The Lands of Galderia

Pravus

Their battle had dragged on for some time. He continued to successfully keep the leaders focus right on him, giving a measured quantity of aggression to keep him interested in trying to take his head of without actually engaging. The bandit leader's face was red, his breath was labored and his already brutish swings were uncoordinated. "Get back here you coward!" The large man continued to try and grab him but to no success.

One misstep was all it took. The bandit leader had stepped forward without keeping any guard up, his swing already on it's way past it's mark. With one deadly lunge Pravus had drove the point of his spear into the main artery on the inside of his left leg. As he leapt back, narrowly avoiding the back swing from the club, the blood started to run down the large man's leg in a small crimson stream. The bandit leader was tempted to reach down and try to stop the flow by putting pressure on the wound but the gleaming metal point of the spear which had moved up until it hovered directly between his eyes not a few feet away reminded him of a more immediate threat.

Taking one look around the bandit leader saw the conclusion to this band of bandits of his. He knew very well that he couldn't go on fighting without dying from his wounds. "A-alright! Fine, I surrender, just let me go get some healing okay?"
The bandit leader seemed down for the count for this last. With the fight now done turned his back and took exactly three steps away.

One... Two... Three...

THWANG!

He ducked right at the last second as the bandit's leader in a last ditch attempt at revenge had thrown his sword at him. Though the sword was just over his head his shovel was not quite as bendy. The side of the blade connected with the head of the shovel with a mighty loud thwang noise, causing the sword to spin several times before embedding itself in the dirt, hilt up, not too far away. His shovel was fine, the head not even really so much as scratched by the thrown weapon.

He knew he'd throw his sword. He's known plenty of these types of people, the fact he'd try to take a shot at him from behind was not even a question. The only unknown variable was how many seconds it would take for him to throw it. Turns out it was three.


He slowly turned around until he was facing back towards the large brute.
"Aw crud! Ah, uh, my hand slipped! Yeah, that's it. P-please, I swear I didn't-" The bandit leader's blubbering was cut off with an exceptionally long thrust straight to the man's right eye. He was standing in a full lunge stance, holding his spear as far to the back as he could for maximum reach. The point had managed to pierce the man's brain, killing him in one final blow. Drawing his spear back the man's body remained on all fours for a moment. As the muscles lost their tension the corpse collapsed to the ground, blood leaking through the eye hole like fruit punch through a jack'o lantern.

He stood over the cooling body, looking down at his handiwork. Just another one in a long line of slain warriors. From his back he pulled out his shovel and in it's place he sheathed his spear. He went over and sought out a space which was wide enough to accommodate a mass grave big enough for these bandits. Once he found what he was looking for, he began his solemn duty and started to dig.

Iator

Before the party left the town, Iator used a well placed laser spell to etch a new altar into a stone outside of the city. On it was written: "Amenazor, Protector of travelers, Lord of nature."

Pravus

The burial went well enough. The bodies were buried, the torch was lit and the prayers were spoken. He could only hope this would be adequate enough for their souls to find their way. With that done the party seemed anxious to get the hostages back to town. He was in no hurry but it wasn't like the haste would wear him down any.

They walked back to town. While the living did their business as usual he had planned on skulking off on his own while when the commander and his men approached. He spoke with Randi for a while before she returned to the group to give the news. "You may all want to hear this. It's about the Dragon. It appears our little juncture was not without reward. I hold in my hand a message that arrived on a falcon, by none other than the Royal Huntsman. You probably didn't know this but a little over a year ago, he was tasked by the King to discover the location of the Dragon's Lair. He would communicate by Falcon every month to update his progression on the mission. It would seem today that message arrived here before being sent onward to Beystead. The Huntsman has written quite a bit, but there is a bit of information that is the most important. He says he is close to discovering the Lair and hopes to find it in the coming months. It seems our next course of action is clear, we must find the Royal Huntsman and have him tell us what he knows. If he truly is on the verge of making a discovery, then we must know what it is, perhaps it will be the very thing we need to complete this quest."

The holy man and Randi traded words for a moment before she exposited more information. "That is about the only bad piece of news from this, if we are traveling to Ocford then it will take us quite some time to arrive. If I had to estimate, it will take us a few months to see the river on horseback. Which is why we are leaving tomorrow morning! The Commander is seeing that we have lodgings for the evening, he is also seeking to resupply us for our troubles, I told it wasn't necessary but he said free lodgings and supplies was the least he could do for us."

Grand. I'll be stuck another few months being dragged about this land. Oh well, there will probably be bodies that will need to be buried on the way. At least I'm not being sidetracked entirely. He bemoaned this further elongation of his silent internment to this group of colorful individuals.


During his stay at the fort he acquired a few items which would serve him well on his journey. For weapons his spear and shield were sufficient, both being in decent shape despite the combat. He got a couple javelins which were strapped alongside his shovel across his back. Besides that in terms of non-combat items he needed a small few things. Most notable of his acquisitions was a bag that was now hanging from his belt full of small medical tools, all useful for preparing a corpse in case a body gets too mangled and he needs to fix it up for the funeral. While normally back in the day he'd use formaldehyde to preserve the bodies it was neither available nor practical to carry jars of the substance around on him given the situations he was getting into. At some point he'd need to learn the spell for preserving dead bodies which the scroll shops here sadly didn't carry as it's technically considered necromancy by these primitive people. Little did they understand that necromancy in and of itself wasn't inherently evil, just those who would use it to gain power over the dead instead of helping them.

Besides the tools he got himself a sewing needle and a spool of metal wire and a spool of cloth string. He had use for both of those. With all that he was covered and ready to move on.

The next morning he along with the others gathered and moved out of town. Much to his annoyance there were crowds of cheering civilians wishing them all farewells. He tipped his hat down and trudged forward while the rest of the party rode along on their horses. As long as the horses never took off on a full gallop he'd have no problem keeping up. With little time wasted the fortress grew further and further away until it disappeared into the distance.

---

The Leaky Tower

---

As the band of lovely adventurers made their whimsical way along there was quite a sight to behold just down the road. All who approached could see the scene happening right across the road. The first and most evident detail was that encroaching on the road from all across the forest were literally hundreds of slimes. More bizarre to those who would know better is that these were not garden variety green slimes. There were elemental slimes of almost every variety, sticky slimes, leaping slimes, putrid slimes and even the more unusual slimes such as explosive slimes, laser slimes and purple gravity slimes.


At the apex where the slimes all seemed to be converging upon was a lone wagon full of farm produce. Upon the wagon stood two peasants, a demure mother and her daughter from all appearances. They were standing atop their goods watching in horror as the slimes had started crawling up the sides of the wagon, inching their way closer to them. Tethered to the front of the wagon laid a donkey that was being fed upon by many slimes. This grey quadruped moaned in agony as holes were being eaten through it's skin. It's legs were obviously the first part to have been reached by the slimes first as from the knee down all that was left of it's legs were corroded bone. Now while slimes in large groups can be difficult to deal with at times that wouldn't normally mean they could down a donkey before it could shake them off and run away. What might explain better as to how it was downed was the circular hole burnt through it's back hip, the trademark wound of a laser slime's laser attack.

While the donkey wasn't dead yet it was close to beyond saving this point as it was covered in many different slimes, some burning it in places, others giving it painful shocks while others froze parts of it. Numerous wounds upon this beast, the most serious of which was still the hole burnt through it's back, were becoming more and more numerous, spelling out it's doom. The mother and daughter were both rightfully terrified as this was the fate they too were looking at suffering as they had nowhere to run that didn't have slimes. They were safest high up where the slimes had more difficulty reaching them but their height was only delaying the inevitable.


Then they saw the group of diverse travelers coming their way. "Please! Help us! We need your help! Please!" Both the mother and her daughter called out frantically to the group, their only hope, their only salvation. If they couldn't get these travelers to save them then their only future would be death by being slowly eaten away by acidic blobs of exceptional variety.

Iator

The gnome caught a glimpse of the mayhem that was being caused ahead. He'd never seen so many slimes in his life, and that was saying something. It was too late to save the donkey but perhaps not the family. What he needed was a good spell to protect them while the others dispatched the acidic blobs. He began to speak in an arcane language, chanting words of power as he stamped his staff on the ground. The now dead donkey's bones seemed to melt into the ground. A second later, a white array of spikes arranged itself in a horizontal wall around the top of the carriage. The wall was such that the slimes might be able to squeeze through the openings between the bones but they would most likely be punctured on their way through. Iator hoped that that would be enough for now.

