Predetermined Encounters

The moment Blue saw the word ‘Monk’ written above the door, she closed the distance and pushed her way inside. The room beyond was large and open, its polished wooden floor uncluttered by furniture. Instead, the space within was occupied by only five people, four of them equidistant from each other as they formed the corners of a square with the last in the center.

The ones at the outside, Blue didn’t recognize. All four were athletic women, each with a different set of animal ears atop their heads—bovine, cat, dog, and rabbit—each apparently ignoring both her and everything else in the world as they moved through a practiced set of slow dancelike motions.

The man in the middle, though, she recognized. “You! You were in the city before!” The words echoed in the cavernous space, but while the yellow-robed figure’s lips quirked into a slight smirk, none of the others wavered in the slightest at the disturbance. Blue jogged across the room towards the five, her motions swift enough to close the distance in seconds. “What are you doing here?”

The words came out as more demand than question, but the man showed no signs of offense. Instead, he gestured at the four women around him. The one closest to Blue was a blonde woman, yellow rabbit-like ears sticking out of shoulder-length hair tied back in a simple ponytail. Her movements were grounded, solid—nothing like the fleeting rabbit she somewhat resembled. Instead, she lifted her legs one at a time, drawing each in a sweeping arc through the air that was all the more impressive for how slow the motion was as it traced a path to the height of her head before returning to the floor.

The bovine woman counter-clockwise around the circle from her stepped and spun in decisive motions, each time bringing her hands in swirling patterns before returning them to her side and repeating. Despite her constant motion, though, Blue noticed that no matter how often she walked, she never strayed more than a few feet from her origin, as though she were trapped in a tiny room that only she could see.

“I am giving these women the same kind of instruction that you have come to me to seek.” The man’s voice was calm. Blue turned to him as he spoke and let herself finally take in his appearance, realizing she hadn’t really done so on either of their previous visits.

Neither tall nor short, neither old nor young, his body was lean rather than skinny—taut, defined muscles not too different from the ones which now graced her own athletic figure revealed either the work of countless hours of discipline to build them, or magic similar to what had been done to the harpy on her arrival. Where on Blue, the result was covered in a thin layer of fat which grew more generous only over her previously modest breasts and backside, the yellow-robed man wore them bare, and the result was an impressively dangerous-looking physique on an otherwise unassuming man.

Something about the man’s equanimity irked Blue in a way she couldn’t put words to. She scowled at him, her eyes narrowing as she demanded, “Who says I came here to be trained? I can spin in circles and kick the air just fine already, thank you very much.”

The man chuckled and shook his head as the harpy spoke. “You know, I imagine this conversation is going much the same as at least one other which has occurred—is occurring—on this day.”

Kevin blinked. “Is he talking about us?”

The Hierophant had produced a crystal ball from somewhere—Kevin hadn’t seen it among the cushions, but he’d withdrawn it with a lazy motion and set it atop a fluffy black pillow to prevent it from rolling away. He’d then performed some kind of variant of the same scrying magic Lilith had made available to Kevin in his quarters. Rather than immersing the two of them in the scene fully, it had projected a smaller image of the pair into the air above the ball.

He couldn’t help but draw comparisons to technology they used in Space Wars, but kept the comment to himself since he wasn’t at all sure his new acquaintance would get the reference.

Kyle hadn’t explained himself, but instead motioned for Kevin to join him as he watched Blue’s entrance to what was apparently the Monk trainer’s room. The contrast between the Monk trainer’s austere surroundings and the decadent comfort around Kevin and Kyle couldn’t have been starker, and it was only heightened a moment later when the Favored Soul trainer pulled out a long-stemmed pipe and brought the mouthpiece to his lips.

Wisps of something escaped his mouth when he answered a moment later. Where Kevin had expected billowing white smoke, he was surprised when what emerged was instead as black as the night apart from glittering motes of light like distant stars. “Yes. I informed Elder Xen that I was expecting your arrival, and to anticipate that Blue would visit him at the same time.” The smoke did something odd to Kyle’s voice—made it somehow distant and a little hollow, but it passed a moment later as he added, “They cannot hear us, though. I arranged for them to meet so that they could serve as a demonstration to you.”

