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

[justspitballing]

Sprite recognized the voice of the main captain. It was the blasted pretty boy, Veriggie, that hired them. She already disliked this man, but now she knew she would have to kill him. A double cross like this made her sick, but honestly she should have seen it coming.

The guards were standing all around Sprite, weapons all drawn. To stay and fight would be death, to try and fly out, leaving herself exposed, would also mean death, for anybody else. Sprite knew she had to get out of there fast. Veriggie wouldn't be killing himself, so she had to get away if she wanted to deal with him later, and she would. She screamed out in frustration at the situation and then flew up into the air, moving like a bolt of lightning.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Four of the closest soldiers to Sprite swing after her as she leaves, with one of them landing a glancing fist and another delivering a relatively devastating hook right to her jaw, but she manages to get free, quickly flapping up into the air.

The vedger takes off, chasing through the low brush after the two of them. The soldiers chasing Arx continue their pursuit, managing not to lose any ground.

The soldiers that were fighting Sprite give chase as well, with several of them pausing to grab bows.

“Verigge” sees Sprite take to the air, and pulls out his crossbow. It’s a thick, sturdy, dangerous thing, and he quickly loads it and fires. The bolt sails just over one of the harpies wings, and he scowls as he readies to fire another.

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite doesn't even feel the blow to her jaw, but while she flies she tastes the blood. Metallic and a sign that she is up against a fight she can not win, but Arx was already spotted and needed to be saved. There was no turning back now. She flies out towards her friend and then dive bombs, her skirt coming crashing down on a well armored soldier that was chasing after Arx. Sparks fly off of him, but he seems to be completely unharmed by the blow. Sprite spins around, axe pulled out and ready.

"Stand back you, all of you! My axe hungers for blood!" Sprite screams. She is ready to run and grab Arx and get them out of here, or fight, whatever is called for.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The vedger, low to the ground and mostly unnoticed, scurries toward the two adventurers. As its paws spray dirt behind it, its vines lash out to try to trip one of the soldiers, but the man barely slows, pulling his foot free of the grasping vine. Still, the vedger makes up ground, closing more than half the distance to where Sprite landed.

 

[Poprockz]

Arx heard the commotion behind her and decided to go back. There was no use running forward with the horseman in the empty field- that would be suicide. No, her only choice was to make a stand and fight! Or… to see if they could both get away at the same time. Sliding to a halt, she simultaneously twisted her body to turn around so she could push off and start running to Sprite.

It was only about 20 feet distance, so she was able to get there pretty quick. Her mind whizzed about what they could do against so many men… As powerful as Sprite was, it was unlikely she could take them all on. Arx absolutely couldn’t with her two daggers. This called for some dirty fighting tactics, hopefully good enough to distract and cause Mass confusion.

Coming to a faltering stop, she lifted one hand to her mouth in mock surprise, fixing her gaze right in the middle of the oncoming formation as her other hand pointed.

“OH MY GOD, IS THAT THE ORC?!” She was the perfect measure of shocked and hopeful, disbelieving and relieved. It was quite the performance.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

A large number of the soldiers chasing them turn and look for the half-orc, stopping in their tracks, but a handful of them are more wary of such trickery, and quickly surround Sprite and Arx, swinging the hafts of their spears to club the two adventurers with the dull wood. One of them swings wide, missing Sprite by inches, but the rest connect in the close quarters they find themselves in. One particularly loud crack sounds against Arx's chin, in a blow that will certainly leave a mark.

Sprite and Arx might be too distracted to see the captain ride a bit further down the hill and shout for aid, but they'd probably eventually hear the sound of the cart rolling up the rough trail.

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite knew they had to get out of there and fast. She could in theory get to Arx and fly them free at this point, moving fast enough to get them away, but unlike herself Arx could very well be slain when the soliders took their swipes at her. This was getting to be a hopeless situation and it was beyond frustrating to say the least. They had already hit her a few times and it was soon going to start to smart. It wouldn't benefit them at all, but fuck it, she needed to let off some steam. She spun her skirt against the last man that smacked her with a club, her dress just cutting through his leg and getting some blood. She smelled it in the air and it powered her all the more, her axe fallowing her spin and slapping into his single exposed spot, the neck. It didn't go through fully, but the sound of the neck snapping actually echoed out and the man's body hit the ground like a doll. Nice and dead.

