The tower shows signs of neglect, the freeze-thaw cycle having taken its toll. The upper level is unstable, as testified to by the piles of rubble on the ground and gaping holes in the walls. It does provide some cover though, for those willing to dare it.
On this night, the one daring it is a bit shadowy as well, finding ample cover in stone ruins. Clouds darken the sky further, and a thunderstorm makes the ruins more attractive despite the danger. Scourge can wait for its prey to come to it. The black dracoid creature can suss their minds without having to see them, which has let it easily track and get ahead of them. Further back and higher up, the cool mind of Tulani circles, ready to take up watch once the others enter the mists.
There aren't many landmarks in this area, which made the watchtower the obvious choice for a meeting. The two minds that approach taste apprehensive. Scourge knows that the leader, Captain Soldano bar Drelickus of the Shadowdrake secretly hopes their contact won't show up. It wasn't too difficult for Tulani to get the name of who invited Soldano to the Coalition Party: Herod bar Abbas, who was likely also their contact with the Guardians (since Taahira had seen the shipping crates in the Abbas tower). With the news of Herod's disappearance, Soldano's hopes were raised.
Slightly behind the Eeee is a slightly shorter, stockier sort - a Skreek. Soldano's First Mate, Orca. The rat's mind is conflicted. The colors suggest that he wants to run, but is either too loyal or too afraid to try. As they get closer, Scourge can hear them talking over the rain.
"This sort of weather is a pain," Soldano says. "I hope it passes quickly, or I'll be jumping at every sound-shadow."
"Can't smell nuttin' either," Orca commiserates. "And no sense standing out and gettin' soaked. Let's wait in that doorway at least." The pair approaches the old tower now, even if they don't plan on going in much past the doorway.
"Fools rush in where the wise fear to tread," Scourge thinks from where it slinks about deep in the ruined watchtower and masked by its shadows. Moving on all fours afford the ability to move quieter since weight is split four ways instead of two, and the creature knows full well how to take advantage of this. "Now, will their guide actually show, I wonder? Or are they right in hoping they will not since Herod has ... stepped out for a bite?"
"Mebbe he won't show up because of the rain, eh?" Orca suggests to the Eeee. "Somehow I doubt a little weather will stop a Guardian," Soldano says. "Just keep a watchful eye. One of us should be able to spot someone coming. There's just the one path and this one building.."
"And this one monster, and all these shadows ... and rocks..." Scourge thinks almost impishly. The strange shadow creature then smiles and flicks a rock with its foot, sending it across the ruins to clatter about on the other side. "If they go look ... eheheh."
"What was that?!" Orca says, spinning around! "Just debris," Soldano claims. "This place is falling apart." And with that, there is a thunderclap that shakes the structure.
"Jumpy, aren't they. It's good that I'm not, oh, evil," Scourge thinks, chuckling in its own mind. Another flick of its foot and another rock goes clattering about.
"See, just the thunder shaking things up," Soldano claims. Orca, however, noses around. Maybe it's just a Skreek thing: leave no hole unexplored. "I'll check anyway," he says, and ventures a bit further inside. "There could be Eeeps in here.."
Maybe Scourge is channelling Nikky, because this terribly amuses it. He waits in the shadows quietly for the skreek to make its way a bit inside. "Now," it soon thinks as another rock goes flicking and the familiar clatter soon follows; mimicking crumbling debris. On its heels, though, is a gush of 'dusty' air. Or rather, Scourge's unusual breath as it spreads out through the ruins.
"Wagh!" Orca gasps and starts coughing, which causes Soldano to come over. "Please tell me you didn't find bits of Eeep and ate them.." the Eeee says as he comes over to slap Orca on the back a few times.
And Scourge lets out another gust of breath to make sure the Captain is also dully infected. "Should I be worried I find both of them attractive, even in tis form?" the shadow creature wonders.
The Eeee joins the Skreek in coughing, and there's a flash of lightning through the doorway followed by another stone-rattling thunderclap.. and now there's someone standing in the doorway, behind the two coughing men. Scourge feels an itch from the figure.
"Oh-ho, has my night-time buggering undead made an appearance?" Scourge has to wonder, growing still as death to try and avoid being detected.
The two men recover eventually, with Orca muttering something about 'Eeep turds' when they suddenly notice the waiting figure. Both men stand up straight, but Orca lets out a surprised blart of flatulence (as Nikky could attest, he spent the last few days gorging on junk food).
"Not the way to impress someone, Orca," Scourge thinks; and is suddenly quite grateful that it doesn't actually have a nose.
