The "Best" RPG Ever-122

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---

Ezra knelt over the unconscious Canis, quietly chanting a scanning spell. "No more than ambient amounts present. Looks like you got it out of him." She stood up. "Is the curse's sleep restful? He's showing signs of severe exhaustion."
"It's just supposed to be like normal sleep, soo..should be?" Mira said. "That said, I whipped it up in a hurry before and just copied the same work this time. And it's not like dispelling it forces anyone awake, sooo.."
The Captain nodded. "Release it, then."
"Alright. Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious!" she rattled off quickly. Donovan stirred slightly, but remained asleep. "..Well, there you have it, I guess."

Ezra next turned Rose's way. "All quiet on the east side. I doubt any monsters even noticed your absence from the forest, much less anticipated it."
"Oh, good," she said, relieved.

"Say," Mira asked, "You've got some way to communicate with His Highness and the caravan, right? This stinks of being a part of something bigger, if you ask me, soo..might be a good idea to warn the others, you know, in case one of the other two missing people turns into a super-monster out their way."
Ezra nodded. "I'll draft a letter and send it out. Between Rayna and Katherine's abilities, however, it shouldn't be difficult for them to avoid a direct confrontation."

"True enough. So, you think we should stick around 'till he wakes up?"
"No need. His commanding officer's been called already, and he isn't likely to wake very soon. I'll let you know if we find out anything useful. Of course, you'll be paid for your efforts as well."

"Great!"

While the group started on their way into town, the witch gestured that she had something to say. "Well—I dunno about the rest of you, but I'm a little gross with monster blood at this point. And—also blood from, whatever that wolf-spider form Donovan took on counts as."
"Yeeaah, there was so much to go around that my sword couldn't even drink it all before it dried," Aria said, picking at her shirt.
"So—whad'you all think? Time for a communal bath~?"

"That wouldn't be too bad," Nora said. Rose, of course, was squeaking eagerly again.

"No objections here," the shifter pitched in. "Let's stop by the house first for fresh clothes to change into, though!"

---

The afternoon was largely uneventful. Rayna detected very little chance of an encounter along their route, and so had an opportunity to rest inside one of the carts for a while instead of having to keep up illusions or help with another fight. Zack kept his face forward the entire trip, and the prince kept his distance, but anyone watching (which certainly included Katherine and Lynn) could see him stealing occasional glances the wolf-girl's way. Maybe it was fortunate that the knight was never looking in the right direction to notice those glances, or perhaps it was even on purpose.

Eventually they stopped to allow the horses and soldiers to rest, and for an overall change of shifts. Clera took to the sky to scout ahead once again, and the prince approached the psion after a brief trip inside. "Pardon me, miss Katherine."

"Hmn?"
He offered her a small envelope. "Lady Ezra sent this inside a letter to me. It's for your party's eyes only." She mentioned that it may involve some dangerous information, but that you should be inoculated against it.

"'Kay. Thanks," she nodded, taking it.

After looking through the contents herself, and once Clera had landed again, she got the attention of the rest of the party. They gathered up while she transmitted them the exact wording, and then she summarized: Looks like our friends back in town are having their own adventure. Some kind of madness-inducing chaos magic enchantment that can also turn people into super-monsters. I guess exploring those ruins and helping Jacob figure out some magic based on your findings was not a sidequest after all.

I don't like this one bit, Rayna said. I feel like it's connected to...what I've been seeing, but I still can't...I really need to see those ruins again.

Can you do anything with chaos magic? Lynn asked. What with the 'reality warping' and all...
I haven't seen any options like that, but..it's not impossible. Probably best we avoid anything weird like that, though. If it can spread just by looking into someone's eyes, or even just seeing the wrong thing, then it's not hard to imagine it hitting all of the soldiers, if not the prince, too.

The sooner we get back to town, the better, was all Zack had to say.

