King of the Pirates! [Job]

Today, Leila was on her way to the Ace of Spades. One of the places that had a bit stranger name than you would really expect. And unlike most of the time, she wasn't going here because of a contract. In fact, she simply wanted to visit the fortress and look around, maybe make some new acquaintances and new chances for employment. After all, the more she had available to her, the better. Not to mention that she only heard good things about the place and she was always happy to explore new places, learn new cultures and generally uncover the unknowns for herself and others. The only problem was that dark clouds started slowly covering the sky, menacingly overlooking the land. And surely enough, it soon started raining. Leila had her leather hooded cape that protected against outside elements very well, but the rain soon grew heavy and nearly impenetrable. It was almost as if the night decided to just occur without anyone's consent, that was how dark it suddenly became. Seeing a small hole in the rocky mountains, she made her way towards it. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a small cave where she could hide. It was even going slightly uphill, making sure that the water would not flow inside. Removing the wet cloak, she seated herself at the edge of the cave and lit her lantern. With a bright transformation, Ori crawled out of her bag too, joining the girl for the time being. Her goal was the Ace of Spades, so she planned to just wait the rain out. But minutes passed by and the weather didn't change in the slightest. Getting kinda grumpy, Leila stroked her pet's glowing fur as she pulled out an old looking book from the bag as well. Giving it a read, hours eventually passed and the rain only continued. At this rate, it actually seemed as if it was to flood the nearby area.

Getting rather annoyed, Leila got up started walking around in circles. At this time, she would already be resting inside of a warm and welcoming inn inside of the fortress. But instead, she was stuck in a cave. Though, she had to admit, it brought back memories. She wouldn't be able to count how many times she got stranded somewhere on her travels in the past even if she really wanted to. Sometimes she would hide only under trees, other times in make-shift tent and rarely in a natural cave like this one. With a small chuckle, she suddenly felt a bit better and less irritated. Thinking of the past like this always made her happy, giving her that warm and fuzzy feeling inside of her chest. Unfortunately, that did not change the fact that she was stuck here, only minutes of walking away from her goal. Even if she tried running the distance now, she would surely get lost. Night was quickly approaching and the rain was heavily limiting visibility as it was. Sighing, she started walking around the cave some more, bored out of her mind. Even Ori was sleeping at this point, clearly not bothered by the uncomfortable rocky floor he was laying on. Smiling at the sight of him, Leila's feet suddenly slipped and her body tumbled down few meters. Picking herself up, she realized that there was a tiny opening, leading deeper into the the mountain. Maybe a whole system of tunnels by the looks of it. Making her way back up, she quickly picked up her things and gently stuffed Ori back into the bag where he transformed back into a crystal ball.

Looking at the entrance again, it was clear how she managed to miss it until now. It was a hole in the ground, only big enough to fit one person at time. And suddenly, she felt rather excited and nervous at the same time. There was absolutely no information about a cave like this when she was reading about the local vegetation and geography. Of course, there was a chance that she was somewhere else than she actual though. Getting turned around in rain like the one that was outside of the cave would be rather easy after all. But even if that was the case, she still didn't remember reading about a cave that would have such a tiny entrance like this one. So it was very possible that she was finding something completely new right now. In this very moment, she was one of those explorers that you read about all the time, discovering new continents or animal species. Just on much smaller scale, but who knows what secrets could this place be hiding? There was only one way of truly finding out, and Leila was intending to give it her all. In the end, exploring all the unknowns was her reason for travelling through the Earthland. And leaving now would be sin most grave for her. Gulping loudly, she jumped in, landing on a stony slope, sliding down to a narrow hallway. She didn't see it before, but this actually looked artificially made, not like a natural cave. Bracing herself, she started walking forward without looking back or thinking about returning until she finds something worthwhile.

