Chapter 162 – Slime Whisperer

Aki

‘You know, morsels,’ Phosi rasped upon seeing the corpse of the Elder Kisamzo,’ I must say I am impressed. Killing such a beast is a great feat.’

‘Yeah,’ Savri agreed. ‘I should have been here with you.’

She suddenly grew flustered and quickly added:

‘Not for the glory. Just because going through such a place without a designated medic is very dangerous. But I guess you know that. I’ll be quiet now.’

By the end of whatever that was, Savri's face was such a shade of red it looked as if it was on fire thanks to her pink hair and orange eyes.

Lilyth, bless her fuzzy heart, put Sav out of her misery and just vaguely motioned for us to continue.

Our first stop was the chambers where we fought the necromancer, as we wanted to check if we missed something important, or just useful in general there. Unfortunately, the multilegged bitch didn't seem to keep much in terms of possessions. Or anything really. No clothes. No books. No potions. Simply nothing.

‘That must have been a cursed existence,’ Phosi remarked, surprisingly.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked, not feeling the least bit sorry for the woman.

‘Just that I doubt she chose this life. Something seems to have been… missing here.’

‘A core human component?’’ Lilyth suggested. ‘Or I guess… a mortal one?’

‘Yes,’ the sconryoll agreed. ‘Assumedly she had lived here for centuries. And yet… ‘

‘... There is no trace of that,’ I voiced my thoughts.

‘Some necromancers are very austere,’ Deirdee added. ‘Never understood that. Like… you studying mysteries of death shouldn't mean you can't enjoy life. Still… I have never seen it be this bad.’

‘I think Gaar’rinver and his creepy buddies are like this,’ Caei said.

‘Yes,’ Deirdee agreed. ‘But they are also completely insane.

Given how Gaar’rinver had his torso sewn to the lower body of some other Sanguine abomination, I had to agree.

‘Who’s Gaar’rinver?’ Phosi asked.

We quickly filled her in on the “spooder boy”, as Lilyth called him, and how he attacked us after killing Löwe back on the other Dwynveia.

‘Fleshsmiths,’ Phosi muttered. ‘As this one was, I understand?’

We carefully nodded.

‘Still… they might have similar methods, but completely different mindsets. The Sanguine you mentioned are fools who forego possessions due to an arrogant search for perfection. This one… didn't. For one, she kept… trophies.’

‘And yet nothing beside them,’ Savri mused. ‘Why not?’

‘Exactly my point,’ Phosi rasped. ‘Something was amiss there.’

‘If you expect us to be sorry for her because she was mind-controlled or whatever you will be disappointed,’ Ren spat.

‘I don’t expect you to. Just saying there was some… nuance to this. All of us here were dealt bad cards in life. It is what you do with them that matters.’

‘Sorry, Phos,’ Sav sighed. ‘But how does this square up with you eating people?’

The sconryoll shook her head.

‘Most of that scary persona is just an act these days. Once I regained full control of my faculties the only people I killed were either a direct threat to me or I was sanctioned to kill them by Nyx and Irmen. Those were the conditions of my continued… existence.’

‘The gods gave you a “behave or die” ultimatum?’ Lilyth asked.

‘Yes. A fully justified one. Most of my kind, I mean vengeful spirits, are rabid beasts that only bring death and misery. It is not a one-sided agreement either, as in exchange for my services, I get to indulge if someone at sea requires divine punishment.’

Not the worst of deals. Definitely beats death.

‘What about goblins though?’ Lilyth asked. ‘I mean, fuck those things, but you did mention you eat them and they are sentient beings.’

‘They are an exception,’ Phosi said. ‘They kill and eat other sentients, so I am free to show them who is on top of the food chain.’

‘Are all goblins really like that?’ Ren asked. ‘I thought some of them were… civilised.’

‘That’s always a temporary state. In my days there were some famed goblin scientists. Every single one of them was eventually discovered to have reverted to their more bestial nature. Goblins are carnivores and no matter how much they try… the lure of meat of other sentients eventually wins.’

That rang a bell.

‘Could they be like the Sanguine?’ I asked

‘The Blood creating a species that can only sustain itself with meat and finds the flesh of sentients addictive sounds… on brand,’ Caei agreed with disgust on her face.

