+duty: Slime Dungeon

GM-Run of the +duty Is It Wrong to Pick Up Slimes in a Dungeon? Running earlier in the day for those with earlier time zones. Would prefer to keep the group size to no more than 7.

Kita
Alne

As of recent days, attention has been diverted away from the Isle of Beginnings. Undead swarming in the North and the Wave of Calamity in the East. However, life goes on. This place is still the home to many Adventurers and Landers, having filled the previously empty streets of Alne.

However, some of the more distant expanses of the city are still empty. This particular part of the city is abandoned due to the water-source being all but blocked by what appear to be slime monsters. There is a colorful coating of goo around the well, along with a distant sound of blub-blub from below that seems the tell-tale mark of slimes.

There is a rope ladder that has been set up, to allow access to the well, but no one seems to be guarding it. The Hunter's Guild has hired Adventurers to try to clear out the place.

Among those who have showed up, is Kita, the fashionable Imp Artist who has rarely been seen outside Tolbana in recent days. She still has a distracted look about her, as if she has somewhere more important to be. "Hopefully this quest has something I can put to use for the statue..." She murmurs.
Uta
Alne

    Uta trots in as if walking on air, a skip in her step and far too much excitement on her face. The first thing that people who haven't seen her in a while might notice is that her long hair has been reduced to a much shorter version, done in a pixie bob; a voluminous one, but nowhere as long as the mane she used to sport. Second, she looks far more excited than her usual already excitable self: her wings flutter, and she emanates quaint little happy Spriggan noises.

    "Slimes! Slimes! Slimes! Slimes! SLIMES! Slimes!"

    When she comes close enough, it becomes obvious that the twinkle in her eyes falls smack into indicating 'brain overload', and the concept is further reinforced as soon as she opens her mouth again.

    "Slimes slimes slimes. Slimes slimes slimes... sliiiimes..."

    Nope. She seems unable to say anything else.

    She stops. She gulps, and with her eyes narrowed into turned crescents, she struggles to find words.

    "...Slime, slime, slime, slime!", she says, with the same intonation of one who was trying to say "one, two, three, check!"

    She sighs, bites her lower lip hard until it flashes a faint red (and one tiny amount is docked from her HP bar), and finally...

    "Uta. Me Uta. Me duty. Slimes."

    Pupils grow three sizes.

    "...Sliiiiiiiiiimes..."Dreamy sigh.


     Earlier that day, Fukasa had been somewhat bored. She had some preparations to do but nothing too crazy right about now, mostly just being ready for her own delve into a dungeon the next week. So she's sitting there reading over the Adventurers' Guild offerings, when she sees it!

                "Oh hey. Slimes."

     And she goes to pick up the quest, traveling to the area for it. Yep. She's thinking of her little newbie friend, Uta! And thus she's here at the slime-filled well, absently following... Uta. Because she saw her approaching the well in about a daze. Aaand... apparently slimes break Uta. Wow. "...Maybe that Slime lab isn't a great idea." She muses. Before absently lifting the back half of her trident to lightly attempt to smack some sense back into Uta with a light tap to the back of the head. "Uta. Focus. At least a little."

Kauchemar just sighs as she trots up not long after Uta. "Don't mind her, she's got a fixation."

Gives the Spriggan a light poke to the temple with a finger, as if trying to get some sort of reset button to work. "Focus, girl. Rememeber this is for your research and the lab... Oh, which reminds me."

The equine were fang pulls some leather wraps out of her inventory and kneels down to strap them around her hooves. There will be no walking around in the muck and gunk essentially barefoot this time. "See? Proper saftey equipment is important!"

    "Kita! Darling!" Calls out a voice ever so familiar to the artist imp. It was another imp and one with more exotic features. From her hooves, to even her glowing lavender eyes. Here comes the sultry, fiery, and magical lady, Katherine Tanzer.

The woman actually doesn't walk up in her normally hip swaying, sultry fashion. No. Instead she jogs up; Though looking like a woman in high heels; and quickly hugs Kita, with zero care to the other girl's personal space. "It is so good to see you again!" She then steps back and smiles, "Have you been well? How is your art projects coming along?"

Then Katherine Tanzer takes notice of the others, before she gives a friendly wave of her hands, with a warm smile to match. "Greetings to all, for those who do not know me. I am Lady Magus, Katherine Tanzer of the Outcasts." She then gives a slight curtsy, "It shall be an honor to work alongside all of you."

As she stands back up, she uses her hand to sweep her bangs back and places one hand on her hip, which slightly shifts to the side.

    Well, that /is/ interesting. As she always seems to do, Baroness Wake has approached in silence, flitting from shadow to shadow. Stepping out at last as close to Uta as can be managed, she intones seriously, "Uta, dear, are you certain you are emotionally prepared to confront your wildest dreams? I would point out that they can be far more difficult to handle than your worst nightmares."
    The Baroness directs her attention to Fukasa with a smile and, as usual, greets with her trademark curtsey, which she manages despite her current dress. For spelunking, it seems the Right Clothes are form-fitting, something of a dark body suit with a relatively modest cut.
    "It's a pleasure to join you all, I'm Baroness Wake."
Atif
Alne


    And then there's Atif. Sweeping in right at the end of everyone else's gathering up.

    No, quite really. From some higher ground nearby, a blur of red and gold flies through the air -- or really, falls with style, as it happens. The blur descends upon the other Adventurers, before landing onto the ground with a hop, and there is the Red Salamander himself! Bouncing up from a rebounding crouch with a wide, energetic smile on his lips. "Hello! I'm here for the job! Hey, Yuri, Hey Kita, hey U...ta...?" His head tilts in bemused worry when he actaully sees the state of the Spriggan. At least Yuri and Kauchemar are... trying to handle that little shortcircuit incident already. After which, he directs a subtle bow towards Katherine, offering an all-too-formal "Lady Tanzer!" in greeting.

