Ill-fate Ingredient Impregnation ( Rosina x Genome )

Times had been good for Scarlette Rose. The last few months had the traveling herbalist selling her wares and services through the remote Almath Valley, far from the protection of the Crown and any real medical professionals. It was a harsh land, full of dangerous creatures and sturdy folk. The steadholders of the valley were resilient, but even the strong man can be laid low by the ravishes of disease or wear that came from long hours of backbreaking work that came with building a home in the wilderness. The small towns, stead holds, and villages that dotted the valley were very much in need of the services of a skilled and gifted healer, and each one she passed through paid the high prices she demanded out of necessity, though the sums sometimes brought ill-will and resentment once the healing was done.

Scarlett had left the village of Mist Haven with her purse heavier but her supplies greatly diminished. Thankfully the valley was a fertile place. She could restock on the rare herbs and plants she needed for her miraculous brews without too much effort. Sure the villagers had warned of the dangers of the Valley outside the walls of the villages, but she was not one easily deterred by stories of beasts and monsters that roamed the lands. She had heard many tales from the valley folk, but one particular story had caught her ear. An aging woman spoke of a rare mushroom that was said to have the ability to work miracles. The Heaven's Cap, an almost legendary fungus, was said to be more myth than anything. It was said that the mushroom if prepared properly, could bring people back from the brink of death, and some said it could even restore life to those that were stepping over that brink. Such a thing would be worth fortune, especially in the Capital. Lords and nobles would see her living quite comfortably for the rest of her years for such a rare and magical cure.

The main worry was the tales of the creatures that inhabited the caves the mushroom was said to grow in. Dire wolves, stone trolls, and other denizens of the stories told to keep children from misbehaving. It was likely these superstitious Valley folk were simply exaggerating things, and Scarlett had shown her courage and ability in the past. What was the worst that could happen? This was an opportunity. Her name would be spoken across the kingdom and beyond with reverence and awe should she hunt down such a legendary thing and transform it with her formidable talents into a cure that stave off even the most resistant of illness, and perhaps death itself.

The Caves were said to lie many miles to the north, across dangerous terrain that held its own share of wild beasts. Perhaps that would add to her profits. Many of the creatures of the valley had a very potent essence. Should she be able to bottle the seed of some of these creatures it could ensure her profit for the trip, should the tales of the mythical mushroom prove nothing more than exaggerations. She was well equipped for a trek, having refilled her provisions in the village, but there were none willing to guide her. She was on her own. Fortune and renown awaited her. She simply had to get past the small hurdle of miles of travel through dangerous lands full of monsters, bandits, and beasts.

Heavy boots padded softly on a rugged road, making almost no noise as if they were made for that sole purpose. A young adult female who is a little on the tall side sauntered through the forest scribbling on a parchment with her quill as she listed all the ingredients that she should try to stock up on in this area. She had long brilliant red hair that was slightly curled and flowed down all the way to to her plump ass catching the breeze easily and dancing behind her as she moved. This was perhaps her most distinguished feature and had earned her the nickname Red among some. She had fair white skin that contrasted with her bright hair and bold blue eyes, which seemed to give her a commanding presence even among men and provided her with an unquestionable beauty. Light freckling on her nose and upper cheeks distinguished itself from her otherwise blemish free visage and resulted in her looking a few years younger than she was. Her build resembled an hourglass with maturing breasts and thick hips on either side of her relatively thin waist.

She was wearing the type of flamboyant outfit you could only expect from an adventurer--even though she technically wasn't--a mix between a whore and a town guard, but confident enough to prove that she was neither: A cloth red miniskirt that seemed to be weaved with leather strips and crisscrossed with an abundance of belts and pouches full of herbalists' tools, showing off her luscious thighs, a matching short-sleeved blouse that frilled an inch or two past her waist and on her hip was a sheath that contained a common longsword that stretched around the length of her arm, and on her back was a large pack that contained all manner of vials, prepared ingredients, and the small amount of salves she had left after her bartering at the last few villages. With a blade and gear that heavy it was clear why she wore small amounts of armor and clothing, she could retain her mobility but at the cost of most all her defenses. Her boots were a similar red and they climbed far up her calves, probably the most well defended part of her body; her panties on the other hand were a cute pink that grasped tightly onto her pussy and showed a noticeable cameltoe whenever someone took an easy glance beneath her skirt. Although these panties were tight and uncomfortable on her now they were her favorite pair from when she was younger so she wore them as a form of good luck.

