Blue's Quests (Day 3)(7/8)

As soon as he saw the quest in Blue’s quest log, Kevin knew what he needed to do.

Quest: Messengers of the Gods

Objective: Collect the missives of the High Priests of Aphrodite, Athena, and Poseidon, then deliver them to the messenger’s guild in the main square before noon. Failure to do so will enact a curse of those gods upon the party.

When he examined the two quests side by side with the ability to regain her human form by acting in defiance of the gods, the overlap was obvious.

Quest: The Defiant (Part 1)(Weekly Quest)

Objective: Demonstrate your willingness to defy the heavens in pursuit of your goals (0/3)

“This is a tutorial quest. Lily wants to show you how your ability works. It’s how she’s trying to recruit you, I think. To get you on-board with her show.”

“Then it is working, Dungeon Master. I would do anything to be rid of my curse. Anything.” The snake woman practically hissed out the last word, which had then turned into a laugh. “To be offered the opportunity to spit in the gods’ eyes while I am doing it is a blessing.”

The fervor of Stheno’s declaration was honestly a bit intimidating for Kevin. The woman was in her full serpent form once again, complete with green scale armor covering her upper body, and she had obtained a spear from somewhere and had it slung across her back.

The gorgon’s attention seemed to be focused inward, at the moment, but he was mildly concerned about what would happen when it swung his way again. At the moment, the two of them were walking—or slithering, in her case—up the steps at the front of the temple of Aphrodite.

Before they got to—whatever it was Stheno had in mind, Kevin had asked the gorgon to wait until he collected the message that Blue’s quest required. While he didn’t know exactly what Stheno planned to do to show her defiance, he was pretty sure that the aftermath wasn’t going to be the kind of environment where they could pick up the mail.

It was only while they were waiting for the priest that greeted them to fetch whatever missive they were meant to deliver that Kevin realized that he had a potential solution to the problem in his grasp. As he thought about the way that he would have run an interaction where the players were going to set out to blaspheme a god, he realized that he could sense the rules that Lily had put in place around them.

The more directly Stheno provoked the gods, the more likely it was that the clergy would notice them. As their reputation with the church worsened, the church would begin to take direct action against them.

Except—House Rule meant he could change that. He activated the ability, only to see golden words flash in front of his face.

Natural 20! Critical Success.

“Stheno?” He spoke the gorgon’s name quietly, as he slowly felt out the change to the rules of the temple around them. No one else seemed to have noticed the words, but if he was right about what they meant in this case–

“Yes, Kevin?” Something about the tone of his voice seemed to have caught the gorgon’s attention, and she suddenly spun on him. She was inches away from him and the intensity of her gaze as he met his eyes froze him in his tracks until he was able to shake it off and respond, “I think I just turned off the ability of the temple to realize that you’re blaspheming.”

“What do you mean?”

Kevin turned to accept the sealed scroll they were meant to deliver from the priest as he returned. “I just changed the rules here. One of the previous seasons of Harem Hotel had a challenge where the contestants were judged on their, well, exhibitionism. They were dropped into the world, but one of the rules, was that no one would notice what they were doing, so they wouldn’t get in trouble—the only thing holding them back was their own inhibitions. I think that no matter what you do in here–”

“FUCK ALL GODS!” Stheno’s voice roared out as she spread her arms in defiance and spun towards the center of the table. Kevin was caught off-guard as she slithered forward into the center of the columned room and rose to her full height in the center. Her head snapped back as she stared at the ceiling in challenge for a few moments, as though staring down the invisible presence of Aphrodite.

When nothing happened, she grinned, and turned back to face Kevin. “If it is Lily’s will that I bed you to taste this power, I gladly will.” Stheno’s body began to shift as she approached him. Her hands reached down to tear at her green scaled armor, only to have it flake away from her body as motes of green shimmering light that dissolved into the air. Between one slither and the next, her tail split into bare legs and she strode forward until she was pressed against Kevin’s chest.

Beneath her armor she was gloriously nude. Her body was that of a model—slender but undeniably feminine—and she let out a throaty sound of pleasure as she melted into Kevin. The feel of her body against his chest was unexpectedly cool, but she lingered only for a moment before an idea occurred to her.

She pushed away again, then strode into the center of the widest space of the temple. Her arms spread wide, putting her nude body on display as she declared, “Aphrodite, in your temple, I declare myself more beautiful!”

She spun around slowly, as if exhibiting herself to the world.

Appeared naked in front of the DM: +20 HP

Stheno laughed as she whirled in place a few more times, then seemed to lose her balance. She stumbled towards Kevin and he caught her on instinct, astonished at how light she felt in his arms. In her full serpentine form the gorgon seemed massive and imposing, so her slender humanoid form seemed delicate by comparison. Her outsized presence remained, though, as she lifted up on tiptoes to whisper hotly in his ear, “I’m going to fuck you. In Athena’s temple.”

Then she slipped out of his arms and stepped back. The motes of green light that had vanished moments before once more shimmered into existence as they reformed into green armor over her fully human body, and Stheno added, “But first, I need to tell her **** uncle what I think of his seaweed-smelling ass.” She paused, then asked, “Will you join me, Dungeon Master?”

