Homelands (Guan Yu)

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

The group passed along the corpse road once again, seeing it hadn't lost any of it's earlier gruesomeness in a day. In the area where they had previously fought, there were signs of activity, most prominently the staked men who Tomoe could recognize as the one with rifles. For just that moment, she closed off her heart to the suffering around them. These people were beyond her ability to save after that, anyway. Instead, miko focused on what they would be doing as the satyr brought out his knowledge and possible plans for the upcoming task. Still, she couldn't help but lament at the unnecessary violence being inflicted to all parties involved. Why couldn't these things just be dealt with in peaceful manner?

After hearing the goatman out, the shrine maiden thought about it for a moment. These were not the most safe conditions, but something had to be done to free the region from the tyranny of these fools. "I'm not quite confident with how this should be done, but... I'd like you two to run the interruption. He knows the way and I'll most likely need the guidance." Tomoe offered her plan to the two other proper fighters, intending to take the satyr with herself and go for the prisoners.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 76, Status = Fine.

Rolls

Spoiler

Stealth: Success.
Perception: Success.

The group gave a nod in silent assent. "Give us five minutes before you two start drawing their attention," the satyr suggested, which garnered another nod. "Follow me," he addressed Tomoe. Assuming she followed, the two would move off the road and make their way past the grisly displays.

They moved quickly and quietly, remaining low. They went quite far off of the path, away from their end destination, before circling back toward it. It was impossible to tell how much of the five minutes was spent before Tomoe spotted their end destination. A large wooden palisade marked the existence of a small, recently erected town. The trees within several thousand feet had been cut down to allow for its creation, some of the trunks still remained. On the side that Tomoe approached from was a large field of wheat outside of the protection of the palisade, with a prairie fence around it, with tall crops that they might sneak through. There were a few trees and a bit of greenery in-between which might be used to conceal their presence.

There were several armed patrols around the palisade, at first. But, almost as soon as Tomoe had spotted them, a runner came from the direction of the road. Within moments, several of the armed patrols and many more men from inside the town went running along in the direction of Kei and Shenron. There were still a few men in the area surrounding her goal, so the satyr and shrine maiden still had to remain low. The goatman led her to the crops, crawling under the prairie fence and remaining low enough that nobody would see them from outside the field.

Before they had progressed entirely through the field, however, they came into view of two rifleman and a man in full plate armor with a flanged mace and shield accompanying another man in shoddy peasant garb and an abused nymph through the fields, apparently doing some sort of inspection. They were there to save the faeries, of course, and the one accompanying the four humans would be a start. But, if they weren't efficient about it, an alarm might be sounded. In addition, every second mattered, as Kei and Shenron were currently distracting an indeterminable amount of soldiers, and might run out of luck at any moment. The largest collection of faeries was surely inside the makeshift city, and they could try to sneak past the entire group and save some time and danger.

Whatever they would do was apparently left in the hands of the miko, as the satyr looked at her for action.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

After a brief parlay, the group split into the suggested pairs, the two distractors offering to wait a bit and time the baiting right while Tomoe and the satyr made their way towards the outside sneaky roads.

A foray into the surrounding wilderness was the first thing to happen, eventually leading back towards their main goal. A wooden wall had been arected around the enemy base, something to be expected from a fairly quickly put together estabilishment. But instead of a camp or tower, there was actually a small town of sorts beyond. Moving into the path that the satyr knew, they moved closer, soon coming across a field of crops. Looked like the bad people were not going to just go onward after destroying enough of the surroundings, they were aiming to stay, not something the shrine maiden was willing to see and continue too long.

When there was a signal and the men began to give chase to the two others, Tomoe moved after the satyr again as they ducked the fence and went in through the growing food plants. It was a good way in, allowing them to avoid detection, even though it was somewhat awkward with the miko's newfound frontal weight to go around on such a low stance. At the other side, the pair found a group of the enemy, along with a few possible prisoners. While it was most likely a bad move to attempt the rescue of a single fae, leaving the group there went against Tomoe's nature. "We'll take them out, just hold on for a moment..." she told the satyr, beginning to raise up her holier powers to give them a bit of an advantage towards the battle.

(Blessing 10 and hope they fail to notice just yet...)

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 66/76, Status = Blessing [10].

Rolls

Spoiler

Stealth: Tomoe wins.
Blessing X = 10 is activated.

