Heat and pressure. That seems to be Nicora's world at the moment, but it isn't unpleasant - just cozy. There's also a sense of movement and a pungent odor, but her own limbs are pressed tight to her side. The odor is carried by extremely humid air as well, so that Nicora feels completely covered in water or some of other fluid. Part of the sense of motion is not just from her body moving, but also tiny crawling sensations over most of her body.
"What the Dagh is this?" Nicora thinks, then realizes who she is, and if her ears could splay, they would. "Where am ? Why am I here? Why is it all ... squishy? Why am I not hurting like I usually do?"
Something then bumps up against Nicora's bottom, and that hurts. Whatever it is seems to be in a hurry to get to.. wherever the motion of the 'walls' is moving them towards. There's an intermittent flash of light from... forward or overhead, it's difficult to tell which way is up in this situation. But it seems to get closer with each rippling push of the walls.
Nicroa goes /bleh/ and squirms, trying to get out of whatever she's in/! "/Why can't I ever get summoned normally?/" she wonders. At least she can't smell much right now.
Squirming seems to spur things along, but then there's the squeezing through the opening at the end. But when her head pokes free, Nicora seems to be emerging in the middle of a large field of white.. and a release of terribly foul gas that comes with her.
Nicora's ears go flat. "Oh you can't be serious, oh ugh," Nicora whines and wrinkles up her nose and face. It's either being pooped out, or birthed, and neighter of them are exactly a great thing. She squirms a bit more, trying to get out of there as fast as she can.
Squirming free is complicated by her wings being wrapped around her, and the fact for every two inches forward, she gets sucked back an inch. This was worse when it was just her head poking through, though. But it does let her see where she is better.
Nicora's ears twitch as she seems to not get anywhere squirming ... or rather very little anywhere as whatever is holding her seems to want to suck her back in now and then. At some point, she sort of resigns to it and quits squirming, figuring she may as well ride it out and not wear herself out!
Relaxing makes things go faster.. which reduces some of the pounding on her backside, and the sensitive bits of anatomy that shouldn't be exposed as they are. With each eruption of gas, however, a small rain of maggots is blown free, many of which fall onto Nicora. She's coming out on her back apparently.
Nicora goes, "Bleh!" This time vocally, as well as wincing her eyes up! "What in dagh's name did I do to deserve this?!" she asks, as she wiggles to try and get her distended anatomy to slide back up into her body so it gets beat on less!
This.. doesn't work very well. But once her butt clears the sphincter, and she's now hanging backwards, whatever was bumping against her is now stuck between her legs. Finally the culprit appears: a horrified looking Eeee woman, one of those nobles damned by Sunala. The head is then sucked right back in, to undergo the whole process in reverse again. This reduces the pressure enough so that Nicora can get her legs free before things pinch down again.
"Oh Gods!" Nicora squeaks once she realizes she saw a head! She starts squirming and pulling like mad to free herself from whatever is holding onto her legs! "Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew," she squeals over and over and over! She's not even feeling her insies half-flopping about right now!
With a final burst of flatulence, Nicora slides free, and sticks to the flesh of Magog's posterior. But a bit of movement breaks the adhesion just enough for her to flop end over end and.. stick again facing the opposite direction now. At least it means she can reach the ground, eventually.
Nicora goes aaaugh as she flops end over end, but she doesn't try to stop it as she does want to get away! It also re-familiarizes her with this body, and all it's floppy bits, including her many breasts, her severely prolapsed uterus, and overall bad waxy skin. "Why was I in Magog?" she asks the spinning world!
SPLUT! Finally she's free of Magog's skin, but now fallen into the slick trail of.. effluence.. the demi-goddess leaves behind her. This is of course followed by another rain of maggots, but at least Nicora is on her back again, rather than face down.
Nicora scrambles, trying to unfurl her wings and get up to her feet so that she can get away from all this slime! Not that she really hates slime at this point; she's generally slimy, but it's not her slime!
It isn't easy. Given the nature of the 'landscape', Magog tends to leave a trench as she moves. Using her wings for added balance makes the difference however, and Nicora is able to get up the slope and out of the goo trail. It probably helped that parts of the slope were legs and arms that protruded out and provided temporary, if macabre, hand-holds.
Nicora uses one hand to hold her nose, and the other hand to hold her insides in, once she gets to a somewhat stable foothold. She still doesn't know why she's here, or why she was inside Magog, for that matter. Has she offended Gorphat or Magog over something? She looks out over the gross landscape for any possible clues.
"Is something bothering you, my daughter?" Gorphat asks, all but unnoticed in the pile of flesh nearby.
"Magog pooped me out!" Nicora blurts out and looks over to the flesh pile (and Gorphat). "Have I done something to displease you, Mother Gorphat?" she asks. She does drop her hands, which mean the smell returns, and with a squelchy blorp, her cervix protrudes from her crotch.
Nicora also ends up, well, peeing a little when that happens since it pushes and stretches at the muscles there, making it harder to control. Her ears splay and green up in a blush.
"That is the usual means of arrival to this realm," Gorphat notes. "I think some religions have a notion of a 'hell-mouth' but that honestly isn't my style. And this is your first time here as my High Priestess, rather than as the Barsunala or my dear buck."
"Is it?" Nicora has to ask, "I could have sworn I've been here before as the High Priestess. But .. oh well! Why am I here? How may I serve you, the one and only worthy Goddess?" she grovels.
"It is time to begin your Yodhmagog training," Gorphat declares. "As such, being 'birthed' by Magog is a necessary first step."
