Starting Steps [P] | Page 2

Despite receiving a lot of messages from Ilusa, Astor had consciously ignored each and every one of them, not because he wanted to neglect her… but because he was running for his life. Why, you ask. Well, it will take some exposition to catch up on the epic of Astor Balthas.

While the cat girl had plenty of room to move around and social freedom to chat with the other captives, it didn’t last long, considering the leader of the slavers returned to the room where she was kept. Running his eyes up and down Ilusa’s feminine form, he could feel desire starting to swell below. “Gehehe… maybe I’ll sample this birdie, eh? Just a quickie for myself, it shouldn’t be that bad…” the brute said as he approached the cell with his hand loosening his buckle. A villain like that had no qualm about people watching is nefariously sexual deeds. Though, from his point of view, slaves are not considered human, but mere objects, property that simply exist to be owned.

Just as he clumsily slipped the large key into the keyhole, the main door leading into the overly warm room burst open as the sight of a familiar blonde blocked the scorching sunlight pouring into the room. While Astor looked pretty good when he was in town with Ilusa from earlier, his flawless complexion has been replaced by deep cuts, gashes could be seen all over his body and if anything had had a close look, it seemed like he was missing part of his thigh. Certainly, no one would consider traveling in a forest would be easy, but Astor was far too damaged looking for someone who simply pursued the kidnappers of his new friend.

“What the fuck? How did you find this place? You Oritas whoresons really need to stick to your own territory!!!” the large brute snarled, audibly agitated from the unexpected cock block by Astor.

“Huh? What are you talking about, trash? I don’t know anything about Oritas, in fact, don’t talk to me, your stupid peasantry is starting to piss me off. That over there is mine and not for you to touch, you dirty, thieving scumbag. Why don’t you come over here and lick the mud off my sandals since criminal scums like you should be squashed already. In fact, don't even breathe the same air as me, shit heads.” From Astor’s tone… no one could tell if he was simply taunting the brute or if that was how he actually felt.

Well, at least Ilusa knows, considering that she received a message from him during the men’s’ heated exchange.

Astor Balthas

Clos tat opengate NOW

His message was crude, most likely from him typing behind his back.

Just as the brute turned and stomped his way toward Astor without a single weapon, knowing he could feel the blonde with his bare hands… Two other goonies showed up. Astor was outnumbered, surrounded by a bunch of muscle-headed scumbags. One would think he would save the girl with his mad fire skill…

That… did not happen. Astor was zero across the board, there was no way his fire would do the enemies much harm. What he did have was his head, however. Just as the brute reached for Astor’s neck with his massive hand, Astor quickly ducked down as a massive wolf jumped at the brute, taking the fist into its mouth and breaking it like butter with its powerful jaw and sharp teeth. Using the rest of his energy, Astor released a fire ball that would send both the brute and the wolf into the house. The large alpha wolf was quick and subjugated the brute before it howled, calling the rest of the pack. In mere minutes, the room was full of hungry wolves fighting the four slavers who killed at least half of the wolves before they succumbed to their jaw. Astor waited in a bush nearby until the wolves slowly dragged the unconscious lot of slavers out of the house and back to their den to feed their youngs. He couldn’t confirm their health bar so he wasn’t certain if they were dead or not, but it didn’t really matter.

Rushing back into the house, Astor released Ilusa from the cell and furiously inspected her for signs of abuse, “you okay? They didn’t hurt you?”

After he had confirmed that she was okay, he let out a weary sigh, “those fuckers, how dare they take you from me?”

To which the woman from early flew out and tried to gouge Astor’s eyes out, “are you going to enslave us now? Even if you’re handsome, you have no rights to take her and me as your slaves!!!” Turning to Ilusa the vicious woman said, “p-please run, save yourself, I’ll hold him here as long as I can…”

So you are wondering how Astor got from point A to point B and so succinctly take care of the slavers. Simple enough, he went back to the den of wolves he first materialized in and threw the thread of the wolf they had burned at the bog early to get their attention, and he slowly made his way to the party dot, getting clawed, bitten, and stabbed by branches, just so he could show up as though he was some hero to save the day. Though it did take a lot of effort to maintain aggro on the furry predators every step of the way. But, his plan paid off. Big time.

