Blue's Morning

Blue woke up early. This, by itself, was not a surprise. The harpy’s flock had always been early to rise, and greeting the rays of the dawn was no uncommon occurrence. Even when she’d been transported away from her sisters, brought to this strange land of mysteries, there had been so much to do, so much to explore that she’d kept up the habit.

When she slid out of her bed, she found her eyes straying across the room to sweep over Stheno’s slumbering form. While the woman had gone to bed in her fully human shape, the coils of the serpent visible poking out from the blankets gave away that she’d changed back at some point in the night.

The woman’s eyes remained shut even as Blue lifted the shirt she’d been given by Kevin the day before, after the slimes had destroyed the clothes she’d been wearing. While the thought had occurred to her that she could have darted across town to the Outfit shop that most of the others had mentioned, something about wearing a man’s oversized shirt as her only garment had felt familiar—comfortable.

Plus, it had smelled like Kevin.

Blue leaned down and sniffed, but the traces of the man had been light in the first place, and she could find no sign of them now. Maybe Tess, with her enhanced sense of smell would still be able to pick him out of the cloth, but her sisters were known more for their ability to produce smell than detect it.

Kevin smelled nice.

Blue knew that probably some of how she felt about the party leader was because of Lily’s magic at work in her head, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She’d been fascinated with human men for as long as she could remember, so being able to interact with someone like Kevin was—exciting.

The harpy’s magically crafted body responded instinctively to her thoughts. A subtle shift rolled down her spine, culminating in a swivel of her hips that sent the hem of Kevin’s shirt swishing around them. She found her lower lip somehow already pulled in between her perfect white teeth and had to bite down on it softly to ride out the wave of unexpected arousal. Her first time with Kevin hadn’t been—her mind hadn’t been particularly clear at the time, thanks to the magic of the intruding hostess, but where Blue’s conscious mind didn’t exactly recall the fine details of how it had gone, it was obvious her body had its own opinion on the topic.

The harpy went to take a step and found her thighs gliding across each other, slick with her own moisture. She contemplated the trip to the marketplace—but Kevin was right there, across the street in the Master’s Chambers.

Today was supposed to be Blue’s day to quest with him—she’d missed out on doing the same quests as everyone else last week, but she’d been paying attention to how the event was structured and she remembered what Lily had said on the first day. The doors should be open to her—she could just hop across the street and get into Kevin’s bed.

She could be on top of the man, riding him in less than a minute, if she was quick about it. The door was open and Blue was halfway into the hall before a thought occurred to her.

What if he doesn’t want to fuck?

He’d been under the effect of the same Aphrodisiac as she had at the oasis. Just because he’d been interested then, didn’t mean he’d be interested now. Kevin might not even be awake, and Blue didn’t know how long it would take him to get ready for her to fuck him. If he was going to be a while, she might as well head to the store and see if she could get herself a magical Outfit like everyone else.

On the other hand, if that took her too long, and she wound up missing him, she’d have to get him back into his bedroom. Or at least out of the streets and into a quiet alley. Blue’s sisters always seemed to do that with the men they took. Mostly it was so none of the others would try to knock them off. Stealing a turn on the man wasn’t polite, but that didn’t mean it didn’t happen. Blue was pretty sure that wasn’t a risk here, but it seemed safer not to take the chance.

It was a conundrum. Fortunately, it was one for which she had recently been provided a solution:

Would I need to wait until after I got a new outfit, or could I just come in and start fucking you?

Would I need to wait until after I got a new outfit, or could I just come in and start fucking you?

Blue’s question seemed to emerge from directly beside Kevin’s ear. Her words weren’t particularly loud and there was a sultry hint to the harpy’s new voice that made it more exciting than alarming, but he’d been fast asleep when they reached him.

Elsie had managed to drive any thoughts of the future from his mind as effectively as she’d banished his new past, and the last thing he remembered was the brownie snuggling up to him as he dozed off. The sudden change of tone and pace sent his mind reeling, and by the time he managed to decode the meaning of Blue’s words, his mouth was already moving. “You could come in here and just start fucking me.”

A glance down revealed that the effect of the harpy’s voice in his ear—possibly combined with the fact that Elsie’s naked back was pressed into his side and he could feel the brownie’s pert behind grinding against him as she slept—meant that his words were technically true. He was already on his back, and if she showed up, Blue wouldn’t need to do anything more than toss the covers back and climb on.

That didn’t mean he actually wanted her to do that, but the answer was correct, and it was honest, and by the time he regained control of his mouth to try to amend the statement, he could feel that the connection was broken—the question answered.

