FSE

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Maria woke to the world refreshed. It was a brand new day and she was going to seize the fuck out of it. But first breakfast.

Remembering the golden score El Gallo had passed her the previous day, she decided that she would treat herself. In all honesty, that kind of money could buy her a couple dozen indulgent breakfasts, but she knew after she got herself one she'd cave and donate the rest to charity. This time, she didn't even rob someone to get the money, so why not spend a little on herself?

Before she could even address the breakfast situation, she had a problem. Was it a problem? Either way, there was a naked lizard boy snoring profusely, with one arm around her, hugging her like a teddy. The little black bird had to admit that he was probably a decent guy and really quite cute, but he had sprung the whole 'love at first sight' thing on her. Maybe a little distance would be good.

Slowly sliding out from out of his grasp, Maria snuck out of the room, never alarming the guy. The creaky door gave her a bit of alarm, but he was still snoring once she was on the other side.

As she proceeded down the hall, Maria reflected on her previous evening. Mother Marigold had tasked her with keeping an eye on these adventurers. Knowing Marigold, there was a lesson in there, somewhere. What was Maria supposed to learn?

What all had she learned?

Two appeared to be Flames of Phunee, champions of the god(dess) of fire and fertility. She briefly pondered if they were a couple? A sudden image of the manly and muscular masked orc taking the rather effeminate, yet equally beautiful, man in a loving, passionate embrace filled her imagination. Her face flushed as her mind was flooded with much more explicit continuations of that scenario. Where did that come from?

Further, there was the young bard. Like the Flames, he was surprisingly attractive, if maybe more adorable than rugged or sensual. Also like the Flames, he was probably very dangerous. That didn't stop her from sleeping with the guy. Seriously, why did she let herself do that?

Then there was Mr. Anonymous. He seemed so nondescript that he was probably some sort of sneak or at least a scout. El Gallo did say they needed a burglar though, so what role did the mysterious hooded asshole play? For all she knew he was just the token 'Evil' character every adventuring party seemed to require amongst their number. She'd just have to keep her distance.

Finally, there was the guy in armor. Something about him rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe she'd have to inquire more about the guy. Whatever the reason, Mother Marigold didn't like the guy. That was enough to scream danger.

In all this, Mother Marigold was probably expecting Maria to learn something more personal here. The old priestess was always doing this sort of life lessons in disguise thing. Or maybe the skeleton just wanted her to get laid.

Maria made it to the dining room where she was immediately waved over to a table by none other than the Flames themselves. They were each nursing a bowl of menudo, but were still managing to be in high spirits. Maria joined them, and they immediately offered to buy her a bowl for herself. She accepted, though she felt she probably needed it less.

"You haven't reconsidered our proposal by any chance?" Ramone eventually asked, rubbing his forehead, "There's a pretty big reward upon completion of our quest."

"Look," Maria sighed, "I know I've lived in, and maintained, a temple all my life, but I'm not a cleric, not really. And I'm definitely not a Champion of some god or another."

"Neither is Caradoc or Anon," El Gallo pointed out, "Doesn't stop them."

Maria glanced back at the staircase that led to the guest floor. "No, but Caradoc has magical powers, and this anonymous guy has..." she paused hoping they'd fill in the gap, but when they didn't she decided to press in, "What's the deal with him?"

The Flames looked at each other, then Ramone admitted, "He's surprisingly knowledgeable, oddly dependable, and nearly as quick witted as he is clumsy and perverted."

"So he's not a rogue of some flavor?" Maria asked.

Ramone scrunched his eyes, "He refers to himself as an 'isekai'... whatever that means."

Maria decided not to press further. That mean that they could be simply categorized as Flames, Flame, Mariachi, Isekai, and...

"What about the armored guy?" Maria asked, trying to mask her vested interest with a spoonful of soup.

"Kane?" the Orc frowned, "He brought us together. He's an Inquisitor..." he waved his spoon in the air, "You know... of Necrom."

"Okay," Maria swallowed, "What's that mean?"

The two Flames looked at her in sudden surprise, with Ramone being the first to recover, slowly explaining, "The Inquisitors are the Champions of Necrom."

"You said that," Maria pointed out, "What's Necrom?"

Ramone looked to his partner for support, before El Gallo pushed very little more, "Necrom. You know. Of the Nine."

Maria was starting to get annoyed, "The nine what?"

Ramone picked this up cautiously, "The nine gods. Heavens girl, you live in a temple."

"But," Maria's eyes narrowed, "there are seven gods."

The Flames stared at her in slack jawed astonishment for several long moments. El Gallo seemed to recover first.

