Sam gaped at Dart.
"Wh-" she started. Dart lifted up the strange weapon she held, leveling it more clearly at Sam's forehead. Sam gulped as loudly as she could. Even her tail was still. Then, suddenly, it started to lash side to side hard enough to cause tiny whip
cracks
in the air. She scowled at Dart. "You big freaking liar!"
Dart laughed. "You didn't even
try
to sense my motive, girl." She shrugged. "But to be fair, I am one of those sneaky people who tells truths inside of lies."
"So, what, no one stole the Apocalypse Stone?" Sam asked, stepping to the side. Dart stepped to the side to match her, her grin still wide, her eyes glinting.
"Oh, no, there is," Dart said. She reached into her belt pouch, then pulled out a small, sleek stone that looked like a chip of granite that had been chipped from some cliff-face. It was roughly the size of a human's thumb and looked so utterly mundane that Sam had to look at it twice to be sure she was actually
seeing
it. "It's just
I
stole it."
"That's the Apocalypse Stone?" Sam asked.
"Look again," Dart said. "Properly this time."
Sam bit his lip. She breathed in, then out, focusing her eyes - drawing up the spectral vision that allowed her to see ghosts. The Stone flickered and flared and then glowed like the sun, a searing hot spark held casually in Dart's fingers. It shivered with an aura that radiated outwards around her hand - causing her arm to ripple and flex. Sam felt the magical heat from it caress her body like a lover's hand. She shivered slightly - her tail pausing in mid lash.
"The nice thing about tiny podunk planes," Dart said, slipping the Stone away again. "They lack the
real
bigwigs. Your most powerful hero is a midlevel paladin who let himself get kakked by a firebolt - though I suppose since he's dead, you actually count as the most powerful hero and that's just
sad
. You've got no Avatars, no real dragons worthy of the name. Not even a Storm Titan to call your own." She shook her head. "Filching the Stone was easy as pie."
Sam didn't say anything. Dart opened her mouth - then stopped herself.
"Oh, ho, ho, not all Lawful Stupid, are we?" She asked. "You almost got me to monologue. I think, instead, I will shoot you." She hefted her strange weapon again. "It's been a peach, Sam."
"So, this was all part of your plan? Harp turning evil? Everything?" Sam asked.
"Fuck no," Dart said, laughing. "I'm
Chaotic
evil, honey. I've been improvising since that stupid unicorn let himself get beat up by a girl. Original plan was to let him beat you, swoop in to save the day, get your ever-dying gratitude, then trick you into being my own spell component. Good choice on banging the farmer, mind. Being a sword-chucking damage sponge doesn't prepare you for dealing with wizards: Spell components? They're
destroyed
when used. If I used your virginity to blast my way out of here, you'd have, well, exploded."
Sam scowled at her.
"Now, I'm going to take these diamonds, blow this joint, maybe buy a few rounds at the Burning Corpse Tavern in Sigil and then, oh, I don't know. Sell the Stone to the highest bidder?" She grinned, wickedly. "Maybe use it to form the basis for my own Demiplane. Oh, I like that. It'll make the Demiplane of Dread look like a pile of cra-"
And that was when the candelabra slammed into the back of Dart's head. The half-elf's eyes rolled up into her head and she faceplanted onto the ground, her strange weapon skittering away from her to come to a rest near the pile of gold that made up the left corner of the treasury. Standing behind her was Vela - the village headwoman looked like she had sprinted across the entire palace. She lowered the candelabra in her hands, gulping slightly.
"I think, uh, I dented it," she said, grinning slightly.
Floating beside her was Albus' ghost, his chest puffed up proudly.
"Albus!?" Sam asked. "How did he-"
"He knocked over every portrait between here and where I was hiding," Vela said at the same time Albus pontificated.
"I most cleverliciously endifercated a course for her to reach this localization!"
Sam shook her head. "And the guard?"
Vela coughed and hastily hid the candelabra behind her back - but before she did so, Sam noticed that the other side was dented as well, several of the prongs bent inwards. Vela blushed as Sam glared at her. "Hey!" she said. "It seemed like an emergency!"
The door to the treasury burst open and half the castle guards came storming in, swords and spears at the ready. Their armor clattered and clanked as they surged into the room, and their shouts overlapped one another: Halt! Freeze! Stand down! Have at thee! And then they all shut up as they saw Sam. Sam looked down at herself - and remembered that touching the royal gemstone's wards had stripped her disguise away. Her disguise included her clothes. She blinked a few times.
The guards gaped at her.
Then, in the corner, one of them whispered: "Nice."
The captain of the guards, though, pointed his sword at her. "SUCCUBI!"
"Ohboy," Sam whispered.
She stepped backwards as Vela hurried over to stand beside her, the guards advancing in a ragged line. Sam held up her hands. "Wait!" she called out.
"Silence the harlot," the captain of the guard shouted. One of the mage-warriors in their band started to chant, moving her hands carefully in her armor. Casting in armor tended to slow wizards down for reasons that Sam had
never
understood. But it still wasn't enough time for her to say more than the words 'Please' and 'Wa-' before the silence spell crashed down on her head. Her lips moved for a few more moments before she stopped herself, giving it up as a bad investment of her time.
Well, this is it,
she thought.
We're going to die.
Then, behind the line of guards, unnoticed and unremarked and (somehow) untrampled, Dart stood. Blood dripped down her back, slicking along her shoulders, and her eyes looked hazy and almost red with fury. She tottered from side to side and snarled. "That's it," she hissed. "No more Missus Nice Half-Elf."
Oh, no,
Sam thought.
NOW we are going to die.
She grabbed Vela and flung herself down, covering the other woman a moment before the fireball hissed from Dart's fingertip and Sam learned the difference between a fire