Romancing the Last Dryad
Book 1: Corruption
Chapter 1: Meeting the First Nymph (Beginning of the Introduction Arc)
Beginning AN:
Please Note that this is currently in the process of getting a smaller edit/rewrite, not as big as this version is to the older one (no chapter shuffling, which is partly why I'm uploading this as its own story), soon the chapters will be tweaked a bit. Chapter 3 in particular. I'm only posting this now because I've been putting off this cross-mirroring thing.
Alright. This is probably behind only 361 Striking Degrees as the story of mine I have overhyped the most. (Context: I "hyped" it with the old Nymphlopedia. Now though, Nymphlopedia's also getting rewritten, and that's going to be a tie-in in the middle of this rather than before it.)
Mature Content Warning: The most important thing I have to say about this is that this is a slow-burn story. For the most part. There will be quite a lot of sex, but it's not going to be wall-to-wall every chapter and these chapters will have a lot of actual story (and yeah, don't skip around for the sex or you won't know what the hell is going on), so if you're expecting this to just be "Pervy Lewd Fest 2023," well, this might disappoint you. There are no sex scenes at all in this beginning two-parter until the very end. There's some suggestive stuff, and I promise that the main Nymph here will stay naked throughout the entire story, (I fucking hate hate HATE the trope of "naked wild character meets human, but then develops a downright crippling sense of modesty and that's supposed to be seen as cute and good. My Fictionpress makes this more obvious, the stuff over there is on average racier than my non-Terraria fanworks for several reasons) so if you're like me and just want to see a casually naked heroine... here you go! There's lots of that! Oh yeah, there will be sex eventually, it'll be going for like "R-rated" rather than "X-rated" territory kind of, but it's not the focus of this. Nymphlopedia will be the better thing that's just pure fanservice once I set a schedule on rewriting it. (And even that won't just be full-blown porn.)
Oh, for those who read the old version, it might look like I "toned down" content, but overall trust me, I didn't. This isn't "censored." I'll explain more in the closing notes.
About the (latest) rewrite: So the main purposes of the "Final" Lore Rewrite were actually shuffling around some of the Nymph Variants and tweaking the lore; and splitting up the "Snow and Sand Arc" so that it doesn't move too fast and cram too much in it all at once. However, I also didn't like a lot of things in the Introduction Arc, which is this one. So I changed it a lot. Wrote it from scratch (mostly, a few things were copy-pasted from the old writing, such as this opening note), I thought it rushed a little too much to the Nymph's introduction so I elaborated at the beginning.
But anyway, for those new here (which should hopefully be most readers, eventually), don't worry. It won't take too long for the initial Nymph to show up, and the others will follow shortly. I don't like fanfics that promise an interesting premise but all that's out is an introductory chapter that doesn't even get to it. I had wanted to have the rewritten Chapters 1 and 2 both out and done by the anniversary of the update, but I didn't get Chapter 2 finished on time. Still though, I got this one done, so... that's something? I promise to have Chapter 2 rewritten very soon and added to this.
It took him every last bit of money saved up over the years, not even a single copper coin left, but he did it. He finally did it. He saved up for a way out. As far as he knew, and for what he hoped, those steps he took on the cold concrete of the Human Capital would be his last steps in that godsforsaken continent.
A man dressed in a casual, cheap blue shirt and faded black pants walked forth across a smog-covered, crowded hellhole shithole of a city, to the hot air balloon that would be his ticket out of there. His hair, jet black, a bit messy, partly because of how he lived before, partly just out of his general lack of care. The man's build, not too much, average in muscle, weight, and height. His most noteworthy features were his bright blue eyes and having a very small goatee, yet he was otherwise hairless aside from his head. Behind him, his one companion. Brown hair that stuck past his face, gray eyes, a slight bit more rectangular and bulkier than him, dressed in a green shirt and blue jeans. Tears of joy sprang on the former man's face as he handed the tickets - that he made absolutely sure to never leave his bright and watery eyes, he'd have stitched them to the inside of his eyelids so that he'd see them every time he blinked if he could afford it - over to the vendor. Who may have had the most miserable job on the Capital (and that was saying a lot) - being forced to stay back while actively watching so many other, far more fortunate people leave.
All the first man had with him were a trio of tools - he could have afforded better, but couldn't wait to leave. Made of cheap copper, there was but a crude sword that probably couldn't even kill an ant, a pickaxe that would take forever to get anything, and an axe that might be good at pissing off Wood Elves but was useless for anything else. (Still meaning that the axe was the most valuable tool.)
On board, the man with the goatee coughed one final cough of the smog infested air, his companion and Guide tugged on the string to get it to go, and they lifted up. Finally.
Departure. He felt like he could smile again.
...
The balloon burst out of a slate gray cloud of smoke, and the duo found themselves out in fresh air in the open ocean. Nothing but sea for a good distance, and then... after about an hour of travel...
The Islands.
None other than the Nature Islands!
Neither man was unfamiliar with them. As part of the training, they had to camp out in there over the process of becoming certified Adventurers.
Sprinkling the endless stretch of sea from there were specks of all sorts, all colors and shapes. Some dry stretches of sand, others put under the constant sprinkles of small, low-level clouds. In contrast to their monolithic old home, the Nature Islands were bright, welcoming, life was visible from there. They seemed safe from a glance, no matter how exotic they looked or how... tall or sharp their mountains seemed, but both the men knew that the dangers were not in the landscapes themselves, but the beings on. Or especially under.
Their goal wouldn't be for a while. The pair were fortunate enough to have scored an especially large Nature Island, with a good deal of 'neutral' Forest that would mean lots of (relatively) safe ground for supplies. The man with the goatee would have settled for a smaller and more dangerous island, but his Guide insisted that one in particular.
"The Shores of Sparkling." As if he could read his mind, the taller man spoke up, spooking his companion a little. "Or Sun Island, as the Dryads once called it. It's the site of the city the Lunatic Cult took over."
"I'll stay away from that at all costs." He drew in a deep breath - the fresh air will never get old to him, that he knew. "You know Trent, the more I think about it, the more I think going to that island was a good investment. I'm sorry I tried to twist your arm to pick something smaller. But more space to relax will be better."
"Well, there's several reasons why I picked this island. All Adventurer teams who went here went missing or left, so we'll have the place to ourselves for a while. And there's a lot more rare and exotic objects left over here. The Jungle's pretty big, too, and I've been wanting to research that."
