Blood Ties, Part 22


"I'll go!" you shout, turning and bursting into a run before anyone else can react or argue. You emerge from the garden, then once again weave through the crowd, in the opposite direction this time. Once you break free of the main crowd, you race toward the center of the city until you're out of sight... then immediately swerve down the nearest alley and undo your transformation in mid-run, your familiar black-feathered wings sprouting from your back as your demonic features reassert themselves.

With a mighty flap you launch yourself skyward, the streets receding below you at a dizzying rate. Each beat of your wings increases your speed, as you first gain altitude, then twist into an arc that propels you toward your destination. You can already see the cathedral from here, its towering spires reaching far above the nearby buildings. Again and again you flap, straining your speed to its utmost limits as you hurtle across the cityscape.

Your destination grows closer and closer, until you're almost there. You throw yourself into a dive, your speed increasing even more. The wind tears at your face, as you plummet like a rock toward the nearest alley you can find. At the last moment you twist, extending your wings to break your velocity, trying to create as much drag as you can. The landing is still hard, and you can feel bones in your legs crack under the strain.

Rising out of your crouch, you shift back into Niko and run toward the cathedral. Limping at first, but within seconds your regeneration has kicked in, repairing any damage from your rapid-as-possible descent, and you're back to an outright run. With any luck, you were able to minimize the number of people who might have noticed your flight.

You race up the steps of the cathedral, and toward the main sanctuary, gritting your teeth in anticipation of pain. You'd experienced the holy ground at Verika's village... and that had been a small shrine. This is a cathedral for a major city. Even from this distance you can feel your skin prickle from the level of consecration that has been performed on it... and it starts to sink in just how unpleasant this is going to be.

The first step is like walking into a wall. With each subsequent step, it feels like blades are gouging and shredding deep into your skin. It's all you can do to hold on to your transformation, and you doubt whether you could assume a new one, or actively use any of your other powers here.

Fortunately, your incredible willpower allows you to hide the pain. Not to mention that you have the perfect excuse of exhaustion, of a noble who has just run an impossible distance at an impossible speed. You let yourself double over, panting for breath as you lean against the stone wall for support. A few acolytes rush over, seeing your distress, but you wave a hand.

"I'm alright!" you insist urgently. "Please, there's been an emergency! Lady Kagan has been attacked at her manor, and she's near death! Ceriss Zylnerios is doing everything she can to keep her stable, but she needs the attention of the High Priestess as soon as possible!"

You make sure to pitch your voice so that it carries through the huge sanctuary, causing a stir. You need to push this along with all possible speed. Consternation begins to grow, and before long you see an elderly woman in ornate vestments approaching from the front of the cathedral, until she stops right in front of you. "Who are you, my child?" she demands, fixing you with a piercing gaze. "And what is this attack you speak of?"

You raise your head, meeting her gaze directly, and putting every bit of guileless sincerity you can muster into your response. "My name is Niko Calwen, I'm a visiting noble from Aspar, and I come with news that the killer who has been plaguing your streets has attacked Lady Kagan in a fashion most horrible!" you blurt out. "Please, Reverend Mother! She will die if we delay!"

The High Priestess regards you for a few more seconds. You made sure to plead loudly enough that every eye in the sanctuary is turned toward her. Clergy and worshipers, citizens and nobles alike... all watching her, waiting in suspense for her response.

And apparently, your performance was convincing. "Fetch my litter at once, and assemble my guard," the elderly woman proclaims. "We cannot let any child of Selal fall victim to the depredations of such a foul villain!"

Part of you wonders idly whether or not the Reverend Mother would have expressed quite as much urgent and overflowing compassion for "any child of Selal" if it had been one of the dirt-poor prostitutes who had barely survived her encounter with the killer, rather than an extremely rich noble who will probably be making an extravagant donation to the church if she recovers. Still, such cynical speculations aside... you'll take what you can get.

You slump back against the stone wall, sliding down it as though spent, all the while blocking out the pain caused by standing in this sanctified space. Many curious worshipers crowd around you, overlapping voices asking questions, hoping for gossip on this perplexing new development. You can sense an undercurrent of fear in their voices as well. A killer targeting people in the gutter is one thing... but if a noble has now been attacked, then who is safe?

Of course, you know that the killer has been "caught". You know that the reason the killer departed from his usual approach was to set up Hastrik to take the fall for him. But... the more you think about that, the stranger his plan seems. What does the killer intend to do now? He may have pinned the blame on Hastrik for the moment... but if he continues to indulge his mad obsessions, what will that have accomplished, in the end?

All the effort and deception required to frame someone. And a noble, no less! All of it undone the next time he strikes.

Does he actually intend to stop the killing? Or even just pursue his disgusting desires in a less-obvious way? Killing in a way that might not attract the attention of a threat like Ceriss? Could a madman like that even exercise such self-control? Or is he deluding himself? Thinking he can resist, when in reality this will all prove to have been for naught the next time he encounters a vulnerable prostitute?

