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Penny's Dungeons and Dragons: New Frontiers

Perhaps her prayers had been heard. As Chastity ran, desperate and panicked, something seemed to guide her. She came upon a natural trail, leading into the darkness of the jungle, and when a fork opened before her, forcing a decision, something nudged her to go
left.

The sounds of battle faded behind her, the light of the campfires vanishing as she ran and ran. Eventually she came upon a small clearing, with a clear little brook flowing through it and a very large tree in the center. It must have been hit by lightning once, for its center had burned away, forming a small natural shelter in the living tree. The place felt quiet, peaceful and
safe.
 
Chastity did not often get the chance to run, and her lungs and legs were already burning by the time she reached the trail. Terror pushed her onward, but even that had its limits. Her sprint became a beleaguered jog, then a clumsy stagger. When she finally reached the clearing, she slowed to a stop, her breath heaving. She'd left the slavers and the attackers behind. She couldn't even hear the battle, nor any sounds of pursuers over the wheeze of her lungs or the pounding of her heart in her ears. Surely this place was safe - enough to rest, at least. With the last of her strength, she stumbled to the brook and fell to her knees. Cupping her hands in the water, she drank mouthful after mouthful before crawling back onto the dry earth and rolling onto her side.

She laid there, exhausted, until she felt she'd regained enough energy to move. The peaceful clearing calmed her mind as well as body, a solace after the horrors of the day. She sat up in the grass, but the feeling of it on her naked bottom was still so foreign to her that she couldn't feel comfortable. Changing to a kneeling position was better, the ground soft enough not to harm her knees.

Did I get away? she wondered. The slavers no doubt knew these woods better than her, but she had a head start. Of course, she was still lost in the unfamiliar woods, with no clue how to get back to her people. The other nuns were still captive, too - she was suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of guilt and shame, remembering how her own clumsiness had led to their capture. It was her fault they'd been captured; it wasn't fair that she had escaped.

She started to sob again, but swallowed hard and wiped the tears away. She had to focus now. She moved the backpack to in front of her and opened the flap, inspecting the supplies she'd stolen.
 
Aside from the dagger she had already noticed, the backpack turned out to be an extremely lucky find. Strapped to its outside were a waterskin half full with something, as well as a length of rope. Rolled up on top of the flap sat a bedroll. Inside Chastity found a number of things. For one, there was clothing - a linen shirt and a matching pair of pants.They were meant for somebody far shorter than her, leaving her midriff exposed and only reaching down to her knees, but it was certainly better than running around completely nude, and the - presumably - man who's pack this was had been stout enough that both pieces of clothing easily fit around her slender frame despite the size difference.
She also found a mess kit and tinder box, as well as several neatly packed food rations - enough to last her about a week. There were two sheets of empty parchments and a stick of coal, in case she needed to draw a map or something. Lastly, there was a simple wooden wand made from some dark wood whose colour she could not ascertain without a light.

The jungle was alive around her, all sorts of animals chirping, squawking, whistling, croaking or otherwise calling to each other. But there was no sound or pursuit, or any other danger. It might be a good spot to rest. The inside of the hollow tree was large enough to comfortably shelter her, and it did not look like anything had already claimed it at its home. Chastity could push on further if she was desperate, but the day had been long and exhausting, and there was no guarantee that she would find a better spot.
 
Chastity inspected the contents of the bag, marveling at her fortune with everything she pulled out. Just one would have been a blessing, but the full contents were nothing more than a miracle. If she were to make her way back to civilization, everything in the pack - besides the wand - would be invaluable. Overcome with relief and gratitude, she gathered everything up in her arms and pressed them to her chest.

"Thank you, Helm," she whispered, clenching her eyes closed. "Even now you protect me. Thank you."

She pulled on the clothes first, hiding her shame...somewhat. They obviously weren't made for her proportions; besides leaving her calves, forearms, and midriff bare, the pants stretched to cover her hips and backside and there was no way to stop her nipples from pressing through the shirt. Everything else went back into or onto the pack as she shrugged it onto her shoulders.

She looked out upon the forest anxiously, expecting to see the slavers emerge from the trees and capture her again. Nothing yet. Her instincts screamed to keep running, but her rational mind held a different fear. Her hell-tainted eyes could penetrate the dark, but only out to sixty feet or so. Beyond that, the forest was black. If she went wandering now, she had no doubt she'd get lost. Even in the light, her chances were slim, but at least the sunrise would tell her what direction east was. Her home was on the coast of this new land; if she had a direction, she could at least walk until she hit the sea.

