Tooth and Claw, Part 18
As dawn breaks, you hurry back to your tent. There you fill in Verika and Juri on the latest developments, as well as what you plan to do next. Next, you pay a quick visit to Elysandria, letting the dryad leader know that Lady Edith will soon be approaching her for sanctuary.
Of course, you sell the idea to the dryad by suggesting that taking Lady Edith in could make it harder for Lord Edrach to strike against them. The fact that they'll also be inviting four corrupted temptresses into their very midst is an aspect you elect to leave unmentioned.
It takes a little while to wrap up those last remaining loose ends. But soon enough they're complete, allowing you to move on to the main event. Walking away from all the various factions, you head deeper into the forest. Alone, making no attempt to hide yourself.
You know that the reclusive druid is watching the standoff, observing everything that transpires. With any luck, she will be curious as to your intentions, curious enough to keep an eye on you as you move to a place with enough privacy. Only then do you stop, and speak to the air around you. "Fallhazel. We need to talk."
For a few seconds there is nothing but silence. Then you see a small robin flutter down through the upper branches of the forest, before gracefully shifting mid-flight to land in Fallhazel's dryad-esque form.
The druid fixes you with those same piercing golden eyes as before. And yet... there is something new in her gaze now. Your temptation—subtle in your first meeting, then far more intense in your visit to her dream—is having a strong effect. Her pride, of course, makes her try to hide it. But you're just too perceptive, catching the hints of raw desire simmering behind her stern expression.
"Speak, little demon," she says imperiously. "And pray that I share your estimation of this 'need' to trade words with you. Have you decided to surrender the girl to my keeping? My patience will not last much longer. Not even for Verika's sake."
So even now, Juri still occupies the thoughts of the enigmatic forest guardian. Fascinating. "Why is she so important to you?" you ask, walking closer. "What do you intend to do with her after you've brought her to the Heart of the Forest? I can't very well give her to you if I don't know what will happen to her in your care."
"That is not your concern," the druid replies, her voice curt. However—just like the last time you met—you get the feeling that she's only refusing to hide her own uncertainty. She doesn't know yet what she's going to do with Juri. She doesn't know what answers she will learn to the questions that are eating away at her. And for your part, you haven't even figured out what her questions are.
"Juri is my concern," you say, taking advantage of the heated exchange to get right in her face. "She is under my protection. I didn't let the Church of Melca take her. And unless you can convince me she won't come to any harm no matter what you learn about her, I won't hand her over to you either." You meet her gaze fearlessly as you look up at the towering woman, daring her to make an aggressive move.
Fallhazel bristles, her pride pricked by your confrontational approach. It makes her unwilling to back down, keeping her in that tantalizingly close proximity to you as you build on your previous temptation. She wants you. She wants to pin you down and ravish you with all the fury of a wild beast.
But instead of doing any of that, she just glares down at you. "Do you imagine yourself in control here, little demon?" she asks, deceptively soft. "Do you imagine that you can beguile me with your charms? That if I deign to take you, that your touch will be enough to make me surrender to you, like the other heroines you've claimed?"
You chuckle, making sure that she can feel the warmth of your breath. "Then why haven't you put me in my place already? Why haven't you made me submit to you? Unless you're afraid that if you try, you'll just discover what you've been missing all this time..."
The air between you sizzles with barely-suppressed desire for long, silent seconds. And the druid is the first to turn away, taking the decidedly non-humanoid form of a huge black bear. No doubt in an effort to dampen the attraction she feels.
But the supernatural yearning you've ignited in her cannot be quenched so easily.
"I... have no time for such distractions," she says, not meeting your eyes. You get the sense that she's trying to convince herself more than you. "There is too much hanging in the balance for me to bother showing you your folly."
"If you say so." You give her a knowing smile... but decide not to press her any more. Not quite yet. Instead, you fall into step beside her bear form as it ambles along, the two of you walking through the forest together. You shift the conversation, aiming for a more roundabout approach. "Are you referring to the standoff over the logging camp?"
"Mmmm." The druid makes a noncommittal noise. Based on what Elysandria told you earlier, you suspect that what's troubling Fallhazel is related to the loggers... but you also suspect that her worries extend beyond this one particular clash.
You just need a way to use that to your advantage.
After walking in silence for a while, you speak up again. "How do you suppose that Lady Alicia will respond to this situation, when she gets here?"
"If the humans are prevented from killing each other long enough for her to arrive? Then she will intervene to prevent bloodshed, and to ensure that the promises the her people made to the Forest are honored," says Fallhazel. And here, at least, the druid speaks with complete confidence. "Her nature, at least, I understand. Even if I find her excessive compassion to be... misguided."
An unstated "but" hangs heavy at the end of what she says. So you state it outright. "But in the end, Lady Alicia is just a mortal," you say. "Even if you can trust her... all too soon she will pass from this world. As all her kind eventually do."
"They are such... ephemeral things," the druid agrees, her words taking on a tired, wistful quality. "So driven to make their mark on this world. So driven to bend it to their whim and will. And yet... after barely a breath they are gone. Leaving the world they have marked to the next mortals, to do it all over again. Each one so unlike the last."
Now she does look over at you. "I understand the way of the wolf in the woods," she says, vexation creeping into her voice. "The way of the hawk in the sky. The way of the doe in the field. Even untold centuries from now, I would still recognize that same dance just as intimately, as it plays out in their progeny. But what these mortal nations will become in even one generation is something that I... often cannot foretell."
The druid sighs, in her bear form coming out as a deep chuff. "Before, that did not concern me overmuch. Before, I was confident in my ability to hold the borders of the Great Forest, if nothing else. Whatever madness the mortals indulged in outside of it, I assumed that this sanctuary would always remain secure. Until..."