One of Nicora's ears goes sideways again. "My what training?" she has to ask. "I'm not a Yodhmagog, I'm a Yodhgorphat! Your greatest daughter!"
"My greatest daughter would be able to incorporate the qualities of my first true daughter," Gorphat notes. "No High Priestess before you could have done so. But the Worm is important to Me. It represents so much; decay and renewal. And Magog is the epitome of this. She puts me at nearly equal footing to Sunala." Pale arms covered in sores emerge from the offal, as Gorphat makes a sweeping gestures. "She has her Sea of Souls, but I have my Sea of Flesh, which goes hand in hand with it."
"Ooookay," Nicora says and rubs a little at her own neck. "I've never been able to refuse you any of your desires ... so how do I begin?"
"As a newborn would learn," Gorphat says. "By mimicry. Copy the Yodhmagog. Rely on the senses they possess. That much should be no difficulty for you, with the training you've already had."
"By listening?" Nicora has to ask, looking confused. "No, wait, by smell? They don't have ears, do they?"
"Scent is the predominant sense in this world," Gorphat says. "There isn't much to hear.. aside from the cries of the damned, but they hardly matter. Nor is there much to look at. Smell.. and its sibling taste.. are what matter."
"But it doesn't smell good here," Nicora notes, "Not unlike my own wonderful scent, that is. I guess I am not sure what I should do here? Find some of the Yodhmagog and spend time with them?"
"That may help," Gorphat says. "But you will need to immerse yourself in their condition. Blind, deaf, moving on your belly.."
"But I'm not blind or deaf," Nicora points out, "and I can walk so ..." She rubs at the back of her neck more. "I guess I can close my eyes for the blind part."
"If you can close up the mouth of a villain, surely can close your eyes and ears similarly," Gorphat suggests.
"Change myself that way? I ... guess I could do that?" Nicora admits, sounding a bit worried at doing that. She twitches a little, then sits down and plays with her wings some in nervous fidget. Then she tries to see if she can even access the shadow here and disappear in it. There she nearly has a panic attack, then carefully tries to remove her eyes, and ears ... and arms ... and mush her legs together more like a naga or a worm. If she even can!
The shadow engulfs her, but since this isn't a set form she's changing to, there's no comforting numbness about it. She has to feel each effect as she performs them. And while removing things is easy, there are other elements of the Yodhmagog that require a bit of imagination - such as their presumably muscular breast-feet.
Not to mention making the glads over-active so that she oozes a lot of slime, all the time, like a slug. It's tricky, confusing, and it's not helping her feel any better about it. In fact, she's prettymuch panicking a lot; especially when she removes her arms and wings; that's a huge loss.
"My Yodhmagog are pure beings," Gorphat says in Nicora's mind. "But not simple. Sunala has no demons, nor angels, to deal with the dead. Magog offers those denied the Sea of Souls a second chance at oblivion."
"Or eternal torment," Nicora points out. "This is not easy for me to do; giving up hearing and such..."
"You have done it before, to awaken your aura sense," Gorphat reminds. "The one sense that can never be taken from you. But now, you must try to suppress that as well. But losing yourself in a new sense is not foreign to you. The groks use scent in place of vision, do they not? But their senses are nothing to those of the Yodhmagog."
"This isn't permanent, is it? You are not getting rid of me as your Daughter, are you?" Nicora worries as she continues on. The changes are naturally slow, and involve removing bones in many cases and becoming less ... formed.
"You control your own form," Gorphat says. "It is your power which enacts my blessings. Your choice to accept and endure them. These changes you make now are part and parcel of Magog's realm. You may choose to wear them here as you see fit. Or wear them elsewhere, once you understand the beauty of them."
"It's more that I adore you and I don't want to lose you," Nicora claims, "Or be given away. Even if it's my power; I like thinking of the gifts as you giving them unto me. I like belonging to you."
"A proper way of thinking," Gorphat agrees. "That says that I am more inspiring than Inala, since it so much harder for me to be loved, but so much easier for her. Until you get to really know her at least." The transformation is mostly finished now, with the most immediately disturbing thing being the shift in her center of gravity.
Nicora thinks, "I relish the form you had given me, down to my inability to have sex and the changing of Inala's gate into your Wound. I just hope I will never lose you." Then she shivers and focuses on any remaining changes the body may need; leaving her so much less, in many ways. Then it's removal of one more aspect she remembers, the Yodhmagog don't have teeth, so she guesses she shouldn't either. So, those have to go too.
There's very little that's hard in a Yodhmagog. The upper palate and lower jaw, really. No need for much else.. even the skull is just there to anchor the jaw. But that's true of worms in general - the only hard parts are for eating.
"I feel like an itchy potato," Nicora thinks once the shadow falls away, leaving her ... not much in the way of senses at all. But at least that means she doesn't have to see this place?"
She can still feel the maggots.. and soon comes to a disturbing realization about the Yodhmagog: maggots seem to make up most of their digestive tract, at least from the feel of it. It would certainly provide encouragement to continue eating.
"Oh .. ew. Ugh, we're maggots made of maggots?" Nicora things as she feels all squirmy inside. She tries to ignore that part right now and focuses on just trying to move by sort of undulating.
The lower center of gravity and multiple deformable 'feet' give her surprisingly good traction. Even the occasional bone doesn't really hurt, and if she adds some undulation.. which is very odd without a spine.. she can move faster. The issue is sorting out her sense of smell to make it work. It isn't like that of a grok, which essentially replaces vision. It's still disordered and overwhelming. There are odors that can't be linked to anything Nicora can think of, along with the usual ones of rot and decay. She can still hear though, in a way, as her breasts are pretty sensitive to vibrations.
