Luminosity

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

Her vision was quickly going black, and it felt to Valerie like her entire torso might cave in from the pressure the ogre was putting on her, but just before she could be overwhelmed by it Markus was able to make his move. Valerie was able to rip her sword free from the creature's wrist just as Markus went up to stab at its throat. Finally released, she gasped in one breath after another, rolling onto her side from the coughing and wheezing.

The ground shook and Markus cried out, and despite her breathlessness Valerie forced herself up as best she could. She was dizzy again, this time from lack of oxygen, and stumbled more than once on her way over to the fallen ogre. She feared it might have crushed Markus, but she found him half-pinned underneath it, still intact and just regaining consciousness by the looks of it. The monster was twitching slightly, but soon enough that stopped too, and the ogre was dead.

Valerie fell to her knees at Markus's side, only keeping herself up by pressing her hands against the ground. She reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "We did it," she said, sounding a little surprised. And though they were both banged up, neither was seriously injured. They were either lucky, or more skilled than Valerie gave herself credit for. Still, the clearing wasn't safe, as they had no cover and Valerie wasn't keen on the idea of fighting anything else right now. She managed to get back to her feet, and reluctantly approached the dead ogre's head.

"Come on, we can get you out together. On three." She took hold of the ogre's head from underneath, preparing to lift it up as best she could. "One, two, three!"

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

By the time Valerie emerged from the woods her breathing was already strained, but she didn't slow down. She had to cover the distance in front of her, make her attack on the ogre while its back was turned. She kept her sword sheathed as long as she could, knowing the noise would draw its attention. Markus appeared to still be alright, which came as a relief. The ogre was also still strong, despite the cuts her partner had landed on it. Here goes nothing.

When she came in range she pulled her sword from the sheath, making a hard slash up at the ogre's left hamstring, grunting with the effort. The cut normally would've beheaded a human opponent, but instead sliced through the creature's hide easily enough, leaving a bloody wound behind. The ogre roared in agony. In retribution it lashed out with both arms in a wide arc aimed to hit both Markus and Valerie.

Valerie might've been able to duck under it or dodge, but her attention was mistakenly on the other leg. She was in the backswing of her attack when the ogre's forearm hit her across her upper body, tossing her several feet away onto her back. The sky above her spun wildly, at least until her vision was filled with an approaching hand. The ogre had fallen to one knee from the pain, but turned to reach after Valerie.

Unable to rise in time, the ogre's hand closed around her midsection, instantly cutting off her ability to breathe. The pressure tightened, and Valerie felt her back lift off the ground a foot or so. Desperately she stabbed her sword down through the ogre's wrist, the blade piercing clean through it. It had the effect of weakening the grip momentarily and letting her gasp in a needed breath, but it also caused the ogre to slam her back the short distance onto the ground, refusing to let her go.

She writhed and kicked to no avail, out of options except to hope the ogre couldn't crush her in the next few seconds.

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

Valerie had the unpleasant fortune to watch the whole thing unfold. She'd taken two steps to chase after Markus when she noticed the massive movement ahead of him, and saw the ogre emerge, crushing the unlucky goblin in its hand. It nearly turned her stomach, and she took a few unconscious steps backwards, her eyes locked on it. A hundred thoughts ran through her head about what to do, how to fight it, but she expected she would need to jump just to reach anything vital.

Markus suddenly grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him. His words didn't make any sense at first. Run... away? Leave him to deal with it by himself? Or rather, try to survive it. No, she wouldn't do that. Part of her stubbornly wanted to refuse, stay there and fight with him, but she had enough awareness even with the thumping footsteps of the ogre to understand the tactic behind the plan. She would have a better chance if the ogre didn't see the flank attack coming.

Still she began to wordlessly protest, but the shove away turned out to be what she needed. Valerie glanced up at the ogre, and then sheathed her sword and ran directly away, back into the thick woods. She didn't go far, only enough to break line of sight, though she imagined the ogre's gaze would be locked on Markus now, given the unpleasant scream and booms of its movement that she could hear.

She made her way around as quickly as she could. Too quickly, it turned out; she wasn't watching her footing well enough, and ended up tripping over a low root, falling forward into the muddy earth. Cursing quietly, she pushed back to her feet and carried on at a more deliberate pace. She tried to get a glimpse of how the fight was going, but couldn't see much. Her heart pounded in her chest.

Only a few moments longer and she would be behind the hideous creature. She hoped she could do what she needed to when she was, for both their sakes.

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

Making good use of surprise did seem like their best bet. Inflict greater wounds than they could recover from before they could react at all. And speed was among Valerie's strongest attributes. She nodded back, grateful for the squeeze on her shoulder. Even against goblins charging into battle was no easy task, but it helped when she was alongside someone she trusted.