    All leading up to his attention turning to the more unfamiliar faces. Kauchemar and Baroness Wake, both. His hand lifts up, and a smile as bright as the sun is provided for both of them. "Hello! I don't think we've met! I'm Atif! It's nice to meet you~!"
Kita
Alne

The sudden hug seems to break Kita from her distracted thoughts. She blinks, as if coming back to her senses, then seems to realize just when and where she is. There is a slight stiffening of her posture, but she offers a small smile to Kat, "Good to see you, too." She replies, "As for the statue, it's getting there. I'm on the hunt for a few more rare materials, so I was hoping that this dungeon might have something I could use."

It's only then that she seems to realize the others are there, and she raises a hand in greeting. Apparently, she completely missed Uta's chanting, though. "I'm Kita. Kita Blackthorne. Artist." Strange that she doesn't give her actual in-game title.

"We should get going." She advises, then heads down into the well.

The handholds on the ladder are a bit slippery, but it seems safe enough. The well is completely dry, though, other than those splotches of colorful slime. A tunnel leads of finto the sewers below the city.

After walking for a time, they come upon a very unusual sight. It appears that there is a skeleton in the pathway. An 'oooo' sound follows, as strange slime-like ghosts make themselves known, phasing in and out of the nearby walls as they seem to circle the skeleton.

However, Adventurers seem like a far more tasty treat, so as soon as they are sensed, the group of Whisperings start floating towards them, as if drawn by their life force.


     Several people who Yuri doesn't recognize were there. Interesting! New people to make note of, it seems. She knew of the baroness, but she didn't really know Kita or Katherine, so she actually pulls out a small scroll and jots down a note or two. And she receives a curtsy from the Baroness!

     Fukasa actually flashes a warm smile towards her in response, dipping into a bit of a bow of her own as she doesn't have much of a skirt to curtsy with, as she wears clothing that's very easy to swim in as befitting of an undyne. "Are you sure you wish to be here, Baroness? It's no doubt going to be quite dirty." She teases the baroness. "Oh right, I suppose I should introduce myself to several of you. I am Fukasa Yuri, the Lily of the Depths." She says with a polite bow towards the small handful of people she doesn't recognize.

     Afterwards, she rather... unceremoniously hops down into the watering well, stabbing her trident into the walls of it here and there to slow her fall. She shifts slightly at the sight of... Ghosts. Oh good, she can't really deal with that in any other way than, well. She lifts her hand and points towards the whisperings, several rapidly incanted words that sound almost like someone talking in fast forward being followed by a simple blast of water magic towards the creatures to blast them away.

As Kita gives the call to get started Kauchemar gives Uta another light jab. "Com'n girl, let's go. No SLIME like the present!" Followed by one of her cackling, whinney-like laughs as she trots over to the well, hops the edge and grabs the holds to make her way down.

As usual for underground passages there's a bit of wandering before finally coming to the first obstacle. The skeleton is nothing interesting, but the glowy orbs of aether and slime whafting around it are. "Well isn't that something..." She pulls the bound scroll from her inventory, fiery spectacle frames igniting around her eyes as she does, and peers into things other than the visible mortal world for a few moments.

"Whisperings," Kauchemar murmurs a few moments later. "Ghost slimes. Don't usually see those around low level areas. Be careful, but just avoid touching them or keep them at bay with Light and magic and we'll be fine."

She just follows after Yuri and Wake, since she's in a state of seance and busy guiding instead of spellslinging.

    Fukasa's teasing draws a smile from the Baroness. "The beauty of moving in the shadows is that the dirt is camouflage," she replies. Before she starts her descent, she makes a point of binding her hair in a tight pony tail. "I'm glad to see you are with us, Lily of the Depths. If any of this cavern is water logged, I'm not well prepared for it."
    Of course, caves are full of dangers. It's kind of the point of coming here, after all! Confronted by flying slimes, Baronesss Wake lashes out with beams of light, the beams almost dancing with Fukasa's water blasts. She slides to one side ahead of Kauchemar, ready to shield with body and magic. Even as focused on the task at hand as Wake is, she spares a glance at Uta, to ensure she is not trying to hug the slimes.
Uta
Alne

    The combination of percussive maintenance and forehead reset do somehow manage to reboot the Spriggan.

    A blink. Two blinks. A head shake.

    "...wait, what am I doing here? Oh. OH, right, FOCUS!"

    Uta casts a smirk at Kauchemar. "I can totally handle my worst nightmares!", she overstates, based on how worried she came out from their last encounters, then turns to look at Wake again, raises a finger and quotes, "Michaelangelo once said that the greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."

    She cracks her knuckles. "As for me, I'm gonna set mine at 'slimes'."

    Her head is shaken (not stirred) again. "...right. Focus. Focus! Proper equipment. I'd better change into my slime-hunting outfit."

    She flicks her finger and after some navigating of the menu, her finger freezes in mid-air, and she frowns.

    "...It would seem that I lack a proper slime-hunting outfit. I'll have to have a talk with Gwen about that. It needs to be watertight, but comfortable. Prevent acid from seeping through, but allow air circulation. Oh, and the gloves. Very important. Offer protection against damage, but allow sensitivity for petting purposes. I MEAN. For... uh... proper... ah... grappling. Yes. Tactile feedback is important when grappling monsters," she explains with the kind of self-assured nod that one would expect from people who, unlike her, actually /have/ the capture/handle monster ability.

    "Lady Tanzer, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance! I am Uta Furore, musical kung-fu nurse, wanderer, adventurer, student of slimes and always interested in any used books you might be selling at a bargain price."

    "Atif! how nice it is to see you here!", she exclaims. "We should do the bun-bun banquet thing again next year, it was fun!"

    The group moves on into the next room. "...Oh, great. We get the broken slimes again. I don't like the broken slimes." A flick of her menu, and her staff is materialized in a shimmer of multicolor light. She clears her throat and begins chanting, tendrils of magic interwining with her song, radiating and spiraling towards the whisperings...
Atif
Alne


    Though Atif keeps himself cheerful,still, he does send a concerned look at Uta. But then flashes a smile again when she mentions the bunbun banquet! "Yeah! We'll bring more friends with us too!"

