The portal frame shimmered and the air inside the enclosed arch rippled like the surface of a pond under a gentle breeze. Suddenly there was a flash, and two figures stepped through the magical gateway into the opulent room. One was a handsome human man with slicked-back raven hair and a well-trimmed beard and hawkish features. The man surveyed the heavy drapes covering the walls of the room. The tapestries were embroidered with scenes of all forms of figures copulating in different poses. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully at the sight of a pair of chairs cast in the shape of a naked man and a woman kneeling, their backs forming the seat. "Quite a place you have here, lady Vellexia," he said with a faint smile. Following the man was a ravishing woman who swayed seductively as she walked through the portal space, which closed with a faint noise of imploding air behind her. She might have been a beautiful human woman had not a couple of features betrayed her true nature. A pair of thin, curved horns erupted from the soft skin on her forehead, her ears were gently pointed like those of an elf, a snake-like tail adorned with some ornate rings whipped behind her as she walked and most noticeably a pair of bat-like wings erupted from her shoulders. "My tanks, my pet. Enros, wasn't it?" she said in a voice that was deep and seductive, almost a sensual purr. "Only the most worthy ever see my mansion. " The man nodded, leaning in to scrutinize a statue consisting of a male and a female figure locked in coitus, their naked bodies thrust together in an eternal pose of release. Suddenly the portal rippled again and a number of succubi servants emerged, carrying four statues between them. Each statue was frozen in a look of horror and seemed to portray an adventurer of some kind, dressed in full gear and brandishing weapons. "Take them down to the laboratory," Vexellia said to her servants. "I want them prepared after I am done congratulating my new guest here." "What will happen to them?" Enros said, standing up and returning to the lady's side. Vellexia ran her slender hand across his shoulder like one would pet a beloved dog. "Oh, I'm a collector. Only those things I consider worthy end up here. Some of them have to be reshaped a bit to be more suitable, but they all end up fitting in. Your former friends are all excellent raw material. I can't wait to find their inner beauty." Enros looked after the demons carrying the statues, then over to the statue of the couple. The faces of the two seemed so natural it was hard to believe they were the work of a sculptor. "Indeed. Well, I'm glad you consider me worth of the honor of joining you here." Vellexia giggled, and walked over to open the massive double doors, revealing a long corridor lined by paintings and more statues. "Oh of course you are, my pet. The cleverness by which you betrayed and dispatched your friends was enough for me to take notice." She gestured into the corridor, and the man joined her, taking her offered arm. "Yes, well, your offer was to show you the most artistic and shocking thing we could, and I imagined that nothing could be more shocking than that. I'd heard the rumors of your tastes, milady. Even in a city such as Alushinyrra your refined tastes are well known," the man said with a thin smile. "Mmmm," Vexellia purred, "and you and your little band of adventurers have been known to me ever since you entered the city. I had a feeling you might be worth at least an hour or two of entertainment. But you are being coy, my pet. You didn't come here because of my reputation as an artist and mecenate. You came here because you also heard the rumors about my ability to grant power beyond that which mortals can ever hope for." It was said as a statement, not a question. Enros briefly felt himself flash through the events that had led him here. His party traveling to the Abyssal layer ruled by Nocticula, queen of succubi and infiltrating the wicked city Alushinyrra. Their discovery of the arena called the Rapture of Rupture where it was rumored the succubus Vellexia let creatures perform for her to try and gain her favor. Their arrival in Vellexia's arena of pleasure, where they each performed for her, only for Enros to strike at his friends when they were unprepared and thus alone be the one to win the attention of the succubus. A simple betrayal seemed to amuse the demoness greatly, especially when it delivered new 'material' for her to play with. He looked over at the succubus noble with an embarrassed expression before nodding. "Aye, that I did. In the Fleshmarkets there are many rumors of the favors you can grant, milady Vellexia. The rumors say that only those that impress you greatly are ever considered for