Aelene Date, Part 5: One Slash, One Kill

Mattie

Mattie is fast, but Abs, bloodlust already rising, is faster. Blue and Blondie trail behind, the former buzzing, the later huffing, “I was promised no more exercise today!”

Bounding down the stairs, Mattie sees the tavern area and it is bedlam. An individual, encased completely in latex so tight it seems to squeak at every movement, is starting to place these VR goggle things over the heads of the bar patrons that passed out from their orgy as another is threatening over the few remaining conscious patrons. They seem to have no holes for mouths or ears. No distinguishing features. No sexual differentiation. No seams for getting out or peeing. Only thing they have on other than latex is a VR goggle thing around their head.

Abs has already pounced on the kneeling one, leaving several gaping wounds bleeding black blood. Mattie finds cover behind the bar and fires a shot, gibbing it instantly. Blondie fires off a glowy bolt at the other latex person, only getting off a glancing blow. Blue summons a bunch of magic plants from the floor to ensnare the person, only for said person to rip them out. The plants wither as the person summons some kind of swirly purple energy as it swings a punch at the wolf-girl; Abs dodges, only taking a glancing blow, then, with her tat pulsing once, swipes at the person three times. The person looks staggered.

Mattie takes half a beat to really aim, trying to blow out the VR goggles. Figured it may do something. The person partially dodges, taking the bullet through where a cheek would be. Black goo drips through the wound.

Blondie fires off another glowy bolt, then, person glowing, Blue buzzes and stabs with her stinger. The latex person suddenly becomes... fuzzy. Shit. Defensive magic. This isn’t just a punch-happy goon.

Good news, the defensive spell has no effect on Abs. Bad news, she doesn’t get a great hit in. More bad news, the latex person casts Shield. Okay, time for some pool. Mattie generates a Catapult bullet and fires it at a chair. It ricochets perfectly, slamming into the person, bringing it back into focus. That helps Blondie land her shot. That helps Blue really land her stab. The person freezes up. It’s a simple thing for Abs to rend the person to shreds.

Mattie hops over the bar and starts to examine the dead body. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Blue try to calm the living, Abs panting, and Blondie basically collapsing onto her butt. While Mattie leans down, she demands, “Hey, if you got time to relax, you got time to make sure those goggle things aren’t scrambling these people’s brains. Job’s not done yet.”

Something is nagging at the astral elf as she carefully pokes and prods the corpse. It takes a bit to unscramble it, something from the implanted memories from her transformations. “These things are the Gimp-yankie. Think BDSM latex sluts meets the Borg from Space Trek, which was also kind of BDSM if I think about it. They invade the material plane to kidnap people, incorporate them into the hive mind. The sooner you pull those goggles off, the better. There are going to be more. We need to get ready.”

Scarlet

“I thought you’d bring your Mistress over to meet me first, runt.”

“Moooooooom! I’m not that runty! See, I’m bigger than my oread girlfriend! See!” Daphne thrusts out her breasts, trying to make them bigger.

Scarlet brings a pot of herbal tea to the table, as Daphne and Calypso sit in the cat cafe, both absolutely covered by cute kittens crawling all over them. Daphne looks exasperated at her mother. Calypso has this wry smile Scarlet hasn’t seen on her before. Granted, the oread has not spent much time in the Hotel library (or any time at all); she’s only really interacted with the elder mermaid as a bar patron. Still, Calypso enjoys teasing her daughter. And Daphne enjoys being teased by her, at least a little.

Scarlet smiles slightly as she pours the tea. Calypso takes a sip and nods, approving. Daphne takes a sip and makes a face. “Not salty enough. What is it with humans and not-salty enough drinks?”

Anticipating the complaint, Scarlet summons a small squeezy bottle of squid ink. While she thinks it will ruin the floral flavor of the tea, she hands the bottle over. Daphne’s tea, now darker than black tea, is acceptable to her “refined mermaid palate.” Scarlet sits down and takes a sip. Lovely as is.

