< Being Eaten Isn't Fun... | Ex Pulplogs | Exiting The Beast >
ST Carmine excuses herself from the rest of the group, needing a few minutes by herself to think about these recent developments. Following the advice of the naked belly-dwelling man, Carmine takes herself over to the pool of grey-pink water where the strange little fish are swimming and sits beside it for a time.
ST Of course, that time is quickly interrupted as something, no one sees quite what, explodes out of the nasty, grey-pink water. In a seething moment of spray, slime and flying fish, Carmine is GONE!
ST When the water calms itself again, there is no sign that the beautiful, scantily clad warrior woman was there!
Myrrh "I'm just saying you'll need a bigger place when the bab- HESIAHS BALLS! What the hell was that?!"
Xar "Balls?"
Corve turns at the sound of the exploding water and... "CARMINE!" The Night caste sprints to the water, skidding to a stop and looking into it desperately. "Carmine..?"
Myrrh runs over to Corve, gun drawn and searching the water.
Myrrh "What happened?!"
Xar leaps to his feet, realizing what has happened, and dives on in! (pansy humans)
ST There is no sign of Carmine in the shallow depths of the grey-pink pool. There are only a few, admittedly fewer, fish swimming around in confusion. And a whole bunch flopping towards death on the shores.
Myrrh kicks a few fish in while he's at it, can't let the people down here starve if they get killed... "Are we sure that isn't acid?"
Corve "I don't... know." Xar's dive does not encourage him to do the same. He would have, but considering he can almost see the bottom, he doesn't think he'll get very far. His hands clutch the edges of the pool as he stares down. "Where is she..?" His question, though, is mostly rhetorical. There's no way his friends would know more than he does.
Myrrh "Maybe the Bellybats aren't it's only feeding mechanism...although i'm sure Carmine is currently hacking her way out of it by now."
ST Corve merely THINKS he can see the bottom because of an optical illusion. Truth be that once Xar enters the fluid, he too disappears from view.
Myrrh "...Carmine knows how to swim right?"
Myrrh dips a boot clad foot into the water.
Xar surfaces, shaking his head to clear the weird water stuff out of his eyes, "Hard to see, but it is deep.
Corve surprised by the sudden developement of physical improbability, the Night caste does the logical thing: he shoves his hand into the water to test its reaction to his flesh- Carmine, he knows, is incredibly resillient, and Xar is made of stone, while he is neither- to make sure he can survive jumping in.
ST Corve faces no ill-reaction to the fluid in the large pond.
Xar dives back under, using his wings to help propel him through the water faster, he heads for the bottom, searching around intently, for cracks, crevices, anything that could hide a monster and a girl. Or just a girl.
Corve , having successfully decided that it's safe, tosses Judging Thunder aside and dives in as Xar surfaces, plunging head first into the murky depths. He wants his damn girlfriend back.
Myrrh "Oh hell..." Takes off his coat and puts the revolution to the side, pulling down his goggles he dives in after Corve and Xar!
Xar looks around, startled as he feels the water move next to him... the monster! He twists, and, half-blind from the water sticking his eyelids shut, lashes out, trying to grab the thing!
Xar curses in High Realm as the creature slips from his grasp, and follows after!
Myrrh watches Xar and Corve with mild amusement before noticing the thingie! He surfaces and yells. "Hey guys! Another sphincter!
Corve kicks off in the water, slipping away from Xar's attempt at grabbing him. He sticks his foot out, trying to stop the lizard. He begins swimming upwards, trying to avoid blind-Xar and following Myrrh. When he surfaces he says, desperately: "What?!"
Myrrh "Another hole! It's where the monster must have taken Carmine!" Points out the sphincter!
Xar pushes off the side of the pool, arrowing for the monster, folding his wings tightly against his body to make himself more...aquadynamic! At the last second, he lashes his claws forward, grabbing at the nearest tentacle!
