Into the Darkness (Tiffanian and Hentaispider)

[Sponge]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

A voice from above made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Sure enough, looking upwards there was Lily and Leana.

Oh... oh crap. Please don't get the wrong idea.

"H-hey! You girls are ok! That's good, um..." Suddenly he realized that this strange woman was still arm in arm with him. He quickly wrenched himself away from the woman, shaking his hands and head from side to side as he tried to explain.
"This isn't what it looks like! I'm serious! She was only helping me through the forest and in fact kept me safe from a couple of things I didn't see! I just mentioned I had a wife, she's just real.... forward?" Scratching the back of his head with a nervous smile on, he was internally begging to whatever gods... or even demons at this point of desperation, that they wouldn't get the wrong idea.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian and Hentaispider)

Spoiler

Garrett: HP = 62, PP = 43, EP = 77, Status = Fine
Laena: HP = 67, PP = 56, EP = 46, Status = Pregnant
Lily: HP = 62, PP = 88, EP = 62, Status = Fine

"Nonesense~ Not everybody is as good in the woods as a nymph! Ahhh, fliers eh? Have you got an angel on your shoulder, lucky man? Oooooh~ A harpy wife? Maybe you're not so lucky!" the fairy woman asked, and then giggled as she rubbed up against Garrett somewhat more insistently. A moment later they came out into the clearing just as the goatmen reply to Laena's questions regarding the ruins in a grave tone; "Then you should take care. Flight will not protect you from the demons, they have mages and snipers, as well as winged warriors of their own. We cannot say if they will attack you outright, but caution will avail you well."

When Laena made her emphasized proclamation as Garrett and the nymph strode into the clearing, the woman gave a pout as she was separated from so suddenly while the other three fey chuckled at their antics. "That's her eh?" she asked, and then winked at Garrett before turning to Lily and Laena, "Your hubby here is quite the gentleman~ So it's no wonder that he makes friends easy! Don't worry hun, I don't plan on stealing him out from under you! I was just having a bit of amusement at his expense!" The nude nymph smiled charmingly at Laena, and the satyr among the three goatmen spoke up once again; "Excellent! We'll go and get the food! Our sister here can show you to our grove!"

The three male fey turned and strode off into the woods, quickly disappearing, and the nymph bowed in a fairly alluring manner as seen from any angle. "If you'll follow me, it's right this way~"

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

"You’re fine" Laena shouted at Garrett after a short pause, "I’ve met fae before. I know how they tend to be." She couldn’t be mad at him for the woman getting handsy, after all, as long as he didn’t go about cheating on her. And really, he hadn’t had enough time to do that since she had seen him last. "In any case, thank you for the warning. We’ll have to do some thinking at lunch, I suppose." The harpy then glided down to the ground, landing next to Garrett, not paying much mind to the fae woman. She would follow along with them in her slow, ponderous way, sticking quite close to her mate of course.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

"Haha.. harpy... play on words, gotcha." He chuckled nervously at the fae woman's joke. It really wasn't all that funny, as he knew that another term for harpy was a antagonizing old woman. Which was not the case here. It kinda ticked him off actually.

A giant sigh of relief escaped his lungs as Leana seemed to respond in a mellow manner. A bit of concern seemed to be in her voice, but other than that, it looked like she understood the situation. He gave her a small hug the moment she landed.
"I'm glad you didn't jump to conclusions. And ignore what that woman said. She doesn't' know how good a harpy is." Giving a small smile, he took her hand in his, waving his other to Lily to follow.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian and Hentaispider)

Spoiler

Garrett: HP = 62, PP = 43, EP = 77, Status = Fine
Laena: HP = 67, PP = 56, EP = 46, Status = Pregnant
Lily: HP = 62, PP = 88, EP = 62, Status = Fine

The fey woman rolled her eyes at Laena and Garrett, and then strode into the woods at a pace that would be easy for the hopping harpy to follow. Presumably Lily followed them as well, and shortly thereafter they stepped into a covered glade with a small stream running through it. Colorful dragonflies zoomed about, and frogs croaked at them from the lilypads sitting about in the still portions of the stream. "Here's the place!" the nude nymph said as she moved to sit next to the stream, sitting cross legged on the grass and beckoning towards the three of them invitingly.

The trio of goatmen returned shortly thereafter bearing a couple of packs of food, and they all crouched down and set it in the center of a semicircle that they formed with the nymph, leaving Lily, Laena, and Garrett to close it if they so desired.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Lily follows the others to the stream, staying behind Laena and quietly humming to herself. Taking a seat between the nymph and Garrett or Laena, the sidhe waits for the food to arrive. "Sounds like we'll be facing a lot opposition, then. Do you know why the demons are there? We've heard that they might be after an artifact of some sort."