such gifts, and that is why I considered it paramount to do so in the arena." Vellexia laughed a sonorous laughter while reaching over to stroke the man's hair, her breath hot on his neck. "Oh my pet, yes. I will show you such wonders as you have never dreamed. You will be mine, and I will be yours. And later... who knows?" She winked at him as they walked past several sets of doors and open stairways. Enros' eyes couldn't help but be drawn to Vellexia as she walked slightly ahead of him. She was unusually prim for a succubus, and highly regarded in Alushinyrra for her creative wickedness and bottomless appetite for pleasure. Her blonde hair was arranged in an elaborate bun held together by braids on the back of her head and her features were elegant and classically beautiful. Her body was shapely, with a well-formed but not overtly large bust, wide hips and creamy smooth skin. . She was dressed in a tight-fitting green and white dress of modest cut, trimmed in gold embroidery and featuring a diamond-shaped opening that showed off her cleavage. A skull-buckled belt around her waist held a series of scrolls dangling from chains which drew his gaze to her gently swaying hips and rump as she walked. Soon the pair arrived at a broad set of stairs filling the end of the corridor and stretching upwards. On each side the stairs were flanked by a pair of identical statues that would have been beautiful depictions of mortal men had they need been so hideously maimed. Each carried a torch in their mouths which burned with a colorless, heatless flame. Vellexia reached over to tug on her male companion's arm, pulling him towards the stairs. She flashed him a warm smile and her tongue flicked across her lips, leaving them moist and glistening. He followed her up without question. The stairs led onto a wide balcony in the center of which were another set of large double doors. These doors were decorated in much the way as the tapestries from the portal room. All over the wooden surface were figures locked in intercourse while in the process of changing into different forms. Women and men deformed into demonic beasts, while animals changed into humans, elves and dwarves. Demonesses became dragons while still locked in passion with their partners while angelic figures deformed into horrible abominations elsewhere. Set in the center of the doors, seemingly forever observing the chaos happening on the surfaces beneath was a large carven portrait of Vellexia's smiling face. "Milady?" Enros asked, stopping at the doors and running his fingers across the relief. "Hmmm? Don't tell me you're having second thoughts, my pet?" Vellexia said with a pout, turning and taking the man's outstretched hand in her own. She placed his hand on the open cleavage in the center of her dress where he could feel the warmth of her smooth skin. "You want to play with me, don't you?" "I... I do, milady. You have shown me a great honor in considering me worthy to come here. It's a rare honor to even be considered the famous lady Vellexia." "But..." Vellexia said, seeing his doubting expression. "But there is something else. Something beyond my desire for power." His eyes traveled up the carven doors, pausing at each bizarre figure. "Something specific which drove me to seek your favor." Vellexia's eyes followed his, and she turned to stand next to him, pressing her soft body against his. He could feel her pleasant scent, not the reek of brimstone that many daughters of Nocticula exuded but the pleasant aroma of a lusty woman. Her long, sinuous tail snaked up to his leg and tickled it gently. "Go on. I'm curious now, my darling," she said breathlessly. "It is said that you are a mistress of the art of shaping flesh like clay, and that you delight in this art form. It is also said that those whom you decide are worthy may be given this gift in the privacy of your quarters. I confess that ever since my youth I have had a simple, naive dream of laying with a woman willing to reshape her body and my own in a certain way." Vellexia's blue eyes sparkled with interest and her hands traveled down his taut body, feeling every curve of lean muscle under his traveling outfit. She had noticed this mortal over his companions from the first moment his party began their audience with her back in the city. His outfit was still dusty and dirty, but overall stylish, consisting of pants, a shirt and a vest coupled with thick-soled leather boots. Over that he wore a long coat which fluttered behind him when he walked. His eyes were a dark brown and glinted with intelligence and his body was leanly muscular, tempered by a life of hardship but he carried himself with the grace and elegance of a nobleman. He was mature, but not wizened. Strong, yet