The mangrove swamp canopy is damp and mist-shrouded. Rickety-looking rope bridges connect to crude platforms fastened to the large trees, some of them dipping steeply down towards the water, where ominous noises and eddies in the mist hint at unseen activity.
It isn't exactly the sort of place Alptraum would expect from the dreams of a Life Mage, especially a Skeek one.. but he's usually good at finding the right person this way.
"Well, this reminds me all too much of Sylvania. Why in the world would the skreek dream of this?" Alptraum mutters to himself as he rocks on his feet a bit. Ears flick and swivel as he listens for, well, mouse sounds. Unsure if it even works here, he tries to feel for the mouse, too.
The whole swamp seems to glow, and while swamps generally are full of life, this feels different: it feels like magic. But his ears work fine, and Alptraum hears an approaching cacophony of clanging. Metallic clanging at that! And also some high-pitched calls of 'A-ha!' 'Forsooth' and 'Take that, swamp-rat!'. It's definitely coming closer, which means the rope bridge that is shaking a bit is probably the likely route.
"Adventure dreams? Really?" Alptraum wonders, smirks, and makes his ware carefully along that rope bridge now, in the direction of all the, er, adventure.
Sure enough, two caped and armored figures back their way towards him on the bridge. Rapier flash, holding off a horde of.. Akwavi. Akwavi dressed as pirates. The armored figures are rather short, and have prominent, round ears.
"Are you sure you otter be doing that?" Alptraum calls out. "This seems a bit fishy!"
"Ahh!" one of the figures squeaks and spins around (well, half-turns.. the bridge can't support actually spinning). "Ambush!" she squeaks, and her companion asks, "What? Grab the rope!" There's a few whacks, and the bridge splits apart, with the short end (where Alptraum and the Skeeks are), swinging towards the tree while the rest drops down into the swamp.
Alptraum quickly hooks his feet into the bridge and hangs on! "Aaaaaah!" he yells!
There's another whack as they all bounce off the side of the mangrove. "Hurry and climb before the bog-wombler shows up!" the bridge-cutting Skeek says, and the other one does start climbing. She's between Alptraum and the other Skeek though, blocking their mutual view of eachother.
"Bog-wombler? What?" Alptraum asks as he swings upside down from his feet! "This is silly!" he declares, swings hard, and then lets go and spreads wings so he can go airborne and climb!
"Who said that?" the blocked Skeek calls. The pair scramble up to the platform, and the bridge-cutter looks angry. "This is a private dreamscape, buddy!" she rants. "Do you know how hard it is to set up a scenario and coordinate over long distances?" she demands. The other stays quiet, but is clearly trying to place Alptraum. They both look almost exactly alike, aside from their outfits. They do wear the same style of cape though.
"No dreams are private to the Son of Death!" Alptraum intones gravely as he flies around the tree! "And of course I know, I do I all the time!" he claims, amused. Also, realizing this is probably two sisters playing together. "I am part God, after all!"
"Aargh, who told you about this? Was is Mage Fritzle?" the apparent Dream Mage demands. "It was him, wasn't it? Admit it!"
The other Skeek is tugging on the loud one's cape. "Hey, I think I know this guy.. he really is a demigod, sorta.."
"Well I didn't pray for him to show up!" Now the Dream Mage is stomping around the platform. A Skeek in fairy-tale armor stomping around.
"No, I followed the threads of a mage I know in Babel," Alptraum claims after one more pass, then then hooks feet onto a branch and hangs upside down to peer at them. He then grins and tries to create some shadow-forms here, evil misshapen shadow-skreeks on each side of the pouting, stompy, mage.
"Stop messing with my scenario!" the Dream Mage squeaks, and waves her rapier at the shadows as if it were a feather duster.
One of the shadow-skreeks tries to eat the rapier. "What? I'm just trying to keep it interesting," Alptraum claims.
"Calm down, Blythe," the other one urges. Turning to look up at Alptraum, she asks, "So.. you were looking for me, Barsunala Sir?"
"Yes. I need input on some rather serious matters, and this is a realm of magic you know more than I. Specifically, the Royal Mages of Babel. Some are still active, and they are plotting something," he notes, "And are making use of some really unpleasant life magic to do it."
This causes the Life Mage to actually hug herself! "They aren't listening in are they?" she whispers to Alptraum.
