#the elf girl reacting to the Ogre with

[samusaran221]

Guys, I hate to say it but Dragon Age 4 is giving “he’s right behind me.. isn’t he??” Marvel-esque dialogue

[auggie-beaniessssss]

Cancelled Episode 13 "Frozen heart"

"Yo mama so ugly, when I asked Chatgpt to write up a code that translates to Shrek doing her, it responded with "I am sorry, but that is ogre abuse. To ask Shrek to do such an ugly woman"."

-yo mama jokes series

"You're...the target," Erik admits our entire plan and motive to THE TARGET. WHY THANK YOU MASTER, AS IF THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT NEEDED EXPLAINING.

"Well, I don't think I need much explaining, now, rather, it's you intruders who harm my Oxygenium, and..." she stops her sentence midway and turns her eyes to fix her gaze upon...Snowball. That man, those goddamned Moonshadow Elves, always bringing trouble to people!

Although...I guess the same could be said for many of us in this cage here...

Well, there's no time to talk! The girl is plunging at us with her spear now, desiring to attack and stab us all in the heart with it like we're some bloodthirsty vampires. The fox is now either a cowardly mess, or simply an onwatcher, watching from the darkness of the shadows, not caring to intefere.

I ready my weapon and prepare to attack. Well, looks like I'm late to the party-from the moment the girl noticed the Moonshadow Elf ears of Snowball's.

Here she comes! I raise my sword defensively, preparing to parry her attacks...BUT OF COURSE, SHE GOES FOR SNOWBALL FIRST. I MEAN, I GUESS I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.

But luckily, as insufferable as a Moonshadow Elf he is, he's not entirely useless, and immediately parried her blow-and even better, directed it towards the lock.

Now, I don't know how, I don't know how but one way or another, the seal on the lock that was supposed to withstand magic...broke and released us! Hooray for the Moonshadow Elf, I guess!

Then the lock burst open and exploded, creating a field of smoke. The perfect smokescreen. Of course it sent both ally and enemy forces stumbling back, but we have the strength in numbers, and quickly got back on our feet before the enemy team recovered from the shock.

She's still lying there, but we all know it's only a few seconds before she regains her senses. But that's ok-a few seconds is all we need to gain the upper hand.

Nemean rushes to seize her-a fatal mistake. He grabs his weapon a split second too late and-is now the one seized by the girl.

Well the spear is gone, now it's a gun. Where she got that from, I have no idea. What's important now is that she's holding a gun towards Nemean's head while grabbing him by the neck, SHE'S HOLDING HIM AT GUNPOINT. MY GOD.

And really, it's only now that the explosion messed up her cloak st we get to see her true face-angel horns on one half and demon horns on the other. Angel wings on one half and demon wings on another. And most importantly-a weird aura is emanating from her hand. It looks...ingested with some poisonous, toxic dark, ominous, liquid, like it's hijacked her veins and replaced her blood with it-actually, no, the hand doesn't look like it belongs on her, considering it's on the angel side of her, maybe it hijacked her hand and took it over by force? Merged with her own hand? Who knows.

"Stop! Step back! Or the man gets it!" She shouts defensively while flailing her gun desperately at us. Clearly someone's first time taking hostages, eh.

"Ok, ok, just don't harm him, we'll put our weapons down," Disparage signals to the team to "surrender".

We all put up our hands in the air and lower our weapons down on the floor slowly.

"This is ridiculous, NEMEAN! JUST CONCENTRATE AND USE YOUR MOONSHADOW ELF POWER!" Snowball shouted from across the den, before conjuring a spout of magic from weird finger movements and shooting it at Nemean.

YOU ARE RIDICULOUS, YOU GOSHDARN MOONSHADOW ELF! WHAT DID YOU SHOOT AT NEMEAN-WAIT. DID I HEAR THAT CORRECTLY. IS...IS NEMEAN...A...A...MOONSHADOW ELF?

Well, mainly that's part of the reason why they failed in their rebellion.

Before anyone and certainly not the girl has time to react, Nemean summons a bout of strong energy that is undoubtedly Moonshadow Elf. Just confirmed my deepest fears right there, well done, kid.

Anyway, the girl is knocked down by his bout of energy, but that certainly doesn't knock her out of the playing field yet. She's up and about in just a few seconds.

But this time she doesn't take us lightly. First, she retreats into the darkness, but of course, in the darkness where we can't see anything, it's the best place to ambush, so we keep our guards up.

Then an unbelievable thing happened. She whistled and called to the fox, who then, from his watchtower of uninteference, rushed to her side, and MERGED WITH HER. LIKE STRAIGHT-ON JUST FUSED TOGETHER AS ONE.

