Adventure 2 - The Drunken Mayor

Awakening suddenly with a snort, Valon followed up that sound with a long, low groan as he turned over slowly. He opened one bleary eye, which saw daylight streaming through the wooden slats covering the shuttered windows. The fog of sleep slowly cleared from his mind, the stiffness and soreness of his body reasserting itself into his conscious mind. He closed his eye again to relax and reflect a few moments more. Yesterday had been so busy, and the intervening sleep so sound, that only the testimony of his various aches hinted that at least some of what he remembered was true.

The shadow of Olgate's bulging knot in his strained ass left him wincing when he shifted his legs. Once the knot had deflated and Olgate had been able to pull out, Valon remembered him dressing hurriedly, scowling at Valon the entire time. Whether Olgate had lived up to his end of the bargain - for the moment, that meant having spoken with the blacksmith - or not was one of the things he'd have to find out once he got out of bed. A faint smile crept across his lips: it had probably worked, or he would have an angry, hairy friend banging down his door at this instant.

Sure that he had dealt with the father to his satisfaction for now, Valon turned his attention to the son. His arms and back, not used to lifting heavy objects, throbbed, and he could feel a few splinters of wood working themselves out of his fingers. He remembered dressing himself once Olgate was gone, creeping once again through the inn's rear entrance while his own was still raw, twitching and vacant.

Oulders had been anxiously awaiting his return, and even if he had spent longer away than he might have done, he had returned with two bits of good news for his new familiar: his family had been told not to worry if he didn't come home tonight, and he would be able to go home himself the next day. After trialling a simpler version of the glamour on Olgate, Valon was up to the challenge of a more complex kind. Using the familiar's collar as a focal point for the glamour, Valon had concentrated for some time, feeling Oulders's form shimmering as a false human appearance stretched around his bovine body. The first draft had been the hardest; after that, he had been guided by Oulders's nods and head-shakes to fix the errant details. Afterwards, he had been drained, but buoyed as Oulders examined himself, overjoyed at being able to pass as a human and walk. Allowing him to communicate was something else he would need to work on soon.

However, to do that required Valon to have access to his personal library and equipment for experimentation, so the two of them had set to work clearing the remaining garbage from the ground floor of the tower and moving Valon's belongings from the college stores into their temporary homes. Oulders's bull strength had been invaluable, especially as Valon didn't want to strain his remaining power and had to move things by hand.

Valon had left Oulders in his tower; he would take Valon's bed for the night, just in case the glamour failed, while he returned to the inn. He hoped Oulders would remember the instructions he left last night: lock up his office and the tower when he left, unlock them when Oulders woke up, and track down and clean the magical stimulator he had inserted into Oulders's hole. He remembered Oulders had blushed at that, nodding goodnight to Valon before he departed.

Rolling over, Valon contemplated his next moves: all in all, his first day in Ganic's stand had been a success, but it was now time to start work on the second. "I probably should introduce myself to the blacksmith today, though I suppose I can do that if I escort Oulders home. I'll need him to show me that list of requests he mentioned yesterday too. I should meet with the mayor, definitely, and tell him he is down one assistant but up one wizard, assuming I can get to him before he gets too drunk. I also need to deal with Yhrbold's lack of a son." The last two seemed the most important, and which he'd deal with first required more thought.

Writhing out the last bits of lethargy, Valon finally slipped out of bed. He dressed slowly, pulling on his clothing with the grace of a grog-drenched sailor on land for the first time after months at sea. "I suppose all that exercise was good for me," he supposed, patting his plump, rumbling stomach. "If things keep up like this, I'll lose all my 'wizard weight'." Wondering what he'd look like with muscles like Oulders or Olgate had Valon chuckling one moment, fantasizing about them the next. Doing his best to hide the stirring and bulging of his package, Valon headed downstairs, his stomach rumbling furiously.

Warm light flooded into the tavern area at the bottom of the stairs; from the sounds coming from outside, Valon estimated it was fairly late in the morning, if it was still morning. As soon as he set foot into view of the inn's bar, he was assaulted almost immediately by Yhrbold's booming, enthusiastic voice. "Fine morning to you, sir wizard! I trust you slept well?"

