Private Tales Ho Ho Hobgoblins

[Lorinna Astarel]

OOC/ Only 4 characters please
https://chroniclesrp.net/Folklore/Quest:Ho-Ho-Hobgoblins

"There, on the cliffside!"

Lorinna followed the dwarf's outstretched arm. She saw one of the Hobgoblins strolling beneath a canopy of rock. Lorinna had never seen one before. It seemed lankier than a normal goblin, with more pronounced features.

"They have taken shelter in the caves?" Lorinna asked.

Duannin was a dwarven ranger of Hildrimm, the only one they could spare to track the Hobgoblins.

"Yes lass, can't tell their numbers. We got two choices: we wait to dark and go into the caves and catch them sleeping or we wait until the morning and ambush them on the road."

 

[Hector]

Hector looked on, with a grimness behind his eyes. Lorinna and he had faced down bandits before. But this... felt different to the young man.

A grudge. That is what they had been set to right. Vengeance for lives lost by the people of Hildrimm.

He passed down a hard gulp of spit, and heard the ranger announce their options.

The air was cold, and his memories of fires and foods back at the Monastery still played in his head.

"If we press them in the night, we will be fighting in total darkness," he said aloud. He had some experience fighting in low visibility, his elven senses helped him in such scenarios. But what of his fellow squire, and those other members of their party not gifted with such senses? "Hobgoblin and goblin folk have advantage in the dark," he shared, and was glad he had done cursory research before he had set out from the Monastery. "Not to mention, they know their caves far better than we do." he added. "I vote we set a trap for the day time, and catch them unawares then," he looked to Lorinna, and wondered how she would weigh in on the situation at hand.

Lorinna Astarel

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

"The day sounds better for me," Lorinna agreed.

"Ah, right, humans," Duannin said. He glanced at Hector. "An elves.

"Dwarves fight them in the tunnels. Shoulder to shoulder in a shield wall two to five dwarves wide. Goblin kind don't like that one bit, I'll tell ya," he laughed.

Lorinna got the sense that the ranger did not get company much and when he did it was with dwarves.

"I'm which case I suggest we wait til dark to slip past em on the other side of the valley. No torches. We'll find somewhere to rest and then find a good ambush spot first light."

---

They made a small camp just a mile south of the hobgoblins. Light was long gone and Duannin insisted on no fires.

"A hobgoblin can see a fire in the dark for miles. But he can't hear ye singing, so get some ale in yer bellies and sing from the heart."

Lorinna hadn't felt like singing. She sat in silence, nursing a mug of ale beside Hector.

"Nervous?" She asked him.

 

[Hector]

Sat about the camp, with ale beside him, Hector dressed his kit as Duannin drank deeply and hummed himself a tune. As if he were looking for the right song before he started belting. Or maybe he needed to drink a little more from the small cask he carried on his pack.

"Nervous?" Hector asked, and set down the pouch of caltrops he'd brought with him. "I'm always nervous," he confessed with a small smile. "What's being a little extra nervous?"

He was rarely hungry on nights like these. He just knew he had to put something in his gut before the blood letting started. He shuffled through his pack, set down beside his shield and spear, and pulled from it some carefully wrapped provisions. He undid the folds, and revealed some smoked venison jerky, then some tack, offered it to Lorinna, then to Duannin, who took it with a grunt of thanks.

"How about you?" he asked as he took a bite of the smoked meat, and washed it down with a cup. His eyes glanced over to see her. "You nervous?"

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

Lorinna gave a nod. Having started to chew jerky, the socially trained young lady still in here refused to speak with her mouth full.

She swallowed and then expanded on her answer.

"It's better when it starts," she said. "Once you're just going on training I don't feel like I've got the room in my head for it."

Lorinna looked out into the darkness, in the rough direction of the hobgoblin camp.

"I don't usually have this much time to think about it."

Lori looked down at the mug of ale.

"I don't think I'll sleep," she said quietly, so that the dwarf would not hear.

 

[Hector]

Lorina had the right of it. Once it was them versus you, and those you fought alongside, everything became so painfully simple.

Still, he listened to her, and followed her eyes up to the craggy rocks of the hillsides. To that same spiny stone that was home to their foe. She shift her eyes down, and he looked down too, at that mug she held in her hand. Sometimes he forgot that she was from another world entirely.

