Champion of the Goddess Pt. 02

He looked at her, "It is firing tracer rounds. No firing from stealth with that thing."

Mother looked at him, "I thought holy would be good. It was just a special effect."

He looked at her, "The bow is all wrong. Arcane archers get holy so it gets redundant. Would you like my help designing this signature weapon?"

Mother responded, "I would love to hear your ideas."

He thought for a section, "Have it adjust for my strength as it changes.

Start it as a +1 adding another plus every three levels until it hits +5 at level fifteen. It is based on the sword initially It starts with fire and cold damage; no giant bane. At level four add acid, level seven gravity bow, level ten go to fire burst, level thirteen cold burst, and sixteen acid burst. That leaves electric and electric burst. Arcane archers give the ability to add it or they could use holy if and when needed.

At level five add the ability to put touch spells through the bow, level ten add rays. The area of effects is covered in level two of the arcane archer. Level fifteen Weapon wand, but not by the minute. It lasts until you ask for it back, 'eject.' 'Insert' to put a different wand into it." He was silent for several minutes and mother came back, "You covered the hunt and magic very well in that design.

I would change the weapon wand to level five, add touch level ten, and level fifteen would be rays, along with the camouflage ability at the beginning."

He smiled, "I forgot to put that at level one to replace the giant bane. Also, if you want me to be able to keep up appearances you should let the bow store in the holy symbol. That way when I walk into a town, I do not always have a bow in hand."

Mother looked at him, "I like that. You can come in with a standard weapon at level one and not radiate any magic from your sword, dagger, or staff.

He looked at Myssara, "I tried to avoid them for you. Your personas would not leave us alone." She nodded. He looked at her, "Everything was amped up with fighter levels as well. At least four or five of them. Especially that gold-clad skeleton."

She smiled, "Yes, time for you to wake, prepare, and finish the encounter."

He nodded, "The other fucking horses I know. But I know which section of woods they came from."

She nodded, "True if they remain in place or have not left."

He smiled, "If they had left you would not have said continue the encounter."

She groaned.

He awoke and studied up his spells, "Jewels, the Rogue, Mary are with me. We are going to see if we can find those other horses."

Blossom nodded, it was close to mid-day with all of the night fighting. He looked out with the bird first and it was clear. They headed out, "Raven scout woods." The raven went flying out and comes back, "Four horses."

He looked at the bird "Fly straight to them. Perch above them but out of reach."

The bird took off for the woods. He moved forward and spotted the four of them tied off. He looked at them and signaled for everyone to fire on the fourth one first. He put up gravity bow, drew back, and launched. It is hit with a series of arrows and then again and dropped. He put his last arrow into the next one. They launched down the line.

They finished them off. He thought, "Not nightmares. Maybe a hybrid."

He heard back, "Bonus point. The one you took out first was the only one who could plane shift. How did you know?"

He thought, "I didn't. It just looked to be the best quality of the horses. It also flew up to the roof."

She laughed, "You do that. I forgot you saw that."

He looked over, "Raven scout camp. Skin them and take their heads but they are not nightmares. Search any saddlebags. I will keep a watch out with Jewels. Let you rogues do your thing."

He thought, "A good way toward level eight."

He heard a sigh, "Yes, I know."

Raven thought, "We get to the point we are ready for ten just put up a portal for us to take to the outskirts of the inn."

Mother interceded, "He has a point it might be your best bet to salvage this leg of the quest."

He thought, "I have to ask, How long have you been a goddess, years of this planet and not of Earth."

He heard a sigh, "We do not normally give that information out."

He thought, "My guess is with our child and everything 5-10 years on this world at most."

Mother came in, "She is the youngest after you kill Lyria who was slightly older than Myssara by almost 20 years. Until we added the new ones. Your guess is not far off. My question is how did you know?"

He thought, "She is setting the contingencies at the beginning of the quest chain. Where they cannot be changed. They need to be flexible. You add fighter levels. You could easily set it to adjust fighter levels based upon the number in the party.

Set the optional encounters to be launched on a basis if they need XP. If they have enough XP then have the optional stay out of the fight. There are a few things that can be done to make it more flexible. This is not pulling punches.

