The tiefling draws Suishen and advances to strike the giant with the ancient blade as it bursts into flames. She speaks a quick prayer to her goddess and some of her wounds close.
Ahreni 45/60
Relisha 60/73
Flori 35/35
Kitasai 51/58
Sylyn 44/58
Flori made the crucial mistake of expecting the giant to be reasonable and is thus caught by surprise when combat erupts. She umms and errs for a moment before choosing her spell, one that should help her entire team.
Relisha rushes past the wolf to get to the giant. He swings his axe as she draws close, slicing into her side, but she repays the attack with a slice of her burning blade! Kitasai rushes up beside Relisha, but is only able to make one attack after moving. Still, it is a strong one, rocking the giant back a few paces.
Ahreni focuses on the winter wolf slicing it with her glaive before leaping back. Flori casts haste, and Sylyn fires on the giant again.
She lands two hits but her third one goes wide.
The giant is terribly wounded but he refuses to yield. He hacks at Relisha again, cutting her down!
The winter wolf turns from Ahreni and falls back to protect its master, flanking Kitasai and biting at him! The monk dodges!
Ahreni follows up, leaping across the snow with inmmense speed. "Face me then, you fool! I will give you the glory you seek!"
The tiefling's blood continues to spill out and stain the snow a deep crimson.
Ahreni 45/60
Relisha -9/73
Flori 35/35
Kitasai 58/58
Sylyn 44/58
Kitasai sucks in a quick breath when Relisha is brutally assaulted. "No!" he gasps, turning his attention back to his flanked opponent. He throws a powerful fist first, hoping to stun which is followed immediately with a leg sweep and a jab.
Sylyn growls with sudden hate of this big popsickle when her friend goes down. Arrow after Arrow slam into the hurter of Relisha.
Ahreni delivers a powerful blow to the giant's back, then Kitasai pummels him into submission! The giant collapses, and Sylyn turns her ire on the winter wolf. With three precise shots, the beast falls as well!
"Relisha has curing wands!" Ahreni calls, hurrying over to her body. "Or potions! Does anyone have a potion?"
"I do." the monk responds, dropping to his knee and flipping the top off the vial. He puts one hand underneath her head and lifts it up as he pours the concoction down her throat.
"Come now, return to us." he says, trying to coax her eyes to open again.
"Oh thank goodness!" Flori gasps when Kitasai produces his potion and pours it down Relisha's throat. Seeing that the healer is going to be ok she turns to Sylyn.
"Are you all-right Sylyn? That was a much bigger snowball than I ever got you with! Fine shooting though."
"It was as big as a barn, it was harder to miss than hit him." Sylyn says with embarrassed humility. She does narrow her eyes at Flori a bit, wondering if she is about to continue her snowball ambush 'training' (as she calls it). Her guard will have to be kept up.
When the tiefling regains consciousness, she groans. It's not from the pain - she's accustomed to pain, but rather the thought of the dressing down that she's going to receive from Ahreni. Her counter-argument that anyone else taking that blow would be killed outright with her unable to bring them back comes to mind, but she's not sure if that will carry weight.
Better armor. More protective magic. That's what she needs. She's a healer and the health and lives of others are in her hands, but the calling of her goddess tells her that she's no longer meant to be a shrinking violet hiding behind them.
Ahreni, perhaps surprisingly, doesn't say anything to Relisha at all. She simply offers the woman a hand up and then gets on with searching the giant for anything that might be useful. The two of them have spoken already and she promised to trust the younger woman, that means not rubbing this in her face. The near death experience should be enough.
"How many potions do we possess?" She asks later once the caravan is ready to move on. "We should make sure they are spread around, just in case something like this happens again."
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Koya breathes with relief when Relisha regains consciousness. ”You gave us all a scare, dear. That was very brave of you to charge the giant like that, but—“
”Baka! Baka!” Ameiko says in Minkaian, cutting Koya off. She pulls Relisha into a fierce hug. ”You need to be more careful! I’ve... I’ve lost good friends before. I don’t want to lose you, Rel.”
Once Relisha regains consciousness and is on her own again, Kitasai stands and turns to Ahreni. In his soft-spoken voice he says "That is why I carried this one, for emergencies. I do not have any others, I'm afraid."
