We walked through the grove, heading for the second house Praxi had pointed out to us. This one was a whitewashed two-story house, not out of place in a modern countryside, with wooden shutters protecting clear glass windows and it had no open workshop, so we knocked.

A short time later, the door opened, revealing a women looking slightly annoyed at first. She was another interesting looking character, she had a shiny, sparkling colouring, glimmering white, similar to the crystal trees that made up the grove. "Ah, it's you. I take it you met the Grandmother already?"

I blinked in surprise but introduced myself, not wanting to be impolite. "Greetings, I'm called Morgana. Yes, indeed, we met her and she gave us three tasks and the suggestion to ask the people of Neyto for help and help them in turn. Praxi told us that you might need help.”

She was still intently inspecting us, but then her expression turned softer and she had a smile on her face.

“Yes, I know how that works. What could I have you do? It's winter, so harvesting roots is out. How about you hunt an elk or two for my larder? I'm the den-mother of this community and make sure that everyone gets fed around here. Yes, an elk or two would be quite useful, that would work.”

I nodded, a bit perplexed. “Yes, we can do that.” I was interrupted by a blue window.

Quest Alert! Hunt Elk for Kallista Quest Difficulty Easy Kallista, in Neyto, wants you to hunt two elk for her. 0/2 Quest Reward Help from Kallista

I dismissed it and continued. “You don't sound very needy, more like it's a chore to give us a task. Would you tell me why?”

She looked me over for a second. “Well, sure. At the end of the day, this village is perfectly self-sufficient. The tasks the Grandmother send you on are not really for her, they are a gesture. Do you truly believe that a being as old and powerful as the Grandmother would have to send some random people who wandered into our village around to get what she wants? Don't kid yourself. However there is power in gestures. By sending you on tasks, you invest into whatever it is you want from her, you earn what you get. If the Grandmother simply waved her hand and did everything for you, it would weaken you, both in the flesh and the spirit. Basically, it's one of the villages rules, don't give handouts, make visitors work for what they want. So yes, the task I gave you is a bit of a made-up one, the village could easily get through the winter without you hunting elk for me and whatever other busywork the others have given you. But just the same, doing our tasks will strengthen you and help you with the Grandmother's tasks.”

Well, that put things into perspective. However it didn't really matter, at the end of the day we had come here for help, so we had to play by their rules. And logically speaking, they were right - doing the tasks would strengthen us via the System and give us a feeling of accomplishment, even if the effect would be lessened by knowing about the effect. Simply getting the result handed to us would make us feel irrelevant. It was a thought to meditate on.

“Oh, and just so you know, maybe ask Cisar, he manages our fields and gardens. Maybe he needs help as well. His house is the one outside the grove, to the north. Why don't you go talk to him and come back here, I have a room you can spend the night in.”

The sun was already setting so we accepted the offer and told her that we would see her soon.

As we walked, I noticed something, all those vastly different beings were using the same language and Sigmir was easily understanding them all and she had no Universal Translation skill like me, so I asked her.

“You mean Common? My father taught me, he said it's propagated by the Adventurer's Guild so that their members can travel freely without needing to learn a new language for every tribe. Most people who want to work as adventurers or with them learn Common. I think the official name is Northern Trade-Tongue and variants of it are spoken everywhere, all over Mundus. It's interesting that those who sent you here didn't teach you in advance but settled you with an obscure language like Jötun.”

We walked through the trees, heading to the north both thinking our own thoughts. Leaving the grove, we saw a large house right next to a barn. There was a fence around quite a large tract of land, I guess that was the garden. We walked through the fence-gate, using the obvious path. Nearing the house, we heard a rhythmic twock --- twock --- twock from behind the house so we went there. A tall, human-looking man was chopping wood, creating the noise. I waited until he had finished his swing and was clearing the block. “Greetings. I'm called Morgana, we were told by Kallista that you might have work for us, in exchange for helping us with tasks from the Grandmother.”

