Darya turns to the soldier just entering the tent, laying out the situation. "This...succubus, was discovered trying to obtain information, and who knows what else, under the guise of a soldier. She enspelled the guard currently being restrained though hopefully, the effects should wear off shortly. I'd still suggest modified duty in a non-sensitive post for a while though."
She turns to Nurah with a warm supportive smile. "You did good. Arloric is right, your taking the chance and coming forward likely saved any number of lives in the long-run."
Alexa glowers at the dead succubus and sheathes her gladius.
It takes a while before her hair stops blazing.
"Any idea who or what this "Tazia" is?" Uriel asks the others.
Irabeth nods to Darya and says, "Yes. She's going to have a difficult time when that spell fades."
Sosiel replies, "I'll go with them. When I prayed to Shelyn this morning, I did not ask her for a full blessing of spells. I may be able to break this early. And help her recover."
Irabeth doesn't hesitate. "Go. And Thank you."
Nurah watches the soldiers leave with Sosiel following them. Only the guard that felled the succubus remains. To Uriel, he says, "Tazia was my sister." He offers no explanation beyond that.
After a long silence, Nurah says to Arloric, "You don't understand. She..." She turns to Irabeth, who seems to be scrutinizing her closely. Her eyes seem almost pleading. Irabeth says to the guard, "Leave us, please."
He looks at her quizzically, and replies, "Sir, there may be..."
"Go."
"Yes, sir!" he says, snapping a salute before turning on his heels and exiting the tent.
Irabeth addresses Nurah. "Out with it."
Nurah, uncharacteristically, seems to be shaking. "She...I didn't recognize her. I already knew her. She is...she was...my...handler."
Darya lets out a sigh.
"How long?" she asks, keeping any sense of judgment out of her voice. Demons had a way of finding a person's weakness and exploiting it. It was likely that Nurah was as much a victim here as anyone else.
Nurah buries her head in her hands. "Seven...seventeen years."
You hear collective groans from pretty much everyone.
Darya takes a deep breath, exchanging looks with her companions as she tries to wrap her head around the impact that a spy as high up as Nurah could have had over almost 2 decades.
"Alright...tell us everything Nurah. Start at the beginning."
...seventeen years?
Alexa sharply turns her head towards Nurah.
Her hair loses its fire and settles down to being pure black as she approaches the halfling and sits next to her.
Nurah lifts her head up, and you can see her eyes are wet. She shakes her head slightly, "Not like that. That's how long I've been under her thumb. I...made a mistake...and I've been paying for it ever since. At first she was always there, but then I'd go weeks, or months, without seeing her. Once it was even a couple of years, and...and I thought it was over. But she always came back. Always wanting more.
"I don't know what you know about Cheliax, but slavery is legal there, and my people are largely its victims." She turns to face Telerin. "What I told you about being 'indentured' to Lord Trezbot? That was all true." She addresses everyone again. "He called it 'indentured', but when you had no say in the agreement and the length of service is indefinite, it is simply slavery. I was sold to him when I was too young to even understand why I was taken away from my mother.
"I was lucky, I suppose, in that he did not object to me educating myself, but that is as far as my luck took me. He was demanding, and...abusive." Still seated, she turns around, and lifts up the back of her shirt, revealing her lower back. "This is what he left me with." Her skin is scarred heavily. The center of her back is a mass of pale, but around the edges, you see a cross-hatching that was surely left by a whip. "He brought me here when I was 20 years old," she continues, pulling her shirt down and turning back to face you. "A reasonable age for a human, I suppose, but young for one of us. He was, like most children of the 'noble' houses, seeking glory and a name for himself. I want to say I was smart, and that I bode my time, looking for a way to escape, but...I wasn't like I am now. I had no magic, no training, no skills to protect myself or survive on my own. Just a gift for words and, it seems, for tactics in battle.
"My self-education came mostly from reading history, you see, and with Cheliax being Cheliax, much of his library included tomes on battle and warfare. So I was in his tent when planning for battle, and at his side as fighting raged around us. I was terrified. I spent the first few months here living in fear, trying my best to hide it from him."
