Champions of Mareth

Once the sun arises, I return to the lake, and take my time walking around its shores, absorbing the calm and beautiful atmosphere that surrounds the place. I'd gotten so wrapped up in brown-and-grey dystopias and brightly-lit arenas, I completely forgot that the NGear was capable of making nice-looking places as well.

I lay down by the water's edge, and close my eyes, letting the cool breeze wash over me as I bask in the early-morning light.

Five minutes later, I stand back up again.

"Bored now," I huff, stretching out my limbs. "If I wanted to go chill by a lake I can do that in the real world, and at least then I can bring my deck chair."

Nonetheless, I start walking along the shore once more. There's probably more to find here than meets the eye, so I shouldn't write this place off yet. And at least it's nowhere near as weird as the forest.

As I come around a large bush, I stop, and jump back behind the plant, as I spot a hunched figure in front of me.

It's dressed in a long, tattered set of hooded robes, which conceal most of its form. However, from the muzzle extending out from his face, and the long, thin tail trailing out behind it, I can tell that it's some kind of rat-thing. It currently seems preoccupied with stirring a large cauldron, filled with some kind of thick liquid, and I notice a stack of beakers and vials on the ground next to him. It reminds me a little of Twilight's lab.

"Come closer child. I will not bite," the rat says, turning towards me with a smile. I flinch, but from the looks of him, his non-rat half seems to be that of an old man. Not the most threatening of creatures, then.

I step tentatively towards him, but ease up when he starts to monologue. Guess he's just an NPC after all.

"I am Rathazul the Alchemist. Once I was famed for my miracle cures. Now I idle by this lake, helpless to do anything but measure the increasing amounts of corruption that taint its waters," he tells me, pulling back his hood to reveal his bald, wrinkly head.

"Nice to meetcha! I'm Rainbow Dash, here to kick demon butt!" I reply enthusiastically.

He nods, and his eyes are drawn down to my item pouch. He gives it a thoughtful look for a moment, before looking back up at me.

"I see you've gathered a piece of chitin from the giant bees of the forests. If you bring me five pieces I could probably craft it into some tough armor."

Woo! And also oh no. Woo because five is less than I was expecting to have to find, oh no because this means I can't do my own crafting in this game. Guess I'll be seeing a lot more of this guy later then.

He continues. "I also see you have a number of demonic items on your person. For 20 gems I could attempt to remove the taint from one of them, rendering it a good deal safer for consumption. Of course it would not remove most of the transformative properties of the item..."

Demonic... he means the potions?

Ah, now that I think about it, the stat called "Corruption" did go up a little when I drank that sexy-milk. A stat that starts off at zero, and raises with little effort on my part... I probably should've been suspicious of that sooner.

Getting it too high probably wouldn't be a good thing, I'm guessing. But on the other hand, I do want to drink more of that stuff... I guess I'll get him to purify it for me then.

Bah, it would be one gem over my funds, wouldn't it?

"Okay, wait right here old guy. I'll head back to the forest, beat up some bees, and you can do all those things you just said, kay? Seeya later!"

Without waiting for a response, I rush off, headed back towards the forest once more.

Bah, another imp. I'll take him down easily.

Or so I think, but this one actually manages to put up quite the fight, opting to scratch furiously at me the whole battle, rather than just arouse me. I'm actually bleeding here and there by the end of it, and have no choice but to pull back and rest at camp.

On the bright side, he did drop another Succubi milk.

After I'm rested up, my wounds obviously healing themselves rapidly in my sleep, I delve back into the forest once more, and am met with yet another imp.

What is with these guys putting up a decent fight all of a sudden? We both manage to bring each other to our last legs, him filling my lust up so high I can't stop the dirty thoughts from intruding into my head. I picture myself sucking and fucking his cock in all sorts of different ways, and it turns me on more than it has any right to.

Nonetheless, I manage to deliver the final blow, and get another Incubi draft out of it. In addition, there's an extra message attached to the victory screen.

Fifth victory complete. Tutorial-mode combat has now been disabled.

Huh, wonder what that means? Was the turn system just to train players? Well, whatever it is, it surely won't pose a problem for me. Rainbow Dash doesn't need any tutorials anyway.

Or so I claim, and yet I still have to hobble back into camp, my hands stroking between my legs of their own accord.

After wasting half of the game's yesterday with my head on the pillow or my fingers between my thighs, I march back into the woods with renewed determination to get stronger.

As I enter, a bush rustles beside me, and I prepare for yet another imp fight. However, to my surprise, the creature that strolls out of the leaves is a rather different one, though still roughly the same height. She's green-skinned, and as naked as any of the other monsters I've seen so far. I have to admit she actually looks kinda cool, with her cropped purple hair, and a crazy number of piercings across her body. Her eyes are bright red, and practically aglow with lust as she gazes at me.

