The next order of business was to find out how the rest of the team was finding things, and whether Cinzy had spoken to the trio of elders, whoever they were.

  Vellenia escorted us through the vilge. Over bridges both pnk and rope, we wound through a market just cleaning up for the day and then over another bridge. We sighted Muppin outside the rgest of the buildings in the vilge, the only one with multiple stories. Eventually we made our way to where the rest of the team was currently just standing around with their dicks in their hands.

  Unfortunately, that was sort of what we came upon. An, Drat and Trent still had their hands cpped over their junk and were studiously looking everywhere but their teammates. Trent, I noted, held Garnet in two hands. Like a basketball. The Nakamamon was like the rgest gem I’d ever seen, and mostly did the job of obscuring his twig and berries. I couldn’t help but snort at the overly modest show going on.

  Maybe it was the fact that I’d already had sex here, and these three already knew about it, but my nudity didn’t bother me so much.

  Only Cinzy, Larelle and Chrysta remained when I came back with the other three dies on the team. Neither Larelle nor Chrysta appeared very different from their previous forms. Larelle stood there in all her big, red-skinned glory, holding and slowly stroking her magmamander with huge boobs exposed and uncaring that all of us could see the juncture of her thighs. Chrysta hung in the air about two feet above the pnks holding up the building, also boobs out and the tops of her thighs visible for the first time. I didn’t understand how her ghostly clothes could’ve been removed, but that was god stuff. Most of her many arms rested at her sides, but two of them were on her hips.

  The two natives were on alert for danger, though it wasn’t really necessary.

  Tara was… hopefully most of the way back to the city by this time.

  As we caught sight of Cinzy, her tiny glowing fair companion zipped off and got in Cinzy’s face. I couldn’t tell whether they were having an argument or a hushed conversation, but it occurred to me that I really wanted to know what Cinzy’s intentions were for having Fairy Poppins join us.

  A voice suddenly spoke in my ear. “Fletcher, don’t look too surprised. It’s Drat.”

  “Ohhhhhkay.”

  “Hm?” Regina said.

  “Nothing to worry about,” I told her. “Just talking to myself, as usual.”

  She gave me an unreadable look, shrugged, and headed in to speak with the others.

  Drat spoke up as soon as I had some space separating me from the dies. “This is my element. You’re here to do a job, I’m here to do a job, and the time is now. If you need information found out, or if you need someone spied on, just say the word. I got you.”

  I thought it over. Something must have happened to trigger the problem with the eggs. If we didn’t have to ask, all the better.

  “Several weeks ago, something happened to make all the vilgers’ eggs sick,” I said. “Can you figure out what?”

  I could almost hear the gleeful grin in his voice. I mean, I could see him across the ptform, but he had a perfectly bnd, schooled expression. “Naked Ninja is on the job, boss man.”

  “I feel like I need a code name too.”

  “Boss in the Buff,” he said.

  I ughed. “Better than Fletcher the Lecher.”

  “Oh, that’s good,” he said, his tone sinister. “But we’re sticking with Boss in the Buff.”

  ***

  Cinzy bounced over, still looking like an absolute stunner. The patches of different color on her skin weren’t confined to her face. They expanded, shifted colors, and retracted at a gcial pace, and somehow it didn’t diminish her beauty.

  It was happening to her hair, also. It was far, far longer than I recalled it, down past her butt, and part of it was a powder blue color while most of the rest was ptinum blonde. I loved the crinkle in her eyes and her smile as she approached and grabbed my hand in both of hers.

  “Fletcher!”

  “Hey,” I said, trying not to look at her. “Sorry. Trying not to look at you. This is… difficult.”

  “It’s not hard?” She asked with an impish grin.

  “Don’t,” I warned. “I’ve already had issues.”

  Her amusement was repced with… something else. “What? Really? What happened?”

  I tried to wave this away. “We need to speak with the elders. I assume everything is going to be pretty smooth, because we took a look at the egg situation and worked up a pretty good treatment while I work on the cure.”

