After telling everyone to avoid the northern tunnels and sending a team of kobolds out to collect wood, you tour your newly completed expansion.

The newly designated goblin village, with the new cave, feels... homely, in a tribal sort of way. They're already using the hides and wood to build small huts, and Feathers has claimed the largest fur and made a bowl-like nest-bed at the highest point in the cave. A small campfire on the lip where you used to sleep provides illumination that throws flickering shadows over the walls, and two of the new goblins are bickering fiercely, if tiredly, as they carve a wooden figure with some sort of beast head near the entrance.

You pad onwards, footsteps soft and light into the smaller cave by the entrance. Even knowing exactly where to look, the entrance to the little passage you installed is hard to spot in the rough ceiling, hidden in the myriad of baby stalactites.

Out in the corridor, you frown at the newly upgraded trap. The rushing of water is audible under your feet, although it's nothing to the roar coming from outside as the brand new waterfall tumbles down the mountainside.

The kobold village is quieter, the inhabitants out in the woods, but yet again there is a feeling to the air. A strange sense that this cave is home. The bridges and ladders than you placed are not the uniform, pure wood structures that you would expect; instead they're carved with small, reptilian figures, held together with twine. The walls and floor, instead of being unadorned rough stone, are piled with loose stones, with winding pathways of sure footing between the scree. You shudder at the thought of fighting even the kobolds you already have with this kind of terrain advantage.

Finally, you enter the large cavern you've set aside for Mercy, to find her already standing there, staring intently around.

“It's a bit... barren, Red”

You chuckle, quietly. “Yeah. It's a cave, I'll have to add the rest in”

You open your menu and flick through it for a while, but apart from the trees that you've already discovered there's no way to spice the place up in your regular menus. You hesitate for a second before opening your animus menu. Immediately, you find an option that's rearranging itself and writing in new words. As if it knew.

Designate Grove for 10 (Discounted due to CHARLIE_X 10%, You have 1 minion fleeing the tranquillity plague 10%; Price increased due to Room is unfit for purpose 10%) 9

You relay this to Mercy, including the fact the menu was changing. She looks thoughtfully at you for several seconds before responding.

“Well, at least you're interesting Red. I can't offer much insight to be honest. If I didn't know better I'd say someone had access to your soul and was playing some very strange prank on you. But you're clean, at least, as of you entering Brakenford you were clean. You haven't been going around selling your soul lately have you?”

At your bemused shake, she carries on. “I assumed not. You saw my quest menu light up for the first time in... a very long time, and then the quest change while we talked. Non of that's normal, and I know my soul is still secure.” At this, she shrugs and heaves a sigh. Your eyes are drawn to her breasts as they bounce. After a few seconds of bouncing, you look up into Mercy's amused eyes. She keeps rocking back and forth on her toes in order to keep her tits jumping for a few more seconds, then lets out a hiss akin to pain and stops. Her skin flushes pink and she turns away from you, pressing her palms into her eyes. After several seconds of deep breathing her skin returns to the pale green you're starting to associate with her self control. She stays statue still for a few seconds longer, and then lets out a long sigh.

You nearly miss her breathing out words too. “Gods I hope this works,” before she turns to you with a slightly forced smile. “So! Any ideas on how to make this corrupted essence and turn it into a tree in less than three days?”

You nod, and begin to pace around the room as you speak. Mercy follows.

“I have... An idea or two. It's all about compression, right? Leaving the loose mana nowhere to go but inwards. I'm assuming that the greater the pressure the quicker the essence is formed?” You look at her for conformation. She wiggles a hand back and forth but doesn't offer any dissent so you assume you have the gist down and carry on.

“So, if I could apply intense mana pressure, that would form it quickest. One option would be that I could excavate a small room, have you fill it with corrupted mana, and then delete the room. Smash it into a tiny space as quickly as possible with no escape. But I don't think that would actually help create a demonic tree. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but if it was that easy I don't think we'd need a quest.” you pause again, and note Mercy nodding along to your words.

“Instead, or first at least, I think we should try creating a tree around the essence. As far as I'm aware, that kind of operation would only be possible in a lair which could explain why no one has heard of them before. And hopefully it would merge the demonic essence with the tree rather than just making a tree which has a corrupt essence in the middle.”

The two of you complete your circuit and Mercy nods. “That... for someone with no magical theory, you make some good points Red. That sounds pretty good to me. Shall we start now?”

You shrug. “I need to wait for the kobolds to get back with some wood before I can actually build the tree, so I guess that depends on how mana works. If it will stay still then it should be fine. If it will drift apart probably best to wait.”

