Chapter 35: 34: Plot advances?

34: Plot advances?

Maggie’s view

Loud maniacal laughter echoed through the empty halls of the demon lord’s castle.

Yes, yes, it’s a great idea, but there’s no point in such grand laughter with no one here to hear it.

Maggie can’t help it! Maggie laughs with the joy of victory!

You’re using a spell to make that laugh, and enough with the narration already! We haven’t won anything yet. All you’ve done is connect the castle’s core to Lae.

Now the very land itself warps and changes to better match our god!

That holy light still repels the effect entirely. None of the changes will have any effect on that human army.

It will force them to waste energy maintaining that light of theirs!

It’s only a third level spell. Unless something happens to weaken their god, the human army can easily maintain that indefinitely.

According to Ophelia, Lae’s church is spreading like wildfire in human lands. Light doesn’t stand a chance.

Light has ruled over humanity for eons. It’d take a miracle to end that.

…

Priest of Joy’s view

When I learned someone was killing the Priests of Light, I sought out help to put a stop to it. Unfortunately my efforts were futile. There was some support at first for keeping things as peaceful as possible, but when it was revealed how corrupt the churches were, that support faded fast. I found it hard to believe at first, but it seems the most corrupt members of the church are the ones who stayed behind.

At first all that was found was little things. A bit of embezzlement, some abuse of authority, but as ever more corruption came to light, ever worse things were discovered. Eventually things were found that I don’t even want to say. I don’t want to believe that the Priests of Light could do such things. 

The only good news, was that much of the crime seemed to be somewhat new, having only begun in the past few years. As if they weren’t able to get away with it until enough forces had been drawn away by the war.

All the nasty news just left me wondering what the war was even for. Stopping monsters from threatening towns may make sense, but sending so many people off to war that the towns and cities start to fall apart just seems so strange. What could possibly be so important? If we had not been blessed by our new church and god, would our world have simply fallen apart over time? 

…

Lae’s view

I’m not exactly sure what is happening to me, but it feels good. I don’t mean spending time with Vivian (though that’s wonderful too) or helping people learn how to fix their own problems (which can be fun too sometimes, or incredibly frustrating when I have to explain something ten times). No, I mean something else. I’ve been having really really happy dreams. That’s the weird thing. I know I wasn’t having dreams at all when I first arrived, and then the dreams I did have were all very deliberate and seemed directly connected to using my powers for something. Now though I feel like I’m getting proper human sleep with dreams I barely remember when I wake. I feel more human and more at peace with everything than I have since I was summoned here. Assuming those memories of before the summoning are even true, if they aren’t, then maybe I’ve never been so at peace with life before. I don’t really want to question the memories anymore though.

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I’m Lae. I want to be Lae. I’m living a happy life in a small town that is slowly growing and developing. Everyone is so friendly, and I don’t even need to do much. Though, when I finish dealing with all the requests I said I’d help with, I’m probably going to put a stop to that. Vivian and James and Alpha can probably handle whatever is needed. I’m practically redundant at this point. 

At this point, most everyone who wants indoor plumbing has it, thanks to James. Additionally, coordination with Ophelia has led to all of my churches developing a way to communicate with each other, and even handle long distance transportation. I don’t really understand how it works, but apparently it’s possible because my dream world and the real world are connected… I feel like I’ve forgotten something. Oh well, probably not important.

…

Ophelia’s view

I was wrong. Lae isn’t handling things as well as I thought she was. Her mind has become severely fractured. Is it my fault? Did I push her too fast? I thought it was going well. She was accepting people into her world. She linked with everyone so quickly. Yet now…

Lae’s priests literally wield Lae’s power. They are not mere conduits. They are a part of Lae now. Yet, they remain distinct. Their minds each get a piece of Lae, but do not connect to more. It’s as if Lae is giving a piece of herself to every priest and breaking that piece off. There’s still a link, but thoughts and minds remain separate. The power is shared, but there’s no collective. Just a bunch of individuals.

Those who are not priests but still accept Lae’s intimate love become bound to her, but remain unchanged mentally. I thought Lae would create a harmonious world of linked minds, but she maintains mental barriers of varying strength everywhere! 

I’m not sure which is more worrying: the thought that I may have messed up, and broken Lae; or the possibility that this is what Lae wants. What she has done, it’s almost like she’s turning herself into a world full of humans. She won’t even let them go into the cycle of reincarnation, but instead keeps them in her world and lets them return to their previous life with new bodies. 

I tried asking Annebelle what she thought, but she thinks Lae is doing great. Annebelle’s basically human though, despite being reborn as a dream demon. Expecting a human to understand my worries is silly. 

What is Lae becoming? I wish I knew. If I knew, perhaps I could help ensure it goes well. As it is, I have no idea what I should do. All I can do is focus on dealing with that light god’s army. That at least is a simple thing to understand: an enemy that must be eradicated or converted.

***Author Note***

How well does the human god do at fighting back for worship vs Lae?: 2. What?! How is he losing ground vs Lae this badly?! This d20 must not like them. I was not planning on having that be a hard roll to succeed at, but even easy rolls are failed with a 2! There was supposed to be a war… how can there be a war when the roll is that bad? This is more like cleanup after an enemy is routed.

Um… this does not bode well for the human army at all.

How much effort do Lae’s worshippers put into stopping the evil cultists from killing off the light church priests? 9. That’s not enough. 

How many people’s requests end up being something minor due to their original needs already being solved? 13
How sexual do those minor requests get? 6 …boring.

I think I’ve got a problem: Lae is deliberately not investigating her true state and self. Ophelia doesn’t properly understand it. I have no character capable of explaining what’s going on. I tried to get Ophelia to explain as well as I could, but it confuses her. 

… Another problem: Lae has basically found her “happily ever after”. She’s got love, affection, joy, extremely pleasant dreams, and all the real work can either be handled by someone else, or by other parts of her without her conscious awareness. The story isn’t really done though, even if Lae has no interest in continued direct involvement.

P.S. I like to try and summarize things vaguely in chapter titles, but how am I supposed to summarize this? It’s a mess!

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