"Hey, we have to defeat Akwavi-Rah and recover the Throne of Fish before going off on a rogue mage adventure," Blythe argues.
"Unlikely listening in. I doubt they want to attract my attention," Alptraum notes. "But, if you are too busy, I can wait until you finish off Akwavi-Rah. I'm sure the life-sucking spell won't be used to torture and enslave people right now at least."
"A what?" the Skeek asks in alarm. "You can talk while we keep heading to Castle Mangrove, Trilby," Blythe insists.
"A very shoddy spell they're using to transfer the life of a healthy person into a dying person to save them, and also make them their slave. They've built an army of them and have been using them to raid ships," Alptraum explains. "Extremely painful, I'm told." To Blythe, Alptraum cannot help but comment, "Want to storm my Castle?" He even waggles his brow.
"I didn't set this up for three people," Blythe grumbles. "C'mon, you can talk about torture along the way!" And with that Blythe tries to march right past the shadow Skreeks towards another bridge." "That sounds familiar," Trilby notes, and then looks after her.. sister? "Can you describe things a bit more while we.. keep going here?" she asks, probably not wanting to spoil Blythe's game too much.
Alptraum's dual shadows lick Blythe as she storms past, then dissipate. Alptraum swings himself back over to the bridge ... and in mid-flight, shifts into a grok! "Fine, I'll just be the adorable sidekick pet," he claims in a rather odd-sounding voice and lands on the platform. "As for the spell, they've been capturing people and keeping them drugged. Then they collect someone near death and weak, then break all resistance of magic, and transfers all the life essence from the healthy one to the hurt one to heal them. I believe it ages, then kills the source, painfully. It's painful to the receiver too. A very poorly done spell; such transfers can be done without pain."
"Well.. I think the point is to control someone," Trilby says, and pets the top of Alptraum's carapace. Skeeks aren't known for having an exceptional sense of smell, so the odors of the place are muted. "It sounds like a bit of wizardry.. ah, that is a fusion of different spheres.. involving Life and Spirit that was used to control someone into sabotaging the reactivation of Master Zahirinee's scrying pool.. well, back when I was still a novice."
"Of course it is to control them, they got to experience something worse than dying and is afraid to go through it again," Alptraum notes as he walks along now. "My concerns are what is its range? Does it require being close, or can someone, once broken, be drained at a far distance. Another is how many mages would it involve?"
A large edifice is beginning to emerge from the mist ahead, but is still a bit shapeless. "Well.. if the anchor is killed, the person bound to them will also die. That.. well, that's effective at least over the distance from Babel to Zaharinee. Over a hundred miles.. so range may not be an issue for that. I don't know about transferring things back to the anchor though. It's mostly a Spirit effect though, I'm pretty certain. The pain I mean. Bonding two lives together is a lot simpler that transferring life."
"Are you sure it's bonding and just not transferring? I can transfer, after all," Alptraum points out, then proceeds to try and nab Blythe's cape in his jaws to tug on it.
"Ack!" the Dream Mage squeaks as her cape is tugged. "I hope you're housebroken!"
"No, but I'm good at breaking people," Alptraum quips, cape in maw. "Also, carrying people
"
"Well.. I don't know all of what the Royal Mages could do," Trilby admits. "I just have that one case to go by. But.. they were also able to work magic across the link, since the.. uh.. puppet.. was impersonating another Mage.. that had sort of died. And then she sort of died."
"Is that an offer?" Blythe asks the grok. "It's your birthday, Trilby - do you want to ride the grok?"
"Hmm? Oh, sure.. I won't have to concentrate so much on not falling off the bridge then," the Life Mage agrees.
"Cryona Windcaller. I know her, and her cousin" Alptraum notes and nods slightly. "And yes, it was an offer. Now ... I need to understand how much of a risk these people are, and how I can keep the mages from killing them if they should escape or rebel. Are there any signs I can look for?"
Trilby finds a less-spiky part of Alptraum's back to cling to, and asks, "You say it's an army of people like this? How many is that, roughly?"
"At least four dozen, perhaps more," Alptraum explains. "A ground crew, and raiders, strategists, and so on. Their strategist is an Aeonian."
