Greed is Good

Aubrey, Flora, and Merida had traveled northwest to meet up with the orcs. The previous day, Slevia had led a company of orcs to **** the remnants of Asherland, forcing those that remained to flee or be incapacitated and taken prisoner. Which, much to Merida’s amusement, included Knight Captain Freyath. They also set up a base in the remnants of Asherland.

Flora asked Slevia when they arrived, “What are the plans for the captured prisoners?”

Slevia shrugged, “That’s for the Warchief to decide. Though it has been suggested that we dump them near Harper’s Haven to get infected. We also have a few captured Cow-girls. We heard from Petra that you have some sort of holding cells for the infected. We plan on sending some to your lair. We could send the prisoners as well.” Slevia then gave the bound and gagged Freya a playful smirk as she pinched Freya’s cheek, “After all, I’m sure you would love to reunite with your future bride, wouldn’t you?”

Freyath glared at Slevia and tried to kick her unsuccessfully. Which was when the orc Freya behind Slevia decided to step in and kick Slevia in the shins. Orc Freya said, “Chieftain, you know better than to antagonize our prisoners. Lest they take brutal and calculating vengeance on you at a later time and place.” Freya got up in Slevia’s face. “Like, say when you are sleeping, or trying to relax. So perhaps DON’T, tick off the Knight Captain? HHHMMMM?!”

The murderous stare both Freyas were giving Slevia nearly caused Merida to break down laughing, but she managed to control herself, barely.

Aubrey told Slevia mentally, “I think that is a good idea. Could you send as many strong individuals as you can to our lair, secretly, so we can infect them there as a defensive measure?”

“As you command, Warchief,” Slevia replied. “We’ve been disrupting supplies as you requested and launching probing attacks on various nearby settlements as well.”

Slevia continued to go over the orc’s actions with the three of them for some time. Eventually, Aubrey had had enough and asked Slevia, “Not to sound like I want to shirk my responsibilities as Warchief, but what would be the fastest task I could help out with. We have a separate task to accomplish later today ourselves.”

“A fast task? Hmm… Well, we were planning to attack the Capitol in the near future, see if we could take out some of the priestesses, and if we were lucky, recover the idol that had yet to be cleansed.”

“Eh…” Flora began, “Wouldn’t that be rather dangerous?”

“Of course! Where would the fun be if it wasn’t?” Slevia said with a boisterous laugh.

“What about something that isn’t likely to result in one of the three of us getting incapacitated that is quick?” Flora clarified.

“I suppose if you want to be boring, you could take a squad northwest and take a settlement that contains a military fort. If we take over there, we will have a good position to prevent them from curing the infection in the west for some time, even if they cleanse the idol.”

Flora turned to Aubrey, “That sounds doable. Plus, that should be in the direction we are headed anyway.”

Slevia grunted, “Take a squad, then, and get busy. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Warchief.”

The three exited the tent, and Orc Freya found them a squad of ten to assist them. They headed northwest and found the settlement an hour later. They weren’t surprised to find the town itself mostly deserted of civilians, and instead set up as a temporary military base. Since the orcs wanted to set up a base here as well, the idea of burning everything to the ground was rejected. Instead, Flora snuck into the fort with Merida, and they assassinated the leadership and sabotaged the alarm system to notify the town of trouble. Once that was done, Aubrey and the Orcs joined them and cleared out the fort, and then the town quickly and quietly.

When they were done, Aubrey sent back half the squad of orcs to report on their success. Flora said, “With that tedious job out of the way, can we get to the trial? I’d actually like to sleep in a bed and not in a tent. It’s rather annoying that you have to do a task with the orcs everyday you know that, right?”

Aubrey nodded, but then shrugged, as if to say, ‘Yeah, but what can we do?’

“I know the crown is too useful. Do we need to wait, or can we leave these five here and go on?”

Aubrey took a moment to converse with the orc warriors, then sent Flora a message using the ring. “They say we can go ahead; there shouldn’t be any issues here.”

With that, the three continued on their way to the Dungeon of Greed.

They found the dungeon two hours later. It took a while, as it was inside an abandoned mine, but they weren’t told where in the mine. After going down several wrong tunnels, they finally found the entrance.

Flora, Merida, and Aubrey looked up at the massive carving of a tiger’s head. Flora said, “That is definitely meant to be from Aladdin, right? Like this is the Cave of Wonders.”

“Aye, there’s nae doot aboot that,” Merida replied. “Think that’s meant as a hint, or is Cassandra just bein' gey lazy wi' the design again?”

“Let’s assume both, so don’t touch anything, unless we have some indication that we are allowed to.”

The three proceeded inside and entered an empty room with a single treasure chest in the middle. It was opened with a broken lock and was quite empty, with a note attached. ‘What did you expect, mounds of treasure? Smug would never let you touch her hoard.’

“She’s mocking us,” Flora said, passing the note to the other two. “Whatever, let's get going.” The three were just about to walk out of the room and down the next hall when Flora turned around and knocked an arrow, aiming at the empty chest. She eyed it suspiciously and, just to be safe, went ahead and shot the chest. It broke apart on impact. “Hmm… thought it might be a mimic.”

