This did not improve Brennan’s mood. He did not seem to like the idea of an incubus raping his wife. Go figure. Anyways, he charged forward, and I gave the signal to the girls. The three idiots didn’t have time to realize what happened before arrows, blades, and magic knocked them to the ground. If they were lucky, they would still live. At least until the fight was over.
Brennan paid no attention to this. He came in, like an idiot, thrusting and slashing with his daggers. I could see where his problem was immediately. He was the kind of guy who leveled up by sneak attacks, and never really fought people head on. Against someone who actually trained to fight (and had sixteen years worth of experience to back it up), this was never going to fly. The question, of course, was how to disable him without killing him?
I decided to just use magic on this one. Cloak of Chaos boosted my defenses. Shadow of Death hindered the bastard’s defense, and Darkbolt blasted him, aimed at his knees, shoulders, and other joints. All while I simply dodged his attacks. Before long, he was panting, wounded, and suffering from about eight different debuffs. And I’d taken about a hundred damage, as I kept parrying and dodging to reduce the damage of his blows when they did hit.
When he finally fell to his knees, I nodded to Severa, who dropped the slave necklace over his neck. Yes, I cheat. And cheating apparently brought the wrath of Jenny down on me.
“You bastard! I won’t forgive you for this!” Seems she noticed her husband’s new title of ‘Slave’. Unfortunately for her, I had no intention of playing fair with her. I hit rapid-fire with Euphoria and Dark Tentacles. She was high level (for me, at least), so she could break free before long. I quickly slipped the Ring of Servitude onto her finger, and the fight was over.
“You see, Quimmy, I don’t play fair. I cheat, and I’m really quite good at it by now. But don’t worry, you’re going to have a lot of time to think about things on our way to town.” And then a bunch of notifications hit me.
You have defeated 25 opponents at or above your level!
You gain 10000 XP!
You have Leveled up!
You have captured wanted outlaws Brennan the Menace and Jenny Grimm!
Gain 250 GP!
Gain 110 (increased from 100) Fame!
Quest Complete: Bandit Subjugation
Bandits have been causing trouble along the Vermillion Road between Falon and Wyrmwood. Thin their numbers so that merchant wagons can get through!
You have slaughtered the bandits that ambushed your caravan, killing or capturing them all.
Rank
D
Success
Kill 20 Bandits
Failure
Give up the Quest
Rewards
3000 Experience
200 GP
As I made my way back to the caravan, I had the girls loot the bodies and make sure there were no survivors amongst the wounded. As I approached the wagons, I waved, and called out to Silas. “Hey Silas, you know which of these slaves is these two’s kid?”
“HAH! The mighty Jenny Grimm and Brennan the Menace as slaves! Never thought I’d see the day! Mace, front and center against the bars!” A thin, sketchy-looking kid, barely old enough to consider shaving, presented himself against the bars. He was clearly disheartened seeing his parents, who he was sure would save him, now in the same boat.
I nodded to Silas, and said, “I figure we have some time while the Paladin and his crew try and repair that wagon and heal themselves up as best they can. So what do you say we have a show?”
Silas chuckled. “Oh, and what kind of show is that?”
“Well, I’m going to sit over here, with Jenny bouncing on my lap, while Brennan and Mace show us some Father-Son loving. The rules of the game are simple. If one of the men tells us where their hideout is, he gets to go on to whatever fate is in store for him. The other man, well, I don’t even want to picture what will happen to him. On the otherhand, if Jenny tells us the location of the camp, she’ll have my word that she will no longer be a slave before I reach Wyrmwood. I’ll even sign a contract to that effect.”
“And what happens to my man and the boy?”
“Glad you asked! Your boy will go on to have fun with whoever Silas sells him to. But he’ll be alive, and I’m sure you can figure something out. Same goes for your man. Might sell him to that paladin over there, to replace the slave you killed with that first blast. But again, he’ll be alive, which is better than the alternative.”
“Or I can just fuck you senseless and get the information that way. Ask my girls, they’ll tell you I’m good for it.”
“Master may be related to a horse, based on size.”
“Thank you, Yukiko. So, what will it be?”
Jenny looked at the terror in her son’s eyes, and the disgust in her husband’s, and lowered her head. “Fine, you asshole, our lair is in a cave not far from the road about two hours from here on foot.”
“See, that wasn’t so hard. Now, Silas, you think you can hold out for a while if my girls and I check the lair and make sure there aren’t any more of these bastards to come and hit us from behind?”
“Yeah, the survivors of the other party look to be almost recovered. We’ll make camp here, since we have to fix the wagon anyways.”
“Good. Brennan, you will help defend the caravan. Jenny, you come with me.”
Chapter 22 – The Lair
There are few things as relaxing as a nice hike through the forest. Especially when you’re hiking with six ladies. Sure, four of them were slaves, and only five of them were happy to be in my presence, but those were merely details!
