Duty Session 344: Slime Machine

    The weather looks a little bit cloudy, and it's likely that it will rain at some point. Merek waits at the entrance to the old building, "Alright Uta. We are about to find what new slimes will be in the dungeon." The man wears the dark attire, hood up along with the beltcape about the waist. The old markings upon the building seem to be in languages gnomish and unknown.

People taking Uta on a new slime expedition. And her not-fathers and number one employee, and Setsuna, are all busy it's down to Kauchemar to handle Uta Wrangling Duties.

What could possibly go wrong.

"Well at least now I don't have to worry about you hugging them to your demise. At least not just from contact damage. There's still acidic slime, suffocation, paralysis..." She pauses in ticking off with her fingers. "... Well that got morbid fast. Even by my standards." She stops and claspes her hands together, faux laughing. "Oh but don't let me spoil the mood."

Goldenblade is here to help Uta with the slime infestation. She's of the impression that this is a slime collecting mission rather than a slime removal mission, but she's here and she's brought fire. Not that fire is useful for slime collection, but it could be? Maybe? She smirks at Kauchemar, but says, "We'll still be careful. But we should be OK."

Uta... isn't listening to anyone. She's squeeing and leaping from one leg to the other, repeating, "Slimes! Slimes! Slimes! Slimes!" over and over again. Her response to everyone's observation is to slide in their face, almost touching their nose with hers, and going, "Sliiiiiiiiiiiiiimes!", until, barely able to contain her excitement, she flicks her menu open, materializes a Koto in a shimmer of light, and begins to play it as if it was some sort of electric guitar (and the effect is pretty convincing too!), shredding away at the opening riff of Irene Cara's opening to "Fame". She launches in a pretty impressive dance number as she does so, and when the opening solo is supposed to be over, and the singing part is supposed to start, she delivers, all while not interrupting her dancing:
"
o/~ Look, they are so wee, and they'll fill you with glee,
o/~ Tiny little blobs for my tests,
o/~ made of slime, some people will call them pests,

o/~ I want more for me, and can get them for free,
o/~ I can catch the goo in a jar, don't you know who they are?
o/~ Remember their name!

SLIME!

o/~ I'm gonna keep them forever!
o/~ Some of them can even fly!
(SLIME!)
o/~ I feel it coming together!
o/~ Just need to figure out why!
(SLIME!)
o/~ I've made my way here to Eastal!
o/~ And, look!, I'm even on time!
(SLIME!)
o/~ I'm gonna keep them forever!
o/~ Baby remember-"

She freezes and blinks; the music stops, the last cacophonic chord strum sort of sounding like a record scratch, as she frowns. "...what was I supposed to remember again?"

    Merek takes time to listen to Uta sing, and nods a bit. "You are welcome to try and keep a few for your experiments. That in mind, we will proceed." With that, the man walks forward along ibto the dungeon. The first place that they come upon is a room of fallen rocks. They will need to use their own methods to get by that. "Alright, Uta. You are the local Slime Master. You can take a point with the way we will deal with the challenge."

"Why are there always rock slides or collapsed passages?" Kauchemar snorts. "You'd think they'd try to be a little more original." Oh well. She's a horse, so she starts kicking at some of the rocks to dislodge them, but doesn't really get anywhere. "... This pile is deeper than I thought it was."

Uta launches into a monotone wooshing chant, and after she points her staff at the pile of rubble -- it... vaccums the rock? Well, it does suck it in, and deflects it away, above Uta's head, where it describes a parabola and falls behind her; a combination of Earth and Air magic, of vacuum and lawnmower. It might be odd, but it's effective.

Goldenblade's wife quite liked that show, with all the dancing kids. She doesn't remember there being slimes, though. She golf-claps for Uta when she finishes, smiling genially.

She will use her skill at earth moving, which she normally uses for construction, to aid the efforts in clearing the rock slide. It's hard work, but she's no stranger to that.

