Tooth and Claw, Part 15

First things first. You use what remains of the night to allow Verika to get some sleep, standing guard for her, just as she stood guard for you while you were paying your own visit to the Plane of Dreams. You spend the time in quiet thought, contemplating your next move. Time is running out. Soon Lord Edrach's arrival will test all the preparations you've made so far.

Alone in the silence of the night, you try to consider all the angles. Eventually, you decide that there's only one course to take. Once dawn breaks, once its golden light starts to filter through the thick forest canopy, you wake Verika. Then you set out in search of Elysandria once again.

You find the dryad leader standing at the edge of the forested region, looking pensively out toward the logging camp. You get the feeling it's not just the logging camp she's thinking about, though, but everything it represents. The entire civilization behind it. A great machine of power and hunger. One that still has her sisters in its grasp.

"Elysandria," you say, announcing your presence.

"Demon." She doesn't turn away from looking at the camp, even as she acknowledges you. "Have you any news?"

"Some," you say. "A mixture of good and bad. First, to ease any worries you might have, the imprisoned dryads are still in no danger. In fact, from what Rhysandaria has told me... I'm beginning to suspect that those men are just being used. I suspect that the true threat to your forest lies in the deliberate design of someone far more powerful."

Elysandria glanced back over her shoulder at you, searching your expression. "Rhysandaria said this?" she asks, skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"I think she's beginning to gain a new understanding of the loggers," you say, your face betraying nothing but sincerity. "She did try to kill them, after all... yet despite that they've still been treating her and her sister well. I think that getting the chance to talk with the humans at length has mellowed her view of them. At least a little bit."

Of course, the dryads and their guards are doing far more than just "talk". But this is an opportunity to seed the idea into Elysandria's mind that her sisters are on better terms with their captors now. So that if she later notices any attraction between them it might not feel quite so suspicious.

"So what does this mean for the current crisis?" the dryad leader demands.

"It means that if you only deal with those men, then the problem will still remain," you say, looking her right in the eye. Your every movement conveys conviction and certainty. "If Rhysandaria is right, then this is a problem that must be pulled up by the roots. Or it will only return later, to cause even worse harm. The loggers aren't your true enemy. Your true enemy is the one who breaks men like that into disposable tools to use against you. Your true enemy is Lord Edrach himself."

Elysandria hesitates, frowning. "Help against the loggers is one thing... but now you are trying to turn us against our allies! You are trying to get me to take direct action against the forces of Nelin!"

You shake your head. "No! This has nothing to do with that. I only want to demonstrate our own goodwill. I only want to show you what will truly protect your home! This shouldn't even turn you against your allies. Surely you do not think that Lady Alicia would approve of Lord Edrach's actions, if she understood his role in all this?"

Here you make a sweeping gesture your hand, drawing her attention back to the clear-cut area beyond the treeline. "But if you allow the true architect of all this to sweep the evidence under the rug before Lady Alicia can arrive? Then he will escape all consequence for what happened here. Leaving him greatly enriched by his machinations against you... and free to repeat them."

Of course—despite your earnest claims to the contrary—you are absolutely hoping to turn the dryads against their current allies. But it will be much easier for Elysandria to take those first steps toward temptation if she's convinced that she's only making small, sensible choices. Choices that won't commit her to anything more. And once you get her accustomed to working alongside you, it will be that much easier to make the next small steps into corruption seem just as attractive.

Despite herself, you can tell that your honeyed words are having an effect. "Then what would you suggest we do?" Elysandria asks, still studying you suspiciously. It's clear that she intends to judge your answer, that she's on the lookout for hidden traps.

But you simply spread your arms open. "You don't need to take my word for any of this," you say. "Lord Edrach will be here soon. If I'm right? He'll want to make the loggers disappear without delay. So tell him that since their crimes were against you, that you demand to punish them yourselves. And make sure he knows that it will involve Lady Alicia interrogating them when she arrives. If I'm wrong? He should have no issue handing them over to you. And you can do with them as you will."

Then you take yet another step closer to her, the quiet intensity in your voice increasing. "But if I'm right? If he is just trying to cover up his own scheming against one of his country's allies? Then he'll object. And you'll know."

What Elysandria doesn't realize is that, given the other preparations you've made, you'll win either way.

If Lord Edrach leaves without objecting, then the loggers will be safe from him. The dryads will welcome their corrupted sisters back into their number... sisters who have already developed a strong attachment to their new pet humans. Perfect for spreading corruption even further through their ranks.

But if, more likely, he tries to force the issue? Then you've primed Elysandria to see that as proof that he really is her true enemy. The question then becomes, if Lord Edrach does try to force the issue, how can you best respond?

