Intimancer

There were four people on the cart as it rolled down the road along the coast.

Lilithane looked at the group awkwardly.  She had been fairly subdued and quiet ever since the journey started.  “What’s up?”  Rick asked in order to break the ice.

She startled then relaxed when she saw it was just Rick being friendly.  He hoped the others didn’t say anything to her to make her so jumpy.  “Ah, well… I’m just surprised is all.”  She admitted with a nervous hug to herself.

“I know Tyr may seem pretty scary, but she is just a big softie at heart.”  Sade piped in with a friendly smile from her seat in the front.  Her insolence earned her a gentle slap upside the head from the big softy in question, which elicited a chuckle from the smaller woman.

“What?  Well yes, but no!  Hold on…”  Lilithane said as she scrambled to focus her thoughts.  “My point was that when you mentioned you were part of a hunting party, I didn’t expect the rest of the group to be all women.  Especially not ones so beautiful”  She said that last part under her breath so quietly that Rick almost couldn’t catch it half a meter away.  Unfortunately for her, Rick’s group had someone with exceptional hearing.

“Glad ta hear ya think I look beautiful.  At least ya aren’t like big tits over here, and had ta get a whole new wardrobe just before a hunt!”

“I said I was sorry!”  Sade whined.  She knew that Tyr was just venting.  There was no real malice in her words.  “And my breasts are no bigger than yours.”  She slapped the elf’s orbs playfully for emphasis.

Lilithane looked at the two women with curiosity.  “What happened?  Why would you need a whole new wardrobe?”

Rick decided now was the best time to intervene.  After Sade’s conversation with her professor, they all agreed to keep coital energy a secret between them.  Granted, they weren’t broadcasting that he had the power to make a woman grow tits the size of her head, but they were more willing to share the secret before the fateful meeting.

To aid him in keeping the secret, he would rely on the three great bastions of Russian defense;  Deny.  Deflect.  And shrug shoulders.

“It was nothing major.  She just waited a bit too long before springing that on us.  We needed to buy some new gear for all three of us for this job anyways.  It all just cost more than we hoped.  What can ya do?”  He, of course, shrugged his shoulders at his own question.

“Eh, I can’t say I can relate.”  Lilithane shrugged back. Rick inwardly praised the greatest defense strategy his old world had ever known for helping him at that moment.  She gestured at herself.  “I’ve stayed the same size for the last decade, no matter what I do.”

“Wait, have you always looked like you desperately need a sandwich?”  Rick asked.  Sade turned and glared at him before she smacked him upside the head for the insensitive comment.  “What?”  He asked, perplexed.

Lilithane let out her musical laughter.  “While rude, you aren’t wrong.  I know what I look like.  And I swear there’s nothing I can do to change that.  I’ve tried stuffing my face until my stomach felt like bursting, eating lots of bread, not exercising for a month,  just about anything to stop looking like a skeleton.”

“And nothing worked?”  Tyr asked from the driver's seat.

“Nope.  Nothing.”  She confirmed.  “Some of the things I've tried seriously messed me up, health wise.  But I have remained skin and bones my whole life, and no one can figure out why.  That was part of the reason I wanted to study medicine, to help people like me.”

“Admirable.”  Sade said.  “I wish I was that selfless when I decided I wanted to become a mage.”

“Oh don’t go thinking I’m some hero, here to save the day!”  Lilithane laughed. “I just said that was part of the reason.  The other is gold, plain and simple.”

They all chuckled at that.  Healers made good money, none of the trio could fault the woman for pursuing a career that would allow her to make a good living.  Rick just hoped that if things went well, they could continue to afford to have a healer with them on more hunts.

True to her word, Lilithane agreed to a quarter share of the bounty.  That was indeed a ‘small fee’ when she told the group how much she usually charged a hunting party for her services.  When asked why she decided to give them a discount, she just shrugged and said, “Doesn’t hurt to make a good first impression.  I can always charge more for next time.”

This was a good opportunity for all of them.  Rick was sure his group was not going to squander it.  It still bugged him how easily things fell in place, It had only been a few days after he had met the healer after all.  Tyr had actually just found their next hunting assignment when she walked in to find Sade passed out after her overdose of coital energy.  The conversation they had after that was the opposite of easy, however.

