Succubusekai: The Demoness Just Wanted To Stay With Her Friends! [Original-Ish] [Quest]

Closer than I thought, actually, but it looks like the Bard Plan wins out. Hooray for classic choices!

Writing has begun, which will include starting to fill in Senaz's character sheet from back near the top of the thread. The next vote will come after that.

Note that, per revisions via Sunt, the accepted stat spread will be:
10 STR, 14=>16 DEX, 12 CON, 13=>15 INT, 8 WIS, 15=>23 CHA

EDIT TO MOVE THE PREVIOUS COMMENTS OF THE NEXT POST HERE FOR THE RECORD: I have updated Senaz's character sheet, reflecting initial decisions. Spell selections will come with the next poll, whose post I have drafted but intend to wait at least a day on for revisions; for now, feel free to ask questions or point out if I possibly made a mistake or two!

Okay, the Paladin asked you a question. She can wait a few seconds, though you do audibly groan a bit.

In your head, your inner voices are looking at a PowerPoint. "SENAZ, HERE AND NOW" The slide switches to a new image: "Past Life Senaz, first, we're going with the new name, ok?"

The hoodied figure nods. "'K," she says. Her voice has a tone that the others understand as them, but it's like it comes from a different body. Which is essentially true - she's kind of a metaphor for the life of pre-egg-hatch you, after all.

The slide continues: "CLASS: Bard!" - and below it - "Archetypical but sexy!", "Powered by your exceptional even by Succubus standards force of personality and possibly bust size*!"

In small text: "*bust size is understood to not be sole determinant of physical attractiveness. Please remember intended range of motion when determining bust size while shapeshifting. Remember the Hobadonkeros Incident."

All of the figures except past life Senaz shudder reflexively. She glances, but the slutty one says, "Don't think about it, don't think about it, your back is fine."

The armored and helmeted version of you shakes her head. "We should've gone for pure fighting and you all know it! The bard magic isn't how you win fights, not alone!"

The more finely dressed giggles. "Oh, please, we've got plenty of capacity for violence as-is; a bit of music and the ability to be almost anywhere and fit in is far more valuable for our kind, and that isn't going to change just because we're supposedly on some holy quest!"

The slutty one shrugs. "Well, fighting or magicking that Paladin isn't gonna work this time any more than last. Let's just talk and seduce her instead, that's more likely to get somewhere."

"... Is she even interested?", the newest voice says. "I mean, I was never good at telling, but…"

The slutty one giggled. "Please! Paladins are so stuck in their Holy Righteous Quest that fighting is practically core to how they flirt!"

"That doesn't quite sound right…"

"Well, dear, what do you know? You literally had to use your dying wish to get a-"

The violent one's glare made the slutty one freeze. "Too low," she said. "I'm of the opinion that if we jump her again, we can take her."

The classy one shook her head. "Doubt it. She's tougher than she looks. Our best bet is to try and find a chance to flee… Especially if we're to act on certain reveals."

The hoodied one blinked. "I-it's not my fault you didn't know about the quest!"

"Not entirely wrong," the classy one observed. "But if we're now bound to a goddess-granted holy quest or whatever - seriously, she didn't tell you what it even is?! - then we've got to get out of here alive and not banished back to the Abyss. Our best bet there is probably going to start with talking to her with a bit of honesty - not revealing the whole quest reincarnation thing, though - and then just fleeing. Stuff optional but preferred."

This drew a pause from the hoodied one. "... Wait. We've only got one wish accounted for so far, right?"

You do not remember having an extradimensional lair. Or an Internet connection.

The hoodied one continues, "Assuming the Goddess didn't cheat us out of all three wishes, something has to be the tripwire for them. Perhaps some magic we now know but haven't realized or something. Won't help with the Paladin yet, though. She's kinda scary…"

At that, the other three nodded.

The violent one sighed. "Okay, if we're not gonna go for round 2, try to get her talking, see if we can get anything I guess. Maybe we can get to fighting later."

