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Doombug
I have nothing better to do than write. I still get paid but I have no work to do, and I don't have anyone to socialise with.
edboy4926
I'm glad you like the story
Author Note
If you have ideas for this story feel free to share them.
Dimensional Traveller CYOA
Part 4
Omega. Mass Effect.
I really had to wonder if there was any fictional universe I knew about that wasn't out there somewhere for me to go find and with my ability to so easily travel the multiverse I could simply go and visit them all. Not that I wanted to stick around here for long as the space station Omega was not a safe place, so we get in and out as quickly as possible.
Before coming here I'd done some research so as to find out what they valued here so I'd have something to trade with. While gold and silver did have some use during an exchange performed in this universe it wouldn't be the best metal to use when making a deal, not when the civilizations of this galaxy had so much more of a need for platinum, and unlike credits, the transactions made using platinum couldn't be traced.
As for the metal I wanted to use as a trade good, I'd simply stolen it, The Traveller's journals contained so much information that no one in the group other than my G-Pointdexter could have made sense of it, and she'd started indexing the journals and scanning them onto a computer in such a way that you could find a journal entry for a wide range of subjects, including the locations of precious metals.
While I could no longer return to the places I'd stolen from, at least not for a good long time, that hardly mattered as they were just a few locations in a vast, vast multiverse, and it wasn't as if I cared that some bank had gotten robbed. With my ability to teleport I could appear somewhere and disappear very quickly before leaving that dimension so nearly all forms of law enforcement wouldn't be able to stop me.
I'd researched this place before coming here, as my memories of the game couldn't be totally trusted, as such I knew that Omega was described by some as "the Terminus Systems' dark, and twisted counterpart to the Citadel" It was a huge mining station built from the remains of a massive, irregularly shaped asteroid.
Within the station, you would find twisting streets that were populated with homes, shops and warehouses. Omega's inhabitants are usually lawless. The territory within the station was controlled by the strongest faction in that area and frequently changes hands, often after brutal violence. The station's current "de facto" ruler is Aria T'Loak, a woman I hoped to avoid.
The heavy-metal-rich core of the original asteroid was mined until the asteroid was almost completely hollow, providing the initial resources used to construct Omega's buildings and facilities. Over the years, these have been expanded until they completely cover every exposed inch of its surface, making Omega a bizarre mishmash of architecture and technology.
Omega served as a home to dozens of species, including batarians, vorcha, and salarians, as well as many other species not welcome in Citadel space. Humans were also now appearing here in numbers so Faith and I didn't seem like an odd sight.
"Let's get what we came for and get gone," I said.
Soon we met with Harrot, who was an elcor merchant here on Omega. He runs Harrot's Emporium, as the name suggested, a salvage shop in the Omega Market. In exchange for my platinum, he sold us the Omni-tools I desired along with plenty of kinetic barriers, many more than we needed as I didn't want to have to come back to replace any broken items.
By the time we were done I got the sense that we were being watched, I felt like prey with a predator coming up behind it so once our business was done I got Faith to follow me down in dark ally, normally a very stupid idea at a time like this, only as soon as we got out of sight of the people at the moment I took us to another dimension
(Line Break)
Sigil. The Outlands.
While I still had a big jumble of memories in my head to sort out and a lingering desire to somehow download the mess into some sort of computer, I'd not wanted to squander what I'd been granted by dumb luck so soon after becoming The Traveller I'd begun research into places myself and my minions could go and visit so as to find useful things.
One of these dimensions was called the Outlands. At the very centre of the Outlands, was an infinitely tall Spire that shoots up into the sky, around the top of which could be found the city of Sigil, the place I was walking in right now, along with a few of my girls, well all of them aside from Emma who wouldn't be any help should we encounter any trouble.
While the centre of this plane of existence was called true neutral, in terms of moral alignment which was a very important thing in this part of the multiverse, it wasn't so towards its edges. At the border between the Outlands and some other planes of existence, gate-towns exist, so named for the portals to the nearby planes they are built around.
These gate-towns took on many of the characteristics and morality of the plane they have a gate to, and when the balance shifts and they become enough like that plane, they slip into it. So if a gate-town near one of the hells became too corrupt it would be dragged into that hell. This made some sense when you understood how important moral alignment was here.
