Don't Split the Party - Act 03

CW: Impregnation

--

"Turn," Tegan said.

"Yep," Rick grunted, pushing the corner of the queen bed towards the door.

Tegan leaned down, judging the angle, then nodded. She took a step back, surveying the formerly empty room that now held most of her and Rick's worldly possessions. "I think that's good."

"I also approve," Sophie said, standing in the doorway with one hand holding a milkshake and the other resting on her belly. She was only a few months along, but her pregnancy was already noticeable, especially for Tegan and Rick considering how often they saw her naked.

"How long have you been watching us work?" Tegan asked with a grin.

"Long enough to appreciate those muscles," Sophie grinned back.

"You could have helped."

Sophie sipped the milkshake loudly through the straw. "In my delicate condition?"

"After last night, I don't know if I'd call you delicate," Rick said.

Tegan scoffed. "You're all just a bit delicate to me."

Sophie gave her a smile, with something of a smirk in it, then stepped into the room. Tegan and Rick's dressers sat against the wall, and their books and Tegan's gym bag and weights lay scattered around. It was a mess, but it was a mess that felt like Sophie's home was getting bigger.

"Any ideas for how we should celebrate your move-in?" Sophie asked.

"D&D, hopefully," Rick said.

"She means sex, cutie," Tegan grinned.

"Come on, now," Rick said. "Mei works really hard on D&D adventures for all of us, and Sophie knows it." He took Tegan's hand. "She means D&D with sex in it."

Tegan sighed, but she was smiling. "Probably," she admitted. She glanced at Sophie. "Is Mei ready to start the adventure?"

Sophie smiled. "Which adventure?"

Tegan glanced around the room, in the house that the four of them now shared. There were two big bedrooms, a living room that was half-converted into a library, and a nursery for the babies that Sophie and Mei were incubating.

"Which adventure?" Tegan repeated. "The only adventure we haven't started yet."

--

"Alright," Mei said, looking over the DM screen at the three people gathered around the table, dice and miniatures scattered before them. "Are you settled in?"

"Enough for now," Rick said. "Sophie helped."

Tegan rolled her eyes, but couldn't suppress a smile. "Roll for deception."

Mei grinned. "I think I'd worry if you weren't being brats. But, you're also ready to start?"

"Sure thing," Sophie said, a d20 already in hand. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Good," Mei grinned. "So, we'd left off on the road between the Eastern kingdoms and the elven realm, with the necromancer's trail growing cold..."

***

"I don't know how you can find anything down there," Stray said, flicking her crimson tail as Raf inspected the hollow that had been hidden from the road.

"There's not much," Raf agreed, plucking a piece of blackened wood from the dirt. "But there was a fire here two nights back."

"The necromancer still needs a fire, I guess," Tan'ka said.

Raf nodded. "He's still mortal - for now."

"So we should follow him," Stray said. "And put an end to his evil once and for all."

"Certainly," Tan'ka agreed, making the sign of the gods of justice.

"And if he's going towards the elves' territory, we should send a message to the princess," Stray added. "Just in case we need help."

"I'd rather wait until things are handled," Raf said.

"But the princess wants to see you," Stray grinned, watching Raf for a reaction. "She's missed you since you saved her from that assassin and knocked her up."

"He also saved you from that assassin," Tan'ka noted, glancing at Stray's modest but noticeable baby bump. "And then knocked you up too. It's a pattern."

"Let's worry about babies after we stop the necromancer," Raf growled.

"Ssh!" Stray called suddenly, holding a hand up in warning. The others froze, all thoughts of teasing forgotten as they listened intently, trying to identify what Stray had heard. Tan'ka drew her blessed sword and held it at the ready, prepared to spring into action.

Still, it was a shock when the zombies burst from the mud to attack.

***

"Well, good job avoiding the surprise round," Mei said. "Rick, you're up first."

"Can I see the necromancer?" Rick asked. "Fucker's gotta be here."

"Yeah, zombies can't do this on their own," Tegan agreed.

"Give me a perception check," Mei said.

Rick sent a d20 skittering across the table, and Sophie blocked it with a book to keep it on the table. "Sixteen."

"You can't see him."

Rick shrugged. "Okay. I go into a rage and attack the nearest zombie."

Mei nodded, then held up a hand. "One second." She took a slow, deep breath, then nodded. "Sorry. Dunno what the baby's doing."

"Kicking?" Tegan asked.

