Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sex.
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It had been about two weeks since Avery had returned from Matt's house. As a result of their agreement, she actually had some decent clothes now, along with enough cash to freely spend it on whatever she wanted. She'd settled back in fine, but noticed that these past weeks since being home she had become increasingly bored. Kaitlyn was coming to visit in a week, but that didn't help Avery's situation now. She spent hours on end pacing back and forth through the house, daydreaming about random things. She hated to admit it, but more than a good few times the things she daydreamed about involved Matt taking her in one way or another. She played with herself thinking about it until she came. Avery couldn't help it. Ever since she had first been fucked, she found that she kept wanting more.
All she knew was that she definitely didn't want to spend today doing nothing but sitting around the house again. Maybe she'd go and check out the city's bounty board to see if there were any contracts she wanted to take on.
The bounty board was a collection of bounties people could take on in return for loads of cash following their success. Sometimes bounties were for wanted criminals; other times they were for getting rid of monsters in certain areas. As a result, there was an innate sense of danger in taking one up. They were listed on sheets of paper pinned to the wall of one of the city marketplace's buildings; new ones were put up every week.
Without further ado, Avery stretched, opened her front door, and made her way to Larley. It was about ten minutes later when she made her way through the outer archway that served as the entrance to the city's marketplace. The area was enclosed by thin walls, and more times than not, filled to the brim with people. There were various colorful booths and stands where individual vendors called shoppers over to have a look at their goods. Towards the back of the area, there were a few compact buildings that served as shops for sellers with more intricate products, accompanied by a humble inn.
The bounty board was on the front wall of the inn, so Avery slowly made her way through the crowds of people to get there. As the sheets of paper pinned to the board came into view, she noticed that no one else seemed to be interested in it but her. She wasn't surprised, though. Most folk were content enough with their lives, and saw no use risking their well being to go out to try and slay monsters or capture escaped convicts. Most people who accepted the contracts didn't return, anyways. However, Avery wasn't too worried. She had taken on her fair share of bounties in the last year or two, and never accepted any she thought were too dangerous.
She sifted through the papers with her hands as she skimmed over them. There was one for capturing some guy who had stolen some perishables... boring. There was another to slay some wolf that was apparently eating someone's livestock... nah. If bounties weren't dangerous, they were just straight up boring. Avery continued looking through them, about to be disappointed with the lack of any fun ones when just then, one caught her eye. It wasn't particularly dangerous... and it didn't seem the most interesting, either. But it was... different. The paper read:
BOUNTY FOR THE COLLECTION OF ITEMS LISTED BELOW: x20 BELLBOW CRYSTALS
LOCATION: CAN BE FOUND IN CAVES OF OUTER RIM FOREST
RETURN TO SHOP OWNER ON 51 TRIG AVENUE
REWARD: x3,000 BITS
3,000 bits?! That was already a crazy amount of money. And for what? Gathering some crystals from the wilds just outside the city? Something was too good to be true. For starters, she had never seen a bounty for bringing back simple resources. Most of the time, the people who needed them were capable of getting them themselves. If someone had been desperate enough to list it as a bounty, with a cash reward as high as this, there had to be a catch. Avery just didn't know what it was. But, despite that, she yanked it off the wall and folded it up into her pocket as she started making her way out of the marketplace. It might be dangerous, but it was still the most interesting one on the board. She couldn't deny that the inevitable hidden catch excited her, and made her wonder what she was getting herself into.
Once she got home, she packed her things for the trip ahead of her. She grabbed a bag and threw in an extra set of clothing, in case hers got ruined for whatever reason. Afterwards, she took the bag and walked into the kitchen, where she grabbed an empty pouch from the cabinet. She filled it up with some nuts and berries, then tossed it into the bag along with her waterskin. She tied it up and made one last trip to her bedroom. Dropping the bag, she bent down to reach underneath her bed and pulled out her sword. Once in her hand, she stood up and looked it over.
The sword wasn't anything special. Its dark grey blade was attached to a chipped wooden handle. It was just fine enough to be considered sharp, but definitely wouldn't be one's ideal weapon of choice in battle. It might've been shiny at one point, but when she had first bought it from the trader a year back it was already pretty beat up. Avery wasn't even sure what the sword was made of. All things considered though, she couldn't complain too much. It had been up for sale for a generously cheap price, and it did its job well enough.
The blade was light in her hands, and Avery swung it around a couple of times to get a feel for it. Afterwards, she strapped it to the side of her bag and slung it over her shoulders. While the contract didn't mention any monsters or other threats, Avery wasn't so sure that was true and definitely didn't want to leave that to chance. She wouldn't bring anything serious like her crossbow, but her simple sword should be enough to ward off any critters she might find.
Despite having a variety of clothing options, for this excursion Avery decided to keep on her half-shirt and shorts. Because she would be in the forest she needn't worry about anyone staring at her, and this outfit would be much easier to move around in than other options.
With her things packed, Avery walked out her front door and closed it behind her. She considered taking her horse with her; it would make getting to her destination much quicker. However, the crystals she needed would be in caves, and while she was down there she wouldn't have a good place to keep her horse. She would deal with the walk - god knew she probably needed the exercise anyways.
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The sun was still high in the sky when Avery began walking through the trees of the Outer Rim Forest. She smiled and took in her surroundings. Everywhere around her was a variety of lush green plants, with flowers of a multitude of colors lining the ground. The tall trees were just enough distance away from each other for the sunlight to be able to shine through the canopy, and Avery could hear birds and other creatures singing from places she couldn't see. She loved the wilderness - well, at least the peaceful places.