Mist of Shadows
patreon
Taylor and the Twisted Game Part 4
🕑 Added 2021-09-11 08:07:17 +0000 UTCAmy stared in disbelief as they walked around the bend in the path to what should have led to the Beggar's Haunt and saw Skitter's mansion. "When you said you had a mansion, I was expecting a large house."
"Same," Taylor admitted as she stared at the stone keep that peeked out from behind the stone wall that enclosed a decent amount of space.
Ezra raised an eyebrow when she read the cloth banner hanging over the gatehouse. "Home of the Demon Queen of Escalation?"
"No clue," Taylor admitted as she continued walking towards the gatehouse, wondering if it was someone's idea of a joke.
One of the three soldiers that were sent as escorts coughed. "We should get going, unless you need something else?" he asked, looking at Amy hopefully.
Taylor turned to look at the soldiers. "We're good, thank you for the help."
"We'll see you around town," Amy offered with a smile then turned and followed Taylor when they turned around and ran off down the trail. "That was easier than I was expecting."
"It almost makes up for-" Taylor stopped walking when the dark metal bound gate swung open, revealing an attractive and busty, blue haired pointy eared teenage girl wearing a black miniskirt without a shirt. "Hello?"
The blue haired girl glanced at Ezra and Amy then focused on Taylor. "Welcome home Lady Skitter, would you like a tour or a bath first?"
Taylor pulled her attention away from the girl's ears and gave her a smile, wanting to make a good impression on the people that would be taking care of the mansion. "How about a quick tour before we get started harvesting resources?"
"You're the boss," the girl replied as she gestured for everyone to come inside.
Taylor walked into the courtyard and looked at the various stone buildings that surrounded the courtyard, glad that they looked in better repair than Darkshire. She glanced at the stone building next to the wall with an open air forge then glanced at the building next to it that looked to have a bunch of workbenches. "Blacksmithing and engineering or jewelcrafting?"
"All of the above," the maid replied as she pointed towards the other side of the courtyard where there were a bunch of workbenches and a section with racks for stretching hides. "On the other side, you have your alchemy benches, leatherworking tools and a place for woodworking projects and general construction. You'll also find doors to the garden on the left and right of the keep. The entrance to the mine is on the right side of the garden which is why the workstations that require metal are on that side."
Ezra glanced at the door on the right side of the keep. "Are there any mining picks in the mine?"
The maid nodded. "One or two, you'll probably have to replace them eventually but they'll get you started. We also have two dozen bedrooms, more than a couple studies, a library and a trophy room that seems to change now and then. We also have a bathing room and massage tables if you or your guests need a massage."
"Do you have a pond or somewhere I can fish?" Amy asked hopefully.
"In the garden," the maid replied cheerfully. "Do you want me to show you around inside or would you like to get to work?"
"We should get to work, we've got people waiting on us," Taylor admitted as she flipped the mental switch that should summon her alternate.
"No worries," the maid assured her. "If you need something, just ask."
Amy watched Taylor's hands with interest when she started weaving weird glowing patterns in the air, obviously summoning something.
Taylor blinked when she finished casting her summoning 'spell' and a busty naked blue haired teenage fox girl with pale skin appeared out of thin air in front of her.
Queen Administrator did the closest thing she could to blue screening when she went from 'patiently' waiting for her future host to trigger to standing in a courtyard staring at a blue skinned girl with glowing blue eyes. [What?]
"Oh! Can I play with your tail?" Ezra blurted, staring at the fox girl's bushy blue tail.
Amy grinned as she studied Taylor's summon. 'At least there's plenty of eyecandy around.'
"Give her a minute," Taylor suggested. "Sorry about that."
[Tail?] Queen Administrator asked as she stared down at her breasts, arms and hands, trying to figure out why she was stuck in a humanoid body. [Error report]
Taylor winced when a long string of letters, numbers, tones and strange symbols blasted into her mind in a jumbled mess that hurt to think about. "Don't do that!"
