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Pathfinding: An Adult Choose Your Own Adventure

Thirty-seventh Entry

By Gideon Kalve Jarvis

Vote Tallies

A (Padmini) - 6

A (Rael) - 3

B - 1

C - 9

D - 6

Additional Votes:

* Skaeth is up to something - 4 * Shara and Padmini learning flesh magic and non-lethal skills (sex quite likely) - 10

* Kyte's submission, and more Kyte screentime - 18

* Campfire tale for Urta and/or Urtan - 6

* Rufus/Urtan scene, where they finally go at it - 9

* Urta/Rael/Adel/Rufus scene; family dynamics in action - 5

Vote Options in Progress:

* Wisselfleur and Imogen seduced by Rufus (Adel included)

* Training Crystal (making her more combat-ready)

* Steampunk Trio's fate

* Appearance of Jonna the she-minotaur

Author Notes

Due to the extended (and graphic) nature of the following entry at Belthin's tower, I am going to put the events at the Blue Feather camp on hold for another few episodes. Hopefully just one more, but, well, we shall see.

Pathfinding Thirty-seventh Entry

Adel looked at her fellow party members, knowing that now was not the time for mistakes or half-measures. Of course she'd heard the stories about what happened to you if you were made pregnant by a demon. Those sorts of stories weren't uncommon as the subject of sermons from the pulpits of several of the major religions, usually tied to some sort of homily message, of course, but with the underlying reality present all the same: having a demon's baby was a very bad idea.

"Options?" she asked, looking around at the girls gathered there.

"We should go and get Rufus," said Hanaro promptly. "I can sense that this demon is a mighty warrior, and while I do not counsel cowardice, I see no point in selling our lives," the young samurai's cheeks colored slightly, "or other parts to little point."

"We can take him," said Wisselfleur with a confident smirk as she glanced over the huddle at the demon, her silvery grey tail swishing. "He may be big, but he's way too cocky to be as tough as he says."

"I want to agree with the hippogryph," Lysha added with an approving nod. "If we strike fast and sure, we can prove our worth to our leader, Rufus."

"I don't want to fight..." Imogen whisper-whimpered, her eyes and ears down, looking miserable and terrified. Wisselfleur promptly placed a gentle hand on her best friend's back, rubbing the pearl-white fur beneath her filmy robe soothingly. Padmini also reached over and rubbed the willowy filly's shoulders.

"We may not have to fight," the tall, plushly-beautiful elephant girl said with a slight nod to Adel, acknowledging her superior as she was allowed to speak, as was customary among her people. "I have spoken with the Lady Imoden while on our journey, sharing knowledge of what we were each capable of doing, and I believe there may be an alternative solution." She waited a moment, before Adel gave an answering nod, allowing the bindi-wearing pachyderm to continue. "I and Imogen may be able to reach out into the mind of the demon, and then seize his heart. It is not a safe thing, certainly, and it is hardly certain, but if we succeed, the demon will be ours to command, however we may wish."

"You could send him back to...wherever he came from?" Rael asked eagerly, tail wagging, obviously overjoyed at the prospect of not having to fight something as scary and awful-smelling as Valishak.

"If that was what we wished, theoretically, yes," Padmini affirmed. Adel spent another moment looking around at the faces of the others, seeing their approval of the idea, and feeling a similar approval herself, before she gave an affirming nod.

"Go for it."

Valishak was still half-crouched where he'd been before, his bestial, green-scaled frame seeming somehow even larger than the last time the girls had looked at him directly. His red eyes glowed dimly through narrow-slitted lids as he saw Padmini approaching, Imogen a step behind, doing her best to stay in the protective shadow of the bigger girl. Wisselfleur hung back with obvious reluctance, her trim, youthful muscles tense, straining against her desire to fly to the aid of her friend, but held back by Imogen's quiet request for the flying filly to keep away so as not to interrupt the concentration of the two young women.

"I am not so easily dominated," said Valishak as Padmini reached the edge of the circle where he squatted, making Imogen squeak in terror, and Parmini's eyes to widen in surprise. "You thought I couldn't hear your thoughts as you plotted against me? Foolish little girls." His caprolupine muzzle spread in a terrifying, toothy grin as he rose up, spreading out his four muscular arms, his green-scaled penis already starting to harden, thick precum welling up in a dark bead at the tip. "Come, then, and face me, if you dare."

