Ill Omens

"Uh oh." Cass said with a halt, at a particularly torn up path of ground.

"What?" Venus asked."Have you lost his trail?"

"No." Cass replied "His trail stops. Right here."

"What? How?"

"Well if my eyes aren’t mistaken, this big indents over here and these partial footprints here," Cass said pointing at differnet marks in the soil. "He was intercepted by two trolls."

"Shit." Bwen murmured quietly. Earning a glare from Cass. The same one he'd been getting all morning when he talked... or breathed too loud.

"So... is he..."

"Hard to tell." Cass replied still looking at the new tracks that went northeast. "I hear sometimes trolls don't eat immediately."

After hiking onward, now up a large hill just shy of earning the title of mountain, they eventually saw a mouth of a cave. Heavy ivy obfuscating part of the entrance. The tracks led right to it.

"Now what." Whispered Venus.

"Well. The smart thing would be to leave. The next smartest thing would be to start setting up traps and waiting for them to leave and jump them. Neither really fit with saving this guy. How much does he matter to you?"

Venus gave a morbid soft chuckle.

"No," Cass said to Venus. "How much is this guy worth saving to you? We're talking about risking life and limb to trolls' bellies here, not to mention any other unseemly appetites. Is this something you're really willing to risk your life over?" Cass looked Venus square in the eye. Who looked down, then at Bwen, then back to Cass.

"Monet was a little weird to me. But when I was lost, ****, and scared she helped me out and, despite her unusual nature, she feels like someone worth liking. I don't think I could look her in the eyes again without at least trying to rescue Ray."

"Excellent." Bwen said clapping Venus lightly on the back. Cass nodded, for once not reproaching Bwen.

"We were going in regardless, Venus." Cass said. 'I just wanted to know if I could trust you to have my back or if you weren't worth getting to know better."

Venus felt a little taken aback at that, but then considered. It was pragmatic, if a little manipulative, too gain a sense of how much you could rely on someone new in a situation like this. She'd have to decide how she felt about it later.

Cass handed her a knife and unslung a bow from her back, lightly preparing an arrow to fire.

"I know it's not much, but not much is better than nothing. Stay back and do what you can."

Bwen readied the rapier Venus had seen the day before.

Slowly, the three of them crept up the embankment leading to the cave entrance. They stayed as absolutely silent as they could manage. Keeping ears and eyes as alert as possible.

They began to hear low grumbling voices, that reminded Venus of rocks tumbling down a hill.

"Eat more, goat. Need more mushroom in belly. Is good! Why he look stupid Fobnar?"

"Mushroom make little men stupid. I guess it make goat stupid too."

"Will still taste good?”

"Of course Paypay. Goat taste good. Mushroom taste good. Mushroom Goat be good too."

Finally they got close enough to peak into the cave. The two trolls were massive. Like two pale bigfoots. But unlike most depictions of bigfoot Venus had seen, these two had swinging dicks closer to dangly base ball bats than any man's penis she had ever seen. One of the trolls was stuffing a bound goatman's face with wild orange mushrooms. The sight made her want to vomit the mushrooms from Bwen's breakfast.

"Shit." She couldn't help but whisper in discomfort.

Cass gave her a look that clearly was meant to replace a shushing. Then waved them both back.

Out further from the cave she said. "Not good. Those are wranglers. Highly toxic mushrooms. I don't know if there as deadly to Pans, but if he's like us, then he's going to be dead regardless."

Venus sighed. Both Cass and Bwen looked at her.

"Well... I know a little magical healing. There's a chance I'll be able to help if we can get him out of there."

"Wait what?" Bwen said.

"Yeah." Venus said a little sheepishly.

"Is that why my wound yesterday wasn't as bad as I remembered?"

"Yeah." Venus said again reluctantly. Knowing then next question that would be coming.

"Well, why not heal it all the way this morning when you'd recovered then?" Bwen asked curious.

"Bwen." Venus said making eye contact. "Think about what else we did yesterday."

Realization dawned in his eyes. "Ohhhhhh. Yeah no I get it."

"What?" Cass asked. Annoyed at being out of the loop.

"My magic seems to require, at least sometimes, an uncomfortable level of intimacy."

Cass shot a glare at Bwen then rolled her eyes. "Of course, Bwen would immediately get injured when meeting you. Typical. Whatever, I'm going to try to draw the trolls out of the cave. Bwen will help me lure them away. Then Venus you'll sneak in and free Ray. We'll lose them. Then meet the two of you back at that great fallen oak tree aways back.

All three of them nodded. Venus made her way around to the other side of the cave mouth. Taking cover behind trees on her way then waiting to see how Cass and Bwen fared.

Cass made her way up to the cave entrance while Bwen remained a little further away. Cass pulled back and Venus heard the twang of the bow loosing.

She heard a roar of pain and anger. Cass quickly crept back into a small cove near the cave's mouth and pull vines infront to cover her. Bwen, still further off, began hollering. Venus watched quietly from her hiding places as the two trolls thundered out of the cave, one with an arrow sticking broken out of the back of its neck. It looked ferociously feral. Both saw Bwen and quickly began stomping and knuckle walking toward him. He, wisely took off into the woods at a dead sprint.

After a moment, when the trolls had made sufficient distance. Cass crept out of her cove and followed behind quickly, carefully and well practiced. She turned and waved Venus forward, before disappearing into the woods herself. Venus, still trembling, wasted no time. She crept into the dank smelling cave and circled round the fire up to the tied up pan.

Quest: Find Ray.
Reward: Birch Horn added to inventory.

New Quest! Get Ray Home!
Reward: New Ability.