State your name and purpose in Creation.

Sunaira. I don't know yet. There was some form of planar realignment caused by a rival deity. Who are you?

I'm in charge around here. Either sign this contract or I'll have to eject you from this planar sheaf. 

She could leave, but this contract is deeply disturbing and implies the kind of metacosmos that needs attention like the Chaos sheaf. Sealed major deity of utter destruction used to force a world with evil gods to persist? Ugh, she hates ones like this.

Aura and her backups will handle the OTC; Aura's more powerful than this instance of her anyway. There are people here who need her. 

(And all the people she's dating are on board with the fact that she's a goddess and sometimes this kind of thing happens, so they will just have to deal with her being on a business trip for a while. The ones who aren't still here in the Bowers, that is.)

She doesn't like this club much but at least the management seems to be honest about what kind of a scene they're running. You can only do so much about a community where half the guests are assholes if you're not willing to shut the place down.

It's a scene contract; she negotiates.

Look, it's the same contract for everyone - 

I didn't consent to it. Look, I've got a whole additional afterlife plane for you to send petitioners to and ease the caseload. I'm not looking for special treatment, just to understand all the details of what I'm agreeing to.

(There are some loopholes in the contract, for reasons.)

Can you clarify the intent of this section? What risks am I taking on? Do I get a safeword?

Look, the contract is in perfectly plain language, sign or don't.

It was a long shot that she'd get a proper escape clause written in, but she is allowed to leave herself, right?

Yes, yes, even if she plays she can still leave later. Within reason. No taking people on the material plane.

Thank you. Alright, now that she has an actual safeword she will participate in this scene, even if it is kind of edgeplay for her. 

What's the protocol here?

You pick a limited set of domains, a holy symbol, empower a limited number of followers using the allocations allowed here... 

The ruleset goes on for some time.

Any universe where the local gods are this into roleplay can't be that bad. 

Alright, sign her up with the domains of Pleasure, Sacrifice, Love, and Kinks. The rose is taken so her holy symbol will be a pair of cuffs.

Hey, she can't turn every pair of manacles into her holy symbol! That's cheating!

Oh, hello. 

How about a whip?

Nice try. You don't like actual slavery, you just play at it. You need to pick something that genuinely resonates with who you are.

What, I'm the goddess of Kinks and I don't get to have the most basic of kink implements as my holy symbols?

Asmodeus has prior claim on Slavery. Think of something else. 

Ugh. Fine. 

I suppose contracts are already taken?

Extremely.

Alright, fine, I'm already using a blackberry in my iconography. We will go with that.

No objection.

Alright, that's established. The domains are fine. You're Neutral Good. Welcome to Creation, Sunaira. It's your turn.

She surveys the board state. 

It's really kind of shitty. Cheliax and Nidal are both enemy strongholds. Fortunately she's kept Kinks as a domain, so she's getting... rather more of a good look at both than she would prefer to get. 

She's stuck with this limited game interface to interact with the locals.

Who would be a good candidate for her first cleric...?

No, that's precisely the wrong way to go about this. She needs to get a sense of the other players on her team first. She's good at organizing. 

A few subjective moments later...

Team Good:

Milani: Fiery. The Devotion and Hope domains have great interactions with her playstyle. And they both agree deeply on certain forms of consent. Also she's hot. She's still a little sad that she stole her rose, but it can't be helped; she did have it first. Really doing her best, as far as Sunaira can tell, just a bit unstable.

Cayden Cailean: Kind of reckless for her. The whole alcohol thing doesn't really play well with consent. She agrees with the whole slave-freeing thing though. That he shares the Love domain is more than a little Concerning to her! She admits he has some roguish charm, but he's not really relationship material. 

Desna: A sweet thing. Kind of off in her own little world, but means well. Her edicts to explore and express yourself through art and song are very sensible and the kind of thing that should exist in the world. She's good at pleasure, even if she doesn't see that the aim of it is to build a better world. There's some potential here to capture. 

Erastil: Very... traditional. He's good at the basic building blocks, though. There's some potential here. Really pretty decent relationship material, even if he is a bit stuffy. She can see why he's taken. 

Shelyn: RELATIONSHIP MATERIAL ALERT. She has a crush. The focus on beauty, love, art and music is super strongly in tune with her own domains. The issue is that she's really more focused on art than sexuality, even though sexuality is so deep and worth caring about. She's doing alright. Sunaira can do better, of course, but she is definitely paying attention to this girl. 

Iomedae: The power gamer of the team. Big into honor, big into doing what's effective. She can respect the sacrifices her people make, but good god does this girl ever need to get laid. Yes, she's ace. Yes, it's ironic that she did that to herself. It's sad, though. She respects it, but... Yeah. Good ally, bad lover. 

Sarenrae: A nice enough girl. Sweet, kind, cares a lot. She can vibe with it. Just not really her type? She agrees with all of it, it's just that her preaching of temperance and charity isn't really her area. She could definitely do worse in a teammate. 

Team Neutral:

Irori: Big on self-discipline. She can get into that kind of training, and the self-actualization aspect is cool. She could get along with him. The whole moderation thing is not her, but she can manage it.

Calistria: Hot, but don't. Way too unstable to be relationship material. They'll probably end up working together anyway because she's the natively-kinkiest of the goddesses on this plane. That's going to be a problem. Still, with some harm reduction efforts, she might be fixable... it's just that Vengeance domain that's really a problem. 

Abadar: Understands negotiation well enough, it's just that he's the kind of dom who doesn't respect a safeword unless it was explicitly negotiated up front and demands concessions in exchange. She's dealt with worse, but he needs some smartening up. 

Nethys: Don't. He's not sane enough to negotiate with. 

Gozreh: Annoying stone in the road of technological progress, but perhaps negotiable with.

Gorum: Another annoying third party. Anathema to her methods, in general. 

