The second I left the courtyard and entered the gigantic manor in front of me, my tremor-sense updated. And it gave me a lot of very useful, detailed information. Information that brought a smile to my face. And information that changed my appraisal of her children.

The room I entered into from outside of the manor was, unsurprisingly since it was a manor owned by a noble dark-elven family, an unlit foyer, unlit aside from faint yellow lines that seemed to pop up from out of the ground at my feet that indicated some regular usage of illusion magic. In order to enter it, I actually had to shrink myself down a bit, but not by a lot since the door into the manor was nearly large enough to accommodate my bulky drider-form anyway.

The walls and the floor of this place were made from dark material that would have obscured any light source used anyway, but even without the residual magical aura that I could visually detect, I would have been able to see in here. My vision was superior to mortal vision, my vision saw the true nature of reality and therefore wasn't dependent on what powered mortal vision: light.

The foyer was silent and uninhabited. It opened up immediately after one entered it, and I studied it while I waited for Qu'Ren to arrive behind me. The dark elf had had a reasonably difficult time keeping up with me, since not only was I quick in any of my forms, but I was even faster when I sped forward on eight legs than on two.

Illusion magic... that, coupled with what I know now about Lilith Bloodcaller, suggests that this family is much more than they appear to be. And that she alone will be worth going to great lengths to make mine. I thought, mildly amused by what I knew, thanks to my earth-based powers.

The foyer was a large room meant to intimidate visitors to the property or impress potential recruits. It stretched on for a few dozen meters, and before forking off into two different places. A staircase led visitors upstairs, which was where the younger children of Lilith Bloodcaller, the mysterious leader of this family, slept.

I'm grateful for this enhanced tremor-sense. I thought, with a smirk on my face, knowing that without that power I'd be navigating this place on the memories of the lesser and younger children of Lilith.

The other exit out of the room, aside from the one behind me, was one that was located straight ahead. To reach it one just needed to walk forward for several meters and then go through it. That's where we're going. I mused, eager to get on with it, and head into the underground proportion of this already underground manor.

Deeper into both the darkness and the earth. Where my powers are even greater. I told myself, chuckling at my assumption that Lilith laired, like many creatures with lairs, where she felt safest and that where she felt safest was where I was at my strongest.

Qu'Ren finally caught up to me. I could hear her breathing a bit roughly, and grinned at her. I'll help her a bit. I thought, before sending her some stamina through the brand that now marked her left breast.

Her breath hitched when the wave of invigorating energy surged into her, immediately restoring her condition and replenishing her stamina. She smiled at me, in surprise and mild gratitude. I had a lot to tell her.

"This trip just got a lot more interesting." I said, cryptically. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity but stayed silent. After a few seconds of silence, I realized that I'd need to give her more than that to pique her interest.

"Lilith Bloodcaller isn't who we thought she was. She's an illusionist." I informed my servant. That drew a reaction from her, namely that her eyes widened in shock and that she began to look around frantically as if attempting to pierce through any illusions that might have posed a threat to her. Her actions made me laugh.

"Relax. Nothing here is illusionary. I could see through it if it were. But that's not what's really interesting." I told her, causing her to look at me with abject interest in her gaze. Oh, right. She needs more than that. I told myself, slightly annoyed by her peculiarities.

"Lilith Bloodcaller's mother wasn't another dark-elf. She was a succubus. Lilith is a half-demon. A half-succubus specifically." I told Qu'Ren. And this definitely got her attention.

"Oh... Oh! You're right that is interesting." She realized, a glint of excitement gleaming in her eye.

While one of me was inside of a manor in the city of Undermoon, in the lair of a half-demon, I found myself in front of an old friend. The half-devil Tristan listened to me as I opened up to her about some of my frustrations.

We were seated outside of the Dark Cathedral. Our surroundings were idyllic, with the Dark Cathedral behind us, the completed monastery of the jackaloids visible in the distance, and the mushroom garden and thin forest to our left and right respectfully.

