Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

"'Tis my farm, Sister. There's no village along the road for miles. There was old Tom's farm a bit further along, but the monsters drove him away. You're welcome to stay for a meal." the man adds reluctantly as they get closer. On the fields, Gabrielle sees several men working and closer to the house, a small number of chickens and pigs wandering around. The cart comes to halt and the farmer hops off, starting to pull the barn doors open.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

"Oh, I thank you for your kind offer, good sir, but I couldn't possibly ask you to do more than you already have for me. I shall not bother you further."

Gabrielle slid off the wagon as it reached the man's farm and collected her things. "May you receive blessings for your kindness today," she told the man before departing again along the road. These humans were not her concern at the moment and she was eager to go on. The wagon ride had spared her legs, and she was confident she would be able to walk for a good way before needing to rest for the night.

If the man did not stop her from being off or give her any more words or advice, she would leave his company and start down the road again.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

The man gives a grunt for an answer as he leads the horse and the cart into the barn.

Soon Gabrielle is back on her way. As she continues forward, the priestess notices that the road is curving left, leading her north-east instead of south-east. The forest to the south doesn't look too overgrown with undergrowth, so it wouldn't be too hard to turn there. Once off the road, however, holding direction might be difficult.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

"Well, I don't want to go out of my way, and what have I to fear from the likes of a forest?" Gabrielle mused out loud. After all, it didn't stand to reason that the otterkin would live along a human road. Their village must lie somewhere in the woods, near a stream or river.

Thinking along these lines, Gabrielle left the road and confidently walked into the forest.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

The pathways in the forest are easy enough, and soon Gabrielle is making headway into the right general direction. The forest seems to whisper around her and the trees block most of the sun, making it seem like twilight even in the early afternoon.After about ten minutes, she hears silent rustling from behind her, as something moves through the forest after her.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Hoping that whatever it was behind her hadn't seen her yet, Gabrielle spun off to the side of the path, hiding behind a tree with her staff at the ready, and peeked behind her towards the source of the rustling. If possible she'd get a good look at her pursuer, but if she saw nothing, she'd hide and stay still behind cover, hoping whoever or whatever it was would overtake her without noticing.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Whoever is coming after her seems to have realized that she has stopped, and the rustling quickly stops. Feeling something brush against her leg Gabrielle leaps up to notice a young and skinny looking lamia who almost has her tail around Gabrielle's legs. "Well, well. What do we have here?"

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Leaping back and away from the lamia, Gabrielle turned her staff towards it and held herself in a fighting stance. She knew how to handle herself with a staff or spear, and though she was not the strongest warrior in the land she knew she could make an overconfident opponent pay for their hubris.

"What you have is no easy prey," Gabrielle said, putting her weight on her pivot foot, ready to move if the situation required it. "Who are you? What is your purpose in following me?"

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

The lamia draws a cudgel from her belt and backs away a little, clearly reluctant to fight. "I've been told to keep an eye on travellers along the road. Why did you decide to head into the forest?"

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Looking at the way the lamia held the cudgel only after Gabrielle had put up her own defenses, the priestess opted to handle this situation with temperance. Slowly she eased up and shifted her stave into her one hand, holding her other palm up as a show of her wish to not fight.

"I don't want a fight. You just frightened me. I am trying to get to the south east, but the road was turning north on me and I thought I could gain time by taking a short cut through the woods."

She put her hand down, hoping that the lamia would lower her cudgel.

"My name is Gabrielle. I am a scholar. My teacher sent me to find the otter folk who live in this land and make contact with them on behalf of the humans where I live. May I ask who you are? Are these woods your lands?"

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

The lamia lowers the cudgel as Gabrielle lowers her staff, though she doesn't put it back into the loop it was hanging from. "My name is Giselle. And these lands belong to our tribe. Why would you want to make a contact with the otterkin? They're... not very fond of outsiders. You're unlikely to learn much from them."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Gabrielle shrugged. "How will I know what I can and cannot learn if I do not try? They may be shy, but I mean them no harm, and I'm curious about them. I suppose I'm a little curious about you lamia too, but it wasn't my original intention to intrude upon your lands. Hmm, Giselle, that's a pretty name. Are you some sort of guardian?"

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Giselle shrugs. "Well, I'm not going to stop you. I'm one of the wardens of our tribe, yes. It was nice meeting you, Gabrielle." Replacing the cudgel in its loop, the lamia slithers away, soon disappearing from view.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Feeling as though she might have liked to get to know the young warden better, Gabrielle shrugged as well. The lamia were not her primary target, and without any greater protection than her own staff skills, her purpose in these woods was purely to get to the otterkin, ingratiate herself among them, and convince one or more of them to follow her back home. She had to rely less on her power and more on her good looks and charm. Fortunately, this was a strong point of hers.

She continued in a south easterly direction, keeping her eye out for dangers as she moved through the woods.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

About an hour later, Gabrielle finds herself on rocky beach surrounded by steep cliffs. There's no sign of the otterkin village, but she can see some fishing boats in the distance. The cliffs don't seem to reach too far inland, so going around them shouldn't be too difficult, but it's hard to say whether the village is to the east or to the west from here.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Gabrielle decided to try and gauge where the fishing boats might be coming from and then left the rest of her decision to her instincts. East or west?

Spoiler

Will try an insight roll to choose the right direction and then head that way. If there is no such roll allowed, she'll go east.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Gabrielle looks at the fishing boats, but though she can make a guess at the best fishing spots from them, she can't decide whether their placement means anything about their docks. Heading to the east, Gabrielle spots a fox that quickly gets out of her way, but hardly anything else of interest until after another half an hour of travelling, she arrives at a palisade wall that's been erected in a semi-circle facing the sea. There's an open gate at the center and Gabrielle can see into a village through it, but like most fishing villages, this one too is mostly empty during the day, with only children playing on the streets and some old-timers at work fixing or making nets. Everything seems perfectly normal, save for instead of people, the population seems to consist of otterkin.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

"Ah, thank the Mother... an otterkin village. Now to see how they might react to me."

Deciding to be cautious so as to not frighten the people renowned for shyness, Gabrielle made her way to the village entrance but did not enter it. Instead she would stand there and try to wave to anyone to get attention. If there were someone near the palisade she would try to talk to them.

"I don't want to enter your village without permission," she would explain to anyone who stopped to talk to her. "I'm just very hungry and tired. I've been walking through the woods all day, and I was hoping I might have permission to stay here for a bit to regain my strength."

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

When Gabrielle shows herself, a young otterkin waves at her and comes to welcome her. "You're welcome to enter, traveller. What brings you here? It's not often we get visitors."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Chasing Tails(blueslime/Gabrielle)

Invited in by the young otterkin, Gabrielle smiled at the youth.

"Thank you. My name is Gabrielle, and I'm a scholar. I'm here to study these lands and make notes on plants, animals, and any people I find. May I know your name and the name of your tribe?"