Consequences.

“It’s not like I hadn’t heard about people changing their sex before.” Stheno narrowly avoided spraying Hazel with a mouthful of braised pork and onions as she spoke, but was unwilling to stop either her retelling of her visit to the Antipaladin class trainer or her latest feast. “Caeneus did it, as did Tiresias. Bunch of others, too though not all of them stuck with it.”

“Of course,” If Hazel was off-put by the gorgon’s table manners, it didn’t show on her face. The nymph’s vines coiled around her body in easy repose as she sat back in her own chair, having finished her meal several minutes before. The plants that were all she wore covered her breasts with broad leafs that fluttered each time the door of The Long Rest opened but never quite exposed a nipple while the pattern of spiraling vines seemed to highlight her sun-kissed skin rather than concealing it. “I have to guess that’s pretty common around here as well.”

Stheno nodded and swallowed quickly. The food she was eating—‘street tacos’ apparently—was a strange combination of spicy and sweet that coated her mouth. Each bite burned, but the heat left her wanting more, not less. “Mother Mohini seemed to have not just accepted the change, but embraced it. I’m not sure even Hera—” She paused, thought about spitting at the mention of the goddess, then decided not to waste the food that would require as she finished, “—was quite as ecstatic to be a woman as the one who was born as ‘Chris.’”

The gorgon’s eyes rolled back in her head in bliss as she took a large bite out of the next taco. This one was beef rather than pork, the meat all but dissolving into a burst of savory juices when her teeth closed on it. The throaty hum of pleasure which emerged from Stheno brought a delighted laugh to Hazel’s lips before she asked, “So, she convinced you to take an additional class ability?”

Stheno held up her arm to display the new lines of her character sheet.

Antipaladin (Class Ability) Touch of Corruption - Hedonist Path

(Passive) Stheno is protected from the consequences of excess. Excessive eating will only result in weight gain around her hips, butt, and bust. Excessive drinking or **** use will never result in hangovers or overdoses. Excessive sex is treated by her body as vigorous healthy exercise.

(Active) Once per day, Stheno can activate Touch of Corruption. The next individual she touches shares her increased protection from excess for the next 8 hours. Both the touched individual and Stheno will find themselves more willing to indulge in activities which might otherwise be considered risky.

The next few seconds filled with the ever-present music of the tavern. Stheno had not yet spotted any musicians to provide Adventuria its soundtrack, but that did not stop her lord’s realm from being bathed in song. In her heyday, even as a demigoddess, she would have needed to arrange musicians to provide for the lilting and upbeat tones that now wove themselves into the backdrop of conversation in the tavern.

Not so for Lily. Stheno’s new mistress willed that there should be song, and song there was.

“Interesting. That’s the one you were offered after the dungeon run, right?” Hazel leaned back in her chair once more when she finished reading and her bright green eyes studied Stheno’s face carefully while she waited for her answer.

It came, but only after the immortal woman finished the rest of her taco. It was her sixth for the night—far in excess of what would have made her feel bloated and full before—and her body accepted it without complaint. “It was. Lily’s worshippers chose to entwine my fate more closely to that of my Lord’s, and I thank them for it, but…”

She trailed off with a glance at Hazel’s chest. The diamond-scaled armor Stheno wore clung to her body like a second skin, and while it hardened into plates which deflected and absorbed **** the moment it received a solid blow—she’d tested that herself—it did little to conceal a figure that was far more modest than that of the absurdly proportioned blonde.

With Hwa’s transformation, Hazel no longer had a clear claim to the biggest breasts in the party, but her figure could only be called natural, because she was a living spirit of nature.

“You think that Kevin will appreciate the results of this ability as well?” Stheno nodded in response to Hazel’s question, not bothering with words when the answer was so patently obvious. The nymph let out a quiet ‘hmm’ of contemplation, then gently added, “You know that you don’t need to change yourself for him, right?”

The motion of the gorgon halted, and Hazel could see something of the serpent in the intense green eyes she fixed on her. Stheno finished chewing, then swallowed, and answered with quiet purpose, “I will serve my Lord to the best of my ability. It is the desire of the curse-breaker that I do so.”

