[Cherry Heart] Cave of Lost Treasures

[cardgameking]

Solomon was rather disappointed with how the manoeuvre had turned out. These wolves, it seemed, didn't know when to quit and the one he had thrown against the wall via magic seemed undazed enough to avoid his spear, and was no heading for Leo. The bee boy had put up a surprisingly good show, summoning some sort of 'Pollen Bomb', which led Solomon to ponder the question: What exactly was a 'bomb'? Some sort of term from his own language. Whatever it meant, it had proved effective enough to thoroughly piss of the veteran lupines. To Solomon's disgust, the wolves ignored him in favour of attacking Leo.

"So much for the concept of the noble beast..." muttered Solomon. Despite his witticisms, he knew that this could easily turn ugly. Leo's pollen bombs meant he'd have take careful, with his armoured frame. The wolves had no such trouble, quickly realising the danger presented by the yellow orbs. They slinked round them toward Leo, ready to pounce. While the bee had proved more helpful than previously though, it was doubtful he could take close quarter combat with an angry wolf. The question was how to avoid that situation... He couldn't throw his spear in here, owing to the fact the ceiling was low and he didn't want to be unarmed if he missed. Which left him with a rather unorthodox option.

Unbuckling his shield, Solomon held it like a frisbee, and aimed for the unsuspecting wolf closest to Leo. Once again, he formed the Attract spell in his mind, and felt in curdle into the Repel spell. With a battecry, Solomon released the spell, using it to propel the shield at breakneck speeds at the foe. It was decidedly easier then throwing the wolf. While Solomon had not been overly taxed by his lupine tossing, the wolf had enough muscle mass to make him heavier than anticipated, making the throw inefficient. However, Solomon knew his shield better then he knew which parts of his body were rotten. The pulse from the spell was as perfectly calibrated as he could manage, which admittedly wasn't much, but it should be more efficient. Once the wolf was down, he could spear charge it and end the thing.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Sure enough, the path that Basia had taken wouldn't stay narrow for long. There was a whole room to be found, laden with adventuring equipment, gold and silver coins, water and even a random suit of armor in the middle of the... wait, water​? Basia looked down in curiosity, only to sigh as she saw the state of this part of the cavern floor.

"God, damn it! My kimino's wet," as she lifted the kimino from the hips and pulled upwards, Basia looked around and examined everything that she found so far, tempting to pick up some of the gold and silver coins, 'Hmm... I best not; I'll need to finishing exploring and clear whatever maybe ahead, and lining my pockets with gold and silver will only weigh me down. Beside, even if someone else finds this place and takes what he or she can carry, I should still have more than enough left over.'

With that, Basia moved around the outskirts of the room, looking to see if there were any paths she could take that weren't in the direction that she just came from. She was eager to fight something, in particular, and she was certain that there would be (more) monsters lurking in the shadows somewhere.

[Mr. Hyde]

 

Leo's pollen bombardment had been quite effective, almost to the point where it made him happy that he was able to do some heavy damage!  However, he realized what a cruel thought that must've been, and shook the guilt out of his head.  Even though the a couple of explosions had gone off, the wolf still stood, as ferocious as it had been previously.  Leo flinched as the wolf growled in pain.  

 

To make matters worse, he had aggro from the other wolf now as well!

 

"I should be flattered, but to be frank i'm actually quite terrified!"  Without hesitating, Leo threw up his hands.  "Ironbark shield!"

 

Twisting roots burst fourth from the floor of the cavern, and made a dome like shelter around Leo.  The Ironbark Tree is where the bee insectoid people made their homes.  Only skilled mages among them were able to bring forth these magic roots.  The wolves would find that trying to break through this barrier would be like trying to dig a hole out of this cave.  However, Leo still trembled...this was quite a tizzy...he had never had so much excitement in his whole entire life...

 

Well...exciting was a quaint term for the emotions he had been going through thus far.  

 

Peeking through the gaps of his dome, he could see Solomon attempt to throw his shield at a wolf.  

 

"He's trying his best to protect me!  I have to help him too!"  Leo buzzed.  He stuck his hand inches away from one of the gaps, and sprayed another cloud of pollen at the other wolf.  Hopefully the beast would develop an allergy to his pollen.  

[Yui]

---

"Really now, it wasn't that hard," Reshifu said to perhaps the twentieth person who had approached her this evening to give her their gratitude and congratulations. "I was chosen to become the Soul of the North for a reason. Besides, when have the Ancients ever picked a champion that failed them?" Suddenly, she felt a sharp sting on the back of her neck, accompanied by some wet feeling. Her response was to quickly swat the spot with her hand; it was fully possible she'd just been stung by some form of insect, and she wasn't about to let it get away with that on her big night. That was only a minor inconvenience next to what she saw next.