 

As she turned to ask someone of the other captives something, the scared eyes looking beyond her stopped it; dampening the lighter atmosphere she managed to create with her chatter and behaviour. Nothing close to hope, not yet, but it had been less gloomy; the others actually looked at her, kept their heads up, instead of keeping them down, shoulders hunched like they did at first.

It changed with the re-appearance of one of the slavers, for nothing else could bring back such look of impotent rage buried under the fear and despair.

It was a virtual reality.

A mass of data and input to her brain shaped into humanoid form. Yet, it was very realistic, detailed so well that it was easy to forget that those women (and maybe women) were not real, but mere NPCs created by the system. It made holding to her chosen guidelines hard, especially as she saw one of the women, one of the prettiest shiver and curl on herself as if to avoid gaining any attention from the man whose steps Ilusa could hear.

She glanced behind herself, seeing the man who kidnapped her, his eyes roaming over her body without hiding its intent. Her ears flattened and a hiss escaped her even as she slowly backed away, looking around the place, checking the time needed to cast the second spell she had.

He too was a well-made scum; had the right gait of small-time shark assured of its superiority in the tiny puddle that was its world, the right look of seeing humans as things, eyes of the killer. The words fit too and as she glanced at him, a wince appeared on her face; yes he was indeed well made, even that little detail was not omitted, one could see the proof of his desire.

His breath came out in huffs, his pupils were dilated, his hand even shook a little as it started to loosen the buckle. The other hand with the key also shook, moved clumsily as his eyes seemed to continue to roam over her body, lips stretched into a grin.

Slowly, the woman behind the avatar started to feel bit… Uneasy. While that danger had always accompanied her as a woman, never was she without her gun that could have made this moot. Actually, she realised that… She did not know how game treated such actions happening to the Player Characters.

Just as she decided to break the character (attempted rape seemed like a very good reason to use the attack spell), she saw that the dot of her party partner was mashed almost ontop of hers! Good, he would follow it up then. The creek of the gate opening was ominous and eerie.

Then the doors opened and her eyes widened at the sight of him, cancelling the motion to click the icon of the offensive spell as she saw instead his battered appearance.

“Again?!” If her words sounded exasperated, well. It was partially an act, after all, she was itching to use her healing spells on him, but the situation was.. Odd. Why was he so hurt? Why his Health bar was so low? Why was he not calling fire forth yet? Her assailant-to-be seemed very unhappy, but the monologue that Astor spoke was rather jaw-dropping.

It.. Did make him sound like some arrogant noble. And was very good at angering the kidnapper. She could see a new vein pulsing and the colour of his face turning red from anger, shaking hand tying the buckle back... Leaving the key inside the door! Slowly, quietly she inched forward and as the new message appeared, as she read it, as red dots appeared on a map, it was piece of cake to close the gate quickly, turn the key, then take it out and nimbly jump back.

It seemed that the men did not even notice her actions, too focused on Astor! Then as the brute swung at him, the blonde ducked and then-

“Wolf? Again?!” In that moment, the reason for the wounds and low Health became apparent. As did his sudden disappearance act and the small scale battle going on. All of the kidnapped people inched away from the bars; one man was thrown against them, he tried to open and his eyes painted with despair once they did not open. Then, wolves descended upon him, dug their teeth and claws into him, his scream as blood gushed rather made her glance at the others. There was a defiant spark in those eyes now, a grim satisfaction residing there.

What once had been the prison, now became a salvation as the few wolves snapped their jaws and clawed paws against the bars uselessly. Prowling there for a moment, once the slavers were defeated, they then decided to take the defeated prey instead of inaccessible one.

Once they were gone, Ilusa walked over the red puddle that one of the slavers left and put the key back. It took a few tries as the lock could not be opened from inside. As she did, Astor reappeared, wrenching the gates open and pulling her out, fretting over like one of her squad mates. She grinned in reply. “I’m fine! You got just in time to save me, my hero.” Then she frowned and pointed at him. “But look at you, I leave your side and this happens.”

Shaking her head she muttered. “Stay still.” Tapping an icon, the half-way remembered incantation spilled from her lips. Only for a well-intended woman from before to push her away and attacking Astor or attempting to. For moment Ilusa stared blankly, listening to her words almost uncomprehending before realising what was wrong. That poor woman thought Astor would enslave her, well it was time to explain this misunderstanding, leaving the other misunderstanding (really, they were not a master and slave pair) for later.

