Monstrous Lovers Ch. 02

"Right now the trap lasts for about thirty seconds in it's inert form on the ground. Or ten seconds if it's actively trying to restrain someone. Now the trap is relatively useless against those of sufficient physical strength." She demonstrated this by ripping her leg free from the ground, the gooey thinning before the strands snapping under the force of her immense muscles. Fifteen seconds later and the blob reformed on my shoulder.

"The strength of the trap and the inert and active forms can be improved as the familiar grows. As well as other applications. Here," she said, offering me a bottle of swirling partially opaque liquid, with hints of white and black fluid.

"What's this?" I asked as I took it from her.

"My essence. Consider it an apology for the way I treated you when we met. And for the minor poisoning I plied you with the night before."

Wait... What? Essence and what was that about poison?

"She obviously got you drunk the first night in town Boss. That milk you drank was probably somewhere around one fifty proof."

Damn. That was smooth for a liquor hardcore enough to lacquer a boat. What am I holding right now?

"Female ejaculate. Or as Roslyte tactfully provided and explained earlier, her essence."

Is it weird that I'm both slightly squigged and aroused at that?

"If it is wrong, I don't want to be right."

And to think she carries this stuff in her pocket.

Unscrewing the cap, I gave it a surreptitious sniff. It smelled of brownies. Fresh baked, hot out of the oven brownies. It messed with my brain that this came out of Roslyte's lady parts.

The game certainly goes out of its way to remove a large portion of the things that could turn people off of certain sex acts. Although I won't complain about baked goods scented vaginal fluid.

Taking my new blob companion, I set him over the top of the jar. Like that physics trick with the match, bottle, and egg, the blob slipped through the seemingly overly small opening. The protozoa gulped down the fluid eagerly before resting, seemingly unchanged at the bottom of the bottle. Then an invasive pinkish hue overtook the green coloration of the creature. The glass container bouncing around in my hands before falling still. Tipping the container upside down failed to extract now entirely cherry blossom pink creature.

"That's alchemical glass, made for throwing. It'll dissolve harmlessly into sand once it is broken."

Taking her advice I threw the glass onto the ground; where it did exactly what Roslyte said it would, freeing my tiny companion. Picking my familiar up, I examined it carefully, looking for any additional differences besides the coloration change.

What's this?

A tiny little purple orb floating lazily in the middle of the goop. I threw it onto the ground where it puddled just like before, I stepped on it but nothing happened.

"It won't trap its master," Roslyte said after I turned to look at her. "The upgrade it acquired seems to be from my succubus nature it seems and is not combat related."

"Not combat related? Then what good is it?" I asked, looking at the blob speculatively.

"Push the core and you'll see," she said with a smirk.

I did so and the damn thing started vibrating like a... well, like a vibrator. It also lost a bit of its fluidity, becoming more rigid. I instantly grasped the implications.

She turned my familiar into a sex toy!

Rather than growing angry, I was more intrigued by the possibilities this thing could open up during 'encounters'. I touched the purple orb that'd migrated to the surface and it stopped vibrating, softening back to it's normal jiggly form.

"Different essence will have varying effects, but the usual rule of thumb is that the personality of the person the essence is derived from will have influence the upgrades acquired. More... combative personalities will be more likely to bring offensive changes while those shading more to the lover side will tend to have... different changes."

"Like what?"

"There was one familiar, owned by the Gryphon Mystic Ramona, that could take the form most desired by the recipient and prolong their orgasm far beyond what could be achieved naturally," she smiled in remembrance of a particularly pleasant memory.

"Wow. Sounds powerful."

"It was."

I plopped the sex toy slash utility item onto my shoulder while we chatted about the various artifacts and familiars that existed in this world; walking while we talked.

The sun disappeared beyond the horizon and an ominous fog floated, twisting under unseen currents. We approached the edge of the cemetery, stage properly prepared for my first quest fight. The full moon cut a huge portion of the night sky, a giant unblinking observer to my pre fight preparations.

"What is the nature of the creature you are fighting?" Roslyte asked curiously as she set up a small campfire, and started roasting what looked to be a chicken in the flames.

