By the time Snowcora and Tulani returned to the Temple of Inala, the Shrine Maiden's glow had faded some. Her tattoos were still lit up like neon, but they weren't lighting up the area now, just her. Tulani helpfully carried the comatose ex-Diphath cultist, but only reduced herself to her humanoid dragon form. Mave set up a 'secure' sleeping area for the injured Eeee, as the Temple of Inala boasted the most luxurious of dungeons - or did at one time. It's comfortable enough, in any case.

Snowcora herself still had energy to burn up, and thought a particular demon would be the perfect solution. So, she left the bunker to go to the temple's altar and summon Rugharo. The closer she got, however, the more she felt that something was off, just slightly.

Temple of Inala, the Altar of Beauty
Once upon a time, this space would have been the grandest cathedral of Babel, despite being smaller than a cathedral would normally be. There are only a few stone pews, as the ceremonies of the Yodhinala tended towards private gatherings. The main Altar is made of alabaster, bone and marble and may once have been inlaid in gold as well. The sides are covered in reliefs of the Goddess of Love and Pleasure, except for one side where the sculpture was crudely hacked free. Open gaps in the vaulted dome once held beautiful stained-glass depictions of Inala as well, taken by looters or destroyed by the Yodhblakat or later forces.

Once Snowcora set foot in the altar chamber, the source of her unease became clear: there was tall, dark figure apparently waiting for her, with glowing green eyes. And while she could see the man clearly, her Shrine Maiden aura-based senses claimed that there wasn't anyone there at all.

"I should say most people are smart enough to not loot old temples," Snowcora remarks as she enters the chamber with the very dangerous mind-mage, "But then you aren't here for loot. No, you want something else. What is it? A promise I'm no danger to you or others? I'm only here to remove an ancient creature."

"I wanted to meet you," the tall Eeee claims. "I'm sure there will be a lot of hand waving from the Mages when people ask them about tonight's events, but I've felt a Miracle of Inala before; I knew the previous Avatar. You hardly seem like an Avatar though," he notes, and makes a sweeping head-to-toe gesture at Snowcora. "You aren't even an Eeee. So who are you?"

"Whatever I need to be at the time," Snowcora answers vaguely, "The name isn't important, only the action. Things are worse an this city than the surface shows. Rot festers below, literally. A lovely gift from Aztepa, you might say."

Cyprian steps closer, and really looks the woman up and down. "You have the markings of every Sister.. plus one extra. And the orbs.. I think I see," he notes.

"Really? Do tell?" Snowcora remarks ... then even dares to tap him on his nose.

The man rubs his nose, and then taps Snow right back - in the center of her chest. "The odd one out, Rinala," he says, and traces the roots of the 'tree of life' down to where they mingle with the blue of Inala, then taps the orb there. He traces his fingers back up, and along the collarbone to the shoulders and then down to hold Snowcora's wrists. "Sunala on the right, Gorphat on the left. The lost trinity. Not many know those old myths about Rinala being the three-faced goddess. But I think it's pretty clearly written on your body. You serve Rinala; the others.. well, I imagine the Kindly Ones are a bit desperate in these times. Enough to cooperate, even with Rinala."

Snowcora's thin brow arches. "Not bad. I'm impressed," she admits, grinning. "So ... what are you going to do? Try and kill me? Capture me for study by the Collegia? Interrogate me on what powers me?" she asks a bit more seriously. "Ask what I intend? Play connect the dots. Wait, Zakaro beat you to that."

"I'm curious to know if you're a real person, actually," Cyprian notes. "The former High Princess went to great expense to try and take the powers of the Kindly Ones for herself. You seem to have been gifted with them though. So, are you real, or a spirit manifestation? And.. did we meet before, at a party? The nose ring is a bit distinctive." He then taps his head and notes, "In case you are wondering, I've shielded my mind from glamour effects, but it means I can't use Mind Magic on you either. It doesn't seem to protect me from the physical effect of your presence though."

"I could wax poetic on reality and what is or isn't real, but to answer it simply, yes I am a real person. As for if we've met, it would break the mystique if I answered that," Snowcora answers. "Oh, and as for your protection, I wasn't planning to try and use anything on you. Though I should warn you shielding your mind was detectable too. You left a 'hole' in the feel of the place. Absence can be just as noticeable."

"I wasn't trying to hide," Cyprian notes. "I saw how you affected others, so I wanted to keep a clear head. Did you use your abilities to control that dragon as well? The myths do not mention dragons, any more than they do.. whatever you are. What should I call you?"

"The dragon is a friend of mine. I have a lot of strange friends," Snowcora notes as she goes to sit on the edge of the altar. There she swings her feet while adding, "You can call me Snowcora if you want. Or anything else, really. I'm not that particular."

"Can you tell me what your relationship to the Kindly Ones is, exactly?" the mage asks.

