World of Monsters CYOA (Part III)

Ages ago, the appearance of gorgeous and dangerous demons signaled an invasion of the human world. Though humanity greatly outnumbered the demon forces, the invaders created artificial lifeforms to deal with them. Part human, part monster, these monster girls could assimilate humans into their ranks to grow their race. From there it was inevitable that the conquest of much of the world by monster girls occurred as the demons oversaw the invasion from Eldria, the once great capital of humanity now turned into a corrupt citadel of evil.

Years have past since then, and humanity continues it's desperate fight with the demons and their creations. The majority of humanity has gather together and formed Sacrima, a small country filled with those who wish to fight back against the monsters or want the protection of such people. Other humans remain in parts of the world outside of the safety of Sacrima, either fighting back or just trying to survive. As many fight for and against corruption, the war continues...

Celtica Arven, a young but skilled knight, begins her journey on the outskirts of Sacrima. Wielding the Holy Sword Durandal she starts her quest to save humanity by targeting the Monster Queens that lay siege to the world. Aquiring the help of the holy priestess Asia, fierce brawler Bullet and skilled mage Lina Inverse, their party left in search of battle.

Through their travels they soon ended up in the village of Lethrina, where their party grew. Facing off with a Cupid who desired to make girls consumed with love and an Undine who schemed to conquer the entire village, the gunslinging bride Elphelt and the spear wielding soldier Nephenee joined them. The aftermath of their fights continue to have effects, the Cupid encounter drawing Celtica and Elphelt into a loving relationship. Asia and others seem to still think fondly of the concept of serving the Undine, though as of late Asia's Undine love has been turned into love for Celtica.

Leaving Lethrina, the group finally got close to their goal as they made it to Fort Veltrion. A base made of up Knights of Sacrima and mercenary forces, led by two of the Knight Commanders of the Knights of Sacrima, Aqua and Signum. Also met here was Signum's youthful knight apprentice Artoria, who joined the party on their dangerous quest to defeat the Slime Queen Jelle.

Their battle took them deep into the ruins of Gaolth City and had them facing down many dangerous slimes, though in the process they managed to collect some mysterious potions from one of the slimes. Tearing through the slime forces eventually led them to a showdown with the fearsome Monster Queen herself, and in a tough battle they managed to slay her.

The party's next destination was the Trinity Islands off the Western coast of Sacrima, Artoria in tow with them. What they did leave at Veltrion was a black potion given to them by that slime witch Nine. Yoko, a mage at the fortress, said she would study it. However, it seems the liquid's corruptive effects have ended up changing Yoko and Signum...

While on their way to the Trinity Islands Celtica and friends fought with a noble lion knight named Lowe and ended up stopping at a merchant camp, stumbling on a slave auction in the process. It was here they met the succubus Morrigan and saw a familiar face from Lethrina in Ingrid. Though, it seemed that she had taken a turn for the darker, now sporting a more sinister look and being followed around by uniform clad servants.

Celtica was successfully able to buy a slave named Ayane and free her, while also forming a contract with Morrigan for power. Ayane joined the team, though with amnesia, while the merchant Valeria also decided to join the party. With those two in tow the party began looking for more clues on the slave ring.

While doing that they stumbled upon a massive black temple, home to a Gazer known as the Oracle and many shadow monsters. Though they fought through the temple, in the end Celtica and Asia were able to befriend the Oracle and Artoria managed to gain new armor as a result. Using the maturity inducing spear she got from Lowe and the dark armor from here, Artoria began her transformation into a busty knight of darkness.

Still on the search for information on the slave ring, the party ran into a sinister looking Nepgear. She was quickly defeated, freed, and joined the team as they made their way to a nearby village. While Elphelt seduced and enslaved village guardian Tsubaki, the party soon found themselves drawn to a massive castle hidden by mist.

This was the castle of Beauty Queen, one of the people who controlled the slave ring with an iron grip. Celtica knew her only choice was to enter and fight, her party battling and besting a great many foes on their way to Beauty Queen herself. Freeing the woman brainwashed by her powers, defeating her second in command Nui, and finally defeating Beauty Queen herself, Celtica's team succeeded in dealing a massive blow to the slave ring.

Now Celtica continues her quest to save people from evil and defeat the Monster Queens. The Trinity Islands are her party's next location, but there's no telling where they may end up in this dangerous mission. The adventure still continues...

You can read Part 1 Here: https://charmed.variousforum.com/t676-world-of-monsters-cyoa-part-i
And Part 2 Here: https://charmed.variousforum.com/t680-world-of-monsters-cyoa-part-ii
Here's the Party's Sheet: https://pastebin.com/SXnXLf8B
And the data on Monsters: https://pastebin.com/DG5kbSuE
And then here's the list of Bad Ends we've already gotten: https://pastebin.com/HVHMR8x7
Here is information of the party's base of operations and the people and items in it: https://pastebin.com/vgFt9ytd




---

Dark lightning flashed through the misty sky around the strange stone platform, a large circular object with a set of pedestals scattered throughout. The mist that surrounded the area rolled in, and atop the pedestals it swirled into shadowy forms. Five figures in total, their forms masked by darkness save for their outlines.