Tomoe's powers flared into existence without a hitch, and none of the four humans, nor the faerie, noticed her or the satyr. Instead, they began to walk right in front of where the shrine maiden and her cohort were hidden, giving them the perfect opportunity to strike. It appeared, however, that they intended on going right past.

The plate armored warrior was at the front of the group, making derisive comments aimed at the farmer beside him, and the two riflemen trailed behind those two. The nymph was last in the formation, naked and bruised, careful not to avoid looking at the four. Tomoe would have her pick of who to strike at first, but if she waited too long, they would soon be out of range of a quick swipe of her sword.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

With this newly recovered power, it was actually possible to stay concealed and activate the effect. This was what Tomoe did, maintaining her lookout on the group while it shimmered into being. "Alright, here we go. Stay near me and this power will help you too. If something stays alive, you too should be able to bring your swing into the game..." she instructed the satyr as the prime opportunity to hit came into their reach. While it was not a thing she would usually do, the easterner decided that attacking from hiding was going to be acceptable against these scummers. Reaching for Kuchinawa, she would swing for the leader there and then, going against him head-to-head might not be such a good idea this early in the task.

(Swing at yon knightly fellow with Slay and DFTD for +91 to hit and d12+134 damage. Darn plate armor. Also, the usual Terrify and Cleave and things.)

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 58/76, Status = Blessing [10].

Rolls

Spoiler

Stealth: The knight wins, the rest fail. But it turns out that it doesn't matter.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: Her modifier pretty much kills him. >.>
Resistance: Haha, yeah, no contest.
She knocked out the farmer, 'cause why not and I wasn't sure if you'd want her to kill him or not, but he's such a chump that it doesn't earn a second resistance roll.

Stealth: Satyr wins.
Attack: Automatic success.
Damage: 23 * 2 = 46 - 5 = 41. Ded.

The sight must have been really something to the farmer beside the knight, the riflemen behind him, and the nymph in the back. One moment he was deriding the farmer for the efficiency of his harvests, one later and he was without a head. Many of the crops in a horizontal line with his neck had been cut cleanly across and tumbled to the ground along with his lost skull. The farmer had less time to ponder it than the riflemen or the nymph, as he was caught shortly afterward with the back of Tomoe's blade, knocking him unconscious. It all happened with such speed that the headless knight's body and the farmer collapsed together. The two lackeys were left completely bewildered.

The satyr leapt into action afterward. As one of the riflemen slowly padded forward to investigate, a hand wrapped around the trailing one's mouth and pulled him past the thick row of crops that Tomoe and the satyr hid behind. The remaining man's comrade had completely vanished before he had even turned around to investigate the sudden noise. The goatman, brandishing a copper blade that the miko hadn't seen on him when she had first rescued him, proceeded to stab the soldier repeatedly in the lower back, muffling his screams. When the brutalized man went limp, he was allowed to drop onto the ground with an unceremonious thud.

By that point, the last rifleman was, perhaps understandably, very alarmed by the sudden death of his commander and disappearance of his comrade. He went running, attempting to flee the field. Tomoe would either have to chase him down, take him out with her arrows, or try some other plan. If she chased him down, she would surely catch him and dispatch him, but she risked being spotted. If she shot him, she wouldn't expose herself as much to being caught, but a single arrow from Kirin might not do the job as well as Kuchinawa, and if he escaped after being shot with an arrow then her efforts to avoid being detected would do little good.

In the meantime, the nymph simply stood there, looking upon the scene with no small hint of incredulity.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

(Yes, no reason to kill the peasant. This is fine.)

With remarkable quickness, Tomoe's blade swished out and cleaved the leader knight's head clean into the air. While she felt immense relief upon acknowledgeing the possible lieutenant's death, there still was a sting at her conscience for the cowardly act she had to do to get the kill. So far, she had never broken this particular point of honor in all her adventuring life, but now she had managed to destroy that too. But the time for lamenting that was not now, enabling the miko to carry on. With a quick backswipe, she knocked out the skinny farmer, not sure how he would react to the events. It might get bad if he started panicking or engaging in a similar reckless behaviour.

The satyr did his own part as well, taking a rifledown down and brutally shanking him repeatedly. There was still one opponent left, who smartly tried to hightail it. While this might have been a good opportunity to draw out Kirin and spike the fleeing scoundrel through the neck, there was a very real chance that her shot wouldn't be enough to have an final effect. Not wasting time, the shrine maiden dashed out after him and readied her blade for a killstrike.