"I don't know."

She lidded her eyes, judging me, her look not pleased. "That seems... foolish to go into an encounter without knowledge of your enemy. I would suggest that next time you do some research in town before you fight. As far as I can tell you need every edge you can get."

"Probably fair, if harshly delivered. Do you know why the cemetery is so far away from town? It took us forever to get here and it seems like it would be a hassle to transport bodies this entire distance."

"This isn't a cemetery for the town, this is thee Cemetery. A place of necrotic convergence that tends to give rise to, and attract, all manner of... less than savory beasties that roam the countryside."

"Any last minute advice?" I asked, squinting through the fog at the silhouettes of towering six foot tall gravestones I could barely make out.

"Hit your enemy while avoiding her attacks is usually a good idea. More specifically, use your brain because your physical abilities are frankly... lacking. Also, bind your resurrection to my campsite in case things go wrong so I don't have to travel back to Radavack to get your sorry ass," she commanded.

Eve? How do I do that?

"Just request Ilum and Elum to safeguard your soul here."

Following her instructions netted me a prompt indicating my respawn point had changed.

Sweet. Thanks Eve.

"No problem Boss."

"Thanks Roslyte. Here goes nothing."

While I was walking away I heard a vial of glass shatter and I looked back to see that her entire campsite had vanished. No crackling of the campfire. Just... nothing. I watched it for a few seconds before Roslytes head appeared in thin air.

"Jeez you'd think you'd never seen a miss-me-not potion in use before," but she said it with a smirk, letting me know it was a joke. "Now get going. You've got just under thirteen days before your time limit expires. And, while I love my goddess, she can be a touch... strict when it comes to completing her quest. And she's particularly... inventive when it comes to punishments," she murmured the last bit to herself with a smile as she retreated, her head disappearing through the veil of whatever invisibility barrier she'd erected.

Cause that's not chilling or anything.

I walked cautiously down the road, the fog clearing just enough to give me a glimpse of a rundown cathedral situated at the end of the road, the gravestones still looming large off to my right.

The full moon provides enough light that it would feel like day if it wasn't for this oppressive fog.

There was a strange intensity to the air, a sort of pressure against my senses, that let me know I was not alone. The fact that I couldn't see my observer wigged me out, like seeing a spider and jumping, only to lose track of it. You knew the eight eyed creature was there watching you, but it was the where that truly mattered. Taking a deep breath I tried to center myself. The gravestones stood as tall as I was, weathered and crumbling. Laying my hand on the rough stone, I began to read their inscriptions.

That was when she struck.

With a high pitched cackle that echoed directionless through the fog, she attacked, slicing a burning cut along my upper arm and shoulder, sliding past me in a blur of flapping cloak and crimson light. I covered the bleeding with my hand, whirling to try to see where she'd gone but she'd already vanished.

Invisibility?... No. Just an ambush predator looking to wear me down. Laying my back against the gravestone, I peered around the edges, looking for any signs of the creature.

Swirling fog? Footsteps in the grass? There's got to be some way of tracking and beating her at her own game. I don't like the idea of being the mouse in a cat and mouse game. I need to turn the tables on her.

The cathedral stood in the background, silent and ominous, intact but in a state of disrepair that indicated a long period of disuse. I slide between the aisles of the gravestones, peering down the lanes of grass like I was looking for my significant other in a shopping market. Peeking around the edge of the final gravestone showed no signs of the creature.

Gravel crunched behind me and I froze.

Not breathing and glaciar slow, I rotated just my head.

Baykok (Blood Mage) - Class: Standard Citizen - Status: Hostile

She had dark brown hair, falling across half her face in matted unwashed snarls. As she moved, she cackled lowly, somehow not yet noticing my presence. Her hair swayed revealing the covered part of her face. Hidden behind her locks was bleached white bone, her skull and teeth on display for only an instant before being hidden by her hair once more. The black socket haunting, mirroring the emptiness present in her human eyeball. Glancing at the rest of the body showed more calcium rich areas on display. Her right side ribs were showing and the lack of flesh continued to her upper arm that transitioned back to pale skin at the elbow. Her left hand was pure bone, clutching a glowing red dagger, crimson light spilling softly around it, reflecting off the fog's water vapor, lending a garish tint to the scene. The skeleton was also exposed from her right knee down, that foot clacking ever so lightly as she stalked. My nose was thankful for the lack of rot and decay, just clean transitions between dirty flesh and clean white bone.