"That.. is a lot," Trilby says. "I was always under the impression that it took several mages to maintain they link to Cryona.. but that was also scrying and using her as a magic focus and who knows what else. But that many? It'd take a long time to build that big a force, and maintain things. It isn't exactly something simple. The anchor and focus would need to be in contact for the ritual, but if these were people already dying.."
Castle Mangrove is more visible now, looking a village worth of shacks and shanties all stuck together at random around the trunks of several giant mangroves, with exposed bridges, porches and what might be fishing lines hanging from giant poles.
"Do you know how many royal mages there were? Or what they might be looking for ion Babel that they might have left behind?" Alptraum asks as he gives Trilby a bouncy bit of a ride. "So, are you her sister?" he also asks of Blythe. "Sorry for the distraction in your adventure, but lives are at stake."
"We're twins," both Skeeks say in unison. "I think there were a dozen official Royal Mages, but they must have had a lot of assistants to do what they did.. plus whatever Guild Mages they had serving them. But they supposedly had a lot of magical artifacts. And this thing.. the sheer number and speed suggests a powerful artifact. Which means someone has to use the artifact to this second transfer as well. Have the focus people felt this draining happen at any point other than when the casting mage was right there with them?"
"I don't think so, but I would have to ask. If it's a powerful artifact, I am surprised I haven't felt it. I've been around powerful artifacts before and it's hard to ignore them, life and spirit based ones even moreso for me," Alptraum points out. "The Light of Nala can make you feel drunk." To Blythe, he asks, "Going to visit Babel? You could meet me. I'm much odder in person."
"I work in Half Valley," Blythe notes, slowing down as they get closer to the castle. "So.. not anytime soon."
"Hey that's not too far from where I grew up. I have friends in Draco County if you ever find yourself there," Alptraum notes.
"Well, if it's an artifact, and the whole pain thing is to ensure loyalty.." Trilby muses, "Then it may not work over any distance at all. You'd use it while both victims are still in close proximity. Especially if there are so many involved! The only way to sort them out would be when they're close together. The artifact would need be wherever they were doing the.. uh.. recruiting, along with a supply of anchors."
"Sylvania? That's like.. wayyyy north," Blythe says. "It's not safe for mages to operate in Sylvania."
"Eh, depends. I know you'd be safe in Draco County; I know the ruler personally," Alptraum comments. And if he had lips, the grok would frown. "I an not near where they perform the ritual, and I don't really want to be. You remember my nature, yes? When I helped you with your patient?"
"Hey, who goes dere?" an ottery voice demands from the ramparts (well, trashparts) of the castle.
"If you haven't felt the presence of it, then wherever you are must not be close to the thing," Trilby agrees. "There's still the thread of killing the anchor.. maybe. So long as they aren't using the same anchor for multiple people. And killing the focus might restore energy to the anchor, but.. that's just a guess. An artifact may really be storing and transferring Life Magic, in which case there may not be a link at all between people. That would make it useful as a no-preparation tool though. No need to carry around a victim on the off chance of coming across a nearly dead person."
"Trilby, you gotta do the challenge," Blyth whispers.
"Don't forget your faithful steed, Fluffy," Alptraum suggests, quietly.
"Huh? Oh.. uh.." Trilby says, shifting mental gears. "How'd it go? Oh.. ahem." Raising her voice as much as possible, Trilby squeaks, "We're here for Prince Bishy! And the Throne of Fish! And.. to end the reign of Akwavi-Rah!"
"Prince Bishy?" Alptraum whispers to Blythe.
"He's very handsome," Blythe whispers back. "I know just what Trilby likes, after all."
"And what is that?" Alptraum asks next, of course.
"Knights! Man the pie-a-pults! Defend da boss!" There is a flurry of creaking, twangy sounds, and several fish pies go flying past. "How could you all miss? You been nibbling da pies aintcha!"
"Ack, we gotta charge before they remember they have a drawbridge!" Blythe says instead of dishing on Trilby's ideal man. Then she charges ahead with a mousy war-cry. "Hey! Uh.. giddy-up?" Trilby ask, giving Alptraum a nudge with her heels.
"Did I miss the part with the red herring?" Alptraum asks as he watches the pies soar overhead. The nudge gets him going, though ... and groks can move fast!
