A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 64: Fresh Air

"Of course." Althaia said genially. "If we were not humble and modest, we would spend all our time rubbing everyone's faces into how amazing we are. Instead, we prefer to rub people's faces in other things." Caleldir merely rolled his eyes. Althaia broke out into smile, then continued. "I am talking about our pussies. We like to rub people's faces in our pussies."

"I got that." Caleldir said grumpily.

"Right, now all we need are outfits." Ashyr said happily (after she had a bit of a snicker at the nymph-kin's exchange). "I, at least, don't think I can manage a cloth uniform with my ring."

"I just need a good look at whatever it is they're wearing." The mage informed them.

There was no one visible in the gardens. Not even guards walked the paths. The party seemed to have encountered a good bit of luck. It was a simple matter to walk out of the hedge maze and towards the castle. As they exited, a woman hurried by with a basket filled with folded clothing. She didn't seem to see them as she passed.

"Hey! Look! She looks like a possible maid. We should follow her, and if she is heading to the castle, hit her with a sleep spell and steal all that laundry," Caleldir suggested.

"Stealing girls underclothes!" Ashyr exclaimed softly enough that she wouldn't alert the maid rushing towards the castle. "You've stooped to a new low, Cal." Then her shoulders shook in they type of silent laughter that drow were so good at when trying to stay hidden.

"If we're lucky, she has uniforms, not underclothes," Selene whispered flatly. She was just about done with the joking around. There was serious business afoot, even if she didn't have much of an emotional investment in this.

"I'm with Selene on this," Caleldir said seriously. "I prefer uniforms. Much more useful. Besides, most of the best women I know do not seem to have any use for underclothes anyway."

Low level sleep spells were extremely easy for a mage as powerful as Selene. With a quick gesture, the spell shot forth and hit the girl. She promptly crumpled to the ground. Then, garbed in a facsimile of the girl's outfit, Selene ran out into the open as if worriedly checking on a fallen friend.

"You!" said a guard, who had just turned a corner and caught sight of human Selene. He didn't seem to see the others, however. "What's going on here?" He was on alert, but he didn't seem hostile towards Selene.

Selene's back stiffened for just a fraction of a second. She made a couple gestures with her hand that were hidden behind her back, which Ashyr translated to the rest of the party (who looked about ready to non-lethally subdue the guard.) "She says she can handle this."

"My friend has been working too hard. I think she collapsed," Selene told the guard. "Please, could you bring her to the servant quarters? I need to get this basket to where it needs to go, or she'll get in trouble." She actually wasn't too bad at acting the part of a servant who was worried for a friend. Years at the drow court forced one to perfect the art of convincing others - sometimes even at the cost of one's dignity. Selene didn't much like it, but it was necessary.

"I'll escort you there, miss," The guard informed her with an chivalrous smile. "I'll vouch for your friend. The matron needs to realize how cursed hard she's working you girls."

"Please, that isn't nec-" Selene began to protest

"Of course it's necessary. We live in dangerous times, miss. We can't just make it worse by letting management work everyone past their ability." The guard said as he stooped down to pick up the fallen woman and cradle her in his arms.

Selene threw an apologetic sign to the rest of her party, picked up the basket, and followed after the annoyingly well-meaning guard.

"Shit," Ashyr whispered. "I guess we're following them. Unless we have any other ideas?"

It was mostly open space between the gardens they hid in and one of the back entrances to the castle. They would have to go around the long way to safely follow. And every moment the guard spent with Selene was further opportunity for the man to realize that Selene didn't belong there. It was clear on Ashyr's human features that the ranger didn't like this situation at all.

"We follow." Caleldir said. "Selene has a good deal of magic, does she not? She is smart, she will likely subdue him the moment it is convenient. In the meantime, we will just have to trust that she can take one guard." With that, he began to work his way around, staying out of sight. It would have been easier to just walk along with Selene like their original plan, but that annoying guard was putting a dent in things.