I'm glad there's no Oogie Boogie bug theme going on because that would be a little over the top. How does she not see me?

"The passive on your cloak is keeping you hidden. Look at your shoulder."

Sure enough, the color of my cloak had shifted, nearly perfectly matting the color and texture of the stone gravestone I was perched against.

Heh. A fine pair of hobbits we make.

"Dibs on Sam. You can be the angsty one."

The creature moved nearly silently in sudden lunges and pauses, no rhyme or reason to its movements. It walked right passed my body, until it was directly in front of me. The opportunity was too good to pass up and I seized it. Leaning over, I scooped up a chunk of stone that'd weathered from a tombstone and slammed it quite literally into the back of the woman's skull. Silence reigned supreme for a moment, the clack of stone on bone echoing mutedly into the fog. Her head turned in a sharp jerk, glaring at me with clear and present malevolence. She let out a horrid ear rending screech and her hair started levitating. The dagger fell to the ground with a splash as she threw her hands out wide.

A vortex of air began swirling around her as her crimson aura grew stronger. Translucent phantom flesh began overlaying the bone, filling in the gaps with a ghostly maroon facsimile of her relatively normal skin. Her black robes flapped in the wind as bones shot out of the nearby graves, flying to her hand and assembling into a weapon.

Why does she get to have weapons? I whined. I watched, wide eyed, as the oversized scythe with a curving bone blade whose edge trailed crimson smoke. She screeched again, floating a good foot above the ground. My eyes were transfixed on the blade as she drew it back, a sort of inevitability to the motion, like it wouldn't be paused or slowed for anyone or anything. There was an odd flicker on her two faced features, a moment where I thought I saw a flash of sadness and resignation poked through the insanity. Then it was gone, her eyes locking on mine and she gave a grim smile that chilled my bones.

"Get down!" Eve whispered urgently.

Previous experience told me to follow sudden commands given to me by Eve and I dove to the ground, my palms getting cut up by the ground. A sound like short range thunder boomed out of from the woman once she released her charged up attack. The sound came from the pulverized gravestones that were shorn in two near waist height.

Damn.

Sound echoed dully through my ears, slightly deafened by the noise. The air between us was scorched by the heat of her gaze and I rolled along the ground, breaking line of sight. I army crawled over the headstones, some of the words catching my notice.

Here Lies Booker

Now He Soars Through the

Sky Like a Songbird

There was one more.

Sir Drake & Beloved

Together In Death As

They Adventured In Life

Are they all...?

"Video game references? Yep. Down that way is a Zelda one," Eve said, indicating toward where death incarnate floated. "And over there is Commander Shepard."

How do I deal with her? That scythe attach is no joke. If she touches with me that thing I'll be nothing but two halves of what used to be a person.

"I think your missing the obvious Boss."

What? Does she have some obviously glowing weak point I missed? Complete with flashing neon arrows.

"No, but that attack has a crazy long wind up."

The scythe slammed point first into the ground not a foot from my head, stone shards peppering my face and shoulders.

So?

"So, when she starts to do it again what should you do?"

Take a chance that if she releases it early I get cut in half? I thought sarcastically.

"What do you normally do if a boss has an unblockable attack like that?"

I stay out if it's range and pray.

"Or?" she prompted as I dodged another vertical scythe swipe. The baykok sneered at me and began another wind up attack.

I finally picked up on Eve's hints. I popped to my feet and touched the clasp of my cloak.

Moxy.

The garment on my back sprang to life, unfurling like a great pair of wings for an instant before snapping down, releasing a mournful yell louder than anything my foe had produced. Fortunately my ears were somehow insulated against my own attack. The baykok was less fortunate, dropping her scythe which fell into component bones that rattled onto the ground. I didn't waste my chance, scooping up a piece of rubble from her scythe attack.