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Status
HP: 200
MP: 100%

Word count: 874

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Seeing light at the end of the narrow hall, Leila decided to continue very carefully. Sneaking around, she was always behind cover, not knowing what she could expect. Places like these could be littered with lethal traps or deadly wild animals. And both of those were not a great thing for her or for anyone, really. Hiding behind a fairly big boulder, she finally entered a big, open room that was illuminated from the center. Peeking from behind her cover, she noticed a campfire that was source of the light and two average looking figures near it. Looking more carefully, she made them out to be two men, both equipped with light clothing at bows. With filled quivers on their back, she could probably safely assume that they were archers of some kind. Perhaps hunters that were hunting in these parts and made their camp here. If that was the case, then they would surely be friendly. And yet, somehow she didn't want to take the risk of getting up and asking them. So instead, she just remained silent and completely still for a moment. Eventually, one of them started talking. "Hey, how much longer will it take them?" The other one just shrugged and sat down in front of the fire. The one speaking sighed and turned towards Leila's little hiding spot. Panicking slightly that he might have seen her, she quickly hid behind it as much as she could. And yet, he started slowly approaching. Making ready to attack, she almost blew her cover when he just leaned against her little boulder and faced towards him comrade again. "I mean, how long can it take to explore some tombs? Seriously, we should stick to robbing people that head into and from Ace Of Spades."

Those words sealed their fate, as Leila now knew that they were no hunters but bandits. Bloodthirsty bandits that were praying on the hopeless civilians who were unable to fight back. With a smirk on her face, she got ready. Her arms and legs transformed into claws and talons and with a heavy breath leaving her mouth, she attack. A strong and unexpected strike to the back of the head knocked the one who was talking out without any problems. Of course, the other one noticed it and quickly started readying his bow. Naturally, Leila wasn't waiting for him to just shoot her. She grabbed his buddy's unconscious body and dragged it in front of her as she approached him. That easily tripped him out, as he didn't want to shoot his supposed friend instead of her. He started backing away, but his back soon met the cave's wall. Once close enough, Leila threw the body at him and while he was distracted, attacked from the side. A perfectly aimed left hook from hard, wooden hand was enough to send his consciousness into the land of dreams as well. With a sigh, she started looking around their little camp until she found a sturdy looking rope. Trying them both near the fire, she just kinda left them there and looked around for more halls. And surely, there was one. After all, they were talking about the rest of their group going somewhere, exploring this cave. Disappointed that she wasn't the first person to find this cave, Leila let out a small sigh. But all this also meant that there was probably something valuable to gain here! Though she was unsure if she could take on an entire group of bandits, she didn't want to leave now. The fun part of exploration was just beginning after all. And so she headed down another hall.

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Status
HP: 200
MP: 100%

Word count: 609

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

It didn't take long before she found another big room of the cavern. And it was lit as well, probably a good indication that there was some sort of danger ahead. Sneaking carefully, she tried approach a nearby rock for cover, but her feet accidentally kicked into another rock that was on the ground, sending it right into the lit room. Destroying her stealth like an amateur, she quickly jumped up, ready to defend herself from incoming attacks. Only, there were none coming her way. In front of her was another camp, looking almost identical to the one she was just in. But there was not a soul here, it was completely abandoned. Dumbfounded by the sight in front of her, it took few moments before she actually realized that she could move forward without any problems. But she was still careful, just in case this some kind of trap for people like her. And after several minutes of rummaging through the campsite, she acknowledged that this was indeed just an empty camp. Nothing to see her, nor to fight. Nodding to herself, she picked up a small stick next to the fire pit and stirred it up slightly. Few seconds passed and she snapped the twig in half. "I just left one camp, why is there another one so close?!" She suddenly shouted, for some reason really annoyed by this fact. It was just... too illogical. It was stupid and wasteful. But she was dealing with wild bandits, who knows what's going on inside of their heads. Although, the fact that this camp was completely empty, it was possible that there was something dangerous ahead that made occupants of this place disappear. She didn't even want to consider that option, it sent shivers down her spine. Shaking her head, she just decided to continue going forward, not giving it much thought.

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Status
HP: 200
MP: 100%

Word count: 312

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

These halls were much longer than the ones until now and there was more of them without bigger and open rooms. This change probably indicated that Leila finally got somewhere else than the entrance to this whole place. Even the stones were starting to look faded and taken back by the nature. The mossy floor was slightly flipper and broken at several pieces too. Eventually, Leila got to another corner that lead into yet another hallway. But this one was different. Once she got past the corner, she returned behind it in mild panic. What she was gave her quite the startle. There were three skeletons just walking down the hall, two of them accompanied by dangerously looking flaming hounds. Skeletal enemies, that she could handle easily. But a creature that was seemingly created out of hellish flames, that was a problem. After all, fire was one of her greatest enemies. Gulping, she had to prepare her attack. It didn't seem that she would get as lucky as she did with the archers and she would have to attack this group of five directly. Getting ready, she placed her hand on the dirty ground when they were all clumped together and launched her first spell. The faded bricks started rapidly rising from their place as her roots broke their way towards the horde. And once there, large number of roots flew into the air and started crushing bones of the skeletons. It actually seemed that her roots were working as a good blunt weapon against these guys, perhaps better than a sharp, elemental spells would. That was good, but it sure made them angry.

