The Chosen [IC / Not Accepting / PG-16]

[Hollow 21]

Once the newly reformed party set off the for the distant ruins, Ryia posed the question of what should be done about the tribe of Minotaurs after demon gate was dealt with. 

“You’re worried that they’d still move against the townsfolk, even without finding their boon, eh?” Lindow spoke up from the back of the formation. He took a moment to such a scenario then continued. “Honestly, if they do then I don’t think it’s our problem. There’s always going to tensions between the races…” His gaze indiscreetly fell on Madelyn when he said this. “It’s not like when that monster of a man and his bandits were picking on those starving villagers. Once the demon gate is out of the equation, I think that it’s up to the two groups settle it amongst themselves…”  It wasn't the chosen's place to broker peace, nor did think that a group of strangers had the means to make any real political difference here.  

Still, he knew the girl felt some kind of heroic responsibility. It was admirable, but could cause them a lot of trouble if they weren't careful. "Besides, I have the sneaking suspicion that the tribe wouldn't be so desperate for power, if they thought it were possible to do something drastic on their own..." Without the demon realm's effects even a group of minotaur weren't toppling a fortified town very easily.    

"On a more pleasant note!" Remembering the food he had picked up in the market, Lindow shook the small brown sack of fruit before offering it around. "Me and the young drunkard picked up some grub for the road. Let's consider it reparations for last night's antics." 

Edited September 26, 2020 by Hollow

[Doggo 218]

Still in the process of trying to drown his hangover headache, Reinaan did little more than grunt in acknowledgement of Damien's show of concern for him if one could call it that. He wanted to say something more of course. Some comparison of how he wouldn't get into trouble simple because he was stronger. The exact thought got lost somewhere between still being mad at Madelyn the headache still dominating his thought process. Maybe the pain was just dulling from its sheer persistence, but as the group started on their way together the Fire Chosen thought he might have been starting to feel better. At the least he was able to care about the conversation going on around him as Ryia started it up. It was a natural concern that if the Minotaurs had the gate, taking it away from them might lead to less than ideal interactions with the town in the future. LIndow raised a valid point that it wasn't their business to ensure peace between the two civilizations. Just because it was right didn't mean the Draken approved of their actions unleashing a horde of angry bulls into a town that couldn't defend itself. But the Thunder Chosen seemed to doubt it being a real possibility.

"Dunno how you consider that food..." The Draken grumbled in response to Lindow's so-called more pleasant note. He could still taste the apple he'd bitten into at the inn on his tongue. The thought was enough to elicit a shudder. Though he still didn't really remember what he had done last night that needed reparations in the first place. None of the girls seemed physically harmed so it couldn't be that. He would have to ask at some point. But of the girls, Ryia seemed like the only one he could safely approach on the subject and asking with Madelyn in earshot sounded like another headache in the making.

[LordCowCow 840]

"So...once we do this, destroy the gate that is, um...what should we do about them? The uh, Minotaurs, that is?"

Keres's eyes flicked towards Lindow as he responded. What she heard wasn't unexpected but it did bother her. She didn't want to just leave it be yet she also didn't want to oppose Lindow. She shifted uncomfortably as she wrestled with the indecision for a bit. Though the only indication was her eyes flicking back and forth as she considered the possibilities. She couldn't go off and try and do something on her own. Perhaps if one or two others came with as well but she doubted those who didn't wouldn't want to wait around.

If she tried to convince them...no, that would just make them upset. Ultimately she would decide to leave it up to them. Hopefully she would be fine with the decision.

Off to the side she noticed Damien eying Lindow with a sour expression on his face. When he noticed Keres looking at her he chuckled and looked away. "Well, guess that's just how it is." Damien said, putting his hands at the back of his head and gazing up at the sky.

For her part Madelyn didn't even seem to be listening to the current conversation. She was focused on the road ahead and muttering to herself. Something about cardinal directions and landmarks. Finally she turned to the right and said "That way now. Straight ahead. Shouldn't be too long now. Then you all can show me why the spirits thought you were the right choice." She looked somewhat smug as she said that. "Funny to think you need my help despite that."

They started off in that direction again for a while until Damien spoke up. "So, that might be a problem, right?"

He was pointing off in another direction. Looking over they saw three Minotaur. One of them was pulling a cart, loaded with dead animals, behind him. On top of the cart were several throwing spears. The other two were walking on either side. Both had heavy looking, double-bladed, axes though only one was holding it. The other one had his strapped to his side and it was him who noticed the group.

He looked to say something to the other two and then grabbed one of the throwing spears. A bit more talking and the one with the wagon continued onward at a faster pace while the other two started to approach the group.

[Skaia 578]

Ryia frowned as Lindow gave his answer to her. She at least agreed that with the demon gate gone there was likely a breakthrough to be had between the sides. It was the demon gate that started this whole mess, but once it was taken care of she wasn't sure what would happen as a result. Whether things would simply go back to how they were or if the minotaurs would only grow more aggressive as a result. The whole situation continued to nag at her, but she didn't speak up, content to simply keep things to herself and mull on the problem more. After all, the first step to be taken remained the same no matter what. They needed to destroy the demon gate. 

