After waiting for many long years, the Incubus King has launched a renewed assault on the continent of Arclent. Marauding orcs backed up by greedy succubi subvert and smash all the armies of the civilized nations, led from the front by the Incubus King himself and his fast, unstoppable dark power, unchallenged and overwhelming all defense wherever he goes-
-Until now.
Rather a lot of high powered dark and fire aspected magic is being flung across a battlefield already littered with craters and corpses, between two figures. One in a massive suit of ten foot high armor, supported not just by dark power, but also bursts of holy light and arcane preparations, spending them down to match the other-
-The other a smug, pale figure that, despite a smaller stature, going by the feel of this roiling, invasive magic, is clearly the stronger of the two. The energy and quantity of his spells is simply in an entirely superior class. Or so it seems.
When two massive powers of control and domination are directly opposing each other, the walls around reality are thinner than usual...
...And a third incredibly powerful force finds that she has stepped into an absolute clusterfuck. What the fuck is this. She's not even sure who to support, but if somebody shoots her, she's firing back.
"Who is THIS slut? What is it with you getting other people to do your work for you, Baby King?"
BOOM. ZZZZAP. CRASH.
(...He's off balance. Now is a good time to use it.)
From the dark armored figure comes a mighty burst of radiant purifying holy light, centered on his foe.
"Ow! What the fuck?? You forced a bunch of priestess sluts to make you a holy spell? That's cheating!"
"And not making enemies just because they're there," she adds, from an entirely different position, before blinking up and unleashing a beam of arcane force down upon this idiot's head, ideally pinning him in place for the other beam attack.
Why the hell is this guy calling everyone sluts, anyway?
"Okay, just for that, YOU'RE going to DIE, and she's going on the list of people to fuck to death, just like your harem!"
His dark magic surges up and up and up, bolts of it lashing out like lightning at both opponents. They'll both be thrown away and disoriented for a bit, no matter their defenses.
And then, having escaped for now, he begins running for one of his old hidden caches of corruption magic-
(-Gah!)
He looks up at the powerful stranger... And starts running.
..."THERE IS NO TIME TO EXPLAIN. HE MUST DIE."
Yeah no she's already moving before Spooky Armor can get a word in edgewise. That fucker is not getting away.
Blink. Shimmer. Death Grip. Frost Nova. Deep Freeze. Absolute Zero. And then, in sheer, icy fury, she tears open a rift to the Twisting Nether and subjects the idiot who threatened to rape her to death to a spell she had not thought she'd ever use, aligning Chaos and Light to ERADICATE.
"What the fuck, this is unfair, all I wanted was a fun little invasion. Fuck this, I'm going home!"
And with a surge of twisting darkness, he disappears Elsewhere through a hole in the fabric of reality, somewhere around 'frost nova'.
("...I don't know. She's not... Anything or anyone I recognize. But she's opposing the Incubus Emperor! That's probably a good thing, right?")
Goddammit get back here---!!!
Her magic spears into the closing rift, pouring an absurd amount of mana and will into dragging him right back through.
"Oh no you fucking don't! No running away!"
"Gyaaaah!"
Some lava and polished stone comes back along with him, along with a big gaudy throne.
Ugh, fine. What if he focuses all his corruptive power on her. A wave, no a tide, no a tsunami of dark magic designed specifically to control and dominate, channeled up at the interloper in desperate fury.
NO.
IT IS PERHAPS THE HARDEST THING HE HAS EVER DONE.
HIS POWER IS SO MUCH WEAKER. A HEARTH BEFORE A ROARING BONFIRE.
BUT IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE STRONG TO HAVE SOME EFFECT.
SHIELD. DEFLECT. HOLD OFF SOME SLIM PORTION OF THE INFLUENCE AND CONTROL WITH THE CERTAINTY THAT THIS ONE IS NOT YOURS.
Will tends to help with these kinds of things. As does mythic power in general. Still, it's a lot. To Alicia, the part of the surge of cloying purple-black energy shielding her rather than trying to dominate her still feels dark, and controlling... But also entirely different. Protective, not malicious. Dark velvet, not bloody iron.
She is an archmage. She is a Queen. She is one small part creator-god. She carries a piece of infinity inside her soul.
This petty, insipid tyrant does not have will strong enough to bend her.
Her eyes flare bright.
"If you're so keen on fucking, how about you GO FUCK YOURSELF!"
And with the burning strength of her hatred, she fires a piercing beam of force and heat and burning Light and twisting Chaos.
...
...
...He can resist a lot, but when the beam keeps burning, and keeps burning, and then the Doom King recovers enough to add his own (admittedly less destructive) attacks in as well...