“A demonstration of what?” Kevin’s answer was careful. Guarded. He wasn’t sure yet what to make of Kyle. While the man’s manner was obnoxiously arrogant and superior, he obviously possessed a degree of power that the DM found all too familiar. He’d adopted a similar personality too many times to miss it—usually while acting out the role of a mighty wizard, god, or some other powerful spirit in disguise.

“Of what you can achieve with your power.” Kyle took another drag on his pipe, and when he continued this time, his voice emerged as a faintly metallic whisper that almost made Kevin reach for his ears. The sound was quiet, but scraped at him in a way that was just shy of painful. “With the fragment of my father Lilith granted you on his behalf.”

“He—it was the only way I was going to keep their hooks out of him. He was a good guy, it was just—”

Hwa nodded, and continued to make encouraging and sympathetic noises as Penny poured out her heart over the manufactured drama Lilith had inflicted. On the one hand, the dispute was a tiff between a human and a siren who’d done her best to walk away from her mythic origins. The kumiho would have disdained such petty conflict under the best of circumstances, and only deigned to listen now as a part of her larger strategy.

On the other hand—Hwa did have some genuine sympathy for Penny. The siren’s conflict revealed a deep weakness in the woman, yes, but in this particular case it was not her own fault that such a flaw had been exposed. Perhaps if the singer had been stronger of character, Lilith would not have been able to so easily twist her past, but given the power the winged woman seemed to wield, it might well have been inevitable.

Hwa realized that Penny had finished speaking a few moments before, and a glance at the blonde’s face revealed that she was waiting for a response. “So—if you’ll permit me to paraphrase?”

Thankfully, the contents of the second bottle seemed to be finally having an impact—Penny’s face was slightly flush with the effects of the wine, after she’d put away the first bottle with the fortitude of a veteran barfly. She nodded, having apparently taken Hwa’s delay not as inattention but as a needed pause for thought. Hwa continued, “Kevin, in his new reality, found himself engaged in a whirlwind romance with your older sister—”

“Callisto,” Penny supplied.

“—Callisto, who sought to relieve him of his worldly wealth.” When Penny nodded, Hwa went on, “And you took it upon yourself to intervene by seducing the man. You shared some days of shared passion, by which time Callisto lost interest in her latest ‘mark’, so you departed.”

“I didn’t—it wasn’t that I didn’t like him, but it was just—he was a fling? I got to have a good time, he got to have a good time, I never meant anything deeper to come out of it.” The siren poured herself another glass, then tossed back half the dark purple liquid in a single gulp.

Prismberry Spirits: The juice of the multicolored Prismberry ferments into a deep purple liquid. When consumed, it impacts the drinker’s gender preferences, shifting them closer to pansexuality. Effects grow more pronounced when consumed by individuals with more narrow preferences.

How she stomached the taste, Hwa wasn’t sure—the substance wasn’t actually wine, but some stronger liquor brewed from a fruit she’d never heard of. She’d purchased it through one of her underworld contacts and the tiny taste she’d tried on delivery was thick, with a lingering sweetness that coated her tongue. “And you believe now, based on his reaction as you left the square, that he felt that your days together possessed deeper meaning?”

“He looked hurt.” The siren held up the cup in front of her face, losing herself to the dim light reflected through the contents of the cheap glass. “I didn’t—when we were done, I just left. Didn’t think of him again. He was just another guy, you know?”

Hwa didn’t, but it did not help her current endeavor to reveal that, so she instead responded, “I think, Penny, that you have two possibilities before you.” The kumiho slid herself off of the bench as she spoke, then reached out and delicately plucked the glass from Penny’s fingers. She raised it to her mouth and swallowed what remained within, using the slight wince from the overwhelming taste to disguise any trace of deception her words might otherwise have carried. “You can remain passive. Permit Kevin to make what he will of the encounter you shared, and let him cast you in whatever role he sees fit.”

“The woman who used him, broke up his romance, and then dumped him, you mean?” Hwa nodded, then reached out a hand. Penny hesitated a moment, then took it. The confusion on her face revealed that she was uncertain of the kumiho’s intentions, but the wine and sympathy offered had done their part to loosen the siren’s reservations.

Hwa pulled slowly, and Penny slid off of her seat on the bench to stand. “Or, instead, you could offer him a better reality. A better version of events.” When the siren’s face showed confusion, the Korean woman pressed her advantage. The changes Lilith had made to her body had not touched her height—she remained shorter than the siren by several inches, and when she stepped forward to close the space between them she had to tilt her head back slightly to stare into the other woman’s bright blue eyes. “One where you were not the one who hurt him, but the one who got away.”