The man stopped and turned. “Oh, more needy souls? Well, it happens that I not only have a busy-work task for you but something that really needs to be done, and with you here, I won't have to do the work. There is a large Dire Boar, breaking my fence and destroying my garden. I want you to kill it. Look for it further north, I'm sure you can spot it's tracks. Oh and watch out, the thing is the size of a bear.”

Again, we accepted and a window appeared.

Quest Alert! Kill the Dire Boar. Quest Difficulty Medium Cisar, the farmer in Neyto, wants you to kill the boar that is vandalising his garden. Quest Reward Help from Cisar

With that, we had no more leads to follow for now and walked back to Kallista's house. Again, we knocked and this time were asked in. The house had a rather simple layout, a large common room with an open door to a kitchen and closed doors leading to other rooms, probably bedrooms. On one wall was a large, open, fireplace, making the room toasty warm.

“Welcome back you two. It's nice to have visitors from the outside, not always the same guys from around here. Why don't you take a seat and simply relax for a bit? You can use it, after travelling out here.”

We just did that, when Lenore asked if it was OK to come out, so I asked our host. “Excuse me, Kallista, Sigmir and I both have spirit-bonded partners, is it OK if they leave their Hallows? They’re a raven and a wolf.”

“Yes, that's not a problem. I sensed them earlier, I don't mind them being out and about.” she answered.

With that, Lenore materialized on my shoulder and Ylva came out as well. After looking around for a second, Ylva moved in front of the fireplace and curled herself into a ball and was swiftly joined by Lenore who leaned against her.

“Would you mind telling me a bit about Neyto? Somehow, I don't think this is a normal village, you know.” I asked our host.

“Of course, it's not. You could say that Neyto is a sanctuary. Take old Thekk as an example. As far as I know, he learned in the halls of Ivaldi and left them at some point to walk his own path. I doubt that there are many smiths of his skill in this world but he wants to work his own projects in his own time, not be the pet of some powerful faction. So he fled here, to Neyto, and has his freedom guaranteed by the rules the Grandmother makes and enforces. Most of us have enemies in the world, forcing us to remain here. Because of that we are accepting of the strange and of strangers.” Kallista explained.

Now I was rather surprised; I had felt that the Grandmother was powerful, but hearing that she was able to enforce a sanctuary? That was rather interesting.

We shared some small talk for a while, mainly Kallista telling funny stories about some of the inhabitants of Neyto, then it was time for dinner. I helped preparing it and gained multiple levels on my cooking-skill, probably due to the instruction I received.

Dinner itself was a quiet affair, even with a few of the villagers joining in. What stood out was that the villagers were an extreme mix of species, demonstrating just how diverse this world was. After dinner, Sigmir and I helped with the dishes and while doing so, I realized something strange for a medieval world, the kitchen had running, warm water. When I asked about it, I was told that it was done with enchantments using the ambient astral power by the Grandmother. Now, that was something I wanted to learn.

When we were done, Kallista offered us to use the bath, something neither Sigmir nor I were willing to refuse.

In the bath, I was surprised at first, the world had a distinctively medieval feel to it but the bathroom was surprisingly modern. The tub was a huge affair made out of dark stone, set partially in the floor and instead of the buckets I half expected, there were two knobs one orange, the other blue and touching them let hot and cold water flow from an small opening. In addition, there were soft towels and washcloths laid out for us.

There was also a full-length mirror so I was able to fully take in my appearance for the first time since I’d started the game. A distorted reflection on ice or water did not count in my opinion, so I used the mirror to inspect me in detail. Sigmir had somehow dyed the soft leather-clothes she had made for me in a deep, matte black, not reflective to make me look like a domina, more like one would imagine an assassin.

With the added billowing, black cloak and the fur-trim, it turned from assassin to scout or maybe dark sorceress which was not that far off.

The face that looked back at me was almost my own, the softer lines of my face were replaced with sharp, clear cut lines giving me a severe appearance. Somehow, the blue skin looked more appealing to me than my normal pale skin, especially with the strong contrast it had with my raven-black hair and my jade-green eyes. In addition, my ears were slightly longer than normal and pointy.

