Verien

Verien is a succubus from the Nine Hells who previously masqueraded as a human in Elmstone. She was Clairen Longridge's patron and former lover.

*Trigger warning: Relationship abuse*

## Verien

### Connections

Clairen Longridge (former lover, current warlock patron)Paril Vespucci (hostage)

## Biographical information

### Age

Unknown, presumably several hundred years

### Cause of death

Eternally sealed away in Clairen's soul gem

## Description

### Appearance

Verien's human form was beautiful and feminine. She was tall with long, flowing red hair and piercing red eyes to match. She often wore extravagant and luxurious attire befitting that of a high noble, and often chose to wear low-cut robes to show off her meticulously crafted form.

### Personality

Verien is cold, calculating, and manipulative. During her romantic relationship with Clairen Longridge she exhibited many abusive behaviors, including backhanded compliments to tear down her self esteem, verbal abuse, isolation, and constant gaslighting. Even amidst the Mage's College of Elmstone in which she hid she was known to be an "ice queen," and often looked down on the other wizards and sorcerers of the school.

## Biography

Verien and Clairen met approximately a year and a half before Clairen joined the group in Tolkuthol after Clairen ran away from home to join the Mage's College. Verien noticed Clairen's eagerness and interest in magic during an evocation lecture she had chosen to sit in on in order to look for new victims, and quickly decided that the human would be easy prey.

Verien took her time and carefully played every social interaction with the young woman like a game of chess, with each word and compliment specifically chosen to wrap Clairen tighter around her finger. She succeeded in her temptations, and Clairen was quickly smitten with the succubus. After several months of "dating" during classes at the college, Verien convinced Clairen to quit attending the lectures altogether in favor of private tutoring. Verien would deliberately give her assignments beyond her capabilities with the intent of making her desperate for progress.

On one particular "date night" approximately a year into their relationship, Verien asked Clairen outright: "Clairen, my darling, will you vow your love and devotion to me, that we may be together forever?" Clairen, in her naivete, eagerly agreed and insisted that she would love her forever, which sealed her pact. Clairen saw her magical abilities rapidly advance after that night, which only further fueled her admiration for her teacher.

Knowing that Clairen was now ensnared in her trap, Verien began to use her as an errand girl of sorts. Her abusive behavior worsened, and knowing that she had successfully eroded Clairen's already-fragile self esteem, her personality became much more transparent and outright evil. Still, Clairen was smitten with her first love, and consistently denied that her patron could do any wrong, and would constantly make excuses for her partner's behavior towards others.

Verien and Clairen never had any form of sexual contact. Verien effectively regarded Clairen as an animal to be tamed, and instead chose to feed off of the young human's passionate romantic love that she gave without any conditions or regard for self preservation. Roughly once a week, Verien would allow them to "cuddle" in bed, during which she would forcefully keep Clairen from moving as she fed on her emotional energy.

After several battles in Verien's home plane of Nessus, she was permanently sealed away into a soul gem gifted to Clairen by Raxx'Ashak.

## Relationships

### Clairen Longridge

Though their relationship began passionately and romantically to the outside observer, Verien is now aware that Clairen knows the truth of their pact and regards her as livestock to be harvested. She currently is hunting Clairen down with the intent to kill her and her companions.

Just prior to the events of Through the Breach, Verien sent a team of magical assassins to try and kill Clairen, though they missed their mark and instead incinerated a lookalike and her entire caravan. Through Kalza's use of Speak With Dead, the group was able to determine that there were three assassins still clad in the robes of the Elmstone Mage's College.

Upon being sealed away, Clairen told Verien that at least until she kidnapped Paril, the warlock could not bring herself to hate the demon. She informed her that though her own motives were terrible, Clairen would never have traveled to the places she did or met the people she now loves were it not for Verien sending her away from Elmstone. As Clairen locked her into the soul gem, she gave the demon a final tearful kiss on the forehead.