“Yer suppose ta be the smart one!”  Tyr had shouted to the woman after she awoke some time later.  “How in the blazes did ya figure out a way ta almost literally fuck yer brains out?!  Who does that?”  If Sade had a tail, it would have been firmly tucked between her legs as she was getting a serious dressing down from her justifiably angry lover.

The muscular woman had paced around their shared living quarters, hands running through her mane, as she tried to vent her frustrations in as safe and constructive a manner as possible.  “I thought we were going ta take things slow.  Ta be careful with Rick’s magic.  And then I walk in and find out ya blew yer tits out so far ya don’t have clothes that fit anymore!”

The ranting eventually petered out, the worry and anger finally out of her system.  She hugged Sade fiercely.  Tyr wasn’t the best at expressing herself, but both Sade and Rick knew she cared deeply for the two of them.  Probably more than the elf even realized herself.

What followed next was an intense shopping trip in order for them all, especially Sade, to get ready for their next hunt.  They had to first and foremost find some way to bind or disguise her new bust.  Her sweater puppies were close to double in size than the week previous and although her school robes could hide quite a bit of her form, the significantly larger bulge out the front would have been far too noticeable for comfort.

After they found some suitable bindings to hide her assets at school, the next item on the list was some new shirts and something to support the girls during regular activity.  Then they all moved on to finding some good weapons that would help crack open their targets just a bit easier.  Tyr ended up grabbing a pair of axes that were larger than her old hatchet, but still could be used comfortably in one hand.  One hand for someone of Tyr’s prodigious strength of course, she had a way to make regular sized weapons look like toys in her hands.  Rick picked up a one handed sledgehammer that had a decent heft to use as his secondary weapon.

Some more essential supplies needed for a three day trip rounded out the rest of their shopping.  The next day, after Rick made a quick trip to the library to inform Lilithane about the sudden job, was devoted solely to training.  They had a couple new weapons to get used to, some tactics to try out, and at least one surprise for when their target least expected it.

Rick turned to look at Sade.  She was facing forward next to Tyr in the front of the cart.  From behind he could see the laces of her new outer corset she wore over the long sleeve shirt.  It rested just below her bustline, cradling her melons in just the most perfect way to show off their size and shape.  The whole ensemble really emphasized her exaggerated proportions, with the tight leather hugging her slender torso before her hips flared out dramatically in her custom trousers.

Rick couldn’t blame the shaytoni for openly gaping when she was introduced to the whole group.  Sade looked like a walking wet dream with all those delicious curves packed into near skin tight clothing.  And Tyr, being a wood elf, was downright sexy and intimidating in equal measure.  Rick felt more than a little out of place next to the women too.

He chuckled to himself when the considered that all he needed was some eye-covering bangs and he could cosplay as ‘Generic hentai MC #5’.  Thankfully he wasn’t nearly as rotten on the inside as those lunatics.  He was also extremely grateful his magic worked the way it did.  He couldn’t imagine what kind of damage someone could do if the rules of intimancy were less strict or the one using it had less scruples.  Rick could  use many, many different and expressive words to describe himself, but ‘sociopathic’ was not one of them.

“Are we there yet?”  Lilithane asked politely.

“Nearly.”  Tyr replied. “Just need ta crest that hill over there.”  She pointed to the spot in question some distance away.  The shaytoni groaned after noticing how much further it was.

“At least you are not walking.”  Sade chided gently.

“Walking?”

“Yep.”  Rick added.  “The two of us had to walk for almost a week through the woods to reach Valmik after the caravan was attacked.  An unexpected days-long hike and camping trip is not something I would recommend.”

“Especially if you have to explore the woods with no clothes on.”  Sade giggled.

“The fuck?!” Lilithane cried  “Now you have to tell me the full story!”  Sade obliged the newcomer and gave a modified version of events, beginning with two scared humans running naked through the woods after their caravan was attacked while they were bathing.

“The trek was fairly exhausting, I believe both of us gained a stat point in endurance for getting through the ordeal.”  Sade concluded her tale.

“Aye, ya two looked half dead when I first laid eyes on ya.  Didn’t help my first impression ta be honest.”  Tyr commented.  She knew the full unedited story of their meeting and trek to Valmic, as neither Sade or Rick felt right about keeping secrets from her after they became intimate.  Well… aside from Rick being from another world.  But aside from that, she knew everything there was to know about her two human lovers.