"Ah yeah. Your job. Mine's..." The man with the goatee shrugged. "I'll be a farmer? Honestly, I didn't plan much beyond building my house and then just living 100% independant. Food grown by me. Walls fixed by me. Hey, it's laborous, but that's still nothing compared to Pollution City back there."
He turned around as if to make his point to Trent, only to find that the old Capital was already not even visible. Just more ocean, dotted by more fantastic islands. He thought in the very distance due north he might have seen a landmass that could have probably been the Elf Continent, but... he really didn't want to think about that. As far as he cared, it was just the Nature Islands. Only the Nature Islands, from horizon to horizon.
Yet another thing to take in.
"Are you sure that's all you want to do, Vince?" Trent asked. "When I told you about the Shores of Sparkling, you really stood against the idea. Then you went to the library, came out less than an hour later, and you were suddenly a lot more on board with it. It was almost like you found out something about that place and you didn't want to tell me."
Vince turned away in embarrassment. "Well... I learned something... but... it's a pie in the sky fantasy of mine. It'll never happen. I shouldn't want to try to make it happen."
"Hold that thought. Because we're almost there."
Yep. Growing closer was a relatively huge island that, well, clearly got its name from the Dryads on account of being round and have several mini islands around it that looked like a crude depiction of rays of light beaming from it. Sun Island, or as Vince and Trent cared, the Shores of Sparkling. A lot of it was green - very green up north in a particularly huge cluster of trees. Towards the east of the massive round island was a snowy, hilly patch, with an ominous purple pit near the edge of that. To the west was a vast desert, and just shortly beyond it was a dense mess of vegetation. Several giant trees were also seen, with the largest one being in the northern spot with all the green. Towards the southern end was a massive area coated in violet fog, with what... looked like some kind of buildings there near the middle? Lakes, valleys, and even exposed ravines were also visible at various spots dotting the island, but none of those really stood out to Vince.
Yet.
They landed in the dead center of the island, one of the many plain and normal Forests around. It was there that they were greeted by a man dressed in an all-black suit, sunglasses and hat and all. Vince flinched - their final remnant of that fucking city.
"Landing successful." The suited man said. "And noted. Vincent Tarius, Trent Palms. We'll take the hot air balloon back."
"By all means it's yours." Vince said. He really didn't care about his rude tone. So be it. It's not like they could do anything to him from that point onwards. Trent, meanwhile, was getting the door open.
Once it was, Vince and Trent both stepped off, the suited man stepped on and got the balloon lifting again, and that was it.
The start of Vince's brand new life. He looked all around himself. Open air. Freedom. He could do as he wished. Fight. Dig. Explore.
But fuck any of that. He just wanted a spot to relax.
For the first day, Vince built a small handful of houses. Well, more like shacks. He got busy to chopping down lots of trees and built them up in crude box-like shapes. Trent immediately took to the first one, and kind of invited himself in. Vince didn't want to kick him out or anything, and he planned to build a few anyway, so he just took the second on his own.
Along the way, some green and blue blobs jumped over to the duo and harassed them. Slimes. Vince honestly just got back from them whenever they showed up, though Trent took out his tools he brought with him - a bow and a fairly decently-sized quiver - and sniped at them. With just about two-three arrows per Slime, they burst, leaving behind small and harmless fragments of themselves. Vince got to placing them on small sticks and striking those sticks together, creating some torches. Giving light. Which, according to Trent, was pretty important to setting up a little society. Vince honestly thought he could just sleep and such in pitch-blackness. At least at the moment.
"I know you want to live the full independant life and all, but we should prepare for invaders." Trent said. "Rumor had it before we left that pirate bands have been growing in number, and the Goblins and Elves that invade the Nature Islands just see Humans as steps in their way."
"Alright, tomorrow." Said Vince.
"I mean... there's a small grassy tunnel over to the west, I think I spotted a treasure chest there. I'll go make more arrows, if you could check it out for a little. You can get right back."
"Sure thing."
Vince ventured out. The chest was not really a long walk. Not too far, and with stabbing at more Slimes with his own sword, he reached it easily. A dusty old brown box. Still, there was a small bit of excitement in him as he creaked the chest open, looking in to find...
...Junk. Just a little stepstool, two cans of worms, some torches, a trio of those tiny healing potions... maybe a few scraps of silver coins...
Vince closed the chest with a disappointed look on his face. After grabbing everything and stuffing it to his spaceous backpack, of course.
"Not much good?" Trent suddenly said, which made Vince jump a bit.
"I thought you were back at the town!" Vince said. "Er... shacks."
"I was, and then I finished restocking my arrow supply."
Vince sighed. "You know, you have a point. Enemies will come after us, and what we have right now kind of sucks. As much as I hate the thought, I'm going to go out a bit."
"Really? It's almost night."
"I'll try to stay close. There should be something else around here, I mean, chests are apparently all over these islands. And we found that one within hours of landing. Well, you found it, but my point stands."
"There are chests around, but be careful."
Vince went out forth and kept looking around. Within the same tunnel as that initial chest was another one, although it also had... five copper bars, kinda neat, overall wouldn't be too much in the long run. Junk. He went further, stopping when he saw the grass begin to thin out and a huge blanket of sand ahead of him.
Yeah, no, Desert's the limit. He knew enough from Trent's words to not enter that place. He had no plans on going there. Ah, well, there was a small cave entrance closer to home. Turning back as the stars began to show up and his shadow got longer and longer, one more little dive wouldn't hurt...
Oh, there he went. Four chests close by one-another. He found some more rope, some freaking shuriken, some yellow shoelace thingy... it still wasn't anything great, but Vince was getting a sense of enjoyment opening a chest and seeing what was in. Maybe treasure hunting wasn't really that much of the pant-shittingly terrifying task he thought it would be, and that the people who did it weren't doomed to succumb to greed and go out to stupid areas just to open another box within. He could get used to it. Go around. Explore more. After all, he was fantasizing about going underground anyway in order to find-
Vince heard footsteps approach him that time and sighed, as he cleaned out the fourth, final, and deepest-in-that-tunnel chest. "Trent, we're gonna have to talk about sneaking up on me like that. It's-"
And then he looked over at the source of the footsteps and screamed.
"AHHHHHHH!"
Standing by the cave entrance, illuminated by moonlight, was a shambling, green-tinted, rotting-looking Human. No, a Zombie. He had what looked like bits of blood over his hands, and a faint purple glow deep within his eyes. He shambled over.
"Surface... dweller..." He said in a whispy voice.
Shit. Shit shit shit shit fuck. He took too long. It was night. It... he...