Nicora only moves a little at a time, and then tries to smell again to see if that gives her any input she can start to make some sense of. It's also hard to not try and use an aura sense like this, given how limited she feels. Ugh. But at least she doesn't have to worry about worm-mating.
Even though she's not using her aura sense.. whatever region processes that information seems to be kicking in for smell now. It makes for psychedelic experience. Because the air is fairly stagnant, odors stay close to their sources, making closer ones 'clearer'. And those immediately in front of her are clearest, but her peripheral 'smision' wraps all the way around her, and even down below the 'ground'. But the odd part is how the 'colors' mimic her aura sense, but not quite. They're different, and in more variety, which doesn't make a lot of sense since rotting flesh shouldn't have that much difference, should it?
And Nicora right now doesn't want to think about eating any of this because ... ew. Just ... ew. So, she focuses on how things seem, and tries to sort out a picture of the landscape about herself drawn in the scents of the dead. She also starts trying to test it by moving in directions the scents seem t indicate she could go.
There are scents that seem.. more lively. Those could be more Yodhmagog.. since Magog is essentially part of the landscape itself. Her innards are also starting to itch already, as if being nibbled on a bit from inside.
Nicora, for now, heads towards the more lively 'images' and tries to ignore the internal itching. She is not going cannibal!
The nearest images are definitely Yodhmagog, as Nicora can 'feel' the sounds of eating. As she gets closer, the odd coloring seems to have a purpose: the Yodhmagog are focusing on particular 'colors' of scent in their gorging.
Namely, the more 'pinkish' ones.
As gross as that idea is, Nicora has to wonder why they eat the pinkish ones. She tentatively tries to sniff one of those pink blobs to see what they smell like, other than pink.
Smell alone doesn't seem to relay much, until she focuses. The pink smells better than the red, and much better than the green or black, which seem to deeper down. There's some pink in lower layers too, standing out sharply against the darker colors. The other Yodhmagog may actually be burrowing into the offal to get at it.
Nicora is mentally whimpering. She really doesn't want to burrow and eat anything here! Sure, it's sort of a dreamscape, but there are limits to what she could do without losing what little sanity she has left. Instead she tries to ask the others why they are eating that?
It isn't clear if the Yodhmagog can speak, exactly. But.. the odor-colors come off of them seem to indicate that they're happy for some reason. Without ears, it may take more direct contact to attempt anything like speech.
Nicora ... cringes ... then siddles up to one of the other blobs and rubs on it.
Nom nom nom, eat up the sins, is the impression Nicora suddenly gets from the Yodhmagog as she rubs against it.
"How do you eat a sin?!?" Nicora has to wonder. That has to be the second weirdest thing she has ever heard! She tries to find some sort of pink blob to poke at curiously.
A lick of 'pink' doesn't taste like rotten flesh. It doesn't taste like anything, because Yodhmagog have a very different sense that what Nicora thinks of as taste. It's like a sip of Mephisto wine, but not a pleasant one. A brief flash of stealing a well-made cane, with a head of onyx instead of chitin or wood. The owner turns in surprise. Whack whack, knock them down, fly away. The Yodhblakat will never catch me!.
Nicora makes a face. That is not a good taste at all! How can they eat that?! She even makes a sort of full body shudder. Then the worst possible happens, she licks it again, then again, then nibbles.
It tastes.. well.. odd. The thief was caught by the Yodhblakat for breaking the 'rules' - basically being a thief without being a Yodhblakat, and for stealing without first demanding the object of desire. Granted, doing so would have likely gotten him beaten to death with the said object, but rules are rules. And well-to-do Eeee who could afford fancy canes could also afford the Yodhblakat, especially those that have been injured. It was therefore seen as an offense against the Yodh.. landing the thief in Hell, to perpetually rot until his sins were eaten.
Nicora .. can see why such sins should be eaten. That's not fair at all. So maybe this is okay to do? She tries ti find the rest of this person's sins so they can be free?
Apparently not every sin is pink, even on the same corpse. There are red and darker ones, presumably for more serious sins, even if they weren't the ones that condemned him. Even in the Sea of Souls, the weight of sins can keep one deep down, unable to every struggle to the surface. The Yodhmagog are definitely favoring the more easily 'forgiven' sins - although 'palatable' may be a better term. But then again, if the spirits of the damned are still bound to their mortal remains, being devoured (eventually) by Yodhmagog gut-maggots can't be pleasant. But it would be quicker.
Nicora quits trying to think about it too much and just sort of immerse herself in it. This means focusing more on the sins and less that they're attached to someone physically. Though even she knows whenever she wakes up, there's probably going to be an hour of dry heaving.
It takes effort to avoid the red sins. The weren't particular bad on the surface, but were made worse by how much the person enjoyed committing them. It's no wonder the Yodhmagog prefer the lighter ones. They're in no rush to ease any suffering over things that deserve suffering for.
Nicora tries to avoid anything red, purple, or green ... other than a lick here or there so she knows what they specifically are and why she would want to avoid them. It's ... really gross, but she's desperately trying not to think about it.
The eating at least eases the irritation in her guts. Which is ironic. The Yodhmagog are basically performing a form of mercy, but if they every stop they'll be in pain. Although the one Nicora brushed against seemed fairly happy. These aren't transformed Eeee spirits who serving out their own sentences, after all.