    Either way.

    Atif follows along with the others, and on tge way down the watering hole, he makes an impressice display of acrobatics by simply dropping down, and letting himself be brought down in freefall--before suddenly kickinh at the inner wall, swnding himself bouncing off it, and off the opposing wall after yäto briefly carry him upwards, and then landing down the rest of the few feet down safely.

    He learned that from a tabletop game!

    Down the tunnel, then, and he gives a rapid nod at Kauchemar's instruction. "Alright, I can do that!" And thus, he holds one hand out, palm opened, and gathers magical energy...!

    "SUNLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!"

    And nothing happens

    "...Ara? Why isn't it...?" He draws his hand back, up to his face, staring at it in confusiob...

    And THEN a burst of bright light flashes from his palm.

    "AAARRRRGGHHH NOT AGAIN!!"

    Katherine can not help but /smile/ at Atif, before slowly stepping over to her. "My dear sir Atif, it is such an honor to see you here." She then taps his nose gently with her claw, "I can suspect you'll keep me safe, like a good little knight, hmm?"

Then comes the decent, though she does do her best, flicking some of the slime off her hand as they at last get the bottom. "Wretched things..." Her attention does turn over to Wake, "If I may ask, m'lady, where do you hail from, given your title of Baroness."

Though as ghostly monsters make themselves known, she holds up her hand gently, "Forgive the minor interruption to our conversation..." Her lavender eyes glow more brightly in the shadows of the depths. Her hands ignite with magical energy, before she sends out a blast for the spiritual creatures.
Kita
Alne

It becomes clear that these particular monsters are relatively low-level, despite the fact that they do resemble smaller versions of much more powerful ghost type creatures. They seem relatively unintelligent, floating through one another in a clump that seems to have relatively little in the way of actual thoughtful pathing.

The tunnel seems to act as a trap for them, giving the Adventurers an easy target down the length of the stone passage. Kauchemar's warning makes sure that most keep their distance, utilizing various forms of magic to drive them off. The light scatters the ball of ghosts more than others, sending them fleeing into the nearby walls. A few manage to get caught with enough force to scatter them into pixels of light.

Eventually, the way forward is cleared, curving around a corner within the dungeon where there is a strange series of meowling sounds, followed by the usual 'blub-poing' of slimes.

A rat runs across the Adventurer's path, soon to be followed by a slime with tabby markings trying to gobble it up. Then, more follow. Perhaps the rat dungeon connects somewhere near here, because the tabby slimes seem drawn by the rats as a food source. They mostly seem to be ignoring the Adventurers, but they /are/ blocking the way forward.


     Looks like Uta's been rebooted properly, which is good. "Welcome back to the realm of the un-hypnotized, dear Uta." Yuri comments sweetly towards the slime-obsessed one. The Baroness gets a soft laugh though as she gives a bit of a shrug~. "I suppose as much, though multicolor slime is not so great for stealth." She says, almost reflexively taking up defensive position nearby Kauchemar as she seems to slip into the trance to help ensure they walk safely as she guides her.

     Atif blinding himself ... Yuri has to hold back laughter at, just ~barely~ keeping a straight face as she gives a few snorts here and there. "A...atif... d...don't look down your hand .... after casting a spell..." She manages to get out, her voice wavering a bit as she holds back the laughter. She's trying hard not to be too mean to him! He's trying so hard!

     "Right, anyway. Let's see here..." She looks at the skeleton a moment, musing a moment. And then... rats? Oh, no, cat slimes. Fuka seems to muse on that a moment, humming absently. "My my, Uta, I think we found a good slime to take to your lab."

     She moves towards the cat slimes, waiting for one to pounce a rat... before she quickly pulls out a jar and casts a quick capture spell to draw the slime into it. And she starts to do this to another one, systematically beginning to collect slime 'specimens.'

    Wake notices a strange flash of light from an unexpected direction and whirls around, fearing the worst. Which is when she is able to put together just what happened to Atif. She casually glides from battle-ready to a more relaxed pose and offers a sympathetic smile. There's an unspoken promise to never speak of this again.
    Directing her attention to Lady Tanzer, the Barones explains, "I come from the Fourland Dukedom. These days I reside in a modest home with my fiance, but my retirement has ended, and I have a new vision. Where do you hail from, Lady Tanzer?"
    Clearly the Baroness wishes to speak more, but more slimes have appeared, and while they seem rather harmless, they must be deal with. In this case, with blasts of water.

"Oh good, you have been paying attention Uta." The scroll is tucked back in storage once it's work has been done. "Yeah, 'broken'. I'll stick to my will-o-wisps for floating interference monsters."

The shift from water to relatively dry stone is noticable when Kauchemar's hooves make clopping noise against them instead of sloshing in filthy water. Rats squeak and scurry by, followed by Tabby Slimes. "Ah, excellent." Not a very dangerous slime, but they are making an obstruction. Yuri is already on capturing samples, too. "Nice job." Kauchemar snaps her fingers, and frost whaifs around her hands to form a shimmering coating, in an attempt to protect herself before going to try and grab some Tabby Slime as well.

    Katherine watches as the spirits are dispatched and flicks a bit of spark magic off to the side with a happy, if not a bit evil, smile. "Far to easy." She purrs out.

The imp turns her attention back to the Baroness. "Oh! You have a fiance? Most marvelous. I do hope it was not hard to tie that ring around his finger." She laughs softly. "As for myself, well," She shrugs helplessly. "I am of the Outcasts. I have no home, but I do have plans to eventually build myself a little traveling Vardo."

Katherine continues to follow along with the group as she goes a bit more into detail. "Perhaps even learn the arts of fortune telling to add to my already skills of enchanting, alchemy, and magic." Though her attention shifts to the tabby slimes chasing rats. "Well," She taps her claw to her chin. "I wonder how close we are to that old man's cellar..." Though when one catches a rat and making that 'crunch' sound, her nose wrinkles up a little.