"Five of us, then? I suppose I will have to accept that." a stern voice said, coming from a shadow with beast-like ears coming out of their head, surrounded by rather long hair. "Some people are just too self important to come to these meetings." another shadow said playfully with a shrug, their form having the notable feature of what seemed like six wings.

The beast eared shadow continued speaking. "You all should be well aware of the reason for this meeting. Jelle is dead, and there are multiple topics to go over." she said. "I heard she was defeated by a holy sword wielder. How humiliating~" the haughty voice of one of the shadows rang out, this one having an extremely distinct silhouette with massive strange shaped hair and a long serpent-like lower body. "There's no need to insult the dead." the beast eared shadow told her.

The next to speak up was a silhouette that didn't seem to have any distinctly noticeable features. "So then, we need to speak of territories, correct? The region Jelle controlled is now vacant, and it's likely the humans will try to take it back. And even if they don't, that other woman is nearby..." the shadow said, her voice quite classy sounding. "Correct. As the Queen nearest to the territory, I shall be leading the charge on reclaiming it from the humans. Any objections?" the beast eared shadow asked.

"You say that, and yet that territory falls closer to Hades, where Nyx and I rule." the normal looking shadow said once more. "Indeed. You wouldn't be trying to steal those cute humans away from us, would you Leo~?" the winged shadow asked. Then the fifth shadow spoke up, this one possessing beast-like ears like the other but also having multiple massive fox tails moving behind her. "I wouldn't be so sure about splitting your forces like that either. Ace has completely conquered the Northern Peak now, right? She had no problem getting rid of the Dragon Queen, so why would the Beast Queen be any different~? the fox tailed shadow asked, a slight hint of amusement in her voice.

The beast-eared shadow gave an annoyed grunt and relented. "Very well. I will leave that territory to you and Nyx. I will continue my assault on Sacrima from the forest...and begin scouting the Northern Peak to learn what the Sky Queen is planning, and if she can still be called our ally. The last thing we need is another rogue Queen." the Beast Queen said. "I agree, it would be a shame to have a copycat." another voice rang out, causing the others to look around to find the voice's location.

From the middle of the circle appeared a ray of light that formed into a holographic image of a woman, this one significantly more vivid than the shadow formed silhouettes. She had short white hair and glasses atop piercing strange looking blue eyes, and a sleek black and white suit with some black gloves and boots. "Queen Automata, so glad you could join us~" the winged shadow said, though it seemed none of the others were as happy. "I had thought that all other forms of communication were blocked here." the Beast Queen said, her displeasure very clear. "Correct. That's what made doing this worthwhile." the Machine Queen responded.

"Relax, I merely came here to give and receive information. Your next topic of discussion was to be the Slime Queen's killer, correct?" she asked, her voice remaining constantly calm. "And what might you have to say on the subject?" the normal shadow said. "It just so happens that Jelle's domain was one I was gathering data in. She was defeated by a knight and her companions, who have gone off towards the Western region. Far away from any of your forces I'm afraid." Queen Automata explained.

This information seemed to please the fox tailed shadow however. "Not quite." she said under her breath while the beast eared woman pointed the shadowy copy of a pole axe in the direction of Automata. "Then she was within your range, yet you did nothing to stop her?" she asked. "I desire far more data until I decide the best method of capturing her. The lives of a few monsters are worth the acquisition of information." she explained. "But you need not worry, for I will be the one to capture her. You can just pretend she doesn't exist." Automata said smugly before her hologram vanished.

"That woman is such a pain." the snake-like shadow said. "To find a human capable of slaying Jelle however...I won't let anyone claim her except me." the haughty shadow said as they vanished. The normal looking shadow shook her head. "I suppose it's a challenge between Queens then, is it? The winner is the one who turns the knight and her companions into their servants." she said. "A challenge? Heh, well when you put it like that I could never allow myself to lose. She will be one of my lions, I assure you of that." the beast eared queen said as she and the normal one both disappeared as well.

The fox tailed shadow chuckled. "Despite her leader-like traits, in the end she is rather brutish isn't she?" she said towards the last of the remaining shadows, the winged woman. "You act like you aren't going to compete. You may not care about territory, but we both know how you love making humans devoted to you~" the winged shadow said. "I prefer to use more subtle methods than mere conquest~" the fox responded with a grin as she too vanished. "Subtle, hmmm? But you know, my cute little rival, subtlety can only get you so far." she said as she vanished as well, the last of the queens disappearing along with the fog...

