Nymphsaga/The Raid of Fort Hammercliff

The Great Expedition

Excerpt from the Bioengineer's Logbook; "a Study on the History, Biology and Behavior of Nymphs", entry number two, "Inception of the Nymph, Part Two."

There was no plan to dispose of all the Nymphs left at the hand of the manufacturer. They didn't simply want to kill them, for they were living beings, and they thought ending their lives would be unethical. Besides, they had a very interesting species in their hands, a species they didn't simply want to go to extinct and left to the annals of historians. That's why the decision was made to change the purpose of Nymphs from one thing to another. Together with an allied research company, they made a controversial decision to resettle Nymphs in a faraway alien world to study how would they adapt to this world and most importantly, how would an alien world, completely void of source react to the sudden influx of this dangerous and addictive substance, which us Altarians take for granted.

The place in question is called Phantasm. It is a world part twenty lightyears away from Altaria and the only habitable world on the orbit of its parent star. Phantasm itself is not a planet, as it actually is a large moon, about eight thousand kilometers in diameter, and it orbits a gas giant on a habitable zone of the star. It was at the time of Nymph's arrival a world shared by many different intelligent species, most of which were primitive and tribal in nature. There was one civilization capable of creating large-scale civilizations as well, who had colonized the entire Phantasm. Nymphs are also an exception to this, as they are very intelligent. So intelligent in fact, that they exceeded anything that Phantasm had to offer in terms of intelligence, and they still do. They were even capable of surviving on their own, but their creators did help them with kickstarting their own civilization on Phantasm anyway.

Everyone knew from a start that Nymphs, along with the source they produce, would shape this world and change it forever, but our ancestors didn't expect much to happen. Their expectations were dramatically exceeded. In less than a year, the endemic species of Phantasm developed a deep interest in source, which in some isolated cases even developed into an addiction. With Nymphs being the only source of source, Phantasm quickly became dependent on it. But it didn't stop there. Over a hundred years, it also affected both the long-term and short-term evolution of these species, and not in a Darwinian sense. Source would literally mutate the creatures of Phantasm to adapt to a dramatic and sudden change in their environment, shaping them like the invisible force that it is. New dominant species would rise in this new world, while some would even die out and become extinct. Amongst these now extinct species were even the ones who we hailed as the sole species of this world capable of creating a civilization. Now, their civilization lies in ruins, as Nymphs have taken their place as the most intelligent species on Phantasm.

This move was at the time met with universal condemnation for its ethical implications. Our ancestors had ruined a world by introducing Nymphs to it and reshaped it in a way that could not be considered to be a good deal for anyone living in this world. Phantasm had become a prison for Nymphs, who are at the mercy of the beasts preying on them to extract source through intercourse, and it had become a hell for these beasts whose lives were now trapped in an inescapable cycle of relentless withdrawal symptoms and short bursts of gratification and pleasure. It truly was a shameful stain on the otherwise pure and peaceful legacy of neo-industrial Altaria. The information about it was suppressed by both the politicians and media alike, and it was forgotten about after few decades, and left to the historians and explorers to discover.

When we returned to this world, this forbidden star system eight hundred years later, Phantasm had become even stranger and more bizarre. Nymphs have really shaped the world, almost like goddesses of Phantasm. Everything that Nymphs touch becomes laced with source, leaving its lingering effects on the world around them. This world is reeking with source even more so than Altaria. All of the surviving species have even evolved to rely completely on Nymphs for reproduction, as the need for females of their own species have become obsolete. Nymphs have adapted ways to reproduce independently too, without the need for any other species to assist them, but that is a chapter for another time.

Altaria has changed a lot since then, and so have our attitudes towards experiments like these. Under our new, much stronger leadership, we have decided to resume our study on Nymphs, this time from the perspective of visitors to a strange, source-rich world. The next chapters will dive into the experiments conducted by our new, modern team of scientists and experiments we have done and perhaps even will do in the future regarding Phantasm and its various residents.

…

Ever since the game of Nymphsaga begun, the biggest external threats that Nymphs have faced are without a doubt the goblins.

According to a page of lore that will be left unreleased in this story, goblins are one of the four great creatures of Phantasm that stand above all others in terms of intelligence, at least as far as endemic species are considered. Tribal in nature, they're hunter gatherers that wander, scattered across the entire world. They do have permanent settlements, as will become apparent in this very chapter, but it is not really in their nature. Their species is genetically very diverse, and depending on the tribe and the subrace, they can vary greatly in size and even appearance. Rarely exceeding the average height of Nymphs, the smallest of them are usually little more than one meter in height, around three and a half feet in average. Still, there are also goblins that are really off the scale. They can even grow up to be over two meters, or almost seven feet tall, and there are even some tribes of goblins that entirely consists of these larger variants. As far as their physical attributes go, their skin color varies from green to brown, and anything in between. They have body hair similar to humans, and their skin tends to be very thick. They rarely have hair, and they have no tails either, but they do have snouts. Their eyes are small and naturally bad, but they have large ears and superb hearing. They tend to have a lot of bodyfat and muscle and are pound to pound amongst the strongest endemic creatures in Phantasm, but only if you exclude insects. Their very similar to Nymphs in a sense that they tend to hunt in groups, sometimes even very large, and they rely greatly in using weapons and magic. They are not very good at casting, but they can manage the same low-level spells that Nymphs can. As two random facts: Goblins typically become more intelligent as they get bigger, and their genitals, which look very similar to human genitals, are proportionally quite large compared to rest of their bodies.

There are a lot of goblins near the Grove due to the fact that one of the biggest tribes in Phantasm, the Hammercliff tribe, has its headquarters located in the forests nearby. Why have they settled here when it's not in their nature? Simple. Goblins, like most other creatures in Phantasm, rely on Nymphs for pleasure and breeding. Because of this, they are set to enslave and capture as many of them as possible in order to get themselves new toys and wombs to reproduce with. And as already mentioned, Grove is very close to their headquarters.

On this fortress on the top of a steep, yet small mountain, just few hours' worth of walking away from Grove, many Nymphs are being held as prisoners and raped every waking moment of their daily lives. They are grinded with goblin cocks and pumped full of thick semen, while getting drained of their endless source to satisfy their masters. Many of these prisoners are also from Grove, and Nymphs know this. There are stories of Nymphs being captured from right under their friend's noses and dragged away. Grove is still holding strong, especially with its protective barrier intact, but the enemy is getting stronger day by day. It may still take months before Grove will find themselves overwhelmed, but it is still a matter of the time. Sooner or later, it will be too late to act. With one and a half weeks of game time behind Nymphs of Grove, they find their ranks thinning so much so that they decide to focus their efforts on crushing the goblins while defeating them is still relatively easy. Of course, the goblins can never get past the barrier, and Nymphs can in theory stay safe if they choose to never leave Grove, but do they want to become prisoners of this barrier? There is an active debate going on about this, but the answer of the large majority at the moment is "No". Besides, there's no guarantee that the barrier will be there forever. They have no reason to believe it would disappear, but they can't rule anything out.

So, Nymphs want to take the problem out, but they have one big problem: They do not know where this fortress is. They know it's somewhere to the north of Grove, but that is where their information regarding its location end. And sadly, without precise knowledge, they can not launch a counter-attack to the dangerous reaches of the forest.

With their unreliable and quite possibly hostile leader that is Princess Geraldina being locked into her pyramid with no way of her getting inside, or getting her out of there, new leaders have risen. Not princesses or queens and not even elected politicians, but rather charismatic and widely respected Nymphs who have taken the initiative in motivating others around them as warlords and philosophers of sorts. They themselves prefer to call themselves representatives and organizers, but many view them as leaders to look up to. There are many of them - maybe two dozen, out of which five or six are really active - and they have even formed a council of sorts, where they gather to discuss events, critical news and possible plans for survival in a large outdoor theatre, eerily similar to those of ancient Greece, in front of an engaging, public crowd. Everyone is welcome to join these discussions, and encouraged to do so, as most of the Nymphs taking the stage don't even want to be there. They simply feel that someone must.

Nymphs, like humans, are people who have very different opinions, and who subscribe to different political ideologies. Nymphs, in fact, disagree on a lot of things, but vast majority of them do agree on one thing: In order to survive they must stick together in a strong collective, even though it could go against their own principles and personal views. That's why every decision is made by a vote, where everyone is committed to follow the majority's decision. Sometimes it can be tough for the minority, and sometimes they might even make bad decisions, but it's what Nymphs in Grove have decided, and what they all stick to, both in good and bad.

Coming out of this hub are news about a decision to deal a killing blow to the Hammercliff tribe and rescue the captive Nymphs, as voted by an overwhelming majority. Most of the expeditions to the unknown will now be focused towards the northern region, as Nymphs concentrate their efforts into discovering the location of Fort Hammercliff. To hear about these news and to even discuss them, was Wendy, who is considered to be sort of a community leader by many Nymphs. She is not someone who actively participates in the discussions with the "leaders", but they do know her face from being an active member of the community, and a reliable Nymph capable of organizing and leading expeditions into the unknown.

Speaking of expeditions into the unknown, the quintet of Rain, Wendy, Angel, Pink and Lemon are planning on going onto their next adventure. Each of them, like about 10% of the Nymph population already, have reached the supposedly maximum level of four, and they have all upgraded their arsenals, wardrobes and professions accordingly.

Now, why "supposedly maximum level of four", you might wonder? Nymphs wonder about it too, as it is not possible to gain any more experience after level four. There is a fifth level, but nobody knows yet how to get there. Most well-studied Nymphs suspect it has something to do with professions, as all professions offer special abilities to players. As two previously mentioned examples, there are Rain's "Soul Trap" spell, and Wendy's "Inspection" ability, and as additional one example, there is Pink's "Transformation" ability, which she can use to magically dress up in fully enchanted clothes for a short period of time, gaining a temporary boost in power. It could be that professions could offer even special passive talents in the future that could drastically affect Nymph's performances, thus making them more powerful in the process.

At this point, before we advance the story, why don't I go through some of the talents that they have picked? After all, these talents are directly linked to their abilities and will give a good idea of how they fight.

First off is Rain, who has picked Athletics and Speed as her talents. Athletics are useful for her, since it is a talent that allows her to move easier and with less stamina being consumed. In addition to being a successful raider, she is also quite experienced as a dueler from her days in Mormia, and because of this she can fully utilize her athletic skills in form of gymnastics and parkour, making her untouchable against ordinary enemies in one on one situations. Given the fact that she's supposed to be a tank for the party, this is very useful as well, because while she is weak to direct attacks, she won't take damage as long as she's not getting hit. Speed is a no-brainer for her as well. It pretty much makes her faster in every way possible, boosting everything she does by a little, and together with Athletics it eliminates almost all of stamina usage from her movements, allowing her to sprint insane distances without breaking a sweat while focusing her stamina on attacks. Needless to say, these two talents go well with each other. This combination of talents also allows her to use other kinds of weapons as well, but so far, she has only opted to use big swords because of her past experience with them.

Athletics is a talent that is available for rangers as well, and it actually is Wendy's first talent of choice. While she is a ranger, she prefers mid to short range, as pistols in Nymphsaga are designed for that. Moving quickly on the battlefield is very important for her, and so is dodging incoming attacks. Her second talent choice is called Ammo Specialization, which allows its user to completely change the nature of any ammunition, changing it from physical to literally anything else. She wants to do this because Rain and Lemon already rely on pure physical damage, and they can't rely on it too much. This is not an easy feat to do, as changing the element requires a "Spell Crystal" to be equipped, which, as previously mentioned, are also used by casters to unlock a specific spell set in the game. Wendy is lucky to get an Arcane Stone very quick, which allows her to shoot magical bullets dealing arcane damage.

