Ivan frowned at Myrn and her last comment.

“I mean...you are cheating right?” She asked again, her face partially hidden behind her cards.

Ivan put his cards down and frowned at Davian and Andy.

Davian made an innocent face, and seemed to be trying to figure out what his cards meant. That or it was an act. Andy made an act of always smiling no matter what he drew making his a difficult read, and each and everyone of them had their emotions tucked away behind curtains of iron will besides. Myrn, the easiest one by far, liked to act out something with each card, but her eyes were her biggest tell.

Marvin chuckled.

Ivan turned up his hand as he glanced at the man. Three kings, and two aces showed themselves on his cards.

Collective moans and groans passed around the table, and Ivan carefully collected the coins from each of their piles. Ivan raised his eyebrows at Myrn.

“You are cheating right? That's like half the point of this!” She demanded, her mood somewhere between outrage and kindly tempered impatience.

Ivan wasn't exactly sure if a man could properly replicate that emotion or not. She even sounded like she wasn't sure if she wanted to encourage or just shout at him.

“He's won half our purses tonight alone!” Davian complained. “-He has to be close by now!”

“Not if he's not cheating.” Marvin grumbled.

He folded his cards in his hands and looked about ready to crush them before he took a deep breath and put them a little too deliberately on the table to be totally calm.

“I don't think it works if you guys are just terrible anyway.” Ivan countered.

The group groaned. Ivan shook his head and stood. Something had been tickling his ear for a little while now. A woman had been constantly sniveling since she came in from the rain.

Ivan stole away from the table to go to her, gently getting her attention, and seamlessly administered medicine to her once he had an idea of her condition. She was hunched over a warm plate of food that would serve excellently to raise her temperature and get her to a state of recovery the little tonic he gave her would make the most of.

Using some of his winnings he bought the woman a fresh plate pending a morning delivery to her room, and then wished her well and good rest in the meanwhile.

The medicine he gave her would have normally just treated the symptoms and allowed her better sleep, but with the effects of pure, albeit roughly refined, materials, and ideal preparation Ivan had managed to make some rather potent magical medicine. He had a few potions and salves too now thanks to Myrn and her ability to rapidly grow and replace rare plants for him.

Harvesting materials with Myrn was another great reason to delay going into the Dungeon. Given more time to raise his levels and prepare whatever solutions he could manage meant he would be better able to respond to anything that happened inside. There he might not have the option to do things properly and need to rely on magic to conjure his materials into the proper state. Doing it by hand and with the magic Jade Mortar and Pestle both increased the effects in their own rights. He was even mixing in a little ritual work when he could using his scrolls to further enhance the magic of his crafting.

It certainly wasn't his Cure, Cleanse, or Heal spells of the past, but it was something. Something that worked well, and that Ivan had been given the chance to work on many people now.

As he returned to the table one of the serving women passed close to him, blushing all the while. He was an adventurer, now clearly seen with plenty of money, and he had his own effects besides. Just to drive a point to his companions he stopped the woman, who was maybe a handful of years his elder, and addressed her.

“My friend plays beautiful music. Maybe you could convince your boss to let him play and clear some of the tables away over there maybe? A little dancing to end the night?” He asked, willingly using the whole of his Charisma Attribute on her.

The woman blushed, and nodded, shielding her breasts with the plates in her hands.

“I'll see just what I can do.” She said in a rush.

“Can you dance?” Ivan asked.

She hesitated.

“Yes.”

Ivan gave her a warm smile.

“Good. Maybe you can find your way onto the floor for a turn or two?”

She blushed and hurried on her way to find the Innkeeper.

Ivan returned to the table and shared an innocent and curious smile with his friends. Even if they all knew exactly what he had just done and what he was thinking.

Myrn groaned loudly in complaint. Marvin and Andy looked at each other and then both laughed aloud. Ivan sat and sipped at his ale as if it were a wine glass. That finally got Davian to start laughing, and when Myrn looked up at him he winked at her, just meaning to tease her, but she blushed all the same.

Ivan took it as a win, and found it fun to use his new Job's charisma to charm the others for entertainment. Sometimes, and he suspected something Penelope did to aid in this, he had an almost spell like effect on people. It was still really fun.

“Planning on stealing some kisses later in the evening?” Marvin joked.

Myrn's face blanched, and then immediately filled with colors darker than before as Ivan grinned at her.

“I have to get my own from somewhere if Myrn's going to keep stealing them from me.” He shot right back.

