Love's Labors, Part 29
You roll out of bed, your decision made. You've put this off for long enough. It's time to talk to Rysanial about what you've learned. She deserves to know what you've uncovered. The secrets that exist between her kind and yours... and the true threat that the Incubus King poses.
After a brief search, you find her in her quarters. She's paying some attention to the new warchief, ensuring that he continues to remain safely under your thumb. The huge orc kneels—naked, bound and blindfolded—in front of the succubus he once tried to dominate. Even on his knees, the hulking brute is slightly taller than she is standing. Yet there isn't the slightest question who is in charge here.
You notice that the restraints she's used to tie him up are barely more than string. It's a devious touch, one worthy of her cunning mind. They are enough to immobilize him, inescapably driving home his status as her prisoner. Yet they are also flimsy enough to constantly remind him that he could snap them if he wanted to.
If he wanted to. The very weakness of those cords never allows him to forget that ultimately, it is his own desires that are binding him there. Binding him stronger than any rope ever could. It is his own primal need to experience this incomparable rush of submission that drives him to abase himself before Rysanial, without any hope—or desire—for escape.
The blindfolded orc is sweating, breathing heavily, his exposed cock painfully erect. You can tell that Rysanial has already been teasing him with touches of her aphrodisiac for quite some time now, driving him to this state. The succubus slowly circles him, occasionally slapping a riding crop into her palm to let him hear her location.
"So... have you been a good boy, warchief?" she says, her inhumanly sultry voice causing him to shudder in anticipation. "You know that only good boys deserve to be punished in the way they most long for..."
"I have!" he gasps out. "I... I have been a good boy, mistress. I have done everything that you and the queen have asked. Just as I will continue to do!"
"Mmmhmm..." As she speaks, Rysanial moves in closer. "Have you, now?" Then, with one of her dainty feet, she steps firmly down, right on his exposed cock.
In his current state, it's far more stimulation than he could possibly handle. He comes hard, his entire body shuddering with the supernatural force of his orgasm. Burst after burst of semen shoots from his cock, staining the floor, as well as Rysanial's other foot.
The succubus tsks in feigned disappointment. "And you called yourself a good boy. Didn't I forbid you from coming until I gave you permission? And now you've gotten my foot dirty."
Even as she does all this, though... you can tell that she is making sure not to cause any serious harm. The force when she stepped on his cock was perfectly controlled, relative to the orc's rugged durability. And even though she has fostered this submissive obsession with her, she's still making sure to satisfy him, within that context. She gives him genuine Pleasure as she disciplines him. Pleasure that is white-hot, searing in its intensity. Pleasure he couldn't have even imagined possible before meeting her.
No matter that he was once an enemy. No matter that he once tried to break her, without showing any such concern. All that matters is that—as he is now—he is no longer a threat. And that being the case, she sees no reason not to give him exactly the kind of ecstasy he now craves. Spreading the Truth of Pleasure, even to him.
It's exactly what the Second Circle always should have been. And seeing it on display here makes the thought of what you have to tell Rysanial taste even more sour in your mouth.
"I'm sorry, mistress," the warchief rasps out, bowing his head even further. "Please... forgive me. Allow me to make up for my weakness by... by cleaning you."
Rysanial raises an eyebrow, then gracefully extends the foot that he came onto, placing it on the floor right in front of him. "You may," she says, her voice imperious. The words have barely left her lips before the warchief is bending down, searching blindly for her foot until he finds it... then worshipfully licking it clean of his own seed.
And if some of those licks do go a bit further up her perfectly-toned calf than strictly necessary... Rysanial permits it with the tolerance of someone humoring a needy pet.
As the warchief finishes, Rysanial glances over at you, an impish grin lighting up her face. "Oh, is there something you need?" she asks. "Did you want to join in?"
"I was... hoping to talk to you, actually," you say. "In private."
Rysanial immediately realizes from your tone that this is something serious. She turns back to the bound, blindfolded warchief. "Stay where you are," she orders him. "I'll be back... eventually."
