As much as you’ve been toying with the idea, you’re still not quite sure about throwing your lot in with the EC yet. You’re walking a pretty traitorous line as it is just by not telling anyone that they ever approached you, but then it isn’t like you can exactly tell them, can you?

Killing Reginald is going to take some scouting and planning. As far as you know the man is rarely ever leaving his house anymore or if he is, he’s not seen doing it.

Since you’re not exactly getting any further with Tanya at the moment, Garrick’s pissed at you and you’re essentially doing your own thing, you might as well stay somewhere other than the Guild while you do this. You head to Hell’s Own Inn since it’s at least some place that you know and can consider hospitable.

Bruno, the innkeeper nods when he sees you. Funny how you never really learned his name until after you stopped living here on a regular basis.

“Hey Bruno, I’ll have a room. My old one if it’s currently available.” You say.
“A room? Thought you were living in the Guild quarters ever since they let you into inner circle.” Bruno says.
“Yeah well I’ve got something I need to do on my own and I can’t be creeping in and out of sewers to do it. Where’s Yinen, I might have a few things to trade with him.”
“Yinen? Haven’t seen him in days.”
“You haven’t seen him? He practically never leaves this place.”
“I know, which is why it’s weird that I didn’t even see him leave. Unless he left in the middle of the night, but none of the staff saw him leave either.”
“Nobody has thought to look into this?”
“What am I going to do, call the Holgard Watch?”
“No, but we could at least get somebody from the Guild or even one of the associates to look in on this. I mean he’s one of our best fences. Seems like for all the Guild’s talk of solidarity, they’re dropping the ball on this one.”
“He hasn’t been gone THAT long. I figured maybe he had a special delivery or deal to take care of elsewhere. If he’s gone for much longer I guess one of the associates can go look for him.”
“What about Warts? He tends to not have much to do.”
“He’s been gone longer than Yinen. Though I think in his case he’s deliberately staying away. Last thing he mentioned to me is that bad things are going to happen here soon and he doesn’t want to be around when they do. Can’t say as I blame him either. I’m still surprised this place hasn’t gotten hit yet by the Ebony Claw. What the hell is Garrick doing about them anyway? Because as far as I can tell, they’re not dropping in presence.”
“I dunno, we’ve been taking the fight to them, but the rumors are that they’re getting reinforcements from the Delantium Kingdom. Also, we’ve been having problems with cultists running around in the sewers.”
“Yeah, I’ve been reading about a couple of brutal murders in the paper that are thought to be the work of Neroth cultists. Actually, maybe that explains Yinen’s disappearance. He always was a little nervous when it came to anything relating to Neroth. Maybe he took off like Warts did.”
“Maybe so. I feel like he might have told someone first. Guess he might have been really scared though.”
“In any case, you’re in luck. Your old room is available, but I’ll be needing some rent for it. Business is a little slow what with not many folks coming to visit the city as much now.”
“Are you kidding me? (Sigh) Fine. Whatever. Here, take this, but not a silver more.”

Bruno takes your payment and you head to your old room. You take a quick inventory of your equipment and make plans to go case Reginald’s home, but then you hear noise outside and a quick peek out your window reveals that the Holgard Watch are putting down a group of dissidents and decide to stay put for a little while.

That’s been a more common sight too nowadays. Even on your way here, you were trying to avoid getting caught up the various groups of protesters that have been more frequent. Part of you wonders if Warts doesn’t have the right idea, but at this point you’ve got a few loose ends that need to be tied up first.

One of which is killing the head of this cult that’s been trying to kill you. It’s odd that you feel so strongly about this given that the EC was trying to kill you for years, but then maybe that’s because you knew the EC was an enemy that from you can gather is much bigger than you could ever hope to fight. You consider it a victory that you even managed to get them to stop attacking you though you know you’re going to have to deal with them again eventually. You just don’t know how yet.

These fanatics however, there’s a limit to their power for now. Right now they’ve grown and if left unchecked, who knows, they may take over the city. Sure you could flee and maybe you’d be fine. But you might also be running for the rest of your life as cults tend to not be satisfied with staying in one place and love to spread. Add their desire to summon demons and such into that mix and it might be best to nip this in the bud right now.

It’s funny how you never really used to think that far ahead before, but you suppose you’ve seen and done a lot since your simple days in Teckleville.

“Certainly hope you’re having an easier time of it than I am sis.” You say to yourself.

Over the course of the next three days you make visits to Reginald’s home and spend hours watching the place. You never see anyone come in or out of the place though. Indeed, you’ve never seen Reginald at all except from descriptions of him. Holgard Watch patrols the grounds night and day, but you don’t see them ever enter the home either. You wonder if they even know what’s going on in there or more likely they do, but don’t care.

Eventually you spend an entire day and night on a nearby rooftop watching the place, hoping that you’ll see him come out. He never does though. In your state of weariness, you barely react in time to hear someone approaching.

“You can put that away, it’s just me. Glad to see you’re more alert than you appear though.” Tanya says when you spin around pointing your pistol at her.
“What’re you doing here? I sort of thought if anyone was going to check up on me, it would be Sneaks.” You say putting your weapon down.
“Hah, like you’d get him to climb up on rooftops, let alone jumping from them nowadays.”
“Guess you’re right. So what do you want?”
“What do I want? No comments about my beauty? No flirty statements? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d finally shaken off the effects. So you must be in a really shitty mood.”
“What’s the point? You’ve made it quite clear you’re not interested and others have also made it quite clear as well, so why bother beating my head up against a wall?”

Tanya doesn’t answer you immediately as your answer has caught her off guard a bit.

“What happened between you and Garrick after the meeting?” Tanya asks.
“Nothing.” You answer.
“Doesn’t seem like nothing considering you’re disobeying orders. It seems to me you’re trying to figure out a way to take out Reginald directly. That’s why you’ve been spying on his house for the past few days.”
“Looks like I’m not the only one that’s been spying.”
“I’ve been keeping track of what every main group is doing, don’t flatter yourself.”
“Be that as it may, I thought the Guild was supposed to just be a loose alliance anyway and Garrick wasn’t officially our boss. And if he isn’t our boss, then that means I can do what the hell I want.”
“You know that’s not exactly true.”
“Maybe not, but I’m not following orders this time. And it’s not ONLY because these fuckers have been targeting me. These Neroth cultists are a bigger danger than the EC. Maybe they haven’t been fucking with us as long, but if their leader or high priest or whatever is fucking the Baron’s son then who is to say their goal isn’t to turn the city into a theocracy? If something like that happens I can bet that there won’t be any freedom to do anything here and they certainly aren’t going to be dealing with the likes of us and quite frankly Garrick’s an idiot if he believes he can somehow reason with them on some level, I’ve seen what the hell they do.”
“I see your point, but I somewhat understand his logic for attempting to make an alliance. However he’s relying on something that I already told him isn’t going to make a difference.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well you said it yourself. They worship a dark god and are probably trying to summon infernal beings if they haven’t done so already. I believe Garrick thinks that having me by his side if he ever got to meet with Reginald, would help since y’know…being half infernal and all.”
“Hm. Didn’t consider that. Would that work?”
“Probably not. I even told Garrick as much when he first approached me about the plan earlier. At best Reginald might temporarily ally in an effort to separate me from the rest of the Guild and probably attempt to convince me to join them and embrace my heritage or some shit. I don’t even like…my condition. Last thing I want to do is embrace it. Already had to deal with that once before, don’t feel like dealing with it again.”
“Deal with it again?”
“Yes, and we’re not talking about it. In any case, I’m here to help you in your plan, because I believe you’re completely right about this. These cultists need to be destroyed and taking their leader out will at least severely lessen their power.”

