He was in a dark room, sitting in a chair, no, strapped to a chair. Hunie was standing in front of him.

"Master." She whispered, caressing his cheek with a soft hand. She felt up his body, a warm, seductive look on her innocent face. She straddle him, dancing on his lap before grabbing his hand and moving it.

She moved to between her legs, where he felt a familiar something.

She leaned to his ear, "Master, I'm a man."

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

--------

Steel woke up in a cold sweat, scared to death from his nightmare. Oh the horrors his brain threw at him. Must have been the anatomy class he had taken last night. He shuddered.

The sunlight was beautiful that morning, shining through the window. Feeling sluggish, Steel tried to get up to stretch, but was stopped by an unknown weight on hi right side. A head roll confirmed his suspicions; Hunie was wrapped around his body, using him as a warm pillow.

"Muuu, stupid Master....give Hunie....carrot of love...." She muttered cutely in her sleep.

What was she dreaming about? 'Must be another strange dream.' He thought. Must be contagious.

Just to be sure, he slowly twisted his arm to check between her legs. Her legs immediately crushed his hand, muttering to herself, "Bad patron.....punishment."

Even though he was in great pain, Steel was so relieved that it had been just a dream. He smiled down at Hunie and patted her head with his other hand. He tried to wiggle out of her grip, but she was stronger than she looked and held on tight. Worse, her face formed into a frown as he tried to escape.

"Stop taking...my carrot...bitch....I eat...first."

'Who do you keep dreaming about!' Steel screamed internally. Then, she began eating his arm. Not the cute nibbling you might expect from a pretty girl, literally sinking her teeth into him and chewing.

-5 piercing damage

His screams of pain brought Mema running up to his room. She threw open the door and entered in a combat stance, ready for trouble. Instead, she found a struggling Steel trying to escape a sleeping Hunie, who had stopped chewing before the door opened. She looked at Steel's pleading face, than at Hunie, than back to Steel. She blushed and backed away, closing the door behind her slowly, watching them.

"Nnnoooo, wait! She's trying to eat me." He called out desperately.

She grinned wide and put her finger to her lips, winking. The door closed behind her, and he heard her puttering a spell behind the door.

"It's a misunderstanding! Help me!"

Unfortunately, Mema had spelled to room to be sound-proof, a nifty spell for her more randy patrons. Neither she nor anyone else heard his cries for help as the rabbit girl resumed her munching on her Master's arm. The girl's teeth may have changed appearances, but they were as hard and sharp as they had been before.

He tried to shield bash her in desperation, but his shield was still at Bob's being repaired. In the end, he cast Earth Armor to protect himself. It had the cool effect of creating a space between himself and Hunie, which he used to escape to the floor. His presence gone, Hunie began happily munching on the pillow.

Breathing deeply, Steel watched her slowly devour the pillow. 'Note to self, don't sleep with Hunie until habits cured, will result in death.' He made the mental note. Shaking his head, he walked out of the room and headed down the stairs to Mema for food.

On arrival, she gave him a cheeky grin and said, "Well good morning lover boy, long night huh?" She winked at him, "I knew you were a beast when I first laid eyes on you."

Steel gave her a dour glare, "I almost died and you left me to my fate. Punishment will befall you."

She fanned herself, "Ara ara, that look you give me is quite deadly. Are a natural lady killer?"

"Just give me the food and leave you perverted women."

"Oh, neglect play is fun too. I look forward to your punishment later, Master." She teased him, distracting him for a moment with her bouncing bosom. Steel shook his, and plunged into the food in front of him. This morning was a demon wolf dish, adding 2 darkness resistance to his defense. He raised an eyebrow at Mema.

"Isn't this the last of your meat? Why waste it on my free meal?"

She giggled at him, "Silly boy, if you survive, I get more things, so I see this as an investment for my future."

Made sense, after all, under her perverted exterior lay a cunning business woman and experienced adventurer. Judging by the lack of reactions from the other patrons, this was a normal morning to them. In fact, Steel could have sworn he saw money exchanging hands. Illicit gambling ring maybe?

Anyhow, it wasn't his problem. He finished his meal and thanked Mema. He turned to leave.

"Aren't you forgetting your cute little maid?" Mema called from bar. He shuddered, than glanced back at her.

