1-74 A stranger in the swamp

“I appreciate you are doing this face to face but can you please take a more normal form,” Jaina said as the face on the fluid limb frowned and sank back to merge with the wall. Jaina heard the others gasp as a female-shaped mass of gray ooze stepped out and began to blur as it took shape. A moment later, a human woman with long white and piercing blue eyes stared back at Jaina with frustration. She was dressed in a simple blue slip that ended at the knees and stood barefoot as her arms folded.

Why would you give me away?” she asked in an annoyed tone. I worked very hard to stay hidden here.”

“I didn't give you away,” Jaina countered. “They knew there was something strange about this cabin and even suspected it might be a mimic. You were going to be discovered in a matter of days, as it was. The real question is, why were you trying to hide in the first place?”

Are you kidding me?” the woman scoffed and shook her head in annoyance. “Do you realize how badly people hate mimics? Well, I have news for you: we're one of the world's most hated and hunted races. People go mad out of their way to reset player mimics, and if you get discovered, you better run. Word travels fast, and players swarm the regions using area-of-effect spells to try and locate us. They hate what we can do, not to mention they need our blood and other parts to make potions or cloaks of blending.”

“I haven't had any trouble with players,” Jaina replied to the woman's tirade. “In fact, I can probably name a hundred players who would stand in my defense if somebody came looking for me.”

“Well, good for you,” the woman grumbled. “But you're still a morphic and not a prized target yet. Just wait until you evolve and then see how many people are willing to call you a friend.” She paused and looked Jaina up and down, noting her distinct lack of clothing. “Why aren't you layering clothing on?”

“My master prefers me to be naked,” Jaina replied to the question she knew was coming. “Though I do wear clothing from time to time.”

“Your master?” the strange woman replied before staring at the collar around Jaina’s neck. “You’re a sex slave?”

“I am,” Jaina replied without a hint of remorse. She knew this moment was coming and was determined to show her new friends she was proud of the title. “A shape-shifting sex slave is a rather hot commodity.”

“I bet,” the woman replied with a raised brow. Jaina detected a hint of disgust in the remark and noticed how the woman slightly recoiled. She had some reason to fear or even hate the collar, which made Jaina curious why.

“Excuse me,” Heather cut in as she and the others dared to approach. “Why exactly are you hiding in the swamp?”

Jaina wondered that, too, as the first answer was evasive. Of course, she was hiding what she was from players, but she could have done that in any city. So why was she all alone in a muddy swamp, pretending to be a small cabin? It seemed a ridiculous length to go to in order to hide from players.

“Why not?” the mimic replied. “Nobody comes here, and it's full of quick experience. The swamp monsters are stupid and easy to lure to their deaths. Actually, you three lured one in for me one time.”

“So that’s what happened to that thing that was chasing us,” Breanne said in alarm.

Jaina felt the mimic’s answer was evasive again, as it still didn't make sense. Was she honestly saying that she preferred to sit all alone in a swamp and do nothing but eat the occasional monster? Who would want to live a life like that? Jaina tried to imagine and knew she would go stir-crazy and lose her mind, craving physical attention. She would probably imprison the first man who came to her lair and keep him alive for sexual needs. The thought made her wonder how many men would volunteer to be bondage slaves to a mimic whose only purpose was to feed its erotic desires. With that thought playing through her mind, she noticed the look on Heather's face and realized she was also deep in thought. Frank had said this was her greatest gift but also a curse as she overanalyzed everything.

To Jaina's surprise, Heather snapped out of it a moment later and walked right up, introducing herself before introducing Jaina, Quinny, and Breanne. The mimic looked uncertain about how to react, and Jaina could tell she was partially fluid to be ready to escape. However, she finally relaxed enough to nod and point to herself, stating that her name was Viylah.

“Well, Viylah,” Heather responded with a smile. “If you want to be left alone, we will leave you in peace.”

“Then why do you keep coming back here?” Viylah demanded as if Heather’s remarks had disturbed her.