“No, no, you have it all wrong!” She hurried to reassure the woman, stepping around and between her and Astor. “Lord Astor-” Yes, she played up on the arrogant noble tone he had before. “-Will not enslave you. You all can go home. Right?” She looked back at Astor, waiting for the confirmation, after which she nodded in satisfaction and turned back at the woman to beam at her. “You wanted to know what happened to the inn and your husband right? You can check it yourself now! And you-” Ilusa said looking at some others who stepped out of the cell almost disbelievingly, looking around the bloody marks and the freedom they were apparently regaining. “Want to see your sister again, so go on. There is a father waiting for you there, right?” She asked the other woman and got a cautious nod back. “I am sure he must worry.”

“But first! Please stay still and let me heal you. I can at least return your bodies to the condition they should be in.” That said she did so, cast magic at the brave, vicious woman who did not let the kidnapping break her. The skin returned to its former colour, hair gained healthy gloss, her body filled out and she seemed to stare in a stupor at her hands and body.

Then came time for Astor, cuts and bruises disappearing. Then at the other five occupants (one of whom she could now see was actually a very girly looking boy), in the thrill of healing completely forgetting to explain the second misunderstanding.

“Hmm.. Perhaps we should accompany them to the outpost to make sure no animals will attack them… What do you think? Ah, also, read the log.” Ilusa spoke to Astor, deferring to his judgement.

@Astor Balthas

 

Astor groaned as his feline companion buzzed around him with concern, although he did like the fact that she was so eager to heal him, he didn’t like to be mothered. Nonetheless, it was something he should be getting used to, considering that he had a feeling they will be traveling a lot together from now on. Opening his defensive posture to Ilusa, he let her serenely warm light bask his body, washing away the scuffs and pain that stung his skin. Well… he could only enjoy it briefly before a mad witch attacked him so viciously. Had Ilusa not insert herself between them, Astor feared the woman would have rip his eyes out.

Letting Ilusa handle the misunderstanding, Astor held a questioning gaze at Ilusa when she referred to him as ‘Lord Astor’ a title that he would not crown for a long while… Not to mention she also referred to enslavement and whatnot. While he did want an aside with her, he let her finish comforting the woman first, since it was highly likely that the woman and the rest of the group would turn on him if he had said anything. He did, however, question why the landers even thought about something like that… was he so evil looking and abusive toward Ilusa? Certainly, he was very handsy with her, but on no ground is that slavery in any fragment of imagination.

“I-if you say so miss…” the pacified woman spoke, still shooting suspicious gaze at the blond, which he responded in kind with his murderous red eyes while he was standing behind Ilusa. Breaking into cold sweat, the small woman slunk out of his gaze and pulled Ilusa down so she could whisper into the girl’s feline ears. “Just woman to woman…” she whispered while keeping a careful watch of Astor, “You say it’s not like that but… if he ever tried to make you do this and that with your mouth… or… that… down there… just… bite it… men are weak there... run after… we'll protect you… at inn… But! Whatever you do, don’t fall in love… no matter what, it’s over if he enslaved your heart…”

Astor couldn’t make out what the woman was whispering, but his patience was wearing thin. “Hurry up, get the hell out of the cell so we can be on our way already, do you want me to lock you up again? Huh?!” he barked.

When Ilusa had an aside with him, Astor checked the message log before he replied. “Huh, Oritas from earlier. So it seems like there are rivaling slavering organizations. Interesting, once we are higher level, we should go roast them all,” he commented while reading her message.

In response to her suggestion, Astor nodded in agreement, “Yeah, let’s escort them to that outpost from earlier, it’s only about an hour from here. My energy is running low, though, so it’s best to avoid danger from here. The wolves have been thoroughly fed, so we shouldn’t have too much trouble going through the woods.”

Letting out a weary sigh, Astor came over to each of the NPC folk and individually added them to their party in order to keep an eye on them. “Okay, you are now under my protection. Let’s get moving already folks. Come on, go, go!” he rushed them in a crass tone, not caring about how they would perceive him; he was tired, hungry, and thirsty, there wasn’t a lot of room for a more level headed communication.