 

A large pile of apples at a merchant's stall suddenly turned into a pile of horrific mushrooms. Red-capped things with these ugly little tendrils stretching out. Something was definitely not right here. Reshifu would have probably reached for her sword if it were a weapon she actually used more than her fists, but it was very clear by looking at her that she wasn't quite as at ease as she was moments ago. However, it wasn't long at all before somebody placed a hand on her shoulder. Reshifu nearly punched whoever it was that snuck up on her, and turning to face the person made her very glad she didn't. Standing beside her now was the head monk of the White Boar's temple.

 

"Something seems to be troubling you, Soul of the North," the old monk said. By the looks of him, he only had a few years left on this earth before old age took him. "Tell me of your troubles."

 

"It's..." Turning to face the mushrooms again, Reshifu saw somebody bite into one. She expected something awful to happen to the poor soul, but all she saw instead was the mushrooms turning back into fruit. "...never mind, Grandmaster." Reshifu diverted her attention back to the fruit stall. Something was definitely up, and the fruits of that stall were involved. She'd have to investigate. Of course, the teachings of the White Boar - while ones that enforced some very good traits - weren't the best for guile or cunning. As such, Reshifu's approach was perhaps too direct.

 

She walked up to the stall, and requested an apple. The owner was all too happy to meet her request, and even threw in a second apple as a bonus. Reshifu, ready to begin her very upfront investigation, took a bite into the apple, to find out what would happen.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

His mother came around and looked closely into Gabriel's eyes, concerned. "If you're sure...maybe you should lie down." As Gabriel looked up at her he noticed something seemed off. Her face seemed almost...blurred? Blinking several times Gabriel looked away.

"Maybe...No, never mind, I'll be okay." His head hurt, he was feeling confused, but something, instinct maybe, told him to stay there.

He looked back down at the potato and started to dig at it with the fork. It had changed, he knew it. "Gabriel you should stop playing with your food." Trisha said, in an agitated tone.

He looked up and saw both of them staring at him, seemingly frustrated about something.

And as he looked he noticed....a woman. She was semi-transparent but she was certainly there. White hair, she looked familiar...a name came to mind, Reshifu.

What the hell was going on?

 

Neru, meanwhile was meandering seemingly aimlessly. He'd notice that the girl he was with seemed to be frustrated about him leaving the tree. And, in fact, she would seem to try to double back there a few times.
Strangely, no matter how far they got, they wouldn't ever get far enough to not see said tree. And after a while, if Neru would look at the tree, he would see a ghostly image of Gabriel there. Though, Neru couldn't be sure where the name came from.

 

Reshifu would have a much...stranger experience. As she bit into the fruit, she would feel a slight crunch. But it was off, almost an echo of what should happen when one bites into an apple. There was a strange texture, but also not. It seemed like her sense of taste was struggling to decide what this food was.

And moments later she would start seeing visions. Unusual, insane, visions. Flashing lights, everything changing colors, the people morphing into ridiculous caricatures of humans. A slight anxiety and paranoia would rise up in her and she had a sudden, panicked, urge to throw up, but found it difficult to do so.

In the midst of this, she could see a person, who was unchanged and, compared to the rest, out of place. It was Neru, someone who she vaguely remembered from a time she couldn't remember at all.

---

The wolves, who expected to bury their teeth into a bee, instead found themselves biting into solid wood. Pain shot through them as their teeth met this resistance, and they fell back. However one of them took a shield suddenly to the side, and the wolf was propelled into the wall again. There was a sharp snapping sound as bones shattered. The wolf whimpered, and growled, foaming at the mouth as it stared at Solomon in rage.

The other wolf took a load of pollen to the face, which exploded, and tore the animal's face apart. It didn't even have enough time to cry out in pain before it fell to the ground in a crumpled heap, dead.

---

Basia would find her movements somewhat more sluggish than one would expect from water. Something seemed to cling to her skin as she moved through it, though it was hardly noticeable...

And then all at once the water began to stir. Suddenly it began to rapidly move up her body, holding her, and covering her, swiftly moving up to reach her mouth.

In that moment she realized that this wasn't a puddle of water at all.

She had stepped into a horde of slimes.

[cardgameking]

---

Leo's Pollen Bombs had proved useful to a grisly effect. A man less experienced then Solomon may have reacted to the gruesome sight of exploded wolf's head, but he ignored it. The only thing of interest to him was that whatever a bomb was, it would seem to be explosive in nature.

His main concern snarled at him, unable to stand on their shattered legs. Solomon examined it dispassionately. The creatures' ferocious attacks seemed unnatural to him, and could only have been caused by an outside influence. Magic, disease or...

"Hellfire," Solomon swore, turning to the nest. As he had seen on campaigns, people fought hardest when their offspring where in danger. If there were, they needed to eradicated to prevent a wolf problem returning. "But firstly," Solomon said, readying his spear. Moving quickly, he turned to spear the injured wolf. Once that one was dead, he would check out the nest thoroughly for any offspring or survivors. Once that was dealt with, he and Leo could head down the path the second wolf had arrived from and perhaps perform a similar extermination.