"Soldano bar Drelickus," the glowing-eyed figure intones - there's just no other way to describe such a deep, hollow voice. "You and your aid will follow me."
"And.. you are?" Soldano manages to ask, showing that he's still got some courage left in him.
"Abednego bar Abbas," the figure replies. "True head of the Abbas clan." Of course, there's another flash of lightning and shock of thunder, practically on top of the tower, as the vampire finishes his introduction.
"Good man. Still brave. No wonder Nicora likes you," Scourge thinks. It also frowns a bit, remembering this undead quite well. It has to hold itself from just outright attacking that abomination right now.
"Right.. well.. no point in waiting, the weather isn't getting any better," Soldano says, and nods to Orca. Abednego stands aside to let them pass, then turns to sweep his glowing gaze over the inside of the chamber... completely failing to sense Scourge. Maybe its genderless, not-quite-animal-not-quite-plant nature renders it invisible to undead vampiric senses? The vampire turns to follow the other two, and Scourge hears Orca whisper to Soldano, "Didja notice our guide ain't wet?" Scourge is hearing the whisper through Soldano's ears - the spores must have finished embedding themselves.
"He's also not alive, and can't stick it and ... hm, can't think of a rhyme. All for the best," Scourge thinks as he lets the others, and the vampire, to get a ways past the tower before it uncoils and slimks out as well to trail them from the ground. It isn't sure it wants to risk flight in the mists.
Scourge soon realizes the sensory blindspot works both ways: it can suss out Orca and Soldano easily and clearly, but Abednego is.. a murky blankness. Not that something isn't there, just that it's too oily for Scourge to sense without.. sliding off of it. It's not quite the same as Cyprian's mental shield though.
"Good that I can always trust in the itch. I think Alptraum will have to deal with this one. I think he deserves a stabbing. Maybe being sent into the dagger as a toy for Kaira, even," Scourge thinks a bit grimly as it practically slithers after those ahead.
The trio head down into the forest, where the canopy at least mutes some of the rain. It gives Scourge time to sort out and organize the different views its getting from three different heads. Eventually, it can isolate individual senses: Orca's sense of smell and movement, Soldano's hearing and echolocation. Both of them seem to be equal in the sight department, even though the view for now is of Abednego's back and wings. But up ahead, out of sight but not out of echo range.. is something else. A soft wall.
The mists begin at ground level, becoming thicker and higher as they continue on. Orca clearly doesn't like 'wading' through it at this point, since he can't see his feet because of the thickness. "Do not use your sonar once we are fully within the mist," Abednego warns Soldano.
"Moss? A hill? A magical barrier?" Scourge has to wonder as it slithers at a safe distance from behind the others. "And I really, really, want to kill that vampire. But ... I have to allow it to live for now." It's good to have things to think about, really, since it keeps him from going insane from all the different inputs at once.
Once the mist reaches head level.. things get hazy for Scourge, who is far enough back to still be mostly outside of the mist. The 'signals' from the Eeee and Skreek become jumbled once they're fully immersed. The mist really must be the edge of the Forbidden Zone.
"Right, time to focus. I need to follow the jumble and the murk," Scourge thinks at it continues ever onward. It committed to this course, and on it will go. It's survived worse, after all.
The inside of the mist is not what Scourge expected. While the view hasn't really changed much for Soldano and Orca - who still only a few feet ahead through the thick morass - for Scourge the world is.. lit up. There are glowing veins of light tracing over the trees, through the ground and through the air, making it seem like the mist itself has a mind, or is part of one. And further on, the glowing lines pick out strange, disturbing shapes.
"Ah, a land of insanity. Sweet, succulent, insanity," Scourge thinks, and would drool but ... well, it doesn't have much of a digestive tract. It continues trailing those ahead, but its attention shifts about as it also pays attention to the lights ... and the worrying shapes.
The landscape.. moves? Well, the lights do. But now Scourge can see the path that Abednego is following: the lights are dimmer, with charms staked through them on either side of the road. "I don't like dis," Orca complains. "It like the world ends at the tip of me tail."
"It does," Abednego claims. "Stray from the path and you will be lost."
"Bah, he says that to scare you. It is more that ... it messes with perceptions past a point. They have made a path and you are on it," Scourge thinks. "And given the danger of this ... it is likely both of them will be inducted, forcibly if need be. I should be able to cure them in time. She would not risk zombification so early."
After further walking in silence (so that they can listen in around them for anything that might be sneaking up), Abednego raises his hand to halt them. "Something passes, we must wait," he says. The ground begins to thump with heavy footfalls.
