"I see. Many demons have telepathy, although that's where their psychic-like abilities end. I assume that this polymorphing effect is permanent, then? If so, learning that would be a huge boon to us. How do Zerg reproduce? You implied that you are able to turn someone into one, or, at least, turn them closer to one. What do Zerg look like?"

The spell finishes! Conradia sighs, and looks to Magnus. The two of them nod, and Conradia sweeps her foot across the powdered silver circle, breaking the spell and setting Kerrigan free.

"Alright, you should be free now. None of the binding effects should be present on you anymore."

"Most of the Zerg strains are created from Larva (Tongues translation shares a word with Abyssal Petitioner, but has significantly distinct connotations), which are in turn produced by specialzed Hatchery-organizms. It's not unlike human reproductive system, but spread across distinct organizms. Zerg vary depending on their role, most have visual similarities to animals, but with certain elements enhanced, cases like mine are rare, and most zerg aren't human-looking, though I did design the strain for my advisor to look more human. Appearance is a design contraint, and can be carefully honed if needed."

Kerrigan will lift the paintbrush from the Mage Hand demonstration, do a few tricks with, and give it to Condradia to test that her abilities are working properly.

He nods. 

"Design and appearance is very important to us, so I'm glad that that can be accounted for. Hm, sadly I don't think we have any Zerg hatchery organisms here. None of our bestiaries have anything similar. We do have giant insect creatures that have brood queens, although none of them display the sophistication the Zerg seem to have.

We have a few choices for what to do now – I'll let you decide which order you want to do them in.

- Introduce you to the Conradian High Priest
- Eat
- Show you to your room
- Get an arcane stamper
- Test your power level

We'll refrain from teaching magic or psionics to each other until tomorrow, so that you can get settled in. Oh, right, that reminds me: Conradia needs to cast Share Language on you. Do you have it prepared, Conradia?"

She does!

"Share Language is a touch range spell, so I'll have to tap you in order to cast it. It's important that you do not try to resist it with spell resistance, or try to block it with your will. It won't work otherwise. It will let you speak our language fluently, as well as read anything written in it." She chants and waves her arms, and angles her arm like a scorpion poised to strike with its tail.

She accepts the spell.

Fortunately, she can weave some Zerg from scratch, though she isn't telling them that yet.

Getting to know the leaders here sounds most useful, having two distinct factions around is her favorite state of affairs!
"I would like to meet the Conradian High Priest, and we can observe the trivialities later."

"Sure thing! I'll lead you to the Conradian part of the complex later. Oh yes, and give you a map." 

Magnus opens the door, and passes through it. As soon as he does, any thoughts he weren't deliberately projecting become unreadable and opaque.

Ok, they got protection from mindreading. Kinda expected, and she's not going to reveal that she's been doing it by having any sort of comment.

She'll follow.

Magnus leads, and Conradia follows behind Kerrigan. Despite the base being underground, the hallways are surprisingly spacious. They're built of the same stone walls with engraved decorations and colored stone tiles, usually lilac-colored. It's clear that the designers of the place really cared about it looking good. Of the few people they encounter, they stare at them, but none of the stares imply hostility.

They pass through a large open door, and the aesthetic of the place changes. The colored stone tiles are gone, and it's just plain smoothed stone with simple engravings. It seems to be an entirely different section or wing of the buliding.

Later, they then approach another large-ish door, this time with a symbol of a rod and a sword laid perpendicularly to one another.

Magnus knocks, waits for a moment, and then opens the door.

"Here we are. I'll leave you in the company of the Conradians. See you." He leaves by going back the way he came. Conradia stays, but does not enter, leaving Kerrigan to go in alone.

So, two groups with different opinions on aesthetics. Promising.

She passes through the door. 

"Greitings, High Priest", a minor nod.

There's a man wearing similar robes to Conradia in the room, standing behind the door. He smiles. His appearance is much less threatening and imposing than that of Magnus. He gives off the energy of a young and an old man simultaneously. His body is lithe and youthful, but his demeanor is that of a kindly grandpa you can tell all your problems to.

His skin is dark purple, and there are foot-long horns sticking out of his black hair. He appears humanoid, but not human proper.

"Welcome to the Bronze Orchard, Sarah Kerrigan. The church of Conrad welcomes you. Please sit, if you'd like." 

He gestures towards one of the ornate padded armchairs in front of the desk. His own chair is less of a chair and looks more like a throne: it's richly decorated with silver embroidery and metal accoutrements.

"I was told that you came here through a magical accident. Are you hurt? Do you need healing? Or are you tired? I can cast Lesser Restoration on you or talk to you tomorrow, if you need rest." He says it as though there would be no problem at all.

"'Magical Accident' is probably not entirely correct. Apparently, interaction of your planar maigc and of my research projects produced a result that neither could achieve on its own. I'm not particularly tired now, and don't need much rest in general." She will sit down though.

He nods. Wow, there's so much to talk about! He has to think for a moment about which thread of conversation to pursue. Proselytizing and recruitment can come later. First, he wants to learn more about this Zerg thing.

