Chapter Five : Wow That Really Was Some Good Space Mead

So there I was sitting at the bar of Inky Sunshine currently wearing my Sarah Mandi or Beauty in a bar or tavern you can take your pick on Sandbar Island in this god forsaken planet I have come to know as Emerald and to think for a few moments there I had actually been thinking that we would have this all wrapped up in no time flat. Well that was of course before our run in with the Moonbeast and things started to get really interesting. For the record this mission is starting to turn out to be even by my Lokian (That a worshiper of Loki for the non informed.) standards extremely chaotic and complicated and I was beginning to believe that was one hell of a goblet of Space Mead that the Priest Null have given me before we had arrived on this planet. But enough about the past I shall endeavor to make sense the chaotic maelstrom that seem determined to claim the lives of everyone of my companions and myself that may be named Cthulhu as well I am sure if I am not careful.
So as I was relaxing at the bar and getting ready to rise and round everyone up and head out to the herbalist and curio shops I turned and I saw something that caused my breath to tighten and parts of my anatomy to flutter. For out of the men’s room came none other than Nialla the Warlock looking as ravishing as ever. I stood there as she approached admiring her near perfect form and the elegant sway of her hips which were practically hypnotic. I noticed that Morgan had gone to gather the others as Shiron and Nialla each took turns striking up conversations with my new Snakal friend who I actually had come to realize in his own draconic like tongue he was known as a Nor-Vi. So it seemed to me that they needed to make sure that what I proceeded to inform them about our Nor-Vi friend working for the De’Moulay was something to be concerned about as were the events that referred to a crash. I informed them that I believed more could be learned at the Curio shop where the sold the snakes. My hope was to find an older Nor-Vi who might have more information to share as well perhaps acquire a pet to assist me on this new world. I had even considered purchasing the snake on the bar but I realized I our time on this Island might need to be short before the De’Moulay uncovered information from the snake that would cause her to turn her interest in our direction. So I wanted to make haste and after a few moments we were on our way first to the herbalist shop.
Buerick had informed me that he was indeed eager to find the nature of the infestation spoken of by the De’Moulay and had asked me to make the introductions to feel out the shop owner. I advised him I would be my pleasure but no doubt I would make sure to introduce him and the allow his superior knowledge of nature to carry him through since my knowledge was minimal at best I advised him I would keep an eye and I could no doubt misdirect him if the herbalist seemed wary at any point. I will admit I was impressed and I also found what I was looking for it seemed that the shop had somehow acquired a rare garlic from Hyboria and Buerick confirmed there was no way it was natural to this world as well as an a assortment of herbs that were that completely new to him. The shopkeeper came over and I introduced Buerick and he informed him that he had been visiting and the De’Moulay had asked if he could stop by and take a look at his infestation situation. I had looked around and added that he had a number of interesting samples that Buerick found quite interesting. He shared that he could arrange a sample of all of the herbs on stock for him and proceeded to head into the back of the shop. The son of the herbalist was walking around and I asked him about the new herb that had arrived. The young man told me that they had received it on a recent shipment and that he was not really aware of much else. I had noticed Morgan standing at the entrance of the shop and he seemed to be observing something but I was sure if he noticed anything he would be sure to let us know. Nialla drew me into a conversation concerning the snakes and while it was not the most intriguing conversation it was a helpful transition to enable me to drag the chief gardener into the conversation regarding the sale of the snakes which he confirmed seemed to be all the rage as of late. He even commented that he was glad his son Chuck who he pointed back to was now older or he would have to have found a way to buy one for him. He had also returned with a large box composed of a material I could recognize which realized must be the plastic that I had heard in the minds of other people on this planet that contained the herbs that he had acquired for Buerick and he had said he had told us he was always happy to help in any way to advance the science. I noticed that while I had been talking with Nialla Buerick had gone back to join him and seemed to be holding two small chipmunks. As I inquired about his two new companions he explained that they were the infestation that was giving the chief herbalist a problem. Buerick also added that he had never seen their like and while they resembled rodents which were often dog sized he was going to take them with us so as to make it elevate the problem caused by their presence. Buerick and the chief herbalist shared a few more pleasantries while I inquired about the garlic which he informed me was a leftover from a special order for a local bakery called Jocko from the Science Center and Agritech. He continued to inform us that is was a special ingredient that the bakery had requested in order to make a hard biscuit. Something kept nagging at the back of my mind from my time as Elysia Breena during my childhood and suddenly it came to me Elven Waybread’s secret ingredient was the rare garlic that was staring me in the face. I asked it the herb had solved their problem and he told us it had indeed and he had kept some for himself with the hopes of finding a use for it. So more information confirming we needed to indeed head for the mainland and the Science Center we left the herbalist shop with our two new chipmunk additions and I could almost swear I saw a smile on Buerick’s face.
