Game Plan (Voting Open)

"We got to get out of here!" I screamed, and started throwing alchemy materials in a bag.

"Boss! Boss!" Cyrus came running into the chamber of the dungeon that housed The Midnight Pool. "Some crazy lady came looking for you and..." He stopped short and gasped as he saw Dorothy chugging down a healing potion, still bare naked. "And she found you..."

"Cyrus kill the prisoners." I commanded him. "We're leaving."

"Belay that." Dorothy sighed, and stood up. "We're staying."

I swiveled on her. "You're not in charge here." I tell her. "We're not in your dungeon any longer I'm..."

She placed her hand on my shoulder, and all the authority in the world couldn't have made me stand up to her. "Bellowyn sent me a vision of this place." She raised her arms about. "This is where we shall recreate her kingdom on Earth."

That... "Really?"

"Oh yes." Dorothy gestured to the midnight pool. Behind her various samples and tests of the waters there burbled and fermented. "I've given the rite some thought. We'll use this pools connection with the other planes to pule a Shard of The Flesh Fields here on Earth, awakening it as a dungeon once more."

My brain was still fried from the potion. I shook my head to try to understand what she said. "We're what?"

"Don't worry about it." She pets me, and I sigh and shudder at her touch. "As high priestest I will handle the right. You needed only to worry about preparing our defenses, for that woman."

I shake my head. "She could be right behind us, Dorothy."

"No." Dorothy says clamly. "She won't. She's already committed nine of her 15 stars. She won't challenge me in an unfamiliar location, without her full arsenal at her disposal. We have until tomorrow to prepare ourselves. Thus I must start the rite immediately."

"I nod." Feeling nervous. "Do you think you could beat her?" I ask her sincerely.

"What what I know of her abilities, yes." Dorothy never lacked in confidence. "She couldn't resist my musk, nor my attack against her chakra. If I can lay a hand against her, I've won." She looked at me, her yellow eyes breaking me down at a molecular scale. "I see you've acquired the stars yourself, though they have availed us nothing so far, so as your elder I will teach you this. Most battles between higher ranked star users, aren't very epic or long. It's usually over very quickly, whoever gets their instant-kill move off first wins." She nods, the sighs. "Unfortunately I don't know everything about her. She's an alchemist so has a wide range of options I couldn't possibly account for. In that fashion, no. I would probably die if we fought again. I nearly died back there, if It hadn't been for a star I earned against some snake assassins I'd have been done for."

I rubbed my neck. "One of those came after me too." I sighed.

"They are a nuisance." She agreed.

"Do you think there's some way we could convince her to join our cause? She'd be such a powerful ally."

"I forbid the thought." She told me sternly. She then swayed to the midnight pool, and slid into it's water. "She's far too dangerous."

---

Celeste

What a disaster.

I looked upon my lab, and saw nothing but ruin.

Ruin and violation.

My code book had been torn open, and now stained with the clumsy spills of a man possessed. Ingredients were destroyed, potions were smashed, my Flash of Insight a nearly priceless potion had been used against me, and my new clerk had wandered off to a local whorehouse.

Why me?

I'm an alchemist, not a solider. I don't fight, I moved away from the capital so I wouldn't be bothered. I ran a shop. I lived morally. If i was a religious person I would have thought I was being punished. Instead I had to stoically face the indifference of the universe with a stiff upper lip.

There was a threat to my town, and inconvenient or not I would face it.

Alone.

No help from The Capital, I wasn't calling this one in.

I didn't need the inquisition looking into my works in Crossroads, and I held out hope that I could still get Daliah out of this entire exchange. That was the real treasure and one worth risking my life on.

If I had her, I had the world.

And so, I began to formulate.

---

Melli

The desire to masturbate grew stronger, the closer I got back to the dungeon.

When we left from the capital it was just a vague thing, buzzing at the back of my head. But the closer we got, the more real it became. Ruby and Sapphire were eager to agree to meet my patron, and gain his strength. So fucking eager.