Kevin tried to sit up, but Elsie had wrapped herself around his arm. His attempt to gently dislodge her without disturbing the slumbering woman was foiled when, no more than twenty or so seconds later, Blue flew through the portal and entered his chambers.

The harpy was gorgeous. The feathers along her arms barely peeked out from the sleeves of the shirt he’d loaned her, and the brilliant blue down on her head was mussed from sleep, but her exotic features only served to enhance her beauty. The clear, bright gold of her eyes shone with intelligence and curiosity—and need.

Blue’s supernaturally augmented speed was on full display as she sighted like a hawk on the protuberance in the covers Kevin was making, darted across the room, and shoved back the blankets. Elsie was somewhat unceremoniously rolled to the side, waking with a startled squawk as the harpy slid her thighs over Kevin’s hips to sit astride him.

Less than five seconds after she’d exploded into the room, Blue was showing off her lack of underwear by grinding herself against Kevin’s shaft. “Mmm.”

“Stop that.”

Kevin seemed as surprised as Blue to hear the words coming out of his mouth. She froze, then the shocked expression melted into one of hurt as she met his eyes and complained, “But—why? You said I could—”

Even as Blue spoke, though, her hips resumed their slow rocking as she worked to coat his shaft in her arousal. Kevin had to grit his teeth to keep from responding by angling his own hips so that she could impale herself. “The magic talked for me. You asked if you could, not if you should, or if I wanted to. I—we need to talk.”

Blue bit her lower lip in an **** gesture that was so obviously, blatantly seductive Kevin had to guess that Lily had encoded it into the harpy’s new body. A quiet little whine emerged as she continued to slowly rock astride him, but it was Elsie who spoke up next. “You need to tell her what you want. You remember the hidden text in her original transformation, right?”

Monk - Enhanced Body - BDSM

(Passive) Your body is sculpted into a form suited to serve your party. Your physical stats are increased and your physical needs diminished. Blue’s mental state is directly linked to the commands of the Master. When given direct commands, she will assume a disciplined and cooperative mind state. When left to her own initiative, Blue will grow increasingly wild.

It took an act of deliberate willpower, but Kevin met Blue’s eyes even as she writhed atop him and ordered, “Get down. Sit on the bed over there.”

The harpy obeyed, reluctantly. Unlike her initial mad dash to clamber atop Kevin, it took her several seconds to climb over and seat herself on the patch of bed the DM indicated. Her eyes remained fixed in his lap, where a night spent naked meant he was still on full display. Even as a part of him cringed at being exposed, though, the obvious lust on Blue’s face as she stared longingly at his erection made it hard to feel much shame.

“She needs more than that,” Elsie prompted. “Her mind has been pretty wild the whole time we’re here, it’s taking her everything she has not to disregard your words and climb right back on.” The brownie’s own initial transformation gave her a sense of the party’s needs which made explaining Blue’s mental state a breeze when combined with her transparent body language. “You’re going to need to give her enough commands to get her to be able to resist her own urges if you want to get anything done today, and if you don’t do something about how horny she is, I’m going to have to.”

Kevin glanced to the side, surprised. It was only when he saw the hungry way the brownie was staring at the exposed swath of Blue’s thighs where his borrowed shirt failed to cover them that he remembered Elsie’s other transformations. “You saw something, didn’t you? Something that triggered Erudite? When—oh, Penny’s statue? Or when you watched Blue and Penny in the oasis…”

Erudite - Sensate - Slut

(Passive) Your ability to retain experiences, adapt to them, and learn from them is greatly increased. When Elsie witnesses a sexual act she has not personally performed, her desire to partake will slowly increase.

Elsie’s cheeks suddenly flushed a deep red, and Kevin guessed that he’d hit the mark. “So now you feel the need to, what—finger her? Get pinned and fingered?”

“I—uhh—” As Elsie suddenly stammered, Blue’s expression shifted. The harpy’s head canted to the side slightly, golden eyes studying the brownie even as the English woman tried to pull together an answer. While it was obvious that wasn’t what she’d come here for, she didn’t seem opposed to involving a third.

Kevin’s head jerked a little as he suddenly shook it. He glanced down at his treacherously insistent erection, but his clothes were nowhere in sight to cover it or tuck it away. Doing his best to ignore how exposed he felt, he stated firmly, “Blue, we’re not going to have sex right now. It’s not that I don’t want to, but there’s—” He cut himself off mid-sentence when he realized he was explaining rather than ordering. The harpy had already turned her eyes towards Elsie and started to lean back in invitation, and the DM had to **** his eyes to remain on Blue’s face rather than her slowly shifting hips. “Blue, get off the bed and wait for us to get dressed. Please.”

