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- Joined
- Aug 27, 2018
Mary grit her teeth, gripping her trusty composite bow white-knuckled as she forced her legs through the thick muck of the swampy forest, sending out only soundless, petite ripples to betray her prescence. Her hood was pulled down over her brow, leaving her pink lips exposed to scowl in the silver glow filtering down through the skeletal branches above. An arrow was nocked on its string, held painstakingly aloft over the murky water as if the ranger's life depended on it. It might well yet. She pushed on, alone and unfaltering, a silent shadow wading in the moonlight.
All around her, the forest was alive with evil. She could hear chittering and growling and, every so often, a squawking, gurgling laugh that she swore she must be imagining. The very shadows seemed to writhe and mould themselves around her, groping at her, entrapping her. There was a foul scent on the calm wind whistling between the decrepit treetrunks, and though it chilled her to the bone, the humidity - or perhaps, the sheer malignity - was causing her to sweat through her rugged travelling garb. She had the dark feeling the forest itself wanted to rape her. To use her up and consume all that she was.
She stopped, blinked her eyes clear to dispel the illusions of the shadows, and forced herself to breathe steadily. She reached for her belt, produced a small, battered flask and took an extended pull from it. The taste conjured memories of warmth, reminding her why she was here, what she fought for, and what she could reward herself with once the job was done. A warm hearth. A flask of ale. A vapid blonde barmaid with a knack for cunnilingus. Hell, right now a sex-starved stablehand would suffice. She just liked to make a mess. And all she needed to do was find whatever creature was at the heart of this magical disturbance and put an enchanted arrow through its eye socket. It wouldn't be the first time she was the end of the such a threat. Then, she could drink the town of Witch's Garden dry and fuck herself stupid, content in the knowledge that the people who lived there could continue their lives unmolested by the cruel forest they called home, at least for now.
She pressed on for another hour in the dark, maybe two. It was hard to tell, and she daren't look for the moon. After an unbearable, sweltering eternity, an arcane glimmer through the trees caught her emerald eyes and she stopped dead, scanning her surroundings gradually. Her heart was beating out of her chest. The time had finally come to put and end to this and make her way home.
After several more minutes of careful observation, she advanced again. The light was emanating from a clearing. Straining her eyes, she could see at least one indistinct figure, flickering in the glow. Closer. She needed to get closer.
All around her, the forest was alive with evil. She could hear chittering and growling and, every so often, a squawking, gurgling laugh that she swore she must be imagining. The very shadows seemed to writhe and mould themselves around her, groping at her, entrapping her. There was a foul scent on the calm wind whistling between the decrepit treetrunks, and though it chilled her to the bone, the humidity - or perhaps, the sheer malignity - was causing her to sweat through her rugged travelling garb. She had the dark feeling the forest itself wanted to rape her. To use her up and consume all that she was.
She stopped, blinked her eyes clear to dispel the illusions of the shadows, and forced herself to breathe steadily. She reached for her belt, produced a small, battered flask and took an extended pull from it. The taste conjured memories of warmth, reminding her why she was here, what she fought for, and what she could reward herself with once the job was done. A warm hearth. A flask of ale. A vapid blonde barmaid with a knack for cunnilingus. Hell, right now a sex-starved stablehand would suffice. She just liked to make a mess. And all she needed to do was find whatever creature was at the heart of this magical disturbance and put an enchanted arrow through its eye socket. It wouldn't be the first time she was the end of the such a threat. Then, she could drink the town of Witch's Garden dry and fuck herself stupid, content in the knowledge that the people who lived there could continue their lives unmolested by the cruel forest they called home, at least for now.
She pressed on for another hour in the dark, maybe two. It was hard to tell, and she daren't look for the moon. After an unbearable, sweltering eternity, an arcane glimmer through the trees caught her emerald eyes and she stopped dead, scanning her surroundings gradually. Her heart was beating out of her chest. The time had finally come to put and end to this and make her way home.
After several more minutes of careful observation, she advanced again. The light was emanating from a clearing. Straining her eyes, she could see at least one indistinct figure, flickering in the glow. Closer. She needed to get closer.