Clera had an uncertain expression for a moment; the psion could feel that she was getting a slight pang of déjà vu from the letter's description of the situation, but couldn't quite get at whatever memory it was lighting up in her brain. Katherine didn't want to pry beneath the surface or help her remember without permission, and soon Clera shook her head slightly, seeming to conclude that it wasn't likely to come back to her just now—and it was perhaps not important anyway. But she said, I will meet with you all in the dream tonight. Or—'we' will, to be more accurate.

Well..you're certainly welcome, the catgirl replied, shrugging slightly.

---

Lupa stopped next to the door of the bathhouse, tilting her head in a display of slight confusion. "What's wrong?" Nora asked.
"Um, this one..stay outside? Like before?"

"Oh—no. It was just that they don't allow...full animals inside, and you weren't particularly interested anyway. Now that you're a person, there should be no problem. And..you don't at all mind getting clean now, right?" She reached across and gently ruffled the wolf-girl's hair.
"Nope!" she beamed, wagging her tail happily, and followed the others inside after that.

They didn't need as large a bath as their last time here (which had been..what, a week or more ago?), but still rented a room of their own because they could afford it. And it would be awkward to do this with a bunch of complete strangers. And Mira had something for only their party's ears.

No one present really cared much where they sat this time either, except that Nora made sure to be next to Lupa, just in case. The wolf-girl obviously had no reservations going without clothes, at least when the rest of the 'pack' was doing so; while her small, curvy form looked almost soft when fully clothed, wearing nothing showed off some more obvious signs of her impressive strength, including some solid abs. Since she was one of the first to come out, she went and sat next to Rose; Aria then took the opposite side of Nora from her, and Mira happily took the remaining spot.

"H-here." Nora had taken on her native form for this, not particularly wanting to wash a bunch of extra fur, but had still brought some shampoo for that purpose in anticipation of Lupa not thinking to. She accepted the bottle and then stared at it sideways for a moment. "To help get your f-fur clean. Don't g-get it in your eyes..and l-let me know if you need any help."

"Okay~!" She lifted the bottle over her head, turned it upside down, and squeezed a bunch out onto herself...as could be expected. But she did seem to set about diligently scrubbing and grooming her fur after that, at least.

"Listen up," Mira said once everyone was settled in. "I have a...hmn, I feel wrong calling it a suspicion, honestly. Let's call it a...conspiracy theory."
"Really?" Aria said. "You don't seem like the type. Lay it on me."
"Sure...it goes like this. First, that guard Hyacinth and the team with her have some kind of..something attack them, and she's the only one who makes it back. Then, when they're trying to head back to her town, Kayriel and Pier both see something that makes them crazy. And then another member of Hyacinth's team is apparently crazy too, and whatever this brand of crazy is can also let people control—or at least coordinate—regular monsters, and turn into some kind of super-monsters. Right?"
"Well...yeah?" This was just a list of things they knew had happened so far, the shifter thought.

"You've looked at the chaos magic, right?" Mira pressed on.
Aria made a face. "I try not to since the first time."

"Exactly. It's like a nauseating rainbow! And—you know who else shows up right in the middle of that? A mysterious person with an obvious connection to rainbows?"
"What, you mean that magician? Reiaza?"

"You d-did say she looked 'important'," Nora commented.

"Sure, but..a person? Making monsters? Right under the noses of not only super-captain-of-the-guards Ezra, but also mister 'I can read your mind so hard I can make you experience a millionth of a second as if it was like five minutes'?"

"Well," Mira put out her hands, "I did say it was a conspiracy theory. The connection's really tenuous, but...she's apparently powerful enough to have a reputation of warlock- and witch-killing, going by what Belwin said. Despite seeming to put up an appearance to the contrary."

"This isn't about her 'killing fellow witches' or anything, right?" Aria said.
"Are you kidding? If anything, it's a point in her favor. I mean—as far as I know, most are evil...unfortunately. Like, the guy who made my master Griselda into a witch in the first place was super evil! I'd take the fact that she didn't attack me as more evidence that she probably doesn't just have it out for 'my kind' in general, and is looking to stamp out evil. Maybe. Orrrrr, maybe she's secretly a witch, and stealing other witches' and warlocks' souls when she can get away with it to make herself stronger."
"She d-doesn't have any 'witch' traits, though," Nora said. "N-no wings or tail."
"She could be a powerful enough shifter to make those disappear," Mira said, "or at least shrink them out of view. Or, there's really no reason demonic magic itself couldn't be used to hide those things, depending on what kind you've got access to."

