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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Certainly hope you're having an easier time of it than I am sis." You say to yourself.

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

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

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

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

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

You nod silence and with a somewhat uplifted spirit.

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

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

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

"Shit." You say.
"Don't turn around. Alley. Now." A familiar voice says.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Currently the Guild doesn't have any plans other than the one involving the Neroth worshippers and making it look like the EC are attacking them. The only other plan you can tell Rook is your plan directly against Reginald, you just aren't sure Rook's going to find that one important enough and you'll end up having give out the Guild's plan anyway.

You give away your own plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Fuck!" you utter out loud and then Tanya grabs your tunic so you don't fall.

"Thanks." You say.

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

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

"Tanya?" you utter.

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

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

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

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

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

"Yinen?" you ask.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is really looking like the end for you, unless you can come up with something.

You try to reason with Tanya

You'd never be able to take her in a fight, your only chance is talk your way out of this. Try to make her remember who she is and not what these cultists are trying to make her.

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

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

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

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

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

"Tanya…"

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

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

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

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

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