Setting the man down on his cot to reset and redress the soiled bandages takes some time and pain, but the woodsman grits his teeth and bears with it with as little grunting as he can manage, thanks to Alice’s expertise.  The elves peek at the sounds of struggle, but can see she has the situation in control for now.<br/><br/>Memories of home can seem far away and so long ago after all the events and troubles seen.  While a priestess of Calistria can be mercurial and harsh, it is also a doctrine to resolve grievances after vengeance has been repaid.  Whatever a mistaken acolyte might suffer in reprisal seems tame to the savages of bloody revolutionaries or man-eating fiends.<br/><br/>“We?” the man repeats, light-headed from the days of fever and recent medical practice.  On cue, the elves quietly step in, causing the man to rear his head into the wall in an effort to suddenly sit up.  “Woah, there’s more of yeh!  S-sure, rest here, take any hut you want, it’s free pickins for all…” he swallows, grateful to Alice’s care, but also quickly agreeable to her armed posse.<br/><br/>Tamarie huddled with the Wasp Queens, “We’ll tell the others we’ve cleared this camp so far, but we can search for any other survivors or stragglers.  I suppose we could rest a bit here, but I don’t know how much good it will do us with the scant supplies.  There’s not much for us occupying a lumber camp, and if the gnolls come looking for trade or slaves, we don’t want to be hanging about.  I’m more interested in this story about succubi abducting the camp and leading them away.  Let’s consult with our new friends privately…” making an almost imperceptible gesture with her ear toward the human doing his best to disappear harmlessly against the wall.<br/><br/>Out in the camp with the other freed women, they discussed their possibilities.  Allizsah and Renilda were supposedly well-versed in the magic and inhabitants of the planes, but they were at a loss beyond the basic common stereotypes of succubi as dangerously lascivious demons.<br/><br/>Jhessail summed up her conclusion.  “Well, even if we don’t know their weaknesses or favorite tea, I still think we should go into the forest and investigate these new demons.  This is the first semi-civilized place we’ve come across, and it’s already been wholly captured and enthralled.  While its predictable that anything in the Abyss can and will kill you, it is at least somewhat comforting they’d use temptation and subterfuge to entice men too their doom.  We could avoid that and see if there’s some place we could escape to.  Otherwise its wandering the grassland or woods forever until birds eat us…”<br/><br/>The Wasp Queens didn’t have any better plans for escape or reconnaissance, and figured it would at least be interesting to spy on a whole troupe of succubi.  “I think we should hurry and see what’s going on, we can always return here if we need, but the first priority of survival is finding escape,” Faunra offered.  Coming to a consensus, the elves wished the woodsman luck, while the others merely scavenged what supplies were left in the huts as they made their way deeper into the alien yellow forest.  It wasn’t difficult to track a large group, there were boot prints, trampled underbrush, broken branches, then more than once, a body off to the side off the beaten path.  The bodies they found were stripped half-naked, covered in claw-like scratches, though with grimacing smiles on their dead, drained faces.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/gJ4r7Uw.jpg)</div>“Looks like snacks for the road…” Renilda quipped, just raising an eyebrow at the sight, but quickly moving on.  They followed the trial for hours longer, finding it hacked through thicker forest obstacles here and there, a few dead woodsmen, and even a slain fiendish treant.  Always, the massive idol of Yeenoghu grew taller and closer, until they came to the clearing at the base.  There they see a worse scene of destruction and revelry all over.  In one place two woodsmen have succubi on their shoulders in a shoulder-chicken fight, the fiends laughing as they wrestle while riding their partners.  Elsewhere succubi have the men fight directly for their entertainment and favor, axes and all: more than a few lie dead, while their blooded victors take their reward from the manipulative demons, two of them sucking a woodsman, or two woodsmen spit-roasting a single succubus, and other combinations.  At the base of the giant statute itself, several woodsmen are directed to chop and hack at the wooden ankles as succubi cheered them on.  Most looked similar, as beautiful humanoid women of various complexions, though with leather wings, slightly dangerous horns, and a few with clawed fingers.  One overseeing the whole, however, was different, with long, violet hair, burnt and broken wings, four long sting-tipped tails, and cloven hooves that somehow managed to look dainty and dangerous under her.<br/><br/>The overseeing fiend-woman’s tails twitched, and she stretched lazily.  “It’s about time to wrap up, girls, company will be coming soon, and we’ll be wanting to be headed home…”  The succubi around the statue cajoled their lumberjacks to further heights with both charms and claws, causing the massive structure to wobble and creak dangerously overhead.  Around them men killed each other with axes, or their succubus riders squeezed their thighs around necks, choking out or outright snapping vertebrae.  In the distance, the mortals could hear the growing sounds of baying, hooting, and furious demons crashing through the forest.<br/><br/>“That’s our cue, ladies.  Bring our friends along, why don’t you?” the leading demon called, looking back into the forest where Alice and the others were hiding and watching.  The other succubi grinned, sauntering over to the woods, calling and cajoling the mortals, ensnaring their wills directly, commanding them to follow along.  Despite the clear destruction that followed in the succubi’s wake, Alice was caught up with the demon calling her, unable to resist her supernatural charm and feeling an exquisite ecstasy in following her every word.  