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Not based on any particular gaming franchise or storyline. Sequel to Bending the Rules, although hopefully if you’re familiar with RPGs you won’t have too much trouble following along without having read that.
Current plan is to release a new part every two weeks. I’m timing publication for the weekend, but if this is helping someone get through their midweek, I am open to changing it up.
*****
The night was cold, and Nuru was glad for the blanket.
“Is it even dawn yet? Why I am I awake already?” one of the barbarians asked.
“Early to bed, early to rise,” another replied.
“Why don’t we ever go to bed early on this trip?”
“We get here late, and stay up to make it worth our while.”
“Woah, look at that,” the one closest to the exit said, peering out.
“What, what is it?”
“Guys, come check this out, seriously.”
They all got up and followed him out of the tent, except Bongani who was snoring. The ground was heavy with a mist roiling out of the cave.
“Brrr. That’s pretty neat, but it sure is cold,” Nuru said.
“We’re up a bit in elevation, it happens that way.”
“Shall we go back in and warm up?”
“Wait. Did you see that?”
“See what?”
“It…”
“Come on man, don’t make me guess. You know I don’t like riddles.”
“Look, I couldn’t be sure, but… there! See that?”
“That wisp came up out of the fog.”
“Right! You know, it reminds me of something.”
They watched a few minutes longer.
“There goes another one! It’s like watching ice melt and drip, in reverse.”
“I’ve got it! It’s like an air elemental.”
“Nah. No way it… wait a minute.”
Another shape pushed up out of the mist and disappeared into the morning air.
“Gods below, IT IS!”
“How could that be an air elemental? Don’t those only show up where you find air crystals?”
“Yes, but… those vapors come from somewhere else, deep below. I’d bet my right leg you’ll find some crystals if you dig down fifty feet or so.”
“Oh, shit. Guys. GUYS!”
“Don’t yell, Bongani’s still sleeping.”
“Wake him the fuck up. Look- he’s gonna want to see this, but that’s not the point. The point is, guys, we’re gonna be rich. Get us some pickaxes, maybe an experienced dwarf miner as a consultant to make sure we don’t drop the roof on our heads, but don’t tell him where this place is. There’s a fortune in air crystals down there – to say nothing of the air elementals we can capture coming up. No, think about it, I’m not crazy!”
“Dumbass, we’re adventurers, not miners.”
“No, for real, we can do this. All we have to do is prove it’s there – and then sell it to a dwarf clan. We’ll have all the best gear to power right on through our quests, for the rest of our lives. Maybe we don’t even have to, maybe we can just retire and do whatever quests we feel like. We can get into any party if we give up our share of loot in the party contract; easy power level all the way up.”
“Intriguing. You’re right, let’s wake Bongani up. Bongani!”
He finally emerged, helped by another of his tribesmen to keep him from stumbling.
“It’s alright, my turn to take care of you. Hey, you need to see this.”
“Wha… see what? It’s not even daylight over the trees yet,” Bongani croaked.
“Look, you always volunteer for this spirit guide shift. You ever see the mist coming out of the cave in the morning?”
“I mean, there’s always condensation. Vapors, or whatever, you know,” Bongani waved his hand indistinctly.
“You ever see air elementals coming out of it? You’re up here when most of us aren’t the most lucid.”
“Yeah I am, but I’m the last to go to bed, and the light is gone.”
“Watch.”
…
“Gods, below, was that really…?” Bongani rubbed his eyes.
“We all saw it. I think we all agree.”
“No wayyyyy,” Bongani said.
“Yeah, dude. I’m gonna pitch a business venture to the elders. We come out here and dig a little bit, find proof of air crystals, and sell this place to a dwarvish mining clan. Big money.”
“But won’t we lose this place as a spirit quest destination?”
“I mean, maybe. We can probably incorporate that as a condition of the deal. But even if we can’t, think about it – this is the reason we go on spirit quests. Insight into the mysteries of life, helping us find a way forward. We’ve got direction now! A big opportunity, if all goes well.”
“I can’t believe we never saw this before.”
“I can,” Bongani said. “We’re up so late, we never get to see it this early in the morning.”
“And in all the history of our tribe coming out here, nobody’s ever been up early to notice?”
“You know, they didn’t normally come this time of year. Maybe they all went inside to stay warm when they did.”
“It is bloody cold out here. That’s a good idea.”
“We haven’t got any more herbs to smoke the place up.”
“Never you mind, we won’t want to be light-headed and wobbley on the way home. Our shoes are banged up from that entryway and won’t provide as much protection if we stumble. yalvaç escort That’s the kind of debuff that will cancel our extra saving throw feats.”
