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"It could be vorse," Emi remarks looking around at the webs, "it could hafe been stinging svarms of giant vasps..."
"Wasps don't creep on you like spiders do though. That's what makes them so nasty, the creeping."
Jerukh moves to where the spider carcass lies in numerous portions, noting the damage wrought with widened eyes;
"Huh. You femei are impressive..."
He then grimaces, realising he spoke thoughts aloud...
"Wasps... Da. They would have been... worse. Medically speaking... (ahem)..."
The webs burn away revealing little of interest or value. Thankfully, it seems this spider hadn't dined on humanoid flesh yet.
"Press on?" Reiko slinks further into the depths of the cave.
"Yeah, if that bite is doing okay?"
"Da. We press on... with caution..."
Conscious that more hidden threats could be lurking, Jerukh pauses and imbibes one of his alchemical extracts;
His pupils dilate and nostrils flair momentarily, then nodding to himself he moves forward in the Eastern warrior's wake;
:
"Sorry about the slime," Emi says quietly as she follows on behind Reiko, "but it vill help protect you from vebs, or being grabbed by anything, for a couple minutes."
"Yeah, if that bite is doing okay?"
"It's a small wound." She couldn't admit that her fear was greater than the fangs, it was not bushido.
"Sorry about the slime," Emi says quietly as she follows on behind Reiko, "but it vill help protect you from vebs, or being grabbed by anything, for a couple minutes."
She fingers the grease, curious. "Never apologize for helping. This might be good for my skin."
The grease, as it turns out, is coconut oil.
The next chamber to the cavern has a floor covered in ankle deep water that is freezing cold. Even with eyes as keen as those of hawks, you find nothing of interest here save branches to the left and right.
Reiko unslings her bow and uses it as a pole to test the depth of the water as she slowly continues into the new chamber, sword ready.
Vigny wades into the water back at the end of the line.
"Ugh, this is why I always spend big on boots. Dry feet matter."
Emi frowns as water seeps into her shoes and splashes up on her. Hiking up her skirt and tucking the hem into the waistband she leaves her legs exposed from the thigh down in an effort to keep her clothes dry.
"I hope this von't get too much deeper," she mutters.
Vigny follows along holding the torch
Jerukh eyes the rising waters with momentary concern, then pushes on with the wake of the front liners.
The water gets a little deeper in this chamber. A small island with an impressive array of crystals stands in the middle of it.
Reiko stops cold. She looks at the others with the hint of a smile. "Oh, this doesn't look like a trap at all."
Jerukh eyes the island and its crystal crown with interest.
"Trap or something else... Perhaps..."
"If we leave it now, does that mean we just have to come back? I'd rather not stand up to my knees in freezing water more than once if I don't have to."
Reiko sheathes her sword, knocks an arrow, and fires it at the crystal formation, hoping the arrow will clatter off the stone and then hit the water. She watches carefully for any reaction on the island or in the water.
Stunning Fist (1):
Challenge (1):
Ronin's Ch(1):
Resolve (1):
Inspired (1):
Effects:
Greased - 2 minutes.
You notice that the arrow isn't at the bottom of the pool, or rather, that it's slowly sinking to the bottom, and the shaft is starting to dissolve.
The arrow, so expertly fired, ricochets into the air, spinning end over end until it plops into the water with a slight splash.
Reiko takes a half-step forward and peers at the water to confirm what she saw. "That's remarkably bad." She points to where the fragments of her arrow hit the water. "There is something thicker than water out there... and it is dissolving my arrow."
Vigny moves up beside Reiko, ready to follow her and help check out the crystals.
"Where is it?"
Reiko points to the spot, having Vigny look down the length of her arm to find it. "Can you see that darker smudge just below the surface? That's what's left of my arrow shaft."
Jerukh shifts for a better vantage with interest;
"I have no idea what it is... but it is fascinating..."
"Right until it eats your leg down to the bone." Reiko frowns, clearly debating the best way to tackle this 'obstacle'.
"Does it move?"
