Nala: HP = 51, PP = 75, EP = 67/84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell) +44 Dodge (Aspect of the Beast Level 4 Nature Spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 86/90, Status = Lightly Injured, +44 Mind (Fireheart Level 4 Fire spell) 1/30 Resistance
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 49/75, Status = Fine, 12/30 Resistance
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 65/90, Status = Badly Injured
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine, 14/24 Resistance
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine, +24 Mind (Inner Strength Level 2 Nature spell)
"Ahhh well, I suppose I can have a tiny bit of patience~" the arachne replied softly, feigning false woe in her tone at the prospect of waiting despite her broad grin. Eying Demetrius, who was visibly relieved at the delay of his time with the arachne matriarch, she added; "I do hope, however, that I won't have to wait long after this little endeavor is concluded for a chance to alleviate your stresses~" The magus gulped and frowned, still looking more than a little nervous, but after a moment's pause he nodded and replied; "You'll get your relief... Assuming we survive. You'll get it and then some." The arachne made little effort to hide her excitement at that, and then they were off, Divinar and her daughters going out to hunt down any stragglers while making their way to the wall.
Once they arrived at Nala's personal quarters, where Esmerala undoubtedly waited for them, her allies took their orders with calm nods and steely looks, even Charlotte viewing the event with nervous determination. Amanda and Violet broke off from the rest of them, splitting off and creeping toward the windows along the sides. Nala, Demetrius, and Charlotte, in the meantime, would enter the building through the main entrance, which was unlocked and opened as easily as ever.
With her fellow magi behind her and her magical enhancements restored, Nala entered her home, the single room building devoted to a bedroom fully furnished for her favorite activity, to find Esmerala using it for its intended purpose. Three women and four men were unconscious in varying positions and locations across the room, an even mixture of humans and night elves, and all of them fully nude and showing signs of very recent sex. A look through her metaphysical eyes would cause Nala to see the dim light of their spirits, suggesting that they had been fed upon by the demoness, and a glance at the bed would show Esmerala in the concluding phase of her meal atop her last victim.
The demoness wore Nala's body, and nothing else save for a pair of silver anklets and a pair of earrings of the same material, albeit with a small ruby and emerald attached to each. She was currently riding the fifth man she'd apparently taken for herself, a man that she would recognize as one of Kyederon's soldiers after a momentary inspection, one of the many she'd taken to bed herself. He had been fairly good, in fact, tender when necessary and rough just the same, and even Amanda had reviewed him favorably as a partner. Esmerala was squatting over him, his manhood vanishing into her dripping sex and reappearing only to vanish again at a feverish pace. It was plain judging by the juices left on his throbbing staff that it wasn't the first partner that had found sweet release into the demoness, and the signs that the man's own orgasm was well on the way were plainly evident to the experienced elven witch. His eyes were wide, his breath coming in short bursts, and his muscles were growing more tense by the second. Even as quickly as the moaning (in Nala's own voice no less) demoness was taking him in she could see his manhood throbbing, his swollen testicles preparing to spill their contents into the bucking woman on top of him, and the shivers running through his body, the impressions left on Esmerala's bouncing rear, and the slow arching of his spine all suggested that he had maybe a few seconds left tops before he exploded inside of her.
It would seem that Nala had caught her quarry with her pants down, and had an opportunity to strike before Esmerala could react, at least if the loud moans she was releasing were to be believed.
The following is taken from a chat log between GM and player.
(Player)
Nala took in the sight with the deepest of loathing. Her bed, stolen. Her people, stolen. Her body, stolen. And all because of a deception played out in front of her. She was angry, certainly enough to kill. The only thing that stopped her from launching an obliterating attack was the modicum of mercy - patronizing as it may have been - that Esmerala had allowed for underneath the earth, in the blackness she had left Nala to wallow in.
She summoned vines from every corner of the room, all of them directed at the impostor wearing her skin. She commanded the vines to coil around hand and foot, waist and neck, and lift Esmerela off of the man before she could empty him of his soul power as well.
"I really can't allow so much fun to happen without getting involved, dear. Let me help *finish* you." She growled, not sounding at all pleasant.
(GM)
Nala’s vines appeared at her call, lashing out at the demoness riding the man. Their strikes landed, but before they could coil around the bucking woman with any strength there were two flashes of movement, figures darting past Nala’s view and causing her allies to tense behind her. Esmerala’s knights flashed across, passing one another in the process while the lighter female moved low and the larger male struck high. Blades flashed, and her summoned vines fell to pieces before her eyes as the two knights assumed readied positions at the nearer corners of her bed.
Even as this happened, Esmerala completed her meal. Nala saw his eyes roll up into the back of his head, and then his head tilted back and he bucked back up into Esmerala, a deep moan filling the room as the shreds of her magical vines fell to the floor. Esmerala ended her own outward motions at the same time, acquiescing to the pressure exerted by his hands and hips and taking in his length all the way down to the base. She could see his balls pulsing, the base of his cock throbbing visibly as his potent cream undoubtedly poured up into her depths. Her metaphysical eye revealed his soul flowing out alongside his seed, filling the demoness to the brim in more ways than one.
The demon’s victim passed out beneath her, and she slowly slipped off of him to display a mixture of releases flowing out onto his groin. “A worthy partner~” Esmerala purred in Nala’s voice, and then slowly rose to a standing position on Nala’s bed, her body already starting to shift. As she turned around to face Nala with a calm smile her skin was already changing from violet to pale cream, and by the time she was fully turned Esmerala was back in her natural form, the transition soundless and seamless. “Did you miss me, dear Nala?”
Her fellow mages had tensed in preparation as the knights appeared, but they hadn’t begun to cast. Leaving even one of their opponents able to fight could easily prove lethal to one or more of them, and they couldn’t enact their greater magic without risk of hitting the unconscious people.
(Player)
"I've been aching to get back to you, Esmerela." Nala said, letting the vines die away.
She looked at the unconscious forms on the ground and on the bed. She had not intended to cast a wide-effect spell, so they did not affect her battle plan. If Demetrius and Charlotte were bothered by their presence, then they would just have to come up with a new battle plan on their own. Nala knew that Amanda and Violet still lurked by the windows and could strike within a moment's notice.
"I've come to take back what's mine, with interest. You've been very selfish since we've met. I'm thinking it's time to pay back what you owe."
Nala decided that there was time for a little talk while her allies got into better position. She was ready with spells if she needed it, intending to inflict bolts of agony on Esmerela the moment things seemed to go south.
(GM)
“Oh really?” the demoness replied bemusedly, spade-tipped tail flitting back and forth behind her. “And what, exactly, do you believe that I owe you, hrm?”
She glanced aside idly before Nala could answer, “Violet dear, I really wouldn’t try go through any of the windows were I you. Not if you like having skin on the front of half of your body, at least.”
There hadn’t been a sound or even a hint of movement from the direction that she looked, and that trend continued unabated as Esmerala looked back to Nala, her smile fading slowly to a frown. “I suspect you would sing a different tune if you knew of what has transpired here,” she added, a cold note floating briefly into her voice before she smiled again, “If you knew of even half of the things that I had done for you, I suspect you would sink to your knees and offer me thanks from the very bottom of your heart.” Her tone made it difficult for Nala to tell whether or not she was serious.
(Player)
"For the past three days, you had a chance to order me to sink to my knees, and I would have happily done so without coercion. I like to honor deals, you see. Instead you buried me under some rocks, rather indelicately, and then proceeded to poison all that I have done for the last two years. And you think I should thank you? You may have to explain in greater detail. And quickly. Else I'm going to kill that one."
She pointed at the female knight.
(GM)
The knight that Nala pointed to calmly flexed her gauntlet-clad hands; every finger tipped in a deadly-looking blade, and said nothing. Esmerala gave a series of tsks as she shook her head, mock disappointment evident in her expression.
“Threats? Really now… You mortals can be so impertinent sometimes!” she said, and then casually hopped down from the bed, her hands slowly moving to clasp behind her back as she stepped up between the two knights. Her expression hardened, the shift swift and backed up by the return of her icy tone;“You are currently surrounded in enough fire mines to level the entirety of this town, all shaped and pointed directly at the spot where you and your associates are standing. While I have put a great deal of effort into grooming you, Nala, do not think that I will not obliterate you and your associates in order to protect one whom I love!” She let that settle in for a moment, the ice in her voice having broken towards the end, such that her last words were a fiery declaration.
“If you or any of your associates try to move or raise your hand against me and mine before I have had my say, then I will set them off, and no magical protection you might have prepared would be sufficient to save your life,” she added sourly after a minute, “I despise speaking under these heavy handed conditions, I really honestly do. But I also did not survive this long by not being prepared, and the idea that you would seek vengeance for my apparent slights against you before I could explain myself did not pass me by without some consideration. If you would test my bluff anyway, thinking perhaps that the Destroyer would save you from death’s embrace before my associates and I pulled your soul apart and erased you from existence, I ask that you instead consider the well-being of your associates. Your friend Amanda does not need to see her sister die needlessly while she can do nothing to prevent it again.”
(Player)
"You demons and your arrogance..." Nala shook her head. "We mortals are born to die, but not so for you demons. You think you'll escape that fate forever. Know this: you've already insulted me far more than you think you know. Also know that I'm a spiteful bitch when I've a mind to be, and I may send us all to oblivion, safe in the knowledge that if I do, my own loved ones and I will have rid existence of *things* like you. I've seen what oblivion looks like. I've made my peace with it. Have you? Have they?" She nodded at the knights.
"I don't fear death. Say your peace, and then we'll settle the matter of killing each other or not."
