A One Goddess Army

Sam was flying northeast with Laura and Talia, towards the first quest that Talia had picked for them to do on the way to the ancient temple of Cassandra. Talia explained the quest as they flew. “We’re going after an orc encampment. I figured it would be easy enough for us to take care of it. Even though an orc lieutenant and a high shaman are apparently at the encampment.”

Laura asked, “Why do you think that would be easy? What is the risk of this task?”

“It’s labeled as High, but I’m not concerned.”

“Talia, this sounds like a bad idea,” Sam replied.

“Sam, I had estimated our chances of success without issues at above 90%. This was before the explosion earlier. With Laura able to cause localized explosions like that, I’m not worried at all. Tell me, Sam, how many opponents with flight have we come across?”

“Hmmm… I guess you have a point. That would just be Merida and Hilde.”

“Right, and if it is only one or two people vs the three of us, we win no questions asked. Especially since your amulet will prevent us from getting ambushed.”

“I don’t know about that.” Sam glanced towards the ground as she passed over a small herd of cow-girls that hadn’t been taken care of yet. “Laura, we have another herd at 2 o’clock.”

Talia and Laura took a second to locate the herd, and between a few time bubbles and Laura just blasting at them, the cow-girls were incapacitated in seconds.

Sam continued, “The issue is that the cow-girls are picked up by the amulet. Don’t get me wrong, it is useful, and preventing ambushes is why I got it, but I don’t know if it will be as effective as I thought it would be.”

Talia shook her head, “Doesn’t matter. The important thing is that since you have an idea of the distance to a hostile, if that distance starts shrinking rapidly and we aren’t moving towards it, then you know it is likely Hilde or Ellen. If it is fairly close, then you just point it out if it isn’t moving fast.”

“10 o’clock,” Sam veered slightly to the left to give Laura and Talia an easier time taking out a few more cow-girls. Sam suddenly stopped flying forward and hovered in mid-air, “I think we found the place. That or a massive herd of cow-girls. Talia, you sure we can handle this? I count something like a hundred hostiles all clumped together.”

“Unless they have mass flight capabilities, then yes.”

After Talia cast a celerity buff on both Laura and Sam, Sam flew in at breakneck speed, and when they had successfully laid eyes on the orc tents, she unleashed her water-based breath weapon. Taking out quite a few of the orcs and their tents. Laura also fired twin streams of bolts at the exposed orcs. As they circled back around for another pass, Sam detected incoming combatants. “Well, they definitely have a squad to deal with flyers. Looks like we have both Freya and Maja incoming.”

Laura and Talia located the flying squad a moment later. Maja and Freya were at the front of the team with three more behind them. Unfortunately for both Maja and Freya, Talia just cast twin time bubbles, each hitting one them and one other orc. Laura quickly eliminated the sole orc flying towards them outside of a temporal distortion. Laura peppered both bubbles with a continuous barrage of projectiles, and the resulting dual explosions midair were rather impressive, enough so that both orcs, Maja, and Freya all plunged to the ground, incapacitated.

From there, it was indeed rather simple. A few more passes and nearly every orc was **** or had fled. A quick lightning breath set the camp and supplies on fire. The three of them wanted to be certain they got all of the orcs, though, and spent half an hour hunting down the stragglers.

Sam hovered midair, looking at the havoc they had wrought. Laura said, “That was… surprisingly easy.”

Talia nodded, “As I said, flight changes things. I’m pretty sure Hilde got a class ability or item early on that lets her go into the air, specifically so it wouldn’t be completely unbalanced.”

Sam asked, “So where to next?”

“Head east. There is a fort that has stopped reporting to the capital that we are to investigate and assist if we can.”

Sam flew east for a while and saw the fort in question in the distance. She stopped in midair when her amulet picked up a bunch of hostiles. “We have a problem. I’m picking up more hostiles in there than at the orc camp. Is it possible that the entire fort got infected with Mad Cow-Girl?”

Talia frowned, “Possible but not likely. They stationed almost exclusively men up here so that the lure in the south would be more effective. The only women were the priestesses in case there was an infection, and they could reverse it before it got too far. Can you take us up higher and fly over?”

