Succubus Quest Ch. 5

The stone cell was cold, rough, and slightly damp, but at least it was clean. Vivian leaned against the wall, eyeing her captor through the bars. He inclined his head slightly then leaned back, resting his feet on a nearby table and crossing his legs one over the other. Maybe it would have felt better, Vivian considered, if he had been nastier. More of a proper jailor. Instead he was calm, collected, and smug. It was infuriating.

Still scowling, Vivian flipped open her character sheet. Surely there was something here… She stared, blinked, and slapped her palm against her forehead. How had she forgotten the Charm spell?  I’m such an idiot, she thought. I know one spell and I forget what it is. But it was fine. She could just use it now and get him to let her free. Problem solved. Vivian made the hand gesture, reaching out for her magic, and…

Insufficient Mana

The text appeared before her eyes in blocky green lettering, flashed once, then vanished. “There’s no way,” Vivian muttered. “I mean, I’ve only cast one spell.” She flicked down to her mana value: 4/10.

It just wasn’t fair. She didn’t see any numbers associated with the spell itself, but it was safe to assume the thing cost six mana to use. And apparently she hadn’t recovered any since then. Maybe it only came back when she slept? Either way, it was useless now.

Vivian began going through her abilities methodically, step by step, reading each one. She poked and prodded at the image, but interacting with the floating scroll was useless. This isn’t how it’s supposed to work, she thought. Looking through my abilities should give me more info. Or teach me a new skill. Something that lets me understand better. She tried swiping her finger along the text, whispering the words out loud, and asking it questions. The spectral page hovered uselessly. Less than useless, in fact: it was a constant reminder of Vivian’s non-existent options.

“You must be fresh-hatched, gobbo. It ain’t gonna work the way you want.”

Vivian looked up. The guard was watching her, his expression somewhere between curiosity and contempt. What was he talking about? Unless… “Can you see this thing?” she asked, gesturing at her scroll.

The man shook his head. “Nah, but it’s clear enough you’re foolin’ around with your scroll. And you ain’t got the knack for it.”

“How would you know?” Vivian crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn’t trying to sulk, but that was definitely how it felt.

The guard grinned. “Because yours truly does. Blessed, some might call it, a lowly soldier like myself having such a valuable skill as Insight.” He dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Tell you the truth, I think Mr. Mayor is a bit jealous himself. Even among those hero types, it’s a rarity. Or so I hear.” His legs slid off the chair and he straightened up, stretching with calculated slowness. “Not that any of that helps you people out. Adventurers can at least ask a sage about what’s what. You people with your shamans and all that backwards finger-wiggling you call magic, well, you’ll just have to guess.”

He was baiting her, Vivian realized, but to what end she wasn’t sure. She took a few breaths to steady herself. It would have been easy to let her temper run wild, to tell this smug buffoon what a fool he was, but that certainly wouldn’t help. Slowing her breathing, the succubus forced herself to review the mental exercises Madame Clairoux had drilled into her. The lesson hovered in her mind’s eye, blurred but visible, barely within reach. It was like swimming through syrup - every time she lost a little focus, the thought slipped further away.

What did she know about this man? He was proud, certainly: of his position, of his special skill. Probably of his relationship with the mayor. And hadn’t he mentioned the mayor was some kind of hero? It had a very boys’ club feeling, the way he’d referred to the next morning’s visit. That was probably why he wanted her to talk: more info to pass along to the mayor, all to make himself look good.

Lucas liked to talk, but didn’t want to seem like it. And he had some kind of fixation on goblins. Presumably they were a local problem, at least from his perspective, and had tried to sneak into the town before. But he hadn’t attacked Vivian, even after revealing her, so they were more of a nuisance than a threat. Or at least, he hadn’t seen her as threatening. The thoughts were tumbling away from her, trickling through her grasp like sand. She had to move this along.

There didn’t seem to be any way out of her predicament unless her circumstances changed. She wasn’t sure what good conversation would do, barring a truly foolish blunder on the guard’s part, but… it wasn’t like she had anything else to do.

“Wow…” Vivian let silence hang in the air, warmed by the man’s conceited glow. “I only came into the world a few days ago,” she said, letting her voice trail off wistfully. “The shaman didn’t tell me much. Just gave me this quest, taught me a disguise spell, and sent me off.”

“Aha!” Lucas leapt to his feet, grin blooming into a full smile. “You are a goblin! I knew it. Never doubted, mind you, but always good to confirm.”

“I figure there’s no reason to hide,” Vivian lamented. “You saw right through me. Do you… think there’s any chance the mayor lets me live?”

