章 274: Things Move Fast
6/10 Night
Day 1
Talaada gave thanks for her wonderful master's wisdom once more. Given that they needed to abandon the city of Zin'Azshari as quickly as possible, some might have thought it foolish to drop them in the middle of the courtyard at the temple of Queen Azshara, in the heart of the city. However, it gave them the opportunity to meet rich and influential individuals who might aid them. Indeed, Talaada had itched with the desire to hand a bracelet to one of Azshara's handmaidens. She could have handed over the beloved queen of these people to Lord Bismark the very next day, from his perspective.
Sadly, that task was in Alurmi's hands and would likely take several weeks, at least. The young bronze dragon had a device capable of detecting temporal anomalies, even the very smallest of the ones casually created by bronze dragons. The young bronze would stay here in Zin'Azshari while Talaada, Doan, Mila, a handful of students, and an ancient elf known as Syrana Starweaver made their way to Eldre'thar, a moderately sized city that was lost during the War of the Ancients. Here, Alurmi would track down the junior Bronze and infinite agents and dragonspawn monitoring the queen. Of course for that she would need a place to stay.
Sarath'Najak was a relatively minor noble, but as a Highborn sorcerer he was still firmly among the upper crust. He had a small townhouse near the palace, which he used when staying in the city. He didn't have many servants there, only around four defenseless lowborn. It was so, so easy for Talaada to charm him into the retinue. A few casts of polymorph: Bimbo temporarily turned his servants into pliable beauties. Those Mila transformed were easy for Talaada to capture, but Doan's targets were stubbornly heterosexual. He and his male students were obligated to lend them jewels and fuck them into submission, but the men didn't seem to mind overmuch. Horribly inefficient, even if they were planning on staying the night anyway.
••••••••••
Matthias Shaw took a deep breath as he examined the covered lantern, carefully keeping it closed tight. Jasper's report was extremely troubling. From the sounds of things, Gadgetzan was completely compromised and already an enemy stronghold. Worse, Jasper had been compromised too. He was still ultimately loyal to Lord Bismark, but he had done a complete 180 on the Kabal. Shadow Ops had extracted him and poked around his head to see what was mucking his mind up. Alexstrasza was scheduled to purify him later.
Well, he was in a better state than Agent Herman probably was. She'd apparently been a bit too attractive to be allowed to make her own choices, according to the lantern using populace of Gadgetzan. From the report on Jasper's mind, Aelthalyste very much wanted to retrieve her. She was likely in as advanced a state as a member of the retinue could be, surrounded by horny men trying to push the pretty blonde's boundaries until they broke. Shaw didn't know what to expect, but he doubted it would be pretty.
He shook his head and turned to the message he'd finally gotten back from his agents in Kul'Tiras. The first few lines were enough to make him worried. A few more lines in, he contacted Aelthalyste. "I think I've found another hot zone."
••••••••••
Day 4
Sending the first batch of students back to the Prophet went off without a hitch. It was also incredibly easy to replace them; Doan could walk down any given street in Eldre'thar and find dozens of people who would eagerly abandon their lives to essentially become beautiful highborne archmagi. They'd picked up five during their journey here in Sarath'Najek's carriage. Travelers who had been headed to the big city, looking for work.
So far they had managed to capture only one person of note, a highborn merchant by the name of Kendra who specialized in cutting edge fashion and enchanted accessories. Such a person had quite an interesting clientele. She had been a difficult capture, as her home and shop were both extensively warded, but Doan had successfully created a hole for them to work through over the course of a day. They ambushed her when she returned home from work, made her dumb, made her love Talaada, and put her back to her proper form and mindset. Kendra insisted that they had corrected to the right cup size for her, but Talaada was certain her breasts were a bit bigger.
Alurmi was doing acceptably, in that she hadn't drawn any negative attention yet. She also hadn't cornered any of the retinue's targets, nor had she even properly identified them, but she had a few leads. Talaada was sure that she'd get them eventually; caution must be of the utmost importance when the Prophet demands secrecy. When she found someone, she would contact the team and they would capture the dragon together.