For Scourge, it looks like the trees are moving - but they're legs, reaching impossibly high up. There's a creature, covered in swirling, dark patterns. Its legs must be a hundred feet long, and thick as treetrunks, the toes splayed out like roots. Six sets of them, as the long strides take it past the road in front of them. There are more creatures on its back, but they are hard to make out at this distance.
And Scourge draws up short and stills. It listens and looks for what comes ... and if it will quickly need to move away from whatever it is. "Ah, the fun of mysterious lifeforms..." it thinks.
Orca and Soldano can only hear the creature pass, and the Eee reflexively lets out a ping - which comes back like a scream from all directions, forcing him to his knees as he covers his ears.
"And how ... interesting. A giant insect with its children," Scourge rationalizes based on what it sees ... or rather, senses. It then has to twitch and cringe as it unfortunately heard that too since it is tapped into Soldano's ears. "He did warn you" the shadow-creature thinks in complaint.
The trio get moving again, and Soldano keeps his chirps to himself this time. There are lots of things moving out there in the mist, hidden from the travelers but not from Scourge. There are things similar to the creature down in the pit - amorphous blobs of moss, sprouting eyes and mouths and pseudopods at random. None come close to the path though. There are trees that move around on tentacled roots, and things that seem more animal than vegetable at times, but the theme is always the same - the creatures of the mists are both and neither, just like Scourge.
"I should probably be worried I am like them. Being like them cannot be good," Scourge thinks and feels slightly worried about that. Thankfully he has stuff to focus on so he can't ruminate on his 'relationships' to the creatures here. "I miss being normal," Scourge finally admits to itself.
There's more to miss about normality the deeper they go. Soon the landscape is completely alien, with the tree-creatures left behind. The ground is pulled up into twisted spires of stone, and soon that stone begins to look cut, but by someone with a very bizarre aesthetic. The charms are more prevalent now, as the things beyond the path come closer in, looking more predatory and intelligent, although Scourge sees that intelligence as intensely purple and insane. One thing ghosts along besides the walkers, using its tentacles to mimic the shape of Orca, and gibbering madly. The Skreek is not taking it well, the colors of his own mind beginning to shift.
"Calm yourself," Scourge finds himself thinking ... then testing if the link he shares with Orca can be used to calm him down. It's feeling a bit protective of these two, even though he could theoretically not care and not use them. The very idea they may soon be Hers makes his skin crawl; and not in a good way.
The mists are thinning out, letting Soldano and Orca actually see more now. Above is a bruised Forbidden Zone sky, and the path not winds through a megalithic city of sorts, built by someone with a love of straight lines but a hatred of right angles. The path straightens, leading to a bridge over a wide chasm. On the other side is a fortress.. or a temple. It's hard to look at, the angles and structures hard to follow with a rational eye. But there are sentries posted above the gate. Scourge can suss them, so they must be alive still, but their minds are tinged with encroaching madness.
The monsters don't follow into the city, much to Orca's relief, but it takes awhile before the gibbering has completely faded away - only to be replaced by a heavy, oppressive silence.
"Who would want to live herE? Can they not see that it is devouring them?" Scourge thinks as it continues to slither along ... and now that they approach the city, it has to start looking for shadows to hide in. The mists will likely not conceal it much longer.
There are plenty of shadows, but.. some of them are wrong. They lay on the wrong side of things, or seem too deep or don't match the skewed geometry of the thing casting them. It's like they are frozen in place.
Those shadows ... Scourge avoids. If they're unnatural, they could be dangerous. "Servants of the General? Artificial shadow monsters?" it wonders. "Threats to me."
They don't glow, so probably aren't alive. They may simply be part of the weird geometry of the city. But Scourge is able to find a regular shadow, behind a solid freestanding plinth of sorts close to the edge of the chasm. There's something down there at the bottom, and it's so purple it's practically ultraviolet and fills the entire space. The temple is on an 'island' of sorts, with the chasm serving as a moat.
"How close do I dare to go? I have to know what she will do with them," Scourge ... worries. It looks about, trying to find a way to follow unseen.
It might be possible to go under the bridge. Scourge can make up some cavelike openings in the side of the island-cliff. In another part of its awareness, Orca is covering his nose against the smell of rotting matter, and Soldano is looking at the nearer guard as they pass under the giant archway. The Guardian soldier looks back with haunted eyes.
"Dead guard?" Scourge has to wonder as it slithers, low, and tries to head for the bridge so that it can go along under the bridge. "How could anyone think anything here would be for the good of Babel?"
