Dungeon Life Quest (DLQ) 87 -

>Let him go.

We need a moment. Hell, we need Lora. We've just been thoroughly violated in a number of ways. At least she'd get a break.

Are you really certain now is the time to ask Lora of all folks for emotional support? You do have friends, lovers, and a sister on hand.

Let me put this another way. What's the point in planning to make someone to come kill you, if you don't want to die?

From the phrasing, it was like the Chainholders were responsible for the dam. Which... they probably aren't excepting peripherally in ways they probably didn't anticipate.

Dick benefits from a big ass safety net. It lets him not worry about defenses and instead focus on his research. Knocking down his people, straining the availability of resources to the lower levels, and making him have to waste time with peacekeeping among the holders and planning defenses isn't a gain for him.

We might not have hindered Dick directly yet, but I don't doubt we're worrying him.

He knows we're a quasi-immortal necromancer, and that while he can slow us down, he can't stop us. Not really at this point.

The bigger question right now, is why he hasn't stepped in directly yet and either threatened or warned us off.

Also, what this user said.

Dick's been at this for years, and is probably nearing completion. Narratively, I'm assuming that means that basically means don't worry about it unless we get stuck in a slog somewhere because Vox is a pretty cool GM and wouldn't inflict an invisible timer on us.

... Also, the Wyrm's giving Oak a ride across the Mire. This simultaneously makes me wonder just how much of a clusterfuck the Mire is and why a Wyrm's letting a geargrinder ride him around.

Emotional support? No.

Commiserating the absolute misery of having been chumped by the most evil monsters we both know? Yeah.

Yeah, I understand what you're saying, I know they're winning by delaying us. I just can't stop finding it odd that two of the absolute worst shits and the most incompetent allies were at the top levels. Like you said, Dick has been doing this for decades and he managed to convince Death herself to be chained to him, convinced a dragon, a giant and a half-angel with godlike powers to join him.
It's asinine to think that during all this time he couldn't have found better allies than those two. You see where I'm coming from right? For a genius like him to do something this stupid it must have been on purpose, but why? From my vantage point it looks like he needed something to spark a conflict, as if the final steps of his plan relies on having an enemy to fight against him.

Do you think I'm putting too much thought into this? Maybe I'm giving him too much credit. The other way to see it is purely narrative and we simply needed two evil cartoon villains to make the players actually want to stay on track instead of killing the quest because we'd say fuck it and try to escape to the surface.

>Let him go

I am so fucking angry that the Librarian/Oak went the way we were all pretty much expecting, The fucking nerve, who do they think we are!

I wish to murder the Lush so bad right now it's not even funny.

>Let him go.
Hate him, but let him go.

Next time we sleep we need to have on hand: a flask of the finest alcohol we can find, fresh tobacco, and an urn of freshly brewed coffee.

Nothing but the best for Lora tonight.

> Hold him and send him to the Roost to stand trial.

Alternatively

> Mark him so that he can be spotted and targeted in battle as a Child killer. Maybe a bunch of little harpy feet carved into his body.

If we were the bad/fun kind of necromancer I would bind their souls to him and force him on a quest to appease them and help them pass on.

Cue a robot doing things baby harpies would find fun in order to be at peace. Meanwhile he slowly learns to love.

BUT THAT'LL NEVER HAPPEN WITH YOU MORALFAGS.

>> Let him go

Oak has been honourable, in the only ways a creature like him can be. Killing him now would not serve justice or strategy.

Called, writing.

"You going to be okay, crossing the Roost?" you ask, at last. "It'll be hard for you to deliver a message if the harpies kill you."

"I intend to cross through New Hell, where there is no grudge against me, and then into the Cornucopia, down through the Broken Jaw, and to the Sunless Sea," Oak admits. "...Lady la Croix, I meant no offense. I truly did not."

"That doesn't change anything, Oak. I can only hope you get to live long enough to understand why." You sigh, and shake your head. "Go. Get out of the Mine and go. Find a weapon on your way down. I'll send someone to Cannot Hold."

"As you wish. If my father, for some reason, refuses the terms we have agreed to, our envoy will inform your compatriots there. Be...well, Lady la Croix. My best wishes to you."

Oak bows, turns, and leaves.

"What now?" Amy asks.

"I get rip-roaring drunk and get some stuff around to share with Lora tonight," you tell her, flatly. "I want expensive whiskey, pricey tobacco, and the kind of coffee it takes me an hour to make. You know, the stuff that makes Nate moan."