As we exited the herbalist shop right across the street was the shop called Island Curio’s which had a giant sign across the window proclaiming “We have Snakes” and “The Ves church does not condemn the owning of snakes” and even “The Supreme Ves owns a Snake”. Wow talk about advertising no wonder the snakes were flying off the shelves. Upon entering the shop I noticed that they did indeed seem to have quite a number of interesting and strange objects. But I was actually drawn to the objects of my desire the Nor-Vi and I could spot three of them two in cages and one larger four feet long snake the was on the floor and seemed to be lounging. The shopkeeper approached us seeming glad to have so many customers at once and I asked Nialla if she could keep him company and he proceeded to lead her around the store. Meanwhile I started a conversation with Scrounger the Nor-Vi. It was actually funny as Scrounger seemed to have quite the sense of humor and he commented that he was a feral snake as opposed to a pure breed idiot like the two in the cage above him. He even claimed to have seen the world and even had the chance to sow his wild oat as it were. Truly a Nor-Vi after my own heart I asked him how long he had been here and he said around four years since he had had the chance to see the outside world. We continued to talk about the world and he mentioned that he could tell that we were obviously different from the normal clientele of the shop. Morgan had approached as well as Nialla and the shopkeeper and Morgan had asked me what I thought. I told him I believed I had found the snake I was looking for but I planned to return on the morrow to acquire him. I looked to Nialla and I could tell she was also impressed by Scrounger and while I asked the shopkeeper the prices of the snakes I was impressed when he told us their prices. Like I said I was amazed that one that could juggle was selling for three hundred (300.00) and another who could sing was selling for five hundred (500.00) while Scrounger was selling for six (6.00). Nialla looked at me and asked if I was going to purchase Scrounger now which struck me as odd since I had found out his name was Scrounger which I could tell was Draconic name when he pronounced it to me. When I called her told perhaps tomorrow when we came back she asked me for her ten (10.00) which I handed to her once again making it seem that I removed it from a purse and she proceeded to purchase Scrounger right there on the spot. The shopkeeper asked her if she needed a cage which she declined and he offered her a bag and a number of food cubes. It was strange that he had also asked if we were part of something called the Natural Foods Cult. Which was something that almost turned my stomach for while I will admit while my Mother was an herbivore and my Father had been obviously a carnivore I tried to avoid eating things that I had recently been having a conversation with at the very least. Since we were not planning to live stay in Sandbar we were not required to purchase a license and with that we left. I had noticed the strange symbolic artifacts scattered around the room and they looked familiar I asked Nialla about them and she had mentioned that they were magical in nature and designed to ward against chaotic evil extraplanar beings. This almost gave me a shudder and I casually asked about the creator of the totems and the shopkeeper had shared with us that they had all been created by a young lady named O’toole who he said lived in Summit. So yet another mystery that I had to add to our collection and so with Scrounger in the bag we made our way from Curio Shop and headed back to the Government Trade Center for a well deserved nights rest.
