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[DolosusDoleus]

Run like hell

[Liquefied Spleens]

It's not often you decide to let compassion guide you, especially if it may just lead to you getting in trouble. But for the oni's sake, you're going to let him keep on hiding while you run with all your might. The armor is heavy, but after you accelerate enough, you can still go fairly fast. You can do this, right? Right. The first few steps are the hardest, as you need to get your weight distributed right. You usually run leaning to your right, as to let your sword enter the fray first. Now, you need to equalize it to improve your speed. Your sword hangs against your thigh, and it already slaps against the metal. You're going to be clanging like a damned kitchen, so you decide against looking behind you. The commotion is only growing louder, and it consists of screaming, chattering, gurgling... Disgusting noises, all round. Soon you find a steady rhythm to run in, and you try forcing yourself. You're just a bit out of whack from overcompensating for the extra effort, but you don't trip. Eventually, you're going as fast as you can muster in your armor. You're not so much running as you are leaping from one leg to another. The weight is absolute hell on your knees, and you're sweating like a sow from the exertion and the increasingly hot armor. If there was anything you could change about the armor, it's making the damn thing cooler. God damn it...

You reach the inn before the crowd does, and not a moment too soon. Your bed-sheet ladder is still there, and you use it to climb up. It doesn't go easily, owing to your exhaustion and weight, but fortunately Meandra gives you a little push with a vine. It's that last bit you need to cross the threshold and enter the window. You hear a screech from a familiar voice just as you're about to go downstairs. Sydney has arrived, it seems. You pass two survivors, who are carrying a large amount of bottles with wicks in them. You suspect Eveline's been keeping busy while you were out. When you head downstairs, people are quick to spring to attention. The wizards look disappointed that you decided to help the "pseudomage" (whatever that even means), but you don't really care. You dump your stuff with Eveline, who immediately goes to work, not even taking the time to thank you. Soon enough, however, you get some bigger fish to fry. You hear glass breaking outside, and an orange glow is visible through the limited fortifications. The upstairs team has begun their defence against whatever's outside. Not quite good enough, however, as an arm suddenly bursts in through a crack in the defenses. It's human, but there are some gnarled claws rather than fingers. You take your sword and chop the hand off completely, leading a screech and a quick pullback. You hear Sydney's voice right after
Don't waste your time grabbing inside! Break the boards, climb the building! Get me my BLOOD!

Despite the sudden effort from the horde outside, people are still a little shook from the clearly lucid voice of Sydney. You peek through the boards, and catch a glimpse of her. She... Doesn't look good. You see multiple gaping wounds on her, and she looks to be covered in black ichor. You can't quite get a good look at her right now, and another volley of fire makes the horde back off enough for the wizards to finally start up their mana shield. That should hold them back for a few precious moments. You rush upstairs to help with the defense, considering that it's wide open. When you arrive, the bombers are throwing down a steady stream of bottles, pausing only to light the wicks on top. You stop them from being too wasteful. The fire lingers, and they just need to keep the horde away, not kill them right away. Time is of the essence. From here, you also get a closer look at Sydney. Or what's left of her.
Her carapace looks like it cracked open, and you see some kind of pale flesh poking through. Her front pedipalps look thicker and hollow, and they are currently jabbed inside one of the infected. Which show perhaps the most disturbing part. You can see her open wounds closing as she drains the poor sod in front of her dry. She can heal that fast from just some blood? You're in trouble, that's for damned sure. The one saving grace you have right now is that she isn't moving much. She is currently being carried by six infected, and her legs seem to be limp. As you're looking her over, however, you notice three more things. Her blonde hair has turned a much more ghostly white, she has a horrible wound over her lowermost left eye, and finally.
She's looking right at you with a furious expression.

Traitor! Standing against me like this!? I saved your life, you ungrateful bloodbag! Come down, FEED ME! FEED ME, DAMN IT!
She's completely off her rocker, to say the least. Honestly, you're more concerned about the fact that she outright LOST an eye...
Still, guessing from her healing, it won't be long before she joins the fray herself, and the guys here are already running out of bombs...

Start barricading the doors leading to the rest of the inn
They can use the last couple bombs to keep them at bay while you try to get the beds outside. You're quite strong, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Defend the place personally while the bombers barricade.
You're in a defensible position. You'll manage to keep them away while they fortify the place. You hope.

Go downstairs and help the defense there.
You have no clue how things are going below. If the wizards remain as competent as shown earlier, you have your doubts...

Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Level: 5
HP:20/20
Stress: 45/200

Equipment

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Heavy plate armor
Bastard Sword
Pouch of valuables.
Eveline's ingredients

Skills

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Heavy Armor Training
Major experience in sword combat
Nihilistic outlook

[DolosusDoleus]

Barricade the doors! The best defense is a good defense!

[RAM]

Verily! Carpentry would be too much to hope for from your fair allies. Do check that the doors open in the corrtect way, mind. A door that opens towards the enemy is notoriously difficult to bar effectively and special carre needs to be taken to prevent it being pulled...