Corve is too quick for Xar, and he leans against the edge of the pool, listening to Myrrh. "Another sphincter? How many does this thing have..?" He looks down at the pool worriedly, already pulling himself out just in case Xar wants to continue persuing him for whatever reason. Maybe the lizard wants to tell him something.
Xar erupts from the water, having missed the beast once more, and shakes the water out of his eyes again! With a fierce growl, he turns to pounce on... Corve! The beast is gone! "Where did it go?" he growls!
Corve looks at Xar with an exhasperated sigh. "You were chasing me, Xar."
Xar "What are you talking about? I saw its tentacles!"
Myrrh "It went that way!" Points at the sphincter thing hole and gets out of the water to grab his gun and gear. "I think i'm going to have to blast it again..."
Corve shakes his head. "Forget it. Let's just go check that hole Myrrh found," he says, pushing his wet hair back from his eyes and leaping back into the pool, narrow-as-can-be so that he cuts through the murky liquid, heading towards where Myrrh said the hole is.
Xar follows Corve, finding an odd instinct to bite his ankles, as he does.
ST Everyone meets at the sphincter, looking it over. From what they can tell, it is simply a sphincter. A tight ring of muscle that opens and closes to allow passage from here to there. Wherever there is. And at the moment, it is tightly puckered shut.
Xar claws at the hole
ST The sphincter remains shut.
Corve growls deep in his throat, kicking at the sphincter and rising upwards along the murky pool. He reaches out, grabs his orichalcum rifle, and then dives back in, floating down to the sphincter and motioning for his friends to -move.-
Xar moves away a bit.
Myrrh moves aside, don't want to get blown into the air...
Xar thinks for a moment, then quite deliberately moves back in the way, holding his hands up, then points upwards, waiting for Corve to look like he's not going to shoot yet, before heading back up to the surface
Myrrh heads for the surface!
Corve blinks, tilting his head at Xar, and seriously considers just blasting through the Dragon King -and- the sphincter. But no, his desperation won't get better if Xar dies, too. Resigned, the Exalt swims back up to the surface.
Xar "We have to find another way." he says. "These people need this pool to live."
Corve looks at Xar incredulously. "Carmine is _down there_. We can get these people out... but we don't even know where she _is_!"
Myrrh "We can find a way to get it open without shredding it i'm sure...
Xar "This is all connected, all the insides. They live here. We can find another way. Or she will escape on her own, she is Carmine."
Myrrh "Well let's find another way then. Carmine is sure as hell not going to be eatten by Belly Fish. Maybe the locals know a way."
Xar "Yes, they might know where it goes."
Corve grits his teeth, dark eyes closing for a moment before he pulls himself hastily out of the pool. "You keep saying that, but I don't see her ripping out through the floor," he mutters, stopping his walk a few steps away and running his hand through his hair. He does not look good; in fact it doesn't look like he's very stable.
ST At this point, the Circle notices that all the locals have retreated into their houses and barred their doors, covered their windows. They obviously just want the visitors to go away.
Myrrh "Well when has Carmine tried to make a fight go quickly?"
Myrrh "I'm sure she's having a grand time hacking up belly fish.
Myrrh knocks on a door. "Not to stick around much longer or anything but is there a way to get below the pool?"
Xar "She is exploring, maybe."
ST There is no answer from inside.
Corve looks at the barred doorways and raises a brow, grabbing his rifle once more and beginning to walk towards the house that the man they had talked with before occupies. "You either come out and talk to us, or I will _make_ you be outside." He's lacking patience, at the moment.
Myrrh pats Corve reassuringly on the shoulder. "Carmine can take care of herself. Now if it were ME i'd be worried."
Myrrh
ST There's a quiet squeak and some sort of scraping noise...but no one comes from inside the house. But wait! Xar sees something, a shape fleeing the house to the left!
Xar suddenly darts off to the left, after a shadow! Obviously all this behemoth planty juice is not good for him. Must be a Dragon King thing.
Corve reacts to Xar's movements and follows, his rifle rising to aim at whatever the Dragon King is moving after, his eyes, sharp, slitting to try to catcha glimpse of whatever xar's after.