"Only to my curiosity," Cyprian claims. "I assume it has some bearing one why you came to the altar. I was just guessing that this is where I'd find you."

"Well, I can't answer it easily because I don't really know all that well myself. I'm sort of an enforcer, but at the same time I'm helping write a newer path for them to follow. Maybe I'm a conscience. Or maybe I'm just a piece of creative artwork," Snowcora admits and shrugs. "My goal is to fix things. Or at the very least, make things better."

"Interesting," the man notes, rubbing his chin. "How did you become involved? And.. why don't you wear any clothes?"

"How is long and dull, I'm afraid. Mostly because I'm too stupid and just have to poke at things I shouldn't," Snowcora says, "And as for why no clothing; because it annoys my skin."

"So displaying the markings is not.." Cyprian starts to ask, then has to pause as the last of the 'charge' runs out and the tattoos stop glowing. "What just happened?"

"It means I'm about to explode," Snowcora claims in deadpan. Thankfully she soon says, "Or it means I've exhausted the magic I had stored up earlier to deal with the cultists."

"Cultists," Cyprian echoes, and then gestures to the spot next to Snowcora on the altar. "May I sit? I feel odd looming over you."

"I'm not going to strike you down for siting on the altar," Snowcora notes and gestures to a spot. "Nor would Inala, I think. She'd just excite things for a few hours. Or days."

"I admit to already being 'excited' but I'm able to ignore it," the man says before setting next to the altered human. "What cult are you hunting?" he then asks.

"Well, here it is the cult of Diphath," Snowcora explains, "They're active in the undercity. They have roots to the Gigi cult of Amena. An old demon from Aztepa ultimately. Nasty creature. Source of several forbidden zones; they were old battle grounds. Also the creature that helped wreck Sylvania."

"I see," Cyprian says, looking away from Snowcora for a moment. "That is the Rinala connection, then, isn't it? Nala and Amena."

"I'm conflicted," Cyprian admits. "I grew up with the Kindly Ones, and then.. the Dream Ritual, the creation of magic versions of the goddesses based on belief and ritual.. I'm not sure what is real in the divine anymore. And now.. we're being invaded by older gods it seems. This is probably why I stopped studying mythology. In the end, we get the deities that we deserve, I suppose."

Snowcora shrugs a bit. "Everything evolves. What is real is what you make real, I suppose," she says. "I just happen to be more active in trying to make things better than most. Granted that left me looking like this, but most things require some sort of sacrifice. Just like you sacrificed part of yourself to punish the one who nearly destroyed Babel. I heard those screams; the minds you sent into his back then, you know. I felt part of what he did. I can sitll hear them now and then."

"So, since you know who I am.. what can the Avenger do to help you, if anything?" Cyprian asks. "I think I've decided to stay in Babel for a bit. It sounds like things are going to become interesting."

Snowcora rubs her neck. "I don't know yet," she starts to say, then snaps her fingers. "Actually, there is something. I rescued one of the cultists; they did something to his mind. Would you be willing to find out what and try to fix him? Or at least help him forget it?"

"Certainly," Cyprian says, seemingly glad to have something to focus on other than the naked girl. "If the cultists are using Mind Magic outside the auspices of the Guild, it would behoove me to investigate."

"Actually ... I think they're using some sort of monster from the forbidden zone to do it," Snowcora admits. "Nasty enough to make people eat their own mothers."

"A creature that induces insanity?" Cyprian asks, one eye going wider than the other.

"That's all I could get him to tell me. We have him resting down in a cell until he recovers some," Snowcora notes. "I was going to go after it, but he refuses to tell me how to find it."

"How many.." Cyprian begins to ask, then stops. "I don't need to know how many people you have here. "If you can lead me to him, I will see what I can find out."

"Well, you would have to go blindfolded," Snowcora notes, "And be totally at my mercy..."

"You don't seem to be carrying any blindfolds," Cyprian notes. "And you would need to plug my ears as well. What are the dangers of being at your mercy?"

"Well, I could tickle you," Snowcora says ominously. "But unfortunately not much. I'm not an evil person and I don't go around seducing people randomly. I'm harmless, really. And as for a blindfold and ear plugs, those I can make."

"Shouldn't," Snowcora says and flexes her right hand. "So, do you agree, or no? The jailer is a Yodhinala, but she's mostly tolerable."

"A rare and formidable creature," Cyprian agrees. "I will agree to put myself at your mercy. Do I just.. close my eyes?"

"Well, you can, if you're not interested in watching it for as long as I let you," Snowcora teases. "I promise no harm will befall you. You won't be poked, prodded, tattoed, or filled with jewelry."

"Soooo trusting," Snowcora teases and puts her hand on his shoulder. Of course the ooze of a shadow that spills from her hand and coils about his neck in warm, almost-wetness, and creeps up his cheeks. Very soon his ears are plugged by whatever it is ... and his eyes are about to follow.

"Perhaps I should have closed both to begin with," Cyprian notes, and closes his other eye before they can be covered. "This only raises more questions."

