Duty Session 139: Is It Wrong to Pick Up Slimes in a Dungeon?

There are plenty of places in Alne that seem to have been left abandoned up until recently. The influx of Adventurers and Landers have caused empty areas of the city to become occupied in quick order. As the city is surrounded by water, it is also particularly prone to infestations of slimes. Landers are reporting that they are having trouble getting water into some areas of the city. They are asking for Adventurers who might be brave enough to face the sewers and waterways beneath the city to clear out some of the slimes in order to help get the water flowing again.

Difficulty:    Moderate
Rec. Party:    3+
Rewards:       3
World Rewards: Increases in clean water availability in Alne.

Merek
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    Well, it was a nice day except for the fact it was a light rain. Which was bringing the slimes to the well, which all of the party would meet up at. There's slime which would be coating the well. Merek nods a bit to people while he wears what looks like the usual casual dark attire while he wears a scarf. "Alright, we are looking to pick up a few slimes for a lab which Uta is making. I am doing experiments at the woman's request upon the slimes, we need samples!"
Rylen
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Rylen has been absent as of late, focusing his attention on the threat in Ninetails, but it appears that the Beastmaster has taken some time out to peek at the quests available. With the light rain, he is wearing a traveling jacket over a sleeveless vest, seeming to carry his usual calm and relaxed nature.

"Good to see their highness has found others enthusiastic in the persuit of slimes." Rylen chuckles to himself. "I suppose I should help, since it would be good to have some idea what sort of nonsense will be bouncing around my home, soon enough." Since he owns the location of Uta's laboratory...

The Pooka gives a small smile to those gathered, tucking his hands into his pockets to avoid them getting too cold in the rain.
Schneider
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Schneider meets up at the well, makes a face at the slimes, and seems unhappy about the rain, which is doing its best to mat down his mane of hair. This is upsetting, but he can rise above it. He hasn't met anyone, so he will introduce himself, "Exploder Wizard, Dark Schneider." He seems a bit eager, grinning widely in anticipation. The newbie quests were getting old, it's time he tried the big time. Such as it is. Slimes. Kinda big time, anyhow.
Akatsuki
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    One moment she wasn't there. And then in a soft flare of faint light, Akatsuki breaks stealth, appearing crouched on the lip of the well, one hand resting on her knee, the other on the kodachi sheathed at her back.
    "I am ready."
    Quiet. Simple. To the point.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

"For Uta, running through a slime-infested hole in the ground is certainly worth it," says Baroness Wake. She employs her usual entrance, simply appearing out a deeper shadow. Old habits die hard! She's wearing a gray cloak, the color just right to blend in on a slightly dreary day such as this. Under this, the Right Clothes appear to consist of a pair of matching pants and shirt, all in shades of gray-blue, the better to hide in.
    She slides into a curtsey, "I apologize for the abrupt entrance. I am Baroness Wake. I'm looking forward to another little holiday into the sewers! One never knows what will turn up." Other than noses. Cause the smell is certainly going to be an issue.
Proteus
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Slimes!

Proteus has mixed feelings about Uta's slime obsession, but there's rewards to be had and knowledge to be gained. As such, she's there with the others. "Is Uta paying as well as the Hunter's Guild?" Proteus asks. What, she doesn't work for free. At least, not on requests. She has her own passion projects.

The arrival of the Exploder Wizard gets a squint from Proteus. "Really?" She asks, disbelief in her voice before she just shrugs. "Well, whatever you enjoy. I've already heard people quoting video games, what's some cosplay?"

The Archaeologist Imp folds her arms and nods to the Baroness. "Good to see you, Baroness. This probably won't be as eventful as your last outing down here." She chuckles. "But hey, you never know. This world is a puzzle."
Merek
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    Merek would nod a bit when people are all prepared, a look to everyone, "I'm sure she would generally appreciate it," then to Proteus, "No, but I'll offer you extra coin if you assist." The man takes a torch which he lights to bring them into the sewer, letting them take the lead while he keeps the light up.
    There are green slimes that are milling about, looking to Adventurers with slime eyes, then beginning to all gather around a bit of food. Wiggly slime begins to cover one of the exits while they all seem to be content to nap. The slimes will either need to be physically moved away, or evaded. Or a nice meal might wake them up.
Schneider
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Schneider hasn't planned this quite as effectively as he'd have liked to, it seems, as a fireball essayed against the slimes proves ineffective. He draws his sword, then, and will hack at any that get too close as we proceed. Sadly, he's a caster type, really, and the sword, for all he wields it self-importantly, is a starter sword, so driving off the slimes to move onwards only comes at the cost of reduced HP.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    "It's good to have another outing with you, Proteus!" Wake replies. "I do hope things work out a bit differently this time around. I do like them when they change a bit each time. Now that Uta's making so much progress, she's ready to take on some more samples."
    The Baroness smiles at Rylen, "So what's it like, having so many slimes near the ranch? I hope the Pekos will adjust to their new neighbors."
    Speaking of slimes, there is no shortage here. But honestly, Wake thinks its best to bring more exotic examples, if they can be found. She darts and weaves through the slime obstacle course with her usual grace. After all, it's not enough to slip through, one must look great doing it!
Akatsuki
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0


