Tooth and Claw, Part 30

You kneel down and place a reassuring hand on Meska's small shoulder. "Don't worry," you say. "I will bring this matter to the queen's attention. I'm sure she will have an answer for you without delay."

Internally, you're already marking down your mental estimate of the amount of food available to your forces. You don't believe for a moment that Lily would leave the ratfolk to starve. Not to mention the unique opportunities that this provides, both for more spies to your cause, with the chance to corrupt a member of the church's Inquisition. Although that still leaves the question of who would be best suited to that task...

"Thank you, master incubus!" says Meska, bowing her head low once again. "We can be asking you for nothing more. We will—"

But before she can say anything more, the sound of a violent explosion erupts from lower in the tower.

Whirling, you race out of the room and leap headlong down the stairwell, using your wings to guide your descent. Verika races ahead of you, outpacing you as you both sprint toward the disturbance. Even as you run, you can hear more sounds of combat, followed by a few more blasts. To your ear, they sound magical in nature.

It isn't long before you skid around the corner of a hallway, and see of the source of the tumult. The scene that comes into view is a familiar one. Nevertheless, there are a few crucial differences this time.

Khaytala stands in the center of the hallway, surrounded by the corpses of several more of the Kovoran assassins that you've become so well-acquainted with recently. Except this time, they seem to have been targeting Kelissa. The queen's precious personal maid is pressing herself tight into the far corner of the room, as Khaytala stands protectively in front of her. A pair of your drow royal guard also stand on either side of the heroine. One is a lithe warrior, while the other is a sorceress with arcane power still crackling around her upraised staff.

And there's one other crucial difference from the last time these killers attacked. This time, one of them is merely unconscious. Unlike all his comrades, this assassin is—somehow—still alive.

Khaytala looks up as you and Verika arrive. "Oh!" she says, surprised. "You're back!"

"We only just arrived," you say. "What happened here?"

The heroine gestures to the drow warrior flanking her. "A few nights ago, Rysai noticed of one of these bastards trying to sneak around in the shadows, casing out the servant quarters. We figured they were planning something here. Best guess? Since they failed to get Juri directly, they were hoping to grab someone the queen cared about instead, to use her as leverage."

"A hostage..." you say, your lip twisting in distaste as you glance to where Kelissa is still pressed back into the corner. If High Priest Nergan had gotten his hands on her—if he had been able to threaten the maid with all manner of horrors—it would have put Lily in a truly heart-wrenching position.

But then, swallowing that distaste, you instead offer them all a warm smile. "Well they underestimated us again..." you say, injecting as much admiration into your voice as you can. "With guardians like you on the job, they should have known that any attempt to harm anyone in this fortress was doomed to fail."

Khaytala blushes adorably at your praise. As do the two drow, albeit much less obviously. "You even captured one of them alive this time," you continue, impressed. "How did you stop Nergan from killing that one from a distance? Like he did with all the other assassins?"

"Actually..." says Khaytala, pointing behind you. "Most of the credit for that belongs to her."

You turn to see yet another drow, approaching to observe the result of the fight herself. She's dressed in a simple, unadorned shift, and her expression is so submissive that you almost don't recognize the very same priestess who tried to take advantage of you and Belan during your seduction of Verika. The change is astonishing; there is so little of that haughty, domineering pride left in her now.

"I... only shared a bit of knowledge," she says in a quiet voice, looking down to avoid your gaze. "I heard about the previous attack. How the assassins were killed before they could be interrogated. But... I was a priestess of Melca for many years. I am quite familiar with the invocation that this enemy of yours is using. Including how it can be blocked and removed. So I explained those weaknesses to Tesvath, in hopes that they would prove useful."

She fidgets with her hands as she speaks. You assume that "Tesvath" is the nearby drow mage. And the fact that the priestess had to teach someone else how to block Nergan's influence, rather than just doing it herself, is yet more evidence for what you'd already gathered: that Melca has stripped the former cleric of all power, in light of her loss and humiliation.

That must have made her fall all the more devastating. Which, in turn, goes a long way to explaining her current meek state. The other drow, at least, still have their areas of skill and expertise to give them confidence, even with their place in the world completely upended. But this former priestess has lost everything. She's gone from a feared leader who held the lives of her subordinates in her divinely-blessed hands... to the orcs' powerless bedwarmer and plaything.

And—aside from sharing that bliss—there's been little else she could do to contribute. Until now.

"That was a good idea," you say, causing the former priestess to stiffen in surprise. "Thank you. This could make a big difference for us."

She doesn't respond immediately. But her fingers do clench tighter together as they interlock. Finally she does look up, still hesitant, as though she fears that you will humble her again just for that temerity. Instead, you give her a grateful nod. She returns it with a more nervous one, before backing respectfully away again.

