A Royal Audience

Muma speaks, "Ooh ooh! Time for me to serve my role once again!" she says flying up and posing proudly, hands on her hips as she prepares to give some sort of speech,

"Ahem!" she coughs, clearing her throat,

"Time, succession and The Tower of Voices!" she announces and then immediately drops all the pomp and circumstance, dropping back down onto Yulia's head as she continues,

"The Tower is everchanging and the status quo, such as it is, is in fact mutable. Case in point, five or so chosen ago, my sister was still alive, now she's not. The Floor Monsters once killed will be replaced, but not necessarily by the same monster, so if we kill Lumberer it might be replaced with something else, possibly something that is less of a threat to Goma and her friends, but that is of course... just a matter of luck. Killing the beast should end the corruption effect."

"Whatever the Beast is, it is not a floor monster or a functionary, so it will likely not be replaced. The Thing in the Darkness well... I suppose by now, it wouldn't be against the rules to admit that it is indeed-" she starts and then coughs and grabs at her throat, her eyes bulging and then after a bit she begins to cough and groans,

"Okay... my bad, apparently I'm still not allowed to state the obvious..." she says bitterly,

"well regardless, if we find a way to deal with the thing in the dark and get it to leave Goma and her people alone, it would likely continue to do so after Yulia leaves. As I have previously stated, some functionaries, such as us guides have died and been replaced, Dreg, Alide and Dahlia have not, this is not because they can't be killed, but because no one has tried, or at least has not tried successfully. I can understand why no one might have tried to kill Dahlia or Alide, especially Alide, but that no one has even tried to kill Dreg before is something I refuse to believe, so I can only imagine Dreg is only still here, because no one has successfully killed him yet," Muma finishes and nods.

"Long story short, your choices do matter for more than just Yulia. Your choices and Yulia's actions do have a permanent effect on the tower and its denizens," she summarizes.

Goma speaks, "Ah... voice mention sacrifices..." she says nervously,

"we... we have done that. Give Dark Man sacrifices, no goblins hurt that day..." she admits and then hurriedly continues,

"only give nasty women, hurt Goblins! Friends like Birdy, don't worry!" she seems to smile slightly as she realized that sort of rhymed,

"Dark man takes women somewhere after he done... Goma don't know where," she says looking nervous again,

"watched once... Woman seem... happy..." she states and then blushes a bit,

"very happy actually..." she admits, squirming a bit on the spot,

"but yes! Ears lie! When Beast Plague come! Goblins went to Ears for help, send Gali as messenger! Ears murdered Gali! Goblins found her. Stuck to tree with arrow. Body..." she hesitates,

"spoiled..." she finishes a little nervous,

"no trust Ears now! Ears enemy. Take as breeders now! Only thing Ears worth," she says and she seems quite angry.

"Wow... That sounds..." Yulia starts and then hesitates, "I don't know what to say... I'm sorry to hear that," she adds and then watches as Goma seems to visibly calm down and shakes her head.

"Sorry, Birdy! Goma not mean to scare Birdy! Goma just... Miss Gali," she says and then smiles, "Queen! Loud people say Birdy, Yoo Lee Ah," Goma says enunciating the name, "should meet Queen! Goma bring Birdy Yoo Lee Ah to Queen!" Goma says and begins to drag Yulia towards the Queen's tunnel again.

They pass through the tunnel and emerge in a chamber lit with torches, the flames various different colours giving the chamber a rainbow like cascade of different coloured lights. The chamber doesn't end, instead the opposite end of the room seems to just be a sheer drop into the dark abyss of the caves. Against one of the only three actual walls in the room sits a stone throne, on the throne sits a... Goblin? She appears to be a normal human, except she has green skin and she's only about 5 foot. She doesn't have the same cute shortstack look of the other goblins being in fact quite small in most proportions. She has black, chin length hair, neatly styled to curl around her face, a pair of bright red lips, light green eyes and she's wearing clothes. Proper clothes, in fact clothes more modern than even Yulia is wearing. She's wearing a black t-shirt that is barely disturbed by the small bumps of a pair of small breasts, she's also wearing a pair of denim jeans, the jeans cut off just above her knees into a form of shorts. Her legs are crossed, right leg over left and she's not wearing any foot covering, a pair of petite feet openly on display.

"Queen! Goma bring friend! Birdy friend! Want to meet Queen!" Goma announces and the queen smiles.

"Thank you, Goma," she says and then looks at Yulia, Cherchiel and Muma, "Birdy, huh?" she says with an amused smile on her lips, "Goma... Please go back to the warrens and wait for 'Birdy' to return, I would like this audience to be private," she says and Goma hesitates then nods and scampers back down the tunnel.

