Part 2

The group did penetrate the woods a fair distance before the sun dipped toward the horizon. The thick canopy of oaks, maples, and walnut trees caused the light to fail even quicker as they continued on. Finding a good, level spot with a nearby stream not far off the obviously well-trodden trail, the group stopped to make camp for the night.

The kampar scurried off to gather up wood, and the rest began the work of setting camp. Matusen emitted a pleased snort when Lorelle proved competent in setting up the small tent she had brought for Devan and herself. He had worried that he would have to give up his own tent in a chivalrous gesture, and upon seeing she had a tent, had guessed she probably wouldn't have a clue what to do with it until she started setting it up.

The kampar returned with a stack of wood that obscured his vision and threatened to tip him over. Still, it wasn't much and would really only serve as kindling to start a real fire. The little man proved adept with his flint and tinder, and soon had a small fire burning cheerily as the light continued to dim.

Matusen went off into the woods with a hatchet, returning shortly and dragging a large deadfall limb that looked well dried. He immediately chopped it up to provide them some real fuel for their fire.

Lorelle picked up a few of the wood chunks Matusen had chopped and brought them to the kampar, who fed the fire and soon had it blazing to an acceptable height for light and cooking.

Devan sat down, not really having any skills to provide as the others set camp, and fighting off a throbbing in her head from the kampar's never-ending story on the road.

Once the fire was going well, Lorelle brought over a small tin pot and some vegetables to Devan. "It's your turn to cook," she said with a wink.

Devan stood up, the throbbing in her head having finally subsided to a dull tingle that she could ignore. She dipped water from the stream and cooked vegetable soup seasoned with some spices and beef stock Lorelle also provided.

Matusen sniffed the air, smelling the soup as he approached from where he had just finished chopping firewood. It was fully dark now, the light from the fire the only illumination in the camp. Outside the wood, it was probably still before sundown, but the thick vegetation blocked out that fading light within its confines. He put down the armload of wood and looked into the pot where Devan was cooking.

"Vegetable soup. I thought we might have some decent food for at least tonight and tomorrow morning before we have to resort to trail fare. I have eggs and some bacon for the morning," Lorelle explained.

"Smells good, and it'll be a damn sight better than hardtack and jerked beef," Matusen remarked.

"Relax for a while, you've been working hard. Devan is a wonderful cook," Lorelle suggested and patted the ground near where she sat.

The kampar wandered off into the woods to look for ghosts, letting a blessed quiet settle over the camp. He returned shortly thereafter, crestfallen that nothing more interesting than an owl had accosted him, and then was thankfully silent again as he ate.

Lorelle edged closer to Matusen as they ate, once again touching him frequently as she discussed the next day's journey between bites of soup. When Matusen walked off into the woods to relieve himself, Devan walked over and whispered to Lorelle, "Aren't you being a little too nice?"

Lorelle chuckled and said, "Watch and learn, Devan. Trust me."

Devan shook her head and said, "Okay."

Matusen set watch for the night, and the kampar actually proved a welcome addition to Devan in that regard. It reduced the amount of time each of them had to stay awake. Devan was given the first watch because she had never done it before, which would provide her with uninterrupted sleep.

She was still fighting to stay awake when her watch at last ended and she awoke Matusen for his turn. She crawled into the tent next to Lorelle and wrapped her blankets around her, surrendering to blessed sleep.

Devan felt Lorelle moving next to her some time later, roused slightly as the other woman crawled out of the tent. Devan moved into a slightly more comfortable position and almost immediately drifted back off to sleep, assuming Lorelle had went to answer the call of nature.

Shortly thereafter, Devan half-roused again due to some sound she couldn't quite place. Peeking outside the tent, she was surprised to see Lorelle on her knees, bare breasted and with Matusen's cock in her mouth. The sound Devan had heard was Lorelle's mouth slurping up and down the man's shaft.

Matusen let out a quiet gasp as Devan watched, and from Lorelle's reaction Devan guessed that the man must be coming in her mouth. When his knees grew wobbly a moment later, it more or less confirmed Devan's suspicions.

Devan pulled her head back inside the tent and wondered what had prompted Lorelle to warm up to the scarred old warrior. He was hardly her type from what Devan had seen. Lorelle crawled back into the tent a short while later — licking her lips — and curled back up in her blankets.

When Devan looked at her through sleepy eyes to ask the question in her mind, Lorelle put a finger before her lips and winked. She then curled up in her blanket to sleep.

Devan just shook her head and did the same, too exhausted to care at the moment.

The kampar awakened Lorelle for the last watch, and as it drew near a close, she started breakfast. Everyone else rose shortly thereafter as the scent of bacon filled the air in the camp.

Once everyone finished eating, they set out on the road again. Darmok had eaten more than his fill, and remained relatively quiet — at least for a kampar. That of course meant that he occasionally paused for a quarter hour or so.