I held them in great contempt. They should have been more cautious, suspicious, careful. Instead they asked permission to leave The All Seeing Eye the next day, it took a while to get permission for them to leave without completing their training, but The All Seeing Eyes is a liberal institution. When they heard the twins would be exploring novel paths to unlocking their stars, they wouldn't stand in their way.

So here we are.

"Here we are." I say, marveling that the shack was still missing two walls.

Ruby chuckled. "This is where your alchemist friend resides?”

Sapphire sighed. "You said he was a hermit, but even they have four walls. It looks abandoned."

I sighed, and approached the hut. I found the false wall and opened it up for them. I can't believe I was following someone so stupid.

"Oooooh." Sapphire grinned appreciatively as the wall opened.

"Oh, now I know this is going to be good!" Ruby giggled, and gripped onto my arm. "A hidden passage that's so cool!"

I giggled with her, and wished Sapphire would grab on to. To be sandwiched between them... my chest was bursting with eagerness. I wanted to throw the two of them to The Herald so he could break them the same way he had broken me, then all our broken edges could fit together, and I could finally fuck these two.

Fuck me, I really am broken. That's what I'm thinking about as I lead them through the dungeon. I should be nervous, I should be ashamed. I am! Believe me I am, but down down down we all go.

I feel out of control, and scared.

I'm scared of the herald. I'm scared of going against him.

I'm scared of everything I'll miss out on if I leave him and settle for the life of a mediocre mage.

They weren't lying at The All Seeing Eye. News of my swift graduation has already hit the desk of generals across the kingdom. Generals to the North and South are already drawing up requests for my draft, and the admirals of the east and west fleets are doing the same. It's everything I could have wanted, and I'm going to fail to live up to my own dream if I don't follow this man.

"Is this the dungeon?" Sapphire asked, running her fingers along the crystal strata.

"It is." I nodded. "I cleared it with him, and his companions." I left out the **** of my own friends. Things would be easier if they were still here. They'd know what to do.

"That's so cool Melli. You really are an elite."

Ruby agreed. "All we had was fancy schooling."

We entered into the next chamber. The one that housed that black pool, where that awful tentacled creature had slept.

There swimming in the pool, chanting a prayer was a singularly beautiful woman. Naked and dripping with the black waters of the pool. Whispers and winds blew from her, from this realm and the next. I couldn't understand her words except. "Bellowyn. Bellowyn. Bellowyn." The Herald's dark goddess, and... mine?

"What in the world?" Both mages froze and we entered the chamber. I froze. We were in the presence of Evil, and there at a table filled with alchemy equipment was the herald. His handsome freautes lit up when he heard the twins squeak.

---

The Herald

Melli had come home, and she brought friends.

"Welcome!" I waved a hand and jogged towards them. I took a risk and hugged Melli, she stiffly let me do so but didn't join in. "Welcome to The Temple of The Raven Lady, soon to be the temple of Bellowyn, if Dorothy is to be believed."

"Bellowyn?" One of the girls gasped, and gripped onto the other.

"Oh, you didn't tell them?" I looked to Melli, who shook her head. Her eyes were glued on Dorothy. Not in the way most people are glued to her, with the desire to fuck. She was frightened by what she saw. The rite. The ritual. The demon worship of it all. "Well allow me to fill you in." I approach the twins who shrink away from me. "We...aaaah!" I cringe and hold my head as a pain shoots through it. Stupid potion. "Sorry." I wince and hold my head. "I'm suffering the after effects of a potion right now, and not quite as articulate as normally suits me."

"We have to report this." One of the girls gasped. "This is demon worship."

"That's the deal." Melli says with a resigned sigh. "You wanted to see the source of my powers, this is it." She gestures to me.

They stop in their retreat and look at me. "Him?"

"Really?"