This was why Sigil remained truly neutral as doing so keeps it stable in a place where the laws that govern other places simply didn't apply, and since I didn't fully understand those rules, I'd decided that our visit to this city would be short. I didn't want to mess with the balance of power here or be noticed by the cities ruler. As such our trips to this place would be short and would focus on business rather than exploring.
The sole ruler of Sigil was the mysterious and terrifying, Lady of Pain. She rarely if ever communicated with her citizens and punished any who crossed her path or attempted to worship her by flaying them to death or turning them to stone, making the denizens of her city very wary of drawing her attention.
Leaving every day running of the city up to her citizens, the Lady only interfered when the stability of Sigil was in jeopardy. She kept the higher powers (deities and such) who would take advantage of the city's unique location and its many portals, and endanger its neutrality, out of the city, destroying, or maybe just driving off, any who wandered in.
An interesting feature of Sigil was that had portals to many different locations, including places known as Baator, Carceri, and the Outlands, just to name a few, and I had no idea what realms they even were so there could be plenty to explore as long as we were careful in our travels through this city and didn't draw the wrong kind of attention towards us.
Given that I didn't need such portals I might never make use of them, but that didn't mean they weren't interesting. The portals found here could be anywhere: a doorway, the gap between a chair and a wall, a window, in the middle of a street, they were very hard to detect unless you knew what to look for. Also, the portals needed keys to activate and open them, which could be anything from a physical object, which could be a piece of random junk or a priceless treasure, to immaterial things like a hummed tune, a specific thought or just a well-timed gesture.
I'd gotten this information from The Traveller's journals that I and both of my pokegirls studied, and one of mention this plane of existence as well as a place called Fell's Tattoo Parlor, which as the name suggested gave people tattoos, however, these were not normal tattoos, they were magical and based upon the design the tattoos had different effects, such as granting a degree of protection or making a warrior more lethal in battle.
When we got inside the tattoo parlour, I saw that the circular area near the entrance served as the principal area of business, with numerous tattoo designs adorning its walls. At the back of the parlour was a gallery of human skins stretched on wooden canvases. I really, really didn't want to wonder how Fell had gotten access to so much human skin.
"Maybe we can get the tats somewhere else" Velma suggested.
Given the human skin on display, I could understand her concern, but we didn't have much of a choice as the group needed more protection if we were going to keep travelling the multiverse. I was immune to many things, but I did require greater defence against direct attacks and this place could help with that.
Since the alien creature had a monopoly here he wasn't going to share the knowledge of his craft with me or anyone so I would have to make good use of the creature's skills while I was in this part of the multiverse. At least he did explain that a healthy human could handle up to three of his special tattoos at a time and that some would fade after use, but this didn't concern me much as they accepted gold here. I had more than enough of metal and I could always acquire more.
"Now we just need to select our tats," I said to Faith, Twilight and Velma.
I selected a Tattoo of Health, a Tattoo of Insight, and a Tattoo of Might, there better versions of these tattoos, only I had a limited amount of gold on my person, and some of the more advanced tattoos were only meant for specific classes of people, not of which I counted as.
As Faith counted a fighter type she went with Tattoo of Greater Might, Tattoo of Greater Enduring and Tattoo of Greater Health, all of which were expensive, so she paid for them out of her own pocket, well not directly but I could take the cost of her wages.
Twilight didn't get any tattoos, her reasoning had to do with the fact that her breed of pokegirl have runes that appear on their skin when they channel a lot of magical power and the tattoos being magical might interfere with the runes to an unknown effect. It simply wasn't worth the risk of that for a small boost from the tats.
As for the smartest member of our group, Velma, she went with a Tattoo of Insight, a Tattoo of Actions well as a Tattoo of Might. I spent a lot of gold on this, so much that soon I was going to need a way to replenish my supplies. Thankfully I had some ideas on how to do that.
(Line Break)
Tel'Adre. Mareth.
One of the many strange and wonderful things that I'd discovered when going through the Traveller's journals was the city of Tel'Adre which was a major settlement in a land called Mareth. The entity that I'd become a successor to, hadn't spent much time in this reality due to its effects on the natives as well as it's visitors.
This world was not only infested with demons, or at least it had been when The Traveller had visited, the entire realm made people rather sex crazy, and since my pokegirls were already dependant on sex to function it didn't seem like a good idea to expose to Mareth for too long.
