Never Forget

    Silence dominates the graveyard, not many people are around at this time of night. In fact, in the light of a staff shaped like a caduceus planted into the ground, its top illuminated by a Spell of Light, only one person is visible at the moment: a young Spriggan woman in an outfit that's a mixture of a gi and a nurse's uniform (drenched in slime goo and... other unsavory substances one would expect to find in a sewer -- corresponding status effects apply) who kowtows to pay ritual respect in front of a small memorial monument: it's pretty much two smooth rocks, the size and shape of slimes, both of them with eyes and a smiling mouth scribbled on; one of them is decorated with makeshift cat ears made of folded fabric glued to it, the other with a conical wizard's hat.

    "I will never forget you, Mizuki Jr. and Neville Blobbottom! Circumstances may have made it so I've lost you forever in the sewers... but you will never be forgotten!"

It's true, since Landers don't leave bodies and Adventurers typically respawn a cemetery sees limited use or visits. They exist more for in-spirit memorandums, and a pseudo biome for Undead and Spirit Monsters. It's the latter that another lone occupant was here for.

Regardless the faint Light is hard to miss. Hooves don't make a lot of noise on dirt and grass so she probably goes unnoticed until she stops to lean against a tall tombstone and cross her arms. "Looks like someone got themselves into a sticky situation." Kauchemar is smirking at the names though.

The nightmare can see in the dark but for the sake of ambiance and practice there's a few ghostly will-o-wisps floating dimly around her.

    Uta, startled, leaps sideways, grabs her lit stick, tumbles, stands again at the ready for a fight, lit staff extended forward. "...oh, it's you!", she say, relaxing her posture a little, but not completely. "And got out of it too," she comments, twirling her staff and sliding it behind her back. "Well, the slime duty at least. There's still the issue of the... leftovers." She glances down at the gunk she's covered in and scrunches her nose. "Scraped off the majority of the gunk from this one and bottled it in case it can be used to make potions." She leans over a tiny bit. "You don't happen to know whether one can make anything out of slime goo, do you?"

Kauchemar laughs at the startled response. She loves when she does that to people. "Thankfully you don't smell strong enough to wake the dead here." The equine woman hmmm, raising an arm to tap her cheek thoughtfully. "Poisonous concoctions mainly from the slime. An alchemist or doctor might find more medicinal uses."

    Uta sniffs under her armpit, and does not appear to like what lies there. "...yeah, that's next on the list after the memorial service. Find river, step in it, open menu, bathe, laundry."

    "...wait, can one actually /wake/ the dead by smelling too strongly?

Kauchemar just smiles that viper-like smile of hers. "I'm not giving away any secrets."

She pushes herself upright from the grave marker and strolls over. "So why are you holding memorials for slimes from the sewer anyways?"

        Uta gives Kauchemar an intense stare. "One day, I'm gonna have a slimarium." Fist clenched, gaze directed towards the future, with determination. "And it's gonna be /glorious/."

    "...so, anyway, I had to start somewhere, and I had managed to get a couple of slimes to hang around me," more like 'hang to', as in, chewing on and not letting go, but she doesn't mention that, "They were supposed to be the first of my collection, but... unfortunately..."

    Her head hangs, she looks down, the angle causing her hair to cast a shadow on her eyes, for extra dramatic effect. "They... they were lost..."

Kauchemar was about to ask what the hell that meant but Uta's ramble gives her more context. "There -are- a large number of slime types that could be displayed."

She looks down at the markers. "You might want to try and start with something less... feral." Nods to her wisps drifting about. "Even seemingly simple monsters can be a handful."

Uta takes a slow, long looks at the wisps. She raises one finger. "...are those... monsters?"

"Will-o-wisps," Kauchemar explains. "A small type of Spirit Monster. Not unlike Slimes in simplicity. But they have uses." She snaps her fingers and the wisps brighten. Then flicker in a sequence that changes their colors around a few times.

    Uta stares at the blinking Will-o-wisps, hypnotized. She can't help but headbang along. "Wait, wait, what am I doing?" she exclaims, and shakes her head to clear it. "Sooooooooooooooo, anyway... now that I'm done with honoring the Lost, I am in dire need of relax from a week of hard work, and I was looking for tips about what there is to do here," she says, her gaze wandering the graveyard.

    "What's the night life like around these parts?"

"To DIE for," Kauchemar replies without missing a beat, and chuckling a bit sinisterly after.

"But seriously, different spawns often occur at night. Landers tend to stat indoors but Inns and Taverns are usually open all times."

    Uta grins wide. "Hey, that sounds like fun. I... I do need something STIFF to cope with, well..."

    She gestures at everything.

    "Wanna come with? Hit the town? I mean, I get the impression that people around here don't really like to go out often." She glances around at all the tombs.

    "Going to an inn alone is a bit sad, don't you agree?"

