Eucatastrophist
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A commissioned story, published here with the gracious permission of my client! If you are interested in commissioning pictures and stories from me, please see my shop on Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/eucatastrophist/shop
In which Marion Lavorre runs afoul of a succubus that tickles her, brings her to orgasm, and hypnotizes her to serve her.
Tickling | Bondage | Hypnosis | Lesbian | Dub-con | Large dildo
The Shattered Ruby - Part One
Marion Lavorre sat at a desk in her private study, sorting through the day's correspondence. Soon she would need to descend and greet her guests at the Lavish Chateau, so she knew she needed to read quickly.
Most of the requests were familiar to her - merchants seeking companionship for business dinners, nobles desiring arm candy for galas, the occasional lonely soul simply wanting someone beautiful to listen to their troubles.
But a letter sealed with deep violet wax caught her attention. The seal bore a house sigil she didn't recognize - an intricate spiral pattern. She broke the seal, and found the parchment within was expensive, the handwriting elegant and flowing.
To the celebrated Ruby of the Sea,
Your reputation precedes you across all corners of Wildemount and beyond. I am a collector of rare experiences, and I find myself drawn to Nicodranas specifically to seek your legendary company. I wish to arrange an extended engagement. A live-in arrangement, if you would consider it, for a period of no less than one month.
I have taken the liberty of arranging a substantial deposit with your establishment's keeper. You will find ten thousand gold pieces awaiting your confirmation, with an additional ten thousand upon completion of our arrangement.
My tastes run toward the... theatrical. I prefer my companions dressed in attire that celebrates their beauty without unnecessary modesty. I trust this will not be an issue for one of your experience and confidence.
I shall arrive three days hence, at the hour when the moon first touches the harbor waters.
With anticipation, Lady Velouria Nighthollow
Marion read the letter twice, astounded. Twenty thousand coins was an extraordinary sum, enough to fund the Chateau's operations for months, perhaps even pay for a renovation or expansion of some sort.
The requests were not unusual. In her many years as the Ruby of the Sea, Marion had entertained clients with far more exotic preferences. Revealing attire? She had gowns that made "revealing" seem quaint. Extended arrangements? She had once spent three months as the exclusive companion to a sultan from across the Lucidian Ocean.
Still, something about the letter made her tail twitch - the strange and unrecognizable spiral seal, for example, and the peculiar phrasing of "collector of rare experiences."
"Bluud," she called out. The door opened to admit the Chateau's imposing bouncer.
"Yes, Mistress Marion?" he asked.
"Has anyone delivered a deposit today? A substantial one?"
"Aye. Chest arrived this morning by private courier. Ten thousand gold, verified by three separate counters." He paused. "Strangest thing, though. The courier... I couldn't quite remember his face the moment he left. Like trying to hold water in my fist."
Marion's golden eyes narrowed. "Thank you, Bluud. That will be all."
Alone again, she held the letter up to the dying sunlight. A collector. An enormous sum. Magical couriers with forgettable faces.
Either very wealthy, or very dangerous, she mused. Perhaps both.
In her experience, the two often went hand in hand.
She should refuse. Every instinct honed by decades in a profession that required reading people like open books told her this client carried secrets that were likely malevolent. The smart play was to return the deposit, send polite regrets, and forget Lady Velouria Nighthollow had ever written.
Instead, Marion found herself reaching for her quill.
Let this Lady Nighthollow see what twenty thousand gold purchases, Marion thought as she examined herself in the full-length mirror.
The knock came precisely as the moon's reflection first touched the harbor waters visible through her window. Marion's tail swished with anticipation as she called, "enter."
The woman who stepped through the door quite literally took Marion's breath away.
Lady Velouria Nighthollow sauntered into the room with a grace that was almost catlike. Her hair cascaded past her shoulders in waves of a deep, rich blue. Her skin was pale and flawless, seeming almost as if it glowed with its own inner luminescence. Her midnight purple gown hugged her slender form, cut daringly low in the front, and a slit that rose high on both thighs.
Her eyes, however, were what arrested Marion's attention. They were violet, deep and swirling with hypnotic depths that seemed to contain galaxies. When they met Marion's gaze, Marion felt a strange flutter in her chest - a sensation she hadn't experienced since her youth, that made her feel girlish and giddy.
"The Ruby of the Sea," Velouria purred, "the portraits do not do you justice."
"Lady Nighthollow," Marion replied, offering a warm smile as she rose from her chaise. "Welcome to the Lavish Chateau. I trust your journey was pleasant?"
"It was... adequate." Velouria glided into the room, her movements hypnotic. "But I find the destination far more interesting than any journey could be."
Those violet eyes swept over Marion's form, lingering on the curves visible through the sheer silk, and Marion felt heat rise in her cheeks. She was accustomed to being desired - it was, after all, her profession - but something in Velouria's gaze felt different. Hungrier.
Marion offered her some wine, and she graciously accepted. They sat on the chaise together, both signaling warmth and availability to the other.
"Your letter mentioned you are a collector," Marion probed. "Of experiences."
Velouria nodded in affirmation.
"I have traveled extensively," she elaborated, "sampled pleasures from every corner of this world and others. But I have never tasted the legendary Ruby of the Sea."
"I am flattered," Marion said with a smile. "Tell me, what experiences do you hope to collect during your stay?"
Velouria sipped her wine, those violet eyes never leaving Marion's face. "I have heard tales of your talents. Your beauty, of course, is evident. But they say you possess other gifts. The ability to make anyone feel witnessed, and understood. Even... desired."
She was moving closer now, each step deliberate, her hips swaying with hypnotic rhythm. The firelight caught in her blue hair, making it shimmer like the sea at night.
"I have known many partners over the years," Marion replied carefully, not retreating but not advancing either. "Some have understood me quite well."
"Partners?" Velouria laughed, "I speak of something deeper than partnership, Ruby. I speak of surrender."
She was close now, close enough that Marion could smell her perfume. It was something dark and intoxicating, like night-blooming flowers with an undertone of something else. Something that made Marion's head swim pleasantly.
"You are very forward, Lady Nighthollow," Marion managed, even as her body leaned toward the mysterious woman.
"Life is too short for coyness." Velouria's hand came up, fingertips tracing along Marion's jawline. "And you, beautiful Ruby, are too exquisite for hesitation."
Those violet eyes captured Marion's golden ones, and for a moment, the tiefling felt herself drowning in their swirling depths. So beautiful. So deep. She could lose herself in those eyes forever...
Marion's hand came up, catching Velouria's wrist in a grip that was gentle but firm. "I appreciate enthusiasm, Lady Nighthollow. But I set the pace in my own chambers."
"How... interesting." Velouria's smile didn't waver, but there was a new edge to it. "Most cannot resist my charms."
"I am not most." Marion released the woman's wrist, creating distance between them with a graceful step backward. "Now, perhaps we should discuss the terms of our arrangement more thoroughly before-"
She never finished the sentence.
Velouria moved like liquid shadow, faster than any human should be able to move. One moment she was an arm's length away; the next, she was pressed against Marion's side, her arm snaking around the tiefling's waist.
"I do so admire will," Velouria whispered, her lips brushing Marion's ear. "It makes the breaking so much sweeter."
Marion reacted on instinct honed by years of navigating dangerous situations. She twisted, bringing her elbow up sharply toward Velouria's face. The blow should have connected - would have connected with any normal opponent.
Instead, Velouria flowed around it like water around a stone, her body bending at an angle that seemed impossible. She caught Marion's arm, using the tiefling's own momentum to spin her.
For a breathless moment, they were face to face, bodies pressed together. Velouria's smile was predatory now, all pretense of seduction replaced by raw hunger.
Marion stomped down, aiming for the arch of Velouria's foot. The blue-haired woman danced back, releasing her grip, and they circled each other like two predators assessing their prey.
"What are you?" Marion demanded, her chest heaving beneath the sheer silk. Her tail lashed behind her, finally freed from any pretense of composure.
Velouria lunged again, and this time Marion was ready - or thought she was. She blocked the first strike, a clawed hand aimed at her throat, and dodged the second, a sweeping kick that would have taken her legs out from under her.
But Velouria was relentless, her attacks coming faster and faster, each one probing Marion's defenses. She was playing with her, Marion realized with dawning horror. Testing her, and enjoying her struggle.
A feinted strike drew Marion's guard high, leaving her sides exposed. Velouria's fingers darted in - not to strike, but to tickle, dancing along Marion's ribs through the thin silk.
The unexpected sensation caused Marion to gasp, and her guard faltered for just a heartbeat. In that instant, Velouria pressed her advantage, her fingers wriggling upwards to explore the sensitive hollows of Marion's underarm.
"Ah-!" Marion twisted away, her face flushing with something between indignation and involuntary response. "What are you-!?"
"Discovering your weaknesses," Velouria purred, circling again. "Every gem has its flaws, Ruby. I intend to find all of yours."
They clashed again, and this time Marion landed a solid blow to Velouria's shoulder that would have staggered a normal woman. The blue-haired creature merely laughed, using the momentum to spin inside Marion's guard.
Fingers found Marion's other side, deftly poking across her ribs, and despite herself, a burst of surprised laughter escaped the tiefling's lips.
"There it is," Velouria crooned, her breath hot against Marion's neck. "The legendary poise, cracking already."
Marion drove her elbow backward, connecting this time, and broke free. But Velouria was on her again in an instant, grabbing Marion's wrists, forcing her arms up and back.
The position left Marion's torso completely exposed, the sheer silk doing nothing to protect her from the fingers that now explored her sides with wicked intent.
"Such a responsive body," Velouria murmured, her fingers walking up Marion's ribs like a spider. "I wonder what other sounds I can coax from this throat?"
"Unhand me!" Marion commanded, but her voice cracked as those devilish fingers found the hollow of her underarm again.
Laughter burst out of her again, bright, helpless and utterly undignified. Marion had held her own against all manner of royal scandals and assassination attempts, but now was giggling like a girl as this extraplanar creature tickled her mercilessly.
"Nahahat - stop - stop it!" she gasped between laughs, twisting and writhing in the creature's vice-like grip.
"But why would I stop?" Velouria asked innocently, switching to Marion's other underarm. "When you sing so beautifully?"
Marion's knees buckled as her carefully maintained poise crumbled. This was a torture she had no defense against, a vulnerability she had never thought to guard. Her body betrayed her utterly, responding to every touch with girlish laughter that echoed through the chamber.
"P-please," she managed, tears of mirth pouring from her eyes. "Please, I - AHAHAHA!"
Velouria had found a spot just below her ribs, her fingers digging in with devastating precision. Marion's laughter went silent, her body convulsing with the intensity of the sensation.
Just when Marion thought she might pass out from lack of air, Velouria released her wrists. The tiefling collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath, her elegant hairstyle half undone, her chest heaving.
Through the haze of exhaustion and lingering phantom tingles, Marion looked up. Her golden eyes widened at what she saw.
Velouria's form was changing. The pale skin took on a faintly purple hue, and spiralilng horns emerged from her forehead. Wings - leathery, bat-like wings - unfurled from her back.
"Succubus," Marion breathed, the word a curse and a realization.
"Hypnotic pattern," Velouria intoned in response, and Marion's world exploded into cascading lights.
They spiraled before Marion's eyes: beautiful, impossible colors that twisted and danced and demanded her attention. She tried to look away, but the patterns followed, burning themselves into her vision and into her thoughts.
So pretty, something whispered in her mind. Just watch. Just relax. Let the colors take you...