The air smelled fragrant, the mixing of the scents of nearby, vibrant fungi and thick trees filling it with a pleasant, wooded smell. We heard the sounds of foot traffic closeby as residents of this community continued their work.

Tristan had been with me for half an hour and she had even been approached by a number of residents who sought to express their admiration of her. It was amusing, and a welcome intrusion since she and I were chatting because I had been growing increasingly impatient and wanted to complain.

"This is... taking too long. Each day Paimon attacks more and more. I want to hurry up and become an even stronger... 'proto archdevil'... 'greater true devil'? Whatever I am." I told her. She looked at me and sighed.

The one high-priestess in all of the cults devoted to me that I had directly selected now looked hugely different compared to how she looked when I first met her. She still wore her nun outfit, but now she was a three-eyed, scale-winged humanoid. When we first met she had looked human, albeit a human with heterochromatic eyes but those were only rare and not necessarily supernatural.

"Althos, I share your frustrations. We're safe here, now, but it was scary when they attacked and I know they've only gotten more aggressive since, even without you telling me." She said, her voice breathy and tired. She yawned, but then snapped to attention and looked at me, apologetically.

"Sorry. I've been traveling nonstop. Between reaching out to the communities that dot the desert landscape, and heading to the frontlines to heal the few injuries we've sustained... it's a lot. I don't need much sleep, but I am still mortal. I need... some sleep." She said. I looked at her, feeling no small amount of sympathy and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I hope you know how much the work you're doing here matters. I know it's a lot, but because of you 'The Tyrant's Temple' is growing steadily. I recognize how much work you're doing." I told her, cognizant of the endless amount of work she was doing to popularize the cult. She smiled at me, and there was a moment where a fanatical joy glowed in her dazzling and eerie eyes.

"I know. In the rare moments, we get a chance to chat I can feel how grateful you are of my work. And I can feel it from the pious devils as well. They make it... abundantly clear how much they respect me. Sometimes a little bit too much." She said, sighing in exhaustion again. A different kind of exhaustion though. I chuckled and ignored the very thinly veiled complaint she made.

A silence filled the air between us. In the absence of speech, I debated telling her something about one of the devils she was talking about. Should I tell her about Faldor? It might make her laugh... I asked myself. She needs a laugh. I realized.

"Faldor prays a lot. Almost as much as you." I told her, a flash of mischievousness in my gaze. She looked at me, and skeptically studied my face. I could tell that she knew that there was more to that statement then I had let on.

"Oh? What does he pray about?" She asked, her eyebrows arching to suggest that she was curious about what sort of things one of the male priest-devils, known more formally as "Pious Devils", would pray about. I grinned as I responded to her.

"Oh, he's the sort who uses prayer to have a conversation. Which is the way I like it. He tells me about his day, asks for things to reflect on, and he even attributes his successes to me. And he tries to persuade me to let him marry you." I told her, slipping in that last part nonchalantly.

She began to nod in agreement with me after I told her that I liked it when my followers used prayer as an excuse to initiate a conversation. She kept nodding all the way through because Faldor's praying habits were exactly like hers. It took her a second to react to the last part of the statement.

"Wait, what?" She asked me, twisting in her seat to more fully face me so that I could explain, to her face, what I had just told her.

Succubi. Demons of lust and the mothers of all sorts of wickedly sinful and powerful creatures. Acquiring a half-succubi isn't as good as acquiring a full succubus, but I bet Lilith will still be quite useful. I thought, as Qu'Ren and I descended down a staircase. It was the first of three such things we'd need to navigate to reach the bottom of the manor, which was where Lilith herself was at the moment.

Qu'Ren was quiet. She had been quiet ever since I told her the true origins of the current head of the Bloodcaller family. It was a bit surprising to be sure, but there was also a certain amount of sense such an origin made for the mysterious head of a dark-elven family. I looked over at Qu'Ren, and studied her for a moment.

