Helping a friend, p.19
Helping A Friend, page 19
part #4 of The World Series
“You’re quite the centaur for a two-leg.” Fylreh slurred laying a sloppy kiss on my lips as I stood there in shock. Hearing a commotion behind me, I saw my companions struggling to help a drunken Tavon back to his feet as he happily pawed at them while everyone else whooped at the show Fylreh was putting on.
“Okay, the party is over for us.” I said dragging the inebriated centaur with me as her fingers began tugging at the clasps to my armor. “Spog, Minny, get your people together we’re heading back to camp.” Quickly, I made sure everyone in the Devil Dogs and the Valkyrie guilds were listed as allies and gave Vardrid, Kyarina, Thomas and Kenzie invite rights. “For everyone heading out with me to the human lands, meet here for breakfast no later than eight. For everyone headed to BrokenFang Hold, my NPCs will be leaving to head back by ten. You will need the escort to make it through the wilds so don’t be late.”
“We’ll be there, now go take care of your hot date.” Thomas shot back at me as everyone laughed at the filly’s drunken babble.
“Oh my god!” Kenzie’s incredulous shout brought our goodbyes up short as every turned around to see what she was talking about.
“Oh my!” Kyarina’s exclamation rang out in the silence as everyone stared at Tavon unbelievably. The baseball bat size club bobbing between the youth’s legs was an eye-opener for a bunch of players to say the least. Obviously, male centaurs got horny when they drank too.
“That would be considered a legal weapon in most states.” Kyarina muttered in awe as her husband, Demonslayerz, looked over at her in shock. “What, a lady can look can’t she.”
“I wouldn’t call her a lady then.” Kenzie said smothering a laugh as Kyarina’s head whipped around at the comment.
“Okay people, we’re out of here.” I hurriedly said before things could go further downhill from there. Maybe I should have known better. Wasn’t Greek mythology filled with stories of drunken centaurs abducting human women for sex? Maybe centaurs just got a bad rap from the Greeks. Maybe centaurs were like American Indians or Eskimos and had problems breaking down the alcohol on some biological level, or possibly they just weren’t used to drinking alcohol period out on the Plains of Atoll.
Whatever, the sooner we got everyone out of here the better. Quickly paying the tab, I wished everyone a goodnight and got my people moving as fast as possible. Fast in this case being the pace of a stumbling stagger down the middle of the street. Luckily at two in the morning, there weren’t that many players out and about to stare at our odd troop.
I’m sure we were quite the sight with twenty-five drunken gnomes wearing rags and singing boisterous tunes as they trooped arm-in-arm down the street. Add in myself and five tipsy NPC women half carrying two blitzed centaurs and you can imagine the looks we received. On top of all that, Neysa kept on giving me odd looks at the filly hanging off my neck as we made our way back to the front gates. Luckily, the White Unicorn wasn’t too far away from our encampment so we easily made the journey in ten minutes. Still, it was a walk of shame to remember.
The reserve guard was immediately called out to give us a hand as soon as we came stumbling through the perimeter. Thankfully, in short order there were blankets laid out for everyone as the gnomes passed out with full bellies for the first time in weeks. Tavon didn’t hold out much longer. Ulia, Keela, Rayne and Brenna kept the young centaur company as he collapsed into an unconscious heap of arms and legs.
My own situation wasn’t any better. Although I was able to get Fylreh to lay down, she wouldn’t leave me alone. I didn’t dare strip down to my shorts to sleep for fear of being molested. Capturing the filly’s slippery hands with my own, I laid back on my blankets as Fylreh sloppily kissed me a few more times before passing out on my shoulder snoring loudly. Breathing a sigh of relief, I pulled my hands away as she snuggled deeper into my shoulder.
‘Thank the Dark,’ I silently thought using the in-game swear word of choice by my NPCs. The last thing I wanted to do was wake up to a mess in the morning with Fylreh thinking that I somehow took advantage of her while she was drunk. ‘If we were going to do something like THAT, it would be when we were both sober or at least when she was sober.’ I thought sullenly remembering the taste of her lips. Great, now I get to go to sleep sporting a pair of blue balls tonight. Looking up as Neysa came to a stop next to me, I met her golden eyes as she cocked her head to the side sourly.