The party made it around through the shadows, managing to not lose track of Selene or the guard. The guy led them around to a small area around the back of the sturdy castle towards a part of the yard not visible to the garden area. There was a smaller building there that looked out of place compared to the more decorative castle; it was probably attached to the back sometime after the main part was initially built. Clothing hung out on lines were just becoming visible, along with a couple other women hurrying around.

All the while, the guard seemed more interested in talking to Selene than paying attention to where he was going. Selene saw her opportunity. She had been letting the too-friendly male lead, but then she stepped ahead, and began to walk along the outer walls of the castle. There was a bit of an irregular portion between the newer outcropping and the original building. It was the perfect spot to hide a couple of people who recently suffered from a mysterious nap attack.

The mage in human form acted quickly. "Wha-" The guard started to say when he saw Selene make a quick gesture. That was all he managed to get out; in the next moment, he took a direct hit from her sleep spell and crumpled with the original servant in his lap.

By the time the rest of them reached Selene's position, she'd managed to drag both of the sleeping people into the alcove there. "Hey." Selene greeted them. Her mouth was turned downward in annoyance, her arms crossed below her breasts.

"Good work, Selene. Nicely handled," Caleldir said in a pleased tone. "They should be good there."

"We have about five minutes before the girl wakes." Selene nudged the basket with her foot, which toppled over onto the grass next to the servant woman. Underclothes. They looked new, or at least newly patched by someone with a mending spell.

The ranger sighed with disappointment. Then a grin flashed across her features. "So that's what underclothes look like. Don't think I've seen a set in years." She looked down at the sleeping woman draped awkwardly across the guard. That didn't look comfortable. "Well, I guess we have a servant's outfit and a guard's now."

"Five minutes?" Althaia asked. She turned to the two of them. Her hand darted out extremely quickly, thunking the maid on the head, then the guard. "More like three hours, if their recovery rates are human normal. Mages have sleep spells. I have concussive adjustment."

Caleldir looked worried. "Err... Althaia? How much of an expert are you in human biology? How are you an expert in human biology? You lived naked in a forest. With fey, not humans."

The nymph smirked. "Oh, you know that I am an expert in biology. Especially a certain facet of it." Caleldir rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything else she became serious. "It is a divine spellcaster thing. I just know."

"I suppose I cannot argue with that." Caleldir conceded. He looked over the clothing. "Pity that she really did only have underwear. I can make my rune-clothes look like whatever, so I can just copy the guard's uniform now that I see it." He hesitated. "I am not certain about stripping a woman naked to take her uniform."

Althaia pulled some clothing out of her ring. "We can redress her."

"Then I have no issues." Caleldir nodded. "Ashyr, you should probably take the maid uniform, since your ring can only make leather armor. Althaia, you can only make metal armor and monk-robes/simple dresses, right?"

"Correct." Althaia confirmed. "I can make a very simple version of the uniform, but only an approximation. It would be obvious that I do not belong."

"We will figure something out." Caleldir said, changing his clothing to that of the guard. "I will let you three do the stripping. I would prefer not to be taking clothing off unconscious women, or ogling said women. I will keep lookout."

"Right. So you leave the woman to a nymph and a couple drow," Ashyr observed quietly. The drow in human disguise look like she was trying to stifle a grin, but was doing a poor job of it. She turned and knelt next to the fallen people.

"When you say it like that, it sounds like a mistake." Caleldir muttered. "But I doubt Althaia will molest an unconscious woman. Or let the two of you do too much inappropriate stuff."

Althaia sighed. "Sadly, you are right. Unlike my sisters, I require consent." She grinned, and waggled her eyebrows at Caleldir. "Except from you. Be flattered! For you, I make an exception. You see, for you, I only need consent from Ashyr or Selene. Those two own you, after all."

That earned an eyeroll from Caleldir. "Yes, yes, I am a sex-slave to two, or three, or possibly four (depending on how you count it) really horny women. A truly terrible fate. Sometimes I do not know how I get by." With that he left the three to their devices.

