(Okay then, now on to chapter 14! Things got a little wild in the last chapter, didn’t they! Just WHY would Dr Francois want his doppelgänger to shoot him?? Maaaybe you’ll find out this time! As always, I have a Patreon, please support me if you feel like that’s a thing you want to! Anyway, chapter 14, goooo!)

Asteria and I take a flurry of steps back, staring in shock as the doctor’s corpse. The sound of running feet fills the passageway, and Gimmel bursts in, Harvenhaight and a few others in tow, my friend having to duck slightly to avoid braining himself on the low tunnel ceiling.

“What happened?! We heard that- Ah, shit!” Gimmel staggers back a little, his eyes locked on the hole punched straight through Dr Frank’s torso. The dwarf shakes his head, sighing. “He asked you to help with some crazy experiment, didn’t he? This isn’t the first time he’s made things explode, but it’s the first time he’s gotten himself killed doing it…”

 Harvenhaight murmurs, “It doesn’t look like it was the girls, though. And, why are there two identical twins here?” Clawdette latches on to him, explaining the concept of a Simulacrum to the tall, armoured cleric, as the Simulacrum answers, “oh, I shot the Dr, on his request. He seemed fascinated by the prospect, and we obtained valuable data through it. He should be returning in three… two… one…”

From a small alcove to the back of the makeshift laboratory, light pulses and strobes, before a foggy vapour drifts through into the main lab. Striding out of it, Dr Francois clears his throat, taking a fresh, un-perforated labcoat from a rack on the wall.

A wide grin on his dark, handsome face, he approaches his own body, kneeling down and interacting with the menu for his dropped items. Sliding his glasses back onto his face, he straightens up and turns. “I apologize for the disturbance! But oui, I’ve learned quite a bit thanks to you, mademoiselle Kettrin! You ‘ave my gratitude! ‘Ere is your compensation for the invaluable data!”

As everyone stares curiously, he produces a pouch and holds it out to me, smiling as I slowly reach out to take it. My balance appears briefly in the corner, and I choke a little as “+6000 DCT” is added to the current total.

“Um, Dr? You… you gave me SIX thousand, not five. Why?” I ask, and a chorus of furtive muttering goes up behind me as Gimmel muscles his men out, grumbling at them. Dr Francois simply grins. “Why, the information you ‘ave provided is easily worth an extra thousand ducats. Non, non! Please, it is my gift to you for what you ‘ave done! Now, I must return to my work, but please, send me a message if you learn anything interesting or gain any skills and abilities that might lead to further study!” he taps out an invite on his menu, and I accept his friend request, smiling. 

“Sure, I’ll keep you posted, Doctor. it was nice to meet you!”  I slowly peel myself out of Asteria’s arms, blushing as she ensures I’m steady on my feet.  Harvenhaight bows slightly, escorting us out, our bags packed and slung over his shoulders, tucked under his wings.

“So, the dungeon, yeah? We should get out of here first before resuming your streams, that way these guys won’t get PvPed by jerks…” he murmurs, his deep voice rumbling softly as we bid farewell to Gimmel from a distance, the stalwart warrior raising a clenched fist and roaring, “GOOD LUCK, YOU THREE! I WANT TO SEE YOU STANDING TRIUMPHANT BEFORE THE GODS!”

As we head out, Asteria takes her bag from Jeffrey, smiling at him. “Thanks, big guy. Before we kick off with our live-streaming, I think we should get a fair distance away. We’re not toooo far from our destination, but you made a good point about jerks.” Her glowing wings form as she giggles, “The best way to move quickly for now is to… FLY!” she crouches, then launches herself upward, her bag trailing behind her.

Taking my own haversack, I stuff it into my inventory and spread my wings, beating them, before kicking-off the hard-packed dirt and joining Asteria in the clear blue sky. The East wind blows through my hair, and I draw in a deep breath. The scent of pine trees and warm grass fill my lungs, and I spin in a lazy spiral, unable to stop a blissed-out grin from sliding across my face.

Harvenhaight chuckles, jetting up to meet us, as we begin to coast steadily away from the caves our new acquaintances have taken up residence.  Once we’re a good couple of miles away as the crow flies, Asteria and I pause, and she winks at me. As one, we both activate our streaming systems, and greet the audiences waiting for us.

As I read through the chat and thank those who’ve subscribed to me, I stop for a moment.  A notification flashes up. ‘User: TarronBloodmask has donated $50!’

While I splutter, Asteria runs through what happened yesterday for anyone who couldn’t tune in or hasn’t caught up, and I shake my head, breaking my tongue-tied state and profusely thanking TarronBloodmask for his generous and much-appreciated donation!

Asteria calls out, “First donor, huh? Ah, to be young again!” she laughs, and I pout, sticking my tongue out at her. With a deep chortle, Harvenhaight butts in to my stream for a second, leaning into frame to deliver, in his deep bass, “You’d better put that tongue away, or WildRose might make you use it.”

As I immediately turn crimson and almost forget how my wings work, I can tell my chat is going straight to bottom-left with that, having had it explained to me pre-stream. Apparently, every streamer’s chat operates on a sliding scale. Purity is the up-and-down axis, with intelligence the left-to-right. Bottom-left is the streamer’s way of saying ‘stupid and horny, so be careful what you say, it WILL be taken out of context and made to sound dirty.’

