Chapter Seven:
Ties that Bind, Part 1

You sit there with Mockingbird, the two of you watching the sunrise in silence from atop the fortress wall. Once dawn has fully broken, the two of you descend the long, circular stairs to the courtyard below. You can feel a fresh conviction in your steps after your brief-yet-heartfelt conversation with the young halfling. You know exactly what you need to do. And the next steps are right in front of you.

As each of your allies emerges from their various quarters, you meet with them one by one, letting them know the assignments that you've decided on. You give Verika her false mission, for the sake of appearances. She accepts it without giving any outward indication of the far more important task you've already discussed in the privacy of her dream.

You and Verika also pay a visit to Nevati, asking her to make the necessary improvements to the stolen Shadowgate that will allow for the transport of entire armies instead of smaller groups. The gnome's eyes light up with excitement as you describe the magical puzzle, and you can tell she's already considering different approaches she could try. Accomplishing such a feat would indeed be a stunning accomplishment, even for one of her prodigious genius. But you have faith that she can pull it off.

Khaytala, meanwhile, is glad to be protecting Lily again. She knows that the young queen is being targeted by one of the sadistic incubi, which has clearly left Khaytala worried for her safety. So the chance to stand personally in Lily's defense against such a vicious threat is something Khaytala is grateful to have. The half-orc heroine goes to speak with the drow royal guard as soon as she can.

You give out assignment after assignment, until the only one remaining is for Rysanial and Rokaviel. You gather both demons together, Rysanial waiting on your decision while Rokaviel leans against a nearby wall, arms crossed as he regards you.

You don't waste any time. "I need the two of you to head to Vekmar," you say. "Rysanial, you need to track down the pleasure cult that's hiding there. Before they can perform their summoning, and before the incubi find them first. Work your way into their trust, seduce them yourself, and bring them over onto our side."

"I won't fail you," the succubus says, her voice fervent. "I know all about cults like that. Including how they usually hide. I'll find them before anything happens."

"And what about me?" rumbles Rokaviel. "Am I going along as a nanny? Just in case this incubus finds them after all?"

"Something like that," you say. "Except it's not a question of 'just in case'. We're going to make sure that the incubus finds the lead he's looking for. You'll need to keep your distance until Rysanial has secured the cult. But once she does, then we lay a trap. That's where you come in. We let slip enough clues for him to succeed in tracking down the cult... except the trail he follows will lead him right to you."

The Violence demon considers this for a second or two, then shrugs. "Fair enough," he says, cracking his knuckles. "I'll admit, I'm beginning to grow curious about these 'mad incubi' I keep hearing about. It'll be interesting to see for myself what they're really made of." Rokaviel's tone suggests that he finds the very idea of these deadlier, more savage incubi to be amusing, albeit something he's having trouble fully envisioning.

"Just remember that he's your target," you say, emphasizing the order. "You can go all out against him... just so long as you don't endanger the mission. Or the cult members we're here to capture. Or the other citizens of Vekmar."

Rokaviel waves you off in a gesture of mildly annoyed acknowledgment. "I know, I know. No killing the cult. No indiscriminate massacres. Wouldn't be a job from the Second Circle if you didn't try to suck as much fun out of it as possible. I'm just glad I get to kill someone. If I'm lucky, it might even be an interesting fight."

For all his grumbling, though, he doesn't sound truly irate. The fight against the dragon has bought you a great deal of goodwill with him, and you get the sense that he's willing to play along with your requirements, even if he feels obligated to gripe about them.

With those plans in place, all that remains is your own target. Accordingly, you seek out Mockingbird once more. "It seems that Mother Imfiel has traveled to the Bard's College, to help protect Lyra Orilana," you say. "How would you feel about paying her a visit? It would give you a chance to ease her fears. A chance to show her that there's nothing to fear in what we're doing."

Of course, behind the platitudes, Mockingbird knows full well how you intend to "ease her fears" when you meet her mother-figure again. She swallows... but then nods, her eyes burning with intense, twisting emotion. "I... do want her to understand," she says, quietly but firmly. "I don't want her to worry anymore. And..."

She hesitates, but then presses forward in a quieter voice. "And... I don't want her to miss out on something this amazing, either."

You grin. Your lessons really have been taking root. Mockingbird clears her throat, hoping to quickly move past that admission. "Does that mean we'll be heading out soon?" she asks.

"I will be," you say. "But you'll need to stay here for a little while longer. There's still the problem of the tracking invocation Alicia put on me. If she detects that I'm moving in the direction of the Bard's College, she'll head there immediately. Which means that we need to move fast, if we want to stay ahead of her for as long as possible. I'm planning to fly there as fast as I can, and then summon you to my side, like I did with Verika."

Mockingbird nods. "That makes sense. But even that might not help as much as you'd think. Her mount... it isn't a normal one. I don't know all the details, but that horse has divine protections of its own, and it's way faster than any normal horse ought to be."

That wasn't outside your expectations. "Every day that we can buy will help," you say. "Just be ready when you sense that I'm calling you. Have you ever been to the Bard's College yourself?"