Kevin hesitantly reached out to accept Stheno’s offered hand. “To reach Poseidon’s temple we should go a few blocks that way, then left—it’s close to the docks. Athena’s will be north from there.”

Blue flew circles over the alley until she had watched a dozen individuals in scruffy outfits flood out of it in pursuit of Hwa.

With the effects of the Stamina Potion that Blue had given her running through her system, the kumiho’s movements were swift and energetic. She covered twice as much ground as she had before, and seemed immune to the effects of fatigue. The result was that there were more than forty various members of the thieves’ guild and no fewer than three separate gangs chasing after her, without any sign that one would catch the woman.

As she disappeared around a corner, clambering mob in pursuit, Blue dropped out of the sky and pushed open the door to the hideout.

The interior was cluttered, but disappointingly boring. Blue still wasn’t used to the strange trappings of civilization into which she’d been thrust, but the room in front of her hardly seemed different from any other. There were chairs scattered about, a table where the former occupants had left behind a card game of some sort when they rushed out, and a few half-empty bottles scattered around, but nothing particularly shiny or glowing to catch her attention.

Apart from the coin atop the table, at least—that, the harpy scooped up instantly, the coins vanishing as her GP count rose in the process. Blue knew that there was no guarantee she would remain undisturbed within the building for long—even if Hwa was able to keep up her distraction, there was no guarantee someone else wouldn’t wander in and discover her—so rather than searching carefully and quietly, she began to tear through the building like a whirlwind in pursuit of her goal.

She’d been the one to accept this quest, and Blue actually remembered a little more of the details than the description on the quest provided. The vial of aphrodisiac was supposed to have been an experiment by the alchemists’ guild which the thieves had stolen and were holding for ransom. The stout man who had given her the quest had described the vial in great detail to her, so she was certain she would recognize it when she found it, except–

It wasn’t here. At least, not in the front room. Blue noticed a door leading further into the building, stepped through, and saw a set of stairs beyond leading to the second story. She darted up them quickly—her new body seemed far more maneuverable than she’d been before, and she giggled giddily as she launched herself up half the stairs in a single bound to reach the first landing.

A few moments later, she burst into a room, fists raised, prepared to fight anyone who might have remained behind.

There was no one there, and she drooped a little in disappointment, before realizing that the room itself was at least more interesting than the downstairs had been. This one held a thick carpet and a large ornate wooden desk. While no one sat behind it, Blue’s attention was immediately captured by the fact that there was a painting which normally would have hung on the back wall that was instead set to the side on the floor.

The painting would normally have concealed the presence of a large metal safe in the wall, but when Blue walked inside the safe was not only uncovered, but hanging open. She darted across the room swiftly and began to peer inside.

There were papers, but she ignored those as uninteresting. More significant was an open pouch containing more coin, a set of carved silver bracelets which glowed with faint azure light, and a small glass vial that had been reinforced with metal.

The latter she recognized immediately as her objective, but Blue didn’t hesitate before scooping the entire contents of the safe—papers and all—into her arms. She gave the room one more glance, then lifted one of her newly nimble legs to kick over a tall stack of papers that had been piled on the desk, laughed, and darted towards the door, paper trailing through the air behind her.

Tess stepped up beside Hazel as the mostly naked woman stared down at the river below them.

Hazel’s connection to nature had always been strong, but ever since Lily’s transformation it was as though it had been supercharged. She could feel the river in front of her, could sense the way that it had been twisted—not just by their hostess when she made this place, but also by the artificial channel that had been cut through the city as the Mimi River flowed through it.

The water was surprisingly clean and clear for something flowing through a city as big as Adventuria, but thanks to her connection to the environment Hazel knew why. Beneath the surface of the river were a multitude of creatures that dwelled in its waters.

“Slimes.” Tess was the one who spoke up first, and Hazel turned her head to regard the young woman. The selkie was focused on the water and didn’t seem to notice that she was being studied as words tumbled from her lips automatically. “They’re magical creatures—not natural ones that exist on Earth, but crafted specifically for this place. These ones have been further modified so they can act like filters for the water and keep it drinkable.”

Tess suddenly snapped out of her half-trance and glanced over at Hazel, then hurried to explain, “It’s—the Ranger thing, when I study the river, I can just–”

“Shh, it’s alright. You don’t have to worry or explain. It’s helpful information, thank you.” Hazel reached up and lightly touched Tess’ back to reassure her. The girl had been on edge ever since her temporary transformation wore off back at the milk bar, and while it looked as though the physical fatigue of it had worn off, she was still sporting both the enormously inflated breasts that were the result of the glass of milk she’d been given, and the pensive expression of someone with a lot on her mind.

Tess sighed. “It’s just—look, I know you’re able to just go with the flow of this, or whatever, but—I’ve got a sister! And a boyfriend, and school, and a mother, who should all be wondering what’s happened to me. Except I have no way to get in touch with them, Lily just told us not to worry about it but didn’t explain anything, and now I’m sporting breasts bigger than my head because I got pumped up after carrying a two-hundred kilo barrel of cow-woman milk across town and didn’t think to ask whether the stuff Maybelle gave me was magical.”