“Widna it hae attacked ye when ye grabbed the note?”

“Maybe… I would be surprised if there isn’t at least one mimic in this dungeon, though.”

“Baaaa…” Aubrey said, getting their attention. She then mentally sent to Flora, “I think it’s odd the first room didn’t have anything in it, too.”

Merida walked back into the room and cast a few spells to examine things. “It ralely dis seem tae be an empty room juist fur the joke.”

Shrugging, the three moved on.

The next room was similarly bare. There was a plinth with a small, intricate chest on top. The three approached the chest cautiously, with Merida casting a few spells to try and determine if there were any traps on the chest. Aubrey picked up the note that lay beside the chest and, after skimming it, passed it to Flora.

Flora read it aloud, “Inside are 100 coins. The more you bring to the end, the greater your reward, but greed is a heavy burden and holds many dangers. Be careful not to carry more than you can handle, but make sure to have enough to reach the end and leave.”

Flora opened the box and found four rows of neatly aligned coins, resting on a soft velvet interior. Another eight rows remained empty. “Looks like we might be able to earn more coins as we go through.”

“Aye, but is it just me, or does that look like a box for poker chips?”

Aubrey nodded in agreement with Merida.

“Makes sense to me,” Flora replied with a shrug. “Greed and gambling sort of go together. I suppose we go to the next room, as there isn’t anything else here.”

The other two nodded, and then they all groaned as they entered the next room. Merida said, “Okay, she is definitely fucking with us at this time. I say just shoot it. It has to be a mimic this time, right?” They were looking at another empty room except for another plinth in the center, but with what looked like a donation box on top of it with a sign reading, ‘Donate to Buy Smug a new plushie fund’.

“Baaa.” Aubrey bleated to get their attention. “Are we going to donate? I mean… the previous thing implied having more coins would result in things being harder.”

Flora shook her head, “I don’t think so. Let’s just keep going and leave the box alone. Actually…” Flora knocked an arrow and shot the donation box off the plinth, and it broke apart and shattered on the floor with several coins clinking as they bounced a few times on the stone. “I thought that might be the case.” Flora walked over and picked up four coins. “The box had some in it already.”

“That… seems rale mean. I mean, is that no' basically robbin' a giftie box?” Merida asked.

Flora raised an eyebrow at her, “This is a bit for sure. No way—”

“ROOOOOAAAAAAAARRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The door behind them slammed shut, and a metal gate dropped down to seal it shut.

“Well, fuck.” Flora swore. Then the pieces of the donation box vanished. “Sorry, gals. I really didn’t think this would be actual money for Smug to get something. I guess we continue, since the way back is barred.”

They walked out the only other exit and down a hall until they reached a door. ‘The door is cursed, pay ten coins per person, or they will suffer the consequences.’

“I say screw it, and we go through. Plus, if it is a curse, you can just remove it, right, Merida?”

Merida nodded, “Technically, aye, but I’m not sure that is the wisest choice.”

Flora relaxed her shoulder and seemed to get serious with Aubrey and Merida for a minute. “Look, both of you. We need this to go exceedingly well. Not just good. I think Mary is right; she won't be able to surpass Mark in points. We honestly have no idea how they are doing on locating our lair. Ellen is compromised, and we aren’t likely to be able to count on her. They’ve incapacitated our team members more times than we have theirs. From the points we got during that battle at Harper’s Haven, I think they are, on average, a higher level than we are. We need some way to bridge the gap. I want to take as many coins to the end as we can.”

Aubrey reluctantly nods when she sees that Merida is on board after Flora’s little speech.

Flora opens the door without paying the toll and walks through with Aubrey and Merida following shortly behind her. Each immediately felt a wave of energy hit them as they passed through the door.

Flora let out a yelp of surprise, “MROW!” as she brought her knees together and held her crotch. She ended up falling to her knees and began panting.

Aubrey suddenly felt that her breasts were fuller as they pressed up against her armor tightly. There was also a longing to have them sucked on, which she found very distracting.

Merida’s head swam with lust. At first, she had been concerned when Flora had collapsed to her knees. Now, especially since she could smell Flora’s arousal, she found it intoxicating, and pounced on Flora, pinning her to the ground as she made out with her. Merida realized what happened as she felt vibrations from both Flora’s breasts and crotch. Her piercings must have become vibrators again.

In the back of Merida’s mind, Mira shouted, “Damnit, Merida! Control your fucking self! You need to remove your damn curse. You’re in fucking heat! Remember what happened last time you let lust control you?”

Merida didn’t stop indulging her lust, but she did understand Mira’s point. Merida repositioned herself to let Flora eat her out, still keeping Flora’s arms pinned. Flora happily complied with Merida’s desire and began lapping at her clit.

After a minute of dealing with her breast and adjusting her armor so that it wasn’t so uncomfortable, Aubrey noticed the other two and frowned. “Baaaa!?” “Really, Merida? What did you get hit with?” Aubrey turned around and covered her ears, not really wanting to hear or watch this.

“I’m in heat. It’s just like how I wis feelin' when I wis hearin' Flora’s roars, but mair strong.”

