Guild Hall felt like a rather large overstatement. All that greeted whoever might enter the moderately-sized two-story building was an open floor with a single plain table surrounded by a few chairs. There were three doors along the back wall as well, one of which led to a barebones kitchen, the second to a lavatory, and the last which led to the second floor. In the kitchen there was a cellar door which, unsurprisingly, led to a cellar that still stocked several large barrels of ale that had survived the fire, but not much else. There was also a door that led out back to the small courtyard behind the building which then led to an alleyway abutting the surrounding businesses and shops. Other than the loss of furnishings, the first floor and cellar hadn’t changed much compared to when the place had been dubbed The Tipsy Mule.
The second floor had seen far more changes, especially since it had suffered the worst damage from the fire. The roof had been entirely replaced which, fortunately, had meant the ceiling could be left open rather than closed off, giving a little more headroom. Several of the partition walls had been removed as well, creating a single exceptionally spacious bedroom connected to a large bathroom.
The bedroom was where Jadis and Thea found Aila and Eir, the two women in the middle of adding some touches of comfort to the room. The construction-related jobs Jadis and the others had hired out to professionals. Jadis didn’t know a thing about building roofs and the only way she knew how to take down a wall involved a lot more destruction than she was looking to inflict on her new property. Most other things, though, Jadis and her companions had handled themselves to reduce costs. What Aila and Eir were working on were the last few touches of the custom-made bed taking up a large portion of the bedroom.
“This must be what gnomes feel like,” Eir laughed as she crawled across one edge of the bed in an attempt to pull an oversized blanket into place. “This bed is so large you could get lost in it!”
“Jadis does have a way of making a person feel short,” Aila mused, the tall and leggy redhead also dwarfed by the giant-sized bed.
“It looks amazing,” Jay grinned brightly, admiring the finally finished product.
There was nowhere in the city, possibly the whole world, that sold beds big enough for Nephilim bodies, so Jadis had been forced to make one of her own. She could have hired a carpenter for the job but doing it herself had felt like the right thing to do. Now that it was complete, she was glad she’d made the choice to make the bed by hand. Eleven feet wide and just as long, the giant square of a bed took up a lot of space. Its massive frame had needed multiple mattresses to fill it, but it was solid as a rock and should easily hold the combined weight of all three of her bodies plus quite a bit more. The exact carrying capacity was a metric Jadis hoped to test sooner rather than later, preferably later that day.
“It’s a little mis-matched,” Aila remarked. “These blankets and pillows are a mess of colors.”
“Pfft,” Syd made a rude noise. “It’s fine! The hodgepodge style is all the rage!”
“What are you talking—” Aila started before letting out a yelp as Syd swept her up in her arms like a princess.
“All that matters is how comfortable it is, anyway,” Syd laughed, before leaping backwards onto the bed with a startled Aila still in her embrace.
Just as Jadis had hoped, the bedframe held with barely a creak, its many, many extra supports holding up nicely to the weight. The bed was also pretty soft, to her further delight.
“It is so nice to not lie down on the floor for once,” Syd sighed into the mess of red hair her maneuver had made of Aila’s locks.
“You’re so ridiculous,” Aila muttered with an undertone of humor. “What happened with Sabina? Did she agree to the deal?”
“Yes, she did,” Dys said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and giving it a few bounces before motioning for Eir to step into her open arms, which the elf eagerly accepted. “Enthusiastically. And she finished all of our armor, too.”
“Oh, that’s quite impressive,” Eir murmured as she buried her smiling face in the crook of Dys’ neck. “She sounds quite talented.”
“You need to put the armor on then, give us a show,” Aila commanded, pushing off of Syd to sit upright.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Syd said as she pulled Aila back down and began kissing her cheek, jaw, and neck. “Everything I want to do right now has nothing to do with armor or clothes.”
“Jadis,” Aila gasped out a playful warning. “I swear you are like a goat in rut.”
“Hey,” Jay protested, having not yet jumped onto the bed, “It’s not like I’m some animal. It’s just, how am I supposed to not be horny all the time when I’m always surrounded by the most beautiful and sexy people on the whole fucking continent? I mean, look at that!”
Jay pointed at Thea who froze in mid motion, having been caught in the middle of removing her outer shirt. With the way her outer layer was partially pulled over her head, her inner shirt had ridden high to expose her flat and toned stomach and just the barest hint of underboob.
“See,” Jadis pouted with mock exasperation. “How am I to resist?”
“You’re an idiot,” Aila deadpanned.