Nicora isn't really sure what to make of all this, or if she can really cope with it if she thought too much about it. But, for now she's trying to learn to map tastes to colors, to help learn what o avoid, and overall just what means what. The irritation is actually a bit secondary to learning things (as she was asked).
More contact (or proximity) to the Yodhmagog help Nicora pick up more of their signaling. Mind this one, he did nasty things to himself, one seems to be relaying. So they may be affected by the sins they eat, or else have preferences and judgments. They have some individuality, apparently.
Okay, that makes Nicora curious. She wonders what sort of nasty things he did to himself ... and so goes and ... licks it.
There's a flash of.. burning. This one liked to burn himself, but the redder tinge says he liked doing it to others even more. A sister? Certainly a girl who was pretty, and he couldn't stand that, so.. A sin against Inala.
Nicora finds that one distasteful too, and just leaves him be. She mourns for that sister, too. But it does teach her she has no gag reflex right now at least!
Objectively, some of these people just suffered from mental issues. Cruelty isn't a sin in Babel, unless it comes to offend a Goddess or Yodh in some way (or else someone is accused of such by someone of higher standing). But the Yodhmagog have probably weeded those out already. But nobody is without sin, and those that didn't land them here still may be keeping them here. There might have been something lighter than pink. But the mounds of bodies are deep, presumably going back to Magog's own origins.
Heck, even Alptraum would probably be in here somewhere. His sins are many and varied. And Nicora makes no excuses for it, he's done many a wrong. But, at some point Nicora does stop, and just sort of sit there and think. To know everyone's worst moments in life; that in itself is a horrible fate too.
So far, all of those sampled from have been Eeee. Nicora only knows of Gorphat actually courting non-Eeee, as Mabb, and Inala has her sacred Skreeks now.. but certainly wasn't acknowledging them before. The Kindly-Ones seem to largely ignore the other species of Babel. Which means there are probably plenty of sins down here that pertain to tormenting other races, but that wouldn't have earned damnation directly.
And that is depressing and of itself. Species generally doesn't matter; if Babel is your home, you should be able to live there with justice too. But, how does that really change? Nicora can't change people's minds. Nor can Alptraum; and even he has his own prejudices; he'd probbaly never help a poodle after all.
"Do they need us?" Gorphat asks. "Would they worship us? I am the only one that truly accepts and blesses all. Babel is a multi-cultural city, but would any who are not Eeee want to join our beliefs?"
"Given the right reasons? Yes, I think so. But I cannot say for sure. People are complicated," Nicora thinks, "And so many are pretty horrible."
"Babel will not be unified by religion, but by common cause," Gorphat says. "Then it is up to religion to adapt to new unity."
"You've taught us that," the goddess claims.
"So long as religion doesn't actively sow discord of unity," Nicora points out.
"That obstacle was cleared away along with the majority of the Yodh," Gorphat claims. "A weakening of our power in the mortal realm. Leaving us open.. desperate.. for new avenues to engender faith. Sunala, who suffered no losses, still was convinced to expand and absorb the outlawed Yodhrinala. And you brought new worshippers to me.. by making me adapt to serve them better."
"I made Sunala feel more mortal, and emotional, I think. Which encouraged that of her. At least I want to think I did something. She's important to me for obvious reasons," Nicora thinks. "And I'm sorry if that offends but, to me Sunala is still very much a small smiling girl who comforted me, and I her, during some very dark times."
"But she is strong," Gorphat says. "Still the strongest of us. Rephath's anger was popular after the Boomer, of course. But not so much as her protection of trade now. Practicality over ideology. The Yodh stand less apart from the people of Babel now than they once did. They've been tamed. We may not go back to wearing our shackles, but the Sisters must be tamed as well in order to survive. That includes serving more than just the Eeee."
"/I agree,/" Nicora agrees. "/I guess there are times I enjoy, ah, you in your more old-style ways with me. But just with me. Others I much prefer your lighter tough. Well, except for Penance perhaps, but then she still has much to atone for."
"She is coming along," Gorphat assures. "Tentatively. She is still fragile, and must be strengthened further."
"/Nowhere near as advanced as I, I imagine," Nicora thinks, "But maybe some day. Does she enjoy it at all?"
"Enjoy? I am uncertain," Gorphat admits. "She feels guilt. That may drive her, or may not. No mere mortal will ever match you, my High Priestess. But I cannot claim you all to myself. You are shared among the Trinity.. and the other four, to a lesser extent. Much lesser."
"And speaking of that, I should visit Zakaro's temple some day, to at least meet with the remaining High Priestess," Nicora admits, "In honor of teaching me bilocation."
"Ah, she has co-opted your copy of the remaining Yodhinala!" Gorphat says with a bit of glee. "Be sure to become nice and pudgy for Zakaro."
"Just to annoy Inala?" Nicora thinks, "Inala is getting better! Sort of."
"I'm not trying to annoy Inala," Gorphat claims. Her odor-aura is unmistakable, and of course doesn't show any sin. Goddesses can't sin, apparently. "Zakaro just likes pudgy, naked Yodh. Have you gotten used to moving around like this now?"
Nicora's answer to that is to try the fumph over to Gorphat and nibble on her. Maybe to test that theory, or maybe to get revenge.
After a bit of waddle-worming over, Nicora gets tipped over by Gorphat onto her side! "Get back to your breast-feet," she says. "You need to be able to right yourself."