Darya's expression darkens as she sees the evidence of extensive long-term scarring on Nurah's back. Listening intently she nods as the halfling bard's story of survival unfolds. "So you survived by learning to become invaluable. What happened next?"
"I suppose that is one way to look at it. But, yes, I went from trusted servant to trusted aide. You would think that would improve my treatment, but really, it just made things worse. I was hated by the other slaves for what they saw as my new standing, and hated by his soldiers for giving them orders, even indirectly.
"There are all sorts of subtle ways slaves can rebel. I started finding things in my food. Sand. Rocks. Stuff like that." She waves a hand in the air in a dismissive gesture. "Nothing dangerous because they didn't want to risk his wrath. The slaves in the mess were very creative and they had plenty to work with. The sand was the worst. After a few days, I couldn't tolerate it anymore and I told Axilar, and in House Trezbot fashion, he responded by having them beaten. All of them. Guilty or not.
"They retaliated with bland food for everyone but their Lord. An army runs on its stomach, and Axilar's soldiers were too used to eating well. The men became angry and complained to their captains, and they complained to Axilar. His glory on the battlefield was at stake here, so he responded with another round of beatings, worse than before. The mess retaliated by randomly spoiling individual plates. They would put...I'll spare you the details. It was bad.
"This time, two of his soldiers cut out the middleman and administered the beatings directly. They failed to show restraint, and one of the slaves died. Lord Axilar couldn't ignore this. He had both soldiers executed. The whole thing had spiraled out of control.
"Rather than escalate again, a group of his soldiers looked for where all this had started, and that path led to me and the complaint about the sand in my food. We had just retreated to Keeper's Canyon. This was late in the 4th Crusade, and it was on the front lines of the latest push to retake Drezen. I was running a message to the commander of the crusaders there, and two of Axilar's men caught me alone. They dared not injure me, but there were things they could do..." She lets her voice trail off.
"I managed to get away from them, but I got the message. I wasn't safe there. Not from them, not from my kin. Not from anyone. I ran somewhere and hid, terrified, until the shaking stopped. And that's when I met her."
The elf listens, concern on her face.
Arloric watches and listens in shock at Nurah's story. He knew misery like hers all too well, losing his parents, nearly dying and gaining the scars he now carried, and the fear and suspicion Kenabres' people held for him, "the witch-boy." But somehow Nurah's experiences felt even worse. At least he'd had a warm, loving home with Crocris, never discovered sand in his food or suffering beatings and whatever else those soldiers had subjected her to.
Alexa listens to Nurah's confession, her lips pressed together in a quiet and somber line.
...she and I have more in common than either of us would be comfortable with.
"I was angry, and hurt, and desperate. This is what they do. It's who they look for. They take desperate, angry people, and offer them what they desire the most. And, I...accepted." Her eyes tear up again, and she stops to rub them try.
"I...betrayed him. I led his army into a trap, because I wanted revenge. Pure and simple." She goes silent, her expression going blank. You see Sosiel has returned, and Aron is whispering to him.
Finally, she breaks the silence and says, "The demons killed everyone but me. At the time, I was delighted. Now..." Her voice hollows as her words trail off.
"The succubus, Shehlara--I knew what she was long before then--took me under her wing. It was...the first time someone was actually kind to me. She taught me...my magic, how to use my voice to influence others. I was an eager student. I learned that she was their preferred agent for recruiting others like me. She had the ability to hide her nature from holy warriors such as yourselves," she says, gesturing to Darya and Uriel. "It's a simple spell, but effective. It let her go unnoticed for years.
"It was exciting at first, sending her information, the meetings in secret, all of that. But the reality of what I was doing sank in after a time, and I became ashamed. And horrified by the deaths I had caused. So I tried to run. But she found me, and...I realized I had escaped one abusive master into the arms of another, only this one was far worse.
