Side Story
Slyphianne
Slyphianne daydreamed. How did I ever get into this mess? Just because this was my system day, I have to be dragged halfway across Babylon? She checked her status sheet again. No, it was still there, she could see it all play out in her mind. She would be plaything of like eight barbarian humans, sharing her among themselves and storing up their lust day by day until it was their turn. Because of the curse, she would eventually come to like it, bearing child after child until she died from her body was no longer being able to function, her mind would have been broken far before that though.
Once they got to Appletown, the princess had her join her party and said she was going to take them out to eat as her treat. I mean sure, Star is pretty nice, but what kind of place was this? The waitress seemed charmed by Star, she probably used some social skill on her.
Villainess #1, "Do you see those kids that seem like they are related?"
Minion #1, "Yep, they sure are cute."
Villainess #1, "Yes, but I recognize them!" That is Blue and Grey; they are famous as they are twins. They were born from one of the doxies of the chancellor of the Lark clan. I saw them when I was doing business there. I guess they turned out to be commoners, but I think the chancellor would pay a lot of money to get them back."
Minion #2: "Why do you think he lost them?"
Minion #1, "He is about to, obviously."
Minion #2, "They are in a party; how are we going to separate them out?"
Villainess #1 "Kill the noble and the party will collapse, but they all are valuable; all of them are likely innocent, being a party of a noble and five commoners. That noble made a mistake by saying she was a new noble. We are not going to separate them. They will have no fighting ability at all other than the noble, and they have a weakness."
Minion #2: "What is that boss?"
Villian #1, "She won’t want her party killed, and we have some extras to drive the point home, so to speak."
Minion #2 smiled. He was going to slowly plunge in a dagger and kill a pretty teenaged elf, for sure. Then maybe with the young, pure, noble elfess—I mean, she unwisely didn’t have anything covering her pretty face! Oh, this was so great! It was going to be epic, and she was nice as well as pretty; she had already bought him a beer! Maybe he could join her party after he made an opening? He would take care of her so much better then some wet behind the ears elf lad. She would grow to love it. With a noble girl he could even turn legitimate!
Sylvianne shook her blonde hair, not the weird hair of the Lark clan mind you, but honest blonde hair, and surveyed the horrific tavern with her amethyst eyes. Nobody else in this slave wagon was a Faerie elf, and she knew none of them trusted her. These fools were all being sold to humans, and they were too stupid to realize it! But not her; she was going to escape this horrible fate! She had taken appearance as her best statistic, which also gave you charisma. Two for the price of one! Plus, when she got to the second level, she would get even more dexterity and charisma, which would give her more appearance, which would give her more charisma! Then she could learn more charisma or appearance by working hard and gaining a few levels, reaching up to three in each. Her other advancement she had taken in intelligence, this gave her two skills she could learn. She opted for riding and knowledge (sex) as that seemed to be the best way to get out of this slave caravan.
She would learn sorcery, including conjuration, and she would be all set for life! All she had to do was find a silly nobleman to put her through school. in the elven lands, not some barbaric human town where she would be abused at best, liking it at worst.
She just had to find someone in this town who would protect her! She glanced around the tavern, looking for a mark. Some creepy men and a Woodling woman were staring at them, but that was not what she was looking for. Some sort of hero had just walked in! He looked mysterious and powerful! There were spell components at his side. She made eye contact with him, and with her eyes, using her talent, she tried to reel him in.
Devoe walked into the tavern on just two legs. It was pretty strange, but he was used to strange things considering who his master was. He looked around the tavern and spotted the group he was looking for easily enough. One of the innocent young elfesses was throwing him a "come hither" look. Devoe reasoned that she might not be so innocent after all! He sat down and ordered some apple cider that the town was famous for. He touched the seat next to him and motioned for the girl to join him. The girl acted like she was going to the bathroom, then changed directions and sat down next to him.
The blonde girl spoke earnestly; "Please help me, sir; I am being kidnapped and am going to be sold to some humans. Pretty please, make these slavers let me go. That way, there will be no fuss. I can be really nice to you if you help me."