“So, Scarlet,” Calypso begins, her wry smile still across her face, “what exactly do you see in my runt of a daughter? I mean, despite your lack of assets, I know you know how to please a mermaid, so I see why Daphne would fall for you.”

Daphne looks expectantly as she guzzles her (ruined) cup of tea. Scarlet sips and thinks. “Well, for one, I do like the size of Daphne’s egg sacs. They are not grotesquely bloated. And her teeth are obviously the best in the harem. Super pointy. Makes my teeth look so bland. But, more important than all that, Daphne is sweet and kind and smart and always wants to give everyone a smile. Harper and I are both lucky to have her in our lives.”

Daphne beams, sharky teeth flashing with her exuberance. “You really think I have the best teeth in the harem?”

“Only one close would be Glitter, but yours are way better. Better for rending fish apart, right?”

Daphne does her little wiggle dance, then scoots over and gives Scarlet a big hug. The oread catches the elder mermaid smile out of the corner of her eye.

“While all of that is good to hear, I actually do get a say with this relationship. I am her mother.”

Daphne stares into Scarlet’s eyes, looking wide as saucers. “If you disapprove, you can go suck an egg, Calypso. I love your daughter and I hope that she loves me. And it’s not like we wouldn’t be spending a bunch of time together regardless.”

“Mommy?” Daphne asks, a mere whisper into Scarlet’s shoulder.

“My runty little fingerling, I’m sorry I could never figure you out well enough; I am so glad you found your true frenzy. Harper is a good woman. Strong. Capable. And she loves you so much, as far as I can tell from the footage. You should tell her to visit me. This one is a good woman, too, even if you are bigger than her. Very good with her hands. As long as you are safe and well taken care of, I am happy for you. Now tell your Mistress to fertilize your tiny egg sacs already. I wanna play with some grandbabies!”

Daphne’s quip about Calypso already having grandbabies gets smothered in a deep kiss. Calypso’s next quip is not (unfortunately). “Sooo, what am I supposed to do here now. Eat the cats?”

Daphne breaks the kiss to whine, “Mooooom! You don’t eat the kitties, you pet them. What would the producer kitty think about you eating cats?”

Shaking off a dozen cats, Calypso giggles. “I’m going to go play with some of your nieces, my runty little fingerling. Seriously, tell your Mistress to say ‘Hi.’ Why should the other mother-in-laws get to harangue her and not me?” Then, shimmying into a staff tube, she waves goodbye.

“Happy we saw your mom?”

“Yup. Happy we saw our mom, my other Beloved.”

Aelene

Lady Harper leads the way. Aelene tries to convince her not to trust the pirate, but Lady Harper insists that the pirate will comply, at least as long as the threat of reprisal is real. Soon, after squeezing through a narrow crack in the cave wall, they reach the open air of the cavern’s mouth. And, sitting on top of a small mountain of bones, mostly picked clean of flesh, is a larger harpy, staring out to the open air. It’s pendulous breasts swing as it laughs at some other harpies playing with the chunks of dead horse. Vile creature.

“Plan?” Harper mentally asks. “Telepathy is going down soon. Probably won’t have it after the fight without a refresh.”

“The Harpy Queen is mine,” Aelene replies, “You two clean up as many of the regular harpies as you can.”

“Gotcha. Glitter, you ready? You can go dragon if you want.”

“Huh, oh, sure. I guess.”

Aelene does not believe in taking the coward’s way of attack. The quest demanded single combat, and single combat it shall be. She summons her reflection before the harpy queen and bellows out, “HAVE AT THEE!” With a single swipe, the harpy queen’s head rolls. And then, panic ensues.

Lady Harper quickly starts her bladesong and fires off her shining beam of light. Somehow, all of the harpies that got hit were able to dodge from the blast, only taking crippling grazing damage. Glitterdust roars into her full size, blasting out a blast of purple energy from her draconian maw. Other than the queen, no dead harpies, yet.