"Are you okay?" Amy asked warily, glancing between Taylor and the fox girl, wondering if something had gone wrong with her summon.
"Just a second Amelia." Taylor scowled at the fox girl. "That wasn't nice."
[Sorry?] Queen Administrator offered, not sure why the error message hadn't gone to the correct place.
Taylor rubbed her temples. "What was that?"
[Information packet about connection error] Queen Administrator replied as she glanced over her shoulder at her tail. She wiggled her tail to make sure it was working then turned her attention back to Taylor. [What is going on?]
"We're trying to gather resources to help some of Amelia's friends, can you help?" Taylor asked as she used her character inspection power on her alternate, trying to get an idea what went wrong with her summoning ability or at least what type of abilities she had.
Queen Administrator blinked when she realized she had several skills she didn't remember learning. [Resource gathering, like mining?]
"Yeah, like mining," Taylor agreed as she checked her summon's skills. "You should have Jewelcrafting, Construction and Inscription."
[I need plants for ink] Queen Administrator replied.
Taylor glanced at the door on the left of the keep that led to the garden. "I'm sure you and Amelia can work something out, she needs herbs for alchemy."
Amy glanced between Taylor and the fox girl. "Are you having half of the conversation in your head?"
"No…" Taylor trailed off when she realized that her alternate hadn't been speaking. "Maybe?"
"At least she's cute," Amy offered with a grin.
[Can I have plants for ink?] Queen Administrator asked Amy.
[Don't bother, she can't hear you] Shaper grumbled, used to her host ignoring her.
[Annoying] Queen Administrator complained.
[Try dealing with a host that won't create anything interesting] Shaper complained.
[Sorry] Queen Administrator replied to Shaper then turned to look at Taylor. [Start?]
"You're right, we probably should get started," Taylor agreed.
Ezra pulled her attention off the fox girl and looked at Taylor. "I'll take care of mining."
Taylor pulled her attention away from her summon and looked at Ezra. "Go for it."
"Thanks," Ezra replied as she ran towards the door on the left of the keep, eager to get started so she could start tinkering.
Amy turned to look at Taylor. "Does your summon have a name?"
"Admin," Taylor replied as she closed her summon's character sheet.
[Acceptable] Admin replied as she headed for the garden door to start harvesting plants. [Can you have Shaper's host tell me which plants are useful for alchemy so I can grind the rest of them up?]
"Shaper?" Taylor asked.
Admin pointed at Amy. [Host of Shaper]
Taylor blinked when she got images of creatures being twisted, mutated and put back together as part of the mental message. "Admin wants you to take the more useful plants for alchemy so she can make ink out of the rest."
"I can do that," Amy agreed as she pulled her sack dress over her head and tossed it to Taylor.
"Parts?" Taylor asked with amusement.
"Yeah," Amy replied as she turned and headed for the garden, glad that her avatar looked a lot better than her normal body and that no one cared what she was wearing.
Taylor pulled her attention off her summon and turned to look at the maid. "Can you show me to the tailoring workshop?"
"Of course," the maid agreed as she headed for the keep with a spring in her steps.
'Yeah, I might be a bit more into girls than I thought,' Taylor mused as she followed the bouncy maid into the keep.
0o0o0
"Let's have some fun," a dark skinned dwarf taunted as he stepped in front of Missy and pointed his gun at her.
Missy pulled her attention off the groups of people hanging out in front of the various shops and glared at the idiot with a musket as she twisted space in front of her so that he'd hit himself if he pulled the trigger. "If you shoot me, you're going to die. You might as well just walk away."
'Nice bluff,' Sophia thought as she snuck up behind the dwarf so she could pick his pocket while he was distracted with the elf, curious if she'd fight back.
The dwarf snorted. "You're right, I can't take the guards but once you're defeated, my friends can stick a leash on you and have a lot of fun."
"Go fuck yourself or your friends," Missy replied sarcastically as she plugged her ears. "Or maybe your pet, you might enjoy that."
