Damnable Kingdom

With a tremor that shook the Abyss, Demogorgon's remaining head tumbled to the floor of his throne room and the beautiful tiefling girl, panting with heroic exhaustion, her bright sword burning away the slain monster's tainted blood, collapsed along with the demon lord's headless body.

But she was not alone in her triumph for long: the knight, her only companion in the quest into the very center of the Abyss, his armor shining with a light heretofore unseen in that forsaken realm, rushed to cradle her, his powerful arms encircling her in a gentle embrace.

"You have done it, Skilitia," he exclaimed with admiration. "You have saved the planes from the greatest evil that they have ever faced! Now, good folk everywhere can be secure in the knowledge that goodness is their choice and their right, and that those who foment chaos and evil will be punished."

"Free people everywhere must be allowed to choose good," she declared with the last of her strength, "without invoking the fury of an evil, two-headed, giant monkey."

He lifted her up and carried her through the portal, striding through the ardent, brilliant light of the heavens. When they emerged, they were as clean as holy silver and standing in the room of the inn where they had had their first meeting. They had not understood each other then, but now they knew that they were soulmates, destined to be together for all time.

He lowered her to the bed, concern etched upon his features, for he did not know that their brief trip through the heavens had completely replenished her strength and that she was but feigning helplessness in order to continue enjoying his tender care. "Oh, Skilitia," he whispered. With a smile, she drew his head down, bringing his lips to--

A splash of water across the tiefling's face startled her out of her reverie. "Wha-?! What is it--more goblins?" Skilitia sputtered. Her eyes opened in time to see that Mokta, the shifter whose shamanic skills served the party, had hastily, and messily, exited the bath.

Much as the tiefling wanted to continue her daydream (she was just getting to the best part), she certainly did not want her party to be ambushed while bathing. Not all of them relied on accessories or armor--nudity would not prevent the shifter from summoning her spirit companion, for example--but the bottom of an indoor pool was a terrible position for anyone to defend. With a glance at the stairs descending into the water, her eyes found the scarred old sword that was her chief weapon.

"Easy Skilitia, everything's okay! Arvoreen's antsy bladder! You were really out of it, weren't you?" came a reassuring voice from the shadows on the edge of the pool, which the tiefling recognized as Devin Shadeburrow, the party's diminutive sneak-thief. They had all disrobed to bathe themselves, but the halfling must still have been wearing one particular piece of jewelry, for she was so difficult to see that only the magical ring around her toe could be responsible. Who knows where she had hidden the rest of her gear.

"I don't smell any goblins," confirmed the shifter tersely, shaking herself off and taking a seat next to the entrance to the bath.

Their final companion, the high elven wizard Vanitadael seemed about to comment too, so Skilitia quickly downplayed the situation, "I know, I know--I'm just staying ready! Remember ... there's nothing that evil hates more than a perfectly peaceful soak in the bath."

To Skilitia's dismay, the eladrin was undeterred. "My my, I did not realize that you would be so traumatized by just one goblin encounter," Vanitadael rejoined with amusement. "Perhaps it is true that goblins exert a disquieting influence over children after all."

Vanitadael's jab exemplified just why Skilitia was beginning to despise travelling with an all-female party. Obviously, there were stereotypically male behaviors that she was able to avoid in more feminine company, but she felt constantly undermined by her companions--admittedly, mostly by the eladrin--and they seemed to have no sense of a heroic ideal.

Vanitadael hurled spells into mobs of enemies from behind the protection of her comrades, only to disdain those comrades when the battle was over. Skilitia wasn't completely sure whether Mokta's remoteness was a sign of ego or social maladjustment, but she was certain that the shifter thought herself above those who didn't have invisible friends to do their fighting for them. As for Devin, the halfling was personable enough and her fighting skills were impressive, but Skilitia knew that Devin did not take matters like honor and bravery seriously.

The tiefling longed to go to battle with knights and soldiers at her side--men who knew the meaning of valour. Perhaps she could even find one to share the rest of her life ...

**

Before Skilitia could decide how to respond to Vanitadael's comment, a new speaker unexpectedly entered the conversation. "Did you say 'goblins'? That's funny--they've been on my mind too," volunteered a female voice from the entrance of the bath.

The party (with the exception of Devin, who could not see the door from her place in the shadows) turned their heads to regard the newcomer. The human was richly dressed, her body clothed with rich and colorful fabrics and her pale head adorned with a tiara. Skilitia would have been more suspicious, except that the concerns of the affluent were so often the source of employment for adventurers like her and her party. The common wisdom amongst adventurers was that over 40% of quests were assigned by just 1% of the people, and Skilitia had no reason to doubt it. Moreover, the woman was clearly alone and appeared better equipped to hold court than to do battle.

"Is it just you ladies alone in here?" the woman asked, stepping in cautiously.

"Is this not a ladies' bath?" Vanitadael said, closing her eyes with disinterest and sinking deeper into the water.

"I just thought that the country was too dangerous lately for three ladies to travel alone," the woman smiled. She slipped out of her fine robe and sat on the edge of the pool, her ivory skin almost shining in the weak light. Skilitia wondered if she should formally introduce the four of them and point out the halfling in the shadow of the steps, and was about to speak up when the woman continued.

"To be sure, I'm glad to have found some company," said the outsider. "When walking through the ruins of some ancient and evil structure not far from here, I found a band of butchered goblins, who were certainly in the middle of some important ritual when they met their ends. I thought that the perpetrators may have come here, and I was worried for my safety."

"That was us!" gushed the tiefling. "But it's okay--you're completely safe!"

"What? You?" exclaimed the woman, somehow still retaining her calm despite the apparent outburst.