••••••••••
Isiset arrived in Tranquillien quietly, without fanfare, though she certainly drew attention with her tall stature and strange dress. She may have been an elf, at least visually, but she had done little to disguise her nature as an outsider. She'd sat by the fountain in the middle of the town square, and told anyone who approached that she was a healer waiting for one that she sensed was injured.
https://imgur.com/a/CyDg9WL
Anveena and Kalecgosa, who was disguised as a man because that's what he was known as here, approached. It was their first meeting, which made the theater a little bit easier for everyone involved. "You there. Girl. You are injured? I sense a malady upon you."
They had planned this "coincidental" meeting based on how Anveena was typically guarded. Her nature was a secret, so her guardians were not supposed to dive in and intercede too overtly. Anveena cocked her head in response, and asked, "Oh? What do you mean?" Curiosity and a bit of small talk seemed reasonable, perfectly in character for Anveena.
"I come representing the brotherhood of love and beauty, Daughter of Eternity." Isiset took Anveena's hand, to her feigned surprise. "Come with me to the place where you once lay, and we can heal you. Heal this land." The glow of her eyes flared as she enveloped herself in a shield of mana. The guards, realizing that something seriously irregular was happening, moved to intercept. They were too slow, too worried about potentially harming the Sunwell, allowing the two girls to vanish together.
Kalecgosa stayed behind, acting frantic and worried. She would make sure that rumors got out, letting slip what Anveena truly was and ensuring that a rescue party correctly interpreted the hint to go to the Sunwell Plateau. Of course, before they had even mounted their dragonhawks, the Sunwell was already restored and it's Avatar was in the form of an elf, clad in an ornate blue outfit stolen from Sylvanas's closet.
Anveena's transformation was another bit of showmanship. The blood elves were quite obsessed with themselves, and it would make sense to them if the avatar of their font of power was a high elf. Far more sense than for her to be a human of all things. She would welcome them into her home, and offer for them to drink of her waters. She was kind, and gave the first one to break down in tears a hug. "Yes. I'm back. As healthy as I ever was. Perhaps more so. Everything will be better again soon."
••••••••••
Spirit: Drink Deeply- The Sunwell is restored, with Anveena becoming an avatar capable of accessing its power remotely. In addition, sentient beings who voluntarily feed upon the Sunwell's energy open themselves up to Anveena's mental influence. This functions similarly to the control granted by a Hypnotic App binding, save that there are no breakpoints and Anveena only has broad strokes control over the commands given. Hypnotic depth will increase by 1-10 per day depending on how much mana is consumed.
••••••••••
Day 9
The problem with targeting a Highborne clientele was of course that they were powerful enough to respond to magical attacks, and rarely moved alone. Kendra started flirting with her customers a bit more and inviting friends to tea, hoping to get one of them all alone. A shame they couldn't host a proper party, but they didn't have any dream incense.
The team spread out, each finding somewhere to stay and operate out of. With the red string of fate, it was shockingly easy to find someone willing to take you in for the right payment. If what you could offer was beauty, power, and community, it became even easier. Cities are full of lonely, ambitious, and self hating people. Quite endearingly, most of the students had found themselves mates; generally people in well compensated but soul crushing jobs, with enough money to keep their own apartments but no direction in life. She didn't particularly approve of the other men whoring themselves out every night, but the results were a steady stream of new recruits. She allowed it. Grudgingly.
By meeting regularly and passing around their few amulets, they were able to extend tendrils into various social groups among the high and low born. Amateur sports teams, familiar battling, even the Sisters of Elune. All coordinated by Talaada, taking on the role of a shadow operative using mind vision and several small vials of blood.
••••••••••
Vanessa and her team approached the bridge, taking the form of Draenei. Pure Eredar, to be specific. When the mission to fund the Alliance was expedited, the gold payout from the Dwarven kingdoms mission went from top priority to merely very nice. After all, the retinue didn't exactly have large money problems, so they could afford to spread their recruitment around.
The Kurenai here in Telaar were a small religious community that needed to shift their worship to Lord Bismark. Thirty credits were on the line, though twenty were restricted to upgrading the Master's home. It was a prize at least comparable to the ridiculous sum of money. Sadly, Vanessa was forced to go in blind on this one; not even lord Bismark knew much about these Draenei other than that they worshiped abstract beings of the Light. They'd be happier as her master's slaves, certainly, but the question was how to convince them of that obvious truth.
