Dungeons of the Kragmor Plains(Devilbird)

[Sallin_Kari]

He seems quite content to allow you to milk him at your leisure, wrapping you up with his fluffy arms, keep you warm from the chill of the dark. An intoxicating sense of comfort from him as you cuddle with him, giving you the impression that he hasn't had much physical affection for a long time, possibly longer then he's been in the dungeon, but you can't be sure on just feelings alone.

Despite only a short nap, he seems to be reinvigorated, doubling up his efforts to keep a watchful eye and ear out for danger. However, despite this, you don't get far before he hides you as you hear loud footsteps, from something clearly heavier then even orcs, approaching. Apprehension fills him as he weighs the options. It seems that what is coming is dangerous and will be passing dangerously close that you might not go unnoticed. While he seems to think he could win in a fight, he doubts he could get out unscathed, and it might draw further attention which he is less certain he could protect you from, but trying to move comes with its own risks. Combined with the fact that you care barely see anything more than nearby silhouettes in the darkness, he is getting extremely worried.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Free time is good.

[devilbird]

I have to avoid making a yelp as I am suddenly yanked to the side and tucked around a corner. I can hear something drawing close, so does I best to keep herself small and out of view. Feeling the doubt of the beastman as the unknown enemy draws closer, I draw my blade and pray that I am not found. If possible, I'd would like to avoid the fight, but that may not be likely. If it does come to combat, I will as least like to aid my companion. He is keeping me safe. I will do what I can to return the favor.

[Sallin_Kari]

His reaction to your determination to help is conflicted. He is comforted by your desires to help and keep him safe, but he is also quite aware that you're basically blind down here. He can't rebuke you if you want to help, he just prays that you won't get hurt.

The footsteps not only grow in volume, but are soon accompanied by hoarse breathing. As you hush your own breathing in a hope it'll pass by you see a flicker of movement in front of a twinkle of something. It's spotted you, you sense from your companion, and he quickly attacks, followed by a wet splat and angry roar of the creature. You hear a loud crash followed by the stinging sensation of a spray of rock fragments rake your exposed skin. A quick check reveals you got nothing then minor scratches but the fight is raging a distance away. A sudden flash of fire nearly blinds you but you do catch the visage of an ogre. It's larger then you remember hearing about, being at least twelve feet tall rather than the common eight to nine and sporting a metal club. There was also a very clear gash cross its face.

[devilbird]

There was very little I could do to help, in this situation. The darkness kept me from knowing anybody's exact position, and I didn't want to miss. Or worse yet, hit my ally. So when I saw the flash of light, I thought quickly. I drew my dagger and held it ready. Now that I knew what I was facing, and how large it was, I planned on pegging a very big target with a quick toss. I scowled as I waited, hoping that another flash of fire would light up the area. If one went off, I would quickly toss the dagger at the ogre while it was in view. I didn't expect to do much damage, if any at all. But maybe I could distract it with an unexpected hit, and create an opening for the beastman to take advantage of.

[Sallin_Kari]

As luck would have it, your friend is relying quite a bit on his fire attacks since he clearly is wary about being hit with that club. Still, it wasn't long before there was enough scatter fires that you had at least some vision. You reach back and throw your dagger.
Roll 1
It flies pretty well, and strikes the ogre in the face. A low growl emanates from it as it turns to you. Pulling back its club it clearly intends to repay you for that. A surge of panic floods in from your friend and in a blur of motion he reaches you, shoving you out of the way. A loud snap echos through the caverns as club connects with his exposed side, before he is flung into opposite wall. A hand picks you up, seeming to recognize you as a female now, letting out a guttural groan of pleasure at the discovery. Freeing it's massive member from its loincloth it drops its readies to use you like a toy. Blood splats all over you and you are tossed in the air. Recovering from fall you look up to see the ogre reaching for its throat where a tip of blade can be seen just poking out from the other side before being replaced by a torrent of blood. Your friend drops to the ground just as the ogre collapses lifeless on the ground, one arm hanging lifeless by his side. He takes a few unsteady steps towards you before collapsing on the ground. You can feel that he's struggling to breath.

