A beautiful, green-furred Skreek woman is lounging on a severely tilted flying buttress, one leg dangling over the edge and swinging back and forth. "I miss them," says Gorphat-as-Mabb, the Babelite sub-goddess of Skreeks. "They were always worshipful. They understood the role of disease. Now they're all gone, either to my doorstep or to others. Is it sad, or is it joyful, Rat-of-Blakat? Or are you the Rat-of-Inala still?"
"Right now I'm the rat of torture," Nox (aka Cerise) remarks as she rubs her shoulder with her hand. It fortunately still has claws in this place. "So, I'm ... neither right now. Just a street whore taken to either breed children to eat, or to be tortured for the amusement of others," the dark skreek explains and makes a face. "It's ... rough. Time as Nicora has helped in preparing for it, at least."
"Mmmmmm," Gorphat happily churrs. "Of course. And now you wish to serve the role of Queen of Vermin, I imagine?"
"I'm not sure what that means," Nox admits, brow arched a little. "But ... what I do need is to be diseased ... with something that is hard to detect, and takes a long time to incubate. At least eighteen days before I could pass it on to someone else. Once they put me into ... service. It needs to be distinctive and detectable. So, something very visible, or with a strong smell."
"Indiscriminate?" Gorphat asks, rolling onto her side. She's rather plump, but that is a Skreek mark of attractiveness. "Or something that lets you choose who will be infected?"
"Well, if the latter is possible, then that would be preferred," Nox claims as she openly ogles Gorphat-Rat. Aside from finding Gorphat attractive in general, the rat form manages to turn her on a bit too.
"But indiscriminate if it is not possible is fine," Nox adds.
"And it must infect Eeee? Naga? Everything?" Gorphat asks, tail swishing languidly.
"Eeee and Naga primarily, if possible," Nox says and nods. "Other species would be bonus, but not required."
"But.. non-fatal? Only... challenging?" the green rat asks, just to be sure.
"Non-fatal. It is so we can identify them later so they can go to trial," Nox says and nods. "So, I need to be a plague rat, of a sort."
"An apt moniker," Gorphat claims. "But.. not quite. I don't think you want your targets to infect others, correct?"
"And there's always the side benefit of knowing that you touched me, of course," Nox schmoozes. "My most beloved Goddess." She then nods, confirming, "Just me to them, but not beyond them."
"A fungus would be fine too," Nox notes. "I defer to your infinite wisdom on such things."
Gorphat sits up, and smiles. "Skreeks are so very close to my heart, you know," she says. "Living here, so close together in such propitious conditions. They became so used to disease.. and so immune, over time. Some very promising plagues became extinct before they could ever make a proper impression. Skreek Flu, for instance. It cultivates in their lungs.. causes a nasty cough. A type of fungus. It can be spread to other species, but not generate spores. The non-Skreeks who become infected suffer a brief cough at best. But if it gets into their fur or scales.. it can be visible to those that see the right flavor of light, or have keen noses."
Nox tilts her head. "Oh, that sounds perfect," the skreek says with a big, toothy, grin. "I should find another rat form that I can didicate to you some day, to go with the lapis, and of course the ultimate representation of your glories, Yodhgorphat Scourge."
"It is not an easy disease to find.. unless one has access to my temple's library, of course," Gorphat says. "And getting it to you.. hmmm. Vermites are always useful, if they can reach you."
"We are somewhere deep beneath the city. Old sewers if I had to guess," Nox notes as her brow furrows in thought. "Can you send Nicora's children, the horribs to see if they can find my scent? It may help in locating me," she suggests as she tries to clamber over and get closer to Gorphat.
"The city is large, and your horribs are few.. but they will search," Gorphat says. "They need only find the sewer drain, and the vermites can handle the rest. So.. be sure to eat every vermite you come across."
"That I could do," Nox says once she gets close to Gorphat. She even dares to reach out and pet the green rat. "I miss you. I miss being in your temple," Nox claims. "Thank you for allowing me to visit you, and for your assistance. What may I do for you in payment?"