-

Celtica woke up with Elphelt clutching her body. "Hey, it's morning already." she said to the girl, who was still sleep cuddling. "Five more minutes Cel, this bed is nice..." was the groggy response she got. Celtica smiled and after a bit more convincing finally got Elphelt out of bed. The duo got their gear on and went out into the halls, seeing some of the other party members already awake and ready.

"The port should be directly West from here, I'm pretty sure. We should have a really easy trip there." Nepgear said, greeting them with a good morning. "Good, an easy path sounds like a nice time to me." Celtica said. They didn't exactly have a time limit so they could leave whenever they wanted, but once they were at the port they would need to spend time actually finding a boat.

A. Gather the party and head out West.
B. Go back to the village and check on it.
C. Stay in the castle for a bit (Training, bonding, etc)
D. Write-In.

C lets get each of our girls a bit of training and review any additional information regarding the Idols.

Also we have people (none monsters) acting as caretakers to our castle correct?

Yes, Sonia and Falcom.

Ah ok. We should deligate a task to them, aside over watching our hold. Also I would like to suggest to that we give them some equipment to ensure their ability to maintain the castle.

And as part of our more nefarious side, we encourage ‘bonding’ between our monster girls with Sonia and Falcom to help broaden their moral compass to more align with our own

C stay in the castle and ask Sonia etc for info about the islands in Beauty Queen's notes, especially the Owp Island

C sounds good to me.
Maybe we get a few new skills from it!
Would really like Asia to extend her Maid skills to
create a few little maids for our castle! :O

Though I wonder if we should take a look at the
oracle. Not that she is still in the clutches of
the beauty queen. Wanna see her enslaved by another
cool character at least.

Oh, also forgot to mention that everyone got an upgrade for beating Beauty Queen, so every party member has either a new passive or active skill. Also I figure I will mention that the Beast Queen and the serpent-like shadow in the Monster Queen meeting aren't OCs in case anyone wanted to make guesses for fun. Neither was the fox tailed one of course, but you already knew that.

It would be good to get some training in before they left, Celtica decided. And while everyone was training the last details about managing things at the castle could be handled as well. Moving into the throne room, a table had been set up in front of the throne. Sonia and Falcom were over there, as were Artoria and Haru."Celtica, good morning." Artoria said with a nod as the woman approached.

"So then, you plan on leaving today, correct?" Celtica asked, Haru nodding. "That's right. Ann is getting things ready and I came to talk to Sonia. We'll be heading East in hopes of finding information on our missing friends." Haru explained. Celtica understood and hoped that they were successful. "I'm sure you'll find them. And when you do, be sure to give us a call. We could always use more help." Celtica said. Haru nodded and shook her hand. "Certainly."

Haru left the room while Celtica and Artoria went over to the castle's overseers. "Morning!" Falcom said to her. "We won't be leaving quite yet, but we're going to be departing sometime today. Everything gonna be ok without us?" Celtica asked. Sonia nodded. "Leave it to us." she said. "Honestly, I'm just hoping the monsters don't rebel or anything." Falcom said, laughing a little.

That let Celtica segway into a topic she wanted to discuss. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. Just spend some time among the monsters, get to know them. They're your allies after all, they won't attack you." the knight said. Artoria looked at Celtica for a moment, then smirked and nodded. "Indeed. You have nothing to fear from them." she said. "That's a relief!" Falcom responded.

The Maid Knights should take care of the castle well enough, along with those strong Eroknights and the enslaved monsters. There were plenty of resources here too, so there should be no problems that Celtica could think of. "Hey, would either of you happen to know anything about these idols? Beauty Queen had what looks like a hit list for them, I assume to make them her puppets." the knight explained.

Putting the sheet on the table, Sonia and Falcom looked at it. "Hmmm, some of these notes are a little worrying..." Sonia said. "I spent much of my life in Hades however, so I don't know them. Falcom may though." she said, turning towards the adventurer. Falcom looked things over and nodded. "Yeah, a few of these ring a bell. Tsubasa's that idol that's really popular among knights, right?" she asked, and the instant nod from Celtica and Artoria answered that question. "I've seen Luka before too, she's really good. If she's already controlled by someone though...hmmm, she did seem kind of aloof and mysterious but I figured that was just part of her act."

Maybe it was, but Celtica had to definitely keep Luka in mind. Beauty Queen is gone so these idols shouldn't be in much danger anymore, Luka on the other hand may be in the clutches of some other villainous figure. "I also saw Athena a while ago, I had no idea she'd gone missing. Hope she's ok." Falcom added. "Thanks for the info. Would you be able to tell us about the Trinity Islands as well? she asked. "Those are our next destination." Falcom blushed a little at that. "I mean, I can, it's just a little embarrassing. I got shipwrecked on Valdra Island once after getting attacked by a sea serpent." she said, feeling a bit awkward for admitting that.