Aubrey suddenly had an idea and started humming the healing hymn and extended her hair behind her to grasp onto Merida. Merida resisted at first, but as soon as she realized Aubrey wasn’t actually pulling her off, Merida left the hair alone.

Merida climaxed, and Aubrey took the opportunity to pull Merida back and thrust her staff into her hand. “Merida, use this on yourself even if it takes all your mana.”

Merida leaned back and lay on the floor, panting, still horny and wanting Flora to continue. Flora would have, too, if not for Aubrey quickly tying Flora up in her hair and lifting her into the air. Merida focused on and activated the curse-removal staff, and her heat subsided. “Bloody hell, that wis intense. Thanks, Aubrey. I dinna think I wid hae been able tae focus withoot yer help.”

“No problem. Can you help Flora or me next?”

Merida shook her head. “No, I canna dae that. At least no for a bit. I wis worried aboot this when I said it wisna a guid idea. That cost mair than half ma mana. Even wi' ma significant mana regen, I might be able tae dae that a few mair times the whole day, and that assumes I hae limited mana usage otherwise.” Merida looked around, “Whar is Flora?” Aubrey pointed above her. “Ah, I take it she wis causin' issues?”

“She was moving to continue things with you. She’s definitely quite horny right now.”

Merida stood up. “Could ye lower her tae eye level and let her speak?” Aubrey obliged.

Flora immediately said, “Let me go right now!”

Aubrey did not seem bothered by Flora’s words. Merida said, “Hey, Kitty, if ye want tae get free frae her hair, I need ye tae let me hypnotize ye.”

“What? Oh, okay. That’s fine. Then you’ll get me off, right?”

Merida nodded, “Sure, ma pretty Kitty.” Flora’s expression immediately went blank. “Could ye put her doon noo?” Aubrey lay the docile Flora on the ground. “Kitty, richt noo ye’re rale frustrated because o' the vibrators, richt?”

“Yes.”

“Kitty, ye’re a guid girl, richt? Mine and Mary’s guid girl, richt?”

“Sometimes… sometimes I like being mischievous.”

“Well, ye want tae orgasm richt noo, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Guid girls get orgasms. So ye’ll be a guid girl for me, richt?”

“Yes.”

“As a guid girl, yer pleasure and orgasms are mine and Mary’s tae control. Understand?”

“I… I suppose. Are you sure?”

“Dae ye hae a problem wi' either o' us controllin' yer pleasure?”

“Not really. I trust you both to be kind and generous.”

“So, as a guid girl, yer pleasure is ours tae control, then richt?”

“Yes.”

“Then I want ye tae understand three things. First, when either Mary or I orders ye tae cum, ye will immediately climax. Second, whenever either o' us says ‘focus, Kitty,’ ye winna feel ony erotic stimulation, nae matter what. Third, whenever either o' us says ‘horny Kitty,’ ye will feel a' the stimulation that wis applied while ye were focusin', and be able tae feel new stimulation until we tell ye tae focus again. Dae ye understand that?”

“I climax when you order me. Focus Kitty and Horny Kitty, make me ignore or feel stimulation.”

Hmmm… I’m concerned about her being unwilling to spend coins. “Kitty, if Aubrey and I agree that we should spend coins in this dungeon, ye’ll acquiesce tae us. Ye can still argue yer point, but after ye make yer case, if we both dinna agree, ye’ll let it go, understand?”

“I… umm… We really need the coins, though.”

“Flora, this is important. If Aubrey and I both agree ye’ll let it go, okay?”

“I… really don’t like this.”

Aubrey gently put a hand on Merida’s shoulder.

Merida frowned, “Okay, ignair that last suggestion. Fierce Lioness.” Flora immediately started writhing in pleasure as the vibrators were still stimulating her. “Cum, Kitty,” and she immediately climaxed. As soon as Flora finished her climax, Merida said, “Now focus, Kitty.”

“Hey! I was enjoying the afterglow. Did you really have to cut it short?”

“Aye, because we rale need ye tae actually focus.”

“Fine. Also… I’m annoyed, but also thank you.”

“Flora, I still reckon ye need tae accept that we’re gaun tae need tae spend some coins.”

“Why? We’ve dealt with the first set of curses fine.”

Merida turned to Aubrey, “Dae ye need ony help?”

“Yes, I do. I don’t know if either of you can or will help me, though. My breasts are filling up even faster. My nipples feel more sensitive, and I have a desire to have someone suck on my tits. I’m pretty sure that if anyone asked right now… I don’t think I would say no. Maybe not Sadie, but that’s it.”

Merida relayed Aubrey’s message to Flora, then said, “See, it isnae handled. Also, we’re absolutely gaun tae hae tae dae somethin' aboot Aubrey’s breasts, because while it’s slow, her breasts are noo visibly swellin' in front o' us. Actually…” “Hey, ye three… question: wad ony o' ye be willin' tae milk Aubrey or suck on her tits?”

Mira replied, “If you want me to milk the fucking cow, sure, but fuck you if you think I’m mind fucking myself with her milk.”

“Eh, she ees not a cow but a sheep. Also, I vood be vairy 'appy to serve Maîtresse. I can milk 'er, or eef vous desire, I shall suckle upon 'er teat.”

