I do not own Dungeons and Dragons or any of the characters.
Keeping the Crypt
Jasper finished strapping on his armor, glancing at Mia and Aranea, who were both also just finishing strapping on their armor. Jasper back in his favored elf form and Mia currently as a red-haired elf. They all collected their weapons, but before they could leave, Aranea stopped them both, kissing them and smiling.
"Thank you for letting me join," Aranea smiled. "I appreciate it."
"Why're you acting like it was only a one-time thing?" Mia asked, wrapping her arms around Aranea from behind, trailing her fingers over the exposed flesh of Aranea's upper thighs.
"If you want it to continue, it will," Jasper smiled, kissing Aranea. "You're welcome to join us anytime you want."
Aranea blushed, but smiled, nodding, and kissed both of them before pulling on her mask. Finally, the three of them headed down to meet the others, finding the others had all gathered at the bar already, and their three newest, albeit temporary, companions had all changed their wardrobe. Adrianna now wore a leather armor top that was cut low between her breasts to expose her cleavage and left her midriff exposed, a pair of leather gloves, a short skirt of thick leather straps with a wide belt at the top, leather knee pads, and a pair of leather boots. Due to his time living with elves, Jasper recognized the armor as being crafted by elves, most obviously by the thin, gilded, vine-like designs curling along the armor below her breasts and along the edges of the skirt's hanging leather straps and by the light-green tint of the armor's top and skirt, though the belt, gloves, knee pads, boots, and pauldrons were all a light tan. Kromlech wore a suit of chainmail covered by a full-length red tunic decorated by a gold lion on the chest. The gauntlets and short sleeves left his arms exposed from mid-forearm to mid-bicep, and he had foregone a helmet, but the armor suited him. Vahn, on the other hand, wore pale tan-grey leather armor that covered everything but his arms, and had gotten a shortsword with the silver guard bent into a "U" toward the blade and a bell pommel.
"Looks like we're the last ones," Jasper noticed, Kira, Simon, and Doric instantly blushing as Edgin cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"That's because you spent too long fucking before you decided to get rest like ye were supposed to," Kromlech grumbled.
Out of those who remained, Holga and Vahn both seemed indifferent, but Adrianna was watching them almost interestedly.
Jasper shrugged. "I'm not apologizing. I told you, things all, things hold different significance for me than they do for you. I apologize for any inconvenience, but I'm not apologizing for welcoming Aranea's feelings."
"Nor should you," a smooth, confident voice said from off to the side, just as someone in a long, black, traveling cloak stood.
Jasper sighed heavily, turning to the man as he lowered his hood, smiling in greeting.
"Xenk!" Doric smiled.
"I've been trying to track you down since Neverwinter," Xenk said, walking toward them, left hand holding the hilt of his sword, Jasper seeing the Holy Avenger he'd given Xenk hanging just below Xenk's own sword. "I wanted to congratulate you on your success, and I wanted to extend an apology for distrusting the two of you." He bowed slightly to Jasper and Mia, who both smiled and bowed in return. "I must say, you all have been busy since Neverwinter. Slaying a new breed of monster in Lurkwood. Slaying a Blackguard. Well done with that, by the way, Jasper. And now you've taken it upon yourselves to attempt to clean up Baldur's Gate of its new Thieves Guild."
"Well, what can we say?" Jasper shrugged. "Being a hero turned out to be more fun."
Xenk smiled. "I don't believe I've met your new companions."
"Oh, right," Edgin said. "Xenk, this is...uh..."
"Adrianna, Vahn, and the grumpy one is Kromlech," Jasper introduced them.
"Sod off," Kromlech grumbled.
"Well met," Xenk bowed.
"And you," Vahn nodded.
"You know them?" Adrianna asked.
"And you still trust them?" Kromlech added.
"I do," Xenk nodded. "They have proven themselves to be rather honorable."
Kromlech growled something unintelligible, but Vahn and Adrianna both nodded.
"Jasper, I have something for you," Xenk said, holding out his hand.
Jasper extended his own, and Xenk dropped a necklace on an Adamantite chain with a sun pendant into Jasper's hand. Jasper nodded instantly, slipping the pendant over his head and under his armor. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Xenk said. "Now, I believe I was told by your friend, here," he gestured at Ethon, "that you were headed to the Crypts."