"We dare," said Padmini, reaching back to place a steadying hand on Imogen's shoulder, before closing her eyes, soft words of a meditative mantra forming on her lips. Imogen felt the power gathering in the elephant girl, and closed her own eyes, her brow furrowing slightly as her horn started to glow, adding its strength to Padmini's own formidable mental potency. Suddenly Padmini's eyes widened, and she locked gazes with the massive demon, adopting a solid horse stance for stability as she leaned forward slightly, exerting her will through her entire body as she sought to plunge her soul's edge into the very heart of the demon.

Demons, however, do not fight fairly. Rather than quietly continue the mental battle with the strong-willed girl before him, dueling on the planes of the mind, Valishak's brow furrowed deeply, his teeth gritting as he fought with all his might. All his exertions, though, were not to resist Padmini and Imogen's combined powers as they worked their way through the labyrinth of his soul, a mirror of the Firemaze surrounding them all. Instead, Valishak fought to gain just enough freedom of will to act as he pleased, for only a bare moment. That moment came with such suddenness, Padmini was caught completely off-guard as the immense demon lunged forward, his arms sweeping out and down, catching hold of her sturdy leg and heaving the young elephant onto her back. Imogen was thrown to the side, tumbling onto her smooth bottom with the force of Padmini's fall with a squeak of terror, a squeak that soon turned into a scream as Valishak towered over her, his mouth dripping eager saliva from teeth and tongue as he reached out to seize hold of the willowy unicorn filly, his darkness threatening to overwhelm her light, her otherworldly beauty unable to overcome the debauched cruelty of a demon unleashed.

Then Wisselfleur was there, slamming with both her hooves into the side of Valishak's head, cracking the tips off several of his horns with the force of her impact. Snarling in fury as he rounded on the dapple-grey hippogryph, one of Valishak's hands made a sudden gesture, encasing Imogen's supple limbs in chains of iron that materialized from nothing to shackle her to the floor. Two of his other three hands caught hold of Wisselfleur's ankles, forcing them apart, while the third caught her wrists, lifting her before him, nearly spread-eagled as he turned, positioning his immense, blood-bloated member between her legs, obviously intent on making her his first victim.

[Rolled 64 against a 40% chance of success]

"What a fine, strong, healthy body you have," Valishak taunted as his free hand reached out and lightly, casually, flicked across Wisselfleur's halter, sending the garment fluttering to the ground, baring her pert, budding breasts. "A bit small," the caprolupo demon said musingly, before shrugging, smiling wickedly. "But as they say: more than a mouthful is a waste."

"Nyah!" Wisselfleur cried out, the words of defiance she'd been planning to spit in the demon's face forgotten as his muzzle suddenly closed around one plump little breast. His lips were astonishingly agile as he suckled, the room filling with the wet, messy slurping of the wicked male greedily sucking on the poor winged filly's puffy nipple, his disgustingly long, prehensile tongue battering and slathering the sensitive mammary until it throbbed. Bending Wisselfleur back a bit more, until her chest was forced out, Valishak released her right nipple with a final, loud_slurp_, before his muzzle descended on the other nipple, making the supple little teen screech like a falcon in flight. That screech was very suddenly turned to a fillyish squeal as Valishak's free hand brushed aside the tight-muscled teen's loincloth, a single finger enough to engulf her tiny slit, swiftly and easily working the inexperienced little filly up to a full lather, making her whole body writhe and gyrate in the clutches of the monstrous brute, her feathers matting down, her fur lathered in a sheen of sweat.

"No," gasped out poor Wisselfleur, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she shook her large falcon's eyes, trying desperately to blot out the ball of tightness rising in her belly."

"Oh yes," whispered Valishak in her ear as he released her other breast, licking her cheek tauntingly, and then began to slowly slather her entire body with his fiendishly skilled tongue, caressing the undersides of each breast, and then down her trim, tightly-muscled tummy, making her whine as he tickled it inside her navel, before she jerked taut in his grip at the lightest touch of his tonguetip to her aching clitoris, screaming loudly in her high-pitched voice as the poor little filly was brought to orgasm, the muscled of her whole body brought into sudden tight definition as the wicked demon chuckled cruelly, and drew his head back, starting to lower Wisselfleur towards the heavily-seeping tip of his monstrous member.

