The crows, or whatever type of birds these monsters are, lift off from their perch and swarm toward us.

Astra screams, "Triste, quick! Your yelling thing!"

I let loose with the Wail. A bunch of them peel off and fly off into the forest and about another dozen drop limply to the ground, but that leaves half of the flock swooping down on us. And there are dozens of them coming in from every direction. They're the size of large house-cats but there's nothing cute and fluffy about them.

I'm buffeted by their wings and they attack with beak and talons. There are so many, I don't even think about it but launch into my Dance of Death. They don't have tons of life and with each twirl more drop from the sky. I catch glimpses of my companions flailing at any in reach as they swoop and retreat and swoop in again. Suzy is using a new sword spell that seems to create a concussion in the air when she hits a target and a ripple of damage hits other targets close to the first.

To my great relief, it doesn't take long to decimate the birds. The crows stage a brief rally when the dozen that were effected by Despondency stir from the ground and launch themselves at us, but we soon put the last one down.

I receive a system message that I'm level 5 and that I went through a minor-evolution. I'm not entirely sure what that means but I have an additional free attribute point to spend, so I drop it in Stamina. I'd rather put it in something with a more direct benefit, but I have the lowest Stamina of the group, which means I tire out the quickest and I don't want everyone always having to rest because of me.

Kerda comes up to me afterward and gives me a hug. "You dance beautifully," she tells me. "So graceful and thankfully, so deadly. That would have taken a lot longer without you."

"Um... Thanks, but I was just..."

Astra walks my and slaps me on the back. "Take the compliment."

Vladimir drops one of the crows and wipes his hands in disgust. "Useless vermin! There is nothing to even harvest off of them. Another battle with no treasure."

"Unless there's something at their roost," Morgan says.

The stone tower turns out to be part of a shrine. Someone has piled rocks on top of one another creating a spire. At it's base there's a recess containing a statue. And the column is topped by a metal rod. A flat slap provides a smooth bit of ground in front of it. I guess it's for worshipers to kneel on and pray. The entire structure is covered in bird poop, white with black fleck and an acrid odor.

We step into the clearing around it, and a ghostly figure appears before us. Small streaks of blue light streak across her skin like visible veins.

"Welcome!" she says. "I am Chokkala, the goddess of thunder storms. Thank you for dispersing those fiends that despoiled my shrine. Sadly, their taint remains." She gestures and the mess. "If you would be so good to perform a cleansing ritual, I would grant boons upon your entire party. Also afterward, I would be willing to grant patronage to you, for your alignment with air matches my own." She points at Suzy.

Astra says, "Oh goddess, we would be honored to cleanse your shrine. What must we do to perform this ritual?"

She beams at us, and the small jolts of electricity in her skin speed up. "Wonderful! It is simplicity itself. All that is required is that two of you perform missionary style sex right here." She waves at the stone slab. "After I place some preparatory symbols in place."

"Oh!" Astra says. Then she adds to us, "Can we even do that? We're all physically women here, right?"

Morgan points to his sister, "She isn't."

"Shut up!"

"It's true. Her species has both a pussy and a cock."

We all look at her.

"It doesn't matter anyway because I'm not having sex with another woman."

"It wouldn't be the first time."

She hisses at Morgan, "I told you that in confidence."

Kerda says, "It seems that the idea isn't totally unappealing to you."

"What?" Then, Suzy looks down and notices that a large erection is straining her leather armor and threatening to escape from a gap in her armor on the side of her torso.

Chokkala says, "Please, my child, do this ritual and take my patronage, and I will ensure you are well rewarded."

Suzy starts to talk but nothing comes out. She wanders off shaking her head.

The goddess addresses the rest of us. "For the best results, her partner should be someone also aligned with the element of Air, such as the Banshee, even though I cannot offer her patronage due to her nature."

Kerda turns to me. "It looks like it's your lucky day."

I take an involuntary step back. "Wait! No! I really don't think that's a good idea."

Astra says, "Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves. If Suzy isn't into this, it's not happening."

"Oh, she'll do it," Morgan says, bouncing on her heels, a smirk on his slick black face. "She's super competitive. There's no way she's going to turn up special bonuses."

Kerda raises her arm in the air. "Okay. Show of hands. Who's willing to do it with her."

I'm a little hurt that she's so eager, and I remember what Astra told me about how sex might mean different things to us.

When no one else raises their hand, she asks the goddess, "I'm aligned with stone, can we still make this work?"

Chokkala looks a bit disappointed but says, "Yes, any of you will do, and one air aligned is better than none."

Suzy comes back to us. "Fine. I can't believe this stupid game. First the breast milk thing now this. But fine! Let's just get this over with."

Kerda entwines an arm in hers, "Oh, that's entirely the wrong attitude. Don't worry. I'll take good care of you." She drags the reluctant Unseelie off to the shrine's slab.

The rest of us move a good distance off, so they'll have some privacy. Although we can still hear plenty of grunting ans screaming. At first, it all seems to be Kerda (whose bedroom noises I've started to learn), but then Suzy obviously starts getting into it. Really into it.

I notice I'm clenching my fists and jealousy is tight ball of fire in my belly. I stand up and shake it off. I hardly know this person. And I kind of knew what I was getting into with the whole brothel situation. It was just easier when she wasn't with someone else in earshot. I could ignore it then. Compartmentalize it and pretend it wasn't really happening.

Astra comes over to me. "You okay?" I nod and try not to look to pathetic. "It doesn't mean she likes you any less."

"I know. I'm just not used to this sort of thing."

She flicks her chin in the direction of the shrine. "None of us are. This is some weird shit."

I don't elaborate that it's not just having to listen to someone I slept with having sex with someone else, but also that I'm not terribly familiar with being around someone I'm interested in. I mean I've had girlfriends and I've had sex, but it's been pretty few and far between. It's not something I've ever learned to handle.

While I'm thinking, Astra stops and stares at me. "I never noticed your eyes."

"What about them?"

"They have a violet glow to them."

"They do?"

But before we can explore this any further, Kerda calls us back to the shrine. When we get there, she's still finishing getting dressed. Chokkala is blessing Bronte¹With patronage, player's are assigned a game name if they don't already have one. Everyone only remembers the new name..

When they're done, Morgan asks, "So, was it worth it."

Bronte glances over at Kerda. "In so many ways." But soon wipes the leer off her face, and adds, "Yeah, the blessing is a bit weird. I got some skill I don't think I'll ever use. But at least I'm no longer lactating. She cured me of that."

The goddess says, "Now for the rest of you." She raises her hands in benadiction.

What the heck?!?

What was that about Arousal Potency. I'd never seen anything about that before. I do a search in the game's Help.

Arousal Potency: A hidden stat that gauges a players level of arousal. A player accumulates 1 AR point for every 24 hour period without sexual relief (may change or be modified by various factors during play). Sexual acts resulting in orgasm will negate these points. The points relieved by sex acts will vary depending on position, number of partners, lewdness, and how adventurous the activity is for the player.  Should a player fail to relieve themselves and reach 8 AR points, a system penalty will be incurred. Players will always receive a system warning so they have the opportunity to avoid the penalty (warning time varies between 1 hour and 1 day depending on circumstances). If incapacitated or unconscious, the warming (and penalty) will be delayed until the player is capable of heeding it.

A secret arousal system!?! What the heck!?!