Chapter Five Tyna (Patreon)

Passing through the gates was simple enough. There were guards screening entrants, but since Chloe was part of a caravan coming in, she was pretty much waved on in. Alicia mentioned that normally there might have been a bit of a fee since she didn’t have a guild registration, but it wouldn’t be that much. Just a silver mark or two.

Once inside, they split off from the caravan, not long after the wagons were parked in a yard for just that purpose. Apparently it was late city time, not that it was easy to tell in the Underdark. Chloe did notice the glowing veins in the rock above were growing dimmer, which made the fluorescent plants stand out all the more. She recalled that the magical rocks that provided light down here, actually drew that light from the realm above, so if they grew dim it meant it wasn’t just late here, it was likely past sundown up there as well.

The streets of Tyna were well paved, neatly fitted and smoothed stones made up the roads. Each building was intricately carved from the rock, but she did spot wooden embellishments as well. Not far from the wagon yard was the inn they were staying at. It was a large three story building, carved from rough-hewn stone where polished wood panels sat on either side of the windows. The door was solid polished ironwood, while the roof was coated with polished brass. An old sign hung over the door, proclaiming the name of the inn, The Spirit’s Hearth.

Alicia led their group up the steps, where they were joined by a new figure. Chloe frowned when she noted how everyone reacted to him coming up the steps to join them. She wasn’t sure why, he was a bit larger than the average man. Around a hundred and eighty-five centimeters tall and a good amount of muscle on his frame. Chloe wasn’t sure what race he was though, he wasn’t one of the usual ones. The man’s skin was a greyish green, he had some short horns and bright red facial markings. For a moment she’d thought they were ritual markings but they looked too natural for that. Yet what she noticed most was his hair. It was the most unusual shade, it almost looked like he had strands of bronze... No not bronze, it wasn’t quite the right shade of orange-red, but it was close.

Having seen such features before, she could think of three races that he might have been. All of them are rather rare, but two of them were native to the Grand Depths. Reclusive to the point that in all her campaigns she’d only encountered them a few times. Yet she couldn’t help recalling the third. She knew not what crime the third race had done, but a crime nonetheless had been committed. Back when the Primal Gods still walked, back when her name, her original name had not been lost to the aeons. It was a different age, the mortal races were all young and quite different from today. It was in that age of primal magics that the third race committed their crime, one that transgressed against the gods themselves and for that crime, they were banished. Chloe frowned, why was she even thinking about that race? Fools abounded back then, mortals were young, plenty of them made mistakes. She’d made plenty herself.

He knelt in front of her, “Hello there, you’re that kid they brought back from the ruins, right? I’m Krellik Vir Ulshwitiz, and you, my fair lady are?”

“Chloe Amori,” she replied automatically, “The others don’t seem to like you, though. Did you do something to them, or something?”

He laughed, “I sometimes have that effect on people. I’d like to think I’m not a bad guy, but that’s for you to judge isn’t it?”

Alicia sighed, “We should go inside, we are drawing attention.”

“Right, so we are,” said Krellik before pushing the door open. “Anyway, if you ladies don’t mind me dropping by your room later, I do have something I want to discuss. In private, naturally.”

Alicia and Elie didn’t reply right away. They blinked a couple of times, then slowly nodded, “Um, sure that’s not a problem.”

“Great,” he replied as a young woman came up to greet them.

She was petite, barely a head taller than Chloe herself was, but her bust was huge. It strained against her top, and her nipples could be seen clearly through the fabric. The woman had long white hair, light grey skin and bright purple eyes. Two long, sinuous tails wagged lazily behind her, each one tipped with a short barb. She was dressed in a light green dress with a hem so short her panties, if she’d been wearing any would have been visible. Instead Chloe had a good view of her pussy, it was fat and engorged with light pink lips that gaped just slightly and were drooling. The woman smiled, “Krellik! It’s been so long, and who are the lovely ladies with you?”

“Adventurers from Retha Grova, I wrote ahead about them when I let you know I was coming.”

“Ah right, three rooms right? For the Thunder Faeries.”

Alicia interjected, “Yes that is us, but we are going to need an additional bed.”