"We are," Jasper nodded.
"Perhaps you'd care for another sword?"
"Only if you promise not to get in the way," Edgin said, several of the others snorting.
"I shall do my best not to become a hindrance," Xenk vowed.
Jasper nodded, and Edgin and Holga both hugged Kira.
"Be good while we're gone, alright?" Edgin asked.
"I will," Kira nodded. "Be back soon."
"We will, Bug," Holga smiled.
"What, no be safe?" Edgin asked.
"Don't worry," Kira smiled. "Holga, Jasper, and Xenk will protect you."
The others all laughed, and Edgin grimaced, then sighed.
"Let's go," Mia said. "Whatever the Guild is planning, it's had too long already."
The others all nodded, and they headed for the stairs back down to the entrance into the crypts. No sooner had they entered, however, did they realize what the Thieves Guild's plan was. A trio of emaciated, rotting corpses staggered toward them, their withered hands extended. However, before anyone else could react, Jasper had sent a Flame Arrow into each, igniting them and knocking them onto their backs where they died a moment later when Mia placed a Quicksilver Arrow in each of them.
"Oh, shit," Edgin said. "Undead?"
"Looks like it," Jasper nodded, stepping off of the stairs and allowing the others to finish walking down them as well.
"But of a lower level than the forces of Szass Tam," Xenk said. "These can be killed fairly easily."
"Since we're in a crypt, I'd wager someone wants to raise an army," Jasper mused.
"And an effective one," Xenk agreed. "Undead feel no pain and will not die from destroying vital organs like a human, nor can they bleed out. You must disable their body entirely by dismembering them or else destroying nearly every internal organ, especially the brain, or incinerate them entirely."
"Or use Holy magic," Jasper added. "Glad you're here, Xenk."
"Indeed," Xenk nodded, drawing his original sword and trailing his hand along it, causing the blade to shine. "It's good I came."
Jasper drew his Ironwood sword and walked toward the door ahead of them, Xenk following immediately behind him and dropping his cloak in his wake. The others all armed themselves as well, Mia choosing her Ironwood sword as well, and the moment they entered the next chamber, they all broke into a charge as a horde of zombies and skeletons staggered forward to meet them. The zombies had been reanimated with claws, and the skeletons wore half-rotted armor and wielded either equally-aged weapons or bones as clubs.
Jasper ducked aside from a rusty axe, slashing the skeleton across the ribs hard, shattering bones and thanking any gods who were listening that most of the skeletons were old enough to be brittle, then pivoted, slashing back up across a zombie's torso before slashing off its arms, then its head. He push-kicked it backward, into another before stepping backward, out of the way of a pair of bone clubs. He slashed hard again, smashing both skulls and knocking them off, then fired a short barrage of Flame Arrows into the two zombies from earlier, plus a third, filling all three's chest cavities with flames. Mia passed him, twirling and slashing with her Ironwood sword, severing limbs and necks rapidly. Off to the right, Holga and Edgin were sticking together, Edgin slashing with his sword largely as a distraction before Holga's axe chopped off limbs, split skulls, and smashed through ribs rapidly. Further to the right, Kromlech was covering Vahn, whose arrows were useless unless they had a spell cast on them, and with so many allies between him and the undead and with the crypt's low ceiling, he couldn't use them efficiently. Instead, he was using his new sword, Repulsion, and a half-rotten wooden shield to fight, doing fair but not great.
Off to Jasper's left, Adrianna and Aranea were fighting together, Aranea's spear severing a few limbs but largely being used to the same effect as Edgin's rapier while Adrianna's spells were doing more, and both were destroying any skeletons they met with ease. On the other side of them, Simon was using his magic to cover Doric, who was in her Owlbear form, smashing skeletons and using zombies as flails or simply hurling them. And then, there was Xenk.