"That makes sense," the Orc assessed, "High Priestess is Undead. Why would she teach about the God of Death and Order, Bane of all Necromancers? Truly self-defeating."

A stray thought seemed to be pestering Ramone, but before he could voice it, he turned greet, "Caradoc!" The effeminate man seemed delighted to see his little gold scaled friend, "Good morning and congratulations!"

Maria turned to find the little guy blushing, but with a confident stride and full of energy. He was overdressed for breakfast, looking like he was ready to star in a stage comedy or play another concert. The Kobold grinned, taking a seat next to Maria.

"What can I say? Only the very best..." Caradoc paused to look at Maria, but still managed to say, "...can land such a fine woman."

Maria made no comment, but decided to take that as a compliment. Asshole.

"So," El Gallo asked, "Where's Kane?"

"I don't know," Caradoc glanced over his shoulder at the waitress trying to get her attention before saying, "Wasn't in his room."

Ramone narrowed his eyes at the kid, "Wasn't the Mysterious Stranger supposed to tell you where he was?"

Maria caught on to the air of potential panic, "What's going on?"

"Was Anon's turn to watch Kane," El Gallo explained.

"But he was supposed to pass that duty onto Caradoc this morning," Ramone finished.

The quills on the back of Maria's neck stuck out, "Why would you need to keep watch on the guy?"

All three adventurers stood at once, the nearby waitress jumping back in startlement. Finally piecing things together, Maria leaped out of her seat. As a unit they rushed for the door, but as soon as they were outside they were greeted by an unconcerned swath of people.

"Oh great," Caradoc sighed, "The festival."

Maria looked around. She had been so distracted lately, she had forgotten what season it was. That didn't matter.

She dashed into the dense crowd, struggling to make it through into the nearby alley. From there she knew the paths less traveled. Sure, the adventurers would be left far behind, but she just needed to get home. She needed to warn Mother Marigold.

It wasn't long until Maria was running through the old dug up graveyard, and up the big hill. She could already see the little temple atop the hill, and thus far, nothing seemed wrong. As she got closer however, she noticed the front door was cracked open, but that didn't mean anything. She rushed up to the front, stopping short of the door, and glanced into one of the windows.

Inside the old church was a mess, worse than the way José had left it. The pews were thrashed, wooden shards scattered everywhere. The candles had all been torn off the walls, droplets of still melted wax spotted the area. The tapestries were all desecrated, ripped up, and ruined. In the middle of it all...

Maria rushed inside, in the corner of the stage was a small pile of robes... and bones. Tears immediately filled her eyes as the little bird's progress was slowed by the weight of sudden realization. She couldn't bring herself to approach, her nobly legs shaking too much. That man, Kane, must have come here and...

She glanced up at the main tapestry, the one that had the heraldry of the seven gods of Ryr'lif. The cloth was ripped up, but she could still make out each of their iconography. Had El Gallo been right? Did Mother Marigold willingly leave her ignorant to this Necrom?

Maria shook herself out of this and examined the remains of her... she wasn't her mother, not really, but the old pile of bones had raised her, loved her, and even protected her. Now Marigold would be returned to the grave.

Though she had made a show of it often, it had been a seriously long time since Maria had honestly prayed. She glanced up again at the symbols of the various gods. Who would answer her? Who puts the souls of the undead to rest?

No. That's not what she needed.

Maria felt something rise up in her stomach. A feeling, a terrible feeling. Not loss for her only family, though that was also present. It was hot in her chest, filling her lungs. Not regret for not predicting the conflict or acting more swiftly, which was honestly there too. It heated the back of her head, slowly creeping forward. It was anger. She was going to find this Kane. She was going to kill him.

Which god then? Which one would accept her request of aid in her need for vengeance?

Salor was violent enough as a god of war, but he was all about protection and defense, not attack. Teril, his opposite, did war too and violence in general, but was she really so far gone as to ask for her aid? Dande was Marigold's patron, but he only provided healing and it was too late for that. Phunee also wouldn't help, she was too focused on bringing life to end it. Nom... no. Jidru didn't even answer prayers as far as she knew. That just left...

"Colne..." Maria bowed her head, hoping that was an acceptable way to show respect, "I come to you in my time of need. Monger of Secrets, please provide me with the knowledge I need to find my enemy. Shroud of Darkness, please protect me from his unwanted gaze. Oh, Crooked Blade, please give me the courage to strike true before he can retaliate. Please, Colne, I need your guidance."

Maria waited. A feeling of apprehension crept up her spine. She suddenly became aware of someone watching her. It almost felt like the heavens themselves would open up to give her an answer. But then after what felt like an eternity, nothing happened.