"Wait," said a voice from nearby, making Valishak pause as he looked down, and saw Padmini standing there, her clothes discarded, her big, beautiful body completely bare save for her golden bindi on her forehead. "Don't you think you're too eager for that little one, master?" asked the elephant girl as she stepped forward, her every movement, every jiggle of every supple curve screaming sensuality. "As eager with fleshlust as you are," she continued, her plush breasts rubbing against the thick, green-scaled demonstaff, before she pressed them together, her dark grey nipples perked with her eagerness to serve as she began to rub herself up and down Valishak's penis, "Don't you think you might break your new little slave?"

Padminit's movements soon coaxed several short jets of precum from the bulbous tip of the demon's cock, which splashed against poor Wisselfleur's tender pudenda, making the helpless little filly jerk with each touch of venomous discharge, that simple light dose enough to cause her whole body to enter a state of supernatural need, often called blisterheat, which could only be quenched by the splash of hot, virile cum against her inner parts, or sometimes potent healing magic, though this route was hardly certain. It was a cruel poison present in the precum of many male demons of sufficient power to have sexual characteristics, and one of their many tools of corruption of the innocent and the pure. If left untreated for too long, it could cause untold psychological trauma, and sometimes even death in those with weak constitutions. It was the same venom that Praxis (and Valishak himself was a likely source of the original blisterheat venom, for Praxis had dealings with Belthin before the destruction of his band) had used on Kaia and her party to break their wills, except without any of the dilution Praxis had used to keep it from causing physical injury if left too long.

"Perhaps," Valishak admitted with a slow, wicked smile as he set Wisselfleur's struggling body aside, bands of solid cold fire encircling the hippogryph girl's limbs, holding her in place in the air, while another wrapped around her beak, muffling her desperate cries for relief. He leaned back, arching out his hips, his muzzle parting to let his eager drool drip to the ground as Padmini wrapped her trunk around his swollen glans, curling over and stroking the heavily-seeping tip from all angles, even as she licked the sensitive underside of his glans with her slightly rough tongue, arching her body up and down all the while to stroke the wicked creature's cock between her pillowy breasts. "Perhaps you'd like to take the edge off before I ravish these other two?"

"Yes master..." Padmini murmured, her eyes heavy-lidded, before she shifted her trunk to wrap around the demon's corona, her mouth covering his seeping cocktip, gulping his precum down eagerly, even with the danger of blisterheat that was almost certain with such a heavy dose.

Little did Valishak realize, however, that Padmini was deliberately offering herself as a distraction, the golden bindi on her forehead allowing her to conceal her true thoughts from him. This was not just a distraction to save Wisselfleur and Imogen from certain rape on the monstrous-sized penis of a demon; it was also a last-ditch effort to give Adel, Hanaro, Lysha, and Rael the time they needed to get help.

"Find your daddy, Rael," Adel whispered in the gold-furred puppygirl's ear, before letting Rael take the lead, the petite and fluffy-furred teen dropping to all-fours to give herself additional speed. Even in the dark, even with the crackling flames that gave off such a ghastly stench, even in the midst of the darkling maze, Rael's nose was keen, and her skills sharp, for she'd been trained by her father, Rufus, and Rufus was one of the best trackers that had ever lived among the Blue Feather tribe. Soon the slim little wolfgirl was running so fast, so hot on the scent of her father that the others had to race with all their strength just to keep little Rael in sight.

[50% chance of success in finding Rufus and the rest of the party - rolled 50 exactly]

"Daddy!" came Rael's voice from around a corner, and Adel, flanked by Hanaro and Lysha, only just barely rounded the corner of the flaming-walled maze in time to see the puppygirl leap into the arms of her father, who hugged her mightily against his broad chest, though with no less enthusiasm than she hugged him back. "Daddy, I thought I'd never see you again!" Rael continued as she allowed her father to put her down, then reached back to rub her loincloth-covered backside as she looked up at him with lowered ears, her expression pricelessly adorable. "There was an awful demon, Daddy, and he wanted to put a baby in me."

