TRC - Searching for the Sky Ch. 27

Kal looked at the floor, "Any luck finding more sources of stone? If we had enough then I might be able to do something similar but a lot quicker."

Velt shook her head, "I already thought of that and I've been keeping an eye out. If there are any more big rocks in the area they are underground. We've only seen a small area of this woods, so that isn't really saying much. From experience, I can tell you that rock formations are rare out on the plains."

"That's too bad. What do we need to get started?"

"Water, dirt, straw, and somewhere to mix it all."

"I've got the dirt!" yelled Ria, smiling.

---

Velt took a handful of the mud and with a fling of her arm slung it in a wide arc at the wall of her home.

"We will work up and over to the other side then come back and do it again," she explained as she smoothed out the natural mortar while pressing it into the dirt. "Each layer has to dry as much as possible before the next one is applied, if it's too wet we run a higher risk of it cracking when we build the fire in here. You don't have some fancy magical way of doing this any faster do you?"

"Sadly, no." Kal drew a rune in the air and lump of the mud floated up into his hand, "That's about as fast as I can move things with this spell. However..." he took the lump and split it into smaller parts while releasing the spell and switching to the telekinesis cantrip. The spell was far weaker, it could only pick up one of his boots at a time, but allowed him to move things a lot faster. He then sent one of the pieces streaking toward the wall quickly followed by the rest. He looked over at Velt, "Or maybe I do?"

"You apply, I'll smooth."

With a nod, he began pinching off small pieces of the mixture in his basket and started painting the wall with mud.

---

Kal came jogging up with what he hoped was the last of the wood they needed. Velt had built a small fire in the middle of the burrow to 'quick-dry' the mud mixture and had volunteered to continuously feed it through the night. A vent was dug into the far side of the large room, the small fire kept going out from lack of airflow and a couple of them even started feeling lightheaded as they ran in to feed it. Next to Graff and Velt's home lay two huge piles of sticks and logs. One would nearly fill the burrow and be used to start the initial bake while the second would be used to maintain the high temperature needed to set the mortar and make it water-resistant. She explained that this process took weeks with their home north of Lantaris, but they were going to try to speed things along for Kal's sake.

Before sunrise the next morning, the drying fire was put out and the home allowed to cool. Having been up all night, Velt promptly collapsed into bed as soon as the others emerged. Once it was cool enough to enter, Graff, Sera, and Kal started loading in the wood.

Hauling sticks in by the armload lasted a whole minute before Ria reminded them that she could make their lives a lot easier by taking care of it for them.

"Isn't there a chance that if the walls aren't dry enough they could crack when we fire them?" Kal asked Graff as a stream of tiny little lights dipped into Ria's pouch then continued on into the burrow.

"Yes, but Velt makes a kind of putty out of wood ash and some other stuff. She uses that to repair any cracks. After we are done she will have plenty of ash to work with. All we need to worry about is big chunks falling and shattering."

"More knowledge from the village where she grew up?"

"I think so."

"Is there anything else we need to do once Ria is finished?" asked Sera.

"Just feed the fire so it stays nice and hot inside and I think Ria may be able to take care of that as well," replied Kal. "If that's the case then I might work a little more on the fluid we got from the sundew. I may need to see if that herd of pigs is still around, I need to do some testing."

"Like what?" asked Graff.

"Like how long it lasts and how quickly it takes effect. I don't doubt what the researcher Sera was reading the other day said but I would rather confirm it with my own eyes."

"Didn't you mention something about it being an aphrodisiac?" she asked Sera.

"That comes after the paralysis if I remember correctly," answered the gorgon.

"Try it on me instead," she offered, turning back to Kal.

Sera's eyes threatened to pop out of her head at the request and Kal looked at the doe like she had gone mad, "Are you serious?"

Graff lifted her chin defiantly, "Yes, I am, but it comes with a price."

"Which is?"

The rabbit-girl blushed, "The man in the book said that everything down there kept working," she said indicating her groin. "I'd like you to... confirm that."

Kal's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "There has to be more to it than that."

"Fine!" she said in exasperation. "As awful as some of the things Sera read were, I've had this thought stuck in my head ever since then. I can't help wondering what it would be like to be totally helpless while you and Velt and... you," she looked at Sera, "did whatever you want with me."

Kal raised an eyebrow, "And you've mentioned this to Velt?"

Graff nodded, "She's not as excited about it as I am but she said it sounded interesting."

Kal gave Sera a questioning look. "What do you think?"

"I'm actually going to bow out of this one," she said holding up her hands. "I may come and check on you later, but I think I will stay out here and keep Ria company since she is the one doing all the work."

Kal quickly searched the gorgon's face for any sign of resentment but couldn't find any. He turned to the doe. Alright, let's do this. Just so you know, at first I will be writing down a ton of observations, the fun part doesn't come until I'm done."

Graff made a pouty face but nodded in understanding.

Turning toward the tent, he waved for her to follow, "Velt isn't going to be happy about waking her up."

---

"Did you guys have to do this now?" asked the very sleepy looking vixen.

"She'll be recovered before the walls are done firing. Since she will be helpless I thought you should be here to keep an eye on her," Kal replied.

"Whatever," she said before covering a yawn. When done, she looked over at Graff and gave her a tired glare, "Your kinks are keeping me from my sleep, honey."

"The first part of this will be me taking a lot of notes. If you want to go back to sleep, I'll bring her in once I'm done." He looked at the doe, "Ready?"

"Being a study subject isn't sounding very fun. I hope the second part is worth it." She gave him a determined look, "Yes, I'm ready."