Pharasma: The GM, or so she's set herself up. Importantly not good.

The Opponents: 

Asmodeus & Zon-Kuthon: The worst kind of controlling rapist assholes. The kind of people who use kink to hurt people. It's never play with these two unless you're being toyed with. Fuck them.

Lamashtu: ALSO her direct competition over sexuality. What is with the evil deities on this plane. Why are all of them about sexuality and none of the good ones are really competing for it?

Norgorber: Represents the dark side of sacrifice, where the people who are sacrificed don't consent to it. Also needs to be dealt with but less urgently. 

Urgathoa: She is going to need to take Precautions about sexually transmitted diseases, isn't she? Ugh. That's a pain. This one is also a problem. 

Rovagug: You know, if she could just kill this one deity, who very deserves it, the whole game system collapses. Funny how that works. Trouble is, he's pretty tough.

Okay, she has an actionable plan. 

Hey Calistria, can I talk to you?

What can I do you for, darling?

You know how if you seal wasps in a tube for a little while it buzzes and is good for use as a sex toy?

Please, I wasn't born yesterday.

Yeah, thought so. Ever thought of making that happen with a simple enchantment on a wand?

I'm listening...

It would be simple enough to inspire some mortal to invent. I'm willing to contribute to having that exist. Abadar would probably contribute to the intervention budget. I bet I can sell Irori on it too.

Sell Irori on a sex toy? I'd like to see you try.

Give me a moment.

Hey Irori, do you have any followers who need help mastering their libidos?

What? Aren't you a goddess of sexuality? Don't you want there to be more sex, not less?

I'm also a goddess of sacrifice. If someone wants to give up their own sexuality that's their own business. Also, I personally love chastity play and orgasm control. So I have a bit of a personal interest, you could say.

Get to your point.

I want to introduce a simple tool that will make it easier for people to have orgasms when they want to and thus set aside their libido more easily. A need that is more easily met is easier to master. The tool can always be discarded later.

I'll trade you everything I know about long-term chastity play if you'll back the invention of this.

That's a more than acceptable price. Deal.

Calistria, I just talked to Irori and got his consent for the project.

You're not lying to me, are you?

Look, I'll make that legible to you in a provable way.

Huh. Okay. 

I'm all for it.

I'll approach Abadar, then.

Hey Abadar, I have an idea for an invention I'm willing to sponsor on the material plane that I bet a lot of people would be willing to pay for.

How much?

Funny thing, mortals tend to value their sexualities quite a lot. So making this particular invention cheaply available could produce a lot of economic stimulus. 

Here's a schematic for a technological version. It's a very simple device. Think it's replicable with an enchantment?

Inventions are expensive, and this one doesn't contribute to city building or larger development of the economy. What are you willing to pay me?

Me, Calistria, and Irori are willing to put together this much intervention budget for it.

Close, but not quite enough. Ask Nethys to contribute, he likes magical inventions.

Fuck. 

Alright, she'll approach Nethys.

Hey Nethys, I have a proposal for a magical invent- 

Yes! But only because of your lover with all the selves. She was very convincing.

Uh, what?

Was I unclear? 

Go back to Abadar and say your piece.

Oooooookay.

Hey Abadar, Nethys agreed.

Good. The most efficient way to do this is to get Desna to send a dream about it to a particular individual... 

Just a moment while I write the contract.

This is wonderful! I would have sponsored it had I known.

Yes, well, the point was largely to get the Neutral deities to pay for it.

Who are you sending this dream to?

This particular mortal.

Hey, I know her!

Have a Cleric level.

And in an upscale adventurer brothel in Absalom, a casual devotee of Shelyn wakes from a wet dream with the image of a buzzing device pressed right against her sex, and the impression of a distant woman's voice... 

And discovers that she suddenly has a cleric level.

Clearly she's just gotten a dream from Calistria or Shelyn. About a sex toy. 

Wow, big responsibility. She had better not screw this up or she's fucked, and not in the nice way. 

She goes and talks to a wizard who's one of her clients.

The wizard knows people who know people.

It's not a very hard invention, as things go. It's a little surprising it hasn't been created yet. But it'll take a little while anyway.

In the meantime, she tries to channel her newfound powers through the medium of a songbird charm lent to her by a cleric she knows. 

It doesn't work. 

Not Shelyn, then. 

Calistria?

She tries again with a charm of three daggers. That doesn't work either. 

... some other deity?

(She should be remembering about now...)

There was something else, in the dream. The taste of... it was a fruit. Something sweet. 

She tries with an apple. It doesn't work.

Getting closer.

It tasted like... blackberries. 

She tries with the blackberry.

She channels positive energy. 

She's been chosen by a... new good or neutral goddess? Or maybe some obscure empyreal lord. With the symbol of a blackberry. And her domain involves sex toys. 

And she chose her. Even though she's a whore. 

Huh. 

There she goes, her first game piece. The intervention was pretty cheap, since she was able to piggy-back on top of the dream Desna was already sending. 

Now let's see what she does.

She doesn't know much. Just the taste of blackberries, the positive channel, the toy. The fact that she was chosen, and not anyone else at the brothel. 

She preaches a little. About the Lady of Blackberries, who believes everyone is allowed pleasure. That's a safe guess. That sexuality is not wholly the provenance of the evil gods. That a whore can be a cleric. She advocates for sex workers like herself. She keeps sleeping with adventurers. Word spreads. She doesn't leave the brothel; she's doing more good here than off adventuring. 

She doesn't feel like there's much more to share, yet.

The wizard gets back to her with a prototype. It goes buzz.

Whoa, holy shit, this is revolutionary. She can have an orgasm whenever she wants now.

She learns how to use it, and uses it on her clients. 

Word spreads FAST. Everyone wants one once they've experienced it. 

A few wizards get quite wealthy overnight. The design is refined down to a variant of Unseen Servant, a first-level spell. They can be mass-produced. So they are.

