'You There' had no real interest in the details of the conflict.

While Scratch was explaining the situation he stared off in the direction Lydia Harkness had ran off to.

"What is her name?" The demon purred romantically, interrupting Scratch's speech.

"Who?"

"My friend, you know who. Stunning and statuesque, the amazon packaged in a jumpsuit."

Scratch suddenly became agitated hearing another praise her beauty. "That's not your concern."

"Oh, but it is, isn't it? You chose her to grant me a form. You've given her away."

Scratch furrowed his brow. "This deal, 'the love of a woman'..."

You There licked his lips. "You've traded her for my power. Is it not an arrangement exemplar in its fairness? As they say: equivalent exchange..."

"And if I were to renege on our deal? I never signed anything."

You There started to laugh. "You do not understand the mechanisms of your machinations, friend~! The deal is already completed. As with the annelid on your wrist, the sacrifice is that which allows me to reside on this plane."

Scratch rolled up his sleeve. "The manabelt drinks blood..."

"And an incubus requires the shape of a man." You there rolled around on the altar surface where he was allowed.

"The mind of your friend provides me with one. Her ideal lover."

"That's you?"

"That's me."

"I see. So just because of your body you consider Lydia pre-seduced."

"Lydia..." You There tasted the name.

Scratch rapped his fingers on the altar. He was annoyed by how annoyed he was. Surely, this would only benefit him. Why the tight chest?

"Lydia Harkness leads a band of outlaws at the edge of civilization. We're under threat by more organized forces, to someone like her, fleeing is not an option. I understand, then, that our interests align?"

The demon looked at him curiously. "Shifted to negotiation, have you? You know, I've been summoned by broken gods before, but never as a familiar. Who is your master? What's his domain?"

Scratch was taken aback. "I don't-"

"Ah! A maiden is shy with her womanhood. And a magician is coy with his secrets. Let me in little goblin, I'll be your first..."

"Haha, okay." Scratch made a T shape with his hands. "Time out on this whole thing. I don't what kind of bit you're doing but I need you to back all the way off." At some point he had risen to his feet in order to regain a sense of power, he only now noticed.

The demon shrugged. "I am under your control, master. Simply command me, and I will hold my tongue. Instruct my every word and movement and your demon servant will follow any etiquette you'd like." His eyes weren't visible under the bowl cut, but he was staring Scratch straight into the eyes.

"But really, I would be doing it for you, just puppeteering your body. That's how familiars work, right?"

He nodded smugly.

Scratch breathed deeply in and out, then put on a salesman smile. "Let's get on one page. I can't control your every move, obviously. Tell me what you want, we can move forward towards mutual benefit."

The demon stared at him for a moment. "What do I want? Are you that innocent? I am a demon."

"So?"

"I noticed that your master did not select me for you."

"That-"

"Indulge me. What sins do you commit on your masters orders?"

"You misunderstand. I have no master. Cyclophan and I work together for mutual benefit."

A smile creeped up the demon's face, turning into a full grin. "I see! Cyclophan. Trickery! Equal partners you say."

"That's not how I phrased it."

The demon stood straight up and made a bow. "The forces of evil. At your disposal."

"Just like that? What's your angle?"

"My 'angle', little master, is the angle of all demons. Corruption, suffering, death!" You There giggled girlishly. "This time under the banner of deception. Now that I have a body, I can once again help my brethren tear down the works of the gods."

Scratch stuck out his hand. "If I get the message you're a mean piece of work that can snap at any moment, is that right?"

The demon took his hand and shook it. "That is exactly right. We demons are evil incarnate, a nightmare made flesh. Are you scared?"

"You can call me Scratch. And nobody ever got to be anybody without taking risks others won't. That said, yes, you scare the shit outta me. Better work on that if you want a longer leash."

The two were still clasping hands. "Rest assured, I have caught your meaning. Being scary does not give me power, does it? No machismo with mister Scratch in charge."

"Think of it as marching under the banner of deception."

After a moment they both led go.

