Find a spot to sleep

Stepping off the road, she set about locating a good spot to sleep. After a few minutes of looking, she came across a large fallen tree, its branches still fairly green. After carefully searching the nearby area for any signs of Treants or other foes, she crawled beneath the branches, then took some of her rations and had a bland, but filling, meal. After eating, she thought-removed her boots, then leaned back to sleep.

As dawn broke the next day, Venus awoke feeling refreshed. Sitting up, she listened quietly for a moment, ensuring nothing had snuck up on her, before digging out some rations. As she ate, though, something felt off. It wasn't anything that threatened her, nor anything within the forest around her. It was something else, something with her.

It took her a few moments to place it. Her clothing felt...wrong. Too loose, too likely to snare itself on her surroundings, or offer an enemy a grip they shouldn't have. That was easy enough to fix. With a quick thought, her clothing tightened, practically moulding itself to her skin. Looking down at it, she smiled slightly. The effect was flattering, showing off her curves, despite not showing any skin. Her nipples were prominent nubs through her shirt, and she felt the briefest of flutters of uncertainty, before shrugging them off.

Stepping out from beneath the tree, she stretched, then had another good look around. There were no signs of anything massive having moved through the area, and no marks left by the undead, either. She went to head back to the road, but only made it a few steps before realizing she could feel branches beneath her soles. Glancing at her bare feet, she laughed a bit at her forgetfulness, before she recreated her boots.

Upon reaching the road, she headed off towards Namina. A short while later, she had passed through the Treant's known territory, and was headed through the outer edges of the necromancer's turf.

Her caution the night before proved fortuitous at this moment. As she rounded another corner, she ran headlong into a trio of skeletons standing guard near the crossroads that lead to Namina. Grinning fiercely, she readied her sword. Keeping it moving in a slow, steady arc, she awaited their charge.

The first one came at her hard, it's sword lifted over it's head as it ran. She took advantage of that, stepping inside it's sword arc and lopping it's head off in one, clean strike. The other two came into her, then, and she was **** to parry a sword strike as she attempted to evade a wicked-looking axe. She nearly didn't make it out of the way, and the axe actually struck her a glancing blow. The protective field from the thong proved it's worth in that instant, completely deflecting the axe away from her. She felt the impact, but no bite of a blade entering her flesh.

The sword-wielding skeleton came at her again, it's blade hissing through the air as it slashed at her. She twisted sideways, again using the protective field to deflect the rest of the blow, then shoulder-slamming it. It staggered back, off-balance, and she took advantage of that, powering past it and away from another axe blow. Spinning, she knocked the head off the sword-wielding skeleton, then turned her attention to the last one. It stepped in for another blow, which she ducked below, quickly cutting it's head off, too.

A quick sweep revealed the rest of the area was clear, and she set off again, intent on leaving before the necromancer got some of his ghouls to come after her again. He was bold, stationing guards on the road in broad daylight. He obviously wasn't that concerned with Mospeh. Maybe his arrogance would be his downfall.

A quick look down showed that the thongs protective field didn't prevent "clothing" damage, and furthermore, they behaved as though they were actual clothes. The one slash she found was quite thin, but the suit had modeled fabric tension as well, and the split was much wider than it normally would have been. A brief thought changed that, as she quickly covered the distance to Namina.

Unbeknownst to Venus, a very limited intelligence within the gem stirred to life. It had been created with one, singular purpose, one very limited reason for existence. That sole reason was to corrupt the minds of maidens, to slowly, subtlety change their ways of thinking. It didn't have the power to **** itself upon their minds, for that would be obvious, and strong wills would resist it. What it could do, though, was carefully, quietly alter their inhibitions, gradually bringing them around to the ideas of showing more skin, doing so flagrantly, and making them more open to sex. It could also quietly alter their clothes, or occasionally cause them to forget something, things which it would do with equal subtlety, slowly aiding it's quest to corrupt their minds.

As it awoke, it found it was attached to a fine maiden, one which had, without either itself or her realizing it, been affected by it's powers. It was pleased, insofar as it could be, since that meant it's task would be easier. For the moment, it lay dormant, contemplating the right time to make it's next move...

As evening fell, she stepped back through the gates of Namina, and breathed a slight sigh of relief. Looking about, she saw the shops were still open. She also needed to talk to Tychus about the necromancer and Treants. If she talked to Tychus first, there was a chance she'd find herself headed right back out. At least she didn't need armor anymore. That meant a new silver dagger was in the works, plus whatever else she could find. She'd have to stop back at the Lounge, though, and get some more of her coin from her stores.