As we arrived back at the GTC were once again greeted by the doorman or guards take your pick. They asked us how our evening had progressed and I assured them it had passed delightfully. They inquired about our snake which Nialla made sure they knew was named Scrounger and we made our way to the elevator. I wanted to reach the men’s room for I was sure Scrounger had more information which he would be able to relay to us. As we came to the elevator two men stepped out and said Ready Men and Shiron was prepared to inform them that we were not interested and we entered and continued on to their room. I had informed Nialla that while we were not being issued a curfew per the De’Moulay we would be required to stay in a room across the hall since I had already arranged for us to stay on the coed floor. So as we entered Nialla let Scrounger out of the bag and our investigation of the situations on this world truly began. I will not dwell on the long conversation but I will instead relate the important facts gained from our conversation. To begin with the De’Moulay was a member of a race from another world called an Ormatene and it would seem that they along with the Starlore which were another enhanced humanoid but birdlike race were both servants of the Ves Order. It would seem of the two the Ormatene’s had to learn to pass as human while the Starlore were for all intents and purposes indistinguishable from normal humankind. It was also worth noting that the designated Ormatene training ground where they mastered the art of appearing human was located in a University near Central City. As I was conversing and once again using my detect thought spell to enable me to follow all that was going through the mind of Scrounger I began to realize that his memory was more than just his memory and it seemed that he somehow was able to recall events that would have happened far before his birth. For when I brought the conversation to the race know as the Moonbeast even more became clear. It seemed the Moonbeasts were a race of hedonistic egotistic highly intelligent race that enjoyed eating intelligent life and possessed technology so far advanced it could be rightly be confused with magic. It also seemed the Nor-Vi were actually nothing more than an intelligent food source for the Moonbeasts. Now the interesting part of the mystery was that the Moonbeasts had invaded this planet known as Emerald twelve years ago with every intention of using their mastery of singularities or a fancy word for time mastery to literally overwhelm this planet whose technology should have been far inferior to their own and turn it into a feeding ground. They according to Scrounger had a fleet of eighty what can only be called spaceships prepared to devastate the planet when somehow the missiles launched by the planet were able to pierce what they called shields and literally within less than ten minutes the entire fleet crashed to the planet below. More than ninety percent of the Moonbeasts were lost but the Nor-Vi’s smaller size saved many of them and of course now they were free. The Moonbeasts seem to possess an ability to cloak or turn invisible naturally and for the most part have become nothing more than scavengers while they waited for reinforcements that never came. Well that at least explained why the Hub of Defender Island had assumed that Morgan was a Moonbeast since they were not able to see him. I also inquired about the group that Scrounger had said he had worked for called the Brotherhood who he said he had witnessed all run over by a truck four years ago. He informed me that they used to hang around people like us and after further prompting I was able to find out about a hideout which we might be able to find located in Central City. Scrounger it also seemed to have heard of the Cult of the Dreaming God but as far as he knew they were nothing more than a group he had know of in Central City that composed of a group of green men who were using kids who they seemed to believer were “The Key to Everything” and addicting them to drugs and using them to sell perfume and makeup. Well not what I would have expected but filed the information which lead to seeking information about the Hub and Ves and I learned that the Hub who were far outnumbered by Ves had recently after becoming tired of being oppressed armed every man and women and rose up into bloody revolt and for all intents and purposes now were running things on Emerald. Well I was starting to get tired and my constant state of excitement do to the presence of Nialla and Morgan was really causing me to want to rip off my mithral and start something I might regret later well perhaps not but still. I was working on staying focused and around I even joking around with Shiron a little and I believe I might have misjudged him and who knows how long we are going to be stuck on Emerald anyway. He had asked me to show Scrounger what the women who had taken our people captive and had looked around to the other to make sure they were sure and then I created a silent image of the women with guns and he told us that he believed they worked for the Science Center. I will admit there does seem to be more the meets the eye to Shiron which will warrant further investigation. But back to business I had one more ace to play that I hoped would give us a solid lead. I asked Scrounger if he was aware of the location of any of these scavenger Moonbeasts. I just so happened that he was aware of one called Sully that he could sense and track who seemed to either hang around the beach or garbage dumpsters. I convinced the others that our trail I believed was leading us to find out more about the Moonbeasts and while Scrounger had told us Sully only seemed to have influence of ocean life I could tell I might face some resistance in the morning. I could tell Morgan was tired and while I might have been willing to continue on longer I told the others it might be a good idea to retire so we would be rested for the morrow and with that I turned to Nialla while she picked up Scrounger and we for our room across the hall.
