David Gonzales, Leader of Mesa City

“David! It’s good to see you, though I didn’t expect you to be waiting for us yourself.” Jensen Grady greeted the man he knew as the current leader of Mesa with a warm smile. David Gonzales tried to respond in kind, but his smile turned into something closer resembling a grimace.

“Well, you know what’s got me wound up, have you heard anything yet?” David pressed the man who had come with a load of high-quality timber and animal pelts. Some even claimed to be from prehistoric dinosaurs that had suddenly appeared in the shallow valleys between Mesa and Payson.

“You asking about when that Warlord of Winslow is going to come knocking? I don’t know, man. He hasn’t even shown up in Payson yet. Donna said she’d be meeting him when he stops in with the Dryads. Apparently, he knocked up the Kings daughter, heh.” Jensen stopped next to David and watched the dozen trucks with escorts pulling into the city gates. Once they offloaded their contents, they would load up with the incredibly fast-growing produce that had become Mesa’s staple.

Mesa was hit pretty hard in the beginning, but David was proud of how his community had banded together and fought back the monsters. Most of the suburbia that made up Mesa had been leveled flat. It was only due to David’s knowledge of city planning and the wonders of the System that contributed to the quickly rebounding farming community which had taken its place. About a month and a half in to the new order a scouting party made contact with a similar group from Payson and the two cities worked together to clear the old Highway 87 that connected the two. So, without fail, once a week for the last month a convoy of semi-trucks brought building and other various crafting materials in exchange for crops.

“Any idea what they’re waiting for? I mean, when I talked to Donna, she said to expect a significant military force. That was a week ago. You know we don’t have a standing military. I need to know if this guy is as psychopathic as they claim. I need to know what to expect.” David released a heavy sigh while staring at the dirt between him and the other man.

Jensen looked at him sympathetically, “Look man, the last I heard he had just overrun Snowflake. Apparently, one of them Mormon nut jobs up there was sacrificing young girls for more power. His people took the guy out and he claimed the city under his banner.”

Davids face fouled up questioningly, “Sacrificed? Like, rituals and shit?”

“Yeah, absorbing their blood. Seems that with the right class or skills, you can be some kinda magic vampire and gain more than normal power through other people’s blood. It’s super cringey, if you ask me.”

The last truck pulled through the gate and the two men stepped onto the road as it passed, “So, then what?”

“What? Oh, well, seems he decided to check out Show Low. You know how we don’t even go close, it’s dead. I mean Night of the Living Dead dead. Several of them minimum custody inmates offered to go check it out, only two came back and only one lived. Barely.”

David thought about that information for a minute as they walked behind the convoy as it pulled into the storage yard, “So you think he’s dead too?”

“Nah, I heard right before I left that the Princess, the tree lady he knocked up, reported to her father that she had left him at the edge of the area because there was a poison in the air and she didn’t want to risk her ‘sprouts’.” Jensen spit to the side and smirked at his last comment.

“Ok, so what happened to this Warlord?” David pressed.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. Seems he’s the type to come prepared. Most of his team had some kind of fancy rebreathers. Plus, they’re all in their advanced classes and have some absurd attributes and skill levels. These people are always fighting.”

David swallowed visibly at Jensen’s last statement. His own adventurers were tough, but the stories about this Warlord and his people put them outside of his reach. To top it off, it seemed the man had an army and the resources of three cities at his disposal. He’d seen the videos that filtered in through the new System Communications Network. There’s no way we can stand against that. Not with New Pheonix badgering us for material support and Litchfield threatening to overrun Gilbert’s people. Shit. Shit. SHIT!

Jensen looked at the man, recognizing the war of emotions that vaguely flitted across his face, “Look, man. If it makes you feel better, the man seems to try and talk things out first. It’s my understanding he’s not coming to displace Donna when he shows up. Donna’s been talking to his people, already has a treaty drawn up, some kinda’ Mutual Defense thing. From what I’ve heard it doesn’t really put us on the hook for anything, his people are far stronger than ours. Seems it’s more of a formal agreement not to go stomping across each other’s back yards without a little notice and good reason.”

David looked at Jensen’s weak smile for a moment, “I need to get the city council together, shit.” He walked away from the younger man with a wave and began sending out messages to all of his people. He tapped out a message in his mind to a recently acquired contact, Johnny Smith, Administrator of SooHoo Military Outpost. He hesitated, carefully rereading the message, then mentally pressed the send button. Might as well reach out before his people come storming through our walls.

Jodi, Defiler of Men

“Ungh! Fuck! You’re so damn tight! I’m about to cum!”

