The following few days seemed to fly by. The two groups barely interacted with each other and kept to themselves as they had before their meeting at the bunker. During lunch at the end of the week the subject was finally brought up.
"Speaking of dungeons," Abe said after swallowing a mouthful of sandwich in an attempted segue, "we really should go back to the bunker."
All heads turned to him and the others eyed him warily. George was the first to speak.
"Are you nuts?" he said with a flat tone.
Abe shook his head, "no, I'm not nuts. If we're better prepared then hopefully we'll be able to find out more and discover exactly what's going on."
George looked at him like he'd grown a second head, "you can't just say 'I'm not nuts' and then say something like that."
"He's right," Marie sighed and all eyes turned on her.
"What do you mean he's right?" George asked bewildered at the statement.
"I mean he's right," she reiterated, "I have a lot of questions that need answering and the only way I'm going to get any headway on them would be to go back and get some samples."
George let out a breathy laugh and looked at Jason for support, "you don't agree with them, do you?"
The quiet hunter just swallowed what he was chewing and shrugged, "I wouldn't mind giving it another crack. Besides, I kinda wanna see what those three saw. Randy *did* bring back fresh grass..."
The quarterback held his head in his hands and groaned. He was outnumbered, but that didn't mean he was okay with it. He looked up at the geek who'd just taken another bite of his sandwich and sighed.
"When you say 'better prepared,' what exactly do you mean?" the blond asked in an even tone attempting to hide his discomfort with the idea.
After a second of chewing and thinking, Abe swallowed and responded simply.
"Better prepared. More water, actual weapons, ways to possibly defend ourselves from the slime, and ways to take and record what we need."
"Yeah, like a good weapon is easy to get," George rolled his eyes as he said it and instantly felt all eyes on him.
"I've got two firearms, a BB pistol, and a wood axe," said Jason.
"I have a ton of fireworks, caltrop dice, stun gun, a good water gun, and can easily make a shitty flamethrower," offered Abe.
"I also have some fireworks and can easily get some bases and acids to use for throwing flasks, plus some water balloons and a flare gun," piped up Marie, not wanting to be left out.
George stared at them with his mouth open. He'd genuinely never considered they could have those things, or that most of them could be used as actual weapons. The guns and axe he'd thought of, but hadn't thought of fireworks or even-
"Wait, did you say you could *make* a flamethrower?" George asked Abe a little too loudly.
Abe glanced up and met the gaze of Jesse before the two looked away, "keep your voice down, but yeah it's not that hard. The difficult part is it not exploding or catching itself on fire, but I know how to stop that."
The tired look George had on his face didn't mix with the words that came out of his mouth, "all I've got is the bat and that's useless against the slimes."
Jason chuckled and patted him on the back, "just hammer some nails through it. Give it some spikes. That'll probably work on them."
George slowly turned to look at the smiling hunter, concern obvious on his features.
Lunch ended shortly thereafter and the four split up to go their separate ways. George, now seeing that he wasn't going to be able to talk the rest of them out of it, decided he'd better figure out what he needed and how to get it.
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About half a week later the group met up for their usual CnC game but carried larger packs than normal. After loading up in the trucks, they made their way to the bunker instead of George's house. A few minutes later, the group had arrived before the ominous opening and started gearing up.
George strapped on his plastic rumble gear over his shirt and pants, donned his shield, and picked up his newly spiked bat. Abe pulled a blue robe on over his shorts and shirt, the inside as well as the belt loaded with pockets, held a long pole with a camping lantern strapped to it with the option to keep the stick on his back thanks to some hastily sewn rings, and strapped both his stungun as well as his DIY flamethrower (small butane torch, cut wood, and flammable spray) to the belt of the robe. Marie donned some goggles, long elbow-length white latex gloves, and a brown apron with tons of recently sewn pockets used to hold a variety of items over her yellow blouse and long black skirt. Jason didn't really need to put on anything else, just shouldered his rifle, holstered his BB pistol, and kept his reserve ammo in his backpack.
