A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 65: Lotta

"Lord Faust has been in control here for decades," Carlotta confirmed. She looked uncomfortable about it, as if it was information she didn't much want to share. Killing him and being done with it would make her feel so much safer. "But, as I understand it, he's only been acting like this since winter started."

Selene's idea immediately resonated with Caleldir. He seized on it immediately. "Yes! You are completely right. It would be better not to kill him, at least not immediately. We need information from him. If there is a curse, we will have to break it." He looked uncomfortable. "Not that I am any good at breaking curses."

"Not my area of expertise either." Althaia added.

"I hope that it is not a curse," Caleldir mused. "Most likely, Faust himself is just suffering psychological breakdown. From what cause, we do not know."

Selene raised her elegant brow. Caleldir really must have disliked the thought of immediately killing the guy. "How different you feel from five minutes ago..." She muttered to herself. But she really didn't care either way. As long as they weren't putting herself (or any of 'her' people) in any excessive danger, she would continue not to care what happened. So far, she was confident that the party was powerful enough to take down some fiendspawn and his lackeys.

"I take new information and ideas as they come." Caleldir replied to Selene. "I know that he needs to die, but am reluctant to kill him, but know that I should... So, I am in a bit of a quandary. Honestly, at this point I could go either way, depending on what happens when we confront him." The best idea would be to wait and see, most likely.

"Whatever you do, I want to help." Carlotta declared with a determined look on her face. Cuddling with Ashyr seemed to help quite a bit. But the cuddling was done. The human sat up, and pulled Faust's jacket around her more securely. It would be poor armor for whatever was to come, more likely than not. But it was all she had. Ashyr sat up with her, and gave her back a comforting rub.

Althaia gave Carlotta a smile. "I am sure you will be of great help. But, the hard part is already over. Ashyr has 100 warriors in her pocket right now. I cannot think of much that we need done except a lot of fighting right now." She thought. "And maybe some mass charm-magic. Or, what if I were to just run around the fortress striking everyone blind? I can easily give sight back to those I have personally stricken, but it would take out a massive chunk of their defenses very quickly. Yeah! That sounds good."

"So your plan is to streak around the castle," Caleldir said dryly.

Althaia shrugged. "I cannot strike people blind while clothed, now, can I?"

"Not as well," Caleldir admitted.

"... That, actually doesn't sound like such a bad plan." Ashyr admitted with a laugh. Her mood had obviously improved alongside Carlotta's. "We won't be forced to take out people who may become assets, and perhaps the people will appreciate not being killed while we're trying to rescue them."

"Why didn't you just cure me instead of limiting my actions?" Selene asked, annoyed. "Or would you have to likewise limit all the people whose sight you restore?"

The older drow smirked and reached over to rub Selene's arm, but didn't try to respond.

Althaia glanced over at Selene, then rolled her eyes. "I did not just cure you: I made you immune to the negative effects of my powers. I am not going to do that with the entire castle! Not that I even can; that particular blessing requires that I be in an intimate relationship with the recipient. Also, I really did not limit your actions. Certainly, I would feel an unpleasant recoil if you were to go out and be a psychopath again, but why should that stop you? A concern for me should not be the deciding factor. It would take me only a day or two, probably, to recover, after all. No, the limiting factor is because the blessing makes you measurably more skilled and powerful, so you really do not want to lose it."

Selene scoffed and reclined a bit further back into the couch. The Paladin was wrong, of course. Her actions were absolutely limited, since it would limit a member of the party that Selene relied on to take most of the damage. And, seeing that they were in almost constant danger, the mage felt that she had to be careful what she did. But Selene didn't feel like arguing the issue with the nymph. It was already done, after all, and not something that they had to worry about for the rest of the castle. Instead, the pregnant drow felt like resting her eyes for a while.

Demetus stuck his head in the door. Literally. "Hey, Caleldir. I think I found Carlotta's gear. I- uh, I got bored and looked in a couple other rooms. But don't worry! No one is coming for another half-hour or so, according to some chatter that I overheard. If you hurry, you can probably get them for her. It will make her feel better, I'm sure of it. It's two doors down on the right."

