Book Keeping in the Afterglow

8/13

Mosu was a bit surprised to see Talaada again; the strange horned girl seemed nice enough, though the scout stayed wary for the sake of professionalism if nothing else. She was on duty after all. She had to admit that a bit of company was welcome on one of these long patrols, though.

It was a bit hard to believe that this girl was one of the Draenei. She bore virtually no resemblance to them, neither the traders from the Harborage, nor the hunters. She was clearly from this swamp; nobody was this at ease here when they first arrived, and she saw and gathered small plants from the sides of the road that Mosu had simply walked past dozens of times. Apparently they made for good spices; who knew?

The chatty Draenei held absolutely nothing back, and was full of cheer. If this had been a war zone, Mosu might have objected to the chatter, but there was a truce with the humans for now. In most places, so long as there was nothing to fight over the Horde and the Alliance agreed to live and let live. Sensible, but it meant that patrols like Mosu’s were basically just formalities, more to make sure the road wasn’t blocked than to stay alert for enemies.

The girl was clearly training to be a shaman of her people. She spoke with such reverence for the “power of love” which had healed her, and she had so much wonder for the world around her. It was endearing. Of course, nothing she said up to that point prepared Mosu for when Talaada excitedly revealed that she’d lost her virginity today.

Ironically, it helped her to relax a bit more. No one would just make that up, right? It was too weird and personal.

••••••••••Night

Alright. Onyxia was in the bag and I felt like a king. The three beautiful women sharing the bed with me was probably a big part of that, though. I’d been a bit shocked at how easy it had been to capture those two maids; from Lillibeth’s texts, they had put up no more resistance than the ogres once Onyxia had told them to go along with my orders. I was guessing they were transformed dragons or dragonspawn, based on their scent, but that was an issue for later. For now, I had finished my plan. I needed to figure out the next step.

First up, I had to go over my missions. I had put this off until I was done with this whole process, but Onyxia was captured and I had burnt a mission ticket on a moderate mission, so I had some new things to go over. First off was the replacement moderate mission:

Test of FaithUndertake the trials administered by Dorn Plainstalker, a Tauren wise man living in the Thousand Needles. Gain a bonus if you complete all trials without relying on company assets (including captured companions, but not free willed allies)Reward 1 credit, Reversing Mirror, Pact StampBonus Greater Temptress bell

Sounded like a quest chain, and the bonus was basically a complete no go if it involved any kind of serious danger or travel. Which was a real shame, given the reward.

Greater Temptress BellTemptress Bell: a chime that converts a single target’s desire to harm the user into an equally powerful desire to fuck the user. The driving emotions do not change, only the subject’s perception of what is an appropriate response. No effect on targets at least 3 tiers higher than the user. One use

At first I didn’t see the difference, it seemed to just be exactly the same thing I already had in my pocket. Then I realized the absolute enormity of the missing text: the duration. This would permanently turn someone’s killer intent into a desire to fuck me. Not perfect, but it functionally neutralizes most threats, or at least reduces them in severity by a large margin and allows me to get in close to them.

Reversing Mirror:Reverses a single mental aspect of an individual who looks into it, at the discretion of the user. This may be a personality trait, opinion, or belief. Secondary traits will also change in order to be in accordance with the new worldview; for example, someone made to hate the faction they have dedicated their life to will hate all the individuals within that faction that they formally considered friends and loved ones, unless their relationship has no basis in the faction itself. Effectiveness diminished with more powerful targets.

Pact StampReinforces a single agreement one person has made, changing it from a normal commitment into the driving force of their life. A woman in an arranged marriage becomes a doting housewife, an alliance of convenience becomes an ironclad oath of fealty. This mindset will persist so long as the other party also holds up their duties.

Both were conditionally useful, but could effectively capture someone in the right context. They weren’t exceptionally powerful. Was this worth pursuing at all, or did I just want to ticket it away? No. No. I’m not getting distracted. I’m just looking at them so I know what is in the running. I’m tabling this for now.

I didn’t get another major mission for using the deluxe ticket, unfortunately, but Talaada has apparently made a friend. She had communication talent now, which would probably go a long way. A new minor mission was dropped into the Swamp of Sorrows, along with an unlocked new regional mission.

Out behind the woodshedKill or awaken the Green Dragonspawn Kaarsh in the Swamp of Sorrows before his corruption is complete on 8/15.Reward- target tracker (compass)

Uh. I didn’t know what corruption being completed meant, but that sounded bad. I could probably send a hunting party to find Kaarsh, led by Dremuus. The guy was scary good at hunting now that he was in his right mind.

Swamp of Sorrows: Defeat Jammal’an the ProphetHybrid Runes

These regional missions really knew how to impress a guy. Hybrid runes wasn’t exactly the most powerful thing on my wishlist, but it was without a doubt a flexible and useful perk, letting me go full mad scientist on my retinue. Splicing in troll regeneration, draconic breath weapons, ogre strength, or Eredar intelligence would go a long way to making supersoldiers.It’s at about this point when I realized I’d made a mistake. I’d beaten VanCleef without ever doing a single mission in Westfall. The guy was less than 12 hours from being captured and presented to me like a prize, and I had definitely missed the chance to get a regional mission bonus from taking him down. I set my daily quests to Vanessa; I wasn’t sure who the new target would be, but I wanted to at least know.

Especially because of an additional benefit I’d found waiting for me on my menu: an upgrade. I’d taken down another regional target, and apparently that meant another upgrade for the ones involved in the takedown. That meant the three who were involved in the casting of the ritual. Lividia, Talaada, and Me. I could make that choice later.

I decided to bite the bullet and purchase martial talent. As much as I wanted to spread the love, I really did need to get my own ass in shape. Minions are great and all, but I was a weak link; if I died, I was either dead or going to the Shadowlands, about which I knew fuckall except that they were frequently unpleasant to, for example, serial brainwashing rapists.Almost the exact instant I pressed the button I heard a new voice sternly telling me to plan and prioritize. To plan out the campaign, not just the battle. Oh. Martial talent covered strategy too, didn’t it? I sheepishly started up a list as the exasperated head voice commanded, trying to cover everything that I wanted to deal with.

Oh god this list was getting long, I was only including things I already had plans for, and I bet I forgot some things already. My new inner voice was very insistent that I go through the list and actually budget my time and resources out. Now. Before even considering what I’d be up to personally. Well. Maybe I could split it up. I can take a week off and focus on relatively low intensity things, then circle back around to the bigger stuff. So that would mean staying strictly on stuff that is either already time sensitive or won’t open up whole new fronts in my quiet one sided war with everyone I don’t like. With that in mind, I started again.

Ok. So. Still a lot. But I might actually get this down to a manageable level with a bit of budgeting and delegation. Fuck, I needed sleep before I did anything like that.