The woods are an interesting place. Dense pine trees surround Zetaz and I as we explore the growth. We are silent at the moment though I feel Zetaz's eyes on me. I ignore them because I can sense what she's feeling and it's the normal demonic lust mixed with her obsessive desire to be useful to me.
I use "Mixer" to equip my orcish senses. As I do I inhale deeply and allow my unconscious mind to sift through and organize the various scents I become cognizant of. Various smells, including the smells of other living beings, fill my mind.
As scents fill my awareness I realize that the forest is much larger than I thought it was when this was just a game. This place is packed with scents, ranging from the fully natural like those of squirrels and birds, to the more corrupt like those of flowers located in a corrupted glade maybe a mile from where Zetaz and I currently are.
The scents of creatures like imps and goblins, as well as dangerous and massive tentacle monsters or more powerful animal-morphs; humanoids with the features of specific animals that have transitioned from whatever kind of humanoid they once were and become something virtually indistinguishable from a humanoid version of their given animal-type, also remind me of the dangers lurking in these woods. It's not a safe location, though it's also much less dangerous than other parts of Mareth. Odds are the only two safer places in Mareth are Tel'Adre and the lake; the home of multiple different villages and the hiding place of Mareth's last non-corrupted and living deity.
Tamani isn't the only creature I want to encounter, but she is the focus of my attention today. Other things worth trying to encounter include the tentacle beasts that roam the woods at higher levels, but I'm more than strong enough to tackle such monsters if I feel like it, and the powerful demon lurking in the depths of the woods. Another interesting prospect for dollification; Akbal. Still I temper my expectations and I focus on the present.
Many goblins, an honestly surprising number of the creatures, dot the forest. Thankfully some wander in groups and so I easily take note of their locations and stay away from them. Tamani is, assuming the source material is more accurate than inaccurate, a territorial loner. Zetaz and I begin to wander towards the closest lone goblin, embarking on a trek that takes a few minutes.
Eventually we come across the goblin I've been tracking, reaching her as she stops to rest against a tree. She is looking away as we approach, distracted by something and I note that she is not Tamani, my perks perfecting my memory and allowing me to remember her description in the game. I even scan her mind and doublecheck, learning her name and allowing myself to be sure she is not who I am looking for. I half consider walking away and going somewhere else when the goblin turns to me and smiles.
The creature is shorter than Zetaz, standing maybe three and a half feet tall. She has bright pink skin and motions for us to come closer. I oblige, smiling all the while.
"Hey there, hot stuff. Are you busy?" She asks, ogling me. I laugh and nod, causing her to frown.
"Want a distraction?" She asks, continuing to shoot her shot. I appraise her body, and note her mouthwatering curves. I am tempted by her, and I momentarily contemplate adding a random goblin to my harem, but I decide against it. For now at least.
"Not today, but… I'll give you a gift, since I like your look." I tell her with a lusty smile. I point in her direction and cast a spell from my first jump. Her eyes fill with fear as I use my magic but her fear quickly gives way to bliss as she feels a wave of pleasure crash into her. She falls to her knees as a powerful orgasm crashes through her, her eyes shutting as she begins to moan and as her nipples harden.
"Orgasmancy. Handy stuff." I remark with a smile, as the goblin's moans fill the woods with a pleasant sound. I turn to Zetaz and gesture in the direction of the next nearest solitary goblin.
This begins a cycle that ends up taking several days. We encounter dozens of goblins over the next few days, so many that by the third day we are out exploring we recognize goblins we've met before and they greet the two of us only to ask for me to use my magical gifts on them.
Meanwhile Louis and my puppets go on basic adventures into the woods and the lake. They encounter imps in the woods, and I get to see the young man demonstrate his skill with a sword. At the lake Louis meets Whitney, a dog-morph farmer, and finds the boat but his luck isn't high enough for him to encounter Marae this early.
At night Louis eats dinner and I accompany him for what is essentially story time. When he leaves I enjoy the company of Zetaz, slaking the lust I feel after hours of encountering goblins. At the same time my puppets and dolls explore the world. None of them, neither dolls nor puppets, have basic needs so it proves pretty easy for my newest type of minions to really get to work. It is only the day before I encounter Tamani that my puppet and dolls find the factory that I know to be mine.
