Chapter 27: Rewards and Curses

At length, the party made its way back to Astyanax, entering through the South gate with at least an hour to spare before dusk. They made straight for the guild hall after passing through the city’s enormous curtain wall. A guild representative quickly collected the still dazed and confused Eschenbach family, shuffling them off to a private sitting room from which other members of the nobility would come and collect them once a courier had been dispatched. At first, Lexi was a bit put off by the fact that not one of them even said goodbye to the three adventurers who had rescued them from capture and almost certain death, but she let it slide.

They’re probably all still in a complete state of shock, the paladin realized. They’ll have PTSD over this shit for years to come. Lexi almost laughed to herself then, realizing that she had completely fallen under the spell of the game world, and was thinking of the NPCs in more or less completely human terms — not at all as advanced software agents.

Once the nobles had been taken care of, the guild representative, a handsome dark skinned young man with closely cropped curly hair and almond-shaped hazel eyes, returned to the party. He directed their attention to the oversized leather book, set open on an ornate wooden bookstand.

“If the leader of your party would please submit the details of your adventure in the quest book, we can get your reward sorted out now.”

He had helpfully flipped the book to their party’s quest already, so Lexi took the quill and ink jar from him, hoping to Hell that her character knew how to write with something other than a ballpoint pen — because otherwise, Lexi would be out of luck. Thankfully, no such problems arose. The entry in the quest log was extremely straightforward, and all Lexi needed to do was to fill in the counts of who in her party had slain how many of what types of creatures, and as this quest included a rescue component, how many of the victims were brought back to the guild alive. Once she had completed the log, the guild associate turned the bookstand around to review her entry.

“OK,” he said cheerily. “Eight goblins at five a head, plus ten for the priestess, and an additional ten for each of the nobles your party brought back brings us to a grand total of eighty gold pieces for your party. Well done!”

He filled in the figures in the quest book, and then counted out eighty gold pieces from a chest behind the counter, linking them up in eight neatly ordered stacks of coins.

“Now,” he said. “If you could countersign, indicating that you’ve received payment, we’ll be all done.”

“Great,” Lexi said, beaming back at him as she signed her name with a flourish. “Nice doing business with you!”

“Likewise,” the man replied. “I’m sure we’ll find another good quest for your party once you’ve all had some well-earned rest and relaxation.”

And with that, he closed the quest book and went on about his duties. Lexi turned to Gretel. “Something tells me that you’ve got the best head for managing money out of the three of us, so I’m nominating you to be the party’s treasurer.”

“Seconded,” Samantha said immediately, her grin reaching up the steely gray eyes that twinkled with mirth from behind her shaggy white bangs.

“Damn,” Gretel said, placing a hand on her ample bosom and pretending to be taken aback. “I was going to graciously accept, but I guess I don’t really even need to since I’ve already been outnumbered. But if that’s the case, I’m making an executive decision as the official party treasurer that we’re going to spend a bit of this coin on some fine food and drink tonight.”

“Seconded!” Samantha chimed in again. “I can hardly remember the last time I was quite this famished. And, our victory on the field of battle today — our first as a party — calls for a celebration!”

“I’ll definitely agree to that,” Lexi said heartily. “Just one thing. Can we please find somewhere to get cleaned up first? I’d enjoy a nice foamy ale so much more if I’m not covered in dried goblin blood.”

“Agreed!” came the chorus from her teammates.

Their spoils of victory tucked away safely in one of Gretel’s many pouches, the party made their way back to the same inn in which Lexi and Gretel had stayed just the night prior, the Red Hen. The innkeeper, a toothless old woman, gave them three adjoining rooms up on the third floor, and had one of her scullery maids run ahead of the adventurers to fetch washbasins and fresh water for each. Each party member retreated to their own quarters then, and spent the next half hour or so bathing, healing their wounds — as enough time had passed for all of them to be able to cast minor healing spells — and scouring as much goblin blood as was possible from their clothes and equipment.

Lexi decided that she could safely leave her armor and sword locked in her room, and headed down to the ground floor to grab a table at the inn’s tavern. Dusk had turned to night, and the paladin was unsurprisingly famished after all that she and her two followers had gone through during the day. It was hard for her to believe that this was still only her second day in Aeternia. But, looking back on the adventures she had already completed, she was more than a bit shocked to realize that she already felt more at home in Fantasy Adventure Quest’s game world than she ever did back in the “real” world.

Her thoughts carried the paladin over to an empty corner table, where she sat alone until the voluptuous pink haired mage slid onto the bench next to her. Just the sight of the freshly washed curvy girl — her large breasts nearly spilling out of the corset she wore as a top, and juicy white thighs blossoming into view beneath the matching gold-trimmed black miniskirt the mage wore — was enough to absolutely cement the fact in Lexi’s mind that she had indeed found the place she belonged. Lexi, the futanari paladin, was quickly filling her new life with girls who were not only good friends, but eminently worthy adventuring companions. It didn’t hurt that they were both gorgeous, albeit in radically different ways.