Once everyone was seemingly ready, Jason started to head in the rest and followed him inside. As they passed through the entrance, everything seemed the same. The place was still unnaturally clean, the lighting was practically nonexistent save for Abe's lantern, and the statue of Patricia hadn't moved an inch. It was only after they'd moved a little more in that they noticed something.
"Uhhhh that wasn't there the last time, right?" asked Abe as he saw the large pool of slime in the center of the next room.
"No, that uh wasn't there," George frowned and readied his bat and shield, not liking what he was seeing.
The group watched as Abe unhooked the lantern and gave it to Jason. The hunter held the lantern high as the geek tapped the lip of the pink pool. The entire mass rippled and soon three blobs emerged, sliding over the ledge and towards the group. The four seemed to move as one, backing up from the archway and getting into position for a fight. George stepped in front with Abe and Marie behind while Jason took the rear, handing the lantern off to Abe as he moved past.
The robed geek reattached the lantern and put it on his back as the slimes engaged the group. The first leapt at George but was intercepted by his shield, bouncing harmlessly off the crystal. Marie pulled out a lighter and cherry bomb, quickly lighting and throwing it at the slimes in the back. She managed to get it to stick to one of the small blobs and, just as it slipped past George to get to her, the explosive went off and popped it. The pink slime splattered out around it, but that didn't seem to get the notice of anyone as the third slime leapt at Abe. Jason had the quicker finger though, managing to put a BB through it and ending it right there and then, the metal ball ricocheting away from the party and landing in the slime pool.
The last slime started to move back but George wasn't having any of it and quickly brought down his bat on the thing. The battle was over faster than anyone had imagined it would have been. The three slimes they'd fought there before were done with, but who knows what was waiting for them in that pool. Abe walked back out and grabbed a long stick, not wanting to see his pole dissolve, before heading back in and stirring the pool with the fallen branch. Despite stirring it for what felt like a few minutes, the stick didn't seem to be harmed and nothing jumped out at them.
Seeing that the room was safe, Marie knelt down and took out a vial from one of her pockets. Slowly and carefully, she dipped the glass jar into the pool to retrieve a small sample. Once the vial was sealed, a flash of light from the previous room caught their attention. Jason decided to investigate and found some scraps of very fine silk where each of the slimes had died along with a single crystal that resembled the ones in the slimes. He showed the group and they all exchanged glances.
"Where did that come from?" asked Marie, gently picking up the crystal.
"I have no idea," Jason said, his voice flat, "but considering they were in the same spots the slimes died in..."
George chuckled, "are you suggesting they dropped loot?"
"Do you have a better suggestion?" the hunter looked at the smiling quarterback
"Not really no, but it's still kinda funny."
Jason stowed the items and the group continued on into the complex. Nothing seemed to have changed in the slippery room, and they removed the slimes within just as quickly as they had in the previous room. As the group was about to open the ornate door, flashes of soft pink light caught their eyes. Turning to look, they saw a few crystals and some silk fabric scraps materialize from the pink lights above the slime splatters. Looks were exchanged as Jason once again grabbed and stowed the items.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
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The group entered through the ornate door and once again found themselves in the home of the giant slime. They moved into a rough formation as the slime pool heaved upwards to allow the slime queen to form. The giant slime turned to the group and threw its hand forward, being blocked and deflected by George's shield. Two little slimes jumped out of the pool as the fight started, only to be quickly taken out by Jason's BB and Abe's firecracker. Marie tossed out a lit cherry bomb and blew a hole in the trunk of the giant slime.
The huge creature fell no differently than a tree, collapsing before it could reform. The party advanced forwards as Marie and Abe pelted the pink mass with mini explosives. The bright red core was quickly exposed and Jason put a large crack in it with his BB pistol. George, seeing the opening, brought his bat down on the core and shattered it. The huge slime desperately attempted to defend itself from the onslaught, but the explosives kept it from forming any sort of real resistance before it was defeated.
Just as before, the pink mass lost its form and spread out with no control. The party waited for a second, anticipating the appearance of the light. Sure enough, the light emerged from the pool and transformed into a weapon and belt which then drifted down next to the pool and landed in the slime. A strange gun-like weapon made mostly of clear crystal with a hose attached to a belt holding two connected tanks full of pink liquid. Using the branch, Marie fished it out of the puddle of slime.