"I do see one problem with all this," Aria said. "If she's causing trouble from the shadows or whatever, then why make herself so conspicuous? Flashy rainbow hair, and put on a big show for everyone? Apparently make herself kinda famous? Doesn't seem to fit."
"Distraction," Mira stated simply. "Anyway—it's not that I really think she's evil, or responsible, or anything. It's just that...I don't know. I'd really like more information, without asking her directly since it'd be super awkward if my tenuous conspiracy theory is wrong..and even if it's right, she could just lie. To that end—Nora."
"Hmn?"
"There was only brief contact during their visit, but I'm pret-ty confident Belwin is interested in you."

"Uh..interested. In me?" she repeated with some obvious confusion.
"You knooow," she leaned forward (in Nora's direction) a bit. "Like attracted? Wants to ask you out on a date, among other things? I mean, probably. I could certainly read some of the physical signals of that sort of 'interest' thanks to my passive 'incubus powers'. And...he was giving you some pretty obvious looks besides."

"Oh." The elf still didn't really know how to take this news.
"I'm just saying, he might come back to ask you out some time," she continued, twirling some of her fingers through her hair. "Aaannd, you could take the opportunity to probe what he knows about Reiaza a little bit for me. Like, what race she is, how long she's been around, and whether or not the Troupe of Strangers tend to show up at about the same time as a big influx of monsters. I mean, if it's not too much to ask?"
"Uhm. I g-guess I could t-try to help?" she said uncertainly.

"Sorry, sorry—I don't mean to push you into something like that if you're not comfortable," the witch said, waving her hand as if swatting off the idea. "If he comes off as a creep or something, I'll chase him off myself. But if he does ask you out, and he's a gentleman about it, then it might not hurt to entertain him just the once anyway, riiight?"

"Um. M-maybe."

"Good enough for me!"

---

The next time the caravan headed out—likely the last for the day—Rayna resumed walking, first taking up a spot next to Katherine. I don't know how much longer I can stand this, she thought, mentally 'pointing' at the prince near them, and Zack up at the front on the opposite side of the carts. You feel the same way?

I don't know about that. I learned a long time ago not to try to push Zack into accepting anything he doesn't want to.

It's ridiculous, though! She—ahp—he's so attracted to Peregrine that it's overloading a charm specifically designed to mute that kind of thing. And I can tell you for sure that his highness is at least interested in Zack, too. But also, waaaay too polite to make any kind of move when it seems unwelcome.

I don't think it's a good idea to try to push things on either side. He just sees it as more of the curse's..mental effects, and will fight anything he perceives to be a part of the curse as hard as he possibly can. It definitely doesn't help that we can't tell the prince about the curse yet, either.

But—correct me if I'm wrong—you do agree that this is no good for anyone, right? Zack acting all tsundere instead of just being honest with himself?

You have no idea how annoyed he'd be to hear that word applied to this situation...but, yeah, the catgirl shrugged. I don't like seeing him this frustrated and unhappy, either. It's just—anyone meddling in a situation like this is bound to have it blow up in their face. Pushing on this too hard will get everyone hurt.

She continued: Look—this whole thing will be way easier once we get to town. Prince Perry seems to be planning to stay for a while, and once we're there, Zack—or whoever—can tell him all about the curse. Our job will be over, and there'll be plenty of space for them to be away from each other if Zack doesn't want to deal with this. And maybe the prince won't even be interested anymore, after that.

I see that as more of a bad thing, Rayna said. I'd rather stoke the fires while Zack has to deal with him, and he doesn't know—so they'd both be more inclined to accept the situation, even after the truth comes out. Anyway, I doubt he'll care a bit that Zack was originally male.