"I'm afraid so." Melli looked at the ceiling of the cave, like she was seeking intervention from a better living god. "You two thought I was the one who had a second system, but It's not me." She then looks me straight in the eyes. "It's him." She leans forward. "Isn't it?"

Damn. I was so determined not to tell anyone about my deal with the demon princes. I looked to Dorothy who kept praying, but watched the event with great intent. She'd be interested to see how I handled myself, and my cult. She still hadn't thanked me for saving her life, but I hadn't thanked her for saving mine either. Maybe this was a chance to finally get some approval from her.

How pathetic to be wanting that now?

"Present." I held my hand out.

The Witch King- Type: Passive - Effect: Female Magic users under your command Have the strength of their spells increased.

The Witch King - Coven - Form a party of three female spellcasters (1/3)

There it was for them to see.

"He's the only person in the world with that star." Melli said, crossing her arms. "I checked with the index." She was actually helping me, and thank Bellowyn for that. My head was having a hard time focusing. I wasn't up to my usual game of manipulation.

"That's just a star." One said cautiously.

"What's your second system?" The other finished the thought, kind of creepy.

"I'm going to decline to answer that." I said to them. "At the moment it doesn't look like I can trust you."

They look offended. "You're the demon worshipper."

"Therefore, I have reason to be suspicious of bigots."

One scoffs. "This is ridiculous."

"You're not being very helpful." Melli tells me.

I smile at that, she really wants this to work. Been thinking about these two have you Melli? Twins too, so naughty. "I'll just be honest." I tell the twins. "I'm not asking you to change religions, I'm happy just to have a working relationship with you two. I'll even let you take the the powers for a test drive. I've got an abandoned hall at the bottom of the dungeon. Let me take you down there, I'll give you access to my Star, and see for yourself if you're impressed with the power or not. If you're not, you're free to go. Just please don't report us to the authorities."

They look nervously at eachother. "You'd really let us go?"

"You're a demon worshipper." The other said for about the fourth time.

"The demon I worship is the goddess of love and sex! What don't you people understand about that?" I took a deep breath. "Sorry, I just get that a lot."

"There was a chamber before this one." One of the twins sways. "Can we try the powers there?"

"That's a better Idea." I smile. "Now that I think about it, going deeper into the dungeon would be pretty scary. Plus this is closer to the exit should you chose to run." I stepped past them and towards the exit of the chamber. "Shall we?"

The twins looked between one another, and nodded.

Ruby +5 Cp (-25 corruption) 157 total

Sapphire +5 Cp (-25 corruption) 162 total

And just like that, they'd get the benefit of my other system as well...

It really was too easy with mages, did they forget I was a demon worshipper?

I returned to the void, but instead of a naked twin greeting me it was Melli

Tan’Hagorath orbited around her exposed body. “The wonder boy returns!” He echoed in a pleased and friendly tone. "My investment in you continues to please. This Melli pleases.”

Melli +18cp (54 corruption) 180 total

Look at that. Looks like Melli was doing a little self radicalizing while she was away. I swelled with pride knowing the path I set out for her so beautifully followed. Elizabeth’s corruption had been a matter of survival, but I really felt like I’d done some real good with Melli.

“She pleases us both my lord. Please do with her as you see fit, it is your right. I don’t think we’d be where we are without your boon.”

“True enough” Tan’Hagorath says. “Which brings up the reason I come to you now.”

“The other two.” I say with a grin. “You want the whole set.”

“Tis only right.”

I sigh. “I paid a heavy price for colluding with you last time.”

“Price is relative Herald. Continue to empower me and the riches you gain will make the price seem minuscule.”

“Name the riches Great Prince.”

The orb seems to smile. “Devote the soul of the entire coven to me, and I shall personally empower that star I gave you.”

“The Witch King…” I say, excitement prickling.

“Indeed. Though you are but a 1-star I shall have it behave as if you were a two star, further unlocking its power.”

That’s huge. “You tempt well my lord.” I say returning the phantom grin.