The guard shrugged. “Not for me to say. But he’s a canny one, our mayor. And the more you let slip, well… if we’re well-informed about what plot your fellows are up to, that’s all the more reason to let you off easy.”

He’s warming up to this, Vivian thought. At worst, I can probably get a little more information from this chump. “Maybe we could make a deal?” she offered. “You just know so much more than me about the world. If you’ll tell me a little more, I’ll answer whatever questions you want about the goblins. Uh, my tribe. Of goblins.”

If Lucas noticed her stumble, he didn’t show it. He strolled over, leaning against the wall next to her cell. “I don’t see how you’re in a position to negotiate,” he commented. “How about this: we’ll start with my questions and then, depending on how helpful you are, I might dish out some wisdom. Agreed?”

Vivian nodded eagerly, leaning into her performance. She met the guard’s eyes as he looked sidelong at her. “Go ahead. Ask me anything.”

Lucas nodded. His face remained passive, but a smile flickered at the corner of his mouth. “Let’s start with this, then: what did the shaman want you to do in town?”

What indeed? Vivian pondered for a moment. “Well… she didn’t tell me much…”

The guard sidled closer “... but?”

“But she wanted to know where you kept watch at night. And if there was anyone else patrolling. And any weak points in the barricade, where maybe someone could climb over.”

“As if that would work. You people ought to know by now - my eyes are everywhere.” He shook his head slowly, then looked back at Vivian. “Go on, what else?”

The succubus dropped her head, lowering her voice in embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” she said. “That was all of it. I was supposed to report back after but, well…”

“Right. Good.” Lucas rubbed his chin. “Some kind of night raid, then. Within the next week, if I know that little viper’s scheming, and believe you, nobody knows better. What about weapons? Anything unusual? Any new spells?”

Vivian shrugged. “It all seemed pretty new to me. And I wasn’t in camp very long.”

“If I believe you,” the guard grumbled. “Which you haven’t earned yet, mind. But even assuming that’s true… What about magic? Anything glowing, or fancy?”

The succubus frowned, trying to think of a plausible answer. Lucas had gotten close to her, enough that his back was against the bars of her cell in a pseudo-conspiratorial pose. She could see the keyring hanging from his belt. If she could get a little closer… No, that wouldn’t work. Even if she snatched the keys, he’d still be there till morning. She needed to keep him talking.

What would a newly-formed goblin know? What did magic look like in this world? There was no helping it - she’d have to guess. “There was a glowing rock?” she said. “It was sharp, and they’d made it into a spear.

“Oh? That’s a new one.”

For a moment, Vivian thought he was going to call her out on the lie. But after a moment of silence, she forged on. “Yeah, and it had these carvings on it. Runes. They were glowing, and magical. All green. You know.”

“What did the carvings look like?” Lucas asked. “I’m no arcanist myself, but the mayor might be able to decipher them.”

Vivian stopped, her eyes widening for a moment as an idea trickled into her head. It took a moment to coalesce, drifting through the sullen fog that lingered just past the forefront of her mind. It took all her willpower to draw it to the surface, process the thought, and devise a plan. She looked up as the guard rattled the bars of the cell, glaring at her.

“You deaf, goblin? I asked what it looked like.”

“It’s hard to describe,” Vivian said, “But maybe I could draw it? You could show it to the mayor.”

“Go on, then.”

“It’s just… well…”

“Spit it out!”

“I don’t have any paper,” Vivian squeaked. “Or anything to write with.”

Lucas sighed, deeply irritated. He walked out of sight for a couple of minutes, then pushed a scrap of parchment and a stick of charcoal through the bars. “There.”

It didn’t have to be perfect, but Vivian had always enjoyed drawing. Much to mother’s disappointment. She took her time, sketching out a likely candidate for a magic rune, smearing charcoal dust in strategic locations to give depth to her drawing. Not a masterpiece, she thought, But not terrible. Wordlessly, she passed it back to Lucas before wiping her hands on her skirt.

The guard held the paper just over his head, angling it against the torchlight. His back was to Vivian as he squinted to examine the drawing. A set of three black iron keys hung temptingly from his belt, they weren’t what Vivian was after.

It would have to be timed just right. Vivian moved behind Lucas and began to slip one arm through the bars, gripping one of the bars with her other hand. One eye watched the guard, who was too preoccupied with the drawing to notice one slender finger pulling aside the waistband of his pants, allowing the succubus’ thumb to hook around his breeches. Moments later her prize was revealed. Vivian couldn’t quite see the man’s penis, but some demonic instinct beckoned her onward. God, she was hungry. There was a dull ache in her stomach and the back of her mind, raising her body temperature as her fingers encircled their prey.

