"I can't believe we are doing this," Chandice said as they walked down the road toward a distant town.
"We don't have a choice," Roric replied as he pulled his hood low. "Rajeen is right; we need to move our bind spot to someplace outside the forest."
"It feels strange to be dressed in so much clothing," Gisley added as she pulled at the full dress Chandice had given her. "And why did you make my skin green?"
"So no one will recognize you," Roric replied, hoping that would be the case. It had been three days since the initial attack, and two more had taken place. Roric intercepted each group, giving them a chance to speak and explain themselves. Instead, they explained by attacking, claiming they would drive him away. Evalynn was always watching, and guards were nearby to assist, running in to aid Roric and crush the players. All of this was reported to Rajeen, who was growing increasingly frustrated. She promised help was on the way but hadn't learned anything useful yet. She implored them to be careful and create a secondary bind point outside their home.
They had left the forest and headed due west, where Rajeen said there was a small town. The plan was to bind themselves to the town binding stone so they would spawn someplace safe if the forest was destroyed. Of course, considering the rumor going around, this town was likely not a safe place, but no other town was close enough to use. Rajeen warned them to travel in disguise, fearing that their descriptions had been circulated. To accomplish this, the girls wore full outfits with cloaks and hoods to help disguise who they were.
In addition, Roric put the cosmetic power of the collars to use. As the master, he could alter minor cosmetic features of a slave, so he turned Gisley from purple to green and added soft blue stripes. Evalynn didn't bother with a collar, wearing her armor with a good long cloak and carrying a shield. Jaina used her shape-changing powers to alter her appearance to look like a human man in green leather. She carried a bow to give the impression that she was an archer or perhaps a scout class. Chandice wore a sunny dress in bright colors with her hair braided. She wanted to avoid being seen as a warlock, so she avoided dark hues. Roric was the one who would be hardest to disguise as silver mane gnolls were rare, and his appearance was striking. So he wore a heavy hood to hide his face, and his tail was hidden under a cloak.
Rajeen knew a few people in the town ahead and promised to send word. With any luck, they had allies waiting to help or, at the very least, steer them away from danger. She was also sending agents to the regions around the forest to spy on the settlements and see if they could uncover more about the danger. They would speak to her every night in a dream to see if she had learned anything.
They cautiously approached the village, hoping the people would know nothing about them. It was a small village like the one near the spawn, with a scattering of player houses among some NPC structures. It didn't have a wall for defense or even a central keep. The only building of any note appeared to be a round tower on a small hill, probably the home of a local wizard.
"The stone should be right on the edge of town," Roric said as they drew closer.
"But which edge?" Jaina asked, hoping they wouldn't need to pass through the town to get to it.
"I don't see many people," Gisley said as they got closer. "It doesn't even have town guards."
"Is that tower the home of the owner?" Evalynn asked as she eyed it warily.
"We can only assume it is," Roric replied as they got close enough to notice the stone obelisk standing beside a tree in the road ahead.
"Oh, thank goodness," Chandice sighed to see the binding stone was easily reached. "We won't have to go into town to use it."
"This is terrible," Jaina interjected. "We wanted to build a home where players could find sexual adventures, and now we're hiding from people? We should be going into that town to invite people to come to have fun."
"Somebody made people believe we were kidnapping women," Chandice countered. "That rubs a lot of people the wrong way."
"But nobody thought to investigate it?" Jaina pressed. "They just assumed it was true and ran with it?"
"Maybe they were deceived," Gisley suggested, reminding them that Alexandria had the power to persuade people.
"Maybe," Roric agreed. "But we have no idea if this town has been infected by the lie or not."
"It might be wise to find out," Evalynn suggested and looked at the others. "Jaina could slip in unnoticed."
"Jaina is the last one of us who goes in alone," Chandice countered. "She is a monster player and will reset if she dies out here."
"But she has the best chance of not being noticed," Evalynn countered. "She doesn't even vaguely match any description of her appearance."
"I don't mind going," Jaina offered. "But only for a little bit. I don't want to be there long enough for people to start asking questions."
All eyes turned to Roric, who let out a frustrated sigh. He hated the idea of Jaina going into a strange town that might be hostile, even if nobody would recognize her. It was even more dangerous, considering how easy she was to reset. Perhaps it would be wise to send her back to Rajeen, where she could be protected in the harem. Still, it was wise to gather information, and Jaina was best suited to the task.
"Alright," Roric said as he looked sternly at Jaina. "Just wander about and see if you can find out what people are talking about. If anyone asks you part of a group that just arrived and doesn't know anything about the local news."