"Curiosity makes you end up like me," Snowcora notes before the shadow flows over his eyelids, making an effective blindfold. She keeps her hand on his shoulder then hops off the altar. The human then nudges with her hand for him to stand, and she can guide him from there...

It's not that far of a walk. The dungeons weren't exactly used for keeping prisoners, but for the more extreme forms of pleasure - including those where one person involved did not survive the experience. As such, it wasn't hard to find a room that still had a frame for strapping someone down to (although it's clear that others were looted - maybe even for Velkarno's brothel). Standing guard is Tulani, still in biped dragoness form. She raises her brows questioningly at Snowcora when she arrives with her new guest.

"He came to us. He saw you and just had to have you. So I sold you to him for a shekel," Snowcora teases as she releases Cyprian from the shadow-blinding. " ".... or he came, we talked and he agreed to look into what they did to the mind of the poor guy inside. But maybe he'll buy you for a shekel anyway."

Cyprian misses out on most of the conversation, until his ears are cleared. "I'm sorry, who is buying whom?" he asks, wondering if he is being sold to the dragoness.

Tulani snorts, but does cover her chest with an arm at least. "The patient is inside, still unconscious but.. twitchy," she reports. "You're.. a doctor?"

"This will take some time," Cyprian calls out. "It's easier with the subject asleep, but I still need to perform a ritual."

"I guess you didn't lure him here with your musk then?" Tulani whispers to Snowcora in Sylvanian. "I can keep guard if you want," she says out loud.

"Of course not. And I do not stink," Snowcora mutters in reply. Louder, she says, "My pet here will keep watch while you work. I will be back later."

Snowcora pats Tulani's cheek, grins, and slips off to occupy herself for a bit until the ritual is done.

Rather than return to the altar, Snowcora takes the longer but more direct route to Rugharo's lair down in the cemetery. The monster is more than happy to help work off the Shrine Maiden's excess desire, even if it does require that she stop at the bunker to clean up a bit on the way back. She finds Tulani still trying to 'lounge' like a cat while in dragon form and therefore looking uncomfortable, while various vocal noises come from the cell itself.

"I never knew things that sounded so uncomfortable could actually be fun and start to feel good," Snowcora remarks to the oddly-louging Tulani. Probably to get Tulani to make a face and try to stop her from explaining further. "So, how is it going in there?"

"Weird," Tulani notes. "The chanting's stopped, my nose itches from the magic, and I think the crazy one is starting to talk."

"What did he say?" Snowcora asks. She also goes and listens at the door. "Is everything okay?" she asks through it.

"I'm beginning to get some lucid responses," Cyprian claims. John Doe is still strapped in place.. and apparently still asleep, but is answering questions. "What is your name?" Cyprian asks in a flat tone of voice, to which he gets the reply, "Garbledrool-AARRK!"

"Ah, you don't understand, but that was a very useful answer," Cyprian comments. "What do you know about cult initiation.. or in this case, forced abduction and initiation?"

"When you want to make someone a servant or slave, you first strip them of their past," Cyprian notes. "In the case of this cult, they have quite literally scrambled this man's memories. Everything before he was in the cult is a nightmare mishmash. Everything after as well, but that's a justified nightmare. It's possible that the woman he cannibalized was not his mother, but he was made to believe that. The Diphath cult is big on cannibalism it seems. It is all engineered to prevent the person from leaving, because they have no memories of a family or home to go to that aren't terrifying, and have the stigma of cult activities to keep them in line."

"So, you're having to unscramble his memories?" Snowcora clarifies. "I wouldn't know how to begin that. I could jump into his dreams, but..."

"No, that is not something I could do alone," Cyprian explains. "I can try to calm him by putting a block on certain things; a sort of therapeutic amnesia. But you need information from him first. Can you be as specific as possible in what you want?"

Cyprian uses his odd tone and addresses the crazed Eeee. He doesn't flat out ask the question, but seems to coax the man towards to think back to his earliest memory. As an aside, he whispers to Snowcora, "Never let them the subject know what it is you want to hear. Their mind will conjure memories from imagination to meet your request."

"That's ... useful to know," Snowcora admits. "And while I want to know what did this to him, I doubt he would be able to tell me."

"Underground," the broken man wheezes. "Mountain.. temple. We were taken to an old temple. It was horrible. The mountain.."

After more nudging, the man says, "Blakat. Around.. around and under.. avoid the Yodh. Wanted to cry out, draw them upon us.."

"That's ... interesting. I have been to Blakat's temple," Snowcora muses. "I will have to find the lower passages."

"Big chamber, horrible statues.. no altar. Diphath looks down on us. There was.. a crane?" the man seems confused. "No.. like.. like a well. It was put over a stone grate, in the center of the floor. Channels ran to it.. for blood to flow. Then the grate was moved, and.. brain itched. They tied us each to a harness, winched us down into.." The man stops here and begins to convulse.

