A Maaaahvelous Paaahty

5/29 afternoon

Ursula was thrilled to have guests over. It was always exciting to host, assuming one can attract the right people. Of course, usually Ursula would have difficulty keeping everyone's attention, but she'd brushed off the skills her parents had drilled into her and sent others to deliver the invitations.

Pai was of course the most important target; Lord Bismark wanted her for some scheme, so she must be captured promptly. Elsharin, a respected high elven magic tutor, had been invited by Kriss. Drusilla had at least tried to invite some of the ladies from the coven, though disappointingly only that acolyte, Porena, had rsvped. High Priestess Laurena was asked to come and meet someone by a letter bearing a bishop's seal provided by Natalie Selene. Several nobles including High Admiral Jes-tereth, the Elerians, and nearly every newly promoted Westfall noble had been invited or ordered to attend by Lady Kennedy or Lady Prestor. Multiple SI:7 agents had been sent to provide security undercover, and had been given a partially accurate briefing on what was going to happen. To round it out, several local business owners and respectable retired women were included. All told, nearly one hundred women were invited. A shame Moira had already left.

It was a real who's who, and anyone that arrived would almost certainly be intrigued, even if none of them really knew exactly why they had all been invited. The most influential women in Stormwind would be there, along with the wives of the most influential men, and when they left, many new alliances and friendships would be established.

The ladies began filing in at the appropriate time; punctuality is, after all, a virtue. Katrana, Talaada, Dena, and Ursula mingled, doing whatever was necessary to keep everyone here. Promises of more information were hinted at, bribes were quietly given; whatever seemed appropriate.

Pai was fashionably late, and drew some eyes with her entrance. Next to most of the women present, she didn't really fit. As far as anyone knew, she was some middling socialite who mostly stayed out of politics. However, it was shortly after she entered that Lady Katrana Prestor took the stage.

It was a good speech, too, about the hard times that Stormwind found itself facing, about the need for strong female leadership, about needing diverse voices from various professions and walks of life to really attack the problems from every angle.

Ursula kept a close eye on Pai when her imp phased in under the central table and lit the dream incense. She was quietly on edge, categorizing every face present. Somehow, she smelled a rat. When she initially smelled the smoke, while everyone else relaxed, she tensed up, reached into a pocket, and tried to excuse herself to go to the powder room. She was intercepted by an SI;7 operative that believed this was an elaborate setup to capture Pai Stormbringer alive. Talaada also made her way over; this was their primary target, after all.

As long as it didn't get violent and she stayed in the room, it shouldn't be a problem. She had around a minute before the incense had its grip firmly established upon her mind. It wasn't as if she was entirely alone in having suspicions, either, she was just the only one whose immediate response to a strange smell was to try to quickly leave a high class mixer in the middle of the keynote speech from a royal advisor.

That was, of course, the only thing that gave her even a chance to leave before her mind was ensnared, and it wasn't enough. As she made her excuses and tried to maintain plausible deniability, her words began to trail off as focusing became harder.

Katrana continued her speech, a note of condescension creeping in. "And it is for that reason that we must speak with one voice, act with one will, and be fully united in purpose." At that cue, three dozen ghosts entered from the side room along with Sylvanas, Lord Bismark, and Natalie Seline. The harvest began.

The high value targets were captured first, of course. Aelthalyste handled Pai herself, being familiar with the warped psychology of the Cult of the Damned. Melisara took High Priestess Laurena, but she seemed to be having difficulty. Jes-Tereth was dominated by Sylvanas personally. Bishop Selene, being far less powerful than she was knowledgeable at the moment, surveyed the guests and picked out their relative strength of will, allowing for more efficient subjugation by pairing off ghosts with people just barely within their maximum capacity.

Ursula, for her part, clicked her necklace around the neck of Jessara Cordell, the wife of the Royal Enchanter, and charmed her into compliance. Even with her mind horribly compromised, convincing a happily married woman to declare her love for a stranger required substantial effort. Easily remedied, however. Ursula turned and drained the mana from the high priestess, while carefully leaving Melisara untouched.

Mana is a complex thing, an intermingling of many energies coming together within the soul. The aspects that were important here, however, was focus and mental fortitude. Very difficult to fight off outside influences without those, hmm? The high priestess crumbled even as Ursula used her energy to finish charming Jessara. 

