A Day of Prep II

5/8 late morning

I realized that I had almost left out potentially the most important individual in my plan: Sarah Ladimore. I didn’t need her just yet, but I should probably warn her instead of swooping in and grabbing her at the last minute. I guess it is time to check in on Eva after all.

I went over my troops; Lividia and Lillibeth went south to the ogre mound to wait for me. Abby went into the basement where I heard groans of consternation and a shouted request for zombie juice. Apparently she wasn’t kidding when she said she needed that for Stitches; I left Drusilla behind to assist while I went to Darkshire as Abercrombie.

Eva was in good spirits, trying on a dress she’d obviously pulled out of an old chest, and modeling in front of a tall mirror. When she saw me appear, her grin got even wider. “Ah, Abercrombie my friend. I see you have come to see this great work. I hope it will stop now, yes? I wouldn’t want to look like Alyssa’s sister.”

Katarina Eva was quite the looker when she was young, apparently. She had a very petite frame, but small curves she had were emphasized quite well by the tight dress she was wearing. I thought corsets and skirts were more of a Gilneas thing, but I wasn’t going to complain. Her loose hair was a shiny black color, and her heavy makeup had made the jump from excessive to glamourous entirely because she was hot now; her bright red lipstick and heavy eyeshadow definitely drew the eyes. I’d given her the necklace because she’d been a threat, but I was perfectly happy with the results.

https://imgur.com/a/5NaSxyq

“Yep. It returns you to your prime, or better than your prime if you weren’t in the best health the first time around.” I stepped behind her and gently put my hands on her waist. “How does it feel?”

She playfully slapped my hands away. “Not so good as to make me forget myself, good sir. I am a lady, and I expect to be treated with respect.” Despite her comment, she had a massive grin that Communication talent filled in for me. She enjoyed being desired sexually again, and was open to my advances, but was conservative enough that I’d need to either bulldoze through her objections or at least play act a bit of romance. I really shouldn’t get distracted, so I decided to do neither.

“Sorry, sorry. I kept my elderly looks to avoid questions, but I’m sure you’ve noticed how hot a young body runs after all this time.” I would have just told her the situation at this point, including the fact that I wasn’t Abercrombie, but I didn’t want to risk resetting The Hermit again when I was this close. I could come back some other time. “I’m looking for miss Ladimore. My nephew is ready to act. Do you happen to know where she is?”

“I’m afraid nothing specific. If she is not in the tavern, she’s likely on patrol.”

She turned out to be in the tavern, but was assigned a patrol. It was to the southern crossroads, so we should be able to pick her up, but the timing would be tighter than I would like. “Do be careful. We are counting on you to have a chance of this working.”

She sighed. “I’ll do what I can, but I’m still a watcher. I can’t just sit around waiting for you.”

I thanked her and then checked with the bartender. He’d brewed up a keg of zombie juice, and refused to haggle on the price. A full gold piece for alcohol literally infused with death. Highway robbery. I toted it outside with me, then sent it to Abby. I was thankful that there were no complications other than ridiculous prices, it meant I could get back to amassing my forces.I teleported to Lillibeth, who was in place near the ogre mound while Lividia stood watch. Lividia was mostly there to make sure Lillibeth didn’t get lost. “Alright; you up for a repeat of yesterday?”

It was no trouble at all to pick up a few dull witted ogres. The chooser dragon narrative got four more ogres, three girls and one guy, before Lillibeth needed a rest. I suggested that they might want to all go out on a hunting trip together. The chosen ones should spend time together, and the Chooser dragon wanted something from them tonight. I figured a team of 7 Ogres would do the job. Hopefully I could use them as canon fodder for one big skeleton, but if I needed a distraction against an army they’d do the job nicely. I had around an eighth of the clan already; soon I’d start running out of easy pickings. The two headed magi had already proven hard to control.

Huh. Maybe Mary could help with that, actually. I grinned. They were mostly just mooks, and dumb ones at that, but there was nothing wrong with an army of big stupid fighters if you pointed them in the right directions. If I could get the whole clan, I’d have a real force to throw at things. I looked over at the three slaves. I could get them out too. Shit. That was an afterthought. I was busy, yeah, but I wanted to maintain at least a little moral high ground. Tomorrow I would get those people out of here. Definitely.

With firm instructions to go to the puny human town straight north and Lillibeth shadowing them, I went back to the inn in Redridge so that I could go over my plans with a bowl of soup. I had a pretty good team in place for the fight; hopefully overkill, honestly.

When Mor’Ladim came to Eliza’s grave, I’d have Eliza, seven ogres, Drusilla, Lividia, Lillibeth, Noktog, Mezzo, and myself. If possible I’d have Ladimore too, but if she was late the plan was still to pound him into paste so she could go to his grave. Who else could I bring in, really?

I could probably get Auffrey or Annetta; both if I basically took the Lions offline for a day. For that matter I could bring any of the Lions along. I wasn’t going to; I didn’t need human mooks when I had ogres, and past a certain point I’m pretty sure more melee fighters would just end up as clutter. I decided on Auffrey; Anetta was honestly more important to their combat operations, since she kept the team alive and whole. Having another healer would be nice, but having no healer at all could absolutely fuck the Lions if they needed to actually do their jobs. More firepower for the team killing Mor’Ladim could only be good, and they could hopefully do without her for an hour. I’d need to get her to hand her necklace over to Annetta to maintain the teleport point, but that was fine.

I’d want to check in with Tessa and see if she was ready to come back to the harem. She was probably my best melee fighter unless those ogres really surprised me. I’d feel a lot better if I could have a dedicated bodyguard. Mary was going to be captured in a few hours, so I might as well collect her. Other than that, there was nobody I wanted for a straight fight.

As I closed up the app, I saw a mission update. Expecting to see that Keryn had finished her job and hoping to have her and Stormwind Rambo along for the battle, I opened up the mission tab. I was right that a mission was complete, but not the one I’d expected. Hogger was dead, and with his death I had Wild Talent. Score. I closed another note and got a mildly surprising follow up.

Killing blow: Darcell Torp, upgrade available.

It was at around that point that a badly beaten redhead appeared on the floor next to me.