Sprite laughed. She didn't take pleasure in this, but she knew from experience this was a good way to stab fear into the hearts of your enemies. It was a win, a very small one, but it was what they needed.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The vedger, its little paws flinging dirt behind it with each step, finally caught up to Sprite and Arx. It's vines reach out to pull one of the men away, but he sees the vine coming and swipes it away with his spear.

 

[Poprockz]

The fist connecting with her face left her head ringing, the changeling staggering back for a moment before correcting herself. She was feeling it- the damage done by the fight and the fungus earlier. It was frustrating and demoralizing. There was always somewhere to run and hide in a city, but the forest afforded no such luxury. What were they even fighting for? A magic dildo? This was bonkers on both sides!

In any case, this was a losing battle but they might still have a chance to escape. As long as Sprite had the phallus, they likely wouldn’t kill Arx and keep her on standby as bait if she was dropped, at which point she could weasel her way to freedom. “Get us the fuck out of here!” She hissed at the harpy, bending down in one smooth motion, scooping up all the mountain sand she could hold, turning, and spraying it in a big puff, right into the soldier’s faces.

The changeling then attached herself to the bird’s torso, her arms and legs wrapped around her snugly.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Several soldiers flinch as the dust hits their eyes, and they lean away rubbing at their eyes to clear their vision. Another pair catches up, though, and swing their spear hafts at the adventurers. One hit lands Sprite’s legs, but the other two swing wide.

Meanwhile, just a few dozen feet away down the hill, the captain of this platoon raises his crossbow, ready to fire as soon as the harpy lifts off the ground. Two cloaked figures step off the carriage and hurry towards the fight.

 

[justspitballing]

In one swift motion Sprite lowers her body, picking up the Vedger as she does so, and then rockets upwards, wings outstretched. Arx is holding onto her body with all her might and the she keeps their pet held tightly in her arms. Her speed stops for a moment as pain strikes her, an arrow from the captain's crossbow slices across her side. She bleeds a bit, over all she's now hurt pretty bad, but she needs to press on. She flies onwards, moving faster and faster, straight up, hopefully out of reach of everyone that wants them dead.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The captain frowns beneath his mask as his bolt finds its mark. "Why won't you DIE?" he sneers.

The two figures that were riding the carriage have stepped down, and one of them steps up to him. She lowers her dark hood, revealing long, wavy blonde hair worthy of a storybook princess. "We don't want them dead, remember? You said they have information!"

"Yes," he grumbles. "Well, that's her job." He nods his head toward the other figure, a slim, brown-skinned cleric in bright pink robes. "You two insisted on coming along, so you may as well make yourselves useful."

The cleric runs off into the forest, to the man Sprite killed. She touches his shoulder and he sits up, gasping for air. "Just try not to damage them too much!" she yells back to the captain.

 

[Poprockz]

She could feel the way Sprite’s body flinched slightly from the arrow, and she frowned. Damn bastards just wouldn’t give up! Despite the risk, she wiggled her way up the bird’s body slightly so that her legs were wrapped around her waist. With her position secured, she let go with her arms and leaned back to look down at the people below. It was funny- she had been in this position while fucking people more than once.

Arx spotted the masked captain, a malicious idea for dealing with that crossbow in mind. Summoning two psi pic daggers, she deftly threw them right at his eyes.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The captain’s helmet made ailing for his eyes nearly an impossible feat, but somehow one of Arx’s dagger slipped neatly into his visor, drawing blood and an embarrassing scream of pain. While he recovered, the men near enough loosed their spears at the flying harpy, with only one scoring a cut on Sprite’s leg. The rest, along with the captain’s crossbow bolt, flew wide. Still, the mass of armed men still chasing turned to attempt to get in position for future attacks

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite saw spears coming at her in almost every direction. Amazingly only one hit, it smarted, like everything, but she just pressed on. It was amazing in reality how lucky she was. She flew up, high into the sky, trying to get out of rang of their shots. Hopefully she could get high enough.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The blonde woman pulls a feather out of her cloak, and it dissolves in her hand as she lifts into the air, floating several stories off the ground. With a word, tendrils of yellow energy reach up for Sprite and tug on her airborne form, but they can’t find purchase and flash out of existence.

The cleric runs back down the hill and quickly heals the captain’s eye, before climbing back into the carriage.