Sophia had barely finished picking his pocket when the man fired the gun and blew his own head off. "Vista?"
Missy pulled her fingers out of her ears and glanced around then focused on where she'd heard the voice coming from when she caught sight of a barely visible ghost of a girl in a dress. "Vista?"
"You're the only one I know that warps space like that," Sophia replied as she dropped her stealth and stuffed the man's body in her bag.
'Certainly sounds like Sophia,' Missy thought as she looked at the girl's almost professional looking leather dress and vest that showed off a decent amount of her cleavage. "Is there a reason you're stuffing his body in your bag?"
Sophia shrugged. "I'm a leatherworker."
"How does…" Missy trailed off as her mind connected the dots. "What the fuck?"
Sophia snorted. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, it's just a game."
Missy shook her head. "No shit Stalker, I'm just surprised that you could actually skin him."
Sophia glanced at the group of people glaring at them from across the street. "It's easier than trying to farm critters or rats." She blinked when she noticed the numbers over Missy's head next to her health bar that indicated her level. How the hell did you get level 11?"
"Dealing with the idiots outside the gates," Missy replied as she started walking towards the enchanting shop. "Let's go before they decide to start trouble."
Sophia stared at Missy for a couple of seconds then quickly caught up. "How?"
"I called down fire from the heavens and killed them all," Missy replied smugly.
"Bullshit!" Sophia snapped. "What did you do?"
"Fine, technically I got a couple of levels working with Noelle and Void then I warped space over the area and turned the sky into a focusing lens," Missy explained.
"That's fucking bullshit," Sophia complained, keeping most of her attention on their surroundings so no one could sneak up on them. "Where are we going?"
"The enchanting shop," Missy replied. "My teammates are picking up some patterns before we head back out to try to get a couple more levels so we can hit the Stocks. We also need to get Void a decent sword."
"I've got an extra sword if you've got room for another person in your party," Sophia offered, figuring having some backup would help.
"What classes do you have?" Missy asked.
"A rogue and hunter mix, it lets me sneak around and shoot things. If I'd known we'd get stuck here, I would have grabbed mage and hunter," Sophia admitted.
"Void is a death knight and mage and Noelle is a hunter and a necromancer, I'm a mix of druid and mage," Missy explained as they walked past a group of nude girls dancing with a hat out.
"So you're the healer and Void is the tank?" Sophia asked as she glanced at the group of people standing outside of one of the shops.
"Healer and blaster. Void's more of a magic user right now, we're having Noelle rip through everything until we can get enough gear," Missy replied.
"Brute?" Sophia asked in a whisper.
Missy grinned. "At least a six or seven, maybe higher."
"Damn, what about Void?" Sophia asked.
"He's our local expert," Missy replied. "He knows the game backwards and forwards, which is more than I remember."
Sophia frowned. "In other words, he's not a cape."
"He's a death knight and a mage, that's basically a brute and a blaster," Missy pointed out.
"Fair point," Sophia admitted, willing to give him a chance, if only because Missy was putting up with him. "Have you seen Panacea?"
"No, I didn't know she played," Missy admitted as she saw Noelle and Void making their way towards them. "Hey guys!" she called out.
"Friend of yours Warp?" Noelle asked as they walked over.
"I know her and she's good at her job, which is basically sneaking around and shooting people. She's a hunter and a rogue," Missy explained.
Noelle nodded. "We could use a decent scout. Do you have a bow or a gun?"
"Not yet," Sophia admitted as she pulled her sword out of her bag and tossed it handle first to the guy that looked like a viking warrior. "Here, Warp said you could use a decent sword, I've got a knife."
Void caught the sword. "Thanks."
"Leatherworking?" Noelle asked as she studied Sophia's armor.
"Leatherworking and enchanting," Sophia replied with a grin.
"Welcome to the team. How do you feel about hunting thieves and pirates?" Noelle asked, figuring they'd be level ten by the time they made it to the Deadmines and level fifteen by the time they finished the Deadmines.