“Not a problem,” replied the proprietress, “Who’s the bed for.”

Krellick suddenly ushered her forward, “This lovely lady right here. They found the poor kid wandering lost in the Ruins of Ferios. Elie told me the poor girl just woke up there.”

“Oh the poor thing. Tell you what, the extra bed is on the house,” then she turned more serious. “Now you said you were traveling with a caravan to Bordertown. Any changes in that plan? Or are you going to be staying the full three days you planned?”

“Right now? No changes.”

Chloe blinked, “Three days?”

Alicia interjected, “The Caravan needs some time to offload some of their goods and buy new ones. We signed on for the entire trip to Bordertown though, so we can’t just switch caravans.”

“Ah! I understand.” she replied. That actually made some sense to her. She’d been around for more than a few cycles. Markets and logistics happened to be something she’d picked up over the years. Any army, even an undead one, needed supplies. Soldiers needed weapons and armor, mortals needed food, etc. The list could go on for miles, and you had to pay for all of it. Time was needed to move it, and creatures needed rest. As a spirit, she didn’t need rest, but her mortal shell did. Ghouls being closer to the living than other undead, also required some rest, and while magic sustained them. They were still fully capable of indulging in mortal pleasures. That meant they desired things like food and good company. All things to consider. 

For a caravan, the problems were different but fundamentally similar. It was run by mortals who needed food, water and shelter. They were also looking to make a profit, not to mention they were vital to mortal communities. Without them towns like this would be poorer, lacking things they might otherwise have. One problem solved, her mind went back to the proprietress, who wasn’t wearing panties. Did mortals not wear underwear anymore? Admittedly, a sample size of three was too small for conclusions, but it was a trend. Did it mean anything? She couldn’t say for sure, but she kept it in mind.

The proprietress grabbed a few keys, then said, “Anyway I should show you your rooms. I’ll have that extra bed added quickly as well.”

______________

Chloe looked around the room she would be sharing with Sae. A couple of young men had lugged an extra bed into the room and set it up, but it would be easy to believe there had always been two beds in here. She felt it was a good use of the space actually. The two beds had been placed on opposite sides of the room. Previously there had been a little sitting area where the one bed was, but the men had moved that furniture out. There was a soft fur rug to cover the floor. A window opposite the door looked out on Tyna, she also noted a chest at the foot of each bed. An attached closet contained a wardrobe with dividers for putting their clothing in. It would certainly do. There was a table in the middle of the room with a couple of chairs around it and some flowers set out. The walls were paneled with warm wood and decorated with art. A couple of bookshelves on either side of the door, had a selection of books to read from. The room was lit by a pair of magical lamps, set on a small table by each bed.

Sae was already setting her things in the chest and checking out the bed. So Chloe went to the other bed and stuck her bag in the chest on her side of the room. Sae moved away from the bed with a small wooden box in her hands, “Want to play before bed?”

Chloe looked over, “Ah, maybe? Have an interesting game?”

Sae grinned before raising up the box. On the lid was a vibrantly painted map along with some text in bold letters. Obviously the name of the game, but Chloe hadn’t heard of it before. So what are the rules”

Sae unpacked the game and set out some magic stones, which when placed and activated, generated a map over the table. It was pretty cool with an ocean, several islands, a few forests and mountains. “Supposedly, some summoned hero invented it, based it on something called a ‘Vidjeo’ game, or something like that. Anyway, we each select a race from the list and choose a start location. Our goal is to grow our people, raise armies, and then ultimately gain control of the map. 

“How interesting, so how do we play?”

Chloe soon lost herself in the game, but Sae had a clear advantage in understanding the rules. She won their first game but Chloe won the second. By then she wasn’t sure how long they had been up, but Sae was looking pretty tired. 

Chloe watched her yawn then rub her eyes. Seeing that, she reached for the stone control, and pressed off. The map vanished, “I think that is enough. Let’s get you to bed.”

Sae blinked, nodded “Um, yeah, sure.” The girl stood up, then just dropped out of her clothes before crawling into the bed. Asleep before she even hit the pillow.