"Let me catch up to the 'amazon'." Scratch stated as he led the way.

"After you master, I am eager to see her again."

Scratch thought a moment and turned around. "When you call her 'amazon', how do you come by that word?"

"Uhm, she has the bearings of a warrior, so-"

"No. How did you learn of it? What are its origins?"

For the first time You There lost composure and seemed confused. "That- Words do not have origins! They have been with us since the creation of the world."

"Is that so?"

"Yes!"

"Fine."

Lydia Darkness stood alone in the darkness of the forge cave.

Where she was the orange light of the ovens barely reached her, and she had conjured a small ball of light to aid her.

These spells were less burdensome here. In hindsight, that should have been a clue that the goblins had build a dungeon.

She was still angry. Not at Scratch or the dungeon, but at herself. She couldn't go anywhere, do anything, without being confronted by her own inadequacies.

She stood in the dark for a long time, letting the light of her spell gradually fade away, until Scratch and the demon came across her on the way to the dungeon.

"Lydia." Scratch ran up to her, but she turned her back to him.

He made a "women! am I right?" expression towards his familiar and walked around her. "Are you going to mope? Is that what we're doing?"

"I am not moping. We're going back to the surface. And keep that thing away from me."

"That thing is me," the demon grabbed her hand at brought it to his face, "we haven't been properly acquainted. My name is You There, you must be Lydia."

She didn't withdraw her hand as he was about to kiss it, but stared mesmerized at his covered face.

It was Scratch that grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away. "I called him 'You There' so I can go 'You there, get me a drink' but I'm already regretting it. It's a stupid name. You can come up with something."

Her eyes shot fire, she was more angry than he expected. With long paces she stepped on ahead.

The demon lowered his chin on Scratch's shoulder. "How cold! And a new name already?" He reached down and tried to put his hand under Scratch's tunic.

"What are you doing? Stop that." Scratch fidgeted the demon's hand away. It didn't cost much strength, as soon as the words were spoken the demon pulled his manipulators against his chest.

"You're spending your precious energy on such petty commands." You There chuckled. "Do you even want me to lend you my power?"

A few moments later they stepped on the elevator platform, with such a light load it shot up at dangerous speed as the counterweight pulled the other side down. Only the demon was perturbed by the lethal velocity at which they propelled into the air. "Wah!" He exclaimed. "Stop this thing!"

As he clutched the floor Harkness stared at the walls being constructed around the lower cavern. When Scratch took place next to her she spoke to him. "Scratch. This demon, is your familiar, isn't he?"

"Yes." Scratch took special note to see if the chasm with the gorilla-esque monsters had been closed up. It had.

"Can you control it?"

He looked over his shoulder at You There. He stood an all fours arching his back like a cat in his effort to hold on. "Seems like."

"We can't be there to save you if you can't. Demons- I know this is meaningless to you, but demons are evil."

The air made a whistling noise as they flew higher and higher. Scratch grabbed Harkness' hand. "It's not meaningless.

Don't say that, don't say we can't communicate and understand each other, because we can. Lydia. I am evil. By the metric of anyone that cares to have one, I am evil. You get that don't you?"

"Don't say that. We have to make tough decisions, but-"

"No. I've killed, raped and pillaged. And I will continue to kill, possibly rape and pillage too. Nobody out there is spinning a narrative that defends our right to exist, nevermind thrive. Everything we do is already evil."

She clenched her teeth. "I can't accept that. Even we can have standards."

He shrugged and looked her straight in the eyes with a disarmed expression.

She let go of his hand and rubbed her eyes. "If we come to blows-"

"We don't have to."

"Let me finish for once. If come to blows. If you or your demon commits sins that I cannot abide. Even if I lose everything. I will stop you."

"That's more than fair. Judge my sins Lydia, and if I hurt you, hate me, it's only natural. But please- please do it yourself. If you let anyone decide for you that you should hate me I- Well I don't have anything to threaten you with.

But I would be disappointed, you know? And the kids-"

"The kids."