This is setting a minimum of a six-man party and adjusting from there for every additional person. So that means two to four fighter levels at most to those that you are adding. Thoughts for the future. Remember part of my job love is to help train you in what I know."

She sighed, "I will talk more with Mother on some of these ideas."

He thought, "Setting a single person getting the quest will help to avoid a lot of those issues with sending 2 parties on the same quest. It means actually creating more quests. You are going to need them."

They finished with the horse and he looked at the nightmare, "That one is your task Jewels. It has its breath weapon gland to pull as well. Also the hooves after skinning it and taking the head."

She nodded.

He thought, "I have a thought on this portal. To save reputation altar all of their memories. Except for Mary and myself. We can go into a shelter one night and come out in the new location and spend the half-day to get into town. They will remember two to three days of nothing and then the encounters."

He heard from Mother, "Very clever idea Champion."

He thought, "If they die, they will remember that same thing, two to three days and then BAM death."

He heard from Myssara, "Thank you for looking out for my reputation. They will forget all references to the quest being stacked for 2 parties as well."

He smiled, "There you go love. We solved it together. Let Mary know. Also, adjust our food stores accordingly."

She giggled. He looked at the rouges, "See if anything got missed last night."

He went back inside and they were working on prayers.

Blossom nodded, "Get going we still have more than half a day to catch up on."

He nodded. He rode forward but not too far from the caravan as normal."

The raven comes back, "Two big bears to left fucking."

He laughed, "Learned a new word. Well, you have heard and seen it enough."

He held up the group. "We have a pair of bears mating off in the woods to the left. They may consider our presence a threat. I say we try and ride by and leave them to it. We have bows and weapons if they try and kill themselves. Your call Blossom."

She sighed, "I would hate to be attacked while fucking let us try and leave them be."

They rode on past the bears and they heard them in the woods rutting away. They got past them.

He thought, "Lust and love. We left them alone."

She laughed, "Not all encounters are combat as you say. Nice call."

They continued on their way. An hour later and the Raven came back and he stopped the convoy before they arrived.

The raven landed, "Bears crossing the road."

He looked at Blossom, "We have a mother bear and three cubs. Give them another 20 minutes to move further in the woods. She saw us and will want to get them safely away."

Blossom nodded, "We do not want to draw the fight by moving in."

He smiled, "You got it! She would perceive us as a threat. We give her space and we recognize each other's right to exist."

20 minutes later and he sent the raven off to check, "No bears." They moved forward again.

He looked at Blossom, "Those were 2 encounters designed to drain resources so what should we expect?"

She nodded, "A fight is coming."

He nodded and they continued on 3 hours later and they were ready to camp but the site ahead has others in the camp already. He looked at the paladin and waved her forward. She came up and he whispered, "Rose use your detect evil when talking with them."

Blossom came in behind her. "What are you thinking?"

He looked at her and whispered, "A caster battle. I would recommend you and Bella move across but parallel to the camp as the Paladin goes and talks with them. That is my advice. You would be dead if all 12 of them attacked you. We want to split their fire if they are casters.

She signaled for the guys to exit the wagon and spread out. They moved away from Jewels and Mary.

He dismounted and put his horse at the edge of the woods. He cast a draconic reservoir for fire. Had them move to the side of the road closer to the camp. The paladin rode back and told him, "They want us to pay a toll to pass, and fee to use the camp. One of them is definitely very evil. I think he is an anti-paladin."

Raven looked at her, "Tell Blossom, she is the party leader."

She rode over to Blossom and they had an exchange. She dropped from her horse and walked forward with her sword drawn. They all aimed at the paladin. Blossom started casting. Raven was right behind her and he heard Vain off to his right near orchid. 4 fireballs collided over the group of twelve Rose the Paladin was holding her ground Bella went in to help.

The rogue, Mary, and Jewels attacked from range and another round of fireballs went into the cluster of bandits. One caster sent a scorching ray at Blossom and she was hurt badly by it. He used an arcane focus to throw a frigid ray, two rays hit and their caster dropped. The badly injured archers scattered into the wood and Jewels and the rogue pursued one side.