As we arrived in our room Nialla started into a conversation about ways that either of us might use to bind Scrounger as a familiar which would of course extend his life and bind it to one of us. So that was what had been keeping her so silent well ok I will admit I am quite drawn to her voice and other parts of her anatomy which was why as she talked I began to undress since I really needed the privacy of the shower before I let myself get carried away. I was thinking I had a few friends back home could have put together a scroll for me if I had really wanted a familiar but to be honest I was not sure if I would want an attachment that would enable someone to be able to keep track of me. Nialla to my surprise also started to disrobe which I will admit caused my concentration to completely slip as I was packing my things into my Backpack of Containment in preparation of taking my shower so that if she had looked she would have seen my true form since I had taken off Hat of Mystery in preparation of my shower. So it was that was able to see my true form that of Elysia Breena and to be honest I was really starting to doubt we would ever be going home and it’s not like I figured she would be able to connect me since whenever I had traveled in Iranastan I had looked the part. So before my shower to loosen myself up as well as to give Nialla something to look at and think about as I performed for her and acrobatic routine that I used to keep my mind focused. I have to admit Morgan is not the only person with skill at tumbling I have been told that my skill is almost great enough to draw even the eyes of extraplanar beings but I am sure the performance was a memorable one. For me it did serve two of my problems one I wanted Nialla to see my real Half-Elven form and while I still shared my current hair color of my current guise as Beauty/Sarah my natural complexion was flawless while my athletic and full bodied figure I know for a fact since I have been told on many occasions is almost hypnotic and two after the way the Stone of Tongues was making me feel lately I wanted Nialla to be able to see the effect she was having on me. So once I was feeling quite loose it was time to enter the shower where I could begin using my crystal companion to satisfy the need that was burning with me and while I truly had hoped that Nialla would have joined me I was able to conceal my moments of ecstasy to seem as if I was humming and once again be thankful that my training had not deserted me. As I exited the shower Nialla was already in bed but I could feel her eyes on me as I walked to my own bed and how the desire to join her was nearly overwhelming and if we stayed here another night things might very well progress if I had anything to say about it. I mean really by Malcanthet Demoness and Queen of the Succubi and Incubi and patron of my Father if I was ever to be drawn into the depths of evil if it looked as good as Nialla all that kept going through my mind was that I was indeed in trouble. I had returned to my bed and once again placed my Hat of Mystery back on my head and tied my hair back to conceal my elven ears just in case and prepared to go to sleep when there was a knock at the door. It was my turn to be entranced as Nialla rose from her bed to get the door and she like myself I was surprised to see also slept in the nude for as she walked to get the door I was literally struck by the sheer elegance of her healthy dark-skinned form. I almost hoped it would be someone from the Rugby team which while I was not planning on entertaining would have been a welcome distraction but instead it was the De’Moulay. So as Nialla was explaining to her how we had enjoyed our time and even purchased a snake who she once again called by name the De’Moulay seemed quite pleased and even invited us to the Oculas in the Sun-Room where we would be more than welcome to join her for breakfast after morning prayer. I had rose from my bed and greeted the De’Moulay and let her know it would be our pleasure and wished her a good evening. As I returned back to bed I remembered something Scrounger had said about if we were to see Sully bringing food was a good idea to get on his good side well if this world proved to be consistent there was sure to be an elaborate spread laid out for us. And while as we stood there I was once again almost overwhelmed by Nialla but using my superb acting skills while I am sure my hard nipples gave me away I bid Nialla good night and returned to my bed. I had figured I might had staying up most of the night but the Stone of Tongues influence on me had literally wore me out and sleep came quickly.
