Capítulo 39: The Democratically Elected Bestgirl
5/2 morning
I woke up in the morning to find a thing of beauty in my app. Eliza was collared of course, and I decided to just paralyze her any time she attempted to leave her grave; cruel but effective, and she'd come around to my logic in roughly 161 hours.
Abercrombie's capture estimate, on the other hand, had absolutely plummeted. 64 hours remaining. Apparently the collar and the app had some serious synergies when working together. That meant that I had two obediences and one disobedience to allocate for him.
I decided that I didn't want to rewrite his entire personality from scratch; I'm sure I'd do that eventually to someone but Abercrombie was giving me enough to work with that I didn't see a need. What I would absolutely do would be to enforce a dynamic he seemed to want, just in a different direction.
If Abercrombie wanted an apprentice that eagerly did his bidding in the hope of receiving the slightest scraps of instruction, then he would get to feel that from the other direction. It wouldn't be near as much fun until I could turn him into her, but it's best to get in on the ground floor.
If it weren't so twisted, his obsession with taking care of his wife would be really quite sweet. The ruthlessness with which he saw to her needs was not a total turn off. By the time I was done with her, "Abby" would probably see Eliza as a sister, or a best friend, and I hoped that I could make the feeling mutual with the right commands.
I wasn't sure if I'd keep them together or not. I intended to keep Abby as a personal alchemist, while I was pretty sure Eliza would either be kept in my pocket plane to be summoned if I got in trouble, or she would be sent abroad to Horde controlled lands to get the ball rolling there. Mostly depending on how powerful she was and how much I felt like I needed her.
Forbiddence: Acting in a way that directly or indirectly runs counter to Erich Bismark's wants or needs. Emotional Numbness (maximum)
Obedience: Receiving praise from Erich Bismark. Euphoria (maximum)
Obedience: Acting for the benefit of the ones you love. Affirmation (moderate)
I could make "Abby" more overtly subby later if this wasn't enough, but I thought it might be. In other exciting news, Lividia was fully captured. He'd need to meet her whenever convenient. Even today's jewelry wasn't unbelievably extra. A ruby on a silver chain; eye catching and expensive looking, but tasteful and small enough to tuck into my shirt.
I eliminated the mission for Watcher Paige, and checked my new one.
Sven's Revenge
Assist Sven Yorgen in investigating something he saw on the night his family was killed.
Reward: Memory shift charm
Sounded like the first part of a quest chain, but I suspected that I could get it done without too much trouble. Even if it took all day, it was better than the last one by virtue of its intriguing reward. The Waters of Lethe were 24 hours of amnesia juice. Assuming that these things were remotely balanced against one another and the charm would do something equally potent, I wanted it. I also wanted to find and bind an enchanter to identify things for me, by the Light I hated not knowing what things did.
Looks like I'm headed back to the camp. I woke Tessa up, and we collected and donned our clothes. I figured I'd let the two patients sleep for now. The B team was tense and exhausted from their all-nighter, but they seemed in good spirits. Very ready to go to bed, though. I sent them back to their room, where I assume they collapsed. I brought up Auffrey's panel and decided she needed another Obedience trigger.
Obedience: expanding the power, influence, resources, or personnel of Erich's organization by any means. Affirmation (mild)
I didn't intend to always be micromanaging the B team, but having her always get a good feeling any time she was working for "the cause" seemed like a good idea. I left it open ended; I didn't want her to get tunnel vision, and I'm sure a noblewoman and mage could get a lot done without me intervening in any way.
Thankfully, Drusilla and Darcell were doing a lot better now. They were still very stiff, but they could hold things, speak clearly, and walk. "Alright. Drusilla, I want you to prepare a lesson plan for me. I intend to become a warlock whenever I can find a bit of time, and fel magic means I need an imp of my own?"
"Typically yes, that is where most start. It's certainly where I started. I will absolutely not be drawing any runes today, not with my hands shaking like this, but I suppose I can plan it out if you are that interested."
"Excellent; if something too dangerous happens, just bug out. Even if we all have to leave Duskwood entirely, it'll just delay success in the region. Darcell; would you like to spend the day in Goldshire? If you can find Keryn, we can bring her into the fold properly and start your formal training. I think she will be a bit more receptive now."
Darcell's eyes lit up at that. It was honestly adorable how much she loved learning. "Yeah! I can do that!"
"Good. I'm sure you'll do great. Call me with the necklace if you need this one. While you're there, see if you can buy any cheap food? Looks like the pantry is getting bare. It's fine if it's something that would go bad soon." I handed her five silver, which evidently was quite a lot of money in her eyes, and she vanished around ten seconds later. That should keep her productively busy until she's 100% again.
After pulling out the last of the bread and cheese for breakfast, I left Tessa to look after Drusilla. On my way over I was rather surprised to see someone strolling out of the mist right towards me.
She was tall for a woman, around 5'10", and was wearing a simple but elegant green dress. Her curly black ringlets were immaculately coiffed, and she had obviously put a lot of work into her makeup. I was struck by how put together she was mostly because of the contrast. The girls back at the house were getting a bit disheveled, between the lack of good sleep and focus on survival. They were still easily attractive enough that it wasn't worth noting, except in contrast. This woman looked much more like a Hollywood starlet in a fantasy movie than she did a real woman in Azeroth.
