12 - Head back to Krea

Dalila cocked her ears up as she heard someone start to come near their tree. It was a relief that it turned out to be that Zaya woman, though she seemed pretty beat up. A few Sprites followed her down as the leader fluttered down to greet their guest. She landed on the offered hand and looked up at her. The larger woman looked wounded but she didn't seem like she was going to fall over just yet.

"So is it over?" she tilted her head.

"Yeah..., they're not gonna be around anymore." Zaya sat down on a small rock and rotated her free arm, "You guys don't have to work with them anymore."

"They gave us free stuff though. They weren't a bother. They weren't fun either, but they didn't call us names or toss stink bombs at us. Well, maybe they called us names, but not to our faces." Dalila puffed up her cheeks.

"No but..., given they were bothering other people, they might have gotten someone to come looking for them. Someone meaner than me who would have come to get past you guys." Zaya explained, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I guess...., but we didn't mean for them to go hurt other people." Dalila dragged her foot along Zaya's hand, not looking up at the larger woman.

"I know just, others might not see it that way. I'll just explain it to the village." She very carefully brought up a hand, and patted the small Sprite's head.

It had been a smart set up but it was a little odd to her. Honestly it felt like bribing some people to just turn up the music in whatever park they were at to distract people, while you went around the other side of the park to rob and shiv a few others. They were at fault in helping, but they didn't actively help them. Hopefully she could talk the village and guild into not trying to get some payback on them. She could probably make that count as dealing with them...., actually.

"Tell you what, I'll make a new deal with you." the Sprite leader perked up at that, "If you guys stop teasing and pranking the villagers, I'll make sure you guys get some beer. I have a good friend in town that can probably spare some for you guys. But you have to come to the village with me to explain things."

"Hmmm..., I'll have to ask the others but.... you seem way better than any of those unfun ones." Dalila grinned as she took flight and hovered before Zaya, "We'll think about it."

"It's a deal then. To at least talk about it; no pressure." She extended a finger towards Dalila.

It took both arms for Dalila to shake the finger up in down in a 'handshake' and Zaya had to do most the work anyway. But that was done, so let's get to the next part.

"That said, I do need a bit more help...., no i"m not going to ask you to help like last time. I just need... a guide to somewhere else. "

Crack

"And that's all of them."

Krea had just finished trimming her tree. It was always growing and needed to be pruned a few times a month. She could simply just use her magic to shrink the tree or even stop it from growing entirely; but that would be a waste. She could use the left over wood for her own projects, or sell the access to the village. Waste not want not. Besides it was easier to coax the tree into snapping off some of the weaker growths than it was to stop it from growing.

"Hmmm I wonder if I can give some of this to Zaya..., maybe she can make a small shelter if she can't afford an inn...., well those horns should sell enough to get her a week's stay in the village."

She was feeling a bit better about Zaya. Sure she had a few drifting thoughts about her and maybe one night with her on the mind while she self pleasured. But she wasn't as... needy as she had been that morning after. Maybe she could strike up a relationship with her. She seemed like she could handle herself a bit, and maybe Krea could use an assistant. But only if she couldn't find work in the village; she didn't want to do everything.

"Maybe I could try to teach her to be a Druid..., perhaps she has some magic in that firm body of... I mean.."

She blushed at the thought before something took her attention.

One of her wards triggered.

Living in the middle of the woods and hills made one proactive in security. A few alarm wards that would give her a warning that someone was coming close, without her permission, where set up near the edge of what she considered her 'home'. If they kept coming they'd trigger a second one, after which she'd go take a look. She wouldn't have to worry if they triggered a third; as that's when the wards were less alarm and more 'hippity hoppity, get OFF my property' at that point.

So when the second ward was triggered, she rolled her shoulders and picked up her staff. It would be best to go see who's trying to visit her before they got tied up or lost a limb.

It didn't take her long to find her visitor. But who it was put her off guard.

"Hey Krea.... got a minute?"

