by Prax Venter
“Vining right!” the satyr Druid yelled from behind, and the cave began glowing green from her ability. Mark saw a series of perfect targets lined up before him and rushed the one on the far left. As both he and Sasha dashed forward to meet the brittle monsters head-on, the succubus Destructor held up her palm and disintegrated one in the middle with a thick bolt of lightning. The living driftwood caught on fire and fully lit the area.
With a savage grin, Mark brought his weapon upward like he was swinging a golf club. The creature dodged back at the last moment, and the magic club whiffed through the air. At the same time, Sasha took a chunk out of the neighboring construct with a swift Side Kick.
She was so fast.
A brilliant idea struck Mark as he fought against the pull of momentum from the missed swing. Instead of fighting the ethereal mass, he simply unsummoned the weapon. After making a new club and launching a quick follow-up attack, Mark’s heart sang from the visceral crunching through the creature’s chest. The wooden monster clattered to bits at his feet, lifeless.
He looked up in time to see Sasha toss a flashing blue ball into the remaining, vine-tangled construct. The succubus locked her blue eyes on his as she strutted confidently away from the struggling creature. A few heartbeats later, Sasha snapped her fingers and the sparking orb she’d planted exploded, ending the final monster and sending wood shrapnel everywhere.
Their teamwork was amazing, and Mark couldn’t stop smiling.
“Oh, your new Bomb skill is very nice,” he said.
“Does it have friendly fire?” Jezebel asked, her eyes wide.
“Mmm,” Sasha mumbled as she put a finger to her lips and read something only she could see. “Doesn’t really say.”
“Assume it will damage everyone,” Audra said, emerging from the shadows. “Ability descriptions can be worded in interesting and confusing ways. The best way to know anything about your skills for sure is through experience.”
Mark nodded. “Okay, we’ll try blowing someone’s fingers off later, but I think I just experienced a way to abuse my new skill. Let’s stay close and move on. We got this, ladies.”
Mark was loving this. He didn’t feel useless, and the more he fought with his new ability, the more confident he became. As they rounded the corner, faint daylight began to reflect into the cave ahead, and they also heard the creak of wood on wood. He expected something big up ahead, but Mark was stunned when he saw the half-woman half-boat bobbing in the shallow water. The boat part was huge, easily the size of a bus, and on the front was a wooden figurehead carved into the shape of a buxom woman’s upper half. Bizarrely, the woman’s head was replaced with an enormous, wrought-iron anchor. A thick braid of rope hung around her neck and tethered her to a stone pillar within the hollowed-out cave.
Mark was distracted by her impossibly large and perky breasts and almost missed the strange metal squeals coming out of her anchor head. She pointed a carved wooden finger at Mark and his Enthralled as four larger driftwood constructs crawled over her sides, complicating things. But what really sent goosebumps down the back of his neck was realizing that nothing stopped the giant boat-woman from entering the cave with them.
“Behind!” Audra yelled, and Mark spun to see another group of four galloping down the hallway.
Mark really wanted Sasha to toss one of her bombs at the ones charging in behind, but she had just thrown it at the four in front, catching two in the crackling blue blast. Jezebel morphed into her bear form, and he watched long enough to see the huge bear ram her horns into the hull of a living boat.
Then he spun to face the four coming at him and held out his club.
“Stay behind me!” he yelled, pushing his Vulpath painter roughly. She was now positioned in the center as Mark, Sasha, and Jezebel fought on three separate sides.
The four driftwood monsters emerged from the hallway but slid to a stop, distracted by the horned bear squaring off with the boat behind him. Mark took the free moment to look over his shoulder to see the anchor-headed woman pulling against her leash as Jezebel took chunks out of her hull with her powerful paws. The woman bent forward, her massive anchor head launching downward with terrible speed and barely missed crushing the Druid’s skull.
“Mark!” Audra yelled, and he spun back in time to see two of the creatures rush him while the other two went for Jezebel.
