Cessair cursed in frustration and slammed her fists against the unmoving section of false stone wall that served as a doorway to the succubus's sanctum. Storunn had intimidated a gnome merchant into revealing that he had seen where the disguised demon and her newest thrall had gone. "I've tried everything. It has to be bound by magic," she said. Despite the fact that she had found the lock, all of her attempts to pick it had broken her tools.
"Sister, do something," Lirayne said harshly, rounding on Valyne who had been standing quietly off to the side. It was hard not to blame herself for their present situation. Perhaps if she had simply bitten her tongue, the paladin would not have had cause to drink.
"The magic here is powerful," Valyne admitted, resting her palm flat against the stone. "Clearly our foe has been granted special strength by her patron. It is beyond simple dispelling."
"We can't just leave him," Cessair said pleadingly. "Please, Val. I know you hate him, but he's my brother." She was surprised to see a hint of her own desperation written across Lirayne's face. Perhaps the drowess had been flirting out of more than just habit.
Val searched her memory for anything that could work. Maybe...yes. Malcanthet had told her of the Black Speech, the language from which both Abyssal and Infernal took their roots. Every syllable contained the raw power of the evil that had existed before creation itself. She had learned a smattering of it in her dealings with Malcanthet, one of the few demons she'd spoken to who even knew it existed, though the young drowess had never dared to speak the words aloud herself. To utter them was to leave an indelible impression upon your own soul. However, it was the only thing she could think of strong enough to break through a spell of a demon lord's devising.
The drowess stepped so she was almost pressed against the wall, palms flat against the stone. She closed her eyes and started to whisper the secret words of corruption, decay, and weakness to the wall itself and the magical words that surrounded it. As soon as she spoke, the Abyssal taint in her blood burned white-hot. Her jaw cracked painfully, fangs forming. The fingernails that she was digging instinctively into fissures in the rock face suddenly started to twist and change into lethal claws. She wasn't binding. She was...changing.
Lirayne, the closest, couldn't hear what was being said, but she still felt her blood run cold with dread at the sibilant syllables rolling off her sister's tongue. The stone was beginning to crack and crumble along with the wards, the mechanism concealed by decorative work rusting away into dust. The statues on either side of the hidden doors seemed to erode away before their very eyes, the faces losing their features as though thousands of years of water and wear had stripped them away.
Once it was weak enough, Val slammed her fist into the wall. The rock cracked in spiderweb patterns that spread rapidly. She hit it again, punching through and causing the whole segment to collapse into rubble. One of the statues lost an arm and the stone sword it had been holding.
"That was...creepy," Cessair said, shifting uncomfortably. The air had seemed to grow a lot colder and heavier when the drowess was doing whatever the hell that was to the wall. It was like no magic she had ever seen before. When their mage turned around, her eyes were white from corner to corner. "Val..."
"What manner of sorcery is this?" Lirayne hissed out between clenched teeth, fighting hard not to take a step back. Her sister had gone from showing nothing, thanks to her mask, to exuding an aura of unholy and ancient evil that overpowered even the spells designed to hide her from detection. She had heard the rumors, of course, from Sorcere about what magics Valyne had dabbled in. She had even seen a hint of it when Valyne seized her by the throat so long ago in the tunnels on their surface raid against Corellon's forces. But this was on an entirely different level.
Val closed her eyes, forcing the darkness back down. Every day it seemed harder and harder to keep in check, bleeding closer to the surface. "I'm alright," she said roughly, her voice a bit lower and more growling than normal. The claws receded slowly and her eyes were back to normal when she looked up at them again. The tainted aura faded in a far more gradual way, still clinging to the rocks themselves. "That was easier than I thought it would be, actually."
Malcanthet had related stories of mortal cultists seeking to use the Black Speech and driving themselves into gibbering insanity. But when she started to speak, the words felt so...right. They formed to her mouth and rolled off her tongue as though she was speaking her native language, just as she had always felt with Abyssal. It was not what she had expected at all.
Lirayne relaxed, but just barely. "When this is over, sister, we need to talk," she said quietly before moving forward to step over the rubble. She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax, pretending everything was normal and fine. She didn't want to think about what her sister had just done more than absolutely necessary. "Well, the bitch might have stolen my face, but I can't fault her aesthetic tastes."
The hallway revealed was decorated lavishly in an almost drow fashion, probably because that was simply the style of material available in this plane that came closest to what succubi liked. However, as they went deeper, there were more reflective surfaces and mirrors than even most drow would permit. "Are all succubi in love with their own appearance?" Cessair asked, looking around.
