The Arts Ardane 02

Lorelle carefully scanned the sides of the trail, judging the conditions right for Wyvern Tongue. It only grew under very specific conditions, and the plant that grew from the root that was the prize they sought looked like any number of other plants that shared the undergrowth of the forest with it.

Around noon, Lorelle spotted something and walked off the trail to examine it more closely. She smiled and called to the rest of the group, "I found some!"

Devan walked over as Lorelle dug up the plant. Lorelle pointed out the features of the plant, which looked much like a dandelion, except it had red veins running through the leaves of the plant. She carefully dug up the two plants she had found, and then explored the nearby woods for more.

Darmok wandered off to look for ghosts or bandits again while Devan searched the area as well. Matusen just sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, not really having anything to do.

Lorelle found four more plants, and Devan found one before they paused to eat the noon meal. Lorelle said the location was perfect for the plants, and they could probably find all they needed in this area.

It took them a few hours, but they eventually filled their sacks with the long taproots of the plants. They now had twice as much as the amount Lorelle had sold a couple of days before. Each root was carefully wrapped in cloth as soon as it was dug up, because exposure to sunlight for more than a few moments destroyed the potency of it. That and the difficulty in locating the plant was what made it so hard to find in many herbal shops.

The traveling companions were about to have an evening meal of trail bread and dried beef when Darmok returned to the camp with a brace of squirrels he had brought down with a sling.

Lorelle gratefully put away the trail fare and roasted squirrel on a fire instead.

Once everyone finished eating and Matusen extinguished the trailside fire, the group backtracked to a more suitable location to set up camp for the night. Roasting the squirrels had extended the time they would be on the road, but all felt it was worth it. The group managed to set up camp in plenty of time before darkness settled over the woods.

Matusen suggested the same watch as the night before, and once again, Devan noticed Lorelle creeping from the tent shortly after Devan returned to it. Devan was not quite as exhausted tonight as on the previous night, so she plainly heard the sound of Lorelle slurping on Matusen's manhood this time.

Even though the man was completely unattractive to her, the thought that Lorelle was sucking his cock only a few feet away made Devan wet. The sounds stopped for a moment, and something new replaced them. Devan couldn't help but peek outside the tent to see what had caused the change.

What she saw was Lorelle's bare bottom bobbing up and down over Matusen's legs. The new sounds was the squishing of his rod sliding into her depths, and her ass bouncing off his legs in an ever-increasing tempo. Those sounds were soon joined by quiet moans and groans from the couple. The firelight reflected off Matusen's slick member every time Lorelle rose up to impale herself on him again.

Devan's hand found its way down between her legs, her sex screaming for attention and refusing to be ignored. She couldn't take her eyes off the scene before her, her fingers pulling her panties aside and slipping between her moist lips.

Devan stroked two fingers into her depths, the fingers of her other hand rubbing her bud. Lorelle started to slam down harder on Matusen's cock, her sounds of pleasure growing louder. Devan's hands moved faster in pace with Lorelle's hips, and she bit her lip to trap her own sounds of pleasure.
Lorelle suddenly sat bolt upright, a low moan emerging from her throat as she sat impaled on Matusen's shaft. She pinched her nipples and pulled them outward, her body shuddering.

Devan's hands moved rapidly now, the growing heat of her impending orgasm swelling in her loins. It was all she could do to remain silent, her eyes still locked on the couple fucking in the firelight.

Lorelle's hips bounced spastically over him a pair of times, and then she gasped, falling forward. His hands found their way to her buttocks, tightly gripping them. He thrust up into her, causing Lorelle to gasp and bite off a yelp.

Matusen's hips thrust up at Lorelle fast, and Devan heard the woman release a moan that she attempted to choke off as she obviously reached another peak. Matusen's movement suddenly stopped and Devan heard him groan.

Devan could almost feel his hot cum flooding her depths as his seed spurted deep into Lorelle. Devan's body stiffened and it took every ounce of her will not to cry out as her own orgasm gripped her.

