Adria's Adventures - Part 1

Part 1

Adria:

As I stand on the balcony of the airship overlooking the vast white desert as the sun is setting, it sparkles and shines brighter than the moon, I hear the distant sound of the airship engines above, and the sound of the other passengers behind me, laughing at the silly gnome comedian, I feel out of place among them, most of them are nobles, travelling from the great gnome city called the eight city, the centre of all trade on the continent and most of the trade of the whole world. I am just an exotic dancer, born in the great fey forest, where I had many mothers, who each taught me their skills, what I ended up being best as was dancing, with blades and fire, charming men and women alike and lighting the fire of passion and lust in them and relieving them of their money. It was once such man, Octavio, who promised me riches and a trip to the isles of undying passion, a resort all have heard of, but only the rich can hope to visit for a short time, it is said that each day spent there makes you a day younger, not really something I as a fey need to care about, but it also is said to heighten ones innate skills, inspire you and also cure you of all diseases and ailments. If you drink the magical water from one of the magical springs of the isle at least. I have an ailment, because of my very mixed lineage I am infertile, I guess that is my greatest reason for wanting to visit those isles.

All Octavio asked of me is to be allowed to dress me like he wants, and for me to dance and sing for those nobles he invites to his personal suite, unlike most men he did not suggest I make love to him, had he done so I would have agreed to it, but not with any pleasure, he is not a beautiful man, though not as revolting as some, he seems to take more pleasure in showing me off to other nobles and making them jealous, and without words insinuating there is more going on, while he in secret prefers young men to share his bed.

I know this beautiful white desert covers the western edge of the continent, west of the razor mountains, the isles of undying passion lay many miles further west and south, surrounded by the reefs of sorrow, that are protected by the sirens, mermaids and other beautiful and terrifying creatures, I hope to see some of them as we fly over them, in about a week, the white desert is quite huge though and even with airship it will take quite a while to traverse it.

"Adria darling?" I hear Octavio say from the door and I take a slow breath and put a warm smile on my face and turn around "yes Octavio?" and just as I see him I feel and to a lesser extent hear a loud thud, followed by another, and the engines make loud shrieking sounds of metal tearing and then I see a bright flash and my very high heels prevent me from regaining my balance and I fall against the railing behind me and the airship lurches and I fall off, I see the airship rapidly ascending from me, and then I see what is going on, behind the airship is a sparkling white sand storm, raging wildly with brilliant flashes of white lightning, another strike hits the airship and I feel a thud against my chest and my entire body feels like an ogre hit it with his club, the flash of light blinds me as the airship explodes and I nearly loose consciousness, but my mind remembers I am falling and right before I pass out I manage to call upon my magic to make me fall like a feather.

I awaken as sand enters my mouth and I cough and gasp and struggle against the sparkling smooth white sand, I am almost completely submerged and as I reach the surface I see around me raining burning fragments of very light metals, burning brighter than the sun, and I see that the sand storm is just now dissipating, letting the tiny fragments finally fall, larger fragments and objects are strewn about as far as my eyes can see, and I try to walk away from the falling painfully bright fires. I walk over a small dune and hide behind it, beyond it the desert is undisturbed, serene... I feel the cold of the night bite my skin and eyes and lungs, and I start shivering, it takes a lot of concentration, but I manage to wrap myself in a shell of warmer air, I am unsure how long I can keep it working, it is not the type of magic I use often. I collapse to the ground and curl up and start crying, as I realize how bad of a situation I find myself in, there are very few settlements in the great white desert, I know of only three places with people, the dwarves of the razor mountains harvest the white sand and make glass from it, and sell it mostly to the winged elves who live in the mountains, there is also an oasis somewhere in the middle of the desert, but I don't know where, and then there is a harbour city at the coast, I do not think the route of the airship went over these, I also feel sad about all the people on the airship, though truthfully that is very much a secondary concern, I also feel stupid about having left my hand bag of holding at the dinner table. I cry myself to sleep, feeling miserable and lost.

I awaken feeling like my pretty but stupidly impractical black metal palette dress soaks up the intense heat of the sun and desert, my skin is glazed with sweat and white sand is sticking to it everywhere, making my cinnamon tanned skin look almost like some sort of white ghost, the metal is almost burning hot against my skin and I hurriedly wiggle out of my dress and now the sun is actually comfortable for my skin, but the desert is way too dry for me, I feel really thirsty. I also pull off my impractical shoes, I am not one to be worried about walking around naked, especially here, as far as anyone knows nobody lives in the desert except near the three settlements I know of.