"Time to get fucked, slut," she says, her tone seductive, as the combat music starts playing.

Goblin (Level 1)

Apart from her height, she's probably the most normal candidate for some sexy experimenting I've found so far. Too bad she's a girl...

As I stand staring at her, she suddenly rushes me, leaping up and headbutting me in the stomach. I stagger back, both out of surprise and sheer force.

"What the hay, I hadn't moved yet!" I yell at her. It's then that I notice a new feature of my HUD: Down in the bottom-right, a small circle spins, with a number inside of it.

9... 8... 7...

A countdown! So that's what the tutorial-combat being disabled meant. My turns must have a time-limit now.

Shrugging off the blow, I ready myself, and swing my own attack at her while I have the chance.

After it connects, her foot comes flying up towards my face, and I narrowly manage to dodge away from it. Oddly, it keeps going even once it's passed me, stretching all the way up to her head, where she holds it in place. With her other hand, she strokes the lips of her pussy, giving me a "come hither" look. I avert my gaze, but my lust bar still goes up.

Keeping my eyes away, I swing at her again, but my fist only grazes her. Resigning myself to the fact I'm going to have to look at her if I want to win this, I cringe as I see her lift up her other leg this time, spreading her pussy lips further apart with her fingers.

And she just keeps on doing it. It's putting me off so much that my attacks are barely registering with her, and my lust just keeps going up and up.

Finally, I manage to land a decent hit, which knocks her back down from her one-legged pose. Clearly a little ticked-off now, she stands up, brushing the dirt off of her ass. I don't realise she might have another reason for reaching behind her, until she pulls out a flask of green fluid. She uncorks it, and flings it towards me, drenching me in the stuff before I have time to react.

It feels gross, and I retch, having to clap my hand to my mouth to stop myself from straight-up vomiting. My head feels woozy, and I see my HP bar start to move in a bad direction. Crap, I've been poisoned!

Realising that I have to finish this fight fast, I attack the goblin with everything I have. She's back to trying to tease me, but I ignore it, taking as much advantage of her lowered guard as I can.

As I come in close once more, she suddenly pulls out another bottle, splashing it directly into my face. More poison?! I don't feel any sicker... although I am starting to find this girl pretty fuckable after all...

Double crap! That must've been a lust potion this time! C'mon, Rainbow, keep it together...

With both of my bars now passing each other in opposite directions, I know my time is limited. Her health is down to a third... good, but will it be good enough?

I could try running away... yeah, like a chicken! That's not my style... but I'm really at risk here...

Lost in turmoil between pride and self-preservation, I end up taking too long, and the goblin manages to get in a free hit.

Argh, screw this! I am not going to lose to this little pipsqueak! It's time to show her just who she's messing with.

"HIYAAAAAA!" I yell, slamming into her with a double-palm-strike, straight into the giant piercings hanging from her nipples. Critical hit! She's down!

She collapses to the ground, sniffling softly. A little voice in the back of my head whispers "fuuuuckkk heerrrrr~," but I manage to ignore it.

"Nothing personal," I say. "I just don't... swing that way."

It's turns out it's really difficult to be witty without my sunglasses.

Thankfully, as the battle ends, the effects of both potions seems to evaporate from my system. I'm about to walk away, when I get a message.

There is a flagon of potent goblin ale on your defeated opponent. There is no room for a flagon of potent goblin ale in your inventory. You may replace the contents of a pouch with a flagon of potent goblin ale or abandon it.

...What? What?! My inventory is full?! I only have like three things in there! I guess it's lucky that they at least have item stacking, or I'd never be able to carry anything.

All right, well there's no option to use one of my current items right now, so the obvious choice seems to be to drink the drop loot. Hay, I need a drink after that fight anyway.

I click the loot icon, and a mug of frothy ale appears in my hand. I sip it carefully, remembering the toxins the goblin girl was carrying. Thankfully, it just tastes like normal alcohol, smooth and potent.

I drain the mug down to the last drop, and giggle, feeling slightly tipsy. Whoa, or maybe more than a little... I'm friggin' hallucinating. My skin looks dark green to me!

I give it a few minutes, but it doesn't seem to be going back. Did that drink really change my skin colour? It's not like I haven't experienced a body change already, but I thought it'd be limited to potions.

"Hehehe, silly alcohol, it thinks it's a potion," I titter, drunkenly picturing my camp. Thankfully the game can still recognise the location I want to go to, even when it looks all wobbly to me.

It then occurs to me that alcohol following a nauseous spell wasn't really such a good idea, as I nearly throw up once again. Crawling into my tent, I all but collapse onto the bedroll, falling quickly into a light nap.