 Asteria calls out, cackling, “Hey! Don’t tempt me, Angel Boy!” Oh no, she’s as dirty-minded as Jeffrey…   >_< mlem!

With my chat under control once more, and Harvenhaight laughingly apologizing, we make our way toward the South-East, the clouds bursting around us as we punch through, the thick mist clinging for a moment as we pass. Asteria coaxes a tuft of white into a temporary Santa-beard and moustache, causing a ripple of laughter and witty responses from our chats.

Below, the forest starts breaking up, ancient roads and half-hidden ruins poking through the green treetops. I dip a wing, reducing altitude to get a better look, Asteria and Harvenhaight calling out and following, as I keep a wary eye out for anything hostile or maybe worth gathering. Checking the map we’d bought back in Tillberry, I scan for where we are, pressing my fingertip to a point in the Greenheart Forest.

“Here, I think? The border of the fallen Raskel Kingdom, yeah? There’s a big rock near there that looks like a winged unicorn, see if you can find it!” I shout up to my friends, scanning the landscape around me in hopes of finding the boulder. Of course, my chat starts spamming ‘My Little Stony’ for a few minutes. In the distance, I can see a flash of gold, sparkling in the sunlight, a moving brown blob beside it. Narrowing my eyes, I can make out two shapes I’ve seen before, sitting in a little clearing. A large, hairy doglike person with a huge double-headed greataxe, sitting beside a smaller, winged Lizzara. It’s the pair from Tillberry, Ur and Mulged or something like that. Running into other players is a good thing, however.

 They didn’t seem hostile earlier, so I might be able to get information out of these guys. Either they’ve seen the stone that looks like a winged unicorn, or they’ve got other knowledge to share. Shooting a quick message to Asteria and Harvenhaight, letting them know my location and what I’m planning, I slowly approach, careful to stay out of easy range in case someone ELSE decides to take a potshot at me.

I can hear the pair howling in laughter; the raspy cackles of the Lizzara joined by the deep, low bass rumble of the hyena-person. They’re looking at a screen floating in the air. Are they streaming? Or watching something entertaining?

The gnoll reaches out and gestures at the screen. “Here we go, here we go! This is the best part, shush!” he chuckles in a hoarse, thick Scots accent, the small reptile bouncing eagerly. The huge furry axebeast taps at the screen again, and my face goes beet red as I hear the next few moments clearly. 

“Shut your mouth, you pink-haired dickroomba! Say that again, and I’ll be REALLY mad, got it?! He saved your friends, he saved YOU, and you just insult him? Just how entitled are you, you Useless-saurus ?!”

Oh fuck me sideways from dawn until dusk… they’re watching MY stream from yesterday!

I slowly lower my altitude until the pair notices me. If they seem to find my actions funny, I may as well use this stroke of good fortune to my advantage. The golden-winged Lizzara almost falls over in excitement, pointing at me as he screeches, “There! Slap-happy girl is there!” my face must display total confusion as I touch down a few metres away, hands at my sides, as the huge gnoll stands. He might even be taller than Harvenhaight!

I back up a step or two, instinctively wary of something-wait, that’s rude. SomeONE, that’s better- so much taller than me. In this avatar, much like in real life, I’m on the smaller and slighter side of things. He pauses, a wide grin on his face, his thick, bushy tail wagging merrily behind him.

“Hey there, lassie! You wouldn’t happen to be that new streamer from yesterday? Sky-Queen Kettrin, aye?” he asks conversationally, the pintsized lizard jigging from one clawed foot to the other, sporting a matching grin.

I turn to look at my small floating stream-orb, then look back at the pair. “Um, yes, actually. And, um… now you’re on my stream, I guess? Sorry about that!” Behind his larger friend, the Lizzara begins pulling faces and turning to shake his tail at the ‘camera’. The hairy giant reaches back and playfully cuffs his friend around the spot where his ear would be. As if launched by cannon, the little reptile catapults forwards, disappearing into the brush on the other side of the clearing. A few minutes later, he stumbles back out, a huge leaf afro balanced precariously on his hairless head. He flaps his wings, pleased with the boost they’d given his momentum, and then furls them with a leathery snap.

In stunned silence, I turn to check my chat. For once, it’s gone totally still, not even one message flashing up, as if my entire audience is as bemused as I am. I clear my throat, and ask, “I… think I overheard your names back in Tillberry a couple days ago. Ur and Mulged, right?”

The hyena-man blinks, blinks again, then starts cackling like a maniac, bent over and slapping his knee with a massive paw as he sputters and gasps for air. Between fresh paroxysms of mirth, he chokes out, “Nay, lassie! Ohhh, fockin’ ‘ell that’s a right good laugh! Ah’m Ulged the Gnoll, of the Swift Assassins! And this’n here is Mur of Clan Der, the Kobold Berserker Thief!”

I turn bright red again. “Oh crap, I’m sorry! I was sure I’d heard them right…” Ulged’s gale-force hurricane of amusement finally dying down. “Ahhh, it’s fine, lassie. Ye weren’t officially introduced tae us. And, might I say, by the Lord of Stone and Steel, that was a mighty fine RFS ye gave that undercooked chicken of a wench!”

I blink. “Arrefess?” the Gnoll chuckles indulgently. “R-F-S! it’s short fer ‘Running Fuck-Slap’, and it’s been many an age since I saw one delivered so fine!”