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Pathfinding: An Adult Choose Your Own Adventure

Twenty-Ninth Entry

By Gideon Kalve Jarvis

Vote Tallies

A - 2

B - 17

* Rack - 16

* Urta - 1

* Greymuzzle - 10

* One-Eye - 4

* Lysha - 1

C - 2

* Rack - 2

D -

1 - 6

* Advise them about the Blue Feather gathering ground - 3

2 - 1

3 - 6

* Let them go afterward - 4

* Non-sexual rewards instead - 2

* Rape the prisoners - 1

4 - 6

* Send noncombatants/prisoners back with wounded - 5

Additional Votes:

* Skaeth is up to something - 3 * Spark, Dinah, and the Steampunk Trio - 10

* Marlene performs some "heated" diplomacy - 10

* Kaia's submission (may include Zane and Phan and Marlene) - 7 * Shara and Padmini learning flesh magic and non-lethal skills (sex quite likely) - 6

* Preparing the troops for battle, and training - 6

* Training Crystal (making her more combat ready) - 5

* The kids are all right: see how our recent children are doing - 6

* Kyte's submission - 13

* Investigate that weird crystal orb Ryg found on Praxis' body - 3

* Campfire tale for Urta and/or Urtan - 2

* Rufus/Urtan scene, where they finally go at it - 6

* Appearance of Jonna the she-minotaur - 9

Vote Options in Progress:

* Wisselfleur and Imogen seduced by Rufus (Adel included) - 11

Author Notes

Since sending the freed former captives back with the wounded had the most overall votes of the second option, that's the route we'll take. Additionally, the party's overall wealth level after tackling the giants is now at Mid-high, letting them have enough wealth to manage most of life's problems. The entire party could now reasonably retire if they wanted, and lived a modest lifestyle with a trade to keep them from spending too much money until they're too old to work.

Pathfinding Twenty-Ninth Entry

Almost before the last giant had finished crumbling back into the primal earth from which it had originally formed, Padmini was moving toward the prisoners bound to the roasting stick sticking like a flag from out of the tumbled hill where once had been a giant. Taking deep breaths, the elephant girl's brows creased to either side of the red bindi on her forehead, before she reached out, and gently pressed her spread hands onto the naked backs of each girl in turn, spending several moments with each of them. As she did so, the redness of each girls' skin slowly receded, the injuries caused by the fire fading into nothing, even the smell of singing fur and feathers vanishing far faster than it would have otherwise.

As Padmini tended to the needs of the prisoners, Rufus stepped toward the giants' bags, giving the bound ovida girls a hungry look as he passed that made them both give a soft, adorable whimper as they huddled close together, their large, dark eyes watching him, shivering as he licked his chops in anticipation. Mmm, it had been a while since Rufus'd savored the feeling of tender, succulent lambchops kicking on either side of his waist, or enjoyed watching a perky little lamb's bottom slap against his thrusting hips. Ovida, especially the younger ones, were such submissive little creatures, weak and easily dominated, and Rufus had to admit there was a certain thrill to abusing the adorable little darlings.

Rrr, later! Right now, to business. With the wounded tended or being tended, and the enemy's lives ended, there were far more important matters at paw. The first, ensuring that there was no interference from the main camp of the enemy. With a swift motion of his hand and muzzle, Rufus had Cassidy and Urtan heading off into the woods to scout the perimeter, to make sure none of the human barbarians decided now was going to be a great time to check up on the giants and their loud noises. It wasn't all that likely, of course, since giants were notorious for making loud noises and not especially caring who heard them, and were equally notorious for eating those who disturbed them, ally or no, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

The second item of business was more pragmatic in nature: namely, loot! If there would be anyone coming, getting the loot quickly was even more imperative. Motioning to the rest of the party, Rufus grabbed the first of the remaining three giants' bags, and hauled it over. The first one, the one that had held the ovida lambs, had just had more snacks: a half-eaten pig, a sack of corn obviously meant for munching on the way, a dead goat, and a live calf (the four-legged sort, that is). The second bag wasn't that much better, as it only held two live goats (again, the four-legged sort), a few large sacks of some coarse grain, and a giant-sized hand mill that was actually a round sharpening wheel complete with footpedal to turn it. The third, however, was vastly more interesting, containing, aside from the usual assortment of random items like shiny rocks and bits of rope and long sticks that might serve as skewers are two most interesting items indeed.

