Drow's Dilemma Ep. 116: Bargaining

Author's Note:

A Drow's Dilemma began as a one-on-one roleplaying project and has been converted into a chapter-by-chapter format for weekly posting with the permission and assistance from my partner. It will contain a considerable amount of sexual themes such as femdom, lesbian, straight, 'reverse' rape, BDSM, group sex, romance, and other themes. The main goal of the story, however, is to tell an epic tale of adventures, gods and goddesses, fae, and nymphomaniacs. This episode and every episode to come will be available for free on Literotica for the foreseeable future. All characters that engage in sexual or suggestive situations are mentally and sexually mature: the human equivalent of 18 for their race.

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Episode 116: Bargaining

Now that they had a plan, the three drow roommates waited until the glaring sun dipped below the mountains. They still suffered from light blindness, as all drow refugees did. It was something that they were getting used to (and more quickly than anticipated, which the Priestesses claimed was due to their new Patroness) but they still much preferred to do most of their business after the sun had set.

Dahlia had no such restrictions, but she adjusted her schedule in order to be more useful. Not that succubi had the same sort of sleep-waking habits that mortals were bound to. In the early evening, Caleldir spent time with the Duskhavens, so he was busy and well-protected. This freed up Caleldir's familiar to sit in the office and draw up an organized plan for the rest of the work cycle. There was so much to do and so many eccentrics involved that nothing would be accomplished without some sort of guideline. This was where Mizre found the succubus, and was greeted with a friendly, welcoming smile.

"Ms. Asegi, isn't it? How can I help you?" Dahlia asked in her best professional secretary voice.

Mizre gave the Light-Elf-disguised succubus her most winning smile. It was probably useless to try to charm a succubus, but it couldn't hurt. Or, at least, it was better to try that than it was to strong-arm her. Still, the drow had to stifle her jitters. The succubus unnerved her. So... how should she proceed... "Oh! Mistress Dahlia, I just had a question for you. I admit, in this new world, my old instincts to get a man are useless. But as a succubus, you can get any sort of man. So I wanted to ask for lessons on how to seduce a man. Preferably a good, noble soul like Master Caleldir."

"I see. Well. I can always make it easy and just turn you into a succubus," Dahlia suggested in a playful tone. She probably wasn't being serious. Probably. She sighed. "But I suppose you were thinking of something less 'drastic.' I can give you a few pointers, I suppose." The succubus leaned back in her seat and folded her arms beneath her breasts in thought. "A man like Caleldir is a sucker for a woman who needs rescued, for starters."

Dahlia's succubus 'offer' put a bit of a nervous pallor over Mizre's face for a moment, though the woman quickly mastered herself, especially once Dahlia moved on. Instead, she listened with rapt attention. "Needing to be rescued?" she asked, puzzled. "I had heard of kinky women who liked to rescue men, but the other way around?" she shook her head. "That is very strange."

"Not strange at all for men like Caleldir. Yes, he's more submissive than your average male hero type, but even still he can't resist the opportunity to do what he can for a pretty woman who needs help. Though you can't seem entirely helpless, either, if you want to keep his attention. He'll want a Woman, not a child who can't do anything for herself," Dahlia considered her words for a moment, then added a caveat: "If he has a noble soul as you say he does. Certainly if he's anything like Caleldir."

"I had heard that surfacers were strange," Mizre marveled. "But that is very strange." She considered Dahlia's words. Well, they did need rescuing, so that was simple enough. "Surely merely being in need of rescue is not enough, even with the ability to also help myself? What... else would one do to appeal to a noble surfacer male?" Her tone was a rather sexual one. She hoped that the succubus would take the obvious bait and start to give tips more along what to do to get Caleldir sexually interested in them. "Obviously, we can't just force a man we want anymore." At least not in the open.

"Well, I'm afraid that it takes a while to truly seduce a noble surfacer. They often prefer marriage or at least some sort of deep connection before they're willing to take a woman to bed. Are you in it for the long game, or are your desires of a more... urgent manner?"

Mizre made a face. "Surely, as a succubus, you do not need to marry a surface man to have sex with them?" she asked. "And... yes. I am afraid that my desires are very urgent. If I need to take things slow, that is... not ideal, but perhaps I could work with it. I would much rather have him between my legs as soon as possible, though. Or as soon as I could get him there without, you know, getting in trouble for rape. Because that is a crime now." The worst part of the new rules, really.