(Chase and normal attack with pointy metal.)

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Blessing [10].

Rolls

Spoiler

Rifleman is insta-dead due to damage modifiers and attack modifier being an auto-hit. So, instead, stealth.

Stealth: 20.

The fleeing rifleman went rushing through the field of crops, but he wasn't faster than the shrine maiden. She caught up within seconds and left him with a wound on his back for his efforts. Her sword nearly cleaved him diagonally in two, cutting just a bit too shallow to manage it. Still, she struck enough of his vital organs to ensure that he went down immediately and stayed down. There were no cries or alarms to suggest that suggested that anybody outside of the farm noticed the commotion, either.

The satyr, in the meantime, went about briefing the nymph, who gave a few enthusiastic nods. Tomoe could choose to take the time to hide the bodies a little bit better, loot her kills, and what to do with the farmer, if she so desired. Any action she took would mean a little bit of precious time spent. When she was done, the nymph would speak to her. "The majority of my sisters are housed in cages within the human encampment, mortal. Most are unsuited for direct combat and won't be able to do much to support your assault but they will still aid you in any way they can."

"There are some among the highborn who are kept in the main hall. I watched the humans take a priestess and several skilled magic wielders inside. It is difficult to say what is being done with them, though, as I have never once seen them leave that hall. We would do well to save them once my sisters are freed and able to help provide a distraction." And she obviously meant we, as she was already looking to move out behind the satyr. Tomoe could ask any questions, make any orders, or take any other actions if she wished. Time was at a premium, though. Even then, Kei and Shenron were likely distracting the majority of the soldiers who would otherwise be looking for the miko and satyr.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

The remaining man tried to flee, but there was no escape at this point. The crazy dash ended at the edge of Kuchinawa's curving blade, which cut the man down all too effectively, almost getting him split in two. All of it happened in a quick and efficient manner, allowing the miko and her group to avoid getting the rest of the makeshift fortess' inhabitants upon them in a snap. Having taken care of the entire patrol, Tomoe was already bringing back the almost split gunman as the two fey discussed. It was not a pleasant thing to do, but she had to move some bodies into the crop field, making them hard to see and not outright reveal that something had happened there to any random guards. While he was unconscious, the farmer's allegiance was still not something the priestess knew, so the peasant man had to be kept down for some time as well. Coming up with a quick idea, she set the corpses on top of the man, hoping they would be enough of a detriment for now. Also, as the most unpleasant part, she quickly rifled through the dead men and checked if they had something worthwhile on them. Another thing she had always refused to do before under her personal code was done in this hour of war, knocking up on the shrine maiden's conscience.

The nymph was quick to share what was going on and what she knew about the surroundings, talking of something magical happening in the main areas of the fortress. It was unnerving to say the least, but for now, they moved on towards the next goal. Freeing the nymph cadre would be a useful thing, so that was what Tomoe set out to do.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine.

Spoiler

Rolls
Stealth: Several successes. Enemy wins at the last one, however.

Tomoe finds a total of 70 denarii! In addition, she gains 2 exp.

Also, assuming blessing is deactivated, since otherwise it would keep ticking all the way and would have left her with about 26 EP. >.>

If it wasn't, then just let me know and I'll account for it next post.

The shrine maiden hastily hid the bodies as best she could, pinning the unconscious farmer in a macabre fashion so that he couldn't easily escape, a position that was made worse for him by the armor on the bodies. Rifling through the fallen soldiers, Tomoe discovered a fair amount of coin on the group, netting her a total of seventy denarii. Once the nymph had explained things to Tomoe, they were off swiftly as to accomplish their goal and take some of the pressure off of the two running the distraction.

They cleared the remainder of the field without issue, crawling underneath the prairie fence and, when they were sure nobody was looking, dashing toward the next patch of greenery. It turned out that the humans had left several huge patches of weeds that had grown so thick as to resemble baby trees. While it was uncomfortable to crawl through, the cover provided by the weed patches was enough to get Tomoe to within archery distance of the palisade. Before long, she was but a charge away from reaching it.

