Mitigating Damage.

Flora and the rest of her party made their way to Lakeview Village. On the way, Hilde told Flora, “I think you should be careful about using your boon. When Ellen and I fought with the others, her use of your TF was pretty close to perfect. It seems that Cassandra’s balancing makes it so that it stops working if you attack someone. It might be limited solely to when the other party is involved, but it might not be. Just be careful when using it. I guess that goes for everyone, really. If your TF might completely break the LARP, expect it to be a little wonky at times. Which I can’t blame Cassandra for limiting your boon, because it would be busted otherwise. I just wish she had told us exactly how she was limiting it.”

“Thanks for telling me. I guess that is one piece of info we got out of all this.”

The group paused outside of Lakeview and let Flora scout it out to make sure the other team wasn’t here, too. A few minutes later, she came back, “They aren’t here. All the NPCs are talking about how a batch of guards headed north to help the heroes. They are taking them directly to the capital.”

Merida asked, “Any idea how long ago the guards left?”

“Around twenty minutes ago.” Flora replied.

Mary pulled out the map of the empire that Ellen had gotten. “Okay, I see three options then. One, we place the idol as soon as possible. The other team is likely currently just getting aid from the guards and won’t have healed up. They might even have decided to try and finish their current quest anyway, even down two members. Plus, if they only get a priority quest at their quest board, then it gives us the most amount of time before they know something is wrong. Two, we wait a few hours, where they are hopefully back in the capital. Meaning if Cassandra just appears in front of them to deliver the priority quest, they are as far away as possible. Three is that we split the difference to mitigate the risks of either ****.”

Aubrey signed, “I… vote… now.”

Merida said, “All have merit, I think doing it now has a slight beneficial edge though.”

Hilde seemed hesitant. “I… I think it would be better to wait. Then Mary and I could… tend to my wounds in private.” Hilde glanced deeper into the woods.

Mary seemed amenable to Hilde’s suggestion. But Flora’s words stopped that thought in its tracks. “Well, I’m glad that most of you like the idea of doing it now because I already placed the idol while I was in the town.”

“What?!” Hilde exclaimed. “Why didn’t you lead with that?”

“What’s done is done. Also, good news and bad news. Good news, there is now a little less than two hours before the quest is over. Bad news, I’m marked until the desecration is complete. That mark won’t go away either until the desecration is successful or I’m incapacitated. Meaning if we fail, the other team will know my general position until I’m incapacitated. So we should probably set a trap or two in case they decide to come and stop us.”

Laura had carried the limp Sam back into the woods. She found Isabella, Sadie, Ethel, and Bertha standing guard over Mark. Laura lay Sam down beside Mark and asked. “Where are Allie and Talia?”

Isabella replied, “They went into the cave. Allie knew she couldn’t follow you fast enough to matter, but was so enraged that she also couldn’t ‘do nothing’ as she put it. Talia went in to support her. The rest of us stayed here in case one of them came back to try and kidnap Mark.” Isabella looked down at Sam. “I take it they got away?”

Laura nodded, “Yeah, but Ellen was incapacitated too. Hilde was in a bad way, but she managed to carry Ellen off. I wish I could have done more, but Ellen collided with Sam so fast that it created a sonic boom, and it disoriented me.”

“We were wondering what that thunderclap was,” Sadie said. “Hilde can break the sound barrier?”

“Apparently, and more, considering it was Ellen that did it, and normally she doesn’t duplicate the abilities of the person perfectly. Maybe her class is helping her, though. What are we going to do about these two? I can carry one of them, but not both; it would be too awkward. Also, our horses are gone, or incapacitated, and the cart we brought is destroyed.”

Ethel replied, “I already sent Mister Sparrow with a note to the nearby Village to request assistance.”

“Okay, good, mind if I go join Allie and Talia. I really want to hit something right now.” No one objected to Laura’s request, so she went into the cave. She didn’t have a problem finding the two, as she just had to follow the bodies Allie left in her wake and the panicked cries of the goblins.

Allie nearly attacked Laura and would have if Talia hadn’t slowed Allie down. Allie calmed ever so slightly to say, “Did you get those bitches!?”

Laura was shocked at Allie’s response. “Allie you doing okay?”

Allie nodded. “Yeah, fine. Now! Did. You. Get. Them?”

Laura wobbled her hand. “Sam caught up with Hilde, and they fought. Sam was clearly winning from what I saw, and Ellen came out of nowhere, sacrificing herself to take out Sam. I tried to finish Hilde off, but she got away, carrying an **** Ellen. I carried Sam back to the group outside.”

Allie looked even more furious, “They took out SAM!?”

Laura said, “Allie, you need to calm down.”

Talia interrupted, “No, Laura, she doesn’t. It’s her class; the more pissed off she is, the stronger and faster she is. I think she also takes less damage or recovers faster while in a full-on frenzy.”

“I recover HP when I down an enemy, while raging. Also, I got CP for it too.”

