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 114: Diplomacy
There was not all that much time for Caleldir and House Duskhaven to enjoy their honeymoon before business came in and asserted itself full-force. That business was in the form of a diplomatic delegation from the Sorceress Queen of Clachleom.
House Blackdawn scouts reported that the conflict between the Sorceress Queen Iseabal Griffonheart and the Dragon Princess Deirdriu Scionlost had escalated into a cold civil war, with minor skirmishes being constant and several battles and sieges having already taken place. The upshot of the conflict was that the old king of Clachleom had been targeted by a dragon who had shapeshifted herself into the form of his wife and slept with him. The Dragoness Vithantiel then revealed that she had conceived a half-dragon daughter, Deirdriu and left her daughter with her father the king, who grudgingly acknowledged her. So, the Dragon Princess was presumed to be the heir to the throne for ten years, until the king finally gave his until-then-assumed-infertile wife a child, Iseabal. Once little Iseabal had been born, she was declared the legal heir and Deirdriu was exiled to live with the dragon cultist clansmen on the frontier.
Two years ago, the old king disappeared - suspected murder by demons - and the High Council of the Clans crowned Iseabal as queen in her missing father's stead. The Dragon Princess objected to this strongly and immediately began building a coalition to declare herself the queen instead of her younger half-sister.
And that was where things stood now.
To further complicate things, there was a huge gathering of Drow, Aelsunites, and Eilistraaens gathering on their northern borders. Ashyr's old friend, who had been sent by Queen Iseabal to report on what was going on, had since left New Duskhaven to do just that. Now, Alycyrl was back with an official diplomat.
The diplomat in question was an extraordinarily beautiful young woman with striking golden hair and dark blue eyes. She was pale like most of the people of Clachleom and dressed much less modestly than nobles of that land typically did. The Blackdawns had reported that the Sorceress Queen surrounded herself mostly with beautiful young women and that since she had come to power her court had taken on an overly sexualized and nearly exhibitionist character that had disgusted many of the more traditional clans, who had gone over to the Dragon Princess's faction as a result.
As Ashyr had no intention of letting her people threaten a land that was already filled with living, non-cursed people, she was happy to accept the diplomat into their encampment and temporarily set her up in a guest section of Duskhaven Manor to refresh before their negotiations were set to begin.
Selene protested, but not very insistently. Her only objection was that they didn't know this diplomat and what ulterior motives she might have. Ashyr assured her that it was silly to worry about one person in a house full of very powerful people. She had heard the reports of the turmoil that the bordering country was suffering from. They would be insane to also pick a fight with a gathering army at their borders. Besides, they were expected. Aly warned Ashyr that they would come. Selene conceded the point begrudgingly, though mentioned that they needed an embassy in more neutral territory if they were going to continue to receive diplomats.
The meeting was set to be two hours after the diplomat made herself known; they had to give time for the couple of hired servants and Fucking to prepare the meeting hall with a table and refreshments. That, and the necessary people needed to be sent for. Runners were immediately sent out to the Church of Eilistraee and to the Blackdawn encampment in order to summon Lord Sendath Blackdawn, the Matron of Blackdawn's husband and public face, and High Priestess Hadlyn. The rest of the council was small. Ashyr called for only her closest companions: Selene, Caleldir, and Althaia. Althaia, of course, was also there in her position as de-facto leader of the Aelsunites. Dahlia insisted that she also be present, though as a silent bodyguard by Caleldir's side. As she couldn't be dissuaded, she secured her place in the room by the appointed time. High Priestess Hadlyn also made her prompt appearance.
"Alright, Now that everyone is here, we can begin!" Ashyr said as a rather informal beginning to the formal meeting. There was a reason why she brought Selene. Like Lord Sendath, Selene was Ashyr's public face. But unlike the Matron of Blackdawn who remained underground preparing their forces for the invasion, Ashyr was present and readily available so she had to be in attendance.
"Indeed," Selene agreed, looking to her father, who had agreed to act as scribe for the meeting. It was as simple as a spell for him; with a wave of his hand, a ghostly pen began to run across the paper in front of him. "The meeting has begun. Welcome, Lady Sorcha Morganach of Clachleom, to our temporary encampment. Duskhaven and her allies are interested in maintaining good relations with our neighbors. I understand both of us have better matters to attend to than fighting each other. What message do you have from your queen?"
The Clachleomite diplomat curtsied a bit. "It is simple, your worships. I am here to ascertain your intentions. Such a large gathering of military force is often a cause for worries, would you not say? We want to make sure that you are not intending an invasion, and also, to see as to your true intentions."
As she spoke, her own scribe, another lovely, improbably young, provocatively dressed noblewoman, also jotted down the notes.
Caleldir narrowed his eyes at the two. The scribe seemed... well, touched, as if she was more than she was pretending to be, but not even close to as much as the diplomat, who in addition to giving him odd, self-conscious glances, had an aura that was downright inhuman. Like... hmm... He glanced over at Dahlia in her Light-Elven disguise. Yeah. Like that. Dahlia met his eyes, and there was something of a quiet confirmation. But she put her finger to her lips, then covered the action by pretending to scratch an itch on her face.
"We are here to reconquer Deusterra," Lord Blackdawn said quietly. "My House has lived underneath the cursed realm since before the time of the curse, and we called in allied to assist with its final conquest and purification."