Anyways, by interrogating talking to Jenny, who I promptly renamed Quimmy, I found out more about the bandit group, and the lair. They’d taken most of the group on the ambush, so there should only be about ten bandits at the lair. I also found that there was an options screen to manage pets and slaves, which allowed me to rename Jenny as Quimmy permanently. Quimmy was less pleased than I was about that.
After a couple hours of walking, we managed to get to the cave where the bandits had their lair. I had Severa out searching for sentries, but there weren’t any until just outside the entrance. Sloppy! They should have had at least one person further out, as a lookout. Sucks to be them, though.
I decided that it would be a good time to level up some of those skills I hadn’t bothered using for a while, and engaged Sneak and Move Silently. Creeping forward, with my bow in hand, I took aim at the ONE guard out on duty, and fired three shots as quickly as I could. Which was fortunate, since while all three shots hit, and were counted as sneak attacks, I wasn’t accurate enough to hit vital points. But three arrows to the chest brought the sentry down, before he could even yell or ring the alarm bell.
After looting the corpse, we continued into the cave, which promptly identified itself as a mini-dungeon ‘Bandit Hideout’. It was a fairly simple cave system, with a few rooms that had doors and walls constructed inside it. Large enough for, say, 30 people at most, but since they were barely a day from town, they didn’t need massive living quarters.
Sneaking forward, I found five more bandits in the main room, sitting around a table. They’d been drinking, and were currently in the middle of playing cards. I checked them with Observe.
Bandit
Human Male
Level 10 Rogue
Bandit
Elf Male
Level 8 Fighter
Bandit
Dwarf Female
Level 13 Ranger
Yzma
Succubus
Level 15 Dominatrix
Kronk
Half-Ogre Male
Level 12 Barbarian
Title: Thrall
Well, fuck. Dominatrix was the female version of the Dominator class I’d had the option of getting, once upon a time. Which spelled bad news for me. And it looked like Kronk was her plaything.
Zayn: Severa, Esyae, I want that succubus taken out first. Swift and brutal. Yukiko, prote
ct them from the big bastard. Della and Aravae, keep us healthy. I’ll work on the three bandits.
Della: Got it.
Yukiko: Hai!
Aravae: Simple enough.
Esyae: Sounds good.
Severa: In position. These people are too drunk to be much trouble.
Zayn: Don’t get cocky. After all, you didn’t think I would be much trouble when you met me, right?
Severa: R-right.
Zayn: All right. On three. One, two…
“THREE!” As I yelled the last word, several things happened at once. The succubus, who had just leaned over to rake in the pot after winning the round (and giving the two men opposite her a good view down her shirt) caught Esyae’s arrow in the eye, followed by a double stabbing from Severa, the daggers slipping through the woman’s ribs from behind, and piercing the succubus’s lungs and heart. Combined with the spider poison I’d let her use, this made for one rather dead Succubus. At the same time, I lunged forward, and caught the elf with both blades, neatly separating his head from his shoulders.
A few seconds later, the half-ogre roared in confusion. As I suspected, he was no longer the thrall of the succubus, and was royally pissed at everyone. The rogue tried to calm him, but got a massive fist to the face for his trouble, knocking him back against the wall. This, of course, got the attention of everyone else in the lair, and so moments later four more people joined the crowd: a dwarf male, two female humans, and an incubus, the last of whom came out of a side room and had, apparently, not bothered to put on clothes before seeing what was going on.
It got a bit crazy after that, but with it being six on seven, and only our six actually wearing armor and having their weapons (maybe the idiots thought it was a fight between thieves?), the actual fighting was pretty quick. After the half-ogre, the incubus, and the first idiot were all killed, the remaining four didn’t want to press their luck.
We had a simple task after that. We’d gotten some more jewelry from the bandits back at the caravan, mainly stuff with a +1 to +5 bonus in different stats. Nothing to write home about, but still useful for what I had in mind. Which was, of course, enchanting them further with the enslavement charm. Goddess, I was loving that thing! No worries about keeping watch on prisoners, or worrying about escape attempts. Slap the thing on them, and they’re done.
I didn’t bother learning their names. Instead, I renamed them Creamy, Knobpolish, Kitten, and Pony.
Creamy
Dwarf Female
Level 13 Ranger
Title: Slave
Knobpolish
Dwarf Male
Level 8 Fighter
Title: Slave
Kitten
Human Female
Level 15 Enchantress
Title: Slave
Pony
Human Female
Level 13 Warlock
Title: Slave
Anyways, once I’d stripped the bodies of the dead, we set about looting the place, with the help of Quimmy and her former subordinates to disarm the traps for us. Most of it was pretty basic stuff. We found some decent weapons and armor (including a set that was definitely elven-made), gear (including something that Identify told me was a travelstone), as well as some goods that had been taken off passing merchants and that the gang hadn’t had a chance to take into town yet, and 50 PP worth in various coins. I split the last with the Princesses, half for me, and half for them, since I have to pay for all my pets.