[Liquefied Spleens]

As it turns out, beds are still really heavy. But you just barely manage to pull them through the doors. You really won't be able to perform some outright carpentry, but shoving a bed in the way should block the doors well enough. You shout out to the first defender, and he dumps his entire supply on the crowd before rushing into the hallway. He jumps over the bed, and helps you push it against the door. You briefly consider tipping it up, but you figure that it would be better if the stable weight blocked the door rather than some makeshift barricade that they could just push over. You can already hear some banging against the door, but it will hold. For now. Unfortunately, you didn't think it through perfectly.
With the opening on one side, they can crawl into the room with the other survivor! He screams in fear, and you attempt to get to him in time. Alas, when you enter the room, three of the infected are already chewing on him as he flails his limbs in a panic, only worsening his wounds as he tears against the sharp teeth. You run in the room, and cut down one of them with a quick stab to the spine, but the other two jump out of the window, carrying their victim with them.
Lost cause. Time to compensate. You grab the three remaining firebombs, and leave them in the hallway as you get to your side of bed. The infected are already entering the room, and you force it shut with your shoulder. They're not terrific pushers, fortunately. 

The other survivor is crying. Whether it is out of fear or the loss of his fellow bomber, it's hard to say. He manages to bite through his heartbreak to push the bed close enough to block the door. In this case, it's even blocked by the wall, so they'd have to break the door down completely. Small favors... The survivor runs back to the ground floor as you make some final adjustments. By which you mean, you're making some cuts to the hands poking through the partially opened door. They retreat those bits fairly fast, at the cost of some fingers. From the look of things, the doors will hold for at least a few minutes, though you're a bit uncertain about the bed that doesn't have a wall to brace itself against.  If you had more time, you could have built something more substantial, but you just had to get sentimental over a damned oni...
There's nothing more you can do. Hopefully, you can still block the staircase door. You grab the firebombs you set aside, and go downstairs.

When you enter at ground floor, you're pleasantly surprised. The defense is still going strong, in no small part to Meandra, who added some vines to reinforce the barricades. You hear Sydney laughing outside. Most likely, the poor sod throwing firebombs has reached her. You don't even hear his screams anymore. You hope that's because he's dead. You hear a lot of commotion coming from upstairs, and you yell to everybody who isn't currently doing anything to help you barricade the staircase door. Some planks (liberated from the tables) are nailed over the door, and some rubble that they couldn't place usefully at the front door is placed in front. It's not much, but maybe it'll give you enough time...
Eveline is currently busy with all sorts of things, and is getting some help from Meandra and her master. Although you suspect "help" may not be the right word in the case of Richard. The fool is actually arguing again!
Old man, if you don't leave our none hope alone, i'm going to fucking clock you, understand! you yell.
Well, I never! I was trying to help her, you loudmouth! Richard says, in a hurt tone. Does he not understand the gravity of this situation?!
I don't need pointers on how to use a microscope, thank you very much! Please just join the defense!
I... I don't have any shield spells! And I won't be left here being useless! Now please, let me have a look...
This old man is going to be trouble.

Knock him out.
You'd prefer having less problems right now. Of course, you might just miss out on a very powerful ally when they DO bust in the doors.

Let him continue
Eveline will just have to bear it for a bit. You can't afford losing anybody useful.

Keep him busy yourself.
You're not too grand at manipulating people, but maybe you should try. Of course, that means you won't be doing any additional defense...

Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Level: 5
HP:20/20
Stress: 55/200

Equipment

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Heavy plate armor
Bastard Sword
Pouch of valuables.

Skills

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Heavy Armor Training
Major experience in sword combat
Nihilistic outlook

CURE PROGRESS
40% (discovering immunity of bugs)
Hindered!

[RAM]

We've already hit him once, probably best not to do too much damage, and it didn't exactly stick the first time. We are also at a bit of a loose end while the barricades hold, although they could use a bit  more bracing...

Keep him busy yourself. Maybe we can start lecturing him on how to use fire in defence of a city...

[DolosusDoleus]

Keep him busy. Also, I can't help but remember us having a fire wizard which would probably help out with the defenses...

[Liquefied Spleens]

H-hey, look. Richard? If you need somebody to help... You take a moment to almost literally swallow your own pride. Even in a situation as dire as this one, it still controls all of us, doesn't it? You should help me in how to defend something. I am just an ex-bandit, you know... Do'nt know anything about protecting. Your cheeks glow red with deep shame as you remember the oath you swore when you began training as a guard. If only...
It seems to only help your cause, as Richard is "happy to be of assistance".
I could see that it hurt you to admit your shortcomings, but I will be happy to aid you in this defence. For starters, you should get our pyromancer set up over there...
Next to the barricade. The WOODEN barricade? I'm was keeping him in the back for when they break in.
Nonsense! If they manage to get in, what's the point of a defense. No. We need to keep the barricade sturdy enough that we do'nt have to have spells flying around in a very limited area. My student is here, you know, people could get hurt.
but... People will DIE if we play it that safe!
Not if we play it well, young lady... Not if we play it well.