“Simple curiosity, I suppose,” Heather replied as she pondered the question. “We made our homes in the swamp just north of here, and we knew something was strange about this place. I guess we just wanted to figure out what it was, and Jaina said she knew you were a mimic. But we understand your desire to remain undetected. We are fond of being left alone too.”

“Yeah, most of us are monster players,” Quinny added. “We have had plenty of trouble with hero players ourselves.”

“You are?” Viylah asked as she looked over them. Jaina could see her studying their appearances, trying to determine what class or race they were. To speed things along, Quinny admitted she was a zombie and took Breanne's hand before announcing she was a banshee. Jaina acknowledged that Viylah was right about her still being a morphic, and Heather declared herself to be a lilithu devil. Heather went on to describe how they had more friends that were goblins, ghouls, and a suspected werewolf.

“Whose a werewolf?” Quinny asked in surprise.

“I will tell you later,” Heather replied before returning to her conversation with Viylah. “We did something to aid the local queen, and she was so grateful she made me a princess. So not only are we monster players but also protected by the queen and allowed to build our lairs free from harassment.”

“So, you are a princess of this kingdom?” Viylah asked as if she didn’t believe it.

“I sure am, and I am getting married soon, I hope,” Heather replied.

“You don’t know if you are getting married?” Viylah pressed, showing some actual interest.

“It's a long story,” Heather sighed. “The short version is I have to complete a task first; then we can get married. The problem is I have no idea when the task will be done, so everything is up in the air.”

“It can’t be too far now,” Quinny insisted. “Umtha said it was close.”

“Oh, good. You have been talking to Umtha too,” Heather grumbled and looked down as Webster tapped at her leg. “Oh, and this is my familiar, Webster,” she added and picked him up to cradle him in one arm.

“He’s a furry little sweetheart,” Jaina added as he let out a little chirp.

“Why are you talking to me as if nothing is wrong?” Viylah asked as she stepped back.

“Because nothing is wrong,” Heather replied as she began to pet Webster. “Look, we're all monster players trying to live in a hostile world. All I wanted to do was say that we are glad it know you are here. We hope we can all be friends, and you're welcome to visit or even move into our area to stay if you're lonely.”

Jaina noted the shocked look on Viylah's face that quickly faded to one of distrust. The mimic had obviously been manipulated before, or perhaps she simply had a distrusting nature. Whatever the cause, Jaina was not at all surprised when the mimic mocked the offer.

“I could move into your lair?” the woman laughed. “And then you could easily trap me or keep me isolated until you could.”

“Oh, for goodness sake!” Jaina groaned. “I have almost evolved to mimic status myself. They don't need you if they want mimic parts to make potions.”

“She is offering you a home where you will have friends and company,” Breanne added. “She did the same for Quinny and I when we had nowhere to go.”

“You don’t have to decide now, but think about it,” Heather urged. “It can’t be any fun sitting here day after day with nobody to talk to.”

“You are seriously inviting me, a complete stranger, to come live with you?” Viylah said distrustfully.

Jaina could see Viylah was having trouble believing Heather's kindness. Jaina was surprised by how quickly and easily Heather could make such an offer. But, it was just how Quinny described her. Heather never turned her back on a player in need, and Viylah was alone in the middle of nowhere.

“Look,” Heather said with a groan. “I have seen firsthand how monster players are treated, and I hate it. When I stumble upon a monster player who is in hiding or in trouble, I do what I can to help. I don't need to know your life story or what you did in the past to see this is no life. I would go mad sitting in a swamp alone all day, so I can't imagine you are feeling any better.”

“It is rather lonely,” the mimic admitted and looked down. “But I don’t know if I can leave this spot.”

“Why not?” Heather asked with a raised brow.

“You see, I had a true friend a long time ago, and we had to part for reasons beyond our control. She promised to find me again one day, and this was the last place I ever saw her,” Viylah explained.

“Oh, so you’re hoping she will come back here to look for you,” Heather said as she figured it out. Well, we can leave a sign or something pointing them to where they can find you.”

“A sign can be easily knocked down,” Viylah countered.

“Not if I have one built out of metal and concrete,” Heather countered. “Plus, we can check on it regularly to ensure it is still in place.”