"Well, what is it like?" Artoria asked. "It's a massive swamp, almost the entire thing. The humans still there say there's an evil witch at the center whose been sending monsters at them constantly, but it's too hard to break through and get to her. I tried it, but I only got as far as seeing the temple at the center before being forced to fall back. You've got a whole big party though, so I bet you could do it!" Falcom says. An evil witch sending monsters out at humans, that is exactly the kind of threat that Celtica wanted to clear these islands of.

Unfortunately, neither Sonia nor Falcom gave much information on the other two islands. "Thank you for all your help." Celtica said with a polite bow. Next on her to do list would be to do some training and get ready for the coming adventure. "Do not worry about me, my skills are as sharp as ever." Artoria said. "I have other matters to deal with regardless." she said as she left.

Celtica exited the throne room as well, looking down the window to see Bullet and Ayane were sparring. Moving through the halls it seemed that Nephenee was going to go and see Elphelt once more. Earlier she thought she saw Valeria with Nepgear when she was going to the throne room as well. And then there was Asia...

A. Train with Bullet and Ayane.
B. Train with Elphelt and Nephenee.
C. Train with Nepgear and Valeria.
D. Train with Asia.
E. Write-In.

What about Lina?
E have asia replace the undine influence on Lina to Celtica

Hope the other pairs will get a dual tech each, especially Bullet since her only dual tech is lewd type which doesn't really reflect her full physical capabilities.

Just because the choice only says Asia, doesn't mean she's lacking a second person to train with. It just means Celtica doesn't know that/if she's training with someone else.

Besides, we don't necessarily have to order her to do that. She could very well end up doing that anyways, because "Celtica's issue was with the Undine worship, not the dream hacking."

I'll go with C this time around.

Also, we may want to consider not taking the whole group along. The party is getting almost outrageously big, and not just with main characters, but the various servants as well. At the very least, it should be considered that some should be left to maintain and expand upon this castle we just claimed.

I'll echo DoubleEdged and pick C as well.

Lets go with C, we havent spent as much time with these two lately so it would be nice.

I do want to touch base with a few of the others as well though.

DoubleEdged wrote:Also, we may want to consider not taking the whole group along. The party is getting almost outrageously big, and not just with main characters, but the various servants as well. At the very least, it should be considered that some should be left to maintain and expand upon this castle we just claimed.

I'm fine with taking the whole party but I do agree we can have the servants stay behind as additional security. I know the plant girls will be staying behind.

Also, I still want us to leave a few of our excess items with Falcum and Sonia, since we're pretty heavy on gear. We'll probably find more while we're out and it wouldnt hurt for them to be better equipped should the need of defense arise.

That reminds me, I want us to see our drider tailor before we leave. we have a few items in the inventory that could use identifying

C sounds good.
Also have to agree with the
idea of leaving a few gilrs/monsters.
Maybe all the mlnsters and Valeria to take care of them?
Don't care about the totally enslaved girls at all.

Celtica decided to get some training in with two of the newest members of the party, Nepgear and Valeria. Searching for them, she found the duo sparring in the arena that was made out of Nui's room. Nepgear was barely parrying a flurry of kicks from Valeria. "Come on, if you never attack you'll never win~ Take some initiative and strike!" Valeria told her, Nepgear nodding and attempting to strike back after parrying one of the kicks. Valeria backstepped it however and struck her leg. "If I were using my normal weapons your leg would be paralyzed right now."

"Mind if I join in?" Celtica asked while moving closer. "Go right ahead." Valeria said. "Nepgear wanted to do some training to boost up her confidence." she explained the purple haired girl nodding. "I want to become stronger." she said with determination. Celtica nodded, pulling out her own blade. "There's a difference between confidence and foolishness. If you try to go in too hard on every attack you'll get yourself hurt or worse. Break their guard and strike a decisive blow." she explained. "Try attacking me."

Nepgear and gripped Caliburn while Celtica entered a defensive stance. "Taking hits is my forte, so little slashes aren't going to do much here." Celtica boasted. Even so, Nepgear moved in and started striking. Her blows weren't weak, but Celtica's blade was able to repel them well enough. "Come on, you can do better than this! I know you can become stronger!" Celtica said as she pushed back, Nepgear barely holding a downward slam back. Grunting, light surrounded her as she transformed into Purple Sister form, newfound strength forcing the attack back followed by an energy wave being launched and keeping Celtica pinned.

Within an instant Nepgear was on her again for an offensive assault, this time stronger and faster than ever. "Not bad!" Celtica said, forced to move against a wall before calling down a pillar of light to force her opponent back. "That surprise power surge of yours is a pretty good asset. You can act directly after transforming, and it doesn't take long either." Celtica praised. "Yeah, so you mean I should wait until I've got an opening, then transform to take momentum!" Nepgear said with a smile, Celtica nodding.