He'd fought his way ahead of them, and the Radiant Magic in his sword was allowing him to easily lay waste to the undead, the magic killing them from three or four good strikes even if the body was still in a condition to function. Jasper shook his head and sheathed his own sword, expanding into his Girallon form and letting out a bellow as he smashed two fists down on a pair of skeletons, then crushed a zombie under two more hands. He hurled a zombie into a skeleton charging Xenk from behind, and Xenk spun, slashing it in mid air before smashing the skeleton. A pair of skeletons leapt onto Jasper's back, but in the blink of an eye, he was an elf again, and spun sharply, his family rapier splitting both across the abdomen to knock them to the ground before he slashed off their arms and heads. Then, he swapped back to his Ironwood sword and turned, extending a hand.
"Sunbeam!" he growled.
A ten-foot-wide beam of pure, golden light exploded from his hand, blasting through the undead in its path all the way to the wall fifty feet away then faded, leaving withered husks and scorched bones behind. He turned sharply, firing again off to the right at an angle, then turned, using his sword to deflect a skeleton's bone club before slashing through its skull entirely, pivoting to transition the slash into one that removed a zombie's arm as it swiped at Mia, who immediately pirouetted and decapitated the zombie, then returned to slaughtering her way through the undead.
Finally, after another few minutes of fighting, they'd finished the undead, and Jasper sighed, glancing around. A few of them bore a few scratches and bruises, but everyone had made it through pretty easily.
"How'd you cast that spell?" Doric asked.
"I use my Ironwood weapons as a Divine Focus," Jasper said. "The same way I was able to use Heat Metal on that Blackguard's armor."
"But it would..." she stared at his Ironwood sword. "You used a holly tree to make your weapons so that you could use them instead of having a mistletoe charm."
"Correct," Jasper nodded.
Doric nodded, sighing. "I'm a little jealous now."
Jasper chuckled, tossing her one of his daggers in its sheath. "You could use a melee weapon anyway."
"But...I don't know how to use this," Doric said.
"Simple," Mia smiled. "Stick 'em with the pointy end."
Doric grimaced but nodded. "It'll probably take me a while to figure out how to use spells with it, but thanks."
Jasper nodded just as a voice screamed deeper into the crypt. "Break's over."
They all sprinted for the next door, Jasper and Xenk in the lead. A trio of zombies were stumbling toward a cleric up ahead, but before they could reach him, Xenk had killed two of them, and Jasper had removed the other's arms and head, then spun, severing its legs at the knees as well.
"Are you alright?" Xenk asked.
"I'm fine," the Cleric nodded, "but never mind that! What are you doing here? Run, now, before it changes you!"
"Look, slow down," Edgin said. "Who are you? What happened here?"
"I...I am Fayed, a priest of Ilmater," the man said. "I tend the crypts and perform burial rites here at the Shrine of Suffering. Now...Now, I fear that I shall be the next one to be changed."
"What do you mean changed?" Aranea asked.
"Into the walking dead!" Fayed said. "Haven't you seen them!? They're everywhere!"
Jasper raised an eyebrow, looking down at the zombie at his feet.
"My fellow brothers and sisters of the temple...all dead!" Fayed continued, in tears. "I was taking an urn of ashes to one of the crypts when I discovered a strange set of tracks leading downwards.
"When I followed them, I...found that thing, that foul orb, and the dead arose around me! Vile skeletons, zombies...on holy ground! I acted quickly, sealing this level off from the level below, then barricaded myself in this room. I had hoped sealing off this level would prevent the dead from reaching here. I was wrong."
"How did you seal off this level?" Adrianna asked.
"We priests of Ilmater set up some non-lethal traps here in the crypts to capture grave robbers," Fayed said. "The trap that sealed off the exits is triggered by three urns on this level. When these urns are taken from their pedestals, stone blocks seal off all the exits from this level. I knocked all the urns from their pedestals, then barricaded myself in here. But I was not fast enough.
"Some of the dead had already entered this level. And the power of that...that thing below seems to be able to reach even here. Fortunately, I am able to hide myself from the eyes of these undead creatures...for the time being. I can only hope that the gates and wards will prevent the dead from reaching the level above."
"Where are all these undead coming from?" Vahn asked.