“Okay then… remind me not to complain about wagons in the future.”  Lilithane said.

“Oh, you can still complain about how uncomfortable wagon rides are, because they most certainly are.  Just remember that there are worse options when you have  to get somewhere quickly.”  Sade laughed.

“Yea!  And they’re not the most comfortable place ta fuck either.”

“Tyr!”  Rick groaned.  Not even the greatest Russian defense could derail the questions that will come next.

“Wait, you fucked in a wagon before?”  Came the first of many questions Rick really, really did not want to deal with at the moment.

“In this wagon.”  She replied suggestively.

“Tyr!”  Sade shouted and slapped the large woman on the shoulder.  “Have some tact!”

“What’s that?  Is it tasty?”

She was fucking with them.  Why now of all times was anyone’s guess, least of all Rick’s.  She had the biggest shit eating grin he had ever seen while she watched her two lovers and the healer all squirm at her explicit remarks.  Thankfully the line of questions he wanted to avoid were derailed by her asinine comment, but Rick vowed that he would get back at her somehow.

“Oh hey, we’re here!”  The elf chirped in a voice that was entirely too cheerful, completely ignoring both Sade and Rick giving her the stink eye.

The cart crested the final hill and all four were greeted with the sight of a small fishing village nestled in a cove.  Rick could see docks piled with small fishing boats along a bright sandy beach that stretched back quite a distance before the first of the small buildings began.

Cliff walls rose behind the village with just a narrow valley between them acting as the sole exit on the eastern edge.  The party rolled into the village proper after a few minutes.  Rick was now able to get a closer look and found the town was built with what looked to be adobe in the mission style.  Which felt fitting for the hot and dry coastal climate Shivani seemed to sport.

“Hey!  Welcome to Gaviota!  You dudes need any help with something?”

Rick whipped his head around to look at the person who spoke.  The man was short and broad, textbook dwarvish traits.  His hair was shaved on the sides and the top pulled into a loose light brown bun.  He had no beard at all to hide his easy going grin.  His looks and voice told Rick that he was young, but that wasn’t what surprised him the most.

“We’re from the Shatak hunters garrison.  Heard ya got a problem brew’n soon.”  Tyr said, taking the lead on introductions.

“Sweet!  Glad you dudes got here in time.  C’mon, I’ll show you to the big cheese and he’ll tell you what’s up.”

What the fuck is a fantasy dwarf doing sounding like a surfer bro!  What kind of bizzaro world have I ended up in?

The young dwarf sounded like he was doing his best Bill and Ted impersonation.  Of all the strange things Rick had seen since waking up in the forest, learning that magic was real, meeting other races only heard of in fantasy stories, this was what shocked him the most.

“If he starts using words like ‘gnarly’, ‘tubular’, or adding ‘like’ every other sentence, I will scream.”

“Oh, I see you have dealt with dwarves before.”  Sade commented on Rick’s muttering.

He rounded on her.  “Are you telling me that all dwarves in this country sound like that?”  He hissed quietly.

“Well… Some like professor Armondo are more articulate in their speech, but the basic accent is essentially the same.”

Rick couldn’t take it anymore, the mental damage was too much for his mind to deal with.  He curled up with his knees to his chest and his face in his hands and just sat there waiting for the shock to wear off.  He studiously ignored the confused stares from the three women as their guide-bro led them to what Rick assumed was the village head, or ‘big cheese’ as the dwarf previously called the person.

Rick had mentally recovered enough to function properly by the time the wagon stopped in front of a small building at the edge of the village.  They all got out and the dwarf dude knocked on the door with loud meaty thumps.  “Hey big guy!  We got some hunters to see ya, dude!”

Before the youngster could back away from the door, it swung open with such force that he was sent flying back onto his rear.  A sandaled foot came down from its position in the air.  “I told you to be gentle on my door boy!”

The old man who emerged from the house was short and stocky much like the boy he knocked down to the ground.  He wore no shirt.  His suntanned skin hung slightly loose on his frame, as befitting his advanced age.  What belied his years were the ropes of corded muscle that showed he was far from feeble.  Thankfully, his accent wasn’t nearly as jarring as the youngster he just booted to the ground.