“A romantic,” Eir corrected, holding back a giggle at Jadis’ antics. “A rather silly one, but endearing all the same.”
“Thank you,” Dys replied, giving Eir a kiss on the top of her purple-haired head. “That was very sweet. Now come here, I want to ravish you.”
“M—maybe we should wait until Kerr gets here?” Thea suggested over the fit of giggles and laughter Dys was eliciting from Eir with her hands and mouth. “Since you w—wanted to, um, do your Wanton Replication ritual?”
Thea’s suggestion was actually a fair one. As much as Jadis wanted to get started, she also wanted all of her lovers to be there. With how busy they had all been for the past few weeks, they hadn’t been able to spend much group time together. Most nights Jadis had only been with one or two at a time, if anyone at all, as they worked on rebuilding or attended to other responsibilities. Now though, their base of operations was completed, as was their boudoir. Jadis planned on making full and proper use of it with all of her companions.
Acquiescing to Aila’s request, Jadis put on her new armor. Not all of her bodies at once since she didn’t want to waste too much time getting out of the armor again, but Jay strapped the thick, heavy metal on to show off her newest purchase.
The heavy plate armor was, in a word, imposing. For the first time, Jadis wore equipment that fully covered her body and the effect was striking. The dark sheen of the Cold Flame Steel combined with the broad, dense lines of the design made Jay look like some kind of black knight out of a story book. To contrast the dark look, Sabina had put a white fur trim around the neck and shoulders of the armor, which just made the whole image feel even more intense in Jadis’ opinion.
The weight of the armor was not insignificant. Jadis wasn’t sure how much each of her bodies weighed just on their own, but the armor had to be close to the same weight. Her movement was surprisingly smooth despite how heavy the armor was, though Jadis could easily imagine getting tired much quicker if she had to sprint around a battlefield wearing the stuff. Still, the armor was so dense and her mass so great while wearing it that Jadis was sure most demons would have trouble even moving her increased bulk.
“What skills are you planning on replicating from us?” Aila asked as Jay displayed her armor in various exaggerated poses. “Considering what you’re capable of, I’m not sure much that I have would be useful to you.”
“Not the Arcane spells, no,” Syd agreed, arms wrapped around Aila’s waist as they cuddled together on the bed. “But I was thinking Nephilim Wellspring could be useful. That, or your newest skill, Nephilim Saturation.”
“You do have magic points to replenish now. And at least one spell you’ll regularly use,” Aila agreed. “Between the two, I think Wellspring will be better for you though. Especially considering the volume of your… output, most nights.”
“Are you sure? It means you won’t be able to hog my hot, sticky loads all to yourself,” Syd teased.
Aila let Jadis know exactly how she felt about that ribald joke with a few well-placed pinches.
Jadis had gained quite a few levels from the battle along the walls of Far Felsen, but she hadn’t been the only one. All of her companions had leveled up and acquired new skills. For Aila, her increase to level twenty-three in Cart Driver hadn’t made a big difference. None of the skills she’d been offered had made much sense for her to take, so she’d fallen back on what she usually did for the class and chosen an attribute upgrade. Lesser Arcane Improvement II had given her a five-point boost to her Arcane attribute, a relatively large boost that combined with other recent levels and Jadis’ Lewd Lover’s Bond skill, put her Arcane stat at one hundred and fourteen. Despite being only level thirty-nine and only sixteen of those levels being in an actual combat class, Aila had become an Arcane powerhouse who could compare to most mages that were twice her CLR.
Other than the attribute improvement from Cart Driver, Aila had learned two new skills for her Nephilim Powered Arcanist class. The first was a truly new spell, one that she could use in conjunction with her spell modification skills.
| Arcanist’s Dart Spray Active Spell. Shoot a spray of small, piercing force magic missiles in a twenty-foot cone. Form and function of spell can be modified by dependent passive skills. Cost and Duration variable dependent on variation of spell cast. Base Cost – 50 magic. Base Duration – Instantaneous. |
Aila had demonstrated the spell’s base function on the battlefield a couple times since getting it and Jadis had been suitably impressed. The small, sharp darts of ghostly force magic sprayed outward like a shotgun blast when cast. The cloud of deadly projectiles expanded as it flew forward before dissipating once it reached the spell’s maximum range. While it couldn’t go very far, the spell did a ton of damage to enemies that got close. The further back an enemy was, the less damage they took as fewer of the individual force darts hit them, but considering the amount of power Aila could put into the spell, the effects were still devastating when used against groups of relatively weaker demons.