Scarlett had came to the decision that she wanted to go searching for The Heaven's Cap but if she came to the cave it was supposedly hidden in and it was as dangerous as the valley folk had told her, which was extremely unlikely, she would swallow her pride and head to the nearest town where she could hire a companion or two to aid in her attempts to extract it. After all if the rumors were true she would easily have enough money to share with her potential party and have them all living like nobles for as long as they let their money carry them. The worst case scenario would be that The Heaven's Cap didn't exist and then she would simply share a portion of whatever profit she made from what plants they did find and apologize for leading the adventurers on a trip not quite as epic as they imagined. Or at least that's what she thought the worst case scenario was, if she knew how much danger there really was both for her, and her virginity, and for anyone she brought along she would no doubt turn back this very instant. Regardless she set on her path towards where the cave presumably was.

The trek north started easy enough, still near the populated areas of the valley. The first signs of winter were moving in. While the weather was still mild, over the next month the snow would begin to fall and the people of the valley would hunker down and wait out the harsh winter snows. As she traveled there were signs of wildlife along the established trails. Deer, the sheep of the holders in the valley, along with wolves and sign of the occasional bear. The first two days of her journey were relatively uneventful, but the trails were starting to thin out, becoming overgrown and less traveled. By noon of the third day, Scarlett found herself blazing her own trail north.

While she was not an adventurer, she had plenty of experience in the wild, and she would know the signs of wildlife and more monstrous creatures. The tracks of much larger beasts, Direwolves and large bipedal fur covered trolls that roamed the mountains and the hills that surrounded them. There was the occasional track of goblins and orcs, though they seemed older, perhaps moving from the valley before winter set in. The further north she went the cooler the nights became, and the risk of a good fire drawing attention had to be weighed with how cold she would be as night fell.

By the end of the third day, Scarlette managed to find a clear enough spot to set up her camp. A mossy clearing in the ever thickening forest that stood in her path to the mountains. The surrounding trees were thick, seeming to close in around the little clearing, giving very little vision outside the edges of camp even with a fire burning. As the sun set the forest came alive with nocturnal sounds. The hoots of outs, the howls of wolves and the occasional rustling of dead leaves and broken trees all around indicating the life that in habited the forest, all the prowling predators that stalked prey in the darker hours.

The feeling of isolation would really set in now. She was days from the nearest civilization, she was alone, and she would have no help if things were to go bad. She did have experience on her side, however. She knew how to take care of herself, she had spent many nights alone in the wilderness tracking down rare herbs and other ingredients for her mystical brews. Now there was the matter of getting some sleep as the creatures of the night prowled beyond the boundaries of her little campsite.

Scarlett spent the first two days doing what she always does, traveling at a leisurely pace and spending ample amounts of time collecting any common reagents she saw or examining the local wildlife, if she was lucky she might even stumble upon a deer, or wolf, or bear fucking and have the opportunity to collect their essence once they've finished their fun. As far as nature came the herbalist considered herself a master survivalist, she could hide her scent and tracks, she could always find food and water, and she even managed to make a profit from simply living and traveling due to her knowledge of botany. Perhaps if Scarlett weren't so charismatic, no doubt owed largely to her alluring figure, she might have even found herself more at home with the wolves, and the squirrels, and the birds, than with her own species.

Even so Scarlett had her weaknesses; one of which was her poor ability to fight which always made finding the tracks of a more intelligent, more malicious monster like goblins and orcs very stressful. Most all the time she was able to avoid these types of encounters, or at the very least flee in the face of any situation that might actually require her to draw her blade, but she may not always be so lucky. Perhaps the most prompt weakness she had was her lack of heavy, warm clothing. She was practically naked with how little actual clothes she wore and as much as she might try a blade and a bunch of plants couldn't help her much with that, perhaps she could brew some crude alcohol to numb the feeling of being chilled to the bone but that might hurt her chances of survival more than help.

So when she arrived at a decent spot for camp on the third night, and she felt the cool air of the approaching winter rush past her bare skin, lift her skit, and send her hair dancing in the breeze that one shivering sensation was enough to send her immediately scrambling to build up a nice big fire whose warmth she could easily sleep beneath until the kind sun rose again in the morning. After all she had no companion to cuddle with and share in there heat nor did she even have a simple winter blanket that she could bury herself beneath with the hope of being untouched by the cold.

The herbalist was no stranger to the howls and rustlings of the night so they did little to harm her psyche, If anything the fact that she was forced to build a fire tonight made her feel even safer from the worlds natural predators because even though it would no doubt draw attention to her location the vast majority of beasts, even the more monstrous ones, were too afraid of fire to dare approach her whilst she laid beside such a large one. Even so she found the tracks of orcs' and goblins' on her mind and she was left comforting herself with the thought, 'The tracks seemed like they were too old for them to still be near here!' as she drifted off to sleep with one hand grasping the hilt of her blade.