"Blurgh!" goes Nicora. There's a whole lot of wierd flailing for a bit, then she gets the idea to rock mass until she tips herself back over. Or at least that's her hope!
This involves waggling her boobs, and twisting. When it isn't clear if you have a spine this is tricky. Eventually though, Nicora figures out how to twist her 'segments' separately. Still, it's very awkward to get her 'feet' back under her mass. She's almost certainly a mess right now, but one of the other Yodhmagog waddles over to start licking her clean.
Nicora tries to wiggle away from the one licking her, because it feels even more disturbing than she already feels! "Augh!" she complains.
The other Yodhmagog is undeterred. Keeping clean must be important to them.. or else it's more to do with not blending into the landscape, odor wise.
"A good start," Gorphat says. "Can you roll onto your back, then upright again on your own now?"
Nicora would glare if she actually had eyes. Still, she does try to roll onto her back, which takes effort! Then it's a good couple of minutes before she can upright herself again. There is zero dignity in it, so it'sprobably good she can't see it.
More licking ensues. "Very good! Now we need to test for stickiness. Follow me," the goddess commands, and heads downslope.
Nicora ... well, what dignity does she have left, really? She galumphs after Gorphat.
At least Gorphat pauses so Nicora can catch up. It is slow going, but eventually she begins to notice an absence up ahead. That is, an absence of odor. Eventually it's just Gorphat standing out against a blank space.
Nicora is undulating about as its massive head swings about, trying to pick up anything other than Gorphat here. "Where is this?" she wonders.
She vaguely remembers her first visit to this place, with Blakat. There was a wall. "Now, go straight ahead until you can't, then try to go up," Gorphat says.
Nicora isn't sure how she can to that, but she ambles forward until her head hits the way. Then it's a disturbing bend back of her head and upper body while trying to shuffle forward only with the lower. The site isn't pretty at all, and she's sort of spewing slime everywhere.
The slime is the issues, as she's not getting any traction because of it. The surface isn't smooth, it's irregular and stony.
So now Nicora is having to try and control her slime output, which is a weird array of tubular muscles around the modified milk-glands. Eventually she manages to clamp them down and quit squirting, but will it be enough on the wall?
"Hmm, you should try sucking in your nipples," Gorphat suggests.
This makes Nicora pause. She doesn't even know how to do that, but she starts trying pulling with those weird excretion muscles to see if it does anything.
It is very disconcerting. But she thinks she can manage it one nipple at a time. With the slime creating a seal around the edges, she can get that boob to stick to the wall until she releases the 'pull' and her nipple pops back.
One is hard, but she focuses and tries to get more than one going at the time to see if she can stick herself on the wall, and start to go up it some. It's not easy controlling something like a dozen breast-feet.
It does let her ascend though! She isn't that heavy, it seems. "Can you get back down?" Gorphat then asks, once Nicora is already at least a body-length above the ground now.
Nicora tries to get down by ... oozing out some slime to make her loosen up just a little and hopefully slide back down.
This results in a bit of an uncontrolled slide, landing her on her (flat) butt. But at least she doesn't fall over backwards.
"Very good," Gorphat praises, and even gives Nicora a pat on her back. "No follow me again," she says, leading off to the right along the wall.
Which makes a squelchy splut, which Nicora can't hear. She then tries to wiggle her butt backwards slowly so that she comes off the wall somewhat gradually.
It's odd to feel things sucking at her teats, even when there's not really any suction.
With some squirming, and a lot of slimy mess, Nicora eventually ends up back on her belly, and feeling creeped out. Is this her new life?
"Are you coming?" Gorphat asks, sounding impatient.
Nicora makes an annoyed burble-sound, then has to shuffle sideways and follow after Nicora slowly.
It's another trudge for several minutes. The Yodhmagog always seemed much faster when they were coming at you. Finally she catches up to Gorphat. "Now, there is a hole in the wall," Gorphat says. "I want you to find it."
Nicora wonders how in the world she would do that with no eyes or sound. Then she gets an idea and rears back so that she can shake and splatter the wall with her slime (while inner-massaging those teat feet), then she tries to smell that and find where she doesn't smell anything ... it must be the hole.
Painting the area does seem to work! She can tell where slime is farther away, and that means detecting where a break in the wall is.
So, Nicora galumphs towards that spot, then tries to squirm her way through it if she can!
It's tight, but her body is a lot squishier. It actually makes it easier to move, since she doesn't have to rely on just her 'feet' and can worm her way along. For the most part she's stuck working by feel, until she finally smells something up ahead. A corpse has somehow made its way into the hole.. or tunnel, really.
What in the world would be at the end of this, and why? And who? So, she wiggle-squirms closer towards it to see if she can make out more.
This one has an unusual color. While there are the usual reds and deeper shades, there's a tiny bit of gold.
Confused, Nicora tries nibbling on that.
There's a memory: A man fleeing through the streets below, while several creatures are clearly hunting him. An open door in the base of a tower, barely visible through the mounds of trash offers safety - but as he squirms through it, he realizes too late that it's a trap. The Yodhdiphath are waiting. He was being herded here and now they have him. The bites are painful, but eventually enough blood is drained for him to lose consciousness.
This makes Nicora pause. It also makes her wonder why the marks were gold. Non-sin intense memories appear this way? She looks for more of them, or for other sins that might provide insight.
There isn't any more gold, but there are plenty of 'light' sins. Generally stealing to survive, and the other compromises needed for life in the Streets Below. Nothing really stands out after that one particular nugget. But the body seems to be fading away.
