Owner of all you survey

As the dust settled, Gil took a deep breath and took inventory of the situation. About half of the elves were dead, their leader was a suggestible amnesiac (that would only really listen to Gil right now), and Ireena was nearly naked. Gil and Ireena were both injured, but only superficially; as long as they cleaned out the wounds so they didn't get infected, they should be fine.

"Ireena, watch that one." Gil said, pointing at Zena. "She's exaggerating."

He turned to Candress and gave her a quick kiss; emotions were still running high after the battle, after all. He thought through his options quickly; he definitely wanted to keep her. Even if she only knew how to throw fireballs, that had proven extremely handy; if she could teach him how to do that with soul talent, he wanted her to do so. He mentally went over the Greater Waters of Lethe in his mind, hoping that he hadn't wasted a useful item.

Greater Waters of Lethe: causes someone to completely and permanently lose all episodic memories of their life and become very suggestible for around half an hour. During this time they will uncritically accept anything the contractor tells them as absolute truth. Their personality, values, and even deep traits like sexual orientation can shift radically to accommodate these changes. In many cases, though not all, the drinker will proceed to fabricate a full set of memories built around what they were told, which they will "remember" over the course of 2-7 days. This new set of memories primarily exists to explain away any inconsistencies and reintroduce them to any skills or specialized knowledge they may have while reinforcing whatever they were told, and draws upon their preexisting knowledge to some degree. One use.

He didn't want her to be a mindless drone, that was certain. Those sounded like fun until you'd had a few, then they got boring quickly. Handy to do chores, but he already had Snow, and frankly the Skyblock was boring enough that he didn't really need someone to wipe away what little work there was to do. If he could restore her memory while keeping her new loyalties, that would be great. He was struck with inspiration: he could tell her anything he wanted, after all, and he knew a great example of how someone might end up with a totally new set of priorities.

"Candress. That is your name. My name is Gil." Gil said, pulling her close and looking her directly in her glowing green eyes, "I'm glad that you love me so much that you would fight anyone to protect me. You do love me, yes?"

The redhead elf nodded.

"Yes. Yes Gil, of course I do." She sounded uncertain, but Gil hoped that would be good enough. He couldn't take her back with him if he didn't capture her, and Love Confessions were a special kind of capture. One that he didn't have an easy method of iterating on, not yet.

"You are not the original Candress." Gil explained, "You are a perfect copy of her, made only a few minutes ago. You were made for the specific purpose of loving and serving me, because I purchased you from The Company, the entities that made this entire world and every other world you will ever see. Your purpose is to serve as my aide, as well as any other duties that I may deem necessary. You love me because that helps to motivate you to serve me better as both an aide and concubine, and will love any other members of my retinue without undue jealousy."

That more or less covered the standard package for capture that most testers got used to, at least when testing in an environment that employed it. Bindings were the obvious option, but it was fairly common to have a shop that allowed for direct purchase of retinue members preloaded with an undying devotion to the customer. Gil suspected that if he summoned someone from one of his character cards, they would come in with the same basic worldview he'd just saddled Candress with. Shame they were temporary; oh well, that's why he intended to experiment.

"Now I need you to wait in your tent. Have something to drink if you can find some water or juice or something." Gil ordered, still whispering, "I'm going to send someone in to speak with you. They will tell you all about the woman you are based off of. They might even believe you are that woman, and try to convince you of as much. You aren't, but it is appropriate for you to inherit all of her powers, possessions, and identity wherever doing so doesn't conflict with serving me."

Candress swayed, her brain working overdrive as she internalized every word. In this vulnerable state, Gil and Gil alone could have told her anything and it would have been engraved upon her very soul. She stumbled into her small tent, and without thinking about it went directly to her wine cabinet and opened a small bottle. She needed it.

"You ok, Ireena?" Gil asked, "that was a bigger fight than I expected."

Gil politely didn't look at Ireena directly. She was clearly embarrassed by the state of her clothes, and quickly reverted to her small size; alas, doing so only caused her shredded dress to fall entirely off of her. Her massively inflated hips and mammaries had been the only things keeping even a few scraps of cloth on her. He tossed her his cloak; it wouldn't fit well, but she could at least draw it close around herself.