For Angel, her first choice was obviously Restoration, as she is fully committed to being a healer. It is a talent that not only boosts her restorative abilities, but also boosts her mana regeneration slightly to make it useful for Nymphs other than healers. Not much explanation needed there. Next talent is called Barriercraft, which actually is not a passive ability, but rather an ability to learn protective barrier spells, which can then be used for all kinds of defensive purposes. She mostly gets this as an additional means of protecting her allies, and more importantly, herself. A protective barrier, for example, can block a single attack and be vital in situations where Nymph is surprised from behind. What makes these different from heals though is that they have to be precast, obviously, but anything that can make Angel more effective as a healer is a good choice for her.

Since I have not gone through what kind of fighters Pink and Lemon are, it's important to go through this as well in the next paragraphs.

Pink is a reckless mid- to shortrange caster. As a weapon she uses bracelets, which make her an unarmed caster, making her immune to disarming effects at the cost of ability to channel and aim spells without assistance. Hence, mid- to shortrange caster. Of course, she can in theory shoot very far away, but it is not easy, especially when you consider her playstyle. She concentrates most of her efforts into explosive spell power by sacrificing her defenses. She relies completely on movement for defense, which is not very great. She is a kind of person who usually joins the battle late by conjuring up a great spell mostly so she wouldn't get attention of enemies drawn towards her. With her previously mentioned Transformation spell she can turn herself into a "Magical Girl" of sorts, who can actually defend herself for a little while as a melee by imbuing her fists and feet with magic, but this is something that is not very reliable, especially when used as an offensive measure, as she can only do this only for about a dozen of seconds every five minutes or so. Her first talent choice is Instant Casting, which allows her to decrease all of her spell's cast times by a little. While spells that require little to no casting become instant, they're not actually something she can spam on demand, as instead of having a cast time, they get a cooldown equal to the length of the cast time. Of course, it's still preferable, as she can shoot better while moving and can shoot instantly after taking aim. Her second talent is Dual Slots, which allows her two equip two Spell Crystals at once. Normally Nymphs can only use one at the time, but she can use two, which gives her a larger arsenal of spells. Now it has been mentioned already that she could use both fire and lightning magic before she even picked up this talent. Why is this? Well, she's a lucky owner of a tier two Spell Crystal which has both the fire and lightning elements attached to it. Now with her second slot she can also cast arcane spells, but she hasn't put much effort into them, as she wants to change it to something else in the future.

Lemon, like has been mentioned before, is a stealth ranger. What this actually means is that she's a player who hides from her enemies in the distance with an ability to catch them off surprise, dealing massive damage in the process. It actually fits her very well, as she is not naturally athletic and not very well trained in virtual reality gaming environments. She is very observant and aware of her surroundings though, and very good at aiming. Her first talent is actually called Stealth, which passively makes her invisible to enemies as long as she's staying still and is a reasonable distance away from them. She can still be sensed through sound, smell and even source, but that's a minor problem, especially in a group setting. The initial damage from the stealth shot is always multiplied by five, making it extremely deadly, but because it requires a lot of setup to achieve properly, it is not as overpowered as it may sound. Still, it's enough to kill many strong enemies with a one shot only. It is also worth pointing out that stealth will immediately break after the first attack and will not work on the same enemy as long as it has her in its sights. Her second choice of talent is Longshot, which increases the damage based on how far away she is from her enemy. Given the fact that she's good at aiming, and the fact that her two talents work well with each other, she is the heaviest hitter of all the Nymphs in the group. She's the silent assassin who watches over rest of the group from afar catching off her enemies by a surprise before they can even know what hit them. This all, however, comes at a heavy cost. She's kind of slow as well as incredibly weak and vulnerable. She truly is a glass cannon in the most literal sense of the term.

…

Now, back to the more relevant parts of the story.

A familiar group of five departs from the Grove towards north with plans of even venturing far away. Having been relatively successful for the past few days, they're not afraid of the dangers lurking in the forest. They come across a cliff and see a mountainous landscape ahead with white, bald cliffs raise from the midst of the thick forest. Somewhere here lies their target.

"It seems like we made it to the cliffs", Wendy says and looks around herself. She has been told about the area in the public gathering nobody else in her party was bothered to attend. "Now, where do we get down?"

"I'm more worried about how we get up once we're down there", Angel points out.

"Oh, don't worry", Wendy says, reassuring Angel that it's fine. "There should be multiple ways to get up and down without climbing."

Lemon joins in the discussion, with a suggestion. "Should our first priority be mapping this area on top of the cliffs? If we can secure a safe route it will make going back and forth from the valley to Grove easier and faster."

"Remember that little rock we walked past ten minutes ago?" Wendy says. "Someone at the council meeting gave everyone several markings about the area, as mapped by her own party, so we can use them as our checkpoints. The little rock is the best one in my opinion. We just need to find the closest place to get down and mark that as our second checkpoint, and we've basically secured a good route."

Lemon nods, with a happy smile on her face. "Oh, that's what the stone was about?"

"In any case, that was one long fucking walk", Rain says and sighs. "I already wanna take a break."

"We can relax for five minutes, no problem", Wendy says. "Everyone okay with that?"

There are no disagreements. They get away from the cliff, where they could possibly be seen from below, and they sit down for a little breather.

…

After finding a good place to go down into the valley below, they take one final stroll back towards their first checkpoint in hopes of securing a good route for their inevitable return. In the process of doing so Lemon, who is following the group from a distance and keeping track of what's behind them, sees something in the corner of her eyes. It's a sole goblin scout, a little green bastard with black eyes hidden behind his thick and flabby cheeks and forehead, wearing nothing but a pair of ripped leather pants. This goblin is walking straight towards the unsuspecting group of four who are more tightly packed to one place. Lemon does not know if this is a coincidence or not, but the goblin does seem to act hostile, having his daggers drawn out. This causes her to draw her bow, take aim and tighten the bowstring to its limits. She can't just alert her friends, as the enemy would hear. Besides, goblins never act alone. 'It must be accompanied by others, but where are they?' She can't see any other goblins anywhere. Lemon finds herself asking, 'Should I try killing the goblin right away?' She's one hundred percent sure she could do it if she hit, but she's afraid to start the combat. "You should've shot." A rough voice startles Lemon, who feels her heart skipping a beat. She turns her head around to see a giant goblin, way bigger than any other she has seen before, wielding a giant club. He is already preparing for a swing, and Lemon manages to dodge it at the last second, but this blows her stealth against every single possible enemy in the area. There is only one thing left to do, and that is alert the allies.

"They're here!"

Immediately, four Nymphs walking together ahead of Lemon, all turn towards different directions, drawing their weapons. Rain is the first one to see the giant goblin harassing Lemon, now trying to grab hold of her with his hands. Useless and defenseless in her current state, she needs help badly. Rain rushes in for help and scares the goblin away with a swing of her own, an attack that this goblin manages to dodge masterfully. Standing erect, this goblin is a little over one and a half meters in size. Taller, more muscular, and definitely fatter than Rain, he looks like a truly menacing foe. Even smaller goblins are tough opponents for their unpredictable attack patterns and teamwork, but this one is an absolute monster, an elite goblin. It's not a foe that Rain feels confident about defeating.

"What's the matter?" goblin asks. "Scared?"

Rain immediately shows fear on her face when she hears this monster speak clear English. It is a first time for her, as the monsters she has faced so far have not been able to speak in familiar languages. She knows that goblins have an advanced language of their own and even know some important key words from English, but this one seems to be able to say much more. "Hide somewhere, Lemon", Rain says, putting herself in between her friend and her opponent. "You know what to do."

Lemon nods and runs away, trying to find a new position to attack from.

Meanwhile, trouble is heading towards the casters accompanied by their leader. There is the scout dual wielding his daggers, and then there are three other melee fighters as well. Angel, who is not able to do any damage against the enemy retreats towards more centralized position, leaving the fight to her allies as she focuses on healing all four of them. Pink is luring two of the enemies in for a melee and activates her transformation ability to lash out some punishment on them as soon as they come within range. Surprised by the explosive close-range attacks, the goblins find themselves taking heavy hits, and take few steps back in retreat, assuming defensive positions. Pink must attack as fast as she can, as her transformation truly lasts for only a short time. She manages to finish off only one of her opponents, before her transformation fades out, leaving her exhausted. Thinking he now has an easy task at hand striking his enemy down, the final goblin attacks with a powerful, downward swing of his sword. He doesn't see the fireball coming against his face, and combusts magnificently, as Pink was able to do her part in defending herself. She, however realizes, that Angel's heals are not quite on point, and has to gather her strength on her own for now.

Angel has her hands full with Rain and Wendy, and having seen that Pink managed to survive, she makes a calculated risk of ignoring her. She knows that Pink could be ambushed by another wave of enemies but considering that no such wave seems to be on their way, she thinks she's doing the right thing. Now, Rain has her hands full with the giant goblin that has proved himself to be a formidable foe, but what's keeping Wendy? Why can't she defeat the two goblins she's faced against as easily as Pink?

Wendy finds herself in an extremely unfortunate situation, with a shield bearing goblin together with a fire caster on her heels. Against two melee users, she would have no problem. Hell, she could probably even manage two offensive casters, but against two very different enemies, she has trouble, especially since she finds tanky enemies to be her Achilles' heel. Despite wielding a shield, this massive goblin, about the length that she is herself, is very fast. Having his shield constantly as a defense, Wendy can't get a good shot in. She finds herself in a constant run, desperately trying to get away from her enemy. She finds an opening, having not shot the caster even once, and manages to get a good hit on his shoulder, barely missing the heart. Goblin immediately takes cover to heal and recover, leaving Wendy to focus on the shield bearing and flail wielding goblin, or so she thinks. Having turned her attention away for a second proves to be fatal. Enemy charges in towards her, striking her with a shoulder tackle, and sends her into a stunned shock. Still barely on her feet she falls on her knees, only to find that there is an inescapable flail hit like a massive uppercut coming for her in a form of a iron ball. She must take it, and take it she will, screaming in pain. The hit sends her flying flat on her back. Having not been at the receiving end of a quite possibly fatal hit ever before, she unsurprisingly finds herself hurting and in pain. It drains her stamina to zero, rendering her unable to act. For a moment she forgot about it, but she remembers it happening to Angel when she accidentally hit her in the spider cave with a missed bullet. And well, it has happened on the other adventures as well, but not to the extreme degree that she suffered just now. Since Nymphs don't have health points, as previously explained, all damage received comes in form of stamina degeneration. But that's not all. She can see her stamina bar shrinking. She finds herself asking, could it actually be a health bar after all? If she takes damage when she has no stamina to be damaged, what happens to her? She might not be ever able to get her answer because she knows that the goblins don't want Nymphs dead. They want them as slaves for reproduction. Wendy picks up her weapon and raises it against goblins face, hands shaking in terror, but she's out of bullets on this particular weapon. She hasn't been able to reload. Her other weapon should have bullets left, but the flail hits it away from her hand the instant she takes aim. Disarmed, stunned, unable to move and at the mercy of her enemy, she asks herself, 'Where the hell are the others?'