Nate blushes. "On it," he says in a quiet voice. "Are you okay?"

"No," you answer, honestly. "But I'm going to deal with it instead of bottling it. Let's go back to the wake."

* * * *
youtube.com/watch?v=4lxINyZxbgU

You are Lora, called Azrael by humans, called Aphrael by the elves, named Elli by dwarfkind, called Death, the Arcadian, the First Singer, and 'my lonely daughter'.

This party has gone on for hours. You are bound in chains of blackened silver and rusty iron, with your arms and legs behind your back and your wings painfully restrained. You have your teeth clenched against the humiliation, the pain, but every man and woman who dares to use you comes away with a secret mark, a sigil inscribed in scars on their flesh that will show up to Brianna's death senses.

"Tell me what you are, angel," the Lush booms, with a laugh.

It is going to feel so good to kill them all. We need no pity here.

Orders are orders, and he gave this one so long ago. You remain silent as long as you can, holding your teeth shut, forcing the chain to compel you.

It hurts, so much. It hurts like burning and cutting all at once, like a knife twisting in your soul, but still you hold out, blocking out the scum between your legs, the hands on your body, the food piled up around you on the table, until the magic of the chain rips the words from your lips itself: "I am your whore."

The Lush laughs, heartily, and directs your attention to the kegs of his Drink. You can see your misery and fury being ripped from your soul, floating in a misty stream into the distillery where even now the giant's rakshasa make it into the vile brew that sustains and empowers his favorite pet.

"I think she likes it, boys," the giant booms. "Don't be shy!"

Next to the Lush is a soldier. You know his face and name well - Riley the General, commander of the Lush's forces. He won't look at you.

"This may be your last chance, my friend," the Lush tells him, clapping a massive hand on Riley's shoulder. "Are you certain you don't want to indulge?"

"I'm fine. Sir," the soldier adds, almost like an afterthought.

"All this time and you've never taken me up. You must touch her, at least. Go on!"

"Sir -"

"That was not a suggestion," the Lush says at last.

Bowing his head, Riley stands and trudges to the table where you are chained. You can hear the coarse chuckling all around you, but the man takes a cloth from his breast pocket and wipes, gently, at your face.

> "Help me," you whisper.
> Say nothing

AND

> Mark him
> Do not

>help me

>Do not

>> "Help me," you whisper.

>> Do not

>Say nothing

>Do not

where is everyone?

>> Say nothing
> Mark him

>> Say nothing (but give a look that says it instead)
>AND
>> Do not (at the moment, but mark him depending on if he does something worth it.)

> Say nothing, don't mark him

The Lush is probably watching for something like that.

Comcast.

>say nothing but maintain eye contact.
>do not mark him unless he really does something to deserve it.

>Librraian wants to secure a future for his children.

Does the fucker know Richard's going to ruin the universe? This is what happens when stupid people become villains.

He's betting on both of us. Richard wins, he goes into the new universe with him. Richard loses, his kids survive him outside the dungeon.

I think assuming you can make the jump, or that going to the same universe that at least two oathbreakers would be at (All things having gone to plan) is kinda a dumb decision.

Like even then, the Librarian has kinda made a tiperope out of a bridge.
If Oak wasn't told "Kill as many babies as you can to get this one girl" and we were just attending JACK's funeral and Oak said "Hey can you save these 600 innocent robots" and DIDNT make it super personal we'd have done it. Like a shot. Now it's like the only reason Brianna ISN'T going to simply slaughter them out of principle is because it's actually WRONG.

It's not thought out.

I'd say it's more like the Librarians assault didn't go as well as he hoped and now he feels we have better odds to win.

Also, something you should be familiar with, he apparently has robot autism.

First wow, second very astute.

Buuuuut IDK, I feel like this is more a taunt then a pacification attempt.
Plus autism doesn't necessarily go immediately to "aim for the children they run slower."

All I can assume is that as a chain holder he is compelled and more or less threatened to do certain things, which is why his children are being used as soldiers in the first place.

Or maybe he simply can't understand why these are causing such problems cause he doesn't get what "Nice" is.

> Say nothing

> Do not

>Say nothing
>Dont mark him

My logic is that if he DID something before being forced at starvepoint we'd have ALREADY marked him. And if you are being FORCED to rape someone, you are pretty much being raped yourself. He might not be as much a victim as we but still.

As for saying nothing, if he could or would help he would've by now. Don't make it worse for the two of you.