"I removed the sticky part of some of the 'dew,' but I want this to be easy to clean off with a towel and not have to worry about it running all over the place. Because of that, I'm going to use the unaltered fluid on you." Picking up a wooden spatula he dipped some of the viscous, clear liquid out of a bottle and applied it to a spot just above her right breast. He managed to drop the spatula into the bottle and pick up the towel when Graff collapsed in place like a puppet with its strings cut. Velt and Kal both froze where they were, reaching for the falling rabbit girl but neither of them were prepared for how quickly the fluid took effect.

"That was unexpected," said Velt as she leaned over and began situating Graff on the carpet.

Kal peered where he placed the sundew's fluid. Picking up a parchment, he began jotting down notes. "Fascinating. Where I smeared it is already dry, it looks like it is using Graff's natural magic reserves to help it absorb and spread quickly."

"Graff can't use magic, though," said Velt.

"Every living thing has a natural magic to them. Monster girls more so than most other creatures. The fluid taps into that and uses it to affect the victim more quickly."

"Please don't call her a 'victim,' especially when she's all limp like this," Velt raised one of Graff's arms by the wrist and let it flop to the floor. "Thank goodness she can still blink," said the vixen while looking at Graff's face. "Your story about being frozen by Sera sounded awful."

"She can? Wonderful! Graff, blink twice." The paralyzed doe blinked two times rapidly. "Are you in any kind of pain? Once for yes, twice for no."

Two blinks.

"This makes things a bit more interesting, I wasn't expecting to be able to communicate with her."

Velt looked down at Graff, "If you are okay I'm going to go back to sleep while he does his science-y stuff."

One blink.

"Love you, silly bunny," she said, kissing the rabbit-girl on the forehead. "I'll see you in a little bit."

As Velt left, Kal took up his parchment and quill, "First off, can you grow fur or switch your limbs?...

---

Velt opened one eye as the light from the fire pit flickered across her face, signaling Kal and Graff's entrance. "Hmm... did you forget your spear and magic helmet?" she asked, looking at the silhouette of the mage carrying the limp rabbit girl in his arms.

"What?" Kal's face was a mask of confusion.

"Nevermind," she said, pushing herself up. "You just made me think of a weird little human that came through our territory a couple of years ago hollering about hunting rabbits with his spear and magic helmet. I'm guessing you are all done?"

Kal nodded and walked over to the bed, laying Graff down on it.

Velt tugged the rabbit into position so her head was near the edge of the bed then climbed over top of the doe, so her sex was directly above Graff's face. "As punishment for waking me up twice, you get stuck watching, for now." She looked over her shoulder at Kal and shook her ass at him, "Me first."

---

"It's so weird. She's all flushed and her breathing is fast, but she doesn't moan or anything," said Sera as she watched Kal mercilessly fuck the helpless rabbit-girl.

"She is definitely enjoying it though. She comes every few minutes," said Kal.

"How do you know?"

"She still tightens up like normal when she gets off."

"Interesting. I'm going to head back outside and see what Velt is up to and if the fire is where it needs to be. I must admit, it is very tempting to strip down and rub myself all over her face."

"She wouldn't mind. Velt already did that, but not until claiming my first round."

"You filled her up then she rubbed her pussy all over Graff's face?"

"Yup."

"I might need to see what that's like for myself sometime," she said, looking down at the doe.

Very slowly, Graff blinked once in response.

Sera smiled then looked back up at Kal, "By the way, I think Ria is claiming you for tonight. She mentioned something about a reward for doing all of our menial work. Anyway, I'll let you two continue. I need to leave before I end up in bed with you," she said before kissing Kal on the cheek and heading back outside.

---

Kal dropped the large stone disc he made over the vent on the back side of the burrow. They had already sealed up the entrance with a pile of a similar mud mixture but this one would intentionally become brittle as it dried.

"Now that that's done, I think it's about time for us to get moving again," said Velt.

"You don't want to wait until you can move in?" he asked.

The fox-girl laughed, "Normally we would unseal it tomorrow, but it would still take a few more days to cool down after the roaring fire we had in there. Leaving it like this it will take closer to a week, but a slow cooling should help keep down any cracking."

"I guess I'm just disappointed that we aren't going to be able to see it finished and livable before we go."

"That's sweet of you but you are still going to have to see it. Ria still has all of mine and Graff's belongings, remember?"

"Good point. If there's nothing left to do then I suppose you are right and we should get packed up."

---

Their exit to the woods was interrupted by a gully that seemed out of place in the relatively flat landscape. It proved to be a minor issue as it widened out and the sides sloped down to join the surrounding plain.

Two days passed before Kal suddenly stopped them.

"Ladies? Does anything seem strange about the terrain?"

Sera, Velt, and Graff all looked around. The gorgon and doe were confused but the vixen seemed to pick up on his observation, "Something does feel odd now that you mention it."

The mage began turning his cloak around, threading his feet through the loops sewn into the bottom. "I need to check something," he said before leaping high in the air and flaring the cloak in the wind as he activated the featherfall rune.

"What seems odd?" asked Graff.

"There is a small incline on either side of us," said the vixen, pointing into the distance.

"What makes it so special?"

"Wait until Kal comes back. I have an idea, but he should know for sure from up there."

A couple of minutes later he landed a short distance away from the girls and began turning his cloak back around with a wide grin on his face.

"What did you find?" asked Sera.

"Remember when I told you that we were looking for the river that the city of Te'thalas was located next to and that the tower shouldn't be far from where it meets the southern forest?"

"Yes."

Kal held his arms out to either side, "We are standing in an ancient riverbed."