“I can, but there is a reason I’ve been flying so low. It gets cold further up. It doesn’t bother me, but it might bother the two of you. Especially considering Laura’s outfit.”

Laura manifested her wings and wrapped them around Talia and herself. “That should help, just do it. It won’t be that long.”

Sam obliged and flew high above the fort. Below, they could see pink and gold, but oddly, it didn’t seem to be going anywhere like the other cow-girls. Sam flew away, “Well, they definitely got infected. Why aren’t they going anywhere, though?”

Talia did respond immediately. “I have a guess, and if I’m right, this could be big for us. Sam, tell me, is there a reading for one hostile that is separated from the others?”

Sam took a minute, “I… I think so. There seems to be a fairly even distribution of them distance-wise, but then one is further below the others by around ten, maybe fifteen meters.”

“I think Ellen is here.”

Laura asked, “You sure?”

“No, but it makes sense. If not her, then I think she was at least here at one point. There were reports, though, of a black dragon flying northeast yesterday. Simultaneously, we got reports of some Cow-girls acting odd. That, combined with a town in the south having the same issue as Harper’s Haven, makes me think that Ellen somehow got infected and is purposefully spreading it.” Talia hesitated a moment before continuing, “Laura… could you check your connection with Ellen. I understand if you don’t want to use it that way, though.”

“I’ve got no issues with it. She wanted to not hold back well, she’ll get it.” Laura reached out and tugged on her connection with Ellen. When she made contact with her mind, it felt odd, twisted. Laura pulled back. “I think you’re right about Ellen being infected. Something is wrong with her mind. Also, being so close, I could tell that she is in the direction of the fort.”

“What do we want to do?” Sam asked, “We could try to capture her, but Talia and I aren’t immune to the infections. She can fly, so that could be an issue. Plus, are we going to head back with her instead of doing the trial?”

Talia pulled out a map. “Go to the northwest, there is another fort about a ten-minute flight from here.” Sam took off as soon as Talia put the map away. They found the second fort easily, and it had not been infected. They landed just outside of the fort, not wanting to alarm the guards more than they already had with a dragon landing nearby. The three walked up and were greeted by Freya.

“Hello Heroes. I am Knight Commander Freyja. What can we do for you?” Freya gave them a salute, slamming a fist against her breast.

Talia stepped forward, pulling out a map. “This fort here has been compromised.”

Freya responded. “We’re aware; we were the ones to send in the report, but we didn’t have the manpower to investigate.”

“The entire fort is infected with Mad Cow-girl, and we believe whatever the people of Harper’s Haven were infected with as well. Furthermore, we believe one of the Champions of Smug is present in that fort right now.”

Freya frowned, “That is worrying news. Do you wish our aid in taking out the Champion?”

“Not exactly.”

“Good, because I’m not sure it would be a good idea to send my men just for them to get infected too.”

“We were wondering, if we incapacitated everyone at the fort, if you could handle clean up and imprisonment.”

“Please come inside and let us speak with the priestess.”

They followed Freya inside to a chapel where they found four Petras. It was a little jarring to see duplicates of her. Laura had to ask, “Okay, what’s going on here? This is more than a bit creepy.”

All four Petras sighed. One of them said, “It’s apparently a joke of some sort. I’m every priestess. As far as how, it’s like what was done to Mark, and Mary just on a wider scale. It isn’t uncomfortable or anything, just annoying. Anyway, what can I do for the Heroes of Cassandra?”

Freya explained the situation. The Petras conversed amongst themselves for a moment. Then one replied. “I think it will depend on how things progress in the capital. Right now, Princess Ethel is working on cleansing the idol retrieved from Harper’s Haven. If these individuals are infected with both plagues, we might not be able to cure them until that idol is cleansed.”

Laura asked, “Could you hold one if they were incapacitated?”

“The issue is we don’t know how the second plague spreads. That being said, we will make the attempt if you can confirm the incapacitation of a Champion of Smug, even if one or more of us get infected in the process.”

Talia turned to Sam and Laura, “I think we should try; we haven’t had significant issues with the cow-girls so far.” Laura seemed on board with the idea, but Sam was clearly hesitant. “Okay, Sam, tell me why you don’t like the idea.”

