Lyra could recognise the monsters in the Pen by sight alone<br/>Grey Stalker<br/>Hellhound<br/>Parasitic Wasp<br/>Mother Maiden<br/>Death Toad<br/>Swampsac<br/>Firesnake<br/>and of course, the day's attraction<br/>the Nightvore Slither; an delightful amphibious blend of teeth, fur, claws and tentacles, that even now was being sheparded back to its pen. The thing waddled and hopped its way back, its belly too stuffed to run properly. Lyra could easily make out the bundled forms of girls trapped inside it, squeezed tightly against one another.<br/><br/>The creature belched loudly, and then retched a little, throwing up a girl back onto the sidewalk in a steaming pile of goop at Lyra's feet. Her skin was already turning a light pink, and her arm ended at a bloody stump.<br/>"Gods - I'm out - I'm free... It burns so much! I thought I was going to die"<br/>The Nightvore Slither looked confused at the girl for a bit before making some loud coughs and hacks as it spit up a bunch of phlegm. It's throat cleared, it didn't waste any time getting back to its meal - wrapping the girl up in tentacles and sucking her back into its toothy mouth whole. Its teeth grazed at her body, drawing lines of blood, but she slipped back down it's gullet mostly whole.<br/>"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"<br/>Lyra could see the girl's bulge travel down its esophagas, and come to rest once agin in the monster's stomach with her friends.<br/>The Nightvore Slither, once again full to the brim with tasty, bouncy, girls, half waddled, half rolled back to its cage under the watchful supervision of its keepers.<br/><br/>As Lyra glanced over at the crimes of the condemned - it read<br/>Amber<br/>Candice<br/>Ethyl<br/>Susanne<br/>Liza<br/>Ophelia<br/><br/>The Named have been accused of spreading vile rumours about the sexuality of the Village Chieftain: The great and powerful Spearmaiden of the battle of Zarful, the hero of Klartoo, and the winner of an honourable duel to the death with Gilda the Great of the Imperial Capital coliseum.<br/><br/>The accused are also guilty of Vandalism of City property with these slanderous phrases.<br/><br/>And of course, resisting lawful arrest by the City Guard.<br/><br/>They have been condemned to death by slow digestion and public humiliation.<br/>Their names and deeds have benn struck from our records.<br/>May their pain and suffering in the belly of a Nightvore Slither drag on as long as possible.<br/><br/><br/>The crowd began to disperse back down main street and into Boiling Girl alley, and back to their homes or jobs, leaving Lyra to her thoughts, clutching her throbbing arm as a trickle of blood dripped through her fingers. To her right was the general store, where a very angry looking Scout was standing, muttering obscenities to herself - she looked rather scary and unapproachable.<br/><br/>Lyra felt down to her loincloth and realised that she didn't have her shellpurse, or any medicines to treat her wound. That and her failed expedition this morning would surely put the Scout commander in a foul mood. Today just wasn't her day. So she was hungry, broke, injured and drenched to the bone.<br/><br/>"Next executions are scheduled to be held tomorrow at the same hour" Came a cry from a herald on stage. "Be sure to come and view some traitorous scum get what they deserve."<br/><br/>Dark thunderclouds rolled over the town square, and began to spit rain as the gods argued loudly above them with flashes of light and sound. The gray gloom hung over the entire town. Yet another thing to pile on the mood of the day.