Mason forgot where he was when he woke. He smiled when he saw Becky's brown hair draped over his chest, pushing a little from her face until he realized they weren't in bed.

Then the reality of the goblins and looming battle came rushing in. A piece of Mason shouted 'we have no room for this softness. For loving women or relaxing our guard. We have to be ready to kill. Ready to die. Always.

But he shut it down. A man who did nothing but kill and prepare for killing wasn't a man at all. He was just a killer, and the kind of creature men like Mason had to put down. He had something to fight for, something to live for, and something to protect. It wasn't wrong to remember that. And only a fool thought that made him weak.

"Time to wake up." Mason kissed Becky's forehead and gave her a gentle shake. She groaned and tried to roll away, so he shook her a little harder, then slapped her ass. "Get up, lazy girl."

She rolled back with her lip in her teeth, apparently quite awake. She ran her hands down Mason's chest. "Are you sure it's time? Maybe we have...just another minute. Or two?"

They did, in fact, have a minute or two. Mason paused for a moment, then kissed Becky with increasing passion as he moved on top of her. She moaned and spread her legs instantly, her body so soft, so obedient, so entirely his. They made love slow and sweet, Becky often looking up into Mason's eyes intensely as he took her in deep, intimate thrusts.

He lost himself in her warmth, and when he finally came she practically pulled him in with all her might and limbs, as if desperate to have him cum as deep inside her as possible. He finally relaxed as the pleasure faded, crushing Becky with his full weight as he collapsed on top of her, her long legs still wrapped around him.

"OK. That was a good idea."

She held on, clearly not wanting him to move. Then a little while later he was looking for his constantly ripped and usually blood-covered clothes, eventually remembering and summoning his nymph outfit. Becky gave him a once over, still naked, hands drifting over her body, closer and closer to between her legs.

"You do fill out that supersuit, don't you."

"It's not a..." Mason sighed, looking away from her body to keep himself from getting pulled into another round.

"You take my innocence," Becky pouted, "now you won't even look at me? What a cruel, rake of a man you are."

"We both know what you're doing," Mason said. "Now put your clothes on before the game punishes you for being naughty."

"Fine, fine." Becky groaned and rolled to her feet to put on her clothes. When she was halfway decent Mason gave her another good, long kiss and a squeeze.

"When we have more time, I know," Becky said as she rolled her eyes and grinned.

"Actually, I was going to say: you haven't had your innocence for awhile. You've gone down on three other women just because I told you to."

Becky bit her lip and looked away. "Don't remind me."

"Embarrassed?"

Becky leaned forward.

"Wet," she whispered in Mason's ear.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

It took most of his resolve not to strip down her pants right there and test the truth of that. But since he could see the rebellious little twinkle in her eye he knew that's what she was aiming for.

"I'm creating a monster," he said, and Becky laughed.

"OK. I'll be good. Everythin' peachy? Anythin' we need to chat about?"

"No, everything's 'peachy'. How's the mana?"

"Finer than frog hair split four ways.”

Mason blinked. "I assume that means good. Now don't rely on your fancy new shield or powers too much. If things are rough, stick to the things you know work, and protect yourself. Because it might get messy. Alright?"

"Yes sir." Becky stiffened with a vaguely correct salute, and Mason decided he might need Haley to find her a uniform for completely un-military reasons.

With a last, slightly nostalgic look at the nymph-created hide-away, Mason took Becky's hand and pulled her through the 'bubble' back into the tunnels. "I really need to learn that spell," he muttered as he walked back towards Blake and the others.

* * *

Mason found Blake talking to Annie. Or at least talking at her, lounging rather comfortably in what appeared to be an entire bedroom's worth of furniture. Several deadly looking constructs in various tinges of purple or blue lined the walls, utterly still and rather creepy. Despite several options of chair, Calypsa sat on the ground.

"There are the love birds! I was starting to wonder if your back would need a rest." Blake announced as Mason and Becky came closer.

Mason cleared his throat as Becky squeezed his hand. "We fell asleep. All ready to go? And where's..."

"I am here, human." The goblin popped up from behind a large cushion, tinkering with what might have been a rubiks cube crossed with a torture device. Frankly, Mason didn't want to know.

"Good. Any more ideas? Or are we still just trying that door and hoping for the best?"

Blake shrugged. "If the key fails, I’ll try and use my magic to open it. Or destroy it. Or there's plan c." At this Blake smiled and nodded at Pliny, as if they'd discussed something and it was alright to speak.

"Bomb." The goblin held up his cube. "If key one no work. We try...key two." At this it giggled at its own joke, which sounded vaguely like a dying animal.

"Right." Mason gestured at the furniture. "Do you need to...un-magic this. Or can we just..."

Blake stood and waved a hand, and the whole room erupted in the stink of arcane magic fading away as the objects crumbled.

"Smells like old piss," Mason muttered, and Calypsa turned and nodded like it was the first intelligent thing she'd heard in hours.

"What?" Blake frowned and sniffed. "It smells like...new car. Which is to say, delightful."

"Agree to disagree. Alright everyone, stay with me and keep sharp. We're going to look for a way down, then probably try that door. We'll do our best to get it open, but if it doesn't work, we'll likely be fighting and maybe running back through the tunnels. Any questions?"

There were none, and Mason, Streak, and Pliny led the way through another series of winding passageways. Most took them vaguely downward, but like the others seemed arranged in a purposefully confusing maze.

Mason had no desire whatsoever to try and keep the group together in a fighting retreat through them. He expected they'd be turned around or lost in minutes, though he supposed at least the goblins might be too.

Alone he might have welcomed it, but the strength of a group was sticking together and fighting as one, knowing what the hell everyone else was doing.

He expected the wisest thing would be just to stay on the main floor, maybe use a single tunnel, and fight from there if things got messy. A simple plan was usually the best. But they'd play it by ear.

When they finally descended to what felt like 'the bottom', once again the sound of the goblins in the hall beyond became like the background of a pub crossed with a factory. Voices and mechanical sounds clanged and rose or fell from multiple directions, implying enough numbers to put a little sweat on Mason's brow.

The tunnel emerged into another, much wider tunnel the goblins clearly used, though thankfully not for the moment. It was maybe twenty five feet across, fifteen feet high— plenty of room for machines. And trolls.

They were alone, but the goblins weren't far away from the end of the larger tunnel, and despite the noise Mason was sure he heard other noises coming from the other end. Not ideal, but battlefields rarely were.

"Good enough," Mason said, looking at the huge, iron doors in view not far in the distance. "Stay with me. We move fast. If I decide it's time to run, come back here, get in the smaller tunnels. I'll call it out. Now let's go."

The players moved behind Mason in a line, and despite goblins lounging mere feet from the tunnel, he walked them straight into the hall, and crept down one side.