The Incubus King of Arclent dies.
He walks forward and - takes something from the body - SMOTHERS the evil power of the dead asshole down, down, sealed away, quiesced -
"TO ALL THOSE WATCHING THESE EVENTS FROM AFAR. THE INCUBUS KING IS DEAD. THOSE WHO SUFFERED UNDER HIS THRALL. SURRENDER! STOP FIGHTING! LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS! CAST ASIDE YOUR SPELLS! THE ARMIES OF I, THE DOOM KING, WILL TREAT YOU WELL IF YOU DO SO! BUT IF YOU CONTINUE YOUR DEAD MASTER'S POINTLESS WAR, YOU WILL BE PUNISHED!"
Smile, you're on camera!
"I do not know what exactly it is that I have just stumbled into," she says while looking directly into the appropriate magical sensor, "but the Incubus King decided to make an irredeemable enemy of me merely for my unexpected presence." Her voice carries, despite being at a normal conversational volume.
"If he was even a tenth as awful to his kingdom, I implore you, cast him off. He is dead. There is nothing more to fear of him. And so long as you harm none, you have nothing to fear from me, as well.
"...To the forces who were already opposing the Incubus King. if I find out you have taken the excuse of this evil's removal to do something evil yourselves, like, say, not accepting surrenders, I will not be pleased with you.
"Don't make me find out just how displeased I'll be."
Oh there are LOTS of magical sensors. At least two dozen, with different characters and feels to them.
The armored figure, the 'Doom King', looks up to her. "...THERE IS MUCH THAT MUST BE DONE IN HASTE, TO PREVENT FOOLS FROM DESTROYING THEMSELVES. HOWEVER, I WILL SEND SOMEONE TO SPEAK TO YOU SOON."
("...Bring me to the HQ area. I'm- Exhausted from that fight, I need a short breather. Find out if any concentrations of orcs are still fighting. And tell Yarra's team her mission is obviated... But they should keep going. Just send someone back... Riala is the best for this I think. Send Riala to talk to her, everyone else is busy and the Doom King needs to go around accepting surrenders...")
The Doom King vanishes in a small swirl of purple energy.
Quick question. Can she do anything with Arclent standard comms spells reaching out to her? Some of these expect that the recipient knows how to grab on to and tether them, but others do not.
Because you have about ten of those reaching out to you right now.
"...Safe travels."
Why yes, she can. She is a fucking archmage. She can even catch them and put them all on mute for five seconds, while she says "There's a dozen comms you all have flung at me at once. Please state your name, affiliation, and purpose at the tone." She picks a direction at random and works her way around the list clockwise.
"Kanadra, royal mage of Gheldaron, seeking to congratulate and open diplomatic contact on behalf of the rightful queen of the elves. Respond at your leisure."
And the next one is from Delgharon, with a similar tone, also claiming to represent the rightful queen of the elves.
And the next one is from 'High Priestess Hester' offering to coordinate healing and refugee relief with her if she could use the assistance, on behalf of the church of Ivala.
And the next one is from 'High Priestess Annah', urging her to destroy the Doom King while he is weakened, there might not be another chance!
And the next one is from someone in Zirantia, offering her a place as an honored guest in the palace whenever she wishes in unctuous tones...
The next one just drops the link.
The next one also drops the link.
The next one frantically asks if she can protect them from the Ivalans, please, they don't want to be murdered just for being succubi!
The next one is from 'the inquisition' and informs her that there is much she does not know and stopping the fighting is premature.
And the last one is from someone with an overly fancy title offering her a large number of an unfamiliar currency and land and an estate if she will come north to Aram and aid the great nation during 'the latest troubles'.
"I would like to say that I take no position on who the rightful Queen of the elves is at this time," she says to the elves.
"High Priestess Hester, I believe you would be better suited coordinating relief efforts with someone who has actual logistics in place, but if I can assist, I will.
"High Priestess Annah, I will not be destroying someone who put himself at personal risk to protect me from that.... That, at this time.
"Zirantian envoy, I am regrettably too busy right now to visit your palace. If you have something important to speak to me about, call again later." She hangs that one up.
"...Are you in present danger?"
This line she leaves open, shifting it to her other ear.
"If there's something I don't know then you had best tell me, Inquisitor.
"Envoy of Aram, you do yourself no favors by talking around the 'current troubles'. Also, I am busy. Call back in an hour with a more detailed explanation of what exactly it is you want me to intervene in, but be aware that I am not going to go, say, crushing rebellions just because they're there."
The succubus caller is a little panicked but reports that... They aren't currently blasting at the wards anymore... But they're still really nervous and don't trust the offer of surrender that the Aramite army just gave them. Their commander gives them a bad vibe.