+1 CP, Embrace the Rage Within. (Allie)

Laura nodded, “Fine, just don’t lose yourself in the act.”

Talia commented, “I actually think that is what is required to get the CP. We have to blur the lines between the game and reality. But some restraint is a good idea. So what’s the plan from here?”

Laura replied, “Ethel apparently summoned some aid. How about we go for another ten minutes here and then head back and see what they want to do?”

Allie nodded and immediately turned around and headed deeper into the tunnels. Laura was having issues with the cramped tunnels because of her height. She couldn’t help but muse, These would have been even worse for Mark.

Allie was both pissed and having a blast. I can’t believe Mark was taken out like that. At least Ellen paid for it. Still losing Sam as well was a huge blow. Allie swiped at another goblin. So glad my weapons are claws. Makes not having to worry about maneuvering easy. Allie was embracing her inner goblin slayer with abandon.

Talia found that she made small-scale fights trivially easy. She would slow one goblin while accelerating Allie to take out a different one, and then release the time bubble on the first after its ally was defeated. It was also funny to watch as Talia put a goblin in a time bubble and Laura would launch five bolts at it, and the bolts would be suspended a few inches from the goblin until the bubble expired, leaving the goblin no room to dodge.

The three spent the agreed ten minutes dealing with a bunch more goblins, but there was seemingly no end to the buggers. They turned around and went to meet with the others. When they got back to the others, they saw a few guards helping move Mark and Sam onto stretchers. Laura asked. “So what’s the plan?”

Sadie responded. “Well, the guards will protect the two of them for the moment. I was thinking we finish the quest and then head back if you three still have resources.” They all nodded, but then something strange happened.

A radiant light filled the woods. A spectral Cassandra appeared as the origin of the light, and she said, “Oh, mighty heroes, I know you have suffered casualties, but alas, I must call upon your aid now. The chosen of Smug have placed an idol in my church in Lakeview Village. This idol will desecrate my church if not removed soon, and the town’s residents shall be infected with a horrible plague. Please, you must hurry and stop them before it’s too late. I have marked the one responsible so you can track her. But it will fade once the desecration is complete.”

The image of Cassandra disappeared as scroll materialized in Sadie’s hand. Sadie read over the priority quest. “Well, shit.”

Priority Task: Prevent the desecration of Lakeview Village

• Risk: Very High
• Reward: Favor of Cassandra, 1000 Empire Merit. 500XP to each of Cassandra’s Heroes.
• Destroy the idol that is the cause of the corruption located in the Church of Cassandra in Lakeview Village.
• Failure Penalty: One of a few plagues will be unleashed upon the residents of Lakeview Village.
• Time Limit: 2 hours.

Isabella and Ethel asked, “We’re going right?”

Allie said, “Sadie, it’s up to you… but I don’t think we should.”

Ethel looked aghast, “Allie! The goddess Cassandra gave you a divine visitation to tell you this! You would ignore it? What about the townspeople!?”

Allie looked at the ground. “Ethel, I get that. Part of me wants to go, but think about it. Right now, we are down two of our number. Even with the help of the town guard, I don’t think it will be an even fight if the rest of Smug’s chosen are there. Why would they send one person to distract us repeatedly? Because they wanted this mission to be successful. They probably have set traps. We aren’t at full strength even among those who weren’t incapacitated. Hilde might have been wounded, but there is a healer among Smug’s chosen who could fix her up. We don’t have our healer. I know it might be painful, but we need to mitigate the damage. Yes, we would get a reward if successful and probably set Smug back, but I think those are long odds. Read the risk rating. It says Very High, meaning Cassandra believes the risk is very high, knowing our abilities. Based upon how Talia and I have been handling the goblins, I think we can handle this mission. We desperately need to level up, especially since Sam and Mark will need to rest tomorrow. Yes, we might be able to succeed in saving Lakeview, but it is a huge gamble. One where the cost of failure is catastrophic. What happens to your empire if we go, and another one of us gets incapacitated, or all of us? Even if we stop them, if we don’t incapacitate or capture one of them, it is a loss in my book. Think about the bigger picture. We need to accept that we lost today and try our best to mitigate the damage.”

Laura said, “I agreed.” Talia nodded as well.

Ethel looked down. “But the people.”

Laura said, “How about this. Send a guard back and have him start evacuating the town. It could mitigate the damage.”

Ethel looked at the nearest guard, “You heard her, go back and let the captain of the guard know, be discreet though. Don’t try to get rid of the idol until the town is evacuated. The people are the priority here.”

The guard saluted, “Yes, Princess.” They mounted their horse and rode off.

Ethel turned to Sadie. “Please, Sadie. Please help me protect my people.”

Sadie said to Ethel, “You plan on going no matter what, don’t you?”

Ethel nodded firmly.

Sadie considered it for a moment. “I’m sorry, Ethel. If Mark was still up, I’d consider it. Without our healer, though, it would be foolish to risk the fate of the entire empire over one village. Especially if you can evacuate the residents.”

