Private - Hell's Hart | Page 2

She wished she could focus on chiding the contemptuous child, she really did. Somehow, and yet, so easily, she managed to be able to chip at the serenity of the witch’s teaborne stupor. Yet, that quickly because the least of her concerns. In fact, having that senselessly rancorous monstrosity of a herbivore back in her life, had made Ms. Magpie almost nostalgic for her brief chemically altered time together with the tinier monster.

Addled in mind, and likely to become broken in body, this day was hardly looking up for the witch. Perhaps because she had been so distracted by the chiming of glass on glass, the stag may have momentarily thought of her to be nothing more than part of the vibrant scenery. It would have been poor form to simply leave her teatime guests to the fate of mauling, especially after almost sharing tea. Putting her plentiful legs into action, she put her considerable stride to work.

Ms. Magpie had to resist her own sluggishness to act in a timely enough matter, which had already slipped on by. If it hadn’t been for the distraction brought on by the, unfortunately rude, usage of her tea, she may have already perished. They were clearly in danger, again. Looping around she positioned herself between a tree and a the monstrous elk in question. Trying desperately to focus on exactly what the buck was doing, she issued several hushed, otherworldly utterances under her breath, to no avail, “아, 씨발…” Followed.

Self-preservation had a way of, at least sometimes, bleeding through intoxication. Slowly the words came through, if they could have been called words. No longer grasping at the tree, Ms Magpie’s fingers started to dance in erratic movements. Dressed in shimmering purple, three cards cascaded around the witch’s mussed hair. A faint violet shimmer erupted from her eyes as the witch’s unintelligible whispering came to an apparent close.

Once again, the stag’s advancement was halted. Following a blink of purple in its pupils the stag brought its forelegs up, whipping itself around. Rattled by whatever foul spell the witch had cast, the stag found it difficult to maintain its footing, inevitably fell into the pond itself, thrashing wildly in the formally stagnant water. If any faux-children found themselves looking back, they too might have found themselves caught in the crossfire of the witch's hex. Sadly, Ms. Magpie hadn’t invested in the skills that allowed for easier tree climbing, nor was that something that came up often in her life as a waitress in reality. She didn’t know how long she would be able to torment the stag until it left, but this time around she was better suited for the task. This one spell hadn’t left her bleeding and exhausted.

A stillness overcame the temporarily disturbed pond, which seemed to have gained depth in order to accommodate a fully grown dire stag. Faint ripples echoed out towards the edge facing away from the ad-hoc party. Slowly arising from beneath the wave were a pair of algae covered antlers, which where, unsurprisingly, followed by the rest of the large mammal. Showing incredible amounts of vindictive rage, he threw himself ashore. Although he was back where he was started he showed no sign or desire to leave. On the other side, the beast turned its head in the slow fashion of a movie monster.

This creature had made plenty of noise, but none had prepared Ms. Magpie for what she’d hear next. A powerful guttural howl blasted across the pond, scattering the birds in the trees. She, as proven, was hardly an expert on deer, but she was at least partially sure that they weren’t meant to sound like that. Taking the stance of a predatory cat, it kept eye contact with the ground-based witch. It was then that Princess Maggie was able to see really just how crazed its eyes were.

As an aside, she whispered towards her wounded would-be ally,“I will not be able to keep this up for long... These spells are still quite taxing.” She explained, her voice showing signs still of her being a bit "out of it", "Did you manage to catch where Ms. Theoni wandered off to?" Her concern was mostly rooted in obligation.

 

She was not hearing any hooves thudding behind her, the lack of noise enough for Theoni to look over her shoulder. The large antler creature was indeed keeping its intent firmly on the pair of strangers she had met by the fire rather than run her down. Given that she was not in immediate peril, she slowed her pace from a run to a gentle walk, a little too interested in the events going on behind her to really put focus on escaping. It seemed an intense affair with this marauding animal going all out to attack these unarmed adventurers. If they survived the ordeal, she guessed it would be wise to ask why the stag was so fixated on them and avoid making the same blunder.

From when she had last looked, the half naked mutt had managed to shake off the stag and make a quick dash for another set of trees. Out of the stag's immediate warpath, the creature instead started to tangle with Maggie. Theoni had to blink a few times as a jarring purple light emanated from the tea maker, even at a distance the spell was dizzying and forced the Faerin to look away. Its impact was far stronger on the monster. By the time Theoni had managed to steady her legs, the creature had ended up in the depths of the pond. What she had done, it had to be...