I awoke early and dressed and headed to the room occupied by our men and knocked and was pleased to see Morgan awake and looking refreshed and I figured it was time for him to take a shower and after he came out I could fix his makeup or disguise if you will. While he showered and I went to recharge at the Stone of Tongues I once again had the experience of having every sexual nerve ending in my entire body turned on at once and could tell it was once again going to be one of those days. As Buerick, Shiron and Malcolm woke I informed them that it was almost time for morning prayer and after that we had been invited to breakfast in the Sun-Room with the De’Moulay. Nialla had joined us along with Scrounger and as the others got ready I once again discussed my plan to visit Sully the Moonbeast. As I had expected Shiron and Buerick had expressed concerns about my plan considering they believed it could prove a danger to us I truly felt with the power we had our command we could dispatch it with ease if necessary. But for their benefit while I was fixing Morgan’s disguise I once again asked Scrounger if he felt we had anything to worry about and he reconfirmed that besides having some influence over aquatic creatures he was pretty harmless. Both Shiron and Buerick seemed relieved but were still advising on caution and I said to them of course but they did finally agree that it was worth the risk. So with that being said and Morgan looking perfect we headed to the elevator to head downstairs for morning prayer. It was interesting to note that the ritual of prayer was far less formal than it had been on Defender Island those present barely seemed to even acknowledge it except in formality. So it was that after a brief interlude on the main floor we headed upstairs to join the De’Moulay for breakfast in the Sun-Room. As we arrived there was indeed a marvelous spread laid out and the De’Moulay was there with an aid of hers. As we dined we discussed how so far we were enjoying ourselves in Sandbar and the De’Moulay seemed pleased that we were eager to visit and spend money. She did inform us the she had to excuse herself early since she needed to take care of a sensitive matter at the school and asked us to please enjoy ourselves and then took her leave of us. After she left we all started packing the food from breakfast up with the encouragement of Scrounger who reminded us we it was wise to have food for his associate Sully. So after recharging again from the Stone of Tongues and by Aphrodite I really needed someone to love right then not that I was not capable of helping myself but I was really beginning to feel the stress of the situation. So I lapsed into silence as Nialla led us away and out of the GTC and into the street to find Sully the Moonbeast.
We made our way from the GTC and as we were walking Morgan noticed that we were not alone we had acquired a tail. To top it off Morgan told us that or mystery guest was also armed. Upon hearing Morgan’s words about our tail I pulled myself out of my haze since about the only thing I had been able to focus on had been Nialla’s perfect ass as she walked in front of me. I raised my eyes and instead focused on Scrounger and while Morgan I could tell was thinking about taking out our tail I had a better idea. I confirmed with Scrounger that citizens were not to be armed and then I asked him where could on go were having a firearm would indeed place our tail in trouble and he told me the school district. Excellent so with a little detour we lost our tail and in no time at all we had arrived at the beach. Once at the beach I saw one armed creature known as a Moonbeast in the water. I figured it was time to do my thing and I concentrated and activate my fiendish talent of detecting thoughts in order to start my scan of the creature known as Sully. As my ability started to expand I at first was able to pick up that indeed the Moonbeast had a mind and what a mind it was. Nialla looked to me and I told her to start talking while I tried to gain additional information while she talked. Scrounger spoke up then and let Sully know that he was here with a few friends. Sully responded with something like you again and the reason I say something like that was because my mind was somewhere else quite literally almost everywhere. If I were an average person I might have just stood there with my mouth open and screamed or run away in blind terror. As it was it took every bit of my self control to remain calm externally while my mind worked to process the surface thought I was receiving from Sully the Moonbeast. Now while I had been thinking about just what Scrounger had meant about how the Moonbeasts manipulated time I was nowhere near prepared to realize that the mind of this Moonbeast was running everything from the beginning of its existence to the present to even possible futures that it already had memory of. Nialla looked to me and asked if I was alright and I looked to her and all I could say was it’s incredible as I turned to the Sully and said what you mean again we just arrived. But I already knew that from what I had seen from the Moonbeasts mind was that it had already replayed every event that had lead us to this point and was not at all surprised to see us but actually seemed bored or upset. It even seemed that I had somehow visited it this very morning with some new boyfriend named