This place felt safe. A part of Chastity feared that was only an illusion, but she knew she had no good options. Perhaps the tree could at least provide some shelter. Slipping the backpack off her back again and holding it close, she ducked within the burnt trunk and huddled in the dark, resting her head against its wooden walls.
 
Sleep didn't come easily to the young nun. Though the glade felt safe enough, that safety also meant she was no longer too preoccupied with survival to keep her thoughts from straying to the events of the past day. When sheer exhaustion finally did bring sleep to Chastity her slumber was restless, night terrors making the poor tiefling toss and turn and whimper - at least at first.
Chastity was reliving her earlier rape, surrounded by slavers who'd turned huge and monstrous and her fellow nuns blaming her for failing to protect them, the Mother Superior scornfully berating her for failing to keep her Vows and virginity, when suddenly there was a new presence in her dream. The young nun couldn't see it, but her dark, terrifying surroundings were suddenly bathed in soft golden-white light, the smells of campfire and sweat fading in favour of earth and flowers and fresh-cut grass.
Hush now, child. There is nothing to worry about here, and nothing to be ashamed of in anything you did.
Chastity had the impression of a cool hand wiping her brow, like a mother caring for her sick child, though she still couldn't see anything but the slavers and nuns in her dream - though the former no longer looked monstrous, just normal. Her pains, real and remembered, began to fade but not vanish completely, though the things the slaver boss had made her feel did not.
Desire is nothing to be ashamed of, any more than hunger or thirst.
 
Chastity's rape was awful. Her dream recollection of it was worse. In reality, her body forgot the pain as she was violated, but in the dream she felt it fully, writing as she is penetrated and split open, moaning in agony and despiar. The slavemaster loomed over her, cruel and selfish as he reveled in her pain, surrounded by more who leered eagerly at her naked body and chortled at her humiliation. The other nuns wailed, their faces twisted inhumanly in grief, cursing Chastity for dooming them with her weakness and foolishness. Mother Superior towered above, an enormous and oppressive figure, condemning her for her wickedness and betrayal of everything the Church had done for her. Chastity was a foul, disgusting, shameful worm who never deserved the mercy they gave her or the redemption they'd offered. It would have been too good for her if they'd drowned her as an infant. From the moment of her birth she should have boiled alive in the pits of the Nine Hells!

And through all the suffering there was also the horrid pleasure her rapist gave her; the sick, poisonous pleasure that she hated with all her being; the pleasure that proved she was as awful as Mother Superior said, as everyone had ever said.

Dreams shift with little warning or delineation. Chastity didn't know what made hers change, only that it had. The pain of the slaver penetrating her faded to a duller throb that almost complemented the pleasure. The humiliation of onlookers was not so cruel, now, almost exciting. The pleasure was less awful, but no less intense, and her moans of pain and misery changed to those of desire. And Mother Superior and her recriminations were gone.

Were she awake, Chastity would argue against what was told her to her: that desire must be denied, that she could not give in to the hedonistic temptations of the evil that flowed in her veins. But in the dream, she forgot to fight it. In the dream, she succumbed to the pleasure her rapist forced upon her. She didn't know who or what was speaking to her, but she had no modesty before it, crying out in ecstasy even as she waited for what she would be told next.
 
Chastity heard... or felt? ...was aware? of quiet laughter, not mocking or deriding, just genuinely amused. I am not here to tell you anything, child. I wish only to offer you shelter, and perhaps a path ruled by beauty and confidence and strength of will, rather than one dominated by misery and self-loathing. But I am not the slavemaster. I won't force upon you anything you do not wish. And as the young nun screamed her ecstasy into the dream, that motherly presence smiled warmly, invisible as it was, and brushed her brow again. It is a shame that your first experience was forced. Such things are better given freely. But that should not sour this joy for you.

When Chastity had recovered, the dream was still around her, but it was no longer the same. The slavers were gone, along with their camp. She stood - utterly naked - in the very clearing she had sheltered in. Indeed, she could vaguely make out her own curled-up form in the hollow of the tree, and suddenly just knew that, if she went there in her dream and laid down beside herself, she would sink into safe, restful sleep, free of dreams.

