Leo had to suppress a wince when Blibdoolpoolp began flagellating himself for failing the 'test' and possibly even crying over it too. Leo didn't enjoy making people unhappy with his performances. Partially because his former mistresses had conditioned his every instinct to scream that unhappy audiences lead to impromptu post-performance displays of fire-eating, but mainly because he just liked making people happy when he performed. It was one of the few joys he had back when he belonged to the drow, and it was one of the few joys the other slaves who were around to watch him had as well. And he certainly didn't enjoy it when any of the kuo-toa hurt themselves whenever they felt they had displeased him. After suffering at the hands of his mistresses for even the most minor inconveniences, letting the kuo-toa punish themselves when they did wrong by him felt hypocritical.

But as much as he hated seeing it happen, it was unfortunately an integral part of maintaining his persona as SHOOGBIMBHALD. If he did not disguise his lack of knowledge as a test for his followers, if he did not distract from his own imperfections by getting the kuo-toa to focus on their own flaws, if he showed any hint of something that went against their warped perception of him as a divine being, doubt would begin to set in and he would lose power. Power he was going to need if he wanted to save his loved ones before whatever he was turning into consumed him. And if enough doubt set in? If the kuo-toa stopped believing? If they realized that Leo wasn't the god that they thought him to be...? Leo didn't want to think about that. Nor did he have time to. As Blibdoolpoolp finished speaking to the crab and turned his attention back to Leo, SHOOGBIMBHALD returned to the fore and ended the line of thought that the crab's distraction had allowed time for.

[b]"Great SHOOGBIMBHALD, what... what should we do with the eggs? Should we destroy them? Should we move them? Should we guard them? Please... tell your servants what must be done."[/b]

[b]"Leave the eggs be and seal the tunnel you have dug into this chamber."[/b] SHOOGBIMBHALD ordered. [b]"Ensure that neither the tadpoles nor their mother can reach the cathedral from here.[/b] He had briefly considered trying to tame the mother. SHOOGBIMBHALD didn't doubt that such a creature would be a great asset. But that line of thinking brought up memories of the drow laughing about slaves that had died in the process of taming a Gloom-Croaker, which took Him dangerously close to the thoughts He had quashed moments before. And since the tadpoles were untameable, they'd have to be dealt with before they left their eggs if He wanted the mother. That wasn't something he was all that keen on either. No. It was probably best to just let sleeping spiders lie in this case. [b]"Once the tunnel is sealed, have the miners dig in a different direction."[/b] SHOOGBIMBHALD continued. [b]"With the fortune of my blessing and the wisdom of the crab, the next find shall be a safer one than this."[/b]