Exiting the arena, the Druchii that was there waiting for her was not Filnon, but instead one of the Wyches from that time with Hellebron. It made Estaria’s cheeks flush indignantly, but she held her posture - mostly because of the collar and corset, but a bit because of her own actual holding of the posture - and looked to the Druchii as she approached.
“So, the other day wasn’t exactly conversation material, but hi. I’m Rorralre. I was in the crowd where you fought on your first day, and you were a lot of fun so I decided to follow you here, back home. Your use of the Wrathflail was….inventive. But you could be quite glorious if you learned how to do it right” Rorralre stepped right into Estaria’s personal bubble and started playing with her exposed flesh while speaking to her. Though, there wasn’t really anything to it. Lacking the aphrodisiac skin and passionate emotions from Filnon or the magic charms of Hellebron, Estaria just felt like a little puppy was yapping at her and jumping up on her leg. Still, she wasn’t one to brush off help of any description, and so just smiled softly. Druchii were somewhat volatile and she was a slave, so they had to be handled with care.
“Thank you, Miss. I would be pleased to have your aid in this” Estaria gave a bow and then was dragged off to the training grounds, because apparently the Druchii meant right now training. It was good, Rorralre somehow managed to be quite the teacher while prioritising her own amusement and self-satisfaction. Or Estaria was just good enough to strain out the bits of help due to her stats and her Level 1 Proficiency blessing. Either way, it was something that she could use to help herself. The Wrathflails, once she learned how to use them, were pretty fun to use. The chains allowed for quite the range and freedom of movement, and added to her stats, she could see herself painting a beautiful picture of violence with these once she had a few lessons in their use. It was telling, that her views of weaponry were how showy and magnificent she could be with them, rather than their practical usage, but went in Nuln - or, when enslaved in Nuln and forced to put on a show for your very survival - and all that.
Very little spectacular - another telling point, as daily murder and blood-letting wasn’t spectacular these days, just a part of the norm - happened in the next few months. She starved Filnon of sex for a few days to show her annoyance, but when that reached its limit, Filnon dragged Estaria to the bed and gave her a night of passionate lovemaking. It was very strange, to engage in such acts rather than just be used like a toy, but a part of her mind wondered if Filnon realized what was happening. That while she had been manipulating Estaria to fall in love, Filnon was also falling for her own act, and becoming ensnared by her own trickery. Training with Rorralre went well and Estaria grasped the fine workings of the Wrathflail, which after a few sessions became a signature weapon for her. The fights grew in scale and her exp gains grew accordingly. She moved past splattering helpless people and got on to fights that actually challenged her, even with her God’s blessing. Even pushed into half her health by a trio of Druchii called the Sisters Of Slaughter. Though she kept them alive in the end, the exp gains were a very good amount.
As her level grew even higher, Estaria wondered about this system. How did it still have mobs that were of a scale. This wasn’t a dungeon, so these beings were true, living creatures. Were there really people that, by sheer stint of ability, could match her? It was amazing to think about, but she could not come with a true answer herself. She became a great household name of the Arena, The Sickle of Khaine, for how well she caused gratuitous arterial spray. Her bleeding talent helping on that front. It was quite flattering for them to title a Human Slave by the name of their God, but when you saw her splatter the arena with a Warboss’ blood and do it with such panche and grace, it was hard to resist the notion that she was touched by Khaine.
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Eventually, after getting out of the arena one day, Estaria got a new quest. The xp had mounted up to make her level 75, and the six traits had been spent on some interesting religious traits, among others. She never really felt overtly religious these days, but they looked fun, and the third one gave her a cool trick to let her cause bleeding with whatever she had to hand. Synergied well with her high Bleeding buff from the Exalted Blessing.
Apotheosis - Khaela Mensha Khaine
-Gain Exalted Blessing Of Khaine
-Gain Religious Prophet talent
-Travel to The Har Ganeth Temple
The first two were marked as complete, but going to the Har Ganeth Temple would be difficult. Even though she was famous in the city, she was still a slave, and some of the older Hags disliked her for prompting the young and foolish to believe her blessed by their God. So she turned to Filnon, who’s beauty and power had grown to a point she heard whispered that Malekith himself felt threatened by her. Owning Estaria had acted as a ability to gain a copy of the exp that Estaria earned, though unmodified by her human trait and reduced further from it’s second hand nature. So she was a level that made Filnon snicker every time she looked.
“Mmmistress~” Estaria rolled the word teasingly, walking up to her and sliding arms around her waist, kissing her neck as she did so to ease her lover into the right frame of mind. “I just got this strange quest to go to the Har Ganeth Temple. And I don’t want to cause a fuss just going, so do you mind taking me?” Estaria asked. The smile on Filnon’s face was a good sign, and when Estaria was suddenly pinned to the floor and kissed deeply, it was an even better one.
“Ohh, sounds like an interesting quest~ Colour me intrigued” Filnon kept Estaria on the floor for a few more seconds, before getting her shoes and the leash and dragging Estaria over to the temple.
Once there, the guards glared at them, but while they could fend off the slave well enough, it was hard to argue with a Wych favoured by Hellebron herself, so they let her in begrudgingly. Once she stepped onto the temple grounds, statues around her began to weep blood, and the cauldrons bubbled and roiled. The Wyches looked over and saw Filnon arrive just as the strange portents started, and rumors immediately began. Though Estaria’s eyes were on the new update to the quest.
-Enter the Cauldron
As if Estaria even needed to ask which one, it was lit up with a shaft of light. Though from the lack of reaction, Es assumed only she could see it. Informing Filnon of this, she was brought over to it, and then before anyone could try to stop her, jumped in. Whatever this quest did to her would be worth the trouble to smooth things over later. But then, she was caught off-guard, and soon began to think there was no later. Nothing was happening, and she was just falling in this sea of blood. Drastically, she turned backwards and tried to swim out, but for all her strength and all her speed, she got nowhere. How could a simple cauldron be so big? Thrashing in the blood, she flailed and clawed at the liquid, but to no avail. Her body slowly began to grow weak as she was drowning in the cauldron. Vision grayed, and then finally...finally, she could thrash no more, and the darkness took her into its embrace. It was beyond torture, to drown in a place that had a macabre degree of comfort inherent.