But she could also see dreamy figures at the edge of the clearing. And Chastity knew she could go to any or all of them, try them and experiment as she could only do in a dream.
Men and women of different ages, species, appearance. A few she knew, but most she didn't. All of them different, tall and short, muscular and lithe and curvy, classically beautiful or rakishly attractive or with honest, friendly faces, some with perfect skin, others with freckles and scars. Humans and elves and dwarves and tieflings and many more, all in their way beautiful and attractive and alluring. And behind them other things, not hiding but staying in the background, easily ignored if she so wished. Things with the same alluring presence, but who certainly were not people.
 
Chastity stood in the clearing, naked and unashamed, gazing upward at the nighttime sky. She approached the tree and saw her curled form sleeping within, barefoot and barely dressed, backpack clutched to her chest. Seeing herself from the outside, Chastity was struck by how vulnerable she looked - alone and scared, bruised from the abuse she'd suffered, exhausted by her panicked flight. She knew the figure below her had drifted off to sleep still mired in the guilt and shame of what was forced upon her. Chastity looked down at herself sadly, but then turned, seeing the figures at the edges of the clearing.

She went to them. Her hand cupped the cheek of a familiar face framed by blonde curls, but that was only the start. She fell into a sea of bodies, each different, each beautiful. Soft flesh, curved and feminine; skin rough with callus and wiry masculine hair; patterns of raised or smooth scar tissue; soft strokes and strong grips; feathery lips and cheeks coarse with stubble; and beyond that, more different flesh indeed, fur and horn and carapace alike. All were welcome, all were loved, all were enjoyed, if they came wanting to love and enjoy her. She took and gave pleasure freely, unrestrained and unashamed in the safety of dream.
 
Chastity came to the figures in her dream, and they welcomed her with open arms and accepted her without judgement. Whatever she wanted to try they gave her. There were no demands, just suggestions. No strikes, no kicks, no belts, no abuse, just caressing hands and gentle lips. The young nun could try things, and people, she might never have considered - or considered possible - in the real world. But as is the nature of dreams, when Chastity awoke in the morning, she could not remember anything clearly, or in detail. Just flashes of her dream - a man's thick, muscular arms hugging her to his chest, a soft breast beneath her hands, cool scales on her skin, blonde curls surrounding an expression of agonizing pleasure, her fingers closed around something worryingly large...

But Chastity awoke rested and safe, having slept in the hollowed tree in surprising comfort despite the lack of bedding. The brook bubbled merrily outside, and birds and other creatures greeted the morning sun with an orchestra of songs and calls. The clearing was empty but for a small group of deer grazing peacefully, and the tree that had sheltered her was ripe with delicious-smelling fruit. She could probably stay here for a while if she wished - but there was no way to know if the slavers would try to find her, or write her off and continue on with what remained of their captives and loot. Nor was it likely that any rescue party would stumble on this specific clearing - if one had even been sent.
 
Chastity awoke, her head still swimming with arousal and pleasure. In seconds, however, her dream dissipated like mist in the morning, leaving only confused memories of flesh and pressure with strange associated sensations. She felt weird and guilty, and stepped out of the hollow tree into the sun.

The sun was soft and gentle. The feel of grass under her feet was unfamiliar - she'd never walked outside barefoot before yesterday - but she liked it. For a moment, she let the sights and sounds of the clearing wash over her, then choked out a sob. The contrast between this and the horrors of the night before were staggering. She wiped tears from her eyes and looked around, finally plucking a fruit off the tree.

She sat down on the grass, hugged the backpack between her knees and one arm, and began eating the fruit. This peaceful place tempted her to stay, but she couldn't. Even if the slavers had given up on her, she had to get back to civilization - to the monastery. Her mind moved to the other nuns that had been taken with her, foolishly wanting to help them as well, but she couldn't even hope to do so. She wouldn't know where to start.

Would she even be able to help herself? The forest looked less forbidding than last night, but it would always be dangerous. Perhaps if she walked in the direction of the morning sun, she'd head east. That would at least take her to the coast, wouldn't it? Chastity examined her surroundings again, trying to find some indication of the best way to return home.

Chastity makes a Perception check (17) to examine her surroundings and a Survival check (18) to try and figure out how to get home. I had to open a new dice log because the old one was deleted, but I invited you to the new one.
 