Then they started to burn with lots of heat, like they were being lit on fire. Then from the darkness came her final fox transformation(a rather stark contrast from the fire)-A WATER PRINCESS.

Well, she looks completely different now-angel and demon wings and horns still present, of course, and the black toxic substance blood hand is still there, but now she's even grown fox ears and a fox tail. Her previous dakr cloak is gone, now-she's grown a water dress that creates the illusion of water splashing down. A waterfall illusion, even.

Regardless, she's too dangerous to be left alive.

So, of course, we engage her with all our might.

I summon my sword and charge it with magical energy before letting out a strong and powerful attack surge, temporarily stunning the girl.

Nemean is doing his classic suspiciously Moonshadow Elf attacks and movements. He really isn't even bothering to hide it anymore now that it's been revealed what he really is, I guess. Eh, suit himself.

Erik is playing a flute quite a safe distance away while the rest of us are risking our lives to neutralise the girl. Playing a flute in hopes of some magic happening. Really befitting of the title of "Angel of Music", really. Well, the flute music did help to paralyse her a little, but that's beside the point.

And the girl isn't the only one undergoing a magical transformation too. Disparage has already sprouted some very suspicious Tengu wings, horns and claws. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, completely human all the same.

What's scary about him now, though, is that his eyes are glowing bright purple-the colour of Tengu legends. An emotionless look on his face, same as the eyes of the fox water girl now. Like they're both mindless killing machines once they transform. Well, I'm not complaining-he does wield immense Tengu power and abilities and can strike powerful attacks, so why would I complain?

"You know, Alex, you're kinda like your Master, both disfigured as hell, immature yet know when to be serious, I like you!" Snowball whispered to me halfway during the fight.

"Well and for a second there I thought I could just forget my own shortcomings until you came along. Nemean has shortcomings of his own, being his vanishing, right? Why do you approach him? Because you're interested in him too?" I answer violently while kicking away the girl's water attacks.

To that Snowball says nothing. Again confirming my deepest fears. Thank you ever so much.

Well, I prepare to charge up a sudden, strong bout of shadow and light energy to attack, because clearly normal physical attacks aren't gonna be enough...maybe, because there are so many of us, she's distracted enough that I have the element of surprise...

And then suddenly-a peculiar thing happens. The magic attacks I charged up in my hand and sword just diffused and lost power. Like it was a burning, raging fire, and someone just doused an entire bucket of water over it.

Before I could even react, my whole body was seized by a sudden bout of pain-particularly my heart. I collapsed over in shock, clenching my heart like I was in a play dramatically acting out heartbreak.

But this pain was so real. It was so intense and unlike any other. My heart kept pumping so fast, with each beat came another bout of pain. I felt like I couldn't breathe, either-like someone had laid a heavy stone on my lungs, pressing against it and preventing it from inflating with air.

I struggled to breathe. I gasped for breath. I could feel beads of sweat trickling down my forehead. This was definitely something life-threatening....but what the hell was it?

By this time, it's clear that everyone has stopped the fight upon seeing me in this state. Not even the girl took this opportunity to ambush us while in shock.

Then she un-transformed from her fox water form, splitting her body into two-then, with another burst of fire, reverted back to the separate fox and girl bodies.

Then she placed her hand (yes, the hand with the weird black toxic substance blood) on my heart and just WHOOSH! Sucked some strange black substance out of my heart. And finally the pain stopped and I could breathe normally again.

"What...the hell was that?" Erik asked in a tone of disbelief.

"Well, you all know what Kineticores are, right? Orbs that grant humans kinesis powers, granted by the Dragon Lord to leverage the playing field between other supernatural beings...but what you don't know is that those are surveillance cameras put in place by him to monitor ya'll, exploding to kill ya'll whenever he deems you a threat to his rule. They're basically ticking time bombs in your heart,"

[raevylle]