Chloe cleaned up the game, then looked at Sae. She was so cute curled up on the bed and barely under the covers. Completely vulnerable, and oh so adorable. Young perhaps, but the potential was there. Chloe was tempted to cut her young head off and raise her as a headless ghoul, she’d make such a good ghoul.

Chloe blinked, then sighed. What was she doing? It was too early to be doing that, besides Sae was still a kid. Idly she realized she’d never gotten Sae’s age. That was a good question. She knew Sae wasn’t physically mature, but the signs of a head turning young lady were already there. Sadly she wasn’t exactly the best at guessing the ages of mortals, she tended to be wrong every time she tried. Still there were a few clues she could use. Sae’s chest had already started to swell, so she was clearly old enough for puberty to have started.

Walking up to Sae, she took a moment to give the girl a full exam before fixing the blanket. Yes she’d make an excellent ghoul indeed, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt it would be too soon to turn her just yet. The question remained; when would be the best time to remove her head?

Such questions in mind, she turned out the light, then settled on her own bed. Only to find herself; suddenly elsewhere. It only took her a moment to realize her body and spirit were still in the Inn. This meant one thing, she turned and was greeted with the avatar of a goddess. 

The goddess in question was a beauty by every measure of the word, with a youthful figure, breasts just barely larger than average, creamy skin with undertones like living fire, long fiery red hair that was kept in place by a golden tiara studded with pink jewels. For a top she wore only a bra that almost seemed like it was made of fire, yet the unusual flames were pink and gold rather than the usual hues, it was transparent enough that Chloe could see her nipples in perfect detail. For her lower body, she was wrapped in a matching thigh-length skirt which left her puffy pussy completely exposed to her sight.

A grin was on her face, “Finally alone, you’ve kept me waiting.”

She blinked, “... So um, Furea? What...”

Furea giggled, “Caught you off guard did I?” She settled on a chair forming from nowhere and crossed her legs. “So, how do you like Chloe’s body?”

“I love it, best body I ever possessed, but I do have questions,” she replied.

“If you are wondering about her original soul, don’t, I managed to rescue her.” Then she sighed, “I’d had such high hopes for her, but all that potential was squandered with just a little misfortune.”

“What kind of misfortune?”

“It started a few years ago, with the unfortunate death of her mother at the hands of an Abyssal cult. It left a scar on her, and for years she sought vengeance. Last year she finally found a lead on those cultists. As you can guess by her state when you found her body, it didn’t end well. I tried to warn her, but Chloe had always been headstrong.”

“I see, does that mean you know what Abyssal was released?”

Furea nodded, “I do and that brings me to the main topic. Neither you nor I want an Abyssal loosed upon the mortals. Our goals align, and like it or not, there are only two people who could face this Abyssal and win. The first is you, the other? Well you’ll meet her soon enough, you are heading her way, but unlike you she has plenty of obligations. She can’t drop everything to go hunting an Abyssal.”

Chloe felt a shiver down her spine. She didn’t like the implications. “Please tell me we aren’t dealing with a royal, or worse.”

“Thankfully, nothing that bad. Chloe’s soul was however, a catalyst strong enough to summon a midrank Noble, a Viscountess. Unfortunately, it’s one of the more dangerous examples of the rank; a Maveran Brood Queen.”

Chloe paled.

Furea leaned forward, “Given the danger just one of these presents. I’d like you to help me by tracking down that Abyssal cult and dealing with it, but first there is a temple of mine within Tyne. I want you to visit it.”

Chloe frowned, not entirely sure why. She’d never been invited into a temple and she usually avoided them since the gods had more power within the blessed halls of a temple. “Alright. I’ll play,” she replied after a moment.

Furea grinned, “Wonderful. I will see you tomorrow, oh and try to refrain from removing people’s heads. I’m not sure Sae would appreciate the fact you were thinking of taking her head.”

“But she’d be so adorable!!!” she responded, only the goddess was gone. Leaving her alone in a dark room, accompanied only by a sleeping young girl. For a moment she just lay there, then a sensation told her that her body had needs to fill. Chloe slipped out of bed and out of the room.