As they followed Madelyn's directions, Ryia looked to the side to see what Damien was pointing towards. The girl gulped and froze briefly as she saw the group of minotaur. Her first instinct told her that they had already found the demon gate and were moving towards it, urging her to try and stop them from reaching it. However, upon another second of thought, provided thankfully by their distance between them, that didn't make a whole lot of sense to her. The minotaurs were going a different direction then them and they needed Madelyn to find the ruins in the first place. So, it was likely they weren't going there. That didn't change the hostility she was seeing in them as they approached and tried to swiftly move their carriage away. 

Ryia looked to the others saying, "I uh, I think we should just, um, fall back from them. We uh, we don't need to fight them or anything right? So, uh, we shouldn't."  

[Doggo 218]

The trip was gradually getting easier on the hungover Draken but Reinaan couldn't say he was much enjoying himself for the gradual reprieve from the pain in his head. A large part of that was Madelyn, whose overly high opinion of herself continued to rub the boy wrong. For everything he was having to put up with he certainly hoped she was at least taking them to the gate. If this wasn't the place then they'd have few options left shy of simply running about around every part of the continent they could think to go to. At least Kloqah didn't seem too upset about all the walking thus far but one had to imagine even she had her limits.

The general irritation became specific as three minotaurs came into view in the distance. They had weapons ready but at least from what the Draken could tell, none of them seemed quite so angry as disturbed or upset. They certainly weren't enraged like their previous trio of minotaurs had ended up being through that ordeal. Ryia suggested they simply fall back which seemed wise. Reinaan was still undecided in his head if he could actually take one on by himself but that didn't much matter when there were three of them. Still, running presented others problems.

"We can't go the way to the ruins or they'll follow or report back. And getting caught from behind could get bad like this..." the lizard boy grunted as he less than gracefully dismounted the larger lizard. He tossed his jacket he hadn't been wearing for some time at Madelyn without much care for aim or force. "Make sure they don't see your face." was all he said, hoping the intention was clear and how his jacket could aid that effort. His focus was sharpening from the situation and pushing the pain out of the forefront of his mind. Enough at least to think of some smarter things to do. "Keres, you and the ruins expert here should get on the mounts. Stick to the front of the group and be ready to bail if they catch us and things go bad." Reinaan spoke, his head not wanting to do much more tactical thinking. He readied his weapon from off of Kloqah's back before clearing the beast up for the mages to ride then tied the mule's leads to Kloqah's so the two animals would stick together.

"I really don't wanna fight these guys right now but be ready to." he offered back to Ryia who he assumed would naturally be in the rear of the group with him with how he had this planned out in his head.

[Hollow 21]

Lindow felt an air of disapproval set in after he announced his stance on the matter of what to do once they destroyed the gate. He found it rather annoying that none of the other chosen chose to speak up, despite the majority of them clearly believing that it was in fact their responsibility to intervene. 

“…”

Shrugging, Lindow plucked the freshest looking apple from his sack and placed the remainder on the mule for safe keeping. They wanted to be heroes so badly, but couldn’t even stand up to him in a conversation…  

After that exchange he followed along with the group silently, only tuning in again when they were confronted a new challenge. Naturally, Ryia wanted to avoid conflict but as the two minotaurs began to approach Lindow begun to think that they were better off dealing them now if they wanted to avoid having more dispatched to search for them in the future. Reinaan seemed to have similar concerns about being followed or flanked later on their journey and took up his weapon in preparation for a fight. Sighing, Lindow placed his hand on this hilt of his short sword and watched as the minotaurs grew closer by the second.

"Well, if we're gonna retreat then we need to do it now... but the lad is right, if they report back we'll have trouble on our hands later."  

[LordCowCow 840]

Madelyn wrinkled her nose at the jacket Reinaan gave to her. "I'm not sure it will do much good." She said but reluctantly covered up with it.

Keres watched Lindow blankly. Externally she didn't show much but internally she was thinking about how eager he seemed to be to fight them. It was clear that he thought that it was in their best interest to get rid of them. Which may be true yet...she would rather avoid killing more people if she could.

Still, with the minotaur approaching, she wasn't sure it was possible. As they continued on the two beast-men moved at a hurried pace. Despite not running their long legs brought them closer and closer. Unless they ran it seemed that the minotaur would catch up with them after not too long.

Meanwhile the third, holding the cart, pulled it farther away and seemed to be heading back to whatever village or camp they had come from.

The minotaur were shouting at them and Damien glanced over at the others. "I doubt you need a translation to get the gist but I think they're telling us to stop."

"Oh yes sure of course we will. They're clearly just wanting a nice pleasant chat." Madelyn responded.

Damien shrugged, looking none too concerned about all this, "Just thought you'd all want to know. Hard to be sure with their language for all the others knew they were asking for the time."

He paused. "Well, they might have been, can't say for sure."