ST But, saddly, Xar and Corve have fallen for a distraction! While their attention is on the decoy, the man they had spoken with earlier darts out a secret exit of his home and into the door of the closest house, which is shut before the man and the lizard can reorient themselves.
Corve stops, hearing the noise of the shutting door and grinds his jaw slowly, molars making a low noise to express his deep regret for what he's about to do. He crosses the space between that house and the one which closed its door, and lifts his rifle. "Sorry." Then he blasts the bar that keeps the door closed.
ST With a resounding crash and boom the door to the small cottage made of fleshy...flesh and bones flies apart and reveals the sparse interior, the only bit of which that matters to Corve are the two men inside, hiding behind a table.
Xar blinks and turns around, "You opened the door."
Corve lifts his rifle and lays it on his shoulder, stepping through the rubble to look down at the two men. He reaches forward and grabs the table, tossing it aside unceremoniously. "Damn straight I opened the door."
Man puts his arms over his head and whines, in a very-very-terrified voice "Please, do not kill us!" This is the one you spoke to earlier.
Xar peers past Corve's shoulders
Myrrh "We aren't going to kill you. Are there any other passages out of here like the one at the bottom of the pool?
Corve "I never said I _wanted_ to kill you. I just wanted to _talk_. But you had to go and be fucking cowards about the whole affair."
Man nods jerkily. "Yes, there are.."
Myrrh "Where?"
Man looks confused for a moment "I am not sure.."
Xar "Who ran out of here, before?"
Man looks confused. "What?"
Xar "I saw one run out the back."
Man "That was just a distraction.."
Corve "Selfish bastards," he says. "You little..." he stops, crouching down in front of the man and looking right into his eyes. "How do I get her back?"
Man backs up a bit. "Ah..."
Other Man? "Go where the Belly Bats come from! It's there!"
Corve looks at the man and growls. "Say that again?" He's tired of games.
Myrrh "Belly bats. You know, where we just came from? Let's go and interrupt her fun."
Corve "No. I want _him_ to say it."
Other Man? "The other end of the cave, where the belly bats are!"
Corve "How do you know that's where I will find her. She went into the pool."
Myrrh "It's all one big organ system I imagine..."
Other Man? hesitates "Yes, that!"
Myrrh "Alright you guy sbe ready because I get the feeling we're going to be killing this thing soon...just tell your neighbors that we'll be coming back for them eventualy...assuming we aren't digested."
Xar "If they come out of their houses."
Other Man? and his friend look at you as if you are crazy. And to them, you probably are. But that's life!
Myrrh "Hey don't give me that, we did kill the belly bats after all."
Corve is disgusted with them, and it shows. "You'd think they would welcome some help getting out of this thing, not be cowardly little animals." He shakes his head. "Leave'im here. If they actually _wanted_ to leave, they would be trying. Let's go."
Other Man? and Man remain silent, waiting until the terrifying people leave.
Xar "You DID shoot their door. It was not friendly."
Corve "And they ditched us when we lost one of our own. I'm not sorry. They obviously _like_ living here in fear of being eaten by this thing, so I don't see why we should force them to do otherwise."
Myrrh "Anyway let's go and find carmine and kill this thing. We can't get them out with this monster keeping us...and I think I need a bath after this."
Xar "Corve." he says disapprovingly. "It is our duty to bring them to the Sun's glory. They do not know what they do not see."
Corve "They do not _want_ anything else. Even if you never see something, you can still hope for it. These people are dead inside already. All we'd be doing is bringing cadavers to the world, and we got plenty of undead as it is."
Xar "You ask one who lived in a cave all his life to even KNOW there is something else?"
Myrrh "Of course they want OUT. Barging in and yelling and shooting things probably won't make them very friendly though. Especialy blowing down their door!"
Xar "They have not seen the sky, even. They were born here."