Angel realizes the plight of Wendy the instant she lets out a cry of pain, being hit in her stomach by a flail. She can't see Wendy from the angle she is, especially with goblin blocking the way. She can't just target Wendy by clicking on some button on her user interface. Like in real world, every spell must be targeted and must have a clear way to travel through. They can't go through trees, and they especially can't go through enemies. She finally manages to restore Pink's stamina, who has already gotten to her feet. And she does this just in time. More goblins are on the way. There's three of them and it's looking as if Pink is going to have to face them all alone.

Rain finds herself in a duel where neither fighter can get a hit in. As nimble as Rain is, this elite goblin is just as fast and nimble. He isn't a simple kind of enemy that has one repeating attack pattern, but rather, he has at least five different attack patters that Rain knows of, each of which are executed in a random and each of which will be interrupted if Rain tries to capitalize on them. When Rain attacks, the enemy dodges. Frustrating as it may be to admit it for her, this is not an enemy that she can defeat alone. In fact, this is the kind of enemy that no Nymph could ever defeat alone, no matter how strong they would get. He is simply that much better than a Nymph. Bigger, faster, stronger, and more importantly, way more durable. He can never run out of stamina, but Rain sure can. It is inevitable. She can't run away either, as she would just get caught trying. If she had someone helping her, someone to deal a surprise blow to him while she was taking attention, they could deal damage to him together. They could have one member keeping his attention and the other one attacking from the blind angle. And just like that, this help arrives in form of a single arrow, piercing goblin's left pectoral muscle. Angry and roaring, he rushes towards Rain, enraged. He doesn't even care that Rain uses this opportunity to try and attack, as enemy just runs straight through her. He has his sights set on Lemon, 'But where is she', Rain asks herself in a state of panic. 'In the direction of cliff', she realizes, and sprints at her enemy trying to stay on his heels.

Pink finds herself separated from Wendy, who she is trying to desperately get to. There are three goblins in the way, all pushing her back. All damage she does is negated by the healer, who she can't finish off. She can see that one of the goblins has rope and cloth with him which he is using to subdue Wendy, but there is nothing she can do to help her. She also quickly realizes that Rain and Lemon are also gone. Scared and not knowing what she should even do, she asks herself, 'Is this it for us?' The situation is eerily similar to that time she was last time ambushed by a group of goblins. She got separated from her allies and never saw any of them again. She knows that their party has been defeated, so should she just run for it? 'No', she answers. There is still one Nymph standing, and that is Angel. They can't defeat the enemies together, but she is determined to help Angel escape as well. Together they have a good chance of succeeding. They may not be able to save Wendy anymore, but if they help each other, they could be able to escape together.

Angel sees the situation with same eyes as Pink, except she is much more terrified of what's going on. She has known Wendy for so long, and now she's going to be taken away from right under her nose? Not only that, but she's powerless to stop it, as none of her abilities even work on goblins? She has also realized that Rain is gone too, together with the giant goblin. She remembers hearing a strong bestial roar, but at the time she didn't think much of it, as it looked to her like the goblin was being damaged. Lemon is nowhere to be seen either, but that was to be expected from her, considering that she's a stealther after all. She looks at Pink, who is looking at her, almost as if trying to ask her something. "Rain and Lemon are gone too!"

Pink swears in her mind, and that is the moment she takes run towards Angel. She grabs her hand, urging her to run. "Let's get out of here! There's nothing we can do!"

It is a tough pill to swallow, but Angel agrees, mostly because she's not brave enough to even think about staying to fight. Together, they run away towards the first random direction only to realize that enemy is at their heels. "I don't think we can make it!" she cries out.

"Can't you make a barrier or something!?"

"It takes time, and I would have to stay still!"

Pink can't even believe she's going to suggest it, but she says it anyway: "If it looks like they're catching up to us, let's separate so they only get one of us!"

"We're not going to get caught, so don't even think about it!"

There is still some time until Pink can transform, and even that wouldn't probably save them. Alone against three is too tall of a task even with a massive power-up. All they can do is run, but their batteries are running low. It is only a matter of time before they get caught.

With half a minute of desperate escape behind the duo, they both are now thinking of running towards different directions in hope of saving at least one of them, but something appears moving towards them from the front. It's a small figure, fast on its feet, a Nymph charging towards the goblins. Pink and Angel see others as well a little farther away, a total of four more. It's another group of five Nymphs. They stop on their tracks, and Angel proceeds to help the one charging in out. And this Nymph is fast, way faster than Rain. She's wearing much lighter clothing and wielding lighter weapons as well. She manages to take out the healer quickly in a quick burst of attacks, and her allies are quick to follow. There is a gunner with a rifle, a swordsman similar to Rain, an offensive caster wielding a staff and an unarmed supportive caster. Outnumbered now seven to two, leftover goblins are defeated in a flash. Eyes of this supportive caster and Angel meet, and they recognize each other. It's Melody.

"Is that you, Angel?" she asks, eyes wide behind her rectangular glasses. She rushes to Angel, immediately casting her restorative spell on her, as Angel is unable to do so herself. "What happened to you?"

"It was an ambush… Way too many of them… We ended up getting scattered…"

"How far away are they?" asks the dagger wielding, tanned Nymph.

"I think we ran for at least thirty seconds…" Pink says, out of breath. "By the time we got away, Rain and Lemon were already gone… Wendy got taken away as we escaped…"

A deep, collective sigh is released. "I don't think we can catch up to them anymore…" Melody says.

"It's worth a try", says the gunner. "Let's go search for a moment."

"Yes, of course", Melody answers and nods in agreement. She takes out a mana potion and offers it to Angel. "You're a healer, right? Take this. Let's take care of these hotshots together."

Angel nods slowly. With haste, lead by Angel and Pink, seven Nymphs head back to the battlefield.

…

In the end, they find the place to be empty, with only two little floating loot boxes left behind as a depressing reminder of how little success they truly had. They search for a moment, but do not find anything at the cliff, and can't see anything down in the forest below either. Three Nymphs disappeared that day into the forest at the hands of goblins, with only fate of Wendy being clear. Subdued and tied by the goblins, she has been dragged away by him towards Fort Hammercliff. Angel and Pink know of the shield bearer that defeated her as well as the injured mage, but were there other goblins as well? They think there must've been even more, because they can't think of a way where they could've dragged Wendy away so quick. It is now Wendy's fate to join many other Nymphs as a prisoner of goblins to serve as a sexslave for them.

That is the only thing they're certain of, but what about Rain and Lemon? What happened to the elite goblin? Nobody knows except them, and nobody will not know about it for time being either, but the seven Nymphs hope that the fate of these two will be revealed soon. For now, however, their fate - as well as the conclusion of the fight between the duo of Nymphs and the elite goblin - shall be left for a later chapter, as they will be temporarily written off the story.

Angel and Pink, together with the five Nymphs who by a miracles chance happened to be nearby to save them, head back towards Grove.

Fort Hammercliff, Part One

Excerpt from the Gamer's Logbook; "Exploring the Mechanics of Nymphsaga", entry number ???, "Nymphs and Mortality, Part One: Damage and Stamina Degeneration."

Make no mistake about it: Nymphs are NOT immortal. They will die if their body takes too much damage.

That being said, Nymphsaga is not a game where enemies are trying to kill players, nor is it a game where Nymph's blood will be often spilled by them. Rather, the primary motivation of enemies lie in rendering Nymphs unable to defend themselves, subduing them and capturing them. Sword strikes cannot cut player's limbs and crushing blows will not flatten their organs. They can feel extreme pain, but their bodies will last anything that's thrown at them. Nymphs are ethereal in a sense that attacks will cut through them, leaving behind only a temporary mark.

All damage, both magical and physical, is done through stamina degeneration, where stamina gets drained away from players as they take damage. Stamina bar has two layers to it, out of which the first one is stamina that can be used by Nymphs for various tasks, and the second one is the bar itself. As Nymphs take damage or suffer though other physically demanding torments such as rape, their stamina bar will eat itself away, reducing the maximum amount of stamina they can recover, until there is almost nothing left. When the bar is reduced to being just 5% of its original size, Nymph's body will collapse and break down, sending them into a "fainted state" where they will continue their lives as nothing more than powerless ragdolls. Yet, their minds will last, as they must endure whatever happens to them afterwards. Nymphs can be physically killed only while in "fainted state", but this is extremely rare, especially in the hands of enemies. Degenerated bar will not be restored by heals, and instead must be restored by comfortable good night's sleep.

…

With the assistance of their allies, Pink and Angel return securely home. Left feeling defeated and helpless, they can only imagine what their friends are going through right now. All they want to do is help, but to do that they must first know where their friends are.

In addition to Melody, the modestly dressed purple haired bookworm, acting leader, a strategist and the quiet healer of her group, there are four additional members to the group. We have mostly gone through what kind of person Melody is in one of the previous chapters, but it is worth pointing out that Melody is pretty much identical to Angel in her body shape, as it was not previously told. She looks pretty much human as well.

Then, there is Candy, the tanned cold killer in a skimpy outfit consisting of shorts made of jeans cloth and a bikini top, wielding daggers and striking with havoc from the shadows. Apparently Candy and Melody are lovers in real life, but that is a story for another time. She's about average in height but has a very skinny body with no curves to boast about. Her dark brown hair is messy and wild, and short in length. She, also, appears fully human. She's kind of similar to Melody as far as personality goes, but instead of just acting serious, she's ridiculously shy. She prefers to stay quiet, as she doesn't like participating in idle chit chat. She really loves being present though and seems to like listening to others chat even though she doesn't talk too much. She pretty much only talkative during combat and strategy discussions.

Their swordsnymph (A funny word that) is called Luna, and despite her similar choice of weapon, she's in fact very similar fighter to Rain, as she relies on strength and elemental damage. There is a talent similar to Ammo Specialation available for soldiers as well, which imbues weapons with a magical coating. Like Angel and Melody, she has a little more mature body than your average Nymph, and is actually the tallest of the group, standing at 138 centimeters tall. She's a blonde with a hair reaching up to her shoulders, which she has decorated with a single pigtail sticking out from the side of her head. Dressed up modestly in actual long pants and a cute pink sleeveless shirt as a top, she dresses up like a normal person in real world would be, which is unusual for Nymphs. She looks like a human too. Personality wise, she's exactly what you would expect a young, socially extroverted teenage girl to act like. Athletic, smart and kind, she's kind of like your stereotypical popular, good-at-everything "barbie" girl in school that all the other popular girls want to hang out with, and who makes all the boys fall over like dominos. Well, she is pretty much like that in real life as well, except for the fact that she's a closeted VR-MMO nerd.

Then, there is Nora, the staff wielding caster and first of two abnormals in the group. She's pretty much a dark elf, with long pointy ears and a dark skin. A little bit on the shorter side, she is very petite indeed. Her dark hair has a strange, blue hue to it, and her eyes are purple. Her outfit is just as skimpy as that of Candy, but she has a miniskirt as opposed to shorts. She's a hybrid between a supporter and a caster, and she relies on both strengthening her allies through positive status effects as well as dark magic to dish out punishment. It is also worth pointing out that she's wearing a scarf. Like Rain and Pink, she's a bit of a joker. A natural born optimist, she finds joy in everything, and is constantly giggling. Over all, she's very calm.