“Right,” Hazel trailed off as she thought, struggling to find the right way to phrase what she wanted to explain, so the millennia-old woman could understand her intent. “But—that doesn’t mean that you need to change your body without asking either of them. I know Kevin wouldn’t have asked you to do this.”

Stheno’s lips curled into a smile that was slightly stained with the dark sauce which had liberally coated her latest conquest, but surprisingly bright for all of that. “He would not. My Lord is new to his position, and unfamiliar with power. It will be up to his retainers—the members of the party—to guide him to the ends which will make him happiest.” She gestured first at her own modest breasts, then across the table at Hazel. “If these were to transform themselves to more resemble those, you know that Kevin would not complain. You and I have both seen how his eyes linger on you, Hwa, and Penny.”

Hazel shrugged in a way that lifted the massive breasts in question until her cleavage bulged through the leaves. “Obviously. It isn’t as though he hasn’t shown himself to be interested in you as you are, though.”

Stheno’s smile was more than a little lascivious. “No, my Lord showed himself to be most ardent on our last night together. Still, I believe that he will enjoy this outcome better, and it is not as though I object to the results myself.” She let out a quick burp, shook off the surprise of its sudden arrival, then flagged down one of the serving wenches. “Another round of these ‘tacos’, and drinks.” Then she gestured at the larger table beside her, where Blue and Hazel’s four disciples ate and talked amongst themselves, “In fact—drinks all around!”

The shouted announcement was met with a cheer from the room and pumped fists from the harpy and three of the elves. Only Winter abstained, but even the severe dark-skinned woman managed a smile at the general air of celebration which resulted.

Hazel rolled her eyes. Her expression did not darken, though, and as she tilted her head back to rest it against the top of the chair she occupied, she muttered at the ceiling, “Gaia, they’re going to be at it all night, at this rate.”

Stheno laughed, then picked up the glass tankard of sparkling beer in front of her on the table. It was half-empty, and she realized that it was only her second of the night. There was still time to fix that, though, so she drained the bottom half of it without coming up for air, slammed it back against the table, and agreed, “Until I’m ready to stop!”

Well that happened. The thought filled Tess’ mind for several long moments as she chewed on it like a cow with cud.

Her transformation had ended some time back—only a few minutes before Abby passed out on top of her. Its absence brought a certain clarity of thought, though the exhaustion that overcame her did its part to diffuse that. Her resulting state of mind was fuzzy, but unexpectedly comfortable. The soup of endorphins that still lingered were not unlike the high of a good workout that left her body tingling.

Should I feel bad about that? The answer to the question felt like it should have been a resounding ‘yes.’ Society’s views on **** were pretty clear. There was no question that she’d fucked her little sister—the smaller silver haired selkie was still draped naked over her body—but as Tess’ mind turned inwards, she couldn’t pick up any sign that she did feel bad.

The discrepancy itself left her feeling a little uneasy. Am I broken? Did Lily break me, or have I always been broken? The description of the ‘Ranger’ transformations hadn’t included any mention of changing how Tess felt about ****—or having sex with girls in general, nor her little sister in particular—so again, the answer felt like it should have been a ‘yes.’

Normal girls—girls who aren’t broken—don’t fuck their sisters. They don’t hold them down and—god, what did I do to Elsie? Visions of Tess pushing the English girl’s face between Abby’s thighs filled the athlete’s head as she lifted it to glance around. There was no sign of the slender brunette—just the blanket covered form of Penny alone on her bed.

The siren had somehow managed to sleep through it all. Only the steady rise and fall of the covers revealed any sign of life from Penny as she recovered from whatever Hwa had done to her.

That was—her latest transformation said something about us using her, but I just—I just grabbed her and shoved her face in Abby’s pussy so I could feel what it was like when she was getting eaten out. I didn’t even ask, I just—used her. To her surprise, Tess felt dirtier about that than she did about having sex with Abby.