Lirayne wanted more than anything to be able to joke back, but now that they had moved a ways into the demon's lair, her chest started to tighten unpleasantly and her hands felt numb. A sudden faintness, like the terror of a completely unseasoned fighter walking into their first battle, crept over her slowly. In her mind, she was once again walking into that crumbling ruin no longer abandoned with a balor waiting for her in the depths. And this time it would torment her with new faces.
"Even demons have distinct personalities, though they tend to be a little extreme in their idiosyncracies when compared to mortals. This one is likely just particularly vain," Valyne answered. She glanced over at her sister and caught distress behind the stony face the cleric had affected. "She will have guards, probably fellow demons. Her thralls besides Galen are probably out attending to business that she won't risk touching herself."
"Did yer trick tell 'em that we're here?" Storunn asked, gripping his axe tightly.
Lirayne narrowed her eyes as she glared down the hall ahead of them. "Always assume your enemy knows you're coming, dwarf. Either you're right or you're pleasantly surprised. Val, plan?"
"I will take the succubus," their arcanist said after she'd stopped and turned to face them. "Lirayne, I need you to either break the compulsion on Galen or incapacitate him. Cessair, Storunn, you need to handle the guards or at least keep them distracted until Lirayne and I can banish them. This is going to be unpleasant at best."
"Your words are as comforting as always," Cessair said with a mock sigh of relief, slapping her hand over her heart. "I treasure your confidence in us."
"Stop stalling, lass. Ye not eager for the fight?" Storunn said. The dwarf's grin was wide and confident as he and Cessair moved to take the lead. At least someone wasn't apprehensive about this.
Val wrapped her fingers around her sister's wrist as they started down the hall, delaying them both for just a moment. "Lirayne, trust me, this will be alright," she said softly in drow, choosing her words very carefully. The last thing she wanted was her sister charging in to prove anything when she wasn't certain of herself. "You aren't alone. If you won't do this, I understand."
"Just keep the succubus away from me, Valyne," Lirayne said, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She was afraid of what could happen, but she was absolutely confident in her sister's abilities. "I can't...Goddess...I don't want to be under a demon's sway. Not again."
"Never again," Val promised. "We can do this together, sister."
Reassured a little, Lirayne nodded and they caught up with the others. It was a short walk down the hall to a large open room that served as the succubus's main living area. Her bedroom and baths were off through a pair of closed doors. It was a fine hideout, furnished with the same tastes. A summoning circle had been chalked onto the floor in one corner, still surrounded by guttering candles that illuminated the darkness.
Their foe was waiting for them, curled against Galen's side on a silk covered divan. She had discarded Lirayne's form now that she had her thrall firmly under her thumb in favor of her undisguised, winged self with fair skin and golden hair. She was lovely enough to pass for some celestial being, save for the demonic features and self-satisfied smirk. The paladin didn't look good-clearly she had drained at least some of his energy to make him easier to handle. He seemed completely enamored with the disguised demon. Her bodyguards were on either side: massive, toad faced demons leering out of auras of flame and smoke with an overpoweringly foul stench that pervaded the whole room. Cessair felt like she was going to gag.
"I thought this might get your attention," the demon purred softly. "Really, I feel like we almost know each other. Dear Galen told me all about the four of you."
"Give us back my brother," Cessair said with a sharpness that she rarely showed, drawing both knives.
"I didn't take him, little girl, not really. He followed me quite willingly. I fear he's been feeling quite neglected lately," the succubus said pleasantly. "But I could be persuaded to give him back unharmed, for a price."
"Lass, good girls don't deal with demons," Storunn said warningly as he saw Cessair's resolve waver. He knew the only reason that Val hadn't stepped in or attacked was because she was busy figuring out how to get Galen away from the succubus before hurling spells around. "Ye know better."
Cessair did not like her odds, between the two massive hulking demons and the succubus herself. Maybe if there was some other way to get Galen away from her, even if they didn't follow through. "What do you want?" she said, ignoring the dwarf's comment.
"You have something that belongs to my mistress. She wants it back. Give it to me. Then you and your little group can scurry back off to the surface and crusade around in the name of good all you want," the succubus said pleasantly. She patted Galen's cheek with a clawed hand when his expression sank. "Don't pout, darling. A fair trade means things of roughly equal value, and your sister really does adore you. Just like Valyne adores Lirayne."