What interested me the most about this city had little to do with the fact that it was inhabited by horny animal people. For sure that was fascinating, and also kind of sexy, however, it was the economy that I was focused upon, not only what I could buy, but also how I could obtain a lot of the local currency so that I could buy some of the things that they had for sale in this city.
The reason gemstones were used as money in this dimension was because they were far more common than metal deposits here in Mareth. This I had discovered when trying to buy magical weapons and armour. I'd not had nearly enough gemstones so I'd decided to import some metal, bringing in bars of iron from places they could be found cheaply and selling them here for much in the way of profit.
This resulted in us having a glut of gemstones to spend and that meant it was time to do some shopping. We'd started at The Piercing Studio which was one of the many businesses here in the hidden city of Tel'Adre, and it was run by a friendly cat-girl called Yara.
On the outside, it looked to be a rough place built from sandstone, with a sign that depicted a hermaphroditic centaur who was fully covered in piercings. However, its interior was earthy, with bare walls and multicoloured woven blankets covering the windows. One wall was covered in mirrors, and another had a shelf stacked with piercing equipment as well as sex toys.
Also, there were comfortable chairs for customers, and most importantly of all, there was a list of what piercings were available and how much they cost, as such I didn't need to discuss prices with the owner of the business.
I had quickly decided on getting pierced twice in my left ear, with two jewelled studs. One would be an enchanted emerald, which slightly increased a person's speed and the other would be a diamond which somewhat increased a person's intelligence and slightly increased their libido. Since I had a sex slave, two pokegirls and a Slayer, an increased sex drive would be an asset to me rather than some kind of hindrance.
"You know you can get other parts pierced," the catgirl told me as I sat down on the chair "Your girls are".
Because some of the enchanted materials had both negative and positive effects I was being very careful about the piercings, and not just for that reason, but also because once the studs were in our bodies could only be removed using a magical device owned by Yara. Mostly this was a good thing as it meant they couldn't be taken from us, but should we enhance our libidos too much our sex drives could become a deadly distraction.
"I'm sure" I replied, "One enchanted diamond, one enchanted emerald on plain silver studs please".
While I was being cautious my girls were not being so careful.
"I want an Amethyst ring for my clit" Twilight decided, eager to get pierced since unlike the magical tattoos these bits of metal wouldn't interfere with the runes that could appear on her skin "All us girls should get one of these so that we match".
From what I knew that would increase her intelligence, and also her libido. This was a little worrying as she by far the horniest of my girls. Not that this was unexpected given her breed of pokegirl. Lucky for me pokegirls could be Tamed by someone other than their master, such as each other, but this only freed some of my time as I still needed to Tame herself myself to keep us bonded.
"We can only afford two piercings each" I reminded my harem "Enchanted items aren't cheap".
Faith didn't seem bothered and Velma was acting shy so Twilight was left to ponder things before speaking again.
"Okay so how about first we get magic amethyst on a non-magic gold ring for our clits" she suggested, sounding very professional about the whole thing, and she should since magical items were her business "and then us girls get a nipple pierced with a magic emerald with a not magical gold stud".
That would be expensive, but well worth it as it would give all my girls a minor increase in speed and intelligence with only a slight increase to their sex drives. This would cost me a lot of my gems, but I could always trade more raw metals for more gems.
"I'll do both nipples for the price of one" the catgirl offered "I don't normally get this much business so I'm happy to offer a discount".
This was very welcome news as nipple piercing really should be done in pairs.
(Line Break)
Whiterun. Skyrim.
"I was worried that a Daedric Prince or a Divine might appear to drive me away" I whispered to Faith as we walked the streets of another medieval-looking city "So far so good".
While my version of Planeswalking was subtle, it couldn't be totally undetectable because nothing ever was, and the local deities had invested a lot into this world, in some cases a good deal of themselves. Hopefully, my visit to this world would remain unnoticed by any higher powers.
I'd come here because gotten an idea on how to make lots of money when visiting more primitive worlds, when in modern worlds I would buy a lot salt for very little money, then travel to a medieval world to sell the salt for silver and gold coins, and once I had some way to turn those coins into bars of silver and gold I could sell some of the metals in a modern world for bundles of cash to pay Faith with as well as to cover other expenses.
This could be repeated with some other items such as spices, which in Sunnydale were cheap, but worth their weight in silver in places like Skyrim. I just had to make sure that I didn't keep going back to the same places when making these deals as selling so much in the way of salt and spices would attract attention and drain the coffers of too many merchants.