"Sylphine!" He said. "Get them to safety! The rest of us will clean these creatures away."


Jor

The Ravager was disappointed. with the hell he'd gone through to get to the surface, he had thought that his journeys here might have been a bit more perilous. Or at least more exciting than slimes. He'd known dwarves who used creatures like these to clean dust from their halls. He sighed. If they were going to kill them, he'd best get on with it. He drew his axe, readying himself to attack when the others did. For this battle he wouldn't rage unless he needed too. He was going to lead the formation this time, see if they could follow orders from someone who wasn't a demon or a beldarakin. "Warriors. Form a wedge while we mow down the squishy buggers."

Bliston had lived a long life, and seen a lot of strange things in his time. He wouldn't quite call this the strangest, but it was definitely unique enough to warrant a reaction. "You want us, to wade into that mess?" He asked Jor and Iator incredulously. Bliston wasn't an expert on slimes, but he could recognize a few of the things from his travels. Most of them weren't even native to the area, he knew that much. Worse every one of them that he could identify was some form of the more dangerous breeds. Some of them even had magic capabilities if he remembered right.

"That's not just fool hardy. That's suicide!" While most slimes were weak, dealing with them in numbers was generally dangerous for a number of reasons. This was practically a small lake of the damn things! They'd be swarmed in seconds! "I hope you've got a better plan than just charging in. Because assuming the if dozen of us did manage to cut our way through, we'd be walking right over their acidic remains. And these boots aren't corrosion proof!"

Even as he said that though, the daemon readied Hevnoraak at his side. A few that were some distance from the main mass had noticed them. He shot an look back towards the horses, hopping the sight of this wouldn't make any of them panic. If those things bolted now...

Jor

The dwarf looked at the big half-daemon incredulously. "Ye haev got ta be kiddin me." He said. "The great daemon is afraid of a few squishy piles o' goo." He shook his head. "We be gettin their attention, drawin them to us. Ye'll haev ta move forward a bit but the outward edges of the wedge will be movin th' most. We flank em a bit, group em close together, and when we get them ta close in th' mages can hit em with large area spells." He jerked his thumb at Lana. "Besides, mages can get rid o' acid remains anyways."

Day 6

Hearing someone call her name, Sylphine woke up from her afternoon doze feeling weary and lethargic. Directing the attention from all 20 bandits on her for most of that battle left her fatigued for days, so she just lay in the cart most of the time, not moving a muscle. "Too...sleepy," she mumbled, rolling over onto her side pathetically.

Letting out an annoyed growl, Pirika glided over to Sylphine's side and pecked hard, causing her tamer to yelp and jump. Hate to ruin your beauty sleep, she told the groggy and irritated Sylphine sarcastically, but we've got a bit of a problem. We need to rescue those people over there, on that other wagon.

"...rescue...? What's going on?" Rubbing her eyes, Sylphine crawled over to the wagon's opening and poked her head out. A few moments later, her jaw dropped. "S-slimes?! And in such numbers, too...I-I'm still dosing, right?"

Get your act together. You're wide awake, Pirika insisted. Time's running out! Lift them out of there!

Alright, alright! Standing up tall, Sylphine raised both her hands, and the air around the two imperiled travelers shifted upwards, pulling them into the air. However, several dark violet slimes floating in midair began to glimmer, and the travelers found themselves being drawn towards those slimes instead. Realizing what was happening, Sylphine tried hard to pull them away from the gravity slimes' influence, but she found it was getting harder and harder, especially when she was still so worn out.

Pirika began to augment her magic energy, finally allowing the travelers to break free of the fields. But the problems weren't over yet...suddenly, shrill noises resounded through the air, blasting through the trees. Immediately, Sylphine, Pirika, and the travelers screamed in pain, clutching the ears. When this happened, however, Sylphine lost her concentration, and she realized the two she was supposed to be rescuing were already falling back down towards the mess of slime. Her hands flew out, and though the assault on her ears was overwhelming and ungodly painful, she managed to get a grip back on them just in time.

Already, she could see that the daughter's skirt had been partially destroyed, and they were still practically in the middle of the chaos. I can't let myself slip up again... Even though Pirika managed to remove all the air around her ears and thus prevent the sonic from affecting Sylphine again, her ears still rang, and she felt incredibly disoriented.

Laser blasts hurtled at her from several angles abruptly, but in her dizziness, she didn't notice them at all, so Pirika had to pull her back just a bit, letting the lasers burn their way into the fabric that covered the wagon. Geez, for such "pathetic" creatures, these things are really troublesome!

Randionalia

Just the last thing I need on this journey! Randi thought to herself. It seemed the Dwarf decided to lead the charge against these Slimes. The Half-Daemon then showed an unexpected display of reservation. Although Bliston did have a good point, all of these Slimes have acidic bodies among other things. Still maybe the Dwarf's plan will work but she isn't wearing armor and wouldn't be ideal to be in the lead. "Just remove these nuisances before they decided to dissolve us!" Randi spoke aloud as she moved her horse back.

Taethion

The sight was certainly one to behold. A multitude of Slimes of every variation was roaming about like they own the area. No wonder Taethion didn't see any wildlife for a while now. They have been chased out by this infestation of ooze! "Herod get back!" He shouted to his horse as he pulled back on the reigns, forcing the horse to move backwards. Once he felt his steed was safe enough, he dismounted and prepared to join the wedge. "Just direct me where I need to go!" Taethion spoke towards the Dwarf. He noticed Bliston's hesitation and while it seems very dangerous, he couldn't just stand back in fear when people's lives are in danger. Sylphine prepared to help save them but when a loud sound pierced the area the Paladin held his ears. He noticed Randi did the same. The sound was piercing, a bit too piercing as Sylph dropped the hostages!

The Paladin began to feel the panic as the captives nearly fell into the middle of this mess. Sylphine managed to catch them before death befell them. That was good but then came the energy blasts as they nearly hit Sylph. This was becoming increasingly dangerous, they have to end this mess now. He felt a bit disoriented but he shook his head to relieve himself of the dizziness. "We better do what we are going to do and quick." Taethion warned as he then drew his sword and began to mutter some words to himself.

Pravus

It was all going smoothly and then there just had to be a road block. Looking ahead he saw a veritable horde of slimes ganging up on a wagon with two peasants stuck on top. He didn't even need to wonder if the group would stop to help these people. Before any real passage of time the group got to work doing what they did best: A jumble of different things.

What caught his eye though was the gnomes magic. With the spell cast the dying donkey just suddenly died, it's bones rising up to form a wall around the wagon. So it seems he knows necromancy. Interesting. He thought to himself as he watched the hectic mess unfold. The half demon and the dwarf argued over what to do while the wind mage fished the mother and daughter up from the wagon using her wind magic. Of course, while slimes lacked physical strength and speed they were highly adaptable and they could multiply rapidly if there is a sufficient food source and little to no predators to cull them. These slimes however were definitely not native to this environment as their developments seemed based on elements that weren't present in this forest.


The gravity slimes tried to draw the peasants into them and the laser slimes responding to the movements of their prey let loose a few beams of powerful heat, each beam capable of burning through solid rock. It was much to the good fortune of the peasants that they didn't get hit by any however it seemed the parties wagon took a few hits, rendering it inoperable after a couple hits. He gave an irritated sigh as he stood by while the wind mage tried her hardest the keep the peasants afloat while the wagon burned in a broken heap on the ground all the while the dwarf and the demon squabbled over Randi barking her orders.

Then came the ringing as a certain type of slime let loose a loud screech. He didn't feel any pain, simply looking on as the other members seemed to suffer the same sound. It didn't really matter to him. He wasn't going to get involved for now. Given the number of slimes and the effects they have to retaliate with he'd rather not let his weapons break apart for the sake of ending a few blobs lives. He was going to let the others handle it and if they couldn't or got all devoured or something he'd just leave. Simple enough plan really.

---

The mother and her daughter help each other tightly as they felt themselves lifted as if by magic. "Momma! I'm scared!"
The frightened daughter clung to her mother closely. "Hold on tight dear! Whatever you do, don't let go!" She instructed her daughter as they were picked up by the magical winds.

