[Congratulations! Thanks to your actions, several lives have been saved! 3 Bronze Gacha Tickets!]
The Druid's Grove looked exactly the way that I remembered it looking from the game, if -as one might expect- a bit larger in real life than it had been on a screen. It was also a lot more full than it had been in the game, with not only more druids and tieflings than before, but more than a few groups of mercenaries and other assorted sorts that had already been in the area when the nautiloid came down. Aradin and Grim-whatever-his-name was' groups amongst them, and I couldn't help but smirk in amusement when the 'explorers' of Jergal's temple radiated disappointment at seeing that I was now wearing clothes, if sensual and skin-tight ones.
Of course, that wasn't the only change, I quickly discovered. Sending my girls out to investigate the Grove and see who might need help with what, I made a bee-line straight to the training area where Wyll should have been working with the tiefling children and overseeing their training. Instead of finding a fairly burly, one-eyed man with short-cropped cornrow hair, I found an utterly gorgeous, fully-intact -by all appearances- young woman that had my cock stiffening and my breath catching in my chest. The moment my eyes found her, I knew I had to have her, especially when I saw her demonstrate a flourish that, while utterly beyond the children she was with, clearly displayed her mastery over the blade.
And God -gods now, I supposed- knew that I found competency to be utterly enthralling in a woman.
That in mind, I promptly made my way up to her.
Watching as she corrected one particular girl's grip on the hilt of a practice blade, I took the opportunity to examine her more closely. She probably came up to my shoulders, slender, athletic -I could see her abs quite easily thanks to the midriff-bearing half-plate that she was wearing, which accentuated her breasts spectacularly- with a smile that was radiant and a demeanor that had me thinking she'd make a wonderful mother for my children. Her hair was a deep chestnut, pulled into rope twist dreadlocks and kept well out of her way, and her eyes were an even deeper, rich chocolate as she turned to consider me, full lips pulling up into a small smile as she inspected me.
"Well now, you can only be Sylvanas Windrunner. The whole Grove has been waiting for you, ever since those young tieflings you rescued arrived. Things only became all the more interesting as more and more people arrived, having met you, been saved by you." she greeted, her voice low and smokey. Holding out her hand, she introduced herself. "Sabine, called Blade of the Frontiers by some. I am grateful for all that you've done, and so very glad to meet you."
Taking her offered hand, I brought it to my lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, watching with no small amount of satisfaction as a faint flush bloomed across her cheeks. Up close, she smelled of leather oil and something faintly floral -lavender, maybe- mixed with the honest tang of sweat from her training session. It was a heady combination, one that did nothing to settle the very obvious situation in the front of my not-latex outfit.
"The pleasure, I assure you, is entirely mine. Though I hope it won't be exlusively mine for long." I said, releasing her hand only reluctantly and enjoying the way that her blush deepened. Hmm, turns out that perviously sheltered noble, now wandering, monster-fighting girls are weak to compliments and flirting. "Sylvanas Windrunner, as you know, and I am thoroughly at your service. Though I have to admit, I find myself rather curious how it is that you came to be here, instructing these children. The last I heard, the Blade of the Frontiers was carving a bloody swath through devil-cults somewhere far north of here."
Sabine's smile widened a touch at that, and she tilted her head in a way that sent one of those rope twists sliding across her collarbone, drawing my eyes to follow it. The afternoon sun caught the sheen of sweat at the hollow of her throat, and I had to remind myself rather firmly that staring would not endear me to her, no matter how much my body insisted otherwise.
Especially not if my hunger, my desire to sink my fangs into that lovely, slender, sweat-streaked throat made itself too obvious to her. She wasn't yet, of course, wrapped enough in my web, that she would want to let me, instead of impale me.
"You've heard of me, then. I confess, I half-hoped that you wouldn't have, if only so I could boast of my own feats to someone that has accomplished much the same." She let her hand drift back to her side, though her gaze didn't leave mine, and there was something appraising in it now, something that made my pulse quicken in a way that had everything nothing to do with the Hunger gathering in my belly. "But, since you've heard of me, I suppose I'll have to settle for a different kind of impression."