The bridge is held up with arches that resemble.. stone tentacles. The tentacles themselves have plenty of handholds as well, covered as they are with open mouths, suckers and eyes. It should be possible to cross via them, and there are shadowed openings in the cliff wall beneath the far end of the bridge.
Thin lips draw back as Scourge smiles. The shadow-creature practically oozes itself out onto on4 of the tentacles and begins is slow crossing. Now and then it focuses on the other two, trying to suss their ... condition.
There's an unsettling sense that the tentacles aren't entirely inert as Scourge slinks across them. Soldano and Orca are passing into a giant doorway now. Here there are torches to light the way, although they burn oddly green and cast sharp shadows. The pillars holding up the ceiling might be statues, but if so the subjects would have been horrifying to behold. "It is not much farther," Abednego claims. "None of the zone creatures can enter this sanctuary, so you have nothing to fear." At the 'nothing to fear' phrase, Orca's mind lights up. Scourge can't hear his thoughts, but can easily imagine his inner voice noting, "Present company excluded."
Scourge almost laughs. All you can really do in a place of horrors is laugh in its face. Or faces, or anus if you can't really tell. "You're worse than any of the zone creatures. They're insane, you enjoy it," the shadow creature thinks as she slithers across the stone tentacles. Still, he has to feel impressed that both of his friends have held up this well. He'd have run screaming were he normal.
There are two cave openings beneath the bridge, and of course they look disturbing - unidentifiable alien orifices. There suss-flickers from deeper within them.
"Talk about entering the bowels of a temple," Scourge has to think as he focuses, trying to find the one with the least flicker to enter. Few would try to mess with him ... but this place is full of 'few' kinds of things.
The one on the left seems the quietest. Above, Soldano and Orca pass a room (although it's the size of a cathedral) full of unmoving soldiers, all standing frozen at attention. They finally reach the end of the long hall, where another portal with a disturbingly carved arch leads downward. A separate set of stairs has been laid over the original, which were clearly meant for giants.
"Into the less glowy passage I slither like an intestinal worm," Scourge thinks rather wryly. So, in it goes, trying to track track Soldano, Orca, and keep up with them as it moves along, trying to stay as close as it can.
The pair is descending the giant's staircase certainly. And the inside of Scourge's passage is.. disturbingly organic, despite being stone. It seems to be curving around, rather than going straight through the base of the temple, but if it stays on course it should intersect the stairs at some point. Further ahead, there is a circular porthole in one side of the passage, through which shines multicolored light - real light, that is, not suss-light.
"What is this place?" Scourge has to wonder. If nothing else it allows it to know how to sneak back in, where it wanting to do a stealth-strike. It continues forward, slower, as it approaches the porthole. There it pauses to try and look through and see what is beyond ... without being seen itself.
The opening is high up on the wall of another chamber, which looks like a giant bowl filled with flickering, glowing stew. Except it's not stew, it's.. whatever that thing was under Abbas tower. Or else the parent of it. There is an Eeee woman being tossed and subsumed in the mass, and clearly being penetrated by pseudopods. Her mind is.. gone. Empty, as if her spirit had been sucked out to leave just a body. There are others, off to one side on a shelf, with wildly distended (and throbbing) bellies. One part of Scourge recalls lovemaking with Melusine, but this.. isn't the same.
Scourge twitches. Were it not some sort of horrible thing to do, it would almost be interesting to experience what they are. "She is creating more of those things. Anchors to create her new army. Sunala will ... not be happy," it thinks, frowning. If it could destroy this now, it would ... but then its presence will be known. And that ... that endangers all. Scourge must wait.
Soldano and Orca continue to descend, the carved faces of creatures from a world without symmetry looking down on them. Panic is rising in Orca, and Soldano is also twitchy and refuses to look at anything the next step and the back of their undead guide. The descent goes on and on..
Scourge turns away from the horror and mockery of birth; it must follow the others before they get too much further.
The tunnel ahead is quiet and dark. As Scourge hurries along it, there are the occasional branches - but it's easy to tell which one is going downward. It seems like the tunnel curves and spirals down along the outer edge of the temple mound, and while it has to cover more distance to keep pace, Scourge is able to maintain a similar level with the Eee and Skreek. There are more portals that it passes, but most are dark, while others contain the chaotic, shapeless creatures in bowls but lack the harem of artificially created Srinalas. One that Scourge passes even seems to be dead - or at least inert - forming an almost solid crystalline mass.