As the trio crawled out of the last patch of greenery between them and thirty feet of the wall, though, they made a misstep. The group didn't spot a duo of swordsmen who were walking near them at the time and crawled out and into view while the two men were looking right at them. Both of the men wore light armor and half helms. Simple longswords hung at their sides. Upon spotting the two faeries and the miko, one called to the group; "Trespassers! Surrender now or die!" Both drew their swords, taking up rigid stances without any flexibility to them. They obviously weren't a match for the knights Tomoe had faced. Still, it wouldn't take a skilled man to yell and alert the rest of the camp, the group needed to act quickly while still avoiding the notice of any other groups patrolling the perimeter of the palisades.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

(Yes, do not maintain the blessing after the previous battle. I knew I forgot something in the last post >_<)

Having taken care of business at the early entry point, Tomoe and her two accompanying fey fellows left the scene and moved nearer, slowly advancing towards the walls of the encampment. It was another somewhat tenuous task when one had to do all kinds of dashes and crawling with the moderately increased frontal load, but the miko was not an unfit person, so she was remarkably skilled at the task even with the burden. The huge weeds that grew in large patches were good too.

But it was not all flowers and easiness. Just a few dozen feet away from the walls, there was a sneaky patrol that the trio had failed to notice until they were yelling at them for surrender. These guys were likely not as skilled as the knightly types, so there was no real need to use any boosts this time around, or so the priestess hoped. Quickly getting up, Tomoe went for them right away, hoping to end things with in a simple manner. The ability of these two wouldn't be a match for her own, so the miko was confident in her blade being able to deal with them fast.

(An attack swipe slash sword maneuver thingy at their faces, with Death from the Draw and some Supreme Might. Reducing 11 points for damage gives them mikos a +70 swing with 2d6+78 damage. All the possible afterwards thingies as well.)

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine.

Rolls

Spoiler

Stealth: Tomoe succeeds. No other patrols spot her.

Attack: Hit.
Damage: He ded.
Cleave attack: Hit.
Damage: He also ded.

Drats, was hoping Tomoe would waste a turn buffing or get caught by more. >.>

The two turned out to have very little going for them other than their voices, which they had been foolish enough not to raise as soon as they spotted the trio. With a quick few steps forward and a quicker few swipes of her sword, they had been slain by the shrine maiden. The two really had been no match for her skill with the sword. She could loot them and hide the bodies if such was her wish, it would take a little bit of extra time, which would be more danger that she would be caught. Still, if they spotted bodies, a patrol would quickly raise the alarm.

The satyr and nymph rushed up to the wall of wood between them and the human encampment proper shortly after the shrine maiden had dispatched the patrol near it. "They've repaired it! We'd managed to work a small gap in here from our last attempt, they must have found it and fixed it," the satyr grunted in frustration. A cursory inspection showed that three of the sharpened logs that made up the wall looked newer and shorter than the rest. "We'll need to climb it. But that will take some time and they might spot us."

"Maybe not," the naked nymph announced in a hurried whisper. "I know enough magic to loosen the ground's hold on this wall. You would be able to knock them down with your horns. It would be faster."
"But they would definitely spot us."
The nymph nodded in return. The fey folk both looked at Tomoe, as if to silently ask her opinion on the matter.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

"How did you two even become soldiers with such bad form? Now I feel about killing you in such an overwhelming manner..." Tomoe thought as she once more cut into another pair of humans with her ancestral blade. One man fell to a slash that cut into his body diagonally, taking his arms along as well. "Maybe these ones were pushed into this by the leaders. Maybe they had to feed their families somehow..." the priestess continued her ponderings as the other fellow too was sent to his death at the sword she wielded. And as perhaps expected, it was over all too quickly.

Again, there was a need to hide the dead people, which the shrine maiden did after taking a look at their belongings. She also urged at the satyr to help with it, maybe sparing them a bit of time and effort for herself. Once that had been dealt with, another dilemma presented itself to them. The previous escape hole had been covered up, in a somewhat loose but still firm enough manner to keep them from forcing them down without magical aid. "Getting caught is not something I'm willing to have happen here. I can't fight them off infinately, so we need to be careful." she told the two, getting ready to scale the wall with her physical strenght even if it took a bit more time. Having to fight patrols was not something she could deal with too many times, so the more sheltered options would likely be the ones to go for.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine.

Rolls

Spoiler

Stealth: Success (2 times, even).

Body Check: Dat miko succeeds. Thanks to her help, the others do as well.

(Tomoe gains 2 exp and 20 denarii for them soldiers)

The warrior-priestess managed to hide one of the bodies in the weeds. The satyr aided her with the second as per her urging. The two handled their burdens easily and quickly enough that the nymph's aid wasn't necessary. With any luck, the slain patrol wouldn't be found or noticed until it was much too late. Tomoe ended up discovering a total of twenty denarii on the bodies.

At Tomoe's choice, the two fae-folk gave her a boost, since she was the strongest of the three. Once she had a grip on the shortest pointed logs that made up the palisade, she was able to peek over and determine that, when they dropped, they would be directly behind an over-sized shed of sorts that hadn't been visible from outside of the wall. It would offer them some concealment and, if the gap from the goatman's last attempt had still been in the wall, would have easily allowed them to slip in past the palisade undetected, even in the daylight.

The rest of the encampment looked almost normal, for the amount of evil she expected to find. There were numerous regular-looking log houses. A barracks, or what appeared to be one, accompanied by a training field, complete with practice dummies and archery targets, was visible. There was a blacksmith's forge, a few other places of business. A tavern was tucked away near one side of the palisade. The only real evidence that these humans had been the same to commit such atrocities as the ones found on the road were the cages, left in the open, and crammed with faeries—Tomoe's rescue target. There was also the main hall, obvious by its size and presence in the center of the encampment-slash-town, where the sidhe had been taken.

The pseudo town was almost empty of soldiers, Kei and Shenron had apparently done their job well. Countless trainees were at the barracks, instructed by a man in heavy armor, but they looked unskilled and fresh to fighting. Four moderately armored men manned the gate and were similarly led by a heavily armored man. There were townspeople aplenty, though, and they would surely raise an alarm once she started freeing the nymphs. Still, they had come this far, it was time to get moving.

Tomoe was able, with her impressive might, to go over the palisade without issue from the wooden spikes at the top intended dissuade such attempts. As a bonus, she managed to get enough of a grip on the other side, between a hand wrapped around one of the shorter stakes and feet planted firmly on it, to offer her hand to the satyr. He jumped, grabbing her hand, and she managed to hoist him up enough to get his own grip and swing over. Between the two of them, hoisting up the light nymph was no issue.

The three of them landed behind the shed without issue. No alarms were raised at their crossing, even in the broad daylight, another nod to the distraction being provided for them. The big question now seemed to be which group of nymphs to attempt to free from their cages first. There were two groups of cages right in front of the shed, as Tomoe had determined from her view of the encampment at the top of the wall, which held a total of four nymphs. It wouldn't be too difficult to get to them, but on the off chance that they were caught by the civilians during the freeing of the faeries, or the more likely chance that they were spotted afterward with their increased party, those four would be their only aid in freeing the rest.

Her other apparent options were a group of eight or so fey-folk near the tavern. It was nearly on the opposite side of the encampment, but the group could stick close to the walls and the buildings near it, making the trip a little bit easier. Or, she could go for the big prize first, and attempt to free the fifteen she had spotted near the main hall, which would be an incredibly risky proposition, but grant her the biggest initial force with which to free the others if she were caught. She would run into the same risk of detection during or after the faeries were freed regardless, so much came down to what kind of risk she was willing to put into the trip to those fae. With a bit of cleverness, though, the warrior-priestess could try to find a way to negate some of that risk.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

With a little help from the fey, Tomoe had no problem reaching the top of the relatively low wood barricade. From her spot, she scanned the surroundings before making any rash moves over the walls, wanting them to have at least some security before the crossing. It was somewhat surprising to see that the area beyond looked almost peaceful and normal for being the base of some militant, xenophobic scum of the earth. It was more like a frontier town, but maybe that was just the absence of the soldiers that produced the peaceful milieu. But there were scratches in the shimmer, so to speak. The imprisoned fey were pretty boldly held in the open, more than enough of them forced into cages than was humanly comfortable. There was a lot of newbie soldiers being trained in one area as well, most likely similar or worse in skill level as the ones the shrine maiden had just cut down in cold blood. Maybe this place could be turned into a decent farming village if the wrong-minded people were wiped away with their nasty thoughts and deeds.

Deciding it was time to move on, Tomoe hoisted herself over to the other side, still clinging to the upper portion of the wall afterwards. This way, both her and the fey could get across without too much hassle, getting into position behind the shack and safe from spying eyes at least up to now. There were some new decisions to be made, mainly the order of the group's rescue plans. Deciding to go for the closest ones first, the miko would tell them to not do anything suspicious until they had gotten the second unit of eight out from their spots as well. Assuming that she would get there without a hassle, she would do that while setting the locks loose for the lady fey, giving them the opportunity to leave when trouble was afoot. Assuming that endeavor would succeed, the next group was the somewhat larger one, which they could reach with the way of going closer near the walls and buildings. If there was less of them moving, the chances of geting caught were less as well.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine.

Rolls

Spoiler

Stealth (to Nymphs): Success.
Stealth (away from Nymphs): Success, surprisingly!

Stealth (to second group of Nymphs): Failure.

As far as dangerous trips through the middle of an enemy encampment full of people who might want to enslave her went, Tomoe's short walk to the nearest cages was fairly peaceful. They crept around the front of the shed and discovered four nymphs of four different skin tones; one dark, one pale, one green, and one blue, but all shared brunette hair. All were naked and of slim, gorgeous builds despite their captivity and abuse. They were crammed into two cages, both of which appeared to be intended for perhaps half a nymph apiece.

The satyr hushed the four as the trio approached. The mechanisms to open the cages were easy enough to spot and to utilize. There hadn't been a lock to speak of, simply a means of opening the door that was out of reach of the cage's occupants. The freed fey-folk spoke in whispered tones with the goatman and the other nymph before turning to regard Tomoe. Without warning, the miko was crushed in the mother of all group hugs and lost amidst a sea of multicolored nymph flesh.

"Hi! Thanks for helping us!" One whispered cheerfully. "I'm Jeni," the green one started before extricating herself from the hug. "Or, I mean, that's what the last friendly mortal who met me called me."
"I'm Jenny!" The blue one noted as she pulled herself away from the miko.
"I'm Jiny!" The dark-skinned one explained as she followed the others.
"I'm Jinnie!" The pale-skinned one offered, becoming the last to let go of the warrior-priestess.

The freed nymphs set themselves to the task of not doing anything suspicious until the others were freed, as per Tomoe's request, before their trio of rescuers set out for the next group. Unfortunately, they didn't make it more than half way to the target before they realized that they had been spotted by a peasant boy.

"Heeey," he started with a heavy dose of suspicion in his tone. The other two tensed and seemed ready to attack, but stopped when they looked at him. He seemed barely a man grown, and perhaps not the cleverest bulb in the box. "What're you doing creeping around near the walls with a goat and a slave?" He addressed Tomoe. It seemed possible that the shrine maiden might talk her way out of the predicament, or she might choose to smack the boy down. Judging by the way the satyr and nymph were looking at her, it was her call.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

With the closest cage right there, it was easy to get to the smallest group of fey ladies. These were somewhat odd of a bunch, each sporting a different skin color. "Hmmm... I thought they all maintained a unified coloration..." Tomoe couldn't help herself from thinking about that as she saw the rainbow of females in the cages. The release process itself was hardly anything difficult, given the simplicity of it all. It was almost like there was no effort spent on the making, just put together a hasty contraption and hope it works. It did work, but if there was such an easy way to open the thing, it was certainly not something that should be used in this kind of enviroment. Throwing open the lock, the miko was quickly assaulted by the captives, who had apparently decided to try and crush her before she could do anything else to help the rest. Thankfully, they decided to break away soon enough so there wouldn't be problem. "Nice to meet you too. Unfortunately, this is not the time for pleasantries. Let's hope this all goes well."

Having secured the co-operation of the first batch of nymphs, Tomoe moved onwards to see if they could advance and get into the next set without a hassle. But even the longest of good luck streaks had to end somewhere, this time leading to an encounter with a member of the peasantry, a pretty young lad by the looks of him. The manling was quick to accost her, but if the priestess' estimation was correct, she just might be able to get help from this person if she played her cards right. "Sorry about that. I'm new to the place, and somewhat lost in these kinds of foreign places. And my sense of direction is terrible." she told the boy, approaching him in a somewhat subservient mannerism and figure of speech. There might be a gender differentiation going on at the place, women being inferior to their men even on a civilian level, so she decided to try it out and see if her play was beneficial. "The captain sir was telling me to take these two into the cages. The nymph I found in the wilderness, and this goat is an escapee who managed to sneak away earlier." she told the civilian, throwing in a bit of performance as she hit the satyr in the gut, apologizing to him mentally for the shot. "I need to shove them into the cages near that big building in the middle. Can you help?" she finished the performance, keeping ready in case the fellow human tried to do something drastic. If that did happen, she would silence him with a quick smack to the head.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine.