He brought up his magic weapon and blocked a hit, dismissed the energy, took a new stance, and then re-summoned the club. The trick was making a new weapon for each attack.
His glowing baseball bat utterly destroyed one of the driftwood constructs, but the other got a solid hit in on Mark’s side and fractured one of his ribs.
Mark bit back the terrible pain as he reset his club to block, then felt a shadow of more pain from Jezebel as the two that got around Mark attacked her from behind.
Sasha was still blasting and kicking hers, and all of them were getting overwhelmed. That’s when he noticed the stab of rage and sorrow from the boat-woman. He checked the foe in front of him and blocked a few driftwood stabs before he risked another look to make sure he was feeling emotions from this bizarre, constructed creature.
His cursed eye throbbed, and he got a deep glimpse into the large animated woman of wood and iron. Other than thinking he could Enthrall her under the right circumstances, he saw her terrible grief at the loss of her children and seething rage at her imprisonment. All she wanted was to be surrounded by the vast blue sea.
“Audra!” he called, attempting to block another flurry of blows. He missed, and another got him in the arm. “Fuck! Use your claws to cut the rope!”
“What? It would be free!”
“Trust me, damn it!” Mark yelled. The furry Vulpath hesitated, and then he felt the tiniest tug on their brand-new bond as if she were testing the depths of his sanity with a mental probe. Audra growled once and then ran over to the rope mooring the living boat.
“Jez! Sasha! Fall back! Cover Audra!” he ordered, and they began to all press their backs together. The big boat-woman did not follow the bear back into the cave and instead strained against the farthest length of her rope, pulling it taut.
Mark swung his magic club as a warning to the constructs near him, then pointed to the boat.
“Go! Get on her now!”
The living driftwood seemed to pause and look over his shoulder at the anchor-headed boat-woman before deciding Mark was too much of a threat and crept forward again.
He took another hit to the shin, causing Mark to go down to one knee. He seriously wanted to heal himself, but he wasn’t critically wounded, so he held on.
Then Audra’s last swipe ripped the rope apart, and the boat-woman was free. She drifted a few feet out toward the sea cave’s mouth, seeming to not understand what was happening. Then the anchor head tilted upward and made an ear-piercing screech that must have reached the nearby town.
All the driftwood constructs currently in combat stopped fighting and scrambled into the water after the boat-woman. Then, hundreds of the things came pouring out of the cave behind them. Yet not a one seemed to even notice Mark or his Enthralled. Jezebel morphed back to her satyr self, and the four of them stood motionless as wooden monsters of all sizes paraded past.
He noticed the living boat swivel her head over her wooden shoulder, and despite the lack of discernable eyes, appeared to peer down inside her own hull. Jezebel had done some considerable damage with her savage bear paws. She could no longer remain afloat, and water started rising inside. Apparently, that was not a problem as the more driftwood she collected, the more repaired she became. The water was cast out, and the holes magically filled themselves in with new material.
“Don’t you forget that we freed you!” Mark yelled after the boat. “You owe me one!”
She turned her massive anchor head to face him, and he saw a brief nod of recognition before she moved out into the daylight, taking every living piece of driftwood with her.
A massive rush of essence b
lew into Mark from the surrounding universe, and he rolled to his side on the sandy cave shuddering with pleasure and pain from his bruised and broken body.
Laughing, Mark held up his heart ring and targeted everyone in the cave with a light heal. The beast-women all moaned as most of their minor wounds were healed along with euphoric side effect on their pleasure centers.
“That was worth a lot of essence,” he said, standing up and brushing himself off. He took a moment to marvel how dirt and grime never seemed to be permanent.
Jezebel came over to nuzzle up against his side. “Such a great call, Mark. Look how happy she is. The quest specifically said to ‘Remove all living driftwood’ and that’s what you did.” The sweet-smelling satyr snuggled against him and her tan skin felt pleasantly warm through her thin t-shirt. She let out a content sigh.
Audra turned away from the daylight and the newly freed creature and her driftwood brood to face Mark.