Keres glanced back and noticed the minotaur grunting at each other before leaning down a bit and moving faster towards them. If they didn't want to get into a fight to the death they would have to do something quick to get away or stop them. "We've only got a couple more minutes before they catch up." She declared.

[Skaia 578]

As the minotaurs began to make their way closer to the group, it became more clear to them that they were definitely aggravated by the presence of the chosen. She wasn't quite sure if they wanted to just talk or if hostilities would break out almost immediately, but if they did want to talk it would likely not be on any favorable terms for the chosen. And worse would be if decided to check the direction they were going in. So, Ryia figured that they would need to do something about the bull-men and not just wait for the problem to resolve itself. But, their options were limited and so Ryia looked to the others and said, "we uh, we should flee."

Ryia did not want to engage in combat with them at all. If they were going to go to the demon gate today, she figured they needed to have all the strength they could keep. And as the minotaurs were not weak foes, she didn't want to think about how much energy they'd spend fighting them. More to the point though, Ryia wanted to avoid any and all confrontation and harm to both sides. But firstly they needed to avoid leading the Minotaurs straight to the demon gate by accident through their retreat. Pointing away from their trail, the girl said, "should we uh, try to lose them. And uh, come back later?"

[LordCowCow 840]

"should we uh, try to lose them. And uh, come back later?"

"As much as I hate to admit it if those beasts have a good quality it's they don't give up. I don't think we can really lose them for long without a distraction." Madelyn declared.

Which prompted Keres to realize what she should do. "I can, maybe, do that." She said. The girl looked over at the minotaur. They were getting closer. Still not quite close enough though. So she stopped moving and turned towards them.

"What does she think she's doing?" Madelyn said, slowing down as she looked back at the girl.

Damien shrugged. "She'll be fine. Probably. Not the first angry 'beast' she's dealt with lately."

Keres looked calm but inside she was incredibly nervous. If she messed up then they would catch up to her and she didn't think she was quick enough to avoid them and a single blow from them would likely do her in. Taking a breath she began her spell.

The water rained down on them and she noticed their eyes narrow as they looked around. Holding her breath and putting a hand up to the others to tell them to stop and be silent Keres watched them.

Soon one shoved the other and pointed to the side. Into the grass. Grunting the two of them ran into the tall grass. Keres kept her hand up for a while as she heard the grass being trampled by the minotaur. Then she slowly made her way back to the group.

"Won't keep long. They'll realize soon. Let's go."

Madelyn gave a short laugh. "Fitting for a witch I suppose, well done."

---

The place Madelyn led them to was...unimpressive to say the least. She called them ruins but there couldn't be more than a dozen fallen apart buildings. In the center of these were three cracked pillars with a raised dais in the middle. Which looked to have once held something large and heavy but was now barren, cracked, and forlorn.

"So...yeah, this is the place. The only ruins I know of in this area that I haven't led the minotaur to. It's not much but it's the only place I hadn't investigated before leading the minotaur."

"Before?" Keres asked.

"Mm, what, you think I'd not check it out to see if it's actually there? You think I'd let them get their grimy hands on something actually important." She rolled her eyes. "Those dumb animals had no idea I was leading them on a wild goose chase."

[Hollow 21]

Lindow eyed Keres with interest as she stepped out and used her illusion magic to heard the two minotaur into the tall grass at the side of the road. As the party fled the scene, he found himself pondering if the glyphs carved on his body would have any effect against such magic when it was empowered by the water spirit. He was doubtful... this was a reminder that even slight contact with the girl's water could be disastrous if they were to ever do battle. 

When they final arrived at their destination, he listened to the exchange between Keres and Madelyn whilst glancing around the remains of the buildings they had approached. It wasn't that surprising that Madelyn never intended to lead to tribe to anything useful, but nonetheless Lindow couldn't help but harbor a slight suspicion of the place she had brought them to now.  

"Well if there is something here, it's hidden real well..." Lindow addressed the group whilst he continued to check his surroundings. "this place lacks the novel bit of otherworldly malice in air that the other site had."

[Skaia 578]

Ryia let out a sigh of relief as the group had managed to evade the Minotaurs assault, nodding in thanks to Keres at the display of her magic yet again. With their haste, the bull men soon had vanished from sight and with any luck they hadn't figured which way they were going. All the same, she knew that they'd have to be fast in solving this demon gate problem just to be certain that no issues would arise. Thankfully, it didn't take much longer for the group to get to the Ruins that Madelyn had been leading to them, the area itself seeming to be something akin to an old village or encampment from long ago. 

At Lindow's comment, Ryia nodded as she remembered the first demon gate they had found. The lack of monsters and mages as well added to a less dangerous and off putting feeling, making the whole area seem incredibly tame to the ruins in the desert. Of course, it was too early to tell if this was place was actually abandoned or not, and even if they couldn't see the demon gate she didn't want to rule out that it or something dangerous was still here. So, the girl looked to the others saying, "I'll uh, I'll go on ahead. It still might be dangerous so um, be careful. Guys." With that, Ryia walked forward towards the dais, cautiously looking from side to side to make sure nothing was waiting to ambush her. 