Lesage, right behind Rufus, and likely his guide in this dark place, gasped in horror, her eyes wide at the ghastly thought of such a thing - obviously illicit sexuality was one of the worst sins the naïve angelgirl could conceive of, and copulation with demons something too awful to even be considered. Rufus' own face darkened, and he fingered the axe on his belt as Adel hurried up to him, giving him her own hug about his waist, which Rufus returned one-handed, looking down at Adel in relief.

"His name is Valishak," said Adel, her blue eyes serious as she looked up into Rufus' brown ones. "And he's got Padmini, Wisselfleur, and Imogen."

"We've got to save them!" exclaimed the excitable Lysha, a sentiment the more cool-tempered Hanaro mirrored with a firm nod. "There just weren't enough of us to fight him, so we had Rael look for you..."

"And you have found me," said Rufus, looking down at the diminutive chipmunk girl and nodding. "Lead the way, Adel; we'll save them yet."

In the center of the Diremaze, at that very moment, squatting down on his jacklegs with his hips thrust forward, the lower two of his hands resting on the floor behind him to allow him to better lean back, Valishak casually lifted poor little Imogen to his muzzle, his long, sinuous, serpentine tongue caressing her cheek, lapping up her sweet tears as she hung limply in his mighty hand, her will too overwhelmed from her failed attempt at dominating the demon to even begin mountain a resistance. Only moments before the cruel and wicked demon had gently, eagerly lifted the unicorn filly's translucent shift up and over her head, before tossing it aside, laying her breathtaking young body utterly bare, forcing Padmini and Wisselfleur to avert their eyes from the softly-glowing young beauty to avoid being overwhelmed. Now, as his tongue curled around her upthrust young breasts, caressing them in sensual coils, the cruel demon made the poor, doomed little unicorn whimper as he worked a single finger between her soft, yielding thighs. The finger was glistening with a potent dose of his precum, and soon Wisselfleur's body started to grow flushed with a rose light as the vile demon-beast made very certain to coat both cunny and tailhole of his precious victim in the blisterheat venom, until both tender, virginal, pearl-white entries were starting to ache with the first stages of blisterheat.

It was almost certain, though, that poor Imogen would have been suffering a far worse fate than she was enduring right then, getting a direct deposit of the cruel contact poison, and more, if Padmini had not been there, doing all that she could to keep Valishak's attention on herself. Now that Imogen was properly dosed, Valishak let her hang limply in the greensteel chains in which she was bound, some of which ran up into the darkness above, holding her up, her legs spread apart, making it easy for the capolupo demon to idly work one finger against Imogen's snowy-white pudenda, forcing her to rise to a slow-building orgasm that would likely shatter what little remained of her badly-battered will, leaving her with nothing to resist Valishak when, eventually, it was her turn to be filled with that vile penis. Meanwhile, Valishak's other hand was cupping Wisselfleur's cunny, making the bound and muzzled hippogryph girl jerk and gyrate against her bonds as she dangled in the air, her eyes still screaming defiance, though even her determined, hot-blooded will was slowly fading, growing weaker with each orgasm forced upon her by the cruel beast that would become her master if she were not saved in time.

Seeing the plight of her friends, Padmini still hesitated. She was leaning back against Valishak's broad chest, her hands resting on the cobblestone-hard muscles of his belly as she rubbed her heavily-leaking cunny, a slightly darker grey than the rest of her skin, up and down the dorsal side of the mighty demon's immense shaft, coating the entire length with her juices, while getting a too-copious dose of Valishak's juices on her own exposed, badly-heated cunny. Though trained in flesh magic, especially the powers of manipulating her own body, and being steeped in the lore of erotic sutras, Padmini was still a virgin. She'd expected to be married to a great and powerful sultan or pasha or raja or some similar noble that would match her own highborn station as well as her training in the ways of the kundalini, which would surely make her a fine bride. To let herself sink down on the great shaft of this demon, it would end all her prospects in her homeland, even if she should manage to return someday. Was she truly committed to her friends, even committed enough that she would give up her old life forever? For a moment Padmini arched herself forward as she poised on the tip of Valishak's cock, letting the seeping tip rest against her tailhole as she started to press gently backward. Valishak, however, gave a short grunt, and shifted his hips, making his cock pop forward once more to press against Padmini's tender quim.