intelligent. Vellexia liked those kinds of mortals. They made the best toys. "Oh my pet! You truly are a rare specimen, aren't you? You wish for us to become as clay in my boudoir, and to live out this dream of yours? Yes, yes I would like that very much. So many dark fantasies inside such a stern looking human." Vellexia released him and walked over to open the doors, which slid open without the slightest noise. An odd mixture of smells wafted against Enros's face, carrying traces of exotic perfumes mixed with sweat and less identifiable odors. The room that was revealed was a bedroom, one quite worthy of the rest of the mansion. A huge soft-looking bed with a black metal frame dominated the room and only upon closer inspection did he notice that the surface of the bed almost looked like soft human skin. A fireplace filled with colorless fire yawned on the wall to the left like the open maw of some great beast, the smokestack vanishing into the black ceiling above. Several racks and tables next to the great bed held instruments of both pain and pleasure, ranging from crude things like branding irons all the way up to exotically-shaped dildos that apparently vibrated and twitched on their own. Right above the bed itself a huge painting stretched up to the ceiling, depicting a scene where thousands of demons and what seemed like thousands of mortals writhed in collective ecstasy. To the right of the bed, opposite from the fireplace were a number of tall bookshelves made from some odd dark wood. Leering faces seemingly locked in passion stared down blindly from the edges of the shelves while a heterogeneous mass of books were stuffed within. The man thought he heard faint mutterings and moans coming from the leather and hide-bound tomes, but perhaps he was merely imagining it. Standing next to the bookshelves was a solid-looking writing desk of surprisingly conservative design, covered to the brim with parchments and scrolls and sporting an inkwell shaped like an imp's skull on top with a blackened quill resting within. To the side of the writing desk was an open, door-less passage leading into what seemed like a black-tiled room. A slight elevation and glint from that room seemed to indicate to the man that this room might hold a bath, though he found himself wondering if that basin held water. Vexellia walked towards the bed, her hips swaying and her tail flicking from side to side as she walked. Her large bat-like wings stretched as if in anticipation as she watched her new pet stroll around the room looking at the furbishing. "Very impressive. I imagine this mansion took quite some time to build and furbish?" Enros asked, trailing a finger along the firm nipples of one of the bedposts. Vexellia nodded at him. "Indeed. But let us be done with platitudes, my darling. You want me, and I want you. I can fulfill your secret desire, and then you will truly be one of my chosen. Or, if you have changed your mind, I'm sure you can join your former friends." "Not at all. I've come this far, of course I intend to go the whole way. I'm just still not sure this isn't some fantastic dream. Surely a place that fulfills your darkest desire seems fantastic?" Vexellia nodded, walking towards him and pressing her soft body against him again. "Making the fantastic real is my passion. You can see it reflected in every piece of furniture, every sculpture, every pigment of paint." She leaned in and kissed his cheek, leaving a faintly warm mark. "You have come far and sacrificed much, Enros. Now tell me your desire. What forms do you wish for us to take as we consummate our new relationship? Debased celestials, perhaps, copulating like animals in defiance of the gods? Slithering, sensuous yuan-ti, biting and whipping each other into a frenzy? Or perhaps your tastes lie in the more... bestial. Perhaps two behirs, writhing their long slithering bodies together as they mate?" Her voice lowered to a mere whisper. "I... it's a little embarrassing, as I said..." Enros stammered. "I have tried to repress it all my life, and yet it has never truly left my mind. It's not just forbidden, but a bit awkward." "Tell me, my pet," Vexellia said, her voice suddenly commanding. "I am the mistress of flesh-sculpting, I have taken a thousand forms you haven't even dreamed of. Nothing is strange to me." Enros nodded and leaned in to whisper a single word in the ear of the succubus. Vexellia leaned back and her eyes widened as she studied him silently. Then her beautiful lips broke into a knowing smile. "That's it, is it? I like it. I can honestly say none has asked me for that before. Let us waste no more time." The succubus noble took a step back from Enros and began dancing slowly, as if to a silent tune. At first she performed elegant