[devilbird]

"No no no no..." I mutter to myself as I scramble to my feet. I rush over to the creature that had protected me just moments ago. I quickly pull out one of the healing potions I had bought, hoping to stave off death long enough for me to get him to safety and administer whatever first aid I could. Seeing as he was having problems breathing, I wanted to be careful about how I gave the potion to him. Instead of forcing him to drink it all at once, I popped the cork and took small sips, before pressing my lips to his. I gave him just enough, in controlled doses, to let him lick up the potion instead of drowning in it. I keep my eyes on him, constantly checking to make sure he is still breathing, and doing my best to observe his recovery in the dark. If he seems to recover enough to be able to move, I prop him up as best I can and help him walk to wherever he directs me to go. I need him to tell me where shelter is, so I have to hope he is well enough to do so, otherwise we are stuck trying to recover out in the open.

[Sallin_Kari]

Luckily with you kiss feeding him the potion, you manage to stop the internal bleeding. His mind is in a daze and he seems to believe he is hallucinating your kisses on his death bed, but at least he still is breathing all though weakly, coughing up blood regularly. Deciding that he needs another one, you repeat the process. He recovers enough that he is aware of what is going on, jumping as he realizes you are actually kissing him, before a jolt of pain forces him to calm. Sensing your desire to move him to shelter he works up the strength with your help to get onto his feet, heavily leaning on you. He points the way, a small fire on the tip of his finger illuminating the path for you. Pulling him into the cove, you consider feeding him the other potions but you recall that unlike magic, potions use the body's energy to heal and using too many potions can lead to atrophy, emaciation, or even death in extreme cases. He probably should eat and rest before you could give him another, but at least the two you already gave him will increase the rate he recovers.

[devilbird]

I chastise him for moving so suddenly while injured. He doesn't need to re-open any wounds that managed to heal. I do what I can to carry him, but he is a big fellow, and it takes time to move with him leaning on me. We finally manage to find a cove, and I lay him down as gently as I can manage. I place him on my bedroll so that he can rest easy, and start a fire to keep him warm. To keep the light from giving us away, I take my tent and place it at the mouth of the cave. It won't block the light completely if something gets a good look in our direction, but it should keep most things from noticing us. With that out of the way, I move over and start looking over the injuries he got from rescuing me. My guilt is rampaging within me. I vow to do anything and everything to make sure he comes out of this in one piece.

[Sallin_Kari]

While you get a fire started you don't carry enough wood to keep it going for more then a night. Wood is pretty bulky so you only carry enough for an emergency stay but hopefully that will be enough. At least you can get some hot food. As for injuries, it appears to mostly internal, several ribs clearly broken. Considering how he lacks strength in one of his arms you suspect that there is damage to his shoulder blade, possibly even the collar bone. It seems though that your guilt is infection as guilt wells up inside of him when he senses yours, not wanting to be a source of worry for you. He thinks about urging you to leave him behind but quickly realizes that without a guide you're stuck, making him feel even worse.

[devilbird]

The guilt feedback loop just keeps getting worse. Knowing that he feels I should leave him behind to survive, when it was my fault he was so injured, makes me feel like shit. He's still trying to protect me, even now. He isn't going to get rid of me that easily. I try not to move him around too much, but I need to do something for that arm. At the very least, I should make a makeshift sling. I start rummaging through my things, seeing if I have any fabric left from anything that I can tear and fashion into one.

[Sallin_Kari]

You don't carry around a lot of loose fabric, only some rope and some bandages meant to pressing into open wounds to staunch bleeding. The only fabric you have that could be repurposed is either your tent or the pants and shirt you are wearing.

[devilbird]

Having no real fabric to use at the moment, I resigned to letting him simply rest for now and let the potions do their work. If it turns out they weren't enough by the time he awakens, then I will consider tearing something up to re-purpose later for when he needs to move around. Until then, all I can really do is keep watch, let him rest, and do what I need to to help him recover faster.

[Sallin_Kari]

You do your best to keep him comfortable, but his sleep is restless, slipping and out of consciousness regularly. Luckily, you did find that stroke his hair does seem to provide some level of relief to him, and short of becoming a surgeon there is little more you can do to help his injuries right now.
Perspective change Elisa->Willow
Having given birth once more you body is protesting the over use, and Kalre decided to give you the day to recover. She is keeping a close eye on you to ensure you recover swiftly, though this also gives you ample opportunities to talk with her, perhaps try to leverage more privileges out of her.

