Cora's Quest (Hazard1325)

[MASigma]

Cora Tesrand had only just stepped out of her home town, venturing into the dangerous outside world in order to cross the dangerous borders of her country of Fenosia and into the enemy country of Gruumash. Still, even in her country it was quite dangerous with monsters, bandits, and who knew what else all about, the armies of the King too focused on the war to truly deal with such inner threats. Of course this allowed for quite a bit of mercenary work to those willing to face such dangers in exchange for rewards, so it somewhat worked out. Cora herself might need to make use of this down the road if she needed to, but for now she was alright.

Cora knew well enough that she had quite a few choices on her hand, for one would she head straight for the border or make her way to the Capitol. She only had the smallest of details of what happened to her lover Yoland after all, she’d need more if she were to have a chance of finding out where he is to save him… of course while the Capitol was on the way to the border, it was a bit out of the way compared to a straight path from where she was now, it would put an extra few days on her journey just to do so… days her lover might not have.

The next choice was how she would make her way to the next town over, a trip that would take her a two days journey on foot… or she could cut through the forest and make it there in half that time, though this ran the risk of her running into the monsters that lived within, Goblins, Slimes, and other such things her father had warned her even when she was young. A third choice would be to head back into town and see if someone would give her a lift in a wagon, which would also speed the trip up… or she could barter for a horse she could ride herself, though would she have the coin for either.

Cora Tersrand

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

[Hazard1325]

Cora was in a hurt so she took the most direct path, through the forest. It wasn't like she was ill prepared for what might await her inside. She was confident her sword and axe could deal with any threats she might encounter. She made a beeline through the forest heading towards the border hoping to cross over in place where Gruumash patrols weren't likely to find her stepping into their country.

[MASigma]

Cora traveled for a good half-an-hour before she ran into any trouble, the lovely maiden managing to pick up the smell of something cooking of all things. Upon following the smell, she found what appeared to be four goblins in a campsite, cooking what seemed to be a deer and looking bothered with it," Ugh, Deer again... Krum no like deer, want something more chewy", one of them seemed to be complaining... though it was the one besides "Krum" that would draw her eye, seeming to be fiddling with a pouch of gold, gold which she knew could be of real use to her down the line what with traveling expenses... but could she risk fighting four goblin, she'd never really been in a life or death fight before after all...

[Hazard1325]

Cora came to the edge of the clearing and watched the goblins for a moment, she wasn't one to steal even from goblins... she decided it was best to skirt along the edge of their camp and continue on her way, hopefully they wouldn't spot her and she could be on her way. If she managed to get past she would glanced behind her every so often to make sure they weren't tracking her.

[MASigma]

Cora began to sneak past, it seeming like she'd be just fine and in the clear... when she stepped on a twig, the heavy armored greaves she wore not being the best sort of thing for sneaking around," Eh!?", she heard, the goblins turning to her direction, each drawing either a battle-axe or a short sword as they began moving towards her location," Lookie lookie! Pretty human girl, all alone", One of them chuckled, all four leering as they spotted her," Wearing ugly shining armor... Glug wonder what she look like under though", the same one mused, the four suddenly moving at her, two of them rushing as the other two moved to block any exits.

[Hazard1325]

Cora drew her greatsword and glared at the goblins. "Bad idea... I know how to use these things and in case you haven't noticed its big enough to cut through all four of you easily... I'm just passing through maybe you should search for company elsewhere." She said intending on giving them a chance to back down, if they didn't she would have no choice but to charge at the nearest one swinging her sword in a wide arc to deter any of the others from moving in.

[MASigma]

They seemed to glance nervously at her large weapon, glancing to one another as while they had her surrounded... was she worth losing a few of them and even dying? One of them seemed to lower his weapon, offering her a frown," Pretty human so cruel... though if pretty human needs assistance, perhaps can help pretty human?", he offered her with a light smirk," Forest dangerous, know of safe way to travel... if pretty human is willing to trade for safe path?"

[Hazard1325]

"What kind of trade? I have very little coin and not much else in the way of valuables." She said a bit naive, she wasn't prepared to do anything unladylike to earn her way through the forest if that's what they had in mind. She kept her sword out and glanced around not quite trusting them enough to let her guard down.

[MASigma]

"Hmmm... well we goblin would be willing to... many things", he noted with a leer as what they wanted of her was quite obvious,"... though if pretty human no willing to do that, we goblins need food too... pretty human have food to give goblins?", he asked, each one still surrounding her... the moment she dropped her guard, Cora just knew one would try something, but for the moment they were at a stalemate.