Nevertheless, she managed to make it the dais without any complications and examined it. Looking at it, the girl noticed that there was a set of large cracks in it that seemed deep. Ryia herself wasn't sure if this was just a product of age or if something had actively attempted to break it, and if so how long ago that might've been. As she thought about this, the girl looked at the pillars. Looking at them more closely, the girl looked back between them and the dais, noticing that they seemed different from each other somehow. Though both were still quite old, the dais seemed to look far more weathered then the pillars surrounding it. She was no archeologist and didn't really have a clue what this meant, so she elected to ask the others. Calling out to them Ryia said, "um, I think I found something weird. Or strange. The pillars and dais aren't really, uh, the same. And the dais too is really um, damaged. Yeah." She pointed between the pillars and dais, motioning for the other to come check it out. 

[Doggo 218]

Thanks to Keres, the minotaurs had not become an issue. Her illusion magic really had its uses when she put her mind to it. Not having to fight at the moment was welcome to Reinaan who was still overly irritated at existing at the moment. It felt like he might have messed something simple up if they had come to blows there. So thankfully he was able to retrieve his jacket to pack away and simply get back to moving along. The group happened upon the set of ruins Madelyn had in mind. The only set left she hadn't been to apparently or that the minotaurs hadn't seen. The boy initially stayed back to keep a look out on the general area as Ryia moved forward to investigate, but at her call decided to move forward.

"That is pretty strange huh..." Reinaan mumbled as he approached the dais to confirm Ryia's observation. Sure enough, it looked much older than the surrounding structure but the draken's focus was on the raised nature of the platform. Something in his mind wanted to try and press it down, like a peg in a hole. In a less than graceful motion the boy pulled himself up on top of the dais to investigate. Immediately Reinaan could tell that it didn't feel stable. The stone felt like it was shifting under his feet and was cracked in various places. Putting his idea into motion, the Fire Chosen did a short hop in place as if he could force the dais down into the rest of the building. Cracks spread at the application of his weight but as yet no major shifting occurred.

"Hey so what's the trick to this place? There something here or not?" He called back to Madelyn and Keres in particular, assuming either one might just as readily have a secret spell ready that would open the mystery of the ruins up.

"I haven't been here before I don't know! I was just about to see if they have any treasure...I mean, see if there's anything important in these buildings." Madelyn shouted back. Keres however approached before commenting, no doubt not wanting to raise her voice.

"It doesn't seem the same..." She looked to her side and nodded. "Flux says they can sense something faint. Seems...muffled."

"Should I keep jumping?" Reinaan asked fairly innocently and without much thought. His brain had one real idea about this and that was all he was going to do if no one else had something better. Keres tilted her head as Reinaan asked and looked down towards the dais.

"Sounds dangerous."

"That's the fun part." Reinaan laughed back before squatting some to get ready to really jump on the thing. "You'll save me if something goes wrong anyway." he added nonchalantly back at the witch. In truth, he wasn't sure anyone but Lindow would really put their neck out for him but if he never put the trust out for Keres he could never expect it back. Reinaan then proceeded to really lift himself up off the ground to stamp down into the dais. The stone began really shifting this time but not quite as the boy had intended. The middle had begun sagging down but the edges stood at their normal height. Regaining his balance the boy looked back at Keres.

"Did Flux feel that?" Reinaan asked, hoping his method had made some headway on the vague whatever the water spirit had picked up. Keres simply shook her head. "Well, one more for good luck." the draken decided before jumping once more in place. More cracks set into place as the stone started crumbling away. Reinaan seemed very pleased with himself as he stood over what was quickly becoming a hole deeper into the ruins opening up underneath his feet. The look of self-pride shifted very abruptly to one that clearly regretted his recent life choices as the Draken's feet suddenly had nothing left to stand on and he flailed his arms outward getting ready to grab the edge of the new opening he had created.

Edited October 16, 2020 by Doggo

[LordCowCow 840]

Keres wasn't sure what she expected to happen with Reinaan jumping. Perhaps she should have been more firm in her warning about the danger. It looked as though something was giving away after all. But there wasn't much she could do about that.

Despite knowing that there was something wrong with the situation she was ashamed to realize when Reinaan began to fall she didn't react fast enough. Thankfully the other two Chosen nearby both moved towards him as he began to fall and one of them managed to stop his fall.

She let out a small sigh of relief which couldn't be overheard over Madelyn's voice. "What were you thinking? If you wanted to smash it you could have at least stayed OFF of it...Spirits, what IS this." She seemed to get distracted quickly and Keres as well decided to take a look at what Reinaan had uncovered.

Underneath the dais seemed to be some sort of tunnel. The drop looked steep at first but when Madelyn shone a light down it they could see it evened out more after a while. "Looks like this place had a secret after all." Damien said.

Madelyn sighed. "I guess I'll have to search for treasure later." She muttered. Then, louder, said "Just after I had a bath I'm going to get covered in dirt again!" She looked towards the others. "I'm NOT going in first."

---

The tunnel seemed to be nothing more than a dirt tunnel for quite a ways. After the steep drop and the gradual leveling off they finally reached a point where it was roughly flat ground.