Three on the right for her, the other four for him. It was hardly the time to squabble over numbers, and she had to admit she had more confidence in Markus than she did in herself. She studied the three, the first armed with dual daggers, the second a scimitar that a human could've wielded with one hand, but held in two here, and the last with a spear and small wooden shield. Valerie slowly closed her fingers around the hilt of her blade, and waited for Markus to give the word. "Now."

She moved ahead without hesitation, drawing her sword with a ring of steel and rushing at the goblins on the right of the group. They turned and stared in shock for a moment, and that was all Valerie needed to end the first of them, removing his head with a clean slice before she stepped forward to attack the next. They were swift to react, and the second already had his guard up for her when she made her attack. He was not a skilled opponent, though, and a few quick moves opened up his flank for Valerie to plunge her sword into, ending him.

The spear wielding goblin had enough time to line up an attack before Valerie could properly align herself after discarding the second foe. A thrust of the spear came at her, and had she been a moment slower it would have skewered her through the midsection. Instead, she managed to turn it aside just in time. The goblin was surprised at her quick reactions, and failed to get his own shield up in time for her counter. Valerie's thrust might've done the same skewering to a human opponent, but against the goblin her blade pierced through his throat. The creature slowly fell backwards off of her sword, where he lay still.

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

Valerie would gladly take on bandits at the moment, if it meant avoiding another run-in with a wyvern. Of course, the reality of it was that they would probably run into them both, considering the poor luck they'd started out with. And any bandits surviving out here would no doubt be of a tougher stock than the kind Valerie had dealt with in the past.

She kept close as they moved through the forest, the thickening foliage providing her with yet another obstacle should a fight come about. Valerie still needed a great deal of practice maneuvering in these sorts of environments to be able to do it efficiently, or quietly. With focus at least she could avoid snapping every wayward branch and crunching every pile of fallen leaves. It would have to do.

The sound of the goblins reached her ears easily enough, as the mood on their walk had been far more tense than when they started out, with good reason. She crouched beside Markus, finding an opening in the brush big enough to see through and observe the foe. The goblins were hardly as imposing as orcs, but they had a significant numbers advantage, and those wicked spears and blades could wound or kill easily enough. Valerie didn't much like the idea of attacking them head on. She supposed they could go around, but their odds of sneaking by didn't seem too favorable either.

"Can we manipulate them somehow?" she asked, whispered as quietly as she could. "Turn them on one another, to whittle them down?" They didn't seem to like each other too much, from what she could tell, and they were obviously prone to violence. How to stir up a fight between them, she didn't know. Maybe just waiting would do the trick. "Whatever you want to do, I'm with you. I'll follow your lead."

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

The jerky came as a welcome distraction while Valerie waited for the pain to subside, even if she wasn't particularly hungry. The conversation was much for the same purpose, although she was curious. She'd just come suddenly much closer to an angry wyvern than she'd ever wanted to, and she still felt a bit jittery from the adrenaline.

"Two years well spent, if you ask me," she said, putting away the cloth. "We probably wouldn't have escaped so well back there without it." Valerie didn't envision any kind of magical training in her own future, but she supposed it would be foolish to rule it out. For the moment she had enough to learn. She laughed a little at Markus's comment about his lack of a life beyond mercenary work. "Well, we'll have to work on that when we get back."

After a few more minutes of rest they started moving again, delving through the thickening forest. It was a bright day, with the sun thankfully piercing through the trees above them. Valerie imagined it would be easy enough to get lost in here without the proper guidance.

"What do you think that smoke we saw came from?" she asked. She figured that would be their first target, assuming they had no more unfortunate encounters with winged creatures.

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

"I'm..." Valerie had been about to tell Markus that she was fine, but that was a fairly detrimental lie, and it wasn't really possible to hide it, either. The only reason she'd been able to make it upright was because of the nearby rock to pull herself up, but she didn't think she'd be able to stand on her own without it. It wasn't any issue with her legs; besides a few dings and bruises, she was okay. The worst hits she'd taken on her left hip, and the right side of her ribs, but she didn't actually think anything was broken. It was just...

"I'm a little shaken. Dizzy, that's all." She'd protected her head as best she could going down, but there was only so much her arms could do. "Just let me lean on you. We should move." She wasn't too proud to ask for the help, especially when faced with something like a wyvern. Taking his hand, Valerie got her weight back on her feet, and with his help balancing, they were able to make it into the relative cover of the forest quickly enough. The wyvern occasionally passed far overhead, possibly still searching for them, but either the fireball from Markus or their relocation had persuaded it to give up the chase for now. Valerie hoped that would be the end of it, but a feeling in her gut knew better.

Once they seemed to be in the clear, they slowed and found a log sturdy enough for Valerie to sit on. Likely they both needed a bit of rest. Valerie tried not to let herself think about how terribly their first encounter with danger had gone, as when she did she ended up feeling not unlike dead weight. She'd offered little of use, and only succeeded in injuring herself on the difficult terrain. But it could have been much worse.

