Brunhilde as "the executioner" in the west wing collection

While heading down to the second floor for the sake of stashing the book on the Rings of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in your room, you had to move a bit more carefully than you expected. That was because the second floor's west wing had been opened and it looked like the other guests had already entered. Presumably, that newly opened wing was the first step on the artifact tour, which amazingly hadn't been cancelled after the hostess came down with an acute case of hypnosis. You could hear the loud voice of Yara Ashour tittering away, among other more subdued voices. Dee and Brunhilde could be in there too and you wouldn't even hear them.

You lingered in your room for just a moment longer before deciding to join the others. It was tempting to stay in there rather than rejoin the chaotic web of choices that your investigation entailed.

With your mind made up, you left your bedroom for the west wing, already thinking about what you'd say to the others to smooth it over if they asked about the behavior of the hypnotized women towards you or if they'd spotted you going back up to the third floor. However, as soon as you stepped a foot through the doorway and before you could get a look at any of the provocative costumes the others were wearing...

... A woman's hand, forceful and large enough to be a man's, pushed you backward, sending you staggering back into the hallway. It was pretty rare for anybody to even think about shoving you that way; you were a fairly large, intimidating guy yourself. Such an idea would only occur to one person here: Brunhilde Aune, Yara's personal bodyguard.

However, she was dressed so differently it was hard to recognize her. You were expecting to see the girl's disarming glare or her blond, punk-style haircut, but instead, her whole head was covered in a frightening black hood. Instead of eye holes, it had some sort of mesh for her to see through that hid most of the details of her face, and the hood ended in a pointed top.

As noteworthy as that feature was, the rest of the costume was also worthy of inspection. Her upper body was covered only by a black belt bra, studded with steel spikes and secured by a ring at the center of the chest. Her lower body wasn't a lot better off, with a garment consisting of another belt and a long, hanging front cloth, nearly to her feet, with a shorter one on the back. The outfit included long, black leather boots nearly up to the knees and matching gloves, with a dangerous set of spiked knuckles on the fist of each.

All told, it covered barely any of her physique, allowing you to see the rippling musculature that qualified her to be Yara's bodyguard, along with the swell of her chest that her leather jacket normally did a good job hiding. To some extent, the breasts were a bit lost in the rest of her build, but there was still a significant danger of them coming out every time she flexed her arms, thanks to the skimpy coverage of the top.

There was no way she'd willingly step out of her room in something like this without the influence of the mastermind's mind control, right? Granted, without the hood, she'd look pretty hot in it, but... she was clearly a woman who didn't like showing off her body the same way her boss did, given the way she normally dressed in tough biker regalia. This one left almost nothing to the imagination.

You were so lost for words seeing her dressed that way that you nearly forgot why you'd come to the west wing in the first place. You collected yourself, then asked why she was trying to keep you out of there.

"After everything that's happened? It's my duty to make sure you don't get anywhere near Yara. I still think this whole thing is a scheme by Wanda Croft and she's just faking it, but you're clearly part of it. So the only way to make sure it doesn't keep getting worse is to keep you away from her," she explained in an impatient voice partially muffled by the hood, now recrossing her beefy arms at her chest. "You're going to have to miss the little tour. You ought to thank me; it's going to be embarrassing, hearing Yara yap like any of that shit means anything."

She was right that the tour barely mattered, but it was still annoying to be treated like a dangerous element. You needed to join the others in order to shake off that impression. The only way forward was to get Brunhilde to acquiesce and let you in.

She lowered her head slightly, tilting the hood in a menacing way. "What? Are you trying to come up with some kind of scheme? Don't even think about bribing me. You can't afford me," she scoffed, pointing a thumb over her shoulder. "You don't know what Yara pays me."

You changed the subject, asking what she was even supposed to be dressed as. It looked pretty pagan.

"They told me it's 'the executioner.' Kind of fits. You also don't know how many dumbasses who stepped out of line I've fucked up. It's a lot."

You pointed out the obvious: she didn't have a headsman's ax. It didn't seem entirely complete.

"I can execute you just fine with my fists," she boasted, cracking her knuckles. "You want to test me? I could really do some damage with these mitts. You know, boxing gloves actually increase the damage of a blow. These are like that, but worse, I'd bet." She sounded pretty eager to give them a try on something... or someone.

She... actually liked the outfit, then?

"'Like' is a strong word. It's not too bad, though. Way better than Yara's. Also, better than your little sissy friend's. If Old Eric asked me to wear all that pink shit, I'd throw it back in his face. I guess Dee's isn't too bad, though. Actually, it's better than yours too, with that stupid cape and crown."

Now you were wondering what the hell Yara was wearing that was worse than Brunhilde's outfit... All the more reason you needed to get inside. What would be the ideal way to get this mountain of a woman, as stubborn as she was tough, out of your way?