“I suppose we could do that,” Viylay said and tapped her cheek. “I have to admit the more I talk with you, the more I realize how much I have missed social interaction.”

“It is ridiculous that you have been out here alone all this time,” Breanne agreed. “How long have you been here anyway?”

Jaina expected to hear weeks, maybe even months, but she nearly fell over when Viylah said years. Viylah tried to justify the long period by saying she was too afraid to move from this spot. She also claimed that monsters and experience were so easy to come by that it made sense to remain.

“No wonder the monster population is so sparse in this area,” Quinny laughed.

“Now I know why it felt so strange to pass through the walls of that house,” Breanne said as she thought back to the feeling. “It was because I was passing through a living thing.”

“That felt strange to me as well,” Viylah replied. “It was like you were freezing me from the inside out.”

“So, you knew we were monster players way back then,” Breanne stated. “Why didn’t you try to talk to us?”

“Just because somebody is a monster player doesn’t mean they can be trusted,” Viylah countered. “I have been betrayed twice by monster players and nearly reset because of it once.”

“Gisley has that problem,” Jaina said. “People see how much her glitter is worth and go crazy trying to acquire it. She can tell you stories of people who seemed like good friends who turned terrible when she wouldn't provide them with it.”

“Well, your secret is out, and nobody is attacking you,” Heather pointed out. “So you are welcome to come with us to see our home, and maybe you can find a place to fit in.”

“I don’t know,” Viylay responded as she looked uncertain.

“Oh, common,” Jaina urged. “What do you have to lose?” She felt just like the others that being alone in the swamp all that time must be terrible. She hoped Viylah would see it didn't have to be this way and embrace having some friends to talk with. Of course, if Viylah was betrayed by people she called friends before, Jaina could understand why she was so hesitant.

“I….” Viylah began, then went silent as her form melted away. She turned into a gray ooze that sank into the floor, flowing back into the cabin's structure.

“What happened?” Heather asked as she wondered if the woman had been insulted.

“I believe she has accepted your offer,” Jaina said. “She is merging with the rest of her mass to take control of it.”

“Merging with the rest of her mass?” Breanne asked.

“She's a powerful mimic,” Jaina explained. “That body we were talking to was more like a puppet than the real her. If you didn't notice, her feet never left the porch because she was part of it.”

Heather and the others nodded as the cabin started to move, the walls becoming fluid as they flexed. The whole building began to flow inward, rising up in a gray tower that began to form a roughly humanoid shape. It took a few moments, but it eventually coalesced into a copy of Viylay, only nearly three times her original size.

“She's a giant,” Quinny laughed as they looked at the nearly ten-meter-tall woman.

“She is much bigger than I thought she would be,” Breanne agreed.

“She is holding on to mass she has collected over her stay here,” Jaina explained and looked up at the towering woman's face. “Are you seriously going to bring all that mass with you?”

“Why should I give it up?” Viylah asked. “I spent a long time collecting it, and I don't want to leave it behind.”

“I still don't understand,” Heather said, prompting Jaina to explain it better.

“Mimics can absorb mass from the things they kill, adding it to a mass pool. They use that extra mass to create larger shapes like the cabin you all saw,” Jaina explained. “The problem is the more mass they collect, the more sedentary they have to be. It slows them down and drains their stamina to move any significant distance with a lot of extra bulk. So if they want to move quickly and without penalty, they have to leave the mass behind.”

“And I am not doing that,” Viylah stated. “I will bring it with me and pay the stamina penalty. If your home is in the swamp, it should take long to get there anyway.”

“And this is why she is so big,” Jaina sighed. “She is holding all that mass inside, so her body has to scale up to match it.”

“I see,” Heather replied as she continued to pet Webster. “Well, so long as she can move it, why not? I mean, stamina can always be recovered, and if it takes her a little longer to get there, so be it.”

“See, she understands,” Viylah agreed.

“It would be much easier if you left it behind,” Jaina protested but shrugged in defeat.

“She can keep it,” Heather insisted and turned to head to the water’s edge. “Let’s take her back to the graveyard.”