"Or some sort of deep connection, I said. Succubi will play the long game with certain types of men. But you did say someone like Caleldir. He is exceptional even by surface standards. I will say that it's always easier to have sex with them the second time around, if you can disguise yourself or create some sort of other deception... If you can do that, then it's just a matter of coming on really strong. Preferably in a way that makes him believe intimacy with him will heal your wounds, psychologically speaking. Circling back to the theme of heroic men wanting to rescue pretty women."

That meshed with what Mizre herself had gathered. It was nice to have confirmation. But she did still have one other question. "Thank you, mistress Dahlia! That makes a lot of sense. But... but is deception really the way to go? What happens if he discovers that he has been tricked?"

"If he's a noble man in general? He will probably be very angry and you will want to avoid him for a while if you haven't come up with another reason for him to stick around by the time he finds out - which he will, eventually. If it's Caleldir specifically - who isn't your target, of course -" mischief twinkled in Dahlia's eye, "you'll have to find a way to protect yourself from his women. Make them value you - and, if possible, Like you - then you will have nothing to fear."

"So it would have to be a temporary deception, then," she considered. So, their first priority had to be making friends with the other around Caleldir. She smiled. "'His women', Mistress Dahlia? Like yourself, I presume?" She struck a coy, flirtatious pose, then became a bit more serious. "Moving on from Caleldir - who is a bit too surrounded, as you imply - as an example, how do surfacer men react to... very aggressive women? Like... gentle rape, sort of."

"Psh. Surrounded by women is a perk," Dahlia said in a haughty tone. "But I'm not a very good candidate to suck up to. Ashyr or Selene, however... not that it matters to you." Dahlia waved a hand, dismissing the topic. "Caleldir isn't the first man I've met who doesn't want to admit that he likes what you would consider 'gentle rape.' Most surface men wouldn't even call it rape if it happened to them. In my experience, anyway. By then end they're always happily participating."

"Ah... I understand?" Mizre said in a questioning tone. She shook her head. "So, if you are gentle, most surface men do not mind being forced. Got it. That makes things much easier." She nodded sagely. "Any other advice?"

"You don't even have to force the horny ones," Dahlia laughed. "With some of them, I've just grabbed hold of their dicks and they happily followed. That's men in general, though. It's more difficult with the sort of man we're talking about. If your target has a good time and you get him to feel closer to you emotionally by the end, he's very unlikely to report you. Oh! And if you get pregnant he'll probably take responsibility for you and the baby. So consider trying for that if you want to keep him around more permanently."

That tracked with what Mizre had been planning anyway, so she smiled. It sounded like her plan was a good one, then.

"Thank you, mistress Dahlia," she said with a slight bow. She turned to head out and meet up with her friends. But at the door, she stopped, hesitating, then turned around to face Dahlia once more. "If... if I were planning to go after Caleldir, what would you do?" she asked cautiously.

Dahlia tilted her head. "What would I do if you went after him, or what would I do if I were in your place?"

Mizre opened her mouth, then closed it. Her eyes searched the shape-shifted succubus's face. "The first, really. But..." she swallowed, uncertain if she should say the next part.

"Oh, I would welcome an intelligent, pretty young drow like yourself," she would make an excellent succubus candidate down the road. Not that Dahlia was going to mention that. She didn't want to spook the poor drow. "As for what I would do in your place, hypothetically speaking, I've already told you. Walk up to him, tell him a sob story about how scared I was and how he could help me, convince him to embrace me, 'innocently' rub myself against him to get him hard, 'accidentally' hit the rune on the upper left quadrant of his chest that dismisses his clothing, then 'lose myself' to passion and gratefulness to him (since he's probably already promised a lot). Really, except for the rune thing, that would work on quite a few men."

Despite herself, Mizre blushed at Dahlia's advice. "That... thank you, Mistress Dahlia. Though the story that I will tell him is that we have met before... at Dinoryn. Will that..." she mastered her nervousness. "Will that change anything?"