You nod silence and with a somewhat uplifted spirit.

“Thanks. I didn’t expect any help, least of all from you.” You say.
“Well, we’re on the same side aren’t we? However, I do think YOU should get some rest before we attempt this. So you head back to Hells Own, get some sleep and tomorrow night, you and I will meet up outside here. In the meantime, I’m going to talk to Sneaks and few others to see if I can’t get them to make a bit of extra distraction for Neroth’s most loyal. I’m not going to let too many in on this plan though for obvious reasons.” Tanya remarks.
“Good idea, again thanks. I really appreciate this.”
“Hm, well off you go. We’ve got a big night tomorrow so be prepared as much as you can.”

You bid Tanya goodbye who just nods an acknowledgment and leaves. Since you’ve got your orders to rest, you climb down from your spot and head back to the inn.

You get a couple of blocks and suddenly you feel like you’re being watched. You start to look around, but nobody is around. You quicken your pace and a couple seconds later, you feel a crossbow in your back.

“Shit.” You say.
“Don’t turn around. Alley. Now.” A familiar voice says.

Once again you obey the man with the crossbow and enter the nearby alley where once again, you see Rook.

“Glad we could meet again.” Rook says.
“It’s not like I ever had a choice.” You answer.
“Not true! You could always choose to escape, I wouldn’t bet on your chances, but you can’t say you don’t have a choice. You also have a choice to give me information on the location of the Thieves’ Guild or not. I know for a fact you’ve long been a member of their inner circle so you should have lots of information on the layout along with the location.”
“Um…well…I don’t know ALL of the layout…you see there was some debate about even letting me in, so they still don’t trust me completely and as such they haven’t allowed me full access.”
“No problem. Just the location will do. It’s not ideal, but I have more than enough confidence that we’ll be able to take it anyway.”

You’re silent. You can’t think of anyway to lie or stall. It’s either betray the Guild or die. You feel the crossbow still in your back, Rook inspects you as you struggle with the morality of this decision.

“Tell me, why do you hesitate? Do you have close friends in the Guild? I can only imagine that the answer is yes, because if the answer was no, you would be spilling your guts right now. In fact, you probably would have done so on our first meeting. It’s obvious you have no real love for the organization itself because if you did, you wouldn’t even be considering any of this in the first place. You would be a good little Guild soldier and tell me how you’d never betray Garrick or the Guild. At which point I’d stop wasting my time and kill you. So you must have emotional attachment to someone there. Tell me who it is, and perhaps an arrangement can be made.” Rook says.
“What sort of arrangement?” you ask.
“The Ebony Claw doesn’t like to waste potential talent. Or at least I don’t, hence why we’re having this pleasant conversation. If you can convince your friend or friends to join you in seeing that the future is the Ebony Claw, then I have no problem with them joining as well. Quite frankly, we’ll probably need the manpower.”
“I don’t think she…”

Rook interrupts you and you realize you’ve already given away too much.

“She? Oh wait….” Rook chuckles. “Of course. It’s her isn’t it? Garrick’s little demonkin. This explains everything! Did you fall in love with her?”
“Well I…”
“Ha ha! You poor silly enchanted fool! She’s half succubus you know. That’s why you’re all fucked up and not thinking straight. Why I’ll bet if it wasn’t for her charming everyone, Garrick wouldn’t have half the people in his Guild.”
“She didn’t enchant me! In fact she doesn’t even like using her powers like that!” you say getting agitated and temporarily forgetting that you’re at Rook’s mercy.
“Oh of course she doesn’t. That’s all part of her act. The puritanical demon seductress. Gets everyone hot an bothered and keeps them on a string by not actually putting out. How better to control the average man? I’ll tell you what, we could use someone like her in the EC. Would make things easier to a certain extent.”

You don’t say anything, while Rook continues to chuckle.

“Okay, I’ll give you a little more time because you seem to believe that yours is true love. If you do manage to convince the demonkin to join though, well that will just prove I was right in seeing your potential. However, I can’t walk away from this meeting without nothing, so I still need you to do something for me or at least provide some sort of information.” Rook responds.
“What did you have in mind?” you ask.
“I don’t know, you tell me. A plan of some sort perhaps. I’ll decide if it’s important enough or not.”

Currently the Guild doesn’t have any plans other than the one involving the Neroth worshippers and making it look like the EC are attacking them. The only other plan you can tell Rook is your plan directly against Reginald, you just aren’t sure Rook’s going to find that one important enough and you’ll end up having give out the Guild’s plan anyway.
> You give away your own plan
You’re pretty much fucked either way, but you’re going to gamble that Rook will be satisfied with revealing your plan, with some embellishments of course.

“Garrick sent me on a mission to kill Reginald.”
“The cult leader that seduced his way into high society? Interesting.”
“Yes, the Neroth cult is getting out of hand and the Guild is having severe problems with them so I was ordered to take out the leader. Been spending a few days staking out his home in an effort to figure out the best approach, but he’s got guards every fucking where.”
“Hmm, I see. To be honest those Neroth worshipping assholes DO need to be dealt with. While some in the Ebony Claw don’t consider them top priority, I see them as a potential problem in the future. Especially since we’ve started to have our own run ins with them. Though I may be a bit biased considering they did kidnap my cousin once. Oh, by the way, always meant to thank you for rescuing her.”
“Wait…you mean…Naji is…”
“A whore that doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing with her life, but she’s still my cousin and she should finally get a little justice. So while normally I would love to see two enemies kill each other and making things a lot easier for us, it would be best if the followers of Neroth were curtailed. This city already has more than enough gods competing, and as a dedicated disciple to Fel, I see no reason why I shouldn’t aid directly in their fall. Consider the Holgard Watch taken care of by tomorrow.”
“What, really?”
“Yes. Obviously you’re still going to have to kill Reginald and whatever fanatics he has in the house with him, but the Holgard Watch? They can always change loyalties and those that can’t, well they’ll be dealt with. Consider this another favor from your friends at the Ebony Claw.”

You silently acknowledge Rook’s words. While this is certainly going to help you out, you’re not sure if you’re going to be able to afford all these “favors” when it comes time to pay up.

“Well then I guess this concludes our business again. Next time we see each other, I trust you’ll have that vital information for me. Time is growing short you know, and I would hate to see you on the wrong side.” Rook says and pats you hard on the side of your face a couple times before walking away.

You soon no longer feel the crossbow at your back and that’s when you know it’s okay to move again.

You make your way back to the inn where you’re supposed to be getting some rest like Tanya suggested, but after your encounter with Rook, you’re more wound up than ever. Eventually you do fall asleep and by the time you wake up, it’s night and you’re rushing to go meet Tanya.

She’s of course on the rooftop where you were yesterday.

