Sitting down at a back table in the Tavern, Jack took out the contract he had with Lady Niadas. He read it over and over again to make sure there were no hidden traps. He didn't see anything, yet he harboured a nagging feeling that he was missing something. Which made him look at the contract to see what it was omitting.

As Jack reached that part on the requirements for him to get paid, he saw something odd. In order for him to receive payment, Lady Niadas and Lord Jadai must return safely. It states nothing about Lord Attomas. In addition, it mentions that if one of the partners for the expedition were to die, that Lady Niadas would take control of their share and split it among the others.

Thinking through this, Jack surmised that Lady Niadas was going to attempt to do away with Lord Attomas. How should he react to that? On one hand Lord Attomas was a foul person, but Jack wasn't sure that he deserved death for that. Why was she resorting to killing him? With Jadai being the commanding lead in winning the head position, she had no reason to eliminate Lord Attomas.

Unless... Lord Attomas was going to try and kill Lord Jadai. Something else clicked into place. Lord Attomas was extremely paranoid about Jack. Why then would he want to invite Jack along. Sure, Jack's Inventory ability is fairly important, especially now that they were trying to move ahead of schedule. Yet Lord Attomas offered the position before that.

What if Lord Attomas really knew he wasn't from the Empire and was only putting on an act. Was he going to kill Lord Jadai and pin it on Jack? That didn't explain some of the odd things Lord Attomas was doing, like transporting pregnant women with him. If Lord Attomas tried to do that, Jack would stop him, which might mean killing him. Which would fall into Lady Niadas plans.

Each of them appeared to be exploiting him. If that was the case, then he would refuse to dance according to their whims. He would warn his Users that the siblings were up to no good and to keep there eyes on them. Finished with thinking about the contract he moved on to the next thing that was bothering him, the meeting with Veronica.

He had been rehearsing several times what he would say to her, nothing seemed to match how he felt. Jack waited several more minutes before she entered the Tavern. Veronica looked around the tavern, then saw him. She let out a smile that cut into his heart and made her way to him.

"Good afternoon My Lord." She sat down across from him.

"Afternoon Veronica. I summoned you here to talk about our relationship." Jack said focusing on the table in front of him.

"My Lord, I know something happened yesterday to distress you, but I confess I do not know what happened. Can you enlighten me lord?" Veronica said concern in her voice.

"I am unsure of what happened yesterday. I lost complete control of my body, and then I had sex with Kylie. Being forced like that really upset me, it's something I don't want to ever happen again. There are several possible things I've heard that could account for it, from being drugged to issues with my soul. As it is, I'm not sure I can trust you, Veronica."

Veronica looked really hurt when Jack said that, and said "My Lord, I swear I never want to bring you harm. Please believe me when I say at that time I genuinely believed you wanted Kylie."

"That is the problem. I didn't want Kylie of my own free will Veronica."

"I am sorry, I am incapable of reading My Lords thoughts." Veronica said a bit testily.

"Until I figure out what happened, we must cease this intimate relationship. Until I am certain I possess absolute control over my Avatar, I will no longer have sex in it. This is not just with you, but anyone else. If it happens again, you may assume I am not in control."

"I am upset to find you were forced against your will My Lord. I will do my best to find out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again." She said looking serious.

"Will you? Cause I found some strange oddities looking back over the time I met you. First off, when I came down to that temple, no one was nearby. Granted I did spend a few hours restoring it, so you could have come by without me noticing it."

"I assure you My Lord; I was lost before your guidance." Veronica said simply. "I left my caravan and only discovered you when I felt your power My Lord."

"That is the problem. The nearest road to the temple is a few days walk. Which means you were walking in that forest for a few days before you found me."

"I was indeed in that forest before I encountered you My Lord."

"It really feels like you are being very careful in how you answer me, Veronica. Are you concealing something from me?"

Veronica was silent for a moment before answering "There are somethings that I cannot reveal to My Lord at the moment. I do swear upon my Oath to you, that I only act in your best interests, your will is my will. Your breath is my breath. I live to serve you."

Jack looked at Veronica a long time. Then he said "If I find you had a hand in what happened, and you refuse to inform me, it will not end well for you Veronica."

"My life is yours to command, if you wish me dead, merely give the order, and I will carry it out."

A little creeped out by her fervor, Jack coughed and said "Not at the moment. We will be planning the expedition tonight at the dinner. I went and picked up four of my Users who I will be introducing you to. One of them, Megan, I will be putting in charge of the group including you. Her orders are my orders, so you will follow her command, do you understand?"

"Yes My Lord, as you command."

"Good. We still have a bit of time before the meeting, I'm going to introduce you to another User I picked up last night." Jack said standing.

"Will they be accompanying us on the expedition My Lord?"

