Once the feast had ended, and all three of the adventurers had eaten their fill — some far more than others, since somehow Danica managed to pack away more food than the monk whose enormous frame was at least twice the elf’s size — Anya led them to a side chamber where they could change in privacy into their freshly laundered and mended clothes and armor. Lexi and Samantha affixed their newly gifted waist chains, each bearing the magical Starsight Gem which would enable them to see in the lightless tunnels under the earth, under their clothes. Each girl topped this off with their ensemble a new rucksack, provided by the clerics and packed tight with all manner of provisions.

Refreshed and re-equipped, Anya and a pair of acolytes led the three heroines out of the temple’s torchlit halls and into a darkened alley behind the grand edifice. At first, Lexi was somewhat astonished that it was still only dusk. When she and her companions had left the poolside, the sun’s light had already been fading. And, she was sure that the feast itself had lasted several hours at a minimum. How then was it that night had not yet fallen? The answer, of course, was so obvious that Lexi almost smacked her own forehead when she realized.

Of course! I’m wearing the fucking Starsight Gem! It actually IS night, but it just looks like twilight because of the stone’s magic. This is actually really badass, like my own magical night vision system — except instead of some ugly-ass goggles, I’ve got jeweled underwear.

“What the fuck!?” Lexi hissed, her newly realized night vision catching sight of a bizarrely menacing movement from the nondescript city wall just ahead. Throwing one arm back to protect Anya, Lexi drew her broadsword with the other, dropping effortlessly into a combat stance, adrenaline surging through her athletic body gearing her up for a fight.

“Stay your blade,” Anya said softly as she placed a soothing hand atop Lexi’s now tensed shoulder. “This is no foe set against us, but rather the guide herself whom we seek.”

What Lexi’s magically enhanced vision saw that so alarmed her was a large figure materializing from the wall. Or, at least that’s how it looked at first. As the surge of adrenaline began to subside, the paladin realized that it had only appeared that this figure had melted out of the wall. The large grayish white cloak and broad brimmed hat worn by the mysterious woman was so similar in color to the stone that the camouflage had been practically perfect while she stood still against the wall, only revealing herself through movement away from the stone. Even as the figure took a few steps towards them, Lexi found herself struggling to clearly delineate where the guide’s figure ended and the wall began, as the cloak was still wrapped tightly about her body and the hat’s brim covered her face entirely.

“Sorry,” Lexi said sheepishly, still panting a bit from the sudden exertion as she re-sheathed her enormous broadsword. “My reflexes just kicked in there, y’know?”

“It’s alright Luella,” the high priestess said to the approaching figure. “These are the three adventurers I’ve asked that you escort.”

“Oh! OK,” came the voice from the figure, apparently Luella. There was something unusual about her voice, but it was hard for Lexi to immediately put her finger on it. The words were easily understandable, and the timber was almost human-like, but there was some quality to it which gave Lexi pause. “I guess I can relax a bit then,” Luella continued, relief apparent in the tone of her subtly inhuman voice.

The transformation that took place as Luella “relaxed” caused Lexi’s jaw to literally drop.

The “cloak” which had covered her body unfurled, revealing itself to be a pair of enormous wings sprouting directly out of the the figure’s back. While the backsides of the wings which had been shown while they were wrapped around Luella had been limited in color to the gray and white patterns, the undersides contained striking splashes of red — the crimson ovals almost looking like enormous eyes staring out from each broad wing as it stretched out to its full extension.

Similarly, Luella’s “hat” proved to be no such garment, but as it unwound itself proved to be a cleverly constructed configuration of the long furry antennae which sprouted from the mothgirl’s forehead. The antennae unrolled into long gracefully curved appendages, extending out to the sides of her head. Each antenna was a stark white tendril, with feathery looking long white hair hanging down from one side. With the antennae unfurled out to the sides, the long hair looked almost like feathered bangs.

The mothkin girl did, however, have actual bangs in addition to those approximated by her graceful antennae. Her heart shaped face was itself covered in fine white fur, and was framed with silvery gray hair styled into a bob cut, with a single braid on the right side. She had a cute little upturned nose and a rather coy smile. But, the most immediately arresting feature on the mothgirl’s face were her eyes. Completely inhuman, each was an enormous glowing red oval, as large as a hen’s egg and completely regular in terms of color — with no pupil or iris — just a pair of faintly glowing smooth red orbs.

The rest of the mothgirl’s body which was visible was, as far as Lexi could tell, covered in the same kind of soft looking white fur on her face, bringing to mind an exceptionally well groomed cat. Although, what the paladin at first took for a scarf was actually a ring of significantly longer and fluffier gray fur, forming a kind of “ruff” around her neck. As the futanari’s eyes traveled South, she noted cleavage poking out beneath the ruff, as a pair of extremely well-formed furry breasts were exposed by Luella’s low-cut white blouse, and pushed up into a very enticing display by her tightly laced red bodice.

The bodice terminated in a pair of loose fitting white trousers with a gray loin cloth covering the crotch. The pants were held up by a broad sash, over which was affixed a low-slung sword belt, with a long slender rapier on the left and a matching main-gauche dagger on the right. Something about the way the swords sat low on Luella’s broad hips combined with her easy posture gave Lexi the impression of a medieval version of a gunslinger from the Old West. The pants were tucked into a pair of extremely well-worn black boots, whose folded over tops came to a few inches above her knees.