"If a serious battle breaks out, can we count on Fallhazel to intervene?" you ask. "I know she's kept her distance so far... but Edrach's knights will be much more dangerous than a bunch of hungry loggers."

Elysandria looks away. "I... do not know," she says. "Fallhazel... she loves the Forest. She will protect the Forest. But that does not mean protecting every inhabitant. It... cannot mean that. The Forest is life. And it is death. It is all of our individual struggles for survival. Life gained at the expense of life lost."

The dryad sighs, then turns back to look at you once more. "Even if Fallhazel could protect the lives of all the creatures in this Forest... then by that very act the essence of the Forest she so loves would be lost."

You resist the urge to frown. The philosophy she describes is utterly incomprehensible to you. Why would anyone prefer a place of struggle like that for its own sake? Wouldn't it be far better if it could be improved to a place of raw pleasure, without any of that suffering?

Still, you swallow your protests, knowing that this isn't the right time for them. "But surely Fallhazel will intervene at some point?" you ask. "She can't let this go on forever."

"She will intervene," agrees Elysandria. "Eventually. But... I believe she is testing the humans. Studying them. She has dealt with individual mortals in the past. But this war against Kovora... it is the first time she has formed such a close alliance with their civilization. She wants to better understand what she is dealing with. She wants to observe the true nature of Nelin. And of Kovora too, I suppose, now that you are here."

Fascinating. And of course, the fact that she hasn't tried to kill you remains evidence about just how deeply ambivalent the druid is about this alliance to begin with. Exactly what you were counting on when you revealed yourself so openly. Now it just remains to be seen if you can leverage her uncertainty into an outright seduction.

You talk through more plans with Elysandria, spending the rest of the morning considering different scenarios with her. Suggesting different tactics she could employ, depending on how Edrach reacts. Then fleshing them out with her help.

And through all that planning, you use your supernatural charm to keep subtly reinforcing what you want her to believe. That the loggers are not her true enemy, And that she must not allow the real culprit to get away... or this may all happen again.

It's time well spent. You keep working on her well into the evening. Which is when Lord Edrach and his men finally make their appearance.

You hear them before you see them, the thundering hoofbeats of heavy warhorses. Then they come into view, cresting over a small rise. Twin columns of heavily-armored knights, six on either side, their faces obscured by ornate, intimidating visors. The front two each carry large, colorful banners with their lord's regalia. And protected in between the two columns, you catch your first glimpse of the lord himself.

His clothes are rich to the point of being utterly ostentatious, and he wears several large rings on his hands. He is bedecked in all manner of finery... and his girth appears to strain at his seams. He is probably the most corpulent man you've seen since coming to this world, his rotund stomach telling of an access to food—and a lack of physical activity—that hardly anyone else could sustain without his lordly status.

You can tell that his hair was once blond, but is now mostly gray and balding. He and his retinue come to a stop nearby, just outside the logging camp. Sparing one last glance back at you, Elysandria heads out to meet them. Ragath does likewise, his expression grim. He knows how bad this is for him and his men. They've run out of time.

One of Edrach's men dismounts first, rushing over to his lord's horse and kneeling to place a small stool for his master to use. With a bit of effort, the lord twists around to slide off his horse. He wobbles a bit on the dismount, not quite steady... but his man holds the stool firm, and Lord Edrach makes it to solid ground without incident. He doesn't acknowledge the knight's presence through any of this, his gaze sweeping imperiously across the scene before him.

But that imperious gaze turns to an expression of shock when he sees Lady Edith rushing out from her own tent toward him as well. It's obvious that he did not know she was here. And her presence leaves him taken aback. Running as best she can in her own noble dress, she reaches her father before any of the others, with her female bodyguard following beside her.

The pace of her running leaves Lady Edith bent over and panting for breath by the time she reaches her father, allowing him to get in the first word. "What are you doing here, you stupid girl?" he demands, still incredulous. Then he turns to her knight. "Why in the hells did you let her come here, of all places?"

With an effort, Lady Edith stands up. "Please, father..." she begs. "Please, you have to stop this! It... it isn't right!"

Lord Edrach's lip curls in disgust. "Enough of this foolishness!" he barks. "Do not meddle in my affairs, girl. Return to your tent. I will deal with you and your insubordinate servants later."

The words hit Lady Edith like a blow, and Edrach sweeps past her without waiting for a reply. For a moment the meek girl falters, fear and uncertainty in her expression, and it seems that she will obey.

But then, despite her trembling, her spine stiffens. You convinced her, back when you spoke to her as Ragath in her tent, that she needed to do something. Even if it meant taking extreme measures. Your charismatic words lit a fire in her heart. And now that fire drives the girl to act.

