(Vol 2) Chapter 6: Glamour Us Pretenders

Sammy meticulously fashioned her other outfit slot in her head on the walk over to the cover of the forest. She still had the staff that she’d pretty much snatched from Azure’s hands as a prop aid for her illusions, which she used as a walking stick along the way.

She went with some simple travelers/riders clothes — reinforced pants, sturdy leather boots (also fashionable), a heavy, long tunic that could serve as the base for another simple chain hauberk that was easily removable. She made everything dark with purple accents and added a blue cloak with a hood. She also included a simple, removable steel mask.

It was also clear she could not alter her base appearance for the first, ‘Core’ Avatar. Except that she could change her hair, at least. So she made it red, face-framing with bangs, and not even down to her shoulders. Finally, she threw in a ‘false eyepatch,’ i.e. one that was a crystal lens opaque on the outside but see-through.

She wasn’t sure she could get away with it, but the System approved it as a ‘special normal item.’ With that, she finished Outfit 2, then changed to it amidst the trees and bushes, in a prismatic flash of light.

She looked at herself, turning this way and that, flicking at her hair… adjusted the eyepatch. Then she looked to Dart, who had climbed up a tree to sit on a branch slightly higher than her. “Well, what do you think?” she asked him.

“Looking spectacular as ever, girl! Love that red.” He pawed at the air with a claw out. “Vrrrrow.”

She grinned up at him. “Wanna know what’s ironic? I don’t have a mirror on this Outfit. And I really wanna see the hair! Fuck my life!”

They both shared a laugh, then Dart stretched out on the branch, blinking his eyes slowly. “Ugh, why do I feel like sleeping?! Fucking lazy felines. Anyhooties, I’d turn into a mirror for you, but I can’t. Has to be some sort of believable creature with limbs and stuff.”

“Hmm… you can turn into a dragon, what, horse-sized? How about a mirror dragon? Or like, your normal faerie dragon self, just with custom scales — or wings!”

“Hmmmmm… let’s try!” Dart erupted into a huge cloud of smoke — soon a horse-sized dragon shape could be seen behind the haze, and the branch snapped under the weight. The form landed easily on its feet, however.

A dragon seemingly made of light-blue crystal strolled over to her, then stretched a great prismatic-tinged wing in front of her, the backside making a pretty nice reflection for her to see herself in. She made use of it to check out her hair, as well as how the eyepatch looked. She also flicked her hood up over her head to see how effective that was.

Yeah… I’d say fairly unrecognizable. Unless seriously inspecting the face. But I can just use my illusion ability for the sake of most things if I want. Though it might make someone who can detect such things suspicious.

It was perhaps paranoid… it wasn’t as if tons of people had seen Samantha’s face close up to compare. But she lost nothing by being cautious and preparing for the worst-case scenarios.

The quest “To Face or Flee'' is complete. 44 FE gained. 4 FE (Illusion) gained. 2 exp gained in [Goddess]. 3 exp gained in [Bard] for successfully conning a large group with acting and deception. 2 exp gained in a sub-class of your choice for creative, efficient problem-solving.

Well, 2 in Wizard then-

“It seems you’re adapting quickly, Your Majesty- ooh, quest completion!”

Sammy almost jumped out of her brand-new skin at the voice of Azure, almost right on top of the System message. She spun around in shock. Azure can track me?! “H-how- you-” Then she saw Dart’s neck crane around, his face a comical grinch-like, trollish grin. “You absolute shit! You pinged her to come here behind my back?!”

Azure blinked in confusion at the two. She’d stopped some distance, perhaps not entirely sure what she was looking at. “But you-... I thought it was you, who directed me. You seemed different, but… Anyway, you even told me to approach from the west just a few minutes ago. I… see now that is right where your eyes and the mirror wouldn’t catch me…”

Sammy just made a growl in her throat, glaring at the dragon.