And last, there is Laura, a cute little gnomish girl with a round, yet cute nose and jug ears pointing out from her long and wavy brunette hair. She's about the same size as Pink with a slightly juicier butt. She is, however, nowhere near as juicy as the taller girls in her group, as she is still pretty petite. She's a gunner who opts to use a futuristic rifle, similar to that of Wendy's pistols. Her role is more similar to that of Lemon though, with a notable lack of reliance on stealth. She relies on her accuracy talent as an aim-bot, and likes running around. As far as personality goes… Well, let's just say that she's as loud as her gun is.

Now, inside the protective barrier, Pink and Angel pretty much instantly collapse to their knees. Angel has already been doing her best not to cry but having lost two of her dearest friends into the unknown, she can't hold it in anymore. "I feel so worthless…" she says weeping. "We lost so easily…"

Luna is first to comfort her with a light hug from behind. "It wasn't your fault. It could've happened to anyone."

"Yeah, no kidding", Melody says and sighs. "We've faced adversities similar to that and managed by a hair's margin."

"From what I understood, you were against way too many enemies at once", Laura says. "We would've lost too. Any group of five would've."

"We should've escaped when we all had a chance…" Pink says, mourning. "I'm not sure if we would've made it anyway though…"

"It's no use worrying about it now", Melody says. "I do assume that you two want to help out your friends though. If you have nobody else to join, then join us."

Angel nods deeply. "Yes… I will join you…"

"It's only a matter of time until we find that fortress and raid it empty", Luna says, offering her hand to Angel, and drags her to her feet. "Your friends will be saved."

"So, what's the plan?" Pink asks.

"For now", Melody says, "We rest and gather our strength. We eat, we restock, take a nap, anything to help us when we go out on an expedition later in the afternoon. Is that alright by you girls?"

There are no complaints to be voiced, not even from Angel. As much as she wants to go out there immediately and try to help her friends, she knows that she can't rush to her doom, especially not alone. She must rely on her allies, and to do that, she must wait. "Then, I will go home for time being… I have a lot to think about."

Nora comes to her and taps her on the shoulder. "Be sure to eat well, sweetie. In fact, would you like for me to cook you something?"

"I-it's fine…" Angel answers, cracking a smile. "I've actually done meal prep for tonight, so I can handle my own meal."

"I don't mean to intrude, but I would love a good meal…" Pink says.

Nora grabs Pink's hand gleefully and nods. "Come with me then! I'll shower you with tasty treats!"

Already on their way back towards the residential areas, they come across a Nymph unfamiliar to Angel and Pink, but very much familiar to the rest. This tiny Nymph, with the same body type that Pink has, is called Dana, a half-elf like Rain with strange, starshaped irises. Her magnificently long wavy white hair is tied with a giant red bowtie with polka dots in it, and her frilly, white summer dress comes with colorful flowery pattern on its short skirt. "Would you look at that, you've returned safe and sound", she says, crossing her arms and walks up to Melody. "What's up?"

"Ah, nothing much", Melody says, with a rare smile on her face. "Bad luck on our expedition, but we managed to save some unfortunate friends who had their friends taken away by goblins."

"Oh, poor souls…" Dana says with a genuinely sympathetic tone. "Yeah, I actually wanted to talk about goblins. Someone is claiming to have found the fortress."

"What!?" Melody raises her voice, and a light appears on her face. Everyone else seems equally surprised. "So quickly?"

"Yeah, turns out that the decision to focus our efforts towards one place turned out being a good one", Dana says. "There's a council discussion in three hours to make sure that the place she is talking about is genuine. Spread the word. Tell everyone you meet, and make sure to be there in time."

"Yes, yes, of course", Melody says. "In fact, do you want me to join you right away?"

"You're not tired from the adventure?"

"Well, I mean… This is more important."

"Just rest, okay?" After saying this, Dana waves Melody goodbye and walks away.

Angel is left speechless and very happy indeed. Who would've guessed that they could be able to help their friends so soon? Of course, she still can't get ahead of herself, as they still don't know what awaits them at the fortress, but she's feeling particularly strong and optimistic about the future now.

"You heard the girl, so spread the word", Melody says.

"Wow, you're such a poet", Nora says, giggling.

"Shut it", Melody says, visibly blushing and looking away embarrassed. She hates being teased.

"Who was she anyway?" Pink asks with a curious tone.

"Oh, you haven't been at the council discussions at amphitheater?" Laura asks. "She's one of the girls who organizes those gatherings together with several others. She's kind of a big deal."

"Oh, I didn't know that…" Pink says.

"She's such a good girl", Nora says, giggling.

Because they all live kind of apart from each other, they scatter quickly towards different directions. Angel and Luna head home alone, while Melody and Candy go on their own direction. Pink goes with Laura and Nora towards the place where they live to enjoy the dinner Nora invited her own.

…

Earlier it was established that the goblin that has defeated Wendy subdued her with ropes and cloth, as seen by Pink. Let us roll back time to that very moment and go forward from there.

Without any stamina left and without her weapons, Wendy finds the answer to her question. She asked herself, 'Where are the others?' They're out of reach and cannot save her. She doesn't know about any of her friend's fates, and she will not know either, at least not until she either escapes or is saved by someone. Unarmed goblin pushes her hands down, and with her pathetic strength, she can't even hope to raise her body from underneath this monster's weight. She tries to kick him, but her attacks are proven to be ineffective. It's like kicking a heavy sack of potatoes: nothing will make the goblin bugle. Well, almost nothing. You see, every man has a place where it really hurts, a weak spot in the truest sense of the word. Wendy's vicious knee strike catches the private parts of this goblin in the last attempt get him off her. Alas, her kick proves to be ineffective as well. The goblin is wearing some kind of protection underneath its leather pants. Wendy's attempted strike to its scrotum actually makes the goblin laugh with its inhumane cackle, and lean closer, as if trying to lick her face or steal a kiss. Eyes wide open, left dodging its lips white-faced in disgust, she trembles and her body freezes. With his strange accent, goblin says one understandable word: "Naughty…"

Together with the injured mage, he discusses something in a language foreign to her. It reminds her of no language she has ever head. The pronunciation sound Germanic, they speak fast like Spanish or Japanese, and the words themselves are all over the place. Wendy sees the goblin apply some clear liquid to one of the cloths, and before Wendy can even realize what's going on, this cloth is placed on her face. She begins to struggle as she breathes in this foul liquid. It drains away all her strength, but strangely enough, it won't knock her out. Left paralyzed. She's still very much awake. Goblins turn her to her stomach, and they start tying her up. Raised to the shoulder of the goblin, laying limp like a rolled-up rug, she is taken away. Her head faced towards the trail behind, she looks around the battlefield only to see it empty. Everyone has disappeared, rest of the goblins included.

She can't see where they're heading, but from the looks of it, they're heading towards the direction Nymphs expected the fortress to be in, which is a good sign. There are five goblins in the party, three of which who joined the group midway, and group have no elites in it, so should they come across a party of Nymphs, they would probably be defeated. Wendy knows this is her last lifeline, as escape seems otherwise impossible. The walk is long, and the tension is excruciating. Minute by minute she becomes surer of her demise, a fate she is not mentally ready for. She knows that she's not going to get simply raped for few minutes, only to be later saved, like was the case with Angels and the spider. She knows that she's going to be raped over and over again by monsters that are bigger and stronger than her, and these monsters are going to knock her up as well. She knows it, she hates it, and she wants none of it. Just thinking about it is making her skin crawl.

She could be wrong about how long it took, but it felt like an hour to her, give or take. It makes her feel optimistic because now she knows that the fortress is two to three hours of walking away from Grove, which means that in the best-case scenario she doesn't have to be slave for any more than couple of hours. Of course, she can't rule out the possibility of it lasting for days, or weeks, or hell, even months. She has regained some of her strength already, because the long-lasting effect of the poison has faded, but the ties are too tight for her to struggle, so she continues to stay still.

The fortress is grey and made out of stone. She couldn't see it from the outside, but from the inside it looks almost too ornate and splendid to be built by mere goblins. She could be just feeding into stereotype of a low intellect, primitive, cave and hut dwelling goblin, but she finds it strange nonetheless. Besides, the place kind of looks like a giant hall of a ruined temple. Could it be that it was built by someone else, abandoned by its original builders, and then later found by the goblins for them to set up a camp in? A little food for thought for Wendy in this desperate situation.

She can't marvel upon the beauty of these ruins for much longer though, as the goes through an iron door into a cave, taken down deep beneath the surface. As name suggests, the fortress is built on top of a little yet steep mountain, with its lower parts, like the great temple, built on the foot of the mountain. Inside these narrow corridors are several rooms, locked behind bars like a row of jail cells, and inside many of them must be captive Nymphs. She can't see any of them, since the rooms seem to be behind long corridors, but moans and cries can be heard everywhere. Some are still full of life while others already sound exhausted and defeated. Some sound scared, while others sound surprisingly willing. Have they given up, or have they been drugged? Wendy doesn't know the answer, but she can't imagine herself being reduced to such state. She absolutely can't let it happen. She has already decided beforehand that what's going to happen to her is going to be horrible torture.

As soon as the goblins find the first empty cell, they go inside and close the iron door behind. There are no locks, but the doors and handles look very heavy. No little girl has strength to open up such a heavy door alone. They walk her to a small room lit up by nothing but eerie magical lights. With no windows, there's nothing but grey stone around her, with some dark iron bars and chains. There seems to be a wooden rack on the wall as well, lined up with tools and toys for sexual plays, or as she would like to say it, "torture". And last there is a stone slab in the middle of the room, supposed to be some sort of table, or perhaps a very hard bed. The goblin that has carried her for the entire time lays her down roughly on top if it, and left sitting up, tied up, Wendy looks at the goblin dead into the eyes. Goblins keep discussing something as a group, laughing to themselves. Left out of the discussion, unable to even understand that they're saying, she's now more afraid than before.

A rattling sound startles her. A chain drags through the cold hard floor, and one of the goblins has an iron collar in his hand. Wendy tries to struggle for a moment, but she is being held in place, pushed down against the stone slab. Collar finds her neck and is locked tight. It has a lot of room to move, and Wendy could probably fit even her palms under it but fitting a head through it is impossible. It's the ultimate proof of slavery. She's shackled to an iron collar, connected to a strong iron chain which in turn is attached to the wall.

First, they rip off the cloth off her face almost as if wanting to hear her cry. Then come the bladed weapons; swords and daggers. Cold steel kisses her body but dares not to cut her skin. Their tips slowly find their ways underneath her clothes, underneath the ropes. Hands tied behind her back, she watches as the package starts to unravel. Staring from her belly all the way to the neck, a sharp knife cuts through the cloth and the rope, slowly revealing her body. First for goblins to feast their eyes on are her belly button and her flat chest. Wendy begins to squeal. Horrified, she can't hold back the tears. They cut her legs free, and at the same time, hands drag on her shoes and on her socks, and then, on her belt. They rip it open and cut up her pants. Now, somewhat free, out from the ropes, she tries to resist only to find out how weak she truly is. She is nothing against the hands that undress her. Piece by piece, they expose her body, leaving her naked as her clothes are ripped away. Even ties from her hands. With not even a piece of string left between her toes, her body lays bare underneath the lustful eyes. Same can be said about the goblins. One by one, they take off the little gear they have, leaving back their weapons as well. Wendy gets one good glimpse of a green, erect goblin cock before she lets out a clear and girly scream, a voice she didn't even think she would be capable of producing. Goblins are short, but their genitals are proportionally large. We're talking about a cock of an average adult attached to a one-meter body.