“I’ll be fair, Merida, I’m wi' Mira on this, I’ll milk her, but I’m no’ keen on a bond tae her, since there is sae much milk tae drink tae mak' a change.” Merigold finished.

Merida nodded, “Okay, that works. Meribelle, ye’ll be on standby in case we rale need the sucklin', but for noo, Mira, Merigold, ye two are up.” The two appeared next to Merida a moment later. “Aubrey, Mira and Merigold here are gaun tae milk ye. Flora and I will figure oot this room while that happens.”

Aubrey nodded and began to take off her armor to expose her breasts.

Merida and Flora looked around the room and found large mounds of treasure scattered throughout the room. What alarmed them was that they noticed a timer ticking down over the arch to the next room. Flora swore, “Shit! We’ve wasted so much time. At least we have another hundred minutes. Though that likely means this room is supposed to take a while.”

“Agreed… I reckon this is supposed tae be like an escape room. Split up and look fur clues.”

The two immediately split up and started to scour the room. Merida shouted something a moment later, but Flora couldn’t hear her clearly over the near constant “BAAA BAAA BAAA!” Aubrey was making as she was getting milk by Mira and Merigold. Merida went to track down Flora and noticed on her way that Aubrey was bracing herself up against the door they had come through while they were making quite a puddle of milk on the floor.

Merida finally found Flora behind a pile of treasure. Merida shouted over the bleating, “I fund somethin'. I’m sure ye’ve noticed the plinths wi' kists on 'em, well, look at this.” Merida passed a rolled-up scroll to Flora. ‘Your path is barred until at least five chests have been opened. Open more for a chance at riches and to banish foes ahead. The chests contain one of four things: Change, Rewards, and Equipment, some cursed, some helpful. To help you begin a clue: No change is the neighbor to another change.’

“Oh fuck me.” Flora complained, “I do not like these types of puzzles.”

“I’m no' a big fan masel'. Also, I fund somethin' else, no' that ye’ll likely want tae use it.”

“What is it?”

“A kist that grants us a hint in exchange fur five coins.”

“You are correct, I don’t want to use that. What do you think it means by banish foes?”

“Probably mair o' the statues o' a' o' us. Cassandra seems tae be usin' 'em again, but simply makin' 'em stranger as the challenge progresses. Frae ma count, there are thirty kists, as I passed sax kists frae the opposite wa' tae this ane, and it looks like there are five in the ither direction. At least she made it a grid.”

“Okay, split up, search for more clues, and anything else useful. Open nothing for say the next ten minutes and meet back at the entrance with the others. Hopefully, they’ll be done by then.”

The two split up and then returned to the others as agreed. Mira and Merigold, however, were very much not done milking Aubrey. Aubrey was kneeling in a puddle of milk at this point, panting.

Mira and Merigold both stopped milking her when Flora and Merida approached. Mira said, “We’re not going to do any fucking better than this. The smaller her tits get, the faster they grow damnit.”

Aubrey panted, “That… makes… baaaa… sense.” Aubrey stood but leaned against the wall, “Less volume… baaaa… takes less time ba fill.”

“Oh, you can talk,” Flora said in surprise.

“For a baa minutes, baa,” Aubrey nodded. “What’s baa room abaaa?”

Merida explained, “Some kind o' puzzle. I confirmed there are thirty kists, and they seem tae haud yin o' fower things. A transformation, though the puzzle calls 'em changes, a reward o' some kind, and twa kinds o' gear, cursed and normal. We maun open five kists, and I reckon we will need tae open atween twelve and nineteen kists tae be safe, as I dinna think we can take on mair than five o' the statues wi' oor current group.”

Flora tilted her head to one side. “Not that I have an issue with opening more chests, but Aubrey beat four statues by herself the other day.”

Merida sighed with exasperation. “Flora, the statues are definitely growin' in strangth as we dae. Also, what happens if they start usin' oor beneficial TFs? Or oor gear? What happens if, instead o' a healer, the Mark statue is a dragon or warrior god? Ye’re also forgettin' that we’re gaun tae be openin' these kists. What happens when ane o' 'em puts shackles on yer wrists that prevent ye frae usin' yer bow? I’m sorry, love, but ye rale need tae think mair aboot what happens if things gang agley.” Merida looked away from Flora, feeling a bit uncomfortable having to essentially lecture Flora.

Mira was less timid about things. “Thank fucking god, Merida. It’s about damn time you told her that. Flora, if it were up to me, I’d have kicked your ass out of the leadership position days ago. You don’t give a damn thought to what happens if things go poorly. Frankly, it’s fucking terrifying because you need to understand that things get more **** as this shitshow goes on.”

“We need a solid win to push us ahead!” Flora nearly shouted back.

