The Lady’s Hand (A Dickings & Dalliances Adventure) - (Closed Except By Invitation)

[ICM8781]

"OK, Amie", Chasen says knocking on the red cell as he watches her desperately trying to scratch chalk into it. "You have a lot to answer for. What I know, is that YOUR name was on the devil's contract. You abandoned us with ease to leave us to our fate. Prior to that you were pretty insistent not to come to deal with it. And you let that Wizard get away. What I suspect, is that you are trying to set us up, me and the other pitiful prisoners. If it wasn't for Maritia you probably would have let the Temple crumble to the ground." He looks around real quick, "Well, worse than it already has. I suggest you have some good explanation before that cell comes down and my arrow goes through your head."

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite fell back as the devil vanished into smoke. Indeed, this was a fight that would live in her veins for the rest of her days. She breathed deeply and let herself drift off. She did not open her eyes until several minutes had passed. A towns folk, one of the many, going towards the temple to see what happened, tapped her arm with their foot. She slowly pulled herself up, pondering just letting herself fall back down, but with the growing swarms of people it really wasn't possible. She picked up her axe and then made a very slow, pondering march back to the destroyed building. This was not a victory march. She had still been defeated. The building before her was destroyed and Arx, well, she was...

Standing there. Arx was standing there, covered in blood, but standing alive! People were around her like a wall. Sprite tried to push one aside, but a new one just popped in their place. She for once felt to exhausted to fly, if only she could, as she pushed her way through the mob.

"Arx!?" Sprite called out as she got closer, still not believing what she was seeing.

"ARX!!!" she screamed with new tears in here eyes. She pushed one last being aside and reached her fallen comrade.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Maritia smiles and takes in the scene before her as the cleric of Yendalaritz steps up to Arx, awe on his face.

"You’re alive! Our Lady moved the stone, and you are risen.” He looks to Maritia. “This blessing has been beyond her since the dawning of the age, and now she has done it on her own, without even a conduit!”

“It’s beautiful to see,” Maritia agrees.

The cleric turns to the growing crowd. “You see? You see the power of the goddess Yendalaritz and her purity! The Expectant waits but she will no longer, but she will no longer make us wait for her blessings! She raises the dead! She has lifted the stone!” The crowd begins to murmur in appreciation. “Today is a Holy Day, for the first miracle of this magnitude in the history of our order has occurred!” He walks over to Arx, and reaches down to take her hand. “Will you pray with us? Over us? For surely you must be a pure and chaste soul to gain the Lady Yendalaritz’ favor so! Please?”

It’s at that moment that Sprite arrives, and the cleric turns to the harpy. “Your friend has been raised! Our Holy Lady of Purity has restored her to life! Worship with us!”





“You’re a fucking idiot,” Amie mutters, giving Chasen an incredulous look. “I don’t owe you shit until The Lady is safe, and even then I don’t owe you a word.” She keeps drawing, runes curving upon themselves in flowing script amidst geometric symmetry. It’s a beautiful spell circle, even with her haste. “What the fuck do you want from me, anyway, huh?”

 

[Poprockz]

"Sprite!" Arx beamed at her harpy companion, clasping her forearm warmly before saying, "wait just a moment- I need to say something to them.

The woman turned to the gathering and paused for a moment, waiting until just the right moment to begin. Sure, she was their Eldritch Lackey, but they hadn't made her sign a non-disclosure agreement. Besides... Laritz liked jokes, didn't he? Surely he would appreciate a little bit of mischief.

She put on an awed expression, her charm turned up to an 11. "Yes... The Goddess spoke to me as my soul was bare before her. She said she will adopt five children in the coming years, and that they will grow to be beacons of her will and love." Arx flung herself to the side and leaned against one of the priests as though overcome with reverence. The blood on her back smeared against his beautiful robes, the changeling looking into his eyes with a convincing wonder before finding her footing once more.

"Her name is actually Yenda. Laritz is her male handmaiden who has helped her platonically weather her loneliness in her husband's absence. The reason their name is recorded as one in history was because they were metaphorically inseparable, Laritz always trailing after the magnanimous Yenda in raptured servitude..." A dramatic sigh escaped her lips as though she was thinking about how merciful their large, slutty goddess was.

"The Holy Lover, The Birth Mother... She is no longer The Expectant, but The Expecting! She's expecting for a new age to come about for herself and her followers!" Perhaps this little performance would separate them, provide them a bit of power, or maybe it wouldn't do anything. At the very least, she was satisfied with having played a prank on a prankster.

"I... dare not pray to her right now, for I would be ashamed to ask any more of her attention than I already have!" Her steps took her back to Sprite, leaning slightly against her arm with eyes closed in fake, overwhelmed reverence.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The clergy of Yendalaritz in attendance turned to each other, murmuring in shock and confusion, while the cleric that had fought against the devil got a wide-eyed look.