(GM)
“We will see,” Esmerala said simply in response to the idea of death, though she then grinned softly at the proclamation that Nala would drag them into oblivion with her. “I suppose I can appreciate the utter contempt you have for the lives of your loved ones if you were removed from them, given that each of them owes their continued existence to you at least twice anyway. Still, it is a disappointing line of thought coming from you!”
She took a slow step back, increasing the distance between her and Nala, and gave a soft sigh before speaking in as frank a tone as she’d heard from the demoness up until that point; “Very well then, I will tell you all that I have done, and let you be the judge of it!”
She pointed to Demetrius, “I could have had him recaptured seven times, and my replacement as acting leader of Kyederon would have had him twice had I not intervened in secret.”
She pointed to Charlotte, “Her I could have retaken no less than a dozen times, mostly due to the utter lack of sense possessed by her sister, and no less than four times did my actions prevent their capture or death at the hands of my colleagues. My release of them is also what ensured that control of Kyederon was taken from me, by the way. My king evidently realized that my loyalty was not directed at him any longer.”
She turned then to Nala, “You, of course, have no reason at all to believe me. I have lied to you before, betrayed you, and I assure you that I am not above doing both again. But remember that I released you. I had you in my own hands, completely helpless. And I let you go. I even weakened the countermeasures I was forced to impress upon you, feeding Divinar the rumors of your capabilities and removing the collar from your associate, into whose mind I had already slipped the secret of disabling such devices anyway. I could have done any number of things to you, and I assure you that I would have received reward rather than punishment for them! I could have killed you, consumed your spirit in its entirety, or enslaved your will to my own. I could have slipped controls upon your most loyal allies, ideas that they would recognize as their own but that would have left them as the perfect weapons against you. Worst of all, I could have handed you to my king as a plaything, as I was initially commanded to when I was given the mission of dealing with the threat that you posed to us.”
She took in a breath, the brief pause evidently allowing Esmerala a moment to center herself, before she continued; “I was sent to watch you, and watch you I did. For months. I learned your habits, your capabilities, who you cared most deeply for and who your most dangerous allies were. The tiny village of Kyederon, so isolated and seemingly without value… The tiny village where our greatest enemy seemingly leisured, fucking a seemingly unimpressive elven mage while the world he murdered my kind in legion to protect was ravaged by beings more horrible than us by any measure. This tiny village that had defied the invaders and risen within the most dangerous landscape on this world, from a mixture of slaves and their masters now made equal. It is true that your home possesses little strategic value in our spread across this world, but its occupants…. You would oppose us, this we knew. You would oppose us, and you would be a thorn in our side that would be nigh impossible to pluck by force. What’s more, to remove you with direct violence would be to invite obliteration at the Destroyer’s hands. A more elegant solution needed to be found… And so, I was called in, and given this vital task by my king.
“I watched you. Extensively. Intimately. I watched how your essence shifted when coupling with your favored partners, watched you when you were cruel and when you were kind. I grew to know you, in a way, though we had never met. I grew to appreciate you in ways that even those closest to you could not. I am over one thousand years old, Nala of Kyederon. I have seen two wars of my kind against yours, participated in two incursions upon the mortal plane and been called to it by mortalkind on hundreds of occasions… And I have not met a being like you ever before. In a way, I suppose that I love you, though I suspect my feelings do not mirror the romantic notions possessed by your race, and I know that they are not returned on your part. Why would they be, after all? I have done horrible things to you, and so you should hate me for them.
“But you must realize… They were not my choice. After my months of watching you, I told my king to leave you and your village alone. It was not worth the potential costs, I said, but my efforts to protect you failed. My king would not allow you to stand in his way. If I could not do as much, an assassin was to be dispatched, to wait until you had fucked yourself to exhaustion and then to kill you and your closest allies while you slept. After another month of waiting to ensure that the Destroyer had lost interest, Kyederon would have been taken by force, and that would have been the end. I suggested a different plan, the very one that I used upon you, and he agreed on the condition that I deliver you and Violet to him, to be presented to the court and added to his personal harem.
“Again, I fought for you against my own kind. I argued that to do so would be to invite the Destroyer’s wrath, and was successful. I was to take you underground, sealed and alone, while Violet was to be taken to him and Demetrius enthralled to our will, at which the very associate you have threatened was successful I might add!” Demetrius, at that, grew somewhat pale despite the deep scowl he adopted. Esmerala continued unabated; “It was I who tried to make sure that, while I knew you to be gathering your strength to retake your home, your people suffered as little as possible. At this I admit I could have been more successful, and will accept responsibility for such failings when we have agreed upon whether or not we will be leaving this building alive. This was my king’s last bit of patience with me, and thus I lost control of Kyederon to a brute, and was forced to make my machinations on your behalf more subtle.
“To that effect, I removed as many of the goblins I knew to be loyal to my king as I could, all through a series of convenient accidents. I reminded your associate, Grabbik, of his loyalty to you and the position of near-equality his kind attained under you, which only made the near-slavery in which he was kept all the more unbearable. When I learned that you were on the move, I had my two associates assassinate several of Dviklien’s most loyal comrades only for you to take a good bit longer than I’d expected. Keeping that secret for as long as I did was something of a miracle, if I may boast a bit! And that brings us to the here and now, where we stand prepared to destroy one another over my slights against you.”
Esmerala paused there, a look of profound tiredness now about her, but on she went; “I have done wrong by you. This I admit freely, and will accept the punishment for such when the time comes without complaint. But know that you stand here only because I engineered it so. I defied a being that could destroy me with a thought, stood in range of detection of a being that could destroy me with less and that my kind use to terrorize our children as you would a bogeyman. I have worked to help you where I could without breaking the word of my orders, because to do so would be to earn not only my own death but to assure yours at the hands of my kin. I have put you in a position to retake your home, kept your loved ones from as much harm as I could under the circumstances, and risked my own life unnecessarily on your behalf. Though you have only my word upon this, you at the very least know that your fate after our coupling could have been far worse than it was.
“I suppose that leaves what I hope to gain from this…..” Again Esmerala paused to sigh, and then looked up at Nala with an expression of empty hope and said; “Please…. Free me. I ask only for mercy, for me and for these two. I will surrender myself to your will, to endure whatever punishment you demand for my crimes against you, if you will but permit me to remain by your side after your home is reclaimed. Do so and you will have my loyalty, for whatever little that may be worth to you. I will surrender my ability to wield magic, remain within whatever cage you would wish to construct, if only for this chance to be free of the chains put upon me by my own kind. All I desire is that we three be spared. Guarantee that, and I will make no effort to impede you in any way in this battle. If you believe nothing else that I have said here, at least believe that you will be glad for every ounce of strength that you can conjure when the true battle against my kin holding Kyederon begins.”
At long last Esmerala fell silent, and waited for Nala to respond while Demetrius and Charlotte waited behind her, the knights opposite them never breaking from their readied positions in case Nala should opt to reply with violence.
(Player)
Nala held her silence, and her unyielding, emerald stare and scowl, throughout the whole of the demoness' explanation. At the end of it, she sighed and rubbed her eyes.
"You're right," she began, after a moment to gather her emotions.
"I have absolutely no reason to believe a word you've said. For all your apparently brilliant scheming to defy and defect from your King, you forgot to do the one crucial thing and endear yourself to the side you wish to join. Stories of how you saved us or spared us. Numbers pulled out of that oh-so-well-defined ass of yours. Frankly, I don't care if they are true. Even if you have been our unnecessary savior, you've still been incredibly stupid."
Nala paused for a moment, letting her scorn linger in the air before she made her point clear.
"If it had been your intention to break free, to align with me against the wishes of your King, you could have just appeared in Kyederon and told me. You could have indicated where any invasion forces were, and we could have routed them together. The demon king would have been no better off than he is now, and we would have had the foreknowledge to stand against him actively, just as we must do now, assuming we get out of this situation alive. But did you do this?"
Nala practically shook with anger. She wanted to scream at this demon. She had to pause a moment to reign herself in. If Esmerela attempted to butt in she would raise a hand to interrupt her. When she spoke again, her voice was cold.
"No. You chose a scenario in which you betrayed and humiliated me, then raped those I've sworn to protect. 'Oh but it wasn't as terrible a rape as it could have been...' Bull shit. You could have prevented ALL of this. You CHOSE not to."
She paused again, and in a lower voice; "You chose to hedge your bets, and did so at Kyederon's expense. I can forgive you for what you did to me personally, but I can never forgive you for that particular act of cowardice.
"So. Freedom. Everyone wants it. You're a big girl. Your lackeys are capable. Take it for yourselves. Go to Badaria. Crolia. Dig yourself a nice hole a mile beneath the earth and hide there. Or does something prevent you? Something you need another for? I can only surmise that you've chosen me to be your patron, but why? Why stay with me? Because you, admire me? I've had quite enough admiration from you, I think."
She looked at her feet where the supposed fire mines lay then looked back up at Esmerala.
"Surrender to me. Completely. Dispel all your defenses and accept my judgement from a position of absolute weakness. If you don't allow for this, then run away, and I will clean up the mess you made of my home. Otherwise, we kill each other."
Nala: HP = 51, PP = 75, EP = 67/84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell) +44 Dodge (Aspect of the Beast Level 4 Nature Spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 86/90, Status = Lightly Injured, +44 Mind (Fireheart Level 4 Fire spell) 1/30 Resistance
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 49/75, Status = Fine, 12/30 Resistance
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 65/90, Status = Badly Injured
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine, 14/24 Resistance
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine, +24 Mind (Inner Strength Level 2 Nature spell)
Esmerala waited silently through Nala's reply, making no interruptions save to snort derisively when the elven witch suggested that her actions had been unnecessary, and a light laugh when Nala accused her of cowardice. She wasn't smiling though, not anymore, and she adopted a contemplative look as Nala suggested that she simply take her two associates and flee. The glance toward her feet revealed no hint of any magical mines, though that didn't necessarily mean that they weren't there, as particularly clever mages could hide such things so that even she wouldn't be able to find them.