Devan curled up into a ball as her orgasm refused to let her go, pulling her head back inside the tent. She stroked her fingers inside her a few more times, causing her to curl up even tighter and emit a quiet, choked off yelp of pleasure. She jerked her fingers out of her depths and brought them to her mouth, sucking her wetness from them, and covered her quivering sex with her other hand as she slowly spiraled down from her peak.

She had only just managed to pull her panties back into place and regain her composure when Lorelle returned to the tent. The scent of Devan's arousal hung heavily in the air, and Lorelle smiled knowingly at Devan feigning sleep.

Lorelle curled up in her blankets and drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~
*D<~>D***********
~~~~~~~

The group packed up their camp and set out early, believing they could make it back to town before nightfall if they didn't dally. Matusen seemed to have an additional spring in his step as he walked.

Unfortunately, so did Darmok.

His constant chatter gave Devan a feeling as if a bee was hovering next to her ear from the moment she started walking. The kampar constantly darted off the trail, bringing back this or that interesting – to him – objects and trying to draw everyone into conversation about them.

The traveling companions made good time, and Devan estimated that they were perhaps an hour away from the edge of the woods. Darmok had once again darted off the trail into the underbrush, and while Devan was glad for the brief respite in his chatter, she groaned knowing that he would trot back soon enough with a deer antler or some other piece of junk to annoy her again.

"Hey everybody, wait up! I found a dark and spooky staircase leading down into the ground over here!"

Devan rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath, "Good. Go fall down the stairs."

"A staircase? The Kampar has lost what little mind he had. We're in the middle of the damn woods," Matusen grumbled, shaking his head and turning to continue down the trail.

"Maybe we should go take a look," Lorelle suggested.

Devan and Matusen both stopped walking and turned to look at Lorelle in surprise.

"It could be an old cellar or something similar. The conditions around here are perfect for Dwarf Beard fungus and a few other types of fungi we don't have in the shop. An old cellar would be the perfect place for them to grow."

Devan considered for a moment and realized Lorelle was right. Finding some Dwarf Beard would provide a welcome addition to their stores. It had uses in both magic and herbal healing. "Maybe we should check it out."

"I don't have any torches," Matusen offered as an excuse to continue on their way.

Lorelle smiled. "We don't need them. Show us this staircase Darmok."
Darmok's face sprouted a huge smile and he pointed. "It's right over here, just a little off the trail. Follow me!"

The little man bounded off into the undergrowth, and the other three followed. When they reached the spot, Devan saw that there was indeed a moss-covered staircase leading down into the earth.

Matusen kicked at a mossy stone nearby. "These are worked stone. There was a house or something here at some point."

"A little light, Devan? Yours are always brighter and last longer than mine," Lorelle requested.

Devan cast her spell, and a brightly glowing orb of light appeared in her hand. She sent it drifting down into hole, illuminating more of the stairs. Peering down, she could see the landing at the bottom and little else.

"Wow, you can do magic! Do some more!" Darmok exclaimed, clapping his hands and staring at the globe of light.

"How about I turn you into a toad and look for a snake?" Devan mumbled.

"That sounds fun! Could you make me a purple toad with green spots? I don't think I'd like being a regular old boring toad."

Devan groaned and walked down the stairs. The Kampar bounded down after her, with Matusen and Lorelle following.

Once the four emerged from the staircase, they found themselves in what must have been a true basement, much more than a simple cellar. The walls, floor, and ceiling were worked stone, supported by columns. Devan saw a few pieces of collapsed and rotting wooden furniture, but other than that, the basement was empty.

"Look – Dwarf Beard," Lorelle exclaimed and walked over toward a rotting desk that was covered in spots of fuzzy fungus.

Once again, Matusen was lost. He sat down on the last step while the women gathered up the fungus. The excitable halfling moved all around the room, peering into cracks in the walls and under the crumbling furniture.

Lorelle and Devan had just finished scraping away the fungus when they heard Darmok say, "Hey, what's this?"

The sound of stone grinding on stone startled everyone, the volume of the noise and the echoes it produced in the basement causing everyone’s teeth to grind.

Looking over toward the kampar, Devan saw him standing in front of a hidden door. "Wow! A secret passage!" He exclaimed and immediately darted inside.

Lorelle stepped into the room after him and quietly said, "Oh my, what have we here?" She knew full well what the room was, in truth. Devan likewise immediately recognized a wizard's lab and library when she stepped through the door.

The room was just large enough to contain the bookshelves, a pair of work desks, and a few chairs. These had been protected from the elements, and everything was in good condition.

Matusen at least had the luxury of sitting in a chair while the women gathered up things this time. The women were constantly forced to slap away Darmok's hands as he reached for things.

Darmok protested when Devan snatched something out of his hands, "I was just going to look at it! Have you ever considered being a prison guard instead of a magic user? You're really good at taking all the fun out of life, and that seems to be what prison guards are best at."

"I might consider being a kampar hunter," Devan growled under her breath.

"You could accidentally release magic from something, Darmok, and we have no idea yet what some of these things might do," Lorelle tried to explain.

The warning hardly discouraged Darmok. He stood up on his tiptoes and bounced on them. “Wow! That sounds like real fun!"

"You could accidentally set yourself on fire, or melt all the flesh off your bones," Devan warned, trying to frighten the halfling.

The Kampar cried out, "Oh, wow!" Running over to Devan he said, "I bet I would make a really scary skeleton. I could hide out in graveyards and jump out from behind tombstones and make scary noises. Better yet, I could go to jails and scare the pants off of prison guards. Do you really think I might turn into a skeleton?"

Devan rolled her eyes, groaned, and turned away from the kampar. She then held up something she had found to show Lorelle. "Recognize this?"

Lorelle laughed in delight. "A Rift Window! I was worried we would have to come back here and get all this, but we can send it right back to the house with that."

"We can probably get some real food from the house too, before the magic burns out. It has to be getting dark. We'll probably have to camp again for the night," Devan suggested.

"Good idea. Let's get all this into a pile on that work desk so we can get it through quickly."

