NOVEL NEXT Livin it up at the Temple California
6/16
I took a break from guard duty at the Temple California (mostly spent watching highlight reels) to pop on down to the Halls of Origination. Eros and Venus were not on any official records, but we had appropriate 128 digit alphanumeric codes (a record was kept in the modern day version of the building to avoid any repeats). As easy as it had been with Ironaya last time, this time I was showing up with Archaedes and a collection of 6 amulets. I had the facility under my command within a few hours, without much trouble encountered or expected.
The occasional easy job was good for the soul. I felt productive even though I wasn’t doing anything that half my retinue couldn’t have handled for me at this point. I could have just been fucking Azshara or Lividia, but my fucktoy was on assignment seducing the Pandaran emperor for a regional upgrade and nothing got my consort excited faster than conquest. She decided, apropos of nothing, that she wanted to fuck on top of the Reoriginator. I was fine with that once I got the go-ahead from a newly captured Rajh. I can not describe how dumb I’d feel if I accidentally made the fantasy superweapon go off by fucking my girlfriend on it.
••••••••••
The lone Rogue trudged through the fields, gnawing on the last of her smoked quillrat. Blaise didn’t jump at shadows anymore; she just didn’t have the energy to do so. If a demon came upon her she hoped that she’d have the presence of mind to fire her last arrow before it gutted her, but honestly didn’t know if she’d manage it. If she was lucky, she’d find a traveler or an isolated homestead. Somewhere safe, somewhere she could rest on the way to Westmarch. She needed to warn them.
Khanduras was fallen; Blaise couldn’t describe it any other way. For a time the Sisters of the Sightless Eye had held on, but that damned sorceress ruined everything. They had allowed Vashj into their camp and she’d turned on them within a few days. They should have… what? Turned away a caravan that had nowhere else to go? Immediately put an arrow between her eyes long before she’d revealed her true nature?
Would that have even worked? That hellspawn disguised as a woman had been shrouded in some kind of arcane field that deflected every arrow. When commander Kashya had gone to ambush her, she’d brought the four best rogues in the camp. They’d all died to a single forked bolt of lightning, and Vashj hadn’t had a scratch on her. She’d fled eventually, but Blaise still didn’t know why.
Right as she was about to collapse, the rogue saw a shockingly intact chapel near the road, candles in the windows. It felt like a trap, but Blaise had very few choices left to her. She approached, and knocked on the door.
“Sanctuary,” she croaked out, “please, give me sanctuary.”
The door opened wide and a strange purple skinned man in ornate silver armor waved her in. She didn’t think too hard as a woman in a transparent robe took her by the hand and led her inside, nor as the granite walls transitioned to smooth marble.
“Oh you poor thing,” the priestess cooed, “Let’s get some food into you and give you a bath. Are you injured?”
The next few hours were a blur as she was pampered, fed, and clothed in a gossamer robe of her own. She was even offered intimate companionship, which Blaise vehemently rejected, blushing furiously. The priestess accepted her warning about Andariel placidly, waving off the danger.
“Even if all the forces of Hell come to the door, they will not be able to harm us in any way that matters.”
Blaise simply didn’t have the energy to argue, so when she was escorted to a small closet sized room with a small but comfortable bed, she collapsed into it and knew no more.
••••••••••
Talaada closed the door behind the last member of the Sisterhood of the Sightless eye. She seemed a sweet girl; hopefully they would be able to recruit her instead of killing her. She just needed to agree to stay here, and she could be remade into a priestess. Vashj’s mission was almost done, so they couldn’t just let this one escape, though Talaada suspected that even when captured she wouldn’t want to go back to the version of Sanctuary where Vashj and Andariel would be her sisters under the Prophet.
Wipe out the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye
Reward: Instant capture of Andariel, the Maiden of Anguish
Patron: Tsundere Service is upgraded so that if you break someone’s spirit, their anguish will be twisted into devotion to you. The stronger their will initially, the greater the fanaticism
The Prophet wasn’t exactly thrilled about the mission rewards, especially the upgrade to Tsundere Service, but a demon lord seemed like she could be potentially useful. That was more than enough for Talaada. Blaise, if she accepted a place among them, would no doubt take comfort knowing that she’d defeated Andariel with her actions… from a certain point of view.