I decide to leave the clothes and shoes behind the dune and walk to investigate the crash site, I see a smashed piano that somehow escaped the fire, I see burnt and ripped corpses, and fragments of furniture strewn about, a few larger metal beams are still burning, as are a few larger wooden floor chunks. I keep searching the large field of rubble, hoping to find my hand bag of holding, or anything more suitable to wear, and any surviving water and food. I find many smashed bottles of wine and I am glad that my magical nature protects me from getting cut by the broken glass as I several times step onto it as it is hidden under the sand, most of the corpses and rubble is slowly sinking into the sand, being much heavier than the sand, and even a gentle breeze is enough to make a large amount of the sand drift into the air and further bury the things. I find a large wooden box, that somehow survived landing and I open it, inside are several smashed bottles of pure rain water, two bottles however have survived and I open one and greedily drink it all down and I just barely stop myself from opening the other bottle, looking around me and realizing I need to ration it. I take the wet sand under the box and smear it over my sweaty skin, it has formed a white cool paste and it gives me relief from the heat, it is a bit hard to reach everywhere, I even coat my long black hair in it and my face, I must look very strange now, but it really helps protect against the heat, and as it dries it forms what looks like white scales still attached to my skin, it feels strange but also nice.

I continue searching for what feels like hours, carrying my bottle, I find another box, filled with fine cuts of meat on melting ice, I close the box and cover it up with white sand in the hopes of helping it keep cool, and look around me for anything that could contain more water, most of the burnt corpses were wearing silk and impractical things, I consider using the shoes of the men as they are at least sometimes made of leather, but I don't have anything to remake them with into water skins, and none of the men wore tall boots, so it would be several tiny bowls of water at best. I can't really transport that.

Then I cry out in happiness as I spot my hand bag of holding and I put its strap around my wrist and open it and look through my things, I have a lot of junk in there, but I find a three empty water skins from my adventuring days, some sewing and leather working supplies. A few changes of clothes, but nothing really suitable for the desert, lots of exotic dancing outfits, I find a pair of very worn travelling boots and slide them onto my feet and lace them up, I also find a fur cloak and shake my head "why have I never adventured in the desert before..."

I spend some time gathering leather shoes and carefully cutting the leather from them and I make a large leather bag from them and then after getting the seams as tight as I can by hand I focus on using my magic to seal it up and making it waterproof and then I go back to the box of ice and meat and start putting ice and meat into it, before putting it away in my hand bag, I also put ice into the water skins, there is some ice left after that and I consider what to do with it while popping a couple of ice cubes into my mouth, with how hot it is around me and how hot I feel I decide to do something I usually only do in some of my exotic shows and I slide several ice cubes into my pussy and quench my pussy muscles around them, I shiver a bit, but soon I can feel the cold and hot flows in my body cancel out somewhat, I can also feel the cool drops of water drip from my pussy and I take the empty glass bottle and slowly drip the melting water into it and I keep going until the bottle is full and by then there are just nine cubes left and I put two in my mouth and seven in my pussy and then continue my search for useful things, although I doubt I will need it I do put away all coins and other valuables I find into my bag, as I have never found it to have a limit of how much stuff I can put there, it is just annoying to find things later if you have too much junk in there. I also put away knives and forks and other intact things I find, in case I need it, I even decide to put away wood and pieces of that metal that seems to burn so brightly that the ship is made of. I keep searching for more things until night falls and then I decide to cook some of the meat over the still burning metal, it is not the best barbecue ever, but in a way I enjoy eating it this way more than all the tiny portions and overly formal dining I have had for the last few days, I drink a little of the melted water flavoured with myself, and I understand a little bit better why men seem to like that.

I then decide to put some burnt clothes inside one of the boxes and use it as shelter for the night, not the most comfortable bed ever, but it is much less cold. I am rather amazed at how robust the white sand scales are. They survive me sleeping on them just fine. I panic a bit as I try to open the lid of the box as it is really heavy, and then as I manage to budge it sand starts to flow into the box, and I scream in terror, I do not want to drown in sand, but then as the sand reaches up to my neck it stops and I manage to pull myself free. It is scary how little of the crash can still be seen, just a few of the bigger chunks sticking out of what looks like a gentle rippled ocean of white sparkling sand. I decide to try a locator spell to figure out what direction the nearest people are. It points me to the south west, it makes me raise an eyebrow but since I don't really know any better I decide to trust it and I start heading that way.

