By using his map, Telvin quickly guided them to a clearing that was hidden in the forest.  He had passed it while on the trail of the goblins. Surrounded by thick brambles and thorn bushes it would help prevent things sneaking up on them.

Pushing aside the bushes, they walked into the small clearing.  He cleared an area of rocks and sticks, that would serve as the base for a makeshift tent. Telvin pulled out the blankets he had gathered from the cave, he put them onto the ground he cleared. 

Riley laid Carol down upon the blankets with Mianda sitting down next to her.  Riley started to make a small campfire in the center of the clearing. While she was doing that, Telvin used some old rope and the remaining blankets to form a rough tent over the sleeping area.  

With her stomach growling, Diasne asked "Do you have any food?"

Telvin nodded and checked his pouch, he pulled out some strips of dried meat he had made a few days ago. "Here, this will have to do for tonight" 

Taking the strips from Telvin, Diasne broke it in half for both her and Mianda to eat.  Diasne sat next to Mianda under the tent and handed the little girl the food. Mianda took it and nibbled at it. 

Taking a quick look at the map, Telvin said "There is a stream nearby, I'll go and get some water." Before he left, he dumped a pile of junk wood he had collected in his inventory near Riley for the fire she was making.

As he walked to the small stream, Telvin took a moment to think about the women he had just saved. The orc woman Riley, he was intensely attracted to.  She was perhaps one of the most beautiful women he had seen. 

Most orc’s lived up far north in the cold regions.  From what Telvin had heard, they would send down trading parties this far.  Yet Riley did not seem like she was down here to do that. With her accent he actually placed her from coming from the south.

Moving on to the other woman was Mianda and the maid. Something seemed odd about the situation, while those Goblins were stronger than an average person, an experienced group of guards could have easily dispatched them. A daughter of a duke should have had several guards around her. With these thoughts he reached the stream. At that time two messages popped up.

 

 

Taking a look at the quest, Telvin frowned at the first quest. The games these nobles played, often led to the dead for the losing side, he wanted no part of it. Yet, from this quest, he felt like a noose was slowly closing around his neck.

The second quest looked like a blatant attempt by his new god to get him to convince another person to serve it. While Telvin had seen no evidence that it was an Evil God, that doesn't mean he wants to go around converting people to it's ways.

Closing the quest windows for now, he filled some pot’s he had picked up in the storage room with water.  He put them into his inventory after filling them for easy transport. As he was walking back to the camp he found some edible berries and plucked them for some extra food for the others.

Reaching the camp, he discovered Riley had managed to get a fire to go. Telvin said “Thanks for starting a fire. Nice to have one going when you're camping out.”

Riley nodded and said "Did you manage to get some water?"

“Yeah, here you go.”  Telvin said handing a pot over.

Riley took it and hung it over the fire. "I'll get it boiling. Do you have any more of that meat?" 

“Yeah I have a few more strips,” pulling out the rest of the meat from his pouch he split it with Riley. He also pulled out the bowl of the berries he had collected, and placed it in front of the fire.

Riley had pulled a log in from the forest and made some crude seating around the fire.  Telvin sat down on it and began to chew on the hard meat. A few minutes later, Diasne came out of the tent and sat next to Telvin.

Reaching down she picked a few of the berries from the bowl and began to pop them into her mouth.  “Those are good. So what’s the plan for tomorrow?” Diasne said between putting the berries into her mouth.

Telvin said "Don't talk with your mouth full, it's gross. We will head to the village at dawn." 

Diasne practically choked and said "What? Are you talking about our village?  I thought you said you weren't going back there again!" 

Signaling her to lower her voice, Telvin whispered "Carol needs to see a healer. I would take her back to Teras. But my god warned me something is going on with her."

"Your god? weren't you the one who wrote a poem describing the way's a priest were eating the asses of the gods and spat the shit they eat right back at people '' Diasne said

This elicited a chuckle out of Riley nearby. "Yes, well, I still don't have a fondness of gods. But at least this one helped me save you." Telvin said.

"Thank you for saving me," Diasne said after a moment of silence. After a moment she said "I shouldn't have run off, I was just so frustrated with you. I'm sorry."

Wrapping his arm around his sister, he squeezed her tight and said "No, you were right. My anger gets the best of me too much lately."

Diasne wiped her watering eyes and said "I'm going to bed. Mianda already conked out for the night. Oh and god are you now worshiping?" 

"Jack, it’s name is Jack." Telvin replied.

 "Haven't heard of that one." With that she disappeared into the tent.

Hearing the water start to boil, Telvin turne his attention back to Riley.  Pulling a few herbs from her pouch, she placed them into the water, and let it sit for a few moments.  A sweet smell began to spread around camp.  

“Helps keep away monsters.” Riley said.