Two otters are still trying to figure out which way to turn the drawbridge crank when the heroes storm the drawbridge. "Lower the port cusses!" One guard calls in a panic, and several elderly otters are dangled down on ropes in front of the entrance. They cuss at each other and the invaders equally, as only cantankerous old coots can.
"Oh for ... these two are crazy!" Alptraum thinks as he darts underneath the cussing old coots. "This is some ridiculous tale like Hexen would tell..."
Next to face them are the Terror Totems - Akwavi stacked three high on each other's shoulders, but each with different weapons! The bottom otter had a shield, the middle one a weighted net, and the top one a pea-shooter! And only one of the totems fell over because of a low hanging beam, leaving the other presumably smarter one to hang back and pelt them with peas.
"I hate peas!" Trilby laments, waving her rapier wildly to try to deflect them.
"What about Whirled peas?" Alptraum asks as he turns and heards right towards the totems! He's got an armored shell, peas are for the weak!
"They got a monster! Why don't we get a monster?" the shield otter says, and the next one up notes, "We've got the Bog Wombler!" "We ain't in the bog now though!" Still, the net-otter throws his weapon, which catches Blythe, who goes down with an 'oof'.
This causes Alptraum, to skid and scrabble claws as he tries to turn so Trilby can go back and rescue her sister. "Never abandon family," he growls.
The other Skeek is pretty thoroughly tangled, and swearing up a storm. "Surrender now, and we'll just take you to the Tickle Pit!" the Terror Totem declares.. hopefully. It's main weapon is gone now, after all.
"Ahhhh!" Trilby squeaks as she hangs onto Alptraum. She's just got her rapier for cutting through things, unless there are knives that Alptraum hasn't seen.
"Plan b!" Alptraum declares as he runs by and uses his segmented tail to catch onto the net! He'll drag Blythe along! Also, through the disarmed Terror Totem!
"They're not surrendering," the Totem's 'head' notes. "You should have just threatened the Pillow Pit!" "No, the Grope-a-torium!" the 'belly' suggests.
The impact sends the three parts of the Totem flying. "Aaah! We surrender! Go ahead and tickle us!"
There's a keening wail from Blythe as she's dragged along.
"Do you drink a lot, Blythe?" Alptraum has to ask the drag-along skeek. "So, which way to Prince Prissy-Lips?"
"Uh.. through the harem.. then the lair of Akwavi-Rah!" Blythe says shakily.
"There's a harem?" Trilby asks. "Follow the scent of oil!" Blythe burbles.
Alptraum continues on, having no idea where the harem is, but follows the oily smell, anyway! But, he does at least stop at some point when it seems safe enough to untangle Blythe from the net!
"I meant to get netted," the Dream Mage claims once free.
"So your sister could be the hero, right?" Alptraum has to ask, then he slurps Blythe's cheek.
While there have been shouts and chaos as the castle defenders try to find them, the noise fades away to the sound of water chimes as they get closer to the harem. Then they find themselves in a large, white room with white marble flooring and white satin curtains.. and naked, lanky, white-furred otter men who are lounging on display, or doing some sort of aerial dance with hanging ropes, or oiling eachother up. They all look at the intruders with big brown bedroom eyes.
"So, should I leave you two in here for a while?" Alptraum has to ask the two skeeks. He's also glad he's male right now or he'd be in trouble in here!
"Nnng," Trilby says, biting her lower lip (and with buck teeth it's a good bite).
"We have to save the prince, and.. uh.. the other stuff!" Blythe claims.
"Just remember Murduck, and his fish-breath," Trilby says, taking a deep breath. "K-keep going, faithful steed.." she urges.
"Are you sure? I mean ... think of how slick and smooth and slinky these would be," Alptraum tempts the pair.
"Too hard to keep hold of," Trilby claims. Blythe notes, "Not if you rub the oil off."
"Last call for otter debauching..." Alptraum suggests as he starts through the harem.
The harem is closing in now, churring invitingly and holding out bowls of oil. Half of them somehow manage do this while walking backwards. Otters aren't known of having toned butts, but this IS a dream world.
"She does this to me every birthday," Trilby claims. "Just because I'm in Babel! They aren't any otters or bunnies to play with."
"Sure there are. I know a few," Alptraum points out, he then shakes his head and presses forward past the prettyboys. Now he wants to stay and play, hmph.