The queen grabs a glass from a table near her throne and raises it to her lips, taking a drink before speaking, "before we get down to whatever business you have, I should explain a few things. I'm not a goblin at least not a normal one. I'm sure you've noticed. I'm actually the floor boss, well one of them. The big drop in front of you, will take you to the deep caves, which is the next floor. If you simply try to descend the big drop, you will certainly die. You'll have to fight and beat me in order to continue forward, at which point I will give you access to the proper method of descending," she explains and then takes another drink, "Also, I understand it can be difficult to... parse the speech of my kin, so if you have any questions I can try my best to explain things in a way that's easier to understand," she informs Yulia.

"Um... Thank you..." Yulia states, "we actually came to ask..." she hesitates, trying to remember what she was supposed to ask, "Um... First... I was supposed to ask if you would give us permission to stay here since apparently this place is protected from Lumberer, then I was supposed to ask about the 'strange lumpy rocks' and whether I could have them and um... Oh yeah, anything you know about the corruption and if there's anything we can do to help you and uh... the goblins?" she asks and then hesitates, trying to be sure she got it all.

"Well... That's a bit. I have no problem with you staying, but you know the protection from Lumberer comes at a cost... You realize if you stay here, you might end up having to pay that cost," she warns before continuing, "you are the chosen aren't you? The metal in the mines was meant for you, take it," she adds and then leans her head back.

"The corruption... A while back, I can't remember how long, but despite the fact it feels like forever, I don't think it' actually been that long... Regardless the beast showed up one day and then everything started to go wrong. My people began to suffer from insatiable arousal, to the point some would start to attack others in order to try and relieve themselves,"

"The goblins didn't know what to do, we went to get help from our allies the Elves, but they were... also affected. The one we sent was murdered, I don't know if I believe it was the Elves, at least not entirely, but the rest of the goblins were full of rage and sorrow at the loss and they turned on the elves, the next time an elf showed up, the goblins attacked him and sent him to the breeding pits. Which of course made the Elves mad and now the two of us are at war, well sort of. More accurately both of us just stay away from each other now. Honestly, while the reactions of my people and of the Elves are... justifiable from a certain angle, I have a theory that this is another effect of the corruption,"

"I think arousal is only one of its effects. I think it also causes this... distrust, anger... The corruption is designed specifically to fodder disruption and chaos within groups. It certainly works to the beasts advantage, without each others help, we're both struggling to deal with the corruption. The arrival of the sisters has helped, but it's a bandage and every once in a while someone still slips too far into the corruption and then what do we do? We feed the corrupted person to the Beast. I wonder if that's all according to it's plan," she muses and then sighs.

"As for what you can do to help... ? It's simple and you already know it. Kill the Beast, Kill Lumberer and then get rid of the thing in the dark that preys on my people. Do those things, preferably in that order and with the corruption and the thing in the darkness gone, I think we can heal our relationship with the elves. I can of course sweeten the deal if you won't do it out of the kindness of your heart. Goma is a skilled alchemist, I understand you, as in the chosen, have use for skilled allies," she explains.

Yulia nods, thinking about all that was said and then blinks, "Oh! I'm Yulia, by the way. I er forgot to introduce myself. This is Cherchiel and Muma," Yulia says introducing herself and her companions.

"I am Queen Margitte of The Goblins, it's a pleasure to meet you," The queen responds.

(Health: 200%

Mana: 100%

Equipment: Ceramic Beaked Mask, Monastic Scapular, standard bra, Standard Panties, 3 poison gas grenades, 3 healing kits, 1 syringe of poison, 1 syringe of adrenaline, 1 syringe of poison antidote, 1 sewing kit, 1 vial of unknown liquid, 8 days worth of rations, 3 two liter water jug, 1 half filled two liter water jug, 1 health potion, 1 mana potion, A boar mask, 2 vials of sticky white liquid, Ornate Rapier, 4 arrows, Quiver, God's Favour (Halo), 1 pouch of alchemical ingredients, 1 sack of cooking ingredients (Apples), Bone Spear.

Spells known: Great Heal (Lvl 2, Mastered, Cost: 25%)

Great Cure (Lvl 2, Mastered, Cost: 15%)

Energize (Lvl 1, Mastered, Cost: 25%)

Icicle (Lvl 1, Mastered, cost: 15%)

Unlock (Lvl 1, Unmastered, Cost: 15%)

Repair (Lvl 1, Mastered, Cost: 5%-20% depending on factors).

Fetish: Bondage Rank: 1, Masochism Rank: 1,

Status Effect: Permanent increase to physical attribute. Combat level raised to medium

Psychosexual Break: In order to deal with her trauma, Yulia has begun to subconsciously fetishize her experiences.

Deflowered: Virginity Lost, sexual experience changed to: Inexperienced, non-virgin.

Companion: Cherchiel

https://forum.chyoa.com/threads/the-tower-of-voices-voting-thread.3460/ )