Trapped No More
"There's some kind of a mage tower a little to the west here," Leilah reported the next afternoon as she returned from a scouting trip. "Or what's left of it. It looks like an explosion took out half of it and it doesn't look anyone or anything has been there for a long time."
Zalen scratched his chin.
"It might be worth checking it out. There might be a spellbook or something hidden in there."
"I'll come with you," Leilah replied.
"It might be better if you wait here. If a spell gone wrong took out the tower there might be flows of wild magic inside. I can sense them and avoid them but I can't necessarily protect you as well. But I'll call for help if I find something dangerous."
Leilah looked doubtful for a moment but then nodded. "We'll come look for you if you take too long."
Leilah's description turned out be very accurate. The building on top of the small hill did look like it had belonged to a mage. At least until an explosion of some kind had blown through the south wall. With the support gone the top had then collapsed. The bottom level was still partly intact though and Zalen could see a door on that side.
The inside looked barely better. Based on the scorch marks there had probably been some kind of a spell battle once but based on how overgrown everything was it had probably taken place five, maybe ten years ago.
Long ago enough that the tower had been looted afterwards, probably several times.
Zalen sat down on a corner of what had once been a wide bench. What could have caused this kind of destruction? An experiment gone wrong, unleashing some kind of a monster? An enemy warlock assaulting an inconvenient nemesis?
Well, even if the place looked looted, there might still be something magical hidden away somewhere. And if there was, the best way to start was a spell to detect magic.
Quite a bit later he had systematically gone through the whole place. And all he'd found was a huge load of nothing.
Even the well-hidden cellar had been emptied of anything useful. Except - why was the detection spell
wavering
near that wall?
Zalen cast a different detection spell that was better suited for natural magical phenomena.
And yes, there was some kind of a magical vortex there. And - some kind of sound?
He did an invocation to amplify all sounds nearby, then stopped to listen again.
"Help!"
The voice had been faint but Zalen was definitely sure he had heard it.
"Where are you?"
"Trapped... here..."
Zalen walked closer to the spell vortex. The voice had come from that direction, that much he could tell.
Staring at the whirling shape long enough with the help of the detection magic he could just about make out something - a humanoid figure? It was constantly fading in and out of existence so he could not really make out any details though.
"Umm, who are you?"
"I'm... a succubus."
"And how did you manage to get stuck in there?"
The disembodied demoness let out a long sigh.
"I was originally summoned on this plane... twelve years ago by a warlock to be his sex slave. Not that unusual... and I had fun.
But the warlock also had an apprentice who couldn't keep... her eyes away from me. I would never turn down sex and so... we soon ended up in bed. When the warlock finally found out..."
The voice let out another long sigh. "The master and student had a huge... spell battle. A few spells went out of control... and the result was two dead warlocks and me trapped... in this spell vortex.
And here I've been ever since. Someone from this plane... could just walk away and a stronger demon... could just clear the vortex. Me... I can do neither."
Zalen scratched his beard.
"Well, a succubus or not, it wouldn't be right to leave you stuck like that. Let's see now..."
He hit the vortex trap with a strong dispel. The vortex began to wobble - and suddenly fell apart.
The succubus blinked fully into existence and fell flat on the ground. She had a dark red skin, a tail and two small horns mostly hidden by her hair. She was fully naked.
"Twelve years. It's a horribly long time to be trapped like that," Zalen noted.
"Yeah," the demoness replied in a weak voice. "And all because I love sex."
"At least you didn't have to wait hundreds of years to be freed like Vivariel did."
"Oh? Who is she?"
"The Veiled Rose. The Goddess of Sex I follow and who we managed to free from an ancient trap."
"A human goddess?"
"Well... I'm not sure you can call her that. She already has followers from at least three races. And she pretty much said that anyone who loves sex and loves giving pleasure is welcome, no matter the race."
The succubus stared at Zalen. "Even... one of us?"
"Well, yes. I've met her and she did say absolutely anyone."
The succubus shook her head and laughed. "Hard to believe there'd be such a goddess. I'm sick and tired of the Demon Lords but for some reason the divine beings are never very inclusive. The God of Partying, Revelries and Orgies? Sorry, just for Western Elves. The Goddess of Love and Pleasure? Oh, it's actually the Dwarven Goddess. Sex may be free but the worship apparently isn't. But you're saying Vivariel would welcome even me?"