"The first time I ran, she forced me back into her service with very pointed threats. The second time I ran, she skipped the threats and two of my friends were murdered in their sleep. I was trapped. The only thing I could think to do was to stop making friends, stop letting people get close to me. But it didn't matter what I did or didn't do. Shehlara always found some leverage over me. It's what they do. And I did what she said, or someone died. Or just disappeared. Or worse.
"She helped place me into my position with Queen Galfrey. It took years of maneuvering and influence, and it was her master stroke.
"I was...resigned to my fate. To the fate of humanity. The demons were going to win, and spread their corruption across Avistan. The fourth Crusade didn't end so much as dry up. The plans for fifth Crusade seemed laughable, and Shehlara seemed eager for it to begin. Nothing humanity did would matter.
"And then you came along and turned defeat into victory. And...and I saw what you did up in the Chapel, and I realized that you were the real thing. That, maybe...just maybe...you were the ones that could...
"For the first time in over a decade, I had hope."
Nary a listens in silence as Nurah continues, a roiling tangle of emotions on the inside. She felt sympathy, and compassion for Nurah, understanding the hopelessness and fear that drove her, but she felt anger as well. Toward the succubus, yes, but more infuriating were the monsters who supposedly fought on the side of the angels.
That those who were supposed to exemplify the battle against evil would enslave, mistreat, and abuse the halfling to the point that a demon seemed source of safety and protection was infuriating.
Yes Nurah bore responsibility for her actions and choices, but those who left her without other valid options were equally responsible.
"While you do have to live with the consequences, the knowledge I the deaths that came about due to your espionage, remember too that revealing this today has likely saved us all."
Alexa nods in agreement. "It took a lot of courage to step forward and do that, Nurah."
Nurah meekly says, "Thank you," then starts sobbing softly. "One act of courage in 17 years."
She regains her composure. "She was here to size you up. And to keep an eye on me. And..." She faces Aron then says, "I was supposed to slip this into your pack." She pulls out a small bag filled with six vials of a reddish liquid. Aron stares at them, not saying anything, then abruptly stands up and walks away.
Sosiel jumps to his feet and looks at the vials briefly before crushing them under his boot. "I'll talk to him." He hurries after his lover.
Nurah presses her lips together in a line and closes her eyes. She takes a couple of deep breaths before talking. "I probably deserve that.
"Anyway. You need to listen carefully. You need to know what you are up against.
"The reason I know the Citadel so well is because I've been inside it. I spent months there. Staunton Vhane isn't your only enemy. The demons there ultimately take their orders from a shadow demon named Eustoyriax. But he's not like other shadow demons. He is not limited the way they are. He can act freely in the light. He can possess others more readily. He can summon shadows at his whim. He is incredibly dangerous. Far more dangerous than anything you have faced."
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Uriel remains carefully, pointedly neutral throughout Nurah's tale. Within, he is not so. He desires justice, vengeance upon evildoers. Rage is a virtue and a strength when focused against the deserving. he recalls from Ragathiel's Code. And yet. Redemption finds hearts from even the cruelest origins. The very next line of the Code. Finally coming to a conclusion, he steps to the fore, next to Darya.
"You have done things which deserve punishment. You know this, but it should still be acknowledged. But too, you have greatly aided us now, and, I am confident, will do so in the future. It is not well known outside the faith, but our Lord Ragathiel" he says, gesturing to Darya "was born the son of the Archdevil Dispater. When he sought to join the Heavenly Host he was distrusted. It took him millenia to prove himself in Heaven. Once, he spent sixteen years wrestling an evil serpent in the Maelstrom" he says, smiling as he recalls his aunt telling him the story when he was just a child. "Eventually, he proved himself, and proved that even a half-fiend can be redeemed. If he can be, you can be. I will not tell you that redemption's road is easy. It is not. Doing what's right rarely is. But it is the right choice, and those who choose redemption deserve mercy. And we will help you on the way."
Arloric watches Aron and Sosiel's reaction to the vials Nurah reveals.