“That…is shocking.” He turned to the priests. “But Sister Maritia of the church of the Lightfather and I saw this miracle with our own eyes. Isn’t that right?”

Maritia looked like she couldn’t decide whether she was confused or amused. “I…I did.” She turned to the priests apologetically. “I’m sorry; I’m not an expert on your connection to your goddess. Do you, er…are there any revelations that this contradicts?”

The cleric shook his head. “No. We d—“

“Cline!” one of the priests shouted, scandalized.

“We must be open about it,” the cleric, Cline, replied, then explained to Maritia. “There have been no revelations from Yendalar—Yenda, for centuries, at least. We…it’s not exactly a secret. We don’t lie about it. But, we don’t like to talk about it, either.”

Maritia shrugged. “And you spoke to her? To them?” she asked Arx.

 

[Poprockz]

“Yes… I spoke with them both. She’s awfully lonely with only dear, sweet, sensitive Laritz there to comfort her, she feels so strongly the urge to be a mother, but that can be difficult when… as you know, she has no one to give her that sort of love.” Arx sighed again, woefully this time. It was technically all true, despite her skirting around the fact that their divine deity wanted to be a raging cumdump.

Change would take time, and it was going to be easier if she stuck with the things they could swallow at this point.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The priests start to nod in acceptance, one by one. “We shall commission a new statue, one that reveals our goddess with her doting servant by her side!”

“Yes!” several of them agree.

“But what of Draager?” one of them asks. “Does she search for him? Does…Laritz?”

“What of these children?” Cline asks. “How will we know them?”

 

[Poprockz]

“Draager… is still beyond their sight. She didn’t want to talk about it. I got the feeling that the very mention of him brought her immense sorrow and longing.” Ha, longing for him to be magicked into non-existence perhaps. Or maybe she would be fine if he was real as long as he gave her a good dicking.

“Laritz is completely occupied with keeping Yenda’s mind off of her long wait. Brushing and braiding her hair, playing her music… you know.” She shrugged, “as far as the children go, she said she would reveal them in time. If all goes as she expects, at least one of them will be born in the next year or two.”

 

[ICM8781]

Chasen swings an arrow out of his quiver and starts toying with the tail playfully.

"Never said you owe me anything, but dealing with you before you risk anyone else's life will be," he pauses for effect, "Cathartic."

He grins as he realizes removing this stain from the world might be perfect. He strings the arrow in his bow and prepares himself. He slowly crawls back into the shadows away from any area attack and to hide a little and cover himself from his shot. Still keeping his aim on Amie. He purposely gives a creepy laugh as he continues his monolaugue.

"You didn't hire me, you freed me to keep me quiet, and I have no connection to the Lady of Rionne you are cultishly worshipping. The only reason I care is because the others welcomed me, and they seem to care. And if preventing you from harming them is the only thing I can do for them, so be it."

For one final effect, he twangs the string of his bow to ensure Amie knows, he's there, and he's ready.

 

[justspitballing]

"You talked with one of the Gods!?" Sprite said, stunned.

Her feet of taking out the devil seemed so small in comparison. But then it dawned on her, they never stopped the wedding and her body was a wreck. She couldn't hope to save the Lady of Rionne from anything in her current state.

"Arx, you need to pray right now. That devil, he devastated us and the Lady of Rionne is likely to be married away at any moment. I can't stop a wedding in my current state, only the Gods themselves could stop this at this point," Sprite said, over dramatic like always, but very sure she was telling the truth in this state.

"Where is the wizard that hired us? We need to make sure she's okay at the least," Sprite went on.

Oh, how she would love to sleep right now. Rest with the knowledge that Arx was alive, but this day wasn't over yet.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Amie's face reddens. "Harm them!? I'm pretty sure I saved them from some shady mountainside execution, and then got them out of jail. Yeah, they're a little sore I lost them on the way back, but I'm..."

A bit of her anger, her bluster, fades away, revealing pain, and shame. "I'm not...I'm not good at this, alright? This..." her shoulders droop. "This...this intrigue shit. The lying, the sneaking..." A flame flickers to life in her palm. "I just wanna know who to light up. The Lady..." Amie's lips turn up into a wistful smile. "She teases me: she says I need my enemies to all kindly wear the same uniform and stand in an orderly line."

Steel in her voice now, and in her spine. "And she's in danger; of a shitty marriage if nothing else, so you can help or you can fuck off if you like. I'm going to teleport home and go find her." She kneels down and starts drawing again.



The priests murmur amongst themselves, but Cline steps toward Arx, still pitching his voice for all to hear. "But what of you? Are you her champion? What is your name?"