For this trip, we'd come to Whiterun, which was a major city located in the centre of Skyrim, to the northwest of the Throat of the World, the highest mountain on the entire continent of Tamriel. It served as the capital of Whiterun Hold, Whiterun's central location makes it the province's major commercial hub a good reason to do some trading while here.
Its central location also makes it a crucial strategic point in the Civil War between the Imperial Legion loyalists and Stormcloak rebels, as control of Whiterun Hold grants access to all the surrounding areas, but I'd seen no sign of any war when visiting the cities of this land.
Whiterun comprises three districts arranged in tiers and connected by stairways. The Plains District is the lowest and contains all the shops, the city's marketplace, inns, and a few homes as well at the city gates. The Wind District is the main residential area; its more important buildings include the Temple of Kynareth and Jorrvaskr, headquarters of the Companions. The Cloud District is the location of Dragonsreach and is the highest point in Whiterun.
Local businesses and services in Whiterun included the Warmaiden's a smithy and weapons store, The Drunken Huntsman tavern and hunting supply store, Belethor's General Goods store, which we would soon visit the Arcadia's Cauldron alchemy store and The Bannered Mare inn.
The Jarl's Palace, Dragonsreach, which we'd seen from a distance is the centre of political matters and law enforcement for the city and the entire region, as it housed Dragonsreach Dungeon below. The Jarl's court wizard Farengar Secret-Fire also resides here and has spells and enchanting supplies for sale. He was another person I hoped to meet with soon.
Another thing I knew about this important settlement was that The Companions are based in Whiterun, as the city itself was established and expanded around their mead hall, Jorrvaskr. The Skyforge is worked by the greatest blacksmith in Skyrim, Eorlund Gray-Mane, who forges weapons and armour for the Companions. This ancient forge predates even Jorrvaskr and is said by some to produce the finest steel found anywhere in Tamriel. Perhaps one day I'd find out if this was true or not.
"No thunderbolts" commented Faith.
I'd given a quick explanation about the higher powers of this world, so she'd been thinking about the thunder and lightening kind of wrath.
"Come on let's find the nearest store," I said.
So far I'd not gotten much exploring done as I'd been busy going to different worlds in order to arm and armour myself as best I could. To this end, I wore armour from the pokegirl world, which was a chaotic collection of plate, chainmail, cloth and leather, a finely crafted longsword from the Fable world that had a Lucky Charm augment on it to aid me in battle, and out of my Hammespace I could very quickly summon up a laser rifle.
Less obvious forms of protection and magical enhancements included the magical tattoos as well as the enchanted ear studs, each alone did little to improve me, but such things added up and they wouldn't get in the way of obtaining magical items, such as rings and amulets. If you used too may enchanted items you ran the risk of them interfering with each other, but I'd been assured the tattoos and piercings would do that due to how mild their effects were.
Aside from all that I had Twilight and Faith to protect me. Fatih was dressed up like me and along with Twilight, who looked like a sorceress who'd come right out of a fantasy novel, we could pass for an adventurer party in a world such as this or the Forgotten Realms, that I should get around to visiting sometime in the next few hundred years.
"So this world has quests, and dragons, and all that nerd stuff?" asked Faith.
It did and so did a bunch of other dimensions I knew about. Thanks to the journals and my memories, which were becoming easier to handle over time, I knew of many realities we could visit if we wanted to go on quests so as to earn more magical items or to make some gold.
That could be fun, but for now, my main concerns involved acquiring the tools my group and I needed to keep us safe during our travels. I'd come here to purchase some enchanted items and to that, I needed to make some gold, hence the selling of salt and spices.
We entered the general store, and I ignored the words of the sleazy guy behind the counter as much as possible while bartering with him, and that wasn't easy. I felt fairly certain that he'd ripped me off unless salt was easier to obtain in Skyrim than I'd expected, but since salt was really cheap to buy in Sunnydale I found myself not caring.
"We'll check in with the alchemist," I said to Twilight and Faith "She'll want our pepper and could have some recipes we can buy".
While Sorceress type pokegirls could not make enchanted items they could brew potions and I had a lab at home well suited for such things that seemed to be as big as we needed it to be. Twilight could be put to work in the Pocket Dimension to ensure that the group had a good stock of potions which we might need if for some reason I couldn't heal someone, due to distance, a distraction or because my efforts were already focused on healing myself
"Then we can go see the court mage and enquire about enchanted items" I followed by saying.
