[GFD/CMD] Harboring Premonitions

Camille waves the shade of Xir farewell as they say their piece. <Farewell for now. We'll see who ends up burning first,> She says, before glancing to the mass of flesh. She decides to grab it, her monstrous strength having little difficulty moving them as she swirls her way back to shore. She tosses the mass onto the beach and slithers aground, starting to strain the water from her hair as she thinks about her next move. The fact Xir was able to get someone into the fortress worried her. She had thought Xir would leave this insurmountable place well enough alone and simply wait for her to leave its safety, but it seems this place is not nearly as safe as she thought it was. She must warn people posthaste.

Camille gasps in surprise as a few shots hit her scales, cracking a couple as she instinctively coils up defensively. Once the officer walks up and asked her what happened she answers quickly. "This lump of flesh was my opponent—a spy. He was exceptionally skilled at hiding, easily avoiding notice and piercing the defences of this fortress. Only by sheer luck did I notice him and gave chase. It ended up in the water where..." That's when she realizes. She was able to swim and breathe in the water, and the officer mentioned a new form?

She quickly conjures a mirror to look at herself. She gasps in surprise at what she saw—she looked so much different! Her body had become more slim and streamlined, with long frills along the sides not too dissimilar to an eel, with multiple fins trailing along the backside, presumably aligned with her spine. Her scale colouration had also shifted to be an aquamarine colour and seemed to be waterproof now. Was her body also longer now? She turns her head and notices more frills in her hair and her ears also looked like a sea creature's. Finally she notices the gills on her neck, though they blended in to her skin well.

"Well then, that's new," She says. Focusing on her body a little she shifts the scales back to their regular orange and her frills fold against her body, causing her to look more like her regular snake self barring the fins. Then she glances back to the officer. "I need to speak with Karl as soon as possible. I suspect this is just the beginning," She says. She glances to the blob of flesh. They likely wouldn't survive long, but she doubts there's much that can be done. She likely can't extract any information from him either. Oh well, flying blind is in vogue anyways.

Camille nods. "Good, I'm going to go speak with some of the other notable names in the fortress as well. Anderson especially,"

Speak of the devil, Anderson ends up arriving shortly after. "Camille! What happened?" He looks her up and down. "And... What happened to YOU?"

Camille chuckles nervously. "So I may or may not have accidentally evolved for the first time whilst fighting a new threat. I learned a few troubling things throughout the fight, I want to gather multiple important people to discuss what I've learned,"

Anderson opens his mouth to ask more questions, but then eventually nods. "Alright. I'm guessing word is already reaching Karl so I'll go round up some of the other big names like Lexi and Phil. Where are we convening?"

"The throne room, it seems apt and also the most secure area," Camille says, to which Anderson nods and hurries off.

---

Camille found her way to the throne room, admiring her new form as she traveled. With her body being more slimmed up, slithering around was faster. She still wasn't nearly as nimble as she was on two legs, but she feels like she could do some proper maneuvering in battle now—especially in water. She did feel exhausted, but she supposed undergoing massive physical transformations tended to do that. She'd likely not be the first person to arrive there but Anderson was definitely still out gathering the troops.

As people took their places Camille nods, resisting the urge to smile at the sight of Serena sitting regally upon the throne. She really did look like a queen in the making. She takes a deep breath and then speaks. "Indeed, multiple troubling revelations have happened," She starts. "I will start by saying that this fortress is likely not going to remain peaceful for too much longer. There was a spy—a man exceptionally skilled in the art of stealth. He had an aura that let him bypass the senses of almost everyone. I only managed to notice him because of his corruption, but I suspect he would've been able to sneak past most of the people in this room barring some of the most spiritually keen such as Anderson or Lexi," She explains. "He seemed to be performing some kind of sabotage with dark powers, which makes me strongly believe an attack is imminent,"

She takes another breath. "But obviously there's more. I followed him into the water where I engaged him in battle. He... Mutated, into an aquatic creature and could telepathically speak to me like a monster would. He revealed that Xir has been experimenting on people. He said that while a monster may not be able to convincingly look like a human, if you give a human the ability to turn into a monster at a moment's notice... It's basically the same thing. I was apparently his first test subject on that front with that little snake curse," She says. "It was a grotesque defilement of nature, and I am absolutely certain we'll be facing more of these mutated humans as time goes on,"

"Finally I am sure that the attack will be coming sooner rather than later. I think it's no coincidence this is happening while Kem is elsewhere. We do not know how many people Xir has on the inside of this place or how much he knows about its layout and defences. This place is seemingly insurmountable, but if he has humans that can grow gills, an army may very well just rise out of the sea and march up through the docks,"

Camille nods. "Best to be as safe as possible. I'll double check around the fortress for any corruption I can find. Hopefully things will turn out okay,"

Anderson scratches his chin. "Launching a full-scale assault on one of the most heavily fortified places in the world seems odd to me. We'll need to leave this safety box eventually, why not gets us then?"

"Could be opportunism because Kem is not here—could also be for morale reasons too. If Xir manages to conquer the Bulwark, what chance does anybody else have?" Camille says. "Plus, the man has a massive ego, so taking this fortress as his is also a display of power to stoke the flames of his pride,"

Camille nods. "He obviously knows something we don't," She says, before scratching her chin. "With my newfound aquatic abilities I might start patrolling the waters around the Bulwark to see if I can spot anything unusual,"

Anderson immediately shakes his head. "Absolutely not. While you are a worthy fighter, you would be extremely vulnerable out there. You can't take an army on your own,"

Camille glares at Anderson. "Obviously I wouldn't start a fight if I see the enemy, I would return to shore and warn everyone,"

"And if they end up making the first strike?" Anderson asks pointedly.

"I can handle myself! We need all the information we can get and I am not going to sit back and avoid personal risk just because it might be dangerous," Camille shoots back.