"Where?" Trilby says, as she bats away the grabby, webbed fingers until they're back in the shamble of the castle again. But even that opens up to a space that seems suspending in the center, with the trunks of the supporting mangroves framing it and the swamp down below. Rope bridges link to the suspended platform in the center, which is shrouded in layers of obscuring fishing nets.. with skeletons stuck in them, probably Skeek.
"A place called Paradise, I know lapis work there. May be an otter or two," Alptraum comments. "And are you sure you want to continue forward? It seemed a lot nicer back there..."
"FACE ME AND PERISH, FOOLISH HEROES!" comes a booming cackle that seems to shake the castle. "FACE THE IMMORTAL, INSATIABLE AKWAVI-RAH!"
"We have to end the reign of terror," Blythe reminds. "Akwavi-rah has the prince, and controls the bog-wombler!"
"What's wrong with a little immoral fun before fighting a reign of terror?" Alptraum asks Blythe.
"That's what the Prince is for," Blythe hisses. "Everyone knows that when you rescue a Prince, they have to... you know.. out of gratitude."
"What is the bog-wombler though?" Trilby has to ask, just as the structure shakes again as the swamp below churns and bubbles with a terrifying.. womble.
"It's probably a giant toad," Alptraum points out as he peers down at the swamp below. The steed then shrugs his spiny shoulders and darts across one of the bridges!
Blythe hangs onto the grok's tail to keep from being left behind! And then they burst through the shroud of nets to find.. more nets. But these seem to be wrapped around an Awkwavi shape, with just a mouth and sunken eyes exposed, along with bare, mummified skin that surrounds them. Atop the mummy's head is a golden hat.. that is actually a small chair with a golden fish seated in it. It looks impressive as far as golden hats go, however. "HAHAHA!" Akwavi-rah bellows, then scowls. "What, women and a bug? Why don't they send barbarian heroes anymore?"
"You have a twisted mind," Alptraum tells Blythe.
"Hey.. wait, there are hunky barbarians here too?" Trilby asks Blythe, who rolls her eyes and gestures the way they came. "Remember the skeletons?"
"No matter, I'll eat you anyway once you've been turned into.. fish!" Akwavi-rah claims, raising her arms as if to cast a spell!
"You two are the heroes here. I'm just the ride," Alptraum points out ... then takes off running again! This time, though, in circles around the mummy.
"Aaah, I hate fish!" Trilby says. "And peas! Get behind her, Bugcephalus!"
"Ah, you like it from the rear," Alptraum cackles as he tries to move in behind the mummy.
Blythe runs in the opposite direction, which irks Akwavi-rah. "Hey, stand still! I can't turn quickly in these nets you know!"
"Aha! Forsooth-and-what!" Trilby says, and swings her rapier down at a strand of net as Alptraum passes over it. "What a tangled web we... no, net, not web. What a tangled.. oh, that didn't do anything, maybe it's this one.." She keeps cutting at the nets.
Alptraum keeps moving, and using his segmented tail to help hold up parts of the net to make cutting easier! "If you cut off my tail I will not be happy!" he growls.
Eventually the correct net is cut, and Akwavi-rah is hoisted up into the air by her feet! "Nooo!" She grabs for her crown, but it falls free.. and the mummy explodes into a mass of fish jerky.
"The Throne of Fish!" Blythe says, pointing to the weird hat. "Now you can control the bog-wombler!"
"And RULE THE WORLD! AHAHAHAHAHA!" Alptraum bellows.
"Yes! No!" Trilby says, snagging the hat with her rapier. "I need this to.. uh.. free the prince, right?" she asks her sister.
"Yeah!" Blythe says, pumping her fist in the air.
"The Prince is the bog-wombler, isn't he?" Alptraum asks Blythe in whisper.
"Alright.." Trilby says, and puts the Throne on her head. "I command the bog-wombler to free the prince!"
Blythe shoots Alptraum a glare.
"What?" Alptraum asks.
The castle rumbles as the platform is lifted higher up by.. something.. lifting it from below. This brings them to a new suspended platform high up in the canopy. This one is a fairly opulent looking room, with.. Prince Bishy! He's naked of course, and chained to the foot of a four-poster bed. He's got snow-white fur, blue eyes, enormous.. bits.. and a blonde pompadour and sideburns.