The hounds quickly started running towards Leila while the skeletons were stuck in the roots for the moment. Quickly extending her hands forward, she suddenly screamed "Wait!" And the hounds actually stopped. She wasn't sure if it would work on them... but it seemed to do it's job. Her magic was connected to nature and even creatures like these were part of it. Thanks to that, animal predators were always reluctant to fight and harm Leila, and that was happening right now. The flaming pups looked at each other and started backing away for a moment. And when the skeletons started breaking free, one of the hounds simply ran off, not interested in fighting. But the other one remained, though he was still not attacking which gave Leila chance to deal with the other problem. Those guardians were equipped with sharp looking swords and they were running directly at her in a line. But that also gave her an idea, as she started backing to a wall. And once her back was touching it, and the skeletons almost in range for their swords to be effective, she jumped and cast another spell. This time, forming roots in the wall, only to have them entwined and shot out of the wall like a spike that pierced all three of the skeletons in a line. Leila safely landed on her newly created column and with her sharp talons instead of toes moved towards impaled skeletons. "My apologies for this..." She tried to clear things up between them and crushed their skulls, one at the time. But once she was done, she quickly realized that her spike was burning. Jumping down, she saw the hound running straight at her and trying to bite. With some momentum left from leaping before, she was able to dodge to the side and stab the poor thing into it's side with her claw.

With a sad sounding squeak, it sank it's own claws into the stone and turned around, growling at Leila. This thing was resilient and her strike didn't do as much damage as she hoped. Soon enough, the beast launched another attack, but Leila quickly formed a seal that stopped it's movement. The fact that she was throwing one spell after another wasn't exactly the best, but she had to in order to beat this thing. Frozen in place, she jumped and landed on it's back, tearing it's skin with her talons and then crushing it's head with her full force several times until the flaming hound passed out. As soon as that was done, she quickly got off the thing, her legs and hands burned slightly. It was painful for them both, but she emerged victorious. Even though her body did get damaged, just like if he was to bite her. Sighing, she looked around and moved along, wondering just how did those bandits managed to avoid this hall. Unless they didn't and there were no more bandits waiting ahead. That would explain the archer asking why are they taking so long. Dead people usually do take their sweet time, no matter who's waiting at them. Or maybe they found another way around, which made her decision to find kinda questionable. But there was nothing she could do about it now, so she just moved along, still making sure to stay hidden in case she runs into another undead patrol or another bandit camp.

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Status
HP: 180
MP: 60%

Word count: 844

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

And sure enough, there it was. Another empty bandit camp. This time, Leila didn't even bother with sneaking around, somehow she just knew that it was going to be empty. These bandits sure liked their camps, maybe to a fault. Since she got injures slightly in the previous encounter, she had the option to rest a bit by the fire here and recover a small portion of her vitality. And while she was at it, she also activated another one of Eden's abilities, allowing her to gather magical energy a little faster. Those skeletons and hell hounds were rather sturdy and if there was chance of running into them again, she would need all the energy in the world. And so, she sat down by the fire and started resting. Laying on the ground in front of the warm fire in this cold cave, she might have even dozed off into the dreamland there for a moment, but the spooky sounds of cave immediately woke her up again. After several minutes, she got up, checked her things and stretched a little. "Unnecessary camps aside, this cave system really is big..." she suddenly spoke out loud to herself. She already went through several bigger rooms and even more hallways. Whatever this place really was, it was probably very important. Otherwise no one would bother building all of this. But there was no indication of what this place actually was, so she only shrugged and continued going forward. She would reach the end eventually this way, right?

