In the back of an Inn called the Bed and Barrel sat a young man named Ivan. Ivan was dark of hair, its mixed hues changing from hair to hair if one was to pluck through each of them, but all were roughly encompassed or at least adjacent to shades of brown. His eyes though were startling dark purple gems like deep water abyssal amethysts.
He was sitting in a garden reading calmly. Invisible energy hummed about him as he read. There were a number of books in his lap and it was nearing the end of the time he had allotted for himself. Well for himself and one other, someone who he knew wasn't really there with a certainty that might seem strange to some who didn't know the lore of his world and the magics within it.
Stacked within the small pile of books in his lap was a children's book of tales. He had been reading a single tale from it everyday in this very spot. He found it to be just about the only thing that truly kept him calm when he wanted to be alone. He was on his second book of tales now.
He sat before a square of stones that were almost entirely hidden by the sprout of new growth flowers of every hue that had been planted there. A wonderfully carved and painted plaque there read: 'Tila Owlfeather'. On the back it listed Tila's parents, her date, and place of birth.
Tila had been born, and nearly every day of her eight years in Dentennek and around this Inn. Her father and mother had retired from adventuring to buy out the old building that used to be here, had it torn down, and rebuilt to house their new business and a home for their family. They had planned to add to that family once, and perhaps even tried a number of times since Tila's birth, but either way it hadn't happened.
Ivan read to her now, and remembered the life full of potential the little girl had lost. It made him think of his two dead squires, just part of a larger adopted family, who were stolen from him in a similar manner. Every time he thought he had shed the last few tears for them something always brought a little more. But sitting here, reading to Tila's grave, and remembering them still somehow managed to give him some little peace.
He had simply read the tales one after another at first, and then left, but found the silent presence of Tila's grave comforting. Part of him thought it foolish, knowing for a fact that Tila's soul was beyond the Gate of Eternity, and resting in peace no matter what he did now, but he did it anyway.
Ivan was many things. There were many things Ivan had yet to become. The way things worked in his world, and the way magic was perceived and manifested, those things were often defined, and could be inspected by people with the right talents. Ivan was one of those people as one of the first 'Jobs' he had earned was the Scribe Job.
It had manifested from his ability to read and write, and the independent work and study practices of his teachers. Ivan had been attempting to manifest the same Job in Tila, and had helped manifest the Job in both Ral, and Jen, his two squires. So to remember them he read the stories the three children would have likely enjoyed at the beginning of the process, all being within a year or so of each other. He read them aloud now, and narrated the stories to the grave.
In response the flowers there seemed to be flourishing. Tila's ashes mixed in with the soil there likely had a lot to do with that. Ivan's second Job, Gardener, helped him care for the plants otherwise. They hardly needed the tending though. Each of the more than a dozen species of flower in the bed were flourishing, and would be overflowing from the bed before long. They were doing an excellent job of carrying on Tila's memory already being so bright and colorful.
Ivan had progressed both of those jobs had moved on long since now, Scribe becoming Scholar, and Gardner first turning to Hedge Doctor, and then Witch Doctor as the events of Ivan's life, and the last few weeks especially played out. It was hard for Ivan to accept that it hadn't been years or decades, but only just shy of two months since his squires died, and little more than a week since Tila died. He felt numb remembering the haze of battle that still surrounded his memory of events at the Parish that had once been his home.
He touched his chest, hand drifting over his lungs and heart, where he remembered ripping swords from his body with fingers that blazed with incandescent and livid magics of colors consistent with some darkly hued rainbow. It made his mind ache just to think about it, and his arms tingled as though in a distant echo of the magic that had once engulfed them.
Ivan let out a long calming breath. Still an image came to his mind of his Goddess, now dead, smiling at him. For just a moment he could feel her arms around his neck as she took him in a hug, the warmth of her skin, and the gentle power roaring inside her. She was a bonfire one could bathe in, and seek comfort in from any hurt. The moment didn't last long, but came with a hail of memories.
His always distracted and busy Goddess made him smile. She was always hefting a child up on her hip or directing work in the gardens, or shooing the other orphans back to their studies instead of running around the Parish yard playing games. Ivan let his mind linger on the bittersweet memories. He remembered the stages of his life, his training really, as they came to his mind.
