Mutually Beneficial Dungeoneering 7

"Hey... are you alright?"

Benny wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, frowning a little at the feel of the rough leather on his skin. He pulled the goggles he was wearing off his face, the tinted glass surface of them almost rippling with heat. He put the armor piece he was working on in the tub of ice cold water... it was a proof of concept design, and a failed one at that.

He was glad he hadn't wasted any valuable materials on that.

Miss Mara had gone off to deal with the more annoying parts of adventuring, in particular, she had gone off to learn as much as she could about the second floor of Kamadeva, as the first one, they could consider effectively 'cleared'. 

Benny turned to face his other teammate... In contrast with Mara's more athletic form, the Gnome he knew only as Cupcake was bodaciously voluptuous, and looked more like an erotic model than she did a dungeon-going adventurer. Benny had seen her slice too many throats and put knives in too many eye sockets to think of her as anything other than a whirlwind of murder.

A very short and very sexy whirlwind of murder. She had changed her getup for a thick, leather apron, white shirt that almost burst at the chest, and brown pants that strained to their limits.

"You're spacing out. Am I that enticing?" Cupcake asked, striking a pose, showing off her figure.

Benny wouldn't lie, but he also wouldn't say truths he'd rather hide, and so he shook his head to clear his thoughts, stretching his limbs. "I- ah, yes, yes, I'm fine," he said.

"You don't look too fine," Cupcake said. "You've been working on stuff all day and not one has come out right. Creative juices not flowing? I know a few ways to get your blood to run..."

Benny's face turned redder than it already was. "I- ah-" he pouted. "Don't tease me like that!"

"I'm not teasing you honey, seriously," she said, smirking at him. "You think I wouldn't ride your pole 'till the hucows come home?" she said. "I know you've got a crush on Mara, but trust me, she won't mind if you eat this cake."

He huffed. "I- you're unbelievable," he said.

Cupcake giggled. "But no seriously, what's eating at you?"

The young man looked out the window to the little workshop he'd rented, in part using the party's funds. With the defeat of the Goblin Lord, and their following success in quests dealing with the first dungeon level, had meant that he could scale up the production of tools, weapons and armor for use in the dungeon. He was working on an armored suit that would fit the needs of Mara, and fit the wonderful Ulfsark aesthetic she had going for her.

"I just... nothing I come up with seems fitting," Benny said, scratching the top of his head. He pulled the glove off after it itched him badly, and tossed it away, doing the same with the other hand. He exhaled in frustration, it was no sigh, it was an angry exhale really.

Cupcake hummed in thought... then stepped up to him and slammed her hand against the small of his back. "When you're like this, the best thing to do is to take a break and gather your thoughts. Come, join me!" she said, unhooking her apron from behind herself, and doing the same to Benny's, as she began to push him out of the workshop.

"B-But, but I-" Benny protested.

"Just come with me already," Cupcake said. "We need to do some bonding, and I don't mean the physical kind, anyway!" she said, stepping ahead of him, grabbing him by the hand, and dragging him away.

The small workshop the party had rented was in one of the nicer parts of town, so to  speak, if one was strong enough to handle the potential surly or moody adventurer. Close enough to the dungeon, close enough to the taverns, and most important of all, well away from nosy, annoying neighbors.

Rialia had some great bars to explore, and it was a place that had seen a lot of influence from the dungeon it was built around. Kamadeva's impact could be felt far and wide, and given the amount of strip clubs and brothels in close proximity to it, ranging from hole in the wall dives to a major casino that catered to adventurers with more money and harder dicks than they knew what to do with...

Cupcake's favorite was a bar on the outskirts of the 'pleasure' district of the capital. Monteblanco, as the bar was called, was famous for two things. One was its White Mousse dessert, specialty made with slime gathered from the fifth floor of the dungeon.

And as Cupcake dragged Benny into the building, the second thing the bar was known for turned her face to greet them. "Welcome- ah, Cuppy, how nice to see you."

Benny's jaw hung open, as the proprietor of the bar, and its most famous attraction, turned and directed a smile at him. Long, outrageously perfectly shaped legs carried a body carved from pure alabaster by the gods themselves, and a face that no artist could replicate, with soulful baby blue eyes, golden hair, long lashes and perfectly symmetrical proportions...

"Yo, Benny, I know she's hot, but you've gotta wake up man," Cupcake said, slapping Benny's ass and causing him to stumble forward.

"Babab, boobs!" Benny said.

The blue leotard that the divine figure wore did nothing to hide her chest, or the thickness of her thighs, or the fantastically well rounded curve of her butt, and if anything, the dark stockings she wore made the look even sexier.

Even worse for Benny's senses was the fact that he could almost TASTE the sheer, incredible quality of her outfit. He was standing before a masterpiece in so very many more ways than just one...

