<strong>Reliyian - Pressing the Advantage</strong><br/><br/>Its prize now securely in its grasp and her remaining clothing torn to shreds, the creature atop Reliyian grew still more singleminded. Her remaining scraps of clothing went entirely ignored, free to flutter to the ground or hang awkwardly from whatever loops or snags might hold them on her. The point of ice, likewise, received no notice until it had actually begin piercing the creature's underbelly. Reliyian was, however, rewarded with a small grunt of pain before the creature shook itself (and, by consequence, her) violently. When this failed to remove the frosty spike, it simply returned to ignoring the injury. The puncture wound didn't ooze too much of whatever the creature used as blood, luckily for the elf. She certainly had enough to worry about, already, without the additional hassle of getting bled upon.<br/><br/>Her wiggling and her cries, both protesting and responsive, on the other hand, got the beast's full attention. While the beak latched to her chest apparently lacked a tongue with which to torment her, it made up for this with constant movement and stimulation: it tweaked and tugged, rubbed and stroked. The two parts of the protruded mouth, the hard, shell-like "teeth" and the softer, wetter inner section, made for an even wider variety of sensations. It wasn't precisely gentle, and Reliyian would likely bear some marks from its constant attentions, but it never once broke the skin of her breast or otherwise used its inhuman strength to injure her. If anything, while its first few attempts were somewhat clumsy, the creature seemed to have some experience in manipulating humanoids in this fashion, as well as reading their reactions. Anything that drew out a particularly strong reaction, whether born of surprise, pleasure, or something else entirely, was incorporated into the endless teasing. Less evocative tricks, by contrast, quickly fell out of use.<br/><br/>Of course, it definitely hadn't dragged her into its squirming, coiling appendages for her benefit. The horde of tiny tentacles now wriggling, tugging, and swarming over her lower half split into two distinct groups, each of which worked to gradually work one of her legs away from its twin. It was not a rude, forceful yanking, but a gradual pull, like an undertow or a strong wind. Between the tentacle attending to her breast and the wide variety of other actions that the two swarms of tentacles performed (everything from tickling her joints to stroking the smooth curves of her legs, belly, and rear to worming between her toes), the beast almost seemed to wish to distract her from what it was attempting.<br/><br/>Indeed, even more developments overshadowed this more subtle approach. Most notably, the creature cemented its hold over her arms, the two rooted tentacles coiling with each other and binding her arms together. Once it had secured her, it actually became significantly more gently in handling her arms. However appealingly it thrust her chest forward, the creature had no interest in breaking its toy.<br/><br/>And, as it neatly wrapped her arms and bound them behind her back, it became clear that toying was only the beginning of its malign intentions for her. Something heavy and rather … suggestively warm brushed by her legs. A little twisting about (which would be a bit difficult, given the grip it had on her) would give a glimpse of a large, veined shaft, its base hidden somewhere among the mass of tiny tentacles between the creature's legs.<br/><br/>As though this looming threat weren't enough to worry about, a few of the small tendrils managed to sneak between her legs, brushing and probing against her nether lips. None of them actually attempted to push inside of her, however, merely testing and exploring. As before, it was digging for a response more than anything else.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Lucky You ...</div><div class="spoiler_body"> ... As I seem to have rolled rather unluckily here. The Hound's attack is still a fair threat, given its synergy with double advantages.<br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li>As before, both rolls are Fighting-based.</li><li>Defense roll against Reliyian's attack: At 2013-06-22 18:48:01, Vuali Hound (uid: 13420) rolls: 4d3a-4 Result: 2 (http://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=47518). Second stress box filled.</li><li>Attack roll against Reliyian: At 2013-06-22 18:48:11, Vuali Hound (uid: 13420) rolls: 4d3a-4 Result: 2 (http://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=47519). Uses <em>Compromising Position</em>'s first free invoke and <em>Disarmed and Flat-Footed</em>'s second free invoke (as both Create Advantage rolls resulted in Success with Style). <em>Preternatural Coordination</em> brings the temporary bonus for the attack up to +6. Total stress incoming is thus 8.</li></ul><br/>The amusing thing I can't help but think during this whole setup is that these creatures are preexisting creations, which only needed a little bit of modification to be a suitable antagonist to pursue Reliyian. You should be seeing more of them later.<br/></div></div><br/><strong>Eshalu - Finders But, Sadly, No Keepers</strong><br/><br/>Eshalu found no treasures in the nearby brushes, nor were there any such treasures glittering obviously in the silt at the bottom of the river. Even a fairly thorough inspection of the surrounding riverbank yielded nothing worth noting: some shells, some odd-looking twigs no doubt fallen from the odd plants further up the riverbanks. The shimmering memory held strong in her memory, stronger than any of the others. While the woman's shade had departed (or at least receded) for now, its last act had been to reinforce the importance of that particular clue.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Apologies</div><div class="spoiler_body">Not only is the notice roll not high enough to find anything interesting (I'd want a 3/Good at least, for what I have in mind, and probably higher for more significant discoveries), but sadly, I realized that sharing much more about the shade and her story, now, would rob you and the rest of the group of opportunities to make discoveries on your own later. I don't have much more, just now, but you should see more of her and her story of centuries past as we move forward.<br/><br/>I sort of played a bait and switch with the suggestion that you could role-play more out of her, now. But you made a lot of good guesses, and I do want to leave things, for now.</div></div>