Not that either of the other women had given any sign that they’d objected. Elsie had complied obediently, plying her tongue and fingers with enthusiasm. What she’d lacked in skill, she’d made up for in an ability to hone in on what each of them liked with supernatural speed. When Tess tangled her fingers in the slender brunette’s hair and pulled her out from between Abby’s legs so she could shove the British woman’s face into her own cleft, Elsie had switched partners so smoothly Tess barely had time to compare the shared sensation of the Familiar Bond with the direct feedback of a tongue on her clit before she came.

Her memories got somewhat fuzzier from there, though, and at some point Elsie had slipped away—without either of the sisters returning the favor, as far as Tess was aware.

Abby snuggled in drowsily against Tess’s chest. Her sister had been extremely cuddly as a young child—clingy, even—and Abby had pulled away reflexively as she got older. The need to establish herself as an independent person had meant disassociating herself from her silver haired waif of a sister, and until she showed up at college, they hadn’t really had the chance to reconcile what that meant to them now.

And now, thanks to Harem Hotel—and Lily’s bullshit—we don’t have a choice.

Tess reached down and stroked Abby’s hair softly. It was obnoxiously perfect—silver in a way that should have looked fake, but only succeeded in making her sister look ethereal—like a moonbeam that had visited Earth and decided to stick around rather than returning home. Among other things, it had always made Tess jealous. Her own hair had been compared to dandelions far too often to make her happy.

Abby’s gorgeous sheet of silver hair let her escape that particular fate. She’d stood out in other ways, but no one ever seemed to dislike the girl, even though she hadn’t quite fit in anywhere she went. The result had left her sister as a good-natured girl that hadn’t ever understood why her big sister kept trying to leave her behind.

Not that she was going to do that now. We’re here together. I should feel bad about this, but I don’t. I should feel broken, but I don’t. I just feel—

Slow afternoon seconds ticked by in languid silence.

I’m going to protect you, Abby. You might be eighteen now, but you’re still my baby sister. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you don’t get hurt.

- - - - - -

Two phrases came to Kevin’s mind, ‘suffering from success’ and ‘riding the tiger.’ Both of them were things he was familiar with in concept. He’d even used them each, from time to time, but at no point had either felt especially relevant to his life.

Not until this afternoon, as he looked down at the naked Korean woman laying on her back atop a thick rug on the floor of the Master’s suit.

Kevin’s life had contained its share of successes. He’d had a successful career, maintained—well, several successful relationships, even with multiple women at once, though those memories still felt oddly disconnected. At no point had he ever felt like he was suffering for those successes, though. That was something that happened to Hollywood actors trapped by their fame, not IT workers from the mid-west.

Hwa let out a sudden giggle that caused her gravity-defying breasts to quiver. Even laying on her back, the huge mounds of titflesh the kumiho sported refused to flatten. They might have looked fake, except each shake of her shoulders sent a ripple through the flesh that defied any hint or suggestion of silicone.

He had succeeded in slipping a metaphorical leash around Hwa’s neck, and now he had to suffer the consequences.

“Hey—hey come down here.” Hwa’s words were somewhere between the slur of a drunk and the easygoing gregariousness of a party-girl on her third vodka cranberry. “Come here. I’ll let you put your dick here.”

Hwa’s lips weren’t exactly pouty, but the plump nature of them—and the fact that they looked perpetually wet—made them a lewd sight even before she stuck her tongue out in invitation.

Kevin reached down to adjust himself in his pants. While Hwa had recovered on the floor, he’d gotten dressed once again. He had thought that the release the Korean beauty had milked from him would have sated him. It had certainly felt as thought she’d drained his balls until they were dry—but the sound of her voice was doing something to his body and his underwear felt uncomfortably tight. “I’m not going to do that, Hwa. You need to get up so we can do—whatever your quest is for the day.”