...The inquisition tells her that the Doom King probably just got a LOT stronger by taking the fallen Incubus King's power. Also, he previously conquered Yhilin, by the way. Be wary. Then they cut the call.
...Yeah, she thought it was probably something like that.
That or a Macguffin.
"...Deep breaths. As it happens, I am inclined to believe you when you say the Aramite commander gives you, as you say, 'a bad vibe'. Is there someone you know that you would trust with your surrender?"
They'd be happy to surrender to her. She watched Alicia repudiate and kill the Incubus King- That was so hot! The guy was a bastard, she won't get into details now, but... Or to the forces of the Doom King. Or Yhilin, which is the same thing.
She huffs a slightly amused breath at the 'that was so hot'. "Thank you. I'm glad you got to see it. I'm not capable of actually handling everything else that goes with surrendering right now, I don't have an army, so it can't be me, but I think I can get you a surrender to Yhilin. Give me five to fifteen minutes and stay on the line, alright? I've got you."
Doom King envoy, now's your cue?
Someone who is probably a succubus- Two meter wide black feathered wings, not pictured- Teleports in with a bunch of orcs in fairly respectable green-colored uniforms and armor. The orcs spread out and start gathering orc bodies into a pile.
"Hello! I am Riala, here to represent the Doom King. Let me just say- Thank you. Other than that... I imagine you have many questions, so I will listen more than I speak."
"Right now what I have is a panicked succubus who was under siege by Aram and would rather surrender to you. I will assist with the transportation logistics if you'd like. I am, I will admit, likely to have quite a few questions after that's dealt with. ...I have also been contacted by a High Priestess Hester of the church of Ivala who wanted to offer coordination in healing and refugee relief, though given the other High Priestess that told me to kill the Doom King - after he threw himself against that Incubus, who should not be accounted as a King whatsoever, to protect me, I most certainly shall not be doing that - I understand there may be a bit too much bad blood for that to work."
"...Hester is among the more reasonable Ivalan authorities. I will have someone reach out to her. Things are busy, we're prioritizing stopping ongoing combat. If you give me the link to this surrendering force I can forward her to our commander in the north, or possibly teleport in the remaining reserves to stabilize the area... If you wish to immediately help, orcs are really uncommonly resilient, some of these may still be alive and others might be salvageable in mostly recognizable form in an orc breeding vat if we hurry."
"...Yes, of course. I do want to note that you have the option to ask me to do strategic-scale teleportation, as well, though I probably wouldn't trust me further than I could throw me, were I in your shoes."
She unmutes herself from that link. "I've spoken with an envoy of the Doom King; she's asked me to pass your call to her so that she can put you in touch with their people or send some of their people to you."
Then she hands it over.
"I do also have the line to High Priestess Hester, still, if that would save time and magic."
"I have the link... Yes, this is workable. Unfortunately, I only have one and a half mental tracks at a time for non-sex purposes. I'm delegating contacts to Hester. It will be fine. And you're correct, you're a total unknown and it would be silly to trust you. But I wish to be as open with you as we can, so you may judge us by our deeds and not the words of others. Teleporting all orcs and myself to our major camp north of Merchant's Pass would be appreciated. The Doom King is currently busy being teleported across all fronts, to dominate orcs into standing down... Orcs influenced by the old Incubus King have instincts that overwhelm conscious desire, but the Doom King is the same type of being and can reverse it, to an extent."
"I don't immediately know where that camp is, but if you can give me a bearing...?"
She'll throw out a scry in the indicated direction, just to make extra sure she has it right, and when that's good, she'll start teleporting orcs. ...She's not entirely sure which ones to prioritize, but she can sort of step up the severity indications on her triage algorithms a bit and hope that that approximately works, if she can't get any better advice.
The teleportation flickers over the orcs in vast, interlocking spell circles and flares of purple - one by one by two by three as she really starts focusing on it properly, the fire in her eyes seeming to unfocus as she throws her attention into the working. (The thing about doing it piecewise like this, is that in addition to reducing the strain of teleporting a whole army, it allows her to rearrange the orcs in triage groups.)
(...A spare train of thought wonders how abstract the use of the sex-specific trains of thought Riala implied can get before they stop being available for things.)
The camp is clean and orderly! Except for the orc triage area. Lots of people rushing around! There's a beastfolk woman of some kind minding a dozen stinking car-sized cauldrons, dumping orcs in and out of them and doing magic, humming happily as she goes and muttering about gene lines and rare traits...
"I am glad I could help kill him. He was not a king worth the title."
She'll have to ask if the orcs can understand words more complicated than they are allowed/able to speak.