"That sounds like a forbidden-zone demon lives in the pit. I've seem them occupy one before back in ... nevermind," Snowcora notes to Cyprian. "It could probably be lured out, but that's risky if there is no way to control or kill it."

"You think it's still there?" the Mind Mage asks after her speaks to the patient, calming him again. "Maybe it can be buried."

"Would you want to move it?" Snowcora points out. "There may be a way to control it. I'll have to research. I'd rather destroy it over just bury it. I could try something ... but it would be extremely dangerous for me."

"It would be helpful to know if there's just the one, as well," Cyprian notes. "It won't stop this Diphath cult from 'recruiting' people in the undercity, but it will force them to use less corrupting strategies."

"That will require going to that lair. I won't ask you to go there, but I'll be going," Snowcora notes.

"Snowcora," Cyprian says, using her name for the first time, "you need defenses against whatever twisted this man's mind inside out. Resistance training."

"Probably," Snowcora agrees, "But I can't ask you for that. I can't afford to pay you."

"I'm supposed to be a hero," Cyprian says. "I'll train you in secret. After all, I was supposed to be taking a vacation soon."

"Hero is just a title of someone who got lucky. I've been called it before too; I've never felt like one. You just do what you feel is right and hope for the best," Snowcora notes. "Where will you stay, though? This place is hardly comfortable."

"I don't know," Cyprian admits. "There are still rentable properties though, especially with so much of the population having left. I can always remain at the guild hall and just.. not take any assignments. There is one thing, however: are you absolutely certain you can't wear any clothes at all?"

"I can wear soft-fur-lined things. Or ... change my shape," Snowcora notes with a smirk.

"So long as you are not so.. distracting," Cyprian notes. "The dragon-girl as well. She is too frightening and arousing. I like to think of myself as a stoic gentleman, after all."

"I could come to you as a bandaged Yodhgorphat, if you prefer," Snowcora remarks, still smirking.

"That.. might help, yes," Cyprian claims, sending his patient back to sleep with a few suggestions for pleasant dreams. "What will you do with this man? He will need extensive psychological treatment to ever become normal again."

"I hadn't decided," Snowcora admits. "I can keep him safe until he can be released, or turn him over to a place of your choosing."

"Hmmm," the mage ponders. "I'll look into things. Some of our own Mages are a bit eccentric after all. Someone may be looking for a real project to sink their teeth into."

"Well, let me know. You seem to be able to find me when you want to," Snowcora says and pokes the Eeee in the side. "I could also come as the rat you met, too." She winks, confirming his original suspicion.

"I'm sure she would be very popular at the Guild Hall," Cyprian claims with a straight face, and refrains from poking back since.. there just aren't many safe places to poke Snowcora. "Do I need to be blindfolded again to leave?"

"Well, probably," Snowcora admits, "It's safer if you don't know the way in here, right?"

"Yes, you wouldn't want me lurking about in your sex dungeon," the man notes, standing up and dusting off his robes.

"It isn't used for that anymore," Snowcora points out and pokes the mage again, right before engulfing him with the shadow enough to blind and deafen him.

"Shadow magic isn't something I'd associated with Sunala," Cyprian points out as he's led away. And of course Tulani has to sneak in a grope, and makes sure to use her left hand so that it isn't obvious it was her and not Snowcora.

"I'll get you later," Snowcora hisses at Tulani in passing. "He's not some toy." Shaking her head, she leads the mage bakc out of the bunker.

Path of Affliction, Third Station
This old tower is clearly abandoned, since it's upper stories have long collapsed from lack of maintenance. This leaves a bit of debris, even after all of the usable stone has been scavenged. There are many holes and broken walls in the sides of the tower's base, but only one bears the symbol of Gorphat.

Nicora hasn't seen or heard any undercity denizens near this place, which is odd. Just about every structure down here is somewhat colonized, after all. There aren't even the sounds of scavengers, but then the garbage drops are further away. The collapsed tower doesn't even provide a view of the sky, as causeways and other buildings expanded over it.

This is the first time on the Path that Nicora hasn't felt terrified. After the last one, she actually feels happy to be walking the path! She even activated her 'blessing' and bandaged up both right and left hands before coming in honor of Gorphat. The fact this place is completely empty, though, does leave her to wonder just what goes on here.

The entry 'hole' certainly doesn't look like anyone has been maintaining or visiting the place. The whole structure looks unsafe, but the collapse of the tower did, at least, open a few spaces up to what little light reaches the Streets Below.

"Great, into a deathtrap I go," Nicora says, "But I go for you, Gorphat." Into the hole the Eeee very carefully climbs.

After her eyes adjust, and long after she already knows the extent of the room and what passages lead from it, Nicora can make out a single complex rune carved into the stone over one of the passages. It's a pictograph of two (extremely stylized) Eeee appearing to share a single head. By Yodh-logic, it might represent Empathy.