Valeria was also smiling. "How annoying, my specialty is constant attacks to wear down a foe. A power surge like that would cause nothing but problems for me." she said, only partly serious. "Well, it's not like we're going to be fighting for real or anything." Nepgear said. "Says Miss Zero Mind Control Resistance." Valeria added with a chuckle, making Nepgear blush. "I-I'm working on it...slowly..."

Celtica couldn't help but laugh, it hadn't been long but these two were working together great. "Don't think I'm not going to be training you too Valeria. You're pretty useful in a fight but you are still a merchant. Fighting's not your specialty." Celtica said with a grin, taking another battle position. "Oho? I'll have to make you pay for that remark." Valeria responded. The three continued to spar for some time, honing their skills with each other.

After some time the three were resting, and Valeria sighed. "I get it, but do we really have to leave the monsters here? I was enjoying my headless beauties." she said, and Celtica nodded. "That's right. We can't go into a port with a bunch of monsters in tow. If Artoria has to give up hers, you have to give up yours." Celtica said. "Fine..." Valeria responded, not happy about it but accepting it.

Meanwhile, the others were busy training as well. Bullet and Ayane were dashing around the garden trading blows, Bullet's strong blows versus Ayane's high speed attacks. "I won't go down to such a simple move!" Ayane said as she jumped between trees to deliver a kick to Bullet's face. Bullet tanked the move however and managed to grab her leg, swining her into a tree and lunging forward to punch her. Ayane recovered and managed to jump up to the top of the tree to avoid the punch, which toppled the tree down. "I've got a few tricks beyond just punching." Bullet told her with a grin behind her mouth mask.

The other training was a bit less normal. Tsubaki was on the ground naked and moaning as Nephenee was equipped with her Eroknight armor, Elphelt whipping the barely armored girl to cause pleasure filled moans. "Aaaaaaauuuuu~ Elphelt, I can't take this pleasure~ Soooo gooood~" Nephenee moaned. Elphelt cracked her whip on the girl once more. "That's princess to you! If you can't think properly under such lust you'll be helpless if we fight a monster that can do this to you!" she said in a commanding tone. Nephenee continued to moan, trying to pull herself together enough to do Princess Elphelt's next command correctly.

Lina and Asia meanwhile were training on the balcony, Lina practicing moves with her blade and launching out flames into the sky. The scarlet markings of flames soon appeared on her body. "So, you said that you've got a new way to deal with this?" the panting Lina asked, the rush of passion the blade gave her always making her feel great. Asia nodded. "This is fire magic, so the best thing to stop it would be water magic!" the latex clad priestess said with an innocent smile.

That did make sense to Lina, so she relaxed as Asia prepared to test out her new attack. Using the Brainwash Attack she learned from the Maid Knight skillbook, Lina was doused in a soothing, mind wiping wave of water that left her moaning softly. The markings did indeed vanish however. "Wonderful. That was a nice training session, so let's help you relax after it! I'm sure there's all sorts of nice things we could talk about, like our beautiful leader Celtica!" Asia said. Lina mindlessly nodded, her flame boosted state making her extra weak to this kind of attack.

Celtica had felt that they had gotten some good training and everyone was warmed up for the journey. "Hey Nepgear, could you help me gather everyone?" she asked, and the young girl nodded. The knight had been wondering if this place was defended enough, even with the monsters they were leaving here.

A. Gather the party and leave.
B. Decide to leave some people/items here. (Who/What?)
C. Go see one of the residents here before leaving (Silque, Plant Sisters, Sonia, etc)
D. Write-In.

Silly Valeria, she's forgetting about the basics of economics: Supply and Demand. She likes servants, this is fine. Who doesn't? We are going to a new area that will most likely be rich in monster girls and powerful, lovely heroines that with a bit of gentle persuasion would be more than happy to join up.

Now to business. Sorry for making this big but i've been thinking about this for a while.

First things first C

See Silque and ask her about the following
-Judgement Crest
-Mysterious Dress
-Servant of Darkness Outfit (have her upgrade)
-Thunderbird Feathers (headdress for Bullet)

Gather the girls, including Sonia and Falcum and Item Transfers
-Ebony Armor to Falcum
-Monster Killer to Sonia
-Nemesis Lance to Nephenee
-Metorite Necklace to Celtica
-Noble Shadow Dress to Altera
-Hellhound Gear to Lina
-Fallen Angel Dress to Nepgear or Asia

Lastly things to leave behind
-Leave Tsubaki Yayoi (she can work with Sonia and Falcum, as well as an informant with the local village that we found her. Have her gather information upon our return)
-Pure Water (Corrupted) x5 (Undine corrupted water no longer needed)
-Fox Idol (fox demon girls are highly unlikely on these islands; its just cluttering up the inventory list. It will still be there when we get back with our new slaves in tow.)
-Red, Blue, Green, Purple, Gold Slime Potion (until we can visit Yoko, and the Undine situation handled I think we can keep these safety stored away)
-Oni Blade
-Empress Tiara
-Underworld Rod
-Gravity Rod
-Iron Lance
-Maid Uniform

I was going to add other items here but we might need them seeing as some of them have water based counters. (Islands, i figure water monsters will be a given)

Also, Nightington commissioned that Nepgear bad end so here is another bad end courtesy of them. I hope everyone enjoys!

