There are a lot of positives to traveling in a small company. Like moving quickly, not having to deal with the noise people make. Especially when the noise they make is directed at Nova specifically. Nova didn’t think of herself as unfriendly; she just didn’t want to talk to everyone all the time. People also didn’t smell the greatest when they were on the road all day without access to a proper bath. They also had bad waste management practices. Nova was gd to be away from that crowd; they created a perfect breeding ground for disease. There were some negatives to traveling in such small numbers though. Such as monsters, monsters, and more monsters.
Nova infused her eyes with holy magic. She wanted to see through the fog.“I can smell another group of goblins approaching,” Sapphire warned. Nova started rubbing her itchy eyes. They were getting really sore really quick. I guess I can’t use some spells because I’m a demon. Nova thought, as she cleared the holy magic out of her eyes. She couldn’t see for a few more moments until her eyes fully healed. In those moments goblins charged her. They never reached her, as Beornia stood in the way bashing them backwards with her shield and skewering them with her spear. “What are you doing Nova you need to pay attention!” Beornia rebuked her.
Another few goblins charged at Nova out of the fog. She wildly swung her two handed axe. Right swing, left swing, overhead swing. The bill might have had more reach, but this axe was pretty much a short polearm.
Sapphire had burned a few goblins to a crisp; she sliced the st goblin with an arming sword Stigandr gave her. Beornia ruthlessly skewered goblin after goblin with her spear. She has definitely killed the most. Beornia sprinted behind Nova and killed three more goblins. She ran back to her old position, and brutally impaled the st two goblins at once.
Nova wrapped her tail around the padin supportively. Squishing her despite her cold mail. “Are you okay?” Nova asked, concerned for her new girlfriend.“I’m fine,” Beornia huffed while breathing heavily.“No you are not. You are trying to do everything yourself. Instead of communicating you are running off killing goblins that I could have easily handled had I been made aware,” Nova said.“Your lover is right, You will exhaust yourself if you keep this up. The vilge we will rest at for the night is a ways away, and I will be damned if I have to carry you into it,” Stigandr said. Beornia’s face still held a complicated expression. Nova gave her chaste kiss on the lips. “I can take care of myself. I did kill a demon without your help after all,” Nova reminded.
“You're right, I’m letting my emotions control me,” Beornia acquiesced. “Stay safe,” Beornia gave Nova a weak smile. Nova let go of Beornia, and went back to her position as rear guard. Feeling left out, Sapphire turned around and kissed Nova’s nose. “Wuh,” Nova spluttered. “I was just feeling a little jealous,” Sapphire said as she stuck out her tongue. Nova petted Sapphire’s head. Satisfied Sapphy returned back to her position on the left fnk.
They made good progress down the road. There were no monster attacks for a while. “I hear the beating of a lot of big wings,” Sapphire warned. “How big harpy sized or wyvern sized?” Stigandr asked.“My hearing is not that good,” Sapphire responded“Damn this fog it’s like we are in the nd of the dead,” Stigandr said. “Do not test the Goddess of Death, Nifolheim’s fog is much thicker and much less foul,” Beornia replied, “Nova disperse this fog for us.”“I almost forgot you were once in the sweet embrace of the Goddess of Death,” Stigandr remarked. “I would rather not talk about it,” Beornia said. “Wuh you died?” Nova asked, perplexed.“Briefly. The fog Nova focus,” Beornia answered.
Nova channeled as little holy magic as possible, and released it in an orb that floated up then exploded. The fog cleared revealing harpies circling above them.“Their numbers are growing. Run, we are not far from the vilge,” Beornia ordered.Stigandr immediately complied. Nova and Sapphire were hot on their heels. “Don’t attack them until they start swooping down on us,” Beornia said. Nova sighed in contentment as she saw the rays of the setting sun filter through the trees of the forest. She kept running though she couldn’t bask in the sun’s warmth yet.
When the sun had finished setting the harpies swooped down.“They are coming,” Sapphire warned, as she summoned bolts of lightning from her hands. A few of the harpies fell. Nova grunted as she unched a volley of holy javelins trying to reduce the power she used. They still exploded, but the bst radius was not as big as before. I won’t be able to keep this up, Nova thought.
All the harpies left locked their eyes on Nova. The harpies fpped their wings vigorously sending volleys of wind bdes at her. Before Nova could respond Boernia jumped in front of her. A huge shield of holy magic came out of Beornia’s shield blocking all the wind bdes.“Sapphire carry Nova to the vilge!” Beornia screamed.Sapphire sheathed her sword, and picked up Nova in her strong wolf-kin arms. I’m so weak for strong women that can carry me. Nova looked over Sapphire’s shoulder. Beornia’s holy shield spell shattered under the wind bdes. Nova screamed in pain as she repced Beornia’s shield. The harpies formed a gale that buffeted Nova’s holy shield. The succubus soon lost all their energy and faded from consciousness.
Nova woke up to her tail being surrounded by a warm softness. She blindly moved the free tip of her tail around. It rubbed on some fluffy ears. Suddenly something wet and hard chomped down on Nova’s tail.“Eeek!” Nova excimed in surprise.The succubus opened her eyes to find herself using Beornia as a bed. “Good you are awake.” Beornia said looking a little uncomfortable. Nova rolled off of Beornia. The padin stretched a lot.
Sapphire was half awake clinging to, and nibbling on Nova’s tail. With some finesse Nova got her tail away from Sapphy’s mouth, and bopped her head with it. “Sapphy my tail is not a chew toy,” Nova reprimanded the bleary eyed Sapphire. “Oh I’m very sorry, I have a bad habit of absentmindedly chewing things when I just wake up. Normally it's my own tail or clothes,” Sapphire apologized while chewing at her own lip. Before Nova could say anything Stigandr cpped his hands loudly together. “Even though watching you flirt is entertaining we really need to get to the city by sunset,” Stigandr announced. They handed travel rations out to Beornia. When he handed them to Sapphire they looked shy and blushed a bit. “Sapphy, what happened?” Nova asked her girlfriend teasingly with a raised eyebrow.“I did a ritual with Stigandr a few times before going to bed. You may have enough energy for a few spells now,” Sapphire expined as if she was talking about the weather.“I just haven’t been with anyone other than my husband. It was an interesting experience being with a woman,” Stigandr expined themselves. “I didn’t know you were a man that preferred men,” Nova stated.“I’m not a man, I'm a dwarf,” Stigandr decred proudly.“Nova dwarfs don’t operate like most people or beasts do. It’s impossible to tell what sex they are unless they give birth or something. A dwarf’s sex can also change depending on the situation they are in. For them there is no male or female, just dwarf,” Sapphire expined.
The house had wood beams across it to hold pster and a thatched roof. It was very simple on the inside too with a hearth, a bed, a low table, and a few trunks. There were a few other simir houses lining the dirt road. They all had fenced in yards. The vilge was very simple, and very empty. “Where did the harpies go?” Nova wondered. “The house provided us the perfect pce to fight them. We were able to kill them in small numbers at a time,” Sapphire expined.
The cold foggy morning had a way of waking Nova up. The dirt road was retively dry, and firm. They soon left the vilge behind. The thick forest covered in a bnket of fog fnked the road on both sides.“I smell kobolds,” Sapphire decred. After a few more minutes of walking a group of kobolds appeared behind them on the road. “Nova watch the left side of the road. I will watch the right Sapphire and Stigandr take care of the kobolds behind us,” Beornia ordered. Stigandr took out two of the kobolds with arrows before he charged them with a two handed axe. Sapphire charged forward herself. She shot a fireball at a kobold in the middle. The monster lit up. Since it lost its eyesight it tripped and fell into another kobold. Both of the monsters colpsed in fmes.
Suddenly a volley of rocks came from the brush beside the road. Nova instinctively protected her face with her arms. Three rocks painfully hit her, one in her right arm another on her left breast. The st one hit her in her lower abdomen near her right hip. Nova cried in pain, but she quickly got a hold of herself. She readied the axe in her hands. Soon ten kobolds stumbled out of the brush. Nova bound three of them to her right together with holy chains. Her bruises healed quickly. The succubus was no stranger to pain when fighting. She charged at the kobolds to the side she had just weakened, Using the length of her axe she repeatedly swung it. The kobolds that tried to get to her either got hit by the bde or haft of her constantly in motion axe. She kept swinging vigorously. Even when she couldn't see anymore kobolds.
A strong but comforting grip closed on Nova’s shoulder.“You can stop now. See they are all dead,” Beornia said with an understanding smile. “Always stay aware of your surroundings. The battle haze can be as deadly for you as it is for your enemies,” Beornia advised.
After a while of travelling down the road fighting off small bands of wood kobolds, goblins, or harpies. The dirt road became cobblestone and the forest thinned a bit. Until there was no forest by the road. Farmnd, abandoned vilges, and woods repced the deep forest.
A patrol of town militia led by a padin blocked the road. “Lieutenant commander ma’am, surely you are aware of that succubus behind you carrying a huskarls axe,” The dy padin of the Maiden Goddess remarked. Beornia approached her. The other padin chanted a spell. Holy light enveloped Beornia.“That was refreshing, but why did you do that?” Beornia asked“First how do we deal with that demon wielding the axe?” The padin replied with a question of her own.“Frideswide meet my new girlfriend Nova,” Beornia beckoned Nova forward with a hand motion. Nova complied, as she approached Frideswide chanted another spell making her weapon and the weapons of the town militia glow. Nova calmly handed the axe she was holding back to Stigandr. “Thank you for letting me borrow this,” Nova gave them a smile.Frideswide braced herself to attack the approaching succubus. Nova used the spell holy chains to bind the belligerent padin. Frideswide stared at Nova dumbstruck. When Nova reached Beornia she wrapped her tail around her girlfriend. Beornia held Nova with her arm.Nova pulled down her tunic to reveal the burning golden mark of the Maiden Goddess on her left breast. “She is your sister in service to the Goddess,” Beornia expined.“H-how is th-this p-posible? A succubus seduced Beornia syer of a hundred demons. How can the Goddess make one of them her servant?” Frideswide decred in shock. How many titles does Beornia have first the butcher, then lieutenant commander, now syer of a hundred demons, whats next? Workaholic heartbreaker? Nova thought in amusement.“Frideswide escort us to his grace the bishop, we have urgent business,” Stigandr ordered. “As long as you keep that thing on a short leash?” Frideswide said with a wave of her hand, as she eyed Nova critically.The militia surrounded Nova and company to escort them into the city.
Adventurers and warriors made up the majority of people leaving and entering the city through the gate. Undisguised demons however were in the small minority. One could say that only one undisguised demon came through the gate that day. Due to the thane, padin commander and rge escort Nova got through the gate unmolested by the guards. A lot of people stared. They were shocked to see a demon proudly entering their city. For many of the citizens it was their first time seeing an actual demon. People lined the foggy cobblestone streets to get a glimpse of the demon. A lot of doors were closed and locked as Nova was escorted past workshops with houses on the second floor. Many of the buildings progressively jettied out on their second and third floors if they had them.
Further in the city there was a crowded pza. Full of merchants that set up shop hawking their wares. The pce was so loud and crowded most people didn’t even notice Nova. The few that did stared at her in shock before going about their day.
Nova was breathing heavily when they made it to the incline that led to the acropolis. She was determined to walk the whole way.At the top of the hill stood another fortified gatehouse, leading into the temple complex. The whole acropolis seemed to be surrounded by a stone wall.