---

[Alaina]

"Yo, Neru. Don't you think your a bit too wound up for work."

"C'mon, we should just go back to resting." 

"Oh, look. It's another nice tree to rest under."

 

These are just a few of the things Neru would hear whilst walking through seemingly endless and empty meadow from Sepia. She seemed intent on him not actually doing anything today, and instead just wanted him to sit back and relax. There was something slightly odd about this to Neru, or rather, something slightly forceful about Sepia was going about this. Nevertheless, he kept shrugging off her comments each and every time she brought one up, only attempting to walk away from the tree. However, no matter how far he seemed to get away from it, they always seemed to appear back at the same tree. Odd. Though, that was not the most odd thing to pass yet. 

 

Looking at the tree, Neru saw what appeared to be the figure of a man standing there. As he walked closer, more details about the man came into view, and eventually as he saw the man's face, a name came into his head. Neru briefly wondered what Gabriel was doing in this field with him, only to the wonder who Gabriel even was to begin with. Looking at him, he wasn't quite sure if he was real or not to which he turned to Sepia. Looking at her, she seemed quite delighted to be back at the tree and was content to be resting there alongside Neru again, paying no heed to the ghostly figure whatsoever. As if he could relax with this sight around. Going to see if it was at all real, Neru figured there was only way to do so. Walking towards the apparition of a man, he raised his hand up and then went to shove the ghostly figure.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

The moment she felt something cling to her leg, Basia knew something was wrong. She instinctively withdrew Starshatterer and began one large slash near the leg that this thing was clinging onto... only to note that this so called "water" revealed itself to be more globule in nature than it first appeared, which would explain why it had taken Basia more effort to slash through it. Then it hit her; this wasn't a pool of water at all. It was a pool off slimes and, almost in response to some of their kind being hacked at, they immediately clambered their way up Basia's body in an effort to drown her. In hindsight, this was probably why the random suit of armor was sitting in the middle of the room. In all likelihood, this armor was worn by a previous adventurer who'd found this room and was, equally likely, too distracted by the gold and silver strewn across the room to notice the slimes crawling over him until it was too late. However, Basia suddenly had a different thought in mind...
 
'Great, now I'm stuck in my very own hentai scene of all things!' Basia growled as this came to mind, 'This cave is starting to get on my nerves...'
 
She had to react quickly however. As the slimes inched closer and closer to her face, Basia noticed most of them were all over her kimino with about four or five in total still clinging to her legs. She shuddered at the thought of having to do this but, seeing no other option, she jumped upward, swirled her kimino off of her and threw it away with all her might, taking all the attached slimes with her. As for the ones still attached to her legs...
 
"Royal Dragon Arising!" Basia somersaulted in the air, kicking twice with enough force to shake the slimes loose before delivering a powerful uppercut to slice them all in half. Grabbing onto one of the stalactites that lined the cave's ceiling, she pushed herself away from the slimes and landed on her feet, just at the edge of the room.
 
"Now to get my kimino back before anyone sees me like this. What have I gotten myself into?" sliding her tail between her legs and covering her breasts with one arm, Basia extended the Starshatterer in front of her and waited for the slimes to make their next move. Although having to sacrifice her modesty so quickly was damaging her pride already.

[Mr. Hyde]

 

The roots from his defensive tree shield had retracted back into the ground slowly.  As the cave came back into view, a more grisly site was there for him to behold.  He had taken the life of the wolf, and Solomon had ended the other wolf's life as well.  Leo gasped quietly...he knew the pollen bombs were effective...but he hadn't wanted the wolves dead.

 

"This was their home...we came in here...and we killed them."  His voice trembled slightly.  "I just wish they wouldn't have attacked us..."  To the wolves, Leo and Solomon must have looked like an easy meal...and judging by their limb bodies, it seemed as if they hadn't had a good one in quite some time.  Leo lay down beside the wolf who's face was marked with blast burns.  "I am so sorry."

 

He picked himself up as he saw Solomon walking towards him from the other enclave where the first wolf had approached them.  He wondered what that was all about.

 

"Well...she we continue down the other path?  I'm not sure I want to find out where that other wolf came from..."  Leo turned away from the other tunnel, and started heading down the tunnel the wolf had not appeared from.  He didn't wait for Solomon...he was still out of it.  

[Yui]

---

Something was wrong with this apple...the texture wasn't right. Was it? Was it not? She wasn't sure. Some part of her said it was fine, but another part was saying this apple didn't taste right. It wasn't long after that she dropped the apple.