More magic!

More trade!

More sex!

And a few of the rods go into the possessions of certain clerics of Irori, who proceed to use them in distinctly off-label ways.

And the balance tips a little more her way. 

She gives Kumi a second cleric level.

She has been thinking about the spells the Lady of Blackberries grants her.

Over several days, she has been given... Spark. Touch of Truthtelling. Rite of Bodily Purity. Remove Sickness. Tap Inner Beauty. Remove Fear. And, oddly enough, Command and Forbid Action. 

She's healed a sister of hers at the brothel who fell ill. She used Touch of Truthtelling to vet a shady-seeming client and had a lovely time with them. Remove Fear and Tap Inner Beauty helped her with a client who had never had sex before. 

Command and Forbid Action, and Spark... 

She has a sense she's missing something, here. 

She takes Remove Sickness several days in a row and goes to several lower class brothels and heals the ill and preaches. She preaches about embracing sexuality if you are afraid. She preaches about honesty to the people you're involved with sexually. She preaches that whores get to stand tall and breathe free.

Eventually she goes out to the stone pier on the harbor and casts Spark, just to see what it does. 

A single spark leaps out from her fingers and alights on the stone for a moment, and then is gone.

... She tries it on her skin, just to see how it feels.

It burns, but doesn't last more than a moment. 

... There are striker boxes that can produce sparks like this easily. 

None of them are built to be easy to burn yourself with. 

She has a little money. She goes and buys one and removes the safety features. 

It can spark quite quickly when she tries, actually.

Yes, good!

Is the Lady of Blackberries a goddess of torture? 

That doesn't seem right, somehow. It doesn't match with everything she knows of her so far. 

... It was a little surprising, to feel the spark settle on her skin. 

Why did she want to know how it felt?

Come on, you're so close.

There are clients who like having their hair pulled, or their backs scratched up with her claws...

She's never hurt someone deliberately before, though. 

She tries it. 

She likes it. So does her client. 

She sells the modified sparker design as a sex toy to the church of Abadar. 

For that you get a third cleric level.

She's given...

Augury. Bear's Endurance. Owl's Wisdom. Conditional Favor. Hold Person. Silent Table.

She puts on Owl's Wisdom and thinks hard for a while.

The Lady of the Blackberries likes to give her spells that compel. Command, Forbid Action, Conditional Favor. And Hold Person, as well. 

... Some people like to be given orders during sex...

The Lady of the Blackberries likes sexual variety. Different ways of being sexual. Like how Shelyn preaches that men can date men and women can date women, only... more so. 

The Lady of the Blackberries thinks that sex is an artform. Something you can study and get better at.

She's sort of like Calistria, that way. 

She goes and she preaches it.

After a little while of this, Sunaira gives her Find the Faithful, Augury, and Remove Sickness.

She's used to Remove Sickness days by now. She goes and finds people who've fallen ill in the brothels and sees to them as best she can. 

Find the Faithful is new. Augury is rare. 

It seems clearly like an instruction.

If she tries to gather all the casual worshippers she knows and address them collectively, is that weal or woe?

Weal and Woe.

That's a hard decision. Immediate consequences within a half-hour if she gathers a group of worshippers of the Lady of the Blackberry. But also benefits. 

What would the shape of that look like...

Well, it could forge a proper church. But at the same time, a meeting of whores from a dozen different brothels... is the kind of gathering that is going to attract the attention of the authorities. 

She is a cleric of a good or neutral goddess. She has certain protections. But it seems perhaps unwise to draw attention. 

After all, Find the Faithful is for finding worshippers of a secret faith.

All true. But it's your decision.

She's seen the conditions herself. These are her sisters. 

She prays quietly to Milani.

Then she goes to each brothel in turn. 

It's foolish of her, honestly. She's only second circle. This will ruin her career. Many of the people she will be meeting with are not even freedwomen. 

She does it anyway.

It's the right thing to do.

They come to her, one by one. They seem to be led, haphazardly, by one of the common girls who she's always seen smoking a pipe. Aya, was her name. The pipe makes her nauseous each morning - Kumi has used remove sickness on her a few mornings when she has had no-one else to treat.

Her teeth are not so good. Her fur is matted. She is wearing her work clothes, a ratty dress that exposes too much. 

There are others with her. Some of them are breaking curfews set by their pimps.  

They gather around her in a disused lot in one of the worse parts of the city, all looking at her expectantly.

"It's not fair," are the words that come to her lips, looking at them like this. 

"It's not fair that I get the protection of a goddess and a cushy soft job servicing the rich, while all the rest of you suffer. It's not fair that I have to talk my way past half your owners just to tend to your illness, even though they should care about the health of their so-called property. It's not fair that our profession means we're reviled and looked down upon. None of it is fair. We are our own people."

She crosses her arms. "I know every one of us has learned much from what's happened to us. The cruelty of the world. The care that sometimes comes unexpectedly. The joy and the pain of sexuality. Shelyn speaks of love but won't shield us. Calistria speaks of revenge, and blood for our hurts - but I know that only brings more suffering, and in the end death. We can be better than that. The Lady of the Blackberries knows us. The Lady of the Blackberries sees the art in sexuality, the power in it, the joy. She shares in it. She bolsters it. She has given me magic so that I can fuck better, half the time. Because she knows I love it. Because it satisfies something in me. But I know that it has not been a joy for all of you." 

The crowd listens. Some of them nod. They stay quiet.

She crosses her arms. 

"Why is that? It is because I can have the sex I want and you cannot. You're forced into it. I choose my clients. You suffer whoever you must. I get to pick. That should not be different. And every woman who's raped or felt up or fucked with by some asshole - they shouldn't be forced into it either. Calistria is right about that, at least. We should all get to pick. That's freedom. The Lady of Blackberries cares about freedom. And with, I hope, Milani's blessing, we can find that freedom. Together." 