Now it's trying to go backwards, which is weird, but at least not being able to see makes it somehow a little less weird. It's not quite like she has one end that's more specifically a front, except one has more of a mouth. So, it's reverse spring-inchworm time...
She can feel when her hind end leaves the tunnel, and soon after she's completely clear. "Did you have any trouble?" Gorphat asks.
"Not really? There was a weird body in there, though, that was killed by Dipath cultists," Nicora thinks, then tries to shuffle herself back around to face Gorphat. Well, face as much as she can.
"What did you to when you found it?" Gorphat asks next.
"What did I do? Nibbled?" Nicora answers in thought, confused.
"What part did you nibble?" Gorphat asks, wanting a little more detail.
"The gold part," Nicora clarifies.
"So it was gold? Interesting," Gorphat notes. "What happened after that?"
"I saw him being chased, then trapped, and drunk from until he died," Nicora notes. "Why is gold interesting?"
"It appears to be the color of a victim-sin," Gorphat explains. "A sin that can damn you for being the victim - in this case, dying in a profane manner."
"Why would that damn him? IT was not his choosing and he tried to avoid it," Nicora notes. "That makes no sense."
"Those were the rules," Gorphat claims. "Die by vampire, and be damned. There were other such rules.. all of the Sisters had their own."
"That's stupid," Nicora thinks father flatly.
"That is religion," Gorphat replies. "It was one of the few ways the Sisters could exercise influence over the behavior of their followers. So long as Sunala approved them, of course."
"Since she had final say over Death. So, am I supposed to liberate these people from that fate?" Nicora think-asks. "I am not sure what my knowing of this helps."
"It is more that you know how to detect it," Gorphat says. "Because I have a task for you that requires it."
"Aaaah, and there's the catch," Nicora thinks, amused, "What is it you need our Daughter to do for you, Mother Gorphat?"
"Find a particular charnel pit," Gorphat explains. "One that was once a Diphath temple. A very well-hidden one."
"And it is not still in use?" Nicora think-asks. "Are all her servants truly gone?"
"Well.. that remains to be seen," Gorphat says. "This would be the first temple, not a mere shrine or coven. It is buried deep, and may hold useful secrets."
"And deadly monsters that eat maggots?" Nicora thinks, perhaps a bit wryly. "How deep is it?"
"Supposedly below the ancient sewer systems," Gorphat claims. "The passages were all blocked up ages ago, but that doesn't mean someone couldn't have been trying to dig them out more recently."
"Do you have evidence someone has? How recently?" Nicora think-asks as she shuffles closer to Gorphat, then sticks her snoot right between the Goddess' legs.
It smells.. spicy? Maybe it's the maggots. They make Nicora's belly.. well, not rumble, but squirm a little more.
So Nicora-maggot starts licking Gorphat there. Why? It's Nicora, she's crazy, and she adores Gorphat.
"The General is rebelling against Diphath," Gorphat notes. "So, if there were weapons that could be used against Her, that is where they might be locked away. And the General has worked underground before."
The wiggling of the maggots on her tongue somehow tastes sweet. She might as well be licking a honeycomb.
Nicora can lick, as well as think-talk ... so, handy! Her snoot buries itself in the Goddess and licks all about. "Aha! Okay, now that makes sense. And Scourge could not make it there, but this form could?" she thinks
Gorphat is patting Nicora's back now as she licks. "Scourge is too big, but still has useful senses," she notes. "You will need this form to squeeze through the tunnels and seek out the 'gold' of the preserved sacrifices. But when there is room, Scourge can sense if there is anyone or anything else down there."
Nicora sort of purrs, though it sounds kind of like blowing bubbles in the Goddess' bits. "/All right, I shall have to seek this out. I also, unfortunately, still must go visit Zakaro's temple sometime. And I feel like I do not spend nearly enough time as your Yodhgorphat lately."
"There is a plot by the Royal Mages that demands your attention, so it is understandable," Gorphat says, and oozes more in response to the licking. "Has Zakaro been useful to you?"
Nicora licklicklicks up that oozing. "She has, surprising as that is," she admits in thought.
The odd nectar from Gorphat makes Nicora's own effluent become more active. She can't hear it, but there's definitely a lot of gas involved. "Are you coming to love this form, Daughter?" the goddess asks, now kneading the top of the segment just behind Nicora's stub of a face - her new scalp, for the most part.
"I love you, and being with you. Whatever form allows me to be with you I enjoy," Nicora claims in thought and just keeps on licking. "This, the buck, the doe, Nicora, Scourge. All of them being me close to you."
Things suddenly change. Gorphat seems to become the landscape, and Nicora is just another maggot clinging to her thigh. "I never tire of hearing that," Gorphat says. Her fur is like a forest now, except for the scabbed and bare areas of skin, or where it is matted down by fluids.
And what does Nicora do? Crawls forward slowly. Then she tries to crawl into Gorphat when she reaches her deformed and scabby nethers. Why? To be part of her, of course! What could be greater than be within her Goddess?
It's like wading through sludge, given the amount of mucous and pus. But with a lot of squirming it's possible to make headway. For a Yodhmagog, it might as well be milk and honey though.
And Nicora, currently a Yodgmagog, squirms like mad, and all excitedly, as she continues on. "Is there more I need to learn, or do, Mother Gorphat," the maggot-thing thinks in disturbing glee.
"The more you use this form, the easier it will be to handle," Gorphat says. She moves, and it's like riding an earthquake in a vat of pudding. "You will need to hone your senses to sense the target at a distance.. but without all of the stimulation of Magog's realm that should be easier."
