Chapter 173

Once the whole camp is checked, we gather everyone in one spot outside the pillory structure. Jessica says it’s to make sure no one is missing or dead, but Citrine is flying above with Morgan looking down. “Everyone looks clear mom.” My Shifter daughter tells us in Jessica’s office. That’s good news. It means there were only four of them in the whole orc camp, so they must have gotten here recently. None of these elves are shifters either, and it’s probably just my skills which increase the chance of Rare races being born that let me have Morganite.

“Okay everyone, I’m going to want to keep you all here until we have the announcement tomorrow.” Jessica says, and Pops starts to complain, but then grumbles a bit and asks. “Can Opal check on my wife at least? She’s pregnant tonight and going to the hospital tomorrow morning.” I talked to Snow a couple days ago. I wonder how many kids her and Pops are going to have this time? Morgan and I both have two bodies so they can easily check with our bodies at the orc camp when we come back. I nod, and Jessica seems to think before allowing us to leave. She tells us “When you come back, we’ll be in the negotiation room. It should be a more comfortable place to sleep for everyone.”

I guess if there’s going to be a big plan tomorrow, it will be better for everyone who needs to sleep to do so. I think Citrine and I are the only ones here who don’t. As I leave the building with Morgan, I see her shiver a bit and then sigh. I know that means something might be wrong, so I ask and she says “It’s just… A lot has happened tonight mom. I’m not used to being needed so much yet and it’s stressing me out a bit.” I don’t really know the feeling myself, but I’ll believe her. So I ask “Do you want to ride on my back while we go to visit your sister?” She smiles, but shakes her head and answers “That’s okay mom. Sis has been flying me around a lot so it’s nice to stretch my legs.”

It must have something to do with those muscle things Cindy told me about when she was talking about her zombies. It doesn’t take us long to get to Pop’s house anyway. I knock on the door and we wait for a while before my white haired hound daughter opens the door. Well she’s a chupa-something but I still count it as a hound like my Hellbitch race. “Mom? Is Derrick coming back from the meeting soon?” She sounds a bit worried, so I tell her “He’s fine sweetie, we just had something come up and he sent me to make sure you’re okay.”

Morgan signals that she’s fine and not one of the dop things. I don’t think one of them would be strong enough to hurt her either, since most of them should be less than 3rd tier… probably. She seems relieved and I advise her “Be careful tonight sweetie, and be cautious of anyone who visits you before you go to the hospital tomorrow.” If they can’t surprise her, then she should be safe. She told me she doesn’t have to sleep after getting changed by the zombie, so one can’t catch her unconscious either. She looks confused, and Morgan says she’s fine, so I ask if we can come in and chat for a minute.

Of course she happily invites us in, and shows us to the living room. There we see a male hound with white hair, and I feel Morgan tug on my sleeve. That was our sign that someone nearby is a doppelganger. Snow says “Travis, this is your grandmother Opal. Be polite and greet her like your father taught you.” While it stands up, I try to think of how to handle this, and decide to use my Fertility Charm skill. It only lasts for a minute when there isn’t any combat, so I quickly tell it “Tell me how many of you there are in Barrier.” Snow is probably confused again, since it still looks like her son, but it opens it’s mouth and weird hisses come out. Unfortunately, because Morgan turned out to be a shifter, I can’t understand it with Monster Mom.

This must be the hissing that my shifter daughter said she heard from them when they were talking to people. “What’s going on, why are you saying something like that Travis?” Snow asks, and I then tell the monster “Change back to your original look.” and it quickly does, a weird glow flashing before the familiar monster is standing in front of us. The fact that we can’t understand it is unfortunate, so I guess once my charm runs out it will die again. Morgan speaks up then saying “We should kill it while you still have control over it mom. If it has a way to communicate with the others then they’ll know we can spot them after this.”

She might be right, and we don’t have much time. Snow dashes forward, and her claws extend before ripping out the things throat. As blood sprays across her living room I’m surprised, but as the thing shrivels up and loses it’s title she asks me “What’s going on mom, and where’s my real son?” It might actually have been her son if a fake Pops ever got her pregnant, so I explain the whole situation to her. She sighs once I’ve finished a few minutes later and says “That’s why I can’t get into sex with monsters like Sis, I hate that some of them come out as monsters. Can you come with me and check to see if the real him is at his house or not? I thought it was strange he would visit me like this.”

I agree, and we clean up the monster while she gets washed and into clean clothes. We can’t exactly throw it in the trash outside, so I think of a new use for my skill and use Gloaming Call. When the first three shadows crawl out of the hole, I tell them to get rid of the body. It doesn’t take them long, which is good because I’m not in combat with any of my bodies right now, so they also disappear shortly after. I think I like this way better than chopping monsters into little bits for Sapphire’s cleaning skill to get rid of. Maybe I’ll use it to help with cleaning up the orc camp. Yeah, I tell Sapphire my idea and she agrees that it should be quicker and easier.