 

[Poprockz]

At this altitude, there was little she could do to help them in their escape. Still, she was deeply satisfied by the shout of pain she heard from the captain, even if it was healed shortly afterwards.

Arx grabbed the phallus from between her boobs and used her free hand to pull up the material covering her breasts. Her two voluptuous orbs fell free and jiggled with every flap of her companion’s wings. For good measure, she shimmied her shoulders slightly at the platoon below as a final “fuck you.”

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The guard captain was so distracted by the dangling changeling’s dangling tits that he nearly gave himself another wound that would need healing, but the bolt he fired at Sprite narrowly missed the captain’s own face instead. Still, he quickly pointed at a group of nearby soldiers.

“You five! Get on the carriage and stay underneath them! She can’t fly forever!”

With that, he spurred his horse to follow the harpy as closely as he could.

Meanwhile, the men followed his direction, climbing onto the carriage with the cleric and quickly steering it further down the mountain trail.

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite went on flying and shot straight up. She was now a little over 200 feet in the air, feeling like she was safe from most of the dangers at hand. Of course their attackers had spell casters with them so anything was possible.

"Keep your eyes about you still," Sprite then said simply.

She still had her axe out and was still ready to use it.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The wizard flies higher into the air, about half the height Sprite has reached, and with another word from her those yellow tendrils of energy slink up from the ground and wrap around the flying harpy. They grasp her tightly this time, and she finds her flight arrested. The yellow strips of energy pull her slowly toward the ground.

 

[Poprockz]

There was a slight lurch, Arx frowning as she noticed that they were straining against tendrils of golden light. "Fucking mage..." she hissed under her breath.

Resituating her torso armor back in place, she shoved the phallus back into the deep, tight crevasse that was her tits. Now that she had her hands free, she got to whipping psionic daggers at the woman. One fizzled out much like a gay man's erection after reading lesbian porn scrolls, but the other was hard and strong! It shot through the air and was sure to hit its target where it would really smart.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The psionic dagger sinking into her shoulder disrupts the wizard’s control over her spell and the earthbinding magic dissipates just as the soldiers’ captain fires, and his bolt misses low. He curses loud enough to be heard from the air, but the wizard’s muttered “ass. at least he can’t hit fuck-all” likely didn’t reach the ground. Her next words are louder, though. More than loud enough for Sprite and Arx to hear them.

“It’s just a bit of trespassing! And the man you killed’ll be alright! We can work this out!”

Then, her voice cracks with emotion. “Please. I just want to find her.”

 

[justspitballing]

"Your captain that you are serving hired us. This is a double cross and he is still trying to kill us! I also don't remove my armor for such people. You want to sort things out, we can, but higher, so he doesn't keep taking cheap shots at us," Sprite stated.

With their height it was unlikely the captain could hear them but there was always a possibility. Sprite flew around a bit, trying to see if perhaps she could hide in a cloud for some safety.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The wizard followed, flying up to meet the harpy and her cargo in the relative safety of a cloud, though not without a wayward crossbow bolt flying within a few dozen feet of them.

“Fucker’s gonna hit *me* if he’s not careful,” she mutters.

Once in private, she stares down the two adventurers, her expression wary but confident, though her eyes are red with emotion. “If you help me find her, I can get you the lightest possible sentence. You have my word.”

Up close, it’s clear she’s wealthy and privileged. Her traveling clothes are fine leather, cut from large pieces. The robe she wears over them is silk, in Rhounen gold a few shades darker than her shockingly silky hair, which falls so lightly about her feminine frame that it scarcely seems to touch her shoulders at all.

Still, her posture and confidence are clearly earned. She has not relaxed and is ready to cast at the slightest error of movement or intent.

 

[Poprockz]

Huh, up close the mage was very pretty. She looked like the idealized idea of what a princess was, and Arx couldn't help but wonder what she looked like naked. To be fair, changelings wondered what everyone looked like naked so they could try out their form later.

"A light sentence, huh? That's reeeeeal generous of you." Arx crossed her arms and giving her a skeptical, upside-down stare. "If I get away, you'll never be able to find me, and I can make Sprite disappear too. Plus, you'll forgive me if I don't trust you based on the company you keep. Who're you looking for, anyway?" She wasn't bluffing- she really could make Sprite disappear with the help of the thieves guild. Either they could relocate her, or disguise her. Hell, they could probably get her a new identity for the right price.