    Down into the well it is, then. Tail curling around the bucket rope, Akatsuki rappels right down into the murk of the sewer, the Imp's boots landing quietly in a puddle. The ninja squints at the sight of the slimes before she--
    Goes into stealth mode and vanishes from sight, making to slip right by.
Rylen
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

When it comes to monsters, Rylen is not the most experienced when it comes to slimes. Then again, these creatures don't look to be a particular threat. "Huh... they're almost... cute." He comments to himself. "I can see why they would appeal to Uta."

As to Wake's question, Rylen chuckles, "We built the monster barn a fair distance away, so as to not rile the Pekos up too much. So long as they can't see them, they don't exist." He grins, "As much as I'm fond of Pekos, most of them aren't exactly high on the intelligence scale."

Rather than trying to have any kind of physical confrontation with them, especially as they seem to be ignoring him for the most part, Rylen simply uses his quick feet to avoid the poporings. It makes for an interesting, almost dance-like progression through the tunnel, but it seems better than trying to fight them.
Proteus
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

"We'll see what happens." Proteus replies to Merek. "Maybe I'll find something interesting down here and I won't worry about it." She smiles toothily at that. As they move down into the infestation area, the Imp shrugs to Wake. "I'm not sure how safe it will be to encourage Uta's obsession with slimes, but..." She sighs. "Well, no one said a dream was going to be safe. If she takes the proper precautions it should be all right."

The common green Poporings are mostly ignored. Uta would obviously have tons of these. The Imp simply slips around them, moving with the grace and ease of someone who is used to skirting the edges of enemy aggro radii to slip past encounters they shouldn't be triggering.

If only it was still that easy...
Merek
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    Most everyone manages to make the way through the slimes, though Merek and a few are covered with what looks to be slime, which shifts their status effect to slimed. All the same, the man nods a bit to the party, "Alright," he notes. The first of the challenges was simple, it's a simple walking by. Then, they come upon the next area, while a few of the stalker slimes begin to shimmer into a gentle treading upon the floor. Sniffing for adventurers they make squeaky noises, then begin making a way to the location of Adventurers.
Schneider
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Now this is right up Schneider's alley, and he chuckles, dark and menacing, then flips off a simple spell, casting it with the word, "Gunzenro!" Or was that Engrish? It's hard to tell, but the effect is clear in any event, magical fire boiling the slimes. That worked, and he smiles smugly. Seems some slimes are fireproof and some aren't!
Rylen
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

As they come upon the Hunter Slimes, Rylen gets the idea in his head that these might be something that Uta could use for her experiments. The Pooka reaches into one of the inner pockets of his jacket, pulling out a coiled up bit of net and rope.

As he creeps along, a couple of the Hunter slimes begin to notice him, turning in his direction and giving strange, gurgly hissing sounds. Then, as one gets close, Rylen tosses out the net, snaring it around the struggling monster. "One more for her highness." He grunts as he pulls the net closed, the wiggling slime now slung over his shoulder as a prize.

The other slimes, seeing this, seem to back away from him.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    "I've always felt it is important to help guide people to tap into their passions," says Wake. "And I'm glad that the pekos are going to be okay. There's so many important things happening around that ranch, now. You should be proud to have empowered so many dreams, Rylen!"
    And look more slimes! While the bursts of flame might seem counter to Wake's attempts at stealth, the bright light just produces even deeper shadows. As Schneider blasts through, Wake moves almost like ink, flowing from shadow to shadow in a blur.
Proteus
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Proteus avoids being slimed... for now. However, that's probably not going to be the case for long. Proteus moves along into the drier, darker areas... only to hear the wiggly noise of the stalker slimes. "Tch. This is going to be a problem." She says, gesturing. ( @ S

There is a pulse of shadow from Proteus' position, shrouding her appearance... But it's too late. A Hunter Slime is already behind her. Just like in a horror movie, she glances behind herself and then yells, scrambling forward to try to get out of reach of the pouncy goo. It's kind of embarassing, really.
Akatsuki
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    Where is Akatsuki? Where has she gone?
    No one knows.
    At least until she briefly just... -Appears- hanging from the ceiling.