It had started with him getting in trouble. He was always in trouble when he was little. Now that he thought about it, it was almost like he had the Goddess chasing after him from the start.
He had wanted to be a knight. He had seen them, seen adventurers in their armor, and others like them stopping by the Parish for healing, cures, and curse cleansing. Ivan had wanted to be like them, and started trouble doing it when Mother Melda and Father Julio had first tried to turn him away from that path.
The Goddess had approached little Ivan differently.
He remembered being sent to his room after starting a fight with a village boy who had come to the Parish with his family and other members of his village to do some trading. Ivan had beaten him in their little duel using sticks for swords, but the boy had screamed and bawled instead of whatever little Ivan had thought he would have gotten for winning. He didn't actually remember what the winner got. It was just too long ago.
The Goddess had come to his room, and found him hiding under his bed with his books. He remembered the game she had made of dragging him out from under it, tickling him, and making him laugh before growing serious when she finally had him on her lap.
She hadn't spanked or struck him as the village boys' father might have wanted. Things in the parish didn't work that way. Instead Istania sat him down and asked him lots of questions. She made him feel guilty and a little stupid for wanting to fight the way he had. She knew however that she would never stop his warrior spirit, not entirely, and decided on a better way than simply suppressing him. Ivan still remembered what she said.
“If you want to learn to fight you are going to learn to do it properly and for the right reasons. You're going to train. You're going to train hard, you're going to learn to ride, and take care of horses. You're going to be a knight, and more. Because if you're going to continue to be my son, and if you want to be my knight someday I'm going to expect you to learn how to heal exactly as much as you can hurt.”
The statement had confused Ivan at the time, but though he called the Parish keeper Mother Melda 'Mother', Istania, had always been the one able to calm and comfort him. He would do anything for her, and had tried his best to live up to her expectations.
His body was something of a hardened stone compared to the condition of most young men his age. Ivan had gained not only the Squire and Knight Job growing up, but Warrior and Fighter too. Gardener had become Hedge Doctor as Ivan turned his scribes' studies to alchemy and medicine. Alchemist might have been on the table if the Parish had the funds to spare for a full alchemy set, but there was a better and easier solution Ivan had in mind. One the Goddess could give him freely if could convince her of it.
The gift of a Divine Spark. Magic of her own Divinity given freely to her sworn subject. Should she give him that, and bestow upon him the magic of her own authority Ivan would gain the ability to heal and mend just like she could. He had managed as a child, somehow, through a combination of charm and dogged pestering. He had even become a Paladin, and sworn to her as he was he would become the ideal she once spoke of.
Still Ivan remembered delivering first foals, bleating and screaming baby sheep and goats, and assisting with many injured patients who came to the parish for healing. Ivan hadn't done that work alone, but with his best friend, and eventual first love Tanya. She was there with him in almost every memory since the beginning. Tanya had been his friend since the beginning and would have been his wife if she had not been lost too.
So much lost. His family at the Parish. His Goddess, her divine spark he had earned, and the Paladin job with it. Lost.
Lost like the images that plagued his nightmares recently. Plagued them until his dark familiar, and dark patron of knowledge, the Succubus Penelope Inyx was able to sink them in tides of her sleeping magic before Ivan could awake screaming.
Ivan tried not to think of images that came with those nightmares now. Remembering the slaughter of his family in the Parish was already bad enough. Why did loss have to be spelled out across his life in blood? Why did he now have to remember laying awake screaming upon a sheet of ice thrown from his blood mother's arms before her tribe could escape?
Ivan felt at the small almost tooth like nub of white horn that was hidden away under his hairline now. It had split his scalp in reaction to the levels of demonic corruption he had endured in the events of last week, and then too been hidden by his hair, but not for long. His friends and adventuring party had inevitably noticed. Luckily enough Marvin, a blacksmith, had tools on hand to file the horn down and had understood with the rest of them when they got the story from Ivan and Penelope.
Ivan was at least mostly human, and the horn a reaction to demonic corruption mostly unique to his particular mix of it. Ivan didn't know how to get to the strange place or even if he wanted to go, but his birth world was not Ballenlight. He had lived his entire life without knowing that, and living under the effects of Istania's magic to help him fit in while still remaining mostly himself. That magic was breaking apart now that she was gone, but pieces of it remained that Ivan was slowly learning to use and make his own like instincts long forgotten.