"They're coming from below," Fayed answered. "They're coming from below, from that...that thing in the Chamber of Ashes. It's an orb. I only caught a glimpse of it, what it was doing to my fellow priests. The orb calls to their spirits, then kills them...slowly, letting them die then raising them again so they may suffer in undeath as well. It hates all of us priests. Even now, I can hear it calling, trying to draw me to it so it can kill me...then raise me from the dead to perform its will."
"Good," Jasper said. "We'll deal with the orb. How do we reach it?"
"To reach the level below, you must find the three urns on this level and place them back on the proper pedestals. Then the gate to the crypt below will open."
"What do these urns look like?" Doric asked.
"There are three urns," Fayed said. "Gold, silver, and bronze. They and the pedestals they rested upon were intended to catch grave robbers. I had hoped by activating them I could seal the undead below, a vain hope."
Jasper frowned. Fayed was talking in circles. He shook his head slightly, deciding to blame it on shock and potentially the orb's influence.
"Take the secret door to the sewers to get back to the streets," Edgin said. "It's through this door and on the far right end of the chamber. Once you're out, tell the guards and priests what has happened."
"No, my place is here!" Fayed refused. "I...I...should help you, not run from this. If I can help you, I will."
"Do you know how many undead are in the crypts?" Simon asked.
"I fear a great many," Fayed said. "Many Ilmatari from across the Sword Coast were at the Shrine to pay respects to the sacrifice of St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred when evil struck. This evil has destroyed almost all the brothers and sisters of Ilmater gathered for the ceremony, well over two hundred men and women, now zombies, animated by that foul orb. The skeletons, however, seem to have been raised from the dead that lay within the crypts already, nearly a century of dead, their bones given life once again."
"We can handle it," Holga promised.
"Are you sure you don't want to escape?" Aranea checked.
"No, I'll stay," Fayed decided.
"Very well," Xenk nodded. "Fear not, Fayed. We shall lay them to rest."
Fayed nodded, and they all headed deeper into the crypt. The crypt surpassed anything Jasper had anticipated. They spanned under the entirety of Baldur's Gate, leaving miles of crypt to clear, and every room they entered had no less than a dozen zombies and skeletons each. However, thanks to the sheer number of relatively slow-moving opponents, Edgin had plenty of practice using his rapier on a real target, albeit a fairly easy one without a weapon, and they all very quickly grew very efficient at disabling zombies, allowing Xenk, Holga, Kromlech, and Doric to handle most of the skeletons. However, as they had cleared about half of the crypt, from what they could tell, the skeletons had begun to use bows.
They worked together more and more effectively, slaughtering the undead rapidly. Then, finally, they reached the last chamber and found nearly three dozen combined forces waiting, fortunately with all of the skeletons bearing melee weapons of one kind or another. Jasper led the charge into the undead, eyes narrowed. The undead here were too spread out to be able to use Sunbeam effectively, but that also made it easier to pass between them. Jasper spun between two, slashing their heads off as he used a pair of Flame Arrows to knock two more zombies away. Xenk passed him, finishing the two zombies he'd wounded before slashing through a skeleton's ribs and stabbed a zombie, the light from the blade section inside the zombie growing steadily brighter before pulsing and dispelling the dark magic sustaining the zombie's unlife. Four skeletons charged Xenk and Jasper, only for Doric's Owlbear form to smash two of them before Kromlech exploded into the next at the head of a trail of violet magic, shattering its entire body before his axe smashed through the other's ribs.
A zombie lunged at Jasper from behind as he was slashing both of another zombie's arms off, but Mia spun behind it, bisecting it across the abdomen, then slashed its arms and head all off at the same time as it was falling. A skeleton lunged at her, but Adrianna's staff shattered its skull, destroying it before she bathed a zombie in a stream of flames, distracting it long enough for Aranea's spearhead to slash off its arms and head before smashing the back end of her spear's shaft into its chest, knocking it to the ground. A zombie lunged at her, but Jasper's sword stabbed into its chest, knocking it back a step before he expanded into a Girallon, his four fists exploding down onto it, crushing it before his left arms both swung out to the side, smashing a skeleton before he returned to his elf form, ripping the sword from the zombie in time to block a skeleton's ancient longsword just long enough for Mia and Aranea's weapons to crash into its ribs and skull, shattering its bones.
