Grab her dagger!

Annake grabs out to her right and wraps her fingers around the hilt of her dagger. It’s not much, but surely it can pin the vine to the ground and keep her safe. Memories of her herbalism training bubble up in flashes and she remembers the stories about vines that reproduce by planting their spores in human (and elven) wombs.

[Annake attacks: 7. Vs Vine: 5. 18 to block. 1 damage]

Annake deftly strikes, the moonlight glinting off her dagger, and hits the meat of the vine. Sap oozes from the wound. It’s not a mortal blow to the creature, but it certainly helps. Annake feels the vine tighten around her ankle. It feels angry, but she knows better than to assign sapience and emotion to a plant.

[Vine attacks: 24. Vs Annake: 25. Miss.]

Annake is able to pull her ankle from the vine as it tries to squeeze her delicate joint, evading damage. She repositions herself more advantageously and stabs again.

[Annake attacks: 8. Vs Vine: 8. 19 to block. 1 damage]

She connects, deepening the gash in the vine and causing more sap to spill onto the forest floor. This time she sees small egg-like spores in the sap and a chill runs through her. She knows the vine wants to implant those in her fertile womb.

[Vine attacks: 4 (critical failure) vs. Annake 19. Miss.]

The vine moves with Annake’s daggers still embedded in its flesh, deepening the wound even further. It writhes on the ground and the elf knows she only needs one more good hit to finish it.

[Annake attacks: 11 vs Vine: 18. Miss.]

The vine flails and Annake misses, embedding her dagger in the earth she’d only recently been sleeping in. The vine seems to sense the miss and lunges forward once again, now **** to continue its line even if it falls itself.

[Vine attacks: 18 vs Annake: -2 (critical failure). 20 (natural) to block. 1 damage, not ensnared.]

The thick part of the vine successfully wraps around Annake’s leg and tugs, pulling her off balance and causing her to fall on her back. But the vine is weak and it can’t make its way up her leg to enter the girl. Annake cannot suppress a yelp as she stabs again.

[Annake attacks: 10 vs Vine: 13. Miss.]

Trying not to hit her own leg, Annake misses. The vine pulls taught around her leg and she feels it start to snake up her thigh, closer to her best kept treasure.

[Vine attacks: 9 vs Annake: 19. Miss.]

Timing it just right, Annake pulls her leg from the vine’s trap as it loosens in preparation to advance closer to her slit. She feels a frenzy overtaking her: she simply has to end this thing.

[Annake attacks: 7. Vs Vine: 4. 16 to block. 1 damage]

It writhes, trying to gain purchase on the elf again, but Annake times her hit just right. With a deft blow, she slices down, severing the head of the vine from the thick root. The root flops, spraying more of the sap on the forest floor, before succumbing to its injuries and falling still. Annake pauses, panting, as the adrenaline leaves her body. She can’t help but look at the head of the vine and see how phallic it is. She reaches out a hand and touches the spongy surface. She feels a tingle between her legs and realizes that the stress of the challenge has begun to have physical effects on her. It may only have been 24 hours, but all Annake can think about is protecting her virtue and her womb. And that means all she can think about is sex.

She shakes her head and resumes breaking camp. She has three and a half days to go. She packs her meager equipment back up and crawls out from under the branches of the tree, hoping nothing heard the sounds of her brief combat with the vine.

[+100 xp]