Around them was tightly packed dirt which seemed to be holding up well despite the lack of support structures. It was roughly circular and the top was ten feet feet above their heads for most of the journey. After some time it began to grow higher and wider.

Until they came across a branching path.

From what they could tell the right side looked rather narrow, enough to move single file, for as far as they could see. The other side was somewhat wider. Enough for two or three to travel abreast. But they also noticed that the ceiling dripped with water and the floor looked to be wetter than the other path.

"Two choices..." Keres said. Stating the obvious that they now had a decision to make.

Spoiler

As a note. If there's more you want to do above ground first you can but end your post down here. There's two paths you can take. You can go down one side, the other side, or both if you split the group. You can't tell where either leads for quite a while.

 

[Skaia 578]

Ryia watched as Reinaan had gone onto the stone dais, clearly finding the large crack in it as intriguing as she did. However, she wasn't quite sure what to make of what he did next. She looked at him curiously as he started jumping on it, but this curiosity gave way to alarm as she could hear a cracking noise coming from the dais. Looking at it with concern, seeing the cracks start to enlarge Ryia was growing more on edge that something bad was going to happen if Reinaan were to continue. Naturally, she thought he would think the same and get off, but instead Reinaan continued to jump. As the platform broke way underneath his feet, Ryia was able to react in time to his fall, grabbing at his hand before he fully fell. The girl let out a huff as she held onto his arm, struggling a bit with the sudden weight she found herself holding onto. "I...I got you..." Ryia got out. Thankfully, she was strong enough, with some assistance, to pull him out from the hole.

As it had turned out though, the danger that he had found himself in wasn't quite nearly as fatal as she had originally thought it to be. With Madelyn showing them that the hole wasn't nearly as deep as they might've thought, and was in fact more a tunnel then anything else, Ryia looked to the Draken. A confused smile on her face, unsure how she should feel about the discovery due to its method, she still said, "um, good uh...good job, Reinaan. I guess I'll uh, go down first then?" She looked to the others, as if to confirm, before going down the hole. 

After a bit of walking, Ryia marveling at the strange underground passage they had found, the group came to a crossroads. With the two paths before them, Ryia looked at each of the options. The dripping of the water down the left path gave it a more ominous feeling and the girl couldn't help but feel like there was some form of danger down there. Yet the right path seemed far more cramped and she could only imagine how much worse things would be if they were attacked in such a situation. So, looking back to the others, Ryia gestured in the direction asking, "left?" 

[Doggo 218]

The good part about having friends around was how they tended to not want to let one fall to their doom. Even in this case where Reinaan was the entire cause of his own predicament. Being scooped out of the air was a strange sensation but to be back on actual ground was a relief. Madelyn seemed upset but really that just seemed to be the woman's default at this point so the draken didn't pay it much mind. Getting his bearings again the boy turned back to the hole he had created. As the others confirmed it seemed to indeed be an entrance into some sort of secret to the ruins. The Fire Chosen puffed his chest some naturally at the thought that not even the ruins expert knew this was here and his instinct had uncovered it. It sure seemed like an easy enough job anyway. Ryia volunteered as the first to go down to explore the discovery after Madelyn had very vocally demanded she not be first. Reinaan followed soon after Ryia, wanting to be on hand in case something dangerous called the hole home.

"Left for sure." Reinaan eventually spoke reaffirming the Earth Chosen's choice once their path finally branched. The left path had more space to move through. Given the size of the group, going through the right single file was asking for someone to get killed if something was actually waiting for them. The Draken took to the front of the group, by Ryia's side. They formed something of a defensive line for the rest of the group. The boy had his weapon as the only real thing he'd taken down with him given the mounts wouldn't be able to come in with them.

[LordCowCow 840]

"In that case, you two shall guard our backs." Madelyn said, or rather demanded, to Lindow and Damien.

Damien smirked slightly and said "Can do." His gaze lowered and he frowned slightly at the robe that Madelyn was wearing. He glanced over at his fellow swordsman and shrugged. "Can't win them all I guess." he said.

The group moved in its two by two formation through the wet tunnel. Keres seemed to traverse the slippery floor fairly easily. Being used to walking through the swamp she lived in made it much easier to deal with. Though as they continued along she began to realize something felt a bit strange. The water was thicker than it should be at points.

Before she really considered the possibilities she heard Madelyn sigh. "I think it's getting deeper." She said as she hiked up her robe. "I didn't think I've be trudging through this muck. Where even did all this come from? Keres can't you...move it out of our way or something?"

The water mage had been considering this when the girl asked and so she quickly nodded. "One moment." She said.

Channeling her magic she concentrated on the water underneath them and started to move it to the side. Only...something was in the way. Something... "That's not water."

That was the only warning the group got when suddenly from behind the swordsmen and between the mages and the front-line pair a dozen blobs of gelatinous material rose up from the floor.

The creatures were roughly three feet in height and had no noticeable limbs or eyes. They could see a small round object in the middle of their bodies which seemed to be a darker color than the rest of them. Despite their lack of appendages or organs they seemed to know that the group was there and moved to attack.