During this time a part of me wonders what to do about Lethice. The simplest, and possibly best, approach would be to just ice her either through actual force or through dollification. She's not the origin of EVERY problem in Mareth but a shocking number of the dangers and problems that come with living in this world can be tied back to her and her rise to power. If Zetaz deserves dollification then its pretty inarguable that Lethice does too. But…
Between my ability to have children who have souls; something demons have long sought the ability to do, the fact that I will be leaving here in a decade, and my own skills and powers I could almost certainly bring Lethice to heel without turning her into a doll or killing her. I am firmly aware that I should be able to seduce the demon queen and make her a consenting, fully living ally of mine, based on the abilities I possess, either through defeating her outright or by pretending to be an ally and deceiving her.
My essence alchemist ability could also allow me to shockingly empower my own faction of demons and other allies, and if I offered that to Lethice there's a chance she'd fold and join me just for the knowledge that in doing so she would gain access to shocking amounts of power over time. Though my ultimate card as far as getting her to join me is the fact that in a decade I'm leaving Mareth.
We're here for a full week before Zetaz and I finally encounter Tamani. I smile when I spot the mohawked goblin in a rare clearing in the woods, and I begin to walk over to her. I'm an impressive distance from the goblin when she turns and smirks at me.
"Hey there stud! Have you come looking for a goblin to knock up?" She asks, licking her lips as Zetaz and I approach her.
She's very tall for a goblin, standing a shocking four feet tall, the very upper end for her kind barring something like alchemical transformation and purposeful mutation. She has dark green skin and a bubblegum pink mohawk.
She wears no proper clothes but has clad her more intimate bits in leather scraps that might as well not exist for what all they actually conceal. Piercings are visible on her body and I eye her impressive curves. She also has several glass vials filled with distinctly colored fluids that are loosely affixed to the straps that crisscross parts of her body.
"Actually… Sort of." I reply, causing her to look at me quizzically.
"I'm looking for you, specifically. I have a business proposition for you, Tamani." I state, which causes her to look at me not only with lust but with something more nuanced.
"A demon with a business proposition? One who knows my name, at that? I remember when demons approached goblins with a 'Peace treaty' in mind." She tells me, causing me to look skeptically at her.
"You REMEMBER that? Like you were there?" I ask. She's referring to the greater historical lore of Mareth, and to a period in the distant past when goblins were not yet corrupted. She's specifically alluding to the events that led to the goblins of old losing themselves in corruption, tricked by a peace deal demons made with them before demons began to corrupt them and turn them into sex-addicted, sometimes nearly mindless creatures, a far cry from the surprisingly scholarly humanoids they once were.
My question sounds pointed but goblins are biologically unaging, so it's not impossible that she could be telling the truth. I realize a second after my question leaves my lips that my skepticism was warranted as she flushes and feigns more annoyance than she feels when she admits that she was exaggerating. I feel my charisma perks take hold of me as I begin to speak to the goblin, and I allow them to inform my word choice and the volume of my voice.
"Ah. Nonetheless, I understand your skepticism. It's wise to not trust a demon. That said, I desire to give you what you want," I tell her, causing her pink eyes to fill with hearts. "You yearn for sex, and to be pregnant. I want that for you as well. But you have other skills that I'd like to take advantage of." I admit, appealing to her pride. She beams at me.
"Ah so you've heard of my alchemical skills." She says, bragging. I nod at her. She is a proud sort, which explains her territorial nature.
"I run a small factory. A factory that produces a decent amount of corruptive demonic goods. But I want, and indeed need, an alchemist of some skill to really get the most out of the chemicals the factory creates. I want you to come with me to my factory and to be my chief alchemist. In exchange in ten years we'll leave Mareth together and go to other worlds where we can encounter new kinds of creatures, find new alchemical ingredients, and you can figure out how to make more and new kinds of potions." I tell the diminutive creature. Her eyes widen when I tell her that we'll leave Mareth.
"Ha… Don't joke with me, demon. You're telling me that you, a demon, knows how to leave Mareth? If you did, your queen would surely have found some way to use that knowledge." She asks, revealing an impressively focused mind. I nod and allow the seriousness of my claims to wash over her. She may be even more valuable than I anticipated if she's this focused.
"I'm not from here. So I'm not loyal to Lethice or any other demonic despot. I'm only here for ten years. Those who join me get to leave with me, especially the way I want you to join me." I reveal, and she takes a second to process my claim.
This is, admittedly, a big claim to be making given the fact that Mareth is some sort of mystical trap world that is notoriously difficult to escape. I wait a second before opting to continue speaking.
