Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Thelia laughed but it lacked any mirth. "You want official warrants? I doubt their are any governments left at the moment who even issue official warrants. They are all to busy trying to survive the aftermath of the alien attacks." Thelia looked at Sera giving her a measured gaze. "You are still new to this world young one. Maybe its best if you go back your home village before you find out how dangerous this world can be." Getting up Thelia moved to the trail they had been breaking. "Either way Im going this way. You and your companion should head back. You seem nice enough I don't want to hurt you if you get in my way in your noble attempts at justice."

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Thelia's scorn of her apparent naivety only served to inspire Sara's stubbornness. "Well maybe there aren't but I don't think it's naive to want some proof of wrong doing before I commit to killing a bunch of people. I think it would actually be pretty naive to take you at your word that these men did what they did when I don't really know you."

She gathered her stuff and set off after Thelia. "I will not get in your way. In fact, you may find that I bring a lot to the table. If they aren't guilty then I won't kill them, if they are then I will make your job much easier."

Once Aya had secured her gear, Sara would meet Thelia's gaze evenly. "We're ready when you are. Show us the way, Thelia."

 

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Thelia just shrugged and began to move on. The rest of the trip was in silence unless Sara had anything to say to Aya. Only when the sun started to set did Thelia stop. "We should camp for the night. We will reach Fort Droth in the morning." Moving off the path to the shelter of the woods Thelia began to set her tent, letting Aya and Sara do their own thing.

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

As Sara and Aya began to set up their tent, in a hushed voice Sara mentioned, "Someone should probably keep watch at night to make sure a random bandit patrol doesn't raid us while we sleep." Once she and Aya had set up the tent, she would start moving branches, leaves, and other foliage around in an attempt to disguise there small base, in the event bandits or other ner-do-wells happened by.

"I don't mind taking the first watch tonight." Once the camp was set, she would help prepare the food, but would let Aya eat first while she kept watch for bandits before eating dinner herself.

 

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

OOC

Spoiler

Sara gains 5xp and may spend xp

For the first part of the night everything was quiet. Keeping a small fire going for warmth Sara had time to think about her trip and events leading up to this day. It had certainly been a very interesting few weeks. Still as her watch dragged on and the cold moon began to rise higher in the sky she felt a familiar and terrible presence. The ice woman from before was nearby but as she waited she felt the presence move away from her camp.

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

As the cold night drug on, Sara was left to reflect on the almost insane string of events and how they had changed her. From the unpleasant surprise of the shorn, to the more pleasant surprise meetings with Spring and Asha. She continued reminiscing, she remembered the fights on the way to the small town, the way she had taken the lives of sentient, self aware beings for the first time. And then there was her time in the town, it had been wild and exciting, and now Asha was pregnant with her child! She wasn't exactly sure what lay ahead of her, but she knew it would be quite the adventure and she was determined to rescue Naomi.

With the time she had to think, her mind went back to the lessons she had learned in the past. The lessons had simmered in the back of her mind since she had left the village, and the experience she had gained by using them helped her make sense of them, she felt new spiritual pathways open within her, giving her access to powers she had not tapped before. Sara instinctively wanted to experiment with her new powers and explore the new spiritual pathways. However, she was broken from her reverie by a chilling, familiar presence.

She sensed the cold and terrifying spiritual presence of the malevolent being and froze where she was. After a brief, if heart-stopping time, she felt the presence begin to move away. Despite that, she was unable to relax for the remainder of her watch.

If nothing else happened, she would drift back to the tent she shared with Aya to wake her lover for her watch. "Alright Aya, your turn." She woke the succubus with a soft kiss on the cheek.

After the succubus was awake, Sara told her about the dark presence she had felt earlier. At the end she summed it up by saying, "So yea she's a tortured, malevolent spirit who will may just suck away all your energy and then freeze you solid. If you see her, come get me right away." Once Aya was off to take her watch, Sara lay down on her mat to sleep.

