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 118: Petition
Mizrae stared at the spot where the nymph demigoddess had been. After a long time, she blinked her crimson eyes, shook her head, and let out a long breath. "I am not sure how I saw that going," she admitted. "But that was not within my expectations."
"I do not know if we can, or should, trust this 'Amethelia'," Elerra replied. "She seemed off. Very strange. And the bargain she offered! I have heard incubi offering less damning deals."
"Seems we were greatly blessed!" Laele said happily. "Her offer was the opposite of damning. It seemed like offering salvation. I think that following Ellistraea will prove to be much more profitable than following Lolth. Besides, we already agreed. I don't think we can back out now. Not with a being of her power. It's foolish to back out of fae bargains."
"I know. We are going to have to go through with it." Mizrae looked glum. "But the price she is asking. Not the thing about the 'stone, bloom, metal, story, song, dance, laughter, tears, anger, dream, desire, and memory'. That is all payable. If she was saying we had to give up our ability to laugh, for instance, that would be steep. But, the way she said it, I am fairly sure she wants us to make her laugh. Then cry. Then get angry." She sighed. "So, that is all doable. It is the idea that this bargain will change us fundamentally that I am not sure that I am pleased about. Giving up the ability to deceive? That is a painful price."
"I don't think it'll be that painful," Laele shot back. The servant drow was getting much bolder in the face of her former betters. After all, she had stood strong in the face of a demigoddess, and they had not. "Will deception really serve us as daughters of the Queen of Moonlight? It served us as daughters of the Spider Queen, but what did serving the Spider Queen ever get us? We lost everything to a cave-in that she was powerless to prevent. And we only survived because our new Mother saved us! We're all Dark Elves now. We need to stop thinking like drow, and start being dark elves! And dark elves may be vague and cryptic, but they are not deceptive."
"We are starting our time as 'dark elves' with a deception, though," Elerra said glumly. "If... if you are right, then should we not call off the whole thing?"
Laele hesitated. Mizrae spoke first, cutting her off. "As your old servant has said: we cannot. We already took her hand. If she had been a common nymph, we could back out now. But she is not. She is a demigoddess. If we try to abandon our bargain with her now, who knows what she will do to us? Besides, even if we could back out, that still leaves us vulnerable to the disappearances. And without Houses. House Asegi is no more. I am the only member remaining. I have no kin, no lands, no money, no servants. And I refuse to be something worse than a commoner: a noble with nothing but the ghost of her forgotten nobility. I would rather be the least member of Duskhaven than that. So, though I am afraid of this bargain - afraid of what it will do to me, afraid of what I will become - I have to go through with it.
The two nobles looked glum, while the servant looked surprised and pensive. Then, Mizrae shivered again. "By the Spider Queen! I have never spoken that openly in my life on anything!" She looked at her companions, attempting to seem haughty, but failing and instead looking shy and vulnerable. "The magic of the bargain has to have already started. We... we are losing the ability to deceive. It... it feels nice to tell the truth. I feel a weight off of me."
There was another silence. Elerra looked as if she was going to speak but then did not. So, after a few minutes, while the moon traveled towards the horizon, Mizrae broke the silence. "We are determined to go forward, then. So! We need to figure out how we are going to pay her. First: the payment of the Body."
"She asked for a stone, a bloom, and some metal, right?" Elerra cocked her head. "I have a golden hairpin I can contribute for the metal."
"And I have a small sapphire ring I can give for the stone," Mizrae added.
Laele hesitated, looking around. She smiled, shaking her head, and walked over to a rose bush. She picked three roses. "There. A bloom," she said simply.
The two nobles looked at her. Elerra seemed to be about to protest, but she stopped. Mizrae spoke instead. "Looks like that will work," she said slowly. "So... the Mind."
"The songs and stories I know are mostly about things I think would offend Lady Amethelia," Elerra said glumly. "But I can dance for her."
"I know a few songs about cleaning?" Laele suggested.
"Then I should tell the story," Mizrae mused. "She is a nymph, so I will tell her some story about sex. That does it for the Mind. Now, the Spirit. We need to provide Laughter, Tears, and Anger."
"Those seem much more difficult," Elerra admitted. "Do we need to laugh, cry, and get angry? Or make her laugh, cry, and get angry?"
"The latter," Mizrae said after a moment of hesitation.
"We could probably make her angry or sad with a traditional drow joke," Laele offered helpfully. "I don't know how to make her laugh, though."
"Well, I will try to think of something to make her laugh," Mizrae decided. "Elerra, try to make her angry. Laele, try to make her sad. Which brings us to the payment of Soul: dream, desire, and memory."
"I think that she wants us to tell her about our dreams, desires, and memories," Elerra suggested. "Unless... she wants to take a dream, a desire, and a memory straight from our minds."
That idea gave the three pause, which led to a long conversation as to which would potentially give up each. None of them wanted to give up any of their dreams or desires, but in the end, Mizrae decided to give up a desire, Elerra a dream, and Laele a memory.