“In our boat?” Quinny asked and pointed to the giant.

Oh, right,” Heather groaned. “And now I see the flaw in my plan.”

“So you planned to travel back in that little boat?” Viylah asked as she leaned over to study it.

“Well, yeah,” Quinny laughed. “None of us wants to swim.”

“Maybe I can offer you a better solution,” Viylah said and stepped across the road to wade into the water. Her shape went gray and collapsed, spreading over the water before reforming. She became a wide boat with a dozen benches and three oars on each side. Her much smaller human form rose in the center and snapped into focus as she smiled. “Get on. I will take us all across,” she said and beckoned with her hand.

“She became a boat?” Breanne stammered as they headed for the craft.

“This is the power of a mimic,” Jaina explained. “They can take the shape of almost anything they can imagine.”

“This is neat,” Heather laughed as a wood plank stretched from the boat to the shore. They climbed aboard as Viylah looked over the water and waited for them to sit down. Once everyone was in place, the oars began to row of their own accord, and the boat set off into the swamp.

“Mimics are amazing,” Quinny said as they began to slide across the swamp.

“So you can do things like this?” Heather asked as she looked at Jaina.

“Me? No, not yet. Viylah is much higher level than I am. But I can't wait until I am as strong as she is,” Jaina answered.

“This is rather amazing,” Breanne agreed. “Is there no limit to the shapes you can take?”

“Not really,” Viylah replied and flowed down the deck to stand before them. “Stationary objects are easy, but anything with complex parts is a change and requires concentration. The oars, for example, take some effort to make them row. Something like a door with hinges isn’t so big a deal, but a fully functioning clock with turning gears would be a nightmare.”

“This is why mimics often fake being stationary objects like beds or chests,” Jaina added. “Most mimics are small because to hold on to large amounts of mass tends to give them away, but I have heard of a few being as large as a house before.”

“They were more common when the server was young, and players hadn't gone so kill-crazy,” Viylah explained before peering into the mist. “You will forgive me, but where are we going?”

Heather explained the way back, steering Viylah to the right to look for the outlying islands of Breanne's home. Once they located these, it was easy to navigate into the depths of the swamp, using landmarks to guide their way. With six oars to row, the trip was surprisingly fast, and before long, the graveyard shore came into view. Rather than disembark at the shore, the boat sprouted rows of legs and walked onto dry land. They jumped down, and Heather moved ahead to ensure the undead didn't attack Viylah.

“I will have to get Frank to add her to the friend list, too,” Heather said as she shooed away a zombie.

“Add who?” Frank called as they tall turned to see his hulking gray form coming out of a mausoleum.

“What are you doing here?” Heather asked as the massive ghoul approached and stared at the large boat with the woman standing inside.

“I came here to find you,” he replied as he continued to stare. “The others noticed you were missing, so Blackbast asked me to find you.” He paused for a moment to scratch his head before asking why there was a boat in his graveyard.

“Oh, that's Viylah,” Heather said and turned around to wave. “She was all alone in the swamp, so I asked her to move in with us. She is going to set up in our lair someplace.”

“And she brought a boat?” Frank asked. “Shouldn’t a pirate player be in the open sea someplace?”

“She isn't a pirate player,” Heather laughed. “She is the boat, or well, she is whatever she wants to be,” Heather stumbled as she turned to Viylah. “Will you please show him?”

Viylah nodded and began to melt into a giant mass of gray goo that mounded up until it was the female giant again. Frank looked on in confusion as the woman walked over tombstones, shaking the ground slightly as she made her way into the graveyard.

“So this is your home?” Viylah asked as she studied her surroundings.

“Well, Frank is a carrion knight, so he set up a graveyard as his home,” Heather said. She then explained how she lived in the tower and the caves behind it when she was not away.

“I see,” Viylah replied with a nod as she waded into the graveyard. “Would it be alright if I set up in the graveyard then?”

“If you want,” Frank said as he scratched his head in confusion.

Jaina could see Frank was startled by the sudden turn of events, but true to his character wouldn't turn the woman down. He finally broke down and asked what she was, causing Heather to laugh and explain the woman was a mimic. Frank found this hard to believe as he said they didn't get that big, and Heather tried to repeat the story about absorbing mass and a mimic's size.