I enjoy the warmth that manages to penetrate the scales but I keep feeling very dry and sipping of the flavoured water, as I think that is likely to spoil if left alone for too long, the other things should keep better. The day is just dune after dune after dune, white sparkling sand, and even my trained physique starts to ache I do not usually get this much exercise even on a really busy day with many performances, but I know I have to travel as quick as I can before the water runs out I need to find either more water or people. I sleep at night huddled under my fur cloak, I don't want to waste fire wood unless I really have to, and I manage to stay warm enough in the fur cloak.

I continue like this for seven days, I am all out of meat now and am eating really old iron rations from my brief adventuring days, my shoes are all worn down and I discard them as they are beyond repair, it seems the white sand although it feels smooth on my skin is really good at wearing things down, my white sand scale armour is starting to wear down too, and I really don't have enough water to remake it with. As the sun starts to set the wind picks up and I huddle up in my fur cloak again and fall into really restless sleep.

As I awaken on the eight day of travel I find that the wind has eaten away my fur cloak, and half buried me in sand and as I get out of the sand I am all smooth and naked again, covered only by a thin layer of white sand that falls off my goose bump covered skin as I stretch, I take a small sip from my last water skin and eat my last rations. I am starting to get really scared now, I resolve to keep going as long as I can this time, even at night, hoping that my body heat from moving can keep me warm enough. Soon I am once again glazed with sweat, from the really high heat of the desert I take some of the sand and powder it over me and it forms a very thin protective skin and keeps some of the heat out, and I keep walking, a fairly brisk speed as well as I want to get to the people, I recheck my direction with the spell and it keeps pointing me toward that same place, south west, and I keep walking even as night falls, and it starts to get really cold, so I start jogging and then break into a run and once I get my run going I am just barely able to keep warm enough, but I am unsure if I can sustain this speed all night. I am unsure what the time is when I finally collapse exhausted on the sand, and almost immediately I start shuddering from the cold. I build a fire with some of the fuel I have and light it with a spark of magic, I sleep right next to it and still feel really cold, I wake up several times to feed it as the cold gets worse and I manage to run out of fuel. My tears form small pearls of ice on my eyelashes and I watch the fire die and I just manage to cast my warm air shell around me, but I feel really weak and I notice how weak the spell ends up being, I can not sustain it for long and I look east, desperately hoping the sun will show up before I freeze to death, my stomach growls from hunger, yet there is nothing I could eat that would in any way help me regain energy.

My spell gives out and I stumble to my feet and start to run, desperate to get warmed up again, everything hurts as the cold of night bites into my skin, then as I am about to give into the cold and surrender my life, the sun rises and the cold starts being dispelled, I keep running, I really need to reach the people I am sensing, and hope I can convince them to help me somehow. I run all ninth day only stopping briefly to sip from my waterskin a few times, I do not like how some of my nice curves have lessened from the hard run and little food, I even see my ribs now and I do not like that, my muscles are hurting, and my stomach feels like it is about to rip me apart, I drink the last sip of water and keep running. As night falls I find a small white sandstone hill and into it is carved a small shelter, there are some urns inside and curiously I open them, hoping to find water or food, but all there is inside is dust that smells really bad so I close them, it provides some shelter from the cold of the night.

As I awaken I feel extremely thirsty and I take from my bag the bottles and skins I had urinated into, I had hoped to find actual water, but I know from what my survival trainer told me, that you can survive a few days on urine if you can't find water, so being in the desert I had decided to preserve it, I open the bottle and smell it and wrinkle my nose, I take a sip and it is not my idea of fun, but at least it tastes less bad than the urine I had tasted before, when a guy forced me to drink his pee. I really hope that my survival trainer was not telling me this as some sort of twisted joke, my stomach is not happy, but it does slake my thirst and I set out running again, I hope that this hideout I had slept in indicates that the people my spell is sensing are close.

I keep going for several more days, I am not sure how many, but steadily my urine has gotten darker and more stinky and I look emaciated I can barely walk anymore everything hurts. Yet I shamble on like some sort of walking dead, and then in the distance I see a white sandstone pillar, I think, I am not sure, I really hope it is real and head toward it, as I get closer I see that it is a tower made out of white sandstone, very worn and cracked in places, but it is a tower, at least shelter, and maybe if I am lucky it could have a well, I dream, I stumble into the hole where the gate used to be and look around, there is sand blasted marble under my feet and I croak out "hello? Is anyone here? Please help me, I will do anything for you." I don't think my voice was able to carry very far though, and I get no reply. I search the floors, there is some broken furniture and a lot of sand everywhere, but no sign of anyone, this tower seems abandoned.