~~~~~~~
*D<~>D***********
~~~~~~~

Once Devan and Lorelle deposited all the things from the room into their home with the magic item's power, they used it to acquire food from the pantry as well. The meal of ham and vegetable soup made for a much more cheery camp that night, and Lorelle would have bacon and eggs to cook again in the morning.

Once again, they set the same watch, and once again, Devan could not help but peek out when she heard Lorelle and Matusen coupling in the night. This time, Lorelle stood bent over with her hands braced on a tree, and Matusen pounding her hard from behind.

Devan's fingers brought her to climax as Matusen grunted and emptied his seed into Lorelle, a repeat of the previous night.

After breakfast the next morning, the group broke camp and started down the trail. It wouldn't take them very long to exit the woods from where they were, and they would soon reach home.

Devan saw Darmok fiddling with something and immediately recognized it as a magical wand. She walked up and confronted him, reaching for the wand. "Where did you get that?"

Darmok snatched the wand away from her grasp just in time and told her, "Back where we found all those books. It's pretty isn't it?"

"Let me see that," Devan ordered and reached out toward the wand. A tiny spark of electricity shot from the wand and zapped Devan's hand. She snatched it back with an exclamation and scowled at the kampar.

"I didn't do it!"

Lorelle looked at the wand. "It must have bonded to him. I've never heard of any magic item bonding to a kampar – or any halfling – but there's no other explanation. I guess it's his now, though it won't be much more than a curiosity without the command word."

Darmok asked, "Command word?"

"A special word that makes the wand work. They are all different, and unless you know the right word, it won't do much."

"Oh, I could guess! This will be fun!"

Devan and Matusen both simultaneously groaned and started walking down the trail again. Darmok pointed the wand at helpless trees and bushes, saying random words and phrases all the way.

"Abracadabra! I heard a magician say that at a fair once. Humph, doesn't work."

"Alakazam!"

"Poof!"

"Make magic!"

Devan tried to ignore the constant stream of words, knowing it was as about as likely lightning striking you for the kampar to guess the right word. That was certainly a comforting thought, because it was obvious in Devan's second sight that the item possessed great power. The thought of that much magic power with a kampar commanding it was enough to make any person's stomach knot up in fear.

The two women started when Matusen and Darmok both pulled up short a few minutes later, the kampar immediately going silent. The annoying creature's silence served to give Devan a feeling of foreboding.

Matusen moved over and whispered, "Something is out there. It wasn't anything natural. Something out there is flanking us."

Devan and Lorelle reached into their spell component bags, preparing to hurl magic at any foes that might appear.

Matusen suddenly looked around, and the women heard sounds out in the woods as well. Matusen sniffed the air and cursed, "Shit! Goblins – lots of them. We've got to run." He punctuated the statement by pushing the two women down the trail.

Devan ran, and heard the sounds behind her increase. When Devan glanced over her shoulder, she saw dozens of the ugly goblins boiling out of the woods, running toward them.

There was no time to cast any spells to try to slow them down. The only hope the traveling companions had lay in escape, or finding a place that they could defend that would keep too many of the monsters from reaching them at once.

"Hey, you wood troll's butt warts! Over here!" Darmok's voice erupted from the trail behind them.