...Ah, a mad scientist. It's kind of impressive she knows that much about heredity.
"I'm listening in to the Doom King faction planning sessions... The old Incubus King's domain is going to need a lot of cleanup and reorganization. The tentative plan was to break it up into three new nations, balancing social and political concerns, none of which will directly answer to the Doom King... Merely that would know they owe their existence to him and receive extensive aid from him. The Doom King is uninterested in day to day governance and luxury. He mostly wants to be left alone, and without challengers. Your presence changes the optics somewhat. Originally we hoped to wear the fallen one down over enough different conflicts that he could be killed in single combat by an elite kill team, but as the kingslayer you also can easily be a kingmaker if you wish."
"I have ruled, before, but it was a duty, not a joy. So I really do understand where the Doom King is coming from, and I have no desire to interfere in the plans he has. He's had time to think them over, and what little sense I have of him... He seems like a good man*. Thrashing about would just get in the way of the most good for the most people. That said, if I can help, please do let me know."
*species-neutral
"I think we would appreciate the help. In particular, the Doom King's chief subordinate, Simon, would like to speak to you when things are less chaotic... I think your help will be most effective in places where the Doom King's is not welcome, such as Ardoheim and Aram. I'll get started on asking around about that."
...Something about that...
A message spell makes itself very intently known to Riala. It says, 'Assuming, for the moment, that I'm right about what I suspect, I think you need a much better title for Simon than chief subordinate, if you want to keep his identity separate from the Doom King in the long run. 'Chief subordinate' is far too awkward. Herald, perhaps? He does speak with the Doom King's voice, after all. But I pulled that one off the top of my head, you should actually think about it.'
'I'm not going to tell anyone, but in the spirit of transparency that you have met me with, you should know that I think I know something that you don't want me to know.'
Meanwhile, with her actual face, she says, "Yes, it does rather seem that way. I may have burned some bridges with Aram and Zirantia - Zirantia didn't even offer a substantive bribe, honestly it felt almost like they were trying to get into my pants, but they sure did want me to visit - but I don't think they'll turn their noses up at me out of spite. ...I did at least tell Aram to call me back, I suppose."
"Also, what on earth is going on with the elves?"
She doesn't respond to the hidden message at all!
"Zirantia is known to have that sort of tone in diplomatic messaging. It's... Prestigious there. If anything they would want to show off having the killer of the Incubus King visit to shore up the OZL party's support. Aram is far from unified, no matter the front they put up. They have suffered much and made it worse by overinvesting in the military... We're having both the Doom King and remaining Incubus forces retreat further, let them claim some wasteland and proclaim victory. That surrendering succubus and her forces are being teleported into the Chalice. Darghelon and Gheldaron can be ignored in the short term. They won't do anything, they bluster but also need each other."
"I see. I'll have to learn more about the parties of Zirantia before I go there, I think. And that seems a reasonable plan for Aram.
"...Don't know what or where the Chalice is, but I'm glad to hear she's out safe. She really seemed quite in a panic."
"She'll be fine, I think. A good woman, kept her band together and alive in a bad situation... The Fertile Chalice is the part of the Incubus King's domain that escaped becoming a wasteland. Supermajority succubus population, some orcs, they surrendered willingly to him in the early days and weren't ruined by conquest. What kinds of aid can you most easily provide?"
"...Insofar as I have a specialty, I have focused on spatial magic and artificiery. Teleportation, portals, expanded storages - enchanted to keep the weight down, obviously. I can conjure clean and lasting water, and semi-irreal food that does provide energy but is not particularly of lasting nutriment, in large quantities. Real food is harder but I have worked out a few enchantments, they just have rather less throughput and are rather specific. If there's an item with certain qualities that you need for some purpose, and a duplicate would be helpful, I can likely manage that.
"If there's an item you direly need but don't have, it's possible I could make something that performs whatever necessary functions, as well.
"It's likely that I could access wherever the... I will not dignify him with the title he did not deserve... Ran off to, at the moment. Magic that powerful leaves a mark."
"...Depends on the damage, and the souls, but so far, in this case I am going to believe that yes."
Her eyes flare with will, as her grip on her staff tightens.
"We've found, I think... A secret weapon. 'Unsuccubi'. Mutilated succubi on the same principles as Ardoheim's unpeople... Sex has been removed from their souls. For humans, this is tolerable, especially if they were the sort who wanted that. For succubi. It is not."
She's pale and tense as all hell.
Deep breath.
"Shall we?" And she transmits a direction and distance.