The harpy paused for a few heartbeats and a quiet whine emerged from between Elsie’s lips, but the two women eventually complied. As the brownie crawled to the bed on all fours, Kevin took another moment to gather himself, took a deep breath, then slid to the side to go and get dressed.

If I’d told myself a year ago that I’d be turning down a threesome with two willing women, I’d never have believed myself—let alone a pair who look like that. What am I even doing?

A few minutes later, Kevin and Elsie were clothed, but Blue had obviously started to grow inpatient. By the way the harpy was fidgeting, while she was willing to comply with Kevin’s orders, waiting in place was causing her more than a little discomfort. The brownie was doing slightly better, but the pink flush of her cheeks revealed that her own magical compulsions were still in place. “Okay, look—Blue, I find you attractive. Very attractive. I’m not opposed to having sex with you, but I also have the rest of the party to consider.”

“I don’t mind if—”

“Not just sleeping with them. I—look, we scraped through the first floor of the dungeon, barely, and the only reason we managed that was Hazel and Stheno. It’s not enough to want to get through this together, we need to be able to work as a team. That means improvements from all of us, including—no, especially—myself.”

Elsie’s eyes latched onto Kevin’s face as she worked to visibly control herself, before she nodded. “You’re—you’re right. What do you need from me?”

Kevin closed his eyes for a moment as he thought. “I need to take a shower, and Blue needs some new clothes. Get her an appropriate outfit, then both of you meet me at the Long Rest. We’ll get food, and then we can figure out what to do next. Blue,” He opened his eyes and turned them on the harpy, only to find her watching him intently. While the look in her eyes was still hungry, he was surprised to discover that she looked far more open and receptive to his words than she had been minutes before—the result of Lily’s magic in action.

“Got it.” Elsie gave him a decisive nod, and he turned to head to the shower to clean up so he could face the day.

Hwa smiled.

The expression held little warmth, but with a fan held in front of her face to hide her new appearance from her associates it wasn’t as though they could see it anyway.

“Gentlemen. Ladies. I’m afraid my timetable and priorities have shifted. I will need each of you to report your week’s activities to me and be prepared to shift them at my command. Greer, we will begin with you.”

The kumiho’s organization was small, but she believed quite firmly in hierarchy. Since her own activities were far more curtailed thanks to Lily’s intervention, she had needed to pick five individuals to serve as her lieutenants in her budding empire. Each had no more than ten people working directly for them, with Greer having as few as three, but they were a start.

Greer was a thin elven male, head covered with stubble where it had been shaved a week or two past then allowed to grow. His voice was dry but precise as he promptly responded, “The alchemical goods market remains dominated by the Alchemist’s Guild, naturally, but in the lower income neighborhoods we are beginning to secure a toehold.”

Hwa’s expertise in potion-craft did not translate one-to-one to Adventuria but despite not having been given the class she’d discovered that she retained an aptitude which was serving her well. She’d passed on some formulas to Greer and he was already putting them to work. “Continue to expand our market. The craftsmen and merchants of the city are unlikely to accept the side effects of the cheaper brews, but the peasants may even see them as beneficial. As’un?”

As’un nodded. A heavyset catfolk woman, her plain features and heavily lidded eyes tended to make people think that she was stupid and slow. She was not. Though a pause preceded each time she opened her mouth, it was because she’d learned to weigh her words carefully before sharing them. “Real-estate continues to offer limited options for expansion.” The woman’s voice was as husky as a 30-year smoker’s, but Hwa’s keen ears picked out the words without difficulty. “I have identified a handful of promising sites underground, and will present you with dossiers on each by the end of the day.”

Hwa nodded. With Lily’s grip on the city she hadn’t expected much on this front, but all of her plans involved additional people, and people needed places to work, sleep, and eat. “Prioritize locations with easy access to the walls. We will need access to the outside if we are to thrive. Stonebowel.”

As her master of smuggling started to detail the latest shipment of ingredients they’d brought up through the river, Hwa’s hand reached out to draw in her pipe. The heavy smoke which pooled in her lungs a moment later had a pleasantly smooth feel to it, though the sweet notes which followed still seemed oddly out of place.

Hartleaf Tobacco: The mild Aphrodisiac effects of this **** gradually concentrate in the user’s soft tissues until they are passed on through touch. The buildup is visible as a gradual reddening of the user’s lips, tongue, and sexual organs.

The immediate effects were—not unpleasant, but they were not why Hwa had chosen the herb. The effects were mild when first introduced, but concentrated the more of the **** the user ingested and could be passed on with a kiss—or other, more intimate contact.

This was a weapon, one of many Hwa intended to wield. Kevin and his obedient little tools might be willing to play along with Lily’s games, but no matter how the nightmare witch disguised it, this was a battlefield—a contest.

And Hwa was going to win.