"So, Zerg," he opens, resting his arms on the table. "You mentioned that you're able to transform people into them, and that such entities could be given various boons. Could we see you create one, or transform a human into one? Does it have to be a human, or can it be any humanoid? We can procure prisoners for you so that you can demonstrate – perhaps people on your world are different from ours."

The whole base is lit by magical light that seems to be emanating from the ceiling, but in this room it is particularly bright: comparable to the noonday sun.

"I can create Zerg, though I would need time to start with simpler forms, without hive infrastructure the process is difficult. Transforming existing organisms is easier, it can potentailly be any living organism, though I will need to study their Essence to develop a successful setup, and first attempts might end in failure, so having disposible prisoners is useful. But I'm certain I can do it safely eventually."

It's not clear whether she even registers the unusually bright light, and if her eyes might've displayed some adjustment, it's certainly hidden behind their glow.

"Excellent." He claps his hands.

"Hm, are you able to create hive infrastructure on your own? We'll probably be able to assign the lesser-used workrooms for you to set up in, after we've seen what the Zerg can do. It will take about a day to a couple of days for us to get prisoners for you, but once we've set up we can get you...about a dozen or two a week. Perhaps more." He'll send out a bunch of his people to nab commoners in Nerosyan and Caliphas. Vigil is too risky – he does not want to deal with Lastwall.

"Could you tell me more about the sorts of things Zerg can do? Their combat potential? Although I'm more interested in the sorts of things that a human-transformed-into-Zerg could be made to do. Are you able to keep much of yourself – your mind, your personality – when you change?" Conrad doesn't really care about aesthetics, but he does care about combat capability.

Well, now is the time to be impressive. 
"Zerg can do great variety of things, and combat is one of them. There's a significant variety of warrior-strains, but all of them are deadly in battle, with claws capable of tearing through metal, and carapace that can withstand the impact of multiple bullets." 

"Human-Zerg hybrid can also vary depending on the process used to produce them, but under the right conditions, personality can be preserved, and capabilities greately enhanced. Human body is a host t o a number of weaknesses that easy to rectify, but it's also possible to enhance mental capacity, and psionic powers. I suspect it can also improve proficiency with local magic."

"Full hive cluster will require a lot of space, but I can setup the simpler forms without too much problems." 

He smiles widely.

"Approximately how much space will you need to set up the simple version of the hive cluster? If it's too big, I can have the wizards expand the base to give you more space. Ah, we'll probably need to set up more Cauldrons of Plenty, then. It's a magic item we use to conjure food – while we do import food from outside, it's mostly treats and the like. The Cauldrons fulfill the bulk of our food needs. Each one can sustain around thirty six people: we have fourteen."

"Minimal size for the cluster would need a room of about a hundrent meters on the side, height about fifty meters. I can try to reduce the size of the hive structures at the cost of time and efficiency if that is unfeasable."

Hm...that's a lot of space. Still, it's probably doable.

"We'll wait to see the results of the experiments before constructing the building – it's difficult to excavate underground. Do the hive structures need food, or energy? If so, what do they consume?"

"Food will work fine. Also, if you are interested in combat potential, it would be beneficial to have access to sturdy materials that can be worked into carapace, some crystal or metal."

"The setup for creating hybrids is much smaller and can probably fit in a room like the one I appeared in, though it wood take the whole room for prolonged period of time."

"I'll be sure to tell the wizards."

He lets an appropriate amount of time pass before continuing.

"What is your world like? Although we can't Plane Shift you there – we have no tuning fork – we could send a message to anyone you know via Sending if you want to tell them you're safe, or something like that. It will also permit a short response back. Alternatively, we could attempt observing someone you know via Scrying, and we would be able to pass messages back and forth for a few minutes."

"My world, is currently recovering from a series of wars fought in quick succession, causes and consequences of which would take a long time to explain. All powers, including the Swarm are currently recovering from it, so there's some time before another big conflic starts, but at some point it will, and I wanted the Swarm ready. Establishing contact would be beneficial, especially if you can reach Izsha, my advisor."

Mm. Wars. Fun. Actually, he shouldn't be sarcastic about it – wars are things that produce lots of people potentially aligned with Conrad.

"Message is almost guaranteed to succeed – it works even if you're in a different plane – but you'd only be able to send a message no more than twenty-five words long. The entity on the other side will be able to respond once with the same constraints, and after that, the spell ends. Scrying works for minutes at a time and will allow back and forth communication, but...it's difficult to get working. It works best if the caster has a close connection with the target, and I don't, and if you're able to produce foci that relate to them. A picture, a possession, or some sort of small body part will work, with the latter working best. Even just a hair will work fine."

"How flexible is 'small body part'?.. I don't have any, but I can make a part with the smae Essence."

"I can also project the image into caster's mind."

"I'm not sure what you mean by Essence, but from the sound of it, it might help. And yes, using telepathy would work too. I sadly don't have Scrying or Message prepared today, but I'll be able to pray for them tomorrow."