A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 67: Aftermath

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 67: Aftermath

To Carlotta, the city seemed awfully quiet after the mage's shop detonated and collapsed. But if she concentrated, she could hear the murmur of people on the wind. From that courtyard, she could see the lower part of the city through the homes and shops of the rich that surrounded them. There were many torches visible out there - especially at the main gates. There weren't any sounds of angry fighting though. Neither were there the sounds and bright lights that usually came with the firing of the ballistae. Everything did look pretty much wrapped up. What else could the city defenders do when their lord was nowhere to be seen and his mage's home base was completely annihilated?

"We did it," Carlotta beamed up at Caleldir as they began the walk back to the castle. "To think. Two hours ago I was just about ready to give up hope. But I should have known that my people and you wouldn't let me be in danger for too long." She reached out to briefly squeeze Caleldir's hand.

The roads had pretty much cleared of patrolling guards. Instead, a larger number of people were posted outside of the rich people's doors. They glared at the party as they walked by, but didn't take any hostile actions as long as the party stayed in the street. The people were quite reasonably frightened of them - especially of Althaia, though at that moment she was subdued and silent.

When they got back to the castle walls, the exit they had used was wide open with a mercenary and a druid posted at either side of the gate. Light from torches in their hands filled the night.

"Hallo!" the druid greeted them with a grin across his face. "We just got the official message that the city is taken. We got the unofficial one as well - what on earth did you do to that mage's shop?"

Althaia fixed him with an unnaturally intense gaze.

"I destroyed it," she said simply.

"It was really impressive, actually," Caleldir said with a bit of admiration in his tone. "Not the best move, but impressive."

"Very impressive! I wish I could have seen that up close!" the druid agreed. "Anyway, Dria and the rest were at the front gates, but we were told they're headed up here again. Apparently the engineer guy didn't cause any trouble once he saw what you did to the mage. But I won't keep you. I'm sure you all are exhausted." After giving them that news, the two of them waved them through into the dark yard of the castle.

"Do you know if any of the drow are here?" Carlotta asked before she entered.

"Nope, sorry, Lotta. We'll let you know if we see them, though," the druid responded with a shrug.

Caleldir stifled the worry he, too, felt for the drow. It was too early to worry. Instead, he focused on the last details of the taking of the city. "Is the engineer around still? If he seems a decent sort, I do not see why we should not return him to his former position. I mean, his machines were incredibly deadly, so all the better reason to have him working for us. Unless of course he is really loyal to Faust and will probably betray us. At any rate, if he's still around I would like to meet him."

The guard furrowed his brow. "Uh, I think the engineer is with Dria, but I don't know for sure. We'll all find out when they get back up here. Shouldn't take too much longer now."

"Then I will talk to him later," Caleldir replied. "I am certain that Dria can handle him herself, after all."

"Alright, thanks," Carlotta said as she walked through the gate. "I think it's time to see what manner of booze Faust keeps." Slight color rose to her cheeks, and she turned to Althaia. "You look like you need a drink. Wanna come with?" Althaia may or may not have actually looked like she needed a drink, but it seemed like a good excuse to the short redhead.

The nymph gave Carlotta a rather wan expression.

"I think that I would love to get a drink with you," she said in a subdued tone. "But I warn you: I cannot get drunk. I have yet to discover any mind-altering substance, drug, or poison that has any effect on me. So, I can only ever drink for the taste, never for the enjoyment, or to forget." She seemed to be suddenly finding her near-immunity to everything to be an inconvenience. "Honestly, your company will do more for me than any drink." Her tone, for once, did not sound sexual.

Carlotta studied Althaia's expression, now slightly concerned for the nymph's sake. She glanced over towards Caleldir, and saw a similar expression in him. Lotta didn't know the too-beautiful woman all that well, but she had a pretty strong feeling that she was becoming just as upset as the drow. Interesting party dynamics, there. "Alright, then. I suppose we can't take long, though. There's still Faust to deal with... which I really do not want to do sober."

Caleldir sighed. "I suppose that we did take him prisoner rather than killing him. I was reluctant to kill him, but it certainly would have been easier. At least as long as he is in..." He glanced over at the others. Oh. Right. They were trying not to talk about R.I.S.A. out here. Having a personal pocket dimension was one thing. A personal goddess was quite a different one, even if she was really only a goddess inside said pocket dimension. "I am not sure that you will even have to deal with Faust if you do not want to, Carlotta."