But the queen dying in one blow was enough. Most of the harpies take flight, scattering in the wind; a few hit by Glitterdust’s breath are still woozy. Harper fires off her beam again, this time causing a couple to drop out of the sky, dead before they hit the ground far below. Then, quick as lightning, the sea elf cuts through the ones disoriented by the dragon. The dragon takes flight, pursuing the nearest of the scattered harpies, biting and rending it with her claws.

Harper Harpy Kill Count: 47

The harpies continue to scatter, flying away as fast as they can. Glitter sinks her teeth into the one she attacked, but it wasn’t quite enough to kill it. Harper strains to line off a shot to hit the stragglers, but manages one with several in range still. Her final blast kills 3 of them. The mote of light dissipates as her betrothed sits down, turning younger by the second.

“Did we do enough, Aelene?”

Final Totals:

87 Dead Harpies

Harper Harpy Kill Count: 50 (Harper’s Quest is a Success)

Aelene: +57 XP (Killed 87 Level 2 monsters, x0.154 penalty (overleveled), Killed 1 Level 5 monster, x0.384 penalty, x2 at the end [Harper Quest success])

Glitter: +67 XP (Killed 87 Level 2 monsters, x0.182 penalty (overleveled), Killed 1 Level 5 monster, x0.454 penalty, x2 at the end [Harper Quest success])

Harper: +57 XP (Killed 87 Level 2 monsters, x0.154 penalty (overleveled), Killed 1 Level 5 monster, x0.384 penalty, x2 at the end [Harper Quest success])

Skye: +62 XP (Killed 87 Level 2 monsters, x0.167 penalty (overleveled), Killed 1 Level 5 monster, x0.417 penalty, x2 at the end [Harper Quest success])

Aelene pockets her sex toy (third time today) and checks her phone. She sees that her basic attacks will now add the modifier she uses to attack with to her damage. With a smile, she concurs, “I say we did, Lady Harper. I say we did.”

Tina

Man, Mattie is scary when things get real.

The NPCs made safe, Tina pumps all of her special healing light into Josie. Josie is watching the windows of the bar, as if she’s expecting another attack. To be fair, Mattie is scanning every which way, never stopping her eyes moving, always watching every entrance she can, (admittedly cute) little bonus gun sitting on her shoulder. Tina does not like the tension in the room.

Honey seems the calmest, but she always seems the calmest from the few days Tina has known her. The bonny bunny bounds over to the buzzing bug. “Hey, cutie, how can you be so zen?”

Honey’s antennae twitch. “You remember that this is a magical game, correct? We will suffer no permanent harm.”

Oh. Right.

“Then we should calm down Josie and Mattie?”

“They are practicing for a real fight, Ms. Campbell. It is fine. You may wish to take this more seriously.”

Oh. Also Right.

Tina starts to ask Honey about the wasp-girl’s wishes, but is interrupted by a very heavy thud rattling the rafters. She jumps and lightly bonks her head as Honey gets more rigid, more ready for the upcoming fight. Soldier girl Mattie lets out a commanding shout, “Next wave incoming. Exterior entrance and maybe from the roof. Get ready!”

Harper

After a little tunneling from Glitterdust, Harper sees that Skye and Airika has the other survivors ready to go. She smiles at her wife and gives a more neutral look at the pirate. While she understands Aelene’s concerns, Harper wants to trust the (somewhat blackmailed) bird-girl, at least until she proves herself otherwise.

“Now, before we go, I got us a ride down the mountain. Please, everyone, follow me and don’t freak out.”

The crowd, still too injured to really run, does panic at the sight of Glitterdust, in all her glory. Harper petting her dragon seems to mostly calm them down. Mostly. Thus begins the Glitterdust Triage Ferry maneuver. Aelene helps supervise the dragon as they get the injured down to the village. Airika and Skye stay with Harper until the last of the injured are moved.