While they made their way through the thick forest, the folks who were freed looked at Astor with uneasy eyes, nervous about what he would do, which annoyed Astor greatly. Prompting a condescending, “what the hell you looking at?” response from time to time.

Occasionally, Astor would taunt them as well, grabbed Ilusa’s waist and grabbing her hand to pull her away from her gathering frenzy, which only made those folks all the more nervous.

But alas, the high-strung tension was cut the moment they arrived at Wurst Outpost, where the NPC were free to go as they please. While keeping a distance from Astor, each of the captive came up to Ilusa and held onto her hand, thanking her personally for freeing them. “If you need anything, anything at all, please come to us, we will do our best for you, miss.”

Astor leaned against one of the building a distance away with a sour expression on his face. Though, the scent of food… free food lifted his mood as excitement began building up within his stomach while he waited for his companion.

@Ilusa Nakhalee

 

The culture was so vastly different and yet sometimes it was so familiar. The duality could throw people off and while she herself had often experienced it, it was different when she experienced it as an arm-candy-slash-bodyguard or a soldier than ass the avatar in this game. And though she knew intellectually this, emotionally it still hit her.

“Yes. I say so.” She nodded decisively, happy that it was resolved. Only to see the woman glare at Astor and then pale in fright and hide her-self from his view. It was pity there was no known to her way of just telling him privately, with her voice unheard by others to not make it worse. She just managed to calm her down and now her companion made the woman frightened and think that she was right in the first place. Ilusa was pretty sure that was what was moving in the other woman head, judging by the frightened, yet a defiant glint in her eyes.

“Hm?” Of course she let herself be pulled down and moved her ear closer to the woman mouth to hear her words. And as they poured out, haltingly, quietly, she felt like face-palming. Still, it was the woman’s goodwill so of course, she would not waste it. She listened to it, nodding along. Feeling bit sad how the woman probably gained this knowledge. There was no convenient internet in this place, no widely available database full of knowledge.

Which was why she pulled the woman into a hug, pressing her closely, but carefully and whispering her own thanks into her ear. “Thank you very much. I will surely visit the inn anyway.” Because she would want to make sure that the woman would be fine.

Then Astor shouted; while the manner could use some work, she could not argue with results, that is everyone almost ran out of the prison. She did notice that they looked curiously at the bloody marks.

“Un. You’ll roast them and I’ll heal you.” Ilusa said to his plan. While there were no ‘levels’ per se there were ways of measuring oneself against other, that is how good one was with their Mastery. She also liked what it meant; that he intended to keep in contact with her.

Then, she curiously watched how he added each to their party. She had not known you could add the NPC’s to a party.

“It’s okay. We’ll protect you.” The Felis tried to pull the people attention away from Astor… Also during the travel, but it was bit hard when Astor was in such bad mood and he seemed to get even snappier when she was not by his side, so in the end, she walked mainly next to him. It was obvious he needed her by his side to calm down, so when he grabbed her by hand or waist, or both, she went with him with no buts, no worry, nothing to show that she was unwilling. Sometimes she even went back all on her own and sometimes she returned the hold.

Few times she spotted some new plants but-

But she stopped from going to get them, because Astor was still receiving those distrustful looks and the people were whispering among themselves, while looking at her or him. While Ilusa herself was, frankly speaking, used to people doing that, it seemed that Astor was far less accustomed to it. Then again, he probably did not help with his need to keep her close to himself. She pondered if he was feeling nervous. Somehow, she felt sorry for him, but did not voice it out. Feeling like that were better kept inside.

“Oh! The Outpost! It’s here!” Ilusa literally jumped in excitement, her walk turned into skipping and she tugged Astor’s hand, pointing at the light and the outpost. Seeing the people looking at her, she let go of his hand and skipped toward them, her wide smile turning into softer, but serious one.

It did feel good to be thanked and she replied to each and every of them, wishing them luck and promising to try and visit them in her free time. Patting the last person on the hand, she waved at them as they shuffled away, their shoulders straightening, their walk more firm. One by one they left the party and when the last did, she turned back and skipped to Astor.

