Lavorra gets the drop on Kurt

Yes/No (Even) - [6,3] Yes

—

She moves towards him, low to the ground, tracking his movements. It’s been a long time since she favoured stealth and stalking over her shield and armour, but her Wood Elf instincts are not entirely dulled, and the ways of her people are hard to forget.

Kurt staggers to the camp-fire, one leg dragging behind him, his trouser slashed open at the shin, revealing a mess of blood. He sits down heavily, one hand running through his matted hair, and lets out a low, uneven chuckle.

“Ohhh fuck me. Fucking fuck. Daemons in the village; Daemons in the woods. Daemons all around.” He giggles, rocking slightly.

Lavorra’s eyes grow a little wider, and she hesitates. What has happened to him?

Daemons?

“Safe now.” He chatters to himself, holding out his hands to non-existent flames. “Right. Where’s that Paladin whore. Need to get warm. Get inside her warm.”

He giggles again, and when something breaks in Lavorra this time, it’s the seal on her anger.

She rises up from the darkness to the left of him, and drives her fist directly into his throat. Kurt crumples to the ground instantly, his legs kicking, his hands grabbing at his throat.

Wide-eyed and wild-haired, Lavorra slowly squats next to him, looking down at him.

“You’re ****.” She murmurs. “It’s not nice, is it?”

“Hepp meeee…” he wheezes, eyes wide. To her disgust, pity stirs somewhere in her tortured heart, and she sees the young man he could have been again. Gritting her teeth, she holds out a hand, glowing softly with green light as she channels her divine magic, touching his neck and healing the damaged tissue.

Kurt gasps, clutching his neck, and tries to rise, but she presses him back down, her bare foot on his throat, silently threatening to repeat the damage.

“What happened to the others?” She asks coldly, standing over him in her makeshift tunic, small and fierce.

He laughs, a strained sound. “We wanted the box. But something came out of the box. It killed everyone and bounced Lorkan’s head around like a child’s ball. Did for my leg but I got away. Knew there was good Elven healing and better Elven pussy waiting for me, I did.”

She feels as though she’ll vomit at his words, but she finds a strange mix of fear and satisfaction there too.

Something killed Lorkan and the others.

She doesn’t want to say good. The Matron would frown on that. Hers is not an oath of vengeance. Not yet anyway.

She opens her mouth to question him further, but a cracking and groaning from the woods, followed by a stomach-churning animal keening stops her short.

Something very big and very fast is moving through the woods towards them.

Kurt starts to scream.