Valyne cried out as her head cracked against the stone, the onyx horns that had sprouted from her forehead unable to protect the back of her skull. She was smeared with blood and covered with scrapes and slashes—however, Shami-Amourae was looking no better with her beautiful face battered and bruised, perfect hair in disarray. "Elg'caress!" she snarled, her head slowly clearing.
"Do you even know why you're fighting, Valyne?" Shami-Amourae taunted, though there was an edge beneath her words. "The little drow all grown up into Malcanthet's puppet. I can almost see her lips move when you do anything."
"For my sister, my niece, my goddess," Val spat out, lunging for the demon lord. She caught Shami-Amourae in a grapple that sent them both crashing against the grooved stone altar, breaking off a decorative gargoyle holding a bowl. Foul, congealing blood slapped the floor wetly and slowly started to spread as each struggled fiercely for the upper hand.
"Your goddess is a liar! She promised me my freedom! And this is what you are going to die for?" the deposed Queen of Succubi howled, somewhere between rage and amusement. She conjured up flame in one hand and shoved it against Valyne's arm in an effort to break the tightening grip on her throat. The arcanist let out a curse and flinched back instinctively, not realizing she had demonic immunities now. Her opponent laughed wickedly, lashing out with her claws and raking across the former drowess's face.
"I won't be the dead one," Val hissed, looking at the world through a curtain of bloody red and white hair that clung to her facial injuries. She recoiled as if flinching back from Shami-Amourae's next strike and kicked at the sitting demon, catching the brunette in the side of the head. There was an audible crack of breaking bones, but they both were sporting enough of those already that Valyne doubted it would keep her down for long. So she immediately lunged for that vulnerable throat again, digging in her claws until blood welled up and she was squeezing the breath out of Shami-Amourae.
"Wait...listen..." the succubus hissed out through gritted teeth. "Don't you...wonder about...why?"
"Why you attacked? I think that's been explained very clearly," Valyne said almost casually, allowing her grip to tighten and tighten.
"No. Why...Malcanthet...offered you...knowledge...then...deal..."
Val let go of the succubus and sprang back. She had wondered that, yes. What ulterior motive had prompted a demon lord to look on her with any interest? She watched with blank white eyes and ran her hand over a horn to sweep some of her now sticky hair out of her face as Shami-Amourae stood up. "Speak."
"You're just another pawn to her. The bitch has schemes that not even Graz'zt would believe if he heard them," Shami-Amourae hissed out between sharp teeth, massaging her throat. "She wants to utterly destroy the upper realms and all the gods, including the Seldarine. How else would she have seduced a greater deity with just honeyed words? You can do more for her than Demogorgon. Your demon-binding taught you to channel the Abyss itself. And now there's a piece of it inside you. I can feel it."
"If it pleases Lloth, why should I care?" Valyne said, baring her fangs in a smile tinged with wickedness.
"It will cause a holy war like you can't imagine. Enough to destroy Menzoberranzan, even the whole race of the drow. Lloth is mad. Why would she care what happens to a handful of mortals? Malcanthet is insane too, in her own way," Shami-Amourae snapped back, straightening up.
"So what would you have me do?"
The demon lord's white eyes gleamed with intense interest. "You can leave this place. I can feel it...they're holding the way open for you. If you wished it, we could both leave. Spare me and set me free, and we can return the demons to their normal ambitions. I could help you claim your father's title, rule over the demons as befits your blood."
Val's face was thoughtful as she turned this over in her mind. "And my sister's child?"
"What's one mortal life compared to millions of others?" Shami-Amourae pressed, not truly answering the question. There was no need. What demon could care about a single waste of flesh?
"You've forgotten something."
"Oh?" Shami-Amourae said with a hint of a purr, searching for a sign of Valyne's agreement.
"Drow are selfish," Valyne snarled, closing the distance between them and lashing out with a wing. The force slammed the former Queen of Succubi into one of the stone pillars. "She might as well be everything. She is to me."
Shami-Amourae howled her displeasure at the refusal, locking claws with her rival again. She stepped in, catching Val by her hair and slamming her head against another of the stone gargoyles. The twisted, graven creature shattered like so much glass, slashing open more wounds on Val's cheekbones. "Bitch! I offered you everything!"
"Just power," Valyne spat out, feeling the skin over her wounds start to heal. She slammed her head back, breaking her foe's wrist and twisting it when she whirled around with an elbow to the face. A fanged jaw cracked under the force of the impact.
Shami-Amourae staggered back cradling her face with her good hand and letting her healing wrist hang at her side. There was murder in her expression. "You will die in this place. If not by my hand, then Malcanthet's. She already owns you."
"No, she used me with my consent. Now everything is different. I see this plane so clearly, the threads that bind it all together..." Val said, letting the thought trail off. She called on the powers of the Abyss with a brief gesture of her hand, dark magic again flickering to life in her hands with an explosive crackle.
The former Queen of Succubi lunged, bringing a dagger that had been hidden at the back of her wrap down at Val's heart. The blade sank perhaps an inch in and then shattered against the beating shard of the Abyss. Not a drop of venomous blood dripped out. She staggered back, stunned by the energy that had rushed up the blade.