Here is a deep crypt, absolutely befouled with evil, blood, pain, and despair. A handful of succubi are around, torn between shock and trying to - do something -
-The things sealed deeper within, in little cells five to ten at a time, are howling in pain and rage, grey masses of twisted flesh, all wings and extra limbs and claws.
If you have magical senses for this sort of thing, it's even worse.
Riala closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
"He was worse than any of us thought... I haven't gotten your name, ma'am. But this is Iris, previously the chief of staff of the Incubus King. She worked miracles and endured abuse to... Minimize the damage he could do. It does not obviate past sins entirely, but I personally believe she can do much good, now."
"I absolutely would have betrayed him the moment I discovered this atrocity, even if I hadn't before. I just - I can't do anything about this. I don't have the right kind of magic. I don't have anything. I should have done a better job distracting him..."
"Alicia Thorn, I have fancy titles but we're not bothering with them right now because I am too busy damn well fixing this."
This cannot be borne. She refuses to permit it. She will tear the power to fix it from her own bones if she must, and in the strength of her conviction make herself whole.
These people are within the range of the law that is herself.
She strides forward into the crypt, the (different) staff that just appeared in her hand flaring a purple-yellow-green that blends to silver - the shift in approach because she's fairly sure that this is, for all that this was called differently, Spirit damage - the characteristics of the energy she's sensing are not the sort of Immutable Selfness that soulstuff is, and Azerosan-soul damage doesn't produce physical mutations -
She is not, technically, a shaman. But she has not worked and fought alongside one for more than a decade without picking some things up, and both raw power and reality distortion fields covereth a lot of little fiddly things.
...Firstly, to deal with whatever the absolute fuck that is before it can interrupt her while she's healing.
"The suffering... It is likely to manifest in tangible form when I try to get it out of the way so I can actually work without being disrupted by a hostile genius loci. And while I have time to say things instead of being busy fighting, Iris, you were a deep-cover double agent, stop beating yourself up about that. I have no doubt that you did everything you could and then some. Now. To arms! If anyone needs something that they do not presently have on them, or the Doom King wants to make a personal appearance, now's the time. We're about to be facing something very difficult to kill, and while I'm good at killing things, I have to drag it into reality in the first place."
"...I'm told you already saw past the pretense, and everyone else here is in on it. The Doom King is fake. I'm Simon. Nice to meet you. Robin, Riala, does what she's saying sound correct?"
"...There's a lot I don't understand about her magic. But as far as the succubi go... She's correct. Some of them can definitely be saved by drawing off the pain, but it will mainfest as a powerful pseudo-demon. I'm not sure about the ones where the transformation is already complete, though."
"...I can keep whatever manifests focused on us and shield her. That's all I can confidently say. This is beyond anything I've worked with before."
"Let's not waste any more time then. Sex magic will be useless, and my gut says... We want arcane magic, healing, and defense in the front line. Carina, Altina, Robin, and Hilstara. Usually, more than four people on a single target gets untenable in terms of interference and free movement, but the rest of us can support the front line with buffs and be on guard for any other unpleasant surprises."
"We already checked our gear and potions earlier today, before the battles... We're ready when you are, ma'am."
"Pleasure to meet you when we're not in pitched battle, Simon."
She'll begin.
This is a relatively simple working, in a sense.
Death, to pull the scattered echoes of pain together, and peel them free from the mass.
Order, to sieve through them and find who these fragments of Spirit are for, and to hold them steady as the fight continues.
Order guiding Light, to reunite them - once they are done.
Simple, however, does not necessarily mean easy. To do this will take power and control. (She's never been the load-bearing NPC for a boss fight before! It would almost be fun if it weren't for everything else!)
She takes a position on the edge, and summons her spell circles.
"...I have my own defenses, but let's try to avoid testing them. ...This isn't my raid, I do not need to give the schpiel and it would probably confuse everybody if I tried - but I will give you the status network. They'll be a bit more approximate than I'd like, but they'll work. If anyone has any Big Important Things they can't do very often, speak now and I'll cue the magic to notice." A series of spells sweeps over the assembled group, giving them an unobtrusive awareness of, well - the raid, and her 'store-brand DBM and Omen' predictive suite. "Hopefully the nature of the ritual I'm doing should pin the demon to at least the central circle while I sieve through it, but I don't actually know how your magic works either, so I make no guarantees.
"Beginning the ritual in 3, 2, 1, now."
And Death reaches out from the centerpoint and pulls.
Much could be said about the battle that ensues. But the author is, unfortunately, not really up for writing it out in more detail than this.
The mass of corrupted magic and pain lashes out with blind but devastating attacks, of such power that it seems like there might be a total wipe right from the beginning...
Multiple times, fighters go down in crumpled heaps.
