Chapter Thirty-Four - Come join the fun, it's a merry-go-round

Half seven rolled around before I even had my eyes closed, or so it felt. There was a big grumbling around me as we all had the same short sleep.

“You can finish sleeping later,” I said. “I need to get home, and I can’t leave you here.”

“Not worth it,” Paul said with a yawn. “We promised Megan to meet her at nine in the guild hall.”

“How about we pick up breakfast to make it up to your lovers that we kept you away all night?” Chloe suggested.

“That might work,” I said. “But one condition.”

“And that is?” Paul asked.

“No seven-way this time. You have to meet Megan, I have to call Kinasteria, and we finally need to open the damn dungeon.”

“Dungeon?” Rune asked.

“Yes, there’s a dungeon behind Central. We just need to run the first clearance quest for a couple of floors, then its open to everyone. But things keep getting in our way. First Chloe, then Ella, then Sam moving in…”

“About Ella,” Chloe asked, “did she show up?”

“I have no idea,” I admitted. “We had an incident with moving Sam’s stuff. Her dad assaulted Geri.”

“Poor guy, how many pieces did she leave him in?” Paul joked. At least, I hoped it was a joke.

“One. He’s a norm and the Chief Constable of Merseyside Police.”

“Are you sure?” Rune asked. She had her phone in her hand, which made me suspicious.

“Which part? Norm or chief? But I’m sure of both.”

“Nope, the one part part…” she held the phone up to show the news article.

Chief of Police and Wife gruesomely murdered

The longtime Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, Peter O’Brian and his wife, Sandra O’Brian, were found murdered last night by concerned neighbours. While the police have yet to release a statement, eyewitnesses report the crime scene to look like a slaughterhouse. This murder comes at a peculiar time, as Chief O’Brian had been criminally charged for assaulting a teenage girl just hours before. The girl was treated by an ambulance; anonymous sources have leaked the ambulance report describing severe bruising and a broken arm.

“I can tell you with complete certainty that the Chief was still alive and in one piece when Geri left,” I said.

“And when you left?”

“No comment,” I said.

“Did he deserve it?” Chloe asked.

“Depends. What would you call a guy who jerks off to a video of himself fucking his 10-year-old daughter?”

“Minced meat,” Paul said. “I’ve seen your claws.”

“They seemed rather dull,” Rune remarked. “I was surprised by that.”

“It’s a skill; they get wicked when it’s on. And I only used my fists. Don’t use skills on norms, yada, yada, system doesn’t like it…”

“Good job, just in case that wasn’t clear,” Chloe said.

“Ditto.”—“Same here.”

“I don’t guess we were here early enough for an alibi?” Paul asked.

“Not by a long shot, but we have that handled. Mostly. Nobody saw me, and if there was a camera, it would have seen Sam, who was at the police station with Geri at that time.”

“You didn’t check for cameras?” Rune asked.

“How? It took us ages to find all he had in Sam’s room.” But if they were networked, that meant they had the real timestamp when we were there. And if there were some in the hallway, they had me as Sam on them, contradicting the report we had given. Shit.

“Then it’s likely he had none elsewhere,” Paul stated.

“Why?” I asked. It didn’t make sense to me.

“Basic psychology. He shows a directed behaviour towards a specific person, this makes it very likely that he will avoid being the target of the same kind of actions towards himself.”

“You’re a shrink or something?” I asked.

“Friends with one. That’s how I know Harry and Eric.”

“You guys know each other?”

“Know is a bit too much. I met Harry at Rashid’s bachelor’s party. Then both of them at a bar. I think Harry and Eric are an item, but I’m not sure.”

“More like attracted but not going all the way than an item, I’d say,” Chloe added. “But I’m certain they’re both gay, although Eric may be bi.”

“We’re here, where should I park?” Paul asked.

“Down the ramp, the guest code is 503-953. Then, any free space on the left wall.”

🙚⚜🙘

We were early enough to be there before my fam was up; just Gamma was sitting in her usual position playing strip-connect-three. One round of introductions later, I went to wake my girls up. I was joined by Rune and Chloe, turning the wake-up into an impromptu round of tickle tricks. Only that Paul hadn’t joined in made me realise how strange this was—touching sleeping naked people you were not in a relationship with should be a big social “no-no”, yet it seemed none of us felt that.

