Amdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic

With Erwarth ready to go, Amdirlain stacked up the last of the crystals they’d repaired.

“You’ve got information from the Wizard’s brain, but we need a local’s knowledge of what will most hurt Moloch to lose,” stated Erwarth. “Yeah, the cliffs and the blood plains are obvious choices, but there will be others.”

“I’m not exactly after local knowledge. If we gain materials generated from the damned, we could find locations. I eventually want to deal with them all,” explained Amdirlain, and she caught Erwarth’s pause. “Have you only used a Succubus’ form?”

“That wasn’t what set me aback. How will the song let you track where they came from?”

Amdirlain blinked in surprise. “There are tones in the song that mark out points of origin. Clairsentience techniques also let you track or experience past events related to objects or places.”

“In my previous life, I was very combat-oriented with True Song. Guess I have a lot more to re-learn than I had expected. As to your question, I’ve used other forms, but that’s the one I know best,” explained Erwarth. “I’d suggest we use a Marilith’s form; we’ll fit in, but with equal measures of attention, fear, and submission. However, they are at least senior commanders or generals to a Demon Lord by the time they reach Greater Tier.”

“Let's reduce the Abyssal Heat the concealment is currently providing,” suggested Amdirlain, and she shifted into a Marilith. Still elven-featured, a bald scalp with a mohawk of spikes and a fanged mouth gave her face’s angularity a feral quality.

Her upper torso still nominally matched her elven form, though it now supported three pairs of arms and flattened breasts that barely added any curves to her muscular chest. What skin remained turned matte grey as, from mid-abdomen, flesh blended into sandy-brown and grey scales that covered a snake-like body extending five metres from where her hips should have been. The dense mass of coiled muscles in the tail increased her weight to exceed a midsized car.

Amdirlain gave Erwarth a dangerous grin before she created rings of stygian steel for each hand. Each creation contained simple dimensional enchantments; without pause, she made a jagged falchion in each hand.

Partway through Amdirlain’s crafting, Erwarth shifted into a similar form. Instead of grey skin, her upper torso and scalp were a swirling geometric pattern of interlocking red and black. Poisonous-green scales with black spines covered her serpentine lower body. Once she completed her equipment, Amdirlain created similar ones for Erwarth and added a set of bracers.

[Crafting Summary (Categories: Various)

Masterwork Stygian Falchion: 5,030 x 12 = 100 (base) + 400 (rare material) + 4,530 (enchantment rating: +906 (success))

Minor Storage Ring: 210 x 12 = 10 (base) + 500 (Enchantment: Spatial (Capacity: 20 kilograms))

Masterwork Bracers: 5,030 = 100 (base) + 400 (rare material) + 4,530 (enchantment rating: +906 (success))

Total Experience gained: 67,910

Ostimë +33,955

Ontãlin +33,955

Duet [Ad] (20->21)]

The dissonance Amdirlain had previously noticed in the blending of the materials and enchantment had eased considerably with Duet’s addition.

“Other mariliths weren’t so ornate,” commented Amdirlain, looking over Erwarth’s threatening colour scheme.

“They only moult to change the colouration of their skin or scales. Some regions they go in for more ornate colouration, but basically anything they feel at the time is attractive,” explained Erwarth.

Amdirlain considered her form again, and all the swords disappeared into the storage rings she’d created. Keeping her torso upright, Amdirlain coiled her body to support her and lifted until she loomed about two and a half metres in height. In that position, she still found it easy to move about either with a sidewinder’s motion or that of a typical serpent.

Their scales rasped across the bare stone floor for a time as they both familiarised themselves with their new bodies. Amdirlain found the clustered positioning of her arms required the most significant change, as her attacks required adopting a pattern of moves to avoid tangling herself. Aware of the dangers of predictability, Amdirlain tried adding tail slaps, stabs, and grabs, among other strikes.

Erwarth caught Amdirlain’s addition to her familiarisation. “Marilith attack so fast that patterns aren’t normally an issue. Plus, most foes with two arms get overwhelmed by the near-constant streams of attacks.”

“All patterns have weaknesses,” grumbled Amdirlain.

Erwarth smirked. “Hiccup the pattern.”

“I can guess what you mean, but care to confirm?”

“You’ll not need the tactic with most foes, only against those holding their own and getting used to your pattern. When they look committed to a parry, hold back one of your attacks, especially when they’re putting strength into parrying; let’s you lure them into putting themselves off-balance when they go to parry a blow that isn’t there.”

