One2One - Goblin Lover 10 - Attack (Patreon)

Sherri awoke in quite a state. She was tied to a chair in a barren room somewhere in Pridehale. At least, she assumed it was still Pridehale. Since she was under 'restrained' rules within the game, much of the data was blacked out from the the interface on her computer. Normally, a player could watch their character and gather information without even logging in, but there were circumstances such as being restrained or captured that blacked out information to account for the fact that they would not be capable of giving away information in that state in a real life situation, either. This was a confusing move on the Developers part for many players, but it resonated with the hardcore and the role-playing crowd who did not appreciate meta-gaming. As such it remained as a popular, exclusive feature of O2O that no other MMO had the ability to recreate.

As a result of these rules, the moment Sherri logged off she could remember some things about the game such as her immediate experience and the emotions surrounding that, but all other information was blocked out making it exceedingly difficult to ask for help in being rescued outside the game. A player that was bound and captured could coordinate with people, but that was the extent of what they could do,a s very little helpful information to the location of her character would be able to be given. She had just logged back on after a few hours after logging off in frustration. To her dismay she was still locked in. Finally, though, the door opened and a figure appeared.
“Wendy!” Sherri gasped.
“Doctor... Don't tell me you're working with the Gnomes!”

“Oh my god.” Wendy hid her face in her hands. She was embarrassed to have followed this person for so long. They were fun times, but thing had gotten serious.
“No. I'm still working with you. I just need you to not be on the loose for this case. It's for your own safety.”

“That doesn't make any sense, Doctor.” Sherri struggled in her binds.
“My safety is ensured with everyone else in this city. By solving this case.”

“I agree wholeheartedly.” Wendy reasoned.
“That's why... I need you here and not out there.” Sherri gave the assistant a confused looked. Wendy sighed deeply. She uncovered her face and moved to simply pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.
“You let two very suspicious subjects go. That could've been it. Other than that, you've already gotten yourself into trouble on a few different occasion with the GOBLINs we're looking for.”

“Goblins? No, those aren't in towns. We're looking for-”

“No.” Wendy waved her notes.
“I've already done interviews and asked questions what we are looking at is a definite Goblin infestation like nothing we've seen before in game. I believe it's player supported, and those were the two individuals that you generously helped escape.” She explained harshly. Her expression softened.
“I was fine going around with you when it was all just a funny joke but we have reason to believe this incident involves a cult that exists not just in the game, but outside it as well.”

“What do you mean 'game?'” Sherri inquired, still the committed role-player.

Wendy shook her head drearily. She turned as the door opened. A few more players entered. “Ladies...”

“Good job, 'Wendy.'” One of the players spoke. The first figure was a red-head wit freckles. She was tall and wore tight leather armor that covered her whole body from neck to foot. It had a black chain inner-lacing that seemed to cover her like a body suit.
“Internpol. Has had an interest in this cult for quite a while. You were right to bring this to our attention.”

“Wait... International police?” Sherri broke character for just a moment.

“No. Internpol.” Wendy corrected.
“Internet Police. They're a different agency. Mine and hers collaborate when it comes to online crimes bleeding out into the real world and vice versa.”

“How odd.” Sherri uttered in amazement.
“What is this internet that you speak of?” The four women in the room collectively stared at the detective in awe for a moment before moving on to just ignoring her.

“Good to see you, Maddie. Anything yet?” Wendy asked.

“Bringing together all the characters we control to stop characters from getting 'destroyed' essentially.” Maddie, the red-head, claimed.

“Why's it an issue if they get destroyed or captured? I understand it as a nice thing to do, but-” The third woman with pitch black hair spoke up. She wore plate armor and held a massive glaive on the end of a staff in one of her gauntleted hands. She was an Elf with light pink skin and green eyes. A forest variant.

“Because, Gia, we have no way of knowing if those characters being captured and 'destroyed' are planned 'pods' by the Cult.” The last woman, was only able to be inferred to be a woman through the sound of her voice as it carried through a long plague mask. Green robes covered her body from hood to hem, where on her feet she seemed to have on a pair of thick rubber galoshes.

“Pods?” Wendy inquired curiously.

The Plague Doctor continued. “The cult began as a movement that had players set up to functionally separate themselves from life permanently by being captured in virtual reality within the game through the set up of 'pods' that trick the game's safety measures.”

Maddie added. “We've tried contacting the company, but they don't seem to see it as a problem. We've got a number of cases going with them so far...” She realized she interrupted her associate.
“I'm sorry, Frita, continue.”