    "... Lovely." She says softly before shuttering gently. Then like the Baroness she decides to call upon her water magic. She extends her hands out and pulls forth sources of water from the air and perhaps the ground a swell.

She curls her fingers around as globs of water follow, before launching a blasting stream for the slime cats, "Skat little slime balls!" She calls out, as she creates another set of water orbs and does the same again.
Uta
Alne

    Uta's giving her back to Atif. All she notices is a massive flash of light coming from behind her. "...Did Atif blind himself with-" The reactions are pretty much telltale. "Right."

    But then, there's Fuka's announcement of finding a good slime for her lab. "Where? WHERE?!", she exclaims, turning around and running straight for Yuri, missing a whole herd of tabby slimes by a narrow margin. It's unclear whether it's accidental or deliberate, but she manages to rush in what looks like a complete careless way by stepping into the only gaps between swarming tabbies, never to step on one or a rat. It's like those videos of busy, complex multi-way crossroads where cars zip by apparently without rhyme or reason, and yet, seem never to impact?
Atif
Alne


    Poor Atif is left with squinting eyes and blindly-waving hands for a moment after his... accident. Even once the group is ready to move on, he ends up sheepishly murmuring in request, "Can... can someone guide me along please...?" Being flashed right in the eyes is especially not helpful in an environment that leans more towards the dark, afterall. If no one gives him the physical guidance to move further down the tunnel, he does still make an effort in following the group... albeit with significantly more stumbles and likely at least one occasion of tripping on something and falling flat on his face.

    At least some of his vision does return by the time they all come upon the rats and the... cat-slimes. Cat slimes. Even Atif has to give a long, bemused smile over this. Cat-slimes are a thing?

    "Well... I'm not really qualified to tame or capture slimes, but..." He claps his hands together, and after seperation, a stream of spiraling water spins breifly between them. "I can probably herd them some!"

    Atif leaps into action, then! Water forms up under his feet when he lands, sending him into a slide that leaves a trail of water along him. He guides himself along in circling motions, with the intention to deny paths of travel for the slime an-

    Hey where did that wall come from.

    THUD. Yes. Atif's vision had not quite fully returned, yet, so he ends up slamming flat against the wall, staying comically plastered fhere for a few seconds before falling down onto his back.

    "Ughhhh... I'm okay... I'm okay..." He calls out in assurance to everyone else while he props himself up on his elbows.

    Only to find several tabby-cats staring curiously at him.

    "...Um. U-um. H-hi there, guys..."
Kita
Alne

The tabby slimes are not particularly dangerous creatures, thankfully. In fact, they seem to be more helpful than most, especially as they are reducing the rat problem in the area.

Fukasa is easily able to capture one in the jar, which quickly takes up the entire bottom of it. If it fits, it sits. The ears wiggle, and the nose presses against the glass. Kauchemar is able to snag another one, which proceeds to wiggle at being picked up, like all cats are prone to do. Except this one wiggles more like jello.

Others manage to dissuade the cats from getting any closer by means of water. Though they don't get as friendly a response. Usually resulting in puffing up (apparently slimes can do that) and hissing in their direction.

Kita, still in her distracted state, seems to realize that they are not particularly a problem. So, she just walks forward, lightly stepping around them as she moves to the other side of the tunnel.

Atif, however, ends up with two of the tabby slimes who attach themselves to his legs, as if trying to climb him...

As the group continues, they find themselves descending into an area where water begins to come up to their knees. It seems /mostly/ clean, at least... for now. However, as they reach a sort of underground collection area, it becomes clear that this is an area where a different sort of slimes congregate.

Little floating slimes in different colors shoot magic, both at each other, and randomly into the distance. They spin now and again, making strange zooming sounds as they zip about the room. However, the Adventurers seem like a better target for their magical spells...


     "It's right here, Uta." Fuka says, holding up a jar of cat slime. "But you can't have it yet. I will be spending some time training it so it doesn't eat you or something before I hand it over, just for your safety." Fuka then puts the slime-cat into her inventory. Because she's a horrible tease, really.

     Meanwhile, she doesn't really end up capturing any others because, well... they're scattering with all the water used, to be honest. Poor things. Once Uta actually gets to Fuka, she does reach a hand out to pat the top of her head and give her a hug. "Don't worry, Yuri will take care of your slime and then add it to your laboratory when it's ready, okay?" She smiles.

     "...Atif. Are you doing okay today? You seem to be having a rough time? Are you eating right? Taking proper care of your avatar?" Yuri gives Atif a bit of a concerned frown. He seems to be even more accident-prone than usual. She moves over, gently shooing away the slimes. Eventually she offers her hand towards him to help him up. Turns out... he was right at the edge of the main reservoir.

     And there were mage-slimes. "Hm! Neat." Fuka comments, musing on her choice of action. Attack the monsters, or just... do things with the water. Obviously the answer is 'do things with water', since she has that overwhelming water skill. She smiles sweetly, tapping her trident several times. Each time, a series of magic words are muttered out, and one... two... three.. four... giant pufferfish get summoned!

     And they all unleash a deluge of water, which seems to turn into a series of whirling discs of water which slice through the center of the room, before splashing down to join the reservoir. The water level probably raises a fair amount from the Undine's spells. Though the Alne water system might taste a little fishy for a bit.

    Baroness Wake nods to Katherine, "It wasn't to difficult, honestly." Not wanting to call attention to it, she moves closer to whisper to Lady Tanzer, "And Tae, that is to say, my fiance is a woman, actually." More clearly, she continues, "Getting married properly, though, will be far more challenging."
    She nods thoughtfullly as Lady Tanzer lists her goals, making a note of each. It's always important to know how she might help someone in the future. "When you are at the point where you are working on the Vardo, please do let me know. I consider it my purpose to do what I can to assist others in achieving their dreams."
    She does all she can to withhold any reaction to Atif's plight. She will at least help him up, if possible. "We all have days where things go wrong. I feel that the tide will be turning for you presently."
    Confronted as she is by yet another cute, floating slime, she ops to stick with what worked so well last time. Several of the little magic-flinging slimes are treated with a blast of water. They probably don't like it.