"Gomen-ne, my empress," Relisha replies, closing her eyes and losing herself in the woman's arms. "I will endeavor to remain among the living."
She seems to be content to remain wrapped in Ameiko's arms until the woman releases her.
"Think they might start kissing right here? Sure would make this frozen wasteland hotter to witness that." Sylyn learns over to whisper gossip gush to Flori about the scene that would be beyond adorable if it wasn't for all the blood.
She does so before realizing Ahreni is in whisper earshot. Catching the other woman's eye she gets several shades of red more than is needed, melting the snow falling around her.
Relisha's hearing hasn't been affected by her near-death experience, it seems, and she pushes back from Ameiko with red-faced glance at Sylyn. "W-we should get moving," she says.
Sylyn looks on in horror at making Relisha feel embarrassed in the arms of her love "I... no... I mean... oh fudge, I'm sorry." she feels awful, so after apologizing she gets out of sight as quick as she can.
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Kitasai walks up and places a hand on Sylyn's shoulder "You have fudge? Why have you not shared yet?" he asks, holding his other hand out to her expectantly.
"What? That's not what I... ... ..." she stops, surprise turning to acceptance. "Fine!" she leads him back to her pack. A hidden tin under all her unmentionables, a measured parsing of a new share (Flori's daily allowance is already been removed so Kit's comes out of hers). Then "Here." she hands him a small chunk. "We're rationing in hopes it lasts the trip."
Ahreni maintains her stoic expression, but Relisha and Shalelu can both see the quirking at the corner of her mouth and the whiteness of her knuckles around her glaive suggests that she is gripping it much harder than should be needed.
As the caravan trudges on, the aasimar gestures for Sylyn to join her at the front, where her long blade is being used to break down the more recalcitrant ice blocks that mar their path.
"So... Relisha and Ameiko kissing would be hot would it? Since you're the expert on such things at least I know how to get a fire going if we ever have trouble." The aasimar says with a straight face.
Sylyn is walking with Ahreni, pleasantly enjoying the stark simplicity of a simple stroll without another person, especially a pretty one, when the statement comes out of nowhere and makes her face turn a bright shade of red. "Me... um... ah... well... expert, I don't think anyone would ever say that. No. I mean I practiced with-" she stops her eyes NOT dashing back toward her best friend "-Just for practice... in case... hells... um... I... I need to stop talking." she settles into nothing, looking anywhere but the lady walking beside her.
"Oh, I meant an expert on starting fires." Ahreni says, not missing the blush and the pointed not-glance back down the caravan. "My apologies for the confusion. Still, practising something you want to be good at is usually a good idea. And I'm sure Flori is quite charming." She tacks on the seeming non-sequitur easily and then walks in silence for a little while, enjoying how the snow is literally parting in front of her thanks to the flaming heat of the ifrit's embarrassment.
"I am curious though." She continues, once Sylyn seems to have recovered a little. "Is that part of the reason you came to me? Relisha will live as long as you, and is much closer to you in most ways. She would have been just as logical a candidate for advice, or at least someone to work things out with. I'm well aware of what my reputation in Sandpoint was, I believe the word 'frigid' came up a lot."
The aasimar quickens their pace until they round a large mound of snow and gain a little cover from the rest of the caravan. Once there she stops and turns to Sylyn.
"Do you think I'm pretty Sylyn?" She asks, a gloved hand tipping the slayer's muffled chin upwards.
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Sylyn's brain whirls about like a flaming tornado, a flamado?, as Ahreni brings up topics like a charming Flori, talking to Relisha about kissing cause back at Sandpoint which was insane because talking to Relisha was not easy for simple things back then and about kissing might have been like... something hard ... not like now, Relisha was very unSandpoint-Relisha-like.
But that isn't the point, Brain of mine, she tells herself, trying to get focus, but then all attempts at focus is lost as Ahreni is suddenly so close and grasping her chin. Her thoughts melt into a puddle, and all she can do is whisper "yes"
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"Well then..." The aasimar replies, a twinkle in her eye. She leans in slowly, giving Sylyn every chance to refuse before her cold lips press against the ifrit's warm ones. The angle is awkward due to their height difference and the large furs, but Ahreni still puts decades of experience to good use for the few moments their mouths are joined.
