My Multi-Dimensional Harem Adventures
By: Gothicjedi666
[NSFW] - My Multi-Dimensional Harem Adventures by Gothicjedi666
Status: ongoing
Published: 2021-05-19
Updated: 2021-08-30
Words: 107630
Chapters: 42
Original source: https/forum./threads/14968
Exported with the assistance of
My Multi-Dimensional Harem Adventures
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 1
Made using Multi-Dimensional Harem Adventures v.1.0 - Imgur
My Multi-Dimensional Harem Adventures
I've never posted on here before but it has been suggested that I do by a few reviewers, so I decided to post a little something I'm working on. Mostly I'm over on some other sites and I often go by the same user name if you want to seek me out.
Set Up
150 points
Summons
Ciri - Tier 3 - 20 points
130 points
Ahsoka - Tier 2 - 15 points
115 points
X-23 - Tier 1 - 10 points
105 points
Control
Neural Reprogramming - 10 points
Perks
95 points
Mens Sana - 10 points
85 points
Corpore Sano - 5 points
80 points
Physical Adjustment: Full Body Makeover - 5 points
75 points
Physical Adjustment: Fertility - 5 points
70 points
Transport - 40 points
30 points
Money - 5 points
25 points
Translator Microbes - 5 points
20 points
Pocket Di-Mansion - 20 points
0 points
Destination
Tier 4 World - Mass Effect
Part 1
Athabasca Class Freighter. The Tasale System.
Over the years I'd been on enough science fiction forums and geek sites to know when I'd been the victim of a ROB, a Random Omnipotent Being, because what else could be behind me filling out a CYOA setup that led to me actually having my own adventure. Not that I figured this out right away because I'd woken up in the cockpit of a freighter with people who were strangers to me, even if I did know their names and a bit about their lives, and so I'd been a bit panicky at first.
The cockpit of the freighter had four seats and while I took up one of them the other three were occupied by Ciri from the Witcher video game, Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, and X-23 aka Laura Kinney, the clone/daughter of Wolverine.
None of them were happy about getting kidnapped and enslaved by some random guy they'd never even met. I felt fairly certain if not for the neural reprogramming that one or more of them would have hurt me. Luckily for me the reprogramming made them inclined to listen to me and to not rip out my spine before beating me to death with it. Not that I think Ahsoka would have done that. Laura Kinney would have stabbed me with her adamantium claws, and Ciri had her sword so I would have just been plain stabbed. At least that would have killed me quickly.
"So let me get this straight," said Ahsoka Tano, who looked to be wearing the same outfit she'd had on when I'd seen her on the Clone Wars cartoon as she battled Darth Maul, "You were playing a game on your world's version of the holonet and then suddenly it became real?"
I was now doing my best to explain about CYOAs and ROBs, only they didn't have the same frames of reference as I did to help them comprehend all of this. To be fair, even I was having some trouble simply accepting all of this.
"Yes," I answered.
Ahsoka stared at me for a moment very intently before relaxing.
"I can't sense any deception," she told everyone else "So unless he's able to hide his feelings from a Force-user I think he's telling the truth."
Laura, who wore tight fitting jeans and a top which exposed her abs, leaned over and sniffed me before speaking to the other females in the cockpit.
"He doesn't smell of lies," she said.
Her sniffing me had felt weird.
"We still have our weapons and I can still feel the Force," reported Ahsoka "so we have a chance of surviving whatever this is."
After X-23 showed off her claws, I noted that Ciri was wearing her alternate outfit, the Zerrikania set I think it was called. It looked good on her.
"So who's behind this?" Ahsoka asked.
I did my best to explain.
"So this ROB abducted us and brought us all here because you wanted to play a game," summarised Ciri "Sounds like we ran afoul of someone like Gaunter O'dimm."
For a second I looked around, worried that the Merchant of Mirrors might make a sudden appearance. Thankfully he didn't and that was good because I didn't want to deal with someone who would be after my soul even at the best of times.
"Who?" asked Ahsoka.
"You're better off not knowing," replied the Lady of Space and Time before she got us back on track "So according to the rules of this game we're now your slaves?"
Had I known this would have involved real people I never would have started filling out that CYOA.
"I didn't know it was real," I protested "I was only told that you were taken from fiction, as in you weren't real people, and it was all meant to be a silly game."
Luckily for me they knew that I was telling the truth, and soon they directed their blame on the power behind all of this. Ahsoka and Laura could sense my guilt and my honesty due to their enhanced senses. Ciri seemed to take them at their word.
"Okay so I can just go home," said the female witcher. "I mean there's nothing actually keeping me here."
Not according to the rules.
"The CYOA mentioned something about universe destroying paradoxes," I explained. "I won't keep you here, but if I were you I'd not risk it."
Ciri swore, saying something I couldn't understand despite the translator microbes.
"I can only say that I'm sorry," I said.
By now Ahsoka had noticed that we all had IDs of some kind. Mine claimed that I was Thaddeus Ives, the captain of the freighter MSV Atlanta. I owned the vessel and had a licence to transport cargo around Citadel space. I also knew how to fly this ship and perform basic repairs and maintenance . As did the others as it turned out.
"I'm still me and I'm from an unknown world in the Terminus systems," said Ahsoka.
That made sense since her species didn't exist in this universe, as such she would have to pass for a member of a race unknown to the wider galaxy.
"I'm from some place called Shanxi," Ciri told us.
"That's a human colony world," I told her "I'm from there too, according to my ID."
"So am I," X-23 added.
That was a world I was familiar with and I shared what information I knew.
"After a System Alliance expedition, the System Alliance is the human government in this galaxy, was sent through the Shanxi-Theta mass relay it was wiped out by a turian patrol fleet, the turians are an alien race who act as the police force for this galaxies galactic government," I told everyone, trying not to get side tracked as I could go into more detail later "A single human starship survived and made it back to the Shanxi colony. A retaliatory force was sent out by the commander of the colony, and they destroyed the turian fleet. Events escalated quickly after that with the turians sending more ships through the relay and capturing Shanxi"
I was stopped here.
"Why did these turians attack the humans?" Ahsoka asked.
"Because the Citadel Council, that's the ruling body in this galaxy, made it illegal to open up new mass relays to unknown parts of the galaxy because of how a rather nasty war got started when someone opened up a mass relay," I answered "This law was not known to humanity since they weren't even aware that the Citadel Council existed. Even if they did, the law still didn't apply since the Council only has authority over its own members."
I had more to say on this matter.
"The System Alliance starships defending Shanxi were soon overwhelmed by the turians, and they were then forced to fight a guerrilla campaign on the surface. The turians didn't like that and kept going after the defenders. Faced with starvation and unwilling to continue risking civilian lives the garrison surrendered and the turians occupied the colony. Soon after the Council caught wind of this and forced the turians to back off since their invasion was illegal. Some time later humanity joined as an associate member of the Citadel Council."
There was much more that I could tell them and they'd have many questions, but that would have to wait as the ship needed our attention. We all began familiarising ourselves with the controls.
"Where exactly are we?" asked Ahsoka, the only one of us who had actually had some experience with space travel "Let me see if I can find out."
As it turned out we were getting close to Illium. Which according to the computer was a classic garden world, developed to serve as an entrepot between the Terminus Systems and the Asari Republics. To help with this trade, the normally stringent customs laws of Council space on product safety, proscribed materials, and sapient trafficking were relaxed to the point that slavery might as well be legal. Officially Illium is not an asari world; it is colonized and operated by asari corporate interests, so the colony world existed to make profit.
The computer also told me that the world is hot and massive; ground settlement is only possible at the higher polar latitudes. In more equatorial locations, the population is housed in arcology skyscrapers to escape the heat of the surface.
"So I think we should land and try to figure out what we're going to do," suggested the former Jedi.
I had some ideas and while I could try to issue orders I'd rather not until the three women with me had time to process what had happened to them.
"You seem to know all about this galaxy," Ahsoka was now saying "Should we land here?"
I didn't see why not as there was nothing strange about a freighter landing on Illuim. As long as we stuck together and didn't piss off anyone important we should be okay.
"We can land here," I replied "I've got some local money thanks to the CYOA set up so we'll be alright for a few days."
I had some ideas about how to make money by making use of Ciri's powers, but this didn't seem like the right time to discuss that. Instead I brought up the news on the Extranet so that I could find when we were rather than where, because if the Reapers were invading, then Ciri would have to take us somewhere really quick.
News about the Rogue Spectre Saren made the headlines and there were reports of a large explosion on Virmire, the news didn't say much else, but since I'd played the game I knew what was going on at this time. Saren had just been dealt a serious blow and Shepard would have discovered the truth of the Reapers.
Unless something drastically changed the timeline we should have at least a couple of years before the Reapers appeared. I would have to avoid Commander Shepard and any of her people, she was a female according to the news reports, in case my actions somehow resulted in the Reapers attacking early due to Sovereign gaining control of the Citadel. But that should be simple enough since Shepard doesn't visit Illium until the second game.
"I've got the hang of flying this freighter," reported Ahsoka "So you guys can go check out the rest of the ship. If this is a cargo vessel, then maybe we have something to sell."
As it turned out we didn't have much in the cargo hold other than lots of rations, some spare parts and what I guessed to be a wide variety of tools, only some of which I knew the purpose for. Nothing valuable enough to be worthwhile selling.
Upon examining the rest of the ship I found that we each had our own small room, which was little more than a bunk, a table, and a chair, along with some sort of entertainment system. Also there was a communal kitchen/dining area with space for watching entertainment on a big screen. The engine room was two decks high and took up a lot of space on the ship. Aside from that there was a medbay and lots of space for storing cargo. Not much, but it was all mine.
"So we have a cargo ship and no cargo," I said to Ciri as she joined me in the kitchen/dining/living space where I was drinking what passed for coffee around here. "At least I have enough to pay for refuelling and a landing platform."
The Lady of Space and Time seemed concerned.
"I'm no merchant," she told me "but I know enough to understand that a cargo ship without cargo can't afford to keep sailing."
Thinking about it I was surprised that Ciri didn't appear to be suffering from culture shock. Then I recalled that she'd been to the Cyberpunk world so she wasn't a stranger to technology more advanced than her own worlds and she'd dealt with plenty of strange beings before ever meeting an alien.
Laura might be having the hardest time adjusting and that would explain why she'd locked herself in one of the bedrooms not long after leaving the cockpit. I had a feeling that she'd be the hardest of these women to handle. For now I'd leave her be and try to talk to her after we landed.
Chapter 2
Eternity Club. Illuim.
Once I had paid the excessive landing fee and after wandering around for a while we ended up at a bar not too far from where Ahsoka had landed the ship. The drinks were as overpriced as everything else, but I didn't complain, as acting like a cheapskate was unlikely to impress the women who were here with me.
The bar was essentially just a few tables and couches spread across the area so that the general population could sit around and go about their business or converse with one another. Near the entrance to this area, there is a long couch set against the wall. Ahsoka was getting more than her fair share of looks despite none of us really blending in since the people here had never seen a Togruta before. She sat with myself, Ciri and Laura in the club as we talked about our futures.
Once we'd landed it must have been tempting for my summoned companions to go their own way, which they could do since I'd not selected a stronger form of control other than the lowest level of neural reprogramming, but it wasn't as if they had anywhere to go. The ship was mine, and while it didn't stop them from flying off without me, I was the one with all the knowledge of this galaxy. Having access to news programs and codexes would only take them so far, and learning from those sources would take quite a bit of time.
"So are we going to stick together?" asked Laura.
Out of all of us she spoke the least and seemed okay with going with the flow. I got the sense that she really didn't care much and I wondered what sort of life this version of X-23 had been experiencing just before I dragged her to this universe. She'd not expressed any desire to go back so perhaps she had nothing worthwhile to go back to.
"Do we have a choice?" asked Ciri "We can't go home even if I could find your homes."
Ahsoka ran a hand over her hairless head.
"And we've been programmed to obey Thaddeus," she said.
So far I'd resisted the urge to give out any commands. While they didn't have to obey me, it would be natural for them to follow my lead and I didn't wish to try to force them into becoming my harem. Once we'd gotten more comfortable with each other then I could start acting like the leader.
"You've been programmed in a way that encourages you to listen to my orders," I corrected "You aren't forced to listen to me if you really don't want to."
They hadn't totally lost their freewill.
"You can just leave," I pointed out.
They didn't seem eager to go do that, not surprising given their lack of options. If they still wanted to risk it by going off on their own I'd not stop them.
"No, we should stick together," insisted Ciri. "We might not survive on our own. Besides you have the ship and all of the money."
The women who should be my harem took some time to think, or in Laura's case she just stared at the city around us.
"Thaddeus, you chose us didn't you?" questioned Ahsoka "Can I ask why?"
I'd had good reasons, and while Thaddeus was not my original name this seemed like a good opportunity for a change.
"Well I know your characters somewhat," I answered "And when I was making my choices I thought about what characters I'd like to meet and how their powers could be useful. I had limited points so I had to carefully choose who I summoned."
No sense mentioning that I fancied them all. So far I'd been able to stop myself from acting like a fanboy. I also would not mention who was worth more points than the others as that would only start some arguments.
"I figured that your talents would come in handy," I was now saying "With Ciri's ability to move between worlds we can explore a lot, Ahsoka has the Force which can warn of danger, and Laura has her animal senses that can help keep us safe."
There had been some thought from me about my setup and this was good because if I'd just gone for a big harem I could be in trouble right now.
"I'm glad you didn't just select us so you can have pretty girls around you," said Ciri.
For a time the women with me discussed their abilities and how they could be used. Since I knew most of what they could do I didn't have anything to add to this part of the conversation. Only when the group got back to discussing our shared future did I chime in.
"So we'll be a crew," I suggested, having already thought this over "I'll be the captain and we'll find some way of paying the bills."
There were no protests to this.
"I guess we'll just have to make the best of the situation," said Ahsoka "I don't mind travelling and I like to help people, which I can do anywhere."
"As for me I always wanted to be a witcher" Ciri shared with us "If I can't do that back in my own world then we'll have to find some monsters to fight."
Ahsoka then asked Laura her opinion on this matter.
"Are you going to whore me out or order me to murder people?" she asked.
X-23 lacked tact.
I sure hoped not.
"Well, we might have to fight" I said "But I don't want to murder anyone."
Laura shrugged.
"Okay I'm in" she declared.
Given that they were programmed to let me take the lead it didn't shock me that they'd gone along with my idea. I figured it best to chat about the sex part of being in a harem later on and to do it with each woman in private, discuss it I mean.
"Can you fight?" Ciri asked me.
I could not and I had no real powers aside from some immunities. My perks would keep me at peak human fitness, but that didn't mean much when faced with what the multiverse would throw at us.
"No," I told her "The whole point of having a harem in the CYOA is that they protect the player."
Bit of a drawback considering that this was all real.
"Then I'll have to train you," stated the Lady of Space and Time.
That would be a good way to get to know her.
"I don't know about the rest of you," Ahsoka was now saying "But I want to get some sleep. This has been a very strange day and I think we talk some more tomorrow about what we're going to do."
Some time to adjust would be wise.
"Are we going to sleep on the ship?" wondered Ciri.
I had an idea about that.
"We should check out the Di-Mansion" I suggested.
Given the blanks looks I got I guessed that they didn't know about the pocket dimension. They should be able to access that place already. Maybe I had to open it up first?.
The Pocket Di-Mansion.
Once we'd returned to the ship I opened up a way into the pocket dimension and as soon we all got inside the females with me all suddenly knew how to access it. I had been right about me simply needing to open an entrance for the first time before they could access the space. There was plenty of room for us here, far more than on the ship and this mansion was far more secure.
Looking around I saw that the Di-Mansion had taken the form of a large eastern style house, perhaps Japanese I wasn't sure. The doors were sliding ones and the beds were mats of the floors. I also noted that the tables had cushions to sit on rather than chairs. The place had an exotic feel to it, but I figured that it would take time before I felt comfortable given that I was used to chairs at my tables and beds that couldn't be rolled up.
The outside of the house was mostly taken up by cherry trees that were in bloom and this resulted in petals everywhere. Far more than the trees should be able to supply even if they were stripped bare, it might as well have been snowing petals. This was far too girly for my taste and none of my companions were overly impressed by the outside.
Another thing I found outside was a hot spring and this I did like as it had been a hard day. A nice hot bath would help me to relax before I went to bed. I'd not been awake for that long, it had just been a long day with a lot to process. I knew that Ahsoka was already communing with the Force or whatever it was Jedi did when they sat still on the floor and Laura had once again gone off, finding a space to call her own, leaving Ciri and I to do the exploring.
"The last time I bathed like this it was with other women," said a voice.
I opened my eyes to see Ciri, who dropped a towel, showing that she wore nothing underneath other than some underwear, before slowly stepping into the hot water. She must have found them somewhere in the Di-Mansion as it was modern in style. I couldn't help looking, and I noticed that her firm body had more than its fair share of scars. Clearly she'd been through a lot yet despite all the battles and her warrior attitude she was very much a woman. She had curves in all the right places and very firm tits.
"Looking is fine," said the witcheress. "But no touching until we get to know each other better."
She seemed to be accepting her new situation well enough, yet she was being careful not to embrace her new life so easily.
"If you can stop checking me out for a few moments I do have some questions," she let me know.
I did my best not to stare at her chest.
"Not that I'm blaming you for looking," she went on to say.
I forced myself to make eye contact with the Lion Cub of Cintra.
"What did you want to know?" I enquired.
She covered her breasts just enough to keep me focused while at the same time reaching for a bottle of something I'd bought for her back at the bar.
"I know I can't go home because of the rules of this silly game," she said "But what about the other worlds I've been to? Do you want me to take you there?"
As a matter of fact I did. It was one of the reasons why I'd selected her as a harem member. Her looks, fighting skills, and the fact that she was a fun person to be around if Witcher 3 was anything to go by, were the other reasons.
"We need to make money so as to keep the ship running" I pointed out "Going to other worlds could help with that."
I didn't wish to try making my fortune in an unarmed freighter, not this close to the Terminus Systems.
"Makes sense" remarked the ashen haired women "I heard a merchant say that one man's junk is another man's treasure, so we just need to figure out what will sell better in one place than another, and I do have some coins on me. Maybe we can find someone who will accept them?"
If they were gold coins then that wouldn't be too much trouble.
"We'll have to find out what they value on Illium," I said "And then find someone who won't ask any questions about where we got our stuff from."
The whole point of Illuim was that people had a place to trade like that. Becoming very wealthy very quickly would draw attention so it would be smart of us to keep most of our wealth hidden here in the Di-Mansion out of sight.
"Let me tell you about some of the worlds I've been to," offered Ciri as she passed over the bottle "Then we'll see if you're smart enough to figure out how we can make a profit."
That did sound like an interesting challenge.
Chapter 3
Here are the images of them from the CYOA.
Spoiler: CYOA selected companion portrait images
[img: https/i./h49tKeM.png]
[img: https/i./eQtQOL4.png]
[img: https/i./6ZYZZW6.png]
Here are some images I found that seem to fit if anyone is curious about their appearance and outfits like I was.
Gothicjedi666 said:
Ahsoka Tano, who looked to be wearing the same outfit she'd had on when I'd seen her on the Clone Wars cartoon as she battled Darth Maul
Spoiler: Ahsoka Tano outfit
[img: https/i./gFna9oy.png]
[img: https/i./kmMtQSU.jpg]
Gothicjedi666 said:
I noted that Ciri was wearing her alternate outfit, the Zerrikania set I think it was called.
Spoiler: Ciri outfit
[img: https/i./VXiXd8b.png]
Cosplay source: shirogane_sama /gallery/WAFs8ZX
[img: https/i./qcPHMvJ.jpg]
[img: https/i./vJhC69o.jpg]
[img: https/i./aPh9afD.jpg]
Gothicjedi666 said:
Laura, who wore tight fitting jeans and a top which exposed her abs
Spoiler: X-23 outfit
[img: https/i./HG4yRUw.jpg]
[img: https/i./TgjXu5c.jpg]
Chapter 4
Author Note
I'm not really sure how lightsabers and the technology behind them actually work. I just decided to go with my ideas making sense for the story.
My Multi-Dimensional Harem Adventures
Part 3
The Di-Mansion.
While I'd been working on trying to find a way to use Ciri's ability to reach other worlds so as to make us some money, Ahsoka Tano had also been hard at work as it turned out.
Which was good because I'd not been having much luck so far. Ciri could get us access to worlds at a medieval level but they didn't have much an advanced society would want aside from certain resources, such as a few kinds of metal, and I lacked the means to extract those resources on any worthwhile scale.
As for the cyberpunk world she'd visited that had possibilities, but I had nothing to trade with if I went and dealt with anyone from that dimension, and stealing from them seemed a bad idea since I had no idea what kind of security they had on that planet.
I did consider dealing in antiques, attempting to sell genuine medieval artefacts to collectors, however that wouldn't work out. I figured that as soon as someone tried using this universe's version of carbon dating on anything I sold they'd discover that their centuries old artefacts were somehow new despite otherwise seeming to be the real thing.
This would lead to me being labelled a fraud for selling replicas as if they were the real thing since no one was likely to suspect that I'd actually gone to a world that contained a medieval society. Perhaps I could claim that they came from a world in the Terminus Systems that was medieval in level, but I felt fairly certain that people smarter than me would figure out that the artefacts were human made.
Currently Ciri, Laura, Ahsoka and I sat on the floor around a table and on the table was a collection of machine parts that the former Jedi Padawan had made using a fabricator that we'd found within the freighter. The device was used for the creation of spare parts when on a ship and only required raw materials to be fed into it before it could create what the operator needed it to, and I could afford to purchase some raw materials. It was an advanced version of a 3D printer as far as I understood such things.
The omni-tools I'd brought for everyone while they were rather basic models, they still had a fabrication module that can rapidly assemble small three-dimensional objects from common, reusable industrial plastics, ceramics, and light alloys. This allows for field repairs and modifications to most standard items, as well as the reuse of salvaged equipment. They could also for example fabricate flammable gases, held in place by a mass effect field and be ignited upon impact. You were never unarmed as long as you owned an omni-tool.
"I know that we've been looking for ways to make some money so we can keep the ship running and not starve on the streets," Ahsoka began by saying "So I meditated while thinking on the problem and came up with something."
So that was what she'd been doing while spending hours sitting in a room with her eyes closed.
"Aside from the outer casing and the crystal this is everything you need to build a lightsaber," Ashoka was telling the rest of us as she gestured to the parts "Without the crystal you can't make a lightsaber, but that's the hardest part, the rest of the technology involved is actually rather simple."
As of yet I didn't know where she was going with this.
"The thing is none of the technology involved in the creation of lightsabers is unique to them and there's nothing here that cannot be used in other applications," the alien woman was now saying as she picked up a part. "For example this is a diatium power cell that I was able to create just by scanning one of my own with the omni-tool that you bought for me. Once I'd scanned it I created a copy with the right materials and the fabricator, which means anyone with the design, the right materials and a fabricator can also make one."
A lot of what Ahsoka went onto explain went over my head so she had to dumb it down. In the end I understood that the beam of plasma produced from a lightsaber was contained by a type of energy field that recycled the energy back into the diatium power cell as long as the blade was not in contact with other lightsabers or objects. This greatly conserved the energy of a diatium power cell, although it still needed occasional replacements.
It wasn't hard to imagine the usefulness of a sort of battery that recycled most of its own energy. With this kind of power cell you could keep machines running longer at less expense assuming that the plasma could be contained in such a way that it fed back into the power cell without having to build a whole lightsaber.
"Now as to the rest of the parts, without the crystal to direct the energy you basically get a fancy plasma torch" Ashoka finished by saying "But if that plasma torch is better than what they have in this galaxy we can sell them. I think it will be since the Jedi have had a long time to perfect this technology."
By now I'd caught up with her and I'd figured out where this could go.
"Or we could patent all of the technology involved and sell it to a company here on Illuim as well as the finished product," I said "If we patent all the parts then people would pay us for the right to make their own no matter what overall product they were used in."
Not everyone understood that. Laura didn't seem interested and Ciri looked a little confused.
"If they can make their own with these fabricators then who would buy one from us?" asked Ciri.
That was a good question.
"There are laws about intellectual property," I did my best to explain "If we patent the parts of the lightsaber then we own the idea of them that means anyone wanting to use the idea for their own devices would have to pay for the right by buying a license to use the design."
An oversimplification to be sure, and I'd need to read up on how such laws worked here on Illuim before trying to sell anything.
"If anyone asks where the technology comes from we can just say that my people created it," said Ahsoka "My home world isn't in this galaxy so its not as if anyone can go and check."
Which wouldn't lead to many questions because a galaxy is a very big place and only a fraction if it had been explored.
"Can you make more stuff like this?" I asked.
Given who she'd apprenticed under it wouldn't surprise me if she could put together a whole starfighter if given enough time and resources.
"Sure," she replied "Most of what I can do is more repair work than real engineering, but I can learn more and I already know a little about how the technology of his galaxy works because of how we all know that."
She was referring to the transport perk which didn't just provide the physical vessel it also granted all of us the ability to maintain and fly the ship. That required us to have a level of understanding on how the technology worked.
"I'll need time and the proper resources," Ahsoka was now saying "I can create blueprints and working models for you while you handle the business side of things, and I hope we all get a proper share of the profits."
Since Jedi, even former ones, were not known for desiring material wealth I figured that Ahsoka's interest was in supporting the group rather than in becoming rich.
"We'll need proper blueprints for all of this to start with," I said to Ahsoka "When I have those we go to what passes for a patent office around here."
Once I had the designs protected under the law and we had our names plastered on the documents then I'd have to find a company who would be willing to disseminate the designs to whoever would be willing to pay for the right to use them.
If I remembered correctly from back when I played the Mass Effect games you bought licenses from different companies in order to get access to their weapons, armour and other bits of tech so I assumed the designs and finished products that Ahsoka came up would be sold to other people by the company we sold to, and would become their property to do with as they saw fit. But as long as we got paid that was fine with me.
I didn't mind introducing some Star Wars tech into this galaxy because one of the factors the Reapers depended upon to easily harvest organic civilizations was those civilisations using Mass Effect tech. Introducing outside technology would only hinder the Reapers.
Serrice Technology Building. Illium.
After filing the patents, a process that took hours rather than days and hadn't cost much, I'd began to look for a company that would be interested in acquiring the Star Wars technology that Ashoka knew enough about to put on the market. I didn't understand much of what the technology did so I had to trust that Ashoka was creating parts and machines that would be better than what the natives of this galaxy would have access to in some way. The tech didn't need to be better in the sense of being more advanced, it might just be more dependable to or cheaper to run, as then people would buy the technology and that would make it profitable for someone to manufacture.
Thanks to what passed for the Internet in this galaxy I'd learned that Serrice Technology was part of The Serrice Council, an asari consortium which manufactures the highest quality omni-tools, bio-amps, and body armour as well as a lot of other stuff that makes things work behind the scenes.
I'd chosen to approach them because not only did they have a good reputation in the business world. they weren't known for providing goods that hadn't been properly tested. Also they had a major presence here on Illium so it was easy to met with someone who had the authority to purchase my groups tech.
It seemed likely that we'd be selling them the rights to use our patents and then the Serrice Council would take their time introducing the technology to the public. Asari are long lived people so it made sense that they'd see no reason to rush. At least that was what I imagined, even after all my reading I didn't fully understand the local laws and we couldn't afford a lawyer so I was glad that Ahsoka was here as she should be able to sense any outright attempts to fool us.
Since the Serrice Council dealt with a lot of different kinds of technology through their different departments I was again considering going to the Cyberpunk world and acquiring some of their tech to see if the asari consortium would have any use for it, but that could wait until my group had a reputation for bringing in tech from unknown places. Illium was such a good place for us since it was a gateway to the Terminus Systems where such exotic technologies could come from.
For now I focused on the coming meeting. We'd been asked to wait in a suitable room, and we'd been given refreshments in the form of some sort of coffee, before being made to wait. The time for our appointment had passed and still we were waiting. I assumed that there was a valid reason for it, some meeting was running late or the asari woman we were meant to talk to had a call that just wouldn't end, yet it annoyed me. I wasn't the only one, Ciri looked as bored as I felt, Laura was pacing the room like a trapped animal, only Ahsoka seemed unbothered.
"They never show these parts in other peoples CYOA based adventures," I muttered to myself.
I spent some time trying to admire the artwork on the walls, yet I found the pictures to be overly colourful and if the statues and sculptures were anything to go by the asari seemed to like human stuff from Ancient Egypt, or what people thought of as Ancient Egyptian. Shame that Ciri had never been to the Stargate universe, if so we could grab some Goa'uld stuff and it would sell here for a small fortune on this world even if it was just decorative.
"Anuci Melas will see you now," said the asari who'd led us into this room what felt like hours ago. "Please follow me."
Now I could only hope that the technology looked interesting and that I didn't screw up the presentation that we'd put together.
Chapter 5
My Multi-Dimensional Harem Adventures
Part 4
Freighter. Illium.
We returned to the ship after yet another meeting with an important asari businesswoman who had carefully gone through the contract with us. While it wasn't a great deal for us at least there would be no hidden surprises since Serrice Council was known to be concerned about more than profit. They also cared about their reputation so they wouldn't be rushing anything into production since they didn't want to ruin their reputation by selling shoddy products.
On the downside this meant that since we'd only be getting a fraction of the profits from the sales we wouldn't be getting anything from Serrice Council for at least a few months aside from a payment which the Serrice paid to buy the exclusive rights to the technology on offer. That should keep us going for a while, but it wasn't enough since even docking on this planet wasn't cheap. We'd have to come up with some ways to make more money.
"Oh I have a message," reported an interested sounding Ahsoka "Some group called
Baria Frontiers wants to do some scans on me."
Given that Ahsoka's backstory involved her being from a remote world in the Terminus Systems it made sense that people in the civilized galaxy would want to learn more about this new alien race. Since Ahsoka was the only member of her race out in the galaxy as far anyone knew she was the only person that they could ask.
"Baria Frontiers is a corporation which specializes in selling star charts," I said as I read information presented by my omni-tool "Why would they want medical data?"
Ahsoka sent me a copy of the contract and as I read through the details I saw that it would allow Baria Frontiers to perform invasive medical tests on her should she have agreed to them by signing the contract. Not that they'd have been able to enforce it since Ciri could take us somewhere else.
"They want to cut me open!" Ahsoka shouted.
I could understand her distress and soon felt some of my own when Laura spoke.
"Someone's here who isn't us," she said.
It all seemed normal to me, but as she tapped her nose I was reminded that she had enhanced senses and I started wishing that I owned a weapon. Illium had very loose gun control laws, so I could have one as long as I paid for it. It was just that I wouldn't know how to fire one safely. That was something I intended to correct very soon.
Laura moved about as if looking for something and then extended a single blade from between her knuckles before stabbing what seemed to be an innocent bit of wall. Only as it turned out what she stabbed was neither innocent or the wall.
A woman with what I guessed to be a cloaking field dropped to the deck of the ship as Laura had just stabbed her with one of her Wolverine claws.
"Is she some kind of assassin?" asked Ciri.
Upon getting a better look at the woman I discovered that she was no assassin. She was a small Japanese woman with some sort of mark below her lips. I didn't recognise her right away
"Unless I'm mistaken this is Kasumi Goto, she's one of the galaxy's most skilled thieves. She is a master of stealth and infiltration. She's also the perfect person to hire for a little corporate espionage. My guess is that someone wants to see what we gave Serrice, or to see what else we have. Serrice might even have sent her to find out if we have any more tech worth their time."
Their reputation might be good, but that could just mean they'd avoided being caught in a scandal.
"Is she still alive?" asked Ahsoka.
Laura was checking over what could be a body and it soon turned out that while there wasn't much blood Kasumi wasn't breathing nor was there a pulse. I knew first aid, however that didn't tend to help if you got stabbed in the chest.
"I didn't mean to kill her," said the mutant as she stepped back from the corpse. "I just thought that we were about to be attacked and I…."
Laura had been acting in defence of the group and I saw nothing wrong with that so I placed what I hoped was a comforting hand on her shoulder. Meanwhile Ciri turned the thief over and began trying to find out if she had anything worth looking at.
"What are you doing?" Ahsoka questioned.
I'd never dealt with death like this, but I knew that Ciri came from a world where it was normal to loot someone you killed.
"Trying to find out if she has anything that will clue us as to who sent her, or anything valuable," said the Lady of Space and Time "We still need money."
Once I'd gathered myself enough to get closer to the body I spoke.
"She'll have an omni-tool" I said "Like ours only I doubt we'll be able to use it."
Someone like Goto will have hers password protected at least and all her money would be in accounts or hidden away somehow. All the thief had on her person was a pistol, what I guessed to be smoke bombs of some kind, and a few small tools that I knew nothing about.
"We need to look around to see if she planted any recording devices," advised Ahsoka.
The former Jedi seemed to have gotten over the shock of the sudden violence and was thinking. Once I caught up I realised that Goto could have been here to place devices to spy on us for someone. She wouldn't have found anything worthwhile within the ship as we kept all the good stuff in the Pocket Di-Mansion.
"You do that," said Ciri "I'm going to dump the body."
As the female Witcher used her powers to reach somewhere on another world I left Ahsoka and Laura to look for spy devices while I cleaned up. I doubted my efforts to get rid of the blood would fool a forensic team, but the police had no reason to examine the scene since they'd not come here looking for Goto and by now the body was in a different universe.
While mopping the floors I couldn't help wondering if we'd screwed up things for Shepard since now Goto wouldn't be around to join the crew of the second Normandy during their mission to stop the Collectors. Not that I'd ever had much use for Goto during my playthroughs.
The Kingdom of Camelot.
While Laura had stayed behind to look after the ship, and to do some brooding, Ahsoka also hadn't come with us because she'd really stand out around here and she had her own things to do. As such Ciri and I had decided to take a trip to another world without them due to my need to train as a warrior. The multiverse was a dangerous place and since I had a peak human body I might as well put it to good use.
As for this universe, Ciri sort of blended in anyway and it was easy for me to find suitable clothing since there were plenty of designs for clothing that could be made real with a fabricator that weren't copyrighted in any way. This had also allowed me to fabricate a suitable knife. I'd need some proper arms and armour, but we'd buy those locally.
Paying for such things would be simple as we both had backpacks full of things that were cheap for us to acquire yet valuable here. We carried bags of salt, a few bolts of cotton cloth and silk, some cheap perfume, and incense. More than enough to have Ciri and I living like nobility during our stay. Since she knew some VIPs here we shouldn't have much trouble selling our goods.
My ashen haired summon had declared that she wouldn't train me to be a witcher. She had her reasons, mainly because I was too old for that kind of training and her not being sure that she could train someone to fight the way a Witcher did. So she had suggested that we come to Camelot and get me trained by a knight.
That would take time, but with Ahsoka having found someone willing to pay to take medical scans of her that weren't invasive we now had a lot more money and no need to go anywhere else so I could spend months training if that was what it took.
"I know this Camelot," I said to Ciri "It was in a TV show."
The warrior princess gave me an odd look.
"A what?" she asked.
I spent a moment wondering how I'd explain the idea of television.
"Haven't you ever seen any of the moving pictures?" I asked "We have them on our omni-tools."
She must have seen some while in the Cyberpunk world.
"Oh you mean those pre-recorded mummer's plays?" she said "Yes it does look like it should be in one of those."
I felt fairly certain that this was the Camelot from the Merlin TV series, but I felt sure that the Ciri I'd read about in the books went to a different version of Camelot. In this Camelot magic would be outlawed, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about Uther since Arthur had been king when Ciri visited.
"Don't worry," assured the Lady of Space and Time, who misunderstood my apprehension. "Sir Galahad pledged himself to me so he won't refuse me when I ask him to train you as a knight."
Becoming an actual knight could take years and I didn't want to spend years training here so I'd likely only learn the basics. Plus I'd find someone to teach me how to shoot as guns were cheap on Illium and being about to fire at the dangerous stuff with a space gun would be helpful.
"Where did those horses come from?" I asked.
I felt certain that they'd not been there mere moments ago and as soon I really looked at them I found that I knew not only how to ride them but also care for them, I even knew their names and that they were both palfreys meant for everyday riding and travel rather than war.
"This must have something to do with the Transportation Perk," I figured.
Ciri looked confused.
"The CYOA gave us these horses," she said. "Why?"
I gave it some thought and then quickly popped into the Pocket Di-Mansion just long enough to find Ahsoka and ask her to check if she could leave the Di-Mansion and reach the ship. When it turned out she could, I soon left the Di-Mansion to find Ciri still with the horses. This worked because when I left the Di-Mansion the portal always appeared in the place I'd entered the pocket dimension.
"The Transport Perk says something about setting appropriate methods of transport," I said to Ciri. "It must provide transport for me when I enter a new type of setting."
I didn't know if that meant I'd get a new method of transport every time or if it only worked when the transport methods I already had weren't suitable. I looked forward to finding out.
"It was a forty point perk," I reasoned. "So it makes sense I'd get more out of it than expected."
The CYOA was meant to allow us to have adventures. Alas it didn't give me more money, such as coins that could be spent in this realm, but that had only been a 5 point perk.
"We'll have to put up some stables in the gardens," Ciri was saying.
It wouldn't surprise me to find some stables within the Di-Mansion if we took the horses through a portal to that place.
"Alright let's go to Camelot," I said as I mounted my steed. "I'm going to be a knight."
I already had a suitable horse and I could buy armour, sure the training would be hard, it was just that I had a good feeling that I'd do well.
For some reason, I had a good feeling that I'd do well.
Chapter 6
VATSTeen said:
Aww damn I liked Kasumi. At least try to capture for more points to spend.
It's not a Waifu Catalog story.
In case anyone is curious, here is the CYOA build with the perk descriptions and the relevant text.
Spoiler: CYOA build
Multi-Dimensional Harem Adventurers
Formerly Known as Isekai Generator
Congratulations! You're going on a journey to another world. Now, tradition dictates that as an Isekai protagonist, you have to have a hare- Uh, traveling companions of the female persuasion. Unfortunately, we're fresh out of original id- er, available girls. Not to worry though, we'll just kidna- Summon! Summon some girls from your world's fiction! That way, you will be familiar with them from the start.
First you will choose which girls you would like to summon. Then you can choose a way to manage them. There will also be some additional perks to choose with leftover points, as well as some ways to earn more if you really want them.
Because we don't want to unbalance the multiverse too badly, you may only reach a total of 150 points. You wouldn't believe how much paperwork a dimensional collapse can generate. Also, the higher your total, the more dangerous your destination will be.
Summoning
Go ahead and see which girls you'd like to accompany you on your journey. But, since most of the other world are far more dangerous that yours, you will need to choose carefully. Consider their powers and personalities, and not just how much you want to fuck them. You will have to rely on your harem to survive.
Their powers will be fully functional not matter where you end up, and they will bring any iconic weapons, equipment, pets, or other item with them.
Video Games: Misc
Ciri - 20 points
Star Wars
Ahsoka - 15 points
Marvel
X-23 - 10 points
Control
Great! Now that you've chosen your sla- um, companions, you will need some way of keeping them from bashing in your fragile skull or leave you to fend for yourself. Most girls aren't to happy about suddenly getting ripped out of their lives, so here you can choose a little something to help you manage them. You can choose one or more of the following.
Neural Reprogramming - 10 points
The members of your harem will have their mind conditioned to become more loyal and accepting of you. Choose a level of intensity.
Level 1: They will be more inclined to listen to you and will naturally let you take charge of situations.
Perks
If you're still not sure about if you'll be alright in your new world, we have some additional perks available, to help you settle in, or just for fun.
Mens Sana - 10 points
You and your harem are immune to mental effects such as mind control, insanity, and fear.
Corpore Sano - 5 points
You and your harem are immune to disease, poisons, and fatigue. You are always clean, hygienic, and in peak physical condition.
Physical Adjustment: Full Body Makeover - 5 points
Alter any part of your physical self, including your gender, or create an entirely new body for yourself.
Physical Adjustment: Fertility - 5 points
Cause any girl in your harem to either become infertile or hyperfertile. Can be changed at any time with just a thought.
Transport - 40 points
A setting-appropriate method of transport. Registration and piloting ability are included for you and your girls, but additional crew is not.
Money - 5 points
A modest sum of setting-appropriate currently. It won't last forever, but it should cover immediate needs.
Translator Microbes - 5 points
You and your harem will be able to understand and speak and language that is spoken to you. Does not work on written text.
Pocket Di-Mansion - 20 points
A portal to a pocket dimension containing a lavish mansion that you and your harem can access from anywhere. Available in Western and Eastern style.
Destination
We've finally made it to the most important part of the journey: the destination. Add up all the points you spent and earned, and choose the world you will be placed in. Because we don't want to make it too easy for you, the difficulty of the world you're going to is determined by how much power you bought earlier. You can choose any world your point total qualifies you for.
Oh and please don't take any girls to a world they're originally from. It might cause a paradox and collapse that reality.
Tier 4 World - Mass Effect (126-150 points)
In the 22nd century, humanity uncovered a massive and ancient technological relic, and used it to reach for the stars, only to discover that others got there first. Travel a galaxy filled with a variety of alien species and futuristic technology, but beware of the mecha-Cthulhu.
Transport: transport ship. Suggested starting point: Virmire. Quest: Ensure the Normandy crew survives Virmire.
Spoiler: CYOA selected companion portrait images
[img: https/i./h49tKeM.png]
[img: https/i./eQtQOL4.png]
[img: https/i./6ZYZZW6.png]
Chapter 7
Camelot. Albion.
While most of this city seemed too clean to belong in a medieval setting the marketplace was crowded and dirty. The ground had turned to mud thanks to what I assumed to be some early morning rainfall and the passage of so many people, and while this city was cleaner than it should be, that didn't mean that my boots weren't going to need a good cleaning later on. Lucky for me I had a perk that kept me shower fresh and free of disease so I didn't worry about picking up nasty illnesses.
I felt glad that I didn't have the enhanced senses of X-23 as frankly the stables had smelt bad enough and the people weren't that pleasant either as no one was going to invent body spray for over a thousand years. That would explain why Ciri had known that perfume would be a big seller back when we'd been putting together our packs of trade goods. Hopefully, someone around here had enough money to buy them from us or we'd be visiting many stores in an attempt to offload our goods.
We'd come to the large outdoor market to sell our goods as we would need some of the local currency so as to cover expenses during our stay in this city. Yet we would only be selling because I had access to a fabricator and all the stores on Illluim, as such I had no need of linens and clothes or even silks from far off lands. Nor did I require the fleeces of sheep, or hides from cattle. I did not desire any wine, which was expensive here as if nothing else glass wasn't cheap to make, and I had no desire to buy barrels of ale or mead.
I'd not gotten drunk in a good long while and I wasn't even sure that I could as one of my perks kept me safe from poison and alcohol was technically a poison, as such I couldn't even be sure that booze would affect me like it did a normal human. I should test how my body chemistry would react to alcohol. I'd sipped some drinks recently when out at a bar, but even somewhat dangerous stuff could be harmless in moderation. Thankfully I'd never been much of a drinker so if I'd lost the ability to get drunk it wouldn't matter much.
A lot of the stalls sold the necessities of life as someone would expect, and to me what was a surprisingly wide array of foodstuffs, including a lot of fresh fruit, such as pears, apples, or plums, and many types of vegetables, eggs, butter, and a few kinds of meat that I had to ask about since I did not recognise them. As it turned out, goose meat was a common sight at this market, so much so that me asking about it got me funny looks. In my time it wasn't often seen, nor was pheasant or pigeon meat. At least not by me. I avoided eating pigeon as I knew them to basically be flying rats.
A lot of the meat was kept fresh by keeping it alive while it was sold as such the people shopping could buy chickens, pigs both fully grown and in baby form, to be slaughtered once fattened up I assumed, and there some rather adorable lambs and calves around that I tried not to think about being eaten.
Of course, since they lacked any sort of real food preservatives other than salt in this world, they didn't have refrigeration so I had no desire to eat any local food. Lucky for me I could just pop back into the Di-Mansion when I wanted a snack or to sleep on a clean bed. That would make staying in this world much more comfortable.
I walked past a stall that seemed to cater towards those who had a bit more money than the average peasant, the merchant sold rugs, jugs, wooden carvings of moderate quality and other items my eyes only skimmed over since I had no need for any of this stuff.
My attention was soon diverted to a jewellery stand. Which was not like the jewellery stores of my time, which tended to be filled with overpriced mass-produced shiny stuff. Instead, every piece for sale was handmade by a craftsman who'd have spent years mastering his craft judging by the quality of the pieces.
In addition to basic forms of personal jewellery such as rings, necklaces, bracelets, and brooches that were common enough in what I thought of as modern times, medieval jewellery also included a range of other forms less often found in modern jewellery stores, such as fittings and fasteners for clothes including, buckles, and very fancy buttons, as well as what I mentally labelled as hat badges, decorations for belts, weapons, purses and other accessories, and decorated pins, mostly for holding hairstyles and head-dresses in place.
After that my attention was drawn to neck chains that carried a variety of pendants, from crosses, which I was certain would become more common in the years to come to symbols totally unknown to me but I figured would be Celtic in design. I was pretty sure that none of them would be symbols of mystical importance given where this market was located. Even with Uthur dead magic might still be forbidden.
"We'll start here," I heard Ciri say as we found a man who sold spices.
Where I was from people rarely haggled over prices because the people who ran the stores and businesses you shopped with weren't the ones to decide how much someone had to pay. Due to this, I'd never haggled over the price of anything as far as I could remember yet to Ciri it seemed so easy. I watched as she bartered for a good deal, even yelling a few times until she was satisfied with the number of coins she got for what was in our backpacks. It was rather entertaining to watch.
As for the coins, they were much larger than expected, even the gold ones. Which led to me wondering how pure they were, or if gold was just more common in this universe than mine and Camelot had a lot of it. Mostly we ended up with lots of silver and Ciri assured me that this would be more than enough for us.
"Right let's go find Sir Galahad," said my summon once the trading was done. "He should be with the king."
So I was going to see King Arthur's court. This should be interesting.
Nos Astra. Ilium.
While Ciri and Thaddus hadn't been gone for that long, both Ahsoka and Laura found themselves desiring to get out of the pocket dimension that they now called home. They needed to be doing something as neither of them was the kind of person who enjoyed simply sitting around. The problem was that Thaddus was supposed to provide direction as he was the leader. Granted this was because Ahsoka and Laura had been programmed to think that way, but without him around they found themselves at a bit of a loose end.
Knowing that Thaddus wanted to make some money and that it would be some time before Ahsoka's 'inventions' started generating a profit, the two companions had decided to go out so as to find some work. This led them to a police station and a notice board about bounties.
These were not the bounties back in Ahsoka's home galaxy which often offered a reward for a crook dead or alive. These were more like it was on Laura's homeworld where the bounty hunter would be going after those who had skipped bail or taken shelter with one of the mercenary groups that local law enforcement simply didn't want to tangle with.
"You want to chase bad guys?" asked Laura.
To Ahsoka it made sense.
"It's legal and we have skills that will make it safer than for other people," said the former Jedi.
Laura considered this and realised that the alien women could be right. Between her animal senses and that Force stuff that Ahsoka had mentioned they should be able to handle themselves if they went after a few people who'd only skipped bail and needed to be dragged out of some hole, assuming that they hadn't gotten off the planet. If they had then neither Ahsoka nor Laura would be able to anything about that as the freighter wasn't a suitable vessel for chasing bounties and Thaddus didn't want the ship to leave the planet.
"So do we just start looking for some of these crooks?" asked Laura as she gestured at the holographic images on display outside of the police station "Who's worth the most?"
It wasn't that simple.
"First of all we have to buy bounty hunter permits and fill out some paperwork," replied
Ahsoka who had already started using her omni-tool so as to read up on the requirements.
"For that, we have to talk to someone inside the police station."
Laura let out a sigh.
"Oh great. Paperwork," she moaned.
Bounty hunting already seemed far less glamorous than it did in fiction.
Camelot. Albion.
"Must have been an interesting crossover," I muttered to myself.
I'd not expected to be able to simply enter the citadel that was the centre of this kingdom and home to the royal family yet it proved to be rather simple as it turned out that some of the guards already knew Ciri, and they acted as if she'd used to live here. I don't remember her being in the TV show so it seemed wise to assume that other things would be different.
Women warriors weren't unknown in this setting; there had been at least one that I could remember. Morgana had a half-sister who was a pretty badass fighter so perhaps Ciri would have been more accepted here than I would have first imagined.
When we entered the throne room to see that the court was already in session, I found it surprising that there was a woman sitting on the throne. She had to be Queen Guinevere Pendragon, the widow of Arthur Pendragon who had sort of died after a big battle. If my memory of the lore served me well Arthur was supposed to return when he was needed most.
Standing near the queen was someone I recognised. It was the wizard called Merlin only he seemed different than in the show and he wore rich looking red robes. I could only assume that Guinevere had made him the Court Sorcerer or something like that. Perhaps I would get the chance to ask him about it.
Upon seeing Ciri the queen dismissed her court and before all the nobles and knights had poured out Guinevere came over and hugged my summon as if she was greeting an old friend. Not that shocking once I thought about it as lots of people liked Ciri.
I let the two women chat for a while until Ciri was ready to introduce me.
"Thaddeus, this is Guinevere, Guinevere, this is Thaddeus, he is my travelling companion," she said.
Travelling companion was one way to put it.
"Hello, Your Majesty," was my reply.
Since I didn't know if I should bow or not I didn't bother and she didn't seem to care.
"I came to ask a favour of Sir Galahad," Ciri told her friend.
Before the queen spoke I could tell that she didn't have good news.
"Sir Percival, Sirs Galahad and Sir Bors left to seek out the holy grail," said the queen. "They believe it can restore Arthur."
Upon hearing that bit of news I knew that this must be some time after Arthur got stabbed by Mordred while fighting the Saxons. As for the Holy Grail in this universe, it should be known as the Cup of Life. The Cup of Life is a magical chalice, blessed by many years of powerful sorcery. If water is drunk from the Cup, the drinker will survive even death. However, another life must be given in return in order for the balance of the world to be restored.
Perhaps the Holy Grail was a separate relic and could heal without taking another's life so as to restore the balance. Arthur wouldn't be happy about someone he cared about dying to restore him. If it did exist in the universe then it would be somewhere in the Middle East and impossible to find.
"I should seek out this Holy Grail and restore Arthur," I heard Ciri say.
That sounded good on paper, only, in reality, it would be a very bad idea.
"I need a quick word," I said as I dragged Ciri a short distance away.
Once I felt sure that we were out of earshot I spoke.
"Listen, there's a prophecy that states that Arthur is the Once and Future King," I did my best to explain "He's only supposed to return when the kingdom needs him most. That means if you restore him now he won't be around when he is most needed."
If I remember the end of the Merlin show correctly Merlin was still waiting for Arthur's return in modern times and since Arthur was mortal if he got brought back now he'd died of old age long before he was needed. That could really mess up the future.
"Not another prophecy," Ciri understandably complained.
Simply ordering her not to do anything about Arthur wouldn't work as the neural programming only encouraged her to listen to my commands. She could disobey if she really wanted to, so I would have to use reason to make her see that questing for the grail was a pointless endeavour.
"He's supposed to remain on the Island of Avalon until that day," I said.
I couldn't imagine what he'd be needed for if he didn't come back, say, during World War 2, but that just made me feel more sure that I didn't want to mess about with Arthur's fate. It might result in the end of the world or something equally as dramatic.
"Go ask Merlin about it," I encouraged.
Hopefully, the wizard would be able to convince her and then we could go to some other places for cool magical objects. Ciri needed an idea of where she was going if she didn't want to end up somewhere random, so I had the idea of showing her images from the fiction of my time. This should exist in the Mass Effect universe assuming the timeline was similar back in the late 20th early 21st century. But we wouldn't be able to do that if she ran off to go look for the grail.
"I will," said Ciri as she stormed off to where Merlin had been loitering.
If he couldn't convince her to let Arthur remain on Avalon then history could be really buggered. Sure restoring the king could get me a knighthood and training, but there were other places I could go to learn about combat, and Ciri should be able to take me to those places.
Chapter 8
The CYOA used in this part of the story is Immortality Insurance Meta version 2.1
Adventure 5
The Pocket Di-Mansion.
Thankfully Ciri had not gone chasing after the Holy Grail, and she'd decided to leave things alone after a long talk with Merlin. I had no idea exactly what they'd talked about since I had no wish to pry into Ciri's affairs, at least not until we got to know each other better, but it seemed safe to assume that he'd explained about the whole 'Once and Future King' thing and how Arthur would be needed later. Which made me wonder what Merlin would do if someone actually found the Holy Grail.
Their talk meant that I was able to hang around Camelot for a while and do some training. So far I'd not even picked up a sword. All I got to do was basic exercises that were meant to strengthen me and this would be more helpful if I wasn't already in peak physical fitness due to one of my perks, but I had to go through the training just like everyone else did when they wanted to become a knight as it was all part of the process.
While I had a perk that prevented me from suffering fatigue which meant that I could train for longer and harder than others, I still needed to eat and sleep so I couldn't be preparing for future fights all the time. Although maybe I could and the desire to stop was nothing more than a habit leftover from my life before the CYOA. Not that it mattered if the trainers wouldn't work all day.
I'd just gotten back from a hard day of training in Camelot when a strange sound filled the air. It took me a moment to realize that it was a bell of some kind and that it was coming from the direction of the front door. This was very odd because everyone who had access to the pocket dimension was already inside the mansion and it wasn't as if they could lock themselves out.