[devilbird]

I felt a little weak. Having been doing my best to share food during my pregnancy, the delivery had taken a lot out of me. I prop myself up and breath as I get off of what would be charitably considered a bed. Not that I could complain too much. They were doing what they could to keep me comfortable, even as a prisoner. Sure it was to keep my stress down so I could safely give birth, but I won't look my gift horse in the mouth. I stood up and wandered over to my midwife and warden, Kalre. I got her attention as politely as possible and asked, "Do you mind if I ask a favor?"

[Sallin_Kari]

"Favor?" She turns to you with a curious look, perhaps surprised by your boldness. Moving to the edge of your cell she listen for your request.

[devilbird]

"Since I get a day to rest, I was hoping to be able to stretch my legs," I informed her, "I was wondering, since you are going to be staying next to me anyways, if it would be possible to wander around the village."

[Sallin_Kari]

She ruminates on it, before looking over your unsteady stature. Relenting, she apparently figures you won't be able to run away. Unlocking the gates, she gestures you out of the little cove that forms your prison, the draft chilling you as you exit. The camp is scattered through a cave, illuminated by a handful of cooking fires. There doesn't seem to be more than a single proper structure, which is little more then a glorified shack, made out of sticks tied together crudely so that light pokes through the walls. The rest is mostly hide tents of varying quality and lean-tos with hide roofs. Even the smallest tent seems to have more then one bugbear living in it. Estimating the head count leaves you at around forty to fifty, which is of course assuming that some are out, and the camp has every bed occupied.

[devilbird]

I frown as I gaze upon the situation. Things were bleak for the bugbears. I had to wonder what things were like for the other tribes of creatures trapped in here. If this was common for everyone, or if the dungeon really did play favorites. As I wandered through, I kept an eye out for exits and pathways. Kalre was right, I wouldn't be to make a run for things. There were too many to outrun, and I was feeling weak. But it didn't hurt to know my escape routes if something changed. Something bothered me, however. Assuming that there was a roughly equal number of female bugbears out there, separated so the dungeon can sic them on male adventurers, that still only counted a hundred over all. With some having to stay in the camp to protect it, and others getting various other jobs, that seemed like there was hardly any actual hunters to do what the dungeon demanded of them. Especially with the amount of traffic the dungeon was seeing now.

I turn to Kalre and ask, "Kalre? Is this really everyone? Or are there other tribes wandering around that you are forced to compete with?"

[Sallin_Kari]

There seems to be one major entrance and exit, a giant maw of darkness that you can only distinguish due to the fact that you can't see the light reflecting off the walls. There might be others, but your vision isn't suited for this utter darkness without even stars to light what is outside the fires' glow.

Surprised by your question she fumbles for a bit before finally responding, "Few dead, few hunting... but me think tribe only bugbeers."

[devilbird]

"Kalre," I whisper disapprovingly, trying to not be heard by the others. I don't want to break what little morale they have.

"You have to know that this isn't sustainable, right? Even if you start pleasing the dungeon, and it starts to supply you with goods, your tribe is still going to die out like this" I say, gesturing to the pitiful camp, "Think about it like this. Are there any other captives besides me here? I don't think you have anywhere else that you could be keeping them, and I haven't had anyone else with me the entire time I've been here. That's not a very good success rate. And you have to keep in mind that my group took a couple of you down before you got me. I can probably replenish the numbers you lost capturing me, but what about all the other hunts? All the ones that aren't successful? Every day you are losing more people than you gain by trying to appease this place. Your tribe has no path but extinction! And once you are gone, this place will just capture a new tribe and do the same thing. You need another way!"

I put a hand on her shoulder and look her in the eyes, "I know it is hard to trust me. And that if things go wrong, you could lose everything. But risking everything, and guaranteed death are two different things. Taking my offer is the only way you can save your people. And while there isn't much we can do to reunite you with the other females, we could at least find a way to open up communications with them. We can save your tribe, and help bridge them together again."