    Katherine raises a brow, but does not judge. Instead she smiles gently and gives Wake a gentle nod to her whisper. Her attention does shift, like many others to poor Atif.

She sighs and walks over to him, using some water to shoo off the cat slimes off his legs. "My poor, sweet Atif." She goes to help guide him in the proper direction. "Stay close to me, my dear sir knight. Mayhaps I should be protect you." This is followed by a gentle laugh.

    Though when they move into the next room, Katherine watches the magic slimes sling magical around like children. Though when one turns and decides to cast a spell in her direction her eyes narrow sharply. "Let me declare this loudly to all you magical slimes."

She then curls her fingers as an orb of dark magic appears in her hand. "I am Lady Magus Katherine Tanzer. I am not," Then she watches the slime shot carefully. "To be trifled with!" As she yells out those words, she flings her hand forward and sends out a blast of magic that breaks the other magic apart and goes to smack the slime in the face. "Now begone!"

Kauchemar glances back at Atif. "Looks like you're qualified to be a cat climb though," she teases, even as she tucks the Tabby Slime into the crook of her arm once it has been subdued. A few idle pats to the head as her enchantment fades helps with that. It might be to help Uta and her lab dreams, but this one is definately hers. They make good companions. And will help keep rats under control in the Guild HQ. "Best to leave it in the hands of us handlers until the lab is capable of housing them, Uta."

Pause.

"Maybe I'll let you 'examine' it later if you behave though."

Enough teasing her frenemy rival, as they've again found their way into water. Much deeper now. And a bit of wading farther along reveals... Magic slimes. With hats. And casting spells at each other like some sort of school for slime wizard ki--
Kauchemar slaps her unoccupied hand to her face, likely just now making the connection where one of Uta's previous pet names came from. It's followed by a long, slow sigh. "Okay, moving on." She raises her arm and gives it a flippantly dramatic wave. "Time to turn this tide!"

The water in front of her swirls to life and upward, briefly looking like a small waterspout before it finally settles into a vagely amorphous hominid form of constantly churning water, save for the warbly mouth and hands where chunks of ice solidify for fangs and claws.

It had a much easier time moving through the water, surging towards a pack of magic slimes. The few spells that get tossed at it just pass through, the water sloshing back to fill the space. The water elemental makes a roar not unlike crashing wave as it sweeps a massive portion of the water up and uses it to YEET several of the annoying slimes out of the chamber!
Atif
Alne


    "I'm okay--" Atif claims while he's getting helped up by Yuri and Wake both... even if he does end up having to kick his feet around ineffectively in an effort to send the slime-cats attempting to climb his legs away. "Really, it's just--! Ack, ow, claws, ow! Just a couple mistakes, that's all!"

    Katherine's blast of water sends the cats jumping off, and... his shorts and bared lower legs dripping with water. IN spite of this, Atif still gives a sheepish smile to the Imp when she brings him to following along with her.

    "Thank you,... Some knight I am though, huh?" He lets out an akward laugh with that, stumbling along with her in his still-partially-blinded state. "I can still help though!"

    And the time to see wether or not that assurance is short-lived comes right after, too! He immediately steps up over in front of Katherine in some effort to shield her, with a hand held up -- now sending a burst of water towards the slimes sending energy at them. The water mixes with the ball of darkness Katherine sent out, exploding in spiraling, high-pressurized water that washes away at the slimes, making it all the more easy for the dark energy itself to whittle them away!

    "Hahah!" He chimes ou, sending a wide grin over to Katherine with a little fistpump. "I still got it!"
Uta
Alne

    "Yes. Yes, of course I will leave it in the hands of capable trainers," she says, and turns away.

    Then turns back to look at the slime, with huge beady eyes.

    Look awa-and back to the slime.

    Walk backwards, hands progressively extended toward the jar, the upper part of her body reaching for the jar o' cat while her legs do the heavy lifting of trying to drag her away from temptation.

    ".../Of course/ I can behave, Kauch!", she exclaims.

    On to the next room!

    "...Water. Why did it have to be water?!", she groans. Nonetheless, she straightens up, walks all the way to the front of the group, thrusts her staff forward, and begins chanting, tendrils of magic interwining-

    *SPLASH*

    Oh dear, she seems to find herself in the path of some magic water that's been thrown around.

    Completely drenched, her dripping self turns to the team and raises her staff. "...the first one who makes a 'wet nurse' joke gets smacked upside the head."

    And then, the spectacle of the next room presents itself.

    Uta... stares. She just stares.

    Again, she turns towards the team. "...one, I am not petting /that/. Two..." she turns to Atif. "I /told/ you that they weren't bun-bun /eggs/."
Kita
Alne

The magical slimes are knocked out of the air by a deluge of water sent their way from Fukasa's summons. Still others are targeted by Baroness Wake, sending them down to the watery depths. Kauchemar's strange water elemental is able to completely absorb most of the attacks sent its way, quickly flinging magical slimes left and right.

Katherine's magic is easily able to overwhelm that of the slimes, aided by Atif spraying even more down with water. Uta, on the other hand, just ends up drenched.

Kita seems to be one of the last ones to move through the chamber, lightly lifting her dress as she moves towards the circular platform beneath where the slimes are floating. She seems to walk the edge of it, managing more by luck than skill, to avoid attacks tossed her way. Then, with a soft, gentle, musical voice, she activates a few of the symbols. A barrier appears around the remaining slimes, and they begin to bounce off of it, harmless.

Unfortunately, while the previous chamber may have had clean water, the further they travel, the worse it becomes. The smell is enough to make someone gag. The cistern must be connected to the main sewer system, as it carries with it the thick, sludgy water and stench of excrement.