One of the so-called skewers this giant had been carrying, for instance, was actually a spear, a spear made of an especially hard, dark wood, probably from a nut tree of some sort, while the blade of this spear was made of purest mithral, something even Rufus could tell at a glance. There were many tiny runes on the blade of the spear, no doubt telling its name and purpose and other such bits of trivia, but Rufus wasn't terribly familiar with runes, and Ryg, the most familiar, could only tell him that the spear was named Bolliban, but nothing else. Sighing, Rufus handed the spear over to Skaeth, knowing that he wouldn't want it, making it that much more likely that he'd actually hand it over to Lysha once the human girl was freed from her bindings.

The second item of interest in the third giant's bag was a shield that had apparently been used as a small shovel to turn over dirt and similar utilitarian purposes, judging from how soiled it was. The shield was double-layered wood bound with metal around the rim, with metal rivets driven through it. This was hardly surprising for a shield obviously from Nord lands, since Nords seldom, if ever, made their shields purely from metal, since a shield didn't tend to hold up well against the heavy axes favored by that people. What was surprising was that, after Rufus had brushed the shield off, despite its frequent and heavy use by its former brobdingnagian owners, the wood of the shield wasn't scratched in the least, and the metal hadn't been marred at all. Obviously, this was something worth keeping.

Last of all, the fourth giant's bag put paid to the legends of what giants kept in their sacks, for as Rufus tipped it over, the eyes of everyone in the party went wide as a small shower of jewels and shining rings and coins poured out onto the ground. Of course, it wasn't nearly as impressive a haul as it seemed at first, as most of the gems and other items weren't of that impressive material or make, and the little hoard was only half the bag, the other, lower half consisting of various bits of junk like those found in the other three bags. All the same, Shara, being rather skilled in identifying such things, pointed out more than a few choice little pieces, and a goodly sum of the coins were made of pure gold. This last chunk of treasure Rufus decided to load into the packs of the wounded and their escorts, Rack and Greymuzzle, since it wouldn't serve too well in the rest of their adventure, but he most certainly wanted it for later.

It was while Rufus was finishing making arrangements with Rack and Greymuzzle, and as Cassidy and Urtan returned, giving Rufus a reassuring shake of their heads to let him know there weren't any patrols on the way, that Adel, coming up to Padmini to help her untie the girls on the pole, slipped out her knife and, with a flick of her wrist, severed the bonds holding the topmost girl, the one with copper-colored hair. The sleek, athletic human girl almost immediately wriggled to the side, and in a flash raced off into the woods, the last sight of her that the party got the flexing of her toned, tanned bum before she was swallowed up in the greenery.

"Sorry," said Adel with a sheepish look toward Rufus, who just made a negating motion with his hand; probably not a good idea to keep an amazon babe around anyway - however hot they might be, they tended to be nothing but trouble in the long run, or so the bards' stories went. Adel did, however, make sure to be more careful when slitting the ropes binding the magpie nun, making it fairly easy for Urtan to step up behind the birdie girl as she got to her feet, quietly, gently, but very firmly wrapping a hand around her, subtly pinning the avian nun's arms to her sides as she looked up at the gnoll and then around at the rest of the party with wide, fearful eyes, realizing that she might not have escaped danger after all, though at least now it was a far less lethal sort of danger. As Lysha and Hanaro disentangled themselves from the rope Padmini had untied, and Rael immediately raced to her daddy's arms, squeezing Rufus tight and quite heedless of how her perky nipples rubbed against his chest as she did so, Adel, Padmini, Lysha, and Hanaro all watched with surprise as the rope that had bound all the girls suddenly began to coil like a snake, and then knit itself back together. Looking at the others, Adel shrugged, and then bent to pick it up, stowing it with the rest of their gear. After all, one never knew when a magic rope would come in handy.

Finally, everyone gathered together near where the wounded were being tended by Imogen; it was now time for a quick planning meeting.

"I think," said the unicorn filly, breathing hard, her cheeks flushed, her filmy robes sticking to her lithesome body in unknowingly alluring ways from the sweat of exertion she'd put into healing Goro, Rish, and Horse, "that my patients should be ready to travel soon. They're sleeping now, but should be all right after an hour or two more."