Ahsoka, Ciri, and Laura met me as I made my way to the front door of our home.
"I don't sense any danger," the former Jedi told me.
Due to how many Force-users I'd seen be ambushed in some way in the Star Wars films and cartoons, those words didn't fill me with much confidence. Given her own experiences, it wasn't odd that she unhooked one of her sabers from her belt and prepared to ignite it just in case.
"I don't smell anything odd," Laura supplied.
The bell kept ringing, so slowly I went to the door and opened it. When I did I saw something very odd. I didn't understand this sight, it was a steampunk robot in fancy clothing with green glowing parts that uncomfortably reminded me of the Necrons from Warhammer 40,000 and its face didn't help with that. This steampunk Necron person looked at me and then began to talk.
"Salutations Immortal One," it said, "I trust you find your new immortality satisfactory".
I was unable to form any sort of reply because I had no idea what to say upon hearing that.
"Oh no, you don't know me," I was informed "But I know you. Of course, after all, the R.O.B. pantheon Council maintains a public registry of all immortals throughout the multiverse."
At this point, I could only conclude that this had something to do with the CYOA.
"I am Sir Walter de Ghrnthgn, Esquire, at your service," my strange visitor introduced "I work for a prestigious interdimensional corporation offering insurance to esteemed immortals such as yourself."
Since when had I become an immortal?
"What sort of insurance? you ask," said the salesperson.
No one had asked, but we were all confused to mention it.
"Why, the only sort immortals need," the thing before me was now saying "You may live forever after all, but the world you live in is NOT so guaranteed."
So this robot guy was a door-to-door salesperson for people made immortal by ROBs. Even by my recent standards, this was strange.
"However, with my insurance options on offer, you can circumvent those pesky inconveniences, like the end of the world!" The robot person informed us. "I have a few exclusive offers as well."
I tried to question the machine but it just kept going.
"No, please, put away your wallet." said the machine.
I didn't even own a wallet. I'd left that back in my home dimension.
"We have no need for whatever passes as currency here," it said "We take our stock in your lifespan - which you have an infinite amount of."
For a moment that seemed to be all the robot had to say, then it spoke some more.
"No, it doesn't matter if you haven't lived very long yet, we're taking payment from your potential lifespan. Since you're immortal this will have zero effect on you," I was now being informed. "Lest you get too excited and plan to buy everything, I should point out that anti-inflation regulations prevent me from accepting more than ten centuries from you."
I was then handed a leaflet that contained some choices for me to purchase.
"Excuse us a moment," I said to the salesperson.
I shut the door and turned to face my summons who all wanted to see what was on offer and to discuss what all of this meant.
"So you're immortal," said Ahsoka "When were you going to mention this?"
I hadn't planned to because I'd not known that I'd somehow obtained immortality.
"This is all news to me," I replied.
That was when I figured it out.
"I think it might have something to do with the perk Corpore Sano," I told my summons "It's supposed to make me and my harem immune to disease, poisons, and fatigue. It also says that we are all always clean, hygienic, and in peak physical condition. If that prevents aging then we could all be considered immortal in a sense."
We all spent a little time wondering what this meant.
"But the droid is only selling to you," mentioned Ahsoka "Do you have any idea why?".
The answer to that was on the leaflet.
"This is another CYOA," I explained, "One that adds to the CYOA I already filled out, and since I was the one to fill out the first CYOA it does make sense for me to get this addon."
Not that much of this made much sense. I'd just been through so much recently that I'd started accepting such strangeness. If I hadn't I'd likely be in a padded cell by now.
"I don't think I want to live forever," Ciri let us know "I've heard about immortality doing strange things to people."
She need not worry.
"You can still die in a fight or an accident," I let Ciri know.
"So just go jump off a cliff if it gets boring," advised Laura who seemed unconcerned about living forever. "Not that it would work for me."
She had unbreakable bones and a healing factor, combine that with the perk and she'd have a very hard time dying.
"Master Yoda is over nine hundred years old and he seemed in no rush to die" mentioned Ahsoka "So I don't think it's something we need to worry about anytime soon."
None of us were even old by the standards of our species.
"Witchers don't die in their beds," said Ciri.
She could die fighting some monster and knowing that made her feel better about all of this. Which did make sense since Ciri would have been expecting to die that way, thus becoming immortal didn't change that for her.
"I guess this lifetime of commitment to the group just got a lot longer," commented Ahsoka.
"I can always kill you if it gets too boring," X-23 offered.
Hopefully, that had been a joke.
"You don't seem bothered much by this," commented Ahsoka.
X-23 shrugged.
"My father was nearly two hundred years old when he died, so it's nice knowing you guys might still be around in a couple of centuries," she said.
If my knowledge of Marvel hadn't failed me I knew that Logan, who Laura was pretty much a girl version of, only started aging and dying because of Adamantium poisoning. While Laura had Adamantium claws I wasn't as sure about her whole skeleton as it wasn't something we'd discussed. Not that it mattered since the perks prevented any sort of poison from harming us.
"So are you going to buy anything?" asked Laura.
I was confused about how I was going to pay for anything on offer as there were options that would let me outlive a universe which meant my lifespan could be in the billions of years. Would I even notice a thousand years subtracted from forever? How would that even work?
"At least we'll have time to deal with any unseen side effects," assured Ahsoka
Since I'd not mentioned it I assumed that she'd been able to sense my apprehension, and wasn't wrong about us having time to sort out any issues that came up because of this. That was good because what was on offer here and now was simply too tempting to refuse.
After thinking about it for a while I made my choices.
10 points
Rewind - 2
8 points
Planar Portal - 4
4 points
Get Of Jail Free - 1
3 points
Ennui-B-Gone - 1 point
2 points
Inconspicuous - 1 point
1 point
Off The Grid - 1 point
0 points
"Seems like you mostly chose stuff to make things easier for you to endure immortality and to be able to live freely," commented Ashoka. "I can understand that."
Since I might live forever it seemed wise to plan ahead.
"I chose Planar Portal so that if anything happens to Ciri we won't be stuck anywhere," I informed everyone.
There was also the fact that I could still die due to physical damage as I was not invulnerable. However, I had a very long time to find ways around that fact and all of the multiverse to explore while looking for some form of invulnerability.
"Aren't you worried about jumping blindly?" asked Ciri.
I was not.
"This perk will let me choose where I want to go even if my exact arrival point isn't certain," I explained. "I can move between dimensions and from planet to planet."
Which upon thinking about it, this perk made owning a starship rather pointless unless I wanted to travel to somewhere I'd never been before. On the plus side, I could make a portal large enough to fit an aircraft carrier through so I could move the ship between dimensions. As such I could visit worlds more advanced worlds and even space stations without just appearing from nowhere and spooking the locals.
I'd totally ignored the pocket dimension offer since I already had one of those and the companionship option didn't appeal to me either since the immortals I already had with me were having mixed feelings about not dying of old age. Besides, I knew of other ways of obtaining immortality throughout the multiverse, many of which didn't come with any real drawbacks.
"So, are you going to buy these perks?" asked Ahsoka.
While there could be some unforeseen risk to doing this, assuming that this wasn't some sort of joke by a ROB, I'd have plenty of time to deal with the risk and all of the multiverse to find a solution if one was needed. Besides, I'd rather have a more limited form of immortality than end up stuck somewhere because I got separated from Ciri.
"I'm going to go for it," I decided.
Upon opening the front door I found the steampunk robot salesperson still standing in place.
"I'll take these," I said.
I told the machine about my choices and then there was a strange noise like a printer working, and as it turned out that was the case, the salesperson pulled a bit of paper out from his body and it displayed my choices along with my payment of potential years.
"A pleasure doing business with you," said the machine as it left.
Within seconds a portal appeared and the robot walked into it.
"So do we think we'll get any more visitors?" asked Ciri.
I really hoped not as this had been a very strange and somewhat unsettling experience.
Chapter 9
Fort Knox. Zombie Universe.
Now that we were no longer limited to only travelling to the universes which Ciri had already been to, this meant that my plans for the future had changed. Training for knighthood made some sense given that most of the worlds that Ciri had visited were much more low tech than my own and often ran under the feudal system.
Thanks to that sales robot person I could open up a portal to anywhere I could picture in my mind and given the sheer amount of fictional universes I'd read about or watched on TV I was now able to reach more places than could be properly explored in a dozen human lifetimes, so it was a good thing that I'd become immortal.
Of course travel isn't free even if I didn't need to pay for plane tickets or anything like that and while I had an unending life span I could still be harmed physically so it would be a good idea for me to find ways of powering up. All of that was going to cost money so I needed to acquire some quickly and in large amounts.
Knowing that gold was valued by many civilizations throughout the multiverse it made sense for me to acquire as much of that stuff as I could and I knew of a place where it would just be lying around ready for some interdimensional traveller to claim it.
To that end, we'd come to Fort Knox, which was a United States Army post in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of someplace called Elizabethtown, at least according to some maps I'd seen. It was also adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, a very secure place used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold reserves.
I also knew some other stuff about this place. For 60 years, Fort Knox was the home of the U.S. Army Armor Center and the U.S. Army Armor School (which was later moved to Fort Benning), and was used by both the Army and the Marine Corps to train crews on the American tanks .
The history of the U.S. Army's Cavalry and Armored forces, and of General George S. Patton's career was shown at the General George Patton Museum on the grounds of Fort Knox. However a museum tour didn't interest me even if Patton had been a fascinating person.
As for the United States Bullion Depository, this was the part we were interested in, it was a fortified vault building located adjacent to the Fort Knox Army Post. Back when this world had human civilization it was operated by the Department of the Treasury and the vault stored over half of the United States' gold reserves.
In my world, it would be very hard to break into as it was protected by the United States Mint Police and is well known for its physical security, but in this world police of any kind were not an issue because everyone who wasn't dead must be held up in a bunker somewhere.
Since I'd read up about this place before ever setting foot in it I knew that the depository was built by the Treasury in 1936 on land transferred to it from Fort Knox. Early shipments of gold totalling almost 13,000 metric tons were escorted by combat cars of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Regiment to the depository.
It has in the past safeguarded other precious items such as the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence as well as many other historically valuable items including the Gutenberg Bible, the Gettysburg Address, the Magna Carta, and the crown, sword, sceptre, orb, and cape of St. Stephen, King of Hungary. Those last few items were returned to Hungary in 1978, at least according to the extranet article I'd read about this place.
I was not interested in cultural items as I'd come here for some of the billions of dollars worth of gold in a world where anyone with claim to the metal had long since died. Anyone hiding out wasn't going to care if I took it because they had no use for the stuff as they had bigger problems than someone looting what were just some ruins.
By coming here all I had to do was gather up as many gold bars as I could carry and then if I ever needed more money I would simply portal back here again to pick up some more. I couldn't control exactly where the portals appeared, but I should return to somewhere close by.
Since there were zombies around we had to be careful and once we'd ensured that the Bullion Depository was zombie free we would do our best to seal it up from the inside so as to keep it that way. Getting back inside wouldn't be hard since we could cut our way in or enter via the roof. Most types of zombies weren't known for climbing.
"Okay ladies you know what to do," I said as we began to clear the fort.
We'd prepared well for this mission, each of us was covered head to go in armour that would ensure that no zombie would be able to bite us. We might all be immune to viruses thanks to one of my perks, but that just meant we couldn't be turned into zombies, we could still be eaten. Hence why I'd spent the bounty rewards earned by Ahsoka and Laura on some decent body armour as well as kinetic barriers just in case some local had survived and took a shot at one of us. That might be highly unlikely, but I hadn't ruled it out.
The armour was nothing special. We all wore HyperGuardian hardsuits which were built by Kassa Fabrication as a civilian-friendly alternative to the Colossus line which was intended for private security. Since they sold models for humans that meant Ahsoka could wear a set as long as the helmet was modified to take into account her montrails as unlike hair they couldn't be cut or tied up to make wearing a helmet easier.
As a group we moved down the empty corridors finding no bodies nor any sign of a struggle. Some time must have passed since the outbreak because plant life had managed to creep back into the Bullion Depository and the roof was leaking in a few places.
"I don't think anyone has been for decades" commented Laura.
She might have commented about not smelling anyone if not for the fact that her helmet filtered out such things. She still had her superior hearing and there was nothing on the motion scanners so I was inclined to agree with her assessment.
Despite that I kept a firm grip on my new M3- Predator, a common enough model of pistol that I'd quickly learned to fire after some lessons. I was far from ready to be a real firefight, but that wasn't a concern since zombies don't fire back or seek cover, they just shamble towards you giving you plenty of time to make a headshot.
"I'm not sensing anything" Ahsoka let me know "And I'm pretty sure that undead monsters would be something The Force would warn me about".
Despite the lack of any zombies around we all kept our guard up as it would pay to be foolish and relax. After a while we found our way into the vault where a heck of a lot of gold was kept. It was just lying around and ours for the taking.
"There's enough here to fund an entire empire," commented Ciri.
Perhaps one day I would form my own empire. I had wealth, power and plenty of time for such things.
While my portals didn't appear exactly where I wanted them to that didn't matter much when you were opening up a way into a pocket dimension as there were only so many places it could safely form and since the portal would remain open for as long I wished our only real limit in how much we took was the size of the room we would be using for storage.
I wanted to keep plenty of gold in the pocket dimension so that anyone in the group could access. This made sense since only Ciri and I could move between worlds, this way Ahsoka and Laura wouldn't need to come to Ciri and I if they needed more gold.
I also had plans to feed some of the gold to the fabricator so as to make jewellery to sell in advanced worlds.
"This might take a while," commented Ahsoka.
Well it wasn't as if any of us were getting any older and this gold wouldn't be going anywhere.
The Pocket Di-mansion.
While gold didn't have the same value in the Mass Effect universe as it did in mine it still had some value on the market even if it was far below metals such platinum and iridium on the stock exchange. I had no idea what they used it for and it hardly mattered as long as there was a demand. It wasn't as if I'd paid anything for it.
Since I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself I'd not traded too much gold in the Mass Effect universe, and I'd met with a few different buyers. It helped that Illium existed as a place to make business transactions easier as it meant people around here didn't ask many questions. I imagined that those who did ask questions about such things went missing or ended up losing their jobs.
Besides given that there had be no news report about a major robbery the asari were likely to assume that I'd gotten the gold from somewhere in the Terminus System. If I'd done so by stealing from pirates or raiders then that wouldn't be a problem for Illium. It was all but impossible such a group would have the resources or inclination to attack a major asari colony world.
I'd sold more than enough gold bars that money for supplying the basics wasn't going to be an issue and we even had some to spend on luxury items such as proper beds. So now rather than have to sleep on a mat on the floor I got to lie on a sinfully huge and very comfortable four-poster bed that had expensive sheets that reminded me of silk, and very well stuffed pillows. The bed hadn't been that costly considering that they had fabrication in this universe, but the sheets had been priced a little higher than I would have liked, but I didn't need to be stingy.
As I relaxed on my new bed I began to hear the steps of someone walking on the hardwood floor in bare feet. The steps grew closer and before long one of my summons appeared at the foot of the bed, she was clad only in a loose linen shirt that covered enough of her to act as a nightshirt and she was sipping some wine out of a fancy glass. Her ashen hair was loose about her shoulders and she had a frown on her pretty face.
"Ciri?" I asked, "Are you okay?".
She looked if not upset then at least annoyed about something.
"I can't get drunk" she complained "I feel more relaxed, but that's it".
The perk which prevented poisons from harming us did have its downsides.
"On the plus side no hangovers" I said "And you might be able to get stoned".
Ciri gave me an odd look.
"Why would I want people to throw rocks at me?" she asked.
I'd not been referring to that kind of stoning.
"Getting stoned means to smoke cannabis, it's a drug from my world that people smoke to relax" I said while checking something on my omni-tool "And its legal on Illium".
Ciri just smiled at me.
"Lucky for you I know another way to unwind after a long day" she said.
Rather than discuss this any further she drained her wine glass and placed it on a nice new cabinet I'd brought. Ciri then reached down and grasped the hem of her nightshirt and pulled it over her head. She was now as naked and it was an impressive sight. She had a slim figure with some muscles, but not overly so, as such they didn't detract from her femininity. I'd seen her stripped down to her underwear before, but this time it was different, she wasn't here to take a bath.
"I think I can guess what sort of relaxation you desire," I said
She put a knee on the bed, and then began advancing toward me. Since it was a big bed it took her a moment and I spent a few seconds asking myself if this was really happening.
"I did wonder if you preferred girls" I mentioned.
If we'd discussed this before I couldn't recall, not that it mattered as the Lady of Space and Time was making it clear that she liked me well enough. Her neural programming didn't make her attracted to me, it just made her more inclined to let me take charge and follow my orders so if she had developed an attraction to me it wasn't due to the CYOA. Perhaps she'd just accepted that we'd be together for a good long while.
I spotted her rose tattoo and I wondered if one day she'd let me mark her like that. Not something to mention right now.
"My preference is that I like girls, and I like boys. I sometimes like them both at the same time" she told me "But right now I'll settle for you ploughing me good and proper".
Very quickly Ciri undid my belt and freed my dick before she began to work it with her hands, not that it needed any encouragement as I'd gotten to full mast within moments of her stripping off. She pulled off my trousers in rather a rush and my underwear as well, so that I was at least somewhat undressed but she didn't bother the rest.
Before long she flipped around and moved about until she could lower her pussy onto my face and she filled her mouth with my cock. I could tell that Ciri was already rather wet, and her cunt felt hot against my tongue.
My warrior-princess as I liked to call her at least in my own head, since she was a warrior and the daughter of an emperor, didn't require much in the way of simulation to get her making some fun noises and what simulation I offered was rather effective as she started to make a lot of noise before long.
She lost her focus and forgot my junk after a short while and she ended up humping my face for a few moments. Acting more like a horny teenager than an adult woman.
"No, I don't want to finish yet," she suddenly declared.
Ciri moved again so that she was straddling me and I started really looking at her breasts rather than trying not to stare
like when we'd been in the outdoor hot spring. I figured that she really didn't mind me staring.
Knowing that I wanted to inspect them more fully she leaned forward to dangle one of her pink nipples before my mouth. I got into my mouth and started to put the world's hungriest baby to shame with how I treated that nipple. Not that my warrior-princess minded at all if anything she liked it, something she expressed by nimbly moving an arm so that she could jerk me off.
Alas, all good things must come to an end, but while one good thing ended another soon started as Ciri impaled herself on my manhood and began to ride me in a way that was much more spirited than I was used to. I just laid back and let her do all the work as she paid me back for the pussy licking that she'd gotten no so long ago.
"See I know what to do with a man," she said as she leaned back while riding me and played with her own clit "and I'm going to prove it to you".
Indeed she did and she began by moving her hips much more slowly than she had before as her already tight fuckhole seemed to grab hold of my cock more tightly than before.
Over time she sped up her movements, using her arms to support herself as her hips moved faster and faster. As she sped up the sighs and moans coming from her mouth became louder and louder, until she was grunting, and towards the end, she screamed so much that both Ashoka and Laura must have heard it.
Far sooner than I would have liked she got me shooting my seed up inside her as Ciri worked her body very well, and clearly it was something that she also enjoyed if the smile on her face was anything to go by. Not that I looked at her face very often since her breasts were much more inviting to gaze upon.
Before I could start to get soft she got off me so that she could clean my cock with her mouth. She took her time doing this, showing me tenderness that I'd not expected given that we'd not yet become emotionally close.
"Next time you can do all the work," said Ciri.
While neither of us suffered from fatigue as a normal human would, that didn't mean it wasn't nice to simply lie on the bed with each other for a while. This gave me some time to wonder if I really had just gotten ridden by Ciri from Witcher 3 as I'd not really expected it to ever happen.
"So how long before you can go again?" asked my summons.
I figured that it wouldn't be long. Not with her just lying there waiting for me to enjoy her body.
Chapter 10
The Forgotten Realms.
"Look, there's Silverymoon," I told Ciri and Laura.
The major northern city Silverymoon, which was often dubbed 'the Gem of the North' was not far off in the distance. I didn't think it would take us more than half an hour of brisk walking in order to reach its front gates. I'd opened the portal some distance away since there was a powerful magic user ruling this place. She might object to someone opening a portal directly into her city.
From what I knew of my Forgotten Realms lore this city was one of the few genuinely civilised places in the middle of the rough and untamed wilderness that was the northern reaches of Faerûn. It had a rich cultural life, and the city was renowned as a meeting place for all races that were morally inclined towards good as humans in this world mostly were. Even the occasional drow with good intentions (most notably the famous ranger Drizzt Do'Urden) could find hospitality within the city walls of Silverymoon.
Since it was known for receiving travellers from many lands, the locals shouldn't react oddly to our presence as Ciri, Laura and I would just be another group of adventures. A part that the Lion Cub of Cintra knew how to dress and act for and as such we shouldn't look out of place. Ahsoka would have stood out as there were only so many intelligent races in this world, but she didn't mind staying in the pocket dimension and doing some Jedi stuff that involved sitting in her room with her eyes closed.
The city was also famous for its pervading tradition of magic and was home to many notable wizards, sorcerers and other mages. One of its permanent structures, the Moonbridge, was created by magic. That was something I really wanted to see and since it was such a magical place I hoped to find some very useful magical items while here as owning them would help keep me safe as I travelled the multiverse.
"Are they really going to have magical items here?" Ciri asked.
Such things existed in her world, but they weren't as common as they normally belonged to mages. If this realm was anything like I remembered it then you'd be able to buy magical items in the stores. They'd just be very expensive and that was fine since between the three of us were carrying a lot of gold as well as some trading items, such as salt and perfumes, so that shouldn't be an issue.
"Hold, state your names," a guardsman called out as we got closer to the city's main gate. "and your business here in the Gem of the North."
"I'm Thaddeus Ives," I told the guard. "With me are Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon and Laura Kinney. We're travellers. Our business is mostly to explore the city as we're new to the Silver Marshes, and we are also looking to meet traders as we have goods from far off lands for trade."
By far off lands I meant other worlds, but they didn't need to know that we have some items for trading in our backpacks. While here we'd have to get some pouches of holding, assuming they actually existed, as they would make it much easier for us to transport goods around.
"We need to find someone who can exchange gold for the local currency, can you help us with that?" I asked.
The gate guards took down our names and read us a long list of rules which told us that among other things, duelling and offensive spell casting was forbidden while in the city. After being directed to where we needed to go we were allowed inside.
"Please don't use my full name" requested Ciri, once I'd finished speaking to the guards.
I was too busy looking around to reply to that. Within the walls we found cobblestone streets and wooden houses, which were two to three-story mostly, but a few were a bit bigger. Carts and wagons were moving in the streets. People, some of whom wore clothing little better than rags, at least when compared to the clothes I was used to, were all moving up and down the sidewalks. It wasn't that different from a city on Earth in some ways.
Unlike cities back home, there were many different species walking about. Dwarves, elves, halflings and several races I didn't know. So many that I had to wonder if anyone really would have paid much attention to Ahsoka if I'd brought here along. My hope was that while here I'd be able to find some means of hiding her behind a glamour so that she could join the rest of us when we went to places where Ashoka would stand out too much.
There were many trees in Silverymoon and a rather lovely breeze which meant that this place didn't stink much for a city that didn't have proper sanitation.
Finding a place to exchange gold for some coins didn't prove to be too much trouble as there were money lenders in the city who didn't mind taking gold bars in exchange for local currency. I worried that if there was a thieves guild in this city that they would soon know about some very rich visitors, but I was well protected given who I was travelling with.
After wandering around for a time and taking in the sights, we settled into the Shining Scroll tea house and bookstore so as to rest our feet and to have a drink. The tea house turned out to be a large establishment that catered to what appeared to be a student crowd. It was quiet and given over to reading, study and a few whispered conversations. The place was built near a large cluster of buildings done in marble and in a classical style that practically screamed university.
"Is that a school?" Cirilla asked.
I consulted the map I'd brought, and then the book I'd gotten with the map which explained about different parts of the city. It had been written by a rather good writer, or at least a hard working one as his name had been on quite a few books at what passed for Silverymoon's tourist information office.
"That the Lady's College," I told the warrior-princess. "It trains wizards not just in spellcraft, but also in the history of magic. Students are provided with rooms in the college's rambling housing-halls, and meals in the college's refectory. The food, and particularly the wine that goes with it, is surprisingly good, this book claims, and meals are often accompanied by dancing, minstrelsy, literary readings, or displays of entertaining illusions."
I read out some more of what the book had to say.
"Many of the "Masters of Art", that's what they call their tutors, are crusty or strange-minded, but the college teaches tolerance, cooperation, and an appreciation for differing philosophies and approaches to magic. All students are exposed to every school of spells, to see if they have the desire or aptitude to specialise. The college accommodates just over a hundred students at a time, with an ever-lengthening waiting list to get in. Naïve hopefuls who show up at the gates are put on the list, taken in, and taught to do cooking, laundry, cleaning, and repair work around the university. If they continue to do such tasks, they'll be given room and board and allowed to peruse limited portions of the Conclave libraries on their own, until their time comes to join the study body."
"Didn't you mention that you wanted to learn magic?" said Ciri. "This could be your chance."
In the Forgotten Realms you could be born with a talent for magic or you could spend decades trying to master it via study and while I had plenty of time, what with the whole immortality thing, I had no desire to learn what passed for magic in this world.
"The magic users here tap into what's called the Weave." I told the Lady of Space and Time. "Which is part of the fabric of reality here, but the Weave doesn't exist in other worlds as far as I know, so I could end up learning a load of spells that only work in this universe."
Due to the nature of the Weave it might seem odd that I'd come here to acquire some magical items, but they should work because their power is within the item, and if they didn't, it wasn't as if I couldn't go to another magical universe to try my luck again. Nor was I going to run out of ways to pay for magical items any time soon.
Besides there were plenty of other ways to obtain magical powers and once I had those powers then I could start learning how to use them. I'd already considered enrolling in the College of Winterhold in Skyrim, but I was also worried that the spells learned in that universe wouldn't work when you got outside of it. Sure when you played the game spells worked when you went to realms of Oblivion, it was just the realms were all part of the same universe in some sense. Still it might be worthwhile learning a spell from a spell book and then seeing if it would work elsewhere.
Once our break was over I took us to where adventures spent their gold. My harem needed practical stuff to aid us but it didn't have to be cheap so there was no reason why they couldn't get jewellery that was both stylish and enchanted. Out of all of us only Ciri really seemed that interested in accessories, however she'd been drawn to the swords on offer as they were also magical. The female Witcher only had the one sword and while it had served her well I figured that she wouldn't mind something more suited for dealing with supernatural creatures.
"Taragarth, nicknamed the Bloodbrand, is a magic bastard sword or short sword, depending on what the wielder wants." I read out from the book the dwarven weapons dealer, who owned this store, had sold to me at a price that would have shocked me if I wasn't so rich. "The blade of Taragarth appears as if it had been tarnished by fire, save for along its edges, which gleam. Just above the cross-guard, a rune is etched into the metal of the blade, this is thought to be a maker's mark, although no one knew who made the weapon."
The people of Silverymoon kept good records, every magical item in the shops had been studied by a local mage and its history recorded before going on sale. Which in my view had been a very smart thing for them to do as it lowered the risk of people getting ripped off by buying fake magical items. Sure, the customer would end up paying more, but when it comes to magical items you don't want to be stingy and end up with an inferior product.
"How can a sword be a bastard?" asked Laura.
I tried my best to explain.
"A bastard sword is a two-handed sword that can be held one hand, so they're not quite single or two-handed weapons." I told the mutant "They don't belong in either category, hence the term."
I then got back to talking about the sword.
"Even if the blade is sheathed, the bearer of Taragarth will be protected from extrasensory perception and all detection spells, that could be handy." I was now saying. "Once drawn, the bearer will also be protected from flames as if they are wearing a ring of fire resistance and if they fall more than ten feet, they will be affected by a feather fall spell. This sword has a knack for cutting through foes, allowing a wide swing to affect multiple surrounding opponents."
That sounded super sweet.
"I want this sword." stated Ciri and that was the end of the matter.
While it was tempting to buy a magical weapon for myself I hadn't yet started training with such a weapon and that was fine because I could always come back later. I was more interested in magical items that would protect me since if I wanted someone dead I'd just shoot them with my Mass Effect pistol.
With that in mind we moved on to other stores and found one that catered to adventures and had a lot of gear inside it. The adventure outfits worn by Laura and I were fabricated as such they looked new and felt comfortable, for some reason this bothered Ciri and she began to stack items on a counter that she would make us wear.
"This stuff offers protection against the elements," the shopkeeper told us.
Well that could be useful as while I was immortal and a peak human, that didn't stop me from freezing to death. Though with the ability to create portals and my own pocket dimension the elemental protection would be more about comfort since anything that didn't kill me quickly, including weather, was something I could just run away from.
"I'm looking for something in a Ring of Regeneration, I want 3 if you have them." I requested of the gnome shopkeeper.
"Price is of no concern."
As it turned out he had a whole tray of magical rings, but they had different effects.
"This might suit you," said the Gnome who ran the store. "Mithril with a diamond, and it heals the wearer with a spell so powerful that even a lost limb can be replaced within seven days."
I knew Mithral to be a light, flexible metal and it was beautiful to look at. Mithral ore appeared as a silver-and-black mineral in its natural form and became a shining silvery-blue when it was forged. It was also extremely expensive, even when not enchanted.
"Oh I like it." said the ashen-haired princess.
I preferred something more simple looking for myself, but was the only one of its kind that they had and it was worth a staggering 90 thousand gold coins, as such the group would have to share, aside from Laura who didn't need any supernatural aid when it came to healing.
"I'll take it," I told the gnome.
"Are you sure, the price is great?" he asked
I started piling gold bars and coins onto the counter with a huge grin as the treasure piled up on the counter.
"Let me know when it's enough?"
I laughed at the look on the gnome's face. I paid a lot for the ring, but that hardly mattered when there were plenty of zombie worlds out there with humanity's wealth just lying around. Good thing too as I had even more shopping to do.
Chapter 11
Adventure 9
Pocket Di-Mansion
After wandering around Silverymoon for a while longer, after spending an insane amount of money on some adventurer gear that Ciri insisted that we needed, I'd returned to my pocket dimension. Aside from the fact that we'd be more comfortable here than in a tavern in Silverymoon, there was less chance of bed bugs if nothing else, or getting swept up in someone else's adventure.
I also didn't want to hang around in case one of the local gods took note of me or the city's archmage leader decided that my group and I might be a threat or useful tool for her. Given that the CYOA allowed for the player to visit worlds with higher powers as part of its setup I didn't think the gods would do anything directly to us, but that didn't mean they wouldn't send minions to try to drive us away or even convert us to their faith.
Upon my return Laura had declared that she would be training me in hand to hand combat. I had no idea what had brought this about as X-23 was not the sociable type. However I felt no need to question this as I didn't mind learning stuff that would help to survive, since I could still be slain through violence, and a chance to get closer to Laura was nice. We could be together for a very, very long time so it was a good idea to try to get along.
There came a point when our sparring which had started off as proper training became little more than foreplay, that had actually happened some time ago, but it took a while before all pretext was dropped and I realised that X-23 was trying to get physically close to me. I'd never been very good at picking up subtle signs of female interest and most recently it hadn't mattered since Ciri had made her intentions to start sleeping with me very clear.
Laura ended any doubts when she pinned me down and started dry humping me in the middle of the room the group used as a dojo, which like our bedrooms had become furnished once we'd gotten the money to go shopping in Illium.
She rubbed her still covered pussy into me while I worked on feeling up her ass even while kissing her. A good example of the reality that men could multi-task if it involved feeling up a hottie.
It took some effort to pull down the shorts she was wearing as Laura was suddenly really into kissing, but I managed to get a good feel of her backside and the thong she wore under her shorts might as well not have existed since it did nothing to stop me from feeling her up and finding out how wet and hot she'd gotten between the legs. Had I been able to talk or pay more attention to my own thoughts I might have made a joke about her being in heat.
When I slapped her ass the mutant girl didn't get mad at me or anything like that. Instead, Laura gave me a deep, animalistic grunt of delight and then she picked up the pace, humping me faster, and harder, her instincts had taken over, and I knew that she wanted, no she needed, to get fucked by me.
Right now my cock felt so hard that I wouldn't have been surprised if I could have used it to make a hole in the wall. It should be put inside something warm and wet, and there was something very primal going on here. I just gave in to it, flipping her around so I could get behind the dangerous mutant and do her doggy-style. Which was fine with her as Laura wanted a good hard shagging. I wondered for a moment how long it had been for her.
She screamed when I entered her, she howled like a she-wolf getting mounted by an alpha of a pack, or so imagined. Her cunt was insanely hot, wet and virgin tight, and furry as well, but I couldn't see how much so from this angle. That was something I could ask her to deal with later as I did not find an unshaven pussy at all attractive and since she'd been neural programmed to give my suggestion serious weight she might do it for me.
Not that it mattered at this time. Right now Laura might as well be a bitch in heat, she was going to care about anything other than keeping me inside her. I fucked her with swift, pounding thrusts that soon had her screaming with pleasure. I rammed into her again and again, and there was no way anyone in the pocket dimension could have missed what we were doing even if they'd not heard Ciri and I going at it before.
No one came running in to check and us and even if we'd have ended up with an audience I didn't think that X-23 would have cared.
"Oh yes. Like that..yes," she managed to say.
This was very frantic fucking so it wasn't going to last long, and I was fairly sure that Laura was having the time of her life, as she was pushing back into me, trying to get me as deep inside her as possible.
"I'm going to cum!" I yelled.
This only made her move faster.
"Don't pull out," she said in what sounded like a pining tone of voice.
I didn't think that I could have without some help as it felt so damn good to be inside the dangerous mutant girl. When I came inside Laura her howl of delight let me know that she also felt as if this had all been a very good idea, and until I went soft down there, I kept myself inside X-23 by holding on to her hips while she panted. I let her warm wet hole do its best to milk every drop of cum I had to offer.
X-23 stood up once I was out of her and pulled up her shorts before stretching. She then turned around and smiled at me.
"Thanks," she said "I'll come and find you when I want more."
By the sounds of things our sex life was going to be a casual one and totally on her terms. I could get behind that as much as I'd gotten behind her.
Sigil. The Outlands.
The Forgotten Realms was much more than a single world, it was, in fact, a collection of dimensions or planes as they were known here. 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 my harem.
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 as well as the morality of the plane they have a gate to, and when the balance shifts and they become enough like that plane, the whole town could 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 in the Forgotten Realms.
This was why Sigil remained truly neutral as doing so kept 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 didn't want to mess with the balance of power here or be noticed by the city's ruler. As such I would do my best to stay out of sight and not involve myself in any local power struggles.
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 the day-to-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, its many portals, and endanger its neutrality, out of the city, destroying, or maybe just driving off, any who wandered in.
Sigil's very existence and purpose were a mystery. Some maintained that it had been built by a deposed duke of the Nine Hells, while others suggested that it was the by-product of an insane god's dream, and some even speculated that it had been put together by scattered bits of the Outer Planes shortly after their creation. Another line of reasoning posited that Sigil was a prison for the Lady of Pain herself since she never left this place. Those were all interesting stories and I doubted that anyone would ever find out the truth.
The city was crowded with buildings that were mostly built on top of each other due the limited amount of space. New buildings, courtyards, and streets were constantly being built, changing the city's landscape and turning old structures into underground crypts. Sigil's architecture was marked by its iron spikes and bladed fences, serving both as protection against intruders and as a stylistic choice. Stone gargoyles were also typical decorations reminding me of some versions of Gotham, a city I'd like to visit but might not due to its dangers.
Sigil was divided into six wards. Although the boundary between wards was not clearly marked on the city's street signs or maps, the latter of which I'd studied in great detail, it was usually easy to identify a ward based on the general upkeep and packing of the buildings, as well as the type of business conducted there. Because of my research I had a good idea which of he wards we were currently in, and I'd made plenty of notes about this place on my omni-tool.
Since Sigil was a prime destination for travellers as well as a centre of trade throughout the Forgotten Realms multiverse that made up the Forgotten Realms, its merchants accepted the standard currency from anywhere on the planes as well as bars of gold lucky for us.
Most shops and stalls tended to be concentrated within the Great Bazaar in the Market Ward, but there were numerous street markets throughout the city that operated part-time. Day markets traded mostly in food and housewares, whereas night markets offered a much larger variety.
The city did not produce much in terms of materials due to its lack of any usable natural resources. So it had to import even the most basic items, such as food and raw materials. In order to survive, the city capitalized on its most important asset: its sheer amount of portals and the fact that it was one of the most frequent stops for adventures going anywhere in the local multiverse.
For that reason, the first priority of any business within Sigil was to accommodate its visitors' various tastes during their stay. There was an enormous assortment of inns and taverns that catered for just about anyone. Including many a whore house, something Ciri took note of before asking me if I'd like to go whoring with her some time. Due to my twenty-first century sensibilities I'd not know what to say to that and I hoped to avoid discussing it.
Thanks to my reading I knew Sigil was famous for being the place where anything could be found for sale. Goods from several worlds in the Prime Material plane, such as bronze wood from Oerth or Fire Wine from Toril were available there, as well as exotic items from all other planes, so it was common for travellers to look for those goods in Sigil first, before venturing to their proper places of origin.
The city also offered a vast array of services supporting traders, travellers, and residents alike. Many people offered their services as bodyguards, mercenaries, and bill collectors. If I didn't have access to so much gold I might have come here looking for work once I had useful skills.
Sigil had such a variety of life within it, both in terms of people and animals, because of that Ahsoka drew no special attention to herself despite me feeling fairly certain that none of the portals in this city would lead to a Star Wars galaxy, but I wouldn't be too shocked to find out that I was wrong.
I'd ventured out into this city along with my harem to seek out a small business called Pell's Tattoo Parlour. Which was in the sort of neighbourhood you didn't want to venture into alone, so if you weren't part of a group of adventures then it was good to hire some protection. I had my protection in the form of my summons.
When I 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 what I guessed to be human skins stretched on wooden canvases. I really, really didn't want to wonder about how Fell had gotten access to so much human skin and I hoped that it was fake.
Since the alien creature who operated this business 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, so I would have to be careful in what choices I made as I needed some advantages if I was going to safely travel the multiverse.
"Now you just need to select your tattoos," invited the creature who owned this business.
Before long I selected a Tattoo of Health, a Tattoo of Insight, and a Tattoo of Might. They would offer slight increases in my health, my intelligence and my strength. There were better versions of these tattoos, but it had been explained to me that humans had limits with this sort of thing and some of the more advanced tattoos were only meant for specific classes of people.
Magical items would provide more, but they could be lost or taken from me. Tattoos were much harder to remove from a person.
"What about you three?" I asked my harem.
Only Ciri really looked interested.
"I have the Force," was all Ahsoka had to say on the matter.
To me it seemed arrogant for her to assume that her connection to The Force gave her all the power she would ever need, but to be fair I'd seen her defeat Darth Maul and give Darth Vader a run for his money so I didn't think it worth pressing the issue. Once she saw more of the dangers that were out there we could revisit this topic.
"Tattoos fade on me because of my healing," said Laura.
Since even magical tattoos might fade from her skin making getting them a waste of time and money. Besides, Laura had no objection to making use of magical items and we could always get more of those.
"I'll have the same ones as you," decided Ciri, who'd struggled to pick something.
Getting so much ink done would take a few sessions but I had time and the money to pay for it. Between sessions I could hunt down someone willing to do a glamour for Ahsoka and see about getting more magical items.
Chapter 12
Author Note
I have another chapter ready for proof reading if anyone fancies it.
Adventure 10
London. The Wizarding World.
I'd come to this world as part of my plan to become a powerful wizard since my group didn't really need another warrior and Ahsoka was already far ahead of me in understanding advanced technology.
Given the powers of my summons it just made sense to me to be the one hanging back offering support with spells while handling the transport. Since Cirilia's ability to move from one dimension to another wasn't as dependable or as accurate as mine, and because I knew about many other dimensions, it made even more sense for me to take care of planning our trips.
"Hey what's this?" asked the Lion Cub of Cintra.
As soon as the portal closed she leaned down to pick up a jar of green powder that was just sitting on the ground. It looked very much out of place.
"It's called Floo Powder," said Laura who read the label.
Before long I figured out what must be happening here.
"It's one of the perks of the CYOA" I explained "Cirilla and I got a couple of horses the first time we went to a world where horses are the most common form of transport. In this world you can move from one fireplace to another with this powder as long as the fireplace is part of a special network so it makes some sense or the perk to give us some Floo Powder".
Given that I could create portals to different worlds whenever I wished and to other parts of this one, the Floo Powder was a bit pointless, but the CYOA couldn't know that and if that transport perk wanted to give me free stuff I wasn't going to complain. Although since we were in the muggle world right now I did wonder why I didn't get a car, on the other hand it wasn't wise to look a gift horse in the mouth so I didn't dwell on this.
As I'd hoped, Ciri, Ahsoka (who was hidden under a glamour I'd purchased from Sigil that came in the form of an amulet) Laura and I were able to find the pub known as the Leaky Cauldron. We'd gotten to this place, and through the muggle repelling charms without any trouble, and then we'd entered the pub to find it next to empty.
Since it was early in the morning here, and the portal I'd made to take us to this world had appeared as hoped down an empty back alley near this pub, we had startled a milkman and a stray cat when we walked out of a dead-end, but with the milk guy, we'd only got his attention due to the way some of us were dressed. Only I'd really made an effort to try to blend in with the muggle world and I'd lived in this time period while in Great Britain.
Assuming that things went well today and we managed to do some shopping, we'd have to buy some clothes that would help us blend in. I planned to visit Diagon Alley in order to acquire needed supplies in the future.
Already it made sense to me that Ciri, Ahsoka, Laura and I, were able to come here and see this magical places as Muggle repelling charm didn't effect magical creatures, or more normal animals as far as I was aware, so perhaps it only affected everyday humans and we were all far from that.
Ahsoka wasn't even human, Ciri's power came from her non-human heritage and Laura was a mutant, as for me I had so many perks affecting me, more than the others, I must not count as a Muggle. Add to that all the enchanted items we carried, as even Ahsoka wore some to help avoid magical detection, and it made sense that we'd register as magical if there was anything around here that worked to detect non-magical people entering their world rather than passively drive them away.
Dressed as we were, my girls and I were instantly the focus of attention for those within the pub at this early hour of the morning. The four of us had dressed as plainly as possible, but we still looked rather out of place as everyone else either looked Victorian or wore rather colourful robes, sometimes mixing the two styles. Not that I really cared about blending in too much as long as we didn't attract government attention or the notice of those Death Eaters, assuming any of them were about.
I looked around for a moment, ignoring the stares that we were getting, and then I went over to the bar to talk to the man who was called Tom if I remembered correctly.
"We don't have any galleons" I mentioned "Do you accept gold coins from other places?".
Given that their money was made of gold it made sense that they did and I had loads of coins thanks to my time spent shopping in Sigil since some of the people there had at least attempted to give me change when I paid for things with gold bars and Sigil made use of many different kinds of currency.
"Oh I get all sorts in here" said the barman who had bitten one of the gold coins I offered "Been travelling have we?".
This was the case just not in the way that the barman understood.
"I've been out of Britain for a while," I said truthfully "That's why I don't have any local currency on me".
Tom took my money, either because he planned to exchange it later at Gringotts, which should value the metals the coins were made from, or because he wanted to keep the coins as curiosities and since it was so early I decided to order us all some breakfast while we waited.
I wasn't that hungry, but chowing down would pass the time. The bank wouldn't be open at this hour and I checked with Tom who confirmed that the goblins wouldn't be opening their doors so early in the day.
While waiting for breakfast I got some old papers and began to read through them as two of the women with me discussed things. Laura got distracted by the moving pictures in the paper and while she'd be able to read the English she seemed to only care for the pictures. To be fair they were a little amusing.
From what I was able to put together from the newspapers the Dark Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters minions had recently been defeated. Unless the paper I read now was very old the Boy-Who-Lived should have been dropped off at the Dursley's with less care than an Amazon package. I felt tempted to go to take the baby wizard away and unofficially adopt him.
The reason I wasn't doing that had to do with me not wanting to raise a baby. If Potter were older and I'd been studying magic for a few years I might take him as an apprentice, but right now he was a baby and if I took him he'd be very distracting and well as time consuming to care for. Still I felt bad about simply leaving him with abusive relatives.
Perhaps I could set up a nursery and just hire someone to take care of the brat for me. I could afford it and while a baby would distract my summons that might work in my favour if I wanted to spend time studying magic as they'd have someone else to bother. I knew that Ahsoka liked kids if that adventure of hers with the baby Hutt during the Clone Wars was anything to go by.
Plus when he was ready to go to Hogwarts the boy would be my key to getting involved with any number of interesting events and I could deal with Voldemort by taking out his Horcruxs before Potter ever stepped foot in Hogwarts. Even the one in the bank wasn't much trouble considering I'd have time to build an entire army before going after the Hufflepuffs
Cup. If not for the fact that they had dragons down in the lower levels of the bank I figured that the female Witcher of my group could have handled such an attack by herself.
That would all be long term stuff and something to discuss with my summons before taking any action. Plus I'd need a way to make my adoption legal in this world, which would include having a residence in this universe so I'd need an address, and I'd have to convince Ahsoka to mind trick Potter's muggle relatives so that they'd willingly hand over the boy. That wouldn't be too hard as long as I could prove to her that they'd abuse the poor lad.
Although I could think of other children who I'd be better off offering a home to such as that poor 11 girl from Stranger Things. If I could learn to better control when I arrived in a world I might try to liberate her from that lab before she opens a way into the Upside Down. Something else I could think about later.
Once breakfast was done the girls and I needed to head into the alley so I asked for help getting in.
"Now you just go through that door and then…" Tom started to say.
Someone else spoke at this point.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help hearing that you are on your way to Gringotts and need some help," an eldary woman said to us "Perhaps I can lend a hand?".
If pressed I'd just make some excuse about our wands having been lost during my group's travels. As for the old lady, since Ahsoka wasn't warning me of any danger, it seemed safe to assume the woman was just trying to be helpful.
"We do," I said.
The witch helped us in Diagon Alley and after that, we began to look around. Compared to some of the sights I'd seen so far this magical shopping centre wasn't that impressive, they didn't even have any elves or dwarfs as far as I could tell, and not much was open yet.
When we got to the place I wanted to go we all looked at the imposing building the goblins used as their bank. I wouldn't say it was to my taste in terms of appearance, and the wonky pillars didn't exactly inspire trust in its dependability; however I didn't even know if the magical world had other banks so I would have to open an account here.
While I could exchange for muggle money that would involve tracking down such places in a version of Britain that lacked the Internet. This would be rather time consuming and I'd have to convert the muggle money at Gringotts anyway.
As we moved nearer to the guards at the front of the bank I felt the girls with me all tense, none of them had seen such people before, and there was something about the creatures that made me want to lash out at them.
They were after all evil in some sense, most likely these were the kind of bankers who'd repossess a home and put a family on the streets in the middle of the night, all the while smiling. Although I'd read a lot of Harry Potter fanfics in my time so that might be fanon rather than canon.
"Easy, they're friendly enough until you attack them or try to steal from them," I said in a quiet tone "So no stabbing anyone unless we are threatened"
I went over to the nearest free teller I could see. When I reached the teller, I nodded to the goblin in greeting. This race didn't care much for manners if my knowledge of this world was correct, but still, it was best not to be rude. Hopefully, they liked people to be direct with them as I planned to be that way and to portal out if things went wrong.
"Good day. I would like to speak to the person responsible for setting up new accounts" I said, "and I have some questions about services the bank might be able to help me with such as currency exchange".
At least I wasn't ignored.
"If you wait here for a moment, I will be right back," the goblin answered.
He quickly vanished into the backrooms of the bank. Then after only a few minutes, he returned and came over to talk to us.
"If you and your associates would follow me?" he said.
Which we did, and soon we entered a rather nice office belonging to the Account Manager who offered me a seat. I sat down as the women with me hung back. They were on their guard.
I then took a moment to look around the office, and just by doing that I could tell that this Account Manager was a very important person. The office was filled with bookcases that held much more than just books. There were small devices upon the shelves that I knew nothing about, an hourglass, a timepiece of some kind of dagger in a display case, a small chest and what looked to be a collection of scrolls.
Since goblins were a violent race it made sense that they had weapons on the walls. Ones that had been forged for their own kind judging by the size and quality of the weapons. There were also a few shields on display as well as a larger banner directly behind the desk. I rather liked this style. Perhaps I should inquire about hiring the Account Manager's interior designer.
As for the rest of the office, the stone floor was covered in a lush red carpet, and a fire was going in the fireplace, the Account Manager had a large desk that had been made from dark wood, and it was covered in quills, ink pots, more books, more scrolls, and even an abacus that sat next to a silver tea set that was in use. I really hoped that they didn't use an abacus when adding up the value of what would be in my vault.
"You wish to open an account," said the goblin.
Despite this not having been a question I still answered it.
"Yes, Account Manager Sharpclaw, four of them in fact" I answered.
His name had been on the door, and while he didn't inquire as to my name I was not offended.
"I recently came into a fortune" I informed the goblin "I was hoping to set up four vaults, one for each of us and we need to exchange some gold for galleons"
While I was already considering acquiring property in this world in case I needed an address, with the intent of letting my Off The Grid Perk make sure that no one came looking for me in a house I wouldn't be living in, I'd do that in the Muggle world because who wanted a house without electricity.
Focusing on the here and now I laid down a gold bar in front of the goblin who for some reason decided to lick it.
"Very pure," he commented.
"I have more," I told the goblin
No doubt they'd rip me off, but it would be worth it to make sure that I had some vaults for myself and my summons. If something happened to me and the pocket dimension died along with me then the Witcheress in my group could bring the others here to take gold from their vaults. With that they could set up lives for themselves here or somewhere else.
"We can open accounts for you all, and decide a value for your gold" the creature said
Goblins with chests came in to take our gold and coins that we'd all be collecting during our trips to Sigal into the chests.
"We also need to do a little currency exchange" I mentioned "I'll store some gold bars here, but I'll need plenty of currency"
The account manager was inspecting the coins from other realms.
"Since we don't have an exchange rate for these we can put a value on the metals" the goblin let me know "we'll detract a small fee from the total"
Again I assumed that we'd be ripped off, but that was fine as I could have as much gold as I wanted.
"Very well" I agreed. "So how many galleons is a gold bar worth?"
There would be some haggling and fees, banks always had fees.
Chapter 13
Adventure 11
Diagon Alley. Magical World.
"I'm glad to be out of there," commented Ahsoka as we went down the steps of the bank and into the human controlled part of the shopping area. "Something about those creatures makes my skin crawl."
At least they hadn't noticed that she was making use of a glamour, as I'd not paid or the more secure vaults, and it was good to have our vast wealth spread about. Having Gringotts accounts would be very helpful if I went through with my long term plans for this world. Before I worried about any of that I actually needed to find out if I would be able to cast any spells. There would be no sense adopting Harry Potter so as to screw with the wand wavers if I couldn't appear to be one o them.
Given the sheer amount of magic I'd been exposed to, as the entire CYAO must be magical in nature, my perks from both CYOAs, my magical items and that perk which was supposed to let me change things about my body, I should be able to wave a wand. I wouldn't know for sure until I actually tried so I started making my way to Ollivander's or whatever it was called.
The body makeover perk had only been worth five points so I didn't have much faith in doing anything to make me superhuman, but since the ability to wave a wand around seemed to be somewhat genetic then there should be a gene for it, and adding a single gene shouldn't be a big deal. I didn't feel any different after trying to will it to happen so perhaps that perk had only been active back when I'd setting up the CYOA.
If I couldn't simply wave a wand around because I wasn't magical enough I had some idea about how to solve that problem. There were many universes with paths to obtaining magical powers. Coming to this world was just part of my plans to obtain the title of wizard.
"Wait for me out here," I instructed my summons.
With that I headed inside the store not wanting any distractions and when I got inside I was not impressed by what I saw. The whole store was dusty and there was some grime, it was in need of a good cleaning and I figured that Ollivander didn't own a house-elf.
"I don't believe we've met," said the owner of this store.
Indeed we hadn't.
"I wanted to see if any of your wands are compatible with me," I told Ollivander.
Another factor to consider when figuring out if I could use wand magic or not would be if a wand let me use it as they were somewhat independent of the person who waved them about and seemed to do most of the work. After all, the wand choses the wizard.
"Every single wand is unique," the old man running this place let me know. "How it works for you will depend on its character. That character depends on the particular tree and magical creature from which it derives its materials. Moreover, each wand, from the moment it finds its ideal owner, will begin to learn from and teach its human partner."
The wand maker had more to tell me, but that waited until after he found a wand that got some results from me and this took a quarter of an hour. Holding the fancy stick felt somewhat pleasant and I liked the way it looked. When I'd taken hold of it I'd been able to light the tip of the wand with the lumos spell if rather feebly. I was going to need a lot of practice and perhaps some way of boosting whatever magic I'd gained.
"Aspen and phoenix feather, 12 inches" the wand maker told me.
Not too big and light weight.
"As you can see, aspen wood is white and soft to the touch, but still fairly strong, and has low flammability, so it's less likely to catch fire than some wands," it was explained to me. "It has a number of uses, notably for making parchment, this wood came from the species Populus tremula, a type of aspen tree that I found right here in the British Isles. This wood came from a tree that was nearly two hundred years old."
I found this all rather interesting.
"When used in wand wood it makes for a smooth feeling wand," Ollivander educated me by saying. "It is prized by wand makers such as myself for its resemblance to ivory and many owners of an aspen wand can do some outstanding charm work."