"Affirmative. I intend having her as a hidden surprise." Jack began heading up the stairs to his room. "She's still in my room, so follow me."

"She is in your room My Lord?" Veronica said a little hesitantly.

"Yes, she was up most of the night, so I let her rest in the room."

"She was up most of the night?!" Veronica said an odd tone began to creep into her voice.

Opening the door, he found his room was once again covered in webbing. Inky was hanging in the middle of the room and looking innocently at Jack. "Are you still training Inky?" He asked Ritalassa.

"I wish. He just is playing around at the moment." Ritalassa said hanging from the web. "Who is the woman behind you?"

Going into the room followed by Veronica, Jack said "Veronica, this is Princess Ritalassa, my newest User. Princess Ritalassa, this is Veronica my Paladin."

"Jack I told you, you can call me Ritalassa, so Veronica, it's nice to meet you." Ritalassa said waving a set of tentacles at Veronica. There was an odd tone to Ritalassa voice.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Ritalassa." Veronica said looking at the sword with a fake looking smile.

"That is Princess Ritalassa to you." Ritalassa said a little antagonistically to Veronica.

"I was unaware there was a some sort of talking weapon kingdom somewhere. Maybe we should go take a visit My Lord. I'm certain it would be quite the experience." Veronica said.

"I have you know; I am a Dark Elf Princess! My new form notwithstanding, I will compel you to show me respect."

"Sure I will show you the respect you deserve. I think your a bit rusty Princess. Just let me find a blacksmith to get you back into shape." Veronica said.

Stepping in before the argument could get worse, "Veronica, Ritalassa's soul was attached to the sword. I ask you show her respect, and I ask the same to you Ritalassa."

"Good, now I will be carrying Ritalassa, the two of you will work together on one of my future projects to see how viable it is. After this expedition I want to solely focus on the training area I am building."

"Understood My Lord, I will work endlessly to achieve your goals."

"Oh man your quite the kiss ass aren't you."

"At least I still have a mouth to kiss with."

Annoyed, Jack said "Do I have to separate the two of you?"

"No My Lord."

"I apologize for my behavior Jack."

"Good." Jack was about to continue when he received a notification about a new quest for Nicholas. Curious to see what was going on he took a look.

---

Setting out early in the morning, Nicholas and Frankie were tired and sore from the unpleasant night. For all the things they had prepared for, the one thing the both of them had forgot was bug repellant. It kept the both of them up all night, being bitten, now they were both a little irritated.

At least Nicholas healing got rid of the bites almost as quickly as he got them, unfortunately for Frankie, she was itching like crazy. He had to stop her several times from itching herself. Stopping for a second, he pulled out a canteen and took a swig. He took a look at Frankie who was struggling through the forest.

He had wiped her make up with a makeup removing cloth last night. Sweat was rolling off her face, and Nicholas could only think how attractive she was. Shaking those thoughts away, he offered his canteen to Frankie who took it and took a long drink.

"Do you think we can take a break soon? My legs are killing me."

"Soon, I would like to get out of this valley before evening. This is not a good place to sleep. Once we are out, we will camp again."

"Tonight, I will share you tent. Your tent has better sealing of bugs then mine does."

"I was eaten alive last night as well."

"Well hopefully, they go for you then me, cause I itch like crazy. Look!" Frankie lifted her shirt up to just below her breasts, along her stomach were red bite marks.

Staring for a second at her stomach, Nicholas said "I've heard smoky fires can keep away bugs, I will attempt that tonight."

"Good, so why do we have to get out of this valley?"

"Guess what it's called."

"What?"

"The Valley of the Dead. Apparently undead likes to pop up in this valley."

"What? Goddammit I hate undead. Why didn't we go around?"

"To save time Frankie. It will be alright."

Frankie sighed. They began walking again, when they came across a strange path. Looking down Nicholas could see several sets of footprints including those apparently carrying something heavy as they sank into the ground. "Looks like someone came through here really recently. Keep silent Frankie. There is something odd about these footprints."

Frankie nodded and they kept moving forward. The tracks, unfortunately, were going the same way they were. Nicholas debated taking another route, when he heard something coming up ahead. He signaled Frankie to hold still and slowly crept ahead.

Getting up to close to a tree, Nicholas peered around and spotted a set of decaying zombies carrying a large cage. Inside the cage were two dwarven women who looked remarkably similar to each other. One was shaved on the right side of her head with raven hair, and the other was shaved on the left side with flaxen hair. They were sitting looking depressed.

In front of the Zombies was a lanky pale man who was dressed in a black robe. The man was examining an aged looking piece of paper, that Nicholas assumed was a map. There were four zombies carrying the cage, an additional two beefier looking zombies that clearly were the bodyguards for this necromancer.

A blue screen popped up.