The Lady’s Hand (A Dickings & Dalliances Adventure) - (Closed Except By Invitation)

[justspitballing]

On waking Sprite would recover her trip line, give her axe a swift sharpen and make sure it could still harm flesh well, and have a small bight of some very old but well kept food. She would notice that Vedger had slept by her, but she would put it to the side. To much for them to do now that they were rested.

"We'll go upstream this time. We'll head back down stream only if we have to and then deal with the plants when we do. If we can we will avoid them," Sprite stated, feeling very sure of herself. She had a surprisingly calming sleep. Her mind had become a bit to used to being violated and liking it.

Sprite headed straight for the hallway that they had come from, heading upstream, letting Arx fallow behind.

 

[Poprockz]

Arx was glad for a rest, the changeling grabbing her sleeping supplies and curling up nearby her companions - her back up to a wall of course. She drifted into a vigilant sleep, waking up every now and then to freeze and listen for danger. It was a habit from sleeping in the streets at times. While generally the Thieves guild took care of her, there were times that they had to sleep in alleys after a heist gone wrong, tip-offs from the Collectors (those fucking bastards), on the floor when there were too many kids, and on rooftops when guards were after them, so when she slept on hard ground she was always slightly alert even in sleep.

Waking up and seeing the vedger cuddled up to Sprite was super cute, a warm smile curling her lips before she drifted back off at one point. Sleep couldn't last forever though, and she soon awoke from the rustling Sprite made upon her own waking.

She put her stuff back in her pack, throwing on the original armor before gnawing on some really hard crackers she had. When Sprite announced their new heading, she nodded and shoved the biscuit in her pocket, walking swiftly after the big bird-woman.

"So... Something I've been wondering. The Spectral Phallus goes through anything that isn't special or skin, so how are we going to get it back? It's not like we can put it in our pockets or anything. Of course we could stuff it all up there, but what if we have to fight and it slips out and through the floor? I was thinking maybe we should put it in-between one of our boobs and tape our boobs together or something." She spoke as they moved along. Her voice was kept fairly quiet, but loud enough for Sprite to hear.

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite had to chuckle a bit at Arx's comments. She drifted slightly in the air as she did. Why ever walk when you could fly? It just helped so much more in so many more cases.

"I have no idea what we will do. My boobs, they aren't, ummmm, that big, so I suppose that makes you are phallus carrier. Maybe things will be more clear when we see it. When we know what we are dealing with," Sprite said.

She kept out in front, floating in the sky.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The trio stepped uphill the opposite way through the tunnel than where they’d gone before, only to turn a corner and find that the tunnel ended in an underground spring shooting out of a hole in the rock. It was a dead end.

Just as they saw that, Arx’s foot slipped, but she was able to catch herself. The vedger was not so lucky. Before they knew it his furry little body was sliding down around the corner.

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite turns swiftly, hearing the beast fall into the water. She back in a swift motion and grabs one of the vedger's vines and yanks him up and towards herself. He's pretty wet, and she almost drops him for a moment and likely hurt his vine in the process, but she catches him all the same.

After that Sprite flies back, pushing Arx against the wall. "This water is to wild. It will just keep grabbing us unless I bind myself to a rope and tether you with me, but if we do that and then press on, fighting the plant beasts, it will be awkward and the water could still strike us down at any moment. That spirit of yours pointed us this way. You still feel like taking his advise or do we pull back?"

 

[Poprockz]

“Fuckfuckfuck!” Arx hissed as she lost her balance, grateful when a moment she was able to right herself. She would have suggested that the water had a personal vendetta against her, but it seemed the vedger was having a hard time too. Only Sprite was able to stay strong in her stance, keeping an eye out for both of them. It was nice having someone alert and serious at her back.

Thinking for a moment, she furrowed her brows. “I fucked a ghost for that information and by god I’m going to find that treasure room! Okay okay… Let’s fight the vines in the tunnel. Now that we’re not surprised and such, we should be able to take them out without too much fuss.”

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite nods. It was time for some pay back. She takes out a rope and ties it to herself, Arx, and the vedger. She is confident with her strength that she will be able to keep the other two from falling into the water. After that she readies her axe. She then screams out a battle cry that echoes down the halls and would make anyone's blood run cold. She charges forward, flying, ready for a fight.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

It takes a little longer to work out the logistics of making their way down the tunnel while tied together, but eventually they pass a small pile of dust where the first fungus had been. Further around the slow bend leads them to the next pair, perched on either side of the stream like ever-watchful sentries, waiting to strike.

 

[Poprockz]

Arx wasn’t entirely prepared for Sprite raging forward, getting distracted by pulling out her daggers and making sure they hadn’t suffered any water damage. As such, the rope yanked her around the waist, pulling her along the tunnel with the other two. She braced herself, tilting he shoes up so that she glided in the water as though she was on jet skis.

When they got to the tunnel, Arx still had enough momentum to slide to the other tentacle. Though, when she got there she had to flail her arms to regain her balance and keep from going face-first into the water. She took a swipe at the tentacle and missed due to her lack of balance, but soon found her feet once more.