That sounded good to me as I'd always like charms over such branches of magic such as transfiguration, which I thought to be a rather silly subject and rather cruel to the animals they went about turning to objects. I'd much rather be able to do stuff like knock people out and open locked doors with my wand. Perhaps that had influenced what sort of wand I'd ended up with. I knew just enough about magic to know that it might have a will of its own, like The Force.
"In my experience, aspen wand owners are generally strong-minded and determined people," I was told. "More likely than most to be attracted by quests and such."
Made sense since my entire life was a CYOA.
"But you must be careful with your wand," Ollivander advised me. "Aspen is not the strongest of wands woods, it is not that weakest either, and while all wands need to be cared for, you should take extra care."
I nodded to signal that I would indeed be careful.
"Now your core," Ollivander went on to say. "Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike."
He had more to say on the subject.
"Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners," it was let known, "for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent in the world, which is why few ever bond themselves with a human."
I was hardly a normal human.
"So you may find that your wand will be hard to work with at first," I was warned, "but if you learn to work with your wand you'll find it to be as loyal in battle as it is in the home"
That seemed to be it for my unexpected wand lore lesson so I paid for the wand as well as polish for it and a holster since I didn't want to lose my new ally.
While shopping I passed by so many stores, such as the Second Hand Brooms which I ignored since I'd never cared for heights, and I entered others. I popped into a store that was located at North Side, Diagon Alley which supplied people with ingredients for potion-making and the equipment required.
The apothecary was a breeze compared to Olivander's. I was quickly able to get my hands on the basics required for potion making, I planned to try making some basic potions as while it seemed that I had become one of the wand wavers, that didn't mean that I'd have all of their talents and this needed to be tested. Besides, if potions could be safely stored in the long term it wouldn't be a bad idea to make some medical ones in case of emergency. After all, none of us were invincible. Also it would be interesting to compare them to potions made in other universes that I might be able to brew.
I went with crystal vials as I could afford the best and they were practically unbreakable according to the wizard who'd sold them to me. I also got a nice set of brass scales that would make measuring out stuff for my potions easy enough. No doubt there were superior versions of these tools available elsewhere, but there was something appealing about using such rustic tools like a wizard out of so many stories.
None of my summons were the kind to go crazy for clothes shopping so it came as a surprise to me how long we spent looking at clothes. This ended up being because they should dragon hide clothing. Where Muggles would wear leather, wizards would wear dragon hide, and it made sense as the hide of a dragon was very tough, impervious to a multitude of spells, and provided some protection from the elements.
In this world dragon hide was used to make gloves, boots, jackets, belts, and even cloaks. It was in high demand and most dragon hide was used to make gloves for the handling of hazardous materials. Given that dragon hide resisted magic I could imagine that it was a nightmare to enchant, yet the expense hardly mattered and we all ended up with dragonhide jackets at the least. Along with some belts and leather trousers in Laura's case.
I had to bribe the store owner with a bar of gold to get her to shut up about her stock of dragonhide being so limited and other customers wanting some, sure it was not valid currency, but the goblins would exchange it and the store owner shut up when I handed it to her. This was what mattered.
I'd have expected Ahsoka to protest about wearing part of a dead animal, but she just went with it and even Laura looked very happy with the purchase, and it did go well with her look. Alas they didn't have dragon hide dusters so I wouldn't end up looking like Harry Dresden any time soon.
Once we had our cool jackets and such we ended up at Flourish and Blotts. I half expected to run into Hermione Granger while here, but she would still be a baby at this point in the timeline.
As for the store, well the place was a maze of books much larger than it had appeared in the films. There were books about every magical category imaginable. Charms, potions, history, obscure languages, wizard culture, wizard music, and wizard hobbies. You could spell your own cheeses or learn to knit a jumper that gave you hugs.
It was a very good thing that they had hand baskets with charms placed on them to make the carrying weight lighter, or I would have been doubled over with my purchases pretty quickly and I'd have trouble looking where I was going.
First I bought all of the books I could remember from the novels that the students bought as it seemed like a good idea to start with the basics. This resulted in me having to go and buy a bigger on the inside trunk because my pouches of holding I'd gotten from the Forgotten Realms had limits on their internal space.
Once the school books were handled I wandered the shelves and found a few more interesting books that I threw in my cart; Hogwarts a History, Arithmancy for Beginners, and some stuff I didn't even understand the title of, I would find out about them later and I had a very long life ahead of me so I'd have time to read all these books.
A quick look at a book on runes let me know that they had nothing to do with enchanting as I'd read in many fanfictions, alas in this version of Potter's words, the study of Ancient Runes was like studying Latin. Runes saw some use in legal documents, and some enchanters were known to mark their creations with a personalised rune, but the symbols had no practical use outside of legal documents. Sounded very dull.
Instead enchanting was performed by placing a series of charms on an object. To enchant something you had to be very good at charms and to apply the spell a number of times, or a series of them in the right order, which could be very time consuming and tiring work I imagined. I'd be better off simply buying magical items from the many worlds that I could visit.
Before my shopping came to an end I even bought copies of Predicting the Unpredictable: Insulate Yourself Against Shocks, Death Omens: What to Do When You Know the Worst is Coming, and Broken Balls: When Fortunes Turn Foul. If I had the ability to see the future already for some unknown reason or gained it later on it would be good to have research material for the subject.
"You're worse than Triss," commented Ciri.
Even Ahsoka, who as a former Jedi Padawan would have been taught to respect the search for knowledge, seemed concerned about the sheer amount of books I wanted to buy. Laura just called me a nerd.
"Fine," I said, knowing that I could always come back later "Let's go get some ice cream."
Ahsoka's fake human face showed confusion.
"What's ice cream?" she asked.
I doubted the Jedi Order fed her much junk food.
"Oh I've had it before. It's pretty good. It's like tasty snow," said the Lady of Space and Time.
"Just don't eat the yellow snow," warned the mutant.
Only I laughed upon hearing that.
Leaky Cauldron. Magical World
Given that the papers had spoken about the defeat of the Dark Lord it was a surprise to me when upon our return to the pub, which I intended to pass through so that I could open a portal to the pocket dimension in the same alley we'd arrived in, had a few Death Eaters in it. They'd not appeared exactly when we did as it had been decided to stop off at the bar to purchase some local booze, but it didn't long for the black robed masked people to turn up.
"Who are these people?" asked Ciri.
Tom the bartender was too scared to answer.
"They're Death Eaters," I told her in a whisper. "Evil wizards that serve the Dark Lord and kill those they deem impure which I guess would include us."
Ciri didn't seem at all bothered by their presence even as Ahsoka tried to subtly make a move for her lightsabers and Laura growled no doubt prepared for a fight. I was mostly just confused as to why they were here. Hadn't they heard about what happened to Voldemort or did they not believe that the war was effectively over?
"Right so some rogue mages," she said.
As the wizards in black robes began to spread out the customers did their best to hide so most of them missed it when Ciri vanished from one spot, took out one of her swords when she turned up behind the Death Eaters a blink of the eye later, and then popped up in just the right spots to easily slay each Death Eater. It was over so quickly that no one else got a chance to do anything.
"You can all come out now," she said once she was done.
All of the Death Eaters were on the ground, lying in rapidly expanding pools of their own blood and Ciri was using a dishrag to clean some blood off her sword. The mess created was much greater than what had happened to that thief woman and I was so glad that it wouldn't be my job to clean it up. I felt fairly certain that not every liquid now pooling on the floor was red in colour. I somehow resisted the urge to vomit and judging by some of the customers I was one of the few people to be successful in that.
"Before we go I want to loot the bodies," said my warrior-princess.
I had no desire to do that, and no wanted to suggest to Ciri that this wouldn't be a good idea. She took all of their money and left some of the gold coins on the counter.
"For the mess and any damage I did," said the ashen haired one.
At least she had manners.
"I better call the Aurors," said Tom, who had started to recover from the shock.
Hearing this made me realise that it was time to leave.
"Ciri we should go, we could get locked up for this." he warned his friend.
It wouldn't be fair since these still active Death Eaters had clearly meant to harm the people in the pub, but justice in the Wizarding World was a bit of a joke so it would be best to stay away from this world for a while. When we returned we could use glamours to disguise ourselves or somehow deal with the legal trouble. Something to dwell upon outside of Ministry custod.y
Chapter 14
Adventure 12
The Pocket Di-Mansion.
It was late at night and Ahsoka Tano was lying on her bed within the room that had been provided for her when she'd moved into this strange place that was somehow a very small universe. She spent a lot of her time in another small room nearby that was free of any distractions as that allowed her to meditate more easily. However, she did need to sleep sometimes and while she was trying to do that right now she found herself distracted.
She was currently contemplating how things were going for her, and how things might go for her if she finally made up her mind and decided what to do with her new life. It was clear to her that while she could return to her native galaxy as she felt sure she could convince Thaddeus to make her a portal, that this wouldn't be wise in case she ran into herself and caused a paradox in time which could destabilise her native universe. It might not happen, it could be a lie of some kind, but she simply wasn't willing to risk it given that her home galaxy alone contained trillions of beings.
Perhaps when she was younger she would have been much more upset about having been yanked away from all she knew, yet she didn't blame anyone. She'd been able to sense Thaddeus clearly when he had told the summoned females about how he'd not intended to bring them to a strange new universe. While he'd clearly benefitted quite a lot from the CYOA, he was subject to its rules like the rest of them.
Besides, it wasn't so bad having new friends and not having to worry about the Empire's Jedi killers hunting her down. She'd been given plenty of time alone to think and really all she could do was make the best of this situation. With that in mind she figured that she should stay with the group she'd found herself included in, at least for a time, until she'd made up her mind about doing something in the long term. She'd gone along with Thaddeus's plans and tried to help out.
Only she still didn't know what she wanted to do with herself. She told herself not to worry. Perhaps in the future, she'd find something worthy of fighting for, something to protect. She was still young, and she would have plenty of chances to find her way. If the immortality thing was true as long as she didn't get badly hurt then she could have a very, very long time to figure it all out.
There was more to consider than just deciding to stay here and helping the others with whatever they wanted to do. Joining his group, really becoming part of it, would involve a big kind of commitment as this was more than just a team. If Ahsoka stuck around as the other two women seemed to intend to, then they'd all be together for a very long time due to them becoming immortal.
Aside from that there was the whole harem aspect of the group. Ciri had clearly decided that she didn't mind this arrangement and she seemed happy to follow Thaddeus as they made trips to different universes. Laura had been less eager, but she'd decided to accept the whole harem thing recently as long as it was on her terms. Ahsoka couldn't have missed that even if she hadn't been stretching out with the Force early that evening.
While thinking about what Thaddeus would want her to do, Ahsoka couldn't help biting her lower lip as her hands drifted down the length of her naked body. She didn't bother with sleepwear since it was rather warm in the Pocket Di-Mansion even at night and this meant she often went to bed in the nude. Modesty had never been a trait that Ahsoka embraced and it wasn't as if anyone would barge into her bedroom.
She was not ignorant of what consenting adults got up to, despite having grown up in the Jedi Temple as she'd been exposed to the existence of sexual activity via a few holoshows that she should not have watched when she was younger, and the entertainments of Ilium had not been shy about their sexual nature. Still, aside from some kisses she'd never been directly involved in anything like that and holograms only tell you so much.
Recently she'd found out more, having sneaked a peek when Thaddeus and Laura were having intercourse over the training room, which was not the sort of physical activity it was meant for. The female human getting fucked had very much been enjoying it and now the thought of that big, thick cock sliding in and out of her pussy rather than Laura's, well it was somewhat appealing.
The young Togruta wasn't sure why she was feeling this way about sex all of a sudden. Perhaps being away from the Jedi Order for so long had loosened the strict code that they had raised her to believe in, and she'd had a lot of free time recently to think about such things. Besides, she was no Jedi and therefore not bound by their code. She's certainly seen enough depravity to be intrigued by it, and trying some adult activities was tempting. Doing something sexual with Thaddeus would signal her commitment to becoming a proper part of his harem.
Maybe if she stayed with the group she could help direct them towards more positive actions in the future. This might seem as if she was simply trying to come up with reasons to justify the choice she'd made, and partly this was the case, but she wasn't a Jedi any more and she had a right to live her own life as she wished to.
Her mind was made up. She had decided that she wanted to stay here with the group and try to build some sort of life for herself. If she had forever then she could always leave some day in the future and if she stayed then she could at least keep the others out of trouble. With access to so many universes the group could do a lot of damage without someone to keep an eye on them, even if they didn't seem the type to want to do that kind of harm.
Making a long term commitment would involve getting into bed with Thaddeus as the other two women had done, as it seemed to be the way the women of the group were signalling their commitment to Thaddeus. There were certainly worse means of showing loyalty and Ahsoka had never been one to let fear hold her back. So she got up out of bed and made her way to where she'd be able to find the man who'd so changed her life. She didn't see any reason to get dressed given that she'd only end up getting naked again soon.
Pocket Di-Mansion
After coming back from yet another visit to Sigil for my last tattoo as they took time to complete, and to gain some more magical items I'd popped my head out on Illium so as to download the latest news. I discovered that the geth dreadnought as the news shows were already calling it (what I knew to be the Reaper Sovereign) had attacked the Citadel and while the Systems Alliance fleet appeared to save the day there was a lot of confusion on the news channels.
No one outside the leadership of the Citadel races and Shepard's crew had even heard about Reapers, they all thought that a rogue Spectre had somehow allied with the geth so as to seize power. Saren's motivations were speculated upon but the so-called experts were so far from the truth that if all sentient life in this galaxy hadn't been a risk I'd have found the whole situation to be a little amusing.
As for me I now knew that it was around two to three years before the Reapers arrived in force and the Collectors might start abducting humans very soon. While I could just ignore all of that and let things play out as I was no longer bound to the Mass Effect universe, and it might all work out, that's assuming that the ending of Mass Effect 3 wasn't simply Shepard getting indoctrinated. I'd always wondered about that.
I did want to at least have a plan of action to deal with the Reapers. Since I could open a portal large enough to move an aircraft carrier and keep a portal open for as long as I wished, it was quite possible for me to move a fleet of starships from one universe to another. The tricky part would be getting my hands on a fleet of ships the right size that could take on the Reapers as while many such fleets existed they wouldn't just leave their own native universes and go fight somewhere else.
It might be better to try to get my hands on some sort of super ship and then take the Reapers out one Reaper at a time if need be. Right now I couldn't recall any space vessels capable of doing that, but I had all of the multiverse out there and a heck of a lot of fiction to go through.
My trail of thought came to an end when someone slid the door to my room open.
"I've decided to just go with it," a naked Ahsoka told me as she entered my bedroom.
Without saying another word Ahsoka leapt at me knocking me on to the bed before she planted a deep kiss on my lips, and the next thing I knew she was straddling my waist as Ahsoka continued to passionately kiss me, this was unexpected but very welcome.
I'd figured that she would come around to the idea of fully joining my group, becoming a proper part of it, rather than keeping an emotional and sometimes physical distance from me. I just hadn't thought that she'd go about declaring her acceptance of this situation with such an outright display. Not that I was complaining because I had naked and sexy alien babe pressing herself on to me.
As I ran my hands over the orange girl's body I did spend a moment wondering just why she would make her agreement in this way. Perhaps she'd simply decided to throw herself into her new life with gusto, displaying the courage I knew she possessed. She certainly seemed very eager to start providing me with the sexual services that I desired from the members of my group. Thinking on this I realised that this was not so strange as Ahsoka wasn't one to shy away from doing what she felt she needed to do.
I didn't think about that or anything else for much longer as my hands were now on the alien girl's well-toned ass, and I was giving her butt cheeks a good squeeze as she did her best to grind her pelvis into me. As we continued to make out, I realised that she clearly had some idea of how foreplay worked.
As we continued to make out, she began to hump against me at a more frantic pace, an act that made Ahsoka moan as she acted more like an animal in heat, not that unlike Laura so at least they had something in common, rather than someone who'd been raised in the Jedi Temple. Not that this female had ever been a typical Jedi even when she was a Padawan.
After a few minutes of humping, which got so intense that I nearly made a mess of my boxers, the alien babe broke the kiss, sat up and without saying a word she decided to let me get a good look at her breasts for some reason that I'm sure made sense to her.
I stared at the alien girl's breasts as she spent some more time slowly grinding into me while sitting on my erection. I took my hands off her ass so that I could reach up and begin to play with her boobs. She didn't mind this at all, in fact, she was very happy about it.
"Get undressed," requested Ahsoka once she decided to get off me. "I want to see all of you."
Once I had done that I showed the horny alien a toned muscular body with a visible six-pack of abs. It wasn't fair that I could look this good without exercising as much as other men would be required to, but CYOA perks were such a cheat.
Ahsoka went silent upon seeing my well-defined body, and she let her eyes drift down to see the erection she'd given me with her humping. Despite the lack of any stimulation at this point, I was still hard enough to make Ahsoka stare.
When the alien babe stopped staring she stood up on the bed with her legs on either side of me in such a way that I could see her cunt. I found that the pussy of this former Jedi Padawan had a total lack of public hair, either she didn't grow it (which made sense since she didn't have any hair anywhere visible) or she'd gotten rid of it, either way, it left her nice and smooth between her legs.
"I guess I'm yours now," she said while dropping to her knees. "Let me prove it."
After taking my cock into her hands Ahsoka gave it a few pumps before leaning in and running her tongue from the base to the tip. She'd clearly watched some porn so as to have an idea of what to do. The Togrutan's tongue and hand action did seem like something out of a porno.
"That's it Ahsoka," I praised. "Now put it in your mouth."
The horny girl alien babe didn't need to be told twice. She soon took my hard cock into her mouth and down her throat, letting my pubic hair brush against her nose. I watched as Ahsoka bobbed her head up and down with no sign that she was going to stop any time soon.
I figured that until I shot my load down her throat, Ahsoka would do her very best to please me orally, and so I just relaxed, letting her get on with it.
Chapter 15
Adventure 13
Pocket Di-Mansion
Ahsoka had already sucked off the man, to use a vulgar phrase, who she had agreed to be with, and now he rested on his huge bed as the human male recovered enough for more sexual fun, he might even fall asleep given how relaxed he look, but he wouldn't do so for long as the former Jedi had more things she wanted to try this evening.
As Ahsoka, who was still naked, looked around the room, providing the human male with a view of her body as she did, with a sense of mischief she'd 'accidently' knocked something off a shelf and spent far longer than needed picking it up. An action that had made Thaddeus moan and that made Ahsoka smirk.
While looking around the Force-user found many things that interested her. She didn't care much for material goods, but if you were going to be materialistic then Thaddeus was doing a good job of it. She was thinking of acquiring some of this stuff for herself since going without material possessions, which served as a needless distraction, was a Jedi ideal and she was no Jedi, and it wasn't as if his possessions were shallow.
The book-filled shelves interested her the most as she did value knowledge, and she saw not only ways of digitally storing information, such as Thaddeus's omni-tool, but also many true books. There was something good about feeling the solid weight of a book in her hands. Books had a sort of realness to them that data files at the Jedi archives had always lacked, and as such, they felt more valuable as well.
Aside from the information in different forms the shelves contained other things. These were mementoes Ahsoka assumed, as while she'd watched Thaddeus buy some of them she couldn't imagine their purpose or if they even had a reason to exist, yet that didn't mean they were meaningless to him.
There were also weapons on the wall, nothing that the human male was ever likely to use, these were decorative rather than practical and acquired from their trips to other worlds, yet she felt sure that they could still be used if need be. More likely by Ciri than Thaddeus, even if the warrior woman had her own collection.
The former Padawan felt sorry for anyone who broke into this room with hostile intentions as even if Thaddeus wasn't that good with weapons due to a lack of training he'd have plenty of choice when it came to weapons to defend himself with and he was learning to fight. That was assuming anyone could ever find this place as the pocket dimension seemed closed off even if that strange sales droid had managed to find a way in.
"If this stuff is anything to go buy you know about all the interesting places," Ahsoka commented. "I'm really looking forward to travelling with you some more."
Rather than reply to that the human male smiled at her and signalled for her to return to the bed. She did as she wished as while she'd enjoyed feeling his eyes on her naked body she'd much rather feel his hands on her form.
After lying down on the bed, Ahsoka moved to spread her legs and fully exposed her pussy to the view of the man who was now her lover. She was letting him see inside her, showing him her pussy in the hopes that he would accept it and penetrate her rather than just giving the chance to look at her and get more turned on.
He didn't simply start fucking her as while they were both eager for that, Thaddeus wanted to explore her body. Tano knew that she was more exotic than his other lovers as they were at least human, at least mostly and Thaddeus had mentioned that his home world didn't have official contact with alien life.
Ahsoka didn't fail to notice that while Thaddeus was certainly an ass guy that her breasts weren't far behind in terms of his interest. He kissed and sucked on her nipples, pinched them, and treated them more roughly than Tano ever had herself. Not that she minded, his eagerness for her made it hard to do anything less than return the favour.
When he got around to fucking her, it took some effort for the human to enter Ahsoka as she'd never been fucked before, and the sexy, young Togrutan squirmed underneath the magic-user once he was inside her and he didn't move. He was giving her time to adjust to the sensation, but Ahsoka was eager to be fucked and didn't wish to wait any longer.
Slowly he began to withdraw his dick until only the tip remained inside before slamming back in causing Ahsoka to scream out in pleasure, she felt herself stretch for the man who had summoned her to his side only mere weeks ago.
Very soon, Ahsoka couldn't think of anything at all as Thaddeus began to fuck her and if ever asked to describe the feeling she was having right now she never would have been able to put in into proper words. It felt simply wonderful as he pushed his manhood deep inside her eager fuckhole, she didn't want it to ever stop. She could have lain there for hours, and enjoyed the feeling of this togetherness with the man she'd rapidly grown fond of even if they had come together in a very strange way.
Alas all good things must come to an end. Not that it ended too soon really. Ahsoka had lost all sense of time, only feeling the pattern as he pushed deep inside her with every thrust. The pace had only increased as fucked her, and before it ended it was all she could to simply hold on as he used her for his pleasure. Just as she'd fantasised about him doing while lying in bed.
"Ahsoka I'm gonna cum," he let her know.
She'd already cum, and wasn't in any state right now to do anything other than moan and groan. A few more thrusts and his cock was now sending cum deep into her pussy, a feeling that should have freaked her out since she'd not felt it before, only it somehow made everything feel even better. She felt connected to Thaddeus and in a very real sense.
"That was great," said Ahsoka, once she regained the ability to talk. "No, better than great. I feel wonderful."
He didn't seem as impressed, but he'd done this many times before, and the alien babe didn't let that bother her.
"Can we do it again, later?" she asked, "I want to try out some other sex stuff."
That would be a fun way to spend the night.
Pocket Di-Mansion
The wand lit up, but the light was still unimpressive and despite hours of practice it didn't seem to be getting any better, and while I'd really, really enjoyed having sex with Ahsoka it was time to get back to my studies. I'd converted one of the rooms of the mansion, a building that always seemed to have enough rooms, into a magical workshop just as Ahsoka had her own workshop for tinkering with technology.
I'd moved a lot of my books into this room recently so as to free up space in my bedroom as that room had become rather crowded since I'd started filling it up with items that I'd acquired during my travels. If any magical mishap happened here I wouldn't have to worry about replacing these books as I could easily afford to do that.
Also I had a large table for my potions work since I was still intent on keeping a stockpile of magical brews to cover any sort of medical problems as while our perks dealt with a lot of concerns for our health such as poison and disease we could still get injured as such it made sense to keep methods of treatment on hand.
"Nox"
The wand went out.
"Lumos"
Again the wand lit up with a poor light and not for the first time I had to wonder if I was the problem rather than the wand. Sure I had some magical power it just didn't seem to be much and I wondered if there was actually a good reason why the wand wavers taught children to alter the universe at their will rather than wait until they were older. Perhaps it was a lot harder to learn when you got older.
At least the potions seemed to be coming out right, although I'd not been able to test most of them since I didn't wish to injure myself. The ones I had drunk worked just fine and I suspected that was because I was only bringing the magical properties of what went into the potion. That meant something else did most of the work.
Since the wand was supposed to do most of the work for the spells, at least in my view, I felt that it was odd that I'd not improved as I didn't get a sense that the wand was fighting my efforts in any way. The wand still felt warm and right when I held it.
"Accio book"
While the textbook hardly moved, that didn't worry me too much as the summoning charm wasn't a starter spell. When I tried to levitate the book, which was one of the most basic uses of magic, it still only moved just a little. I tried using the flick and swish movements, which I suspected were more like tools to help focus rather than requirements to make the magic work, but that made no difference.
Since I was quite willing to accept that magic was real I didn't think that there was any psychological reason for my lack of progress with casting spells. More likely this issue of mine had something to do with raw power as I'd only just become magical. I'd not been born with the talent so I might need to boost my magical potential somehow.
There were plenty of magical items that I could buy that would give me a boost in magical power. Unfortunately those objects only provided a minor improvement and I needed a big boost if I wanted to travel even to some of the safer universes out there.
I'd considered going after one or more of the Deathly Hallows as I knew where they all were and one of them was just sitting in an old shack. I'd have to find a way of destroying a horcrux, however that wouldn't be a big deal since there were plenty of powerful weapons out there that could destroy much more dangerous objects.
The Resurrection Stone, which can recall shades of the holder's deceased loved ones, would be of little use to me since everyone I cared about was alive and I had no strong desire to see them again. An effect of the CYOA no doubt, it wouldn't be much of an adventure if I was homesick all the time.
The stone alone wouldn't do much for me and getting the other hallows would be a pain, and might not be worth it if becoming the Master of Death didn't offer a power boost. The books hadn't really been clear on if Harry came back to life because he was the Master of Death, the prophecy, or because Voldemort's killing curse only affected the bit of soul of him. Due to this confusion I'd decided not to bother with the Hallows, if I'd still been mortal I might care enough to go after them.
Training to use magic would still take years, but I wasn't getting any older, or at least I wouldn't look any older. I planned to teach myself using books between exploring more worlds and spending time with my harem.
Lucky for me I already had access to a world that might be able to help me. As an added bonus both Ciri and Laura had complained about being cooped up in the pocket di-mansion so it would be good to get out for a few hours.
The Crystal Cave. Merlin Verse.
Finding a way to give my magical powers a big boost turned out to be even easier than I'd thought. I'd actually thought of it a while back, but I'd figured that even if the portal I created to this world appeared close to the cave that I wanted to visit, I could still spend hours wandering around the wilderness looking for something that might even be able to hide itself.
In the end Ahsoka led me right to the place having sensed it via the Force since while the crystal cave was a source of magical power it was also strong in the light side, or at least that was the impression I got from what the alien babe told me. I doubted that I'd ever understand what she went on about when mentioning Force stuff and it didn't matter to me as long as I avoided anything dark side related.
I'd chosen to become a wizard so this special cave, one filled with crystals, was very important to me. In the show Merlin, when the title character lost his powers due to having them drained by a magical creature, Merlin came to this very cave to get them restored. If the crystals could restore someone's magic then it made sense to me that they could offer a boost
"So you're going to get a magic boost from this place?" asked Ciri.
I'd not explained everything about this place as we'd all been eager to get out of the Di-Mansion for a while. Normally rushing off like that wouldn't be a good idea, but both Ciri nd I knew this world well and none of us were defenceless. Still I reminded myself to be more careful in the future and not to let eagerness get me into trouble.
"Inside is a large cave filled with white crystals," I told the three women who were with me. "Looking into them is supposed to grant visions of the future, but that's not what matters now. What does matter is that the crystals might also have the ability to increase a person's use of magic."
That wasn't all I had to say about this place.
"It's like a light side version of that dark side cave Master Yoda took Luke Skywalker to," I informed Ahsoka. "If you ever go there you might have visions and end up fighting your own evil side. I'm sure it will be very spiritual."
The alien babe looked a little confused.
"You've never seen Empire Strikes Back," I realised. "I told you that you're a fictional character to me orginally and you're not in that one so it's not like you'd be seeing your own future."
We should totally have a movie night.
"Just go into the cave," said an annoyed sounding Ahsoka. "We'll keep watch."
Which is what I did and as soon as I got inside I was greeted by an old man who looked like a hermit to me, but he wasn't armed and he didn't seem threatening in any way.
"Hello," he welcomed. "I am Taliesin."
Since I'd read up on this place before coming here I knew that Taliesin was a Seer to the Great Kings during the time of the Old Religion. He'd died more than three hundred years ago by this point in history so either his spirit guarded this place or the cave itself had chosen to take the form of someone who had visited this place in order to interact with me.
"Here, take this," offered the Seer.
He passed me a chunk of crystal about the size of my fist. It was heavier than it looked and warm to the touch in a way that reminded me of my wand.
"Err, thanks," I said "Why did you give me this?"
I'd not come here for an artefact because I didn't want something external from me to be the source of my magical powers in case it was stolen or somehow lost.
"I saw myself giving you this crystal in my visions," explained the Seer. "It must be for a good reason."
Since the crystals here were supposed to be a source of magic then perhaps it could serve as a recharging battery for my own powers. I might even absorb some of this item's power over time if I kept it on my person.
"Look into the crystal if you find you need help," advised the Seer.
I did so and while the vision only lasted a few seconds I saw myself carrying this magical item on top of a staff. The wood of that staff would have to be something special and I figured that in time the crystal would guide me on where I needed to go in order to acquire the power I desired. This would take time, but there really was no rush and sometimes a little patience pays off.
"Thank you," I said to the Seer.
Since I had no more business here I decided to leave and re-join my harem.
Chapter 16
Adventure 14
The Forbidden Forest. The Wizarding World.
This was the Forbidden Forest, also known as the Dark Forest, which bordered the edges of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and so while we were close to the castle we shouldn't be visible from anyone on the ground.
I had no idea what kind of detection spells that wizards might have around here, but it hardly mattered since I'd just portal us away should anyone human show up. Not that they were the real concern around here.
Even before arriving within it, having opened a portal nearby, I knew that this forest was a very old place that could hold many secrets and that many creatures called it home. Some of those creatures were dark and dangerous, others more friendly as there were some unicorns around here. The centaurs weren't very nice towards humans, but I didn't think they'd bother us as long as we didn't hang around too long.
As the forest's name suggests, it is strictly off limits to students, except in the case of detention, or Care of Magical Creatures lessons that occasionally take place there. Of course, with the various dangerous creatures living in the Forest, few students would even want to venture into it of their own free will.
Why the Ministry of Magic allowed a forest full of dark creatures so close to their children I had no idea, but the answer likely had something to do with them being stupid and lazy.
Since it was daytime I wasn't worried about vampires and werewolves even if there wasn't much sunlight here, and as for the other creatures well it was a good thing that I had my summons with me. I doubted that much would get past a former Jedi Padawan, the Lady of Space and Time, and X-23 in order to reach me.
"I sense some darkness here," commented Ahsoka.
She must be picking up on the evil spiders who lived around here.
"Stay on your guard," I urged.
As for me, I was looking for a certain kind of tree. An aspen like the one that had provided the wood for my wand. They were more common in the north of Britain than in the south and Hogwarts was in the north of Britain even if I didn't know exactly where. Not just any aspen tree would do. I'd need to find one that was home to bowtruckles, as they made their homes in trees that could provide wand quality wood.
A branch from an aspen tree should provide me with the wood I needed for my staff and look like the staff I'd seen in my vision back when I looked into the crystal I'd gotten from Merlin's world.
I'd considered portalling over to the Game of Thrones world for some Weirwood but since I couldn't yet control when I'd arrived I didn't wish to go to that dangerous world just yet if I might appear when there are White Walkers about
If the aspen didn't work out then I'd risk seeking out the Children of the Forest and getting their help in making a Weirwood staff.
"So tell me more about these Acromantula?" requested Ciri.
As a Witcher, more or less, she would naturally be interested in the dangerous monsters of this world. I figured that the Ministry might even pay a bounty for getting rid of the colony here, but it wasn't as if we needed more gold.
"They are a species of giant magical spiders that are normally native to the rainforests of Southeast Asia as they inhabit dense jungles. Acromantulas are believed to be a wizard-bred species, designed to guard dwellings or treasure hoards, which makes since they don't like normal spiders," I said "They work in packs, hunting their prey, and have a leader which is odd as spiders normally work alone and ambush their food."
To me this was evidence enough that they were not natural creatures even if they were magical. They'd been made by some evil wizard I felt sure.
"They are intelligent and known to eat people," I added. "The local magical government has made it illegal to breed them because of that."
My magical creatures lecture came to an end when Ahsoka ignited her lightsabers. The magic of this world was supposed to mess with muggle technology, but so far her weapons seemed unaffected, perhaps because it had something to do with the Force.
"Something real nasty is heading our way," she warned.
Ciri withdrew her magical sword, the one she'd gotten during our visit to Silverymoon, as Laura's claws extended. Then the first of the spiders appeared as I checked inside my dragonhide jacket for a wand, not my Wizarding World wand, this was a Wand of Magic Missiles which would allow me to fire off some deadly magic until the item ran out of charge. It would recharge, but even in a magic rich place such as this that would take at least a day. Thankfully, I had other wands and the ability to portal away if I wished.
"Laura, stay here with Thaddeus," ordered Ahsoka.
Sounded like a good idea to me. Compared to average men I was rather powerful since I was immune to many kinds of mental attacks, diseases, poisons and I had magical items enhancing me, but that wouldn't matter much if I ended up facing a dozen man-eating spiders who were the size of carriages.
"Yes, protect the squishy wizard, my loyal meat-shield," I whispered.
Laura quickly gave me a funny look letting me know that either she had no clue what I'd just meant or didn't like the idea of being my meat-shield. Not that it mattered as her attention was soon diverted as the fighting began, as dozens if not hundreds of spiders, started heading our way. I opened up a portal and began to backing away towards it, making sure that the gateway between worlds should be small enough to only allow humans to make use of it.
"We should go," I advised.
I could understand Ciri's desire for some action, but I would have expected Ahsoka to be more sensible about all of this even if these were dark creatures heading our way. Yet just like the Lion Cub, the former Jedi leapt into action and began ending the lives of the evil spiders. I found it hard to keep track of their movements so I had to listen for the sounds of battle.
"There's an entire colony around here" I said to Laura "They might be overwhelmed".
X-23 looked at the portal for a moment and then at the huge spiders.
"You go, I'll stay here and help them" she stated.
Like I would abandon them. Only Laura didn't bother to check if I left before she charged at the nearest spiders much like her father would have done.
"This was a terrible idea for a day trip," I muttered.
I'd only come here today because the girls didn't want to be cooped up in the pocket dimension for too long. Now they were waging war on dark creatures, leaving me alone in the creepy woods. I really needed to cement my authority over them somehow. Maybe some good spankings would set them straight.
When one of the huge spiders appeared, I fired off a few magic missiles which did the job. Alas more spiders turned up, but I did have a few wands with me. I killed some more spiders, who thankfully came at me carefully rather than in a rush. It seemed as if the reckless ones were already dead, so I had time to blast them.
I changed wands again, not caring if I dropped one since they were easily replaced and not useable by anyone who didn't the command word for them, and I nearly started a forest fire after setting a couple of spiders alight with a wand of fireballs and then they stopped coming, and this was good because I only had a few wands on me. I'd not brought my Mass Effect gun along encase it got damaged by all the magic of this world. It might misfire or simply not work at all.
While waiting in the scary woods for the others to return I didn't drop my guard nor did I close the portal in case a quick getaway was needed. Given all the tension gathered while waiting it felt good when my harem returned, even if they did look as if they had been off fighting a quick war.
"We may have gotten carried away," commented Ciri.
That was an understatement if I ever heard one.
"I just tried to keep up with you," said Ahsoka "It wasn't as if I'd leave you alone with all those creatures"
She didn't seem the type to needlessly kill even dangerous creatures, but she hadn't been raised as a Witcher.
"I just didn't want to be left behind," stated Laura.
Leaving me in danger had been unwise, although I could have left and Ciri would have brought them back since I wasn't the only one who could travel the multiverse.
"I killed a few with my wands," I said.
None of them seemed to care.
"Are any parts of these spiders useful for potions?" asked the witcheress "It would be a shame to let it all go to waste".
I could only recall that their venom had value.
"Their venom is worth something, and I do have vials that can contain it, but I won't be harvesting them," I said.
Even if I'd been broke there was no way I'd be touching one of the spiders no matter how much gold it could make me.
"Don't be such a wuss," teased Laura.
Ahsoka seemed amused.
"I think we emasculated him," she joked. "All he did was stand around while we did all the work."
If I'd not killed so many spiders on my own I might feel that way.
"Let's just go and get more vials before their venom dries up," I said.
The vials had preservation charms on them so the venom harvested would keep until I had some use for it. As for the wood I'd come to find, I'd have to come back for that or try elsewhere.
Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World.
It was late November when Alastor Moody aka Mad-Eye hobbled his way into the office of Headmaster Dumbledore. Albus offered his friend a seat but as always the veteran Auror refused to drop his guard by relaxing.
"So what have you been able to find out, Alastor?" wondered the eldery professor.
While the Death Eaters had by now either been locked up or gone back to pretending to be civilized members of society, the violence hadn't simply stopped when Voldemort was defeated. The last of the Death Eaters still active had been killed recently by an unknown person at the Leaky Cauldron.
"I've got most of the names of the Death Eaters who were killed: Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange, Bartemius Crouch Jr, and some foreign wizard we haven't been able to identify."
The loss of life saddened Dumbledore yet he couldn't bring himself to feel too badly about the deaths of those people.
"Is it true they were all killed by one person?" asked Dumbledore.
According to the witnesses this was the case.
"By some woman with a sword of all things," said Mad-Eye. "Tom at the Leaky Cauldron saw most of it. According to him, the woman with the sword came into the pub in the morning with a few friends, two other women we can't identify and a man called Thaddeus Ives."
Dumbledore didn't know that name. He'd never heard of a Pureblood family called Ives nor could he recall any student of his with that name. Not that this meant much given how many young wizards and witches had come to Hogwarts during his time as a teacher.
"How do you know the man's name?" he questioned.
Moody had a lot of contacts due to his time as an Auror.
"A friend of mine at Gringotts told me that a wizard called Thaddeus Ives and some friends of his just opened some huge accounts at Gringotts the same morning that Tom's strange visitors appeared" informed the dark wizard hunter "The goblins won't give me any details, but the four strangers were seen going into the bank that morning."
Dumbledore stroked his long beard as he considered this news.
"Tom says that the women sounded American, but Thaddeus has a British accent and that he'd been travelling for a while. Tom told me that they paid for breakfast with money he'd never seen before. He took a gold coin from them and I checked it out. I've never seen one of them before, I just know it's real gold. Well pure enough for the goblins"
Dumbledore was even more confused.
"Tom says that the woman with the sword, he doesn't remember a name, just vanished and then there were dead Death Eaters lying on the floor. It happened so fast that none of those bastards in the black robes got one spell off," reported Mad-Eye. "The woman looted the bodies for gold and then left some of it behind for Tom to cover the clean up before they left."
Both worrying and strange. Robbing the dead sounded like something Death Eaters would do, not the action of someone willing to fight such evil.
"Any idea why so many of Voldemort's followers were there when the others are in Azkaban or pretending to have been under the Imperius?" asked the older of the two wizards. "The last I heard of the Lestranges they were hunting down the Longbottoms."
As both Aurors and Order members, Alice and Frank had defied Lord Voldemort himself three times. This made their son one of the two young infants who was the possible subject of a prophecy made by Sybill Trelawney about the person who could defeat the Dark Lord.
Given the scar that young Harry Potter had been marked with when Voldemort tried to kill him it seemed clear who the prophecy referred to, but Dumbledore figured that young Neville Longbottom might still have a role to play.
"Frank and Alice are already back at work," reported Mad-Eye, "and I have no idea what the Death Eaters were doing at the Cauldron. Maybe trying to carry on without You-Know-Who, they might not believe he's gone, so maybe they wanted to show him they were still active."
They would never know for sure since they couldn't question the dead.
"What are you going to do even if we find these strangers?" enquired Mad-Eye. "I doubt the Ministry will press charges since the Death Eaters wouldn't have just let some outsiders leave in peace."
Killing was wrong in Dumbledore's view, but it wasn't as if these strangers had harmed innocents and it could be argued that this woman with the sword was acting to defend herself, her friends and the bystanders.
Still with the fighting finally over, the last thing the magical people here in Britain needed was more bloodshed. Dumbledore needed to know these people wouldn't be causing more trouble. Something he mentioned to his friend.
"I'll keep looking, Albus," Mad-Eye promised as he made is way out of the office, "but you know that the goblins don't share information unless they really have to."
As Moody left the office the Headmaster decided to contact a few old friends who might have heard something about these strangers. He needed more information before he would act and he was about to floo call someone when Hagrid came bursting into his office.
"Someone's gone and killed Aragog" said an upset Groundskeeper.
Dumbledore had no idea who Hagrid was referring to.
"And all his babies to!" wailed the half-giant "the centaurs went in and smashed all the eggs, but they told me someone else killed all the bigger ones"
Dumbleore started to piece it together.
"Are you referring to the Acromantula?" the Headmaster questioned.
As Hagrid dried his tears he confirmed that this was the case and the professor grew more concerned. Someone had attacked a colony of dark creatures mere days after a group of Death Eaters are killed, this was no coincidence, someone was targeting those they deemed evil. This could not be allowed as innocents could be harmed by mistake.
"Hagrid go and talk to the centaurs, see if they know anything else about this attack" requested Dumbledore "I need to go speak about to members of the Order".
He would get to the bottom of this.
Chapter 17
Adventure 15
The Pocket D-Mansion.
In a possibly futile attempt to assert some sort of dominance over X-23, who after getting cleaned up after the fight had come to me declaring that she was horny and so we'd be having sex, I pushed Laura onto the huge bed that I'd spoiled myself with.
The sexy mutant landed on the bed, legs spread, and ready to be penetrated since she entered my room while wearing only a towel and judging by her eagerness I figured that she'd already started in the shower. It certainly would explain her total lack of concern with any sort of foreplay or teasing.
She did nothing to cover up and yet tried to give me an innocent look, or about as innocent as the daughter of Wolverine ever could look, acting as if she was helpless in this situation. That couldn't be further from the truth.
It was clear that she badly wanted fucking, yet I wasn't ready yet to simply slide my cock inside her. I wanted to make Laura desire this even more, maybe I could get her to beg and remind her who was in charge around here. In theory at least that was supposed to be me.
After I undressed myself I pinned Laura down on the bed. She tried to push her hips up, but she didn't put much effort into it because I distracted her by kissing neck and then gently biting her. Laura shuddered when I began to move my way down and it wasn't out of fear or because it was cold, she was just so damn eager to be pleasured.
While I wanted to fuck her as she shaved for me and that effort should be rewarded, I spent lot of time with her breasts, before moving down, I kissed her tits all over, I licked them, I sucked on her nipples and bit into her flesh, all of which she seemed to enjoyed.
When it was time to move on I planted kiss after kiss around her belly button and she ended up pushing my head down. Since she was stronger than me it was futile to resist and I wasn't eager to despite having intended to make her beg for this.
"Yes, right there," Laura said.
I spent some time working on her cunt with my mouth and she was already soaked so I moved on from that activity no longer wanting to deny myself the pleasure of fucking the extremely attractive young woman.
With that in mind I grabbed onto Laura's hips and positioned my hard cock closer towards her hot and tight fuck hole. I was a mere few inches away from penetrating her when she finally told me what I wanted to hear.
"Fuck me, fuck me hard!" Laura begged.
At this point I figured that it would be rather rude to turn her down. As such I positioned myself and got ready to insert my dick into her.
"Since you asked so nicely," I said.
As soon as I got inside her she started to be more aggressive.
"Fuck me like I am an animal!" Laura encouraged me.
While we might be in the wrong position for that I sure didn't mind as her pussy felt nice and tight tight around my cock as I began to fuck her.
"Yes, fuck me hard!" Laura called out.
If she wanted a hard fucking, then she was going to get exactly that. I picked up the pace and drove myself deeper into her. As I did her strong legs tightened around me meaning that I couldn't have pulled out even if I'd wanted to and given how good she felt I certainly had no intention to stop fucking her unless I really had to.
"Is this what you want?" I managed to ask despite how distracted I'd become.
It didn't take her long to reply.
"Yes!" Laura yelled "Fuck me!"
I fucked as best I could and yet didn't seem to be enough for her.
"Harder!" she screamed.
I wasn't sure that I could fuck any harder, but I would damn well try my best since I had every intention of leaving her well and truly fucked if I could. I placed all my focus on that and let everything else fade away.
Portfield Gate. Wales.
"Here it is," I said, "Sutton Lodge, an elegant Georgian Mansion dating back to the 1700s and according to the goblins it was mentioned in Francis Jones' Historic Pembrokeshire Homes."
Which I figured the goblins thought would impress me as they'd taken the time to mention it. Not that I had any knowledge of this Franics Jones person.
"We have four and a quarter acres of grounds, made up of, lawns, woodland, meadow and a walled garden," I went on to say. "Until recently it was a hotel and restaurant, and it was also used to keep horses."
I had more to say.
"The main house has seven double bedrooms, five of which have en suites, seven bathrooms over all and a large lounge for us to hang out in."
Ciri turned to me and I saw an amused smile on her face.
"Planning on acquiring a few more girls for your harem are you?" she asked.
Given that this world had binding magical contracts then I could as long as I was able to convince someone to join my harem of their own free will. They wouldn't share the CYOA perks so I'd have to find other means of making it worthwhile.
That was something to keep in mind for the future in case I ran into someone who badly needed a fresh start or simply didn't mind trading their freedom for a chance to explore the multiverse, become rich and gain power.
"Perhaps one day," I said.
At this point I decided to get back to talking about my new property.
"There's also a self-contained one bedroom duplex apartment," I told everyone. "That's where I plan for a nanny to live."
I had no intention of raising the Boy-Who-Lived myself as I would be far too busy and thanks to magical contracts I should be able to hire someone to look after the kid for me without them running off to tell Dumbledore. Even if I didn't go through with that idea I might have magical children of my own one day who would want to go to Hogwarts so it was a good idea to plan ahead. Besides I had a very insane amount of gold that was just lying around so buying property was no trouble for me in terms of money.
"Doesn't really seem your style," commented Laura. "It's very white."
Well it wasn't to my taste, but the goblins, who made use of squibs and a few muggle-borns who'd mostly left the wizarding worlds as agents, had been able to purchase the property very quickly for me thanks to how much I'd been willing to pay. Besides, its external appearance didn't really matter much to me as long as it was comfortable on the inside and there was plenty of room.
"Feel free to redecorate" I offered.
If nothing else it would give them something to do.
"I don't intend to spend much time here," I told the three women with me.
"Mostly I just need to have an address within Britain so that I can receive mail via owls."
While looking around we found that there was a grand entrance/dining hall, the big lounge that I'd already mentioned, a study, day room/library, kitchen/dining room, a utility room, shower room and a cloakroom.
"I'm thinking of adding a couple of greenhouses so I can grow my own ingredients for potions," I mentioned. "Maybe we can get some magical creatures too."
My harem didn't need my help to portal in and out of the pocket dimension so they could move between here and there without trouble.
"So when do we move in?" I was asked.
There was no rush.
"Not until all the best magical defences that money can buy are up and running," I answered. "I want this place protected by more than just the Off The Grid Perk."
I wouldn't be employing a Fidelius Charm as that spell wasn't one that could be arranged via the goblins and using it would rather defeat the point of getting an address in this world.
"For now we can just explore the grounds," I said.
It would be good to go for a walk before I went back to my studies which were going better with my new magic crystal. I still needed a staff as there were a few other items that I wanted to pick up, but as ever there was no real rush. I had all the time in the world.
Cottage. Wizarding World.
Not long after I'd sent a letter to Horace Slughorn (post owls could find anyone it seemed) I received a reply which appeared at the Sutton House thanks to some sort of spell on the property which ensured any post sent to me ended up there. I'd even paid extra for wards that would prevent harmful mail, like if someone sent me a cursed object, from finding me. I had no idea how that worked and it would be many years of study before I could comprehend such magic.
Slughorn had invited me to tea at his cottage, the place I assumed that he'd lived in since he'd retired, and it was a nice place, full of photos of his Slug Club, awards for his potion making, space for the brewing of more potions, and many comforts of home. I got the impression that if not for Slughorn's sheer size he'd make a wonderful hobbit.
Since I planned to have a long term presence in this world it made sense to connect with someone like Slughorn who could be useful to me later. I didn't intend to get too involved with the natives of this world until Harry Potter went to Hogwarts, but it was a good idea to prepare for that well in advance. In order to avoid trouble with the Ministry later on I would need wealth, power and contacts.
"My dear boy, where did you get so much of the venom from?" I was asked.
Acromantula venom was a highly valuable fluid that was secreted from the pincers of an Acromantula as my harem so recently learned. Due to the violent and carnivorous nature of the Acromantula, the venom was virtually impossible to collect from a live specimen. Because of the rarity of the venom, it may have fetched up to a hundred Galleons a pint on the open market.
As such Slughorn couldn't help wondering how I'd acquired what he guessed to be about a hundred galleons worth of the substance and the only reason I didn't have more was because I wasn't able to buy enough vials from the apothecaries to store the venom in. Most of those vials now sat in a crate in front of Slughorn. I'd kept only a few samples for myself in case I ever advanced far in the art of potion making.
"A few friends of mine took out a colony," I answered.
Since the spiders were XXXXX Creatures they were considered to be wizard killers and as such no one would protest their deaths. If knowledge of the massacre of the colony in the Forbidden Forest had gotten around it had stayed out of the papers. Slughorn would not be telling anyone where he got his venom from unless he was forced to, but that risk didn't worry me since I could always abandon this world if the authorities made life too troublesome.
"They must be some friends," remarked the retired professor.
I ignored the floating tea pot that tried to refill my cup.
"They are very skilled people and they might be able to get their hands on some other interesting bits and pieces," I was now saying. "Materials you won't have even heard of before that will perhaps have interesting properties."
Since I could easily venture to other magical worlds it would be interesting to bring back some items that might have some use in potions.
"I'm a mere novice at potions," I admitted. "So if I come across anything special I wouldn't mind having someone figure out if it had any uses."
Slughorn did a poor job of hiding his interest in making a new business connection.
"I have been known to experiment a little," he said. "Perhaps I'll be able to find a use for any rare ingredients you bring my way, for academic purposes of course, and if that leads to the creation of new potions then I can think of a few people who might be interested in acquiring a supply of whatever it is you've found."
This was what I'd been hoping for. When I travelled the multiverse I was bound to come across stuff that could be put into a potion, but I lacked the skill to safely discover how such exotic items could be used safely so I would outsource the work and at the same time Slughorn's contacts with what must less than legal buyers could be put to work making me a little profit.
The gold didn't interest me much, what mostly I cared about was having someone who could get me rare items in return. I might be a novice potion brewer now, but in ten years things would be different and there were bound to be rare magical items in this world that I might not be able to buy in Diagon Alley which might benefit me in some way.
"Well then I'm sure you'll find someone who needs all this venom who can put it to good use," I was now saying. "And do keep some for yourself, you know, for academic purposes. Consider it a gift."
After some small talk I made my way from the cottage and overall I figured that I liked Slughorn, and not just because he'd be useful to me in the future. As for the venom, if he stole from me then I'd find a way to express my disappointment, but I doubted it since Slughorn depended on his network of contacts to keep himself comfortable. No, I'd be worth much more to him if he helped us both make a profit more than once.
Chapter 18
Adventure 16
Nar Shadda. The Star Wars Galaxy.
For the most part I'd been focused on learning magic, however my plans for the future didn't just involve mastering supernatural powers for my own ends. I had access to the entire multiverse and this meant that I could obtain technology far beyond that of my home world. I even had ideas about how to use the tech to expand my influence over entire universes, and barring disaster I should have a long time in which to do that.
Since the former Jedi Padawan called Ahsoka Tano, was one of my harem members and had decided to stick for the long term with me, that meant I had someone who could fly a spaceship from the Star Wars galaxy, and do so rather well given her skill with machines.
As such, I'd decided to go out and buy a ship for us to fly as while I had a Mass Effect ship from that universe which we all knew how to fly thanks to one of the perks, Star Wars technology was more advanced despite appearances. That would be important when the Reapers turned up as I might feel compelled to do something about the whole mess and would need some advantages.
Despite my ability to open up portals big enough to move an aircraft carrier through, I'd decided to buy a ship of a much more reasonable size because I didn't have any lots of people I could use as a crew for a larger vessel, so it made sense to go with something smaller. Everyone in the group already knew how to fly a Mass Effect freighter so I hoped that some of that knowledge would be transferable to a Star Wars freighter making it easy for Ahsoka to teach the rest of us how to fly a Star Wars ship.
There was also a matter of storage. To keep a Star Wars ship secure I'd ordered the construction of a warehouse on the land around Sutton House, hidden from Muggles, on the land that I owned. It had been done very quickly and I planned to turn it into a hanger bay with lots of tech for Ahsoka to tinker with. I hoped that Laura would get involved in tech stuff as well, leaving Ciri and I to focus on more mystical matters.
It would be important to hide the vessel from prying eyes as I didn't want anyone taking it from me. If that happened it could give one nation on Earth too much of an advantage over the others, and that could even lead to a war if nations decided to fight over the tech. No, it would be much better to slowly advance Earth's technology and to do so via proxies as I didn't want that kind of attention.
