Love's Labors, Part 16
The Vampire Queen glares daggers across the bookshelf-filled room at you, resplendent in her cold, austere beauty. She's clearly furious about what she suspects you've done to her loyal bodyguard. You can feel immense necromantic power seething around her, and you know it would be a tough fight if she were to go on the offensive.
But you don't need to meet force with force. Even as you grow in power and allies, you still remember the lessons you learned when all you had at your disposal was a quick tongue. You know that all the power in the world doesn't matter one bit... so long as you can find the right levers to make them not want to use it.
You step forward, holding your hands out to the side. "There's no need for such antagonism," you say calmly. "We are all of us on the same side here. Surely it is poor hospitality to imprison emissaries from the very monarch whose forces shield your own domain from the armies of Vekmar and Nelin?"
The queen's wrath does not diminish. "It is also poor manners for such emissaries to skulk into my domain unannounced," she fires back coldly, her glowing red eyes locked onto yours. "And yet here you are. To say nothing of any other... liberties... you may have taken."
You incline your head. "Apologies. But time was of the essence. We had to move quickly to intercept this little one, before she could cause an unfortunate incident."
Reaching down, you gently sliding your hand around Nevati's neck and up under her chin, turning the gnome's head to look up at you. She doesn't resist. You can feel her tremble at your touch, can feel her pulse beating frantically beneath your fingers as the all-but-conquered heroine bites her lower lip to suppress a whimper.
Then you turn back to the vampire, still holding Nevati in that possessive caress, leaving no question who she belongs to. "Unfortunately, we didn't quite make it in time to avoid a slight scuffle with your bodyguard. But we were able to resolve the matter with a friendly match. I assure you that no harm has come to her. We didn't do anything to her that she didn't very much enjoy."
Moghi splutters, protesting in embarrassment that she didn't enjoy it that much... though said protests are not very convincing. The Vampire Queen, for her part, never takes her furious eyes off of you. "Perhaps," she says, speaking as though the word tastes foul on her tongue. "But until I have thoroughly investigated these matters for myself—and made my judgment—you shall all remain my prisoners."
Yes, she's still angry. If Moghi hadn't spoken up on your behalf earlier, you get the feeling the fight would have already started by now. As it stands, the queen wants to talk to her bodyguard alone. She wants to get the full story without you around to influence anything. Also... she probably wants to assert herself against you. She wants to make it clear that she cannot be pushed around, even in the face of this trespass into her domain by a different monarch.
Going along with that desire might have soothed her sense of confidence, put her in a better mood, albeit at a cost to your freedom of action. But you don't feel like that's the best choice in this situation. Rather, you decide to push back. To stand up for yourself in turn.
And you know just the lever you can use.
"I would not suggest that," you say mildly. "I understand that you are upset about our unannounced intrusion. But we were unable to tell you before it was too late. Even among allies who wish each other well... we sometimes find ourselves unable to convey the whole truth. Not out of any ill will... but out of concern for them."
Right as you say that, you look away from the queen, glancing over to look briefly Moghi, before turning back to the queen and fixing her with a deeply knowing look.
Even with all her icy control, you see the vampire's eyes widen just a bit. It's slight, but the raw fear you can see in her now is unmistakable. She understands your meaning. And seeing her reaction... you doubt there was any threat anyone could have made to her that would even come close to how much she fears Moghi learning the truth of what really happened.
The queen's fists clench, nails digging into her pale skin. In that moment she knows that the balance of power has shifted between the two of you. After a few seconds, she speaks. "I... perhaps I was too hasty," she says, the words grinding out of her as she stands there, rigid and unmoving. "You are, after all, an ally. Imprisoning you would only sow unnecessary discord between us."
Moghi looks both relieved and surprised at the queen's sudden change of heart, the interplay between you and her mistress flying completely over her head. You nod graciously. "I would be happy to accompany you and explain further," you say. "As you say, there need be no acrimony between us. So long as my friends and I are not mistreated."
"Of course." After biting out that reply, the vampire queen turns on her heel, her dress swirling around her. "Then let us depart."
The zombie ogres follow mindlessly, as does Moghi. Though she does give a quick glance back over her shoulder at you. Your group follows as well, some more nervously than others, with Nevati and the two unfucked elementals swept up into the flow.