Kauchemar stretches. "This place is pretty BARE BONES anyways." Ah puns as universal a language as music. "Use to be activity all the time but now that people need to actually sleep in-game..." She shrugs.

Uta says, "I... I don't know, I believe it can be pretty chill if you dig under the surface." She tilts her head at the nighmare. "Why are you always having such a grave voice? It certainly doesn't help with raising the spirit around here..."

Kauchemar waggles a finger as she starts to walk out of the graveyard. "Good wordplays but you use too many at once. No material for later. And my voice is perfect for being ... cryptic."

Quality over quantity yo.

Uta trots after Kauchemar, speeding up to keep reach her and keep pace. "...an important lesson that is valid not only for debate, but also battle. Thank you."

"You give your all, but not all at once" Kauchemar slows down a little, but only a little. "But at least you're learning your abilities."

    Uta says, having to hurry because, well, her legs aren't as long as Kauchemar's, "Pacing. Again, a very important lesson both in storytelling and battle."

    She reprieses, "Master Miyoda from Master Miyoda's Swampside Used Cart Lot and Martial Arts Doujo taught me a lot about this world's combat system, really. Too bad I don't get to hang around him much these days... I feel like I still have so much to learn..."

    She catches up, and slowing just a little, she adds, "...how did /you/ learn to use your abilities?"

"Experience" A vague yet fitting on many levels answer. "I didn't start just before the disaster hit after all." Pause. Snickering. "Or pick at random."

Another pause and then a snort of bemusement. "Though it helps the 'real' me was also very musically gifted."

    Uta crosses her arms and sticks her nose up in the air. "/On the other hand/, picking at random will force one out of one's comfort zone, pushing one in directions one would never have foreseen. Life is a balance of order and chaos; if you want a place where everything is in /order/, and what happens is always predictable, well... you're either in jail, on a one-track-ride, or..." she gestures around at the graveyard.

    "Chance is what brings chances for growth and discovery."

The response gets another laugh out of the nightmare. It sounds as much as one might expect a demonic neighing to. "Well said, well said. But remember much like Light and Dark, one does not exist without the other."

    Uta, startled, gets a shudder at the laugh, leaping back. She nods gravely, even if still shrinking in worry. "Indeed. Ying and Yang and everything that follows, and precedes. Because it's all a cycle. After all, the thermal death of the universe would be Pure Chaos... which in a sense closes back the circle to pure order. Both are needed for life, balanced, and interacting." She follows at a slightly wider distance now.

Kauchemar is again amused at the responses she gets out of the smaller Spriggan. The wise things being said probably sound strange coming from such a being. "I am a creature of darkness and despair ... But what is that without light and hope to measure against?"

    Uta smirks, "Too mainstream, not hipstery enough. The cool kids would have to find something else to get into. Probably hats. And, hey, same for light and hope, they need some background to stand out against. That's why so many stories include a foil character."

"And now you understand why I'm the way I am." An short but very deep answer from the nightmare.

    The dark scaled Salamander was walking across the road, he had no current destination, but he was humming some song to himself as he walked.

As he is walking, his hand is gently resting on the hilt of his blade and his eyes just glancing at people as they pass by. It was obvious his mind was elsewhere; But then his mind is /always/ elsewhere unless he is killing something.

    Uta stops. Goes silent. Something clicks. "Ooooooh."

    But she says nothing.

    Until, that is, she notices a certain Salamander approaching. "Speaking of people who /really/ mess with you to bring out your best...", she begins saying to Kauchemar, "Look who's coming! Xander! HEY!" She calls out, standing on tiptoe and waving one hand in his direction.

Kauchemar doesn't quite stop when Uta does for her revelation, keeping her chuckling to herself.

Then the Salamander is pointed out. "Such deep consideration... I hope he doesn't hurt himself."

    Xander blinks as he looks up, "Uta?" He gives a gentle smile, "Hey! How have you been?" He then starts to make his way over to the two. "Did that spar against Wynfei go well?"

His draconic eyes look over to Kauchemar, "Oh, hey-- Kauchemar, right?" Xander also gives her a gentle smile as well. "You been doing well too?"

    Uta puffs up, "That's me, yup! I've been doing great! See, I've been working on slime duty, even got me a couple of slimes a kitty-slime and a slime with a wizard hat..."

    Sudden shock stare. "...but then I lost them..." She clenches her fist and looks at the horizon. "I will never forget you, Mizuki Jr. and Neville Blobbottom! Your sacrifice was not in vain!"

    If this was an anime, there'd be a long shot with the two slimes superimposed to the sky.

    Xander and Kauchemar, however, might just see Uta staring weirly in the distance.

    "...and the spar went well! I think we're evenly matched, which is always nice when practicing."

Kauchemar nods in confirmation as Xander recalls her name. "Had one foot in the grave the other night." She gives the comment a moment to linger in its meaning before explaining "Destroying giant skeleton bosses from a burial barrow."