Myrn's response to that was to take her mug of ale in both hands and down it in one go. When she put it down she let out a loud satisfied sigh and pretended she didn't hear anything.

“Oh dammit he's serious. Myrn!” Marvin complained, turning to call her down.

Davian's shoulders slumped, and Myrn sitting next to him very pointedly did not make eye contact. Andy laughed and thumped Ivan across the shoulder with his broad hands.

“I thought you said its always best not to get involved with team members?” Davian asked.

Myrn blushed and smiled at him apologetically.

“It's nothing against you personally Davian.” Myrn explained.

Davian pointedly frowned at her for a long moment and then, seeming to get the idea, but he pulled his mug of ale and began drinking instead. Marvin watched the Bard go with a growing smile. Andy started a solid countdown on the table cheering him on, and Myrn started to laugh until she broke into hiccups.

Davian got up then as the call for music was made, and some dancing and twirling about later Ivan and Myrn crashed back into their seats. Myrn was giggling drunkenly and clinging to Ivan. Ivan's heart was beating a happy steady drum as he recovered from the quick pace of the dance they had set for themselves. Marvin, while normally quite serious in manner, hadn't let them rule the dance floor, and found that the Innkeeper's wife had a Level 5 Dancer Job along with her other mundane Jobs. That gave her attributes to keep up with the fighter, and the two danced in competition with Myrn and Ivan. The crowd had been the judge for that, all cheering and hollering for the best in show.

Davian's choice in music was something else too. He knew tunes that Ivan had never heard of and he constantly found himself asking the Bard just what he had played. The beat was quick, and struck out by Davian's use of his Sound Spark to replicate some kind of drum instrument, and it turned out he could conjure all sorts of interesting other instruments to play by hand as well. It seemed to please him to really have to give it his all for that last dance, and he enjoyed playing something calmer now for the less advanced dancers.

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Myrn giggled somewhat drunkenly and leaned against Ivan's arm. Ivan sat with her, keeping her steady after she wiped her face and neck down with a cool towel and began to yawn. It didn't take long before she was out cold on his shoulder as they watched the other dancers.

Ivan stroked her cheek with one thumb pushing her hair out from her eyes and settling her back so her head wasn't leaning down in an uncomfortable position. It wasn't long before a serving girl came over and asked if she could be any help getting them into their rooms. Ivan took her up on the offer and between the two of them they managed to get Myrn loaded onto Ivan's back and he carried her upstairs.

The serving maid blushed and laughed as Ivan made small talk with her. She joined him in Myrn's room as he brought her to her bed and laid her down. Ivan took some of her outer clothes off, boots, belts, and other things with the girl's help. In short order they had Myrn tucked away. Ivan made sure Myrn had a chamber pot near the wall on her side of the bed, and some toweling and water left on the nightstand. The girl joined him nervously at the door, both of them surveying the room for a moment.

Ivan fished out a silver bit and handed it to the girl.

“Thank you. She's trouble, but a good friend.” Ivan told her.

“I was about to say that about you. You're a good friend to her. I've seen her before you know—she's kind of hard to miss. She's hooked up with a guy or two, but never the same one twice in a row. She seems to like you a lot more than any of those other men.” The young woman said.

Ivan considered the serving maid for a moment, re-accessing her age, and experience. Yes, maybe calling her girl wasn't right. She was likely about as old as he was. She was just a bit petite and short. He smiled at her and was about to say something when a soft voice called his name.

“Ivan..?” Myrn mumbled, her eyes opening blearily.

The girl clutched her silver bit and Ivan gave her permission to leave with a polite nod. And he hoped the girl didn't remember this little slip up. He closed the door and came to the bedside.

Myrn sat up, pulling open the top few buttons on her shirt with a drunken hand, and taking a quick glance of the room. She saw the towels on the nightstand and grabbed one before dipping it in the wash basin water and wiping down her face, neck, and hands again. She blinked and seemed a little more awake after that.

Ivan waited patiently by taking a seat on the end of her bed.

“You don't have to be so far away.” Myrn complained with a pout, but she was still drunk, and likely tired besides.

“You're dangerous Myrn. You're unpredictable and pretty. I think I'm better off out of arm's reach.” Ivan replied in good humor.

“You also used my real name instead of the one we came up with. Maybe we should have gone for something totally different than my name after all.”

Myrn sat up a little straighter, a little alertness coming to her, but she just slumped her shoulders.

“Sorry. Isaac.” She said pointedly.

“I just keep thinking of my little brother. He talked about you a lot...before they killed him...” She said sadly.