>Say nothing.
>Do not

>say nothing
>do not

>Say Nothing - but Show your Gratitude in a Glance.
>Do Not - but Smile Knowingly.

Better the Lush not hear anything we have to say. And making him afraid might give him a clue as to whose side he should be on.

Thank you for the pleasant dreams. Brianna is going to make the Lush suffer.

I have foreseen it.

Librarian may be a robot made by Dick so it's not like that'd have any choice in the matter.
Also Chain is probably his vital component.

Called, writing.

youtube.com/watch?v=TYFl1yBYTZA

You say nothing, no word that might betray you or attract even more of the Lush's attention, but you keep eye contact as Riley cleans your face and does his best to dry the wine (blessedly just wine, for now) from your hair.

He brushes a lock back behind your ear, and then goes to rejoin his master.

"Fine," the giant laughs, his statue face brimming with mirth. "Be that way, Riley. But she's yours for the night, to warm your bed, whether you like it or not. I /insist/."

You thrash against the chains in a fury, making the man between your legs yelp and shaking off the other officers in a rush of terror. They've seen what you can do when that wrath is unleashed.

"Ahh, she doesn't /like/ that idea," the Lush chuckles. He strides to the table and lifts you with a finger; he hooks it beneath the ring that binds your chains, just beneath your breasts. "Speak freely, my little dove."

"/Why/?" you spit. "She's coming for you now. All these years of torture, for /what purpose/? When I have my revenge -"

The giant laughs.

And laughs. And laughs.

"Your /revenge/?" he mocks. "I'm certain it will be /sweet/, Elli. But you will never escape me. I have lived like a /god/, like the savage kings of old, for all this time. I had Death Herself as my concubine to use as I pleased, to rent out to lonely souls like the Vintner or furious ones like Reeves. Look around you! Look at my servants, the opulence of my feast! Do you not feel their gratitude dripping from inside you, Elli?"

You spit in his face. He wipes it clean with a broad smile.

Oooh yeah he's totally getting an eternity of sensory deprivation.

"And now," he says triumphantly. "Now I am immortal. Now, for all of eternity, my face will haunt your thoughts, your dreams. Every lover's touch will have the shadow of /my/ fingers, every sweet nothing the whisper of /my/ voice. Have your revenge, angel! Take it! Glory in it! Scream my name over my broken corpse and know that when this world is nothing but cold ashes and the gods start anew you will still wake in cold sweats at the thought of /me/."

The Lush throws you, roughly, to Riley's feet. You can feel the bones of your wings cracking and snapping like twigs, though you do your best to swallow your outcry of pain.

"Serve him for the night. Warm his bed for me, angel," the Lush repeats. "Riley, ensure she is clean and presentable."

"...Yes, sir," Riley the General answers, sullenly. He produces the key to unlock your chains and leads you away, to his tent.

Other officers have taken farmhouses, or had their own built. Not Riley.

"I wish nothing of you," the soldier promises, as he opens the tent flap to let you inside. You slip in, holding back the tears of rage, of shame.

"I have orders," you whisper, hoarsely.

"If it is within your power to heat my bed with sorcery, I believe your orders are fulfilled," the General offers.

You blink. And then you gesture to his bed, infusing the blankets and mattress with a pleasant, soothing warmth.

"The bed is yours for the evening, once you have had the chance to relax, and to unwind." He sighs, heavily. "...You should not be treated this way."

"Why are you here, Riley the General, who will not touch me?" you ask, arresting his attempt to leave.

"...My master saved my life, and the lives of my family. He gave generously to help my father and mother start their own business and had me trained by the finest minds money could buy for him. Any favor was offered to him. My service was claimed." Riley sighs, and looks at you with guilt shadowing his eyes. "He is going to die."

Methinks he underestimates tthe duration of eternity. "You'll never escape me" is the usual line of someone who thinks he's fucked you over for the rest of your life. You can get over anything with enough time and care.

Eternity as a tortured soul is another matter entirely.

"Painfully," you agree. "And at great length. And he will have no rest, not in this world or any other. I will hound his miserable soul across all of time until it is worn to tatters and fly them from the gates of Arcadia as an example to my enemies, and even then, he will suffer."

"I cannot say that I regret it. He was a better man, once. This...this thing he's become, it bothers me. Elli -"

"Lora," you say softly. "You could use the human name, but I prefer Lora."

"Miss Lora," he says softly. "I realize it may seem...pointless...after all I've witnessed, now and in the days, and months, and years before, but I had intended on offering you your privacy, while you bathe. My guards can bring a tub and heated water, and a healer to see to your wing..."