Gil crouched next to Zena, smiling.

"Playing dead?" He asked, casually, "Smart. I approve. Enough that I'll give you an offer."

The white haired elf cracked an eyelid open, revealing molten green orbs. She looked at Gil warily.

"I'm listening." She said, then waited.

"First, you sell me your soul, then you go in the tent and tell Candress everything you know about her and about your people, in that order. Literally anything you can remember, no matter how banal or important." Gil told her. "I'd rather she not be a hollow shell. Then you will give the Draenei a full report of what your people are doing in the area, leaving nothing out. After that, you will follow me to my home and assist me in my travels as necessary, as a scout, soldier, and outdoorsman."

Zena sat up and scooted away, leaning against a tree. She eyed her fallen short sword, which Gil had tossed a few feet away.

"How… tempting." Zena said, "and what do I get in return?"

Gil frowned. She hadn't seemed to get that sudden rush of knowledge most people got when he tried to buy their souls. He itched to check his tablet, but didn't want to interrupt this discussion to do so.

"I won't kill you, now or ever," Gil explained, chillingly casual. "Even better, I promise that if you serve me in good faith I'll never do to you what I just did to Candress. I won't scoop out everything you are and shape it like clay so as to serve me. The worst I'll do is make you forget everything about me and send you back to make your way home from these woods knowing only what you know now. Deal?"

"You really know how to sweet talk a girl." Zena said nervously. "How could I refuse? Sure. You've got yourself a scout, assuming you allow me to see to my needs. Food, water, mana, semi-regular chances to rest. Deal?"

"Seems reasonable." Gil agreed. "If your needs are egregious, I'll just turn you out none the worse for wear. Now get in there and talk to Candress. I think she may be distressed."

Gil and Ireena bustled around the camp, only a day old and very sparse. He found a few injured elves, and realized they had probably also been injured in the big crash experienced by the Draenei. They simply lacked the levels of magical healing the blue aliens could draw upon, so more of them died. While he let Ireena do most of the work, Gil checked his tablet. He learned three things that were of great interest to him.

Candress had been captured.

Zena had not been.

Someone named Keilnei had been semi-captured, and she had a condition upon her capture. "Gil will do everything in his power to assist the Draenei for the duration of this visit, as if they were as close as family."

"Huh." Gil said, "that's unfortunate."

He pulled out his freshly cleaned longsword and started cutting the throats of every single elf present, save the two in the tent. Most had survived, if with injuries, and he saw to it that they didn't survive any longer.

"Gil!" Ireena barked, "what are you doing?"

"These people are brigands, who tried to kill us rather than even something as civilized as robbery." He explained, "I have no way of controlling any of them other than Candress and Zena, so they would likely prey upon the Draenei. If they didn't, it might be even worse; they might take advantage of the Draenei's kindness and limited resources. Given the severity of the situation, I can't let either thing happen. Even if they avoided the Draenei from this point forward they would be competing for local resources. So, a clean death is the best I can offer them."

Snow, it seemed, had him on the hook in a big way. If he wanted this Keilnei person, he needed to follow through. In contrast, his own offer to Zena was backed only by his own code of honor, which was far less ironclad. Despite that, he didn't intend to break faith. He was a sucker for a pretty face, and Zena had amused him. Good enough to use a stamp, since he wasn't sure he'd be coming back here any time soon. Besides, by capturing Candress he'd gotten a blue capture ticket, allowing him to reuse a binding on someone weak, and he was pretty sure Zena wasn't tier 4.

Thankfully, Ireena agreed. She didn't like it, but she agreed enough that she went back to work shoving the elves' scrounged together weapons, armor, food, medical supplies, and a few valuables into the small multicolored bags that they carried. The elves were a threat, so Gil was reasonably justified in striking with absolute certainty on behalf of the Draenei.

Nearly an hour passed before everything was packed up and Zena had told Candress all she could about Silvermoon, the Blood Elves, and her duty to Prince Kael. Candress seemed interested, but unmoved, and Zena submitted to the stamp without complaint. She wanted to live, and could see how profoundly Candress had been changed.