Vince threw the shuriken he got from one of the chests in a blind frenzy, thankfully cutting through the Zombie. Eventually. He ran past the fallen remains - only slowing down to not step on it, and ensure that it wasn't moving. When he emerged, he could see the very faint light of his new town out in the distance. But in-between, a sea of grass, blackening as the last bits of the sun faded.
And then he heard it. Hissing, howling. Gutteral gurgling. More zombies were around the hill, emerging from behind trees, around the hill's other side, and even some behind cave rocks. Vince had the 'fortune' of even looking as one dug herself out of the ground in front of him. He was surrounded, and they were slowly closing in on him. All the while, taunting. Although Vince knew they were but mouthpieces used by a far more nefarious enemy.
"Another meal wandered in..."
"This place is not your home..."
"We'll gladly take any snack..."
"Know your place in Terraria..."
He was out of shuriken, and had nothing of the sort to help him fight back. None of those chests he opened had Recall Potions - although he wasn't sure if those would 'know' to bring him back to his shack homes yet, he might have been warped back to the Human Capital, which would have been even worse.
The clearest direction was back in the cave, so Vince booked it. He ran faster than he ever had at any point prior in his life, making turns, going down small drops, anything he could to follow the tunnel. Thankfully, what he knew from Adventurer training was that there was a 'sweet spot' in the dirt layer, where it would be difficult for the damn necromancers to work their magic on either Zombies or Skeletons. He could hold out there, be relatively safe, aside from fighting off against the occasional worm or tw-
Click!
By the time Vince registered that he stepped on something that pressed in to the ground, it was too late. He had a very painful senstation hit him right on the back, which sent him jumping forward.
The FUCKING Dart Traps.
It started with a strong tinge of pain, but he knew it was only going to get worse. Most of those things were poisoned, and Vince was in no position to casually take his chances on whether he was hit with one of those legendary duds.
Eventually, though, he reached a point where the cave opened up. Thankfully, it was not a dead-end tunnel. There were... some forks he could go through. And- he saw a bit of light deep down further. It was risky as all hell, he threw some ropes here and there to try to make for a climbing experience. Vince felt the poison start to weaken him. He slowed down. The light was just about his only hope left, slim as it may have been. Especially with limited torches... that he didn't want to place down willy-nilly, lest he draw the Zombies and/or their mysterious puppeter(s) to his location. If he could only...
Vince made it to the source of light only through what seemed like a miracle. It was a house. A ruined, wrecked one. Hopefully the light was a lingering torch from some survivor, he did not want to risk meeting someone there. Just... sit it out. Hope that the poison could leave his body and he could work his way to recovering. He'd sleep the night away if he had to. Actually, hell, it would be best if he kept searching more chests and found a Recall Potion or a Magic Mirror. Yes, searching chests was how he got in that mess, but...
...Whatever. Vince shambled his way over to the door. He felt the poison disappear - or maybe that was just him going numb from being at the end of his life. He couldn't tell, his vision was blurry, and he felt like vomitting. Leaning his body against the wall, he went to the door-
Upon just touching it, the door swooped open, completely unlocked. Vince actually fell in to the room. He thought he heard someone (or some thing) rush out, catching maybe a brief glimpse of green go out the window? He didn't care.
Despite being ruined and filled with holes, the house was actually better than the things he made back on the surface. It had two stories, a dusty piano, an inactive chandelier... just a single chair to rest in. Which Vince did. Beggars could not be choosers.
He actually felt himself getting better as he rested, and didn't hear any enemies-
"HEEEEEEEEEELP!" He heard a woman's voice cry out.
Vince opened the door and went out - he was not in the mood to save anybody, what drove him moreso was the idea that he could have someone to keep him company during the hellish situation he was in. He searched the cave with a torch in hand, before soon shining a light on the source of that distress shout.
And... what a source. Vince's face turned bright red.
Huddled up by the cavern wall was a completely nude woman. The most gorgeous person Vince had seen yet. The torch revealed her beautiful, mid back-length hair of a pale blue, and eyes that matched it looked back with a sign of worry. She had a fairly large bust, something made more apparent when she suddenly stood up, her breasts bouncing once from the sudden movement. Her red-pink nipples stiffed a little from the cold cavern air, and she used her slender arms not to hide them, but to hold them up slightly. Push them together. Compared to her very generous chest, her middle was a bit narrower, but lead to a wider set of hips. Even looking at her from the front, Vince could tell she was blessed with a large round ass, especially from the glimpses of curve around her waist whenever she wasn't directly facing him on her way over to him. Her wide pubic area and fat lower lips were out in the open, only decorated by a small patch of hair above her vulva. R-right. Vince mentally berated himself for staring at her genitals, so his eyes went down... to her sender legs that moved across the stone floor.
"I'm lost." She said.
Vince's body betrayed him. Brain completely in the gutter, he had a very visible stiff erection poking out through his pants.
But he knew. Immediately. There was no mistaking it. It helped that that one in particular was pretty bad at hiding all the given tells he learned about from training.
"Um... I... th... thp... pfthe- stay back!" Vince finally managed to say. He took a step back and drew out his sword.
"Oh, is that your weapon?" She asked. "You seem almost as helpless as I am..." it sounded like she snorted. "Don't worry... if we both stick closely together, we can probably make it out to the surface! You have a town, right?"
"Stay back, I mean it! You don't fool me! I already know what you are! You're a Nymph, aren't you?"
And just like that, she broke the illusion. Her expression of worry turned in to a devilish grin. Her eyes went from the brilliant blue matching her hair to a burning blood red. Her teeth grew sharper, her claws extended in length, and her body turned green, with a few bits of reddish coloration around the arms and her crotch. It almost looked like she was covered in blood splatters, but in this adaptation, she isn't.
"Yes." The Nymph bluntly said. "'Ya got me. I normally wanna reveal myself just a little later when people know me just a tiny bit more, but if you know, you know-"
"RAGH!" Vince shouted. His shaking, jittering hand still pointed that worthless sword in her direction.
"I'm actually an Oread! Nymphs are the overall race, that term covers all Variants! But I understand, you modern guys don't really know much about us!" Her eyes locked on his weapon. "Hey cool, is that a Copper Shortsword? I have one of my own!"
Mischeviously, she reached in her hair and whipped out a similar sword, with it shining in the limited lights of the cave. It might have just been an illusion from Vince frankly having his life flash before his eyes, but he could swear that the sword was more touched up and better than his own. The Nymph laughed to herself as she gave a few slashes in thin air.
