“This… is not the hotel I expected…”
The Missing had been instructed to wait at a hotel for a bit, since their last mission hadn’t gone as planned. No fault of their own, it was supposed to have been a diplomatic mission, but they’d discovered everyone had been destroyed shortly before they’d arrived. Clearly, the Overlord wanted them to stay close by, in case they needed to go back and search or clues or something, but for now, Arkay, Litvir and Retvik had a free stay for three nights at a 5 star hotel.
The problem was, the hotel was more of a water park. A nude water park.
“I… am having worrying flashbacks…” Arkay muttered.
“From that nude Life Goddess thing, yes?” Litvir asked.
“Yeah.”
Retvik and Litvir glanced around a little, then shrugged. Retvik pointed at a sign at the entrance. “It cannot be as bad as that place. This hotel is for Decayons only.”
“Yeah but… nude Decayons…” Arkay shuddered, gesturing at the sign directly under it. “No clothes or armour allowed? Like… what? Who would want that?”
Retvik shrugged some more. “There are people here and this person is in business, so I guess there are enough vok who want this.”
“Why are you bothered anyway, Arkay?” Litvir asked as he peered past the gates. “We are armoured beings. We do not look naked even when naked! Sure, I am not too sure about the water slides or anything, but I really like the look of that tall area with all the shady trees and stuff. We have a chance to have some fun at Deathven’s expense, we really should take it.”
Arkay relented. Litvir and Retvik both patted him on the shoulder, then took him by the hand and led him to the entrance. The walls around the resort were opaque, not allowing people to look in from the outside apart from what could be seen above the walls. At the entrance was a gate that led to multiple sets of doors, set up so people couldn’t peer in. The gate was guarded by a booth with a naked bird person. More of a penguin than any other bird though. Arkay thought they looked a little tiny bit like a new-universe Vrekan but without the glowing spots or extra spikes.
“Hello!” the bird person exclaimed. “This resort is online bookings only, may I have your Decay Lord codenames and names, please, to see if you have a booking?”
“Of course!” Litvir smiled. “I am Souldrainer and these two are-”
“OH” the bird person butted in. “You’re the VIPs! Hang on!”
The bird person dropped out of sight briefly. After a few seconds, another being appeared. This one was a bird. Literally a large, pink flamingo. It summoned a pair of psionic arms and waved at the Missing.
“Hello, Higher Lords!” the flamingo bowed. “My name is Emin’ka, I am in charge of VIP customers! Please, come with me!”
Emin’ka didn’t allow the Missing to say anything. She instead used her psionic arms to open a door hidden to one side and led Arkay, Litvir and Retvik through it. They went down a private tunnel, to a large lift.
“So, uh, what’s going on?” Arkay asked.
“Nothing much! Just the VIP treatment! The Overlord requests we give Higher Lords the VIP treatment.”
“Do you know Deathven personally?”
“No, no. But our hotel chain owner does. He does a lot of the communications and gives us instructions. And we’ve been instructed to give you the floating island suite for your three day stay!”
The lift opened up, and Emin’ka led everyone inside, before swiftly pressing the button. The lift was slow and opened up into a glass tube that allowed them to see the entire hotel.
“Oh, so we get to go to that tall island thing at the top, that you can see from outside?” Litvir queried.
“Indeed! That’s our VIP suite! You still have to be naked in the rest of the resort, and we’d prefer you to be naked up here as well, but you will have your own private area, complete with what is essentially a miniature Life Oasis and a butler on hand.”
“A butler?” Retvik looked confused. He’d briefly forgotten what a butler even was. “That seems a little extreme. We do not need a servant.”
“Well, they’re going to provide food and drinks whenever you need it! You’ll have a full buffet of food whenever you want it, alongside full VIP access to any and all rides, access to our full spa service and your own private oasis.”
The lift reached its destination and opened up into a jungle paradise. Immediately on the left though was a second lift and a storage box.
“Anyway, this lift here is how you access the rest of the resort!” Emin’ka squawked as she handed the Missing a bracelet each. “No clothes or armour are allowed in the resort, and you can place all your belongings in this lock box while you are in the main resort. Our staff have been informed of your presence and who you are, and will give you access as long as you give them your code name.”
“Are we free to go as we please?” Litvir asked.
“Basically!” Emin’ka beamed. “I’m going to give you an hour to get yourselves sorted out, then I will send up your assigned butler, who will show you around and also get you a bite to eat. Speak soon!”
Before anyone could comment, Emin’ka headed back into the lift and disappeared.
“Well… I cannot complain!” Litvir perked up as made his way over to a balcony that overlooked the resort. “We basically get to stay in a jungle paradise for a few days! And I really like the look of that large river with the inflatable rings.”
Retvik nodded in agreement, and started taking off his armour. “We got a holiday because we found some dead Voidborns. Might as well make the most of it.”
Arkay finally relented. “Alright, fine. But if something-”
“Shush, Arkay. Just enjoy it.”
“Fine…”