by ilo man
“No,” said Vinnie, still somewhat bemused, Morningstar in hand.
“Nice ring,” the woman winked, cupping his blood-splattered dick. Gold billowed up fairly unenthusiastically. “Nice dick too.” She leaned in. “We’ll have some fun knocking that little man into shape. Now gather your things, we need to get going.”
“Get gone?”
“Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie,” she said, her finger under his chin, her eyes staring into his. “Don’t you think you’re in enough trouble, without the sheriff finding you here?”
“Guess so,” said Vinnie, retrieving his clothes, his belt, sacks, and core.
“Ready?”
“One thing, just who are you?”
“I go by the name Wanton Witch.”
Not quite the Wanton Witch Vinnie had expected. “Sweet,” he said.
She clicked her fingers, and they both vanished.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When Vinnie woke in his bed, he did just that. No naked woman bounced up and down on his cock, no hands tied to the bedhead, no scimitar held high above his head.
He breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“Better?” asked the Wanton Witch. Vinnie near jumped out of his skin. She was sitting in a chair by the bed, legs crossed and munching on a ruby-red apple. She held its core between her thumb and forefinger. “I believe this was where it all started.”
“Cresta,” Vinnie grumbled.
“Not quite, but that’s for tomorrow. Today, well, I think you need an hour off at least. Call it a rest and recoup moment. We’ll breakfast on the roof garden.” She tossed the apple out of an open window. Vinnie’s gaze following the room around.
“Am I in a turret?”
“A quarter of one,” she said. “So, last night, I’ve got to come clean. I had Marlo wash you. You were all…blood and guts and the like. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Marlo put you in a cooking pot, heated you up a bit and scrubbed you clean. Done a good job too, for an ogre.” She jumped up. “Look,” and she picked up the Morningstar. “Scrubbed this too, every spike and he polished its shaft with his special mix.” She put it down, walked away toward a glowing hearth. “Yours too,” she cast, over her shoulder, and winked at him.
“Thanks?”
“No need.” Turning, she rested back against the fireplace’s mantle. “My bad for letting the sisters fester in my city. Actually, my bad for letting you walk straight into their arms, but I fancied seeing your worth, and you did so much better than the others. Oh, and I fed your demon—Little Red, isn’t it?”
Vinnie pushed himself up in the bed. “Thank you. What can I call you? Wanton Witch sounds so…”
She slumped a little, her bottom lip pouting. “Doesn’t it? I’m so glad you think so. Call me Fin that should do it.”
“Fin,” Vinnie muttered and decided that the name suited her.
Fin jumped onto the bed, sitting cross-legged at its end. “You should check your notifications. It’ll brighten the start to your day.”
He suddenly noticed them all flashing red in a tiny part of his mind’s eye.
Your Esteem value has changed! You old value was 6. You pleasured Trinity as she rode you like a bitch. The land awards you one esteem. Your new value is 7.
Your Esteem value has changed! You old value was 7. You pleasured Verity as she too rode you like a bitch. The land awards you one esteem. Your new value is 8.
Your Esteem value has changed! You old value was 8. You pleasured Emerson as she ground your cock to the bone. The land awards you one esteem. Your new value is 9.
Your Esteem value has changed! You old value was 9. You pleasured Guinevere with not thought of yourself. The land awards you one esteem. Your new value is 10.
Your Esteem value has changed! You old value was 10. You pleasured Aliyah, Lilly & Morgan, Daisy, Reece & Amy, although admittedly you were unconscious. The land awards you six esteem. Your new value is 16.
Your Esteem value has changed! You old value was 16. You pleasured Charlie, Lauren & Jenny-May, not bad for an amateur. The land awards you three esteem. Your new value is 19.
“Nineteen esteem,” Vinnie cried, gleefully.
“Wait for it,” said Fin.
Alas, you killed Trinity, Verity, Emerson, Lilly, Morgan, Daisy, Reece, Amy, Charlie & Lauren, who weren’t technically in agro with you. They had declared no malice. Aliyah, Guinevere & Jenny-May, however, had declared intent. So the mute point is, were they in a party, and was that party’s sole intent to kill you?