Only the sorceress Kievanna was able to keep her mind free from their clutches, but that only forced Faunra and Tamarie to lay hold of her and drag her along behind as they followed the demons to a hazy green portal-gate torn in the space between some trees.  Behind, the cracking and groaning of wood grew to a terrible climax at the sound of the gnoll-god’s idol slowly falling back, crushing a wide swath of trees and any lumberjacks still furiously swinging axes at it.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Emerging from the explosive noise of the yellow forest is the relative peace and calm of a seaside sanctuary.  Aside from being told to follow along, the succubi laugh and giggle together, sharing the lewd and then sadistically subversive details of their recent liaisons, the promises made, then betrayed as they ordered their lovers to kill each other.  Aside from that, Alice is able to at least look around, seeing a wholly more gentle, receptive environment.  More than an escape from the muggy heat and glare of an angry red sun, the land was actually beautiful, to the point of being equally unreal for its romantic perfection.  The cliffside sea breeze was tangy and refreshing, the ocean below was a deep, pure hue with frothy white breakers.  The sun, not a perpetual red orb of fire that always managed to put glare in Alice’s eyes, but rather a perfect low sunset that provided light and warmth and painted the sky with streaks of red, orange, indigo, and purple.<br/><br/>To the opposite of the ocean, across wide rolling hills of soft green grass, rose a mountain range with snowcapped peaks and a haze of atmosphere giving it a soft, painterly impression.  It felt like they had left the Abyss and entered some celestial realm, but the ease of the succubi seemingly back “home” and an uncomfortable background weight on Alice’s soul warned her that appearances were very deceiving.  Looking back from whence they came, the portal had disappeared, only leaving the huge triumphal arch of rose-colored stone, covered in bas-relief sculpture and inscriptions.  She couldn’t examine it closely, but Alice could see the lurid representation of a particular beautiful succubus in the central pediment, and all around seemed to depict her in trysts, liaisons, and orgies with various fiends, kings, wizards, and other supposedly influential figures as a kind of transcript of glories and possible family tree, judging by the other fiends and tieflings below.<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/sHVZWil.jpg)</div>The succubi led them for miles following the coastline, the cliffs dropping gently down nearer the white-sand beaches.  While they walked at an easy pace for hours, it wasn’t burdensome.  They even stopped once in a while to let the mortals rest, the violet-haired demon even creating a feast of a picnic for them, commanding them to eat and refresh themselves.  They sat and ate robotically among the wildflowers, soft grass, and even wild herbs, though it did have the effect of not only satiating their hunger, but refreshing their energy, soon able to continue their long hike through the gentle countryside.  Although they had walked for hours and miles, the sun never actually set, just remaining on the edge of the horizon to cast everything into a perpetual cozy warm glow.  Eventually their coastal path curved around the mountains enough to see a sparkling city in the valley, nestled between the base of the mountains and the bay providing both easy port and wide sandy beaches with shallow, lagoon-like water.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/jjp0TQ5.jpg)</div>“Welcome to Rivenheart: costal paradise, the answer to your any desire, and your new home…” the violet-haired woman called out to the mortals, gesturing down to the vista they approached.  The demons’ wings, horns, claws, hooves had all disappeared, replaced with soft, painted bare feet, delicately bejeweled fingers, and various robes, dresses, and shifts whose concealment only served to augment and tease what was beneath or “inadvertently” revealed with a particular lean or stride.  Their obviously demonic forms had been blatantly sexual with an edge of sharp danger, now they were merely achingly beautiful and sensual humanoids that enticed one in to explore more.  Like seemingly everything else here, it was a comforting façade to a doubtless more sinister reality.<br/><br/>[Abyssal planar traits: normal gravity, normal time, normal magic, mildly chaos-aligned, mildly evil-aligned (-2 Cha checks to Lawful or Good characters, -4 to Lawful Good)<br/>Allizsah knowledge (planes) 3+5 = 8<br/>Renilda knowledge (planes) 1+4 = 5<br/>Alice Will 14+8 = 22, fail vs<em>dominate person</em><br/>Tamarie Will 12+7=19, fail vs<em>dominate person</em><br/>Faunra Will 3+4=7, fail vs<em>dominate person</em><br/>Kievanna Will 20+7=27, save vs<em>dominate person</em><br/>Jhessail Will 3+5=8, fail vs<em>dominate person</em><br/>Allizsah Will 8+5=13, fail vs<em>dominate person</em><br/>Renilda Will 14+6=20, fail vs<em>dominate person</em>]<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Knowledge (Planes)</div><div class="spoiler_body">Alice may remember some details about demonic behavior and politics<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">DC 17</div><div class="spoiler_body">Basic information: classic succubi, chaotic evil demons of the abyss, and embodiments of charm and lust.  Like most demons, immune to poison and may summon lesser demons.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">DC 20</div><div class="spoiler_body">Some types of demons are more common to certain layers of the abyss</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">DC 22</div><div class="spoiler_body">The stratification of demons is not only due to ecological/metaphysical niche, but politics and rivalries.  Many succubi serve demon lords opposed to the savage, bestial Yeenoghu and would not normally be in this layer.  Succubi aren’t able to <em>plane shift</em> by themselves, so they would require a portal to travel.</div></div></div></div>