“You’ll have to get in combat though mom. I don’t think they’ll last long enough otherwise and it will just be a waste of your mana.” She says, and I agree. I’ll have to tell my troll son to wait for more sex while mommy heads to a different floor and starts a fight. I should just be able to walk up to a monster and have it attack me for a while. Grunt showed up when I re-entered the dungeon, so we’re still on a lower floor. The monsters for the next 30 or so floors probably won’t be able to damage my Lofty body. It’s too bad Amber and I already finished off the zombie horde earlier… He’s been really good for the free points I’ve been trying to save up for the past few days.

He doesn’t complain, since he can tell when I’m actually serious now. Play is fun, but he knows mommy needs to work sometimes too. Snow comes out of her room dressed in different clothes, and we quickly head out the door. She looks concerned, and I would be too if I wasn’t sure about one of my kids. It takes us a few minutes to get in front of a house, and Snow knocks on the door. A woman opens the door a half-minute later and says “Oh hey Auntie, if you’re here for Travis he should be back from his party soon for the house meeting. You’re welcome to come in and wait.” There are so many people going to parties tonight. Snow agrees and we all enter the house.

I’ve heard that a lot of people share houses like we do in Opal’s Home, I just usually meet with people who have their own like Pops, Sam and Jessica. I decline a seat since it doesn’t look like it would be able to hold me. I don’t tell them that though, since it’s rude to point out people’s inadequate furniture. Travis actually does show up soon after, and my hound daughter gives him a big hug. She can’t tell him why when he asks, but I can tell she’s really happy to see him. He has a very familiar type of mask on though, and it seems like I might have missed an opportunity tonight with him.

Oh well, dealing with orcs and dop things is more important than sex parties. I don’t tell other people what his mask is for when he gets asked, since that would be against the rules. He seems embarrassed and takes it off, saying he forgot he was wearing it. The one I got given did seem pretty natural to wear. With that dealt with, and Snow in a better mood, we take her back to her place before returning to the office building to give Pops the news. They’re all in a comfier looking room now, with couches and even a large bed. The bed isn’t always here, since this room is used for negotiations with other Player camps. The bed is usually in a closet and brought out if they need to spend the night.

“Your wife is fine and herself. We did find another doppel there that was pretending to be your son Travis, and Snow killed it.” I say, and he looks concerned so I continue “Your real son is fine. Snow took us to go check on him.” He seems relieved and brushes his hair back, relaxing on the couch. Morgan adds “Mom got it to talk before we killed it, but we couldn’t understand what it was saying.” Jessica speaks up saying “If I recall mom’s skills correctly, then that means she’s never given birth to a doppelganger baby. If they could only change to look like someone once, we could use that information to narrow it down a bit… Unfortunately, we can’t make that assumption since the one impersonating Ruby that mom told us about, probably also impersonated Tasha.”

Her talking kind of trails off into mumbles as I think she’s trying to figure stuff out. I guess if they could look like anyone, there was a chance someone who got me pregnant could have been one without me knowing… unless they were like the first one and did that tons of cum thing. Maybe. It’s unfortunate that they’re bad monsters since it was an interesting experience that I wouldn’t mind trying again some time. Based on what happened to the dop thing that time, it might not be safe for the male though. So I’ll probably not get another chance.

When it’s time for people to go to sleep, Sam volunteers to sleep on the couch. Pops has slept in bed with other women a few times though, so he doesn’t mind getting on it with Jessica, Yula, and Morgan. Everyone needs their sleep, so I don’t expect them to do any sex stuff tonight. Citrine and I will be out in the hall, guarding the room while they sleep. Citrine’s other body will be flying her sister’s other body back to our place in Opal’s Home to sleep. Morganite is still new to having a second body, so she’ll have a hard time sleeping with just one. Jessica seems to have figured out the trick though, so she’ll be fine while we decide what to do with that orc camp.

My angel daughter was the one who got ownership of it, which works fine for now since it’s so close to old Liberation which she also owns. “I think it should be fine to abandon it for now. If monsters take it over again, Citrine and mom should get a notification from the System. Does anyone here want the place? I’ll have to remind you that being out this way, it will take a while for reinforcements if a horde attacks.” Ruby suggests, and it makes sense. Mrs. Taylor and the elves we found here don’t seem like they want it either, so everyone agrees on abandoning the place.

Mrs. Taylor pulls me aside and asks “Citrine said her great uncle is still alive and living in a safe place. Could I be taken there with a couple of my daughters? The other girls seem more interested in mingling with the others of their kind.” I do remember Jessica mentioning that Jeff’s uncle Stan was living in the ground somewhere with the gnomes. I haven’t visited him yet, so I don’t really know where that is. Luckily Sue hears us and says “I know where Stan is, strange place, but his mushrooms that aren’t drugs are good in soup. I can take you there the day after tomorrow.”

I’m kind of interested in seeing an under the ground camp, so I find out when they’re leaving so I can have a body go too. I’ll probably bring Morgan or one of our kids as well, since it’s best to check the gnomes and Stan.