movements similar to what he had seen at courtly balls, but gradually she changed the pace and movement of her dance. Her slender hands slid down her curvaceous body as she swayed and thrusted to the rhythm only she could hear, occasionally slipping her hands over her breasts and squeezing provocatively. Enros stood back to give her room, and she winked at him as she spun around, flapping her wings gently. Her tail flicked back and forth, and chains binding the scrolls to her metal belt clinked softly with each step. Vellexia trailed a finger across her lips, at first motioning him to silence and then biting her pointed nail slightly, closing her eyes and moaning. Seemingly growing tired of the act, the succubus began fiddling with the back of her skull-buckled belt. She unclasped the belt and lifted it off her wide hips, which still swayed to the rhythm. With a smile, Vellexia tossed the belt and the scrolls dangling from it onto the bed, where they landed with an odd squishing sound. The succubus followed up by reaching up to her neck and opening the metal necklace encircling the collar of her dress, and soon the jewelry joined the belt on the bedsheets. The succubus reached behind her neck and fiddled with something, then performed a similar motion at the front of the collar. It opened to reveal her slender, milky neck and Vellexia giggled at the rapt attention Enros was paying to her. Teasingly she tugged the green dress down over one shoulder, then the other. Keeping the garment up by squeezing her arms together, she carefully reached up to tug at the elaborate braids holding her hair up. After some struggling, her dexterous fingers undid the hairdo and her lustrous blonde hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, free and unbound. Smiling sweetly, the succubus peeled her dress down to just above her nipples. With one hand she caught her flicking tail and slid the gilded rings off it, throwing them over to the bed like a shower of gold coins. Seeing that Enros was now seemingly entranced, she finally gripped the edges of her dress and tugged down to reveal her breasts in all their glory. Her nipples were already erect, and she playfully squeezed one before returning to undressing. Swaying back and forth like a serpent, Vexellia slid her elegant dress down her form, slowly and tantalizingly revealing more and more of her flesh as she went. The succubus swayed over to the bed and plopped down, letting the front of her dress hang down over her legs like an apron while she raised her long, smooth legs up. Letting the dress slide down to reveal her milky thighs, Vexellia tugged at her tall, soft-soled boot and slowly slid it down her leg. With a flick she revealed a dainty, well-manicured foot and tossed the discarded boot over her shoulder. Then she repeated the process with the other one and jumped back to her feet. Resuming her slow dance she let her dress slide down her hips, revealing a very tight lacy white thong resting across her hips. Continuing to peel down, soon Vexellia let the dress simply fall to the floor as a shapeless heap of gold, green and white, and stepped gingerly out of it. She continued the dance for a few moments, clad in only her underwear, giving the human a good look of her shapely form. Giving Enros a wink, she hooked her fingers in the sides of her underwear and pulled it off as well, revealing a neatly shaven tight snatch. "You like what you see, my pet?" Vexellia said with a coo. Enros nodded dumbly, a bead of sweat pouring down his forehead. "Ah, but this is just the beginning, isn't it? Now comes the part you've longed for all your life... the part where you and I change into the creatures of your dreams and then become one. Don't be shy. You know I'll start." As Enros stared, Vexellia spoke a number of arcane words and wove an elegant pattern across her naked body with her fingers. Then she began to change. Her wings were the first thing to be affected, shrinking and compressing into mere folds of flesh before clinging to her bare back and melding with it. Soon she showed no sign of ever having had them. Then her milky skin shuddered and rippled, and began to change hue. As he watched a number of tiny spots spread across her sides and shoulders, which quickly grew to become dull red scales. The skin of the succubus changed into a richer red except for a wide swath down the front of her chest and legs which instead became a tan color. She winked to him and licked each finger of her right hand in turn, then held both hands up towards him. As he watched her pinky fingers merged with her ring fingers and all the digits grew longer and more rugged. Her fingernails extended and thickened into claws even as more of the dark red scales spread across the