The horn had been part of that. Another he had recently discovered revealed his true blood red skin tone and turned his hair white. He hadn't embraced that part of himself yet and didn't know if he ever would. Just seeing that his iris's had turned into purple gems was enough of the shock in the mirror for now. He didn't need any more of that.
Myrn's aura gently pushing into his own didn't startle him exactly, but let him know she was there. Ivan marked his page and looked up at her from where he sat on the cobblestone pathways through the little garden. He tried to match the tender warmth in her aura with his own, but his emotions were in turmoil, and he didn't have an aura skill yet to give him full control of that mystical aspect of himself.
Myrn was a tall woman. She was beautiful too; strong in the shoulders, and wide in hips as well. She had a face with a balance of pretty features that made her appealing and friendly looking. She wasn't everyone's ideal of gorgeous, but she was pale of skin, and her eyes were blue gems that were somewhere between blue sea and the clear spring sky the day before gentle rain. Her scarlet hair was woven with silver ribbons today, and made up into an intricate braid.
She wore tall boots that turned down at the knee, and padded breeches that were actually enchanted armor. The delicate imagery of swallows and sparrows darting part of the enchantment that lent her speed, and allowed her to better avoid attacks. Her leather belt hung with glyphs and talismans, some provided protection, others augmented her attacks to pierce magical defenses like her own. She wore a silken shirt under the armor over her middle, its white fabric showing here and there, and hinting to mystical senses that it too offered protection more than mundane garb. Her midriff was held jealousy by a corset-like piece of armor that left her breasts free to be covered by the newest addition to her armor.
The enchanted carapace breastplate must have cupped her body tightly being a light and thick material, but she seemed comfortable and able to move in it nonetheless. Still that armor would turn away Ivan's best strikes so it was a shame she wasn't willing to wear more of it. Her gauntlets matched the brown leather pieces dominating her outfit, combined leather padded leather plates, and molded carapace pieces alike protecting her arms. She wore her pack, carried her bow, and had a seldom worn short-sword on her hip today.
Ivan gave her an appreciative look.
“You can take the gear off me yourself later if you like, but for now you should come in and get ready. We're heading in today in case you forgot.” She said, teasing him, but keeping her aura and focus warmly wrapped about him.
Ivan nodded, and gave Tila's grave one last regard before standing up with his books in hand.
A dark cloak of mysterious supple leather appeared about his shoulders as he did, and the books vanished inside. The hood cast over him and cloaked his face in shadow. The soft scent of something altogether too lovely wafted gently from the Shroud of Samiel as it appeared, and it wasn't a moment later that Penelope herself glided forth from under Ivan's arm.
Penelope collided with Myrn, her form sliding from the shadows of the Shroud, and took the other woman in a hug. Myrn hugged the horned succubus back idly keeping her bow away from Penelope's wings and horns.
“You're a bit early.” Myrn said, but smiled as she did.
“Mmmmm and miss taking you in for myself for a moment before we have to rush into battle? I think not Lover.” Penelope purred.
“The breastplate doesn't make me look like a man does it? I mean it's specifically made to hold my breasts in place and offer better protection and padding besides, but I can't help thinking it ruins my girl ranger look.” Myrn said, successfully attempting humor though there was a great deal of sober sadness in her eyes.
Tila was her little cousin after all.
Penelope was in her newest form and slightly smaller than Myrn now where Ivan's lust for Myrn might have subconsciously affected her form and mirrored it to Myrn's before. She was also completely nude but for the shockingly soft fur upon her legs. Even then the fur didn't try to cover her genitals, and the demoness didn't have anything but a single downy tuft of pubic hair so everything was on display. Penelope was an active and firm nudist, Myrn and Ivan both were used to her now.
“Not at all. The bison leather glued over the carapace matches everything else nicely, and it fits rather nicely. In fact I think it gives you a nice 'warrior maiden' vibe. Especially with the shortsword on your hip like that. If Ivan was in a better mood he'd be drooling.” Penelope assured her.
Myrn chuckled as Ivan rolled his eyes away from the pair of them.