"Don't ever hate the kids. Even if it ever happens that you have to kill them, don't hate them. I don't think that's proper. You should be able to kill without hating."

The pulley screeched, they slowed down just in time not to splatter against the cave ceiling, but they did fly into the air a bit.

Harkness sighed deeply. "We have build a home. We're raising children together. We're on the same team. Still."

"Still what?"

"On the same team still. That hasn't changed."

"Good. Let's both try to keep it that way."

After exiting the elevator they climbed into the wolves' den. It was emptier than it had been before. Only Wendy, the wind wolf, was there. When they went up she followed after them.

"Ugh." The demon crawled behind even the wolf, disorientated by the machine. "If his goal is to to win her over to his side, his chosen strategy is dubious."

-

In the foyer, Stanford and Huckabee were standing. Hunched over, due to the low ceiling, and bickering between each other.

Some goblins had planted themselves alongside them, but were now distracting themselves with reading material and finger games all over the room.

"Boss!" Huckabee interrupted the argument. "You just disappeared. I heard about the army, is it true?"

"We don't know if it's true." Harkness stated. "We're taking precautions."

"Who's that?" Stanford asked curtly, staring at You There in suspicion.

"This is... I'm not getting tied up in all this. This is a demon Scratch has summoned."

"Why is he wearing a school uniform?" Huckabee asked sheepishly.

You There did not let them decide the thread of conversation and began an unprompted speech. "A servant of higher powers, I recognize you immediately. Despair mortal! Your way has been abandoned, your master has chosen the path of darkness, and darkness shall rule the land! Mwuhahah! "

Stanford kept a stony face. "Yeees. Nice to meet you. Boss, can I speak to you for a moment? Alone." He hissed through his teeth.

"You can speak openly."

"No."

Scratch clapped his hands. "Everybody. Let's get some fresh air. You too Huck." And they left the bandit leader and her healer inside.

Once outside Scratch snapped his fingers in You There's face. "What did we just talk about?"

"Huh? Don't remember."

Wendy pushed her head against Scratch's back to get his attention. "Dungeon master. Cease your business and hear my words. My pack mates have alerted me of intruders on the turf near the river, where three of your biped dens are planted in the path of the water. These are no scavengers, these are riders and marchers, carrying steel."

Scratch didn't have a barking horn on his person, so he answered back in regular speech. "How do you know this?"

The wind wolf had developed somewhat of an ear for some human words, but not much. "We know it for certain. Not half a day as the crow flies are they away, eating at our territory."

Huckabee looked back and forth between the two of them. "Can you really read the minds of animals?"

Scratch looked befuddled at him. "What? What are you talking about? Never mind, I don't have time for this. Fellows!"

He whistled on his fingers to alert the other goblins. "I need four boys that are good with dogs, we're taking the secret weapon for a field test."

"The secret weapon? What's that?" You There asked mischievously.

"Shut up."

"Should I tell the boss?" Huckabee asked.

"Horses are too slow, but you can tell her we left."

While Benjamin went to gather some capable riders Scratch rummaged through some sacks and crates to find more blue grass.

You disobedied my advice. Cyclophan told him once he got the smoke started.

"Yeah, sorry." Scratch said insincerely. He was too agitated to keep his voice internal and had pulled himself apart alongside You There.

"Ah, master. You must be communing with the god of deception. Do offer my greetings, I am pleased to serve under him."

"Shut up."

I don't know much about this demon, but I can see that it is intelligent. And I hate intelligent demons, they have their own agenda.

"We all have your own agenda. I can work with that." Scratch responded.

You There gave a small "Hhm?" But then threw up his hands. "Oh that was for the evil god, excuse me."

"What we need is firepower," Scratch continued, ignoring him, "we're up against an army now. The wolves have confirmed it."

The fort hasn't been established yet. The troops marching across the river must be a scouting force.

"So... manageable?"

They're still knights. You've encountered trolls in the deep caverns, they are of comparable power to them but smarter and better equipped.

