Cloak and Dagger Parties

5/28 evening

I was still sitting around at the table, listening with half an ear to speeches about the glory of Shadowforge City, when I got the update that Gina and her team had successfully returned the Sign of Earth to the target. That meant a piece of psychic paper and a credit for me. That brought me to ten credits, and I decided to go ahead and buy Communication Talent Sharing.

Talaada had shown me how incredibly effective communication talent was when properly applied, and I was about to send Lillibeth into a lion's den where open conflict would pretty much always be a bad move. Crushing my enemies is all well and good, but I've always preferred diplomacy. And "diplomacy," but I only have so many necklaces to toss around. If I was going to start advertising my cult like Talaada wanted, turning everyone who joined into a physically athletic, socially adept, and eternally young hot person was an excellent first step. One hell of a marketing stunt.

The Badlands already had a regional mission, that one trogg chieftain, so it was just a new moderate mission I needed to worry about.

The Pariah's Instructions

Assist the Centaur heretic Leh Prah to gain a position of power among his people. You will be penalized if you capture him before the mission is complete.

Reward: 1 credit, mercenary camp: Barrens

Mercenary camp, eh? As in the neutral building in Warcraft 3? Those were used to purchase creeps. My best guess is that this would work like my Ancient of War, but with a small selection of neutral units. Given the context, probably one that includes some centaur.

If I remember correctly, most mercenaries were a bit overpriced to compensate for the fact that you could train them instantly, and were usually only worth the trouble early game. Given that the economy of my base doesn't really have to worry about training time all that much, the mercenary camp might just turn into a free building that I use for lodging instead of it's intended purpose. Maybe if they have options that don't cost any essence? Maybe?

I shouldn't be too dismissive. It was totally possible that there would be some kind of very useful niche unit on offer, or it actually works totally differently, letting me instantly capture people by hiring them. That would be nice, if redundant.

I also scrolled through my rapidly expanding list of new recruits. I had 240 new forsaken recruits and 6 gnomes today, and it looked like 100 wolf moon would complete with bonus intact tomorrow, around noon at the earliest. Nice, nice. I turned my attention to attempting to flirt with the nearest dwarven lady, taking advantage of my lures as best I could. I struck out, but we both had fun. Plus I'm pretty sure she was married and was just enjoying the back and forth, so I wasn't really expecting much.

••••••••••

Ursula was going to a party for once. She normally found them dreadfully boring, but she had enough clout that she always got invitations anyway. She would blissfully ignore tonight's entertainment as well, if not for a certain woman by the name of Pai Stormbringer.

Pai was a socialite, old money from the kingdom of Alterac, going back to before the first war. Her parents had frequently been in Stormwind, so Ursula could remember the brooding young girl around her own age. They hadn't been close friends, but they knew each other well enough that Ursula approaching her wouldn't trip any red flags on its own. Which was important, because Pai had gone and joined the Cult of the Damned. She was a recruiter, and the only reason that SI:7 hadn't taken her out was that she was on a very short list of people they could observe to get intel on cult activity.

Ursula was apparently an ideal target for the cult, according to Lord Shaw, and she wasn't really sure what that meant. Something related to her lack of visible connections to other nobles and the fact that she was approaching middle age? Neither of which were really true anymore, thanks to her pretty little pendent, but that wasn't common knowledge. Still rude to point out, though.

Regardless, she was to approach her old friend with this small magic stamp and, by whatever means necessary, apply it to her. It had been deemed the least risky approach the retinue could take. After that, she would engage her in conversation, perhaps invite her over for tea, and definitely let slip her interest in the dark arts like some kind of fool. In other words, she was to present herself as low hanging fruit for recruitment.

She had already cleared it with Zardeth, of course. She couldn't have herself getting assassinated because she seemed to be leaving the coven for another, even darker path. She was working with SI:7 to set up a sting, instead. He actually seemed quite impressed, and to her annoyance a new voice in the back of her head helpfully informed her that he didn't think she would ever apply her talents usefully. Hmph.

Pai was not the first person most would imagine as a member of the cult of the damned. She's a short, cute woman who was a bit chubby. She's all smiles and warmth, but with a degree of class. She moved with precision and grace, and was known to be a fantastic dancer. That's exactly why she was so effective. 

https://imgur.com/a/qdmQGlm

Of course, having joined a brainwashing cult herself just recently, Ursula was far more able to recognize how this worked. The Cult of the Damned were all, without exception, fanatical unto death; obviously there was some kind of binding ritual or procedure that they were put through once they were in to ensure their loyalty. Of course they might occasionally need to kill someone off that resisted the process, but that was easy enough. Sucker them in by any means necessary, give them a necklace. Pai would make the transition quite well.