I already had suitable jewellery to be enchanted and the wizard should have everything else required other than payment for his services. I wanted my girls to have amulets that allowed them to breath underwater, in case anyone tried to drown them, and I wanted a ring that would enhance my ability to use a sword if possible
(Line Break)
The Traveller's Pocket Dimension.
Faith Lehane was the kind of woman who didn't care much if anyone thought she was a slut just because she enjoyed having sex. Normally she didn't backtrack, she would find a guy she liked, screw his brains out and then move on, get some, get gone. That hadn't always been the case, and now she'd returned to earlier behaviour.
The Dark Slayer was well aware that she had issues and other stuff that held her back in life, she'd never been to college, she'd never even finished High School, but she had street smarts and while she put up a brave front it was a defence, a way of keeping the world at bay so that the people in couldn't hurt her too much.
Despite that, she knew that what she really wanted and now that she had a shot at the happiness she'd always desired was going to do what it took to keep it. She had money, power, a secure home, she even had friends or at least people who could become friends, basically, she had a chance to be more than white trash.
If that involved sleeping with her new boss than that was fine with her. He treated her well, paid her far more than she was worth, even if was a Slayer, and while he didn't seem inclined to share his feelings with her, that didn't bother Faith much, if anything she was grateful that he didn't want to talk about such things. Feelings had never been a comfortable subject for her.
Being a woman of action rather than words she'd come into his room while naked, having waited until he'd gotten ready for bed her Slayer hearing made it easy for her to tell when he'd returned to his room to get some sleep after working on something down in the library.
Once she'd gotten him where she wanted him, she'd then planted her feet on either side of his chest before she began to ride him like he was a prize bull. Leaning back into her palms, her knees spread wide. She offered him a spectacular view of her naked body, with her big, beautiful tits bouncing, and her glistening pink pussy on display. She'd shaved it for him because she'd overheard him tell his pokegirls that this was how he liked his pussy.
Since he'd been good to her The Traveller got to watch a very sexy woman ride him and Faith was giving him quite a show. She reached down to play with herself, giving her clit a good rub as he watched, she knew how to put on a show and she also knew to get herself off before whatever guy she was riding went off like a cannon. They always did for her because she had very good control over the muscles in her body and she liked to control the action during sex.
He reached to fondle her breasts, and she felt pleased with herself for going up a cup size when they'd visited that strange world with all the horny furries, she'd used her share of the gems to make her boobs even bigger, and not that she'd ever admitted this, but she'd done that in part so as to get the Traveller's attention, not that he seemed to have noticed until now.
When he got a bit too rough with them, as any guy would when presented with Faith's breasts, she didn't mind at all, the piercings weren't sore thanks to her Slayer healing and she was a tough bitch so his rough hands wouldn't do her any real harm. Besides Faith kind of wanted to get him hooked on her breasts so that he'd spend more time with them and by extension the rest of her.
"Don't stop. I like it" she said "Make it hurt"
He used his thumb and fingers on her nipples flicking the piercings she'd recently gotten before he twisted them and he was not gentle about it, and this made her squirm and whimper. Then he pulled on her already tender nipples and that felt really good. She enjoyed the mixture of pain and pleasure that she was feeling at this time.
"Yeah," she said, "Like that".
Faith moaned to signal her approval, and she could feel herself getting wetter as she rode his cock.
"Oh Daddy, you know I like it rough," she told him.
She hadn't meant to say that, it had slipped out and Faith worried for a moment that The Traveller would freak out even if her experience most guys just went with it when she talked dirty and made a little effort to talk back.
"Do you like riding Daddy's cock?" he asked.
Faith nodded as she smiled. No one had ever played along before, at least not like this. The way The Traveller looked at her and the tone of his voice made her spine shiver, and she could only nod her head in reply. This was no mere guy she was riding.
"Say it then" he ordered.
She felt compelled to obey.
"I like riding your cock, Daddy," she said
Calling him that felt good as he was older than her, wealthy and powerful, all things she felt attracted to, and it didn't hurt that he treated her so well. She didn't like to think about where she could have ended up without The Traveller coming into her life.
"Say it again" he commanded, his voice firm.
Faith knew that The Traveller was powerful and that while he wasn't that old he had centuries of experience, and she for the first time she heard that in the way he spoke.