  Her eyes went wide with shock, and an absolutely breathtaking grin spread over her face. “That’s amazing, Fletcher! Well done!”

  “You’re going to love it, too. We need to sing, dance, party, and have pleasant conversations with the eggs.”

  She started hopping around in a circle with my hands in hers, ughing in delight. “Yes! An early win is going to be really good for us when we talk to the elders. Oh, Fletcher, you weren’t supposed to do my job for me or make it super easy. I don’t mind a challenge, you know.”

  It was a challenge to keep my eyes off her body. Gods, everything about her was taut, perky, and on the verge of muscur. Perfectly toned, in other words. She was just a shade shorter than me, and I knew this because I was staring into her mismatched eyes the whole time. One was brilliant blue, while the other was a light brown tinged with flecks of gold. By the time she’d finished this meeting, the light brown one had a hazel ring to it, and the bright blue one was more like an aquamarine, sparkling light blue. It was like soul gazing with the hottest girl in your entire high school… while naked.

  Once again, Fairy Poppins was suddenly in front of my face, flitting back and forth and catching Cinzy on the tip of the nose, then getting back in my face. I could barely make out the expression on her face, but it seemed upset.

  “Hey!” Cinzy barked. “You cut it out, okay? Fletcher and I are discussing the political situation. Butt out.”

  The tiny glowing fairy whirled on her and poked her in the nose several more times, making her step back. Then, with one st few moments hovering inches from my face, she zipped away and vanished into Cinzy’s rge backpack.

  “Screw up the mood much?” she muttered, grumpily.

  The Marshins at the door to the huge building approached now, and asked if we were ready to meet with the elders. Cinzy indicated we were, and took my hand before dragging me in after the two Marshins.

  The tone of the situation shifted immediately upon entering. It wouldn’t have been an issue whatsoever, except the doors to this rge building were shut behind us, and four Marshins we hadn’t seen before dragged a heavy, solid beam in from one side to bar the door.

  From the inside.

  “That’s not a good sign,” I told her quietly, indicating with a flick of my head.

  “It’s okay. We’ll be okay. I have plenty of Tokens. We can handle this.”

  There was an enormous hole in the middle of the floor. It looked down directly on the marsh itself, which had the effect of making me think we were about to be thrown down there, and swallowed up by marsh-dwelling crocodiles. That hole was ringed by what looked like cm shells. Big cm shells. We’re talking like two and three feet across in some cases.

  They were opening and closing, and each time one of them opened, I got the distinct impression we were being observed by whatever was within.

  “You’ve got this, huh?” I asked drily. “Am I calling for our Guardians?”

  “N-no way,” she said, but her hand wasn’t holding mine to pull me along anymore. It was instead clutching my hand in a death grip.

  One of the cms opened up, and a little face appeared at the edge. The pale face of a child. Inside a cm.

  “Okay that’s it!” Cinzy yelled. “Did you bring us here to scare the daylights out of us or what? Because I don’t mind telling you, it’s working!”

  A wave of mana shot out away from Cinzy and spshed into everyone in the room. Our Bard had just used a special ability, and I was gd of it. The cms all snapped closed. The half a dozen or so Marshins in the room took hesitant steps away from her, eyes wide and fearful.

  But whatever special ability she had, it didn’t seem to have any effect on the things that rose up out of the hole in the floor.

  They were enormous, easily as wide as I was tall, and then some. Maybe as wide across as Larelle was tall. In only the vaguest sense, they were simir to the Marshins: mostly white bodies, with that identical mint green in pces. These ones had some brown threaded in there too, making the minty green portions of them look like trim. And they were humanoid, sort of, with four thick arms each and rge heads on thick necks. Below the waist, though, they were… mermaids? Whatever was down there, it seemed to have fishy scales and definitely had a fringe of fin-like thing.

  So, more like eel bodies.