She rushes around to place herself in her father's path yet again. "No!" she says, her voice trembling. "No, I... I... I can't let you do this! You have to listen, father! You're hurting so many people, putting so much at risk!"

Even as she speaks, she can't bring herself to look him in the eyes. She stares at the ground, her slight body trembling. It's taking every last bit of courage she has just to do this. She's shaking, and between her fear and her exertion running there, she's nearly at the point of hyperventilation.

But she's doing it nonetheless. Putting herself between her father and the men he intends to murder. Even if she has no clue what she can say that would actually work.

Lord Edrach, for his part, looks down at his daughter with utter incredulity. It's clear that this is the first time she has ever stood up to him like this. His pudgy face mottles with fury at the disobedience she's showing him.

But she can't see that. She's still looking down at the ground as she fumbles inexpertly with her words, so anxious she hardly knows what she's saying. "Please, father, there... there must be some other way! If... if you'd just let the men go and... and give up this plan, I'm sure that—"

She doesn't even see the blow coming.

In a rage, Lord Edrach winds up and backhands his daughter across the face with all his might, snapping her head violently around and dropping her smaller frame to the ground in a heap. She screams in anguish, curling weakly in on herself, clutching at her face as blood seeps between her fingers. One of Edrach's big, gaudy rings tore a deep gash across her cheek as it hit.

With immense willpower, Lady Edith's bodyguard just barely manages to check herself from lunging at her lord. Her entire body goes rigid, trembling with barely-contained anger as she glares at Lord Edrach. Her fury over her charge is so palpable that it prompts two of Edrach's knights to surge forward, interposing themselves between her and the lord, despite her not having moved an inch.

Lord Edrach's attention, however, is entirely occupied with his own hand, clutching it gingerly to his chest. It seems striking his daughter with a ring that was not designed for such violence also jammed the metal painfully into his own finger. And from the way he cringes, you can tell that he didn't consider how his outburst of anger might hurt himself as well.

The tense standoff only lasts a few seconds, though each one seems like it drags on for far longer than that. Then, without any words, the bodyguard turns and kneels down, lifting Lady Edith and carrying her back toward her tent, cradled in her arms. The meek girl clings to her, burying her head against her protector while crying.

But the entire exchange has not gone unnoticed by Elysandria and Ragath. If your words had planted suspicions in the dryad's heart, seeing how Edrach reacted to his daughter's words has brought them into full bloom. And Ragath also looks incensed at such cruelty toward the one person who had come to stand up for him and his men.

The two enemies exchange a quick, silent glance, each trying to read the other's reaction, before turning back to the face new arrival. And it may be just your imagination... but the two of them seem a tiny bit more united than they were a moment before.

Lord Edrach, for his part, eventually looks up from nursing his hurt finger to see that the other two leaders are now standing in front of him. "I apologize for my daughter's ill-mannered display," he huffs, not sounding remotely apologetic. "Now. To business. I have heard that some ruffians were illegally cutting timber across the border. I came as soon as I could, to learn the truth of these accusations."

In other words, he came as soon as he was sure the flow of timber had completely dried up, and he knew he wasn't going to squeeze out any more precious wood to line his own purse. Ragath bristles and opens his mouth to snap back, but Elysandria responds first, her voice calm and cold. "You heard true, Edrach. This incursion was a violation of pacts made in times both recent and ancient. How do you propose to make this right?"

The lord waves his hand dismissively. "I will, of course, ensure that the ones responsible pay the most severe of penalties," he says smugly. "In fact, my knights can take care of it this very—"

"No." The dryad cuts him off, and her tone growing even more icy. "That is not your punishment to inflict. They have transgressed against the forest. And the forest will decide their fate. Not you. We will have many questions to ask of them, once Lady Alicia arrives. Questions about how exactly this incident came about in the first place."

You grin as you watch the smugness slowly drain from Edrach's face. You would have enjoyed trapping him personally even more... but Elysandria is an apt pupil, and she springs the trap you suggested to her with commendable skill.

Edrach is frowning now, the fool no longer looking quite so certain of himself. "Don't be absurd," he scoffs, trying to bluster his way through. "These men are my subjects. I will decide their punishment! Now stand out of the way... unless you think that you can stop my knights from administering swift justice!"

Elysandria's eyes narrow. She gestures wordlessly over her shoulder, and immediately the rest of the forest contingent emerges from the trees. Large numbers of wolves, along with several bears, about a dozen dryads, and a few nymphs.