She casts Find the Faithful. It tells her these are the Lady of the Blackberries' people. After a moment, it tells her each and every one is. 

It's a strange thing to look over this crowd and be responsible for them all. 

"Go," she says. "Quickly, before you're discovered. Remember each other's faces. If you see another in trouble, help. If you have coin, spare it to free those who need it. If you have shelter that's secure, offer it. We are only whores. We are replaceable if we vanish. No-one will spend scries on you. If you can, make your preparations and go." She tosses her coin purse to Aya. "I make enough to survive without this. Split it with those who need it." 

Aya snatches the coin purse out of the air and nods sharply. She starts disbursing funds to the slaves among them, counting out enough coins for passage for each one.

A guard is coming down the street. 

She is willing to be caught. She is a cleric, and is, after all, only talking. But some of these women are slaves and should not be out after dark. 

She casts Tap Inner Beauty and goes down the street. 

"Good afternoon, sir." She bows her head respectfully. 

Aya looks over at the guard, and the group of worshippers starts to quickly disperse in all directions. 

"What's this then? A gathering after dark in this part of town?"

"I was merely attending to my followers," Kumi says. "It is a small church, associated with Shelyn's. We have yet to have a church building."

"So you meet on the poor side of town in a random disused lot?"

"Many of my worshippers are poor, sir, and some are sick. I prefer to come to them, as I am often more mobile than they are. It was simply the most convenient place."

"You're dressed like a lady. What is that symbol at your neck?"

"A blackberry, sir." 

She only needs to stall a little longer. 

"If you speak to the priests of Shelyn you will surely hear that I am not lying, sir. I am willing to repeat my statements under truth spell if you do not believe me."

He harrumphs. 

"I think I will ask you to do so, madam."

She will happily let herself be led away by the guard. 

Her people are safe. That's all that matters.

Some of their masters are kind enough to let the matter pass. 

Some of their masters are asleep already, and will not notice their departures or returns.

The rest... are distracted.

She does what she can outside Cheliax, too. And these women may change more than they know.

She is taken to a temple of Abadar, and a priest casts Abadar's Truthtelling on her.

"Repeat your questions," he says to the guard.

An illusory key snaps into place over Kumi's forehead.

"Why were you meeting with those women in an abandoned lot in the middle of the late evening?"

"We share a common faith in the Lady of Blackberries, and it was the best place to meet. It's close to where they work."

"Who is this Lady of Blackberries? What is her alignment?"

"I don't know for sure. Neutral Good, I think. She could be Chaotic."

"But not evil?"

"She grants me a positive channel energy. An evil deity could not do that."

"What was the purpose of your meeting?"

"To proselytize."

"What did you proselytize?"

"That whores are people too and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."

"Was that all you did at the meeting?"

"No. I also disbursed some funds to women who I felt needed it, and used Find The Faithful to identify them all as members of my faith."

"Do you believe those funds will be put to any unLawful or unGood purpose?"

"There are many purposes, some Neutral or Chaotic, to which they may be put; I cannot control what the charitable donations I make are used for by others. I don't believe any of my worshippers to intend Evil ends though. I intended and still intend no harm to Absalom or its citizens."

"Do you know of any specific harmful or unlawful end these funds might be put to?"

"Yes, of course I do. One of my flock has a drug habit, I fully expect she might use the money to harm herself. That doesn't mean I shouldn't have given her the money."

"Which member?"

"I respectfully decline to answer that question."

The symbol over her head flickers out, its casting time elapsed.

The cleric looks over at the guard. "Should I cast another?"

The guard frowns. "Again."

The cleric gestures, and the key flickers into place over Kumi's head again. 

"I object to this treatment. I am to the best of my knowledge a Good cleric of a Good deity and I refuse to answer further questions."

The guard frowns.

"You are not conspiring to commit any Chaotic or Evil act?"

"I said I refuse to answer any more questions."

"No" is a complete sentence, and should be spoken often to people in power. 

"I'm going to hold you until your story can be checked with the priests of Shelyn. Come with me."

She goes.

And in the meantime, Aya boards a ship with a dozen women in new-bought clothes, on their way north to Andoran. 

Well done.

She doesn't have another cleric circle to spare just yet, though. It is still only a dozen women. 

Kumi is shown to a fairly well-constructed stone cell, and left there.

Kumi's still there in the morning. 

What to give her?

Sunaira could try to break her out. Liberating Command is better than the shackles that Absalom uses while transporting prisoners, and Charm Person is in her domains. But she is not Milani; yes, the guards are enforcing an unjust law, but Kumi chose this of her own free will. And the chance she could actually escape is quite low. It's better for Sunaira's goals to drag the matter through court and bring as much publicity to the cause and the new faith as possible.

Kumi picked this scene. She's fine with being arrested. She's fine with being harassed. She's fine with being punished. She consents to all this. 

That's what Sacrifice is.

Sunaira sends her Tap Inner Beauty, Owl's Wisdom, and Remove Fear. 

She supposes it was too much to hope for a rescue.

Kumi waits in the cell. She knows what the guards will be discovering around now. Her worshippers' escape will be traced back to her, and from there she is dead to rights on several charges under property law. 

It was still the right thing to do. 

She's terrified. 

She saves the Remove Fear, though. She needs that for when the guards come.

It takes them a while.

Meanwhile, a certain wizard client who's pretty fond of his favorite lay has found out about the news, and is hiring a lawyer.

The guards arrive first. 

"You can cut the bullshit," the guard who brought her in yesterday says. "We've identified several missing women who were last seen in your company. Former slaves, all. You've been aiding and abetting slaves to escape."

"I said I won't be answering any more questions."

"You'll go before a judge tomorrow. The evidence is open and shut. You're sure you don't want to confess?"

"I won't be answering any more questions." 

Fuckers don't respect a safeword when they hear one.