Scourge pauses at this and takes a moment to see if its crystal is like that of of shadow dragon's heart. It could explain some of what the General is experimenting with; a way to create a new shadow.
There is certainly some similarity, although even still the creature's surface is hard to focus on, as if it's not quite all there. Edges meet at impossible angles, or seem to just fade out into blurs or spiral and replicate themselves endlessly. But there's no reaction from Scourge's own shadow.
Scourge shakes its head. No time to linger in the belly of the beast. It turns away from this new horror and continues through the winding passage, descending into the depths.
Down and down, both the dragon-thing and the pair of mortals descend. Eventually, Soldano and Orca reach the bottom of the stair, and are led down another giant passage, which ends at another bridge over a chasm. This one is familiar to Scourge, glimpsed in a dream. The bridge leads out to a suspended platform with a macabre throne upon it, the seated figure dwarfed by the scale of things. Both men freeze for a moment until Abednego guides them forward with a hand to each of their backs. Shortly after that, Scourge comes upon a portal opening high up on the domed chamber. From here, it can see similar portals, some of them occupied by the shapeless monsters. But down below, in the chasm, is a boiling mass of insanity, like one of the monsters but a thousand times bigger.
And here is where Scourge draws to a stop to watch his friends below. It wishes it could have prevented them from coming at all; but there was no choice. Or at least that is what it has to tell itself. If anything irreparable happens to them, though, ... it isn't sure what it would do. "Please, be safe," it thinks; feeling fear; not for itself, for them.
The trio approach the throne. Next to is an armored figure, but it becomes clear that it's just the armor. The one on the throne wears a simple cloth draped over one shoulder and wrapped around her waist, the black fabric a mockery of the white that a Yodhinala would wear in a similar style. She sits up as the others arrive, and even hops down to stand on the platform with them. From Soldano's view, the woman has an unearthly beauty to her, and the irises of her eyes glow with the reflection of a fire that isn't there. "Captain Soldano," she says. "I am the General. It is a pleasure to meet you." The woman then holds out the back of her right hand. There's a moment of hesitation before the captain realizes he's supposed to take it. He kisses the back of it, like a proper noble should.
From Orca's perspective.. the General is tall. Taller and broader than Soldano even. He doesn't dare smell her though. Since entering the fortress, his nose has done its best to shut down. Orca does not find the woman beautiful, only harsh and imposing.
"And there is the old adage about appearing fair and feeling foul. How can he kiss her hand?" Scourge thinks as a shudder actually runs through it body. It also has to wonder just how it will react when the time comes Alptraum will be face to face with that thing.
"It.. it is an honor to be called to your presence," Soldano manages to croak out. Scourge can feel the coldness of the General's hand when Soldano takes it, and when he kisses it it must be like kissing a corpse. "How can we of the Shadowdrake serve you, my lady?"
"Ew, ew, ew," is all Scourge can think. "And never offer!"
The General cups Soldano's cheek with her other hand, giving the man a chill, and smiles. "I can think of many ways.. but as in all things; business before pleasure. I find myself at a momentary disadvantage, you see. My eyes and ears in Babel have been closed. I need you to help me remedy that."
"How so, my lady?" Soldano manages. Behind and to one side, Orca feels like retching, but is afraid to lest he be kicked over the side by Abednego for the insult.
"There is no good answer to that question," Scourge thinks. It twitches again. It wants to dive down there and end this. End her. But ... it knows not what she is capable of.
The General steps closer, wrapping an arm around the man and pressing against him. "I want you to kill someone. I will provide you with the bait, but the rest will be up to you," the creature purrs.
"Wh.. who?" Soldano says, the edges of his mind during pink.
"Me, I suspect," Scourge thinks.
"The Barsunala," the General whispers, and smiles.
"Yes, me. Thought so," Scourge thinks and actually smirks.
"I.. I don't.." Soldano starts to say, only to have a cold finger pressed to his lips.
"I feel so important," Scourge thinks, eyes narrowed. "Just what do you plan, hmm?"
"You do not need to know him," the General says. "He will come for the bait, and you will see who it is then. I will give you enough so that you can plan a trap. The only requirement is that the final trap be sprung on Mt. Sunala, in a hidden shrine that I will give you the directions to."
"Of course.." Soldano says, forcing a smile. "What.. what do I use for bait?"
"She's a bit of a coward for not coming for me herself," Scourge thinks smugly. "But not surprising."
