My eyes opened and I heard rummaging. I turned and saw Viccy's white shirt with brown vest overtop. The bed was vacant of Iona. I sat up with Viccy's eyes opening shortly after. I looked to see Iona in the room giving it a deeper look. This was a very good idea and I got up to look with her.
Who knew how long this settlement was here for. The Goblins were entrenched and without my illusion magic, we would have been rolled over. It was a chilling thought as I didn't know what would happen to Iona. I decided we needed to be a little more selective on quests in the future. The rewards were not equal to the risk.
We scoured the room finding small things but ultimately nothing. We moved to the last branch and we saw somehow brutally hardcore this game Victoria designed. I looked at her and she had a small wry smile. I wanted to say something but she pointed at Iona who was moving forward. In the last room was the breeding grounds. It was littered with dead women of various races and living ones. They were chained up looking vacant. Many were staring into space looking at nothing not even noting our arrival. There were three that looked at us with almost feral looks.
Iona moved first and took them out of their shackles. There was a pillory in the center and I freed a woman from there. She stood up quickly and cracked her neck. We were too busy checking all the women in the room though. They were all filthy but that doesn't matter. We moved around but some women didn't even respond to us when we tried to wake them. Some had pregnant bellies and those women looked the most miserable. They were dreading what was inside them.
We were trying to help them up and get them situated when the woman in the pillory that I freed came up to me.
"Thanks," She started with a cold frown on her face as she looked at me, "I would like if you could help me and these women to the nearest settlement," The tone was clipped and short she looked fierce though. The three almost feral women looked around as if seeking something to kill. All three of them looked angry. That was good in my opinion or better than the women with vacant looks.
--
Quest Available: Broken Women
You have cleared out a Settlement of Goblins. In the Search for loot, you found breeding grounds. These Breeding grounds you found various broken women. Help them or abandon them.
Option 1: Help the Women to the nearest City or settlement
Option 2: Abandon them to an unknown fate.
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It wasn't an option plus we were going to head back anyway. "No problem I and my partners will bring you back to the Elven City nearby. It will take extra time with all of you though. We will need to help the..." I looked at the women with vacant stares into space, "More mentally unstable ones though." I told her and she looked at me with a nod. She looked around and started to chant. Although she was barely wearing scraps of cloth on her not covering anything.
After she finished chanting the women started to float. She looked at us again. "This should work. I can hold this for an hour at most think we can get there in time?" She asked and I wasn't about to wait.
"Let's move quickly!" I exclaimed and Viccy with Iona got themselves ready. We moved out in haste with everyone following us. Only two others were on foot. They looked around for something to kill. I had no time though to look closer at them as we moved through the forest. Iona leads the way whereas I sat in the middle of the group ready to cast an illusion to protect the women. Viccy covered the back with those two almost feral looking women taking the sides.
We moved fast even through the underbrush for such a large group. The woman with a cold look walked in the center with an emotionless look. She was holding the woman with vacant stares as we moved.
We moved quickly with only some low-level goblins attacking. The woman watching the sides finally had something to rip into. Their strength literally tore them to shreds. It made me question how they were caught. There were a lot of goblins though. My thoughts though were on moving back to the City as fast as possible.
We moved quickly and the time limit that the emotionless woman said was coming up. The escort was almost done and we were about to pass the point I remember to leave the undergrowth. That was when we were attacked. Viccy called out and I started to cast a mass illusion.
"Two Elites and fifteen normal Goblins! From Behind!" She called out as she shot an arrow hitting the center of mass into a goblin. Iona was about to respond when one of the Feral women reached into the underbrush and tore a goblins head off.
We were being attacked from two sides. The Feral women were not communicative either at this point. They did not talk they just attacked. Viccy was covering the back as best as possible as I conjured a large scale illusion spell. Syllables flow through me like water. I was getting more and more used to using the spells. It was difficult still and I had to pause sometimes still for the correct ones but I was picking up.
The Elites were now in close range of Viccy as Iona reinforced the Feral woman. It was a two versus many on both sides. The stakes were high and the woman in the middle looked to be about to say something when my Mana swept out. The Illusion wasn't pure darkness as the chaos wasn't going to help us.
No, I went for the exact opposite. I created a blinding light so bright it was like looking directly into the Sun. The Goblins screamed out covering their eyes. This caused mass panic and I was going to drop the illusion soon. Started more syllables for the next casting. The illusion dropped but many goblins were scratching at their eyes. Iona was going through like a reaper. The effectiveness of Illusion magic was more than I thought in group battles.
The Elites though gathered themselves quickly. Viccy though killed one of her elites whereas Iona spent the stun duration killing the weak goblins. Iona was now duking out with the Elites. The goblins made sure to stay out of the real woman grips as they saw the raw strength she possessed. Viccy was now in a conundrum of more attackers. She was being hit by the clubs of the goblins. She worked extra hard though to dodge the last elite. The second feral woman though was rampaging among the last of the goblins.
She tore them asunder with her bare hands continually. She was out for blood screaming being the only communication she made. A goblin was torn to pieces as Viccy released an arrow into another as she tried and failed to dodge the elite. The arrow entered through the eye of a goblin. The Elites sword cut into her hip as she reduced the damage from the dodge but it still cut deep.
At this point though my spell was nearing completion as syllables flowed like water. The mana then changes the world around us. Reality changed for those stupid goblins as trees started to catch fire. The bushed alighted with flames. The goblins became distracted.
Iona finally got the upper hand with the Elite and cut into his throat. The Feral woman got her hands on the other and promptly killed the last of the Elite goblins tying them up. They ran over to reinforce Viccy and the other feral woman. Viccy was holding her side grimacing. The battle though was wrapped up quickly though.
Without cleaning up the battlefield we started to move. The emotionless woman was looking paler as we moved as her mana was reaching the end. We were not far either as we entered the clearing before the walls around the Elevators. The reaction on the wall as we ran towards the safety of the walls. The guards came to help us.
The movement was all around us as the guards reacted to our circumstances. Preist cast spells on us and the women around us. Players started to watch as if it was a show or some type of event. We were caught up in the whirlwind of activity and quickly brought up into the city.
With Viccy now healed by the Elven preists, we were all smiles that we completed the quest. I was just waiting for the notification. We were planning on what to do afterward when a robbed Elf approached.
At this point, the woman had all been taken into custody. The Elves seemed outraged at the treatment these women received. Who knew how long they had to put up with that hell? The man approaching though had a frown on his face.
"First, Thank you," The man said simply then bowed deeply. The flexibility was on show as his face almost touched his legs. He pulled back up to see my surprised face. "You did not need to save them and you did. This pleases elven people. Our people will reciprocate!" He told us proudly. I received a notification then.
--
Quest Completion: Broken Women
You have safely escorted the broken women to civilization. The Elves are happy that you did something so selfless.
Reward: Fame +5, Elven Forest Reputation +15, 10 gold
--
"This is a token from one of the woman's families. It was a reward for finding her." The elf put the gold coins into my hands and tanked us each again. With that, he departed with a smile. We were now back in the city and nothing else seemed to be happening. That emotionless woman though stuck in my head.
We left towards the Adventurers guild for our other rewards. The conversation between us was difficult for awhile. Finally, though we started to talk and the conversation flowed between us as we made our way back to the adventurers guild.