"You get that one for free." She whispers when she pulls back from Sylyn. "Call it a trial if you like. Take some time, clear your head, and then talk to me again if you want to do it again." With that she places a quick kiss on Sylyn's burning brow and sets off into the snow once more.
Sylyn's eyes dart to Ahreni's lips as they slowly lean in, and then up to the other woman's eyes, before finally closing. The spike in temperature as their lips meet could be felt a good distance away if there was anyone but the two of them to feel it.
A small bubbling sound, a brief grasping of Ahreni's furs to keep the kiss going just a moment longer, then an almost dazed glaze in the young woman's eyes. All to say, Sylyn gave all the signs of greatly enjoying that.
She nods silently to rest of the words, then stands by herself in the falling snow with a disbelieving smile.
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A few hours later once Sylyn can get Flori by herself... "Ahreni. KISSED. Me!" she grins like a little firefawn who has just seen her first inferno. "and it was good, sooo good, like... I never imagined just sticking two sets of lips together could be." she sighs her eyes looking up in the memory. At that point she forgets to whisper, "That's thanks to you, helping me know what do, where to point them, when to open them... Everything!" she grabs her friend in a squeezing smothering hug. In the hug, she looks at her best friend in all the world, her bright eyes clouding with uncertainty "but now I don't know what to do, and you know everything bout stuff like this, so... help... please." she looks like she could definitely use it.
Kitasai takes the fudge with a serious expression on his face, nodding once silently before turning away from Sylyn with a sly smile. He hears her protests of rationing it, but all he can think about is the deliciousness of the food that he has not consumed since they left Sandpoint all those moons ago.
----
Kitasai had been busy busting the ice blocks down when catches Ahreni approaching. He scoffs and says "Took long enough. These blocks will not break themselves, you know."
A few hours later once Sylyn can get Flori by herself... "Ahreni. KISSED. Me!" she grins like a little firefawn who has just seen her first inferno. "and it was good, sooo good, like... I never imagined just sticking two sets of lips together could be." she sighs her eyes looking up in the memory. At that point she forgets to whisper, "That's thanks to you, helping me know what do, where to point them, when to open them... Everything!" she grabs her friend in a squeezing smothering hug. In the hug, she looks at her best friend in all the world, her bright eyes clouding with uncertainty "but now I don't know what to do, and you know everything bout stuff like this, so... help... please." she looks like she could definitely use it.
Flori squeezes Sylyn tightly in return, bursting full of happiness for her best friend. "You did all the hard work Sylyn, I just told you what I always did. But....Ahreni?" She says, pausing, and pulling back from the hug to look at her best friend, a little hurt in her eyes that she hadn't been confided in. "You never told me that you liked Ahreni of all people! When? Why? How long for? Did she-You have to tell me everything now." The hurt quickly is replaced with curiosity and excitement, wanting to know all of the juicy details.
Sylyn sees the hurt and winces a bit "I didn't! I mean I do, and did, but didn't know it, not really." said in a rush to make her friend feel better, the mess of her own thoughts does not make this easy "What I mean is back in town, I didn't. She was pretty and all, but about as much fun as mud so that tempered that Pretty pretty much not." the red head sighs eyes turning wistful. "But then I talked to her about something, about the time Relisha was really showing, you know." a long warm smile "Her eyes, Ahreni's, they were pools you could just fall into. Lovely, very much so, but also filled with So much." then Sylyn tells everything she can remember, about noticing little things here and there, about how she helps everyone, about the curve of her hip, about so bits of nothing that made it all into something. Then all about the kiss of course.
Kitasai had been busy busting the ice blocks down when catches Ahreni approaching. He scoffs and says "Took long enough. These blocks will not break themselves, you know."
"Your scowling at them should be sufficient." Ahreni counters with a straight face, setting to work alongside the monk.
Deciding that quite a lot of time, too much of it, has been spent on her, Sylyn forgets she was here to get advice and asks her friend "What about you? Is Sandru still catching your brilliant eye or have they wandered to another, maybe Kit?"
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The scowl does not appear at first. Instead, he stops working on the ice and slowly turns his head towards the aasimar, taking a full three seconds to complete the ninety degree rotation. Once looking in her direction, he locks eyes with her before beginning the scowl, giving her extra brow action this time. He tries his best to scowl through her, if such thing was even possible as he gives here the maximum Kajitsu effect.