 

Reshifu felt sick, like she could throw up at any moment. The festival around her seemed to be faring far worse than Reshifu's stomach, however. Shapes were shifting, colors were changing, there were bright flashing lights, and people were turning into absurd caricatures that looked like somebody had hastily scribbled them into the world. She felt anxious, paranoid; things she didn't usually feel. Whoever was screwing with her big night would be beaten into something beyond a bloody pulp, Reshifu vowed, as she took wobbly and disoriented steps through what was quickly becoming a brightly-colored nightmare. She kept trying to step around scenery that wasn't there, or throw a punch at one of the scribble-people if she thought one was trying to touch her, only for there to not be any person(?) there at all.

 

And in the midst of it, one person looked like an actual person. He was out of place, and clearly wasn't a resident of the Jade Islands, but Reshifu swore he looked familiar. One closer inspection and feeling like she'd actually throw up for the third time later, she figured out who she was looking at. The boy's name was Neru, wasn't it? She knew his name and his face at least, but...who was he anyway? Even though she knew who he was, Reshifu couldn't remember meeting him even once. Now, while she'd been taught wisdom was an important thing growing up, Reshifu's teachings didn't go in depth as to how wisdom should be applied. On-the-spot critical thinking wasn't her strong suit. As a result, Reshifu had concluded that this Neru boy was the cause of...whatever was happening.

 

With a huff and a grunt of anger, Reshifu charged, fist reared back, intent on making good on her mental vow to beat this boy into a bloody pulp.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

Gabriel stared at the strange figure, trying to discern what they were doing there. Her mother and sister were talking to him, seemingly getting increasingly agitated that he wasn't paying attention to them. Their voices sort of blurred in Gabriel's mind. That is, until her mother said a single sentence. "Wait until your dad gets home."

Gabriel paused, and slowly turned to look at her. Who...were these people? Memories swarmed to Gabriel's mind. He started to notice details, or rather, lack of details. These weren't people....they were what Gabriel remembered about his mother's appearance, and what he assumed his sister would look like, were she alive.

The mention of Gabriel's father started a fire in his heart. He got to his feet, and glared at the two. "I don't know who you are, but you're going to leave me alone right now." He ignored their attempts to explain, and watched as they started to blur and waver.

And then something shoved him. He turned to look and saw an arm, a human arm, attached to...something he couldn't quite make out. He grabbed the arm suddenly and everything started to snap into place. He could see walls, cave walls, and two people. The area they were in was large, spacious, but with a somewhat low roof. Small mushrooms, the same he had seen in the vision, were scattered across the floor and seemed to be emanating some kind of spore. Bodies were laying all over, seemingly drained of all fluids, but with a ghastly smile on their faces. There was a strange feeling on his neck as something was suddenly removed from it. He glanced to the side and noticed a hideous, bulbous, mushroom on the wall, with dozens of thin, waving, tendrils coming off of it.

"So that's it then. Tsk, as if something like that can stop me." He released a pair of chains, crashing them into the wall on either side of the large mushroom, and pulled himself towards it, sword flaring into his hand and cutting across the beast, which then let out a strange groaning noise.

 

Meanwhile the girl with Neru would be shrieking at him, in a weirdly distorted voice, while he touched Gabriel. The moment he did, the boy's body seemed to become clearer. With that he would notice how much more detailed Gabriel was than everyone else...but that revelation would be interrupted as he got punched across the face, by Reshifu.

 

This attack would snap both of them back into the present, just in time for them to notice Gabriel attack a giant mushroom on the wall. Once he did, they felt a sting on their necks as tendrils withdrew themselves from their necks and rushed back to the writhing fungus. They were now back to normal, though Reshifu would find that she was still having rather unusual and colorful visions and a strong urge to hurl.

---

The slimes reacted quickly to Basia's clothing landing in their horde. They immediately began to cover it, trying to devour some small scrap where they could. That didn't mean they ignored Basia herself, however. The group was now stirring and active, and they were driven by a desire to eat. And so they started surging forward, covering the walls and ceiling of the tight tunnel that led out of their nest, surrounding the young lady. A couple of them dropped onto her suddenly, ignoring the sword in her hand.

---

Once Solomon made his way down the shorter of the two paths, if they had any sense of smell, they'd be assaulted by the smell of decay and disease. Upon reaching the end of the makeshift den the wolf made, they'd find that there were three young wolf pups. Or rather, they used to be. All that was there now were a trio of long dead bodies, clearly having been killed by some sort of magic or disease. Bits of rotting food were laid around their bodies, indicating that the wolves had continued to try and feed them after death.

If he went down the other path where the second wolf emerged from he would find nothing but a horde of food, some of it rotten, but a decent amount still edible. There were several dead bodies among the pile, including what seemed to be humans. They all had basic supplies on them, as well as a few coins and a small portion of a map.