"No, but I probably should," Althaia said.

"I... will have to think about it. With alcohol to help me. Come on, Althaia." Then the small human took the much taller nymph by the hand to pull her along towards where she thought the wine cellar might be.

Not long after that, one of the guards at the side gate the party just passed through called out to the night that Ashyr was back. She jogged up to Caleldir (who had been hanging around in the area), her face impassive until she saw that Selene wasn't with him. Then it was her turn to look concerned. "Where's Selene?" she asked. "Is she still giving Althaia an earful? I heard the first part of her scolding."

"Selene went into a panic, called Althaia Luidil, and wandered off looking confused," he sighed.

"Oh," Ashyr said simply. She cast a worried glance back out towards the city.

"I know that resurrecting or reincarnating those who do not wish to be so is impossible, so Celeste is almost certainly going to want to stay in heaven, but what about Selene's daughter? If we find her body, could we not restore her to life? Granted, it is incredibly hard to do so, and I lack the ability, but perhaps Althaia could reincarnate her in a random body, then Selene could polymorph her back to her own body." He shook his head. "At any rate, it should be at least somewhat possible."

"No. No I don't think that would be possible, not for any of my family that the boys killed. Selene told me a little bit about what happened. Their souls were ritualistically shattered and- er, I didn't quite understand it, but she thought they were being... fed? to... something. I don't know, she couldn't explain it any more; it was too stressful for her to even say that. She seemed absolutely certain that all of them were permanently lost to us. Anyway, resurrection has not worked well for us, historically"

"That sounds... awful" Caleldir said, aghast. "Feeding souls to something? That is absolutely unforgivable!" He forced himself back to composure. "We had a powerful spell back in Deusterra, one that I know but cannot use: Banishment to Eternity. It was used to prevent resurrection entirely, by sending the one the spell was used on to the last judgment. But this... atrocity of shattering souls, now that is absolutely unforgivable." He seemed to be repeating himself.

Ashyr rubbed at the back of her neck, her expression distressed for a moment. "We should go find her."

"I agree. Let us go find Selene. We can leave Carlotta and Althaia to get drunk together in the wine cellar."

"Anyway, about what you were saying: It is awful," Ashyr agreed as she began walking back through the gate with Caleldir. "But only slightly so, by the standards of my homeworld. I have heard of worse atrocities."

"Your homeland is terrible," Caleldir groused. "I mean, no offense, but the more I hear about the Underdark, the worse it sounds. I mean, it was pretty awful back in the day, but your population was lower back then, which I think caused the backstabbing and atrocities to be less common. Nowadays, I wonder how your race even functions." He sighed. "Then again, your civilization is still around, while mine is in the grip of a millennia long divine curse partly of our own creation, so..." He shook his head.

"Why do you think I prefer it up here?" Ashyr responded. "It's cramped and political and I keep pissing people off. But... Well, I guess a section of it is actually mine now. Not sure what I'm going to do about that."

But she didn't want to talk about that. She wanted to find Selene. Her lips turned down into a rare sour expression, and she glanced around the streets as if she expected Selene to simply walk up to them. That didn't happen, of course. Thankfully, she had another way to look for her cousin.

"Go on, Bard. Find Selene." Ashyr ordered with a wave of her hand and a series of mentally communicated senses. He shot off in his customary blond blur. The ranger didn't try to keep up with him. She could feel his erratic movements through the city nearby as he tried to get the younger drow's scent. No point in following until he found the trail. So she walked in the vague direction he was going while lightly gripping Caleldir's hand. Aside from the worry she felt, it was quite nice to wander through the dark and lonely streets with her mate and her animal companion.

"Bard is certainly growing," Caleldir mentioned. "I think that, between Althaia and Selene's divine and arcane spellcasting, respectively, and my knowledge of various rituals, we can increase his abilities enough that it will never be necessary to leave him behind again. Which could be incredibly useful."

"That would be nice. Oh, speaking of: he found her," she said, and began to pull Caleldir along through the alley.

Selene had gotten herself up on part of the ruins that had once held the troupe all those weeks ago before the orcs and mercenaries attacked the city the first time. She sat with her knees hugged tightly to her chest. Firelight from activity at the city's main gates glinted off eyes that stared at nothing in particular.