And then he has a critical realization. "We don't need to win yet! Just buy time for Alicia to work! Buffs and heals! Don't be afraid to use potions!"
"Qum thinks this is very scary and friends might be in trouble if it doesn't get better very soon!"
And then back to dashing and jumping around, kissing people to revive and heal them.
It's becoming weaker, as time goes on, and the mass of recovered spirits/souls gets larger.
And while there's not all that much focus she has to spare, and less so as she has more soulstuff to hold, she does manage to occasionally freeze it in place.
Also, you can dodge. That is an option. This thing is pretty predictable, her algorithms think.
Look, re dodging: Some of us have AGI stats of 1, after the penalty for heavy armor. It just sucks that her MDF is lower than her DEF and this thing is going for magic damage.
He is shouting tactical adjustments the whole time, not slowing down the wild axe-swings at all.
...She has to stop casting Lance spells and start casting heals to keep things from spiraling out of control. A tense, tight expression. Get the job done.
She can't heal people and she can't damage this thing, it's immune to sex magic. Ugh, she hates niche fights that she's useless in. She can't even sling buffs. All she can do is blap at it ineffectually with her whip. Ughhhhhh. Die already.
No problem!
...Hey person blapping at it ineffectually with a whip, does this wand work?
Speaking of those, she gives a small smile as she continues thumping lightning bolt after lightning bolt through the air.
Wands: For When Your Best Option Is Swinging A Stick At Someone From Range!
This one goes vwhmm!
She thinks she's starting to see a...
"I think it's about to break up!"
That might mean phase 2, that might mean it's just dead, she hasn't figured that out yet!
Thankfully, this fight was not developed by Blizzard - there's not some second, Worse, phase lurking behind the silver mist torn out of the cracks. It's just dead. Consumed. Well, not really consumed, consumed, but nonetheless, gone.
The next part is going to be the tricky bit.
These pieces of soul remember their bodies. They can be directed appropriately. But actually mending the damage...
That requires one of the two forces that created Creation, and not the one she's most comfortable with. She's no priest. She's not a paladin either. But the Light does respond to conviction, and in this matter, she has plenty. And the theoretical grounding to actually realize it.
"Healers, if there's anything you can contribute to this part, please do, this is going to take a lot out of me to come back from and every little bit could make a difference in just how much. If it gets really bad, if I'm not responding at all, anything that encourages my body to remind me it exists, in a pleasant way, is likely to help. ...Please note that I am a nearly obligate lesbian if it comes to that."
"I don't expect it will be that bad but, best overprepare rather than be caught out."
She stands in the center of her circle, as a bunch of intangible purple lines trace from the centerpoint of the mass of unaligned Spirit to each and every 'Unsuccubus'.
She centers herself. This is abomination. This is positively blasphemy. This she will not bear. The correct state of the universe is one in which these pieces of spirit/soul are brought together with themselves.
"Everyone ready?"
"Cumdump thinks these sparklies are very pretty and sees how to add her sparklies to them to make it easier! Also will hug you!"
...That is certainly a name for someone to have, but right now she doesn't have time for surprise, or offense (on her behalf), or curiosity - she has a spell to cast.
Now. This situation is not, actually, exactly the same thing as a proper resurrection, which is why she believes she can make this work at all. But it is reuniting spirits with bodies, and that matters - not to the universe, but to her. So she calls it thus, and hopes her will will be enough, even as she flies far too close to oneness with the fundamental reality of her Creation for the sake of ill-done-by strangers.
These sparklies are not something she can touch right now but they are really pretty and she can kind of move them around with her sparklies and and and you do it thiiis way to make everyone feel all better and oh gosh this is hard-
"Simon, Simonette, Cute Elf, help! You need to help hold everything still so the wrongness can flip inside out again to rightness..."
The succubus victims, slowly, warp and shift from horrible twisted grey monsters back into - mostly - their natural forms.
They all carry scars. Patches of flesh that remain stubbornly grey and cracked and scarred. Permanent marks, often quite large, that will never really go away.
Lots of them are crying. Others are rushing in to provide extra healing and consolation.
She's very much dazed by the moment of transcendent harmony with the universe that she just experienced, as well as from trying to keep up with, either Qum or Cumdump...?'s introduction of an entirely new force into the dance, but she manages to smile and stumble into the nearest wall for support because she's currently a bit disconnected from limbs.
"I'm so glad that that worked. I'm not actually a priest. But then that wasn't actually a resurrection either, so it all cancels out into being totally fine, right? I think that sounds about right."
...Pink succubus hugs are very soft and warm, apparently.