"Woah! So that's magic in action..." muttered Theoni under her breath, aware that she also possessed the ability but had not yet tried to tap into it. From what little she knew, magic spells would drain at her energy and required set up. Pulling out such a trick for the first time in actual combat would be pretty impressive, in fact, worthy of her lofty aspirations. Unfortunately the short girl had no real grasp on what spells she could conjure or the range of them. It seemed easier to stick her straight forward talents, like archery and then branch out after a little experience. But if push came to shove...well, Maggie seemed to have a handle on this beast for the time being.

"Oh right, escaping." uttered the Faerin when the waters of the pool broke. Whatever the tea witch had done was not a fatal blow for the stag. Theoni turned on her heels and made a dash towards the treeline, remembering the advice of the mutt. However, this whole incident also reminded her of the words of another mutt. He had mentioned something about a moose smashing down trees which ease. Could this creature be capable of the same? Theoni frowned and decided it was silly to think a dumb animal could just fell big trees. Especially those in beginner areas! Who would make something that strong prey on new players?!

Theoni reached the nearest trunk and used her momentum to clamber up to the first branch, as though she were trying to climb a wall with a few loose bricks. She managed a few hops on the trunk and clutched at the lowest branch, ably lifting her light frame up onto it. The boons of being far smaller than normal, though as Theoni glanced down at the ground between her dangling legs, she realised the change in perspective had also caused her to overestimate how high she had climbed. This branch could probably be reached by Maggie if she reached up an arm. Any larger monster could easily knock her from it if they wanted.

"Damn shortness." She cursed as she looked to the next level of branches, the whole prospect of climbing higher more daunting than expected. Would a fall from height be even more perilous at her size. She would need to jump on a branch to reach another branch... Theoni was confident she could pull of a stunt outside the virtual reality, but less sure within it. Technically her character had no real prowess in that regard. Did she even need to?

Using the trunk to support her standing on the branch, Theoni used her other hand to shade the light from her eyes as she peered back towards the pond and the ongoing commotion. If these two could just deal with the stag beast then she had no need to test the limits of her climbing ability. Or worse, get stuck in a tree. That really would be an embarrassment.

 

Observing the on-goings from his perch up high, Varudan clenched his left hand repeatedly. The realistic pain registering from the torn muscle, while indeed uncomfortably painful, only served to incite more desire to play this game. He could experience so many things he was simply unable to in reality. Sure, you could do the same in other VR games, but this was different. It should be clarified that he didn't seek to injure himself in new and exotic ways, just that such a fantastic world must have a myriad of fantastic things to delight all the senses. Even better, the race he had been given was well equipped to experience these new things.

Varudan's eyes caught the stag as it thrashed its way to the bottom of the pond. Tense moments passed as he considered whether the brief time could drown the beast in the increasingly murky water. Obviously, he was proven wrong once it emerged onto the opposite side of the pond. He had heard his fair share of elk and deer bugles whilst hunting, but the sound produced by this monstrously sized deer was by far more terrifying. It had the same ear-piercing quality, but it was accompanied by a guttural bass that vibrated the core of his being. Likely, it had vibrated most everything in the immediate surroundings as well, given the ripples ecstatically moving on the surface of the turbid water.

Somehow more enraged than ever before, the elk focused its likely blood-colored berserk eyes upon the sole remaining, leggy figure. Truly, Varudan wanted to help, but his moderate injury combined with his total lack of equipment made it difficult. Still, he gracefully descended to the forest floor again. Surely, given that this was a game, there was at least something he could use in the immediate surroundings? Relying on serendipity, he began searching the undergrowth.

Oddly enough, he found what appeared to be the broken off tine of a much more normal sized stag's antler. The thing wasn't terribly sharp, long, or useful at all for slashing. He had mastery in 'slashing', whatever that meant, and assumed that since this was more of a piercing weapon that he wouldn't get any sort of boon from the mastery. Another bombastic bugle from the stag drew him to the edge of the clearing, where the stag was circling around the pond at a surprisingly sedate pace. Unsure whether it knew that the long-legged woman was a sitting duck or if it was simply beginning to tire, Varudan quickly approached Ms. Magpie.

Listening to her oddly toned whispers, he was reminded that there was indeed a small ornery child. "I wasn't paying attention to her," he replied brusquely, "Are you certain you can't do that again?" He wasn't sure what he could actually do if she 'controlled' it again, but he could certainly get away with a lot more than if it was focused.

