In Loki's Honor Life 29 - SSS 005 - I Live to Two-Shot Priests

“I bet a hundred-fifty gold on two skulls and three swords,” Raleigh Whisper said as he shook the bone dice. They rolled on the table and saw as two spells were cast and two invisible counterspells silently bounced on the dice. Too much gold was changing hands on that roll to people not cheat. He was glad he hired those [Sorcerers].

Contested Charisma Dexterity Mind test won.

The dice tumbled as if in slow motion and stopped showing two skulls, three swords, and one shield. No vials of poison, so he won twenty tis his bet.

People looked askance at one another, waiting for the first one to rise and call Raleigh a cheat. He had cheated, but nobody would ever figure out how. Underneath his palm, he slid his thumb under the nondescript copper band adorning his nimble fingers. His greatest boon and biggest curse ever. The casino executives looked at the high-stakes table like eagles, ready to swoop in and stop any signs of trouble. That’s why nobody wanted to go first. It was a good way to cut one’s life short. The Duke, owner of the casino, didn’t like people raising suspicion of cheating in his establishnt even when they were right.

But Raleigh’s cheat was nigh undetectable. Almost nobody had the three Attributes required at sufficient levels.

“I won fair and square,” Raleigh declared after the polite pause to let any fools learn how to behave in a decent casino. “Does anyone claim the contrary?”

The two oldest man at the table shook their heads, counted their coins, and pushed the stack toward the center. They stood and nodded respectfully at Raleigh, the slightest movent of their noble heads. A Count and a Baron if Raleigh learned this country’s heraldry right. Their retinue boxed their noble wards and moved out.

“Gentleman?” Raleigh called with a smile as his arms found the waspish waists of two hostesses that would entertain him more than the ridiculous amount of gold he made.

The other participants grumbled and they too pushed their gold to the center. A casino dealer pushed the coins toward Raleigh with a magical tool that detected counterfeit coins. To the losers’ relief, none of them had tried to pull one past the casino. The half-elf deftly separated a smaller stack of coins and glanced at Raleigh. With a nod from the lucky rogue, the house took its share of the winnings and Raleigh dragged the rest into a velvet bag. He left five gold coins for each lady, their fare for the night. The won made a show of stuffing the gold coins down the slit between the corset and their ample and much-exposed bosoms. He also paid the [Sorcerers], thanking them for their services.

Raleigh laughed and vanished with the coin bag under the table, replacing it with another identical bag filled with coppers from his ring. He tied it to his belt and finished his exquisite dwarven fire whiskey.

“Well, I could use a massage now,” he chirped, prompting the ladies to knead themselves to his form. “Good ga, gentlen. I think I’ll retire for the night.”

He walked out of the ga hall with his two beauties, going up the red-carpeted stairs with mirror-polished hardwood railings to the room he rented. As he reached the top of the stairs, a painting of a known figure greeted him.

“WHAT THE!?!” He gasped as his heart raced. What was a painting of HER doing all the way here in the south!

The won giggled, thinking it was an act. A hotel clerk approached.

“Magnificent isn’t it? She’s the Matriarch, patron goddess of Windere and the Auvani Empire. She’s also the creator of all Kin and the silk-folk among other lesser species.”

Raleigh’s head swiveled like a machine to look at the wolf-kin clerk. “Goddess?”

“Yes. Her ascension happened a few years ago. The owner got this painting from a traveling priestess of Zacheia, who gifted it to the Duke in exchange for lodging with us. She has a holy artifact donated by the Matriarch to the temple of Zacheia that can paint one’s dreams. She’s currently doing a commission for the Duke.”

He didn’t let it show but he wasn’t asking about the new Kin Goddess, everyone knew about that. He was asking why she was the goddess, but given the level of power she demonstrated, it wasn’t so surprising. It also ant everything made by her could possibly be a holy artifact. He shuddered as his estimate of the ring’s value skyrocketed. Sothing was gnawing at the edge of the dashing rogue. Guilt? Who knew.

“Or nightmares,” Raleigh mumbled under his breath.

He was AWOL for five years, thinking he had evaded her. She never ca after him, she never sent a ssage. He knew she could find her if she wanted to so he figured he’d have so fun while he could. The truth was, he was running away. He heard of this new religion but hadn’t thought she was its head. A deity? Raleigh nervously thumbed the ring. He couldn’t remove it. Severing the finger only caused it to teleport back to his hand. Worse, the damn ring was a living thing and leveled up, getting more and more Perks. One of them allowed him to store and place objects from storage at a small range. That was how he cheated. But only about a third of those were beneficial to him, while the others only worked to further its nefarious purpose.

He was bound to her. Even if he ran away his whole life, he would one day die and the ring would take him, body, and soul (even if not together anymore) to her. Then he would be at her rcy. He had two scores of rare creature Cores for her. As far as he knew, he’d done his job. She never said when she wanted the Cores and Raleigh sensed she wasn’t in a hurry.

So, why was he feeling so guilty? Why did he feel like he was being judged by a painting? Why here of all places?

“Raleigh, my love, is anything wrong?” The blonde at his left asked.

“I think he’s enraptured by the Goddess’ beauty,” the wolf-kin offered, earning a glare from both won. He quickly escaped down the stairs.

“Co, let’s go to your room. I bet you are stuffy in these clothes,” the brunette at his right purred in his ear.

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He agreed with a nod and went to his room with the won. He removed his belt and put the pouches and steel potion satchel on the dresser. The won made themselves comfortable on the bed and quickly undid each other’s corset straps. As he removed his pants, they were already naked and warming up their bodies suggestively.

Pushing his sense of dread aside, Raleigh didn’t notice how the blonde’s eyes weren’t focused on his six-pack abs but the velvet coin pouch on the dresser behind him. In Raleigh Whisper’s defense, the painting was too unnerving. He even had so difficulty standing at attention and ready himself for the battlefield of silk sheets and fleshy curves ahead of him. Pushing aside these worries and succumbing to his basal desires, Raleigh dove in, hands and mouth deftly working to please his companions.

It was a mistake. After a long session of lovemaking, Raleigh slept with his nightly companions.

“Damn, it was all coppers!” A woman said.

“Don’t be greedy. Let’s finish the job and get away from here,” Another one replied.

The man sleeping on the bed didn’t hear those whispered words. He looked vulnerable and they made sure to exhaust him as they took turns upon his manhood. The perfect stooge.

Raleigh Whisper wasn’t alive this long for being unprepared, however.

He had a pretty good {Danger Sense} score, and it would take a master [Assassin] to surprise him even in his sleep. He woke up feeling numb, however. His eyes shot open and he saw the gleam of moonlight on the polished dagger. Looming over his naked body, one of his escorts was pinning his arms while the other ca in for the kill. He shut his eyes and commanded his ring to shine as bright as it would. He knew by experience that it could blind people using night vision. He heard the won screaming and dimd the glow.

Next, he looked again. The amateurs flinched and released his arms. He punched both of them in the chin, stunning them for a few seconds. Raleigh disard the brunette and started to suck everything he could into his ring, preparing to leave in a hurry. If these won were willing to risk murder in the Duke’s casino, it could only an he was behind it. His only choice was to put as much distance between this place and himself as possible.

He threw an [Wizard]’s robe over his body, the fastest way to get decent he knew, before opening the window and climbing out. Sylvis welcod him with its gentle green glow. Her sisters were probably asleep but Raleigh didn’t care. All he wanted was to get away. Glancing around as he set foot on the railing next to the window, he noticed the guard around the building was tripled. Just his luck.

After moving a bit to the side so he wasn’t in direct view from the window, Raleigh used his ring to throw a body over the next building's roof. The sound drew the guard’s attention and the two won showed up on the window, their round and perky breasts almost glowing under the moonlight. Raleigh almost slapped himself. It wasn’t ti to admire the bodies of his would-be killers.

He silently tip-toed over the railing to the next room and tried the shutters. Closed. The guards were entering the house with the body. He had to hurry. Soone would see him if he lingered on the outside of the casino. The next room's shutters were closed. The third, however, was wide open. Raleigh slinked inside. Assessing his whereabouts, he was in a VIP room not unlike the one he left. The bed was undone but nobody slept on it. He heard a female voice humming and knew he had to check. To make sure nobody would follow him inside without his knowledge, he shut and locked the window he used to enter.