Val snarled and shoved her clawed hand through Shami-Amourae's chest to tear out her heart. She felt a sudden surge of power rushing into herself and an understanding passed over her. She hadn't just killed her rival: she had become a replacement, claiming those powers and that domain for her own. Even the demons that followed Shami-Amourae would now bend knee to her. That was the nature of the Abyss, much like the drow. Despite herself, she smiled and soaked in the moment. She was not Matron and never would be, but perhaps Yvonnel was right.
Perhaps she had been called to something greater.
"The demons be pushing yer drow back," Storunn reported to Yvonnel, the priestess still slinging spells from the thick of the battle. He whirled around with a great-axe that had come from one of the fallen duergar, burying the blade in the skull of another dretch. "They've numbers. Need someplace defensible."
"And where would we fall back to? Menzoberranzan?" the Revered Daughter spat. "They have numbers, we have skill. Where's Lirayne?"
"Well, she was out o' the thick o' it."
Storunn found himself seized and almost lifted off the ground despite the weight of his body and his armor. "What do you mean was?" Yvonnel snarled, cursing herself for not keeping a closer eye on the younger drowess. Apparently some sudden insanity had crept over her.
"She and Galen went after the balor general leading this mess. Figured to cut the head off the snake," the dwarf reported.
"Vith!" Yvonnel nearly screamed. She whirled around, sword extinguishing the spitting face of another demon. "After her!"
Further along the lines, Galen panted and threw up his shield to block the massive sword wielded one-handed by the balor general that they were facing. Lirayne had gone after the creature like an avenging angel, her divine casting far more powerful than it should have been for her condition. Hell, she probably wasn't that powerful on a normal day. The Spider Queen was pouring power into the priestess and she was loathe to waste it on lesser demons. Besides, this was personal.
"Lirayne, you shouldn't be doing this," he huffed, keeping himself between the demon and the priestess. Glowing heavenly light wreathed the paladin's sword in a radiant glow that had blinded demon and drow alike when he first went to smite the fiend. "Torm knows I can't keep this up much longer." And it was true. Fighting the demon, just the two of them, was exhausting.
"I will not lose. Not again!" Lirayne snarled, lashing out with another powerful surge of energy and ducking to avoid the flaming whip it wielded in its other hand. The fire seared her armor and blackened smooth metal but was otherwise fine. "Your mistress cannot protect you from me, demon!"
Weak Duskryn. You have already fallen to me once. Or does the paladin not know? the demon sneered at her. However, its attention was drawn by the rapidly approaching pair of Storunn and Yvonnel. So you hide behind the Revered Daughter of Lloth. How delightfully miserable, worms.
"I can kill you without her help!" the priestess shouted, hurling her native caution into the wind and snatching up a fallen demonic greatsword left buried in the body of a dead drow. She charged, and so Galen let out a roar and sprinted forward on her heels. The pair of them struck at once, blades biting deep into the balor's flame-wreathed body. It screeched out in Abyssal, then tumbled back in a burst of fire and smoke that flung them backwards. All Galen could feel was Lirayne's back colliding with his armored chest.
For a long moment, the world was a swimming mess. Then finally he raised his head, looking at the drowess sprawled across him. She was singed but not badly burned and probably sporting at least a few cracked ribs. He was more badly burned, his armor blistering up with molten steel across his throat and chest. "Never again," he croaked. "Baby?"
Lirayne hefted herself up and sliced deftly through the leather straps that held the breastplate together, getting it off Galen's chest before the metal could melt through and try to bond itself to his flesh and bone. Then she stopped and put a hand over her belly, feeling a faint flutter. She smiled. "Still fine. But never again," she promised, her confidence fully restored.
She had faced down the demon that trapped her, that stripped away her power. And now it lay slain. Around them the assault continued, however. "We can't keep this up," Yvonnel admitted, leaning down and helping the pair up. "We need to quit the field while we have a chance. Menzoberranzan can reinforce us."
"But—" Lirayne started. She was almost knocked off her feet again when a shockwave exploded outward from the center of Niar'hannenlyn and rolled through the armies like an unstoppable wave. "Goddess, was that the rift closing?"
It seemed to be some kind of signal to the demons, who suddenly seemed to panic. They tried to retreat, turning on each other in a fight to escape. "Now! Press the advantage!" Lirayne shouted, getting to her feet. She didn't join the fight with the greatsword, but she did let loose with another barrage of offensive spells. She was near running out despite her preparations, but that was a risk she'd run if it meant victory.
Slowly, so slowly, the drow began to overcome their foes. And out of the chaos came a familiar pale wraith: Cessair. The rogue was battered and exhausted, but she kept moving. "Over here!" Galen called out to her, waving her over. "Cess, what happened?"
"Val, she...she took the offer. And then she went through the gate. Before I could close it completely, it exploded, destroying all of the sigils. I don't know what it means," the disguised half-elf said, twitching her tail wearily.
"I think it means that we won," Yvonnel observed, watching what had been a fearsome battle become clean up. "What that means is anyone's guess, however."
Lirayne seemed suddenly sober, the thrill of victory fading as swiftly as it had come. "And Valyne?"
Cessair parted her lips as if she was going to tell them everything that had happened, but then she simply shook her head. "She's not coming back."