The succubus raised her eyebrows in surprise. Mizre was being a bit more direct than she expected. Not that that was a problem. "He would feel awkward. But if he thought that you already had sex with him and maybe even that were already pregnant, then it would make things easier, I imagine. Especially if you make him believe that you only participated because of peer pressure."

Dahlia's response relieved Mizre. Visibly. She had read the succubus correctly. Probably. It was too late now. "Understood, Mistress. Perhaps we will be your servants soon enough."

Mizre was proud, but servant to the most powerful family in her world and lover of the most desired man in the world was a massive step up from 'last daughter of a dead house'. So she was willing to Serve.

Mostly.

With another bow, she left.

The succubus chuckled and shook her head once the door to the office was firmly shut. This should be interesting.

--

While Mizre was interviewing Dahlia, Elerra and Laele had the less stressful but longer task of heading to the Ellistreaen camp and finding information on a fertility potion, or something similar.

Many of the Dark Elves had headed to the Blackdawn Caverns in preparation from the attack on Deusterra, but not all of them. Some of the Blackdawn forces had actually relocated to near New Duskhaven and formed the nucleus of the Dark Elven camp.

Unlike their Aralolthian sisters, Dark Elves had no problems with daylight. Most of them actually followed the moon instead of the sun, active when the moon was in the sky, and inactive when it was not. Day or night, it did not matter.

Blessedly, tonight had a waning crescent moon in the sky, coming up about an hour after the sun had gone down. So as Elerra and Laele were nearing the Ellistraean Camp, the Dark Elves had begun stirring in preparation for Moonrise, their 'day'.

The camp itself was quite alien to Drow sensibilities. Dark Elves were not a well-liked lot - frequently mistaken for the hated Drow - and tended to keep very low profiles. Their camps were therefore natural affairs: sung and danced out of trees, plants, and earth. This camp was temporary and not hidden, so in addition to the shaped natural terrain also had a number of ornate tents, with blue, black, silver, purple, and white being the most common. Their decorations featured moon and dancing nude women motifs most prominently.

The Dark Elves themselves had mixed much more with Fae than drow had, so there were more women about than a drow would have expected, and fewer males, with their average attractiveness closer that of drow nobility than commoners. While their clothing and art showed far more pervasive sensuality than drow culture, there also seemed to be a far less aggressive and much more subtle sexuality on display: the focus being on showing beauty rather than sexual power.

Elerra led the way into the camp with her handmaiden at her heel, though the one in front looked far more apprehensive. The noble drow hesitated and looked about herself once she found herself in the presence of all those strange Dark Elves doing their early evening chores. Now that she was here, she wasn't sure how to proceed.

Laele touched her mistress' elbow. "Shall I speak to one of the workers?"

"Yes, Laele, get someone in charge so that I may speak to her," Elerra said as if it was her idea to begin with.

Laele smiled to herself as she walked off. Many things had changed since coming to the surface, but in times of extreme uncertainty, it was nice to fall back on old protocol. "Excuse me," she said to a dark elf walking by with a basket that smelled of food. "My, ah, friend and I would like to speak to one of you." She waved her arm at the camp in general. "Preferably someone who would know about and could help us with..." she cleared her throat to quell the sudden discomfort of talking so openly about something that used to be so restricted. "Fertility Potions or some such magic?"

The dark elf blinked, and set down her basket of food. "By your accent and dress, you are from the Underdark Refugee camp, yes?" she asked. "Do you want to get pregnant, or do you have a friend who wants to get pregnant?"

"Yes and yes," Laele admitted. "That... isn't an incredibly odd request, is it? We haven't had much contact with your kind," she explained apologetically. "We just heard that your kind have a lot more access to that sort of thing. Back where I can from, only the richest of families can get their hands on stuff like that."

"No, it is not odd at all," the dark elf replied. "I was just taken aback by your way of speaking." She bowed a little. "Aelyia Silvertouch at your service. May the Lady light your steps." She stood back up. "Anyway, the usual way to insure fertility is to go with your mate to a Shrine and couple with him under the eyes of the Priestess, who works her magic to insure healthy offspring. Is that the answer you were searching for?"

"Um. Laele. M-may the lady Light your steps." The drow handmaiden bowed in a similar fashion. "Our-uh, mate does not have the time to spare to go to a shrine. We were hoping for something a little more... portable?"