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Laena quickly set about following the fae, thankful that she took a pace that was slow enough to allow her to keep up despite her ponderous ground movement. She hopped onward alongside Garrett, with Lily following close behind, not paying much mind to the wildlife that buzzed and croaked around them. Though the surroundings were pretty, they weren’t unusual for the harpy. When they got to a small stream, though, and the fae woman sat down, she couldn’t help but take in the scenery. It wasn’t terribly often she was on the ground, after all. She sat down opposite the nude woman, her legs folded under themselves as she watched the goatmen return with food in hand, crouching beside their companion. Lily took the initiative to speak to them, so Laena remained silent, willing to sit back and eat while the conversation took place until she saw a chance to interject with anything important.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Following behind closely, he brushed off a random bug that had flown onto his arm.
"You know, it's nice to actually meet some hospitality out here. Ever since we started traveling, things were only hostile and aggressive. Finally nice to take a breather, not having to look over your shoulder constantly. So how come you guys have a safe haven here? What makes this different than any other place? Couldn't the demons attack here too? I mean, I don't want to put a damper on the situation, just curious."
He gratefully gave thanks to the group as he proceeded to eat what had been offered. Taking a swallow, he resumed his words.
"This is really a nice place." Looking around, seeing the small little stream. It was a wonder, how they possibly could keep a place such as this safe. Magic perhaps? Though that begged the question, why allow the three of them there in the first place.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian and Hentaispider)

Spoiler

Garrett: HP = 62, PP = 43, EP = 77, Status = Fine
Laena: HP = 67, PP = 56, EP = 46, Status = Pregnant
Lily: HP = 62, PP = 88, EP = 62, Status = Fine

The fey answered Lily first, the nymph specifically answering her question with a healthy dose of respect in her tone; "No idea! We've given them a wide berth. They, ahhh, haven't exactly been the best of neighbors." She took to chewing a piece of fruit, leaving one of the gruffs to answer Garrett; "We are of the fey, human... All lands are our glades. All wild places are places of safety to us, save those claimed by the darker forces that now inhabit these lands. The aliens, and the arachne, and the demons and their former slaves.... And some of the plant kin who have allied with such dark powers as well, though certainly not all of them. Even in the more dangerous lands, like these, we hold sanctuaries like this glade against the dark, so that travelers may have a safe place to rest."

The fey all glanced at one another at the suggestion that the demons might attack them there, and the nymph paused in her munching to say; "They haven't come anywhere near this far. Not yet at least. They mostly patrol around the ruins, keeping away the wild-life and the local arachne. We picked off a few scouts, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the forces they have with them. We haven't been able to get a count of their numbers... But there are at least a hundred, and a good number of those aren't just shock troops either. So we've mostly just let them be."

 

[Sponge]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Garrett licked his fingers after eating another bite of the food.
"That's amazing. I always thought that pretty much everywhere outside was nothing but hostile environment. So you guys literally just have this place specifically for travelers? I bet you've helped out quite a lot of people doing this."

It still seems rather odd though, not many people would just up and make a safe place out here. Wonder what inspired them to start such a thing?

"So your saying there are more places like this out in other areas? Sounds like you guys have a great system set up. I'll try to keep this in mind for later. There's got to be some way we can repay you. I'm not sure if money would work, do you guys even use it?" He gave a slight chuckle.

"Oh! How rude of me. Never introduced ourselves. I'm Garrett, and that woman over there is Lily, and that beautiful lady over there is Laena." Speaking as he gestured accordingly.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Lily is just taking out another bite of food, when the nymph mentions the number of the demons, but her hands freeze on their way towards her mouth. "A hundred? And you're doing nothing about them?" the sidhe says incredulously.

Taking a deep breath, she continues somewhat hesitantly, her eyes still wide open. "Forgive me if I'm... overstepping myself, but shouldn't you at least try to talk with them? Or failing that, try to find a way to drive them away?" Lily feels her cheeks growing warmer, and shifts her wings nervously, but continues looking at the nymph.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Laena quietly munched on the food provided to her, the fruit especially, as she listened to the conversation. She hadn’t known that the fae folk kept a network of safe havens in the jungle. That was rather nice of them. Rather impressive too, considering the state of the jungle these days. When Garrett spoke up and introduced them, calling her beautiful, she blushed lightly and leaned against him, putting her head on her mate’s shoulder. The happiness she felt soon melted away, though, as the nude fae woman speculated that there were upwards of a hundred demons at the ruins site. A hundred? There was no way they could possibly take on a hundred demons, not even half that number really. And there wasn’t really any way of sneaking past that many guards as far as she knew, unless they got a distraction… This was worrisome news, though she didn’t say anything about it besides a scowl planted on her face as she continued to listen.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian and Hentaispider)

Spoiler

Garrett: HP = 62, PP = 43, EP = 77, Status = Fine
Laena: HP = 67, PP = 56, EP = 46, Status = Pregnant
Lily: HP = 62, PP = 88, EP = 62, Status = Fine

"We've helped some... Kept them out of the clutches of the arachne and what's left of the aliens in these parts when we can. Not as many as we'd like, but... There's a lot to do lately. We're spread out across Acrasia's domain, but you can find us if you look hard enough. That, or we'll find you. Don't worry about paying us back, if there's anything that you can do for us, we'll just let you know when we get the chance. That's usually how we get people to repay their debts to us," the nymph replied to Garrett's comment about helping people. Their reaction to the news of the enemy's numbers caused the nude woman to scowl and the goat-men to frown.

