Truth be told, Brady hadn't expected her shot to amount to much. Even if her bolt hit dead center, it couldn't do much to a solid piece of crystal - maybe a small chip, if she was lucky. Mostly, she'd been hoping to knock the gem away from Tilisian, and maybe put the idea in someone's head - probably Sunete's - to leave off the minor threats and finish what they'd come down here to do. Actually breaking the gem herself had never so much as crossed her mind - and yet, as the cracked stone came to rest against the far pillar, it looked as if she'd done exactly that.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Huh,</span>Brady thought flatly, lowering her crossbow after a moment or two of hesitation.<span style="font-style: italic">It guess this thing</span>does<span style="font-style: italic">work, sometimes. Hope everyone's okay...</span>She glanced dubiously at the pile of unmoving bodies beneath the pedestal, either unconscious or dead - it was hard to tell from this distance - before turning her attention back to Tilisian. No doubt the succubus had noticed her by now, and she didn't want to be caught unawares if the demoness start hurling fireballs, or floaty hearts or... whatever it was succubi did to people who cheesed them off.<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Tilisian wrote:</cite>"...You broke it..."</div></blockquote><br/><br/>"Yeep," Brady squeaked softly, taking a step back despite the twenty or more feet already between her and the succubus. Tilisian's voice was soft, but her eyes alone told Brady everything she needed to know. The demon's glare burned hot with emotions: anger, outrage, injury, but also demand, and dominance... perhaps even a hint of disappointment. It was the gaze of a scorned mistress chastising a disobediant slave, flogging Brady's mind with comprehension of the tremendous injustice she'd wrought by breaking Tilisian's property. She'd been a bad girl, a very bad girl indeed. And bad girls needed to be punished...<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Yes,</span>thought Brady,<span style="font-style: italic">I need to be punished.</span>Slowly, she took a step forward, then another. Her weapon slipped from her slackened hand, clattering faintly behind her amongst the other distant sounds of battle. Her gaze remained lovingly fixed on Tilisian, drifting between those brilliant blue-green eyes and the pillow-soft lips that continued to spill sweet dulcet words into her eager ears. Each word parted those lips just enough to peer inside, and maybe catch a glimpse of future pleasures: a long, sinuous tongue that waved like a serpent, and behind it a precipitous pink drop into the hot, welcoming depths of the demon's belly...<br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Spending an action point to roll the save twice.<br/><br/>Will save: 1d20 (3,12) + 5 = 17, pass (thank you Crew!)</div></div></div><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~Brady... Brady...~</span><br/><br/>A distant voice echoed at the edge of Brady's mind, struggling to make itself heard against the power of Tilisian filling her head. She'd heard it somewhere before... but where? Curious, she turned a fraction of her attention away from the succubus's silken voice, and focused on her new visitor...<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~Brady! Thank goodness, I was afraid you were going to lock me out again.~</span>Crew's worried voice chimed in Brady's head, still distant but growing louder with each word.<span style="font-style: italic">~Listen, I know this demon lady sounds convincing, but you've got to ignore her. Those aren't your thoughts running through your head right now - Trust me, you're</span>way<span style="font-style: italic">more poetic when you think about people's mouthy bits. Er, not that you</span>should<span style="font-style: italic"> be thinking poetically about people's mouthy bits... You know what, let me try this again. BRADY! WAKE UP!~</span><br/><br/>Brady's eyelids fluttered, blinking away what felt like a long sleep as the fog of Tilisian's charm slowly evaporated. She could still hear the succubus's words, tickling her ears and working at her mind, but they were hollow, impotent; their penetrating power lost the second she'd snapped back to consciousness.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~I'm here,~</span>she said.<span style="font-style: italic">~Thanks, Crew. She almost had me for a second.~</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~No problem,~</span>Crew replied.<span style="font-style: italic">~So, what now? Our cover's blown, and you lost your crossbow abaut ten steps ago.~</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~Lost my...?~</span>Brady's fingers curled slightly around where the stock of her weapon should have been. She tried to recall when she'd dropped it, but came up blank - well, it wasn't important at the moment.<span style="font-style: italic">~That's okay,~</span>she added.<span style="font-style: italic">~I don't think I'm going to need it where I'm going?~</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~Where you're going? Where</span>are<span style="font-style: italic">we going? Why are we - oh, no. Brady, you're not about to....~</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~Trust me,~</span>Brady replied, still walking slowly toward Tilisian and the pedestal. A new template assembled itself in the back of her mind, ready to be filled with psychic energy at a moment's notice. She reached the edge of her ectoplasmic smear, and without a moment's hesitation, stepped on - the pseudomatter was thick and wet between her toes, not unlike soft mud or... well, she'd gotten creative in the bedroom once with a pent-up stablehand. The slick surface posed little trouble to the nimble lizardgirl, and she glided across on bare feet to stand only a few paces away from Tilisian.<br/><br/>"Mistress," she whispered, in the most desperate voice she could muster. " Mistress, please... take me..."<br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Balance to move across <span style="font-style: italic">grease</span>: 1d20 (5) + 9 = 14, pass<br/><br/>Bluff: 1d20 (13) + 10 = 23. Tilisian must make a DC 23 Sense Motive check to realize Brady is faking hypnosis.<br/><br/>Brady readies an action to manifest <span style="font-style: italic">grease</span> on herself (+10 to resist grapple) if Tilisian approaches her.</div></div></div>