“Yes, they were, the bitches were all out to get me.”
Fifty-fifty, the system declares fifty-fifty and strips you of 10 esteem.
“What?” Vinnie screamed.
Fin wagged her finger at him. “Don’t argue—never argue. Besides, you never put any effort into it. Think of it as three free esteem.”
Vinnie simmered then calmed. It felt like he’d lost something, somehow, even though he hadn’t expected it. Resigned, he muttered, “Good enough.”
Congratulations! You killed the three evil women from Sivatious’s Circle of the Rampant that had declared on you. The land awards you 500 XP each. Your current XP is now 11,300. You are now level 6. You need 8,700 XP to get to your next level. You have two unallocated attribute points.
Vinnie poked his bottom lip out, thought about saying how tight that was, but relented. “Cool.”
Level 3!
Your demon has reached level 3.
As Little Red gets stronger, so will you, at level 3 she will continue to be useful to you and will start to influence your surroundings, just like she did by assimilating Guinevere’s legs. She will be able to manipulate harder rocks & talk to simple-celled organisms. Your demon’s influence will now extend five feet in all directions away from her core. As you have helped your demon to level (mostly Fin though), the land rewards you with 500 XP. You now have 11,800 XP and are 8,200 XP short of level 7.
“Now that is a bit tight,” he whispered and scanned the rest of his menus, as one light still flashed. He found the annoying blip under skills.
You have reached a new level! You have achieved Fundamental Awareness in the use of the not so blunted melee weapon The Morningstar Mace.
You have reached a new level! You have achieved Novice in the use of the not so blunted melee weapon The Morningstar Mace.
Current weapons status [Specialized weapon not selected as yet]:
Staff = Novice, Morningstar Mace = Novice.
“Nice,” Vinnie said.
“Very nice,” Fin agreed. “Now, allocate your points and let’s go get breakfast.”
Vinnie pulled up his menu.
“What do you think?”
“They’re your stats, but the path you’ve taken, well you’ll need the lot. It’s harder to specialize here as you get so few base points. The esteem modifier means everything. But seriously, blunted weapons as your main skill and you’ve got no strength—hardly makes sense.”
Vinnie didn’t disagree and added the points to health and strength.
Attribute (Value x Esteem modifier = True Value)
Health: 3 x 1.9 = 5.7
Stamina: 3 x 1.9 = 5.7
Strength: 3 x 1.9 = 5.7
Agility: 3 x 1.9 = 5.7
Intelligence: 6 x 1.9 = 11.4
Mana: 60 x 1.9 = 114
Virility [Cumulative True Value]: 12.99 x 1.9 = 24.69
Perception: 3 x 1.9 = 5.7
Compassion: 1 x 1.9 = 1.9
Fin rolled backward, somersaulting off the bed. “An improvement, but now the hard work starts. You’ve got the virility, you’ve got the cock, but what you haven’t got is any notion of how to play the game. No skills, no perception. You started this game by pumping all your points into Intel, then chose blunt melee. In short, you’ve got a bucket load of intel that’s going to be no use to you unless we can unlock some class that combines the two. We’ve got work to do, Vinnie. In case you haven’t noticed, this game isn’t all fun n’ cum.”
“Tell me about it,” Vinnie said, waiting, wondering if Fin was going to leave and give him a moment to get dressed. The Wanton Witch lingered as she studied him. As soon as she had found whatever she sought, she turned, walked to the room’s window, and looked out.
“This is a fine land, Vinnie, a magical ideal, but put a few thousand of the hungriest mortals on our planet in one place, well, things are bound to get bitter, twisted.”
Vinnie got up, walking over to his clothes which hung all fresh and pressed on the back of the room’s sole door. He slipped into his leather pants and pulled his shirt over his head. “It is still magical,” he said, though he’d seen its evil side too.
“Sivatious won’t stop, not until the light is gone. He destroys whatever he touches.”
Vinnie pulled his boots on. “Where’s Little Red?” he asked, suddenly panicked.
“Right by you, Vinnie, always right by you,” Little Red’s throaty voice drifted over him.