 

Hadn’t he been paying attention to her? Varudan hadn’t taken so much as a single sip of Ms. Magpie’s special tea, he had no excuse to not have complete awareness of his and Ms. Magpie’s surroundings. Still, it was a problem that likely to solve itself. If they had lost sight of Theoni, then they had lost her, “Very well.” She very casually dismissed the supposed and possible plight of Theoni Vex, “The stag is quite busy, regardless.This is simply another valuable lesson.” But, what a lesson in what, exactly?

Varudan hadn’t been all expressions of concern for lost, and doomed children. He also showed a lot of concern for his own well being. Which was fair, to say the least. However, this ultimately came down to him prodding Ms. Magpie with reasonable questions about her mutually beneficial acts of wizardry, “I am not done just yet.” She rather briefly confirmed.

The truth? It was very much a combination of two major issues. She was considering a lot of what she shouldn’t, rather than what she was fully capable of. Her limited pool of energy was certainly part of the compounding problem; under normal circumstances, this fully realized kiting tactic would be enough to leave her breathless. Her being drained wouldn’t be too much of a problem if Varudan was able to get some use of the antler he took to brandishing.

Holding her up the most however, was her drifting state of mind. The witch’s grimoire of peculiar affixes within already aggressively agglutinative incantations was difficult enough to manage when entirely lucid, but in her current state of hyper-lucidity, she stumbled over key, and especially difficult syllables. Unfortunately, when it came to black magic, the margin of error was a razor’s edge; she had been lucky thus far that nobody had cared to notice her mistakes, and well, that one of her misspoken spells had not outrageously backfired.

Her recently tried and tested startle hex was still fresh in her mind. It was bound to be far less effective on its second use in such a short span of time, but she at least had the confidence to not get it mixed up with the similar ‘enrage’ hex.

This was survival of the fittest, and when actually unfit for survival, the less fit had to take the occasional risk. However, she proved to herself to not be very fit at all, as in all of her planning, she lost the world around her. Between blinks, she caught something of a shifting shadow. At first, it reminded her of a tree in the dead of winter--its leaves month’s gone. Wincing, she felt a heavy smack against her side. She had been spared the full brunt of the beast’s rage by her positioning. Much of the monstrous monstrosity bulk echoed through the tree’s ineffectual trunk.

Breaking through her trip to a different virtual plane, was a jolt of pain that shocked her system into gear. She didn’t offer any long winded chant, but a single--if a bit lengthy--word. Around her, the scenery blurred, and suddenly there were two Ms. Magpies, first within, and then beside one another. The two women stared down the still angered stag, clutching their bleeding arms. Between the two of them, one eyes began to glow a familiar faint purple, and from her lips left a mixtape of almost words.

It's cold black eyes managed to glare into both the witches at once. Not wanting to feel what it had felt not too long enough, the stag went through with its own variation of a one inch punch. Shredding through the undergrowth it threw itself wildly into the spellcasting Ms. Magpie, whom grimaced in terror to embrace the potential impact. Rightfully so. With no resistance, the stag’s antlers tore through Ms. Magpie’s torso, as did its head… followed by the rest of it

In this moment of distraction, Ms. Magpie rushed to get some distance. Within the treeline, they had the vantage of movement: They didn’t need to push the trees out of the way to maneuver. If she and Varudan were going to escape, they were going to have to send this stag off in some manner.

Not everything she had was merely disruptive. The witch had the potential to reach into horrible entropic energies. In her state, she wasn’t sure if she could fully control these forbidden arts, but if all Varudan had was the twig, she may have needed to at least try. There was something especially off about the witch’s next line of chanting. All it took was a little--a glance upward broke any string of thought that Ms. Magpie had on the nature of black magic, “That is hardly a wise hiding spot. It can easily eviscerate you without a second thought.” She scolded Theoni, her eyes glowing their unsettling brand of purple.

 

Playing the observer also, Theoni had no intention of jumping down from her spot and returning to the fray. The pair of adventurers she had encountered by the fire place seemed to have their own tricks. Well, Maggie did at least from her observations. The dog guy only appeared good at quickly climbing trees and even that skill he appeared to abandon by dropping back down to ground level. There was just something off about this whole confrontation... as if these two were just really bad at this game?

