Poorly

The palace is huge… and still has a tiny entrance in the curtain wall, barely big enough for two horses to go through side by side. Sir Eric passes his horse off to a groomsmen in some stables inside the Bailey, just to the left of the gate in the curtain wall after entering. I do the same, and we keep going. Everyone at least acknowledges Sir Eric; the lords and ladies nod or curtsey; armored knights salute (which he returns); the servants bow as they scurry hastily out of his way… and I found out why as he kicks one out of his way when an elven serving girl doesn't get out of his path quickly enough.

Hmm. Out of the frying pan….

Soon enough, the knight leads me to a small room with couches and a door on each end, where he says something to a human in a fancy outfit… who then announces us to the room beyond, “The freshly summoned Cardinal Hero, Dan!”

Sir Eric gestures, and adds, “Please join the other Heroes in the center of the room,to address the King.

I walk alone into the next room, an opulent throne room with marble floors, silk tapestries covering the walls, and what looks like two solid gold thrones on a raised dais in the middle of the far end of the wall. The room is about the size of a high school gymnasium, but very empty; there's a man whom I presume to be the king (due to the gray hair, really fancy deep purple clothes, and gold crown) sitting on the throne on my right, four armored knights with the same blue tabards (each one with a different weapon out; Shield and sword on either side of the king, spear and bow behind), and a couple of servants… who are all prominently displaying that **** tattoo, their clothes tailored specifically so it shows. Curiously, the king appears to favor males with muscled chests? I count three catfolk, two elves, and one half-orc among the visible servants; the king and bodyguards are human. Humans in various gaudy clothes with lots of jewelry line the walls, I presume nobles.

There are, additionally, three others in the room: A blonde woman with a plain white cotton robe, a glowing symbol on her forehead, a transparent shell in a humanoid shape around her, and the top of one of those **** crests showing between her massive milk tanks: She seems human. A redhead with reddish skin, faintly glowing green eyes, and a plain cotton robe… again, **** tattoo visible between her wonderfully large baby feeders. The third is an Elven woman with green hair, dressed in a plain cotton robe… and one of those evil things between her huge hooters.

Frowning, I bring a hand to my chest and encounter pillowy softness very quickly, which makes my middle warm up again on contact. Great… so we're all slaves now? And I'm a suoer-chesty naked woman. Ugh. I let go quickly.

The King frowns, “So where is Hero Dan?”

“I'm here, your Majesty,” I speak up, “I'm simply invisible.”

His head swivels to the seemingly empty spot in the throne room, he takes a breath, nods, and continues, “Very well then. Now that we've rescued all four of you from your… unorthodox summoning, we should explain.” He takes a deep breath, “The ritual that brought you here is supposed to only be used in times of dire need… done properly, it kills four guardsmen, their souls pushed to the great behind to make room for your own. And while we did not order it… it appears some upstart mage is being clever, and it behooves us to take this opportunity and make of it what we can.”

He leers at the chests of the other three… huh, so not his choice on the servants, then? Odd. He keeps going, “Now, the Cardinal Heroes do not start strong… but they grow quickly. So the first order of business is to make you stronger, which means sending you to the forests and fields where lesser monsters wander in from the wild areas.”

“Ah… your Majesty, if there's no cause, why can't we just…” the Elven woman starts.

“Kneel,” the king commands, and every servant in the house does exactly that. The **** tattoos on the three heroes… other three heroes, rather… glow faintly, and they scream out in pain until they fall to their knees… at which point, the glow ceases, I presume because they're obeying, if unintentionally.

Me? I feel a slight burning sensation on my chest, easily ignored… ah, I get it: It's a pain effect, and I'm immune to those. Hmm… best not to let anyone know that… I drop to my knees as well, mostly because I have the glow too, even though it is otherwise invisible… it can at least tell people where I am from the weird shadows. I'll need to figure out how to solve that aspect… I can probably just get a shirt.

The King smiles, “You inherited those **** crests from the prior owners of those bodies. One thing put into all of them, as required by law, is that they must respect those of higher station than the bonded owner… and few people have a higher station than the king. You may rise.”

‘Few’, not ‘nobody’? Interesting….

The marked slaves all stand; the three heroes do so much more slowly, trepidation on their faces… as do I. “Now then,” the king continues, “We are the ones who define need. We will make you stronger, and make use of your services as we see fit. So: Tonight, we will present a grand feast for the four heroes, which you will all attend. You will all come when bidden, and attend to our needs as we require. For now…” he considers, “...you need gear. The treasurer will grant you each a thousand crowns. The four if you will use that to purchase suitable weapons, armor, and other supplies befitting your capabilities and the expectations we will place upon you. This should include camping gear and rations, as most of you will be in the fields for quite some time. For now… you are dismissed; leave our presence, speak to the treasurer by the door, and return at sundown for the feast.”

“Yes your majesty,” I parrot with the other three.

We file out through the door we came in, a man with four bags of equal size hands one to each of us as we leave… I have to actually talk to the man, but the other three simply accept a proffered bag wordlessly. I follow one of the women, because something is nagging me about these three….