 

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Aya blinked at Sara and watched the spirit user head to bed. Clearly she was not too happy about her time on watch. For the most part Sara was able to rest though without the added warmth of Asha or even Aya it was cold night despite the furs she slept in. As she rested she felt her self drift in her sleep almost traveling. Feeling her feet hit cold stone Sara opened her eyes to overlook a battered and ruin of a fort. Ice covered the parapets as she looked over the ruin a sense of familiarity and dread filling her. Looking to her right her prey shivered. He was man, not very handsome and likely a bandit but that mattered little to her. Moving over the pitiful creature tried to crawl away on his back to little avail, after all she had frozen his legs to the ground. Standing over the man she knelt down and undid his outer coat her pale delicate fingers making quick work of the buttons. Looking at the man's frightened face stirred little emotion in her cold heart. Once she had cared for people, but now all she had was hunger and pain. Brushing several of her long back stands of hair back she moved her efforts to the bandits pants. Undoing them with ease she could see the man's penis was limp though impressive. It wouldn't take long for the tool to become erect under her attentions though despite the cold and soon enough she had the firm shaft positioned before her slit. "I need your warmth to fill me give me all your warmth okay." Not waiting for an answer she slid home bringing an instant gasp from her forced lover. Like a drunk denied his drink for far to long she gorged on his warmth feeling it enter her and fill her. She could feel her heart start to melt . Yes this is what she wanted she was so close. Bouncing feverishly on the cock she failed to see the man give his last gasp as he froze solid. She did feel the warmth end however and it only made her angry. "WORTHLESS!" Standing up Sara saw her reflection in the frozen eyes and woke with a start.

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Despite the absence of a lover for the first time in recent memory, Sara was able to fall asleep fairly easily due to the mental toll her revelations on watch duty took on her. Of course she was still wired from her new realizations and greater ability to tap into her spirit powers, as well as the close spiritual brush with the ice witch. It all combined into what she could only hope was a dream.

As with most dreams, she simply went along with what was happening, until she began to mount the bandit. Then she began to doubt in her mind that what she was doing was right. There was a growing sense of revulsion and horror, especially as she killed the man. Finally a deep shock as she saw her own visage reflected in the dead man's eyes as she woke up.

She sat bolt upright, giving a gasp and clutching covers to her. Terror and adrenaline ensured made it seem quite likely she would not be getting any more sleep tonight. If there was no one in the tent with her, she would get dressed and go outside to see if Aya was still on watch. In her mind she wondered if what she had seen was only a dream, or if it was a vision of what was actually happening, some strange form of scrying. Or perhaps a darker version of the summoning that the nymphs had performed to bring her to some powerful Fey's party where she saw Lady Nyeri. She supposed she might find out tomorrow when they made it to Fort Droth.

 

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Checking herself over as she dressed Sara found nothing out of the ordinary besides a little weight gain from staying at Tanya's for so long. Heading out of her tent she found Thelia poking at the fire as she was getting ready for watch. Aya herself was warming her hands before seeing Sara and smiling. "Ohh I bet the covers are still warm. Not saying another word the girl dashed into the tent. Thelia looked up at Sara a moment before looking down. "Bad dream?"

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Sara gave Aya a slight smile and waved her back off to bed. She sat out and huddled close to the fire, across from Thelia. That the half-elf spoke first surprised her, as well as her perception, picking up on her bad dream.

"Yea...maybe...I'm not sure, but I hope it was. Either way, I'll know for sure when we hit the fort. How are you feeling?" She was surprised that Thelia had started the conversation, maybe she could capitalize on it. Either way, she wasn't ready to try to sleep yet.

 

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

The half elf continued to poke at the fire with a stick. "The same as always. As for bad dreams.. well needless to say when you become the nightmare of others bad dreams tend to go away." The woman paused a moment reflecting. "I don't think I've dreamed now for five years. I cannot even remember what they are like."

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

The elf's bare-bones answers vexed Sara, but she didn't let them bother her too much, used to the half-elf's half-answers by this point.

"You don't much care for talking, do you? No dreams in five years? That's quite a long time. I can't imagine what would cause that. Is that when you started your current profession, or have you been an err...assassin for longer? Anyway, how did you find yourself in this profession?"

She hoped that by throwing several questions at the half-elf she would get at least a decent answer to at least one of them.

 

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Theila continued to poke the fire with a stick and for a moment it seemed she would ignore Sara's questions. "Humm well..... Talking never helped me or my mother when I was younger. Her words never stopped his rage and when she was gone he turned it on me. I became an assassin after he beat me to near death and he was my first target." Poking the fire longer Thelia got up. "I suppose that is when I stopped dreaming, or maybe it was a little longer afterward." She shrugged "It doesn't matter really. If you don't dream you don't have nightmares either. You should get some more sleep Ill wake the both of you when its time to head out

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Sara listened intently to Thelia's brief story. She supposed she could understand how such a tragic story, assuming it was true, could send someone down a darker path in life.

"I see, that is a tragic story, thank you for sharing it with me. But you are right, I will try to get some rest. Goodnight."