Of course they both stunned and panicked by the wail of the sonic slime. What even terrified them more was that the air mage dropped them. They both screamed as they fell before they were caught hold of by the air mage at the last second. At this point not even the mother could hold up under the pressure and was sobbing uncontrollably as she clung to her daughter, still trying to keep her from falling in. Of course, misfortune was rife as trudging through the ranks of slime came a most peculiar type of slime.


Before the group was a large ball of fur and teeth, about the size of a young adult human shambled out from the brush. It undulated along as a slime would but rather than being translucent acids it was covered in a course animal fur closely resembling a wolf's coat. Right in the middle of this mass of hair was a large mouth roughly as wide as it's body, all of it's teeth being canines as long and sharp as two rows of short swords. All the while this strange creature growled and rumbled in a manner which mixed the standard burbling of a slime with the growling of a large dog or a wolf. The daughter couldn't see this vicious looking monster for her eyes were shut tight with tears streaming out the seams. The mother on the other hand caught sight of this large slime-like creature and her whole quivering body started to shake uncontrollably with fear.
"PLEASE HURRY! DON'T LET THAT MONSTER GET US!" She screamed out to the party as the large wobbling ball of fur and wicked teeth drew close.

In a most surprising manner the large furred slime monster let loose a wild series of loud barks, the warbling of the goo inside it mixing in with the sound of a wolf's bark. With that being it's only warning it surged in the manner a leaping slime would, launching it's whole mass at the helpless civilians as they floated ever closer to the party. The two screamed in horror as the monstrous slime wolf creature opened it's gaping maw, huge teeth ready to tear them to shreds as it prepared to bite down should it get within range.


Overall however it seemed that most of the slimes targets were not the peasants themselves nor the party which had shown up to aid the two. The bone wall around the peasant's wagon was quickly getting demolished as gravity slimes crushed the upper points of the bones and the bases of the bone wall fared no better. Fire slimes charred the bones while ice slimes froze them, making them more brittle. Quickly the bones started to collapse into the stream of slimes as they climbed up into the wagon. Inside all sorts of produce was theirs for the absorbing. Plenty of grain was consumed for what little energy it offered them. The two cages held chickens which the slimes found no issue getting past, enveloping the panicked poultry in acidic slime. There were a lot, and I mean a LOT, of apples inside the wagon as well. There were like twenty or more baskets of apples in this wagon and the slimes went nuts over them, tipping them over as apples rolled into the wobbling masses all eager for a taste.

Still there were a few slimes here who fancied themselves a tasty human or two, the most notable of which was the exceptionally rare Slime Wolf who was literally moments from bearing down on the two helpless women.

Day 3

It seemed that the slimes' attention had been attracted to the contents of the drowning wagon, and nearly all of them were rushing to eat up the various fruits, vegetables, and chickens (oh dear...) that were inside. However, quite a few still were focused on the two frightened peasants floating above the sea of acid. Including one that seemed to be a strange blend of a slime and a wolf, which was seconds away from devouring the imperiled travelers.

Damn! Sylphine, hurry up! But when Pirika looked down at her master, she saw that the emerald-haired maiden still looked dazed, both from the intense sonic and her sleepiness. Ugh...fine, I'll bail you out again. She flapped her wings, and a strong updraft shoved the peasants upwards, letting the wolf sail just underneath them. As soon as this was finished, Pirika left Sylphine to keep guiding the two to safety, and flew over to their side, getting ready to defend them herself.

Not long after it landed, the slime wolf simply looped back around and made another lunge at the travelers. They screamed in terror, fearing the worst once again, but Pirika simply gave a fierce glare. Just as the slime wolf was within 2 meters of her, she let out her own screech, and the air in front of her swirled around before blasting forward in a cyclone.

Caught in the raging winds, the lupine abomination was hurled backwards into the mass of slimes. Still not having had enough, it got ready to pounce once again. Of course, though, we couldn't have that, could we?

Want to know some new tricks, doggy? Pirika thought, as the winds began to swirl around her and the travelers once again. PLAY DEAD! Right when the slime wolf began to charge and let out its bizarre howl, Pirika extended her wings as far as they would go, and the air inside its mouth exploded outwards violently. It was too much pressure for the mouth to handle, and the slime wolf exploded into...rather disgusting jelly.

And that's that, the bird familiar declared confidently. Just as she thought that, some gravity slimes tried to pull the peasants in, but right when they neared, the floating purple blobs were blown away, their membranes rippling violently. Though it was unorthodox, Pirika had created a barrier around them that had the properties of Wind Force--meaning anything that got close to them would be strongly repelled.

There were about 5 meters left between the group and the peasants. With this, Pirika was confident everything would end well.

"You're all just a bunch of whiners, aren't you?" Lana murmured, walking around to the side with sparking embers generating in her palm. Her ears were still ringing from the piercing screech, but she didn't let it bother her, as she'd certainly gone through worse things than that without flinching. "I'll draw them from everyone, you guys can go ahead and figure something out in the mean time." It seemed like the dwarf had the same idea and she nodded, walking until she was distanced from both the group and the wagon, casually unleashing jet of flame at the nearest slimes. It wasn't a particularly strong attack, but she couldn't use any of her more lethal abilities until she was a safe distance away from everyone else. As she continued to draw their attention, she slowly walked backwards, the flames gradually melting away the ones that were closest to her. What are they so worked about? They're just a bunch of puny slimes- Suddenly, a slime from the back jumped forward at her and she instinctively moved her arm to redirect her fire at it, incinerating right before it was about to hit her. That one...jumped at me. Did that seriously just happen? Some of the slimes were getting closer to her without being affected by her, warmly glowing slimes that ignored the flames and steadily advanced. "Alright, I think that's enough," she murmured, her gaze shifting over to the peasants who were being carried over to safety. She held her position and put one hand forward, slowly raising it higher with her palm facing upward. A pillar of flame blasted up into the sky and Lana spun around, the risen flames coiling about and moving to her will. The column bent and came around toward her before looping around her body and smashing itself back into the other slimes, blasting them with an intense, continuous barrage of fire.

From the other side, Asha held one hand over her ear, scowling as the piercing sound instilled waves of distortion in her mind. After it was over, she quickly took up her sword and entered the fray alongside Jor and slashed at the slimes as they were thinning out, making use of her razor wind to tear through several slimes with each slice while she strayed away from the fire that Lana was spewing. Given that her blade already flows with the venom of a basilisk, which is nearly unrivaled in its ability to poison and dissolve organic material, the slimes' acidic properties weren't going to have any luck with damaging her gatekeeper blade at all. She angled herself so that her strikes were aimed toward areas that were packed with slimes to take out as many as she could with each swing. She noticed one of the slimes charging up some kind of attack and she easily side-stepped it, letting the laser fire out past her. While many of them were destroyed, some of them barely took any damage at all while others actually seemed to be growing bigger. She swiftly cut down the slimes that tried to jump at her in rapid succession while at the same time keeping an eye on the swarm to make sure they weren't charging up anymore projectiles. She had a feeling that there was far more where these things came from.

Jor

The dwarf watched as the wind mage struggled with carrying the two. His own ears ringing from the piercing sounds from the forest. He then saw her bird join in and together they defeated the odd slime with teeth and fur. When she finally got the two civilians close enough, Jor called out to her. "Oy! Wind Mage! Ye and yer bird make a cyclone. Draw th' slimes into it, as many as ye can!"

Then he called to Lana. "And when she's done, Fire Mage, Ye' fill it with fire!" He looked at the few slimes she'd been unable to burn. He turned to the two that had joined him out of the many he'd expected. He threw an angry glance at Bliston and Adrian, marking them as cowards in his mind. He could understand hesitation from some of the others, but in these two it was inexcusable. "Th' rest should be easy enough ta' round up and kill. Watch yer armor and weapons so they aren't melted away."

Taethion finishes his prayer as a dim aura of light has enveloped the blade. "Don't worry, I've placed the Aura of Protection upon it. Acid or not, it won't be melting this blade for at least the next few minutes." Taethion spoke. "I wouldn't stand close to me if I where you, the aura expels any damage and since their bodies are made of acid you can expect them to, well bust." The Paladin spoke as he swung his blade, coming in from the right at a Slime. The Slime did as Taethion assumed, the ball of ooze splattered, raining it's acid to the right of him. He then brought a thrust through another as it splattered forward. He did his best to avoid any drips of the acidic substance. He wasn't sure if he was making any progress with this. They splattered but the Paladin felt this form of attack is becoming incredibly dangerous. What if a stray drip gets on him, but there isn't any other way from him to attack without the aura. He then heard the Dwarf's plan and then decided to step back and allow the mages to do their work. Which was good, he still hasn't shaken off that deafening sound.

