The tide of battle quickly turns in your favor. Elizabeth burns the troll with another flame missile right before Kragga's stone spike knocks it to the ground. Saleh, Melissa, and Leoren all slice and stab at the fallen giant, whit only Melissa's follow-up strike failing to wound the creature.
There is a horrible flatulent sound as the troll releases a fetid cloud of gas from its rotten bowels! It wafts over Saleh and Melissa, threatening to nauseate them. The troll howls and clambers back to its feet before delivering a heavy blow to Saleh's stomach!
"Stay down!" Kragga growls as she stomps the ground again. This time, though, the troll dodges the stone spike she conjures.
Having smelled much worse things, Melissa doesn't even bat an eye as she stabs at the troll again.
Elizabeth manages to keep control of the accumulating energy around her this time.
This time she sends a volley of mystical bolts into the troll.
Saleh has served in military bunk rooms, a troll has nothing that can shake him. His sword and dagger lance deep into the troll, piercing rather than slashing.
A prayer from Kragga guides Melissa's aim as the servant stabs her knife into the troll's belly. Elizabeth's missiles burn holes in its body, and Leoren scrapes it with her spear before Saleh finishes it off with a double strike from both weapons. With a final groan, the monster collapses, blood pouring from its fatal injuries.
Saleh, being the only possessor of an enchanted weapon that is safe to use, sets to cutting off the trolls head. In the process he makes sure that the blood ends up on the ground, and not all over his armor!
Elizabeth continues to grit her teeth as she feels the chaotic arcane energy continuing to travel across her skin. It seems to stimulate and awaken parts of her that she'd rather ignore. "Mister Saleh, If you would be so good as to relieve the beast of its head?"
She looks around the sinkhole in the darkness.
"I'd rather not spend the night right here," she says after finishing her observation. "We should head back a little ways before we make camp."
Searching the sinkhole uncovers coins, gems, and shiny trinkets worth a total of 40 gc. There are also two enchanted objects. The first is a longbow decorated with carvings of owls. The second is a cat's skull with tiny rubies in its eye sockets.
"Melissa, would you like this?" Saleh asks, offering the cats head to the girl. "I will take the bow."
Kragga uses her magic to heal herself and Saleh.
Her eyes return to normal and she gasps as the spirits leave her body. "Thank you, Mother," she murmurs before looking at the rest of you. "Let us rest and return to the Lady so that Elizabeth can get her cure."
You find a good spot in the woods to set up camp and rest. You can hear the distant sounds of faeries laughing, but nothing disturbs your rest, and in the morning you pack up and make for the Lady's rotunda.
The plant creatures guarding the approach are expecting you, and they step aside to allow you passage. You once more find yourself in the presence of the alluring nymph, the morning sunlight dappling her shining silver hair with golden highlights. Once more, you find your minds and bodies being overwhelmed by her captivating beauty.
"You're back! Have you done as I desire?" she purrs.
Kragga murmurs a prayer to aid Elizabeth just before she succumbs to the nymph's beauty. The orc stands with mouth agape, while beside her, Leoren does likewise. The blonde woman tries to take a step towards the Lady before falling flat on her face, her shoelaces having suddenly become tied together. The giggling of invisible pixies can be heard nearby...
When the group makes their camp for the night, Melissa indicates to Saleh that she'll join him soon.
The soft noises that arise from the ladies' bedding indicate that other activities may be superseding the stated rendezvous.
Early in the morning hours, Saleh feels Melissa's warm body slide in next to his.
"Sorry about that, Mister Saleh," she says with a light kiss on his neck. "My Miss was ..." The woman is quiet for a moment as if considering what words should be said. "... different ... tonight."
Saleh declines to actually approach the Lady after the last time. He stays on the edge of the clearing and tries not look at the lady directly.
Resisting the obvious draw of the beautiful fey, Elizabeth steps forward and tosses a bloody bag on the ground.
"Your payment, Lady," Elizabeth says with gritted teeth. "You requested the head of the troll in exchange for the removal of the curse placed upon me."
The Lady of the Wood opens the bag and claps her hands with glee. Exposed to the sunlight, the troll's head cracks and groans as it turns to stone. "Excellent! This monster shall trouble me no more. You have done well, mortal, and I am obligated to keep my promise." She crooks a slender finger and beckons Elizabeth forward.
The Lady placed a hand on either side of the sorceress' face and chants rhyming words in Elvish. Power flows from her fingertips, warm, soothing, and mildly stimulating. Elizabeth can feel life flowing back into her body, reversing the damage done by the Savage Ornament. Withered flesh becomes hale and healthy once more. The cursed dagger protests in her mind, but the nymph's power proves stronger, and the weapon falls out of Elizabeth's belt sheath and lies on the floor, temporarily inert.
