Where the Heart Is, Part 22

Even after having sex with Polly, your Lust reserves are not as high as you'd like. And with a foe like Zethuriel still out there, you can't afford to spend those reserves recklessly. For now, you decide to take some well-earned rest, conserving your strength for whatever you decide to do tomorrow.

Polly is already fast asleep, her small head buried against your chest. You hold her naked body tight and follow suit. This time, when you slip into the realm of dreams, it is without any scheme or strategy, only the desire for respite. And for a time, that is exactly what you find.

After a while, however, you heightened senses wake you from your slumber, noticing signs of distress. Polly is struggling in her sleep, turning back and forth, her face twisted in an expression of fear. She's having a nightmare. Hardly surprising, given what she's just been through.

Or... is it just a nightmare?

Suspicion twisting in your stomach, you shake her urgently, until she wakes with a start and a gasp. "Wha—? I... No!" she shouts, thrashing in your arms, pushing herself away from you and tumbling off the bed. She rolls to her feet, unsteady and disoriented, looking wildly around.

Then, slowly, the memories of the previous day piece themselves together in her thoughts. Her eyes widen, as she feels anew the magnitude of what she just did. Then she slumps back against the far wall and slides down it, burying her head in her hands.

You don't move, giving her space. "Are you alright?"

After a few more seconds, Polly nods into her hands. "I... I'm sorry. I just... I had a nightmare. About the fight against the demon. I mean... the other demon. In the warehouse. And then I woke up, and I saw... you. Except my memory was still spotty and—"

"I understand," you say, cutting in calmly but firmly. "But listen to me carefully, because this is very important. Did you dream about anything else that happened yesterday? Besides that fight, I mean? Please try to remember."

Polly looks up, her face scrunching in thought. "I... Now that you mention it... I think... I was dreaming about, well... most of yesterday, actually. Pretty much the whole thing, in bits and pieces, right up to that fight. And then I got scared, and you woke me up, and..."

She trails off, seeing your expression turn grim. "That was no ordinary nightmare," you say. "I don't have proof... but I'd bet everything I own that one of those enemy demons was dreamwalking you just now. They're trying to investigate what happened yesterday. And the blessing you got from Elianna last night, to shield your dreams... it would have run its course not long ago."

The young rogue's face drains of its color. The realization is sinking in, that a monster like him could simply visit—and manipulate—her dreams at will, any time she goes to sleep from now on. Fortunately, you at least woke her up before Sevariel could smooth over the memory of the dream with the forgetfulness of sleep, giving you a clue to corroborate what he was doing to her.

"Did you dream about coming to this inn?" you ask. "Or did you dream of anything else that might help him locate where we are right now?"

Now she's really concentrating, racking her memories. "I... don't think so?" she finally says. "But I can't say for sure. It's all jumbled."

And there's no guarantee that Sevariel was searching her memories in order. Though even if he did figure out this location, would the incubi strike? Or would they still consider abducting Lily and using her as leverage a safer option, rather than challenging you head-on? Sevariel might have seen your less-than-overwhelming performance against Karathiel... but that could easily be attributed to you maintaining your cover.

Either way, paranoia is probably the safer course of action in a situation like this. "We need to move," you say. "Now."

Polly is already grabbing her clothes and getting dressed. You, meanwhile, assume the form of a dashing young man whose likeness you haven't used before. You watch as the halfling finishes putting her clothes on. Then she reaches down and picks up her mask as well.

"You're going to keep using that?" you ask.

"Yes," she replies, as she puts it back over her face. "Mockingbird is a part of who I am now. A part of what I've accomplished. Even if it only started out as a way to hide... the mask means more to me now than just that."

"Masks do have a way of growing on you," you admit.

Mockingbird gives you a pointed look. "I'm sure you'd know, Kavia."

You sigh. "You don't need to keep calling me that. Just call me—"

With laugh and a leap, the rogue bounces away and then spins, walking backward toward the room's door while wagging a teasing finger at you. "Nu-uh. It was my fated nemesis Kavia who stole my heart, after all. This new fellow... I'm still feeling him out."

You raise a skeptical eyebrow, to which Mockingbird responds by sticking out her tongue impishly. She seems far more unburdened than her fraught emotional state last night. Though you can tell that at least some of this playfulness is a distraction. Her attempt to keep herself from dwelling on how the mad incubus was able to enter the privacy of her dreams... and what that will mean for her going forward.

The two of you slip down the stairs and vanish into the night, winding your way toward the Griffon's Feather tavern by a circuitous route. All the way there, you're searching for anyone—or anything—trying to follow you, as well as for any sign of a stakeout around the tavern itself. But you detect nothing.

This time, when you approach the tavern, you sneak up to the rear entrance. After asking Mockingbird to keep a lookout, you knock four times in quick, uneven succession. It's a pattern Rifek gave you on that first day, when you spoke with him at length. There is a brief delay, and then a voice comes from behind the door. "What is a big one like you wanting at this hour?"