Darmok constantly tried to engage Devan in conversation, but she pointedly ignored the creature. The only time she didn't ignore him was when she noticed him walking along close to her and found his hand in her spell component pouch. She slapped his hand away and scowled at him.

"Sorry, that little funny smelling bag was trying to fall out of there. I didn't want you to drop it, so I was pushing it back in. I didn't mean to startle you, but I had to move quick to catch it before it fell," Darmok explained to her with a bright, cheery smile.

Devan rolled her eyes at him and adjusted her pouch around to the front of her body.

They passed a few people going through the wood in the opposite direction. The strangers were wary as they approached, but were more or less friendly as they passed upon deciding the small group was not a threat. Everyone tightly held their purses and packs when they noticed the kampar, however.

Lorelle carefully scanned the sides of the trail, judging the conditions right for Wyvern Tongue. It only grew under very specific conditions, and the plant that grew from the root that was the prize they sought looked like any number of other plants that shared the undergrowth of the forest with it.

Around noon, Lorelle spotted something and walked off the trail to examine it more closely. She smiled and called to the rest of the group, "I found some!"

Devan walked over as Lorelle dug up the plant. Lorelle pointed out the features of the plant, which looked much like a dandelion, except it had red veins running through the leaves of the plant. She carefully dug up the two plants she had found, and then explored the nearby woods for more.

Darmok wandered off to look for ghosts or bandits again while Devan searched the area as well. Matusen just sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, not really having anything to do.

Lorelle found four more plants, and Devan found one before they paused to eat the noon meal. Lorelle said the location was perfect for the plants, and they could probably find all they needed in this area.

It took them a few hours, but they eventually filled their sacks with the long taproots of the plants. They now had twice as much as the amount Lorelle had sold a couple of days before. Each root was carefully wrapped in cloth as soon as it was dug up, because exposure to sunlight for more than a few moments destroyed the potency of it. That and the difficulty in locating the plant was what made it so hard to find in many herbal shops.

The traveling companions were about to have an evening meal of trail bread and dried beef when Darmok returned to the camp with a brace of squirrels he had brought down with a sling.

Lorelle gratefully put away the trail fare and roasted squirrel on a fire instead.

Once everyone finished eating and Matusen extinguished the trailside fire, the group backtracked to a more suitable location to set up camp for the night. Roasting the squirrels had extended the time they would be on the road, but all felt it was worth it. The group managed to set up camp in plenty of time before darkness settled over the woods.

Matusen suggested the same watch as the night before, and once again, Devan noticed Lorelle creeping from the tent shortly after Devan returned to it. Devan was not quite as exhausted tonight as on the previous night, so she plainly heard the sound of Lorelle slurping on Matusen's manhood this time.

Even though the man was completely unattractive to her, the thought that Lorelle was sucking his cock only a few feet away made Devan wet. The sounds stopped for a moment, and something new replaced them. Devan couldn't help but peek outside the tent to see what had caused the change.

What she saw was Lorelle's bare bottom bobbing up and down over Matusen's legs. The new sounds was the squishing of his rod sliding into her depths, and her ass bouncing off his legs in an ever-increasing tempo. Those sounds were soon joined by quiet moans and groans from the couple. The firelight reflected off Matusen's slick member every time Lorelle rose up to impale herself on him again.

Devan's hand found its way down between her legs, her sex screaming for attention and refusing to be ignored. She couldn't take her eyes off the scene before her, her fingers pulling her panties aside and slipping between her moist lips.

Devan stroked two fingers into her depths, the fingers of her other hand rubbing her bud. Lorelle started to slam down harder on Matusen's cock, her sounds of pleasure growing louder. Devan's hands moved faster in pace with Lorelle's hips, and she bit her lip to trap her own sounds of pleasure.

Lorelle suddenly sat bolt upright, a low moan emerging from her throat as she sat impaled on Matusen's shaft. She pinched her nipples and pulled them outward, her body shuddering.

Devan's hands moved rapidly now, the growing heat of her impending orgasm swelling in her loins. It was all she could do to remain silent, her eyes still locked on the couple fucking in the firelight.

Lorelle's hips bounced spastically over him a pair of times, and then she gasped, falling forward. His hands found their way to her buttocks, tightly gripping them. He thrust up into her, causing Lorelle to gasp and bite off a yelp.

Matusen's hips thrust up at Lorelle fast, and Devan heard the woman release a moan that she attempted to choke off as she obviously reached another peak. Matusen's movement suddenly stopped and Devan heard him groan.

Devan could almost feel his hot cum flooding her depths as his seed spurted deep into Lorelle. Devan's body stiffened and it took every ounce of her will not to cry out as her own orgasm gripped her.

