Path of Evil Ch. 01

This was inspired by the Path of Evil Module for NWN2—little besides character names and abilities are used.

The story thus far: Our party of adventurers arrives at the decrepit keep they intend to turn into their base of operations only to find that not one, not two, but three groups of enemies had infested the keep. An emissary from the devils arrived as they were discussing strategy, after the succubus got caught spying, she attempted to convince our mercenaries, who she had mistaken for heroes to assist her in defeating the Drow (the undead are apparently not a real concern). Thurlith (human sorcerer/pale master/red dragon disciple—I know it's not an optimal build, bite me) the leader of our band of mercenaries, laughs at her and proves himself not a hero, by burning the clothes from her infernal skin and taking her in the dirt. The rest of the party amuse themselves, until Caracin (human wizard) finished her scrying of the drow portion of the keep. Her hatred of devils was infamous leaving Thurlith in an awkward position and Mu'tasin (half-orc cleric), Tan (tiefling ranger) and Kvas (gnome rogue/assassin) with a show.

*

"Explain. Now." Power flickered around Caracin's brown eyes, a worrisome sign that her control was weakening dangerously.

Thurlith's sense of self-preservation pulled blood away from his still engorged cock and into his brain. "Obviously you'll want to talk to—interrogate whichever devil's in charge. The Red Knight knows you've tortured enough of the low level ones we stumble over, or you summon up, trying to find your tormenter. But whoever's in charge of a succubus must be pretty powerful—"

"Which explains you balls deep in that succubus how?" Caracin asked.

"Trying to fuck answers out of her?" Mu'tasin suggested.

"Not helping." Tan noted quietly, his hand sliding almost imperceptibly towards one of his blades. He needed Thurlith alive and the last time he'd seen Caracin this angry, she'd blown up the bar they were in, then the three squads of guards who'd come to investigate, then the gates of the town they were leaving, when the guards there failed to open them fast enough.

"Not trying to." The half-orc said cheerily.

"Obviously if we just fight our way up, we'll either kill whoever's in charge, or he'll gate away. Either way, you don't get what you want." Thurlith stalled, then an idea lit up his brain, though he had a good enough poker face not to show it. "This way, we'll meet him up top, get a look at his defenses and I'll say that I want that bitch as part of my payment. He'll buy that, thinking she's fuzzed my thinking. I'll leave you behind to watch my new property, obviously I ain't leaving one of the others, I'd be too 'jealous' thinking of her with them."

Mu'tasin snorted. "Jealously guarding a succubus's cunt seems like a good way to make yourself crazy."

Caracin's eyes turned from Thurlith for the first time. The half-orc shut up.

"Which will give you an excuse to be there, examining their defenses, with spells intended to bind and control devils. Then I'll return alone, they'll betray us and we'll be free to...resolve the situation in a way that satisfies both—all of us." Thurlith concluded.

"Do you actually want the succubus?" Caracin asked, her eyes no longer glowing.

"If possible. But the priority with the devils is getting the information you need. If I want pussy, I'm sure the drow brought plenty." Thurlith replied, which drew happy agreement from Kvas and Mu'tasin.

Caracin was silent for so long that one of the others would have spoken, if not for Tan actually slipping between them and the arguing pair and making it very clear that silence was the order of the day.

"It's a good plan." The words might have been dragged from her by tortures worse than those inflicted on her nightly by her devilish visitors.

"Thank you."

"I apologize for leaping to conclusions." Those words were even more forced.

"I accept your apology. Now, Kvas, Tan, Mu'tasin, setup camp, get the wards up and schedule watches. Caracin and I will discuss what she found out about the drow and come up with a plan to present to the fiends upstairs."

Caracin started a fire with a wave of her hand and they sat together, discussing the deployment of the drow, apparently leftovers from an outpost that had been overrun by Illithids. They had fled, until they washed up here, a few dozen drow and thrice that number of slaves. They occupied the cellars of the keep and raided upwards for supplies. The keep had been taken by storm than abandoned, its granary was still full and the spells to keep the grain preserved and free of pests hadn't run down. Or perhaps the undead maintained it. A vampire would need a supply of sentients to drink from and they'd need food.

"Their leader is a priestess of Lolth. Then there's about twenty drow fighters, a mage and a big ass drider who acts as the priestess's second in command. The slaves mostly fetch and carry, but they've armed some of the orcs with captured weapons and they're using them as cannon fodder, more to reduce the number of mouths to feed than because they're effective. Then there's a couple of drow craftspeople and a handful of slave-whores who're keeping the slaves and the drow men entertained."

That caught Mu'tasin's attention. "Orcs?" He asked hopefully.

"One."

"Thurlith..."

"Fine, we'll try to take her alive."

"Good. I like 'em green as much as I like 'em black." The priest said, before resuming his chanting.

"There are several stairs down, all guarded by both sides, but the ground floor is collapsing into the cellar, and a number of the drow have items which let them fly, so they're able to get in and out without much trouble..."