She was focused on something. Her gaze was serious and thoughtful, but not present. I could just read her mind... I thought, for a second. No, if we're next to each other we should talk. I thought, snapping myself out of my old way of thinking. At most I could do both, but I should want for her to tell me things, not just for me to barge into her mind. I said to myself, chiding my old, uncommunicative thoughts.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" I asked her, my gaze locked on her face. She was roused from her thoughts and tilted her head so that she could make eye-contact with me.

"Oh, hey. I'm just thinking about what it'll be like to encounter her. Since she's an illusionist and a half-succubi. That's a potent combination." Qu'Ren told me. I nodded, in agreement with what she had just said.

We stepped off the final step of the stairwell and were on a flat surface again. The ground at our feet wasn't the worked stone of the interior of the manor, but naturally occurring unworked stone, dirt, and rocks. The sort that was perfect for me to manipulate, using my little influence over the earth subdomain.

Once we wanted to leave this place we'd have to go backward and climb the same stairwell but upwards instead of downwards. Unless I use my teleportation powers. I reminded myself, fond of the freedom of movement I possessed thanks to that subdomain.

"You don't need to tell me that. And there's more I haven't told you about our strange foe." I told her, my eyes once again containing a flash of amusement.

But before I got to tell Qu'Ren about the strange nature of the woman we were walking towards, I laid my eyes on the first illusion, and first trap Lilith had set in place to intercept intruders or guests who went beyond the places in the manor that guests were intended to go. And in seeing it realized that we were dealing with a woman who really loved her secrets.

Off in the distance, ahead of us by a fair distance, stood an inexpertly placed and prepared illusionary wall. The thing would only fool the most physically adept people to make it here, but the real trap laid behind it. And it was a trap that was a smart one against someone like me who had a potent radar and tremor-sense combination that would render many traps ineffective.

Behind the illusionary wall was a solitary gargoyle. The thing suspended itself in mid-air with powerful, magically silent flaps of its wings. It had its eyes trained in our direction, but not on us. We were still too far away for it to see us. It didn't have my eagle-like vision.

I don't feel like dealing with this right now. I have a number of questions to ask Lilith, and I won't let her little toys harm my little toy. I thought, referring to Qu'Ren. I rose a hand in the direction of the gargoyle and began considering what sort of spells I could use to efficiently handle the statue-like creature off in the distance.

"Sorry for getting distracted." I told Qu'Ren while starting my assault on the distant foe. I quietly cast Weight of the dead on the thing, the invisible energy surging out of my hand.

"None of Lilith's children, or at least none of the ones we met outside, know about her parentage. Or about her powers as an illusionist." I told my servant, having grown confident that that was the case due to forcing myself to absorb what the children of Lilith that we had met so far knew about their mother. My spell sped forth from my hand and collided with the gargoyle. The thing crashed to the earth below and groaned in surprised pain.

Qu'Ren continued to look at me. There was some confusion on her face, and a look of quizzical curiosity about my outstretched hand but she didn't question me about that. She knew that I knew what I was doing. She did have a question about something else though.

"None of them? What do they think she is?" The witch asked, her eyes focused on me.

I tapped my foot and willed Earth Control to activate. The ground beneath the gargoyle opened up, and the thing fell into the resulting hole. I then tapped my foot again, and closed the hole, trapping the gargoyle in it.

"They think she's a rogue. A damn good one, but not one with any unusual skill in magic. She must have taken great pains to hide her powers from her family. I... don't know why though." I said, honestly. I was truly stumped. The memories I had analyzed made her appear to be a solid mother by dark-elven standards. She wasn't like Hagitha, at least according to the memories of her children.

"Oh well, we'll be finding out soon." I told Qu'Ren. We had been walking forward this whole time, and we were beginning to approach the illusionary wall. Qu'Ren nodded at me, and turned to stare straight ahead. A small smile broke out on her face, as confidence flared to life in her eyes.

"That's cute. She placed an illusionary wall ahead of us. Though... you knew that already." Qu'Ren told me. I nodded at her, impressed that she saw through it so quickly and from a fair distance away.