While they wait, Skye leans in to cuddle her wife and the parrot-woman watches intently. A little hungrily, maybe?

“Sooo, you two cucking your fiancé, princess?”

Skye looks offended, “I love both of my lady loves, Ms. Airika. Be respectful.”

The bird-girl cocks her head, looking confused. “Well, something must have happened if anyone, even a waifish drow, claims to love the Melancholic Sword-maiden of Nimlith Grove. Spill it.”

Harper winces a little at the title. Her memories from being adopted tells her that nothing ever got her to recover from her sea elf parents deaths. Not the responsibilities of being a crown princess. Not the joys of growing in the Bladesong. Not the duties of courting Aelene, even if it was to be just an arranged marriage. She always had a frown on her face. Always a sword at her hip. Always on a hair trigger. This, this happiness would be so new that it would be strange.

“The Hotel got me. Got Aelene, too.”

“Damn. And this is one of your sluts? Fuck. Is it wrong for me to want in?”

Harper feels Skye tense up. Her little drow glares at the pirate. Harper chuckles. First Glitter, now this pirate? What’s with me finding volunteers to join up? Something to stick in the back of my mind for my upcoming hosting gig. “Our game will be over in a few days, by our perspective. I’ll tell you what, Airika. There is a way you could join us after the fact. Prove to me you deserve the chance. Keep these people safe and come when I call.”

“Wait. You’re serious? How could I join after the fact?”

“You read Common?” Harper pulls up Josie’s Pack Tactics description for the parrot-woman to read. Hearing the “Belt it! A host was dumb enough to let THAT fly?”, Harper knows she got a new ally. Taking her phone back to check for notifications, she sees she has an unexpected upgrade (in addition to the gifts Scarlet and Tina randomly bought her):

Hermosa Jovencita +1 – Aelene doesn’t want an abuela de azúcar, she wants a pretty, young thing. Every time The Mistress orgasms due to another Feminization transformation, she will de-age approximately 4 months. This process will continue until her apparent age is equivalent to the mean age of the contestants (currently: approx 22.875 years old). The Mistress no longer ages until either this transformation is complete or the game ends (Progress: 45/73).

I guess that’s part of Aelene completing her quest? She’ll be very happy about me (barely) completing mine.

Skye whispers in Elvish, “<You can’t be considering letting Josie seduce her, are you, my lady love?>”

Airika dryly responds, “<I do speak enough Elvish to understand you, girl. Most people do ‘round here, as a matter of fact. She was human once, huh, princess?>”

Harper feels how deeply Skye blushes into her breast. She sees Glitterdust flying up, ready to take them all down. Just enough time. She’s got maybe 5 more minutes until dragon time is done. They fly down in silence, then Glitter morphs back into her smol zemeitsa form. Ellyjoybell awaits them.

“<Thank you, Aranel Tyalangan, Arbancano Aelenetheria, for all that you have done. While many lost their lives these past few days, many more would have if not for your intervention. The inn has prepared it’s best room for you and your companions, with a small private meal. Forgive our meager supplies, Aranel. Is there anything we can do to make up for our inadequate offerings?>”

“<Mayor, this is Airika. We found her among the harpy’s meat pit. She wishes to volunteer as a guard, at least until my mother can send fresh troops here to secure the town. Please, give her what she needs, then put her to work.>”

“<Um, princess,>” the bird-girl offers, “<May I stay with you for a spell? I can think of nothing more important to protect right now than the princess and her entourage. Wouldn’t you say, Ms. Mayor?>”

“<That seems reasonable. We will put you on guard duty in front of the chamber door. If the Aranel wishes to let you in, she may. For now, let them refresh themselves while we get you properly outfitted. Come now!>”

The chipper mayor drags the bird-girl away. Nice butt, too.