Following the reveal of their evolutions and new traits, the girls chatted briefly before Alicia said something. “So Chloe? I noticed it earlier but in light of everything else we failed to ask. Why do you have a forbidden class?”
Chloe sighed, “Necromancy wasn’t always... forbidden. There was a time when it was just another discipline. It wasn’t until we mortals actually succeeded in creating the first undead that the gods took notice. Even with their mandates, there remain things I can do without violating the natural order.”
“I see, and I guess changing your class isn’t easy?”
“Never been in the cards,” she replied. “But it’s late. We should get to bed, and in the morning we will have other concerns.”
“Other concerns?”
“Have you forgotten? We are still in a city under the influence of those monsters.”
“Ah, right,” she frowned. “Does that mean we are in trouble?”
Chloe sat down on her bed, “Yes and no. I suspect they have been here a while. You saw the Lizarna Elder Wrym right?”
Alicia nodded, “I identified it.” She shuddered, “Even felt it in my mind, despite your shield.”
“It should have been a tier eight creature. While the more common version of the creature, the Lizarna Serpent is much lower in tier. So this one has evolved a few times.”
“You seem to know more about them than I. I’ve never heard of a Lizarna.”
“I suspect you know them by their other name, The Child Eating Serpent. They start life as a Tier three, and when they reach level 200 they evolve into a Mature Lizarna Serpent. The tier five version is the Lizarna Elder Serpent. At Tier six, they have a chance to become a Wrym. It’s actually the rarer path for them.”
“A child eating serpent!? But there are still children in the city!? Why didn’t I feel an urge to feed Sae to the thing?”
Chloe leaned back. “You are thinking of wandering ones who have left the nest. This one has settled down, which means it’s not alone.”
“Not alone?”
“When they nest, they do so in numbers. I’ve cleared a nest or two in my lifetime, so trust me. They behave differently.”
“Numbers!? You mean more of those things are down there?”
Chloe nodded. “Now that I know serpents are behind the aura covering the city. I can guess how many are down there. It’s bad.”
“I see,” Alicia glanced out the window of their room. “Dare I ask what a nest under the city means?”
She shifted on the bed, sitting up again to look at Alicia. “Pretty much what we see. They ‘encourage’ the population to breed. They want every female capable of bearing a child to be pregnant, and they won’t let the womb rest for long either. In addition, they’ll harvest ovaries to implant in the Schwæri population. Schwæri have the ability to produce eggs that hatch into the donor species. Recall, that pouch those girls were opening and putting stolen ovaries into?” She paused and when Alicia nodded, she continued. “It’s for precisely that ability. They can lay rather significant clutches at a time. About thirty to forty eggs at a time, which mature at a fairly rapid pace. It takes about three to four months for them to hatch.”
Chloe sighed, “Hard to say how many of these kids are being born at a time, or how many survive to adulthood. A large number of them will be eaten.”
“But there are kids in the town. I saw them.”
“To create the illusion of normalcy. Lizarna prefer to avoid confrontation and attention. Recall how you didn’t have an urge to feed Sae to the things? One, she’s close to childbearing age, so less likely to be eaten in the first place. Since it makes more sense to allow her to grow, and instead eat her babies. Two, she’s attached to a caravan that will be leaving town in a few days. Other than cloning our ovaries and stealing the extras, they didn’t do anything to us. When we leave, we are supposed to do so with no idea what happened and memories of a normal visit to the city.”
Alicia blinked, blinked again, then her eyes widened. “By the gods, are you saying they could have been here for months?”
“Years, perhaps decades. Based on the size of that nest? I’d wager decades. A visit to the upper quarter might be able to shed some light. We should look at population growth records and whatnot. Lizarna prefer to keep pop growth at or near zero. Also should take note of male to female births and...”
Alicia groaned, “I think I will leave that to you. I’m going to try and sleep. Hopefully without nightmares.” She paused, rolling over on her bed. A breath left her. “Ah shit, we haven’t seen Derrick since we entered town.”
Chloe remarked, “Ah, I wouldn’t worry about him. Chances are, he’s off playing stud or something. They won’t harm him any more than they would us.”
“I see,” came the reply with a yawn. Nothing more was said, and they drifted to sleep soon after.
The next morning the girls came down to eat breakfast. Qeika, the innkeeper’s daughter, was once again helping out. The inn almost seemed busier than yesterday. Qeika noticed them arriving and hurried over. “Sorry, things are a little busy. Some adventurers returned last night.”
“Adventurers?” inquired Alicia with a slight frown on her cute face.
Qeika nodded, “Yeah a few parties left here last week to investigate a monster nest. Joint quest. They came back mostly intact.”