When she looked back up at the demoness opposite her, she found another cold frown upon the woman's face. It didn't take long for Esmerala to step forward and respond however, her tone dark; "You imagine simplicity where there is none, because you do not understand how my kind work. Had I come to you openly as you suggest, both of us would be dead, either by an assassin in the night or by an army that we could not hope to stop. Had that option been actually viable rather than great folly, I would have taken it and spared both of us all the trouble we have been through to reach this point. Just because I do not share your altruism does not mean that I cannot appreciate it, and if you wish to find a selfish motivation then you will have to be content with self preservation.
"Had I simply fled, as you would have me do, it would have been short, pleasure-less journey ended by violence, and involved far more running and hiding than I would like. My king does not take to betrayal well. You are close to an unpredictable being that is a major threat to my former liege, are possessed of not inconsiderable personal power yourself, and are surrounded by powerful allies and ready and able to make more as you require them. Your nature makes you difficult to manipulate or predict with any ease, but you are a civilized being of relatively stable sanity. My other available choices for sanctuary, the fey court of Autumn and the coalition of savage cretins led by former slaves of my kind, were not nearly as solid an option as you were, despite that you were pragmatically the weakest in both numbers and raw strength.
"So, as I could not flee, remaining here as your prisoner would be my best option. Creative as you might be, I doubt you would be able to produce the tortures that Acrasia could concoct for me if I came upon her in a foul temper, and having my soul rent asunder and consumed to create an abomination as Nerzalil would do to me does not seem within the scope of your abilities either. And, if I appear as such to my kin, when they seek retribution upon you I will be able to help you in ways that I would not if they were aware of my betrayal. I know that games like these are not to your taste, Nala, but they are what I do, what I have done for centuries before you were even born.... And I am good at them! But I also tire of them, and would find an end other than oblivion to them... So I come to you, with hope and empty promise compared to my crimes against you and those you have taken under your protection."
Esmerala stepped forward again, putting herself face to face with Nala for a moment before slowly and deliberately pulling her hands out to her front and lowering herself to her knees at Nala's feet. Magics, a subtle but intense buzz that Nala hadn't even noticed until they were absent, faded into silence as the demoness waited upon her knees, staring at Nala's feet. Her knights very slowly began to relax from their readied positions, the male eventually sheathing his sword while the female slowly lowered her arms, until both were standing with their arms held loosely at their sides. "Perhaps some day you will know of the desperate situation that I left.... So, if I must put myself at your mercy to gain your help," she said, "I will do so."
Nala still simmered inwardly as the demoness made her case. The trouble that the night elf was left to consider was that from what she had read of Hell, it was likely to be just as bad a situation if not worse than what Esmerala had described. And yet Esmerala had scraped her way up to a relatively high place among the hierarchy of damned and twisted beings. How many lives had she ruined in the centuries of her existence? How many lies had she spoken? How much pleasure had she taken at the hands of others' misery?
When Nala took someone to her bed and made them do things, there was still an understanding - at least on her part. They were her charge. She was responsible for them. There had to be trust. In some she was willing to instill it, via her techniques, but it wasn't something she would enjoy doing. Not with Esmerala.
The demoness knelt down and undid the magics at Nala's feet. She had obviously hid them well, as the night elf had not perceived them. Yet another skill that she would need to improve if she were going to defeat the Demon King.
"It will take you much longer to convince me that this was the best possible result we could have hoped for," Nala said when Esmerala was finished. "You'll need to do so with more than words, and even then, your crimes will not go unpunished. You're right though, I'm not a demon, and I won't punish you to that extent. I kill those who displease me, and I have killed for less than what you have done. But I will give you a chance to make up for what you did. Not just to me, but individually, to every living soul in Kyederon. I will do this because you have asked me to, and because you may be useful to me for my own goals, but that will only come when I can trust you. And I swear to you, that will not happen until you have given yourself to me, completely."
Nala knelt down in front of Esmerala so that they were at eye level.
"You were my first true demon, and you betrayed me upon my own bed." She said flatly. Then she moved forward and kissed the demon on the lips, gripping her head by one of horns rising up from it. Her tongue swirled deeply and she breathed in the air from Esmerala's lungs. She did her best to make this sensation sweet and kind. Then she cast a drain spell, taking some spirit energy from the demoness. She would not break the kiss to do this, if anything she would intensify it more. She would not take much, only what it took to fill her up to her limit of magical energy. She was most certain that Esmerala was completely full and with plenty of reserves after having fucked seven people.
The kiss ended with the spell and Nala stood, bringing the demoness up with her.
"You know what I am, you knew how I would react, and you planned for me killing you, deservedly so. That sort of forethought can be appreciated. But it's wasted so much time and I have a battle to fight. If you intend to put your actions where your mouth is, then starting now would be good."
Nala noticed the hesitation in Esmerala's face at this, and it was as the witch elf anticipated.
"If you don't intend to help us physically, then tell us who we are dealing with and how to best defeat them," Nala said, cutting off another troublesome and time-wasting protest.
The witch had reached the conclusion that this interaction had run its course. Esmerala had backed down, but of course she had no choice, and Nala didn't have it in her to kill her at the moment, so the only option left was to let things play out as Esmerala wanted at this point. If she was going to betray her again, it wasn't going to be before she could kill off or capture more demons.
She did wonder what she was going to do with the demon and her two underlings later on, when she prepared to journey and kill more servants of the Demon King. Nala had no intention of being a safe haven for a traitor demon lord to hang out. That could change Esmerala's tune quickly if she let that information go too soon, and Nala wanted to get as much benefit from the demon as possible before going her separate ways with her.
Nala: HP = 51, PP = 75, EP = 84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell) +44 Dodge (Aspect of the Beast Level 4 Nature Spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 86/90, Status = Lightly Injured, +44 Mind (Fireheart Level 4 Fire spell) 1/30 Resistance
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 49/75, Status = Fine, 12/30 Resistance
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 65/90, Status = Badly Injured
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine, 14/24 Resistance
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine, +24 Mind (Inner Strength Level 2 Nature spell)
Upkeeps: Nala = 5, Demetrius = 2
Captives
2 Hellhounds, one of which is controlled by Nala
5 demon soldiers
3 succubi
9 unconscious succubi
Esmerala remained both silent and still through Nala's reply, not even offering a nod after the elf had given her terms for the demon's surrender, though she did look up to meet her gaze when the elven witch knelt down to eye level with her. A shiver of surprise ran through the demoness when Nala suddenly claimed her mouth with such a hungry, passionate kiss, having opened her mouth to speak. Her widened crimson eyes soon closed as she leaned in to the embrace of Nala's mouth however, returning the kiss as best she could while retaining her submissive status, leaning in and placing both hands on the ground while raising her rump just slightly off of the ground. Her wings widened as if to envelope Nala, but then she shivered again as Nala enacted her spell and pushed for an even deeper kiss. The demoness had fed well, and was none the worse for wear for refilling Nala's spent energies with some of her own.
Standing hesitantly after Nala broke the kiss and pulled her up, Esmerala wore a soft frown that deepened significantly when Nala spoke of putting her to use in the coming battle. Practically reading her mind, Nala's redirection drew a nod from Esmerala, and she cleared her throat and quickly replied; "Information is the best that I can offer at the moment, I'm afraid. To expose myself now by fighting on your side would invalidate what I have done to place myself as an asset that will be useful to you against the greater threat represented by the demon king.
"I can at least tell you what you face here, however. I was replaced as acting governor of Kyederon by a demon named Dviklien, a knight loyal to the Demon King of New Abaddon. Fanatically loyal. He rode the king's coat-tails for centuries, as some of the less.... Ambitious.... Members of my kind are wont to do, and though little of it is deserved, he has grown quite powerful over the years. He's a knight, an exceptionally deadly one that likely won't hesitate for more than a moment to kill you the instant he gets his hands on you. He is also, thankfully, quite direct, though that doesn't make him particularly predictable either. He tends to hide allies proficient in ranged combat on the periphery of the battlefield, only to have them strike from surprise when his foes are busy dealing with him and his other martial companions. He is also notoriously difficult to damage, particularly where magic and powers of the spirit are concerned, so I would be careful when engaging him with such, as he may try to trick you into believing him defeated when really he is only lightly injured."
Esmerala had barely had time to finish before a male voice loudly called out; "Nala! Oh Naaalaaaaa!!!" The voice was drawing closer as it called out her name, filled with a genuine version of the arrogant cockiness that Esmerala had displayed when she and Nala had first met. "That would be him... It seems he suspected that you would come after me here," Esmerala said, her voice outwardly brusque, but Nala would be able to see past that facade and see the nervousness behind it. "If you would permit me and may associates to remain conscious, I would watch, and if it became apparent that you or one of your associates was about to be killed we could try to intervene. Whether you trust me enough for that is up to you, but you had best decide quickly.... If he comes in here to find you, none of us will be leaving this room alive." The last bit of Esmerala's speech, her warning, was said with the same frank sincerity that she had used when speaking of her crimes against Nala earlier, stating it as if it were simply a fact.
Nala appreciated that the demonness did not challenge her or balk once the spell had been cast. In truth, Nala was still quite angry with her, and the kiss was meant to make the night elf seem more at ease with the situation than was actually the case. This was most certainly a discussion that was to be continued, but there was a battle going on, and forces loyal to her that were in danger while she loitered here quibbling about her wounded pride and the etiquette of demons.
Listening intently to Esmerala's warning about the demon knight, Nala nodded curtly at the description.