Spoiler: Spoiler

While I was admiring myself, Sigmir stood behind me and placed her arms around me, pulling me against her chest.

“You know, I’ve never felt for anyone like I feel for you. It’s strange, you know. We only met two weeks ago but I feel like I’ve known you forever.” Sigmir whispered into my ear and in the mirror, I was able to see that her eyes had a moist sheen to them. To assure her that I had similar feelings for her, I simply turned my head and gave her a soft kiss. While I lost myself in the soft feeling of her lips, I felt her hands getting busy with the various leather bands that held my clothes together and first I lost my cloak, then the rest of my clothes, until I stood naked in front of her. Now, I could admire this body in it’s full glory and I honestly liked what I saw. Compared to my real body the muscles were slightly more pronounced and the blue skin gave it a slightly outlandish look but it was definitely appealing.

When Sigmir started to take off her own clothes, I gently slapped her hands away, telling her that it was my job and she should just stand still and let me make her happy. With that done, I started to carefully remove her clothes one piece at the time, gently caressing the newly shown skin, making her squirm with the challenge of not moving while I had my way with her.

The fact that we had been unable to do more than cursory washes made us both quite smelly so when I was finished with taking off her clothes, I pulled her towards the wash-tub, placing her in the warm water and still not letting her move at all. It was quite funny to watch her squirm while I carefully washed every nook and cranny of her body, not letting a single one get away. I cleaned her off with clear water, washing away the soap and started to torment her in earnest, tracing the hard lines of her body with my hands, kissing and nibbling on her muscles. While nibbling on her breast and stroking the other with one hand, I let the other hand trace down her stomach, towards what some call promised land, others kitty or a hundred different words. Personally, I prefer kitty.

As my hand reached her kitty, I compared the feeling to my own, trying what I knew felt good to me, watching her reactions to the different stimulations and I was quite happy with the sounds I was able to coax out of her. Soon, I felt her tense up, trying to reach that smooth release, I slowed my ministrations and then stopped them with her on a hair trigger, keeping her hands back when they instinctively tried to finish what I’d started.

“No, my love, that’s not how it works.” I told her with a smile on my face. Then I pulled the quivering Sigmir out of the tub and gently dried her off, never giving her enough contact to get her release but stimulating her enough to keep her on edge. By now, she was putty in my hand, her body screaming for release so I placed her hands against the wall, bend her over and spread her legs making room for me between them. Looking at the tall, muscular giantess bend over and shaking in need was the most erotic thing I’d ever seen in my life, even counting the porn I’d watched from time to time. Add in the distinct smell of her arousal in the air and I was hot to trot.

So I dove into her kitty, face first, the first licks caught her by surprise, I don’t think she’d expected this, and her breath caught in her throat. At the third, long lick she started shaking in earnest, her body taking in the new sensation and climbing to heights she had never even imagined. The taste was different than anything I had ever tasted, a mix of spicy, tangy and sweet that defied any try to come up with a more eloquent description than ‘Yummy’. As she rose to the peaks of passion, I tried something I’d read about on the internet and sucked the little nubbin at the top of her slit in my mouth, quickly stroking it with my tongue while lightly, oh ever so lightly, biting into it.

The result was more than I’d ever expected, first it was a piercing scream for a second, then the scream was cut off and I had to catch her falling body. Well, they call it ‘la petite mort’ or little death. My dear Sigmir had passed out on me. I sat her down on a chair and took the time to quickly wash my body, so when Sigmir started to come back around, I was washed and dry, wrapping her in her cloak and guiding her to the chamber we’d been given. She was still not quite with me and had a goofy smile on her face when I put her in bed so it was no surprise when she fell asleep within moments.

Having her in her bed and breathing softly, I tucked her in and then went to sleep in my own bed. After an hour of tossing and turning alone in bed, I gave up and joined Sigmir in her bed. In the familiar feeling of her embrace, sleep took me within moments.