Ethel looked crestfallen. “I… I understand. I don’t like it, but I do understand. Then hopefully I will see you at the capital later tonight.” Ethel began to walk towards where the guards had come from.

“Ethel, wait!” Sadie said.

“Sadie, I’ve made up my mind, I’m going!”

“I’m not trying to stop you. Take Bertha.” Bertha let out a guttural sound. “Bertha, you will go with Ethel. You will keep her safe.”

Bertha huffed and walked over to Ethel and motioned for her to get on. Ethel said, “Thank you. Thank you as well, Bertha.” Ethel grabbed the reins and set out quickly towards Lakeview.

Talia, looking at Ethel riding away, asked, “Is it really a good idea to let her go alone? Even with Bertha?”

Sadie replied, “No, but what are we going to do? Fight her and incapacitate her?”

Laura replied, only half joking, “It would be easy enough.”

“We are not attacking her,” Sadie said with a glare.

Isabella said, “Let's do this task quickly, maybe there will be time to aid the town still. I still think we should be going with Ethel, but I’m not going to abandon the team.”

Team Fairy Castle left Mark and Sam with a trio of guards to protect them and went into the cavern.

Flora spent a couple of minutes testing how her boon had been ‘balanced’. It seemed that after attacking anyone, she couldn’t reactivate it for a whole minute, regardless of whether she hit or not. Mary had taken Hilde deeper into the woods for some ‘ritual healing’ as she put it, while finding a place to safely tie up their horses and stash Ellen.

Aubrey, Merida, and Merigold were helping Flora cover the area north of the town where they thought the guards or the other team might come from. Merida was taking the north-eastern section, while Merigold and Aubrey were on the north-western portion. Flora stood guard near the main road. The plan was pretty simple: take out anyone coming your way or send out a signal if you can’t handle it. They had taken the ring of sending off of Ellen, so Flora could contact the other two in case she needed backup. While Merida took the multitool, so both she and Merigold had a backup weapon if they ran out of mana.

Flora was the first to encounter someone coming their way. It was a sole guard riding rather quickly on a horse. The guard looked extremely panicked, too. Flora looked to see if anyone was following after the guard, but saw that there wasn’t, she took aim at the horse, and fired from the shadow of the trees. She was testing out one of the dildo arrows Chloe had crafted for her, and when it landed on the upper portion of the horse’s front right leg, it tumbled to the ground, instantly pinning the rider beneath it. Flora moved over and saw ASTRID’s grinning face on the guard. ASTRID said, “How careless of me. Well, go ahead, finish me off. The heroes will defeat you, though. Just you see.”

Flora shot a dildo directly into ASTRID’s face, incapacitating her. Well, great, what am I going to do with the horse's body now? “Hey, Aubrey, I got a downed horse here. Think you can come over and move it?”

“Sure, be there in a minute.”

Flora dragged out the ASTRID beneath the horse and moved her into the trees alongside the road. Aubrey showed up and, with a lot of effort, the two were able to move the horse off to the side of the road, but they stopped after getting it past the tree line because of how heavy it was. Aubrey was about to head back to Merigold when Flora stopped her from exiting the trees. “Hold up. I hear more hooves.” Aubrey heard the faint sounds of hooves as well. “Get ready to attack. We don’t need people making it to the village and trying to evacuate people. The mounts take priority, so they can’t flee.” Aubrey wordlessly nodded and moved slightly up the road to charge after Flora opened fire.

A half dozen horses came around the corner, moving quickly, but not at a full gallop. Flora wasted no time and activated one of her class skills, rapid shot, firing off a set of four arrows in rapid succession. The first two struck true and hit the horses in the head, while one completely missed, and the last one grazed the rider's leg. The riders had to slow to avoid trampling their comrades and to not be sitting ducks dismounted their horses quickly. Which was when Aubrey activated her charging dash. With her greatsword in both hands, she struck the side of the nearest horse. Thanks to the magic protecting it, instead of being cleaved in two, the horse was flung into the adjacent horses, causing a messy pile.

The guards press the attack on Aubrey from behind, landing a few blows, causing her to shout, “BAAA, BAAA,” as pleasure wracked her body. She stumbled forward onto her knees. She quickly got up, being used to the sensation from her spars with Samantha. As she stood, she arced her greatsword in a wide swing. The first guard managed to dodge backward in time, but the second guard was clipped by the tip of the blade on the hip.

Flora noticed another group of riders joining the fray, riders moving alongside Bertha and Ethel. Flora sent a message to Hilde, “Hope you are healed up. We have incoming. Including a moose. Also… Wolves?” Flora didn’t notice it at first, but there were a dozen wolves following behind Ethel, and they were clearly not chasing the horses.

“Yep, Mistress just finished me off. I’ll be over in a jiffy.”