> "...No. Stay."
> "Thank you. I will wait here for them."
> "There is someone I want you to meet. You will need to stay for that." (Introduce Riley to Bri)

Wait, can't Lora destroy souls?

> "There is someone I want you to meet. You will need to stay for that." (Introduce Riley to Bri)

An in! (Though Bri might not be too happy about it.)

She cannot. Reforging them is the closest thing. Souls are remarkably hard to destroy.

Sure - but he doesn't deserve that much mercy.

> "...No. Stay."

Personally I still don't trust him to betray the Lush.

> "...No. Stay."

We fucked a lot of dudes from necessity today. Let's bang one out of choice.

The Lush might order Riley to tell him what happens here. The Lush knows that Riley is sympathetic to Lora and will proabably ask as a precaution.

There is that.

On the other hand, he doesn't actually give a fuck.

>> "...No. Stay."
>You are leading your men to their own destruction. If you have any care for them, I ask that you consider surrender when the time comes.
>If not for yourself, for the people under your care.

Hope a bath plays out like in that oglaf comic, as unsexy as fuck

I need to hit bed. Votes remain open.

Questions, comments, discussion, feedback, and criticisms remain welcome and appreciated. I do hope folks are still having fun; this scene has been planned for awhile but it also ended up on the heels of Silence's wake and all. Are we looking forward to Part VIII? Has this been...I don't want to say tasteful but there's not another word. Respectful, perhaps.

Thank you all for reading and participating!

>> "There is someone I want you to meet. You will need to stay for that." (Introduce Riley to Bri)

What could go wrong!

Considering what she's just been through, it would be unsexy as fuck. Messes are messes.

If anyone is triggered by this scene they can suck my dick. It was fine, and we've known this was coming since thread 1.

user, I have friends and family that suffered this kind of abuse. Rather painful interviews were part of my research process for this. I asked about the depiction being /respectful/ for a reason.

You didn't make it grotesque or erotic or boring and dull. That's a success isn't it?

>>> "There is someone I want you to meet. You will need to stay for that." (Introduce Riley to Bri)

Speaking from experience, you did well.

>Have your revenge, angel! Take it! Glory in it! Scream my name over my broken corpse and know that when this world is nothing but cold ashes and the gods start anew you will still wake in cold sweats at the thought of /me/."

"Painfully," you agree. "And at great length. And he will have no rest, not in this world or any other. I will hound his miserable soul across all of time until it is worn to tatters and fly them from the gates of Arcadia as an example to my enemies, and even then, he will suffer."

While Lora deserves her just revenge in such a manner, the absolute worst thing you could do to a man such as the Lush would be nothing. Take his soul, stick it in a bottle and shove it in the void where the only thing he has is his own worthless self. Leave it there for as long as desired and if at some point Lora can unintentionally forget this man she will have crushed him in the most complete way everything he stood for.

>> "Thank you. I will wait here for them."
I want to trust the guy to show her Bri but I just can't. He's essentially oath bound to the guy and that's kinda hard to dismiss.

And while I don't see Lora needing the care, I'm curious as to what these people he would send in are like. It could show some of his character, or lack thereof, in the people he willingly consorts with.

Can I second this? Is it even a vote?
Fuck it Seconding

I mean, those people are coming in either way. She needs a healer and has been ordered to bathe.

Alright, but I'm gonna stick with my vote. I'm curious about the guy and kinda want to test him.

No worries, just wanted that to be clear.

I really am going to bed now.

God, it's like an R-18 Mommy Fortuna. "You'll always remember, I HELD you! There's my immortality, eh?"

Being stuck in her sword amounts to the same thing, I suspect.

That's what gets people who have everything else off the most. Stuff is just stuff, but leaving your stain on someones soul is forever to them.

>> "...No. Stay."

No, stay.
Seconding
I think in the sword he would still feel pain or something. Total isolation is worse after a while

Definitely this, though Brianna should try and help Lora move past vengeance to closure. Once we've put the bastard and his pet to the sword, we can begin to heal the damage he's done.

Also, Lora is /old/. Maybe not at first glance, but she's seen things few can imagine, aside from her kin and the Gods themselves. Creation itself. The birth of the Firstborn. The death of a God. The Lush? He's not worth even a footnote in the annals of history.