‘Don’t give me that look, I didn’t do anything.’ I said defensively as Neysa turned her back to me instead of curling up on my chest like normal. ‘What, you’re jealous that Fylreh got drunk and kissed me?’ I asked incredulously. Refusing to acknowledge my accusation, she circled around three times before dropping to the ground to lay down at my side with her furry ass in my face. Knocking her bushy tail aside, I rolled my eyes and triggered the log out sequence. ‘Fucking females,’ I silently swore as my vision turned black.
The darkened computer room came into focus before my eyes in the light of my red lava lamp. Removing my helmet, I drank down my liter of water as I thoughtfully watched the play of the churning fluid. What a freaking, crazy-ass night, I tiredly thought stifling a yawn. The buzz I’d had from imbibing too much mead was mostly gone as I was left with the sober reality of the night’s events. I was gathering more enemies than I knew what to do with. Not that I could have reacted any other way when I saw the shit going down tonight. I wasn’t about to walk by someone getting raped by a bunch of asshats, simple as that.
The whole deal with Fylreh was another matter altogether. I’m sure I wasn’t the only guy in the world who thought female centaurs could be sexy. At the same time, being faced with the reality of the situation took some getting used to. While I wasn’t against doing something with her per se, I honestly had no idea how that would actually physically work out. That, and I needed a lot more to drink before we even thought about going down that road. The whole thing tonight reminded me of a few of the college frat parties I’d been to during spring break. Well, at least the sloppy kissing part did. To be perfectly honest, the delicious taste of Fylreh’s lips and her inexperienced kisses had been a complete turn on.
Still musing over the events of the evening, I took care of my body’s needs and headed to the kitchen for a bite to eat. By now, I was getting adjusted to being half-starved whenever I logged out for the evening. Sitting in silence, I thoughtfully ate a tub of mac & cheese and sipped a beer. I didn’t bother with any music or TV. Although, I did do a quick check of our Twitch channel to make sure it was up and running and sent out a few more edits to be removed from the stream … although I left the centaur scene in. I’d never pulled sex from my streams before and I wasn’t about to start doing so now. Cleaning up my mess, I headed to bed still feeling horny as hell. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take me too long to fall asleep.
Chapter Five
(Thursday, May 1st /Day Eleven of The World.)
Morning came with its normal blaring alarm as I sat up in bed and groaned holding my head. What the fuck, did a truck run over me in the middle of the night or something? Staggering to the bathroom, I splashed cold water on my face and popped some ibuprofen wincing at the light. Was it even possible to get a virtual hangover?
I spent a little longer in the shower than normal letting the hot water steam away the pain as I did my best to clear my thoughts of any tension from the night before. By the time I climbed out of the shower, I was feeling almost back to normal as I finished up my morning rituals and headed to the kitchen. Breakfast consisted of three frozen sausage egg and cheese biscuits and a double-shot of espresso as I perused my emails. You’d think with all of the fast food I’d been eating lately that I’d be big as a house, but whatever technology was in the Egg, it sure as hell gave me a workout.
There was a quick note from JellyDonutMan thanking me for talking him into taking the time to complete the in-game training before starting the game. After battling inside the virtual dojo, he now had a better understanding of what his Nightmare quest was going to take to complete. He ended the email with a promise to let me know in the morning how everything worked out. I sighed closing the email. I just hoped he wasn’t pushing things to fast with only taking one day of training.
From everyone else’s updates, the guild was doing well. Everyone’s average levels were in the mid-twenties, except for John, Julie and her fiancé Kenneth who were still in the teens. The rest of our friends who’d just started playing were all out of the training areas and nearing level six. There were a few mage slash warrior combinations or hunter slash healers, but I was the only one going for the full Red Mage build.