Flora targeted the new horses, hoping Aubrey could continue to handle her own. To Flora’s surprise, Aubrey was disarming and dispatching the guards rather easily, even taking three short swords off of fallen guards to fight with using her hair. Flora couldn’t help but think, Sam, what sort of monster did you make out of Aubrey? She looks like a whirlwind of blades. Flora managed to down two of the horses with her second volley at the new riders, but Bertha was moving to deflect Flora’s arrows with her antlers. Flora noticed Ethel and Bertha weren’t slowing down but speeding up. Oh, shit, they are just going to try breaking through! “AUBREY! STOP THE MOOSE!”

Aubrey stood in the path of the moose and in a firm voice announced, “NONE MAY PASS!” She planted her sword in the ground, and it summoned a small bridge between her and Bertha. Flora could see that Bertha tried to simply go around it, but was pulled back on course towards the bridge.

Flora thought, She has a taunting skill? Awesome. Flora let fly more arrows, but there were just so many targets. At least the moose is the only mount left, but Aubrey will be overwhelmed without backup soon. Come on, ring, come off cooldown already. Hilde, where are you?

Hilde and Mary had found a nice little clearing to tie up the horses and to lay Ellen down on the ground. Hilde turned to Mary and asked, “So, Bosslady, how does this work exactly?” While slipping a hand around Mary’s waist, Hilde groped her butt.

Mary slapped Hilde across the face and playfully said, “Miss, I’ll have you know I’m not on the menu.” Mary then pushed Hilde to the ground. Mary straddled Hilde and pinned her arms to the ground. “Do you know how I pun-ish handsy customers?” Mary asked in a slightly menacing voice.

Hilde gulped and shook her head, “No, Ma’am.”

“I put them on the menu, and I’m hungry. So hungry I could eat a horse.” Mary slipped the waist sash off of Hilde and tied her hands together above her head, and then pulled off Hilde’s pants as she went down on her.”

“Oh, Mistress!” Hilde exclaimed as Mary tried to repeat what Flora did to her the previous night to Hilde.

Mary pulled back and chuckled, “I’ve barely started, and you’re already calling out my name?”

Through a ragged breath, “Yes, Mistress… Can I order some more of that?”

Mary teased Hilde’s slit, “I don’t know… see, I wouldn’t want to overstuff you, and I really want to savor this meal. Did you know the longer you edge, the greater the flavor. I want to taste something magnificent. I might just let you have a taste of me if you can provide me with something extraordinary.”

Hilde let out a whinny of pleasure as Mary plunged her fingers back inside of Hilde. Mary repositioned so she could kiss Hilde. Hilde struggled in Mary’s grasp as Mary eagerly took what she wanted, and Hilde was happy to provide. Hilde said, “Please. Miss. Mercy. Grant me mercy.”

Mary smirked down at Hilde, “Hmmm… well, I suppose it was your first offense. Do you promise to be a good customer and eat what is served to you and not simply take what you want?”

Hilde nodded, “Yes, yes, please…”

“Very well.” Mary repositioned to sixty-nine Hilde. “Put that vibrating tongue of yours to use on my clit. While I finish you off.” Mary practically sat down on Hilde’s face and dove into her own delicious meal.

Mary lurched forward at the intense pleasure Hilde’s tongue brought. Mary tried to end this as quickly as possible, in case the other team decided to try to stop their task. But Mary got distracted from the pleasure that Hilde was providing her and climaxed. After taking a moment to recover from her orgasm, Mary finished Hilde off.

+1 CP Mary, roleplay seducing a customer.

Mary rolled to the side, lying next to Hilde, and said, “Your tongue is fantastic.”

Hilde panted, “I could say the same thing about yours, Milady. I didn’t realize you could extend it like that.”

“Yeah, I’ve actually found a few ways that I can alter my body as Mary, but that is the only one I’m currently comfortable using with others right now.”

Hilde leaned on one elbow and looked at Mary curiously. “Oh, now I just have to know. I promise I won’t tell Mistress.”

“I don’t know… Are you planning on upgrading me or choosing your own upgrade?”

“Upgrading you for sure. I see it as a win-win for me, since no matter what you pick for me, it will be something I like. Sorry, Mistress, while I’m open to bribes, you aren’t getting that out of me.”

“Hmm, well, consider your upgrade carefully then. Because, unlike in your case, I might not like the upgrade.”

Hilde pouted, “Maybe I should just make you more open. I’m sure that will become permanent.”

“Oh, threatening your Mistress, are you?” Mary wiggled her fingers as if she were preparing to tickle Sadie.

Hilde got up and started to get dressed. “No, I wouldn’t do that. Mistress, you’re mad at me, aren’t you?”

Mary tilted her head, confused. “No. What makes you think that?”

“I’m not exactly sure. Maybe I’m imagining it or just feeling guilty.”

“You’re talking about Merida and Flora,” Mary said.

“Yeah.”

Mary got up and moved over to Hilde, who had just finished getting dressed. Mary went to give her a hug, and as she did, her arms closed on thin air, and she fell over on top of Hilde’s now empty gear. Then Hilde landed on top of Mary, grabbing her breast to soften her landing.

