>>5134476>>5134609>>5134817You slop down in bed, practically read to sleep right then and there… But no. With a groan, you rise. Your succubus’ appetites are demanding and, even if you didn’t… Did not…
‘Love me?’ Irinnile coos.
…Even then, you need Irinnile’s power, and her ectoplasm, in no small abundance. Luckily, you know just who you can hit up for a cup on mana in the Initiate’s Village: Paula, the minor-mage turned Tower Staffer.
You have had trysts with Paula before—once with Edwin, in fact, which sets you to thinking of him as you walk there. Irinnile too, for that matter.
‘Edwin, Eeedwin,’ irinnile hums. ‘Now THAT’s a rich, full source of delicious, thick MANA.’
But Edwin will have to wait—you cannot be away from Felman’s for long, if you hope to make expedient business of this trip to Hawksong and to wrap up loose ends before the Archmage and his lackeys begin pulling at the threads of The Grand Design of the Dark Gods. For now, Paula will do. You continue on to her home, stopping only briefly to survey Tower workers and craftsmen attending to the now-blasted site of the Endless Fountain.
You met Paula for the first time there, had a wonderful date with Edwin there. Now, its cascading tower of endless water, seemingly reaching up to the heavens themselves, is simply… Rubble, and a small pond of brackish water.
You stare for a moment, then move on.
“Ismena?” Paula asks, looking startled and perhaps a touch unnerved to see you. “What are you doing here?”
Hm. Not the response you expected.
With an easy smile you say “What, not excccited to ssee me?”
Paula hesitates, then beckons you inside saying, “No, no, it’s not… It’s just, you know. The attack. And you were there!”
“Ah. Yess,” you say.
Paula shuts and, in her anxiety (apparently brought on by news of the assault on the Tower and the explosion at the Endless Fountain) she locks and even wards her door. Her ward is amateurish to your eye… But, admittedly, created faster and more fastidiously than you can yet accomplish with such effort.