A group of skeletons charged toward them, and Jasper raised his hand, firing a Sunbeam into them, slaughtering them, and half a dozen behind them. At the same time, Edgin dodged and weaved through several zombies, slashing off arms as they went, then hooked his blade into a skeleton's skull through its eye hole, then slashed out to the side, flinging the skull into the wall, smashing it and rekilling the skeleton. A pair, of zombies lunged at him, but Vahn slashed one's arm off with his sword and knocked it away with Repulsion as Holda's axe slammed into the other, knocking it away to Xenk, who slashed it as he passed it.
Simon and Adrianna both sent a Fireball into the far side of the room, blasting skeletons apart and burning several zombies. Doric smashed a skeleton with a zombie, held by the ankles, then hurled it into a group of others, knocking them all to the ground in front of Xenk, who quickly killed them all. Jasper, once again as a Girallon, smashed a pair of zombies between its four hands, then swatted them into a group of skeleton, killing them all. Then, he shifted back as Holga finished off the last skeleton, ending the battle.
"Finally finished this level," Edgin sighed.
"Yeah," Jasper snorted. "Less than halfway through."
"Joy," Edgin groaned.
"Let's gather the urns," Jasper sighed.
They all nodded, quickly gathering the three urns and carrying them to the pedestals they were meant to be on. The urns were chest-height from the ground, and extremely heavy, requiring two people to carry each one, and the pedestals were barely more than pressure plates. As soon as the three urns were in place, a massive, circular, stone plate slid out of the way of the stairs down another level. However, as they arrived, they found that the area was nearly pitch black. And as they made their way through the crypt, they found that the amount of light wasn't the only difference. Here, the orb's power was revealed as more than simply raising undead. It could also, apparently, transport them, as multiple burst from the floor around them time and again as they explored, following muddy footprints along the floor from boots caked in the filth of the sewer.
The second level was just as expansive as the first, if not more so, but the undead that should have been populating it were missing, not counting those appearing from the floor. And they were appearing only in small numbers, groups of no more than four at a time. There were ghosts of the priests and a few soldiers or adventurers around, but the ghosts took no notice of Jasper and the others.
"I don't get it," Doric said as they all made their way through the crypt silently. "Where are all of the undead?"
"I'd wager they're waiting in the Chamber of Ashes," Jasper said.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Edgin said.
They fell silent again, carefully working their way through the crypt before finally finding the chamber of ashes. However, as soon as they entered, the nightmare began in earnest. Ahead of them, on a pedestal, a blue-grey orb slightly larger than a head began to glow with a cold light, drifting into the air slightly as undead began to rise from the ground and stagger out of the shadows all through the chamber, countless of them. Jasper narrowed his eyes, shaking his head.
"Shadow," Jasper called.
Shadow rose before him as a Girallon, then roared and charged alongside Jasper, all of Jasper's usual companions doing the same. Adrianna followed just a step behind them, then Vahn and Kromlech shook off their surprise and chased them into battle. Jasper narrowed his eyes, heading for the orb, only for the orb to begin to rise, the undead swarming to protect it. He growled in annoyance, sheathing his sword and expanding into a triceratops, charging through the undead, then shifted into a fly in time to avoid an arrow, then into a Girallon, smashing a handful of skeletons aside just as Shadow reached him as an Ephemeral Hangman, grabbing, crushing, and hurling zombies rapidly. All around the chamber, the others were struggling against the undead, only for Shadow to shift forms even more rapidly than Doric and Jasper, who fought in a constant array of forms. Simon and Adrianna's spells tore through the undead, wiping out groups of them, Holga and Kromlech hacked and smashed anything they could reach, Edgin, Mia, and Vahn all hacked enemies apart with their blades, Adrianna and Areana's weapons slammed into anything in range, and Xenk's Radiant magic slaughtered undead.
In between forms, Jasper sent a barrage of Flame Arrows up at the orb, but a barrier around it blocked the spell. A moment later, it also blocked one of Mia's Quicksilver Arrows and one of Vahn's normal arrows. Jasper turned directly away from Shadow, firing off a Sunbeam through the undead, slaughtering more than a dozen of them. A skeleton leapt at him from behind, but Adrianna grabbed him, yanking him out of the way of its axe, and he spun them, allowing him to slash through its ribs as they stopped spinning just as the orb began to drop.