Mira got up in Flora’s face and grabbed her by the collar, “You need a damn reality check, Kitty.” Mira sneered as she used the pet name for her. “Merida is holding back as much as she is because she is fucking blinded by love. We can fucking tell how hard that is because we are in her god damn head. What happens when she gets another cursed item put on her that gets rid of her inhibitions again? She could hypnotize Aubrey to have her forcibly subdue you. Then have her fucking way with both of you! So get your shit together, Flora, because frankly, you should be more concerned about your damn girlfriend getting mind fucked again and then having her do something to the rest of you.” Mira pushed Flora away from her as she finished her tirade, “Merida, sorry, but I need some fucking time alone.” Mira vanished and returned to being one of Merida’s tails. Merida could tell she could push past the barrier in her mind to contact Mira, but didn’t.

Merigold, gently said, “Flora… Mira was a wee bit forceful there, but I dinna think her overall point is wrang. It isnae even just what cuid happen tae Merida, either.”

Flora was clearly upset, and everyone could see it. Flora looked at Aubrey and Merida and could tell that they at least partially agreed with Mira’s points. Flora grabbed the pouch of coins and thrust them at Merigold, “Here.” Then she walked off.

Merigold noticed there was another slip of paper. Merida was about to follow Flora, but Merigold stopped her. “Gie her a wee few minutes. She’s upset, but no' angry. At least no' wi' ony o' us. She fund anither clue.” Merigold passed the slip of paper to Merida. Aubrey moved to read the clue over Merida’s shoulder.

“Merida, baaa… Mira isn’t wrong. Baaa…” Aubrey switched to using the ring, “Look, I already told you that I would be hard-pressed to tell either of you no if you wanted to suck on my tits. Honestly, I would really like that right now. A LOT… if one or both of you got a desire to do that well… it might not end well. If I hadn’t placed my hand on your shoulder, would you have continued pushing that suggestion of Flora? I didn’t intervene more forcefully because I knew that could backfire.”

Merida frowned and really considered Aubrey’s point. “Nae, I wadna hae. Flora’s trust means ower much tae me.”

Aubrey put a hand on Merida’s shoulder. “Personally, Merida, I’m not so sure. I think you should consider talking with Mary and, eventually, Flora about additional safeguards, because Mira was right. Right now, if you wanted to, you could take control of how this dungeon goes.”

“I wadna dae that!” Merida said, stepping away from Aubrey.

“I know, but that’s the thing, you could. I’m even fairly certain Mary would end up letting it go, as she’s been pretty clear about not holding things we do to win challenges against us.”

“Ye’re on ma team. Why wad I dae that?”

“Because you and Flora are both likely middle of the pack right now. If I had to take a guess, I’m probably first, maybe second in the challenge. The team only matters for the bonus objective, not our actual placement. I think that’s why Flora is getting ****. I believe she thinks the team challenge is going to end up a coin toss or worse for us. Add on, Mary likely scoring less than Mark, placing low would be rather bad.” Aubrey seemed lost in thought for a moment.

“Aubrey? Ye okay?” Merida asked.

“I… I just realized something, and I think we might need to discuss this with the other team because I just realize something but it doesn’t matter at the moment. Let’s finish this dungeon so we can get back to base.”

Merida nodded and then summoned Meribelle to help look for clues throughout the room. The five of them spent the next thirty minutes searching the room. Flora hardly said a word the entire time and only communicated things about the puzzle. Aubrey grew frustrated as her breasts were so full after fifteen minutes that she could only baa again.

Merigold was the first to make a major breakthrough. She noticed in the assorted treasure that wasn’t the chests, a set of unbalanced scales with various small gems set next to them. She tried balancing the scales with the gems, and when she managed to do so, a latch at the top of the scales clicked open to reveal another clue scroll. She immediately shared that there were likely more puzzles hidden in the various treasures. After another thirty minutes, Merida shouted, “OI! A'BODY MEET IN THE MIDST!” Everyone quickly gathered in the middle, looking at Merida for an explanation.

Aubrey mentally asked, “What did you find?”

Merida shook her head, “It isnae so much that I fund onythin', Aubrey. Rather, we’re runnin' oot o' time. I’d rather no' find oot what happens if we run oot o' time, but I hae a guess. Considerin' we hae a wee bit under twenty-five minutes, I figured we shuid get thegither wi' a' the clues we hae and decide which kists tae open. I’ve been organizin' the clues wi' Merigold, Meribelle, and even Mira. There’s some risk still, but we reckon we hae a shot at avoidin' most o' the ill kists, but we are likely tae hit a few. Hoo dae we want tae open the kists, though? We dinna ken hoo the cursed gear or TFs are applied tae us; it cuid be whoever opens the kist.”

Flora spoke up immediately, “Aubrey and I will do it.” Flora was clearly unhappy, but continued. “I don’t want to talk about this right now, and we don’t have the time to anyway. Merida, you shouldn’t open any of them unless we aren’t 100% certain that they are safe.”

“Baaa!” Aubrey looked outraged.

“Save it, Aubrey. You too, Merida. I gave you the coins, though I would prefer you not use them. We don’t have time to argue. So which ones first?”

Merida took a moment to look over all the clues, and the grid the Meribelle had written down with all the chest names. They were able to deduce the following info:

• Transformation Chests can’t be adjacent to each other.
• The final row is equally divided between positive and negative chests.
• Each pair of twins has one good twin and one evil twin.
• Out of all twins, only one is a transformation chest.
• One twin has no neighbors of the same kind, two have one neighbor of the same kind, and the last has two neighbors that match itself.
• No chest neighboring the dragon scale shares contents with the dragon scale
• A single column and row are free of transformations.
• No chest made of metal contains a reward, but many contain items.
• Every Professional has a chest that is related to them and shares contents.
• Between Scale, Fang, Claw, Heart, Eye, all types of chests are represented.