"That's for after," he growled. "I want you pregnant first, Slave."

The word Slave, with its capitalization audible, was enough to make Padmini's whole body shudder. While Padmini could keep a part of her mind safe thanks to her magical bindi and her intense meditative training, Imogen wasn't the only one whose will had been sapped and subverted by the demon. Almost against her will, she began to settle downward, letting Valishak's cock nuzzle aside her labia, until she felt him pressing against the gates of her virginity. Calming herself with breathing exercises as she felt her hymen start to stretch a little, Padmini cast her eyes toward the exit to the room. Nobody came rushing through to save her at the last moment. Then her eyes swept to the left and to the right, seeing Wisselfleur's sweat-bathed dapple-grey figure gyrating as she was forced to endure yet another soul-destroying orgasm on one side, and poor Imogen's tear-stained cheeks as her pristine pudenda glowed a soft pink with each movement of Valishak's skilled finger, bringing her ever closer to the doom that would leave her shattered forever on his cruel cock.

They needed more time.

At that moment, Padmini gave up all hope for herself. There was no possible way for Adel and the others to return in time to save her from being impregnated by this wicked monster. But that didn't mean that Imogen and Wisselfleur had to suffer the same fate. With all her training, Padmini believed she had a chance to save her friends from suffering as she would suffer, just long enough for them all to be saved. This decision took a supreme act of faith that Padmini's friends wouldn't abandon her, that they would indeed come back, that her sacrifice would not be all in vain.

Her decision made, Padmini gave a soft exalation, which turned to a soft gasp of mixed pain and pleasure as she thrust herself down onto Valishak's green-scaled penis.

Thanks to her training, despite having just been deflowered, her virgin blood coating the swollen length of demoncock as she raised herself up once more, facing away from Valishak as she straddled his hips, Padmini hadn't suffered nearly as much pain as she likely would have otherwise. In fact...mmm...in fact, this felt - oh! - kind of good! Starting to raise and lower herself faster now, her powerful legs plunging the elephant girl up and down with each flex of her thighs and powerful buttocks, Padmini looked down, admiring the ridges and bumps that lined the demon's penis, each one seemingly contoured specifically to give pleasure quite unlike anything expected from most mortal penises. After only a matter of a dozen more up-and-down thrusts, Valishak's cock was coated more in Padmini's juices than her blood.

"Good little Slave," growled Valishak, releasing Imogen and Wisselfleur to grip the stone beneath him, his claws scraping against its hard surface, leaving deep gouges. "Very, very good." The demon grunted as Padmini plunged herself all the way down his cock, bending slightly so that the bottom of her stomach touched against his sperm-bloated balls, her shapely backside presented to him as she started to grind against him after each thrust. Baring his fangs in a feral snarl, Valishak seized firm hold of Padmini's presented bum, and started to thrust against her, almost straight up into her, making the young elephant trumpet loudly as he hit just the right spot inside of her, orgasm claiming her senses before she even realized what was happening - kundalini trainee Padmini might have been, but this was still her first time having actual sex, and she really didn't have any idea what to expect, certainly no way to predict her own body's reactions. Feeling his freshly-deflowered slave's rising pleasure, Valishak sped up his own thrusting, not holding himself back now, not seeing the need as he savagely rode Padmini through orgasm after orgasm, her bounteous breasts bouncing with each slap of his hips against her shapely bottom, sending ripples that ran through her entire body with each impact.

Then, with a bleating bark, Valishak suddenly felt Padmini's inner walls not just clench around his shaft like all orgasming women, they clamped down, gripping him tightly, milking him like an all-engulfing hand. Even with all his experience with mortal women (succubi preferring to work with mortals rather than their fellow demons whenever possible), Valishak hadn't experienced the sensations that could come from a kundalini cunny, for not only did he feel himself utterly engulfed, it felt...it was like having pure, pleasure-giving light pouring straight into his body, until it became a fire of passion that could only be quenched...by his orgasm! Fangs bared, his voice suddenly cut off save for a guttural rasping of breath, Valishak felt himself hit his peak, his cum not just spurting, but _gushing_into that ready, willing, and more-than-able elephant cunny. He almost missed Padmini's own orgasmic cries, his heavy hands stroking her sides as he started to enter his afterglow.

