An Artificer and Patron of Adventure.

In the end you relented from permanently hopping into the bed of the first woman you had sex with on arriving. There was a whole world of jaw dropping women like her to catch and fool around with.

You spend the last remainder of your time with your gracious guide to your first taste of the ‘riches’ of your creation. She rested her head on your shoulder, hand intertwined yours as she shared her army stories, all of them you listened to intently as treasure troves of tidbits about the world.

“Were the mountains really that bad?” You pressed her on a passing detail she’d mentioned.

Shivering as if the memories brought a chill to her, she pushed herself into your side as if for warmth as she grimaced.

“The two years I spent in the Tianzi mountains garrisoned in the fortresses watching over the crossroads to Vitri Bac and Lo Vih of the Skyward road were by far the worst years of my time soldiering, and the closest I’ve been to thinking I preferred women over men. I’d rather become a degenerate true monogamist than be stationed there again.” She grumbled, flagging down a waitress for a hot cup of tea to go with the water.

“You thought you were a lesbian? Now that sounds like an interesting story, how was it so bad that you believed that?” You inquired, giving her hand a soft squeeze.

The human waitress was more than happy to provide the farmer's wife her tea as you kept the coins flowing, after her initial blushing she cast an appraising look as both of you still smelled heavily of sex.

She seductively bent over allowing you to fondle her ass through her clingy china-dress with ease, and with a wink she tugged the frilled hem of the boob-window showing off her vast tracts of land.

Copying what you’d seen the other patrons do you slipped a pair of leaden coins between her breasts as you ordered some dumplings, they clinked as they joined a number of other patrons' coins causing her top to sag further, until they were desperately hanging by her stiff nipples to stay on.

“Ah, getting in on the fun foreigner? Seems you came just short of winning the grand prize. But, you're cute, why don’t you give one of my girls a squeeze as a reward.” She saucily said.

She leaned forward to let you slide your hand between her breasts and squeeze one as many of the others who stopped to watch groaned in disappointment.

“Come on! Just another couple coins foreigner, and I’d have won the pot!” One of the rougher men cried out, earning uproarious laughter from his table companions.

Sauntering off toward the kitchens the waitress joined in on their mirth. “Sorry, looks like I get to keep the take today and you miscreants miss out on seeing my goods.” The jiggling of the coins and the bounce of her breasts from each making the fabric perilously pull on her stiff nipples.

Unlike the teahouse the sergeant had recommended this one was clearly for the lower-classes and more common folk.

As if the human bard prancing and singing a bawdy tale about an a gaggle of female sailors hunting down an erotic night; dressed in a fundoshi and the upper-half of a shoulderless kimono with its front open enough to show of plenty of side-boob from her modest rack as she danced, wasn’t a hint enough of the quality of the place.

Watching a moment longer, the bard accidentally 'fell' into the lap of a man, clearly circling her hips as she bounced up with an apology on her lips to the women and slid back into her performance, if anything the bard seemed lingering around that table plying the women with sly touches and the man with false accidents to get him ready.

Making a sound half-way between a chortle and an unlady-like huff the farmer's wife took a breath as she began her story. “Had the misfortune of being stationed with nothing but women in a fortress and the bitter cold. Whatever magic had once heated the barracks was broken by the time I was posted there, leaving us with just the barrack fireplaces at night. So we pack at least two lasses to a cot, our bodies writhing together to warm ourselves until we were exhausted and sweaty. You made friends quickly if you didn’t want to shiver through the night or you learn who to never trust.”

The mundanity that magic was treated with and uses such as merely heating a barracks, it made sense you were splurging for a fortress somewhere freezing cold to begin with, of course you’d pay for that alongside any defensive magic as expensive as it was.

She sighed. “Women were so **** they would take their sacrifices for their ancestors and gods to give them to and pray for The White Queen to abate her cold anger, or in desperation Jack Frost for some decent male company.” Letting go of your hand, hers settles on your crotch petting your limp mass with a quirk of a smile.

“How jealous the girls would be now.” She quipped, flattering you.

“I’ve heard my company can be quite lively.” You say, causing her to burst out laughing and place a kiss on your cheek.

You imagine how that might be even in a modern army, and shudder in sympathy at the horrible conditions. But, it gave you a seed of an idea; surely anyone with those sorts of skills would easily be able to make a living.