She winced as the witch stood in one spot for too long, taking a hit from the wild stag. Bizarrely the tea brewer made no immediate attempt to flee, Theoni unsure of what she was witnessing until the final moment when there were two Magpies. The real and the fake seemed obvious to the observing Faerin due to the purple mist, but the stag had trouble with the riddle. As it charged through the fake, the tall lady made her escape... towards her hiding spot.

"E-vis-ser what?" replied Theoni with a frown, the stag following not too far behind the fleeing duo. Her observing perch had been found immediately by the other adventurers, and worse Maggie had even drawn attention to it. Now she had to make a split decision between climbing higher or abandoning the tree altogether. That warning of creatures tearing down woodlands forced her to drop the relatively high spot, her knees whining as she made impact with the ground.

"It was a good one if you didn't bring that thing here!" Theoni complained as she was forced back into this mess. "Besides, that was really high for me! Not everyone is a giantess like you. Can't you do that useful spell again and make it drown itself?!"

Shouting, running. Fortunately these were things Theoni excelled at beyond the game world, though was quick to notice any real world athletic attributes would matter little in this setting. It took only a few rushed strides for the Faerin to understand that despite her quicker feet, the much taller tea brewer with her long legs was eventually going to outpace her. The mutt had similar advantages. Once more she had a reason to curse the short stature of the race she had selected. However Theoni kept these observations to herself, just in case the other adventurers tried to make use of it. Instead she had a cunning idea...

"Let's split up!" Theoni yelled, as she made an immediate dart towards a different direction in the forest. Whilst being the shorter of the group running from the stag worked against her in a foot race, the larger size of the other two probably meant the beast was more likely to chase them than the shorter catch. Theoni had also spotted a few low branches and a thicket to dip into that might cause any pursuer above her head height some trouble. She grinned at her devious scheme, and growing cocky, glanced back to see the predicament of the other two.

"Good lu- what the?!"

The rampaging stag had chosen to chase her as the loudest of the group.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!"

 

They had only moments to spare before the stag was upon them brimming with primal fury and sonorous bugles. Varudan dove out of the way once more, unfortunately leaving the less agile Ms. Magpie prey to the maddened beast. Given the sound he heard, he had fully expected the once attractive woman to be no more. He was surprised upon his glance backward, however, to see that she had no more a wound than he. An utterance from the wounded yet stoic Ms. Magpie brought about a sudden coalescence of purple energy into another great set of legs.

Promptly, the illusion was plowed into motes of ethereal purple light by the rampaging beast. Noting that Ms. Magpie took advantage of the time to flee to the trees, Varudan did the same, though, at what would be called an obtuse angle from her. Not hearing the impending doom of the quadrupedal juggernaut, Varudan afforded himself a cautious glance back. Indeed, the stag seemed momentarily confused again, likely leftover effects from the illusion magic or the tea... or both. To his surprise, his sharp ears picked up the grating noise of a familiar vertically handicapped nuisance.

A thundering bugle sounded out from the stag again, and judging by his direction he had also taken note of the offensive noise of the dwarf. Stopping in his own tracks, Varudan changed his path back to the one taken by Ms. Magpie. With any luck, the dwarf was hiding behind some tree whilst Ms. Magpie used her beautiful, long legs to ascend past the reach of the stag. In the brief time he had known the vexing Vex though, he could only assume that she'd try to get 'revenge' on Ms. Magpie still.

The noises of cracking underbrush and the sonorous calls had begun fading somewhat as he reached their former location. A path of woodland carnage was easy to follow, likely made easier by his 'Hunting Mastery'. Though an important factor in whether he would follow it fully depended on his desire to help Theoni: Which he didn't. Instead, he began to try and scout his way to the road once again, hopefully encountering a familiar set of legs.

 

There had been a less than subtle warning in just what Ms. Magpie had addressed the diminutive monster with. Their little clearing had notable widened with the introduction of an particularly ornery strand of invasive elk. Theoni’s doom very well could have been just a random, uncaring act of nature, when the elk’s lifted its head every so slightly in its search for the blood the herbivore so desperately craved.

While she didn’t anticipate that Theoni would take criticism well, she certainly didn’t expect something as ill-advised as a full fledged row. For a humanoid so small, she was able to produce an astonishing amount of noise. Even her unaided descent from the tree was compounded by an unusually loud thud. All of this, coupled with an increasingly mysterious herbal mix, had been enough to distract the generally focused Ms. Magpie from her latest, and possibly, most useful spell.