“Kicking in yer door aint exactly being gentle either.”

The chief glared at Tyr, his bushy gray brows rose when he saw who contradicted him.  “It’s been a while since a tree hugger came all the way out here.”

Tyr just smirked.  “Someone had ta show ya sandy folk how ta defend yer homes.”

A smile split the chief’s scraggly beard.  “And boy am I glad you did!”  He reached out his hand, Tyr came forward, and the two clasped forearms.  Rick was beginning to assume the best way to make friends with a wood elf was to have balls big enough to actually insult them to their faces.  Which made some sort of twisted sense he supposed.

The chief led the four hunters inside and brought them to a cozy living room.  They all gathered around a table and the chief rolled out a crude map of the village and the surrounding area.

“I guess we should start with what you know about the situation.  All we were told was that your village was expecting a swarm of monsters soon and what type of monsters you expected there to be.”  Rick said as soon as everyone was seated and comfortable.  Well, as comfortable as a two meter tall wood elf can be in a dwarven home in Tyr’s case.

“Right, well around this time of year we get a migration of monsters that pass through on the way to their spawning grounds on the other side of the cliffs.”

“And you have to hire hunters every time?”  Sade asked.

“What? No!”  The old man said to her question.  “They may be monsters, but they are mostly harmless.  They leave us alone and we do the same.  Been that way for as long as I've lived here.”

“But now something has changed that dynamic?”

“Yep.  We catch a few of them in our nets from time to time.  But lately… They’re larger, angrier.  We’ve been seeing less and less fish in the area too.  Something is wrong, none of us feel safe anymore.”  He looked them each in the eye.  “That's why we finally called for you.”

“I apologize.”  Lilithane said.  “But I wasn’t part of the original briefing.  What are we hunting again?”

The chief blinked and then laughed.  “Ha!  Sorry about that missy.  We were being a bit cryptic there.  The monsters are a bunch of large crabs.”

“Crabs?”

“Crabs.”  The whole room echoed back in confirmation.

“So when should we expect the buggers?”  Tyr asked the chief.

The old dwarf looked a bit uncomfortable at Tyr’s question.  “It’s kinda hard to tell, but we think as early as tomorrow.”

“And how do you figure that?”  Rick asked.  It was currently early in the afternoon, tomorrow didn’t give them much time to prepare.

“The crabs usually come the day after a full moon.  That’s tonight.  So if they don’t come in the morning, it will probably be after the next cycle.”

“Well, glad we didn’t come too late.”  Rick said.  The others agreed, and then they all got to work.

The next few hours were filled by the party and the chief organizing the defense of Gaviota from a swarm of angry crab monsters.  They were only four people.  Even if Tyr and Sade alone were absolute beasts of destruction, they could only do so much.  They all agreed that the villagers would have to defend their home alongside them in some form.

The party would ensure they did the bulk of the work, that’s why they were there.  But having help to clean up the outliers or any monster that got past them was certainly appreciated.  They debated procurement and placement of barricades to block or funnel the monsters, and to give added protection to the militia.

Rick, Tyr, and Sade would be the first line of defense.  A combination of spells and quick attacks from melee and range should hopefully brunt the main force of the assault.  Lilithane would run between the three hunters and villagers, depending on where her healing or an extra weapon would be needed.  Priority was to be given to the residents of Gaviota, none of the trio was too proud to retreat to safety if things go too dicey, so Lilithane could heal them there before they hopped back into the fray.

All five people at the table contributed to the plan.  The chief knew the area, who could help defend, and where to source the needed supplies.  Rick, Tyr, and Sade knew their own capabilities inside and out, with the chief supplying information on the monster's recent behavior and attack style, they had a good idea of what kind of outcome their involvement in the battle could bring and plan around that.

Lilithane was also helpful.  While not as experienced as Tyr when it came to overall combat, she was the most senior hunter at the table.  Her role was the most fluid, so her input on what would be possible for her helped greatly in smoothing over the finer details.  She would occasionally pipe in and offer contingencies to situations that impressed even Sade.  Overall, all five of them walked away from the table with a plan they all were satisfied with.

They split off into different directions; each of them had a part to play to ensure they had everything they needed to enact their plan once the sun rose in the morning.