All of you exit the archives, descending even deeper, taking a path into the darkest reaches of this ancient crypt. The walk passes in tense silence, your footsteps echoing hollowly down long, sloping stone corridors. Until, at long last, you emerge into the very heart of this realm of the dead.
Your eyebrows go up a little at the sight. It's a cavern larger than any of the previous ones. It's crawling with skeletons and zombies and wraiths, going too and fro across this eerie simulacrum of city. And there at the center of it all is a stone structure clearly built to evoke memories of the castle that stands in the living world above.
This... this goes far beyond just creating a space for Moghi to live a happy unlife, one that is meaningful for the self she's formed around her inherited memories. No, this enormous palace... it's nothing less than a labor of love on the part of the vampire queen.
A labor of love... and an engraved monument to her grief and guilt.
How long have they been down here, trapped like this? The queen incapable of moving past the tragedy that she had discovered too late? Only able to shield the one other person she cared about from the knowledge of it? You know that this kind of... stagnation... is a common trap for undead to fall into, even the intelligent ones. Trapped in the shadows of the lives they've come to inhabit. Unable to escape.
But this... this is on another level entirely.
Your group walks down the main thoroughfare of the undead city, the mindless horde of animated corpses parting deferentially before you as you advance toward the palace. Soon you're striding up the wide stone steps, and through the main gate. From there, the queen leads you into her throne room. It's a long, austere chamber, dotted with pillars, illuminated by torches that burn with a pale white flame.
Also, you are not alone. At the far end, nearly a dozen people are lounging around the skeletal throne, all of them dressed in revealing sashes that wind around their bodies in ways that show off a great deal of skin, leaving little to the imagination. Most of them are orcs and humans, though you do see an elf among them as well. Most of them are female as well, though a few of the humans are male.
Upon seeing the queen, they all shoot eagerly to their feet, moving expectantly toward her as she approaches. Acquiescing, the queen selects one of them—the elf-maid—and roughly yanks her close. The elf's eyes light up, her eyelids fluttering euphorically as she molds her body against that of her mistress. She tilts her head to the side, submissively offering up her bare, unprotected throat to the undead predator.
The queen sinks her fangs into the girl's neck, and the elf lets out an delerious cry as her eyes roll back in their sockets, the narcotic in the vampire saliva doing its work as the queen starts to drink the blood she's spilled. Nearby, Moghi has playfully pinned one of the human girls against a pillar, holding her there as she too feasts on her life's blood.
The feeding does not take long. Before too much time has passed, the vampires release their prey, who stumble back, eyes glazed over, into the waiting arms of their fellow thralls, who guide them over to slump against the wall. The ones who weren't chosen look on the two of them with clear envy, impatient for their own chance to experience the narcotic euphoria once again.
Nevati is shocked at the sight, and Ceriss looks unsettled as well. Then again... considering that most of these thralls were likely slaves of the orcs—slaves in a Kovora from before Lily even started to change things—you're not sure if any of them ever had any complaints about being taken down here. At the very least, this was likely a better fate than the one they'd been taken from.
Wiping a trail of crimson from her chin, the vampire queen turns back to you. Now fully fed and at the top of her game. "Leave us," she says, glaring at you once more. "Moghi... see that our honored guests are given the most hospitable accommodations we have. I would speak with your demonic friend. Alone."
Moghi leads your group out one door, while the thralls carry their two groggy members out another. You and the queen stare each other down in silence as they depart, taking each other's measure yet again. You can see the fear still festering inside the Vampire Queen. Most likely, she's trying to calculate if she can risk just trying to kill you right here and now, before you shatter the secret she's spent centuries obsessively protecting.
Unfortunately for her, your poker face is so good that she doesn't have a prayer of reading you. So she's left to wonder. Just how powerful a demon are you, really? Could you escape? Could you win? Do any of your companions also know this blackmail that you're holding over her head? You let her stew in her doubts as the silence stretches on. As you meet her gaze without the slightest flinch or hesitation.
Still, one of you is going to have to make the first move. You'll need to decide what attitude will you take toward the undead monarch, now that you and she are alone.
As things currently stand, you doubt that whichever path you take will decide things completely right now. But it will continue to set the trajectory of how you want to ultimately deal with the vampire queen... and what the terms of your eventual standing relative to her will be in the long-term.