"I'll deal with him then. Stay here. Conscious. I'd say make yourself at home but..." She let the thought trail off as she turned to face out from the door. "Violet, Amanda, Demetrius, Charlotte, we're going to run that way. Make for the buildings, blast anyone you see that isn't one of ours. We've got to keep on the move. If you see Dviklien, hit him with your best shot. Don't give him an opportunity to move close. Watch each other's backs."
Without another glance back at the demon on the floor or her cohorts, the night elf ran ahead, keeping low to the ground trying to make herself a smaller target. Her eyes scanned the surroundings, trying to find signs of her new foe. If any of her companions gave her a questioning glance about how she had dealt with Esmerala, she would return with a hard glare of her own and say something to the effect of: "We've got a more immediate problem to deal with first."
If she caught sight of Dviklien, the witch intended to curse him with the greatest of her Entropic forces, turning the strands of fatalism against him to make every exertion that the demon mustered go against the grain of "luck." She intended to end this as quick as she could and that would mean dampening his defense and offense to leave enough of an opening for her allies to bring him down. If that wasn't enough, she was prepared to wield the very quintessence of chaos against him. If the tremulous hint of fear she had gleaned in Esmerala's voice was anything to go by, Dviklien had the power and will to end her. She must not let that happen. Not to her. Not to her allies. She must have the power to end this demon scourge.
If she sees Dviklien, cast Greater Luck Manipulation, spending 2EP extra to maximize the spell
Nala: HP = 51, PP = 75, EP = 71/84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell) +44 Dodge (Aspect of the Beast Level 4 Nature Spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 78/90, Status = Lightly Injured, +44 Mind (Fireheart Level 4 Fire spell) 1/30 Resistance
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 34/75, Status = Fine, 12/30 Resistance, Battle Aura X = 15
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 65/90, Status = Fine
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine, 14/24 Resistance
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine, +24 Mind (Inner Strength Level 2 Nature spell)
Upkeeps: Nala = 5, Demetrius = 2
Captives
2 Hellhounds, one of which is controlled by Nala
5 demon soldiers
3 succubi
9 unconscious succubi
Enemies
Dviklien -28 Dodge and all rolls from Nala's Greater Luck Manipulation. Fell Might X = 15. Taken 12 damage, spent 25 EP. About seventy feet away, past the force barrier.
Three mages. About 100 feet away, past the force barrier.
Rolls
Nala curses ye Greater Luck Manipulation, a level 4 Entropy spell, and pays an extra 2 EP to maximize it. That's a total of 8 EP, for 13 EP out this round.
Casting: Success.
Ye knight is given bad luck, for -28 to Dodge and all rolls.
Demetrius casts Force Barrier, a level 4 force spell.
Casting: Success.
Ye knight responds by chucking two arachne at Nala's face!
Attack: Both miss.
Violet activates Battle Aura X = 15!
Esmerala offered Nala a smile as the elf trailed off, as much a mirthful one at her comment as it was a thankful one, and offered her one last parting comment; "Try to make him angry. He should be a little bit easier to deal with if you do." Her words, to her allies both seen and unseen, were responded to in silent assent, no one having any strategy to suggest as an alternative given their relative lack of time, and soon enough Nala and her fellow magi were heading outside while Violet and Amanda presumably circled around while keeping outside of Nala's private quarters.
As soon as she was out the door, Nala spotted Dviklien. The demon knight was nigh impossible to miss, in point of fact. He was striding slowly toward Nala's personal dwelling from something like seventy feet away from the door, and Nala's perpendicular path toward the nearest cover didn't really increase or decrease that distance. He was also about nine feet tall when wearing the pitch black, spiked platemail that didn't seem to leave even a single inch of skin exposed. Power and violence emanated from him, and he was encrusted in a carmine glow that hinted of blood and gore. He was also dragging the carcasses of two arachne, their limp forms still at least as large as he was but being pulled along as if they weighed no more than an empty burlap sack. "Ahhh, there you are!" the armored demon called as Nala came forth from her home, and tracked her progress as she headed toward a pair of houses that were on her right after exiting the building.
As she had planned, Nala promptly issued a powerful curse upon the knight, working her magics to hopefully weaken the demon enough that she would be able to best him before he could cause her or her companions any further harm. "I have something that belongs to you!" he called brightly, as if they were exchanging morning greetings rather than about to engage in a battle to the death, and then casually hefted one of the dead arachne - which Nala would recognize then as one of her own daughters - and threw it at her. The massive carcass flew across the intervening seventy feet between her and the knight in the blink of an eye, and were it not for the magics she had enacted, both against him and to protect herself, that gruesome projectile would have struck Nala squarely in the chest and buried her beneath the dead arachne's hard, chitinous frame. Her sharp eyes, enhanced by her magics, allowed her a glimpse of the creature, the first of her daughters to speak, who now had a hole through her bare chest and was missing one of her arms. As it was, she ducked underneath the corpse alongside Demetrius and Charlotte, who both had somewhat easier times of it due to the fact that she had been its direct target, and came up to continue moving, though Demetrius and Charlotte had to slow down a little bit for her to keep up.
Of course, that also allowed her male companion to turn briefly and wave a hand, erecting a barrier between Nala and her associates, and the oncoming storm. Nala knew that such barriers couldn't be cast through without first overcoming the power of the barrier and thus breaking a hole in it, but magic could be sent over it quite easily, and he left it about thirty feet high just for that purpose while also managing to stretch it across the gap between her domicile and the houses that were their destination. She would know also that that would leave the barrier stretched somewhat thin, but Demetrius had oft proven himself a capable mage, and he had done enough to buy Nala and Charlotte time to reach their bit of cover, a small cart sitting beside the building that would keep them from direct line of sight from more of the area than just standing out in open ground would. "No? Not for you? I'd say so judging by the curse... Welp, have another!" he shouted gleefully, and then threw the other arachne, one of Divinar's older daughters, over the wall to come crashing down on the cart in front of Nala and her two allies. It didn't hit her either, but the message of intent was likely clear enough by now for the elven witch, and if it wasn't Dviklien would rectify that by saying; "I'll be hurling your corpse at Esmerala within the next few minutes! We'll see how much the dumb cunt idolizes you after that!"
Of course, the knight was not the sole presence on the battlefield, and as she reoriented herself toward him she saw why Demetrius had really conjured the wall of force between them and the powerful knight. Across from them diagonally, past the knight, three demon women had emerged from hiding and were moving as quickly as their busty frames would allow, meaning not even as quickly as Nala and her two allies, to get into a position that would allow them to go beyond it. Fortunately for Nala, that would take them around the building that they were taking cover beside, meaning they would be out of the fight for a while. She both saw and felt Violet light up suddenly from beside her domicile, the assassin enacting her empowerment and glowing suddenly in a bright aura, her power making her incredibly easy to detect as a biproduct as she got into position to intercept the knight should he charge for Nala. Dviklien didn't even glance her way, but if the knight had failed to notice her it would likely be something of a miracle. Finally, two arachne made their presence know, two of Nala's own daughters appearing on the periphery of her spiritual senses as ghosts a ways behind her. They would take a few moments to enter the fray if Nala wanted them to try and engage the knight, but they were close enough to set up an ambush for the three mages before they could get around the house, if Nala could figure out a way to signal them without alerting others of their presence.
Nala wondered exactly how she was going to make a demon knight frothing with murderous glee angry, but tucked away the advice anyway. Esmerala had no reason to want her to lose against this servant of the demon king, so there must be some point to the demon lady's tip.
It didn't take long to find her enemy. He was walking straight towards her, dragging two arachne corpses with him as if they weighed nothing. That one of the corpses had a purple hue to her skin sent cold fury through Nala's nerves. It was a fury akin to the feeling of loss she had when Charlotte's body had been found.
She cursed him both verbally under her breath and mystically, with the most debilitating hex in her arsenal. The sight of her dead, unnamed daughter didn't change her strategy. She had intended to kill the demon knight because of what he was and whom he served. Now she simply had a more personal reason to slaughter him.
"Before you die, know that I intend to send your rotting corpse back to your king. It would be a shame to not let him bury his favorite butt slave."
Knowing that the force wall would at least slow the enemy down, Nala gathered her power over nature and cast her astral senses outward, calling forth a most powerful nature spirit - that of the mighty winged drake, summoning it on top of the roof of the building next to which she and her companions were standing. Once the beast was fully summoned, its dragon's breath would be in range of both the demon knight and his underlings as well.
In truth, the drake might end up being just a distraction, but she needed to wait for Dviklien to move through the force barrier before she could send her most deadly spell at him. She didn't know if it would work, but she knew it would hurt him dearly at the very least.
Cast Spirit of the Drake, level 5 nature spell, along with Druidic Secrets which provides an additional 20 body. Next round, cast Chaos Shard, using empower and maximize spell, targeting Dviklien.
Nala: HP = 35/51, PP = 75, EP = 29/84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell) +44 Dodge (Aspect of the Beast Level 4 Nature Spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 64/90, Status = Lightly Injured, +44 Mind (Fireheart Level 4 Fire spell) 1/30 Resistance, Force Barrier
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 22/75, Status = Fine, 12/30 Resistance, Battle Aura X = 15
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 65/90, Status = Fine
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine, 14/24 Resistance
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine, +24 Mind (Inner Strength Level 2 Nature spell)
Drake: HP = 146, EP = 58, Dragon's Breath, Greater Wings, Body = 116, AV = 11, Attack (+106) 2d12 + 68
Upkeeps: Nala = 5, Demetrius = 3
Captives
2 Hellhounds, one of which is controlled by Nala
5 demon soldiers
3 succubi
9 unconscious succubi
Enemies
Dviklien -28 Dodge and all rolls from Nala's Greater Luck Manipulation. Fell Might X = 15. Taken 108 damage, spent 45 EP. About 35 feet away.