“Well, we were waylaid a bit, but here we are. The outpost. ..I have a feeling many players already left due to our detour…” Ilusa murmured, glancing around, her ears perking at the scents and sights. It was cleaner than she expected. And what was more, there were mentions of free food and drinks. “Free!” She gasped and then pulled Astor along, who let her, toward one of the stalls. Then she stopped. Indecision showed on her face as her eyes glanced from stall to stall, from foods to foods, clearly at loss just which to take. After a moment, with a pleading look, she glanced up at her companion. “Astor, how many are free…? Did you hear?” Because it was probable that only one drink and portion of food was free and if so, she really did not know just which to choose.

Her ears and tail twitched in distress; in fact, she looked far more distressed about that than when she got kidnapped.

@Astor Balthas

 

Did he look like such a bad guy that people assumed he was some kind of evil warlord who enslave people randomly? What was their justification for gossiping about him like that? It frankly pissed him off a lot, given his real life occupation as a policeman, who works to service the citizens of Boston. Yet, they treated him as some kind of pimp or drug lord here, it unsettled him. Despite his annoyance, Astor kept to himself as the freed captives said their farewells to Ilusa. Rather, he was fiddling with the UI to kick the NPCs out of their originally two-person party.

When Ilusa returned her attention to him, Astor straightened his back and looked up at the sky. The sun was setting as the sky was painted over with a reddish hue. Taking a glance at their surroundings, Ilusa’s observation were quite acute. It seemed most of the players have finished feasting and grabbing free traveling supplies and had all headed off to the wilds to live out their adventuring fantasy already. It seemed that the two of them were the strange ones, for having had their adventure earlier in the day and only now finding themselves in this beginner’s village. Before Astor realized it, some of the vendors are already taking down their stands, closing down their business for the day, while others were making torches in preparation for the in-game night time.

“Ah crap, I don’t know, but we’ve got to hurry. I think the free food vendors are about to close down!!!” he exclaimed, knowing that his feline companion is going to lose out on the free food if they kept on dawdling about.

Grabbing onto her arm, he pulled her toward the nearest vendor he saw, which happened to be giving out sausages. With a plate that he snatched nearby, Astor thrust his arm forward, gesturing the man to give him the morsel. “Do you happen to have any left? We have been adventuring all day and are very hungry by now…” Astor said as he rubbed his squealing stomach.

The man scratched the back of his head in response. “Uuh, let me see if there’s any sausage left,” he said as he ducked behind his counter and searched for something. Fortunately, the brief search did yield two giant sausages that he put on each of their plate. When Astor inspected the sausages it seemed that they had cool considerably. Noticing Astor’s rather disappointed look, the man apologized in a loud voice, “Aaaah, real sorry about that! Both of you stopped by so close to closing that the meat’s gone cold, I hope they’re still okay to eat though.”

“We’ll make do, thanks,” Astor replied tersely as he turned toward Ilusa. “There are a lot of vendors around here that’s about to close, we should split up for now and try to hit up as many vendors and grab as much free food as we can, meet me at the big feasting tent once you’re done, yeah?” he asked.

Regardless of whether or not Ilusa agree, Astor quickly hopped from vendor to vendor, begging for whatever they have left, and slowly loaded up his plate with protein, carb, and some veggies. Sometime during his journey, he managed to convince an NPC woman who was obviously attracted to him to open up her stall for a little bit, just so she could make him a set of deserts. Of course, it did take some effort and a bit of seduction for that to happen… in fact, the woman practically thought Astor was royalty from his look alone (little could she predict he becomes a king later on).

By the time Astor got to their rendezvous, the sky has become rather dark now, as the winds lowered the temperature quite a lot, chilled air made him break into shivers as it nipped at his naked back. Coming into the tent, Astor could be seen carrying a bunch of food in both arms. Although most of the food vendors were closing up, it was fortunate that many of them had plenty of leftovers that they did not mind giving away.

Once he got to the large table in the corner of the empty tent, Astor set down his loot. One giant sausage, baked potatoes sliced into twisty slices with lots of spices and garnishes on top, grilled steak, grilled quail with lemongrass, small potato balls, and some bean soup. For desert, he managed to procure strawberry-filled shortcake, cupcakes, macarons, and spiced apple ale soaked apples, that had a carbonated feel when you bite into it. Alas, the only thing he was missing was drinks!