Following the sun would indeed get her back to the coast, and Chastity would remember that the shoreline north of Newport was mostly rocky cliffs, while south of it was mostly gentle beaches, with the town nested in a bay where the landscape started to change. Once she found the ocean she had pretty good odds of choosing the right direction with that knowledge.
As for her immediate surroundings, there was no sense of danger. The deer grazed peacefully, and colourful birds flitted to and fro as they sang to each other. The fruit she'd plucked had a tough, leathery skin of green and red, but its flesh was yellow and sweet and dripping with juice.

For a moment Chastity was convinced she was alone - and then there was gurgle of water in the brook behind her, and she would find a woman standing there.
Just for a moment the sun seemed to create the illusion of a halo around the stranger's head, but as she moved it vanished. The woman was tall, dressed in a long and perfectly clean dress of aerie white cloth, translucent enough to leave nothing to the imagination and yet managing to prevent any indecent sights. Her blonde hair fell down to her back in wild curls, and the rope-belt around her hips held no weapons of any kind. She rose, having filled the silver pitcher in her hands with water from the brook, and faced Chastity with a smile. "Good morning, child. I hope you've slept well?"
 
Chastity knew she should get moving as soon as possible, but she was afraid. The jungle would be dangerous, she knew, and one wrong decision could mean her death. Taking more time here wouldn't help her, but the clearing felt safe. She promised herself she would start walking as soon as she finished the fruit; she told herself she needed the energy, but really, she just wanted to enjoy what could be her last meal.

She looked over her shoulder at the brook's gurgle, curious at the unfamiliar sound, and saw the woman. Panicked, Chastity scrambled to her feet, but her fear disappeared as quickly as it had come. The woman was beautiful, her appearance not just unthreatening but comforting, and something in Chastity wanted to trust this stranger. The split-second illusion she'd seen - like a halo around the woman's head - lingered in her mind.

Could it be...? No, it couldn't be. Helm's angels would not look so vulnerable.

Mysterious woman said:
"Good morning, child. I hope you've slept well?"
Click to expand...

For a moment, Chastity was silent, staring awestruck at the woman until her mind registered what the stranger had said. She blinked, then averted her eyes, suddenly shy.

"I..." Chastity felt as if she'd slept well, on a physical level. She remembered faint echoes of strangeness and guilt when she awoke, but couldn't remember why. She could remember the horrors of last night, however, and it just felt wrong to have slept well after that.

"I don't know," she finally admitted. She looked around the clearing. It was beautiful and safe and pure. Maybe too much for one like her. Chastity's eyes returned to the woman, but reluctantly, guiltily. "What is this place? Should I...not be here?"
 
"Old." Came the rather unhelpful answer to her first question, but thankfully the woman elaborated. Her voice was somehow... familiar. "There was a temple here once, a long time ago. The jungle has long since reclaimed its foundations, and time and scavengers have reclaimed its stone. But a few things still remain." The woman gracefully sat on a moss-covered boulder of white marble, its weather-worn shape still hinting at the workings of tools here and there, but without giving much clue as to what it once had been.
"Don't worry, dear. I mean you no harm. And had you not been welcome here I would have hardly called you here during your flight, nor guarded your dreams. You are safe here, and welcome to stay as long as you like." She smiled, but there was a sly glimmer in her eyes. "But I don't think that is what you wish to do, no? Not when your sisters remain lost. You have a brave heart, despite it all."
 
"Whose temple?" Chastity asked. She looked down at the boulder, then around, trying to spot more evidence of the long-lost construction. Her eyes lingered on the tree she'd slept within; had it grown to such a size after the temple fell, or was it part of the temple in the first place? Something about the tree itself felt sacred, even more so than the clearing in general.

"You called me here?" Chastity looked back at the woman, her eyes wide. She remembered running through the forest last night, something unspoken and even unconscious guiding her to unmarked paths. In her terror, at the time, she hadn't questioned it, but in the light of day...

"Th-thank you," she whispered. Unconsciously, her tail swished around her legs, and when she felt it touch the skin of her calf she suddenly remembered how she looked, what she was, how she'd been defiled the night before. She crossed her arms over her chest, holding herself for comfort and hiding where her nipples poked through her shirt. Reflexively, she wondered if she should even be in such a holy place, but the woman before her is so welcoming, so reassuring, so...safe that she feels her shame ease when she looks at her.