Three mages. About 70 feet away, past the force barrier.
Rolls
Nala casts Spirit of the Drake for 11 EP, for a total output of 16 EP for the free round.
Ye Drake has 16 * 6 = 106 + 10 = 116 Body, plus Resilient, Pain Resistant, 6 AV from the spell's level, Greater wings, Razor Fingers, Unarmed Fighter, and Dragon's Breath with the Bladesinger Skill.
Next round, ye knight activates moves through the barrier and activates Full Defense while Nala shoots an empower, maximized Choas Shard at him, costing her 5 + 8 + 8 + 2 = 23 EP. That's 6 over her ceiling, for an additional cost of 6 EP and 6 HP, for a total cost of 29 EP and 16 HP.
Resistance: 64 vs 61, ye knight wins.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Miss.
Charlotte summons vines to try and bind that guy!
Casting: Success.
Attack: Miss.
Violet charges and swings!
Attack: Miss.
Amanda bides her time.
RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRR
With a thunderous roar, the drake upon whom Nala had called for aid appeared upon the roof, materializing well above the ground and out of reach of anything tied to it. The massive creature, not quite up to the size of a true dragon but close enough to be frightening in its own right, reared up and turned its head toward the demons waiting below, flame already bubbling in its throat, but the demon knight approaching Nala didn't even seem to look in its direction. "You know, I was tempted to demand your surrender when I first found out about my king's acceptance of Esmerala's foolishness," he called out, walking toward Nala quickly and squarely as if he were tunnel visioned onto her. "It just seems proper. Traditional. But, yah know what? I don't really give a shit. You wouldn't accept it honorably to begin with, and honestly I suspect that you'd be more trouble than you're worth as a captive anyway! So, I'm just going to see what your insides look like and have done with it!" he continued just as he approached Demetrius' conjured barrier, which he was just about to reach when he suddenly stopped.
"Yeah, like that's going to stop me!" he grunted, and then stepped into the force barrier..... And then through to the other side as if it were nothing at all. Demetrius looked somewhat dismayed at that, but Nala then promptly sent a bolt of pure chaos flying at the demon's face, one that would obliterate him instantly if it hit. The orb of pure chaos, filled with as much deadly power as Nala could shunt into it, consumed a small portion of her own being in the process, but if it struck no spell in her arsenal would have been deadlier. Unfortunately.... It didn't. The spell went flying at him faster than a human or elven eye could track, and seemed sure to hit home with her curse slowing his reflexes and fouling his luck. Except, somehow, the armored warrior shifted aside just as the spell was about to slam into his armored chest, moving out of the way just in time to avoid it and then returning to his normal position as if nothing had happened. The chaos shard went through Demetrius' barrier just as easily as the knight had a few seconds prior, but unlike him the shard of magic left a hole in the wall where it had gone through, visible unlike the barrier by its odd violet edging where the chaos magics had warped the more orderly spellwork.
"Seriously. You might as well not bother," Dviklien proclaimed proudly as he started forward again, even cockier now that he'd so easily avoided their attempts to stop him. "You're basically just throwing candy at me, for all the good it's going to do. Your lizard won't do any better, and if I take your brain out of your skull he goes back where he came from. Stop struggling and I'll make the kill quick." It was then that Demetrius, of all people, opted to shout out; "No! Fuck you!" A spell lanced out from the human mage, one that Nala would recognize as a simple cantrip, but like Nala herself, had opted to shunt far more power than was normally used into it. Tiny rays of light lanced out from his outstretched hand, flitting through the air between them and the approaching knight only to burrow into his armor and flesh. Blood erupted from his wounds as the spell played itself out, and for a moment the knight slowed... But he didn't fall, and his brief pause was only so that he could shoot a look over his shoulder and call out to his trio of busty flunkies; "That one stung a bit. You three know what your job is, get to it!"
The three succubi all scrambled forward, but they couldn't get into range to do anything of note in the meantime, at least not as far as Nala could see. Violet, on the other hand, came forth like a bolt of lightning, almost literally flying at the knight while moving just as quickly as Nala's spell. Unfortunately, the knight proved just as able to avoid her flying kick as he had Nala's magic, and the assassin ended up rolling into a landing and spinning in place to face Dviklien.... Who just ignored her and walked on, paying no more heed to her than he had to anything else that had been aimed at him. Charlotte, finally, conjured a bundle of vines to try and grab him, but it likely came as no surprise at this point that the knight simply walked through it, incurring nothing more than mild inconvenience in the process as he shredded whatever part of the plants came within reach of him.
Nala had little time now for trading barbs with this windbag. She saw that the demon knight was too quick for her spell slinging, despite her curse, and her body was feeling the draining effects of the wasted spell, combined with the stinging sensation of the raw chaos energy crackling through her, sapping the glow of life from within her. Using her mystic sight, she noted the aura of dark energy bolstering Dviklien's strength. If she or her allies could not take that down, then he would be too strong for her spells and would make short work of her.
"Demetrius, Violet, hit him hard again, but after I dispel his shielding!" Nala shouted. "Charlotte, Amanda, concentrate on his flunkies!"
With her mental control of the drake, she had the beast belch out flames against the succubi that were rounding the building. Meanwhile she cast a greater dispel on Dviklien, needing her countermagic to win out against him. It would be a battle of wills, and Nala only needed to think of those that she might lose if she failed here, as well as the daughter that she had already lost, whose body the demon had desecrated and used as a projectile against her. The bond of motherhood, a strong emotional component of the ritual used to empower the young arachne, cried out for vengeance. As her spell clashed with that of his Fell Might, she could feel her mystic willpower clash against Dviklien in a titanic struggle that would certainly mean the end for one of them.
Nala had faith in her allies. Between Demetrius and Violet, they would be able to cripple if not outright destroy the demon's corporeal form if Nala could bring down his defenses. Focusing all the power of her desire for vengeance, victory, and freedom, she strove to break the knight's power.
Cast Greater Dispel (Level 3 Arcane) Contested Resistance check against Dviklien, if Nala wins, all of his buffs and enchantments are removed.
Nala: HP = 35/51, PP = 75, EP = 22/84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell) +44 Dodge (Aspect of the Beast Level 4 Nature Spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 56/90, Status = Lightly Injured, +44 Mind (Fireheart Level 4 Fire spell) 1/30 Resistance, Force Barrier
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 10/75, Status = Fine, 12/30 Resistance, Battle Aura X = 15
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 65/90, Status = Fine
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine, 14/24 Resistance
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine, +24 Mind (Inner Strength Level 2 Nature spell)
Drake: HP = 146, EP = 46/58, Dragon's Breath, Greater Wings, Body = 116, AV = 11, Attack (+106) 2d12 + 68
Upkeeps: Nala = 5, Demetrius = 2
Captives
2 Hellhounds, one of which is controlled by Nala
5 demon soldiers
3 succubi
9 unconscious succubi
Enemies
Dviklien -28 Dodge and all rolls from Nala's Greater Luck Manipulation. Taken 89 damage, spent 55 EP. Unknown how far away.
Rolls
Nala doesn't have Experienced Caster as far as I can see, so she technically can't cast Greater Dispel magic. She does have access to the lower level version though, and since his only effect is Fell Might that will work for this. Also, since Nala directly controls her summons you're supposed to tell me how much EP the drake puts into ye Dragon's Breath, but since you didn't I'm just having it use up to its spirit ceiling.
Casting: Success.
Resistance: Nala wins. Dviklien's Fell Might is disabled.
Ye drake lights stuff on fire with Dragon's Breath X = 12
Attack: Ye succubi are hit.
Damage: 5 + 1 = 6 * 12 = 72 - 5 = 67 damage.
Demetrius drops his force barrier and opts to send out a greater missile storm for ye succubi.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Automatic Hits.
Damage: Enough to down them, certainly.
Violet attacks ye knight while his buffs are down!
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 3 + 34 + 60 - 51 = 46 damage. Down he goes!!!!
Or would, if ye power in his armor (on his bracers specifically) didn't trigger, using Lay on Hands for X = 6, restoring 36 HP.
He then activates another item to turn and invisible and uses Instant Transmission to gtfo.
"Right!" Demetrius replied, and then readied himself to wait while Nala and her drake sprung into action, Violet being too busy tracking the knight to respond. "You're really boring!" the approaching demon said lightly, again speaking as if it were some casual conversation rather than a battle to the death. "I was hoping for better banter than this, but I might as well be talking to worm shit. Hey, wait a minute... I must be able to see into the future! You're about to be nothing more than-" Just then the demon went silent as Nala's next spell hit, not needing to surpass his aura because her target was his aura. The contest of will took place over the span of a single instant, a battle that Nala had fought in practice with Demetrius only a few times but one that was far more critical now than it had ever been in such play. The demon was stronger by far than Demetrius, possessing an iron will tempered with deadly purpose, but Nala was in the wreckage of her home and surrounded by those whom she cared for, their lives in her hands.
They fought.... and Nala won. "Well.... Shi-gyahhh!" he began only for a sharp kick between the legs from Violet to turn his words into a shout. The man crumpled to his knees, his armor not protection enough against the superhumanly powerful blow, and for a moment he simply groaned in agony and nursed at his crushed manhood. The drake, in the meantime, had breathed a storm of deadly fire upon the three demoness's moving to support their primary foe, and though the three women were still standing they were quite badly singed by the beast's flames. Demetrius, wearing an amused expression, turned his attentions upon them rather than upon the seemingly downed knight, unleashing another storm of bolts that sprayed out to cover the three succubi, who went from standing to lying face down, slowly but steadily bleeding out. Amanda remained in cover, and Charlotte stood by waiting with a relieved smile, the battle for Kyederon apparently finished.