“Hiya,” the mage said, sliding in close enough that her thick thigh was pressed up against the bare skin of Lexi’s leg that showed through the slit in her blue tabard.

“Hiya yourself,” Lexi replied warmly. “I don’t know about you, but I feel so much better after getting all cleaned up. But now, I’m so hungry I could eat a fucking horse.”

“Awww,” Gretel pouted, pulling a dramatic frowny face. “I was hoping you’d rather eat a sexy little mage tonight.” And, before Lexi could completely process her implication, the mage slipped a hand under Lexi’s tabard, and gave her thick cock a few playful strokes, before sliding her hand out just as deftly and twirling a lock of pink hair in it innocently — as if she hadn’t just been fondling a big futa cock under the table.

Lexi choked, face reddening, and eyes bulging. “M-Maybe we s-save that for dessert,” the embarrassed paladin finally managed to stutter out.

“Maaaybe,” the mage teased, her eyes dancing with mischief. “But what if she wants some dessert too? Do you have enough to share?”

Lexi whipped her head around to see who the “she” was that Gretel was gesturing to, and relaxed upon seeing the chiseled bronze bulk of the monk fill her field of vision.

“Greetings, friends. I trust your ablutions were satisfactory and your wounds healed well?”

“Quite!” Lexi said, giving Samantha all of her attention in the vain hope that her cock would not start responding to any of Gretel’s teasing. “I was just telling Gretel that I’m beyond famished. How about we all get some dinner now?”

“A most excellent suggestion,” Samantha as she sat down. “I too am very ready to eat.” She did not slide in quite as close as the mage, but Lexi was startled to notice that even from a few inches away she could feel the heat radiating off of the monk’s muscular body. It was like she was sitting next to an electric heater.

Lexi gestured to the nearest barmaid who, much to Gretel’s chagrin, was the selfsame MILF that Lexi had been caught ogling by the mage on two separate occasions already. The futanari paladin exerted every ounce of willpower to keep her eyes locked on the barmaid’s pretty brown eyes, finding the slight webbing of crow’s feet at the edges rather cute. She ordered the works for the table, a roasted chicken, fresh bread, pickled vegetables, and three flagons of foaming ale.

“Here’s to a job well done,” Lexi toasted, raising her pewter mug.

“And to a pair of stalwart and worthy companions,” Samantha solemnly added, raising her mug as well.

“And to our fearless leader,” Gretel concluded. “Who’s got a better cock than any other girl I know.”

“Fuck me,” Lexi muttered, stifling a laugh at the mage’s incessantly perverted humor. “Let’s drink up, team!”

They all clinked mugs, and quaffed large gulps from their flagons, each girl being left with a foamy white mustache afterwards. The food started to come in soon after that. First the bread, served with copious amounts of fresh churned butter, then the pickled vegetables, and finally the sizzling roast chicken. The three adventurers’ mouths were all visibly watering by the time the barmaid set the chicken down, and before they could even mutter the briefest word of thanks, the three famished girls began devouring the food like a pack of wild savages who had never even heard of table manners.

Several more rounds of ale followed the first, and before an hour had passed, each of the adventurers was at least three mugs deep. Samantha seemed to be hardly affected by the alcohol, but Gretel was trashed. And, as Lexi feared, when Gretel got drunk she apparently got super handsy. Lexi found herself practically wrestling with the mage, trying to keep the tipsy girl’s hands out from under her tabard and off her cock. Samantha pointedly declined to intervene, finding Lexi’s struggles with the horny mage more than a bit amusing.

The merrymaking and tomfoolery, however, came to a rather abrupt end for the party. Right in the middle of their fourth round of ales, Lexi precipitously dropped her mug, spilling golden brown ale all over the carcass of the bird she and her friends had just picked clean. She felt a sensation of tingling warmth slowly, but inexorably start to roll over her body, dragging away her willpower and self control like a slow moving riptide dragging an unwary swimmer further and further from the shore.

In the blink of an eye, Lexi found herself back in the pink haze, watching and feeling her body, but unable to do a thing to control it. The wave that subsumed her brought with it the more delectable feelings and desires. Her cock stiffened and her pussy grew slick with moisture. And, although her friends, in their respective stages of inebriation, may have failed to notice these signs at first, there was no mistaking the opaque pink glow which eclipsed her eyes, or the matching pink mist which escaped the futanari’s lips as she exulted in her body’s lust-filled sensorium, writhing with pleasure.

“Oh shit,” Gretel said, temporarily snapping out of her drunkenness. “Heads up, Samantha. Lexi’s about to start causing a pretty big scene if we don’t do something quick.”

The monk’s eyes widened when she looked over to see the pink glow illuminating Lexi’s visage. “Yes,” she said, businesslike once more. “We must get her out of here now.” And, without another word, the monk hoisted Lexi up over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Although, Samantha was sure that no potato sack had ever tried to dry hump her bicep. Gretel led the way, opening the door into Lexi’s room for Samantha, following the pair in and closing the door behind them.

All they had to do now was figure out what to do with a futanari driven into uncontrollable horniness by an evil priestess’ curse.