Quoted By:
Killing and eating all humans doesn't actually align with your goals, for all it's worth. But Io seems to be driving quite a hard sell here, so for now you'll head down to the "meeting" and see what it's like.
The trail of dripping blood that you'd started following soon disappears, but you have already figured out where Io was headed. The gaping hole in the side wall of a deserted metro station proves you correct.
As you follow the chill draft downwards, the winding tunnels go from modern maintenance and infrastructure to brickwork houses from the times of the first metro lines to basements, bunkers, and temples of unknown time period and origin. Guess the proverb was true: the City wasn't built on the ground, it was built on the City.
You begin to feel a tug of an invisible line, leading you through the positively chtonic looking archways. Perhaps an innate monster sense that you now have? Or a special ability of some kind. The tunnel you're following opens up into a large chamber. You're too focused on the muted sounds of clamor coming from ahead and almost miss a monster standing guard in a dark alcove.
–"Move along, fresh meat. The rally is starting soon. The GENERAL will be speaking." the feline creature purrs and lazily waves you in. Her tone isn't as friendly as Io's, but then again, she's not nearly as large or fucked up looking. So you don't freeze this time.
As you walk in, she steps out of her hiding place and blocks the way back.
There were at least several hundred monsters in the grand hall, maybe even more than a thousand. Most of the crowd look about your size, other newborns, you guess. Fights and arguments break out here and there, but the crowd seems mostly controlled, and more monsters are arriving through numerous archways and tunnels. In the middle of the chamber, on the raised platform, a grand worm lays coiled, his only eye closed. Wait, you know this guy! From the history classes, no less. That must be the GENERAL, Luhud is his name if you remember correctly. At least a hundred years old, a remnant of the MONSTER WAR. The invisible thread that led you through the tunnels is coming from him, now going slack as you reached the intended destination.