You do not like this man, his smug aura mocks you. It's honestly kind of strange to see him act like this, considering he was far more cordial and respectful with Sydney. Does he just not respect you? What a cunt. And you're the one who needs to keep him busy. And he's still prattling on about the hazards of small room spellcasting, as if it fucking matters! You kind of regret putting your helmet off to talk proper, because now you need to keep your face in line. You got trained in that as a little girl, sure, but you're more than a bit rusty after being in a land with this amount of freedom. You're about ready to fall asleep, when you suddenly hear the sound of splintering wood coming from upstairs! They must have broken the door, damn it!  You hope Eveline is getting there with the cure. Glancing over, you see that Meandra is growing a plant of some sort to help. You're not and alchemist, but you're damn glad she is!
Ah, getting a bit hopeful, are we? I don't think that kobolt will find a cure in this amount of time. But no need to worry, once some stragglers get in, we'll just capture that and get you a cure, lickity-split!
If one of them got in, all the rest can easily follow. The greatest walls fall from the tiniest crack.
Ah, is that a proverb from the east? I must say, I've been meaning to go there, since the trade routes have gone up.
More sounds of crashing wood and footsteps. The back door gets it's first customer, and you hear some banging. Two people, standing ready with crossbows look terrified. You see one of them has soiled himself, a stream of urine pooling below his pant leg.
That's fucking IT!

Listen, you old fart! Those things are going to break through the fucking door at any moment now, and you're talking about having a fucking trip to my country!? Nut up, shut up, and get ready to blast those fuckers away, got it!?µ
Well i-*CRASH*
The first part of the staircase door has broken off. A moldy old plank in the middle. Not even enough to stick a hand through, but it's enough to finally shut the gibbering oaf up. He finally gets the hint, and stands in front of the door, casting a spell to place a bolt of lightning in the hole. It won't fix it, but the one that was stupid enough to try it is still crying out in pain. You don't pay it much mind, and look to Eveline.
Progress?
Good! Real good.... I found what's keeping the bugs fine! They all had a little growth on their brains, and Meandra was able to perform a sort of lightning shock.
 The main point is, it's a hivemind! The Bloody Whisperer is the queen of sorts to these infectious little blighters. When we zapped it through these ones, they all went still!
You kind of let your lip hang in befuddlement and growing anger. That's fucking lovely, but how the hell does this help us?
If the theory is correct, we merely need to "cure" the queen! Then the rest should turn passive. They were ineffective and flailing before, but now that they have a queen, they're far more controlled and agressive... We just need to cure Sydney, now!
And the cure!? What about the actualy CURE. You spell the word out, becoming quite steamed at the current state of events. C U R E. CURE. WHAT ABOUT THAT?
Well, I fiddled around a bit, and found that the disease doesn't like burning.
If the cure is "set something on fire" I will fucking punch you
Nono! I have a cleansing salt on the way. We just need to inject it into Sydney, and it should clear out. Only...
The salt is invasive, to say the least. It spread across the body and inflicts horrible, horrible pain. If it wasn't for the fact that Sydney's a drider rather than a human, we wouldn't even attempt it. She'll need some healing spells, as well...
So... All we need to do is inject her with this salt stuff?
Yes. I just need a few more minutes for it to finish. If we do it too early, it might just kill her outright!
Suddenly, Sydney's voice cuts above the ruckus of the apocalypse.

TRAITORS! I AM COMING IN. KNEEL DOWN, AND I WILL MAKE IT PAINLESS!
That came from upstairs... Looks like she's moving.
O-oh no! I don't have enough time for this! I-i still need five minutes!
That barricade will hardly last half a damned minute!
Almost to punctuate your point, the top half of the door splinters apart, and out comes a thick, gnarled carapace vaguely in the shape of a hand. She just PUNCHED through it!
INSECTS...

Oh gosh diddly darn, ain't that a pickle

Fight Sydney
It pains you to admit it, but you can't hope to defeat her. But perhaps, just maybe... You can stall her.

Redirect defenses.
If she's in the back, the horde in front may be less interested. You can send the people with the mana shield to the back door, and hope the planks hold out.

Torch the place
Pyromancers, firebombs, the humble lantern... She won't be hopping through fire, but that does mean that you'll be in a burning building rather than a besieged one


Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Level: 5
HP:20/20
Stress: 70/200

Equipment

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Heavy plate armor
Bastard Sword
Pouch of valuables.

Skills

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Heavy Armor Training
Major experience in sword combat
Nihilistic outlook

CURE PROGRESS
70% (Synthesizing salts.)


The next update is likely to be the last one where control lies in Yunikki. Make it count.