Just then in front of Ryia and Reinaan another slime creature emerged. This one more humanoid shaped than the previous. And reaching just over five feet tall while hunched over.

It didn't make a noise as it reached out for both of them. They could see along the "hands" and "arms" were a variety of small stones which seemed to be cracked and with sharp edges to them. Likely picked up over time and now doubled as an extra weapon for the creature.

Spoiler

Slimes! Yay! So, the ground is still wet, and there is a layer of water, but some of the water was indeed from passing through these slimes. And now they are attacking. In their slime-way.

Map

 

[Hollow 21]

Though they almost lost Reinaan in the process, the group had managed plunge deeper into the ruins.

Lindow didn’t have much of a preference when it came to where he stood in the formation the group made for traversing the flooded tunnel, so he met Damien’s complaint with a shrug and offered a jest. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they’ve been trying to set us up.” 

“Lovely…” When the slimes appeared, Lindow quickly pivoted around to assess their situation. The monsters had managed to slip into center their formation, leaving Reinaan and Ryia separated with the larger humanoid slime creature. Luckily, those two could take care of themselves, and it wasn’t the two mages who were caught out in the ambush. 

“Don’t stop on their account, little Keres.” Lindow called to Keres over the slushing water underfoot as he reached for his bandolier and took a step forward. With wave of his arm, three flashes of steel arced through the air towards the small horde of slimes approaching from the group’s flank. “The water!” He grinned, the Thunder spirit’s power already beginning to stir the moment the throwing blades had left his grasp. Reaching outward as if trying to claw the space ahead Lindow prepared to discharge a large current of lightning towards the gathering of slimes the moment Keres took care of the water around the group. 

 

Spoiler

OOC: Lindow threw three throwing knives at slimes 2,4,6 and asked Keres to move the water towards that group so he can follow up with Discharge. 

 

[Doggo 218]

The Fire Chosen was at least somewhat uncomfortable wading through water, not wanting to think too much about what might be in it. But on the upside the presence of water meant Keres would be able to perform some pretty impressive magical feats. That was somewhat comforting. But what was more annoying to Reinaan was the constant sound of six sets of splashing by virtue of the group walking through water. It made it hard to hear around him though it didn't occur to the boy that if something was in front of them the tunnel would likely echo the sound to them long before they ever approached. Thus Reinaan was all the more aggravated at the appearance of the slimes, enemies they may well have been walking through that just now suddenly formed around and in between the group. The boy swore in ancient Draken which amounted to little more than a reptilian hiss to the untrained ear as the larger slime reached out toward him and Ryia.

The boy gripped his halberd and swiped the weapon at the approaching appendage. For the most part the weapon passed through with relative ease. Though it got harder to keep pushing through the further in it got. Reinaan followed through with his swing and was able to lop off the arm if one could call it that with some effort. It flopped to the ground before quickly getting absorbed back into the main body though it didn't immediately grow the limb out again. Reinaan turned abruptly back to the slimes that had appeared behind him. There were many more behind the group but the four between the front line and the mages was his first priority. Reinaan swung his halberd down on the slime immediately behind him. Again it passed through easily until it hit something harder. A small dark spot about the size of two clenched fists. This Reinaan had to really exert to cut through but he swung the blade clear through. The slime started shrinking, like it were deflating or melting. But this attack had drawn some attention as the other slimes all seeme to shift focus to the Draken.

Spoiler

Slime 11 big dead.

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by Doggo

[Skaia 578]

Ryia trudged through the water, her face taking on a rather displeasured expression as it became deeper and more difficult to wade through. The girl didn't usually mind getting dirty when they were traveling from one place to another, but the unpleasantness that came with water soaking and filling her metal boots was certainly an exception to that. However, eventually the group stopped as Keres and Madelyn seemed to have an idea to make their trek easier. With the water presumably being parted out of the way, Ryia immediately took a defensive posture as Keres mentioned something not being water. 

Drawing out her scimitar and shield, the girl looked to see that there was suddenly a slime creature forming in front of her. The creature, while not taller than her, was still fairly imposing to her, as it slowly reached out its slimy arms towards her and Reinaan. The two of them acted quickly, him slashing his polearm and her her sword into both of the creature's arms. Though she took longer and more effort to cleave through it, she eventually managed to split the arm off from the body only for it to slowly move back towards the main body. Ryia stepped closer, looking back to see that Reinaan had engaged something behind them - more slimes. Panic briefly set in as she saw the foes positioned between herself, Reinaan and the mages. Though as he managed to strike one down, she simply had to believe that the draken could manage the other three as they were now converging on him. 

As a result, Ryia decided to focus her efforts on the one in front of them, thinking it would be bad if both of them showed their backs to the largest of them. The girl swung her scimitar into the creature's head - or head area. The blade managed to get through some of the slime but she couldn't push it any further and make any real cut into it as she was. Pulling the blade back the girl moved to the creature's side, not showing her back to the other three slimes and being able to watch them as well. Trying to think of what to do next, the girl grimaced as it seemed that the arm that Reinaan had originally lopped off was slowly reforming. 