The half elf could connect dots a lot faster than Storunn. She tensed, more unnerved by the sudden silence behind her than any growling threat Val might have come up with. "We are not giving you Lirayne, sorry. Now hand over Galen and we'll let you walk away."
The succubus smiled sweetly. "Now I really have seen it all, the little elfling protecting a priestess of Lloth. Half elf, I know, but still. Your father is turning over in his grave. Particularly since she's the bitch that put him there."
Cessair rounded on the priestess. "Is...is that true?" she asked, faltering.
"Cessair, that's a demon talking," Storunn said incredulously. It wasn't like the half elf to doubt her companions. But then again, this one had pumped Galen for all kinds of information: she knew where to hit the half elf for full effect. "Val, kill her for me."
"No, I want to know what happened." The rogue moved between the advancing arcanist and the succubus, oblivious to the fact that their enemy was taking the time to issue orders to her bodyguards and Galen telepathically.
Val grabbed Cessair by the arm and wrenched her aside. "The succubus is playing you like a harp," she said harshly in the half elf's ear before shoving her away from Lirayne and towards Storunn. The dwarf caught the rogue mid-stumble. "Get it together."
"Not interested in talking, drow?" the succubus said with pleasure as Val approached. "Galen really is right not to trust you, isn't he? People who wear masks are always hiding something. I wonder what would happen if your friends saw what was behind yours."
The demon moved with the speed of a pouncing feline, hurling bolt of crackling dark energy straight at Valyne's face. The drowess through up a ward, but not quickly enough: the assault punched through and shattered the mask she was wearing. Instantly, the concealment spells dissipated. Val snarled, not even bothering to put a hand to the lacerations across her face.
The succubus was clearly not prepared for what was revealed, her eyes going wide. She stumbled back away from the drowess. "Galen, smite her!" she ordered the paladin.
Immediately the human jumped up and charged, his weapon bursting into radiant holy flame. The mage had been prepared for this, however: she hit him with a powerful force spell, sending him flying against one of the side walls. He would be nursing some bruised, if not broken ribs, but he would be alive. That was more than she would say for the succubus's future.
Lirayne immediately moved towards him, weaving a spell to shatter the succubus's hold and restore the energy that had been drained away. She bent over him, only to see his eyes suddenly clear and focus on her. "Better?" she said, offering her hand.
Galen just nodded, letting her help him up. "Ribs hurt," he grunted out. Cessair and Storunn were locked in battle with the two hezrou, but they clearly needed help. He immediately charged into battle to their aid with Lirayne right behind them, sword still aflame with holy power.
Meanwhile, Val allowed the monster inside of her out. She wasn't binding, not really, just channeling the raw power of the Abyss. She had no idea why the demonic features manifested, but the claws and teeth were handy considering she was throwing herself at a succubus. After all, succubi were not at their best in physical combat and she wasn't thinking very clearly through the unrestrained rage and bloodlust. It had been days since she'd ripped anything apart with her claws, heard a victim beg vainly for mercy. Her foe dodged and evaded, sprinting for one of the side rooms. Val grinned with a wolfish satisfaction and chased after the demon.
Lirayne found herself bolstering her allies more than wading into combat directly, but it was a role she had filled more than once before. Her offensive divine spells were still quite useful against the demons, but she didn't like getting at all close to them. The battle was exhausting and drawn out, but they were swiftly gaining the upper hand with Galen's help. She could only hope that Valyne was doing as well.
The hezrou were incredibly strong, unnaturally fast, and getting close enough to strike them meant risking unpleasant burns. Lirayne did her best to heal and shield her companions, but there was only so much she could do. Cessair's hands were badly damaged by the flame and she was nauseated by the creatures' stench, but she could still keep fighting. The first fell only under the combined onslaught of all four of them. The second was a far longer battle, but Galen's blade eventually buried itself in the toad-like face, ending it.
Lirayne felt a surge of confidence. She had done it. She had fought powerful demons on their own territory and won. No faltering, no failing spells, no succumbing to mind powers. But her bubble burst rapidly when she realized they had lost Valyne and the succubus. "Where's my sister?" she called out to the others.
"That way!" Cessair said, pointing at a doorway scarred by claws, the door hanging half off its hinges. There was screaming coming from beyond. Without waiting for the others, the rogue started sprinting that way.
Meanwhile, Valyne twisted her body out of the way, letting the succubus slam her clawed hand into the ground. The demon howled in pain but didn't loosen its grapple. The pair were tangled together on the floor, clawing and tearing at each other. The fight had started to go badly when she tried to use her draining kiss on Val and it failed completely. The drowess shifted her weight and shoved, reversing their positions. She pinned the succubus to the ground by her wrists, legs still tangled with the creature's to prevent her from kicking out.