Dart waggled his eyebrows. “You were busy, dear Goddess. Absorbed in important fashionista design of utmost designful importance! I was simply taking the initiative like a proper CEO should.”

“In any case,” Azure said, looking her goddess over and beaming, “it looks good! Nicely done. Love the red. And those boots!” She took a deep breath, hands moving awkwardly. She was apparently somewhat nervous. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Samantha. I’ve so, so looked forward to this day.”

Sammy beamed back and walked over until they were face to face. She was inches taller than the Naugite woman who was already ‘model tall’ herself… which was incredibly strange after a week of feeling tiny somehow compared to them all. And after being little her entire life, besides.

Well, Orswyth is still taller! A lot of the guys, really.

Azure’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at her deity’s heroic stature. She was dressed much more relevantly for the road, in breeches and a kind of sleeveless leather harness belted at the waist, ending in a short, but protective skirt over her hips. Under this was a white puffy shirt. Her hair had been put up with a cloth wrap at her forehead, the ram horns curling up between folds.

“Me too, Azure, my Phoenix,” Sammy said, then embraced her in a hug. Azure returned it, with a brief disbelief or awe that soon melted away. They were both content to persist in the embrace for a minute, such were their multiple, if varying needs for it.

Finally, Sammy broke it, releasing to still hold her Follower by the shoulders. “Gosh, did I need that. I feel super-specially welcomed to a… new home, of sorts.”

Azure smiled, her luminous purple eyes shocking in their vibrancy so close. “I’m glad, Your Majesty. Ecstatic, truthfully! That you are here. I feel… safer. And I feel as if I’ve known you far longer…” She studied Sammy’s face as if trying to find recognition there. “Your touch, your embrace… it’s as if from a memory.”

Mysteries, still. I can’t unravel them. Time is all that can tease it out.

“Perhaps I just have one of those hugs.”

Azure raised an amused eyebrow. “You mean like ‘one of those faces?’ I’ve never heard of it for hugs.”

Sammy grinned impishly. “Oh, it’s a thing. Anyway, what am I smelling? It’s so damn good! What do you use?”

“Oh, that is from a special, imported soap the Lady had, it’s lavender, as well as three types of floral essences, one of which I hadn’t even heard of! If you can believe it. And of course my Renkeione lotion ointment, which uses two different types of tree oils and a base of yessik pulp. Fortunately, yessik is plentiful in the Southlands but I don’t know how I’d get Renkeione products out here…”

She sighed at the tragedy. “After a couple of weeks when I run out, my skin is going to be like hideous tree bark! At least I have a bar of the soap, too…”

Sammy blinked a few times at the breakdown. “It’s been a long, long time since you’ve really roughed it, huh?”

She gave a sheepish little grin. “I’m afraid so… but I’ll adapt of course!”

Sammy squinted her eyes. “Mm-hmm. Well, we’ll figure out a method or substitute to keep your skin soft and moist, queen. Even if we have to slay a dragon!”

“I heard that,” Dart interjected balefully. “Typical stereotyping. Don’t you think a gorgon or maybe a bearpig or something might need slaying instead? Hmm? Hmm? We’re too majestic for slaying willy-nilly.”

They both turned to see Dart’s significant crystal dragon bulk more or less plopped on the ground, head on his forepaws as he was watching them.

“Ah,” Sammy said, gesturing with a hand. “This is Dartagnan or Dart for short. My first Servitor spirit.”

“Oh, I see,” Azure said, then bowed her head respectfully at the dragon. “An honor and a pleasure to meet one such as you, Sir Dartagnan.”

Dart disappeared in a puff of smoke, which imploded down smaller until a young man materialized. He was a dashing nobleman in fine, colorful clothes, with an elaborate feathered hat that would put Dax’s to shame. He took it off to do a fancy flourish of a bow to Azure, grinning lopsided, showing strange blue hair. His eyes were, as ever, rather uncannily crystalline blue.