Frita nodded her big beaked mask up and down cordially. “Their behavior expanded to taking over buildings slowly and installing such overrides on other peoples systems while they were in the game. They then coordinate to capture those individuals and give them to monsters as permanent inhabitants of the world.”

“Monstrous.” Wendy commented. The other woman seemed in agreement of that fact.
“What's the plan? Can I trust some of your people to guard this girl?”

“Gia is going to stay behind with a few Knights.” Maddie offered.
“I think this building would make a good home base.”

“Wait a minute...” The Master Detective began to look around and realize the place she was being held was one of the many rooms in her own manor.

“I do NOT give you gentlewomen permission to intrude onto my abode.”

They all made a point of ignoring her. “For the rest of us?” Wendy inquired.

The red-head smiled. “Foot to cobble, Investigator. On your lead.” She waved her arm to the group.
“Let's move out!” Wendy and Maddie left together.

Gia looked to Frita. “That's those two, what about you.”

“I have to see about unraveling these curses. Often times players focus is on complaining to the administration. They overlook the fact that there are mechanical solutions to most issues. I have set up a temporary lab. I have many researchers investigating the methods being used by Monster and Player alike.”

“Alright. Don't have too much fun.” Gia winked. Frita waved her gloved hand and left.

Gia walked with her Staff back out into the hall, locking the door to the Sherri behind her. Kept the key on a string around her wrist beneath her gauntlet. It was accessible, but not easily seen. Force of habit. Her staff tapped the floorboards idly. It was that sound and the sound of her armor adjusting as she moved that filled her ears. She walked past a few amusing paintings. One that stood out was a Knight riding a large chicken. She walked past the standing suit of decorative armor, smirking at it as she went. When she reached the end of the main hall she thought she heard adjusting of armor that was not hers. She stopped and turned around, eyes resting on the armor. She approached it cautiously, still tapping her staff on the floor as she went. Soon as she reached it she swiftly knocked off the helm out of caution. She relaxed when it showed no head, but she was not completely sold. Gia prodded the rest of the suit to fall over and crumble. She felt a bit embarrassed.
“I'll tell them I bumped it...” She muttered to herself, turning around. As she left the main hall a goblin scurried out from the molded cuirass and into one of the adjoining rooms.

She descended the steps and found some of her people slacking off. The fellow pinkish-hued elves with hair colors ranging from purple to pale silver wore similarly complex armor with very few openings. They carried circular moon-glaives, instead of her staff-mounted instrument.
“Taking a break? I don't remember asking you lot to stop moving crates from the carts. I need this place functional by clock-out, understand?”

There was an echo of 'understood!' being shouted before all the women went back to work. Gia smiled and ascended the stairs to return to the second floor. The boxes the women carried in were supplies put together on short notice. They were meant to aid them in deputizing some players to help them solve anything that could not be handled by their agency alone, along with other in-game diagnostic equipment.
“Fuoh...” One of the women grunted.
“I think... This is a team lift box.”

“Think so?” Another moved to help her. They carried it through the door and dropped it inside. As they did the lid shook. The two women stared at each-other.
“Is it loose?”

“Fuck. Maybe someone tried opening it and got some of our gear.” The other assumed.

“Better check.” She reached down, only to have a shout from another agent outside.

“Hey! Quit wasting time! There are SO many of these!”

The girl reaching drew back her hand. The two relented. “Probably just wasn't nailed down correctly.” They left to go load more wooden crates as the one the left began to subtly move.

Upstairs Gia was wandering through the various rooms tapping her staff on the floor. As she passed one particular section she suddenly heard a hollow knock instead of the solid thud of the baseboard she had stood on so far. Curiously, she took a step forward and heard a familiar 'thud.' She stepped back. Tapped around. Solid except in the direction of a nearby room. She continued tapping. Hollow knock, hollow knock all the way inside the small little reading room. She approached the window, hollow knocks the whole way to it. Gia smiled, able to watch her people bringing in the supplies from the carts. That was at the back of her mind however as she tried to get to the bottom of the hollow floor. There was no seeing down inside of it as there were no cracks. Gradually she panned her gaze over to a closed closet door and narrowed her eyes.
“What you expect to happen...” She explained playfully. She still wasn't sure if there was anything in the house at all. So far it had just been a little strange. She had however heard of the past reports.
“Is for me to walk up and allow myself to be surprised when I open the door. Instead, I'm gonna count to three.” She pointed her weapon at the closet door.
“When I finish counting I blow that whole door in off it's little hinges.”
“One...” She eyed it carefully.
“Two...” There was a long, trailing pause between each count, making it more like a total of ten seconds as she finally rounded to.
“Three!”