Chapter 5: Broken Deals - part 1

Session 5 - 09/02/2020 In-game date: September 7th, 36 TE. The orange beams of the ever-dawn reached out above the mist. In Avarra the sun never shone brighter than the dawn light, nor did the sun ever appear on the horizon. The thick knee-high mist started rolling into the forest. It was the last couple of minutes of Raevyn’s watch and she noticed some shambling humanoids walking around in the mist. They were covered in moss and rot. They seemed to react to the loud sounds from the forest. Raevyn laid low and slowly woke up her party members. Whatever this forest was, it was way too dangerous to stay in. They slowly made their way into the thicker forest, on their way to the city of Nightdark. It was still a long journey ahead, roughly one and a half days left. Maybe even longer with these road conditions of the swamp. On the road they cross a couple of carts again, probably making their way to the Capital. To cross the river they had to cross a makeshift bridge that was basically just a wooden plank thrown over the creek. They decided not to put too much pressure on the wooden plank and all traveled separately over the plank. On their journey through the forest, they saw a lot of dangerous things, ogres, spiders, crocodiles and big shadowy legs wandering through the forest. They could avoid most of it, except for the big spider attack. With almost losing one of their horses to the spider, they decided it was better to move as fast as possible to create distance between them. But even with pushing the horses further than they should, they still couldn’t see the city. It was turning dark and the noises of the forest became louder. The horses were exhausted as was the party, but despite that Raevyn wanted to push for Nightdark. It was going to be better than spending another night in this horrible forest. Arati was against it and didn’t want to push her horse more than was needed. They came to the conclusion they could take a bit of a rest before heading to the forest. Arati took the first watch but was quickly disturbed after just 40 minutes. A small floating blue light came towards her and shocked her. She quickly woke up the others in which Raevyn got irritated and shot a Magic Missile towards the blue light. It vanished. Raevyn said they should just start moving, but Arati was certain they would be fine for now. Not even a minute after she said that, more of the glowing blue lights started to appear. They packed their stuff and traveled further. Whenever they looked behind them, there seemed to be more of those floating lights appearing. All exhausted, they finally saw the stone gates of Nightdark. The fire beacons lit the exterior. Upon entering the guards questioned their motives to come to Nightdark. It was very weird to see travelers this late coming from the forest. After a small conversation, they were welcomed into the city. Asking around they found a place to stay, an inn called the Peckish Pixie. It was a more luxurious place than they were used to a base price of 5 Gold per night. Raevyn thought that after camping in the soggy swamp and all the horrible terrors they met on the road, she was going to treat herself a little bit. She upgraded her room to the most expensive of 25 Gold pieces per night. It had a massive bed, an en-suite bathroom, a private butler and something called ‘the Black Book’. Arati and Vieryn just went with the standard room and were unaware of Raevyn upgrading. September 8th, 36 TE. After a good night’s rest Raevyn pampered herself with one of the cocktails from the Black Book, a magical cocktail that got rid of all her exhaustion points. Feeling like reborn she went back downstairs to meet the others. They quickly noticed that Raevyn had used the party funds for unnecessary things like the upgrade. Vieryn requested a meeting in his room. ‘’Come on, Little Bird.’’ he said in a diminishing tone to Raevyn. Right after he spoke those words Raevyn got a massive headache. She saw some pictures flashing before her eyes. She was in a regal looking manor and heard a man and woman arguing about something in another room. The feeling of anger started to crawl up but before it could manifest a hand was put on her head. As she looked up she saw an older gentleman in long dark blue robes. ‘’Hey, Little Bird’’ he kneeled down next to her and grabbed her hand. ‘’Should we go stargazing at the observatory?’’ He said in a soft voice and a smile across his face. Raevyn quickly snapped out of it and put her hand against her head. She was confused as she didn’t know what she just witnessed. Nothing she saw looked familiar. Was she having visions like Arati had? ‘’Here, take the party funds. I am going to get some fresh air.’’ she pushed the bag of party funds into Vieryn’s hands and wandered off. ‘’Well, that was easy,’’ Vieryn said while walking into his room. ‘’A bit too easy,’’ Arati added, looking a bit concerned. The two went into Vieryn’s room to distribute the party funds evenly so everyone could spend their part as they saw fit. After splitting the funds Vieryn and Arati made their way outside to reunite with Raevyn. Arati asked if she was okay and she just said that she had a migraine attack. Must have been from all the perfumes and bright colours in the Peckish Pixie. They handed Raevyn 700 Gold and went off to town. Looking for a woman called Alensta Dylith they stumbled upon a huge building named Dollondor. It was a library especially for scholars that came here to learn more about Sun Elven society. Only people that were invited by the Luthien family had access to this. The Luthien family was the ruling house of Nightdark. At the desk there was a goblin man wearing a suit, going by the name of Gregor. He told the party that Alensta was currently not in. Vieryn asked him if he could send a letter to the Peckish Pixie if he knew more about her whereabouts. Gregor agreed to that. Raevyn asked Gregor if he had seen a man come in with brown hair and a purple cloak. He looked a bit suspicious and asked why she wanted to know. She reached down and stealthy casted Minor Illusion on her leg as she lifted up her skirt. ‘’You see, he was drafting at full speed past us while we were resting on the road. He trampled me with his horse and just ran away. I’d like to speak to the man.’’ Gergor looks down at the wound and feels sorry for the girl. He says he will go in the back to see if he has any information on him. Not later he comes back and says he can’t really provide any information since he was in the Secret Section of the library. It is one of the rules that the privacy of whoever goes there is protected. All he could give them was that it was an elven male. Raevyn understands and says it at least narrows 50% of the populace knowing he is an elf. Asking if he could maybe just give his first or last name to help it narrow down a little bit more. Gregor feels guilty and decides to give them his first name; Aeldrin. This being a very common elven name didn’t really help either, but at least it was more than that they had. They thanked the goblin and made their way back into the Peckish Pixie. They decided to all stay in Raevyn’s room, enjoying the luxury. Even Though they didn’t say it out loud, Raevyn was sure Arati and Vieryn were secretly enjoying the luxury for once.