"If you wanted me this way, you could have just said so," the succubus tried to purr. The waver of fear in the demon's voice ruined the effect. She wasn't fighting a mage any more. This felt more like she had challenged a much more powerful specimen of her own kind.
"Who sent you?" Val hissed in Abyssal, her claws digging into the soft flesh of the creature's wrists. They were both clawed up and bloody, burned from magic and battered from blows, but it was the succubus who was suffering more and that was all that mattered.
"I don't have to answer you, you half-breed bitch," the succubus snarled in Common. It was an educated guess, something she hoped would stir the paladin and his fellow companions to act against her captor. Unfortunately, all it seemed to do was make the arcanist completely lose her temper.
Wrong answer, Valyne growled out. Obey. The order came not in Common or Abyssal, but in the Black Speech. Malcanthet had taught it to her to control unruly demons. Before today, she had never even thought she was strong enough to use it.
The succubus shrieked and writhed vainly to free herself of the sudden agony that wracked her being. Suddenly seconds became aeons and every fiber in her being felt as though it was being ripped asunder. There was no escape, no relief except submission."No more! No more!" the demon pleaded. In her millennia of life, she had only felt this kind of pain once before: at the displeasure of a much more powerful demon, Malcanthet. The usurper had always been more learned in the ways ancient even to the Abyss's denizens than her mistress, part of the reason she had risen to the top.
Tell me. Valyne grinned at the pain in the miserable creature she was holding down. It fueled the fires of power in blood and went a little ways towards sating the gnawing hunger for destruction and discord that was almost overpowering her.
"Shami-Amourae!" the succubus cried. Instantly, the effects of the command word were gone and she sobbed in relief.
Most helpful, Valyne purred in a softer voice, one straight out of the lower layers her captive's native plane. So helpful, in fact, that I might just let you live. You will not harm or attempt to influence the mortals with me. You will not attempt to flee. You will not summon aid. You will not contact your mistress or her servants.
The succubus whimpered in agreement, knowing she was still under the power of the drowess. If she were to try and disobey, her torment would resume.
"Val?" Lirayne whispered quietly, gripping the doorframe for support. When Valyne had spoken that word, she'd felt her entire body freeze with dread. The voice wasn't helping. It reminded her too much of the balor in the ruined temple. This was not simple demonic corruption. She was looking at something much more sinister. The others had all flinched back, allowing Lirayne to be the closest to her sister. Now, looking at this monster, it was hard for the priestess to believe she was even seeing her younger sibling. For the Goddess's sake, she had held Valyne in her arms as a cooing infant.
Valyne got to her feet and immediately the demonic features receded. She was exhausted. Fighting the succubus like that had taken a lot out of her. Whatever this new power was, she hadn't gotten nearly enough practice with it to be comfortable or confident in its use. "Is everyone alright?" she asked Lirayne in her normal voice, covering the open wounds deep into her side with one hand.
"We're hurting, but the enemy took the worst of it," the priestess said, moving forward. She used her last healing spell on her sister to treat at least some of the damage. "Why spare her?"
"I'm not, exactly," Val said. She prodded the succubus one foot, aiming for an open wound on the demon's thigh out of spite. "Get up and follow."
Val moved past the others without a word, knowing that Galen could sense the evil that permeated every fiber of her being perfectly now without her mask to hide behind. There was no sense in hiding any more. Not from her connections to the Abyss, anyway. She wasn't about to bare her soul completely to any of them. Her destination was the summoning circle in the corner. Val concentrated, her task made far easier by the fact that she wasn't reaching across planes this time. Her incantation was whispered, her motions small and practiced.
There was a thunderous crack and Malcanthet appeared in the circle, a lazy grin spreading across her face. "Well, well, this looks like the remains of quite the cat fight," the demon said lazily. She saw the rest of the group staring at her with distrust and blew them a kiss. "Care to let me out, sweet thing? You look like you could use a hand."
Val scuffed away part of the chalk with her boot so Malcanthet could step across the line. "I have a present for you. Recognize her?" the drowess said, jerking a thumb at her succubus captive.
The red-haired demon grinned in an entirely unwholesome way. "Eisheth, didn't I warn you that clinging to Shami-Amourae's deluded promises would get you into all kinds of unpleasantness? Now here we are again, my friendly advice clearly forgotten entirely."