  Three of them appeared above the floor of the building, bancing on their tails. Some several dozen more crowded around down below to get a better look at Cinzy and I.

  “Hooooooleeeeee shiitake mushrooms,” Cinzy muttered in wonder and a little fear.

  The first of the ‘elders’ spoke, drawing out every single word like it took a lot of effort to speak.

  “Theeeeeese… aaaaare the hyoooomannnnnsss,” it said, crossing two sets of arms across its broad, broad chest. These are the humans, said in the most intimidating and spooky way possible.

  The two nearest Marshins bowed low at the waist, again and again. “Yes, venerable elders. This male is the Healer who has seen to the Marshell eggs, and the female is her spokesperson.”

  This thing could kill the both of us with one bear hug if it wanted. When the Marshins waved us forward, Cinzy’s already painful grip on my hand intensified and she hummed a low jingle to herself.

  Another small burst of mana ter and an aura flowed over me. The UI informed me that a special ability used by Cinzia temporarily gave me +3 Durability, +3 skill levels when facing fear or intimidation, and 3 bonus Tokens specific to social rolls in this scene. Then she stepped closer, pulling me along.

  We got within a good two feet of the huge hole, and within a foot of the nearest gigantic cms. I swallowed my fear, hoping that she had the same kind of intimidation shout that Bke the asshole did.

  “We are from the human world,” Cinzy said. “Sent to help heal any ailments, illnesses injuries that you might be suffering.”

  “Thissssss issssss knoowwwwwnnnn,” the elder said with exaggerated slowness.

  She took another deep, cleansing breath. “Your townsfolk have given us permission to use whatever resources required to help with the egg situation, and the uh… clothing situation.”

  “Weeeee aaaaaare awaaaaaaaaare,” another elder said, this one a female.

  “Are any of these developments problematic or unacceptable to you?” Cinzy asked.

  The three elders who were above the line of the floor peered at one another and hissed things in a nguage of their own. The dozens and dozens of other ones all hissed too, pushing against one another in order to see us and be heard over the others. Eventually, the deliberation concluded and the rgest of them turned back to us.

  “Alllll issssss wellllllll,” it said.

  Relief flooded through me.

  “I regret that our task may take multiple days. Obviously, we don’t wish to intrude upon your vilge,” Cinzy went on, “but we will need to secure sleeping arrangements in a way that will please your people and avoid possible friction.”

  “Yesssssss,” the elder said.

  “Do you foresee any issues with sleeping arrangements? My people have brought mobile sleeping quarters. We call them tents.”

  This situation right here felt pretty intense. Ha.

  “Quaaaaaaarrrterrrrrs willllll be arrrrrranged.”

  While Cinzy continued asking questions and eventually answering them, I focused on the creatures before me. They appeared simir to the Marshins, but perhaps they were a different species, or mutated versions of the more humanoid ones.

  With this in mind, the UI gave me the +3 bonus to my Identify skill, along with the 3 Tokens to use on the check.

  Identify check: This check will pair with Ingenuity: your ability to piece together information on hand. This check is Difficult. Would you like to spend 3 Tokens for an automatic success?

  Total Tokens: 6 Ingenuity, 6 Free, and 3 Bonus special ability Tokens.

  I didn’t get the notification about the ability Hard at Work, meaning my Tokens wouldn’t count for double in this case. It wasn’t a direct outgrowth of my job, apparently. This was disappointing, but not crushingly so.

  I figured spending the Tokens was just fine. Although with the buff I currently had 10 levels to use, and 3 successes was to be expected, I wanted this information.

  Marshmellow

  Second Stage Transformation

  These mermaid-like Nakamamon closely resemble humans from the waist up and eels below the waist. They spend most of their time at the mouths of rivers, deltas, or resting at the bottoms of flowing fresh water, rexing and pondering the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.

  Typical length: 16-20 feet (rge)

  Typical weight: 600-1000 pounds

  Gender: male

  Aspect: water/fairy

  Transformations: Marshell -> Marshin -> Marshmellow

  Marshmellow has been added to your Nakamadex.

