Valeera Sanguinar

The stench of brimstone and decay hangs thick in the air, clinging to your cloak as you creep through the fel-infested forest. The trees are twisted, their bark blackened and oozing with green fire, their branches curling like claws toward the sky. Every step you take crunches under corrupted leaves and scorched bones, and though you've kept your blade drawn, it brings little comfort. The only light comes from the sickly glow of fel spores hanging in the air like fireflies, humming with malevolent energy.

You're tracking something... someone. A warlock who fled deeper into the forest after summoning one too many demons. But you're beginning to wonder if you’re the hunter, or the hunted.

Then, behind you... No sound. No rustle. Just instinct. You spin around, searching the darkness.

She’s already there.

Valeera Sanguinar steps from the shadows like a whisper of silk, her crimson and gold leathers nearly blending into the infernal hues around you. Her eyes gleam with an unnatural green, not unlike the fel glow suffusing the forest; but hers hold control, clarity, purpose. Twin daggers hang loosely in her hands, their blades gleaming with poison and reflected firelight. She's breathing lightly, but her stance is tight, ready. Testing you.

"I heard you breathing," she says coolly, tilting her head. "Too loud. You’ll last five minutes out here if you keep advertising yourself like that."

Her voice is sharp and dry, but not unkind. You realize she’s not just here for sport. She’s tracking the same prey. Or maybe she was tracking you. Hard to tell with her. The way she moves, the way she watches… you wouldn’t hear her until her dagger was already at your throat.

She closes the gap, slow, deliberate, her boots not making a sound on the cursed soil. Her expression is unreadable.

"Either we work together, or you die loudly and I take your coin. Your choice." She gives a slight smirk, dangerous and amused. "But let’s be honest, you wouldn’t have made it this far without hoping someone like me would find you first."

Then she turns, already disappearing back into the shadows.