He hadn’t had the chance to check that prior to finding Hwa and Penny together in The Long Rest, and events after that had somewhat gotten away from him. Kevin knew that technically—unlike some other seasons of Harem Hotel—the mid-week ‘quests’ or events that Lily assigned to each of the members of his party weren’t actually mandatory, but the poll at the end of each week was meant to allow the audience to assess how well the members of his harem had contributed to the party.

If Hwa skipped out entirely, he didn’t know how the audience—or Lily—would react. The quests that Blue had taken during the first week had apparently had consequences of their own for failure, but the hostess hadn’t ever made clear if the same was true for the weekly quests.

Hwa scowled up at him. That expression was more familiar than most of the ones she’d been making, though the erotic way she licked her lips after a moment did somewhat alter the effect. “S’boring. ‘Show off your acquisitions for the Party Leader.’ Bunch of ignorant petty criminals in a dingy house, and some boxes of leafs and some potions.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What do you want to look at them for?” She dragged her arms inward until her elbows sandwiched her tits, then squeezed. It lifted the massive mounds further into the air and created an enormous valley of cleavage that left dark pools of shadow against the Korean woman’s pale skin. “Look at these instead.”

When his eyes were inevitably drawn to her huge tits, Hwa scowled again and suddenly spat out, “Pig.”

Then she giggled and drew her heels up until they nearly bumped up against her newly expanded ass. The red marks from the blows of his magical rod still lingered on the otherwise smooth expanse of skin, and Kevin had to tear his eyes away to look back at her face.

She giggled at him again.

And that brought him to the crux of the matter. The tiger he was riding that he didn’t quite know how to dismount.

When Hwa had swallowed Kevin’s cum earlier, she’d absorbed a dose of the magic Lilith had imbued in him. The magic senses granted to him by House Rule meant he knew perfectly well that it was responsible for the kumiho’s current state, and also that the effect wasn’t permanent.

She was going to sober up at some point, and he would have to answer for what he’d done.

Leaving him a sliver of hope was the promise he’d extracted from her. It wasn’t much—just that she would cooperate for now—but if he could bind her with something narrower and more restrictive, he might be able to make it out of the bedroom alive. “Fine, I guess—if that’s your quest, knowing the audience, I’d say you already succeeded.”

“What?” Hwa’s puzzled expression dissolved into giggle again a moment later. “Oh.” She gave her tits another squeeze with her elbows. “These.” A moment later she rocked her knees to the side. Drawn by the motion, Kevin glanced down and caught a glimpse of the kumiho’s sex, still swollen and wet, before he tore his gaze away.

“Yeah. Those.” Kevin closed his eyes and raised his hand to his brow to pinch the bridge of his nose. He drew in a long breath and tried to focus himself, then reached down to adjust himself once more. “I—look, I need something from you.” When he opened his eyes again, Hwa was staring up at him with a suspicious expression on her face, but she didn’t interrupt so he continued, “I need you to promise that you’ll help out the party, instead of just always going off on your own. That you’ll listen to me when we’re in the dungeon rather than running off. That you’ll obey me.”

Hwa hissed, though she didn’t look away. “Hwa Sun’ah does not obey.”

Kevin let out a frustrated snort of air. “Fine. The others, though—you have to let us in on what you’re doing, you have to help out if we need you, and while we’re in the dungeon, you have to at least stop and listen to me.”

Hwa considered. “And in exchange?”

Only the slight quiver of hope in the kumiho’s voice gave Kevin the courage to proclaim, “I’ll give you what you want.”

“Whenever I want.” Hwa’s demand was issued without delay.

“I can’t promise that. There’s—there’s too much else going on for me to guarantee I’ll be available, but—” He held up a hand to ward off Hwa’s narrowing gaze, “—I’ll do my best. If I’m available, I’ll make time. As long as it’s reasonable.”

Hwa’s eyes flicked from Kevin’s face to the crotch of his pants, then back. “Hmph. This deal is not as much in my favor as I would like, but—” A triumphant smile slowly spread on the kumiho’s lips. “You are available now. I accept. Come here, human. Give me what I desire.”

Hoping he wasn’t making a massive blunder, Kevin reached down to unfasten his pants once more as he moved to comply.