Day 6

At long last, the two peasants were above safe ground...but Sylphine was still spacing out, not noticing she didn't have to carry them any further. Being in that state while you're using magic...god, you are absolutely hopeless... Flying above her tamer, Pirika pecked the top of her head hard to snap the girl out of her daze.

"AH!" Sylphine cried out, clutching her head. The two females fell to the ground, letting out a surprised cry. "Oh no! L-look what you've done, Pirika!" the green-haired magician groaned, raising her hand.

They're on solid ground, genius, Pirika informed her, rolling her eyes. It's your fault for not paying attention.

"Geez, I can't help how out of it I am right after waking up," Sylphine pouted, before letting out a yawn again. "So...I guess I can go back to sleep now, right?"

But no sooner had she said that, than one of the others shouted for her and Pirika to trap as many slimes as they could in a cyclone. Apparently not, Pirika responded, sounding rather amused. Whatever. Now that you're more fully awake, this should be a cakewalk for you, right?

Pouting a little, Sylphine held out both her hands, and the staff appeared in them. Taking to the sky, she positioned herself directly above the sea of gel creatures. Her staff spun around in her hands, and her body twirled in her dance-like routine, as the winds swirled around her in a ring. Pirika, who had been perched on her shoulder during her ascent, now hovered just above her, flapping her wings hard.

In a few seconds, the spiraling gales around them blossomed into a raging tornado, crashing through the slimes. For some reason, it didn't seem to be drawing them in quite as easily as Sylphine thought it would, but after about 45 seconds, their resistance finally crumbled, and they were yanked into the storm by scores. "We did it!" Sylphine cheered, flying out of the vortex.

It's a shame that no one told Sylphine Mistral that exploding slimes exist.

The winds tearing at the slimes was getting to be too much for their membranes to bear, and some of them began to rupture. And at that moment, explosions blasted throughout the tornado, throwing everything into disarray as the slimes were hurled out of the vortex. Sylphine looked back in alarm to see that the detonations had also somehow negated her tornado, and worse, a number of slimes were flying right at her. "What the-?! Oh no!"

Shaking off any remaining drowsiness as best as she could, she frantically tried to get out of the storm of gel, while Pirika deflected any that were just above them. But there were just too many, and before Sylphine knew it, while Pirika was too busy deflecting one slime and she herself was in the middle of a dodge maneuver, another slime landed right on her.

Once it made contact, everything just got worse. The girl felt the burning sensation across her skin as it ate through her coat's sleeve and the back of her shirt. Biting her tongue to avoid screaming in pain, she threw it off as hard as she could, but the damage was already done. The skin on her left arm and back literally felt like it was on fire from the contact, and she ended up landing roughly on the ground, sprawling on her stomach.

Thrown aside from the crash, Pirika flew back up, all the sarcasm from her thoughts banished into a realm of panic. Sylphine! Oh my god, not again! It's just been 3 days, and already you're this beat up?! Pull yourself together! Please!

"...s-sorry," the tamer groaned between gasps of pain, trying to stand back up again but only managing to lift herself up a few inches before she let out a sharp cry and fell back down. "...I...g-guess I...g-goofed...t-terribly..."

LANA

Lana shut off her stream of fire as Sylphine's cyclone issued a sudden explosion, launching a huge number of slimes through the air, raining down on everyone. What the hell is going on? What just happened? She changed her stance and took a deep breath before exhaling and saying aloud, "Sorry about this, but you guys are gonna have to sweat it out for a little while!" Her entire body was suddenly surrounded in raging flames, taking on an infernal, ethereal form that made her appear to hover off the ground. She launched herself forward into the air and spun, unleashing a massive nova of flame that expanded around her. A significant portion of the flying slimes were incinerated by the attack, but the stragglers could be dealt with by the others. Descending rapidly, she slammed her fists down when she landed, several dozen rows of burning pillars flaring up in front of her and devouring a large portion of the slime army in a brilliant display of flames. Rising from her kneeling position, she manipulated the flames that were being spewed by the pillars and twisted them into a coil, flowing with the motions of her hands before she spread her arms out, the bending flames suddenly exploding outward in all directions. Breathing heavily, the fires dissipated from her body and she reverted to her normal form, surveying the burning landscape. I'll have to ask the wind mage to deal with that, she thought, but there's still quite a bit of them left...

---

IATOR and JOR

Iator, still recovering from the loud sounds had only seconds to react before the acid rain hit him. In a last ditch effort he slammed his staff on the ground and made a force wall appear right over his head.

Jor on the other hand had no recourse other than to have the goo splash on him, burning his flesh. His body reacted immediately, his blood boiling as his rage built up. Almost instantly Jor's mind was all but lost as his wounds tried to heal themselves while still being eaten away. After Lana's flames died off, he sped towards the nearest slime slicing it clean in two. Unfortunately, the slime was another exploder. He was covered in even more acid now and raging at an insane level.

---

SLYPHINE and BLISTON

When the wind mage had started to gather up a portion of the mass in the wind storm, Bliston's eyes went wide. "Wait, no!" He had been one of the few who could recognize exploding slimes out of the group. But, once again, his warning had been to late. Seconds later they burst, spilling a shower of acidic liquids on those unfortunte to be too close. Things, went worse from there when the green girl smacked into the ground, followed shortly by the berserker dwarf triggering his rage. "Seven hells, this is why I didn't want to deal with this mess."

Then he noticed a few of the slimes creeping their way towards the downed wind mage. And that she wasn't getting airborn again. A growl of irritation echoed from his throat. He started running in her direction, passing the fire mage as she weaved her magic and shouting "Somebody get cover for that damn dwarf and get him under control."

As Bliston started on his way towards Sylphine a smaller elemental slime had wobbled it's way up close to his foot. Close up it stretched out towards his foot, it's body storing up elemental electricity. With a loud zap it shot a spark of electricty towards the large metal daemon.

---

JOR

"GAH!" Jor screamed in frustration as he hurtled towards another patch of slimes. He was there in an instant, hacking at everything that got within reach of his axe. He took every hit they gave, using it to power his attacks and give himself increased speed and healing potential. He'd yet come across a slime that could stop him from tearing it to shreds.

---

SLYPHINE and BLISTON

"RAH!" Bliston barked as he felt something shocking his ankle. It was only thanks to his own inate magic resistance that he didn't go numb in the leg and fall over, but the electricity was conducted by the metal places surrounding his legs and allowed for the 'zapping' of the attack to spread up his shin and into his thigh. It didn't do any damage, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He growled, but ignored the offending blob, not having enough time to get a revenge strike. He continued his dead run towards the downed mage. Ariving near her moments later he took a swing with Hevnoraak, batting the nearest ball of ooze away.

Feeling the ground shake, Sylphine strained to look up and see what was happening. To her surprise, charging towards her through the deluge of slimes was none other than the daemon! Is he seriously coming this way for...me? Numerous gel creatures slithered up in the daemon's path and attacked him with different sorts of magic--once, a surge of lightning entered his body, and he let out a bellow of pain. But nonetheless, he managed to get to her and start defending her from the other slimes advancing on her.

As though it took the daemon's arrival to remind her, Pirika immediately ascended and started beating back the slimes with a passion, but Sylphine was unable to do much with all the pain. Seriously, was that smoke coming off of her skin right now?! And with her familiar and the daemon fighting like this for her...it was kind of shameful, to be honest. "...s-sorry you had to...c-come over here...j-just because I...m-messed up," she groaned.

---

TAETHION

Taethion couldn't believe what he was seeing at first. He believed that disorienting screech was messing with his vision but lo and behold! A poverbial rain of Slime was coming down upon him from that exploding cyclone. He tried to dodge but to little avail. Too much rain as it where, fell upon his body and then the burning began. He quickly tried to shake off the ooze but it was slow as mollases! Running out of ideas, he dropped to the ground that wasn't covered in goo and rolled around. The ground cleaned him of the ooze but not without damaging him first. Some blotches in his clothing and armor could be seen, yet some of his skin was seriously dissolved. He then began his prayer, speaking quickly as a golden light began to envelope him. He was speaking quicker than ever but had to becareful about speaking it correctly, lest it fails.