“There are twa sets o' twins. Each contains a guid and an ill twin. So we’re gaun tae gamble on those first; either we get lucky and get the guid ane straight awa, or we get unlucky and can then simply open the ither twin, kennin' it will be guid. There are a wee few ither clues that relate tae those fower kists and the nearby kists.”

Flora nodded, “I know which ones you’re talking about. Aubrey, you want the one on the left or right side of the room?” Aubrey tilted her head to the left. “Okay, Merigold, you go with Aubrey. Relay the result to Meribelle, so I know if I should open my chest. We’ll alternate which of us opens first, Aubrey, so don’t start complaining about opening one first.”

Aubrey grumbled a bit but walked off to where the chest she was supposed to open was. She opened the chest, and as she did so, a mocking puppet on a spring shot out of the chest with a mocking laugh, repeating “Change! Change! Change!” A puff of black smoke shot out and enveloped Aubrey. A note card was being held by the puppet showing what the transformation was.

Black Sheep: Aubrey’s fur will be dyed black, much like her soul. Aubrey will find bright and flamboyant colors annoying and bothersome, except for pink, as even among goths, she wants to be different.

Aubrey’s fur and armor immediately began changing color, with both becoming primarily black with only hints of pink. Merigold could tell that Aubrey’s demeanor changed as well, as she seemed to be a bit moodier, and she wore a stern expression on her face.

Merigold had already relayed the result of the chest, not that it was needed, as Flora could hear the puppet’s mockery, and she opened her chest to find a new sleek black recurve bow inside. Flora slung it over her back, figuring that it was likely better than her current bow. Merida relayed, “Okay, next we’re gaun tae open the ane tae the north o' yer twin, Aubrey, and if it’s guid, open the ane tae the south o' Flora’s. They shuid contain the same thin' as the Weaver and woven kists are related, by the professional clue.”

Aubrey immediately shot back, “Well, Flora can open this one first. I’m not repeatedly being a guinea pig.” Aubrey moved swiftly over to where Flora was, and instead of complaining that they were losing time by hiking across the room, Flora just moved. Flora opened her chest, and a party noise maker went off as a little flag popped out with, ‘Reward: 10 CP’ on it. Seeing as her chest was also a reward, Aubrey opened it and was rather annoyed to find a similar flag, but instead it read, ‘Reward: 50 coins’. Aubrey picked them up, all the same though.

“Okay, I reckon we shuid finish aff the kists near the west twin since we ken they canna be transformations, and frae what I can tell, the numbers atween the fower types shuid be approximately balanced.”

Flora moved to open the one to the right of the west twin and got ‘Reward: 2000 BP’. While Aubrey opened the one below it and got a flag that read, ‘Equipment Upgrade: +1 to Armor’

+2000 BP Flora -> 10150 BP

Aubrey grumbled a bit that Flora seemed to be winning out over her so far, but was pleased with Merida’s efforts so far, being rather good.

Flora echoed that sentiment aloud, “Good job, Merida. What next?”

“We’re gaun tae dae the ither set o' twins.”

“Fine, I’ll open the south one first. Aubrey, if this is the bad one, Merida is getting the good one. I’m not letting her leave here empty-handed.”

Flora went and opened the south chest, and a collar shot out and immediately wrapped itself around her neck. Flora tried to speak, but instead, “Meow mew?! … Meow? Mrow? MROOOW MEOW!”

Merida, Merigold, Meribelle, and Aubrey all walked over and gave Flora some headpats. After about thirty seconds of receiving affection, they all stopped. Merida said, “I… I dinna ken what came ower me. I… I think the collar makes ithers want tae soothe ye when ye’re upset. Honestly, I sort o' want tae keep pettin' ye.”

The others nodded in agreement, but restrained themselves. Flora grabbed Merida and pulled her to the other chest. After arriving there, Flora placed Merida’s hand on top of her head, clearly wanting more pets. “Nya nya nya,” Flora gestured to the chest.

Merida opened the chest and found a bracelet identical to the one she had hustled off of Freya the other day. Except just as she reached in to pick it up, a puppet dragon head shot out of the box lid with a “ROOOOAR!” The bracelet shot up and attached itself to Merida’s wrist. Then Merida felt the bracelets on each wrist come together and fuse into shackles. The dragon's head looked a lot like Smug’s, and it had a note in its mouth. ‘You Greedy little thieves. You stole my plushie money. I’ve altered some of the chests, though you should be glad I can’t actually do anything permanent.’

“Bloody hell.”

“Meoow…” Flora mewed apologetically.

Merida reached up and scritched Flora’s ears with both hands. “It isnae the end o' the warld, dear. Plus, I reckon I can eventually fix the bracelets, and they are baith still applyin' mana regen. I think they dae somethin' else besides bind ma wrists, though I’m no' sure.”