Corve snorts, looking at them. "I told them there's something else. If they can't bloody well have some FAITH, then it's NOT WORTH IT. And they obviously know there's something else out there, since the brides are sent down here anyway! I'm not helping anyone that can't even have the decency to help us." He shrugs, walking towards where they fought the belly bats. "You two do what you want, I'm going to save Carmine."
Xar "You are not very nice to any who are not Carmine." he follows after the man, after giving the trembling locals a look that was intended to be reassuring, but... yeah, it probably wasn't, coming from a giant fanged lizard thing.
Other Man? shrinks further back.
Xar sighs, and just follows.
Corve "Sorry, but I don't see the point in it. We started out to stop the Black Viper Cult, and we've been here for days trying to kill this thing. It's getting closer to the end-date in which they throw entire floating islands (our homes, by the way) and we're sitting inside the belly of a gigantic behemoth, with Carmine missing." He turns around, looking at Xar with narrowed eyes. "I'm sorry if I put the fate of my
Corve
loved ones and _thousands upon thousands_ of people before a few humans-gone-invertibrates."
Myrrh follows after the others, not sure why Corve is so worried...it's not like Carmine would be so angry if he was kidnapped by inept belly fish.
Xar "You think yelling is going to make things go faster? Will it save your people? Your Carmine?"
Corve smirks, bitterly; and then quietly: "No, but neither will sitting around convincing them that they're worth saving. Either they care about their fate, or they don't. We can't make the decision for them." He turns around and continues walking.
Myrrh "I think we're making good progress at any rate. That man in black with the skulls certainly doesn't want us here."
ST It is, as they are distracted by this arguing, that something both interesting and painful happens.
Myrrh "Alright so if we go up that tube..." Mutters to himself.
ST With the three men argue about their course of action and Corve's behavior, the "ground" under them flexes, shifts and finally yawns open, sucking them down into a lower chamber. But this chamber isn't empty at all. From the flexing red-pink muscles all around and the squish-squish of fluids being squeezed along in their yellow-green-red-black multitudes through semi-transparent tubules....something emerges.
Myrrh "And if we go through that tuuuuu-aaugh!"
Corve falls, surprised and now _incredibly_ angry. He lands and rolls to the side, lifting his rifle to aim it to the emerging creature that becomes apparent, his weapon loaded and ready.
Creature steps out of the muscles and tubes, appearing as a vaguely shaped human male sculpted from slabs of muscle tissue and tendon. It is larger then Xar, but several hundred times more ugly. "Why have you invaded here?"
Creature has a hideous voice, as if a human were talking while busily vomiting forth their insides.
Myrrh frowns and gets up off the ground, looking at the creature. "We were dropped in here!"
Corve "Because we liked the view. Where's Carmine?"
Xar blinks, and picks himself up off the... floor...
Creature "Who?"
Corve "Red headed woman, very pretty, big sun-made sword."
Creature "She is elsewhere."
Xar "Black Viper Cult. Do you know it."
Creature "Of course."
Corve "Get her _back_."
Creature "That can not happen yet."
Xar "Why not?"
Corve "Why?"
Creature "Because she is in use."
Corve "... what? What are they doing to her?"
Creature "She is in use."
Xar "In...use?"
Corve "Elaborate."
Creature "She is healthy. There is no need to fear for her."
Corve "Do you exist for the Black Vipers?"
Creature "No."
Corve "Do you work for them?"
Creature "No."
Myrrh "What do they want with this city?"
Corve bites his urge to shoot the creature and torture more information about Carmine out of it... for now. "What do you know about them?"
Creature "I know much of them."
Corve "Tell us..."
Creature "Why?"
Corve "Because we need to know."
Xar sighs.
Xar "Because my friend wishes to rip you to shreds, and only the thought you might help us is stopping us. Believe me, it is hard to hold him back."
Corve hasn't put down his gun yet.
Creature "He will not harm that which is important."
Xar "Are you?"
Creature "To varying degrees."
Xar looks around at the cavern they seem to be in. "Are you part of the behemoth?"