The party was a rousing success, though there were a few party crashers as well. Spirits and warriors that attempted to rescue dear Lady Stormbringer; the Cult recruiter had somehow managed to contact them and request an extraction when she realized something was wrong. They were dangerous, but thankfully Abby, Eliza, and Lillibeth were collectively more than capable of handling the task at hand without needing to bother the processing of the masses. 

The undead were subdued, absorbed into Sylvanas's shroud, and added to the guest list. The living cultists were killed, bludgeoned into near mindlessness and possessed by their own former comrades, or drained and charmed. In all cases, they were recruited. They didn't have much time; Pai was given an amulet so she could make contact again later, and the extraction team "escaped" through a summoned death gate to their hidden base in the mountains. They would make arrangements for Lillibeth's tuition later.

Ursula turned and surveyed the room with a smile. Together, these women were a power block. They had vastly disparate interests, goals, ideals, and social circles. That didn't matter. They would work in concert where it mattered, and the fact that many of them would normally be at one another's throats on any number of issues would, if anything, make it harder to see what was happening. There were still a few people that needed to be captured, of course; Archbishop Benedictus, for example. However, Stormwind was well and truly the property of Lord Bismark now.

••••••••••

Hell yeah. Two major cities in the bag, and two more where I had at least one of the rulers in the process of being captured. Thaurissan would get an amulet of his own tomorrow, of course. The other four… maybe should go to Theramore. Jaina and Aegwynn were just sitting there, waiting to be subjugated. I'd figure something out for the other two; maybe some more Dark Iron VIPs, or I could start passing them out at Light's Hope Chapel?

I also needed to put together a proper assault on the Wailing Caverns. They weren't as heavily guarded as the dream portals, but the cramped space made my biggest guns, the dragons, far less effective. I had two main goals there, Naralex and Serpentis. They were both very high value targets, hidden behind a horrible wall of flesh and venom. Small squads were not going to cut it, which that last attempt had made abundantly clear.

••••••••••

I checked in with Anduin; he's a good kid, and did a great job as a hostage. He and his father were sparring when I arrived, and it was a hell of a lot more advanced than the last time I saw them fighting. The kid may be 12, but he was moving like a veteran and mixing in holy words while he fought.

Varian had a clear upper hand, but I suspected that was partly because Anduin didn't, or perhaps couldn't, make full use of his magic. At least, Varian had the upper hand at first. With every strike, Anduin moved faster. At first it just seemed like he was gaining momentum, but after around a minute of fighting defensively, Anduin switched tactics and unleashed a rapid flurry upon his father while giving himself a holy shield, moving with such incredible speed that it could not possibly be natural. Soul magic informed me that death magic was involved, somehow. Shadowlands shit, probably, long after my time.

There was little Varian could do at that point. He lasted much longer than any reasonable person could be expected to, but Anduin's speed continued to grow exponentially. It seemed like he could try to play keep away for a moment, but that didn't actually help much. Especially when Anduin began letting fly small bolts of holy energy at the same blistering pace as his sword swings. They didn't hit as hard initially, but wherever they landed, holy flames clung to Varian.

They were throwing around surprisingly deadly attacks, but they both had big, goofy grins. They were having a blast. This… was a conundrum. Because apparently Anduin ascended to 1v1 god mode at some point and I wasn't made aware of it, but also I stand by my opinion that we really shouldn't be deploying 12 year olds in the field.

I could swap his power set with someone else, probably Mary for the scroll, but that presented its own drawback. Calia had been my first thought for the power swap because she earnestly didn't want the power. Downgrading her into a mundane housewife would actively be doing her a favor, as long as I kept Southshore relatively safe. Anduin was clearly enjoying this. He was innocent, he'd never killed anyone and I didn't intend for him to do so for years, but he could suddenly participate in his father's favorite hobby on equal footing.

Dammit. Life would be a lot easier if I were just a sociopath. I'd been planning on keeping him at the base as a healer on standby, but what I just saw was way too impressive. I wanted it. It made more tactical sense than Calia. Literally the only reason not to do it was the smiling father/son duo in front of me taking so much joy in this. I sighed. I just couldn't take this from him.