"Yeah, this is a piece of shit, but it's one of the ingredients to the legendary Zenith that I just found out about, and I've been thinking of starting up that collection and maybe getting that sword one day. And hey, this sword still gets the job done."
She took a step towards Vince, still pointing out the sword.
And Vince screamed.
Vince charged at the Nymph with his sword and tried to jab at her in the head. It... barely did a thing. In fact, it bounced off of her. The Nymph laughed.
"Oh, your type of Adventurers..." Her grin turned in to more and more of a devilish smirk by the second. "You look at me and see nothing but a pile of gold. Or my Metal Detector. Or some source of magic. Is that it? You just think I'm there to slay and make some ingredients out of?"
Wordlessly, Vince just tackled her, sending them both off the small cliff they were apparently on and plunging even deeper in to the cave below. They landed with the Nymph's back hitting the ground first, and thus partly breaking Vince's fall. He had her down - for safety, he tried to keep her pinned. He had the sword in hand, ready to plunge it to her head, not thinking clearly. Not considering that that failed the last time he tried it.
"Alright." The Nymph's smile disappeared entirely. "No more Ms. Nice Lady."
In an immediate motion, she managed to flip them both over, so that Vince was completely pinned on his back, while his opponent sat on his chest. She bore all of her razor-sharp teeth at him, finally done with playing around, and raised a hand showing even sharper claws.
"You smell pretty tasty, anyway... I think I'll enjoy eating you..."
"NO! PLEASE, DON'T! I'LL DO ANYTHING!" Vince shouted, eyes tearing. "I... I... BEFORE I DIE, ALL I WANTED... MY BIGGEST DREAM COMING HERE... I LIKE YOUR KIND! I WANTED TO TRY TO MAKE A NYMPH HAREM!"
"A what?" She suddenly put her claw down and loosened her grip on him. "Hold on. I thought you wanted to hunt us or something."
"...Huh? No! I mean, I was trying to kill you in self-defense."
"What are you talking about? You attacked me first."
"I- but you- I mean I... but you were swinging that sword around! And taunting me, and pulling the usual disguise and everything!"
They both paused, and remained in their places. The Nymph pinning Vince down. In silence.
"Ohhhhh... I can kind of see that." She finally got off of him and offered a hand. "Oh Pan, I am so sorry. Yeah, from where you were, I looked like an attacker there. And most of us actually are. Am I the first Nymph you've seen?"
"Yes!" He took the hand, but it was a firm grab. Vince practically yanked himself up, almost bringing the Nymph down with him. "Er... yes and no? I think I ran in to just a couple during my training, but I didn't get a good look, I was running away because they were trying to kill me. I also had help back then, but now I'm basically alone."
"You got insanely lucky, because a lot of us - especially us wandering Oreads not in a Capital City - really would like to eat any stray Adventurers. Yeah, no, trust me, you've found one of the friendly ones. I only eat people I kill in self-defense. It's because I've been harassed over my years of wandering by lots of people trying to pull shit on me. Using increasingly advanced weapons. I was almost killed by an Adventurer, you know. I ran and hid. I could have gotten the advantage on him, but a Fairy lured him to a dead man's chest and blew him up." The Nymph chuckled. "That was pretty funny. I still to this day think the Fairy did that on purpose. Not like Fairies and Oreads get along most of the time, anyway."
Vince gave her a suspicious look. But she just held a hand out.
"I'm Sonata! Something of a nomad, I guess."
"Vincent." Vince said, taking the hand and shaking it. Sonata frowned as she looked him over. "But please, call me Vince."
"Yeah shorter works better for me. Hey, Vince, no offense, but you look like shit. I mean, most people on here do. I take it you're either from the Human Capital, this isn't your first day, or both."
"Oh no it's the former. This is my first day here."
"Yeah. Wanna stay by my little makeshift home and let me patch you up?"
"I was about to beg you for that."
The handshake ended, Sonata suddenly fingergunned and winked at Vince. "But! One condition! You're one of those 'head' Adventurers, right, the kind that leads exploration teams and, more importantly, makes houses?"
"Yeah...?"
"I wanna try living in one of your homes. Throughout my five hundred years of being around, I've been all over the place, merged in different societies, that sort of thing, but I've never actually lived with an Adventurer before. For the first three hundredish years, Adventuring wasn't even a thing. And then when it was, every single one I found so far was one of those 'kill on sight' types. I guarantee that the temporary dump I have is worse than whatever you made on the surface, so you wouldn't wanna live down here."
"...Deal."
"Now, let's get you fixed up."
"HELLO?!" And they heard the voice of a third party. Less dramatic than Sonata's call for help, but it sounded more genuine. "IS ANYONE THERE?! HELP!"
Both of them looked off. The echo made it hard to tell the exact direction (at least for Vince), but the voice came from a small tunnel that lead further down.
"Ooh, this seems fun." Sonata said. "No offense, promise I'll uh help you later if you still need it. But I'm gonna check that out! Just stay in the home, this might be an emergency so I wanna get there fast."
Just like that, she began running over to the source of the voice. Leaving Vince standing there, stunned.
...Something compelled him to go after her. He knew what that 'something' was. It was called 'The fact that Vince was a fucking idiot and made horrible decisions,' and it was something that stuck with him and horrified him ever since he could think in coherent sentences.
Well, she established that she was not a threat. Or at least really good at lying about it. Vince was healing quite a bit by that point too. And... there was a potential ally. He was probably safer with Sonata and the mysterious second person than he was trying to navigate out through the caves, or go out to the night surface from there. So he stuck with his choice to follow.
Oh yeah and also he could save a potential person... unless that was another Nymph. Who actually wanted to kill and eat him.
But really, the most likely reason why he followed after her was because he finally got a clear view of her ass as she ran by. And it was a really nice ass. Large, round, bubbly, even in her more monstrous form, it was nice to look at.
Well anyway, they came across a spider nest. Vince got chills just thinking about that thing. Not a 'Natural Biome' in the sense of having its own magic system - thankfully, Vince would hate the thought of being plagued with tribes of spider-based Nymphs everywhere on the island - but it was still very dangerous. And... just disturbing in general. Fuck spiders, seriously.
Thankfully, the apparent (and actual, as Vince would learn seconds later) source of the voice wasn't too deep in it. A woman with deep pink hair with a blue bow and apron, and a blue outfit beneath. And she was webbed all over, struggling to get out.
"Oh thank the gods someone is here!" She said. Her bright green eyes met Vince's own blue, although they were notably struggling to look to Sonata's piercing red gaze. "Please, help get me out of here!"