"Suit yourself." 

The guards give her a hunk of bread and leave her alone.

She is left to eat her bread. 

No-one will be coming to save her. 

She doesn't remember what the punishment is for aiding and abetting the escape of slaves. It can't possibly be anything good. Execution? No, surely not... She has too much to deal with here in the Material. It must be something less than that. She hopes.

Eventually, her lawyer comes and speaks to her. 

She is required to pay a fine of five hundred gold pieces per slave she assisted to flee. There were eight. She is subject to a fine of four thousand gold pieces if the charges are sustained.

Her personal vibrator is worth about a quarter that much. She didn't keep the rights to the design, she just transmitted the idea and took a finder's fee. The sparker's worth another five hundred. That's her major expensive items. She makes good money serving adventurers, but not so good that she can absorb another two thousand five hundred gold pieces. 

She cannot actually afford that and still pay rent. 

They'll take all her assets, then. She'll have to declare bankruptcy. The remaining fine will translate to corporal punishment; she'll be whipped in public as "payment."

Kumi breaks down laughing. 

She thought this was going to be hard.

Instead her goddess arranged a kink scene for her.

Her lawyer is very confused by the sudden laughter!

Kumi takes shaky breaths, giggles again, and presses her hand to her forehead. 

"It's okay," she says. "I just - was worried it'd cost me something that mattered."

She'll miss the vibrator and the sparker, to be sure, and they won't be easy to replace, and she's going to regret being so blasé about the whipping, but... For eight lives? 

That's a fucking bargain.

"My recommendation is that we plead guilty and hope to get the fine reduced, assuming you can't pass a truth magic exam."

"That makes sense. It'll reduce the amount of pain I have to suffer through. But honestly, I kind of want to force them to the whipping. Make the people see them bloody the back of a cleric of a good goddess in public for having the temerity to free women from their pimps."

"I would recommend against antagonizing the court. You can't Regenerate a lost hand, not yet anyway."

That sobers her. 

"... Noted. I will do my best to stay civil."

"So, we'll enter our guilty plea tomorrow. You will have to ask for mercy if you wish to receive it." 

Yeah, she gets it, Lady of the Blackberries, she doesn't know her own limits. This is the first scene of this kind she's done.

She will be good and not beg to be hit harder.

The trial is the next day. She's hauled roughly to the courtroom and forcibly Dispelled before being placed on the stand.

The judge looks sternly at her. "Madam Shiromusume. You stand accused of eight counts of aiding and abetting the escape of slaves. How do you plead?"

"Guilty, your honor."

Good. That makes this a little easier. 

"Do you have anything to say that might impact your sentencing?"

"I was unaware of the punishment for aiding slaves to escape, and only acted in the interests of what I believed to be right and those of my Neutral Good Goddess, the Lady of Blackberries."

Another name for Calistria? No, she's not Neutral Good. 

Calistria is probably paying attention to this verdict. And it's not going to be one she'll like. Damn. 

Well, you don't become an Absalom judge without expecting to make a few enemies. He'll just have to keep an eye out for wasps. 

Madam Shiromusume is saying this all under truth spell, so it must be what she genuinely believes. He's going to be wrung through the press for this one - supporting the sexual slavery of women is a terrible look - but the law is unfortunately clear and he cannot arbitrarily contravene it.

There's nothing to be done but to rule on the law as it exists. Good luck to this woman. 

"I understand that you were only doing what you believed to be right, but the law exists for a reason, and binds all regardless of their conscience. It is thus with regret that I sentence you to be fined three thousand Absalom gold pieces. Any funds you cannot produce from your assets will be converted to lashes at one hundred gold pieces per lash."

"I understand, Your Honor."

"Bailiff? Take her back to her cell until such time as her remaining assets have been liquidated."

She is politely but firmly escorted back to her small stone room.

She might just be able to cover that from her assets. One thousand five hundred gold pieces from her remaining assets after her magic items is... a lot. But maybe manageable.

She's not sure if she wants the lashes or not, now, honestly.

This is when she'd usually lay a gentle hand on her scene partner's shoulder. 

She can't do that because of the protocol of the scene, though. 

She waits. 

Before she goes to sleep she casts Remove Fear to give herself a small break. It helps her get to sleep rather than pacing her cell.

Good girl, resting strategically. 

Tomorrow is going to be awful for you. I'm proud.

When she wakes in the morning she has Remove Fear twice and Cure Moderate Wounds.

That is not a good omen.

One of the guards comes to her after a few hours. 

"Your remaining balance, after selling your vibrator and striker, comes to seven hundred fifty eight Absalom crowns. You will be whipped eight times at noon in the public square. That's in three bells."

She has nothing to do but wait.

When she hears the third bell, she waits until she can't stand it anymore and then casts Remove Fear on herself. 

Things are easier with it on her. 

She made a calculation at the start of this, and it was the right decision. 

She doesn't have to enjoy the pain. She just has to get through it.

Her lawyer comes with her to the whipping grounds.

There is a small crowd. She recognizes two of the faces in it; a couple of her free worshippers are present. They must not have been connected to her.

The guard locks her in the pillory and leaves her there. She can't turn her head to look over her shoulder: she's forced to look out into the crowd.

... Well fuck. This is kind of hot, in an awful way. 

She holds still and tries to keep her composure. 

The Remove Fear runs out. 

... It is ALSO pretty terrifying!!!

She hears footsteps behind her and the soft crack of a whip - but she's untouched.

She tenses up all instinctually. 

But she hasn't been touched. 

She is okay. 

She's okay.

Just breathe.

A man's voice announces from behind her: "Kumi Shiromusume. Failure to pay fines resulting from the aiding and abetting of runaway slaves. Eight lashes."

It's going to happen any second now.

The whip cuts the air, and slams into her back. It digs deep into her skin through her top, cutting a line of pain from her waist to her shoulder.