"Either Empathy, or a really scary monster," Snowcora admits as she eyes the pictogram for a few minutes. "Do I go through here, Mother?" she asks the room.

The other passage leads to another room that's mostly filled with debris. It's not a direct answer, but then there's just the one sign to go by.

Nicora shrugs her shoulders and heads down the passage marked with the Empathy rune. "I hope this place doesn't collapse on me," she mutters to herself.

The passage is deep with debris. Bits of moldy fabric to begin with, and then.. bones. They're scattered as if just tossed away with indifference.

"This is worrying," Nicora admits as she stops to inspect one of the bones before continuing on.

It's thin and hollow, so most likely belonged to an Eeee or a large bird. It's practically polished, with not a bit of flesh remaining.

"Maybe I should turn back," Nicora remarks as she continues deeper in. "This must be a lair of some kind. Why am I still going?"

There is the threat of a horrible curse befalling those who don't complete the path, but that seems distant in the face of.. what Nicora stumbles into next. There's a pile of debris forming a mound, and broken floors going up and up several stories, as if the core of the tower had been hollowed out. From the bits of stone that still jut out hang the bodies of Eeee. Most of them are.. hollowed out as well, with large armored maggots swarming over them. The air swirls with the constant breeze of beating wings, from the hundreds of horribs that lair here.

Nicora's eyes go wide. "Oh, it's a horrib lair. Yes, I should probably leave," she murmurs as she backs slowly towards the passage she came in. She knows how horribs breed and has no desire to become a host! Hopefully her 'relationship' with Hosheb will protect her.

Nicora turns and looks down the passage she came. "I have to get out of here!" she thinks in panic. "This can't be the trial."

The sense of panic seems to attract the creatures, and soon there's a small swarm surrounding the Eeee. These monsters don't seem to be as friendly as Hosheb's, but they don't attack.. until the swarm parts to reveal a giant horrib. How can it even fly? It's half as big as Nicora!

"I'm Hosheb's friend. Actually, his lover," Nicora tells the giant Horrib in a weak voice. "I came here as part of the Path of Affliction, but I don't think this place is used for that anymore. I meant no intrusion ... so can I leave?"

The king (or queen) horrib hovers as if considering.. and then the stinger strikes, right in Nicora's stomach! The others all join in, grabbing onto Nicora before her limbs give out and making sure she's gotten a good dose.

Nicora screams for as long as she can! She's been stabbed before and it hurts! And worse, this involves poison ... and a fate potentially worse than death. "No no no no," she pleads with the huge horrib, "Let me go! I'm your ally!"

Her arms and legs go cold, followed by her torso. She can feel her heart beating wildly as she seems to lose control of everything but her tongue and eyes - and oddly enough, her tail, which whips about in distress. It's so numbing that she doesn't even realize she's being lifted up into the upper levels of the lair, carried by a dozen horribs.

"They're not going to use me as a host, are they? Gorphat, they're not, are they?" Nicora thinks in horror. Never has feeling numb felt so terrifying. She won't even know what is happening until it is too late!

Eventually the horribs leave, after Nicora finds herself hanging upside down from a stone arch. The royal horrib is in front of her, its ovipositor extended. It moves closer.. but with no sensation, Nicora can't tell if she's been implanted or not. But when the giant bug finally moves away, she finds that she's not alone. Hanging across from here, secured by some sort of natural glue, is an emaciated looking Celise Velkarno. Her eyes blink, indicating that she's still awake.

"Did it lay eggs on me? In me? I can't feel, I can't tell! It didn't strip me I don't think. So ... maybe it didn't?" Nicora thinks, still very much in a panic. She has no desire to die here. She doesn't deserve this, she doesn't think anyway! Not like Celise did.

"Uhhh," the other Eeee moans. A horrib flies up and stabs her in the stomach with a tube-like projection.. and seems to be pumping something into her. But then, they need to keep the hosts alive until the larva hatch.

Nicora tries to talk, to see if she can actually speak, or if she can just make guttural sounds. She also really wishes she could see if she was laid on, or worse, in.

"Let me go," Nicora calls out to the 'queen'. "I can't be a host for your children."

"They're animals," Celise grunts, her voice cracking. She then chuckles. "You don't know if you've been implanted, do you?"

Nicora then looks over Celise, looking for any signs that she has been implanted ... and what it might look like.

"Because we're both prisoners here and if we're to share the same fate, at least we're sharing it together?" Nicora offers. Suffering shared and all that.

"Pain shared is pain halved, and all that?" Celise asks, still managing a sinister smirk. "You haven't been here as long as I have. I'll be dead soon, I know. They haven't given me my latest dose of paralysis poison. You'll get to watch, and think about it non-stop until it's your turn."

"So, have I been implanted or not?" Nicora asks again as she glares at the other Eeee. "I didn't commit any crime to be put here."