He holds the stare for a few seconds before returning back to his work with vigor.
"Eight out of ten." Ahreni replies, turning back to her work. "I've had it from your grandmother so it's hard to impress me, but that was a good try. Well done."
Kitasai scowls so hard at the ice it cracks in half. At least that is what he thinks happened before he notices he had actually shoved his fist through it instead.
Deciding that quite a lot of time, too much of it, has been spent on her, Sylyn forgets she was here to get advice and asks her friend "What about you? Is Sandru still catching your brilliant eye or have they wandered to another, maybe Kit?"
"Kit? You're joking right? Have you seen the scowl on that one?" Flori asks in not entirely feigned horror. "Sandru is just... he is... it's complicated... he's my foster brother." Flori has said this to Sylyn before and the ifrit recognises the signs of romantic confusion gripping her friend.
"So..." Flori says, clearly trying to change the subject. "Is Ahreni a good kisser?"
Her eyes light up in interest at the glow in her friend's cheek while she talks about her brother but she is easily distracted, "Yes! I don't know if she has lots of experience because she is Sooo old or it's just a perfect fit..." she gets lost in relating all the details she can manage to find words for. There are lots of hand expressions and sighing to help articulate it all.
After another couple of days, the caravan leaves the region of Urjuk. You now have a choice of routes to take. The primary route of the Path of Aganhei runs northwest through the Erutaki lands of Hasanaliat, skirting the Bearleg Lakes and the Gaarjuk Hills. North of the hills, the path follows the Taraska River through the high tundra of the Hoarwell March toward the town of Unaimo, the last major trading village before the path climbs onto the High Ice through the Koumssa Gap. This path is easier and generally faster, but the lands it crosses are more inhabited, potentially exposing the caravan to unfriendly eyes.
As an alternative route, the caravan could head due north through the Gaarjuk Hills, cutting off a wide bend of their route and avoiding more “civilized” lands. However, the hill country is far more rugged and remote, with fewer chances to resupply or seek help if trouble should ensue. The caravan would still need to ford the Taraska, with greater difficulty than along the main route, and link back up with the Path of Aganhei before it swings north through the Koumssa Gap and climbs onto the High Ice.
"I'm no expert." Ahreni says when she is asked. "The primary risk seems to be discovery. But discovery doesn't matter if we kill ourselves for them by trying a route too dangerous. I would follow the main trail, but I bow to the wisdom of those who know better."
Talking through his decision, he says "We take the long route and have a greater chance of being seen or we take fast route, which is more difficult. I say we take fast route through Hill and stay out off the beaten path."
Relisha bites her lip as she considers the options. "I would prefer the safer, but longer route," she says after a moment. "As much as my empress wants adventure, I would much prefer to keep her as safe as possible.
"Most of our troubles so far have come from too many eyes. Seems like the faster route would be safer even though it is more dangerous." Sylyn speaks her own mind as usual.
"I agree with Relisha, the safer longer route seems to be much better. Why risk so much when we could just take a longer time and still get to the same place?" Flori adds. Counting votes on her fingers, she holds up two fingers on both hands and then adds a third . "Longer route it is. Sorry Sylyn and Kit, the risk just isn't worth it."
Sylyn sticks her tongue out at Flori, a good-natured sign of her advancing maturity. "Plain boring road it is then... with too many people who might want to kill us for just being us." the whisper at the end is mainly just for herself, but even if unheard the worry in her eyes is plain to see.
Frustrated his words were completely ignored, he folds his arms and says "Safer route is not safer if everyone knows how to find us and kills us. Only slower and more obvious."
"Do they know how to find us?" Ahreni counters. "Even if someone is somehow tracking us, which is no mean feat in this terrain, then they would have to know where we are. If we are careful, bypass the towns and send only a couple of unremarkable people in to purchase supplies we should be safe."
Sylyn might be a bubbling warm mess inside when looking at Ahreni's lips, but her very nature can't allow her to just agree with people she thinks is wrong. Even if they are pretty.
"I don't think they are tracking us as much as waiting on us. That last city, those things that wanted Ameiko dead was already there, had been for a long time. This just feels like walking into an ambush is all." Sylyn knows the path had already been chosen though.