---

ASHA and GALE

Looking up toward the sky, Asha watched a huge number of the slimes came raining down in all directions - she put her sword away, backed up a few steps, and turned around to dash out of the way, taking her a decent distance away from the commotion - she swiftly redrew her sword and used her razor wind to cut up some of the slimes that were still falling in at attempt to help some of the others and overall give them less of an issue to deal with.

"So how's the weather?" She turned around to see Gale sitting on the ground, away from the fight with his arms over his knees with a slight grin on his face.

"You're not going to help?" Asha asked, though she wasn't particularly going to judge him for it. He only shrugged in response and kept smiling, watching as the rest of group struggled to fight off the slimes. "Fine. Just stay there, then." She turned back around and twirled her blade again, this time heading closer into the swarm since she was running out of energy from using her razor wind so many times.

---

LANA and JOR

Lana was quite exhausted, doing her best to avoid the remaining slimes to let the others take care of them. It wasn't often that she needed to use both of her transformations in the same day, but when she did, it was both physically and metally tiring.

Though she tried to avoid the remaining slimes there were quite a number around, spread out since the cyclone threw several about, some still whole. One which had displaced was making it's slow way towards Lana, inching up towards her heels. This slime was quite a rare slime as well, its deep blue surface sparkling with dancing blue lights. It was a Mana Slime, a slime which absorbs magic from any source of magic it can reach. Drawn by her display of power the slime roughly about the same size as her lurched up, it's shadow now encompassing Lana's body as it attempted to swallow her.

Feeling something creeping up behind her, Lana turned around to come face to face with a massive azure slime - she put her hand out instinctively and the slime latched onto it, gradually starting to envelop her arm. Panicked by this sudden development, she tried to pull her arm out but all that seemed to do was cause her get trapped even more. She used her other arm to try and blast fire into it, but only a few sparks jumped from her hand before completely running dry. Realized that she was trapped, she tried to walk backwards out of it and pull her arm out, but too much of her body was already stuck in it to get any real leverage against it. In moments, her vision went a warm blue, completely absorbed by the monster. She tried to call out for help but she couldn't speak, vaguely able to make out the world around her. Slowly, she felt a pressure begin to strain her lungs...

Jor had made his rounds, fighting slime after slime untill he caught sight of a large blue slime. In his altered state of mind, anything big was more worth fighting than these little ones. He charged up to it and started hacking at it. His axe began to shudder the more he attacked the ooze. But he ignored it, screaming obscenities and not realizing how close he was coming to chopping Lana.

---

SLYPHINE and BLISTON

"Save your apologies, brat!" The horned man shouted. Already the slimes were starting to surround them. "Just get back on your feet. Quick!" Taking the massive stone club, Bliston raised it up into the air and brought it around in a sweeping motion as another blob came close. Hevnoraak, as an old tool created by old magics, was far above the resilience needed to avoid being consumed by these creatures. Even still though, it still had some properties that made it... unique. Ordinarly when a blunt weapon such as this was used against a liquid like creature as the slimes it would be useless. But when the eldritch stone spikes of the great club bit into the membrane of the slimes outter body a foul, searing, HATE burned the body of the creature. A hate so strong it left a mark on the creautes physical shell, forcing the wound to stay open, making the holes left in the membrane remain where they were and letting the fluid inside leak out. It wasn't known if slimes could feel pain, but the sound this one made as it was flung through the air almost sounded like a scream to one who could hear it.

The air itself stung against Sylphine's burned skin as she tried to force herself to rise. She didn't know how much damage had been done, nor did she want to know. She only managed to pull herself up about half a meter this time before she collapsed again, the pain too much to bear.

Get it together, Sylphine... she told herself gently, yet urgently. Taking in and letting out a few deep breaths, the girl pressed down on the ground with her palms once again. Her arm still was screaming in pain, but she managed to blot it out and get on her knees, and finally, with a little more effort, stand up again. That took a bit too long... Only able to use her right arm now, she brandished her staff in the uninjured hand, and wind currents swirled around the head, ready to be turned into air blades.

As she drew her staff back, preparing to strike, her left arm continued to hurt, and it only got worse when she moved. Her entire fighting style was practically defunct now...if only I could just cut the feeling off somehow...no, this isn't the time to think abouut that! Shaking her head, she brought the staff's head down and sent the wind blades spiraling into a number of the slimes, ripping through their membranes. Letting out a yell, Sylphine swung her staff about, most of the artistic elegance gone as she let the attacks fly while trying to ignore the pain that was nearly driving her mad.

---

LANA and JOR

The burning sensation in her lungs became fiercer, something she'd never felt before - Lana knew what it was like to go without breath, but for this long? Her vision started to swim, growing dark when something suddenly bit into her side. She couldn't really tell what happened from how numb she was feeling but it woke her up a little, barely making out someone that seemed to be attacking the slime - and her at the same time. Looking down, she saw that some of the slime was chopped away, but she also saw that there was now a deep gash in her body, some of her blood mixing in with the creature's gelatinous body. Still struggling to fight back the pressure in her chest and the urge to black out, she writhed as much as she could to get his attention, but she could barely move at all in her state, watching helplessly as the axe swung again. While it was breaking the slime up, some of the strikes were hitting her directly, stinging painfully.

The Kuld had had enough of having its power drained by a mere slime. The ancient ancestor spirits within knew that Jor could not be spoken to or reasoned with in this state, so instead they used up some of their strength to send a pulse of power through the axe. Jor was blasted backwards and onto his back. He was sent unconcious and the Kuld was pulled away from the slime, luckily for Lana. The pulse of power also reacted negatively towards the slime itself, causing it to fall apart and release the prisoner in its hold.

When she thought she couldn't hold out any longer, Lana was suddenly dropped into a glowing blue puddle, breath finally returning to her lungs. On her knees, she pressed her hand against one of the several deep cuts she'd sustained, her other hand curling into the ground as she tried to fight off the pain. Coughing and wheezing, she could feel warm blood spilling between her fingers and she let out a soft cry, struggling to raise her voice.

---

SLYPHINE, BLISTON and TAETHION

As Sylphine fired blasts of air concentrated into blades they cut into a particular slime, but instead of simply spilling out like a normal slime would, this slime fell into two halves. The two gelatinous pieces landed side by side and started to move, acting seperately from each other. As these two slimes started to wobble on towards Sylphine from behind her came another slime. This slime was a leaping slime which had somehow merged with a putrid slime, making this rancid and all around toxic slime which could leap. Even worse was it was twice the size of a normal slime. It surged forward, launching it's hefty mass at the armored daemon and the wounded girl he was trying to rescue.

Meanwhile, the two peasants had scurried away from the slime wave and were watching as the group fought the slimes. They felt bad that their rescuers were suffering on their behalf and wanted to do something to help. Looking around the mother suddenly had a moment of inspiration. She ran over to the parties wagon and grabbed some food which was their rations for eating while they traveled and threw it into the forest in the thick of the cluster of slimes. The slimes started to move towards the piece of food, opening up a shortcut the locals knew about. "Quickly!" She addressed Taethion since he looked like the leader of the group. "Through here there's a ridge where fewer slimes go. We can get to our village from there. If we stay here any longer the slimes will just keep coming and we'll all be trapped!" She advised him, keeping an eye on where the slimes were moving.

Thump, thump, thump went the sound of the massive merged slime. Bliston took a step back and paused his rampant battering of the blobs when he heard it. When he caught sight of it, his breath caught in his throat. They weren't going to be getting out of this. Not with the girl down and out like that. Even if he just picked her up and ran, he'd be left to open to be grabbed by more of the blasted oozes. If that thing got in close there was no way he could fight it and keep protecting the girl. Frantically, he looked about. Trying to spot something, anything that could get them out of this mess.

He spotted the opening being cleared as the slimes were lurred away by the smell of food. He also spotted the others, just a few dozen yards way. In that instant an idea flashed through his mind. A dangerous one, that could fail, but better than this. As the merged slime hopped ever closer towards them, almost within striking distance now, Bliston turned around. He reached out and grabbed the girl. "Better remember how to fly fast brat." He gruted to her, and then roared towards where the rest of the party was. "OI, CHOIR BOY, CATCH"

And then he threw her. Taking a step back and winding up first, he sent the green haired girl sailing through the air, just seconds before the toxic slime slammed into his side, and began to engulf his leg.