You can't help the uneasy feeling that you're missing some crucial piece of the puzzle. Just who is this killer you're chasing? What is the source of his powers? And why is he doing this?

Ignoring the people looking for gossip, you drag yourself back to your feet and stumble back toward the door outside. You manage to get out before the crowd grows too thick, and you emerge just in time to see four strong young men lift the rich litter in which the High Priestess now sits, and take off in the direction of the noble quarter, running at a good clip, shouting for the crowd to clear in front of them. You follow at a more relaxed pace, mostly relieved to be out of that blasted cathedral. It's out of your hands now, for better or worse. And the full extent of the damage to your cover remains to be seen.

Still, you'll cross that bridge when you come to it.

It's fast approaching twilight by the time you return to Lady Kagan's manor. The woman and her husband are long gone, though there are a bunch of General Raxien's soldiers standing guard over the place. Ceriss and Janessa, for their part, are waiting for you out on the street. Janessa runs to meet you, wrapping you in a tight embrace, holding you close.

"Niko!" she says. "The High Priestess told us what happened. I'm so proud of you!"

"That was some incredible running..." agrees Ceriss, from behind her. "I was shocked when the Reverend Mother showed up so quickly."

It doesn't sound like she's outright suspicious. At least... not quite yet. You do get the sense that she can't figure out how it worked. But that she still thinks she must be missing something, or miscalculating somehow. Fortunately for you, averaging the times with the High Priestess' trip should disguise the full extent of just how absurd your time was, at least somewhat. Maybe litters are faster than Ceriss was expecting?

Still, if the heroine ever inquires into the specific time you arrived at the cathedral, there will be no disguising it. In fact, even letting her think about it for too long is probably dangerous. So you change the subject as fast as you can. "Is Lady Kagan alright?"

Ceriss nods. "She's... alive. And not in immediate danger. Though she hasn't regained consciousness yet... except for a brief moment while you were gone."

You frown. "Really? What happened?"

"It didn't last long," Janessa explains. "But she did fight her way back to consciousness briefly. And confirmed that it was Lord Hastrik who attacked her."

Of course. If your suspicions about the killer's powers are correct, then he was no doubt cautious enough to wear Hastrik's form while assaulting Lady Kagan. Then, right on schedule, the real Lord Hastrik sneaks into the garden for the tryst he was expecting... and walks right into the perfect trap. No other witnesses. No alibi. The crazed killer—denied his usual release by the heroic defenders of the city—finally snaps and vents his urges on a woman who spurned him.

Simple. Open and shut.

Ceriss shakes her head. "It's still hard for me to believe that it was him all along..." she muses, frowning perplexity as she tries to wrap her head around it. "He was just... so good at playing the fool. Even right there in the garden, with blood all over him, he just kept insisting that he'd been trying to stop her wounds. Only for a servant to stumble across them, before he thought to raise the alarm."

You wonder if that was just Hastrik being a fool... or whether the killer was orchestrating even that, nudging his puppets like he did with those men who attacked you. Lord Hastrik certainly seems weak-minded enough either way.

"Well, the important thing now is that he's caught," Janessa says, placing a hand on each of your shoulders. "We did it. Lady Kagan is alive, Hastrik is going to get what's coming to him... and I say that's something worth celebrating."

Ceriss glances toward the setting sun. "What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing fancy," says Janessa. "But... I do have a bottle of brandy that I've been looking for an excuse to break open. Just the three of us?"

The hopeful offer hangs in the air. Ceriss hesitates, looking between her old commanding officer and your eager, earnest face. Then she smiles. "That... sounds lovely," the tiefling says, her shoulders relaxing a little.

It is, perhaps, one of the few times you've actually seen Ceriss something approaching at ease, given all the weariness and pressure that has been weighing on her all this time.

The three of you walk back through the darkening noble quarter, until at last you arrive at Janessa's home. Janessa asks her aged butler for a certain bottle, which he brings in short order, and soon the three of you are sampling it liberally as you lounge in the manor's drawing room.

All three of you can clearly hold your liquor, so its effectiveness in reducing inhibitions is little more than a slight buzz. That's still enough to lubricate the conversation, though, the two women laughing and relaxing even more in each other's company.

You resist a smile, as you watch your efforts bearing fruit. The way you carefully inflamed Janessa's attraction to Ceriss, and on top of that, gave them time this morning to interact with each other alone. They're opening up to each other more and more. Slowly lowering the old defenses bit by bit.

You could hardly ask for a more perfect opportunity to make something happen.

The question is, what approach will you take? Will you try to convince Ceriss to drop her protections against aphrodisiac? And (if you succeed in convincing her) how much aphrodisiac will you use? On one hand, the answer will probably affect how many sexual encounters it will take to fully seduce Ceriss. On the other hand, with all the other reasons she now has to be suspicious... such a request might also put her on her guard even more than usual.

Also, there's the question of who you will try to get to make the first move. You can tell that everyone here is wanting it enough that it wouldn't take much effort to nudge them over... but the result may have different shades depending on exactly how it happens.