"No," he added, his voice just as hushed as hers. "I don't think it would be right if it came easy," he said after some time, and looked to Lorina again. "I think it just means we understand, you know?" he looked down at his hands, still clutched around his own mug. "The weight of what we have to do,"

Duannin broke into song. Belting out, howling like a groggy dog.

Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.
The dwarves of yore made mightly spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells

Hector blinked, and his head turned to stare at the Ranger. "Spose he's trying not to think about it either?" he said with his voice still quiet, and a youthful grin.

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

Lorinna leaned towards Hector. She was out of her armour, but still wearing layers of gambasson to keep out the cold. They didn't clank as she leaned her shoulder into his to whisper.

A few years ago she would have collapsed at the idea of sleeping in sweaty layers and wearing them again the next day.

"I think he just likes thinking about ale and singing more," Lorinna hissed conspirtorially. "Maybe it's why he scouts alone."

"What's that lass?" called the dwarf, his singing ending abruptly.

"I said it's been some time since we went this far from home," Lori said, not missing a beat.

"Aye, well, we appreciate you coming down from yer tree," Duannin said, raising a mug.

 

[Hector]

His head came against hers. Leaned as they were. Familiar. Comfortable in this moment of quiet before inhumanity that was to come. Othering that was with things like grudges and vengeance. Folk turned to little more than weight of purpose. Weight that was owed.

His ear, sensitive as it was, tickled to the nearness of her voice.

Duanin questioned, and Lorinna saved. Hector couldn't help but laugh some, a chortle that had a brief closeness that boke away.

"We aim to serve, Master Duanin," Hector added with a nod, and raised his mug in turn. It was not a lie.

While the task was a dark one, a trade in blood spilt and flesh rent, gifts from the dwarves ment much and more. Their craft, their mastery, it was seeded in a time long lost. A time that held secrets of understanding far beyond many a master of this modern time.

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

Lorinna enjoyed Hector's laugh, but she had to elbow him in the side for it. Whispering to him had drawn them close and only now did it occur to her that it would have not been proper under the protocols she had grown up under. Being in the field and being in battle was very different to being in public with her respected family.

"We aim to serve," Lorinna agreed.

The dwarf gave them a weird look and carried on with his song. Lorinna waited until he had his back to them before offering Hector a sly smile.

"We had best get some sleep soon," she said. "We have to bring down a tree at first light to block the path."

 

[Hector]

A sharp jolt in his side had Hector's eyes widen with surprise and the look she gave him had him blush a little too, as if he had gotten away with more than just hearing her joke.

He nod in agreement. "Aye, suppose you are right," he added in hushed tone. Her voice still warm against his ear. "Bloody cold though," he said, reluctant to separate from the closeness. Shoulder to shoulder. Part of him noted she hadn't made to move either. He looked to her, could still see her clear in the low light.

He could barely hear the dwarf despite the belting.

"Probably make that tree hard to chop come dawn," he said with little thought, caught in the keen look of her eyes, and the lines of her face. How they lead his eyes about her lips. He blinked. Looked up at her eyes again. "You reckon you'll sleep now?"

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

"What? Oh."

She hadn't quite been listening to his question. It was the way he was looking at her.

Hector didn't normally look at her like that. It didn't make her feel uncomfortable, but she felt vulnerable. It was like being under scrutiny during an examination of her prowess with the sword.

"It is cold and...we'll need to put the fire out overnight."

 

[Hector]

"No fire," he seemed to gulp down the words and turned his eye away from Lorinna, to stare at the dark pit that was before them. The fire was already out.

Yet his face felt warm. And he could hear... everything. The spit moving in his mouth. The blood pumping down through his veins. Her breath. "I can," he started, a little too loud with excitement.

The dwarf stopped his singing. Blinked over at them two, then drank his mug and started back up again.

"I can, warm us with a cantrip," he said quiet again. He stared at the dirt beneath his boots. "Survival spell I learned," he added, to fill up silence. He looked her in the eyes again, sure. "If you'd like, of course, might help you... get to sleep," he offered a tender smile. Honest.

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

I can,

Lorinna caught herself watching him closely, waiting to see what he was about to say. What was it that he could do? Duannin stopped singing and Hector stopped too.

Lorinna had never really though about how she looked at someone when they were talking. She was suddenly very self aware of something that came naturally.

It was like learning the sword. It was a lot easier when you stopped thinking about it and your muscles worked on their own. Consciously thinking about every moment was difficult and slow.

