Chapter 220: Camp Life

Chapter 220: Camp Life

The search began with the most obvious option. They had made their camp next to a large stream, or small river, whichever was the right term, so therefore it could possibly be the same body of water that D’s directions were referred to. With that in mind, Jadis ran alongside the stream, following it deeper into the valley.

The nameless stream had a few different waterfalls along its course, but nothing Jadis would call a series of five waterfalls. There were also other streams that merged into it, which Jadis made sure to note down as best she could, using landmarks to keep track of the general placement. She followed the stream as far as she could, heading halfway up the mountain over the course of a few hours before she reached a point that climbing became impractical. D had said “at the base of the mountain” as well, and she couldn’t see that meaning more than halfway up the mountain, even by the mad god’s twisted standards.

Once Jadis had gone as far as she considered feasible, she turned back and searched a couple of the tributary streams. Not finding what she was looking for, she made her way back to the camp an hour or so before nightfall. Safely back at camp, she shared the notes she’d made on the positioning of the various streams she’d seen, helping Aila draw a more detailed map. Using her girlfriend’s map and planning, Jadis set up for the next day.

So it went for the next three days. Jadis left early in the morning, searched the streams that flowed down from the mountain all day, then returned before nightfall. With her speed, she was able to cover a vast amount of territory in a short amount of time, though the further she went, the longer it took going back and forth. By the end of the second day, it was clear that the immediate valley wasn’t their destination. With that in mind, Jadis ranged further, going as far as to cross over the mountain pass and search the other side of the mountain.

The search wasn’t easy, and not just for the difficulty of running up and down mountains while carrying immensely heavy armor and weapons. Frequently Jadis ran into reasons why she needed to keep that equipment with her, even though her intention was to avoid fighting and just run away. There were many creatures roaming the mountain and valley, many of them unfriendly.

On three different occasions Jadis ran into more frost drakes. With the speed of the beasts, she was forced to fight them, though after killing a few, the remainder would generally run and leave her be. There were also, of course, the omnipresent demons that infested the forest. Bone thieves were just as prevalent in this valley as elsewhere, as were bramble fiends. There weren’t many twisted wretches, but Jadis did come across a grundwyrm. Every time she saw a demon, Jadis put in the effort to kill it. Stopping for every stray bone thief was a drain on her time, but she figured that every one that she hunted down while she was out then was one less that might turn into a bigger problem later.

Besides, Fortune’s Favored still needed to be paid, and demon bounties were their primary source of income.

The rest of the guild were not idle while Jadis was gone. While she searched the mountainside, her team hunted for more demons and magic beasts. They didn’t stray far from the camp, but they didn’t need to, either. The demons were drawn to their activity, as were the more aggressive beasts in the area. When Jadis would return at night, what greeted her wasn’t just the smiling faces of her friends and lovers, but also piles of demon corpses as well as magic beast carcasses hung from trees to be processed later. Her team had become quite the proficient group of monster slayers, even without her presence.

On the evening of the third day, the sight waiting for her when she got back to camp was particularly impressive.

“So this is or isn’t a magic beast?” Syd asked, poking the body that had been laid out in one corner of the camp. “Or was it possessed?”

“It’s not a magic beast,” Kerr told her as she deftly cut through the hide with a knife. “It’s a golden bear. They’re just, you know. Beasts. The regular kind. Big and scary and they’ll fuck you up if you’re low level, but no magic.”

The bear was large, very large. Jadis had seen a polar bear at a zoo once and this monster looked to be even bigger. The beast had to weigh two thousand pounds at least and had a massive head with jaws that looked like they could crush rocks. The bear’s fur was a luxurious golden color that caught the light, which was why she had assumed it had to be some kind of magical beast. The golden bear just looked like it was going to have some kind of magic to it. Apparently not.

“And how many of these were there?” Syd crossed her arms, scowling at the dead animal.

“Twelve,” Kerr answered as she peeled the hide away from the flesh beneath. “Killed four of them, the rest fucked off. They probably won’t be back. Golden bears aren’t the smartest, but they aren’t stupid either. They’ll look for an easier meal.”

“Well, I’m just glad you all weren’t an easy meal,” Syd murmured. “Twelve of these things running straight at you sounds terrifying.”

“It wasn’t great,” Kerr laughed, “but it wasn’t that bad, either. Having been around you for so long, we’ve all seen worse. Well, maybe not the two newbies. But a pack of golden bears isn’t anywhere near as bad as a fucking hydra.”