Y'know, honestly? Villains like the Lush never really have anything to offer, save for the shock, horror and outrage over their actions. He's not the Librarian, who is attempting to create a legacy in the Thirdborn, or was driven mad by visions of future wars like Natalia. He's just an asshole who managed to snag a position of power.

Been reading the other Dreamscarred stuff, and damn is it cool.

I would /kill/ to play with you, Vox.

What stuff? Got a link?

>> "There is someone I want you to meet. You will need to stay for that." (Introduce Riley to Bri)

giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?432004-Cool-Dreamscarred-Press-fiction!

Hmm, I'm not actually opposed to introducing Riley to Brianna. He seems like a good guy whose just trapped in a /very/ shitty situation.
> "There is someone I want you to meet. You will need to stay for that." (Introduce Riley to Bri)

This might even be our way to gank the Lush; he's secure in the knowledge that his subordinates fear the pain of his curse, or enjoy the luxuries he's supplied them with. He might not expect Riley to turn on him.
>"Et tu, Brutus?"

>>> "...No. Stay."
Given what Lush has been like, I don't actually trust the situation we've been put in. It's the perfect opportunity to bring Riley over to our side and glean knowledge from him, and Lush *should* know this based on Riley's actions in the past.

>Shadowrunning intensifies

We can try and prove him wrong about the making love part, though.

Thank ya.

Eh, he's obviously aware of Riley's behavior, but we can't afford to go in blind. We need the information that he can relay to us.

My only concern at this point is going in, killing the Lush (and his Taster, of course, can't have that thing running loose), and everyone getting out in one piece.

>We can try and prove him wrong about the making love part, though.
Please, no. Not after what Lora's been through.

I wouldn't be opposed to introducing Riley to Scribbles though. Seems like an okay chap.

Wait, I think I get it. The Lush might /deliberately/ have given Riley false-information, /knowing/ that the General might turncoat.

Jesus, I love and hate bad guys with brains.

>"...No. Stay."
Vox I have to commend you, I haven't hated a character in a quest this much in a long while.

We should not rush things, The Lush is smarter than probably any other foes we've encountered and this place is his wonderland, as much as I want him to suffer sooner rather than later, we need to play it smarter than him.

>> "There is someone I want you to meet. You will need to stay for that." (Introduce Riley to Bri)

>>> "There is someone I want you to meet. You will need to stay for that." (Introduce Riley to Bri)

Contemplating actually writing an interlude for the Lush.

A man lost to addictions and self-loathing, who was once perhaps not a good man but at least not a terrible one years ago, who became a beast of vice and hedonism. One more drink, one more sin, one more temptation, over the edge and over again to seek out the next great high. He knows what kind of creature he's become, and knows that he's been damned for a long time, so what's one blemish on his soul? Let them reap a terrible beast who has drunk his fill of this earth.

Death comes, and he has claimed a temporary immortality in his cruelty. He tells Lora of this, to try and convince himself that something of worth will be born from his vice, because he is desperate for any sort of hope or reassurance he can scrabble for to fill the gaping void that drinks and powders even now struggle to fill.

He sucks the bottle dry, desperate for one last high before the ultimate end.

Actually, the best thing Lora could do?

Shove him in her sword and nothing more. Not even consign him to sensory deprivation. Just take his soul and be done with him, and say so just once. That would be worse than even consigning him to sensory deprivation, because his whole desire is to have her focus on him. And if she doesn't, it's worse than raking him over any number of coals, destroying any number of pleasures, or cuasing him any distress.

It will eat at him forever that she didn't even give him a second thought. Even if she's faking it.

I'm up. Will call and write soon.

Something to consider.

>"And now," he says triumphantly. "Now I am immortal."

Shades of Mommy Fortuna.

>> "There is someone I want you to meet. You will need to stay for that." (Introduce Riley to Bri)

Bri should meet him. Whether simply to know that there is at least one decent man among the Lush's depraved minions, or to actually get him to work against his master (which, from the sounds of things, we could /really/ use right about now...)

Called, writing. Fairly narrow victory, all things told.

You shake your head, quietly. "I would like you to stay," you tell Riley. "There is someone I want you to meet. I appreciate your gesture for what it is, Riley, but...it is a little pointless. And I do not hate you."

"I...as you wish," he finally concedes. He steps out of the tent long enough to give his guards orders, which gives you the chance to clean yourself to an extent. Often the Lush forbids you to see to your own good for long stretches of time; he must want you presentable for his war.

You stop and grit your teeth against the rage. It won't do right now. It won't help.