"I'm certain you'll manage." The words came out lower than I'd intended, rougher, and I watched the way her throat moved as she swallowed. "Though you still haven't answered my question. What brings the Blade of the Frontiers so far south?"
"Oh, I heard rumors of another cult in this area, one growing far, far more quickly than it ought to. Gathering all manner of unpleasant, monstrous things to it's banner." she explained, running a hand over her braids for a moment and scowling lightly in displeasure. "Then I arrived, to find the countryside practically crawling with threats to the people, and my investigation has been stymied ever since."
She…she wasn't tadpoled? What had happened? Gale disappearing was strange enough, but I figured something had happened to prevent him from being captured and he'd managed to successfully blow himself up away from any population centers. Even Wyll being a gorgeous babe wasn't too crazy, but one that didn't have an eye replaced with a Sending Stone for Mizora, and one that wasn't caught while hunting Karlach? I know that I was Cursed with a Remixed World, but this was more than I expected.
"Well, you're welcome to join my companions and I, since investigating what's going on in this area is something we very much intend to do. If you would like to join me, I was going to find the leader of the Grove and learn what I could about the surrounding area." I managed, mentally putting myself back on track, and Sabine considered me for a moment -eyes lingering briefly on my accentuated clothe-clung curves- before nodding with a slightly wider smile.
"I would like that very much."
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An hour later, I was once again doing something incredibly stupid in pursuit of power. Though, as before, it was suitably heroic. After chatting with Kagha -I'd almost confronted her ahead of any investigation, but I knew the Shadow Druids wouldn't count as a Deadly Fight for Exhibitionist, and decided to wait until I'd powered up.-, Ethel -who I'd really wanted to kill on the spot, but there were way too many civilians around for a fight with a hag-, Zevlor -who was rather less frantic, thanks to the Rite of Thorns being put on hold-, and Alfira -whom I'd promised to visit with, bard to bard, once I'd bathed-, I'd made my way down to the small cove hidden within the Grove.
The small cove that I knew would hold at least a few sirens. The final fight required to clear my Curse. God, I couldn't wait. This was going to be amazing. I couldn't wait to roll my tickets~!
I padded my way down the winding path that led to the cove, feeling the air grow cooler and damper with every step, the scent of the water -freshwater, still- mingling with the moist, earthen smell of the forest itself. The sounds of the Grove proper faded behind me, all the noise and controlled chaos of the refugees and their reluctant hosts disappearing to be replaced by something else entirely.
Singing.
Gods, but it was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that bypassed the ears entirely and went straight to the soul, and why wouldn't it? Sirens were made that way. Too bad sirens in the Forgotten Realms weren't particularly famous for their beauty, even if their tits were rather nice. Sadly for them, it wasn't going to rob me of my whits. Now, where was Mirkon…ah, there he was. Poor little fella was well into the throes of the siren song at this point, though on the plus side he wasn't trying to drown himself yet.
On the downside, there was a singing siren about fifteen feet away from him, approaching slowly with an expression that could only be called 'ravenous'.
Time for me to play the hero again, as dramatically as possible of course.
Hmm, maybe I should get business cards.
'Sylvanas Windrunner: Hero for Hire, Specializing in Perverted Rescues and Inappropriate Seductions'.
Heh.
Oops, the siren was way too close to the kid. Time to get stuck in.
Wings unfurled with a snap of leather and bone, and I launched myself forward in a low, fast glide that skimmed just above the surface of the cove. The siren turned at the sound, her song faltering for a half-second as her too-wide, hawkish eyes locked onto me, and I had just enough time to confirm that she did, in fact, have nice tits before I plowed my shoulder into her diaphragm and drove her down beneath the water in a literal flying tackle.
Water closed over both of us with a roar that drowned out everything but the muffled, furious shriek of the creature beneath me. Her hands -clawed, with fingers that were unnaturally long and only vaguely resembled those of a humanoid- scrabbled at my arms and my face, cutting right through my bodysuit and leaving bloody furrows across forearms and forehead. In response, I wrapped my own hands around her chin and the back of her neck before yanking sharply, snapping her neck in a vicious motion that was far more possible in this world than it had been my old one.
