Nikki’s fire spell had sadly missed most of its intended effect as the only thing it managed to do was to scorch away one of the eyebrows from the spearman who managed to dodge out of the way just in time. Their ranger starts peppering us with arrows but to little to no effect either as Sam is returning fire almost constantly, keeping their ranger on the move, never giving them the possibility to aim their shots. Wounds that occasionally pop up are healed by both me and their healer, practically putting us at an impasse with not a single party gaining the upper hand. Until their mage decided to try break that impasse that is. I see him channeling some sort of lightning spell above his head but right before the cast is ready. All of the sudden the lightning dies out and the mage collapses to his knees. A blade sticking through his chest. Behind him stands our trustworthy leader, who’d managed to sneak away in the commotion and ended up behind the other party.

“We can still win if we kill their healer!” The spearman shouts with a grin on his face. He looks at me menacingly and in the blink of an eye he disappears, only to reappear next to me. “Sorry bossman, not taking her prisoner.” The spearman trusts his spear at me and because it all happened so fast, I had no time to dodge.

“Not. Gonna. Happen.” My sister, somehow having anticipated that move, shield bashed the spearman against the tree, knocking him out cold.

“Thanks, sis.”

“Told ya we were going to protect you.” She pets my head but that’s also when an arrow dinged off her armour “Just give me a second, we still have some cleanup to do.”

From that point on it was, like Élise said, just some cleanup. One of Sam’s arrows finally manages to catch the ranger, slowing them down just enough to immediately land a couple more. As for their healer, Nikki had been preparing a fireball that just instantly obliterated the part of the forest she was standing in, leaving nothing but ash. The inquisitor tried to run but got bonked in the head by Hilda’s cane so we could take him prisoner.

“What do we do with the spear guy?” Sam asks while probing the unconscious man with one of her arrows.

“Leaving him here will definitely bite us in the ass.” Élise comments while inspecting the little dent in her armour. “If we kill him he’ll just respawn in the nearest town they are attuned to which is probably on the old continent.”

“I don’t know if I’d want to kill a man that’s unconscious…” I say, looking down at him.

“But, that way he can continue adventuring with his friends again. So it is probably the right move to just finish him.” Hilda replies. “There is a possibility they’ll come after us again because humans like to hold grudges.”

“By the time they get their gear back together and get back over here, we will be long gone.” Nikki continues.

Hilda nods. “Yep, pretty much.”

“If you put it like that… But at least make sure he doesn’t suffer...”

“That ranger had a flask of poison, that’ll be pretty fast and painless. And if that doesn’t work I think I saw some herbs and toxic mushrooms too.” Sam gets up and runs over to the ranger’s body.

Sam swiftly returns with the flask of poison. “I double checked it, this poison should work almost instantly.”

“Always useful to have a ranger who knows herbalism.” Hilda pats my girlfriend on the back.

In the meantime my sister joins me. “If you don’t want to watch we can already start walking towards the Dwarger city. The rest will catch up to us.

“Hmm, I think I’d prefer that, yeah.”

“Okay.” Lise smiles and tells our plan to the rest of the party.

“Just don’t start running and we’ll be with you in five minutes.”

“Aight.” My sister picks up the inquisitor and then joins me at my side once more.

Sam takes a moment to kiss me goodbye and after that me and my sis start marching through the forest.

“Isn’t he too heavy for you?”

“Nah. This guy doesn’t weigh that much. I just need to watch out for tree roots that are sticking out. So if you see any just call them out for me, will you?”

“Mhmm.” I nod and start guiding my sister through the more dense parts of the forest. “I do have a question though.” I say after a minute of silence.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Sure, shoot.”

“What happens to player bodies after they die?”

“Ah, that’s actually a pretty interesting question.”

“Watch out for that root though.”

“Thanks.” Lise hops over the root and then continues her answer. “There’s an eight hour delay between people losing their last hp and resurrecting in the nearest town. When those eight hours have passed, the bodies they left behind disintegrate and get reassembled at their previous attunement spot.”

“And those eight hours are there as a timeframe for being resurrected by magic?”

“I think so, yes. It’s weird that the God who made this place thought about that all.”

“Another root.”

“Hup.” She jumps over the next one.