Marion's hands, which had been pushing her up from the floor, slowly lowered. Her golden eyes, wide and glassy, fixed on the swirling lights as her jaw went slack. The resistance, the fear, the desperate need to flee... all of it melted away like morning frost under a hot sun.
"That's better," Velouria purred, approaching the entranced tiefling. She cupped Marion's chin, tilting her face upward. The Ruby of the Sea stared back with vacant adoration, her lips slightly parted. "So much easier when you stop fighting, isn't it?"
"...yes," Marion breathed, the word barely audible.
Velouria smiled, showing teeth that were just slightly too sharp. "We're going to have such fun together, Ruby. You're going to tell me everything about your daughter and her little friends. The Mighty Nein, they call themselves?"
Somewhere, buried deep beneath the dancing lights and enforced compliance, a flicker of Marion's true self flashed a warning. Jester. She's after Jester.
But the lights were so pretty. And it was so much easier not to fight.
The private chambers that had once been her sanctuary were now her prison, a gilded cage transformed into an arena of sensation and torment. Velouria had warded the rooms with magic that prevented escape and muffled sound, ensuring complete and utter privacy for whatever delights the succubus wished to inflict. And oh, the delights had been extensive.
Marion hung suspended now from silken ropes enchanted to never chafe, her wrists bound above her head, her ankles spread and secured to iron rings the succubus had conjured from thin air. The sheer crimson gown she'd worn that first night was long gone, replaced by nothing at all: her ruby skin exposed completely to the cool air and Velouria's hungry gaze.
Every inch of her body ached with a strange mixture of exhaustion and arousal. The succubus had taken her repeatedly over the past three days, sometimes roughly, sometimes with devastating tenderness, always with the clear intent of breaking down her resistance piece by piece.
"You continue to impress me," Velouria murmured, circling her suspended captive. "Three days. Most mortals would have shattered by now. Begging, weeping, offering me anything to make it stop... or to make it never stop."
"I have... entertained more demanding clients... than you," Marion replied, her chest heaving with labored breath, and her voice hoarse from the screams and moans and laughter that had been wrung from her.
The tickling had been relentless. Velouria had discovered that Marion's body was exquisitely sensitive - her ribs, her underarms, even places she didn't know were ticklish like the curve of her hips and the backs of her knees. The succubus had exploited each weakness mercilessly, reducing the dignified Ruby of the Sea to helpless, shrieking laughter again and again until Marion's voice gave out.
And the sex... the sex had been unlike anything in Marion's considerable experience. Velouria could shift her form, could manifest... implements... that no mortal lover could match. Marion's body had been stretched, filled, used in ways that had her begging - sometimes for mercy, sometimes for more.
"You know," Velouria said, pausing her circuit to stand directly in front of Marion, "I've been collecting women like you for centuries. Powerful women. Experienced women. Mothers..."
Marion's golden eyes sharpened at that last word, and Velouria's smile widened.
"Oh yes, I know about your daughter. The Mighty Nein's precious little cleric. Jester, isn't it?" The succubus reached up to cup Marion's face, her touch mockingly gentle. "Such a spirited girl, from what I've heard. I wonder if she shares her mother's... sensitivity."
"Don't you dare," Marion growled, the first real heat in her voice since the morning of the second day. "Don't you dare touch my daughter."
"Touch her? Oh, sweet Ruby." Velouria leaned in close, her lips brushing Marion's ear. "I don't intend to touch her at all. That's what you're going to do. Eventually."
Marion's blood ran cold. "What?"
"I've decided to build a network," the succubus explained as she began to pace again. "An organization of beautiful, broken things who go out into the world on my behalf. They find new prey, new treasures, and bring them back to me. MILF's particularly. There's just something so delicious about a mother's love twisted into something darker."
"You're insane," Marion breathed.
"You should be flattered," Velouria persisted. "You're going to be the crown jewel of my collection. Not just a plaything - though you'll certainly be that. I'm going to remake you entirely. Break down that magnificent mind of yours and rebuild it to serve me. Transform you from courtesan to... corruptor."
She stopped in front of Marion again, reaching up to run her fingers through the tiefling's disheveled red hair. "Imagine it. The Ruby of the Sea, legendary seductress, using all her considerable skills to lure other beautiful women into my web. Your daughter's friends, perhaps. Or their mothers. So many possibilities."
"I would never-!"
"You will," Velouria said simply. "Everyone does, eventually. Your psyche is impressive, I'll grant you that. One of the strongest I've encountered on this coast. But it's not unbreakable. Nothing is unbreakable. It's simply a matter of finding the right... tools."
She snapped her fingers, and the air shimmered. A table materialized beside them, laden with objects that made Marion's stomach (and anus) clench with a mixture of dread and involuntary anticipation.
Feathers of impossible colors. Brushes with bristles that seemed to move on their own. Oils in crystalline vials that glowed with inner light. And implements of pleasure so large, so exotic, that Marion's experienced eyes widened in shock.
"Let's begin with a new game, shall we?" Velouria selected a vial of shimmering oil from the table, holding it up to the light. "This is distilled from the essence of a pit fiend's laughter - yes, I was also surprised to learn how ticklish they are! One drop makes the skin ten times more sensitive to touch. Two drops..." She smiled. "Well. Let's find out together."
"Wait-" Marion started, but Velouria was already unstoppering the vial.
She let two drops fall onto her fingertips, then brushed them slowly across Marion's ribs. The effect was instant and devastating. What had been mere sensitivity before became something overwhelming - every nerve ending in that area screamed to life, feeling the air itself as an almost unbearable caress.
Marion gasped, her body jerking in the bonds. "Oh... oh gods..."
"Mmm, not gods. Just me." Velouria applied more drops, painting Marion's underarms, her sides, her nipples. Each touch of the oil sent cascading waves of sensation through the tiefling's body. "Now, let's see how your vaunted endurance holds up against this."
The succubus selected a feather from the table - long, black, with barbs that shifted and curled independently. She brought it to Marion's hypersensitized ribs and drew it across in a single, slow stroke.
Marion's world exploded into sensation.
The laughter that tore from her throat was unlike anything she'd produced before - high, desperate, bordering on a scream. Her body thrashed wildly in the bonds, every muscle seizing as the enhanced nerves fired signals of unbearable, ticklish torment to her brain.
"AHAHAHAHA- PLEASE! PLEASE STOP! I CAN'T - NAHHAHAHA!!!"
"Can't what, Ruby?" Velouria asked, flicking the feather playfully over Marion's engorged nipples. "Can't take it? Can't endure? Can't maintain that precious dignity you've clung to so desperately?"
The feather danced across Marion's stomach, up her ribcage, into the hollows of her underarms. Each stroke sent fresh waves of maddening sensation through her body. Tears streamed down her ruby cheeks as she laughed and laughed and laughed, unable to stop, unable to do anything but experience the overwhelming assault on her senses.
"PLEASE - VELOURIA! STAHAP! AHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Stahap?" The succubus paused, letting Marion gasp for breath. "I don't know that word, Ruby. But I do know... deeper."
As the word left Velouria's lips, Marion felt something shift in her mind. It was like a magical compulsion taking root, burrowing into her consciousness. And then... pleasure. Raw, intense pleasure that pulsed between her legs, making her cry out.
"Wh-what..." Marion panted, her hips jerking involuntarily. "What did you...?"
"A little curse," Velouria purred. "Call it conditioning. Every time you hear that word - deeper - you'll feel that rush of pleasure. Every time you say it, the pleasure will be twice as intense." She leaned close, her violet eyes glowing. "And as we progress, as I take you deeper into submission..."
Marion moaned as another wave of pleasure crashed through her, her body arching in the bonds.
"...you'll begin to associate that word with me. With surrender. With the bliss of giving in." Velouria traced a finger down Marion's sternum, between her breasts, down her stomach. "Eventually, you won't be able to hear or speak that word without thinking of me. Without craving me."
"I won't... I won't let you..."
"Let me? Oh, Ruby." The succubus laughed, returning the feather to Marion's hypersensitive skin. "You don't have a choice. We're going to go deeper..."
Pleasure pulsed between Marion's legs.
"...and deeper..."
Another pulse, stronger this time.
"...and deeper..."
Marion's moan mingled with renewed laughter as Velouria resumed the tickle torture, her body caught between two overwhelming sensations - the unbearable ticklishness of her enhanced skin and the growing heat of magical arousal.
"PLEASE! AHAHAHA! I CAN'T - OH GODS, DEEPER - NO!" Marion's eyes went wide as she realized she'd said the word herself, and the pleasure that crashed through her was indeed twice as strong as before. Her back arched, a sound escaping her that was half laugh, half moan, entirely undignified.
"There it is," Velouria crooned, increasing the intensity of her ticklish assault. "The beginning of the end. Say it again, Ruby. You know you want to feel it again."
"N-no, AHAHAHA! I won't-"
"You will. Not now, perhaps. But soon. You'll say it because you need to. Because the pleasure will be the only relief from the torment. Because your magnificent mind will start to crave the word, crave the sensation, crave me."
The feather found a spot just between Marion's dripping pussy and puckered anus that made her scream with laughter, her vision going white at the edges. She could feel herself losing coherent thought, her world narrowing to nothing but sensation - ticklish torment and building pleasure warring for dominance in her overwhelmed nervous system.
"Now then," Velouria said, setting aside the feather. Marion slumped in her bonds, gasping, thinking perhaps she'd been granted respite. "Let's move on to the next phase."
The succubus reached for one of the larger implements on the table, and Marion's eyes went wide. It was immense, its surface rippling with veins and ridges. It looked like the phallus of a horse, and would have seemed comical if Marion wasn't currently bound and helpless before a creature who clearly intended to use it.
"This particular enchantment is a favorite of mine," Velouria said conversationally, running her fingers along the impossible length. "It adapts to its recipient. Always filling them just past the point of comfort. Always finding those spots that make rational thought... difficult. And it vibrates in patterns designed by a mad wizard who specialized in pleasure magic. He went insane trying to test it on himself, you know. A wonderful gift before I consumed his soul."
"That's... that won't... you can't possibly-!" Marion stammered.
"Can't I?" Velouria positioned herself between Marion's spread legs, the enchanted implement hovering at her entrance. "Let's find out together. And remember, Ruby: every time you hear the word, every time you feel yourself going deeper..."
Marion cried out as pleasure pulsed through her even as the implement began to press forward. It was too much, she thought wildly. Too large, too...
But it was adapting, she realized with horror and dawning pleasure. Stretching her in ways that felt impossible yet somehow manageable. The veined surface rippled against her inner walls, finding every sensitive spot, and when it began to vibrate...
"Ohhhh" Marion cried out in spite of herself, arching her hips to accommodate the girth of the massive horsecock.
"That's it," Velouria murmured, beginning to move the implement in slow, devastating strokes. "Let go. Stop fighting. Go deeper."
Pleasure crashed through Marion's core even as the implement drove into her. She could feel her thoughts scattering, her legendary resistance crumbling under the dual assault of magical arousal and physical stimulation.
"The word will become your anchor," Velouria continued, her free hand returning to Marion's hypersensitive sides, tickling in counterpoint to the thrusts. "Every time you resist, I'll use it. Every time you give in, I'll use it. Until your mind can't tell the difference between surrender and pleasure."
She leaned close, her lips brushing Marion's ear even as she drove the implement home with particular force. "I'm going to take you deeper..."
Marion moaned.
"...and deeper..."
Her hips bucked against her will.