"If you can get her awake without being eaten, tell her I'll be back in an hour or two to collect her for the expedition."

Leaving a curious look on Mema's face, he left the guild and headed immediately towards Bob's armory, eager to get his shield back, as well as his armor. The store wasn't open yet, so he looped on back and knocked on Bob's door. The friendly giant let him in and showed off his work.

"Bob made armor more resistant to fire." He proclaimed with pride, handing it back to Steel.

"Really? You made me fire proof!" Steel asked excitedly.

Bob promptly whacked his head, "No dumb human, Bob just made armor so that if your dumb enough to get set on fire again, the durability won't decrease. You'll still die though." He said humorously.

Steel rubbed his head, "Gee, thanks a lot Bob."

Bob chuckled, and handed back the shield to Steel. He looked over it, and found the maximum durability had fallen from 100 to 75. Bob shook his head, "Shield is good now, but Bob's advise to is to hurry and find a better one. Every repair from now on will result in little less every time."

That made Steel sad, for two reasons. One, he actually liked the old shield. Two, he wouldn't be able to sell the shield for much when he found a new one.

"Anyway it could be salvaged?" Steel asked.

"Bob can recycle parts into new shield, yes. Bob would need rare materials though, because regular metal not work well with good metal."

Made sense, the shield did say it had been made with rare materials. Steel decided to keep a look out for interesting things to help the shield. A quest didn't pop up, but Steel made it a personal one.

Saying goodbye to Bob, he made his way toward the Mage Tower.

He wanted to at the very least apologize to Mary, and if given the chance ask her to join him on the expedition.

Today, the mage tower flowed with serene water like effects. It was like a floating river of changing colors that looped up and round the tower. It started at the door, which Steel found to be an illusion and din;t have to hold his breath. A quick peek into the lobby showed the same furnishings as last time, which meant Mary hadn't destroyed everything with her anger.

He walked in slowly, waving at the receptionist, who turned pale as he approached. She cast some magic into the air, which covered the two of them in a shimmering shield that vanished after a moment. She leaned over to him and said, "Young traveler, quickly state your business before my shield disappears."

"I wanted to apologize to Mary, is she in?"

"Yes is, but she doesn't want and can't see you now."

"Why not?" He asked curiously, his heart sinking.

"She caused a lot of problems when her anger boiled over. A couple of labs exploded from the unexpected shaking, so she's being punished by her father. She's grounded and had to meditate on her mistakes." She replied.

"Can I apologize to her father then?"

The receptionist shook her head rapidly, panic on her face, "No way, he's the reason I shielded you. He really believes it's your fault Mary's been like this, so hes liable to shoot first and ask questions later."

She whispered, "He's the kind of father who loves his daughter to death. He's been crying outside her door asking for her forgiveness since he put her in there."

Steel blinked. "That would explain her haughty personality."

The receptionist nodded, "Yup, that explains it. So hurry and leave before he blasts you, or worse, uses you in an experiment."

"Does he have the authority? Is he near the archmage's level or something?"

"Something like that." The receptionist said ambiguously.

"Well, okay then. Can you at least send a message to Mary for me? Can you tell her I'm sorry for not considering her feelings, and that I'll bring her something special from the expedition. She doesn't have to see me again, but I want her to know I regret my actions."

The receptionist blinked a few times, "I...I can do that. Now hurry, the shield is almost gone."

Steel thanked her, and hurried outside the mage tower just as the spell ended.

Once he was gone, another receptionist appeared from the door behind the counter and walked up to her twin.

"Is everything alright Miss Mary?" She asked.

The illusion shimmered and ended, revealing a silently crying Mary the receptionist, then the real Mary. "I'm fine, just fine." She whispered, watching the door entrance. The receptionist smiled, and hugged Mary, who leaned over her shoulder and cried.

"Don't worry young miss, he'll be back just as healthy as when he left." She cajoled her gently, "I know your father has forbidden you to speak to him again, but you'll get another chance. You know I'm here for you, your late mother had me promise her."

"I know, sniff, thank you for your help." Mary whispered, remembering her mother, another receptionist who had fallen in love with her father, who loved her in turn. Mary disguised herself as a receptionist in her memory, which is why her father allowed her to. She just wished he wasn't so protective of her.

