Startup 31: Business Travel

Arodus 24

For the fourth time that night, I padded through the silent hallway towards Nendra’s room laden with about ten gold worth of small black gemstone chips used for necromantic rituals. I had them secreted away in pockets, shoes, a small compartment hidden in my coat’s lining… all the places I’d used while operating as a **** mule. I exited the bilges, and for a few moments I released a burst of heat and aridity so I wouldn’t leave a trail of grimy water. The repetition made me sloppy, and when I slipped into Nendra’s chambers to stow my imp’s ill-gotten gains I made ever so slightly too much noise. (Opposed Stealth 3+12=15)

“Who is there?” She asked, the sharp sound of an improperly closed door catapulting her to wakefulness.

As she sat up, her eyes flashed violet in my magic sight, using her most elementary magic on reflex. I felt the charm wash over me, repelled by Autopilot’s will. As I’d taken to doing, I responded in kind. I met her eyes with my own, letting out a pulse of enthralling magic. She hardly noticed, her Noble flesh absorbing the magic before it even touched her mind.

“My dear husband,” she said, allowing a faint note of exasperation to creep in, “what are you doing?”

As she spoke, she tried to charm me again. We were both drow nobles, with all the benefits that implied, and that meant that both of us could cast our innate spells at will, with no more effort than a jumping jack. I had Charm Person because of a racial variant called “seducer,” which gave non-noble drow Charm once per day and a boost to their enchantment spells. Unfortunately, Nendra also had it. She probably got more mileage out of it too, given that all of her body control talents fell under enchantment.

“Nothing much.” I said, weathering the mental jab and countering with one of my own, “I was considering what to wear when we arrive later.”

We’d taken to charming one another any time we were in the same room. Neither of us were allowed to do anything permanent until we arrived in House D’Lann, per the contract, but constant sniping was exhausting. With this method, we could instead wrestle for control and then proceed with our day on our own terms.

My second charm managed to pierce her spell resistance, and to my mild shock the magic wrapped around her, making her seem to glow faintly violet. I’d been keeping track; she could shrug off my charm two times out of three even when I pierced the first line of defense.

Maybe it’s because she’s sleepy? Kinda fucked up that this is what passes for healthy compromise in this marriage, but whatever.

“Obviously you should dress in your formalwear, near the bottom. Your new calves will look quite nice in the robe.” Nendra said, her voice softening. “I don’t let you keep clothes that look bad. It’s a shame you left behind that red number. You looked like a proper captain in that.”

“I didn’t want to risk you burning them to spite me.” I said, exasperated.

She laughed, leaning back against her small mound of pillows, and looked at me appraisingly. She didn’t become lovey dovey when charmed, but did approximate normal at times.

“That is likely, to be honest.” She admitted. “I have been rather angry with you recently.”

While we spoke, I dug through the sea chest where all of Emrys’s old clothes were kept. Most of them were comfortable work clothes I’d seen on tons of people in Port Peril; dark vests over white shirts and baggy drawstring pants. At the bottom of the pile, Autopilot pointed me at an ornate silk robe in red and purple.

“It’s a shame this isn’t normal.” I said, probing. “You know I’d prefer something amicable over this challenge thing.”

“Of course, but I can’t let you out of it.” She sighed, “We’ve been over this. You’re the one who insisted on divorce. If I let that pass, I’ll never live it down.”

“I can’t believe you want to ruin my life for clout.” I growled.

“No, not at all.” She answered, wincing. “Normally I want to rip your heart out for the insult, mostly. You left me for a bunch of mayflies. That hurts, you know.”

“My day to day wasn’t exactly blissful. Oh, speaking of which,” I said, seizing the opportunity to gather information, “what will I be expected to do when we arrive? I don’t particularly like the idea of getting clapped in chains the moment my foot lands on the dock.”

“And create a scandal for the neighbors?” Nendra asked, placing a hand over her chest and stepping out of her bed, “Hardly. Mother just might beat me and let you loose if I made her look weak like that. No, more likely I will just keep you busy with your normal tasks.”

“Such as?” I asked, pressing.