"Unless they run into a squadron of imps. That was a sight, let me tell you. I didn't even know those little devils had pricks." Kvas began.

"Strategy, not pornography. At the moment." Thurlith said.

Kvas pouted at his friend. "Too bad, you don't know what you're missing."

"Okay, we'll go topside, then down the outside. Mu'tasin and me will go down one of the main ways, drawing their attention while Kvas and Tan sneak down the holes. Priests and mages are your priority target. Leave the slaves and whores alone, unless you have to kill them. NO FUCKING UNTIL WE'VE DEALT WITH THE DROW. And the devils."

"One time that happened." Mu'tasin muttered.

"Yeah, but that was with a fucking harpy." Thurlith pointed out.

"I don't even know how you could get it up for one, especially as the rest of us were busy fighting her entire brood."

"I hadn't had any pussy in six weeks. When I came over to your side, I was promised gold, blood and pussy. I'd had plenty of the first two, needed more of the third. Let me tell you, that bird lady could sing given proper inspiration."

"I know. We all know. We could all hear." Thurlith noted.

"Yeah, like you're one to talk."

"Fair point. But I at least don't fuck while my crew's bleeding."

"Something you'll have to get over if you mean to be king and have a sex life." Caracin noted drily.

"Fair point. Sketch up some maps of the cellars before you crash. Watch order is Kvas," who whooped at being given the early watch. "Mu'tasin gets the middle watch, where his god can give him new spells, Tan's got the last watch. Caracin and I get a full nights sleep and the spells we'll need to deal with devils and drow alike."

There was a little grumbling, but not much, the warriors liked having summoned creatures and fireballs more than they liked a couple extra hours of sleep. Besides the mages took their time on watch on those days when they hadn't had to spend their spells on enemies.

The next morning dawned clear. Thurlith opened his eyes to the feel of power surging through him. The power of the pale masters, the power of the red dragon disciples, the power of a sorcerer who had sacrificed much for power and then used that power to get back all that he had sacrificed. His skin shed blows that would cut through plate, but looked as smooth as the day he was born. He could paralyze, or kill with a touch, but otherwise his hand looked and felt human. The three nights he had spent in the tomb of the Elder Queen had paid dividends as had the long days spent deciphering the absurd ramblings of madmen who worshipped the dragons whose blood gave sorcerer's their power.

With the power filling him to the brim, he cast the spells that would shield his comrades from harm, strengthen their arms and aim, quicken their steps and strengthen their resolve.

He slid the belt around his waist and touched the wands that hung from them, to make sure they still had the power they should have. The pouch opened at a word, it opened too far, its magic reducing the weight of the gold, jewels, supplies and weapons that filled it to nothing. He reached a hand inside, feeling gold, the sharp edges of jewels and weapons, making sure that everything was as it should be. The Beggar's Nest taught you to do that, check your goods were still there in the morning. His had went to the length of wood that was strapped horizontally to his belt. Polished cherry, he'd carved the runes into it himself. It was hardened by fire and by spellwork, his, Caracin's and Mu'tasin's. The wands were for long range, the rod for enemy weapons, his hands for the kill.

The succubus waited for them to get geared up, before she landed, carefully outside Mu'tasin's wards. The priest's god may have been one of war, violence and horrible death, but that didn't mean that he and the succubus were on the same side. Evil was no more monolithic than good, as the keep's status proved.

Mu'tasin gave them a lift to the top, where the demon lord was holding court. Thurlith made sure to pay close attention to the succubus...whose name he finally noticed that he hadn't caught. The leader of this group was a Malebranche, a close combat specialist. The negotiations were long and arduous, Thurlith made them more amusing by pretending to be distracted by the very distracting succubus. She'd found something that acted like clothing. It was as black as her hair, but with no need to support and no modesty to maintain, it enticed, rather than concealed.

The devil promised many things in exchange for their assistance dealing with the drow, but he (he was most definitively he, the cock swinging naked between his legs made Thurlith wonder how the succubus could be as tight as she was) didn't promise they'd be free and unharmed afterwards. He would keep his word and he would try to kill them. He would regret that.

"We've almost got a deal." He said, waving at the succubus. She swayed forward and he pulled her tight against him, feeling the curves of her body pressed against him. She could feel his arousal as his lips claimed hers, his tongue penetrated her mouth as his cock longed to... "I want all that stuff, and I want her. My consort, exclusive to me, as long as I live."

The devil smiled, thinking that would not be long.

"Deal."

"Good. Caracin, watch her while we take care of the drow. It's not that I don't trust you," he said to the devil, "but she's a demon, not a devil."

"Not a problem." The devil replied.

"Good. We'll be back soon." Thurlith said, stepping back, over the edge and muttering a spell to slow his descent. The other three men followed him. They nodded to each other and went their separate ways, Kvas and Tan fading into the background. They would sneak in through one of the holes in the keep, while Mu'tasin and Thurlith walked in the front door. It wasn't really guarded, the concern wasn't attack from the outside. He and the half-orc didn't announce themselves, they simply walked in, killed the zombies and skeletons that got in their way and headed to the nearest stairs down. Mu'tasin pulled a vial from his belt and took a draught.