"Trolls?"

The demon responded to this unexpected term. "What twists and turns this conversation is taking. My curiosity is piqued! Lend me an ear." He pushed his own ear against the side of the goblin's head as if to listen to noises within the skull.

Scratch pushed him off. "Stop. What's wrong with you?"

"Give me attention."

"Just... just stay there and shut up."

Are you done?

Yes.

Trolls are a variation of subhumans. Your kind. I was just preparing a magic to allow you to turn humans into hobgoblins, using it on knights would make them ogres or trolls instead.

You mean evolution.

It's more involved than that. My power of evolution can not turn creatures into different families, remember how I wasn't able to turn ducks into cockatrices for you? A human can evolve, but only into something like an elf or a witch. Or an oni. The devil altar should allow you to enact a special ritual to hex an infant and turn it completely subhuman.

Only infants, huh?

The blessing of the main gods is still an obstacle. Whether for transformation or evolution, your victim must be stolen from the crib before it has been baptized.

Scratch violently shook his head. "What's all this? We're getting off-topic." What DO you know about the demon?

I know that he's most likely smarter than you, and that worries me.

But did he lie about wanting to serve?

No. But the smart ones can deceive without lieing. He knows of me, and my ability to detect lies.

What about the letter. Who's it from?

Half a year ago our dungeon was almost claimed by a dark sorcerer. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a similar type. Another dungeon master.

Scratch sighed. I figured that much.

Your team is gathered, let me give you some advice. Pursue the enemy. If you let any of them live and retreat they'll be more prepared and stronger next time.

What are you talking about?

This is a scouting party. Not a raiding party. These humans don't want to raid, they want to lay siege. Do you understand? If it ever comes to that, we will lose. If they manage to scout the forest, know the lay of the land and the holdings of their enemies, they will be doing battle on a level you cannot match. Actual war. Letting them get away with information about you is funest.

Scratch stood silent for a moment, the cigarette burning up in his hand. That might be the smartest thing I've ever heard you say.

Cyclophan was a bit surprised and flattered. Really?

Yes. I can't believe I didn't connect the dots until now. This isn't a rival we're dealing with, it's the authories! You don't push to break them open, their resources are limitless next to yours. You have to obscure yourself and your activities. You don't give them any handhold to beat you with.

I don't understand...

I'm just relating what you said to my own frame of reference. Don't worry about it. I'll follow your advice this time.

Scratch put out the cigarette and dragged You There by the shoulder to the outside of the perimeter, where the wolves stood ready.

The wolves had gathered outside the walls of the promise.

It was less cramped than the underground den, and they were currently agitated.

Wendy, as she was known under the goblins, barked at them with authority. "Six of us will confront the enemy, and we will show them the sorcerous forces we possess."

"What sorcery?" One of the newer members barked back.

"That will be apparent soon enough."

The task force was to ride on the backs of the wolves. As passengers more than drivers.

The wind wolf took Pentajo, who had been part of the wolf pack for a long time, and she directed her subordinates to pick the goblins.

Scratch, Fyro, Mac and Benjamin understood the routine and lifted themselves upon the wolf backs when the beasts allowed them to.

You There hesitated. "Master. I lay myself down in service of your evil intentions. But to propel myself at such speed above the hardened forest floor... Demons are dungeon creatures...."

"Can you keep up with us on foot?"

"No, sir."

"The hop on."

The demon gave a submissive nod and mounted the impatient warg wolf.

"Are we taking weapons?" Fyro asked.

"The goblins are just here for escort." Scratch explained. "We'll be carrying these bucklers and spears for self-defense. But the schoolboy is our soldier."

They all looked at the demon. "Do you want a spear?" Mac asked.

The demon gave a smug smile and shook his head. "That's quite alright."

"Then we'll be off." Scratch stated authoritatively. He accepted a shoulder bag with goodies from Quiet, who had come out to see them off. "Thank you Quiet. We won't be home for dinner."

The wolves sped off, surprising their riders with the sudden springiness of their step and making them hold on tight.