"For the sake of moving this along I'll opt to grant your argument that in ten years I'll still be here. I'm still the owner of a factory; a nice, safe, stocked place for someone to make into a living space. Do you want to be here in ten years, wandering these dangerous woods where an imp could come and try to assault you or your daughters or where marauding monsters like a tentacle beast might come and turn one of your children into a pocket pussy or in a warm, safe, pleasant factory where you and your daughters are safe?" I ask. This argument immediately piques her interest and I watch her consider what I've said with that unusually focused will.
"Hmm… Can we leave today?" She asks. I smile and surprise her with my answer.
"Let's leave tomorrow. Do you want to come with me tonight? I have a human friend who has set up a camp nearby. We can spend the night there." I tell the goblin. She shakes her head, before telling me to meet her tomorrow morning at this spot. I nod and walk away from the goblin.
The mountain is a few hours away, and the factory is located further upstream than the one run by Zetaz's allies. The doll and I head back to Louis's camp and I spend the remainder of the day casually having sex with Zetaz. I suppose some part of me, prior to this jump, might feel a flicker of shame about this but in all honesty I can do so much having sex that doing it idly is every bit as valuable as doing direct training. I end the day by having a short dinner with Louis, during which I explain to the human that I'm gonna be leaving tomorrow and when I do I won't be coming back for a while if I come back at all. This saddens him but I also tell him that my puppets will be able to accompany him for as long as he wishes. The human cheers up at this, and I wish him well when we part ways.
I enjoy myself on the top floor of the small home I've made, and I can faintly hear Louis also enjoying himself to the sounds of Zetaz's moans. When the morning comes my companion and I depart quickly, though I leave a small breakfast and dinner for my friend on the bottom floor of our once-shared home. Zetaz and I are out the door before eight in the morning, and in minutes we reach the spot Tamani told us to wait for her. She's visible on the mini-map and I study her movements for a time before she begins to head towards us.
"Our new friend is coming." I tell Zetaz, who looks at me excitedly. This amuses me and I ask the dolled imp what she's excited for.
"Well, aren't you gonna turn her today? Make her like me?" Zetaz asks, and I realize that that's what she thinks my plan is. I shake my head.
"No. That's not what I want." I reveal, causing Zetaz to flash me a shocked look. I ponder her look of surprise for a second before deciding to explain my position more properly.
"I have no special interest in creating a doll army. Now I'm willing to turn some creatures into dolls, Lethice for example, but I'm not interested in creating a… tidal wave of doll servants, especially not out of people who are themselves victims of the demons. I simply want to find and set up my home." I explain.
"But you turned me into a doll." Zetaz remarks and I nod.
"Yep. You were going to rape someone. Point blank. You drugged him and wanted to take advantage of him before turning him into a mind-broken slave." I respond, causing the demon to look at me blankly.
"What's wrong about that?" The demon asks and I feel an urge to face palm.
"Taking someone by force is wrong. There are people who view it as a worse crime than just murdering someone. I stopped you." I state, matter of factly.
"We don't need to take people by force. We can persuade people to come join us willingly. I intend to show that by staffing the factory with creatures that want to be there. I'll be asking the current inhabitants of the factory if they are happy and if they aren't I will be helping them recover from their transformations and letting them leave. We don't need to do things by force." I remark, and the demon looks at me curiously. I can sense its skepticism, but it also doesn't press the issue any further.
In minutes Tamani joins us and has a small backpack on. I smile at her.
"Good morning. Want me to take that?" I ask, causing her to laugh and thank me for my chivalry before handing me her pack. I cause it to disappear and when she looks at me confusedly I'm quick to explain.
"I know… magic." I tell her, before making the pack reappear. This causes her to relax.
"You've got all kinds of tricks don't you?" She asks, as we begin our trip. I nod at her and flash her a confident grin.
"Yep! And I plan to show them all to you." I tell the alchemist. We slip out of the woods and I get to meaningfully experience the weird physics of Mareth for the first time.
This world is so steeped in corruption that physics themselves are affected. Traveling vast distances is as easy as willing it, once you know where you're going. This process isn't instantaneous but it's fast enough that we cross multiple miles in minutes due to everyone willingly following me. In less than ten minutes we cannot see the woods behind us or the multistory structure I built for my human friend some days ago.