"I will give you several pregnant Srinalas," the General explains. "You will place them around Babel where.. well, where they will cause the most damage. This will draw the Barsunala out. He cannot resist destroying these creatures. Watch him. Learn his tactics. Prepare for him.. and kill him at the appointed place. Can you do this for me, Soldano?"
Given the likely consequences of not being able to do it, the Eee replies, "On my family name, I will do this for you."
"And to seal your promise, a kiss," the General says, before pushing Soldano's head to one side and biting into his neck.
"My tactics change. It all ... depends," Scourge thinks, making a face. It shakes its head, then freezes! The bitw. That's ... bad. Very very bad. Is she doing...?
Soldano shakes, and is clearly not enjoying it, even though he is half vampire himself. When the General lets go and pulls back, she pulls something from her wrap and presses it to the wound. It isn't a black heart - Scourge would sense that. But what it is may be just as bad: a tiny, squirming piece of chaos from one of the monsters. It forces it's shapeless way into Soldano through the bite wound. "And this gift is what will let you kill the unkillable," the General says. "You must use it before too long, however, or it might decide to stay a part of you. You have ten days, after which the shoggoth larvae will begin to devour you from the inside. It is not pleasant, I assure you."
"How do I undo that? How do I fix it? Or ... is this something the Light is needed for?" Scourge has to think, frowning ever deeper. "And what of Orca? Is he to share this fate?" This is bad.
"Cap'n," Orca gasps, trembling now. This, unfortunately, reminds the General of his presence. "You there, First Mate," she says, not even trying to use her glamour on him. "You will ensure that your Captain keeps his promise to me. If he fails, you will suffer a fate far, far worse than his." She then grins, and notes, "I know you are fond of that rat-whore. She will suffer before you do, I promise."
Orca's blood pressure jumps to the point that he nearly passes out, but nods and kneels down. "I will keep the Cap'n straight an' true to his promise," he says, practically crying.
That almost makes Scourge laugh. "That's her enemy, does she not know this?," it thinks, shaking its head. "And given she intends me, that last part is hardly a threat if he knew. But, he doesn't."
The General looks at the Skreek with contempt. "You've spoiled my romantic mood," she complains. "Abednego, take them away. Load up the bait and send them back to the world of the living."
"Darn. I don't get to watch her engage in carnal pleasures," Scourge thinks a bit wryly. "So now I have to leave here, and find a way to save Soldano. Or he may choose to die."
For a moment, Scourge can almost suss a flicker of anger from Abednego at being ordered about like a servant. He grabs Orca by the shoulder and jerks the Skreek up high before dropping him to his feet. "I'm not carrying you out. Follow me and do not linger."
"You don't like being kowtowed to a woman, do you?" Scourge thinks, "No matter. It is time to soon leave this place. I do not need them to find my way back, I don't think ... and I need time to plan how to deal with the Srinala's ... and him"
"Try not to make a mess of things this time, Abednego," the General notes to the backs of the retreating men. "I grow weary of your disappointments."
On the way back out through the 'guts' of the fortress, Scourge feels no itches other than Abednego. But there's a different sort of itch, at the back of its mind - like something scratching at a door to be let in.
"Kaira?" Scourge thinks. IT pauses in its exit and tries to identify the source of that itch.
The feeling that comes in response is definitely draconic.. but not Kaira. "Little pig, little pig, let me in.." Vorgulremik chants in Scourge's mind.
"I'm not a pig. And why would I? You want to go visit your former girlfriend?" Scourge thinks, scowls, and continues on its way out.
"Now now, no need to be jealous - you're the only one for me, you know," the dark dragon claims. "This place feels so familiar. Filled with the leftovers of a previous cycle of Creation, you might say. I'm just here to advise you, of course."
"Sure you are. Just what do you want to advise me of this time?" Scourge thinks grimly. As if it didn't feel bad enough.
"The creature in your friend," Vorgulremik whispers. "How can the General be so sure of its eventual effect, if she hasn't used it on others?"
"I'm sure she had. I just don't know who. And I don't want to infect myself to find out," Scourge thinks.
"They are curious creatures," the dragon explains. "Without form or mind or will - slaves, controlled by psychic means. But they are versatile. Like the shadow, they can become what they devour."
"Your point? Do you want me to get infected? Or are you hinting it is what happened to the guards?" Scourge asks in thought.
"The guards are most likely having their minds and spirits drained away by this place," Vorgulremik notes. As Scourge passes the 'passion pit' portal, all is quiet within - but a glance shows the Srinala are gone. "A small shoggoth is not very powerful, but if it could replace a person with a puppet duplicate, that might be useful. Such a thing could not survive for long in your reality, though. But there are plenty of uses for something that dies after performing some pre-programmed deed. You know Soldano is infected, so study him. Learn to detect the parasite so you will recognize it in others."