[RAM]

Well, what do we know... She has four combat limbs, also the stinger and she has a dangerous bite, so make that six.
 She is fast and agile and an impossible climber.
 We probably should have kept track of where her dog is, hopefully she forgot about it...
 She said that she can see souls? Did she mention any other magic? She did that thing with the hair and nails back at the mimic mess.
 And when she gets... enthusiastic... She is a pretty frightening grappler. Not just the strength, size, and extra limbs, but the enthusiasm with which she just disregards other people's bodies is an advantage in a struggle like that.

Well, the good news is that pretty much all of her weapons point forwards and down, if we can stop her from turning then her sides are exposed, and her legs are a large, if redundant, armoured, and narrow target. Although those legs are a lot like spears now that we think of it...
Her body is large, she'll have trouble in confined spaces. Especially turning.
We've seen enough spiders get by with less than eight legs, we could take a few off without completely crippling her, and if we jut break them, or pick them up afterwards, then they can be healed. Did she mention something about growing new ones? She got over that crippled leg on the way to the city well enough, not that she enjoyed it.
She still keeps most of her senses in her face. She doesn't usually use her extra eyes so dust in the face is not completely useless, and just attacking aggressively there ought to distract her from more legitimate attacks against her legs.

The top of a flight of stairs is a terrible place to fight, especially in armour. Maybe if we had some trustworthy backup we could distract her while they broke her legs, but that doesn't seem likely. If that bog dog of hers gets underfoot... Really, fighting her seems like a poor prospect in the absence of someone who can break her legs or throw lots of loud, flashy attacks at her face, but so long as we keep moving to her side she will probably have difficulty getting a grip on us, but for five minutes?
We haven't seen her breaking much magic... Does she complain about a lack of spell versatility? We can probably hope for the shield to hold. It held off a lot of maniacs, and she is strong but there is only one of her. But can they reposition that quickly? Can we hold the barricade for five minutes without them? We can stick a sword through a breach well enough, and cut off fingers as they try to pull on things... These things have been known to cannibalise too, so maybe all we need is to spill some blood out there?
Wooden building + 5 minutes + however long it takes to evacuate + if they just retreat we will be forced into the open, which is extremely bad, though we might have a cure, with no good means of delivering it unless she just charges in bloodthirst...

De fences! Redirect them!

[Liquefied Spleens]

You bunch! shield the damn door!  I'll hold them off at the front, just GO!
The mana shield wizards are quick to switch. They seem to be aware of what's going on, which is quite the difference from the other High Power users. There are FAR too many of them just idling, unsure of what to do. You can understand it for the fire-guy, at least, but most of these people just have no clue what to do. The villagers are actually doing a better job, which is shameful. Of course, losing the mana shield has a very immediate effect. Where before there was one hand, at best, clawing through the boards, there are now about twenty. You and some of the villagers get to work fighting, including the hound that Sydney left behind. Looks like it's just on autopilot? It does its best jumping up and biting at whatever's exposed, but it's not too effective...
The planks and barricade rapidly fall apart, but Sydney is fortunately repelled. You hear her yelling in frustration, and insulting the wizards. You're a little preoccupied keeping away the few infected that are breaking the boards. A yell from your right warns you that one of them broke through and is crawling towards a villager, who is trying to beat him away with a table leg. The nail helps, but it's not enough. You are fortunately fast enough to cut the infected down, but after that one got in the rest are quick to follow. The side you aren't defending anymore also has the planks break down. This is the point that the High Power users kick in gear. The sentient robes is the first to spring to action, releasing a geyser of fire through the window, which does its job in repelling quite a few infected. It has the downside of introducing a few enemies that are simultaneously on fire, but they are less effective than what most zombie media would like to tell you.

You hold your sword with two hands, forgoing a bit of defense and going on the offensive. Most don't need more than one very motivated hit, but they have friends, and it doesn't take long before you start having injured among your defenders. And none of them can handle the wounds, so you lose them. You haven't lost any wizards quite yet, and their offensive magic is the only thing that prevents you from getting outright overrun. Richard's lightning is the thing that really turns things around, proving that he isn't completely useless. He yells something pompous, but it doesn't matter much. If it works, it works. You're fighting off about three at the moment, and you're not having a good time of it. You're reduced to punching with your off hand just to create some space, and your sword can just barely hold off the other one. Before you know it, a massive weight crashes into you. You are knocked on your back, and the infected starts clawing at your helmet. You're helpless in the face of it, until suddenly you hear a roar. The next thing you know, Sydney's bog hound knocks the infected off of you. You quickly get yourself upright, grab your sword, and just barely manage to save one of the scholars from a grisly fate. she was already grappled by one of the infected. Most of the inhabitants of the town are down and out, and some have even started turning! Slowly, you're being driven back....
BEWARE COWARDS, I AM HERE!
An explosion from behind you indicates the worst has happened. You decide to rush to THAT problem, instead. Hopefully,  the scholars can hold out against the remaining infected.