"Greymuzzle, Rack," Rufus promptly said when Imogen gave her report, turning to the two other gnolls, "you'll take our wounded back to the Blue Feather camp, along with Crystal for repairs, and," he glanced at the recently untied two lambs and the sexy birdy nun kneeling nearby, making the three captives lower their heads in adorable fearfulness, obviously not at all trusting of their rescuers, "take these three with you." The unsaid follow-up to Rufus' words, of course, was 'we'll decide what to do with our spoils of conquest later,' but there was no need to vocalize something so obvious when it would have simply alarmed the three freshly-freed girls anyway. Then Rufus rolled his eyes as he glanced at Crystal. "And see if you can get those three geniuses we saved to do something to make Crystal a little less prone to breaking," he added.

"I'm sorry, master," said Crystal, sounding genuinely contrite, her arms still quite gone, leaving her looking rather odd, to say the least. "I will seek to improve my operational capabilities as soon as I can."

"Don't worry about it," Rufus waved off the apology. "You did all right this time. Just, next time I'd like you not to get bits of you snapping off. But that doesn't explain your actions, Urta," Rufus continued, looking to the she-gnoll. "You were supposed to wait for me 'n Adel. What happened?"

Urta once again threw a glare at Skaeth.

"I took some bad advice, sir," Urta answered, not meeting Rufus' eyes, showing her submission and contrition with body language that was immediately clear to the grey-furred wolfen. "It won't happen again."

"Fair enough," Rufus said with a nod, letting the matter drop. "All right, new plans, or at least old plans with a new twist. You've all shuffled your stuff around, so Lysha's got her old spear back, and Skaeth's got both his axe and his shield, while Urtan's all kitted out with our new goodies. You like what you got, Urtan?" Rufus paused only long enough for Urtan to give a grinning nod before he continued. "We've also got some rope that looks to be pretty much unbreakable, no matter how much weight's put on it. Shara tells me it's got some other pretty keen little tricks to it as well, which means we've got a handy way into Belthin's tower that we didn't have before. Which is where we're going," he finished, before turning to Adel, letting her take charge for the next part.

After the two parties separated, the bird nun and the two lambs getting dressed in her habit and some simple cloth shifts found amidst the giants' assorted junk, respectively, Rufus kept Adel close to him as he led the way around the rear of the tower, which soon became visible over the trees. It was rocky in that region, mountainous in places, and several times the rope coupled with Wisselfleur's flight was essential for swift travel, but the region was also almost completely unguarded because of that same rugged terrain. Though it was time-consuming, it was a foregone conclusion when everyone soon stood, disheveled and a bit tired, but still ready for the challenges ahead, staring up at the dark, twisted tower of the sorceress, Belthin.

"Nowhere to go now but up, huh?" he said with a grin at Adel, giving the chipmunk girl's buns a squeeze through the leather breeches beneath her metal greaves that made her giggle despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Don't you ever think of anything besides sex?" Adel teased, giving Rufus' butt a returning squeeze through his loincloth.

"Only when it leads to more sex later," Rufus answered with a shrug. "Just gotta warn you, though: I've got designs on Kyte; I'm gonna get that dragongirl pregnant in the very near future, just to make sure she knows her place around here. That, and a swollen green belly seems kinda hot to me."

"I'm not objecting," Adel admitted with a blush at Rufus' frankness. "As long as I get to participate."

"Wouldn't dream of leaving you out, babe," replied the big grey wolf with a toothy grin, before his eyes turned back to the tower. "Okay, we're here. Now for step two."

Path Choices

As soon as the injured reaches the Blue Feather camp, we'll get a view of what's been going on back there, including all the additional votes that deal with things happening in that camp.

For now, though, we need to decide what to do now that we're at the tower.

A) Use the servant's entrance. There's a door at the rear, and it doesn't look like it's guarded. It's not very big, so everyone would have to go in one at a time, and the bigger members of the party (Skaeth and Padmini) would have to squeeze a bit. It might also be wise to let Shara, our resident foxy rogue, and Cassidy as well, check it for traps, though. (70% chance, if there is anything)

B) In the front way. There are some guards up front, but the tower's sufficiently removed from the rest of the gathering armies of human barbarians that it's not all that likely we'll be noticed, at least not by them. By whoever's inside, though, is another matter. (85% chance of stealth, 75% chance of winning the fight).

C) There's a window up there. Have Wisselfleur fly the rope up, and get going. (75% chance of avoiding detection).

Since there's going to be additional votes being played out next time, and that's where most of the content will do, for now we'll leave the voting at this simple choice.