    Merek will work on taking care of the fallen rocks, while the party works on their own methods. Each method works, Uta and Goldenblade making up with what Kauchemar needs assistance with. They then walk on to the next challenge. Two scales stand, each of them need to be filled, and it will require them to work it with their hands as well as the water.

Uta slaps her face, hard. "Water. Why does it always have to be water?!" She inhales, extends one hand towards the liquid, narrows her gaze-

"Nope, nope, nope!", she says, and leaps over to the mechanical parts. "I'm going to operate this!", she yells, as she begins to turn the device. "Y-you guys take care of the hydraulics. I... I don't feel confident enough to pull it off, yet." She returns to turn the wheel, and frowns. "Sooooooooooon...."

Goldenblade is enough of a construction person that she understands the basics of plumbing and water management. Water can cause major problems at a construction site if mismanaged, or, like now, if the pipes are broken. Luckily, shoring and pipe repair are skills she has the basics of, at least, and she will put them to use here to aid the party.

"Oh, now this is more my style of a puzzle. Never cared for pipe dreams though." Misty whisps flicker around Kauchemar's hand as she makes some arcane gestures, and starts to chant. "o/~ Walk on the Ocean... Step on the Stone... Flesh becomes Water... Wood becomes Bone o/~"

An elemental portal forms over the scales, dumping a large sleuce of water into one of the two cups as she just forgos the plumbing altogether. Golden can take of othe other side with her pipework.

    Between all of the party, Uta can maneuver the dial into place, while Kauchemar and Merek fill them with water, and Goldenblade will fix the pipes. When all that looks finished, the party moves to the next area. And, it becomes clear why this is a slime dungeon. There are oil slimes all about the place, in fact more than can be counted. They climb up the walls with the oil slick, along the floor. A few of them walk up to the party and seem to be curious about the newcomers. They will need to clear the slimes away with whatever method they would like to do. With that, Merek will nod a little bit to the party, "I don't know, what do you think Uta?" he asks.

Goldenblade smiles as Uta corrals the slimes. That's her whole goal here, she imagines, and GB will assist that as she can. In this case, her assistance is provides by lighting the floor on fire in the pattern that had been used before, judging by the scorch marks, allowing the party to control the battlefield as the slimes won't be able to mob us all at once, and Uta and Kauch can do their thing to one slime at a time.

They pass the scale puzzle with little issue and move on to the next part of the dungeon.... Oil, oil everywhere. Slimes are normally a bit oily, but Oil Slimes apparently even more so, and their slime is left everywhere around the chamber. "Well at least this time it's not sewage," Kauchemar remarks to no one in particular. Then cracks her knuckles. "Everyone just stay frosty, we've got this." The mists intensify a bit as she weaves a more powerful spell, as a Bard should singing as she does so.

"o/~ You have my attention, now it's futile to flee. You're oily and slimey but useful to me.
You just can't stop, just wiggle away. I'll bring the rain while laughing for another day.
My elemental wisdom a sight to behold... Bring forth the blizzard, bitter and cold! o/~"

The temperature in the room drops several degrees as a cold winter wind blows through her mane. Frost and ice form in the air and then rain down, freezing anything they touch and covering it in crunchy soft snow. Several of the slimes are caught in the flash snowstorm, trapping them in ice to keep them at bay, while Kauchemar lays down a path over the greasy floor to give them something stable to walk upon.

Uta's eyes go wide. "...Oil Slimes! I think I'm going to collect a few!" She reaches for the few curious slimes that come up to her, and even proceeds to pat them! With her white gloves. Gwen is not going to be happy about this.

"Oh man oh man oh man!", she exclaims, bouncing from one foot to the other, and as soon as she stops to flick her menu open, some slimes rub against her ankles like kittens (Gwen is SO not going to be happy about this).

She materializes a large jar tied to her back, like a backpack, and she then proceeds to run around and, with swift movements, flick up the slimes, send them flying, and catch them in her jar by shifting her back around. When Kauchemar begins to sing, she gets carried away so much she begins to twirl and pirouette, and-

Sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide. Because, oil. Slick.