"Holga, Kromlech!" Jasper shouted over the chaos. "Orb!"
Both charged for the orb, but the undead swarmed into their path. Jasper and Adrianna used their spells, Jasper a barrage of Flame Arrows and Adrianna using Chain Lightning, to try and clear their path, but before they could reach the orb, which seemed to be charging with magic, it released waves of a cold, unnatural power. Instantly, a fresh wave of undead began to burst from the ground, mostly skeletons this time.
Jasper swore harshly. Skeletons were more dangerous, and all of these bore armor which, though half-rotten, made them harder to kill. He sheathed his sword, once again expanding into his Girallon form, and waded into the skeletons, smashing them as fast as he could, ignoring the relatively small wounds he began to very quickly accumulate from their weapons. Adrianna remained resolutely at his side this time, using her staff's reach and a telekinetically controlled, ethereal sword to try and keep him from being wounded too severely.
At one point, Doric was charging through the skeletons as a moose. At another, Simon blasted a large group of skeletons with Fireball. At some point, Aranea shifted into her hybrid form to use her webs to gather skeletons into groups to be slaughtered together. At another, Jasper had to save Edgin from being overwhelmed. At another, Shadow had to use its Ephemeral Hangman form to clear a group of skeletons off of Jasper's back while he focused on slaughtering a group bearing down on Mia and Vahn. Then, finally, the orb was descending again.
"Shadow!" Jasper shouted.
Shadow flashed across the ground, merging with Jasper's own shadow just as he held out his hand. "Sunbeam!"
He fired three blasts between Holga and Kromlech and the orb, clearing their path, then fired four more around the room, decimating nearly half of the remaining undead. However, as the last blast faded, Jasper collapsed, Adrianna barely catching him. Then, Holga and Kromlech's axes crashed into the orb from opposite sides, shattering it instantly. Instantly, a massive storm of magic and streaks of light began to rage around them, both fleeing. Then, it exploded outward, passing around the living in the room harmlessly, but reducing the active undead to dust.
"It's finally over," Adrianna sighed.
"Yeah," Jasper nodded, looking up at her. "Thank for catching me. And for protecting me while I was a Girallon."
Adrianna shook her head. "For what little good it did. Look at yourself. You're horribly wounded."
Jasper chuckled. "I'll be alright. Hey Xenk. I could use dome healing, if you have time."
"Of course, my friend," Xenk said, walking over to them at the same time as Fayed arrived and joined him.
Within moments, Jasper was healed, and the two of them turned to begin tending to any other wounds the others had accumulated. Jasper sat up, Adrianna keeping a hand on his back for support, then smiled over at her.
"See?" Jasper asked. "All better."
Adrianna smiled. "Yes, you're as handsome as ever again."
Jasper's eyebrow rose slightly, but he didn't press. Instead, he had Adrianna help him up to his feet before looking around. "Let's find our mysterious delivery man. I doubt he made it out of this room alive."
Adrianna nodded. "I agree."
They began to explore the room, but as they did, Adrianna glanced at him several times.
"You can ask," Jasper said finally.
Adrianna nodded. "Why an elf?"
"I got used to this form but with brown hair while living with the wood elves I talked about earlier," Jasper said. "After...you know, I wanted something a little different, a little closer to my true form, so I changed the hair and started replicating clothing instead of wearing armor. Now, this is just my favorite form."
Adrianna nodded. "I have one other question."
"Sure," Jasper nodded, rolling several zombies in a pile over, only to shake his head.
"Earlier, when we returned from the sewer, was the first time you and Mia had been intimate with the Aranea, correct?" Adrianna asked.
"That's right," Jasper nodded. "And she's taken Aranea as her name, because after years of solitude, she forgot her own."
Adrianna nodded. "Is it because Aranea is a form of shapeshifter? Or because she's special to you? Or do you and Mia simply not care to stay true to each other? No offense meant, I simply don't know how to say it."