She smirked and closed one eye. “Bang! Bang Bang.” The woman chuckled, shooting her staff like it were a fake gun. Nothing happened, because she did not intend for anything to. She winked, more or less to herself, then raised the staff. As soon as she did that the door swung open and her eyes widened with shock. A ray left the darkness of the door to envelope her in purple light. She tried to move her body, turning her head and moving her hand to the window, but before she could knock or do anything her hands raised and folded over her head while her body lowered into a spread-legged squat position.
“Eh... huh?”Gia intoned.

A gangly old Goblin man no taller than two-foot stepped out of the darkness with his own crude staff raised and his other arm curled casually behind his bent-over spine. Gia could move her eyes around the room but that was it. He seemed unimpressed by the fact that her lips had curled into a sneer before she was frozen so he twisted his staff ever so subtly, turning up the corners of her lips into an awkward smile.

'God dammit. This is so Embarrassing!' She thought.
'Still... As much as this doesn't make sense, this Goblin can't do shit to me. My armor is tight and enchanted.' He shuffled up to her, sniffed her, then looked over her armored form.

'That's right. Drink in the fact that you can't do shit.' He tapped her breastplate with his staff.
'What's that gonna-'

If she could drop her jaw she would have. Slowly the metal warped and drooped, then melted off of her body like putty. It was glowing orange but it was not hot, interestingly enough.

'M-melt!? How's a Goblin got access to a high-level spell like MELT?' She asked. The Metal gathered into a pool below her, then reformed into the plate she was familiar with and proud of. Bit by bit each piece she had was disassembled like that, leaving her pink, nude body completely bare.

The woman had some mild scarring but most importantly she was quite muscular. She had a solid six pack and biceps and strong thighs. Though she still had a matronly pair of soft tits and some toned hips. Her rear bubbled out behind her. She cringed as he prodded her form

'I'm so fucked...' Her vision blurred as the purple light around her intensified. It was not enough that she did not notice the blonde elf emerge from the closet and dust herself off.

“God...” She muttered, coughing up dust.
“Just the worst.” She lifted her gaze to Gia and smirked.

'Cultist... Maybe a leader?' Gia guessed. The Elf just stood by as the Goblin continued weaving some type of spell.
'What's next...' She wondered.

The Goblin tapped her womb with his staff, drawing a mark that glowed as bright as the light surrounding her. She wondered why no one was coming up to check. There must have been flashing in t he window. She hoped they would come.

'They will...' She told herself as her vision and consciousness faded further and further. Suddenly there was an odd feeling in her stomach, a bloating that rose out of nothing. Following that, whatever was inside began to come up. Gia shuddered and tilted her head back involuntarily. It felt less like throwing up and more like something soft and pliable, but still liquid was being pulled from her. Her pupils dilated and rapidly moved as she saw a tube of pink goo being drawn up from her mouth. The more it left, the less she felt like herself in her body.

'I'm... Fading. Is this... De-' Then nothing. Not for the old Gia at least. Her awareness existed without sight or sound. She could feel. What she felt was the thing that was 'herself' filling the entirety of a bucket and being sloshed around.

Her body fell limp. The Goblin nodded to Luara. She quickly knelt down and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was inside of Gia's body, staring down at her Master. The bucket of pink personality that had been the knight sloshed around in front of him. Also in sight was her own body. She was not actually Gia, she was just controlling the empty vessel like a puppet. She replaced the armor and enjoyed how strong she felt, though none of the levels really carried over, just the physical attributes. Still, those were very high. She inspected herself.

[Impostor: You appear as the individual. For those that it is relevant to, your stats, skills, abilities and Level all appear as the chosen figure.]

“Gooood.” She grinned, picking up the weapon Gia used. Luara left the room closed it, locking it behind her. She found the locked room with Sherri in it and tried to open it.
“Dammit... I have to find the key? Are they actually gonna have to tunnel in here, too?” The Key had dropped Gia's Gauntlet and slid back under a chair, in another twist of fate that benefited the detective.
“Oh well. It's not like she matters. We'll take over this whole Manor before anyone notices.”

Within the room, Sherri picked up what was said just outside her door. She began trying to rock her chair back and forth to escape.