Drow's Dilemma Ep. 101: Paladins

"A lovely idea," Caleldir said in a tone that was much more dubious than his words. "Not something we should think about right now. Of course, we will rescue those who got themselves captured doing what we asked them to do."

Dahlia let the strange purple notsuccubus and her master finish their exchange before answering Risa's question. "I do not know if one has to be eaten in order to get to the inner sanctum of that place." A memory of deep horror settled over her mind. "I am thinking probably not. It seemed as if the thing walked me wherever it was I was spat out. I admit, though, that I was not conscious the whole time. Its stomach was gaseous and awful. I can withstand a lot but..." A look of embarrassment mixed in with the horror she felt became apparent on her features. "That was my limit."

"Hmm... I am not sure where the time acceleration occurred, then," Caleldir mused. "I suppose we will simply find out. I am certainly glad that we probably do not need to go through some slimy organic portal. Just walking would be much better."

"Oh, the time acceleration almost certainly occurred when we went through the anomaly. It's was like a tear in Hell. A weak spot. Or a portal, I suppose, but one that anyone with any sort of magical ability could peel back and step through. To their doom." Dahlia shrugged. "It turned out to be a good way to lure in a whole Seduction of succubi. I wouldn't be surprised if that was an intentional lure."

"So... a whole Seduction of succubi were lured through an appealing hole, only to find out that it was a trap that doomed them all? One could call that ironic," Risa said cheerfully.

Caleldir rolled his eyes. "Noted. Not that relevant."

"Appealing trap hole indeed. But! I am willing to lead you through all that again. Out of the kindness of my heart and all that." She said a bit more cheerfully. Dahlia was feeling much better after that boost of power (and she got to taste Selene and Sidhriia!), so it was difficult to feel any intensely negative emotions for too long. "I would suggest protection against heat and some sort of guard against smells. It was like a hot, putrid oven there. We found that using spells to mask our own scents worked well to avoid being eaten by the caverns themselves in addition to flying through the place. Oh, except that using a lot of magic probably attracted those abomination guards. Those are best avoided; I think they're some sort of hive mind. You attract one, you attract them all." She gave the party a nod of finality after that speech was done; that was all the information and advice she had on that subject.

Risa considered the advice that Dahlia gave. "We will set up some highly persistent warding spells then. Against heat. Against stench. Against poison. Against venom. Against disease. And masking our own smells and spells. I know a way to mask most magic."

"As do I," Caleldir said gravely. "We can get to casting those persistent rituals soon. And make up some partly-completed versions to use on Althaia, if we are planning on meeting up with her before porting in. The more I hear about this place, the more I think a paladin will be indispensable."

"Indeed." Risa nodded. "She will be quite helpful.

Selene groaned and buried her face into Caleldir's shoulder for a moment. Then she pulled away entirely to sit on the edge of the bed. "Risa, can you round up some food?" Because of course she was hungry. Giving energy to a growing child and to a succubus was draining on one's stomach. She also had grand ideas of a nap after a meal, but... well, there was this pit of desperate, nervous energy she felt in her gut ever since Dahlia confirmed that Ashyr was in Hell. Sleep would not be something she'd get a lot of.

-I'm hungry too.- Riia thought. Other than that, she was even more quiet and thoughtful than usual.

Risa looked sheepish. "I... umm... I am on very low power right now. You will have to talk to Fucking the goblin about food. At the moment, I am only really in full control of my organic processes. My computer systems are still rebooting. It will be most of the twenty-four hours before my A.I. portion has fully recovered. So... yeah. I cannot manifest that many avatars right now." She stood, grinning broadly. "Heh. I am a normal organic person right now. It is pretty great, actually. In some ways. In other ways, I miss the rest of me. But if I am to be going on this little mission, I am going to have to get used to being like this. I am going to completely sever my passive connection to this realm while I am on the mission. Will depower me to mortal, but I will be less of a magical target."

"Fucking heard his name!" Came the voice of the goblin echoing down the halls a bit. His little green head poked into the door with extreme caution, ready to dart his head back into the passageway with a hand clamped over his eyes. But there were no coupling people, only naked ones. That was fine, then. He padded barefoot into the room and stood with his arms behind his back like a strange imitation of a butler. "Whatchu want?"