I then walk down a spiral stair I found behind a broken wall on the now top floor. It leads to several very narrow passages and there are peep holes into the other rooms where I had searched before. I keep searching as I move down the stairs and then as I reach the bottom floor, the basement, the stairs continue further down, there were no stairs anywhere to be found in the basement that lead further down.

So I take the stairs down and then I yelp as I see a large stone golem guarding a door, it sees me and moves slightly to gaze into my eyes with its sapphire eyes and they glow faintly blue, after looking upon me for a few moments it speaks in my native tongue, that of the fey "milady, heed my words, if you seek to enter my master's home and partake of his services you must be aware of the rules, know that this is his pleasure house, and casino, where if you are lucky you can win big, enough to pay the entry fee." he points to the wall and I see symbols there that I can't understand at first, but then suddenly their meaning pops into my head as the golem continues and reads the basics for me "regular money is not going to buy entrance or exit from this place, but you are quite an exotic being and I am sure my master would value what you can do for him and his other patrons, but even the poorest person can be granted entrance here, and as long as they do not sell all the tokens representing their value they will remain free, each day you stay however you have to pay for the pleasure of it, and if your debt becomes greater than the value of your tokens, you agree to be owned by my master."

I see the fees and services listed, I know that if I don't get food and water I will die, and I do not want to die, and I hope I can somehow pay the debt "how much am I worth?"

The golem moves up and touches my hand and tokens with the same purple colour as my eyes appear in my hand and I look at them, they specify things I would agree to do for anyone who owns the token, a few of them is for once time use, but there are tokens that say I will agree to it as many times as the owner of the token wishes, and they have increasing values listed on them, the most valuable token is the token that says I will agree to all things as many times as the owner says, I can sense there is strong magic to these tokens, if I willingly give one up I am bound to honour it, I can see that the entry fee is high enough that I would have to use at least a few of the infinite tokens, and if I do I will either have to leave with whomever holds them or stay, I can see that the fee for a night's stay will require me to use one of the smaller tokens a one time thing, to stay, I swallow dryly, I really don't want to do most of the things these tokens suggest and it is as if the golem senses that "you may of course negotiate with the other patrons or my master, and if anything you can offer them will give you tokens that will work as well. These are just the things I can sense that you can do that the patrons will like."

I do not really have an option "alright I accept these terms, I want to enter." the golem steps to one side and touches the door and it opens and reveals a splendidly opulent room, a key floats in the air "once you take the key you are a patron and this is your room." I walk up to just before the threshold and look again at the list of rules and then down at my tokens and I close my eyes and walk into the room and take the key and the door closes behind me and changes shape to fit better with the room, I put the tokens away in my bag and the key as well and then I quickly walk around my room, grabbing a cluster of red grapes that is sitting in a fruit bowl and hungrily and thirstily eat them, it is the best taste ever sweet and juicy and my stomach insists that I take the bowl with me as I go exploring my room. The bedroom is amazing and I don't know how but there is a balcony overlooking a garden outside, I can see a few other patrons walking through it and enjoying the comfortably warm sunshine. Then as I see them I feel very dirty and naked and I quickly head back into my room and soon enough I find a large wash room, with a pool, I put down the almost empty fruit bowl and grab the last fruit, a fresh yellow date, and I eat it hungrily as I step into the water that is falling in the corner of the pool and the white sand washes off my skin and I drink of the warm water so very thirsty I don't care it is warm, it is clean tasty water, and then I stand there just letting the water flow over me for a really long time.

As I regain the ability to think more clearly I look around a bit more, I see wash oils of various kinds and salts and perfumes and soaps on shelves right next to the pool and I walk over and smell several of them before I pick one I like, I massage it into my sand blasted and more deeply tanned skin and I can feel that it has magic in it as it soothes all pains and heals my hurt muscles, and forms a really nice foam against my skin I use it on my hair as well and feel very happy when all the knots seem to untangle themselves finally after I am all foamed up I walk back into the shower and let it all rinse off me I am amazed at the way the water of the pool cleans itself all the sand is gone and soon enough the foam too. I feel a little bit naughty and I pee into the pool and it quickly clears, I giggle and blush and then I lie down in the pool and just enjoy the feeling of having so much clean water around me, I gently caress myself and fall asleep.

Continued in Part 2