Maritia, meanwhile, steps up to Sprite and lays a gentle hand on her shoulder. Glowing silver energy floats over the harpy's form, and her wounds begin to knit together. "Yes, please find the Baroness. Please. We need to go. Now."

 

[Poprockz]

Arx shook her head at Sprite apologetically. She wished she had that kind of pull with the her patrons, but she suspected that even if they had enough juice to help her right now, they would likely give her some bs about ‘not interfering,’ or something.

“Yenda and Laritz cannot intervene- this is something we’re going to have to do ourselves.” Arx nodded in a satisfied way as Sprite’s wounds healed. They were likely going to need more of the harpy’s ferocity and skill. At the very least, they could always murder the captain himself. No husband, no marriage, even if they did get hitched.

She thought about how to answer the priest, knowing that her name was already on their lips. Sprite had shouted it when approaching. If she said something else, they would suspect her of being a lying little shit. Did she have to say anything though? Let them figure it out.

“My name is Arx and well…” her green eye gave them a playful wink. “it’s something like that.” With that being said, she turned and made her exit, glancing behind to see if Sprite would follow her toward the crater in the ceiling where she could see the faintest of red glows.

 

[ICM8781]

"Let's say I take your insecurity seriously. That you would leave your brothers in arms for some petty obsession, that sounds rather unhealthy that you ask me."

Chasen lowers his weapon for a second.

"You enlisted this group because you needed help. It may have been at a moment opportunity, but you knew it was safer than trying alone. You failed to stop whoever that wizard was. You failed to stop the Captain when you could. Sure, maybe this one time you might have the help of an almighty god or the luck of Lady Luck herself and win, but are you really willing to take that chance? Or, are you going to start trusting the people who will be able to assist you in accomplishing your goal?"

He raises his bow again and steps in just enough light to silouette his form.

"You are making a hell of a lot of enemies. Arx has died, and I'm sure Sprite's never going to forgive you. If this is truely you being too stupid to see that your enemies are using your obsession against you, Sprite and I will go on without you and let you fall to your own doom. You are more of a hinderance than any help. And hell, them killing you might make them think Maritia and Sprite aren't chasing them any more. Win Win. If you really want to make sure this Lady you love so much is free, you grow the fuck up, keep to the team, and stop rushing in like a god damned crazy person."

 

[justspitballing]

Without a second thought Sprite fallowed Arx towards the red glow. She flew up, newly healed, but likely not well enough. It would have to do. None the less when she did lift off the ground she spun around and nodded happily towards Maritia.

"My body thanks you," Sprite smiled and then turned back around.

She flew up and landed down beside Chasen, seeing him aiming his bow at Amie. She didn't understand his anger towards her, all she knew is they would need her if they wanted enough power to kill the wizard that had almost ended Arx. Clearly he was to much for them to handle and ending potential allies would just lead them into a no win situation.

"Chasen, that caster before you could turn you into a rabbit without a second thought. Put your bow down, please, we already almost lost so much today. Arx, she still stands, and she still fights, but we almost lost her, I don't want that to happen to anyone I fight along side today," Sprite states.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Cline nods solemnly. “Arx, Champion of Our Lady, Yenda the Expecting.” He turns to the priests. “We must send a messenger to the Bishop at once.” He turns back to Arx, who is far enough away now that he needs to shout. “How can we reach you!?”





Amie holds up her hand. “No, no, he’s got a point. I mean, he’s still an idiot but he’s right about one thing: I’ve been fucking this up.” She turns back to Chasen. “So, what’s your plan? Keep in mind: whatever it is, we need to do it NOW. The Lady’s not the only one who’ll be stuck with DeGaulier if he pulls this off. He’ll be the King of Rionne…”

 

[ICM8781]

Chasen lowers his weapon but ignores everyone except Amie.

"If I'm planning this I need information. Who was he and why did he want you alone if that's really why he added your name to the devil's contract. Everyone is mistaking me. I don't know what's going on, or who to trust. When someone's name comes up on a devil's contract, a devil I'm tasked with defeating, my first conclusion isn't to take them at their word. For all I know, Arx death was her plan and we were all supposed to perish," his intensity still not registering Arx is alive. "I don't want that shit stain to have any more power than he has, but Rionne has not been kind to me. I have more of a mind to escape than be part of a team with her secrets dangering us."

 

[Poprockz]

Arx stood with her back to the congregation as though considering a response. What she was truly thinking of was how the fuck she was supposed to get up there with the rest of them without looking fucking stupid.

She supposed she could try using her whip or something, but she didn’t think it was long or stable enough. It looked like there was some smoldering rubble near the stairs, but it didn’t seem too dangerous. It would have to do.