After my fam had run through the bathroom and put on some clothes, we all piled around the dinner table in the living room for breakfast. There weren’t enough chairs, even after sharing, but with the couch and two kitchen bar stools added, we managed.

“I’m going to blow up like a balloon if you keep this up,” Livia mused after her third bagel while eyeing a filled doughnut.

“With that caloric need we have? Hardly,” Rune countered, snapping up said doughnut. “I’m above 7,000 calories a day after the last level up, and you’re higher level than me, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know, where are you?” Livia replied.

“Just barely made level 6 yesterday,” Rune said between bites. “XP gain really slows down at five, and Megan’s sucking it all up at the front. She’s eight.”

“Eight already?” I blurted out. “We’re lagging behind from all the non-hunting stuff on our plate. Geri and I also are at six, Livia and Sam at four.”

“Then we need to pull you a bit,” Paul said. “Can’t have the mistresses be underlevelled, can we?”

“Not much pulling possible in this system,” I opined. “Especially with the dungeon, I think.”

“How about we tackle the troll lair together?” Chloe suggested. “It’s a level 45 quest, but with two groups in their twenties…”

“That might work,” I said after giving it a thought. “Livia and I punch above our weight with our pre-system magic anyway, so that should be possible.”

This led to me having to explain the whole “magic existed before the system” ruse again. Maybe I should put up a guild bulletin for this; then, I wouldn’t need to remember who already knew.

“So it’s settled,” Paul said. “You grab the troll lair quest, and we tag along.”

“Yes, but not right now. We still need to open the dungeon first,” I confirmed. “Let’s meet at the guild hall after lunch for that. That gives us four hours to open some dungeon levels.”

“Don’t forget the Ella situation,” Chloe added. Right, I needed to talk to Kinasteria.

“Thanks,” I said and grabbed my phone. I “dialled” Kinasteria’s number by selecting it in my recent calls list. She picked up almost instantly.

“Good morning, mistress,” she said in a happy tone. She had to have slept well.

“Good morning, Kinasteria. Um, I forgot about one thing yesterday…”

“You’re talking about Ella? I knew you had your plate full, so I caged her for the night. Would be nice if you got in today to talk to her, she stinks.”

“Ah,” I said, not sure what to think. “I’ll do that first thing after breakfast. Thanks, Kinasteria.”

“My pleasure, bye-bye!”

“Talk, girl,” Chloe said, shoving my shoulder to get me out of my daze.

“Ella showed up yesterday. Kinasteria ‘caged’ her, whatever that means.” I shrugged.

“That’s one of her racial abilities,” Rune explained. “I do want to see that!”

“Then why are we still sitting around an empty table?” Geri asked. “Players assemble! To the hall!”

🙚⚜🙘

When we arrived at the hall, I understood why Rune had been so interested to see this. The sight was outright bizarre. Ella sat on the counter, but her whole body was covered in and held motionless by winding strands of stone—which were part of Kinasteria’s body. Or not as much part of, but they were her actual body. From chest level downward, she spread out into what looked like tentacles, several dozens of them, leaving only a thin tube containing her spine. Her pelvis area looked mostly normal, but then the meat around her legbones did the same. Those tentacles were what wrapped Ella up, and held Kinasteria in the air next to her.

For some reason, both women had undressed, their clothes lying in two neat piles on the counter next to them.

“Hey, boss,” Kinasteria greeted me as I entered, waving like a giddy little girl. “I looove this, but it’s getting a bit much. Can I let her go?”

“Sure, thank you,” I said, really unsure what I should think about this.

Then the strands writhed and slowly combined into thicker strands to slide off of Ella. I had the questionable pleasure of looking just at the right location to see a couple of thicker tentacles plopping out of Ella’s lower body openings—a scene usually reserved for tentacle porn. Was that what this had been?

I felt hot breath on my ear, then Rune whispered into it, “That’s how that mate, isn’t it fascinating?” TMI Rune, I had been quite happy, only wondering about it; I didn’t need to know for certain.