"Oh? You found Carlotta's gear? Well, let us retrieve it post haste!" Leaping up, Caleldir resolved to follow the ghost to the stash.

"My gear?" Carlotta asked with a disbelieving grin. She stood and began to walk towards the door.

Ashyr caught the lower edge of Carlotta's nightgown to prevent her from getting too far. "Wait a minute, darling. You can't see ghosty boy. We shouldn't all go out at once, either. Let Cal go get it for you."

"Ghosty Boy." Demetus scoffed. "That's who I am now. Ghosty Boy." His face disappeared back into the door, muttering about great skald-related aspirations and titles.

"Probably a good idea that I be the only one," Caleldir agreed with Ashyr. "But the Demetus does not really like being called 'ghost boy.' He is definitely protesting right now. Be glad he is not material." He turned to Demetus. "Lead the way. "

"Hah, I'd like to see him doing anything about it." Ashyr laughed. She had no idea how this Demetus appeared, or even what he was like. She didn't even know what race he was. That didn't stop her from trying to pester him; it was amusing to pester people now and then.

Caleldir did not respond to Ashyr. Instead, he tried the handle that Selene had 'fixed.' He found that the door was not locked. In fact, it was a little difficult to keep the handle in place when he pushed the door open and shut it behind him.

Like Demetus said: there were no people in the hallways, and the way was clear between the room they were in and the storage room that the ghost led the half-ghost to. And there it was: a set of leather and chain armor, a bandoleer filled with various vials, and a small rapier. Demetus played slightly more diligent watch than he did before to let Caleldir pick up the gear.

"Shit - shut the door and hide, friend." Demetus yelled suddenly from around the corner before everything was gathered.

Of course, Caleldir wasted little time in following instructions. He was not the best at hiding, but he was decent enough. He ghosted into the storage room after shutting the door. Not literally, but close enough.

Caleldir had shut himself into the storage room just in time, for as the latch clicked in place, a couple of women turned the corner. They were laden with clean linens, and were chatting with each other in hushed tones as they hurried along.

"Isn't it strange that he ordered us not to go in there?" One said.

"Yeah. But I'm not complaining. He always leaves such a mess! I always find red fur -" The other began to reply. The sound of a door opening and shutting muffled the rest of her sentence, and then their voices were no longer audible.

Caleldir did not particularly like the word 'cower', as in: 'Caleldir cowered in the storage room, fearful of being discovered.' No, he was definitely not cowering, and not out of fear. He could utterly stomp the maids, of course. Instead, he was 'strategically allowing noncombatants to vacate the area without forcing a confrontation.' That sounded much better.

"Okay, you should be good now," Demetus yelled.

Gathering up Carlotta's gear, Caleldir made his way back to Faust's quarters, which were now their headquarters, apparently. "Here Carlotta! I believe that these are yours. If you wish, I can step outside while you change into them."

Carlotta stood and gave him something that approached a bright smile. She was still a little disturbed about her recent ordeal. "Um. No, you don't have to leave," The human said. She did give Althaia and Selene a self-conscious look, though. The beginnings of a blush colored her cheeks and nose. Those two hadn't actually seen her naked before, unlike Ashyr and Caleldir.

Caleldir gave Carlotta a searching glance. Well, he had already had sex with her once before, so he supposed that she was fine with him. But he was not going to stare either. So, he went and took a seat by Althaia and Selene. Selene seemed to be sleeping, as far as he could tell. Althaia was yawning as well.

"I'm getting out of this awful, itchy shit." Ashyr announced, standing. The second half of her sentence was muffled, as she was already pulling the dress over her head. That, and the rest of her clothes ended up in a heap on the floor in short order. After the last garment settled, she gave each of the people paying attention - Carlotta was among them, but not Selene - a wink and a little shake of her hips. Only after that did she finally pop on her customary leather armor.

Lotta blushed a little harder. Then she cleared her throat and turned her back to everyone. She quickly shrugged off Faust's jacket and let the nightgown fall off her shoulders into a white puddle on the ground. Carlotta was completely bare underneath, but her nakedness was short-lived. Quickly she put on her undergarments. That seemed to make her feel less self-conscious. With a great deal more casualness, the human went through the process of donning her layers of armor. She didn't seem too practiced at it, which caused Ashyr to step up and help her.

