Out of the Shadows, Part 23
"So what's the plan?" asks Khaytala.
It does not escape Verika's notice that—consciously or not—Khaytala addresses the question primarily to you. Nor has Verika forgotten the lack of protest from anyone over the recent debaucheries. You wonder to what extent she's realized just how badly the odds are stacked against her, just how little support she has from her friends in her hopeless attempt to complete this mission while resisting your allure.
You consider the options one last time before replying. "I think Verika is right, Khaytala. The Matriarch is planning something. And unless we figure out what it is, it could be deadly. If she kills all of us, we won't be able to help anyone."
Khaytala flinches... but she nods. As much as she wants to save everyone, she's also a soldier who has lived through war. She knows all too well that it isn't always possible to do that. No matter how much it hurts her each time she has to accept it.
Verika isn't exactly happy about the necessity either, even though she was the one to suggest this course of action. It's a solemn group that departs your camp, leaving Ioni and the old elf Erev to wait in its relative safety. You shapeshift into your usual guise of a drow master, bringing Khaytala, Relis and Belan into the city as slaves like before. From there you each depart to your own tasks. Which in your case means heading to your rendezvous with Verika, the place she agreed to wait after sneaking into the city.
She's waiting on the corner of a busy thoroughfare, the hood of her cloak pulled low over her face. Though that isn't unusual; a significant portion of the crowd is doing the same. She doesn't spare you any words as you approach, simply falls into step next to you. Even without seeing her face, you can read the tension in her shoulders. As though you were a deadly serpent that might strike at any time, injecting your poison into her veins.
All you do, however, is offer her a companionable silence... which only serves to set her on edge even more. The two of you maneuver your way through the ancient city of stone and shadow, closing in on your goal. The central seat of power in this festering drow society. The Imperial Palace.
Finding it isn't hard. The towering, immense structure is visible from a long way off. Navigating to it, on the other hand, requires bypassing several military checkpoints set up along the way. You notice that they aren't letting anyone through without a special pass... but Verika pickpockets one from an inattentive noble as she departs the palace area, allowing you to shapeshift into her and approach through a different checkpoint. Verika, meanwhile, follows from the rooftops with her untouchable stealth.
Soon you reach your destination. The imposing stone edifice looms before you, its tall, jagged towers stretching toward the distant cavern ceiling like bony, grasping fingers. The entire area is crawling with elite guards, both in the streets outside as well as along the outer walls. And those are just the ones you can see from here.
You approach the outer gate with nothing but confidence, showing the guards there your stolen pass as before. They stand aside, allowing you entry, though you still feel attentive eyes on you even after passing that layer of security. Guards are nearly everywhere, their watchful eyes constraining your actions until you can find an opening. For a while you simply take in the surroundings, straining your inhuman senses for any hint of the traps you suspect the Matriarch has laid for her younger sister.
But you find nothing.
Oh, the security is tight, of course. But you don't observe anything you'd expect would stop someone of Verika's impossible skill at stealth. You anticipated a trap perfectly tailored to counter the heroine's abilites... but if there is one, its nature eludes you entirely.
After some time, you seize on a brief opportunity to slip out of sight for a moment, transforming into a guard captain that you observed making the rounds. Her authority gives you greater freedom to explore, penetrating to deeper areas of the palace.
You catch sight of a stairway leading down into the dungeons, where the captive elf at this location is doubtless being held. The number of guards posted in that area is ridiculous, however, and you don't look any closer. At this point the only option will be to grab all the hostages at the festival anyway, and the priority now is learning—and hopefully stopping—what the Matriarch has planned for Verika.
Higher and higher you go, winding your way up the palace stairs, searching every nook and cranny. With each floor you go up, the less-populated they become. And soon you detect Verika approaching from behind.
"Haven't found anything so far, Verika," you say, before she can reach you. "But the night is still young."
You hear the ranger suck in a quick breath of disbelief, shocked that you were able to notice her without even looking. You allow yourself a tiny smirk; dangerous though your brand might be, at least its gifts have been useful in throwing your target off-balance. Glancing back over your shoulder, you continue. "Do you know of a good place to search?"
The ranger regards you more warily than ever. But then she sighs. "There... might be one place around here worth checking," she says. "Follow me."
She leads you through several passages and two flights of stairs, until you emerge onto a large, open-air terrace, boasting a garden flush with strange, subterranean flora. "She always liked this place," Verika whispers. "I doubt she'd use it now, but—" Her voice breaks off, as the two of you note a figure at the far end of the terrace, looking out across the city.
Even without forewarning, the family relationship would have been obvious. The woman is so reminiscent of Verika, bearing the same ethereal, seductive beauty... though her face is a bit narrower, her expression more strained. Her body is hidden beneath opulent, voluminous robes and regalia, but you have little doubt that her figure is stunning as well. A silver crown adorns her head, and you detect a nervous twitch to her fingers as she runs her thumb along the railing in front of her.
The Matriarch of the drow nation stands right before you. Out in the open. Her back turned. With no cover nearby. In easy bow-shot range.
You and Verika both duck behind one of the large hedges that wind through the small garden. Then you glance over at her, raising an eyebrow. "Trap?"
"Trap," Verika whispers back, nodding her head. So. This is why you didn't notice any particularly devious defensive measures on your way here. Whatever plan the Matriarch has devised to counter Verika using the resources of an entire nation... it's centered on her, personally. One way or another, she was expecting it to come down to this all along.
Of course, you still don't know what that plan is, let alone how to counter it. The easiest way to learn, of course, would be to have Verika make the obvious attack. It might even work, if the Matriarch's plan isn't actually enough to stop her foe. Even if it doesn't, you'd at least learn what her counter is, and you might be able to provide Verika support that the Matriarch isn't expecting.
Then again, given how the Matriarch knows exactly who to expect, you have to assume it would be dangerous for Verika to play along. But if you were the one to make the attack... well, you have a healing factor, where Verika doesn't. If you went that route, the question then would be what form to wear during that attack. Yours? The guard you're currently impersonating? Or Verika, the assailant that the Matriarch is expecting?
Not that direct violence is the only method. You could try to approach her and worm some information out of her through conversation. It would have to be someone who she might expect to appear without warning in the middle of her palace. Your demonic form could do the trick, playing up your infernal nature, though it might also lead to mistrust.
Or you could approach as Verika herself, and try to see what you can goad her into revealing. That would certainly be a very volatile situation... but such volatility could perhaps be made to play to your benefit, albeit with a greater risk involved as well.
Finally, you could approach her as an emissary of Kovora, offering to help against the heroine she's facing. To really convince her you could use someone already well-known, though your options are limited in that respect. The only plausible one you can think of is Nergan, the High Priest of Melca who led Lily's abduction. With his cleric magic, it might be believable for him to appear before her unannounced like this.