"...until there's nothing left of the Ruby of the Sea but my beautiful, broken toy. And then, once you've completely surrendered, I'll rebuild you. Give you new purpose. New hungers." Velouria's tongue licked the rim of Marion's ear. "You're going to help me collect so many pretty mothers, Ruby. Starting, perhaps, with the mothers of your daughter's friends. Wouldn't that be delicious?"
"NeHAHAnever! Oh gods, OH! OH! DEEPER-!"
The word escaped Marion's lips before she could stop it, wrenched out by the overwhelming combination of ticklish torment and mounting pleasure. And the rush that followed, the intense, mind-blanking surge of arousal, made her scream in something that was definitely not pain.
"There it is," Velouria purred with deep satisfaction. "The first crack. The first voluntary surrender. You said the word yourself, Ruby. You chose the pleasure."
"I didn't - I didn't mean-"
"Of course you didn't. Not consciously. But your body knows what it wants. Your mind is learning what it needs." The succubus's smile was radiant with dark joy. "We're making such wonderful progress."
Marion whimpered as pleasure pulsed through her once more, and somewhere in the depths of her fracturing mind, she felt the first true tendrils of fear take root. Because despite everything - despite her decades of experience, her iron will, her legendary composure - she was beginning to wonder if Velouria might be right.
She was beginning to wonder if she might actually break.
Marion hung suspended in a web of magical shadow-chains, her body arranged in a spread-eagle position that left every inch of her ruby skin exposed and vulnerable. Her chest heaved with each labored breath, the aftermath of the latest session still trembling through her nerve endings
Hold on, she told herself, the thought swimming through the haze that clouded her mind. Jester needs you. The Chateau needs you. Hold on.
But holding on grew harder with each passing hour.
"You continue to impress me, Ruby," Velouria purred, one clawed fingertip tracing a lazy pattern down Marion's ribs. The touch sent involuntary shivers through Marion's frame - her skin had been rendered exquisitely sensitive by days of relentless stimulation, every nerve ending inflamed at the slightest contact.
Marion's golden eyes were glazed with exhaustion, but she remained defiant.
"I have... weathered many storms," she managed, her voice hoarse from screaming. From moaning. From the endless sounds that Velouria had wrung from her throat like a musician coaxing notes from an instrument. "You are not... the first to think they could break me."
"Perhaps," Velouria said with a wicked grin as she held up a crystalline wand so that Ruby could see. "But I suspect I am the first who truly knows how to. Do you know what Befuddlement does, my precious Ruby?"
Marion's confused expression gave her the answer.
"It's a delicious little spell. It corrodes the mind... intelligence, wisdom, charisma... all the pillars of your formidable psyche, crumbling like sandcastles before the tide."
Marion's breath took on a ragged rasp of fear. She had felt magic wash over her many times in recent days - the invasive tendrils of Dominate Person clawing at her will, the maddening compulsion of suggestions whispered into her ear. But this... this sounded different. More permanent.
"The beauty of it," Velouria continued, circling behind Marion where she couldn't see, "is that it doesn't simply destroy. It transforms. All that wit, all that wisdom you've accumulated over your decades of life... it doesn't disappear. It simply... redirects. Toward more useful pursuits."
"You won't..." Marion retorted, her voice cracking. "I won't let you!"
"Darling, you stopped being able to 'let' me do anything days ago," Velouria laughed. "But I appreciate the spirit. Truly. It makes the eventual surrender so much sweeter."
The succubus appeared before Marion again, the crystalline wand held aloft. Its opalescent surface swirled with colors that seemed to pull at Marion's attention, drawing her gaze despite her desperate attempts to look away.
"We'll start slowly," Velouria said, her voice dropping to a hypnotic murmur. "Just a taste. I want you to understand what's happening to you, after all. I want you to feel yourself slipping away."
She brought the wand to Marion's temple, and Marion felt the first touch of the spell like ice water poured directly onto her brain. The incantation that fell from Velouria's lips was in a language older than any she recognized, each syllable landing like a physical blow against the fortress of Marion's mind.
The Befuddlement took hold of her psyche gradually. It didn't have the sudden assault of Dominate Person, but washed over her in slow and gentle rhythms. Marion felt her thoughts begin to slow, to simplify. Complex concepts that had been second nature to her, such as the intricate dance of social politics, the subtle art of reading a client's true desires, the thousand small decisions that went into running the Lavish Chateau - all began to feel distant. Difficult.
"What are you..." The words came out slurred, and Marion's brow furrowed in confusion. Speaking had never been difficult before. She was known for her eloquence, her ability to charm and persuade with nothing but her voice. Why did her tongue feel so clumsy now?
"Shhhh." Velouria stroked Marion's cheek. "Don't fight it, Ruby. Fighting only makes it worse. Let yourself sink... deeper."
Another pulse of pleasure, stronger this time, flooding through Marion's core and making coherent thought even harder to grasp. She moaned, her body arching in the chains, and somewhere in the receding tide of her intellect, she understood what was happening. The curse and the spell were working in tandem - every wave of pleasure washing away a little more of who she was, the Befuddlement eroding the walls she had spent a lifetime building.
"There we go," Velouria cooed. "Doesn't that feel nice? All those heavy thoughts, all that responsibility... you don't need any of that anymore. You just need to feel good. You just need to obey."
"No..." But the protest was weak, barely more than a whisper.
Velouria picked up one of the enchanted feathers - this one glowing with a soft pink light that made Marion's sensitized skin tingle just from proximity. "Let's see how our progress is going, shall we?"
The feather descended toward Marion's exposed armpit, and Marion tensed instinctively. After days of relentless tickling, her body had developed an almost Pavlovian response to certain stimuli. She knew what was coming. She dreaded what was coming.
But when the feather made contact, the sensation that exploded through her was unlike anything she had experienced before. The tickling was still there - that maddening, inescapable sensation that made her muscles seize and her lungs gasp for air between helpless peals of laughter. But layered beneath it, woven through it like threads of silk, was... pleasure. Pure, undiluted pleasure that seemed to originate from the same point as the ticklish sensation and radiate outward through her entire body.
"HAHAHA! OH GODS! HAHAHA - what - HAHAHA! What did you-"
"A little modification to Tasha's Hideous Laughter," Velouria explained conversationally, continuing to trace the glowing feather through the sensitive hollow of Marion's armpit. "The standard version simply incapacitates with uncontrollable mirth. But with a few... adjustments... we can make the laughter itself pleasurable. Addictive, even."
She swept the feather down Marion's side, travelling along the side of her breasts and swirling over a nipple, and Marion's screaming laughter pitched higher. It was agony and ecstasy combined: every nerve ending simultaneously flaring with ticklish torment and throbbing with arousal. Her hips rolled desperately against nothing, seeking attention that wasn't there, while her upper body thrashed in the chains trying to escape the feather's merciless path.
"Deeper," Velouria whispered, and the word triggered another cascade of pleasure that pushed Marion's overstimulated mind even further toward the edge.
"PLEASE! HAHAHA! PLEASE STOP! HAHA! I CAN'T-"
"Can't what, Ruby?" The feather dragged down Marion's leg towards her foot, and she shrieked with a sound that was equal parts laughter and moan. "Can't think? Can't remember who you are? Can't distinguish anymore between torture and pleasure?"
All of those things. All of those things and more. The Befuddlement was working its way deeper into Marion's psyche, and with each burst of combined ticklish-pleasure, she felt another piece of herself slip away. The name of her favorite wine... gone. The color of the curtains in her private chambers... gone. The way Jester had looked when...
Jester. The name cut through the haze like a blade, and Marion seized onto it with desperate strength. Her daughter. Her beautiful, chaotic, beloved daughter who painted dicks on everything and talked to the Traveler and had grown into the most wonderful woman Marion could have imagined.
She couldn't forget Jester. She wouldn't.
Velouria noticed the shift immediately. Her eyes narrowed, and the feather paused its torment. "Ah. There's still something in there, isn't there? Something you're clinging to."
Marion said nothing, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her body trembling.
When awareness returned, it came slowly, like light filtering through deep water. Marion blinked. The chains were gone, replaced by something softer... silk, she thought, though the word took longer to find than it should have. She was lying on something plush. A bed, perhaps.
Her body ached, and her mind... felt quiet.
"You're awake." Velouria’s voice came from somewhere nearby. "Good. I was beginning to wonder if I'd pushed too hard."
Marion turned her head slowly, because even that small movement felt like an effort. She saw the succubus lounging on the chaise nearby, watching her with those glowing eyes.
"How do you feel, Ruby?"
The question seemed to take forever to process. How did she feel? She wasn't sure. Her body felt heavy and light at the same time. Her mind felt... empty, but not unpleasantly so. Like a room that had been cleared of all its furniture, leaving only clean space behind.
"I feel..." Marion's brow furrowed. Words were difficult now. "I feel... different."
"Mmmm." Velouria rose from the chaise and glided toward the bed, her movements hypnotically graceful. "The Befuddlement has taken hold. Not fully yet, as you're too strong for a single casting to do the job completely... but enough that you should notice the changes."
She sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to stroke Marion's cheek. Marion found herself leaning into the contact, craving the warmth of it.
"Your intelligence has dropped significantly," Velouria continued. "Complex thoughts will be harder to form and maintain. Abstract reasoning will feel like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. And your wisdom..." She smiled. "All those years of experience, all those lessons learned... they're still in there somewhere, but accessing them will be like trying to read a book in a language you've half-forgotten."
Marion knew she should be horrified. Some distant part of her - the part that was still her, still the Ruby of the Sea who had built an empire of pleasure and influence with nothing but her wits and her will - screamed in muted protest.
But the rest of her... the rest of her felt... grateful. All those heavy thoughts, all that responsibility... Velouria had been right. She didn't need them anymore. It was easier this way. Simpler.
"Now," Velouria said, her voice taking on that hypnotic quality that made Marion's thoughts scatter, "I want you to tell me something. What do you remember about why you're here?"
The question floated through Marion's emptied mind, looking for something to connect to.
"I... there was a client request," she said slowly. "At the Chateau. You... you offered a lot of money."
"Very good. What else?"
"We... we fought. At first." The memory surfaced like a bubble rising through water. "You touched me. I tried to stop you. You... laughed."
"I did." Velouria's fingers traced down Marion's neck, along her collarbone, and Marion shivered. "You were quite feisty at the beginning. I rather enjoyed it."
"And then... spells." Marion's brow furrowed as she tried to organize the fragmented memories. "Lots of spells. And... and tickling. So much tickling."
"Mmmhm." Velouria's hand continued its lazy exploration, drawing patterns across Marion's exposed chest. "And how did the tickling feel, Ruby? Do you remember?"
"Good," she gasped. "It felt... so good. I didn't want it to. But it did."
"That's right." Velouria's smile was pure satisfaction. "And why did it feel good?"
"Because you... you changed it. Made it..." Marion struggled for the word. "Made it... pleasure. Both at once."
"Clever girl." The praise sent a warm flush through Marion's chest. "You remember more than I expected. That's good. That means there's more of you left to work with."
She leaned down, bringing her face close to Marion's, and Marion felt her heart pulse more heavily. Even now- especially now - Velouria was breathtakingly beautiful. The kind of beauty that made you want to drown in it.
"Do you remember what I told you, Ruby? About what you're going to become?"
Marion's thoughts moved sluggishly, trying to piece together fragments of conversation that felt like they had happened in a dream.
"You said... you're building something. A family." The words came slowly, each one requiring effort to retrieve. "You said I was going to be... transformed."