"I- uh- well... here's the thing," Vince said, "I'll try my best, but I'm not the rescuing type, I wasn't planning on-"
"Well I've got nothing better to do, here I go!" Sonata said.
The Nymph began hacking away at all the webs. Her claws made short work of them - Vince was jealous. Back in training, he had always struggled to clear away even at the dustier, older cobwebs left by those oversized abominations.
Speaking of the devil, one of those things crawled up towards the trio. A Wall Creeper - Vince recognized that from the books he read, and hoped that he would never, ever have to see one in real life. A huge monster with a tan body and eight brown legs, its six black beady eyes looking at the three potential sources of prey. Vince looked a bit further in and saw at least two other brown figures shuffling around, mostly obscured by the web. That damn thing was not alone.
Vince and the webbed woman both screamed.
"Oh, relax, I got this." Said Sonata.
She lept at the spider and gave it a good punch to the face, sending it back. Giving Vince some more time to help the stranded woman get out.
Vince acted surprisingly fast for a man who less than an hour ago was certain he was already dead, digging away at all the web around her. Soon, she started wriggling on her own, and burst forth from that an instant later.
"Okay!" She said. "Thanks hun, name's Iris."
"Vince." Vince said about himself. He pointed over to Sonata. "And that's Sonata. We just um... met. Let's go, trust me, I could use a run back to the surface as much as you."
They stepped away, and looking back, seeing Sonata beat up the Wall Creeper with her hands. Sonata seemed to struggle with the webbing far less than either Human - almost as if she wasn't struggling at all. As Vince had caught a glimpse of, a second spider began sneaking up on Sonata, but before he could cry to her to watch out, she punched it down.
It was then that Sonata turned away and noticed that both Humans were safe, sound, and away from the web. She grinned. "Hey, fighting these was fun, but why didn't you tell me you were free?"
Sonata made her way back out, but had the first spider she fought crawl over to her. In spite of its size, it was eerily silent as it snuck up on her - which made Vince look behind himself to ensure that nothing was behind him. He was again about to call to Sonata, but she gave another slash to the beast. One that gave it a nasty gash on its head, knocking it down. One of its many legs twitched, and then later, it dropped dead.
"Mmmmmm..." Sonata said, looking at the apparent spider corpse. "You know, I've been pretty hungry. Thinking Vince was trying to kill me and almost killing him worked up an appetite. Spider meat isn't as good as Human meat, but I don't wanna kill and eat Vince or our rescue now, so whatever." Sonata licked her lips, moved those lips back, and also licked through her razor-sharp teeth.
"Wait, what?" Iris asked.
Sonata completely ignored her.
Instead, she plunged her face on the spider's body, loudly chomping on the creature. Iris watched on in pure horror as the Nymph began dicing it up, eating two of the legs at a rapid speed and making the occasional bites in to its abdomen. Vince just raised an eyebrow. When she was finished, most of the beast's body was still there, which Sonata used as a cushion that she leaned her back in to. She slurped up the second of the two legs she ate like a noodle, then hummed in pleasure as she was done.
The other spiders backed the hell away from her. One of them turned back, but used its front legs to pull webbing closed together, as if it was a curtain. The entrance to the nest was a near-opaque white sheet of silk, which was absolutely an improvement in Vince and Iris' eyes.
"I'm full. I got some leftovers in case either of you want some."
Iris put a hand to her mouth. Her face turned green, and it was definitely not a Nymph transformation.
"So I'm also pretty horny, if either of you two are looking for a hookup." Sonata winked at them, turning back to her disguised form.
Iris went off to a wall and threw up. Both Vince and Sonata got over to her, by her back.
"Are you okay?" Vince asked.
"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine, I just..." Iris drew in a deep breath as she recovered. "I was not expecting that. Why did I look at that?"
"I'm sorry, I guess you're not used to how we Nymphs do things around here." Sonata said. "We eat. A lot. And a lot of different things. Usually what we kill."
"It's okay." Iris had her hand on her chest, breathing heavily. Vince uncertainly tried comforting her. "I just wasn't used to it. Thanks for saving me. B-both of you."
"You're welcome." Vince said. "Sadly, I'm kind of stranded down here. A bunch of Zombies chased me to a cave, and I'm terrified of going out."
"I've fended some Zombies with my scissors. I can help you get back to whatever shelter you have set up."
"Oh, well, we can get back up together? You'll fight the Zombies and Demon Eyes, I have a house you can live in."
"Sounds like a good deal!"
Sonata cleared her throat, getting the attention of both of them.
"...You can join too if you want." Said Vince. "You helped me. I mean. You promissed to help me."
"Saving Iris is more important, sorry, you recovered on your own." Sonata said witha dismissing hand wave. "Look, you can go if you want, but uh, Vince. Nymph harem. Now that our distraction is over, let's get to that."
"I'm sorry, a Nymph harem?" Iris asked. "For another Nymph making one, maybe, but for a Human, that sounds just a tad... suicidal."
Vince and Sonata exchanged glances, and the latter shrugged. "He's probably thinking about Nymphs like me. Who don't eat Humans on sight."
"Yeah, and in the past I've had run-ins with ones who do eat Humans on sight. They tried to eat me. Sonata, you're the first friendly Nymph I've seen in my life."
"Now, granted, our reputation's pretty deserved. Buuuuut Vince is totally on to something. In fact, I even know a group of Nymphs that are friendly. In fact in fact, they could even patch you two up! They've got equipment! Lots of equipment!"
Vince looked in to his pack. Yeah, empty, lots of junk. "Really? Are we talking..."
"All sorts of magic bands, just about every kind of weather in a bottle, Lucky Horseshoes, if you can fetch a pretty platinum they've got Terraspark Boots... and they're working on the legendary Terrankh Phone, but progress on that's coming along slow thanks to the Great Magic Drop."
"This sounds nice, but can we stop over at Vince's home first?" Asked Iris. "I'm exhausted. According to my watch, I've been down here for three hours."
"Oh, neat," said Vince, "I came here in the morning. We might have almost crossed paths with each other!"
"It happens some times, yeah. I came out through... a long tunnel near the north. It's also where my old team set up their houses."
"I came from just around here. Er, I think. We could go out that end?"
"Better idea." Sonata said, pointing up and in a direction. "That's the closest entrance to the surface from here. And uh, it's pretty close to being dead center in the island. Vince, that's where your town is, right? I think Adventurers are doing that."
"...Huh. So it is." Vince said. "I'll take your word for it."