The mana shield wizards are back up, terrified and not casting anything. Are they out of juice? God-damn it! Sydney comes closer to them, smiling in sadistic glee as they back up. Some infected enter from behind her, but they are cut down by Richard's wild beams of magic. So much for magic safety...
You get to focus on Sydney, and put your shoulder into it. You knock her upper half away a bit, but her solid undercarriage keeps her from properly stumbling. It redirects her attention, if nothing else.
You... I've been waiting for this! Come at me!
She's turned to you, a bad position to be sure. Get to the sides, slash at the legs, keep away from her grapples...

Here she comes!

She makes the first move, clearly intent on overwhelming you with strength and fury. You're glad you saw her fight before, and as such, you can compensate. You hop backwards, and do an upward slash with your sword towards her pedipalps. Your sword bounces off the thick carapace, but it did hurt her, at least. She shouts again, and some more blood comes out of her empty eye socket as she does, causing her to twitch again. You rush towards her, sword held low. If you're fast enough, maybe you can-
You don't get to finish that though as a hand find her way to your throat. Your armor stops her from choking you, but the whiplash from your rush knocks the wind out of you all the same. She throws you on your back, and you roll sideways to stop her pedipalp from stabbing into you. It doesn't look sharp, but you don't want to chance it. You attempt a clumsy swipe as you force yourself upright. It makes a deep gash into her front-most leg. She groans in pain, and youhave to jump again as she makes a wild grapple in your direction. You quickly look back, and see the shield mages are defending Eveline. The wizards are forced in a circle, but they're holding them off rather well. The ones that are tired join the shield defense, you think.
You shouldn't have looked away.

Two hands wrap around your head, and tear off your helmet in a forceful manner. Your long hair cascades free, and you make a shake to clear your vision. A followup haymaker makes you see stars, but you keep yourself in the game. She was going to follow up with a bite, but you headbutt the cunt right on the nose and hop to the side while she's stunned. You use both hands to swing down, and lop off the leg you had already injured before that. You're about to do that again, until Sydney turns to you again, much faster than you expected her to be able to. Another thing you couldn't react to in time was...
Well.
You're sent flying at first, but then the pain is the most unique sensation. Your belly starts to burn and cramp horribly, and that terrible feeling spreads quite fast. You hear her laugh as you scream in pain. You crawl forward, having lost your sword. Your armor is dented from the force, and the hole is bleeding. Her stings aren't that deep, but the metal has torn into your flesh. You look to Eveline and the wizards, who are rapidly losing the fight. Meandra is doing a last-ditch effort with a massive amount of vines that are flailing around. You can see her in the middle, floating and foaming at the mouth a little. She's putting every last bit of energy she has in this!
If she can do it...

I'm... NOT! DONE! YET! You roar, as you pick up a piece of debris, crack it against the head of an infected, force your failing body to leap at Sydney before she gets near the others. Your full weight slams against her torso, but she throws you off almost instantly. When you land, the shock and exertion make the poison work all the worse. The cramping and burning is so bad... tendrils of agony are spreading across your body, and you vomit a little. Your vision blurs, and stars begin to fill your vision entirely as vertigo takes hold. Again, you force yourself upright just a bit more. Sydney looks at you sadistically, and smiling in a way that serves more to show her sharp teeth, she slowly advances. Your vision is still blurring, and you can't get yourself up entirely. You hear shouting and some  commotion coming from Eveline's group...
Y-you failed? No...

You close your eyes, awaiting your fate, until you suddenly hear Sydney screech in pain! You open your eyes, and see Eveline on her back. More importantly, there's a massive needle in her shoulder. Eveline removes it, and jumps off as Sydney begins to shake and scream even more. The other infected, those that are left, anyway, shake and scream in a similar matter. Soon, they fall unconscious, but Sydney does not have that mercy. Every limb is flailing wildly as she continues to scream, and scream and scream...
While you are a bit worried about her, you can consider your job to be done.
And with that, you grant yourself permission to finally pass out.

Switchback!

The next update will feature Sydney again. Now would be the time to plan out some things for when she comes to. Note that she will be very heavily injured, meaning her movement is impaired and she cannot fight. She also has a large amount of PERMANENT scars. The most important one being the loss of her lowerleft eye. In addition, she has rather ugly scars over her arms, and her sides will look a bit twisted as the wounds heal. In addition, there will be mental scars that will permanent affect her personality unless treated in some way.

[RAM]

Yay! We saved ^{_{some of}} the town! And our whole team is ^_potentially alive! At least, if we hadn't been here, it is pretty certain that things would have been worse ^{_{unless you account for our terrible luck}}...

We definitely need a rest. We also want to try to figure out if the bug is still out there We could try to help rebuild the town, we really can't claim responsibility for anything that went bad here. They were willing to eat each other, and the "lure away the horde" plan may not have been a complete success but it legitimately gave these people a chance. And they ought to be too desperate to turn down help. We even tried to warn them, sort of, especially considering that it was just one person's traumatised guess at what someone else had difficulty describing and had only seen once. Not that we can do that much, unless we try to revive a zombie and direct it to assist while resting our body...