"No kicks yet," Mei said. "So far it's expressed itself through sudden bouts of queasiness."

"For me that's just in the morning," Sophie said. She chuckled and glanced at Tegan. "We're really selling you on pregnancy, aren't we?"

"Oh yeah," Tegan said. "No, I think I'm okay being the designated driver."

"Although," Sophie said with a sly grin at Rick, "It's kind of nice having a bit of your boyfriend inside me all the time."

Rick pointed at her. "No getting me horny. I'm still fighting zombies, and those are two tastes that don't go great together."

"Pfft," Mei said. "Thank you. Roll your attack."

***

Raf gave a guttural roar and ran into the largest cluster of zombies, his axe lashing out and sending rotting limbs flying through the air. The zombies' eyes burned with a sickly violet light, but he was beyond caring about such things. Stray saw one of the shambling creatures lurching towards Raf's back and caught it in the head with a thrown knife. It turned to look at her, the blade still embedded in its skull, its remaining eye flaring with malevolence as it rushed towards her instead.

Stray sidestepped its charge, its clawed hands sweeping past her, and plunged her knife into its neck.

Tan'ka roared a battlecry and charged in, shoving a zombie aside with her shield and bringing her sword down upon a second before it could claw her. Stray stepped to her side as the zombies closed in, her blades flashing as she drove the zombies away from Tan'ka's back.

Stray wasn't overly given to honoring the gods, but she whispered a few prayers as she ducked a zombie's attack and drove a blade through its chest. She thanked the god of thieves for sharpening her senses enough that she'd heard the attack coming. She thanked the gods of justice and battle for giving her such stalwart friends. And, with a grin, she thanked the goddess of love that her pregnant belly wasn't big enough to slow her down yet.

They closed in together, putting their backs to one another as the shambling dead closed in from every direction. The zombies dripped with mud and fallen leaves; Tan'ka knew the necromancer must be close by for them to be that coordinated. Raf was too distracted to look beyond the current fight, though, and Stray was focused on covering his back.

Tan'ka looked up the hillside, catching a glimpse of the necromancer's dark robes behind a bushy pine tree. This time she said nothing, making no battlecry that could give the necromancer a warning. She only leveled her shield and charged.

***

"You're going to take some attacks of opportunity," Mei noted.

"I figured," Tegan said.

Mei tossed a few dice behind her screen, then glanced over at Tegan's character sheet. "Two of the empowered zombies claw you with necrotic hands. Thirteen and nine."

"Do you need help?" Sophie asked.

Tegan shook her head. "Keep each other alive. I'll be fine."

"You know," Sophie said, "someone taught me an important lesson not too long ago about not fighting solo."

"Apply your lesson in a moment," Mei said. "Tegan, the necromancer raises a corroded blade, ice swirling around him as you approach."

"Twenty-five to hit," Tegan said.

"That'll do it," Mei said. "And, because you hit, you'll take a bit of cold damage from his spell. He smiles wickedly at you, and says-"

***

"You have thwarted the death lord's plans for too long!" the necromancer cried. In spite of Tan'ka's blow, he thrust his dagger at her, and it slipped between her armor plates to bite into her shoulder.

Stray caught Raf's attention with a quick elbow and met his eye. Even at the height of his rage, he instantly understood what she intended. She pulled a potion from her belt and tossed it down, where it burst in a flash of light and smoke. The zombies staggered back, and by the time they could see again, Raf and Stray were rushing to Tan'ka's side.

"Blast!" the necromancer shouted. He muttered an eldritch phrase and four illusory duplicates of himself sprung into life around him. Raf slashed at what he hoped was the real villain, only to have his axe arc through empty air as the illusion faded.

"Duck!" Stray shouted, and tossed a fan of daggers into the fray. Raf effortlessly sidestepped, and Stray heard a dagger clang off of Tan'ka's armor, but she also heard the necromancer cry out as one of the blades struck home.

Raf lashed out, his axe whistling towards the necromancer who desperately leapt back. He began to speak, but Tan'ka brought her shield down against his foot to pin him in place, then lunged.

"When you meet the death lord," Tan'ka hissed, as the necromancer reached futilely for the blade that pierced him, "you tell him who sent you."

She pulled the blade free, watching as his body fell to the ground. She glanced over at Raf, and smiled for just a moment before a look of confusion crossed her face and she collapsed.

***

"Shit," Tegan said. She stood and paced a bit. "Do I get to make another save?"