Just when Sylphine was preparing to launch an attack at the two slimes in front of her, she suddenly found herself getting picked up. "Eh?! What th-?!" It took her a few moments to realize what the daemon was setting up for. "Wait, wait wait waitwaitwaitwaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She barely managed to stabilize herself in midair, looking back down to see her demonic savior struggling against a gigantic slime. Oh god, NO!

While she was in midair, she started to move her left arm to grasp her staff, but the pain surged through her body once again. This time, however, Sylphine forced it to move with all the willpower she could manage. Though it was sloppy, her hands spun around, the staff flying between them as she prepared one more spell. Strong winds swirled around the archfiend and exploded outwards violently, throwing the slimes off of him. Up to you, Pirika! she quickly thought, falling towards the rest of the party.

Hearing her master's command, though still somewhat in shock from everything that had been happening, Pirika let out a cry, and more veils of wind draped her and the daemon as a defense. "Come on! Hurry!" Sylphine shouted to the daemon. If he died here, just because he went out of his way to save her...

The Spell worked as his wounds healed but he couldn't say the same for his armor. Having several holes burned all about it. He heard a voice call from behind him, the woman they risked their lives to save was now returning the favor. She told him of a hidden path and began to distract the Slimes with food. This was good if not most of his teammates were in dire straits. The fighting seemed to be taking a turn for the worse. He noticed the Dwarf charge blindly into a blue slime that seemed to be consuming, the Vasqueran. Another bad thing might he add. While Bliston and Sylphine looked to be in the worse of this mess. What Bliston would do next he wasn't expecting. He actually tossed the girl!

Sylphine stopped in midair using whatever strength she had to save Bliston from the large Slime. Once she finished her action she fell, right above him as he caught her in his arms. He then called forth his horse. As Herod quickly trotted it towards him, he laid her gently in front of his saddle. He then mounted Herod as he held the emerald-haired mage against his armored torso. He watched as the others worked to move their friends. "Come on, I have a way out!" He yelled towards the party, hoping they heard.

---

IATOR AND LANA

Iator was useless in this kind of a fight. His wall of bones did little to nothing and the others had broken into chaos after the acid rain. When he did notice a chance to help he sprung at it, running over to Lana who was currently bleeding out in a puddle of mana slime. He removed a wand and wispered. "By Amenazor, be healed!" This time the divine magic flowed stronger and her wounds were mostly sealed. She would no longer be bleeding out, at least, but unless she got more healing her body would have to take care of the rest. He patted her back, letting her rest for a moment. With his free hand he took a rag and began to soak up as much of the blue puddle as he could. When he was done he tried to help Lana up. "We need to move now."

Lana had to let herself be picked up by the gnome, which wasn't too difficult since she was very light, her heavier swords left on the ground at her feet. While the bleeding stopped, she was flickering back and forth between the border of consciousness, barely able to stand without assistance. Her breathing was labored and her movements were weighted and sluggish, relying on Iator for support. "Th...Tha..." She trailed off, barely able to find the strength to speak as she focused on trying to walk instead.

---

BLISTON and JOR

The daemon cursed and shouted loudly, taking several swings with his club to get the acursed thing to let go of him. Already the toxic ooze had started to wrap around his lower body, and was now working it's way up his waist. But in a rare moment good fortune smilled upon the horned man that day, and a blast of powerful air currents hit the blob with great force, rupturing it and freeing Bliston from it's grasp. Not taking a moment to dwell on it, the released daemon kicked off, running as fast as he could. Briefly he caught sight of Jor, the Dwarf lying passed out on the ground, with another cluster of slimes forming around him. "Seven FUCKING HELLS!!!" He bellowed, and made a sharp detour in his escape path. Bursting into that small clearing in the lake of ooze just as one was about to clamber onto the unconcious berserker, Bliston to a wild swing and smacked the offending slime clear into the air. In a second instant he kneeled down and swept the hairy dwarf up in one arm, and begain to continue his dash towards the edge of the slime horde.

More slimes jumped at him and tried to get in his way. The wind magic that was following him blocked most of it, and he swatted aside others that it missed, but some attacks still got through. A blast of lightning here, and explosion from a rupturted blast slime there, and at one point he even took a direct hit to the face from a beam of light which melted a portion of his helm right off his face.

Through it all though, Bliston didn't stop. Through the pain, through the blinding lights, through the masses of ooze and acid, he charged roaring and swinging his great club. Smashing and trampling slimes over and over until after what felt like an eternity he finally broke free from the horde.

---

THE PARTY AS A WHOLE

Though the party was fighting valiantly their efforts seemed in vain as more slimes started to arrive. It was like a gelatinous river flowing into the area, drawn by the ample source of food available. While they fought against the undulating enemies Pravus walked over to where the fire caster was downed. Though the gnome had tended to her wounds her weapons would prove difficult for the gnome to carry as well. He sheathed the spear and picked up the two rather heavy blades quite easily, the weight bothering him little. Besides the issue of balance he'd have little trouble wielding these blades. However he had no intention of using these blades for now, simply resting the two of them on his shoulder while he held onto them. With her weapons accounted for he followed the gnome along since he'd need to give her blades back when she comes to.

As hopeless as this combat seemed all the possible exits that were available to them earlier were closed off as the slimes started to come in from all around, effectively circling them. As all seemed lost over the trees came an even more enigmatic type of slime. These slimes rippled and wobbled as the wind currents carried their masses of goo along high above the trees. These slimes were green in a similar shade to Sylphine's hair color. Anyone who is particularly well read in slime lore would recognize these as Wind Slimes, elemental slimes of the wind.

As they passed over the scene a magical current started to blow across everyone, including the slimes on the ground. The air sparkled faintly with green motes of magic as among the many wind slimes came a massive slime of the same type, this slime roughly about the size of a large hut. It was rare but in some cases a slime could grow so large as to become a slime king which this wind slime evidently was. It flew on by and the wind magic in the entire area was palpable. The magical air currents started to lift what was on the ground up. Slimes all over the area started to lift up on the ground, ascending to the skies to float along on the flow of wind generated by the wind slimes. Along with the slimes both wagons were levitated up into the stream of sparkling green air, their contents to be devoured upon arriving at their location.

Though everything else was lifted up the actual people were exempt from the magic strangely enough. The sight was magical as a flock of slimes drifted along the stream of mystical air, flowing along like a multicolored river into the distance. All that was left was the people and about a dozen slimes, specifically mana slimes. Since the mana slimes absorbed what magic touched them they couldn't be effected so they were left behind.

The mother and her daughter counted their blessings as it seemed they would live to see another day. "I thank you travellers for saving my daughter and I. We were trying to escape from this place as it is being swarmed with these slimes. The village we are from has suffered greatly as of late. Appleton is famous for it's orchards but ever since they came the slimes have eaten all the produce we have produced. We were starving but our elder believes it too dangerous to leave." The mother thanked them, explaining what was happening since they just got involved. "You all seem like capable adventurers but the town may not be around for much longer. If you can help us, we'd be in your debt. I know that me and my daughter owe our lives to you all since we would have died if it weren't for you. If you need us to guide you to our town we can take you there. We were planning on escaping from this horrid place but well..." The woman gestured to the complete absence of wagons or travelling supplies of any kind. "We have little ability to travel. It simply isn't safe out here. Whether or not you choose to stay the night at our humble village or continue on, all I'd ask is that we may accompany you for protection. I'd hate to think what would happen if we were caught out again." She asked of Taethion since he really did look like the leader of the group.

Taethion looked on as the Slimes began to encroach upon them. The globulous, multicolored oozes crawled their way into covering all exits. It would seem their final stand is upon them and as Taethion held on to his sword, he prepared to fight to his last breath. Then came the unthinkable, a large breeze of wind pass them and with came flying Slimes! "Just how many of these things are there!?" he spoke aloud. Just then the largest Slime he has ever had the displeasure of witnessing flew over their heads. It's wind so powerful it vacuumed their wagons, their supplies, and most of the Slimes with it! "What in Dedarius's good graces is going on here!?" He shouted. As the Wind Slimes blew over their heads, it seemed this was a blessing in disguise. The openings are cleared and these remaining Slimes are not gonna stop them from moving on.