"He would look better as the bog wombler," Alptraum remarks to Blythe.
"It isn't easy coming up with all of this you know," Blythe claims. "It takes weeks!"
"Really?" Alptraum asks, and doesn't admit he's created similar faster in some ways...
Trilby hops down from Alptraum's back, and says, "Well, I think I can take it from here.. but first.." She leans down in front of Alptraum, and gives him a kiss on the shell. "Find out if those men were in the same room as their anchor when they were tortured, and if there was anything or anyone else that stood out. If they got the whammy somewhere different from where they.. woke up, or whatever.. then they're probably at risk over distance. Otherwise they probably need to be close to the artifact or anchor for anything to happen."
"Life Magic does not work well over distance, but Spirit Magic does," she adds. "So if you can block Spirit Magic, that will help too."
"Right. Want me to eat your sister so she doesn't steal the Prince from you?" Alptraum asks, then looks at Blythe and licks ... teeth.
Blythe shudders. "Nah.. I'll go wait in the harem.." the Skeek offers.
"I'll guide you back, to be safe," Alptraum cuckles, darkly.
Back at the harem, Blythe asks, "Are you.. going to watch?"
Alptraum shifts from bug-dog to, well, a fairly good-looking bishy skreek. He fwooshes his hair back and grins. "I might join in," he offers, and waggles his brow. The with a flick of her nose, he adds, "You're a good sister. No one ever game me such a nice present for a birthday, so Trilby is lucky to have you. I hope I didn't muck it up too much."
"Well.. not too much," Blythe admits after looking Skreektraum up and down. "Is Trilby in any danger though? The Royal Mages aren't trivial!"
One of the minky otters removes Blythe's cape, and another takes her sword-belt.
"They have no knowledge of her that I'm aware. I'm the one in danger at the moment," Alptraum comments, then shrugs a little. "I just needed her input on what she knew about what they did, and might be doing. I've got a lot of lives in my palm right now, so to speak, and I don't want them to die."
"Well.. I suppose that is why she took the Babel assignment," Blythe says. She's got on puffy, frilly blouse under her armor. And a skirt.
Alptraum tries to help removing those with bare ratty fingers. "So, did you have fun? Did you really intend to get netted back there?" he asks.
"Well, I.. not really," Blythe says, and giggles at being undressed. "Trilby and I always finish together. It goes back to when we were defending our tree-fort from the local Akwavi boys. Well, we had Akwavi girls on our side too though. They can spit really accurately, it turns out."
Alptraum laughs a little and shakes his head. "So, should I leave you to the mercy of these boys?" he asks and gestures to the oily-otter-brigade.
"Well.. they're just fantasies," Blythe says. "You are real, right? Not something that leaked out of my sister's subconscious?"
"I am unfortunately quite real, and can be almost anything," Alptraum notes as he slinks in behind the skeek ... and soon she''s being wrapped in large naga coils. "Like sssssoooo," he hisses in her ear, tickling with his tongue, too..
"Eee-hee-heee," Blythe giggles nervously. "I don't know any Nagas.. personally."
"Do you know a lot of Skeeks?" she then asks.
"A few. Not many," Alptraum notes right before he engulfs her head for a split second with his entire mouth, then withdraws before she really freaks.
With nothing else to do, the otters keep flexing and oiling one another.. and fondling one another too. Alptraum doesn't know if otters actually act like this, but.. it probably wouldn't be surprising.
Her eyes are huge when her head reemerges. "How did you get here, anyway?" she asks squeakily. "Are you a Dream Mage?"
"No, I'm a demigod, remember?" Alptraum points out. "I'm ... difficult to really classify. I am bound to both the Barsunala spirit, as well as to the remains of the Shadow of Amena, which was a powerful weapon I tore from Amenlichli. I think because of the dream ritual back when, those bindings have allowed me to enter the dreams of people I know, if I try hard enough to do so. I can make my own scapes too, with some work. Yours are far more realistic."
Another shift, and Alptraum walks around her in the form of a female doe (not Gorphat's!) and grins. "I can also change genders," she notes.
"Well.. I've played with that in dreams too.." Blythe says. "Lucid dreaming is essential to a Dream Mage, after all.. but you were caught up in that big Dream Ritual? My mentor got stuck in that for weeks. I was afraid that there just wouldn't be a Sphere of Dream anymore. I don't know that I ever made a proper male though."