Ahead of us stretches a vast wasteland as far as any of us can see. Rock formations dot the landscape and we patiently navigate the space. It takes us about an hour before we are treated to a new vista: a gigantic mountain that looms high overhead. My senses are strong enough that I can make out flying figures atop the mountain's peak, speedily circling the place and hinting at some of the challenges that a brave adventurer or champion might face if they were to venture that high up.
The rest of the trek is a few more minutes of walking. We draw surprisingly close to the other factory, the one run by Zetaz's allies, but I get both of my somewhat airheaded companions to avoid drawing too close to that hostile structure, and as I study it I wonder what I should do.
I'm 100% certain that I can deal with it myself. A part of me wants to go and deal with it myself, or use an army of minions to go and liberate the people within. But at the same time I'm not sure of what sort of butterfly effect I'd be setting in motion if I act right now. The best plan might well be for me to wait until Louis comes looking and guide him to the factory.
We slink past the imposing structure and I spot our better hidden, but also smaller, factory a few minutes away. The impressive building is built into the mountain itself and a small stream of pink fluids trickle out of the back of the facility and towards a river that is connected to the other factory. One of the things I'm gonna need to do is to redirect that stream so it doesn't help fuck up Marae, who is actively being victimized by the demons in the other factory.
Our factory is tucked away inside a gigantic cave on the side of the mountain and we quietly walk to the front door. We enter a warm, empty reception room. I laugh as I note the fact that the secretarial succubus who is one of the item's follower NPC characters seems to be on break.
"So this is your factory…" Zetaz remarks as I guide us towards a door on the other end of the reception room. This is a pleasantly large, temperature controlled room fitted with sofas, tables, chairs, and a variety of magazines. I spot modern things like a TV mounted on the wall next to the receptionist's desk, light fixtures that are not magical in nature, and take note of the abundance of Earth-level technology present in the factory. Mareth is just one world in a full universe so it's really not that weird but there's something odd about being in a world with succubi, goblins, orcs, dragons, and the like that also has industrial level factories, light bulbs, and fully electric televisions. There are also perverse decorations like a mug on the receptionist desk that has art of a naked woman moaning in pleasure, and a few different paintings, one of which depicts me in my demonic form standing over a naked, female demon.
We exit the room and enter a hallway where a number of doors line the walls to my left and right. Straight ahead of us is a large door that clearly leads to the production line, while other doors to our left and right lead to a processing room for turning people into the demonic sex cows we need them to be, a break room, an office for the incubus mechanic to oversee the factory's condition and operating status, a stairwell that leads to my office which itself is next to a pleasant, private master bedroom, housing spaces for the succubus and incubus, and a final door on this floor that leads to a storage closet filled with spare and replacement parts for factory upkeep. We walk past the break room and as we do I hear a surprised gasp from the succubus who rushes out to confront us only to stop when she sees me.
"Ah, boss! Why are you back-" She asks, only to stop short when she spots Tamani. She is a surprisingly human-looking, at least in skin tone, woman with shockingly large horns that jut out of her head. She has mouthwatering curves, blonde hair, impossibly blue eyes, and is dressed in the sluttiest possible secretary-style clothing, a pleasantly small mini-skirt, fishnet stockings, and a vest whose entire purpose is to draw eyes to her breasts.
"Oh is that the goblin you set out to find? Wow it only took you a few days!" She says delightedly. She eyes Tamani and I can see lust beginning to drip off of her. Tamani eyes her and I watch the succubus's casual aura of lust, something all demons possess to some extent, cause the goblin's will to weaken.
"Are you sure you don't want to turn her into one of our cows? She's so cute…" The succubus whispers sinisterly. I stand up a bit taller and look at the succubus intently.
"I want to keep her fully functional. Her level of skill and focus is rare for a goblin nowadays. Things aren't like they once were. Plus… she's mine." I remark, and I sense my relationship tracker relative to Tamani tick upwards.
Goblins are a weakness of mine, in terms of aesthetic and sexual stuff like this. And Tamani, as both a skilled alchemist and as a goblin with a penchant for breeding stuff; something I have in common with her, is always gonna be a yes from me. She's up there with Vronka from Warlock's Coven in terms of top-tier goblin lovers, though Vronka slightly edges her out as a goblin that's also a healer. Still Tamani is so in my strike zone that at the moment the heat that is perpetually flowing through me is slowly growing in intensity. It takes a small amount of willpower for me to stay focused and in the moment.