“Teleport around them?”

“The form’s size makes that a bit more of a challenge,” replied Erwarth. “Do you have a particular preference for the size of the place we search?”

“I take it the Sisterhood didn’t just leave Moloch be?”

“I know a couple of trade cities and larger towns. The Sisterhood couldn’t go into them without provoking a response, but ‌we’d scout around them. Watch the amount of traffic and track banners to determine who had dealings with Moloch and sell the information,” explained Erwarth. “Even the smaller ones will have goods from all over the Plane.”

“Demons and their boredom.”

“Ennui is not your friend when millennia roll along. Finding something to motivate you is important when many want to tear you down,” acknowledged Erwarth.

“Let’s go through the larger towns, check out the raw materials on offer, and free any prisoners,” suggested Amdirlain. “Do you know any with a Gate that we could alter?”

“If you have it immediately sending them home, the demons will stop using it.”

“What do you propose?”

“How about we add a song into it so mortals get tagged with an enduring marker?” suggested Erwarth, and Amdirlain motioned her to explain. “Well, two parts: one to send us a message when mortals pass through, and another so we can track them. We don’t even have to do the rescuing. The other covert cells operating on Culerzic need valid information.”

“It would have to be conditional; otherwise if a prisoner caravan comes through, we could get hundreds of alerts,” considered Amdirlain. “We need to know there was an arrival, which tagged new prisoners. The song to tag new mortals would be a simple condition; it would be a continuous effect tagging anyone not already tagged.”

“Tag the arrivals of prisoners or collaborators,” added Erwarth.

Amdirlain nodded. “We’ll need some help to test it.”

“Ask Livia or Moke to help and organise some additional travellers,” advised Erwarth, and her expression turned wary as Amdirlain started to protest. “I’ve heard some messages the pair of you exchanged during training even before things went wrong. It was fine to keep her away when she had the reassurance of Torm backing you, but now you’re both hurting from Torm’s situation. It would be good to meet in person, not merely hear each other’s voices.”

“I’m not risking her,” asserted Amdirlain.

“I was the one that told her you needed to be out of touch for a while,” Erwarth declared. “Did she chew you out when you got back in touch?”

“No,” admitted Amdirlain.

“Then maybe put some trust in her judgement, that she wouldn’t wander around in the Abyss nor criticise you for what happened. Those you killed might already be in Judgement and free from the tortures inflicted here,” stated Erwarth, her concerned focus not shifting from Amdirlain. “We could have her using a Gate from Stoneheart unless there is another protected chamber you trust on the Material Plane. Of course, if you wanted to worry her less, I’d suggest you set up a good base again instead of this shaft.”

“There are other mortals that can help us test it,” countered Amdirlain.

“Yeah, but I’m certain Livia would top the list of people that have a right to catch up in person. You’ve even had evidence that someone with lowish Willpower won’t get crushed by your new Charisma,” argued Erwarth, and she reached up to cup Amdirlain’s face. “Give yourself a gift for once. Tell her what you have planned and ask if she’ll help.”

“Part of her Immortal path is her service of Justice through her boss. So I don’t see her refusing a chance to help rescue individuals from the Abyss,” argued Amdirlain.

“Then how do you think she’d feel if you didn’t trust her to be involved?” asked Erwarth, and she nodded at Amdirlain’s wince. “Once we get the songs working, we can create zone effects with the salvaged crystals. Then when we explore for materials, place them using Inventory to swap stone for the crystal.”

Ideas and plans raced around in Amdirlain’s mind, and after a long pause, she nodded. “We could create them and not even have to place them ourselves. Also, we should set them up to record the message back to a memory crystal or a book instead of sending the alert to us.”

“My goodness, are you going to delegate by chance?” teased Erwarth.

“We can create the materials and effects. We don’t have to be the ones to set them in place, especially since there are too many to handle ourselves.”

Erwarth nodded and slithered clear before she turned back into her elven form. “You know we don’t have to gather materials from markets. We can get the various cells to leave them at drop locations.”

“You’re trying to get me to avoid trouble,” observed Amdirlain.

“Yes.”

“We’d need to do some design work and test that this will even work. Then we’ll need to work out how to expand it in a way that isn’t dependent on our efforts.”

Her statement had Erwarth smiling broadly. “Fine, so what do you want to handle first?”

“What I want to handle first is finding new areas of the damned,” said Amdirlain, and she held up a hand to forestall Erwarth’s objection. “I need time to compose songs and think about the best approach to these problems.”