---

As Leo continued on he would start hearing noises. A child laughing, heavy footsteps running, a quick sob silenced by something immediately. Small, barely noticeable, noises. The strange part of is was that it seemed to be coming from the immediate area, and yet no one was there. The tunnel continued for a short while before it branched, one tunnel continuing on to a small, tight, tunnel that had another long dead wolf laying in it, and the other heading south. There was an intense feeling of strangeness and pressure down this tunnel, and an odd fog clung to the ground.

[spoiler=Map]

 

[cardgameking]

Solomon was too preoccupied by a strange scent to notice Leo's shaken voice, and didn't notice him heading down the western path, but continued to the first wolf's den. The scent was unlike anything Solomon had ever smelt before, and was intoxicating. As he walked toward the alcove, he tried ignoring it, but the smell only grew stronger. When he reached the nest in the alcove, he kicked his way through the dirt and wood it was composed of, but couldn't find the source of the smell.

"Well, this was a waste-" he began to mutter, when he felt his foot squish into something. Lip curling, he looked down, expecting to find he had stepped in the wolf's waste, but instead found he's stepped on a hunk of meat. "Why didn't the wolf eat this?" he wondered. Kneeling down to investigate further, he was suddenly struck by a sharp increase in the smell''s strength. Looking up, he saw a few dead wolf cubs, rotting slightly. Solomon's stomach turned, not out of disgust or pity... but out of hunger. I haven't eaten in months he realised. Unconsciously, he began to reach for the nearest cub, before pulling his hand away. What am I doing? Eating rotten flesh, like some kind of animal! Deeply disturbed, Solomon climbed to his feet and left the enclave, haunted by what he had nearly done and the scent of the cubs' flesh. 

"Where's Leo gone?" It was good the bee wasn't there to see Solomon bewitched by that smell, but his absence was worrying. He had probably gone down one of the two paths, but the fact he had done so without alerting Solomon seemed out of character for the timid insectoid. Turning to consider his options, Solomon stared at the two paths. He had meant to go down the path where the second wolf came from, but he was afraid it'd be a repeat of the alcove, except he may not be able to control himself. That left the empty path, and Solomon began to hurry down this one. He'd explain himself to Leo when he got to him, minus the part about the scent, and they'd head deeper into the cave together. "If he is still alive, of course," Solomon pessimistically mumbled. 

[Mr. Hyde]

 

As Leo made his way down the tunnel path he had chosen, he had noticed the lack of a companion along the way.  Solomon was no where to be seen, and Leo discovered that he had traversed down this long cavern tunnel by himself.  

 

"Uh...Solomon?"  His whispered echoed down the long corridor.  He trembled slightly.  However, he moved on.  When he came  upon another fork in the path, he almost blew a little bee fuse.  One path had another dead wolf, while the south path seemed the only way to go.  "This cave is awful!  Truly awful!"  He stomped his little bee feet on the ground, as it made slightly any impact on the dirt that he stood upon.  "So many twists!  So many turns!  I've lost all my guildmates!  And who knows what hardships they may face or are facing at this moment...and I can't help any of them..."  It was then that Leo started to hear faint noises around him.  Children giggling slightly, and the light pitter-patter of footsteps could be heard slightly.  

 

"W-who's there!"  Leo stuttered.  On instinct, his stinger revealed itself, and it started to glow dimly.  

 

All these noises could be heard emanating from the south path.  He didn't know why, but his whole body ushered him towards that path.  Against all forms of reason, he decided to follow his instinct and trekked further into the southern path.  

 

"S-solomon should know I'm heading down here...after all...I think it's the only path he'd be able to go down."  Fear started to settle in.  What if Solomon had went down the other path...and what if that path also diverged into three others.  The thought made him dizzy, as if the cave could be multiplying it's tunnels through sheer ill will.  This was quite the tizzy for his first quest as a wizard...would he prove brave enough to complete it?

 

He wondered this as he went further down the southern path.

[Yui]

---

The punch had done it. Reshifu was back to reality, but still not feeling her best. She wasn't even sorry she'd had to punch somebody she'd only just met today, either. It was completely worth it. When she'd been brought back to the real world and not some happy-fluffy make-believe crap, she felt a distinct sting in her neck again, similar to the one she'd felt earlier. Turning to find the source revealed Gabriel, and...some giant ugly mushroom up on the wall. Like the ugly ones from her hallucination, but uglier. So that was the source of all this then.

 

Well then. Reshifu had made a promise, and if there was one redeeming quality to her, it was honesty. She'd beat that mushroom into something even the worms couldn't eat.

 

The problem was reaching it. She could jump and hit it, but aerial combat wasn't really her strong suit. She was more used to standing her ground, not standing her air. Desperate times called for desperate measures, apparently. Slamming her right foot into the ground in front of her as though to aggressively start a running race, Reshifu began charging forward toward the wall. She ran and she ran, until she was closing in on the mushroom. And then, she hopped briefly, then kicked hard at the ground beneath and behind her, launching toward the mushroom feet-first. Her feet came in closer and closer, intent on delivering a great and mighty kick straight into the fungus that had been causing all these problems.