Fucking, of course, was given an ability by Selene: he knew whenever someone spoke his name within a certain distance from him. Not just the word, but the actual intent of mentioning the goblin (there had been some awkward moments where the word 'fucking' was uttered and not meant as the goblin's name.) This was done entirely because Selene was lazy and wanted the little goblin that wouldn't leave them alone to at least make himself useful and fetch her things when Risa could not.

"Make me some Lizard steak and fried mushrooms," Selene had been craving such recently.

-And some for me, if you don't mind,- Sidhriia asked far more politely than her sister. Not that Fucking thought Selene was being mean; she wasn't kicking him or growling his name. That was the epitome of politeness, as far as the little goblin was concerned.

"Anything else?" the goblin asked the rest of the party.

"Thank you... err... 'Fucking' for the offer. I will just have whatever you have already made. So, Lizard and Mushrooms seem good," Caleldir asked.

"Same here!" Risa said cheerfully. "Also something to drink would be nice."

"Right away!" Fucking said as he quite happily scurried out of the room.

That done, Selene focused back on Caleldir. "Althaia would be a vital addition to the party... but we don't have time to meet up with her, do we? Hours will be days. Days will be weeks. Ashyr is doing poorly now; how much worse will she be if we wait too long?"

"Based on where Althaia was before I started this time acceleration, I could tunnel to the surface to meet her at the overworld inside of a day. And yes, that will sadly be a long time for Ashyr. But as Caleldir has already observed, it does her no good for us to hurry if we just get ourselves defeated because we are unprepared. Taking that little bit of extra time to ensure success will be well worth it," Risa explained

"I hate to be callous, but if Ashyr has waited this long, she can wait for another day, even if that day lasts more than a week. We will be rushing to her very soon. Worse comes to worst, I still have a priority on capturing her soul, and we do have ways of reviving her from normal death. Which she is not, yet, or we would know."

"Two more weeks of probable torture because she's already experienced months of it," Selene commented unhappily.

Caleldir gritted his teeth. "I am aware that things are bad. You do not need to keep reminding us." He did not sound any happier than Selene had.

"I feel like I do..." Selene grumbled. "Anyway, if having Althaia means that we can actually survive instead of all being captured or killed... Well, I suppose it will be a party of six - seven, maybe, if Althaia brings Phanuel."

-Eight- Sidhriia thought back emphatically. -I am coming too-

"No you will certainly not!" the older drow protested. "You are too young for this; this is way out of your power level."

For once, the pale drow's jaw set into a stubborn expression. Which, despite being absolutely adorable on her youthful features, irritated Selene to no end. If her younger sister was anything like the rest of her family, then she would not be persuaded against joining the party. They would either have to let her come or restrain her. -I will come. I must-

Caleldir blinked. "This journey is going to be terribly dangerous. And you have agoraphobia. You do not even handle very large rooms that well. Do you think that you can do well with a realm that scares hardened warriors into quivering wrecks?"

-I have been working on the agoraphobia.- Sidhriia retorted. Then she shifted to the end of the bed, where Selene had set her glasses at the beginning of the foursome. -It helped a lot when I could see more clearly. There isn't this blurry unknown looming around me anymore-

"The flesh caves are around the size of the biggest room in this house. Or smaller. If she can handle that, then she can handle that part of Hell," Dahlia helpfully provided.

"You will die a horrible death and Caleldir will have to rescue your psychologically scarred soul from wherever you're shunted off to. And until you do that, we will have to keep a close eye on you when we should be keeping a close eye on our surroundings. You would be a liability, not a help!" Selene tried to argue. "Dahlia, you must know how very dead she would be going with us!"

Dahlia shrugged. "I say let her go. It would be nice to have an extra person to feed off of."

-There won't be time for that, Dahlia, and I will only be a liability if you are determined to make me so- Sidhriia retorted, looking unperturbed by the insult to her competence. The young woman just looked extremely stubborn.