-

Celtica wasn't quite sure how to deal with this new "threat". Their opponent was certainly brainwashed, but they seemed almost too over the top to even be considered a threat. "You can't expect to defeat us all on your own. Just give up now and we'll help you." Celtica told the visor equipped woman. All she got was another villainous laugh. "I see you fear my power already! I can see you all trembling from my dark might!"

That wasn't true at all, Celtica didn't feel much strength from her. "Well then, enough games. Let's show this girl she's in over her head!" Elphelt said with a grin as she cracked her whip. Nephenee was the first to step in, rushing at the girl and landing a thrusting strike before she countered with a slash from her dark blade. Nephenee was ready however and avoided the attack without much trouble. It seemed to Celtica though that Nephenee would be able to handle this herself.

Though the girl wasn't bad with her blade, Nephenee was outclassing her in nearly all ways. "You foolish hero, hold still!" she said, Nephenee ignoring that order. "Why would I ever do that?" the spearwoman wondered aloud, slashing against her sinister opponent. "Give up, you can't beat me." Nephenee said. Even the not at all cocky Nephenee was acting like this against her, the black clad woman clearly annoyed.

"Fine then...no more games, I'll show you my true powers!" she shouted. What Celtica assumed would be another failure of a counterattack quickly turned into a massive surge of dark energy that surrounded the woman. Nephenee took a few steps back. "Woah..." Celtica and the others meanwhile were realizing that not dealing with this situation seriously had majorly backfired.

The woman appeared in a new form, with pale skin and a more advanced looking black and red bodysuit. The visor on her face looked more enhanced and her hair had shifted to a vivid magenta color. A dark halo appeared above her while massive black and red metal wing-like constructs hovered behind her. Even her weapon had changed, the dark blade turning into a massive scythe.

"Fufufu...Ahahahahaha! Tremble in despair, for you face the ultimate future goddess of evil! I am Purple Nemesister Nepgear!" she yelled out to the party, dark energy pulsing out all around her. "What kind of title is Nemesister!? And you aren't even purple!" Lina complained, but Nepgear just scoffed at her. "I don't expect mortals to understand the deep connotations hidden within my title." she said smugly.

She was still the same weirdo almost parody of a villain as before, but now she actually had the power to back it up. "Even so, I'm not backin' down!" Nephenee said, rushing in and jumping up for a lunging move. Nepgear teleported out of the way of the attack however, teleporting back rushing in from the side with a scythe slice. Nephenee couldn't block in time and was launched back, the others moving in to help. It was too late however, Nepgear had moved in and with her free hand had grabbed the woman and flooded her body with dark energy.

Elphelt shot at Nepgear and landing a few hit, at first thinking she made the villainess drop Nephenee. It became clear that was not the case however as the dark energy around Nephenee continued to swirl and remake her, a tight red/black bodysuit equipping itself to Nephenee's entire form followed by some armored parts on top, a visor like Nepgear's equipping itself to her head and a short red bob cut appearing atop the head part of the bodysuit. "You see? Your dear lancer is now one of my loyal evil minions! I've shared my power with her, and now she shares her power with me!" Nepgear explained as she parried a few more gunshots and started clashing weapons with Artoria and Lina.

"Nephenee, snap out of it! You aren't going to let that dork control you, are you?" Celtica asked, an annoyed noise coming from Nepgear at being called a dork. "I am a goddess of evil in training and I demand respect!" she shouted while releasing a dark energy wave from her scythe at Elphelt, who barely dodged. Nephenee meanwhile reacted to the insult with a spear going at Celtica. "How dare you call our glorious leader a dork! Not even a nerd, but a dork!? The nerve of y'all heroes!" Nephenee shouted.

As Celtica continued fighting with Nephenee, Ayane stepped in to help. "She's acting as crazy as her new boss." Valeria said, she certainly hadn't expected this to be the kind of opponent she faced when she left her shop. Nepgear released a pair of beams from her wings at her opponents to pin them down and then teleported behind Lina. "So you think Purple Nemesister is a dumb title, do you?" she asked with a predatory grin. "Oh please no I really don't want to act like a dumb min-" the mage started to quickly say before Nepgear grasped her face and went to work.

With Ayane's help, Celtica was pushing through and defeating Nephenee looked like it would be an easy task when an identical looking drone came charging in with a flame sword. "Wait, what?" Celtica wondered as she forced the new drone back with a winding swing. "Do you not recognize your illustrious mage Lina Inverse? Of course you don't, because my new leader has erased all traces of such a powerful mage with a single move! Truly, your opponent is a devilish and beautiful tyrant! You are a fool for not fearing her!" the brainwashed Lina said in a boasting, over the top evil voice.

