Gil tried hard to ferret out Snow's new power before portal time. He was guessing, based on the tattoo, that tears or possibly sweat were involved somehow. Maybe milk? No, she wasn't exactly endowed enough for a lactation based power.
Healing tears seemed generally on-brand for an innocent fairy tale princess, and Gil could vaguely remember a companion in another life whose blood had literally been a healing potion. She'd been a rare friendly face in that test, he knew, but essentially useless as a combatant. Short test, too. A single unending night that seemed to stretch into eternity, but certainly not long enough to train a tier 1 civilian.
"No. I'm telling you, do not blink." Gil said, staring the princess down with a glare. "We need to know if this will work."
Gil held up a small, superficial cut on the side of his pinky. If the test didn't pan out, Keilnei could patch him up. It didn't take too long for Snow's eyes to start watering, awkward or not. She needed to hold her eyes open for quite a while, however, before enough moisture welled up for a tear to roll down her cheek. Gil caught the droplet in his wound, and as expected it stung. Salt water in an open wound wasn't exactly pleasant.
Gil watched the cut closely, and saw the wound close under his supervision. It was slow, even slower than the healing tea, but Snow's tears were far more renewable a resource than Healing Leaves. Once he was sure it worked, Gil surprised Snow with a tight hug and a kiss on the forehead.
"Great, Snow." He said, nodding. "Rest up, we might need you in the field tomorrow, not to mention making breakfast."
Gil wasn't a genius, but he did have some basic understanding of pattern recognition. He didn't have any specific plans to leave anyone in Rim Elm, but it might happen. With that in mind, he had an experiment he wanted to try. He walked up to where Keilnei was checking her pack for the planned expedition, and cupped her ass in one hand. As he did, she wiggled it and pressed it firmly into his palm.
"Oh?" She said, checking over her shoulder. "Did you have something in mind?"
"What does the other side of you remember when we do something like this?" Gil asked, genuinely curious. "She still seems to blush whenever I do anything sexual around her."
"Eh, as far as I know we are temporarily married, right?" Keilnei said in the casual tone she used in her whore persona. "It's a rental, and a formality, so it isn't too hard to make her mind wander. She thinks she's sitting around staring at the fire a lot of the time."
"Interesting… well, let's head to bed." Gil said with a smile. "I'm curious if I can break through that."
"I don't know if she'd be the biggest fan if she knew what you did, handsome." Keilnei said with a chuckle. "She wasn't saving herself or anything, but she doesn't sleep with strangers."
"Leave that to me." Gil said with a flick of his wrist. "Come on, let's wind down together."
••••••••••
Keilnei woke the next morning with a somewhat unfamiliar feeling. Not unknown, but mismatched with her current context. She felt pleasantly filled, with a warm presence pressed against her back.
As the Draenei surfaced, she realized that someone was inside her. Gil, probably, though she couldn't rule out Snow. She wasn't certain that human women lacked penises, but she knew elves were similarly endowed to Eredar. Gil had made it abundantly clear that he was sexually compatible with Candress.
Keilnei blushed furiously, trying to recall how she'd arrived in this situation. She vaguely remembered Gil passing around a bottle of strong alcohol the night before, and then things became hazy. Pleasant, but indistinct. Keilnei froze, trying to decide how she should feel about this.
Well, she had agreed to marry him temporarily. This was right and proper by the teachings of the prophet if she took that seriously. The Draenei were not a fertile people, and their long journey had a high attrition rate. Every child, without exception, was a blessing that should be sought out with great vigor.
Of course, that teaching was generally agreed to refer to Draenei couples. Her people could interbreed with most other species of a generally similar stature, but they usually avoided it. Indeed, they usually avoided shorter lived species in general if they could, preferring to maintain a civil distance in most cases. The alliance with Gil was one taken out of desperation, because they couldn't really afford to turn down any aid at all.
And now, here she was, waking up impaled upon his dick. It must have been quite a potent drink, which was odd since she didn't feel any hangover. Perhaps not alcohol? The universe had many intoxicants after all.
So… did she oppose this? Not… much. She didn't know Gil well, and he was obviously from a culture that had normalized harems. She was not, but he made it clear he thought nothing of spreading his seed far and wide. It would be horribly awkward to object strenuously; she had no idea what he'd consider reasonable. She didn't want to insult him, and she could admit that it felt extremely pleasant.
She decided to extract herself and simply pretend it never happened. If he asked her for a repeat… well, she'd figure it out then. He seemed a reasonable enough fellow. She was sure he'd respect her wishes.
••••••••••
Gil closed his eyes as Keilnei shimmied out of his arms in the morning. The big blue woman had been a lot of fun, if for no reason other than the variety. Snow was darling and had nice hips, but she was just about flat as a board up top. The elves were, typically for many settings, on the slender side. Keilnei had an hourglass figure, reinforced with muscle and a layer of soft cushion, breasts big enough to fill his hands, and to top it off she was absolutely Amazonian in height.