Her shoulders slumped, and Hazel continued slowly rubbing her hand up and down the selkie’s back. She hadn’t shied away from the touch, which the nymph took as a good sign, but the strain in Tess’ voice was plainly audible. “I’ve got a co-op at home. I don’t know how much you know about them—the only ones I’ve ever visited were in the United States, so I’m not sure how they do them elsewhere, but it’s basically just a farm. There’s about twenty people who live on mine at any moment, and they all help out when they can.”

Tess turned her head to look at Hazel, but while the druid hadn’t removed her comforting hand from the athlete’s back her eyes had drifted and she was now staring across the river. The sun was low in the sky, but they had at least an hour before it would set completely—more than enough time to accomplish their task.

“But none of them know the place like I do. I’ve got it just how I like—more or less—but in three days I’m already not sure if the goats’ stable will have been mucked out, or the straw in the yard that’s in the barn scattered to make sure the mud doesn’t get too thick, or a dozen other things that someone might have remembered to do. I can’t check, though, and there’s nothing I can do about it from here. I’m sure they’ll all figure things out as they go, and if there’s some bumps along the way, those will help them remember for next time.”

Hazel’s smile was distant, but it didn’t fade completely. “And in the meantime, I’m here experiencing things I never would have at home.”

Tess took a slow breath, then let it out as she relaxed. “It’s hard. I feel like I should be trying harder to get back to Abby and Jeremy. All the things that Lily did to me—I can feel them. The worst part is, they don’t even feel… bad.”

Hazel turned to raise an eyebrow at Tess, who looked away rather than meet her gaze. “When I used Flexible Form at the ranch, I felt incredible. Like I could do anything. There’s a part of me that wants to do it again—just activate that form, dive into the river, and scoop up as many slimes as I can. While I was transformed, everything was easy, but now that it’s worn off, I have to ask myself what choices I’ll make next time that I’ll have to live with after.”

Tess glanced down. Her washboard abs were still there—if hidden by her leather armor—but the selkie was unable to see them past the enormous breasts she now sported. “I know they’re only temporary, but what if next time they aren’t? It was still me inside that body, but it was like I didn’t care about anything apart from what was in front of me.”

“Do you think you could learn to control it?” Hazel’s question was genuine. While she didn’t want to push the other woman into any unwanted experimentation, her own transformation seemed both figuratively and literally natural. She had assumed that the others found theirs to be as well, but the reaction Tess was displaying made her doubt her own assessment.

“I—maybe?” Tess’ uncertainty was clear, and Hazel nodded.

“I’d be happy to try to experiment with you.” The vine wrapped around her rustled slightly and extended a tendril towards Tess, only for the druid to reach up and gently bat the small green shoot. “Stop that. But—Ivy does have a point.”

Hazel had only named the two plants thus far. The one she was wearing was the more sessile of the two, and seemed largely content as long as she allowed it to remain on or near her body. Thistle was a friend she had made while outside of the city, and she’d left the larger and more aggressive vine outside the walls when she returned. “If you’re worried about your actions while you experiment, I could stay nearby to make sure you don’t get up to any mischief.”

Tess gave her a wary look. “I’m—I appreciate the offer, but–”

“–you aren’t keen on being tied up by plants?” Hazel laughed quietly. She turned, and began to walk along the edge of the river until she reached one of the sets of stairs leading down to the banks.

“Where are you going?”

Hazel pointed ahead. There was an old bucket which looked relatively intact sticking out of the mud on the side of the river, and she turned to approach it. As she did so, a quick mental command to Ivy caused the plant to slither off of her body and leave her naked. “I’m going to collect some slimes. You should stay up there. They won’t hurt you, but I’m pretty sure they’d try to dissolve your outfit when they ‘cleaned’ you.”

She gestured at her already nude figure. “I don’t have that problem.”

The druid smiled. This was going to be some work, she could tell, but Hazel had never shied away from hard work. She picked up the bucket, turned, and waded into the river.

“That’s it?”

“Thank you, adventurers!”

Elsie groaned in frustration. “Sure, fine, of course, just—go do what you need to do.”

The catlike woman in front of them was an escort. She made no attempt to disguise that fact. She was wearing a tight dress that clung to her full curves and heavy makeup. Every step she took was smooth and sensual, designed to attract attention.

She was also incredibly slow.

“Rrr! I should have guessed from the fucking name.” Elsie and Penny were ambling along slowly behind the catgirl as she slowly performed a series of errands. The quest had been lumped into the ‘non-urgent, but important’ category, because while it hadn’t sounded like there were serious consequences for delaying a couple of days, the implication in the quest description suggested that something bad would happen if she wasn’t helped eventually.

Quest: Fulfill the Escort’s Request.

Objective: Escort the escort as she:

• Drops off her laundry
• Picks up her groceries
• Avoids her stalker
• Returns her books to the library
• Renews her license to operate

There had been no sign of opposition thus far, but the woman’s pace meant it would be dark long before she was finished.

“I hate escort quests.”