When it came to flying the ship I would need some way to make it invisible, at least for a short amount of time as it would be bad if the RAF spotted me flying about, but magic could handle that problem for me. If Arthur Weasley could make a flying car go unseen as it flew around then given time I should be able to figure out how to do that for a small spacecraft. Some stealth tech would help as well.
Upon agreeing to aid me in buying a small space vessel from her native galaxy,
Ahsoka had via a set of detailed instructions and a long talk, directed me to a second-hand spaceship lot here on Nar Shadda that she knew about.
According to her it had a reputation for providing ships cheaply that were in decent working order. The vessels wouldn't impress anyone visually, and they lacked any cool modifications, but they were dependable and wouldn't break down unexpectedly, at least not before the alien babe could give the ship a proper inspection.
The ship only needed to fly through a portal to the Wizarding World and it should appear near the warehouse that I'd had set up. I knew this because we'd already done a test run with the freighter I'd gotten when I appeared in the Mass Effect universe. Only Ahsoka had flown that time as she not only had the Force but also experience to guide her when flying.
To ensure the the portal wasn't seen Ahsoka had flown the ship far from Illium and then landed the freighter in the warehouse, which had been magically expanded internally, without any trouble as the portals didn't allow air to pass through and get sucked into space, something we'd checked in advance when discussing the move, so that trip had been really dull.
The portal would be visible and accessible to anyone for a few seconds in this universe, but as long as I didn't open a portal in the traffic lanes then that should be fine and Nar Shadda was not the kind of world that worried about traffic cams. Even if it didn't I wouldn't be flying the ship back here.
As when I was in the Wizarding World, well it was night there and the ship wouldn't be in the air for long. My thinking was that even if it turned up on someone's radar they'd think it a glitch or a UFO, which in a sense it would be. Still, we would need to land the vessel quickly otherwise at the very least I'd end up with UFO hunters poking around the area.
While I'd come here with a simple goal and appeared not far from the used ship lot, I'd not noticed the spacecraft at first as I'd gotten rather awestruck by the sights and sounds of Nar Shadda. Sure it was a world of scumbags and villainy, but it was impressive even for someone who made exploring the multiverse a regular activity.
I'd never seen so many different kinds of people in one place, not even when walking around Sigil, neither had Ciri or Laura. Ahsoka would have navigated this moon much more easily than the rest of us, but given the whole paradox issue, it made sense to not bring her to any version of the Star Wars galaxy. Our lives simply weren't worth the risk of endangering trillions of people and I was hardly defenceless without her.
As soon as we got on the lot I knew the ship that I wanted, I'd researched ship models using the expanded universe materials and I found a YT-2400 light freighter that should suit my purposes. It was a model of the YT-series, a light freighter produced by Corellian Engineering Corporation similar to the YT-1300 that had been made famous by Han Solo.
Due to my extensive nerd knowledge, I knew that Dash Rendar's Outrider was a heavily modified YT-2400 freighter, and that was what made me want the vessel more than anything else they had on this lot. Partly this had to do with its small size, as this would make it easier to move through a portal, but there were other reasons for purchasing this craft.
Like most Corellian designs, the YT-2400 was fast, tough, and endlessly modifiable, at least according to what Ahsoka had told me back when we'd be looking at ship designs. She'd known that there would be a good chance of finding such a model here, which was why she'd directed me to this used starship lot as she'd been here before and knew what kind of starships it was selling.
The starship featured the YT-series trademark saucer-shaped hull and a starboard-mounted command pod like the Millennium Falcon had, which was how I'd recognised it so quickly.
Stock YT-2400s such as the one before me were 18.65 meters in length, required two pilots, and were armed with two 1D servo turret laser cannons, mounted dorsally and ventrally, and while this wasn't much firepower compared to other starships, I didn't intend to get into any space battles any time soon.
I would much rather avoid that sort of combat since I had no experience with it, and my magical powers wouldn't help much if someone started firing at me using energy weapons while I was in space. My power to make portals should help if used creatively. The portals wouldn't just allow me to quickly escape a place, I could use them to send hostiles to places that were very unpleasant, but creating one that could affect a hostile ship during space combat would be tricky to say the least.
At least with its double-armoured hull plating and bulky engines, the YT-2400 could easily handle the strain of deep-space combat, should it be unavoidable. The vessel had the power to spare and if it was anything like Han Solo's ship it should be easy to modify, as such the vessel could be upgraded over time. It would cost me, but would totally be worth it while also ensuring that Ahsoka always had something she could keep busy with.
I was told by the alien salesperson that the YT-2400 was configured with a pair of starboard bracing arms that connected to the cockpit compartment, which seemed important for some reason. The aft section of the cockpit tube contained the primary escape pod, which seated six. The bracing arm's interior space generally was used for crew quarters and living space.
Once we got inside the ship for a look around I found that the rounded hull area was devoted to cargo holds and the ship's system, however, there was room for more so as planned we could add modified engines, power generators, weapons systems, and any other tech we wanted to add. Magic might even be able to expand the internal space, but that might mess with the electronic systems.
There was even a second escape pod, as well as the airlock, which was located on the far side of the cargo compartment, directly opposite the bracing arms, and those were used to clamp this ship to another. I assumed that this was in place of a tractor beam.
"A little cramped," commented Laura.
Ciri didn't have much to say so she just poked her head into every compartment and acted as if she knew what she was doing while inspecting the spacecraft.
"Think of it like your first car," I said to the mutant. "We'll start off with something simple and small before upgrading when we have somewhere bigger to store vehicles."
If I ever wanted a real war ship then I'd need to find a remote location for a proper base, and that would require more people and a small army of droids I figured. That would take a lot more planning.
"Makes sense," said Laura "I'll try to learn about this stuff."
I knew she would as while Laura was not the academic type she was far from stupid and I figured she'd learn by doing. Having a ship to tinker with, under Ahsoka's careful supervision, would teach her far more than tech manuals ever could.
Before long I was paying for this ship in gold, a metal I had little trouble getting my hands on with my ability to travel to other worlds and I'd not come close to clearing out Fort Knox. If I ever did there would be plenty of other post-apocalyptic worlds to salvage from.
When we'd gone to the currency exchange nearby I had discovered that gold had been valued at ten to fifteen Republic credits per gram in exchange, depending on the market. However, due to the recent rise of the Empire, the Republic credit had been replaced with the Imperial credit which had a more fixed value. As such, it was ten Imperial credits for a gram of gold here in Hutt Space despite gold not having a great value within the Republic or Empire as it did out here in the galaxy's rim. I figured it was frontier thing.
Economics could be confusing and I wondered if people in Hutt space simply used gold because they needed something more physical than credits which would be traded electronically for most transactions. Things weren't as organised out there as they were in the Core and with so many different races bartering you needed something to use as money that most people would accept. They did use slavery out there so it made sense that their money would also be a bit primitive as well. Besides, gold money looked attractive and didn't rust away.
Here on Nar Shadda, a single peggat was worth forty Imperial credits and it contained about four grams of gold. I imagined that it varied a little due to what passed for a stock market in this galaxy. The value of gold on Earth varied as well, but since I could exchange gold for Muggle money via Gringotts I had an idea of what an Imperial credit and a Hutt peggat were worth in terms of British pounds in the 1980s.
This second-hand YT-2400 was going to cost me 30,000 Imperial credits, it had been 32 thousand but the salesman had been open to giving us a discount since we were willing to pay in gold and take the ship with us right away. Overall I was spending about 150,000 American dollars on the second-hand vessel, at least according to the maths I did on my omni-tool which had gold prices from my time only from the Mass Effect universe.
While this might sound like a lot, in reality, the gold meant very little to me as I could easily salvage or earn more, besides having my own star wars ship was worth it even without the sheer amount of tech it contained. Getting my grubby mitts on one so easily made me very happy.
Since a kilo of gold was something you could hold in one hand and I had many bars in my bigger on the inside pocket of my dragon-hide jacket, I didn't even need to use the currency I'd exchanged. I just paid upfront and no one even cared about any paperwork. That might make trouble for me in the more civilized parts of this galaxy, but since I had no intention of entering the Empire that hardly mattered.
"We'll need an astromech droid too," Laura needlessly reminded me as I'd not forgotten. "Ahsoka said something about stopping you from crashing the ship."
That was a type of droid that served as an automated mechanic, performing a variety of repair duties and often serving as a navigation computer on smaller starships. Astromech droids could also use the mainframes of larger ships to their advantage as R2 did more than one in the movies. Many starfighters relied on astromech co-pilots as well. One of the robots should be able to help us get the ship through a portal and into the warehouse without crashing.
As luck would have it, the salesperson, who turned out to be a male Twi'lek, also had some droids on offer, and I let the ladies pick one out since I couldn't decide and Laura thought that one of them was more cute than the others for some reason. Once she had selected a droid I paid for it using some of the currency I'd exchanged gold for, and we got on with the business of actually flying the ship I was going to call the Outrider in honour of Dash Rendar's vessel. Hopefully I'd not stolen his Outrider as that could really screw things up if Shadows of the Empire took place in this universe.
As Laura and I got into the cockpit she started to power up the ship, as we would be flying it straight to the Wizarding World and into the new warehouse.
"Let's get that astromech plugged in," I said.
Hopefully this wouldn't take too long as I didn't want to draw the attention of the likes of Black Sun or one of the Hutt clans. If I ever returned it would be under the guise of a glamour and only to buy supplies that Ahsoka would need for her work.
Chapter 19
Adventure 17
Sutton House. Wales.
Not long after returning to this world and successfully landing a light freighter from the Star Wars galaxy inside the warehouse, or rather having the droid do it, I entered the study that I'd set up in this big house and found that I already had a lot of mail that had been delivered by owls. It really should not have come as a surprise given the amount of gold I'd been throwing around recently.
Before I got to the desk a silver tea set appeared thanks to the House-elf I'd purchased. The little creatures worked without being seen and while none of my harem were happy about owning a slave they'd given in when I'd tried to pay the elf and it started hurting itself because it was under the impression that it had done something wrong. After that we just let the creature get on with whatever it wanted to do as long it stayed out of the warehouse. I didn't want to find out the hard way that House Elf magic and Star Wars technology don't mix.
While matters such as paying taxes, which wizards did do, were handled by my squib accountant who could sort out my money in both the Muggle and the magical world, this didn't prevent other people from trying to take advantage of my fortune. Now that I legally existed in the Wizarding World as well as the Muggle one, it was easier for people to discover that there was a very rich man living here in the UK. So they could pester me for money via post even if they couldn't bother me at home.
Some of the letters were from Ministry departments asking for funding and I felt sure that if I did support them they'd let me get away with things in the future, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to encourage such corruption if I didn't need to. A more corrupt Ministry of Magic could cause me problems later on should I be faced with legal issues as people could be bribed to work against me.
Though I had already done some bribing of my own when setting up a home in this world. I'd greased the wheels when it came to getting planning permission for the new warehouse, and taking the whole property out of the Muggle world since this involved altering both memories and records, which was not easy even with the aid of the goblins.
St Mungo's, the magical hospital, had sent me an invite to a charity fundraiser, and I considered going to that as it would be a worthy cause, assuming that the money doesn't simply end up in someone's bank vault. Since I had so much money I decided on sending a donation with no name attached via Gringotts if only to make myself feel better about throwing away the invite to what could be a worthy cause.
I wouldn't go to the event because I simply wasn't ready to expose myself to the Wizarding World by appearing in public. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement would want to question me about Ciri's actions at the Leaky Cauldron and there was no way I could pretend that I didn't know her as we'd been seen together in public.
There was no post from the DMLE, but I figured that they would be rather busy for a while sorting out all the Death Eaters they'd captured or might still be at large. The dead ones wouldn't be getting any deader, so their files could go on the bottom of the pile.
At some point I would have to make my presence known and to handle any legal problems involving Ciri as while it was doubtful that Azkaban could hold her even if they managed to arrest her I'd rather not let things get that far. I could claim she'd fled the country and I shouldn't be considered an accessory since I took no action against the Death Eaters.
My plan to adopt and train Harry Potter did depend on me having some sort of presence in both the magical and non-magical world because I'd need to have some legal weight behind me in order to keep Dumbledore from simply taking the boy from me. Adoption in the Muggle world would help I hoped, but I would need to run that by a magical lawyer first.
I considered getting Sirius Black out of Azkaban. I could expose the fact that Pettigrew was alive to the public and try to get support for a trial, but Black was a Dumbledore supporter and would have no reason to let me keep Harry even if I did help him. It wouldn't surprise me if the Headmaster found some way to keep Sirius from taking custody so that the boy remained at the Dursleys, rendering it pointless for me to break Black out.
Still, perhaps if I got him set free and promised to set up outside of the Wizarding World to keep Potter safe he would agree to work with me. I'd have to find a way to contact him in Azkaban and get his agreement to leave this world first before arranging a trial.
Maybe I should get the Minister of Magic on my side, who wasn't Fudge at this point in history. It was a witch called Millicent Bagnold who was the Wizarding World's version of Margert Thatcher and it wouldn't surprise me if they were good friends.
I didn't want to simply kidnap the boy even if the Dursleys wanted rid of him so I needed some legal aid and a better plan. But first I had some paperwork to look through and a letter from Albus Dumbledore to read. I didn't want to touch it directly because he might somehow use it to track me down even with the perk and the wards protecting me.
Not that I had to touch the letter directly as that was what dragonhide gloves were for.
Dear Mr Ives
If it is convenient to you, I would like to see you in my office this coming Friday at 7pm so that we may discuss the events that took place at the Leaky Cauldron on…
I skipped the next part since I'd been there when it happened so I knew the details. Instead I wondered why this wasn't particularly subtle since Dumbledore was known for being less than direct and never giving out too much information. Perhaps the recent war had drained his ability to act as his more normal self or maybe he simply didn't wish to play silly buggers with someone he knew so little about.
If you are agreeable, please present yourself at the front gates of Hogwarts, where you will be met by a member of my staff and escorted to my office.
The rest was pleasantries and his many titles. I had no desire to meet with the man, but I wasn't sure that just ignoring his letter was wise so I penned a very quick reply that I would send to him via the owl post office rather than use an owl from my own address. I also burned Dumbledore's letter to be on the safe side.
Dear Mr Dumbledore
Since I have little idea of who you are and I am in no way connected to your school I see no reason to speak with you. I am a private person who wishes to avoid becoming involved with the wider community. What happened at the Leaky Cauldron was not my doing and unless you are part of the magical law enforcement of this country I don't see why I should discuss it with you.
Unless I have business with your school or with one of the other offices you hold please do not contact me again.
From Thaddeus Ives.
Not my best work, but I did find it amusing to imagine the old man's face when I turned him down like this as I doubted that anyone else dared to dismiss him like this. Not that this was just a matter of me being rude, I simply wasn't ready to deal with the likes of the Headmaster. I could protect my mind thanks to my collection of CYOA perks and magical items, but he was a powerful wizard and if it came down to a struggle I'd be in his domain and without any backup since he'd only invited me.
North of the Wall. Westeros.
The portal had brought Ahsoka, Ciri, Laura and I to a point near the special tree that grew over the cave that housed the Three-Eyed Raven and while I had no idea when it was in the timeline it must sometime before the defeat of the Night King because as soon as we started walking towards the cave some undead popped up out of the ground.
As dangerous as this trip was so far I found it to be better than sticking around in the Wizarding World and dealing with more mail via owl or having to worry about Dumbledore somehow tracking me. I wanted to progress my education in all things magical and while I didn't intend to hang around in this world longer than I had to I wasn't going to let some undead drive me off.
"Remember to stick together," I said.
At least they listened to me this time, and as the weather somehow got even colder the wights began to charge.
"Fireball, fireball, fireball, fireball!" I called out.
By using the command word the wand activated and sent a fireball at whatever I was targeting.
"You're getting pretty good with those," commented Ahsoka.
I'd collected dozens of different kinds of wands, so many that if not for the symbols carved into them I'd forget what they all did. I only carried about five on my person at any time to help avoid more confusion, not counting my aspen wand, but since they had seven charges a day on average I'd had plenty of chances to practice.
I didn't have to be totally accurate since the fireballs spread flames about and ignited the wights who were so very vulnerable to fire. It helped a lot that the wights would directly charge at us after digging themselves out of the snow.
"That's it?" asked Laura.
It should be there was no Walker around and the undead had been little more than skeletons suggesting that they were very old.
"We're shielded from scrying, any sort of extrasensory perception and all detection spells," I reminded, "so it's not as if the White Walkers could have seen us coming."
Enchanted items were so awesome.
"Come with me," said a new voice.
Somehow one of the Children of the Forest had snuck up on without anyone noticing. Very impressive given the abilities of my harem as they would have to hide their scent from X-23 as well as hide the sounds of their movement. Since Ahsoka hadn't sensed them coming it seemed that made it seem even more likely that they were not hostile.
We followed the small alien lifeform, well alien to me, to the weirwood tree and I was about to ask about acquiring some weirwood for my staff when the little person spoke again.
"The Three-Eyed Raven will see you," said the magical creature.
I'd actually come to see the Children about a weirwood staff, but I wouldn't mind finding out more about what was going on around here at this point in history. For I knew this was the first Long Night and The Three-Eyed Raven would be a Child of the Forest. I wanted to go and find out.
"Lead the way," I invited.
As a group we entered the cave and found it to be a mess of roots as well as bones, some of which were from human bodies, possibly wights that had been sent to test the defences, and hopefully not people who had been murdered by the Children of the Forest. I'd rather not find out and I deemed it wise not to hang around here any more than I had to.
"I have no idea who any of you are?" said the Greenseer.
He was an old man held in place by the roots of the weirwood. If I remembered my book lore he was likely Bloodraven, a Targaryen bastard, former Hand of the King, and sorcerer.
"I have not seen you," said the Three-Eyed Raven.
Since we'd just arrived in this world then naturally he would have no knowledge of us no matter how well connected he was to this planet.
"We're just a group of travellers," I told the greenseer. "I came looking for help acquiring a staff. I'd like one made of weirwood and I'd rather not simply hack a branch off a tree".
I'd suddenly noticed that the Children looked more alien than the one outside. As if some sort of glamor had been dropped. Ahsoka hadn't bothered with a glamour this time since we wouldn't be seen by the human population.
"You want a staff?" questioned the human seer.
"Yes." I answered. "Can that be arranged?"
It wasn't a complex request so I didn't understand the confusion.
"You didn't come to learn from me?" I was asked.
"I didn't come to see you at all." I replied. "I came to see the earth singers."
That seemed to surprise the Children and their human ally.
"I'm sure that I have something you'll want in trade," I said, "and if I don't have it I'll get it for you."
The Children discussed my request, whispering to each other so softly that I couldn't pick up anything they were saying.
"If you wish to commune with the weirwood you will need to eat the paste," the Three-Eyed Raven informed me.
One of the Children came up to me with a weirwood bowl in her hands, on it were carved dozen faces, like the ones you see on the weirwoods. On the inside of the bowl was a white paste with something red in it.
"What is this?" I asked.
Hopefully it was vegan friendly.
"The roots of this tree mashed and mixed with the sap," the Child told me. "It will connect you to the tree. You will commune with the weirwood while we create a staff for you".
With concern I looked at the Three-Eyed Raven.
"I have no intention of becoming you," I said.
The old man smiled.
"You will not be me, but there are things I wish to show you," he told me.
Well since I was immune to poison it couldn't do me any real harm so I might as well eat it. Perhaps it would give me more magical power. That might make it worth the risk of eating what I really, really hoped was something vegan. The red veins in the paste worried me a little.
"If anything bad happens to you I'll kill everyone here" promised Ciri.
That made me feel a bit better about all this.
Chapter 20
Adventure 18
Three-Eyed Raven's Cave. North of the Wall.
To call them notes was a bit generous, they were more of a collection of loose bits of paper that contained what information I'd been able to record between trips into the past with Bloodraven. I'd learn to commune with the weirwood trees very quickly and to somewhat understand how they worked.
As for the actual process of communing with the weirwood it was much the same as warging into an animal, only the trees don't have a mind like a man or beast does they don't think in any way a human can understand. Somehow they hold the memories of this world and as they were all linked you could access all that information from a single tree.
The Children had ideas on how they worked. They believe that the souls of the dead go into the earth and that the weirwoods are part of the earth as even the roots of those trees which have been cut down are connected to the other weirwoods deep underground. There are tunnels here that follow the roots and go on for what seem like miles.
Even in Dorne, the part of Westeros that the Children call the Empty Lands, the root network extends, and collects information like some sort of organic data network that the greenseers can tap into. With it the past and present events can be viewed and a desired future can be brought about via subtle manipulations. I didn't know if the Three-Eyed Raven could really see into the future, and if he could, I figured that he wasn't going to show me how as that would allow me to interfere with his plans.
Since the network only covered Westeros, and didn't include the Iron Islands, I couldn't see the past of Essos, but plenty of people from Essos had come to Westeros, so some of their knowledge had made it into the network. There was even a weirwood tree on Dragonstone so I got to see glimpses of the Targaryens who lived there even before The Doom.
"You've been here for weeks," said Ciri.
Since she could travel between worlds without my aid she came to check up on and to let me know how the others were doing. As hoped Ahsoka was instructing Laura about matters of technology so that Ciri and I could focus more on magical matters. Not that she wanted to commune with the trees or throw fireballs around. She was more interested in dealing with supernatural threats such as the White Walkers, but I didn't think that we would be ready to handle them for some time. Lucky for us time was something we had.
"You should take a break," advised the female witcher, "You can always come back."
That made sense. I had plenty of time and plans that I wanted to be getting on with. The trees were now part of my plans for expanding my power and influence. Weirwoods could grow in temperate and cold climates like what we had in my homeland, so I'd arranged for the Children to get some seedlings ready for me to take back to the Magical World in Britain. Weirwoods need magic to grow, normally this involves sacrifice or at least a little blood to start things off, however Wizards have special potions to help grow plants and dung from dragons which should work. If needs I'd be willing to donate a little of the red stuff so as to help things along.
My intention was to grow weirwoods and then donate them to people who care for magical plants, such as the herbology professor at Hogwarts. They might harvest from the trees, but they could do so without cutting them down. I was also going to find some bowtruckles and see if they'd help the weirwoods grow just as they took care of trees that could provide wand quality wood and weirwood was certainly magical enough to make wands from.
Setting up a network that covered England, Scotland and Wales could take decades, and this was fine with me as I was in no rush. Even if the trees wouldn't be able to show the past of Magical Britain they'd make for a great way to spy on people one day.
The Children of the Forest feared that one day men would cut down or burn all of their holy trees so I'd promised to hide a few in a place far away with magic so that they would be safe. They'd need magic to help them grow, but there were plenty of magical worlds out there.
"Leaf, is my staff ready?" I asked as I stood up.
I'd been sitting for too long if the aches in my body were anything to go by, living the past, watching wargs among the free folk teach their skills to younger men and women, I'd seen the alchemists brew the wildfire and learned their secrets, I'd even witnessed the Valyrians on Dragonstone hatch the eggs. With the notes I'd taken it might be possible for me to brew my own wildfire, not that I had any reason to, or hatch a dragon as you don't actually need to be Targaryen or Valyrian to do that, and warg into animals, although I should practice that.
"Yes Greenseer," said the Child of the Forest.
The Children seemed to respect me now that I could commune with the trees. I was their ally against the White Walkers if nothing else. I didn't intend to do anything about the ice demon necromancers any time soon, but that was okay since Robert's Rebellion had only just started so we had time. When I was stronger I'd deal with the Walkers and their wights. I'd handle them once they started moving more openly like when the series began.
Leaf brought over the staff which had been made in the style of one held by the High Septon as he too had a weirwood staff with a crystal on top, the difference with mine was that my staff was still alive in some sense.
"Cut your hand and hold it against the staff," instructed the Child who'd introduced herself as Leaf during my stay here. "Your blood will bond you to the weirwood not matter how far you travel from here"
She had given me a small piece of dragonglass which I then carefully used to create a small cut. Leaf then told me to cut into the wood just enough for a little sap to leak out. When my blood met the sap I got a very similar feeling that I got from the wand that had agreed to be mine, only this was more pleasing.
"I also have a gift for you," said the Three-Eyed Raven.
While he called it a gift that was more of a trade. I'd given Bloodraven a number of minor magical items, having sent Ciri off to acquire them for me from Diagon Alley, in disguise in case someone wanted to arrest her for killing those Death Eaters, or at least take her into custody.
A Sneakoscope, which is a type of Dark Detector that looks like a glass spinning top, it lights up, spins, and whistles if someone is doing something untrustworthy nearby. A rather ornate crystal ball. A Lunascope, which was an astronomical instrument which showed the phases of the moons. A small bag of something called gobstones and as well as some other things that I considered to be cheap junk. All of it was enchanted in some way and the Three-Eyed Raven seemed to like having them around so I wouldn't complain.
"Take it and use it well," said the Greenseer.
One of the Children handed over a sword. It only took me a moment to figure out that this was Dark Sister, a famous longsword made from Valyrian steel. It was one of two ancestral swords of House Targaryen, the other being Blackfyre. Dark Sister has been in the possession of House Targaryen since before Aegon's Conquest. It may have been forged for a woman warrior originally, as its slender blade looked to be designed for a woman's hand.
"This is Dark Sister, a Valyarian steel sword. White Walkers can be slain with Valyarian steel," I told Ciri. "You should have this."
She had other weapons, however she was the one most likely to be able to get to the Night King and strike directly at him. I wasn't sure if the leader of the White Walkers needed to be near a weirwood for him to die as he did in the show and while that might be a requirement I figured that when it came to taking down the head bad guy that Ciri could handle him. It wouldn't be the first time she'd dealt with something that had a strong connection to cold and death.
"I'll take it," said Ciri.
She liked getting a new sword. I wouldn't be surprised to one day enter her bedroom in the Di-Mansion and find a load of them up on the walls. I wouldn't judge since I'd cluttered up my room with wizard stuff.
"I'll be back one day" I promised the Three-Eyed Raven "I'll bring you some more artefacts"
With that Ciri and I headed back to the Pocket Di-Mansion.
Diagon Alley. Wizarding World.
Assuming that the passage of time in Westeros was remotely like the passage of time in this world then I had indeed spent weeks with the Three-Eyed Raven aside from when I'd been in the pocket dimension to sleep, eat, and deal with my personal hygiene.
During that time Ahsoka had been making sure the Outrider was ready to fly and Ciri hadn't had much to do so she was glad to come shopping with me even if we had to travel while disguised by glamours so that no one would annoy us.
It was now mid to late December so Diagon Alley was as expected decorated for the season. It was even snowing within this street despite the fact that in Muggle London it was unseasonable warm and dry. I could only assume that some sort of spell was in effect.
"So this Christmas is like Midinváerne," said the witcheress as we wandered around the magical shopping centre. "The winter solstice."
She went on to explain about how in her world the Midwinter festival is celebrated as a huge festival and holiday in the different countries that make up the continent. Only initially celebrated by elves, it was adopted by humans, halflings and other intelligent races over time.
During the shortest day and longest night of the year, people enjoy singing, feasting, and spending time with their families, friends and loved ones. Before the feast, families hang decorations like mistletoe wreaths, or pine twigs. Suitable pastimes during the festival involve decorating a Yule tree and burning a Yule log.
One of popular practices in this night infused with magic is fortune telling, for example, maidens will throw apple peels to find out the initials of their fiancés. I don't recall anything like that during Christmas, but the other aspects were much the same.
"That's more or less the name," I said. "In the muggle world Christmas has gotten very commercial and I find that it never lives up to all the hype, but things should be different in the Wizarding World."
Mass consumerism wasn't a thing in the magical world because even if they had enough people for it they lacked any sort of real industry.
"Can we celebrate Midinváerne?" requested my summons. "Looks like they have everything we need right here."
I'd been about to tell her that I wasn't interested. Alas for me, making eye contact proved to be a big mistake because the Lady of Space and Time hit me with the big sad eyes. They weren't even her eyes because of the glamour, yet she managed to manipulate me with them expertly.
"Okay fine, I'll pay for it as long as you do the setting up," I told her.
If nothing else it would keep her busy while I dealt with some other issues. Most of which involved visiting with my lawyer, accountant, and account manager more than once over the next week.
"Don't feel bad, I've won over battle hardened witchers with that look," said Ciri.
After promising to catch up to her later I went and purchased some supplies before heading for Ollivaders to do some business.
"Mr Ives, aspen wood with a phoenix feather core, twelve inches, potentially powerful but also temperamental" said the wand maker. "How are you two getting along? Any trouble?"
The performance of my wand had improved recently. Either because my eating of the paste had somehow made my magic stronger or because the wand and I were just getting along better. Wands were not very well understood even by the experts.
"I think that we've come to an understanding," I said "But that is not why I am here."
After carefully reaching inside one of my pouches of holding I took a small branch of weirwood that one of the Children of the Forest had provided me with once I'd promised to plant some of their magical trees in a different world.
"Oh how interesting," said the wizard. "Clearly this wood came from a tree of great age and power."
Very true.
"I've never seen wood of this type before," Ollivader said "Where did you find it?"
While I couldn't tell the truth I had no real desire to lie to this man because if nothing else I felt sure he'd know.
"During my recent travels I found a special tree in a land where it snows a lot and there aren't many humans around," I informed the old man. "It's a dangerous place, lots of wolves around and worse things."
The wand maker nodded as if he understood.
"Ah, Canada," he said.
I neither confirmed nor denied this. Although I did wonder if he'd ever been across the pond.
"Well Mr Ives I don't make custom wands using materials I didn't personally harvest," I was told "Not only can unknown cores and woods have unexpected effects, the Ministry tends to frown on wizards using wands not made from approved woods. They do seem to love regulating all kinds of magic."
While a weirwood wand would be nice I had a staff already and my wand work was improving so I saw no reason to change.
"Could you test it and make a wand for someone else in the future?" I asked "I would like the wood not to go to waste and I might be able to get more if it is useful to you. I'd like it if some young witch or wizard could use a wand made of this wood and be paired with a wand that is very special."
I had no interest in selling the wood because I had plenty of gold, rather my thinking was that if Ollivader had a use for the wood and wanted more than I could leverage that for a favour one day.
"Testing the wood would take some time, years perhaps," he said "And there is no guarantee that any wand made with this material would choose a young witch or wizard, but the same holds true for all of my wands."
I refused payment and then headed off to the bank as I needed a word with my account manager and then to pick up some gifts for my harem. If Cir wanted to do Christmas then I could at least put some effort into it.
Chapter 21
Adventure 19
Number 4 Privet Drive.
"Do we really have to open our home at Christmas to strangers?" asked Petunia Dursley.
Her husband Vernon Dursley finished straightening up his tie and then looked over at his wife who had done her best to make herself look presentable. Not that she had anything which could hide that sour look on her face.
"I've no choice, pet," said Vernon. "Mr Ives bought up Grunnings without much warning and if I want to keep my job I have to convince Mr Ives to keep me on as manager. He's a very important man and this is the only day he's free."
Thinking on it Vernon couldn't help pondering that it was rather odd how the drill company he'd worked for had changed hands so quickly. He wondered if there was any sort of funny business going behind the scenes, but he had no evidence of this and with his job on the line he didn't want to go making any trouble for Mr Ives who had seemed perfectly reasonable when they'd spoken over the phone.
"But it's Christmas Eve," Petunia complained.
She'd been hoping that she would be able to spend some time with her husband and her son, and that the unwanted burden which had so recently been dropped off on her front doorstep like a bottle of milk wouldn't ruin things with his freakiness.
"I know, Pet," said Vernon. "But I can't risk my job."
The mortgage hadn't yet been paid off and it wasn't cheap to raise two small children. Not that he had any intention of spending a single penny more on his nephew than he had to.
"Are you sure he's only bringing one person with?" Mrs Dursley asked.
This wasn't the first time she'd asked this question.
"Yes, dear," Vernon replied. "He didn't mention who in the call, he just referred to a she. Could be his wife or an assistant."
Petunia sighed and then got back to setting the table. It would all have to be perfect and at least they would have tomorrow together.
"No Dudley not yet," said Petunia as her son reached for something on the table.
Before the young boy could start to cry his mother found something for him to eat and soothed her child. It wouldn't do for her darling Dudley to get upset while they had such important visitors. When the doorbell rang she put the boy down and made her way to the entrance to her house where her husband was already waiting.
"Come in Mr Ives," said Vernon "Is this lovely lady your wife?"
Petunia at once hated the women who had just entered her home as he was younger than Petunia and much better looking. She hadn't even bothered to dress for dinner showing that she clearly wasn't worthy of such an important husband. Mr Ives at least wore a suit and he was much younger looking than expected. Petunia if the young man had inherited his wealth or perhaps was part of a very rich family and was entrusted with some responsibility.
Vernon was very nervous. He ran a tight ship at work, but he wasn't the most popular of people, and the ungrateful sods who worked for him might have poisoned the mind of Mr Ives who now owned Grunnings. He had the power to ruin Vernon's career or ensure that he had job security.
"It worked," said Mr Ives "The invite got us passed the wards."
Petunia blinked a few times. Not really understanding what was being spoken about.
"Mr Ives?" asked Vernon.
He was ignored.
"Ahsoka, make those two go sit down while I find Harry," said Ives. "Then I'll get them to sign the documents."
Before either of the Dursley's could do or say anything else the women spoke, commanding them to go sit down while waving her hand, the married couple felt compelled to obey this order. Petunia panicked a little upon realising that this must be some kind of magic, but she was too scared to make any comment.
It wasn't long before Mr Ives opened the cupboard under the stairs and brought out the freak who at least wasn't crying. Ives held the baby close and looked at the Dursleys with disgust.
"You locked up a baby," Ives said as he handed over the burden to the woman who he'd brought with him, "At Christmas. What are you, villains in a Charles Dickens novel?"
That settled it, they must be freaks otherwise how could they stand holding another freak.
"Okay here's how it's going to go," said Ives as he reached into the jacket of his suit and took out some papers. "You will sign these papers that will surrender your right to raise Harry Potter. I'll take custody of the boy and unless he decides to come here for revenge someday, it's unlikely that you'll ever see any of us again. To sweeten the pot I'll give Vernon a pay raise and make sure he stays at Grunnings unless he runs it into the ground. Say no and Vernon loses his job and I'll find other ways to make your lives very uncomfortable."
While Vernon was fine with signing anything that would allow him to keep his job and make him more money, Petunia didn't simply go along with these demands. She held on to her young son while giving Ives a defiant look.
"We're protected from your kind," Mrs Dursley insisted "Dumbledore promised."
Ives smiled upon hearing that.
"Oh yes, you are protected from harm by an extremely powerful and ancient spell, which was formed when Lily Potter refused to stand aside and let her son die. The sacrifice created a magical effect of some kind which covers you and your family as long as this is Harry's home. But it only protects you from attacks by Voldemort and perhaps his Death Eaters. I'm not sure on all the details, but I'm not here to harm you physically. I don't need to cause your bodies harm when I can ruin your lives in other ways."
Ives smiled again. It was not a nice smile.
"I might even be able to do you harm now that you've invited me into your home and letting me cross the threshold," the freak was now saying. "That's old magic, we all know about how it is considered good luck for a bridegroom to carry the bride over the threshold to their new home. I think it has something to do with vampires as well, but that might only apply if you're in Buffy's world."
Neither of the Dursley's had any idea or what this Buffy was, nor did they care.
"Look I'll sign him over," offered Vernon. "We never wanted him here and we can always move house if any more of those freaks turn up. We can get a bigger place if I get a pay rise."
There was no need for any more threats or promises as both of the Dursleys were willing to give up any claim to their nephew and as soon as they did the wards collapsed, something Dumbledore was alerted to right away. It didn't matter though as the people who took Harry Potter vanished through a portal before he could arrive.
The contracts the Dursleys signed were magically binding and rendered them both incapable of speaking about what happened leaving Dumbledore without much to go on other than what he'd gleaned from the paperwork he'd been able to see in the minds of the Dursleys.
Harry Potter had been adopted by Thaddeus Ives, the same Ives who refused to meet with Dumbledore, the same Ives who had a friend who killed five Death Eaters. That suggested that Ives didn't mean harm to the young Potter boy and Dumbledore's tracking devices let him know that Harry was alive, but he had no idea where the son of Lily and James Potter had gone.
Taking the boy back to the Dursley's would be pointless now with the wards having collapsed. Of course Dumbledore had a backup plan, allies who had some claim to Harry Potter due to distant blood relations on his father's side, but the Headmaster could only do that if he could get to the boy and that meant finding Thaddus Ives.
Pocket Di-Mansion.
The Boy-Who-Lived was now under the care of a special kind of House-elf, one who looked more human than the others I'd seen, who specialised in child care. That they existed made a lot of sense to me as I really doubted that either of the Malfoys ever lowered themselves to changing Draco's nappies. Not when they could have some servant do it for them.
"You know I heard a few times about how the Jedi Order were baby snatchers who took children away to raise at their temple like we were some kind of cult, but I can't help wondering how many Force-sensitive children were badly treated just because they had a special talent that others didn't. Maybe that was at least part of the reason why the Jedi Order started taking in potential Jedi at such a young age. It wasn't just about emotional attachments, it was for protection."
As I sat down in the living room of the eastern style mansion within the pocket dimension I couldn't help agreeing with Ahsoka. Of course that didn't excuse the Jedi refusing to take in older students. That did sound as if they only wanted to train Jedi who they could shape from a very young age.
"People will always fear those who are different," I said to the alien babe who had removed the glamour. "Or if they don't fear they will envy, and that envy will turn to spite. That's why Harry's aunt was so bitter, her sister was everything she could never be and that resentment consumed her. I pity that family far more than I hate them."
Ahsoka came and sat next to me on a couch that I'd gotten from a great store on Illium. It was so comfortable that it was easy to sleep on.
"Is that why you didn't hurt them?" she asked. "Not that I wanted you to."
It was tempting and now that baby Harry legally lived with me the wards were gone, but the Dursleys had not done anything to me personally and Harry might want to go do some horrible stuff to them when he was older. I'd leave their fates in his hand since he was the wronged party.
"No that's not why," I said. "At least not totally. I can't be certain since as I don't know much about Blood Wards, but I think if I'd gone Number 4 Privet Drive with the intent of hurting them after taking custody of Harry then some sort of magical defence would have stopped me. But once I passed the threshold I might have been able to do something bad to them."
It wouldn't have been worth the risk and I'd checked my crystal before going to Surrey and I'd seen myself leaving with baby Harry so I figured that it would all work out well. The adoption was all above board and legal, even magical tampering had been involved to make it that way.
Now that I had the boy I'd have to upgrade security. All my mail going to Sutton House would have to be screened by my House-elf, the one in Sutton House, before I handled it and I'd be spending more time away from that world just in case someone did somehow break in.
As for Potter, the lad was of no interest to me now, and of no use to the group, although I suspected that little Harry would grow up with three overprotective and loving new aunts, even if I intended to be more of a mentor figure once he was older. But that was the future and the wizarding world would hold little interest for me for many years to come.
Soon I would be off on new adventures on new worlds, but first I'd be spending Christmas with my harem.
Chapter 22
Author Note
Not an interesting chapter but important for later. Don't forget to follow the link in my signature if you want to support me I have some draft chapters that can be read for the stuff I've posted on another site.
Adventure 20
Streets. Braavos.
After securing Harry Potter and enduring what Ciri considered to be a good Christmas I'd returned to Camelot to carry on with my knight training for a couple of weeks, and to hopefully learn something about magic from Merlin himself. Only he turned out to be rather busy since he had students already and court duties to perform, so I went back to learning what I could from books. This didn't give anyone else much to do so I decided to take another trip to the Game of Thrones world for a little sightseeing and some banking. I brought my summons with me so they could get out and about.
This time we were visiting one of the Free Cities which were located to the east of Westeros. This one was the northernmost, the richest, and arguably the most powerful of the Free Cities in this world, although I imagined each Free City would claim that they were the best. While doing my research I'd read that Braavos was a city of seafarers and master swordsmen, and that Braavos consists of hundreds of tiny islands that were all connected by stone bridges.
This city was unique in this part of the world because it was not founded as a colony of the Valyrian Freehold. Instead, the city was established by a large group of slaves, who overpowered their Valyrian captors and took control of the ships that were transporting them. Knowing they would be severely punished for such an act of rebellion, the slaves sought a refuge as far away from the Freehold as possible. That safe haven became the Free City of Braavos and even centuries alter the people here proudly protested against slavery.
While the streets of this city stank enough that Laura complained about them a few times and even I could pick it up, I figured that it was better than visiting Kings Landing which was a true cesspit.
Braavos at least had some charm to help distract from its lack of proper modern sanitation. The many canals and bridges made travelling through the city somewhat interesting and since this was a major trade port the marketplaces were stocked with goods from many different places.
This world had little I cared about in terms of material goods, but if nothing else, visiting the markets was a fun distraction after so many days spent either training or reading. It wasn't as if we were wasting money by buying a few souvenirs because I could always get more. We didn't have any local currency yet as I'd not been to the bank so it was good that the merchants were flexible when it came to accepting payment.
As we wandered through the city I couldn't help casting my eye over to the Titan of Braavos, which was a massive stone and bronze statue that guards the entrance into the lagoon where Braavos is situated. It served as the primary line of defence for Braavos as it let out a loud blast whenever a ship approached the entrance to warn those at the Arsenal. I knew this to be a fact because I'd heard it.
The Arsenal is one of the islands which has been fortified with stone battlements and it was bristling with scorpions, trebuchets, and some other siege weapons I knew nothing about. The Arsenal is also a dock with room for dozens of galleys. It houses the defence fleet of the city and is the centre of shipbuilding here in Braavos. It is said that a war galley can be built in a day there, if so then it is an impressive feat as this was a pre-industrial society.
"I'm getting a funny feeling from that place over there," reported Ahsoka.
She was referring to the House of Black and White, a building that contained the Faceless Men, a group of assassins who could assume the identity of others to the point that it was impossible to tell them apart from the person whose appearance they'd stolen. There had to be some sort of magic involved, magic I had no interest in getting involved with, and this was something I explained to the former Jedi Padawan as well as my other companions.
"And the people ruling this city just accept having magical assassins here?" asked Ciri.
It did seem somewhat odd when spoken out loud.
"The Faceless Men see death as a gift," I told the Lady of Space and Time. "So folk who are terminal ill and the elderly go there to end their suffering, and sometimes the Faceless Men accept contracts to bring their gift to those they deem worthy. I'm pretty sure they provide funeral services as well, and since the city leaders don't want the gift then it makes sense that they'd leave the Faceless Men alone. I guess they are granted immunity from contracts in exchange for turning a blind eye."
There were other temples here as well, such as the Sept-Beyond-The-Sea that served the spiritual needs of the sailors from Westeros who came this far from home. Ahsoka had no comment about that place so I assumed that it wasn't important.
"We should head to the bank," I said. "We can come back for more sightseeing another time."
I'd come here in case I wished to interfere with events in this world later and my future plans might go better if I had accounts with the Iron Bank. I would also need to purchase some land so that I could make myself a lord. No one important over in Westeros would deal with me if I didn't have a fancy title or two.
The Iron Bank. Braavos
A common saying about House Lannister is 'A Lannister always pays his debts.' There is also a common saying that the Iron Bank often uses to remind its clients who fail to repay their loans of how dangerous it is to cross them: 'The Iron Bank will have its due. This meant that if you didn't pay back loans they made to you, you'd pay with blood, as the Iron Bank could fund your enemies just as easily as it had funded you.
The Iron Bank was founded long before the Doom of Valyria when Braavos was still a "secret city" hidden from the Valyrian Freehold. It was formed by successful traders and artisans. Its name comes from the abandoned iron mine in which the bank's founders placed all their funds. The mine had a single entrance, which was sealed shut with several iron gates and was protected by guards who were hired jointly by all the members. Since then the Iron Bank has moved to new, grander quarters. The mine is still employed as a depository and a historical site of the city. You could book a tour of the old mine if you didn't mind paying for it.
As for my business here at the bank, I was here to meet with someone called Tycho Nestoris, who was a representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos. I'd been informed by an employee of the bank that he was a rational man, more interested in numbers than in words, reasoning that the former are less likely to deceive than the latter. He sounded rather dull, to be honest. Still, I only cared about his personality because learning about it would help me deal with the man.
When we were told we would have to wait I cracked open a book, while Ciri worked on sharpening her dagger with a whetstone, as the guard hadn't taken our weapons from us. I found the rhythmic sound of her sharpening her blade quite relaxing. Laura would not be so calm, she paced around the room reminding me a little of a tiger trapped in a cage, something about this place seemed to unsettle her yet Ahsoka looked to be relaxed.
"There's something wrong with the people here," commented X-23. "They don't smell right."
The few bankers that I'd seen did look a little more pale than was healthy, but that was to be expected given that they would be spending their days inside a dark building. It wasn't until I examined a couple of them more closely that I got a sense of what the mutant was talking about. I couldn't put my finger on it yet I couldn't help thinking that they weren't totally human.
"They're vampires," said the witcheress as if it wasn't a big deal.
Now that she'd used the word vampire I could see it. The pale skin, the eyes that seemed to be lacking some humanity, and they all had oddly long nails. I'd never heard any hint or crazy fan theory that hinted at the Iron Banking being run by such creatures. Life was indeed stranger than fiction.
"Don't worry I've met vampires like these before," the ashen-haired woman was now saying. "They won't attack their customers, it would be bad for business."
Ahsoka, who also seemed unconcerned, turned to face me before asking a question.
"Thaddeus, what is a vampire?" she asked.
I decided to keep my explanation as simple as possible.
"They are immortal creatures who sustain themselves by drinking the blood of mortals normally killing their prey," I answered. "Normally they shun sunlight, but not always as it depends on the folklore. They are considered to be evil."
That her hands moved to her lightsaber were no surprise, yet she didn't do more than increase her guard. If she wasn't sensing any danger then perhaps we weren't in any.
"Relax, the bank wouldn't have lasted this long if they ate their customers," pointed out Ciri. "I don't think they'll be any worse than the goblins."
She had a fair point, the goblins had killed lots of people during their many rebellions and yet I did business with them all the time. Besides who better to look after long term investments than an immortal?
I ended up waiting for over half an hour, which by itself confirmed that the bankers were evil. Yet I didn't mind as the magic book I'd brought along was a fascinating read, it was a detailed text on charms and their many uses. I barely noticed some nameless flunky when he walked up to me and bowed respectfully, he coughed just as it was getting to a good bit, I sighed to myself and closed the book.
"Mr Ives, he will see you now."
After marking my place, I got up to follow him into the nearby office. Tycho Nestoris had kept me waiting, trying to make it clear that he was in charge here, these silly little power games meant nothing to me other than something to be endured.
"Wait for me here," I ordered the girls, speaking over my shoulder as I walked away. "I'll call you inside when I need you, or scream if I'm in trouble."
They just shrugged and went back to what they were doing, as for me I was soon escorted into the room for the meeting. Even Laura seemed more relaxed so I decided not to worry too much. If nothing else panicking would only make me look more like prey.
"Welcome to the Iron Bank, Mr Ives," said Tycho Nestoris as he stood behind his desk with a polite look on his face "Forgive me for keeping you waiting for so long."
Since I wasn't going to forgive him I didn't reply to that. Instead I studied the banker and noted that this was the same man in the show who meets with Stannis and Cersei Lannister. Since that was many years in the future and this man looked the same, that meant Ciri was right about them being vampires. Either that or they were cloning people.
I noted that this place looked exactly like a corporate drone's office from back home, only much more primitive. It was quite creepy how they managed that soulless corporate feel so well. The room was bare with nothing more than a desk and a few chairs. Tycho was dressed in smart but average clothing, the sort of thing that wouldn't stand out in most crowds. If not for the pale skin and unnervingly long nails I'd think him quite bland.
"Now I believe you wanted to discuss opening a rather large account," Tycho said in a rather bored voice as I took the offered seat. "Is this correct?"
I saw no reason for any pleasantries, so I got right to the point. I didn't wish to stick around any longer than I had to since this man gave off creepy vibes.
"Yes I've come across a large treasure that I wish to be secured," I replied. "I also wish to convert part of it into a few different currencies."
Tycho Nestoris didn't visibly react much to my words.
"Bring in the chests!" I ordered.
Laura, Ciri and Ahsoka did as instructed and brought in several large chests with weightless charms on them that I'd gotten from the Wizarding World. Without those enchantments they would have struggled to able to move that much gold. The three women then opened the large chests to show the treasures within them before going back outside the office.
Tycho Nestoris looked at the open chests filled with gold bars and expressed something approaching interest.
"I will have more in the future," I promised.
Before long we got into discussions about interest rates, bank fees, currency exchanges and purchasing properties in the future. The kind of financial details that only soulless monsters could enjoy talking about.
Chapter 23
Author Note
This is a sexy time chapter just thought I'd warn you.
Adventure 21
The Outrider.
"The stealth tech seems to be working really well," I commented.
Ahsoka had finally finished installing all of the upgrades she'd wanted to put into the freighter, at least for the time being, and now that the ship could fly again she'd insisted that I learn to pilot it. Which made sense as I might need to get the Outrider moving without any aid at some point despite owning a droid meant for that purpose
I suspected that she might also be using this as an excuse to spend some time alone with me, but if that was the case then she was playing it cool, only sparing me the odd glance that suggested she had more than educating me on her mind.
"Once I learned how radar worked it wasn't hard to figure out how to fool it," said the alien babe.
Given that no one had sent any F-16s to shoot us down it did seem as if we were hidden from that type of detection. Not that they would have much chance of catching us if Ahsoka didn't want them to since we could just fly into space. The ship was visible to the naked eye, however people saw UFOs all the time and since this freighter had Star Wars sensors it was easy for us to avoid aircraft such as commercial flights.
"That looks like a good place for a landing," said Ahsoka.
She was gesturing to an island that looked tropical and flat for the most part. The kind of place that I wouldn't have expected to exist outside of a story about some poor castaway. I spent a moment wondering if it would be possible to hide an entire island with magic like how I'd read about in more than one Harry Potter fan fic. Perhaps years from now when I had some mastery of magic I'd look into that so that I could snag my girls and I our own island paradise.
"Now normally we'd use a landing pad," the former Padawan was now saying. "But this ship is made for smuggling so it's better suited to rougher landings than other kinds of ships."
Ahsoka was an experienced pilot so she had no trouble bringing the ship down on a flat area near the shore. There was barely a jolt as we made contact with the ground.
"Smoothly done," I praised.
She shot me a smile.
"I made some modifications to the shock absorbers," the sexy alien told me. "Just in case we ever end up transporting some really fragile cargo."
Part of why I'd brought this ship had to do with transporting goods between universes. It's a common thing in many science fiction settings to have some kind of fantastic element that is unique to that universe. Stargate has its naquadah, Babylon 5 has Quantum 40, Star Trek has dilithium; the list goes on and on. While I had no desire to spend much time transporting such materials from one dimension to another for any large-scale use, I felt sure that many factions out there would be willing to trade me something of value for even a limited supply of something like Element Zero for their scientists to experiment with.
"Oh, I want to go swimming," Ahsoka let me know.
She'd planned this and sure she could have just asked me to open a portal to some island, but this way it didn't seem forced. This version of Ahsoka was not the kind to simply rush into things, she was a mature adult.
"I'll stick to the shade," I said. "I'm British, if I get out into that sunshine I'll melt into a
puddle of tea before long."
Cold weather has always been more my friend. Add to that I had no idea if any of my perks protected me from sunburn and I didn't wish to find out the hard way.
"Wuss," teased my companion, with no menace to it.
She headed down the ramp and turned to me before speaking again.
"I didn't bring a bathing suit," she informed me.
Her clothes were coming off even before she exited the ship. I resisted the urge to follow her because that was what she wanted and I was no one's trained dog, then I decided that it was worth dealing with the sun to go swimming with a naked Ahsoka Tano. No mortal man, or immortal in this case, could resist.
She hadn't gone far, and like her I began to undress even before leaving the ship. As I stripped off I couldn't help looking at Ahsoka as she looked at me. The young Togruta female had her eyes fixed on my crotch and a smirk on her face as she realised that I was already responding to her body despite neither of us having touched each other.
Because she was a bit evil she clasped her hands behind her back and pushed her breasts forward, knowing that while I was a butt guy that her breasts didn't fall far behind on the lost of my favourite parts of her to look at.
"Someone likes what he sees," she joked. "I promise to help you with that after some swimming."
I'd hold her to that.
"Catch me if you can!" she suddenly called.
With speed I couldn't hope to match since I don't have the Force to enhance my movements she raced for the water, and waited for me at the very edge of the shore. If only because she knew it would give me a chance to check out her nice ass.
"It's a lot colder than I was expecting," she said as we started swimming.
While it was immature I couldn't avoid splashing her.
"Eeeeek!" she called out.
Her distress didn't last for long because she started to return the favour which resulted in both of us getting totally soaked.
Unnamed Tropical Island.
As the sun began to set I found myself on a blanket, sitting with Ahsoka, as we watched the local star disappear below the horizon.
"You should try to spend time with each of us," advised the sexy alien babe. "Me, Laura, and Ciri I mean."
I hadn't really made much of an effort to give them one on one attention. I spent a lot of time studying or training and then doing group activities. It was hard to remember that even my companions were still basically young women who wanted the attention of the important man in their life. I'd not really bothered with relationships of any kind of romantic nature for so long that I had forgotten how to be a boyfriend, assuming that since what we had was a harem, we didn't have much to do with normal living.
If not for the fact that the women in my life were more sexually aggressive than I was used to I might still be trying to figure out how to get them into bed. I really needed to spend some of my time with my harem doing things they also enjoyed. Which meant finding out more about what they liked to do. Time consuming, but it wasn't as if I didn't have any to spare.