"I'm sensing a story there," he says to himself, but he figured he would ask later.
He lets the paladins speak to Nurah. He didn't think he had any good words for her...ones that wouldn't dredge up old hurts anyway.
Darya looks over at Aaron as he reacts, watching as Sosiel runs after him. There was definitely a question forming in her head about his reaction, but she didn't quite have a frame for it yet.
Turning to look at Uriel, as he reasons his way through the conflict of wanting to punish evil actions, even one driven by desperation, and a call to allow for redemption, with a very personal example, she smiles nodding in agreement to Nurah.
Taking in the dire warning she exchanges a glance with Irabeth and the rest of her team. "So Vane, and a powerful shadow demon...Eustoyriax." she says, getting a feel for the name of the enemy she was sure to face soon. "Able to function in light and wield the darkness as a weapon...thank you for telling us. You've likely just saved a few lives again. But we will be ready, there is no shadow that a bright enough light cannot pierce."
"I hope you're right," Nurah says. "Not just for your own sake, but I suppose for mine, too." She snorts. "It won't be long before they learn I've...slipped out of her grasp."
Irabeth listens to all of this carefully and responds with a heavy sigh. "Sadly, Uriel is right. There will be a court-martial in your future. You have mitigating circumstances, but...there are many people in the world who suffer at the hands of others that do not turn down such a path.
"That being said, we are in the middle of a war and this is my army to command. We will not be in a position to investigate these matters, much less hold a trial, now or in the foreseeable future. So, as commander, I order that we put this matter aside for the moment. We will return to it. But we have a city to retake, and...you have provided valuable information, and exposed a significant threat. So I will take the chance that you truly seek the redemption that Uriel speaks of. And should we be successful, this will surely work in your favor. Should we fail, the matter will be moot.
"As for what to tell the soldiers..." Irabeth sighs again. "They are no doubt spreading rumors as we speak. We need to put a stop to that, and of course we cannot lie to them. But I will not have them passing judgement on you, either. So, we will tell them that this succubus had a controlling influence over you, and was coercing you for information and, I presume, the small acts of sabotage that have plagued us?" The latter becomes a question which Irabeth directs at Nurah, who nods in confirmation. "So. All of this is true, by your words. The history that got us here, however, does not need to be made public.
"If there are no objections, I will speak to Aron and Sosiel directly."
"Mind if I join you, Beth?" Arloric asks.
Irabeth nods to Arloric, "Not at all. We'll go see them now."
Arloric nods back and follows Irabeth's lead.
Alexa stays with Nurah and Darya. "...right. We've got quite a bit of preparation ahead of us."
As Irabeth predicted, stories surrounding the succubus have spread rapidly and the mood in the camp is somewhat tense as the soldiers prepare to move out. Most seem to accept the abbreviated story of the demon's influence over Nurah, but that does not completely put a stop to their speculation. As you are attached to the army officially as specialists and are treated more or less as officers, not much of this talk reaches your ears, but conversations become hushed when you approach or stop altogether, and it doesn't take much of a mental leap to guess at why.
Arloric is the last of you to see Aron before he strikes out ahead with Anevia on scouting duty. They leave earlier than usual, something that Irabeth suggests is probably for the better.
Neither he nor Sosiel revealed what, specifically, upset him, nor did they shed light on the nature of the vials. Whatever is eating at him, it's obviously personal, and deeply upsetting. You get the sense that Irabeth knows more about this than you do, and if that is the case she is keeping it to herself.
Nurah stays close to Irabeth, which is understandable given the attention that is now focused on her. She is also uncharacteristically quiet and avoids making a lot of direct eye contact.
Under this subdued atmosphere, the army moves out, following the dry riverbed out of the gorge on the way to Drezen. Unless there are more interruptions, you'll reach the outskirts of the city by mid-afternoon.
Arloric lets Sosiel and Aron know, if they ever need to talk, he's available to listen. He also lets Nurah know if anyone gives her any trouble to let him know.
When the army is ready to move out, he sounds his horn and travels at the head.