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Mope
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{{Quote|source=[[Mope]]|
Most of my kind would shun me, for I have used the forbidden powers and taken root above the surface. But I will grow a new family. One less stupid than the old.}}
A conversation available at {{favor|friends}}.
{{Quote|source=[[Mope]]|
;I'm interested in entering your fungal fortress.
I am pleased. I believe we can be mutually beneficial. Beneath the mushroom you're standing on is a series of caves. I can send you there, but you should not go alone. It is exponentially more dangerous than up here.
; What will I find down there?
The natural caverns beneath us have been ruthlessly hollowed out and expanded by... my former allies. These creatures were a mistake and need to be destroyed.
Aside from these creatures, there are many deadly traps. And the lowest levels of cavern have breached ancient Gob-Lands tunnels, now laden with powerful foes.
;Tell me about the enemies I will face.
...I trust you, so I will divulge my shame. In my grief over the death of my friends, I used every forbidden technique. For who was left to forbid me?
When the surface orcs attacked, I infected them with a fungoid agent.
;So there are diseased orcs down there?
The orcs are no more. They have become fungus-men.
This technique is forbidden for good reason: fungus-men can spread very quickly, and they have often leaked into the Gob-Lands in the past, leading to the persecution of my race. So I tried to improve the technique!
I gave my fungus-men psychic powers to that I could better control and guide them. I gave their lives meaning, and they in turn moved heavy stones and helped me grow more fungus. Then a villain found us.
;A villain?
I have never seen her like: a praying mantis of significant proportion who wears a human-style top hat.
[[Imarak]] could hear my fungus-men's psychic network, and she claimed they were experiencing a type of pain I could not feel. She offered to aid them in exchange for rooms to raise her brood. This was agreeable, and for a time all went well.
Imarak's eggs hatched and we celebrated our new mantis friends' lives. The mantises helped us create more efficient shapes for our tunnels, and helped us understand how the surface can benefit us. It was a beautiful partnership.
; And then the mantises betrayed you?
Yes. Imarak broke the fungus-men free of my control. I can no longer communicate with them at all! Some remain loyal to me, but most have turned to hedonism: they live only to spread their fungus and add more "friends" to their psychic network.
This could not have happened at a worse time, for my first batch of new myconians has begun to gain sentience, using recovered heartshrooms. These innocents are alone down there without any guidance... except the guidance of Imarak's cruel teacher-mantises!
; I see, I had another question.
}}
[[Category:NPCs]]