“Will we stumble if our esteemed bard has his musical trance going?”
“You know snakeyes can strike at any moment. And if *he’s* the one that stumbles, we’re all gonna be thrown off; we could all come back looking like we lost a battle. How embarrassing that would be.”
“You guys go ahead. I’m going back to bed, and we can head out when I wake up,” Bongani said.
“Here, have an extra blanket,” Nuru said. “No need for me to sit if we’re just staying warm.”
“Appreciate it,” Bongani said.
*****
The road back was downhill, and easier. This was fortunate since Nuru’s fingers were stiff with the cold, and he wasn’t up to drumming for awhile. The barbarians chanted on the way, but it just wasn’t the same without the trance, and they stopped after awhile. They came upon the split in the road where Bongani had led him to meet up, and they all parted ways.
“Come join us for a feast someday!”
“You know it!” Nuru said.
He dug out some new enough shoes from the disenchanted junk piles behind the armor shop, bought some food at one of the carts, checked the world map at the library for the best route to Sapphire City, and hit the road again.
*****
Nuru’s eyes narrowed in the noontime sun the next day. Sobbing was rarely a good sign.
“Uh… miss? Is everything alright?”
Her head was bowed, long hair hiding her face, and she did not answer; her shoulders just kept shaking as she was wracked with tension.
“Miss, do you hear me?”
She nodded silently, but did not turn to face him. Her bow lay on the ground, unstrung, her shoes were missing, and her clothes were torn and tattered. She waved him on.
“I’ll li-ive,” she said, stammering as her chest clenched in grief.
“Anything I can do to help? What happened?” Nuru said, putting his hand on her shoulder and squeezing, gently.
She sagged backwards against him, grabbing his hand tightly. They sat quietly for a minute, and her breath settled.
“I got you,” she said.
“Uh… excuse me?”
“You asked what happened. I got you, is what.”
The voice sounded familiar now.
“…Katlego?!”
She stood and pulled at him, hurling him with her whole body off into the cover of the nearby trees.
“Waaaaaaait, let’s talk about this!” Nuru said, tugging at his succubus through their pact-link.
“Oh, it’s too late for that, Nuru.” She was on top of him in a flash.
/Ah, playtime. My favorite!/
“Why are you crying?” Nuru said.
“To lure you in, of course.”
“No, I mean those are real tears. You didn’t need that to fool me, you had your back to me.”
“Let’s just say my emotions have been acting up ever since your demon cursed me,” she seethed, grabbing him on both sides of the face. “Also, I have to kill you now.”
“Listen, I can fix this, I can-“
“Oh, shut up. It’s too late, I have a contract on you. I didn’t know it was you at first, but I made them promise me I could do it in a way that I wouldn’t have to watch you die once I did. And as it happens, you’re not allowed back through that gate – and I think I know what that means about the white shimmer on it. So now it truly ends. If the curse doesn’t end with your death, I’m doomed to suffer this fate forever anyway – I might as well get used to it now. Goodbye, Nuru.”
She tossed something up into the air, and sprang free.
“Gaaahhhh, no no no!” Nuru wailed, throwing his hands up to cover his face, and held his breath.
A cloud of smoke sprang up to fill the air. Then, slowly, it dissipated. Katlego had her back turned to him, shoulders heaving again.
“I’m… s-sorry, Nuru… I wish we could have…” she whispered.
Nuru flexed his fingers. Still alive. “What’s your name, really?”
Katlego shrieked, and in a flash had turned about with daggers in both hands, looking wildly about. Her eyes fixed back on him.
“Oh you have _got_ to be fucking kidding me,” she said. “Is that – you have a new ring. A curse?”
“Yeah.”
Katlego hiccupped, then belched daintily and giggled. She knelt next to him and yanked at his hand. The ring wouldn’t budge.
“Of course,” she groaned. “Now I have to kill you the up close and personal way.”
“Why-“
She tore off the long-hair wig she was wearing. “Rrrrgh! You make me tear my hair out, you know that? Nuru, one does not ask why in my profession. At least, not when meaning the moral implications.”
“No, I mean, why did you ask for a way to kill me that you wouldn’t have to watch?”
“Because… I…”
She sniffled.
“…I wasn’t sure if I could do it, look you in the eye and kill you, knowing that was what I was doing. Not because of my conscience, you understand, but because of what you mean to me. You’re the steward of the best dick I’ve had, and I really hate to hurt you permanently.”