[offbrand-valk]

So uhm, that post about Sylvanas having a wife and daughter gave me some feelings™, and now I’ve turned those feelings into an angsty fic, which i have no idea how to continue from.

Read on AO3

There was a bright light, followed by an icy numbness spreading from her fingers to her heart. Then a terrible realization struck Delaryn.

"You brought me back!" She both screamed and sobbed.

She still couldn't see anything but bright light, but somehow she just knew the dark lady was standing right next to her, watching her silently.

"I did." Sylvanas said frankly, after what felt like an eternity of painful silence.

Delaryn screamed in agony and launched herself towards the voice, only to find herself restrained by heavy chains. She tried again, and felt the metal dig painfully into her flesh, her cold, unliving flesh. After her third attempt, she admitted defeat and whimpered. "why?"

"Because I don't waste talent." The dark lady said, again in that neutral tone that both scared and enraged Delaryn.

"I'll never serve you!" She said through gritted.

"I've heard that before." Sylvanas said with a mocking chortle, and Delaryn immediately started to worry that she was going to be proven wrong.

Her sight returned just in time to see a heavy coffin lid being placed on top of her.

 Delaryn was going to fall in line, Sylvanas would make it so. a few days of sensory deprivation wouldn't do it, but it might leave her raw enough that next time they spoke, Sylvanas would know whether to use carrot or stick.

For now she could indulge herself in a bit of rest and contemplation while Saurfang oversaw the cleanup. In fact it wasn't a question of could, she had lost her temper and endangered the future of the Horde as a result. She could not afford another mistake like that, and she needed to be clearheaded as soon as the Alliance reacted.

So she returned to her tent, closed the flap and looked inwards, trying to find some clarity and wisdom.

Her mind, traitor that it was, took her back to a farm two hours walk from Silvermoon.

For once in what felt like a lifetime, the rain was gently pouring down over Eversong woods. Sylvanas had dragged her unit through a grueling three day long field exercise, she ached all over, was still wearing a mud and sweat stained uniform, and couldn't bring herself to care in the slightest because she was coming home.

The farm looked like itself, a little rickety, a little dirty, and the hole she had been promising to fix for years hadn't gone anywhere.

Sylvanas stood in the rain for a few seconds, soaking the harmony of it all in, almost as if she knew it would all someday be taken away from her. She knocked twice, right in the center of the door, like she had done every time before, and would continue doing until the farm was torn down.

The door opened exactly following the second knock, making Sylvanas suspect the inhabitant had been waiting behind the door to hear her knock.

The woman had long, flat black hair, a narrow nose, and the most beautiful eyes Sylvanas would ever see in her life. In her hands the woman held an infant on the edge of sleep. "She refused to take a nap until you came home." The woman explained.

The infant girl reached a small hand out towards sylvanas, who in turn reached a single finger out for her to hold unto. "Well I'm home now, so it's high time for your nap, Liera." Sylvanas said and kissed her daughter's forehead. Liera cooed and blabbered happily for a few seconds while she held her mama's finger in her tiny hand, then she fell asleep and drooled on her mom's dress.

"Has she been giving you a hard time while I was away beloved?" Sylvanas said, kissing her wife, and taking their daughter in her own arms in a single swoop.

"Not more so than usual, and unlike certain other elves I know she sees the merit of regular bathing." Her wife teased, letting Sylvanas inside her house.

"Velline Sharpvale, had I not known better, one might accuse you of making a mockery of a commander of the ranger corps, and a noble of house Windrunner no less." Sylvanas fired back, making sure to keep her voice low so as to not wake their daughter up.

"That's just how life is out here in rural country Lady Windrunner, now hand over the child and strip, you smell like an orcish barrack." Sylvanas was tempted to ask what a farm girl who had never been more than half a day's ride from her homestead knew about orcish barracks, but decided to instead simply do as instructed. Her decision might have been spurred on by the smell of her wife's cooking coming from the kitchen.

