be good time."
As Nessa starts out of their hiding place, Nathrrya drags her back and whispers in her ear, "We cannot fight him. We must get Deekin and use him to lure the tiefling back to camp, where the Seer can help him. I don't think Deekin is in any danger from a bath. In fact, it might do him a world of good. The drow have sensitive noses."
Nessa sighs and relents, "If you're sure that's all it is."
Nathrrya nods so Nessa scoots back into their deep shadow behind the rock. Nathrrya whispers to her, "All we have to do is get him to go to sleep so that we can get Deekin and make a run for it." Nessa nods thoughtfully.
Valen picks up the kobold and throws him over his shoulder, heading back toward the pool. He walks quickly, since Deekin is kicking and screaming the whole time. As he wades deeper into the pool, Deekin's thrashing becomes more violent.
Nathrrya, watching the kobold, is quite amused. This is working out far better than she had originally hoped and the tiefling turning out to be a bit of eye candy was an unexpected bonus.
She glances at Nessa out of the corner of her eye and sees that the elf is practically drooling at the sight of the tiefling and an idea occurs to her. She decides to see just how dense the elf really is and if it works, it will leave her alone with the annoying kobold...
She grins wickedly to herself, "You know…I just had another idea. I have a few disguise spells. I could make you look like Deekin and then perhaps we'd be able to swap the two of you. That would get Deekin back."
Nathrrya fails to mention the obvious flaw in her plan and is faintly shocked when the elf readily agrees.
Since Valen has his back turned, Nessa signals Deekin who nods. Nathrrya quickly casts the spells, turning Nessa into "Deekin."
As Deekin, Nessa strips then creeps closer to the pool and eases into the water. The plan is that once Valen lets go of the real Deekin, Nathrrya will cast an invisibility spell on him, allowing him to escape while Nessa takes his place.
Since Valen's a demon, he can sense the soul of a living being, so Nessa's hoping that she can keep him distracted long enough for Deekin to get away. While Deekin is horrified that the tiefling is attracted to him, Nessa is rather looking forward to the prospect of being bathed by the tiefling.
Finally, Valen goes to dunk his head so that he can wash his hair and he lets go of Deekin. Deekin, not really sure what's going on, makes his break, splashing heavily to get to the edge.
As soon as he's on solid ground, Nathrrya casts the invisibility spell and Deekin pads off, trying to be as quiet as he can. He's had more than enough of the crazy goat man.
Now to get even with creepy drow lady for putting him through this. Boss is nice but Boss has all the brains of a turnip. Deekin be smarter than that.