Not disappear, no. But ease.

Chastity thought of her sisters and felt afraid for an entirely different reason. A sob escaped her throat and tears pricked her eyes. "No - yes - I have to help them. I have to try, but..." She scrunched her eyes shut, then wiped at them with the heel of her hand. "I don't know how. I've never been in the jungle before last night. And even if I find them, what will I do? The slavers came for us and we were helpless. I only escaped by a miracle, and under Helm's watchful eye."

Despite her best efforts, she was crying now. She opened her eyes and looked at the woman. "But I can't just leave them."
 
"Originally? One who no longer lives, and whose name, traditions and history have been lost to time long before the Lord of Everwatch had been felled by Tyr, if only for a while." The woman began walking, back towards the trunk of the tree, making a slow circle around it as she poured water from her pitcher over its roots. "But no vacuum remains unfilled. A group of fishermen from your home had been blown away from familiar shores by a mighty storm and found themselves here after an arduous journey. They brought their faiths with them. The gods of these lands did not stand any challengers, but there was a throne remaining unclaimed. And where all her peers failed, the Lady of Love and Passion managed to find a foothold, and a following. For a time, at least." She finished her round, giving Chastity a sad smile. "Neither the Lords nor the Gods of these Lands took kindly to her presence, and when her power had grown enough to make them feel threatened, they struck at her followers. They tore down the temple and razed everything. But they were not as successful as they believed themselves to be."

The woman stood silently as the young nun shed her tears, watching with a thoughtful expression. "But you can. You can follow the sun to the coast, and find your way home. You can return to your cloister, report what you know, and hope that Helm's Watchers find your friends. After all, you are no warrior. You are merely a nun, one already tainted by sin through her mere birth if your Mother Superior is to be believed. And even if you were to find power - what would you do with it? Would you chase after the slavers, freeing your friends by visiting death and destruction upon them? Will you spur your fellow believers and countrymen into righteous fury and unleash a Holy War upon these lands to get your revenge?"
 
Chastity sniffed and looked down at her surroundings as the woman told her story. The place was beautiful and peaceful, but it took on a melancholy note as she considered the violence and hatred that must have occurred here before. The mournful feeling of it threatened to pull her in until the woman stated that they were unsuccessful - that there is always hope that good may prevail.

She looked back at the woman. "If I had power - " She hesitated. Could she be trusted with it? The Church hadn't even trusted her to live beyond the walls of her commune. She reconsidered what she was going to say, but even after examination, her answer didn't change.

"If I had the power...I would find my sisters, wherever they are. I would break their bonds and take them out of whatever place holds them. I'd bring them out of the dark, to safety. And the slavers..." She took a deep breath. "If I could, I'd take my sisters and leave without their knowing. If I had to, I'd fight them, even...even kill them. But I don't want to. I don't have any - any righteous fury."

She cringed and held herself closer. "I should be angrier. He hurt me and...and he..." She fell silent for a moment. "I feel filthy and ashamed. Shouldn't I be angry at him?"

Religion check to identify the "Lady of Love and Passion": 22

I assume it's Sune, but I rolled just in case!
 
"Should you?" The woman tilted her head. "What he has done to you has lowered nobody but himself. What you felt is perfectly normal, perfectly natural, even if it was forced. Would you feel ashamed for feeling sated after being forced to eat? For being tired and exhausted after being forced to work? No, dear. You have nothing to be ashamed for. Nothing at all. Not for last night, and not for your birth, nor your desires. There is nothing wrong with feeling passion, nor with sharing it. It is a part of life, and a most important one, for without it there would be nothing. No families, no children, no art, no temples, no great discoveries, no heroes bringing down tyrants and spreading more light in the world. Passion, in one of its many forms, is at the root of all of that. Passion is what drives people to act, to try and make their dreams reality. So don't you ever feel ashamed for it."
 
"I..." Everything the woman said made sense, but a lifetime of teachings was not forgotten so quickly. Chastity had never known a life outside of Helm's grim vigilance. Passion was a gateway to temptation, and temptation inevitably led to indulgence, hedonism, and evil. Unsaid, but understood, was that no passion was safe except the disciplined satisfaction of serving good gods or - possibly - the hatred of all that was evil, and even the latter was denied to her. Chastity had rebuked herself for every passion she'd found in her cloistered life, from the joy of good food to the indulgence of a soft bed to the love she'd felt for her sisters. She'd never heard Helm speak to her, so she'd chastised herself on His behalf.