“There was no doubt in my mind that we needed to kill the living boat to finish the quest, but you were so sure…” She trailed off, her deep-blue eyes holding steady on his- then she pulled in a deep breath and turned to search the area. “I need to find those shells.”
The Vulpath painter pitched her cream-furred ears forward as she began rummaging through shelves, crates, and barrels arranged on the back wall. This must have been the mad carpenter’s Workshop.
Mark reached out for Sasha and the sultry succubus joined him and Jezebel for a content group hug. Any stress or negative thoughts in his mind evaporated as the two beast-women pressed their firm bodies into his, and he was thrilled to see Jezebel reach out and hold hands with Sasha. This was where he belonged.
“That old fool was using them for basic ink?” Audra blurted out as she stood over a drafting table.
Mark broke his embrace with his beast-women, and they went to check out what she had found.
The Vulpath held one black, fan-like seashell between two of her claws, and he watched as motes of pure darkness faded into being and then raced toward the shell as if it had its own gravitational pull. It was undoubtedly a magic seashell.
Audra tucked the object in a small pouch she had attached to the belt around her leather shorts. She then pointed a claw to a mortar and pestle sitting nearby.
“The rest have all been ground up and mixed with sea water.”
Mark passed his eyes over the brittle papers and drawings. The plans for the anchor-headed vessel looked complete, but there were many strange runes that he couldn’t decipher. Everything in the Workshop appeared weathered and ancient, and Mark wondered about the person who’d created all of this. Did the boat-woman really kill him?
“Will one be enough for your painting?” Sasha asked, a hand on her hip, while Jezebel became engrossed in the magical schematics.
Audra’s answer was bereft of emotion. “It will mean that I can make no mistakes.”
- 16 -
“Just yell if you need more butter,” Mert said before heading back into the kitchen. The table was laden with steaming crab legs, decadent sushi, an enormous herb-crusted whitefish, a pile of smoked salmon, bowls of lobster bisque, and the four of them each had a plate of pan-seared shrimp-steak.
Even with such a feast, Mark couldn’t keep his eyes off the three stunning creatures around the table. After turning in the quest and entering the Four Hooks for their reward, he was absolutely full to bursting again with essence. Every time he topped off, he felt a little bit go to waste. However, this tragedy was tempered with the sensation that his reserve tank grew in capacity as well.
“Have you ever had seafood, Jez?” Sasha asked, grabbing an over-sized crab leg and cracking it open.
“No,” the research AI panned her huge green eyes across the spread, clearly not knowing where to start.
Audra blinked at this but was too refined to ask. Instead, she asked a more casual question before she dumped a spoonful of warm bisque on her long, pink tongue.
“So, how did the three of you come together. You know about my past. I’m sure your tale is an interesting one.”
Mark and Jezebel exchanged furtive glances before the succubus answered as she chewed.
“Oh, we all recently came to your world from another dimension.”
“Sasha!” Jezebel gasped, her mouth hanging open.
Audra looked from Sasha to Mark.
“What?” the succubus said, taking another big bite of crab. “You guys really should be shoveling this in. I’m holding you to your ‘bottomless pit’ claim, Jez.” Sasha waved an empty claw at the satyr.
Mark sighed. It was the truth, and he really had no idea how to answer.
He nodded. “She’s right, in a way.”
“Mhmm,” Sasha continued as she ate. “Our past is very complicated, Audra, but Mark and I used to- um, work together. Then we dated for a short time but split up for a while. I needed to sort some stuff out. You know, get my head right. Then he got with Jezebel, and she did something really nice for him. I showed up again soon after because I realized I couldn’t stand to be apart from him. We all agreed to team up and kick some ass.”
She flashed Mark a cute, fanged smile as she tore off some smoked salmon with a fork. Sasha really knew how to talk to people.
Mark shrugged and began to saw into his giant slab of flame-broiled shrimp. It was seared with butter on both sides and melted in his mouth. When was the last time he ate real food? He started down the path toward what ‘real’ meant and shook it off.