With a forlorn sigh, Erwarth gave Amdirlain a conflicted look. “I had hoped you’d given up on this, but it's your choice to go out. The location is a large mining and trade town. The place is called Doraz. It's beside a stretch of where the Stygian River touches this Plane. It seems a useful place since the river’s song might help your plan.”

“Washing all memory away?”

“Yes,” agreed Erwarth, and her mouth twisted sourly. “I can’t remember the melody, but I can remember the distaste I felt hearing it. The river is a brutal thief, stealing memories from those that touch or drink its waters. It leaves them a husk, with the scars of life, but no memory to know why.”

“Then it only does part of what I need,” murmured Amdirlain.

Giving Amdirlain a puzzled look, Erwarth tilted her head in thought. “I thought your focus was on changing the souls, so they didn’t generate demons or abyssal produce.”

Licking her lips, Amdirlain hesitated a moment before she took the plunge, “The Titan used his forge to reset a Grecian Celestial’s essence into a brand new Soul, washed clean of memories and accomplishments. Hestia told me about a message with an image of it occurring on Mount Olympus.”

“You want to do the same thing to all the damned souls you can?”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to, but that’s my end goal,” Amdirlain declared, keeping her entire focus purely on her own words.

A muttered curse hissed half heard off Erwarth’s lips. “Sarah was right. You don’t let the pain in, you focus on another goal.”

Holding her interior trembling at bay, Amdirlain shook her head. “She’s only partly right this time. I’m focusing on a goal, so I’ve got a channel to funnel it away. I’m not in denial, and I know I’m not okay. Between the pain and anger, it's hard to think if I let his situation be my focus. So right now, I’ve been trying to use that energy to do something constructive, and instead, I killed at least a thousand prisoners.”

“That didn’t stop you from blowing up three more towns,” commented Erwarth.

“Only ones that Resonance let me check from one side to the other,” countered Amdirlain, and she focused on the strengthening concern amidst Erwarth’s chords. “Burning towns to the ground won’t cost Moloch enough. I need to destroy his profits.”

“Do you think Torm would have wanted you doing something simply to cost Moloch?” asked Erwarth, and though her concern hadn’t lessened, Amdirlain had to fight off the chaffing sensation that it evoked.

Despite her effort, the second-guessing prickled at her, and Amdirlain raised her hands to stop Erwarth from interrupting. Swallowing, Amdirlain kept her tone deliberately soft, despite the anger that sought to leak into her voice. “I can hear your concern, but never use Torm’s name to manipulate me for any reason. Better still, don’t mention him unless you have a way of finding the individual he became.”

The reaction Erwarth had caused didn’t escape her notice, and wincing, she nodded to Amdirlain in apology. “I had thought the last months of singing had taken the edge from your grief. You talked about helping prisoners and then went back to wanting to cost Moloch.”

“I never have only one plan going, Erwarth,” stated Amdirlain, and her tail rasping across the stone had her forcing out a slow breath. “There is so much anger in me right now, I’m sure my grief is letting the rage Orhêthurin kept locked away vent as well.”

“I remember her as calm and unshakable,” murmured Erwarth.

Amdirlain gave a bitter laugh. “Oh Erwarth, I can guarantee you she wasn’t a calm individual. I think I’ll regret my new combat skill claiming Zen State.”

Fire flared under her sternum, and Amdirlain let the pulsing rage slip from her lips. She kept it chained in a song that tore apart the chamber’s air, spilling crimson abyssal coins in its wake.

Though Erwarth couldn’t hear Amdirlain's internal melody, the venomous fury in the metal was clear. Carefully keeping herself clear of the coins, she used gathering spells to set them into stacks. Amdirlain stored the stacked coins away when they began to clutter the floor but didn’t miss a single beat.

It was hours before Amdirlain drew her song to a close; by then, her Inventory held millions of coins. “That wave has eased. Shall we be on our way, or do you not trust me to keep control?”

Her hissing tone was like water thrown into a raging inferno.

“Was that anger from yourself, or Orhêthurin?” asked Erwarth softly after she had given Amdirlain time for her trembling to ease.

“From the snippets of thoughts that came with the wave, it was ‌Orhêthurin. It contained bits and pieces of wanting to rip her former husband limb from limb. Torm’s situation is completely different, but Hirindo leaving Orhêthurin was devastating for her, so the loss is resonating. There were other messes in there that came from other lives, so I think dysfunctional relationships must be common.”