“Is that really how it works?” Frank asked, still not fully convinced.

“Look, I don't understand it either,” Heather admitted. “The point is she was all alone, so I invited her to stay with us.”

“Where did you find her, or how, for that matter?” Frank asked as Viylah looked at one of his mausoleums in the center of a plaza.

Heather explained how Viylah was the strange cabin in the swamps and how Jaina had recognized what she was. She then looked to Jaina for help, so Jaina took over the story and told Frank how a morphic evolved into a mimic. She then went over the basics of absorbing mass and collecting it to increase a mimics size. She highlighted that most of Viylah was stored mass and not the actual woman, though it was impossible to tell the two apart.

“I wonder if she can eat the undead?” Frank asked as he considered.

“She should be able to, but I would expect them to offer less mass than a living creature,” Jaina said. “Why would you ask that?”

“Well, you said she could keep getting bigger if she had enough mass to absorb, so I thought, what if I kept feeding her easy kills?” Frank replied.

“Oh,” Jaina said with a nod as she followed his logic. “You are partly right, but the maximum amount of mass a mimic can store is based on level and points spent in certain skills. So there is a cap on her size.”

“That makes sense,” Frank replied as Viylah called out.

“Could I have this space here?” she asked and pointed to the mausoleum in the plaza's center.

“You want to inhabit the building?” Frank asked.

“No, I want to become the building,” Viylah answered. “And all the surrounding walkways.”

“I guess that’s alright,” Frank replied. “But there are stairs hidden underneath that lead to my tunnels.”

“Perfect,” Viylah said and stepped back. “Can you remove the building?”

Frank looked at Heather, who nodded at him that it was alright. He then brought up his interface and tapped his way into the building options, pulling up a map of the graveyard. He found the building in question, and with a tap, the mausoleum vanished, leaving a stairwell in the ground.

“Thank you,” Viylah said as her form began to melt. Her mass collapsed, flowing like an ooze over the space once occupied by the mausoleum. It started to rise, taking shape until it was a near replica of the previous building. Leftover mass spread across the ground covering the stone walkways in a gray sheet that quickly mimicked the same look. In seconds it was nearly impossible to tell which stone path was normal and which was the mimic spread across the ground.

“Wow,” Quinny said. “You would never know she was there.”

Frank walked up to the mausoleum and threw open the heavy wooden doors. They creaked like real doors and thumped when they hit the outer walls. There was nothing to give away the fact that the building was a complete fake, and Jaina could see the disbelief on his face.

“If you want to use the stairs, just say so,” Viylah said from no apparent source. “I will open the path for you.”

“This is amazing,” Heather said as she joined Frank and hooked his arm. “We are standing on a mimic, and I can't tell.”

“We hide easily,” Viylah said from behind them.

Heather turned about in alarm to see Viylah standing in the plaza as if detached from her structure.

“How are you doing that?” Heather asked as Jaina tried not to laugh.

“I can’t wait to be able to do that,” Jaina said as she joined Heather’s side.

“I am using a power called object permanence,” Viylah explained. “Once I set my mass in a particular shape, I can lock it in place. That way, I don't have to focus on holding the shape and can do other things. I can then use a portion of my mass to make a body like this and move around the space I occupy.”

“So you can leave this mass here and go someplace else?” Quinny asked.

“Oh, no, it doesn't work like that,” Viylah corrected. “Some part of me must always be in contact with the mass, or I lose it.”

“And how are you in contact now?” Heather asked.

“The ground,” Viylah replied and lifted a foot to show it flowed like water. “This whole walkway is me now, and I can move about it to my heart's content. I have a lot more mass to spread out over a larger area, but I hid it down the stairwell instead. That way, I can call on it when I need to travel a little further away by spreading over more of the path.”

“So you can just flow yourself down the path and then walk down it like any other player?” Heather asked.

“That’s how it works,” Viylah replied.

“But then why would it be hard for you to travel?” Heather asked. “Couldn’t you just flow wherever you wanted to go?”