One of my gamer system features is "Dating Simulator". I haven't actively used it much but it's a feature for people who aspire to either be harem jumpers or who want to have non-violent ways of gaining EXP, or both. It functions by feeding me conversational prompts which due to my high charisma I don't really need, but it also allows me to consciously sense my relationships with other people, allowing me to see what others view me as, whether it's as a master like how Zetaz sees me, a boss like how the secretary succubus sees me, or as a loved one like how Alex, Amber, and the maids see me. It also prevents relationships from worsening solely due to time, which for a harem jumper is pretty important.
My secretary nods at me, hearing the seriousness in my tone and knows better than to try and fight me on this. Curiously enough I am a drop-in; I lack memories of this world or a history here but she seems to have memories of me.
I wonder if this is some weird consequence of "The Power of Slander" or something. It's definitely different from when I attained my Housing Fit For A Chad item, as I did have memories of a life in the Generic Bard world. I glance at the succubus and as I focus I see the visualization of our relationship and learn her name: Rapunzel. Like the princess from the old fairytale.
"Rapunzel care to accompany us to the production line?" I ask, and this causes her eyes to light up with joy. She agrees and we begin to make our way down the hallway. The doors ahead of us are massive, much larger and heavier than the other doors that line the hallway but easy enough for me to open and I know some simple black magic that could allow even a weak demon to open the doors with no difficulty.
We enter a truly gigantic chamber thousands of feet wide that is lined with pens and filled with eldritch machinery. I examine the space even as my succubus secretary begins to discuss what we do here. We can hear distant moans and as I look upwards I see pipes that are filled with unholy fluids, collecting them and sending them to some other part of the factory probably linked to the mechanic's room for data collection purposes.
"So the purpose of this factory is to produce high grade corruptive fluids and to allow us demons to ship those fluids anywhere we want. To do that we capture people, persuade them to come willingly, or otherwise acquire them and we transform them into… Essentially humanoid cattle via transformative foods and chemicals, and then begin to milk them and collect their fluids." The succubus explains with an amusing level of disinterest given the subject matter.
"This factory is one of the smaller ones that exists, though these places are fairly rare anyway. This one is under fairly new management." Rapunzel casually reveals, before stating that the place has the room for truly thousands of corrupted sex cows, though right now there's only six.
"Six?!" Tamani says, causing the succubus and I to laugh.
"The number is small but… I have the means to increase it rapidly. Both with and without your assistance, though I plan to use your assistance. A lot." I tell Tamani. This pleases her, and I find it amusing how open she is to her own daughters being here now that she knows what we do. Rapunzel is intrigued by what I'm saying and looks at me curiously.
I myself aspire to be a desire entity and I like the idea of people and other creatures choosing pleasure. If I were powerless and in this world and someone came to me and offered endless pleasure and safety I'd at least think about it, and while that's not the MO of the demons in general if someone reasonable and thoughtful took over these factories in canon it'd be a pretty easy case to make. Plus with my charisma… With my charisma I can willingly get people to accept a place here.
"I am an alien. A full otherworlder. I have powers of my own that I haven't shown you yet, Rapunzel. I can create life, including full, souled human beings, without any assistance, even now as a demon. We can fill this factory up." I inform the demoness, causing her to give me an excited look. "Secrecy Insurance" gives me the ability to be brave and bold when it comes to declaring my powers, and in a world like this where everyone is afraid of another super-powered entity, proclaiming my own might to my allies is an important morale booster. I can hear her heart racing as she absorbs this shocking revelation.
This ability is absolutely unique among demons. The fact that I can create souled lifeforms using my powers is game-changing in Mareth, and it means that I can create an infinite supply of lethicite; a crystalline manifestation of the soul that I and other demons can devour, if that's what we wish for, or make better use of in a number of ways. Truthfully it's a good thing that conquest isn't something I'm particularly interested in as my abilities are terrifyingly suited for conquest, especially the newest weapons to be added to my repertoire. I could easily create humans and then turn them into dolls, giving myself an army of undyingly loyal, superhumanly powerful minions.
A small part of me, no doubt the part of me influenced by my newly demonic instincts, wonders if I should, if it'd be better for everyone if I went ahead and did just that. It takes me a second to reject that thinking, which is itself a sign of something I need to be aware of; a shift in my thinking that could be easy enough to fall into.
We head deeper into the factory and I get to lay my eyes on the six "Demon sex cows", I purposefully tell myself to remember that they were not always like this to push back against the demonization of my instincts, for the first time.