Such was not the case, however, as Nala's sharp senses felt a twinge of magic working within the man's aura, coming specifically from the bracers of his armor. He raised his hands, and suddenly the man was simply gone in the blink of an eye. "Nope, not standing around for this one!" his voice sounded from where he'd just stood, but before Nala could muster even a cantrip there was a snap, and his presence vanished. "Crap! Where'd he go?" Charlotte said, and the lot of them would begin casting their gazes about in search of their foe. Nala could still feel her magics at work on him, the curse holding and ensuring that she knew that he was close by, but not giving her a specific location for him. "That was teleportation," Violet announced, her tone making her sound quite sure of herself, "He can't have gone far though, not in so little time... He's still somewhere in Kyederon!"
The battle of wills ended in no small measure of relief for the witch elf, who had been running out of power and options as the imposing demon knight stalked towards her. Had she failed to dispel his fell aura, it was likely that he would make good on his crude promises, and Nala did not want to make a habit of dying every time she tried to claim this town.
With the demon's power dissipated, her allies converged. Violet doing a swift kick to lay him low. Demetrius followed this by taking out his allies, the three succubi that her drake had just lain a blanket of dragon's fire over.
Her momentary joy at having her friends' safe from further danger disappeared as swiftly as Dviklien himself. In a flash, his magical gauntlets had triggered and some other item had transported him away. To where, she had no clue.
"Find him!" Nala said, followed by a few choice words in elvish argot. "Charlotte, stop the bleeding on those succubi, but leave them unconscious."
However much these demons were deserving of a slow death, they would be more useful to her alive and as prisoners. And right now, most of all they were of use to her for their soul energy. Casting another drain spell, she sapped the energy away from the first succubus, leaving her just enough to live if indeed a single casting of the spell would consume the creature's entire reserves. If she wasn't full, she would fill up on the next two.
"Violet, did you see where the bastard went?" She asked in the middle of her draining spells.
In the meantime, Nala had the drake rise up on its wings and hover around Kyederon, looking for signs of the demon, and also observing from this high vantage point what the rest of he battle looked like. With her druidic secrets, Nala could use the beast's eyes as her own.
Cast drain on them unconscious succubi, once on each. In the meantime, Nala searches through the drake's eyes and tells everyone but Charlotte to look for Dviklien. If the drake spots him, Nala will tell the others and they'll rush to that location.
Nala: HP = 35/51, PP = 75, EP = 84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell) +44 Dodge (Aspect of the Beast Level 4 Nature Spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 50/90, Status = Lightly Injured, +44 Mind (Fireheart Level 4 Fire spell) 1/30 Resistance, Force Barrier
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 10/75, Status = Fine, 12/30 Resistance
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 65/90, Status = Fine
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine, 14/24 Resistance
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine, +24 Mind (Inner Strength Level 2 Nature spell)
Drake: HP = 146, EP = 46/58, Dragon's Breath, Greater Wings, Body = 116, AV = 11, Attack (+106) 2d12 + 68
Upkeeps: Nala = 5, Demetrius = 2
Captives
2 Hellhounds, one of which is controlled by Nala
5 demon soldiers
3 succubi
9 unconscious succubi
Enemies
Dviklien -28 Dodge and all rolls from Nala's Greater Luck Manipulation. Taken 57 damage, spent 23 EP. Spotted by the drake killing an arachne.
Rolls
Nala drains ye succubi! She'll get enough to refill, easily. She also gains about 150 corruption from doing so, including what she should have acquired the first time.
Perception (Drake) : Success! Eventually.
"Alright," Charlotte replied meekly as she went to her assigned task. She didn't seem to look too happy when Nala drained the three to the point of starvation, but she healed them enough to keep them alive without waking them, and did so without using any of her energies that might be needed for combat or more vital triage later. With her energies refilled, Nala concentrated on controlling her drake as she sent it into the sky while Violet replied; "No. He just vanished. But he can't have gone far, not with that spell used like that. It was a short range teleportation, so he's probably looking for someone to heal him so that he can come back at us. Maybe get that spell you cast on him removed too."
The flying beast only needed to circle Kyederon once before it found its target. While the majority of her companions were searching around, including an exhausted Violet who was now seemingly without her aura, Nala pinpointed his location somewhere to the West. He had cornered a lone arachne, one of Divinar's before Nala had come along, and was presently tearing her heart from her chest in a dramatically brutal manner. Now that she'd found him, however, it was plain that the demon would be moving again quickly. She could opt to have her drake distract him while they moved, which would hopefully stall him long enough for the rest of them to arrive or perhaps, with the benefit of her magics weakening him, even manage to kill him before they needed to step in. If she did, however, there was the risk of him simply killing it before it had bought enough time for them to cross the distance to him. Nala would need to make the choice, and quickly if she wanted to keep Dviklien from leaving his newest kill behind and going on to another, which might include Divinar and a pair of Nala's own daughters who were the closest to him, coming from the battle at the wall that had seemingly been won in Nala's favor.
"Shit! He's to the west!" Nala broke out into a run, heading right for Dviklien's location while sending her Drake in towards him, claws outstretched, intending to rend the demon with its razor sharp claws and land between him and his next potential meal. Every arachne lost, even those who weren't her daughters, was a loss to Nala's forces and she would not let another soul die to feed Dviklien's desperate hunger.
With the dragon attacking, the witch elf willed herself on, looking out for enemies along the way, but hoping that she could end this fight soon. The dragon's roar would at least alert Divinar and the others to the conflict, so they wouldn't be caught off guard. Her curse spell would still hold and she prayed it was enough to limit the damage the demon would do before she got to him.
"Demetrius, get over here!" She yelled behind her, wanting the arcane mage as a back up. She didn't call for Violet, because if she was too weak to maintain her aura, then it was dangerous for her to be that close to Dviklien.
Nala: HP = 35/51, PP = 75, EP = 84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell) +44 Dodge (Aspect of the Beast Level 4 Nature Spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 50/90, Status = Lightly Injured, +44 Mind (Fireheart Level 4 Fire spell) 1/30 Resistance, Force Barrier
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 10/75, Status = Fine, 12/30 Resistance
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 57/90, Status = Fine, Holy Wall +1
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine, 14/24 Resistance
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine, +24 Mind (Inner Strength Level 2 Nature spell)
Upkeeps: Nala = 5, Demetrius = 2
Captives
2 Hellhounds, one of which is controlled by Nala
5 demon soldiers
3 succubi
9 unconscious succubi
Enemies
Dviklien -28 Dodge and all rolls from Nala's Greater Luck Manipulation. Taken 32 damage, spent 16 EP. Fell Might X = 12. Two debuffs from Luck spells by Nala and Divinar's daughters.
Rolls
It takes Nala 2 turns to run from where she is to where Dviklien is, and the drake has to hold him off until then. When she gets within sight, she will be 80 feet away.
The drake, because of its aerial nature, attacks first!
Attack: Miss..... By 3. I did include Nala's debuff in that.
Dviklien counter attacks with a full flurry of blows.
Attacks: All five hit.
Damage: 2 + 4 + 48 + 60 - 28 - 20 - 11 = 55 damage per hit.
Drain Through Pain: 10 per hit. He only gets 3 hits total and opts to make 2 of them HP restoring, regaining 10 EP and 10 HP.
That... Didn't take as long as I thought it would. Fortunately, Divinar and two arachne arrive to help deal with this thanks to the noise!
Nala's daughters each cast Luck Manipulation, targeting ye demon, giving him another two debuffs. They do stack. Divinar then uses Holy Wall to trap him in a bubble-flavored net! It costs 8 EP and he must Res check to get through it, to which he takes a -20 penalty.
Round 2, he tries to walk through it.
Resistance: The arachne win.
Damage: 3 + 6 = 9 * 2 = 18 damage.
Nala and Demetrius arrive!
Despite that Nala hadn't called for the assassin, Violet sprinted after Nala and Demetrius anyway, rushing with them towards where they saw Nala's drake plummeting towards the ground. It landed with a thunderous roar, and Nala would hear a loud, contemptuous laugh as she and Demetrius moved as quickly as their legs could carry them. Though she was hardly unhealthy in terms of stamina, Nala wasn't a physical match for Violet, and the assassin quickly overtook her despite the elf's wishes. It was she who rounded the corner first, just as Nala would feel her drake be destroyed by their foe, its essences consumed to restore the strength of the demon. Thankfully, Violet would not need Nala's urging not to engage Dviklien.... And more thankfully than that, wouldn't have to.
"Ahhhh, fresh meat!" she heard called in Divinar's voice, and when she rounded the corner Nala would find Dviklien contained within a spherical cage of white light, its bars crisscrossed and formed to look like a net, or perhaps more accurately a spider's web. Two of Nala's daughters were on hand as well, and the elven witch would feel magics not unlike her own powerful spell to swirling around the demon, weakening him to help Divinar's magics in keeping him contained within their web. All of the arachne were approaching from the direction perpendicular from Nala and Demetrius were coming, on their left, and hadn't seen them or Violet yet. Dviklien tried to push his way through the bars, but got nothing to show for it save for a few burns. Of course, the next move that he intended was fairly obvious, but Nala had a moment with which to act before he could teleport out of his temporary prison.
Upon arrival, Nala had already felt her dead drake's essence drawn away to fuel the demon's power. If she had been frustrated before, the demon's persistence was now borderline infuriating.
"Demetrius dispel this scum's protection," she growled to her mage ally, delaying her spell casting so that it would complete a moment after the arcane magus' dispel had triggered. Nala was no longer interested in merely destroying the creature. She wanted its soul now. Some sort of use had to come from the demented creature's swathe of destruction. All the loss of this entire endeavor was welling up inside of her and she felt like screaming.
