Sword and Sorceress
The adventurer strode through the misty forest, her
crimson cloak flowing around her body as she forced
her way forward, the road they were traveling
overgrown and tangled up with vines. The blonde was
garbed in simple armor, a chainmail shirt and metal
breastplate that gleamed as golden as her lovely long
hair.
"I think we're lost, Minako," the black haired young
woman said wryly from where she was walking beside her
calmly. Her own armor was plain brown leather, a rough
woolen cloak thrown over her shoulders to fend off the
chill mists.
"We are not lost, Hotaru," Minako said firmly as she
tried to peer through the white shroud over the land,
"I'm sure the city is around here... somewhere."
"That is so comforting," Hotaru said with amusement as
they continued on.
The old trail they were following got even worse, if
that was possible, but eventually a shape began to
grow out of the mist. The tower was part of a fallen
castle, the outer wall broken and the inner building
itself mostly falling into rubble. Built into one
corner the tower looked mostly intact, and from some
window up above they saw a flicker of firelight.
"It's not quite what I was expecting," Minako admitted
as they circled around to find the remnants of a main
road up to the castle, the large paving stones broken
up by grass and vines, "do you think we should go
check it out?"
"Might be worth while," Hotaru admitted, adjusting the
small pack of supplies she carried, one that matched
the bag the taller Minako carried.
They moved on almost as one, their boots tapping on
the stones as they neared the gate, studying the
rubble thoughtfully. Amid the wreckage were the long
dead remnants of monsters, goblins, orcs and others
left where they had fallen in taking the castle. They
climbed over the ruined gate and entered the
courtyard, the ground littered by broken shields and
swords, the signs of a failed human defense of the
place.
"No human bodies," Hotaru noted as they walked towards
the main gate of the castle, a black hole waiting to
swallow them up.
"I understand that this land burns their dead," Minako
noted, her blue eyes warily scanning their
surroundings.
"Maybe, but.." Hotaru started when with a bellow
things spilled out of the gate.
The goblins raced forward in a wild pack , howling and
snarling as over a dozen of them carrying rusted,
broken weapons in their gnarled hands attacked. The
squat, green skinned man-beasts weren't terribly
strong, but they likely thought strength of numbers
would carry the day. Sadly they were badly mistaken.
As the goblins reached them Minako kicked out with one
of her hard leather boots, sending the lead goblin
sprawling even as she drew her sword with a hiss. A
single powerful sweep of her weapon sent goblins
rolling away, splattering her and the ground with
green blood. "Come on, then," Minako purred to her now
shaken foes.
From behind Hotaru chanted, cupping her hands together
as light began to pulse between them. Drawing her
hands back she cried out a single word and unleashed
her spell, sending a fireball sweeping in to the
goblins. The explosion left a blackened hole in the
ground, the surviving goblins fleeing in terror out
towards the woods.
"You could have left me with more to do," Minako said
wryly as she knelt, using the rags off of one of the
goblins to wipe her sword clean.
Sounding more amused than anything else Hotaru said,
"I'll leave the next ones to you, if you wish."
Together they picked their way through the rubble,
heading into the shadows of the wrecked castle itself.
Minako swept her arm to get some cobwebs out of the
way as she smiled with honest affection, "Gee,
thanks."
"You're welcome," Hotaru looked up at her, a faint
blush coloring her cheeks.
Water dripped from the walls as the mist hit the cool
stones, the hall lined with moss and slime. The light
was dim, whatever came in through holes in the ceiling
and the faint glow coming from the odd mosses. They
were careful where they treaded on the slick stones,
making their way through the wreck towards the corner
where the tower was.
"It might be easier if I used my magic for light,"
Hotaru offered as they peered into a dimly lit room
filled with the garbage of years.
"Save your strength," Minako made a face at the stench
and closed a door, "I suspect we aren't done fighting
yet."
"You feel it too, then?" Hotaru asked.
"There's more in this ruin than us," Minako said
calmly, "and we're going to find it."
Moving up the hall they slowed as they heard sounds up
ahead. Gesturing Hotaru to be silent Minako peered
around the corner, taking in instantly what waited for
them. The Orcs were a bit like humans, but only in the
basic shape. Tall, with muscles that fit together
oddly they gathered at the base of the tower, clad in
furs and carrying wooden clubs.
Drawing back into concealment Minako said softly,
"They're going to be tougher than the goblins... do
you have another Fireball ready?"
Hotaru made a face, "No, I memorized a variety of
spells this morning rather than just one over and
over."
"There's a lot of them," Minako frowned, "I can
probably take them, but it won't be easy without
magic."
"I have my usual explosive spell," Hotaru sounded
apologetic, "but using it in here might not be too
wise."
"Tell me about it," Minako agreed, looking around at
the ruins around them and imagining what would happen
if you disturbed them much.
"I do have Sleep and Ensnare," Hotaru murmured
thoughtfully, "neither one would work on the whole
group but they should stop a lot of them together."
"Sounds good," Minako drew her sword as silently as
she could, "cast sleep first, then I'll charge. Once
I'm fighting the rest, use ensnare."
"Sounds like a plan," Hotaru agreed. She reached out
to put a hand on Minako's arm, "Be careful, love."
Minako patted her hand softly, "Always."
"Wait a moment," and Hotaru chanted softly, summoning
her magic.
Even as Hotaru unleashed her first spell Minako raced
around the corner, smiling as she saw several of the
Orcs stagger, then drop to the stones as the spell
struck. Sword in hand Minako swung to parry a blow
from one of the clubs, striking back viciously as she
drove her sword home in a fountain of black blood.