She cries out. It hurts like a motherfucker. 

"One," announces the man behind her.

Another line of pain comes down across her back. 

It's sharp and tearing and fierce. 

Six more. 

She's already falling into the pain a little. It's not like the play she's done with the sparker. It's on a whole other level.

The strikes fall rhythmically on her back, one after another, blow after tearing blow. 

The pain only intensifies, until it blots out everything else.

By the seventh stroke the pillory is the only thing keeping her upright. 

The man holding the whip lays one last heavy stroke into her back, and then steps back.

Her lawyer comes forward and helps her out of the pillory.

She doesn't have the strength in her legs to stand: she falls to her knees and cries hot tears onto the ground in front of her. Her back burns like fire.

"Heal yourself," her lawyer nudges her gently.

Right. She can do that.

She reaches for her channel, and lets it pour out into the gathered crowd. The positive energy half-knits her back. 

Right, Sunaira gave her Cure Moderate Wounds. 

She heals herself again with the prepared spell. 

That fixes her. 

She straightens, wearing her ripped-up clothes, takes a deep breath, and steps down off the platform and walks for home.

The crowd parts for her.

Well fucking done.

She returns to her job. She has forty-two gold and a week to make rent. 

She isn't going to make it, she's pretty sure.

The next day, a man knocks on the door of her apartments.

If she goes to answer that, Weal or Woe?

Weal.

She answers her door. 

"What is it?"

"You can call me Pen. I work with an abolitionist newspaper out of Andoran." 

There's a bronze charm of a tankard hanging at his neck.

"I want to publicize your story. Are you willing to answer a few questions?"

"Why, yes. Please. Come in, sit down."

He smiles and joins her. There isn't any furniture, so they sit on the floor.

"So I've heard rumors about the Lady of the Blackberries. You say she instructed you to do this?"

"Not as such, expect perhaps by picking me instead of someone else..."

She explains the basic story, and what catechism she's been able to scrape together from her goddess' hints. 

Pen listens, and takes notes in shorthand. He gives her little nudges when she seems to be starting to freeze up.

The whole story comes pouring out of her. 

It helps. It's hard to talk about the whipping, or the time she spent in jail - how can she explain this eithout making her goddess sound like a freak? - but she manages. 

Eventually Pen sets down his pen and nods to her. 

"I'll see to it that your story is told," he says. "Best of luck to you."

"Thank you for your time," Kumi says automatically. 

She shoos him.

He goes.

Time to go to work, she supposes. 

She changes into her best remaining dress and goes. 

She works. She's off her game today, but Tap Inner Beauty helps. It's not going to be enough money to pay rent, but what else can she do?

At the end of the work day, there's someone to see her. 

She recognizes this woman. She was at the whipping yesterday. She doesn't know her though.

"What can I do for you?"

"I thought what you did was very brave," she says. "And I heard that all your property was confiscated by the guards. I - you don't know me. I was the girlfriend of one of the working girls you saved. She left without telling me. But I heard, and..." 

She looks down at her hands. "What I mean to say is, if you need somewhere to stay while you earn a little more money, there's a spare room available for you. It's where my girlfriend used to stay when she was off work."

She doesn't know this woman. 

She's going to trust her anyway. 

"Thank you," she says. "I - I'll do my best not to cause trouble."

"You and I both know that's not going to hold for long. But I'll do what I can to help. It's what the Lady of Blackberries would want."

Oh. 

So this is what it's like to be saved. 

Thank you, Goddess. 

Honestly, thank her when she actually spends something. She didn't even have to nudge here.

"So what's your name?"

"Rose. Let's get going."

She goes. 

Rose's apartment is smaller than hers, and less well-maintained. But it's more than enough. There's furniture, even. 

She's going to be okay.

And in the background, the news spreads...

She notices the uptick in Caydenite clients almost immediately. Any adventurer who cares about slaves at all is going to want to sleep with the whore who's freed eight of them. She makes good money. Cayden's people are good customers, too. 

She doesn't go meet her worshippers again just yet, not with the guards still watching her. Rose does that for her. 

She loses her old apartment, but she doesn't need it. Rose is a decent enough roommate, and she's able to contribute to rent now. 

Every day, Rose comes back saying that a few more people have joined the congregation. 

And the word eventually filters back from Andoran that all her escapees are safe, thanks to the existing abolitionist organizations there.

Aya has a Cleric circle now, and she's shepherding the church in Andoran. Thanks to daily Remove Sicknesses, she's even starting to kick her drug habit. 

And eventually Pen comes back.

"I'm seeing a lot of interest in this new goddess of yours," he says. "I'd like to run an article on the tenets of her faith. Have you ever thought about setting down some of what you know?"

She hasn't really thought about it, no, but it would obviously advance the cause of her Lady. 

"That's actually a good idea. Let's see what I can set down."

"Where would you like to start?"

Where to start, indeed? 

"I believe that the Lady of the Blackberries is first and foremost a goddess of..." She searches for the words. "Pleasure, especially sexual pleasure. She values sexual variety, trust that's well-placed, sex being done in a safe and healthy way. She's sponsored the invention of multiple magical sex toys, encompassing ones that cause pain and pleasure both. She believes that everyone is entitled to pleasure and satisfaction in their lives, and that the art of indulging in good things is worthy."

She bites her lip. "I don't think she approves of addictions - Aya is being encouraged to kick her smoking habit - so not every kind of pleasure is good. I would say she values the kind of pleasure that's an artform. That inspires people to be creative and build on themselves. That makes people stronger, instead of weaker. I bet she approves of happy marriages. She might care about love."

Pen looks up from his notepad. "I can't see how she would not, if she's all about the kind of pleasure that builds people up and makes them stronger."