She stared at where Steel at left. She took in his lingering scent, then narrowed her eyes. Her hands dug into the receptionist, who looked at her, startled.

"I smell a woman on his scent." She muttered fiercely.

The receptionist raised an eyebrow, then chuckled, "Your mother had that same ability, always smelling your father for illicit relationships. I remember some of those beatings."

"This isn't funny, some bitch is moving in on my lover play thing. Grr, and I can't leave the tower."

Mary considered her options, than smiled brightly. She cast a spell and formed an eyeball illusion in the air. Checking it, she closed her eyes and looked through the eyeball at herself.

"Tell my father I'll be in my room sleeping." She declared triumphantly as she marched up the stairs.

The receptionist shook her head in amazement as she took her seat. That girl was just like her mother.

--------------------------

Steel and Hunie walked down the path toward the gate, Steel rubbing his head and Hunie with her arms crossed and pouting. Earlier, Steel had walked into the guild to get her, when she dropped kicked him out the door with remarkable agility. Apparently, someone was upset he had taken the pillow (he hadn't) and left her behind (he had). Also, she demanded to know what Mema had described as a, dangerous situation earlier.

Her specific words: "Muu Master, taking advantage of a defenseless maid's sleeping position. Putting your hand between her legs like that, so dirty a master this one has."

That would explain Mema's reaction to them earlier, and misunderstanding. It took a while to explain to Hunie he hadn't done anything, which resulted in another punch to gut with her demanding to know what about her wasn't good enough for him. He just laid in the street, admiring the clouds.

Hunie eventually accepted his explanations, but was still pouting as they made their way up the the captain's office. A guard stopped them before they entered the guard house.

"Scout Steel, please join the other members of the expedition in the courtyard, the captain will address all the guard momentarily."

Turned out there was a small parade ground behind the guard house, where Steel and Hunie lined up with the other members of the guard. From the looks of it, it looked like only guard members were going on the expedition.

Captain Harkin walked up onto a platform, his steely gaze addressing every member present.

"Men." He bellowed, his arms behind his back, "Today, you have been chosen as members of an expedition to address the problem of the wolf lair in the forest. It will be a hard fight, and some of you may not survive." He paused and began pacing the platform, "However, know this! We do this both to protect our families, and to protect out homes. These wolves would take your families from you, rip them to shreds before your very eyes. They deserve no mercy, because death is their mercy, their freedom from pain. Fight for family, honor, and the CITY!"

The expedition members roared out in excitement, the captain successfully bringing the mood up with his speech. Harkin than began to separate the members into groups, calling up the sergeants under him. To Steel's surprise, he also called him up.

Captain Harkin smiled at Steel, his gaze still steely, "Young Steel, you are the one who knows where the lair is. It is your job to get us there in one piece, so I'll be assigning you 4 members of the guard to train as scouts under you. They are young, and as experienced as you were when you first got here, but have the same potential I saw in you. Your job right now is to get us there, and then fight with your squad at the lair with the rest of us, understand?"

QuestLead the expedition force safely to the lairDifficulty: Average, HardRequirementsHaving been to the lair before, dodge avoidable situations and lead the men safely in.Total members: 100/100RewardParticipation in the expedition fight

Choice of loot once finished

Pay by commission for each wolf killed

Rank elevation

Squad MembersFailure to meet agreement will result in loss of intimacy with the Guard and may gain the "Coward" permanent title. Failure to avoid avoidable problems will result in lower fighting ability at the lair, which may cause a mission failure, and the eventual destruction of Rostwood

"I understand and agree sir." Steel saluted, "You can count on me."

Quest Accepted

Nodding, the captain pointed at an empty part of the field. "Go there, I'll send your members there once I finish separating the other squads out."

Steel made his way over to the spot and waited, Hunie joining him soon after. The process was faster than he had expected, the squads must have been chosen beforehand. Four guard members walked up to him and bowed. Three of them were NPCs, but the fourth was a player, one that Steel recognized.

His eyes widened in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

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And so it begins. (Insert standard promotion here, followed by standard thanks.)

We hit 400 followers! Thanks guys for the support, you really help out.

Cya next time