Finally, one of the last tentacles to retract and join back up to form Kinasteria’s solid-seeming body retracted out of Ella’s mouth. Although, seeing how much there was retracting, it had reached a wholly different region. Ella coughed a couple of times, then moaned.

“Way too long,” she murmured, “I need to pee so badly!”

“Down the hall, second door on the right,” I said almost automatically.

Ella looked around, seeing us all now that her eyes were uncovered. I nodded towards the door to message that she should go, which she did. She was a bit unstable on her feet but didn’t need help. After she reached the door, I turned to Rune and Geri, who were standing right next to me. “Please go along, make sure she returns this way,” I asked them in a low whisper. They did so.

🙚⚜🙘

Ella did return on her own a couple of minutes later. She had taken the time to clean up a bit; the worst sweat and slime were gone, but she was far from clean. This again reminded me that we needed a shower here.

I had sat down on one of the couches, with the others finding places around me. I just needed a throne, and I could hold court…

“Have a seat, please,” I said and pointed to a free one directly opposite me. “Then explain yourself. I will hold my questions for afterwards.” Mainly because my first question would have been, ‘You have ten seconds to convince me that I should not kill you outright.’

Ella sat down, then shrank back into herself. Her air shortened and lost all its lustre. Her face thinned, and her tan vanished. Instead, countless scars along her arms, on her belly and even her breasts appeared. I could see burn spots and the long straight lines of cuts, but also some that looked like infection had run its course. One cut on her belly had healed back wrong, forming folds and an unsightly bulge, and one of her nipples was missing.

She slid off the seat, her knees hitting the floor hard, and prostrated herself before me. “Please, mistress, punish me. I have no excuse.”

Her arse was now up in the air, and I could see it had scars, too, but those looked old. I couldn’t imagine how one could inflict those on oneself, as the were straight, not angled as anything you wrapped behind you ended up to be. Was that what had moulded her personality? Something inside me said yes, but I couldn’t tell why. If I was right, I had a plan on how to handle this, but if I were wrong, that plan would blow up in my face.

“Please, da…mistress,” she asked again.

I stood up and stepped beside her, then I looked around, my eyes ending up on Paul. “Paul, give me your belt,” I commanded. ‘Please don’t argue,’ I tried to communicate with my face.

Paul didn’t argue. He unbuckled his belt, pulled it out and handed it over. “Here, mistress,” he said in a servile tone.

“Ella, you have been a bad girl,” I said, trying to sound as authoritative as I could. Then I brought the belt down on her arse. I didn’t put my full strength into it, but it wasn’t a lovetap either. She likely had improved resistances like all players—and her arse not showing any damage confirmed that. Seeing not even a red mark, I put down a second strike with way more force.

“You have been a bad girl by avoiding my question,” I said, bringing down the belt a third time. “Now explain your actions, not just beg.” I really didn’t want to hit her again, so I placed my right foot on her arse instead.

“Yes, mistress,” she said, now sounding…satisfied? Maybe a bit happy? “I was a bad girl. I was selfish. I used my skills for my pleasure and hurt someone without asking if I could. That was wrong; I need to be punished.”

“No,” I said with finality, then tossed the belt at Paul. “I will not punish you for that. You do not deserve punishment. You haven’t been a bad girl. You have been an evil bitch. Evil bitches don’t get punished. They get killed.”

“Please, mistress! I can do better.”

“Can you?” I asked, walking back to my seat and sitting down. “Show me. Lick my shoes clean.”

She did so without complaint. It didn’t have the same visual impact as licking some elegant boots, as I was wearing sneakers, but that wasn’t the point. I needed to know if she would actually be submissive or if she only wanted the pain and could not be controlled. In the latter case, I would have no alternative than to kill her, seeing how powerful her skills were. Chloe was no pushover; if she could take her out without a fight, she could do that to anyone.

Yet if she was submissive, and now everything pointed to that, I could pair her up with someone who could control her, which reminded me that I hadn’t seen the rest of yesterday’s newbies yet. I flipped my legs to give Ella access to the other shoe’s sole and asked Kinasteria, keeping the “mistress commands” tone up, “Kinasteria, give me a report on yesterday’s socia.”