However, her outside demeanor remained icily calm as she wove her draining spell together, adding words of power to make certain that the entropic binds would tear away massive amounts of soul power. Hopefully, it would be enough to end him and bring this incident to a close.
In the back of her mind, she knew this whole encounter would have a lasting effect on her, mental scarring that would take time and effort to heal, and things would never be the same. But in this moment, all that mattered was to kill the enemy in a way that would be truly final.
"One day, I'll do the same to your king..." she vowed as she unleashed her energies.
Casting Energy Drain, spending extra EP to Empower and Maximize it, pluse +2 dmg per level (+8) for Wielder of Chaos.
Nala: HP = 31/51, PP = 75, EP = 53/84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell) +44 Dodge (Aspect of the Beast Level 4 Nature Spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 44/90, Status = Lightly Injured, +44 Mind (Fireheart Level 4 Fire spell) 1/30 Resistance, Force Barrier
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 10/75, Status = Fine, 12/30 Resistance
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 57/90, Status = Fine, Holy Wall +1
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine, 14/24 Resistance
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine, +24 Mind (Inner Strength Level 2 Nature spell)
Upkeeps: Nala = 5, Demetrius = 2
Captives
2 Hellhounds, one of which is controlled by Nala
5 demon soldiers
3 succubi
9 unconscious succubi
Enemies
Dviklien -28 Dodge and all rolls from Nala's Greater Luck Manipulation. Taken 32 damage, spent 16 EP. Fell Might X = 12. Two debuffs from Luck spells by Nala and Divinar's daughters.
Nala drains! 6 + 8 + 2 + 5 = 21 EP out, 4 higher than her ceiling of 17, so a total of 25 EP and 4 HP this round. I also forgot her 2 rounds of upkeep, so I deducted that.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 4 + 4 (maxed) + 19 + 2 + 2 = 31 * 7 = 217 EP damage. Welp.
Nala is victorious! Gain 8 exp for killing Dviklien. Did she get exp for anything before this? I don't think she did, but I want to be sure.
Edit: I am sure now, so Nala gets 4 exp for the disastrous hunting expedition, 6 exp for planning, 6 exp for the fight for the prisoners, and 6 for arc completion. She gains a total of 28 exp in this post.
"Already on it," Demetrius replied coldly. It was quite apparent that the Badarian sorcerer was as fed up with this man as Nala herself was, and with the battles elsewhere ended he was the only thing keeping them from a moment of peace. She felt the man's arcane will lash out and tear apart the structures of the demon's spiritual empowerment, rendering him momentarily vulnerable as Nala gathered her dark magics. Her own will followed his, and then... Then, Nala tore his soul out.
Literally.
Unleashing the full power of her will, Nala attacked the energies holding the demon's spirit within his body directly as tendrils of her magic coiled around him, and when those tendrils severed him from his body she dragged him forth. When he drew him to her, however, Nala was suddenly overwhelmed by the sheer power of her target. The demon's soul was massive and powerful, greater easily than her own was, and as it reached hers it began to fight, clawing at her as if to claim her body and absorb her as he had her daughter. But Nala had her magics around her to aid in her struggle, and so was able to push back the demon's influence.... For now. She could not absorb the whole of his essence, not all at once, but with her magics she could try to divide his spirit and, perhaps, find the spirit of her fallen daughter.
The titanic presence of Dviklien's soul crashed against Nala's like a gale force wind. This was what centuries of feeding off of others could do to a soul, she supposed. Such raw energy, driven by one twisted consciousness, raging against her own will. Even separated from his body, he was fighting her.
Her mastery over the flows of entropy allowed Nala a particular insight into the shape of the decaying soul, already passing on into a state of death. The truth behind entropy and death was that it was not necessarily an end, merely a transition into a realm of unlife where daemons roamed. More than most mortals, Nala knew the truth of the horror that awaited just beyond the veil. Matthias had saved her from the taste of oblivion once, and in knowing it, she had resolved to delay the inevitable plunge through any means necessary. She knew that only a strong soul could survive the passage through the initial threshold. Weak or inexperienced souls would be overwhelmed as a matter of course. Nature was only fair in its assurance that it there was no such thing as fairness, and the afterlife was no different.
This realization had been why she'd cast caution to the wind to recover Charlotte's soul two years ago, and it was this same motivation that now led her to scouring through the strands of Dviklien's soul energy, searching for her unnamed daughter, the one who had first spoken. In a way, that made her feel as if it was her first born.
She tore mercilessly at the demon soul, cutting through it with her own entropic edge, hacking his strength off in large fractions, separating it from the demon knight's consciousness. She ignored his raging. He was right to do so. She had him now and there was no intention of kindness or mercy. She simply searched large portions of him for the remnants of arachne soul - her daughter - and when she saw none in a particular strand, she tore it out and added its power to her own reserves.
Eventually she found something. Tattered remains of soul energy recognizable only by the hooks of Nala's enchantments, the motherly bond that had accompanied her arcane gifts. To look at her daughter's soul was to look at her daughter's deformed body. It was in awful shape. Dviklien had begun feasting off of her immediately to fuel his powers during the fight.
"Daughter!" Nala shouted as she sunk to her knees. Those not able to see the mystic strands of soul energy would think Nala had been shouting to no one in particular. "Can you hear me?"
At first, all she heard from the soul energy swirling within her was Dviklien's curses. Enraged, Nala slashed at the conscious part of him, the seat of his true self. It would take time to harm this part of him and break it down, still, she began the work in earnest, even as she cradled what was left of her daughter's soul and held it apart from the rest.
All of a sudden, the idea struck her to feed some of the energy she was drawing from Dviklien back into her daughter's torn soul. She was careful to keep the conscious part of the demon far away, only nourishing her daughter with the basic ectoplasm - perhaps enough to give her back a voice or consciousness of her own.
"Answer me daughter. Answer me my first born, my first gone. Hear my voice, sense my touch."
She sent into the arachne's soul the same emerald nature strands, the motherly bond that she had imprinted upon all her daughters while they grew in their eggs inside her womb.
"You know this. It is the first thing you were ever aware of. Hear me. Prim'Eva, First Gone. I am your mother."
She tore more of Dviklien's soul away and fed it, bit by bit, into her newly named daughter, who she feared might be nothing more than a shard of unconscious energy.
Not sure what I'll spend the xp on yet, might wait until the scene settles down. Nala is going to cut off her dodge maintenance, but she'll keep the luck field on Dviklien's soul (the bits she's not done tearing at) as well as the mind upkeep. She'll keep feeding the soul, trying to get a sense that there's still a working will of her daughter still in there.
Nala: HP = 31/51, PP = 75, EP = 84, Status = Fine, +54 Mind (Nature's Power Level 5 Nature spell)
NPC stats
Demetrius: HP = 81/90, PP = 80, EP = 44/90, Status = Lightly Injured
Violet: HP = 75, PP = 50, EP = 10/75, Status = Fine
Divinar: HP = 78/80, PP = 50, EP = 57/90, Status = Fine
Amanda: HP = 57, PP = 38, EP = 49, Status = Fine
Charlotte: HP = 38, PP = 34/53, EP = 19/41, Status = Fine
Upkeeps: Nala = 3
Captives
2 Hellhounds, one of which is controlled by Nala
5 demon soldiers
3 succubi
9 unconscious succubi
Pain. Pain, it seemed, was the order of the day.
What Nala did was unlike anything that she had ever attempted before, shredding the spirit of the demon knight and sifting through it in search of her fallen daughter's essence. Her own spirit was connected to the much larger and stronger soul of Dviklien as she did so, and through it she could feel portions of his consciousness as if they were one in a more intimate sense than any she had ever experienced, even in her most loving sessions with Violet. Through that bond she could feel his pain at she tore away at him in search of her goal, the pain of a being threatened with oblivion if it did not win in the struggle that it faced, and that pain was intimately familiar to the elven witch from her studies in the realms of nature.
She found the shreds of her daughter's spirit after cutting a swath through the spirit of Dviklien that would have made the bloodiest tyrant proud had it been a battle of armies rather than spirits. Her daughter's core was immersed in threads of her murderer's spirit, the meat of her soul already digested and the core of her being already well on its way to being consumed by her killer as well, and as Nala touched her she felt the dead arachne's pain. She felt her daughter's final moments in life before whatever she might have been was snuffed out, and she felt ghosts of the horrible pain that she had endured as she was drawn into the demon and devoured, the slow march toward oblivion more horrifyingly painful than even Nala might have imagined from what Matthias had shown her.
And then, as she cradled the tortured essence of her daughter, she felt her own pain. Portions of Dviklien's battered spirit lanced suddenly into her own smaller soul and began to consume her, feeding on her as a succubus would but with none of the gentleness that made it a pleasure rather than a new sort of agony. His spirit had stretched out and reunited with the portions that she had torn from him, making his spirit appear more like one of the tentacle monsters used by the aliens as shock troops than the natural spherical shape that it should have held. Agony tore through Nala's own soul as those tendrils tore into her, rending her apart just as savagely as she had done to his own a few moments earlier, and while she had taken some parts of him into herself, he claimed any part of her that he tore from her as his own. The narrowest tendrils pierced like blades into her, diving deep, toward her core, and Nala understood on an instinctive level that if one of those blades so much as touched her deepest essence that it would mean the end of her. Pain distracted her, sought to make her weak for the demon to prey upon, but the pain could be ignored, and Nala's will was not weak.