[Hazard1325]

"sorry I can't spare any food at the moment... and I'm definitely not willing to do that... so just get out of my way." She said walking forward, if any of them made a move she swung her greatsword aiming to cut the little pests in two. Between her larger weapon and longer arms she had plenty of reach to make sure she took down one or two before they got close enough to do anything.

[MASigma]

They didn't do a thing, letting her continue while watching her continue on through the forest on her own... it was only when she was out of sight that they slunk off, smirking as they had a good idea how to salvage this. Cora meanwhile continued through the rough forest terrain, it growing more and more dense and hard to move through. Eventually however the sound of a running water met her ears coming from the east... and off the straight forward path she needed to go, though some fresh water could do her some good in the long run.

[Hazard1325]

Cora went to investigate the sounds of water, taking a break for lunch would probably be a good idea if she was going to stay fresh on her trip, and some clean water wouldn't be bad either. She stomped through the forest growing slightly annoyed at the thick vegetation that seemed to be springing up the further she went in.

[MASigma]

Eventually she found what seemed to be a small lake, a river running into it, the water itself seeming quite fresh from the looks of it. All around the shoreline however were strange plants bearing a pink colored fruit, looking plump and juicy... though she had no idea what sort of plants they were as she'd never seen the fruit they bore before either. Still she had water and a nice place to rest to eat for the moment, not monsters or beasts in sight... plus the fruit might be good to collect for eating later on down the road as one could never have enough rations.

[Hazard1325]

Cora rested by the riverbank taking a small amount of bread out of her pack to eat. She tested the river water to make sure it didn't look to cloudy and drank from it if it seemed fine. As for the fruit they seemed like a risk, she didn't know much about surviving out here in the woods so she didn't know if these were poisonous or not and it seemed like a bad idea to try until she was desperate. She put three in a small cloth sack and tied them to her backpack before finishing her meal and examining the lake more closely for anything interesting. If she found nothing it was back on the trail to Gruumash.

[MASigma]

As she rested and ate her meal, she just got through it and was ready to go when of all things a head popped out of the lake, a beautiful blue skinned female smiling up at her," Hello, it isn't often I get such company at my lake... most of the time it's just gross goblins and even a Troll once and a while", she noted with a pleased tone," Tell me fair human, what brings you to my lake? Did you come for a swim perhaps?", she mused hopefully, Cora finding the mere speaking voice of this lovely creature was entrancing her, making her want to talk and stay a while...

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

[Hazard1325]

Cora stopped chewing to watch the creature rise from the waters. She stared at the woman dully still with some food in her mouth, her mind was trying to figure out whether to be alarmed this woman had just crawled out of the lake or to just be happy it wasn't one of the goblins. Finally she swallowed and shook her head."Uhhh... No I didn't really think about swimming... I'm kind of on a mission and I don't have time to stop for long." She explained putting her food away for now. "There were a few goblins that might be following me... I should probably get going so they don't stop here."

[MASigma]

"Ah yes, THOSE things", she noted with distaste, glancing to the forest area Cora had come from," If you escaped them they'll most likely be planning on ambushing you with greater numbers at some point, it's how they work... that way it's less likely they'll die and some others will, plus they'll be more sure they'll be able to defeat you", She noted, before smiling beautifully,"... why risk such a thing? If you go now they'll be waiting... but if you wait them out they'll give up and think you went another way... so why not take that heavy armor off and come swimming?", she asked softly, her voice filling Cora with the urge to do just that... besides, it'd be safer then risking herself and ending up captured by the goblins... plus the water looked soooo nice and comforting.

[Hazard1325]

"Wait just who or what are you exactly?" Cora asked a little put off by how much this woman wanted her in the water. She didn't think tangling with the goblins was a very smart idea but this didn't seem to be much better... she glanced down at the water frowning trying to make out if there was anything else below the surface.

[MASigma]

The water seemed murkier for some reason, she couldn't see into it like before," I'm Lyara, I'm a Water Nymph", The lovely blue skinned girl replied with a heavenly giggle, slowly making her way up and out of the water... so only her feet and ankles were still within it, Lyara offering a hand," Come on now, don't tell you aren't sweating under that heavy armor... just come and relax with me, you can tell me all about what's so important for you to do... just come into the water", she spoke, her tongue a bit more... entrancing, Cora finding every word making her want to do it, to strip down and enter into the water, to let Lyara make it all better for her...

[Hazard1325]

"I... I think its best if I stay here on the shore... " She had never heard of a Nymph before so she really didn't know what to expect but she didn't like the idea of crawling into a dark murky lake. "In fact I should get a head start on the Goblins... its been nice meeting you but I think I need to get going... how far into Gruumash does this river extend? It would be nice to follow it strait there if its anywhere close." She asked