With an incoherent howl a orc swung for her head and
Minako barely ducked in time, feeling the nearness on
her skin. Taking advantage of an opening she swept her
blade across his neck, sending his head rolling to hit
the wall with a wet thump. Again and again she slew
the Orcs, focusing on keeping them occupied on her,
listening to Hotaru chant so musically behind her.
With a final cry Hotaru struck, her spell bolt
whizzing by Minako to strike the surviving orcs. In a
second it was almost as if a glowing, silvery
spider-web lay over them, but to the orcs the many
gleaming threads were as strong as steel. Hotaru
emerged from cover with a gleaming knife in her hand
as she said, "Let's finish this."
"Let's," Minako agreed and both women ruthlessly
finished their foes off.
With a bit of distaste they searched the fallen,
ultimately coming up with a few coins that they dumped
in a money pouch. "This would barely buy a meal,"
Hotaru noted as they pushed on the battered door to
the tower.
Looking up the darkened stairs warily Minako nodded,
"Let's hope there's more treasure upstairs or this is
going to be a wasted trip."
"You have no patience love," Hotaru teased softly as
they began to go up, "there could be tunnels beneath
this place, as well."
"True," Minako brightened a bit at the idea of more
fights and treasure. She looked at Hotaru as they
passed a window, "How are you doing for magic?"
"I still have four spells memorized," Hotaru reassured
Minako, "as well as several spell-scrolls I can fall
back on in an emergency."
"I know how costly they were, we'll try to save them,"
Minako vowed. The faint light made Hotaru's face
shine, giving her a almost unearthly beauty. Stopping
her a moment Minako leaned in and kissed her softly.
Gazing at the blushing younger woman Minako smile,
"Sorry, I haven't done that in a few hours and I
couldn't help myself."
Hotaru blushed a charming red as she murmured, "You
can do that anytime." Shaking herself she said, "But
first we have a tower to search."
"Maybe there'll be a bed up there soon," Minako
flashed a smile, "and we'll take a little break."
"Mina!" Hotaru scolded as they hurried up.
The door at the top of the stairs was in better shape,
a torch burning in the holder mounted on the wall.
Within they could hear muffled voices, but the stone
and thick wood made it impossible to tell who it might
be. "What do you think?" Minako asked after they
listened a moment.
"Burst in," Hotaru said briskly, "if it's a foe we'll
catch them by surprise, if it's a friend we can
apologize after."
"Right," Minako kicked the door hard, sending it
swinging open as they raced in... only to freeze as
she blurted, "You!"
"Took you long enough," Haruka Tenoh said with a
smile, the sandy haired bard tuning her lute as she
sat in a battered chair by the table. Her clothes were
silks and wool, bright colored and finely made like
the charming performer she was.
"Thank you," Michiru Kaoru smiled, the green haired
archer standing by the window. She wore leather armor
like Hotaru, her quiver resting on her back as she
picked up her short bow.
"How did you...?" Hotaru blinked.
"We were exploring like you when we entered the
tower," Haruka explained, "but the orcs got
reinforcements blocking our way before we could move
on."
OoOoOoOoOoO
"Clever, Ami," Minako conceded from where she was
sitting at the table, "I wondered how you'd have them
join our party."
The round table was cluttered with books and papers,
all of the normal signs of their weekly role-playing
sessions. There were the player's handbooks, magical
races, monster guides, dungeon master books, all the
different kinds of dice and character sheets as well
as miniatures to help them visualize the battle field.
Ami Mizuno sat behind the dungeon master's screen, her
blue hair falling into her eyes as she sorted her
papers. "Thank you," Ami pushed her glasses up with a
smile.
"Not bad at all," Michiru agreed from where she sat
with Haruka.
"Dropping her voice Minako said to Hotaru, "Thanks for
inviting me, this is a lot more enjoyable than I
thought it'd be."
"It's nice to have another newcomer here." Hotaru
nodded towards Haruka and Michiru, "they've been
playing this for years."
"Somehow I still have a hard time imaging Haruka being
into something like this for so long," Minako mused.
Ami softly confided, "Haruka still has the first
edition set for the game. I was impressed."
"Here's the sodas and I'll have the bowl of snacks in
a minute," Setsuna Meiou growled as she slapped the
bottles down on the table then stalked off, long black
hair swinging angrily.
Softly Michiru explained to the surprised Ami and
Michiru, "I think she's still annoyed that Pluto lost
it's planet classification recently."
"I HEARD THAT," Setsuna snapped from the other room.
"Ouch," Haruka winced. "I was wondering, is there a
reason you two wanted your characters to be lovers?"
she asked the newcomers with a impish look.
"No reason at all," Hotaru carefully didn't look at
Minako, knowing her face would reveal too much about
where their relationship had recently gone in real
life.
"So, where to next?" Minako asked Ami to change the
subject.
"The tunnels beneath the castle," Ami smiled at them
evily, "I have a very well designed dungeon waiting
for you."
"Read and willing," Hotaru nodded, reaching out to
covertly take Minako's hand.
End
Notes: I began to think of this after reading all the
'Gameword' stories from Megatokyo, as well as various
fantasy series. The RPG they're playing is Dungeons &
Dragons, more or less, based on my memories of when I
used to play it years ago. The idea of Haruka being
into D&D is inspired by a bit from Dreiser's fanfic
'Scenes from the Elevator' where she had Haruka be
into videogame RPGs.
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