"Works for me," Sophia replied with a grin.
0o0o0
Amy glanced up from her fishing line as she heard footsteps and smiled when she saw the rough brown dress that Taylor was wearing. "That's better than I was expecting."
Taylor glanced between Amy who was sitting on a lawn chair and Admin who was sitting on a wooden crate with a stack of wooden boxes next to her. "Where did you find the boxes?"
Amy gestured towards the pond. "I've been fishing up crates, lockboxes and bloated small fish for the last twenty minutes. Admin has been helping with the lockboxes."
[Loot!] Admin said cheerfully as she continued working on picking the lock of a particularly stubborn lockbox.
Taylor glanced at the bolts of linen and wool that were stacked on the ground next to Admin. "I should have guessed that fishing would be the most profitable profession."
Amy chuckled as she reeled in a large fish. "I'm blaming my loot perk but yeah, I have a bunch of fish to cook up and vendor trash when we get back to Darkshire which should pay for a fair amount of class training, patterns and recipes and I have fish I can turn into oil to boost my alchemy."
"Any issues with me grabbing the bolts of cloth?" Taylor asked.
"Go for it, you're the one with tailoring," Amy replied as she gestured towards the bolts of linen and wool.
Taylor grinned as she started loading the collection into her inventory. "Now we just have to figure out how to get your friends back here."
"I've got an idea," Amy admitted, glad Carol wasn't around to scream at her. "I just need to see your symbiote."
"Sure." Taylor pulled her mutated looking fishtail symbiote out of her inventory. "I just wish it didn't look like a cross between a severed mermaid tail and something out of Lovecraft."
Amy stared at the disquieting symbiote for a couple of seconds then stood up and walked over after leaning the fishing pool against the chair. She poked the symbiote with her finger and smiled when it's biology revealed itself to her mind. "I should be able to duplicate your symbiote."
"Power or skill?" Taylor asked with a raised eyebrow, fairly sure she knew who she was thanks to the strange 'vision' she'd gotten from Admin.
"Power," Amy admitted as she pulled out some not quite dead fish from her inventory and started making changes.
"Cool," Taylor replied as she watched Admin open the lockbox she'd been working on. "Anything good?"
[Bolt of silk] Admin took an old fashioned looking musket out of the box and set it on the ground next to her with the rest of the shoddy guns she'd salvaged then pulled out a bolt of silk, a bolt of wool and two chunks of medium weight leather before the crate vanished. [Weird containers]
"Just a bit," Taylor agreed. "How much do you think the guns will sell for?" she asked Amy.
"I checked the tag earlier, ten silver and fifty six copper if we sell them to a vendor," Amy replied as she worked on duplicating the creepy symbiote. "How come you went with a hobble skirt?"
Taylor shook her head. "I didn't have a choice. If I'd had a choice, I wouldn't have bothered. I certainly wouldn't have grabbed the buttplug."
"What does it do?" Amy asked. "I mean other than the obvious."
"It gives me a second head and engineering." Taylor rolled her eyes when Amy gave her a weird look. "Like I said, I wouldn't have grabbed it if I'd had a choice."
"Could be worse, at least it's useful," Amy pointed out as she continued making her symbiote.
[Do you want my symbiote?] Admin asked, not looking up from the box she was working on unlocking.
Taylor turned to look at Admin. "You have a symbiote?"
Admin opened the box and started taking bolts of cloth out. [Two, a tongue like buttplug that gives me blacksmithing and an extra head and tentacles that wrap your arms up that give me a 15% boost to crafted items but they have a 5% failure chance, let me regenerate 100% of any damage I've taken over 6 seconds as long as I don't take more damage, increase my class resource pools by 15% and they heal me for 3% of the damage I deal creatures.]
"Yeah, we're going to want Amelia to duplicate them," Taylor replied as she looked over the scattered collection of old clothes they'd salvaged from the lock boxes and crates. "Do you mind if I grab some of these for transmogrification patterns?" she asked Amy.