Eisheth started to tremble like a leaf. She was in no position to try defiance without the protection of her mistress. And even then, she doubted she would be safe from this particular demon's cruelty. "Malcanthet, I-"
"Hush," the older succubus said gently. She ran her claws through the blond demon's hair almost soothingly before suddenly gripping hair and yanking Eisheth's hair back. "Do you think I care what you have to say? My displeasure is infinitely greater than your ability to beg." She barked a word of banishment. It sent the lesser demon hurtling straight to Shendilavri, Malcanthet's own layer of the Abyss.
"I thought you might know her," Val said dryly, sitting down gingerly. Her whole body ached and burned, the feeling intensifying near her wounds. "I would introduce the others to you, but I don't think you actually care what peoples' names are. Everyone, this is Malcanthet. She isn't an enemy."
Malcanthet waved pleasantly in the direction of Galen's glower. "Someone just got out of a thrall, I see. Best of luck with your recovery, choir boy," she said before surveying the rest of the group. Her eyes lingered on Lirayne in particular, clearly eliciting discomfort from the priestess. "Don't worry about little old me, priestess. Your goddess and I are on the same side for the moment."
Galen gripped his sword tightly. The holy flames had dissipated, but he was still ready to use it. He just wasn't certain whether to apply it to Val or Malcanthet first. Lirayne put a hand on his arm. "Don't," she said quietly. "I trust Val, and that is not a normal succubus."
"Smart and lovely. Must run in the family," Malcanthet said with a wink. "She's right, choir boy, I eat paladins like you for breakfast...when I run out of toast. Now, Val, I'm certain you didn't call me up just to hand me a present. Something on your mind?"
"Shami-Amourae is behind the demon activity in the Underdark, I assume. Why does she want Lirayne so badly?" Val said. She actually found her mentor's behavior reassuring. It was a familiar constant, like gravity. Even with all the turmoil, the universe could count on her personality to remain unchanged.
"She doesn't precisely want your delightful sister. From what I gather, she's far more interested in the 'plus one' element. Suffice to say that she needs the child and you really don't want her to get what she needs. I'd tell you the whole sordid tale, but in your condition you'd probably sleep right through most of it." The demon examined her claws, brushing off a strand of blond hair from her earlier victim. It reminded her that she was really going to have to spend some quality time with Eisheth. Perhaps a millennium of torment would finally correct her poor judgment.
"Speaking of conditions, what's happening to Val?" Lirayne asked, stepping forward to touch her sister's shoulder. She was still processing the news that some powerful demon wanted her child. It would probably be a good two or three hours before she started to panic or throw things. "It's clearly Abyssal and you seem to know what's going on."
"Oh, that? Valyne is just going through some growing pains at the minute. It could take centuries or just days for her to get where she's going," Malcanthet said. Val's head jerked up, confusion written plainly across her features. "Oh, sweet thing, don't tell me you thought this was just a little run of the mill corruption from demonbinding. There's that too, but it just sped up the inevitable. I needed you to be an early bloomer so Shami-Amourae couldn't simply waltz out of the Wells of Darkness without opposition."
"You've been binding demons?" Lirayne said, looking at Valyne. She wasn't really horrified, not as a priestess of the Demon Queen of Spiders. She was definitely shocked, however. That was magic that maybe one drow every hundred years could even attempt. Dark, powerful, and ancient. It did explain at least some of the corruption. Stains to a soul like that were not the kind to simply wash off.
Valyne just nodded at the inquiry, gathering together her courage. It didn't surprise her that there was some other reason Malcanthet had introduced her to demonbinding or that she had known something like this might happen. The succubus thought of time in a way mortal beings couldn't even begin to comprehend and always, always played a long game. Even now she was likely keeping secrets that were to her advantage. "What, precisely, am I growing into?"
Malcanthet stepped over, brushing Val's white hair out of her face and tucking it behind one ear. It was almost a fond gesture, or would have been if demons could actually experience emotions like that. Succubi were frighteningly good actors. "You're your father's daughter, sweet thing. It hasn't always been obvious, but it wasn't going to stay hidden forever. You know what's in your blood. Be a smart girl and figure it out. Now, if you would do me the courtesy of sending me back to the Abyss? I have a miserable little worm to torture."
Val knew that was as much of an answer as she would get and she was too exhausted to fight for a few dozen more deflections. "Enjoy," she murmured before banishing the demon with a few soft words and a gesture.
This evening was going to be, well, awkward.