"It isn't so simple as that... We are few here. Too few to combat so many, and without those able to match the commanders of the demons in battle. One of our number attempted to treat with them, my brother, and he has not returned!" said one of the gruffs, and the satyr nodded. "We have petitioned our queen and our neighbors for aid, but have not heard back yet. The demons have not caused anyone any harm yet, save perhaps for our missing comrade if they do have him," the more humanoid goat-man said somberly, and the gruff that had not yet spoken added; "We've been watching them, and they've mostly been excavating the ruins. We don't know why or what they're looking for yet, but that place was known to be very dangerous. It is likely that they're having little luck with it."

 

[Sponge]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

There's the mention of aliens again. Still haven't seen a single one though. Are they really all that dangerous? He quietly pondered to himself.

Stroking he chin, he listened intently to the details that they were given by the nymph and satyrs. While Lily did have genuine concern to deal with the demons, with the number there currently were though, it would be suicide to attempt direct confrontation.

"So we're going to have to take the back door approach here, we'll have to do a bit of recon of our own before going in any further if all of your sources are correct. I hope it wouldn't be too much trouble, but could it be possible that we can return here? I promise that I will be keeping an eye out for your brother. I've had my own family taken from me, and it's not something I'd let get overlooked."

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Lily looks down when the gruff answers her question and focuses to her food for the moment, all the while trying to come up with a plan. "I don't think we can get what we're looking for by just sneaking in and taking a look around. If the demons have been there for a while and are still looking for it, that means they don't have it. Our chances of finding it without getting caught are slim at best."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian and Hentaispider)

Spoiler

Garrett: HP = 62, PP = 43, EP = 77, Status = Fine
Laena: HP = 67, PP = 56, EP = 46, Status = Pregnant
Lily: HP = 62, PP = 88, EP = 62, Status = Fine

"Our sanctuaries are ever open to our friends," the satyr replied to Garrett, "And we would be incredibly grateful if you could return my brother to us. If we can supply you any other aid, you need but ask, and if it is within our power, you will have it."

Lily's comment was met with a look of confusion from the assembled fey, and the nymph asked; "What are you lot looking for in those ruins? They've been abandoned for centuries by your kind, and we've mostly ignored them."

 

[Sponge]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

That's actually a pretty good question. We're looking for some sort of artifact, but do we even know what it looks like? What if we don't recognize it?

"Well, some sort of artifact. It's of course most likely powerful enough for the demons to want it, so that makes it important enough for us to get it first before they do. I was hoping we'd get there first, but of course that isn't the case at all."

He gave a quick glance to his friends.

"Do any of you recall an artifact about here, what kind of power it might have? I'd prefer to know what I'm picking up before it ends up cursing me or something."

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Laena listened quietly to the talking, the frown never leaving her face. The fact that the fae were so outnumbered by the demons was troubling. More troubling was the fact that they had attempted to negotiate, and had been met with a kidnapping, probably. She had already assumed that they were excavating the ruins, since they were obviously after the Lotus, but it was reassuring that they hadn’t gotten very far. Still, it was only a matter of time, and without any way to practically disrupt them they would surely get to it eventually… well, they would have to think of something disruptive to do in lieu of outright attacking the demons. She was thinking about it when Garrett turned to ask her what kind of artifact they were looking for. "I don’t know that it has any power on its own, it’s part of a set" she replied quietly, "I think we would have been told if it was cursed. I don’t know any more than you do, you know."

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Lily turns to look at Garrett as she strains to remember what she read just the day before. "It's supposed to be a shield, looking like a flower. It offers protection from magic, I think. The picture was quite detailed."

Focusing inwards, Lily calls upon her magics and creates a small illusion, a three-dimensional image of what the shield is supposed to look like, though as she hasn't actually seen it and has only viewed the images detailing it once, it's quite blurry, only its most distinct features clear. "I'm not sure I have it quite right, but at least you should recognize it when you see it, now."

 

[Sponge]

Re: Into the Darkness (Sponge, Tiffanian, and Hentaispider)

Garrett leaned forward, studying the picture that Lily had conjured up. Without taking his eyes off of it, he addressed Laena statement about it being cursed.

"Well, not necessarily entirely cursed. A curse to one person might be a blessing for another. Possibly more like.... what side effects it may have. Things of great power rarely come without some sort of hinge. Unless we are really lucky, I'm still going to be cautious considering our 'sources' of information."

Doing his best to keep it subtle while making it a point to the girls, he wanted to raise the point that their source was a demon giving them information to go on. He still didn't fully trust him.

"For all we know, it could be something silly like the person grows their hair an extra inch every year. As vice versa, the worst case scenario being possibly slowly twisting their state of mind into something else, maybe even making them insane."