“I was expecting you here earlier, it’s not like you to leave things at the last moment.” Tanya remarks.
“I guess I was more tired than I thought.” You say.
“I nearly went in before you, because a perfect opportunity just opened up ten minutes ago. All of the guards left.”
“What?”
“All of the guards just left. I saw a couple of them speak to each other and then one called to some of the others and they all just collectively left. I couldn’t believe it myself. That’s why I was hoping you’d hurry up since who knows how long they’ll be gone.”

Well looks like Rook wasn’t a liar and he came through. Almost makes you start to wonder WHY he’s being so helpful. He doesn’t fit what you know about the EC at all. True, this is probably just all to get you to rat on the Guild, but it still seems above and beyond.

Of course he might think now that you’ll be able to talk Tanya into switching sides too. He didn’t seem convinced you’d be able to do it, but then maybe it’s a small effort on his part for large potential gain.

Honestly, you aren’t even sure how or if you’d ever be able to approach the subject with Tanya. As far as you know she’s always been pretty dedicated to the Guild even if she’s aloof to most of the members.

But this is a problem for another time; right now you’ve got a cult priest to assassinate.

Tanya says she’s still going with her original plan of leaping to the roof of the house and breaking in that way. You doubt if you could make it since the distance is a little farther than average, but then you aren’t blessed with infernal blood allowing you to do shit like that. You say you’re going to just go in the front door now that everyone is gone. Assuming he’s not in the cellar or not there at all, you’re guessing you’ll be able to catch him upstairs or down.

Besides the unknown factor of his location, there’s also the unknown factor of what abilities he has or what else is in the house. At best you’re hoping he’s just some mouthpiece for bloodthirsty cult. At worst he’s going to be summoning demons and have all sorts of other dark magic at his disposal.

You make your way down to street level again, open the gate (which the guards helpfully left unlocked) and go to the front door which you lockpick with ease. You’d think even with the guards he would have gotten a better lock, but whatever makes your task easier.

You slowly walk into the dimly lit foyer with your weapon drawn. You search the downstairs cautiously and methodically, but don’t find any one. In the back of your mind you wish this was just a simple breaking and entering job because you’re seeing a lot fancy decoration and you’re sure Reginald has more portable valuables laying around in a safe or something somewhere.

While you’re looking around for stairs to the cellar, you hear some thumping coming from the upstairs. Things have been more or less silent so far, so this it cause to give you alarm.

You immediately head back to the large set of stairs that lead up in the foyer. As you’re heading up the stairs, you notice that the lighting is becoming much darker. It’s almost as if the candles from the chandelier are going out.

You get to near the top of the landing and then it goes completely dark.

“Oh shit.” You say to yourself and immediately turn your head towards the direction of the chandelier.

Then when you turn your head back forward, you nearly fall backwards when you see Tanya standing right in front of you.

“Fuck!” you utter out loud and then Tanya grabs your tunic so you don’t fall.

“Thanks.” You say.

Tanya doesn’t seem to acknowledge your gratitude though; instead she pulls you closer to her. At this distance, even in the darkness, you can make out her normally shrouded face.

The first time you saw it at this range you were partially enchanted. This time is no different, but you’re still aware enough that this isn’t normal behavior for her, especially in these circumstances.

“Tanya?” you utter.

You get no answer, what you do get is a kiss on your lips. The feeling is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. It’s very pleasant, but as it goes on, you start to feel weak. In fact you try to pull away, but when you do so, Tanya’s eyes glow red, she makes a growling sound and then shoves your away.

You tumble down the stairs and while you fortunately don’t break anything, you unfortunately smack your head so hard you’re dazed. If you could actually see anything in this darkness, you’d probably be seeing double.

You hear a bunch of footsteps and then you feel a couple sets of hands lifting you up and finally a fist coming straight at your face.

When you wake up, you’re in a cell, completely naked. A brief look at your surroundings and you know exactly where you are. It’s the torture chamber where you saved Naji. In fact, you’re in the exact same cell.

You look around, but there’s nothing in your cell that you find useful, you do notice that there is someone else in the next cell over. They’re sitting in a corner rocking back and forth mumbling. While the person has obviously been through hell and you’ve definitely never seen this person naked before, the face and hair are still recognizable despite some of the fresh wounds. You can hardly believe it.

“Yinen?” you ask.

Yinen briefly looks at you and while he knows who you are, he returns to his rocking and mumbling. You can’t even tell what he’s saying, but he sounds like he saying something religious. You hear Joachim’s name being mentioned a few times.

Well this explains where Yinen has been. Poor bastard’s probably been tortured for quite awhile. You still don’t know what happened with Tanya either. Was a spell cast on her? She is half succubus, was the “presence of Neroth” forcing her to act more within her nature?
You don’t know, but what you do know is you need to get the hell out of here.

You’re not filled with confidence that you’re going to survive whatever is to come, but you sure hope whatever they have planned its quick.

Grabing a hold of the door in a vain attempt to open it and feeling a little hopeless yourself, you say your own prayer though yours is more along the lines of “I sure hope Yag is throwing a seven for me tonight.”

“Ah, prayer! The last refuge of a scoundrel as they say. I’ve always disagreed with that though. Prayer can be a powerful tool. I should know as my dark father has blessed me with much since my dedicated prayer to him.” A voice says.

You turn your head and see a man with a goatee in a red robe. A couple of other larger men in red robes stand behind him.

“However I think you shall find that your prayers will go unanswered here. Neroth holds complete sway as he soon will over this city and eventually the world!”

Given his superior attitude and boasting, you can only imagine this is Reginald. He gives you a look that reminds you of that fat perverted merchant you had to kill years ago. You instinctively cover yourself.

“Oh we have a shy one do we? I must say, you shouldn’t be, given your body. However, as much as I would love to throw you over the altar in front of my congregation and introduce my dick to your ass while slitting your throat as I released, I’ve got something better planned for you.” Reginald remarks.
“Hope its better than ass rape.” You say.
“Hah. Depends on your viewpoint I suppose. I know you’re the one that so rudely broke into my home and stole that girl years ago. We were a little pre-occupied in nabbing you before and you seem to be skilled enough to fight off our recent attempts. However when you walked in here of your own accord, and with that infernal spawn…well that almost makes up for all the years you were able to go on breathing.”

Reginald motions the two large men to open the cell door. You back up ready to fight, though Reginald shakes his head and makes some gestures with his hand and your body completely tenses up like you’re paralyzed.

“We don’t have time for that, important work must be done. That half-breed you walked in with has only begun to realize the untapped potential of her powers. Honestly, I don’t know how she has managed to suppress her infernal side for so long. Most daughters of true succubi by her age have long since gone on to embrace their infernal heritage. This one was obviously lost, but no more.” Reginald says.
“What did you do to her?” you ask as the two men grab your arms and start dragging you out.
“Me? I did nothing other than speak a few truths to her guided by Neroth’s wisdom, though as I said, his presence in this house is stronger than most. I believe she felt it, just as all who follow do. However, she’s still not complete, that’s where you will come in. She will complete her transformation with you as the sacrifice and we will ALL witness it, and it shall be glorious to see a higher being achieve freedom!”