The green rat's smile gets wider and toothier. "Oh.. you must overcome the challenge of course," she says. "You cannot use the shadow.. it would consume the spores and all would be for naught. So you must eat the vermites, and use only your unassisted stomach to deal with them. When you can do so without vomiting.. I'll be pleased."
Nox's eye twitches, but she continues to pet what she can reach of Gorphat. "As you wish," the rat says politely.
"What will happen to this fungus when I return to being an Eeee?" Nox inquires, now curious.
"Hmmm.. I don't know," Gorphat admits. "You will probably be rather shiny to vermin though."
"I'm shiny all the time due to the ... copious effluence that flows from between Nicora's legs," Nox points out and grins anyway. "And I must now admit ... As Nicora I have become ... fond of that condition."
"Addiction is also a challenge to be overcome," Gorphat points out.. literally by pointing at the encroaching Skreek's nose.
"What? Do you wish me to stop worshipping you?" Nox asks, sounding slightly hurt and takes a step back.
The green rat laughs! "Hardly! Only that you need to overcome my challenges - not relish in keeping them. There must be struggle. And be sure to note to your 'rescuers' that your faith in Mabb helped you endure as well. I do not want my Skreeks forgetting about me."
"That challenge Nicora bears makes just living very difficult. That is why I like it. It makes me feel close to you," Nox says in a huff and crosses her arms. "As for noting that faith in Mabb helped, yes, I will do that."
"I wish to hear their prayers again, even if.. even if they forget all of this," Gorphat says, sweeping her arm to encompass the abandoned rubble-town.
"I understand," Nox says. The rat actually still feels a bit hurt by Gorphat's earlier comment. "I will keep look out for vermites after a day passes to give time for the horribs to start hunting."
"Oh, you shouldn't wait if you see one," Gorphat says, wagging a finger. "You need to condition yourself to eating them, after all."
"All right. Fine. I will do so," Nox concedes.
"It will help, I assure you," Gorphat says. "All of the extra vomit and diarrhea will make it easier for the horribs to find you."
Nox smirks at that. "It also means more visits by their Doctor," she points out, "Which is not pleasant."
Gorphat tilts her head at this. "Ah.. you're supposed to be getting pregnant, aren't you?" she realizes. "Skreeks do not suffer from morning sickness though. Stress, however, causes all manner of bodily reactions. Perhaps the doctor will see nothing awry?"
"I have no idea. The doctor is a sadistic naga," Nox remarks and shrugs. "And of course I will not get pregnant, not unless you or your Sisters intervene somehow. Which I hope done not happen, as I need to make it to the Pit."
"I think Inala has already gotten the children that she wanted out of you," Gorphat notes, a bit indignantly. "Trying to tempt away my Skreeks, no doubt."
"If any Goddess were to get me pregnant, I would prefer it to be you anyway," Nox claims.
"I may ask you to return the favor, of course," Gorphat notes with another disturbing grin. "And speaking of.. it is nearly time for your new friend to rouse you, I think. If you wish to have longer, uninterrupted rest, I suggest you get him to suckle on you."
"What do you mean by returning the favor?" Nox now inquires, brow arched again. "And is it time for Wretch to rut me again? He does it every hour or so in hopes of knocking me up. I reek of skreek and sex now."
"That is what a Skreek should reek of," Gorphat says. "And.. the Barsunala is potent.. perhaps enough to sire a goddess? It would be interesting to find out."
"You wish to get pregnant?" Nox inquires, surprised by this.
"Why should Inala be the only one?" Gorphat says, then laughs in a very Skreek-like manner as she begins to crumble away into green dust. The buttress is also starting to shake and crumble.
"Crap, time's up!" Nox squeaks as she tries to mad scurry away from the crumbling structure!
The earthquake follows her.. until she wakes up. The shaking is still happening, but it's from Wretch thrusting away on top of her. It'll be at least ten minutes now before she can get back to sleep.
"I need you to help me put my fingers back," Nox grumbles as she's woken up to the animalistic rutting she's currently enduring from him. And yes, she can even smell herself now, and it's rather pungent and unpleasant.
"Huh?" the half-asleep white rat mumbles. His body clock must be pretty powerful to keep him to a schedule even when he's not fully awake.