"Is this new armor?" the ranger asked as she helped.

"Yeah. Thynelius - the tiefling who was in my party - put it together for me when I insisted that I help take over the city." She turned an accusing look towards Ashyr. "You know, I think rescuing you turned me into an adventurer. I didn't even properly realize until they were calling together the 'strike team' or whatever they named us. Before I knew it, I volunteered."

The nymph was paying more attention to things than she let on, noting when Carlotta gave her that nervous glance. Realizing that she felt awkward about getting dressed around people she did not know that well, she shrugged and leaned back, closing her eyes. "About another hour until sunset." She noted. "Soon after that we should hear the alarms as they launch the diversionary attacks."

"That was the plan." Caleldir replied. He stared at the fire in the grate until he saw out of the corner of his eye that Carlotta was in her armor again.

"It was probably safer being an adventurer here than with us." He noted. "We had... well, a dangerous time. I got taken by an insane stillborn goddess I helped create, and Selene had to rescue me by talking down my evil ghost self." Huh. When he told the literal truth, it always sounded insane.

Carlotta took a seat back on the couch she and Ashyr had cuddled on. She began to fiddle with her potions on her bandoleer. There were a couple that she pulled the cork off, sniffed, then frowned at with dissatisfaction. "Hopefully I have time to remake some of these..." She muttered. Then she moved over the the small table and began to quickly pull out supplies from what must have been a bag of holding.

"Wait, a stillborn goddess? How would she be a problem if she was dead?" Carlotta asked absently as she began to work. It was unclear whether she believed him or not, but the story sounded like an interesting one, and they apparently had some time to kill. Might as well tell each other stories in the meantime.

Ashyr watched with satisfaction as Carlotta began to act more like herself. With an absent smile, she joined Caleldir where he was - by sitting on him.

Wrapping his arms around Ashyr, Caleldir beamed at Carlotta's question. Now, by all rights he should have found this a very painful topic, given how much this particular 'goddess' had screwed over his nation - and him personally, for that matter - but he still found the whole thing very interesting. "You have an imperfect understanding of what a god or goddess really is. Or a soul, for that matter. Once created, a soul cannot be destroyed. Ever. By anyone or anything. Now, they can be splintered, shattered, split, imprisoned, banished, or even sent outside of time and space into Eternity, which is what happens when a soul is 'annihilated', but in the end, a soul is an Eternal thing, infinitely more durable than anything else conceivable. The soul of a god far more than that of a mortal. She was dead at conception, yes, but a soul was still created. It was that soul, malformed and misshapen from the very beginning, that emerged from our Project. Dea Ex Machina. A Goddess from the Machine. We attempted to build a literal deity under our control, but through a mixture of sabotage and our own hubris we failed, and our creation became our curse." Oddly enough, Caleldir's tone was one of downright admiration. Despite the literal meaning of his words, it was clear that he did not care about the lessons he learned; if given a chance, he would do the exact same thing. It was a peculiar madness.

And so, with Ashyr, Caleldir, and occasionally Althaia interjecting, they told the story of what they had gone through. Surprisingly, Caleldir did not embellish this particular tale. Well, not very much. His embellishments were actually some of the saner parts when compared to the rest of the overly epic madness. Selene chose to remain quiet through this; she probably was asleep. Thus the party spent the next half hour.

"Faust is in the building." Demetus warned suddenly by literally sticking his head in the door again. "Tell the ladies they have about - eh, five minutes to freshen up." The ghost informed Caleldir with a toothy grin.

"Damn, I wasn't quite done yet." Carlotta despaired when the information was relayed to her. Then she quickly, carefully, put everything back in its place. This she seemed to have a little more experience in than donning leather and chain armor.

"Shall we hide and surprise him?" Ashyr asked, mischief written all over her features. This was not at all how she expected to confront Faust, but she decided that she very much liked it. What better place to jump him than then only place where he thought he was safe?