"It is done," the Lady intones. "Now, perhaps you would like to stay and claim some... other rewards?" She quirks an eyebrow in invitation...
Attempting to be diplomatic, Elizabeth places a neutral expression on her face. "As tempting as that offer is, my Lady, we have pressing matters that require our immediate attention," she says. Melissa leans in close to whisper in her ear, her eyes on the enchanting fairy.
"We have matters that require our immediate attention," she repeats to her servant who rolls her eyes in response. "So, if we may take our leave and leave you to your victory," she continues.
If not prevented, she'll take one of Kragga's hand and indicate for Melissa to take Leoren's and they'll exit the mystical glade.
Kragga and Leoren look longingly back at the Lady of the Wood as the other women drag them away. Eventually, both return to their senses.
The curse is gone, and Elizabeth wisely leaves the Savage Ornament where it lays in the nymph's rotunda. With your goal achieved, you make way back east to the city of Gateway. Your ordeals in the Mistwood have honed your abilities, making you better prepared for the challenges yet to come.
Melissa noted the silence of the townhouse as soon as she entered. Her eyes narrowed and her hand moved to the hilt of the long knife at her belt. She listened closely and eventually could make out whispers coming from the kitchen off behind the main staircase. She softly stepped to the door leading to the room and listened closer.
"I don't know what to do, Nadine" Dana said quietly. "We'll just have to wait until Melissa returns and then she can deal with her."
"Deal with who, how?" Melissa asked as she pushed through the door and into the warm kitchen. Both women sitting at the worktable in the center of the room stood up with a start. "Oh my soul, Melissa" the older woman said with a gasp clutching at her chest. "You gave me a fright."
"Sorry about that, Dana. But you didn't answer my question. Who am I dealing with and how?" the red-head asked again, although she had an idea.
"Miss Adamell is in the sitting room and she ain't decent," the younger girl offered with a hand over her mouth to try to conceal a giggle.
"What do you mean she ain't decent?"
The girl looked around as if worried about someone listening before responding. "She's ... naked," she finally said, hissing out the last word as if it was a name capable of summon a demon from the depths of Hell.
Melissa closed her eyes and counted to ten. "I'll deal with the Mistress and you two get back to whatever you was doin' before. No need to be sittin' around cluckin' like a couple o' hens."
She left the kitchen and headed down the hall to the sitting room. She collected herself before pushing in to the comfortably decorated chamber. Bookshelves and soft chairs dominated the room. But the focus of her attention was the slender woman standing in front of the blazing fireplace and she was - as Nadine had described in scandalous tones - naked. She had her arms out from her body slightly and was swaying to the music being produced by a magical music box that sat on a nearby table.
"Miss? What are you doing here like this?" she asked as she approached the woman. Elizabeth turned around slowly and rather unsteadily at the question. "The warmth feels so nice," she explained in a voice slightly slurred.
"You've been at the wine, haven't you?" the younger girl asked rhetorically, looking at the two empty bottles next to the music box.
"Yes, but everything tastes so good like this," Elizabeth answered, closing her eyes. "Everything feels so good." One hand moved to stroke down the other arm.
"It's late, Miss, so why don't we get you up to bed?" Melissa said in a soothing voice as she took the woman's hand. The tingle of energy was apparent across the woman's skin and felt like touching something with thousands of tiny pins. "Oh, Miss!" she exclaimed, avoiding the impulse to jerk her hand back. "You've been pushing at your magic again, haven't you?"
"But I told you," Elizabeth countered. "It makes everything feel so good."
"Yes, I know, but you know you can't hold that stuff in - it can hurt you. You have to let it go."
"I know," the naked woman replied sadly. "But it gives everything color again. Without it ..." she waved a hand in a gesture to encompass the room, "... everything's just gray."
"I know, Miss, but this ain't the solution. Let's get you in bed and then you can release that all out."
"Oh, Melissa. You know I hate doing that alone," Elizabeth said with a silly smile. Melissa rolled her eyes. "I'll help you then, Miss," she answered.
Minutes later, a slightly unsteady Elizabeth was sliding under the sheets of her large goose-down bed. She smiled at the feeling of the soft material against her bare skin. "So nice," she muttered to herself. A moment later she felt Melissa slip in behind her having divest herself of her own garments. The feel of the woman's skin against her bare back was almost overwhelming and a soft moan escaped her lips.