“If Ellen is infected, what happens if she hits us with her breath weapon. We know she can turn into a dragon like me. Plus, I know your time magic is less effective on large targets. It’s how I beat Maja in the arena. I grew to a massive size, making the time bubble not all that effective.”

Laura was the one to come up with a solution. “I’ll do it. I’ve been wanting to try out this spell I got several days ago.” Laura infused her staff with mana, and a massive pink blade longer than Laura’s body sprang from the tip. She was then coated in spectral armor. “It’s called Lust Warrior. I’ll just go in myself. You two can support me from the air, and if Ellen flies out, you two get out of there.”

“I don’t know, that still seems really risky.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “Fine, let me simplify this for you, Sam. I’m still ticked at Ellen for what she did with the desserts. Not enough that I'm going to try to single her out and go hunting for her, but I’m not going to pass up the chance given to me. I’m going in, support me or don’t.” Laura stopped channeling her spell.

Talia said, “Sam, I’m sorry, but I’m supporting her. This is too good an opportunity to pass up. I would be safer if you were on board as well.”

“Fine, on one condition, though. Laura, you don’t go in half-cocked; you stay on my back. I know you want to try that spell out, but at least until we clear out a lot of the opponents, we stay airborne.”

“Fine.”

Talia turned to Petra and Freya. “We are going to attempt to capture her. Please make preparations in case we succeed.”

They nodded to Talia and left to make preparations.

Talia, Sam, and Laura headed back to the other fort. They found it much like they had left it. This time, Sam flew lower so Laura could open fire. Which was rather effective for a short while. They saw the Cow-girls having an orgy of some kind, but that stopped as soon as Laura attacked. Laura saw one that was fully decked in armor. Oh shit, is that the boss from Lakeview? Laura focused her fire on the armored one but found it either avoided or deflected the bolts.

Moobrey let out a battle cry and pointed her sword at the trio in the air. “MOOOOOOOOOOOO!” The rest of the cow-girls stopped their orgy and looked up, grabbed their breasts, and started to fire blasts of milk high into the air. Sam immediately retreated upwards.

“Crap, how can they fire so far? It’s almost like anti-air weaponry.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Talia replied, “Laura, just keep firing down.”

“Can’t. I have a maximum range, this is beyond that. I think I’ll need to go down there.”

“That’s crazy!” Sam roared.

Which was when the three of them heard a “MOOOOOOOOO!” that was slowly increasing in volume. Sam dodged midair out of the way of a Cow-girl hurling through the air. She, Talia use a time bubble to stop the milk blasts coming their way. The three of them saw that the enemies had catapults and were literally launching the Cow-girls into the air.”

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” Laura shouted, “Since when were they this smart?”

Talia replied, “I think it’s the commander. She can organize them. I don’t understand why she would do this, though. They’ll certainly be incapacitated on landing, so it’s a waste of troops.”

Which was when Moobrey herself came hurling through the air, with her long golden hair spinning like a helicopter blade above her head. Laura saw a pink liquid blade extend around Moobrey’s sword and made a split-second decision. She activated her Lust Warrior spell and ran along Sam’s back and jumped to meet Moobrey midair. The two pink blades met, creating a thunderous clash, pushing both back. Laura was flung higher into the air and used her wings to slowly fall, and with Talia’s and Sam’s intervention, landed on Sam’s back. Moobrey wasn’t able to maintain flight herself, but she was able to land unharmed with her hair slowing her fall.

As soon as Sam had Laura on her back, she retreated some distance from the fort. “Still think that this is a good idea!? Laura, if Talia or I get hit once by that milk, we are done.”

“I’ll do it myself then.” Laura didn’t wait and just jumped off of Sam’s back and floated to the ground. Talia quickly cast a buff on Laura.

“Sam, we’re just going to have to trust her. Take us high and follow her. I can still create time distortions. My boon lets me create them farther away than my class does.” Sam sighed, but did as Talia requested.

Laura cracked her neck and saw that Moobrey had landed outside the fort. The rest of the Cow-girls were filtering out to join her against Laura.