"Well, that is a pretty good offer, miss. My name is Devoe; what’s yours?"
"My name is Sylphianne, and I am a rare type of elf called a Faerie elf. You see, the system has done something terrible to us for some reason, and we are overly attracted to human barbarians, or northerners, as the system calls them. Even if these elves are sincere in what I think are lies that they will have the humans train us in an academy, it will go very poorly for me. Sniffle. What I am saying is the truth; please believe me. You can even look at my statistics and see."
Devoe looked at her status sheet and saw that what she was saying was actually true.
"That is terrible, such a shame," Devoe said, "but your slaver heroes appear to be very strong; I will speak with them and see what I can do. Maybe they'll let me buy you?"
Sylvianne couldn’t believe her luck! A couple of tears and everything was perfect; the Knowledge (sex) skill she learned from Tira was the best!
"You had best go back to your friends for now; they seem agitated," said Devoe.
Slyvianne gave him a pout and walked slowly away, reluctant to leave Devoe’s side, and she whispered before she left, "Please save me."
Devoe couldn’t believe his luck; this was perfect! She smelled so good, he couldn’t wait to join with her. She was just the right amount of feisty for his tastes! She wouldn’t have to worry about human males anymore, and he would take good care of her. A sorceress was a good choice; he saw she had been looking at hedge sorceress just by hitting the back screen on her status. He thought, Faerie elf sorceress, all for me. What about lightning attacks? Pew! Pew!
Devoe had a thought that he probably should report this to the rest of the teams, but he wanted to stare at her some more and think of the joy that was soon to come with his new, lovely bride-to-be.
The non-descript villainess sat watching one of the partygoers that she was stalking go talk to a man in whispered but frantic tones. She wished he had spent more points in perception, but then the goblin, disguised with a spell as an elf, realized she had two minions.
"Hey, Leblanc, and you, Olier, could you make out what they were talking about?"
Leblanc, also known as minion #1, said "Nope."
Olier said, "They were talking about the girl going over to talk to some stranger instead of going to the restroom."
"Well, that's somewhat useful," the villain said, regretting that she couldn't overhear the girl and the hero-looking guy.
What Olier, also known as Minion #2, had heard was that the girl, Slyphianne, said she was going to be a slave to a human because she was an extremely rare elf who had a thing for humans. She wanted the guy, a hero type named Defoe, to save her. Apparently, the elves they were stalking had already been enslaved by villains, so there was way too much heat to grab all of them. Plus, that Devoe guy is going to try to buy her, so we would make an enemy of a hero, who would be bound to interfere with their plans as well.
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Olier said, "Yah, too bad."
Olier had already thought of how to turn this seeming reversal to his advantage. What did he want more than to kill one of the unremarkable elf lads? He wanted to be the noble's minion! All he had to do was save her during the confrontation! The minion bit his lip in anticipation of being the noble's plaything!
"I guess that violet-eyed blonde is the kind of girl you would think she is—setting up a tryst right in front of her mistress, how shameless," said Lablac. "We definitely shouldn’t kill her; the noble lady may not even care."
"Indeed, the hero would be trouble, but I imagine he would buy her from us the same as the other villains! We can make some quick cash to travel on and sell the twins to the guild. You set that up with him, Olier."
"Sure, mistress, I will do that at once," said Olier.
Olier went over and sat next to Devoe after buying a couple of beers and placing one in front of him.
Devfoe looked at him with piercing blue eyes lit with magic. "Can I help you?"
"No, but I am in a position to help you, good sir," said Olier. "You see, I have very good hearing, and it seems like the young elves there have been tricked into slavery, a common problem that most elves see as a right of passage, a stage in their long lives, when it happens. But they are so young and innocent. Me and my friends would like to help you "liberate" them. As it turns out, two of the commoners are actually from an influential family, the Lark clan. My friends want to take them back for a reward; I would like to join the noble on her journey and look out for her."