"You can't keep over-extendin' yourself, Miss," the red-head whispered into her ear. The feel of the girl's lips against the sensitive skin sent shivers through her. "Not without a ready means to burn it off. You know that Mister Saleh would probably be quite willin' to help out." A nimble hand traced the skin along her side and then moved around to her stomach. And then lower. She groaned and almost couldn't form the words to reply. "I'm afraid, Melissa. I know the spell is gone, but it still scares me to think of what might happen."
"But you told me that it don't hurt no more, Miss. Not like before," Melissa answered in a soft voice as her fingers continued to work their own form of magic. "And you can't tell me that you wouldn't prefer him between your legs over this,"
"Oh, yes!" Elizabeth groaned out in response, pressing down against the girl's hand.
"Tell me you wouldn't rather feel him pushing inside you? Touching parts of you that no one else could reach?" She was so close now. The energy magnified everything, bringing her to the precipice in a tenth the time it normally took. "Yes. Yes!"
"Taking you and filling you," Melissa whispered as she took the woman's ear gently in her teeth. The extra stimulation was just enough to push her over the edge. She felt the energy inside her expand and suffuse her entire being. Her muscles clinched and vibrations travelled from her center outwards in pulses that she felt from her fingers to her toes.
When the warmth had finally faded and the buzz of the barely-contained energy had dissipated, she stretched out and turned to her companion. "I think I would really like that," she said in a soft voice. "But I don't know if I could ever let a man touch me again, much less be alone with one."
Melissa lay quietly for a moment before answering in a soft voice. "What if you weren't alone?"
A ramshackle neighborhood centered on a misshapen island, Bilgewater is surrounded by brackish and foul-smelling canals. Most buildings here are dilapidated, their colors bleached by sun and salt. Bilgewater’s brightest spot is its central Rolling Market, a large bazaar formed from a free-floating dock resting at the junction of three canals. The dock is covered by merchant peddlers of all kinds, along with some of the finest fish markets in Gateway.
The only other point of interest here is Karshoon’s Monument—a strange shrine carved from black basalt, covered with depictions of fanciful sea creatures and intricately formed waves. The memorial is timeworn, broken in many places, and stained with bird droppings.
It is in the Rolling Market that you find yourselves, looking to spend some of the gold you recovered from the troll's lair. Though the air is foul, the bargains can't be beat! You have just finished examining a stall of curios when a nearby shopper’s head suddenly disappears, blood fountaining into the air from his severed neck. A clockwork then crumples and is left shattered along the edge of a canal. A screaming woman is yanked into the air moments before her arm is torn off, and a large portion of her upper torso disappears as the result of what clearly looks like a massive bite. The crowd begins to scream and flee in panic from the carnage!
Saleh whips his weapons out and steps in front of the women out of instinct. "What is it? Can magic show it!"
Elizabeth casts a minor spell to detect magical auras and uses her senses to try to determine what kind of magic (if any) is involved. She also searches her memories to see if she's read anything at all about something like this.
Melissa draws her long knife and steps up next to Saleh to help cover Elizabeth. She watches for any indication of where the attacks are coming from.
Kragga gapes and shrinks back, perhaps reminded of her violent army days. As she raises her shield defensively, she says a prayer to guide Saleh's attack.
Elizabeth senses magic coming from the air above the market, just over the heads of the crowd. As Melissa draws her weapon, Saleh moves and swings blindly!
His swords pass through empty air!
Rows of sharp teeth rip and tear at the fighter!
Sensing the presence of a malevolent being above them, Elizabeth attempts to narrow down the creatures location with a spell.
Elizabeth can sense an enormous creature flying in the air, though it is moving almost as if it were swimming. It still remains invisible but she will be able to sense it should it move.
"It's there!" Elizabeth shouts out at the others, pointing into the sky to indicate the creatures position. "And it's big."
Melissa looks up into the empty sky above her. "I don't see nothing!"
Nevertheless, she attempts to slash at whatever is not there.
Kragga clutches her holy symbol and invokes the World Mother to heal Saleh's wounds and guide his aim.
Being bitten has the slight upside of giving Saleh a much better idea of where the creature is and his next swing is more sure.
Both Melissa and Saleh score solid strikes, spilling hot, crimson blood onto the dock of the Rollong Market. Something heavy thrashes about, knocking over nearby stalls as the invisible creature goes berserk from the pain! Its teeth tear into Saleh's arm again!
Kragga casts another minor healing spell and prays for Saleh's success!
Melissa slashes at the creature with her long knife again.
The spell she invokes takes longer this time than others Elizabeth has cast before. Upon completion, three fiery bolts scream out and slam into the unseen threat. The expression on the woman's face can only be described as ecstatic.
With Liz's fiery bolts slamming into the creature Saleh is given a clear target to aim for. Unfortunately the flashes are momentary.