If youd like, of course, might help you... get to sleep, he offered a tender smile. Honest.

A few beats went by and Lorinna was just looking at his smile.

"Oh yes. You can really do that?"

A flat note in the dwarf's song made her wince.

"Go on then!"

 

[Hector]

He blinked at the dissonant tone, warm in the face and wide eyed as she dared him to do it.

"Right, well, yes," he cleared his throat and let out a huff of air. "Ok," still facing her he closed his eyes and gave a nod.

He felt his breath. In through his nose and into his lungs. He felt the flow of it. Natural. Its rhythm, steady and slow as he deepened the draw and release. Felt warmth pool in his chest and pulse out with each beat of his heart.

He recalled the cant he had learned upon these same peaks with Syr Montbank.

Only, his lips did not speak it. His mind blazed the words within the fire of his thoughts. His right hand, hovering over his heart, twist and struck with snaps of the wrist. His fingers twist and flexed seals with quickening pace. As if trying to whip the warmth out of the air itself.

Small motes of blue and red, runes that glowed like fire-bugs, flit about, and with a smooth release of breath, Hector tried to will the warmth he harnessed in his own chest, out to Lorinna. Should he succeed, she would feel a swell of emberic warmth move through her.

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

Lorinna had all the magical taken of a brick. Even if she could have sensed it shifting at his command, her attention was occupied with trying to watch the look of concentration on his face and every little movement of his hand at the same time.

The first hint of warmth she did not recognise. Against the swell of warmth rising up her neck that had nothing to do with magic, it was too small.

It grew moment by moment, until she could not deny that it was the magic taking old.

"Oh," he went quietly, chest rising and falling slowly. "That works."

When he opened his eyes, Hector would find Lorinna's hand just a few inches from his face. Her eyes widened in surprise at what she was doing and she suddenly drew it back.

 

[Hector]

The flame crackled in his mind. As if a fire living within him. Its warmth full and strong, and he felt it pass to Lorinna. Flow in a stream of connection, with steady pulses. He smiled at the feeling of success. Eyes still closed, he grinned when he heard Lorinna sound her recognition of the act.

"See," he said as he opened his eyes and saw Lorinna hovering there, hand but inches from him, and his breath a swirl of hot steam that mixed with hers.

She drew her hand back, and he just stared at her for a long beat. His heart a drum in his chest. He reached out to her and tried to take her hand, his fingers still traced with flame's magick. "Oldest trick to stay warm," he said softly. "Is sharin' the heat,"

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

Her mouth was suddenly very dry. This was Hector. Plain old Hector. Very tall, very broad across the shoulders, brave and strong Hector.

A small voice at the back of her head gave small protest to this. It was improper for someone of her standing to entertain such thoughts.

The rebellious part of her that knew she was a squire and would be a Knight and perhaps never a lady was much, much louder.

"Yeah," she said.

Why are you doing nothing? Asked all the voices together.

His hand was wrapped around hers, the traces of magic keeping them warm. She reached back out, placing her hand against his cheek. It felt like stealing something, to take enjoyment from the touch of his skin.

 

[Hector]

He stared, wide eyed at her approach. Felt the trace of her hand skim across the side of his face. Greedy as it took hold. But he gave gladly. Leaned in to her. With her, his breath, his heart, his whole body felt like tinder. Crackling as her hand moved where it did, tracing its wake across his heat.

He moved closer still. His eyes came shut as the space between them burned away. He tried to press his full lips against those proud pink petals that always seemed so pouty and soft beneath the light of day.

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

Tiny hairs at the nape of her neck rose and a shiver ran down her spine. Lorinna had always wanted to be seen, to be wanted. She'd never wanted the life of a Knight. She had been tall and gsngly and awkward, but she had seen her older sister flushed and laughing after her dances and wanted that.

Just the way her looked at her was suddenly all that she needed.

This was possibly not the best of ideas, she mused to herself. Blue eyes would widen slightly as his lips fell over hers, coaxing her with such an earnest desire it was hard to process thought. She felt it then. The slight tightening of her belly, the growing thumping sound of her heart in stunned surprise.

Her hand slipped down around his neck. Her breath caught between them, and the young woman parted her lips, moving against his in a sweet, hesitant kiss.