"Crime? They are bugs," Celise claims. "There's no morality about this, only biology."

"So you, then I, will be brood mothers for the bugs, then?" Nicora asks. "How long have you been here? Have you felt them in you?"

"I don't know how long it's been," Celise admits. "I've been here forever it seems. I've gone mad. I've hallucinated. You probably aren't even real."

"Are you in any pain ... or have their injections kept you comfortable?" Nicora asks. She's also trying to move any part of her body she can. She can't believe she would have been implanted, but if they are just bugs .... it's possible.

"How often do they come to, uh, feed you and inject you again?" Nicora asks, wincing. "How long do I have before they come to me again?"

Oddly, Nicora still has control of her tail. "You really are pretty self-centered about all this," Celise notes. "I'm a prisoner in my own body, so frankly some pain would be a welcome respite from feeling like a disembodied head. And if you haven't noticed there's really no convenient way to tell time here. I just know they're.. late.. uhhh.." The Eeee woman looks suddenly ill.

"I want to know what to expect," Nicora says, worry etched on her face. When her parter goes ill, she strains again, trying to get a muscle to move. "Are you okay? Keep talking. As long as you can talk you'll be okay. I think. Don't give up. Keep talking. Please."

Nicora actually tries to move her tail between her legs and feel for multiple punctures on her stomach once she remembers she has a working tail. No idea if she can do that, but she has to try.

It's hard, and requires focus (which means she's 'feeling around' with the tail's tongue). Trying to contact the shadow is frustrating, since even that seems to depend on her nerves working. But the shadow-hand should be isolated, she thinks. The tail's tongue finds a tear in her tunic, right at the edge of its reach.

"I can feel now.." Celise notes, and a rivulet of black liquid runs from the side of her mouth.

"Just one tear. The poison point. Is there two?" Nicora thinks. She even tries to see if she can shadow-probe herself. Her strain to feel herself stops as Celise says she can feel. And somehow, Nicora knows this is probably bad. Even eith knowing what Celise did, now having to watch what happens to her makes Nicora feel sick. Seeing that black liquid ... the eggs may be hatching. "Inject her again," she calls plaintively to a horrib. She's in pain!"

"I'm sorry," Celise says quietly. "Sor.." And then the first of the larvae burst out of her stomach, dragging out what might be a kidney in its jaws. The others are in there, visible through the tear, or seen moving beneath the skin as they start feasting on the woman's soft parts. "It feels.. it feels.." she mumbles, her eyes glazing. "Glorious pain," she hisses finally.

And Nicora's eyes go wide in horror. She isn't sure what is the true torture; the pain at the end ... or what seems like the endless waiting for the pain to come. "I'm sorry too," Nicora says to the woman across the way. "At least it will be over quick? I ..." As much as Celise deserves it, Nicora still feels sick; but she also forces herself to watch, because she chose this fate for the evil woman.

Celise is still awake, clearly, as the larva eat from the inside out. She can't talk, but.. she can still smile. And that odd smile is frozen in place, as the woman (hopefully) dies.

"I'm sorry," Nicora says again, quietly, "But at least the end came quick. You are now free." She also draws a breath as she watches what may eventually be her fate. She doesn't know for certain either way. But if they are just bugs ... it's likely.

Velkarno's body keeps twitching. Finally, Nicora is sure the woman is dead when a larva chews its way out of her throat and starts to eat her face. More of them are emerging now as well.

Nicora bites her lip. She wants to look away, but just can't. What unfolds before her was the direct consequence of her actions to destroy that brothel. And even if it is justified it doesn't make it any less horrific. Again she tries to get her limbs to move. Maybe if she frees up enough, the poison ebbs, she can escape before they inject her again.

There's a loud buzzing, and Nicora's view of Celise is blocked by something larger than even the queen. Hosheb dangles upside down before the erstwhile Yodhgorphat now.

"Hello lover," Nicora says softly to the giant horrib-Eeee. "I'm to endure what she did, aren't I?"

"Not today," Hosheb rasps, and Nicora finds herself being carried down to the floor by the demon. "You must endure at the Fourth Station."

"I'm not carrying any eggs?" Nicora asks Hosheb, feeling both extremely relieved and yet ... guilty. "I am not to endure days of injections?"

"You are carrying eggs," Hosheb claims. "If you do not pass the Fourth Station, they will hatch in time and devour you, without the benefit of numbing poison."

"I am?" Nicora says, sounding horrified. "How can I tell they are there? Will I ... feel them inside me?"

"When the numbness wears off, yes," the demon confirms. "However, they will be needed. No pain comes without some benefit."

"They will hurt in me? Where were they ... injected? Is it as if I were pregnant?" Nicora asks timidly. Did they go into her womb, she has to wonder. Elsewhere? "Are they ... fertilized?"

"They would not be implanted if they were not fertile," Hosheb notes. "They are in your body cavity, between organs so they do not interfere with your life functions. You will learn the benefits of this at the next Station."