Nox ... sighs to herself. There is no pleasure at all in this kind of breeding-sex. More of the livestock theme, she supposes. So, while the rat works on her ... she tries to grip herleft ring finger with her right three good fingers. If she can manage a good enough grip, a short pull should pop it back.
The exposed fingers look terrible, swollen and black-purple from the last knuckle on. The ring and pinky fingers have the bonus of being swollen at the first knuckle as well. The yank is very painful - enough that Nox may want that leather muzzle strap to bite on next time! But the finger does seem to pop back into place.
Nox nearly slams her head into the floor to try and muzzle the pained hiss and stop herself from screaming. "Ow, Dagh, that HURT," the rat thinks as she lies there, trembling from the pain. she has to rest a bit, then she actually goes fumble for the strap and stuffs it in her mouth before she attempts the other finger. Only one hand today, she thinks. Can't bear this too many times.
The pinky is easier, and less painful.. but now both fingers are throbbing.
Annnd, Nox wraps her hands back up after several long breaths and the blinking away of tears. "Yes, the others can wait," the rat thinks as her hand hurts horribly once more instead of the constant duller pain it had faded to.
Wretch misses most of this, since he's back to being asleep. Except for his hips. It's another minute before he finishes.
It's then that Nox remembers Gorphat's suggestion and tries to get the half-asleep skreek to suckle on one of her nipples. This is awkward since her hands don't really work right now. So, it's a lot of nudging him with her forearms to get his head onto her chest.
This causes him to snore. Maybe when he's more awake..
So, Nox gets up. She needs to stretch and move a bit. She also glares at the manacles, which have not been taken down. "I hate this place," the skreek thinks grimly.
Something scurries.. but it's not in the cell. The hall outside probably. So vermites can get into the place.
Feeling ill about this ... Nox goes over to the door and crouches down. She then uses her tailtip under the edge of the door if she can to try and lure the vermite in.
There's a bite.. since the tip of a Skreek's tail looks a bit like a fat juicy worm. Vermites aren't bright, after all.
"Ow! Everything hurts in here!" Nox thinks as she tries to yank her tail in and the vermite too!
The bug-rat thing is still clinging to the end of the tail, it's little beady red eyes sparkling in the candle-light.
Nox holds her tail up and then tries to bite the thing to kill it. Useless hands, so she's got to take the animal approach to it.
CRUNCH. The thing is covered in fur, but still crunches like a bug. It also squeals briefly.. and still doesn't let go of Nox's tail.
It has a flavor that only a Vykarin could love.
Nox closes her eyes and chews. She also has to lower herself, her tail, and the vermite to the floor to adequately do this. She starts chewing ... and if she gets bits, swallowing. Okay now she's starting to feel a bit like livestock. Or at least an animal. It's through force of will, and some conditioning to horrible things, she's even managing to attempt this.
Soon all that is left is the head.. which is still clamped onto Nox's tail. After Gorphat, Nox should be able to swallow anything! But it still feels horrible. Chunky and pointy.. with bits of shell that poke the sides of her stomach and clumps of fur that are just awful going down.
Feeling disgusted with this and herself, Nox sticks the head and the end of her tail into her mouth to try and chew it off. The head, not her tail. "Ugh," she thinks, feeling .... bleh.
The tiny brain is surprisingly sweet. And it isn't much longer before things start rumbling.
Nox sets her jaw to try and hold it down. But, she also shuffles herself on all fours over to a corner away from the sleeping area in case things ... erupt.
Things rise up, only to be pushed back down. Several times. Once Nox's substantial cheeks puff out as things nearly escape. But after five minutes of this, it seems to settle.
Nox swallows hard that last time, then dares to take a breath. "Okay ... so, it might stay down? Maybe?" the skreek worries. Or, it'll just come out of the other end in an unpleasant way soon enough.
After another five minutes, the Skreek may be wishing that it would come up again. After that it starts going down further, but not without leaving an ever expanding pocket of gas in the stomach.
Nox covers her stomach with her bandaged hands and whines. This is worse. She should have just vomited. So there the rat stays, huddled, clutching her gut, and hoping she'll survive eating that creature. It would be irony if eating a vermite is what kills her here.