Bursting out of the surf and tossing her corpse onto the shore, I met the horrified eyes of the frozen tiefling child and bared my teeth in a snarl as the outraged shrieks of my now-dead enemy's sisters as the sound of massive wings filled the air.
"Run!"
The kid didn't need to be told twice. He scrabbled backwards, his bare feet slipping on water-slicked stones as he fled up the path towards the Grove. Maybe he'd actually call in some reinforcements, to make sure I didn't die from whatever injuries I ended up receiving as a result of my Curse. Not a guarantee, of course, but frightened children tended to draw attention quickly, and even a fractional explanation would suffice for some manner of investigative expedition to be sent.
[Congratulations! You saved Mirkon! 1 Bronze Gacha Ticket! He escaped uninjured! Ticket Upgrade, Silver Ticket!]
The sound of wing-beats drew my eyes away from the fleeing kid -and the gacha display- and to the rest of the descending flock, and I grinned a some-what savage grin as I unslung my bow. I had a good idea of how my Curse worked now, and I was pretty sure I didn't have to engage purely in fisticuffs so long as I was sufficiently 'at risk' and killed my enemies. And if I was wrong, I mused to myself as I drew the string back and targeted the nearest siren, there were plenty more dangerous fights that I could find myself contending with.
The arrow punched cleanly through the throat of my target, and the warbling, soul-snaring song she'd begun pouring into the air died on a wet, ragged note as she tumbled from the sky in a tangle of wings and feathers. She hit the rocks with a sickening crunch about ten feet to my left, and I was already nocking another arrow before her body had finished rolling to a stop.
Three left.
They came at me in a rough, screeching V-formation, faster than I'd expected and clearly furious about the loss of their sisters. Unfortunately for me, they weren't entirely brainless either, because the one now leading the V let out an ear-rending shriek -magically enhanced, it had to be- that was sufficiently disorienting to have me staggering and my next shot going hilariously wide. Unfortunately for them, I had the ability to meet them in the sky, and that's exactly what I did. Pulling on [Wind Flight] I went airborne, dropping my bow and drawing my recently-acquired short-swords as I did.
Everything became a blur of violence after that, dodging as best I could and retaliating at anything I could reach. Plenty of pain, too, which sucked, but with the pain came victory. Victory that I needed, that I'd been working towards since the moment I'd woken up in this insane, glorious, perverted new life of mine.
A victory that finally resulted in my Exhibitionist Curse being lifted, because by the time the cove was stormed by my girls -including, of course, Ciri and Sabine- and a dozen druids, I had only the dead for company. Well, the dead and the bloodstains that I was leaving everywhere, though Nettie was able to put that to paid swiftly enough. The look of mild jealousy on my 'Heart's face at someone else healing me, and so easily at that, was priceless. The knowledge that she would be even more inclined to make sure that I 'got it' tonight was even better, and the mild -horny- trepidation I felt was easily soothed by the spoils of my victory.
[Congratulations! You killed a half-dozen enemies of a similar power level single—handed! Golden Feat Ticket!]
[Congratulations! You fought an enemy on their own turf and beat them! Silver Ability Ticket!]
[Congratulations! You're fulfilled the requirements of the Exhibitionist Curse! Curse Effects have been lifted!]
Oh, to finally be able to use my Tickets again! God, that was exciting! The minute that I had a bit of privacy -just in case there were immediately obvious differences- I would be spending each and every one of the damn things.
"You cannot resist for even a moment, can you? Here we are, surrounded by druids and tieflings and mercenaries alike, but instead of grabbing the child and running for aid, you decided to fight six bloody sirens all by yourself! Am I going to have to keep you on a leash and in my sight at all times in order to keep you alive?!" Shadowheart expressed her displeasure with a scowl, one that moved to Ciri and Lae'zel as both gave me approving nods and shoulder clasps.
"A leash, you say?" I repeated, rolling the world around in my mouth and letting a slow grin spread across my still-tingling lips. The cuts Nettie had closed itched faintly as the new skin settled, but the discomfort was nothing next to the delicious spike of warmth that had shot through me at the image. "Now there's an idea I can fully endorse, sweet 'Heart. Though I suspect the collar would look far better wrapped around your throat than mine."