Soon, I felt her soft fingers pulling at the waistband of my boxers, the only thing I'd bothered to wear once I'd stopped swimming. She'd not bothered to put anything on, even to protect her feet so it was damn lucky that we'd managed to avoid any pointy rocks or sea life.
Thinking on it I realised that the whole island had a feeling of safety and tranquillity, I couldn't help wondering if Ahsoka had been drawn here because it might be strong in the light side of the Force. I meant to ask, but the former Jedi trainee had other things in mind for us to do that didn't involve talking.
Not long after getting me naked she was pressing her kissable lips to the tip of my member. Then she engulfed the tip with ease, making it disappear into her mouth that didn't seem at all big enough to contain my manhood. Before I knew it, she had taken me all in. All the way to the back of her throat and as I laid on my back she worked to please me, making little humming noises that felt really good when they vibrated my cock.
Far too soon for my liking there was a pop sound as my dick was ejected out of her mouth much to my disappointment and despite her lack of experience Ahsoka had gotten very good at blowjobs. I imagined being empathic helped with that as she'd be able to sense how her actions affect me as long as she remained focused on what she was doing.
As the Force-sensitive sat up I could see the smirk on her face although her smug look was ruined a little by the saliva coming out of the corner of her mouth.
"Would you return the favour?" she questioned.
I soon had her on her back and I began by kissing her montrals which were hollow, cone-like horns that sprouted from the top of the Togruta's skulls. They formed an extrasensory organ capable of sensing the movement of physical objects around them, this was very useful for the species as was their colouring as it was a method of camouflage from predators. Not that this was important right now, what did matter is that the females of the species like having them kissed.
As I moved lower she squirmed. Aside from the montrals her body wasn't that different from that of a human woman so I knew where to direct my attention and where not to focus on too soon. Women like a man who would take their time with their bodies rather than going right for the sweet spots. Not that I resisted her pussy for long.
Ahsoka gasped and had trouble keeping still as I began to orally pleasure her with as much enthusiasm as she'd done for me, and perhaps even more skill since I've had quite a bit of practice with this recently. I held on to her as best I could and kept going for longer than she had because she'd worked hard on the ship and I wanted to express my gratitude for all her hard work.
As she got close to her orgasm she started moving her hips up and down as best she could. Acting as if my tongue was a different part of my anatomy, she ended up humping my mouth before long, using her legs to aid in that by moving my head. No one in my harem was the 'lie back and think of England'-type.
Her whole body shook once, twice, then slumped. Following that she arched her back, and called out to what I assumed to be a deity of her people as it didn't translate. After that she began lying still, breathing heavily despite her having not moved about that much.
"We're not done yet," I told her.
I pulled myself up and lined up my cock with her wet entrance. My dick slid into her effortlessly as she was very wet thanks to my efforts and her cunt felt welcoming for my cock. Other parts of her body agreed with this as her arms and legs did their best to wrap around me even though I doubted she wanted to do much moving at this time.
For a moment or two I looked into her eyes, her beautiful blue eyes, that seemed impossible big and so very much unlike those of the vampire bankers I'd met with not so long ago.
"Hh-ah!" she called out.
My young Togruta lover moaned and made other lewd noises as I began to really fuck her. Very soon my hips began to speed up, almost as if they had a mind of their own, and the smacking sounds we were making seemed as if they could be heard miles away had there been anyone around to hear us going at it.
I pretty much used her to please myself, not that she minded. Then with one last thrust, I pushed my cock deep into my alien babe and filled up her warm, wet fuckhole with as much cum as humanly possible, or at least that is what it felt like. Before I collapsed I moved so that I was now lying beside her. For a good long time, we just lay there, the sun was now gone and the sky was full of stars.
Ahsoka managed to move herself just enough so that we could cuddle and yet even that didn't help as it started to get cold. We had to retreat to the ship and much to my delight The alien babe didn't even bother to get dressed after recovering our clothes.
"If you can focus I can teach you a bit about night time flying," she said.
I gently slapped her bottom.
"No promises," I told her.
Her smile let me know that she didn't mind if I didn't learn much on the flight back.
Chapter 24
Adventure 22
Tel'Adre. Mareth.
One of the strangest places in the multiverse that I knew about thanks to having lived as a major nerd for so many years, was the city of Tel'Adre which was a major settlement in a very weird land called Mareth. It was in some ways not that different from other swords and sorcery worlds as it had monsters as well as magic, heroes and villains. It was also full of horny animal people and much scarier things.
While an interesting plane of existence I didn't intend to spend much time in this reality due to its effects on the natives as well as its visitors. I didn't wish to become some sort of hermaphroditic animal morph with an over the top sized penis, nor did I want the members of my harem to become something like that.
Also there was the fact this world was not only infested with demons, or at least it had been when I'd played the Corruption of Champions game, the entire realm made people rather sex crazy, and since I had three healthy young lovers it didn't seem like a good idea to expose us to Mareth for too long lest they become sex crazed and keep distracting me from my studies.
I'd not told my companions about the demonic threat to this world as if I did I felt sure that at least Ahsoka and Ciri would insist that we do something about it and I had no desire to interfere with the destiny of the champion. Besides, I wasn't ready to start shaping the fates of entire worlds. I still had much to learn before doing that sort of thing even if by taking Harry Potter I'd started interfering.
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 of this society that I was most focused upon. I cared not only about what I could trade with them, 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 and wouldn't simply trade for.
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 some harmless trinkets. I'd not had nearly enough gemstones so I'd decided to import some metal, bringing in bars of gold that I'd salvaged for free a while back and selling them here for a significant profit, giving myself access to large amounts of the local currency.
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 her place of business looked to be a rough structure 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 a few 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.
These were rather minor boosts sure, but if there was one thing I'd learned from watching so much fiction involving magic or mad science its that trying to grasp a lot of power quickly rarely ended well. I felt it much better to acquire power slowly and it wasn't as if I had any reason to rush since I'd obtained immortality.
Since I had a three lovers a slightly 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.
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 safely 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 gold studs please, in the same ear."
That didn't take very long to do and while I didn't feel any different I wasn't expecting to. The boosts granted by the studs were minor, but the accessories were also very small so people were unlikely to notice them. Combined with my other enchanted items the effects would start to add up. Besides, it wasn't as if I was running out of gold.
Ciri decided to copy me, which wasn't a bad idea since I had the habit of planning out these trips well in advance and knowing exactly what I wanted. Laura's healing factor made getting piercings pointless as her body would just push them out like they splinters.
"Well I don't have ears," Ahsoka said when it was time to make her choice, "and I don't want to have some metal in my mouth or near my eyes, so I guess I'll get a couple of gold studs with diamonds for my nipples."
Neither the cat-morph who ran this place or the former Padawan had any issues with doing the nipple piercing in front of other people. Despite their habit of wearing robes, the Jedi cared little about modesty and my Force-sensitive companion actually rather liked it when I looked at her body.
Once we were done here we headed back into the city's shopping centre. I was throwing around a lot of gold, which would attract the wrong kind of attention sooner rather than later, and since this wasn't Sigil, a city so large and diverse it was easy to hide in, we stood out.
In a shop run by Yvonne, a female German Shepherd-morph, in Tel'Adre, the player of the Corruption of Champion game could buy several different suits of armour. This proved to be true in reality and I found the smithy to be blisteringly hot, due to the massive forge that dominates the inside side of the shop. Yvonne only deals in armour and it was here where I'd discovered how rare metals must be here because even simple armour cost hundreds of gems.
"How can this stuff protect anyone?" asked Ahsoka as she inspected the kind of armour that should only exist in the dirty minds of D players. "It barely covers anything."
There was actually an answer.
"The magic woven into the metal protects the wearer," explained the blacksmith.
Since these people clearly had a shortage of metal it did make some sense to use magic for protection when possible and enchant that into something that used as little metal as possible when being forged. However a full set of plate armour actually cost less so that didn't really make sense so I put it down to people around here being sex crazy.
"Think I'll buy this bikini armour," said Ciri.
It was actually labelled chain bikini, and it was revealing chainmail bikini that barely covers anything. The bottom half is little more than a triangle of metal and a leather thong.
"Why?" asked Ahsoka. "Even if it has magic to protect you in it, someone's going to try to arrest you for indecent exposure if you wear it anywhere other than here."
The Witcheress smiled at me before addressing the alien babe who was wearing her glamour despite the lack of many human looking people around here.
"Oh I was thinking of wearing it at home," she said. "Got to find some way of getting Thaddeus out of the library."
That reminded me of something.
"On the subject of the library, I want to check out if they have any bookstores," I mentioned "A wizard can never have too much study material".
I didn't think they had a bookstore in the game, but this was a real city and therefore made of more than a dozen or so locations. As it turned out there was a place that sold books and due to the lack of the printing press they were very expensive. They even had a few spell books much to my delight.
In this universe, spells come in two varieties, 'white' and 'black'. Despite what they are called, the names of the magic types do not necessarily associate with any kind of moral alignment. Black magic could be used for good just as easily as white magic could be used for evil. However, most demons prefer black magic, and those who fight them tend to prefer white magic.
The primary difference between them is where the magic's power is drawn from. Black magic is drawn from the emotions and feelings of the body, while white magic comes from the thoughts of the mind.
The power of white magic is drawn from the mind, but is more often called the power of the soul. White magic is considered stronger than black magic because it can be used to create energy from nothing or heal the body. Users of white magic can blind their opponents with dazzling lights, burn them with pure white flames, or even magically charge weapons and armour to repel each other, making them more resistant to attacks. White magic requires significant mental discipline and awareness, and becomes impossible to cast if the user is greatly distressed or aroused, or anything like that.
The power of black magic is drawn from emotion and feeling, and thus is most easily able to affect the bodies of others. Demons and monsters often use black magic in order to aid in the rape and corruption of innocents, so it makes sense that arousing a target is one of the first things a disciple of black magic learns. In the game black magic cannot be cast unless the user is sufficiently aroused, but in reality it could be any extreme emotion, I'd have to experiment and find out.
This shop only sold white magic spell books and the store owner, who looked to be an owl morph, only had three for sale as such I might need to come back one day to find more.
The spells were Charge Weapon which as the name suggested charged a weapon with magical power. Blind which also worked as the name suggested and blinded your enemies. Then there was Whitefire, which was an elemental attack made of fire that was white as if that was hard to figure out. I got the sense that imaginative spell names were not a thing here in Mareth.
Using white magic was fine with me because I was currently trying to learn he most basic form of Occlumency, judging from Severus Snape's early lessons on the subject to Harry Potter, involved clearing one's mind, making it blank and empty, in order to prevent a Legilimens from perceiving one's emotions and thoughts.
More advanced Occlumency involved suppressing only the thoughts, emotions, and memories that would contradict whatever it was an Occlumens wished a Legilimens to believe, producing a sort of faux layer of mentality that could fool Legilimency into thinking that the false images they were seeing were the truth. As such it would not obvious that Occlumency was being used.
It required a great deal of willpower, as with resisting the Imperius Curse, as well as a high degree of mental and emotional discipline. It was also one method of resisting the influence of Veritaserum, at least according to a book I'd read. It seemed like something worth testing.
"That's it for today," I told everyone.
A short trip, but I'd find a way to make it up to them. Perhaps I should take everyone out for dinner.
Chapter 25
Adventure 23.
Cimmeria. Stargate Verse.
Since I had access to all the SG1 episodes as well as the background material for the show it wasn't hard for me to get the gate address for this world and while I couldn't dial the address for this planet from Earth, what with the SGC being there, it wasn't hard to go to a planet with a gate address that I knew to be peaceful and then use its point of origin.
I could have opened a portal directly to Cimmeria, a world of Vikings who were under the protection of the Asgard, but I wanted to travel via Stargate at least one time and while it was not the most comfortable of experiences it was something I'd wanted to cross off my bucket list. Although I didn't think it was right to call it a bucket list since I wouldn't be dying any time soon, or maybe not at all.
"THOR, THOR, THOR!" yelled the locals.
The people of this world looked to be Bronze Age in level of development or maybe Iron Age it was hard to tell without inspecting their weapons or tools. I highly doubted that they had anything of interest to me and if not for my need for a local guide I wouldn't bother with them at all. The multiverse was filled with such primitive human civilizations.
"Why are they yelling for Thor?" questioned Laura.
I'd already explained to them about the Asgard and that in this universe how Thor was a Roswell style grey alien rather than someone human looking. X-23 had never met her universe's version of Thor but she had seen him on the news and met other Avengers during her own adventures.
"They think that their god is about to smite us because we're demons," I said.
I'd told her all about Thor's Hammer, which was an Asgard device that protected the people of Cimmeria from Goa'uld interference. According to legend, the Hammer was said to be a great weapon, wielded by the god Thor. In this reality, Thor's Hammer was composed from several parts. Every person that came through the Stargate on Cimmeria was scanned by an obelisk bearing the Hammer symbol. If the obelisk detected the presence of a Goa'uld symbiote or larva, the subject was transported to a network of caves.
In these caves, the Goa'uld or Jaffa would be confronted by a hologram of Thor. This hologram informs the prisoners of their choice, to spend the rest of their lives in the bleak labyrinth or to face the Hammer and have the Goa'uld parasite destroyed, leaving the host body free. Inside the network of caves, Goa'uld weapons and other technology will not work. However, once taken back out the weapons function as before, that would turn out to be a bit of an oversight if Teal'C ended up stuck in the maze.
The device activated and scanned us, since none of us were Goa'uld and I'd left Ahsoka behind in case the device reacted badly to an unknown alien form. It might alert the Asgard who would send someone to met the new life form or The Hammer might be programmed in such a way that it would mistake Ahsoka for a Goa'uld trick and dump her in the maze, it might even kill her, so I'd decided that she should stay behind on the planet we'd just gated in from with the Outrider. If all went well the Asgard would stop by that world and pick her up along with the ship soon enough.
When nothing happened after the scan ended the locals got a bit worried.
"There is no need to fear!" Ciri called out. "We're just like you."
We were all wearing our adventure gear so as to help us blend in yet none of the natives seemed interested in coming over for a chat. They were all slowly backing away.
"I am seeking the Hall of Thor's Might" I said.
No one came forward to offer aid.
"Aren't Vikings supposed to be brave?" Laura asked.
Not that I wanted them to attack as then we'd have to show off our powers, but I was a little disappointed by their lack of courage.
"It is forbidden to venture there," said a guy who did look something like a warrior.
That woman who guided SG1 during their time here didn't seem to be around. Shame she'd seemed nice.
"I must speak with Thor," I stated. "I come from Midgard and I have urgent news."
Which was actually the truth even though I hadn't come from the Earth of this universe, and I didn't have news, rather I was willing to exchange information with the Asgard for a few boons.
"I will take you," offered one of the men. "If it is the will of the gods."
It wasn't, but the Asgard did need to hear what I had to offer.
"Then let's go," I said.
We soon got moving and in less than an hour we were at the entrance and I paid the native for his time with a bar of gold. I figured that it was more wealth than his entire village had ever seen, but it might as well be spare change to me. As soon as he was gone I pressed the red gem on the stone pillar and the three of us were beamed inside.
I knew that those who entered the Hall must pass the Test of Worthiness in order to have the real form of the Asgard revealed to them. This place was meant to tell the Asgard when the humans of this world had developed to the point that they'd be able to accept that the Asgard weren't what they appeared to be in the holograms. I was well past that point of development so I figured that I'd have no trouble with the test.
When the hologram appeared I barely listened to what it had to say as I knew exactly what this place was for and it had nothing to do with obtaining Thor's Might.
The first test came in the form of three piles, one of treasure, the other a display of weapons, spears, swords and shields, and the final one was made up of books. I dismissed the treasure right away as I knew the Asgard weren't materialistic people. Even I only really cared about such wealth because it could buy me things I really cared about.
"You did mention that the Cimmeria's are a warrior culture," said Ciri.
Then they would logically go for the weapons, perhaps thinking that they would need for any further tests, but the Asgard would only want to contact humans who have open minds and want to learn so I went over to the books. As expected Thor's hologram appeared, the one that made him look like a Viking warrior.
"You have chosen correctly," said the hologram. "Knowledge is worth more than weapons or wealth, in this you have shown wisdom."
I doubted the humans living on this world would agree, but they weren't advanced enough to meet the real Thor so it hardly mattered.
The next chamber contained another room and this time some holographic warriors appeared. They lasted three seconds as Ciri took them without any trouble. The holograms hadn't been a real threat or any kind of defence, so I assumed they were just meant to scare off those who were uncertain. The tests must change as I didn't recall any of this happening in the show.
"In facing these foes rather than fleeing you have shown courage" praised the hologram.
Thankfully the final room was the same as in the show, and the hologram instructed us to display our knowledge by solving the riddle of the runes. This might seem similar to the first test, but that test had been about values, this was more about puzzle solving which show development in a different way. In order to figure this room out you'd need a good level of education as well as dedective reasoning.
I didn't even bother inspecting anything once I was sure the room was the same as in the show. I simply drew a line on the circle and another red gem appeared. I put my hand on it and there was a light behind me so I turned to see a new hologram form, this time of a real Asgard.
"I am the actual one that you know as Thor," the image said.
At first my response was to wave as my companions stood back knowing that I wanted to make first contact. Thor's alien appearance didn't bother me as I'd seen way stranger looking people in Mareth a few days ago.
"Greetings Supreme Commander Thor," I replied. "I am Thaddeus Ives and I have something for you."
I held up a couple of what passed for USB sticks in the Star Wars galaxy that Ahsoka had modified for me so that I could transfer information from omni-tool on to them. You can pretty much buy anything you want on Illium, including vast amounts of information on genetic engineering and of course all episodes of SG1 as that had been a TV show in the Mass Effect universe a very long time ago and it was in the public domain.
"You are not of this world," the alien very soon realised.
The adventure garb worn by my group did a good job of helping us blend in with less technological advanced cultures.
"I come to the Asgard hoping to trade valuable information for certain tech," I told the hologram of the small grey being. "No weapons, I'm after transporters and shields for my ship."
Thor watched me for a moment before he answered, tilting his head in a way which I took to be expressive in some way I just didn't know how, it could be a nod or a shrug.
"The Asgard do not trade our technology to less advanced species." Thor stated.
I'd been expecting him to say something along those lines. I'd known that trying to get weapons from the Asgard would be pointless and it took the SGC years to earn such a level of trust, and the Asgard only allowed it that time because they gave up on trying to solve their problems.
"That's not a concern" I explained "I'm not here on behalf of any group of people, I'm the leader of small group of people who explore and trade in different dimensions. I don't intend to allow any technology I gain in this universe to be spread about."
If only because it would remove an advantage of mine.
"We have encountered dimensional travellers before," informed Thor. "The encounters did not end well."
I grimaced upon hearing that. I should have expected that a race as ancient and powerful as the Asgard would have some knowledge of dimensional travel. Yet I wasn't discouraged as I had another hand to play in this game.
"How is the war going with the Replicators?" I asked.
Thor's face changed to something that I figured displayed mild shock.
"Since you are aware of the Replicators then you must know how difficult they are to eradicate," was all he said on the matter.
I could see why Thor was sent by the Asgard to talk with the System Lords when Earth was to be brought under their protection. He was getting a lot more information out of me than I could get from him. Which made sense, Thor was thousands of years old, far smarter than me, and he had more reasons to be careful about what words he spoke. I could just open up a portal and leave if I felt like it, he had to deal with this reality.
"There's an Ancient weapon hidden on Dakara," I explained. "It can be modified to disrupt what force it is that keeps the Replicator block bound together. The Replicators will adapt so you'd have to hit them all at once and I know how to lure them into a trap."
All they needed was the android that created the first replicators and the weapon at Dakara. Taking it would require pissing off the System Lords but once the Replicators were dealt with it would be easy for the Asgard to keep the Goa'uld in their place. At least until Anubis turned up, but one problem at a time.
"I have that information held by a friend of mine," I told Thor. "What I have here is information of genetic engineering from another universe collected from different species. I figured that would be enough to attract your interest. We can discuss upgrading my vessel once you've checked out my information on Dakara".
This deal clearly favoured the little grey dudes, but they were known to be trustworthy and if I could save their entire race they might be able to help me handle the Reapers later on.
For now at least I'd keep hidden the knowledge that there were more Asgard out there in the Pegasus galaxy who had somewhat solved their cloning problems. That was a chip that I could cash in later if needs be.
"I can't accept your offer on behalf of the the Asgard race," Thor let me know. "However as the Supreme Commander I can take your offer directly to the High Council and present it to them."
Hopefully their pride wouldn't get in the way of us making a good deal.
"I will arrive to retrieve you on Cimmeria in a few minutes." I was told.
It didn't take long at all for him to turn up.
Adara II. Stargate Verse.
Out of all of the Asgard I'd gotten to meet Heimdall, who was an Asgard geneticist, was by far my favourite. Heimdall, unlike some other Asgard such as Hermiod and Freyr who were more interested in military matters, cared about solving her people's cloning issue and as such was very interested in not only the data I'd gathered on the science of genetic engineering, but also in obtaining samples of DNA from humanoids from across the multiverse.
It made sense that the Asgard High Council would want to move as quickly as possible on dealing with the Replicators so while they'd gotten to work using the information I'd provided they'd divided us up taking Ahsoka and Ciri somewhere so that the Outrider could be upgraded, while I kept Laura with me. I didn't think that anything would go wrong, as the Asgard were the good guys, but if it did then Ciri could take Ahsoka back to the pocket di-mansion just as I could return with Laura. No sense lowering our guard too much and then finding out that the Asgard aren't as nice as they appear.
"You have more samples for me?" enquired the alien.
Heimdall had no issue with me coming and going from her lab as I kept bringing her interesting DNA samples to look at. She'd been working here for many years and I suspected the isolation was part of why she was so happy to have visitors.
"Wasn't hard to get them," I answered. "It's amazing what you can buy from people if you have enough gold."
As long as they were taken humanely then the Asgard had no issue with trading samples of DNA with them for future favours. I'd been to many worlds so I just visited them and got DNA samples from different forms of intelligent life. I also took scans of them with my omni-tool.
Earning good will from the Asgard was well worth the effort in case I needed their help later and helping them not go the way of the dodo would ensure that my harem kept thinking well of me even I wasn't as heroic as they might think.
"Here you go," I said.
I handed over the containers and the omni-tool data I'd collected.
"Wonderful," praised Heimdall. "I have so many new lines of investigation opening up for my work. I'm most interested in this X-gene that Laura has, it causes a level of mutations that might help to counter the gene degradation of our clones. But only if we can control the mutations, that will be the hard part."
The X-gene could cause very unpredictable things to happen to your body. Not all mutants got some cool powers, some just ended up as freaks. It was a good thing that Laura who'd been playing the role of bodyguard during my trips didn't mind getting poked and prodded. I'm sure it helped that Heimdall was just so friendly.
"I received word from Commander Thor about the renegades in the Pegasus Galaxy," I was informed as the science-loving alien got back to work. "The High Council is debating if we should use their unethical research or not since many humans would have been harmed or even killed by the renegades."
This wasn't a new problem. Doctors on my word often argued about whether it was right to use medical knowledge obtained via cruel experiments as while it could save lives by using it you can be seen as supporting such practices. I came down on the side of using the information because then the suffering of others could be used to do something good. But only as long as those who performed cruel experiments were harshly punished.
"You won't be able to help anyone if your race is gone," I pointed out.
Heimdall nodded in agreement.
"I concur and members of the High Council do believe that in return we could shelter some humans from the Pegasus galaxy from the Wraith as a form of compensation," the grey alien said to me. "Even if we can defeat the Replicators and solve our cloning issue it will take centuries for us to recover so we will not be able to stop the enslavement of humans by the Goa'uld or the harvesting of humans by the Wraith, but at least we will be able to shelter some."
Since the Asgard now knew the future of at least one timeline they were prepared to trap and destroy the Replicators and to even deal with Anubis somehow, but it was the Replicators that really spelled the end of the System Lords. When they invaded the Milky Way the ships taken from the System Lords by the Replicators ended up in the hands of the Free Jaffa after the battle of Dakara. Without that invasion it would fall to the Jaffa rebellion to overthrow their masters with the help of Earth and that would be a long struggle, but winnable.
The Ori were a whole other issue, but since the communications device used to contact people in the Ori galaxy would soon be in the hands of the Asgard the little grey guys would have time to come up with a solution that wouldn't involve the Milky Way getting invaded by fanatics. Not good for those oppressed by the Ori, however that wasn't my problem. The Asgard might even find a soluation to this issue if given chance to recover and plan.
With a flash of white light Ahsoka and Ciri appeared inside the base and they both seemed happy to see me.
"The Asgard finished installing the new power systems, sensors, shields and new hyperdrive on the Outrider," the former Jedi Padawan reported. "It only took us two days to get here from their home galaxy."
Compared to an Asgard ship that was slow, but when compared to Star Wars hyperdrive being able to travel from one galaxy to another in your own lifetime was impressive. Not that my freighter really needed a hyperdrive since I could move via portals; however, it didn't mean it wasn't generous of the Asgard to install it.
"Did you manage to convince them to remove whatever safety feature it is that prevents the transporters from being used as a weapons delivery system?" I asked.
Ahsoka confirmed that they had.
"It took some doing but you've done so much for them that they gave in," I was told. "Their shields will block our transporter and they won't give us any bombs to use, even to fight the Reapers."
That wasn't much of an issue since the zombie world I'd looted would have its nuclear stockpile still intact and once we got our hands on some naquadah it would simple enough to enhance the nukes which could be beamed onto a Reaper directly since kinetic barriers don't stopped beaming technology.
The Reapers might figure out some defence involving jamming as the Wraith did in the show, but we should be able to take out at least a few Reapers that way if it came to it. I'd have to come up with some other plans if I needed to deal with the others. Hopefully the Asgard would help when the time was right.
"We can head home and relax for a while," I decided. "We'll check in with the Asgard later and see if they need any more help."
And I could get back to learning how to be a wizard.
Chapter 26
Adventure 24
The Three Broomsticks. Hogsmeade.
Thaddeus had taken the group to many different places since the CYOA had brought them all together, and while some of those places had been very strange even for Ciri, who'd seem some very weird sights over the years, so far this sleepy little hamlet was proving to be one of the more pleasant locations she'd been to. Mostly because it was so peaceful here and because of the use of a magical glamour no one looked twice at the witcheress.
Which left her free to try out a few local drinks. She couldn't get drunk anymore, not since becoming part of the CYOA, but she still could get a pleasant feeling from a little drink, and they had some interesting booze in this world. Thaddeus didn't much care for it, but he was happy to pay for anything the warrior-princess wanted despite her having her own money. So Ciri had decided to try as much on the menu as her stomach would allow, and to share the food with her lover.
On the surface this might seem like a date of some kind, and the Lion Club certainly liked that idea, but in reality they were waiting to meet with someone and had been for a while because it wasn't always possible to keep a good track of time passing in different dimensions and so they'd arrived earlier than expected. Not that she minded as even if sharing Thaddeus was something she'd gotten used to, it was nice to spend some time together and to get him away from his books.
They were here because Thaddeus had decided to hire someone to tutor him in the local's way of using magic. Ciri wondered if the wizard would ever add to his harem and find someone to teach him as part of the group, but he didn't seem interested in doing that yet and since they had immortality there was no real rush to do anything.
The female witcher was digging into something called a treacle tart when the owner of the Three Broomsticks, the tavern keeper called Rosmerta entered the private room that Thaddeus had booked.
"He's here," said the woman, "shall I bring him in?"
Thaddeus told her to do so and Ciri prepared herself for a fight in case things went pear-shaped. The man that her lover wanted to hire was a werewolf, but not of the kind the Lady of Space and Time had ever encountered, yet she was still going to be careful. This Remus Lupin person would be wise to behave unless he wanted to see what someone raised by witchers could do.
Looking him over Cirilla could see that this mage attempted to keep up a neat appearance, but his clothes were old and had been repaired many times, and despite his curse he seemed friendly enough, yet that was something in his eyes that spoke of tiredness and an endless struggle.
Everything started off civilized enough and the werewolf was told that the wizard he'd come to meet was actually Thaddeus Ives and not the false name he'd given before. Remus Lupin had responded to an ad placed in the Daily Prophet requesting a private tutor and once he'd done that a meeting was quickly set up to take place here.
"Your the man who kidnapped Harry," stated the werewolf. "Dumbledore has a lot of people looking for you."
And he would never find the baby wizard as Thaddeus had rightfully taken the baby away from an abusive home so that he could be raised somewhere safe. Harry Potter had an important role to play due to a prophecy, something Ciri could sympathise with, and she would help prepare him as she'd been trained, only she planned to be more affectionate and less critical. She'd already gotten into a habit of visiting the young wizard in his nursery. Thaddeus had been right about the women in his life turning into aunts who would spoil the boy-who-lived.
"I didn't kidnap him, I legally adopted him," Ives said as he showed Lupin copies of the paperwork. "The Dursley's gave him up willingly as they never wanted him."
The werewolf looked through the papers.
"Dumbledore must not know about this," said Lupin.
Thaddeus clearly thought otherwise.
"Of course he knows," he said. "As I told you it's all legal so the paperwork is in the system. It wouldn't be hard for him to check and in case you are wondering why I adopted your friend's child it's because when I found him the Dursleys had him locked up under their stairs while they were about to sit down to a big meal on Christmas Eve."
The werewolf who had been looking over at the door took a seat upon hearing that. No doubt Lupin had been thinking of running off and informing the dreaded Dumbledore, the wizard that Thaddeus worried about.
"Is Harry okay?" the local mage asked.
"Yes and you can check on him yourself if you agree to my job offer," Ives said.
That got the werewolf's attention.
"So there really is a job?" he asked. "This isn't some trick?"
Another document was passed over, this one a magically binding employment that would prevent Lupin from giving away any information about what he saw while working for Thaddeus. Such contracts were not fool proof but breaking one could to disaster.
"This is a generous salary, Mr Ives," Lupin remarked. "But I'm more interested in Harry and what you mean by medical benefits."
"I have some ideas about removing your curse," said Thaddeus. "I have access to resources and magic you won't find anywhere around here and while I can't be certain I can remove your curse that won't affect your right to spend time with Harry. In the short term I'm the one who needs a tutor, but in a few years Harry will need a proper teacher, not just for magic, he'll need to be prepared for his future. A lot will be expected of him."
Lupin was giving this offer some serious thought.
"How much access would I have to Harry?" he asked.
Thaddeus didn't seem concerned at all by the question. He'd been well prepared for this interview.
"As long as you don't try to run off with him I don't see why you can play a major role in raising him," was the answer. "Even if we can't cure your condition you can still be his teacher and if we can cure you then you'll be welcome to play a bigger part in raising him. I have a home in Wales you can stay at as long as you're willing to sign the magical binding contracts."
Lupin looked over the papers for the second time.
"The penalties for breaking this contract are quite harsh," the shabby man pointed out.
It wasn't as if he would be forced to sign them. Ciri knew that there were good reasons for this agreement as the baby wizard needed to be kept safe and he needed to be prepared for what was to come.
"There are plenty of benefits too," pointed out Thaddeus. "The contract can come to an end when Harry goes to Hogwarts, but that's the better part of a decade from now".
And if this werewolf wasn't deemed trustworthy by then there were spells that could remove memories, or he could exiled to another universe.
"Until then I'll provide you with a home, a chance to care for little Harry, stable work and maybe even a cure" Thaddeus was nw saying "Given my resources it's almost certain we will find a way of at least managing your wolf problem to make it safe for you to be around children."
Lupin tapped the provided quill.
"I'll agree to follow your rules until Harry goes to Hogwarts," he said, "then I will tell Dumbledore what I know."
Since there was no protest it seemed safe for Ciri to assume that this was all part of the plan. Lupin soon signed the contract and before long he was shown that he'd signed up for something far more exciting than he could have imagined.
The Tower. Pegasus Galaxy.
This was an Ancient city-ship and sister city to Atlantis yet as soon as I arrived I could tell that this place hadn't endured as well as Atlantis as the people living here clearly did not take proper care of the wonder that they called home. If I possessed a city-ship I'd take much better care of it, not that I wanted to since they were far too large to move by portals and I didn't have anywhere near enough people to make use of a city-ship. Plus they were total power hogs.
Aside from its state of decay the most noticeable difference between the Tower and Atlantis is that the control chair is where the Stargate would normally be rather than in a separate tower and all but the Control Tower have long ago fallen. It's possible that the gate once stood in another part of the city-ship, but Wraith attacks destroyed the other tall buildings, until only the Control Tower remained and the gate was set up elsewhere.
I had no interest in the idiot nobles who spent their time feasting while most of the population worked their fingers to the bone, that was just how the feudal system worked, and it was a common way for humans to live across the multiverse. I could bring the system crashing down easily enough, but that might leave them vulnerable to the Wraith.
No, I'd come here just to grab a Puddle Jumper as while I had already had a couple of ships a vessel like the one I was now looking at had many advantages over other space craft I could obtain. It had an advanced cloaking device, it was small enough to easily fly through portals, and it had a decent set of weapons for its size.
"Do we really need another ship?" asked Ahsoka.
Not really, but I wanted one.
"The Outrider is a freighter, this is more of a shuttle, and it can go invisible," I told her. "We can use it for quick trips when stealth is important rather than room for cargo, and when it is too dangerous to go somewhere on foot."
She got behind that idea soon enough and since it was just the two of us for this trip we quickly entered the ship and I managed to get enough control of it.
One of my perks of the CYOA was Physical Adjustment: Full Body Makeover and it granted me the ability to change including my DNA as with some mental effort I was able to give myself the ATA gene that was required for using their technology. I could have done more with the perk, but I was worried about unexpected side effects and it was a perk that was only worth five points so I figured it had limits.
I'd not checked my DNA, but I was willing to bet that I had a couple of extra genes by now, one for making use of Ancient technology and the other for using magic. Although since magic was supposed to come from the soul or something like that according to what I'd read I did wonder why genetics was involved. A mystery that I might one day figure out.
"Okay seems simple to me," I said as I got behind the controls.
Puddle Jumpers were flown more with the mind than the hands, the controls existed more as something to focus on than anything else, although they did work, the actual flying was handled via a neural interface which in a sense linked my mind to the Puddle Jumper.
Some basic information was simply known to me and more was displayed via 2D holograms because the interface didn't speak to you, it just knew what you wanted it to do, and somehow supplied with information.
For example I understood that the Jumper's weapon systems consist of twelve drone weapons that are housed in the two weapon pods located on both sides. I knew that these pods must be extended before the drones can be fired. The drones (like the Jumpers themselves) can be controlled by the pilot's thoughts, and aiming would be assisted by the sensors that would allow me tell the difference between a valid target and friendly craft so friendly fire was less of a risk.
Ahsoka not only lacked the gene she wasn't human, and while the technology didn't react badly to her it didn't respond to her either, I had no way of giving Ciri or Laura then gene either so this Jumper would be my personal ship. Others could fly the Outrider while I flew the Jumper if we ever needed more firepower.
The Mass Effect freighter back in the warehouse was so primitive compared to the Jumper and the Asgard upgraded freighter that the only reason to keep it around was because Ahsoka liked having tech to tinker with. Not that I'd throw it away since having another freighter around could come in handy someday.
"You know I'm not a material girl," said the former Jedi Padawan.
"But you do live in a material world," I joked.
She didn't get it and so she ignored my words. Maybe would have understood it and given me a small smile.
"I wouldn't mind if you picked me up a Jedi Starfighter from my galaxy," she was now saying. "I can think of a few crash sites that might be worth checking out and I don't mind having to repair one. I really miss the kind of freedom you experience from flying around in a fighter and it's not like we can't squeeze one into the warehouse".
While I couldn't steal from the Jedi Temple I didn't mind checking out a few crash sites for repairable wrecks that might be leftover from the clone wars.
"I'll put it on my list of things to do," I promised.
Keeping Ahsoka happy and occupied was well worth the effort of finding a way to drag a broken starfighter into the warehouse. For now I focused on getting the Puddle Jumper moving enough to get it through a portal that would open up near the warehouse I kept near Sutton House. I had a lesson with Remus Lupin tomorrow so I couldn't stay out all night.
I wasnt totally sure that I'd made the right choice with that man. But I had a back up plan in place should he betray me and since he had to brought into the pocket dimension to see Harry he couldn't simply run off with the wizard baby. Over time I would earn the man's trust, cure his furry problem, and tell him the truth about Siruis Black, if all went well Remus Lupin could be a useful ally. Only time would tell for sure.
Chapter 27
Adventure 25
The Pocket Di-mansion.
I didn't know if it was my imagination or not, but for some reason I couldn't help thinking that the dojo was somewhat larger than before. Though I couldn't focus on that right now as I was too busy trying to tag Ahsoka with one of the few spells that I'd started to get to grips with now that I had a proper instructor. There really is nothing better than having a talented teacher when it comes to learning magic, the books can't be questioned or debated with, nor can they try to explain complex ideas in different ways until you can get your head around it.
"Stupefy!"
A red bolt of light shot out of my wand only to be met by the blue blade of one of Ahsoka's lightsabers before it fizzled out. It was easy to forget sometimes that lightsabers were not simply plasma blades or laser swords of some kind, they were more than that, the heart of every Jedi or Sith's weapon was a crystal attuned to the Force. So far magic was proving less effective than the Force in combat, but that might have more to do with Ahsoka's much greater experience than anything else.
The two blue blades blocked or batted aside any number of spells that I knew. Thanks to her precognition she knew where her weapons needed to be before I'd even fired off the spell. Since my direct attacks were clearly futile, I decided to spice things up a little.
"Expelliarmus!"
Soon I'd be beyond the need to say the words and make the right wand movements as those things were about focusing the mind more than anything else. It was possible to cast a spell without saying anything but I wasn't there yet.
As for the spell it disarmed Ahsoka and both of her blades went inert as the weapons flew off only to suddenly return to her hands as she used her power to bring them back before igniting them.
"You're going to have to do better than that, Thaddeus," she mocked.
"Immobulus!"
This time Ahsoka froze in place not prepared for this kind of spell and for a moment or two it looked as if I'd won because she was truly helpless. Then suddenly I found myself flying back onto a well stuffed mat which thankfully made for a soft landing.
"I don't need to wave my hand to hit you with telekinesis," said the former padawan once she was freed from the spell. "I just needed to be able to focus."
That was something I took into account before casting the tickling charm, a rather harmless spell that took her by surprise and should prevent her from keeping focus.
"Guess magic wins sometimes," I said.
I went to cancel the spell on Ahsoka only to get my legs kicked out from under me without any warning.
"Jedi are trained to ignore distractions and discomfort," she said while trying not to giggle "You need something stronger".
I removed the spell and got up.
"
Thaddeus if we're going to go up this Darth Voldemort then I need to see more of what magic can do," Ashoka told me. "So let's kick things up a notch."
I had to smile upon hearing that.
"Don't call him Darth Voldemort, he's not a Sith Lord," I corrected.
My sparring partner shrugged.
"He has dark powers and he wants to take over, sounds like a Sith to me," she reasoned.
Okay so she had a point there.
"Alright, I can show you more of what magic can do but you could get hurt," I said.
Or I could get hurt.
"I've trained with a few Jedi Knights and Masters. I can control a sparring session and keep it safe for the both of us," she assured me. "And you do have healing potions."
Which worked for her as well as humans, I guess magic didn't care who it healed.
"Then I'll use some of the advanced stuff Lupin has been teaching me," I agreed.
He really was a good teacher and so a lot of spells I'd only know about in theory could come flying out of my wand.
"Incendio."
The fire spell whooshed through the air forcing Ahsoka to dive out of the way.
"Wasn't expecting that," she admitted as the Togruta female picked herself up. "Lupin has sure been earning his wage."
Aside from a very generous salary I'd also gotten rid of his furry problem. It had been a very simple to do, and barely cost me any time as I just took him to a temple in Silverymoon and paid a cleric to cast a powerful spell that removes a curse from a person or object.
Werewolves are really just cursed people and unlike in the Elder Scrolls verse there was no demonic god behind the curse so a quick blessing solved the problem. Sometimes outsourcing your problems to others was a good
idea. The only downside was this cure couldn't be administered back in the wizarding world unless I found something equally as powerful as a spell backed up by a god. Perhaps one day I'd hunt for such an object, but it wasn't important right now.
"Some credit for me please," I said.
I'd spent countless hours reading up on the theory, practicing simple spells and collecting magical items to boost my powers with. Now all my prep work was paying off.
"Okay give me your best shot," encouraged Ahsoka.
Well she did ask for it.
"Expulso!"
She blocked the shot and while my spell wasn't that good as I'd not practised this one much she was still thrown backwards and disarmed.
"Right so I'm not ready for Darth Voldemort," she admitted.
Taking on a Sith whose powers and fighting styles were at least similar to her own was not the same as taking on a dark wizard whose powers she didn't yet understand.
"We need to be careful," I chided both her and myself, "We're immortal, but not invulnerable."
Which I should get around to doing something about. It needed bumping up my list.
"Before you throw any more magic around you need to work on your footing," she said to me.
"My footing? What's wrong with my footing?" I asked defensively.
I'd been doing alright so far.
"It's sloppy," she said, "You don't train enough."
Well perhaps I'd been neglecting my combat training, but to be far it wasn't as if my harem gave me much of a chance to do any fighting. Aside from a few spiders and those wights I'd not gotten any kills.
"Put your wand away and we'll work on your stance," the sexy alien babe instructed.
Since I was wearing sweats I had nowhere to store my wand on my person so I placed it on a nearby bench and then joined her back on the mats. She faced me and then turned away before placing my hands on her hips.
"Now feel how I shift my weight," she said.
Ahsoka wasn't a tall person, but by the end of the Clone Wars she'd shot up a bit in height so she was able to grind her ass into me as she moved her body around, somehow staying on the tips of her toes while supposedly showing me some stances that she'd picked up back when she'd been training in the Jedi Temple.
Despite this distraction, I was able to listen while she explained that while her primary form is an acrobatic take on Jar'Kai, the two-handed style used by some Jedi in times past, she was also making use of Form IV: Ataru, a style used by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who she'd also learned from. Obi-Wan preferred the more defensive Soresu form after the death of his master, but Ahsoka suited the more aggressive Ataru which depended a lot on acrobatic movement. Not that these styles mattered much to someone who wanted to throw spells around, but the basics of the forms could help with other types of combat.
As we continued to move we also kept grinding against each other and my efforts to ignore the sensation began to fail. Something Ahsoka must be aware of due to how it was affecting me. When she stopped I knew for certain that she'd been messing with me mostly because of the silly smile on her adorable face as she looked down at my bulge.
"Okay that's enough for now," decided the alien babe. "We can work some more on it later."
With that she started heading out of the room.
"Now if you'll excuse me," Ahsoka said, trying hard not to look at me and she walked away, "I'm going to go take a long, hot shower."
She walked off towards the showers and I heard her giggle in a very girly way. She didn't normally giggle, as she took herself seriously most of the time, this was not one of those times
After waiting for a few moments as I needed to put my wand away I headed to Ahsoka's room knowing exactly what she wanted me to do, but I didn't rush anywhere as I didn't wish to appear too eager as such when I opened the door to her bathroom, as each bedroom had its own, I was met with the sight of Ahsoka's orange ass almost pressed against the transparent material of the shower as her back was to me as she hunched over with one hand flat against the wall, keeping
her steady.
She didn't bother to acknowledge my presence as I moved around the room so that I could get a good view of her fingers sliding in and out of her pussy. She made a few soft moans as she masturbated and only started watching me in turn as I began to strip out of my clothes. She knew I was there and either simply didn't care or liked the idea of me watching her.
When I stepped into the shower I noticed a few things, such as the warm water that now flowed down my body and the fact that shower cubicle was larger on the inside than the outside.
The magic working here meant that from the outside you couldn't detect that the shower's inside dimensions had been messed with unless you were inside it so it took me a moment to get over the slight sense of disorientation. The Di-Mansion was a very strange place.
Ahsoka was so focused on pleasuring herself that she barely noticed me other than to look at certain parts of my body or she ignored me on purpose. She had no problem frigging herself in front of me and kept going even as I began to play with her breasts.
"Mmm Thaddeus," she moaned as she stopped touching herself. "I like it when you put your hands on me."
I didn't need any powers of empathy or telepathy to know that this was the truth. My footwork might need some refinement, but really she'd planned for us to be fucking in the shower today. Why she felt that she couldn't just request that we have sex I didn't know. It must be a female thing across the multiverse that made women want to play these games.
As time passed by I began touching some more by slapping her pert ass as she used both hands to steady herself as best she could. Then I slid one of my fingers into her wet folds. Her back arched and she let out a pleasure-filled moan as I inserted another digit. My fingers slid deep inside of her and then back out. My other hand squeezed and played with one of her tits, I was not gentle about it and this only made her move her hips even faster.
"Mmm yeah," she moaned.
I knew exactly what she wanted to say even if she couldn't actually make the words right now. I pushed my fingers into her deeper and faster. She let out a long moan as I played with her, which I did for a while, until I could no longer resist sticking it in her. Her tight orange pussy was simply too alluring for me to say no to. Not that any sane heterosexual male ever would in my opinion.
Then I was fucking her, Ahsoka's whole body shook and I pounded her with no concern for anything other than getting myself off as quickly as possible because right now I really needed to cum.
With one hand on her hip, the fingers of my free hand grabbed a nipple and pulled on it rather painfully as I used her. When she was done having had a very loud orgasm, she went limp and I kept fucking her until I was finished with her now very well-used little fuckhole.
When I was done I didn't let the former Padawan fall to the ground, I makde sure to hold on to her since her own legs no longer seemed to be able to support her weight. Ahsoka was hunched over again breathing heavily as if she was catching her breath after running a race, the training hadn't been that hard for her so the sex must have been intense for her.
"Good girl," I praised, once she'd somewhat recovered. "Now get dressed as we need to nip out to run an errand."
I didn't wait for a reply, I just headed to my room so I could find some clean clothes.
Cave. Sunnydale.
While I'd wanted to take a trip to this universe for a while because it was one of my favourites, I'd been wary of coming here because of all the interfering higher powers. Even magical items that prevented supernatural forms of detection from finding us could be countered, and so my time in this reality would be limited. I might risk coming back for some books on magic later if this trip went well.
The current objective of mine was the Orbs of Nezzla'Khan, they were a pair of magical crystal orbs guarded by Nezzla demons. They granted superhuman strength and physical invulnerability to whoever carried them.
In the show they allowed the murderer called Warran Mears to go toe to toe with Buffy. However, the orbs themselves were fragile and easy to break, as Warren found out, and once they were broken, their magical effects would be reversed. I remembered that scene and how the Slayer both symbolically and literally emasculated Warren by destroying his balls. I wondered what kind of message the writers had meant to give the audience with that bit of the story.
Knowing that the Orbs could be destroyed I would need to keep them close to me and also safe. My pouch of holding should do the job since no one would know I had the orbs other than my allies. I would never tell anyone else about them or discuss them outside of the pocket Di-Mansion since even the people I trusted could make mistakes or we could be overheard by someone unfriendly.
I did wonder if the orbs might not shield against some kinds of magic like say a fireball, but in this part of the multiverse, there weren't many magic users who could do the kind of magical attacks that I needed to worry about. It should be possible to test a few minor spells on myself without much risk.
Dealing with magic-users could wait until later as right now I had more physical threats to worry about. There was a growling sound from behind me and I turned to see a rather large demon, one of the brown and scaly variety with not much of a neck, the thing was now advancing on me.
"Hi," I said to the monster. "You'd be a Nezzla demon then?"
The creature growled and it lunged towards me only to find itself pinned in place by one of my spells. Even if the magic had failed it wouldn't have mattered as Laura had already moved between us having heard the demon coming. If it had gotten any closer I felt sure that X-23 would have gutted the creature before it could lay a claw on me, she was loyal to her pack.
"I'll take that as a yes," I said.
Finding this place had proven easier than expected as while there were a lot of caves around Sunnydale, significantly more than there should be, we had omni-tools that could send out drones which we could monitor. Once one of them had located something that looked like a force field we just followed the path the drone had taken.
"Command it to bring me the orbs," I instructed.
The demon seemed to be a simple minded creature so mind tricks should work,
"You will bring the Orbs to us," Ahsoka ordered.
She took control of its mind as I released the demon's body. For a moment the demon just stood there. It seemed to stop for a moment, maybe to think, or to try to resist, but after that it went through the barrier. About thirty seconds later Laura warned us that she could hear something approaching. I then saw a Nezzla demon, maybe the same one as before, who could tell, and it had a small wooden box in its hands.
It held the box out to me. The sides of the container glowed for a moment as the demon opened it. Inside were two small orbs, both marked with symbols. The Orbs of Nezzla'khan were an obvious metaphor for male genitalia or at least part of the male genitalia. The berries, not the twig.
"Thank you," I told the demon.
After reaching into the box I lifted the Orbs out, now holding one in each hand. The demon stood back and looked at me expectantly.
"What now?" I asked.
I was holding the Orbs but I didn't feel any different until I figured that maybe you had to want them to work. Then a bright purple light exploded from the two globes and surrounded me. I yelped in surprise and then cried out as I felt power rip through me. It felt good I could see why Warren hogged them in the show and while this was a good start they would only make me safer.
I'd need to either replicate them or find something like them to protect my companions. I also had no idea if they'd ever run out of charge so making more would be a good idea and it pleased me that I could also turn them off.
"We should leave" advised Ahsoka "The dark side is strong here".
I figured that the feeling would be stronger the closer we got to the hellmouth.
"So what do we do with the monster?" asked Laura.
Ciri cut any debate short by suddenly appearing by the demon and slicing it in half in a single blow.
"What? It was a monster," she said defensively when we all stared at her.
Well what could you expect from a Witcher?
Chapter 28
Adventure 26
Sunnydale. The Buffyverse.
"So post season 3 then," I muttered to myself.
I leaned back on the driver's door of the DeSoto Fireflite1959 that I'd found the keys for just after opening up a portal directly into Sunnydale, rather than appear on the outskirts like I'd done last time. While I had no idea why the transport perk had gifted me with this model of car I didn't mind having a vehicle that I was suddenly fully licensed to drive and was registered to me. If nothing else it saved me some time and money, and while I had a massive surplus of both of those things it allowed me to avoid dealing with boring paperwork, a nice bonus.
Before me was the ruin of Sunnydale High School, the main setting for the first three seasons of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show. Since it didn't look as if anyone was preparing to knock it down for rebuilding I assumed that this world was still at a time a while before the start of season 7. Which made sense since I'd gotten my hands on the magic orbs before Warren could towards the end of season 6, and this helped to narrow down a time frame.
"Guess someone didn't like going to high school," commented Laura.
Since Sunnydale was somewhat safer during the day, and because I could become invulnerable if I so wished, I'd decided to come back to Sunnydale with just X-23 as an escort because this was pretty close to her native land and so that we could spend some time together without the others.
"Actually the heroes blew it up to stop the mayor from eating the town once he turned into a huge snake monster," I told her. "Which seems as good a reason as any for some domestic terrorism".
I wondered if Faith the Dark Slayer was still in the hospital in a coma or in prison, either way it was a waste of her talents, and I considered trying to recruit her, but I didn't really need another fighter so I didn't feel very motivated as she wasn't exactly the most dependable of people. On the other hand, if I could find a humane method of at least somewhat controlling a super powered murderer and she wasn't in prison then it shouldn't be too hard to recruit her as she'd want to leave this world. Plus I could easily pay her. Something to think on later. As ever there was no reason to rush.
"So are we staying here?" asked the sexy mutant.
Tempting, only I didn't want to interfere with the main cast unless I had a better idea of what was going on in this timeline. I could go and find out by visiting the local college yet there was really no need to do that since I had no real plans for this world.
"I was thinking of heading to LA," I said to Laura. "They have stores that sell books on magic there and then we can make a night of it, hit the town, slay a vampire or two, that sort of thing."
While I could portal us there even in the car as the portal would always take us somewhere safe to emerge I figured that driving into the city while under the protection of magical items that shielded us from mystical means of detection would draw a lot less attention. No sense getting on the radar of Wolfram & Hart if it could be easily avoided.
Laura, who was still sitting in the car that thankfully had AC despite the age of the model, looked at me over the rim of her sunglasses.
"Most people don't go looking for vampires," she told me. "Weren't those freaks at the bank bad enough?"
She didn't need to be concerned.
"The vampires here are different from elsewhere," I explained. "They are very vulnerable to fire and aren't very smart. Besides, I only want to slay one of them so that I can collect the dust."
Slughorn might find that the ashes of a vamp from this world had some interesting magical properties and if they did then I'd easily be able to supply any demand because vampires were a plague around here. Even if in the end there was no use for the material then at least there was one less bloodsucker in the world.
"We can do anything you want afterwards," I let Laura know.
That got her attention.
"Anything huh?" she asked.
I might regret saying that.
"Yeah we can hit the clubs, or go see a movie, eat dinner in a fancy restaurant," I said. "Whatever takes your fancy."
It was a good thing I was so rich because I got the feeling that Laura had something expensive in mind.
The Pocket Di-Mansion.
Today had been a good day for Laura, the drive from that small town in California to the city of LA was a pleasant trip. No cops felt the need to pull them over and they'd even stopped for ice cream on the way because even X-23, a mutant created as a living weapon, was not above begging for ice cream when on a road trip.
Once Thaddeus had purchased more books on magic, because apparently you can't have too many of those even if this pocket dimension had needed to provide a library to store them, they gone for a very fancy meal in an equally restaurant, but not before finding time to purchase Laura the kind of dress that cost more than most people's monthly salaries.
