Where the Heart Is, Part 34

Over the next hour or so, the council discusses the various options in depth. But eventually you settle on a strategy for your lust cults. "We'll have the vampires, Lady Mykra and our puppet matriarch all focus on creating holes in the defenses of the Underworld capitol itself," you say. "And while they're doing that, the Great Forest should cultivate those plant soldiers for use in our later battles. We're going to need all the help we can get for what we're planning."

Then you gesture at a different location on the map spread out on the table before you. "Meanwhile, Lord Kovar and his group can focus on seducing people to secure more political influence in Vekmar," you continue. "If we do take the Twilight Fortress, that won't be something that the allied nations can afford to ignore. But if we can gain enough influence to reduce the aid Vekmar is willing to send, that could help blunt the force of their reprisal."

You glance around the table. Most of your allies are in agreement. Rokaviel looks bored with all the political talk, though he does seem happy that things are moving toward battle in general. Not that you'll be able to send him on this particular fight, of course, not without vastly reducing the benefit you'll gain in recruitment.

Verika, meanwhile, stares down at the map with burning intensity, like she can scarcely believe that this is happening. Like she can scarcely believe that it's time, at long last, to do something about the Underworld and its sad state. Before she met you, she would never have imagined such a thing to be possible. But now it's almost a reality.

"Before we get into specifics, though, there's a larger question we need to address first," you say. "Which heroines will we target next?"

Either way, you'll be going up against more than one. Will you go after Emiko and Torild, knowing that Alicia is also lying in wait there? Or will you go after Lyra and Elianna instead? The latter choice would mean facing only two heroines at first, instead of three. Though Alicia's tracking invocation means that any such advantage likely won't last more than a few days before the paladin shows up at the Bard's College.

"Some of them could be a big help in taking the Underworld," muses Khaytala. The half-orc woman is studying the map herself, deep in thought. "Lyra's songs can inspire her allies to go beyond their limits. Which means that the more people are fighting alongside her, the more of an effect her magic has. That can easily turn the tide of a battle. On the other hand, Torild leads one of the toughest mercenary companies on the continent. If you can bring her over to your side, they should follow."

"Without even needing to seduce them too?" Lily asks. "They won't have a problem working for Kovora?"

A humorless smile crosses Khaytala's face. "No. They aren't exactly what I'd call 'principled' in the jobs they take," she explains. "And neither is Torild... normally. But ever since Emiko won their fight, Torild's been obsessed with her. So I don't think you'll be able to lure Torild away with just gold. Not this time."

Rokaviel chuckles. "Now she sounds fun," he says. Then he nudges Khaytala with his elbow. "Chasing the thrill of a worthy opponent, without any pointless whinging about whether it's 'right' or 'wrong'. You could learn a thing or two from her."

Khaytala gives the big demon a sidelong look in reply, but otherwise doesn't rise to the bait. You, meanwhile, press further. "Is there a reason why Torild is so focused on Emiko in particular?" you ask. "There are so many skilled fighters among your group, after all. Is it just that she was the first to beat her?"

"Well... it's a bit more than just that," Verika explains. "In the pact of heroines, most of us are—or were—on a roughly similar level. In most cases, if two of us fought it could go either way. But when Emiko fought Torild... it wasn't like that."

Now Khaytala interjects. "The thing you have to understand is how Torild fights," she says. "When she goes into a battle fury... it's like she's rage incarnate. She doesn't care about defense, just overwhelming you with her attacks. She's tough enough that she barely even notices most hits. Hell, most of the time, it just makes her angrier."

"Against most of us, that would make her a dangerous opponent," says Verika. "But against Emiko? All that toughness didn't mean a thing. She knows techniques that can disable you by hitting certain points on your body, without even needing to do any damage. And since Torild's whole fighting style is to just power through any hits that land, instead of even trying to avoid them..."

"Ah." You can see the picture in your mind's eye already. "So it was a bad matchup."

"The worst," Verika says. "Damn funny to watch, though. Imagine the angriest dwarf you ever saw, face-down on the ground, ass-up in the air, swearing up a blistering storm... but completely unable to move."

"Her vocabulary was... very extensive," Khaytala says, diplomatically. "I'd already been learning dwarfish for a while, but just in that one day I more than tripled the number of curses I knew. Along with a few extras in orcish that she'd picked up somewhere."

"I see," you say. "And I expect someone like her couldn't let things end like that."

"That's putting it mildly," says Verika. "I've lost count of how many times they've fought since then, but Torild hasn't won once. What surprised me was how willing Emiko was to keep humoring her. But at least it got Torild and her crew to stop extorting the local government, and to sell their blades to us instead. Her mercenaries backed us up when we went to retake Fort Hanvar... even if it turned out that Kovora was already in the process of falling back when we arrived."

Verika inclines her head toward Lily as she alludes to the one previous time that your mistress and the heroines directly clashed, which both Lily and Khaytala have already described to you. You consider this for a moment, before continuing. "And what of Lyra? Is there anything you can tell me about her?"

"In many ways, she's the exact opposite of those two combat-maniacs," speaks up Ceriss. "She is very skilled with her rapier... but in a direct fight she's still not quite as strong as the rest of us. Where she really shines, though, is in her art. Her voice is transcendent, and the magic of her songs can arouse passion and bravery, giving entire armies strength they never knew they had, while bewildering and confounding her enemies."

You nod. "And her daughter is following in her footsteps, if I recall? Attending the Bard's College as well?"

"Both her children did, in fact," Ceriss says. "Her son also studied to become a Bard... though of late he's been going on many distant journeys with his adventuring group, so he isn't around much. But from what I've seen, both of them absolutely adore their adoptive parents. Lyra's wife, Madeline, is the only one of them who isn't a musician herself... but behind the scenes, she's done so much to support Lyra's hectic performance schedule over the years."

Interesting. You consider the possibilities for a few moments, before continuing. "And of course, now Lyra will have Elianna backing her up."

At your words, Mockingbird opens her mouth urgently... before realizing that she has no idea what she wants to say. Does she want to plead with you to not corrupt her beloved mother figure? Does she want to plead with you to corrupt her beloved mother figure as soon as possible? Your sex-filled trip back from Nelin has certainly shown the young rogue a new perspective on how wonderful your temptation is for those lucky enough to receive it... but even now she's still struggling to reconcile how she feels with how she's always seen Elianna, leaving her conflicted.

In the end, she simply closes her mouth again, watching you silently with rapt attention. She's hanging on your next words, as if they'll be the most important words ever spoken.