[Alaina]

As Neru placed his hand on the shoulder of the male who went by "Gabriel," or at least he thought he did, everything around him seemed to start distorting. Sepia, or who he had thought was Sepia, seemed to start making grating, screeching noises, ones that no human would obviously be able to produce. And while the world around him seemed to start becoming less clear, more surreal and overall like it was just some kind of projection,  the person he had touched, and had subsequently gotten his arm grabbed by, seemed to become more distinct. As Gabriel became more defined and detailed, as opposed to the world around him, Neru started to have some sort of realization about what was going on. His memories of where he had been were coming back and it was this point he realized that they probably in some sort of illu-

 

Neru's train of thought was cut short as something struck him square in the face. As the sudden, unexpected impact struck his face, the world around him shattered into a more familiar cavern setting. While there was definitely a stinging sensation coming from his neck, he hadn't quite noticed it as his off balance body fell onto the cavern floor. With the pain spreading throughout the side that hit floor, the one on his face seemed to linger more strongly than the others. Looking up, he had noticed what the original impact was, most likely belonging to the fist of Reshifu who had punched him...for some reason. Rubbing the struck cheek, he took note of the heft and weight behind her punch, and was only slightly disappointed that, due to the unexpected nature of it, he was not able to tell what the feel of her hand was. Nevertheless, what he got was good enough for him.

 

Standing up, Neru looked around and saw just what the illusion was caused by. The writhing fungus that appeared to be all around, the ones he had seen in the dreamlike state he had been in, were scattered across the cavern floor alongside the bodies of what was most likely their victims. Then, there was one that had seemed to stand out above all of them. A giant mushroom with a small array of tentacles that seemed to be writhing about was most likely the immediate threat to deal with. As such, Neru rushed alongside Reshifu, though rather than attacking, he stopped himself a bit away from the creature. He only had close range combat to rely on, and getting in close while those two brutes were fighting didn't seem like the most ideal of situations. As such, Neru simply hung back, paying attention to his surroundings and comrades, ready to put a barrier up for any one who might have needed it at the moment.       

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

"Illusion Lotus!" Basia made a flurry of graceful but ferocious slashes against the slimes that thought they could get the jump on her, cutting the lot of them into quite literally a million pieces. For someone who'd feel vulnerable enough without being surrounded by these cursed things, the Gyhanid samurai was doing well for herself. But she had to weigh her options. On the one hand, making a tactical retreat back through the tunnel she came through would force the slimes to try and go through a choke point, which would give Basia an infinitely easier time against them. Though if either Solomon or Leo would return from their tunnel exploration and stumble upon a completely undressed Basia, she'd be too traumatized to maintain the will to fight. Then again, going in to fetch her kimino first would only lead Basia into an ambush, though if she were to make it through unscathed, then her morale would be boosted tenfold. Those were the two options that had presented themselves.

Seeing as she didn't know how long her mentality would last while she was trying to fight these things naked, Basia decided that she wanted to get her kimino back before she made her tactical retreat. Sure enough, there were plenty of slimes to cover the whole thing and try to eat what they could off it. But Basia was having none of that. She immediately performed a second Royal Dragon Arising, blowing away all of them except the slime that she'd stepped on which in turn kept her kimino in place, and then put all her weight into the foot that the slime was under. It was rude to believe Basia to be all that heavy, but she weighed more than enough to crush the slime under her foot. She then picked up the kimino and slipped it back on, disregarding the mess on its bottom part for the moment.
 
"Dirty things..." she muttered, but she had no time to wipe any of it off. She had to try and get through that choke point so she could hold the rest of them off...

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The slimes didn't react much to being splattered by Basia. In fact, none of them seemed to have any reaction to anything. It was somewhat eerie the way they almost silently just continued what they were doing. And thus it was impossible for Basia to notice that, while she got her clothes, which still had some slime on them, every slime in the room was converging into the path. And now had created a thick wall of slimes in the tight corridor. They didn't seem to have any intention of moving until someone got near.

---

As Leo got farther along the path, the fog that covered the ground would grow thicker, and a strange pressure could be felt around him. Solomon would notice the same if he continued along this path. The path would continue for a full ten minutes, if they kept the slow and steady pace, and suddenly turn sharply to the right.

However along the wall was an extremely strange sight in a cave. Instead of a rock wall, practically the entire space was taken up by a huge mirror. If one was paying attention they'd be able to notice that the fog seemed to be coming from inside the mirror.

Suddenly whoever was looking at it would hear more and more voices. Distorted, almost as if they were speaking backwards. There was clearly some kind of magic going on here. Magic that at once felt dangerous, and intriguing.