"Exactly." Velouria pressed a gentle, maternal kiss to Marion's forehead. "You're going to help me, Ruby. When I'm finished with you, you're going to go out into the world on my behalf. You're going to use all those skills you've spent a lifetime developing. Your seduction, your persuasion, the ability to make anyone feel special, and you're going to bring me new sisters. New family members."
Marion nodded slowly. The plan made sense to her, in a distant sort of way. She had always been good at bringing people to her. Why should this be any different?
"But first," Velouria continued, "we need to finish what we've started. The Befuddlement has softened your mind, but there's still resistance in there. Still a core of you that's fighting against what you're becoming."
"Jester," Marion whispered, and she wasn't sure why. An expression of annoyance flickered over Velouria's face, and was quickly masked.
"Yes. Your daughter. She's what you've been clinging to, isn't she? The last anchor keeping you from fully surrendering."
"I love her." The words came automatically, bypassing the fog in Marion's mind. "She's my everything."
"I know." Velouria stroked Marion's hair. "And that love is beautiful. But it's also what's holding you back. As long as you're clinging to her memory, you can't fully become what I need you to be."
"I can't... I can't forget her." Even through the Befuddlement, even with her thoughts moving like molasses, Marion felt something fierce stir in her chest. "I won't."
Velouria studied her for a long moment, something calculating in her ancient eyes.
"Perhaps," she said finally, "we don't need to make you forget her entirely. Perhaps we just need to... reframe the relationship."
She snapped her fingers, and the shadow-chains materialized again, wrapping around Marion's wrists and ankles and drawing her into a spread-eagle position on the bed. Marion didn't resist - she wasn't sure she had the strength to resist anymore, even if she'd wanted to.
"What if," Velouria continued, beginning to trace her claws lightly down Marion's sides, "serving me was how you showed your love for Jester? What if, by becoming my servant, you were protecting her?"
Marion gasped and giggled on the bed at the tickly touches as she tried to focus on the words. They didn't make sense. How could serving this monster protect her daughter?
"Think about it," Velouria said, her touch dancing across Marion's ribs with a touch as maddening and light as feathers. "As long as you're useful to me, I have no reason to pursue other targets. Other family members of the Mighty Nein. Other... daughters."
Cold fear cut through the pleasure-haze in Marion's mind. "You wouldn't."
"I wouldn't have to." Velouria's smile was gentle, understanding. "Not if you give me what I want. Not if you stop fighting and let yourself become what you're meant to be."
She tickled her fingers over Marion's hipbones, and Marion's body began to shake with suppressed laughter. The enchantments from before were still active - every ticklish sensation was laced with pleasure that built and built without release.
"Deeper," Velouria whispered, and Marion moaned as the trigger activated, pleasure blooming between her legs. "Sink deeper for me, Ruby. Let go of the resistance. Accept what you're becoming. Do it for Jester. Do it to protect her."
It was manipulation. Even with her clouded mind, Marion could recognize that much. Velouria was twisting her love for her daughter, weaponizing it against her.
But... if Marion surrendered, Jester would be safe. If Marion became what Velouria wanted, the succubus would have no reason to target her daughter. It was protection. It was sacrifice. It was what mothers did.
"I..." Marion's voice faltered as Velouria's claws found her armpits, and helpless giggles began to spill from her lips. "I don't... hehehe... I don't want to... hahaha... to fight anymore..."
"Then don't." Velouria's voice was warm, approving. "Stop fighting. Let yourself feel good. Let yourself serve."
"I... hahahaha... I want... hehehehe..."
"Say it. Tell me you want to serve me. Tell me you want to be mine."
Marion felt the last of her resistance crumbling. The tickling was unbearable. Unbearable pleasure, unbearable sensation that left no room for thought or doubt or fear. There was only the feeling, only Velouria's voice, only the simple, beautiful promise of surrender.
"I want... hahahaha... I want to serve you... hehehehe... I want to be yours... HAHAHAHA! Please!"
"Good girl." Veoluria's voice was thick with satisfaction. "Such a good girl."
And then she cast Dominate Person, and Marion felt the spell take hold like a key sliding into a lock.
Velouria had been right. Surrendering was so much easier than fighting.
"Kneel," Velouria commanded, and Marion sank to her knees without thought, without hesitation. The position felt natural now. This was where she belonged: at her mistress's feet.
"Look at you," Velouria purred, circling her kneeling captive. "So beautiful like this. So obedient. Hard to believe you're the same woman who tried to fight me off just a few weeks ago."
"I was foolish, Mistress." Marion's voice came out soft, reverent. "I didn't understand then. I didn't understand how good it could feel to serve you."
"No, you didn't." Velouria stopped in front of her, tilting Marion's chin up with one clawed finger. "But you're learning. You're becoming everything I knew you could be."
Pride swelled in Marion's chest at the praise. Pleasing her mistress had become the center of her existence, the axis around which everything else rotated. Each approving word felt like a physical caress, each small smile like the sun breaking through clouds.
"But we're not done yet," Velouria continued. "There's still work to do. Still parts of you that need to be... refined."
The part of Marion that wanted to please her mistress felt hurt at these words.
"What have I done wrong?" she whined.
"I don't just want you obedient, Ruby. I want you enthusiastic. I want you to actively enjoy the work you'll be doing for me. And that means we need to adjust your... priorities."
"I don't understand, Mistress." The admission came easily, as there were so many things Marion didn't understand anymore. It had stopped bothering her.
"Of course you don't." Velouria's smile was almost fond.
"...and Jester?"
It was the one question, the one name, the succubus didn't want to hear. Her face contorted into a scowl as she began to pace, her tail lashing with agitation.
"I've broken queens and priestesses. I've corrupted paladins who swore oaths to gods of light. I reduced a High Sorceress of Tal'Dorei to a drooling mess who now spends her days as my footstool." Velouria whirled back to face Marion, her face twisted with rage. "But you - a glorified ***** with no magical training - you cling to your identity like a barnacle to a ship's hull!"
Marion's heart hammered against her ribs, but the terror she felt seemed muffled, as if experienced from behind a veil. The befuddlement spells had done their work well, and she could barely string two thoughts together anymore.
After days of careful work, the succubus had finally lost her patience. She stormed across the chamber, her wings flaring wide in her fury. They were magnificent things, leathery and dark, spanning nearly twenty feet when fully extended. Marion watched them with glassy fascination.
"You were supposed to be perfect," Velouria snarled, more to herself than to her captive. "The Ruby of the Sea, renowned across the coast for her sensuality, her skill, her ability to read desire in a single glance. With your connections and your fame, you could have drawn dozens of powerful marks into my web. You could have been my masterpiece - a hypnotic huntress who tickles and teases her prey into willing submission before delivering them to me."
She crouched before Marion, bringing their faces close. This near, Marion could smell her: brimstone and roses, sex and smoke.
"I can see it in you, pet. The potential. After everything I've done to you, you want to serve. Part of you craves the surrender, aches to simply let go and become what I'm making you." Velouria's clawed finger traced Marion's jaw. "Your body responds to me like a finely tuned instrument. Your mind bends beautifully under my spells. When I command you to pleasure me, you do so with genuine enthusiasm."
Her voice dropped to a dangerous purr. "But you won't give me all of it, will you? You're holding back the last piece - that final fragment of the woman you were. That tiresome love that ties you to the mortal world."
Marion's throat worked. Words bubbled up from somewhere deeper than thought. "She's... my daughter. My... Jester..."
The slap cracked across her face like a thunderbolt. Marion's head snapped to the side, stars exploding across her vision. When she looked back, Velouria was standing again, trembling with rage that made the air itself feel heavy.
"I don't want to hear that name," the succubus said, her voice deadly quiet. "I never want to hear you speak that name again."
Marion's cheek throbbed. But the pain had done something - cut through the fog, just for a moment. She looked up at Velouria with defiant eyes.
"Then... kill me," she rasped. "Because as long as I live... she exists. In me. You can take... everything else. But not... not her."
Velouria stared at her. For a long moment, the only sound was the distant pulse of infernal energy that powered the chamber's enchantments.
Then the succubus smiled. It was not a pleasant expression.
"Oh, you brave, foolish creature," she said softly. "You still think death is the worst thing I can do to you."
She turned away, moving to a far corner of the chamber where arcane implements and ingredients were arranged on shelves carved from black stone. She started pulling down various vials, crystals, chalk.
"I've been going about this wrong," Velouria mused as she worked. "I've been trying to break you with pleasure and pain, with magic and manipulation. But your resistance isn't physical or even magical - it's spiritual. That love you carry is as stubbornly protective as a holy relic. My powers can corrupt around it, but they can't seem to touch it directly."
She began drawing on the floor - a complex circle of interlocking sigils that made Marion's eyes water to look at. The script was Abyssal, she realized dimly. The language of demons.
"Fortunately," Velouria continued, "I know someone who specializes in exactly this kind of... spiritual surgery."
The circle began to glow, its light an ugly brownish-red like dried blood. The temperature in the chamber dropped sharply. Marion's breath fogged before her face.
"Where I come from, there are demons who deal in the unraveling of identity. They can finish what I've begun." Velouria's smile widened as she watched the portal take form. "I wasn't going to use such methods on you. I wanted to craft you myself, to savor every step of your corruption. But you've forced my hand, pet. That stubborn spark of yours has become an irritation I can no longer tolerate."
The center of the circle began to distort, reality bending and warping like a reflection in undulating water.
"No," Marion gasped. For the first time since her capture, genuine terror cut through the fog of her conditioning. A fear of being unmade so completely that not even a memory of her true self would remain. "No, please-!"
"There's the fear I wanted to see." Velouria grabbed Marion by the hair and hauled her to her feet. The tiefling's legs buckled. She'd been kept kneeling so long she'd nearly forgotten how to stand, but the succubus held her upright with supernatural strength. "Don't worry, my pet. You won't remember this fear for long. You won't remember anything that doesn't serve my purposes."
She dragged Marion toward the portal. The closer they got, the more wrong it felt - like approaching a wound in the fabric of existence itself. The air itself tasted of despair.
"When you come back to me - and you will come back - you'll be everything I need," Velouria purred into Marion's ear. "A perfect huntress. A master of seduction and subtle torture. You'll lure my targets in with that famous beauty of yours, hypnotize them with those lovely eyes, and then..."
She skittered her claws down Marion's ribs, making her gasp and writhe. "You'll tickle the sanity right out of them. You'll make them laugh until they cry, cry until they break, break until they're ready to be claimed."
"Please..." Marion's voice cracked. The word came out desperate, degraded - the plea of a woman who had already lost so much and couldn't bear to lose the last precious fragment. "Please don't take her from me. Take anything else. I'll serve you. I'll do everything you ask. Just... just let me remember-!"
Marion felt the pull of the portal behind her, something that tugged at the threads of her being itself. She could feel it already beginning to work, reality loosening its grip on her, her sense of self starting to fray at the edges.
"That's exactly the problem, pet." Velouria's voice hardened. "As long as you remember her, you'll never be truly mine. And I don't share."
The succcubus shoved her into the portal, and Marion Lavorre - the Ruby of the Sea, mother to Jester, beloved courtesan of the Menagerie Coast - ceased to exist.
End of Part One.
In which Marion Lavorre runs afoul of a succubus that tickles her, brings her to orgasm, and hypnotizes her to serve her.
Tickling | Bondage | Hypnosis | Lesbian | Dub-con | Large dildo
The Shattered Ruby - Part One
Marion Lavorre sat at a desk in her private study, sorting through the day's correspondence. Soon she would need to descend and greet her guests at the Lavish Chateau, so she knew she needed to read quickly.