Jodi rode her latest victim atop a ten-story office building, writhing passionately in the cool evening air. She could feel his life energy draining into her with increased urgency. She rode him harder, spurring his inevitable release. “Do it! Cum inside my tight pussy, baby!”

She placed a firm hand on his bare chest as his eyes rolled up into the back of his head, the telltale surge between her legs indicating his release was imminent. Her other hand snaked under the blanket where they fucked and drew one of her daggers. With a swift, practiced motion she plunged the dark weapon up through his lower jaw and neck, just in front of the ear. His eyes instantly locked on hers in horror.

He managed to dump his seed in her womb which set off a cascading orgasm within herself as she reveled in his confused shock. She had found out quickly that her victims life energy tasted the best when she seized it at the height of ecstasy. The man beneath her spasmed in time with her own pleasure. Just as he emptied the last of his balls into her, she twisted the dagger that was currently lodged in the base of his brain. The last of his life energy flowed freely and she used her magic to suck up every last drop.

She dismounted the corpse of her latest lover and casually crossed the rooftop to lean over the edge, absorbing the view of the dark city below her with her ample tits hanging in the air. Jodi smiled as she watched the people move about the crowded market streets while thinking back on how much her life had changed since the System appeared.

Up until two months ago, give or take a week, Jodi was serving life for the murder of her previous boyfriend. Of course, she felt that was complete bullshit. He was an abusive asshole. Right? She didn’t kill him because she wanted to. She did it because he was going to kill her! She had no choice. Right? He was bigger than her, so naturally she had to stab him several dozen times. Right!? Of course, the courts didn’t see it that way. Who cares that she slit his throat, then shot him in the head, and dragged his body to the tub when she was done. HE ATTACKED HER! RIGHT!?!?

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Well, she had resigned herself to living as a guest of the great state of Arizona for the remainder of her days. She figured she still looked decent enough. She was confident she could get some dick from one of them horny, pathetic guards. Eventually.

However, it seemed the System had other plans for her. She’d had boyfriends when she wasn’t in prison that played video games so she instantly recognized what was happening when the little blue screens appeared indicating she was about to experience something completely unpleasant. She laid down on her bunk and waited. Sure enough, the worst headache she ever experienced came and knocked her out. When she woke, the wall to her cell had been smashed in, the sounds of screaming and crying echoed from within the complex.

When she looked out through the missing wall, she saw the kind of chaos that made her smile. She fled with more strength and speed than she had experienced in her entire life. When she finally could take the time to review the new notifications that were flashing for her attention, she was stunned at the changes.

It seemed the System had encountered several errors when calculating her previous life experience and took it upon itself to change her race to Succubus. It quickly became clear that the pressing hunger in her body would only be sated by acting on her impulses to fuck and kill. Specifically, in that order. The System had fortunately made it very easy to do both. She never looked better, and she was never stronger than she was now.

BRRRRRRRRRRT! BRRRRRRRRRRT!

The sound of mini-guns firing snapped Jodi out of her reverie. She looked out to the West where a pair of helicopters flew up and down the I-17 spraying rounds into the smashed ruins of several suburban houses where magical bolts of fire and frost reached up from the ground in an attempt to swat them from the sky.

Dull explosions echoed from around the other side of the building. She looked down again to see the market goers watching the sky in fear. She could smell their emotions from ten stories away.

“Hmmm, maybe it’s time to find a new hunting ground?”

She quickly crossed the rooftop, gathering her clothes and dressing as she moved to the East side of the building. She didn’t bother putting her shirt on knowing that what she did next would only ruin any shirt she wore. With a quick glance to the street below here, Jodi climbed on to the ledge with her belongings she wasn’t currently wearing and jumped.

Just as she plunged past the eighth-floor window a pair of leathery black wings snapped open from between her shoulder blades. By the time she passed the seventh floor she was gliding on a hot updraft headed away from the fighting.

Elias “Eli” Butterfield, Arms Master of the Great Legion, Commander of the SooHoo Militia

“Alright, get your arses moving! I want this runway cleared by noon!” Eli barked out orders to a gathering of his soldiers that were currently clearing the broken and shattered remnants of a Leer Jet from the runway of Winslow's small airfield. As they brought people in from nearby Holbrook, their numbers swelled. As such, keeping the militia housed within the Soo Hoo Administrative area was becoming less tenable.