Jasper smiled at her, shaking his head. "You're fine. What you have to understand is that, as Changelings, Mia and I can alter our appearance, beliefs, even our personalities, at will. Because of that, our sense of self is a bit more loose and a bit more general than other species, and certain concepts don't hold the same weight with us as others. For example, gender. Since we can both be whichever gender we want, and have both changed between the two numerous times before, we don't really care about gender one way or the other, either for ourselves or which gender our partner or partners are. We would both be willing to be with a man just as quickly as a woman, provided he was important to us. That being said, I do trend toward being a male, since my true form is male, and Mia trends toward female for the same reason.
"Another concept that doesn't hold the same weight to us is monogamy," Jasper continued as Adrianna was nodding in understanding of his explanation of his loose views about gender. "I'm not saying that we frequently go out and have sex with anyone we feel inclined to, but even while in a relationship, Mia and I were working both together and separately as prostitutes, and we've included others in our relationship several times, at one point including another Changeling who chose exclusively male forms for the power it gave him in society. Granted, he betrayed us and threatened Mia's safety, so we killed him, but the point remains that we're open to including others.
"I think the easiest way to explain it would be that Mia and I's relationship is open to others that are important to us. If we both care about another person, we're happy to accept then into a relationship as well, and we don't mind including several, either. We also don't mind including people for casual sex, either, but provided that we both are attracted to them."
"So, if there were, say, five people that you and Mia both cared for..." Adrianna offered.
"Then all five would be welcome to join us, if they were willing," Jasper answered. "Mia and I love each other, but we have no issue with also loving others."
"And you both love Aranea?" Adrianna asked.
Jasper considered. "I'm not sure if we're at the point of love, but she's definitely important to us."
Adrianna nodded. "I think I understand." She glanced over at Aranea and Mia, who were both being healed of their minor injuries at the moment. "Does Aranea know all of this?"
"Yes," Jasper nodded. "We explained how we feel to her not long after we met, and she views relationships the same way. Apparently, having multiple relationships is rather common for Aranea. And while she doesn't care about gender as much as other species, she herself having been with both genders at several points in her life, she does have a solid identity as a female, naturally."
Adrianna nodded in agreement. "I expect it would be mostly Changelings that can identify as either."
"Actually, we've met several of the more common species that identified differently than they were born as," Jasper said. "We actually met a few humans that were born somewhere in between as well, and possessed the genitals of both, though that's extremely rare."
Adrianna's eyes widened in surprise, but she nodded in acceptance of his statement, then stopped, staring down at a corpse, one which hadn't been included in the battle. "I found our delivery man."
Jasper rolled him over, nodding. Unlike the zombies they'd fought this body wasn't fully corrupted by the orb's magic, though the signs of the process had begun to show.
"I'd say so, yeah," Jasper nodded. "My turn for a question."
Adrianna nodded.
"Why are you so curious about me and Mia?" Jasper asked as they walked back to the others.
"I've never met a Changeling, to my knowledge, and certainly not one that I could respect," Adrianna answered. "You're interesting, and I wished to learn more about Changelings."
Jasper nodded. "That makes sense."
"What were you guys looking for?" Edgin asked as Fayed finished healing a scratch on his back.
"Our mysterious delivery man," Jasper said. "He was over there."
"At least we won't need to go looking for him," Holga said. "So, should we head back to the tavern?"
"Yeah," Doric nodded, Xenk finishing healing her. "We're all healed now, so we should get back."
"But, I don't understand," Fayed said. "Why would he bring the orb here if he knew it would kill him?"
"He didn't," Jasper said. "He was an underling in the Thieves Guild. He was expendable to them, and was only told what to do with it, not what it would do."
Fayed nodded in understanding. "But why would a Thieves Guild want to cause so many deaths?"
"I don't know," Jasper frowned.
"But we will find out," Xenk promised. "We will not rest until those responsible have been brought to justice."
"I don't know about not resting," Mia said. "Knowing you, you mean that literally, but we'll definitely make it our only priority."
Xenk nodded in acceptance. Fayed promised to find a way to investigate the Thieves Guild, and Jasper and the others all headed back through the crypt to the stairs passing up through the sewers to the street, then back to the Elfsong Tavern.
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