"I must have, given how late in the morning it is." Valon stumbled over towards the table he'd sat at last night with the four guards. "Yesterday was a very interesting introduction to the village, and fortunately I think I'm in a good position to start settling in." Remembering that both Oulders and Olgate weren't keen on making all parts of their interaction with Valon public knowledge, and wanting to be able to use Yhrbold's fascination with pairing him up with one of his daughters to his advantage, he gave an abridged telling of what he had been up to.

"No wonder you slept well, then!" Yhrbold exclaimed. "Hopefully you've got some energy left to help me! Oh, pardon my manners, sir! Would you like to have something to eat?"

"Yes, please!" Valon answered enthusiastically. "I was so busy last night, I completely forgot about dinner! I'm completely famished!"

Yhrbold continued to chat as he headed to the bar; Valon was grateful the man knew how to read his customers wants well, as he was thirsty too. "Artar will be grateful his son's no longer crippled, and I think you did right in taking him on as an assistant. Oulders is a good lad; he doesn't go bothering me girls like some of the young 'uns do. Not like his brother. I wouldn't wish anything bad on Oulders, but I have to say I'm glad the other boy's the one stuck in the forge with Artar most of the day, if you take my meaning."

Valon nodded, his eyes growing as Yhrbold - and, more importantly, the mug of ale - drew closer. "It avoids all that unpleasant awkwardness when the prodigal son returns home, too."

"You sound like a man who knows from experience." Yhrbold's eyes squinted shrewdly.

"Unfortunately." Valon sighed. "I've still got some work to do on Oulders before he's fully cured: he's not quite his normal self just yet, but he seems content with just being able to walk around for now." Lowering his mug, Valon asked, "Speaking of Oulders, I need to iron things out with his former employer. Do you happen to know where the mayor is?

"Ed?" Yhrbold snorted. "I've been expecting to see his sour face all morning. If I were a betting man, I'd wager you that he'd arrive before you finished breakfast." He grinned. "Well, I am a betting man, but you've got a city man's purse, and a wizard's luck, and I need my coin to pay for your services. When do you think you can get to my problem?"

"Soon," promised Valon. "I need to square things away with the mayor first. Men in power who are that deep into their cups tend to be a little too eager at using the sharp ends of things to resolve disputes, from my experience." He smiled. "I intend for my stay in Ganic's Stand to be a long and healthy one."

"Well," Yhrbold observed, "Ed'll turn up here, no doubt. I'm a bit surprised he ain't here already."

"Great; let's see if he arrives while I'm having breakfast."

Yhrbold grunted, retreating into the kitchen. Valon finished off his ale, letting out a short, satisfied belch. The meal that eventually emerged certainly wasn't anywhere close to the quality he had come to expect, Valon thought, but the porridge was fine and did a good job at filling his empty stomach. After finishing it off with another drink, Valon excused himself. "I need to check in on Oulders; if Ed arrives, make sure he stays here, and that he's not too drunk by the time I get back. The sooner I deal with him, the sooner I can get to actually doing things."

Valon left the inn to walk to the town hall. The aches and pains he'd had from last night were almost gone, and he entertained himself with a small bit of sleight-of-hand as he headed through the open town hall and then the portal.

His bed was messed up, but unoccupied; as was the rest of the ground floor of the tower. "Oulders? You about?" Valon walked outside, scanning the nearby lands until he spotted a bare-chested Oulders walking around, carrying large rocks and debris effortlessly from the surrounding buildings, creating a pile at the property line. Valon sighed; the glamour effectively reproduced the gleam of sweat and the shifting of large muscles under Oulders's hairy body. They might not have been real, but they were certainly stimulating. "Oulders! When you're done, can you come here? I've got another chore for you to do, hopefully easier than this one."