Well, time to find out how effective this is. Laura charged. She was met by a herd of Cow-girls, while Moobrey remained back to watch. Which was a mistake on Moobrey’s part, though she wasn’t really at fault. Right as Laura was about to make contact with the herd, she unleashed her divine aura on full blast directly at those in front of her with the intent to suppress them. All except the armored Moobrey collapsed to the ground under her pressure, and empowering her Lust Warrior spell, the blade grew in size, and Laura swung and hit the sole standing Moobrey in the side. Sending her crashing into the fort gate behind her. Sam took the opportunity to lightning breath the fallen cow-girls to one side of Laura, while Laura put down lust whirlwinds to her other side.

Even at her distance, Sam had to push back with her dragon aura not to be overwhelmed by Laura. Sam also felt something odd on her back. Why does it feel wet… wait… that’s right where Talia is. “Talia! Seriously?!” Talia was undergoing a rapturous experience, being bathed in her Goddess’s divine aura. Laura continued her charge and slammed her massive blade down on Moobrey, once, twice, thrice, in fast succession. Until the boss was incapacitated. Laura’s aura receded, and no Cow-girl moved. Laura leaned on her staff for support, seemingly exhausted. Sam even noticed that the number of hostiles had dropped to one. The one that had been separated from the others. Holy crap! Laura practically soloed this. Where the fuck did this come from?

Detecting only the one hostile, Sam landed next to Laura and returned to her humanoid form. “Laura, what the hell was that?”

Laura was panting. “I… just… used my… aura… I figured that… it would be… rather effective… After what happened… in the last trial.”

“What are you talking about?”

Talia put Laura in a time bubble to let her catch her breath. A moment later, the bubble ended, and while Laura wasn’t back to normal, she wasn’t panting anymore either. “Thanks, Talia. In the last trial, we had to face reflections of ourselves. They were essentially how Mark viewed us, subconsciously. When my reflection stepped out of the mirror, she instantly knocked out everyone present except for Mark and me. Mark only remained standing because he had my Goddess TF at the time. The thing is, my reflection was suppressing both of us. Even with us resisting with our own auras. I figured if that is how Mark saw my divine aura, when he wasn’t a deity himself, that it was so overwhelming, then against other mortals, my aura would have a similar effect. I just didn’t realize it would be so exhausting to use it like that.”

“Still, you took out the boss so easily.”

“I got Lust Warrior spell for a reason. I figured my superhuman strength would be crazy with it. I was more worried about collateral damage when using it around the rest of you. It isn’t like I’ve gone all out before.”

Sam and Talia looked around and noticed the gate was in splinters, and part of the stone wall connected to the gate had been destroyed. There were deep rents in the ground as well from Laura’s strikes.

Sam frowned, “I feel like you should have done this in Harper’s Haven. We would have crushed the other team if you had.”

Laura looked uncomfortable. “I don’t want to use my aura directly on the other team. It feels… wrong to do so. Plus, I worry that they might start worshiping me if I do. I don’t want that. I was also concerned that my Lust Warrior form might not be particularly effective against Aubrey. Since it is Pink. Talia, can you give me like fifteen minutes to recover?” Talia nodded, and bubbled Laura.

Talia turned to Sam, “She’ll be in there for a minute. Where is Ellen?”

“Down and that way around thirty meters. I think she is about ten meters underground.”

“Has she moved at all?”

“Hard to tell, but I don’t think so. She isn’t moving now. I will say I don’t know how to get down to her.”

The two waited for Laura to recover. When the bubble popped, Laura said, “Okay, I feel much better. I don’t think I’ll be able to use my divine aura again for a while, but my mana is half full. That, by the way, is the other issue with what I did, Sam. It costs a lot of mana to channel that spell and empower it. So where is she?”

Sam pointed, and the three moved in the direction of Ellen. Sam stopped when they were right above her. “She’s about ten meters below us.” The three were still in the fort courtyard, so they figured she had taken refuge somewhere inside. “I guess we head inside and search the building.”

Laura looked at Sam, “Or we do this the simple way.” Laura ran over and grabbed the greatsword Moobrey was using. She came back, “We dig.” Laura slammed her fist into the side of the sword a few times, bending it into a makeshift shovel. She then began to dig. Seeing Sam just standing there. “Not going to help me?”