Valishak had been drained by a mortal, something he'd never once thought possible.

But Padmini wasn't finished with her demonic master. No, not by a wide margin.

[10% chance this round of being saved before orgasm and impregnation - rolled 94]

Lifting herself up, feeling her whole body aglow in pleasure-filled power, Padmini heard as much as felt Valishak's immense shaft pop free of her tightly-clinging inner walls with a gush of demonic discharge. For only a moment she was distracted by the realization that she was now almost certainly pregnant with the demon's spawn, but she took control of her mind quickly afterward, knowing she'd need to concentrate fully to ensure her friends' safety. Reaching back, caressing her rounded rump with sensual attention, forcing Valishak's glowing red eyes to immediately focus on her bottom, Padmini paused a moment, letting the realization of what was coming next settle into the capolupo demon's pleasure-fogged brain. Then, closing her eyes, Padmini leaned back, whining softly as she felt the demon's slick cock press against her sphincter, before she felt her tailhole suddenly give way as she forced herself to relax, sinking down, down, down until she could reach down easily and caress her infernal master's balls, still heavy, but not nearly as swollen as they'd been only moments before. Closing her eyes once more, forcing herself to control her breathing, Padmini started to buck her legs, up and down, taking it nice and slow for now, not pushing herself until she felt Valishak's own pleasures starting to heat up. No sense in destroying her body if she could avoid it, after all.

Padmini's concentration, however, was quite suddenly broken as Valishak roared in pain, a roar that was answered by several battle cries. Thrown forward as the mighty demon rose to his feet, Padmini rolled and then landed safely on her back, her martial arts training saving her once again, before rolling over to rise to all-fours to see what had interrupted her second loss of virginity.

[20% chance of being interrupted before orgasm - rolled 4]

Before her, Urtan had taken Valishak's distraction as a perfect opportunity to plunge his spear right into the splayed and vulnerable inner thigh of the demon. Now he was holding on for dear life, his muscles visibly straining as Valishak raked the hyenaman's back with his claws in a single mighty swipe. As he held on, Urtan wrapped his legs around Valishak's own jacklegs, using his considerable strength to slowly force the spear deeper into the demon's muscles, aiming for a tendon or an artery if possible. Before Valishak could bring his heavy, lethal claw down once more onto Urtan's exposed back, however, Rufus leapt up, using his sword two-handed (knowing his axe, which lacked enchantment, would be useless against the demon) to hack off the demon's fingers in a bloody spray. Nearby, Rael flung her spear straight at Valishak's face, the flint and wood splintering with the impact, not injuring the enchanted flesh of the monster, but serving to distract him, opening him up to additional attacks.

On one side, Valishak used two of his sweeping talons to keep Urta, One-eye, Kyte, and Skaeth at bay as they darted in with their spears and axe, thrusting and hacking only to fall back. The gnollish spears and Kyte's slashing shortblade did little against Valishak's enchanted hide, but Skaeth's heavy two-handed axe cleaved into the demon's arm on his second swing, the third managing to hack it right off, leaving the demon with only three remaining. Adel took this opportunity to rush in, putting her full weight behind her sword as she jumped up, wrapping her thighs around the stump of Valishak's arm, before plunging her blade into the exposed flesh and bone beneath. Though her unenchanted blade certainly wouldn't have a chance of piercing Valishak's skin and scales, he howled in agony as the weapon pierced his exposed inner flesh.

Hanaro and Lysha, meanwhile, swept around behind Valishak, their own enchanted weapons piercing the backs of his thighs and where his kidneys would have been if her were like most mortals, Hanaro sending the hulking demon down to one leg as she swiftly hamstrung the other, the one Urtan had weakened, with a precise swing of her curved samurai sword. As he stumbled, Ryg stepped forward and flung a magical cloud of glittering motes right into Valishak's face, making him sputter and cough, throwing his head back in pain and blindness, before Rufus leapt up onto the mighty demon's shoulders, and plunged his sword downward, clutched in both hands for more power, the blade thrusting straight through Valishak's neck, coming out the other side.