    "Assassinate!"

    It's a simple, lethal, declaration of intent. As the Hunter Slime about to pounce Proteus is instantly reduced to pixels.
Merek
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    As Schneider begins to shoot a flame into one of the slimes, the thing wiggles while it would try to hide from the party. Then it looks like it finds a place, from which the man can collect the slime stalker. Rylen manages to put a net upon one while he sneaks along. Merek doesn't manage to do a lot. Wake would get by every one of them without notice. There's a slime which comes at Proteus, wiggling about, then there is a ninja weapon which would kill the slime, the shimmers lifting. The slimes seem to think better of fighting and begin to take off.
    Merek would nod a bit when they come upon the next place, looking to all of those nice runes upon the wall, copying them into a spellbook while he smiles, then he looks to the side. "Ah, well there's that." Mage Slimes, they begin making a way along between the party and all kinds of magic is swinging along at the party. A few take a stance in front of the party while doing a magic slime dance while wiggling then they are trying to duel the party as well.
Schneider
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Schneider eyes these next slimes warily. They seem trickier than the last, but he's got tricks as well. The runes on the wall form, in his mind, another sort of way, and he uses that power to counter and defeat the slimes. "Someone who came before us left us little hints, but secretly," he observes with amusement.
Rylen
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Wading into the water, the captured Hunter Slime seems more than a little unhappy with being quite so close to it. It hisses and tries to scramble upward, but luckily it isn't able to grab purchase.

The magical slimes seem to be an interesting foe, though. "Huh, not sure I've seen ones like that before. Still, I have my hands full with this one." So, rather than trying to hunt one down, he instead pulls a few bricks out of the nearby wall with his earth magic, chucking them at the floating slimes, trying to knock them down into the drink.
Proteus
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

The slime is about to take her down and unleash slimy doom upon Proteus when Akatsuski nin nins out of nowhere and strikes true, KOing the thing. Proteus stops running at that point and looks back, breathing hard. "... Thank you..." She says to the ninja, and nods to her.

But all too soon, they're moving on, the central cistern area showing a much fresher and cleaner area. At least, theoretically, given the presence of floating Mage Slimes. "Magical slimes..." She grates, staring at them. "Of course it couldn't just stick with the normal types." Glancing around, her eyes immediately lock onto the runes etched into the walls. "Excellent." She smiles. "This must be part of the cleaning system." She rushes over to one rune, touching it and muttering a short word. A flare of light bursts out, stunning one of the mage slimes, and she vaults through the air, repeating it at another rune across the room, creating lines of energy that cross through the area in an arcane pattern. Once the patten completes, there is a wash of energy that leaves things clean... And a lot of swirly-eyed mage slimes to go with everyone else's efforts.

Proteus takes this opportunity to open her Inventory and retrieves a runed mason jar. Using a boot and the jar, she nudges one of the mage slimes into the jar and closes it up, sealing it with a couple additional runes.

The hat is floating inside the jar. "Slime get." She says, smiling, tucking away the jar into her cloak.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    "I really love their little hats," Wake asides. "I hope we can get one of these for Uta. They are just so cute!" The being said, Wake isn't the best at capturing slimes, and her use of water magic against them proves a bit too intense. She simply isn't able to stun them without emptying their HP bars completely.
    Wake's disappointment fades when she sees that Proteus has managed it. "Good work, dear! Uta will be delighted! She's going to love these."
Akatsuki
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0