"I need to pick up three bottles of your finest Urdeval wine," you say, giving the code phrase. "It was already arranged two days ago."

You hear a deadbolt slide back, and then the door opens. A ratfolk with black-and-gray fur ushers you inside, and not long after that, Rifek enters the room. His fur is messy, as though just roused from sleep, but his eyes are sharp and alert. "Is something wrong?" he asks.

"I wanted to warn you," you say. "Associates of mine are being targeted by a demon who can infiltrate dreams and search memories. If he hasn't gotten around to you yet, he probably will soon. Which means I'll need to move Verika from wherever you've put her. I can't have him laying eyes on her as well."

"I see..." Rifek muses. Then he glances up at the new shape you're wearing, a calculating look in his eyes. "Of course... if such a demon had already searched my memories... then he could perfectly impersonate you. And no code phrase I gave the real you would be able to tell you apart."

"If I had searched your memories, I wouldn't need to know Verika's current location," you counter. "And if one of those demons was here to kill you... then there wouldn't be anything anyone in this building could do to stop them."

"I see." You suspect it was more the latter possibility that the ratfolk had been considering. "So then. How do you propose to deal with this situation?"

"Once we're done here?" you say. "I suggest that you go to ground for a while. Try to stay awake during the night as much as you can, and instead take brief naps at irregular times during the day. It should at least slow their ability to get information from you. These demons are powerful... but there's only two of them left in this city. That means they can only follow so many leads at once. And so far they've been trying to stay inconspicuous."

You sigh. "It's entirely possible that the dreamwalker hasn't seen you in person yet, which means he wouldn't be able to visit your dreams. Until recently he was holed up in the local rectory, using his power to study for a trap they were laying for me. But we can't afford to take chances. They were tailing me in secret from the beginning, so they know I visited this tavern repeatedly. And eventually he may start investigating through your employees, if he doesn't find any other clues elsewhere."

Right now, your priority is to stem the loss of information, until you figure out how you're going to respond. As it stands, there are just too many points of vulnerability. Too many angles that Sevariel could use to learn far too much about your day-to-day actions and plans. He's already got his hooks into Mockingbird, to study—or torment—however he pleases, whenever he pleases. You need to limit the growth of his reach as much as you can.

"I put Verika up in the attic of the old curio shop on Market Street," Rifek tells you. "The owner is an associate of ours. Trustworthy, for a human."

"Good," you say. "I'll contact her soon. Did you deliver my message to that tenement?"

Rifek chuckles. "Yes. And it had quite the sensational effect. The paladin of Selal fighting hidden demons in our very streets! The word is already spreading like wildfire."

"Did you see how it went down?"

"According to an agent who was watching, it was quite the struggle," Rifek says. "Lady Alicia damaged one of its wings early in the fight, which kept it from fleeing. But from then on it was a long, back-and-forth struggle of attrition. Eventually, she managed to wear the fiend down, cut by cut. Until she finally landed a stab into its side that dropped it for good."

You frown. That... doesn't sound right. Certainly most heroines would struggle against one of these twisted fiends. But you've seen Alicia fight, if only in her dream. You doubt whether even her younger self would have had that much trouble killing one of these incubi. And you have to assume she's gotten even stronger since then. But... then why...?

Which is when a sudden thought strikes you. "Wait. What happened after the fight?"

Rifek shrugs. "According to our agent, she took the demon's corpse and left immediately for the Grand Cathedral."

You resist the urge to laugh, the detail confirming your suspicions. Why would Alicia take a dead demon to the cathedral, of all places? Because you're pretty sure that it wasn't dead. And holy ground is the safest place to imprison a demon, as well as having healers there who could treat his wound.

If your suspicion is correct, then the reason she took so surprisingly long to "kill" her foe was because she was carefully gauging how much of her holy blade he could just barely survive, in order to make her final takedown look convincing to any observers. She wouldn't want any of his fellows—or you—to know that she had this one captive, after all.

In retrospect, it makes perfect sense. Alicia knows how these demons operate, from what she saw back in Vekmar. She knows how they keep prisoners to torture. And faced with more demons like that, she would make it a priority to learn the location of those prisoners and save them. Which is information she couldn't get from a corpse. Not to mention that she would also want to know why they were watching her safe house in the first place.

Of course, you doubt that any of these demons would willingly let Alicia get her hands on you. As much as they might hate you, they're devoted to the monster festering inside your soul. Their leader. Their master. Their one last chance to return to their home and get their long-desired revenge. While they did know Kavia's secret, there's no way any of them would have answered the paladin truthfully in any interrogation.

Except Alicia doesn't need truthful answers. If she really can detect lies, all she would need to do would be to get her prisoner talking, and choose her questions carefully. You're entirely confident that someone like her could manage that. Especially considering how volatile these incubi are.