True, Katherine nodded slightly, It would be totally against his egalitarian philosophy to discriminate like that. But seriously—my advice is not to poke the bear. Or wolf. Or whatever. And if you insist, be very very careful what you say. I certainly don't know of anything that'll help and not hurt, other than just continuing to be a supportive friend.

Well, maybe I'll ask Lynn for suggestions, the fox-girl said.

The catgirl sighed. Look, I'll help you communicate because if I force you to do your scheming aloud and Zack hears it, that'll be an even bigger disaster. But I'm against trying to push them at each other right now. And really, I doubt Lynn will want any part of this either—much less Clera.

Oh, no, I had no illusions of getting her to help. But I bet I can get Lynn on board with the right argument, at least.

Katherine just shook her head. I guess you know her better than I do. But don't blame me if you two screw things up.

We won't! Rayna was still thinking that she wouldn't screw things up—but meant her response both ways.

---

"Ahhh~hh.." Rose leaned back and stretched, enjoying the warm water. "This really is super nice, you know?"

"Yep!" Aria agreed. "A bath or shower is one thing, but having a local 'hot springs' equivalent is on another level. Team B's gonna be jealous we went without 'em."
"'Team B'?" Mira repeated. "Aren't they the ones escorting royalty? If anything, I'd think we were Team B."

"Nah, we're the ones uncovering some kind of new horror. Or—less 'uncovering', I guess, and more having it stumble blindly at us one step at a time."

"Hmmh..I wonder if I could dig up some hot springs in my forest," the dragon-girl continued her earlier train of thought uninterrupted. "Or at least somewhere nearby."
"You'd h-have to find a fault line," Nora pointed out, "or s-somewhere with enough volcanic activity to h-heat the water."

"Ohh..yeah," she said, briefly disappointed, but immediately popped upright again. "Hey, maybe an earth mage could do that? Like, sense what kinda stuff is underground, and dig it up way easier than I can?"

"Possibly," Mira said. "Although if you're thinking of the drunkard cat, you'd probably be out of luck getting him to work on much of anything."
"Maybe not," Aria said. "He seems to be a pretty high-functioning alcoholic, after all. Maybe you'd just have to hire him—and, I mean, you've got money."
"Hmmn...maybe. But I also wouldn't want him messing up my forest's root systems. Awwh, it may not be such a great idea after all."

"I still say go for it," Aria said. "It can't hurt to look, right? Check the land around our house, too—we could start up a side-business running some hot springs!"

---

"Pssst." Lynn had already noticed the fox-girl walking up next to her without the additional sound cue, but she glanced Rayna's way anyway. What do you think we should do about Zack and his highness, hmmn?

Do? She gave Rayna a brief look. We don't need to do anything.
But—just—look at them! She gestured physically in Zack's direction.

Yeah, they're doing just fine, she replied.

Zack doesn't even want to looking backward in case the prince is there. You think that's 'fine'?

Sure, Lynn shrugged. They've had some back and forth to get to know each other a little, and now they're in the 'awkward silence' phase. Eventually he'll say something stupid enough to set her off, and she'll blow up at him and reveal enough of how she feels in the process for him to understand her better. Besides, when does other people meddling in a developing romance ever do any good?

The fox-girl gave Lynn a long head-tilt to this. I'm..surprised to see you seeing things that way.

Why not? We've seen plenty of romantic plots in games in our time—and I'm the one who's actually dating someone right now, remember?

Fair enough..but also—'she', 'her'?

Lynn shrugged. It's confusing to use male pronouns for both of them, when it's just you and me (and Katherine) hearing it. I'd never call Zack that to his face. Oh, by the way—I'm sure glad we're safe enough from monsters for you to worry about this instead.

Uh...I'll, be right back.

Rayna hurried to near the front of the caravan, bringing up into view some fresh estimates of encounter rates. It had been a lot longer than she'd intended between checks! Thankfully, there really wasn't much risk of another attack. Maybe they'd run out the DM's planned encounters for the day already...or whatever. Then she relaxed her pace again, making her way to the other side of the carts and mulling over what the best way to prompt the prince into 'saying something stupid' might be...