Zaya was leaning against one of the boulders while she held one of her arms. The bruises and cuts clear on her body. Krea took a moment to mentally compose herself as part of her wanted to just jump into her arms but... well she was hurt. And she wasn't certain how. So she carefully made her way over and gave a sharp pat against the rogue's head.

"How'd my helper get so beat up? Hmm? I thought I told you to come to me if you needed help."

"DID You?"

"....., Well you have my help now." Krea hooked an arm around Zaya, "Come on, let's get you inside."

"OUR help."

The tiny annoyed voice drew her attention to the short cropped hair on Zaya's head and there was a familiar face with puffed up cheeks and a tapping of a foot. One of the last faces she wanted to see right now.

"Dalila." The name came out slowly through gritted teeth.

"Krea." came the response.

The area started to heat up a bit as each woman glared at the other. It was only broken when Zaya gave a noticeable cough, which got Krea to get moving again, with a bit more grumble to her voice. She just muttered out that the pair would have to explain what sort of dumb thing they got up to THIS time. One of them was bad enough but together..., she was going to get a headache.

"If you two are on the run from the village guards, I'm kicking you out." Krea told them as she brought them inside her home.

After getting her on the couch, Krea started to heal her. First by way of spell; she placed her hands on Zaya's shoulders and chanted with a wave of vines and leaves appearing over Zaya's body in a burst of green light before vanishing in the same way. After that came a potion and some bandages, along with something that smelled foul..., but Dalila was able to make a small charm to change it to a flowery scent. Usually she did this to make racid smells to mess with people but Zaya was a friend.

"So why the extra stuff... couldn't you just..."

"You wouldn't be the first to question me about my healing. I am not well versed in healing HUMANS as I am animals for one." Krea started as she tied a bandage down, "You also took some internal damage to your bones. Most healing spells are good enough to keep you standing or moving, but deep healing takes spells I do not know, or takes time."

That... made a bit of sense in a few ways. Sort of like asking a Vet to heal someone who got shot. Sure they could probably do it but you'd have better results with someone that studied humans. As for the healing that was a little worrying to find out but that also made a bit of sense. It was easier to get someone patched up to move or fight than it would be to fix broken ribs or probably heal a lost limb. So 'HP' was how long she could stay up and fighting but she'd still have to pay attention to brutal damage like... whatever happened to her.

50 or 5k damage; losing a lung was losing a lung regardless of how 'hard' she got hit.

"A dip in my Pool might fix that though." Zaya thought as she picked up a cup to sip. It tasted fruity so seemed Krea got out the better stuff than just water for her guest.

"So what did you do." the icy voice came.

Krea sat opposite of Zaya, her glare moving from her and Dalila. The Sprite was sitting on the small 'coffee table'(honestly just a length of cut wood that was polished) and enjoying a strange looking fruit as she watched the two larger figures go at it. At least that's what she was hoping for, maybe see Zaya take the stuck up woman down a peg or two. Hopefully with spankings involved.

"Well I got a job from the village or more specifically, I got one from the Sentinels. They were paying well to get rid of some bandits. I was able to track them down with some help from Dalila here but... well." she gestured to her body, "I took a few hits taking care of them. That said I don't know if I got them all. Only 5 were there and I didn't find their loot stash."

"Hmm, make sure to report that to the Sentinels then, or the town guard." She applyed another bandage to Zaya's forehead, "They might have more info."

"I told you where the unfun humans where, but that was the only place I knew of." Dalila spoke up as she ate, "But I never saw more than... five or seven of them. Then again..., most you humans look alike to me."

"You helped them?" Krea glared at the smaller figure.

Quickly stepping in, Zaya explained the set up the Sprites had with the bandits or at least how the bandits dealt with them. The Druid was annoyed that the Sprites agreed to not deal with the thugs in exchange for booze but that tracked with how they acted. At the same time, Krea was a bit impressed the Bandits had pulled something like that off. Making a deal like that showed they had more experience than most villagers when it came to Sprites.