A very good living where lovely adventurers undoubtedly would love to make your acquaintance among other customers who’d have to be wealthy to afford your goods.

“There had to be something good or you all would have gone mad.” You implored her to continue, your fingers of your freed hand brushing across her exposed thigh.

“The local nannies and nak’s were the only real source of solace for fighting women.” She awkwardly admitted with her lips in a little smile.

Your mind puzzled over the word choice. What did goats and yaks have anything to do… Right beastfolk, probably should have expected terms like that to be used.

“Oh? Guessing local girls were as fetching as they were friendly?” You teased, idly you ran your hand through her luxuriously silky black hair in lingering amazement how stunning women of your world were.

An embarrassed giggle escaped her as she continued. “It was part of their people’s tradition of hospitality to help warm travelers, as outside those of northern stock, few can stand the cold like them. When a pretty thing made me one of their famous long-underwear I nearly asked her to be more than a friend for saving me from the cold.” She nostalgically sighed, leaning into you with her head on your shoulder.

Urged by curiosity you inquired what exactly the ‘long-underwear’ were like, her description was of something resembling skin-tight japanese sports bloomers and a sports-bra made from the Yak-beastfolk’s own fur which was superior to even cashmere wool. Yet, that skimpy getup was able to protect the farmer's wife from the cold in a way better than any typical winter clothes could.

The magic and the materials fascinated you as you wondered what could be done with them.

“Not to mention, they were the warmest bed companion you could desire. Never before then did I think I’d be so thankful to have such a strong set of furred thighs on either side of my head and my face pressed into the muff of another woman. Yet, after a deadman’s shift during a blizzard it was a gift from Haverty to have such a warm woman to bond with as he encourages; naturally a woman starts to get ideas especially when it can be so hard to find a man back home in the village.” She continued wetting her lips with a sly blush.

It made sense, but the more she talked the more odd you found it that there weren’t any men, even local men to mingle with. “Still, it sounds unnatural for there to be no men around. Did the local tribesmen have no interest in the fortress? And none in any of the units posted there?” You sought your answer, your hand finding hers.

Her fingers played with yours longingly. “Ah, that fortress is typically a punishment posting for commanders who’ve earned the ire of someone. Our commander at the time fooled around too much and spurned the husband of a powerful noble which ended up with us up there. So they stripped what men there were from our units and the local tribesmen were typically too busy as they carried supplies to the fortress, and those that did visit tended to receive the fortress commander’s hospitality.” Cupping your cheek she took a pause by softing pressing her lips to yours in a tender kiss, the taste of her green tea lingering on her lips as they met.

Ah, as a largely isolated fortress where you could leave your enemy humiliated and freezing their ass off seemed quite fitting to explain the lack of men. Breaking the kiss leaving your forehead touching in an intimate gesture lasting a few moments before you both settle back into your seats. “How did you ever get out of there?”

Despite all the seeming casualness of sex, romance and intimacy apparently was alive and well in Mellovian.

“A mad woman of a Gerosian orc warlord found a path onto Ascending Highway and probably thought she could sneak into Tania. If we hadn’t stopped her horde on the narrow roads we might have. We won honor and glory enough to be returned from exile back to the warm lowlands.” She nostalgically said, her eyes flicking to her sword.

She then eyed you with interest. “I’ve talked a lot about myself, but I still know nothing of you, my handsome foreigner, not even a name. If your seed takes, it’s better for a child to know something about their father. What trade do you ply that brings you here? If anything, it seems you know how to use the tool Haverty blessed you with.” Her sapphire eyes glimmer with some amusement as she teases you.

In your mind the pieces came together; in the marketplace the broken animated depictions of market life, the mantles on the minotaurs, and the handy haversack you had safely placed between your feet had ignited your imagination with potential.

And like a drop from the small stream of divinity you had found, you could feel your divinity indicating you could ensure that, even an earnest desire from her for it.

Pushing that aside, you decided to let the dice fall where they may.

You flashed an easy smile at her. “An enchanter, or artificer as some call it, with a spark of magic while my scholarship has been a pursuit of fancy.” You softly say over the din of the tea house thinking better of announcing that too loud.

It… was the truth from a very certain perspective, you were an assistant librarian and only very recently begun dabbling in reality changing artifacts who decided on a change of careers.