The kumiho banked on a combination of knowledge of the transformations affecting Penny and the scraps of magic she’d been permitted to wield herself. Nine fluffy tails fanned out slowly behind her, waving in a hypnotic pattern that seemed to somehow draw attention to the ridiculous proportions of her new figure.

She released the siren’s hand, only to lift her arm up, wrap her fingers around the back of the blonde’s head, and pull her forward until their lips were almost touching. In the public space of the bar, there was no mistaking the attention the pair of curvaceous women received—especially as those who remained within were within Hwa’s employ, and instructed to watch but not interfere with her actions. She’d already designated the six present to be immune to her hypnotic effect, but that only meant all eyes remained on Penny.

Bard - Performer - Exhibitionist

(Passive) Anyone who watches you perform in an artistic fashion will find themselves motivated by the message your performance conveys. Penny will grow more aroused and less inhibited as more attention is focused on her.

(Active) Once per hour you can assume a role. You will portray whatever character you choose believably, including through the use of minor magical abilities where appropriate.

To the kumiho’s relief, Penny didn’t resist. The siren allowed herself to be drawn forward, her lips pursing on instinct as Hwa drew her into a soft kiss. When their lips parted a moment later, rather than allowing the other woman a moment to collect her thoughts, Hwa added, “Do not become the woman who hurt him. Become the woman who has so much to offer him that your impact lingers years hence.”

“B—but my gift, I don’t—”

“Shh.” Hwa silenced Penny’s objections with another kiss. The other woman’s mouth tasted of wine and pleasure, and the kumiho almost went in for a deeper taste before recalling her own plans. “Imagine what you can offer him. Delights he would never have dared long for before. You say he longs for you after a few nights in your arms years ago? Erase the memory under a flood of new temptations.”

Hwa could almost watch as Lilith’s magic—one of the new transformation’s she’d inflicted—took hold.

Bard (Class Ability) Jack Of(f) All Trades - Harem Mommy Path

(Passive) Penny can tell at a glance what act or scenario would most turn on an individual at that time. When in the presence of multiple party members, the intuition instead informs her of the act or scenario which best suits the aggregate needs and desires of all present.

(Active) Acting on her granted intuition grants Penny a +1d10 Bonus to all relevant skill checks.

The siren’s eyes grew distant as she began to envision the possibilities, and the Korean woman was quick to pounce on the weakness. “Not just a woman who used him and left, but a sensual beauty who knows her way around his body—and her own.”

Another lingering kiss, and Hwa let her tongue slip into Penny’s mouth. The taste of the wine had begun to fade, but what she found within caused pangs within her as her own curse took hold. “And, of course, the body of others.”

This close, Hwa’s now titanic tits smashed against Penny’s substantial bust as the siren sought out her lips again, need plain in her every motion. Her hands slid down, caressing the other woman’s back as she allowed herself to be drawn deeper into a kiss, and the hunger with which she returned it didn’t need to be **** at all.

Elsie tread lightly as she stepped along the hallway. The vast building was all but empty, the only other people within somehow always in the distance—as though they were there only to give the place the feel of a structure in use.

Once Kevin disappeared into the Favored Soul room, she’d set off towards the central desk to talk to the receptionist once more. With what looked like hundreds of rooms to choose from, Elsie didn’t want to wander at random until she found one of her three, but as she had approached the desk she realized she didn’t know which of the three she wanted to go to.

Artificer has been the most useful, so far, but I’m not sure that ‘Free Use’ is what I want to build on. Diviner seems like it could be helpful, but it puts a lot of power in the hands of whoever is generating these visions. I’m not sure if it’s Lily behind them, or actual glimpses of the future, but either way takes the power out of my hands. Sensate—is being a slut so bad?

She’d gotten a lot of mileage out of the power Sensate had granted her because it synergized well with the items she could make through her Artificer ability. She could effectively pick one thing she’d made recently and reproduce the effect over and over again until she decided to pick something else. The first thing she’d picked—the Elixir of Stretching—had converted the discomfort she would have felt into pleasure when Kevin had fucked her throat.