“Fair enough,” Syd laughed. “Speaking of, where’s Sabina? I don’t see her. Is she working on another one of her creations?”

“Of course,” Kerr shook her head. “And I’m not going to be the tester on the next one. That shit from last night was not fun.”

Sabina, being the least combat-oriented of the group, spent her time working on her enchantments. Despite not having the proper facilities to do any metalworking, she still managed to churn out a variety of enchanted items. Most were single-use, or at least limited in durability, and more than a few leaned towards the cursed side of enchantments, much like the bracelet of “Make Jadis Puke” she’d first crafted. Still, she had a goal in mind and was doing everything she could to achieve it.

Nights in the camp were spent in the predictable way, considering their lewd situation. Aila always needed recharging for her magic reserves, everyone needed to keep their ritual bond refreshed, and Kerr just liked to have sex whenever possible. Sabina also underwent “training” every night, working on keeping herself together so that she could join the group in the Lascivious Empowerment ritual. So far, she wasn’t quite there yet. While distracting her with giving her someone else to focus on helped greatly, as soon as she lost focus for whatever reason, she would almost always cum right away. Holding off was definitely going to be a big challenge for her, especially over the course of an hour, which was the shortest amount of time Jadis could make the ritual.

“You are far, far from useless,” Dys said seriously, putting a hand one Eir’s shoulder and pulling her in close to lean against her side. “You’ve literally saved my life on multiple occasions.”

“Yes, well,” Eir said, clearly feeling a different kind of embarrassment from Jadis’ genuine praise and appreciation. “I do have my uses, in the right situations. I’m just not very useful in a camp setting. I don’t have quite the same life experiences as the others.”

“Eh, I never knew how to skin an animal until Kerr showed me how either. It’s no big deal.”

“Thank you for saying so,” Eir smiled up at Dys. “But still, I want to be useful in any way that I can. In this particular case, it means taking on the burden of being Sabina’s, ah, helper, so that the others are free to focus on their own important tasks. At least this enchanted item didn’t cause me any pain.”

Dys winced at the reminder. Sabina’s last attempt from the previous night had certainly worked to prevent an orgasm, though it had done so by completely killing off all pleasure entirely, turning it into pain. At least the pain had only lasted a few seconds before the enchanted device had literally exploded.

“Well, I guess you really are the most qualified,” Dys said with a small smirk. “If any of her crazy creations causes damage, you can heal it up right away.”

“By Lyssandria’s favor, I pray that doesn’t become a necessity...”

As Dys chuckled at the worried look on Eir’s face, a shout came from inside the wagon. A second later, Sabina came scrambling out from behind the curtains, practically falling onto her face in her obvious excitement.

“I’ve got it! This is it! This’ll do it!”

The others around the camp turned to watch Sabina as she ran up to Eir and Dys, waving the piece of leather over her head as she shouted her excitement.

“Woah, calm down,” Dys put a hand on Sabina’s shoulder as she ran up to her. “Are you sure? This enchantment is going to hold off a climax?”

“Yes!” Sabina said excitedly. “I couldn’t figure it out at first because trying to make something stop without making it hurt the body is just so delicate and fiddly and besides it kind of goes against instinct to want to stop an orgasm rather than start it and it was just such a weird enchantment too but this time I really got it because I remembered some things that I heard people do when I overheard these two smiths talking about their love lives way too loudly in the forge some time ago and even though I was kind of grossed out at the time I’m really glad I overheard them now because I remembered what they were talking about and now I’ve got it! This will work!”

“Okay then,” Dys nodded, struggling to keep up with the excited smith’s stream of words. “Well, Eir? Going to help her test it?”

“Of course,” Eir said sweetly while giving Dys a slight grimace. “Shall we go somewhere private, Sabina?”

“Oh, no, thank you!” Sabina said, grinning at Eir before grabbing hold of Dys’ pants and pulling them down in one smooth motion. “But I need a cock to test this one!”

“What the—hey!” Dys cried out in alarm as the half-elf jerked her pants down before grabbing hold of her dick.

With quick and nimble fingers, Sabina wrapped the strap of leather around the base of her cock, pulling it tight and holding it in place with a simple catch.

“There!” Sabina crowed. “That should do it! I’m not sure exactly how long it’ll last, but as long as you’re wearing that, you shouldn’t cum at all!”

As Dys stared down at the proudly smiling smith in disbelief, Syd sighed heavily as the therion next to her cackled wildly in unfettered amusement.

“She made you a cock ring!” Kerr laughed, elbowing Syd in the side. “A fucking cock ring! Ha!”