Merigold complained, “Well… I can tell ye, we’re bound tae.” She held up her wrists, as did Meribelle.

“Do not ‘orry a-boot moi, Maîtresse. I do not meend een ze sleight-est.”

Merida let out a sigh, “That isnae what worries me. It’s that supposedly safe kists micht no' be.”

Aubrey sent her a mental message, “Nothing for it. What’s next? Also, take these.” Aubrey thrusted the coins she picked up. “I don’t want to hold on to them in case Smug targets me because of it.”

Merida took the coins. “The next yin shuid be the Dragon’s scale. It’s next tae the south twin and doesnae share contents wi' its neighbors, so it is mair likely than no' a positive kist.”

Aubrey gestured to Flora to open the chest and sent Flora a message, “Oh no, you are doing this one. I didn’t get the chance at the positive result last time. Doesn’t matter if it was messed with. Merida actually got something sort of beneficial.”

Flora rolled her eyes at Aubrey and hissed at her, but opened the chest all the same. Flora found a set of tags inside that read, ‘Kitty’ on one side, and ‘Belongs to Mark/Mary Garret and Merida Voguel’ on the other for the first tag. The second tag was vaccination status on one side, and sharp-claws, catty, loves scritches, suggestible. Flora frowned, reading the tags, and held them out to Merida.

Merida chuckled slightly at reading the tags, which caused Flora to pout, “Sorry, and I’ll identify them later. They shouldn’t be bad since they didn’t auto-equip. Now let’s do the sailor’s chest as it is like the weavers, but I’m not sure if the rusty anchor or sea jar is the matching chest, but let’s find out if they are even worth opening first.”

Aubrey was clearly debating whether she wanted to raise a fuss about this, but reluctantly opened the chest. Pleasantly surprised to find she got a reward, ‘Reward: Coupon for One Free Transformation of Choice (4000 BP or less, Non-transferable)’. She frowned upon seeing what it was and picked up and threw the flag. “BAAAAA! Baaa ba baaabaaa. BAAAA Baaabaaa!” The flag flew back towards her and entered her rucksack.

Merida looked at Aubrey sympathetically, “Hey, I ken it doesnae seem like a reward, but werena ye gaun tae buy somethin' for Mary tae upgrade anyway? This way it doesnae cost ye BP.”

Aubrey glared at Merida and had a clear simmering anger as she wrapped her arms around her actively swelling breasts.

“Flora, wad ye open up the anchor?” Flora nodded. She walked over and opened the chest. Inside was a nice velvet collar. She picked it up and initially pouted, annoyed because she couldn’t wear it with the curse collar preventing her from putting it on. Then she became more annoyed as the tags she previously gotten flew up and attached themselves to it, and it flew towards her neck and fused with the collar.

“Kitty, are ye okay!?” Merida said hurriedly. Then she furrowed her brow. Kitty… Kitten… Kitty… weird… Kitty simply nodded her head docilely. Merida said, “Haud still for a second, I’m gaun tae identify it. Wi' so mony thins combined, I feel like we need tae ken what’s actually happenin'.” Merida cast the spell and learned two things at the same time. The first was, of course, what the combination of collars and tags did to Flora. The second was the secondary effect of the shackles she currently had on. When the mana flowed out of her into the spell, she got aroused. “Kitty, bide here. Merigold, please tent Kitty and dinna let her dae onythin'. She shuid be gey cooperative right noo if ye scritch her lugs.”

Merida had moved to open the sea jar chest since it was the only one related to a sailor left, and found Aubrey was already at the chest, and she smirked at Merida and opened the chest herself. ‘Reward: Upgrade a TF, pick from one of three random options. Automatically used by the end of the round.’

Aubrey gripped the flag in her hand and crushed it. Only for it to reform a second later. Aubrey then turned to Merida, “That’s it… I’m done.” Aubrey stomped off towards where she had taken off some of her armor earlier so she could get milked.

Merida sighed. Shite, nae way she’s gaun tae open ony mair. She seems moodier. I wonder if that was the transformation affectin' her. Merida did a quick count of the chests open. Okay… so that makes twelve. We probably need tae open anither three, maybe fower. She looked at her wrists. Actually, maybe mak' that five tae be safe. Let’s see… Scale, heart, eye, claw, and fang contain a' kist types. Hmmm, based on positionin', Fang is the warst yin tae pick, followed by heart. Claw and Eye are a fifty-fifty chance tae be positive.

“Hey, Kitty, cuid ye come open this kist?” Kitty seemed rather agreeable for the moment and followed without issue. Merida took her to the glass eye chest, and she opened it as instructed. Inside was another piece of equipment, which just lay there. Kitty picked it up and looked at it. It seemed to be a cat toy, a long rod with a tassel connected to a string. She passed it to Merida, who took it and eyed it curiously until Kitty started to actively bat the tassel with both her hands, and eventually she bit the tassel, and her pupils dilated when she did. Merida sniffed the tassel for a moment. Is… is that catnip? Oh braw… so she’s high. Fuckity fuck fuck! Hoo lang dae we hae left? Merida looked at the timer. Shite, seven minutes. Merida took a deep breath. “Merigold, thochts?”