Maria sighed, letting herself return to the real world. But then, maybe out of luck, maybe out of divine providence, maybe because it was bound to happen sooner or later, her eyes fell upon the door. The cursed door. The unopenable door. The door that Marigold had cursed so that no one could even so much as touch it. It was wide open.

At first the adrenal rush of discovery and purpose had fueled Maria's progress, but having discovered Marigold's remains nearly three hours before, Maria was starting to get tired and admittedly a little hungry. She cursed herself for not finishing breakfast, but then realized that if she had skipped it entirely she might have been back in time to see Mother Marigold. Then again, if she had she might have had to witness her murder or even be dead herself.

Gods, what was she even doing?

The cursed door had led to a nondescript storage room, that was completely empty save for one more door. This second door led to a spiraling staircase that seemed to never end. It was tight, cramped, and dark. She had managed to find a lamp to bring with her, but even with that and her natural low-light vision, she still felt uncomfortable. She wondered for a moment how a human sized person would even fit in there. Maybe Kane would still be struggling with the stairs when she found him, as if she'd be that lucky.

It wasn't until she was seriously considering taking a break that she noticed a change in the acoustics. Her footsteps, light as they were, shifted ever so slightly in pitch. Not accustomed to working in such conditions, Maria was surprised with herself in even noticing such a thing, but when there really wasn't much else to concentrate on, how couldn't she? Either way, she began to step more quietly and swiftly as she grew close to the bottom.

The staircase emptied into a surprisingly large chamber. Mostly empty, but for rubble and the occasional debris in the corner. The walls were smooth stone save for a few cracks from the wear of time. And the circular room seemed to lead to a single prop, a door. This door was huge and stone, decorated by strange engravings of some sort of jaguar man with terrifyingly big eyes and even larger fangs surrounded by strange dark tendrils... and corn cobs? The backdrop of this image seemed to be a terrible thunderstorm above an earthquake.

The door was open, but only enough for someone to squeeze through. As Maria approached, she noticed a few metal objects glint in the light of her lamp. Upon closer inspection, they were broken and discarded lockpicks. Several were the normal civilian lock beating kind of various grades, but one was as thick as her finger. How had he broken that? Either was, maybe Mr. Anonymous was a burglar of some stripe after all.

Thumbing over the heavy duty lockpick, Maria quickly realized she was stalling. It didn't matter what happened here, all that mattered was that Maria found Kane and... do what exactly? Kill him? How? Could she even bring herself to do that? She thumbed over the jagged little khris blade she found in Marigold's room and decided that she had to.

She slipped herself into the doorway, easy enough considering her size compared to the humans who came before her. The next room startled her. The first thing that hit her was the irony smell of blood that was splattered across the walls. There were bodies. Strange creatures that kind of looked like twisted fish monsters vaguely humanoid in shape. One large one seemed to have four arms, another looked like it had countless rows of sharp teeth in a gigantic maw. Whatever they were, they were dead. Though they smelt awful, they didn't smell rotten yet, just disgustingly fishy.

It wasn't until Maria got over her shock that she noticed a mural on one of the walls. The same jaguar man sitting atop a hill in a temple not unlike the old church above this place. What appeared to be crude carvings of these fish men and others in masks and robes were worshiping him. The other wall depicited the worshipers performing some sort of blood ritual, with a screaming woman, alarmingly naked, chained to a stone slab, being stabbed by a knife that looked a lot like the one Maria was carrying. The little bird followed the lines of blood in horror as they seemed to drip into a goblet. The scene concluded with the jaguar man drinking from that same goblet, a twisted grin on his face.

A quiet sound brought Maria back into reality, she flashed her lamp around only to catch what appeared to be a shadow moving into the next room. With a little light emanating from the pathway, Maria decided it would be best if she simply relied on her low-light vision from here on out. No sense announcing her position when Kane and Mr. Anonymous seemed perfectly capable of taking on... she counted seven opponents.

Extinguishing her lamp, she drew her blade and crept forward. She could hear nothing, and even after listening at the corner of the little passageway, she couldn't determine anything. It wasn't until she gave a sigh of relief that she noticed the sound of labored breathing. Apparently she wasn't the only one holding her breath.

There was a sudden cut to action as both her and whatever was around the corner realized each others positions. Maria quickly raised her weapon, and just in time as a hand came around the corner trying to make a grab at her. She swung the crooked blade, giving the creature a light cut on the wrist. No blood was spilt, but the creature gasped in shock and rounded the corner.