The slutty one giggled. "And then go for a kiss~"

The hoodied one facepalmed a bit. "That'll just get our ass kicked, please don't."

---

".... Dunno," the Succubus responds, her tone of voice a bit more… Inscrutible. She slowly starts to push herself up.

You sigh. "Please do watch the path. We should get you somewhere safe."

"... Curious way to put it, given where you were leading me now is the opposite of safe for me."

"Perhaps. But it is a place where we can talk."

"Where you've got the power, but sure."

"... Your tone of voice has changed with that collision. You're quieter."

"It hurt, what can I say?" - a very quick and weirdly snappy response.

[ ] Just keep going to the temple
[x] Pull her into an alley and put your cards on the table now
[ ] Kiss her before she expects it enough to use life drain or anything

As you step in, she blinks. And then she makes a nonverbal 'yeek' as you grab her arm and pull her into an alleyway between two townhouses.

Good, empty alley.

"... You just regained memories, didn't you."

The succubus's irises shrink as she gasps.

---

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA", is the common refrain of all four voices in your metaphorical headspace.

The projector has now fallen over, and the screen shows "HOW DID THE PALADIN KNOW", "WHAT'S GOING ON", and of course, "WE'RE SCREWED!!!" There are paper mache flames in the background around your metaphorical brainspace.

The fact that the screen shouldn't be showing anything because the projector's fallen over doesn't matter, this is your headspace metaphor anyways.

Consulting your inner voices might not do much right now, so... Bluff time! "W-what would make you think that? T-that's crazy. No way it'd be something like that!" - you start to laugh uneasily.

"Your natural talent for lies just completely cratered, for one." Shit, she's actually good at this! Or correct. You usually were pretty good at deception, so it's just the panic talking right?

"... Okay, yes. But seriously, why's THAT what you-" - Oh.

Oh fuck, you think.

"Oh fuck," you say aloud, on reconsideration.

"You guessed it in one, didn't you," the Paladin responds with a heavy sigh.

"... This is definitely not what I expected on any reasonable level," you admit. Seriously, what are the odds that a second reincarnated hero would have just shown up, kicked your ass, and - okay, maybe she didn't cause your memories to show up but.

"Nor I," the Paladin responds.

"... So, now what do we do?"

"How about we start with proper introductions, then."

"... Right." The girl can't help but lean in flirtatiously in a way that clearly shows practice. "My name's Senaz. Mind if we stick to the current names?"

"Sure I guess? I am Helen Garland, and I'm off seeking a holy quest from a goddess who did not deign to share her name."

You blink.

The goddess really didn't say her name, did she?

"That is kind of weird," you can't help but respond. "... Anyways. In my past life, I was… How do I put this? Don't know what kind of place you're from, so what terms would make sense is kinda unclear."

"Well," the Paladin, now perhaps a bit more relaxed maybe starts to respond, "How about I go first on that part? I suspect my situation's a bit different if you're insisting on keeping your past name secret, because in my past life, I was… Hmm."

Okay, while she gets ready to narrate her past, you can go over your past several years a bit more. (You're not sure 'insisting' is the right word, but you guess it seems a reasonable conclusion. Maybe you can clarify in a moment.)

You studied the Bard's style from fairly early in the dark schools of the Demon Academies - places where newly-minted demons could develop their talents in relative safety. Your talents turned out to be performance - funny, given your social anxiety in your past life.

Either way, you learned how to use music to create magic, and got better at using your inherent abilities in the process. Sure, you're still kinda foolhardy, but you're new to this, a little aggression is to be expected! Right? Fortune favors the aggressive. Totally.

Your entire class of demon bards was Succubi, you couldn't help but appreciate - sometimes very, very personally. No surprise there - most demons tended to not think in terms of allies, while Succubi were good at gaining them with their charms. Bardic magic is great for helping ensure your minions and 'friends' succeed where you want them to.