He cast a magic missile on the big bad anti-paladin. The evil tank glanced in Raven's direction. Rose landed a smite evil after Raven's distraction. She dropped the big guy. Raven ran down the road, "Raven, find me a target and sit on a branch above him. When he is dead go to another."

The raven took off and landed. The archer saw the bird and fired, hitting the branch but revealed himself in the process.

Raven launched a magic missile at him and dropped him. He went deeper into the wood as the raven landed on another branch. He was not far but he did not see him. He sent a telepathic message to the bird. "Say death is here for you. Death cannot be avoided."

The guy stepped out to find the voice. He got backstabbed by Mary. The bird flew off and Raven pursued.

He saw the arrow hit the raven and he turned. He recalled and dismissed him. Raven moved forward. He could make out the front of the bow. He hit him with diamond spray. His shot missed but was close. He screamed out as Mary stabbed him from behind. He slid forward.

Raven recalled the raven. "Search for another, my friend. We took care of him."

The raven flew around. Nothing nearby he put an extra arrow into the guy who shot his raven. He yelped and died. He chuckled, "Played dead. Now you are dead, oh well."

He went back and checked the other two and they were already dead as well. He came up from the opposite side of the camp. He looked at the group standing around healing up. He called out, "Three bodies over here."

Jewels called out, "We got four in the woods this way. There are five in the camp."

He looked around, "Mary, you want to grab your pony to drag these three back to the group, Jewels you know where the bodies are on that side. If Jewels could mount up and do the same thing."

Blossom looked at Raven, "Gook idea. Get them all to the middle. Rhonda, get that wagon up here and grab all the horses." He smiled and waited for Jewels who came instead.

She smiled, "Sticks will bring the others in with Mary." He took her to the furthest guy and cast detect magic and he has a magical bow and arrow on him. He picked that up. His sword was magical but secure. He dragged him in, "I am just grabbing the loose magical gear." She nodded and got the body moving. He went to the second guy more magical arrows and another magical bow. He grabbed those and this guy has a magical belt. He looked closer at it and it is a girdle of hill giant strength. He pulled the belt and threw it over his shoulder.

He checked the next guy and he had the same except for the belt. They got all 3 to the middle and the other 4 came in and they had a second hill giant belt. They checked the fighters and there were 2 fire giant belts. He took all four and put them in the back of the wagon for the moment.

Blossom looked over, "What were your thoughts, Raven?"

He looked at her, "I am a melee caster with a strength bow. I dropped a pair of fireballs, a frigid ray to take out their caster, and a magic missile to distract the one on the paladin so she could land that massive blow. I then pursued and finished off three of the ranged archers with Mary. Everyone can claim they were in the fight; some went after the stragglers. Some went after the front line that the casters had severely weakened.

No one person, even me, should lay claim to any of them until we identify everything. If the belts are the best item, we have a roll-off for each one. That counts as that person's first pick of the other treasure."

Blossom looked over, "Who would be the likely choices for those belts?"

He looked at her, "Rose, Mary, Jewels, myself, and the rogue."

She gathered around, "We will have the roll-off but I want to start with the low strength belts. Who wishes to roll for one? Mary and the rogue were the only two who raised a hand. She passes the two hill giant belts to them.

He handed the die over to Blossom, "You still decide the order."

She nodded, "paladin, magus, and ranger for the first belt. Then we will do it again for the second." The paladin rolled a 10, he rolled a 12. The ranger rolled a 16. Jewels won the first belt. She smiled. He watched as the paladin rolled an 8, Raven rolled a 19.

She handed Raven the second belt. Jewels shook her head, "Now your damage goes from insane to what the fuck."

He smiled, "You have seen nothing yet. I start into my prestige lines next level.

Wait until you see a hail of arrows on an electric burst enchanted bow. On top of what the bow does, with gravity bow and being enlarged. I am a walking siege weapon at that point."

Jewels looked at Raven, "You are scary." She then giggled. "I am glad you are on our side."

He chuckled, "I am?!"

She laughed. "We identified stuff and found a ring of wizard tier three."