No wait, no foreplay, nothing at all. They're going to drag her straight into the deep end. It starts with one goblin dragging her ankles and pulling her legs apart. The same goblin that defeated her is going to be the first one to rape her and steal away her virginity. To the very last moment, Wendy shakes her hips in protest and keeps pushing her knees towards each other in a sorry attempt to close her legs. Goblin however, pushes his body forward as he pulls Wendy towards the edge of the stone slab, and he forces his body between Wendy's legs, making it physically impossible for her to close them anymore. She still flails her legs around and she even presses her now freed hands against the fat belly of the goblin. As soon as she opens up her eyes to look she freezes though. A cock is standing erect over her belly, reaching all the way up to her belly button, with the tip being just barely over it. She's trying to push, but she's doing her best to not touch it. She doesn't want her skin to even accidentally grace it. She's disgusted to her stomach by it. There might as well be a deadly snake on her belly, ready to bite.

'Don't you DARE put that thing in me', is what she wants to say, with a furious tone, but she is not capable of it. She can manage simple words like "No", and "Please no", words that do not really line up with her anger. All she can do is weep in panic and pray for it to stop. But no matter how much her tears flow, no matter how she struggles and screams and cries, the goblin won't stop. His hunger for source is bottomless, and it will do anything to get its hands on a Nymph.

First the goblin releases his hands from the ankles, grabbing hold of Wendy's waist instead with the other one. Then he pulls his hips backwards, with his hand on the cock, pressing the raging boner down and presenting it to Wendy's little vulva. Leaking with precum, tip kisses her opening and presses down on it. She has pleaded "No", but now she screams it. With both hands now on her waist, he leans forward and pushes into her slowly, pulling her waist against the cock with force at the same time. She isn't even wet, yet it pushes into her. First push is very slow and hard indeed, but as soon as her hymen gives out with a snap, there's no keeping the shaft out. Until the very end, she uses her little fists to punch down on goblins fingers to zero effect. Quick and powerful thrust into the hole deflowers her, stopping her protests and causing her to let out an agonizing scream, caused by the dry insertion. Her hole painfully stretches to the shape of her first cock, which now sits still inside her, pushing against her deepest reaches. It is trying to contract and tighten back to its natural shape, but the foreign object won't let it.

Grinding out and grinding back in, skin massages her insides, sending shockwaves up her spine through the nerves inside her and around her opening. Rock hard cock feels feverishly warm inside her crushing grip and it's slowly gaining speed. It's moving about as fast as the goblin can move in her tight hole, but the moisture is seeping in. With every hit against her cervix, she tightens up a little bit and feels a wave of unwanted pleasure sent through her lower body. It is causing her to get wet as a response, much to her dismay. She can't believe she could be getting wet and horny from a rape. It's probably better that not getting wet at all, as it will relieve her pain, but it makes no sense to her. How terrible is it that she can feel extreme physical pleasure from something she doesn't even want to participate in? 'It's not fair', she tells herself. Her weakness and her involuntary physical responses, none of it is fair. But how unfair is it really? She's about to learn very soon how unforgiving Nymph's body truly is to the mind trapped inside.

Goblin is really starting to pick up the pace as it becomes increasingly easier for it to do so. Squishy claps and slaps fill the room alongside her cries and the heavy berating of her rapist. It almost feels like it's getting even deeper than before, almost as if Wendy's internal organs were being flattened by the cock, like meat being tenderized. Every single thrust is brutal like a punch, and with the powerful hands holding her hands in place, they're just intensified. Yet, there is no pain. Wendy is learning first-hand by the hardcore rape. Only physical sensation she is capable of feeling right now is inhuman pleasure. Everything else is dulled and has faded out. Her sense of pleasure is almost like it's magnified with every other sense taking a backseat. In reality, her body and her senses work just like it's supposed to, but they all just drown out under the intense ecstasy. That's how Nymph's body is. It's a body tailormade for sex, and it doesn't come through only for the person using the Nymph, but also for the Nymph herself. Needless to say, Wendy's mind still is not exactly in line with her physical sensations. In fact, her mental condition just starts to worsen, as she becomes even more confused. Excruciating anticipation of what's going to happen next torments her soul. She knows where this is going.

Monster lifts her lower body up from the stone and leans back. His body leans backwards and he sprints forward, sounding like a gorilla. It's the piston-like movement of a male about to ejaculate. Wendy knows it, and she's not that far away from her own orgasm either. In fact, it's a surprise she hasn't come yet, given how it feels. She has already felt like she was about to come multiple times already, but her body has not given up and disconnected from her mind completely yet. It is going to, however, despite the fact that she wants none of it. She doesn't want to cum, but the cock is going to make her. She can't beat it, and she can't resist it any longer. Like a bolt of electricity, pleasure penetrates her brains, and her scared screams are completely muffled out by a loud moan of undeniable pleasure. Ecstasy is written all over her teary face that has now turned silly despite her previously terrified expression. Her moaning stops as the cock stops. She's brought back to reality from the pleasure-infused trance. Goblin ejaculates inside her and she lets out one final scream of terror. She can feel a rock-hard cock throb inside her in a melting heat, and she can feel it fill her up. Drowned somewhere in the sea of pleasure are signs of physical disgust, enough to want to make her puke, but that's what it just is, a desire. It's just that, because even her ability to perceive pain and disgust are slowly being eroded away, as she is dragged deeper into the hole.

Wendy can only hope that by some miracle's chance her situation is going to be like that of Pink's when she got raped by a wolf. Pink managed to avoid rape for reasons still unknown. Well, Wendy knows that that's an empty hope. Goblin semen guarantees a child. It's just going to be a question of whose child is it? There are four more erect goblin cocks ready to rape her. First goblin backs away, leaving her laying down, unable to even sit up, let alone get on her feet. Then again, she's shackled, so what's the point anyway? Next goblin pushes himself on top of her, actually on top of her, physically presenting himself on top of the stone slab. She was able to close her legs for a moment, but all strength has left her, and all it took was his loins to force itself in between her. With the help of one hand, he pushes tip in place and with one downward thrust, it sinks in easily. Just as tight as she was with her hymen intact, the cock slides in with the help of her juices. Thrusting starts immediately. Pushing himself down on top of her, the creature subdues her hands, pushing them down as well, as he stares at her body. She hasn't even thought about covering her body, but now that she realizes that he is feasting his eyes on her chest, she wants nothing more than to cover herself up.

Another climax overtakes her, this one happening in the middle of rubbing thrusts. Even though it's nowhere near as fast as rough as the last one - at least not yet - the orgasm isn't any less intense. It's still enough to fry her brains and overload her senses as she can't even think straight for time being. Like before, she gets over it, but it feels so good and makes her heart pound so hard afterwards that she wouldn't find it surprising to lose oneself to such intense pleasure. She know realizes why some of those voices sounded so willing. It could get much, much worse for her. Should her mind give out, there would be nothing she could do to stop it from happening. The only question is: how weak exactly IS Nymph's mind? Only time will tell.

…

As willing as Wendy's body has become, her mind isn't any more complicit. Her tears have dried up, as even her cries have drowned under the tidal waves of pleasure. Five goblins have ravaged her for over an hour now, taking turns in raping her. The only thing that Wendy can honestly be grateful for at the moment is the fact that they're more than content with using her vagina and have not tried to force cocks into her mouth or her ass.

Commotion fills the room, but not one filled with alarm. Wendy is faced away from the door, being fucked from behind on her fours, so she can't see who it is. There's talk, there's laugh, and there are heavy steps. Goblin pulls out mid-fuck from her before he even gets a chance to ejaculate. There is someone new to do her. A sixth goblin, presumable a big deal in the eyes of the other goblins, for they would give up fucking her so quickly.

"Wow, we got a big haul today", goblin's voice says, as he laughs with his deep voice.

Does he mean Rain and Lemon? There's no way he would know the names. Then again, he may not even be the same goblin. 'Wait', Wendy realizes. 'It can speak!?' It came as a surprise for Rain and Lemon earlier as well, but the others did not hear the big goblin speak, so it comes as a surprise for Wendy. Yet, she only opens her mouth to gasp in surprise, for she's still too scared to speak. Hands larger than the previous ones take her shoulders, as they lift her up to sit down. Slowly, Wendy turns around to look at his face, as he takes a look at her body.

"You look like a good fuck. You might be my favorite so far from the ones today." His flattering doesn't make her any happier. In fact, they only make her more anxious and scared. This goblin is tall, way taller than her, as opposed to rest of the goblins out of which even the tallest is shorter than her. Her eyes drop down to this already naked goblin's groins and see sees its erect dick. In case of the rest, she instantly looked away, but not this one. Her eyes are locked to the cock that has to be larger than her own arm. It's big, it's thick, and it's downright just mean. It's veiny, and it has a brown hue to its mottled green skin. Honestly, it looks almost like a dildo to her, as she can't believe such a behemoth could be attached to a living being.

Pep returns to her body the instant goblin lifts her up. She flails her tired legs as she feels her back tugged closer towards the goblin. His hands move to her legs, right under her knees, and they grab onto her tightly, as they force her legs spread. In an upwards position, kept high in air like a little toy, Wendy looks down and observes the cock underneath and between her legs. Her body gets raised up, and then about to dropped down on the cock. "No!" she screams and with her hands free, she lowers her hand to block her pussy. "It won't fit! Spare me!"

"Hahaha, and they told me you're not very talkative!" goblin says, laughing. "So, it is MY cock that finally made you beg for mercy? I'm honored."

"Don't put it in! Please, anything else!" Having his hands focused on the legs, he thinks for a moment about what to do. Well, all he has to do is to move Wendy's body a little bit forward and suddenly, the glans is kissing her anus. Her eyes open up like a couple of clean plates, as she screams loud in panic. "I WAS KIDDING! SHOVE IT INTO MY PUSSY, I BEG YOU!"

"Oh, who could resist a plea like that!" Goblin is happy to oblige, as it honestly wants pussy more than ass. Wendy, shaking, can't believe she actually let herself beg like that, and it's just making her cry again. Reduced to such a pitiful state, she feels so weak and pathetic. At least her ass is spared, for now. Things will not get any better though, as tip pushes into her. She begins to move her hips, but the tip is already deep enough in her for her to be unable to shake it off. Goblins hands begin to loosen, and it lets Wendy's own weight fall on it. Slowly, but surely, it slides in, and it tears her open wide. With every inch added to the circumference of her stretched out vagina, her face turns crazier. Her heart feels like bursting out of her chest, and her hand still is pressing against her vagina as she helplessly wants to do something - anything - to stop the advance. She expected pain, but there is none of that. This is more of that extreme pleasure that has overshadowed every other sensation. Finally, speed picks up, and she completely drops on top of her. In that instantaneous moment she experiences a squirting orgasm and lets out a wild scream, convulsing. Only about halfway inside her, it pushes against her organs so strongly she feels like it could pierce right through her cervix and straight into her womb. For that to happen though, there has to be more than just her own body weight. For that to happen, you need a couple of two strong hands to push through. But is there any way that the goblin would do that kind of damage to her? Can things really get any worse than they already are?

Wishful thinking on her part. Things are going to get worse. Goblin wants to stick it very, very deep. Hands grip tightly into her legs and it starts pulling her down on the cock. The advance is even harder than going through her hymen, but it is not, surprisingly enough, impossible, or even painful for that matter. Even the things that should in a sane world feel extremely painful just bring more pleasure to her. It pierces through, and balls deep, she can feel her stomach bulge. Yet another orgasm occurs, continuing from the last one, and it is driving her crazy, making her tighten up even more. Goblin starts to move, thrusting deep. No, he doesn't actually thrust so much itself, as he is moving Wendy's body in rhythm up and down way more using her like an onahole. Reaching deeper than she even thought would be possible, she's in shock. As if it couldn't have become worse, and she hasn't even been anally raped yet. She knows it still might get worse. Then again, considering that she can't do anything to stop it from happening, what's the point in struggling and getting outraged anyway? Thinking about it in that way just makes her want to cry even more.

Goblin finally adds his own, stronger hip thrusts into the mix, sliding the cock in and out in long strokes, slapping it deep against the softened-up insides of Nymph. She can feel the balls slap against her softly with every single thrust, a thought that makes her terrified just thinking about exactly how big it was. It seemed to her big like an arm, and now it pistons her with such ease? And judging by the speed, it's about to release straight into her womb. She has got to a point where even male ejaculation feels orgasmic to her, an idea foreign to her given that it's probably something that shouldn't happen in real life. A part of her, a part that has completely given up to the pleasure wonders what would a cumshot from such a giant cock even feel like? She doesn't have to wonder for long, as it cums straight into her, accompanied by yet another squirting orgasm. Her mind is blanking and starting to cave in to the pleasure. She can't take it anymore. Not even her heart can deny the pleasure, even though it should.

It doesn't stop either. A cock covered in cum, after sliding slightly out from her, just kicks right back in. This goblin is not content with just one orgasm, as it wants to do it over and over again in a long and brutal rape. Having not even recovered from her own orgasm, goblin begins from where it left off. Same speed, same depth, just a little messier and even nastier.

In her heart, she finally accepts that there is no point in struggling and crying. Things really are going to continue to get much worse for her.

Fort Hammercliff, Part Two

Excerpt from the Gamer's Logbook; "Exploring the Mechanics of Nymphsaga", entry number ???, "Nymphs and Mortality, Part Two: Mental Breakdown and the Spiritual Death of Nymph."

Phantasm is a cruel world for a Nymph, and it will torment anyone who is unfortunate enough to lose herself to the wilderness. As it was established, Nymphs will not die easily. That's why there is a protective mechanic in the game that will allow perish to perish into their "deaths", if you can even call it that. It is the spiritual death, caused by the mental breakdown of Nymph under extreme pressure.

Everything that counts as stamina degeneration counts towards the countdown to mental breakdown, but it comes mostly in form of rape, as that is the primary motivation faction of 99% of enemies. It is not a countdown that players can keep track off, and it will always come as a total surprise to them. Sometimes it comes fast in a matter of just a week, and sometimes it takes time, but Nymphs mind never lasts more than three weeks. It really depends on the circumstances and the question of can they even be saved from their fates anymore. After all, there are some traps that no player can get out from, ever. Nymphs will not see it coming, ever, as it comes naturally and usually they can even feel their torment continue even after the breakdown has occurred and suffer deep into it for added intensity. Mental breakdown can only occur while Nymph is in her fainted state, and the countdown towards the breakdown will reset every time Nymph recovers from her torment. Of course, enemies are not intelligent enough to abuse this mechanic, as it would be just plain unfair, but the fact that even an hour's worth of safe rest may reset the countdown is something that every player HAS to keep in her mind.

After mental breakdown occurs, player's spirit will leave Nymphs body, which will stay alive for its captors to abuse. Without a spirit, the body will disappear eventually. The question of what happens to Nymph's spirit after death is a chapter left for the next part of this entry, but let's just say as a minor spoiler - if you can even call it a spoiler - that players will not get out of the Nymphsaga when they die. Something else will happen.

…

There is no reason for anyone in Grove to doubt the sincerity of Nymphs who claimed to have discovered Fort Hammercliff. They're a collection of eight Nymphs made of three different groups, all of who had their first groups ripped apart by goblins. United by their bloodlust and anger against the goblins, they ventured farther than anyone else to a place in the valley where no Nymph has ever claimed to have been in. After the council discussion had taken place, in a matter of just sixty more minutes, a large group of Nymphs left Grove in hundreds, as almost a thousand Nymphs marched into war. There is a long, long evening ahead of them, one that will certainly last deep into the night.

Unsurprisingly, nothing can stop these Nymphs. Sure, they face enemies, but as weak as Nymphs are alone or in small groups, can anything stop a thousand of them? Answer is probably no. Such a thing does not at very least exist in the immediate vicinity of Grove.

In two to three hours, they come across a valley covered in greenery, bathing in a red evening glow. In the middle of it, their destination lies, standing on top of the lone mountain in the middle of the valley. As they advance, they realize that there are no goblins to be seen anywhere in the valley. Are they waiting for them in defense? Spoiler: they're not. They're completely unsuspecting of their demise. As evening rolls in, goblins get back to their homes and camps to rest, just like Nymphs. They know that Nymphs don't hunt during nights, so they do not see any reason to go into the night either. Instead, they go home to enjoy their fruits of labor. As night falls, the captive Nymphs suffer a heavy workload. Caretakers that work during daylight hours go to sleep, while the warriors rape their slaves. Sure, there are guards, but when they realize that Nymphs are coming for them en masse, it's already too late.

Only way to enter the castle is through the great hall, remains of a once great temple. Out from there, roads lead to the many caves below and inside the mountain, as well as to the actual castle. While Wendy is in the caves with most of the slaves, some are up in the castle as well. The raid separates into four parts, all of different size. From largest to smallest, first one will go around the mountain, second one will go up the mountain to the main building, while third group will search the caves below. Fourth and the smallest group will stay put at the entrance.

Caught off guard, most of the goblins in the caves are unarmed and a very easy target for Nymphs. Of course, there are those, some of which are even elite, who are armed and tough opponents to beat, but with numbers, Nymphs are unstoppable. One by one, they find captive Nymphs, and find themselves to be horrified of their states. Even the best conditioned of them have been reduced to extremely pitiful states. Very few of them are actually in any kinds of conditions to talk, as most will pass out soon after being saved, and those who are, are not in any kind of condition to talk about anything else other than how grateful they are to be saved. Initially they're not sure how to get Nymphs out of their shackles, but when they realize that goblins actually drop keys, all of which can be used for all the shackles and will not even be consumed on use, they have a very easy time releasing every single Nymph.

Released Nymphs are left for the smallest group to guard and take care of as the group assigned to the caves starts circling the mountain to another direction from the previous one. At the same time, upstairs, a true raid takes place, or would if there weren't like a three hundred Nymphs up there. Usually in your typical MMO's there are limits to how many players can enter an instanced raid zone, but no such things exist in Phantasm. The entire planet is a sandbox - including every cave and every building - and every place is reachable without restrictions. Nymphs can just outnumber any raid they want to. Double X ranked boss of the Hammercliff tribe is turned from a horrifyingly strong foe to being just a runover.

With their leader down, goblins can't operate anymore. They require hierarchy and leadership to sustain themselves properly. Like a pack of wolves, they need an alpha male. It's in their nature. They begin to scatter, as Nymphs capture Fort Hammercliff for themselves. Of course, this was not a mission of conquest, as they are planning on leaving it and left in ruins, but the idea of conquering an entire tribe of goblins is one that makes them all feel really, really satisfied in themselves. As night falls, their mission concludes. Having kicked the goblins out of their own home, they begin full-scale rescue operations in an attempt to search every nook and cranny of these ruins, as well as loot the place empty of all its treasures. Looting is free for all, but most Nymphs agree that they should only take loot from the enemies they themselves have killed or participated in killing. Everyone respects this unspoken rule. Things are a little bit different for the loot from the boss, which is without the doubt the best loot in all of Fort Hammercliff. To distribute these treasures fairly is the raid leader and one of the organizers behind the attack to the fortress, Katja. They do it by fair a roll where everyone gets a chance, but nobody is allowed to roll for more than two items.

Now, all they have to do is return home. Lucky for them, this night is shaping up to be a particularly bright one, with the giant planet dominating the skyline reflecting light from its parent star to illuminate the magical forest. Gazing her eyes to the awe-inspiring sight that is a planet of gas hovering above the sky is Dana. She is asking herself, is it even smart to try and return during night, or should they set up a temporary camp and spend a night in the forest? It's not something that only she is thinking about, and luckily, it's not a decision that she has to make alone. Her thoughts, however, are interrupted by one very cheerful girl. She is not an important character in the future and will not appear ever again in the story, but for the sake of clarity, let's call her Jane.

"Hey! Are you some kind of leader?"

"I believe an organizer would fit me better", Dana says arms crossed, eyeing down Jane, who is now panting heavily after dashing. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

Flailing her arms, Jane responds with a loud voice. "There's this Nymph who is super weird! She doesn't even know about Grove!"

Dana raises her other eyebrow, and immediately takes few steps forward, towards Jane. "Take me to her!" she answers, grabbing her arm. As Jane starts to run, Dana instantly slows her down. "Calm, calm… We don't have to run…"

"Oh, hahaha!" Jane finds herself laughing, blushing a little. "Yeah, we don't have to run…"

"It's good to be full of energy", Dana says, nodding to herself. And then, she finds herself in front of this quote, "weird" girl, who sits down naked. She immediately doesn't realize anything out of ordinary, as this Nymph looks like a normal girl. In fact, she looks very normal indeed, half Asian half African girl with long, dark brown hair. "Oh, you seem surprisingly well…"

"Yeah… I've only been here for few hours…" this Nymph says, scratching her hair nervously. "I'm eternally grateful for you lot… I thought this was it for me…"

"I'm Dana. What's your name?"

"Olivia."

Dana immediately remembers what the cheerful Nymph told her. If what she told her is correct, then this Nymph is not from Grove. "So, where are you from?"

"From Paradise."

"Where is that?" Dana asks. "What kind of place is it?"

"It's in a little valley hidden midst of waterfalls to the north from here", Olivia explains. "It's not even that far away."

Dana raises her arm to her jawline. "There shouldn't be any other starting zones for Nymphs other than Grove…"

"I have never heard of no Grove…"

Dana crosses her arms again. "Are you a player then? And not an NPC."

"I'm definitely a real person…" Olivia says, looking even a little offended. "I'm from Melbourne, 18 years old college student."

"Well, what the hell…" Dana finds herself scratching her head. "I am one hundred percent certain that Grove is the ONLY place where Nymphs can start the game."

Nymphs looks a little perplexed and tilts her head. "Everyone in Paradise disagrees. In fact, we thought it's the only place where the game can begin."

"There is something weird going on…" Dana thinks out loud. She can't help but to feel that she, and every other Nymph, has had their memories tampered with, if that is even possible. She clearly remembers, clear as day, seeing many pictures from the game in the real world, and they all depicted Grove, every single one of them. "Do you remember this… Paradise from the real world as well…"

"Yes", Nymph says and nods. "Clear as day."

"Okay. If that's true, there must be something weird going on…" Dana says slowly and silently.

"Yeah, I agree…" Nymph says. "Everyone of you is from this… Grove… I'm just as confused as you guys are…"

"There might even be more villages like this!" Jane suddenly realizes.

"Yeah, that's what I thought as well", Dana says nodding. "In fact, there could be hundreds. This place is freaking huge, after all."

"Well, does that really make sense then?" Olivia asks. "I mean, were there really that many players to begin with? There's, like, three thousand of us in Paradise."

"Grove is pretty large as well", Dana says, still thinking deeply. "Yeah, there is definitely much more to this world that meets the eye if they have tampered with our memories as well…" There is not any way for her to know which one has had their memories tampered with, her or Olivia. Hell, maybe both of them have. It's impossible to know with the information they have. "In any case, I think we have to ask everyone where they are from. Who knows, we may learn even more." She turns towards Jane. "Hey, you."

"Yes!"

"Help me out a little. Explain the situation to anyone who seems like they're bored and ask them to help."

"Yes, madam!" With that said, Jane runs away.

"Now…" Arms crossed, Dana takes one hard look at Olivia. "I don't think we have any other choice than to take you to Grove."

"Yeah… It's a hard pill to swallow, because my real-life friends are in Paradise, but I understand that it is the only thing you can do."

"Exactly", Dana says nodding. "We can establish a connection to Paradise at later date and find a safe route there. I'm sure that a relationship between two different communities is a one that will benefit all of us."

"Yeah, we all want the same thing…" Olivia says, nodding herself as well. "Freedom from this world."

…

Meanwhile, upstairs, one unlucky Angel, left without any loot despite participating in killing the boss and its guards, finds herself taking a break, as the drained herself dry while taking care of attackers who got hurt in fights. In raids, role of the healers is typically only to heal those who are seriously injured and have taken heavy hits, as tanks and take turns and attack in waves. Tired Nymphs come to healers to be healed, and then wait for their next cue. This is done so the heals wouldn't miss their targets or hit the wrong target in a frantic melee. Of course, there are some spot healers as well, but Angel was not one of them.

Then, one very lucky Pink comes to her, pouting despite the fact that she got a piece of bracelets. "Looks like they're not here."

Angel nods and sighs. "Well, it's only one place, and there weren't too many prisoners up here anyway."

"There's nothing left to do here", Pink says and offers Angel her hand. "Let's get downstairs and find our friends."

With the help of her friend, Angel is pulled to her feet, and they head back to the great temple. Stairs are long and steep, but nowhere as tiring to go down as they are to go up. Walking around together, each of them eyeing desperately at the Nymphs who have been saved, they wonder where their friends could be. After about a minute's walk, they finally see one familiar figure in Wendy, who has rolled herself into a blanket, and with soulless eyes, she stares at the roof unmoving, almost lifeless. She doesn't even realize that she is being approached by her friends, at least not until they're right in front of her. The instant she sees two of her friends standing and in good spirits, she looks like bursting into tears. Angel drops to her knees, in front of Wendy, offering her a warm and loving hug. Wendy is happy to take it, and she lets her tears flow. Silently weeping, she hugs Angel tight.

"I'm so sorry…" Angel says. "We left you to be captured…"

"No… Don't blame yourself…" Wendy says. "It wasn't your fault…"

"I'm so happy to see you again so soon…"

"Me too…! I'm so happy to be free…!" Wendy doesn't want to go into detail, but she was actually released before it looked like goblins would start to push themselves down on her two, or even three at once. In the end, she didn't taste a dick, and they didn't penetrate her ass either. It is a small consolation for her, as she honestly thinks that being pregnant and forced to deliver is worse than both of those things. Besides, she's not confident she's going to be so lucky in the future anymore. If one mistake or one streak of bad luck is all it takes for her to lose her freedom as a Nymph, then she might as well give up right away, or so she feels at the moment.

There's another Nymph coming for Wendy as well, and it is Melody. "Oh, I finally found you!" she says, sounding happy. "I'm so glad you're safe now."

Wendy looks at Melody. She realizes that everyone really came. It's a large group that came to save her and the other captives. "I'm so grateful for all the Nymphs in Grove… To think that they would risk their lives in hundreds to save just a handful of us captives."

"Well, I think there was a little over hundred captives in total, so it's a huge victory for us", Laura says, who is with Melody. "It's even more Nymphs that have gone missing."

"Yeah, I heard there are some from another neighboring village here as well", Melody says.

"Really?" Laura says surprised.

"Speaking of captives", Pink says, "Have you seen Rain or Lemon yet?"

"No, not yet", Melody says. "Hope is not lost yet, but almost everyone is already here."

"Go look for them, Pink", Angel says. "I'll stay with Wendy."

"Y-yes", Pink says. "I'll hope to be back soon with good news."

"Can you walk, Wendy?" Melody asks, as she also gets close to her friend.

"No… I can't…"

Melody opens up her user interface and touches Wendy's shoulder. She shows her the inventory, and a special potion blend that she has there. "Look at this. It's a potion to relieve heat and temporarily restore stamina bar. It should be good for three hours, just enough for you to get home escape."

Wendy, or none of her close allies knew of such potion. Melody, just like Lemon, is an alchemist, and their recipe books are somewhat different to each other. "Shouldn't we save them for those worse off…?" Wendy asks, reluctant to accept the potion.

"It's fine. We prepared two hundred of them." Melody materializes the potion and offers it to Wendy, who takes upon the offer. Now, she waits until she can actually drink it.

"How about a potion to get rid of my baby…?" Wendy asks, almost whispering. Melody doesn't say anything, as she is afraid of giving Wendy a negative answer. "Well, of course such a thing doesn't exist…"

"I'm sorry… It hasn't been discovered yet…"

"I'll be by your side, Wendy", Angel says, still hugging her friend. "I'll help you get over it, I promise. Please, stay strong."

As hard as it is for Wendy to stay strong, she agrees with Angel. She must get over it. She nods and thanks her friend. Left alone with Angel, Melody and Laura leave to help out other Nymphs as well as hand out potions to others as well.

…

In thirty minutes, Nymphs are now sure that every place has been turned upside down, and no-one is going to be left behind. They have even shouted and yelled in hopes of hearing responses. They have double-checked and triple-checked some places and become sure that they're ready to leave. A long walk home begins.

Despite the fact that the journey is done in the dark of the night, they do not face trouble. Turns out that forest isn't that much more dangerous during nights after all, at least not in these parts of Phantasm. It is way past the bedtime for most Nymphs when they finally return. Every one of them head straight into their homes and most of them collapse instantly into their beds, not needing a minute to fall asleep. Showers are baths are mostly left for morning. Now, what about the Nymphs who were not from Grove? There were about forty Nymphs who claim to be from Paradise, and each of them got offered a roof to sleep under, as their saviors give them refuge at their own homes. There is a very interesting and a long day ahead of Nymphs, as they will discuss what to do moving forward regarding the revelation of there being another community of Nymphs to the north of Fort Hammercliff.

…

Wendy wakes up in her own bed, drenched in sweat in the early hours of the morning, when the sun is just starting to rise. She's glad that she is safe, but she still feels like crying, mostly because of the horror she faced. However, there is also a feeling of immense relief. It's over now; her journey continues.

She can't get back to sleep anymore. She's wide awake, and so, she doesn't even bother trying. With pretty much everyone who took part in the rescue operations still asleep - presumably - she has a lot of time in her hands. She wants to start her day by getting rid of her uncomfortable sweat, and she knows the perfect way to do that, which also will help her spend time. As a new addition to her apartment is a bathtub large enough for adult to fit in. Of course, Grove is a village with nothing but prepubescent children in there, but then again, two - or even three - little girls easily fit into the tub. It only cost twenty gold coins, which is a superb price even with the little money there is in circulation. Included with price was also a lifetime supply of herbal soaps and fragrances. She especially loves the one that smells of bergamot. It gives out lovely fresh and citrusy smell she loves so much.

Eyes closed and naked, she's in heaven. Her bathroom is a place of silence and tranquility, a perfect place for anyone to gather one's thoughts and just lay down to think. What keeps her thoughts in one place is her physical condition, one that she hasn't gotten over even though her stamina has returned to normal. She knows exactly why this is. It's the baby she's carrying in her womb, a child of a goblin. Words from one of the excepts from the Bioengineer's logbook echo in her mind. One quote in particular is in her mind: "…Nymphs will go to an extreme heat and forcefully create source at increased rate to speed up the pregnancy and feed the baby growing inside them." This is what she is going through right now. Even after being released, she's still horny, and there's little to nothing she can do to help it. Moreover, it's not just that she's horny, as she would expect herself to be on those nights she feels a little itch to masturbate. No, it's more than that. The throbbing she feels between her legs and deep inside her body is a constant longing for pleasure. Just thinking about it brings her memories from the last night to her mind. All those goblins, and their giant cocks, and the way they raped her one after another. As painful as those memories are to her, her body, the weak body of a Nymph, demands rough sex. Once having tasted it, she can never go back to being innocent and ignorant about what sex through the eyes of a Nymph feels like. Her body will remember it forever and continue to desire it even if she doesn't want it to happen herself. She's an artificial creature created for the sole purpose of sex and pleasure, and her soul cannot escape that prison.

A soft moan escapes her lips. She has been breathing heavy for a while, and she snaps out of her thoughts to the sensation of her hand rubbing her pussy. Without even thinking about it, she was doing it subconsciously to relieve herself of her lust for sex. In the end, she feels like she did just more damage, and ended up feeling even hornier. 'Pathetic', she tells herself. The world and the body are changing her. They're causing her to become someone else, and it feels so foreign to her. It's affecting her mind and her brains in a way that she's partially indistinguishable to who she used to be. Not only is she becoming like a girl, she's becoming one that finds pleasure in being fucked roughly. 'To think that I would this world to affect me like this… I really am pathetic…'

Pathetic or not, she can't help herself or her bodily state. Something has to be done about it. She wants to make herself feel at least a little better, even if it would just come back to bite her in the rear later. Even if it was just one single hour of relief from her physical condition, her extreme heat, she's going to do it. She surrenders to her bodily lust, and goes all the way, fingers twirling inside her pussy and rubbing around her clitoris, until she cums in a matter of just few minutes. She comes to instantly regret it. 'Maybe it wasn't a good idea to masturbate in a hot bath', she tells herself. Dizzy, she gets out and heads out to cool down. If there's a silver lining to getting dizzy in a bath, it's the fact that it will be easier to get back to sleep.

After three small cups of water and putting on some light clothes, which are nothing but childish panties and a sleeveless undershirt for kids, both of which are pretty pale pink in color, she lays down to rest. She doesn't even bother to tie up her hair, and instead, lets them hang open. She asks herself, 'What now? What do I do now that I'm free? Can I ever return to being the same adventurer I was until yesterday? Can I still be the leader that my friends expect me to be?' and most importantly, 'What about the next time it happens?' Yeah, that's the question she's thinking about the most. She doesn't think about it just because she's worried it could happen to her, but also because it could happen to her friends, the Nymphs around her that she cares deeply about. It has already happened to Angel and Pink, both of who got off relatively easy. What if they don't get off easy next time? What if SHE doesn't get off that easy? What if she won't be rescued? What then? She knows now about the mental breakdown, having learned about it during her return to Grove. The unknown that lies behind that scares her. Whenever it is her or her friends in that situation, she doesn't even want to ask herself what that would mean to her.

Then it hits her. Rain and Lemon. Her eyes widen as she realizes, 'It could be happening to them right now.' How could she forget about them? She has been thinking about just herself and her own condition, even though they could be in much bigger trouble right now. As far as she knows, they're still out there somewhere. Or are they? Have they returned? She clearly remembers from before she headed home that Angel banged on Rain's door hoping she would be home, but there was no answer. So, she's at very least not there, unless she returned during night, of course. Only thing that she and her friends are certain of is that they weren't captured by the goblins, which means that they must've somehow defeated the elite goblin. 'Well, of course they would defeat it', Wendy thinks to herself. She knows just how talented Rain is, and based on what she has seen, Lemon is just as talented in her own special role. Lemon never misses with her carefully planned out one-shot-kill attacks. If there's a couple that she would bet her money on to survive anything that Phantasm has to offer, it's those two. Yet, that doesn't guarantee their safety. After all, Phantasm is a dangerous place and she knows it. Even with goblins gone and defeated, there still are horrifyingly strong enemies lurking around, as proven by the giant spider in the cave, as well as the tentacle monster hiding in an underwater lake. "God damn it…" Wendy swears out loud. 'I want to help her, but I'm not in a right condition to do so. This is so frustrating.'

A soft knock surprises her. Someone's at the door. Exhausted, she gets up to meet up her guest, Angel.

"Oh, I suspected you might be up…" Angel says, trying to smile.

"Well, I did get some sleep…" Wendy says.

"I couldn't sleep. I'm so worried for those two. And I was also worried for you."

Wendy scratches her cheek, feeling a little embarrassed. "Thank you for thinking about me…"

Angel finds herself blushing by Wendy's words, and finally a genuine smile can be seen on her face.

"Get in", Wendy says and opens the door wide. "Let's have a little chat." As Angel walks in, the door closes. They stand next to each other, eyes locked to each other. "I have something selfish to ask of you…"

"Ask away. I will do anything."

Wendy spreads her arms wide. "Hug me."

Angel, caught by surprise, for a moment hesitates to fulfill Wendy's request, but her face says that she wasn't kidding. With her teary eyes and her adorable blush, it's probably the cutest Wendy has ever looked in Angel's eyes, as weird as it feels to her. Angel can't resist those eyes, and she can't resist her wish either. So, she hugs her. Lovingly, yet not in a lustful or sexual way. It's a hug a child would expect from a mother, a warm and soft embrace.

"Thank you…"

"You're welcome… Everyone needs a hug sometimes…"

"Yeah, I definitely needed a hug from a friend…"

"I'll hug you anytime you need one."

With that, the long hug comes to the close, and they're both left smiling and blushing, with Wendy realizing she started crying again. She dries up her eyes, and through it all, she doesn't stop smiling for one second. "We've always been good friends, but ever since coming here, I feel like we've bonded even more."

Angel nods deep. "I guess that's what this world does to us. It brings friends even closer."

"Speaking of friends…"

Angel immediately realizes what Wendy means, and her happy smile turns to an expression of extreme worry. "Me and Pink are going to go look for them together with Melody and her friends. Now that the valley is rid of most goblins, it should be easier to travel there."

"I want to come too…"

Angel lays her hands on Wendy's shoulders. "No, you stay here. There's no way in hell you're in any kind of condition to leave."

"It just hurts to not be able to help…"

"I suppose it's a somewhat good sign", Angel says, with a reassuring tone. "I was afraid you would be ready to throw in the towel."

"I sort of feel like it, but… Helping my friends is more important to me…"

"Speaking of which, how is your condition?"

Wendy doesn't want to just outright say what being pregnant has done to her, at least initially. She looks at her own belly, which at very least still looks flat, and she touches it with both her hands. It's almost as if there's absolutely nothing there. More she thinks about it, the more she wants to be just open and honest. She knows that Angel will understand and not call her weird or anything because she knows, that Angel knows, that the same thing can happen to anyone. "Yeah, it has weakened me a lot…"

"O-oh… How do you manage…?"

"Well… Relieving myself of extra tension worked wonders…" Wendy says quietly, almost whispering.

Angel blushes, as she knows exactly what Wendy means. She just nods slowly and says: "I see…"

"Yeah, it is frustrating… Especially after the hell they put me through…" Wendy says and sighs. "They left me pregnant, and the child is making me feel like shit…"

"I wish there was something we could do to help you…"

"Well…" Wendy begins, blushing heavily. "Since the baby feeds on source to grow up waster, and source generation is directly linked to sexual tension and excitement, it probably is possible to hasten up pregnancies by simply engaging in sexual acts… As crazy as it sounds…"

"Well there was the potion that Melody gave you", Angel remembers. "The one that relieves it a little."

"I think that it just made things worse after the effect wore off, to be honest…"

"O-oh, that's a problem…"

"Well, there could still be a potion that can help me", Wendy says and tries to smile.

"Want me to go check stores?" Angel suggests. "Maybe there is an alchemist that has made a potion that helps specifically against heat."

"I would appreciate it", Wendy says and nods. "Thank you so much for all you have done for me."

"You're welcome", Angel says and looks like she's about to leave. "I'll leave now, since we have to go looking for those two as well."

"One more thing before you go…"

"Oh?"

"Hug me again."

"A-again?"

Wendy doesn't want to wait for Angel to do it, and instead she's the one that goes for a hug, grabbing Angel's body tight. "You told me that you'll hug me anytime…"

"O-oh, I think I really did…" Angel says and laughs. "Alright then…"

…

Immediately after leaving, Angel heads to the city central to do some business. There aren't many shops, as setting up one takes a lot of time and effort, but she knows of at least three different alchemist's shops, not counting the one that belongs to Lemon. Only one of the shops happens to be open, and as she asks the owner of this specific boutique about a potion that would be especially designed for relieving heat, she tells that there is one, but she doesn't have any in stock, as they're in a very high demand. Angel doesn't have any materials at hand for making one either. Besides, the owner tells that the potion has a nasty side effect, as it will only relieve heat temporarily. When the effect runs out, the heat will return even worse than before, which means it's basically almost the same as the one that Melody gave Wendy. They're only good for adventures as a relief against sudden aphrodisiac effects, and terrible for treatment. Now, could it be that it could actually have a positive effect against pregnancy, as the source generation will be increased when the effect runs out? Well, in theory it could, but not in practice, as the source generation will be decreased during the effect of the potion. The gains are cancelled out by the losses, bringing the sum to zero. Just as Angel is about to leave, the alchemist tells about the possibility of other professions being helpful. She cites tealeaves that grow in outskirts of Grove and says that maybe they could be used to make a herbal drink through cooking. As Angel bashes herself for ten straight minutes for being too dumb to realize that she could have the remedy at her own fingertips, she heads towards library to learn about different herbs growing in Grove in hopes of discovering an useful recipe.

Having learned the recipe that will achieve the result she's hoping for, she goes to gather the leaves she's looking for. The plant in question is called Aphrodite's Nettle, and it's exactly what it sounds like, a nettle plant. It's an incredibly fragrant, completely green herb that blends well into its surroundings. It has a strong smell of mint to it, which can be used to help tracking it. She learns that the plant can be used for both alchemy as well as cooking, which explains why the Nymph in the alchemy shop knew about it. When crushed with a pestle and mortar into a paste, you can extract the poison and capture its effects, and when dried, its leaves can be used as a spice. Speaking of poison, a word of warning from the Florist's logbook reads as follows: "Be careful not to touch its leaves, or risk getting poisoned by its touch. Its poison is laced with a powerful aphrodisiac which will drive its victims crazy in heat. After ten minutes has passed from the moment you pick it up, it will be safe to touch and extract the leaves." Needless to say, Angel does not want to get herself poisoned. She has an expedition to attend, a rescue mission nonetheless. Getting horny now would be foolish.

Angel finds herself walking through a familiar neighborhood, and she stops to look at a familiar store owned by Lemon. It's the one place she hasn't checked. Could her friends have returned? After all this worrying, could they actually be there? Anxiously, she looks at the treehouse next to the shore, the residence of Lemon. She doesn't even want to walk up, as she wants the answer as soon as possible. She decides to fly there, using her pearl white wings engulfed in a sparkling silvery mist. She knocks on the door and then, she waits, hoping and praying for someone to open up.

Hammercliff Valley

Why not do things a little bit different this time around? Let's talk about discoveries made by Nymphs of Grove that are not something that can be found from logbooks, as this information is based on their own independent research. Let's talk about Grove and its immediate surroundings, and give these places some names, as they are not something that have been established yet.

Grove is part of a large forest that Nymphs call "Misty Forest" for the simple fact that the forest is completely engulfed in a thick, perpetual mist. As far as characteristics of this forest go, it's pretty much the same as Grove as far as vegetation is considered. There are some unique flowers and herbs that can't bloom in Grove, but they can be counted with just one hand. Enemies are stronger, of course, but with the goblins gone, the worst this forest has to offer are the horned demons. It's a very safe place to explore with ease, especially for those who have not reached the (supposedly) maximum level of four yet. Then again, there are no good loot to be found either. To get better loot and find more revealing lore, Nymphs must go to the surrounding regions, which are prohibited from entry for anyone who isn't level four yet per a guideline set by the council of Grove.

To the north is the "Hammercliff Valley", which loans its name from the now deserted fortress that sits at the heart of it. Even without the goblins, it's a moderately dangerous place to venture to. With its mountains and its thick forests, it's hard to navigate. Near Fort Hammercliff there are even more ruins, which belong to a once great city. Who built it and when? Altarians know, and there's probably lore about it left to be discovered. Ruins of this civilization are, in fact, scattered all across the valley, hiding heaps of treasure left to be discovered, along with some very challenging elite and raid encounters for the bravest adventurers.

To the east is "Dark Forest", which really is just a continuation of Misty Forest, as it looks pretty much the same if you ignore the fact that everything is darker. Yes, Nymphs of Grove are very simpleminded when it comes to naming things. This is the place that our heroines once got lost in. It's a place where maps and compasses stop working completely on entry. It offers much more challenge than Misty Forest, mostly in form of powerful insects, but also in form of other monsters. Really, it's a diverse ecosystem. Most Nymphs consider this place to be off-limits simply because it's so easy to get lost in there, and it's highly ill-advised to venture deep into this part of the forest.

To the south is the "Misty Swamp", engulfed by the same mist that can be found all over Misty Forest. As name suggests, these are swamplands, and per stories told by the Nymphs that have gone there, is supposedly swarming with tentacles and slimes. They're literally everywhere. It's not a place that Nymphs will be able to leave with their clothes on. Like the previous two zones, it's hard to navigate, but for very different reasons. It's an even landscape and the map works, but it's not very easy to pass through wetlands, especially with rapey tentacles hiding in the waters. Like Dark Forest, it's considered off-limits and is perhaps the most dangerous zone close to Grove.

And last, to the west, is the "Purple Forest", because, well, it's full of trees with purple leaves. Some also call it the "Magical Forest", but those Nymphs are completely ignoring the fact that the entire planet is magical, making the name obsolete. Prior to the decision to invade Fort Hammercliff, this place was actually the choice for most Nymphs to venture to, as its geographically very easy to navigate, and the maps work too. While certainly a dangerous place, it's at very least manageable, as monsters are similar to the ones in the Misty Forest. It's basically just a slightly more punishing version of that zone. Tactics against the enemies are mostly the same, and so are their attack patterns. While there is no perpetual mist covering this forest, there are some pockets of magical, mysterious dust sparkling in all the colors of the rainbow, which is a very beautiful sight to behold.

As far as Nymphs from Grove are considered, these five zones are the entire world to them. No Nymph has claimed to go farther than the four zones that surround Misty Forest, and nobody knows for sure what lies ahead of them. If they are to believe the Nymphs who are not from Grove, somewhere in the northern reaches of Hammercliff Valley lies Paradise, another town populated by Nymphs. They also talk about zones that border their home, but that's a story for another time.

…

Now, it's about time I tell you what happened to Rain and Lemon, and how their fight with the elite goblin concluded. No, actually, that's a lie. I haven't written that yet. Updates coming soon™.

Chapter III