Mercy hums for a second, then responds. “It should be alright. There's enough stone around to keep everything contained.”

“Well then by all means, proceed.”

You watch with interest as Mercy takes up a strange, half crouched stance. All the magic you have seen in the past tends to be headed towards you with some velocity; you've never paid too much attention to exactly what was happening. With Mercy you take the time to examine her as she breathes: one long, slow exhale that seems to drift in the air like lightly pink vapour. A few movements of her arms and the mist is drawn into a set of four of runes in front of her. You lean in to examine them.

“I don't think I've ever seen magic done like this.”

She grunts and her eyes flick to you. “It's a ritual. Now shush, I'm concentrating.”

Even as she tells you to quieten, one of the runes wobbles and begins to unravel. When Mercy stabilises it again with another exhalation it's darkened to a nearly red hue. Once more, she breathes out mana and feeds in between the runes, forming a web as if she were using the mana-laden air as thread. One final breath and a new rune forms in the middle of the web; somewhat resembling a cross between a heart and a spider. You roll your eyes. With a second look, the other runes resolve into heavily stylised pictographs of a vagina, a flower of some sort and a flame. The rune that had darkened was, unsurprisingly, a penis.

Of course her go-to would be some sort of sex spell.

With that, Mercy stood straight, whipping her arms across her body in a way that forces the web away from her, spinning slowly as it drifts into the centre of the room. As it goes it fades away, until there is nothing but a suggestion of colour.

“What's it do?” you ask, interested.

“Nothing much, to be honest. It was one of the first spells I learnt; it creates a spark lust when there isn't any if you walk through it, and makes you like people you fuck more, then uses that release to power itself. I used to use it a lot to get out of sticky situations and get a meal at the same time. Mostly, it takes quite a lot of mana and ties it in a knot with no escape because this is the horniest dungeon I have ever seen.”

You consider refuting the point, but... yeah. So instead you wiggle your eye-ridges at her and say “Sticky situations,” She snorts.

“Not like that. Not to start with at least. One time I got apprehended by the watch in the city of Lio. Super anti-daemon.”

Amanda speaks up from behind you, startling you both. “I've never heard of Lio city?”

Mercy winces. “Yeah you... you wouldn't have. You might know it better as the Lyo Crater..?”

At Amanda's confused nod, Mercy continues.

“Anyway, they put me in a huge vault they had specifically for daemons under the city; It completely cut me off from corrupt mana, but that spell isn't actually demonic. Corrupt mana just give it an extra kick. Anyway, I put that spell on the door, super charged the 'love' part, and when they sent two guards in to 'teach the daemon a lesson' they got a full blast.

“So, there I was,*Censored* two nice young men who were rapidly falling in love with me, and back then I wasn't strong enough to kill just through sex. Anyway, the captain looks in, sees two of his lads being 'entrapped' and sends in six more to 'save them from her horrible torments'.”

You start to shake your head, seeing where this is going.

“Eventually, he runs in himself, leading the charge of the rest of the watch; some twenty men making a big pile of *Censored* with me in the middle. The lust wasn't directed at me, but I was the only remotely female shaped thing in the room. I did catch the captain getting off with one of the burleyer guards in a brief moment when I came up for air, but the important thing is there was still a good eighteen of these guys falling head over heals for me, and I can't get out because there's eighteen of them and they wont let me use my hands to cancel the spell and the counter spell is hard to say with your mouth full.

“Anyway, after an hour or two people notice there's no guards around; the criminal classes go wild; spurred on by a couple of rogue players who wanted some fun and a bard who was drunk, and the clergy remembers that there's a daemon who specialises in entrapment below the city, so they send a brute squad to save the guards.

“The brute squad were basically just brawlers with a religious symbol sewn onto their shirt, so gods know they weren't going to check for magic traps, and whichever bureaucrat was in charge that day just kept sending more when the last group didn't come back. My only explanation is that I was so full of daemonic mana that I couldn't use because of the vault that it was seeping into the minds of people above because I refuse to accept that people are that dumb.

“Anyway, at this point I'm getting sore, which I didn't even know could happen, and this writhing flesh pile is probably about fifty strong. I get a lucky break and one of the new guys wanted a turn up top but was smaller than the link of my thumb. Small enough that I could shout around it, so I tried to convince them to let me end the spell. Of course, they're all not thinking clearly, decide that as a succubus I was having the time of my life... Which, to be fair to them , I was, but I had places to be, you know?

“Anyway, a group of the guards decide that the clergy needs to be brought into this, but they might see the spell and end it. So a good thirty men decide to kidnap the entire clergy and force them through the spell where 'her nat'rul charm an' good nat'ure' will do the rest. Not all of them make it out the door; three of them get distracted with me, two with each other and one slipped on the floor, which was getting pretty slick by now, and knocked out both him and the guard captain.