  Everything suddenly snapped into perfect crity. The huge cms with the faces inside weren’t trapped children or anything, they were rge Marshells. At some point they would transform into the Nakamamon of the vilge, either fully grown or nearly. No wonder there weren’t any children or old folks here.

  We had nothing to fear from these elders just because they spoke weirdly.

  I breathed a sigh of relief and gave Cinzy’s hand a squeeze.

  “Excuse me a moment,” she said, and turned her attention to me.

  “They’re called Marshmellows. The Marshins change into them at some point.”

  She stared at me, then looked at the townsfolk around us, then at the elders, and back to me. For several seconds she looked, and looked, and looked, then broke into a wide grin. Finally she threw her head back and ughed.

  “Oh! Oh that’s good. Marshmellow! Ohhh boy. Okay. Whew!”

  I turned to the Marshin nearest, and indicated the nearest cm. “May I?”

  It gestured permission down toward the gigantic shell, so I hunkered down and, thinking again, put one hand over my leg so my dangling hand would cover my dangling Dick Johnson. Then I slowly and lovingly stroked the shell.

  After several moments, the shell opened up and a child’s face peered out. It was almost all that same mint green, with a stripe of white down the very center.

  “Hi there,” I said. “I’m Fletcher.”

  “H-hello,” it said. It must’ve been ying down in the shell, because the face was sideways.

  “You’re a Marshell?”

  It nodded in the shell, going, “Mm-hmm!”

  “When did you, uh… hatch?”

  “I’m this many!” The little guy said, and a hand appeared with two fingers.

  “That’s amazing,” I told him. “Do you ever come out of the shell?”

  “Nuh-uh!” He said.

  “The young ones are quite soft on the inside and require their shells for protection,” the Marshin said.

  “Fletcher?” Cinzy asked.

  “Huh?”

  “They’re wondering how long it will take to get the situation with the eggs under control—”

  “That’s already done,” I said, and expined directly to the Marshmellows what I’d found out. Once my spiel was over, they peered between one another and the ones crowding each other below, nodding and impressed. “The cure I’m not sure about. I will need to consult the list of cures, gather ingredients, and concoct the cure over the course of possibly days. Hopefully not longer than a week, but I can’t guarantee that.”

  This was received less well, but Cinzy held up hands. “Unfortunately healing isn’t an instantaneous process, but all of his team members will be helping him at all times. We will try to speed it along.”

  Except Drat. He would be looking for funny business.

  Eventually the meeting concluded, with me tickling the Marshell’s gigantic cm shell and making him giggle in there. The little guy had a particur ridge that was especially ticklish, and his tiny feet thrashed in and out of view several times. I was gd that the creepy child-trapped-in-a-box impression I’d gotten was dead wrong. These were actually super adorable.

  Cinzy id a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s get moving, big guy. We’re done here.”

  Big guy was what Tara had called me. I missed her, all of a sudden, and hoped she was doing well. Cinzy didn’t let go of my hand until we were heading out of the town’s meeting hall.

  “You did great in there!” she said, at almost the same time I saw almost those identical words. We both ughed.

  “Seriously, thank you. That buff ability you used was far more useful than I thought it might be.”

  “A little courage goes a long way,” she replied, grinning, before a more somber look fell over her face. “Um,” she said, “do you want to postpone our, uh, dinner together, until we can wear clothes? I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but it’s, uh, it’s pretty distracting having you be totally naked around me. Getting any amount of work done is going to be hard.” She ughed. “Oh my gods, hard.”

  I sighed. “Yeah. Trust me, I’m way more intimidated and distracted by your body than you are of mine.” I noticed she hadn’t said the word ‘date’ and couldn’t recall if she’d used the same word when talking about it before.

  This is Christopher speaking to a fully nude supermodel-beautiful girl and not completely losing his mind.