"What I think, Merek, is that if there are any monster handlers in the party, it's time to handle monsters. And if there aren't, well, moving barriers around will do. Slimes are pretty simple creatures, they'll just follow their instincts. A well-placed roadblock will go a long way. And if even that doesn't work-"

She turns to notice Goldenblade setting things on fire. "...there's that, too." She taps her chin, as she jumps in the air and twirls, to launch a series of slimes in the air, in a helix pattern, and catch them into her jar with. "...I wonder if I could make oil lamp slimes..."

    Merek will do what he can to move the slimes, then Kauchemar is able to make a way along them with that ice. And with Goldenblade, it looks like the slimes try to keep away from the flame, though a few of them will catch flame and will try to follow the party. Eventually, they make it to the next area, where there are a few wind mills that need to be maneuvered with magical ability. That said, along the walls are clues, and people can always appraise the wind mills with an inspect.
    "Alright, we need to work on making a way through the place." The slimes wait for the party along the path, there are kitty slimes, oil slimes, mage. A lot of kinds of slimes probably.

Kauchemar lets Uta have her fun. But eventually gives her a nudge. "Come on. Good that you got some new samples, but this is no time to rest on one success. There might be more farther in."

While there is definately more, but these are actually gathering in attack groups, waiting for unwary and lost Adventurers to walk into their second of the room. She immeadiately eyes one of the windmills. "Mmm." She takes a step back from it, opens her mouth literally monsterously wide, and uses her phenomenal lung capacity to blow on the post hard enough to make it spin. Causing the path to change away from one of the slime pens.

The nightmare stops, flicking some stray mane out of her face. "Okay, if someone can figure out the path, I can make the posts turn."

Goldenblade smirks at Kauch and Uta, slime wranglers, and as we get to a new room, she says, "This doesn't look too complicated."

Several batterings later, a bruised and abused Goldenblade will admit, "I think the problem was more complex than I originally had thought."

Uta walks on air, arms full of oil slimes, one of which on fire, with a bunch of them bounding after her.

Some of those are on fire too.

Gwen is SO not going to be happy.

"Sliiiiiiiiimes..." she squeals in response to Kauchemar, the ecstasis catching her high-pitched vocalization in her throat.

When the maze is encountered, Uta's expression goes serious. "Hmm." She walks into the maze, and begins to sing sonic blasts at the mills, the kinds that make the air ripple. Some of them stop the mills for barely enough for Uta and whoever might be following her to pass through, some downright damage the mills, and when not- somehow, Uta will announce, "This way!", and it will turn out to be correct. Did she master echolocation?

    Merek walks along and into the place while he takes the time to make it by the wind mill. Then, it looks like there is an old machine. Elemental, there are designs upon the walls, are some of the paintings of Chim Chim? Then from one of the pipes a small slime appears, while making a way to Uta with it watching the woman. She can handle it if she likes, it's one slime.

Uta was busy admiring the painting. "Fascinating... I think I'll make note of these...", she says. Shortly after, pencil and notepad shimmer into existence from her menu, and she's making crude notes of the layout of the place, and she'll try to copy the design upon the walls.

There is a sudden appearance of a slime, and the Spriggan blinks down at it. "Oh, hello, little fellow!", she says, andreaches down to try and pick it up for... tactile examination.

It will look like petting to the uninitiated, but it's absolutely science. Yes! >_> <_<

    That is when the slime will begin to change. It will purr while it is picked up, only for it to begin to shift along into two slimes. One for each of Uta's palms. Then, they begin to grow! Wait, that's not... Both of them keep growing, until they're the size of a small dragon, roaring before the two light and dark slimes begin to come for the party! Merek looks, "Uta, I don't think... Ah, well." The man watches, then he prepares the weapon.

Goldenblade blinks as the tiny slimes that fit in Uta's hand become huge monsters. And with some weird, complicated mechanic she doesn't quite understand. On the other hand, she's right alongside the idea of Hit Very Hard. She will Hit Very Hard on each of the slimes, nailing it with her blazing swords, which cut through like a hot knife through soft butter.