 

[justspitballing]

While Arx tried to right herself Sprite moved right before the other bit of pulsating and dangerous fungus. Her frustration at everything the two of them, Arx and herself, had been through in this quest so far came bleeding through and she smashed her great axe into the creature so hard it hit the stone rock behind it, letting out a spark of light from blade hitting wall. An impressive gash was left behind in the wake of the attack, a dent in the wall itself. The creature, well it fell apart in the after math. Sprite smiled brightly. She was just getting started.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The vedger clambers to its feet behind Arx, lifting itself even further onto the tips of its vines to escape the surprisingly treacherous current, but it has plenty of vines left. One of them, a long forest green length of fibrous growth, whips out intending to smash against the remaining fungus, but swings wide with the furry friend’s disorientation after being swept along in the underground river.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The fungus, oblivious to anything but the possibility of a meal, reaches out to the closest target, and Arx is struck by its attack, a small section of her thigh rotting away in an instant

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite is quick to respond to the remaining fungus. She decides to give her bladed skirt a try. She has been wearing this armor more then long enough to be ready to use it. She flies over, spinning a bit in the sky as if she were a ballerina. Her skirt spins out and the blades at the end of it cut deeply into the plant life. Then with one more twirl she swings her axe around and smacks the creature hard. It falls apart on the floor, nothing but small parts of it left.

"This is why you never anger a harpy!" she calls out.

"Let that be a learned lesson to anything else still residing in here!"

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite looks over Arx for a moment. She was hit and it no doubt hurt her, but the two of them had been through much worse scrapes by this point. It wasn't fitting to rest some more, the only option was to press on. Hopefully that was to be the last of these things.

"You keep behind. We'll drop this rope once we can, but we still need it for now," Sprite instructed.

Without even a pause she then turns down the corner and moves on ahead, ready to deal with whatever they would be facing next.

 

[Poprockz]

"Goddamn it!" Arx hissed, still clutching her thigh from the necrotic damage of that blasted thing. It looked like someone had taken a bite out of her and then melted what was left- certainly not a pretty sight. Some healing salve was in order at some point, but she also recognized the need to move on. Her ability to walk hadn't been hindered, and the injury faded to a dull throbbing pain. It was something she could bear with, so she stalked after her companion.

The sloshing of her footsteps echoed slightly as she went, the changeling wondering whether the temple had always been the host of such gross creatures. More likely it was a sign of decay, the temple eventually succumbing to time and malevolent, opportunistic creatures.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Arx and Sprite stand there after their victory, enjoying the relative peace of the now empty tunnel. The vedger, meanwhile, slides past them having lost its footing on the wet stone. A soft grunt is all the sound that reaches their ears.

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite turns around, feeling a little bad given the pain her team mates are going through, but knowing they can't really pause. She walks back a bit, picks up the vedger, and starts to carry the thing like a baby.

"One step at a time," she then says to Arx and moves forward.

She pushes on ahead knowing that they have wasted a good bit of time with their sudden rest. They needed to press on or else the other people looking for this treasure may just find it.

 

[Poprockz]

Arx followed her to the side, finding it a relief that Sprite had scooped up their unfortunate friend. She herself had some difficulty not slipping in the water too, but she managed to keep herself right-side-up as they proceeded.

After a while, it seemed like they should be coming up on the end of the tunnel. She sure hoped so at least- the only slippery tunnels she wanted to be in were those of other women.

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite pauses, noticing a dip in the water. There's a hole in the floor just off to the side that one wrong step towards could lead to someone falling face first into. She lifts her hand quickly, trying to make Arx stop in her movements. After that she moves ahead and puts caution to the side. She looks into the darkness of the pit, putting Vedger down in order to do so, trying to decide if it's a safe enough decent to investigate.

 

[justspitballing]

After a short look she then glides down on her wings, axe drawn. She lands softly on the floor below, the water running down over her back, her eyes trying their best to focus and see properly in the damp darkness of this tunnel.

 

[Poprockz]

Arx had been walking, looking down the tunnel in anticipation of a room or something so bumping into Sprite’s arm was unexpected. The water had felt a bit different, but it didn’t seem too unexpected. When the harpy’s actions pointed out the pit, Arc looked a bit horrified. She would absolutely have fallen into that dark crevasse had she not been stopped. A fall like that could have broken her leg or worse, and she didn’t want to know what else they might find in such a dark place.

“Do you see anything down there?” Arx called softly, trying not to be too loud in case there was unexpected company,

 

[justspitballing]

"More maze work, but I'm starting to get my baring. I think I know which way to go. Untie the rope and see if you can't use it to get down," Sprite calls up.

Before her there were two doors, both closed, but she felt a good sense on the right one to go with t go deeper into the temple. Besides for the doors their is a pretty significant pile of rocks in the center of the area and the water is draining away into a much smaller opening in the floor, one that is far to tiny to cause any harm. It looks like this entrance they stumbled into was a cave in, a lucky short cut made by nature.

 

[Poprockz]

Arx eyed the vedger for a moment. She could try to grab him like last time, but all that grunting and barking had been loud and this wasn’t the time for such things. If it wanted to follow, it could use its vines to do so, the changeling deciding that the thing survived by itself in the forest so it could take care of itself for the most part.

Untying her rope, she looked around for something to fasten it to, finding a grate nearby that would do the trick. Once tied, she started to slide herself down the rope and into the room.

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite untied the rope from herself and gave Arx space as she came down. She then nods to the door that will most likely lead them farther into the temple.

"You should check it, make sure it's safe," Sprite suggested.

On doing so it seems like the door is indeed safe, though it will likely fall apart at any moment.

 

[Poprockz]

Arx walked over to the door warily and gave it a look. As far as she could see, there were no traps, latches, or weight imbalances. One time her friend Gunter tried a large, sturdy looking door that was made to look like it had a “pull” handle. The poor guy pulled the door and it collapsed on top of him, squishing him flat like a pancake. She still couldn’t eat pancakes because of it, especially with strawberry jam.

“Looks safe to me. In fact, it almost looks like…” she reached out and poked the door, the entire thing crumbling at her touch as though it was only held up with hopes, prayers, and maybe a few thumb-tacks.

Letting out a slight cough, she waved in front of her face to disperse some of the dust. “Jeez, that door had all but one toe in the afterlife.”