"Oh, um, thank you, I don't know if I could have had as nearly good a result without you helping, um - you referred to yourself as 'Qum' once and 'Cumdump' another time, do you have a preference between those? But I just... Couldn't leave this like that."
"Cumdump is Cumdump. Names are hard. There are more bad things but this bad thing is gone!" Squish.
"You just saved hundreds of succubi, you know. You could ask any and every one of them for a kiss and I bet they'd be happy to grant it."
...She gently pets... Cumdump. Her internal monologue had better get used to it, that's what she wants to be called.
...'There are more bad things but this bad thing is gone.' "...Well said. And, honestly, yes, names are hard. I've had to come up with far too many - sometimes, I write things - and it's always awful."
"...I didn't save them for the prospect of sex, no matter that I do find such things enjoyable. I saved them because they deserved saving."
"It would honestly feel kind of odd to then 'get' sex from that, because - well, I wasn't raised around succubi to internalize any social norms that may apply, and mine say that it would be - implicitly coercive - but, I might be convinced."
"Ah, I see, more of these prudish human ways. From succubi that's about as obligation-coded as a hug or a bow. Well, I won't push, my ~king~ told me not to~."
She shrugs. "I'm certainly not going to refuse kisses freely given, and all that. I'm just not going to ask. ...I would not ask for any of those that are not freely given, actually. Or those mandated by protocol, despite my feelings on unearned deference - but these aren't my subjects, so that moots that quite neatly."
In that case, Yarra will slowly flap over and lean in and- If she still seems okay with it- Give Alicia a nice big kiss on the lips, her hands caressing likely spots for good measure. No pleasure magic, just a good kiss.
"There. Gift delivered."
"Not to be too much of a kill-joy... Yarra, Riala, Iris, do you think the other succubi here can handle consoling and caring for these rescuees? There's a war on. No new screaming emergencies have happened yet but it's always just a matter of time. Even with things collapsing with the Incubus Emperor's death, there are problems to manage, damage to minimize."
"-I should stay here, I think this was the only location holding unsuccubi but I want to be very very sure of that."
"And I should stay with her as well, as someone already sexually linked to you. It's obvious to succubi that I'm with the Doom King and if I am ordering the Incubus Emperor's famously competent chief of staff around, that impression matters."
She is blushing about it, but seems to have enjoyed the experience.
"Thank you, it was a very pleasant gift."
Ah. Yes. The several dozen other things that are also on fire. She knows that feeling far too well.
"...Right. Yes, what else is threatening to be on fire? Anything big and smoldering that throwing an outside context wizard at could possibly help?"
"Aram. They've been betting their whole country on a short victorious war and I don't think they'll stop just because the Incubus Emperor is dead. Things are going to be getting messy up there, mostly now-wild orcs vs Aramites."
She pinches the bridge of her nose exasperatedly.
"Of course they did. That's their troubles, huh? They tried to bribe me up there to deal with it not five minutes after the... I will not dignify him with a title that that tantruming brat of a power-mad fool did not deserve to hold... was dead."
"To be fair, they lost most of their farmland during the last big war. They haven't handled the crisis optimally, though, that's for certain."
"No they did not. Were this land more reliably connected to my own I could throw druids at the problem. Might be worth considering, but interdimensional portals are, ah... Not something one wants to do casually."
"I think I'll delegate the Aram front for now, things are more salvageable in Ardoheim. There are wild orcs rampaging, and the Doom King can... Corral them, and try to preserve our reputation in the south. Also, concentrating all our core personnel like this was a risk and I want to mitigate that quickly. I hope to have some long discussions with you later, Alicia, but for now- What do you intend to do?"
-Robin gasps, suddenly. "I'm hearing a report of another coup attempt in Yhilin! ...We left defenses and a garrison there, of course. It's not clear just how much... Hold on. Queen Janine says they're already responding, and things are fairly contained? The situation is confused. It sounds like an outsider force tried to rile up anti-succubus pogroms, but it pretty much failed... People are defending the succubi..."
"...It sounds like we can leave that to the forces already delegated as a rear guard." Simon smiles. "I'm glad we did so much to support integration, if public opinion has really come around that much."
"I honestly have no plans yet, I don't know anything to make any plans with yet. Get people and things where they need to be, probably. It's been proposed that I go do helpful things where the Doom King couldn't...?"
"Plausibly that's either Aram or Zirantia. Flip a coin? We're spending quite enough time talking, I've caught my breath."
She does, indeed, randomize it.
