Half a day before
Tiy sat by the fire at the entrance of the cave. The sun glistened as it broke through the clouds that had plagued the forest with rain for a month straight. Morning dew covers the grass outside the cave, signalling the start of her plan.
Tiy gave Isaac a look before she left the cave without looking back again. She started her journey back to the tribe guarding the monument by visiting the glade that she and Isaac frequented to find mana berries.
After filling her pockets with the berries, she continued her journey by heading southwest, which was the opposite direction of the cave that she and Isaac stayed in. The walk to the tribe was relatively long, being around 4 hours away from the glade.
By the time Tiy arrived at Tribe, the sun had just risen above the horizon fully. Many wooden Tents were strung around a cave entrance, where the monument sat. As Tiy arrived at the tribe, a horn blew across the campsite.
Many people ran out and kneeled in front of Tiy as she walked in. Once she was safely in, two people stood up and walked over to Tiy while bowing down to her.
One was a woman who looked to be in her 30s, which was old for the tribe people, due to most tribesmen all coming from the same people who were the first wanderers to find the monument.
The other person was the bodyguard who would normally accompany her, he looked to be around his early 20s, which was a normal age for the bodyguards of the wanderers from Grassciair.
Tiy looked at the woman and spoke in a casual tone.
"Find me some more comfortable clothes, preferably for a male. I am sick of gowns, and prepare me a bath as well inside my hut."
The women bowed and quickly went to work fulfilling Tiy's request. Tiy then turned to her bodyguard and walked towards a hut that could only be her own. When she entered, it was filled with walls with circle magic, at least five different spells were all working at the same time while inside her hut.
She then sat down on her bed and spoke to the bodyguard in a commanding tone.
"I want to find me the best knife in the wind blessed! And I won't accept anything below the best of what you scum can make."
The guard knelt before Tiy, held out one of his knives, and presented it to her.
"My lady, this knife was made from the tooth of a full grown crescent bear that was killed under a crescent moon. It's the same bear that killed my father, but he ripped it out of its maw before it was crushed to death."
The man prostrated himself in front of Tiy while telling this story, she picked it up and inspected it.
'This should be good enough for Isaac. I would have preferred it to come from somewhere else, but I guess my little investment will have to deal with it.'
Tiy took the knife and its sheath and put it in a bag that she had laying around. She then turned her focus back to the man. And then delivered a swift kick to the man's head.
"How dare you call me 'your lady'! You shall refer to me as my title, The Hollow Dame, and I expect nothing else! Surely someone like you should be able to understand something simple like that."
The man held a hand against his head, which was beet red and felt like it was ringing. He then prostrated himself again and begged for Tiy's forgiveness, which she never gave, and was instead forced out by the woman from earlier who had brought the clothes and the bath for Tiy.
Tiy undressed and sat in the small wooden bath filled with warm water. She cleaned herself with a mix of magic curses that would remove bacteria. Once Tiy got out of the bath, she prepared the rest of the bag for Isaac and gave it to the woman with orders to go to the glade and leave it near a bush.
The woman listened and quickly left with the bag. Tiy then began working on her plan. She wanted to make a lot of curse circles around the tribe so that both her and Isaac's jobs would be easier.
Tiy walked around the tribe, scouting out the best places to draw the circles, which was interrupted as a scruffy man walked over to Tiy. He was only around five feet tall, his hair was light brown and unkept, and small bugs crawled all over his body.
Tiy spoke out to the man with an annoyed tone.
"What do you want, Exo. I didn't find any new bugs for you while I was hiding from the rain and."
The man who Tiy called Exo cut her off.
"I know about that boy you were in the cave with Dame."
Tiy stopped talking and just looked at the man who was smiling as all of the bugs on his body stared into Tiy's eyes. Tiy's mind was in turmoil as Exo looked at her.
'How does he know about Isaac? I doubt he told anyone, as nobody would believe him, so he must have seen us himself. Wait, how would he have found us? The cave is at least six hours away."
Tiy was about to refute the existence of Isaac when Exo cut her off.
"You see, Dame, I gained a new trait a few weeks ago that allows me to see through my bugs. And it so happens that your pathetic guard wanted my help looking for you in the rain, so imagine my shock when I saw you with someone not from the wind blessed or from Grassciair."
Tiy quickly spoke while appearing calm.
"Why tell me this? Why not tell the elders they would definitely kill me if they knew?
"
Exo jittered a bit before responding.
"I know what you are planning, and I want to join you."
Exo extends his hand, which Tiy begrudgingly takes.
"New ally made, Stug: First Spark."
Tiy quickly pulled her hand back and gave Exo a disgusted look before walking off. Once she got a safe distance away, she looked at the system.
**
Name: Tiy
Monument: First Spark
Titles: The Hollow Dame
Traits:
Curse Mother:
All curses follow your will, even if they belong to someone else.
Rooter:
Your body can handle any poisons in all worlds.
Life Eater
You can drain the life from beings and use it as mana.
Curse Tracker
You can track anyone you have cursed.
Minor Curse:
You can not harm any of your Allies
Allies:
Isaac Wright: N/a
Stug: First Spark
**