“Ugh, dammit, the deserts took so long that I forgot to grab some drinks!” he cursed his drinkless fate as he fiddled with his spell menu, praying his fire spell was weak enough that it would not burn the food but merely warm it up.

@Ilusa Nakhalee

 

“Eeh?!” His shout made her whip to look at him, her red eyes widening in the dismay at the thought. Frankly speaking, she had been sure that it would last longer than few hours, after all people had different ‘free time’ and the game should accommodate those who could get on only late on. But, as Astor grabbed her by arm and dragged her along (then again it was hardly grabbing her when she walked along), she looked around.

And it seemed that he was right, the vendors were closing down. Wherever she looked she saw the signs pointing towards that. Her ears and tail stood up or flickered in dismay even as she looked at the vendor they stopped by. The empty stall made her ears and shoulders drop. The scent was still there, of meat and fat, which only made her gulp and feel the actual strings of hunger poking her.

“Ah! Thank you!” The female avatar perked up, together with ears, only for the excitement to dim when the large, delicious looking sausages turned out to be cold. “..Still, thank you.” She murmured, clearly loud enough but the disappointment was clear in her eyes. Trotting after Astor, she sighed, only to glance up as he spoke to her.

As he spoke, her eyes narrowed, determined glint entering them. “…I see. Okay.” Scavenger hunt huh? With the inventory, she would make sure to take as much as possible and even more. Red gaze flickered at the big feasting tent and then Astor was gone. Seeing his speedy silhouette, she straightened, glanced around and chose her targets.

After all, this avatar was based on her own looks and before the fucked up mission, she had been a beauty. Well, as this was a younger version, she probably lacked the mature air she was used to, but that did not mean she was without weapons. Rather, the youthful look would only help. Of course, she would not have used her looks if the food was not free, as that would go against the character she decided for Ilusa to have, but it was free and it was theirs anyway, so she used it.

Thus, Ilusa hunted. She chose her prey and jumped. A sway of the tail, a flicker of ears, a mournful look (which was honest) and the kind vendors almost tripped over themselves to pile her with the, free anyway stuff. Of course each time she thanked them, promising to buy something in their shops next time if it was as good as they said, hid things into the inventory and repeated the process.

Few times she had to tailor it; there was one female on whom her charms worked, but to other females (and one man) she was trying to look more pitiful... The felis physiology made it rather easy. And anyway, it all was free anyway and so they parted with their samples. She often managed to snag more than one portion too. There were drinks, of colourful looks and odd names, juices and alcoholic beverages that did not exist in the normal world. There was some odd fruit that was blue, looked like crystal and had water, the kind vendor even showed her how one bit into it to drink its insides.

There were normal looking foods, but also odd looking ones too. Some form of bird-wing and leg, some odd vegetables (black salad and a blue cucumber-like thing for example), some stews, some soups… Almost all were stuffed into her inventory for ease of transport.

Then seeing that it was definitely enough food and drinks of various types, she took a calamari-like thing on stick, two portions that this kind youth actually just finished making and gave her (apparently he was preparing it for himself but seeing her sparkling eyes he gave her it, as he still had some time to make new one for himself), she came to the big tent, looking around.

The tent was.. mostly empty. There were few people milling around, but it was easy to spot the blonde head, carrying lots of food walking toward an empty table. Ilusa walked towards him and sat down before him. “Ooh, nice loot!” She said and then thrust the still hot, freshly made calamari-like thing on a stick before him. “Here you go still fresh~!” The Felis seemed to be mighty pleased about it.

In comparison to him, the calamari-like thing on a stick, soup and salad made of greens (that were not green at all) were the only thing she had carried. “Still, why you did not hide it in inventory? I think it would keep the heat it had better that way.” That said, she opened her own inventory and started to put down few drinks around. Juice, juice, juice, alcoholic beverage and the odd fruit. Pokin it she spoke. “Did you know that this thing is actually a fruit you can get and drink from immediately? There are so many.. Odd things. But I think you somehow got the more normal looking ones?” She murmured confusedly, but then just shrugged.

Once he managed to heat up the food (or burn it to crisp), she decided to take one of the fruits you could drink and stick it before his lips. “Bite and suck, it is really tasty, I tried.”

@Astor Balthas