"Truly Random Randomizer says 1, so, Aram, I guess! ...Are there any geographically-convenient places no one bothers with that I could park an interdimensional portal and probably quite a few embassies on or am I just going to have to magic up something to park the portal on in the first place? Aram's problems really do want druids to solve on a structural level, and that probably means doing politics unless I find some conveniently restless Green or Grey druids in my back pocket... Preferably Green, they're better at soil remediation, Grey's moreso the druids you want if you're setting up a society in a cave with only some fungal spores... ...Modulo any of that magic working without me or someone like me glaring local reality into submission. ...I'm fairly sure that while there are some superficial similarities, your local metaphysics is not remotely similar."
"Not that I'm aware of. Probably there will be when we settle the Incubus King's domain... Actually. That should probably be very concerning, you did come out of nowhere. Are we about to have even worse problems? With - alternate physics? Presumably you would have said so, but..."
"...I can make no firm guarantees that there will not be problems yet but I have not yet directly observed anything that seems inherently a problem.
"...Keep it; I have others, and honestly if I'm reduced to waving wands at something these days, something's already gone horribly wrong."
He has acquired from Somewhere a Map.
"We really do need to move. Aram is this country. The main current lines of battle are here, and here. Hilstara and Aka will go retake command of the Doom King's forces in the region, try to keep things from getting too crazy. You might get somewhere talking to Aramite leaders, civilian or military. Healing, food, transportation... They had a nasty moment early in the fight, where they really believed faith would make the 'Divine Legion' invincible. It did not. I get the impression that there's not much central command, now."
"...Even when that is how that works, that's not how that works."
"Yeah. Okay. I'll be sticking around, then. Ugh."
Members of the impromptu raid start dispersing as green-uniformed humans arrive to teleport them away.
One of them asks if she needs a lift to Aram?
"Er... I don't operate by bearings, I operate by place-memories, so I don't have one for you. That I would trust, at least."
"...Ought to be workable, but I'd rather test that with something less than polity-to-polity transportation." She had thought for a moment that Simon had said they were in Aram, but clearly that wasn't what he'd meant.
She'll plant a beacon here, regardless.
"No, this is on the border mountains between the Chalice and the northern wastes. An even ninety degrees and six hundred miles would land you somewhere in Aram but probably not somewhere useful?"
"Yeah, probably not. I'm sure I could binary-search my way somewhere useful, but you're already here."
"The camp at Marnam, then. Last I checked, the closest thing to an Aramite command center, with inquisition agents and two legion commanders." He holds out a gloved hand.
And with a warbling, snapping sound... She is in a clearing in some twisted woods. There's the smell of smoke and the sound of distant fighting.
Oh my. That field hospital over there sure does have a lot of mixed critical injuries and corpses and exhausted attendants, mostly in red armor.
And that other field hospital has a lot of orcs in various poor condition. And the mad scientist has been relocated here.
...She's probably saving as many as possible? Not that you could tell from her nonchalant bored expression.
...nah, not bored, just autistic.
Well, probably bored-looking, but, this woman seems to very obviously have a special interest in orcs.
"What? Oh, those. None of them were very interesting material but prompt retrieval probably bumped the recovery rate from around forty percent to about seventy. I guess the concentration of clashing incubus king energy in them was a little interesting. Thank you!"
"Anyone in red is probably Aramite, ma'am," the teleport mage says. "And don't mind me. Just... Taking a breather. Lots of teleporting today. I'll just be here behind all these tough, disciplined orcs and not near trigger happy Aramites."
...Does she have...
She can offer him a mana potion. The regular kind, not the Special Reserve™ she's distilled for people in her statblock.
"That sounds like a good plan. Unfortunately I am afflicted with the insanity necessary to believe that going on Adventures is something I want to do with my life, and, well. Fixing Aram's mess needs doing, and doing promptly."
So off she goes thataways.
Flying under her own power as a flex and also because it is actually fun to do. (Don't worry, she has a parachute in case of emergency.)
He will accept a mana potion with grace! Hopefully it ends up doing the same thing as a local one.
Four unique NPCs leader-like figures are evident. A guy in fancier armor, reading reports and updating a map. A guy in a white face mask interrogating a soldier. A woman in nun-like garments, arguing loudly with a succubus... Who is also in nun-like garments?
"Are you with the Doom King? I will not let you sully the souls of good Aramite citizens with sex magic!"
"They can't be pure if they're DEAD! These superstitions might end up KILLING someone!"
"We have no imminent critical cases! We are recovering our mana and will handle healing internally. We do not fucking trust you. Either of you!"
"I'm just trying to help!"
Silence, those two.
"...For fuck's sake will the two of you agree that people being healed is better than not that.
"Commander. I was actually invited to help, though I don't know if you'd have seen why that was. Would you mind if I confirmed that your present condition is as you've said so that these gentlebeings might go where they are needed?"
Release.