Most of the requests were familiar to her - merchants seeking companionship for business dinners, nobles desiring arm candy for galas, the occasional lonely soul simply wanting someone beautiful to listen to their troubles.
But a letter sealed with deep violet wax caught her attention. The seal bore a house sigil she didn't recognize - an intricate spiral pattern. She broke the seal, and found the parchment within was expensive, the handwriting elegant and flowing.
To the celebrated Ruby of the Sea,
Your reputation precedes you across all corners of Wildemount and beyond. I am a collector of rare experiences, and I find myself drawn to Nicodranas specifically to seek your legendary company. I wish to arrange an extended engagement. A live-in arrangement, if you would consider it, for a period of no less than one month.
I have taken the liberty of arranging a substantial deposit with your establishment's keeper. You will find ten thousand gold pieces awaiting your confirmation, with an additional ten thousand upon completion of our arrangement.
My tastes run toward the... theatrical. I prefer my companions dressed in attire that celebrates their beauty without unnecessary modesty. I trust this will not be an issue for one of your experience and confidence.
I shall arrive three days hence, at the hour when the moon first touches the harbor waters.
With anticipation, Lady Velouria Nighthollow
Marion read the letter twice, astounded. Twenty thousand coins was an extraordinary sum, enough to fund the Chateau's operations for months, perhaps even pay for a renovation or expansion of some sort.
The requests were not unusual. In her many years as the Ruby of the Sea, Marion had entertained clients with far more exotic preferences. Revealing attire? She had gowns that made "revealing" seem quaint. Extended arrangements? She had once spent three months as the exclusive companion to a sultan from across the Lucidian Ocean.
Still, something about the letter made her tail twitch - the strange and unrecognizable spiral seal, for example, and the peculiar phrasing of "collector of rare experiences."
"Bluud," she called out. The door opened to admit the Chateau's imposing bouncer.
"Yes, Mistress Marion?" he asked.
"Has anyone delivered a deposit today? A substantial one?"
"Aye. Chest arrived this morning by private courier. Ten thousand gold, verified by three separate counters." He paused. "Strangest thing, though. The courier... I couldn't quite remember his face the moment he left. Like trying to hold water in my fist."
Marion's golden eyes narrowed. "Thank you, Bluud. That will be all."
Alone again, she held the letter up to the dying sunlight. A collector. An enormous sum. Magical couriers with forgettable faces.
Either very wealthy, or very dangerous, she mused. Perhaps both.
In her experience, the two often went hand in hand.
She should refuse. Every instinct honed by decades in a profession that required reading people like open books told her this client carried secrets that were likely malevolent. The smart play was to return the deposit, send polite regrets, and forget Lady Velouria Nighthollow had ever written.
Instead, Marion found herself reaching for her quill.
Part One: The Serpent's Smile
The night Lady Velouria Nighthollow was to arrive, Marion chose her attire with the deliberate care of a general inspecting the plates of his armor. Since her client had requested something that "celebrated beauty without unnecessary modesty," she had chosen a gown of sheer blue silk that clung to her curves, the fabric so fine it revealed tantalizing hints of the ruby-red skin beneath. Golden chains draped across her décolletage, drawing the eye to the generous swell of her breasts. Her dark red hair was pinned up in an elaborate arrangement that left her bare neck exposed.Let this Lady Nighthollow see what twenty thousand gold purchases, Marion thought as she examined herself in the full-length mirror.
The knock came precisely as the moon's reflection first touched the harbor waters visible through her window. Marion's tail swished with anticipation as she called, "enter."
The woman who stepped through the door quite literally took Marion's breath away.
Lady Velouria Nighthollow sauntered into the room with a grace that was almost catlike. Her hair cascaded past her shoulders in waves of a deep, rich blue. Her skin was pale and flawless, seeming almost as if it glowed with its own inner luminescence. Her midnight purple gown hugged her slender form, cut daringly low in the front, and a slit that rose high on both thighs.
Her eyes, however, were what arrested Marion's attention. They were violet, deep and swirling with hypnotic depths that seemed to contain galaxies. When they met Marion's gaze, Marion felt a strange flutter in her chest - a sensation she hadn't experienced since her youth, that made her feel girlish and giddy.
"The Ruby of the Sea," Velouria purred, "the portraits do not do you justice."
"Lady Nighthollow," Marion replied, offering a warm smile as she rose from her chaise. "Welcome to the Lavish Chateau. I trust your journey was pleasant?"
"It was... adequate." Velouria glided into the room, her movements hypnotic. "But I find the destination far more interesting than any journey could be."
Those violet eyes swept over Marion's form, lingering on the curves visible through the sheer silk, and Marion felt heat rise in her cheeks. She was accustomed to being desired - it was, after all, her profession - but something in Velouria's gaze felt different. Hungrier.
Marion offered her some wine, and she graciously accepted. They sat on the chaise together, both signaling warmth and availability to the other.
"Your letter mentioned you are a collector," Marion probed. "Of experiences."
Velouria nodded in affirmation.
"I have traveled extensively," she elaborated, "sampled pleasures from every corner of this world and others. But I have never tasted the legendary Ruby of the Sea."
"I am flattered," Marion said with a smile. "Tell me, what experiences do you hope to collect during your stay?"
Velouria sipped her wine, those violet eyes never leaving Marion's face. "I have heard tales of your talents. Your beauty, of course, is evident. But they say you possess other gifts. The ability to make anyone feel witnessed, and understood. Even... desired."
She was moving closer now, each step deliberate, her hips swaying with hypnotic rhythm. The firelight caught in her blue hair, making it shimmer like the sea at night.
"I have known many partners over the years," Marion replied carefully, not retreating but not advancing either. "Some have understood me quite well."
"Partners?" Velouria laughed, "I speak of something deeper than partnership, Ruby. I speak of surrender."
She was close now, close enough that Marion could smell her perfume. It was something dark and intoxicating, like night-blooming flowers with an undertone of something else. Something that made Marion's head swim pleasantly.
"You are very forward, Lady Nighthollow," Marion managed, even as her body leaned toward the mysterious woman.
"Life is too short for coyness." Velouria's hand came up, fingertips tracing along Marion's jawline. "And you, beautiful Ruby, are too exquisite for hesitation."
Those violet eyes captured Marion's golden ones, and for a moment, the tiefling felt herself drowning in their swirling depths. So beautiful. So deep. She could lose herself in those eyes forever...
Marion's hand came up, catching Velouria's wrist in a grip that was gentle but firm. "I appreciate enthusiasm, Lady Nighthollow. But I set the pace in my own chambers."
"How... interesting." Velouria's smile didn't waver, but there was a new edge to it. "Most cannot resist my charms."
"I am not most." Marion released the woman's wrist, creating distance between them with a graceful step backward. "Now, perhaps we should discuss the terms of our arrangement more thoroughly before-"
She never finished the sentence.
Velouria moved like liquid shadow, faster than any human should be able to move. One moment she was an arm's length away; the next, she was pressed against Marion's side, her arm snaking around the tiefling's waist.
"I do so admire will," Velouria whispered, her lips brushing Marion's ear. "It makes the breaking so much sweeter."
Marion reacted on instinct honed by years of navigating dangerous situations. She twisted, bringing her elbow up sharply toward Velouria's face. The blow should have connected - would have connected with any normal opponent.
Instead, Velouria flowed around it like water around a stone, her body bending at an angle that seemed impossible. She caught Marion's arm, using the tiefling's own momentum to spin her.
For a breathless moment, they were face to face, bodies pressed together. Velouria's smile was predatory now, all pretense of seduction replaced by raw hunger.
Marion stomped down, aiming for the arch of Velouria's foot. The blue-haired woman danced back, releasing her grip, and they circled each other like two predators assessing their prey.
"What are you?" Marion demanded, her chest heaving beneath the sheer silk. Her tail lashed behind her, finally freed from any pretense of composure.
Velouria lunged again, and this time Marion was ready - or thought she was. She blocked the first strike, a clawed hand aimed at her throat, and dodged the second, a sweeping kick that would have taken her legs out from under her.
But Velouria was relentless, her attacks coming faster and faster, each one probing Marion's defenses. She was playing with her, Marion realized with dawning horror. Testing her, and enjoying her struggle.
A feinted strike drew Marion's guard high, leaving her sides exposed. Velouria's fingers darted in - not to strike, but to tickle, dancing along Marion's ribs through the thin silk.
The unexpected sensation caused Marion to gasp, and her guard faltered for just a heartbeat. In that instant, Velouria pressed her advantage, her fingers wriggling upwards to explore the sensitive hollows of Marion's underarm.
"Ah-!" Marion twisted away, her face flushing with something between indignation and involuntary response. "What are you-!?"
"Discovering your weaknesses," Velouria purred, circling again. "Every gem has its flaws, Ruby. I intend to find all of yours."
They clashed again, and this time Marion landed a solid blow to Velouria's shoulder that would have staggered a normal woman. The blue-haired creature merely laughed, using the momentum to spin inside Marion's guard.
Fingers found Marion's other side, deftly poking across her ribs, and despite herself, a burst of surprised laughter escaped the tiefling's lips.
"There it is," Velouria crooned, her breath hot against Marion's neck. "The legendary poise, cracking already."
Marion drove her elbow backward, connecting this time, and broke free. But Velouria was on her again in an instant, grabbing Marion's wrists, forcing her arms up and back.
The position left Marion's torso completely exposed, the sheer silk doing nothing to protect her from the fingers that now explored her sides with wicked intent.
"Such a responsive body," Velouria murmured, her fingers walking up Marion's ribs like a spider. "I wonder what other sounds I can coax from this throat?"
"Unhand me!" Marion commanded, but her voice cracked as those devilish fingers found the hollow of her underarm again.
Laughter burst out of her again, bright, helpless and utterly undignified. Marion had held her own against all manner of royal scandals and assassination attempts, but now was giggling like a girl as this extraplanar creature tickled her mercilessly.
"Nahahat - stop - stop it!" she gasped between laughs, twisting and writhing in the creature's vice-like grip.
"But why would I stop?" Velouria asked innocently, switching to Marion's other underarm. "When you sing so beautifully?"
Marion's knees buckled as her carefully maintained poise crumbled. This was a torture she had no defense against, a vulnerability she had never thought to guard. Her body betrayed her utterly, responding to every touch with girlish laughter that echoed through the chamber.
"P-please," she managed, tears of mirth pouring from her eyes. "Please, I - AHAHAHA!"
Velouria had found a spot just below her ribs, her fingers digging in with devastating precision. Marion's laughter went silent, her body convulsing with the intensity of the sensation.
Just when Marion thought she might pass out from lack of air, Velouria released her wrists. The tiefling collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath, her elegant hairstyle half undone, her chest heaving.
Through the haze of exhaustion and lingering phantom tingles, Marion looked up. Her golden eyes widened at what she saw.
Velouria's form was changing. The pale skin took on a faintly purple hue, and spiralilng horns emerged from her forehead. Wings - leathery, bat-like wings - unfurled from her back.
"Succubus," Marion breathed, the word a curse and a realization.
"Hypnotic pattern," Velouria intoned in response, and Marion's world exploded into cascading lights.
They spiraled before Marion's eyes: beautiful, impossible colors that twisted and danced and demanded her attention. She tried to look away, but the patterns followed, burning themselves into her vision and into her thoughts.
So pretty, something whispered in her mind. Just watch. Just relax. Let the colors take you...
Marion's hands, which had been pushing her up from the floor, slowly lowered. Her golden eyes, wide and glassy, fixed on the swirling lights as her jaw went slack. The resistance, the fear, the desperate need to flee... all of it melted away like morning frost under a hot sun.