Sylvanas never did manage to bathe that night. Once they had put Liera to bed, dinner was almost ready, so they might as well sit on the porch and wait for it to finish.

After dinner they automatically moved back on the porch with two cups of mulled wine, and listened to the rain.

Next thing they knew, Liera was up and demanding to be fed and entertained.

One thing kept leading to another, until suddenly the family of three were cuddled together in bed, with Sylvanas reading aloud from The Silvermoon Town Musicians. "The distraught highwayman returned to his captain and told him what he'd seen". Sylvanas paused dramatically, and continued in a silly, overly coarse voice. "There's a banshee in the house captain! As I entered she spat and scratched my face with her long nails. When I tried to run an assassin stabbed me in the leg, and in the stables an ogre was waiting to clobber me! All the while the ranger general sat on the roof screaming: stop the thief! stop the thief!" She made sure to imitate a rooster as best she could for the final part, making both Velline and Liera burst out laughing.

  Sylvanas was brutally ripped from her memories by the voice of Nathanos Blightcaller. "Warchief."

There was a clear sign of embarrassment in his tone, so whatever it was, it wasn't the alliance counterattack, but something he should be able to take care of on his own. "What?" She sneered.

"There has been a complication in the sacking of Teldrassil." If this turned out to be grunts arguing over who saw a knife first, or a salvage ship running behind schedule, she swore she was going to strangle Nathanos with his own intestinal cord.

"well?" She said standing up from her position on the floor and slinging her bow over her shoulder.

"There is a girl warchief, a night elf girl." Sylvanas was going to need to think of something more painful than getting strangled with one's own intestines for Nathanos.

"So? Put her on a prison ship to Orgrimmar with the other survivors, or cut her loose and let nature take its course. I don't much care one way or the other, just get her off Teldrassil." Every time she thought those beneath her had reached peak idiocy, they found a new way to disappoint her.

"That's the problem warchief, she has a knife and is refusing to move." Sylvanas swore under her breath and accepted this was just going to be a thing she would have to deal with personally.

The girl had holed up in the smoldering remains of a hollow root with some rations and a couple of paintings, and was waving the knife at anyone who got close.

Sylvanas could tell the girl didn't know how to wield her weapon, and nothing would have been easier than simply knocking it from her hand and overpowering her. For reasons she didn't understand herself however, she didn't.

Instead she moved slowly forward with her open palms outstretched, and asking for her name in broken Darnassian. When the girl didn't even acknowledge her presence, she tried again, and on the 3rd try she finally got the girl to whisper out "Netha Fairsong."

"Netha listen to me, this is not a fight you can win, put down the knife, and we can find a way to solve this without anymore bloodshed." Where her sudden gentleness had come from, Sylvanas didn't know, but it was clearly working, so she decided not to look a gift wolf in the mouth.

Slowly, Netha lowered her weapon and placed it on the ground. Some of Sylvanas' soldiers moved forward to seize her, but were stopped in their tracks by Sylvanas' outstretched arm. "So let's negotiate the terms of your surrender." She said twice, first in Darnassian, then in Orcish so that no one would think she was acting outside the horde's best interesses.

That was when the girl did something unexpected...

She ran forward and hugged Sylvanas!

[naferty]

Incubus&demon au: does anyone ever get aggressive w tony or is stane/hammer part of this au and how does Steve react to them? When does tony find out what the binding means? How long after the first night does it take Steve and tony to get together again?

So many questions. It’s like we’re all wearing glasses and dissecting this poor au. Incubus Tony ain’t ever gonna rest, is he?

When it comes to the receiving end of any aggression, it usually comes form other supernatural creatures. Humans, in general, steer clear of anything remotely not human, no matter how humanoid they looked. And humans are looked upon as weak from the supernatural community. All the same, limited, so weak and defenseless. There’s no fun in tormenting them.

Besides, the supernatural laws forbid it.

No, supernatural creatures are aggressive to each other since they know the only thing to hurt them are other creatures. So there’s territory wars, rivalries, mortal enemies (vampires vs werewolves, elf vs fae, ogres vs orcs, ect.) and just in general fear of a rarely seen creature they know is too powerful to take down.

Tony as an incubus doesn’t experience much of this. He feeds off sex and minds his own buisness. Closest thing to fighting is going up against other incu and succubaes. But he does have annoying creatures who can’t take no for an answer. Hammer is one, thinking himself as Tony’s rival. Sunset is another, a succubus having tried to win Tony’s love and nearly succeeding if it wasn’t for Pepper beating her up and chasing her off her side of town.