"Oh no, you misunderstand! I can do this in real life too," the doe coos at her and licks her cheek, slowly. "It's just easier here, but I can do exactly this, in person, not just a dream."
"So.. what do you really look like then?" Blythe asks, then smacks the side of her head. "Oh.. an Eeee.. err.. right?"
Another shift, and Alptraum looks like, well, Alptraum. "This," Alptraum explains. "Nothing all that grand, special, or heroic-looking, really. Just a poor boy raised with no education other than how to survive."
"So.. that's like a classic hero origin story!" Blythe says, perking up (in more ways than one). She's very into stories apparently. "Did you get into misadventures as a child, or have to fight off monsters trying to eat you for your power, or explore ruins?"
"Er, actually, yes, that did happen. I grew up with gypsies. We traveled a lot. I've seen many ruins, and more zombies than I care to remember. Then there was that Savanite cult that wanted to suck out my soul. Nasty lot," Alptraum ticks off on his fingers.
"A gypsy?" Blythe asks, eyes going wide with interest. "Did you seduce a lot of.. farmer's daughters then? Can you do sexy gypsy dances?" Yes, clearly someone enamored of cheap romance novels too, most likely.
Alptraum laughs. "No, I was terrible at seduction, and my friend Hexen wasn't any better," he admits. "I never had any luck with women until I was much older.
"Ahhh, better to claim you were chaste for.. religious reasons," Blythe says. "Didn't you know you were a demi-god?"
"Hah, no had no clue," Alptraum admits.
"So all that hardship was worth it though, right?" Blythe asks, and strikes a pose. "It gave you the strength to not go mad with power and such once you had it!"
"Oddly enough, that's probably true. I know how the lowest people were treated, and I don't do that myself. Unless they're evil and deserve it, anyway," Alptraum concedes. "And probably why I'm trying to help people now."
"And my sister is helping you," Blythe says, and does a little spin. Either she knows ballet, or dreamt of knowing it. "I'm so proud of her now! If you can already do dream stuff, it isn't likely I could do anything for you."
"Why do you say that? I'm usually in some sort of horrible situation. Tonight was ... fun. It was adventure without having to really worry. I could find humor in it and make bad jokes," Alptraum says. "I'd never ask you for anything, but ... tonight was a fun stress relief."
"Well, if you like my adventures, I'll make a new one for you sometime," Blythe promises. "Or I could.. do things to you in this one.." she suggests boldly.
"Or both," Alptraum says with a fangy grin. "Did I forget to mention I'm a vampire? A real one, not those undead things."
"I've never met a vampire before," Blythe says. "Are they really as sexy as.. well, fiction seems to suggest?"
"Well, how does fiction suggest they are?" Alptraum asks. "I've never read one of those books."
"Well, they're all dark and mysterious and suave and.. make you melt," Blythe says. "The biting part is supposed to be really.. sexy."
"Oh, well, yes, that part is true," Alptraum claims and grins.
Blythe look up hopefully at Alptraum. "Well? Are you gonna show me?"
Alptraum siddles up to Blythe and wraps his wings about her. A quick dart of his tongue and he licks her lips ... then dips his head down and drags a long lick along her neck, where it meets her shoulder. His jaws part, and then he bites, while at the same time grabbing her rump and lifting.
The mouse squeaks of course, and all of the otters squeak back. There's the usual tensing up before she relaxes.. even if her feet aren't on the ground anymore (or else Alptraum would be bending way over to bite her).
Alptraum holds that bite, and starts to nurse on her. The pain should ebb to feeling really nice, if rather odd, rather soon. He also growls for show...
"So.. it's like this in the real world too?" Blythe asks blissfully. "And.. you had trouble getting girls?"
Alptraum goes mmmhmmm, as he continues to nurse. His jaws eventually release, drawing his fangs back out. Then he licks over the wound, and though it's a dream, tries to use the shadow to 'heal' it, as well as tickle her a little from the inside.
"This feels weird," Blythe says. "But nice! Nobody's ever bitten me like that before. Well, one guy chewed on my tail but I think he was high on something.." she babbles.
An otter starts rubbing oil on Alptraum's exposed back.