Regardless, he could tell that Keilnei had been herself when she woke up. He didn't know how she remembered the prior night, but he'd held onto her that morning on purpose, just to plant a seed in her mind. Fun, but it was almost time to go back to work.
The whole team suited up in elven armor, strapped blades to their hips, and slung bows and quivers over their shoulders. They all huddled together, waiting for Gil to open the portal. He looked at them proudly; sure they weren't exactly elite commandos, but a team of four armed people and a wolf could handle quite a few dangers.
Snow was the only exception, preferring a simple dress to armor. She was particularly excited at the opportunity to visit a quaint little town, even if it happened to be under siege. By all reports, Rim Elm was still friendlier than Barovia had been and whatever the fighters did, she was going to go shopping for supplies and already had a sack full of the small coins used by this world.
Gil checked in with everyone, and pressed the button. As expected, a blue pillar appeared in front of him. Far less expected, a yellow pillar appeared behind him, a little to the side.
"Huh." He said. "So, return trips have new rules, I guess?"
He checked his quest log, pursing his lips, and indeed the last mission had been joined by two more.
Convince a Ra-Seru to take you or a non-native retinue member as it's bearer without compromising its mind.
Reward: 5 Credits, Memento Vive, Unlock Basic Inventory upgrade for purchase.
Memento Vive: if used before a retinue member dies (which can be done with only a few seconds of focus) that target will be returned to the Skyblock completely unharmed at the moment of death if they die within 24 hours. This will even repair any existing injuries they had, or which they gain in the meantime.
Revive the Genesis Tree on Mt. Rikuroa.
Reward: 5 credits, Zubat Card, Absolute Gullibility Spray
Absolute Gullibility spray: someone who inhales this gas will lose the ability to question things that they are told for about an hour. They don't have to LIKE what they hear, but they will BELIEVE it. If it runs directly counter to something else they know to be true, this will probably cause dissonance.
Arc Mission: Eliminate the source of Mist in the Drake Kingdom
Rewards: 10 credits, Binding Refresh, The Dungeon, Recast
Recast: you may use a character card to place someone into an existing role formerly held by a member of your retinue. The original will be forgotten, and all of their unwanted pre-capture relationships and responsibilities will be taken on by the character depicted on the card. The character on the card will have their personality, and tier adjusted if necessary for the role.
"Bigger mission, eh?" Gil said with a chuckle. "I'll need to think about that."
He finished his pregaming by using the Gacha. Thankfully it didn't flash like a loot box, but he wasn't thrilled with this week's reward.
(5) consumable.
Bead of Lerasium
Gil stared at the tiny, white metal bead in his hand, barely the size of his pinky fingernail. It sparkled in the light, and was almost certainly an item of power, but the game masters hadn't bothered to include a description.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Gil asked, irritated.
Zena looked at it with naked hunger.
"It smells like pure condensed magic." She said, creeping closer. "If you don't see a use for it, may I have it?"
"No." Gil said with a sigh, pocketing the bead. "Obviously not. I don't know what the hell this thing is, but I sincerely doubt the best way to use it is letting you eat the damn thing. Oh, Keilnei. Get over here. It's time to try something out."
"What is it?" She asked, not quite hostile enough to be described as suspicious.
"Your people do not have a terribly good reputation in many universes." Gil said, brushing over the fact that she appeared to be from a group that were a deliberate subversion of demonic people, "I can disguise you as a human. Because of my own species, I'm mostly sent to worlds where humans won't be overly concerning."
"Oh. I see." Keilnei said, drooping. "I suppose that makes sense."
Gil tapped on his tablet a few times, and the air around Keilnei shimmered. Her horns retracted, her skin lightened, and her legs shortened as her hooves bent and became boot-clad feet. The resulting woman was still of Amazonian stature at 6'2", and would still turn heads, but few outside of insular, malnourished cultures would have difficulty believing her to be human.
https://postimg.cc/5j2CSSYw
Gil gave her an appreciative once over, including running his fingers across her scalp, which she unconsciously reacted to with a provocative pose and smile.
"Not bad." Gil said. "Not bad at all. Seems like it's an actual, physical transformation. I've seen The Company cheap out and make things like this totally illusory. You should be fine, though. Hopefully elves aren't a cause for alarm."
Gil looked at Candress and Zena. They were both obviously unusual, but in many settings people knew little enough that they might just come off as foreign or unusual humans. He didn't think Rim Elm had much of a body modding community, but they also didn't appear to be routinely attacked by imperialist elves. He felt fine risking it.
"Alright, ladies." He said, "Snow goes to Rim Elm with Zena. You two stay here while I scout the new location."