A Faraway Victory

[Ebiris]

Alicia coughs delicately into her hand. "Please show some consideration for our good friend Seira, will you? I'm sure there's some degree of shapeshifting going on with either side anyway."

A beat.

"Probably."

[Anastasia]

Syala turns to you, starting to say something. Her lips twitch, a look of annoying twisting in between, giving way as laughter comes. "Alicia!" she gasps out, throwing her head back and laughing.

Jessica blushes and shakes her head, "What do you mean, probably!? I mean, look at the relative sizes there!"

[Ebiris]

"And once more we're lucky that Marie and Antenora aren't here..." Alicia says, looking at the wall rather than at Jessica and Syala. "So... anyway. You didn't get into the inner keep?" she tries to reign things back in.

[Anastasia]

Amid Syala's slowly ebbing laughter, Jessica clears her throat. "Ahem. I didn't quite, no. Senses grow sharper and sharper as you get closer. That's how I had to retreat. It reminds me of sensual blessing, but it's more focused. Near the end, I felt as if I could feel the breath I took going throughout my entire body."

"Did it feel good?" Syala asks, "I'd expect that for the work of a succubus princess."

"It did," Jessica clears her throat, "Not...romantically, but it was like taking a cold, clear breath, the first after stepping outside after a long day in the forges. I could feel it refresh and cool my body, and then exhaling was like cleansing everything within."

[Ebiris]

"It sounds like an interesting effect, I'd like to examine the magic while we're there," Alicia says. "It could be useful for guard-posts and watch-towers."

[Anastasia]

"Granted," Syala agrees, "But what does this tell us about the purpose of this? If the dragons and the succubus are keeping their beds warm, and you already have mutations? Are they trying to breed new and freakish creatures? Encouraging mutations in the plane of uncontrolled chaos?" Her scowl deepens, "Birth twisted abominations that can be indoctrinated into the ways of the demons?"

"It may be, but I didn't see any sort of creche or nursery," Jessica shakes her head, "Though my search was hardly exhaustive. The thought crossed my mind there, so I kept an eye open." Her voice grows quieter, "I recall the story of the bloated succubus sister battled. I do not put it past succubus to profane the most sacred part of womanhood for perverse gain."

[Ebiris]

"Plenty of room for things in caverns below, like you said," Alicia says, a look of distaste on her face as she recalls that particular fight. "Could be just that. Hmm. Earth elementals I don't know, they're good for defending a place like that from attacks through the rock though. Githzerai are a psionic race which she may be cultivating. Slaad are... well, they're slaad and don't so much breed as implant eggs into things to make more slaad. We won't really know until we go there and clear the place out. Anything else of note that you saw, Jessica?"

[Anastasia]

"The defenses to get out are tough," Jessica says, "First of all, it's hard to leave. Those enhanced sensations are addicting. I had to marshal my willpower to do so. Secondly, I found a side effect. I was making more noise than I wanted to. I needed to hear more, it gave away my position, and combined with good spotters, I had to fight my way out," Jessica explains. "I wanted that sense of sensation, of the sheer depths of the sounds I heard within."

Syala rises, a faint pulse of magic pushing through Jessica. "Does that help? It's a spell to break addictions."

"Ah. Yes, thank you, Syala." Jessica exhales deep and then smiles, "It was fading, but that took care of some tenseness I wasn't really aware of."

[Ebiris]

"That's concerning, and definitely makes it less desirable a spell to have for spotters," Alicia says. "How long did it take to start affecting you like that?"

[Anastasia]

"As I went deeper, it got more," Jessica says, "It was natural, I didn't suspect anything at all at the time."

[Ebiris]

"We can dispel as we go, or take other countermeasures then," Alicia says. "Syala, anything you want to cover?"

[Anastasia]

"Whomever is enchanting this place is good. That gravity defense and this sense enhancing with addiction's very skilled magic," Syala agrees. "We may need to brute force things at times."

[Ebiris]

"Radiant sisters are no slouches when it comes to magic, though it's possible she has a mage on hand that's doing it for her. Maybe for the gravity, but the sensory spell sounds on theme for what I know of Jade," Alicia says. "So it's most likely her doing her own work."

[Anastasia]

At that, you sense it. A subtle thing yet obvious to you.

Marie is back.

[Ebiris]

"Oh, that was fast," Alicia says, standing up. "Marie just arrived through the Felic Ga- and she just teleported to Liberton." Alicia takes a moment to tell Antenora the news and tell Marie where they are in particular.

It actually takes a moment for Marie to arrive, having detoured to her and Antenora's room to pick something up. Then the door opens and a beautiful elven looking woman glides in, a dress of shimmering starlight clinging to her lithe frame, radiant purple hair falling bouncily off her shoulders, her bright blue eyes alight with cheer. "I'm back!" she carols in a voice like music. "And oh, Mystra had such things to show me!" she does a melodramatic swoon over Alicia's seat. "So did I miss much? Did you miss me?"