“Mostly? Someone die?”
“Sadly yes,” she said with a grimace. “Unfortunately, we don’t get many experienced adventurers out this way like you are. Only parties that come this way are low-level adventurers, so local parties often have to step up for the tougher jobs. The Naked Ladies volunteered to guide a couple of newbie parties from out of town. The Stalwart Shields and the Crimson Dancers, neither had much experience when they came into town and registered.” Qeika paused, a grin on her face, “Oh and get this, the Dancers wanted to be called the Pikes but were forced to register as something else.”
“Ah I see,” said Alicia as Qeika guided them to a table. “I can guess what happened.”
“Yeah the dancers didn’t listen, lost two of their members. A couple of boys, neither left much of an impression.” A brief smile showed on her face, before turning to a frown, “The shields lost someone too. Both parties will likely be recruiting soon. I’m sure some local girls looking for some action will sign up when they do.”
“I see,” said Alicia as they settled at a table. Chloe picked out the newcomers, there was some variation in dress but she did notice a fair number of bare breasts and naked bellies. Some were pregnant, others not so much. Which made them stand out a little more in this town.
Qeika took their orders, then hurried off. Quietly Alicia asked, “Are those adventurers in trouble?”
“Hard to say,” said Chloe in response, “But as I said before, they don’t want undue attention. They’ll be careful about appearances at the very least.”
Before anything else could be said the innkeeper came over, “Morning girls. You have an invitation. You will accept and be there in an hour.”
Alicia blinked and then replied as she knew she should, even though in her eyes Chloe could tell she wanted to reject it. “Of course, we happily accept and comply. All five of us, yes?”
The innkeeper gave them a card, “Yes, all five of you. Don’t be late.”
She left, and the girls shared looks. Sae grumbled, “I don’t want to go, my belly hurt last time.”
Myshi concurred, and Ellie shrugged, “It was more boring than anything else, but I’d imagine not going is a bad idea.”
Chloe sighed. “If we don’t go, we arouse suspicion. If we do go, something may happen. Thankfully I have a way to get us out of this.”
“And what’s that?”
She leaned forward, speaking softly, “False copies, illusions but not, real but not. I used one during the first ‘invitation.’ If I’d had more warning and time to snap you out of the mind control, I could have produced more. They can take our place.”
“False copies?”
“Magical clones, of condensed essence and altered air. Compressed, shaped, and impressed.”
“Um, will they not notice?”
Chloe grinned, “Well it will spoil the crop a little, the ovaries they take from a False copy will degrade rapidly as they aren’t true ovaries, but I don’t think any of us actually want to be leaving children behind. I can make them solid enough however to last long enough to make it to implantation, which should hopefully allay future suspicions."
“Right, so what do we do while our ‘false copies’ are out having ‘fun?’
Sae interjected, “Play games in our room till they get back?” A hopeful smile graced her face.
“She’s pretty much right,” Chloe said. “I, on the other hand? Have something to do. I’m going to visit the upper district and look into records. Try to see if I can’t learn more about the nest, how old it is, and what it’s up to. The local government is more than likely under the direct control of the nest, so some records should be there. The public record won’t be of much use, but there should be another that the nest uses to keep track of its... herd.”
Alicia frowned, “Is that a good idea?”
“It’s safer than another foray into the nest, but I don’t think going in as a group will be a good idea.”
“So we stay home, our false copies take the invitation, and you head to the upper district.” Ellie summarized getting things straight.
Alicia continued, “How do we get to our room without notice?”
“My veil and Myshi’s mind magic will do the trick.”
Myshi blinked, “Me?”
Chloe nodded, “I know enough about mind magic to know you can do it. All you need is a gentle push as I understand it. Shift attention away from us, as I put out the veil to hide our true selves. Our false copies will take our places, and we carry out the plan.”
Alicia nodded, “Sounds good to me.”
A moment later Qeika came with their food. The conversation shifted to other things while they ate. Given the invitation, they ate quickly and when the meal was done, Chloe and Myshi worked together to carry out their plan. The girls headed up the stairs, while Chloe followed the false copies out the door. Heading separate ways, the copies went to a certain building, each one vulnerable to mind manipulation. A choice she’d made deliberately, and thanks to Myshi they had carefully tuned minds that didn’t even know they were copies and would hopefully pass muster if not looked at too closely. They could never be too sure. With that in mind she’d left shadowed eyes on both groups, so that she could keep an eye on them. If anything went wrong she’d have a heads up, and hopefully be able to respond. Chloe pushed the matter to the back of her mind and hurried her steps, using illusions and shadows to blend in as she made her way to the upper quarter.