Maybe we should visit Death again, that tea was nice and there is bound to be something to talk about. Maybe we can ask about The Beaks' "bad necromancy" list and how best to skirt the edges of "acceptable". We kind of burned more than all of our mana on our escape attempt, but we can maybe try to stitch some things together.

Actually...
Attempt to rebuild our first lizard.

[Liquefied Spleens]

Now here's a familiar sensation. A horrible burning, and light that seems to drill itself into your retina. You're one of the very few creatures that is able to remember its birth, and this honestly feels just like it. Of course, considering your first experience with the world was burning alive under a hot desert sun, you don't consider it a particularly happy memory. But let's be fair.
This is SO much worse.
You gasp for air, if only to scream in pain. You can only barely manage it, and all that comes out is a groan. You blink a few more times as different types of pain become more apparent. Your left leg HURTS, it's honestly unbelievable how much pain can go through something so thin. You arms aren't much better off, and neither is year head. Especially your left eye... Even as your vision slowly comes in, you can't see anything on that side. Maybe you're dealing with some swelling?
Regardless, you hear excited voices, but your mind has trouble fully parsing the words. Everything still feels like you're on fire, but you still can't manage much more than shallow breaths and the occasional moan.
Eventually, you recognize Eveline's voice. Ok, ok... Sydney? I'm going to give you something against the pain, please don't struggle or the needle might break.
Almost instantly, you feel something pricking you in the abdomen. at first, your muscles cramp up, but soon you find relief flooding your body. Soon enough, the flashing and pain seems to fade, and you can finally look around you. You feel sticky and cold, like you've been fighting anemia and a fever at the same time.

You still can't quite see out your left eye, but the swelling will go away in time. You're a fast healer, after all! You resist the urge to laugh, as your lungs still feel like you've been snorting ground up glass. Still, you can see Eveline in front of you. She looks a bit haggard, with tufts of her fur being upright and tired eyes.
H-hey Evi...
Good to see you awake and lucid. I thought I killed you for a moment there... Cleansing salts are more for toilets than bodies, to be fair.
What happened? you croak out, still feeling terrible.
You got infected by the plague. To make matters worse, you became the queen of the whole bunch. You were a bit... crazy. You beat the hell out of Yunikki, and... Well. It doesn't matter. The carriage will be arriving soon to bring us to the orc tower. Richard decided that the trip has cost far too much to continue, not to mention there are many wounded... Speaking of which, I better get back to them. You're tough enough to handle it, but I strongly suggest you get some sleep.
Eveline quickly leaves the room, carrying with her a large case of medical supplies. You're in a separate room, from the look of things, away from the other victims of the plague.

You still can't see out your left eye, but you feel a sort of cloth over the eye... Must have been a wound, rather than swelling. You gingerly push at what feels like a bandage. It's a soft material, all things considered, and it doesn't seem to hurt more if you push. You push in a bit more...
Too deep.
Oh my gods.
You lost YOUR GOD-DAMN EYE?!
There's just no energy available to panic, but you do feel a bit lightheaded from the discovery. You look yourself over with that grisly discovery. Arms are covered in bandages, your sides have stitches... and then you notice the leg. You actually lost your left leg as well. You can still walk, but that one was kind of important for balancing...
God-damn you need therapy. Maybe a molting, too.

The next few hours pass in relative quiet, at least. You briefly try to have a talk with death, but you're so distracted you just can't manage to get yourself in the right state of mind. You weren't really too conscious about it before, but it's just not possible in a situation like this where you're this injured. Or it may just be for plot reasons, who knows.
After the initial panic, however, you manage to keep yourself busy. You got to work trying to fix your little lizard, which is a significantly more complex puzzle than you expected it to be. But, of course, you had several hours to kill, so eventually the lizard is mostly back in the shape you found him in. You force yourself a little, and resurrect the creature. You still have some mana left, it seems, which makes you wonder what happened to the hound you had before. It's usually around you, and it wasn't with Eveline either...
Not that you're too attached to it, but it just seems a bit odd.

Eventually, you attempt to move around. You manage to get yourself upright, but it's a chore to try and move around without a front leg. You need to make a conscious effort to shift your weight at all times, and you almost managed to give the floor a little high-speed kiss. Still, you eventually manage to limp around consistently. When you wander outside, nobody pays you much mind. The few people that are here look to be survivors. All of them have tired eyes, and they don't even make much of a move when you enter the room. They just look at you with sad expressions. But you do see something through the ruined window (it looks like it just got blown up. The assault must have been awful). You see the form of Thogg sitting down and eating something. You crawl outside, to take a closer look. He's actually roasting something in the middle of the street. On closer inspection, you see what it is.
The Bloody Whisperer. Somehow?
Please tell me you're not eating that.
PEOPLE GAVE THOGG PIG. SMALL DOG LADY TOLD THOGG TO BURN THOGG'S CATCH. THOGG HAPPY TO OBLIGE, IT CAUSE ENOUGH TROUBLE.
So you caught this thing?
MH. SAW HORDE MOVING PAST THOGG. BUT THEN THOGG SAW BUG. THOGG NOT LIKE BEING SCARED, AND THOGG TAKE ACTION. IT WENT SQUISH AFTER LONG CHASE.
...Thank you, Thogg.
Thogg just sniffs and continues on the pig. He doesn't seem to be paying you much mind.