"You want me to get close to him? His goal is to now kill me. And I suspect I know exactly where; the same chamber I was born it. It has a certain poetic reasoning to it," Scourge points out as it slithers along.
"I think you should ken him," Vorgulremik suggests. When Scourge reaches the tunnel mouth, the others are yet to get there: A cart is being loaded with cloaked figures, while Orca and Soldano wait uncomfortably.
"That means seducing him. That's rather gross, given his condition you know," Scourge points out as slithers into hiding, and waits quietly until the others move so that it can follow.
"Do you want to save him?" Vorgulremik asks. "Or yourself? The General thinks that larva can kill you. That seems unlikely to me. She planned to put the Srinalas around Babel already, probably with the covens. But you destroyed those. She is trying to draw you out, but this plan to kill you is clearly a last-minute effort."
"I think it is more to test what I am capable of," Scourge thinks, "While she observes through him. I suspect she expects him to die from what is within him ultimately, not really that it could kill me. As for if I want to save him, yes."
The wagon is filled, and pulled by.. either zombies or hollow-men, as they have no presence to Scourge's sussing sense. Orca is jumpy enough, and ready to run ahead, but Abednego forces them to keep to the wagon's pace. Soldano is quiet, his mind gray.
"Time to go," Scourge thinks as it slithers from its hiding place so that it can follow the men out. "I imagine Soldano feels ... upset. At some level he probably does blame me. I cannot blame him; a lot of Babel's problems are my fault."
"I am certain he is trying to find a way to kill himself that does not impact his friend," Vorgulremik notes. "A clever trap for one who succumbs to morality. I'm curious to see what you do."
"That's simple. Save him," Scourge thinks. "You know me well enough by now."
"Ah, but I want to see how you do it," Vorgulremik notes with a chuckle. "Especially if you find a way to that makes you stronger. That is, unless you want my help?"
"I'm not that desperate yet," Scourge thinks and smirks. "I'll figure something out."
"Do you want me to watch over your dreams still?" the dragon asks.
"If you like. I am not in any danger from mind magic anymore and I don't have worm issues to deal with," Scourge thinks at it continues to slither along.
Once the caravan has left the distorted city, the mist creatures come out in force. They follow along the path, probing its defenses with root and claw and tentacle, as if the Srinalas were some sort of irresistible delicacy. A few them even take notice of Scourge, if they can't crowd in close enough to the wagon and get left behind.
"Don't bother with me, unless you want to die horribly," Scourge rumbles softly at those that try to draw close to him. He continues to follow, pondering the larva. If it is a spirit-thing ... the dagger may serve him here. He could sever it from him and take it into the dagger.
One of the creatures warps itself into a disturbed mimicry of Scourge, although one that appears to be made of thorns and vines and intestines. "Brother.." it.. communicates, somehow. But doesn't say anything more.
Scourge stops and eyes it. "What?" it finally asks in a low tone.
"Brother," the creature repeats, and.. copies Scourge's stance.
Scourge rolls what it has for eyes, then turns and heads down the path after the wagon. "They're just trying to mess with me," it thinks.
Now a second monster on the other side of the path tries the same thing, but is less successful since it has more eyes and legs. For wings it uses two giant leafy fronds.. which seem to have visible blood pulsing through the veins. "Brother," it calls, and follows along as well.
The further they go, the more the creatures tend to fall back. Orca has his eyes focused on Abednego's feet, and refuses to look away. Even Soldano tries to avoid looking at the monsters.
While this is a good development for those in the lead, it means that Scourge is collecting an entourage of monsters that try to mimic it. If anyone were to look back.. well, the mists are thicker now and they probably wouldn't see anything.
"Or they're trying to lure us off the path. Not happening," Scourge thinks to himself. It does, however, spit spores at them now and then for being ... irritating.
The spores don't have anything to latch onto, which is just as well since who knows how these things perceive their world? But they do have odd effects. One mimic begins to loose coherence, writhing about in.. well it might be agony or ecstasy. The others near it begin pulling it apart, taking in the pieces and.. writhing around in ecstasy as well. This halves the number of followers, at least.
The remainder seem intent on getting the same attention though, crowding against the wards and bombarding Scourge with gibbering chants, clicks, whistles and mental calls of 'Brother'.
"Great, they're perverted monsters," Scourge glowers, "I am nothing like them. At all. When do I ever do something perverse?"