In that instant, Valishak's mortal shell failed. One moment, he was there, and the next, he was not.

[65% chance of success in battle - rolled 4]

Grunting in surprise, Rufus dropped to the ground lightly, narrowly avoiding landing on top of Urtan's muscular body, then straightened, surveying the scene. He frowned as he saw Wisselfleur's state, the young hippogryph girl now kneeling on the ground, panting desperately for breath, her body still bathed in a sheen of sweat despite the disappearance of the bonds holding her and the demon that had been molesting her body. Imogen continued to kneel on the ground where she'd been left, her eyes looking badly dazed. And Padmini...

"You saved these two," Rufus said, looking at the elephant girl rising slowly onto trembling legs as the battle came to a finish. "You should know that. Also know that I won't forget what you did for them, to let us save you." He motioned to Adel, and Adel soon led Ryg toward Padmini, getting her and the other two girls together, so that they could be helped and treated as best as the blind shamaness knew how.

Striding past the circle where Valishak had been contained, Rufus saw, floating in the air at the far end of the room, a small canopic jar, like some of the things he'd seen in traveling shows that claimed to hail from the far-distant Valley of Tombs, where countless ancient and forgotten empires sent their kings to be buried. His nose working, he glanced at Lesage, who, now that the battle had ended, floated over to his side.

"Is this trapped?" he asked, motioning to the jar.

"Yes, master Rufus," Lesage answered immediately, before pointing to the flagstones beneath the jar. "It's not what you want, though: Belthin's heart is under those stones, not floating before you."

"Good to know," growled Rufus, before bringing down his magic blade, cracking the stones with an ease that surprised even himself - they weren't as thick as they'd appeared. Looking into the hole he'd made, Rufus reached down, and plucked out a small, shriveled little red-brown thing. He glanced at Lesage, who simply nodded, her young face solemn

"You can't destroy it," she added, unprompted. "At least, not without killing Belthin first. As long as it's still extant, though, she can always return from death. The only way to make her death permanent is to destroy it before she can recover."

"Let's end this," growled Rufus, starting toward the chamber's door, looking around at the others as he went. "We've got to get out of here," he said simply. "This is no place for the wounded, and there's no telling how long the door will stay open." Slightly averting his eyes, Rufus bent and very, very tenderly picked up Imogen, the little unicorn so very light in his arms. Not far off, Urtan did the same with Wisselfleur, while Padmini walked out under her own power, though supported on either side by Adel and Rael. It was only a matter of time before the party made their way back into the comforting white magical light of the tower interior.

"Now we make our final plans," said Rufus in a low, dangerous growl, softened only a little by the tender, shivering bundle in his arms.

Path Choices

1) Maji said she might be able to help us. Let's talk to her.

2) No mercy. Let's take this fight to Belthin, though Hell bar the way - direct assault on the dungeon, with a 60% chance of hacking our way through whatever guards may be there.

3) Let's not lose our cool. Take it slow, and creep down, without setting off any alarms. With our smaller party, we have a 65% chance of success here, but will be forced to use B with a 50% chance of success if we fail.

4) Let's see if Maji can help us. We really don't know what she plans on doing, so there's no listed percentage chance of success. There's also no guarantee it will work.

And what about our casualties, Imogen and Wisselfleur and Padmini?

A) Have Calanon and Durion tend to them in Belthin's chambers. Those looked pretty comfortable, and the elfboys do admit they know quite a bit about healing, since they've had to learn those skills fast after being on the receiving end of Belthin's sadism many times.

B) Leave them with Maji. The water elemental seemed friendly enough, and there's very little as soothing as a cleansing bath.

C) Bring them with us, despite their traumatized state. This option will reduce the success rating of all the above options by 5%, though.

Please indicate if we should leave Ryg behind as well. Ryg will be able to better soothe the traumatized girls and heal their hurts, mental as well as physical, and also ensure they stay safe with her formidable powers. Of course, if we leave her behind, that means we don't have her with us for anything we might encounter.