She didn't tear up or cry. She just seemed sad. She did sniffle once though before wiping her nose and bringing her gaze back up to his.

“I keep thinking...I'm with my little brother's Hero. He wanted to be just like you after seeing you in the tournaments. He wanted to serve, kill monsters, and leave villages free of sickness and injury wherever he went.”

She sniffled again and held up her arms toward Ivan.

Ivan hesitated for just a moment before his Insight convinced him that she really did both need and want the hug she was begging for. He stood, came closer, and sat by her side.

Myrn leaned into him and he turned to hug her. Her head came down on his shoulder and she sniffled just a few more times as the embrace went on. In parting she kissed his cheek and smiled. Ivan took her hands and held them a little while as they sat apart from the embrace.

“They mortally wounded my best friend. I tried to save her...” Ivan found himself admitting.

Myrn listened and nodded, her eyes going wide, but not coming up to meet his gaze. The air between them came close, and the room felt warm and safe. Ivan was cautious in part of his mind. He knew what could happen in a situation like this, but he also felt that he needed to talk to someone. Penelope was a help, but she was also strange, and not quite so human as he may have liked. Myrn was perfectly human, flawed, pretty, and brilliant as could be.

“Did she suffer very long?” Myrn asked, her voice just more than a whisper.

“She lived for almost two weeks before the infection and fever took her. I...I had never felt so helpless.” Ivan admitted.

Saying those words seemed to take a weight off his heart. Though it stung like each weight had been oven hot against bare skin. Just saying the words came with as much relief as it did a sticking and peeling feeling.

Myrn sat for a little while, likely trying to imagine what it would be like to watch someone waste away like that. Her hands held tight to Ivan's all the same.

“I'm sorry we didn't meet before Ivan. If she was able to put up with you I would have liked to meet her.” Myrn said with a little smile.

Ivan let her attempt at soft humor win him over and he smiled back at her.

“You can stay...if you want.” Myrn said then, her hands closing tight on his.

She looked him in the eyes, her own sparkling like pretty gems in a blue of clear water, and she radiated considerable, and very honest desire. But that wasn't all. With her emotional control loosened by drink she was an open book, and by her own will she was showing her vulnerability, and the trust she felt being with him. She felt safe, sitting here with him, and very much wanted to be intimate with him. Even then there was an old pain in her longing, and if Ivan wasn't mistaken...a child's fear.

Ivan waited for Penelope to speak, or give some comment as he met Myrn's eyes.

When Penelope said nothing he leaned forward and kissed Myrn. Properly this time.

She leaned into the kiss with slow eagerness and the sweet taste of the ale they had both had came with the touch of her tongue on his. Ivan indulged her a little while, just kissing and holding her hands until he felt if he did any more he would not be able to pull himself away.

Still Penelope said nothing, though she was very much awake and aware as she always was when she wasn't tucked into the deeper shadows of the Shroud.

Myrn smiled at Ivan as he let some of his honest feelings of embarrassed excitement show. Myrn suddenly understood something of Ivan's hesitance, and made a soft gasping sound.

“You...haven't been with a woman yet have you?” Myrn asked softly, “I knew you were younger than me, but I thought...well I suppose you were sworn to the Goddess's service...” She mumbled to herself as her cheeks filled with color in the lamplight.

Ivan gave a soft grunt of affirmation, and kept his eyes from meeting hers.

“I think I would like you to be sober when we...” Ivan found himself saying.

Color and heat flooded his cheeks of their own will, but Myrn's grip tightened on his hands and emboldened his flailing confidence. That didn't get him to look up at her, but the wave of respect and further desire that suddenly radiated from Myrn did. He was getting used to having Insight now, and suddenly felt he might be blind without it. That clarity didn't last as Ivan's eye met with Myrns.

She laughed. It was a small delighted little laugh, and the way she smiled made Ivan's heart pick up the pace a little. She bit her lip to keep from going on, and ducked her head a moment. Unguarded, her emotions were clear to Ivan, and she knew it. Ivan was having a hard time just thinking through the intimate welcome of her display. It was worse than if she had just taken her clothes off in front of him. Her trust and desire teamed up with Ivan's new instincts to imply the only right action to take her up on the offer.

He needed to move, but there were only two options. To leave now, immediately, or to press her down into the bed. Thankfully she relented after a moment and simply pulled him into a tight hug. Well it was simple until she began nibbling on his ear.

The sudden playfulness startled Ivan and he pulled himself away badly, stumbling at his first step. Naturally Myrn's grip pulled him down, but he half suspected she had used her greater agility to trip him when he was distracted. They bumped their skulls together painfully and Ivan landed half sprawled over Myrn and her bed sheets. He recoiled and drew his hands away from where they had landed on either side of Myrn's torso.

Myrn showed no shame in continuing to smile at him greedily, the pain fading to her desire, or maybe just left easily ignored with the amount of alcohol in her system.

Ivan gulped. Looking at her eyes wasn't safe. Looking further down wasn't either. Her neck, her arms...He just had to shut his eyes in the end.

“You better run young buck...or you'll end up on my dinner table.” Myrn whispered her breath heavy with drink, but she said it with such a layer of desire over top it that Ivan had at first thought Penelope had come out on her own and coated the room in her succubus magic.

One of her hands touched his face, and the other went lower. Much lower.

The next thing he knew he was out of Myrn's room with his heart pounding and Penelope's laughter rolling in his head. The Demoness went on giggling as Ivan got into his room.

She came out of the Shroud, one hand sliding over her wings, and the other pressed to her mouth to keep her from making noise. She turned to speak to him, and for a moment Ivan lost the reins of his body. He seemed to blink, and then was suddenly standing with one hand on Penelope's neck, and one on her hip in possessive caress.

He drew away, hand to his heart, feeling it hammer. He couldn't look at her either.

He was panting, trying to keep control of a body suddenly surging with conflicting urges. He wanted to fight, he wanted to run, and chase, and take Penelope or Myrn, or both to the ground. He fought through the sensations, he pressed them down, and eventually found his own bed. The sensations were running so powerfully through his mind that he couldn’t think or navigate the room before him in anything but a stumbling and half blind manner.

Penelope was there, helping him a little, but not really. The scent of her...He had to fight that too.

Next thing he knew he was just sweating, ceaselessly. He needed water, and drank from the ceramic pitcher left in his room. He continued to pant, and put a hand to his head to check for fever. He was blazing hot, but his body was in some kind of euphoric adrenaline state.

Penelope suddenly had by either side of his jaw, and was looking at him. Her heart shaped face, and soft lips were still pretty as ever, but she had chosen human eyes all of a sudden. They were a brilliant gemstone purple, a color variant of Myrn’s almost. Ivan blinked at her in surprise, and she smiled and changed them back into black orbs with amber rings for irises. She still held onto his face though.

“Easy my little nascent incubus. Easy now.” She said, both instructing and teasing.

Slowly Ivan started to calm. His breathing leveled out, and his mind fell into order. The sweat on his brow turned cold, and he relaxed all while staring into Penelope's eyes.

“Did you...did you put the Inn to sleep?” Ivan asked.

That had been part of the plan all along. He had used Davian and Penelope to tire everyone out. He needed time and space to do that Shadow Binding he had been wanting to do for almost a day and a half now. Penelope had kept it from him just in case that binding was the one to set off his Spark. It would if it were a Shadow Spark, or so Penelope assured him. She also had told him that since he was having such strong desires and feedback that the Spark might ignite itself into a Demonic Ember by consuming and re-purposing his current levels of demonic corruption.

“It's working right now. Just focus on staying calm. I can feel those gears spinning like tops in your head. Don't worry my young master, everything will be alright.” She assured him, but he couldn't help but notice she was pushing him back onto the bed.

Already her legs were over his own, and she was practically straddling him. Though curiously it didn't bother him quite so much. He blinked his stray thoughts away, and let his hands appreciate Penelope's soft curves. His breathing slowed to a resting rate and he leaned forward toward Penelope.

She pulled him close to her breast and let out a contented sigh.

“That's a good boy. Breathe Ivan. Breathe.” She told him, her clawed finger caressing his scalp and hair on either side of his head.

As she did her wings folded about him and he realized with sharp clarity that every breath he took now was soaked in her scent and presence. A little fear rose in him as he realized the control he was gaining was not his own, but as he breathed in her scent and lovely being he only grew calmer.

He suddenly felt the downy soft edges of Penelope's sleep magic as the Inn grew very, very quiet. A cloud may have passed in front of the moon because the light in his room grew darker. He hadn't lit a lamp because the moonlight and open window had been enough for him. He blinked again, and felt his arms close around Penelope's middle.

He leaned into her breast and held her close as her wings enfolded him. Meanwhile she was sitting upright, seeming content to pet and groom him some little. Every breath came easy at her touch and he closed his eyes for a little while.

When the moon came again she woke him with a gentle touch.

“Ivan...you may use the Shadow Bind on me now.”