I feel like a caveman. 'Me impress pretty woman. Smash enemy with rock.'

"Ogg strong. Hit hard and often. Make pretty woman wet."

I had to stifle a chuckle as I wound up and brought my lump of stone down on her head again in an overhead smash.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Her head jerked to the side, staying at an unnatural angle for just long enough for me to think I might have won before she snapped it back straight with a nauseating sound of bone grinding against bone. There was another strange moment, her eyes shining with hope and her lips mouthing a word which might've been 'sorry'; fleeting, the moment disappeared as her rage returned.

Eve... what's going on? I asked, both for her strange demeanor as well as the aura which was growing stronger once more. Her translucent red flesh was now solid. The crimson light bleeding into the air with whispers of diabolic intent.

"Stage three. As far as the other thing... I honestly don't know. It's not information that's readily available in this world."

The baykok's feathery garment fluttered to the ground, revealing a tight black vest with metallic red accents. Flexing her hands, caused the ambient light she was seeping into the atmosphere to coalesce into ghostly claws that lied atop her fingers like sinister ruby gloves. She flashed me a sinister grin that would've made the Joker proud, bobbing on her feet for a moment. She took a rapid step forward, intimidating me backwards. My foot caught on a large gravestone chunk for a moment but I instinctively found my balance, my boot repositioning underneath me.

Whoo, I thought with relief. That could've been bad. Thank god for that increased dexterity.

She sneered at me derisively and darted towards me. The gleam of those claws frightened me enough that I had no desire to fight a close ranged battle. I rolled out of the way and her claws scored neat little lines across my calf. She stopped her pursuit, taking a large whiff of her bloodstained claws. Something resembling ecstasy crossed her face before she flicked her hand, sending the blood splattering across the grass and rubble. She charged again, this time scoring my ribs along my left side as I attempted to sidestep. Once more she paused to smell my blood, in what felt a lot like a fetishists sexual ritual. Seizing the opening, I beaned her with another modest piece of stone. The strike caused spiderweb cracks to spread across the crimson flesh of her right shoulder and upper arm.

"Keep smashing Ogg. You can do it."

As long as I don't bleed out first.

Already the loss of blood had begun to affect me, a small weakness that creeped into the edges of my awareness. One of the violet gemstone eyes of my cloak lit up. I tried to trap her in my protozoan familiar but evidently her strength had improved such that she merely sneered and ripped her leg free.

Guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way... The really old, old fashioned way. I choose... The path of the caveman.

We traded strikes three more times, I acquired additional cuts on my cheek, inner thigh, and forearm. In return I'd deepened the impact at her shoulder, as well as cracking her right knee and left hand. The second gemstone eye lit up and the clasp of my cloak hummed, alerting me to the end of its cooldown and its readiness to be used.

Just in time too. The baykok altered its pattern. Spreading her arms wide, her mouth unhinged unnaturally wide before she inhaled. An unnatural vortex of wind sprung up around her, seeking to draw me into her maw. The bits of blood she'd sloughed off of her claws was born aloft by the magical breeze, swirling around her before being drawn into her mouth. It didn't require much effort to avoid the pull so I wondered what new unpleasantness she had in store for me. I fingered the amulet speculatively, swaying on my feet, debating my options.

This will probably be me last chance to use the stun before I'll be rendered too weak to fight by the blood loss.

The cracks in her conjured skin began to recede, presumably healed by the blood she'd consumed, this loss of progress triggered my action. The banshees scream blossomed from me in an incapacitating wave, sure to stop her from healing.

Only to crash around an invisible bubble of protection that was briefly visible as a red dome while it stopped the harmful soundwaves from reaching their target.

Shit!

The healing continued, working its way up her body, her knee nearly completely fixed to the state it'd been at the start of stage three. I charged her, desperation lending speed to my limbs. The pull of her vortex assisted me in running headlong into the same defensive ability that'd stopped my cloaks attack. My nose cracked with a crunch, twin spurts of blood spilling from my nostrils where they were shortly drawn into the vortex and down the baykok's mouth.