"W-Where's Pip?!"
Vuvi's voice snaps like a clap of thunder across the room. She leaps to her feet, legs half-tangled in bed sheets as she whips her head around, searching for her creation. Eyes wild, breath ragged and hands trembling when she realizes Pip isn't there.
Penelo leaps at her, grabbing her by the shoulders while staring deep into her eyes. "You were under a spell, Vuvi! Some woman came. She was really tall, and pretty and… gave off these weird vibes. Her voice was totally dreamy. And then, you let her take Pip."
Vuvi's eyelids flutter, blinking hard as she tries to force corrupted memories to replay in her mind. "I… I remember. That voice. Sweet as sin. And she was cold." Vuvi's eyes widen. "She touched me! She grabbed my chin! Argh! What was her name?!"
"I don't knoooow!" Penelo wails. "... but, she was definitely an elf, right? And really tall, and really beautiful. But her eyes… they looked… wrong. And I swear I saw them turn red for a second."
"Damn it!" Vuvi curses as her head falls into her hands. "I lost Pip!"
"She enchanted you. It's not your fault." Penelo mutters, turning to the hooded demon-kin standing quietly behind her. "But Veena broke the spell! She saved you."
Veena steps forward, head still deep under her hood and her cloak drawn tight while her tail softly twitches at its hem.
Vuvi's eyes snap toward Veena, the demon-kin's face folded into a slight grimace, something caught between guilt and a readiness to fight.
For a moment, Vuvi simply stares at her, her face expressionless, then she stands and struts toward the demon-kin.
"Lady Blackthorn," Veena squeaks, stepping back. "I'm sorry about—"
She stops mid-sentence as Vuvi suddenly grabs her hands tightly.
"If you broke the spell, then you must have some idea of what we're dealing with." she says, her voice fierce. "You helped me, Veena. I owe you. And I always pay my debts."
Veena flicks her eyes to a smiling Penelo then blinks at Vuvi.
"Right now." Vuvi says, gripping her hand tighter. "I really need to find Pip. Will you help me again? Please? I promise to make it up to you."
Veena turns to a furiously nodding Penelo, then back to Vuvi and answers her with a short, curt nod.
She then exhales deeply, stepping back as she slowly pulls down her hood.
Twin horns, violet-black, smooth and elegant, curl out from under her silver hair, gleaming in the dim candlelight, rising from her head like a crown of secrets.
"Veena!" Penelo gasps.
Vuvi scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Stop being so dramatic. I knew you were a demon-kin the before I even saw you."
Veena cocks a brow. "You knew? And yet you said nothing?!"
Vuvi tilts her head, pretending to peek behind Veena. "That tail twitching beneath your cloak was a dead giveaway too. Not to mention the aura distortion. But the magic sensors I built detected you from a mile away." Vuvi smirks as she turns toward her bag. "Besides, I'm a tinkerer, not a tattler."
"Yay!" Penelo cheers with a clap of her paws. "Great! We're all friends now. So how are we gonna find Pip?!"
Vuvi swings her toolbag over her shoulder, pulls tight her belts, and grabs her custom-made, rune-engraved Boombuster and a bandolier filled with condensed explosive-grapeshot rounds.
"We ask the inn keeper." She smirks as she cocks her weapon. "Old ladies know everything."
The innkeeper's door drums against its hinges as she's viciously awoken by loud, continuous banging.
"What in the nether?!" she croaks, rolling out of bed and waddles to the door and opens it a crack. "Oh my stuttering stars!" she shrieks. "The little red-headed hurricane. What would you want at this hour?"
"Burn my bushes!" Vuvi shrieks as her gaze falls on the naked woman's body. "Uh… what did I... Oh! Pip!"
"Pip?" the old woman tilts her head.
"The Pleasure Prince. Someone took him! A strange woman. Tall, pale, ridiculously beautiful. Probably noble. Definitely evil! Do you know her?"
The old woman rubs at her chin as she contemplates through pursed lips. "Elven? Eyes not quiet right?"
"Yes!"
"Sounds like Lady Sylareth," the old woman nods knowingly. "She arrived a few moons ago. Took up residence at the edge of Market Town. Big, ugly, stone thing. Gargoyles and shadows everywhere."
Penelo's ears twitch as she gulps hard. "Sounds cozy."
Then the innkeeper's eyes narrow and her face hardens. "She's always been… odd. Asking all around town about relics, artifacts and all sorts of oddities. Strange stuff, you know. She's apparently some sort of scholar. A collector of 'rare and forgotten things', I think that's how she put it." she turns to Vuvi, eyes focused. "Why? What does she want from Pip?"
"Everything." Vuvi snarls as she turns back toward the hallway.
The trio burst out of the inn into the cold, damp air of Market Town at midnight. Their boots clap against cobblestones slick with fog as they sprint between streets and alleyways toward the eastern edge of town. The brightness and bustle gives way to dim lanterns, long flickering shadows and drunken men that roam the streets like home-sick husks, muttering to themselves.
"He's here…"
"... the Golden One has come…"
"The Promised Pleasure is among us…"
"W-Why are the men chanting like that?!" Penelo pants as she bounds up behind them. "I've never seen them do that before."
"They've started some kind of cult around Pip." Vuvi mutters. "They believe the curse will be lifted if he blesses enough souls. They're insane!"
"B-But… they're not wrong, though." Penelo huffs.
Veena leads their charge, hood pulled tight over her head as she weaves through alleys and shortcuts. Vuvi studies her closely as they move. Her sense of direction is eerily precise, her movement graceful, swift and suspiciously silent. Veena was clearly more than just another demon-kin down on her luck, Vuvi contends.
As they reach the edge of Market Town, they quickly slow to a halt.
Beyond a black, wrought-iron gate looms Lady Syraleth's estate. A sprawling mansion built of carved twilight-stone and wrapped in a forest of blackthorn ivy. Its twin spires bite at the sky like fangs while its windows glow with violet energies.
The air around the estate warps and pulses with demonic tension.
And somewhere, from deep within the evil fortress came laughter.
Wild, unrestrained cackling echoed across the estate grounds like rolling thunder.
The trio stand in stunned silence at the sound of Lady Syraleth's voice, unhinged and drowning in euphoria, beating against their bodies like drums of war.
Her demonic magic crackles through the air, bursting from stained-glass windows in wild, jagged streaks of crimson light. A bolt shatters a weathervane, another blows out rows of bricks before tearing through a nearby garden.
Veena's eyes narrow as she steps forward, her tail flicking at her side as if sniffing the air around her.
"You need to make sure you're ready if you're really planning to do this." she says as she turns to Vuvi.
Vuvi pulls her Boombuster high against her chest and clenches her jaw tight. "Where Pip goes, I go!"
Penelo grabs a dagger from Vuvi's belt, gripping it tightly in her trembling paws as she steps beside Veena. "We have to help him." she whimpers.
Veena raises her hand towards the gate and pokes at it with a finger, sending a raging ripple of magical energy across a massive dome that envelops Syraleth's estate. The barrier shimmers with moonlight before slowly fading back to invisibility.
"That's no scholar." Veena mutters.
The air thickens as another round of echoing cackles erupts from the mansion.
"That's not just any demon-kin, either." Veena, glaring at the building, slowly pulls back her hood.
A row of windows suddenly blows out as a bolt of lightning rips apart one of the spires, sending it shattering to the ground in an explosion of stone and screeching metal.
Then, a shockwave of pressure rolls through them, knocking Penelo to her knees while Vuvi stumbles back.
"She's not just powerful." Veena says, her voice dropping to a whisper. "We're about to face a Baroness."