Reginald motions the two men to drag you to the room with the altar and large pentagram on the floor. When you enter, you’re thrown into said pentagram. A crowd of red robed individuals watches silently.

When you get your head up off the floor, the paralysis is wearing off, but now you see Tanya in front of you looking at you like a predator with its prey. She definitely doesn’t seem like herself.

“Daughter of Neroth! Embrace your true heritage and kill this sacrifice in the name of your dark father! We shall all bask in the glory of your transformation!” Reginald shouts followed by several of his followers.

You manage to stand up, but you doubt if you’re going to be much match for Tanya. Even if you weren’t naked and unarmed, you probably wouldn’t be a match.

Despite the fact that death is most likely imminent, you’ve still got this unnatural attraction to Tanya, or rather genuine attraction, but unnatural due to the situation at hand.

This is really looking like the end for you, unless you can come up with something.
> You try to reason with Tanya
You’d never be able to take her in a fight, your only chance is talk your way out of this. Try to make her remember who she is and not what these cultists are trying to make her.

“Tanya, it’s me! You gotta snap out of this! These people are trying to control you!” you say.

Tanya however isn’t responsive; she just approaches in a seductive way that is making it very hard for you to focus on anything else except the obvious. Tanya moves closer to you and runs her fingers through your hair and then lifts your head up with one hand and puts another hand to her lips in a “shhhhh” motion. It’s apparent she’s toying with you like a cat would with a mouse.

“Tanya, you…have to remember…” you utter and then Tanya shuts you up with one of her kisses.

You can’t resist. You embrace Tanya as she guides you down to the floor, still continuing to press her lips against yours. And once again you begin to feel the effects of her succubus kiss.

Tanya mounts you and begins grinding her body into yours. While it’s everything you ever hoped it would be, a part of you still knows this is killing you. Meanwhile the chanting of the Neroth cultists grows louder.

“Tanya…”

She doesn’t answer you, she just continues with her actions which are now beginning to get faster and rougher. Her eyes glow red once again and she slams your arms down to the floor. You can feel her talons digging into your flesh. The mixture of pain and pleasure is almost too much to handle.

You begin to feel very drained and dyhydrated. You gasp for Tanya to stop, but she doesn’t. She has now taken on a less human looking appearance and the noises she’s making definitely aren’t loving moans of ecstasy.

“DAUGHTER OF NEROTH FINISH OFF THIS INFIDEL AND EMBRACE YOUR TRUE NATURE AT LAST!” Reginald shouts above the rest of the chanting.

Tanya looks down at you and even in your hazy condition you no longer see any glimpse of the girl you knew in her eyes any longer. All that remains is a beast out for blood.

Tanya quenches that desire when she brings her fangs down on your throat and rips it out. The mercy of a quick death was perhaps her last gift to you.


You’re pretty much fucked either way, but you’re going to gamble that Rook will be satisfied with revealing your plan, with some embellishments of course.

“Garrick sent me on a mission to kill Reginald.”
“The cult leader that seduced his way into high society? Interesting.”
“Yes, the Neroth cult is getting out of hand and the Guild is having severe problems with them so I was ordered to take out the leader. Been spending a few days staking out his home in an effort to figure out the best approach, but he’s got guards every fucking where.”
“Hmm, I see. To be honest those Neroth worshipping assholes DO need to be dealt with. While some in the Ebony Claw don’t consider them top priority, I see them as a potential problem in the future. Especially since we’ve started to have our own run ins with them. Though I may be a bit biased considering they did kidnap my cousin once. Oh, by the way, always meant to thank you for rescuing her.”
“Wait…you mean…Naji is…”
“A whore that doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing with her life, but she’s still my cousin and she should finally get a little justice. So while normally I would love to see two enemies kill each other and making things a lot easier for us, it would be best if the followers of Neroth were curtailed. This city already has more than enough gods competing, and as a dedicated disciple to Fel, I see no reason why I shouldn’t aid directly in their fall. Consider the Holgard Watch taken care of by tomorrow.”
“What, really?”
“Yes. Obviously you’re still going to have to kill Reginald and whatever fanatics he has in the house with him, but the Holgard Watch? They can always change loyalties and those that can’t, well they’ll be dealt with. Consider this another favor from your friends at the Ebony Claw.”

You silently acknowledge Rook’s words. While this is certainly going to help you out, you’re not sure if you’re going to be able to afford all these “favors” when it comes time to pay up.

“Well then I guess this concludes our business again. Next time we see each other, I trust you’ll have that vital information for me. Time is growing short you know, and I would hate to see you on the wrong side.” Rook says and pats you hard on the side of your face a couple times before walking away.

You soon no longer feel the crossbow at your back and that’s when you know it’s okay to move again.

You make your way back to the inn where you’re supposed to be getting some rest like Tanya suggested, but after your encounter with Rook, you’re more wound up than ever. Eventually you do fall asleep and by the time you wake up, it’s night and you’re rushing to go meet Tanya.

She’s of course on the rooftop where you were yesterday.

“I was expecting you here earlier, it’s not like you to leave things at the last moment.” Tanya remarks.
“I guess I was more tired than I thought.” You say.
“I nearly went in before you, because a perfect opportunity just opened up ten minutes ago. All of the guards left.”
“What?”
“All of the guards just left. I saw a couple of them speak to each other and then one called to some of the others and they all just collectively left. I couldn’t believe it myself. That’s why I was hoping you’d hurry up since who knows how long they’ll be gone.”

Well looks like Rook wasn’t a liar and he came through. Almost makes you start to wonder WHY he’s being so helpful. He doesn’t fit what you know about the EC at all. True, this is probably just all to get you to rat on the Guild, but it still seems above and beyond.

Of course he might think now that you’ll be able to talk Tanya into switching sides too. He didn’t seem convinced you’d be able to do it, but then maybe it’s a small effort on his part for large potential gain.

Honestly, you aren’t even sure how or if you’d ever be able to approach the subject with Tanya. As far as you know she’s always been pretty dedicated to the Guild even if she’s aloof to most of the members.

But this is a problem for another time; right now you’ve got a cult priest to assassinate.

Tanya says she’s still going with her original plan of leaping to the roof of the house and breaking in that way. You doubt if you could make it since the distance is a little farther than average, but then you aren’t blessed with infernal blood allowing you to do shit like that. You say you’re going to just go in the front door now that everyone is gone. Assuming he’s not in the cellar or not there at all, you’re guessing you’ll be able to catch him upstairs or down.

Besides the unknown factor of his location, there’s also the unknown factor of what abilities he has or what else is in the house. At best you’re hoping he’s just some mouthpiece for bloodthirsty cult. At worst he’s going to be summoning demons and have all sorts of other dark magic at his disposal.

You make your way down to street level again, open the gate (which the guards helpfully left unlocked) and go to the front door which you lockpick with ease. You’d think even with the guards he would have gotten a better lock, but whatever makes your task easier.

You slowly walk into the dimly lit foyer with your weapon drawn. You search the downstairs cautiously and methodically, but don’t find any one. In the back of your mind you wish this was just a simple breaking and entering job because you’re seeing a lot fancy decoration and you’re sure Reginald has more portable valuables laying around in a safe or something somewhere.

While you’re looking around for stairs to the cellar, you hear some thumping coming from the upstairs. Things have been more or less silent so far, so this it cause to give you alarm.