"Ah, I think a dirtslide covered the entrance back up. I'll have to dig. Shouldn't take too long."
Sonata lead the pair to a rise in the cave, and they soon came across a ceiling of dirt that the Nymph furiously dug a tunnel out of. She wasn't kidding about 'shouldn't take too long;' she was a pretty fast digger, and got them to the surface fairly quickly.
Vince actually smiled when he saw moonlight penetrate the tunnel.
"Wow, that was fast!" Vince said.
"Haha, you're really not that familiar with Nymphs. We can through anything. I can cut through stone with my claws." Sonata bragged.
"...So why did you make that sword? You didn't even use it in the fight against the spiders."
"Oh, that. Yeah, I thought I explained it, it's a Zenith ingredient. The sword itself is a piece of shit, but for some reason you can like... merge twelveish swords together in a weird way and get this supersword? I'm not sure how it works. Do you know anyone from the Order of the Guide?"
Iris sighed. "I did, but he died. He was a jerk anyway."
"I do, and hopefully if I built the shelter good enough, he's alive." Vince said. "His name is Trent. Actually, I- lemme see if he's okay!"
Sonata made a hole leading to the surface, and Vince stuck his head out.
Oh wow, Sonata wasn't kidding. They were just a few yards away from the town. Heck, it felt like Vince was already back home, even though behind him was nothing but the open grassy air. Fitting for Zombies.
Vince flinched when he felt a hand on the back of his head, especially when said hand pulled him down, but it was Sonata. She faced him with a smile.
"Woah there, I know you're happy to be back home, but I should probably look out first, agreed? I mean, I'm sorta the strongest of us right now."
"Oh, agreed. I got ahead of myself."
"No problem."
Sonata hopped out, with Vince and Iris following at a much slower pace.
Ah, a few of the Zombies were slowly shambling over to them. Vince and Iris both readied themselves, while Sonata rolled her eyes.
"Alright," Iris said, "who's ready for a throat cut-"
Sonata just snapped her fingers. The slight purple haze around the Zombies disappeared, and they appeared dazed. Wordlessly, they turned their heads down and began walking away, as if the sun had rose.
"Whatever necromancer is pulling their strings is both a fucking asshole, and not very good with magic." Sonata said. "Dispelling that was easy. C'mon, now, let's see what Vince over here built for us."
Vince got a look around and saw Trent exiting his house, madly working on the radio. The Guide's eyes popped open at the sight.
"Vince? Vince!" Trent shouted, rushing up to him.
"TRENT!" Vince shouted back, running over to him in turn.
Vince pulled Trent in to a huge hug - it didn't look like Trent was going for a hug at first, but he returned the gesture.
"Oh Trent! I missed you so much, I'm so sorry I went off like that! I should have listened all those times when you said in training and back in the Capital to never, ever go running out like that! I'll never go out again! I regret everything that happened!"
"Um, you saved my life." Iris said. "You don't regret doing that, right?"
"Oh? Oh, no!" Vince broke the hug and faced Iris. "Yeah, uh, you're probably happy I went wandering off like that, then."
"Vince, I had a radio call out set to get a search party and everything! I'm so glad you're okay! Especially because... I couldn't afford to get the Capital to send a search party."
"Of course!" Vince said. "They wouldn't send anyone to leave their 'precious' polluted wasteland unless you payed them fifty platinum! Besides, I'd rather be back in that dank cave than have to deal with their crap. They'd probably make me file a mountain of paperwork."
"Hey, speaking of going back in that dank cave," Sonata said, "You wanna join me tomorrow after we're all rested up and better and get to that awesome group I told you about? Vince, if you're serious about getting in to some Nymph lovin', I promise you that you couldn't have a better start."
"Uh, yeah. But we need rest first."
"Oh, right." Trent said. "Vince, I see you've met some friends?"
"Iris. A hair stylist." The one in blue introduced herself. "Nice to meet ya', I'd love to stick around and chat more, but I've gotta get my beauty sleep. It's gonna be rough getting back in the business like this, but I'll make due with whatever house Vince made. These look better than the house my last group had."
"I am Sonata Osfortis!" The one in nothing also introduced herself. "If you wanna Graveyard around here, without killing anything, I can eventually gather some Ecto Callers! I also go and hunt these generally cursed artifacts, I've heard this island has three of these skull thingies that make monsters go nuts and bulk them up."
"Um." Said Iris. "That sounds interesting and all. But uh, I'm sure that's dangerous. If you're gonna be living with us, can I get you to... maybe tone down a little."
Vince felt a chill go down his spine. Sonata just blankly stared at the Stylist.
"...Exactly how so? You're not implying what I think you're implying, right? I've had conversations like this before, that start with 'if you're gonna be living with us' or something like that, and then most of them take one particular forbidden turn for the ugly."
"Well, you know. Maybe not violently eat meat. Around polite company..."
"Oh, that. Deal. Especially when I make myself a kitchen and dining room. Then a restaurant."
"No weird stuff with the undead..."
"I mean, I'll draw them away from us, but yeah. Ecto Callers, I'll leave that stuff away from town. Don't want a town Graveyard, that'd be terrible!"
"And start wearing clothes?"
Oh no.
Vince facepalmed. Even Trent looked nervous. Sonata just had a completely lifeless look on her face as soon as Iris said the word 'wearing.'
"Iris," Vince said, "I've done a lot of research on Nymphs. And what I know is that if you see a naked one, which is most of them, you never ask-"
"RULE #1: NYMPHS DO NOT WEAR CLOTHES. PERIOD!"
Sonata shouted that, and as she did, she dramatically spun around and struck a pose, pointing high up to the moon. She also whipped her Copper Shortsword from her hair with her other hand, planting it on the ground. The Oread grew a smug smirk as she leaned on her sword, using her pointing hand to then point at Iris' nose.
"Listen here, you just asked the one non-negotiable thing out of me. I'd be willing to change my diet, my habits, maybe even tone down on the sex talk. But you will never, repeat ever, get me to wear shit. Look, Vince said I could be here, he could kick me out or whatever, but wherever I live, I live in the nude. Got complaints, you move out."
"I mean, this is a Human town, so-" Iris' words got another facepalm out of Vince. In fact, he started lightly banging his head against the wall of the nearest house.