Looking over her shoulder, she called “Pray to Yenda. She’ll pass it along to me in time.” That was that, so she scuttled over the rubble with the grace of a ballerina crab: awkward-looking, but highly efficient. When she finally got to the top of the stairs, she listened to the remainder of what he said, having missed the first part.

“That’s fair,” Arx shrugged. “You don’t really have a good reason to trust her. Hell, we don’t either with how much she’s fucked up so far,” Her hand gestured between herself and Sprite before continuing. “Frankly, I don’t care if we knock her out and stuff her in a closet somewhere to wait shit out. What I care about is this: the captain himself is trying to become king, and with kingship comes power and resources. You’ll never be safe while he’s got that sort of power. I mean, sure. You probably have the skills to evade him, but that’s super inconvenient and annoying as hell. And if I have to see his smug fucking face commanding a nation, I’m going to vomit on each and every one of you.” The changeling crossed her arms, annoyed at the very thought of Degalier gloating again.

 

[justspitballing]

"Yes, the worse outcome is the captain getting exactly what he wants. And whatever surprises he has for us, we will just have to stumble into them, for the only real plan is stopping this wedding," Sprite stated.

She turned and got ready to fly off. They were moving against the clock now, and also moving against her own nerve. She was sure if she debated this anymore she would realize how likely they were of all being doomed, but there was no time for being rational. It was fighting time.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Maritia climbs to the top of the stairs behind Arx. She sees Amie in the cube and her face falls. “A forcecage?” she asks.

“Yes,” Amie answers, embarrassed and frustrated. “I’ve almost got my circle drawn.” She turns to the group. “I can meet you all in front of the DeGaulier estate, but the safest and fastest way out of here is for me to Teleport home. If he’s got some sort of event going on…” She sighs. “Well, clearly I don’t know shit about sneaking in places. What do you all think?”

 

[ICM8781]

"If stealth is the plan, that's doable for me. Amie, if you don't trust your brothers in arms to explain what you really have to do with all this, I suggest you stay home. We don't need you." I turn around finally realizing Arx is alive.

"Holy shit, What the..." Chasen patting her as if checking if it was an illusion. "Arx, what... I don't know what to say. It is you right?"

 

[Poprockz]

“Yep, it’s me. Long story short, the God of this temple decided that she wanted me alive in exchange for me doing some shit for her.” Arx shrugged, “so the pancake lives.”

“As for dickface, I’m game for sneaking into his manner too. Let’s go.”

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite flew up a simple five feet, she simply felt more comfort in the air then on the ground. She gave Chasen a side eye at the Aime not joining them comment. They really did need all the help they could get.

"I do hope you all can lead the way. I'm a local as it were, but still an outcast at heart and with no map on hand," Sprite explained.

She let herself drift until she was safely outside of the temple.

"Where are we off to?" she then honestly asked.

 

[ICM8781]

"Maritia or that temple dude would probably know better than I. I been in prison the entire time." As he turns to them he continues.

"You know, if stopping the wedding is the immediate concern, you could hit the officiant. Is probably not that powerful, and the wedding would definitely be on pause for a while."

 

[Poprockz]

“You never know if one of the guests is licensed and can step in though- that’s too much of a risk. We either have to get rid of the groom or grab the bride,” Arx pointed out.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Amie gives the group a curious look.

“We forget sometimes how odd the succession is here in Rionne,” Maritia reminds her as Wylo walks up behind her, and a conciliatory expression crosses her face.

“There may not be a ceremony to stop. Or, if there is, it may be after they’re wed, as a coronation of sorts for the captain.”

Amie nods along. “The king’s crown has a powerful enchantment on it. It actually no longer fully exists in our plane. When there is a king, the crown partially planeshifts onto the king’s head, visible but weightless and intangible, but other than that it lies in a pocket plane created centuries ago by the Duke of Aliers.”

Maritia frowns. “In the duke’s time, soon after the founding of the kingdom, the gentry were even less likely to accept a woman as their ruler than they are now.”

Amie scoffs bitterly. “It’s backwards and moronic, but the enchantment on the crown enforces it more than the living do.”

Maritia starts blushing. “When the living heir is a woman, the crown waits for a man to…to show her…to bring her to…”

“To make her cum,” Amie interjects. “Normally, this would be on her wedding night, after she’s willingly wed to the man handpicked by…well, yes, her father, but increasingly by the Lady herself.”

Maritia’s blush deepens. “But this Lady…and with her father’s death…he’s not around to force her into a marriage…and her tastes don’t lean towards men.”

Amie starts blushing as well. “And she’s been afraid of what would happen if…of how the enchantment would react if a woman made her cum, so she hasn’t…”

“She wouldn’t let us try,” Maritia blurts out.