Vinnie scooped up his sack and called for her. Her cone appeared in his hand. She’d grown, nearly the size of his thumb now. He ogled her curvaceous, red body. “Looking good, Little Red,” he said softly, affectionately.
“You too, my prince. Your new levels of virility suit you.”
He felt eyes on him, glanced up to see Fin staring down, her head cocked with inquiry. “You two should get a room.”
“Oh, we will,” Little Red purred. “Count on it.”
“How have you been feeding her?” Vinnie asked. “I thought I was the only one who could access my Grand Sack of Holding.”
“You are, Vinnie,” Fin replied. “But she’s alive, sentient, and I can hear her. I tipped a corpse in there so she could feed. You might want to get it out—toss it, before it stinks up everything inside, including Little Red.”
Vinnie called for the body, holding his arms out, his chin turned away in disgust.
Fin started giggling, Little Red too. “She was in your pocket, you idiot. No one can mess with your sack. It’s soulbound, precious, and yours. I did feed her, and then popped her in though. You were a little…pliable by then. I asked you to open the sack, and you did.” Fin pinched his cheek. “You’re quite cute when you’re zombified.”
“Zombified,” Vinnie wanted to ask more but quickly decided he didn’t want to know the answer. He strapped on his Morningstar. “Staff or no?”
“We’ll not be walking far. The town is running amok trying to find the player that killed Jenny-May and the others. It’s best for you to lay low, grow a mustache, get a hat, something.” She opened the door and bid him through.
“So, no staff then.” Then he scratched his head. “I’m fairly sure I had a hat at some point.”
“Might want to stash the staff, you’ll be training later.”
“Cape?”
“No cape. Superhero you ain’t as yet.”
She ducked through the door, and Vinnie followed, tugging his jacket on.
“We’re in the westernmost tower, well, one of them. I love me a tower,” Fin explained. A wooden staircase wound both up and down, right in front of them, piercing the tower’s center. They stood on a circular landing, three other evenly spaced doors at its cardinal points. “All three are empty,” Fin told him. “In fact, most of this tower is empty, folk fear it, think it’s alive. Please, don’t go more than one floor up—it’s off bounds, private.”
“Who lives there?”
Fin shrugged. “My Elf, though my core is old now, tired, rarely feeds.” She hopped onto the first steps, her hand trailing along its curved banister. “Yours is ravenous. Those are the good days, the fun days.” She skipped down, seeming to shake her melancholy mood away. Vinnie sifted the salient points to the top of his confused mind.
“So, an Elf, a core like Little Red built this place?”
“Well I bloody well didn’t,” Fin shouted up, already running down the next flight of stairs.
Vinnie thought. Vinnie wondered.
If her core had done this, what kind of magical place could Little Red build? He couldn’t wait to get started.
“See, I told you,” Little Red whispered. “Told you to feed me up, didn’t I?”
“Oh you did, Little Red, oh you did.”
They carried on down until they came to a hallway, bustling with all kinds of folk, darting this way and that. Fin led them through the throng, the place packed with chatter and bluster. “This is the Great Hall; it leads down to the drawbridge and out to the town. Because of how my core built this place and the shape of the rock it’s on, it's all differing levels—quite confusing until you get used to it.”
Vinnie noticed that no one paid Fin any heed. It was as though she didn’t exist and certainly wasn’t the most powerful witch in the land.
They came to the top of a large set of sweeping steps, that near angled back the way they had come. This time, Fin slid down its banister all the way to a stone-flagged hallway at its bottom. Vinnie followed, a smile on his face as he sped down. Jumping off at the bottom, he skipped to her side. “Where are we now?”
“The back of the front,” Fin said, cryptically. “The rocky bluff angles down, its front higher than its back, so it’s a bit higgledy-piggledy and round the wrong way. This route leads to a delightful roof terrace. Marlo will be waiting.”
Their footsteps echoed down the empty hallway, this section of the castle much quieter, Vinnie thought. Fin bounded along it, near running towards a beam of natural light that cut a swathe in the gloom all around. She vanished into it, Vinnie close on her heels, and they emerged out onto a neatly manicured lawn, a table and chairs in its middle, an ogre-in-waiting standing beside.