Mei shook her head. "Not right now. Rick and Sophie, you can feel a dark energy emanating from the necromancer's dagger."

"A curse?" Sophie guessed.

"Probably," Rick replied. "But arcane magic isn't my strong suit. Can I wake her?"

Mei shook her head. "She's out. She twists her head and murmurs, but it's not in response to you."

"The elves have a court wizard," Rick said. "They can help."

"We're still a day away from elven lands," Sophie said.

"Less if we hurry," Raf replied. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah?" Sophie asked.

"Carry my stuff so I can carry her."

Tegan raised her eyebrows. "Can he do that?" she asked, glancing at Mei.

"There'll be con saves for fatigue after a bit," Mei said.

Tegan met Rick's eyes. "How long can you carry me for?"

He smiled. "As long as I need to."

--

It took Tan'ka a long moment to stir from her sleep. Fragments of her dreams clung to her, images of the darkness beneath the dirt and moldering hands dragging her down, but voices drew her upwards until she opened her eyes.

She was in a high room in the elven princess's tower, judging by the architecture and the warm light streaming through the open window. Fatigue clung to her, and her shoulder ached. She tried to focus on the voices, and after a moment caught sight of the room's three other occupants.

Raf and Stray sat in chairs at her bedside, looking as weary as she felt. They caught her gaze and smiled, relief washing across their faces like a sudden rain.

"There you are," the elven princess said. Instead of a royal gown she wore a flowing wizardly robe, and she leaned on an elaborate staff. Her belly wasn't showing quite as much as Stray's, even though she'd been pregnant longer, but Tan'ka supposed that elves took their time with everything.

"Was I somewhere else?" Tan'ka asked.

"The higher planes, if you'd arrived any later," the princess said.

"How long has it been?"

"A day and a night," Stray said.

Tan'ka pondered this for a moment, then looked at Stray and then Raf. "You carried me here?"

"And stayed with you," the princess said. "We broke the dagger's curse, but it took a toll on you."

"It took a toll on them too," Tan'ka noted.

"Yes," the princess agreed. "And now that they know you're safe, they can sleep."

"I'm okay," Stray said.

"You are pregnant and you ran all day and worried all night," the princess said. "I will see you to bed even if I have to tie you to it."

Stray sighed. "Promises, promises," she muttered, but when the princess took her hand and led her out, she didn't make any further objection.

"Thank you," Tan'ka said. "Quite the run for my sake."

Raf smiled. "My tribe taught me to bear any burden for my brothers in arms. And, well, I apply that lesson a bit more broadly."

"To sisters too?"

He made a delicate face. "I will gladly fight and die at your side," he said. "But I don't see you as a sister."

She grinned. "Why not?"

He matched her grin, his eyes twinkling through the dark circles beneath them. "I am too tired to show you why I don't see you as a sister."

"Then sleep," she said, rolling her eyes with a grin. "I need it too."

"I don't know where there's another bed-"

"Get over here, idiot," she said, patting the bed next to her. He chuckled, and climbed up next to her. He barely had time to give her a smile before he reached the pillow and lapsed into a dreamless sleep.

***

"So they're waiting until the morning," Mei said.

"That doesn't mean we have to," Sophie noted. She'd positioned herself next to Mei, and had leaned back to drape her legs across Mei's lap. Mei shuffled her GM screen across so that Sophie couldn't see past it, and Sophie grinned.

Tegan, meanwhile, had taken a literal approach to playing her character. When Raf had picked her up, she'd sat on Rick's lap, and hadn't climbed off at any point during her rescue or recuperation.

"I'm glad it's not too weird that we're back with the elves," Tegan said. "You were kind of nervous about it."

"Raf was nervous about it," Rick said. "I feel like I'm coming home."

She smiled, horniness resting atop deep contentment. "I'm glad this feels like home," she said, caressing his sides just above his hips. "Because I want you here. With me, with them, under me - all of it."

"I get to be on top sometimes," he insisted.

Mei grinned, at them and at Sophie. "This is about as far as I thought we'd get."

"I thought we'd get to the bed," Sophie purred.

Mei blushed adorably, and Sophie reached over to lift her chin with a single dextrous finger.

"Although I guess we still might."

"Yes," Mei breathed, glancing across as Tegan kissed Rick's neck and drew a gasp from him. "We should."

--

Stray was the first to wake the next morning, and she found that she couldn't move.