It wasn't hard to find Pai, but something told her that openly approaching her the moment that she entered the ballroom would attract the wrong kind of attention. Better to speak with other acquaintances that she could stand. Dena Kennedy, some scholars she used to know back when she was trying to learn conventional arcana, a few of the newly promoted Westfall nobles. Anyone the least bit interesting, really. Eventually she was organically close to Pai, and was able to insert herself into the conversation rudely, but not suspiciously. After all, Ursula was known for being very direct when she wanted to talk.

Pai was speaking to a few people, and the little helper that had joined Ursula in her own skull started to supply analysis. The man on the left was hoping that he might sleep with the recruiter; Pai was encouraging this, to bring him into her orbit. The other two people in the conversation were a mother and daughter; the mother, approaching 40, wasn't aging gracefully. From the mild reverence she showed Pai, she was either a prospective member or already in the cult. She'd been a great beauty once… hmm. Perhaps Ursula could poach her with charm; why should Lord Erich be the only one with a harem? Pai wasn't the only one here who could offer eternal youth and beauty. Besides, her daughter had good instincts; she seemed put off by this cheerful woman.

Hmm. She didn't really need to do anything particularly involved. Pai was keeping a low profile. Continued contact would be best, but a few moments of social awkwardness would expedite things. Ursula palmed the stamp; she'd tried quite a few disreputable hobbies before settling upon the dark arts, and basic slight of hand was easy enough when people weren't expecting it.

"Pai! It's been so long!" She strode right up and took her by the hand, pressing the stamp against her exposed skin while she kept talking. "I would have come out to these events more often if I'd known I could find you here!"

Pai almost managed to hide the fact that she was shifting into a combat ready stance. Nobody else seemed to notice, certainly. She didn't quite snatch her hand away, but she felt what Ursula was doing enough to take her hand back the moment that the stamp was set and Ursula released her, checking for the mark that she simply could not see. "Oh? Whatever for?" She cocked her head and gave an innocently curious expression.

"Oh, just a common interest I think we might still have. I've put together a knitting circle and I think you would fit right in from what I remember." Knitting circle was not quite code; most such groups did knit while they discussed business, politics, criminal enterprises, and the like. Ursula lowered her voice to a whisper. "I just made sure that you'd be allowed into my manor, should you choose to come and visit. My guards know to let anyone in who has the right aura." Her voice rose again. "We are meeting tomorrow after lunch, if you don't have a conflict."

The cheery smile never faltered, but Pai was considering the options. Yes. Being invited into a more intimate social group could only be good for her. Ursula was a notorious recluse with ties to the warlocks in the city. If she'd been misidentified by the coven… best to either nip it in the bud or make use of it. In either case that meant attending at least one meeting. "Oh! That sounds lovely. Should I bring anything?"

"Just yourself! There will be tea and sandwiches." More importantly, Aelthalyst, Natalie and a lovely smelling incense would also be there. In fact, they could make a day of it. As she continued to mouth platitudes, Ursula wrote out a list of other ladies of modest repute that might be interested in a sewing circle with her, especially if she could name drop someone like Katrana Prestor. She really did need more friends; she might as well make them.

••••••••••

Lividia headed out, accompanied by Lillibeth and armed with her staff, once again. The gnolls were such delightfully loathsome creatures; killing them was great! These lands belonged to her king now, so a bit of pest control was in order.

The battle went fairly similarly to the last, save that they did slightly better about clearing out the gnolls and they were smaller in number, so they were never overwhelmed. Lillibeth had gotten stronger somehow, which was nice. It made her more useful to Lividia. Better tools are great! She saw the brown haired girl rip some kind of green energy out of one of the gnolls, causing it to wither away over the course of a few seconds. Neat!

When the staff was starting to heat up, Lividia gave the signal and experienced Lillibeth's silence spell for the first time. It didn't go quite as well as she hoped, but it did work after a fashion. The warm, majestic flow of energy didn't stop; it just couldn't leave the dragoness's body anymore. Shit. However, the shock of realization did give Lividia a painfully obvious idea. She threw the staff at one of the gnolls that was approaching from a distance. Quite well, actually; it wasn't very aerodynamic, but she got a reasonable amount of distance.

The searing burst of light came, but it wasn't as potent as when her body was overloaded. Spots danced in her vision, but the gnolls, being animated by dark magic, were far more impacted than Lividia. She and Lillibeth fell upon the dazed and confused gnolls, wiping most of them out quickly.

The next pack didn't go quite as well, as she didn't manage to throw it near as far, but she was pretty sure that she'd figured it out. Getting Light's Wrath out of her hands reduced the danger posed by the staff, down from disintegration to potential blindness. There might be an even better strategy, but for now this could work. Perhaps she could try something more dangerous tomorrow. She had practically mastered the staff at this point. Oh. And maybe she could learn more of those power word things!