He stood next to the door and used a mirror to glance into the next room. He saw a blonde petite blonde woman happily painting on an easel. The canvas was facing the other way so he couldn’t see what she was painting but he didn’t care. The woman was pretty and her hair was curled into perfectly styled drills. She seed to be at least a quarter-halfling due to her short stature and small fra.

“I know you’re there, I can see the light catching in your mirror,” she cheekily said in a whisper. “Co out and play.”

Raleigh withdrew the mirror and held his breath. Maybe it was a bluff.

“Or I can scream and call the guards,” She continued with a mischievous smirk. “I don’t think you want that.”

She seed to be teasing more than threatening. Raleigh looked around before deciding on a course of action. He saw the robes hung on a coat hanger and the holy symbol of Zacheia. So she was the painter-priestess.

“I an you no harm, sister,” he whispered back.

The woman laughed with the sound of wind chis. “I know. Co out, mister. Let take a good look at my nightly invader,” she purred sensually as she put emphasis on the last two words.

He walked into the room with his hands up. “I’m sorry to intrude.”

As he got closer to the door leading to the corridor, he could hear people running up and down outside.

“You seem to have caused quite the stir, mister...” She fished for his na.

“Raleigh Whisper,” he replied. “At your service, [Priestess].”

She paused when she heard his na. Did she know him?

“Pleased to finally et you, Mr. Whisper!” She bead. “Co, co. Sit down. The Easel isn’t misbehaving today, it is okay to see what I’m painting. It’s not a dream this ti.”

“Dream?”

She giggled again. It cald Raleigh’s nerves. The [Priestess] studied him from head to naked toe. “Did you get dressed in a hurry? You don’t seem like the [Mage] type to ,” She seed to be eating him with her eyes, rolling them at the end. “Too many muscles,” she drawled.

Soone banged at the door. The woman waved her finger and a golden spell circle appeared in front of her. She must be so high leveled caster and Raleigh was itching to {Appraise} her but it was rude to do so.

“Stay there,” she said as she dropped her palette and brush on a stool next to her and went to the door. Raleigh suddenly couldn’t listen to her anymore. She opened the door and talked for a while with soone, then closed and barred the door with a heavy rock shaped to fit next to it. She started to talk as she entered the privacy spell. “… neat little trick she taught . Oh. Sorry,” she blushed as she noticed he didn’t hear the start of her speech. “They are searching the hotel for a [Rogue] that attempted to murder two whores he took to his room in this wing.”

Her shit-eating grin told Raleigh she knew she had him tied around her little finger. “And what did you tell them?”

“That no [Assassin] would be so stupid as to threaten a friend of the [Death Princess]. Then the stupid manager stared at and I said ‘Good night” to him before closing the door.”

Raleigh sighed. “[Death Princess]?”

She threw her head back and laughed, clearly amused. The blonde [Priestess reached out and traced the outline of his pectorals over the robe. “Your boss, Mr. Raleigh Whisper. Oh, don’t be surprised. Haru did comnt one of her agents was missing and showed your ‘mugshot’, as she called it. I found you quite handso back then but a magical image just doesn’t make justice to the real deal.”

Oh, great. Of all places…

“No, no frowns in my room. In the presence of the Goddess we all strive for beauty and art,” she tutted at him. “Now, I’m in no way sleepy, Mr. Whisper. But you don’t want bored or I might call the casino manager back just to stir things up. We don’t want that, do we?”

He tittered then forced himself to put his winning grin on. “No, we don’t.”

“Good! Good!” She cooed as she pulled the knot of his sash undone. “Now, Haru once told sothing, I want you to show if it is true or not...”

Without the sash, the undersized robe parted in the middle, exposing Raleigh's naked body underneath. The [Priestess]'s eyes took it all. She seed pleased.

“Well, I'm at a disadvantage here," Raleigh said. "Can I match a na to the gorgeous gold-frad face?”

The priestess curtsied slightly, "Forgive for not introducing myself earlier, I'm [Marisol], a [Bishop] at the service of the Lady of Arts and Love. Just Marisol, please."

"What would you want to know, Marisol?"

Leading him toward the bedroom, she asked, “Is it true that [Rogues] do it from behind?”