So that’s the situation we were in when we made yet another approach to the manor. We went in the front door again, only this time we turned south rather than east. We entered what must have been the biggest room in the place, a feast hall that could easily have seated hundreds. There were only a dozen in there when we arrived, and they were all skeletons, acting as if they were eating and drinking and having a great old time. I won’t bore you with how easily we trashed them.
We left the great hall and came to a vaulted throne room. This must have been where the Rumps oversaw their depravity. I never had much use for ceremony myself, and I resolved to do something useful with this space. Anyhow, the room was infested with spiders the size of ponies. Three of them tried to make lunch of us. It was a good fight. Tense. Aleandra and Qual got poisoned and had to fight to stay on their feet. I was everywhere, darting around the hairy bugs, doing my usual killing strokes with my rapier. It turns out that Sorel can fly. I mean, we all saw the wings, but this is the first time we saw her leave the ground…and she wasn’t flapping her wings. She was just sort of hovering there. So we figured that the flight was a magical characteristic of her new form, and the wings were for propulsion and maneuvering. Learning that cheered Sorel up a good bit.
We pressed on before the poison was out of Qual’s and Aleandra’s systems, which in hindsight was pretty stupid, because in the next room we fought some kind of mutant ape that was way tougher than it looked. We could barely land a blow, while it danced around us all the while, merrily trying to eat our faces. We got into our store of healing potions after that one. We did find a skeleton who was holding a magical ring. I was happy that we found some treasure of real worth.
A study was behind the next door, and Sorel rushed in, eager to find some magical books (at least some things haven’t changed about her). Then she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that the room was decorated with erotic tapestries depicting a full-on orgy. She stood there fascinated for a second, then immediately starts masturbating right in front of us. Ev tried to go in and help her, but Sorel jumped the amazon and practically raped her on the spot. I think Ev was too surprised to resist. Turns out I had to go in and break it up with my mood-killing ability. Sorel just collapsed in tears at her loss of control, and I had to hold her while the others checked the room. It was awkward, but Sorel was so pathetically grateful I couldn’t really say anything. It was good to help in that way, I guess.
After that, she kept close to me, which drove me nuts, because every so often I would forget who she was and I’d find myself getting turned on by her perfect body. She wore nothing but a loose tunic, and every step revealed an expanse of beautiful flesh. I found myself finding excuses to move away from her (“I think I see a trap”) and hating myself for doing so. And the way she lit up when I moved close to her again, well, it made me ill. But it also felt good to see her smile. I’m so confused.
As fate would have it, the next room had some women’s clothes in it. Sorel changed into a black spider silk gown that proved as resilient as chainmail. It also made her look fantastic, drawing attention to all of her interesting bits. The dress was guarded by a hand. Nothing was attached to it. Just a hand. But it moved fast, and it latched around my throat, and it was strong. I was running out of air before I knew it. Aleandra tried to hack it with her pole axe (funny, that amazon) but Sorel blasted it it with magic bolts. God, she looked so sappy when I thanked her. I so do not like where this was heading. I find myself being rude to her just so she gives me some distance, and then I feel terrible, so I apologize and start the whole cycle over again.