He then turned his head to look at the peasants they've rescued. A smile formed on his face, at least they've done a good thing here. He listened as the Mother recounted her tale of woe. The Slimes have deprived this village of Appleton of it's main resource, it must be in dire trouble, even worse than Andril was. He felt terrible to hear that the people were suffering so, even to the point these two would risk their lives to escape. He bowed his head before them in condolence to their troubles. Then they offered to lead them to their village and with the group's current state, a rest sounds well deserved. He then bowed his head again before them, "We accept you generous offer and I will be honored to protect you both on your way back to Appleton. After all my companions are worn and could use some rest and healing." Taethion spoke to the Mother. "May you show the way if you could?" Taethion spoke, holding on the Sylphine as he took his other hand to grab Herod's reigns as he prepared to follow.

Iator

With the trouble gone, Iator was able to help Lana without much worry. He noticed that there were mana slimes left. He whispered a spell to make images that gave off a powerful magical aura. He had the images follow the group far enough behind that the mana slimes wouldn't bother them, but close enough that they would follow them as far as he wanted. They were too useful to leave behind but he'd need someone else to kill them for him.

Plot

"We cannot thank you enough for your kindness sir." The mother thanked him once again. "I apologize that we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I am Beatrice and this is my daughter, Lucy." Her daughter smiled and waved to Taethion.
"Hello mister!" She greeted him as well.

They began to lead him and by extension the rest of the party along the way towards their little village. As they went the daughter went to the side of the road and picked a lovely sunflower. She ran over and brought it to Taethion.
"Here! I want you to have this since you are the best adventurers ever!" She offered the big bright and yellow sunflower to him, her face beaming with joy as well as the excitement of actually meeting a group of adventurers, the kinds of people bards sing tales of.


After walking along the beaten path for a while, the dark grey sky foreboding the threat of rainfall, a small village started to come into view through the light thicket. This place was definitely small and quite worse for wear. The buildings were small rooms with roofs and even the village elder's house was little more than a large shack. Surrounding the village was a waist high wall, about roughly half of it natural stones piled on top of each other while the rest was a feeble picket fence, large parts of it clearly eaten away and falling over. The people looked no better than the village itself, dressed in ragged sack cloth with only rudimentary tools as weapons, a rusty shovel being their most potent defense. Most of the people who were left were either too young or too old to fight for real. There were at least thirty or so people stuffed in the rather close confines of eight or so huts. The wreckage of huts circling the town definitely spoke of much that transpired. most of the huts not inside the fence were burnt, crushed and bore many acid stains.

As they stepped through the small rickety wooden gate the man's eyes lit up upon seeing Beatrice. "My love! You've returned unharmed!" He ran up to her and embraced her in his arms. "I am ever so sorry my love, I should of listened to your words of caution!" They held each other tight, simply happy that they were finally reunited. "Beatrice, who are these strange people who accompany you?" A wizened looking old man slowly made his way out of the largest hut. The mother released her beloved husband and turned to the old man. "These are the adventurers that helped rescue me from some slimes which caught our cart by surprise. Everything was taken by the slimes but we made it out with our lives thanks to these brave men and women." She gestured to the group.

The old man stroked his long grey beard for a moment or two, thinking deeply. "She says you all were the ones who rescued her from the slimes?" This old clearly respected old fellow asked the group in general, though his question was more aimed at Taethion since he really did look like the leader of the group.

Day 6

Just like Andril before it, the town of Appleton was in a sad state. Under dark clouds, everything seemed to be in tatters and shambles. The people around the group looked sad and weary, most of them being young children or old people. Their homes were definitely not big enough for all of them, and everything looked like it needed refurnishing or rebuilding.

The party, too, looked just as miserable. Large parts of Bliston and Taethion's armor had been burned away, and several who didn't wear armor found their clothes had holes in them. Angry burn marks were quite apparent on a number of their bodies, and most of them looked exhausted from the battle against the slimes.

Letting herself slip out of Taethion's grasp and land on the ground, Sylphine winced again, feeling pain run up her left arm. "I-I'm fine," she insisted, despite how obvious it was that she wasn't. "Y-you guys...go in...j-just gotta, uh...d-do something real quick..." Finishing with these words, she leaned against the side of the gate, waiting for all of them to head into the village. As soon as the girl was sure she was all alone, and none of the others were paying attention to her...she let out a sigh and sank to the ground, hugging her knees tightly to her body.

However, she felt something on her right shoulder and turned her head ever so slightly, shooting a sideways glance in that direction. Her familiar sat there, looking very worried. You're...going to be okay, right? I...I got so worried there... For the first time in quite a while, Sylphine thought she could see tears in Pirika's eyes.

Though she had secluded herself from the others, Sylphine still only felt safe speaking to her familiar through telepathy as she placed the bird in her lap, hugging her gently. My arm's going to be the least of our problems, Pirika, she responded, looking away in shame. Even if my movement's kind of hindered, I can still use my magic...it might not be much, but I can at least support the others from a distance. And you're still in perfect form, it looks like...that's good. I'd feel even worse otherwise.

How can you say that so freely?! Pirika demanded, her anguish echoing through the mental connection. You're practically crippled with that hit from the slime! How can you just write that off and say how good it is that I'm fine?!

The young tamer started to play with her hair using a shaking right hand, not really thinking about what that hand was doing. I...I just feel absolutely horrible after that fight. I don't really know what went wrong when we did that cyclone attack, but the big thing is...well...if I hadn't used it, would things have gone differently? Maybe better, perhaps? Since the tornado scattered them like that, they were able to come at us from so many angles...now look at us. All of us have taken so much damage from this fight, and we're all tired.

It's not your fault that happened, the dwarf commanded you to use that attack! her familiar insisted. Besides, it's not like we would have done much better taking a sea of that stuff head-on in the first place...

That's not all there is to the problem, Sylphine continued, sounding more and more upset with each passing moment in which she talked. It was bad enough that I took that hit, but I couldn't even manage a saving throw after that...not before the daemon had to come to my rescue. It looked like he also suffered a lot from that one; you've seen the state of his armor now... Unable to contain herself for much longer, she sniffled, her vision blurring as tears began to well up at the corners of her eyes. And here I was saying that I could pull my own weight, and I wouldn't be a shackle on the group...but look what happened in this battle. We nearly died, and I was basically useless during it all. Even Iator or Adrian probably could have done a better job rescuing those people, what with me being sleepy the whole time...hell, we only saved them because of you...

She lifted her right arm to her face and wiped away the tears on her sleeve. Am I really supposed to be here after all...?

Adrian just fought in the sideline. He felt like he did the least among the group. He felt that they would have performed the same without him, it pained him that he wasn't able to do much. He realized how very little he can do. One strange thing was his sword, no matter how many direct contact it had with the acidic slimes, not a single rust appeared on it. It was a sword he received from his father, he wouldn't want to have a rust on it either way, thought he didn't cared about why.

The moment they reached the town. The woman returned to her family. An elderly man appeared and thanked them, telling them about the problem. Adrian only looked around the sorry state of the town, he got only more depressed by its sight. Looking back at the gate, he saw Sylphine leaning on its side. Then he saw her started crying, seemingly blaming herself for what happened.

He rushed up toward her and kneel on the ground. "Sylph! I'm sorry you ended up like that! I was the one closest to you at the time and still you ended up like that. You suffered such wound and all I got was several small burns! Don't blame yourself about what happened back then!" He said as he started smashing his head against the ground seeking for forgiveness. "I was so worthless. I couldn't do much at all, even during that time! If only I was there, you wouldn't have received that wound." He pointed back at the event during the rescue of the hostages, while continuing to bang his head against the ground. Cracks starting to form on it, showing how he is hurting himself as blood started to trickle down from his forehead.

"I'm sorry..." He said while gritting his teeth as tears started to form in his eyes much like Sylphine. "I set out of time to protect lives! but I've finally realized how powerless I am, even now and back then! I couldn't even protect a friend! You would have done that cyclone perfectly if I had protected you! If I hadn't let you get hurt! I swear! I swear I will protect you for sure this time! I will protect everybody! I will get stronger! I won't let myself lose a friend!" He said as he smashed his head to the ground one last time, with greater force, creating a crater on the ground, and when he looked up, it changed from a look of despair to resolve. "So Sylph, don't cry, don't blame yourself, let get stronger together." He said as he placed his hand on Sylphine's right shoulder.