The other skill Aila had learned was something a little more on the raunchy side. Still useful, but definitely something that came from the more perverse side of the redhead’s secondary class.
| Nephilim Saturation Passive Skill. Temporarily increase your Magic value by 50 points per Nephilim you have intercourse with. Effect stacks but cannot be received from the same Nephilim more than once during the active duration of the effect. Effect lasts for up to five days for each individual boost to your magic you receive. |
Aila had taken the skill with the hopes of Jadis’ three bodies counting as three different Nephilim so that she would receive one hundred and fifty points of extra magic rather than just fifty. Even if the skill only gave a fifty-point boost, she still would have considered it worth it since even that many points was a nice increase, but fortunately the skill did count Jadis as three Nephilim rather than just one. Jadis hadn’t been sure herself which way the skill would interpret her involvement since she sometimes counted as three, sometimes as only one, depending on the skill or ritual being used. The mechanics of magic and skills were definitely still weird to Jadis.
While a boost to her magic reserves wouldn’t be unwelcome, Jadis was pretty sure that if she had sex with herself, something she had no problem doing at all, she doubted the skill would also give her the full one-hundred-and-fifty-point boost. Then again, maybe it would? Jadis just wasn’t sure. Either way, in her opinion, being able to quickly recover her magic pool that she already did have via slurping up her own seed seemed like the better option. As it currently worked out, she had to wait for literal days for her magic to fully recharge.
Talking it over with the others while they waited, it was decided that while Aila had a perfectly reasonable skill for Jadis to replicate, Eir did not. All of Eir’s skills and spells revolved around the Divine attribute, something Jadis had precisely zero of. While being able to cast a healing spell on herself sounded great to Jadis, without any points in Divine, the spell would be completely ineffective. Which was a shame, since Eir had received a great new healing spell during her boost from level seventeen to level twenty in Beloved Cleric of Lyssandria.
| Beloved’s Ranged Channeled Healing Active Spell. Restore physical damage and Health Points to a single target via a ranged link no greater than thirty feet. This spell cannot regenerate lost limbs or completely missing organs. Health restoration per 5 Magic Points spent is equivalent to 0.2 of the Divine attribute. Cost – 5 magic. Duration – Channeled. |
Not having to touch her target in order to heal them was an amazing upgrade for the cleric. The spell wasn’t as efficient as her touch-range healing spell as it cost five times as much magic power to use, but not having to charge into the thick of combat to heal the front line made the extra cost absolutely worth it.
“What if you replicated my Speak to the D ritual from my Oracle class?” Eir suggested. “I know it isn’t practical for everyday reasons, but it would allow one of us to speak with D more than once a month. We could ask twice as many questions that way.”
“I’m not sure I’d want to speak to that guy more than once a month,” Dys grumbled while resting her chin on the top of Eir’s head. “He was pretty obnoxious last time.”
“Maybe Lyssandria will be there again?”
The hope in Eir’s voice made Jadis pause. The priestess had been beyond ecstatic when Jadis had told her of her encounter with the goddess of beauty and of her unwavering love despite Eir taking a class that wasn’t dedicated to her. Getting to hear about Jadis’ encounter with her patron deity had been an overwhelming experience for the elf, Jadis had no doubt, but it was still a secondhand experience. She couldn’t blame Eir for wanting to see if she could speak directly with her goddess herself.
“I’m willing to try it if you are,” Dys sighed, giving Eir a warm squeeze. “Just remember that the ritual is to talk to D, not Lyssandria. She might not even be there.”
“I know,” Eir leaned back into Dys. “But I want to try. And even if my Lady isn’t there, I would still appreciate the chance to speak with Destarious directly. I feel I should try to strengthen my bond to him, since he is now also my patron, in a way.”
Thea’s skills proved to be a different kind of difficult compared to Eir’s. Rather than having no options, Thea offered too many. Improved Vision I, Piercing Strike, Quick March, Stable Footing, and Shieldsworn’s Magic Resistance were all respectable options that Jadis could see herself making good use of. Even Thea’s latest skill she’d gained from her most recent levels, aside from attribute improvements, looked like it would be a useful addition under the right circumstances.
| Brace for Impact Active Skill. Temporarily increase your Strength, Fortitude, and Resilience while bracing for an attack. You are more difficult to move while in this stance. Cost – 20 stamina per second. |
Thea had received Brace for Impact when she had reached level nineteen in Shieldsworn Guard, though she had actually gone all the way up to level twenty in the class. Her primary, Imperial Soldier, had reached level twenty-six, but it hadn’t received anything particularly useful so Thea had simply taken Lesser Vitality Improvement I to boost her health by another fifty points. Jadis had quite agreed with that choice, considering how hairy some of the fights they got in had been and were likely to be in the future.