"Anyway," Selene said with a roll of her eyes. "We don't have time to molest the human anyway. Though I don't know why you would want to. She's quite ugly." She wasn't really that ugly, of course. Selene was just biased against humans.

Even so, she helped get the uniform off of the human and onto Ashyr. Then the two of them helped Althaia put on garb she chose to clothe the woman in. In quick order, everyone was situated. The outfit did not quite fit Ashyr in human form, but it wasn't too noticeable. The worst part was the fact that she had to wear a dress, which she grumbled about quietly. Apparently it was itchy, too. The drow was spoiled when it came to her ring.

"Alright, Althaia. I guess we'll surround you and hope nobody looks too closely." Selene said. "I wish you hadn't knocked those people out for so long. They might be missed."

"Eh, we'll be in control of things before anyone notices." Ashyr responded with a careless shrug.

Althaia rubbed her hands together. "Knocking them unconscious for a long time is a better way of avoiding setting off an alarm than is letting them wake up and sound the alarm. Thrown in a corner and stripped? Very obviously the product of saboteurs, I would say."

"Most likely." Caleldir agreed.

Selene made no reply.

Led by Ashyr, who walked at a brisk, busy-looking pace, the party turned the corner and entered the back building. They ran into a bit of luck then - the other servants who were there were far too engrossed in their various tasks to even glance at a couple other servants. Ashyr went directly towards where she remembered the stairs down to the dungeon were. Their luck continued as guards ran their routes in a pattern that left them alone in the halls for most of the time. That is, until they almost turned a corner and ran directly into a guard who was stationed at the entrance of the dungeon. He wasn't looking their way, fortunately. Ashyr backed them around the corner they had just turned, thinking they were not spotted.

But there was someone there. A dead someone, whose ghostly figure poked at the guard in the bored sort of way. The guard was scowling, but otherwise did not react. The figure was - or had been - a large, muscular human. Thick, angular tattoos covered his body, which was clothed in standard barbarian attire. He perked up when he saw a flash of a pretty face around a corner, which looked startled before it disappeared again.

"Gods, finally something interesting. Or it damn well better be." The ghost muttered to himself. He walked over and turned the corner with the rest of the party with complete confidence that none of them could see him.

Caleldir, of course, spotted the ghost. His eyes sparkled. He glanced over to Althaia, who did not see the creature. She had no ability to see ghosts, after all. Unless said ghost was evil and she was looking for evil things to smite, at which point she would be able to at least see that there was something there.

But, ghosts were Caleldir's speciality. When they were out of range of the guard, he turned around and looked directly at the barbarian ghost. "Greetings, spectral one." He intoned. Giving the rest of the group a glance, he gestured at the spirit. "Ghost there." He pointed at it. Returning his attention to the ghost, he nodded in greeting. "So, spirit. Who were you in life, and why do you haunt this place?"

The drow only looked confused for half a moment. They caught on almost immediately after. They watched and waited in silence, unable to hear half of the conversation. Althaia's eyes glinted for a moment, and then she seemed satisfied and curious; whatever it was, it wasn't evil.

"You can see me! By the ancestors, you can see me!" The ghost man said excitedly. He walked up and clapped the human-looking guy on the shoulder.

"I am somewhat on the ghostly side myself." Caleldir replied to the spectre.

"Ghost man, eh? That's neat. I've been bored out of my mind recently. All the other ghostly types I've met are completely insane. I guess it helps that this isn't my first time being dead." His eyes took on a far-away look for a moment. Then he remembered that he had not introduced himself yet. The barbarian-looking puffed his chest, and looked enormously proud for a moment. "I am Demetus Verdoon: skald warrior. At your service. My story is an epic one, filled with great struggle, pain, and death. But - uh, you don't look like you have a lot of time. That Faust bastard ripped my heart out last night. Literally. With his bare hands. Saw my heart beat right in front of me as my vision faded to black." The apparition rubbed at his chest and winced with the memory of the pain. "In hindsight, it was probably not the best idea to spit in his face while he had me tied up. So now I'm trying to annoy the guard who caught my party in the first place. Doesn't seem I can go anywhere else."