"I think the villains with her will not give up on her, no matter what. You can rescue the violet-eyed one and won’t have to pay the villains who captured her. I will step in from the darkness and save the noble girl from all the kidnappers—you know, you and my friends—and return the others and her to her captors, whom she thinks are her friends. Even if the villains from the slave caravan go after somebody, it won’t be you, as the other two are way more valuable because of their heritage. What do you say? Are you in?"
Devoe pondered it for a moment. "Yes, that seems great! The only thing is, I won’t be able to let your companions take the children; one of them is a goblin, and the other is evil. Slyphianne will follow me, and the others will follow her, I am sure," smirked Devoe.
"It works for me!" said Olier, a bit saddened that his tormentor and lover were going to have to die.
Olier couldn’t believe his luck! Now it would be basically 8 on 2!
Sure, the boss was mean and a goblin, but being treated like dirt and stepped on by a gorgeous, pure noble girl? There was no comparison! killing people for her that got in the way! Yes, maybe she would actually step on him! Plus, he would be taken advantage of by the rest of the slaves and slavers, he was sure!
Devoe, watching Olier closely, said, "They don’t have to die, but they are going to get wounded and knocked out." to make me look cool to Slyphianne, after all.
Olier smiled. "Good, she is a nice-ish gobbo lady after all."
"I have a use for a goblin woman," said Devoe.
"I will lure them into an alleyway when they leave."
Devoe, Lablac, Olier, and Blaze, the goblin villainess left the bar to set up for the ambush.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Lost Souls tavern, Star and her friends were enjoying being waited on by the star struck young waitress. They got very good service, and the woman serving them didn’t even get pinched once! Blue and Grey questioned Slyphianne about her talk with the stranger.
"What are you up to?" said Blue.
"Well, I just thought he looked cool. Everyone seems to hate me on the wagon, and I just wanted to talk a bit with a hero that doesn’t look at me like I am some runaway servant; is that so wrong?" complained Sylphianne.
"She’s a weird one," said Rixande. "She’s always looking like she might scramble out of the window."
"You are a lot safer in the caravan," said Mistmoon. "We will get a free hedge class when we get to the human lands."
"Fool," said Sylphianne, "why would they be that nice to us?"
"I really can’t tell you why, Sylphianne," said Star, "but I have reason to believe that they are telling the truth."
"That is worse assurance than the wagon boy that tries to hit on me; I thought you had people skills?" mocked Slyphianne.
Blue blushed a bit. "I am not trying to hit on you."
"Oh, I wasn't referring to you, Blue," Sylphianne said, "but I guess I'll have to keep an eye out for you as well. Good to know."
Grey laughed at her brother's sort of accidental confession.
"Fine, why don’t you sing for the waitress, and we can go stroll around for a bit and work off this meal?" said Blue, trying to change the subject.
Star got out her lute and tuned it for a bit. She played and sang a song that she had heard at court the few times her father had taken her. Naturally, it wasn’t the best thing to play at a shady tavern and expect people to sing along. Everyone in the tavern seemed to have different feelings about their new noble lady? singing them a love ballad at the tavern. It actually ended up being pretty awkward as Star realized what she was singing to the waitress. The tavern wench seemed to be inspired by the song, gazing at her with love in her eyes. Star started messing up parts of it as a result, and Blue and Grey barely held in their laughter at their cousin being so unworldly that she didn’t even know any tavern songs!
Finally, the ordeal was over, and Star left a generous tip in common coins. Of course, she had to sort through all the silver and gold, getting stares from the tavern patrons. The waitress said to come by when she got off work at midnight. The others stared at Etherstaria in disbelief that she didn’t know what that meant, but they were enjoying it too much to tell her. They walked around town window shopping for a while until they heard a voice.
"This way, Sylphianne, if you truly wish to be with me!"
Sylphianne darted into the alleyway, and the others ran after her, yelling for her to stop.
*Roll for initiative!
* Round 1
First to act, Mistmoon ran into the alleyway on the heels of Sylphianne. The enemies were well hidden, so he failed to notice them. He tackled Slyphianne to the ground, thinking he would get into trouble if he didn’t stop her. They went down in a heap.