Merigold had gone to help Aubrey put her armor back on, but also to try to convince her to continue helping. “Aubrey isnae gaun tae open mair. I think ye’ll need tae, or accept that ye’ll be fechtin' six statues in the next room. Frae what we’ve foond so far, I wad suggest the anes tae the left and right o' the north twin, as ane shuid be an equipment.”

Merida sighed and went to open the one to the right of the twin first. Please be guid, please be guid… She saw a pair of ballet heels and had a moment to think, Oh fuck me, before they vanished and reappeared on her feet. Merida stumbled forward as her center of gravity shifted. She heard Merigold also curse as she fell on the floor.

A moment later, Merida had three tails again. Meribelle was helping Aubrey still, and Merida was a bit envious as she was having zero issues in the new heels. Merida tried walking over to the next case, but was having difficulties. She then tried flying over to the case but realized really quickly that it was a bad idea, as she felt herself getting more and more aroused the longer she was floating. “Meribelle, I’m haein' trouble here. Please gae open the kist tae the left o' the north twin.”

“At vunce, Maîtresse. I leeve to sairve.” Meribelle quickly moved across the room, her heels clacking on the floor as she did so. Merida watched as she came around a treasure mound and was flawlessly striding towards the chest without effort. Meribelle opened the requested chest and found a corset inside. She picked it up, and then after a moment it vanished and equipped itself to Merida.

“Bloody Hell! Really?! I thocht ane o' these was supposed tae be equipment.”

Merigold said, “I actually believe that corset is equipment, and this is Smug’s daein'. She maun really be pissed at us for takin' her coins.”

Merida had an idea and had Meribelle come and identify the corset. To her surprise, Meribelle got quite a large jolt of arousal, especially because it was an act of service, but she felt nothing. Guid tae ken if they cast the spells, they get the rousin'. “Meribelle, whit dis the corset dae?”

“Goot nevs, vous shood 'ave pair-fect pos-tyoor, bal-ahnce, and no back pa-een v'ile vear-eeng eet. Eet vas oregeenally a corset of evazhion, zough eet ees also coorsed. Ze ef-fect vill constreekt your vaist teighter and teighter ev-airy teeme vous get 'it. Eet vill reset after a teeme of not beeng 'it.”

Merida tried standing up in her new heels and found Meribelle was correct; she could stand and move in the heels without stumbling. She tried to squat down, bending at her knees to pick up her dropped staff, but found she could only bend at the hips, causing her butt to stick out in the air.

“AUBREY, GET OWER HERE NOO!” Merida shouted.

Aubrey came over and glared, “What do you want? I’m not opening more chests.”

“Aubrey, I want tae mak' this gey clear right noo. I’m no' in a guid position, and Kitty isnae either. Ye’ve lost a wheen o' the effects o' yer Pink boon, herya?” Aubrey reluctantly nodded. “Dae ye really think we can beat fower statues like this right noo?”

Aubrey made a disgruntled face, “Fine. Why are you still sticking your ass in the air?”

“That… is a gey guid question.” Merida wasn’t sure why she remained in this pose, but she did for a time, and Aubrey’s staring was turning her on. A moment later, she righted herself. “Meribelle, cuid ye please gae get Kitty?”

“Ov coorse, Maîtresse.”

Aubrey asked, “Okay… so what chest do I need to open?”

Mira chimed in, finally. “Hey… sorry I fucked off, and left your sorry ass to deal with this shite. I was paying some attention, from what I gather, you should go with either of the two pieces of shit left in the third row.”

“Silk Satchel and Hidden Fang are oor best bets wi' what we still hae, accordin' tae Mira.”

Aubrey put her hands on her hips. “Oh, so she finally graces us with her unpleasant presence again?”

“Aubrey, we dinnae hae the time for this. GAE!”

Meribelle shouted, “MAÎTRESSE, VE 'AVE A PRO-BLEME!” Merida hurried towards Meribelle’s shout as quickly as she could and found her standing next to Kitty and an open case. A case that had a puppet chanting. “Change, Change, Change!”

Size Envy: Kitty here will find that she craves to make herself bigger, so long as she knows someone else has a bigger bust in the harem than she does. She will also find herself more willing to obey or dominate others based on their cup size difference with her.

Fuck. Was all Merida could think. Then she realized which case Kitty had inadvertently opened. “AUBREY THE FANG IS A BETTER CHOICE THAN THE SATCHEL NOO. KITTY OPENED THE HEART KIST, AND IT WAS A TRANSFORMATION.”

Aubrey had already opened the satchel chest, though. Aubrey was once again ticked by what she found. ‘Reward: Add a fourth option to your next TF vote with some input on its design.’ How the FUCK is that a reward?

Aubrey considered opening the fang as well and moved to do so when a buzzer sounded. ~BZZZZT~ Aubrey looked towards the sound and saw that the timer had reached zero. All remaining chests lowered into the ground a moment later. There was a scraping sound, and then Aubrey noticed the walls were sliding together.

Merida was dragging Kitty along behind her, but Kitty seemed out of it. Aubrey picked Kitty up and threw her over her shoulder as the two ran through the archway to go to the next room.