Hilde got up off Mary, “Sorry, Mistress. I’ve been waiting for The Glitch to activate. I’m glad that my magical gear all seems to stay on when it happens.” Hilde offered Mary a hand up. Mary looked at Hilde and noticed Hilde still had on the handwraps, shoes, amulet, and waist sash.

“Well, that’s probably so it isn’t completely debilitating during a fight.” The two of them resumed getting dressed. “Hilde, what happened with Merida isn’t your fault. Frankly, I blame whoever put that collar in the penalty pool for that puzzle. It was way too egregious a penalty item. I’m more concerned about you.”

Hilde looked distracted. “Sorry, Mistress, Flora needs backup, got to go.”

“Go. We’ll talk later.” Hilde zipped off. Mary saw Hilde’s clothes and her magical gear drop to the ground in front of her and noticed Hilde had already returned.

Hilde started to reequip herself with Mary’s help. “Seriously!” Hilde complained.

“Yeah, at least it’s easy to put on and not a full suit of armor.”

“Yeah, okay, got to go.” Hilde left and, taking a step away from Mary, she found herself nude again. “OH COME ON! I bet Cassandra is doing this on purpose because it’s funny.”

Mary activated Messing With The Code. “Nope, that’s not it. It is a combination of two things. One, you have to upgrade me or get upgraded first. Two, it seems that you might have overused your glitching while fighting Sam. Your Glitch TF seems to have an error in it. We need to finish our prior conversation for it to let you leave while dressed.”

Hilde sighed, “Fine, Mistress, for your upgrade, I want you to be physically stronger without gaining more muscles.” Mary felt a surge of strength flow through her. She was definitely stronger now, but by no means superhuman. “As for it being someone else’s fault… I mean, sure. There are others to blame, but I screwed up. I tried to physically stop Merida from masturbating. I knew about her TF, I just forgot at the moment.”

“Fine for your upgrade… hmmm… Oh, I’m giving you an upgrade for wearing heels. You won’t have pain and should be able to run in them. Now what aren’t you telling me because I don’t believe that’s it.”

“I… yesterday, I got a fetish for redheads. I feel like I didn’t fight that hard because of it. Because I wanted to indulge.”

Mary shook her head. “That makes it even less your fault. You didn’t pick the kink you got. You are also forgetting something else. While you were trying to stop Merida, Merida was trying to control you. Your Rein Me In likely was activated, too.”

“That only has an effect with you, Mistress.”

“No, it has a specific effect with me, but the desire to be reined in is separate from you finding it really pleasurable. Stop blaming yourself. Also, stop avoiding what you really don’t want to talk about. I saw how you were eyeing Merida this morning. You’re feeling guilty because you still want to see if you can have something with her.” Hilde was about to object, but stopped herself, instead finishing to put her clothes on, again. “Look, talk with Flora about it. I think she will be more amenable than you realize.”

Hilde said, “Mistress, you really think Flora would even consider it? Especially with what already happened? Would Merida?”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know about Merida. With Flora, though, I do think she’s more amenable to sharing.” Mary moved to hug Hilde, but slowly this time. Hilde didn’t glitch as Mary embraced her. They stood there for a long moment, and Mary let Hilde go. Mary looked at Hilde, then turned her around and smacked her butt, “Now get going. I checked, you should be good to leave now.”

Hilde smiled at Mary. “Thanks. See you later, Milady.” Hilde zipped off towards Flora.

Aubrey had impressively managed to handle most of the guards and wolves, but was in a bad way, having to tank Bertha repeatedly. She would be completely done if not for the simple fact that pink is the best color, and Flora timing her shots to interrupt strikes against Aubrey. Aubrey’s armor had been ‘upgraded’ though she didn’t see how having her midriff exposed offered more protection. Finally, help arrived from one side of the road, a firebolt was launched at the pissed off moose. Also, one Aubrey turned into four, causing Bertha to be confused. It was in this moment of confusion that Bertha learned a hard truth: size isn’t everything. Hilde rushed past Aubrey and kicked Bertha in the face. Hilde didn’t let up the **** on the moose either. Repeatedly punching the moose’s underbelly. Bertha quickly keeled over from the flurry of blows Hilde landed.

Ethel fell to the ground hard as Bertha collapsed. Hilde moved into position to prepare to punch Ethel if she got up, but Ethel raised her hands in surrender. “I know when I’m beat.” Ethel looked on the verge of tears, but restrained them.

Hilde started to tie up Ethel and looked at Aubrey, “Sorry, I didn’t get here sooner. I kept glitching.”

Aubrey said, “Ba’a baaa.”

Flora walked up and said, “Don’t worry about it. If the other team had shown up, we would have retreated as we bought time, and I would have emphasized getting her faster.” Flora then checked in with Mary. “Any chance you will get here soon? Aubrey could use some healing.”

“Yeah, we might end up losing a horse, though.”