“Anyway, SOMEHOW their plan only goes and works. Over the next hour they manage to kidnap every single one of the one hundred priests and throw them in the vault. Then one of them decides they should probably get the priestesses too, because even if they personally don't want to *Censored* anyone but me maybe some of the girls will be interested in me and it would be rude not to share, and the rest might be able to break the magic, and maybe I'd like a break or the guys waiting their turn for me (Because at this point everyone who fucked me was declaring it the best fuck of their life, even if at this point I was so *Censored* that I'm pretty sure some of the guys were just *Censored* around me, thinking they were in) would like some entertainment too.

“Anyway, over the next hour they managed it again, introducing a hundred priestesses to the room. Honestly, it did not take the pressure off at all, because civilians were starting to notice the guards who, with stupid smiles on their faces, kept coming and going from below, often with large, wriggling sacks. A lot of the stupid, read: male, population had followed, so at this point there was about three guys to a girl, and some of the girls wanted girl love and some of the guys wanted guy love. I saw a guy, maybe the same bureaucrat as before for all I know, leave, come back with a table, and start organising everything so that people could be assigned to a partner. He was... surprisingly good at it too, keeping things rotating, sending some lads out for water and snacks, and of course, because this is after he's *Censored*, making sure I was fully filled at every moment because 'Of course that's what she wants, she's a succubus, and anyway, look at the blissed out expression-”

Mercy stops herself short, blushing, and then continues as your laughs echo around the chamber and one of the goblins who snuck in at some point applauds.

“Anyway, people are leaving now, but only to go and get their friends so more and more people, again predominately guys and the occasional woman smart enough to like women too, are filing in. I'd long lost count but based on research I did afterwards I think we were hitting about a thousand people by this point which is Insane.

“Anyway, of course with so many people going into this vault, the criminals which are pretty much in control now, take advantage of these obviously stoned people. One guy gets mugged, and apparently just hands over pockets and pockets worth of *Censored*– why he had that I don't even want to know.

“Anyway, again lead by two rogues and a drunk bard, the criminals pile in. That's another two hundred odd people. The bard leaves for a while and when he comes back there's a good thirty other players with him, and more pile in for the rest of the night. Bureaucrat starts hiring help, the guards start keeping order in between their turns *Censored*, a band started up in one corner – five guys on instruments, each one *Censored*. A few entrepreneurs are wheeling around carts, selling hot food while they *Censored*, and I haven't seen light through the *Censored* in about twenty minutes. I may have been enjoying myself quite a lot and requested a clean. They said yes, but only if I left the spell up and I agreed.

“They tried to wipe me down but the cloth just got sucked under the surface. They tried water, but... well, things just got stickier for me and slipperier for everyone else. They tried a mop, which at least got my face clear before it was too saturated to continue. A few of the more helpful guys tried digging me out with their hands... which now I think about it might have been where the guy who got mugged got his. Maybe he had wanted to see what he was *Censored*?

“Anyway, I was basically glued to the floor in *Censored* by now, and every time they cleared my *Censored* more would just leak out, or they'd get distracted and fill me up again. With my ancestry to thank for the fact that I can basically *Censored* and enjoy it I was doing my best to keep my front clear but as I say, it's not like the *Censored* stopped just because people were trying to clean me too, and there's a limit to what I could do in snatched moments. A few of the nicer girls tried to help out but most of them loved me too at this point and they decided that they should emulate me. So now there's a dozen women, about half in heavily stained religious robes, half of the remainder in tight black leathers, all desperately *Censored* which is... basically a live porno.

“So of course, a shit ton of guys gather round and, thinking the girls just fucking love *Censored* , start *Censored* in order to provide more for them. Their mouths are full so they can't say to stop because that stuff is sticky so there we are as a veritable tsunami hits us. The girls and I huddle together for protection and well... got stuck. So now there's a hole-ball, approach at any angle and *Censored* . That becomes a game of 'guess where Mercy is' while a few guys in glasses and nothing else are running around trying to stop them; all the while themselves stopping to *Censored* . One guy was so desperate to do my bidding but was too horny to give up sex, he picked his partner up from where she was *Censored* , turned her upside down, and ran around with *Censored* and his shouted commands to clean me muffled in her *Censored* . The two other bureaucrats saw this and through it was great, so now we had three, mobile nerds trying to sort the mess out, and of course each one has a different preference so we've got three women, *Censored* as the guys are trying to keep everything in line. They finally get me clear of the*Censored* just as their three partners excuse themselves out of soreness. And there's me, all empty and alone.