Her spirit was still protected by the spells that she had cast, the strength of nature bolstering her own strength, and her entropic magics still wrapped around Dviklien and stunted his efforts to consume her. The demon knight had fought this sort of battle before, that much was obvious, and he was proving very proficient at it. His will was no weaker than her own either, and she recognized in him a most dangerous foe, one who threatened her with oblivion even after his own death, a being who had fought and won in battles since before she had even been born, against beings who's cruelty made his own appear like the kindness of an angel. Dviklien was not to be trifled with.... But then, neither was she.
Cradling the shredded essence of her daughter's core against her own even as Dviklien's tendrils burrowed toward it, seeking to reclaim it and then take her own to boot and resisting any efforts that she made to sever them, Nala began hacking her way through the expanse of the demon's spirit toward his own core. It was a battle that she had only fought once before, in her quest to retrieve Charlotte's soul from Matthias, and using techniques that she had never used and on a battlefield in which she was a novice faced with a master. And Nala won.
Fury and will drove her on, and she tore through the spirit of her daughter's killer, feeding the demon's essence mixed with some of her own into it in an effort to revive her, and just before the last barrier between her own core and the demon's seeking tendrils was breached she clove through into Dviklien's core. Those tendrils of will shivered, and another enraged slash of her will tore through into the heart of his being, rupturing him in ways that could never be repaired, and a moment later those spikes dissolved into nothing within her. Dviklien began to break apart, and Nala was sure of her victory from the end of the demon's pain, though her own continued and seemed set to do so for some time yet.
Her very essence ached in ways that it only had when she had stressed it to the very limits, and even then it was worse now than it had ever been before. Reclaiming the portions of herself that had been claimed by Dviklien was an arduous task, and coaxing her daughter back into a state of sentience was no less so. She could sense others around her physical self, but they were distant and unimportant to the task at hand, and after feeling a comforting prod from Violet she knew that the battle for Kyederon was over and that she would be left to her work undisturbed.
The primal energies that made up her daughter's soul, a construct more complex than what she could even hope to try and comprehend at that point, and slid the familiar imprinting strands of her spirit into it. The familiar presence of Nala caused the foreign core to quiver, the red strands that remained of Dviklien being absorbed as the shredded soul began to reconstitute itself, and began to consume all around it. Freeing it from her own soul, Nala fed Dviklien's energies into her daughter's spirit as it grew, repairing itself and expanding. The strength that she herself took from the demon's soul was not inconsiderable, and though it would take time to be absorbed, Nala recognized that this battle had provided a rise in her own raw power to go along with the lessons that she had learned.
Prim'Eva rose. The arachne's soul, shaped by the magics of life and death since its spark was first ignited, and now tempered by death and the hungry wrath of a demon knight, awakened before her metaphysical eyes and looked back upon Nala with emotions too complex and jumbled to recognize when taken together. Examining the pieces revealed some of it, the foremost being anger and fear, the leftover emotions of her near death, but beneath that was profound relief and utter confusion. Dviklien's spirit was naught but tatters around his destroyed core by that point, having been consumed by Nala and fed to her daughter, and as that dead presence floated off Prim'Eva turned her attentions to the elven witch.
Her daughter had no voice to speak with, no limbs to move, and Nala felt the disembodied arachne's fear. Her own physical form was torn beyond repair, and she had no suitable body to claim as her own, leaving her helpless to the daemons that might come to lay claim to her spirit....
"Your time in this world is done," a cold voice said, such that only Nala and her daughter would be able to hear, its tones softer than still water but harder than the heart of the greatest mountain. It was a voice that Nala recognized, though it was changed from how it had been when last its sound had graced her ears. Strengthened.
Avedel appeared whole once more, the physical form of the goddess of the dead that of an angel with black wings, her head bare and her body thin but not quite emaciated. A simple robe, the majority of it a simplistic gray but with accents in both white and black, clung to her body, and soft black slippers and white wraps were visible on her feet and calves, the wraps running up under her dress. The goddess floated in midair, the appearance of the spirit world into which Nala now glimpsed the same as that of the real world but without the flesh to distinguish two beings. That Avedel appeared here in a form reminiscent of a physical body, like Matthias had, rather than as a formless, shapeless mass as most souls (including that of Prim'Eva) was a sure sign of her power as a daemon, and Nala would recognize immediately that this was not the shredded, near-consumed husk that she had freed from Matthias' grasp. Avedel was a goddess again, not at what power she might have once held perhaps but still more formidable than anything that Nala could hope to face in battle even at her full strength, much less after struggling as she had with Dviklien.
She could feel Prim'Eva's fear at the presence, but as the arachne tried to pull away a portion of the greater daemon's spirit lashed out, coiled around her reformed daughter and binding her in place. "Nala, once of House Ch'hiesol, now of Kyederon," the goddess said, turning her attentions upon the elven witch without further preamble.... And making Nala wish that she hadn't immediately. Powerful beings were often powerful in more ways than the ability to hurl magical destruction. Nala had never felt it first-hand, but at one point a man had whom Nala had known to be of stout courage had made insult to Matthias while the daemon was in human form, and the daemon had simply glanced at him in response. His gaze had settled on the man for less than a second, and he had frozen in place instantly. A second later he had wet himself, and a few seconds after that a foul smell had signaled something more than that, and then he had fled as if fleeing for his life. Her mother had spoken of a similar feeling, albeit not nearly as embarrassing, when she had met the Queen of the Autumn Fae while she was in a foul temper, and had spoken of it as if it was the most harrowing few moments of her life despite not being the direct subject of the great queen's ire. Even being looked upon by a being of great power was to be under assault, the mind of a mortal being unable to withstand the immense pressure of such a presence without wearing, and such was the case now as Avedel looked upon Nala.
"You are owed a debt.... And Avedel would balance those scales," the death goddess said calmly, and Nala would realize that she was mitigating the power of her attention as much as she could at the time... And that it was still both frightening and disorienting on a level worse than the combat that she had just endured. Unperturbed, Avedel continued; "This soul is passed... And by right it should go elsewhere after paying its dues. You have designs for this soul, and have worked to create and shape it. Speak them, and perhaps your designs will come to fruition, assuming that they do not break with the cycle of life and death."
(You can't spend exp until you rest, so you've got time. Also, Nala gains another 8 exp for partially absorbing Dviklien.)
Once again, Nala was wading stubbornly and almost blindly into dangerous new territory. Again, she suffered for it.
Neither the years of study nor the practice of simply draining spiritual energies from still living subjects could prepare her for the arduous act of consuming the soul of a greater demon. She was unprepared. Only her instinct and personal capability would see her through this.
Her greatest enemy was the pain. Dviklien was masterful in his ability to inflict it. His spirit was a mass of infernal malice, sending tendril spikes of his hateful will lancing into Nala's lifeforce. She wanted to scream. Perhaps she did. Yet with an equally unforgiving will, she fought back with the same dedication as she had done while fighting for her existence within Matthias' soul. She drew upon unfamiliar spirit powers, blasting away at the tendrils first, then focusing on Dviklien's core. Black rents of lightning seared through the demon.
A mother's fury fueled her. Holding her daughter's soul within her own arcane weaves had gutted her on an emotional and even physical level as the memory of her daughter's pain and death throes assaulted her. Prim'Eva had been a part of her, her spirit shaped and nurtured by Nala. Dviklien had spoiled her creation, and the anger she felt at this empowered her, gave her strength to act in spite of the pain.
The struggle was titanic but in the end, the tide flowed in Nala's favor. One attack, then another, and another, fell upon the demon, his power fading with every assault. His spiritual tendrils withered, and as his consciousness met with oblivion, they fell apart completely, leaving the energy of his soul remnants open and malleable to Nala.
It was then that the true work of restoring Prim'Eva began. She called out to her daughter. Named her. Gave her an identity that made her more than a forgotten life and her soul an afterthought. She could feel her daughter's emotions, and did her best to cradle and sooth her. The arachne was a natural predator, and not prone to showing weakness or fear, but faced with the horrors of oblivion and an eternity of silence, even the most stoic might at the end show fear.
Unanchored, even this reformed soul would be easy prey for the daemons that lurked at the edges of this realm. As soon as Nala released the soul, it would be vulnerable to them, and to keep the soul for herself would be to draw upon it as much as Dviklien had. Nala hadn't thought about what she would do with the soul once she'd gotten this far. Perhaps she had meant to place it back in its body? But the mangled corpse was broken beyond repair and would no more allow her daughter's soul to act than would a rock or a piece of scrap metal.
Just as she was struggling to find an answer, a cold familiar voice called to her, and Nala turned to feel the awesome power of Avedel's presence bearing
down upon her. Even despite the goddess restricting her aura of majesty, Nala was forced to shield her eyes so that she might not be reduced to a quaking shell of herself. This sort of a visitation might have been better timed, she thought at first, for her spirit was in dire need of a rest, not further taxation.
She quickly rethought her opinion however. She knew what Avedel's function was, and knew as well that she was not necessarily in danger here. This goddess could offer an opportunity for her daughter. A second chance at an existence.
Avedel's words burned into her mind, sending the night elf's senses reeling and it took a moment after the goddess spoke for Nala to right herself, still kneeling upon the ground in front of the black winged shepherd of the dead.
"Avedel," she began, having to fight to speak properly. Her words formed slowly, and with effort, as she spoke on.
"This soul is my first daughter, Prim'Eva. I have created her, shaped her, and now I stand to lose her. I am no stranger to death, I know I cannot prevent her from crossing over. But still, I claim her. I claim her right to exist. If you would seek to balance the scales with me, then... then I ask you to care for this soul. Bring it with you on your duties through the spirit realm. Let her feed on the unclaimed souls of the freshly departed. Shield her from other beings who would absorb her. Let her grow in power as a daemon. She will obey your orders and learn from you. And when my time comes, and I move beyond the veil, she will reside with me. One soul's existence. That is what I would ask of you."