Autopilot tended to be vague about anything that wasn’t immediately relevant, so I didn’t really know what his normal day looked like. Supposedly he helped manage the servants and studied magic items and tomes as necessary, but that was about as much as he would tell me. I still didn’t know his third sexual fantasy, because he simply refused to spill the beans.

Hell, not wanting to pass up on that one mission is most of why I haven’t slept with Nendra unless I was charmed. Can’t risk being on top or I might miss out.

Fulfill one of Emrys M’Dair’s greatest sexual fantasies. Bonus if you can manage multiple in a 24 hour period, the timer starts when you finish one.

1: 1 exp, courtesan’s secret

2: 2 exp, Body Control Talent: Perfect Parallel

3: 3 exp, drow courtesan conjuration companion

Known fantasies: Nendra submits in bed. Dovnu guides another in bed with Emrys.

“I have a rather large book we’ve been planning on having copied.” She said, wrapping her arms around my waist and pressing against my back. “As far as anyone outside the four of us know, you’ll be punished with that tedium.”

She breathed in my scent, wrinkled her nose, and pulled back. It seemed she didn’t like the scent of bilgewater.

“I thought you’d be exercising again.” She said, frowning. “You smell like rot. Bathe. Now.”

She pointed at the corner of the room, where a large brass basin was affixed to the floor.

“Alright, but I’m not getting the water, or heating it.” I said, “You take care of it.” (Opposed charisma check to push a charmed creature. 8+4=12 vs unknown)

She shook her head for a moment, the violet haze fluctuating. It stabilized, and she raised one skeptical eyebrow.

“No, no I don’t think so.” She said, “I’m not the male here, and if I were to carry water then how would I watch your new muscles flex?” (Fail)

I grudgingly accepted the status quo and went to haul a few buckets of conjured water down to Nendra’s room; a bath did sound nice. I met her gaze to top off the spell before leaving. Charm Person could last for an hour per level, but needed eye contact to work. If not, I’d have tried to charm her while she was still asleep. That would have lasted until I needed to sleep or use Keep Watch, or until Kiyon decided to stir up trouble. He tended to dispel either of us if he saw us charmed.

Does he just get off on the fighting, or does he honestly think we might work something out? I don’t get him.

The tub had a small heater built into the bottom; as magic items go, it was fairly cheap. Around 500 gold for an on-demand hot bath seemed a little bit extravagant, but Nendra was allowed to spend her money as she wished. (Appraise 14+7=21) Maybe I was just feeling especially budget conscious.

I can’t imagine why.

Nendra was going through her own clothes by the time the bath was ready. Naturally, she had a full wardrobe with multiple drawers that loomed over the old sea chest where my clothes were kept. Looking over her shoulder, I saw that her fancy dresses were pushed to the side in favor of a handful of bodysuits in varied colors.

Call me a hypocrite, but lowering myself into the hot water felt divine. The tub was big enough for two, three if they were friendly, and featured a small bar of soap. I idly wondered what my mother would think at the sight of a rich woman with only one bar of all-in-one shampoo, conditioner, and bodywash.

Not for the first time, I decided to press my luck. Charmed people weren’t mindless automatons; they weren’t even technically at the highest level of friendliness. It was hard to offend them, so I could push much harder than with a normal person without consequence, but anyone on my crew would probably be more willing to help me than a charmed individual unprompted.

There were things they really needed to be pushed to do; things that went against their nature, ethics, or morals required an opposed charisma check with stacking penalties for severity. At the utter extremes, where you ask a normal person to bare knuckle brawl a dragon or kill their friends, at best they will tell you to go fuck yourself and stop making edgy jokes. At worst, they’ll throw off the charm completely.

I decided to put all my chips on the table while Nendra’s back was turned.

“Nendra dear, how do you intend to keep me contained?” I asked, pumping magic into my voice, “you really should try gloating more often. It’s good for the soul.” (Combination Suggestion spell and Opposed charisma check. 13+4=17)

The Magic in my breath flowed out across the room in a pulse of violet, wrapping around her with a gentle caress. It, and the aura already attached to her, shattered.