back of her hands. Vexellia grunted as her feet changed as well, becoming more elongated and flat. Her toes melded together into three long ones each tipped with a slender claw and topped by ridges of thick scales. The succubus playfully caught her tail in her now four-fingered hands and rubbed across its length. As she did it changed as well, shrinking into her rump but also growing thicker. Soon it was flattened and less whip-like, resembling that of a tiny crocodile. Waving her hands upward, Vexellia called Enros's attention to her face. Her long blonde hair was receding into her scalp at an alarming pace even as her nose and lips flowed together and forward into a short but gracile snout. Her nostrils reformed as small flared openings at the tip while her eyes shrank and changed color to a dull red instead of its original blue. A firm ridge formed over her eyes and stretched back towards her head, elongating her skull in the process. As the last of her blonde hair vanished, a row of frills erupted from the rear of her head forming a web-like ear. The long curved horns of the succubus shrunk into her forehead and became short and conical and were soon joined by more short horns that erupted from beneath her skin. As her face finished reshaping itself into a reptilian visage, Vexellia smiled again at her pet. Realizing that the change was now at the cusp of finishing, one of Enros's hands trailed down to his belt. As he kept watching, the succubus noble shrank. Her tall, statuesque form became slender and lean as she lost height and weight quickly. She was the size of a short human, then a dwarf, then a gnome. Vexellia closed her eyes and cupped her breasts with her hands, gently starting to massage them and cooing in pleasure. Suddenly her shapely breasts shuddered and retracted into her chest, her erect nipples shrinking to the point where they blended with the scales. She then reached down to massage her groin, and under her careful touch her womanhood contracted as well into a tight, hairless tiny slit. The gentle curve of her chest and the soft voice was all that indicated that the succubus was still a female. She stood there shuddering, her entire body raw from the change from succubus to kobold. "There... there," Vexellia said in a high-pitched, slightly hissing voice as she continued running her clawed hands across her small body, "now it's your turn to-" *Click* Vexellia opened her eyes to look down at the tight leather collar with an ornate metal clasp that was now stuck around her neck. Her reptilian eyes widened in surprise and she looked up at Enros's form which was now towering over her. "You didn't tell me you wanted to play master and slave. And I'm afraid I'm always the master," Vexellia said with a grin and waved her hands in the same arcane pattern as before, aiming at Enros. Nothing happened. "Unfortunately playtime is over for now," Enros said plainly. All anxiety was suddenly gone from the man's behavior, and he even whistled a jaunty tune as he strolled over towards the towering bookshelves. Vexellia tried repeating the powerful polymorph magic again, and again. Nothing happened. Then she focused her innate magic into herself to undo the magic that she had used to shift her own form. Again nothing happened. There wasn't even a spark of thaumaturgic energy. "...what have you done?" she asked in a low, threatening tone. Enros turned around and quirked an eyebrow at her. "What? Oh yes, that. That collar is a permanency anchor. It was quite hard to obtain, but since it worked out I expected it was more than worth it." Vexellia reached up to the cold metal clasp of the collar to undo it, struggling to find a way to unbuckle it for several moments. Her clawed fingers could not find anything and she ended up tugging and tearing violently at the leathery fabric of the collar itself, trying to tear it or cut it. Nothing happened except that she almost choked herself. She resumed trying to cast a spell - any spell at all - but nothing happened. Enros was meanwhile busy with sorting through one of her bookshelves, discarding many tomes into a rough pile on the ground with a grunt of disgust. "What is your game, mortal?" Vexellia said with a shriek. "What do you want from me? You wish to humiliate me by mastering me in the bedroom? You want this weak form to be your plaything? I swear by Nocticula herself you won't leave this mansion, traitor!" Enros looked over at her again. "In the bedroom? Gods no. Why would I want a sadistic, vain, backstabbing succubus to mate with me?" Vexellia's reptilian face drooped and her eyes dilated. "How DARE you? You pretend not to desire me? Me? The most beautiful of all our kind other than our great mistress?" "In case you didn't notice, you're