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Status
HP: 200
MP: 62%

Word count: 255

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Hearing voices in the distance, Leila confirmed that there would indeed be another encounter soon. And since those voices sounded very much human, it meant that it was bandits. Sneaking close to another camp, she saw two more archers that were having a friendly chat about stealing from nobles by the fire. Truly, a story worth telling to your friend when you're waiting in a huge cave system, waiting for the rest of your squad to return. Sighing silently, Leila at least know that these guys weren't exactly sturdy. Their arrows were probably painful, but as long as she attacked first, they wouldn't stand a chance. Giving herself couple of minutes, she came up with a plan of attack and lunched at them directly. Of course, they saw her and started readying their bows, trying to shoot at her. But they weren't far enough, Leila created a wooden whip in her arm and quickly slashed at their hands, making them unable to fire their arrows. And in that moment, she got close and with a strong punch right into the gob, she knocked one out. The other wan panicked majorly, trying to shoot at such close distance. And he actually did, but his aim was off. The arrow only managed to graze Leila's shoulder, dealing only a fraction of damage that it would normally do if it hit here square in the flesh. She grabbed his wooden bow and tossed it aside, pushing the poor man to the ground. Not waiting for his reaction, she kneeled down on top of him and placed her claws right to his neck, every so slightly pocking his flesh as a warning to not move a single inch.

"Now, if you don't want me to bleed you like a pig, you should tell me what are you doing here." She tried her cold, distant persona of a seasoned killer. Not many chances to try out that 'personality', especially since she actually didn't want to kill him at all. In fact, she was sometimes reluctant to even hurt her foes in the battle. The archer gulped and closed his eyes, his body shaking and clearly indicating that he didn't want to die. We... we're just waiting here, me and my friend... for other to return with the loot, I swear! It was believable enough, after all, the other camp of archers was doing exactly the same thing. "What is this place? What kind of loot are we talking about here? Answer!" Pressing those claws of hers against his rough skin even more, she asked for details. With info like that, she could get much better picture of this whole place and what she could expect from it. "G..gold I think! I'm not sure, no one was, I swear on my mother! Boss said that some pirate guy was buried here, surely hid some of his treasure here too! I... I don't know anything else, please, leave me be!" Sighing, Leila moved her claw hands away from his neck and instead just punched him in the face with a full-force swing, knocking him out cold. As she got up, she looked around for another hallway. She didn't get that much info, but pirate tombs were surely holding some secrets, no doubts about that. And she intended to find them all!

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Status
HP: 200
MP: 66%

Word count: 554

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Seeing light at the end of the hallway, she already knew that there was yet another camp nearby. It was wasn't even worth commenting anymore, they were absolutely everywhere. And she meant that, these caves were littered with bandit outposts where few archers always waited. But this time, there was a little spin on things. When Leila hid behind a nearby rock formation, she saw a bright light approaching from the other hall where she would eventually go. And so did the archers. Alarmed, they got ready for a fight. And good thing too, because two hell hounds soon appeared at the edge of the camp. Afraid of the beasts, the archers started firing at them without second thought. And despite how weak they were in the durability department, their aim was nearly perfect. They both landed two hits at each of the hounds before those doggies got close enough to attack. Unfortunately for the archers, these poochies were not as nice as Leila. They were thirsty for blood. Human blood non the less. Jumping at one of the archers, the hound ripped his neck into pieces, killing him swiftly while the other ran. But even he would soon feel those sharp teeth in his leg, falling to the ground as a result. Didn't take long before he got absolutely massacred as well. It was rather gruesome, showing that these dogs were no joke and they had absolutely zero mercy for anyone who invaded these tombs. Though, why pirates had hell hounds for patrols, that was still kinda unclear to Leila who was watching it all. The arrows that landed were soon burned by their flames too, but the wounds stayed and that got her a little advantage.

Ready for attack, she reacted more roots underground and sent them over the where the dogs were. Luckily for her, they were both feeding on one of the corpses, making the both easy target for spells that covered more ground. And as one attack was in progress, she summoned another. A small flower right next to her, with a bright, blue fruit that would explode on impakt. The roots finally got the the place and shot out of the ground, restraining and crushing the dogs while she threw the bomb fruit. It landed right in between them, getting both of them equally. With the damage from before, all she had to do was to quickly get there and hit them few times with her claws as they were confused, moving around slowly. After that, they simply fell to the ground. They were done for, just like the archers. This encounter worked surprisingly well for Leila and provided her with a valuable information as well. Those hounds were only allied to the skeletons and not to the bandits. That made things easier, assuring that if they were to meet, they would indeed fight. Though, she would still have to take care of the surviving party. But still, the less work for her, the better. Trying to not look at the massacred bodies, she made her way around the whole camp this time, going the same way those hounds came. Hopefully that didn't meant there would be more of them, her magical energy was getting dangerously low and she had no idea how much further the end was. And if she was to run out of magical energy before finding the end, that would be very troublesome indeed.