You immediately head back to the large set of stairs that lead up in the foyer. As you’re heading up the stairs, you notice that the lighting is becoming much darker. It’s almost as if the candles from the chandelier are going out.

You get to near the top of the landing and then it goes completely dark.

“Oh shit.” You say to yourself and immediately turn your head towards the direction of the chandelier.

Then when you turn your head back forward, you nearly fall backwards when you see Tanya standing right in front of you.

“Fuck!” you utter out loud and then Tanya grabs your tunic so you don’t fall.

“Thanks.” You say.

Tanya doesn’t seem to acknowledge your gratitude though; instead she pulls you closer to her. At this distance, even in the darkness, you can make out her normally shrouded face.

The first time you saw it at this range you were partially enchanted. This time is no different, but you’re still aware enough that this isn’t normal behavior for her, especially in these circumstances.

“Tanya?” you utter.

You get no answer, what you do get is a kiss on your lips. The feeling is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. It’s very pleasant, but as it goes on, you start to feel weak. In fact you try to pull away, but when you do so, Tanya’s eyes glow red, she makes a growling sound and then shoves your away.

You tumble down the stairs and while you fortunately don’t break anything, you unfortunately smack your head so hard you’re dazed. If you could actually see anything in this darkness, you’d probably be seeing double.

You hear a bunch of footsteps and then you feel a couple sets of hands lifting you up and finally a fist coming straight at your face.

When you wake up, you’re in a cell, completely naked. A brief look at your surroundings and you know exactly where you are. It’s the torture chamber where you saved Naji. In fact, you’re in the exact same cell.

You look around, but there’s nothing in your cell that you find useful, you do notice that there is someone else in the next cell over. They’re sitting in a corner rocking back and forth mumbling. While the person has obviously been through hell and you’ve definitely never seen this person naked before, the face and hair are still recognizable despite some of the fresh wounds. You can hardly believe it.

“Yinen?” you ask.

Yinen briefly looks at you and while he knows who you are, he returns to his rocking and mumbling. You can’t even tell what he’s saying, but he sounds like he saying something religious. You hear Joachim’s name being mentioned a few times.

Well this explains where Yinen has been. Poor bastard’s probably been tortured for quite awhile. You still don’t know what happened with Tanya either. Was a spell cast on her? She is half succubus, was the “presence of Neroth” forcing her to act more within her nature?
You don’t know, but what you do know is you need to get the hell out of here.

You’re not filled with confidence that you’re going to survive whatever is to come, but you sure hope whatever they have planned its quick.

Grabing a hold of the door in a vain attempt to open it and feeling a little hopeless yourself, you say your own prayer though yours is more along the lines of “I sure hope Yag is throwing a seven for me tonight.”

“Ah, prayer! The last refuge of a scoundrel as they say. I’ve always disagreed with that though. Prayer can be a powerful tool. I should know as my dark father has blessed me with much since my dedicated prayer to him.” A voice says.

You turn your head and see a man with a goatee in a red robe. A couple of other larger men in red robes stand behind him.

“However I think you shall find that your prayers will go unanswered here. Neroth holds complete sway as he soon will over this city and eventually the world!”

Given his superior attitude and boasting, you can only imagine this is Reginald. He gives you a look that reminds you of that fat perverted merchant you had to kill years ago. You instinctively cover yourself.

“Oh we have a shy one do we? I must say, you shouldn’t be, given your body. However, as much as I would love to throw you over the altar in front of my congregation and introduce my dick to your ass while slitting your throat as I released, I’ve got something better planned for you.” Reginald remarks.
“Hope its better than ass rape.” You say.
“Hah. Depends on your viewpoint I suppose. I know you’re the one that so rudely broke into my home and stole that girl years ago. We were a little pre-occupied in nabbing you before and you seem to be skilled enough to fight off our recent attempts. However when you walked in here of your own accord, and with that infernal spawn…well that almost makes up for all the years you were able to go on breathing.”

Reginald motions the two large men to open the cell door. You back up ready to fight, though Reginald shakes his head and makes some gestures with his hand and your body completely tenses up like you’re paralyzed.

“We don’t have time for that, important work must be done. That half-breed you walked in with has only begun to realize the untapped potential of her powers. Honestly, I don’t know how she has managed to suppress her infernal side for so long. Most daughters of true succubi by her age have long since gone on to embrace their infernal heritage. This one was obviously lost, but no more.” Reginald says.
“What did you do to her?” you ask as the two men grab your arms and start dragging you out.
“Me? I did nothing other than speak a few truths to her guided by Neroth’s wisdom, though as I said, his presence in this house is stronger than most. I believe she felt it, just as all who follow do. However, she’s still not complete, that’s where you will come in. She will complete her transformation with you as the sacrifice and we will ALL witness it, and it shall be glorious to see a higher being achieve freedom!”

Reginald motions the two men to drag you to the room with the altar and large pentagram on the floor. When you enter, you’re thrown into said pentagram. A crowd of red robed individuals watches silently.

When you get your head up off the floor, the paralysis is wearing off, but now you see Tanya in front of you looking at you like a predator with its prey. She definitely doesn’t seem like herself.

“Daughter of Neroth! Embrace your true heritage and kill this sacrifice in the name of your dark father! We shall all bask in the glory of your transformation!” Reginald shouts followed by several of his followers.

You manage to stand up, but you doubt if you’re going to be much match for Tanya. Even if you weren’t naked and unarmed, you probably wouldn’t be a match.

Despite the fact that death is most likely imminent, you’ve still got this unnatural attraction to Tanya, or rather genuine attraction, but unnatural due to the situation at hand.

This is really looking like the end for you, unless you can come up with something.
> You fight for your life
While talking might work under normal circumstances, you’re literally having a hard enough time trying to focus on your own sense of self-preservation because part of you wants to just embrace her and go out fucking if your semi-erection is any indication.

You’re probably going to die anyway, but at least in your head you can take comfort in the fact that you tried.

“Tanya…Tanya…please….” You say and hang your head down in an effort to look defeated.

Tanya moves closer to you and runs her fingers through your hair and then lifts your head up with one hand and puts another hand to her lips in a “shhhhh” motion. It’s apparent she’s toying with you like a cat would with a mouse, but something about it is very alluring. So much so that you almost forget to punch her right in the face.

This is more than enough to surprise her and cause her reel back a bit. You immediately look around for a way to escape. However the crowd is converging on you, including Reginald, but he’s instead telling everyone to back off.

“No! Let her finish him off! His impotent fighting will only prolong the inevitable and make her transformation all the more sweeter as she will tear him apart with no mercy!” he shouts.

By this point Tanya has recovered and with how pissed she looks right now Reginald may be right on that last part.

You stand your ground with your fists up, and Tanya runs towards you. You throw another punch, but she dodges and gives you a swift punch to your stomach and knocks all the wind out of you. Now while you’re hunched over trying to catch your breath, she grabs your throat with one hand and your balls with the other.

Just as you’re thinking you’re going to be soon singing soprano, something unexpected happens. Instead of crushing your manhood, she instead lifts you up over her head, not that this isn’t still painful of course.

But the next thing she does is even more unexpected.

Instead of slamming you into the floor or something similar she instead throws you at Reginald who is taken completely off guard by this.

“Wha fuck!” he utters before you go crashing into him.

With you and Reginald on the floor, the congregation is now really getting agitated. Those two large cultists that dragged you from the cell immediately go to get you off of Reginald, but before they can, you hear grunts and howls of pain as Tanya has stabbed them both.

Blood has now sprayed all over the place and you feel the crushing weight of a dead body falling on you.

“You and that half breed bitch will pay for this! Kill them both!” Reginald shouts.

Reginald isn’t exactly in the best position to give any orders however as he’s in an even worse position than you since he’s now buried under two bodies rather than just yours. He struggles to get his arms free and while you’re trying to do the same you get another idea.

Your head is at his chest level right now, and mustering all your strength you manage to move your entire body forward and slam the top of your head up into his jaw repeatedly. He tries to stop you, but he still can’t get his arms entirely free.

You’re naked and you’ve got one dead man on top of you and you’re currently rubbing up against another one trying kill you, if someone had told you that you’d ever be in this situation you never would have believed it.

Eventually you break his jaw causing him to moan and wail, or at least the best he can do with a broken jaw.

You take the opportunity to roll sideway and wiggle out from under the dead cultist. You catch a few short punches to your side, but you eventually get free. Reginald despite being in pain begins to do likewise.

Wasting no time, you take advantage of his still prone position and use the heel of your foot to bring it down on Reginald’s nose. If you didn’t break it the first time, you certainly do the second. By the third and forth time you’ve stomped it into mush.

Your balls still ache, the top of your head is sore, your foot hurts like hell and you’re pretty sure you’ve got a bone fragment in it, but Reginald is currently choking on his own blood and struggling to breath with a mashed up nose and broken jaw so you’re currently doing much better than he is.

You take his head and start smashing it as hard as you can on the stone floor. Reginald tries to feebly stop you, but he’s too weak at this point and with the back of his skull being caved in and his brains starting to leak out of his head he soon loses consciousness forever.

After finishing the bloody deed, you take a moment to catch your breath. You finally get a chance to be more aware of your surroundings and see Tanya has been making short work of the remaining cultists that have still stuck around. After finishing off the last cultist she turns to face you and once again you’re still a little concerned about as you have no idea if she’s actually still on your side again or she just decided to go on killing rampage.

“Well don’t just stand there with a stupid look on your face, we need to get the hell out here and at least take a robe off of one of these assholes and put it on. I’ve seen way more of you than I ever wanted to!”

She appears to be back to normal.

“Wait a minute, what the hell happened to you a few moments ago? In fact what the hell happened to you period?”
“I…I don’t want to talk about it, look we need to get the fuck outta here. I don’t like it here and I don’t…feel right just being here. We need to fucking go NOW.”
“Alright, alright, shit…robe…robe…”

As you’re stripping off a robe of one of the corpses, Tanya’s looking around as if she’s expecting more trouble. While that might very well be the case, you can tell it’s more than that.

“Shit! Yinen! He’s still in the fucking cage back there, we need to let him out.” You say as you’re putting on the robe.
“What? I don’t have the damn keys and we don’t have time to search all these fuckers.” Tanya exclaims.
“Well I’d pick the lock, but it’s not like I have a lockpick anymore, do you have any?”
“Here, but hurry the hell up I’m not sticking around here any longer than I have to.”

You catch the lockpick that Tanya tosses at you and run back to the torture chamber. You go back to Yinen’s cell and start opening the cell, but he just continues to do the usual rocking back and forth and mumbling.

“Yinen! Come on! We gotta get the hell out of here! Yinen!” you say and approach him.

Yinen finally realizes someone is there with him, but instead of jumping at the chance to be free, he starts screaming.

“NO! NO! I WON’T GO WITH YOU! GET AWAY! PLEASE! JOACHIM SAVE ME!”

At first you’re confused to as why he’s acting this way and doesn’t see that it’s you, but then you think it might be the fact that you’re wearing a red robe.

“Yinen! It’s me! I’m not one of them! I’m…”
“NO! LIES! NEROTH IS THE FATHER OF LIES AND EVIL! JOACHIM! BRING DOWN YOUR HOLY VENGENCE AND SAVE ME!” Yinen shouts and suddenly lunges at you.

You fend off his attack in an effort not to hurt him too badly, but he isn’t so much interested in fighting as he is escaping. He runs off yelling after he manages to maneuver around you. You hear Tanya shout something in the next room and you run back to her.

“Was that him? He ran right past me screaming.” Tanya asks.
“Yeah, I dunno, the guy’s head is all fucked up. They really did something to him, I dunno if he’s going to be the same.” You say.
“He’s not the only one, now WE need to leave.”

Tanya doesn’t wait any longer, she runs into the room with all the wine barrels and you follow as close as possible. You’d suggest looking for the passage to the sewers for a quicker exit, but you aren’t even sure if it exists anymore, besides she’s already made her way up the stairs to the ground floor.

Yinen must have known the way out since the door is already open, or rather the hidden bookshelf door that was hiding the stairs to the cellar. From here, you both make your way out the house (And again, find the door already open)

You don’t exactly know where Tanya’s running to, but you continue to follow her and eventually she stops somewhere secluded. Then she start going through her clothing.

“Here. Take this thing and leave me be.” She says and hands you back your pistol. In all the ensuing mayhem you completely forgot that you had potentially lost your favorite weapon.

“Thanks…but where did you get this?” you ask.
“I took it when they were stripping your clothes off, I dunno why I did. I really don’t understand why I did anything. I thought I was past this. I need to get my head together and figure this shit out.” Tanya says.
“Tanya can you at least tell me something? I mean did Reginald case a spell or what? I mean was all his babbling true, Neroth is your father in some way?”
“No! And I’m not just saying that because I don’t want that to be true. I’m saying that, because my real father from what my succubus bitch of a mother told me was some drunk dickhead that she killed immediately after mating with and because Reginald doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. While he may have been sucking Neroth’s infernal cock in the spiritual sense, I still know more about the infernal realm more than he EVER could have and trust me, if he had known, he wouldn’t have been worshipping Neroth or whatever petty infernal warlord that’s setting himself up as a god to mortals at any given time.”
“Wait, you’ve been there? You’ve actually crossed into a different plane?”
“No, but I don’t need to physically be there and I hope I never do. I saw enough based on what my mother showed me and I resisted the lure of it then and I’m going to continue to do so.”
“You keep bringing up your mother, I thought you were an orphan.”
“I was. Wasn’t like she took care of me, she tossed me aside as soon as I was born and I suppose I was lucky to be born female and she wasn’t hungry at the time. Look, while I’m sure this is all very intriguing for you, I am fucking done talking about this. If you want to know what happened to me, I don’t fucking know! Maybe all the demonic ties that Reginald and by proxy his home had to the infernal realm had some effect and I lost control because I’ve let my guard down to it over the years. I guess I was lucky that you punched me in the face to snap me out of it. Thanks, but just because you know some shit about me doesn’t mean we’re getting closer!”
“I wasn’t even thinking about that…”
“Bullshit! That’s ALL you ever think about. I know you do. You can’t even help yourself. Pfft, your earlier lie about not being interested me anymore when we were on the rooftop before all this happened was laughable. I know for a fact that you regularly have sex with some whore that tries to look like me. In fact isn’t she the same one you saved? Boy you must LOVE that. It’s almost like you can pretend that you saved me like some hero.”
“Um…”
“What? You embarrassed? You’re not THAT embarrassed if you’re still doing it. Besides, it’s not like you’d be the first, you just happen to be one of the few that’s been doing it the longest.”
“Tanya, I really don’t know what you want from me at this point. I mean I’m really trying my best. I thought we were at least getting along.”
“And THAT’S a failing on my part. If anything I’ve allowed you to get TOO close lately! I need to fucking redouble my efforts, I see that now. I should have known to keep my distance from you and I should have NEVER offered to help you on this task!”

You can see this is a losing battle and you’re tired so you decide to bow out.

“Ok Tanya, you’ve made your point, I’m leaving. Thanks for saving me again, see you later.”

You start to leave, but Tanya spins you around.

“Don’t you turn your back on me, and this is for punching me in the fucking face!” Tanya says and kicks you hard in the balls.

You crumple to the ground and Tanya starts to say something, but then stops and then starts again.

“I’m…sorry…I just…I can’t… just stay away from me.” She says and quickly runs off.

After vomiting a little bit you eventually stand back up and stagger back to the Hell’s Own Inn. Thankfully you aren’t accosted by anyone along the way.

When you get back, Bruno sees you and gives you a sideways glance at first.

“Okay, it’s you. I saw a red robe and got a little nervous. What’s with the red robe anyway, aren’t those the ones that Neroth cultists wear?” Bruno asks.
“Yeah, I just joined so you better watch out.” You say.
“Ha ha funny guy. What’s the real story?”
“I don’t want to even get into it right now, I’ll tell you another time, I just want to go rest.”
“Sure, whatever.”

You start making your way upstairs, but stop to ask one question.

“Hey Bruno, Yinen didn’t come in here by any chance did?” you ask.
“I told you, I haven’t seen him in days. He probably left the city.” Bruno says.
“I bet he wishes he did.” You mumble and head to your room.

You take off the blood stained and rank red robe and collapse on your bed. You’ve spent a lot of the night naked tonight, and not in a good way.

The only good thing about tonight is you killed the top asshole of the cult that was trying to kill you. You imagine there are still others around, but you can’t worry about it right now.

As you slowly drift off with your hand covering your abused testicles, you think about how things are just fucked up with Tanya now. It’s like you’re back to square one, but maybe you were just deluding yourself anyway.

Of course despite all this AND the fact that she tried to kill you today, you still go to sleep dreaming about her.
> You time passes...
Year 20

“I’m not obsessed.” You exclaim which causes a look of skepticism from Sneaks.

“Okay, maybe I’m a little obsessed, but not in the way you’re saying.” You say.
“Look kid, I’ll let you in on a little secret, I’ve jerked off thinking about Tanya too. I don’t think there’s a man that’s been in contact with her for any length of time that hasn’t. Hell, there’s been guys in the Guild into men and they STILL admitted to having thoughts about her. She had a dick of course in their fantasies, but my point is, she still had an effect. It’s part of her demon heritage, but the effects should have long since worn off and I’m telling you the way you’re going is not fucking healthy.”
“But my feelings for her are not just physical. I mean yeah that’s part of it, but I’ve been getting to know her and I feel a real connection with her.”

Now Sneaks is totally confused.

“I thought you were staying away from her ever since you took out Reginald.” Sneaks asks.
“I have! But I keep seeing her in my dreams! And those dreams have been becoming more frequent lately. In these dreams, we spend time together and talk and laugh and…”
“And fuck. Probably a lot of fucking. Look, sounds like you’re having some nice dreams, but dreams aren’t real and with some of the ones you’ve described they sound impossible. Just go back to fucking that whore that dresses like her, it’s the closest you’re going to get.”
“I can’t even do that anymore, I feel like I’m cheating on Tanya. I’m telling you, this is really happening. I don’t know how, but it is. I mean don’t succubi invade dreams? I mean maybe she’s trying to tell me something even if she isn’t doing it in the real world.”
“Real world being the key word here. Are you listening to yourself? Look, I don’t know what to tell you man, I mean…(sigh) okay say for the sake of argument this IS all true, have you even spoken to her directly about it?”
“Well no, I’ve been trying to stay away and respect her wishes to leave her alone.”

Sneaks slaps you upside the head.

“What the hell?!” you say.
“That’s without a doubt, the stupidest fucking shit you’ve ever said involving Tanya. I’ve known you since you joined the Guild and you’ve flirted with her shamelessly beyond a point where others have gotten shanked by her for their troubles. The ONLY other person I know who’s gotten this obsessed with Tanya and lived is Garrick, though Yag knows he’d NEVER fucking admit that.” Sneaks says.
“So…I was right about Garrick?”
“Of course you were right about him. Why do you think he still holds a grudge against you even though you’re staying away from Tanya? I mean in his case, I don’t think it started out that way…shit I HOPE it didn’t start out that way since he took her in when she was a young teenager, but in any case. Garrick has been in love with Tanya for a very long time now. He’ll never make a move of course, which is why I’m telling YOU that if you REALLY think you’ve got a shot with Tanya, then you need to just go talk to her, because the non-confrontational routine? Yeah that doesn’t work and it isn’t your style anyway.”
“Weren’t you the one that once told me once to forget about her?”
“Yeah well I’m hoping you’ll listen to me on this advice this time because it’s apparent that you’re bound for a path of destruction. At least if you go talk to her you’ll get that over quickly and who knows, maybe just MAYBE, you’re right about all this. In any case, I’m going to go see if there’s anyone around to play cards with.”
“I think a lot of the members are out enjoying the riots.”
“Yeah fuck that, it’s absolute chaos out there. Surprised the Baron’s managed to still keep control of some of the city. Mostly the merchant’s district, rich areas and his palace of course, but it’s getting worse. To be honest, I would leave the city, but unfortunately I’ve still got a streak of loyalty and I’d never just abandon Garrick. Too much history, even if I don’t agree with him sometimes. Anyway, see you later and good luck.”

Sneaks leaves you and you immediately go to see if Tanya is in her quarters. You already know what you’re going to say, because you’ve been saying it in your mind for a long time now, you’re just mentally preparing yourself the verbal (and possibly physical) repercussions of your confrontation.

Has to be done though because this has gone on long enough and if Tanya genuinely has no interest in you then you’re not going to stick around just to have something you desire greatly dangling in front of you everyday and can’t do anything about it.

As you approach Tanya’s quarters you hear voices coming from it. You slow your pace and strain your ears to listen and eventually hide just outside her door.

