A party at your gate... hole...

The walk back down to your cave ended up taking you much longer than the one coming up, mainly because there were Adventurers around. It was impossible to know what they were doing, or intending, but it didn’t matter. The first group you spotted while you were still on the plateau but nearing the path - three adventurers, each with name tags bright and threatening red. They were far enough away you couldn’t read them, but the skull where a level should be shouted ‘don’t even think about it.’

You waited until they were well and past, headed up higher into the mountain. It was good you waited so long, because the second group, four this time, appeared just as you were starting to make your way towards the path.

What the hell is going on? You hadn’t seen this many adventurers in months, and now you were up to twelve in two days.

Again you waited, though the group of four seemed to be goofing off as they hopped around, dawdling on the path. These all had yellow names, still too far away to be read, and no skulls. Individually, there was a chance you could take them, though you had seen yellow up to level sixteen or seventeen before. What god thought you, a level 5 sorcerer, could take on a level 17 adventurer?

Well, you had taken out that dickhead Drake and had been bright red and higher level.

Finally, once you were sure this foursome were gone, you quickly made your way to the mountain path and started heading down. You were about half way down to your side trail when you spotted another group headed up the mountain, though this group seemed to be made up of goblins. Not wanting to bother with talking to the vile little fucks, you stepped off the main path and loomed near a scraggly tree off to the east in the sloped foothills.

The little party of goblins stopped and began arguing for a moment before backtracking, then doing so again headed back up. It looked like they weren’t sure which trail they wanted to take, just that they needed one of them. The more curious thing was that, of the five goblins, three were males and one was a female decorated with feathers. The last was another female, but she was tied up and being carried along between two of the mottled green males slung on a pole.

What. The fuck.

Eventually they picked a trail, and you hurried back to the path and made it down to your own trail without any more incidents.

You even made it back to your cave without any issues.

Almost.

The entrance to your cave was in sight, but someone was standing outside it. The creature was a soft white-pink color, and the back of its wings on it’s otherwise humanoid form blocked most of your view of it. More curiously, it seemed to be trying to talk to your worker, who was currently standing in the doorway blocking it and also twice of it’s usually normal, squat dwarven size.

Dark dwarves had a natural affinity for certain magics, and your worker seemed to be able to enlarge himself enough to block the door. Well, I did tell him to try and keep things out. At least one order had worked well.

As you walked quietly up behind the creature, you could hear it saying, “Look, dark groundling, I seek your master for talk, not for war. If you will just take me to where he is, I will leave.”

“Bzzzbat prat zgatt vethg gezznik.”

“Speak the common tongue, you stupid-”

“Ahem,” you coughed lightly.

The creature turned, and you found that she was a harpy. And she was definitely a she. Her feet, just under the knee, turned into the savage feet and claws of a vulture, and the fingers on her slender hands came into pointed black claws sharper than your own. She was covered in a soft down that gave her colouring, and instead of hair she had a plume of white, pink and soft blue feathers. Other than all that, she seemed to be all woman - her breasts were large heavy and capped with pale grey nipples with areola bare of feathers. Her hips were broad, he waist small and her shoulders wide and strong under the feathering. Her wings, which she had mostly tucked back and folded to her body, spread out with her surprise as she spun at your cough. The wingspan had to be four yards, and her wings were a mix of the same colours as the plume on her head. Her eyes were golden and green, though the pupils were slit like those of a lizard, and the down on her face was even thinner than the rest of her body, allowing the light grey of her skin to show through. She didn’t wear a stitch of clothing, though she did have a belt of woven reeds decorated with what looked like animal fangs and claws, and some necklaces of the same, but also with beads and nuggets of shiny, unworked metals. She was beautiful in a savage, avian way.

“It’s you,” she said after a moment.

“It’s me,” you said curiously.

She went down to her knees, bowing forward and reaching her clawed hands out towards you in supplication. Her wings spread wide, blocking most of the trail, mirroring her arms as she prostrated herself.

You were about to say something when the flapping of wings had you ducking in surprise. You spun and behind you four more harpies had landed. Two were the same soft pink as the first, and two were predominantly the soft blue of the accent feathers on the first, pink spattered in their hair and wings. They each had the same sort of belts and necklaces, though no two were the same and none had as many as the first. They each also quickly got to their knees, prostrating themselves before you as well.