Her voice trails off. Eventually, you finish the thought for her. "Until the Witch Queen unleashed the Burn."
The bear nods. "Even so."
You walk in silence for a while longer, before Fallhazel continues again. "These mortal games... this 'civilization' they have wrapped around themselves, to protect them from reality... I can no longer afford to be passive regarding any of it. I cannot allow what happened that night to happen again. Which means that... however distasteful it may be... I must engage with them. I must understand them."
So Elysandria's suspicions were right, even if she didn't have the full picture. Fallhazel is studying the humans. She is using this conflict in an attempt to grasp their inherent nature—and their intentions toward her forest—in a way she has never attempted before. She wants to know what will become of her alliance with the two kingdoms after Kovora is destroyed. After Lady Alicia passes on. After she is left, perhaps, to deal only with men like Lord Edrach.
And then you went and complicated everything by throwing Juri into the mix as well.
"So tell me, little demon..." she says. Her voice is now quiet and sad, but with a subtle undercurrent of self-mockery as well. "Can I trust your mistress not to follow in her ancestor's footsteps? Can I trust any of the mortals not to change their natures with each passing generation... in ways I am too ancient and too inflexible to predict? Tempt me, little demon. Tickle my ears with your enticing story. Reassure me that my forest will be safe... if I will only trust the ones that nearly destroyed it."
As she speaks, she shifts back into her dryad-like shape once again, abandoning her futile attempt to avoid the desire burning inside her. You gaze right back into those golden eyes with unflinching resolve.
"You said it yourself," you say. "The mortals can be so different from each other, even descendant to descendant. This current Witch Queen is nothing like her ancestors. If she were, Juri would already be dead. Do you think the old Witch Queen would have risked so much to save a child? Even pitting herself against the Church of her own patron deity?"
Then you step closer, resuming your tantalizing dance of temptation. "But... I'm not asking you to side with her, Fallhazel. I'm not asking you to side with any of the mortals. I'm asking you to side with me. Do you really think I'm here just for the agenda of any particular nation? Do you really think the desires of my kind shift as easily as the mortals' do?"
Once again, you close to the point where you're almost touching. "The true danger that threatens your forest isn't Kovora," you say quietly, filling each word with iron-clad conviction. "It isn't Nelin either. Nor is it Vekmar. They're all merely branches of the problem, not the root. The true danger you fear is civilization itself."
Now you reach the crux of your seduction, carefully crafting you words to tug on the druid's soul. As you speak, you slide your hand up to trace along her naked hip. She does not push you away.
"So ask yourself this, Fallhazel," you say. "Between me or Lady Alicia... which of us do you think will be more likely to help you resist your true foe? Which of us could give you the power remind all future mortals—Witch Queens and heroines alike—that there is more to life that they're forgetting? Something beyond their petty games of empire? Something more... primal?"
It's clear that your words are striking home, as you perfectly target Fallhazel's misgivings. You can see the conflict within her. The desire to heed your words. The raw hunger to grab you and fuck you senseless. She wants to believe that you can give her a solution to the problems she faces. Especially since believing that would allow her to indulge in the temptation that you so enticingly offer.
She's so close now. But still she hesitates, uncertain. She's teetering on the edge of giving in... but she isn't convinced yet. Despite how much she yearns to believe you, her last lingering doubts prevent her from completely accepting it.
And before you can press the matter any further, Fallhazel suddenly stiffens. Then she kneels down, placing her palms against the forest floor closing her eyes in concentration. Finally she looks up at you, her expression now grim.
"It seems that you can no longer postpone your decision," the druid informs you. "The Church of Melca is on the hunt once again. Even now, they trace the girl's path through my forest toward our location at great speed. They will reach us by nightfall."
You curse under your breath. "More assassins?"
"No." Fallhazel shakes her head. "Much worse. Unnatural beasts. The likes of which have not set foot in my forest for centuries. To call down even one of them from Melca's divine realm is a ritual with costly requirements. To call down this many... They must truly be desperate to see this child dead."
Despite yourself, you chuckle. Of course. Now all the involved players are lined up for the final showdown. The forest. The loggers. Lord Edrach. Lady Alicia. And now the Church of Melca. All converging here, on a collision course that will determine who is left standing at the end.
Fallhazel rises back to her feet. "You must give the girl to me now," she insists. "There is no more time for hesitation. In exchange, I will take her to the safest place in this forest. And when Melca's foul creatures pursue us, I will destroy them utterly."
Accepting the druid's bargain would take care of the monsters, in exchange for handing over Juri to her. It would also allow both you and Verika to both focus on tying up the situation in the camp, before chasing after Fallhazel and Juri once you're done.
On the other hand, it would separate you from Fallhazel temporarily, as well as require everyone to abandon the camp area before the monsters reach you. And depending on how things go down, it might also leave you directly in the path of Lady Alicia whenever she arrives.
Alternatively, you've now made enough progress in seducing Fallhazel that you could probably convince her to let you take Juri to the Heart of the Forest alongside her. That would keep you in close proximity to the druid, giving you more time together, and it would not require you to actually hand Juri over to her.
Of course, that in turn would require leaving the situation at the camp behind in its precarious state, with Lord Edrach still very much on the lookout for a way to erase the human evidence of his scheming. However... you do have Verika with you. If you take charge of Juri and ask her to remain behind, she would be free to fully unleash her unique skillset here.
Granted, that would leave you without any combat-capable support on hand, should things go wrong in the Heart of the Forest... unless, of course, you were to reveal your new Synergy power and summon her to your side.
Finally, you could reject Fallhazel's bargain wholesale, remaining here with both Verika and Juri to face whatever twisted beasts the Church of Melca has called down. That would mean that everything would come to a head right here. You would face the showdown without any delay or extra time that maneuvering might give you, but also without dividing your group.