"You seem perfectly unperverted to me," Vorgulremik chuckles.
"You shut up too," Scourge grumbles mentally. He now has the urge to flick it's tail outside of the path.
As the mists thicken, some of the creatures are forced to stop. Before long, the last is left behind, as they move through the 'shore' zone where things look more like a normal forest, with an odd overlay of strangeness. Up ahead, there's a dullness in Scourge's feed from Soldano and Orca as they pass through the outer boundary of the zone.
"Mission almost over. Good. Tulani is probably close to panicking somewhere. She will not be happy about Soldano," Scourge thinks as it slows down to let the wagon get a bit further ahead so that it won't notice once it slithers back to normalcy.
Once outside the zone, the zombified guards don't seem to want to go much further. "The wagon is yours from this point," Abednego tells Soldano and Orca. The old road is overgrown, and uphill to boot. "May the Kindly Ones aid your efforts," the vampire adds sarcastically, and then gives a deep laugh before turning back towards the Forbidden Zone with the zombies.
"May you get buggered by a tree trunk," Scourge growls to itself. It shakes its head, then tries to slink out of the mists without being seen.
The zombies don't react at all if they sense Scourge. But then.. of course they wouldn't, if Scourge is like the mist creatures, otherwise the zombies wouldn't be able to function with all the distractions.
Scourge both tries to sense Tulani ... and the state of Soldano. "Nothing is ever easy," it thinks.
As soon as their escort is out of sight, Orca climbs onto the wagon and pulls the hood back on one of the four passengers. "Hey, lady.. lady? Can you walk?" he asks the Srinala, which of course.. just stares blankly.
Tulani is in the near distance - perched near the ruined tower, it feels like. Soldano has his face in his hands. The spores are wearing out, since Scourge's link to the two men seems to be fading.
"Cap'n, I say we take the Drake and never look back," Orca says, after failing to get a reaction from the pregnant woman. "We grab Nikky, and head to Rephidim! They got doctors and mages and the Temple even: someone will be able to get that thing outta you!"
So Scourge risks it; he tries to slink closer to the two men he followed in, to hear what they are saying. It then quickly settles in to listen.
Soldano is quiet. "A good plan, but you'll have to go without me," he says. "There's no way I'd last long enough to reach Rephidim, and I'm not going to let myself turn into a monster in the air. I'd go to the Yodhsunala first, and let them deal with me and these.. women."
"You ain't never quit," Orca counters. "We.. we can do this, right? Kill this Barsoomian guy, then run. You'll be safe then! That thing in you will be gone."
Scourge is .. torn. Should he speak to them? Or should he not? Can the General see through his eyes due to that ... infection?
Soldano stands up a bit straighter, and takes a deep breath. "Okay, we.. place these.. bombs.." he says, gesturing the Srinalas. "I know where. It's in my head. But.. we see if this demi-god shows up. We'll see what he's like. Then.. we can think of options."
Scourge actually speaks up, though in a way as if to make it hard to tell where he is if possible. "What do you think he is like?" his hollow voice asks. "Or ... what do you hope he is like?"
Soldano turns toward the forest. Orca is preoccupied with the Srinalas. He gets one to stand up, and hold any pose he puts her in, and finally gets her to walk by pulling on her arms. "Who is out there?" Soldano asks.
"A friend," comes the hollow reply. "What you face will be ... a test of faith. I ask that you do not despair; you have more allies than you know."
"That may be so, but I have to act as if I don't," Soldano says. "This is my burden, and my punishment. I will decide my own course, based on what I see and learn, as I always have. It may be the wrong course, there may be no reward at the end, but I will have chosen it of my own free will."
"Life is not about reward, it is about doing what you believe to be right. I have faith in you, and in what you will decide," the hollow voice replies. "Until we meet again." And with that, the voice grows silent.
"Who you talking to, boss?" Orca asks, finally looking out into the woods as well for the source of the voice.
"The Kindly Ones," Soldano claims, and goes to help Orca's Srinala down. "You bring the women to the old ruin," he says. "I'll go get the ship. This storm will be breaking up soon - they don't usually last past dawn - and I want to use it for cover while we can."
"I won't let you down, Cap'n," Orca claims, and salutes before going back to guiding the pregnant women to the ground.
And with that, Scourge slinks away from the two men to leave them to their tasks ... so he can focus on his own. "Nothing is ever easy," it thinks, "I can bear burdens, but ... it is harder for me to watch another bar it; especially when it is my fault. She involved him because of me. More blood on my hands."