Penelope's wings and tail lacked fur now where in her previous form they had both had at least some little coverage of the light-eating blackness of downy softness. Penelope's skin was moonlight pale where it showed, glowing with a strange, but alluring demonic health whereas Myrn was just about as pale as a person could be naturally. Her spark of magic and high endurance attribute did the work of keeping her from tanning in the sun too.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Penelope's hoofs clacked on the stony garden paths and then clicked like hard heels as they came into the Inn's back storage room. There were a few tables set out here, and there was all sorts of equipment laid out on them being handled by the few people standing before them.
Andy, Marvin, and Davian each looked, and nearly jumped at the sight of Penelope still clinging to Myrn as they came inside. Myrn sighed and shrugged as the Demoness almost literally hung from her back. Ivan gave Penelope a dry look and poked her right in one of her exposed and very pink nipples.
“Ow! Meany!” Penelope pouted, but her tail lashed playfully, and her smile was impish.
Ivan rolled his eyes again at his first and foremost familiar, but smiled rather darkly at her all the same.
The succubus gained a faint blush in her cheeks and hid behind Myrn, even tucking her supple and smooth too black wings in with her as she did. That made Ivan's grin grow a few teeth.
Marvin shoved him with one hand.
“Stop ogling your sexy familiar and get your armor on.” He chided, but he had a grin of his own.
Ivan gave Marvin a dry look, immediately suspicious of the anticipation he sensed from the man with his 'Taps Upon the Web' skill that worked to amply Ivan's Insight Attribute. Ivan had finally gotten around to fully inspecting the ability on his own in the last few days and this is what his Scholar's Scroll had been able to tell him using his Standard Information skill;
Inspect Skill: Taps Upon the Web; Inspection Successful
This has come about from your involvement with the Demon Spirit of Quixla Bloodbane, and your own increasing susceptibility to her corruption due to your willingness to interact and gain favors from her. When existing within the same plane or communicating through dimensional transgressing means Quixla Bloodbane will be able to sense this change in you and will likely increase her opinion of you. Just remember that many female spiders devour their mates after the deed is done!~
This is a passive skill. Your ability to sense the motives and feelings of others through use of your Charisma and Insight Attributes will be increased once you have met certain conditions. You must have a positive interaction with each person or creature including them in your 'web' before this skill takes effect. Each subsequent positive interaction with the person strengthens your ability to leverage your attributes against that person, drawing them further and further into your net.
Yet Ivan's suspicions quickly faded. Andy was grinning at him from his table beside Ivan's usual set up station. There laid out besides Ivan's usual gear was a set of finely crafted enchanted armor. It even looked like it had been fitted to Ivan's size, and it wasn't just a breastplate or single brigandine of armor. There were new gauntlets, boots, sabatons, belts, buckles, pouches, and even a sword belt. -No not just a sword belt, but a sword too!
Ivan strode quickly to the table to inspect the gear, the Shroud vanishing at thought into his shadow as cast by the few lamps in the room. The armor was something of a heavy weight design done in the fashion of something more medium caliber and noiseless like Myrn's. Everything was either trimmed in, dyed, or stained in black. The only other colors upon it were the darkened and polished metal surfaces.
Ivan conjured up his scroll with practiced ease, the flickering blue-green flames surrounding its conjuration providing light as the black letters sprayed across its surface to provide information. The scroll itself had gone through several changes, but had changed to its current form after Ivan had made a contract with a Great Old One of the Ek'Thun.
Inspect Item: Fortified Scalemail Brigdine of the Night, Tier 3 Magic Item
This custom made darkened scalemail brigandine and leather sleeved tunic offers increased protection against all physical attacks, especially slashing, and provides the wearer increased resistances to poisons, poison gas, and poison spells and effects. Additionally, the backing and padding serves to negate any sound another similar piece like this might make.
Inspect Item: Darkened Scale Pauldrons of Protection from Arrows, Tier 3 Magic Item
This custom piece of darkened scalemail will blend into the night, and has been enchanted to protect its wearer from all missiles, arrows, and other physical projectiles! This includes poison spit, toxic bone spikes, sprays of fangs, and all sorts of other crazy things monsters do.
Inspect Item: Darkened Scale Gauntlets of the Duelist, Tier 3 Magic Item
These fitted and armored gloves have been enchanted with the Duelist Charm thereby decreasing the damage the wearer might take while using martial skills to parry a dangerous blow, and increasing the damage dealt by any counter attack type skills used thereafter!