"I like riding your cock, Daddy," she said
Outside of his bedroom, she'd keep things more professional, but at times like this Faith knew she'd end up doing whatever he wanted, just like the other girls around here, and she found that she didn't mind.
"I really like riding your cock, Daddy," she admitted.
She showed the truth of her words, she expertly got herself off as she rode her boss's cock, and it felt so much better with him going along with the dirty talk. That the Traveller accepted her, and more than that she actually liked him as well, this made it all so much better
"Gonna come... oh fuck…!" she called out.
How he could even speak right now was a wonder to Faith, as she was very good at riding a man, and somehow he managed to talk.
"Good girl, cum for Daddy" he ordered
As she did as he told her to, he spilt his seed up into her with a grunt, and the Dark Slayer soon found herself lying next to The Traveller as she'd not been able to stay on top of him after her orgasm. Mostly it had been her own work, but the way he'd spoken during the sex to her had really made things better.
"Wow. You really do know how to treat a lady" she said.
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head, then she planted her chin on his chest and gazed up at him. She didn't cuddle, but a little rest after a good cum was required.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
As luck would have it we'd arrived at this city exactly ten years after my predecessor had visited, assuming my memories could be trusted, so I was just in time for an event called the Decennial Tournament. This was a tradition as old as Camelot itself and due to all the visitors to the city it would be easy for Faith and myself to blend in as long as we had the right clothes and we didn't do anything to draw too much attention to ourselves.
The tournament was held once every decade and it was open to all comers, both high and low born, and in theory women as well. All matter of weapons are allowed and the only real rule seems to be that there are no rules. Entering such a contest was a very dangerous undertaking but for the prize of 100 gold pieces, many are willing to risk life and limb.
According to the journal that my predecessor had penned as he'd explored a little of this world, and my own recollections, King Uther Pendragon had won this tournament 3 decades in a row and The Traveller before me knew this as he'd been there to watch the last one.
He'd not bothered to enter the contest despite his own skills in combat as he'd been much more of a passive observer than me, but I was willing to risk injury in order to have some fun, and while Faith entering might seem ridiculous to the locals, it wouldn't be the first time a female warrior had come here to challenge another to fight.
With my healing powers, there wasn't much risk unless someone took my head off, and I planned to cheat a little, not directly by using my powers, as anything that looked magical would result in the King sending his knights to kill me, and while I could escape them I'd rather not upset the locals in case I wanted to visit here again. No, I would make use my more passive powers such as the one that gave me the body of an Olympic athlete before the magical enhancements came into effect.
While killing in this contest was acceptable I had no desire to end any lives, but I wouldn't lose any sleep if I did slay any of the combatants. Although if I met the king in combat I might kill him on purpose. I should warn Faith about that in advanced if I faced the king because she'd at least be shocked about me killing him as he might look Giles and killing humans had caused trouble in her life. I did care somewhat for my Slayer.
I wouldn't normally care much about the ruler of a small kingdom in a small country, in an unimportant world, which was a tiny part of one dimension, but the local ruler offended me with his mere existence. In the past he'd used magic to get himself a son because he couldn't his wife pregnant, and then when his plan went wrong getting wife killed he'd started a genocidal crusade against all magic, be they human spellcasters or magical creatures, blaming them for his own stupid idea. I was no magic users, but still, I felt some anger towards the man.
"There should be a steward around here somewhere who will enter our names," I said the Faith.
While I had my pokeballs on my person in case of trouble I kept my pets, as was what they were in some sense, stored in the pokeballs and this was no place of Twilight as her mere presence screamed sorceress to people, as for Velma she'd just get distracted. G-Pointdexters did not make for good travelling companions.
"Where are we going to stay?" asked my Slayer.
Even with my memories of the show getting all muddled with that of the other Traveller I knew for certain the inns would all be full, but the castle, the citadel, may have space and if we could play the part of noble visitors and bribe the right people they should be able to find us a room, one that we could lock up the room before accessing the Pocket Dimension.
"That guy looks like an official" I commented.
There was an oldish man sitting behind a desk who wore the colours of Camelot red and gold, and he had a dragon on his outfit.
"We're here for the contest," I said as if that wasn't clear to see just by looking at us "I am The Traveller and this is Lady Faith Lehane".
In the show loads of people and some creatures successfully pretended to be nobility so as to gain access to the more secure areas of Camelot. During this event, the security would be even more lax than normal simply because of the festive attitude and because of the pointlessness of trying to keep an eye on everyone when there were so many around.