As Oulders loped over, Valon noticed the heavy cloud of bull musk floating around Oulders. He frowned, also seeing a grass-green tinge in Oulders's mouth. "I need you to help me find the mayor, and since you used to work for him, I'm hoping you might know where he'd be. I have Yhrbold looking out for him at the inn. We also need to see if you can pass for human, and this seems like a good opportunity. However, right now you stink like a bull, and you've got grass stains on your teeth and tongue, and we need to fix that first. So, take off your clothes - except your collar, of course - and we'll quickly bathe you."

Oulders did as instructed, quickly disrobing. Moving away from the trousers and boots, Valon summoned a small, continuous rain from a nearby cloud. Oulders scrubbed his body quickly, and sloshed water around his mouth. Valon tried to control himself, but he could feel his cock stirring regardless. Giving the air another sniff, he quickly turned off the water; blasting Oulders with a quick, cool wind to dry him off.

Valon and Oulders returned to the tower, once Oulders had dressed. Valon spent that time thinking about what steps he would need to take, trying his best not to be too distracted. They made the bed, and he examined the remaining container of familiar seed he had collected. It was a lot lower than he had hoped; keeping two glamours running was expensive. "If I'm going to be using magic like this," he thought, "I'm going to need to find a few more sources. Hopefully ones that I don't need to keep hidden with glamours..."

"Alright," Valon said once he was satisfied that Oulders didn't look too bad. "Get your shirt on, and we'll head out. I don't want to be long, so I want you to think about all the places that he's likely to be. I'll let you lead, and if we run into anyone, let me do the talking."

Oulders grunted in agreement, and the two headed back to the village. The first place they tried was the office; Valon felt stupid for not checking on his way out, but the piles of papers looked like they were undisturbed, and nobody was in there. Leaving the town hall, they checked in at the Two-Headed Pig. Yhrbold told them that he hadn't been in yet, frowning with concern; he also expressed pleasure at seeing Oulders up and about. "Good to see ya out of that chair! Hey, Ingrid, come look at what the new wizard's been able to do!"

Wondering which of them Yhrbold was trying to set the girl up with - if he was all that fussy - Valon quickly answered for both of them as Oulders's glamour blushed. "We can parade him around later, when he's fully healed. Sorry, Yhrbold, but I'm sure you understand: the sooner we deal with Ed, the sooner we can get to working on your little problem."

"Say no more!" Yhrbold grinned. "I'll keep him here if he ever comes in, and if someone comes in after I'll tell them there's a reward in it for them if they can find you."

"Thanks." Valon and Oulders left. "Alright, let's see if Ed is at home." His patience was starting to wear away faster than the threads in his pants.

Fortunately, they were in luck: Heek was on guard outside the mayor's house. "Morning, wizard! Oulders! Nice to see you up and about! Magic, huh?" Heek grinned. "Maybe you can fix old grumpguts's mood too? Or maybe not. He was a long time taking a leak, and when he came back it was just to finish off his ale and head out. Did something happen between you?"

Suppressing a groan, Valon answered, "Sorry, Heek, we can't stay and chat right now; maybe I can catch you up on things later at the inn. Right now, I need to find the mayor."

"He hasn't come out yet, as best I know," Heek answered. He pounded on the door. "I'll get them to let you in."

"Thanks! I owe you a drink!" Valon answered, heading inside. Oulders knew his way around, and they quickly went from room to room. Nobody bothered them, since Oulders was with him, which Valon appreciated, but brusque introductions to people always left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

They finally tracked Ed down to his bedroom; the mayor of Ganic's Stand was sprawled out, buck naked on his belly. The smell of strong alcohol and vomit assaulted them as Oulders got them passed the servants. Valon grabbed Ed's grey-streaked, dirty mop of black hair; a yawn and a snort escaped from his uneven-toothed mouth and long nose. "Still drunk," Valon said dismissively. Grimacing, he stuck two fingers down Ed's throat and sent a magical charge into his uvula. He hated this remedy: there was nothing worse than either talking to someone with, or having, the vinegary breath that was left behind, but he was tired of dealing with this drunken buffoon.