The satyr doubled over from the blow. Even as he straightened up, he looked at Tomoe incredulously, but seemed to understand enough of what she was trying to accomplish not to say anything. Sadly, the goatman's pain didn't seem to buy much belief from the young man. "That's weird. My pa always told me that women should never join the army or carry a sword. He said their battle was in the birthing bed," he stated dumbly. "And I'm preeetty sure that one of the captains would never have some foreign-looking woman carry out his orders."

His expression of idiocy became one of low cunning as his mouth parted into an evil grin. Unfortunately, the expression of subservience and confusion seemed to have sparked something other than kindness in the unintelligent lad. "Well, I can help you, but in these parts it's customary for us men-types to be allowed to touch you women-folk in greeting...and departing...and whenever we like," he announced, staring directly at her inflated chest. "So, uh, why don't you let me help you with the local customs? And we can forget all about this you not having a mark of authority stuff." There was a certain base cunning present in his eyes. He was obviously clever enough to try to con and/or blackmail the woman but not clever enough to remember that she had a sword.

As nobody else had seen them, it wouldn't be hard for the miko to take down the peasant and hide him with the help of the other three. Or she might take her chances by allowing him to do what he had in mind and see if he couldn't lead her to the middle building successfully. Or some other plan, if she had one.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

"Hmm, somehow I knew this would be the case..." the miko thought as she heard the young man's explanations about the places of man and woman here. It was all the more a reason to get the place cleared of these fools, but the idea of their ideologies having tainted the normal people as well was not something she was comfortable with. In such an event, it might not serve any real purpose to try and help the human population, leaving only the fey to be rescued.

But there was some success to found from the performance, for the lad quickly moved onto another subject matter. It was quite obvious that he was not being all honest about this thing being a custom of the place. It was still astounding that he was trying this route against Tomoe, given that she had Kuchinawa still on her quite safely, and it was not hard for her in any way to get it out. Again, it was a situation where her personal rules were tested. It was almost like the place had been designed to stretch her as thin as possible with all of things that had to be dealt with, down to the fact that she was a woman being a major part of making things difficult. But maybe if she agreed to let this boy touch her, she wouldn't have to hurt him. But still, the fact that she was deceiving him and basically using her body to get some degree of safety was not a thing the priestess like either.

But in the end, she decided to risk it. Maybe this one would help her if she agreed to do a bit of touching with him. "Well... I suppose... we could try that..." she remarked at the youth, moving towards a less visible spot just to be safe. While she would allow the lad freedom to paw her, if there was a suspicious movement that attempted to go further than she felt comfortable with, restrain or disarm her, then she would smack him down without any mercy.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine.

Rolls

Spoiler

Dat village youth honk-honks the priestess.
PP Damage: 22 - 22 = 0.

Goes for round 2 'cause he's greedy like that.
PP Damage: 13 - 22 = 0.

The young man's response came in the form of a smile. The nymph and the satyr looked on incredulously as Tomoe acquiesced to the foolish youth, but went along with it. He followed her eagerly—like a puppy, almost. When they had ducked behind one of the log buildings, he wasted little time. His hand trembled as it reached forward, speaking of his inexperience, but with a burst of courage it latched onto one of the miko's mounds of soft flesh through her robes, its counterpart grabbing at her other breast moments later. He gave a few experimental and clumsy squeezes and his face flushed with pleasure.

"So soft..." He murmured as he began to squeeze and grope at the miko's orbs. The shrine maiden could see a tent forming in his pants as he tested the pliability of her bosom through her clothing. He fondled and circled his hands to play with her tits. His ministrations were anything but skilled, they brought the miko only the slightest traces of pleasure, but at least they weren't painful. He began to pinch and rub her nipples between his thumb and forefinger.

It was getting to be a little concerning as his erect manhood, the size of it indicating that it was some sort of gift in return for his general stupidity, strained at his trousers, and he began to breathe heavily. But it wasn't long after that he stopped. "You and I are going to get along real nice, lady," the lad suggested, more than a little bit hinting that he intended on trying to get much more from the woman he believed to be a naive foreigner. "So where're you goin'? I'll get you there," He stepped back, offering Tomoe some space. It seemed that the miko could either use her guide in an attempt to go for the big prize or go for the faeries near the inn. Assuming he intended to be as helpful as he suggested, the youth would likely know his way to either location better and might be able to get them there with less danger of being caught on the way.