Then they'd hit the clubs and while her lover didn't dance he didn't mind that she'd gone and gyrated against some woman who looked as if she'd soon be getting married soon. Actually Thaddeus might have enjoyed it even more than Laura did.
After that Laura had tracked down a vampire and then got to watch Thaddeus beat up the foul smelling undead creature. Granted he'd needed performance enhancing magical items to do the violence, yet it had still been a little sexy to watch.
Upon returning home X-23 decided to drag her boyfriend, assuming that term applied here, to her room, a space that looked more like the den of a spoiled teenage boy than that of a grown woman. The walls were covered in posters, there were clothes scattered about, and she possessed a lot of video games along with a TV so big that it took up most of one wall. Her bin was filled with wrappers from junk food she could eat as a perk of the CYOA kept her in great shape so need to worry about too much sugar in her diet.
Laura had lived in poverty for most of her life, even when she'd been staying at Xavier's school she'd not owned very much. Now she had more wealth than some modern nations as Thaddeus kept a lot of gold around and she had her share, so she'd decided to spoil herself with plenty of fun toys, some of which she kept under her bed.
The mutant girl wouldn't be using those toys tonight. She wanted the real thing and frankly she didn't care much if Thaddeus was in the mood, though it hardly mattered as men were easy to arouse. Besides, he spent far too much time staring at books and needed some more exercise.
"Take your pants off," she told him.
"Um… okay," said Thaddeus,
He did so while trying not to appear too awkward as he undid his belt buckle and unzipped his pants. He then pushed them down his legs, along with his briefs, and stepped out of his socks in the process. Having removed his shoes as soon as they got home.
The magic user wasn't used to others taking the lead during sex and any other time Laura would be fine with letting him play the dominate role once she'd signalled that she was good for a fucking, but not this night.
As he got undressed, X-23 did the same. With far less awkwardness, she took off her black jacket and slid her halter top off over her head, revealing a pair of perky breasts that were perfectly proportional to her athletic frame in her mind and in many other people's opinion, even if they tended to express their views differently.
Even though he'd seen them before Thaddeus couldn't help admiring Laura's breasts and she had no issue with letting him stare for a few moments until she got too eager to carry on.
"Your shirt," said X-23, "take it off."
As he undressed she continued stripping. After tossing her top aside, she casually unzipped the back of her miniskirt and pushed it down her legs, stepping out of her stiletto boots in the process. The dress she'd worn earlier had been fancy, but it wasn't the kind of thing she'd wear outside of dining out somewhere expensive so she'd changed before hitting a club.
Again Thaddeus just admired the view for a while, looking at the pussy she kept bare for him, and Laura even turned around for a little while just because she knew he liked checking out her ass. She didn't wear those dragonhide pants as often as she did only because they offered protection from magic and looked cool. She liked how they drew his attention to her firm ass.
"Get on the bed," said X-23 firmly.
She was tempted to push the sorcerer onto the mattress, but there was no need and soon they were both lying on it. Thaddeus wasted no time in getting to the good part. He knew how to fondle her breasts and pussy in a way she liked, and was not afraid to smack her ass, which was something else she enjoyed. They'd known each other for long enough to be comfortable with this even if he'd still not gotten completely over how sexually aggressive Laura could be.
"I'm ready," said X-23
Now she switched to a more submissive role, getting on to her hands and knees so that she could present herself for a good fucking. The sudden change didn't put Thaddeus off as this was far more to his liking. Soon he was inside her, filling up her eager cunt. This was how Laura liked it, to be fucked like an animal.
"Ohhh fuck! You're so… so tight!" he said.
Her healing factor was good for more than than injuries.
"Yes… that's what I want. That's… what I need!" called out the sexy mutant.
The rhythm was slow at first, not because Thaddeus didn't know what he was doing, Laura knew that he knew she wanted to be fucked fast and hard so he was holding back, wanting her to beg for it. This sort of treatment the daughter of the Wolverine did not mind.
"Fuck me," she begged. "Please. I'll be a good girl."
That was all it took as Laura had very quickly learned the kind of things she needed to say in order to get what she wanted while in bed. Not that she thought about that for long, she was too busy getting her cunt stuffed to care much.
"Just like that! Just like that! Keep… fucking me… just like that!" X-23 shouted out.
She didn't care if anyone could hear her. If they hadn't found a way to soundproof their rooms with some of the cool stuff they had access to then that was their fault not hers.
For what seemed like a good long time there was just the fucking with Thaddeus slamming into her with animal grunts as they both worked to get off. Laura moved her hips back so as to meet her lover's thrusts. The moans and few words that made it out of her mouth wouldn't have sounded out of place in the most hardcore of porno movies.
When she found herself getting close to her climax nothing sort of an attack by an army of those mutant hunting Sentinels would have stopped her from doing anything other than moving her hips and no amount of complaining of the noise would even register if anyone had bothered.
"Don't stop! Keep fucking me! Keep fucking me!" she begged.
Thaddeus didn't care what she wanted; he was ready to let loose. His body went rigid and he threw his head back as Laura's climax hit her as he squeezed her hips hard, digging his fingers into her flesh, before driving his cock deep into her as he began filling her up with his cum.
After that it took more than a few moments for her thoughts to become coherent again. She just laid on the bed and enjoyed the bliss for a while.
"There. We're done," said X-23, finally breaking the silence "Go sleep in your own bed."
She felt no need for tact.
"What no cuddles?" asked Thaddeus sounding hurt in a mocking way.
He gathered up his clothes without bothering to dress.
"What are you, a girl?" she asked back.
She'd leave all the affectionate stuff to Ahsoka and Ciri, she'd just wanted to get pounded and now she wanted to sleep.
Chapter 29
Adventure 27
Hoth. Star Wars Galaxy
While I was not the most hardcore of Star Wars fans I did consider myself something of an expert on this universe and I did my research before going anywhere because I didn't wish to be taken by surprise. Yet I was a little taken aback to discover that Ahsoka had fought a battle against the CIS for control of the ice moon of Hoth, the same frozen lump of rock that the Rebel Alliance would build a base on many years in the future.
Apparently the CIS had built a base of their own on this moon and the Grand Army of the Republic had decided to drive them off it. The battle was unknown to me and it certainly had not made its way into any of the expanded universe materials that I had access to, but Ahsoka had actually been here so I took her word that there had been a conflict here. Perhaps the evidence was all buried in snow by the time the rebels came here.
What mattered most about the conflict that had taken place here was that Anakin Skywalker had managed to crash a Jedi starfighter on the planet and according to Ahsoka it hadn't been too badly damaged. It had only been abandoned because the fleet sent here had been needed elsewhere rather badly and due to a snow storm that had been incoming.
This wasn't even the first crashed fighter that I'd recovered for the former Padawan, but it did look to be the most intact so far, or at least it seemed to be as I used wand magic to clear away as much of the snow as possible. It appeared as if Skywalker had managed to avoid damaging the hull of the small spacecraft and that was good as repairing the hull would require a bigger set up than what we had access to.
I wanted this technology because while originally I'd planned to introduce some advanced tech to the muggle world via some proxies, while interfering with magical one via some proxies, I now had bigger ambitions. I was thinking of forming a company called Ives Interdimensional which could use technology from different worlds to advance human societies according to my designs. I might even do this over several different worlds just because I could.
The name might seem as if it would give the game away, but it wasn't as if anyone would believe it as anything more than a bit of silliness and I could protect my secrets with magically binding contracts and a few memory wipes if required.
I was going to need more than Ahsoka as while she was a fine engineer she had a lot of interests in different areas and she was more of a fighter than the academic type. She preferred to be doing something productive with her hands rather than sitting around reading.
As such I needed a devoted science type to figure out the physics behind this sort of technology as well as people who could take the tech apart and build simpler versions to be sold in different worlds. I knew of at least one person who might be able to help me with that and if she didn't work out then it wasn't as if I didn't have other plans to be getting on with.
"I should have this thing through a portal in a moment," I said to Ciri and Laura.
They were both hanging back while I worked in case of a sudden wampa attack as I would need all of my focus for this bit of magic. I could have just opened up a portal underneath the crashed starfighter and let it appear above the ground somewhere near Sutton House along with a lot of snow, but I didn't want to risk damaging the craft in a fall since it was already in bad shape.
To this end I took my weirwood staff out of my pouch of holding, and then I used it to levitate the starfighter gently through a portal. A novice such as myself should have trouble moving something this large and I would have too if not for the fact that the staff was very good for the channelling of magical energies and the crystal on top of the staff was a source of magical power.
"Follow me," I commanded.
Before long the three of us moved through the portal leaving the ice moon of Hoth behind. Something to be glad of as my adventure gear and warming charms could only do so much against this level of cold.
Wilderness. Pylea
If it wasn't for the two suns overhead someone might have assumed the portal had merely transported us somewhere on one of the many Earths. Of course I knew better than that even before I saw the sky because I'd known all about this world long before I'd opened a portal to it.
As to why I'd come here, I needed a physics person who was attractive enough to be part of my harem and could aid the group with her mind. I wanted someone who can figure out how at least some of the tech I'd gathered so far actually worked so that I could start using it for my group's own needs.
"Assuming that she's here she should be somewhere nearby," I said.
Really I had no idea whether or not we were anywhere near the castle that was the base of the Covenant of Trombli, or Fred's cave. Heck, I didn't even know if young Miss Burkle was still a slave or not. All I knew for sure at this point was that we were in the right dimension and that we'd have arrived somewhere safe within a reasonable distance of the cave.
So our first priority was for me to cast a locator spell using a personal item of Fred's, a stuffed toy that she left at work. I'd taken it out of lost property, and I knew it belonged to Fred because one of her former co-workers had told me that she took the bear everywhere and would not have left it behind if she'd simply decided to leave work early that day and get into trouble, or move out of LA.
As for the spell, it was one of the few from the Buffyverse that didn't require the caster to call upon demons or any kind of god to power the spell, it would run off the magical energies that I could command without any help. Assuming that was how magic worked, no one really knew and I'd read quite a few theories on the subject. Many of which had spoken about magic coming from the Earth only I wasn't on any version of Earth and my magic seemed to be working fine.
"So, we just follow the ball of light wherever it goes?" Ciri queried once the spell was done. "It's going to be hard to see."
The spell was similar to one that Willow would use to find Tara, or possibly vice versa, or maybe not at all if I'd altered the timeline, during the early part of season 6. Only she used her romantic connection I assumed since I couldn't recall her having a personal item. My light wasn't that bright, as I was only a novice when it came to using magic, but it would be enough. Given that the spell was working Fred must be both alive and somewhere nearby.
"They do have night and the spell shouldn't fade as long as I stay awake so if need be we'll wait around for a while," I told the three women with me. "It's not as if we're in any kind of rush."
"You're the man with the plan. Which is why you're in charge." said Ahsoka.
I then heard a short giggle from behind me.
"And it means we can all blame him if something goes wrong," Ciri said. "Which it will sooner or later."
They were normally more supportive than this.
"And I get to pick the music," Laura then said to the other girls before turning to me. "Were you really being serious about music being our secret weapon?"
Indeed I had been. Not that I intended to unleash that horror upon the locals unless they forced our hand.
"According to the lore, the locals will hate your taste in music even more than I do," I replied. "It should at least disable them."
I had warned the girls that might not work on all the demons, but it should disable most of them. As for the rest, that was what our weapons were for. However I didn't think we'd run into much trouble around here, not if Fred had been able to hide out for so long.
Not long after thinking that a demonic creature attacked us, one that looked as if someone had badly shaved a werewolf. Ciri did her whole Lady of Space and Time thing and killed the creature before it got within a dozen meters of us. Since it wasn't domesticated as far as I could tell and it certainly had not seemed intelligent I assumed that this had just been a random encounter with a weak enemy.
"Come on," I then urged the females of the group as we followed the barely visible blob of light. "Let's find Fred, she has to be close by."
The women in my life started arguing about something I didn't care about. None of them were eager for me to add another woman to the group. They might be worrying about nothing since there was a good chance that Fred would leave to go reconnect with her parents after she'd spent some time recovering in the Pocket Di-Mansion and they should understand the need to expand the group. Originally it hadn't even been my idea to seek people out like this.
"Oh look, a cave," I said.
Thankfully I'd spotted it just in time, and when everyone else looked we all saw the woman we were looking for.
"Excuse me, are you Winifred Burkle?' I asked the girl in rags. "My name is Thaddeus Ives. We are here to bring you somewhere nicer than this"
My hope was that she was somewhat sane given that she hadn't been here for years.
"Okay, looks like the skinny chick isn't crazy," remarked Laura.
If anything she just seemed rather timid.
"She's just scared," reported Ahsoka who was in disguise as a human so as not to freak out Fred "I can sense it"
Which was hardly a shock given that she was an escaped slave hiding out from demons who wanted to chop her head off and eat her. Hopefully in that order.
"Wait here, I'm going to go get her," I told the girls.
When I got inside the cave I saw that the walls weren't yet covered in bits of maths, and she did look more afraid than anything else. So I might have gotten here before she went properly crazy.
"Are you Fred?" I asked patiently. "I saw a photograph of you on a missing poster at the university, and I found the book you read."
So far she hadn't tried to attack me or otherwise act crazy. That was a good sign. As for the book I was keeping it securely locked away within my Pocket-Di-mansion so that no poor sod from LA ended up here and became a slave just because they picked up the wrong book while in the library.
"I'm here to bring you back home to Earth," I informed the skinny woman.
Not directly, but one thing at a time.
"Do you want something to eat?" I asked.
Fred laughed, a shrill almost hysterical laugh. She wasn't insane I figured, but she was getting there by the sounds of things.
"There's no way back," she said.
I figured that if I fed her she'd be easier to talk to and the sight of some Mexican food seemed to do wonders for the young woman's mental state.
"How did you know I liked these?" Winifred asked me.
Thanks to the file I'd put together on her I knew that she liked enchiladas, which were tortillas rolled around a filling and sometimes covered with a chili pepper sauce. Fred liked spicy chicken enchiladas according to her friends at the library, and while a nice lady had told me all about how they differed from burritos which had something to do with the sauce that covered them. Since Burritos were easier to carry around and could be eaten without a fork I'd filled some containers with them.
"I asked about you at the library," I told Fred "I learned that you're very smart, and like Mexican food, oh and this is yours."
From one of my bigger on the insides pockets I took out a small stuffed toy.
"Mr. Feigenbaum!" Fred called out "He's the master of chaos!".
She grabbed the stuffed toy which I knew to be named after Mitchell Jay Feigenbaum, a mathematical physicist and pioneer in the study of chaos theory. I assumed that Fred admired this person.
"I found him in the lost property bin at the library," I told Winifred.
She stared at me and smiled.
"You're like my hero," she told me.
Wasn't that sweet.
"So why did you come to find me?" Fred asked.
I had intended to ease her into that, but there was no sense lying any more than required.
"Well I want to recruit you into a group that I lead," I said to the escaped slave. "You're super smart and you already know that there's an entire multiverse beyond your world. Which is handy for me as I need people like that."
She actually looked disappointed.
"You want me for my mind?" she asked. "Isn't the hero supposed to ravage the girl he saves? I'd like a good ravaging, it's been a while."
Well at least getting her into bed wouldn't take much effort. I'd wait for her to recover and clean up first. About twenty showers and as many baths should do it, more than a few big meals, then maybe some therapy.
"I wouldn't mind having your body too," I said, "but we can talk about that after we've gotten you out of here."
Fred had a role to play in the life of the vampire known as Angel, but that ended
up with her soul getting consumed as her body was taken over by something that should never exist outside the mind of H.P Lovecraft and that would be after a lot of other nasty stuff. She'd be much better off working for me or at home with her parents depending on what she wanted.
Chapter 30
Adventure 28
The Pocket Di-Mansion.
Returning Fred directly to her version of Earth would have been a bit overwhelming for her. Besides, I owned no properties in that dimension for her to stay in so I'd decided that it would be best for her to recover while staying in the pocket dimension. Here there were no monsters and no one asking about where she'd disappeared off to.
For a time I'd been diverted by my studies reading these extremely expensive enchanted tomes that once finished magically increased your abilities, such as how charming you were to people. Even Ciri had shown an interest in such texts as Laura and Ahsoka worked to restore the starfighters.
During the time that I'd been mostly occupied with study Fred had not left her room much and even by my standards it was getting silly how little she interacted with people so I decided that she needed to get out and about.
Upon entering her room I found that the skinny lady was awake, but still in bed.
She'd ordered room service via a House-elf I assumed, as unlike my other companions Fred couldn't leave the Pocket-Dimension whenever she wished. The House-elf I'd taken in to serve Sutton House seemed to be able to go wherever it was needed to go and apparently that had been to a few takeout restaurants if the wrappers littering the room were anything to go by.
"How are you feeling, Winifred?" I asked.
The girl's voice was quiet, but there was still a slight West Texas twang to her speech that I had noticed before and found appealing to listen to.
"I think I've eaten every Mexican dish I can remember ever eatin," she said to me. "I can't pay for any of it, and I'm hungry again."
That wasn't an issue. I had every confidence that the House-elf hadn't stolen anything, not when I had loads of gold just lying around. No doubt there were a few confused and suddenly more wealthy restaurant owners around.
"You can relax about that Winifred," I assured her. "I promised to take care of you and I will as long as you are with me."
Hearing that made her smile.
"Now, go grab a shower," I instructed. "Once you're ready to go I'll take you out somewhere to take care of that hunger and hopefully you'll eat something that isn't wrapped up in a tortilla"
Getting up, she grabbed the glasses that were sitting on the night table. I used magic to repair them and I really wished I knew that spell back when I'd worn glasses as a kid because I'd always been breaking them.
"Since we are fixin to spend a lot of time together, I'd prefer you call me Fred," the tiny woman from Texas requested. "I really don't care for Winifred, it makes me feel like an old lady."
She hadn't mentioned that before so I assumed that her confidence was returning. A pleasing sign.
"No problem Fred. Now get your ass in the shower and get cleaned up," I ordered.
"I'll go get us a table at a nice restaurant I know."
With no hint of embarrassment, Fred stood up and pulled her oversized t-shirt over her head and slipped out of shorts she must have been wearing for a while, leaving her standing there in her panties and bra as she stood in front of me. Before long she was dropping the bra and she followed that by sliding the panties down her legs. Now she stood there, letting me take a good look at her for a few moments before she turned and went into the shower.
She might not have been taking proper care of herself since returning, but at least she'd shaved her legs and other parts while staying here. She'd lost any sense of modesty during her ordeal, something that pleased me as I liked looking at her body even though she was too skinny for my taste.
Once she was in the shower, I grabbed the clothing she'd left on the floor and checked the sizes before heading over to the fabricator. Only her top hadn't fit so I was forced to guess a suitable size for that but everything else was labelled. I kept plenty of raw materials around in the workshop so I used them to create a suitably smart outfit for Fred to wear out tonight.
As the machine did its work I then created a portal and made a quick trip to a fancy restaurant I knew in the Muggle part of London that shouldn't be too crowded or too snobby for Fred's tastes. I'd openly taken one or more of my harem here so they were used to me appearing in person to make a booking and tipping very generously.
I also changed, not needing long to do so, before seeking out my new companion. Once I returned to Fred's room, I heard the shower turn off, and the bathroom door opened just before a towel wrapped Fred stepped into the room.
"I got you something to wear," I told the tiny woman from Texas. "If we're going out to eat somewhere fancy you need to dress the part."
Dressing quickly without any desire for privacy Fred soon put on the skirt I manufactured for her, and I was pleased with how it showed off her legs. The top helped bring out what little she had in the chest region. She had no complaints about me deciding what she would wear and this was good as I would be choosing a lot of what she did during our time together.
Rivet City. Capital Wasteland.
I was pleased by how quickly Winifred had adapted to life as part of my harem. She had no desire to return to her family yet, although she'd been debating going for a visit, and her recovery from her traumatic experience had been nothing short of remarkable. She might be physically weak yet her mental strength was very impressive.
Despite that I'd decided that it would be smart of me to take Fred only a short trip to a universe that I wanted to visit because I didn't want her to be overwhelmed. The world of Fallout was not the safest of places to go by far so it was good that my portals always opened up somewhere secure and near where I wished to visit. We wouldn't be here for long and she survived in a hell-dimension so we should be okay.
"This place is a real dump," Fred commented.
While it may have been wiser to bring another member of my harem with me, or more than one, in case of danger, however I'd decided to drag Winifred Burkle along as she needed to get used to travelling the multiverse. Besides, she would be the one who spent her time back studying and reverse engineering the tech I purchased here so as to try to figure out how the technology I was about to recover worked. With some help from Ahsoka who had skill with machines. So I might as well let her see where it came from.
"It's no holiday resort that's for sure," I agreed, "but we came here for weapons, not a good time."
We were now walking over the bridge which had been turned into the correct position so that we could cross. Since Fred and I might be the healthiest and cleanest people in this world, including those who lived in a vault, we'd gone to some trouble to make ourselves blend in. This had involved dressing in the clothes made to look like something in a local style and then purposely damaging
the outfits.
The two of us carried bags, mine a heavy duffel bag, and Fred's a big backpack, they were full of stuff that we could trade here within the repurposed aircraft carrier. Unlike in some worlds, things like gold and jewels were worthless here. Instead we would trade clean water, mundane weapons, and some old bottle caps, all of which were trivial to get your hands on in other parts of the multiverse.
"Just focus on the lasers," I said to her.
"Real laser weapons," said Fred. "Golly"
They were impressive given the tech level of this world, and while plasma weapons would be better, I doubted that they'd have any to sell and I didn't fancy going up against any Enclave troopers in order to acquire any. While Ahsoka could handle such people there was no need to risk it when laser weapons would be easier to figure out and for others to produce on their own.
I'd be very careful who I sold such weapons to, and I figured that there would be a big market for the tech as it shouldn't be that hard for a modern day Earth to produce Fallout laser since the reason we didn't have laser weapons back in my homeworld had to do with practically rather than lack of scientific understanding.
Microfusion cells would get around the issue of power requirements rather nicely and have applications outside of weapons technology. I just had to be careful in
how I exposed this technology to other worlds and to whom I shared it with.
"That's the place," I said while pointing out the store. "Flak 'N Shrapnel's, they sell
what we are after"
Fred gave me a puzzled look.
"How do you know so much about this place?" she asked. "You told me that you've never been here before."
We headed over to the store called Rivet City Supply while talking as I wanted to barter for caps.
"Well since I can open ways to any version of Earth I can picture in my mind this includes fictional versions of Earth, since it's in a near infinite multiverse any word you can imagine will theoretically exist," I explained. "So I decided to see if we could come to this world, which I'm aware has advanced weapons as it's a video game where I'm from."
I didn't mention that Fred was a fictional character in a TV show because I didn't need her questioning her own existence, not when her mental state could still be more than a little fragile.
The store owner soon noticed us because it seemed to be rather early in the day and there weren't many people around.
"If you've got stuff you want to trade, then I'm your man," the owner said.
Fred and I piled our stuff on a counter, and bartered for more caps, figuring that it would be best to have some local version of cash in case I wanted to buy more than a laser. Well I bartered Fred spent her time staring at the helmet that must have belonged to a member of the Brotherhood of Steel.
"That's part of a set of T-45d power armour," Fred was told by the guy who ran the store. "Useless without the rest of the set"
The tiny Texan seemed very interested in the helmet.
"Is it real?" she asked.
The store owner gave her an odd look.
"Of course it's real, miss" he said. "And it works too, it's just useless without the rest of the suit. You can have it for just 25 caps".
While we didn't need a helmet for a suit of power armour, because even if he had a whole set of power armour we wouldn't know how to use it, Fred did seem very interested in the helmet. Getting to play with advanced tech was apparently something that got her nether regions all wet and if it made her happy then that was good for me.
"We'll take it," I decided.
Fred looked giddy as she took the helmet, holding it to her chest while grinning at me. The oddest things made her smile, which alone made buying the helmet worth it. Besides, I'd made more than enough caps and could always return if needs be, although I'd rather not, given how hostile this world could be.
Fred and I soon moved over to where the weapons were sold. I asked about laser weapons, and as it turned out they only had one beaten up laser pistol. Not unexpected given their rarity, and at least that came with a manual.
Thanks to that manual I soon discovered that the AEP7 laser pistol that I'd just brought was put into service to replace the AEP5 model. The AEP7 came with generous battery size, tight shot grouping at range, resilience to extended use, and fairly decent damage output. As such it was a very good choice for a sidearm and I'd enjoyed using it during my time playing the game.
According to the slightly burnt manual the AEP7 was produced in large numbers thanks to newly developed manufacturing technologies in the United States, which had been new at the time, although logistics and supply issues (caused by prolonged war with China) prevented its wide-scale deployment, but enough seemed to have been made for one to end up in my hands.
Of course there were far more advanced weapons I could get my hands on, but Fred wouldn't be able to figure them out without learning more about advanced tech. Hence why buying this laser pistol was such a good idea the manual would make things much easier.
"There's not much else here," I said to Fred, once we had the laser weapon I so desired stashed in my bag, "we should go back home, and then you can start tinkering."
If I recalled correctly, over on the New Vegas strip there was a store that sold plenty of energy weapons. If needs be we could go check it out one day, but for now I had other matters to attend to. I did want to pick up a laser rifle, but that could wait.
Chapter 31
Adventure 29
Sutton House. Wizarding World
Once my lesson came to an end I'd been intending to open up a portal for both Remus Lupin and I so that we could both enter the Pocket Di-Mansion for our own reasons. However before I was able to do that my tutor in wand magic asked to have a word with me.
"Thaddeus I've been thinking about this Ives Interdimensional that you want to open," he said.
Since I'd cured Remus of his furry problem I'd sensed a bond of trust growing between us and he was still under contract not to go around telling my secrets so I'd let him know about some of my plans.
"What about it?" I asked.
We were sitting around the kitchen table going over a bunch of books while drinking tea so this seemed a good time and place for this discussion which I figured would be important.
"I ran into an old friend of mine the other day when I was visiting the Alley," he mentioned.
There was no need for me to wonder what alley he meant since there was only one that mattered to us in this entire country.
"She is a werewolf and it's something we can sense about each other," Lupin was now saying "And she noticed right away that I no longer feel like a werewolf."
I could see how this was news worthy of sharing. Lupin hadn't been able to tell anyone of the cure because of his contract, but he couldn't hide the fact that he'd been cured.
"What did you tell her?" I wanted to know.
Since he hadn't broken the terms of his contract, I'd know if that happened, so he couldn't have told his friend much.
"Only that I would talk to you about curing others," said Remus. "I had to promise her that much and thinking on it I realised that if you were to cure others of their 'furry problem' as we call it then you would have some very grateful people willing to help you out in return."
I was already seeing how this idea could have merit.
"Few werewolves have any sort of formal education" he went on to say "Yet we are magical and if you want to use Ives Interdimensional to influence both the magical and non-magical world then you'll need some loyal employees."
The point of Ives Interdimensional wasn't to make me any profit as I could afford to run at loss. The reason behind it was to spread my influence over entire worlds over time so that I could shape them according to my wishes. As an immortal I could make plans that cover decades or even centuries.
"I can't have that many people knowing I can access other worlds," I told Lupin.
"Contracts or not, someone will be overheard sooner or later saying something they shouldn't."
Remus smiled upon hearing that.
"That's the beauty of my plan," he was now saying. "We create a contract offering a cure and job security to my werewolf friends and they agree to have their memories of the cure removed once they no longer have a 'furry problem'. They will never let anything slip because they won't know how they were cured just that they were".
I could see that working out.
"Don't worry, they won't care as long as they get their cure because they already know it works" Remus assured me "And I can always drop a hint about it being a new spell or potion. Rumours will spread that around for us and everyone will think you simply have access to some rare potion you found in some remote part of the world."
To be fair that did make a lot more sense than taking a werewolf to a temple in the Forgotten Realms and paying a priest to perform magic given to him or her via a god. Once the security was sorted out it was just a matter of paying a priest to keep praying for the right spell and then I could have a werewolf cured every day, far faster than anyone could infect new victims, and there was more than one kind of temple which provided such services.
"There are a few issues with my plan," admitted Remus.
I could think of a big one.
"Fenrir Greyback," I said. "He wants the world full of werewolves and will not like someone curing them."
Remus's mood became more sober.
"I don't want to ask this of you, but I must," said my tutor. "Greyback needs to either die or disappear"
This didn't worry me too much.
"Ciri can handle any werewolf," I stated.
She'd need to study up on the local version and I'd have to make sure she had the right tools for the job. Other than that it was just a matter of finding out where he was hiding out and letting the female witcher do her thing. Given that Greyback was known for attacking children, I didn't foresee any issues in getting her to go after the monster.
"Fenrir isn't the only werewolf looking to spread the curse he's just the most infamous," Remus let me know, "but between taking him out and curing my friends we can help a lot of people. Even the rumour of a cure will draw werewolves here from all over the world."
That was something to consider, all those former werewolves would need something to do with their time.
"We'll need to find work for your friends quickly," I was now saying.
Since I was planning to start producing laser weapons, or to be more precise the parts that make up laser weapons, since the military would take control of the finished product if I tried to sell them as complete models, I would need to purchase some warehouses and factories that could be retooled for my purposes. Those sites would need people I trust to watch over them. The former werewolves wouldn't be qualified to run those sites but they could protect them for me.
"I was thinking of opening up a store in Diagon Alley to sell magical trinkets from other worlds," I mentioned to Lupin. "Nothing dangerous, just some curiosities that could come from other parts of the world."
My original plan with that had been to hire Muggleborns who might be having trouble finding work elsewhere in the magical world, yet it hardly mattered as one downtrodden minority was as good as another in service of my plans.
I might decide to play the role of dark lord one day and bring about some badly needed social changes by leading a revolution with a force made up from repressed minorities.
That was something to concern myself with for the long term when I had a lot more magical power and a better understanding of how the magical world worked since I'd want to overthrow the society with as little damage done to the infrastructure as possible.
In the short term I needed to concern myself with those Pureblood snobs who might refuse to shop in a place staffed by those they thought to be werewolves, however the store would exist for the purpose of spreading my influence not to make a profit so it didn't matter much if they boycotted the place. I'd have to manage it carefully and ensure that the shop had the best security money could buy as no doubt some inbred fool would kick up a fuss and try something stupid.
"Find me some werewolves to cure while I go to Gringotts for some magical contracts," I instructed Lupin. "Make sure that news of the cure only passes between werewolves for as long as possible. I don't want anyone in the magical government to figure out what happened until it's too late".
They should be happy that many werewolves would soon no longer be a threat, but they wouldn't like the cure being outside of their control and it was unlikely that the former werewolves would simply be allowed back into normal society so I would still be able to make use of them.
Bar. Muggle London.
Winfred Burkle was again out with her personal hero.
"So what is the problem?" he asked.
Fred had been working on fully understanding the science behind laser weapons and most of what was needed could be found in a series of very complex looking formulas that were up on the boards, jotted down on pieces of paper and even parts of the wall. It was important to have this information as in one of the worlds Thaddeus spent a lot of time in the Cold War was still going and so if some new weapons tech simply entered the market there would be looking into its background.
She'd been making good use of the high tech lab that Thaddeus had quickly set up for her, buying anything she needed and then having Ahsoka install a bunch of very fancy lab equipment, some of which came from a place called the Mass Effect universe.
According to Thaddeus some alien people called asari had finally gotten around to using the patents that had been sold on Illium to make the group a lot of money hence why he could afford to set Fred up in a super advanced lab within the pocket dimension. However a lot of equipment was useless to her as she was a theoretical physicist and therefore not used to the more practical stuff.
"I need an experimental physicist to prove my work," Fred explained. "I think I
have the theory down, but I'd like someone to test it and then put together a prototype using materials from whatever world it is you want to sell these laser weapons. I need someone who can build a microfusion cell while I explain it to anyone who needs to know, since it's the power source that makes it all work."
She had more to say on this subject.
"I'm a theoretical type, you need someone who knows applied physics because they handle engineering problems and design experiments" she told Thaddeus trying to simplify things "They are the bridge between theoretical physics and engineering if you like."
The wizard looked as if he understood.
"So you're Sheldon and we need Leonard," he said.
She had no idea what that meant and it didn't really matter.
"I know the difference between theory and application," stated Thaddeus. "I'll find someone who can do the practical stuff for you and get them in a magically binding contract."
They couldn't just go and patent laser weapons because someone would look into the matter if laser weapons just appeared on the market and there would be no evidence of their development and creation. As such the group needed to show that the lasers could have been invented in that world so they would use proxies for that, people who were bound by magic to play their role. They'd get a share of the profits and some fame so it would work out for them too.
"You've worked hard," the wizard told her, "let's go somewhere to relax."
Fred still didn't like portals, and who would blame her given that she'd ended up in a hell-dimension, but she didn't care much this time because of where we ended up after going through the next one.
"Hey I know this place," stated Winifred.
She knew that when seen from a distance, the Blue Ridge Mountains appear blue because the trees release a gas called isoprene, which is responsible for the distinctive haze and bluish colour and thus the mountains' name. For her, knowing that didn't diminish the sheer beauty of the place. Neither did Thaddeus putting up some spells so that no one would bother them and no animals would be bothered by them.
"I've never been here before," Fred said, breaking the silence. "It's pretty."
Thaddeus smiled at her.
"I thought you deserved a break," he said.
She could get used to travelling the multiverse if it meant seeing sights like this.
"So do you bring girls here often?" Fred asked, before she could shut herself up.
The wizard laughed a little upon hearing that.
"No. You're lucky. You're the first," he promised.
Fred smiled as she actually believed him.
"So got anything to drink?" she asked.
He might do in that pouch of holding of his.
"Miss Burkle, you bad girl," her hero teased.
Fred giggled in an adorable way as Thaddeus dug out a bottle of wine from inside his pouch.
"Got this from Braavos, a city in a world that isn't the safest place to visit," he said.
She didn't care about the wine much; she just wanted a bit more to drink as she was nervous about what would soon happen. She knew what was coming so Fred was not at all surprised by the kiss, yet she didn't respond at first. She was terrified she'd mess it up and spoil the good thing she had going.
Sure she'd never imagined joining a harem, it was just that she'd never met an interdimensional wizard before and he'd literally saved her from hell, or at least some place that was close to hell. He even cared for what she had going on upstairs rather than just caring only about how to get her to spread her legs.
Despite her worries it didn't take long before she started to kiss back. She wasn't in love with this man, not yet, it was just that she wanted this more than anything. She felt more confident and sexy than she had in a long time and that was all she needed.
Thaddeus's hand reached over and touched her leg, gently massaging it at first; slowly easing its way up her thigh. As it slid further up her leg, she reached down with one of her hands and helped to guide him to where she wanted to be touched while never breaking the kiss. His hand moved to one of her breasts, caressing it over her top, and she felt her body getting warmer.
Before long she ended up with one hand inside her top and another up her skirt as one of his fingers slid inside her and he rubbed against her clitoris with his thumb.
She found her own small hands working on the zipper of his jeans and it was very clear to Thaddeus that she was willing to let this go all the way. She'd dropped enough hints already and while it was nice that he hadn't rushed things too much Fred was off the opinion that the wizard had earned the right to fuck her.
Fred raised her arms and eagerly allowed her saviour to take her blouse off. She looked into his eyes as he tore off the flimsy bra she had been wearing and tossed it to the grassy ground.
At first, she felt self-conscious at the size of her small breasts despite having exposed them to him before, but the feeling faded fast when he put one of her nipples in his mouth and began to enjoy himself. This part of the foreplay lasted longer than she'd been expecting.
"Get naked for me," he ordered.
Obeying the order, Fred slowly removed her skirt, then her cotton undergarment and exposed her bare pussy to her hero's gaze before she laid down on what was thankfully rather soft ground.
After taking what she thought of as his large dick into his hand, He rubbed the tip of his cock against Fred's pussy before sliding on with more ease than would be expected. Soon he began thrusting all of his manhood into the tiny pussy around it. He pulled out and plunged into the smaller brunette again, feeling her legs wrap around his waist as he moved.
He slammed his dick into her and watched her tits move with each thrust. She almost howled when their pelvises smashed into each other as he pumped her over and over. He bucked into her until he felt her scream out and cum, and yet this didn't cause him to slow down, he was going to keep fucking her hard until he was done, all Fred could do was enjoy the ride.
It came to an end when he filled up her tight little cunt with his seed and Fred felt glad she'd discussed birth control with one of Thaddeus's other girls. She had been able to get her a potion to prevent any pregnancy despite them not having any use for it due to a perk.
"Can we do it on a bed next time?" requested the Texan woman. "I like mattresses better than grass."
It would be less messy. She had grass stains everywhere.
Chapter 32
I only watched a little bit of RWBY with my sister so forgive me if I made a mess of it.
Adventure 30
Beacon Academy. Remnant
Because I had watched only a little of the RWBY show I didn't know much about what this world had to offer other than it had an easy way to give people superpowers. That was why we'd come here as while I had a habit of getting sidetracked my main intention was still to become more powerful. I'd been working on that for sometime and assuming that all went well I'd be getting a lot closer to my overall goal.
I needed more power because it was a dangerous multiverse out there and sooner or later we'd run into something more deadly than what we could handle. Sure I could simply run away thanks to my portals, but at least some of my girls were the heroic types, and would end up getting into trouble that I'd have to save them from.
In this world those that played the role of defenders had a sort of superpower. They could call upon their Auras, which were the manifestation of one's soul, and they could provide a wide range of abilities. The specific abilities and strengths differed from individual to individual and were dependent on a number of factors, such as experience, training, and a person's innate skill.
Anything with a soul has an Aura, including humans and other mortals; even a synthetic person could have a soul. I knew that skilled users of Aura could create their own barriers or even increase their own abilities in some way. Weapons and armour could also act as a conduit for Aura, allowing for an even wider range of offensive and defensive capabilities.
Aura was mainly used for defensive purposes. While users of Aura will not be hurt as long as their Aura is up, they can still feel sensations such as pain and heat, and it would naturally have limits that my research hadn't informed me of. Plus Aura didn't last for long. Still, even a few seconds with such a powerful defence could mean the difference between life and death one day. Less for me since I could already become invulnerable, but it was never a good idea to depend on just one line of defence.
Another thing I knew was that a person's Aura could be used to 'unlock' the Aura of someone else, and this meant that I would have to be very careful about who I shared the knowledge of this Aura with, as all humans could learn how to use it. I might end up with entire worlds full of superpowered people if I so desired, or if I wasn't cautious.
Which in theory sounded awesome, and it would be cool if all humans had this power as it meant that soulless creatures like vampires would stand no chance against humanity and even a robot uprising could be handled easily if enough people had the right training. Alas humans spent a lot of time fighting other humans, and if we all had Aura then wars between humans would become even more destructive than they already were. As such I intended to keep this power within the group.
I was curious as to what sort of Semblance I might end up displaying. I knew a Semblance to be a power exhibited by certain characters here in the world of RWBY. It is developed from a person's Aura and typically helps in battle against Grimm which were a big threat to everyone in this world. All Semblances are different and their nature has to do with the person they came from, they can range from super strength, manipulating objects to disorienting opponents. I wondered if mine would affect my magical powers or allow me to create even larger portals.
Since I'd figured that it would be foolish to wander around a world I knew so little about, I'd brought us to the school I could dimley recall seeing in the show. Beacon Academy which was the Huntsman Academy of the Kingdom of Vale. The Academy trained teams of Huntsmen and Huntresses to slay the various monsters that plague Remnant. It was overrun following an assault, but everything seemed peaceful here.
In fact she seemed very relaxed and open, considering that this was supposed to be a world full of monsters. They really should have some noticeable security.
"Are you looking for someone?" asked a student.
We'd attracted the attention of a few of the locals by this point.
"Greetings, we are explorers from another reality," I told the students. "We trade as well, but mostly we're here to learn more and see the sights."
Since no one seemed willing to mention it I decided to bring up the matter of Aura, in a roundabout sort of way while they were all still trying to figure out if I was joking around or insane.
"I hear that you guys and girls fight monsters," I mentioned. "Can you tell me how?"
Someone then mentioned using their Aura.
"By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm," a girl explained. "All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You can protect yourself and your soul when fighting."
If it could protect your soul would it work against dementors?. I might find out one day.
"How do you use this power?" I asked.
The girl, a young woman really, who'd been explaining things, came up to me and laid her hand on my chest. There was no need to persuade her about this, she was willing to do it with no convincing. This young woman was far too trusting and it would get her into trouble one day. I didn't recognise her so I assumed that she was an unimportant background character.
"Close your eyes and concentrate," she instructed.
I did as she wished.
"Okay," I said.
Something happened. I didn't know what it was, but it felt really good.
For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee.
The girl had at some point landed on her ass after turning on my Aura. The energy that came out was like a damn unleashing until it all calmed down. I wondered if that had something to do with all the magic at my command or my immortality.
"It's all right," she said to another native who seemed concerned for her friend.
The young woman picked herself up and dusted herself off, before turning to face me.
"I used my Aura to unlock yours" she explained "but the energy that protects you now is your own"
I was now surrounded by a dark purple aura, it was pleasant to look at, and felt good.
"You have a lot of it," the girl commented. "And it feels strange."
It could be a byproduct of my immortality or the magic I used, or something else. I'd been exposed to a lot of strange stuff since starting the CYOA.
"Could someone do that for my friends?" I requested.
Even before coming here, Ahsoka had decided against it because she was worried that it might somehow affect her ability to call upon the Force. I paid the native for her help and she seized on the chance to increase her reward so perhaps she wasn't a fool after all.
"You'll need one of these," the young woman let me know. "You can use mine until. I can get a new one."
I knew these devices to be called Scrolls, which were objects that functioned as
collapsible and holographic tablets. It was capable, among other things, to function as a phone, a portable computer, a camera and a streaming device as well as a gaming controller. Much like the omni-tools. During combat this device was able to gauge a user's Aura and depict it as a life bar, along with those of the user's teammates. We'd all have to get one of these devices or just copy this one.
Ciri's and Laura's Aura's were different colours and just as impressive as mine. Fred's was far more underwhelming perhaps because she didn't share the perks or have any power other than her smarts which had served her well enough so far.
"Here have some more gold," I said to the friendly local.
Once we had what we needed I opened up a portal back to the Pocket Di-Mansion which drew a lot of attention towards us before we vanished. I had no intention of ever coming back here so it didn't really matter if I freaked out a few people.
Nar Shaddaa. Hutt Space.
I'd come to this moon a few times since obtaining my ability to traverse the multiverse, and I always came here under a different glamour, and I never stayed for long as it was a dangerous place this Smugglers Moon and if what i planned today went right then I would be a fool to ever return as the Hutt clans would never stop hunting me so as to avenge the slight made against them.
After visiting the world of RWBY I'd become concerned that Ahsoka would fall behind the rest of us now that Laura, Ciri and I were figuring out how to use our Aura powers via whatever sources we could get our hands on. Even Fred would use them if she was in danger.
As such I'd decided to help Ahsoka advance her understanding of the Force. I'd considered finding a Jedi Master and bringing them to Sutton House however Ahsoka didn't wish to be a proper Jedi and those robe-wearing monks can be more trouble than they are worth.
So I'd figured that the only way to help Ahsoka advance would be to supply her with at least one holocron that my alien babe could learn from without having to rejoin the Jedi Order which had treated her so badly. However holocrons are rather rare objects, they aren't something you'll find in a museum exhibit for example so it took me a while to find out where we could acquire some.
My studies found me a creature called Grakkus Jahibakti Tingi, also known as Grakkus the Hutt, a male Hutt crime lord who lived here on Nar Shaddaa during the Age of the Empire and like many other Hutt kingpins, this gangster controlled an extensive network of bounty hunters and spice smugglers. What made him different from his peers was that Grakkus was an avid collector of artifacts of the Jedi Order.
Years into the future Grakkus would have a run in with Luke Skywalker which resulted in Darth Vader arriving and taking personal possession of Grakkus's collection which he would destroy in order to erase even more traces of the Jedi from the galaxy. Since it would all be destroyed anyway, me taking some or all of it for Ahsoka's use shouldn't alter events too much.
Grakkus's palace was the location of this collection, here he stored his collection of Jedi artifacts, such as Jedi lightsabers, some very old looking statues, quite a lot of holocrons, an older model of Jedi starfighter and even the bones of several deceased Jedi Knights for some reason. Those bones would be put to proper rest once I'd claimed these relics for the one person I knew who had some real claim to them.
All of the collection I got to see in person when I was invited into the crime lord's place after showing him one of Ahsoka's lightsabers which he was eager to add to the collection he wanted badly to show off. I figured that he didn't get to do this very often and it was a matter of pride. The most deadly of sins and the downfall of many a crook.
We had to be brought inside because this palace was a massive fortress and very well guarded on the outside by a number of goons and automated defences, however the Hutt's collection wasn't so well defended on the inside. Which made sense since Jedi artifacts are illegal and so Grakkus would not want any physical proof, like video footage, of the collection or even just pictures.
"Are you impressed by my treasures, Captain?" I was asked.
The alien was speaking in his native Huttese and thanks to the translator microbes I'd gotten via a perk I understood him perfectly.
"Very much so," I replied before changing the subject. "I notice that you didn't invite your guards to join us."
Granted Laura, Ciri and were unarmed having handed over weapons we didn't care about and had brought from a guy who sold blasters only an hour ago, but Hutts weren't known for being trusting as such the lack of any guards here struck me as odd. Further proof of this fool's arrogance.
"They are uncultured thugs," replied the crime lord. "Unlike the two of us they have no love for such fine treasures."
I'd gone through and dismissed many plans before coming here, having not been foolish enough to go near a Hutt crime lord without a number of options. I'd known that attacking the palace directly would be extremely foolish so I'd come up with the idea of offering to sell a lightsaber to the Hutt who was very eager to buy it. Greed was always a power motivator and could be exploited just as much as pride.
Before anything else could be talked about I went with my plan and opened a massive portal, I could make them large enough to fit an aircraft carrier through, and since the portal appeared under us gravity did all the work for me bringing Ciri, Laura, myself and the Hutt, as well as his entire collection, to a field outside of Sutton House that was protected by magic. The portal didn't even appear that high up so I only had to fall a few feet and there was plenty of room for everything.
Ahsoka, who had been waiting near the house for us to return, came running over as the portal closed and the Hutt started to yell at me.
"What was that?" he demanded to know "Where am I?"
As he began to sliter towards me I opened up another portal and sent him to some random part of Nar Shaddaa, I didn't care at all where. Soon I'd have a big bounty on my head, but there were other parts of the Star Wars galaxy that I could visit if I needed some tech and I wouldn't use the same glamour twice.
Perhaps I should have killed the Hutt, but he'd done nothing to me personally and it wasn't as if anyone would think he was telling the truth, assuming that he even told anyone as he wouldn't want word of his illegal collection to get out. He'd only let me see it because I'd had something to add to it and he foolishly hadn't questioned how I knew he'd collected Jedi relics. I wondered if he'd planned to take me captive after the tour and then question me. It didn't matter now.
"There's at least twenty holocrons here," said Ahsoka as she began to take stock. "They must have come from the archive in the Jedi Temple."
Given that Palpatine would or already had turned the Jedi Temple into his own palace you'd think these holocrons would have been better secured. Perhaps they'd been stored elsewhere when the Order fell, how was I to know?
While Ahsoka gathered up the holocrons, carefully placing each of them inside her pouch of holding, along with the lightsabers I saw Ciri begin to gather the skeletons mentioning something about giving them a proper burial here on my land which was a good idea as even though Jedi normally burn their dead it was a little late for that. I'd have to get some gravestones and have Jedi symbols carved into them since we had no names for these dead knights. I was a little surprised that Ahsoka wasn't more concerned with the bodies, but I figured that the holocrons just meant more to her than some dead people she'd likely never met.
Laura was more interested in the Jedi Starfighter.
"This is a different model," she commented.
Yes I'd noticed that as well. It was unlike the wrecks the former Padawan had been sending me after.
"That's a Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor," Ahsoka informed her friend. "They were replaced by the Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptors which we've been working on."
I remembered Ahsoka mentioning that a brand new Eta-2 was worth about twice as much as the Outrider before the Asgard had upgraded it despite the light freighter being much larger because Jedi Starfighters are very advanced.
"We have enough room for another starfighter," said Laura. "I like working on them."
X-23 was learning about advanced technology far faster than I would have given her credit for even with some magical items to give her intelligence a bit of a boost. She clearly had more going on upstairs than it might appear.
As for me I had my attention on a couple of IG-100 MagnaGuards, which were fearsome bodyguard droids built for the CIS during the Clone Wars. They were a favorite of General Grievous, who used them as his bodyguards during the Clone Wars, though they were also known to accompany other high-ranking Separatist personnel such as Count Dooku. MagnaGuards were equipped with electrostaffs that could be used against Jedi lightsabers and were capable of continuing a fight even with the loss of one or multiple limbs or even their heads. They were worthy adversaries even to the most skilled Jedi.
"Ahsoka do you think that you could reprogram these droids to serve me as bodyguards?" I asked.
I should be able to hide their robotic appearance with glamours when in less advanced worlds.
"Sure," she replied. "I might borrow them for training."
Aside from the bones we had a use for all of this, even the spare lightsabers as Ahsoka might need them someday. This mission had been well worth the risks.
Chapter 33
Adventure 31
The Pocket Di-Mansion.
When my eyes opened I found myself alone, but the other side of the bed was still warm to the touch so I'd not been alone for long. It was tempting to go back to sleep, however I could hear something that caught my attention. I decided that sometime soon I'd have to get up and follow it to the source, which wasn't far away.
I smiled upon hearing the sound of Winifred's cheerful singing, it was almost as if it was drifting in through the open door of my bedroom like in those old cartoons where you could see flying notes, and the smell of things frying was down right mouthwatering.
Because of the smell I could tell exactly what Fred was cooking just by sniffing the air. She must have gotten up really early because she was hungry. She was like a teenage boy in some ways, she always seemed to be hungry and horny, at least when around me.
Looking over at the bedside clock I saw that it happened to be eight o'clock in the morning, only since I lived in a pocket dimension the cycle of night and day didn't matter much. Today I would be carrying on with my magical studies and while I would need to pop out later I didn't have much else to do today.
Remus Lupin hadn't yet located Greyback, he seemed to have left the country so Ciri didn't have anyone to hunt, and curing werewolves didn't take up much time. As for Ives International (I'd changed my mind from Interdimensional again) it was going to take some time for the geeks I'd hired to test out Fred's science and then create prototypes for all the different parts that would make up the laser rifles that I planned to sell to different worlds.
As for Ashoka, she spent most of her time studying the holocrons I'd acquired for her, and this required a lot of alone time. Meanwhile Laura had really gotten into taking apart and putting back together the starfighters, and now she's even working on droids after I'd found more ways to boost her intelligence.
We hadn't all gone on a trip together in weeks and I would have to change that
sooner or later lest we all drift too far apart.
Why Fred was up this early I didn't know, and I doubted that any of the others would be awake for some time even with the smell of food filling the mansion. Laura never got up before midday if she could help it, and Ahsoka would not so easily be lured out of her room. As for Ciri, she had mentioned visiting friends in Camelot so she could be gone for a while as she didn't need my help to travel to that world.
She might be gone for a while if she'd decided to go after the Holy Grail after all despite my warnings of not tampering with history in such a way. But as long as she didn't get herself killed I wasn't too worried as it was time one dimension in many.
Winifred was singing louder now. I'd discovered in the recent past that the young lady was actually quite good with her vocal chords, and listening to her now required more focus and that involved becoming fully awake. With a sigh I threw aside the covers and got up out of bed, as much as I didn't desire to.
After a quick trip to the bathroom I found Winifred Burkle in the kitchen as I'd known she would be, and she looked beautiful as she danced about in the kitchen while she made her breakfast. It might be our breakfast if the amount is anything to go by, but with Fred, I didn't always know.
Recently when I'd made her breakfast I'd seen her demolish an entire stack of pancakes in such a way that you'd think she'd never had them before. It was amazing that she kept her figure when eating so much, the only plus to nearly starving to death while in that demon dimension.
She was now shaking her cute little behind as she cooked, she'd chosen to wear one of my t-shirts, something my women were in the habit of doing, and it was huge on her so I couldn't tell if she'd put on any knickers or not.
I calculated the odds of getting her to stop what she was doing so that she'd come back to bed with me. I knew that she enjoyed sex, and lying in a soft bed, but she also liked eating. So I decided not to try to stop her from making food and just to check out the underwear situation.
To do this I wrapped my arms around her waist, under her arms, and as I lifted up the t-shirt she leaned back against me as I kissed the top of her head. I had to feel around to be sure, but she'd gone bottomless for breakfast, which was very good of her.
"Good morning," I greeted her.
She turned around for a moment so that she could smile at me.
"Hmmmm. Good morning to you too," she replied.
I checked her boobs to make sure she had no bra on, it seemed unlikely since she'd not gotten dressed, however from past experiences it was best to check these things. Which led to her pressing her cute little butt against my crotch, which of course was already getting hard. She learned quickly how to make that happen.
Moving my hand down I rubbed her bare little pussy, letting my fingers explore her cunt while my other hand squeezed her breasts through the t-shirt. She sighed softly as I had my fun.
"We could just go back to bed," I suggested.
I knew she'd say no, but I had to make the offer.
"Bedroom's too far from the food," Fred said to me. "The kitchen table should be pretty sturdy. What do you think?".
It should hold our combined weight as it was a good oak table, nothing cheap around here.