There had been a time and a place for lessons on etiquette, and rarely did those lessons coincide with necessary instructions for survival. For the witch, the act of crossing her arms had become quite difficult. One of her hands had to act as a makeshift tourniquet for the grisly arm wound she suffered. Somehow, she managed to get it right, after enough clearly agonizing fidgeting. A clear wince waded over her face before her eyes could settle in her favored piercing gaze mode,“I am right here. There is hardly a need to shout.”

However, the impish imp had the benefit of being sober. While the witch lagged behind in her addled mental state, Theoni had already set a plan into motion, “Wait.. Split up?” Drowsily repeated Ms. Magpie, momentarily oblivious to the fact that Theoni had already heeded her own advice. What’s more, she felt a rush of air as a large mass blurred across her vision. Theoni had been rude enough to gain the ire of the stag, that much was evident. This time, her shouts were far more justifiable; she had just seen death after all.

In all of her observations of the dire beast in action, she was always able to detect a palpable sense of anger. This time around, in this particular charge, Ms. Magpie had noticed an increased level of ferocity. She had plenty of advice on just how to handle avoiding the stag, but the witch was certainly at a loss for tips on how to actually survive a fatal goring. She had a spell planned out, a proper hex, but time was of the essence. Her mind had yet to return to a proper state, but she knew Theoni didn't have the time to really wait it out.

What pained the witch, however, was was the necessary unfurling of her crossed arms, 'It is going to get far worse from here on out.' She sighed. Aching every bit of the way, her arms moved in rhythm to a non-existent chorus. Her attempts to grasp the incantation had clouded her judgement, moreso than her tea ever did. Attempting to listen along as she spoke proved difficult, but to her it sounded like she had gotten it perfectly. If she succeeded, the elk could have possibly tripped, but if she had failed... then the spell may have fizzled out and instead caused someone else to trip.

 

Why had she not tested her limits as a climber? Being stuck up a tree, even at a dizzying height, sounded far more palatable than the current peril the girl found herself in as she ran through the forest with a marauding beast on her heels. At least up the tree she could take things slow, gradually make her way down and avoid taking any risks that might lead to her falling. In a foot race with the disgruntled stag, there was a risk with every step she made, either by tripping on some unexpected obstacle or trying to stride too far and stumbling to her demise. There was also an energy bar the small adventurer had to be wary of, which ticked ever closer to zero the longer she ran. At this rate, the only contest was between the beast and the bar, would it catch her before the number hit zero?

Such peril was enough to make even Theoni quiet. She could not afford wasted breath spouting the various profanities and panicked thoughts flooding her head. If there was any thrill to this chase, it was lost in the moment, Theoni rather preferring their roles had been switched or the stag had decided to chase the other two. After all, the beef the creature had was with those two. That much was clear from earlier. Just why was it chasing her down now?! This was completely unreasonable. She wondered if maybe this was the witch's fault, that she had cast some spell on the stag to make it chase her. The mental accusation did not hold a spot long in her mind, replaced when she spotted a large tree root and made sure to avoid it with her next step.

The only thing keeping her from being caught now were the sudden darts she made around obstacles. The stag's strides exceeded her own easily, but Theoni recognised she was nimbler at turning with her lower center of gravity, using the trees as a steer to turn around and alter her path. The stag would lose ground on her with every change of direction before quickly making it up. It seemed especially annoyed when she ran beneath low branches or into thickets, forcing the creature to charge into them with a roar, her hope that the act was damaging it somehow. Eyeing another thicket between the trees, Theoni made a swift dash for it as the dire beast neared again, though as she ducked into the bush, her forearms shielding her face, the Faerin felt a sudden snag on her ankle.

Wordlessly she collapsed, mostly in shock at the ghost root which had felled her. Theoni was absolutely certain there had been no tripping hazard, even in the dense brush she could notice something like that. Maybe not. Small twigs dragged at her as she fell flat on her front beneath the thicket, the thundering hooves right behind her. As she hit the ground, her head half turned to one side, her right brown eye wide open to witness one of the stag's heavy feet smash into the ground just inches from her nose. Slightly more towards her and the Faerin had no doubt that the weighted stomp could easily have crushed her head like a grape. Left stunned with the close brush with death, she lay still and listened to the ground as the stag thundered off ahead... and continued.