“This is amazing,” he said. “Jez, just pick something that gets your attention and start putting it in your face.”
The strawberry-blonde satyr scanned the table and mimicked Sasha by taking a forkful of flakey smoked salmon. There had to be fifteen pounds of fish there. He watched as she sniffed it, then gave it an approving frown. She crossed her green eyes as she focused on the tender smoked fish as it passed her lips.
The satyr let out a long moan, her eyelids fluttering.
“Food is… delicious!” she said, reaching for more.
Mark reached his own fork across the table to pull off some of the salmon. It occurred to him that Audra was still staring at them, her muzzle hanging open.
“I’d normally think you three were insane. But I’ve seen just enough impossibilities to believe what you say.”
They ate almost everything on the table, and the experienced Vulpath watched them pack in mounds of seafood with wide eyes. When they finished their quest reward, they thanked the owner and stepped outside into the sweltering tropical heat.
Mark patted his toned stomach and felt perfectly content.
The four of them drew in close to Audra before she snapped a plaster paintbrush in her claws and ended up back in her studio back within the city of Thomellia. The sun was just about to set, and the house was much colder than the tropical paradise they’d left behind.
“Let me get the fire going again,” she said, tossing more wood into her smoldering hearth. After she filled an iron teapot with water and set it over the flames, Audra went back behind her screen to change again, and Mark took the time to really look around her place. One side was all windows that looked out over the dark forest far below, and the draft coming off them chilled his bones. To the left of the windows, he noticed a stairwell hidden behind some canvases that led to a dark, second-floor loft.
“Mark,” the Vulpath painter said, and he turned to see her standing in front of the screen wrapped in a red silk robe. Like Jezebel’s pink shirt, the garment barely covered her crotch. “Would you please join me up in my bed for a brief moment of intimacy?”
“Of course, Audra. That was the deal.”
“Oh honey,” Sasha said, “there’ll be none of this brief moment bullshit.”
Audra’s ears lowered slightly as her reserved demeanor slipped. Was she nervous? Mark looked deeper to see that she was worried she was too old for Mark to find her attractive. He ran his eyes over the two plump bulges that were her furry breasts and
past her relatively narrow waist, then down to her thick, cream-colored thighs. Maybe it was the essence pressing on his balls, but she had gone from attractive to irresistible. He cast his gaze back up to her blue eyes as a devilish grin split his face, and Mark lifted his hand out, beckoning her to come to him.
“Tea’s on, ladies,” the Vulpath said, sauntering over to Mark, the claws of her huge wolf feet clicking across the floor as she approached. “Please help yourself.”
Jezebel placed her hand on Audra’s furry arm, and the older beast-woman paused.
“And please help yourself to Mark. Sasha’s right. Take your time and enjoy being Enthralled to a Lover.”
Audra would have blushed if she could. Her tall ears flattened further, and Mark wished they’d both shut up too. They were really piling on the pressure to perform… although, with his emotion-probing eye, and other Class advantages, he was confident he would do just fine. Something he couldn’t have said with a straight face a week ago.
The cream-colored wolf-woman took his hand and continued past Mark. He followed her up, getting more than a peek of her furry ass from below. Her tail wafted back and forth as she moved and left a sweet musky fragrance in its wake. The upper level was packed with paint tubes and other tools of the trade. There was also a modestly sized bed with a sturdy wooden frame in the middle of the back wall.
Audra turned to face him. Her blue eyes searched for anything but his face, and her muzzle hung open slightly, her thin black lips pursed. Mark could virtually see the words on the tip of her long pink tongue. It had been many years since she had been with anyone.
Mark saved her by stepping in and kissing her on the soft fur just to the side of her nose. He smoothed back her thin whiskers with his lips and then moved to her cheek, then her neck.
Audra leaned her head to the other side and gave Mark room to nuzzle under her black hair. He slipped a finger under her silk robe and slowly pushed it off her shoulder, but felt a spike in her unease, so he stopped. The older beast-woman could not get past her fear for how she looked naked.