A few of the creatures turned toward the voice and snarled.

"That's right, I'm talking to you. Is that your face, or are you walking on your hands, butthead? It's hard to tell when your breath smells just like your ass!"

More of the creatures skidded to a halt, and the rest slowed to look around, searching for Darmok, who was hidden somewhere off the trail.

Matusen screamed, "There!"

Devan turned to see him pointing at a spot where deadfalls and a few boulders made a natural barrier. She hurried into it, the goblins that had not stopped to look for Darmok fast approaching.

Darmok continued to shout insults at the goblins. "I've seen better looking heads on an ogre's nut warts! They were probably smarter too!"

The other three vaulted quickly into the tangle. Matusen stood ready to defend against the approaching goblins while Devan and Lorelle cast their spells.

"Hey you! I think I've met your mother! She oinks a lot, but she still smells better than you!"

Lorelle completed her spell and magical missiles felled one of the approaching goblins. The monsters all dived for cover then, frightened by the use of magic. Devan's lightning bolt, which almost immediately followed the missiles, sent three more goblins to the ground. That display of power completely panicked the monsters. The goblins all ceased advancing, and many turned to run the other way.

"Horse dung is smarter than all of you put together! I bet... Uh oh." Darmok's voice rang out, the last preceded by a sharp crack.

Darmok appeared then, hanging precariously from a limb as the one he had stood on previously dropped to the ground. He scrambled to climb up on the limb, the goblins growling and moving toward him.

Devan didn't really like Darmok, but she hated goblins. She started to cast her lightning bolt again, and heard Lorelle chanting as well.

Darmok managed to get back up and perch on the limb from which he had been dangling. The goblins reached the base of the tree and starting to climb. "Uh oh," Darmok said again. He looked around, but didn’t see any way he could climb higher or jump to another tree. He pulled out the wand, pointed it down toward the goblins, and screamed, "Work!"

Both Devan and Lorelle's spells were ruined when the roar of flame coming from the wand startled them. The goblins climbing the tree dropped to the ground as burnt husks, trailing smoke.

The little kampar laughed and aimed the wand at another group of the monsters. "Work!" He hollered with glee. Bright balls of magic leapt from the wand and streaked toward the monsters. These exploded in bright flashes of light, dropping at least a dozen goblins to the ground – many of them in several pieces.

The three in the tangle watched in open-mouthed awe as Darmok continued to aim his wand and shout, "Work!"

The wand discharged a myriad of magical attacks. Everywhere goblins were falling, or running for their lives back into the woods.

Once all the goblins had fled, Matusen and the two women emerged from the tangle to see Darmok dropping down out of the tree with a wide smile on his face. "I should have a better name, since I'm a great and powerful wizard now. How about Darmok the Magnificent? Darmok the Amazing?"

Devan shook her head. "Gods save us all – a kampar with a powerful magic wand. The world as we know it is going to fall apart."

Matusen covered his nose. "Let's just get out of here. Goblins smell bad enough when they're alive. I never thought anything could smell worse, but burnt goblin is exactly that."

Darmok put away his wand. "I should really find a nice wizard robe. A great and powerful wizard should have a robe."

The other three all shook their heads and turned to follow the trail out of the woods. Darmok mused about being a wizard and skipped merrily all the way.