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Status
HP: 190
MP: 41%

Word count: 574

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

After crawling through another mossy hallway, it finally looked like she found something new. Another room, fairly similar in structure to the others. But this one had several coffins, five to be exact. Which was probably the reason why there was another group of skeletons, ready to bite on some fresh flesh. Quickly running and sliding behind one of the coffins, Leila attempted to hide her presence for now. And only after hearing a strange noise she realized that those skellies weren't the only ones here. On the other side of the room were bandit archers again and one of them managed to hit one of the skeletons right in the skull with an arrow. It was amazing how much better they performed when their enemy was standing in front of them instead of hiding in the shadows like she was until now. Several more arrows buried into the undead's bones, but in the end, they got close enough to chop those bandits into tiny pieces. In the end, arrows were poor choice of weapon against something that doesn't have any flesh. Hitting bones from that fire away was feat in on it's own. And now, it was Leila who had to face what was left. But if nothing else, her enemies were at least a little hurting from their encounter just now. Grabbing the lid of the coffin she was behind, she quickly threw it against the unsuspecting skeletons, almost flattening them. And when they were too busy trying to get that slab of stone from them, she got to their backs and started tearing their bodies apart with claws. She even kicked one of them with her talons into the skull, cracking it effectively. At this point, she had to save as much magical energy as possible so tactic like this was pretty effective.

Once she dispatched of the enemies, she started looking around. This was a completely new type of room that she haven't encountered yet, so it was worth investigating at least a little. Not to mention those coffins, that really confirmed that she was inside of a tomb. And perhaps, they were filled with those treasures that the bandits were after. Sliding the stone slabs from the coffins, she took look into one after another. Unfortunately for her, all they contained was dust and few bones. "Ueh, guess they were just homes for those guardian skeletons..." she spoke to herself out loud again as she sat down, leaning against the fifth coffin. By now, the rain probably stopped and she was free to return and go into the Ace Of Spades. But instead, she was kinda stuck here with bandits and undead pirates. Which also made her wonder. Why were there skeletons? Hell hounds aside, was there some kind of necromancer that reanimated all those dead pirates? Or perhaps it was work of a curse that made them unable to find peace, having them wander these holes till the end of ages. That would be one cruel fate indeed. And if that really was the case, she should probably at least try to help them, even though they are actively trying to kill her. Getting back up on her two feet, she started looking for another hallway that would lead her further into the catacombs. And once she found it, she didn't hesitate to continue down that way, hoping that the end was getting near.

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Status
HP: 190
MP: 51%

Word count: 570

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Getting to another room filled with coffins, Leila started to be mildly confused. In front of her, she saw exactly the same scene from few minutes ago. With déjà vu like this, she started thinking that maybe she's starting to go a little insane from wandering this place for too long. Even the whole scene played out almost the same. The only real difference was the fact that the skeletons didn't take as much damage as those in the previous room, that made it a little harder for her. But with her spells, dispatching them still wasn't too hard. Placing her hand on the ground when they were all together, she created roots that unearthed below them and started crushing their bones, effectively destroying them with ease. With this room conquered, there was another batch of poor, dead bandits. This place really was dangerous for anyone, not just her. And just in case, she went through all of the coffins too, hoping that she would find something useful. But universe decided to only give her more dust, bones and stones. Nothing useful at all. Scratching her head, she yawned and stretched a little. After she's done with this place, she should be deserved with title of the real cave explorer or something, this place was getting ridiculous. But maybe two same rooms next to each other meant something They were both filled with bandits and skeletons after all. So maybe she was getting close to the end where the defenses on both sides thickened. In any case, she was really glad that those bandits didn't manage to make friends with the guardians. If she had to fight them all at once, she would probably be done for. And so she continued.

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Status
HP: 190
MP: 41%

Word count: 291

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :