Firm: Opal’s Story

Opal’s Hellbitch body

I had to swap around which body was going to attack the orc camp with the others. My normal bodies had to go get pregnant from Morgan, and my hound body was the closest body with a race. I had enough time since Jessica, Ruby, Tina, and Steph are planning how we should attack the camp. When I showed up, Sue said I was adorable and started petting me. It’s nice to be appreciated, and I’m not very good at making plans that aren’t really basic. So I’m waiting with everyone else for what they decide.

Sapphire speaks up to the rest of us saying “No matter what they choose for a plan, don’t forget to ask me or another Healer for help if you need it. This fight is about killing orcs, not getting hurt.” I nod and see a lot of other people agreeing. Sue asks “They are just orcs right? Is anyone here as weak as we were a year ago?” Amber shakes her head and responds “We aren’t, but you have to realize that this camp could have been around for a long time. We know that monster camps get stronger the longer they are left alone, and this one didn’t show up on the quest boards at all.”

Sue’s face turns serious as she looks like she thinking, and then says “I’ll yell really load if I need healing.” I know that some of the women here haven’t even reached 5^th tier yet. They don’t really like fighting, and 4^th tier would normally be enough for the fresh camps that stay culled. Of course most of the women here have reached 6^th tier, with a few having reached 7^th like me. I don’t think the camp will be a big problem with everyone here, but it’s better for those at a lower tier to be cautious. Nobody wants to be made a breeding slave for orcs again… Probably. I’ve learned some people like things that I would consider really strange.

Part of my plan for the potential doppelgangers Morgan may spot when she gets here includes my hound body. Well, I could use any of my bodies, but the hound one seems to get a boost to my heat and fire based skills. If Morgan tells my other body that someone here is one of them, I plan to use my passive damage skill on them. If it’s stronger passive damage, then it may react and show itself to the other women. I hope no one here ends up being one though. There’s a reason I have Morgan and Citrine checking here and Jessica’s office first.

As we wait, a few people play with my fluffy tail. Mostly people who haven’t seen my hound body before. They may have seen the normal Player hounds, but my Hellbitch race has a much larger and fluffier tail. Even though we’re not that far away from a monster camp we’re about to attack, the mood is still the same as it was at the party, maybe even a bit cheerier. Getting ready to fight our old enemy has really reminded everyone of how we got our friendships in the first place.

The planners finally came up with something and Steph addresses everyone. “We had Jill check out some of the titles of the orcs, and we think most of them are around 4^th tier power. That’s much higher than we’ve seen before for the fodder of a monster camp, and it means the leader or leaders will probably be 6^th tier, with a small possibility of 7^th. As a breeder race, they’ll be a little weaker on average than other monsters at that tier, so anyone among you at 4^th should be fine to kill most of them. You’ll just have to stay away from anything stronger. Sapphire, you’ll be responsible for keeping an eye on anyone 4^th or 5^th tier during the fight.”

Jessica then adds, looking at her blue haired sister “You are the best Healer here at defending others, so I hope they can rely on you sis.” Sapphire smiles and nods responding “Anyone in that category, come let me know, and I’ll make sure you stay in top shape to kill some orcs.” Steph seems happy with her answer and continues “We also want everyone to keep offensive summons to a minimum. We’re here to liberate any Players in the camp, but we don’t want Opal or Katie to take everyone’s kills.” She says, pointedly looking at me and one of her own children who specializes in summoning. Her elf daughter laughs and asks “The ones I use for defense are fine though right?”

Steph nods in response, and I wasn’t planning on using Gloaming Call anyways, unless the fight starts turning in the orcs favor somehow. I’ve never really liked using the skill because it means I get to fight less, it’s just shown itself to be really good at keeping my family and friends alive during fights. So I use it more often in big battles to keep our injuries and deaths lower. I definitely won’t be using my newer summon skill here, since I don’t want to accidentally kill the people we’re supposed to be saving. When I tested it with Cindy on one of the large dungeon floors with trolls, she told me not to use it in the forest at all.

Pretty much everywhere not in a dungeon is close to the forest though, so I can use it as an excuse not to let more summons take away my fighting chances. Seeing that everyone has agreed not to use offensive summons, Tina explains the next part, saying “There’s a hill overlooking the camp’s gate. Myself and a few of my daughters will be creating large boulders to roll down the hill, hopefully breaking open the gate. Anyone who can get over the wall by other means will be coming from the opposite side after the rocks hit. Your job will be to find the pillories as quickly as possible and secure the women there.” I guess that means me, since I can easily jump over the wall now, even without my bunny body.

She continues “Everyone in that group, gather up. Opal will be in charge of defending everyone in the group while you break open the pillories.” Ruby speaks up then, adding “Mom, you did a great job of holding off the zombies from the spawning room at the Citadel. I know you probably want to go wild, but this is important.” I sigh, but agree. It means I’ll probably only be fighting off 4^th and 5^th tier orcs. My passive damage skill and hardness do make me really great for it, and I’m not going to be selfish by refusing. If they believe it’s the best role for me, then I’ll do it. I can splatter the lower tier orcs, so it shouldn’t be boring.

If I really wanted to fight more, I’d bring my Lofty body here too, but that would take away someone else’ fun. “Once we get through the gate, call out if you see any shamans or chiefs. Taking them out quickly will make it safer for everyone.” Ruby says before having everyone get into position. I run in a half circle to the forest on the other side of the camp with the others in the rescue group, and we wait for our turn to act.