---

The fungus let out a strange keening sound as Gabriel's sword cut into it a second time, and Reshifu drop-kicked the thing. "My kind of woman!" Gabriel called out with a grin. Reshifu would find her foot going through the mushroom cap, and into some kind of goopy substance, which proceeded to cause any skin that wasn't covered on her foot to itch and burn.

The giant fungus fell off of the wall and onto the ground with a sickening plop. As it did its tendrils shot out at Gabriel and Reshifu. Gabriel was able to slice several of them but a couple were still on track for scoring a hit. It seemed clear, however, that the fungus wasn't going to last much longer under their assault. Unless they didn't manage to stop its counter-attack, that is.

[spoiler=Map]

 

[Alaina]

Neru stood back a bit and watched as the two companions striking the mushroom, and upon watching Reshifu's kick, he now assured himself that he had indeed chosen the right group to travel with. As their attacks were causing the creature clear pain, it seemed like only a matter of time before it fell. However, not being something that wanted to go down without a fight, it quickly struck at the group with its tendrils. Of course, Neru had seen enough indecent material to know where things would lead if they latched onto Reshifu, and as provocative a thought as that was, he was, of course, not going to allow it to happen. 

 

Before the tendrils would've been able to touch either of his companions a circular wall of light, with some ornate runic design across it, would appear in front of both of them. As it did, the tendrils slammed into the walls, recoiling off of them and giving the duo a good opportunity to go. Dispelling the barriers, he moved closer to the group, creating the same circular walls before the mushroom could finish winding up its next assault, already ready to block it. "All yours," he motioned at the mushroom to the duo, in a nonchalant manner. 

[Mr. Hyde]

 

The cave's hall felt like it was going on forever.  He was feeling pretty tired after the fight with those wolves...it was his first fight so it was to be expected of course.  If it weren't for all the strange noises, and a sort of eerie pressure about the further reaches of the cave, he might've been entitled to a well deserved nap.  His eyes started closing slowly, and his blinking became sluggish as well.  At one moment, the entire hallway was flooded with a thick fog.

 

"So strange...what is this cave supposed to be?  A portal to another realm?"  

 

Leo kept on going, walking at a leisurely pace.  He only sped up slightly once he heard a strange noise emanating from deeper within.  It had been some time before the scenery started to shift.  The walls of the cave started to glimmer, and cast a reflection.  Walking up to one of the aforementioned walls, he placed his hand upon the surface.  An infinite reflection caught his hand, and another mirror like wall on the opposite side of the hall.

 

"What....is going on in here."  Voices could clearly be heard echoing now.  Some weird dialect made the words sound like they were being said in reverse.  Looking to the ground, he could clearly see the fog moving in from the other side of the mirror.  Whatever was going on, there was an air of danger afoot.  However, he couldn't help but be intrigued.  This was indeed the work of some type of magics.

 

"I can't trace this origin...maybe if I just..."  Leo moved further down the cave hall.  

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

In hindsight, Basia shouldn't have really been surprised by the slimes' actions when they all coagulated themselves and made a near impenetrable wall right inside the choke point that she had wanted to fight them in. On the plus side, they actually gave Basia plenty of time to recover her strength... and in that respect, defeating the purpose of trapping one inside a specific area to begin with. She immediately set to finding the heaviest thing she could find...

 

...which just so happened to be the armor that was lying in the middle of where the slimes had previously vacated. Perfect. Basia immediately set to heaving the armor over her shoulder. Once she got close enough, she threw the armor at the slimes' numbers with all her might. That should've crushed quite a few of them, which would thin them down so Basia didn't have to fight as many. But the main purpose of the action was to disperse the slimes and give her the chance to force her way past them and fight them on the other side where she had all the advantage. It would be better to kill them then where she had the advantage, before returning to Leo and Solomon.

[cardgameking]

---

Solomon marched with his back ramrod straight down the path, hoping that it would take his mind off things. The path seemed fairly normal, with no wolves or dead bodies along the way, especially not Leo's, which Solomon was glad for. What did catch his eye, however, was a coin on the ground. Something about it made him take pause and decide to take a closer look. Reaching down to pick it up, he almost felt his heart beat.

"By hell..." he mumbled, stunned. The coin, while not from his own kingdom, was the kind used by a neighbouring one, which had been overrun by the enemy. However, the coin didn't seem nearly old enough. Which means, he thought, turning it over in his hands, which might just mean- Solomon stopped turning the coin over for a minute, before giving a huff of disgust. Emblazoned on the coin, in capital letters, were the words "REPLICA". Cursing, he tossed it on the ground and continued on his way.