    "Think nothing of it." Akatsuki replies to Proteus before she just up and vanishes again.
    In the next chamber, with all the floaty wizard slimes in the water, she appears, at the very edge of the path, kneeling.
    "Thorn Bind Hostage." Murmured as thorns and vines begin to grow and spread and start slime wrangling. Up until a slime in a red hat casts a fire spell.
    It seems to miss the ninja. Up until she realizes that the spade tip of her tail is on fire.
    Just like that a blushing ninja vanishes completely, giving up on slime wrangling.
Merek
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    Those that use the cryptographs begin to access magic. A few of them begin to seal slimes to take, another few would put magical shields up. Then Merek tries to use one, "Ah, I want one," he notes, then he uses the sigil. Only to activate the magic to seal himself along with the slime, then it takes to him while he tries to escape, only to be pulled into the water along with the slime. "Ahhhh!"
    Schneider is able to collect another slime, while Wake is able to as well with one of the waters simply making the slime meld along at the woman's feet, then it slides back up to lean onto the woman's shoulders. Proteus manages to put one in a jar. Rylen manages to put a lot into the water. While Thorn Bind Hostage doesn't manage to wrangle a slime, the one that looks like it cast at the tailtip would begin to look around when the woman was using sneaking magic, in the perfect position to be picked up by Akatsui.
    Then it's the next challenge, in which Merek would wash up with the party, and a slime. Then there is a black flan, this is not a slime that can be captured, it begins making a way to the party and trying to take them on. "Alright," the man notes, while he takes a moment to look at the flan. Magic begins swirling.
Schneider
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Schneider wades confidently through the muck, trusting in the strength of his own lifeforce to counteract the nasty slimes. "Back, foul slime," he says, a stentorian baritone. He seems, if not impervious to the slimes, at least unaffected, and as we proceed, they eventually slough off, full, with Schneider ... actually down a huge chunk of hit points. Seems his regeneration is not stronger than the slime's life-sucking properties.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    Sometimes, there are enemies so gross that the second time fighting them is even worse than the first. Wake opts to keep her distance and lash out with air. There's no way she's going to punch of kick /that/ thing. Perhaps she's distracted, perhaps she's just repulsed, but her attack doesn't do much more than flow through her hair. It's nice, just not terribly effective.
    "Well, that didn't go very well," she murmurs to herself.
Rylen
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

If being knee deep in water wasn't bad enough, it seems that they are now knee-deep in sewage. Rylen clears his throat, trying to hold back the urge to gag as he pulls a scarf from inside his jacket and begins to wrap it around his nose and mouth. It isn't the best way of warding off the fumes, and only helps marginally.

"Okay, we need to get rid of this one, and quick." There is no way he is allowing anyone to bring something that smells /this bad/ back to the ranch. Not to mention the thing is huge.

Normally, Rylen resorts to his earth magic, but right now, they all could use a breath of fresh air. So, instead, he shifts his stance, drawing a hand back and then striking forward with an open palm, sweeping air along with the motion. It sends a burst of fresh air from further up the tunnel through the area, slamming into the slime.
Proteus
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Proteus smiles as she sees Merek end up on the wrong side of the sealing spell. She quickly dives into the water and pokes the seal, breaking it and grabbing Merek to haul the notoriously flame-based Magic Knight out of the water and back up into the cistern area. "This isn't the beach episode." She jokes to Merek. "Come on, let that one go, there's always more slimes."

FIVE MINUTES LATER...

"... There's always more slimes." Proteus repeats, much less amused at the sight of the horrid mess below them. The far less pure cistern is filled with rancid evil and nastiness in the form of that massive goopy ooze monster. It begins flailing, but Proteus lauches herself backwards, rebounding off of the wall. "Not happening this time." From her cloak, she retrieves a gleaming sphere filled with triangular tiling in a complex set of grooves and wires. "I'm not going to condone this for even a moment." She states. "It's time to solve this thing once and for all." As she lands, the mechanism floats between her hands and her fingers rapidly twitch, the metallic tiles flicking and clicking as they slide along the grooves in a multi-dimensional tile puzzle. As she does so, windows flicker open around her, entries being input in lines... + ) |

There is a final click, and the puzzle splays wide, a gleaming lotus-like shape as she holds it forward. "Open the door to the eternal light... Descend, Empyrea!" A moment later, there is a rushing of air as a lance of overwhelming light punches forward, splaying wide into dozens of shining arrow-rays that pierce down into the horrifying black mass.
Akatsuki
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    There is a grumble from the shadows as Akatsuki picks up the confused slime.
    Akatsuki has acquired TINY FIRE SLIME.
    Moving on, the next chamber leads to a slimey thing of horrorterrors. There is no attempt to capture this one as she lunges from the shadows, kodachi drawn and flashing in her hands, bearing down on the black pudding with full lethal intent.
Merek
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    Most of the party are leveled up enough that they all manage to defeat the black flan, the light arrows along with the nice weapon strikes. All of them work together, then it brings the enemy to defeat. Merek nods a bit in thanks to Proteus, while he tries to collect the slime again. Then it's to the boss of the dungeon.
    The slime drake begins to look at the party, while it swings a tail that slings a lot of the goo along at the party. It looks like it's a slime dragon! It then tries to summon slimes that will fight the party.
    Except, the slimes all of them were with up to that point begin to slide away from their master if they are free enough, and assist in keeping the slimes away for the party to fight with the slime drake!
Schneider
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Schneider peers at the slime drake, and frowns. This is another tricky one, and no mistake. Besides which, his preferred role in this is not the one he's best suited to in this encounter. At the end of the day, though, he's a gamer, not the character for who he's named, and so he raises both hands up and calls out, "Crescent ... Shield!" That one might be too obscure for some, but the power of his shield is none the less a real force, a barrier protecting the group. Flames lick the edge of the shield, and flare each time goo strikes the shield. Because there's always fire.
Rylen
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

The sight of the Slime Drake is enough to have Rylen raise his arm to shield off the spray of slime that comes his way. It drips off of his jacket. "You know, I'll take you over your stinky friend, any day."