"There you are, dearest." Ashyr said softly as she held out a hand to assist the mage down. "Come on, let's go back to the castle. We might need you when we question Faust. And I'm sure you're hungry."

The younger drow sighed. Yeah. She was pretty hungry. With a whispered rustle of fabric, she leapt from her place and floated safely to the cobblestone road. The drow met eyes, and both appeared intensely sad for a moment. Then Selene's gaze lifted to Caleldir's a little more hesitantly than she had looked at Ashyr, and her hand absently fell to her abdomen.

He gave Selene a smile, and took her hand. As she did not pull away, they continued holding hands as they began to walk back. "Should we get Althaia before moving to question Faust? Or leave her to try to get drunk with Carlotta?"

"I think we're going to need Althaia's strength." Ashyr spoke in undercommon as they walked, just in case someone decided to listen in. "Something weird was going on with Faust. Actually, maybe we shouldn't even let him out of R.I.S.A."

"We definitely should keep Faust in R.I.S.A. If we remove him, who knows what a man of his power and cunning could do?" Caleldir said. "But inside her dimension, well, she is pretty much a goddess there, so if nothing else she should be able to control the situation. Reality itself responds to her whims in that way."

"We'll talk to R.I.S.A. and see what she wants to do. Because some people talk to their party before making huge decisions," Ashyr huffed.

This put a wry grin on Caleldir's face. "Keep in mind, Althaia is eighteen. Granted, that means she has been an adult, by nymphen standards, for almost ten years, given that nymphs physically mature slightly faster than orcs, though not so fast as goblins or kobolds, but still. She is incredibly young by any standard. Add to that most of her life has been spent around role models who, might we say, are not the greatest (fey are... fey). Some foolishness is to be expected. And I think that she has learned her lesson. She seemed beyond devastated when Carlotta pulled her off to get drunk."

Neither drow responded to that. The three of them walked the rest of the way in quiet, contemplative silence.

--

It turned out that the alchemist had a knack for finding exactly where alcohol was kept. She practically made a beeline towards an area under the kitchens. Bottles and kegs lined the walls, which was enough to clearly delight Carlotta. She quickly took a bottle for her own.

"Perfect." Lotta said with a grin. Then she turned to Althaia thoughtfully. "So there's nothing that can get you drunk? Do you know of any plant or mixture at all that could affect you? I might be able to figure something out..." She sat on a keg, opened the bottle in her hands, and took a long drink from it. "Or maybe you can pray to your gods and ask them to stop protecting you from poison for a night?" Lotta shrugged. She had no idea how that whole thing worked.

"I am not sure. I have never really tried to offset my own resistances. As for lowering my divine blessing... Yeah, Felesh would be all over that, come to think of it. She is the goddess of hedonism, after all. If I asked her, she would almost certainly be more than willing to put an exception in my Divine Grace and general immunities for alcohol. She is not super big on responsible behavior." She suddenly smiled. "Plus, as a paladin, I am immune to hangovers!" After a quick prayer, she drank down a large bottle. It did not seem to affect her. "Now I just have to drink past my Unearthly Grace!"

Carlotta giggled at Althaia as she watched her quaff the bottle of alcohol. "I am immune to hangovers as well. Er, well, actually I am not but..." She pulled out a bottle of fizzy-looking opaque light blue liquid from one of her pouches. "I can drink one of these. If I time it just right, I won't get sick. If I time it poorly, I get sick until its effects kick in. Alchemist's kindness it's called. A friend of mine showed me how to make it before he went galavanting off across the sea with his own set of paladins."

The redhead waited a couple moments to see how the bottle affected Althaia. "Probably need to put you on stronger stuff than wine..." She muttered to herself. Then she hopped off her keg and picked her way through a shelf. "Here. This should be three or four times stronger." She took a sip from it, made a face, shuddered, looked oddly satisfied, and finally handed it to the paladin.

"Yup," she said in a slightly strangled voice.

Althaia licked her lips. "Perhaps that would, indeed, have the desired effect. But, I have never been drunk before, so I do not know how I will act when that happens." She downed the entire bottle in one long swig. When she put it down, she looked slightly inebriated. "That is some potent stuff," she said in satisfaction. "I require another!"