In any case, Jadis was strongly considering replicating Thea’s latest skill. It didn’t require the use of a shield unlike several of Thea’s other skills, and combined with the massive plate armor Jadis now owned, Jadis could see herself becoming a truly immovable object.
While Kerr hadn’t yet returned, talking it over with everyone else, they all agreed that, like Thea, Kerr had several skills that could benefit Jadis too. Kerr had also gained a few levels, though unlike Thea her latest skill didn’t seem as useful for Jadis and the style of her general combat build.
| Nox Archer’s Brutal Shot Active Skill. Increase the damage of your next bow shot by 1.5 of the Strength attribute. Cost – 10 stamina. |
Even though Jadis had had to redo her Lewd Lover’s Bond with everyone after the huge battle, Kerr had decided against empowering her Dexterity stat like she had originally planned and had instead kept the boost to her Strength. Since her Strength was over eighty points with Jadis’ help, Kerr was able to take the Brutal Shot skill, something that previously she hadn’t had the attributes to qualify for. Since she could use both her Charged Shot and her Brutal Shot at the same time, Kerr was able to do even more damage with her ranged attacks. Even better, she had explained, with such high Strength, she was able to increase the draw strength of her bow beyond normal means via enchantment so that even her regular shots would deal far, far more damage.
That had been Kerr’s stated errand when Jadis had last spoken to her. With the silver she had earned from the bounties as well as the coin Jadis had paid her for selling The Tipsy Mule property to her, Kerr had been able to afford a new longbow with a host of powerful enchantments built into it that would dramatically increase Kerr’s damage potential. Jadis hadn’t expected Kerr to take quite so long to get back from picking up her new weapon, but Jadis was looking forward to seeing the apparently amazing new bow. Kerr had been visiting the craftsman working on it almost every day and her enthusiasm for the weapon was contagious.
While Jadis wanted to hear Kerr’s opinion on her choice before solidifying it, everyone else agreed that out of all of Kerr’s skills, Ambush Tactics I was probably the best choice. It was only a minor boost in damage to targets she took by surprise, but Jadis did prefer to catch her enemies off guard whenever possible and in an ambush situation that extra damage boost could make a difference between a first strike being lethal or not. Besides, even a “minor” boost was significant when it was coming from Jadis.
Around that time was when the door to the bedroom burst open, an energetic Kerr strutting in with a wide toothy grin on her face.
“Hey there motherfuckers! Check out my new—what the merde!?
Kerr’s proud exclamation was interrupted by her surprised exclamation as she encountered Jay still wearing her dark plate armor. The therion took a few steps back, shock evident on her face before she sagged a bit, her expression turning to a scowl.
“You kotzbrocken, you couldn’t have warned me?” she yelled at Jadis.
“How would I warn you, I didn’t even know you’d gotten back,” Jay laughed, her voice muffled by her helmet. “Besides, I didn’t think you’d freak out. You don’t like the new suit?”
“It’s fucking great,” Kerr huffed, “very intimidating. Not what I was expecting to see walking into the bedroom. I was expecting a lot more nude bodies dripping with sweat and cum. More than the zero of that I see right now.”
“We were waiting for you,” Eir informed Kerr with a gentle shake of her head. “Though I suppose none of us should be surprised by your expectations.”
“Hey, I don’t want to hear that shit from someone twice the horn-dog I am,” Kerr tilted her horns at the red-skinned elf. “Anyway, check out my new bow! It’s dannatamente fantastico!”
“Yeah, it is,” Jay agreed, looking over the huge longbow Kerr was carrying over her shoulder. “It’s really nice!”
The bow was made of metal rather than wood and was inscribed with a series of runes all up and down the length of it. The body was much thicker than normal bows Jadis was familiar with, except for where it abruptly cut back down for a leather-wrapped handle. When Kerr stood it up next to her, Jadis could see that the bow was actually a little taller than her, not including her horns, which was impressive considering Kerr wasn’t a small woman.
The new bow wasn’t the only thing Kerr had in hand, though.
“Anyway, I brought us some meat skewers and booze,” Kerr held up a sack that smelled like street food. “So, which first? Eating or fucking?”
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