“Mighty Exile,” the first said, face still pointed down to the rock of the trail. “We, the daughters of the Bonetree Aerie, come to you to beg of your goodness. Word has spread across Imporne of your cunning and bravery, and of the favour which the Adventurers seem to clamour to curry with you.”

Adventurers currying favour with you? Well, you guess that sort of makes sense from an outsiders point of view.

“What can I do for you, daughters of the Bonetree Aerie?” you asked. “And, ah, you may rise. All of you”

They stood slowly. The first, and clearly their leader, remains on one knee with her head still bowed. “We are the daughters on the Bonetree, Exile, but I must be honest with you. The Bonetree Aerie has been wiped out, we few are all that remain of the flock. Where once there were dozens of us, led by Flockmother Stormclaw, our mothers and sisters have been murdered. Even our men, always so few, have been destroyed. Our nests scattered.”

“How? Who has done this?”

To be honest, you had never heard of the Bonetree Aerie before. Was this something that happened every patch, or something new? It was hard to tell, but this harpy was definitely disturbed by the developments.

“Adventurers, lord Exile. They came in the morning, screaming and cackling between them, a dozen or more. They cut a path through our warriors and sorceresses. They defiled the corpses of the lower nests as they made tools and trinkets to climb to the upper. The Flockmother said she saw our doom in those strange wooden construction, and she sent us to fly as far as we could above and still witness what would come next.”

“They- They killed them all, and carved up the bodies for reagents and sport.”

You swallowed hard. What she was describing was horrid. Always, you had been alone. Always your **** was a personal pain, your losses material. You had never lost someone before.

“This sounds… absolutely terrible, daughters of the Bonetree. But why do you come to me? Why do you not wait for the Adventurers to move on, as they always do, and begin your Aerie again. Surely your kin will respawn, and bolster you once more.”

One of the harpies behind you on the trail squawked a mournful sound, awfully like a sob.

“The Adventurers did not leave, Exile,” the first one said, then raised her eyes to meet yours for the first time since you had surprised her. “They produced gems, strange red ones, and performed a ritual. They took the Bonetree, claimed it as their own, and set about building something. They took our home, Exile, and we are orphaned.”

You meet her gaze and see the pain there. You knew that the Adventurers must have been one of their guilds, or clans or whatever they called themselves, and they had grouped together to claim all the land around this Bonetree Aerie. If they claimed the entire thing, would the Aerie harpies respawn somewhere else, or were they just… gone?

Kneeling in front of the harpy woman, you took her face softly in both hands, cupping her cheeks and keeping her gaze on you. “What is your name, daughter of the Bonetree?”

“We have no names, Exile. We are but the youngest of the flock castes, ready to become warrior or sorcerer or nestmother as the Flockmother would have willed.”

You sighed and stood, taking her clawed hands in your own and lifting her to stand with you. She was only an inch or two shorter than you.

“Come into my home then, and we will discuss what you need.”

Accept the Daughters of the Bonetree Aerie into your Lair?

You ushered the first harpy in, after ordering your dark dwarf to the back of the cave, and stood in the entranceway as you gestured in each of the other harpy women in turn. You took the opportunity to compare them - other than the colouring, and the belts and necklaces, there was very little difference between the five. Some random variation in their accent feather placement seemed to be the extent. Each woman had heavy breasts with pale grey nipples exposed to the open air, golden eyes shy to meet yours, and when you turned to see them moving into the cave you noticed their wide hips gave way to thick, feminine asses hidden behind their folded back wings.

Once you were all inside, the dim light of the setting sun not doing much to illuminate the cave, one of the harpies spoke up. “Look, sisters! The Exile expected our coming, he has built us nests.”

The five all began cooing and talking between themselves in a strange language you didn’t understand, clustered around… the open crates that your Dark Dwarf had crafted while you were away. The worktable was standing right where you had picked out, and deep at the back of the cave your new ‘throne’ was waiting for you. It was a big, tall backed chair with thick armrests and bone inlay along the front, cushioned with a shaggy goat-pelt.

You took their moment of distraction to narrow your eyes and really examine the harpies, prompting a more detailed popup.