As other slimes move to join the fight, Rylen slams his open palm to the ground, a shuddering crack of energy radiating from the spot. It thunders along to just below the drake, vines shooting up in order to make it harder for the boss monster to move, but also to slow the other monsters.

"This should hold for a little while. Hit it while you can."
Baroness Wake
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    Wake wishes Uta could see this thing! "A slime dragon.. made of.. many slimes?" she muses. She really should pay more attention, though, because not only does her attempt to strike with shadow-enhanced blades fail, she takes herself out of the range of the shield. She ends up being struck by the creature and sent sprawling.
    To add insult to injury, the slime creature roars at that moment, covering her from head to toe in ooze. Never one to miss the opportunity to quote a classic, Wake sits up, wipes the slime off her lips, and says, "He slimed me!" She sounds quite put-out by it, honestly.
Akatsuki
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    With the black flan handled it's time to move on. At least until the slime dragon makes an appearance.
    That... Sure is a dragon. Made out of slimes.
    Akatsuki isn't going to question a blatant threat, though as the ninja darts out of range of the beast's slime attack and... Touches her fingers to the center of her palm.
    It's an act that summons a myriad of shurikens and kunai to her grasp, which she hurls in deadly trajectories that pepper the beast, whittling down at its HP the more she throws.
Proteus
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

"You've been there for me more than a few time, far be it for me to not return the favor." She says to Merek, smiling a bit. "Besides, drowning there with a slime would have been pretty ignoble."

Still, there's the matter of the next area. The large room gets a squint from Proteus. "What kind of slime creature could possibly be in-" And then the massive wibbly thing impacts the floor. Proteus yelps, and her hands begin to move, trying to activate another Ability...

But it's too late. The massive Slime Drake slams Proteus with a wave of goo, the Imp promptly being slammed into the wall and stuck there, thoroughly slimed. "Ggggh... Slimes..." She mutters while tiny slimes dance around her head while she's dazed.
Merek
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    Well, Merek was a healer in the first fight, with this one he would be support with Mind Shock. Amid everyone else, all of them manage to take on the slime, the strikes from that ninja woman Akatsuki, Rylen making it a lot more difficult for the enemy to move, then it looks like Schneider will be defending and using that flame. With assistance, everyone would be able to contribute, then eventually the drake of slime will be defeated. All are given the awards. Well, then it's on to slime gathering, "Alright, let's pick up what we can to bring to Uta," a smile then to Proteus, a nod along.
Schneider
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Schneider picks up a broken talon from the slime dragon and sticks it in is inventory. "Well, that worked out nicely," he says with a smile, and looks around to the group. "No one dead? Excellent." He chuckles ominously. Behind him, a pillar of flame pens in one of the lesser slimes, allowing it to be captured.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

    "I feel so funky," mutters Wake. She rises with a fair bit of difficulty. It's kind of like trying to stand on ice at the moment. Still, she manages it. Further, it's almost supernatural that good posture can make someone in her state still look supremely confident, cool, and collected.
    "Conviction is most clearly revealed in the endurance of hardship," she notes. "And it's time to gather something else for Uta." But Wake is picky. She wants something a bit different. Along the way out, her chance arises, when she finds a pink slime with a subtle radiance to it.
    Remembering the debacle that was her previous attempt to capture a slime, she instead opts for a more delicate approach. Likely being covered in slime helps, and though she nearly drops the creature, she is able to scoop it into a container for transport.
    "On the bright side, I know the closest bathing facility," Blake adds. "Anyone else who wants to get cleaned up in hot water, I know of an inn nearby. Where they are accustomed to those in this kind of predicament."
Schneider
Overworld - 5 - 0 - 0

Schneider grins at Wake, and says, "I'll join you in the bath, then, if you like?" He's down a bunch of HP, but his attitude is at full strength, it seems. He's at least as slimy as the others, after all this, but his bearing is that of someone in the catbird seat. Not so much conviction on the endurance of hardship as attitude in the face of logic. But it's a start. "This was fun," he observes of the slime hunting adventure.