He tries, and fails, to stop her.

Seeing her make motions to get up and leave, Bower hovered behind her, asking about the money in as firm a voice as he could manage. This time he stood strong, and even an imperiously raised finger didn't stop him. However, when she started standing up from the table, slowly raising her juicy peach first like a world-class stripper, he could no longer formulate words. Breath catching in his throat he stared down at it, heaven just inches away from his hands... or, even his -

"Bowbow~~~" she whispered playfully, keeping her position, lightly swaying her hips to hypnotise him further. "Are we really going to let a few measly gilt get in the way of our increasingly... intimate... friendship...?" He watched, frozen, as her round backside got closer and closer to him, until her tight leather was almost rubbing against his crotch. "Intimate..." he rasped, mouth suddenly dry.

The thief, looking over her shoulder, eyes smouldering, gasped in mock horror. "Bowbow! Is that an erection?! A very long~ hard~ thick~ erection?! Well I will be sure to let all your female customers know you can't control your ~urges~ at all - unless, you know, you wipe our little debt clean?"

Bower didn't snap out of whatever was happening in his brain, he just stood there repeating the word "intimate" and staring at where her arse had been as the rogue strolled away, whistling tunelessly. Men were so easy to control.

She decided that Naomi was the priority; she was much more easy to manipulate, she was talking to somebody apparently untrustworthy, and her ****, luscious body was (Xinae had to admit) kind of irresistible. It's not like the rogue hadn't snuck more than a few cheeky squeezes and pinches herself, and Naomi's response was always a mere tut, or a short chiding at best. If anything it had encouraged her to go further each time; last time they shared a tent Naomi saw the look in her eye, sighed, and told her to just get it over with. The knight had even kindly pulled her tunic down for easy access, exposing her breathtaking cleavage, milky, soft skin spilling out of a straining bra, just begging to be touched... The rogue shook the image out of her head, then kicked herself - why hadn't she taken the potential for exploitation seriously before?! The truth was, when the three had first met two months ago this kind of thing would have been unthinkable. It was like the further north they travelled the worse these things had gotten, and for some reason they had just accepted it... bizarre, and worrying.

Looking at the town map, it seemed like she could swing past the curio shop on her way to the isolated hill where the smithy sat, so she decided to quickly check on Cal on the way. She reached the old building quickly, travelling between the closely packed rooftops. Peering through the murky roof window, she could see Cal sweating in some sort of pentagram... could be trouble. But the monk was peaceful, eyes closed, sitting cross-legged, seemingly meditating. The elf who presumably ran the shop (looked youngish, female, physically weak, this was good news) was sitting opposite her, and the two were having a quiet discussion as the elf wrote something in a large notebook. Was Cal's breathing a tiny bit erratic - and were her clothes a little dishevelled? Hard to tell details through this filthy window. But she seemed pretty calm and collected. Perhaps she was just helping the owner with some sort of clothes-dishevelling spell in exchange for the stones. Didn't seem to be any immediate danger. Hmm. Xinae decided to check on Naomi and then return and see if Cal needed help. As she turned away, Cal let out a yelp as she was suddenly restrained by nothing, helpless as invisible forces pulled her tight shorts down her slick thighs...