I'm starting to get a rather strong feeling that Eliza eating mana crystals is not going to end well.

The sounds she's making while chewing on the spider's crystal are rather horrifying, and I think she is getting more bloodthirsty every day.

Herman isn't having similar problems, and while he is a bit... odd... he isn't going off the deep end. He's still at his previous level of odd.

I don't think I should let the delinquents have any more mana crystal. After a brief discussion with Sam, Bob, and Josephine, they all agree. They were here the whole time after all, and they're seeing the same thing I am right now. I'm pretty sure mana crystal is addictive somehow, and the way Eliza is busily slurping up spider blood makes my nonexistent guts roil.

They agree to let Josephine go first, she's the smallest. I tell them we'll work on it while I'm healing up, and drag my carcass towards the exit.

There's severe rents in my plating, slices in my vine musculature, burns and shrapnel damage all over, and I'm not in great condition. I'm not sure if I can fix all this damage, but I need to try. This body is the best thing I have going for me right now.

One of my mandibles and two of my legs are hanging at off angles due to damage to the plant matter I'm using to move around, so I heal that up first and make a little extra plant material to hold the damaged pieces in place so I don't lose any parts on my way back to the cafeteria. It stiffens everything up, but beggars can't be choosers. At least I can still ambulate.

Why didn't Sunny say anything about the spider? Did he already have permissions? Sunny didn't ask me to kick his ass... strange. Another puzzle.

I drag myself back to the cafeteria and begin considering how to make repairs. While I'm thinking, Josephine holds still while I add soul thread on to her soul, weaving it together so it won't come unraveled before it gets incorporated.

I end up being unable to melt the centipede's metal, I can't seem to get it hot enough, so I build a sand mold around each damaged part, melt some forks from the cafeteria down, and pour in molten metal to join the pieces back together. A little buffing with a brick of freshly made sandstone, and it looks terrible, but it works. One part at a time I put everything back together.

Gremal peeks in from the ceiling occasionally when I drop something or otherwise cause a disturbance, and for some reason that makes it all seem just a bit better. I might have some problems to deal with, but they don't seem that bad anymore. Eliza even brings me the spider's soul orb while I'm working. It's massive, and it doesn't have the green streaks flowing through it that mine does, it's pure black.

That reminds me... I remove one of my eyes, and grow the vines attaching it to my system, and bring it close to my soul orb while I work. After a few minutes of watching, I can see the tiny flicker of a moleratmadillow soul being struck down, a tiny glowing axe barely visible. I'm not sure what I can do for them in there, but it puts me at ease a little knowing they're still running about. After that I realize I can't ungrow vines, and have to perform some minor surgery to fit my eye back in the socket.

After some time, I'm as patched up as I can get, and Josephine's soul is done for now. She's already turning slightly green, which is a good sign going by Herman's transformation. He's gotten pretty big, but it's taken a while.

Looks like we're ready to roll out on a small expedition. Time to go find out what else is in the jungle. If I can take down a few centipedes while I'm at it I could use the spare parts. I'm still uncomfortable with them hanging around hiding undernath the floors, given how dangerous they have the potential to be.

There's evidence of centipede activity pretty much everywhere now, strange depressions and holes in the floor where the ground has collapsed due to tunnels.

I'm not sure how many of these things are around, but I'm ready to do my part trimming the numbers.

After some looking around, I find a section of floor that's more chewed up than the others. I decide to borrow a trick from the spider, and grow a cutting off myself in a crack in the floor, making sure it has tiny, delicate leaves, easily stirred by the tiniest vibrations, then lay down on the floor watching the plant carefully for any sign of subterranian movement.

and I wait....

and wait....

and wait....

until I see a tentative quiver in the tiny leaf. It grows more pronounced, and I wait, wound like a spring.

Suddenly, I can feel it, and I know the centipede is below. I rear up and slam down, busting through the flimsy tunnel ceiling where I chewed the surface just enough to make this easier. I grasp the creature below with arms and mandibles, positioning each carefully. With my knowledge of the centipede's anatomy, I slide my mandible between two plates, and pry them up like popping off a bottlecap. With a well placed snip, I sever the centipede's spine, and its writhing and flailing are greatly reduced. I wrestle the creature from the ground and since it now is paralyzed, it struggles mightily but dragging its own bulk behind it prevents escape.

I crawl just behind its head and get a strong grip as I peel my way in and grow a root directly into the centipede's brain and organs. It's a slower process, but far more humane than pulling its organs out while it still lived.

Another one down. I'll stash the body with Grimal, then head into the jungle for some exploration.