Sitting in the center of the deeper water is a black, bulbous looking creature made out of the surrounding sludge. It has goo that drips from a wide open maw and glowing black eyes. Fumes rise up off of the head.

It seems that not only is this slime more dangerous, but it is many, many times more disgusting.

    Navigating the remnants of the magical slime battle, Baroness Wake is able to avoid slipping. She is not, however, able to avoid the very unpleasant scent that permeates the air. "I will be desperately seeking a proper bath once we are done here," she confesses.
    Then she sees it. "I haven't seen anything this foul since I first went to a frat party," she observes calmly. She looks down at her blades for a moment and decides, "Alright, there is no way in Hades I'm getting close to that thing.. it probably splatters!"
    What she does use is light, and she lashes out with enthusiasm, blasting it with ray after ray of scalding light. In fact, she's only likely to stop when all that's left is a simmering puddle.


     "Everyone has their off days." Fuka says, gently patting the top of the lizard's head, her gaze returning to that reservoir. It's a good place to note for later, really. Good to know about and such! She flashes a bit of a smile towards the Baroness. "Oh there's always events for that sort of thing, it's just a matter of finding them. Honestly, the latest Tower level might be a lovely place for it though. A gorgeous winter wonderland. So long as you don't mind the monsters much."
     She doesn't really know what a Vardo is, so she otherwise doesn't butt into the Baroness' and Lady Magus' conversation. They're talking business, not much need to poke in unnecessarily. To Kauchemar, though, she ... actually admires that summon. She rather seems to like it. "That's a lovely lovely summon there~. I'll need to expand my repertoire more..." She muses, looking at Kauchemar's cat slime. Does she want something that hates water? Mmmm... no, not right now.

     Uta's struggles with walking away from the slime doesn't go unnoticed. Fuka casually walks over to the girl and casually brushes her hands over her clothing, drawing the water back out. "You're no wet nurse. See? You're quite dry." She chuckles.

     And... then... as they move forward, the water is quite... tainted seeming. Fuka seems to be quite disturbed by this, magic being used to carefully move the foul water away from herself and the others, juuuust to avoid them being poisoned or something. Flailing arms from the Flan get a grimace from Fuka. "And there... is the source of the corruption."

     Fuka moves to the front of the party, activating one of her defensive skills: Pinpoint Defense. And rapidly she begins to deflect all of the incoming attacks so that the others can take care of the horrible tainted creature.

Kauchemar glances up when the barrier activates. Glances over to Kita's cryptological singing. Then back up at the now incapacitated slimes. "... Maybe it's some kind of containment enchantment that wore out and didn't get sealed again." Would explain how this section of sewer has gotten so overrun in slimes. There's nothing left for it to do so Kauchemar dismisses the summoner magic and the elemental sloshes back into the rest of the water. "Taking advantage of the environment is less draining on mana."

On to the next section of the sewer. It's not too long before the nightmare hisses, nostrils flaring as she scrunches her snout. "Ugh, anyone else smell that, or is just my heighten Were Fang senses?"
Nope, it's definately a real thing as the party finds the cistine, and the contents bubbling into a putrid form. "Ah. Another fine example." She pulls a pointing stick out of mid-air (ie her inventory) and gestures at the filthy creature. "That, Uta, is not a Slime. It's a Flan. Despite some similarity they are not to be handled like Slimes, they are more likely to try and eat or melt you. The tasty sounding name for such a horror is like calling a huge muscular man 'Tiny'."

Instruction given Kauchemar flicks the stick away, and instead summons her ghostly sword. "Best handled at a distance." She makes a gesture and the sword orients itself to hurtle blacklit blade first at the Black FLan... only to get smacked by one of its flailing globby arms. It spins backwards through the air, forcing Kauchemar to duck to the side as it hurtles past and gets stuck point-first in the wall.

"Oh for dubstep sake, why do monsters keep doing that!" bitches the nightmare as she stomps over to grab the hilt and put a hoof against the wall for extra leverage to pull it free.

    "That you do." Katherine says to Atif, as she gives him a slight wink before walking off to keep up with the others. Though as the smell of the water starts to hit her, she grimaces a bit. "Augh! What an awful place." She tries to keep her hooves out of the nasty water or any other nastiness but it was hard.

No wonder Kauchemar covered up her hooves, but alas, a lesson learned for the Magus imp. At least she can use magic later to help clean off the stench and perhaps make herself a nice hot bath again.

This time, hopefully, not cause any poor adventurers to think she is a lander with a quest like last time someone stumbled upon her.

    As they go deeper in, she almost has to turn away. Mostly to recompose herself cause of the smell. "I am so glad I am not a werefang mutt. I could only imagine what this smell would do to them." She shudders as once more needing a minute to pull herself together.

As they go in further and further, they at last see the disgusting slime. Her imp wings droop and her tail nearly does as well. "... The Beautiful One was not kind to you... because by the goddess... You're an ugly thing."

Though as soon as the slime attempts to throw out gunk, Katherine is quick to use her magic once more to move the nasty spray elsewhere and away from her, along with the group. Even so much as trying to slam the creature with its own filth and seeing if she can make a... less nasty path to walk.
Uta
Alne

    "I like your dry humour," Uta smirks back at Yuri after a moment of confusion at suddenly being un-drenched.    Again, after Kauchemar's lesson, she turns towards the team. "...one, I am not petting /that/. Two..." she turns to Atif. "I /told/ you that they weren't bun-bun /eggs/."

    Back to the monster she turns. "Kauch, I feel ripped off. These slimes /suck/. And some of them aren't even /slimes/... in any case, I get the naming mismatch. It's like Vespa who calls her giant axe 'Fluffy'. Everyone loves cognitive dissonance! It makes you uncomfortable then expands your mind." She smirks back at the Nightmare over her shoulder. "That's up your alley, ain't it?"

    "I... I think I'll stick to menu-bathing for another while. It served me well until now," she comments to Wake. And to Katherine, "...I had been thinking of getting myself a mobile home slash doujo slash clinic slash traveling circus... maybe we can exchange tips..."