It was another of the strange fish men. He was vaguely human sized, meaning he towered over Maria with his hunched back and terrible fishy mouth sporting sharp teeth and globby dripping saliva. His blue-green scales were covered in similar slime, and, like the corpses, he was dressing in just a loincloth. He had a slashing burn mark across his face just under one eye, and he seemed to be holding a khris of his own.

"I didn't mean to hurt you!" Maria tried, but with her weapon still raised, the creature didn't take that seriously.

Either that or he didn't speak common as his response was so globby and deep that she wasn't sure if it was speech at all.

The fish man decided to forgo further pleasantries and took the first step at Maria. She responded by swinging her blade at him, cutting him on the leg. Startled, the creature recoiled, then shouted at Maria. The little bird froze, uncertain if she should even be fighting the guy. But this thought simply left her unready as the fish planted a kick in the center of her chest.

Maria was immediately thrown to the floor, releasing her grip on her blade. She watched in horror as her weapon noisily skidded across the floor out of reach, before returning her gaze to the threat looming over her. The creature took his own blade in both hands, seemingly ready to thrust it down at her.

Maria felt herself scream, but shock of her imminent demise made it beyond her to hear her own voice. Then the creature paused. He grinned down at her, and instead of striking down with a killing blow, he repaid her previous attack by cutting her leg. The pain was sharp, and Maria's first instinct was to crawl away, but the fish man decided to stop that by stomping down on her knee.

This time the pain was unbearable, Maria screamed again. Trying desperately to crawl away, she found that her hurt leg simply wouldn't work. Struggling through the pain to put distance between herself and the creature, Maria failed to notice that she was still living for some reason. Whatever that reason may be, she slowly, eventually made it close enough to reach her weapon... only at the last second to have it kicked away into the darkness.

Maria stared up at the monster. He was enjoying this. The fish was taking actual pleasure in watching her struggle. A certain sickness welled up in her stomach as, despite the change in facial structure, she recognized the nature of that grin. José had looked at her the same way just before he...

The creature grabbed Maria by her good leg and dragged her off, down the hallway. This led to a passageway decorated in yet more imagery of this jaguar man and his worshipers. She panicked to find a way out of this situation, but through the pain, all she could do is give a half-hearted struggle. That was the case until she was brought to her destination.

***

The fish man lifted Maria into the air and slammed her down onto a stone slab like the one in the mural. Adrenaline lead Maria to kick and scream like never before. She thrashed her wings about wildly and tried to roll herself off the slab, but the fish man never even had to put much effort in grabbing each of her limbs in order and locking them in shackles. Still trying to thrash about, she did little but cause herself pain as the edges of the shackles cut into her.

Then the creature came at her with the jagged knife. Maria couldn't watch, turning her head and closing her eyes tight only to find that again he didn't finish the job. Instead, he cut open her robes. Slowly the ripping sounds of cloth brought Maria's attention back to his movements. He meticulously ripped open the front of her robes and then the sleeves, eventually ripping the whole garment off of her. Now in naught but her black plumage, Maria began to notice the growth behind her captor's loincloth.

She braced herself as the creature crawled onto the slab above her, his grin dripping globs of saliva onto her face. She tried to look away as he shifted aside his garment to reveal a twisting pink... thing... growing out of a slit on his groin. Horror and fascination locked Maria's gaze on the phallus as it twisted around and slowly grew close.

"No, please," Maria whispered, not sure if the creature understood her, or even if he would care if he did.

The strange appendage made contact with her, slowly feeling her over on its own accord. It felt like a strange, slimey finger dancing around, looking for her opening. It passed over, teasing her for a second, until it returned on the next second, passing in.

Suddenly Maria was back in her ruined room, the corrupt Lawman standing over her. It was only four days ago, so the memory was so fresh, but reliving it still was more than she could bare. He had broken her in before any man could have possibly won her over... and here she was again. Except this time she probably wasn't going to survive the aftermath.

The creature's thing pressed in, still squirming about, causing Maria to squirm herself. The slimey tentacle writhed against her insides, rubbing against... everything. She felt herself gasp, was it in pleasure? How could she enjoy this?

She tried to struggle again, eliciting a laugh from her assailant. He leaned down close, his terrible maw full of dagger sharp teeth, and he licked her neck. This caused Maria to freeze up, her plumage poofing out in disgust, but the creature didn't care still laughing down at her.

Then, as if the situation couldn't get worse, he thrust in properly. Being so much larger than her, she couldn't take his whole thing. Instead she was treated with the pain and discomfort of him ramming directly into her cervix. The appendage still squirmed around in her, its narrow tip seeming to find yet another, deeper, narrower passage.

