A Lover's Quest Reward
At her lord's stronghold, a young human woman named Anna, walked over the mote bridge that was connected to the western entry of the fort walls. She felt the cool weather breeze blowing both her black hooded cloak, and her long red hair, while touching her pretty pale white face, with her dark blue eyes. The only thing the breeze couldn't touch was the rest of her that was hidden beneath her skin-tight suit of black leather that wore rapiers on both sides of her buckle.
Upon entering the stronghold exteriors, Anna once again found herself admiring its many features that had been improved and renovated, ever since the new lord took ownership. She remembered the day she first visited the place when it was but a shadow of its former self, decaying and littered with spiders. Look at the stronghold now, there was a restored keep, fortified walls, a chapel, a lodge, training grounds, crafting halls, and more. Finally, the one place Anna was heading to, the Inn, where she planned to rest after a long journey returning from the work that her lord assigned her to.
However, when Anna was passing by the chapel, she noticed that the entrance by the corner of the keep was being opened. That entrance led to the master staircase that was interconnected to a city of a dungeon beneath the stronghold, known as The Endless Hall, a place that the lord would continue to explore with his selected companions from time to time, returning to the surface with a number of bruises, cuts, and sometimes broken ribs or infections, but also with riches and unique artifacts.
Speaking of which, the lord himself emerged from the entrance, his appearance still hidden beneath the suit of his plate armor, and his face behind a great helm. Following the lord of the stronhold, there was the human male fighter, Edward, the paladin high elf woman, Tallegina, the wood elf male wizard, Taloth, and the dwarf cleric male, Dumah.
Finally, the last one to come out was the one who got Anna's attention. A man emerged in his full set of plate armor, or at least what's left durable of it. He walked slowly as though he was in pain and exhaustion, and could possibly collapse, but he didn't. Anna recognized the estoc blade that was sheathed at his back. It was The Frost Sleeper, a sword that was found among the snowy mountains of Icewind Dale, plunged into a rock, guarded by spirits. Anna remembered that whoever pulled the sword from its stone would suffer the curse of having it frozen to the puller's grip and never released by frozen, not unless the wielder solved the riddle of the blade's origin. Thankfully, that quest was resolved a while back, but now the weapon was simply soul-bounded to the one who wielded it.
The man his helmet, revealing his young handsome fair human face, with a scruffy beard. His short brown hair, finally feeling plenty of cool air after walking through the deep dark places beneath. His name was Michael.
"By the gods, Michael, what were you thinking!?" Anna shouted, catching him, preventing him from falling to the ground, and he simply chuckled in reply.
It was back before the new lord first set foot on the stronghold grounds. At the time, Anna was but a rogue that the lord had hired at the local tavern in a town not too far west. Anna wasn't as strong as she was now, and she was equipped with normal leather armory, and pair of daggers. The paladin, Michael, was hired alongside Anna at the same tavern, back when he was equipped with just a breastplate, and a great sword sheathed on his back.
Afterwards, the rogue woman and paladin man had been fighting side by side, protecting each other's backs, more than their other companions did with each other. They defended the stronghold from invaders, slew the giant spiders beneath its basements, collected many bounties offered, and got involved in many tasks in the city southwest of the region. They even explored some of the levels of The Endless Hall.
Naturally, the two bonded through the course throughout these adventures, more than they did with all the other companions they worked with under the leadership of their lord. They became loyal to each other, as much as they were loyal to their lord. The only time they were ever separated was when their lord sends one of them on an adventurous assignment, or when he needed one of them to join his party for their specific talents.
Currently at the stronghold Inn, up the stairs, inside the first door to the left, was the best room in the house, one with a fire place, and a large fancy bed. The lord of the stronghold was nice enough to let his paladin friend use it to rest, as a reward for his loyal service.
Michael laid his back on the bed, his armor and equipment had all been removed, leaving him topless and showing his average build, his only clothing being his trousers. His torso held a few recently made cuts and bruises. Then there was his right arm, which had still been wrapped in bandages, still recovering from all the constant pain he held, when his hand was under the curse of The Frost Sleeper, before the curse was cured. Now he could use the blade normally, but he was the only one bounded to use its full magical power. The sword was currently left standing by the wall next to the bed.
"I've only been gone for nearly three days, and you were already putting yourself in a near death situation," Anna complained, as she was removing her own weapons and attire. "You were supposed to rest, especially since your arm still needed to recover, after the whole cursed sword thing."
"That was three days ago, Anna," Michael pointed out, resting the back of his head on the pillow. "My body needed to stay in shape, and I had more than enough time to recover before getting back to work. Our lord isn't letting us stay for free you know."
"I know," she answered more calmly, as she was also removing her leather gloves and foot wear, allowing hands and feet some freedom, "but I could tell that your arm is still in pain. The pain had been growing over time, ever since you took hold of that sword and it got stuck on your hand. You had to bear with it for days on our quest to remove the curse, traveling from Icewind Dale, all the way to Amn. The curse is gone now, but your hand still needs recovery."
