"You two sure look comfy," ca a snarky comnt from Chooka as she, Skull, and Alterez approached where I sat with Princess Nanu both held in my arms and resting in a sitting position on my lap. "Is this the post-banging snuggle, or have you yet to do the deed?"
"Before," muttered Princess Nanu as my face blushed a bit in embarrassnt at the teasing. She remained enraptured in my embrace and did not fully recognize that other people had shown up. "Hopefully," she added belatedly as she snuggled deeper into my chest.
"Dragon-killer and lady-killer all in one," Chooka continued as she took the chair to my right. Skull took the chair to my left and removed her helt, her hair unblemished by sweat despite her labors in combat. Alterez quietly took the chair across from , coughing lightly with eyes wide in wonder. "As long as I get to participate or at least watch, I have no qualms."
"Sa here," said Skull.
"Sa here," added Alterez. All eyes turned to glare at him, and he quietly shrunk down in his chair as he suddenly noticed the tea and began pouring himself a cup, shaking a bit as he coughed while pouring.
"You all act like that is a done deal. Am I just a stud for you to put out to bed beautiful won to gain new allies?" I asked, feigning a look of betrayal and being hurt by her words.
"Of course not, my love," Chooka consoled as she placed her hand gently on my face. "You also feed The Boys, manage the garden, and perform any other number of chores."
I huffed in mock indignation as Chooka and Skull laughed. Even Princess Nanu cracked a smile as she ca back to reality after her good cry.
"I suppose you want to carry back all the loot and dragon bits that didn't get destroyed, too."
"You are my favorite pack mule, er, lover. It would certainly please if you could do so," Chooka added casually as she took a cup of tea for herself.
"Hee haw, hee haw," I brayed in response. "Would you like anything else this fine afternoon, ma'am?"
"To bed you and her at the sa ti. She is beautiful, but also, sothing about her is just captivating," Chooka added as she looked the Princess up and down with barely restrained lust.
"Oh, that's completely normal," Princess Nanu said as she sat up and nestled herself to sit between my legs instead of on them, such that I could see over her better. "You have an absurd number of Traits, as well as that woman there. It is only natural that you would be rather instantly and sexually attracted to dragons in their humanoid form."
"Wait, that's a thing?" I asked.
"Yes, my Emperor. You are very handso and charming, but did it ever seem strange to you how so won just throw themselves at you, desperate to join you in bed?"
"Now that you ntion it, Chooka did pounce on within a few hours of eting , and Skull took the first available opportunity to do so, considering it was difficult with a war going on and such. But, all things considered, they are not frugal or chaste with their love when soone catches their eye."
"Ah, but the attraction goes beyond just natural lust," the Princess continued as an informative lecture began. "All humanoids possess Traits, little aspects that are worthless to them. However, a dragon, upon engaging in an intimate and passionate experience with a humanoid, can extract the Traits within the person. Typically, it is done through having sex, for that is quick, easy, and efficient. Think of it as like going into a person's house and seeing paintings or blueprints upon their walls. You make a copy for yourself and walk out, the house and the painting still intact, but you now have a version of it for yourself."
"I suppose that makes sense," interjected Chooka, "but what do these Traits do?"
"Simply put, Traits are used to build baby dragons. Dragons are not born like people are where you just have sex and months later a baby pops out of the mother. In addition to sex to collect Traits and pass them along to other dragons within the flight, Traits are needed to craft the qualities of a dragon. In short, we handpick what kind of Blessing a new dragon will have as we build them. There are no accidental dragon children or dragonlings, each and every one was made with a purpose in mind. A collection of thematically related Traits can form a Template, and having good quality templates unlocks powerful Blessings."
"For instance, having Traits thed around seduction, Trait extraction, beauty, charisma, and generally having the ability to get soone into bed with you could unlock the Templates of [Succubus], [Concubus], or [Incubus], each with their own quirks for how they go about it."
"Ooh, I like this part, tell more." Chooka was on the edge of her seat now, keenly interested in how one of her favorite pastis played into dragons doing what they do best.
"So Traits are rare, but rare doesn't an better. By default, Trait extraction is random and not guaranteed, hence why so dragons are specialists at it. You can often find them in a humanoid form working at high-end brothels or the like, provided you know what to look for. It takes the effort of a whole flight to scour the world and find all the Traits they can. Now I know I said that dragons trade their knowledge of Traits to one another via sex, but don't hold dragons to the sa standards as humanoids. Dragons are not creatures of simple flesh and blood, prone to inbreeding. We are creatures of magic, so this whole concept of 'incest' does not apply to us. Especially considering we can be reborn to be updated with new Traits and stronger Blessings. Soone who was your mother in your first birth could be a daughter after being reborn, if you want to go by the notion of a family tree."