Flora told the group. “Mary will be here soon. Now, what to do with our prisoner?”

“Aren’t you going to kill me? Or turn me into a lust-crazed animal, isn’t that what vile servants of Smug do? Terrorize people!” Ethel said with venom in her voice.

Flora leaned over and looked at Ethel, “You seem rather calm considering what you think we will do to you. Let me guess, the Heroes decided to cut their losses and let us take the town. Probably trying to get stronger to beat us later.”

“I’m not telling you anything.” Ethel spat at Flora.

Mary rode up and dismounted her horse. Flora smiled, “Oh, you’ll sing little birdie. Hey, lover, mind giving Mary that wand you had earlier? I think it will be more effective right now with her.”

Merida nodded as her tails flicked back and forth in happiness with the fact that Flora seemed to be actively trying to repair things. Luver, I’m sae glad she still thinks o' me like that. Merida handed over the Wand of Charming to Mary.

Flora said, “Hilde, would you go with Mary and our prisoner into the woods for some questioning, while the rest of us stack these bodies into a barricade. At this point, if the other team is coming, they will either be coming from another direction, and this was a distraction, or these troops were meant to soften us up as expendable cannon fodder.”

“The Heroes would never resort to such despicable tactics,” Ethel exclaimed angrily.

Flora just leaned over and said with a wicked smirk, “Oh? You know them so well, do you? All of what? Two days and you’re an expert? We know your ‘heroes’ all too well. Your so-called goddess, too. Let's just say, if you worship Cassandra, then I’m not sure we’re the bad guys here. Mary, take her and question her. She seems like she might have information.”

Mary looked at the wand of charming and sighed, “Okay, fine. Not an issue.” Hilde and Mary dragged Ethel into the woods. While the others created a barricade on the road.

Ethel was looking at Mary, a little confused. Why does she seem familiar… also, how is she so pretty? Once they were a little way into the trees, Mary turned around and pointed her wand at Ethel. Ethel scoffed, “What do you think you’re doing. A Wand of Charming only works on those who find you sexually attractive. I’m straight.”

Hilde laughed, “Yeah, so am I. Doesn’t matter though. No woman is straight where Mistress is concerned.”

Mary infused the wand with mana and hit Ethel with a charm spell. To Ethel’s horror, she could tell the wand worked. Ethel looked at Mary, Goddess, forgive me, she’s so gorgeous. Ethel started to breathe rapidly, and her heart fluttered as she looked at Mary. She wanted to look away from her but couldn’t.

Mary said, “Umm… maybe that was too much mana at once… She looks like she’s in heat almost.”

Hilde shrugged, “She’ll probably be more compliant.”

Mary asked, “Are the Heroes planning on coming?”

“I… I won’t… I won’t tell you.”

Mary leaned over to the kneeling Ethel, “Oh?” Mary tilted Ethel’s chin up seductively. “Not even for a kiss?”

Ethel’s mind was awash with confusion. “I… really?”

“Mmmm, Yes.” Mary purred. “Tell me what I want to know and I’ll give you a kiss.”

“They… they aren’t coming,” Ethel said in defeat. Ethel leaned towards Mary, her lips slightly parted in anticipation.

Mary kissed the top of her head instead, “There, one kiss as promised.” Ethel didn’t know why, but she felt let down. “But you sure were eager. Maybe I’ll keep you. You had the guts to try coming here alone.”

Ethel was breathing heavily. “I’ll… I’ll never be yours. I already know who my partner is.”

Mary raised a curious eyebrow. “Oh? Some pathetic princeling from a foreign nation? Were you betrothed since childhood?”

“No! DON’T TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT. Sir Mark is a kind man and a better person than you! I don’t care how pretty you are. I know that my goddess Cassandra has chosen my partner to be Sir Mark!”

Mary blinked a few times in disbelief, “What? What did you just say about Mark?”

“I said, I won’t be yours. My goddess will make sure of that.” Hilde was trying and failing to hold back laughter at Ethel’s proclamation, considering who she was making it to, and what it likely meant. Ethel continued. “What? Are you jealous? Is that why you serve Smug? I bet Mark rejected you, and you couldn’t stand that, could you!” Hilde went from failing to hide her laughter to literally collapsing and laughing on the ground.

“Hilde, stop that.”

“Oh, come on, this is hilarious, Mistress. If the others heard it, they would agree.”

Flora raised her voice just loud enough that Mary and Hilde could hear. “Oh, don’t worry, all of us can hear you just fine! It is hilarious!”

Ethel looked pissed, “You mock my Goddess’s divine wisdom! You will all be struck down.”

Mary groaned, “Ethel, please stop. You are just making things worse.”

“If things are worse for you than, I’m succeeding,” Ethel stated defiantly.

Mary was getting tired of this. “Okay, Ethel, I don’t know if you are delusional or if Cassandra actually told you those things. I do know that Mark has almost certainly rejected you already, considering how brazenly you state those things. Would you like to know how I know that?”