"Got it," Jaina said nervously.
"I could go with her invisible," Gisley offered.
"Plenty of people can see through invisibility," Chandice countered. "And if somebody did, it would raise their suspicion as to why you were trying to hide."
"I have to agree," Roric said. "But I can feel Jaina through the collar. So if she gets hurt, I will know."
"What if they kill her like they did Gisley and I?" Chandice asked, drawing attention to the fact that they had both died in seconds.
"That group was out hunting," Roric replied as the binding stone came tantalizingly close. "People in the town will be slow to react if Jaina is somehow discovered."
"Nobody is going to discover me," Jaina insisted as she changed her voice to sound like a man. "Now use the stone and wait in the road while I poke around."
One by one, they placed their hands on the stone and recited the words of binding, giving them an additional spawn point. If their homes in the forest and Roric's totem were destroyed, they would have one final spawn point a safe distance outside. Of course, Jaina wasn't safe as she had to create a lair and bind herself to a region. That region was inside the forest now, and she would reset if killed here in this town.
"Please be careful," Roric said as their eyes met.
"I can do this," Jaina said with a smile. "Besides, this town probably hasn't heard of us. We are worried over nothing."
"It is so weird seeing you as a man," Gisley said and ran a hand over Jaina's cheek. "Can we have sex like this?"
"Ha, is that all that ever goes through your mind?" Jaina laughed and took her hands. "We can spend some time together later. Let me go see if anything is going on in this town."
"Be careful," Gisley said, repeating Roric's earlier comment as Jaina waved and headed for the town.
She did her best not to look worried as she wandered into the first street winding through some modest buildings. The first people she saw looked like simple villagers dressed in a fantasy peasant way. She assumed these were NPCs and moved on, heading for the center of town where there appeared to be a market square. She began to pass obvious players, but none of them paid her any mind. She was just another player going about her business in a small village of no importance.
Jaina noted that there were about a dozen player homes, not counting the tower and that this town was either new or not very popular. She did find a decent fountain of a dragon in the town square and a few shops that had to be player businesses. However, it seemed like a rather boring village with little to offer. She decided to pause at a market stall and ask if there was an inn. The blue-skinned woman at the stall pointed down a street and told her there was one on the left. Jaina thanked her and headed off, feeling more relaxed by the moment. Thus far, this town seemed open and inviting, with no hint that they knew about the love wood.
She found the inn after passing another few players who all seemed too busy to notice her. She walked up to a stereotypical medieval inn and paused at the door. A notice was posted that a group of slavers had set up nearby and called for aid in driving them out. The document wasn't very long, but it contained a detailed description of Roric and all four girls. It claimed that Roric was a slaver, capturing women traveling on the road and forcing them into collars. He then sold them to brothels far to the south so no one could find them. It listed the girls as his accomplices and warned that the purple fairy was the most dangerous of them all. It claimed she had mind control powers and used them to trick women into collars. They also waylaid and robbed by tempting travelers with lurid sexual acts and then killed them when they were most vulnerable. It offered no reward, just a call to arms to drive the wicked players away.
Jaina looked around to see if anyone was watching, then tore the notice from the wall. She folded it up and put it in her pouch before entering the inn to see what people were talking about. Inside, all felt normal, with a dozen tables scattered about a small room. A human man stood behind the bar while three women of various races cleaned or delivered drinks. Only a dozen patrons were at the tables, six of which were sitting together near the window. Jaina went to the bar and ordered a drink, plunking a few coins on the counter as the man brought her an ale.
She turned to watch the barroom as she sipped, listening to the chatter of the nearby players. To her relief, they were talking about the notice, but the group seemed divided. Half of them didn't think the notice was real and asked why none of them had heard about this Roric before. Surely a man this despicable would be well known, especially around the spawns. The other half didn't care; it was just another reason to go on an adventure and plunder a nearby player's home.
Jaina listened as the group argued with two of its members refusing to go, citing the notice could be a fake. Nobody knew who posted or why, and there was no way to verify if this Roric had actually done any of this. One of the women wanted to go just to see if the women did lure people with sex. She was soundly ridiculed by one of her male companions, who said she would end up in a slave collar.
"That's not very nice," Jaina said in a low voice to avoid being heard. "I would love to show her how welcome she was in our forest."
She listened for a few minutes while slowly drinking her ale. Four of the group were going to go and were very upset with the two who refused. Jaina felt angry that these people would march into her home and kill her family over a random notice posted on a wall. She decided to do something risky and approached the group as they debated.
"Excuse me," Jaina said in a masculine voice. "I couldn't help but overhear what you said about the forest nearby."