"That's uhh, new to …" Chooka trailed off in thought as she considered the implications. "Clearly the gods did not favor enough, for I have missed my calling in life. I would have made for an excellent dragon."
Princess Nanu laughed at that, and all the won present turned their eyes to with a predatory look in their gaze. Alterez just coughed, perhaps a bit nervous about being in the presence of dragons and imposing won.
"So, are you two going to do so fancy dragon sex magic to transfer these Traits? I have a lot of Traits according to her, so I should probably help out, just to be sure that it goes smoothly and you get as many copies of my Traits as you can." A devilish grin found its way onto her face as she inched her chair closer.
"And I will be there to guard you and help shoulder your burdens. You may want to use to practice a few tis before you begin, just to be safe," added Skull, joining the dogpile of using for my body.
"Fine, the things I do for love. Plus this one here has been lonely for so ti. It seems like the gentlemanly thing to do would be to indulge her desires."
"Chivalrous and magnanimous to a fault," added Chooka. "Best that we get to it soon. I can tell, as a woman and as a [Courtesan], that she is using all her willpower not to take you right here and now on this very table."
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Alterez just let out a wet, hacking cough at that remark. We turned to look at him as he pulled his hand away from his mouth. Blood covered it, and unhealthy dark green instead of the normal light green that a goblin should have.
"Alterez, are you okay?" The mood killed, Chooka swooped to his side to hold him as he continued coughing.
"I'm fine, I just need a little pick--up and I'll be right as rain. I haven't been feeling well since I killed that wyvern."
He reached into his pouches to grab sothing, most likely an illicit substance. Before he could complete the task, a terrible fit of coughing consud him as more blood ca up. Chooka grabbed ahold of him as he fell off his chair, his whole body convulsing in a seizure as he lay prone on the floor while partly nestled in Chooka's lap.
"What happened to him?" I spoke loudly, yet I remained as calm as I could be considering the tense situation.
"I don't know," replied Chooka, tears starting to well up as she tried to comfort Alterez. "He didn't get hit by any attack. He did jump into a wyvern's maw and stabbed it through the roof of the mouth and into the brain, killing it. But he was spit out just fine, I don't think he even took a wound."
"He probably got the wyvern's blood on him as he did so, or worse, got so in his eyes or mouth, where it would enter his body. Let examine him." Princess Nanu kneeled beside Alterez, a blue light shining from her hand and over his body as she presumably examined his internals and vitals.
"No! He has been afflicted with [Hemolytic Poison of The Blood Keepers]. Almost all dragons of that flight carry it in their blood and use it as a weapon. It is destroying his blood and damaging internal organs. We would need top-tier [Cure Poison] type Abilities to cleanse it. It is beyond my skill to cure."
"None of us can do that; is there anything else we can do?" I asked as I kneeled down beside Alterez. Sweat covered his brow and as his feverish body fought a losing fight against the corruption within him.
"Dragon blood has strong regenerative properties, but not even mine is so potent." The princess turned to , an idea sparking in her mind. "Your's maybe could, but it would be a close thing. Despite the internal damage, he isn't nearly injured enough to survive. One drop of your blood would heal him, and then keep trying to heal him, but he isn't damaged enough. It would be a very painful way for him to die, to have his body develop unnatural growths and tumors from an overcharged heal."
A strange idea entered my mind as if a light breeze had whispered it into my mind. "So, what, do I just stab him a bunch, break a few bones, then do it?"
Skull, Chooka, and Princess Nanu all looked at like I was crazy, but soon they saw the hint of genius in my plan.
"That… That would work, I suppose, but you would need to be fast. Injure him enough to leave him at death's door without killing him, then imdiately put a drop of your blood into his mouth. I can't guarantee success, for this is well outside my skill set, but it sounds reasonable."
"I can do it," said Skull flatly, drawing a dagger from her belt. "In my ti at the temple when learning to be a [Divine Champion] for Gulthar, I learned the craft of how to hurt soone without killing them. Were he not poisoned, I could keep him alive for days while cutting away at him and stabbing him in non-vital places."
A cold chill ran down my spine at the casual description of torture, and most likely, she learned those techniques as a teenager. What dark things are taught by those who follow the gods?
"Do it." I commanded while readying myself to give Alterez a drop of my blood.