not exactly much of a succubus anymore. Besides, you would only use me and discard me as you have countless other 'pets'," Enros said casually while tossing a book covered in what seemed the skin of a human chest onto the pile. Vexellia climbed up onto a small bench, pulling her tiny kobold frame to its full height. "You're holding me for ransom? Is that it? Or do you want to play a game where you control me until I agree to bring you whatever gift you want? I can play those games too, mortal." Enros studied her and considered for a few moments. "I want nothing from you, Vexellia. I merely wanted you out of the way so I could claim your mansion as my own. It will take a lot of remodeling, of course." The kobold fumed with anger. "You... you betrayed me. Just like you betrayed your friends! You're a worse scum than any demon!" "Oh, right. No, I'm afraid that was a bit of ruse, just like my desire to fuck a kobold." Vexellia's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? You do care for your mortal friends, hmm? Maybe we can cut a deal, then. If you return me to my true form, then I will instruct my minions to not smash your friends into rubble." Enros chuckled. "I'm afraid that's not possible." "Why not?" "Because about five minutes ago my friends finished dispatching the last of your minions down in the basement and since then they have been cleaning out every filthy, ichor-stained nook and cranny down there." Vexellia's jaw fell open. "You... no. You faked it? You TRICKED me?" "I'm afraid so. You see while you were observing us through your spies and agents, we were gathering as much information about you as possible. We were rather desperate to gamble with our lives to invade and claim your mansion as a base, but thankfully your one-track mind made it all work. Fortunately your ability to see beyond magical disguises could not distinguish that the spell I cast on my comrades was of a limited duration. A very specific limited duration." Vexellia looked like she was about to cry. Her snout quivered and her eyes were wide open. Her small clawed hands had balled into fists as she screamed out a string of arcane words and demonic curses, none of which did anything. Finally she sunk down to sit on the bench, her shoulders drooping. "W-what are you going to do with me?" "Nothing nearly as horrible as what you have done for your other 'guests'. I hope we are not too late to restore some of them, at least. But no, I will let you stay here and not toss you back through the portal to face a whole city of ravenous demons and demon-worshippers. I think we both know how long a lone kobold claiming she is a succubus would last. And even if you did manage to convince somebody, do you think you would garner much sympathy?" The kobold stared at him fearfully. "So while we make our headquarters here, you can stay. As long as you don't try anything. Who knows, I might even release you when we leave." Vexellia slid down onto the floor, looking miserable. "Is... isn't there anything I can do for you? I'll call you master. I'll show you the secrets of my fleshshaping! I'll pay you riches beyond yo-" Enros waved for silence. "Your fleshshaping is disgusting and your riches are already ours anyway. But there is one thing you can do, now that I think about it." "What is it? What is it?" the kobold hissed, perking up almost instantly. "Whatever it is, I'll do it!" "I want you to get me a sandwich," Enros said plainly. "A what?" Vexellia asked flabbergasted. "A sandwich. And no disgusting demon stuff either. You probably have a pantry or a kitchen here with some proper Prime food. Get me something tasty, maybe bacon or chicken on rye." The kobold looked like she no longer had any idea what was happened. "A sandwich. You want me, a succubus noble, to fetch you a sandwich. You don't want to sample my flesh which has inflamed the lust of a thousand males and females of all species. You want a sandwich. You don't want me to show you secrets your kind haven't even dreamed about. You don't want to even torture me or whip me." "That's right," Enros said, moving over to the next shelf. "A sandwich," Vexellia mumbled, walking towards the door. "A sandwich?" "And if there's any parts on it that come from a sapient being or any poison then your relationship with me just got a lot worse and the wretches at the Rupture of Rapture may know your company soon," Enros said conversationally. The former succubus stopped at the doorframe. Her eyes smoldered with hatred at the back of the human man and she grabbed the doorpost so hard her knuckles whitened. But then a wave of fear washed over her. "I'll suck your cock?" she offered hopefully. Enros waved his hand without even turning around. Vexellia slowly walked off, sulking.