Even her voice seemed like it was crafted to hit every single sensitive spot of his ears, picking on each and every one of his weaknesses, as her full lips curved into a smile, and Benny realized she was tall, taller than he was even, when she came up to him.

"And what do we have here, mhm?" she asked, cupping his chin with her alabaster fingers, tilting his face up to face her. "Aren't you a cute one..." she mused. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Ba- boing," Benny said, eloquently.

The woman let out a musical giggle. "Oh, forgive my rudeness. I am Aether, proprietess of the Monteblanco bar," she said, "may I have your name?"

"Benny!" he finally managed to blurt out, still shaking and swaying, even worse, his knees nearly buckled when she regaled him with a radiant, divine smile.

She pulled back. "Your usual, Cuppy?" she asked, turning to the gnome.

"You know me," Cupcake said. "Get Benny something nice too. Choccy Milk, on me."

"Virgin?"

Benny blushed bright red. 

"This lad's blooded through and through, no kiddy drinks for him," Cupcake said. "I know he ain't lookin' it, but he's level four just like me!"

"How impressive... and you said you started proper adventuring less than a month ago, fascinating," Aether said, nodding. "Well then, as a gift to an up and coming adventurer, how about having a drink on me tonight?"

Benny's jaw dropped. "bwaaaaaaaaa"

Aether and Cupcake giggled. 

"What a dirty mind you've got," Cupcake said.

"Goodness me, sweetheart, you're going to make this old lady's heart skip a beat," she said, waving her hand. "Come on, come now, take a seat at the bar!"

Benny gulped, and looked around. The place was nice, the proprietess might draw all the attention, but it was a quiet, slightly dim lit and nicely furnitured place. Nothing was overly fancy, no excess of gold or jewelry, no crystalline chandelier nor crazy expensive bottles of liquor lining the wall behind the bar... it was just... nice.

Nice, well crafted and laquered mahogany bar and stools, with tables and chairs of slightly less fine but still well crafted materials... all in all... A place that had spent its money well, and managed to maintain a proper and nice atmosphere without overspending.

Cupcake jumped up on a stool and patted the one beside her, and Benny sat on it. He felt underdressed in a place this nice, in his white shirt and brown pants, the almost comically obvious "I'm an apprentice blacksmith" look he had to him clashing with the almost understated look of everyone else there.

He could tell they were adventurers, their clothes were too finely made, too enchanted, to be anything else.

As he sat and the proprietess moved away to serve another patron, Benny finally regained enough of his senses to turn to Cupcake. "So, uhm... this place serves adventurers?"

"Primarily, yeah. The odd noble comes in to gawk at Aether every now and then."

Benny hummed. "Is she... I mean, I've heard rumors, but..." Benny's eyes focused on the sides of her head, seeing the peek of a long, pointy ear sometimes visible as the golden curtains of her hair moved about.

Cupcake shrugged. "She's got the pale skin, the height, the amazingly good looks, and the power to back up the claim..."

"An elf, huh..?" Benny muttered. "Of all the places to find an elf..."

"Kamadeva attracts many sorts," Cupcake said, shrugging. "Rialia's the Cosmopolis for a reason you know."

"The what?" Benny asked.

"Cosmopolis - basically, big city where you can find a representation of just about every race and culture, all coming because of the huge dungeon.." Cupcake muttered. "Not so much these days but I hear it used to be teeming with all sorts of folks from all sorts of places."

Benny nodded.

Soon enough, however, two glasses were put in front of them, as the proprietess took her spot behind the bar, leaning forward and showing off the valley between her magnificent, massive mammaries as she poured a dark, almost forthy liquid on the glasses. It looked a bit like chocolate, Benny mused.

Cupcake smirked. 

"What is this?" Benny asked.

The proprietess offered him a smile. "It's Chocow milk - Chocows are a variant of Hucow, smaller, dark colored. Their milk has... a bit of a different taste, similar to chocolate, hence the name. It's not as good for you, but it's delicious, and it mixes really, really well with specific kinds of alcohol," she said, tilting her head slightly and resting her cheek on her hand. "I've heard humans like you love it."

"Choccy Milk specifically is made with Chocow milk and rum," Cupcake explained. "Came up with it while drunk off my skull!"

Benny hummed, looking at the brown liquid. It did resemble chocolate after all... He grabbed the glass, brought it to his lips, and-

The alcohol burned a bit, but... "This is really good. I didn't expect that, but it tastes just like chocolate..."

"Isn't it?" Aether had a hint of amusement to her voice. "This one's on me, just enjoy it. Now... Cuppy never brings people here, so... why don't you tell me a bit more about yourself, Benny?" the alabaster skinned, almost irresponsibly beautiful proprietess of the Monteblanco asked, resting her face on her hand.

Benny gulped, but he could not help himself, and he regaled her with the tale of his woes...