"That's better," Velouria purred, approaching the entranced tiefling. She cupped Marion's chin, tilting her face upward. The Ruby of the Sea stared back with vacant adoration, her lips slightly parted. "So much easier when you stop fighting, isn't it?"
"...yes," Marion breathed, the word barely audible.
Velouria smiled, showing teeth that were just slightly too sharp. "We're going to have such fun together, Ruby. You're going to tell me everything about your daughter and her little friends. The Mighty Nein, they call themselves?"
Somewhere, buried deep beneath the dancing lights and enforced compliance, a flicker of Marion's true self flashed a warning. Jester. She's after Jester.
But the lights were so pretty. And it was so much easier not to fight.
Part Two: The Breaking of Gems
Three days had passed since the succubus revealed her true nature, and Marion Lavorre had learned the true meaning of endurance.The private chambers that had once been her sanctuary were now her prison, a gilded cage transformed into an arena of sensation and torment. Velouria had warded the rooms with magic that prevented escape and muffled sound, ensuring complete and utter privacy for whatever delights the succubus wished to inflict. And oh, the delights had been extensive.
Marion hung suspended now from silken ropes enchanted to never chafe, her wrists bound above her head, her ankles spread and secured to iron rings the succubus had conjured from thin air. The sheer crimson gown she'd worn that first night was long gone, replaced by nothing at all: her ruby skin exposed completely to the cool air and Velouria's hungry gaze.
Every inch of her body ached with a strange mixture of exhaustion and arousal. The succubus had taken her repeatedly over the past three days, sometimes roughly, sometimes with devastating tenderness, always with the clear intent of breaking down her resistance piece by piece.
"You continue to impress me," Velouria murmured, circling her suspended captive. "Three days. Most mortals would have shattered by now. Begging, weeping, offering me anything to make it stop... or to make it never stop."
"I have... entertained more demanding clients... than you," Marion replied, her chest heaving with labored breath, and her voice hoarse from the screams and moans and laughter that had been wrung from her.
The tickling had been relentless. Velouria had discovered that Marion's body was exquisitely sensitive - her ribs, her underarms, even places she didn't know were ticklish like the curve of her hips and the backs of her knees. The succubus had exploited each weakness mercilessly, reducing the dignified Ruby of the Sea to helpless, shrieking laughter again and again until Marion's voice gave out.
And the sex... the sex had been unlike anything in Marion's considerable experience. Velouria could shift her form, could manifest... implements... that no mortal lover could match. Marion's body had been stretched, filled, used in ways that had her begging - sometimes for mercy, sometimes for more.
"You know," Velouria said, pausing her circuit to stand directly in front of Marion, "I've been collecting women like you for centuries. Powerful women. Experienced women. Mothers..."
Marion's golden eyes sharpened at that last word, and Velouria's smile widened.
"Oh yes, I know about your daughter. The Mighty Nein's precious little cleric. Jester, isn't it?" The succubus reached up to cup Marion's face, her touch mockingly gentle. "Such a spirited girl, from what I've heard. I wonder if she shares her mother's... sensitivity."
"Don't you dare," Marion growled, the first real heat in her voice since the morning of the second day. "Don't you dare touch my daughter."
"Touch her? Oh, sweet Ruby." Velouria leaned in close, her lips brushing Marion's ear. "I don't intend to touch her at all. That's what you're going to do. Eventually."
Marion's blood ran cold. "What?"
"I've decided to build a network," the succubus explained as she began to pace again. "An organization of beautiful, broken things who go out into the world on my behalf. They find new prey, new treasures, and bring them back to me. MILF's particularly. There's just something so delicious about a mother's love twisted into something darker."
"You're insane," Marion breathed.
"You should be flattered," Velouria persisted. "You're going to be the crown jewel of my collection. Not just a plaything - though you'll certainly be that. I'm going to remake you entirely. Break down that magnificent mind of yours and rebuild it to serve me. Transform you from courtesan to... corruptor."
She stopped in front of Marion again, reaching up to run her fingers through the tiefling's disheveled red hair. "Imagine it. The Ruby of the Sea, legendary seductress, using all her considerable skills to lure other beautiful women into my web. Your daughter's friends, perhaps. Or their mothers. So many possibilities."
"I would never-!"
"You will," Velouria said simply. "Everyone does, eventually. Your psyche is impressive, I'll grant you that. One of the strongest I've encountered on this coast. But it's not unbreakable. Nothing is unbreakable. It's simply a matter of finding the right... tools."
She snapped her fingers, and the air shimmered. A table materialized beside them, laden with objects that made Marion's stomach (and anus) clench with a mixture of dread and involuntary anticipation.
Feathers of impossible colors. Brushes with bristles that seemed to move on their own. Oils in crystalline vials that glowed with inner light. And implements of pleasure so large, so exotic, that Marion's experienced eyes widened in shock.
"Let's begin with a new game, shall we?" Velouria selected a vial of shimmering oil from the table, holding it up to the light. "This is distilled from the essence of a pit fiend's laughter - yes, I was also surprised to learn how ticklish they are! One drop makes the skin ten times more sensitive to touch. Two drops..." She smiled. "Well. Let's find out together."
"Wait-" Marion started, but Velouria was already unstoppering the vial.
She let two drops fall onto her fingertips, then brushed them slowly across Marion's ribs. The effect was instant and devastating. What had been mere sensitivity before became something overwhelming - every nerve ending in that area screamed to life, feeling the air itself as an almost unbearable caress.
Marion gasped, her body jerking in the bonds. "Oh... oh gods..."
"Mmm, not gods. Just me." Velouria applied more drops, painting Marion's underarms, her sides, her nipples. Each touch of the oil sent cascading waves of sensation through the tiefling's body. "Now, let's see how your vaunted endurance holds up against this."
The succubus selected a feather from the table - long, black, with barbs that shifted and curled independently. She brought it to Marion's hypersensitized ribs and drew it across in a single, slow stroke.
Marion's world exploded into sensation.
The laughter that tore from her throat was unlike anything she'd produced before - high, desperate, bordering on a scream. Her body thrashed wildly in the bonds, every muscle seizing as the enhanced nerves fired signals of unbearable, ticklish torment to her brain.
"AHAHAHAHA- PLEASE! PLEASE STOP! I CAN'T - NAHHAHAHA!!!"
"Can't what, Ruby?" Velouria asked, flicking the feather playfully over Marion's engorged nipples. "Can't take it? Can't endure? Can't maintain that precious dignity you've clung to so desperately?"
The feather danced across Marion's stomach, up her ribcage, into the hollows of her underarms. Each stroke sent fresh waves of maddening sensation through her body. Tears streamed down her ruby cheeks as she laughed and laughed and laughed, unable to stop, unable to do anything but experience the overwhelming assault on her senses.
"PLEASE - VELOURIA! STAHAP! AHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Stahap?" The succubus paused, letting Marion gasp for breath. "I don't know that word, Ruby. But I do know... deeper."
As the word left Velouria's lips, Marion felt something shift in her mind. It was like a magical compulsion taking root, burrowing into her consciousness. And then... pleasure. Raw, intense pleasure that pulsed between her legs, making her cry out.
"Wh-what..." Marion panted, her hips jerking involuntarily. "What did you...?"
"A little curse," Velouria purred. "Call it conditioning. Every time you hear that word - deeper - you'll feel that rush of pleasure. Every time you say it, the pleasure will be twice as intense." She leaned close, her violet eyes glowing. "And as we progress, as I take you deeper into submission..."
Marion moaned as another wave of pleasure crashed through her, her body arching in the bonds.
"...you'll begin to associate that word with me. With surrender. With the bliss of giving in." Velouria traced a finger down Marion's sternum, between her breasts, down her stomach. "Eventually, you won't be able to hear or speak that word without thinking of me. Without craving me."
"I won't... I won't let you..."
"Let me? Oh, Ruby." The succubus laughed, returning the feather to Marion's hypersensitive skin. "You don't have a choice. We're going to go deeper..."
Pleasure pulsed between Marion's legs.
"...and deeper..."
Another pulse, stronger this time.
"...and deeper..."
Marion's moan mingled with renewed laughter as Velouria resumed the tickle torture, her body caught between two overwhelming sensations - the unbearable ticklishness of her enhanced skin and the growing heat of magical arousal.
"PLEASE! AHAHAHA! I CAN'T - OH GODS, DEEPER - NO!" Marion's eyes went wide as she realized she'd said the word herself, and the pleasure that crashed through her was indeed twice as strong as before. Her back arched, a sound escaping her that was half laugh, half moan, entirely undignified.
"There it is," Velouria crooned, increasing the intensity of her ticklish assault. "The beginning of the end. Say it again, Ruby. You know you want to feel it again."
"N-no, AHAHAHA! I won't-"
"You will. Not now, perhaps. But soon. You'll say it because you need to. Because the pleasure will be the only relief from the torment. Because your magnificent mind will start to crave the word, crave the sensation, crave me."
The feather found a spot just between Marion's dripping pussy and puckered anus that made her scream with laughter, her vision going white at the edges. She could feel herself losing coherent thought, her world narrowing to nothing but sensation - ticklish torment and building pleasure warring for dominance in her overwhelmed nervous system.
"Now then," Velouria said, setting aside the feather. Marion slumped in her bonds, gasping, thinking perhaps she'd been granted respite. "Let's move on to the next phase."
The succubus reached for one of the larger implements on the table, and Marion's eyes went wide. It was immense, its surface rippling with veins and ridges. It looked like the phallus of a horse, and would have seemed comical if Marion wasn't currently bound and helpless before a creature who clearly intended to use it.
"This particular enchantment is a favorite of mine," Velouria said conversationally, running her fingers along the impossible length. "It adapts to its recipient. Always filling them just past the point of comfort. Always finding those spots that make rational thought... difficult. And it vibrates in patterns designed by a mad wizard who specialized in pleasure magic. He went insane trying to test it on himself, you know. A wonderful gift before I consumed his soul."
"That's... that won't... you can't possibly-!" Marion stammered.
"Can't I?" Velouria positioned herself between Marion's spread legs, the enchanted implement hovering at her entrance. "Let's find out together. And remember, Ruby: every time you hear the word, every time you feel yourself going deeper..."
Marion cried out as pleasure pulsed through her even as the implement began to press forward. It was too much, she thought wildly. Too large, too...
But it was adapting, she realized with horror and dawning pleasure. Stretching her in ways that felt impossible yet somehow manageable. The veined surface rippled against her inner walls, finding every sensitive spot, and when it began to vibrate...
"Ohhhh" Marion cried out in spite of herself, arching her hips to accommodate the girth of the massive horsecock.
"That's it," Velouria murmured, beginning to move the implement in slow, devastating strokes. "Let go. Stop fighting. Go deeper."
Pleasure crashed through Marion's core even as the implement drove into her. She could feel her thoughts scattering, her legendary resistance crumbling under the dual assault of magical arousal and physical stimulation.
"The word will become your anchor," Velouria continued, her free hand returning to Marion's hypersensitive sides, tickling in counterpoint to the thrusts. "Every time you resist, I'll use it. Every time you give in, I'll use it. Until your mind can't tell the difference between surrender and pleasure."
She leaned close, her lips brushing Marion's ear even as she drove the implement home with particular force. "I'm going to take you deeper..."
Marion moaned.
"...and deeper..."
Her hips bucked against her will.
