A Holy Tome and a Wooden Chest

Both Zeren and Delarissa make their way off to where she was pointing. Sure enough the canvas of tents had been dismantled and lay on the ground hastily, the fire looking as if it had been extinguished quickly with a bucket of water that was strewn off to the side. Both Zeren and Delarissa looked in and around the tents for the chest that they had been hired to retrieve.

As soon Delarissa's back is turned Zeren is drawn toward a glowing pulse coming from under a backpack. He stoops down to get a better look only to find a copy of his holy book, the book of Deslyna's church 'The Voiceless Verses'. Zeren had studied that book as an acolyte before he ever thought that he would find himself out in the wide world as an adventurer. This one however was different, the bleeding heart, Deslyna's symbol was not just a deep scarlet red but it appeared to be beating in time with his own heart. He reached out for the book, feeling its deific power. As soon as his hand grasped it his vision blacked out and he was left with just the object of his worship in his vision, her melodic voice dancing upon his ears merely whispering, "My son, your life has been fraught with the trials of loneliness and bad fortune. This is why I am gifting this to you, 'The Affection Multiplier'. It is the greatest gift that I can bestow, it will increase the affections of others toward you at a more rapid rate than they normally would and hope that it increases your vigor for life."

As quickly as it started, Zeren was back to his senses holding the book in hand, he stared wide eyed at it and instantly knew that what he had just experienced was the truth. Deslyna had spoken to him and he now held a mighty artifact with devastating consequences. Consequences for his sex life that is, Zeren was not very experienced in this area and had mostly spent his time on prayer and perfecting his divine spell casting. The opportunity that this book presented however was immense and he planned to take advantage of it.

Opening its cover he began reading, these were the words of Deslyna that he had known and studied most of his life. However it soon turned to describing the artifact that he was holding. The fact that the affection that people in his life had for him could be quantified with simple numbers, along with their levels of love and lust for the possessor of the tome. He flicked through a few more of the pages and reached a chapter named "The Scarlet Company", the pages seemed to go on forever as each page he turned did not seem to move through the book at all, the magic within it was truly awe inspiring. Immediately after the chapter header, in rather formal script was the name of the first companion that he had met Angelika. She had come into the temple where Zeren had been cloistered looking for the temple prostitutes, the page also held a rather fetching image of her in her tight leathers, daggers sheathed at her hips and her trademark smug, smirk plastered on her face. Below that was more writing, again as if it had been scribed by someone taking great care.

Angelika Beaumont
Human
24
Affection: 7 "Zeren has been good for the company, I guess, I don't hate him as much as some random stranger"
Love: -8 "Zeren may be good for the company and all but seriously, I could never love him"
Lust: -12 "HA, have you seen that scrawny little boy, no way he's getting into my bed"
Traits: Bisexual, Sexually Dominant, Polyamorous****

Point of View Shift - Zeren
Wow, it seemed as if the book had some insight into the person's mind as well as their levels of affection. Is that what Angelika really thought of me huh? What a bitch, I guess I should have known with how much of a tease she was back at the temple. As interesting as it was to read about how much Angelika found me sexually repulsive. I quickly skimmed through the pages for the rest of my companions.

Delarissa Amalyn
Elf
112
Affection: 21 "Zeren has become a fast friend, I enjoy discussing the differences in our magics"
Love: 8 "Zeren is a close friend and I genuinely believe that we could develop a bond over time. he's like a brother to me"
Lust: 9 "I can't say that I haven't thought about it but I don't think that I could ever go there"
Traits: Heterosexual, Sexually Submissive

Gwendolyn Dawnstar
Human
33
Affection: 13 "Zeren is a capable member of the company and has proven himself on more than one occasion I feel happy to call him a battle brother"
Love: -1 "I do not let my heart be swayed by those I fight with"
Lust: 0 "I have no interest in engaging in any sort of sexual relationship with anyone, let alone Zeren"
Traits: Homosexual, Virgin, Vow of Chastity

Yevelda Sharptusk
Orc
25
Affection: -1 "Zeren is a weak human with no fight, his 'divine' magic merely covers up this weakness"
Love: -21 "No man that weak is deserving of the love of anyone, let alone a mighty orc warrior"
Lust: -45 "No man that weak could ever satisfy me, I just don't see how it's possible"
Traits: Orcish-Heterosexual

"Hello, Zeren, heavens to Zeren", Delarissa was standing over me trying to get my attention and was successful when she snapped a small jolt of lightning in front of my vision.

"Um, what, uhhh, sorry. What were you saying?"

"I said that I found the chest that we were looking for, it was buried over here by the makeshift tree stump seats. What are you looking at there."

I quickly snapped the book shut, stammering out my reply, "Just had the need to do a bit of prayer in the wake of the chase we just had so I opened up the Verses to calm myself down"

"Oh boy, you can get lost in that thing, you'll have to tell me more about your church sometime."

"Sure thing Del, let's get this chest back to the others."