Of course, you had to graduate eventually, and then it was time to prove your skills by going forth and causing mayhem to the surface - all planar transit costs covered, no time limit, go forth and cause evil!

And then Helen showed up and kicked your ass and you're still thinking she's somehow responsible for those rocks and you're supposed to be doing the good-guy thing and that's kind of awkward. Oh, she's ready.

"In my past life," she starts, "I was…"

[ ] (PALADIN'S PAST) "... Helen Garland, a Paladin of the Goddess of Solaria on a different world. I've fought my share of evils, afouling schemes of the God of Tyranny and Fate, Gargantor, and the Demon Lord Sanctifer." (Medium probability that the quest AFTER the first arc involves figures from Helen's past life.)
[ ] (PALADIN'S PAST) "... Helen Garland, a Paladin of the Goddess of Solaria who operated across multiple worlds. I… 'Teamed up with' a rather unpleasant woman at a dark interdimensional university; thankfully, we broke it." (Solaria's DEFINITELY going to be an influence on the story, and there could be larger threats - or allies - showing up.)
[ ] (PALADIN'S PAST) "... Helen Garland, a Paladin of the Goddess of Solaria who operated across multiple worlds. I was more okay than I should be comfortable with serving… No, that's not right, is it…?" (... Something's deeply, deeply wrong here - things are going to explode later on.)
[ ] (PALADIN'S PAST) "... Helen Garland, Knight of the Conclave of Communion, formerly the greatest knights of the Galactic Republic - now, those of us who remain hope to help the Resistance defeat the Empire of Mankind and its dark Chancellor, the Id-Sorcerer Cleon Xanull." (A Star Wars pastiche; if influences from Helen's past life crop up here, things could get spacetastic.)
[ ] (PALADIN'S PAST) "... Captain Helen Garland of the Transmission-Five, one of the spacefaring inter-civilizational Compact's ships under the Division of External Diplomacy, traveling the galaxy to meet new civilizations, discover new worlds, and sometimes handle other needs of the various governments that comprise the Compact. A pride of the Fleet, even with only half of the sixteen Duo Frames it's supposed to have! … Hope everyone else survived that encounter with the Tralbeast." (A Star Trek pastiche, except with mecha; influences would also lead to space, but also a heavily diplomacy-centered environment.)
[ ] (PALADIN'S PAST) "... Captain Helen Garland of Heromiller Academy! Smooth with a sword and smoother with my words, I learned under great heroines and worked to save and improve lives across my world, protecting the innocent even from my own King." (Captain Garland herself was apparently a heroic musketeer sort; but Heromiller Academy… Well, that name seems off doesn't it? On the bright side, this one may warm up to Senaz faster.)
[ ] (PALADIN'S PAST) "... Helen Garland of Earth, alternatively known as the solar superheroine, Sunray, member of the hero team Unity. Fought evil, did good, all of that." (From a comic-book superheroes Earth; used to saving days from supervillains more straightforwardly.)

****

Paladin's Past is an approval vote, so feel free to tag multiple options that sound fun. If there's a tie, a runoff will ensue.

Also, feel free to vote on Senaz's Bard spells:
[ ] (CANTRIPS) - Write-In from the 5e Bard list (assume I have all WotC sources and will consider external sources I can access - QM veto rights fully reserved!). Top 2 are selected.
[ ] (1STs) - Write-in from the 5e Bard list of 1st-level spells (same source list as cantrips). Top 4 are selected.

Remember that she already has a few tricks as her Succubus spell-likes, so you probably don't need to bother with say Charm Person.

Both votes will end on Monday at noon PST.

There is also a non-vote component to today's post. You have most of Senaz's character sheet in place now - her Background ability is defined, along with her skill selections, tool selections, and equipment picks. However, you're free to encourage her to make a swap or two, or have bought an item or two with that stack of GP she has.