With that, the two of you leave. You find an isolated spot, high on the battlements, away from any prying ears. The two of you look out across the surrounding plain, across the countless orcish encampments scattered around the fortress as the wind tugs at you.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Rysanial asks, looking up at you with a worried frown.
You exhale. "I... learned something when I was fighting against the Incubus King inside my mind," you say. "Something you ought to know. About incubi like me. About this Brand. About the true reason why the Lust Queen is so afraid of the old king's return."
With that, you begin to tell Rysanial what you saw in the Incubus King's memories. As you lay it out for her step by step, her usual exuberance fades a bit, and you can see real worry start to creep into her eyes.
By the time you're done, both of you are sitting down next to each other. Your backs are against the parapet as you describe the last moments of the Incubus King's life. You follow that by describing your conversation with Taharial. Then there is silence between the two of you for quite some time, as the succubus considers the full implications of what she's learned.
"Shit..." she finally whispers. "I mean... I knew it could be bad, if the old king came back. I just... I don't know. I didn't realize it would be like that. I guess... I always just thought... I'd at least be able to do something, you know? Even if it was just running away. But... if he can control us like that..." She shivers.
There's another long silence, before you ask the one question you can't avoid asking. "Does this change your mind about helping me? Knowing what could happen, if I fail? Taharial said I was too dangerous to be left alive. And... if you agreed with her... I wouldn't blame you."
Rysanial just glances over at you with a bleak smile. "I... I guess I don't know. If this... thing... the old king did to us is that powerful, do I really have a choice? The fact that I care about you so much... The fact that I want so badly to take the risk anyway, if it means saving you... Is that really me?"
For all your charisma and wit, you have nothing to say to that.
After another long silence, she sighs. "In the end, I don't suppose it matters, does it?" she says. "Where this geas ends, and I begin. As I am right now? I could never live with myself if I let you die. One way or another, that's the hand we've been dealt. And..."
Here she tucks a strand of black hair behind her ear, looking embarrassed at her next admission. "And... I don't want to give up on our mistress either. I... suppose I can at least say that part is probably me, right? This shitty geas... it wouldn't make me feel anything about her... right?"
"I can't imagine the old king putting anything in it about anyone other than himself," you offer.
Rysanial lets out a breath that's almost a chuckle. The she stretches and stands back up. "Then enough moping!" she says, some of her usual cheeky exuberance returning. Though you're perceptive enough to tell that at least some of her cheer is forced. A pretense, so that you don't feel so bad. "Let's get out there and figure out how to kick all their asses! Then we won't have anything left to worry about."
You climb back to your feet as well. "Actually..." you say. "There is one thing we could do that might help with that. If we had Nevati and Ceriss study this geas, they might be able to figure something out. Maybe even find some way of protecting against it, if the worst does happen."
The succubus ponders your idea, before nodding. "Could be worth a shot," she agrees. "Let's give it a try."
Rysanial returns to finish taking care of the warchief, while you seek out your two mages. You find them naked in Ceriss' room, Nevati sitting in her lover's lap as the two of them discuss their own plans. You explain the situation to them, and they immediately agree with your idea.
All three of you spend the rest of that day—and most of the next—working closely together. The collaboration is very reminiscent of how the three of you worked together on the scrying spell to search the library in the crypts. Except this time there's no need to overcome any hesitation or worry on Nevati's part. She's just working on a fiendishly tricky arcane puzzle, together with two intimate lovers who can understand and engage with what she's talking about. Lovers she knows will care for her despite her awkwardness.
It's difficult for you to imagine the young gnome being any more blissful than she is in that moment.
What you finally end up with—for your initial foray, at least—is a set of magical circles. One large one that encompasses most of the room in the fortress that you've commandeered as your workshop, with two smaller ones within it. You and Rysanial each stand in one of the smaller ones, and with an invocation from Ceriss, the incredibly-complex array of magical runes that form the circles start to light up with mystical power.