"I suppose." She looked away guiltily. She gazed east, back the way she came - or so she thought, anyway. After a moment, she took a deep breath.

"Thank you for letting me stay," she said, looking back at the woman. Somehow, without even realizing it, she was convinced the woman had allowed her to stay. "I have to go now. I don't know how I'm going to help my sisters, but I have to try, and I can't waste any time."

She adjusted the pack on her back and smiled shyly at the woman. "I wish I could pay you back. Thank you again. I...hope you can help more people."
 
The woman smiled warmly, but there was a certain amount of slyness in it as well. "You are set on your path, but for the right reasons, not revenge. Despite all the hardships you have already endured, you are willing to suffer more to help those in need, to make this world better, more beautiful. You carry within you the spark of all that she seeks to foster." The woman nodded to herself, evidently coming to some conclusion.
"Yes, my Lady would approve of you."

She took a step towards Chastity, her voice lowering to something more... sensual. "I am part of this place. I cannot leave it unattended for long. But if you are willing, then I could offer you my blessings. A modicum of power, in exchange for the occasional service to me, and to She whom I serve."
 
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Chastity paused for a moment, but only a moment. Though she'd lived a sheltered life, even she picked up on the change in the woman's demeanor. She hesitated hardly long enough to blink, however, before she dismissed her concerns. The woman had let her stay throughout the night - indeed, Chastity was starting to believe she'd protected her - and shown her nothing but kindness and acceptance, even if Chastity herself had trouble believing the kind things she'd said. Chastity had no reason to be suspicious.

There was something else, too, even if Chastity was not fully conscious of it. At the drop in the woman's voice, as she stepped closer, Chastity felt her heart skip a bit. Suddenly, the woman's voice excited her in a way that Chastity wasn't ready to acknowledge. After a moment of internal discordance, she allowed herself to believe it was what the woman had said, not the way she'd said it.

"What sort of blessings?" Chastity whispered, as if speaking in secret. "Could - could I help my sisters with this power?"

Her hand slowly dropped away from the backpack. Her attention was entirely on the woman. "What kind of service?"

Insight check to read the woman's change in demeanor: 9. Not this time!
 
"Power." The woman breathed. "Magic and otherwise. The power to heal, to beguile, to charm - and to strike at your foes, if the need arises. Whether you wield it in peaceful intent or not, that will be - mostly - your choice." She took another step forward. "As for service - my Lady strives to bring beauty and pleasure to the world, and thus, so do I. Neither of us lusts for violence and conflict - but neither of us cowers away if others force it upon us. I cannot say what my Lady might demand in particular - but as your pact would be with me, she would not have direct sway over you in any case. As for me..." She looked around the glade.
"I would like to see this place restored, once more a temple, once more a refuge. A place for beauty, joy and pleasure, unconstrained by the dreariness of politics and war. This, of course, would need the help of many hands, and quite a bit of wealth on top. But more importantly, there are entities that would oppose such actions. Some mortal, some supernatural. They would need dealing with - preferably peacefully, though that might not always be possible."
 
Like the Watchers, Chastity thought. The power to protect, to heal, to deliver from evil - and the power to destroy that evil. Many times she'd envied them (though mostly since she'd come to this land), not just for no-doubt thrilling adventures but for the enlightenment they brought to this dark place. Her only hesitation was the worry that she was not worthy. If Helm had wanted her to have this power, wouldn't He have already granted it to her? She'd spent all her life under His watchful protection, serving His church and memorizing His scripture, and it was because of the evil in her soul that she had been sequestered there. Could she be trusted with that power?

She struggled with her doubt for a moment, but eventually pushed past it. She didn't have the choice of denying it. Her sisters were in trouble, and there was no one to help them but her. She'd just have to deal with the consequences, whatever those would be.

She mirrored the woman's movements, looking around the clearing. She still didn't know who the woman's Lady was, but it certainly wasn't Helm. Joy and pleasure untouched by war - that definitely didn't describe any of His temples. But serving another goddess, if a good one, wouldn't be a betrayal of Him. Helm Himself had found allies in other gods - Helm's church was a bitter rival to that of Torm, but Chastity had read scripture in which Helm and Torm worked together, and perhaps were even friends. Tyr, too, was aligned with Helm, and other gods as well. If the Lady was of goodness, then Helm would not begrudge Chastity helping her - and she must have been. Chastity was sure.