Myrrh looks for some sort of exit...he doesn't want to get trapped down here with a monster in the dark.
Corve feels helpless, and it's not... well... helping. "I just want her back. Give her back." He's desperate, yes; and he'll do _anything_ to get her back. Especially to this thing.
Creature "To a degree. I am now."
Xar "What were you before? A Bride?"
Creature "No. I was like you. But more like them."
Creature waves an appendage-arm at Corve and Myrrh.
Xar "Human. Chosen?"
Creature "Human."
Xar "Why did you change?"
Creature "I thought to defeat, but was defeated myself."
Xar "Do you wish rescue?"
Creature "No. I am here now."
Myrrh "Well you could leave..."
Xar "Is it better for you to be part of it? Or can you not leave?"
Xar has a thought that he does not voice, due to present company.
Creature "Both."
Corve doesn't talk, simply staring at the creature. He just wants Carmine back.
Xar ponders.
Xar "You are here, and we are here, now. Will you threaten us, or may we pass to find our friend?"
Creature "She is in use now."
Xar "To be like you?"
Corve "She doesn't want to be. Whya re you forcing her?"
Creature "No, not like I am. She is in another sort of use, because she must be."
Xar "We wish to see her."
Corve "What is happening to her?"
Creature "She is protecting."
Corve "... What?"
Creature "She is protecting"
Xar "That sounds like her."
Myrrh "Protecting what?"
Corve "What is she protecting?"
Creature "She protects the important."
Creature "That is why he will not harm the important."
Corve raises his gun again and shoots at one of the walls. "WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS THE IMPORTANT?"
Creature looks passively at Corve. "The around is important."
Myrrh "Corve, I think this is one of those times when shooting isn't going to help..."
Corve "Well, talking to it about it's childhood doesn't seem to be doing shit, either."
Xar sighs, "We will see." he moves to walk past the creature.
Creature moves to block Xar's path. "You can not enter there."
Xar "I must."
Corve "Why not?"
Corve moves to go around the creature from the opposite of Xar. "Screw this."
Creature now stands in the path of both Corve and Xar...at the same time...
Creature "You must not. It will damage you."
Xar concentrates for a brief moment, and his bracers melt and reflow, moving to cover his claws, making them no more deadly, but much stronger. He reaches out and grasps the creature, lifting him, and depositing him out of the way.
Myrrh "Damage us? How?"
Creature remains firmly planted in Xar's path. The dragon's bulging arm muscles are unable to move the Creature.
Xar "Corve, if you would assist me?"
Myrrh "It won't harm us. We're not just human..."
Creature "Aware of your nature. Damage will occur."
Corve "Wait. What kind of damage?"
Creature "You will no longer be what you are."
Corve he lowers his gun slowly, tilting his head at the creature. It doesn't seem to be standing there so firmly just to spite them. And it's not lying. "What would we become?"
Creature "I am unsure. I do not think you would find it enjoyable."
Corve sighs. "Will I get Carmine back, like she was before she was taken, soon?" It's a risky question.
Creature hesitates. "She will be returned in good health."
Corve "Does good health mean she'll be... the same as she was when you took her?"
Creature "I think so. I am unsure."
Myrrh "Well is there a way to see her without being...harmed?"
Corve sighs, rubbing his temples silently as he looks at the creature.
Creature "Not now."
Corve "When will we be getting her back?"
Creature "When she is done protecting."
Corve "When will that be?"
Creature "I am unsure. You must determine this."
Myrrh sighs and rubs his eyes. "Can we atleast leave the hole in the ground?"
Corve "How do we determine this?"
Creature "She protects. When the need is done, she will stop."
Corve "And what is the need?"
Myrrh sighs and just sits.
Creature looks frustrated. "She must protect. There is threat. You are here."
Corve is much more frustrated then the creature has any right to be. "Are we the threat?"
Creature nods, pleased that the man understands now.
Corve "Why are we the threat?"
Creature looks at Corve. "You are threat."
Corve "You said that. Why?"
Creature seems confused as to why this requires explanation.