"I think Lina would be dying inside if she could hear herself." Bullet said, Asia nodding in agreement. They did still have numbers on their side, but that wasn't lasting and Nepgear hardly had any damage. In fact, she was looking stronger than ever. Could that thing about sharing energy really meant each new minion she got would increase her power? "Bullet, tag out." Celtica said as she rushed towards Nepgear to join Artoria, Bullet nodding and getting in the path of Lina and Nephenee alongside Ayane.

As Celtica rushed to the knight's aide, she was having more than a little trouble keeping up. "I won't give in to you!" she declared, but her back was against the wall and Nepgear had her wings ready for another salvo of lasers. "Fufufufu, beg for mercy and I may spare you!" Nepgear told her, which she obviously refused to do. Celtica rushed in and landed a nice slash to damage one of the woman's wings, then moved between her and Artoria. "You infuriating goody two-shoes knight! When I'm through with you you'll be as evil as they get!" Nepgear said angrily.

"Not gonna happen." Celtica said with her blade raised, Artoria back up and ready to fight too. "I'll shower you in darkness!" Nepgear said as her wings glowed bright, sparks flying from the damaged one that she ignored. "Take this, Darkness Overlord!" she shouted. Rather than get a massive beam surge however, one of the wings exploded and caused her to fall over. "Oww..." Nepgear winced out as the two knights were left confused. "Uh...are you ok?" Artoria asked, though her blade was still drawn.

"This is part of the plan! I-I swear!" Nepgear said, the two walking over to their downed opponent. "Well I guess that's one way to win. It's over Purple Nemesister Nepgear..." Celtica said, then stifled laughter at the name and pointed her blade at her. "We've won this." At that time however, the undamaged wing released it's stored load of darkness out directly at the two. Surprised and so close, Artoria and Celtica both were completely consumed and coated in the same full body suits and gear that the others were.

Nepgear looked up in confusion to see two new drones. "Huh?" she wondered as they helped her up. "Oh mistress, your sneak attack was marvelous." Artoria said. "Indeed, how could we ever stand a chance against such villainously genius tactics?" Celtica asked rhetorically, both going into full minion mode instantly. "Uhhhh...yes! Yes, this was my plan! I said I had a plan and I pulled it off! Yes! That is entirely correct! Whahahahaha!" Nepgear laughed maniacally and nervously. She couldn't tell her new minions that darkness blast was completely unintentional, she had an image of competence to maintain even if it existed only in her head.

"Oh no!" Asia exclaimed as she pointed over to the two new drones. "Cel!" Elphelt shouted, but she had been brainwashed just as hard as Lina and Nephenee. "Don't Cel me, I'm now a loyal servant of the evil goddess Nepgear! You are no longer Elph to me, just Elphelt!" Celtica exclaimed to Elphelt's horror. "We've underestimated Nepgear, she's a monster unlike any other!" Elphelt said as she started firing off at the woman harder than ever..

Valeria was kicking Lina back but having trouble against the spells being lobbed her way. "That's what gets to you the most?" the merchant asked while only barely getting out of the path of a fireball. Nepgear meanwhile was grinning widely and laughing. "That's right! Only now do you realize the depths of my evil!" she said. "Now go my minions, defeat your friends and build my legion!" she decreed. "Yes, my goddess!" all four of them said in unison as they charged at Elphelt and the others...

---

Within a mansion in Sacrima, a rather small looking purple haired girl was lazing around playing games. It had been a couple weeks since she had gotten a letter to meet with some noble at some castle and pushed the responsibility on to her younger sister. "Maybe I should be worried? Nah, I'm sure it's fine. She's too plain to really get in trouble, what's the worst that could happen?" the girl asked rhetorically.

The answer she got was her door being kicked open and Nepgear coming in with a legion of identical looking servants. "Neptune! I'm usurping control from you! From now on you will be my little sister and I will be the boss!" Nepgear said, her sister having a very confused expression on her face. "...huh?" she had enough time to wonder before Nepgear's minions rushed in and jumped at her. Nepgear smiled smugly, this would only be the beginning of her evil empire...

BAD END - Nepgear

-
Nepgear's evil CPU design is partly based on this Neptunia villain, in case you wanted to know.

Spoiler:

Love it.

Going with tilltherewas1's choices.

Nightington wrote:

Love it.

Going with tilltherewas1's choices.

Hmmmm....

Going to echo this, save for the Fox idol. While the reasoning is sound, we should never assume anything just because of the region's topography.

DrgnmastrAlex wrote:

Nightington wrote:

Love it.

Going with tilltherewas1's choices.

Hmmmm....

Going to echo this, save for the Fox idol.  While the reasoning is sound, we should never assume anything just because of the region's topography.