“But it’s true that it’s weird that God made this world like that… I wonder if they are still around.”

“The God, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe, but I got the feeling that if you get stronger and stronger we might run into them sooner or later.”

“Hmm, I’m not looking forward to that… what if they are aggressive?”

“Aint noone, even some God, messing with my sister and getting away with it in one piece.” Lise pumps up the muscles of her free arm, not that you could see them behind her armour. “Oh!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I just got a notification.”

“Want to wait a bit to read it?”

“Nah, I can read while I’m walking.”

“With all the tree roots.”

“I will put my faith in you little sis.” She laughs as she opens up her stat window. “Wow, nice!”

I guide my sister through a couple more roots. “What did you get?”

“Got a new skill called ‘Protector of the Goddess.’ ‘Your words and actions have proven your devotion to the Goddess and as such she’s granted you the title of her protector.’”

“Wait, I didn’t do that, I think…”

“Maybe it’s a subconscious thing?” My sis shrugs. “Anyhow, it continues. ‘Your defensive and offensive capabilities are buffed considerably when you act in the defense of your Goddess, your strength has been increased and furthermore, this skill has granted you a set of divine heavy armour in your inventory.’ Wait, really? That’s wicked!” Lise puts down the inquisitor next to a tree. “Sorry to stop for a sec, but I really want to check it out.”

“Of course, I’m quite curious too!” I make sure the inquisitor is still securely tied up and then patiently look at what my sister is doing.

She presses her HUD a couple of times before a set of armour appears in front of us on the ground. And apparently it comes with a sword and shield as well. “Amazing.” My sis picks up the chest piece and investigates it. “This metal is super rare and the gold trimming on it is just super sexy…” I could hear her almost start drooling. “Oh, and Ami, look at this.” She points her finger at a heraldic shield that was attached to her left pauldron. The heraldic symbol was engraved with rose gold and had a winged lioness holding a burning longsword.

“Is that supposed to be…”

“You? Yeah I think so! It’s so badass!”

“It’s embarrassing!” I hide my face in the palms of my hands.

“Nah.” My sister waves away my embarrassment like it’s nothing before she starts putting her armour, shield and sword away into her inventory.

“Aren’t you going to wear it?” I peek through my fingers.

“I want to inspect it a bit more closely, it has some stat buffs associated with it as well and I want to have the real experience of donning my armour for the first time. We will waste too much time if i do it now.”

Some rustling in the woods puts us on alert but we soon realize it’s the sound of the rest of the party catching up to us.

“Ah, you didn’t make it as far as I thought you would.” Hilda comments as she marches up to us. “Got tired, Lise?” She looks at the unconscious inquisitor next to us.

“No, she got a new skill and some armour to go with it so she wanted to check it out.”

“Yup!” Élise enthusiastically replies as she picks up the inquisitor again.

“Amicia’s Goddess shenanigans at work again?” Nikki helps her partner with dead weight so my sis can get the inquisitor on her shoulder a bit easier.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Awh, when am I going to get some cool stuff?”

“And me too!” Sam fakes a pout.

“Eh, you just gotta realize I’m way cooler and that’s why I get cool stuff, y’know.”

“Do you think she can follow us with that body on her shoulder if we double our pace?”

“Probably not, she already needs help not to stumble over roots.”

“Nooo! Don’t go! I don’t want to walk alone.”

“Should have thought about that before acting so ‘cool’.” Nikki says as she just walks off.

“Nooooo! Come back!” My sister runs after her, almost stumbling over the first tree root she encounters but she manages to balance herself just in time.

“Let’s not let our derps out of sight.” Hilda pats my shoulder and starts following Nikki and my sister.

Sam takes the opportunity of us being alone to pull me close to her, and give me a longish kiss. She whispers in my ear. “We should probably follow them, kitty.”

I blush. “I-I wasn’t the one who got us distracted…!”

My girlfriend takes my hand. “I know, but I couldn’t resist. I might need to distract us a bit more when we are in private later, though.”

My face got even redder. “Saaam, you are making me weak in the knees and we still have so long to waaaalk.”

“I can carry you so don’t worry about that.”

She does end up having to carry me for a bit until I'm able to walk again.

-Darn flirty forest cats….-