Inspect Item: Black Boots of the Adventurer; Tier 3 Magic Item
These boots will help you take a load off your travel times by keeping you on the road longer! Their enchantment reduces the stamina cost of movement type abilities by up to a third depending upon the ability. They are also extremely comfortable, extremely durable, and give a small bonus to all your resistances!
Inspect Item: Scale Sabatons of the Crusader of Darkness; Tier 4 Magic Item
The enchantment in these sabatons has manifested something of a dark trait! While meant to increase the power of charge type abilities the magic has shifted and will also increase the overall damage dealt by the wearer while cloaked in shadow!
Inspect Item: Black Scale Helm of Protection; Tier 3 Magic Item
This dark piece of armor will protect your head and keep your brain from being rattled with its powerful protection enchantment while looking all dark and mysterious.
Inspect Item: Black Leather Belt of Many Items; Tier 3 Magic Item
This belt is a dark and sober take on a classic, and helps the wearer wear more magic stuff! Neat, but don't try to wear more than one item with this enchantment at a time!
Inspect Item: Buckle of Durability; Tier 2 Magic Item
This belt buckle does three things. 1. It holds a belt tight. 2. It will almost never break no matter what the in the Hells you do to it, and 3. It makes everything you are wearing tougher and harder to break, rip, burn, tear, melt, shred, or poke full of holes. It's just a Tier 2 magic item though, its not going to make your clothes armor. But hey you got two of 'em anyway.
Ivan narrowed his eyes at that last entry. For a while now he had been suspicious of his Standard Information's descriptions, being fairly certain that it or someone working within the Infinite Library was sassing him, calling him a scoundrel, or any number of other more subtle jabs. The information was still good, but he meant to either lightly stab, or violently shake whatever being was on the other side of the skill giving him the information. He set that issue aside for the time being, again, and turned his focus to the sword.
“Inspect.” He chanted, backing the word with his will as he had each time before, and investing his will with magic activating the skill sourced from his Scribe turned Scholar Job.
Inspect Item: Oath of Vengeance; Tier 4 Magic Item; Unique Longsword; Growth
This weapon was crafted (with assistance) by Marvin Annatel, and infused with the essence of the combined oath of vengeance sworn in his presence and sealed with his magic. Its blade will never break or lose its edge as long as one member holds true to the oath that formed its creation.
Oath of Vengeance will betray anyone not a part of the pact. Oath of Vengeance will improve the marital skills and damage of the wielder. Oath of Vengeance will double damage dealt by counter and revenge type martial skills used by the wielder. Oath of Vengeance will deal more damage to a foe that has damaged its wielder, or other members of oath swearing party.
You may safely wield Oath of Vengeance. The blade calls for blood, for the oath to be sated.
Ivan carefully took hold of the longsword by its scabbard. The black leather of its belt and covering could have only been meant for him, but it could have been wielded by any of them. Marvin or Andy especially could have used the weapon to devastating effect. Davian even could have learned to use the weapon, and made excellent use of it if he managed to claim the adept job of Blade Dancer in the future. -And yet Ivan's friends watched and nodded to him as he took up the powerful item Marvin had made.
Ivan looked at Marvin.
Marvin gave Ivan a sober little smirk. The five of them had sworn the oath at Tila's funeral pyre. Swearing to each other in their own words to grow more powerful, so that in their own ways they might prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
Penelope was hovering around Ivan now, looking over the new items with enthusiasm, and appearing to check their craftsmanship. Ivan had no doubts that she was inspecting them in secret, either able to hide her scroll from sight, or view its contents solely within her mind. Ivan would learn that trick eventually, and then maybe he wouldn't have to worry so much about being polite.
“You needed a new blade. A Knight's Longsword is a Tier two magical item. Something a boy in the militia might have, but that weapon right there is something just for you. Each of us has seen you make the most of what little you had. It cost a bit, but after you piled the loot on us the other day we came together and decided to make sure you were prepared.” Marvin answered.
Myrn came to Ivan's side without a word and kissed his cheek.
“Penelope help him dress would you please. I'm going to check on Meeda and Layla.”
“Alrighty.” Penelope said, grinning.