With that, Sara returned to the tent she shared with Aya, mulling over the Thelia's very sad tale at times, her own chaotic dream at others. Assuming Aya was asleep, she would curl up beside her in the sleeping bag and after a few minutes finally drift back off to sleep.

 

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Aya was not asleep and had listened in on the ever so brief discussion though wouldn't say a word before offering Sara a place in her bed roll. If taken up on the offer Sara would find it was mostly just for warmth as Aya was soon asleep preventing any sexy shenanigans. If she slipped into sleep herself she would find it untroubled and rather pleasant. Waking as Thelia gave their feet a soft tap with her own Sara would find the dawn just breaking its rosy hue still mostly obscured by the trees. Other than that it seemed Thelia had packed up already though she did have a warm fire going with a steaming pot of something resting on a small cooking grate. Two cups sat nearby as Thelia hefted her bag. "Ill scout the trail ahead and wait for you."

After getting up if Sara checked the drink she would find it was coffee though far stronger than what she had before at Tanya's. Aya would soon be up beside her and getting ready. After taking care of their stuff and getting ready the two would soon meet up with Thelia who sat crouched in the snow looking threw a spy glass. "Not good... here check it out. Somethings got them riled up." Handing the spyglass over to Sara, Thelia moved to let her see. Peering threw it if she wanted Sara could see four bandits moving about hurriedly. One seemed to be packing while another stood on the rampart looking down at something. The other two seemed to be discussing something.

With a strong feeling of dread and a bit of morbid curiosity Sara moved the spy glass to see what the one man was staring at. Much to her fear she saw the man from her dream last night. He was much as he was in the dream only this time frozen stiff, his cock still firm sticking into the air.

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

Sara snuggled up to Aya for sleep, grateful for the added warmth.

She rushed through breakfast and breaking down the camp with Aya before downing the brutally strong coffee and joining up with Thelia.

Crouching down next to the half elf, Sara watched Fort Droth, trying to pick out details with out assistance before accepting the spyglass and seeing a visual confirmation that what had happened last night had not been a dream, but something worse. "Oh...fuck..." She felt a deep sense of shock, she had no idea how she could possibly have witnessed the act, and the implications were unsettling. Could it be some form of scrying she used unconsciously? She didn't think the ice witch had used a power on her, she hadn't seemed aware of her presence that night. Still, she had planned to rescue Naomi before dealing with the witch but if she was going to keep splitting minds with her in the meantime... She may have to confront the powerful spirit sooner than she had anticipated.

Composing herself, Sara used the spyglass to get an idea of the layout of the fort from her position before settling back and handing it over to Aya so she could take a look. "I imagine it will be hard to sneak in with them on alert as they are. What do you think, she we wait for them to leave and follow them until they make camp for the night? I can see just fine in the dark. Or should we hit them now while they are disorganized?"

Sara had her own ideas of how to handle the situation, but she wanted to hear what Thelia thought. Personally, she would like to make contact with her astral projection and get an idea of who these people were before she started laying waste to them, but they did look an awful lot like bandits...

 

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

"Humm well hitting them now would be beneficial but we are still a ways out. With them on alert like this however we might get spotted on our approach. If we hurry we might be able to ambush them though we might miss them if they double back. Following them might be better but it would mean cold nights with no fire." Sitting a moment Thelia was silent apparently debating things in her head further. If Sara wanted she might be able to make a suggestion.

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

"I say we hit them as they move out from the fort. Once they get clear of the fortifications, I can blast them my powers. Of course that depends on how many of them there are. How many of them do you reckon there are, and is your only target the leader?"

Sara tried to size up the fort and the number of people occupying it while they figured out a plan of attack.

 

[ranger]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

"The leader is the big catch the rest can go for all I care. He has a distinct scar so we will know him when we see him. As for the others there should be five all together though I've only counted four." Looking over the compound Thelia nodded. "I think your right they are restless and will easily be disorganized especial if can cause a distraction behind them. Think you can manage something outlaw?" Aya pouted but nodded. "Well work of your signal then. Sara and myself will jump them from behind when they take the bait. Any objections."

 

[sturm]

Re: Soul Searching (sturm) Gmed by ranger

"Just five? That won't be a problem." Once Aya set off, Sara would keep an eye on her as long as she could before trying to pick out the bandits. She waited until she and Thelia got Aya's signal and then she would strike.

After a moment's consideration she took back the spyglass and counted the bandits again. There were the two that were talking, one packing, one keeping watch, and the fifth one was frozen solid.

"Looks like it's just four." Sara whispered, handing the spyglass back to Thelia and pointing to where the fifth lay frozen. She continued to wait for Aya's signal.