"I hate nightvision." Mu'tasin muttered.

The vial Thurlith pulled from his bag was bright red. "Yeah, well, they'll hate this...Caracin's special twist on Alchemist's Fire."

Mu'tasin turned around. "Last time she used that in the dark, I was blind until I could figure out what spell would fix it."

"Well, now you know." Thurlith said, hurling it down the steps and spun away, to protect his eyes, not his skin, flame couldn't touch one with red dragon blood in him.

Flames burst out and upwards, screams came from down below and a figure so wreathed in flames he couldn't even tell its gender came running up. Mu'tasin's greataxe nearly split it in half and stopped its screams. Thurlith dropped from the top of the steps, knees flexing. Fires still illuminated the cellar and several figures still moved. He bopped them with the rod in passing, not bothering to discharge any of its power, it wasn't needed. Mu'tasin tromped down the stairs and took the lead, his full plate making quite a bit of noise and drawing the eye.

Thurlith followed in his wake. They quite literally ran into a couple of orcs, both groups were surprised, Thurlith's for somewhat longer. As the orcs expired one in two separate pieces, another with a crushed skull from Thurlith's rod and the third burnt to ash by a touch of his hand, Mu'tasin complained about the fire in the darkness.

A minute or so later they came across a pair of drow trying to retreat towards the main cavern where Thurlith expected them to make their stand. They'd engage the pair where they could bring their superior numbers to bear, though they'd be surprised as hell when Kvas and Tan moved in from behind. This pair, however, they'd have to take in a straight fight. One wielded an elegant rapier and dagger set, the other carried a longsword and buckler. The drow with the buckler made the mistake of thinking its enchantments would let it turn Mu'tasin's greataxe. The buckler didn't actually get split in half, but it buckled inwards, breaking the drow's arm easily. As he collapsed he managed to shove the blade up, perfectly angled to penetrate the joint of the half-orc's plate. Not that that accomplished much, as his skin was almost as hard as the plate itself. Mu'tasin dropped the greataxe, reached down, caught the drow's wrist and battered him against the walls until he stopped moving. Probably because most of the bones in his body were broken.

Thurlith parried the other drow's thrust with his rod and spoke a word. The rapier shattered. The dagger which had been heading towards Thurlith's throat wavered off as parts of the rapier imbedded themselves in his assailant's flesh. The backstroke impacted the drow's skull, shattering it easily.

"Hey! Their gear is good. We'll either want it for our own guards, or to sell." Mu'tasin said irritably, dropping the drow, removing the longsword and retrieving his greataxe.

"Break another shield." Thurlith joked.

"Hardly my fault. He got it in the way of my chopping him in half."

"So rude."

Their confidence bolstered by the easy victories, they swaggered into the main section of the cellar. Except for load bearing pillars, most of the walls had been removed to create a communal space for the occupying drow. When they walked out they saw damn near fifty orcs standing between them and the drow. The orcs weren't armed with anything more than sticks, but in the time it would take to slaughter their way through them, the drow behind would pelt them with the throwing weapons they were holding, spears, darts, shuriken, but none of the bows or crossbows he'd have expected to see in a surface engagement. No one had made a move yet, until the orcs began to shuffle out of the way.

A massive drider, with arms as impressive as Thurlith's legs led the way, dwarfing the drow that followed her. The drow was wearing the vestments of a priestess of Lolth and carrying a mace wreathed with violet energy. Her long white hair was braided, falling to a waist which was slim, though probably not as well muscled as her guard's. The drider wore a leather band across large breasts and nothing else, trusting in her speed to protect her. She carried an axe as big as Mu'tasin's and moved with the lithe grace of a warrior. From the waist up she was the most impressive drow warrior Thurlith had ever seen. From the waist down she was a terrifying spider.

"Can you speak?" The priestess asked, stepping beside the drider, placing herself opposite Thurlith, while her guard was opposite what she assumed to be his guard.

"I don't know, can we speak?" Mu'tasin asked.

"Usually. Unless we've lost the power in the last few minutes, which we don't seem to have. Besides the usual way to stop us would be a spell of silence and none of their spellcasters have anything on us." Thurlith noted.

"Listen, creature. It should be obvious, even to you, that this is a fight you cannot win. Submit and live." The priestess said.

Thurlith stepped forward, the drider reached for the axe strapped to her back, but the priestess lifted her mace. "I can handle it Larel."

Thurlith's left hand rose to stroke her cheek. Her free hand rose to knock it away and he caught it, energy flowed down it. "No to your kind offer and no, you can't."

She screamed and melted.

One of the drow in the back row began to speak magic words and an arrow sprouted from her neck. The drider charged, driving Thurlith back into the hallway, as Mu'tasin held his ground against the orcs, which were being driven forward by their drow masters. She actually picked him up and slammed him against the end of the hallway, holding him off the ground almost like he was a child.