Palas Dark-Eye, a sorceress and spy in the service of the demon lord

"This city... this whole blasted city's gone mad!"

When the protective barrier of the church's Geod had weakened, it had been easy for the demon spy, Palas Dark-Eye, to sneak into the city's borders. The knights might stop their foot-soldiers in droves and shoot down the demon lord's winged minions before they could breach the gate, but they wouldn't turn away travelers... That meant that the right disguise allowed her to slip right in. Palas knew that stronger minions of the demon lord would be repelled at the gate by that barrier, which was still strong enough to burn the cursed flesh of any who swore fealty to the demon lord. This meant they couldn't enter with any significant ... but an illusionist like herself, trained in few battle magics, could enter freely.

Or at least... she could earlier! Now, the barrier was suddenly strengthened again, so powerful that she felt her flesh begin to bubble just approaching the city's limits! "Oh great demon lord... What human treachery is this?!" she hissed in protest, trying a few more times to approach before finding it was impossible. Over the course of the day, she learned. The church and knights both had distributed a certain manual, offering sexual exploration and release to the townspeople. In return... the faith of those people had not just doubled, but grown almost exponentially. What once had been an invisible barrier was now more like an aura, like a stationary oven surrounding the city. If she or other entrenched spies tried to leave or anyone else who swore allegiance to the demon lord tried to enter, they'd be incinerated!

The demon wore a special pendant, silver with a cut red ruby at its center... this was her only line of defense against discovery here, granting her a humanoid appearance. As such, she could approach the barrier, disguised as a simple gypsy with long, silver hair, parted away from a dark black headband that also wrapped around one eye... That eye was a dark socket through which a single red eye gazed, the one part of herself she could never disguise. Beyond that, her other hidden demon traits included pointed ears and curving horns, but these would remain hidden as long as that amulet protected her.

The rest of her garments were gypsy clothing, but they hid her decently all the same: sashes of black and deep purple wrapped around a black satin dress, robing her tall, glamorous form. Unlike the city's head of the church or the shortstack knight captain, she had a bit more of a slender appearance, but it served her well in seduction tactics... and she thought she was going to need a lot in the days to come. Her skin was so pale it could almost be described as gray, but despite the hair and skin color, her body and face were clearly youthful, making her look more like some artist's statuesque depiction of one of Geod's angels than any sort of demon.

She met with one of her colleagues in a shabby tavern in the dead of night to report the discoveries they must also have learned, given their status as non-incinerated. "The church has grown in faith... There's no way to leave the city," she reported, scowling as a group of nuns and clergymen walked past, tittering about some lewd joke. "How are you faring?"

The merchant, another spy in disguise, rubbed his nose and grinned from ear to ear.

"What...?" Palas scowled, narrowing her one exposed eye in a critical expression.

"This is paradise, Palas! The demon lord promised us human slaves if we served him, right?! Who the fuck cares about that any more! Here, I can fuck all the nuns and human warriors I want!" he cackled, rubbing his hands together. "Why do I need a demon lord any more?"

"Is that so? Then you won't mind exiting the barrier," Palas spoke in an even tone, summoning a teleportation portal beneath the man with a simple flick of her wrist. Either he'd be burned alive in the heat of that barrier, or, if he'd truly turned his back on the demon lord, he'd simply be plopped outside the town's walls without his robes. Although she put on a proud face... she couldn't believe what she'd heard. "These humans won't shake me," she murmured to herself, as she picked bread from the man's plate and chewed it thoughtfully between her fangs. "I still have a duty to do. I will carry out my work as a spy, so that I can fully report the situation to the demon lord once the barrier shows weakness. And, if the opportunity arises... I will sew the seeds of discord among the church," she resolved, understanding now that the situation might call for more direct interference if she ever wanted to leave the capital. "All in the name of my lord," she finished her report/prayer, before rising from her seat and heading out from the tavern with a mission on her mind.