(Pierce Spell resistance 9+5=14 Fail)

Nendra has critically succeeded her opposed charisma check vs mild self sabotage

Nendra has rerolled her save vs Charm Person

I could see that the charm broke when the violet aura shattered, which was good because my system never told me such things. She whipped her head around and met my eyes, and another exchange of blows began. I fought off one charm and my spell resistance absorbed the second, but after my third shot fizzled Nendra managed to slip one through my defenses.

“You’ll find out what I have planned in due time, dear husband.” She said, eyes narrowed. “Finish scrubbing yourself, and explain to me what you have been doing in the bilges.”

Opposed Charisma check 3+4=7 Fail

I took command of my mouth when Autopilot tried to answer. He wouldn’t let me lie while we were charmed, but that just meant I needed to go full lawyer mode. There was a reason I was willing to risk this kind of clash; Nendra had far less ability to work around being charmed than I did.

“Mostly I was avoiding you.” I explained. “I need to be far more alert when I’m in this room, even if you’re sleeping. You could wake up at any moment, and catch me off guard.”

Nendra’s frown deepened as I spoke.

“What are you planning?” She asked, her tone sweetening. “It would make me so happy if you were to tell me all about it. I’m sure it’s very exciting.”

Autopilot’s heart started beating fast. He was like a teenager with Nendra, at least when charmed.

“Well obviously I intend to contact some allies.” I explained, “It would be very difficult to get out without any help.”

“You have allies within Heslandaena?” She pressed, leaning towards me.

“Not that I know of.” I said, trying my best to sound sheepish. “I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

“You must be lying.” She said to herself. “There’s no way you would make such grandiose claims if you didn’t have some kind of plan.”

“Oh I do.” I agreed. “It just has a few holes in it. Lots of improvisation.”

As I tried to convince Nendra that I was an idiot, I tried not to feel like one. I did have a ton of ideas, but absolutely none of them were actually certain to get me out. The unknown had every opportunity to fuck me in the ass. At least I couldn’t give away a plan I didn’t know.

Replacing the water for Nendra’s bath was more of a hassle the second time because Autopilot wanted to summon a localized downpour, completely forgetting that Nendra was the enemy. The strange discrepancy in strength between Autopilot and myself reared its head again; I didn’t have near as much trouble lifting the bucket when I was doing it manually.

I wonder what Nendra thinks of that? Probably assumes I’m planning on leveraging my strength somehow and want it to be a surprise. To be fair, I would prefer if she still thought I had pathetic noodle arms, but that cat was out of the bag the moment she started ogling me.

Speaking of ogling, there are far worse ways to spend an hour than rubbing an admittedly very attractive woman with soap. I teased her whenever Autopilot’s hands strayed to her more sensitive parts, and she was quick to notice my boner. I’d slept with her every time she managed to get the upper hand with her magic, and was mildly surprised that her demands always included finishing inside of her.

She wants kids. Of course she wants that. Hell, she might even get pregnant on this voyage. They loaded me down with Bachelor snuff at the temple, but that supposedly fades over about a week. Shit, am I ready to be a deadbeat dad? Even if that’s what she wants, it’s kinda skeevy.

No, that’s not what she wants anyway. She wants me to be her boy toy and pump her full of babies. Does knocking her up and leaving become ok in that case? Damn it. I’m feeling up a hot girl and all I can think about are goddamn tactics and ethics. Being an adult with real problems sucks.

I mean. She’s literally forcing me to sleep with her with magic. I should probably be more upset about that, but… I mean, it’s not like she’s unattractive. Gods, I hope that thing at the temple didn’t really fuck me up.

Of course, Nendra didn’t let me get away with pulling one over on her. When we finished, there were a few minutes of peace before she sat up and looked down at me. I couldn’t read her face in the dark; she was perfectly composed at the start.

“This is what you reject.” She said, her voice low and unsteady. “This pleasure. This joy.”

As she stared down at me, her eyebrows knit together and whatever calm she had faded. I saw the pulse of violet energy flash in her eyes, creating phantom agony empowered and focused so it would last. The direct attack, 8 nonlethal, was obviously from her; that gave me another saving throw vs charm.