She came right up behind Ivan, wrapped her hands around his middle, and began unbuckling his pants.
Ivan twisted enough to give her a very dry look. She chuckled at that naturally and smiled back at him too innocently, her spade tipped tail flicking around in the background like a well entertained cat gave her away no matter what her well controlled aura said.
Ivan pulled her under his arm anyway and showed her the sword.
“What do you think?” Ivan asked.
Penelope came willingly, and some of her playful manner dropped as inspected the weapon. She was a Scholar too after all, and though currently limited by Ivan's ability to project her power, a much greater rank of one too. She peaked at his scroll, and quickly absorbed the information upon it. Her eyes were glittering purple gems just a shade paler than Ivan's. It was some reflection of him that she had displayed before at will, but was now a constant in her appearance.
“Tier four, an appropriate Advanced Rank item ...Marvin's ember magic at work. It says here he managed it with assistance, but that's pretty normal. You're likely to be able to tell due to your close ties with him, and having met Master Veldspar, his master, who likely helped him forge such a piece.” Penelope observed.
Ivan glanced up at Marvin.
The Warrior-Smith nodded, his eyes very sober.
“What does it mean by growth?” Ivan asked, eyes flashing curiously over to Marvin wondering if he even knew.
Andy looked up at that, and grinned at Marvin's stunned face.
Penelope shrugged under his arm, and cuddled into his side as she spoke.
“Sate the Oath, swear another upon the blade, and it will grow. It might require Marvin to reforge it, but he'll know what to do when you swear the Oath upon it. Many oath blades stay as they are, being sworn to a purpose within a certain order, but this blade is sworn upon an oath to grow so it's encompassed that aspect. It's just the blade to have at your side as a Black Knight headed out on a bloody and long quest of vengeance.”
Ivan nodded and leaned his head down to touch his cheek to Penelope's forehead. She smiled and dismissed her horns before he managed to poke himself on them. They vanished in wisps of shadow, and her eyes glittered happily up at Ivan as he attempted some of the aura training they had been attempting in the off hours. He did what he could to bathe her, and her alone in feelings of affection and gratitude. Everyone noticed the physical display, but only Davian, the most sensitive of the group, noticed the aura projection.
“You're getting better at that.” The Bard said idly, as he continued to play with the position of a few new glyphs and sigils adoring his finely wrought gambeson. His rapier bounced at his hip, but he didn't clang it's back end off of everything like he might have a week or two ago.
“Oh the damn aura thing.” Marvin growled. “Thought it was weird I couldn't feel a thing.”
“Sensing it will come with hills and valleys of perceiving it and losing it.” Davian tried to reassure him.
“Says the expert.” Andy jibbed.
Davian gave the big fighter a flat look.
Andy was a solid man, just able to leave the 'young' off the front if he didn't shave every morning. Marvin was about a year older than him in truth, but looked about a decade older. Marvin belonged to a kind of servant clan that lived alongside Andy's family for generations. They each had little branches of family all over the area, and had lived here for generations. The Portvine family dealt in wines, and owned a great deal of country vineyards on the southern end of the peninsula. The northern end, and the mountain homes they had acted as storage for their products.
The two had been paired together as kids, and while they were friends now it appeared as to not have always been that way. Andy won Marvin over in the years though, as he did most anyone these days with his aura given from the Militia Job tree, given by the very same Mayor of Dentennek who had stood up to Lord Daybreak, the Light Bearer, just a few days before.
The Militiaman Job was a title job. A job that could be given to fulfill a duty, and in this case rather easily advanced like any other combat job. There were some differences. Marvin was a fighter, and blacksmith. The apprentice job that became blacksmith held most of his education skills, and the rest were contained within the knowledge of his crafting job. Marvin advanced his crafting job by crafting, learning about metallurgy, and generally any maintenance with metal tools or objects. Warrior advanced into Fighter by learning to fight and wield shields, weapons, and if Marvin had ever learned to ride a horse he might have even picked up knight.
Militiaman was different, encompassing some of both jobs. A militiaman could advance from the basic rank of Recruit, to Soldier, and on to Trained Footman and eventually the Advanced rank Infantry Job just by standing watch and wearing his armored uniform long enough. Every moment on guard, watching the walls, and patrolling served as experience, and while the title job didn't give the same rather considerable attribute increases of other combat jobs it did come with skills, and some attributes besides.