He looked back at the guy in question, cleared his throat, and turned his attention to the perceptive human-looking man. "So. What trouble are you four causing?" His eyes wandered to the women of the party, then landed on Althaia's imperfect costume. "You're not - your not breaking in here are you? Because her garb needs work." He waved his hand at her, but nothing happened. "Um. Right. Dead. That usually works. Er. But I'll help anyway else that I can. Pretty sure I can knock over small things. Maybe I can distract that asshole?"

"We are in a hurry." He confessed to Demetus. "Your tale will have to wait. I hope to hear it one day, though." He glanced in the direction of the guard. "Verdoon? As it turns out, you are exactly the guy we were looking for. We are here to rescue you, your brother, Carlotta, and Thynelius Barut. Although, it seems that you are not much for rescuing right now." Caleldir smiled morbidly.

Demetus grinned back at Caleldir. He shrugged and spread his arms to call attention to the state he was in: see-through, and kind of blue and floaty.

"The best thing that you could do to help would be to lead us to where the rest of your party is imprisoned." Caleldir continued. "Then we wait for nightfall, skulking around where the others are kept, making sure nothing happens to the rest of them in the next few hours. When it is dark out, and the forces outside launch their diversionary attacks, we seize the castle. We brought an army with us in our pockets, after all. So, we do not really need you to distract the guard, unless we need to get past him in order to get to the others."

"Sounds like a good plan to me. So, my party... Ioxus - my brother - got sent to some workshop or another in town to craft weapons for the city. Master gunsmith, he is." He grinned proudly at this. "Probably why he wasn't strung up and murdered like I was. Unfortunately, I have no idea where he is. Same goes for the tiefling. The other tielfling. Not Faust, the Barut guy. He fucked off when the rest of us got captured. I don't blame the guy, really. We were really damn outnumbered. Better out and about than captured."He was animated when he spoke, making grand, sweeping gestures as if he was telling a story to a whole crowd of people. One would barely believe that he had recently died a horrible death.

"Then Ioxus and Barut are not our concern. They will be fine once we have liberated the city." Caleldir noted. "And Carlotta?"

Demetus became subdued - angry, even. "Carlotta, poor girl, she's upstairs in Faust's chambers. He, uh. Took a liking to her... 'spunk,' I think he called it. I don't know if he knew the 'alternate' meaning of the word. Faust isn't here right now. If I scout ahead, I can probably steer you clear of other people and guards and get you safely to his rooms. We can at least rescue her."

Caleldir's expression changed too. "That... that is not good." He said in a flat, unaccented tone. "If he has touched her, Faust will die. Screw putting him on trial. I think very poorly of-" he stopped. He was about to say 'of rapists', then remembered that he was journeying with Selene. "-of abusive men." he finished. "It is an emotional thing."

"- Wait, what happened to Carlotta?" Ashyr said darkly. Since it was paler than usual, her face actually became tinted an angry red not normally apparent in her true form.

Caleldir turned to his party. "First: I'm speaking to the ghost is of Demetus Verdoon. He was killed because he gave Faust a hard time. Ioxus is at a workshop in the city. Thynelius Barut is in hiding; he was never caught. Carlotta is in Faust's bedchamber, with... implications as to her treatment. We are going there right now. Faust is not in, so hopefully we will not be forced to speed up our timetable. Then again, if he returns, let us see him survive Goelon."

Ashyr's expression only got more grim. "We may need to subject Lord Faust to his former rusalka allies..." She said through gritted teeth.

"There were rusalka? Damn it, why did I have to miss the rusalka?" Demetus complained. "All I got were those creepy fishmen who slobbered disease everywhere. And that weird-ass naga." He must have been mostly speaking to himself, because even as he spoke he passed through the wall right next to him. Moments later, he phased back through. "This way. The guard back there just passed by. It should be safe."

And so, the party went in search of their friend, let by their friend's ghostly party member.