    Uta starts walking ahead of the group again, stops to pat Atif on the head, ("You're doing great, Atif! Yes, you still got it!"), then points her staff at the 'Flan', and after referencing Katherine by taunting the monster with "You could maybe get along with The Blind One, provided she's also anosmic," she begins singing a powerful aria rich in notes in higher octaves, launching a powerful burst of light its way...
Atif
Alne


    Atif looks, perhaps, a bit confused at all the assurances and headpats he gets... but he doesn't really look exactly bothered by all of it, either.

    Having been re-energized by the previous room, he leaps into fray almost immediately after the group has come upon the... er... Flan monster, even while Kauchemar is still giving her advice. "Wwe got thiiiiis!" He yells out, with his fist raised up in the air, and both his arms suddenly burst into bright, furious flames.

    When the red-head Salamander comes down again from his leap, it comes with his fist slamming down -- and creating an enormous storm of fire with it, that overtakes the flan and completely obscures the area with smoke, briefly.

    Atif lands on his feet right before that smokescreen, and turns to give a thumb-up to the others. "Easy! I don't know why they even put something li-"

    ANd then the flan bursts out from within the smoke and GRABS Atif.

    The lizard mostly disappears out of sight with that, though some might be able to make out an arm-flailing silhouette somewhere within the flan while they, in turn assault it.

    Once the flan has, eventually, been destroyed, and sent into the gunk... there's no Atif in sight. Not initially, at least.

    Just when people might end up worried, something bursts up from amongst all the... filth. A humanoid-shaped pile of filth and stumbles up, perhaps giving off an illusion that there's another slime come to try to assault the adventurers! But as the gunk drips down and off, there's suddenly a vision of a tail, some signs of red scales and red hair, and blinking eyes making way for green irises and... oh. It's Atif.

    "..........I'm okay."
Kita
Alne

It is probably a wise idea that Baroness Wake avoided going in close confines with the flan. The creature's large, slimey arms flail out, sending fetid water everywhere. The beam of light, however, seems to be very effective. The creature cries out in pain, rearing back from the attack and trying to spray them with sludge.

Luckily, Fukasa manages to use her skills in defense to ward off most of it, protecting the party from taking a negative status effect from the filth. Uta manages to also send the creature roaring backwards with more light magic, though as it flails, one of the arms catches Kauchemar.

Atif... well, he just ends up grabbed by the Slime, lost to places unknown.

Together, Katherine and Kita form a wall of wind, which is enough to prevent much of the monster's sludge-spray from reaching the party, blasting the creature backwards. Then, there is a sort of sick sucking sound as something seems to dislodge, causing the monster to go flushing down the drain into some deeper part of the sewer.

But where is Atif? Oh, there he is, covered in sludge.

This isn't the end of their fighting, thouh, as the room empties into a nearby cistern. That eerie sound of ghosts returns, a few of the whisperings circling the area before an absolutely huge slime shows itself, glowing in an eerie, translucent blue-green.

It is the ectopudding. Like ectocooler, but less cool.
(The Gm may be getting a bit loopy at this point.)

    Katherine looks at poor Atif who is now covered in sludge. She gives him that 'aw you poor baby' look, and without even asking permission, she goes to call up some water from her magic, before trying to wash him down, somewhat, to at least get most of the filth off.

As they continue on, the salsy imp takes a look around her surroundings until the next slime appears. She makes a face of disgust and just purse lips to the side. "Vile creatures. How can you start out so cute and become so... Grotesque."

Though as the creature attacks, Katherine makes some very quick moves, using her magic to assist her in her rapid movements from the attacks. When she spots an opening she flings out energies of magic for the ectopudding. Hoping to eventually whither it down to nothing.


     Everyone else seems to be mostly handling their own, so Yuri mostly focuses on her own defenses. Though Uta gets a bit of a smirk at her comment about her humor. "You should see my wet humor, then." She jokes back at her. And then... a monster comes out of the remains of the monster. A horrible, filthy, disgusting -- oh it's just Atif.

     Yuri shakes her head a bit as she reaches a hand out, deactivating her Pinpoin Defenses to instead give another burst of water out towards Atif to knock off a decent amount of the grime. "No, you're clearly not okay. You're absolutely filthy." And then... as her water swirls down, it seems to ... stop? How curious. And then ghosts begin to gather... and horrid ghostly faces form in it as it grows larger. Turns out her water was resting against/absorbed by it. "Oh good." Fuka comments, grimacing.

     She points towards the Ectopudding with the tip of her trident, each of the tips beginning to spark with electricity. One... two... three... four little electrical spheres go hover around the ectopudding, working to blind and mark it for her allies to make it easier for them to assault it.

    Well, at least maybe it'll start to smell better! That being said, what happens to Atif is.. wince-inducing, to put it gently. The Baroness waits patiently for Lady Tanzer and Yuri to finish the impromptu shower for Atif, then draws out a towel from her inventory. She tosses it to Atif without further comment.
    "Onward, then," she suggests. Though really there's hardly any time at all before the next challenge emerges. "A pity, they're so large now we can't even hope to bring one home for you, Uta! You'll hopefully find a way to grow them to great sizes and keep them gentle."
    Wake shows little by way of gentleness to this one, though. Having already used water and light, this battle will be fought with air. It's remarkable how air can bludgeon or slice with equal effectiveness. Against something like this, though, she deems it best to bash it repeatedly with great mallets of air. And to continue doing so, until there's no signs of movement.

Kauchemar gets her ghost sword free in time for the fight as a whole to be over. Oh well. She resheaths it across her back under her cloak like it was nothing, and nods to Uta. "Knowing the difference is important. Some kinds of creatures are just not worth the trouble to deal with. Unless you've really got the time, and levels, to do so. Right now even the 'professional' summoners like me would be pushing that limit." Stupid depowering Dark Wave.