Andy was a big guy, and was strong for a baseline human. Andy was born without magic sparks to call upon and give him access to some kind of magic job, combat or otherwise, and had taken up the respectable job of Militiaman much to his family's discontent. But serving in the watch, and training with them had allowed him valuable time to train his own Fighter Job, and level Militiaman to the Advanced Rank of the job, named Infantry. It's what gave him his aura, and a great deal of small, efficient martial skills he used alongside Marvin to keep him covered, and to deal devastating strikes with his usual polearm.
“And you're not concerned?” Davian jabbed. “-Or jealous?” He went on, a half step back from the accusation held in his earlier statement as he looked over at Penelope and Ivan.
“Summon your own familiar Dav. I'm sure there's one that will like you.” Ivan said dryly, smiling as he held Penelope to his side.
Penelope put one wing around Ivan in return, and snuggled into his shirt, her eyes on Davian as she put her other wing over her body as if to shield it from the Bard's gaze.
“Right. I'll just call up my own Lilith to teach me dark magic and slay monsters with me then.” Davian snapped sourly.
“Oh not her sweetheart. I really wouldn't recommend any pacts with her at all actually. She's not even part of the court. Never has been.” Penelope interjected into Davian's bout of anger before he could gather steam.
Davian seemed to wither a little.
“Lilith is...real?” Davian asked, his face going pale.
Penelope nodded.
“Older than me in fact, and very classically... chaotic evil I think is how you would say it.” Penelope informed him.
Davian blinked, and then snapped his focus back to Penelope.
“Wait then what are you?”
“Lawful Evil? -At least by the game's rules the last time I played it. I do have the Chaos spark, but it's not like it rules me. Even then that system is a little narrow don't you think? Good and evil are just perceptions after all. It's all subject to change in the grand scheme of things, and whatever happens is usually only recorded by the victor, or it was until the Infinite Library came along in our case. That's been great for historical preservation by the way. Ivan loves inspecting abstract things late at night, trying to see what his Standard Information can and can't come up with.”
Ivan bumped her with his hip.
“What? You do.” She said pointedly.
Ivan sighed.
“What are you on about?” Ivan asked dryly, giving Davian and her a slightly concerned look.
“Alignment. It's a silly system used to quickly describe character motivations in a game.” Penelope assured him.
“Why would you be talking about yourselves in the form of a game?” Ivan asked.
Penelope raised both her eyebrows at him, but then smiled and shook her head.
“I expect if I told you the Inn might come down around someone's head.” Penelope said, while very pointedly not looking a very pale, and worried looking Bard they had just been speaking to.
Ivan just about looked up at Davian when Penelope gently rammed her hip into his, nearly knocking him off balance. Ivan caught himself, hanging onto the table without knocking anything from it, but just barely.
Whatever they were on about they must have been close to a topic within Davian's old world. Davian seemed to have some kind of deadly curse about him that prevented him from speaking directly about it in any meaningful way. The one exception they had found so far was that the barrier of the Dungeon seemed to weaken the effect of the curse. The last time they were inside the shielding had let him at least address the curse and confirm its existence.
Ivan took the hint and started pulling off his shirt. Penelope was glued to his side again before he even had his arms down. He sighed at her, and the soft haunting touch of her bare skin on his own. A thousand different thoughts from vaguely steamy to violently lewd passed through his head in the same moment, but he pressed them aside with a will.
“You're not helping. Get to it, or get back in the Shroud until you feel like helping or I'm dressed.” Ivan ordered, summoning the Shroud with a wave of his arm.
Penelope pouted at him, but ultimately stepped back from his side.
“Davian?” Penelope asked, smiling when she got the bard's attention.
“Hmm?” Davian asked, seeming curious to be addressed by the Demoness again.
“I'd say Chaotic Good best describes me if you were to dismiss my other traits.”
Andy's strange new weapon fell from where it was leaning on the table as he got his things ready, and clipped the leg of a mostly top loaded shelf behind Davian as it fell. The shelf groaned, Davian tried to move before it landed on him, but he slipped over a single dusty marble that had been left behind on the bottom shelf.
Ivan winced as sealed crates of flour, jars of sealed and pickled food, and more loudly crashed down onto the man.