"I'm glad you could tell that I saw it." I told her, smiling while keeping my gaze locked ahead of us. Qu'Ren had one more question.

"Was the foot-tapping thing you did to weaken the illusion?" She asked me. I audibly laughed when she finished her question.

"It was actually to handle the true trap. There was a monster behind the illusion. I took care of it." I told her. She chuckled.

And thus was set the pattern of our descent downward into Lilith's inner sanctum. The other two sets of staircases had similar, easily detectable traps that posed no threat to us. Our trip was basically a nice walk deep in a dark cave.

In less than half an hour we found ourselves viewing the plump backside of the head of one of the youngest noble families in Undermoon. We had invaded her manor, bypassed her traps, and the woman herself slowly turned to face us. And she wasn't alone.

I really need to upgrade my radar. Or my tremor-sense. Or both. I thought, having detected her final bodyguards via radar before we entered her sanctum, but not from far away. Just because the demons were flying.

As Lilith turned to face us, she asked a simple question. "Why are a god and one of his little worshipers invading my home?" She asked, her voice filled with pride and a potent seductive pull. But it was one that I was able to easily ignore. I responded with an offer.

"How about this, half-demon, if you answer our questions, I might answer yours?" I asked, offering what I felt was a fair deal. And revealing that I knew what she was. And if she refuses then I'll just rip the memories out of her. Before replacing them with ones I construct. I thought, a wide grin visible on my face.

The sound of Tristan's laughter filled the air outside of the Dark Cathedral.

"He thinks that the high-priestship of your church will be hereditary?" She asked her facial expression one of someone who was laughing profusely. "Well he's a lot of things, but smart isn't one of them." She told me, in response to my explanation of Faldor's desire to marry her.

It is kind of silly to think that religion for devils would have a hereditary hierarchy. Devils don't die of old-age. I thought, being aware of the oddity of the devil's odd thoughts on that.

He was under the belief that when Tristan died, if she did, of old-age that the title of high-priestess would be passed onto someone else. So he hoped to have her birth his child and pass the title either onto himself or that child. Even though when Tristan dies her soul will just go somewhere else in Infernius. And I'll find it and promote it to the status of pious-devil, at least. I thought, having already considered how to deal with the possibility that Tristan might die one day.

Or I'll just make her immortal. If she asks for it. I reminded myself. I already had a way to make someone immortal, which I had used on Camaxtl, and could use on others just as easily.

When Tristan finished laughing, her grin didn't dissipate or fade. Instead, it grew wider. "Althos, I have a plan I think you'll like. One that'll speed you through the rest of this trial." She told her, excitement radiating in her gaze. I got closer to her as if she was about to tell me a secret.

"We're gonna get you the souls and communities you need. All it takes is a bit of underhanded scheming, violence, and for you to play a few different roles." She said, as a prologue to a scheme she had been thinking about for a few days now, one I was vaguely aware of thanks to my abilities to copy memories, thoughts, and knowledge but was excited to hear her explain in detail, herself. Which was why I had left it alone and copied everything but it whenever I copied her mind's contents and absorbed it.

"It sounds like you've concocted a scheme. If you're down to share, I'm so ready to hear it." I told her, excitedly. She looked at me, a bit surprised and asked a fair, albeit somewhat annoying question.

"Do you... not know what it is?" She asked, genuinely surprised. And then she expanded on her question. "I assumed you continually copied the contents of my mind and absorbed them every few days..." She said.

"I was just talking about it to be dramatic. I like the flair of this sort of thing. The theatricality of it all. I didn't get to do it a lot as a child." She told me. I chuckled. And then I sighed.

"I only knew that you were scheming something, but because I know you wanted to help I left it alone until you told me about it yourself." I told her. "But I mean, your assumption is fair. Now, please, go on." I said, smiling as I readied myself for what would hopefully be an exciting scheme that helped me finish this damn quest.