Pulling the pot off the fire she brought it over to Telvin and sat down next to him on the log. He took an appreciative look at her as she sat down. He had always found the Elf women around him a bit to waifish, he hadn't seen many women that looked like Riley and it fascinated him.

Catching him looking at her again she smirked. Trying to think of a conversation starter Telvin said "Riley is an unusual name for an orc" 

"Is it? I wouldn't know." Riley said "Do you have a cup?" Telvin handed her a cup and she poured a bit of the water into it and drank it.

"What were those herbs you put into the water?." Telvin asked.

"Mocan Tea Leaves. Not only do they help drive off common monsters, they can help with sleep. It has been a while since I slept, and I would like a rest. You will have to take the first watch tonight." She said in a tone that left no room for discussion. 

"Okay, I can do that." Taking another look at Riley he could feel that she was definitely a better fighter then him, and surely could have taken out those goblins."Can I ask how you got captured by those goblins?" 

"Shitting." She said simply. 

"What?" he said confused. 

Sighing Riley said "I was taking a shit, when that damn Shaman cast a silence spell, and snuck up behind me and conked me out with another spell. Woke up naked in the cage. I broke the neck of the first green bastard that tried to touch me.”

“They left me alone after that. Probably waiting for me to weaken from hunger. A few day’s after they caught me, they brought those two in.” 

"They didn't try to knock you out again?" Telvin asked.

"Don't know how much you know about goblins, but the things they do to a women is partly magical. It’s the only way they can breed so fast.  A normal goblin woman takes months to spit out a kid.” Riley said.

Riley continued after taking a sip. “For another woman, they can pop out a green fuck every few days.  However a woman needs to be awake for the magic to work, does something to their soul." Riley whispered softly to Telvin. "So no point in them knocking me out if they need me awake." She took a sip of her tea and said "My adopted mother gave me the name Riley in honour of her Ancestor. They were not Orcs, thus it is not an Orc name."

"I'm sorry if I seemed like I was prying." Telvin said. 

Riley shook her head. "It is fine. I am proud of my family, even if they are not blood related, they are my family. So you became a servant of this god called Jack?"

“Tracking has never been my strong suit.  I had little chance of rescuing my sister before something terrible happened. Telvin said “Perhaps it took advantage of me, but dammit I needed to save my sister." Taking a deep breath, he pushed down the rage that was starting to build up again.

Riley nodded and took another drink and said "From what I know of gods rarely offer help, without expecting something in return."

Telvin replied "yeah, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far it's just given me some quests to do." 

Riley looked at Telvin with a questioning look "Oh? What quests would those be.?" 

"One involves that girl and her family. Something stinks about it you agree?" He said whispering so as to not alert the little girl.

Riley said "I did think it was odd how easily the goblins caught them, given her apparent noble status, and the other quest?"

Telvin said "It wants me to befriend you, and talk it up, possibly to convert you to serve him."

Riley laughed and said "If it was looking for a mouthpiece, I would not have expected to choose you."

Telvin laughed with her and said "It's granted me powers, yet at the same time, it feels as if I'm making myself stronger." 

Riley finished the cup and sat it down next to Telvin. "It sent me a message inviting me to join when I was in the cage” she said looking at him.

"Really and did you decline his offer?" Telvin asked.

"No, I have been thinking about it. After talking with you, I have decided to contract with it." Riley stood and leaned over to Telvin. "Try hard to befriend me," She brought her mouth against Telvins and the kiss did not seem to last long enough before she pulled away and said "Good Night" She walked into the tent leaving Telvin a bit dazed.

---

Jack had thought he had gotten a handle on emotions from the storm he weathered with Alexia joined.  How wrong he was, the full fury from Telvin nearly swept Jack away. Struggling to breach the surface of the rage, Jack nearly broke the connection between him and Jack several times.

Choosing to stick with it, Jack slowly managed to pull out of the raw rage flowing from Telvin.  He limited his contact to the bare minimum with Telvin, so as to not get lost again in the rage. Focusing, he took a look at his new User.

Seeing that natural energy flowed through Telvin, he recommended Ranger as the best option for him.  After Telvin accepted it Jack was startled when he saw the Natural Energy quake in rage.

For some reason, that Natural Energy flowing through Telvin was fueling his rage. Trying to look closer, he found he would have to get stronger in order to see what was going on. Putting that aside for now, he was surprised at the ease of which Telvin was handling the System. A screen popped up letting him know why.

Leaving Telvin as the User began to follow the goblins tracks, Jack examined the women in the cave. Both Telvin's sister and the little girl had an aura, so he could not contact them. The poor woman was unresponsive, and he couldn't tell if the connection was even getting through to her.

Looking at the orc woman, he found with her a possible solution to Telvin's Rage issues. She had experience in controlling emotions, and could share it with Telvin. He sent the message to her. She opened her eyes and read the message. Then went back to meditating.

A little exhausted from the near drowning from Telvin’s emotions, Jack checked in on Alexia.