Their choices made sense to a point, since focusing on one or two classes helped you level up your skills that much faster. Although, I’d still argue that there was no reason for everyone to not at least have a sub-class in Healing. Seriously, how hard was it to heal yourself after a fight? It just reduced your down time and gave you cool extra shit like Holy Shield, Light’s Blessing and Regeneration.
I knew why most everyone had passed on learning to heal. The first spell was a pain in the ass ten second cast for a minor bump in health. You could almost naturally regenerate faster than the heal spell. It reminded me of when we’d played Dungeon Siege and I was the only one who skilled up nature magic. Those first five levels casting Spark or Healing Hand was such a pain in the ass most people refused to put the work into skilling up the ability. Later on though, they were all jealous of the pets and HOTs that came in the later levels.
Whatever, each to their own. Refusing to give into the temptation of reiterating the same argument all over again, I instead gave everyone a quick rundown of what I’d been up to and the new NPCs I’d been able to acquire for the castle’s defenses. Adding a note in about our new alliances, I explained about the Devil Dogs and the Valkyrie players and the help they were giving us in cleaning up the resource spots that the NPCs needed access to for the repairs and new construction. I finished up the email with the bad news about the hobgoblin invasion that was a week and a half out, throwing in a few of the scenarios I’d come up with if the shit hit the fan and asked for suggestions before hitting send.
I was just finishing up when my alarm went off, warning that it was time to log in. I did a quick check of our Twitch Channel and our subscription before closing the lid and getting suited up. Placing a glass of water next to the egg, I donned my helmet and started the log in sequence once again.
Running Pod Diagnostic – Complete
Synchronizing controller units - Complete
Neuro Synchronization - Complete
Initializing virtual environment …
My eyes opened to the pre-dawn light of morning coming in through the lean-to like structure the NPCs had setup for us the night before. My breath frosted before my face in the cold morning air as I looked around trying to get my bearing. I’d basically logged in to the same situation I’d logged out with. The wolfskin blanket still covered me from the night before, only this time Neysa’s head now rested on my right shoulder while Fylreh was sleeping on my left. I laid still for a moment unable to move without waking either of my bedmates, when I suddenly realized I was only in my underwear and Fylreh’s firm breasts were pressed skin-to-skin against my chest. My entire body jolted as if I’d been hit with an electric shock as I looked around in shock at the armor and clothing scattered around the lean-to while Neysa and the filly both woke with a start.
“By the Dark, what crawled into my mouth and died last night.” Fylreh muttered as she pushed her head up to wipe the drool from her cheek. Sitting up, I gently gripped her upper arm.
“How you feeling?” I gently asked propping myself up on an elbow as the filly’s wild eyes looked around the encampment in confusion, before coming to rest on my naked chest. Her shriek of outrage sent me tumbling backwards over Neysa as the filly leaped to her hooves nearly knocking the lean-to down in her haste to stand up. Looking down at her own lack of clothing, Fylreh’s face screwed up in indignation as her front hoof lashed out at the nearest pole holding the lean-to up. As the fragile structure collapsed around us, I heard the filly stagger away as she took off into the camp.
For a long second, Neysa and I looked at each other in shock at the suddenness of it all. Sliding off her back, I pulled my furry girl in for a bear hug as she laid back to delicately lick my face with her rough tongue. Finished with cuddling, her large paws pushed me away as she rolled to her feet and gave me a lolling smile. Climbing to my knees, I held her head with my hands to look into her golden eyes.
‘Are we good this morning?’ I asked as Neysa whined trying to yank her head free. ‘Listen,’ I focused my thoughts not letting her pull away. ‘Women come and women go, but you’re the babe that’s with me every day and every night so there’s nothing to be jealous about, alright?’ Ducking her large head at my words, Neysa tried to butt me away with her head but I held her fast, ‘besides, you know I love you, right?’