A shiver ran through her as her mind inevitably wandered—was pulled—towards the hidden component of the Sensate path. The compulsion to recreate the acts Elsie witnessed wasn’t irresistible, but it was insidious. The transformation didn’t **** her to act, but when her mind wandered she found herself wondering what it would be like if she’d been the one in the stocks in front of Kevin.

What it would be like if, instead of her sitting on Hwa’s face, someone bound her hands and wrapped their thighs around her head until she was **** to—

Elsie cut off that line of thinking before it could spiral out of control. She could feel herself grow moist, felt her core grow hot, but **** herself to focus on the realities of the here and now rather than the possibilities of the near future.

The Sensate path was as dangerous as it was useful, but it was also the option that made the most sense. If the trainer could offer her upgrades that gave her more control, it would allow her to use the abilities more freely.

To help the party.

To be more useful.

“You need to start making some decisions.” Kevin had been watching as the miniature image of Blue conversed with the yellow robed monk trainer—Xen, apparently—but the sound which had accompanied the projected image cut off at Kyle’s proclamation.

“What do you mean?” Kevin turned his eyes on the Hierophant and studied him for a moment before realizing the Favored Soul trainer was watching him in turn. He met Kyle’s gaze, and what he saw there was more than a little unsettling. The man’s expression was calm, even as his words made demands that only barely seemed to make sense.

“What I mean is that you have been placed in a position of power.” The season’s master half expected Kyle to leave it there, but the other man paused only for a moment before he went on. “Like it or not, when Lily brought you into this realm, she created a bond with the women who were brought to serve in your ‘party’,” Kevin could practically hear the air quotes around the word, “Which will persist for the rest of all of your lives. The nature of that bond is malleable, but even on the seasons where contestants are allowed to be eliminated, the eliminated are seldom removed from their master’s grasp entirely. Instead, their bond is changed. Fixed. Their relationship frozen in a state that can only sometimes be redefined.”

Kevin nodded. He’d read enough of the stories of other seasons of Harem Hotel on his first evening there to already know what Kyle was talking about. “They stop getting transformations, right? Instead, they get one big exit transformation where, rather than asking the audience what to change about them, the host turns them into an exaggerated version of whatever role the host picked.”

“In simple terms, yes. The rules of your system were not intended to be as Lily has made them. The original stipulations of this season of Harem Hotel intended to do more or less what the hostess claimed—turn you and your party into a coherent group in mutual pursuit of achieving a difficult goal. Yes, the intent was that you would of course define your relationships with each of the members of your party by your shared sexuality, but if Hwa had been a lesbian, she would perhaps have been allowed to retain her preferences.”

Kevin perked up immediately. The other man revealed little emotion, his face a smooth mask as he spoke, but the instant the actual name of the show was mentioned, he knew the class trainer was more than what he seemed. The NPCs he’d talked to over the first week had varying degrees of awareness of the flimsiness of their reality, but even the ones who appeared to understand that they were on a show were limited in what they’d been willing to talk about.

Only Lily had been willing to push the curtain aside, so to have Kyle speak so openly about the origin of the show brought Kevin instantly to attention. “But Lily changed all that. We saw the text of the transformations she gave out—the hidden compulsions and alterations in behavior that have been acting on all of us the whole time.”

Kyle’s lips curled upwards almost imperceptibly, the expression on his face momentarily extremely smug. “Imagine what you would have done if the audience hadn’t chosen to make you a Favored Soul. You’re aware of the changes in the others now, and it has started to affect your ability to make decisions. You’re staring at debauchery when you should be acting. It’s not surprising, in a way. The transformations of the women in your party are aimed at you, after all. There are no options listed that do not in some way play to some fantasy you’ve had at some point in your life. Some more than others, perhaps, but you were always going to be enthralled.”

Kevin wanted to deny the man’s words, but found that the objection stuck in his throat instead. Try as he might to present a good and noble face to the members of his party, he couldn’t bring himself to lie to himself. Even as a part of his soul within him screamed in protest as the very essence of the women who’d been plucked from the world at random was molded like so much clay, a darker part of his imagination that had rarely seen the light of the gaming table staked its claim.

If he was given the chance to release the others—to revert the changes and send them back into the world, free of their connection to him, he would have. In a heartbeat. Without hesitation or doubt.

Even after a week of feeling his resolve weaken, Kevin could still tell himself that he was willing to give up everything that Lily offered him if it meant the party could go free. But he also had to admit that if that had happened, the rest of his life would have contained persistent fantasies about how else things might have gone. Perhaps only in the privacy of his own bed, but he knew that his brain would never let go of the possibilities.