In the meantime, Talaada checked on the mission table and maps. She had assigned the mission tracker to Neltharia, since she was on a mission to capture several powerful individuals and qualified for a regional upgrade. Aha. It had worked; her agent had spent a deluxe mission ticket on Neltharia’s minor mission a few moments before she’d kissed Malygosa, getting the reward and upgrade lined up in record time.
The Nexus Region: Defeat Malygosa
Reward: Stud Service Sharing
Oh goodie. One of the mission rewards that actually made sense. Talaada always preferred those, even if they didn’t necessarily prove the most useful. They appealed to her sense of tidiness. She attached the tracker to Elune next, then dismissed a mission to steal a scrying pool from someone named Sindragosa and immediately invoked another Deluxe ticket on the resulting mission.
The Great Beyond: Defeat Sargeras in the alternate timeline
Reward: Tax Laws upgrade to demiplanes
Oh dear. Well, it was to be expected. Eonar was not an enemy in the first place, so she was not the target. A shame, though. She couldn’t help but feel that she had wasted a deluxe mission ticket.
••••••••••
Ysera was the last to arrive, save Nozdormu, and was somewhat disconnected from the proceedings. In the dream she was busily leading an investigation of a strange new entity corrupting the Emerald Dream. He was an odd beast, combining aspects of a goat and an elf. Her children had both adversarial and friendly encounters with him over the last month. The unknown worried her, but if Malygosa and Neltharia were correct they might be facing a far more deadly incursion of the old gods before long.
The black and blue aspects were curled together affectionately when she arrived at the meeting hall, with Alexstrasza sitting tolerantly off to the side. The two were practically mates, as much as any blue ever had a real mate, and had apparently been taking the time waiting for Ysera to arrive in order to catch up.
“Ah!” The red Wyrm rose to her feet, stretching out her back sinuously as she did. “Sister, I’m glad you could make it.”
The red and green aspects approached one another. They five never got to spend enough time together, so Ysera could certainly understand the blue and black couple’s slight indiscretion; she was just as happy to see her sister as they were to see one another. As Alexstrasza’s nose made contact with her shoulder, nuzzling affectionately, Ysera felt a shift in her thinking. She shot a look at Malygosa, hearing a rumbling chuckle, and saw a smug smile playing across her face.
“Welcome to Prime Designate Eros’s harem, dear sister.” The blue crooned as she continued to lay against Neltharion, “Don’t worry. Nothing has really changed. The main difference is that we might be able to win eventually.”
It was all terribly disorienting, but Neltharia insisted that they needed to maintain a veneer of normalcy. Ysera was handed a lovely emerald ring by Alexstrasza. “There is much you can read if you let your mind comb through this. It will explain much.”
The four of them waited for Nozdormu’s arrival, but instead Soridormi arrived and apologized for his absence. He had been busy in another timeline for nearly a year, so she was the best they could really hope for. That was fine; the secret had been kept, she never saw her capture coming.
••••••••••
Gower hugged his new fellow priests and walked out the front door. The last 24 hours had been an absolute ride. He’d been bitten by a big wolf, fled into the forests, found an old temple, been healed by a trio of gorgeous women, had one of the most incredible nights of his life with a Bonny lass by the name of Blaise, paid for the night with half an hour of work in the kitchens, discovered the truth and glory of the Brotherhood of Love and Beauty, and been given a mission to go to and help out the town of Southshore when he left, so as to be rewarded.
Damn, if that’s what a day looked like when you met the Brotherhood by chance, he really wanted to know what it looked like when a new initiate earned a reward. He was just a woodcutter by trade; they’d only had enough time to teach him a few tricks with the light and the scroll full of magic diagrams they’d handed him had crumbled when he’d left. So had the magic wand, the sturdy leather armor, and basically everything except for his freshly cleaned clothes.
Bit of a bother though, getting there. The blockade and the wall would make it hard going for a normal Gilnean bloke like Gower, but he figured he’d be able to get out past the wall if he said he had family in Silverpine. No trouble at all, unless they locked down the border in the next few days, but why would they do that? There was already a pissin wall bein built.
••••••••••
Company credit budget: 9
-1 permanent purchase: Lividia
-1 permanent purchase: Talaada
-1 Letter of Recommendation: Child by Lividia, Child by Azshara, Child by Aegwynn, Tony, Nefaria (subject to change)
Remaining budget: 6 credits
••••••••••
Deathwing regional upgrade?
https://strawpoll.com/7rnzmNVPDyO
Round 2: FIGHT