Finally, I heard her echoing reply in my head as she finally gave in to the inevitable. ‘You know it,’ I replied with a laugh. Standing up, I patted her flank and began gathering up my gear from the night before. Heading over to the wooden barrel of melted snow sitting atop the still glowing embers from the night before, I dunked the upper half of my body into the icy cold water. Holding a three second count, I pulled out and hurriedly began scrubbing the grime and dried mead off my body from the night before. Shivering in the cold, I hurriedly began cleaning off my armor before getting dressed as the rest of the camp began waking up for the morning.
“Morning, milord.” I heard Ulia’s voice croak out behind me as she stripped down to her waist and dunked herself in the water just like I had a moment earlier. Scrubbing her skin with handfuls of snow, she began getting dressed as my other companions staggered out into the morning to join us.
“What was all the screaming about?” Rayne asked in-between yawns as she began strapping on her weapons. Before I could answer, Tavon stumbled over to us looking the worse for wear. Dunking his head in the barrel, his bloodshot eyes took in my ladies as he blushed to his chest and looked away.
“Sorry for last night.” Tavon muttered under his breath as Ulia snorted in derision as Keela looked away with her cheeks turning red.
“Let’s just forget last night happened.” Brenna said in a half-cough as I studiously looked over the silent group. I didn’t comment on the obvious elephant in the room as Ayda staggered over to us. Be ready to move out in ten minutes. I want enough time this morning to meet up with everyone and have a decent breakfast before we head out. Strapping on my equipment belt, I was just turning around to look for the on-duty assault leader when Elandorr Narona appeared out of stealth.
“Morning, milord.” The rogue said with a nod of his head as he handed me a steaming mug of berry tea. “Looks like everyone had quite the night,” he said with a grin pointedly looking towards the gnomes groaning awake in their sleeping furs.
“Yeah, it was something alright.” I agreed with a shake of my head. “I ended up taking two newfar out who were trying to have unwanted relations with my friend Minny. Needless to say, it didn’t end well for them.”
“I heard the story from a few of the gnomes that were still awake. A deed well done, milord,” Elandorr said giving me a respectful nod. “Probably the same group that tested our perimeter a couple times earlier this morning.” Seeing my raised eyebrows, he explained. “We did like you said and watched the grave stones until they turned to granite. Picked up some silver and a few daggers for the effort.”
“Anyone injured?”
“They never had the chance to strike back, milord. They were only in the eleven to twelve level range,” Elandorr explained. “At three to one odds they didn’t last long enough to even know what hit them.”
“Nicely done.” I congratulated the rogue clapping him on the back. “We’re headed to the White Unicorn for breakfast and to meet up with our allies. Everyone that’s heading back with you has been told to report to the caravan no later than ten.” Fishing around in my inventory, I pulled out the two daggers I’d looted from the winged serpent and the one from last night’s escapades.
“Have Ara escort the gnomes into town for two sets of clothing, armor and weapons each. They should be able to put these daggers to use too.” I explained handing everything over with ten gold. “Also make sure everyone runs through their training.”
“Ara told us last night,” Elandorr confirmed.
“Excellent, then I’ll see you in a week or so.” I said clenching the rogue’s wrist. “Keep the children safe!”
“On my honor, milord,” Elandorr replied confidently. Turning around, he disappeared into stealth as I saw Alanah headed my way rubbing the sleep from her swollen, red eyes.
“What’s wrong, Alanah?” I asked squatting down and pulling her onto my knee.
“My … my arm’s never gonna be healed.” The girl sniffled burying her face into my shoulder.
“Whoa there girl, just because Priestess Eruaistaniel can’t help you doesn’t mean we won’t find someone who can.”
“But, but the High Priest in Amyalneas will never heal me.” Alanah stuttered looking up at me in confusion.
“Then we’ll find someone else who can.” I confidently replied.
“What … I’m heading with you to the human lands?” Alanah asked dubiously.
“That’s the only way we’re going to find someone to heal you,” I agreed giving her an encouraging smile.
“But … but.” Her voice died down to a whisper.
“If you don’t want to go, you can head back with the other children to BrokenFang Hold.”