The way her cheeks flooded with color, the way her breath hitched just slightly before she could school it back into a scowl…well, it was practically a feast for someone like me. I could taste the spike of her arousal even as she sputtered, that lovely flavor that I was rapidly becoming addicted to, far sweeter than the ambient lust of mercenaries or the foul, twisted desires of goblins. God, I couldn't wait to taste her -in more ways than one- when I finally took her to bed, and took her virginity to boot.
"That—you—!" She jabbed a finger at my chest, and I noticed the way it trembled ever so slightly. Not with fear. Never with fear, not anymore. "You are insufferable. We are in public, Sylvanas!"
"And yet you're the one who brought up leashes, love." I caught her accusing finger and pressed a kiss to its tip, watching the way her pupils dilated and her breathing caught again, though she was spared further trevails at my hands as Sabine spoke up.
"While I support whole-heartedly your feat of heroism, Sylvanas, I have to agree with your lovely companion. It was a fool-hardy thing to do by yourself. Brave, perhaps, but fool-hardy. You should be a bit more careful with your life, especially if you mean to keep your band safe." she drawled, the casual amusement and laissez-faire attitude a distinct contradiction to her aristocratic, courtly upbringing. Then she gave me an almost tentative look, for all she tried to look like she wasn't. "Which would include me know, I would hope. I'd heard you intend to lend a hand in clearing out the goblins and rescuing the Archdruid of this grove, a just cause if ever there was one. So if you'd have me, I'm with you."
"I'd have you in a heartbeat, Sabine." The words came easily, flirtatiously, and I let my gaze sweep over her in a way that I knew she'd notice, lingering on the sculpted lines of her stomach before rising back to meet those rich, dark eyes. "Another beautiful, competent woman at my side? I'd be a fool to refuse, and whatever else I might be, I'm no fool."
"Debatable, given what we just witnessed. And more than half of the things I've seen you do since the moment we met." Shadowheart muttered, but there was no real heat in it, and I could feel the faint thread of resignation woven through her words. She'd already accepted Ciri, after all. One more woman in my company wasn't much of a surprise, and she'd already started to firmly stake her claim as 'First Girl'.
She'd be staking it even more firmly tonight, if either of us had our way.
"I'll admit to being impressed, for all that I agree with your companions. And I'm grateful to you for killing these beasts. We've been so distracted dealing with the damned front gate, we completely missed them moving into the cove. We'd have been losing people before long." Kagha's compliment was distinctly begrudging, though a very genuine one, and she shook her head. "I'll have some of my grove-kin keep an eye on things when people come here to bathe from now on, but we're not likely to see another group move in anytime soon. Sirens are viciously territorial, if there was another group nearby, we'd have heard them slaughtering each other by now."
"Well, that's good to know. The last thing any of us need is for the Grove to be threatened from two directions. Though hopefully you won't be threatened from either side soon enough. I think we'll be more than capable of dealing with the damn goblins and rescuing your man Halsin." I sighed, running a hand through my silver hair, then tugging one of my ears. "How many of your people can you pull off of guard duty to lay ambushes around the ruins of Moonhaven and the old temple the goblins have holed up in? In case they try to break and run once we start dealing some damage."
"Which they will. Even cultist goblins will break and run when their leaders are killed, or when they suffer enough casualties." Sabine chimed in, nodding in approval and turning her own eyes to Kagha. "It might be a good idea to have ambushes laid, I agree. Thinning their numbers when they scatter can only prove to be more beneficial for us, and you, in the long run. Better to make sure there are only the merest handful of survivors than a group that can pull itself back together and take advantage of a dangerous situation."
Kagha gave a grudging nod, her lips pressing into a thin line as she considered the suggestion. "I can spare perhaps half a dozen, once the front gate is properly secured again. They'll know the terrain better than any goblin, and they're more than capable of striking from the shadows. I'll have Rath coordinate them. Simply inform him when you're ready to attack the village and the stronghold, and he'll put things into place from his end."