Somewhere in the back of her head, Carlotta knew that getting the nymph drunk was probably the worst idea since... well, since letting the nymph unleash all her power in the middle of a mage's shop. But the human was just as young as the nymph, and just as prone to bad decisions. After all, there was a very good chance of a massive amount of entertainment to distract her from the trauma she'd endured the last couple days. So she continued to provide her new nymph friend with the strongest stuff she could find.

The nymph's eyes went wild for a moment, before she suddenly became strangely serene. "I see the world more clearly now," she laughed. "Or less clearly. I am very drunk. Wow. Being drunk is amazing! I should intentionally fail my Fortitude save more often. Sadly, due to my build being somewhat of a min-maxed gamebreaker design, my saves were too high to do this before."

Carlotta blinked slowly at the babbling nymph. Yup. Her assessment was absolutely correct. It was an enormously bad idea to let the nymph get completely hammered. And at that point Carlotta was far more focused on Althaia than she was on her troubles. Or maybe that was her own growing inebriation? The redhead's freckled face was turning almost as crimson as her hair, and she was starting to develop the vaguely happy smile of the comfortably drunk. "Better slow down there, paladin. Let yourself process the stuff already in your belly." She suggested as she watched Althaia down the second bottle. And the third. Why did she keep handing the poor paladin bottles?

Althaia pursed her lips. "Huh. I think I just rolled a natural one on that particular save vs. poison. Nice. It is really kicking in now." Looking at Carlotta, she giggled. "I see in your eyes you are trying to get me drunk to get in my pants. Well, jokes on you. I am more than willing to get into your pants drunk or not. We nymphs do have standards, of course. I, for one, will not even be with someone who has a charisma score of less than fourteen, with sixteen or higher preferred. Fortunately, for human of your class and level you are unusually high in that stat. Must have rolled really well during character creation."

The human's face easily matched the shade of her hair. She raised both her hands, palms toward the drunk nymph. "No - uh, I mean. Not- It wasn't-" She let out a frustrated sigh when her words didn't seem to want to order themselves properly. "I wanted someone to drink with. Caleldir was too worried, and Ashyr wasn't there." She cleared her throat. "Not that I - erm. Don't want to..."

Althaia swayed upright. Even her drunken staggering was hypnotically graceful. "Woah! So that is what it feels like to have a penalty to dexterity. If I keep drinking, what other stats will be penalized? This demands further investigations." She downed another bottle of the bizarrely strong booze. Wiping her lips, she beamed at Carlotta. "So, my girl, how do you feel about playtesting the grapple rules with our tongues?"

Apparently, drunk Althaia was insane.

Lotta coughed again, and looked about ready to explode from awkwardness. She wasn't quite drunk enough to be as forward as she was with Ashyr when they first met. Not yet. "But don't you think we should wait until this Faust thing is done? I don't think I can even... er... relax properly before that happens."

At this point, Althaia had consumed a quantity of alcohol that would have straight-up killed an ordinary mortal. The nymph now seemed well and truly drunk. Which was making her progressively more insane. "Hah! Of course you are right, red human." A reference to her face and hair alike. "We should wait. Plus, I am not sure that I could make the required dexterity check right now, if you know what I mean."

Althaia hiccuped, then giggled. "It is really quite extraordinary. This material... it gives such insight into the nature of the universe. Like, I can see that I am operating under the gestalt rules in a setting that mostly only allows single class-builds! If only my player had been more canny with my optimization, I could be truly invincible at this point!" She hiccuped again. "Oh, wait. I do not have a player. No DM either. I suppose that is why I can get away with such blatant rules violations. Such as having all druid powers despite ignoring their alignment and behavioral restrictions, simply because I use my race to mime compliance.." She laughed, then looked down at her hands. Her eyes widened. "I just realized... I do not actually have weapon and armor proficiencies! I mean, my class should give me those, but my lack of training means I do not! No wonder my attacks lag behind what they should be. A paladin of my level, with my stat bonuses, should be much more competent. But I think that my STR is enough to completely hide the -4 I receive from using a melee weapon in which I lack proficiency." She nodded sagely. "Also, I think that that Tiefling is either near to or in epic levels. Or just heavily optimized." Sighing, she looked dreamily off into the distance. "So much makes sense now. So. Much."