Then there’s Obie, an old vampire who had been friends with incubus Howard and raised Tony as his own, only to turn on him and take the wealth Howard had managed to accumulate over the years of bedding noble woman way back then. Tony was left with nothing and had to start over, starting from the bottom and getting to where he is now. A simple inccubus in charge of a small company with steady income. He’s no billionaire, but he’s living and has no media on his ass 24/7. He works and finds dinner without interruptions. His company isn’t in the fortune 500s yet, but for a creature owned business it’s pretty high up.

He hasn’t heard high or low about Obie since centuries back when he screwed him over and he’s had no reason to worry. Not until word goes out about suspiciously familiar death scenes that tell him Obie was back and he doesn’t want to say hello or catch up.

Safe to say, while Tony has more to lose now than back then with Howard’s wealth, he also has a very possessive and protective demon who doesn’t take threats to his incubus lightly and can’t stand the idea of someone else hurting what’s his.

Tony doesn’t find out about the binding until a few weeks after it occurs. He’s too busy trying to run away and figure out how, no matter where he goes, Steve always, always, finds him. Even with Pepper and Rhodey trying to help him hide Steve always finds a way to him.

He only discovers it when talking to a sorcerer and trying to find a way to keep hidden from Steve. Wear an amulet of sorts, get a spell on him, anything so long as the demon stops spoiling his dinners. But then Strange begins to explain that demons aren’t capable of just finding someone unless they made a deal or agreed to a binding.

“Beg your pardon?”

“A binding. When the demon’s patron agrees to connect their soul to that of the demon’s. In order to do so the demon asks thrice and the patron answers and must mean it. It’s an oral contract with no means to break it, unless either the demon or patron are deceased. The common form of the question is ‘Who do you belong to?’ Never answer that.”

Tony paled the more the sorcerer explained. Strange noticed it and arched an eyebrow. “Do you recall this demon asking?” He did. Through the haze of heat and pleasure he recalled Steve asking exactly that and his passionate responses. “Were you unsober and compromised? Unless you felt the emotions the binding wouldn’t go through if you hadn’t meant it.” The color returned and he went bright red. He had answered when his mind had been fogged with want. He had meant it.

Strange knew he was an incubus and Strange easily figured out what the intense blush meant. “Oh dear.”

It actually takes a couple of days for them to get together again. Steve is persistent in interrupting his dinners and as he grows hungrier the idea of bedding Steve again and receiving that incredible meal becomes more and more tempting. If he thought he was suffering before with his dry time it’s even worse with Steve taking away the little luck he still had.

Tony looked at the girl storming off in a huff with a defeated gaze. This was the seventh girl he managed to get interested in him only for Steve to pull his stupid “baby i didn’t expect to see you here!” gimmick and made her storm off. He was starving at this point and the demon showed no pity for him.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked with a tone of surrender. He was too hungry to get angry or annoyed or even worry about the demon standing so close to him.

“I get jealous, dear. Don’t you know that?”

With a sigh Tony began walking, legs shaky from the lack of food. No point in trying to escape. He didn’t think he could. More likely he’d drop dead from the twisting feeling in his stomach.

The demon followed. Naturally. “You know I’m still here. All you have to do is ask when you’re hungry. I’ll be more than happy to help.”

Tony hunched. Why was this demon taunting him? “You’re willing to let me starve just to prove your superiority?”

“I’m not proving anything. I just don’t like others touching what’s mine.” Suddenly Steve appeared in front of him, so fast Tony only had time to blink before his face was within inches of his own. Eyes sharp and blue and fierce. “You’re willing to starve to defend your pride? I’m a demon, not a reaper. I’m able to feed you ten times better than any human you’re trying to pick up.”

So close. Steve stood so close and Tony can practically taste the lust in the air. He sucked in a small breath through his mouth and pressed the pheromones on the back of his tongue. Damn it was so good.

His stomach rumbled and that was all he needed to launch himself against Steve’s mouth, kissing fiercely. Steve reached his hands under his legs and hoisted him, making him wrap them around his waist. Quicker than a flash they were out of the streets and already inside Steve’s apartment and Tony ate everything he could.