While we’re waiting for the boulders to hit the gate, there’s a knock on the door of Jessica’s office in Barrier. I tell my brown haired daughter “I invited your sisters, it’s important so I hope you don’t mind if they come in sweetie.” She gives me a confused look, but calls out “It’s unlocked, come in!” Citrine opens the door, with Morgan following behind her and into the room. Once they’re in, I say “Lock the door now. Is everyone here safe?” Citrine locks the door as Morgan scans the people in the room with her eyes. Everyone here is pretty confused except for Yula, who is obviously waiting for an answer.

Morgan lets out a relived sigh and says “They’re all safe mom, but I spotted one in the orc camp.” That has me concerned so I ask Citrine “Who was it?” Her sister would only see the doppelganger and wouldn’t be able to tell who it was pretending to be. My angel daughter shakes her head though and answers “No, she means it was in the orc camp, it’s not someone from the party, but one of the orcs.” Jessica interrupts my thinking and asks “Do you mind explaining what this is all about mom?” That’s right, since everyone here is safe, I don’t have to think about it alone.

I respond “There are monsters that can look like Players, and we don’t know how many of them there are. Your little sister Morganite can see through their disguise, so I had her come here to check everyone. She also has a body flying over our group at the orc base, and you heard what Citrine said.” Pops starts swearing under his breathe and Sam looks really worried. Yula seems to finally relax, no longer acting defensive towards Pops, and Jessica puts on her thinking face. I start to explain everything that’s happened with them, starting from the one pretending to be Ruby.

Meanwhile, my Hellbitch body hears loud bangs from the other side of the of the orc camp, and that’s our signal to start. I wave for everyone to follow me, and we quickly make it over the walls. We try not to make any noise, and we don’t get intercepted by any orcs. We can hear their gross squealing though, so we don’t let our guards down as we start our search. Unfortunately, this camp is way larger than Liberation was, and the breeding building isn’t in the same spot.

We can hear fighting far away as we run into our first group of orcs, seemingly having just woken up. Well it is night time, and I remember the orcs never came to the pillories at night when we were in them. One of the elves with me quickly silences them with arrows to the head. She was the first one to take up Archer as their primary class after we got free, and is one of the few 7^th tiers here tonight. She’s actually one of Sapphire’s daughters, and is usually in charge of the defense of Opal’s Home. She struggled to get to 5^th tier with her class, but being able to take on the zombie hordes has been much better for her levels than the cramped dungeons. Even her mother hasn’t gotten to 7^th tier, so it’s quite the accomplishment.

I’m glad I can help everyone in Opal’s Home and Barrier with those experience boosts. I show my granddaughter a thumb up like I learned from Cindy, and we continue our search. We have 4 other people with us, 3 at sixth tier, and 1 at 5^th. I’m pretty sure they’re all sneakier than me based on how they got over the wall. We run into a few more orcs before we find the pillory building, but they are all taken out silently in different ways. When we enter the building, it’s pretty horrible and I start to remember the things we all did to make everyone’s experience easier.

I’m the last one to enter, and turn my back to the room, blocking the opening. From my brief glance, I could only see elves, meaning their human mothers probably all died already. They were absolutely filthy, probably not having anyone with a cleaning skill at level 1. Since they were born here with no way to get levels, they’d be stuck. I couldn’t see all the details with my one glance, so there may still be humans in the back. I remember that’s where most of my human friends were when we were locked up. Under the filth, I could tell that the women were heavily bruised and broken from their daily activities.

It’s not long after that, that an orc spots us in the building and calls others away from the fighting at the gate. I decide that it doesn’t matter if I’m rude to the orcs, and instead of smashing them quickly, I hold them back with skills like my Dark Tendrils. I do like smashing things, but I feel angry, so I’ll let them slowly and painfully die to my passive heat damage. All I have to do is keep them out of the building while the others help and free the women. Nobody said I had to do it fast.

One orc, probably a 6^th tier based on his title and how he shrugged past my tendrils, makes it to me. He looks proud of himself and confident, so when he squeals out “Sows will always be sows.” I let him run into me. I hear his shoulder crack and before he can even squeal in pain, I grab his arm and snap the bone in half. While in obvious pain, he swings the ax in his other hand at me, but it doesn’t seem special so I let it hit me. As it glances off of my side, I stomp on the orc’s foot, and then headbutt his face. He tries to stagger back, but I grab his unbroken arm and pull him towards me instead.

I get hit by some fire that comes from behind him, but it doesn’t do anything to me. Tossing the orc to the floor beneath me, I stomp on both of it’s legs, breaking them. I get hit by more skills, probably from a shaman or shamans, but they all seem to be fire and this is my Hellbitch body. I finish with the 6^th tier orc by stepping on the shoulder of his unbroken arm, and pulling the fragile thing off. I don’t kill him, simply tossing his broken body into some tendrils so he can die from my passive. I spot the shamans trying to use skills on me and see a screen.

Ding!

If I didn’t have to guard the entryway, I would go take them out myself, but I throw the ripped off arm at them and call for my 7^th tier granddaughter. Arrows fly from beside me and strike the shamans down. It’s unfortunate that they died quickly, but being able to charm the people behind me is too much of a risk to wait for them to simply die to the heat. “Thanks Fera.” I tell her as I kick in the chest of another orc that got through my tendrils.