Vigny rummages through her rations for a piece of dried meat. She throws it near, but not on the place Reiko pointed out.
"Vhat is it?" Emi asks, "some kind of acid pool? Can ve just go around it?"
While Emi's suggestion about a pool of acid has merit. The air lacks the acrid stink of acid and the rocks show too little wear.
No, you've heard about the creature that could have done this before. Your mentor had told you of the time he cleared a nest of these out from an old cavern. What you face is a giant amoeba.
A giant amoeba is a shapeless mass of living, liquid protoplasm. Though naturally translucent with darker interior spots, its surface is slightly sticky and tends to collect dirt and other debris from its environment; therefore, a moving giant amoeba looks like muddy water. A weaker cousin of creatures such as the gray ooze and black pudding, a giant amoeba is actually a mutated version of a harmless creature too small to be seen by the naked eye, grown dangerously large in size. Although happy to prey on creatures smaller than it, the giant amoeba’s constant hunger often drives it to attack larger prey, such as humanoids.
Reiko crouches down, feels the rock beneath the surface, and scoops up a handful of water. She smells it cautiously then tastes it. She spits it out and stares at the dissolving remains of her arrow.
The ronin thinks carefully, framing her thoughts. "If it were acid, the rocks would be more worn and less slimy. There is no acid stink or taste to the water. That's an acid cave creature. Old Haru fought some of them once, I think. In your tongue, it would be called a big amoeba. It isn't the most deadly of uh... oozers... but still dangerous and very hungry. It will come for us - and it will be hard to see in the water. Also, there may be more than one. So, if we're going to hunt it, we must be careful." She looks at Jerukh, "Ready your bombs."
Reiko waits for everyone to ready themselves and then starts wading slowly through the water, her bow preceding her through the water, her sword at the ready, and her eyes searching for any signs of an approaching amoeba.
Vigny's jerky plops into the water and sinks right to the bottom.
"Vill hitting that thing damage our veapons?" Emi asks nervously as she follows Reiko forward with her scarf at the ready.
Reiko, you spot the amoeba about ten feet in front of you now that you know what your are looking at. It seems to be just waiting for something, not even moving to eat the jerky that Vigny tossed next to it. Thankfully, there only appears to be the one.
Reiko shrugs helplessly at Emi's question. "Old Haru never said... but I have his sword and it still has a fine blade." As she creeps forward, the ronin points to where the amoeba lurks and slowly lets the bow slip from her fingers. "I only see the one, so far. Hit it." She takes her sword in a two-hand grip and prepares to pounce on the heel of her allies' attacks.
Emi bites her lower lip and fondly rubs her scarf between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand. Not being able to bring her self to strike with it, she instead gestures with her left hand and softly chants something unintelligible as a white glow grows until bursting into a freezing ray directed at the blob.
,
well, that went poorly...
Jerukh draws forth a bomb as instructed as he moves forward ... then as Reiko advances he lets fly with the alchemical compound
:
:
Vigny moves up along with Reiko, striking at the blob with her sword.
With a thick, wet pop, whether or not baldes work becomes academic.
Looking at the crystals on the small island, it's fairly clear that they are shiny, but don't look particularly valuable, and there are 42 of them.
Once she's sure there are no other threats in the area, Reiko takes a couple crystals as a keepsake. When everyone is ready to continue, the ronin heads toward the remaining avenue of exploration in the cave.
Vigny is a little surprised that the thing in the water dies so quickly and easily. But she just shrugs and gives the crystals a looking over.
"I'm sure I can use these for something. Nice decorations at least." She snatches the remaining crystals and stows them away unless somebody else to quick to grab some. She also takes the jam. It isn't raspberry, but it's free. And free is the best price.
"Vhat a strange place this is..." Emi ponders aloud, "maybe vhen ve get back to town Jerukh can experiment vith those crystals... perhaps they can be used to make acid or vhatefer you call the stuff that stops acid?"
"Besides," she teases as she follows Reiko away, "after all this time vith a group of vomen I think his laboratory might be a velcome change."