“Marlo!” Fin shouted, and she darted up to him, throwing her arms out as she jumped into his.
Perception Check: Marlo. Ogre. Housekeeper. NPC.
Marlo resembled an exaggerated, fat, old, wrestler but with two fangs pointing up from his lower jaw and horizontal trumpets for ears. His skin was gray and flaky, and he only wore a shabby loincloth and a chef’s apron.
He put Fin down, pulling out a chair and seating her.
“Mr. Vinnie. I trust you slept well?”
“I did,” said Vinnie, taking his seat, salivating at the spread already laid out. Pancakes, syrup, scrambled eggs and bacon, sausages, bread and fruit, all there for the taking.
“Well, tuck in, and remember, if you ever get lost in the castle, always keep your hand on the left side wall and eventually you’ll get back to the main hall. From there it's up to your tower, down to the entrance. Simple.”
“Got it,” said Vinnie.
Fin laughed. “You won’t have to worry about that.”
“And, if you want some food,” the ogre continued. “I’m on the next floor down with Mary-Lou.”
“Mary-Lou,” Vinnie repeated, and Marlo ambled away.
Fin picked up a pancake. “So, any questions?”
“How come people don’t—”
“Fear me?”
Vinnie nodded. Fin pushed back her chair, stood and began to blur. Her body gradually altered, her top and skirt morphing into a black cloak with a huge, upturned collar. Her cute looks changed to stern, her tri-color hair to straight, black and diabolical. An evil witch now stood across the table. Vinnie scrambled backward.
“This Vinnie, this is the Wanton Witch. When I need her, I use the disguise.” She clicked her fingers, and the pretty Fin returned. “It helps, two personas is good. If I need to be the overbearing witch-type, the evil cauldron-stirring cat loving witch, then I change, but otherwise, I can just be myself, and most are none the wiser—Marlo, Mary-Lou, Angel, a few folks know my secret, but not many. So, rules Vinnie, we need some rules.”
She was like a ball of energy. Vinnie was near exhausted just keeping up with her. “Rules,” he mumbled, picking up a pancake, spreading some maple syrup on it.
“I’m sure Velvet would have told you, Atrixa too. I’m very possessive. Very.”
“Of…” Vinnie asked.
<
br /> Fin rolled her eyes. “Of you, silly. All the while you’re my student, you’re just that. No fucky, fucky with anyone else. There are reasons for this. I could tell you I need to measure your progress, to study your techniques, but here’s the truth; you want the truth?”
Vinnie nodded, though he severely doubted he did.
“I’m one jealous bitch. When I saw those women fucking you, and I knew I wanted you all to myself, well, I nearly inside-outed them there and then.”
“Inside…outed?”
“You shove your hand—look, never mind, the truth is, you’re here to learn, and I’m the best teacher in the land. If you learned the Samurai from some Sensei or the other, you wouldn’t hop off for a bit of sparring with another halfway through. In short, Vinnie, your mine. All mine until we’re done, capiche?”
Vinnie was fully capiched, he’d seen what Fin was capable of, the teleportation, changing into an evil witch and what not. The last thing he wanted to be was inside-outed. “No fucky, fucky,” he said, and meant it.
“I stress this is how it has to be, particularly in your case,” she said, with a huge hint of malice.
“Why particularly?” Vinnie asked, using his alto voice.
“Because Vinnie.” Fin suddenly had daggers in her eyes, cold steel daggers. “I’ve already accepted you have a measure of love for Little Red. I understand that—there’s nothing I can do about it, but I’m telling you—”
She started growling at him. Vinnie didn’t like it when folk growled at him. Though she was quite beautiful, and he was getting an eyeful of her magnificent tits. Why did all the women have magnificent tits? Then it dawned on him. Why not? You’re hardly going to ask for an avatar with tits like a bloodhound’s ears. So, they would all be pert, with bodies to die for, unless, of course, you strayed into negative esteem, then they might sag as his cock had withered. “Witherer,” he muttered, finally understanding.