"So they have a smart guy on their team. Maybe a magic user. Boss had these on him too."

She placed a sword and shield onto the table for Krea to inspect. Picking them up one after the other, she turned them around in her hands and brought them up to her eyes. A soft white glow started to appear around her hands and eyes, transfering over to the equipment.

"I see. The shield can make a phantom copy of a target. I think the symbols on the back of the shield show how many times it can be done and given that the burnt out one seems to be coming back, seems like it can recover it's ability after a few hours." she put the shield down before giving the blade a hard look.

"This one..., has Shatter attached to it."

"Shatter?"

"It's a spell designed to send a shock wave of **** into a target to break them from the inside. Getting hit with this explains why you're beat up. I'd keep it or sell it, people would want something like this for the ruins." Krea put the weapon away as she got out another potion.

"Why's that?"

"Shatter works on organics but all the flesh, bone, and squishy bits tends to dampen the effect. Still hurts though. But the spell is most effective against objects; so most people tend to use it to break the other person's weapon, shield or armor. And it's one of the main key spell in dealing with golems and machines."

That explained why after that flash it felt like she was breaking apart. Being 'living metal' she was probably more **** to something like this than say Krea would be. Shockwaves could rupture something inside an organic which could be lethal but she was basically a giant tuning fork. Her entire body would resonate with the wave better. An image of someone breaking glass with a speaker flashed in her mind.

"Figures there's tailor made spells for certain monsters. But glad Krea's own stuff works on me, was a little worried about that." Zaya thought as she accepted the potion.

Should she start looking to seduce one of those Valar workers or would it be better to grab a Priest to tend to her wounds on the go? Maybe a Doctor? Mmm maybe get someone to wear one of those nurse outfits.... wait she'd need a tailor too for that probably and...

"You okay?"

Zaya shook her head and made a show of licking her lips before putting the bottle down. The other two were giving her a worried look but she tried to sooth them of that.

"Sorry just.., thinking. Brain is a bit busy and rattled...., I don't THINK I have any damage up there. Avoided getting hit in the head but just thinking a bit too much." she streatched and leaned further into the couch, "Fight is over, I got some loot and just need to get paid for that, and 'dealing with the Sprites' for the guild." she made sure to do the finger air quotes, "I took more jobs too so I need to get those done."

"You're already beat up and you want to go...."

"The others aren't fighting." Zaya interrupted Krea before she could really get going into 'mom' territory, "Just gathering some stuff. Like some herbs and parts from the ruins. I know where to get the parts easily enough, the plants though... well I was hoping I could have a hand from two friends that are more in touch with the woods than me."

"That'd be her..., I only know the fun stuff." Dalila shrugged, "Unless it's used for pranking or fun, I don't care for it. Some of those herbs smell too. Oh I guess that's why Krea smells all the time..., that or the animals." she snickered.

"Thought I could at least ask. Well thanks for everything Dalila." Zaya made sure to start talking before Krea could get started. "I'll make sure to get you and your friends some drinks later."

The Sprite waved good bye before giving the druid a glare on her way out. Krea only rolled her eyes.

"Little brat. So..., given I don't think you're going to just rest here, against my suggestion, what are we going to do now."

"WE?" She turned to face Krea.

"I'm not letting you just walk out that door, half patched up to go look for trouble. I'm coming with you." she put a finger to Zaya's mouth before she could speak, "AND Yes while I do still have a bit of... mixed up feelings for you, I am NOT looking to jump your bones here. Besides you're injured, I'd probably hurt you if we did it."

"So what ARE we doing?"

Encounter Table(d20)

• 1-4: Head back to the Guild
• 5-8: Go gathering the plants while Krea's here
• 9-12: Head back to the Inn, let Ryia and Krea meet?
• 13-16: Head to the ruins to collect the parts, among OTHER ideas
• 17-20: Something else happens