Caleldir drew a deep breath. "I will not point-blank tell Sidhriia that she cannot go with us, but I will ask you, Sidhriia, why you think that you need to go with us? Do you think that you have the ability to be an asset rather than a liability? If you think that you can genuinely contribute, or have an extremely compelling reason to go with us rather than merely wanting to, I will back you up and protect you as best as I can. If you cannot come up with such a reason, I think that you could genuinely do more good here watching Dizafaerae and the twins. Especially since R.I.S.A. will be operating under lower power than normal, separated from her main sapience. That would be my recommendation for the best use of your current skill set."

Then, Caleldir hesitated. "Unless... unless this realm that we are visiting is that of the Rebel's Patron, and that Patron is the source of the curse on the Duskhaven women. If that is the case, the cure to the curse may be in that place. If that is true, bringing you along may be worth the risk."

-I will be an asset! My magic doesn't stop at fertility, you know. I can heal too.-

"We will have healers," Selene responded, still obviously objecting to the idea of her younger sister going with them. Supposedly cursed by this asshole patron or not. "Healers who are better than you at healing and can fight. Have you even picked up a sword? Cast an offensive spell?"

-Well, no,- the young drow replied with a sheepish look on her face. -I've never had reason to. But it will be okay, sister, I promise! You will need me. I may seem too young or too weak to be of any help, but you will need me,- she said with absolute conviction.

Sidhriia was downright determined to go. Selene was determined not to let her. Selene was making the better points, that much was apparent, but Sidhriia seemed so insistent that...

Caleldir narrowed his eyes, searching Sidhriia's face carefully. He glanced over at Risa. The woman just shrugged. He sighed. "I cannot shake the feeling that we will indeed need Sidhriia for something. Like she is a missing piece of an important puzzle." A deep breath. "I say we put a huge amount of wards and other protections on her and let her tag along. Because the more I think about it, the more I think that Sidhriia's intuition is correct."

He stood up, cleaned himself off again, and summoned his clothing. "Well, once the food has arrived, we should eat then get to preparing. I have a loooong list of enchantments I am going to have to put on everyone in preparation. Risa?"

Risa stood up after him. "I am with you. After we eat, of course."

The young drow let out a long sigh and gave Caleldir a grateful smile. She stood up with him and reached out briefly to give his hand a soft squeeze. Selene didn't look happy about it even still, and technically could have absolutely forbidden her sister from going... But maybe there was something to her intuition. It would be a learning experience if nothing else. If she died, then Caleldir would rescue her.

Selene was distracted by her conflicted musings when Fucking scurried in to declare that food had been served and to apologize that he couldn't bring it all to him; the R.I.S.A.s were not around to help him carry things, and he only had little arms. So the party was led to the dining room where food was artfully set around the table. The goblin had really been working on the art of cooking in the recent weeks and had been having the very best time of his life.

After eating, the party carried through with all their preparations for going to Hell. Which took a considerable amount of time. As the day went on, Selene's growing stress became more clear. She wanted to get to Ashyr already! She complained, but mostly to herself. Logically, she knew the wait was necessary. Riia was more stoic, but with an undercurrent of excitement and anticipation to her actions. Dahlia helped where she could. Sort of. Most of her 'help' involved making inappropriate jokes and trying to 'distract' whoever wasn't currently working on a project they needed to concentrate on.

Finally, the artificially long day was coming to a close and there was just about enough time for sleep. Selene gathered Sidhriia and, begrudgingly, Dahlia (they had to keep an eye on her in case she decided to interfere) to go to the master bedroom separate from Caleldir and Risa. Risa had, after all, wanted his attention without the help of the rest of the women.

"We'll be in our room," Selene explained. "You're welcome to sleep with us after if Risa will spare you. If not, goodnight." Then Selene, Sidhriia, and Dahlia kissed him in turn, and the sisters walked away hand-in-hand. Dahlia almost didn't follow them, but Selene took a firm grip on her arm and hauled the succubus off as well, leaving Risa to have her moment with Caleldir.

Risa did not hold Caleldir too very long. Just for a few private hours in which the two of them did far more talking than anything else. When the interlude was over, though, R.I.S.A. was back online as if the time stop had not occurred, and Risa was noticeably happier and more content.