You wobble around town  bit more, and take in the sheer destruction. There doesn't seem to be a single window left that isn't broken in some way, and the stench of blood is overpowering... You soon return to the inn, feeling a bit worse than before. You do see Meandra's master wandering around. He seems a bit tired as well, and he looks to be nursing a wound on his leg, besides, but he's still rather active.
Ah! You're up? That's fast, I must say. I believe the kobolt told you already, but I'll repeat anyways. A carriage from the orc tower will be coming this way. Partially to help, partially to get our remaining scholars there faster. There's a separate cart for you, considering your size and injuries. I figure they'll be here any minute.
I suggest you talk to some of your friends. I think you should thank Yunikki at least. As much as I hate to admit it, we'd all be dead or worse without her.

Make some final arrangements. After that, you will be headed for the Orc tower without further delay.

Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Level: 7
HP: 4/15 Badly injured, max health reduced
Mana: 26/29(1 mana invested)
Stress: 20/75

Inventory

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Equipment:
Drider Shirt
Steel sword
Gardener's iron shield
Bandages

Items:
Magic Cookbook
Rough leather armor
Pick-axe
4 sleeping bags
five potato sacks
Pot, pan, kitchen knife collection, scraping tool.
150 coins

Magic, skills and minions

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Magic:
Resurrect vermin: Allows you to resurrect very small creatures such as rats(1) (invests 1 of your max mana)
Resurrect average beast: Allows you to resurrect creatures such as dogs, cats and other similar-sized creatures.(10- (invests five mana)
Reshape minion: Allows you to slightly change the appearance of your resurrected minions. (///......)2
Minion Vision(weak): Allows you to see what a minion sees. The minion must have eyes.
Animate Piece: Allows you to animate just a piece of dead tissue. It requires your constant attention, and cannot act independently. (invests one mana) (1)
Graft: Allows you to use dead tissue as a replacement limb. Requires a lot of mana. (2 per second)
Gather Soul: Allows you to make a soul visible. You can't do anything with it, quite yet. (10 mana)
Undead flashbang: Allows you to blow up a minion for a flash-bang effect. (15 mana)
Stitch: allows you to close a wound and stop bleeding as fast as you can stitch. Costs very little mana, but requires something to stitch with.

Minions
Skeletal Lizard

Skills:
Poison Stinger (Potentially lethal)
Major experience in blocking and swords.
Climber
Crafty: Bolas
Cooking skill: Excellent
Corpse Cutting: below average.
Animal handling: inexperienced.
Necromantic knowledge
Soul Sniffer

[RAM]

Huh... it seems that Yunikki saved our life, and got hurt while she was at it too. Probably counts as repaying any debt she might have had... She also lost consciousness on-screen after a mission, so maybe she has levelled up? Well we need to thank her at any rate, and see if we can help with whatever plans she might have. Eveline too, but she is busy, perhaps we can cook something? It could serve as a thanks to Eveline and also help the wounded. It is an inn afterall so they probably had supplies, and as bad as the town is, it has only been, what, less than a day? Food ought not to be too difficult to get... Meandra must have had a rough time of it too, it is sort-of reminiscent of when she was hurt at the wizard's tower, but she is probably busy with the wounded or something. The other scholars... This Bloody Whisperer doesn't seem like it could have been associated with Old Jesty, but trouble seems to seek us out with passion. It is difficult to not feel a little guilty about all the strife this journey has encountered... They could have visited a nice sea-side town, heard a few rumours, and never seen a horrific mess of animate seafood with dubious information and motives. They could have met with a nice, normal caravan with no mimics at all, and come to a nice, quiet(if insular) little town and not heard the word "blood" mentioned once. At least the lot ought to goo easy on us until we are in a fit state to fight something...

At lest we can hope that we didn't eat anyone this time. Do we at least feel hungry? It really seemed as though we were going to stop losing our memory too, does our less restrained side have any recollection? If it is feeling as bad as the rest of us then perhaps it is not time to mock it for being caught by a bunch of humans in a foot-race... Well we never killed anyone with our cooking, so at least we can take comfort in that. Maybe we should just play hostess until our ride comes, and then? Give our lizard wings and fire? breath? We deserve a little dragon! And who knows, maybe this fire-like stuff is good for something, and perhaps bone wings can be used to fly? It would be a useful trick if it works...