I failed that saving throw, and took another seven nonlethal damage while my body looked around for an attacker. Then another five damage while autopilot refused to accept that Nendra was acting perfectly in character. She shoved me out of the bed and stomped on my stomach. I could hardly feel it next to the blaze of her magic.

“Why!” She demanded. “Why can’t you just do what was expected of you?”

Even when the charm faded, it was nearly impossible to cast through the ongoing haze of pain; Autopilot informed me of a series of failed concentration checks while I fought back. I tried to pin her down with my own strength, but that didn’t stop the magic. Nothing that I could possibly do without angering Dovnu would. My vision faded to black with her spitting abyssal curses in my face.

One hell of a way to finish a steamy afternoon.

••••••••••

I woke next to Kiyon’s table, dressed in the robes of my station. Kiyon sat at his normal spot, eating a thin slice of mango with a fork. He smiled as I sat up.

“Excellent.” He said. “Just over one hour, and you are up. You really have grown stronger, I see. I was worried you wouldn’t be ready when we arrived.”

How often did this happen, for him to have a standard of comparison ready? For fuck’s sake, Nendra.

“How long until then?” I asked, brushing off my change of scenery.

“Only an hour.” He answered, taking another bite. “My mistress and I thought it would be best to separate you two. Decorum, you see.”

We returned to the deck shortly thereafter, the first time outdoors for me in over a week. Then again, I wasn’t really outdoors. There wasn’t a spark of light anywhere I could see, forcing me to rely on the ninety foot radius of darkvision my drow eyes afforded me. If I stood anywhere near the edge of the Crooked Smile, I could clearly sense the sheer stone walls hemming us in.

I don’t know if a bigger ship like the Enterprise could fit in here, even if I knew the way to the entrance. Knock plan H off the list, I guess. A rescue was always a stupid idea anyway; I only included it because Syl insisted.

Dovnu watched her husband’s puppets with a bored expression, leaning against the cabin. She was wearing what I can best describe as a silk fishnet body stocking, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. The crisscross of fine silk strands did nothing but emphasize her functionally nude form, and looked particularly odd in combination with various enchanted surface world accessories like a belt and rings.

Nendra, next to her, was wearing sheer fabric but wasn’t as exposed as her mother. Her tight, translucent dress reminded me of a short sleeved qipao, though a pair of slits on either side reached all the way to her waist. Any time she walked, nearly her entire leg was exposed. She pointedly did not meet my gaze; according to Kiyon it would be distasteful for her to walk around with a charmed husband in mixed society.

I noted in passing that my own robe was several inches longer than Kiyon’s, and cut to cover my chest completely. I wondered if that was deliberate, with Nendra and I notably more clothed than our counterparts.

We turned a corner, and for a moment I thought we had exited out to the open sky. A galaxy of faint stars appeared before us, in shades of faded orange and purple. I felt a correction coming from Autopilot, and realized that they were lights from the city, crawling up and down the walls of a great stone cavern.

The ship moored at a small dock, where a team of servants in heavy hooded robes and veils knelt while we disembarked. Following the barked orders of a drow woman in glittering chitin armor, they spilled onto the boat and unloaded the cargo. The four guards were shuffled out of the way, directed with shouts in Undercommon and a brandished whip from the overseer.

I frowned at the sight. The four were obviously cooperating; there was no need to involve the whip. I locked my eyes on the whip cracking woman and ran the numbers. I was supposed to keep walking, not involved in the process at all. I needed to actively monitor my legs, lest autopilot drag me back to my proper place at Nendra’s heel.

On the other hand, I had a mission to have a female drow submit to my authority without direct supervision. Though female, the overseer was quite lowly for a drow. I did technically outrank her as the husband of the heir. Directly speaking to her on a task not within my purview would be overstepping, but not entirely beyond the pale. She was of a lesser branch, after all. Nearly a commoner. (Knowledge Local 10+7=17)

“Xenobia. Do not beat the ogres.” I called to the lesser house member, “They know their place; if anything you are slowing their progress by doing so. How much do we pay you again? How many years until your value to the mistress matches theirs? Lowly they may be, but they are vital to our great house’s finances. Are you so irreplaceable? I will inspect them in the future.”