He looked at Orchid, "You already have a tier two and I got the belt."

Blossom nodded, "Orchid and Vain. Roll-off."

Orchid rolled an 11. Vain rolled a 7. Blossom handed the ring over to Orchid, She smiled, "Thank you." They found a chest in the back and found another tier two wizardry ring. Vain I believe we found your first item." She scooped it up.

He looked down and saw a very shiny cold iron sword. He pulled it from the chest and looked at Rose, "Hold this but do not draw it yet."

He looked at her, "Place your hand on the grip now."

It lit up like a Christmas tree.

He looked at Rose, "You lose or sell that sword you would be a complete fucking moron."

She looked at him, "What is it?"

He looked at her, "Draw it."

She did. While the blade was cold iron it shined like silver.

He looked at her, "You are holding the sword you will carry to the end of your life. That is a Holy Avenger. That Anti-paladin was a lot stronger than you thought. You can now thank the casters for incinerating him for you so you could kill the anti-paladin who took that sword from another paladin."

Vain looked at him, "How did you know?"

He shook his head, "Suspected. A low-level cold iron sword in a chest when you just defeated an anti-paladin. A strong suspicion. That thing is radiating magic at the relic level now.

This is the lowest level I have seen this sword to be found here. He had to have been a character level eleven or twelve. Possibly even more. With his gang of thugs, they could have taken a character level 20 down if he was traveling alone. Quite easily. Are you glad you did not win the belt now?"

She nodded, "I can buy a fucking belt. This is epic."

He nodded, "Now keep it!"

He thought, "Group of character level ten plus characters in that group."

She laughed "You are good. The archers were character level ten. That caster character was a level twelve. The anti-paladin was a character level fourteen.

All of the archers fired on the paladin but she was in a blocking stance. Half of them missed three deflected off of her shield. Three damaged her. She lay-on hands most of the damage away. After the first wave of fireballs, they did not know who to target. You went before them in the next round and laid in another wave of fireballs. The caster threatened to fry anyone who fled.

They tried to shoot the paladin again but she was blocking, then lay on hands again. Then you killed the caster. that did it for them. Nice job realizing he had something reducing fire damage."

He thought and chuckled, "A caster who gets hit by 8 fireballs and is still standing had something going."

He looked over the caster's gear and found the ring.

He thought, "A ring of major fire resistance."

He looked over, "Rhonda, Ring of major fire resistance. You have not done the first pick yet. Any of you interested?" Rhonda nodded. He handed the ring to Rhonda. She put it on, "That caster wore this didn't he?"

He nodded," I froze his ass. He took some damage from those fireballs. Not much. That Frigid ray is what killed him.

After the fireballs I think he threw a shield, then he scorched Blossom." Blossom looked at Raven, "He nearly killed me. I drank a potion of energy absorption when you said it looked like a caster battle. You saved my ass."

He looked at her, "It was your action with the information that saved your ass. I cast a draconic reservoir for fire damage while hiding my horse."

She nodded, "Fair point."

Jewels walked up and extended a hand and squeezed and he squeezed back. He looked at her and whispered, "Maybe I should put my belt on."

She went white and stopped and he put the belt on. She tried again and looked at him, "Fuck man!"

He let go. She looked at Raven, "How?"

He smiled at her, "I was not a 'hey you are the champion.' I underwent a couple of separate changes to be transformed into her champion. That boosted my stats across the board and in some cases provided boosts to specific stats, a small one for strength and dex for the hunt, Love, lust, and procreation went into stamina. Constitution. Magic went into intelligence a little in charisma because of sorcerer and love. I did not get specifics.

I have a divine bonus to my base attack. You get the idea."

She nodded, "You are not just a player. You are a champion player."

He nodded, "Right now you are effectively a member of this party. A large party. But I am playing a gestalt. You ever heard of it?"

She shook her head. He looked at her, "I am a magus, I am also a wizard. When I go into prestige classes I will be going into two of them at the same time. I have the hit points of a magus but spells from both, the best of each saving throw. I temper what I do for the party because if I went full bore on an encounter everyone would be like, 'Why do we need to do anything?'"