"No, but I've heard about it," Mockingbird says. "If they've got that place locked down, then we'll have our work cut out for us. We'll probably want to go in under cover of darkness to have the best chance."

"I'll keep that in mind." You're already calculating your route, thinking back to the map of the area that you'd consulted in the council. You strategize with Mockingbird for a while longer, the two of you going over possible plans, until both of you are satisfied. Then, finally, you depart to say your goodbyes to Lily.

By the time you return to her and Kelissa, the two of them are dressed and have long since begun their duties for the day. To all outward appearances, the maid is attending her queen dutifully, just as she's always done. Yet you can taste the change in the air, the even-greater intimacy that you fostered between them last night. When Lily sees you approaching, she bursts into a radiant smile and rushes over to you.

You pull her slender form into your arms, simply holding her for a few seconds. Then you pull back. "Loathe though I am to leave such delightful company... I'm afraid that I must depart once again, to entice the next pair of heroines. Though I can see that this time, you will have someone to comfort you in my absence."

The look of gratitude that Kelissa gives you is fierce and reverent, almost to the point of worship. She never imagined that she could be with Lily like this, but now she's found herself in a reality that surpasses anything she could have hoped for.

"I will attend to her majesty's needs with all my heart and soul," she says, her eyes dark with desire, burning behind that veneer of propriety. "But I promise not to go beyond anything you have already shown her. I will take utmost care to ensure you claim every single one of her firsts."

You raise your eyebrows a little. It wasn't something you'd asked of her... but you can tell that Kelissa feels strongly about this, so you accept the maid's display of ardent devotion with a nod. Then you look down at the young queen in your arms. "Goodbye," you tell her once again. "I'll see you soon."

This time, it is Lily who goes up on her tip-toes to kiss you. You lean down into the kiss, deepening it, and for a while the two of you are intertwined in that simple display of desire. When you finally pull apart Lily's face is flushed, but her eyes are alight with excitement. "I will be waiting," she tells you again. "However long it takes... I know you will succeed."

And with that, you depart.

For the first part of your northward journey, rather than head directly toward your destination, you instead fly toward Emiko, Torild and Alicia. It's a simple ruse, but hopefully an effective one. It should mean that your paladin opponent will detect no change in the direction she senses you from. Not yet.

You follow that course for as long as you're able. Only when continuing in that direction would start to take you further away from the Bard's College do you finally adjust course. You also pick up speed, taking the form of a particularly fast bird. That, combined with the boost to your endurance that the brand has so recently provided, means you make exceptional time. The miles fly past beneath you, until at last you reach your destination. You arrive in the late evening, just as the setting sun starts to set the sky ablaze.

In bird form, you alight on a nearby branch and survey the college. It's a sprawling, elegantly-crafted structure, with many tall, pointed towers that reach up toward the heavens. The architecture is colorful and flowing, the tops of its spires built with graceful swirls and warm, earthy tiles that give the institution a timeless, almost otherworldly feel. Even at a glance, it's clearly a place where magic and the arts meet, blending seamlessly into one another.

That's not to say that it's undefended, however. Quite the contrary. The entire campus is enclosed in a spherical barrier of magic that crackles and hums with the power running through it. The only way in is a single gate, one which is carefully guarded. And you've no doubt that they're testing anyone who comes through with holy water.

This barrier probably isn't something they use all the time, but rather a consequence of the lockdown that Iskro warned you about. And indeed, such powerful wards would prove a nigh-insurmountable challenge for most normal demons trying to sneak in.

Fortunately, you're anything but normal at this point. And on top of that, you've enlisted the aid of the greatest thief in this world as well.

You fly a circuit around the college, taking careful note of any guards and their routes. You also note well over a dozen tall, curved pillars that stand in a circle around the entire building, like curled fingers rising up from the ground. These pillars are covered in runes, and you gather that they have some role in the barrier that currently blocks your path, since the immense shell of magic seems to rest snugly in their grasp.

Once you've completed your observations you fly back into the surrounding treeline and resume your normal demonic form. Then you call upon your power, reaching across the bonds forged by your corruptive boon. A summoning circle appears on the ground, a pentagram writ in hellfire. A few moments later, Mockingbird steps out of it, looking off-balance. "Wow..." she says in a small voice. "That was... something else."

The young halfling gathers herself quickly, however, and looks up at you. "Okay then," she says, a focused look sliding over her features. "Let's see what we're dealing with."

The two of you move to the edge of the treeline, as the setting sun bathes the college in red and gold. "Damn..." Mockingbird mutters. "That's one hell of a protective ward."

You raise an eyebrow. "Do you think it'll be too much to handle?"

"I didn't say that." Mockingbird reaches into a pouch at her side, and starts to pull out some of the tools of her trade that she brought with her before leaving Nelin. A knife made from alchemical silver, slender and thin enough to be more like a scalpel. A long, delicate pick—also silver—with a small hook at the end. Several long, thin screws and a long loop of wire, all made of cold iron. And a pouch that seems to be of some kind of dust.

Then she looks up at you. "We move as soon as it's fully dark," she says. "This could take a while."