In the room the incubus came out of, we found something that, well, I was already expecting when the damn fool came out without anything on. Namely, the ‘relaxation room’ for the bandits. There were five women chained up in various positions around the room. One on a table, another bound to a bed, a third bent over in the stocks, a fourth chained to the wall, and a fifth who was secured in a cage. All five were naked, and I soon found that three of them had been raped to the point that their minds were gone. Maybe if someone spent a few months in daily therapy with them, they could get them to the point where they’d be good for anything but sex, but in a world like this? Wasn’t going to happen.
I looked at my girls, and knew that leaving them would not be a popular choice. But we couldn’t take the ones who had lost it with us. That was a good way to get us all killed. So I took the Sacrificial Dagger, and offered a prayer for their passing as I sacrificed them. I was not expecting much from this, but I was surprised by the new windows.
For sacrificing torture victims as you ease their suffering, you have gained a title!
Machiavelli
Whether through fear or mercy, all your actions serve to enhance your power.
+105 (increase from 100) Fame
+200 (increase from 100) Infamy
Increase the effect of Fame and Infamy on NPC interactions by 10%
For Sacrificing the victims, you gain 200 XP.
You gain 7 CHA and 3 DEX from the sacrifice.
Two of the girls had been used more because they were pretty, while it seemed the one that had been bound to the table was the most flexible of the lot. Still, nothing left to do for them. I released the girl in the cage and the one in the stocks, both of whom still had their wits about them. They probably hadn’t been there that long.
Merethyl Pressatra
Elf Female
Level 40 Fighter (Blademistress), Bard
Title: The Beautiful, Nightingale, Slave
Mirelth
Dragon Female
Level 900
Title: The Adorable, Mistress of Ice, The Taker of Life, Bringer of Death, Harrowdale’s Bane, Terror of Gloomspell Lake, Dragon God of Winter, Slave
Or maybe they were just that badass. Both had slave collars on their necks. How in the bloody hell did these scrubs get a FUCKING DRAGONESS as a slave? Before I can decide what to do with these two, however, Esyae and Aravae move towards the elf, speaking in their native tongue.
“Merethyl! How did you come here?”
“Princess Esyae? Princess Aravae? Is that really you? Am I dreaming?”
“No, my friend, we’re here.”
“But what has happened to you? Your auras are so weak compared to when I last saw you in the Wyrmwood!”
“Cursed and poisoned by cultists who wished to use us to summon a Terror. But this incubus freed us, and agreed to bring us home.”
“But what of you? How did a warrior like yourself get caught up in this situation?”
“It was that damn succubus. I was at a tavern, enjoying a meal while I was between quests, and I saw her there. I figured what harm was a little roll in the hay, right? Stupid me. I wake up with this collar on my neck, and the property of the head thief here, some human by the name of Jenny.”
That seemed like a good time to break into the conversation. “Actually, she goes by Quimmy now, since I took her as my slave. I take it you are a friend of the Princesses?”
“You speak elvish?” I nodded, which caused Merethyl’s expression to turn from shock to embarrassment. “Well, as you can see, I’ve gotten more of a roll in the hay than I thought I would. If you’re Quimmy’s master, then I guess that makes you my master, as well.”
“Indeed. So, your relationship with the Princesses?”
“My house serves the royal family. As children, there were few enough of us that were the same age in the castle, and we all played together. Later on, I took up being an adventurer to see the world and win a bit of glory.”
“And ended up a slave.”
She sighed. “Yes. So, what will you be doing with me?”
“How quickly could you make it to the Wyrmwood?”
“On my own? Depends on whether I’m able to get a horse. But perhaps a week? If my gear is not all gone, I had a travelstone to my father’s house, but it is one-person only.”
I nodded, and reached up to unlock her collar. The naked elf looked surprised at that. “You would free me?”
I pulled the travelstone from my inventory, and place it in her hand. “Go to your fat
her, and get an audience with the royal family, if you can. Tell them that Princesses Esyae and Aravae were waylaid and cursed on their way back from Fathon, but that they are in the care of an incubus named Zayn Darkmore, who is escorting them to the Wyrmwood along the Vermillion Road.” I also handed over her weapons and armor, as well. Sending the girl back in the nude would not give them the proper impression.
“And why would you do all this, when you could just take me, and still reach the Wyrmwood?”
“Because it would be no fun if someone like yourself, who is stronger than I am, did all the work as we traveled to the Wyrmwood. But we can discuss such things when we meet again. There’s an empty room with a wash basin around the corner. Clean yourself up before you head off, and don’t forget my message.”
Rules-Free VRMMO Life: Volume II - Beginning the Journey Page 7