Ethel was warring between wanting to know and not wanting to admit that Mary was right. After a moment, she nodded.

“See, Mark and I are the same person split in two. That’s how I know. Cassandra was the one to split us in two. You think Cassandra is some benevolent goddess, don’t you? Well—” Mary found time frozen and Cassandra standing next to her, glaring. Even the harem members were frozen.

“Seriously, Mary? You’re just going to break the fourth wall. What part of this is a LARP don’t you understand?”

“I wasn’t going to break the fourth wall. I’m just planning on flipping the script. That you are the real bad guy of this story. Besides, it is in the nature of villains to lie. Now, would you mind? I was really just starting to ramp up my monologue.”

“Fine.” Cassandra vanished, and Mary found herself forcibly in her previous position. “— Let me tell you this. She isn’t benevolent. She’s toying with you. This is a game to her and nothing more. A simple game of chess where we are all pieces, Smug is just her friendly opponent. You are just Cassandra’s pawn.”

“LIAR!”

Mary let out a light chuckle. Mary leaned in and whispered seductively into Ethel’s ear. “No, you can tell I speak the truth. I can sense that doubt in you. A doubt that I bet was placed there by my other half. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me Mark hasn’t made you question your belief in your goddess. I bet even the other heroes have said or done things that have left you confused. Like, not coming here. I bet Cassandra appeared before all of you. But where are they? Where are Cassandra’s chosen? Why would they disrespect your goddess? I’ll tell you why. Because your goddess isn’t benevolent, she isn’t worthy of adoration. She isn’t worthy of your devotion. I can see you are wearing priestess robes, but where is your goddess now? She’s abandoned you. Don’t worry, though…” Mary put a hand on Ethel’s face and smiled. “When I’m done with you… You’ll have a new goddess to worship.”

+2 CP Villain Monologue (Mary)

Ethel thought, Oh no, what have I done? Goddess, please save me. Right as Hilde knocked her ****.

Allie was hoping she had made the right choice, advising that they finish this quest. It felt like it at the time, but it was taking a long time to clear out the tunnels. Which was both bad and good. It was bad because Allie was secretly hoping they might get something here, including levels that might let them go help the village afterwards, but that simply wouldn’t be possible, as they had spent too much time. It was good, though, because there had been A LOT of goblins, meaning A LOT of XP for defeating them.

They had spent the last hour defeating over a hundred goblins. Laura complained behind Allie, “We have to be getting close to a boss, right? Especially since we haven’t really come across more than one or two goblins at a time for the past 20 minutes. They must be regrouping or something, right?”

Sadie agreed, “I would assume so, or they completely fled because we already killed the boss.” They had not killed the boss, as they soon learned that inside the tunnel was a big set of double doors with a skull carved upon it. “Did… did Cassandra really create a boss room? That seems… I don’t know, weird.”

Allie shrugged. “Eh, no accounting for bad taste.” Allie opened the door, and the group found a large group of goblins, a few hobgoblins, and one extremely large, fat goblin wearing a crown. “Oh, great, a goblin king.”

“Welcome to my home, Heroes of Cas—” The Goblin King’s words were cut off as a barrage of lust bolts was launched before he could monologue more. Talia and Laura had agreed earlier that if they came across a boss, to immediately hammer it hard, so Talia had turned one second into thirty for Laura. The goblin king wasn’t the only one targeted, though. Thanks to Laura’s staff upgrade, she could target an additional enemy with any projectile spell, and she would get to target even more as she leveled up. Everyone burst into motion as combat had begun. When the pink energy cloud cleared, the Goblin King was standing and shouted, “How rude! Don’t you know—” He was cut off as a second barrage of bolts shot at him, and he was **** to dodge.

Allie and Isabella were trying to make short work of the fodder while Sadie directed her Cheese Knights to bite the ankles of the goblins. The little knights charged with abandon, crying out, “FOR THE BIG CHEESE!” Sadie was also using the sight of the mice to amplify her spatial awareness aura for the others and calling out when a goblin was moving into a problematic position.

Allie was lucky there were so many weaklings here; otherwise, she wasn’t sure if doing this without Mark would have been as simple. But recovering a small amount of HP upon finishing off an opponent proved invaluable for her and the party. Even then, once the goblin king stopped trying to monologue after the third barrage of lust bolts when he tried again, things got dicey for the group. Ultimately, they managed to take down the Goblin King, but it took a solid two minutes of continuous fighting to wear him down.

Allie was panting, “You know… this… would have been… so much easier… if you had kept Bertha with us… or if we had Sam or Mark.”

“Sadie replied, “Oh, please, Bertha would barely have fit in the tunnels. Laura had problems in some areas. This is the only room she would have been even remotely helpful in. It’s why I sent her with Ethel, in the hope that Ethel would at least be able to escape if things got bad.”

Isabella put a hand on Sadie’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, the others aren’t actually evil. They won’t do more than incapacitate her at worst.”