[Liquefied Spleens]

Did anyone ever tell you that you fight like a real cunt when you're angry?
Most people I fight aren't in talking order, afterwards.
Ahah! Aaaah, don't make me laugh, damn it. That really hurt... What is in your stinger, Sid?
I seriously have no clue. It has not been consistent the last two weeks.
Yeah, whatever. You ruined my armor, too. You have any idea how much of a pain it is to fix a dent like that? How did you even punch through it?
Magic, probably.
Hehheh... Fuck, what'd I tell you? Ah man, that burns...
Sorry... How are you feeling, otherwise?
Nothing too bad, really. Apart from the cramps and general exhaustion, I'm fit as a fiddle.
Good... What about Meandra? She's been fast asleep for a long while now.
Eh, you'd have to ask Eveline. I think she might have burnt herself out a bit. Anyway, I'm gonna rest a bit longer, if you don't mind. I'm gonna have to drag myself to those carriages, later...

After leaving the room, and trying to ignore the fearful eyes of the other survivors, you briefly reflect on things to do. A little pity party for yourself is briefly considered, but you can't exactly blame yourself for being a supposed trouble magnet. Most of what happened would have happened regardless of your presence. Not EVERYTHING is because of your mark. Although you do suspect some eldritch involvement with the plague... You wonder if the Queen remembers more from the time of infection, but she's been strangely quiet. Even trying to "talk" to her does not have any effect. You don't exactly mind, however. You're not that interested in what kind of sociopathic things she would have said.
You end up amusing yourself with your lizard, and even try to improve it in some way. If you had the bones, you'd give the little thing wings, but sadly, finding the appropriate bones just isn't possible. You DID manage to make it breathe "fire". That is to say, you managed to give it a very long tongue made of something approaching fire. Sadly, however, it's not even warm. More an illusion, if anything. On that note, you also give it back it's "eyes". The lizard seems fairly stoked about the whole thing, so that's nice.

Before you know it, the carriages arrive. They are pulled by horses, but the carts themselves have massive wings on the side. You suspect that isn't just for show. The carriage-rider enters the inn, and for the first time in years, you get to see an orc. Tall, green and thinly built, they're considered the scholars among all races. This one is a bit more lean than the ones you've seen before, but his arms look wiry and tough from years of handling the reigns. The type of guy to have far more strength in him than you'd expect, if you're not good at seeing these things. On a side-note, you keep your hair out of your upper eyes, now. With your left eye gone, you just need those extras you have. You still can't see as well as you used to, but you're still better off than most. The orc wanders around without a word, looking for something. After a few minutes, he walks up to you and asks where he might find Richard. You guess that Meandra's room is a safe bet, and point him to upstairs without leaving the bar. With all the tables gone, it's the only thing to properly lean against. As the orc goes upstairs, you see some familiar faces enter the inn, and some others spreading throughout the town.
The Order of the Blighted Beak. Lovely. They look to be wearing different robes than the ones you saw before, and you see some men and woman among them wearing thick leather and an odd mask with a long nozzle. Before you can question it, Richard comes downstairs with the remaining scholars that can stand. The orc is carrying Meandra over his shoulder, displaying the strength you had already guessed. Most of the scholars aren't in great shape, but almost all of them can walk. Or stumble, at any rate.

Everybody is loaded up in short order, and you get a whole carriage to yourself. It's a bit rounder, with seats to match. It fits you quite well, though you feel a bit lonely already. If nothing else, you've got time to reflect on some things... Or maybe just nap.
Napping seems nice..

Level up!
You have survived a most horrible plague... sort of. You're going to suffer some side-effects from being a Queen.
Pick one Plague Perk and one normal perk.

Draining limbs: Your pedipalps lose anything resembling sharpness, but gain the ability to drain blood from the enemy. This may affect your preferred diet...
Expanding Shell: Your carapace expands once more, covering your arms and your shoulders, and thicker plating around your spine.
Enhanced Muscle Mass: You just plain become stronger. Will allow you to perform feats of strength more easily.
Infectious Poison: Your poison is like a plague, spreading among your foes. How this manifests is disturbing, and it does not differentiate friend or foe.
Paralytic  poison:  the paralyzing aspect of your poison becomes more pronounced. Note that this can be lethal.
Poisonous Bites: You gain the ability to transfer poison through your bites. You've got two retractable fangs behind your canines to do it with.
Plague Magic:  A frowned upon tree of necromancy, allowing you to perform all sorts of disease-related magics. Note that when I say frowned upon, I mean FROWNED upon. This perk counts as both a Plague Perk and a normal perk. Will have mental side-effects.
Oral Fixation: Gain the ability to cast magics through your mouth alone. Gives ability to cast new type of spells
Focal Points: Your legs all gain a small spike at the upper joint. These are not sharp, and have no clear purpose for now other than making some more pretty effects.
Queenly Control: When the Queen is in control, she has new abilities that reflect your time as an infected. How she uses them is not up to you, and this will grant her more control over you!
Insight +: See beyond the veil of ordinary perception. You will begin to see things as they truly are. This is not good for your sanity.
Stay Out!: Gain the ability to reduce stress through biting yourself. Edgy, I know.

Stats and inventory will be done when you arrive at the orc tower.

[crazyabe]

Draining Limbs (has the least amount of negatives),
Insight + (We might have had a better idea of what was going on back there with this...)