Skull imdiately set to her bloody work, with Chooka helping to remove his clothes, so that they may get better access to his body. Stabbing with precision in multiple places and cutting wicked looking cuts all across his skin, she chanically went about injuring him in ways that made thankful he remained unconscious.
"That is all the more he can take, now or never," Skull stated, her eyes remaining on her patient.
Without hesitation, I pressed my thumb hard into my canine, creating a shallow cut. My tough skin had made the process difficult, for it could repel most normal blades swung at low speeds without magical assistance. But blood pooled at the wound, and placing my thumb just over Alterez's open mouth, I squeezed out a drop of blood.
And then we waited, for the rest was in the hands of the gods.
Exhausted by the day's ordeals, Nabonidus laid himself out flat under a rare and lone tree that offered coveted shade in this desolate land. Not even lions or beasts dared approach, for although he was distracted by the tasks that he had brought upon himself, those creatures knew that an ogre was not to be trifled with lightly.
Despite the stress, fatigue, tedium, and horror of living that many futures over and over again, he felt satisfied in his work. He had convinced the goblin to answer the door to the tall red and blue woman, the hydra to trust the man with the 'snacks', the captive to be honest and true with her savior, and the dragon himself to inflict wounds on the goblin before administering life-saving blood. That and so much more had been influenced by his guidance. Auspicious that he had been uncontested in his ddling, for no others with the gift to influence Destiny or Fate had tried to interfere.
Ever fickle, Fate had resisted more and more with each change he had made to the Scenario, one where the dragon and his companions would fight another dragon and his underlings. Sparing the important kobolds has been critical, for they always appeared in the favorable futures and were always absent in the terrible ones. Even though they could be reborn, the bond between them and the dragon would not have developed if they had perished. The goblin too was critical for the sa reasons, but what happened next was beyond even Nabonidus's own skill. He knew not if the blood of the dragon would work, only that the only good futures had taken that path.
The future remained in turmoil as the darkness to the south continued to grow. He dared not use his Skills anymore to see the future of what would happen there. Last ti had left him bleeding from his eyes, nose, and ears, the visions so horrible, the possibilities so endless, that it had nearly killed him. Foreboding, considering the dragon would travel in that direction, and for better or for worse, Nabonidus would go with the dragon if he could succeed at entreating the dragon to accept his company. That would be a problem for future Nabonidus, he thought to himself with a rare chuckle. He farted just to be safe, then chuckled again, lest any other ogres lay hidden nearby to watch him. They always laughed at farts, so he had to maintain the illusion that he was one of them.
Others had failed at the masquerade. Two ogres had already been murdered and the chieftain had been replaced with a more suitable candidate, or at least one suitable to certain other ogres in the camp. Clearly, his paranoia remained well-founded, for plots and sches had brought all that about, which certainly required thinking in ways well beyond the common ogre. Perhaps they had ford a cabal, but Nabonidus wanted no part of it. To move against them risked discovery, but to let them have free reign risked him being forced into a situation where death remained the only outco.
Constant vigilance while appearing inept would be the way forward. He already had a murder planned and a willing individual who would perform the deed. All it would take would be an approving grunt here and so finger pointing there to get the patsy on the path to homicide. It was nothing personal, but the expiration date quickly approached another ogre that had been looking at Nabonidus a little too closely these past days.
Best not to make a trend though, lest he be discovered. Accidents, 'friendly' fire during a raid, poisoning, a hunt that crossed the path of a dangerous predator; all these held rit. Best that they all die that he may live, for they surely felt the sa way. All ca with risks, but with a gift for seeing the future, the risks were more and more easily mitigated as he grew in experience with his Skills. Overconfidence being the slow and insidious killer that it was, Nabonidus chided himself away from hubris.
Problems at ho, problems abroad, all needing to be dealt with in turn. The dragon needed more assistance, that much remained true. Nabonidus wondered if he himself were just a pawn in the sches of so higher being, his purpose simply to get the dragon to his destination down south before death ca looking for Nabonidus. Such musings vexed him, for he found no answer, and knew not where it ended. Did those higher powers serve at the whims of powers above them? Did the gods have gods over even them?
Nabonidus rose from his resting position. He still needed to finish his hunt and bring back so at if he were to spare himself suspicion and a beating. However, he knew precisely where his quarry would be, and the ti approached when he would need to be in position to strike. Unfortunate for the animal that it faced one capable of seeing into the future. It had little chance and it made no mistakes. Perhaps that was the nature of life and the world. Sotis it is just unfair, that nothing you can do matters. But Nabonidus could change things, he could change his Fate, and so he did matter. And he would continue on until one day Fate remained outside his grasp.
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