[LordCowCow 840]

"Don’t stop on their account, little Keres.”

Keres really wished he would stop calling her that. She was certain it was some form of bullying, an attempt to degrade her, yet she never said anything about it. And right now wasn't he time to have that sort of talk anyway. Especially when she was being asked to perform a rather heroic feat.

With a deep breath she immediately began to focus on moving the water. She wasn't sure why but she had a feeling it would be dangerous not to listen to the man. So she began to gather up all the water she could from around their feet and pushed it towards the side. The water seemed to be filled with bits of slime, making Keres have to push through that to move it, but she was able to get them all somewhat clear of the liquid before Lindow let loose a shock that struck the dagger-embedded slimes.

He'd notice the small core in the middle of two of them seem to pop and the slimes shriveled away to nothing. The other slimes seemed to deflate somewhat but weren't destroyed.

"Well, that sure was flashy. I prefer something a little simpler myself." Damien said and ran forward. He drew his blade, which as usual seemed longer than the sheath when he drew it, and cut through the closest slime. His curved blade slicing through the electrified ooze with ease and cleaving through the core. Destroying it as well.

"What are you DOING?" Madelyn shouted. Keres took a moment to realize she was talking to her but before she responded she flinched back as she noticed a barrier of light behind her. With a slime slammed up against it. Having been moments from overtaking her while she was focused on the water. Which, after her focus was broken, reverted back to its original position.

Madelyn put another, smaller, barrier between her and the slime in front of her, despite that it seemed more intent on Reinaan. But she wasn't done talking as she snapped at the girl "Don't just mindlessly follow commands when you're in danger." Then, to Lindow, "And don't think us mages are at your beck and call."

While one of the slimes had went for the clearly distracted mage the other two continued on their focus on Reinaan after he destroyed one of them. Moving across the watery floor and going for his legs. Intending to latch onto him and drag him down onto the floor.

The more humanoid slime had all its focus on Ryia. And, with its reforming arm, it lashed out at her and slammed its slimy appendage down. Whether she blocked or not she would feel the startling weight behind the attack and the unnatural strength of the semi-liquid opponent.

The slimy arm would curl around whatever it managed to get a hold of and try and crush it. All the while the other arm slowly started to regrow as well. The slime arm having had traveled from the floor up the creature's body.

Spoiler

Map

Wrote this while distracted if I misunderstood something or forgot something let me know.

 

[Skaia 578]

Ryia's initial plan had succeeded and the humanoid slime was now focused on her. However, the next part of the plan - keeping the attention and staying safe - was far trickier. The creature lashed out at her with its newly reformed arm and so to keep herself from harm the girl raised her shield up on instinct. The girl grunted, a look of shock crossing her face as she was met with a surprising amount of force from the living slime. Getting into a test of strength with the creature, Ryia pulled back her shield arm. Though it was a fruitless effort as the slime creature seemed to be intent on pulling her shield closer to it and the two entered a stalemate, even in strength. Of course, Ryia was sure that this was a fight she would eventually lose and so she attempted to lop off the creature's arm. 

As a result of the awkward angle she was striking from, the girl's blade didn't carry as much force as before and so it wasn't able to sever it. Grimacing, Ryia then opted for her next idea. Unclasping her shield the girl let it fall to the ground, before gripping her sword with both hands and bringing the blade down against the arm, severing it once more. Now without a shield, Ryia stepped to the side, getting on the side of the slime monster opposite of its reforming arm. Then, the girl made way to attack against the creature again. She didn't have enough strength to slice straight through the monster but she figured she might stand a chance if she could cut it down piece by piece and work her way down that way. And if nothing else, it would still keep its attention distracted on her while the others managed to clean up the smaller ones. 

So, striking diagonally upward against the creature's "head" the girl managed to lop off part of it with relative ease. As she did, Ackrin appeared behind the creature, lobbing stones at it more as a means to distract and confuse it then anything else - the attack of which simply sank harmlessly into the slime creature. The girl got back, to taking a defensive stance, watching as the pieces of slime were moving back towards the creature, likely to help reform it once again. 

[Doggo 218]

Whatever the mages were yelling about, Reinaan was glad to know the slimes were focused on him rather than anyone else in the group. That Madelyn could complain about being given orders was better than getting lectured forever after about not sufficiently protecting her. Ryia was currently busy holding the biggest one off from the rest of the group and the boy knew he'd need to wrap up quickly to get back to helping her. Lindow and Damien seemed capable of keeping the larger group of slimes in the back under control. As the two slimes left that had surfaced in the middle of the group moved along the floor for the Draken's legs he took a step back to consider how to attack.