Riley steps back inside. You can tell he's confused and trying not to show it, but his eyes stay on your face. You like that about him. His eyes are almost always on your face, or your wings when injuries have made them broken, useless things, not with pity but with sympathy.

"Hold this," you ask, stretching your undamaged wing. Cautiously, he does as you ask, letting you get the towel beneath it.

"Miss Lora -"

"Just Lora," you murmur. "Riley, you're leading your men to their deaths. You know this. Many of them deserve to die. They have followed their master into darkness."

"Some do not," Riley answers, sadly. "...I owe him my life. Everything I am, he created."

"You have a responsibility to your men," you answer. You twitch your wing, and he lets go. "They look to you for leadership. For guidance. Those that have chosen to follow your example, rather than that of the Lush, I have no grudge against them. Several were already saved, after a fashion, though I doubt they are enjoying the Warehouse's prison cells."

"...What are you asking me?" the General says at last.

You turn and take his chin, gently, while you search his eyes.

"Keep an open mind, when you meet my friend," you tell him, at last. You let go before the tent flap opens, admitting a pair of soldiers - a man and a woman, with identical red hair. Siblings, you'd guess, who are bearing the tub.

They nod to Riley, then to you, before they go to get the heated water to fill the tub. The woman offers you soap and, of all things, a fucking loofah. You can't help but crack a smile at it.

"It's mine," she says quietly. "I thought..."

"Thank you," you tell her. "I appreciate it."

You sink into the tub and let it soothe you, as much as it can. Riley stands in the middle of the tent, unsure and uncertain, until you beckon him over. He pulls a chair next to the tub and sits, eyes on your face.

"When do I meet this friend of yours?" he asks.

"When she summons me," you answer, simply. Soap and loofah are applied, vigorously; you may hate that you have to obey that beast, but it's hard to argue against feeling clean. Especially after -

You kill that train of thought, with furious force, and dunk your head to shake the wine from your hair.

"What is it you want?" you ask Riley, after you find your breath.

"...I want my master to surrender. To beg forgiveness and return to the man he once was. But what I want is immaterial. I will never have it."

"Then what else do you want?" you ask, looking up at him.

"I suppose a head start would be nice," he says with a wan smile. "So that I may flee when your wrath is unleashed and try to live a life that can make up for all I've seen without acting."

You pull yourself halfway from the tub, your eyes on his. You can see him straining not to look down, and it makes you smile, crooked and sad. "You mustn't run from anything immortal," you tell him, gently. "You will attract its attention."

He tenses, then melts, when you kiss him.

"Get your healer," you whisper, when you break away. "She's falling asleep soon."

Red in the cheeks, Riley goes.

When he comes back you've dried and clothed yourself. The healer is a mute man with a gentle touch, though nothing can make setting your wing hurt any less. You shake his hand, before he leaves, because he has been kind to you during your captivity here.

You pat the bed next to yourself, and Riley sits. He looks away when you give him a wry smile, as awkward as a boy in love.

"You remind me of someone I know," you tell him. "Which might not be fair to you, honestly. You aren't her."

"Fair to -"

He goes quiet when you wrap him in a wing and pull him close.

"Soon," you tell him. "I need you to remain calm. To not panic. We will come back to this bed when we are done, and I'd like you to stay in it."

"But - Miss Lora, I wouldn't dare -"

"If you give me the bed, it is not yours, and I have warmed nothing," you interrupt. "...I won't make promises. I can't make promises. But you can tell your master that I shared your bed, and he will be satisfied. I know you won't abuse my trust."

Riley nods, silently.

Then you feel the tug, the call to instruct your student and heir, your Heritor.

"Here we go," you tell Riley the General, who will not touch you.

You can only hope this pays off.

* * * *

You are Brianna la Croix, sober (though hopefully not for long), and you have brought finest whiskey, tobacco, and coffee to share with Lora.

She's brought a guest, a man in fine clothes, with short-cut black hair and eyes as blue as a summer sky. A scar marks him from his ear down his neck, where someone or something tried very hard to kill him.

"Riley," Lora begins. "This is Brianna la Croix. She intends to kill your master. Bri, this is Riley the General, commander of the Lush's forces."

> What do you say?

>Well.....I hope we have a little time then.
>Pack a pipe, and ask them if they'd prefer whiskey or coffee.
>Though it sounds like a coffee night.
>"I hope - I really, really hope - you might be here to help me. Because if not, I don't know what I'm going to do."

>Try not to stress out or explode.