Have to admit the fox idol is just too good to let it laz around in the mansion!
You never now when the 9 tails are coming for us! ^^
Other wise I think the idea of tillterewas1 was sound!
Though I still like to leave Valeria at home.
One mistress(Elphelt!) is more than enough for our party! ^^

Better safe than sorry, and there were plenty of items they had lying around that they weren't using. That actually reminded Celtica that they needed to get their gear back in order now that they weren't fighting Beauty Queen as well. She helped hand out some of the outfits that Valeria and her had gathered up and then goes over to Silque's room to see her about a few things.

The Drider smiled at her boss as she entered. "Greetings~ You'll be leaving soon, correct?" she asked. Celtica nodded. "That's right. First though I've got a couple jobs for you. I want details on these." she said, bringing the Judgment Crest and Mysterious Dress out. "The seal I can't tell you much on, but I can say plenty about that dress~" Silque said before explaining. "This dress appears normal, but by wearing it fully it's effects will activate. It's possessed you see, a dark spirit channeled within it. By wearing the whole thing you'll fall under the spirit's sway and begin acting like them. Even gaining their powers. Of course, it's harmless if you say wear the dress without the mask or another piece~" Silque told the knight.

"Any way to tell how the spirit will act?" Celtica asked, and Silque shook her head. "Not until someone wears it~" she said. So it wasn't terribly useful right now, but perhaps they could use this spirit somehow? A thought for later, Celtica decided, as there were more matters to attend to. "I'd like you to make something out of these feathers, and make something useful out of this outfit." Celtica said next, placing down the Servant of Darkness outfit and the thunderbird feathers. "Now making is something I can do~" she said with a smile.

It didn't even take 30 minutes for her to finish. The outfit looked sleeker than ever and was infused with dark energy, allowing the wearer to convert elemental attacks into darkness attacks much like Dainsleif's power. Next to it was the gorgeous feather filled headdress that radiated lightning magic. It granted the wearer the ability to stun with unarmed attacks. "Excellent work Silque, these both will be very useful." Celtica said. Silque smiled and did a sort of curtsy with her many legs. The knight was about to leave, but decided to say one last thing. "Oh, about Falcom and Sonia. They are great girls, but...just, make sure they aren't too uptight with their morals." Celtica said, and Silque gave a knowing nod.

As Celtica returned with her new gear, the others had been getting ready too. Nephenee looked at her sinister new spear. "I'd heard of cursed lances before...hope this ain't one..." she said to herself while Elphelt was admiring the slightly blushing Artoria, equipped with her new fancy gothic lolita outfit. "Princess, is this look...satisfactory?" she asked, trying hard to not blush. "You are soooo cute Artoria! Cute and sexy and cool to boot, you've really got everything going on!" Elphelt said cheerfully. Artoria seemed pleased, nodding. "Yes, I suppose I am all of those."

Lina meanwhile was in her Hellhound gear, her red hair looking perfect with the savage black outfit. "Jeez Nep, ever feel like we look kind of villainous?" she asked, looking at her fellow party member wearing a gorgeous white dress clad with six usable black wings in the back. "Maybe for you, this is one of the less evil outfits I've worn lately." Nepgear said. Lina just sighed. "You aren't even wrong."

Falcom was also in a new outfit, the sleek black Ebony armor. "Hey, I get to play dress-up too!" she said while Sonia brandished her new whip, the Monster Killer. "A perfect fit." the woman said. "And you're sure you won't need any of that equipment?" she asked. Celtica nodded. "We've got this, don't you worry at all." Celtica said as she joined the others.

A. Time to leave, head out West.
B. There's something else to do here (What?).
C. Head to the village first.
D. Write-In.

-
Fox idol remains due to a split in votes, and Celtica doesn't get the Meteorite Necklace because that was Valeria's payment for joining the team. She won't give that up without a very good reason.

Also, there is now a pastebin for the people and things in the base. It will be added to the first post as well
https://pastebin.com/vgFt9ytd

Great work with those items.

A POX UPON THAT STATUE! THERE'S NO REASON FOR US TO HAVE IT WHILE ON THE ISLANDS Its not like i suggested the usual of selling it, breaking it, or throwing it in the nearest trash bin

I'm gonna vote A unless there's a reason for us to go to the village, i dont remember if we need to visit anyone or need to pick up stuff

tilltherewas1 wrote:Great work with those items.  

A POX UPON THAT STATUE! THERE'S NO REASON FOR US TO HAVE IT WHILE ON THE ISLANDS  Its not like i suggested the usual of selling it, breaking it, or throwing it in the nearest trash bin

I'm gonna vote A unless there's a reason for us to go to the village, i dont remember if we need to visit anyone or need to pick up stuff

There's that too. I like floofs, so we keepin' it. |3

I'll pick A as well. I don't recall anything requiring our attention elsewhere.

Don't forget to get Bullet to equip the Thunderbird Headress please, and after that, A.