The wind wolf ran ahead of them with great speed. Ever step she took a gust of wind propelled her forth.

She had to regularly stop and wait for the others to catch up.

-

The destination of the party was the farthest out colony alongside the river. A relatively new one led by a bandit woman called Lora.

They weren't full producers yet and still relied on the charity of the main camp to establish themselves. Their defenses probably were similarly underdeveloped.

On wolf back it took barely any time, but they had to stop to eat along the way and the sun had set once the place came into view.

On a bed of dry clay next to the river stood a couple dozen sleeping huts.

They were simple structures of wood, grass, and human-made cloth. Each just enough for two goblins or one human to lie down in.

Other facilities were build in a wide circle around the fireplace, sitting places with woodcarving, fish-cleaning, or cooking utensils.

An artificial brook was dug out trough the clay for river water to flow into and fish to get trapped in.

"It's here. We're at the fishery."

The residents crawled out cautiously at seeing the bright reflective eyes of Scratch's team appear from the forest.

"At ease!" He called out, seeing the goblins ready their weapons and his own wolf bracing for battle. He jumped down.

"Where's your mother?"

-

"Papa Scratch!"

Robert was a nephew of his, one of Barbara's spawn. But his generation had taken over the way to address him from the hobgoblins.

He was the liaison from the promise keeping this tribe connected.

The two hugged. "Did you bring anything?"

"Hi there Bobby, no presents this time, is Lora awake?"

He nodded. "She's working hard hard hard on more goblins."

"Oh, like, right now? Is she-"

"Carrying babies inside."

"Ah, that's what you meant."

The brood mother of the fishing colony was delayed due to the tolls of pregnancy, not by a current effort to conceive. And she came out to meet the riding squad after a few minutes.

"What's-" She grabbed her kicking stomach. "What's the matter at this hour?"

"We're strengthening the defense. Invaders are coming."

"Adventurers? We've beaten adventurers before, with enough slings-"

"I'm afraid this might be the army."

"...no." She grabbed her head and sunk to the ground. A small army of goblins came to her aid to put her down gently.

"Nonono. This can't be. Do you have any idea what I've gone through to be part of your little society?"

"I do have a clear picture."

"And now we're just going to die for it?"

"Of course not. You There, come here."

The demon had been torturing a dying bug on the ground. He looked up from his game and joined Scatch's side.

"How about you introduce yourself. Nicely."

You There bowed and kissed her hand. "Rest assured my lady. Your humble abode will be defended by the stolen power of Eriad."

"Listen to that. A proper fantasy name." Scratch proclaimed. "You've got nothing to worry about. Now let's get this placed cleaned up for the guests."

Cleaning up the place meant evacuating the vulnerable denizens, hiding fragile and valuable possessions, and setting a proper ambush for the enemy.

The wolves smelled the enemy on the air before they came into sight. "Be alert!" Wendy barked towards her pack mates. "Man-things have come to gauge our strength."

Hearing that Scratch clapped his hands and the goblins reacted by taking in their positions.

"What's Eriad?" Mac asked Scratch.

"I don't know, but it dwarves the powers of all other demons. There are kingdom crushing godzillas in the abyss whose power didn't even compare. So it must be enough to crush a scouting team."

"And then the fortress. Right?" Mac skipped right past the words he didn't understand. It was par of the course for Scratch to sometimes devolve into incoherent babbling.

"Change of plan there. We can't blitz the enemy and destroy them, because the enemy is an entire nation. Instead, we'll stay to our forest, turtle up. Make fighting us not worth the trouble."

"Can we do that?"

"Remember how we don't kill adventurers if we don't have to?"

"We don't punch up."

"Exactly. We're going to cash in on that reputation. We'll send them a message about mutual coexistence. Once they do the math, they'll realize there's nothing to gain here."

They were shushed by a wolf as the knights approached the village.

-

"HALT." An older man riding a horse held up his hand to stop the footsoldiers behind him. There were roughly eight of them, all lightly armored with weapons at the ready.