“Yes, mistress prima,” Kinasteria answered, bowing slightly. “Aside from socia Ella here, who is a puppeteer, we got the sociae Mia Rimmer and Phoebe Doyle, a dominatrix and a fleshmage, respectively, as well as socius Kyle Baker, who is a hunter.”

What was a dominatrix? A deus ex machina to solve my current problem? “Give me an overview of their powers,” I commanded.

“Yes, mistress prima. Socia Hill commands the body of enemies and can transfer damage to her puppets. Socia Rimmer commands the mind of enemies and wields damage using her whip. Socia Doyle commands golems made from the flesh of dead enemies and will be able to heal her sociae at higher levels. Socius Baker uses traps and a bow to fight.”

“Sociae only?” I asked, the Latin words having burned themselves into my mind when I had set the titles. Sociae was the female plural.

“Yes, mistress prima.”

“Chloe, how well do you and your powers mesh with your group?”

“Well, Jane, mistress prima, to be honest, not very well. We did not have a chance to actually fight yet, but after discussing it in the evening, we concluded that Rebecca’s sonic AOE attacks disrupt my taming. On a personal level, to be frank, Eric’s an arsehole, Rebecca can’t stand me, and Harry is too meek to speak up. Doesn’t help that all three are interested in men…”

I wasn’t surprised by this. After noticing the flaw in group four’s composition, I had been expecting it. “Good. See if you can swap with Kyle; he doesn’t seem to fit into group four.”

I kicked Ella away from my feet. “Ella, kneel in front of the quest board until I say otherwise. I need to talk to Mia to see if she will take you on.”

“Yes, mistress prima.” Ella rose to her knees and knee-walked over to the board.

“You can take your battleform again; nobody wants to see those signs of your failure,” I called after her. It wasn’t nice at all, but I hoped calling her scars failures would focus her mind on something else. There was a real chance she would be cutting herself again, with or without a puppet to take the damage, if she was unhappy and didn’t have a reason to resist the urge.

🙚⚜🙘

Mia and Phoebe arrived in the guild hall at ten, Mia leading the other woman by a chain attached to a collar. I didn’t need to see more to know I had been right about the system putting together the groups with purpose. I waved the two into the corridor so we could talk without being overheard by Ella.

“And you are?” Mia started the conversation, sounding like a royal lady addressing a street beggar daring to stand in her way. Well, I just had played the mistress for Ella, I might as well keep it up a moment longer.

“I am mistress prima Jane, and you will bow when addressing me,” I said in my most disapproving tone. To my surprise, Mia instantly fell to one knee and bowed her head. Phoebe needed a tuck on her chain to follow her down.

“Forgive me, mistress, I wasn’t aware,” Mia said. She didn’t sound submissive, just acknowledging my higher position. Good, a fake dominatrix would be useless.

“You have seen the emergency quest I put out yesterday, haven’t you?”

“Indeed. I gather this has to do with our last member? Whom have they killed?”

“You are right. Ella has been a bad girl and needs a heavy hand to get back on the right path. And she has killed Chloe, who I want to offer you in exchange for Kyle. Oh, and she didn’t stay dead, in case you’re wondering.”

“I will do so with pleasure, mistress prima,” Mia answered.

“Then you may rise,” I said. “And don’t expect me to keep this up; I’m more a slap-and-kiss girl.”

Mia did so and giggled. “I understand. But you are good.” She looked at me and licked her lips seductively. “If you want to join us two for a bit of fun sometimes…I have a spare whip you could borrow…”

“If you want this,” I moved closer until our noses nearly touched and our breaths intermingled, “you’ll have to visit me at work. We have a guild discount.” I turned around and opened the door. “There she is. Pick her up at any time.”

“Later. She can sit there for a while,” Mia said, looking around the room as fi she was searching for something.

“Is that Kyle guy coming in today?” I asked.

“We were to meet at ten, on the strike. He’s late. And that’s after he begged to start so late. Useless lazy bum,” Mia said.

“Just like my old group,” Chloe joined in. “They’re meeting for lunch to start. On a Saturday!”

I left them to talk it out among themselves; my job here was done.