“Wanna fuck me instead, and call it a draw?”
She yenibosna escort dropped the daggers and collapsed against him, laying her head on his chest.
“Part of me wants to. But another part of me needs to be the best, and knows that the way to do that is to leave no job incomplete, and that means you. Need. To. Die,” she said, pounding his chest with her fist with the last three words. “I took the contract, I can’t back out on it now. Not even if I dream about fucking you every night, and scream your name for other men.”
/Stall her. Get her to finish her other business first./
“Why don’t you just… re-prioritize. Go take care of all your other quests, and then come back for me. Figure it out later.”
“You know how many other quests I have?”
“I suspect if I knew that, you’d have to make me a priority again.”
She giggled quietly against him, rousing his already-sensitive libido, and started putting on some shoes from her pack. “You know, that randy old fart Akachi once told me a secret. At the time I thought he was just trying to get into my pants, but I’m starting to wonder if it’s true. Succubi aren’t well-liked, you know, even amongst demon-kind. I mean, physically they are desired, but the inner feelings are mostly hatred. All the gods, on both sides of the fence, work to keep them down in the dirt. Very few have ever risen to become archdemons, and they were quickly snuffed.”
(You hear all that?) Nuru asked Sanaa.
/She has my attention./
Ketlego finished putting her shoes on and climbed on top of him, pushing him flat on his back again.
“The gods have a fence? Where?”
“Oh, hush. It’s metaphorical. Really!? Secrets about succubi and that’s the part you fixate on?”
“I’m more fixated on what you’re doing to my leg, but you know, trying to be conversational.”
“You missed that, didn’t you? Tell me you did.”
“Of course I did, I’ll admit it freely. If my friends hadn’t interrupted I was happy to continue our… conversation by the gate.”
“Sooooo, as I was saying,” she continued, grinding against his thigh. “Very few archdemons have ever been the lusty kind, as far as their powers go. And so, we have very little information on what their higher powers are. Rumor has it, though… it may be possible for one’s genitals to be removed.”
“That’s not a power, that’s torture.”
“Oh, not like you’re thinking. Imagine a smoke portal opens, and just stays open. Imagine it’s just big enough to fit your cock through. And now extrapolate to what that means about it on the other side, if the portal itself is tied to an object which can be moved about, put in a dresser drawer… or the drawers of a lonely, hardworking rogue like myself.”
She wriggled against him deliciously.
“Uh… so, wait, I’d still be able to feel with it?”
“Mm hmm.”
“And… it would still be fully functional?”
“Now you’re getting it.”
“Sounds like you’d have extra work to do in the bath.”
She tore his shirt open with a blade and slapped his bare chest playfully. “I’d have SO many things to do in the bath! And you could be inside me while I… do what I do, out and about.”
“And what if you *lost* it in the bath?!” Nuru said.
“Well, then I’d have no further use for you, and I could kill you without guilt. Although, not without remorse.”
“Why are you telling me this crazy secret?”
“I just thought you might find it amusing, and maybe your succubus would be interested to know, in case she has any ambitions. I might be willing to pass a few tidbits here and there, if you can manage to keep me from killing you, at least. I need to have something to tell my bosses to keep them from reassigning the contract, and if I’ve got that kind of bait for you…”
“Let’s say I believe you. How does one go about becoming an archdemon?”
“Ah-ah! You think it’s that easy? I never do anything for free. You’ve got to *earn* it.”
Her hand slipped down and shredded the groin of his pants.
“Aaiyyee! Careful!”
“Oops. Almost detached you there already,” she laughed.
“That’s not funny,” Nuru said, breaking into a sweat.
“Relax, I’d never do anything to this lovely appendage,” she said, stroking him back to hardness before he could deflate. “Come on, let’s go back.”
“Back to the road like this, are you crazy?!”
“What, don’t you trust me?” she winked.
“You *just* tried to kill me. Do I look stupid to you?”
“I just gave up on killing you, for now. And, while they might look quite similar to me, I know the different between horny and stupid. Decision time, boy-o.”
Nuru got up, and let her lead him by the dick back to the road. Her body at least blocked the view of his exposed genitals from many angles. She pulled off the outer layer of disguising rags, and was back to her tight clothing that suggested, rather than outright revealed, the shapely muscle tone and petite figure underneath.
“Down you go!” Katlego said, tripping him and pushing him to fall lying on his back.
“I’m yenimahalle escort quite sure that was unnecessary,” Nuru grumped.
“I’m just as sure that it was. Don’t kill the mood, it might be bad for your health.”