"Where did you learn your magic?" she asked once she'd caught her breath comfortably. She dabbed at a small cut on her cheek with a clean cloth. "That was a pretty handy spell. Did your family have a magical tutor?"

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

Valerie was a bit taken aback by how far she could see. Admittedly she'd been more focused on the difficult descent than the view. She could make out the smoke, but not what it was coming from. If it was that far in the distance though, it probably wasn't a simple campfire.

Any thought of a day ahead was driven from her mind with the terrible screech of the wyvern that appeared overhead. Valerie immediately ducked as low as she could without losing her balance, her heart instantly pounding in her chest. Apparently they weren't the only ones tracking out here. She didn't bother drawing her sword, instead trying to watch it through the bright sunlight. The forest below would offer them some much needed cover, and a chance to escape.

Without thinking, Valerie tried to proceed down the slope a little more quickly than she was capable of. She slipped, a loose rock coming out from under her boot, and she fell hard on her right side, sliding down several more feet before she could pull herself to a stop. She was still off of her feet when she heard the terrifying screech above her again, and saw the wyvern swooping down straight for her. There was no time to think, and her only reaction was to get out of the way.

She threw herself forward down the slope just as the wyvern touched down, its sharp talons failing to sink into her as it landed. It would remain there just long enough for Markus to make some kind of move to drive it off, but not much more. Valerie meanwhile tumbled harshly down the slope, unable to really protect herself against any of the rocks. The world spun viciously in front of her eyes until she came to a sudden stop at the bottom, and her entire body seemed to ignite in pain. She gasped sharply at the severity of it, trying to get to her feet, but momentarily unable to do so, only making it to her hands and knees.

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

Valerie had never really considered herself in tune with nature or anything like that. Her homeland was almost entirely settled, with stretches of farmland separating the towns in place of uninhabited wilderness. There were forests and mountains, yes, but nothing that approached the untouched wilds she found herself in now. And while she traveled a lot, and enjoyed seeing the sights of new places and locales, she'd never really thrown herself entirely into them before, until now. It was a bit daunting, and exhilarating at the same time.

She allowed herself to drift away a bit in the sounds of the forest, and in the pleasant song Markus hummed. It surprised her how comfortable she started to become after a time. She still had to consciously stop herself from reacting when a small bird suddenly landed on her shoulder, but it soon took enough anyway. The flapping of wings right next to her face left her a bit flustered for a moment, but she turned it into a good-humored laugh of embarrassment.

Her little moment out of a storybook was brought to an end when they came upon the place where they would leave the road. Something about it made it all real for Valerie again. The marks on the trees that even she could track, perhaps. Orcs had been through here, maybe not recently, but their presence was unmistakable. They would have come for the bodies of their dead, at the very least.

"If we can find their trail from the battle yesterday, we could follow them back to their hold," she speculated, unsure what exactly to call it. Their home made it sound a bit too personal. Hold helped remind her of the military nature of what was going on. "I don't know the most about tracking, but if they were carrying bodies they would have to leave a trail, on these trees at the very least." The going quickly became more difficult and slow, even for light travelers such as themselves. The orcs surely would do worse.

Wherever the orcs were, Valerie hoped they wouldn't come across them here, while the terrain was so difficult to manage. She relied heavily on her balance and footwork, and didn't fancy her chances on a surface as harsh as this.

Tombs and Blades (Swords of the Cutlass Coast) (Lum & Poo)

They stocked up on their food rations until they had more than enough for the time they expected to be on their own, and Valerie made sure to purchase a modest length of rope as well. If they were going to be delving into tombs or ruins, it seemed likely to come in handy. She wasn't sure how she felt about the offer of coin for artifacts and trinkets from the ruins. The contract wasn't for treasure hunting, after all, and if the ruins were indeed haunted by something, taking artifacts along would probably just invite more danger. And everyone seemed so certain they wouldn't be coming back alive already. In any case, it was something to keep in mind, but Valerie was intent on putting their survival first. Coin was useless to them if they were killed, after all.

Once they were stocked there was little to do but get underway, as the daylight was going to waste. They made their way towards the gate side by side, where they found a woman flanked by a few personal guards waiting for them. As it turned out, the mayor of the little town herself had heard of their intent to take the contract, and came to wish them good fortune before they departed. Valerie found it comforting that at least someone was hopeful of their success other than themselves.

When they'd put the walls of the town behind them and had nothing but the wilds ahead, Valerie exhaled a deep breath. She was nervous, and not hiding it especially well, but she also felt a strange sort of excitement. She could only truly show her bravery when she felt fear, and she didn't have to do this alone. She glanced sideways at Markus.

"Ready for this?"