The decision didn't take long as the boy considered his weapon but ultimately inhaled as he readied his flame breath. Spraying the two slimes along the ground with the fire he could see them beginning to melt away and expose their cores which began to crack under their heat. The liquified bodies proved unable to do any sort of grabbing which had given the room he needed to handle both at once that using his weapon might not have given him. With swift movements the draken plunged the spear end of the halberd into each core, causing the creatures to more fully melt away as the others struck down had done. A smile now occupied his face as he seemed happy with how quickly he had wrapped up the worst positioned of the slimes. But a thought crossed his mind and so he rushed to Madelyn and Keres' sides and began scanning the floor around the group carefully.

"No more in the middle of us right?" Reinaan called out, wanting to be absolutely sure the women wouldn't be suddenly assailed if he moved to dispose of other of the monsters. This brought his attention back to Ryia who was handling the largest, most formidable looking of the monsters by herself. The Fire Chosen readied his weapon again and stepped away from the mages after one last quick scan to make sure there weren't any more of the slimes hiding in or around any of the water or simply on the exposed floor of the tunnel.

[LordCowCow 840]

"No more in the middle of us right?"

Keres glanced over to the Draken and was surprised to realize that the other slimes had been taken care of. From the other side of Madelyn's barrier she gestured in front of her. Where one other slime was slamming itself against the barrier to no avail.

Keres watched with a frown as the seemingly mindless creature kept battering at it. She thought a moment and then gathered up some water underneath it and pushed it upwards. Slamming it against the ceiling. She noticed the core crack as it fell back to the ground. When it landed it was practically flattened but still moving as it started to reform into its normal shape.

Noise from behind her caused the girl to whip her head around.

Lindow seemed to now be surrounded by three slimes. Two of which were latched onto his legs and trying to knock him over. While the third slime stretched and thinned to go for a slamming attack on Lindow's abdomen. The three working to topple the human into the water.

Damien seemed to not be paying much attention as he had stepped forward to slice through another slime in his path. Leaving only one more near him which was moving towards the man to attack.

The humanoid slime facing Ryia was slowly reforming. All the pieces cut off of it simply returning to its body and traveling along the inside to regrow the detached limbs and bits. It didn't seem to be waiting for itself to be fully formed before moving forward again. Trying to slam into Ryia and envelop her in its body. As it closed in Ryia noticed that part of the creature's head seemed darker than the rest.

Spoiler

Map

 

[Skaia 578]

As Ryia was facing off against the opponent in front of her, she suddenly heard a noise come from behind her. A sound of water rushing, followed by a sort of impact. Looking back, the girl saw that the slime that Keres had been facing had a sort of cracked core in it. Looking forward at the opponent moving towards her, she noticed that the head of the creature seemed to be a lot darker then the rest of it, and so she decided to put a theory to the test. As it lurched and lunged towards her, the girl slammed her foot into the ground causing a wall of earth to erect underneath the creature and send it to the ceiling. A crunching could be heard as it seemed part of the creature was destroyed as the remaining part of its body slid off the wall and back into the water below. 

Slowly picking itself back up, the head didn't seem to reform this time, though the body still seemed to be moving. Looking more closely at it, the girl noticed that there was another darker mass, this time located at waist height. The girl grimaced as she saw this, attempting to figure out how to cut deep enough into the creature when it started to lurch towards her yet again. The girl gripped her blade in both hands once again, stepping forward and to the side as the creature reached out to her. With a slash, she managed to cleave off one of the arms, only for the other one to grip at her right arm. The girl grunted, feeling the heavy slam through her off balance and start to pull at her. Planting her feet firmly, the girl pulled back, face twinging in pain as her arm was being pulled by an equally powerful force. She had stalemated it before, but she knew this was a losing battle once again, and so she looked over to her Draken ally saying, "there's - there's a second core in it." The girl nodded over to the darker green area. 

[Hollow 21]

"Well, that sure was flashy. I prefer something a little simpler myself." Damien said and ran forward.

Lindow shrugged. "It's not like you have much choice." Just as the words left his lips, a paranoid whisper tickled the edge of his thoughts. Unless he had something up sleeve. Lindow watched the other man draw his blade, taking note of its seemingly magical properties and feeling a slight sense of longing for the elven steel. Though his attention was stolen by Madelyn before he could toy with any theories about the blade's true nature.

"Don't nag the girl about such foolish things." He responded with a huff. For a moment appeared to have forget that they were amidst a battle. It wasn't as if he had expected to find a true warrior amidst these flooded caves... but slimes?!  It felt as if they were a band of new adventures on their first outing. "If I could have moved the water myself, then I would ha- huh?" Glancing down, the Thunder Chosen watched as two slimes suddenly wrapped themselves around his legs with a third creature preparing to strike at him from a distance. 

The man's battle instinct quickly took the wheel. Without thinking, he brought his shield up just before the third slime's attack slammed into his chest. "Tsk," Air escaped his lips as he turned his gaze back down to the two slimes at his feet, his left hand already grasping the the sword on his back.

"get off."  Lindow growled as he swung the Bandit Cleaver twice in a cross pattern. The slime on his left leg was destroyed seamlessly, but it after surviving the creature on his right leg began to exert a worrying pressure. Realizing that he couldn't cleanly remove it with the unwieldy shape of the Cleaver, Lindow drew his short sword and began hacking his way to the core.