The skreek at least tries to burp up some of that gas.
It is a very resounding burp, and it leaves her feeling sore inside. This is followed up with hiccups. And acid reflux..
"Ugh," poor Nox thinks, eyes closed. Winced, really. And Gods, if that burp wakes the guards, or the doctor ...
It does settle down.. except for the hiccups. There's more pain lower down.. and a symphony of gurgles becomes a one played on the butt-flutes soon after.
"Great, here it comes from the other end," Nox thinks as she shuffles about and, well, squats. It's not like she has a toilet in here, or much of anything. When she has to go, she goes on the floor. So far it has mainly been urine, which is why she has a urine smell to her pelt, particularly between her legs. It may be getting much worse soon.
There is the wash bucket.. which is probably full of stale water by now anyway.
Nox shuffles to it, tries to drink some from the bucket, then will dump the rest out and try to squat on that instead.
The water is a bit fowl by now, but it's better than nothing at washing the flavor out of her mouth.
The rest of the bucket is dumped out. Then the skreek gets an idea. She scoots it nearer to the stocks, and then uncerimoniously squats on it and uses the stocks stands to balance herself as best she can.
It takes some time. And whenever Nox thinks she's finally done.. she isn't. It smells far worse than she's used to.. and it feels like far too much to be caused by a little vermite. And since the solids weren't digested at all, there are crunchy bits in it. And it burns.
Nox' forehead rests against the stocks. "Why won't it stooooop?" the poor skreek thinks. The smell might be worse than how her hands feel. Might. And the real horror to this; she has to try again and again until the right vermite comes.
It does stop eventually.. and there isn't very much at all in there. It's the bits that are worrisome. And her insides feel.. exactly like they just passed some pointy and hairy bits very very very quickly through them. Vampires aren't known for having an very long intestinal system.
Nox leaves the bucket where it is and crawls back to the 'nest' to rest and recover from that. "Well, at least no one came by to check on me," she thinks, relieved to be spared a visit from the guards or the doctor. She lays there, just breathing, listening, and trying to sense auras.
It seems like everyone is asleep. There isn't a guard out in the hallway either. He may only be posted when someone actually needs to go into the cell.
Nox breathes a sigh of relief at this and closes her eyes. She needs to let Tulani know what is going on now too, so hopefully that one is asleep and she can locate her in the land of snooze.
Nox finds herself high above Babel, riding through the clouds on the back of a silver dragon. "Squee Squaw Squark Squack," the dragon rumbles. "I feel the weight of a Skreek on my back."
"Oh, stuff it. While you're out having fun spying and fornicating, I'm being tortured," Nox remarks from her perch upon the dragon's back. "So, yes, they took me. I'm somewhere deep under the city in a torture pit. It's apparently owned by a blood-red scaled Naga. A female. Also a doctor. You may want to see if you can uncover anything about such a person."
"No names?" Tulani asks. "And how did they get you? I couldn't find a trail at all."
"No names. The male whore, Pi, is their agent in the camp. His real name is Laxus, a former Barinala. Mave knows of him. I fully intend to deal with him personally, though, so no touching him," Nox remarks dryly. "As for how they got me, they drugged me heavily, then had a large naga swallow me and cart me off while I was paralyzed. I was barfed up later."
"Larger than Malagast?" the dragoness asks.
"Yes, larger than Malagast," Nox confirms. "I've so far been beaten, raped repeatedly, and recently they ripped my claws out. I've come close to dropping my guise and just killing all of them. A complete erasure of everything living down there."
"That's bad," Tulani says. "Sounds like something I'd do. Any ideas on your location?"
"None yet. I've got the horribs looking for me and I can sense them if they get close," Nox notes. "And I'm going to be here a while. Twenty-one days since my capture to see if I can get pregnant. If I can, I'll be relegated to breeding children for Naga to eat. If I cannot, I'll be sent to the pits to be tortured for the amusement of others. So ... we'll see if I even make it through the twenty-one days without snapping and killing everyone."
"After all you put up with for Gorphat, this is still that hard?" Tulani asks. "That sounds scary. Still.. if you do decide to terminate the mission early, be sure to keep the doctor alive if she's the one in charge. We still need to know her clientele."