The princess, it seemed, had taken her task of making sure that Stray slept very seriously. She had climbed into the bed and was holding Stray gently, her face close and her leg draped across Stray's.

She was pretty, Stray had to admit. Her long brown hair fell around her in a dark halo, and her eyes moved behind her eyelids as she dreamed. Her elegant lips were open, and in spite of all of her elven elegance she had drooled on the pillow.

Stray glanced down at the princess's belly. She was further along than Stray, and their bellies almost touched as they lay facing each other. She wondered if carrying a half-elf felt different to her, and what the elven court had thought of the princess shacking up with a wandering adventurer. A wandering adventurer who came back, no less.

The princess stirred and opened her eyes suddenly, showing a moment of confusion before she remembered where she was.

Stray gave her a smile, grateful and mischievous all at once. "I thought elves didn't sleep."

"We don't have to sleep," the princess said. "But we can if we want to."

"If one of your patients is misbehaving?"

"If I'm worried about one of my friends," the princess replied with a raised eyebrow.

Stray bit her lip. "I'm sorry if I made you worry in a bad way," she said. "I try really hard to only make people worry in a sexy way. Like, 'gods, I hope that daring adventurer doesn't get hurt.'"

The princess looked frustrated, even as she grinned. "One day, you're going to stop being such a brat," she said. "And I'll miss you."

Stray set her hand on the princess' hip, then gave her the smallest caress, just a suggestion of more. "You could always do what I do," Stray said. "And enjoy the people you care about while you can."

The princess was quite good at controlling her expression, but she couldn't hide her grin.

In the next room, Raf stirred from a dreamless sleep to find Tan'ka draped across his entire body. She lay facedown across his chest with one leg draped over his and her sizable bosom pressed against him. For a heartbeat, and then for several minutes more, he lay still and listened to the soft rise and fall of her breath. There had been moments while he ran when her breathing had been so faint that he was afraid he'd lost her, and the sound now was a balm for his soul.

She snorted in her sleep, then opened one eye to peer up at him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"The bed's comfortable," she grinned, every hint of her exhaustion faded from her face.

He chuckled. "You tell me to rest from carrying you, and then you make me carry you again."

She grinned, showing just a bit of her fangs. "Are you complaining?"

He shook his head. "Teasing."

She nodded, then her smile softened a bit. "And you're feeling alright?"

"Yes," he said. He shifted his hips, aiming not to distract her with his morning wood, and even though she didn't look down she smirked as though she understood perfectly.

"You don't owe me," he said, meeting her gaze. "I'd do it again, just to hear you breathe."

She leaned in a bit closer, as though preparing for a kiss but not striking yet. "How do you want to hear me breathe?"

"From as close as possible," he said.

She grinned and leaned in close.

***

Fucking Mei was not as easy for Sophie as it used to be.

When it was just the two of them in the house, it was easy - lie down facing her, or sit on her face, or lie down facing her but upside-down, or start at the foot of the bed and intertwine her legs with Mei's until they were scissoring. There were no barriers, no complications, just love.

Their bellies weren't barriers, although in a trimester or so they'd make face to face kissing tricky. But they were definitely complications. Sophie lay on her side on the bed, a little further away from Mei than she preferred, and ran her fingers along Mei's lips, hoping that Mei could stay comfortable on her back long enough to reach her climax.

"You get so focused sometimes," Mei said, grinning through her gentle gasps.

"Me?" Sophie asked. "I'm the goof-off. How can I get focused?"

"I dunno," Mei said. "But you are."

"I guess I'm worrying about how we'll do this dance when we're further along," Sophie admitted. "Don't tell anyone."

Mei smiled and reached across to caress Sophie's side with her left hand, throwing Sophie's rhythm off for a long moment.

"You don't need to know everything right now," Mei said. "Like, I don't know how the whole campaign is going to go when it starts."

She shrugged, which made her boob jiggle enticingly, and Sophie decided not to point it out. Mei's hand was already making it hard enough for Sophie to focus, moving tantalizingly along her lips, and besides that she wanted to listen.

"With some things you have to just pick something to guide you and figure it out as you go."

"Am I your north star, then?" Sophie panted.

"You will always be the first star in my constellation," Mei said.

Sophie grinned. "I am a really wet star."

Mei smiled back. "I love the way you break metaphors."

"I love you too."

Rick and Tegan's heavy breathing blended together as she kissed his neck, slowly pushing him back into the bed. She was a force of nature, a wave bearing down on him, and his only choices were to swim or be carried by the current.