"'Our' mate?" Aelyia verified with a twinkle in her eye. "Congratulations. So, you do need a potion. Sadly, we do not deal in such potions or other portable methods, as the Lady's Blessing is better for the spiritual health of the community. You will have to talk to the Fae in Aelsuna's camp."

Laele's brow furrowed for a moment. Why would this Aelyia think sharing a mate was strange? But the handmaiden wasn't curious enough to inquire further. "The Fae. Right," she said, now even more uncertain. Dealing with Dark Elves was one thing, but the fae were even more alien. "Any suggestions on how we go about that?"

Aelyia laughed at Laele's apparent confusion. "Mate-sharing is the norm here, worry not. My amusement was directed elsewhere." She smiled, then looked pensive. "Well, you will probably want a nymph. Nymphs are always able to use fertility magic. Probably she would cast a spell rather than make a potion, though. If your mate is too busy for an Ellistraean ceremony you might want to bring any of your sisters with you to receive the spell, or convince the nymph to go with you to cast it on him. Though, there are nymph alchemists who could give you a potion. You could probably find some in a gathering that size. I just do not know any to personally recommend to you."

"Hmm," Laele responded thoughtfully. "Alright, I'll take that under consideration. The nymphs... is there anything I should know when dealing with them?"

Aelyia shrugged. "Nymphs are very strange. They are usually happy, but what they want varies from moment to moment. They do not value things like us mortals do. She might help you for free, or demand things that you cannot provide, or request things you do not value at all. But it never hurts to look your absolute best when dealing with them. The more beautiful you are, the better. And if you wear clothes to deal with a nymph, wear something very elegant and very skimpy. If you do not wear clothing, make sure you look absolutely amazing naked." She gave the drow handmaiden a critical eye up and down. "With some work, you could do well. You are unusually attractive for one of the Underdarkers. Are you a noble?"

Laele didn't seem to know how to react. So she just responded honestly. "Er, I am Noble Drow technically, though my pedigree is not fantastic. My companions look better than me, so it sounds like we should be able to manage. Anyway, I won't keep you from your chores any longer. Thank you for your information."

The dark elf gave her a wide smile as she picked up her basket once more. "It was my pleasure to help one of the new daughters of our Luminous Lady. Some night when the moon is bright and strong in the sky, come by again and we can dance together!"

She did some sort of bow-swirl-salute and glided away.

"Um. Sure," Laele said hesitantly. She turned back to the expectant Elerra with a baffled expression.

"Well?" her mistress asked when Laele was at a comfortable speaking distance. "Did you have to pay for information? What did you find out?"

"No payment... I think. Just an invitation? Anyway, if what she said could be trusted..." she repeated Aelyia's information and gave her the options.

"We won't try to find an alchemist. That sounds more expensive and involved," Elerra decided. "Let's go back to the research facility and see what Mizre has to say. We'll need to pick her up anyway, if she has the same opinions I do."

The three conspirators met up in their quarters to share the information they had gathered. The course of action was pretty clear: all go to the Faerie camp and find a friendly nymph to cast fertility magic on them.

"I am not sure we have anything worth wearing," Mizre mused. "Do we need to go naked, or do you two have any garments nymphs might like hidden away?"

"We don't have anything - well, some cosmetics might help a little. I have a feeling that those should be as subtle as possible. But anything else we might have had was left behind when, you know," Elerra said.

"I think naked might be our best option as well," the handmaiden agreed.

"Then when the sun sets again, we will make our way to the Faerie camp," Mizre decided. "Hmm... Laele, you were the one to actually hear what the dark elf had to say. Should we go naked all the way there, or just take off our clothing outside the camp?"

"I think the latter would suffice. Until then, something as elegantly skimpy as we can manage. Just in case we're being watched or something. The Dark Elf didn't mention anything like that, but," Laele shrugged.

"Hmm... elegantly skimpy..." Mizre thought. Her mind flashed back to Dahlia, then she smiled. "Something that is very, very easy to remove rapidly, too. We will wear that when we seduce Caleldir. Then when I have his clothing rune interrupted, we will drop it. Perhaps we can refit some of current clothing into something like that."