“It's all that mass,” Jaina cut in. “She has most of it locked into place with object permanence, so the burden on her system is light. If she wanted to travel, she has to make it all fluid and then concentrate on keeping it that way as she goes.”

“Which has a sizable stamina cost over time,” Viylah explained. “The boat was an effective way to travel, but using those oars was costing me. Of course, it would be easier if I were to turn into a wagon and have real horses pull me along.”

“That would be amazing to see,” Jaina laughed.

“More like a wagon train,” Frank said as he considered her size.

“I want to be a mimic now,” Quinny said with a pout.

“I have to say I sure enjoy being one,” Jaina said. “I am looking forward to when I have the clone power.”

“What is a clone?” Frank asked.

“It allows a mimic to divide in half,” Viylah answered. “I have it, but I rarely use it. It's much harder to do when you have a lot of mass. The thing about it is the division must be exactly equal, and the more mass you have, the longer it takes to divide. If Jaina were to do it with just her current body, she would divide in seconds, creating two identical versions of herself. However, it takes closer to an hour to complete the divide when you have as much mass as I do.

“So you can become two completely separate people?” Heather asked.

“Not separate,” Jaina corrected. “You share one mind and stamina pool. It's basically two bodies with two health bars, but sharing everything else.”

“And it takes some practice to do,” Viylah added.

“If the mass divides evenly, wouldn't it create two smaller Jaina's?” Quinny asked.

“Ha, no,” Jaina laughed. “A mimic can naturally increase or decrease their size to a certain extent.” She illustrated the point by growing a full head taller to demonstrate the process. “When you divide, you share the mass, but the mechanics allow you to double the boost in growth. This allows you to make two copies of roughly the same size. Of course, this isn't an issue if you have a little extra mass to play with.”

“Also, if you spend ten points on the skill, you can cheat the equal requirement and create a single human-sized clone that will last for twenty-four hours. After that time, it must be reabsorbed, or it collapses and the mass it lost,” Viylah added.

“So this clone can wander about?” Heather asked.

“The clone is the only way I can cheat the need to be in constant contact with my full mass,” Viylah said. “One close remains to hold the mass, while the other can go out and do other things.”

“Now that I have seen their power, I wonder if I have encountered mimics and not even known it,” Breanne stammered.

“It's possible,” Jaina replied. “But I had no idea they were so secretive. I have been very open about what I am, and people love it.”

“You use your shape-changing powers for sex,” Heather said flatly. “You change forms to be whatever fantasy girl people want. Of course, they love that.”

“You do?” Viylah said in surprise.

“What? You never thought of it?” Jaina asked. “You can look like any man or woman in the blink of an eye. That never enticed you to use the power to play a little?”

“I did think of it,” Viylah admitted. “But I had a very close partner back then.”

“I have that now,” Jaina said. “I wear his collar.”

Viylah blinked and looked at the group noting the collars around all their necks. She drew the only logical conclusion and pointed to Frank, asking if they all belonged to him.

“We wish,” Quinny laughed as Frank managed to blush.

“No,” Heather interjected and patted his arm. “Frank isn't a slave master class. It's a long story, but the short version is Jaina has a master who isn't here right now. Quinny, Breanne, and I belong to a different master who also isn't hear right now.”

“But you are all sex slaves?” Viylah asked. “Or are some of you thralls or perhaps domestic slaves?”

“All sex slaves,” Quinny replied before Breanne swatted the back of her head.

“Not all of us wear that title so easily,” Breanne scolded.

“Sheesh,” Quinny grumbled. “I was just answering her question.”

“I had forgotten there were other slave types,” Heather said as she touched her collar.

“There are several more,” Jaina said, turning her gaze on Viylah. “But I am more interested in knowing how she knows so much about them.”

Viylah twitched as all eyes turned to her, putting her on the spot. Jaina could see she was uncomfortable about the topic as she nervously played with her hands.

“If I may borrow a comment you used earlier, it is a long story,” Viylah said as she looked down in shame. “So find someplace to sit, get comfortable, and let me tell you about the incident.”