Sam rolled her eyes, transformed into a dragon, and started digging with her claws. The two dug through the soil like a knife cutting through butter, until they hit stone. Sam said, “About four meters below us now. I would assume there is a room on the other side of the stone.”

Laura was about to slam the sword to break the stone, but Talia said, “WAIT!” Laura halted her strike just before impact. “Sam, would you take us high up into the air above the hole?”

Laura and Sam both looked confused and intrigued, but Sam obliged. Talia explained, “Here’s the plan. Laura, I want you to throw the sword as hard as you can from up here. It should accelerate from the fall as well. We fly down, ready to go in after the sword. Sam, you should breath weapon, and Laura, just launch a stream of bolts. Ellen should be down before she knows what hits her.”

Inside the fort, Symbietta’s consciousness stirred as she heard some noise from outside the room where she had locked Ellen inside. It wasn’t unusual, as the Moobreys made a rather lot of noise having an orgy. So she tried to ignore it and get back to sleep. She was just glad that Ellen hadn’t figured out how to escape the room while she rested. Another hour or two should be good. A few minutes later, Symbietta heard an odd sound from above but ignored it, then what sounded like a shout. Seriously? I’m too tired. Symbietta started to wrestle control of Ellen’s body and stretched, which was when something impacted the ceiling and then her. She felt the blow, and her consciousness faded as the room filled with water.

+6 CP Talia Incapacitated Ellen (As Mastermind of Plan)
+2 CP Laura Incapacitation assist on Ellen
+2 CP Samantha Incapacitation assist on Ellen

Sam, Laura, and Talia looked down at the crater because that is most definitely what it was. Sam sent a torrent of water in after the sword, but in hindsight, that might have ended up being overkill. Sam turned her head towards Talia accusingly, with a wide-eyed stare, as did Laura.

Talia winced and said, “I might have miscalculated. Just how fast that would come in, I didn’t realize Laura could throw that hard. Sam, is Ellen incapacitated?” Sam nodded slowly. “Then, Laura, could you go retrieve her? She is likely underwater at this moment. Even if Cassandra is protecting her, I doubt that would feel pleasant.” Laura jumped off Sam and dove into the water, and two minutes later emerged carrying an ****, inky black dragon. “Well, we got her,” Talia said with a smile. Sam and Laura, on the other hand, frowned at Talia, looking around at the destruction.

Talia sighed and then shouted, “I’M SORRY, OKAY! I DIDN’T REALIZE IT WOULD BE SO DESTRUCTIVE!”

Laura and Sam weren’t particularly sympathetic. There wasn’t a fort anymore. The walls were gone, and in the future, there would almost certainly end up being a lake here as rainwater filled the hole. Sam’s breath weapon had definitely helped that along already.

Talia fumed, “I don’t see why you two are upset. We got her, and we figured out a new strategy for when we find the enemy base.”

Cassandra appeared beside the trio. “OH NO YOU HAVEN’T! Don’t you dare try that again! I had to intervene personally. NO MORE ORBITAL STRIKES! AM I CLEAR!”

Sam and Laura clearly nodded in agreement, while glaring at Talia.

“Yes, Cassandra,” Talia said sheepishly.

“Seriously, this is just turning into one huge mess. Could you try not to do absolutely crazy bullshit? For like one day? Is that too much to ask?” Cassandra just sighed, “Whatever, just don’t do it again.” Cassandra then disappeared as silently as she had shown up.

“Well… I guess we should take her to the other fort.”

Laura and Talia mounted Sam, and Sam carried Ellen in her claws, heading to the other fort.

When they got there, they were met by Freya, Petra, and a detachment of fifty guards preparing to mobilize. Laura asked, “What’s going on?”

Freya rushed over to them, “Heroes, thank the Goddess you are alright. We were just about to send a **** to come aid you. We heard a large boom followed by the ground shaking.” Freya noticed the **** dragon being laid down on the ground. “I see you were successful. I’ll have a **** go secure the fort, assuming you dealt with the Cow-Girls as well.”