‘It would also explain why goblins were never fully eradicated,’ Sav mused. ‘It just cooks up a new batch and seeds it all over.’

Lilyth summarised our feelings the best:

‘The more I learn about this thing the more I ask myself “what the fuck…”’

Our trip down the tunnel that the Kisamzo came through wasn’t particularly long. It took us maybe twenty minutes to find its lair, a large open chamber, but there was nothing of note there. Several side-tunnels were leading out of it, but most of them were either dead ends or too narrow or low for us to go through. Those of us made of flesh, anyway. Both Lilyth and Phosi could pass through and the latter ended up scouting some of them, as her clothes were technically part of her body. My fox just said she had spent her share of wandering naked through dungeons, so she would pass. It was a shame, but what could you do?

Unexpectedly, Phosi’s sidetrips did pay off, as in one of the corridors she had found a fist-sized black glass-like gem with a rainbow-coloured core inside it.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Caei gasped.

‘That’s an “Eye of Gin’ig”,’ Phosi said proudly. ‘Those are rare and valuable.’

‘Can’t we keep it?’ Caei insisted.

‘It should net us a pretty penny,’ Ren sighed. ‘An Eye this size is easily worth fifteen hundred Divines.’

‘Yeah, maybe we should let other people pay for the privilege of enjoying its beauty,’ Caei changed her tune.

‘You mean it should net me a pretty penny,’ Phosi said. ‘After all, I found it.’

‘I am willing to offer my services as a broker for a small commission fee,’ Ren joked with a glimmer in her eyes.

‘You’ll get a third. How much that will be depends on you.’

There was no trace of hostility in Phosi’s manner.

‘I’ll throw in an extra ten per cent if you help me arrange some purchases,’ she added.

‘Sure,’ Ren nodded. ‘What do you need?’

‘I have decided to claim the cave near Mer-Cas as my home, so I will need some furniture.’

Oh.

‘You know, I wasn’t planning on actually charging you,’ Ren said, red-faced. ‘As you said - you found the gem only you could access - it is yours. But… for such a thing, I’ll happily help you cover the costs.’

‘We’ll hash out the details later,’ Phosi said. ‘And I didn’t mind giving you a cut, sister. I believe in paying people for their work, especially since I have no contacts, I will have a lot more treasure to sell and my negotiating skills are… rusty.’

‘What do you mean by a lot more?’ Ren asked.

‘Sister, I have been a “scary sea monster" for over five hundred years. That’s plenty of time to loot shipwrecks and acquire wealth from adventurers seeking to best me. Which reminds me I will need to bring my stash of magical items here for you morsels to pick through.’

‘Phosi,’ I said. ‘You don’t need to buy your way into being our friend.’

‘I know, little one,’ she said. ‘But that doesn’t mean I can’t finally put my hoard into good use. Or any use really.’

With that handled we continued down the main corridor. It was so narrow and cramped we had to walk in a single file, and if we were attacked, we’d be totally screwed.

Also, I hate to admit that, but at one point, my foot got stuck between some rocks, and I had a minor panic attack thinking that something had grabbed me. Caei, who was walking behind me, helped me free myself and together with Lilyth helped me get up.

‘You okay, hon?’ my jelly asked.

‘Yes,’ I said, burying my head in her chest.

Lilyth wrapped her hands around me, and after I calmed down, we resumed our journey, though we didn't get far. The corridor got really difficult to walk through with some sections requiring us to crawl or sidle along the wall. It took us maybe an hour to reach a small cave with two more corridors leading out of it.

‘I think it is time we go back,’ Lilyth said as we stood there wondering which passage we should choose.

‘What do you mean?’ Sav asked. ‘We haven't finished exploring the place.’

‘Sav, it is two in the morning. Even if we leave now, we won’t be home before six most likely.’

‘But, there could be something important here!’

‘Maybe there is. Maybe there isn't. We don’t know. We also have no idea how deep these tunnels go. It could take us days to fully explore them.’

She has a point.

‘Lilyth is right,’ I said. ‘We should go back.’

‘Nothing is stopping us from returning later,’ my fox quickly added to mollify our medic. ‘Let’s gather supplies, gear and mount a proper expedition.’