Rinsing it off with a little bit of water, she carefully inspected the soaker-like weapon. She could make out the internal structure of the gun due to the mechanisms inside having different colors. Looking it over, she noticed two dials on one side that had entirely different markings. The first had basic shapes: a line, a wedge, a half circle, and a cone. The second had a set of symbols: a shield, a t-shirt, a paw print, a leaf, a water droplet, and a mushroom.
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The group stepped out onto a trailhead, the wide open sky boxed in by towering trees lightly swaying in the soft breeze. The packed dirt crunched beneath their feet and the grass muffled their footsteps as they moved slowly into this new area. Looking back they could see the archway of the stairwell appearing in the place of a park gate as though a window was cut in space while before them was a straight path deeper into the forest. The late afternoon sunlight streamed through the trees and dappled across the tree trunks. The group couldn't help but stare in awe.
"Holy..." started George.
"Shit..." Marie finished.
"Is this?... Are we?..." Abe asked but couldn't get the thought out as a question, "There's no way we're still in the bunker."
Jason glanced at the shorter geek, "I don't hear any birds or insects, so I doubt we're outside."
"Besides," added George, "we went deeper into the earth. How would that lead to an above ground park?"
Abe had to agree with that and stowed his lantern. Sharing a few looks, the group headed forwards on the trail before them. After a minute of walking they came to an intersection with three paths ahead of them. One each to the left, right, and center. Standing at the crossroads they had to make a decision.
"So we have three ways," Marie said thoughtfully, "which is the right one?"
"Good adventurers go left," Abe remarked, taking the pole off of his back.
"Any objections?" Marie asked and saw the other two shake their heads, "alright, guess we're going left then."
The party follows the left-handed trail as Abe checked for any possible traps with the pole but found nothing. Soon enough they came upon a large clearing and saw smooth logs set up in a rough pentagon around a stone fire pit in the center. A pile of firewood rested near one of the logs, but far enough away from the fire pit to not be a risk during use. While the area around the fire pit and log benches was packed dirt like the trail the rest of the clearing was covered in grass, the trees making a seemingly impermeable wall around the small campground. The trail continued on past the area but the group couldn't help but rest for a moment.
Sitting down on the logs, they each began to do something. Abe pulled out his CnC notebook and made a quick, if basic, sketch of the second level so far. George took a drink of water and ate part of a granola bar. Jason refilled his BB gun and distributed earplugs to the rest of the party, which they take after glancing at the rifle slung over his back. Marie decideed to fiddle with the gun she'd acquired and, after a lot of pondering, decided it'd be best to just keep it on base settings for the first test.
"Hey Abe," she looked over at the man scribbling in his notebook, "you have anything to spare that I could test this on? All my stuff might have... side effects."
Abe glanced up at her and nodded, tossing her a bag of caltrop dice. She thanked him and took one out. She placed the four-sided die on the ground a little bit behind the log, pumped the gun, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. A stream of pink sliquid, not unlike the kind the slimes produced, shot out of the nozzle and covered the die. She watched it dissolve in moments and the squeak of alarm she absentmindedly let out made all eyes lock on her.
"What just happened?" George asked.
"This... Gun! It shoots the slime!" Marie was ecstatic, she might not need to collect more slime experiments now that she had this.
"Hold up, what do you mean it 'shoots the slime?'" Jason asked, looking between her and the weapon.
Marie smiled and put down a die near the fire pit. She rechecked the settings, pumped, aimed, and squeezed. Slime streamed from the gun and coated the die and the surrounding area, melting the die in slightly over a second. The rest of the party watched with mixed reactions.
"Did... did it always dissolve things other than clothes?" George asked concerned.
"It has multiple settings," Marie said as she angled the gun to show off the dials, "I'm not sure what they all are, but the shapes remind me of the ones on hose nozzles so I'm thinking they could be different methods of shooting."
"And the symbols?" Jason asked as he pointed at the other dial.