Though Amdirlain had kept the demonic form, Erwarth moved close and rested a hand gently on the lowest forearm. “But how are you?”

“I hurt too much to want to focus on it,” whispered Amdirlain. “It feels like someone scooped out my insides and left ash-filled firepits in their place. Whenever I feel I have some control, the fires in them flare to life again. I need to use that fire for something other than wallowing in the pain, Erwarth.”

“What do you want to do?” asked Erwarth, and she rushed to clarify before Amdirlain could snap. “What’s your end goal, I mean.”

“It's not just about the souls, Erwarth. The Abyss was wild, amoral, and uncaring, but it didn’t start filled with the sickening corruption you’ll find everywhere now,” said Amdirlain. “I have Orhêthurin’s memories of shifting materials from the Abyss to create hundreds of star systems. The materials initially didn’t need any purification, as a planet doesn’t care about the beings that might come to live on it. On any planet, the natural cycles do not consider right or wrong. The strong survive, and the weak perish, and that was the Abyss.”

“I have memories of choirs putting in extra effort to create materials rather than touch anything from the Abyss,” advised Erwarth.

“That was much later,” Amdirlain said, and she let out a shaky breath. “I want to see if I can reset parts of the Abyss, purge it of the corruption to reduce the number of demons that manifest. Moloch hurt Torm, so his fiefdom gets to be the first target of my endeavours, but it won’t be the last.”

“Here I thought you planned long-term for a former Mortal with your goals against the Dao,” commented Erwarth.

“How long do you think it will take?”

“Even if you figure out a mechanism, for one Plane alone, it will be aeons of effort,” declared Erwarth.

“You’re forgetting something,”

“And that is?”

“The Abyss duplicated Orhêthurin's efforts previously,” stated Amdirlain. “I won’t make it a paradise, but I will remind it what it used to be and ensure the effect spreads.”

“But you’re not Orhêthurin,” countered Erwarth.

“Thank goodness for that!” exclaimed Amdirlain. “She’d focus on the souls getting whatever they earned. Now, will you show me this stygian town, or do I need to find a spot to start on my own?”

Erwarth nodded quickly and returned to the Marilith form she’d assumed earlier. Ending the concealment she’d set in place previously, Erwarth sang again, and this time the Abyssal Heat was of a standard strength. Amdirlain took the time to copy the intensity of the aura she’d set in place, and Erwarth teleported them away.

When they reappeared, Erwarth had positioned them a distance back from the edge of a drop into a massive cavern. A few kilometres to their right, a wide river descended from the ceiling and rushed down a set of cascades. Its music was a grey drone that grated and rumbled, a collection of abrasive chords that scoured across their senses. The song’s callous scouring stripped away joyous memories with sickening delight and yet took its time removing painful ones.

Within the waters, ignoring the current’s speed and the buffeting of the stones, Amdirlain could see thousands of empty-eyed souls staring vacantly upwards as they drifted along.

Despite the obstacles and the river’s contents, the waters raced along, following the straight course of a rock-filled gorge. A mist rose to nearly the bottom of the natural bridges from the buffeting. Fortunately, the top of the stone arcs remained dry and provided entry to the town beyond. The wards within the township blocked anyone teleporting closer to it than the guard station at the start of the bridge.

“The mines and furnaces produce some of the highest quality adamantine available. The value of the metal attracts merchants carrying many goods, materials, and luxuries to exchange,” explained Erwarth. “We should find what we’re looking for here, if they let us through the gates.”

The only scenery on the gorge’s far side was a twisted piece of defensive work and a pair of gatehouses. Stacked bodies of the damned wiggled and squirmed for freedom, with the weight of their fellows holding them in place between twisted spiked bars that ran from floor to ceiling. The two gatehouses blocked any view of the town, even with their gates partially open, instead revealing more walls of the damned behind.

“Cute. The damned heal nearly instantly, so it's hard to hack your way through,” grumbled Amdirlain. “How far below ground level are we?”

Erwarth nodded and slithered towards the ledge’s end, picking a path that led towards the road across the closest bridge. “Here we’re only thirty or forty kilometres; the mines on the other side extend hundreds further.”

Though the road ahead was busy with traffic, a steel wagon pulled by two giant spiders the size of draft horses skidded to a halt to allow them into the line ahead of it. The goat-headed Schir in the driver’s seat shot them frantic looks as his team continued to chitter in protest over him having suddenly yanked on the reins.