“Okay, yes. Probably. So, what do you expect me to do about it?” Kevin did his best to keep his voice steady, but the resolve he expected to hear was a little lacking.

“I expect you to recognize that the power you have been given represents an opportunity. Each of these women has an array of futures spread before them, and by allowing Lily’s urges to chart your course, you relinquish what agency you have in favor of arriving in whatever destination the hostess chooses to set. If your little Fae child is to become little more than a cuckquean who fingers herself to the edge of orgasm but finds herself unable to reach climax even when allowed to lubricate her owner’s cock, well—that much and worse has happened before.”

Kevin’s eyes narrowed at the suspiciously specific fate the Hierophant described, but the man didn’t stop there. “If your pretty feathered harpy is to become little more than a mindless bimbo who cannot stop herself from literally drooling as she stuffs herself full of you… if all you do is stand by idly, you have no options, but to let her. Unless you make a choice.”

At the mention of the harpy, Kevin’s eyes flicked to the translucent image of Blue which still hovered above the crystal ball. While he still couldn’t hear what she was saying, her expression was excited. The yellow-robed Xen now stood behind her, motioning at the now immobile cow-eared woman, and something about the monk’s expression sent a chill of worry through the Dungeon Master. “What kind of a choice?”

“A choice about what the future of your relationship with these women looks like. You are going to be a central figure in each of these women’s lives going forward. Those futures are outside of your reach, but if you are to set your own course—to make your own selection—you must be willing to decide what kind of future that will be.”

The bovine woman jumped up and down a few times, and something about the expression on her face was unnervingly slack in a way that worried Kevin. The other three beastkin women seemed perfectly focused, even as they continued working their way through their katas, but the cow-woman’s brown eyes just stared at Xen as though he was the center of her world. “Decide what kind of sex slaves they’re going to be, you mean.”

There was less heat behind the words than Kevin wanted. He could understand Kyle’s message easily enough: get active, or let Lily have her way with the cast. That didn’t mean he liked the other man’s implications, but the fire he wanted to summon was dampened by the feeling of horror that had started to rise within his stomach.

Kyle had summoned him here. He’d already admitted that he was the one who’d assigned Blue her quest for the week, and had every chance to prepare. Blue only had the one class, so it didn’t take a genius to anticipate that she would wind up with the Monk trainer, even if the Hierophant didn’t have the option of powerful magic—which he very obviously did. “You set this up.”

“Of course I did.” Kyle showed no signs of offense at Kevin’s accusation. Instead, he gestured idly at the hovering illusion with his pipe, where Blue and the cow-woman were already standing side by side. “If I hadn’t, you would’ve told me that you would think about what I had to say, and it would be at least another week before you brought yourself to actually wield your power in a meaningful way. A week in which Lily’s would have continued to sink her hooks into their minds.”

Kevin watched Blue’s lips move in miniature, and was surprised when he heard her voice. While the image remained silent, he could feel the harpy’s words as they whispered themselves directly into his ear.

“Kevin, should I pick the [Way of Air] monk?”

Her transformation. He realized immediately. Kyle wasn’t allowing the scrying effect to transmit sound, Blue had asked her second question of the week and the magic had transmitted it.

On the first day. She’s going to run out of those before we ever get to use them in the dungeon. Time seemed to slow down as he felt his way through the harpy’s question. The magic seemed to be probing its way into the heart of his being, sorting its way through his hidden preferences and every dark thought he’d entertained in the middle of the night in its search to find his answer.

There’s more to it, though. There’s more information in her question than what she said out loud. I can feel it through House Rule if I focus on it.

[Way of Air]: [Bimbo][Placid][Slutty]

Those are—they’re descriptors, things that are going to happen to her if she follows this path.

“No.”

Before Kevin could fully parse the information he absorbed, he felt the word reverberate across their bond.

The harpy stopped where she was, spun, then darted back into the center of the room. Her gaze swept across the other three women as her lips moved again.

“Well then which one should I pick? [Way of Earth], [Way of Fire], or [Way of Water]?

[Way of Earth]: [Bratty][Stubborn][Masochistic]

[Way of Fire]: [Insatiable][Challenging][Sadistic]

[Way of Water]: [Curious][Flexible][Quick]