"Let's find out," I said.
Soon she was lying on her back on the table, her legs spread, and she lifted up her t-shirt so that her small breasts were exposed to my eyes. I was about to start playing with her body when I saw that Fred had grabbed a bear-shaped honey dispenser that had been on the table.
She smiled up at me, the honey dispenser in her hands and she flashed me a wicked grin before slowly drizzling a line of the golden syrupy goodness from her belly to between the valley of her breasts. I looked down at her some more, admiring her little body and the mess she'd started to make.
"Want more?" she asked. "Get licking!"
I started on her belly and began to lap up the sweet stuff, licking it up with my tongue, then she applied even more. So I had to lick up entire mouthful of honey from between her breasts, before I could get to the main event, which was fucking her like I really wanted to. Alas someone entered the room and proved to be a distraction from my goal.
"Can I get some of those waffles?" a voice asked.
I turned to see Laura, and judging by her look I might as well have been sitting at the table eating breakfast rather than licking honey off Fred's body, she seemed totally unbothered. I guess her time as a prostitute had numbed her to this sort of thing.
"Sorry to interrupt," she said, "I just want to eat before you make a mess of the breakfast table. The smell woke me up. Blame the bacon."
Fred giggled like a naughty schoolgirl.
"We should take this into your room," she said.
I picked Fred caveman style and carried her off into the bedroom. Which made her giggle quite a lot as Laura sat down to eat.
The City of Sigil
What I loved most about this place was that here you really could buy anything as long as you knew who to do business with and were willing to pay for it. I could pay for nearly anything so it had been just a matter of finding someone with the right skills. I'd managed to track down a blacksmith who worked with very rare metals who had a supplier who could provide the right materials if you could meet his price.
"Will this do my lord?" I was asked by the dwarf smith who'd made my special item.
I was now holding in my hands a rod forged from adamantine which was an alloy made partly from adamant and that was a pure, jet-black metal ore that was found on Toril, the world that a Forgotten Realms adventure would most likely be based on. It was among the hardest, lightest, and most brittle ores on the planet, and this was why it had been turned into the alloy adamantine in order to be of any real use. Adamant was extremely rare throughout the realms, materializing in spherical clusters within solidified volcanic flows.
Adamantine was difficult to produce, requiring high forging temperatures and a very delicate procedure, the kind of work best suited to dwarfs. As an alloy, it was composed of five parts adamant, two parts silver, and one part electrum. Adamantine, when smelted, was ultra-hard but this was a costly procedure even by my standards.
I knew from my research that adamantine was often used by drow elves of the Underdark, and their adamantine weapons were usually swords that were magically enhanced. Their magical strength and sharpness faded if brought into contact with direct sunlight, but that was a feature of dark elf magic and not something I'd need to worry about.
"Is it made up of the metals we discussed?" I wanted to know.
It should be after what I'd paid for it just as a downpayment.
"Adamantine on the outside, zardazik on the inside," I was told.
Zardazik was a rare soft-metal used to create alloyed weapons that were undetectable and could be easily "hidden inside" a person. Because of the unique properties of zardazik-alloy weapons, they could be phased within a person and carried under complete concealment. Normally blades made of this metal were used by assassins and linked to them on a chain of some kind.
This rod of metal worked a little differently because it had enchantments woven into the adamantine which would allow me to bring the rod to my hand and out of phase when I needed it. This was important because I intended to use the rod to channel my Aura which required something more durable than a wand or staff made from wood. My wand and staff were fine most of the time but in close quarters combat when I was actively using my Aura I would need this rod.
So to disguise its nature as a weapon when it was visible the rod had a skull on the top so that it looked somewhat like a walking stick or maybe a fancy baton. This was another way of hiding the rod's true purpose, being able to wave it around in plain sight would amuse me.
"The skull is mithril?" I asked.
Mithril was nothing remarkable in this world so I was pleased to discover that
something else had been used.
"That is arandur my lord," explained the dwarf. "Much more expensive, but you did tell me to spare no expense."
I was soon informed that arandur was a blue-green streaked metal that appeared within pockets of hyaline glass. After refinement and final forging, it turned a silver-blue colour meaning that it could be mistaken for mithril, only it weighed more than mithril. The metal bonded extremely well with others.
The process of refining arandur ore was previously a secret of the gnomes, but has since been shared with others for the right price. To prevent arandur from being brittle after it was mined, it was tempered with the blood of either red or blue dragons hence its rarity. As such, the extremely skilled smiths that were capable of working with the metal used it in a diverse selection of items, such as legendary elven warblades.
Blades forged from arandur held a sharp edge even after much abuse. Armour and shields that were made from the metal were resistant to sonic waves, elemental forces, acid, magical force and even a spell called disintegration which was meant to destroy arms and armour. It was known to the dwarf smith that armament forged from arandur could even completely absorb the arcane released by hostile magic spells.
This was something I could test and with the added speed as well as agility
available to someone using Aura I might be able to use this rod to absorb the power of spells, not just as conduit for my own magical attacks as planned.
"This is fine work, Master Smith," I praised.
It was better than what I'd hoped for. Not only would it be able to channel the increased energies that I could command, which were greater even when I didn't have my Aura on as it seemed to offer a passive boost, I should also be able to channel my Aura directly into the weapon during a fight. Plus even if I ran out of Aura and I didn't have any effective spells to use I could still hit people with this very sturdy bit of metal.
"Because of the rarity of arandur I'll be needing more than my estimate," mentioned the dwarf.
Before replying to that I tested the weight and balance of the rod. Then I made sure that it would work as a wand by using the lumos spell which caused the skull on the top of the rod to glow. I would need to correctly attune myself to this item before unlocking its potential since this was a D item, this would just be a matter of time.
The runes carved into the rod were small and really only noticeable if you ran your fingers over the smooth metal. I didn't know if the runes added to the power of the item or were just an interesting feature as I didn't know much about dwarven crafting.
"I understand," I told the smith. "I'm sure that it's worth every gold coin you'll charge me."
Not that I paid in gold coins, I did so with bars as that was simply easier. For a smith who worked with metals having gold bars he could melt down was a boon to this work I was sure. The smith might get a chance to make more as I could do with a suit of enchanted armour, maybe something in a Doctor Doom style should I ever desire to play the villain.
Chapter 34
Adventure 32
The Ministry of Magic. London.
It took a bit of an effort for both Remus Lupin and I to squeeze into the old fashioned red phone box that was the visitors entrance to the centre of the magical government in this country.
"Why is there even a phone booth here?" I complained. "Do people even use these things any more?"
Remus was trying to get to the actual phone.
"I see muggles using them all the time," he said.
Oh yeah it was still the 1980's here, they didn't have mobile phones. Maybe I should 'invent' those if I can find enough engineers and science types to do all the work for me who can be fooled into signing magical contracts without knowing they're magic since the person signing the contract doesn't need to be aware that it's magical.
For now I needed to focus on today as recently I'd gotten a letter from the Ministry of Magic about a hearing with some part of the DMLE, the department of magical law enforcement, about my custody of Harry Potter, which while legal in the muggle world wasn't so certain in the magical world, not with Albus Dumbledore now applying to be the boy's legal guardian. He might win custody even with him having three full time jobs as he was politically powerful and well connected. I had money, but few allies.
Because of this I had to go with one of my plans, which was to prove Siruis Black's innocence and then get him to come live at Sutton House with Harry Potter and Remus Lupin as Black was Harry's godfather and had the best legal claim to the young wizard. Along with that I planned to disgrace Albus Dumbledore enough that I'd win the case.
"Tell the machine who you are and what you want," Lupin instructed.
Since I was well aware of this device I took this chance to make fun of it.
"I am Lrrr, ruler of Omicron Persei 8," I said into the phone. "I am here to conquer your world, enslave your men and make your most attractive females into love slaves."
The badge that machine spat out read 'Lrrr' and the purpose for the visit was 'World Domination' much to Lupin's amusement. Despite my levity was actually here to met with someone high up in the Ministry and this was a very important meeting
Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Senior, a British pure-blood wizard, the father of Bartemius Crouch Junior, who I knew to be dead since Ciri had killed him during our first trip to the Wizarding World, had become someone that people seemed happy to ignore. I got the sense that the Ministry just wanted to forget that the son of the Head of the DMLE turned out to be a Death Eater.
Crouch had been until recently a very influential British Ministry of Magic official. He had been the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement during the First Wizarding War, which had just ended, and a candidate for the job of Minister, but when the war ended he was demoted to the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation because of his son's shaming of the family.
While he had nothing to do with the case of Harry Potter's guardianship directly I had a plan to make him an ally and it had to be a good one because unlike other people who might play a role in deciding the fate of the Boy-Who-Lived, I couldn't simply bribe Crouch.
Instead I needed to restore him to his rightful role or at least get him into a position of influence in time to make a difference. Then he would be an ally and I would be happy to fund him if he wanted to become Minister of Magic. Better him than Fudge because if Voldemort returned one day Crouch would not shy away from the fact.
Crouch was also the one that sent Sirius Black to prison without a trial so he was the one Remus and I needed to convince most of all to get Black before a judge. Crouch should still have friends in his old department and if he had any sense of decency he'd want to correct this error. This might not seem as if it would get his career back on track, but that was just a matter of spinning things the right way and making sure Crouch caught a big prize.
I handed in my wand at the front desk and this was like signing a record book only better since every wand is different you can't fake another person's wand. You could steal it but a stolen wand is a big deal not that sort of thing you want seen at the Ministry.
After that we passed the Fountain of Magical Brethren. The fountain was located halfway down the hall of the Atrium, on level 8 of the Ministry which for some reason acted as the ground floor because of wizard logic. The large golden statues were located in the middle of the pool, and the tallest of them all was a wizard with a wand pointing straight into the air. Around this statue were statues of a witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf.
Jets of water came from the ends of the two wands, the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat, and each of the house-elf's ears. All proceeds from the fountain were given to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and while I'd donated already to that worthy cause I made sure that people saw me throw lots of gold into the fountain as I had an image to maintain of being insanely wealthy.
"Ah Mr Ives it is a pleasure to meet you," said Crouch when we made it to his office. "I must say that your letter came as a surprise. I was under the impression that you don't get out much."
I took the man's hand and noticed his firm but not needlessly strong grip, normally a good sign.
"Normally I avoid the magical world, things have been rough around here," I replied before turning to face my companion. "This is Remus Lupin, he's been teaching me about magic as I came into my magic rather late in life."
Voldemort and his followers hadn't been the reason I avoided wizards and witches, but I'd not lied since I'd strug two truths together. I couldn't lie very well right now because upon entering the office I'd triggered a magical item which had created a zone of truth, normally it's a spell, but if you have money and access to Sigil there's pretty much nothing you can't buy. The item wasn't perfect, but it's a lot harder to resist a truth spell if you don't know you're under its effects and Crouch looked stressed so that would make things easier for me.
The effect of the magical item also meant that Crouch wasn't just being polite, he actually was pleased to meet me. Which made sense since I was very wealthy yet reclusive by the standards of the locals, if nothing else that made people curious.
"Mr Crouch I'll be candid with you and tell you now that we have reason to believe that Sirius Black is not a Death Eater," I said.
That shocked the man, but he gained control quickly.
"I can assure you Mr Ives that Sirius Black betrayed the Potters and murdered Peter Pettigrew," stated Crouch.
Or that was what he thought to be the truth.
"I can assure you that is not the case," I replied. "Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper for the Potters and he isn't dead. I know exactly where he is."
Crouch was so stunned you'd think that one of us had used a spell on him.
"But his finger was found!" protested the Ministry employee.
I'd prepared for this.
"But no other part of his body," I pointed out. "Not a trace, don't you find that odd? Even if he was blown up there should have been some traces, a few bits of clothing, some blood, something."
Crouch shook his head.
"Black confessed and the Muggles saw the street explode," insisted the wizard.
The dog animagus was going have to explain that part himself.
"Muggles aren't the best witnesses when it comes to a magical incident," said Remus. "Did you check Black's wand or find Pettigrew's wand to see what spell was cast last?"
He still wasn't convinced.
"What if we take you to Pettigrew right now?" I asked. "If you could question Peter yourself, would that convince you to see about getting Black questioned?"
Crouch was now pacing the room.
"If I threw an innocent man into Azakaban then I'll be finished," he said.
I'd known that he might say this.
"Was it actually done on your authority?" I asked "Or did the Minister give the order?"
Given that this was a man who'd be willing to throw his own son into prison if things had worked out a bit differently it seemed odd that he wouldn't follow the rules with Sirius as even the worst of the Death Eaters got a trial.
"No, it was the Minister who told me she wanted Black thrown into Azkaban as soon as possible," we were told. "I know that Lucius Malfoy had something to do with it."
Not shocking as with Sirius out of the way there were only a few people who could potentially inherit whatever fortune was left to the Black family who weren't in Azkaban. Those would be Narcissa Malfoy who was born a Black, Andromeda Tonks who had also been born a Black and Harry Potter who in the books Sirius names as his heir and is the grandson of a Black. But if he didn't name Harry as his heir then there was a good chance Narcissa Malfoy would at least inherit Grimmauld Place. Or at least that was how Remus had explained it to me, he was no lawyer yet it would explain why Lucius Malfoy would want Siruis thrown into Azkaban to die.
"So if you were to capture Peter Pettigrew you get the blame for Sirus's wrongful imprisonment I'm guessing," said Remus.
That did seem likely and Crouch agreed. He seemed to be retreating into himself. Poor guy, I'd heard that his wife had left him and Ciri had killed his son, he was not doing well. All he had now was his career.
"Well I've been asked to do some interviews ever since someone let it slip that I made that big donation to the hospital," I mentioned. "Perhaps I could make people aware that it was the Minister who ordered this injustice and that you want to correct it. I bet that would make you popular with the masses. I'd certainly be grateful."
Barty latched onto the like a drowning man who's just been thrown a rope. As for me I suspected that a human employee at Gringotts had let that leek since the goblins wouldn't care.
"You'd give me your support?" he asked.
If he became Minister it would be like when Malfoy had Fudge in his pocket.
"Yes," I said, "and in return I'd expect your support when it comes to dealing with an issue I have with Dumbledore."
Crouch sat up straight.
"Yes I heard about that," he admitted. "You adopted Harry Potter in the Muggle world."
Indeed I had.
"I found him with his Muggle family, they weren't treating him well and since it was Dumbledore who placed him there I don't think he'd make a good guardian for the lad," I told Barty. "I think if offered Black would happily share custody with me, and since Black is unlikely to exist in any legal sense in the Muggle world, there would be no custody battle or legal problems within the Muggle world."
It was a bit of a gamble as Dumbledore might convince Black to try to keep Harry away from me, so if need be I'd settle Remus and Harry in another dimension. Remus was very much on my side but if I took Harry away from Black it could cause tension even if Lupin understood that it would be for Harry's safety.
"Black hasn't been in Azkaban for long so his mental health should be fine," said the former head of the DMLE as he considered my words. "And it's public knowledge that he is young Potter's godfather so if you can convince him to share custody then I don't see any problem. Not if I'm restored to office."
I took this as confirmation that we had an alliance.
"We can take you to Peter Pettigrew when you're ready," I told Barty. "He's hiding in rat form in the home of a well known magical family."
Again Crouch was stunned.
"He was transfigured?" we were asked.
"No he's an Animagus," Remus admitted. "I know because I helped him achieve his form along with Sirius Black and James Potter."
Crouch sighed.
"So we never found a body because he fled the scene as a rat," reasoned the wizard. "If he did then he must be guilty of something. He can't be hiding from Black if he knows we locked him up."
I encouraged this line of thinking.
"But if he is a Death Eater he'd have good reason to hide," I said.
Because he wouldn't want to be in a cell next to Black.
"So which family is hiding with?" Crouch asked.
Hopefully Barty here was already known to Arthur Weasly. It had been easy to confirm that Wormtail was at the Burrow already because Remus had been in the first Order of the Phoenix with Molly and her two brothers who died fighting Death Eaters. Remus had gone over to catch up and pretend to ask about Harry who the Order was supposed to be tracking down, and learned that young Percy Weasly had a pet rat. Lupin hadn't grabbed the rat because we needed someone high up in the Ministry to discover the Death Eater and Crouch was desperate enough to be convinced I could save his career. Which I could.
"He's pretending to be the pet of Arthur Weasly's third son Percy Weasly," I informed my new ally while being very careful about what words came out of my mouth. "If you act on a tip and don't name any names, and have friends in the DMLE who can confirm that you caught a still free Death Eater it should be possible to free an innocent man. You'd make yourself a hero in the eyes of many."
I wasn't done yet.
"Once you make the arrest I'll do an interview for the Prophet as long as they run the Black story with you as the champion of justice who has my support," I was now saying. "Just let me know when you're going to push for a trial or if you want our help to expose Pettigrew"
I got up to leave because I may have already spoken too much and the Headmaster could turn up if he got wind of this meeting.
"Mr Ives it seems clear that you want me to be Minister of Magic one day," said Crouch. "May I ask why?"
That wasn't a question I wanted to answer yet I could do it if done carefully since the zone of truth doesn't work on lies of omission.
"Because I don't like where this government is going," I answered "If you'd remained head of the DMLE there would be less Death Eaters walking free and less corruption in the Ministry."
All of which was true.
"So what about Dumbledore?" wondered Remus as we made our way out. "How are you going to prevent him from interfering?"
I was going to publicly humiliate him so much that he was too busy covering his own ass. I was going to borrow some pages from Rita Skeeters 'Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore', and use it to write my own version, backed up with some interviews so that people would never really trust the Headmaster ever again.
"We're going to go speak with Grindelwald," I said. "And he's going to tell us all about how he met Dumbledore and became his lover."
Should be an interesting meeting and I'd be willing to bet that the owner of the Hogs Head would have few things to say as well.
Chapter 35
Author Note
I know it's been more than a few days since I posted. There's a heatwave in England and I do like it I can't sleep because it's just too damn hot. Bloody global warming.
Adventure 33
Asgard Controlled Space. Stargate Universe.
"It's amazing how quickly you've picked this up," Ahsoka praised, over the comm unit "You'd give a clone pilot a run for his credits".
A lot of the praise went to the Asgard who could upload and download knowledge into the minds of humans such as myself. They would not give us the technology to do this for ourselves or the knowledge of their science beyond what was needed to run the tech they'd gifted us as they were careful about such things, but they had no trouble taking knowledge from Ahsoka, whose mind wasn't that different from a human one, and put it into me.
This was all part of the ongoing trade deals with the Asgard who'd managed to lure the Replicators into a trap and wipe them all out using the weapon at Dakara and the android that was the creator of the Replicators. They'd been able to find it because the world that SG1 had found her on was the same world where the Asgard had discovered the Replicators that they took back to their galaxy.
Now that the Replicators were gone, and the Asgard were sending out ships to make sure of that, the alien race was able to focus more on saving themselves. For tha,t they desired more DNA from people across the multiverse. Which I was able to supply for a price, including certain upgrades for the Jedi starfighters.
"I feel as if I've been flying for years," I replied.
There were no new memories. I couldn't close my eyes and remember myself flying a fighter like this as Ahsoka, yet it did feel as if I'd flown in a craft such as this many times before. It helped that the Asgard had modified the controls so that the ship could be piloted via a link to my mind in a way very similar to the Ancient Puddle Jumper I'd acquired.
I still made use of the buttons and the control stick as something to focus on as the human mind needed tactile sensations, however since the fighter could read my mind to some extent, or at least understand my intentions, the controls responded to my input extremely smoothly.Howeverh that didn't didn't stop Ahsoka from flying rings around me with conventional controls.
Her ability to call upon the Force prevented me from competing with her despite my human mind being compatible with Ancient technology, not that this was the point of the flight, we were here to ensure that the knowledge had been successfully transferred and that I could actually use it.
My ability to understand and maintain the technology would be tested later in a more relaxed setting.
Another purpose was to test the Asgard upgrades to the fighters. These fighters had superior shields, sublight engines, stealth systems, and sensors when compared to the original craft. The weapon,s however, aside from the targeting system had not been improved, since the grey dudes were very strict about sharing their guns or improving the weapon's technology of other races.
Giving decent shields to their allies was acceptable and I would soon be very grateful for this fact.
"Okay take your shot," I said to Ahsoka.
The Asgard shields should easily be able to handle a few blaster discharges, but there was always a danger in a live weapons test so it was good that she'd be shooting at me. I was invulnerable thanks to the Orbs and the nearby Asgard ship would beam me directly into one of their healing pods if anything went wrong. It was extremely unlikely that I'd blow up yet it made sense for Ahsoka to let the Force guide her as she took the shottoo avoid mishaps.
When she took the shot I barely noticed anything. TheAsgard-madee shields flared as the blaster fire was countered by the barrier. They were far from perfect and could be overwhelmed, but if the readings were anything to go by we wouldn't need to worry about getting damagedbyy a poorly aimed shot if we should find ourselves in someone else's space battle, and if anyone dangerous did come after us I'd open up a portal for us to escape through before these shields dropped.
"All systems are working," I informed Ahsoka. "You didn't even mess up the paint job."
By now the other starfighter was flying alongside me.
"Try to keep up with me," the former Jedi Padawan challenged. "I want to see what these Asgard improvements can really do."
The big alien ship that was monitoring us, as the nice grey dudes were also interested in seeing these fighters in action, followed as we picked up speed and started to do some fancy flying. I quickly began to understand why Ahsoka enjoyed this sort of thing, there was a real thrill from being able to fly around like this.
Hopefull,y we'd never have to use these starfighters in a combat situation, but I would do my best to prepare just in case and since I had some free time before I needed to finish arranging the freedom of Sirius Black I might as well spend it doing something fun.
Ministry of Magic. Wizarding World.
Should everything go well today then the trial of Sirius Black would be nothing more than a formality. Peter Pettigrew was already in custody after his arrest and they'd transferred Black to a cell here in the Ministry so that he could be questioned. Crouch's explanation of atip-offf had worked and he'd only told the Minister of Magic that I was involved.
"This an embarrassment," complained Millicent Bagnold.
The Minister of Magic had summoned me to her office and thankfully it was only Crouch, her and myself in her office. No doubt the Minister, who really did remind me of Margaret Thatcher, was more concerned with this looking bad for her than making sure that justice was carried out. She was awartimee leader from what I could tell, the Iron Lady of the Wizarding World, and when Voldemort and his Mort Munchers were on the loose this nation had needed a firm leader, but this was no longer war time.
"I don't see the big deal," I said. "Things have been crazy around here since Voldemort vanished. Mistakes were bound to be made."
Both of the natives flinched upon hearing the name, but they didn't let my use of it distract them.
Rather than bring the magical item that strongly encouraged people to speak the truth I'd gone for enchanted objects that would enhance my charisma since I needed to talk people into seeing my point of view more than I needed to cut through the political crap.
"Black's file ended up at the bottom of the pile, and now thanks to Mr Crouch new evidence has been found so you moved his file right to the top of the pile," I was now saying. "Blame some clerk for misfiling something or the arresting Hit-Wizard, or whoever oversees this stuff now that Mr Crouch is no longer head of the DMLE."
Bagnold was not Fudge, but given how many Death Eaters got off it was clear that she was open to bribery and I couldoutbribee anyone. I might evenhave beene able to collapse the Wizarding World economy if not for the fact that it had rules I didn't understand. Besides, bankrupting this nation would make it hard to go shopping. She'd not asked me for anything yet, but I got the feeling that she'd request campaign contributionsshortlye.
"I suppose we could blame the arresting Hit-Wizard," said the Minister.
Looking around the room I couldn't help noticing that the office of the most important Witch in the country was a little dull. There should be statues of famousmagicianss around and maybe some nicer curtains. The war was over so it didn't need to be so practical.
"Even if that works, getting you back into the DMLE might not be possible, Barty," the Minister went on to say. "Your boy was found wearing Death Eater robes along withLestranges."
I'd already thought about that.
"Perhaps they had him under the Imperius," I said. "With so many of them getting quickly arrested or changing sides the Death Eaters who were still active might have decided to place Barty Crouch Junior under the Imperius and have him fight with them."
The two Ministry officials considered this.
"My son was always the academic type, never very good with people," said Barty Crouch Senior. "Perhaps he simply fell in with the wrong crowd and they took advantage of him."
Which was most likely true to an extent. People have done some really stupid things due to peer pressure.
"Very well," agreed Bagnold. "We'll have a statement placed in the Prophet that we've been informed by a source within thenow-disbandedd Death Eater group that your son was under the Imperius spell and that his death was a tragic mistake."
The Minster turned to me.
"Where is your friend?" she asked "The young woman who killed the Lestranges and Igor fellow from overseas."
I figured that this would come up sooner or later even if the Ministry hadn't shown any signs of caring.
"She's out of the country," I said. "I don't know where exactly."
Thish was true as she was now hunting Fenrir Greyback somewhere in Germany.
"I thought about giving her an Order of Merlin," mentioned the Minster, "but I worried that it might encourage vigilante justice. I don't want a fuss made so I'll have the bounty paid to you to give to he, since a Wizard as wealthy as yourself won't be tempted to steal it. Please ask your friend not to inform people how she got the money."
The Ministry wanted things to be peaceful and for the country to start healing. That wouldn't happen if enterprising citizens decided to get their own justice on suspected Death Eaters.
"Once I'm back in office I can write a formal apology to Mr Black," said Crouch, "and Pettigrew should get Black's old cell. Black might like that."
I'd give Wormtail the Dementor's kiss just to make sure that there was no chance of him scurrying off to his master. Alas Dumbledore was overseeing the hearing and he would pass the sentence so while there was no chance of Wormtail going free since news of his guilt had already spread the old man was unlikely to sentence anyone to that grizzly fate he was known for offering second chances and forgiveness.
"But will Black go along with that?" asked the Minister.
It should be simple enough to find out.
"Why don't we just ask him?" I suggested. "He's here in the building."
The Minister sent a minion off to fetch Mr Black and I was left wondering how I'd gotten roped into this. I'd not even wanted to meet with the Bagnold because the less I had to do with the Ministry the better, but I'd dared to defy Albus Dumbledore and so I had to pay the price. If it weren't for the fact that I'd have to worry about witnesses I'd open up a portal under the old man's feet and hopefully get rid of him.
"I suppose we should discuss the custody hearing for Harry Potter," said Bagnold.
"Why did you feel the need to take the boy from his muggle relatives?"
This was annoying a question to answer because I'd gone through this with Crouch already. I explained about having business interests in the Muggle world, something that seemed to confuse the Minister and then I told her about how I'd found Harry Potter in the cupboard under the stairs.
"Dumbledore assured us that the boy would be safe and happy," said Bagnold.
Wel,l he'd lied or didn't care enough to check up on the boy. Either wa,y he was an unfit guardian.
"He was neither of those things," I assured the Minister. "He's much better off with me living in a house protected with the best wards money can buy in a home filled with people who want to protect him. Hopefull,y this will soon include his godfather."
I might have to purchase another home somewhere in the Wizarding World if I was going to keep inviting people to stay at Sutton House. Then again with the pocket di-mansio,n it seemed like a waste of time unless I needed to divert my mail somewhere else or maybe I could get a really big house and fill it with powerful and rare items that I would collect from across the multiverse. Something to think about later.
"Not everyone was happy with Dumbledore's assurances," reminded Barty Crouch. "It was just that we had so much to do after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was defeated."
This was when Sirius Black was brought into the office. It was a shame that Lupin couldn't be here, but only I had been invited and Remus was aiding Ciri in hunting down Greyback. As for Blac,k he looked rather good for someone who'd been in Azkaban for several months.
"Mr Black before you can proclaim your innocence again you should know that
Pettigrew has already confessed to everything," the Minister informed.
I guess Sirius had been trying to get someone to hear him out when he got to the Ministry.
"Pettigrew confessed under the effects of Veritaserum about how he was really the Secret Keeper for the Potters," informed Crouch. "We found the Dark Mark once he told us about how he'd joined You-Know-Who, add to that him hiding out as an unregistered Animagus and the fact that we found You-Know-Who's wand on his person, and his guilt is clear. Your trial will be a mere formality. Just tell the court your side of the story. You can volunteer to take Veritaserum if you wish to speed up matters."
Black was rendered almost speechless.
"You found Wormtail?" he asked.
There was quite a bit of explaining to do before the Wizard came to understand that I'd arranged his freedom. Then I had to make a deal with him that would give Sirius joint custody of Harry along with me, and that Black could live with Remus in my home in Wales as long as he agreed. The agreement would keep Dumbledore from interfering with young Harry's placement, who I argued wasn't fit to decide the boy's living conditions due to having placed little Harry Potter in an abusive home previously.
Should Dumbledore not back off I had a book I could finish writing that would discredit him very nicely.
"What do you get of this?" asked Sirius
Wel,l there was something I wanted.
"There's a trinket I want that is inside your family home," I mentioned. "A locket with a snake on it, nothing you'd want to keep, but it has value to me."
Black who didn't care about his family's junk as he put it, quickly agreed to my terms since he cared far more about caring for his godson than a locket. I figured that I'd made the right choice.
As for the Horcru,x I hoped to find a way of removing the soul part so that I could keep the magical item, but if need be I'd destroy the item, having one to test some magics on would be invaluable.
Chapter 36
Author Note
Somehow this story got to 90 thousand words and I still have loads of ideas. Guess I'll keep going as long as people keep reading.
Adventure 34
12 Grimmauld Place. London.
As the door opened, I was allowed access into the ancestral home of the Black family, which was located in the Borough of Islington, here in the city of London, in a reasonably well off Muggle neighbourhood. This seemed odd given that the Black family was mostly made up of Pureblood bigots who saw non-magical humans as little more than beasts, but wizards weren't known for making much sense.
Since the house was invisible to the neighbourhood's residents, the local Muggles must have long since accepted the mistake in numbering which landed number 13 next to number 11, or at least that's what Sirus Black told me as I followed him into the house and asked him about it
In many cities here in England such as where I'd grown up, you had odd numbers across the street from even-numbered houses, but that wasn't so here as there was a large park opposite the houses.
"Mudbloods, filth!" someone began to yell.
That would be Sirius Black's mother if my memory served. It took some effort to shut her up.
"Sorry about her," the only pleasant member of the family said once things had calmed down, "my mother has never been the kindest of people and living her alone hasn't done her any favours."
Since it was the early 1980's that meant Sirius's mother was still alive although his father had passed on to the next great adventure a few years ago. Walburga Black wasn't even that old by Muggle standards yet she refused to leave her room and had only a House-elf for company. Despite this she was able to make her voice heard around the house.
"I won't be staying here for much longer," my new friend told me, "it's just that I won't abandon my mother completely. I'll have to limit my visits so as not to upset her too much as we don't get on, but I can't leave with her just that blasted House-elf for company, as much as I might want to."
After talking about that for a few moments, he led me into a living area. It looked as if someone had started cleaning, only they'd not gotten very far, the house also felt empty so I guessed that only Walburga was living here, if you call it living.
"Now you talked about acquiring something from this horrible excuse of a house," said Sirus Black. "Despite my mother disowning me my father left everything to his firstborn son in his will so when he died, I became the owner of this house and took control of the family vaults regardless of what my mother wants as he cut her out of his will. She didn't have the legal authority to disown me no matter how many of my pictures she destroys."
The Wizarding World had an odd mix of laws and traditions. Something I wanted to discuss with my new friend and ally as while Lupin knew much about spells he hadn't been born into an old Pureblood family.
"Law and tradition do overlap in many places, and they do influence each other, but in the end, the law matters more," said the animagus. "It will still favour you more if you have political power and wealth, but this is true everywhere."
This was all very important when it came to understanding how Wizards and Witches organised themselves. The Malfoy family for example was wealthy and well-connected politically even if it wasn't that old of a family. There was a social hierarchy in the Wizarding World, but no lords or dukes or whatever, they only existed in fanfics.
As for the Wizengamot, Sirius took the time to explain that it was made up mostly of government officials and honoured elders, those Witches and Wizards who'd done great services to the magical world, such as Dumbledore after he defeated Grindelwald. There were no family seats that were passed on, and the Minister of Magic was elected by the general public much like how the Muggle Prime Minister would come into power
"So without access to my vast wealth, I wouldn't have much of an impact on the Ministry even if I cared about politics enough to get more involved," I mused.
"Good thing then that I don't care much about politics."
Sirus Black gave me a look of seriousness, very much unlike him, as he knew I was somewhat lying. I didn't like politics and would have avoided them if things had been different. At least I could step back for a time as Dumbledore had stopped trying to get custody of little Harry via legal means and had switched to pestering Sirius with owl mail.
Thankfully he was on my side since I'd gotten him out of Azkaban, cured his best friend, and saved his godson from the Dursleys. Once I'd explained all of that, with the help of Lupin, it had been a simple matter to get him to sign a magical contract before showing him what kind of power I possessed.
"I'd avoid the Ministry as much as possible if I were you," he advised, no doubt thinking of how poorly they'd treated him. "Now you mentioned something about Reggie stealing one of Voldemort's horcruxes?"
Indeed I had. I had plans for the item and the others if I could get my hands on them. Harry would defeat the Dark Lord, I just intended to smooth the path for the boy by weakening Voldemort and taking out some Death Eaters. I didn't need to kill anyone, I could just exile them to the zombie world and let them enjoy a world cleansed of the Muggles they so hated.
"Yes, your brother ordered your House Elf to destroy it but he couldn't because it's magically protected." I explained "However I know someone who has the means of removing the bit of soul in it, and once that is done the locket will just be an interesting magical item that I'd like to study. A fair trade for your freedom."
The locket was a relic of the Hogwarts Founders and could have powers or it might only contain pictures of Salazar's loved ones. If the latter then the locket would still have value to me as a cultural treasure. I might donate it to Hogwarts for them to put on display to make myself seem generous or keep it for myself to make myself look more important.
"I know your brother would want the Horcrux destroyed or cleansed," I then added.
Getting the locket from the House Elf proved to be little trouble as I just explained to Kreacher why his favourite member of the family wanted the bit of soul removed and then he handed it over.
"I can't believe that little Reggie turned on Voldemort," said Siruis. "He always bought into the idea of blood purity."
To me it made a lot of sense.
"I'd bet that he didn't know what he was signing up for," I mused. "He wanted to please your parents and he was pressured by his friends to take the Dark Mark, and then he would have found out what it was really like to be a Death Eater. He must have been horrified and yet smart enough not to try running away. Instead
he learned what he could and tried to bring down Lord Voldemort."
Not that it made a difference really since the locket would have been in that cave, the one with defences I knew how to get around.
"I will finish what your master started," I promised the magical being who wore a
dirty tea towel "I promise".
While the House Elf went off for a cry, Sirius took me into another room, this one some sort of sitting area, and he opened up a cupboard. One of the items looked to be pensive or whatever they were called. They could hold memories and let you view them.
I had to wonder how they worked because if you remove a memory from your mind and then view it, shouldn't you have forgotten the memory, and end up wondering when it happened? Or did the spell to extract the memory simply make a copy.
Perhaps I could convince the former prisoner of Azkaban to give me the pensive once it had been cleaned whatever curse a member of the Black family had put on it.
"This is full of dark artifacts that I want to destroy," he let me know. "Any ideas on that?".
Already I had a few.
"If we pack them up I can leave them with an expert who can cleanse them for us" I said "Then you can sell them or just bring them back here knowing that they won't harm anyone."
I took out a spare pouch of holding, I'd brought some extras with me as I'd known that I would need them, and then I used magic to safely pack them away before opening a portal to Sigil as there was a necromancer I needed to see. Sirius followed after I assured him that this would take long.
"Stay close. and try not to gawk too much," I warned the wand wizard.
The city of Sigil could be overwhelming the first time you saw it and it was best not to try taking in too much of it at once. With this in mind I headed for the place of business whose owner was expecting me and didn't stop for any sightseeing along the way.
As for the necromancer that I'd decided to hire for this job was a drow female, a member of a rather nasty race that I'd normally avoid if not for the fact that few mages who deal in death magic tend to advertise their services even here in Sigil and she'd been easy to find.
Although she was a drow the Nercomancer was friendly enough considering that drow females are very sexist and racist, or specist I suppose is the correct term, and by friendly I meant that she didn't try murder or enslave me once we'd met, that was downright nice by drow standards.
"Leave the talking to me and don't touch anything," I said to Mr Black.
There were things here that could kill you if they came into contact with your skin and they wouldn't stop at bringing about your death, there were things in here that could claim your soul as well as your life.
"What is she doing?" my companion for this trip wished to know.
Since he didn't have the translation perk as I did he had no idea what the dark elf witch was going on about so I offered some explanation.
"She's going to use a soul gem to remove the bit of Voldemort that is in the locket," I told the wand wizard. "Necromancers can sometimes do this to whole souls so a fragment of one will be easier to handle and the fragments are much easier to use up".
My understand was limited, but I trusted the experts here in Sigil to their jobs because I paid them very well and so far they'd not let me down.
"The soul is energy and can be used in spells that change that energy" I went on to say "If you do this to a soul jar it breaks the connection between the person and their soul causing them to lose what keeps them anchored to the world. This will need to be done to every Horcrux and since the necromancer can control the process we can have this done to Harry, but he'll need to be older because he won't be strong enough to survive the process as a baby."
Having even someone else's soul yanked out of you can be deadly as losing your own according to my research into the matter and it was far beyond my skill level even if I'd been willing to use necromancy of that kind. It was best to pay an expert and one you knew could do the work. Hence why I wanted to test the process on the locket first.
"It is done," said the necromancer as she handed me back the locket. "The soul will soon be used by me to fuel a spell."
I paid for the woman's services and then left.
"Before we leave we'll stop by to see a cleric and have them remove any leftover evil influence from the locket and they can handle the cursed objects," I told Siruis. "Then we'll return to your world."
Naturally Black had a million questions about this place that I did my best to answer some of them before we reached one of the temples that I knew dealt with removing curses.
It took a single spell to cleanse the locket of leftover dark magics making it little more than an interesting trinket. I left the cursed items with the cleric along with a downpayment for their services. It would take a few weeks or maybe even a month or two to get through all the items as they had all the duties and only so many spells they could cast per day. So it would be a while before I return them to the Wizarding World. They were still the legal property of the Black family and might be worth a lot of coin. This was money Sirius could use since he didn't have a job.
I portalled us back into the house into the very room we'd left which was more accurate than I normally managed, and since my business here was done it was time for me to leave. Sirius could make his own way to Sutton House when he was ready.
"Before you go I have something for you," he said.
As he took me into the garage of the house Black explained to me that during the war with Voldemort, whose name he spoke without fear, I noted, about how he was a Hit Wizard.
A Hit Wizard or Hit Witch was a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that was trained to deal with highly dangerous combat situations, such as arresting criminals, containing dark creatures, and preventing the trade of dark artefacts. As such, they were the Wizarding Britain's equivalent of specialist firearms officers, but they were below Aurors who were the elite dark Wizard catchers and above the standard magical law enforcement officers who dealt with the more day-to-day stuff like stealing or arguments that resulted in unfriendly spells getting cast about.
"How did you become a Hit Wizard?" I asked, wondering what this had to do with us being in the garage.
I could tell that he was thinking back to that time.
"Just a few years before Harry was born, Harry's father and I were involved in a motorbike chase with two policemen. The chase started off as just a bit of fun, we never meant for anyone to get hurt, but it became much more serious when we were attacked by three men on broomsticks. We used our magic to raise the police car that had been chasing us. Since no one was killed thankfully, and because the Ministry had much bigger things to worry about, they were desperate enough to conscript the two of us rather than lock us up. James and I proved to be skilled enough with spells to be trained as Hit-Wizards".
It wasn't unheard of for judges to draft young men into the military so as to avoid having to send them off to prison and I could see it happening back then with Voldemort looking as if he could soon take over.
"Both James and I were good fighters," Sirius was now saying, "and with the Death Eaters knocking off our superiors there was plenty of room for advancement. James proved to Lily that he could be mature and so they soon got married. Harry came along not long after, and I'm sure you know the rest."
As the garage door opened, allowing me to actually see what was in here, Sirius brought out a motorbike letting it be seen better in the afternoon sun. I knew this to be the very motorcycle that Hagrid had used to bring Harry Potter to the home of his aunt and uncle.
"This beauty started life as a Triumph Bonneville T120," I was told. "By the time I was done with it I gave it an engine capacity equal to some trucks. There are charms on the fuel tank that should keep it full for many years to come since it mostly runs on magic."
Wand magic could not simply conjure stuff from nothing, at least not for long, but you could use magic to increase the volume of what you had, such as a tank of petrol. This didn't work forever because the volume you added would begin to degrade after a time.
As such you couldn't pull a Jesus and feed the five thousand with a few fishes and some bread, but feeding a large family on a Ministry worker's salary was possible if you knew the right charms. The same went for fuel, but charmed objects could take on a life of their own so this bike might not even need fuel by this point.
The bike was much larger than the original model would have been or Hagrid would have broken the machine just by sitting on it, but I didn't notice this until I sat on it, some sort of charm to allow it to be more easily stored in a garage I guessed. What charm made this possible I couldn't even guess as it must be some advanced charm work.
"I had some good times on this bike," I was informed, "but it's time to grow up, at least a little. I have to be more responsible for Harry and if what I've seen today is typical for you then you'll get some use out of this bike."
"Don't you want to give it to your godson?" I asked.
Seemed like something you passed on to the next generation.
"I'll track down his father's bike for him" said the wand wizard "Assuming it's not buried in the rubble in Godrick's Hollow it must be at his grandfather's place. I might move Harry there when he is old enough to claim it assuming it's intact".
Sirius had agreed that Sutton House was the best place for the young Potter at least until he was ready to go to Hogwarts.
"I don't actually know how to drive one of these," I admitted. "I guess I could take a class."
My transport perk only gave the knowledge to make use of and maintain a form of transport that it provided for me.
"The bike does all the work for you," said Sirius. "You just need to focus on where you want to go and the bike does the rest as long as you hold on. It gets more tricky if you don't have a destination in mind so don't go for a joyride until you get more used to it. Oh, and keep it on the road during the day."
Sirius even provided me with a helmet as I thanked him for this gift. He insisted since dealing the Horcrux had been his brother's dying wish meaning he owed me two favours rather than one.
"I should get this registered," I mused.
But first I'd drive it to Sutton House to make sure it worked. Then I had a few other Horcruxes to go after. I wanted the ring if only so it didn't lead anyone else to their deaths.
Chapter 37
Adventure 35
Graveyard. Little Hangleton.
The portal brought us to this barely populated part of England that looked as if it had no reason for me to come and visit, yet if all went to plan this would only be the first time this week that I came to this part of the country.
I would soon return in order to claim the Gaunt Ring from what remained of their shack. For now Ciri and I had come to the village's small graveyard in the dead of night to do something that I found morally repugnant despite the fact that it could save many lives in the future.
Since this was not a fun task there was no reason to delay or stand around chatting. Instead Ciri and I moved to the grave of Tom Riddle Senior, Voldemort's muggle father, so we could do what needed to be done. That was to replace Tom Riddle senior's bones with those I'd purchased when last in Sigil. Getting bones from a human male who'd died so long ago hadn't been easy, but when you had lots of gold some problems were easier to solve than they otherwise would be.
With my wand I used magic to get the dirt out of the way so as to uncover the coffin, or what was left of it after so many decades.
"You might want to turn away," my friend suggested.
I did so and listened as she soon began to replace the remains in the grave. Ciri had been trained as a Witcher and sometimes that meant messing with the mortal remains of the dead as a grave could be cursed in such a way as to allow a mage to control a restless spirit, or something like that. The Lady of Space and Time hadn't wanted to go into details and I had no desire to hear them.
While I kept an eye out for any natives she destroyed the real bones and replaced them with bones from another man so that if Voldemort attempted the same ritual in this timeline as he did in the books and movies then it would fail. Perhaps causing him to return to his spirit form, or at least cause problems with his new body. For all we knew, the whole ritual could result in an explosion.
"Since I did the hard work you can handle the rest," said Ciri.
Not that she should be telling me what to do, but to be fair she'd done the real icky part and so I'd let her order me about for a change. Besides, all I had to do was move some earth with magic and spray some potion on the dirt that would make the plant life grow faster. Before long new grass and weeds would grow so that it wouldn't appear as if anyone had tampered with the grave.
"So how was Germany?" I asked.
I'd sent her and Lupin off to hunt down Fenrir Greyback so that he couldn't interfere with my plan to cure as many werewolves as possible. Being a Witcher she'd taken the contract and set out to slay the werewolf.
"Not too bad," she said. "It took us a while to track down Greyback since he was keeping his head down. When we found him he was hiding out in a cave with a few of his more devoted followers. I killed them and Remus collapsed the cave. The whole forest they were living in is hidden by magic so I doubt anyone will ever find the bodies."
This was good to hear and I would have enquired about it sooner if I'd cared that much as taking out Greyback had been only part of my project to reduce the amount of werewolves in the world. Something that was ongoing.
"Don't forget that you owe me," reminded the ashen-haired woman.
Witchers take contracts and since I'd hired her to do a job I would have to pay. She didn't want money, rather she wanted me to go with her on what could be called a date, but she would choose the activity and I couldn't get out of it without breaking the contract which was only verbally binding, yet I'd rather not upset her.
"I haven't forgotten," I said.
Before it could be discussed further I opened up a portal back into the Pocket Di-Mansion.
Little Hangleton. England.
The Gaunt Shack was the ancestral home of the Gaunt family, as the name would suggest, and after some looking around Ahsoka, Laura, Ciri and I discovered that it was located in the woods just outside the peaceful village of Little Hangleton as the book series mentioned it would be. I knew that this shabby little shack had once housed Marvolo Gaunt, his unnamed wife, their son Morfin, and rather downtrodden daughter Merope. They were all long dead by now.
Soon after Morfin Gaunt, Voldemort's Uncle and last living relative died in Azkaban after being framed for murder by the young Voldemort, the shack would have become Tom Riddle's property since he was the last of that bloodline. Even if it hadn't become legally his, the residence was later used as a hiding place for one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, the ring heirloom that he stole from his last remaining magical relative. Which should be here mere meters away from me.
When I got a look at it I could see that the shack was small, dilapidated, and everything was covered with a thick layer of filth. Once upon a time, Voldemort's mother, the witch Merope Gaunt might have kept this poor excuse for a home in something close to reasonable shape, but the many decades following her departure had not done the old place any favours.
It seemed odd that the building was still standing. Perhaps Voldemort had cast some spells on it to make sure it didn't collapse.
While I could see the physical Ahsoka seemed to be able to sense more of what was going on around here, as she could sense darkness and she'd already informed me that this place felt cold despite the fact that we were here during what I could considered to be a pleasant spring afternoon.
She was sensing the dark magic here I assumed or an echo of the Gaunts who'd lived here, they'd been bigoted and cruel people who the world wouldn't miss. Even that this bloodline lead to Voldemort it would have been better for the Gaunts to have been wiped out a long time ago.
Hopefully we'd get that darkness cleared up soon as before long a small team of curse-breakers, who worked for Gringotts and who had signed magical contracts to keep silent about what they were doing here, appeared via portkey and they got to work. They had no clue why I wanted a shack in the countryside to be cleared of curses and they should never find out.
The wizards and witches were waving their wands around and muttering the odd silly sounding word as they worked. I knew that they were undoing the magical defences here as best they could. These people could break into the long lost tombs so they should be able to handle a shack easily enough.
As they worked I looked around some more while not venturing too close to the shack. The sorry excuse house was surrounded by trees that partly hide it from public view. The thicket of trees surrounding the shack blocked nearly all the sunlight, making it rather suitable for dark wizards in my opinion. I didn't think the shack's mere physical location or state was the only reason why I felt colder when I got nearer to the shack. Perhaps I was becoming sensitive enough to magic to feel the corruption in this place as Ahsoka had felt via the Force.
Once I had had the ring I planned to repeat what I did with the locket, which was to have a skilled necromancer remove the bit of soul and then have a cleric get rid of any remaining dark magic or curses that had been placed on the item. By the time they were done I'd be able to wear the ring if I so desired.
Normally destroying a horcrux required that the object containing the soul fragment be damaged to a point beyond any and all physical or magical repair, but I had ways around that and this was good because the objects Voldemort had used for his soul containers were quite valuable. They could be considered cultural treasures of the magical world which was partly why I wanted to keep them.
It was unknown if the creator of the horcrux would be able to somehow sense if their soul fragment was destroyed. In the books Dumbledore stated that in the particular case of Voldemort, he would not feel their loss because his soul had been split too many times and had been in that state for too long. However, in the movies, it seemed as if he could. Perhaps it had something to do with proximity.
When a horcrux was damaged to that point, it may appear to "bleed" (ink in the case of Tom Riddle's diary) and a scream may be heard as the soul fragment perished or was banished to Limbo depending on that worked. Because of this safety many measures were added to protect one's immortality and precious soul fragment, the creator would usually place powerful enchantments onto the artefact to prevent damage making them very hard to destroy.
"Mr Ives we're done," said one of the curse-breakers. "The wards were very impressive in terms of power, but nothing we haven't seen before."
Assuming that they hadn't made any mistakes then it seemed somewhat safe to assume that Voldemort hadn't updated the defences since he'd left the ring here. Perhaps he wished to avoid the place for some reason or maybe he thought that its remoteness was its best defense and had not returned here so as to avoid drawing attention to the site. Or more likley he'd avoided this place because he didn't wish to be remained that he came from a very minior magical family and poor family that had no one's respect.
"Thank you for your services," I said to the curse-breakers.
With that they all teleported themselves away going off to collect their payment from Gringotts and sthey hould they ever speak of this place as it would violate their contracts.
As I entered the shack I didn't sense that anything was different but I was sure that the wards were down because nothing happened when I entered. The ring itself was another matter when it came to danger.
Marvolo Gaunt's Ring was an heirloom of the House of Gaunt, who were descendants of Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell. It should appear as a gold ring inset with a black stone (actually the Resurrection Stone, but neither Marvolo Gaunt nor Lord Voldemort were aware of its true nature) engraved with what Marvolo Gaunt called the Peverell coat of arms (having come into the Gaunt line from an heiress of the Peverells, not the Slytherin family), which is actually the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.
While at Hogwarts, Tom Riddle openly wore the ring despite more than a few people looking for the Hallows. The young Voldemort did not enchant the ring right away, as he was seen wearing it while asking Horace Slughorn about horcruxes, as seen through Slughorn's memories in a pensieve during the Half-Blood Prince book and movie.
The ring was left under the floorboards in the ruins of the house in a golden box with a very nasty curse placed upon it. The ring would tempt you to wear it for whatever reason you felt was valid, and then the curse on the ring would sooner or later kill you, normally sooner. My defence was that I had no desire to wear the ring. I had no right to wear it since I wasn't a Gaunt, I already had plenty of wealth so its material value meant nothing to me, and since I knew it was cursed that would reduce any desire to wear it long enough for me to destroy it.
Also, no one I really cared about was dead so the stone meant little to me as anything other than a Hallow, and I didn't need the ring part to get the stone. I had no intention of using the stone, to me, it was just part of a set that I might never finish collecting.
Mostly it was just a curiosity to me so I was able to get the ring into a pouch of holding. The necromancer I would soon see to remove the soul and the cleric who would remove the curse on the ring had their own ways of protecting themselves from dangerous objects, if they didn't then neither of them would have survived long in their line of business.
I considered placing a fake in the golden box, but I dismissed the idea as I felt sure that Voldemort would know the difference. I also considered burning down the hutt but the magic keeping it intact hadn't been removed, just the magical defences so it would be best to leave it be in case Voldemort did return to quickly check on the shack without examining the horcrux for whatever reason.
"Soon it will be two down," I said.
And the Deathly Hallow would be all mine. I would ensure that no one ever collected the set and became Master of Death other than Harry Potter should he have to face a fully restored Voldemort, and somehow obtain the wand as then I could just give him the stone as long as it suited my plans.
I very much doubted that I'd ever get my hands on the other two Deathly Hallows, as the Cloak of Invisibility was passed on down a family line that led to Harry Potter and he was going to need it. He would pass it on to his children and I didn't care enough about collecting them to steal from a child.
You had to win the wand which would involve attacking Dumbledore, at least if the lore was correct, but it wasn't impossible and one day we might duel with me as the victor, so I wouldn't destroy the stone or drop it into the deepest ocean even if that seemed to be the smartest thing to do.
"So how are we going to get the cup?" I was asked by Ahsoka who I'd kept informed of the horcrux matter. "Can we sneak into the bank vault?"
We couldn't simply storm the bank because even Ciri would be quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of goblins and their defences, such as those dragons they kept to secure some vaults. Nor could we do it the way it was done in the Deathly Hallows book as we didn't have any hair from Bellatrix Lestrange or the aid of a goblin.
Actually given that the Lestranges were dead I had to wonder who had inherited the vault. The pureblood families were all closely related so it was possible that Sirius had a claim to the vault and would just give me the cup.
The diary was also an issue as that was in Malfoy Manor and while I could wait for Mr Malfoy to try smuggling it into the school and then just have Harry grab it for me I'd rather not let matters progress that far. I'd have to attack the manor and loot it. Not impossible, I would just need more information about the place and a large enough team of wand wavers. And I had plenty of time to plan that out.
As for the rest, the snake wasn't a horcrux yet and I had to wait for Potter to grow up before the bit of soul in him could be removed.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "One of the common tricks in fanfics is to inform the goblins about the horcrux that is hidden in the Lestrange vault and get them to destroy it."
Although why they'd care I didn't know since the cup would be harmless as long as people kept their distance from it.