 

[Hector]

He could not help but smile as she kissed him back. The soft ginger press of her lips tickling his as their breath mingled and mixed. The sweet taste of the ale still lingered on her breath, as her fingers slid down his neck and his hairs stood on end. His arms tingled with gooseflesh as his one hand held hers firm.

Some part of him noted the callouses on her palm. A deeper part still, knew he had some similar. But most of him just, enjoyed the feel of her so close.

The smell of her.

He breathed it in deep as their lips parted, just.

He didn't know why, but he kissed her just below the lips. Lightly. He processed the scent that swirled about his nose. Overwhelming and heady, it made his ears feel hot. A musky scent. Hints of pine and earth and smoke from their days on the trail.

He let her lead. Too lost in the warm swell of it all to do much more than follow with tender attention. And a big goofy grin.

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

Searching blue eyes glanced down, noting the smile on his lips.

"What?" She challenged playfully.

Under his quiet regard she felt vulnerable. This was a part of herself she had almost set aside for two years. She had gossiped with her little inner circle of girls from land-owning families, but never been the subject of it herself.

The hand at his neck trembled lightly. It started to explore on its own, rounding over the brawn of his shoulder. It wasn't like she hadn't noticed Hector. Especially when they'd been training in light tunics.

Before Hector could reply at all, Lorinna twisted at the hip to draw him closer. If the first kiss had been a tentative press of lips, this was more heated as she tilted her head into a deeper kiss.

That spell was becoming entirely unnecessary.

 

[Hector]

She took him unawares. His eyes so full of her, and her own roguish smirk. Like she was getting away with something.

He would have answered. Wanted to answer. Had one ready and everything. But her hand went down about his shoulder, her fingers, firm and strong as they pressed against him. And the look in her eye. How could he not smile.

She twist and pulled him in. Their lips came together, hot and heavy and deep as he craned his neck to match her angle. Her rhythm. His breath fuller in his ears but so were all the little noises he made. Half laughs and sounds like hunger.

His hand found the side of her face, smoothed across to cup her gently, let his fingers press against her neck, just behind her jaw"Just, warm is all," he said through wide smile.

Noted the dwarf had stopped singing as he played with a few strands of her hair and kissed her once more, small, then again on the jaw, and again against her neck as his other hand snaked free of hers and slid up to press firm against her back. Felt the grooves over her own trained chords, run long across her figure.

"You are damn beautiful, Lorinna," he uttered.

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

A warm flush spread as he kissed her neck, beyond anything the spell had conjured. Her breath hitched, warmth pooled low in her belly. She felt like she needed to run or fight and burn off the adrenaline.

"Ah, none of ma business," came a mutter from Duannin before he shuffled off to make his own bed.

Lorinna glanced down to her left, over her shoulder to their packs and bedrolls still bound up.

"You think I'm beautiful?" She asked quietly.

Some part of her knew she should have responded in turn, but she latched onto that statement. Lorinna had been awkward in her youth, whisked away to learn to fight and ride before she could grow into her frame. Before she could be formally introduced by her family at a summer gala.

 

[Hector]

The air cooled between them, though the heat they had stirred up still pulsed through him, his heart still loud in his chest, and a want deep in his stomach.

He worried though. As he rose up straight and looked her in the eyes. Worried If he had miss spoke. If. If it was not his place to say such things.

Act. Fool around. Yes. That could be done so far from home. Far from the expectations of the Order, and the realities that governed him. Her. Them.

She is a noble you idiot. Some part of his mind cracked. And you? He gulped.

"I... I do," he said, an electricity in his chest, cold and sharp. A worry he couldn't hide from his eyes. But he took in a breath. Saw how close she still was to him, felt how she still held him, still pressed with him, and he felt that warm fire crackle in him again. Spark.

He looked her dead on, and without doubt he said. "Don't think I don't remember the carriage wash," he grinned.

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

She smiled fondly when he confirmed what he had said. It was followed by a blush when she brought up the carriage wash again.

She had been so nervous about being seen by her family in a soaked through tunic that she hadn't caught him watching her. It made her wonder for how long she might have oblivious to his attention.

Lorinna took a deep breath in through her nose before letting it out slowly. That had just happened. Now there was all this talk of keeping each other warm swirling around in her head, conjuring all sorts of images.

"We should, erm, set out our bedrolls," he said, taking a moment over every word.

"Oh and yeah," she leaned back, taking a long look over Hector. "Yeah."

Lori was not doing very well as using her words properly.