Not sure how to react, she remained still beneath the thicket, her mind racing with the outcome of her fall. She guessed it had not seen her tumble. The heavy feet of the marauding animal grew less audible, the slight tremors in the ground softer as it charged off further away in search of the small annoyance which had seemingly vanished. By some huge fortune, whatever had caused her to trip had saved her life. Not daring to move in case the searching stag retraced its steps, she remained on her front in the dirt for what felt like was eternity but really was only just over half a minute. The threat of being trampled by a stag no longer placating her boredom, the Faerin clambered up onto all fours, deciding that just remaining under the cover of the built up plants was a good enough hiding spot.

She rolled onto her rear and glanced down at the ground behind her, no hidden root protruding anywhere. Nothing had tripped her it seemed, had it just been a clumsy step? Or completely planned... holding one hand to her chin as she considered the moments before the fall, it was entirely plausible that her inner genius had predicted this outcome and decided to fall over to avoid detection. The tumble had been too precise, a perfect landing in the densest part of the plant canopy. Theoni was convinced, though a glance down at the hoof print which had nearly crushed her head did cause the girl to flinch. Maybe next time her inner genius would take less risk, this time was a little too close for comfort.

"Freaking cowards." She grumbled quietly as she rested her back against the trunk of a tree intruding on her hiding thicket. The pair of adventurers beside the fire had totally left her for dead. Sure, it had been her plan to use them as bait too, but as the victim she had every right to complain.

 

Making his way to the road, Varudan quickly noticed an exhausted, wounded Ms. Magpie. He thought for a moment to ask of Theoni, and then changed his mind. The vitriolic midget was likely a player, so even if she perished to the beast it was of no concern to him. Besides, Varudan had never been one to go out of his way to aid someone he didn't know. Hell, he disliked to even go out of his way for people he knew well, let alone someone who seemed to lack a verbal filter.

The result of his pondering left him standing silently next to Magpie. From an outsiders perspective, the cold-featured pair might have seemed to having a moment of silence for the very likely dead Vex. Shortly, however, the normal sounds of the forest returned, perhaps being an auspice of normal conditions for once. A brief glance to Magpie showed her exhaustion, likely caused by repeated use of magic and injury. Feeling rather exhausted and injured himself, Varudan opened his menu with a quick gesture. Indeed, most of his meters were between the level of low and precariously low. His lips turned with a hint of displeasure before he finally said something to Magpie.

"I'm going to search for the road, and then head to whatever town there is at the end of it." Likely, she would be doing the same, as she seemed even more exhausted than he. "You're welcome to come, but I'll be heading out regardless, do stay safe."

Seeing as his eyes gave one more surreptitious glance toward the long pair of fine legs, one might wonder to whom the "Do stay safe" was directed towards. Either way, he began heading in vaguely the right direction toward the road. It was likely that the terrifying bugles from the stag had dissuaded a majority of the animals away from this area, so he wasn't too worried about running into more violent beasts. While his solitary nature meant he wouldn't mind her not accompanying him, he did find her agreeable.

It turns out the road was quite close to where they were; it was within a five minute walk. A glance in either way down the road proved fruitless to his decision of direction. Arbitrarily choosing the way he had been going before, Varudan continued on to, hopefully, the 'starter' town.

 

Complete and utter disappointment in herself. No longer did she have sight of the stag, who’s mass managed to stay in the witch’s line of sight much longer than the shrinking Faerin did. In the stagnating moments she stood there, her spell--from her perspective--having failed to cast. She was left wondering if the horrible silence left in the wake of the stag’s final charge had meant that that Theoni had finally perished under the immense tonnage of the unrestrained elk. It was another lesson for her, a valuable one at that; magic had potential be unreliable when cast under the influence.

For now the stag was gone. But, this nightmare was far from over. That ever petulant gnome was only one of the three targets. Vengeance was potent enough of a motivation to not get resolved with but a single killing, especially the vengeance of a herbivore. Even if she didn’t see the stag again today, she was sure that she was going to see it at a less convenient time.

Her idea of her surroundings had a habit of completely enveloping her consciousness away from her actual surroundings. Snaps in the forest floor echoed through her state of underviligilance. If it actually had been the stag, this could have easily been the opportune time to land the killing blow onto the witch. Varudan’s address had gone over her head, until she came to the realization that he was actually there, and actually speaking. With his wolfly instinct, he had come up with a brilliant plan--head to town.

As nice as town sounded, she wondered if her return would somehow bring the stag there. She had already spent all of her money on the components for her strange elixir that she had deceitfully presented as “tea”. With not so much as a gold coin to her name, and a now flattened kettle, there was nowhere for her to stay. Would she be met with absolute carnage in the streets the next time she logged on? Risks like that were completely unnecessary, when there was miles upon miles of lovely forestry for her to pass out in.

So, as to joining Varudam in his journey to town, she had to decline, for her own intuition had been incessantly nagging at her., “I am afraid that I have further business here--I must find Ms. Theoni’s remains, and quickly.” She rather ominously announced, wiggling away from against the tree that had been so kindly supporting her. Aggressive wildlife was already enough of a problem, what Ms. Magpie didn’t need on top of that was supernatural interference. Player or not, she wasn’t sure that death would be enough of an end for Theoni Vex (until respawn). Her violent restlessness would not allow her to be kept down so easily by mundane forces, like death. None of this had any basis in Ms. Magpie’s understanding of the game’s internal logic, it all came from Suel-gi’s understanding horror movies.

Failing to realize just how terrible it sounded without context, the witch turned back, “...But yes, be ca--” She paused. Regardless of how clouded her mind was, she was still able to catch a glimpse of Varudan’s subtly leering eyes. The witch’s legs had been long enough to give her ample time to piece his perversion together through her fading haze. Faking a cough, she switched gears, “Stay wary.” Her voice showing the slightest tinge of hostility. Perhaps she was going to have to favor robes once she started getting gear together.

Somewhere in the ruined clearing had to be pulp that remained of Theoni Vex. Ms. Magpie had thought of a few different ways as to dissuade a haunting from the gnome. Her first thought was to flip through known spells to see if she could somehow simply seal the foul spirit back into its massacred host, or perhaps to create an illusory body and trick the disembodied Theoni into believing she was alive again. Such thoughts were easily taken over by a more vindictive plot: If she used what little remained of her energy to summon forth the most inconsequential of demons, she could pawn off Theoni’s soul.

 

Fall damage was a concept Theoni understood as falling too far with one's avatar in a video game. The distance to suffer it had to be fairly extravagant, though some games liked to apply more reality by lessening the the height fallen for a chip on the health bar to occur. A highly immersive game like Terrasphere opted to take this principle even further by making even a small stumble as punishing as it would be outside the virtual reality. Whilst still high on the rush of adrenaline, the Faerin girl had not noticed her injuries and only as the danger to her life moved away in search of other prey did her body start to sting.

"Yeowch." She hissed beneath the plant life she took shelter in, one leg stretched out with the other bent as she remained against the trunk of the tree. When the small jabs of pain had become noticeable, Theoni realized she had not only been stung by various nettles when running through the forest undergrowth, but also received numerous cuts and bruises running through various obstacles and her eventual fall. Pulling back the tattered fabric of her left sleeve, she observed a red spot on her elbow which was slowly forming a scab, as well as a cut on her delicate forearm. The knuckles of her left hand were also surrounding by a darkening hue of a bruise, it had been the arm she had landed on when falling and taken the worst of it.

She frowned, knowing little about first aid both in this world and out of it, but guessed these were nothing more than superficial reminders. However, as she glanced to her health bar, Theoni learned that her HP had dropped a little. It was only a few points but it meant putting her virtual form through these types of ordeals would cause it to suffer minor damage if she was not careful.

"That would be a dumb way to die..." The Faerin muttered, leaving her wounds as they were. However she looked at it, taking a minor beating from the woodlands was preferable to being trampled or gouged by the antlers of a mad reindeer. Or stag. Angry Rudolph she decided to name it. Out of Rudolph's sights, Theoni was happy to silently swear revenge on the dire beast. The next time they crossed paths, she would have a weapon and it would be running away from her. And if not, she could probably convince some other players to act as distractions whilst she took potshots at it with a bow. How strong could a creature in the starting area of the game really be? Yeah, she was going to wear those antlers as a trophy after all the trouble it had caused her. Maybe even fashion one of its feet into a pendant necklace of some sort...

The confidence in her future conquest wavered slightly as she heard a branch snap. Her pointed ears flinched, brown eyes immediately darting to the side in the direction of the noise. Through the green cover of her hiding spot, she saw movement and briefly feared angry Rudolph had come back to finish her off. A second more observation and Theoni relaxed, this figure was walking on two long legs. The witch from the fire who had set the stag on her. Was she coming to see if her antlered minion had finished off the great Theoni Vex? The Faerin's eyes narrowed as she dug her fingers into the dirt.

Standing as cautiously as she could manage, the short girl used her back against the tree trunk for balanced as she slowly climbed to her feet. She watched the searching Ms Magpie the whole time, eyes sticking and watching every movement. When she thought the tea brewer might not be looking, Theoni tapped into her ranged mastery to hurl the clump of dirt she had made with her hands straight at the other woman.

"That's for setting that creature on me and burning my tongue!" Theoni announced proudly after her throw, emerging from her hiding spot and pointing straight at the witch. Once again the sheer size difference between them was a little disconcerting. It made the Faerin feel insignificant relative to the Yladian. Ignoring that, Theoni held her pose until her eyes twitched and mouth clicked.

"Ow..." She whined, dropping her pose to clutch her injured left arm with the right. Her surprise attack was ill thought out it seemed, the sudden movements had only agitated the cuts and stings she had suffered.

 

Alone with her thoughts, the witch started to ponder on some of the larger issues with her hastily cobbled scheme. First and foremost, she knew she was going to struggle to find a demon that was both willing to accept the horrible, contentious soul of the convincingly deceased Theoni, and also possessed the sheer fortitude to successfully handle the task. Whether or not it was simply out of reach for a summoner of her station was hanging heavily over the amateur's mind.

Snapping a twig brought her to a full stop. Even now, she had to be careful. She certainly couldn’t be making this much noise on her way to a loud, vibrantly audacious show of a ritual. While the stag may have charged off, she could not shake the sensation that it was behind her--around every corner. In the wreckage, she was surrounded by reminders of the events of the past hour. Kneeling over, she picked up the flattened remnants of her kettle, ‘Foreshadowing?’

At this point, in the aftermath of such horrible tragedy, it was not unheard of for a pin to be heard dropping into the muddied ground. Clearly, she heard something; a heavy thumping. This is what it had done, it had lured her into a false sense of security to best enact its revenge. Now effectively out in the open, the witch zipped her gaze around. Still shrouded by tea haze, she could not pinpoint just where the stag was going to strike from. This persistent thumping had been coming from seemingly every direction that the witch was capable of perceiving. No matter where she had turned her head, the sounds did not shift, and stranger yet, they maintained a perfect rhythm.

One thing was certain, she did not have the ability to actively engage the stag once more in combat. Varudan was already far gone, and Theoni--if she yet lived--was only a child. It seemed that Ms. Magpie was all alone against the terrible fate that awaited her out here. Her first death would be at the already bloodied hooves of a deeply emotional herbivore.

A voice slipped through the cracks of silence in the disorienting beat of her own pulse: That of Theoni. After she had taken a moment to fully realize that it could not have been the stag, she shifted into a state more appropriate for casting spells. Her worst fears had been realized, she was going to have to suffer an especially tormentous haunting. Now, if only she could remember the first few odds and ends of that imp summoning incantation...

Dead, right between her eyes was a sudden impact that left her in an doubled haze. Oddly enough, while she needed extra time to maneuver in her state, she was strangely denied. Once again, locked into Theoni’s kangaroo court, Ms. Magpie felt the wrath of the pettiest judge, jury, and etcetera to be found at such an hour. Her vision physically darkened, her mind raced with a list of plans that had already failed due to her onset blindness.

Yet this had not been the work of the stag or a specter. The grainy feeling under her eyelids had given her enough of a clue. Defending herself against the Fearin had proven to be next to impossible. Having wasted all of her energy in simply planning to do away with the child’s spirit, she was left without the necessary stamina to hex her into a long term silence. For now, Theoni’s wounds seemed to be keeping contained enough. In fact, seeing the actual non-child wounded, and deeply bothered by her wounds had been a great relief for Ms. Magpie. Theoni had yet to perish, and for now, Ms. Magpie was free of the threat of haunting.

Instead of owning up to her various pitfalls this day, Ms. Magpie thought it best to ignore them (self-criticism was best left for teatime) and simply brush Theoni’s gripes aside as she did the mud spread across her face, “Ah.” She greeted, “There you are; you are alive. Well done. I am quite sorry that tea did not go as planned.” Just as quickly she was on her way (she still had to find a cave to sleep in), tending her own wounded arm, "Be careful, child. It is always likely to return for more."