Sam shifted back to being human, “We did, but don’t bother with the fort. There’s just a hole in the ground now.” Freya raised an eyebrow in bewilderment, and Sam tilted her head at Talia, “Blame her. Can you take Ellen to the capital, or do we need to?”

“I can handle the matter.”

Petra went to examine Ellen, “Well, she is most definitely infected, but not with Cow-Girl. Surprising, considering how many you said were at the fort.”

Talia asked, “Is it possible that the infected from different idols don’t view each other as hostile?”

Petra shrugged, “Your guess is as good as mine, maybe better.” Petra instructed several guards on how to restrain Ellen in her dragon form, and they took her away.

Sam and Talia felt a little bad for Ellen. Laura noticed them frowning as the three were left alone and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Talia answered first, “I know we just removed a huge threat from the challenge, at least for a while, but she’s probably placing last now. This is the second time she’s been incapacitated. Plus, it could be for multiple days. If she doesn’t end up last or close to last, I would be astounded.”

Laura shook her head, “I don’t think so. Talia, assuming they got full points every time they took you out, Ellen would have gotten a good chunk of bonus CP from the battle, not to mention a decent amount from taking out Sam previously. Look, I like everyone on the other team fine, but as far as I’m concerned, the goal is to make sure that all of our team places higher than all of their team. I know it probably won’t happen, but that’s my goal.”

“Maybe, but being out two or three days would be a major setback for her. Plus, if she’s infected, it wouldn’t surprise me if the others don’t know where she is. So they might not even mount a rescue for her. Actually…” Talia seemed lost in thought, and her eyes began to glow. A few seconds later, Talia sprinted into the fort to find Freya. Sam and Laura hurried after Talia at a brisk jog, neither needing to put in as much effort as Talia did anymore. When the three found Freya, Talia said, “Freyja! I need you to get a message to the capital.”

“Certainly, Lady Talia.”

“I have strong reason to believe that the Champions of Smug are based in the south.”

“Could you please provide details. If true, that would be huge, but we need more information than a simple hunch.”

Talia took a second to catch her breath while nodding. “Okay, we know that Ellen is infected with the plague from Harper’s haven. Now we also know that she didn’t get it from the initial infection since Sam and Laura were chasing her out of the city, and they didn’t get hit but were closer to the epicenter. Meaning she went back at some point. I doubt it was the same night. It was likely the next day. The thing is, yesterday we did a prisoner swap with the Champions of Smug. Between us incapacitating one of them and having two more prisoners, they didn’t have a lot of individuals to deploy.”

Freya nodded along. “Following you so far, but why does that mean the south?”

“Ellen and Laura were hashing out the terms and safeguards as neither side wanted a sudden ambush on themselves. We are also certain she was involved in the swap, as she had real-time communication with Laura at the swap location. She was then seen attacking a city in the south a few hours later, with the other Champions that weren’t incapacitated. It would have taken at least sometime for them to escort our former prisoners back to their base to recover. Then meet up with their allies and attack the cities in the south. Afterwards, the reports said that a black dragon was flying northeast, which was Ellen. I think that she has some way to keep herself at least partially in check from the infection totally ruining her, but working closely with the other champions might be dangerous, so she flew away from them. Finally, there’s the orcs.”

“The orcs?”

Talia nodded. “Yeah, the orcs are based in the north, but in the reports on the attacks in the south, there seemed to be some deception from the Champions. A large **** attacked one city, masquerading as if they were from another nearby city. Except, where did they get the troops? The only answer I have is the orcs, but why move a contingent south just for that attack? The orcs, in general, are moving south and west as well. Why would they do that if Smug’s lair is in the north? The east and west also seem unlikely, as they would have put themselves potentially in a badway if the plague made leaving their lair difficult. Since we know they aren’t immune to them. So, the south. It would also explain why they pulled in more resources to make sure those cities fell, as they could be staging grounds for an **** on their lair.”

“I’ll report your conclusions to the capital, but it will be up to them to commit the resources to it or not.”

“Thanks.” Talia turned to Laura and Sam. “I guess we should try and complete the trial now, shouldn’t we?” They nodded their agreement.