Victor or Big Vic a gangster from Central City and told him to tell me when he saw me to not be so presumptuous. To top it all off it also seemed that every last one of my companions had already been killed by this point in time. Sully also seemed to believe that if we stayed on our current course we would all be dead a week from now. From what I was able to gather time passes differently for Moonbeasts they have some kind of temporal perception and it would seem that their minds have just learned to adapt. I started thinking and the Moonbeast started talking which in a way made sense to me but I could tell the others were getting confused with the exception of Nialla. From the mind and the words of Sully I was able to deduce that the real enemy we were facing was actually a being know as Cthulhu a being of deity like power that lived somewhere in the ocean of this world of Emerald and was somehow responsible for the failed Moonbeast attack and the subsequent invasion the arrival of the Starlord’s and Ormatene and eventually subjugation of our world of Hyboria. Which according to Sully was underway and in full swing even as we spoke and to top it off he believed that they had been coming to our world for some time and had even created clones that were serving some unknown purpose. To top it all off this Cthulhu was so greedy that it was not happy with one world and for that matter two and perhaps not even three. Shiron spoke up at about that point about the same time as I and said that’s where we need to go. I added well not without the gun since I was beginning to realize the Dreaming God was just another name for Cthulhu since I was beginning to realize it had big dreaming delusions of grandeur. Well Sully laughed that off telling us that if we went anywhere near there now even if we could find it we would be faced with our own destruction. Which of course lead me back to how to find the pieces and assemble to gun and I picked up from Sully mind as he spoke that Big Vic was the key. It would also seem that this Victor had become my lover as well which did not really surprise me but a number of other things were concerning me. While I had already come to the conclusion that somehow I was possibly travelling in time and I believed it had to do with the Stone of Tongues I still needed every bit of information I could gather so I could at least try and prepare for what might happen even if it had already happened or might never happen depending on my own present point of view. I said a silent prayer to Loki, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Pan and even Malcanthet for while all of them shared a connection to the typical chaos I embraced I realized that none of them wanted to see wholesale destruction on the scale I was beginning to realize seemed to be the plan of this Cthulhu. So thought and spoke aloud how my companions perish in the other timelines. I was glad to see the others keep up I was having quite the time of it myself and I was connected to the mind of the Moonbeast. Since at the same time as this was going on I was also seeing the power of the Moonbeast technology and the journey to this world and with their ability to harness the powers of the cosmos itself fell victim to missiles created by the people of Pleadies. To say my mind was being blown was an understatement as a matter of fact the information I was gaining was like a drug that totally calmed my libido and almost brought an orgasmic state all its own. So it was with great concentration that I had to focus on how my companions might meet their demise since somehow I survived not that I would have ever doubted it but I would be deeply saddened by the loss Morgan or Nialla. I found that Morgan was due to perish at the hands of a giant skeleton. Nialla was scheduled to be sacrificed to a snake cult led by a mysterious Jason. Shiron would be beheaded by a mob of some kind. Buerick would be slain by the Treant once it had been taken over by Cthulhu. While the others would fall in ways so gruesome I shall allow them to remain something I will us to frighten our foes someday with an illusion of it. I also was able to gleam that we had a number of enemies who were no doubt hunting for us even now. So while I much of it I filed to the back of my mind one thing I reminded myself to take away until we had managed to secure the gun we needed to stay on alert and it would be wise to not stay in one place to long. Sully concluded with telling us that we should trust the next Moonbeast not this one. And then his mind seemed to almost just shut off as if he went into some kind of deep slumber and his thoughts seemed to fade from his mind. It took me a moment to snap out of it but in a few moments I did and I told the other that I needed to return to our rooms at the Government Trade Center because I had a headache and I needed to relay to them what I had seen. Morgan came to my side and I reached for his hand which I was glad he took and I allowed him to lead me back to our rooms at the GTC. My mind was awash with possibilities and courses of action but I needed to calm myself and focus since never in my wildest dreams did I envision that my mind would experience such a rush from the glimpse into mind of a Moonbeast. All I could think was if I had known half of what I knew now before I left Hyboria I would have asked for more than a goblet of Space Mead.