Nevati has her goggles out, and she's switching rapidly between the different enchantments on the lenses, their colors changing as she analyzes everything that's taking place. Just outside the largest magic circle, there are no less than twelve blank tomes, arranged in three rows of four, each one with an animated quill hovering in the air over it. They're all connected by enchantment to one of the three magic circles, just waiting for the real test to begin.
"If there were anything to be g-gained from just studying the succubus side of the g-geas, then they would surely have f-found it by now," Nevati explains, while adjusting the lenses of her goggles yet again. "But we have something they d-don't. Niko, if you can activate the d-direct command form of the geas—like the Incubus King himself would—then we c-can study the full effect in a c-controlled situation. That could g-give us insight that the succubi could never have figured out."
You nod. Then you turn to Rysanial, who mirrors the nod. You have no idea if this will actually work... but you do have the Incubus King's soul bonded to your own, his own power as a Demon Lord flowing through you. It might just extend to the authority that the geas gives as well. You hold out your hand, focusing on Rysanial.
"Jump in place!" you say, calling to mind the memory of what it felt like to give that kind of order, torn straight from the old king's own recollections. "Jump in place. Jump in place. Jump in place!"
There's... something there. A connection you aren't quite making. Rysanial just crosses her arms, flirting smugly at you as she stands there, very much not jumping. You keep trying to break through, to find what's missing. "Jump in place! Jump in place!"
Off to the side, the animated quills are already starting to write. You just keep pushing, your progress so slow that you fear you might be imagining it. One hour goes by. Then two. The books are changed out. Frustration starts to mount. You start to wonder whether this was all just a mistake.
And then it happens.
"Jump in place!" And Rysanial starts to jump, bouncing in immediate obedience to your command. Her eyes widen. And you can see the fear in them, as control over her body is wrested away from her completely.
The animated quills explode into motion, writing far more furiously than before, turning a page every second for a while, before eventually slowing down to a more sedate pace. Nevati switches frantically between her lenses, muttering to herself under her breath. Ceriss licks her lips, not taking her eyes off anything that is happening.
Nevati finishes with her observation, then checks the status of the books before turning back to you. "Good. Now cancel the order. Tell her she can stop."
It actually still takes a while before you can capture that state again. Meaning that Rysanial is left jumping in place for nearly a half-hour before you manage to call out "Stop!" in a way that actually does the trick. By that point the succubus is, understandably, a bit peeved. But she still insists on continuing until Nevati has all the information she needs.
Finally, all four of you flop down next to each other. "It will p-probably take a long time to find anything u-useful in the data," Nevati says. "I d-don't know if that's what you w-want me researching right away. But any t-time you want me to focus on it, I can t-try to see if there's anything I can learn."
It's a decision you'll have to make soon, along with many others. First and foremost, however, you'll need to make the most crucial decision of all going into this next set of missions. Which heroine will you target next?
There are any number of considerations and risks to take into account, any number of possibilities that one heroine or the other could open up. Not to mention that each of the heroines might be taking different sorts of actions or precautions in response, now that they're each aware of the threat that you pose.
What complicates this even more is that the Paladin will now be actively hunting you. She could show up at any of the heroines' locations, depending on where she suspects your next move will be. Thanks to your inserting Janessa as an agent, you know that she will tell Lady Alicia that she thinks your next move will most likely be against Torild Stokke, the Barbarian.
But will Lady Alicia believe her? And how will the result of this first phase of the guessing game affect her movements going forward? There's no way to say for sure. You'll just have to strategize as best you can, based on what you've learned so far about the woman.
There's also the fact that the latest activation of your rune was immense enough to be felt across the very fabric of existence itself. They will almost certainly be scrying for that power now. Which means that once the next rune activates, even if the Paladin is not directly at your location, it probably won't be long before she catches up. Your timetables have tightened in almost every way.
Still, you'll need to make a choice. Weighing all the things you know, all the possible things you don't know, and all the possibilities you stand to gain... you eventually come to a decision.