Caleldir ended the night with Selene and the others who slept with Selene. Apparently that included Dahlia. She had been sleeping with them. Or, at least, on the same bed. The two sisters were spooning, with Selene's arms wrapped around Sidhriia. Dahlia was sprawled out on the other edge of the bed. There was some evidence of interesting times that were had before the three of them fell asleep. Mostly, there were ropes not quite tucked into where they were stored for when Selene wanted to engage in a little bondage that wasn't ruined when she orgasmed. The succubus had a look of satisfaction on her features even while she slept. This was not a surprise to Caleldir, of course, as he had felt the pleasure spikes that happened while he was with Risa. All three women shifted into Caleldir's warmth when he joined them, and all of them slept a bit happier for it. Risa noted that the bed was getting rather too crowded at this point and whisked away to parts unknown.

The 'morning' came, such as it was, and the time acceleration ended. R.I.S.A. alerted everyone to the end of the acceleration, and Risa appeared dressed for the journey. Such as Risa was ever dressed. "After we talk with Sornamal and Tsabdrin and arrange for the three children to be taken care of by someone besides just me while my A.I. portion is in stand-by mode, we will bundle everyone going on the mission except me into this subdimension, leave the figurine with Sornamal, and then I will tunnel up to meet with Althaia. I talked to her again, made her aware of the situation, and gathered that she does have Phanuel with her. It should not take much more than twelve hours to get to her since I really only have to travel straight up from here, then a few hours towards the two of them. From there we follow Dahlia into hell." She smiled. "Any questions?"

"None from me," Caleldir replied. "Let us be on our way."

"I'll take care of the arrangements for the children. We will wait here for you, Risa," Selene said.

Selene went on to do just that, and find babysitters. Jhul'une and Solerin might have been willing to help. ... except they were not, and Selene didn't feel comfortable pressing the issue. Unwilling childcarers were among the worst for the job. The only other person not insistent on going was her Father... and of course he wasn't about to take care of a couple of children who weren't even ten. That was not his job and never had been. Fucking was happily willing to care for the children, but something about that didn't sit right with Selene. It would have been fine if he wasn't rather small, unintelligent and, well, a goblin. So, she turned to her brother. Tsabdrin was the only one who could be spared and knew how to care for the children. Aside from Risa, he was the one who had the most contact with them. They listened to him. More or less. It took a great deal of convincing, but in the end, he finally saw the wisdom in staying behind for the children's sake.

Caleldir mentioned that Sidhriia could be the one to take care of the children for many reasons (including the fact that Tsabdrin was much more useful as a fighter), but the girl was absolutely insistent on coming, for reasons that he could neither put proper arguments to no deny. Neither Selene nor Tsabdrin even thought to convince Sidhriia to stay back so that she could take care of the children, and when Caleldir mentioned it after everything had been arranged, they looked a bit horrified. The young drow didn't know the first thing about caring for small dark elves. One might have been enough to handle for a decently intelligent but inexperienced young drow such as Riia... but twins and an especially precocious Diza? They pictured the place being set on fire. Tsabdrin, at least, could handle all three for a limited amount of time. So, Riia was coming along, and Tsabdrin was not. Well, it would be Caleldir and a pile of women. Again. Well, besides Phanuel.

All the party had to do after that was wait for Althaia and Phanuel to arrive. That wait was worse than the time-slowed one. It was a week for Ashyr. A week. That played on repeat in Selene's mind especially until she thought she would go mad with it. It was a very nerve-wracking twelve-hour wait.

Selene was conscious of how little she helped in the relaxation department. So, for once, she stuck to the library instead of helping Caleldir at the lab (where he worked to pass the time). Her younger sister relaxed with her - having formed more of an attachment to Selene rather than the father of her child due to recent succubus-related shenanigans - and helped by being an ear to catch all the grumbling and occasionally a pair of hands to massage tense shoulders. As much as Caleldir gruffly attempted to rebuff Dahlia's distractions, he was growing increasingly fond of the woman, and so could not help but be grateful for them. She was rather pleasantly affectionate, actually. Dahlia would easily have been able to feel that over their link, which no doubt encouraged her despite how outwardly he feigned that her interruptions were unwelcome.