Devan curled up into a ball as her orgasm refused to let her go, pulling her head back inside the tent. She stroked her fingers inside her a few more times, causing her to curl up even tighter and emit a quiet, choked off yelp of pleasure. She jerked her fingers out of her depths and brought them to her mouth, sucking her wetness from them, and covered her quivering sex with her other hand as she slowly spiraled down from her peak.

She had only just managed to pull her panties back into place and regain her composure when Lorelle returned to the tent. The scent of Devan's arousal hung heavily in the air, and Lorelle smiled knowingly at Devan feigning sleep.

Lorelle curled up in her blankets and drifted off to sleep.

The group packed up their camp and set out early, believing they could make it back to town before nightfall if they didn't dally. Matusen seemed to have an additional spring in his step as he walked.

Unfortunately, so did Darmok.

His constant chatter gave Devan a feeling as if a bee was hovering next to her ear from the moment she started walking. The kampar constantly darted off the trail, bringing back this or that interesting — to him — objects and trying to draw everyone into conversation about them.

The traveling companions made good time, and Devan estimated that they were perhaps an hour away from the edge of the woods. Darmok had once again darted off the trail into the underbrush, and while Devan was glad for the brief respite in his chatter, she groaned knowing that he would trot back soon enough with a deer antler or some other piece of junk to annoy her again.

"Hey everybody, wait up! I found a dark and spooky staircase leading down into the ground over here!"

Devan rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath, "Good. Go fall down the stairs."

"A staircase? The Kampar has lost what little mind he had. We're in the middle of the damn woods," Matusen grumbled, shaking his head and turning to continue down the trail.

"Maybe we should go take a look," Lorelle suggested.

Devan and Matusen both stopped walking and turned to look at Lorelle in surprise.

"It could be an old cellar or something similar. The conditions around here are perfect for Dwarf Beard fungus and a few other types of fungi we don't have in the shop. An old cellar would be the perfect place for them to grow."

Devan considered for a moment and realized Lorelle was right. Finding some Dwarf Beard would provide a welcome addition to their stores. It had uses in both magic and herbal healing. "Maybe we should check it out."

"I don't have any torches," Matusen offered as an excuse to continue on their way.

Lorelle smiled. "We don't need them. Show us this staircase Darmok."

Darmok's face sprouted a huge smile and he pointed. "It's right over here, just a little off the trail. Follow me!"

The little man bounded off into the undergrowth, and the other three followed. When they reached the spot, Devan saw that there was indeed a moss-covered staircase leading down into the earth.

Matusen kicked at a mossy stone nearby. "These are worked stone. There was a house or something here at some point."

"A little light, Devan? Yours are always brighter and last longer than mine," Lorelle requested.

Devan cast her spell, and a brightly glowing orb of light appeared in her hand. She sent it drifting down into hole, illuminating more of the stairs. Peering down, she could see the landing at the bottom and little else.

"Wow, you can do magic! Do some more!" Darmok exclaimed, clapping his hands and staring at the globe of light.

"How about I turn you into a toad and look for a snake?" Devan mumbled.

"That sounds fun! Could you make me a purple toad with green spots? I don't think I'd like being a regular old boring toad."

Devan groaned and walked down the stairs. The Kampar bounded down after her, with Matusen and Lorelle following.

Once the four emerged from the staircase, they found themselves in what must have been a true basement, much more than a simple cellar. The walls, floor, and ceiling were worked stone, supported by columns. Devan saw a few pieces of collapsed and rotting wooden furniture, but other than that, the basement was empty.

"Look — Dwarf Beard," Lorelle exclaimed and walked over toward a rotting desk that was covered in spots of fuzzy fungus.

Once again, Matusen was lost. He sat down on the last step while the women gathered up the fungus. The excitable halfling moved all around the room, peering into cracks in the walls and under the crumbling furniture.

Lorelle and Devan had just finished scraping away the fungus when they heard Darmok say, "Hey, what's this?"

The sound of stone grinding on stone startled everyone, the volume of the noise and the echoes it produced in the basement causing everyone's teeth to grind.

Looking over toward the kampar, Devan saw him standing in front of a hidden door. "Wow! A secret passage!" He exclaimed and immediately darted inside.

Lorelle stepped into the room after him and quietly said, "Oh my, what have we here?" She knew full well what the room was, in truth. Devan likewise immediately recognized a wizard's lab and library when she stepped through the door.

The room was just large enough to contain the bookshelves, a pair of work desks, and a few chairs. These had been protected from the elements, and everything was in good condition.

Matusen at least had the luxury of sitting in a chair while the women gathered up things this time. The women were constantly forced to slap away Darmok's hands as he reached for things.

Darmok protested when Devan snatched something out of his hands, "I was just going to look at it! Have you ever considered being a prison guard instead of a magic user? You're really good at taking all the fun out of life, and that seems to be what prison guards are best at."