It was only after Lexi had given the mothgirl a good look up and down that she noticed that Luella had not two, but four arms. The more noticeable pair extended from a pair of shapely white fur-covered shoulders which looked no different from any other young woman’s. The mothgirl had those hands clasped together at her waist, twiddling her thumbs in front of her. However, just beneath that first pair of arms, a second pair extended from Luella’s side, with those hands being clasped somewhere behind her wide flaring hips.

Wow! Lexi thought to herself, trying not to stare too hard. When Anya said that she was a mothkin, I never expected that she’d have EXTRA arms. But, I guess it makes sense that insectoids like that would have six limbs and not just four.

“Hiya!” Lexi blurted out, snapping her eyes up to meet Luella’s enormous glowing red orbs, and thrusting out a hand in greeting to shake. “I’m Lexi.”

Smiling back broadly, brilliant white teeth flashing from hear heart-shaped face, Luella unclasped her lower right hand to meet Lexi’s extended palm in a firm grip, the palm of her hand having an almost skin-line texture which differed starkly from the exceedingly soft fur on the back of her hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Lexi. I’m sure Anya told you, but my name is Luella. I’m so thrilled to have been given this opportunity to serve in the goddess’ own ordained cause.” Dropping down to one knee and holding Lexi’s hand like she was her liege lord, the mothgirl continued with clear deference to Lexi. “Please accept my service in your quest, such as I might be able to provide.”

“W-Welcome aboard then!” Lexi half-stuttered, more than a bit embarrassed by the formality of Luella’s introduction. Hoping to lighten the meeting’s mood with a bit of levity, Lexi pulled the mothgirl up by her clasped hand, pulling her in for a quick hug. “Bring it on in girl! If you’re part of the team now, then there’s definitely no need for kneeling and handshaking.”

Lexi sensed a moment’s hesitation, but thankfully felt the exotic young mothgirl melt into her, Luella’s soft curves — and even softer fur — feeling quite wonderful against the bare skin of Lexi’s arms and bust. Almost as a matter of course, this merest whiff of feminine sensuality was enough to trigger a surge of a different hormone, this time her futanari body flooding Lexi with the special cocktail of testosterone and estrogen that began to stiffen her cock and moisten her cunt. Lexi’s rational brain was eager to not have her first impression with her new follower being one where Lexi’s stiff cock pops up unexpectedly against her stomach. Mercifully, she was saved by the bell, so to speak. Not an actual bell in this case, but by a system alert message which her mind was able to latch onto and refocus her attention away from the blood threatening to surge into her genitals.

When Lexi mentally flipped this alert message away, she also saw the expected secondary alert, indicating the addition of another batch of experience points to her pool. Although, the new value was still only half of what she needed to ascend to the next level.

A strong bronze colored hand clapped down on Luella’s soft white shoulder as Samantha stepped in to greet the mothkin. “Welcome,” she said in her usual clipped style of speech. “I am called Samantha. We are grateful for your assistance in traversing the realm below. None of our party has come close to venturing into those depths before, so your guidance shall be most welcome in completing the objective with which we have been tasked.”

Standing there between the two adventurers, both of whom were significantly taller than her — although Samantha much more so than Lexi — Luella actually blushed slightly at the monk’s words. The way in which she blushed was intensely interesting to the paladin. Although none of her skin was directly visible through the dense covering of soft white and gray fur, Lexi could see patches of the white fur around her cheeks and cleavage take on a pinkish tinge as the fur bristled visibly.

“Eeek!” the mothgirl squeaked, her red eyes bulging as a pair of tiny elfin arms squeezed tightly about her waist.

Danica had sneaked in while the larger folk’s gazes conveniently passed directly above her, leaving a perfect avenue of approach for the elf to slip in and do what she’d been aching to do as soon as Luella revealed herself. She desperately wanted to touch the mothgirl’s luxurious looking fur. “Sooo soooft!” the elf whispered in awed tones as she stared wide-eyed up at Luella, her hands almost petting the mothkin’s fur like you would a cat.

“…”

“Sorry about the half-pint down there,” Lexi laughed, practically prying the elf’s tiny hands off of Luella. “Sometimes she doesn’t quite know how to behave herself. Her name’s Danica, by the way, since I’m sure she forgot to introduce herself like a proper lady before she started fondling your fur.”

“Haha,” the mothgirl laughed, running a hand through her silvery bangs and smiling warmly down at Danica. “It’s fine, you just caught me by surprise.” Leaning down, she whispered to Danica, “My fur is super soft…especially the bits you can’t see right now.”

Although Lexi and Samantha could not hear that Luella had said, the effect it had on Danica was unmistakable. The elf’s face turned as red as a tomato in an instant, her eyes going wide, mouth hanging agape as she stared completely dumbstruck by the mothgirl’s quick witted response.

“Now that we’re all introduced,” Luella said, standing back up to her full height. “We should be on our way. The doorway we’re heading to won’t be open for too long after midnight, and it’ll take us a little while to get there.”

And so, with farewells to Anya and her acolytes, the four adventurers made their way out of the city’s South gate, and headed down the king’s road towards the passage that would ultimately lead them into the underworld’s dungeons.