"They won't squirm, will they?" Nicora has to ask next. Squirming in her gut will be ... disturbing to say the least. "Can't you remove them?" she asks Hosheb, "Am I not your lover?"

It's impossible to read the fixed expression on Hosheb's 'face', but it might be amusement. "Does it matter how many there are?" he asks. "And no, I will not remove them. They are needed for the next journey upon the Path of Affliction."

"I'm curious," Nicora admits, "Do they ... show? I can't see my stomach. I can't move. Will ... they also need nutrient injections like Celise got?"

"They are eggs," Hosheb points out. "Eggs contain their own fuel for growth. They are tiny things as yet. You worry about the oddest of things. Will they show? Is that a great concern?"

"I've never actually been pregnant before, if this counts," Nicora admits. "But I guess I should go to station four soon? Am I to endure more in here today? Any more injections? Any more ... laying?"

"You must wait two days before going to the Fourth Station," Hosheb claims. "There is nothing more to endure here, beyond recovering from the poison." There's a plop, as an arm falls to the ground nearby, a larva still clinging to it and unaffected by the fall.

"So, ugh, if I don't go on, I'm dead. I really can't back out now," Nicora thinks. Her eyes flick to the arm and she swallows. "What is the fourth station?" she asks.

"And the eggs protect me from that?" Nicora asks, wide eyed. "How? Am I carrying enough?"

"You must learn patience," Hosheb claims. "There are things you must discover on your own. Have faith in Gorphat."

"I do," Nicora claims as she lies in Hosheb's arms. "I came to her willingly. I became your lover willingly. I will pass the fourth station."

"Do you really believe you came willingly?" Hosheb asks, and cradles Nicora so that she gets a good view of Celise Velkarno's deconstruction.

Nicora really wishes she could see the state of her own stomach too, butit can't be as bad as watching the other Eee be torn apart by larvae. She would shudder if she could. "Yes, I believe I came willingly. I am also willingly becoming Gorphat's Daughter."

"I think you started on this path long before you came to Babel," the insect-man hisses, and uses his armored tail to drag the arm and larva closer. Both end up in Nicora's lap, so she can hear the grub chewing away. Hosheb strokes its back. "Did you find empathy in horror, Nicora?"

Nicora watches that grub in her lap chew and she feels sick again. "I felt bad for her, for what was happening to her. Even if she deserved that fate, I feel guilt for having chosen that fate for her," she admits softly. "Part of me feels that I deserve it now, and should hang in here for a bit to understand her suffering more."

"You need only be able to recognize suffering in others," Hosheb claims, and then begins to undress the paralyzed Eeee. "Not endure it yourself. You will learn to endure your own suffering when the time comes."

"May I request a feeding from one of the horribs, though? I want to understand what that does," Nicora asks as she's undressed. She actually wonders why she is being undressed, too, and has a sinking feeling about that as well.

"There is nothing to feel," Hosheb notes, as he lays the woman down in the debris. Even now she can't feel anything, but Hosheb kindly tilts her head forward so she can see down her body, just before his 'feeding tube' pierces her stomach. The demon seems to get pleasure from the act.

Nicora goes ugh even if she doesn't feel anything from the puncture. She watches the tube itself, to see what flows ... and any movement of her stomach or skin from the injection as it ... occurs. "Why did you ask for this?" she wonders to herself. "Why did you have to know?"

The tube trails strings of green goo and blood when it retracts. "Of course I enjoy it," Hosheb notes. "You are not the Shrine Maiden now. You are helpless prey.." He does keep Nicora's head tilted so she can see him penetrate her again.. but this time with a more familiar appendage. Still, there's the smell of blood and bile, and once feeling returns Nicora is sure there's going to be pain..

"Then you can do that to me whenever you wish," Nicora says, "And in this form, I am still your lover." Even as she says that and the coppery smell of blood hits her nose, she realizes she's going to be hurting. From this aggressive sex of the demon and its chitiny spines ... to the blessing of Gorphat herself that may be active. She is going to be in agony. This makes it all the stranger that she says, "Thank you, Hosheb." And from there she can only lie there and watch her body be so cruelly taken...

There's no telling how long it's been since Nicora passed out. She wakes in stages, all of them painful. And she's not alone: a grub is nestled between her breasts, another between her legs a third on her extremely sore stomach. Something is yelling at her as well.

"Wha...?" Nicora says as she comes slowly back to wakefulness, pain ripping through her body. It actually takes her a few seconds to register the grubs ... and swat them off her chest, then extract the one between her legs carefully incase it was trying to go in her. Wincing, she also tries to find what is yelling .... and hopefully get clear enough to examine herself.

The yelling is coming from inside her head. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Kaira is yelling over and over. A quick examination shows that the grubs have cleaned away the gore from her stomach and genitals at least, so that she can see the multiple puncture points now.