As Azure gasped in amazement and delight, Dart said, “The pleasure is indeed all yours, madame.” He straightened and returned his hat to his head.

“A shapeshifter!” Azure exclaimed, clasping her hands together. “Amazing. Or… is it just an illusion?”

“Amazing, definitely,” Dart answered, then buffed his perfect nails on his shirt and inspected them.

Sammy and Azure both laughed.

“He can shapeshift,” Sammy answered, “but the source is Glamour, or to simplify somewhat, illusions of a fae nature. I think that’s why there is always a slight tell and weird aura. I assume we can play that off as the eccentricity of a wizard or something, in common travel.”

Dart sighed. “Honestly, I prefer animal forms to this, but I know it has its uses to appear human occasionally.”

“Are there any limits?”

“A 1-minute cooldown, though this can be violated with personal FE use. But there’s also Lesser Create Illusion, which still gives me disguises at-will within 20% of the size of the base form. Including fake equipment.” He grinned and a hand mirror poofed into his hand, which he then inspected his face with.

“Oh, right… Hey, why didn’t you just do that instead of a whole dragon wing as a mirror earlier?”

He was inspecting his white teeth judiciously. “A cat with a hand mirror? Ridiculous! Besides, you could’ve realized your own capability and did it yourself.”

Sammy blinked, then used her at-will ‘disguise’ ability from Create Illusion, fashioning a fake mirror into her hand in a blink. Only, it wasn’t truly fake, as it still made a perfect reflection.

More like non-physical.

She then activated it again, to make herself bigger and taller, using the full 30% limit… which made her about 2 and a third meters tall or so. Not that she was actually seeing from that height, though.

The nearby Azure craned her neck up at the giant with eyes as wide as they could go. “Your Majesty, please! I feel like an ant!”

Sammy put her hands on her hips and cocked her head back to laugh as a ‘giant’ might. “Ho ho ho! Worry not, little one!” Then a large hand reached down to ‘pat’ Azure’s head. “I won’t step on you! Unless so requested.”

Azure made a face that was truly priceless, and her pale red skin might’ve gotten a bit redder. Sammy and Dart both laughed at the results.

Crossing her arms, Azure regained her composure and ‘hmmphed.’ “Two absolute pranksters! I’ll be thankful when there are more targets in the party.”

“You know, I did say I’d get you back, hot-horns. Cult of Pretenders!”

“Well, that is true… So we’re even, then?”

Sammy appeared to shrink back down to normal size. “Even Steven! Now you just have to worry about Dart.”

Dart smiled with picture-perfect innocence.

“I feel as though we both do, Your Majesty!”

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Samantha, Virgin Goddess of Mirrors & Illusion
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Goddess Level 2 [11/20]; Minor Deity

Domains (3/4): Mirrors, Illusion, Fate
Faith Energy: 271/2500
FE (Mirrors): 6 ; FE (Illusion): 9 ; FE (Fate): 10
Followers: 34 (Daily FE Gain: 43 [47])

Devout: 6
Priests: 3

Brute: 0
Rogue: 0
Wizard: 1 [13/20]
Bard: 0 [5/10]

MP: 5/26

Special Skills: First Aid, Tarot Reading, Priestly Ordination, Holy Relic Investiture, Create Servitor, Read Runes, Spell Construction, Detect Magic

Special Traits: Token User, Immortal, Demiplane Domain, Conceptual Body, Fueled By Faith, Avatar (Samantha; Core)

Spells: Identify (5 MP), Icebolt (3 MP)

Powers: Faith Energy Utilization, Grant Prayer (Illusion), Grant Prayer (Fate), Mirror Sense, Mirror Communication, Intuition, Alter Fate, Create Illusion, Grant Invisibility, Dazzling Spectrum, False Auras, Mirroring Duplicates, Reflect Force, Mirror Maze

Status: Token User Promotional Bonus (7/30), Free Minor Divine Enchantment (Accessory; 1-use), **YOU HAVE VARIOUS ALERTS**