Oiler held his turn until Star appeared.
Slyphianne struggled in the non-descript boy’s arms, only managing to end up facing him, his breath blowing into her mouth as they looked at each other as he held her tightly, their faces inches apart.
Devoe appeared and grabbed both of them, lifting them to his shoulder. "Bonus, I guess?" said Devoe.
Grey entered the alleyway, realized she was an unarmed commoner, and sort of stood there.
Star made her way into the alley, and Olier stepped out in front of her and the two elves in Defoe’s arms. "Don’t worry, mistress, I won’t let them hurt you," said Olier bravely.
The villainess, who looked like an elf if you recall but was really a magical female goblin, cast a spell on Star to paralyze her. Star, having been the victim of this particular spell before, if you recall, managed to resist.
* A dangerous spell was cast at Etherstaria, summoning shard #31.
The Rixande ran to get whatever caravan hero she happened to run into first.
Leblanc grabbed Grey so he could threaten Star; at the same time, Blue entered the alleyway and kicked him in the shin, leaving a very small bruise, so part of Defoe’s statement on their treatment came true right away.
* Round 2
Instant karma acted on Mistmoon, who was holding a girl while being held by a much stronger man; he wiggled and squirmed in the hero's tight and loving embrace, only managing to face his captor, his eyes meeting the gaze of the beautiful stranger's piecing, magic-lit blue eyes, and swooned much like the girl in his arms.
Slyphianne took the turn to look at the elven man, who had just cast a spell at close range. She realized she might actually be in danger, and she screamed at the caster, but she was sort of being squeezed by two men, so it came out as more of a girly squeak. She squirmed some more, but to no effect.
Devoe, realizing that he should probably do something about Grey, let the two entangled elves in his arms drop to his feet and cast a paralyze spell on Leblanc.
Lablac's save failed miserably, extending the duration and forcing him out of the fight barring a dispel magic or something similar.
Grey really let Leblac, who was still holding her, have it with a girly punch to the face. Leblanc didn’t react, of course, but the bruises on the evil elf were piling up. Star, realizing she was under attack by a spellcaster, charged him while doing a sword draw! She slashed clear through the caster, doing no damage and encountering no resistance! Star realized she was fighting an illusion, and she saw—gasp! It was one of the dreaded goblins!
"They are goblins!" shouted Star to her allies.
Olier, now going after Star, realized she had run past him to engage his old mistress! He stood up and prepared a dagger against spell casting in order to prevent his new mistress from being fried by his old one!
Rixande continued to try to find help and ran into a house cat, who did not respond to her cries for help but did look up to see if some food might be in the offering.
The goblin lass started casting a spell, got a sneak attack dagger to the chest for her efforts, she decided to cut her losses, and ran for it. Star got a free attack and added a solid hit to the damage the unfortunate caster took from the dagger, and she fell bleeding out to the ground. So far, Devoe's statements are completely true, with one more unconsciousness to go.
*Shard 31 asked himself, Why am I here? Even in a larger sense, why am I here? Shard 31 looked around and saw that Star had defeated a dangerous foe; all the enemies seemed to have given up or were out of the fight, and he mentally weighed if everyone was done stabbing and so forth, so he could give out experience and leave. He decided that Blue and Grey were still combatants, the goblin was bleeding out, and there were people that might save her life, and so the fight continued in rounds.
Blue critically hit Leblanc and knocked him out, but Leblanc didn’t respond, fall down, or let go of Grey, being paralyzed. Prophecy fulfilled!
* Round 3
Moonmist, having a pretty girl in his arms, didn’t object and passed his turn, waiting for combat to end.
Slyphianne, being held only lightly by a young elf, squirmed and escaped! She stood up, sobbing, and asked Defoe, "How are you going to save me?"
Defoe said, "You don’t need to be saved, but I would like for you to be my rider."
Suddenly, Defoe turned into a white horse with a long golden spiral horn on its forehead! It reached past the stunned Star and touched the goblin woman with his horn, stabilizing her.
* Shard 31, "End of combat rounds."