"HAH! That's cute. You really think this is Human territory? Look, if I was over at the Capital, I'd maybe respect your culture and put on clothes, but thankfully clothing is still optional over there, so that's still an uphill battle. But you're on the Nature Islands, motherfucker. Even the Forests that Nymphs don't like going to, this is 100% Nymph territory. You guys are only here because most Nymphs are busy doing their own thing and leaving the wilds and the surface and stuff unchecked. You are vastly outnumbered by an assload of people who were born with an irritation to your common forms of clothing, and just don't really like the other forms of coverage even if we aren't allergic to them. And sure, even if you can get the monumental, uphill battle by having an 'army' of like twenty of you strap me down and force me in to an outfit, I don't plan on moving in here alone, I wanna get Nymph friends. A Nymph harem, like Vince. And they're probably also nudists, and they'll probably not take kindly to the fact that you and some other masochists thought it would be a good idea to insist that I wear something, and, well, just getting one Nymph who is a nudist to stop being one is very difficult. You're not gonna convince a whole army of dozens, if not hundreds, to be textiles. Nun-uh. This isn't one of your cartoons where we're super passive and naive and act kid in a candy store about Human culture and go 'Woweeee! Clothes?! These are fantastic! I'm gonna wear them forever, even in the shower now!' We have a long history of loathing clothing, being nature spirits that let the fresh air roam through us, spiting the Dryads that tried to appeal to your kind by being more modest! If you feel like I'm being too forward, that's one thing, but if you're just offended by my ass and genitals existing and not being covered, that's a you problem here, not a me problem. We won't force you to get naked - some creepos misinterpret Rule #1 to mean that we do, but no, we're clothing optional not nudity mandatory, most of us think forcing someone to be naked is just fucking assholeish - but we also don't like being told to wear something."
"I thought this was covered in your Adventuring orientation?" Trent said. "That you'd have to be ready to deal with nudists."
"You're completely on your own." Said Vince. "I like how most Nymphs run around naked. And uh, she's completely right, you're not gonna peer pressure her either. On the Islands, you're outnumbered."
"Also, you know who really likes telling Nymphs to get dressed?" Sonata continued. "Elves. The Elves-"
"ALRIGHT! Okay, okay, okay, fine, I won't tell you to wear clothes!" Iris said. "You have a point! I am not like the Elves! I can get used to being around nudity."
"Good." Sonata looked at the small town Vince made. "So uh, which house is mine? Ooh, that one looks good."
"Wait, I-" Vince tried to stop her from entering the second one that he designated as his house, after Trent had already taken the first. But she was already halfway through the door. Sonata stopped partway.
"Wha?" She asked. "Is this your house?"
"Um... yeah... it was meant to be... I hope it isn't going to be a thing where I try to make a house for myself and others move in it..."
"Oh, sorry." She turned around and stepped out- before suddenly getting a mischevious smirk. "Hey, Nymph-Lover... want this to be our house...?"
Vince looked around. Iris and Trent weren't outside any more, but two of the homes had their indoor torches lit. Which were extinguished in quick succession. Vince flushed a little as he looked in to the window of one house, seeing a blue apron getting hung up. Trying not to think about if other articles of clothing were also set up. His thoughts went back to Sonata, and he blushed.
"Wellllll... now that you mention it, it is a bit cold and lonely right now, with all these Zombies out..."
"Mmmmm... and you wanna big, strong warrior of the undead to help keep you protected? Maybe to be safe, I'll wrap my arms around you?"
"Sounds like a good deal."
He rushed in, and Sonata closed the door behind the both of them.
"Uh yo Vince I know beggars can't be choosers but where the fuck is your bed?" Sonata asked as she gave herself a three-second tour of their home for the foreseeable future. "I want you to be my wingman but I'll be your wingwoman first, and give you my second piece of advice on wooing Nymphs: Nymphs like beds. You'll have an easier time getting them to fuck you if you provide a nice bed for the fucking, also, the fucking itself will feel better. The first piece of advice was Rule #1, which I ranted about in length to Iris already."
"Uh, yeah, sorry, I built the homes in short notice." Vince said, stripping his backpack and shirt off immediately. Sonata didn't notice he was getting undressed until the pants came off, thanks to the loud click from undoing the belt. When she did, she turned and grinned at him. "I didn't have anything to make a bed out of."
"Well, worse than that, it's only wood, so you'll get splinters out the ass if you do anything kinkier than the ol' standard positions, or just thrust really hard."
"Yeah. Well, these aren't the final homes! I'll remodel! I'll rebuild!"
"I was actually going to make my own city with my own homes later, but your place will do. Lemme just...
She reached in her hair and took out... some weaved thing made of several webs. It looked like a small, crude, condensed sheet. Sonata threw it on the floor, the result looking more like a thin sleeping bag.
"This was made for one person in a bit of a rush, but it'll do if you don't mind being up against me."
"I do not mind at all."
"Hee hee, same here. And for future reference, blankets and stuff don't count as 'clothes' for Rule #1. Being under a sheet's the closest you'll ever see to me wearing something. And maybe drying off with a towel. I still won't wrap either around myself like clothes."
I will say this right now, Sonata would keep every promise she made in the above. In fact, I don't think in any point in this entire story will she actually be depicted wearing anything.
"Also, I checked for spider eggs and the like three times. There shouldn't be any. Trust me, I've got the ability to sniff or sense them out."
"I didn't even think about that." Vince said. Under his breath, he added, "And now I'll probably be thinking about that all night."
"I know I wasn't meant to hear that, but I did. It's not just smell that we have that's enhanced, remember that."
They both slipped in. Sonata actually understated how small and only meant for one person the 'bag' was, if anything, as Vince was pretty heavily pushed up against Sonata. He... shuffled around a bit, trying to get comfortable. Even though he was lying there, a real life beautiful naked Oread pressed against his body, acting out (a very microscopic and watered down portion of, both in terms of Nymph number and bed count) a fantasy he had had since he went through puberty, it was still... snug? He had a bit more trouble thinking, both as his tiredness really got to him, and as blood went away from his brain.
Ah. Shit. He really didn't want to... have his body react that way, but the way her smooth, bare skin was against his, having a large pair of bare breasts on his body, even feeling warmth by her crotch that - might have just been his imagination - was rising in temperature, Vince was having second thoughts about stripping his clothes (not to make her happy, he just felt more comfortable that way) when he... poked her.
Sonata rubbed a hand through his hair. "You're getting pretty hard. Want me to get that?"
"I'd love to have sex with someone like you, but I'm exhausted. And just worn out from all the running and nearly dying. And, I know it's not better than any sleeping arrangement I made, but this bed is... cramped." Vince said. "I'm sorry. Maybe tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure."