Sadie didn’t seem so sure. “They might just assume she’s an NPC and use her against us. I mean, people do stuff in games they would never actually do because the ‘victims’ aren’t real.”

Laura said, “I wouldn’t worry too much. Cassandra has been mostly trying not to traumatize Mark irrevocably. Even the time she did traumatize him, it was because she wanted him to face a fear. If Mary tries to do something to Ethel that Cassandra thought she would regret later, I’m pretty sure she would step in.”

Sadie was walking around the room picking up the **** mice that had been hit by an errant blow during the combat. She put them in a basket and would let them recover. I should make a point to give them some extra cheese for their suffering. Wait… wouldn’t that incentivize them to get hurt… They seem stupid enough to do that, too. Hmmm… Sadie returned to the conversation at hand, “I suppose you’re right. She’s sort of grown on me, so I’m hoping she’s okay.”

Allie was searching the bodies for loot, mostly finding junk, but like the gamer she was, she threw everything into the bag of holding to sell off later. Allie announced, “Hey! I found a chest!” The chest was sitting behind the goblin king’s stone throne. “Isabella, could you come check this for traps?”

Isabella came over and checked, “Nothing I can find. But Petra informed me that not all traps are detectable. I think we should have Laura use her staff to pop it open, and Talia on standby to create a time bubble just in case.” The precaution was ultimately unwarranted, but Isabella knew that it was important to maintain vigilance as she would regret it the one time it truly mattered if she didn’t. Inside were a dozen vials of various fluids. Along with a large pink amethyst. “I sort of expected there to be more loot in the chest.”

Allie replied, “Nah, I didn’t. That is one thing Mark complains about with games. Why is there this crazy power item that you could have used against me in a chest instead of on your person?”

Talia perused the Goblin King’s body and took an ornate blade, his crown, and three gem-studded rings. “These are all magical, so I think Cassandra corrected Mark’s complaint.”

The group finished looting the bodies and then proceeded out of the cave. Laura asked the guards standing watch over Mark and Sam, “Has anyone returned?”

“No, Ma’am,” An ASTRID saluted.

“That’s not good. There are twenty minutes left on the quest timer.”

Isabella said, “If we hurry, we might be able to make it in time.” Then she looked at the others, especially Allie; they were all ragged. “Never mind, we aren’t in any shape to help, are we?”

“We’ll head over, but the goal is about the people and not the town or idol. We should check on Ethel.”

So, they loaded Mark and Sam onto a cart and traveled with the guards towards Lakeview. About two miles out from the town, they came across the barricade that the other party had left. Isabella said, “This… this is gruesome… did they really just pile the bodies like this?”

Allie replied, “It isn’t like they are dead. They should all get up tomorrow and be fine.”

Talia looked over the bodies, “Guys… Ethel isn’t here, but Bertha is.” Talia pointed towards Bertha under a pile of wolves.

Allie swore, “Shit, they must have taken her prisoner then.”

“That isn’t the end of the world, is it?” Laura asked. “They probably saw her traveling with us, so they assumed she was important. It means they won’t treat her poorly.”

“No, knowing Mary, she’ll try to seduce Ethel to the dark side.” Allie retorted. “Which could be really bad for our chances if she succeeds.”

Talia heard Cassandra speak not to her in particular, but almost like a warning system. “Warning: you are in range of the effects of a desecration. Either prevent the desecration or flee. If in range during desecration, you shall become infected with the Mad Cow-Girl Virus.”

Talia asked, “Any of you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Laura asked.

“Come over here.”

Laura did as requested and then heard Cassandra’s voice. Laura said, “Oh, that’s not good.” Laura started to shove all the bodies outside of the affected zone until she couldn’t hear Cassandra’s voice anymore. “Help me move them back quickly.” It took a minute, but all the bodies were outside of the infection zone. Laura looked at the quest timer. “Shit, we have three minutes.” Laura looked like she was about to try and sprint into the town, but Allie grabbed her arm.

“No, Laura. We made our choice. Going in now gains us nothing.”

“Maybe I could destroy the idol at the last minute. There is no way they are having one of them get infected.”

“Maybe they have something to resist getting infected,” Allie countered. “Chloe is an alchemist. Maybe she can provide something for that. We don’t know. That’s the problem. What will you do if they are all there until the last second? You’ll get infected, and we will be down another team member. We should load Bertha and as many of these guards as we can on the cart and our horses and go back to the capital. We will probably have to deal with the outbreak tomorrow, or it will become something bigger. But we need to return, get our XP rewards, and spend our Empire Merit on upgrades.”

Laura didn’t like it but agreed with Allie’s idea, as did Sadie. Sadie said, “I can tell that who ever placed the idol is in the direction of town. I’m unsure how far in that direction but they haven’t left the area completely yet.” They managed to bring Bertha and all the wolves on the cart, while the guards were able to be strapped to the horses, save for one, which Laura slung over her shoulder. The group started the long walk back to the capital on foot.