"Woman can't enter," said the event organiser "It is forbidden".
I argued against that before Faith went women's lib on the guy with her fists.
"There are no rules for this contest so how can women be forbidden to enter it?" I asked.
The man just looked confused.
"You'll have to check with Geoffrey of Monmouth," he said, "He knows the laws and customs of the land better than anyone".
He was referring to the Court Genealogist and keeper of the royal library. If there was anything in the books that actually made it illegal for a woman to compete in this event he would know about it. Not that there should be if it was meant to be a no holes barred sort of event.
(Line Break)
Chambers. The Citadel.
Currently, I was reading through a book called the Chronicles of Beltane. Which I'd gotten from Geoffrey of Monmouth after confirming with him that there was nothing in the laws or customs of the land that prevented Faith from competing in the contest. Such a rule might be enforced in the future, but by the time the King and his council got around to dealing that issue, the event would be long over, and he was too busy to deal with it now.
Faith might have an unfair advantage when facing the more noble fighters as a true knight would hold back when fighting a woman due to their code, even I might do the same as I'd been raised to believe that striking a woman is always wrong, but it couldn't be certain that I'd even face the Dark Slayer in the contest and if we did she'd likely win because she was a better fighter than me. I wouldn't have hired her if it had been otherwise.
Should it come down to me and Faith then win or lose, either way, I'd get half of the prize money as we'd agreed to split the winnings between us and Camelot's golden coins were rather large from what I'd seen, as such I should be able to get a good rate of exchange for them during my travels.
Since I'd been able to bribe my way into staying in the castle, corruption seemed to be plentiful under the current king's rule. Uther might be feared, but he wasn't liked or that well respected by those who served him, not that I could tell for sure as I'd not yet meet enough of his subjects to be sure of how the majority people viewed the king.
I'd decided to make use of the library while here, Geoffrey of Monmouth had been happy to lend me the book, it helped that I'd paid him for the privilege and offered a few more coins as insurance against any damage done to the book. That might seem excessive if not for the fact that they had no printing presses here so books had to be copied by hand and there might be any copies of some of the texts here in Camelot.
As to why I'd taken this book from the library it mentioned a very special sword, one that a powerful dragon needed to breathe fire upon for it be created, and I wished to know more about this kind of weapon because it could kill anything, or so it seemed, even things that were already dead, and it might enhance the fighting skills of the sword's owner as well. What little information I had about the dragon forged blades were clear on what exactly they could do.
I knew that owning such a weapon did not guarantee victory against superior swordsmen, as during Arthur's second liberation of Camelot, he was overpowered by a man called Helios during their duel, although it should be noted that Arthur had been injured and was not at his fighting peak so the true power of a such a sword was unknown. Still, it seemed worthwhile to own one.
Alas getting my hands on such a sword would be next to impossible. If the great dragon that had once been trapped beneath the Citadel could still be found below I might have been able to strike a bargain to free him in exchange for his aid in making another Excalibur.
Only he'd already been freed and I had no way to make contact with the dragon without befriending Merlin, who could summon his friend, and given how powerful Excalibur could be in the right hands, or how much harm it could do in the wrong hands, without some major leverage, the dragon was unlikely to burnish a sword for me.
"The Great Sword begotten in the dragon's breath" I muttered to myself once I'd finished that page.
Reading that passage had not helped at all. The book was full of deeds of knights, monsters they'd slain, maidens they'd saved as well as other brave, and possibly fictional achievements, but it was very much lacking in useful information.
With my Omni-tool, which I kept hidden from view after picking one up during a recent trip, I scanned each page from the book I'd read it as even a little information could be useful and the secret to my success so far had been good record keeping by the person known as The Traveller.
Not long after I was done with my scanning there was knocking at the door.
"Enter," I said
I soon found myself face to face with Merlin, the young man who would one day become a legend that lasted well into my time. Right now he was just a serving boy, but I knew how dangerous he could be so I made sure to get him out of my room as quickly as possible. Hopefully, he hadn't sensed anything odd about me and would be distracted by the magic-user who was using a ring to help him win this contest.
To help this along I decided to retreat into the Pocket Dimension and stay there until morning. No sense staying around here if there was a powerful mage about, and I had no desire to get into a fight with any version of Merlin.