"We can still cuddle and... you know, kiss."
Sonata hugged him, pressing him even tighter against her godly body. "Kiss, huh? I figured from my experiences that Humans are slow, so I shouldn't be surprised..."
Vince leaned in and gave her the first kiss between them. On the lips, it only took a second before his tongue moved out and worked its way in to her own mouth. Sonata replied in kind with her tongue slithering out, going in to explore far more of Vince, softly moaning in to him. It took a bit of effort from their limited space, but Vince moved his hands down and started feeling around, eventually getting a feel of Sonata's enormous ass. Sonata replied in turn by feeling the sides of his waist, then moving out to cop a feel of one of his own, smooth, also rounded cheeks.
Vince broke the kiss, pulling back as far as he could, taking in a deep breath.
"I'm sorry." He said. "That's all I've got."
"No need to apologize. You feel pretty exhausted. Let's get some rest."
"Goodnight."
"Well, Nymphs are normally nocturnal, but I can get used to this change in schedule. I have before."
Vince thought he would take ages to go to sleep and for some reason was fully expecting Sonata to comically pass out while he stayed up for at least another hour, but being in her embrace, he drifted off pretty gracefully. Sonata followed not too long after, as the thoughts of how they would expand their homes and pull off grander things filled their heads just before they started to dream. All the potential things they could have, ready the moment tomorrow started. But that was for then.
For now, Vince's first day on the island wasn't that bad. Better than he expected, actually.
Especially the times he thought he was going to die.
Nymphs in General.
Thought to be the first race of Terraria, emerging from the deepest pits of the world in the image of Gaia herself. These beings are known for their existing in 1,002 sub-types, 99:1 female:male ratio, and hatred of clothing. The two special types are the Oreads and Dryads; they were also the most common types, until a force beyond this world exterminated the Dryads.
All but one.
Vince's Comment: "Nymphs are even more diverse than Humans, so coming up with some 'strategy' for all of them is pretty much impossible. I will however say that various obscure texts told me about how most of their cultures were freely polyamorous and they walked around naked. And uh, being a horny idiot, I was looking forward to that. I really, really hoped that those texts were right.
"Thankfully, though, they are."
Sonata's Comment: "The Nature Islands are kinda our territory but at the same time they kinda aren't. Most Nymphs, especially on Sun Island, are pretty chill with people taking up those dumb Forests nobody use so that they can survive from the shitty state of the Human Capital. It's when people start trying to set up bigass commercial empires or some shit like that that we protest. It's why Nymphs all across the rainbow find Humans at worst just walking food and at best have made some friends with them, meanwhile the one thing uniting all 1,002 Variants (even the Dryads... Dryad) is that we hate the Wood Elves for being these colonizing assholes. Fuck the Wood Elf society, I hate it.
"PS: Rule #1: Nymphs do not wear clothes. Period. I will say that as many times as I need in order to get that across."
Closing AN:
You would not believe how hard it was coming up with a beginning for this story that I liked. Again, originally this just started with Vince's arrival and cut to sunset shortly after and I thought it was pretty awkward.
So regarding this not being "censored" that I alluded to in the opening note, originally Iris would have escaped the spider webbing by worming her way out of her clothes, and spend the entirety of this chapter and the next in her underwear. In retrospect, I really didn't like this. It's the "kind of" fanservice that I sort of want to distance myself from from now on, even. I want my nudity to feel like it comes from the characters' choice - even though the Nymphs are irritated by clothing in this lore, I wanted to make it clear that they still could use some workarounds and get 'dressed' if they want to, they just firmly do not, and are proud of this. Don't worry about this new version being "censored" or "toned down" just because there isn't any Iris being made to roam around in her underwear - on average, I think the racy content here will be toned up from the original, especially since after thinking about this and Biome Artists, I kind of want this to be made lighter from the original so it could be a less-dark and more lax counterpart to BA, also meaning more room for sexy shenanigans.
So one change I made here was that after saving Iris, the three actually leave the cave and go back home early instead of immediately heading off to... well, you'll see in the next chapter. I didn't think of this change until pretty recently, in fact just before I set myself to publish this chapter, but I feel like it's an important change to make because it makes sense. In the original, after saving Iris, Vince, Sonata, and her all head over to the next spot. But like... why? Why wouldn't they go back home first, since they had the option? I mean, part of it tied with what I'll cover below with Sonata still being villainous at the time, but even so, by that point Vince and Iris had convinced Sonata to let hem go. Trent was worried sick about them... and so on. So I thought it would be better that they did the logical thing and regrouped at home first. Hence adding this very long bit of them going back, and spending the first night together. This might make this chapter and the next feel like less of an "arc" as I'd wanted this pair of chapters to be, but whatever.
Anyway, perhaps an even bigger change, and the biggest besides elaborating on Vince leaving the Capital, is that Sonata is now friendly right off the bat and wasn't trying to kill and eat Vince at all, save for a very brief point where she misunderstands him and thinks he's trying to attack her unprovoked. Yeah, I wanted to do this whole "Nymph Redemption Arc" thing where the in-game monster would start off as more of a real enemy, with this weird sense of morality where she was just raised in a spot where eating Humans was a normal thing and she had to be convinced to see Vince get... well, humanized, and she'd originally try to pull him to being her wingman or something under threat of eating him at first, then feel sorry for that later. But I don't think I could pull it off that well, at least not in this sense, and that it would be a lot for a project like that. Again, the whole "redeeming" bit is better suited for Biome Artists, although I will say that Sonata will still have a slight element of "atonement" to her character. It just won't be to the huge degree that it was before the rewrite. I don't know though, this was another rather last-minute change, it took until I was blasting through trying to write her introduction that I thought that her seeing Vince as only a good source at first despite being a nomad travelling the world for 500 years (if Sonata wasn't that old, then I wouldn't have as much of an issue with her being villainous at first, but I really want her to be the same age as Tania for... "character parallel" reasons?) and thus probably learning a lot about Humans in the mean time. Yeah. Sorry if you read the old version and really liked the whole "Sonata was a former monster trying to reform," I just don't really think it would gel too well with what I have currently planned for this. Though I could change my mind and rewrite this again...
However, just because I'm lightening this up doesn't mean this is going to all be super cuddly uwublob monster girl fest. Nymphs and other groups are dangerous with Sonata being the exception, not the rule (well, the rule is Rule #1, Nymphs do not wear clothes, period, but you get the idea), and this story will place emphasis on that. Next chapter will introduce who is more-or-less our main villain, and she is a truly nasty piece of work...