Her eyes widened seeing you in a very different light then slowly closed in thought as she took a moment to process it by sipping her tea until she finished it. Watching her she stared into her tea a nervous energy coursing through her body, before taking a deep breath. “You’ve been more than generous with us and my husband waved the bastard price, and I wouldn’t dare to ask you to acknowledge them as yours, but if the child shows promise. Would you consider taking them as an apprentice?”

You grinned at the thought of teaching your own kid the ropes of enchanting once you’d learned the ropes yourself. For that to happen you’d have to stay around in this area for a fair around. Settling roughly down or home basing here in this city opening a workshop sounded quite appealing.

But there was another reason to settle down.

Glancing to the side you watch as a dice game with rough looking men and a woman just as rough and tumble, possibly dock workers from the high amount of aquatic beastfolk.

And the wet hair, that gave it away too.

The gilled woman wore an open loose jinbei tied off in the front clinging to her vast tracts of land and showing off a muscular stomach leading to her ‘pants’ which was just a fundoshi stood out as she grabbed her breasts heaving the heavy jugs.

“Ya bled me of my coin, but I’ll bet the chance to suckle on my girls to win back some of it!” She declared with stamping a webbed and scaled foot to the rousing cheer of the men that found themselves focused more intensely on the game.

To truly immerse yourself in your world's culture, learning its quirks and the local variation on it. The vietnamese and chinese influences probably were going to be wild to explore let alone what other cultures might have as their twists.

“I’ll be staying here in Khangu for the foreseeable future, so if they show promise then I’d be glad to accept them as an apprentice. Look for me as Michael son of Elizabeth if they show promise.” You tell her, skillfully avoiding your last name by using the old convection of using a parents name in its place.

You were going to try making more up if she pressed, but your racing mind was brought to a halt as her perfect lips pressed into yours silencing any thought to keep talking. Leaning into it you savor once again the taste of tea and the softness of her lips.

“Then Michael, you honor my family, and you may have blessed us with another life. But, I must return to my husband and daughter.” She let out a breath of relief, she stood and bowed to you, her Ao-dai’s lower opaque crotch patch translucent from your cum and her inner thighs decorated with white lines in a mess of your cum running down them. “Although I could go for another round~” Her lips quirked into a teasing smirk.

“Oh get going you perverted old crow.” You puffed back grinning with an attempt to give her perky ass a slap.

Laughing she displayed her soldiering skills evading your open palm with a twist of her body taking it out of reach. You eyed her ass as she left and heaved a sigh as it disappeared likely forever as she exited the teahouse leaving you with you drawing your thoughts out of the gutter.

Leaning back in your seat as the waitress placed a place of dumplings on your table, you carefully brought your notebook out and edited one of your entries.

‘I possess a robe which keeps me at a comfortable temperature no matter the weather. The robe will also magically clean itself, any clothes within it and my body once an hour.’

Finishing you almost groaned in relief as your body instantly felt clean, the stickiness in your pants and underwear vanishing leaving you in the comfort to slip into thought about your professed career.

Your profession of true magical items would have a rather restricted clientele, established, experienced and well off adventurers, the well off merchants, nobles and royalty. There was appeal, however you wanted the more naive, fresh and inexperienced adventurers too.

Perhaps even adventure with them when it strikes your fancy, no doubt they’d be quite malleable that early in their careers and willing to agree to lot for a single magical item.

However, while all you weren’t bound by cosmic suppression and restrictions on magic items, you'd be an idiot not to respect it.

A loud thump of a heavy metal on wood nearby snapped you from your deep thoughts, splayed out in a ragged and tattered encompassing cloak on the tea house floor was a lithe woman, no some sort of artificial woman in ruined men's clothes; was this this world's version of a warforged?

“By the spirits! Why am I cursed with this clumsy body, did its maker have a liking for unbalanced idiots!? I thought they were trying to emulate the beauty and grace of the Porcelain Dolls?” She roared with indignation, slamming a fist into the floor that creaked dangerously close to breaking in protest.

A melodic and cultured chuckle cut through the sound of the tea house, emanating from an elven woman dressed in an odd mixture of samurai armor and maid-themed kimono. In a way she reminded you of the Oni from the road, approaching the warforged her steps possessed a grace that defied normal skill, but instead of the whirlpool of attraction she had the impression of a weapon at the ready to scythe down its enemies. To say nothing of the katana and the large yumi bow on her back.