Nicora inspects her genitals for damage, as well as to see how much they hurt; as if her blessing is also active, or if she's .. cut and torn there. "I'm awake, I'm awake," she thinks in pain.

"What in the twenty-seven-and-a-half hells have you been doing?" the dragon demands shrilly. "It felt like you got your arm chopped off!" Things aren't looking too pretty down below, from the amount of swelling on display. If there's tearing internally, then there could be serious risk of infection.

"'I've been dealing with Gorphat. I just survived a horrib swarm," Nicora thinks, wincing as she touches very sore and swollen flesh. Therefore, she tries to use the shadow to ease some of it while she examines her stomach next, the punctures in particular ... and if she can feel anything circular or oblong inside her by feeling around lightly.

While there's definitely discomfort in there, she can't feel anything directly. But if the eggs were injected deep, it isn't like there are nerves that would detect them. "I thought you were on friendly terms with that one?" Kaira asks. "You scared the hell out of me when you went dark! Horribs? Don't do that again!"

'I'm going through her trials to make me ready to deal with the Forbidden zone," Nicora thinks as she tries to get to her feet and find her clothes so she can get out of here. "I, er, also might be carrying horrib eggs. I can't tell, though."

"Eggs? But you're a vampire, you don't eat eggs," Kaira helpfully points out. At least the grubs haven't eaten Nicora's clothes. "Where are you supposed to carry them to?"

"Inside my abdomen. To another station where they will be removed. I don't suppose you could look and see if I do have them?" Nicora asks in thought as she slowly dresses. She can see why she needs to wait a couple days before the next station; she's going to be walking funny for a bit and her stomach hurts.

"If I could do that, you wouldn't have needed that mad scientist's alien x-ray gizmo," Kaira points out. "I can use the shadow to manipulate your flesh, but not things that aren't your flesh."

"Could you at least tell if I'm carrying things that aren't me inside me?" Nicora thinks. She then goes back to the wounds on her stomach, to see the sizes and which were which injection 'points'.

The wounds have stopped oozing, certainly - however long she's been out, it was long enough for them to close. "Wait.. you said you were carrying these eggs," Kaira notes. "Why do you need me to confirm it? Is there some doubt?"

"I didn't see them get laid inside me, and it could just be motivation and not really there," Nicora thinks, "So I would like to know for sure if they are. Even if it's a disturbing pregnancy, I'd like to know since it's my first." Well, it's not pregnancy, really, but it's close to a degree.

Nicora also decides that she should probably get out of the horrib lair, but before she leaves, she looks for that .... queen.

"I'm not sure about this," Kaira says. "If you're meant to believe you carry them, then there's probably a good reason. This is a religious thing you're doing, right? Belief is important. What if I tell you there aren't any eggs? How will that effect the next thing you're supposed to do?"

There's no sign of the queen.. or much of any other horribs either. They might all be out hunting.

"No, I'm going anyway. I just want to know, okay?" Nicora thinks as she heads out of the lair; her movement slow and sore. She also can't help herself and rubs over her store stomach with her left hand.

"I can't tell you," Kaira notes. "I'm aware of non-living material, but other organisms are just ... there. There's more of them in you than there is of you, number wise."

"Not helpful," Nicora thinks as she makes her way back out of the lair. She looks at her stomach again, trying to decide if she looks a little more pudgy, or not. Some sort of clue.

The entry wound suggests the eggs couldn't be very big. It looked like Velkarno had six grubs, but that doesn't mean they all hatched either.

"Kaira, I may be carrying insect eggs in my gut. I just, well want to know. I'm sorry that's hard to understand. I have three wounds, and I know where two came from, and the third was the egg-tube on the queen ... so I guess I likely do carry them," Nicora thinks as she makes her way back into the light and tries to stretch.

"Then just assume you have them," Kaira says. "I don't know who told you that you did, or why you have to carry them to another place, but unless the bug that stuck you was specifically trained not to inject eggs against all instinct.. you've got eggs."

"I have no idea if it was trained or not. I was told by Hosheb, Gorphat's demon," Nicora thinks, "Before he fed me like hosts are, then ... rutted me."

"Well, I can only suggest carrying on as if you were infected, since that appears to be what you're supposed to do," Kaira suggests. "It seems terribly unlikely that it was all just for show."

"So, should I consider it an infection, or just that I'm an expectant insect-brood-mother?" Nicora thinks. "Maybe it'll calm the urges to get pregnant."

"You are asking the wrong person in either case," Kaira notes. "It's not like you're going to have monsters bursting out of your gut and eating you alive, right?"

"That's eactuly what will happen if I do have them and they aren't removed. There is no way off the Path now," Nicora thinks as she rubs her forehead, then plans to try and fly as much as she can back because walking hurts. Then a couple days of rest and she'll head to the fourth station. Each station was worse than the last; this does not bode well. And the worst part of it all is that she just knows next time she sees Gorphat, she'll thank her for making her a horrib host.