‘Yeah,’ Deirdee concurred and started counting off on her fingers. ‘We’ll need food, water, potions, climbing gear, bedding, ammo, medical supplies, spare clothes, probably a million other things.’

‘Light sources,’ I added quickly. ‘I doubt my [Abyssal Spark] will be enough.’

‘Light sources,’ Deirdee agreed. ‘I keep forgetting the two of you can't see in the dark.’

Stupid lack of [Darksight].

‘Aren’t you afraid of someone finding this place and potentially causing harm to Dan-Hem by unleashing something?’ Sav tried unconvincingly.

‘We’ll have to risk it,’ I said with a heavy heart. ‘This could happen regardless of whether we died due to being underprepared.’

‘And it is not like we will take a long break,’ Lilyth said. ‘Here is what I think: Since we are doing this in secret we can return here once Ireela, Malika and Bergia head to Ror-Bhyk. This will give us a week to rest and gather supplies.’

‘Sounds good,’ I said. ‘Sav will have some extra time to spend with her brother and mom too.’

‘How will we get supplies though?’ Caei asked.

‘Can’t Phosi take Ren to Ror-Bhyk?’ Lilyth suggested. ‘Should only take a few hours. We can mask it as a picnic or something.’

‘I will probably be too busy with mom and Bergia,’ Rennie sighed.

‘I’ll go,’ Deirdee said. ‘We’ll have a girls' day out with Phosi. Just give us directions.’

‘Give me a few days to prepare, morsels,’ Phosi rasped. ‘I will go to my lair and grab some things we can sell to help fund this.’

‘Are you sure you are on board with this, Phosi?’ I wanted to confirm. ‘You just joined us.’

‘Don’t worry, little one,’ the sconryoll laughed. ‘This is the most fun I have had in decades.’

We hashed out some more details and then Sav enlisted Lilyth for help with some mysterious project. As we turned around we heard something shuffle from behind one of the rocks.

‘Finally decided to make a move, eh?’ Lilyth muttered as we turned around towards the source of noise and saw that a small greenish semi-transparent gelatinous hemisphere was peering out from behind one of the rocks.

‘Is that a slime?’ Caei asked causing the creature to shudder and hide behind the stalagmite again.

‘A young one,’ Deirdee said. ‘Pretty harmless.’

‘I say we leave it be,’ Ren shrugged.

Judging by the expressions none of us felt like hurting the creature. In fact…

‘Hey there, little guy,’ Lilyth cooed as she knelt on one knee. ‘Don’t be afraid.’

The little slime didn't budge from its hiding spot, so my wife reached into her bag and took out a travelers' meal. She opened it, took out some pieces of dried meat and placed them halfway between herself and the creature.

The slime must have been hungry because it warily looked out from behind the rock again. Lilyth, very slowly, backed away motioning for us to do the same.

I was initially surprised by her actions, but then I realised that this must have been the first being of her kind that Lilyth had actually seen, so perhaps she was feeling a bit of a kinship.

The slime slowly emerged from cover and began creeping towards the meat. I finally got a good look at it and saw that it was maybe thirty centimetres in diameter and twenty centimetres tall? And I must say that it was fascinating to watch it move. The creature eventually reached its meal and slowly extended a short tendril of slime from its body. With surprising alacrity, the limb enveloped the food and pulled it into the creature’s body, where it began to dissolve.

Lilyth then gave it some more food, and after feeling it won the slime’s trust, she slowly extended her hand towards it. The creature studied it warily and began slowly creeping towards my wife. Once it was within her reach, Lilyth very delicately caressed the slime’s body and gave it a small dome pat. The beastie vibrated contentedly.

‘Well… stay safe, little buddy,’ she cooed again and began to get up, but stopped as the slime began rubbing against her leg.

‘You want to come with us?’

Weirdly enough, a horizontal crease appeared in the middle of the slime's body and started to move up and down, resembling a nod. Lilyth looked at us questioningly, but I just shrugged, so my wife leaned down and lifted the creature into her arms.

‘I shall name you… Fluffy, I think,’ She said and gave our new pet a hug causing it to vibrate happily.