In their midst two donkeys carried rolls of tents and sleeping backs, as well as provisions.

Their superior jumped down from his horse like an acrobat. "Take a look Rocksteader, what do you see?"

One of the knights stepped forward, his back was held straight and stiff. "An abandoned camp, sir. Could be goblin made."

As he spoke wolf riders took position behind them. They formed a line to block off the enemies' line of retreat.

"Disappointing as usual, rookie. First thing you should know. Goblins can't build their own camps. They infest the buildings of others, like rats."

Hidden in the bushes arrows were knocked, ropes were gripped, and shields were raised. The noise almost blended in with the leaves rustling in the wind, almost.

"Secondly. This place isn't abandoned at all. Shields up everybody, it's an ambush!"

Rocks and bolts shot at them from all directions as the goblins let loose. Normally fighting off such a barrage was supposed to overwhelm and make them unprepared for following manoeuvres, but the knights seemed hardly bothered. They weaved and deflected a bit and kept their footing.

The wolves in the back charged forward and drove the knights into each other with theirs spears. But the spears quickly shattered from the knights' weapons.

Despite the enemies' seemingly superior strength and skill they were bunched up exactly where the goblins wanted them to be.

A net was pulled up from beneath the leaves and loose earth by counterweights and pulled tight by two dozen goblins around the footsoldiers and their donkeys.

-

Only their leader stood free. "They knew we were coming." He remarked calmly. "Free yourself boys. This is all they have."

Even now the projectiles and long range stabbing didn't seem to do much to the humans, and they were in the process of hacking their prison apart.

"I wouldn't be so certain!" Scratch announced theatrically, as he appeared in full view in front of the knights, with You There by his side.

"What's this supposed to be?" The knight's leader pulled his sword and adopted a fighting stance.

"Captain Harkness!" The knight known as Rocksteader called out from the back. "It must be a demon!"

"Harkness?" For a moment the goblin thought the presence of the bandit leader had been announced.

"Let's put an end to this." Captain Harkness announced. "We'll inform the fortress about dark sorcery when we get back."

"Not if we have anything to say about it." Scratch stretched out his hand. "Die."

You There matched his movements. "Yeah!"

The captain cringed away in fear, but nothing happened.

"What are you waiting for!?" Scratch yelled at the demon. "Obliterate them!"

"Obliterate them? What manner of demon do you suppose I am? I have no such ability."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"My goodness. If I had known that's what you thought 'lending power' meant I would have said something, I promise. If only you'd told me what your plan was."

"What else would it mean? You... you!"

The captain approached with a sword. Behind him the other knights were as good as free.

You There laughed. "Haha. What a unfortunate understanding! It suppose we'll be destroyed now. I'll ask my next summoner whether she knows what an Incubus is."

Scratch grabbed him by the collar. "Do you have any idea how much credibility I sacrificed to get you?"

"Oy!" The knight heaved his sword up high. "Don't ignore me while I'm killing you!"

Before he could cleave the goblin's skull in two his leg was pulled out from under him by the powerful bite of a wolf.

Wendy had circled around the brawl in the time it would take a gust of wind to do so and sunk her teeth into the unguarded part of the knight's leg.

He screamed in rage and hacked at her, but as fast as she had come she was gone again. She was now between him and the two targets and tried to bite him again.

"Protect the dungeon master!" She barked at her pack mates, who abandoned the clash with the footsoldiers to come to her defense.

"Enough of this!" The captain shouted, he put his hands in front of his chest and pushed them outward. "Rhada's Fury!"

A ring of fire bloomed around him and scorched the three enemies.

They grunted in pain and tried to retreat. Wendy staying between the two others and the captain.

"Gloves off boys!" The human shouted. "Torch the place!"

As soon as he said it the knights stopped clashing with swords and started chanting mnemonics, all of which had the name 'Rhada' in it and all of which resulted in them creating fiery destruction out of nothing.

The goblin forces were completely overwhelmed. Half of them died within less than a second.