She squatted over him, reaching down and adjusting something on her pants – unbuttoning a flap, as it turned out, covering her crotch. She sank onto him slowly, already quite slippery. A few gentle gyrations later, and she had him deep inside her, and then brought her legs together into a tall sitting position. She ruffled his shirt, and suddenly something cold was against the skin of his chest.
“Be a good boy now, and don’t move. Don’t cry for help, don’t scream, or whimper, or anything else that might give anyone walking by the impression that we’re here doing anything other than just sitting, or anything which is just plain unsexy. Understand?”
He stared at her, nervously. She shifted, sending cascades of wet sensations through him and making him throb.
“Meep,” he said.
“Is that a yes?”
“Okay, okay, yes,” Nuru gasped.
She rocked her hips side to side, and Nuru groaned. Her fist tightened on the knife handle under his shirt, and he shuddered to stillness as the blade sank deeper into his skin. She gave him a warning look.
“No noise, got it,” he whispered.
Chin high in the air, she turned away again with a small circular grind of her hips that nearly drove him to tears to suppress an outward reaction. The corners of her mouth turned up.
“Goddess, I miss the days when I could just do whatever I wanted. You know, I still wonder sometimes what would have happened if I had chosen differently – gone down a low path, as you have. Tumelo’s Chosen faction, was it? What is it they have to offer, to a bard of all things? Don’t answer that now. Anyway, I was doing quite well for myself before I met you. Guess I shouldn’t complain; someday I’ll be telling my grandchildren about all the foolish men I’ve met, and you’ll feature prominently. I’ll leave out the part about killing you; it wouldn’t do to be high faction and brag about such things. Sets a bad example.”
/You better keep your damned mouth shut. For so many reasons. Don’t assume she knows anything, but don’t assume she doesn’t, either./
(The only thing I’m assuming is that she doesn’t know I’m unaligned.)
/Above all else, don’t tell her that. Since the whole faction system is designed to force every adventurer to choose sides, if she knows that you found a choice that wasn’t offered to her, she might be quite upset about it, as proud of her position as she is./
(It’s probably just a matter of time.)
/It is. But the longer that fact is hidden from her, the more time that we have to build additional leverage over her./
Nuru stiffened up as he heard voices approaching. Katlego held her finger to her lips; Nuru nodded.
“Hello there, fine folks! Lovely day today, isn’t it?” one of the four party members said, waving as they came closer.
“Weather’s nice, I suppose,” Katlego replied unenthusiastically.
“What’s the matter? Great day to be outdoors, I should think.”
“Oh, no argument from me,” she replied airily.
“What’s the matter? Beautiful sun, great company-“
“And that’s where you’re wrong. This little worm owes me, and I’m not taking no for an answer. We’re not leaving this spot until I get what’s coming to me.”
Four mouths dropped open in shock and amusement. They looked at each other, a barbarian, a ranger, a healer, and a paladin.
“Ohhhohoho!” the ranger said.
“Good luck with that, buddy. You need a lawyer out here?” the Paladin said.
Katlego put a little weight behind the blade again.
“Nope,” Nuru gulped. “I’m just not sure what she thinks she’s going to get. I haven’t got anything.”
“I know you have what’s mine. You’re going to give it to me, mark me well,” Katlego said, an edge of innuendo threading its way through her words.
“Just leave me here. She’s got to eat sometime,” Nuru said.
The four laughed with each other, and kept walking. Their voices faded into the distance.
/Ask her about why she can’t lie. Carefully./
(Got a hunch about something?)
/Yes./
“I’m surprised you didn’t just say we were out here enjoying the beautiful day,” Nuru said.
“Then they might have stayed to chit-chat.”
“Isn’t that the point? We’re out here right by the road because you’re challenging yourself to do this and not get caught, right?”
“Good guess. It’s just not an authentic way to express myself.”
“Isn’t it? We’re out here finding pleasure in the sun.”
“Shut up. Don’t lecture me about being a bad thief, being unable to lie. I’ve taken an oath.”
“Oh. High Faction business. Nevermind, I thought it was something exciting.”
She was silent for a minute, squeezing him with her internal muscles until he almost forgot the conversation. Which was almost immediately.
“You won’t tell anyone, will you?”
“I don’t know who I could tell. Besides, you’re gonna kill me before long, anyway.”
“True. I’m hoping to pact with an angel to advance with my order, Nyala’s Hand, so I took an Oath of Honesty. I don’t have to tell the whole truth, but I can’t say anything I feel is a lie, or the Oath will break and I’ll be disqualified.”
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