"...until there's nothing left of the Ruby of the Sea but my beautiful, broken toy. And then, once you've completely surrendered, I'll rebuild you. Give you new purpose. New hungers." Velouria's tongue licked the rim of Marion's ear. "You're going to help me collect so many pretty mothers, Ruby. Starting, perhaps, with the mothers of your daughter's friends. Wouldn't that be delicious?"
"NeHAHAnever! Oh gods, OH! OH! DEEPER-!"
The word escaped Marion's lips before she could stop it, wrenched out by the overwhelming combination of ticklish torment and mounting pleasure. And the rush that followed, the intense, mind-blanking surge of arousal, made her scream in something that was definitely not pain.
"There it is," Velouria purred with deep satisfaction. "The first crack. The first voluntary surrender. You said the word yourself, Ruby. You chose the pleasure."
"I didn't - I didn't mean-"
"Of course you didn't. Not consciously. But your body knows what it wants. Your mind is learning what it needs." The succubus's smile was radiant with dark joy. "We're making such wonderful progress."
Marion whimpered as pleasure pulsed through her once more, and somewhere in the depths of her fracturing mind, she felt the first true tendrils of fear take root. Because despite everything - despite her decades of experience, her iron will, her legendary composure - she was beginning to wonder if Velouria might be right.
She was beginning to wonder if she might actually break.
Part 3: The Drowning Deep
She had lost count of the days. The succubus's chambers existed outside of time, it seemed, lit only by the soft phosphorescence of arcane crystals and the occasional flicker of hellfire in the hearth.Marion hung suspended in a web of magical shadow-chains, her body arranged in a spread-eagle position that left every inch of her ruby skin exposed and vulnerable. Her chest heaved with each labored breath, the aftermath of the latest session still trembling through her nerve endings
Hold on, she told herself, the thought swimming through the haze that clouded her mind. Jester needs you. The Chateau needs you. Hold on.
But holding on grew harder with each passing hour.
"You continue to impress me, Ruby," Velouria purred, one clawed fingertip tracing a lazy pattern down Marion's ribs. The touch sent involuntary shivers through Marion's frame - her skin had been rendered exquisitely sensitive by days of relentless stimulation, every nerve ending inflamed at the slightest contact.
Marion's golden eyes were glazed with exhaustion, but she remained defiant.
"I have... weathered many storms," she managed, her voice hoarse from screaming. From moaning. From the endless sounds that Velouria had wrung from her throat like a musician coaxing notes from an instrument. "You are not... the first to think they could break me."
"Perhaps," Velouria said with a wicked grin as she held up a crystalline wand so that Ruby could see. "But I suspect I am the first who truly knows how to. Do you know what Befuddlement does, my precious Ruby?"
Marion's confused expression gave her the answer.
"It's a delicious little spell. It corrodes the mind... intelligence, wisdom, charisma... all the pillars of your formidable psyche, crumbling like sandcastles before the tide."
Marion's breath took on a ragged rasp of fear. She had felt magic wash over her many times in recent days - the invasive tendrils of Dominate Person clawing at her will, the maddening compulsion of suggestions whispered into her ear. But this... this sounded different. More permanent.
"The beauty of it," Velouria continued, circling behind Marion where she couldn't see, "is that it doesn't simply destroy. It transforms. All that wit, all that wisdom you've accumulated over your decades of life... it doesn't disappear. It simply... redirects. Toward more useful pursuits."
"You won't..." Marion retorted, her voice cracking. "I won't let you!"
"Darling, you stopped being able to 'let' me do anything days ago," Velouria laughed. "But I appreciate the spirit. Truly. It makes the eventual surrender so much sweeter."
The succubus appeared before Marion again, the crystalline wand held aloft. Its opalescent surface swirled with colors that seemed to pull at Marion's attention, drawing her gaze despite her desperate attempts to look away.
"We'll start slowly," Velouria said, her voice dropping to a hypnotic murmur. "Just a taste. I want you to understand what's happening to you, after all. I want you to feel yourself slipping away."
She brought the wand to Marion's temple, and Marion felt the first touch of the spell like ice water poured directly onto her brain. The incantation that fell from Velouria's lips was in a language older than any she recognized, each syllable landing like a physical blow against the fortress of Marion's mind.
The Befuddlement took hold of her psyche gradually. It didn't have the sudden assault of Dominate Person, but washed over her in slow and gentle rhythms. Marion felt her thoughts begin to slow, to simplify. Complex concepts that had been second nature to her, such as the intricate dance of social politics, the subtle art of reading a client's true desires, the thousand small decisions that went into running the Lavish Chateau - all began to feel distant. Difficult.
"What are you..." The words came out slurred, and Marion's brow furrowed in confusion. Speaking had never been difficult before. She was known for her eloquence, her ability to charm and persuade with nothing but her voice. Why did her tongue feel so clumsy now?
"Shhhh." Velouria stroked Marion's cheek. "Don't fight it, Ruby. Fighting only makes it worse. Let yourself sink... deeper."
Another pulse of pleasure, stronger this time, flooding through Marion's core and making coherent thought even harder to grasp. She moaned, her body arching in the chains, and somewhere in the receding tide of her intellect, she understood what was happening. The curse and the spell were working in tandem - every wave of pleasure washing away a little more of who she was, the Befuddlement eroding the walls she had spent a lifetime building.
"There we go," Velouria cooed. "Doesn't that feel nice? All those heavy thoughts, all that responsibility... you don't need any of that anymore. You just need to feel good. You just need to obey."
"No..." But the protest was weak, barely more than a whisper.
Velouria picked up one of the enchanted feathers - this one glowing with a soft pink light that made Marion's sensitized skin tingle just from proximity. "Let's see how our progress is going, shall we?"
The feather descended toward Marion's exposed armpit, and Marion tensed instinctively. After days of relentless tickling, her body had developed an almost Pavlovian response to certain stimuli. She knew what was coming. She dreaded what was coming.
But when the feather made contact, the sensation that exploded through her was unlike anything she had experienced before. The tickling was still there - that maddening, inescapable sensation that made her muscles seize and her lungs gasp for air between helpless peals of laughter. But layered beneath it, woven through it like threads of silk, was... pleasure. Pure, undiluted pleasure that seemed to originate from the same point as the ticklish sensation and radiate outward through her entire body.
"HAHAHA! OH GODS! HAHAHA - what - HAHAHA! What did you-"
"A little modification to Tasha's Hideous Laughter," Velouria explained conversationally, continuing to trace the glowing feather through the sensitive hollow of Marion's armpit. "The standard version simply incapacitates with uncontrollable mirth. But with a few... adjustments... we can make the laughter itself pleasurable. Addictive, even."
She swept the feather down Marion's side, travelling along the side of her breasts and swirling over a nipple, and Marion's screaming laughter pitched higher. It was agony and ecstasy combined: every nerve ending simultaneously flaring with ticklish torment and throbbing with arousal. Her hips rolled desperately against nothing, seeking attention that wasn't there, while her upper body thrashed in the chains trying to escape the feather's merciless path.
"Deeper," Velouria whispered, and the word triggered another cascade of pleasure that pushed Marion's overstimulated mind even further toward the edge.
"PLEASE! HAHAHA! PLEASE STOP! HAHA! I CAN'T-"
"Can't what, Ruby?" The feather dragged down Marion's leg towards her foot, and she shrieked with a sound that was equal parts laughter and moan. "Can't think? Can't remember who you are? Can't distinguish anymore between torture and pleasure?"
All of those things. All of those things and more. The Befuddlement was working its way deeper into Marion's psyche, and with each burst of combined ticklish-pleasure, she felt another piece of herself slip away. The name of her favorite wine... gone. The color of the curtains in her private chambers... gone. The way Jester had looked when...
Jester. The name cut through the haze like a blade, and Marion seized onto it with desperate strength. Her daughter. Her beautiful, chaotic, beloved daughter who painted dicks on everything and talked to the Traveler and had grown into the most wonderful woman Marion could have imagined.
She couldn't forget Jester. She wouldn't.
Velouria noticed the shift immediately. Her eyes narrowed, and the feather paused its torment. "Ah. There's still something in there, isn't there? Something you're clinging to."
Marion said nothing, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her body trembling.
When awareness returned, it came slowly, like light filtering through deep water. Marion blinked. The chains were gone, replaced by something softer... silk, she thought, though the word took longer to find than it should have. She was lying on something plush. A bed, perhaps.
Her body ached, and her mind... felt quiet.
"You're awake." Velouria’s voice came from somewhere nearby. "Good. I was beginning to wonder if I'd pushed too hard."
Marion turned her head slowly, because even that small movement felt like an effort. She saw the succubus lounging on the chaise nearby, watching her with those glowing eyes.
"How do you feel, Ruby?"
The question seemed to take forever to process. How did she feel? She wasn't sure. Her body felt heavy and light at the same time. Her mind felt... empty, but not unpleasantly so. Like a room that had been cleared of all its furniture, leaving only clean space behind.
"I feel..." Marion's brow furrowed. Words were difficult now. "I feel... different."
"Mmmm." Velouria rose from the chaise and glided toward the bed, her movements hypnotically graceful. "The Befuddlement has taken hold. Not fully yet, as you're too strong for a single casting to do the job completely... but enough that you should notice the changes."
She sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to stroke Marion's cheek. Marion found herself leaning into the contact, craving the warmth of it.
"Your intelligence has dropped significantly," Velouria continued. "Complex thoughts will be harder to form and maintain. Abstract reasoning will feel like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. And your wisdom..." She smiled. "All those years of experience, all those lessons learned... they're still in there somewhere, but accessing them will be like trying to read a book in a language you've half-forgotten."
Marion knew she should be horrified. Some distant part of her - the part that was still her, still the Ruby of the Sea who had built an empire of pleasure and influence with nothing but her wits and her will - screamed in muted protest.
But the rest of her... the rest of her felt... grateful. All those heavy thoughts, all that responsibility... Velouria had been right. She didn't need them anymore. It was easier this way. Simpler.
"Now," Velouria said, her voice taking on that hypnotic quality that made Marion's thoughts scatter, "I want you to tell me something. What do you remember about why you're here?"
The question floated through Marion's emptied mind, looking for something to connect to.
"I... there was a client request," she said slowly. "At the Chateau. You... you offered a lot of money."
"Very good. What else?"
"We... we fought. At first." The memory surfaced like a bubble rising through water. "You touched me. I tried to stop you. You... laughed."
"I did." Velouria's fingers traced down Marion's neck, along her collarbone, and Marion shivered. "You were quite feisty at the beginning. I rather enjoyed it."
"And then... spells." Marion's brow furrowed as she tried to organize the fragmented memories. "Lots of spells. And... and tickling. So much tickling."
"Mmmhm." Velouria's hand continued its lazy exploration, drawing patterns across Marion's exposed chest. "And how did the tickling feel, Ruby? Do you remember?"
"Good," she gasped. "It felt... so good. I didn't want it to. But it did."
"That's right." Velouria's smile was pure satisfaction. "And why did it feel good?"
"Because you... you changed it. Made it..." Marion struggled for the word. "Made it... pleasure. Both at once."
"Clever girl." The praise sent a warm flush through Marion's chest. "You remember more than I expected. That's good. That means there's more of you left to work with."
She leaned down, bringing her face close to Marion's, and Marion felt her heart pulse more heavily. Even now- especially now - Velouria was breathtakingly beautiful. The kind of beauty that made you want to drown in it.
"Do you remember what I told you, Ruby? About what you're going to become?"
Marion's thoughts moved sluggishly, trying to piece together fragments of conversation that felt like they had happened in a dream.