“But only if you give me both souls. One will earn you nothing.”

“I understand.” I bow my head.

Tan’Hagorath then moved to Melli and began feasting on her soul. I watched as the vapor drifted off her body, and into the flickering orb. As I watched this desecration take place, Melli's skin began to change colors. At first it grew sickly and pale, and then green. First an unhealthy pale green, but then a vibrant and healthy looking shade. A color known to children books around the world. There was no hiding it now.

Melli was a witch.

"Not very subtle my lord." I said cautiously.

"No." He crooned, mist curling around the woman possessively.

I sighed, but didn’t dare complain. This was going to make my job with the twins a lot more difficult. It was easy to say that joining the cult was no big deal when it was only Melli's mind that was deformed, but now her body had joined in.

At least in the spirit world my head didn't throb.

Witch's Skin - Like plants produce energy from sunlight, the target's skin now produces mana from the ambient energy of the universe. After turning green the target will begin passively regenerating mana. Their skin also becomes sensitive to the touch of their master.

"See you soon. My Herald." Tan'Hagorath chuckled and fadded away.

I didn't get any rest.

Melli's body dissapeared and the naked forms of the twins now floated before me. Their skinny frames were disappointing sights, but nothing I couldn't work with.

They were surrouned however by a Congress of Princes.

Tan'Hagorath, Steelowyn, Matrowyn, Grokhan, Sheobrimborn and a prince I didn't recognize all floated before me. Full seven of the great mother's progeny.

"Ah Herald." Tan'Hagorath said as if they'd all be un a rigorous conversation before I'd entered. Possible. It would only take a fraction of his great consciousness to barter with me while he attended to other affairs. "It's good you bring us souls to feed our poor passed mother, we were prepared to rip her realm apart like Carion."

"You failed!" Grokhan the great war lord roared. His voice easily eclipsed his brother’s snarky welcome. "The Great Mother is dead!"

"Steelowyn." Matrowyn gasped. "Did you really have to treat the boy so unkindly? He's positively mauled." My skin burned with cold lashes as she said that. Though I could not see the damage on me, I assume in the spiritual world I bore all the damage Steelowyn had inflicted upon me during my stay with her.

"It's nothing less than he deserves." Sheobrimborn whispered, I'd not gained much favor with him in my dealings. It was starting to show.

"Spare the lash, spoil the ****." Steelowyn said in her kindly, and steely way. If I was in my body it would be having all sorts of fleshy animal responses to hearing her voice again. All of them awful, and bleak, but in my spirit form my new found fear of her was dulled. "Worry not my brave champion, I'm not here to bid today, only to watch the proceedings."

"She's scared to think her bullying would avail her nothing, and that these witches would still go to me." Tan'Hagorath laughed.

Steelowyn growled. "There is nothing you have that I can not take Tan'Hagorath. Let me come to that tower of yours and teach you respect for your masters. I am the eldest child, and rightful heir to..."

"Don't speak of respect, Steelowyn." Grokhan scoffed. "We yet mourn for our lost mother, and you already plot and make claims."

"I mourn." Steelowyn says haughtily. "Tis why I bid not today, and let young bloods join in the games."

"I am grateful, honored sister." Said the unknown prince, in a feminine but monotone voice.

"But." Steelowyn now addressed me. "If you were to know my will, my loyal champion, it is that the prize should go to Tan'Hagorath."

"Really?" The parton of witches sounded surprised.

"Indeed it is so. Tis only fair, he earns what was gained through his efforts."

"You're up to something." Grokhan snarls.

"My lords." I hold my hands up. "Please. We all seek to guide these souls to Bellowyn's waiting maw and see her restored. Let's move forward in that spirit, and find a way to ensorcal these mages to our cause."

Matrowyn gushes, and brushes up against me affectionately. "Oh what wise wise, words my Herald. Yes indeed, let us bring these lost sheep into the herd. Let us beginning on the lesser sister shall we? Ruby? Tis she I desire."