It was a clever plan. Too bad for her that you were just one step ahead. You wonder which happened first. Has her captured demon even regained consciousness yet? And if he has, was it before or after the arrival of the tortured prostitutes, freely offering both secrets that Alicia had hoped to gain from her prisoner?

Either way, you doubt that demon is long for this world, not after taking severe wounds from a holy weapon and then being denied the sadistic rape and torture that he now feeds on. But it does give you some amusement to imagine Alicia finally deducing the answer to this game of deception you've been playing with her... only for your revelation to arrive moments later.

As if on cue, Rifek next brings up the very event you were thinking about, as he continues his report. "My agents also heard of another interesting development," he says. "The story goes that, toward the evening, a group of five women paid a visit to the cathedral. Whatever they said, it eventually got them an audience with Mother Imfiel herself. And then, not long after that, the holy mother and Lady Alicia both paid a visit to the local rectory, of all places."

"Was there any fighting?" you ask.

"Not that anyone mentioned," Rifek answers. "From what we heard, they turned the entire place upside-down. But whatever they were looking for... I don't think they found it."

So Zethuriel either saw the heroines coming and warned Sevariel, or else he had already become aware of your attacks on the other demons, and gave up on the rectory trap once he realized you were onto them. Either way, you have no idea where they are now, doubtless having taken completely new faces and vanished into the city.

Which raises the question of your next move.

You could, in theory, just leave. You've accomplished the primary goal of your mission here, seducing a heroine. And you don't expect that you'll manage a second heroine this time. Not without giving Elianna a little time to cool down first, now that your Kavia identity has been revealed. You could just leave early, and gain some extra downtime in Kovora before your next mission.

That, however, would leave both Zethuriel and Sevariel free to operate entirely unchecked. Once it's clear that his current plans have failed, the ancient demon sorcerer will doubtless come up with something else for next time, or strike along some different, unexpected angle.

Even with so many dangers closing in on every side, this is still a rare opportunity. You know that both enemy demons are here, in this very city. They're almost certainly still reacting to your sudden attack, gathering information and adjusting their plans. And if they do go forward with the kidnapping attempt on Lily, then they're likely to remain nearby until they learn whether it was successful. Though even that may not buy you much time, if the attempt happens soon.

You could take this chance to strike at them, doing as much damage as you can before you flee. With your enhanced perception, you did observe the dog outside the safehouse each time you entered. So Sevariel, at least, you should be able to dreamwalk right back. However, that could be tricky. If he's spending his own nights dreamwalking, lucid and in the dreams of others, finding a window to read his own memories could take a while.

Still, with your ability to remain undetected, you could tag along to any such excursions, potentially even twisting what he sees to sow subtle misinformation. The drawback of that approach is that it would take a while. And the demons may not remain in Nelin forever once their current plans are all defeated, nor are they guaranteed to remain together. You could miss out on a golden chance to confront Zethuriel directly, while Alicia is also in the area to use against him.

Of course, considering that they can both shapeshift at will, you don't have many ways other than dreamwalking to figure out where they've hidden. Except... no. No, maybe there is another way. Someone who could help you hunt them down. Someone that neither demon would expect.

Someone neither demon would have even considered worthy of notice.

You think back to those prostitutes, the tortured victims of the incubi's callous spite. In particular, you think back to the oldest one. The one who had been trying to keep the younger girls safe. You remember her expression when she looked at Karathiel's dead body. You remember the raw, aching fury you saw in her eyes.

Not something she could act on of her own accord, of course. However... if you were to summon a Wrath demon as a temporary summon, and convince it to take up her cause... you doubt that even Zethuriel's magic could prevent one of those supernatural arbiters of vengeance from tracking down the perpetrator. Not if they were acting on behalf of someone so deeply and utterly wronged as that woman.

It would be a more dangerous, more daring strategy... but it could be the only reliable way to take the fight to Zethuriel himself, before he can adjust his plans or move onto the next one.

Finally, either of these plans have the potential for differing amounts of downtime. Even if you chose to hunt your enemies with a Wrath demon, you'll probably want to wait until nightfall to make your attack. While it may not be enough uninterrupted time to undertake a larger project, you could try to summon Moghi if you wanted. You do know her name, which will allow for a targeted summon. You could also save even more time by making use of the same ritual preparations for the other summoning. And if your suspicions are correct, you doubt that negotiations with Moghi will take long.

On the other hand, if you instead spend that time searching for a more powerful Wrath demon, that might give you some extra options in the showdown with the incubi, beyond simply tracking your enemies. Or alternatively, if you spent that time simply having sex, the extra Lust might allow you more options to use your own powers as well. You'll have to decide which is more important, in both the short and long term.

You'll also need to decide more details later on, of course. Including how—and to what degree—you'll involve Alicia and Elianna in whatever strategy you employ. But for right now, you only need to choose which overall course of action to pursue.