Even as she backs away, you hear more running feet, and more of the fortress' defenders start arriving to investigate the noise. From the reactions you observe, it looks like Khaytala and the drow kept word of the attack a closely-guarded secret, not wanting to spook the perpetrators into switching to a different plan that they wouldn't be as prepared for.

Rysanial is one of the first to arrive. When she sees Kelissa she sucks in a quick breath and rushes over to her, dropping to her knees and wrapping her arms around the maid. Kelissa leans into the crook of her neck, as the succubus whispers comforting words into her ear while holding her tight. Though Rysanial looks almost more shaken than Kelissa herself does.

Khaytala quickly arranges for the prisoner to be searched and secured. Once that is taken care of, your group heads up the tower to tell Lily what has happened. You find her guarded by the remaining drow royal guard, behind a layered magical barrier maintained by both the Witch Queen herself, as well as the other drow mages. Clearly, Khaytala was not taking any chances with enemy agents in the fortress.

Lily's face lights up as she sees your group enter. "Did it go well?" she asks, rushing over to the edge of the barrier. "Is everyone safe?"

"It could hardly have gone better," Khaytala assures her. "They were after Kelissa, like we guessed. But we stopped them before they could do anything."

The young queen's shoulders slump in relief, and soon the barriers come down. Lily checks on Kelissa herself, before turning to Khaytala with gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you," she says, wrapping her in a hug. "If anything had happened..."

Khaytala wraps her muscular arms around the young queen as well, a tender smile on her face. She rubs her hands up and down Lily's back, in just the right way to soothe her. It's striking just how close and comfortable these two have grown with each other, in all the time Khaytala has spent as her bodyguard.

Soon, however, she straightens up, focusing on her duties as a queen in this situation. "This is a disturbing escalation," she says, adopting a formal tone. "We will have to be on our guard for similar attacks in the future. I doubt that Nergan will give up so easily. And it's clear that he wants to bring us more in line with Melca's desires, no matter the cost. Especially with regard to Juri."

At this, you speak up. "Fortunately, Juri is beyond his direct reach for the moment," you explain. "The mission was a success, and Fallhazel is now on our side. But she was unable to leave her forest. So I left Juri with her, to be trained in the use of her power under safer conditions. Juri asked me to say 'goodbye' to you, your majesty."

Lily gives a fond—slightly sad—smile at that. One of the drow royal guard speaks up next. "A shame we can't show off the latest heroine to the troops, like you've been doing with all the others so far..." she says. "It won't be nearly as compelling to just claim that we have another one. Still... with all the work that those harpy girls have been doing in... ah... recruitment, I think we can count on more of them taking your boon, even if not as many."

"Every little bit helps," you say. Then you turn to Lily. "As for the danger of more attacks like this... with your permission... it may be time to offer my boon to all of your servants as well. I can protect them much more thoroughly if they accept it."

It's a serious request. Many of those servant have been rescued from mistreatment as orcish slaves, and you know Lily feels protective of all of them. Even so, the sheer, heartfelt trust that you've cultivated in her is so strong, that at this point she barely even hesitates before nodding. "If it will protect them from Nergan, then I'll let them know how important it is."

Of course... if you wanted to push farther, you could also suggest that Lily accept your boon as well. The heightened sexual urges that the boon naturally stokes would be a markedly more aggressive move, in terms of her temptation. Still, at this point you've more than captured her heart to the point where you expect she would accept, if you wanted to. And while she's by no means defenseless as she is, it would give her yet one more layer of protection.

Meanwhile, Verika speaks up. "There's also the question of what to do with the prisoner we just captured," she says. "He might be able to tell us useful information on Nergan's plans. But normal interrogation methods probably won't work on someone with his training."

"Let me have him." It feels as though the temperature in the room drops as Rysanial speaks. You turn... and see raw fury flashing in the demoness' eyes. Looking at her, you remember the night you spent before you left on this mission. The night after Rysanial had learned of the geas and its effects on her... and the night when Kelissa had comforted her in her lowest point, holding her close through her distress.

And this killer tried to abduct Kelissa, doubtless to face unspeakable torture.

"I can get the information out of him," she continues. And you have little doubt that what she did to make the new warchief her pet will seem tame compared to what she's planning now. "By the time I finish breaking him, he will beg to tell me everything he knows."

That would probably be the fastest and simplest way to get information out of the prisoner. Rysanial could probably do it before it was even time to depart on the next mission. However, it would only be verbal, and filtered through his conscious memory of what the assassin himself realized was important.

If you wanted to be truly thorough, you could instead use your Dreamwalking to search his memories in detail, seeing everything for yourself, which might provide additional, more subtle clues that he would not have thought to recount. You would probably have to do it as one of your hostile Dreamwalks, however, not one of the easier and more plentiful willing Dreamwalking provided by your new synergy.

It's something to consider. Closer at hand, however, once the others leave, this will also be your best chance to continue your private interactions with your summoner. What do you want to talk to Lily about?