I blushed as the prince's vapor washed around me, her scent homey and earthy all at once. "If it pleases you."

Matrowyn giggled, and drifted away from me. "Hear this, then oh great Herald. I as patron of cattle will instill in her a love of the herd, that close knit community of beings you can trust with your life, and your love."

"You'll make her a sister fucker." Grokhan growls. "Just say it."

Matrowyn gasps. "Vulgar beast!" She turned to me. "I speak of ****, yes dear Herald. Let us grant her a dark desire, one only you would understand. The warmth of her sister, the closest bond there could be. Give this to me, and she shall surley fall."

"My sister is wise." Tan'Hagorath said next. "But her solution, is a pale immidation of what I have already provided you. The very same gift that brought Melli and the sisters to us to begin with." Three’s a magic number - preference for threesomes and throuples. "I shall grant this boon to her, and her desire for you, Melli and her sister will bloom."

"Tempting both." I agree.

Sheobrimborn spoke next, in his whispered voice. "Let me be the next to tempt you." He moved forward. "Seek not to build the bonds between the witches, for they will serve each other and not you. Set them instead against each other. I will grant Ruby the ability to steal from her sister, her sister's beauty, her power, her intelligence. Empower ruby and she will be thankful, the act itself corrupting her further. Then offer Sapphire vengence, and their natural alliance will be broken to you."

Impressive. "That does sound fun."

"Think on your fun while we bid for the next girl." Grokhan says, moving to the front, to Sapphire.

"You're not all betting on them?”

"Three at a time Herald." Steelowyn tutted.

"Of course my lord." I bow my head.

"Enough." Grokhan said. "I offer what Sheobrimborn offers, but without the cowardice. For the soul of Sapphire I will will enchant both girls to be overcome with a primal rage, right here and now. The two will fight eachother, and whoever prevails will become the dominant of the two. From there you need only convince the alpha to follow you and the beta will snivel in her wake. I'll also enhance the alpha's body."

Brutal as always.

"You already know my offer." Tan'Hagorath said, floating by me.

There's great scoffing and outrage amongst the princes. "You bid on both of them? You arrogant welp!" Grokhan snarled.

"Greedy greedy pig." Matrowyn agrees. "You should be culled from our herd for the good of us all."

Tan'Hagorath just chuckles. "I simply defer to the widsom of our eldest sister. If she thinks it wise for me to claim these souls, then I will."

"Irrelevant." Said the emotionless Prince whose sigil was unknown to me. "Behold Archeowyn, and hear my boon. A simple gift but heed well it's power. I shall plant a seed in Sapphire's mind. A simple thought. 'I am a replica of my sister' and from there she can be dismantled in a number of ways." The emotionless orb recedes finished with its simple but disturbing pitch.

I certainly had a lot to think about.

Tan’Hagorath offered the easiest and most synergistic boon. It was a perfect triangle of fetishes, and I would gain an empowered star from it. Not nothing.

The other options in their own way would break the coven up. Sapphire and Ruby would become more individualized as far as my approach to them would go. There were too many iterations of the changes to go through, but thinking about them did give me a perverse joy.

Ruby

Three’s a magic number - preference for threesomes and throuples.

Sisterly Love - Ruby will begin to fantasize about sexual encounters with her sister, and have heightened reactions to intimate contact with her sister.

Absorbed in Utero - Ruby gains the ability to drain the attributes of her sister. By laying her hand on her sister she can think of a stat or feature of her sister and absorb it into herself.

Sapphire

Three’s a magic number - preference for threesomes and throuples.

Runt of The Litter - The sisters will engage in a battle for dominance between the two. The winner will become the dominant sister, and gain increased physical stats as a reward. The losing sister will become completely submissive to the dominant sister.

Simulacrum - Sapphire will become absorbed with the inescapable idea that she is an artificial copy of her sister Ruby. This idea will leave her open to being exploited in a number of ways.

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