Then sighs lightly, cupping one hand over her brow. "Still can't believe she named them like that..."

    The Salamander glances over to Uta, "And I'm sure your just... all slimed about it!" Though his attention moves over to the Were Fang.

"Giant Skeleton?" Xander asks Kauchemar with his head tilted gently. "What exactly happened?"

Kauchemar jabs a thumb over her shoulder though the direction is fairly indiscriminant and probably not accurately indicated. "It came out of that goblin digsight Att Syne found. Good thing a bunch of us were around investigating to deal with it." That is followed by a short shrug. "It even had it's own boss-like tagline title... which is weird, because he said the whole thing wasn't a 'quest chain' like you'd find somewhere in the overworld. But that was most definately a boss level monster."

    Xander raises a brow softly at Kauchemar, before his body shifts a little, "Yeah, I-- am not /to/ surprised, but just drives the continued point that the game is changing."

The Salamander's tail moves slowly behind him. "Like the goblins might be, in fact, smarter than they once were and are perhaps, could be, growing in intelligence. I plan on trying to Parlay with them and see what more I can find out."

He then looks at the two, "This is probably something that should be brought up to other Adventurers though, you know? Just so people are aware they should be ready for anything."

    Uta says, "I don't like this. I don't like this at all. There's... things have already gotten so tangled when stuff as simple as playing into avatar stereotypes to socially engineer Landers, people have raised all sorts of moral concerns..." She glances at Xander and Kauchemar, sideways, "if /monsters/ start displaying intelligent behavior, we're going to have to fight against smarter goblins /and/ half of the adventurer population because of the moral implications of murdering intelligent creatures." She sighs and looks down at herself. "...anyway, I guess I should go, get cleaned, and do laundry. I certainly cannot hit the inn like /this/." She starts walking away, "See you later in town... and just go ahead, don't wait for me. I might get delayed."

Kauchemar holds up a finger of each hand. "There is a difference between 'intelligent' and 'sapient'. It's possible the Apocalypse has caused more advanced AI for monsters to be active sooner. Look at all the other things it -broke-." A gesture in the vague direction of where Ezzo lays across the oceans.

    "Well, I can confirm they /have/ become smarter. That was something I already been looking into." Xander admits to Kauchemar. "The trouble is, getting people to take that concern /seriously/."

Xander looks over to Uta and extends his hand up to her, "Take care Uta and don't worry too much, cause Kauchemar has a point. Sapient and Intelligence are two very different things. Just enjoy your shower!"

    His attention turns back to Kauchemar, "If folks continue to believe this is a game or treat raids as we have always treated them. Things /will/ go sideways and sideways far worse than it almost already did on floor one."

The Salamander gently shakes his head, "And what worries me is that the harder we push, the more the system may adapt and just makes things only harder. Mind you this is part is speculation but... I don't like where this all could be heading for. Most folks in this game... Are not really ready to handle or deal with a real war scenario, or at least how the situation should be handled like."

"Take care Uta. See you at the Inn later then maybe... or technically earlier at this point." Kauchemar shrugs at that, then points her finger at Xander. "-That- I am not going to disagree with you on. 'A person is smart; a group is contagiously stupid and dangerous.' Mob mentality is an chaos even I don't really care to see."

Uta's voice comes from afar, in reply to the invitations not to worry and to enjoy the shower, "Thanks, Xander! I won't, and I WON'T!"

    "I so agree." Xander says to Kauchemar. "People are fine so long as they believe a situation is under control or they understand the bounds. Once the situation is no longer under control, then becomes the test of character."

Xander shifts once more, hand still resting loosely on the hilt of his blade, as his other gestures freely. "Fight or flight. Most people will tend to flight, before they fight, because they are not trained to override the flight behavior. Even those trained to override, sometimes can have difficulty in keeping to that training."

    The Salamander shakes his head gently, "So, as things continue to progress... I just hope those who have the ability to take charge /honestly/ take charge, but..." He falls silent, "Anyways, enough on that yeah? Who knows what will happen in the near future."

"That sounds like something a soldier would say, yes," Kauchemar replies with just the hint of a smirk. "But it is an accurate assessment of possible situations. A matter with no one real right answer. To guide and prepare is all that can really be done at this point."

He tail swishes a few times, and the nightmare shrugs then clasps her hands together. "But dwelling on it gets one nowhere but farther down a pit they may never climb out! Better to enjoy the possibilities than dread the uncertainties."

    "I can drink to that one, Kauchemar, speaking of!" Xander says, seeming to avoid the soldier comment all together, "Care for a drink or three? My tab!"

The dispersing past the comment doesn't go unnotices, but she's in no mood to needle at it either. "I've been out in the graveyard scoping undead monsters for potential summons, I could use something to not be as dry as the bones I poked at." Kauchemar nickers a chuckle as she follows after Xander. "You know what they say about leading horses to water... But this is alcohol we're talking about. The worst is will be it tastes watered down!"