"Yes, it's obvious that she's a love goddess in retrospect. But she's not like Calistria or Shelyn, she's kind of a strange mixture of both. She cares about passion like Calistria, but also about commitment like Shelyn. She must have known that I would choose to free those women, so she intended that. She made it sexual for me, made the punishment more bearable by letting me see it in a way where it advanced my goals and was actually kind of hot. There's a way she makes sexuality grant strength and I don't quite have my finger on it. She likes... people in cornered situations, kind of like Milani or Cayden, except she likes it when people choose to be bound. You could say she's honorable, but not like Iomedae: she doesn't care if I'm evasive with a town guard, she sees the point in that. She likes it when people help those who need it."

"You seem very cheerful for someone who's been whipped and lost her apartment and most of her possessions. You consider that to be an acceptable price?"

"Yes, and I would gladly pay it again if I had the chance to."

"I probably won't publish that, it's best if the authorities aren't breathing down your neck. But it's worth considering that perhaps the Lady of the Blackberries intended that too."

"It was my choice..."

Kumi frowns. "She seems to care a lot about having or not having the choice to do something. She's fine with putting yourself in bad situations so long as you walked into them with open arms. I guess she cares about freedom?"

"That makes sense."

"There's something else there, though. Something I can't quite put my finger on."

"Do you want some time to think about it?"

"That might be best. I don't have all the pieces yet. You might want to consult with Aya, in Andoran."

"I will. Thank you for your time."

"It's less than nothing."

A few weeks later, in Andoran...

"So that's what Kumi had to say. What do you think about it?"

Aya strokes her lips with her thumb, and frowns.

"I got my first cleric level when I decided to try and kick my smoking habit. I reckon that wasn't a coincidence, not together with Kumi going through her whipping and ending up better off for it. The Lady of the Blackberries is about - sacrifice. The good kind of sacrifice. Giving up something pleasurable because it's bad for you, or suffering pain because it's the right thing to do. She cares about pleasure, but also restrictions on it so that it doesn't become vicious. That's what separates her from Calistria and Urgathoa."

"That fits. I'll add it to the catechism I'm compiling. Is there anything else you want to add?"

"I think that's all I have to add. I have people to look after, so I'm afraid I don't have more time for you."

"Alright." 

He publishes his article a few days later. 

And things start to piece together a little. 

The story's been out for some time. The strikers and vibrators are in many adventurers' bedrooms now. She nudges, very gently.

Calistria's helping the strikers and vibrators spread as well. They're powerful tools for her domain.

These strikers are cheap, but heat-stones already exist which are better for actual torture and more practical as a piece of soldier's gear. He sees no reason to ban them but also no reason to promote them. They're not cost-effective.

The vibrators are banned though.

Ooh, another way of causing pain! They can use that. It's mild, but every little bit counts.

The vibrators are banned.

Of course. Zon-Kuthon and Asmodeus have to ban them because otherwise their people would get to have something good and pleasurable, and they're both gods of suffering. 

She has just been handed a tool to get the powerful to reconsider their allegiances. She gets to hit them right in the sex life.  

The vibrators are purchasable in many, many magic item shops. And even evil people are tempted by orgasms. 

Banned just means the common people don't get to have them. Haven't you understood the first thing about tyranny?

The nobility just have to hide them, which they are already used to doing.

Okay, that was a little less effective than she hoped. They're too expensive to proliferate down into the commoners' daily lives. 

Zon-Kuthon, what about you?

I said they're banned. Really for real. For everyone. Pleasure has no place in Nidal.

Oh, good.

It has to be this way. Genuine pleasure in a place devoted to self-mutilation and suffering is more than mere good sensations. It's relief. A form of temporary escape.

Fuck him up, Milani.

With pleasure.

She makes a sparker model with a hidden vibration function.

Okay, the sparkers are banned too. They were pansy little things anyway.

Huh. Seems to me that there were a number of people who liked those in Nidal.

It would be a shame if any of them were to circumvent the ban.

Suffer and die, bitch.

You can't get rid of an implement of pain without corrupting your own damn theology, you asshole. People are going to notice. And that is a thread that I can pull and pull and pull.

She makes whips with vibrate functions too. It's not so hard to adapt a wand enchantment to the handle.

He can't ban enchanted whips, the country would collapse. 

He orders inspections of all enchanted whips for illicit magic. He makes examples.

Have fun doing that to your most senior church officials and half your noblemen. You've made it so every family owns several cantrip-enchanted whips. They'll play shell games with you. 

Face it, you've lost this one.

Every enchanted whip in the country must be registered with a fucking Cleric. And liscenced.

Yeah, I think I declare victory at that point.

You fucking go, girl.

Eh, you were backing me up the whole time.

Yeah, but it's politer to just accept the credit.

I think that's as far as I can push it with my current budget. I could try weaving the vibrate function into more objects - knives, maybe - but it's probably not worth it now that Zon-Kuthon's building liscensing capacity for magic items. That solution will scale a bit.

How much would it cost to put it on knives? 

About this much.

Hmmmmmmm. 

Normally that's a bit of an edge case for me but I'll sponsor it. Generalizing the enchantment probably will have some nice knock-on effects. Abadar and Nethys will like it. Calistria will definitely like it. Give me a second to whip up a coalition. 

These things are great. Please, take my budget. I want a dozen in all different forms. 

Your lover ripped up a piece of paper for me so I'll contribute. Next time she will have to set something on fire.

Iterating on inventions is what I do. Who knows what industrial uses a vibrating enchantment could be put to. Querning flour comes to mind. 

Should she try Irori... he might value being able to make such a tool more discreet. 

He might oppose it, though, based on his inclination to moderation. 

She'll leave him out of this one.

The bargain's heavier on her this time, but it's more than worth it for a fully generalized vibrating enchantment.

She makes the deal.

Hey, you! Have a vision!

Of course Nethys knows the best wizard for the job. 