Leaning over slightly she felt no less alert as she offered a hand to the fallen woman. “It’s not your body that is the source of your imbalance Zhi, but your vestiges of your former body. Those improper clothes are almost impossible to move in for a woman.”

Snatching her hand, the warforge‘s illuminated eyes rolled as she tsked. “Just because I got stuffed inside this thing, doesn’t mean I’m gonna give up on hope to get back to normal. Not like we have the money to replace all my clothes.” She bristled, her irritation expressed by the sound of rapidly whirring gears as she frowned, pulling together her torn tunic to cover her breasts.

The elf had the decency to look sheepish while wearing a matronly reassuring smile as she helped the other woman into a seat. “We are rather lacking in funds from repairing and replacing our gear.” She admitted. “I’ll talk to my contacts for some work to get us back on our feet after this disaster.”

Getting back on her feet, Zhi took a seat at a table where a raven pecked at seeds in a small pile in front of a perky woman with pale skin and freckles complementing her long ginger hair with its untamed curls.

She was brimming with an air of a fresh face youth as she looked around the teahouse with an intensity of awe of someone who’d never experienced the atmosphere before with pale-skinned and freckles complementing her ginger hair. Her clothes were of simple make of a taunt plain leather top molded to her breasts that exposed her midriff of a flat stomach leading to a green mini-skirt with laced slits on the sides running up their length.

In her seat Zhi sank her face into her hands and snorted derisively as the other woman patted her back. “Disaster, no kidding. We’ve returned to our home with four barren walls.” The warforged bemoaned.

“Don’t worry Zhi. Oh! You’ve said that you wanted to know how I taste, I could let you lick me in our room tonight so we can bond.” The freckled young woman threw her arms around the warforged, her hands squeezing the automation‘s breasts.

She half moaned, half yelped in surprise as she disentangled from her companion with a blush that looked like reddish lights flickering to life on under her cheeks as she brushed the other woman’s hands away like a woman who’d found a spider crawling on her body. “Don’t do that Rose, it feels strange! Where are Tabitha and Coh?”

“Awww Zhi, you’ll have to get used to how women bond somehow.” Rose reassured her as she moved her hands to the warforged’s shoulder.

“They’re shopping to replace the rest of the equipment they lost now that Coh has a new axe.”

Ah, the eternal dilemma of fortune seekers riding the knife's edge between feast and famine. Rapping your fingers on the tabletop, you piece together the opportunity you could create. You weren’t ever going to be hurting for coin, why couldn’t you finance a group or better groups of hotties and adventurers.

Taking out your encyclopedia and cracking it open you had studying to do. It’s handy nature meant that upon opening the book it was exactly the subject you wanted to investigate. Namely the intricacies of how adventuring in society was handled.

Tania, or rather the Righteous Celestial Empire of Tania, quite the self-important mouthful you mentally added, didn’t have a centralized system like adventurers guilds or anything like that. It had a nifty governmental bounty system for handling typical monsters, bandits and general havoc which made up most adventurer work, bigger threats got dealt with by the army or daring adventurers.

It had handled most general jobs of extermination and hunting down problems that plagued merchants, farmers and common folk decently despite some corruption. Then previously if a bandit lord became a warlord or similar threats the army would respond.

The keyword of everything above was the word: Had.

As from the civil war splitting the empire into three has devastated that well oiled machine, replaced by sporadic military responses or locally raised mercenary and/or adventurers as the response. The bounty offices were also a shadow of their former selves too.

Otherwise adventurers as everywhere gathered at teahouses and inns for odd jobs, work or recruiters. It’s also where fledgling groups would seek to create their own information networks, while veteran groups have built their own information networks and contacts for higher paying work.

If this wasn’t a vacuum you could leverage, then you were blind.

You could assemble a stable of interesting characters at your fingertips, at your beck and call indebted and obligated to you as their patron providing financial support and magical items. Perhaps even adventure with them when it strikes your fancy to see the entire world that clearly was out there.

Of course if you were going to shepherd a bunch of adventurers, you needed a base of operations. If you went small, you’d be unremarkable...ish and unable to recruit all that many adventurers, while if you went big no doubt you’d draw a lot of attention or you could strike a middle ground balancing how many you could house and notoriety.