[coronatiger]

Thoughts on October 22nd

We traveled westward, towards a question mark on the map, following the overgrown road. After a while, Va’lyndra, scouting ahead, made a bird call. I didn’t remember what it meant, but Lady Karita said Va’lyndra wanted us to approach.

There was a tower standing on a hill south of the road, and it looked intact. We saw no signs of life from this distance, so we decided to sneak up for a closer look, leaving Olivia with the animals. The guide had told us to stay far away from inhabited, well-kept buildings, so I followed the others with apprehension. Va’lyndra tweeted, and I asked what she wanted; we were close enough to speak normally. She pointed out that the ambient noises of the forest had disappeared.

We continued ahead, and suddenly something fell from the trees on top of Va’lyndra and Lady Karita, who were in front. Vipers! Va’lyndra stepped back, warning us that they were venomous. Kine ran forward, swiping a snake from Lady Karita’s shoulder, only to be showered herself. I shot one of the snakes on the ground, as I didn’t want to risk hitting my friends.

Lady Karita, with trembling hands, hurled throwing stars at the critters before drawing her sword. I ran forward, using my bow to scrape a few snakes off of Kine, and Va’lyndra sprayed Kine with a water jet to help her get rid of more. The jet blew off about half the snakes, but it also knocked Kine to the ground; she rolled around to crush the rest.

Behind me, I heard Lady Karita mutter a curse to herself; the snakes were magical. I tried stomping on a few snakes, and Va’lyndra whirled her staff, crushing several, but the rain continued. Lady Karita shouted that it was a trap, for she had seen that twigs above us were being transformed to vipers. It was time to get the hell out of there.

Dodging out of the shower, Lady Karita tripped and fell. I ran back into the danger zone, trying to lure the snakes away from the others. Va’lyndra and Kine were having trouble disengaging, and Kine fell to the ground. The vipers that had been covering her moved towards Lady Karita, who hurriedly got back on her feet.

I yelled to the others to draw the snakes away from the unconscious Kine, and ran to pick her up. I should have given Lady Karita and Va’lyndra more time, for the snakes turned towards me when I lifted up the cat girl. Staggering under the weight, I barely managed to dodge the vipers trying to climb up my legs. Luckily, Va’lyndra cleared a path for me with her water jet, and we got away.

We hurried towards Olivia, and when we realized we weren’t followed, I placed Kine carefully on the ground, leaving her in Va’lyndra’s care while I ran to get the medic. Va’lyndra knows first aid.

When I returned with Olivia a couple of minutes later, empty potion bottles were scattered on the ground. Olivia pushed Va’lyndra aside and took charge of the situation. She put her ear to Kine’s chest and listened, then she touched her neck. She looked up at me, opening her mouth to speak, but no words came out. No words were necessary; her tears said it all.

We decided to follow the elven tradition of leaving the dead to be reclaimed by nature, as none of us knew the burial traditions of cat people. Va’lyndra would speak the ritual words, but first, we needed to retrieve our weapons. I had to drop my bow so I could pick up Kine, and Lady Karita had used two throwing stars. Unlike me, who had purchased a heap of extra arrows for this prolonged quest, Lady Karita only brought five throwing stars.

Va’lyndra, using her magic sight, discovered a magical field going all the way around the tower. Our weapons were just inside the wall of the field. I took a running start, and cartwheeled over my bow, picking it up as I passed. I took a U-turn, returning out of the magical field, vipers falling from the trees in my wake. We moved away from the tower until the snakes turned back into twigs, then we went back to the barrier. I retrieved Lady Karita’s throwing stars and Kine’s whip in the same manner, and then we went back to Olivia. I knew we could have reached at least the bow and the whip using a long pole and a fishing hook, but I wanted to show off. Lady Karita claimed it was too long since I had had an audience.

After the funeral, we discovered a potential problem: None of us had any experience leading oxen. Fortunately, Va’lyndra’s elven talent for animal empathy let her convince Dagros and Ferdinand that she was their friend, and they agreed to follow us.

We traveled a bit further before camping. We examined Kine’s packs, to see if there was anything we needed for the journey, but besides the food, Kine had only carried things for her own use. Some of it may be appropriated later, but for now, we left everything where it was.

We discussed a new routine for the night watch, and agreed that Lady Karita should take over Kine’s watch in the early night. As she needs more sleep than the rest of us, and Va’lyndra needs less, Lady Karita would wake the elf earlier than Kine used to. Olivia and I would still have the last watch, and we would still keep watch together. Va’lyndra raised her eyebrows at me when I declared that Olivia and I would stick together, but voiced no objection.

Our lovemaking tonight was impassioned, fervent. Kine’s death had reminded us of our own mortality. What if this was our last night together?


Thoughts on October 23rd

We continued west along the road. In a somber mood, nobody said much until we reached a ruined village in the afternoon, where our predecessors seemed to have done a good job of digging the place up. We camped outside the village.


Thoughts on October 24th

Continuing westward, we neared another ruined village, and Va’lyndra signaled that there was danger ahead. A log tower oversaw the road, so while Olivia remained behind, the rest of us went ahead to take a closer look. We decided to climb the hill next to the village, to get a better look, and discovered that goblins are exceptionally perceptive. They spotted us from far away, and swarmed the streets. We had no unfinished business with them, so we chose to make ourselves scarce. Va’lyndra hid our tracks as we took a detour back to Olivia and the animals. Then we took the long way around the village, eventually continuing westward.


Thoughts on October 25th

It appears the goblins lost track of us, if they indeed tried following, for we had no unwelcome visitors in the night. The weather got a little warmer, today, and we figured we would reach the crossroads tomorrow, and then we would turn south. The question mark on the map was tantalizing.