Alyvia phased through the ceiling of the basement where the spell was guiding her. The room was huge to say the least, the ceiling was very high up and she had to slowly glide down to the floor some 30 feet down. When she got there however, she was surprised to see a male wood elf stuck in a cage pulling on the bars frantically in a vain attempt at escape. Watching the elf was a cloaked figure with it's back to Alyvia's invisible form.
"Now now now, struggling won't get you out of there so you might as well sit back and wait for the potion to take effect," the cloaked figure sighed.
The cage occupant let out a string of words in high elven in response.
"Now that is just uncalled for. There is a lady present after all," and with that the figure did an about face and stared right at Alyvia's position. Her eyes widened but she remained motionless.
The human held up his hand and pointed to one of the rings on his opposite hand. "A ring of true sight, so you can drop the invisibility and save us both the effort," he smiled amused.
Alyvia dismissed the invisibility spell, but held her black feathered wings ready incase she needed to take flight.
"Excellent, thank you." He turned back towards the cage. "I believe the show is about to begin." As if on cue the elf's cursing was replaced with a moan as he stepped away from the cage bars clutching his abdomen.
The elf held up one trembling hand in front of his face and watched in horror as the ring and pinky fingers merged together. Then his hand began to grow larger and more bulky, this traveled up his arm beneath his tunic sleeve and his long thin arm began to cause the fabric to tighten around the expanding muscle. Soon enough the seams of the sleeve gave way and the elf stared open mouthed at the oversized limb attached at the shoulder. His other arm followed the first and once caught up, both thickened even more, doubling in width. A crease formed in the middle of the arms and deepened. Then the arms split apart and the subject was left with 2 pairs of overly muscular arms. The thick veins that covered them pulsed faster and faster as his chest pushed out and expanded to match the arms, destroying the tunic completely. The originally thin elf was now larger than most minotaurs ever hoped to be with wide slabs of muscle for pecs and an enticing 8 pack abs. The out of proportion legs grew to match his upper body, leaving him with little more than a tight fitting undergarment that hugged the smaller sized package. As the elf stood there huffing from the growth and trying to comprehend his body, he felt constricted in his crotch as it too began to grow and change. Alyvia watched as the undergarment was pulled tighter and tighter over the elf's tool giving it more definition. The elf began to thrust his hips forward in time with the growth. Then with a final thrust the fabric gave, but it didn't stop growing and inched down along his longer legs, growing past his knees until stopping at 19" long with a pair of melon sized testicles. He fell on his hands as something pushed out from his rear. It lengthened and thickened into black chitin segments with a stinger at the end. Standing back up, the 2 upper arms also formed into chitin from the elbow down with the hands growing into large claws. The 7 foot tall cage had become too small to contain the 13 foot tall beast.
With one snap of its claws, the cage was broken open and the monstrous scorpion-elf lumbered forward, a murderous look in its eye. It roared, and charged forward raising its claw to slam down on top of the 2 of them. Alyvia noted the man standing still, completely unafraid and unmoving.
'So this one was strong willed enough to keep his mind intact. No matter,' Alyvia thought as she cast a powerful mind control spell. It stopped in front of Alyvia and knelt down, but still towered over her.
"Master," it grunted in a deep beastly voice as it bowed its head. Alyvia reached out and caressed its cheek. 'Good thing Maximillian's concoction at least weakens the mind temporarily or else I would have had a problem.' She examined the beast.
'I may save you for myself,' she mused and then remembered they weren't alone.
"Who are you?"
"Reginald Harker m'lady," he gave a bow. After waiting for Alyvia to exchange pleasantries, but when she didn't his smile wavered for a moment.
"I should think a guest should introduce themselves to their host," he suggested.
Beneath the seemingly warm smile Alyvia saw something and relented.
"Lady Alyvia," she gave emphasis on the title to tell him how she wished to be addressed.
"Well then, Alyvia, I shall give my prisoner to you as a gift of goodwill," he smiled.
"How did you get the potion?"
"I sent a servant to purchase some tonics and such from a few shops and when he returned with an extra bottle, I grew curious. The elf here was caught spying on me and a few others, so I appropriated him to test the mixture. You arriving was expected when I discovered the alarm spell on the stopper, why else would one sell a potion and be alerted when its opened then if to see the aftermath."
Alyvia just nodded.
Harker continued, "you must have a reason for handing out such potions. Something like this could increase the power of any army you sold it to. Maybe it's a test run...or maybe you already have an army you're gathering," he eyed the hulking scorpion hybrid. Alyvia caught a slightly malicious tone in his voice. "But one such as you cannot create something like this alone, so that means you're working with someone else, or hiding a larger operation. Stop me when I get off track."
'He knows way too much to be simply guessing. I must do something about him,' she turned to face the simple looking man.
"Isn't it interesting? Why would someone like me require such a large basement underneath an already large manor," Reginald looked around the room.
Alyvia paused. 'Yes I had wondered that myself. What is he getting at.'
"Its almost like one has to hold something big in secret down here," he looked back at Alyvia, but his eyes were now a hauntingly ice blue with reptilian slits.
For one of the few times in her existence, Alyvia was frozen with genuine fear.
Reginald closed his eyes and opened them again to their human brown look.
"What do you want?"
"I want in," he smiled. "You would benefit to have one such as me as an ally instead of an enemy." He held out his hand.
'Refuse and he will undoubtedly kill me and ruin the whole plan. Accept and we can keep tabs on this...thing,' she pondered and then shook his hand noting the coldness she felt.