Ashyr's question was greeted with an enthusiastic nod from Althaia, and a more somber nod from Caleldir. Then, suddenly, an idea struck him. An almost villainous look appeared on his face. "I know just the thing." He said with glee. He changed to Undercommon. "Give him to R.I.S.A." He stated. "If we can open the portal and force him through, he will be in her domain. Remember what I was saying about artificial goddesses? Well, R.I.S.A. at this point pretty much is one, at least she is in there. Once he is in her domain, he is powerless. She can effortlessly make a prison for him that would be almost completely impossible for him to escape. Not unless he is an Archmage with the ability to cast Plane-Shift, that is. So all we need to do is subdue him enough that we can force him through the portal."

"I like it." Ashyr agreed, a very similar look of near villainy spread across her features. Then she dismounted his lap and hurried to hide in the other room. If this was going to work, she would have to be as far from danger as possible, at least initially.

Selene ducked into the bedroom with Ashyr. Carlotta followed suit, along with Althaia and Caleldir. Althaia seemed slightly annoyed that they were going to be 'cowering in the corner' but did not otherwise fuss. Once everyone was hidden, all they had to do was wait. A little under five minutes later, the door finally rattled and swung open.

Faust was a tall man. His head nearly brushed against the frame of the door as he walked into his room. Had he tilted his head at all, he would run the risk of catching one of his four horns at the wooden frame. Whatever fiend had spawned him must not have been an ugly creature. Either that, or Faust's mother had been an exceptionally beautiful woman. Though his crimson skin, horned head, and almost entirely furred body made him look wicked, he had even, sharp features that were generally pleasing to the eye. If all those fiendish traits left him, he might have passed for a half-elf.

Obviously there was something wrong with the door, for he didn't need to unlock in to enter. He barely needed to anything to it, in fact, to make it swing into his chambers. He did not enter after the door was open. Golden eyes scanned the room, sharp despite the growing bags of exhaustion under them. The tiefling still wore his plate mail armor, and a curved blade at his hip. Even worried as he was about a trap within his chambers, he carried himself with the confidence one gets after decades of excellent swordsmanship. He had a hand on that weapon on his hip.

"Carlotta?" He asked the room after a moment of cautious observation. His voice was as deep as ever. The tone of it, however, was not as commanding as it had been every other time the party heard him talk. Faust sounded as tired as his eyes looked.

Caleldir found his heart sink a bit. So much for that plan. With Faust being as impressive of a swordsman as he was, taking him on directly, aware and not trapped, was a failing proposition. It would be easy for him to raise the alarm, and with that their chances of a successful infiltration were over. The most they could do from then on out would be to hope that R.I.S.A. taking control of the castle would be enough to grant them supremacy.

His nostrils flared. Then his crimson features settled into a mask of hatred. "Ashyr Blackdawn." Hatred caused him to do something very stupid then, something that all his instincts cried out against. But that man who Faust was convinced was the source of all his problems was here, waiting to be utterly decimated. He stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.

Caleldir blinked. Wait? Ashyr? Oh! That was him! It had been a long time since Caleldir had seen Lord Faust and pretended to be Ashyr Blackdawn. Well, not that long, actually, but a whole lot had happened in the intervening time period. For one thing, back then he had been celibate. Now... not so much. But apparently, Faust still recognized him. Winking at the others, Caleldir stepped out of the shadows, brimming with Goelon's aura. Given that Faust had dealt with Rusalka a lot, he would recognize it as being similar to theirs, but more potent. Not as absurdly as if he was actually Goelon, but similar enough.

Faust bared brilliantly white teeth. In that same instant, his sword was out and pointed at the interloper. But he did not advance upon 'Ashyr' any further. Clearly, he had not quite expected the aura that surrounded this man. He had expected a master manipulator, sure, but not one with an aura like fey rapists except far more potent. No, the 'Ashyr' he had met seemed physically harmless.

"Yes, Faust," He laughed evilly. "It is me. It has always been me. Not what you remember, am I? Let us just say that you were deceived back then as to what I really am." Two massive bastard-swords, the archetypal Titan weapons, appeared in his hands. He struck a fighting stance. "I have been dogging you for longer than you can possibly know. Now, what are you going to do about it?" Probably kill him, to be honest, but with Althaia to heal Goelon back up afterwards, that would only help their plan. What better ambash than that?