[dlthrack]

   The Mixed Bag Company (less Taney Greytail but plus Rawsel Half-Kender) stood at the entrance of Lord Kinsaid’s meeting room. Watching them across the large ornate conference table, they saw a young human girl sitting in a chair with her bare feet up. Wren smiled up at them and chirped, “You don’t look like knights!”    Fortis replied first, pointing to Blackfeet in his breastplate and pointing out he certainly looked like a knight. Iname jumped in, deciding to tell the truth, or at least part of the truth to a little girl who had apparently been living all alone with a gnome tinkering away for the last two years. The group told the girl they were there to retrieve something, and revealed that the reason no one had come in the last two years was Lord Kinsaid had died, and the Knights of Neraka had been pushed out of Palanthas.    The group tried to delicately probe to figure out why a little girl had been left all alone with only an obsessed gnome for company. Initially some of the group had suspected the child was a bastard born hidden away, but enough small clues, from her casual allusion to magically making bread for her and “Ginny,” to finally realizing she had been living in the hidden headquarters longer than her youthful appearance would allow, gave them the insight she was not a human child. When asked about her parents or family, she looked very sad and somber, and stated her mama and siblings were killed in the war. Finally she told the group that “Papa K” had sent her to live here but also keep a watchful eye on Lord Kinsaid, and Rawsel reacted and pulled Iname aside.    “I think she’s talking about Khellendros.” Rawsel said quietly, clearly disturbed in naming the fallen dragon highlord, who had also been known as Skie. Iname looked back in shock and fear as they both had the same thought: dragons can transform to appear mortal.    They came back to the meeting room, and Blackfeet gave Wren one of his lemon drop candies, which Gindo had suggested she would like. She clearly enjoyed the sweet immensely, and exclaimed, “It reminds me of lightning in my mouth!”    Fearing her reaction to news that Khellendros had also died in the years she had been cut off, they steered conversation away from current events. When someone asked what was in the chambers past the meeting room, Wren told them it was super boring, just Mr. Kinsaid’s office and room. They asked if she would mind if they checked his office, and she shrugged and stayed in her chair.    Closing the office door for privacy, Rawsel outlined his suspicions to the group; that Wren was actually a blue dragon pretending to be a human child and was sent by Khellendros to watch Kinsaid. The group abandoned any plan to convince Wren to leave with them, since she seemed perfectly happy, if bored, here in the base. They searched Kinsaid’s office and chambers, finding two rods to unlock the portal out of the base as well as extensive files both of the dark knight’s infiltration of Palanthas organizations, and blackmail material for nobles in the city. As Imogen had asked, they destroyed the blackmail files, but returned with the information on cultivated agents and assets Lord Kinsaid had built. The company also found steel and valuables, as well as a magical pendant, simply made with an oval green stone, which Fortis’s spectacles allowed her to identify as protection against poison.    When the group returned, Wren had climbed up on the table and was laying on her back and humming. Fortis showed the girl the round medallion keys they had found, and Wren jumped up and started running to where the other key was excitedly. The group followed her to a room with a lily worked into a symbol in the middle of the floor. Wren giggled as she said she liked this room because it reminded her of flying.    A huge pit opened up in the floor past the symbol of the lily, and on the other side stood a pedestal. When Iname stood on the symbol in the middle of the room, a disembodied voice commanded, “Stand on the sigil and march forward. Independence breeds chaos. Submit and be strong.” The elf looked nervously at Wren, who was grinning and told her go on ahead. She took a step straight forward into nothingness, and stood on what seemed to be solid ground.    Iname nervously walked across the chasm, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and behind her Wren walked out into the pit and twirled with her arms out, giggling. The final of the three medallions to unlock the vault sat on the pedestal, and Iname picked it up, waiting for an attack or other trap. Nothing happened. The elf, now positively sure it could not be that easy, decided to throw the key back to the group, but perhaps due to nerves, she missed her throw and the stone medallion broke. It was easily mended, but the elf looked positively mortified as she walked back across the empty gap past Wren.    The company offered to send back more treats, which Wren seemed happy to hear, but she seemed to be having fun in the lily room, so they left her there and went to finally unlock Kinsaid’s vault. The vault was a large rectangular room with locked glass display cases below artifacts mounted on the wall, much more museum than vault. The far wall from the door was painstakingly painted in honor of Kinsaid’s goddess, and showed Takhisis in her many-headed dragon form.    