“Anyway, once they were done it had probably been about eight hours since I was thrown in the vault and I was still just as coated as ever. So one of them gets an idea. He turns to face his friend *Censored* and says “Maybe the wizard will be able to get her clean.” and a tiny part of my brain registers 'thank god, maybe he'll end the spell'. So these three open their orgy book and find a pair of lads who should be just finishing their power naps now and convince them that if they go and get the wizard then the paper-pushers will let the two of them have me all to themselves for... oh, best they can do is ten seconds. But the lads are already out of there on their way to the wizard.

“So the wizard finally shows up. He's ancient: big white beard, pointy hat, robe with stars on, the works. Apparently he was the big-wig of the town, some level one hundred, hundred years old NPC. He walks to the door, takes his spectacles out and examines the spell and I'm there, with these two young lads already spurting because they were so eager, going 'yes, yes, yes, end the spell' and he nods to himself, carefully strips out of his robe and ties his beard up, and walks through the spell bold as brass. It just splashes off him. Whole crowd turns toward him, he had an aura of power a bit like yours, and he holds out his hands and goes “BEHOLD A WIZARD'S STAFF!” drops his fucking pants and reveals a *Censored* that no man, let along a hundred years old wizard, has any right having. And let me tell you: It was magic, and I mean that literally. Fucker had spent three months in his youth learning to cast spells with it. So he summons water to clean me off, then, before I can dispel the spell, fucker manages to out cast me and puts a zone of anti-magic around my spell. Without breaking it. Made it literally impossible for me to end the *Censored* without his help. Then he patted me on the head, told me this was the most fun he'd had in decades, and started strolling around doing magic tricks, never even fucked me. That was when things got weird.

“Anyway, at this point, there's a rumble from outside, and down the stairs comes a screaming horde of girlfriends, wives, husbands who have finally caught wind of what's happening. And do they stop at the door? Like fuck they do. Entire city in the vault, nearly two thousand people engaged in fuckery, all centred around me. And that was when things got extra weird.

“The wizard opened a portal for a woman who had a thing for tentacles, turns out he had a specially trained whip beast. Well, he had a dozen, but only one was fully trained. The others were a bit eager. And he did not close the portal in time. I can only assume we have him to thank for the fae portal too.

“Anyway, the count at the end was one thousand, eight hundred and seventeen people; twelve whip beasts; seventy pixies of varying colours; a faun called Tom; over a hundred players; a small tribe of ogres and their giant; two people who I'm pretty sure were kings of neighbouring states and friends with the wizard, and said wizard. And every single one of them had fucked me, at least once, except the wizard.”

You're not sure if Mercy is bullshitting you now. This story entered ridiculous several minutes ago but her delivery is entirely straight.

“Finally, FINALLY people start to drop. Passing out from exhaustion and dehydration mostly. The bureaucrats had done their best but that table had been overrun when the pixies arrived. The vault was... coated. Liberally. So was I, again. Eventually, It's just me and the wizard standing. Or, you know, glued to the floor but conscious. He walks up to me, and drops his glamour. Fucker was a daemon all along, big and red and winged with a truly impressive set of horns. And he quietly took down the spells, including the one he'd been surreptitiously casting the entire time, which kept growing the vault any time someone came in. Thousands of people were pushed together into a room – still big enough, but much smaller. The coating on the floor became several inches deep. And he helped me up, cleaned me off, and we waded out of there together.

“The experience from that catapulted me from level nine to where I still am today. The experiences shared took that town's anti daemon sentiment and broke it. Entire town of religious prudes turned to daemon worshipping love commune in an effort to find me again because the fuckers were all hopelessly in love with me; hundreds of quests that went through the town broke. They erected a statue of me; then realised they should probably do one of before I was so covered in *Censored* as to be unrecognisable. Both statues regularly sparked orgies and the second one was often identical to the first. The gods were so pissed off when they found out they smited the entire town into a hole in the ground.”

Amanda gasps. “That's terrible!” but Mercy grins.

“Nah. Daemons knew it was going to happen and rescued... pretty much everyone I think? Let people out wherever they wanted. More than one minor cult of love, sex, or daemons can be traced back to someone who lived in Lio. But over half of them wanted to stay. There's a town in the daemonic realms populated by daemons, humans, and halfbreeds. I visited precisely once when I was trying to find out about my dad.”

“And... that visit?” you ask, not sure if you want to know.

Mercy smiles coyly and takes a bow to the gathered minions who had come and listened to her tale.

“Is a story for another time.”