Thankfully, the creature decided not to explore that, pulling back again, letting the welling fear and anticipation in Maria's stomach to boil over. She found the feeling familiar, like the exciting anxiety she got when trying to hide a stolen wallet. Did she want this?

Then before she could answer such an disturbing question, the creature took her again, and again. Through all the sudden, repeated pain, Maria found the faint glimmer of hope in the fact that she wasn't able to enjoy it. The creature had no desire to fill her needs, just his own.

Building pressure in her tenderness led Maria to struggle once more. Fruitless as it was, she kicked with her good leg against the restraint as the fish ravaged her. Though she couldn't enjoy it, the feeling of blood rushing was just familiar enough to realize he was going to make her orgasm anyways.

A small bit of pride forced her to resist it. She held in the pressure the best she could, but his relentless assault on her now terribly stretched, yet still unwanting, hole finally gave way to a rush of unwanted feeling. Her body twisted with the force of her sudden orgasm, but the creature didn't respond with one of his own.

He continued to destroy her, with her writhing only encouraging him to increase his pace to a dangerous degree. Any question of pleasure was out the window as each thrust battered painfully into her back wall.

Then, without warning, he stopped. Maria closed her eyes tight and prepared for him to fill her with his seed, but it never happened. His thing even slowed down to stop wriggling. She glanced up at the creature, noticing the shocked look on his face. Then he collapsed onto her, squashing her into the stone slab.

"Gods, Maria?" A panicked voice reached Maria from across the room. It took her a moment to process, but suddenly recognized the voice as Ramone.

She managed to slide her head out from under the fish monster to find the adventurers rushing towards her. Ramone was gracefully dancing about the room looking for any more threats, El Gallo quickly stepped up to the slab without caution, and Caradoc was struggling to reload a crossbow.

With a heave, the orc lifted the monster off the slab, leaving Maria to squirm as the appendage wiggled out of her. A slime trail was left from its tip to her which made El Gallo mutter something in Orcish. Maria knew a little of the language, but only caught the gist of him swearing and the word for blasphemy.

Finally Ramone made his circuit around the room and returned to his partner's side. Apparently in his run around he found a key, allowing him to free Maria from the chains. The little bird then tried to roll off the slab onto the floor, but instead received a painful reminder of her shattered knee.

"Don't move," El Gallo commanded, concern on his face.

"It looks bad," Ramone ran a few fingers over her knee, "I don't know if I can heal it properly."

"Goma!" El Gallo cursed, "You know I'm not half the healer you are."

They both stared down at her considering their options.

"I'll do it," Caradoc spoke up, all three heads turning to him in surprise.

"Are you sure?" Ramone asked with ample caution, "If you mess this up, she'll never walk again.

"Please, I'm the very best," Caradoc scoffed, then his face grew serious, "I've been using healing magic longer than either of you. My mother... uh... she wouldn't let me get away from it once she found out I could."

The Flames each mulled this over, but eventually agreed. The burly, shirtless Orc lifted the kobold up like a child before placing him on the slab with Maria.

"Are you sure about this?" Maria found herself asking, "I'm sure we can find a Savant in town who..."

"Please," Caradoc shushed her, "It will only take a second."

And while it didn't take a literal second, Maria was alarmed by the lack of time she had to make him reconsider. He simply placed a hand on her leg, chanted a single arcane word, there was a sudden flash of light, and the pain was gone.

Maria found herself instinctively bending her knee, testing it, and, to her surprise, even the pain from being dragged about was absent. Without thinking, Maria sat up and swiftly wrapped her wings around the golden boy. At first he was startled, but then he relaxed into returning the hug.

"Will you ever cease to amaze us?" Ramone asked in mock sarcasm.

"Maybe," Caradoc teased, "But only after you grow to accept my truly amazing talent, skill, and good looks."

This statement allowed Maria the nerve to let go of the guy.

"Clean kill too," El Gallo praised, holding a bloody crossbow bolt, "You sure this is your first adventure?"

"Guys, please," Caradoc laughed, "You're making me blush," then he grinned, "but do go on."

"Okay, we get it," Maria rolled her eyes, but had to backpadel a bit, "but thank you."

"All in a day's work," Caradoc declared, looking her over like she was some sort of prize. It was a second before he realized that he was staring and she was naked. He looked away, suddenly blushing. "I suppose you'll be needing some new clothes."

Maria looked down at her torn and discarded robes, "I suppose so."

"As it so happens, I packed a few spare outfits," Caradoc turned to begin rummaging through his backpack, "That is, of course if you don't mind being as alarmingly well dressed as I am."

With an exaggerated sigh, Maria responded, "I suppose I can make that work."