"For some reason, the goblins are experts at dealing with horcruxes despite them being a wizard invention known about by only a handful of wand wavers," I was now saying. "Something to do with them turning up in ancient Egyptian tombs that the goblins like to plunder for treasure."
Which made no sense since horcruxes were invented by Herpo the Foul in Ancient Greece, not Ancient Egypt, the two nations were close to each other in terms of geography, but in terms of time they might as well be different worlds. The wizard who invented the horcrux had been born many centuries after the tombs of Egypt had been buried by sand.
Herpo the Foul was an Ancient Greek dark wizard, infamous for being a pioneer in the field of the dark arts, becoming the first known wizard to create the basilisk, in addition to the first known horcrux. He was also a parselmouth, and part of the reason why so many Wizards think that being a parselmouth makes you evil.
"I don't think Horcruxs actually work," I said, mostly thinking out loud. "If horcruxes make you immortal then why doesn't Herpo rule the Wizarding World?"
Perhaps someone destroyed his horcrux or he ended up regretting what he did. Remorse is supposed to undo a horcrux.
"You could always ask him," Ciri suggested.
It took me a few moments to realise what she meant.
"Ask who about what?" wondered Laura.
I padded the pouch that contained the box which in turn contained the Deathly Hallow.
"Herpo the Foul," I said. "We can call upon any spirit we like, so if he's really dead then we can summon up his spirit and ask him all about horcruxes. Even if he's trapped in limbo for all time he should come when called."
Risky since people who used the stone tended to die because of it, but they always called upon loved ones. I had no desire to go wherever Herpo had ended up, but it might be worth the risk.
Something to think about at least, but first I needed to deal with the ring.
Chapter 38
Adventure 36
Diagon Alley. London
It was now time to progress further with my plans and to open up a small business in the magical Britain's only real shopping centre. Not an easy thing to do since the alley was rather crowded and the people who controlled it were resistant to change, but again being able to throw a lot of money around solved many problems.
The Ministry of Magic was super corrupt and while I'd taken a little action to combat that by getting an innocent man out of Azkaban it was still open to bribery and the goblins were willing to help me take advantage of this corruption as long as they could profit.
As such it hadn't taken much to get a property that I could rent for a reasonable fee under a long term contract. I doubted that I'd make much of a profit here, but that wasn't the point. I wanted to expand my influence.
"I've been in this street a few times," said Ahsoka, "and I don't remember there being an empty store here before today."
That was because there hadn't been until today. The alley only had as many stores in it as was required, and this made sense since the wand wavers could mess about with space. As I understood it, all of the buildings were actually in the back alley of a muggle street far too small to contain even a fraction of what was going on around here. Even Knockturn Alley was just an extension of Diagon.
"They added it for me," I mentioned.
As we went inside we saw that the store was empty aside from some shelves and a counter, yet this would be more than enough for my needs as I could just take whatever else this place needed from an abandoned store in the zombie world as there was plenty of stuff just waiting to be looted on that planet.
Ahsoka, Laura, and I took a proper look around. Ciri was off checking up on some magical artists we'd hired for another project. Laura ventured up into the second floor while I tried to envision what the store would look like once the counter was set up and all the shelves were filled. I didn't think it would be very impressive, but I only had so much to work with.
"Is this going to be big enough?" enquired the former Jedi Padawan.
I got the impression that it could be made as big as it needed to be.
"Size matters not," I said.
Ahsoka smirked at me.
"Only men ever say that," she joked.
I resisted the urge to reply to that and got back on topic.
"It should be fine," I told her. "We can store inventory somewhere else and portal it here as is required."
The shelves would be filled with exotic magical trinkets from across the multiverse that couldn't be used to harm anyone, at least not directly.
I planned to sell stuff like rings, amulets and so on made from magical metals that didn't exist in this world, but ones that only offered very minor boosts, and the rich of this world would want them because they'd be something new. Sure the Pureblood resisted change, but they also liked to show off their wealth.
I wouldn't be doing anything with potions as I had a side business with Slughorn covering that, and while it didn't profit me, what mattered most was that it gave me contacts with the magical world's less savoury elements. Those who smuggled and handled stolen goods, but weren't violent like the Death Eaters.
While nearly anything can be dangerous in the hands of a person creative and willing to do harm, the people of the magical world were rather limited in their creativity. I wasn't worried about selling them some of the junk I'd already acquired and not everything magical to be found in other dimensions had a proper practical use.
The counter should be large enough and it would need a till, but other than that retail wasn't that complex in the wizarding world, I'd just need to pay my taxes, make my rent, and pay any employees that I hired. I didn't doubt that there were plenty of muggleborns out there who needed a job.
"What are you going to do with the upstairs part?" Laura asked me as she came down.
I'd not given it much thought.
"Let the employees stay there I guess," I said.
It wasn't if I needed the place to make a profit, it just needed to look as if it did so I didn't mind giving an employee somewhere to live cheaply.
"What about having a nightclub?" wondered the sexy mutant babe. "I've been thinking about what the wizards and witches do for fun. I mean we can go anywhere we want, but what do young people do here?"
There were a number of pubs in the magical world and sporting events, but nothing like cinemas or nightclubs as far as I knew. So what did witches and wizards do after they left Hogwarts but before they had to spend their time looking after their own kids?
"I bet you could soundproof it and make it so only people we invite can get in," Laura was now saying.
That was possible with the right spells to keep a location unknown to the Ministry and people could be hired to add spells that soundproofed places. Then it would just be a matter of making sure only the right people knew about this place.
"A secret club in the heart of London," I said mostly to myself. "That could be fun."
I might be able to create all sorts of connections that way, and gather useful information from people. It hardly mattered if it was profitable as me renting out this building was about spreading my influence.
"If you want a nightclub then that's what you'll get," I promised.
Plus I knew Ciri wanted to introduce Gwent to this world using cards with moving pictures and magical armies, so I could have gambling here too. If people got into debt I could offer them loans with no interest rates in exchange for useful information or favours later on since gold meant little to me. I could see many possibilities.
"I figure I can get that done while setting up the shop," I said.
Ahsoka wasn't so convinced as she underestimated just how much you could achieve in just a day, if you could afford to outsource a lot of your labour.
Diagon Alley. London
I stepped back and admired my handiwork for a moment before covering the symbol I had painted onto the wall with a piece of modern art that I'd liberated from a fancy gallery on the zombie world I sometimes visited. I didn't like the painting, and that hardly mattered since its purpose was to cover up one of the magical symbols that I'd put up on the wall that were part of the protections.
The wards would only protect people on the inside of the building from being seen from anyone on the outside via any kind of remote surveillance be that mundane or magical, but once they were outside these walls they wouldn't be my problem.
Since I had no idea how the Ministry tracked magic or magic-users I was using many kinds of wards to defend this place that were placed by experts. They'd placed spells on the outside of the building that would keep away all lower forms of life, such as bugs, rats, other vermin, and stray pets, basically anything the health inspector would object to assuming that magicals around here had such people.
"Is everything ready ladies?" I asked.
After hiring wand wavers to put up wards I'd gone a step further in setting up defences. I'd hired The Transunding Furies, a trio of mystical women living in the version of Los Angeles that the vampire called Angel called home. Aside from casting a spell that made all kinds of violence impossible, they were here today to ensure that the different means of magical protection, which was their field of expertise, didn't interfere with each other and cause it all to fall apart.
"We will,"
"Cast,"
"The spell."
Once each of the women had said their part of the spell which would tie all the defences together, something rather funky happened. I just wasn't sure what, and I had no time to check with the Furies as this when Laura arrived. She'd not told me why she wanted me to set up a nightclub but I didn't mind indulging her since it was a decent idea.
"Oh you're back already," I said.
I could only do so much so fast and I'd needed to sort out the ground floor as well. Although once I had the till set up and some products on the shelves that had been about it. The store was clean and there was no need to fill the stockroom. Sure it wasn't very inviting down there compared to up here so I'd have whoever I hired to run the shop give it their personal touch.
I didn't see much point in setting up adverts of any kind because everyone already came to Diagon and would walk past the shop and I had no intention of sending out junk mail via owl as I was not that evil. I really, really hated junk mail.
As for up here, I had a bar ready to be stocked, some tables, some chairs, somewhat private booths, a pool table that would no doubt confuse those who didn't know much about the muggle world since it wasn't for swimming, and a dart board. I would have added some magical games, but they seemed aimed at children and this place was for young adults not little kids. Hence the stripper pole in one corner, but I didn't intend to hire any strippers since that might be a bit too much for the locals.
"Who are they?" asked Laura who'd gone into London for the day for some sightseeing "And why are they floating?"
Those were good questions.
"They are The Transunding Furies," I explained to Laura. "They're experts in protection spells and came here to help me ward up this place. They helped me cast a spell that should prevent anyone from harming anyone else when inside the premises."
Should anyone throw a punch or cast a spell a barrier would appear and the person attempting to commit the act of harm should take the blow, though there was an upper limit to the retribution so as to prevent serious injury.
I couldn't be sure if it worked against something like the killing curse as there was no one to safely test that, but no form of protection is perfect. If the wards managed to send such a deadly spell back at the caster then it was their own fault for using such evil magic.
"Would you mind slapping me to test it?" I requested.
The spell worked by sending the full force of a blow back at the person who was trying to attack someone, so if she'd only struck gently she wouldn't have ended up having to rub her poor cheek.
"You were a little too eager to slap me," I said.
Laura smiled at me in a cheeky way.
"My butt needed some payback," she explained.
That seemed fair to me.
"The spell works," I told the Furies.
Well worth what it would cost me.
"Our work is finished,"
"Time for our payment."
"As agreed."
The Furies hadn't just stood around, or well, floated around as I worked. Aside from the sanctuary spell to enforce non-violence, they'd ensured that the wards all worked well together. Given that the spells came from different worlds it was a good thing that I'd gotten outside help or it could have resulted in it all blowing up in my face. Quite literally.
"Here you go ladies," I said while passing one of them a small bag of gems I'd acquired after a quick trip to Mareth, "Gems imbued with magical energy. Enjoy."
They didn't care for normal money.
"Ohhhh, shiny!" the Furies said in unison.
Apparently it didn't take much to impress them, and once they had their payment I opened up a portal for them. Other forms of magically teleportation would be impossible here aside from the fireplace down in the shop that was connected to the floo network.
"I'll have a bartender as soon as one answers my ad in the paper," I told Laura. "I might need to hire someone from Sigil who's used to working at a tavern magical people visit and doesn't mind going to other worlds".
Portalling the bartender back to Sigil wouldn't be ideal but some of them could manage their own travel and perhaps I could make a portal for them between here and Sigil using magic from that realm. Anything was possible.
"I'll sort out the music later." I said.
Laura looked around some more.
"It looks a bit familiar," she said.
As it should do.
"I based this club partly on The Bronze in Sunnydale and it shares the name," I told Laura. "You must have seen it on TV even if you don't remember watching the show."
I'd considered calling it the Hellfire Club but that might sound too evil for the locals.
"So do you like having a new place to hang out?" I asked. "You can floo here from Sutton House whenever you want to hang out."
Laura didn't reply right away.
"Come here," she said, patting the couch, "I want to give you a lap dance."
This was not something I'd been expecting, but I sat down on a very well stuffed couch just before Laura climbed on top of me, planting a knee to each side of my body before she didn't dance so much as she started dry humping me. I got the impression that she'd never done this during her days spent selling her body.
"You call this a dance?" I questioned.
She smiled at me, showing off a lot of teeth.
"I don't dance," she replied.
She did however grind and enjoyed it.
"Guess that means I can touch back," I muttered.
I really wanted to and that Laura had just started humping me shouldn't be a surprise as she normally signalled very clearly when she wanted sex.
"Yes," she responded "You can".
My hands went from her luscious breasts to the tight fit between her legs, one hand found its way inside her shorts and then a couple of my fingers were inside her cunt. I could feel a lot of heat coming from that part of her, X-23 clearly wanted more which she demonstrated as pulled off her shorts while lying on her back over my lap.
Laura moaned loudly as I played with her and I considered asking if she was in heat, but decided against that since I had something else to focus on. After a while I moved my free hand to her breasts which she cleared the way for, showing that she hadn't been wearing anything under her top and shorts. As such Laura was now topless as well as bottomless.
Her breath came in short, hard pants as I took this chance to fondle her pussy in ways I'd not done before because normally the Project X assassin didn't care much for foreplay, but this time she wanted me to explore her body. Yet she couldn't help wiggling as I played with her and her own hands even started joining in, guiding mine so that they performed the actions that drove her crazy.
"Please fuck me!" she begged.
I'd known that she would plead for it before too long even if it must sting her pride a little to have to ask like this. I didn't give in to her demand, instead I took hold of her and brought her bare chest up to my face. I then wrapped my lips around one of Laura's nipples, sucking on it roughly as I put some fingers back inside her very wet cunt.
For now I was playing her like an instrument as she wasn't hard to please, especially when I focused so much on her. I learned more about what made her moan and grunt like an animal. Sure it took some time, but I was no rush and she was having plenty of fun.
"I'm gonna come!" Laura said, sounding as if it was urgent news.
She wrapped herself around me and she climaxed, muffling her scream into my shoulder and she rode my fingers, moving her hips at a frantic pace. Once she was done she didn't let go for a while.
"Okay, my turn," she said once she had some self control back. "I'm going to make you beg for it and maybe I'll let you fuck me."
I doubted that I'd ever tame her, but it would be fun to keep trying and I had all the time in the world to make her fully submit.
Chapter 39
Author Note
I decided to write a chapter featuring POVs from minor characters in the story as suggested and to do it in a way that doesn't needlessly drag things out as this chapter is very important to the overall plot.
Adventure 37
Narnia
"No matter where I intend the portal to open I always appear near that lamppost," said Thaddeus Ives.
Remus Lupin, unlike most wizards, had read some muggle literature and knew what his employer was going on about. He'd spent most of his adult life working part time or not working at all. Since the Wizarding World lacked many of the pleasant distractions to be found in the Muggle world, Remus had been granted plenty of time to read and there were places to buy cheap books. He'd spent many a pleasant afternoon with gentle music on the radio, a self warming pot of tea and an interesting story to read.
As such he was rather thrilled to find himself in a real version of the world he'd only been able to imagine, and it was just as he'd always pictured it in his mind. The snow was white and so deep that his footprints didn't expose the ground beneath. It was cold, yet not unpleasantly so, mostly thanks to the thick clothing he wore and an application of the warming charm.
"Something to do with the wardrobe I suspect," Thaddeus Ives mused.
Even for those who dealt in magic this world was very a strange place.
"I guess the children haven't arrived yet?" remarked Lupin.
Unless this was a natural winter, though the former werewolf could feel that it wasn't normal.
"No, Jadis still rules but she hasn't bothered me while I've been here," said his student.
Lupin was a little confused.
"Is Jadis her real name?" he asked. "It's been many years since I read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I really should read it to Harry."
As they headed for the tent that the Ives had set up he explained that Queen Jadis was more than just some big bad to be defeated, she was an extremely powerful sorceress, and not even human despite her appearance.
"I needed to refresh my memory too. I did some digging and found that she's originally from a world called Charn, and she was accidentally brought here to Narnia on the day of its creation," Thaddeus was now saying. "After she was banished up north by Aslan, she returned hundreds of years later and usurped the throne. She'll rule until Aslan returns, which isn't any of our concern as long as the locals don't bother us."
Remus recalled that upon taking the throne Jadis magically forced Narnia into a hundred years of winter, hence why she was called the White Witch.
"I assume that you want to stay out of Aslan's way," said Lupin.
That would be for the best as the Great Lion was a power beyond any wizard, able to return from the dead, and not someone you wanted to mess with. He seemed kind so Remus it made sense that as long as they didn't interfere with Aslan's plans he would leave them be.
"Yes, best to stay out of the way and not to bring too many humans here in case we end up getting involved with the prophecy about the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve" Ives said "We might both count as sons of Adam even if we aren't exactly normal humans."
Remus thought that was wise.
"I set up the tent last time I was here," his pupil informed him.
It was much larger on the inside as Wizard tents are, and warm despite there being nothing in place to keep out the cold. The tent was cosy and filled with books as well as some other teaching supplies that would be required.
"What happened to my footprints?" Ives wondered.
Lupin was again confused and watched as Thaddeus picked up an hourglass that sand was still moving down through.
"I've been gone for mere minutes," said the immortal, "yet there's no sign of my footprints. It wasn't snowing when I left and it's not snowing now."
Remus put it down to Narnia not making much sense.
"How much time will have passed since we left?" he asked.
Thaddeus didn't seem concerned.
"A few minutes at the most even if we spend days or weeks here," he explained "Maybe even months, I haven't been able to measure the time difference, but it passes much faster here yet when you leave Narnia its as if you never left Earth".
Which made it suitable for their uses.
"It's a clever idea to come here," commented the former werewolf. "We can practice magic for days and no one will even know we were gone."
The dimensional traveller smiled upon hearing that.
"It's our very own Hyperbolic Time Chamber" he joked.
Lupin had to ask.
"A what?"
Thaddeus explained that in some universe far away there was a special room and in that room time moved much faster than on the outside so that a year would pass within for every day outside of it. It was used by that world's defenders to train when they didn't have much time to prepare.
"I see," said Remus, who sort of understood. "We could stay here for a year and find that only an hour had passed for everyone we know."
It was a very clever idea. Thaddeus was immortal, and thus had all the time in the world, but he had his projects that distracted him. However here in Narnia that didn't matter because those projects would wait. A decade could pass by and the shop that Ives had recently set up would still be waiting for its grand opening.
"While I understand that you want to train away from distractions, why now?" Lupin asked. " I mean it wouldn't really matter if we waited, would it?"
Something was motivating his student.
"I looked into what sort of entertainment there is for young wizards and witches," Thaddeus began to explain. "I learned about duelling so I was thinking of entering the All-England Wizarding Duelling Competition."
Tickets for such events had always been a little too pricey for Remus.
"I can help you prepare for a professional duelling contest," offered Lupin, "and I'm sure Sirius will insist on giving you some pointers, but there's no way you can be ready by this summer. It takes years to…"
The tutor trailed off as he suddenly remembered where he was. He still didn't fully understand what being a dimensional traveller really meant yet but he was starting to grasp it. Thaddeus could spend decades preparing for something that was only a few months away and he could afford to hire the best teachers. With the raw power he'd obtained all he lacked was skill and skills could be learned.
"Oh I see," said Remus. "Very clever."
While they had plenty of time the teacher saw no reason to delay and it wouldn't be a good idea to go off exploring at least not on his own so he might as well do his job.
"I've taught you the basics already," Lupin started by saying, "and so we'll focus on getting you up to O.W.L level with charms, transfiguration and defence against the dark arts. Those subjects are most useful in duels."
Topics such as care of magical creatures, magical history and potions had their places, but Remus was by no means an expert in them, and they rarely helped in a duel.
"We'll take breaks to resupply and for exercise," the teacher was now saying, "but other than that I intend to spend as much time as it takes to bring you up to O.W.L level. You'll be able to sit those exams at the Ministry if you wish. There's a fee, but that means nothing to you."
Thaddeus could buy the whole damn Ministry if he so pleased.
"Then after taking a couple of weeks off back home we'll move on to N.E.W.T level charms, transfiguration and defence," Lupin went on to say. "If you have the potential to become a duellist I will turn you into one. We'll start with the theory of duelling and move to the practical later on which we can arrange around your other lessons."
The former werewolf took a seat as he began to lecture.
"A Wizard's duel normally involves two people engaged in combat under the condition that only magical means can be used, that means your wand is the only tool you can use, and there's no physical contact," the former werewolf told the other man. "It starts with the two combatants facing each other and before any spells are used they bow to each other as a sign of respect, before they place themselves in an accepted combat position, which I will demonstrate later. On the count of three, the two wizards or witches will attempt to disarm, stun, restrain defeat, or even kill each other until one wins."
Remus found that he really enjoyed teaching.
"Of course killing is forbidden unless you find yourself facing someone who wants you dead, like a Death Eater," he explained. "And using the dark arts is normally forbidden as wounds caused by curses can't always be healed. If you ever meet Mad-Eye Moody then you'll know what I mean."
"So you'll want to disarm or disable the wizard or witch your going up against," the former werewolf told his student. "Since most of us wand wavers, as you call us, can't do much without a wand, disarming is a good move and you can always stun someone once they have no defence."
Narnia
Sirius Black had never read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, although he had listened as Remus began reading the story to his godson, as such he didn't marvel at the land he found himself in, at least not for long. But he'd seen Sigil, a place he still wasn't sure had actually been real, and compared to that a land trapped in winter didn't seem all that special.
Perhaps if he'd been able to interact with the characters he'd heard Remus talking about it might be different but the animagus had come here for an important reason, and sightseeing wasn't on the agenda even if they had walked around the area that included the lamppost.
He was here to help Thaddeus Ives to perfect his duelling skills. The immortal had been learning and training for mere seconds yet also possibly months, time meant little here in Narnia. When you left you always looked the same as when you arrived, even injuries vanished.
Only memories remained and even those could be harder to recall than they should be. But the knowledge gained through practice and study did not simply fade away, which made it the perfect place to train in.
Both of the wizards were faster than they should be as they traded a few simple spells because Thaddues had shared with Black the ability to access the power of the soul allowing it to manifest as what was called Aura, along with a promise back by magic not to spread this ability around since not everyone could be trusted with such power.
Even when not in use it the ability made them faster when they moved, harder to hurt and increased the power of their spells. When in use they became far more powerful than any wizard should be.
"I'm sure Remus told you to use non-verbal casting," Sirius was currently saying, "and remember to clear your mind just before the duel as legilimency can be used during some contests."
No sense thinking over your tactics just before a duel starts if the witch or wizard you're about to face can see them in our mind and adapt their tactics as required.
"I hope he also mentioned not to use any fancy magic you picked up from elsewhere," said Sirius "At least not during a contest".
When the practice duel began both of the magic-users stayed on the elevated platform that had been put up outside of the tent they were staying in. There was no yelling of silly sounding words, and no other kind of talking, the two men just started throwing spells at each other.
Black's time in Azkaban, as short as it had been compared to that endured by other versions of himself, had duelled his skills somewhat, but he'd duelled some nasty wizards during the war and now he was getting the chance to not only recover what he'd lost, but also to improved. Before Azkaban he'd even faced down Voldemort himself, granted with the aid of others, now he had to wonder if he could have beaten the Dark Lord with his Aura active, should Tom Riddle return to power one day he might find out.
Both of the spellcasters started off with simple spells, Sirius disarmed Thaddeus only for the immortal to bring his wand back into his hand before Black could cast a stunner. Such magic was often difficult to perform, and could have unexpected or volatile results if not done properly, but Thaddeus was very skilled for someone who'd only started to use magic as an adult. Usually, witches and wizards accustomed to using wands could only reliably perform wandless magic if they possessed great skill, so Sirius wondered if his friend was better able to use wandless magic because he'd not been using a wand since he was eleven years old.
"Using wandless magic for tricks like that is good and within the rules," praised the pureblood. "It will impress the crowd, but I don't recommend trying to attack anyone with wandless magic unless it's real combat. If you use a wand and you get accused of cheating to win a duel they can check your wand and see what spell you used but they can't do that with wandless magic which means you could be disqualified."
They began again with the dimensional traveller easily shielding himself from every attack. An impressive display of control. The shield charm Protego was a charm that protected the caster with an invisible shield that could reflect spells and also block physical objects. There were multiple variations of the shield charm and Thaddeus had mastered a powerful one. However there were spells that it couldn't defend against so it was best not to stay on the defensive for too long even if it might seem smart to let the other magic user tire themselves out.
"Never let the other duellist control the flow of the fight," instructed the dog animagus. "Shielding seems like a good idea, but they might batter down your defences before they tire out. Mix it up a little, don't ever fall into a pattern of predictable behaviour, always keep them guessing."
Thaddeus Ives did just that. He shielded himself a few times and then moved rather quickly to the side so as Black's tickling charm (always an amusing way to at least distract an opponent) flew past him and just before Sirius could bring up his own shield he got hit by a binding spell.
That bit of magic left him wrapped up in thick and heavy ropes. He could have easily freed himself if Ives hadn't been so damn fast. The former inmate was disarmed and lost his balance, something that made him burst out with laughter that wasn't caused by a charm.
"How did you move out of the way of tickling charm so fast?" Black asked as he was freed from the ropes. " I barely saw you move and I can at least track your movements if I can't always keep up."
The other wizard showed him a new bit of bling.
"It's a ring of evasion," he explained as he helped his duelling partner up. "It works differently in the D game than in real life, but the result is the same as it helps me dodge attacks."
Sirius didn't think that enchanted items that enhanced what someone could do naturally could be considered cheating and the wizarding world had no rules against it since they didn't produce such magical items. Thaddeus intended to sell some trinkets in Diagon Alley, but the boosts they offered would be so minor that few would even notice and they could easily be passed off as curiosities from some far off land.
"Sneaky," praised Sirius. "A little too Slytherin for my taste, but it's not like the people you'll be facing wouldn't take the advantage if they could."
This was when the pureblood wizard thought of something.
"Thaddy, why do you want to win a duelling contest?" Black asked. "You never mentioned any reason for seeking the spotlight. I always got the impression that you were at least trying to keep your head down in the Wizarding World. At least until recently."
The other other wizard was not amused by the nickname judging by the look on his face, however he ignored it and answered the question.
"I needed something to help motivate me into improving my fighting skills," he replied. "I keep getting distracted from my main goals so I set myself the challenge of becoming a duelling champion."
That made sense and Sirius was happy to help his friend reach this objective.
"If you can move like that in practice you'll be next to unstoppable by the time we're ready for the real thing," Black promised. "And I might have to enter myself just so you have some fair competition."
A match between them with nothing held back would not be one he had much hope to win, not if Thaddeus kept improving. Of that he felt sure, but it sure would be fun to find out.
Chapter 40
Adventure 38
Sutton House. Wizarding World.
"What is this thing and why is it in my hangar bay?" Ahsoka Tano demanded to know.
Her hangar bay was in reality my warehouse and like the shop I'd opened up in Diagon Alley the inside of this building became as large as it needed to be. That was a very good thing as the newest addition to our growing collection of ships was not at all small.
Thankfully Ahsoka had modified this place so that the roof could be moved and somehow this didn't alter the internal dimensions because magic is strange. Although it might be best to store my spelljammer somewhere else. Maybe I should have another warehouse installed on my property.
"It's my new spelljammer, which is in my hangar bay," I answered. "And to answer your question, it's an old style wooden sailing vessel that can fly in space if it needs to, but I intend to use it to travel directly from world to world using portals. I bought a trading vessel because I want to explore other worlds under the guise of a trader and some of those worlds will have an easier time accepting a flying wooden ship than a spaceship."
I could just go to these other dimensions as an explorer, but I figured that things might go smoother for me if I pretended to be a merchant as people would get distracted by all my fancy goods and they'd be less likely to think that I was the vanguard of some invasion force from across the seas or something along those lines if they thought I was just trying to make some money.
Sure, I didn't need to make any kind of profit, I just wanted to because the Pocket Di-mansion had provided me with a rather secure looking vault and it would be boring if it only got filled with bars of gold. Collecting coins from different worlds and putting them in the vault, along with other treasures, should make it a bit more interesting.
"Looks like a galleon," remarked Ciri.
While not designed for use in space, the Galleon, as this model of spelljammer was creatively called, can be used for space travel by those in the Forgotten Realms multiverse who have acquire a spelljamming helm and don't have the time or resources to build a ship more suited for flying between worlds. I'd been able to purchase this one for less than forty thousand gold coins, or in my case the equal weight of those coins in gold bars, and it was worth a bit less than fifty thousand on the market.
The Galleon suffers from some of the same drawbacks as most primitive navy ships naturally would if taken into space, such as not being airtight or possessing any sort of artificial gravity, however there are magical ways around that. I didn't understand all of the magic behind it, I just knew that the ship had something called a gravity plane and that would keep a bubble of air around the ship if I ever did take into space, which I didn't plan to happen, and it would keep people's feet on the deck.
Another thing to consider was that the Galleon has poor manoeuvrability and armour when compared to other spelljammers and I had no one to manage the weapons so I didn't intend to get into any battles. I could easily avoid other spelljammers and threats like them by going to worlds that simply don't have means of taking down such a target. In case of unexpected siege weapons I'd invested in a magical shield.
Galleons make adequate trading vessels in space, and are the ships of choice for many of the nations within the Forgotten Realms that dabble in spelljamming. While the Galleon does not perform as well in space as ships specifically designed for spelljamming, it is nevertheless an adequate ship, and has the advantage that it can easily trade with the peoples of less advanced nations without freaking everyone out too much as it doesn't look that alien.
The cargo holds of the Galleon are large enough that the ship can carry a significant amount of trade goods to and from foreign worlds. I would have little trouble filling the holds as I could plunder the version of Earth that had been overrun by zombies.
"How does it fly?" asked Laura.
I did my best to explain that while the ship had sails, on top as well on the side that acted somewhat like wings, they were not the ship's main source of motion, that would be a magical device known as a helm.
Both major and minor helms work in the same way, by converting magical energy into movement, but the one on this vessel didn't take magical energy directly from living beings, rather the Furnace as it is called, takes it from magical items that are fed into it and subsequently destroyed.
This allows the individual seated upon the helm to move large amounts of mass by directly channelling that spell energy into the helm and that energy comes from the destroyed magical items.
While this provides movement, it is mostly used to push the ship forward; manoeuvring is primarily accomplished through use of the ship's sails. Because the motive power of the ship comes from the conversion of spell energy, only mages and clerics are able to power this type of helm, as they use their own power to help things along and to direct the energy.
Since you have to be a magic user to direct a spelljammer only I would be able to fly it, unless Ciri started using her magic. However it shouldn't be too taxing as I could open up big portals, meaning that we wouldn't need to travel far.
A minor helm like the one I'd purchased along with ship can move a ship up to fifty tons, while a major helm can move up to one hundred tons. Both helms can move a minimum of one ton. Only one helm can be used at a time, but smart captains are advised to keep another helm onboard as backup. I had plenty of magical items I could sacrifice for motive power.
"And who are you going to use as crew?" asked Ciri. "You'll need some experienced sailors."
I'd long ago dealt with that.
"Because I'll be using portals the ship won't be up in the air for long," I explained. "It has to land on water, unless you have the correct landing ramp, which we do here, but most people live near a body of water and landing it will be the job of its clockwork crew."
They would freak out anyone who snuck onto the vessel so I'd place muggle-repelling charms and other bits of defensive magic onto the ship. The clockwork crew had to be wound up before they'd work, and I was fine with that since I wouldn't need them active for long. Plus they could remain inert during the time I spent trading.
"We'll have to unload and load the cargo ourselves," I said, "which will be made a lot easier with careful application of the correct spells."
I'd invested in some sort of mobile market stalls that weren't noticeably magical until you tried to move them. Thankfully there were spells you could use to stop non-magical people from really noticing magical stuff and I'd learned to employ them. They wouldn't stop anyone from shopping at the market stalls, rather it would stop people from questioning their existence.
"Seems like a lot of work just to trade stuff," pointed out Laura.
I explained my reasoning and how the trader part was really just a cover to allow us to interact with the natives of less advanced worlds without freaking everyone out too much.
There was little point having access to the multiverse if you couldn't go out and enjoy it. From my perspective I'd been mostly hanging out in Narnia for what felt like years and no time at all, yet I still fancied travelling more even if I'd not actually been staying in Narnia for very long.
"It wasn't as much work as you might think," I told the ladies "I just had to find the right merchants over in Sigil and pay them a lot of money".
I'd some time to skill before the duelling contests this summer and there were plenty of interesting people out there to go meet.
"No weapons?" asked Ciri.
I'd thought about it, only to realise that I'd need living crew members for that. Though I'd gotten really good with magic and as such if I needed to destroy something I could throw a lot of spells at it myself.
"What are you going to trade?" wondered Ahsoka.
I'd already figured out where we could go for lots of free stuff.
Shopping Mall. Zombie World.
At over twelve million square feet (equivalent in size to more than fifty football fields), the Dubai Mall is the largest shopping mall in the world and calling it a mall in no way did it justice.
This place had its own dinosaur skeleton, which I'd decided to leave alone, and something called a gold souk which I figured was a fancy term for needlessly expensive jewellery stores. It was a location that I was quite happy to pillage or loot or salvage, whatever it could be called when there was no around to actually steal from.
"I feel like we're looting a tomb," remarked Fred.
My other companions, who'd gone off on their own to see what was worth taking, were immune to disease, and as such couldn't become zombies. They were all also powerful enough to avoid getting bitten in the first place. Fred on the other hand was all too mortal and as such I'd insisted on keeping her close while we took what we wanted from this massive mall. I was invulnerable to physical damage due to the orbs as such I had nothing to worry about.
Fred had recently been off visiting her parents and somehow she'd managed to convince them not to chain her up in her bedroom so that she didn't go missing again. Between dealing with that drama I'd put her to work back engineering cell phones so that I could sell them in the Muggle world which was in the 1980s time period. It would be interesting to see if they'd accept the technology and what it might lead to the Muggles inventing using the technology. Would computers advance even faster than they had in my world?
I'd had second thoughts on introducing laser weapons to a world stuck in the Cold War, but there would be plenty of other worlds who would happily by laser weapons from me should I decide to sell them.
"I guess we are," I replied. "But this stuff is just lying around, taking it changes nothing. If I sell it in other worlds at least they might be put to some use."
With a wave of my aspen wand a number of chests the size of match boxes began flying out of one of my pouches of holding, growing larger as they settled on the ground before they opened up. Then with another wave of my wand the fancy accessories began to neatly fill the chests. Once that was done the now filled chests moved back into my pouch of holding, returning to the size of matchboxes despite now being filled with expensive wares.
These goods alone should be more than enough merchandise to allow me to pass myself off as a trader from foreign land when I visited worlds that hadn't yet mastered any means of flight on their own.
"You really are a wizard," commented Fred. "You just need your own tower filled with books and wizard stuff."
I'd considered it before. I could fit one in the garden of the Pocket Di-Mansion easily enough.
"I might get one," I said to Winifred.
If it was possible to just buy a magical tower that could be relocated then Sigil would be the place to get it. Apart from the convenience, having one that just popped up like that would make me feel more like a wizard.
"So I've got chests full of shiny stuff and army surplus," I mentioned, "what else would the people of a medieval level world be eager to buy? You lived in Pelya, what did people there spend a lot of money on?"
Modern day stuff was nice, but a lot of it was created using mass production and that meant they were designed to be easily replaced, and not well suited when your market is made up of people who don't buy a lot of new stuff unless they are very wealthy. Army surplus tends to be more rugged and made to last even in hostile conditions. I also wanted to avoid selling electronics and plastics, as that stuff would look too alien.
"Kitchen stuff," Fred told me after some thought. "Pots and pans, knives and forks, cups and glasses. They haven't changed much, but our stuff is easier to clean. Oh and fancy silverware for the nobles."
Hopefully the glass wouldn't turn out to be too fragile. I'd hate to transport a load of the stuff to another world and end up with shards of glass filling up my cargo bay.
"Sounds good to me," I said.
I had plenty of more chests to fill and we still had hours of daylight left so we could tour the mall and see what else we could find.
Fred assured me that stainless steel cutlery would sell well. We also stopped off at a hunting store for an array of knives with wooden handles.
As for kitchen ware, aside from pots and pans, we picked up bowls and plates. Since I was worried about durability, we hit up a camping store and looted the stainless steel and enamel camping stuff.
Salt as ever would always valuable in more primitive worlds, and doesn't spoil. We had to fill some none plastic containers, but that wasn't much trouble and the spices we took mostly came in glass jars.
I knew that liquor would probably sell well and last a good long while, as such we looted shop for wine and spirits. After we ended up looting a hardware store for axes, hammers, saws, etc, even nails could have value because they were a pain to make by hand and took time to produce.
We found bolts of fabric from a textile store, along with needles, all metal scissors, and thread. We even took some string before Fred told me how much she'd wished for a few blankets when she'd been lost in a less advanced world and there plenty made from more natural materials.
I'd decided against stocking up on fancy foods so that I could avoid ending up with a lot of mould. Instead I focused on other luxury items such as scented soaps and candles.
After that I ran out of matchbox chests which was a shame because I found some matches that could have sold well. I'd just have to come back.
Chapter 41
Author Notes
I've decided not to write more for My Multiverse Harem Adventure because while it was fun it wasn't going anywhere I never had real plans for it. Plus I gave the MC way too many options and so as a person would, he got distracted. Ending up with never getting much done at all.
Mostly I just wanted to write something that was hopefully amusing and I seemed to succeed. I'd not posted on QQ before so I didn't know what kind of reaction I'd get and so far its been positive.
This time I will be planning out the story and I have an idea of what I wanted to do with CYOA.
I've actually used an earlier version of this CYOA to write a couple of stories on fanfiction that involved a lot of magic users and a harem that by the second story got filled with pointless characters.
To be different this story will focus on science fiction universes and while the character can move between universes it takes time as well as effort so he won't be overwhelmed by his options.
I plan to give him a big space ship, a crew made up of people either evil (and therefore can be enslaved) or were rescued in some way. I plan for the MC to trade or otherwise acquire resources, technology and maybe more crew, he doesn't have to do it legally.
Gforce1000's Low Anime Rule 34 Economy CYOA V2.3
Set Up
World - Warhammer 40k
(Since he won't be staying in that universe for more than a few days while the Jump Engines charge up I figured that I'd start there so as to give myself as many points for the Start Up as possible)
Budget 250
Companions
Comic Book Companions
Blackfire - 15 points
(She's powerful and knows how to have fun. I figured that she'd make a decent companion to someone who might decide to play Space Pirate)
235 points
Video Game Companions Part 2
Cortana - 25 points
(She should be able to run the entire ship like Rommie does for the Andromeda and she's expensive enough to fulfil such an important role. She was recovered after she and the Master Chief parted ways and her rampancy all fixed up)
210 points
Star Wars Companions
Barriss Offee - 10 points
(Taken from prison after she goes evil. We'll she's only trained to the level of a Padawan she has some healing abilities according to the CYOA and she has experience in fighting from the Clone Wars)
200 points
Propagation Options
Binding Contracts - 5 points
195 points
Influence Options
Perk Sharing - 5 points
190 points
Obedience - 10 points
180 points
Simple Perks
Blinged Out - 15 points
(Power Armour and Bolters for everyone)
165 points
Advanced Perks
Slick Ride - 15 points
Most likely a Gothic-class cruiser.
150 points
Storage - 1 point
149 points
Zippy - 1 point
148 points
Warp Beacon - 5 points
143 points
Defence Systems - 5 points
138 points
Workshop - 5 points
133 points
Military Grade - 10 points
123 points
Armoury - 10 points
113 points
Size Upgrade - 10 points
103 points
Maid Droid Crew - 15 points
88 points
Jump Drive - 20 points
68 points
Teleportarium - 20 points
48 points
Optimization - 1 point
47 points
Purity of Body - 5 points
42 points
Purity of Mind - 5 points
38 points
Magic Knife - 1 point
37 points
Zero Sword - 2 points
35 points
Craftsmen - 15 points
20 points
I might as well get someone good with tech.
Tali'Zorah -15 points
(I need an engineer and I had enough points left. She was plucked from her time line just before dying on a mission because that makes the MC feel better about enslaving her)
5 points.
Harely Quinn - 5 points
(She's good for a laugh and I have a few points left)
0 points
Someone please check my maths before I make a final version of the set-up and let me know what ideas you have. It should be possible for me to fit some of them in.
Chapter 42
Gforce1000's Low Anime Rule 34 Economy CYOA V2.3
Part 1
The Boundless Endeavour. Warhammer 40k Universe.
I was all alone on the bridge of my brand new star ship, or to be more exact I was sitting by myself on a comfy command throne within the bridge of my warship. This was a massive space going vessel made by the Imperium of Man as such it was suited well for exploration or peaceful practices like you might see if you were watching Star Trek.
The massive craft was an Ambition-class Cruiser, which as I'd discovered thanks to some logs, is an extremely rare class of cruiser, within the Imperium of Man. According to the files it had been produced by the Kormisoshi Dockyards of the Calixis Sector for private clients like unusually wealthy Rogue Traders rather than the Imperial Navy or the Space Marine Chapters.
Despite the fact that they are intended for use by private citizens instead of the military, these formidable Cruisers possess firepower comparable to that of the Lunar-class, a vessel I would have chosen for myself if not for the fact this vessel made more sense since it was privately owned.
If this ship had an organic crew they would have found their sleeping spaces to be very poor when compared to the opulent quarters that the master of this ship and its other high ranking officers could enjoy. I knew Blackfire was off looting such rooms so as to turn her own quarters into something more appropriate for royalty. She was, after all, a princess.
While it had a great deal of luxury within the Ambition-class was still a briskly efficient spacecraft according to the files, although it lacked some of the ultra-conservative redundancies built into true naval vessels. That would be a concern if I'd for some insane reason decided to stick around in this nightmare universe, but since I planned to get to friendly places I would very soon be the captain of a very powerful warship.
It had been a tense few days ever since a giant flaming eye had appeared before me, yelling something about Stabbing Day and I'd mostly recoiled in terror at the time, but I'd figured out how to fill out the CYOA and how to get the most of it.
Before deciding on anything I'd carefully read through the provided documents knowing that I would need to fully understand what would happen once the CYOA was filled out. Once I'd gotten a decent enough grasp on what it was all about, I realised that if done right I would not be stuck in one universe, not if I selected the right options and planned it out carefully.
Which is how I ended up with an Imperial cruiser from Warhammer 40k, five useful companions (or at least four as I'd selected Harley Quinn more because I had points left over than anything else) and a plan of sorts.
During the planning I'd never come up with a fixed role for myself as I wanted to remain flexible, but the main idea was to travel from universe to universe doing whatever it took to acquire the technology I needed, riches, more crew and important information.
I would also require something to trade, and if need be I wouldn't always do that in legal and moral ways. I didn't have the crew required to hit any big targets such as raiding a colony, however given the sheer size and power of my cruiser I'd be able to scare people into giving me stuff rather easily.
If I had to, I could unleash Blackfire on people, as a comic book character she was more than powerful enough to take on the crews of small vessels that I might encounter even without me backing her up while I wore my power armour.
Since the IOM didn't give a damn about privacy I could easily track the locations of my companions.
Harley Quinn was off exploring some of the lower levels of the ship, what she expected to find I had no idea as aside from our quarters the ship was mostly empty, aside from what it needed to function and I really hoped that she didn't mess with the ordnance.
I'd picked Harley Quinn because she'd been cheap in terms of points, but also because I felt less bad about enslaving a villain than I would have if I'd conscripted a hero. Plus she was a hottie and rather good at close quarters combat for a human.
Blackfire was still in her quarters, she'd naturally taken the largest ones as her own, something I'd not minded as I preferred staying in a room that was more a luxury apartment than a small palace, and my quarters were closer to the bridge.
I'd chosen Blackfire as a companion with the intent of her being my power house, the muscle of the group. She could fly around and blast people with bolts of energy. Add to that she was much stronger and tougher than a human, so she'd be useful to me in combat.
Since the documents involved in the setup of the CYOA had some wiggle room in them I'd added some notes and requested a version of Barriss Offee who had been locked up, figuring that she'd have an easier time accepting a place with me if it meant getting out of her cell.
The giant flaming eye had mentioned something about feeding the knife throwing monkeys, which I took to be insane gibberish, and I'd gotten a version of Barriss Offee who was locked up for a terrorist attack on the Jedi Temple.
She'd been a Jedi healer before the Clone Wars required her to take up a combat role, and unlike others she'd not adapted well to the role. I would not make her fight again aside from in defence of herself or the group and so I'd made her my chief medical officer. Something that resulted in her spending her time in what passed for a sickbay on my cruiser.
Tali'Zorah mostly stayed in the workshop that had been provided for her by the CYOA, hers looked far more advanced than mine, as her work space included a lot of Mass Effect technology, whereas mine was a mixture of modern and medieval. I assumed that this had something to do with the Craftsmen Perk I'd paid for. The Quranian engineer was already taking apart Imperial tech and trying to figure out how it all worked.
Because she'd got to share my perks she didn't have to worry about not having the right food or her immune system while working. She'd used the Optimization Perk which had the ability to make her an amino-acid species, and this was good or she'd be starving to death by now as we had only emergency rations onboard.
Through Cortana I had control over my ship as well as access to a lot of Halo tech. It hadn't been a simple matter of uploading the AI into the cruiser's systems as they weren't designed for an artificial intelligence to operate, but she was learning fast and even though Tali did not like AI she was willing to help make some adjustments to the Imperial tech to help Cortana.
This version of Cortana had been saved from rampancy by the CYOA as such she didn't mind being here and her life expectancy had gone from mere moments to a hundred years since all companions shared that with me as I'd gotten the Optimization Perk which promised me a century of life from this point on, baring a tragic accident or successful attempt at murdering me.
"How's the integration going?" I inquired of Cortana.
While the maid-droid crew did the maintenance, repair and cleaning stuff that would be handled by a human crew they couldn't really fly the ship that task would fall to Cortana.
"Not as well as I hoped" admitted the projected hologram "I'm having trouble networking the different systems, there are safeguards against AI hacking, if I'd tried to infiltrate the systems from the outside I never would have gotten anywhere near this far".
Given that the humanity of this universe had suffered through an AI uprising it wasn't shocking to hear that the ships of the Imperium had measures in place to stop a machine intelligence from interfering with the running of their vessels.
"Tali's working on some hardware to help me get around the safeguards" stated Cortana.
"She's been doing much more than that" said a voice.
Via a manipulation of the controls my command throne turned so that I could see the combat engineer walk onto the bridge and even though I couldn't see her face I could simply tell that the alien female was in a good mood. Getting to play with all this new tech was making her very happy I guessed.
This version of Tali had been recovered by the CYOA just before she died on a mission, something that made me feel much better about having her here. Also since captains are highly respected in her society she didn't need ordering about much, as she was happy to go along with what I wanted.
Plus I'd made her the chief engineer of a warship she referred to as a super-dreadnought, by the standards of her galaxy it deserved the name as it was many times larger than
"I've not only built an interface which should help Cortana interface with the different systems I'm close to figuring out how the Imperial laser weapons work" Tali reported "Aside from the power packs, I copy the technology I just don't get how they work".
I knew that Lasguns are reliable, easy to maintain and to produce, and are readily available on most Imperial worlds. Each of the laser guns are powered by a small rechargeable power pack located beneath the weapon and in front of the trigger guard which can be recharged in a number of ways, including by sunlight, even if that makes little sense.
"Anyway that's not why I am here" she was now saying.
Despite having fixed her immune system so that it was as strong as it could be, Tali still wore her suit, out of habit I figured.
"Captain, I have an idea about where we need to go" said the combat engineer "I think we should hook up with the Migrant Fleet in my universe, or at least the closest you'll get".
Since I had no desire to use my old name, as I didn't much feel like that person any more, and because I'd not been able to think of a new name, I decided that I would be called The Captain much like how a Time Lord is referred to as The Doctor or The Master.
I was no Time Lord, but I did have a ship that moved between dimensions and I felt sure that with my ability to travel to any world I wished, as long as I was willing to wait, that one day my power would eclipse that of any Time Lord.
This last part was not something I'd expected her to say as while the Mass Effect was on my list of places I wanted to go, because unlike others it had no higher powers that could wish me away or anything like that, I'd not considered going there so soon.
"We can't just jump directly to the Migrant Fleet even if we knew for sure when we'd arrive in your home galaxy," pointed out Cortana "The Jump Drive only moves us from planet to planet and we have to know which world we are going to".
We might find that galaxy overrun by Reapers under the control of the Prothens, unless the Jump Drive somehow took my desires into account. The only reason that we could go to a Mass Effect universe at all was because Tali had star charts stored on her omni-tool. Trying to get to her part of the multiverse without them would be a tricky prospect indeed.
Cortana also had star charts from her native dimension which I hoped to use to visit the UNSC sometime so as to open up trade relations as they did have some cool tech and I had plenty they'd be interested in.
Finding worlds we didn't have maps for wasn't impossible; it would take longer to locate them. And while we had started in orbit of a world it was a lifeless rock in the middle of nowhere. This was by design as I didn't want anyone finding my ship before my week in this universe was done. Even if someone showed up with the Zippy Perk I should be able to keep them at a distance until it was time to Jump.
"We don't need to appear near the Migrant Fleet" Tali explained to us "In fact it would be better if we didn't as that would scare everyone. Instead we just need to travel to a world like Ilium. Once there I can contact the fleet and let them come to us and then we can make some modifications that I have in mind".
The combat engineer used an Imperial made holographic projector to display an image of the cruiser.
"I don't think it will be possible to install a Mass Effect drive" the cute alien female started by saying "We must get rid of some of these Marcocannons. They are more powerful than any weapon I've seen before, and you have eight of them on each side of the ship, but they have a very low rate of fire and we can't replenish these cannons".
The Marocannons were meant to be used on ships closer to the size and power of my cruiser, those ships would not be fast moving or agile, but the space going vessels of other universes could be.
"I suggest removing half of them and replacing them with a number of Thanix Cannons" were her next words "They are far less powerful, but they have a much greater rate of fire and accuracy".
In this universe cruisers such as my own would be escorted by frigates and they would target smaller enemy vessels leaving the cruiser free to lash out with its big guns at larger hostile vessels. I didn't have any escort vessel so I'd have to adapt the military tactics and be grateful that I was unlikely to start a fight with anyone with the kind of fire power needed to bring down my Void Shields.
"I wouldn't mind installing some easier to use computers," mentioned Cortana "The Imperials once were built to last, but they aren't the most user friendly machines".
The quarian promised to look into that.
"Assuming that the Migrant fleet agrees to help us and we can buy what we need from Illium, how would we pay for any of it?" I wondered "We have nothing worth trading".
I couldn't see her face yet somehow I knew Tali was smiling at me.
"You have laser guns," she needlessly reminded me.
The armoury had a number of such weapons along with Imperial models of shotguns and some kind of automatic weapons. The kind of stuff navy armsmen must use to keep order on an Imperial vessel or repel boarders or to put down crew that have decided to mutiny.
"Once I've figured them out we can license the technology and sell the weapons to every private security company and military organization in the galaxy" the combat engineer said "Everyone will want one and we'll split the profits with the Migrant Fleet who can refit the ship for us much faster than you'd think since we're used to modifying any ships we can get our hands on without ever having excess resources without drydocks"
If everyone had access to the laser tech it would maintain the balance of power and perhaps I could even sell them laser cannons (the ship had a few serving as point defences) to use against the Reapers.
"With those binding contracts you have we can pick up some crew" suggested Tali "The mechs are fine for cleaning and maintenance, it's just that we'll need a whole team of engineers, pilots for the support craft and a combat team for ground side operations".
She must have discussed with Cortanta, despite her people's mistrust of AI, as the virtual person was now displaying a new image, some sort of graph.
"The hierarchy aboard this ship will have three layers" said the AI "The maid droids are at the bottom since they are just simple machines. Then we'll have the crew that we pick up in different universes. They'll be bound by binding contracts that commit them to serve as crew, but not as proper companions like we are".
They'd still get the perks as companions, which could serve as a lure to get them to sign up; they just wouldn't get to spend much time with me. Perhaps this wasn't in the spirit of the CYOA however I could find no rule against using binding contracts this way.
It would result in my ship being filled with workshops since they'd share the craftmen perk with me, so it was a good thing that my cruiser was more of a flying fortress-city in space than a starship.
"Despite strict population controls the Migrant fleet always has more people than it can really support" Tali said "And with the Perks offered it won't be hard to find say a hundred young quarian females who can serve as engineers, pilots and so on. You might want to hire some asari for a combat team for their years of experience and biotics".
That might seem like a good way to get spies aboard my ship, and it would work if not for the contracts, as soon as anyone willingly signed them they'd have to serve me and tell me who they used to work for.
"I don't think that installing a mass effect drive into the ship will be possible" Cortana was now saying "But replacing a few of the Macrocannons and installing some extra mass drivers should be possible since the weapons systems are designed to be replaceable".
This was when I realised something important.
"What would happen to the Macrocannons your people remove?" I asked Tali'Zorah.
She must have considered this.
"The Migrant fleet should be able to mount them on our biggest vessels" she told me "They could make a real difference when the Reapers arrived or against the geth".
Such technology could alter the balance of power in that galaxy which didn't seem wise, although I could share the tech with everyone, or let the quarians deal with people who would try to steal it. Would it really be my problem?
After giving Tali's proposal some thought I decided to go with it. I did need a better variety of weapons and if the lasers made us as much money as Tali hoped there was plenty in that galaxy I'd like to buy. However we wouldn't be going directly there and so we'd have time to hash out more details.
"My plan is to take us to a version of my home world that's been overrun by zombies or something else we can manage so we can loot it without bothering anyone" I informed Tali.
Cortana and I had already discussed this idea.
"You mean those dead people who eat living people in those horror movies that humans love so much?" she questioned "I never understood why the zombies don't try to eat each other since they are always so much slower than the still breathing humans and there are more zombies than living people".
In most zombie movies the whole eating people thing has to do with the primal need to feed although why they'd target other humans when there is food just lying around was also a mystery.
"Yeah those things" I said "Hopefully we'll arrive after things have calmed down and be able to loot what is left of civilization. All the planet's wealth will be left unattended".
That meant all the gold was just lying around as would be all that world's fine works of art, historical treasures and while I was there I could grab some technology such as game consoles, DVD players and so on that would make my travel time pass by more pleasantly.