"I think, Edrach..." she says. "...that if you wish for this 'justice' of yours to be administered, you will remain here until Lady Alicia arrives. In fact... I insist on it. We shall all hear what she has to say about this incident... once she has studied thoroughly."

Lord Edrach licks his lips. It's obvious that this is not how he imagined this encounter going. "This... this is preposterous!" he shouts, increasingly agitated, as he realizes that his role in this might soon be exposed to the Paladin herself. "You filthy, primitive creatures have no right to detain me! I am a Lord of Nelin!" Behind him, all his knights draw their blades, the sound of steel ringing through the air.

But Elysandria doesn't flinch. "You do not stand in Nelin now," she tells him calmly. "You stand in the Great Forest. Your titles are no more than paper and ink here. In the Great Forest, you are only 'lord' of that which you can hold with your own strength. Which means, Edrach... that in this moment you are lord of nothing."

Edrach flinches at the force of her words. However, while the forest contingent is impressive... you can't afford to underestimate his forces either. Even a single armored knight would take a lot to bring down. And he has twelve of them. Each of them are no doubt highly trained, highly disciplined. If it comes to a fight... even if the forest does win, it will be a bloody affair.

Ragath, meanwhile, is looking back and forth between the two forces. Then he looks back toward the camp of the injured Lady Edith... before finally coming to a decision. He gestures back toward his camp as well, and a large crowd of his men rush out to back him up, brandishing rough clubs and axes.

"We may be trespassers here," he says. "But we never meant any harm toward these ladies. If you go so far as to attack 'em, Edrach... we'll fight by their side."

Elysandria's lip turns up in a tiny smirk. She obviously understands the pragmatic aspect behind the humans' sudden support, since she is now the only thing standing between them and Edrach. She in no way mistakes it for a gesture of pure altruism. Still... the humans could have erred more on the side of fear, hanging back in hopes that their enemies would simply kill each other.

Second after tense second passes as the three groups face off, waiting to see if any of them will plunge them into violence. Edrach licks his lips, glancing nervously back and forth between the other leaders, trying to gauge his chances of survival if he tries to take them both on. They both glare back at the fat, nervous noble, their grim expressions showing no sign of doubt.

And in the end, faced with a genuine threat to his person... Edrach is the one who blinks.

"V-very well..." he says, his shoulders slumping. "We shall... wait and see what Lady Alicia decides. I am sure that someone of her wisdom will find no merit to your foolish suspicions!"

Even though he's backing down, you don't believe for one single moment that he intends to obediently wait for Lady Alicia to investigate his scheme. No, right now he's playing for time. Time he hopes he can use to think of a trick to turn the tables. Preferably, a trick that doesn't put him in quite so much danger of getting ripped limb from limb by an angry bear.

Still, for the moment, your preparations have worked. You've manged to at least delay Edrach's murderous plan to dispose of the loggers and bury the evidence of his own involvement in this mess.

Lord Edrach's men are already setting up their own camp. The fat noble doesn't assist with any of that, of course. Instead, you see him pacing agitatedly back and forth, trying to think of some way to escape the trap his scheme has become, thanks to your meddling behind the scenes. You aren't sure what he'll eventually try. But it may be something desperate, as he comes to grips with just how limited his remaining options truly are.

And of course, while the corrupt lord fears Lady Alicia's eventual arrival... the coming of the Paladin will be a great threat to you as well, if you haven't finished before she arrives. You don't know exactly how many more days you have... but your instincts tell you it's probably not a large number.

The situation, at least, has been greatly changed by Lord Edrach's arrival and actions. Especially for Lady Edith. Before, you would have had to thoroughly seduce the bodyguard before even starting to target her. But in their current, emotionally-compromised state? With the bodyguard already facing severe punishment, and furious with her ostensible lord over his abuse of her naive charge? You're confident you have enough leverage now to get them all at the same time.

Which, in turn, could open up a number of new options. Either avenues to compromise Edrach... or ways to influence his lands after he's dealt with in one way or another.

Alternatively, you could approach Lord Edrach directly. The man is clearly desperate, and you might be able to head off his next move by offering him one yourself. How well you can follow through on that may depend on how thoroughly you corrupt some of the other players, but at the very least you should be able to ensure that he himself goes down.

You've also gained a great deal of credibility with Elysandria. And the threat of a serious battle is now much higher than before. You might be able to leverage both those facts to convince the dryads to accept a Corruptive Boon, if it would give them the edge against the knights.

And of course, you can't forget Fallhazel herself. You could also use this night to make more progress with her, whether you try to gain her attention in the real world, or continue to tempt her in the dream world, or use her dreams to study the secrets of her past... and what she truly wants from Juri.