"You needn't worry, child," assured Vanitadael with her customary, casual condescension. "We would never injure such a harmless creature."

"We're the good guys!" Skilitia explained. "We only help people!"

"But you are plainly warriors, come to a land known for its increasingly evil ways," objected the woman. "Was this not some sort of demonstration of your martial prowess to impress the locals and enlist with the dark forces that rule the kingdom?"

"Nope!" the tiefling replied with her sunniest (and, she hoped, least diabolical) smile.

"But now that you're here, won't you join the brutal regime once they make you a sufficiently enticing offer?" continued the woman.

"Uh-uh!" the tiefling said, still smiling. She knew that Mokta could never steer the conversation in a more productive direction, but she wished that Devin or Vanitadael would be more supportive. Even though the halfling appeared to be following the conversation from the shadows, she was unusually quiet, and the eladrin seemed above the effort. "We're a band of heroes, milady, here to right the wrongs of this land. We don't take bribes from evil beings--we're not in it for that."

"A band of heroes? Then you must be famous," the woman concluded. "Have I heard of you before?"

"No, probably not," the tiefling responded sheepishly. "We're kind of new to this--we don't have a lot of experience with it."

"Oh," said the woman, disappointment evident in her features. "So you won't be much of a challenge for any really powerful creatures that you meet."

"I think that we have a chance," insisted the tiefling, slightly indignant. "We got lucky against the goblins after all. We just need to fight more and more difficult monsters, getting stronger and stronger as we do, until we're able to beat the big boss monster."

The woman's frown deepened, but Skilitia continued, heedless. "We're doing well for beginner heroes," the tiefling said. "After all, we don't even have a group name yet."

"I determined that we should be the Fellowship of Justice," said the eladrin, interjecting again, "but the tiefling insisted that, because we are operating outside of the official justice system, we cannot not use the name."

"That's right," said Skilitia, her enthusiasm flagging. "Technically, we're not really the authorities, so we can't say something like that ... it wouldn't be right."

"And what was your alternate notion, tiefling?" the eladrin snorted.

"Uhh, it was just an idea, but maybe the Avenging League?" responded the tiefling.

Observing this exchange with amusement, the affluent outsider said, "If you females are going to continue foiling the operations of others without any plan for profit, then I have a suggestion ..." She paused briefly to ensure that she had the attention of the party. "The Company of Cunts."

The eladrin opened one eye in irritation, while the tiefling struggled with the unexpected barb. "Buh ... wha ... why would you say that?" Skilitia stammered. After a moment of surprise, the shifter snarled from behind the woman and stepped toward her--it seemed that the shaman was so enraged that she wanted to teach the woman a lesson without invoking any help from the spirits.

"Look at this, bitch," the woman said, stretching her palm towards the shifter. The woman's tiara seemed to shimmer, and a magenta glow emanated from her hand, though the tiefling couldn't see what was causing it. "Or sow, or whatever you call yourself. Really, what are you anyway? You're hairier than a nalfeshnee."

When the shifter's snarl only grew quieter, the tiefling knew that something was wrong. The eladrin sensed it too, and the two adventurers shot up, preparing to subdue the stranger. Skilitia snatched for the sword resting on the steps while Vanitadael quickly steadied herself for spellcasting.

The outsider turned back to them, her smile widened ominously, and then the space around her seemed to rupture. It was as though the page of a book had flipped, and the portrait of a wealthy woman was replaced with an altogether different illustration.

The woman's beauty had grown terrible and demonic. Six arms fanned out from her torso, while her legs had fused and lengthened into one long, serpentine tail, which was coiled beneath its body. Even her coloring had changed, darkening to a baked brown shade. A flaming sword had appeared in one of its hands, poised to strike any opposition. If not for the tiara on its brow, it would have been unrecognizable as the innocuous woman that it had once been.

The tail quickly uncoiled, slapping Skilitia and Vanitadael against the bank of the pool. Stunned, the tiefling barely managed to grasp her weapon before the tail snaked around her, pinning her sword arm to her body and hoisting her into the air. As she struggled to free herself, she realized that the eladrin was even more handicapped, with both of her arms constricted in the coils.

As for Mokta, the shifter still stood rapt, staring into a light in the palm of one of the demon's hands, but the monster now had five more arms to put to use. The outsider's crown shimmered again, and two of its free hands produced lights to match the first and sap the will of the two girls who were still grappling for their lives.

With its remaining two hands, the monster attempted to hold the gaze of its prisoners. Skilitia saw that Vanitadael had already joined Mokta and succumbed to the demon's domination. The tiefling desperately sought to look away, hoping that Devin really had completely evaded the demon's notice so that the halfling could strike a completely unexpected blow that would shock the monster and free her comrades.

Instead, the demon pulled Skilitia's hair and brought the soul-searing light before the tiefling's eyes. She felt her self twisting, but not physically--rather, it was her thoughts, her beliefs, her goals, her dreams, her inhibitions, and all of the things that defined her that seemed to spiral, leaving her mind a swirl of mental fragments and confusing remnants of the person who she had wanted to be.

"Ohhh, what's the problem? You said that you served justice, and you wanted me to provide you with an adventure--allow me to make some suggestions," the demon taunted as the tiefling clung to her last, burning hope: that a dagger would appear in the monster's back, driven by an ever-reliable, level-headed halfling, and that the four of them would escape from this bath, from this kingdom, with their souls intact.

But Devin never struck, and that hope, like the rest of Skilitia's mind, blew away like wisps of smoke before the abyssal blast of the demon's will.

"I should have received long-term reinforcements from the goblins' summoning, but instead I have you--isn't it 'justice' that I be allowed make the most of you?" the demon asked its three mindless prisoners. "Now, what should I do with you three--my Company of Cunts?"

...