The others stayed on the offensive, until Scratch screamed to retreat, his voice hoarse from the pain.

"Forget the horde. Get those two!" Captain Harkness commanded, as he sheathed his sword. He brought his hands together to create some sort of fireball.

"Shield me." Scratch commanded, and made You There stand in front of them with his arms spread.

"Hmm, so cruel~" The demon purred sensually.

However, before the man could finish his attack a deafeningly loud gallop sounded behind them.

A horse rider stopped just above Scratch and jumped off acrobatically in front of You There.

"You!" The captain bellowed. He released the fireball and it shot forward like an arrow, but the opposing human stretched out her hands and held it together like he just had. It was Lydia Harkness.

"You used to scold me. For wasting mana on oversized attacks." She grunted. Then she pushed it back, it flew right past the captain and all the footsoldiers and exploded just between the two donkeys they'd brought along. "Father."

Then she dropped to one knee.

-

There hung a silence in the air. The footsoldiers had stopped advancing just behind their captain, who was glaring hatefully and the bandit leader.

The goblins and wolves were sinking away slowly into the darkness of the nighttime woods.

You There came to Lydia to touch her forearm in a presumptuous gesture of affection. "Lady Harkness... your chivalry is the stuff of songs, I-"

She pushed him away with one hand and stood up.

"So it's true." Captain Harkness commented, he looked disgusted between her and the demon. "I should have killed you when I had the chance."

She put her hands on her throwing knives. "We're leaving." The goblins were scrambling onto their wolves and hiding away now.

"You stand your ground and fight young lady." He demanded.

She jumped onto her horse and spurred it on, making it whinny in protest. She sped off.

The knights fired off arrows and spells, all aimed at her, but she made it out of the chaos.

-

After a few minutes of fleeing she and Scratch met up.

Scratch and You There shared a spot on Wendy, who was slowed down a bit by the double load.

"Why did you go off without me?" She asked.

"Miscalculation." He admitted. "We overestimated the demon."

"You mean you did." She insisted. "You left just as Stanford was teaching me about Incubi. I had to hurry to catch up to you as quickly as possible."

You There hugged Scratch from behind and rubbed his hands over him. "That man, was he your daddy?"

Scratch was to busy holding on to the wolf to fight him off. "Can we do anything to shake them off our tail?" He asked her.

"Nobody trained in the royal academy would pursue into unknown territory without a baggage train." She assured him.

"They'll be going back." They both ignored You There's question.

"I mention because, you see, you referred to him as your father. Now that makes me think-"

"So what does an incubus do?" Scratch asked, his question explicitly directed towards the human.

"They're seducers." She said. "They exist to tempt women into accepting their gift of power."

"We're not so picky." You There added, breathing into Scratch's neck.

"I'll explain later. Just think of them as reverse succubi." She explained. "They grant what succubi have stolen. It's technically endless, but there are complications. I don't think he's of much use to us.

"So to review:" he complained, "the secret weapon is useless, the enemy has a personal grudge, and the scouting mission returns with information about our territory. Meaning we'll definitely end up having to defend in a land war."

"Oh master, you're in luck!" You There jubilated. "Field battles are the art of deception made manifest. You are sure to demonstrate your skills!"

"I'm going to throw you off." Scratch fumed.

Succubi

Family: Demons

Threat Level: D

Reward: 2 silver pieces

Succubi are demons of seduction. They are summoned by dark sorcerers into dungeons of temptation, and take on the form of male adventurers' ideal women. Though they seem human, they can be recognized by their lascivious behavior and weakness to light magic.

Succubi possess the Drain ability. By seducing and having sex with a man they can drain him of his power. An adventurer that has fallen for this trick will lose the strength and abilities he has gained over his adventures. This makes the succubus a monster that is highly feared among members of the adventurers' guild, even compared to monsters of higher threat levels and lethality.

In order to combat succubi, avoid being overly trusting of strangers met in dungeons, and include female adventurers into your party before setting out.