The gang moves on, and into a ... rather large chamber for being underground. "... I bet this is from the forbearer race..." There's no other way to really quantify such a structure under such an otherwise mediocare part of the world.

That this turns out the be Boss Room is just icing on that cake as the ectoplasmic ghoul dribbles its way into being and taking form within the chamber. Kauchemar's expression actually lights up at the sight. "Oh, how absolutely atrocious this is! The putrid colors, the dribbling half-formed limbs from the bones of victims, the gurgling horrified movements that triggers that effect of the mind to see faces in negative visual spaces regardless of the actual presence! Now this, my friends, is a Boss of disgusting distinguish."

The morbid admiration doesn't stop the Nightmare from doing her thing, though. She raises her voice, channeling into it some of her summoner magic. Save this time using it like a banishment rather than capture, to turn this horrid entity away and reseal whatever foul magic animates it so it stops polluting the water system.

"o/~ All for one and one for me... Listen well and I'll set you free
You can trust me... For eternity. No promise, is honest.... In a world of change...

I ruuuuule the ruins with passion and pain!

I ruuuule the ruins! Sinner or saint! Fortune or fate! o/~"
Uta
Alne

    Katherine's question prompts Uta to go into lecture mode. "It turns out that unprimed slimes can absorb a variety of elements, which then work as some sort of catalyst, altering their structure to fit its theme. The cat slimes might have absorbed some cat hair, for instance, and magic slimes could have absorbed... I don't know, some sort of magic crystal? Point is, the creature we have just witnessed is the kind of result you get when the sludge hits the flan."

    "It's okay, Your Grace, I actually am not in a hurry to have a foul poopmonster in my lab. Yuck. Still, about growing more adorable ones to giant sizes..."

    ...Pupils grow to giant size. Mouth closed in a narrow "o" of amazement. System crash.

    Until Kauch's singing snaps her out of her trance. She hurries to join her with backup vocals, which also happen to light up her staff with different colors at different points, granting her aerial prowess and the ability to jump wall to wall, striking and slashing and blasting the monster with bursts of air.
Atif
Alne


    Atif gives a thankful smile to Katherine for the washing up her magic provides. Even as dirtied up as he is. "Thank you. I'm probably gonn-BLRBRLBRLRBLRBRLRBL!" ...And that's the sound of him being hit by the outright pressurized water hose directed on him by Yuri. Well, at least he will be... mostly clean. He'll probably need to get an actual bath after all of this is said and done with, however.

    And everyone will be probably excused if they will give Atif a wide berth for the rest of this run, too.

    And there's a ghost! Horrible ghost of a slime long past! Or something like that. ECTOSLIME!

    He's not entirely sure if fire will be able to manage to do anything-- but when he sees the electricity the others are channeling out, he quickly launches up into the air. His own spinning like a drill on the way towards the ghost -- and of all things, it's not fire that envelopes him this time around. It's lightning. Sparks and arcs of electricity cracking out around him as his body slams into the Ectoslime like a cannonball!
Kita
Alne

The ectopudding seems to be a far more powerful ghost type than they encountered before, and not so easy to deal with. It seems to take the combined efforts of most of the party, utilizing the combined force of their powerful magics in order to start to reduce the creature's health bar.

When that last sliver of health finally disappears, the giant slime starts to shudder. It's a tell tale sign that bad things are about to happen. A moment later, the thing explodes from the inside out, covering the entire party in semi-translucent goo that smells vaguely of unidentifiable citrus. What the hell...

A few lingering howls of tortured spirits follows, but eventually, that also fades away. What is left behind, amongst the splattering of goo, is a number of small coins, each showing a skull upon one face.

Kita plucks one up, flipping it over and over again between her fingers. "Hrm. Not sure this will help with the statue, but maybe I can use some of the aesthetics..." She only barely seems to notice that she's covered in slime. Tucking the coin into her pocket. "I'm going to head back up. I've still got a lot of work to do."

Yep, it doesn't take long for her mind to slip right back into that Fey Mood.

    Katherine watches the slime dispatched and then carefully she crouches down and picks up the coin. Her eyes peer over it. "... How interesting." She says softly and watches as Kita leaves in her strange mood.

The Magus hms softly, "I do worry about that girl..." She says softly, before using some water magic to wash off the coin. Before she makes her own way out, she turns to everyone. "It was a wonderful time adventuring with you all, and M'lady Wake, I do hope we can stay in touch."

Then the imp makes her own way out, as for Wake, she may find a friend invite has been thrown her way.

**SPLAT**

And while she was singing her banishing enchantment too. Thankfully it was the boss dying in defeat.

Kauchemar immeadiately gags, sputters, and spits several times. "UGH! I GOT SOME IN MY MOUTH!" That the rest of her got splattered in it is a moot point. She spends most of the trek out of the sewer trying to wipe it off her unnaturally long and demonic tongue.

It's the Tabby Slime that she just tamed that notices the SHINY lying on the ground, picks it up in it's mouth and bounces after its new master.

    With that all completed, and, quite frankly, yet another type of filth to address, Baroness Wake makes for the surface. "Well, Uta, dear, I think you are definitely on the right track with your slime studies. These creatures come in so many forms, there's bound to be something interesting to be learned. And since they can fly, I have some ideas for that slime garden concept."
Uta
Alne

    Uta, who had also sputtered while mumbling disconnected sentences (is she talking on chimlink?), kneels down to pick up her coin, and-

    ...She stares at the dollop of goo Kauchemar just spat out. "That's official," she states, solemnly. And waits.

    "Straight from the horse's mouth."


     Ah yes, exploding slimes! And everyone gets coated. Immediately, Yuri lifts her hands and summons... a bunch of monster pufferfish? She intones quietly, "Drowning Fields." Aaaand... anyone who doesn't dodge would get a quite unpleasant form of a bath. Where they're 'eaten' by a monster pufferfish. Before they can actually be seriously effected by the drowning effect, though, the monster pufferfish would open their mouths back up and release the party, moderately cleaner than before! And likely smelling like citrus seawater.