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~Introduction dialogue~
Passing by this unassuming spot hidden in a gorge, you're surprised to hear what sounds like extremely loud chanting and...music? It's like something you'd hear on those static box thingies in a human's car. Curiosity piqued, you cautiously follow the sounds, wary of stepping into any traps or coming within sight of a poacher ready with a weapon. But what you find is neither human nor animal: it's a portal straight to Hell! This is where all that sound is coming from, demonic voices and metallic clangs raised in chorus.
It sounds like drumming against the stone walls, the rise and fall of a harrowing wind, and then you do hear a voice carrying out alongside it. Peering across to the opposite side of this fiery pit, you see a distinct feline shape jumping as if skipping stones across a river, bounding effortlessly. It's a lioness, for you can smell her from here, and yet she's...singing? Her words are too vague, but she isn't scared at all of being so close to this dark place. No, she's celebrating!
She circles and keeps jumping in rhythm, completely passing you by at first until she gets back to where she first started this madness. "Ra-Ra-Rasputin!" she calls. "There was a cat that really was gone!" That's when you see that she's not alone; further back, away from the dangerous edge of the gateway to Hell, are unsorted lionesses and cubs from the Giving Tree. They're all dancing, too, staying in one place as they sway and whip their tails around. But they're entranced, unable to leave until she breaks this spell. Something's off here.
When the crazy lady finally stops, she is still panting happily as she turns her crimson eyes to look at you. Grinning, she bares her fangs as she suddenly plucks up the body of a meerkat that the king had found while out exploring earlier. With a careless fling, she tosses it into the pit, where it disappears far below. Having "fed" the portal, the music lowers in volume, allowing you to talk with her comfortably.
Up close, this lioness is extremely intimidating despite how kindly she smiles at you. The glowing sign over her forehead strikes unease through your very bones. Her red jewelry seem imbued with something dark and mysterious, some power that's not from this world. You're certain that if you were to touch it, you'd be burned. But getting a better look at her, she's also extremely pretty. Chuckling flirtatiously, she rolls onto her back, showing you that she's not going to entrance you or ask you to do anything stupid...or fatal.
"Fate has brought me a willing victim for once," she says ominously. "Don't fret, dear. I don't take them before they're ready. See my new friends over there? What vigor they have, dancing away like that! Unlike that little meerkat, so hollow and dead. Bleh! Only worthy for asking favors! But you...I want to keep getting lost in your eyes, keep feeling the warmth of your breath, keep wondering if you'd best my beloved mate in a fight. Hmm. Tempting."
She completely switches from mildly threatening to shamelessly trying to seduce you. This girl must be part succubus or something. You wisely back away before she gets you close enough to the portal. Who knows how much she was telling the truth, if any of it? On your way, you nearly trip over an undead rat scurrying around. When you look up again, the banner of the Chaos Serpent stands tall and proud here, in the one place where it might be protected...where chaos might reign once more.
It's time to go before she changes her mind and drags you into that flaming pit. Before you're gone, though, she invites you to come back and join her for a dance, and if you wanted more than that, she says there might be some daughters that could suit your fancy in the nursery. She wants this to become a family tradition, apparently.
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The third lioness customized by the king, "Lunga" is the Swahili word for seduce, which is how she convinced King Isiphepho to allow her to stay despite her dubious actions the longer she remained. Like Kimbia, she arrived at a desperate time when the pride needed to replenish their huntresses, so she took the second position of Chief Huntress, starting a rivalry with her fellow lioness. Both a devout worshipper of the Chaos Snake and apparently a Satanist, Lunga was born in captivity, transported to Morocco when she was very young. It was her worldwide experiences, having lived in at least three wildlife parks before escaping captivity, that led her to discover the practice of worshipping Satan and other demons, something that had never touched the pride before. She took with her only one thing from her cage: the key that had unlocked it, now wearing it around her wrist.
Lunga was forever pulling the most devious tricks on other members of the family, which made Kimbia's presence all the more essential. With her charming bejeweled attire, she would sway her way into the territories of rival males, convincing them to give up secrets in return for future cubs--namely, daughters that would breed if they wanted them. King Isiphepho was either neutral or good in morality, so he never allowed her to take the unsorted cubs for her plans. So, to keep up her devotion, she simply took living prey from hunts and threw them into the Gateway to Hell, listening to them screaming with a glow in her crimson eyes. That was when it was discovered that for every evil act Lunga performed, she was rewarded; the Chaos Snake whispered that this was her destiny, foretelling the return of a snake-eyed king that she would help ascend the throne.
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