“Tanya, I can throw him out of the Guild, if he’s been bothering you again. Honestly I would have done it sooner had you not told me not to after that stunt with the Neroth cultists.” You hear Garrick say.
“He hasn’t been bothering me Garrick, if anything he’s been honoring my wishes. He’s been a perfect fucking gentleman…or at least as close as he can get to one.”
“Be that as it may, I know something is wrong.”
“I’m fine Garrick, stop fussing.”
“Tanya, I KNOW something is going on with you. I’ve known you since you were girl and I know when you’re more troubled than usual. I mean if you don’t tell me, I can’t help…”
“That’s fucking right Garrick, you CAN’T fucking help! Nobody can! So stop playing the over protective dad role trying to save his little girl and just get the hell out of my quarters.”
“Tanya, you forget that…”
“Yes, Garrick I fucking know. You brought me in off the streets when I was some poor dirty orphan stealing food and had run away from the home for the umpteenth time! How long are you going to bring that up? I’ve never said I wasn’t appreciative, I think my time staying here has proven that, but if you think I OWE you something more, then you’ve been a fool for a longer time than even he has! Worse even.”
“Tanya! I’ve never…”

Before Garrick can complete his statement, you finally enter the room causing an immediate hostile look from Garrick and a look of exasperation from Tanya.

“Oh great…” Tanya says.
“YOU! Get out of here, we’re having a private conversation!” Garrick yells.
“Tanya, WE need to talk. There’s something going on between us and I have to think you know what I mean. This has been a long time coming and I can’t just continue to walk around here in silence any longer.” You say.
“I’ll tell you what, you don’t need to be walking around here anymore period. You’re out of the Guild! You’ve been nothing a headache since I allowed you in here! I can’t believe I was so blind to think you would be an asset in the first place!”
“Garrick, I’m not even arguing with you and I’ll be more than happy to leave this shitty Guild, but I’ve got to speak to Tanya first.”
“Go ahead then.” Tanya says a bit defeated.

“Tanya, I’ve been having dreams about you for past few months ever since everything that went down with the Neroth cultists. Now I dunno if you’re doing it on purpose or what, but these dreams have been more than just dreams, it’s like…it’s like they’re real somehow. You’re talking to me. WE’RE talking to each other about, well everything. My past, your past, our likes, our dislikes. I swear it’s like we’ve been dating without actually going out.”
“Bullshit. You don’t know shit about Tanya. You’ve been making shit up in your delusional mind. Wishful thinking about shit that’s never going to happen! Okay asshole, if you know so much, why don’t you give us a little history lesson?”
“Gladly.”

You begin with a description of the orphanage Tanya grew up in and the apathetic lady who ran it. You mention how Tanya had to beat up two older boys when she was six because they were accusing her of stealing their food. After she broke one boy’s arms and the nose of the other boy, the other children remained afraid of her.

She ran away from the orphanage altogether by the time she was nine and lived on the streets until she was around thirteen where upon Garrick caught her trying to pick his pocket. You even describe the type of day it was, mentioning that it was lightly raining. After he caught Tanya he offered her a place in the Guild.

At this point Tanya and Garrick are just silent as you relay this information. Garrick’s mouth nearly hangs open as he knows you’re exactly right about everything. He can’t believe that you know all this. Tanya even looks a away a couple times.

“And you told me, that you’ve remained loyal for the past twenty some odd years since that time at first because you originally felt obligated to Garrick for giving you a home and helping you when nobody else was, but there was a point when you started to feel less satisfied here and you considered leaving.” You say.
“Tanya! You never told me this! Is this true?!” Garrick remarks.

Tanya doesn’t answer, she just looks at you like you’re going to tell him anyway, so why stop?

“She never told anyone that. She would have left too, but then her mother showed up and after her brief meeting, she stayed with the Guild. Not because she had great attachment to it, but because she feared what she might do without it keeping her somewhat grounded. The Guild became a sort of sanctuary against her infernal nature. Sure, thievery isn’t exactly the most noble of professions, but it’s a far cry from what infernals like to engage in.” you say.

Garrick turns back to Tanya.

“Tanya, you could have told me this! Why didn’t you? I could have…” Garrick starts to say before he’s interrupted.
“You could have what Garrick? Tried to make everything better like you always think you can? This is what I was talking about earlier, you CAN’T FUCKING HELP ME! Nobody can! I mean just look at what’s occurred…I’m meeting this infatuated loser in his dreams and telling him my whole life story and I was only barely aware of some of it! How long before I have complete control over it? My infernal nature is coming out and it can’t be stopped. Stop trying to fucking save me because I’m NEVER going to love you Garrick or at least not in the way YOU want.” Tanya shouts

Garrick says nothing; he just staggers back a bit against a table like all the wind has been knocked out of him. Tanya now turns her attention towards you.

“And as for you, your best option would be running far away from this place and from me before it gets worse. I don’t care how much you THINK you’re in love with me.” Tanya says.
“Or even how much you might be in love with me?” you answer.
“Now THAT is wishful thinking and not what is happening.”
“Okay, maybe love isn’t the right word, but I have a hard time believing that you didn’t contact me in my dreams for shits and giggles. You’re actually fun in those dreams and I know you well enough in the real world that you never do anything remotely fun. It’s like you wanted me to see another side of you that nobody else does. Arguably the closest person you were close to before I showed up was Garrick, and you only see him as a father figure at best. You didn’t contact him in his dreams. You didn’t show up in anyone else’s either. You showed up in mine because you obviously have a fondness for…”
“SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” Garrick suddenly shouts and lunges at you.

He tackles you to the floor and you roll around briefly with him, but you soon get him off of you. However, he’s managed to pilfer your pistol that was tucked in your clothing.

“Garrick! Put that down!” Tanya shouts.
“Why?! Just so you can go off with this dickhead? No! How many people have fallen for you Tanya? How many? I’ve lost count. Why does THIS one get your affection?” Garrick screams and then starts laughing.

“I WAS the one who took you in! I WAS the one who gave you purpose and apparently I was the one who gave you salvation! Don’t you see Tanya? I’M the one who loves you! I always did! But if I can’t have you…then I suppose I’ll have to accept that…but what I won’t accept is someone else having you instead!”

Garrick is pointing the pistol right at you and ready to fire. You might be quick enough to stop him, or you might not. Tanya looks like she might do something, but who knows?
> You grab the gun from Garrick
You take that chance that you’re quick enough and Garrick is so emotional right now that he’s not focused like he should.

You lunge for the pistol.

A loud sound is heard followed by the sensation of a burning force hitting you hard in the lower chest. Still working on adrenaline you don’t stop and continue to try to wrestle the pistol from Garrick. He fires again, but this time misses as you move his arm and then break his wrist completely causing him to drop it.

Tanya at this point intervenes and tackles Garrick and you all go tumbling on the floor.

Tanya starts screaming at Garrick and punching him in the face while he unsuccessfully tries to fend her off. You on the other hand are now coming to realize that you’ve been shot pretty badly and your adrenaline has worn off.

You cough blood and wheeze as death is finally catching up to you. Tanya goes over to you and starts telling you to hold on while she frantically attempts to look for something in her room to help you, but there isn’t anything and it wouldn’t help anyway.

You look over to your left and see Garrick’s face mashed into bloody mush. Not being able to find anything to help your wound, Tanya attempts to lift you up, but you tell her to stop.

“Tanya, stop. You’re not going to get me to an infirmary or the apothecary in time.” You say.
“But…it can’t end like this! Not now! Not when I…(sob)”
“Just wasn’t (cough) meant to be…but it’s okay. At least I know finally.”

And with those last words your eyes begin to close and you feel the taste of Tanya’s lips on your own before you pass on.