The nearest display on the right from the door seemed to be all about ogres. On the wall was a carefully moved and hung fresco depicting a blue-skinned true ogre standing with several kneeling human slaves wearing collars. In the background was a burning forest with a red dragon flying overheard. Korg seemed to shrink back at the sight of the display and artifacts, looking suddenly very interested in Mittens perched on his shoulders. In the glass case were several artifacts, all bearing carefully scribed labels in heavy parchment: a set of magic collars and a ground spike covered in matching runes, a large spear-tip with remnants of rotten wood, and a golden crown, apparently having belonged to St. Dromoraag. The crown had five points adorned with stones, all of which corresponded to the color of an evil dragon. Fearing the crown was magic, and what dark forces who may still have knowledge of this vault would do with possible dragon power, Iname insisted on getting into the case to prevent them from gaining it. Rawsel attemped to pick the lock, and in a feat of deft work that surprised even him, the lock neatly clicked open. But as their expedition had proved, while Rawsel was a decent lockpick, he was not so great with traps. As soon as the case was opened, a small panel in the far wall opened and unleashed a fireball targeted directly in front of the case. Rawsel was able to quickly duck aside, but Blackfeet and Iname were not so lucky, getting badly singed.    The draconian rounded on the half-kender angrily at taking the brunt of the trap while the rogue that triggered it ducked aside harmlessly. In a not-so-well considered retort, Rawsel held up his barely nicked thumb as proof he was did get caught in the last trapped lock he picked. The ludicrous image of an indignant half-kender holding up his utterly unharmed thumb as the smoking kapak towered over him broke some of the tension immediately following the fireball, and the group moved on to the next case. The next case on the wall stood below a gracefully carved elven triptych. The wood was clearly ancient, and the carved relief was intricately painted in the two side and larger middle scenes, which all bore labels in Silvanesti: left was “Dragonsingers,” the right said “the fallen dragon,” and the middle panel bore the inscription, “the Dragon Graveyard.” A small crown piece was labeled, “the Tears of Mishakal” and bore two jewels like the one carried by Fortis.    The case held only two items: part of an ancient vellum scroll that was labeled “remnant of the Treaty of Thelgaard” and a well-made but otherwise unremarkable elven dagger that the card indicated had belonged to the legendary king, Kith-Kanan. Iname did not care one whit about some treaty, but no human was going to be allowed to keep the dagger of Kith-Kanan, and she insisted they get this case open as well. Korg pre-emptively shaped a wall of earth to protect the space in front of the case, and they urged Rawsel to pick this lock as well. He could not duplicate his success, and actually managed to get his tools stuck after one of his failed attempts. In frustration, the group urged Blackfeet to just brute force the case, and he struck the glass with the pommel of his sword until it shattered. Fire directed away from the group harmlessly, although a stray ember did set the treaty scrap alight and it burned up in the case. Iname reverently tucked the dagger away, muttering under her breath in elven, and Rawsel finally succeeded in getting his tools free.    Korg offered to carry the triptych, which they pried from the wall, and lashed to his back as they crossed to the other side of the room to a larger and more substantial case below an old-fashioned shield, labeled as belonging to the Empire of Ergoth, mounted on the wall. The case contained primarily Solamnic martial artifacts, with a helm labeled as belonging to Vinas Solamnus displayed prominently. Next to it sat some complex straps around a metal hinged mechanism, which was a dragonlance saddle mounting that had belonged to Sir Huma Dragonbane himself. To the side sat a plum-sized medallion called the Eye of Palanthas. Their prize. Once again, the party brute forced the case open, as Korg blocked them from fire. They cleaned out this case and took down the shield, with Blackfeet carrying most of the bulkier contents.    The last case seemed to be a bit of a catch-all for items Lord Kinsaid didn’t know how to categorize, but several of them were Greygem related. Above the case was a painting of the Castle of Gargath, as it was besieged by gnomes. Inside the case was a remnant of four of the rungs of the ladder the gnomes used to free the Greygem, as well as a glass vial of red earth which questioningly marked as “Sand from the surface of Lunitari?” To the side was also an aged tome, titled A Journal of a Dwarven Scion. The group took both the earth and book, which Fortis slipped into her bag. Impulsively, she also grabbed the rungs of the ladder before the group took one last look around Kinsaid’s looted vault and returned to say farewell to Gindo.    Fortis presented Gindo with the mechanical remnants of the ladder, which he pounced upon, immediately taking down notes and measurements. Remembering their offer to send back sweets, they asked the old gnome what treats he preferred, and after a moment, he replied, “Toffee,” before continuing to mumble and exclaim to himself excitedly.    The group began their return trek to the exit, they ran across Wren in the main entrance hall as she was returning from the lily room. At first she seemed happy to see the company, but suddenly she stopped talking and looked quickly at Blackfeet, who was carrying the dragonlance mounting. She seemed almost afraid and she told them she was going to go lay down, and hurried to the meeting room door, which slammed shut. They used one of the two rods they found in Kinsaid’s office to open the portal, and left the rod in place while taking the other with them. At last glance backward before stepping through the portal, the could see Wren watching them leave from the top of the stairs with a worried expression on her face.