"Planning on changing the symbiotes into something useful?" Amy asked with amusement.
"That's the idea," Taylor agreed as she flipped the mental switch and opened her transmogrification menu. "I can't change the slot they take but I should be able to change the fishtail into pants or shorts and the armbinding tentacles into gloves."
"Which should get rid of most of the negatives, go for it," Amy said as she pulled another half dead fish out of her inventory and started adding it to her symbiote with a smile on her face.
"Thanks," Taylor replied as she carefully leaned down and grabbed a pair of shorts, doing her best to keep the fishtail symbiote steady so Amy wouldn't be interrupted. She dropped the shorts into her menu and hit the button to acquire the pattern. "We'll lose some armor and stats for not having enchanted leggings or gloves but it shouldn't be that bad."
"Probably not," Amy agreed. "We can probably slap an armor kit on the leggings and enchant the gloves to help make up the difference."
"Are the armor kits the same as the ones from Warcraft?" Taylor asked, making a mental note to actually thank Greg when she got out.
"Yeah," Amy agreed. "The game is basically a knockoff with some twists, a larger world and a lot of porn logic which is less amusing in person."
"Makes sense. Have you figured out how we're going to level?" Taylor asked.
"I've got a couple of ideas," Amy admitted as she pulled another half dead fish out of her inventory and started adding it to her symbiote. "I have my NPC Kinship ability so undead, beasts, demons and dragons won't attack me unless I attack them first which means I can probably raid the cemetery without too much trouble."
"Same," Taylor admitted. "I've got Admin, a pet I need to figure out how to train and a combat doll/golem I need to make."
[I need to level first] Admin pointed out, fairly sure she'd just be a liability at this point if she got into combat which was unacceptable as far as she was concerned.
"We can probably find some spiders on the way back to Darkshire," Taylor assured her. "You have the same NPC kinship ability and enemy list."
"Those four cover a lot." Amy finished tweaking the symbiote to match Taylor's then stuck it in her inventory to check it.
"Did it work?" Taylor asked hopefully.
"It's not perfect but it should last for a couple of weeks." Amy pulled the knockoff symbiote out of her inventory and handed it to Taylor. "See what you can do."
"Cool." Taylor dropped the knockoff in the right slot in her transmogrification menu, selected the shorts pattern and hit the button, causing the symbiote to warp and change into a pair of shorts. She grinned when she looked at the description of the shorts and realized they didn't have the mobility issues the symbiote had before she'd changed its form and appearance. "I wasn't actually expecting that to work."
[Smug!] Shaper told Admin cheerfully.
"Cool," Amy replied with a grin. "Now let me see your butt plug, it should be faster."
"That sounds wrong in so many ways," Taylor complained as she pulled the tongue-like tentacle out of her inventory and handed it to Amy.
"You forgot looks and feels," Amy replied as she examined what passed for DNA in the creature, not sure how the hell it could safely give people extra heads and make them vanish when it was removed or let you access an additional profession without seriously screwing things up. She would have blamed it on video game logic but she could see the strange twists and the weird combination of organic structures that made everything work.
[Data!] Shaper squealed as she tried to figure out how the hell the symbiote worked.
Admin pulled her symbiote out of her inventory and handed it to Amy then went back to unlocking boxes.
"Thank you," Amy replied as she started comparing things between the two symbiotes.
Taylor shrugged then went back to moving all of the bolts of cloth to her inventory, figuring she might as well have them with her when she talked to the skill trainer.
Comments
Mist of Shadows
This is set the winter break before her cannon trigger. Getting stuffed in a locker isn't going to happen for various reasons. As for getting something out of QA... spoiler. As for QA, yes, QA gets perspective and *redacted*. :)
James Long
Rereading this, and saw that I was correct in thinking this was happening before Taylor's trigger event(which is hopefully getting butterflied away) which makes me wonder if she'll be getting anything out of QA more than just a controller for her other body when she summons one. Also makes me wonder if QA gets anything from being a shard now with body.