"I'm not really sure," Marie admitted "but since the dial is set to the shield and it destroyed the dice, I'm willing to assume that it's the type of material or something that it can effect."
"That'd make sense," George added, "might as well test it out on another die."
Marie nodded and set up another die then changed the dial from the shield to the shirt and shot at the die. It covered the die but nothing seemed to happen. George ripped off a piece of his shirt and dipped it in the puddle where the previous die was, watching as nothing happened. He dropped it onto the newly covered die and it dissolved completely. The group stared at the gun and come to a simple conclusion. Something was keeping the slimes from harming them.
With that realization settling in, the group decided to get up and continue following the trail. Leaving behind the little campsite, they found themselves coming upon a few large ponds with steam rising from them separated by bamboo walls. A small pink slime bounced out of one of the ponds, but before it could notice the party it was popped by Jason shooting it with a BB. The rest of the party glanced back at him and he just shrugged and moved forwards. After testing the water with a stick first, he motioned for Marie to come closer.
"What is it?" she asked hesitantly.
"It looks to be a hot spring, but I don't know if it's dangerous or not."
"Oh!" she lit up and quickly brought out a couple of vials, "I have some test strips back at my house just for this."
She took samples of the water as Jason rejoined the group.
"So what do you guys think?" Abe asked, sketching the new area in his notebook.
"Well the trail seems to stop here," George replied, "so we should probably head back."
Jason nodded, "yeah, but should we leave or check out another one of the trails?"
"I think it'd be best that we check out at least one more trail," Marie said as she returned with her vials of water.
The rest of the group nodded and quickly made their way back to the trailhead. Following Abe's previous advice, the group followed the next trail. As they crested a small hill they came upon a lake. Moving to the shore they could see fish swimming in the crystal clear water. Jason whistled and shook his head.
"Really wish I had my tackle box right now," he said simply.
"I wish I had my bathing suit," Marie agreed.
George and Abe shared a glance before the two wandered off for a second, returning with a few rocks. Not a word was shared between the two as they began to skip and chuck the rocks into the lake enjoying the simple fun of the act. Soon enough the group returned to the trailhead and made their way back out, going back to the dark bunker through the staircase. The group loaded up into the trucks and returned to town, the drive back buzzing from the experience.
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Morgan Strong
Stats
-Strength - 3
-Intelligence - 4
-Nimbleness - 3
-Acumen - 4
-Physique - 3
-Synchronicity - 2
-Empathy - 4
Skills
-Dodge 2, Gathering 2, Sleight of Hand 1, Stealth 2, Weaponry 2, Bluff 3, Haggling 3, Knowledge (High School, Religion, Varied) 3, Navigation 2, Perception 2, Sense Motive 3, Technology 2, Agriculture 1, Build (wood) 1, Craft (religious) 1, Medical 2, Forbidden Knowledge (Gods, Planes, Spirits, Primordials) 1, Poisons 2
Equipment
--Phone, Wallet, Backpack, Keys, Notebook, Pens, Pencils, Textbooks, Folders, Papers, Snack, Theban Tome, Grimoire, Dagger, Chalk, Pendant Necklace, Worry Stone, Chakra Crystal.
Description
-Lithe, Pale, Long Brown Hair, Green Eyes, Juki (Father is Keprin, Mother is Remik). Wears skinny jeans, dark fantasy tees, a pentacle necklace, light gothic makeup, and boots.
-Born to a lower class family, she was raised as a semi-sheltered cultural jubilant but her family switched temples and sects multiple times. She never really felt that connected to the religion and was more focused on drama at school. She had a normal childhood and stumbled onto the idea of other faiths during early middle school. This led her down a research rabbit hole that ended up with her using her allowance to buy various books on religions, faiths, grimoires, ritual tools, and the like. Her family thought it was strange, but let her find herself. One night, during a divination ritual she had a deep revelation and began her own investigation through meditation and rituals, adding her findings to her Theban Tome.
-Quiet, aloof, pensive, and curious. Has managed to learn shattering realizations that changed her worldview and now is willing to consider strange possibilities