"Well, I'm fine now," Michael assured her. "I'm still alive."
Anna walked up and sat on Michael's left side of the bed, with her legs crossed. Her thin, curvaceous, athletic figure was almost entirely revealing, stopped only by her black female undergarments.
"I heard that the only reason your alive is because Tallegina focused most of her power on you," her eyes narrowed and half closed, holding Michael with piercing cold stare.
"Don't be jealous, because you weren't around to nurse me," he closed his eyes and chuckled quietly. "Besides, that drow woman, Vinsiel, has a thing for her."
Anna slowly crawled her way on the bed, approaching Michael while his eyes were still closed. "Maybe you should ask them if they would let you share a bed with the two of them."
Michael, still relaxed with his eyes closed, laughed at Anna's suggestion. "Maybe we should add you to the pile."
"Wise guy."
When Michael opened his eyes, he realized that the red haired rogue woman was looking down at him. She held a stiletto to his throat with her right hand, while her left one was on his chest, as she straddled him, a leg on both his sides. She held him in that position for a moment, before she leaned over and pressed her teeth on his neck shoulder, making him moan in pain for a second before she licked the bite mark.
"That was your punishment," she spoke in a hostile, yet seductive tone. She then threw the stiletto away, and bent herself completely, letting Michael feel her breasts pressed over his chest, while both her hands were holding his head and face in place. "Now for your reward."
Anna rubbed Michael's mouth with her tongue, and his excited reaction made him open it with a quiet gasp. Then she started kissing and making out with him. She even pressed their lips and held a deeper, longer kiss. When Anna finally broke the kiss, they both breathed a little heavily.
"I've missed you," she whispered, smiling wickedly.
"There is no woman I would rather be with," he finally admitted.
On her hands and knees, the rogue crawled backwards, both kissing and licking the the paladin's hard muscled chest along the way. Once she reached past his hips, she began to quickly remove the human's leggings and undergarment. Once Michael was fully nude, Anna stripped her own undergarments off, now revealing her pale white form in its entirety. She straddled him again, a leg on both sides of his hips, and then she finally plunged her pelvis down and took him in.
Three days later, when the weather seemed cold, Anna had once again found herself returning to the stronghold, only this time something surprised her. There was a party, a celebration going on. Prestigious guests had arrived. There were singing, dancing, food and drink passed around, and everyone is cheering. Anna was very curious. Then she noticed Edward, Tallegina, Taloth, and Dumah, all covered with bandages and other recently treated wounds.
"Hey, Edward," she called the blonde hair and bearded human man, "did I miss something?"
"Oh not much," he grinned. Then he laughed. "Only that we finally cleared the bottom floor of the Endless Hall!"
Anna's eyes went wide. "Wait, you mean, you've actually hit bottom and cleared it, the whole thing!? What was down there!?"
Vinsiel chose to the answer that question. "A cave full of treasure. So much gold that you could swim in it! Plus, a few powerful artifacts."
Tallegina spoke next. "And all it took was slaying a full grown Black Dragon."
"A what!?" Anna couldn't what the avian-godlike woman just said.
For a while, the companions explained to the rogue the details of their draconic encounter, and the hellish battle that followed. It was so unbelievable that Anna wondered how the hell was everyone even still alive afterwards, or not even fatally wounded?
"You should've seen Edward," Vinsiel cheerfully placed a man on her human friend's shoulder, "He took the most beating, and the big freak still couldn't put him. He really is fit to be the shield of the team."
"I can't take all the credit," Edward smiled. "Dumah was the one throwing lots of healing magic, faster than Taloth could throw his fireball."
Tallegina agreed. "May the gods bless the dwarf for all his efforts."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," Vinsiel suddenly remembered, and spoke to her red-headed friend. "You might wanna head up to the inn and visit the first room on the second floor. Your man kinda took some damage, even though he didn't took as beating as Edward."
Upon hearing what the drow woman said, Anna immediately dashed away and sprinted towards the inn, as though her life depended on it. She bursts through the front doors and ran up the stairs, before turning left towards the door that led to the same room that she and Michael had slept in days ago.
Once the door was opened, the rogue woman looked in horror as she saw her human lover, sitting on the bed. He was in his undergarment again, but he was far from being even half-nude, as his arms, legs, torso, and even part of his head, was all covered in bandages.
Michael turned and saw Anna's frozen-stunned expression. "Hey," he said, smiling happily at her.
And then Anna just fainted and dropped to the floor.
Another three days later, after their lord gave the two a week off for all their hard work, both Michael and Anna were enjoying each other's company as they stopped to relax by a lake. The rogue rested on the lap of her paladin lover as they held each other.
"It's a good thing we got a week off," said Michael. "I heard the lord was taking a group to look into some kind of siege by the east. It's a good thing we weren't going, otherwise I would be in bed with even more bandages, and I fear so would you."
Anna laughed, then she kissed her man and pulled herself closer to him. "I love you."