Lana flickered in out of consciousness, her mind in a deep haze that inhibited any kind of coherent thought. She could barely feel her own body at all, only able to sense the barest sense of motion as she was carried forward by the gnome. She felt herself losing control over her own will and she began fading to black, a new, unfamiliar voice rang in her head speaking thoughts that were not her own. She could hardly register the words but they old became louder and louder. It was a painful, ringing noise in her head and the disorienting feeling finally caused her to black out, but at the same time, the emerging voice started to inch near the surface.

I've been asleep...for so long...

The girl suddenly awoke in a place she couldn't recognize - her body felt limp and exhausted beyond belief, parts of her body buzzing with a numb pain that probably couldn't have been a good sign. She tried to move, but her fingers barely even twitched. Her eyes slowly blinked open and she saw the ground - looking up, her view started to encompass people of all shapes and sizes, not to mention one that seemed to be carrying her. What...what's going on? she thought drowsily, her gaze shifting from side to side. Where am I? Who are these people? She tried to pull herself away from the man carrying her without much confidence that she could and, surprisingly enough, it worked quite easily despite how tired she was. She did, however, hit the ground unceremoniously, taking a few moments she tried to pull herself up. Looking up, she was suddenly afraid, wholly uncertain of what to make of this whole situation. She tried to recall something from her memories, anything, but all that came up were fuzzy images that held no meaning to her. My...my name...do I even have one? What's my name? The girl backed away from everyone, having struggled just to pull herself up. She was still feeling sluggish, but her body seemed to move with an incredible strength that couldn't have possibly been her own. "W-Who are you?" she stammered in a timid voice, frantically looking up at all the unfamiliar faces. "Who are you people? Where am I? Wha-what's going on?"

Bliston had deposited Jor onto the back of someone else's horse a while ago, both not wanting to carry the hairy berserker the whole way there and because he needed both of his hands free for the moment. It was as they were entering town that Bliston was struggling to pull his helmet off his head. Annoyingly, when that beam of energy struck him in the head eariler, it had the irritating effect of welding a part of his helm to his face when it melted.

As the group moved on, Gale walked behind them with his hands crammed in his coat pockets. He looked over the damage everyone had sustained with some hint of curiosity and skepticism. This is the group that agreed to fight the dragon? he thought incredulously. Really? Mauled by a bunch of slimes? This is going to be hopeless, maybe I'll actually meet somebody competent along the way, preferably one of my buddies in the Weavers. He picked up the pace a little, catching sight of the village up ahead. Hm, maybe I'll pitch in later, some of those slimes did have some interesting abilities...

Having taken several attempts to pull the helm off, the horned man was forced to stop momentary and put a greater amount of force into his struggles. Clasping it tightly, with a grunt and small grating sound metal being torn, Bliston finally managed to heave the helmet off of himself and catch a breath of fresh air. Taking a moment feel the relief of freedom again, he notice the cloaked man walking by him. He seemed unusually uninjured and inexhausted compared to the rest of the party. "Oi..." The daemon grunted, trying to peel another piece of smelted steel off his cheek. "Did you even fight at all? I don't remember seeing you in that mess."

Gale heard the clanking of armor near him, followed shortly by a gruff voice. He turned to the side to see that the armored daemon was speaking to him, asking if he had participated in the battle at all. "Me?" he grinned. "Don't worry about it. You're a big, strong demon right? Don't' tell me you actually had trouble clearing out a bunch of goo balls?"

Bliston grunted, but didn't comment on the jibe. He spent another few moments picking at the derbies stuck to his face in silence. Then he suddenly held out his helmet to the cloaked man. "Could you hold this for a minute?" He asked.

"Oh, your helmet?" Gale said, holding his sly grin. "Sure thing." He reached over and grabbed it in his hand, pulling it toward him.
Once the helm was taken Bliston switched his focus toward one of his hands. It had been a bit dinged in the fighting, and now Bliston was trying to take the gauntlet off to check on the damage. A few seconds of fiddling with the thing later, he finally pulled the armor off his fore arm. He flexed his fingers a bit, opening and closing his palm a few times. There were a few angry acid marks along his knuckles, and it stung a bit when he moved them, but aside from that there didn't seem to be anything significantly damaging to his hand that would effect combat performance. He clenched and unclenched his had a few more times. "Alright, that should work." He muttered to himself.

Then he socked Gale in the stomach and grabbed his helm back.

As Gale held the helmet, he had a feeling that something was coming but couldn't tell if it was his imagination or not. When the daemon began opening and closing his hand, he thought, Don't tell me this guy's actually gonna... In the fraction of a second it took for his fist to reach his stomach, a pattern of scales spread out across his midsection - he felt the punch bend the small plates and the knuckles forcing their way up a bit. It absorbed some of the impact, at least enough so that it wouldn't cause any lasting damage, but he certainly didn't get any slack from the force of the blow itself. He tumbled back a little with his hand over his stomach, feeling the hit probably as it was intended. His grin stayed, though a little pained as he stood with his back hunched over. "That...that was a good one," he laughed. "Alright, I'll give you that." He massaged the bruise a bit, figuring that he might be feeling that one for some time. Better watch your back though, I'll be getting you back later...

"That's for being a lazy prick." Bliston spat, oblivious too the mans silent vow of pay back, and walked away from the rest of the group. He needed to find out if this town had a blacksmith and a healer.

Day 6

The entire display of seeing Adrian bang his head against the ground and apologize profusely for things he never could have had control over left Sylphine staring slack-jawed at him, completely unable to speak out of sheer confusion. He's definitely lost it, Pirika commented, equally confounded.

Reaching up, she gently brushed his hand away from his shoulder. "...you couldn't really have helped any of what happened to me, Adrian," she told him quietly, starting to stand up again and faking a smile. "But, well...I guess it's great that, ah, you're so determined to become stronger now. Keep at it, alright?" Clutching her aching left arm, she started walking away quickly. Honestly, the only thing she wanted right now was to be alone...

Seeing her tamer's interactions with Adrian left Pirika watching sadly. This is really affecting her too much, she thought, but at this point she wasn't sure how it could be helped.

But Sylphine had hardly taken two steps when she suddenly heard a quavering, panicked voice. The owner of that voice demanded answers to where she was, who the people around her were, and what was going on. Wait a minute, haven't I heard that voice somewhere before? She ran into the village, stopping near the back of the group. To her surprise, the fearful voice belonged to that little girl whom she had seen fearlessly throwing fire and wielding oversized swords earlier.

Did she lose her memory? Oh no...what's going on? "...if you'll excuse me, everyone," she said to the rest of the party. Lightly pushing past them, she made her way over to the little girl and bent down onto one knee so that she was at eye level with the girl. "Please keep calm. We're not here to hurt you," she told the girl, keeping her voice soft and nonthreatening. Taking a deep breath, she started to recount the answers to all those questions.

"You're in a village called Appleton. We came here from the fortress town of Andril, and we're on our way to slay a dragon. Right now, we're here because you were badly injured on the way here, along with the rest of us, and we had to rest. And, I am Sylphine Mistral...the others can introduce themselves for you. Do you remember any of this?" Finished speaking, she waited for a response, looking worriedly into the girl's eyes for any glimmer of recognition.

The girl's panicked reaction was responded to by a green-haired girl that came down on one knee and answered her questions in a gentle voice, although the answers only caused her to become baffled even more. She backed away a little instinctively. She felt a rush of sensations that were both familiar and unfamiliar, as though she had awoken from the longest slumber, emerged into a world with only the barest hint of knowledge.

"To...to what? A dragon? Did you just say to slay a dragon?" She tried to stand up, but her body was too weak to do so, just backing up a little more instead. "Y-You're crazy! Why would I be here? I...I don't remember anything!" The girl was crying now, tears going down her face as her body shrunk lower to the ground, her hand over one of the wounds on her body. "Why...does it hurt so much?" she whimpered. "I..." Want to go home? Where is home? Do I have one? "It hurts...so much..." The wounds were tearing open again given how much she was moving without taking a proper rest, blood beginning to trickle from between her fingers - her breaths became heavy and her mind was numbed with the pain that was suddenly starting to envelop her. "Make it...stop! Please!"