"You mean I should spend days as a maggot?" Nicora wonders, and is a little disturbed by that possibility.
"Well, as a Yodhmagog," Gorphat notes. "Being a maggot is a special treat."
"I .... will try," Nicora thinks as she tries to find out if Gorphat has a womb at all!
The area is very humid, with vapors she can feel against her bare back. And there are other maggots jostling about, but Nicora is bigger than them; practically a grub! There are obstacles of course, such as weeping sores and pustules, but finally there is just the barrier of the cervix, which has a lot of 'spots' that smell like holes in it.
Nicora should be freaked out by this. Or nauseous, or ... something. But, she continues on out of some insane reason ... and starts trying to squirm through a hole!
The holes feel chewed, so probably made by maggots rather than disease (although the fleshy walls don't feel healthy). It's a tight squeeze, and certainly a longer voyage than the rock tunnel! There's no light at the end of course, just more sticky surfaces and the smell of blood.
Nicora keeps going, trying to see if she can get into Gorphat's womb! If she can't .. well, eventually she'll just start backing her way back out.
She seems to be in it, although it's difficult to tell. She's not being squeezed anymore, so should be through the bore-hole. There's less 'flow' here, but a lot more heat. And the pervasive smell of blood of course.
Nicora 'explores' for a little bit, but being blind and deaf can only tell you so much. So, eventually, she seeks out one of those holes to get back out.
It's a bit of searching, and a different one than she entered through, but eventually she squeezes back out into the vaginal 'flow' again.
And Nicora sort of 'plays' around in here for a bit, then heads back towards the 'exit'. She hopes.
The air outside is cooler, and there are hairs again. They seem like they'd feel good to roll around in!
And so, Nicora does start rolling around in them! Wheee!
And then her nose gets caught between two soft mounds.. and she hears... snoring?
And Nicora triews opening her eyes? Does she have eyes? Is it Alptraum waking up now from a demented dream?
Alptraum opens his eyes, to find his face buried between the breasts of a snoring Skreek. They're still on the floor in Honey's favorite playroom too.
Alptraum tries to extract himself from the skreek without waking her. He also listens for Honey or Tulani.
"You're back up," a soft voice notes. "I was sure you'd wake up after rolling onto the floor, but you took awhile." So Honey is awake.
Alptraum eventually sits up, then uses claws to try to deal with tangled hair. "How long have I been in here?" he asks the lapi quietly.
"You mean since you fell asleep?" Honey asks, and then looks over at a candle to see how much it's burnt down. "A bit under an hour. When you bounced off Tulani's Skreek I was sure one of you would wake up from it."
"Ah, not that long then. Just how many people did I sleep with?" Alptraum has to ask. He's not even sure.
"Well.. there was Revalie of course, and Tulani.. and me of course," the Lapi notes. "I'd be really disappointed if you'd forgotten all the things I did to you."
"I wasn't sure if i did anything with him," Alptraum admits and gestures to the other Skreek. "I remember you and all that painting stuff you did."
Honey brushes her fluffy fingers over Alptraum's lower belly, and asks, "Pleasant memories?"
Alptraum mmmph and sucks in his belly. "Of course they were pleasant memories," he says, "Why wouldn't they be? You are an expert at what you do."
"Well, some men have become afraid of me because of what I did to them," Honey claims, and licks one of Alptraum's nipples as she presses up against him. "You could ask Bara to teach you some things. She likes you."
Alptraum inhales. "I found a bunny like you being all dominating. It was exciting in weird ways," Alptraum says with a wry grin. "And Bara likes me? That's hard to believe. I wasn't sure she likes anyone."
On one side of the room, Cricket blows a bubble out of her nose before snorting and rolling over, but Fluffer isn't there to dislodge. He and the stable of Skreek men have left already.
"She likes lots of people," Honey claims, and reaches around to squeeze bat-buns. "She's just very reserved and elegant in public. She knows ways to really mess someone up with sex though too."
"Bah, just like most guys, bang the girl and run out the door. Poor Cricket, but what a life lesson I suppose," Alptraum remarks, then squeaks grin the grab! "Mess someone up? How is that even possible?" He then grabs her butt to counter!
The Lapi squeaks, and then nuzzles at Alptraum's chest. "Oh.. she can take things a lot farther than I did. Enough to turn a man into a eunuch from it.. supposedly."
"I find that hard to believe, unless a knife was involved," Alptraum admits, then nips one of the doe's ears and tugs on it for a moment. "And what, does she want to mess me up, or something along those lines?"
"No, why would she want to do that?" Honey asks. "She just told me that she knows some Yodhinala pleasure-torture methods that can cause a man to.. break.. down here." And then Alptraum feels himself being cupped, but that shouldn't be a surprise since Honey did have to leg go of one of his cheeks first.
And that makes Alptraum sit up. "Ah, hello! You still want to play, do you?" he remarks, both surprised and a bit amused. "And I don't know; Bara is still very much a mystery to me in many ways. I thought she mostly tolerated me, but only just."
"It's been an hour since I had any fun," Honey points out. "You should go talk to her. I think you have a lot in common," she then says. Although clearly she doesn't want Alptraum to go just yet, given her grip.
"And what would you consider fun? What all do you actually enjoy, hmm?" Alptraum has to ask. It's also nice being unchained right now, so things can grow quite quickly once, ah, touched.