( https://imgur.com/a/3Ihda7P art by NovelAi)
My first real clue to who she was came when I recognized her necklace, which looked like a pearl necklace save that the stones were all a faintly luminous green. I'd only just noticed that when she quickened pace, leaned in close, and smelled me deeply. "Hmm. You smell like corpses. Other than that you seem acceptable. Which is good. This city seems to be dead. Were you aware?"
She was not very good at seeming like a normal human. "Yes. Of course I knew that. I just have business here."
She cocked her head. "What business? Is it useful? Dangerous? Unnecessarily difficult for training purposes?" She seemed genuinely curious.
I thought about it and decided honesty would probably work with her. She was already captured. "All three I guess? I'm going to see a necromancer that I'm bending to my will. Same thing I did to you."
A brisk nod. "Efficient. That is good. Dominating me before we even met? Inspired. Humans really are amazing. You will be an acceptable mate."
"You accept me as a mate because I magically dominated you?"
"Yes I know, it's an honor for you. You may be beneath me, but I think you'll do well enough to learn from and work with. When you die in a few decades I'll be much better prepared to overthrow my mother." She moved to my side and took my arm. "So. Where are we going, my king?"
"King? I'm not a king." She waved that off as we resumed our walk.
"You will be. You're obviously the ideal human male. With me at your side, conquest shouldn't be too difficult. Then as your queen I will be as powerful as a woman can be in human society. An excellent position from which to learn how to mimic the human spirit." She said it so confidently. I was also fairly certain that she wasn't correct about the women in power thing; Warcraft had a lot of female faction leaders. I knew because most of them were hot and I had vague plans to add them to my harem in order to control their factions.
She was so confident with everything she said. Arrogantly self assured, which I should have expected from a dragon. She had simply walked up and declared that she would be my queen. The worst part? She was probably right at this rate.
"I already have mates, you know."
Once again, she dismissed that concern with a flick of the wrist. "Of course. Any good ruler has many consorts; all the dragon aspects have them, after all. They are no threat to me, as I will be far greater than any of them. I am inexperienced in the ways of mating, but I'm sure it will be easy enough to adapt to whatever your tastes are and I have the advantage of being an objectively superior being."
"I'm also immortal. You won't be outliving me just because of old age."
That one seemed to make her pause, but then she shrugged and gave me a winning smile. "Then I suppose I'll just need to work with you to dominate all who live. You already have the right mindset, and if someone manages to assassinate you, I promise to ensure your kingdom reigns forever."
"Deal. You can serve me for the rest of your life." Would you believe that she responded to that by sighing and cuddling in closer, as if I'd said something extremely romantic?
••••••••••
Abercrombie and I did our normal little song and dance with the orb, which Lividia watched with great interest. "Good job last night. I promise Eliza will be much happier once the amulet does it's work."
He smiled at the praise, even while entranced. "The amulets will solve all my problems." Good thing that sank in. It was probably why his capture had been so accelerated.
"Good. Now, Eliza will not be coming to visit you tonight." His grinning face turned into a scowl on a dime. "It's important that you give her space. In fact, until I let you know the amulets have finished their work, you need to avoid speaking with anyone at all that I don't introduce you to. Don't even let them see you if you can avoid it. It is vital to Eliza's recovery."
"Vital? Very well. For Eliza."
Arguably anyway; once I managed to totally isolate Abercrombie for a week, she'd get quite a makeover and regain the ability to enjoy sex. That's recovery, right? I left Abercrombie staring at the orb.
••••••••••
The next thing I did was something I'd been looking forward to since the moment I'd seen the "dragon" tag on Lividia's profile. I had a dragon in my retinue. Do you know what that means?
Tempest runes (body):"A wearer's race may also be changed, but only if you already have a natural example of the target race in your retinue."
I could turn into a dragon. The ultimate in awesome yet practical. A magnificent winged lizard with a powerful breath weapon. I input the command into my necklace at the edge of town with a giant shit eating grin.
I was a bit disappointed to find myself shrinking to about the size of a Border Collie. I had scales, claws, wings, and it felt like my entire body was condensed muscle, but I was still fairly small. "Oh? You turned into a dragon? You really are the perfect human!" I turned to see Lividia disappear into a puff of smoke and emerge as a dragon the size of a beagle. I realized something at that point.
"How old would you say I am, based on my size?"
"Oh, somewhere in your third decade, maybe early in your fourth?"
Ahh. I was small because I was a dragon of my own age. I started searching for a slider governing age, and I didn't find it. I found plenty of them controlling all sorts of things that would normally change with age, like wrinkles, greying hair, and muscle mass. Nothing directly controlling age though.
"Disappointing. But I can still fly!" I started bounding north, spread out my wings, and started flapping. It was a new, strange experience, but athletics talent was walking me through it and I was quickly getting the hang of- THUD.
I slammed into a fucking tree at max speed. It hurt like hell; but thankfully I could still channel the light. I think I might have broken my wing slightly, but a full powered greater heal fixed that up quick enough.
Lividia landed next to me and licked a talon nonchalantly. "I suppose that if you are going to teach me how to be a human, I might as well teach you how to be a dragon properly. Visibility is poor and there are many trees. You should fly higher."
"Thank you Lividia."
"Of course, my king. It is my pleasure to serve."
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