She looked back at the woman, nodded, and then kneeled in front of her. "Yes - please, yes. My sisters need me. Please grant me the blessings to save them and bring them to safety. I promise to restore this temple, so your Lady may give others the comfort and safety she gave me."
 
The woman let out a bubbling, genuinely amused laugh as Chastity knelt, covering her mouth for a moment before reaching out for the young nun and helping her back to her feet. "Oh, you're delightful, child! But not like that, no." She pulls the young woman close, one hand sliding around Chastity's hip while the other caresses her cheek, tilting the nun's head back. "We seal a deal a bit differently here."

The kiss is a gentle one, almost sisterly - for but half a second. Then the woman's mouth part slightly, her tongue brushing over Chastity's lips. She is slow, patient instead of demanding, waiting for the young nun to accept each step. But she radiates sensuality, and some of that seems to flow into Chastity as the kiss deepens as far as she lets it.
Eventually the woman pulls back a fraction. "And so the Pact is made. My power to you, your service to me. We shall do great things together. Starting, presumably, with your friends." She offers a wicked grin. "Unless you'd wish to recover another night? I can assure you that it would be... enlightening."
 
Chastity's eyes widened as the kiss caught her by surprise. She grappled with confusion for a brief moment, then guilt for a longer one, but soon she found a way to convince herself this was necessary, even good. She told herself it was innocent, an expression of trust, and not an indulgence in sins of the flesh. Her lips moved to return the kiss, and when she felt the woman's tongue, hesitated only the slimmest instant before her lips parted to accept it. Chastity's eyes drifted closed as the woman slipped inside her, the tip of Chastity's tongue shyly touching that of the woman before gliding around it, tasting her, exploring her. Chastity's hands moved without her knowledge, placing themselves on the woman's sides before traveling up her back, holding her close enough to feel her body heat through their clothes.

Chastity's lips remained parted after the woman pulled away, her eyes slowly opening as she recovered her senses. She blinked, then released her and stepped back, her lavender cheeks flushing deeply.

"Th-thank you!" She clasped her hands in front of her, then realizes her nipples were stiff and poking through her thin shirt. She raised her hands to her chin to cover herself with her forearms. "I - I would - I mean, I would love to, to learn, but my sisters, what they'll - they - it's already been too long."

She took a deep breath, then spoke more quietly. "I will return, if I survive. I promise."
 
"Then I shall delay you no further." The woman chuckled, gesturing towards where Chastity had first entered the glade the night before. "I can guide you back to the slaver's camp of last night, but no further than that, I fear. But as for learning -" She leaned in, whispering into the young nun's ear with a purr. "- while I cannot leave this place for long, I can come visit you from time to time. And we will always have your dreams." She straightened, picking up her ewer. "Safe travels, dear. I will give you what protection I can, but remember that affection can be far more disarming than any weapon." The woman turned with a smile, humming to herself as she stepped around the tree - and was gone.

True to her word, Chastity would find that retracing her steps from the previous night felt as easy and familiar as finding her own room in the cloister had been. There was no need to think or study her surroundings more than she liked, and she could likely have found her way back to the slaver's camp in the black of night while lost in thought. No dangers presented themselves on her way there, despite the horror stories she would have heard about all the things living deep in the jungle. There was plenty of life, bird's singing and insects buzzing, and something big roaring in the distance, but none of it bothered her on her way to the camp.

But finding her way on from there would be another matter. Stepping out of the treeline, Chastity found the remains of the camp abandoned. Whatever had attacked the slavers was gone, and so were the slavers and their captives. The earth was muddy and torn, plants and grass trampled down. A few torn down tents remained, and the remnants of campfires. But there were no bodies.

Please give me a Survival Check. Anything over a 7 will give Chastity a general direction, a 12 will offer a more substantial trail to follow, and a 15 or above will net some info on what happened.
You may also make an Investigation Check if you want to find out more.

Also, I figure this was obvious, but let me state it plainly for the record: Chastity is now a Level 1 Warlock, and no longer a Level 0 Commoner.
 
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