"Well, I did all the work last time," the bunny notes, and sort-of pouts cutely as she looks up at Alptraum. "What special tricks do you know? You had Tulani really squirming there.."
"That isn't that much of a trick, I just have ways of tickling someone," Alptraum points out as he takes hold of the lapi's sides. He lifts her up, shifts a little bit, and once he gets her to release her hand ... he sets her right back down in his lap, and him in her bunnyness. Then he has to pause in talking, and liiiick one of the lapi's long ears. "And see, I can even make you squeal without moving, or letting you move," he adds, right before he tweaks the shadow to move, up through him and into the lapi where they are joined ... where he can make things feel like a multitude of wiggling snakes and other things within the poor bunny.
True to her species, Honey is mostly quiet. But she does squirm as much as possible, along with panting and gasping. It makes for a damp lap, however.
And Alptraum takes this as a challenge. He starts moving things all about, probing, prodding, and testing her limits, all to try and make her make nose! All the while he's sitting absolutely still and smiling a bit smugly.
Instead of making noise, however, Honey tries to burrow her muzzle into Alptraum's shoulder.. and bite it.
This makes Alptraum yelp! And in revenge he grabs her butt, then uses more shadow to penetrate her that way too! So she has squirming in both passages! Evil bat.
But.. she seems to really be enjoying it. "Not sure if this is cheating," she mutters into his neck. "Will decide laaaaater. Don't tickle my bladder!"
Alptraum takes that as a request, and starts to tickle that too! "I'm not even moving, I think you're imaginging things," he claims with a completely straight face while movement like a mass of snakes is busy tormenting the lapi down below.
"You can't fool me, you've got snakes growing out of you," Honey gasps, and squirms more at the tickling. "If you aren't moving.. are you enjoying this at all?" she whispers.
"I'm focusing on you enjoying it right now. Your reactions are amusing me!" Alptraum claims, then makes things expand inside the lapi!
"Ah!" This time she makes a louder yip of surprise. "What was that?" she asks, wide-eyed. "You didn't do that before! You aren't going to explode are you?"
Alptraum makes it even a bit bigger. "Maybe I'm allergic to lapis. Or mabe you did your ritual wrong and have made things unstable," Alptraum jokes, then licks her nose playfully. A moment later, he reduces it again.
"I thought that only certain reptiles could do that," Honey says. "It's almost not fair, since you're a demigod and stuff, and I'm just a widdle wabbit. Harmless and helpless and fluffy.."
"And you love every moment of it," Alptraum remarks and nips one of her ears. Then he starts actually moving too, so he gets stimulation along with the crazy shadow stuff stimulating her. He also wonders if she notices she's getting a bit pudgy, as if she was pregnant.
"My skin feels tight," she finally notices, before trying to grind herself into Alptraum's lap.
And Alptraum pushes her belly out using the shadow to simulate her being several months along. He doesn't push it much further, though, and now focuses more on his own movement and the writhing, so he doesn't hurt her!
"Hey-ey.." Honey says, really noticing something 'off' now but also a bit distracted now that things are in motion. "I think I have gas..."
"Or a bun in the oven," Alptruam remarks. He's a bit surprised the lapi would be so .... crude.
"What?" Honey asks, confused (and distracted). "You want to cook me?"
Alptraum siiiighs. "Seriously?" he asks. "Look down."
The rabbit blinks a few times at her belly. "What.. happened?" she asks, bewildered.
"I'm messing with you. I thought lapi's liked the feeling of being pregnant," Alptraum comments, a bit deflated his trick didn't really work.
Honey seems mesmerized by her belly now, and runs her hands over it. "I'm not.. it's a trick?" she asks.
"Yes. I'm not lapi, I can't make you pregnant," Alptraum points out, and reverses that little effect so her belly flattens back out.
"Are you sure?" Honey asks. "No bucks come here. I think Fluffer and I are the only Lapis in Babel, aside from Jan."
"I'm sure. And there are other lapi about ... I'm pretty sure," Alptraum claims, then starts up the serpentine movements along with his own hip movements.
The movement snaps Honey out of her reverie, and soon she's back to being happy again as she bounces. There may be a way for Alptraum to act as a go-between for a buck and Honey though, since he managed to do it for barinala and some of Mave's offspring before.
Except that was Eeee on Eeee, not sure he could ever do it for cross-species ... and he's trying to remember another buck IN Babel! The other one he knows is on the sky island, after all. So, for now he focuses on both himself and her, and it's making him also start to shudder and get close! Typical guy.
Honey is certainly helping things along, getting her legs around to squeeze Alptraum more. It's amazing that the doe can remain tight at all, given her proclivities. But she does manage it!
Alptraum expects the bunny has exercises for it! Even Mave is disturbingly tight, so .. Yodhinala thing. But he's not going to let himself go until the bunny does, so he steps up the tentacle torment and pulsing within her, including tickling her cervix!
This time the bunny lets out a bark of sorts and squeezes down on Alptraum while shivering! And even drooling just a little bit. It lasts for awhile too, before she starts to unclench slightly.
And then Alptraum goes at it hard himself so that he explodes, metaphorically a few seconds later, and he moves the shadow out of the way so that Honey gets it instead of his own shadow ... in case they react like the skreek does! And he's also shivering and twitching like mad too, and digging in with his claws al ittle bit.
Soon there's a panting doe pressed again Alptraum's chest. "I need a nap now. Thank you," she says.
Alptraum pets Honey's back. "Me too, so I think I'll stay inside you and snooze," he giggles in one of her ears, then licks it again. "Thank you, too."