"If I somehow do, I may have a special disease that will make anyone who came in contact with me in the pit develop it. It has a specific smell and to the right eyes and light, an odd look," Nox adds with a sigh. "That is if any of Gorphats vermin that carry it can find me in time."
"Truth be told, Tulani? I expect it's going to be worse than anything Gorphat ever put me through," Nox admits. "I'm actually scared down here."
"How long do you think you can hold out?" Tulani asks. "It'd be nice to at least know the location."
"I can take a lot of pain, and this place is going to push that limit hard," Nox says. "IS my life at risk down here? It might be."
"I am going to try and hold out to the end of it all, so beyond the twenty-one days and into the pit," Nox notes, "But if I do, and oyu find me ... I should warn you that you may find me a very mutilated rat."
"You've fixed mutilated rats before," Tulani says. "How are you doing on energy? That's a lot longer than I thought you'd be dealing with this.. you'll need to feed more often to conserve power."
"I get food and insects and such are down here. But I cannot use the shadow to soothe any injury. I have to endure it like any normal skreek would," Nox notes. "So if I get cut up .. or apart, I have to remain that way until I'm around the light again. All my energy has to go to maintaining my form."
"The doctor has already threatened to remove all my teeth, and that's before the pit," Nox says with a shudder, "To give you any idea of what I'm facing."
"That's... annoying," the dragon points out as she banks to circle the Wound. "I want to have surveillance in place as soon as possible, so don't hesitate to let me know as soon as you even have a general idea of where you are. I want to be prepped to extract you at a moment's notice."
"If it gets too bad, I can blow my cover. I could even use one of them as an energy source if I need to save myself," Nox points out. "But that's all if there is no other choice. So, right now, I'm a real prisoner and I've got a bleak future down here. I just don't know, Tulani. I want to find them all and their clients so this doesn't just relocate ... but I'm tempted to just kill them all before. It's a struggle. Do you think you could last to the end?"
"I'm actually scared, Tulani. I mean, I may lose parts of my body down here. Yes, I can rebuild myself with the shadow later, but ..." Nox says as she hunkers down. "The thought is just horrifying. I feel helpless."
"Nope," Tulani says. "But.. we should think of alternative plans, all the same. We want the clients. The staff.. is expendable. So if it comes to it, just capture the doctor, ken her and impersonate her while I interrogate the original."
"I also feel I should bear this all the way in honor of the skreeks that they did kill, so that their suffering can really be known," Nox also adds.
"We can always fake a victim for the pit.. like the whole scheme with the Frogmilker, remember?" Tulani asks. "It would also help to know how long they've been at this. Any clues?"
"Long enough for at least one generation of skreeks to know no other life than the pit," Nox notes. "So, several decades at least."
"That might be helpful, if they've been in the same location the whole time," Tulani says. "Secret or not, they'll leave some sort of mark. Especially if it's an abandoned area. I'll look into it."
I know it's connected to the sewers somehow, but that's about it," Nox notes, "All I saw the way there was inside of naga."
"Any sewer system would have to be ancient.. it's not like they use them anymore," Tulani notes. "Anything else you'd like me to do?"
"Fly low as you can at night. I might be able to sense you," Nox says. "Is there anything you need from me?"
"I think you've got your plate full enough, but if you can find any of the staff's names it'd help," Tulani says. "I'll start flying low at night, and cover a different section of the city each night. Let me know when you sense me the strongest and we'll focus our searches in that area."
"I know one name, Wretch, a skreek prisoner here used to take care of all the skreeks. He was born here and has never been out of the area. So, not much help to you," Nox notes.
"So, that's ... the state of things," Nox concludes, "I'm in danger here, but I'll do my best to hold out and expose them."
"Just don't take too big a risk if you can avoid it," Tulani requests. "I'll be waiting for you in my dreams.."
"The risk was already taken," Nox points out, "Now I just have to see it through. Somehow. I'll be listening for your ping, I just hope I am not so deep as to make you un-senseable. Literally, you've always been a bit unsensable in the other sense. Just .... when you see me again. Don't panic or freak out. I may be a mess by then, but ... I can heal. I hope."