Creature points at the wall where Corve shot it.
Corve "I shot it because you -took- her."
Creature "And before?"
Corve "We're trying to save people. If you weren't keeping them in here, it wouldn't be necessary."
Creature "Their home. My home. Here is."
Corve "You eat them. That's not much of a home."
Creature "No? Above, no death?"
Xar "no belly bats."
Creature "Other things."
Xar "By the way, it is a terrible idea to force your people not to breed. Why do you do that?"
Xar "They will die out with no children."
Corve "It's a terrible idea to keep them here and eat them one by one."
Creature "Do not. Misunderstanding. They live for a time, then die. If they not father a child, they die later. If they do, they die soon. If mother not bear a child, she die soon. If she bear a child, she die later."
Creature "More orderly. More understandable. Above, die no matter what. Die young, die old, die in the middle. Die slowly, painfully."
Creature "More simple here."
Corve "But above they have a chance to decide... they can fight for their lives. Here, you're simply using them. It's -wrong.-"
Myrrh "People aren't livestock..."
Creature "No? Say to Guild. Say to Fair Folk. Say to Deathlord."
Creature "Say to Perfect of Paragon."
Corve "I do. Every time I see it."
Corve "Now I'm saying it to _you_."
Xar "We will change it.
Creature "You were threat before you saw people."
Creature "Friends tell us you were thread before you even come here."
Xar "You are aligned with the Black Viper. The Black Viper threatens us."
Creature "Untrue."
Corve "The only reason we came down here was to stop the murdering of innocent people. Can't you see that it's wrong? You threaten us... before we _ever_ threatened you."
Myrrh "What good would a monster in the ground do the Black Viper?!"
Creature "You are threat. She is protecting."
Myrrh sighs again.
Xar "She is protecting... from US. Isn't she."
Corve "Yes, we established this..."
Xar "What is untrue about the Black Viper?"
Creature "They are not our friends."
Corve sighs and looks at the creature. "Well, by keeping Carmine from us, you are helping them."
Xar "Those above, say you are."
Creature "Those above are wrong."
Corve "They force threats upon you, with their erroneous ways."
Creature "Yes."
Corve "What do you plan to do about it?"
Creature "Nothing."
Corve "Why not?"
Creature "I am tired and old."
Corve "So you let yourself be used by those that would lie about you?"
Creature "They do not use me."
Myrrh "Then what DO they do for you?"
Corve "They do. Above, people fear you and this being. They use this fear to control others, and that brings threats and pain to you. Do you see? They use you without caring about your fate."
Creature "They care for my fate, Solar. Without me, their city will crumble to dust."
Creature "When the threat is removed, the protector will be returned in good health."
Myrrh "...how do you support the city?"
Corve "They only care for you because they use you. They wouldn't venerate you if you were not vital to their own lives."
Creature "Is that not true of all things?"
Corve "So, you see, only while you are docile and under their control, will you be cared for. Only as a tool. Just... as something they can use."
Creature "You will not anger me, Solar."
Creature "There is no use trying."
Corve "I don't want to anger you. Al I want is Carmine back."
Creature "I have told you how she will be returned."
Xar "WE will leave if you aid us against the Black Viper Cult."
Creature "There is no help from me. I have none to give."
Corve "You know about the Cult. If you gave us information, that might help."
Xar "Information."
Creature "You must never come back to me."
Corve "If you promise to help us and return Carmine to us as she was before you swallowed her..."
Creature "She will be returned when the threat is gone."
Corve "Returned to us?"
Creature "Yes."
Xar "We will not trouble you again, unless you cause trouble beyond what you do now."
Creature "What do you want to know."
Corve "Everything you know about the Black Viper Cult, their plans, their integrants, their purpose, their leaders, their origins... everything."
Creature "There is not time to speak it all before you must go."
Corve "Speak all you can."
Xar "Their weaknesses."
Myrrh "Where they are is also pretty important..."
Corve "Yes. Most important: where are they?"