Alptraum slips his hands off Blythe and rolls his shoulders. He looks over his shoulder at the otter and grins, noting, "That feels nice". His attention returns to the skeek, though, and then licks her nose. Tail chewing is not the same.
"Do I get to bite you now?" Blythe asks.
Alptraum grins. "Absolutely. Your friends here can join in too.."
"You might want to lie down for this," the Skeek suggests. "On your back."
Alptraum laughs and slides down to his kneels, then eases back onto his back, and finishes with stretching his legs out. "Yes, Mistress," he tease-coos at her.
And soon Blythe is gently biting and suckling on Alptraum, while the otters cheer her on.
Alptraum gasps and arches a little. "Now, that's a good bite," he rumbles. But, he can't leave well-enough alone and he's gently pulling the skeek around until he's kissing her other lips while she's nibbling on him. All's fair in, er, sex.
Of course the otters pair off and imitate the pair. Blythe gets very squirmy though, and for whatever reason wraps her tail around Alptraum's head. Maybe to hold him in place!
Alptraum feeling weird, and kinky ... rolls the pair over so that she's on her back and he's above her! He wiggles invitingly at the otters if any want to join in with the skeek-Eeee pairing too. Why? Babel, it does weird things to people.
So of course some lubed-up otters try to join in. Both end up on top of Alptraum.. one at each end. So the bat gets one in Gorphat's mouth, and so does Blythe, which means Alptraum's face is getting rubbed by otter-nads due to proximity.
This makes Alptraum squeak a bit in shock! But hey, it's a dream, and dreams are meant for doing stuff you'd never actually do, right? So, he tries not to think too much about what he's seeing and instead just enjoying the somewhat uncomfortable, but nice, feelings ... and seeing just how many noises he can make the mouse make.
Of course any noises she makes are then transmitted directly into Alptraum's own groin, due to the nature of their connection. Squeaks vibrate things - which means an Eeee could probably do some real damage in that situation! Usually though the result is a sudden sharp slurp.
Alptraum shivers, and well, tries to get that to happen again at semi-random intervals in tease! If Inala could see this, she's probably be proud!
Since Eeee have longer tongues than Skeeks, making Blythe twitch comes easier for Alptraum.. although it's possible the otter is helping too. It makes it harder for Blythe to keep her tail-grip on Alptraum though. Aside from the squeaks, there are also light bites when something really shocks her.
After a bit, the oddness of it passes and Alptraum really starts to enjoy it, which means tongue is really going 'to town' with the skeek, and thankfully the Otter on him is keeping him from pushing down on her, so, control in not choking her! It was his plan! Yeah, that's his excuse. He's also fighting from peaking before she does.
Things are a bit squeaky from the otters too, but that's more due to the fish-oil 'lube' they're using. They aren't terribly creative though, which explains why Blythe was more interested in a 'real' partner. She also tastes nothing like a Skreek (or an Igorina, anyway). But there are still common indicators, and he can tell that she's close! Also from the wiggling, but that isn't as accurate a meter given the otter interference.
Alptraum is really focusing on that sound, so when she really starts to go, he also lets himself stop fighting .. and tries to get the otters to let go too! "/Gah, I'll never live this down if she tells Trilby!" he thinks before he's feeling quite, ah, blissful
It takes a moment for the otters to react - they may not have been 'written' with that much depth when crafting the dream, but Blythe is a lot more intense anyway! She also doesn't gag.
IT's a bit before Alptraum's brain clears and he rolls to the stide with a thumb, and still otter-paled, at that. "Woo, okay, that was fun," he gasps.
"Are you really going to introduce my sister to a Lapi?" Blythe asks after a few moments of recovery.
"Would you prefer it if I did not?" Alptraum asks.
"It's fine, she's probably feeling cooped-up," Blythe says.
Alptraum nods from where he lays, then reaches back and pats his 'otter'. "All right, I will do so if I survive my current real adventure," he agrees. "And maybe you should go check on her."
"Oh.. I did try to give the Prince some actual personality, but you're right.. she usually doesn't take this long," Blythe says and stretches. She looks for her clothes, then just snaps her fingers to become fully dressed again. "Pleasant dreams to you, Barsunala," she says, and bows.
"And to you, Mage Blythe," Alptraum says and salutes.