The whirling blades continue as she DPSes the viscious slimes relentlessly, the swords fading back to their normal golden hue after the power fades away, slowly tinging as they cool.

Everything is fine. Everything is great. Uta is getting to do what Uta loves... Though that machine has Kauchemar eyeing it warily still. "So, does this thing connect to the sewers somehow? And that's how slimes keep getting into the--"

Her musing is interrupted by things now going not fine at all as the two slimes expand to an enormous size. "Huh. Yin and Yang Slimes then? Well, we'll deal with that I guess."

The Nightmare walks right up to the Light of the pair, undaunted by it's roaring.

Because that's what she does, planting a hoof to stand her ground, glares at it...

And roars back.

You saw what she did with the windmills. Same thing here, opening her mouth wide so it amplies her voice. But more importantly, this scream is enfused with Dark magic, tendrils of shadow spewing from her maw as well to dig into the Light Slime and burn though it's gooy being via counterpoint element.

"Who's a good slime? Who's a good slime? You are. You are! You are- no, two slimes?" She looks between them. "Who's a good slime?-- Well, I suppose it's the light one? While the dark one..."

They keep growing, and growing, until Uta's hands are trapped under the two giant blobs. "...This is exactly how I'd have liked to go...", she says, among tears of joy.

But she eventually comes to when people start attacking the two slimes. "Wait! Maybe I can- Medically inspect them?" She makes a honest attempt to, attempting to gain the physical contact needed for such analysis through melee. But if it succeeds, there's no time to share her results. "I have just the thing for you!"

She sings a melody which alternates between angelic melodies and ominous chants, and as she does, two beams, one red and one green, blast out from the opposite faces of the gem in her staff, and impact on a different slime each. "Let's try to sap some light from one, and pump it into the other... should have double the effect: removing the natural element, thus weakening the slime, /and/ pumping in the opposite element..."

    Between all of the party, Uta, Goldenblade, Merek, and Kauchemar, manage to defeat the slimes. They of course will take the time to try to fight all of the people in the party. When they're defeated, Merek will take the time to look about, and nods along to something that's next to the machine, a helmet. "This is mine. Well, more accurately, it's the Bandit King's." The man looks to Uta, "I'm glad you are enjoying the new slime! I am sure we will find new dungeons with even more slime!"

"Damn, Uta. That was pretty clever. Turn the energy of one on the other. You've been learning after all."

Kauchemar hmms softly. "I.. don't see any way to inspect where the machine connects to. Guess that mystery is going to have to wait." She shrugs. Uta and Merek got what they wanted, that's good enough for one adventure. "Let's get out of here before that thing spits up something worse."

Goldenblade finishes the fight, smiling widely, pretty satisfied with how things have turned out. She doesn't know how the complicated things work, so she generally ignores them. That often works out, and when it doesn't, it becomes something else she can deal with. But she will follow the others, which also generally works out.

Uta beams at Kauchemar's compliment, hands tightened on the staff as she smiles, eyes curving in a crescent. "Thanks! I owe it all to you people. If it wasn't for your constant guidance-"

She cuts off when Kauchemar suggests fleeing, with a nod. "Let's go," she says, and darts for the exit. She passes next to Merek, and suggests, "If you are going to have that one appraised, can you keep me up to date on the developments? I suspect I know the answer already, but it'd be nice to have it double-checked."

She smiles at the rest of Merek's suggestion. "Thanks to you for inviting me! I had a blast! And now I have a jar almost full of slimes!" She stops. Taps her chin. "Almost...."

She squints sideways, at a couple of oil slimes that have tagged along until now. "I wonder if..."

She extends her staff, and spins it around its axis. An elemental air vortex, long and narrow, reaches the slimes, and sucks them in. With expert martial arts moves, Uta flicks the item, and deflects the current, like she did for the Earth challenge earlier. This ends up working like a slime vacuum, whereby they are sucked from the ground right into the jar. "...hey, maybe with a little work..."