Creature "They are under the sands, to the south. Where the Shimmering is. They hide in the hot air."
Creature "They have a city."
Corve "What _are_ they? The leaders? What city is this?"
Creature "They are the cult. They live in Daskim.
Corve "They are th- but what manner of being are they? Spirits? Ghosts? Demons?"
Xar "which way is Daskim?"
Creature "To the south."
Corve "Do they have any weaknesses?"
Creature "Many are mortals."
Corve "What about the others? The ones that are not? The leaders. Do they have a weakness?"
Creature "Yes. They exist."
Corve "How do we destroy them?"
Xar "What are the ones that are not mortal?
Myrrh "Do they dress all in black and skulls?
Creature "You ask too much. Quiet and slow. I will answer."
Creature "They are in Daskim. They dress as they choose, I suppose."
Corve holds up a hand. "You're right, we're hurrying you. Listen closely... what manner of beings are the leaders of the Black Viper Cult?"
Creature "I do not know."
Xar "And what about the Shadow Serpent itself? What sort of magic does it have, that could bring down an entire island?"
Creature "It is old and strong. It was like the important, but no longer is."
Corve "So it was a behemoth?"
Creature does not clarify.
Xar "Is it stronger, or weaker than the Important?"
Creature "It is different."
Xar "Can you explain how?"
Creature "It is no longer like the important. It was once, but become more, then less."
Xar "I see. Does it live in Daskim too?"
Creature "No."
Xar "Where does it live?"
Xar "Can you tell us what its name was, before it changed?"
Creature "No."
Creature "It lives in the sands."
Xar nods thoughtfully.
Myrrh "An altered behemoth..." Thinks for a moment.
Corve is lost about this. "Can we kill it? And them? All of them?"
Creature "Maybe."
Xar thinks. "What does it power its magic with?"
Creature "Itself."
Xar "What does it eat?"
Myrrh "Odd. I didn't know Behemoths could change..."
Creature "It does not eat."
Xar "It only lives beneath the sands, it does not eat, it does not breathe?"
Myrrh "Well sometimes behemeoths don't really need to eat. They just keep going...but I thought they needed to breathe..."
Creature "Some do"
Xar "It wishes power. What does it get from what it asks of us?"
Creature "It is not making the demands. They are made on its behalf."
Corve "Does it want them made? Does it even care?"
Creature "No."
Xar "So it is not our enemy. Those above, are."
Xar "Except it uses its magic for them."
Corve "Apparently..."
Creature "They conjure it to do such."
Corve "Do they force it?"
Xar "Does it wish for them to stop controlling it?"
Creature "It does not care."
Xar "Hmm I see... Then. Could we conjure it to use its magic?"
Myrrh frowns and thinks for a moment.
Creature "Yes."
Corve "How can that be done?"
Creature "You must find out yourselves."
Xar "Where shall we start looking?"
Creature "In the underworld."
Xar "Can we conjure the important to help us?"
Creature "No
Xar looks at the others, "Then we need to go to the underworld. Do you agree?"
Myrrh "Hmmm..."
Corve "... do we really need to go to the Underworld to summon it? Do they?"
Xar "I do not know, but it is the only thing that might stop them, that I know."
Creature "No."
Corve "So we can summon it from above?"
Xar "Do we need to go there, to find out how?"
Xar "An item, maybe, that we must get?"
Creature "You must go there."
Corve "Crap."
Xar "Then we should go quickly. We have little time before the demands must be met."
Myrrh nods in agreement.
Corve nods a little bit, and then murmurs: "What about those people?"
Xar "I thank you for your help. May we contact you again, to talk only?"
Creature "No."
Corve "Where will Carmine appear, so that we can safely retrieve her?"
Creature "When you leave, she will be there."
Corve "Leave what? Here?"
Creature "The important."
Corve "Shajumani?"
Creature "Yes."
Corve "Do you promise Carmine will be returned to us safe and sound when we leave?"
Creature "Yes."
Xar nods
Xar "Show us the way out, then."
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