••••••••••
Day 14
Secundus still wasn't quite sure what Nozdormu had opened this timeline for. Presumably it had something to do with the Well of Eternity, perhaps the War of the Ancients, but Moruzond had not seen fit to inform a lowly draconid. The infinite flight was not so strict in its hierarchy as the bronze; they were decentralized, agile, and voluntary. They would investigate independently, then call in companions for a collaboration. Rather than obsess over some narrow vision, they each tried anything that might work. Radical changes to the timeline, just to see what might happen. Any strange permutation could lead to paradise or to hell. All were worth exploring, and any that proved unacceptable could be harvested.
He was disguised as a minor courtier for Queen Azshara, based on the assumption she'd be involved somehow, and even knowing in advance he still had difficulty resisting her glamor. The queen of the Kaldorei projected an aura that made people love her. Every public appearance created new sycophants and reinforced her hold over the people. No doubt the lemmings were practically incapable of thinking poorly of her by now, after hundreds of years of repeated exposure. Secundus was on guard, knew her true nature, and he still felt an undeniable admiration for the cruel woman after only a few years.
"Excuse me, sir." A pretty woman with gold eyes approached him. She looked superficially like Azshara, in fact. "I'm new to the court. I was hoping that you might show me around, sir..?"
She was beautiful. Truly beautiful. Why not? "Lord Taldaris." He didn't really have any reason to believe anything important was about to happen. He might as well spend a bit of time with Lady Talaada. As they spoke of silly things, elf things, he noted how musical her voice was, how intoxicating her scent. Her scent… like a bronze dragon's scent. No, no she couldn't be his enemy. But she was. This wonderful creature… he would save her. Save her from the strictures of the titans. Save her from life in a single personal timeline. She could be infinite.
He needed to get her alone first, and thankfully she had the same idea. They wrangled over where they might retire, but the man he'd stolen the identity of had been a rich man. He had a home of his own, while she was staying with a friend. She couldn't really make a case unless she didn't trust him. "Come now, if you accompany me, you will never want to leave." She smiled that radiant smile, and finally accepted.
Back at his home, he took her to his bedroom; it was private, it was warm, and it had a place where she could relax. She seemed as excited as he was to be alone, and he knew she must have some plan. The moment the door was closed, he began the process. He tore away the veil of ignorance and allowed her to see what she really was, a being of pure untapped possibility. Underneath the Titans' lies, she was infinite.
••••••••••
Talaada trusted her defenses, she trusted the two invisible mages shadowing her, and she trusted Doan to summon her in two hours if she didn't check in. Above all, she trusted that Lord Bismark could retrieve her from any danger imaginable so long as she had her jewel strapped around her ankle. She could not be mentally influenced, she could not be corrupted, she could not be transformed, and it was questionable if she could even really die. She could be shown things, however… and her mind would not shatter.
She saw herself eaten by a crocolisk. She saw herself picking a fight with an orcish warrior and being cut down with embarrassing ease. She saw herself waste away from a disease her mother could not recall how to treat. She saw herself broken in a mine by a red skinned orc, pulling green metal from stone until her body gave out and she died from her punishments. She saw herself hiding away in a beautiful grassland, fearful of what might be. She saw herself pure and beautiful, dying with countless other draenei as her people's ship crashed into the sea. She saw her ideal self studying under the prophet Velen, becoming a priestess of middling talent, and watching countless people die all around her because she simply couldn't save them. Each life flashed before her eyes, each life ostensibly a bit better than the one before, and each life came up wanting.
"Thank you for showing me this." She told the infinite dragon before her. "I mean that." He seemed disturbed that she wasn't more affected by the visions. Fearful. "I thought I knew, but I didn't truly understand until you showed me." She tore her eyes away from a vision of herself having a child, a child she would leave as an orphan when she died upon a frozen field halfway around the world. "I have only one question." She poured all of her focus into a shadow word, leaving a tiny partitioned part of her mind to watch. He deserved a reward for this gift, for showing her that she truly was blessed above all other versions of herself, above and beyond being accepted into the retinue. She only had one thing to offer, so she pushed her charm to its very limit. "Do you love me?" It would devastate her if he didn't, and somehow she worried that her charm would be too weak. That he wouldn't love her. That he wouldn't join her in the Prophet's service.
"I do. I do love you." And he did. She didn't know if he would in the morning. She didn't know if she'd care. Tonight though, she decided to enjoy love.
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