"I saw a few good blind spots while I was flying over," you offer. "It should make us even harder to see, even if anyone does look out a window from the college while we're working. But they do have a great many guards walking the perimeter. Even taking into account how much ground they have to cover, we'll have a ten-minute window between patrols, at best."

Mockingbird nods. "Nothing I haven't had to deal with before."

The two of you watch in tense silence as the sun drops ever lower past the horizon. Then, once the protection of night is at its strongest, the two of you move, creeping without words out toward the vulnerable place you identified. Before long you arrive, standing before one of the curved pillars that you noticed earlier. This close, it's even more clear that the pillars are generating the spherical barrier. Mockingbird ducks behind the stone protrusion, using it for cover. Then she kneels down, looking intently at the corner where earth, pillar and magic all meet.

You follow behind her, tucking in close as you watch her work. If it had been you doing this, you would have tried to alter the magic directly using your own demonic power, just as you've played with existing enchantments before now. Mockingbird, however, has no demonic or magical abilities whatsoever. What she does have, however, is skill and cunning.

The two of you wait there in the darkness until the next guard comes walking past. You use the pillar's shadow to hide from the man's torch, and you take the form of a cat to make your larger form even less noticeable. There's one point at which he pauses, and you hold your breath... but he simply yawns and keeps walking.

The instant his back is turned, Mockingbird goes to work.

She takes out her small bag once again, pouring out some of its contents into her palm. Now that it's visible, you recognize it as also being cold iron. This iron, however, has been crushed into a powder. With a quick puff, Mockingbird blows it across the surface of the barrier. The magic immediately reacts, sparking and sizzling slightly.

While magic and cold iron do not typically mix well, something like this isn't even remotely enough to actually break through such thick wards. But breaking through with brute force was never the intent. All Mockingbird needed was for it to spark a small reaction, to perturb the flow of magic just enough for what she's going to do next. Taking out the silver knife and hook, she starts to tease apart the magic's path, paring deeper and deeper into the spellwork to redirect it. Ever so slowly. Ever so carefully.

The sharpened alchemical silver is able to split the arcane energies, altering their path along a subtly different course than the pure, unbroken sphere it was intended to follow. You can see sweat running down Mockingbird's brow, and you expect that there are secondary failsafes buried in the ancient, complex spellcraft, failsafes that she needs to untangle without tripping. The seconds stretch into minutes, and eventually you realize that it won't be long before the next guard walks past. You consider asking if you can help... but decide against doing anything that might interfere with the heroine's concentration.

Just before the next guard arrives, Mockingbird manages to create enough of a gap in the barrier that she is able to slip one of those long, cold iron screws through, screwing it into the stone pillar in such a way that it runs completely through the ward. Just in time, she pulls herself away. Once again the two of you press yourselves back into the pillar's shadow as the guard—a woman, this time—walks by on the other side. But just as before, the guard does not notice either of you. Soon Mockingbird is back at work yet again, building on her previous efforts.

That cycle sets the pattern for much of the rest of the night. Slowly but steadily, the master thief wears down arcane defenses that have been honed over centuries. The work is nerve-wracking to watch. Especially since every ten minutes she needs to keep restoring it to a state that will not attract attention. That alone draws out the process far longer than it would have taken her otherwise... but Mockingbird is undaunted, waging her campaign against the magical security measures using tactics that are both methodical and brilliant.

And eventually, the last defense does fall, leaving you with an honest-to-goodness hole in the barrier. The magic winds around several cold iron screws, connected by the loops of wire that Mockingbird used to maintain the shape of her breach. Granted, it's not a large hole. Even with her diminutive stature, the slender halfling still needs to twist herself into painful-looking contortions to squeeze through. You wouldn't have even attempted it in your normal form, but fortunately your cat form is more than capable of darting through. Then Mockingbird yanks her framework of wire and screws away behind you.

It should take less than a minute for the barrier to resume its proper shape. But you don't stay around to watch. Instead you dart through the darkness toward the main building, just ahead of the next guard patrol. There are still other defenses that you encounter—locks and lesser magical alerts—but Mockingbird circumvents those with ease compared to the difficulty of the barrier around the perimeter.

Soon enough, you find yourself in the relative safety of one of the college's classrooms, now silent, dark and uninhabited. Even now, of course, you cannot lower your guard. There are guards walking the halls as well. It's clear that this entire place is on high alert, and that they are refusing to underestimate the threat that you pose.

Even so, the most fundamental hurdle has been cleared. You've reached the college itself.

The question now is what your next move should be. The trip and the multiple uses of shapeshifting have eaten into your Lust reserves somewhat, and every time you call on your power, you can feel the aching drain caused by the more powerful wards that you put on your brand. Of course, you do have a willing heroine right on hand who could help you feed without any issue.

On the other hand, you do still have a tolerable reserve. And while you could normally dreamwalk and feed in the same night, you've already spent enough time sneaking in that you could probably only manage one or the other at this point.

Is it worth pushing yourself to get a head start on your objectives, even before you've been able to do much reconnaissance within the college itself? Or would it be safer to keep yourself well-fed, and start to make your moves only after you've had a chance to observe the situation here in more detail next morning?