With the newly expanded enchantment, Milani's able to do more damage to Nidal. Enchanted knives. Enchanted swords. (It goes in the pommel.) Amulets that vibrate. Rings that vibrate. (They can be worn on many body parts.) Inspect and register every damn magic item in the country, you assholes. 

Bitch. 

Zon-Kuthon tries, he really does. 

Asmodeus, help me with this one?

Lol no. The strong survive and the weak perish. Get good.

Ugh. 

He can't register every single magic item in the country. 

He can't just make every magic item in-house, he doesn't have the wizards for that. 

All he can do is make examples of the people he catches.

You fucker. You're trying to get in my way?

Fuck you. A plague of wasps on your new registration bureau.

Lol noob.

Says the god who is ALSO BANNING MY PRECIOUS VIBRATORS. 

GO DIE IN A FIRE.

Okay, ow, that kind of smarts. Usually Calistria is a little easier to get on side than this. He can vibe with vengeance. It's just that she's preoccupied with this fucking lust thing and suddenly that's a liability.

Tell me about it.

Did I ask your opinion?

She's out of intervention budget to spare, but Nidal is starting to show some cracks. 

She'll leave this part to Calistria. 

Calistria assassinates the head of the new vibrator inspection agency. They go to Hell.

Wince.

Nobody deserves that.

No, nobody does. 

You're doing good work here. She's discreetly incorporating a few of the new vibrators into the personal effects of her officers where that would be less costly than trying to seductionproof them in other ways. Irori is helping. 

This isn't a place where she has a unique advantage, but she has seen an uptick in useful intelligence out of Nidal. A handful of outright turncoats who were able to escape the country, but more to the point the noble families are spending resources on getting their hands on vibrators and not using those resources on Evil. The additional strain of registering all the magic items in the country is lessening opportunities for Nidal to seize important purchases, tying up the resources of Zon-Kuthon's church with busywork, and causing internal unrest due to squabbles over status. Calistria's vengeance is only making things worse for the internal structure and has thus far been mostly members of Zon-Kuthon's church.

A whole noble family has been Maledicted in the inevitable internal purges, and they were some of Zon-Kuthon's more competent people. It's not something to celebrate, but should be noted.

Zon-Kuthon's hold has weakened, just a little, and this has been the result of play mostly from just Milani and Sunaira. 

They should really be talking to Cayden and Shelyn about followup. 

Sunaria inspects the escapees.

One of them is a tattoo and scarification artist who couldn't help making her designs more beautiful than the Nidalese church approved of. She has Nidalese kinks, but is trying to unlearn them. 

Iomedae, I estimate it's worth this much to inform this particular woman of the Lady of Blackberries.

I'll cover it.

She'll cleric her later. This one doesn't need powers to matter just yet.

She's beautiful for someone from Nidal. 

Her face has been badly burnt, but the way it healed looks more striking than ugly. That's her most obvious feature until she smiles. Then it's clear that her teeth have been filed into points. It's harder to notice that she covers most of her body with her clothes, or that she's missing both her pinkies. She hobbles; she's been lamed. Her eyes are milky and grey, more like a corpse's than a human's. 

But with a walking-stick in her hand she still stands taller than most people in the room. There is a presence to her. Something that even Nidal couldn't entirely stamp out of her. 

So. The Lady of the Blackberries. 

She's needed. She knows the aesthetics of Nidal. She knows what its people find striking. She knows how to subvert that, make it slip in Zon-Kuthon's grip. She just needs time and resources.

She will have both, and a Regenerate if she wants one.

She does not, thank you very much for the offer. Just get her to Absalom and don't make her walk too much.

Her passage will be paid for. It costs far less than a Regenerate.

Eventually...

Weal or Woe if I answer the door?

Weal. 

She goes and opens her apartment door.

The scars take her aback. 

"You're the priestess of the Lady of the Blackberries?"

Ember taps her free hand against her thigh.

"I - uh - yes. Who are you?"

"Ember Scar. Formerly of Nidal. I have something that I need to discuss with you."

She doesn't fidget. She has the affect of a stone statue. 

This woman's teeth are sharpened. Good gods, how does she eat without suffering intense pain?

Kumi's heard stories about Nidal, but it's different to meet someone from there in person. 

She offers her hand. "I'm Kumi."

Ember looks at Kumi's hand like it's a turd.

"What am i supposed to do with that?"

 "You... shake it? I guess they must not do that in Nidal."

"I will never understand foreigners' obsession with touching people at every opportunity."

"... You had better come in."

She comes in and closes the door behind her. 

"I understand you are the priestess of a goddess who understands pain and suffering. Who cares about the artistry of tattoos and scarification."

"Is that what you did, in Nidal before you came here? You were a - body artist?"

"Yes. But the Church wouldn't let me produce the designs I wanted to. They were too symmetrical, too purposeful, too..."

She pauses. It's definitely not a fumble. She is merely considering her words. 

"... Too good to be allowed to exist."

"... I see."

Clearly her goddess has sent her a wake-up call. 

"And you want me to help you distribute your designs?"

"I..."

She swallows. 

It's hard to say it, now that it could actually happen. 

She nods. 

"It could be dangerous to disttribute Nidalese aesthetic outside Nidal. That is not - I don't want the people who hurt you to get more purchase in the world through your art."

"... What kind of category is that? You might as well say 'people who are alive.' Everyone hurts people."

Kumi has no idea what to say to that. She's noticed the missing fingers, now, and she's beginning to deeply suspect that this woman has more scars beneath her concealing clothes. 

"Most people do not deliberately cut off body parts or - sharpen people's teeth -"

She frowns. "Why not? It is not as if you need your pinky fingers."

"I - doesn't it hurt to eat with those teeth of yours?"

"Yes. So? It is not as if I cannot bear it."

A note of pride tinges her voice.

"... Normally people try to avoid pain."

"Life is pain. If you avoid pain you avoid life. It is pathetic to not be able to face up to the whip when it is time to."