"Understood. We'll take the afternoon to rest and decide our next move. We'll get our hands on some food and get to planning." I declared, nodding, glancing around at my freshly-expanded party. "Shadowheart, Sabine, the two of you will speak with this Zorru fellow, find out what he knows about the creche." Lae'zel opened her mouth to protest, but I silenced her with a look. "And everything will be told to you, Lae'zel, but if your people killed his friends, he's not likely to help us with you there, glaring at him. Instead, you and Ciri will see to getting us food and a place to rest and plan. I'm going to have a chat with this goblin prisoner that the tieflings captured, see if it knows anything useful."
And used my tickets in relative privacy, not that I was going to tell anyone that particular fact.
Agreements made, and promises extracted that I'd not do something foolhardy again before lunch, we split up. I found the nearest quiet, out of the way corner and hit the Gacha.
[Rolling All Tickets! Rolling In Order of Ticket Rank, Least to Greatest!]
Well, goddamn, those were some nice results. Spending a gold on upgrading my harness to a Battle Harness went without saying, and the Books of Wisdom was…basically pointless. I'd been hoping more for a pocket dimension or something I could drag my girls into so I could fuck the hell out of Shadowheart and work on seducing the other three.
Guess I'd just have to gag Shadowheart and fuck the hell out of her anyway. Suited me just fine. More than fine, really, that was actually a turn on. Not just the gag, but the potential of getting caught, or watched. Hmm, maybe I should make sure that happened? I wanted to see Ciri and Sabine blush…
At any rate, half of them suited my kinks and the other half were just useful. And the Slick Is Quick would be amazing, because it was both.
I'd need to throw a collar on Shadowheart as well, at least, and try for Ciri and Sabine as well. Mmh. But that was for later. For now, I had a little goblin to interrogate…and I rather thought I would invite Alfira to join us. Perhaps she and I could sing a duet sometime~!
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Alfira was a Bard, and she was one well acquainted with the stereotypes of being a Bard. In point of fact, she lived up to quite a few of them, including having a number of lovers scattered across Faerun, though none of them had a true claim to her. She was a free spirit, thank you ever so kindly, and one that was capable of doing something besides thinking entirely with what was between her legs.
Or, at least, she had been.
Because Sylvanas Windrunner had spoken with her for all of five minutes and Alfira was already quite sure that she would let the tall, exotic, big-cocked elven woman mount her in front of the entire Grove if the woman so much as thought of the idea. Hells, she might give Sylvanas the idea herself. One sniff of her rich, forested, powerful scent had left Alfira dripping, and then the other woman had not only helped her finish the song she had been writing to honor her lost mentor, but sung it with her.
The duet had been...transcendent, was the only word Alfira could think of for it. Sylvanas had a voice like dark honey poured over warm stone, and when it had wound itself around her own, something in Alfira's chest had cracked open and bled out all the grief she'd been carrying since Lihala had died. She'd wept openly by the end of it, and Sylvanas had simply held her, one hand stroking her hair in a way that felt less like seduction and more like genuine comfort.
Though the seduction had certainly been there too, underneath. Alfira wasn't blind, and she wasn't naive. She could see and hear and feel the interest the other woman had shown in her, the way she'd eyed her, the heat in her eyes. And it was obvious that her fellow Bard -though a rather more deadly one than Alfira was, by all accounts- had something of a harem that she was building up around herself, a harem that would mean Alfira would have to share.
She didn't mind. Ciri, Sabine, Shadowheart, and even Lae'zel were all deeply attractive women. And there were much worse fates for a tiefling dragged into the hells, then back out of them and banished from her homeland, than to be the personal Bard and lover to a hero like Sylvanas.
Which was why she had every intention of offering herself up on a silver platter when the group of adventurers returned to the Grove after they dealt with their next task at hand. A task beyond her abilities to assist with, sadly, but perhaps her lot in life would be to play the dutiful wife waiting at home. She could think of worse things…
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As always, I'm listing the options that the Patreons are currently voting on. As always, it's quite possible that other votes will take place as I work on writing the chapter, depending on how things play out. See you all next chapter, and see you tommorow for Cauldron of Ghosts!
I'll be posting a 'chapter' after this showing what her current build is as of this chapter.