She stiffened. The break in protocol would have been enough to surprise her, but the implied threat of dismissal? Potentially being exiled or brought to a status lower than these poor wretches? She knew nothing of my marital strife, and Dovnu intended to keep it that way. The Mistress didn’t gainsay me. She only commanded me into Kiyon’s waiting Palanquin. (Shadow Boxing. Intimidate 20+12=Critical Success)

Xenobia D’Lann’Nes has been Intimidated

Xenobia is Frightened for one round.

Xenobia is Uncertain for 32 hours.

Dovnu stared at me in silence the entire trip. I watched her and Kiyon speaking to one another in signs, a flurry of finger movements pattering against one another.

“I’m going to kill this man.” Dovnu drummed on her husband’s knee. “I’m going to skin and cook him.”

“Is it so bad?” Kiyon answered with a caress, “She was overly free with the whip. Maybe she sought to impress you?”

“I only adopted her family early this century.” Dovnu continued, her fingers jerking forcefully. “The girl’s mother knows better than she that I need the support.”

They continued their conference, while Nendra sat stiffly beside me. It wasn’t a long trip, perhaps half an hour. If I hadn’t had anything to read it would have been much worse, but it was hard to be upset. I’d lucked into a doubled perk.

A Renegade Male

Return to the subterranean town of Heslandaena. Complete

Ensure that the drow of Heslandaena will not attempt to control you with **** or threats.

Have at least one female drow submit to your authority without active supervision. Complete

Be recognized by the Shackles Drow community as a hero, paragon, or leader.

Become the highest authority in Shackles Drow society.

Two in one day! In one hour, practically! That’s as good as I could have possibly hoped. Thank you critical intimidate!

Perk Gained: Envy (Carys M’Dair) - You may, one time, choose any number of feats or talents you possess and abandon them. They will be instantly replaced by abilities possessed by the focus of your envy.

Second perk in 24 hours. Envy upgraded to Inheritor (Carys M’Dair) - all level up and drow related perk pools have been updated to include all abilities which are on-theme for Carys M’Dair. In addition, gain one bonus feat from this updated list.

Who the hell is Carys M’Dair?

My mother.

Oh. The bigshot sorceress? Nice. She’s probably got some good stuff.

I pored over my character sheet, looking for anything I didn’t need. Drow Nobility was an easy pick; it had given me 1/day access to spells I now had as at-will abilities from my race with or without the feat. My curse hurt a little more to abandon; it had come in handy occasionally, but I didn’t usually have time for a limited use single target debuff these days. Sudden Coaxing Spell… well, I had to look up what it did first, but charming mindless living creatures seemed too niche to keep around. Finally, Spell Focus (Conjuration) was tossed in the can; in theory it was right up my alley, but it didn’t actually apply to anything I did. If I were to summon an anvil directly over someone it would be harder to dodge, but it didn’t do a damn thing for the creatures I summoned.

I did toy with Body Control Sphere; it was finicky, and I reliably forgot about its active use of rolling a skill check to purge pain or poison from my body. However, it also reduced the amount of sleep I needed every night to only five hours, including when I used Keep Watch. Between that and five free skill points towards the Escape Artist skill, it seemed worth keeping around.

I lost the talents immediately, and didn’t have time to study the new ones. We had arrived at House D’Lann proper, which turned out to be built directly into the cavern wall. There was no light out on the street, outside of candles carried by the occasional commoner without darkvision. The drow seemed to be a minority, though an obviously ruling one. Most of the non-drow I saw were dwarves or goblins, with the occasional orc or hobgoblin mixed in for flavor. They looked up a lot, orienting themselves via the high hanging lights that dominated the skyline. Low enough to serve as sign posts, high enough to be nearly useless to someone without darkvision.

Of course, the moment that we were behind the carved marble doors of House D’Lann I had more important things to focus on. Dovnu whipped around and knocked my feet out from under me with a single sweep of the leg. She glared down at me and unlimbered her whip.

“For contractual reasons, I would like to declare that this is not an action intended to impede any attempt at egress.” She said, her voice dangerously playful. “Nor is it recreational. I just really, really can not allow my males to undercut my authority.”