Level 3 Harpy
Monster, Harpy, Explicit
Experience to level up - N/A
Attributes
Strength 16 Dexterity 25 Endurance 17
Charisma ?? Manipulation ?? Appearance ??
Perception 28 Intelligence 25 Wits 25
Skills
Archery 15
Awareness 15
Dodge 15
Occult 10
Stealth 10
Survival 10
Craft (Fetishes) 10
Craft (Jewelry) 8
Feats
Liege - You have chosen another monster to be your Liege. It is harder for you to lie to or work against your Liege. Your Liege may choose to impart a number of benefits to you.
Monstrous Appearance - When attempting to use Appearance in a positive way on creatures without the Monster subtype, count it at 20 points lower until the target gets used to you.
Siren Song - When you sing, all creatures who hear your song have a chance to become Fascinated by you until you stop singing. They will stop what they are doing and become Charmed, and will attempt to directly approach you.
Sorcerous Aptitude: Storm - You have an inherent bloodline of elemental Storm magic. The leader of your flock may choose for you to develop these natural abilities at higher levels.

“Ladies, please, a moment,” you said, interrupting the harpies as they began to position themselves in the crates, sitting down in the nests. You thought you caught a glower from the Dark Dwarf who had built them. “You have entered my service, and I promise you all the opportunities for comfort that I might offer. I have spent the day gathering the resources necessary to give it more life, but before I begin my plans to make this a suitable home for all of us, please - what is it you need to become comfortable and feel safe enough to begin building a new Aerie here, under my roof?”

The harpies looked between each other, and a few muttered words in that strange language were exchanged, then the first harpy spoke up. “Lord Exile, you have already provided shelter and nests, we would not dare ask for more.”

“Shush,” you said, waving away the thought. “What do you need?”

She looked to the other harpies cautiously, and then back to you. “We prefer our nests high, like in the branches of Bonetree, but ledges can work. We can harvest the necessities for our own nests, you should not worry about that. We are willing to help with the building, and hunting and any other duties you require of us. We are yours now, Exile. But…” she looked again to the other harpies, and her face seemed to change to a shade darker. “We had thought to ask this of you after we had proven our usefulness to you, but you ask how we can build a new aerie. With no males of our own, we fall upon the ways of old to reproduce - to do so, we require your famed potency, to breed with us so that our eggs will be quickened.”

You had thought that maybe, with enough work, they could design a space where their old flock could respawn. You hadn’t thought reproducing would be the need. Then again, looking at the five of them in a line, their posture to keep their wings comfortable also happening to present the breasts high and proud. As long as they had cunts similar to bugbears, or the adventurers, he would be happy to oblige.

“This is something I would be willing to do for you,” you said, putting on the same smile you had tried with Adrianne. “I don’t know if I could handle all five of you in a day though, at least not while remaining productful beyond that.”

“We will decide among us who will get a chance. Could you handle perhaps two of us a day, Exile?”

Two willing, busty fucks a day? “Yes, I think that would work perfectly.”

All of the harpies began tittering again, seemingly happy with decision.

“Is there anything else you need?” you asked.

“No, lord. Only to prove ourselves useful.”

“Well then. Allow me a moment to reconsider my plans and then we will get to work. I’m warning you now, you have come to me at the outset of a great undertaking. You have had a terribly difficult day so I will not ask you to work now, you deserve sleep, but my worker and I will be continuing through the night.”

The first harpy spoke to the others, then nodded. “We thank you, Exile. Please allow us to help though. We will sleep in shifts, and those awake will help.”

You nodded, then on a moment of instinct you stepped forward and put your hand on her cheek, holding her still as you kissed her. It was the sort of thing an Adventurer would do. Monsters, creatures of the world, didn’t do those sorts of things. You were different, you knew how it felt to receive a kiss like that. So you gave her that gift.

The first thing you found out was that harpies have an unfortunate maw of jagged teeth that sort of point outwards. You definitely weren’t going to introduce them to tongue. That being said, the harpy leader sucked in a thick breath of surprise and seemed to melt into the kiss. After a long moment, you broke the kiss and met her gaze for a moment, then moved to the next. Down the line of crate-nests, you kissed each harpy once, and after each one they looked at you like you were a god.

“All of you rest a while,” you said. “It will be a little bit of time before the first stage of my plans are ready.”

“Thank you, lord,” one of the harpies murmured, and the rest repeated.

As they began to settle, you went to the back of the cave and sat in your new throne. It was pretty comfortable, all things considered. The first thing you did was open your inventory and begin moving all of your new resources over to the Stronghold inventory. You still had a large amount of wood, and now you had an even larger amount of stone. Massive, really. You couldn’t ever imagine needing so much.

Alright, you thought, looking down the length of your cave, past the harpies and the worktable and out at the colourful sky of sunset. Door. Interior. Aerie.

You took a deep breath and started to make your plans.

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