The SooHoo Militia needed a more permanent base of operations that didn’t put it on top of the rest of the city. With the help of the Valkyr and Dwarves, monster attacks within the city proper was becoming less of a concern. Setting regular patrols had seemed to be sufficient to indicate to the local wildlife that the area was off limits. The dungeons were quickly brought under control by the multitudes of adventurers to such a degree that there were no wild dungeons within ten kilometers of the outpost.

Adventurers that cleared and captured a dungeon were compensated for their settlement cores, which meant SooHoo was currently sitting on a surplus of SP. In addition, the stables needed space to grow as the amount of Coyote’s and Mountain Lions that formed his cavalry had increased to the point he could field roughly 600 of the coyotes, and 400 of the lions. Only about 5 percent of that total number had formed a bond with their riders, but the rest seemed to be content with the pseudo-domestication.

The real mystery he couldn’t solve was where they all had come from. They were certainly breeding. Mana definitely accelerated maturation in crops. The cubs and kits they had identified were experiencing the same increased growth, though the oldest, at six weeks old, were merely juveniles. Of which there were only a couple dozen in each species. Eli suspected there was a mechanism of the Stables that caused Mana to clone whatever creature was placed there at a certain rate.

All this mattered, because if Eli was right, then the Advanced Stables he had currently constructing behind the Airport property would increase the acquisition rate of the animals. Hopefully enough so that by the time Karl returned he’d have a 2000 man, coyote, and mountain lion force ready to march south.

This was the other reason that he chose to move his base of operations to the Airfield. It was large, flat, and had room to grow. He currently commanded roughly 3500 troops. Between growing his forces and preparing for the campaign to the south, he needed the room. With better barracks, and a legit command and control center, the airfield would be refurbished so he could hopefully acquire some helicopters and jets. It also now contained a proper motor pool with repair facilities for vehicles. Expanded training facilities, a new arena, and other essential structures would round out their new base.

As he stood in the middle of the runway one of his soldiers motioned over his shoulder. Eli turned to pleasantly find Queen Freya and her attendant, Hilga, swooping in gracefully to land several feet from him.

“HO! Good warrior.” Freya called out with a smile as her feet struck the tarmac. Hilga radiated a shy smile as well, making only furtive eye contact which left Eli slightly flushed. He had found the woman’s presence gradually increased since they had marched on Snowflake. It was clear that not all of the visits were of the professional nature, she had apparently taken a liking to him. And it’s not like I’m not open to the possibility...

Eli placed his right hand across his heart, dipping his head in a short respectful bow. “Greetings, Queen. What brings you out?”

The beautiful Valkyr Queen cast a mischievous glance towards Hilga before answering, “We were largely out stretching our wings and surveying our mustering point. Of course, Hilga saw you and insisted we come down!”

Hilga froze in horror as her pale cheeks flushed a rosey red in the same instant. It seems the Queen had read the slowly building situation and decided to give it a kick in the ass to speed it along. Eli smiled despite his own reddening cheeks. Well, that’s one way to break the tension. And if I weren’t so busy...

He stepped forward and took the tall Valkyr’s hand, “Does she always torment you such?”

Hilga paused, her smile widening, “She does, it’s quite insufferable.”

Freya laughed and pointed at the awkward pair, “If you two don’t stop making eyes for each other and start making babies I’ll lock you both in a room together...” She turned her pointed finger on Hilga directly, “... until you come out pregnant!”

Eli felt Hilga’s hand tighten on his as she let out a small gasp. She was thoroughly embarrassed, but she wasn’t fleeing his presence or disengaging from him. “I, uh... By Odun! I’m so sorry, Sir Eli, uh...”

Freya released a raucous bout of laughter at her flustering attendant. Even Eli chuckled a bit until he heard his soldiers who’d overheard the exchange also begin laughing at his and Hilga’s expense. He released his hold on the attractive woman and rounded on his troops as Drill Sergeant’s Fury began to churn inside of him.

“Oi! You lot don’t have enough to do, how about when you’re done here you report to the Sergeant for patrol. Be sure to tell him you’re expected to complete it at double time.”

All of the soldiers froze in panic, knowing that the patrol in question was essentially a double marathon perimeter run that they often did for physical training in the morning. With Post-System attributes and abilities this was completely doable, though many of the lower stamina individuals would be struggling through the last ten or so kilometers. And such punishment would likely be added to by their platoon Sergeant. Which meant more physical trials after the run had thoroughly sapped their stamina.

A chorus of “Yes, sirs!” echoed across the empty space. Satisfied with the response, Eli returned his attention to his guests. “Now, would you lovely ladies like to join me in my new office for some tea?” He raised an arm to each woman, of which Hilga greedily accepted as he led them back to the old airport administration building that had now become his new headquarters.