* * * * *

For Lucas Miller, this was an exciting moment. He’d never met such a talkative goblin before, let alone one that was willing to expose the tribe’s secrets. Things had been going well of late, true enough, but he knew how those greenskins thought. They were always plotting. Scheming. But it was mostly the young adventurers who fought them off before wandering to a new town. Or the mayor would make a day out of traveling to subdue them. Lucas was only involved in the rare attack on the village itself, and it had been years since the last one. Maybe he wasn’t half the fighter Mayor Wells was, but he could more than hold his own. He’d been keeping the town safe for two decades, well before the man had walked into town and been elected the following week.

The goblin’s rune was strange, though. Unlike anything he’d seen before. Not that he knew much of rune craft, or magic in general, but Lucas liked to think that he knew enough. He tilted the paper on its side and squinted, trying to divine some pattern from the charcoal scratchings. He could have just shown it to the mayor come morning. Or to Doris, the local alchemist. But this was a chance to prove himself: to crack the case before bringing it to the mayor’s attention. On the next excursion into the Forest Depths, maybe Lucas would ask to come with. And from there, who knows what would happen? Fame, fortune, adventure? Lucas had read the old stories. Anything was possible if you were brave, true, and had a little skill.

The parchment was half-forgotten as Lucas daydreamed about his future career as an adventurer, his heroic travels, the friends he would meet, the women who would swoon at his passing. But as he preminisced, a strange feeling came over him. His body was warm. Almost feverish. He felt uncommonly comfortable, following his urge to lean back against the bars of the cell. His eyes closed. Just for a moment. A sound that was not quite a moan slipped unbidden from his lips. When his eyes opened, there was a slight haze across his vision. Lucas blinked, trying to focus, but relaxation dragged his mind back down. Something felt wonderful, but he couldn’t quite place the feeling.

It took a few minutes of befuddled inspection for him to realize what was happening, his predicament slamming home all at once. The goblin had somehow snuck up behind him and… and…

“Just relax,” purred a voice from behind. It was smooth and sultry. Certainly not the voice of a goblin. “You work so hard. You deserve this. Just let me take care of you.”

It was wrong, somehow. Definitely against procedure. But as he watched the dexterous fingers that had ensnared his cock… stroking, pampering, teasing… each worshipful stroke making him more and more aroused, more and more relaxed… Thoughts of what he really should be doing slipped peacefully away into some unimportant part of his mind. There would be time for that later. Maybe tomorrow. Right now, he could just lean back as her fingers roamed artfully over his shaft. One finger traced around the tip, drawing out a bead of precum and smearing it around in a ring of sticky pleasure.

He continued to leak, fluid dribbling out as the sensation continued to build. Lucas had masturbated often enough, but this was nothing like that. The woman behind him knew his body better than he knew himself, and each touch was surgical in its precision. Her fingers whispered along his shaft, teasing and stroking, petting and fondling, their seductive rhythm coaxing out a long, pleasured moan from the spellbound guard. He wanted desperately to cum, bucking gently into her hand, but with each throb of desire she would lessen his stimulation ever so slightly, her fingers tracing along the underside of his aching cock just enough to keep him at the edge.

It was maddening. He wanted to curse the woman’s name, but then her ministrations would renew and frustration melted into reverence. Her hands were stroking him again, gently caressing his balls, circling his shaft, guiding him toward blessed release. When she finally allowed him to cum, the guard splattered his pent-up seed across the stone floor of the jail before sinking into a weary heap. He felt like he’d run to Three Mills and back, all in one day.

“Gods above,” he muttered. “What in the kingdoms of man was that?”

* * * * *

Vivian watched as the man struggled to his feet, leaning against the wall for support. His face was flush with arousal, then with shame. He glanced at the succubus, but wouldn’t meet her eyes. This was her moment. She moved over to the lock, reaching through the bars to try each of the keys in turn, but none fit the lock. She cursed and tried again, but none would insert, let alone turn. Really? She thought to herself. Had he kept the cell key somewhere else? Stupid, stupid.

She considered calling out to the man, but the charm was quickly wearing off. Fear had overtaken lust as he edged away from her, returning with a mop and bucket. “Damn goblin trickery,” he grumbled as he cleaned up the puddle of semen. “Always some new scheme, distracting an honest man just doing his job. It ain’t right.”

Vivian sighed. He was clearly off-balance, still recovering from their encounter. She might be able to turn that to her advantage in time, but pride would win out in the meantime. Her only advantage was that, at least for now, he was likely too ashamed to report the incident to his superior.

The succubus turned, glancing out of the cell’s narrow window. Dawn had come, brightening the sky to a pale yellow haze. She didn’t have much time before the mayor arrived, so she’d need to plan quickly.