"You said... you're building something. A family." The words came slowly, each one requiring effort to retrieve. "You said I was going to be... transformed."
"Exactly." Velouria pressed a gentle, maternal kiss to Marion's forehead. "You're going to help me, Ruby. When I'm finished with you, you're going to go out into the world on my behalf. You're going to use all those skills you've spent a lifetime developing. Your seduction, your persuasion, the ability to make anyone feel special, and you're going to bring me new sisters. New family members."
Marion nodded slowly. The plan made sense to her, in a distant sort of way. She had always been good at bringing people to her. Why should this be any different?
"But first," Velouria continued, "we need to finish what we've started. The Befuddlement has softened your mind, but there's still resistance in there. Still a core of you that's fighting against what you're becoming."
"Jester," Marion whispered, and she wasn't sure why. An expression of annoyance flickered over Velouria's face, and was quickly masked.
"Yes. Your daughter. She's what you've been clinging to, isn't she? The last anchor keeping you from fully surrendering."
"I love her." The words came automatically, bypassing the fog in Marion's mind. "She's my everything."
"I know." Velouria stroked Marion's hair. "And that love is beautiful. But it's also what's holding you back. As long as you're clinging to her memory, you can't fully become what I need you to be."
"I can't... I can't forget her." Even through the Befuddlement, even with her thoughts moving like molasses, Marion felt something fierce stir in her chest. "I won't."
Velouria studied her for a long moment, something calculating in her ancient eyes.
"Perhaps," she said finally, "we don't need to make you forget her entirely. Perhaps we just need to... reframe the relationship."
She snapped her fingers, and the shadow-chains materialized again, wrapping around Marion's wrists and ankles and drawing her into a spread-eagle position on the bed. Marion didn't resist - she wasn't sure she had the strength to resist anymore, even if she'd wanted to.
"What if," Velouria continued, beginning to trace her claws lightly down Marion's sides, "serving me was how you showed your love for Jester? What if, by becoming my servant, you were protecting her?"
Marion gasped and giggled on the bed at the tickly touches as she tried to focus on the words. They didn't make sense. How could serving this monster protect her daughter?
"Think about it," Velouria said, her touch dancing across Marion's ribs with a touch as maddening and light as feathers. "As long as you're useful to me, I have no reason to pursue other targets. Other family members of the Mighty Nein. Other... daughters."
Cold fear cut through the pleasure-haze in Marion's mind. "You wouldn't."
"I wouldn't have to." Velouria's smile was gentle, understanding. "Not if you give me what I want. Not if you stop fighting and let yourself become what you're meant to be."
She tickled her fingers over Marion's hipbones, and Marion's body began to shake with suppressed laughter. The enchantments from before were still active - every ticklish sensation was laced with pleasure that built and built without release.
"Deeper," Velouria whispered, and Marion moaned as the trigger activated, pleasure blooming between her legs. "Sink deeper for me, Ruby. Let go of the resistance. Accept what you're becoming. Do it for Jester. Do it to protect her."
It was manipulation. Even with her clouded mind, Marion could recognize that much. Velouria was twisting her love for her daughter, weaponizing it against her.
But... if Marion surrendered, Jester would be safe. If Marion became what Velouria wanted, the succubus would have no reason to target her daughter. It was protection. It was sacrifice. It was what mothers did.
"I..." Marion's voice faltered as Velouria's claws found her armpits, and helpless giggles began to spill from her lips. "I don't... hehehe... I don't want to... hahaha... to fight anymore..."
"Then don't." Velouria's voice was warm, approving. "Stop fighting. Let yourself feel good. Let yourself serve."
"I... hahahaha... I want... hehehehe..."
"Say it. Tell me you want to serve me. Tell me you want to be mine."
Marion felt the last of her resistance crumbling. The tickling was unbearable. Unbearable pleasure, unbearable sensation that left no room for thought or doubt or fear. There was only the feeling, only Velouria's voice, only the simple, beautiful promise of surrender.
"I want... hahahaha... I want to serve you... hehehehe... I want to be yours... HAHAHAHA! Please!"
"Good girl." Veoluria's voice was thick with satisfaction. "Such a good girl."
And then she cast Dominate Person, and Marion felt the spell take hold like a key sliding into a lock.
Part 4: The Ruby Transformed
The training continued for what might have been days or weeks, as time had lost all meaning in their shared quarters. But it was different now. Where before Marion had fought against every sensation, every spell, every command, now she floated in a warm haze of compliance, eager to please, desperate to prove herself worthy.Velouria had been right. Surrendering was so much easier than fighting.
"Kneel," Velouria commanded, and Marion sank to her knees without thought, without hesitation. The position felt natural now. This was where she belonged: at her mistress's feet.
"Look at you," Velouria purred, circling her kneeling captive. "So beautiful like this. So obedient. Hard to believe you're the same woman who tried to fight me off just a few weeks ago."
"I was foolish, Mistress." Marion's voice came out soft, reverent. "I didn't understand then. I didn't understand how good it could feel to serve you."
"No, you didn't." Velouria stopped in front of her, tilting Marion's chin up with one clawed finger. "But you're learning. You're becoming everything I knew you could be."
Pride swelled in Marion's chest at the praise. Pleasing her mistress had become the center of her existence, the axis around which everything else rotated. Each approving word felt like a physical caress, each small smile like the sun breaking through clouds.
"But we're not done yet," Velouria continued. "There's still work to do. Still parts of you that need to be... refined."
The part of Marion that wanted to please her mistress felt hurt at these words.
"What have I done wrong?" she whined.
"I don't just want you obedient, Ruby. I want you enthusiastic. I want you to actively enjoy the work you'll be doing for me. And that means we need to adjust your... priorities."
"I don't understand, Mistress." The admission came easily, as there were so many things Marion didn't understand anymore. It had stopped bothering her.
"Of course you don't." Velouria's smile was almost fond.
"...and Jester?"
It was the one question, the one name, the succubus didn't want to hear. Her face contorted into a scowl as she began to pace, her tail lashing with agitation.
"I've broken queens and priestesses. I've corrupted paladins who swore oaths to gods of light. I reduced a High Sorceress of Tal'Dorei to a drooling mess who now spends her days as my footstool." Velouria whirled back to face Marion, her face twisted with rage. "But you - a glorified ***** with no magical training - you cling to your identity like a barnacle to a ship's hull!"
Marion's heart hammered against her ribs, but the terror she felt seemed muffled, as if experienced from behind a veil. The befuddlement spells had done their work well, and she could barely string two thoughts together anymore.
After days of careful work, the succubus had finally lost her patience. She stormed across the chamber, her wings flaring wide in her fury. They were magnificent things, leathery and dark, spanning nearly twenty feet when fully extended. Marion watched them with glassy fascination.
"You were supposed to be perfect," Velouria snarled, more to herself than to her captive. "The Ruby of the Sea, renowned across the coast for her sensuality, her skill, her ability to read desire in a single glance. With your connections and your fame, you could have drawn dozens of powerful marks into my web. You could have been my masterpiece - a hypnotic huntress who tickles and teases her prey into willing submission before delivering them to me."
She crouched before Marion, bringing their faces close. This near, Marion could smell her: brimstone and roses, sex and smoke.
"I can see it in you, pet. The potential. After everything I've done to you, you want to serve. Part of you craves the surrender, aches to simply let go and become what I'm making you." Velouria's clawed finger traced Marion's jaw. "Your body responds to me like a finely tuned instrument. Your mind bends beautifully under my spells. When I command you to pleasure me, you do so with genuine enthusiasm."
Her voice dropped to a dangerous purr. "But you won't give me all of it, will you? You're holding back the last piece - that final fragment of the woman you were. That tiresome love that ties you to the mortal world."
Marion's throat worked. Words bubbled up from somewhere deeper than thought. "She's... my daughter. My... Jester..."
The slap cracked across her face like a thunderbolt. Marion's head snapped to the side, stars exploding across her vision. When she looked back, Velouria was standing again, trembling with rage that made the air itself feel heavy.
"I don't want to hear that name," the succubus said, her voice deadly quiet. "I never want to hear you speak that name again."
Marion's cheek throbbed. But the pain had done something - cut through the fog, just for a moment. She looked up at Velouria with defiant eyes.
"Then... kill me," she rasped. "Because as long as I live... she exists. In me. You can take... everything else. But not... not her."
Velouria stared at her. For a long moment, the only sound was the distant pulse of infernal energy that powered the chamber's enchantments.
Then the succubus smiled. It was not a pleasant expression.
"Oh, you brave, foolish creature," she said softly. "You still think death is the worst thing I can do to you."
She turned away, moving to a far corner of the chamber where arcane implements and ingredients were arranged on shelves carved from black stone. She started pulling down various vials, crystals, chalk.
"I've been going about this wrong," Velouria mused as she worked. "I've been trying to break you with pleasure and pain, with magic and manipulation. But your resistance isn't physical or even magical - it's spiritual. That love you carry is as stubbornly protective as a holy relic. My powers can corrupt around it, but they can't seem to touch it directly."
She began drawing on the floor - a complex circle of interlocking sigils that made Marion's eyes water to look at. The script was Abyssal, she realized dimly. The language of demons.
"Fortunately," Velouria continued, "I know someone who specializes in exactly this kind of... spiritual surgery."
The circle began to glow, its light an ugly brownish-red like dried blood. The temperature in the chamber dropped sharply. Marion's breath fogged before her face.
"Where I come from, there are demons who deal in the unraveling of identity. They can finish what I've begun." Velouria's smile widened as she watched the portal take form. "I wasn't going to use such methods on you. I wanted to craft you myself, to savor every step of your corruption. But you've forced my hand, pet. That stubborn spark of yours has become an irritation I can no longer tolerate."
The center of the circle began to distort, reality bending and warping like a reflection in undulating water.
"No," Marion gasped. For the first time since her capture, genuine terror cut through the fog of her conditioning. A fear of being unmade so completely that not even a memory of her true self would remain. "No, please-!"
"There's the fear I wanted to see." Velouria grabbed Marion by the hair and hauled her to her feet. The tiefling's legs buckled. She'd been kept kneeling so long she'd nearly forgotten how to stand, but the succubus held her upright with supernatural strength. "Don't worry, my pet. You won't remember this fear for long. You won't remember anything that doesn't serve my purposes."
She dragged Marion toward the portal. The closer they got, the more wrong it felt - like approaching a wound in the fabric of existence itself. The air itself tasted of despair.
"When you come back to me - and you will come back - you'll be everything I need," Velouria purred into Marion's ear. "A perfect huntress. A master of seduction and subtle torture. You'll lure my targets in with that famous beauty of yours, hypnotize them with those lovely eyes, and then..."
She skittered her claws down Marion's ribs, making her gasp and writhe. "You'll tickle the sanity right out of them. You'll make them laugh until they cry, cry until they break, break until they're ready to be claimed."
"Please..." Marion's voice cracked. The word came out desperate, degraded - the plea of a woman who had already lost so much and couldn't bear to lose the last precious fragment. "Please don't take her from me. Take anything else. I'll serve you. I'll do everything you ask. Just... just let me remember-!"
Marion felt the pull of the portal behind her, something that tugged at the threads of her being itself. She could feel it already beginning to work, reality loosening its grip on her, her sense of self starting to fray at the edges.
"That's exactly the problem, pet." Velouria's voice hardened. "As long as you remember her, you'll never be truly mine. And I don't share."
The succcubus shoved her into the portal, and Marion Lavorre - the Ruby of the Sea, mother to Jester, beloved courtesan of the Menagerie Coast - ceased to exist.
End of Part One.