In his anger, Solomon didn't notice the growing fog, or pressure and marched head regardless, looking for Leo. It was only after a few minutes that he did realise, and when he did he cursed once more, loudly. Taking his spear from his back once more, Solomon got into the ready position and began to move forward carefully, wary of attack. He continued until he reached the wall, and stared at the reflection back at him. Mirrors, it seemed, were still rare enough in the future and the one in the inn had been small and he had ignored it. However, here... He could see himself in all his grisly, dishonoured glory. Snarling, Solomon raised his arm with the shield attached, and brought it down to smash hard on the mirror before him

---

[Yui]

---

Reshifu's feet pierced through the cap of the wretched fungus, only to find itself covered in some disgusting goop. Whatever it was...her feet were itching and burning. Talk about uncomfortable. This thing really didn't have any redeeming qualities, did it? All it was good at was annoying people or putting them in sappy dreams. Tentacles shot out from the thing as she and Gabriel (who seemed to like her approach to the mushroom problem) watched it hit the ground. Gabriel seemed to have his under control with that sword, and Reshifu was prepared to grab them and rip them, but barriers appeared between her and the tendrils.

 

"All yours."

 

Reshifu looked behind her to see the other boy. Oh yeah, he existed. Seemed he was good for something here after all. Now then, the mushroom. Reshifu didn't want any more of that crap inside it on her, but she didn't want to get her sword dirty just to kill such a thing. Sadly, she couldn't think of any method to deal with this mushroom without getting it on her. She'd just have to deal with it. She was already dealing with this goop on her legs, so it would probably be best to just keep the stuff restricted to her legs so that it was easier to wash off later.

 

Reshifu stepped up to the disgusting mushroom, and lifted one leg up. It remained suspended in the air for a moment before slamming downward onto the thing, with a mighty slamming sound that echoed throughout the room. This thing needed to die already.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

As Basia tried to go through the slimes she would make it halfway through before she’d find them grasping at her, attempting to pull her apart, she’d have to put a large amount of force just to push past them. If she managed to muster that much strength, she’d end up on the other side....where the slimes didn’t move from their spot. They just clung to the wall, forming a wall of gelatinous monsters. Seemingly waiting for someone, or something, to approach.

---

Once Leo placed his hand on the mirror he would feel a strange dampness and chill, but nothing else. As he turned to move however the mirror rippled.

Soon afterwards Solomon would appear, and attempt to attack the mirror. As his shield was just about to make contact, a clawed hand reached out through the mirror and grasped it tight.
With extreme strength, the shield would be thrown into the far wall. If Solomon kept hold of it he too would be tossed into the wall.

Emerging from the mirror was a demonic creature. Only the upper half of the body extended from the mirror, and a small bit of what seemed to be a tail. This still left it at a bit over five foot of monster.

It opened its maw wide and shot out a stream of boiling, pressurized, water, heading straight for Leo.

---

As Neru’s barrier stopped the fungus’ attack short, Gabriel called back to him. “Nice going, looks like you’ve got some usefulness after all.”
The fungus let out a shrieking noise as Reshifu stomped on it, spraying foul gunk in the air, and then seeming to wither away. Gabriel stepped forward and slashed his sword across the dying thing again, and again, a kind of excitable rage in his attack, until the fungus stopped moving.

Taking a step back, Gabriel grinned at his companions. “Well that was fun, wasn’t it?” He looked around the room. “Doesn’t look like there’s much here. We can’t have that, can we? Turning up empty handed after all that?” Gabriel approached the smaller fungi, and looked closely. “Seems these spores only work once. Maybe it’s a time thing. Don’t know, don’t care, but maybe these buggers are worth something.” He slashed at the fungus, and started collecting them in a bag. After tying it up and to his belt, he stood and smiled. “Now that the gardening is done, let’s get going, shall we?”

He didn’t wait for an answer and strode confidently out of the cavern, heading for the other pathway they had left unexplored.

The path was wide, and fairly long, but Gabriel hurried along at a quick pace, eager to distance himself from that smelly fungus from before. Only to find themselves at a dead end.
Though, strangely, they all would hear voices. They were faint but they were clearly saying something. Cries of “help” and “stay away” and “it hurts” sounded off. And, at the very end of the path, a small grey light shone.
As Gabriel approached, a figured formed. A nondescript, faceless, human shape. “The reflection.” It chanted. “The reflection.” It seemed upset, and hopeless, but as the others got closer it seemed to sense them. It stopped talking suddenly, and seemed to stare with no eyes, doing nothing.

[spoiler=Map and some info]

"Medicinal" Shrooms. Besides being nasty looking decorations, for all your creepy garden needs, these fungi have powerful hallucinatory effects. If swallowed they will induce a short, but intense, hallucination followed by several hours of stomach pains. However if cooked correctly they can be used as a defense against mental attacks. The spores they produce can be collected into a powder that, when inhaled, produces a prolonged hallucination.

 

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

It looked like the slimes weren't forced back quite enough, but Basia managed to get half way through the wall that they had made... and that was just with her physical strength alone. There was no doubt that she could make it the rest of the way through if she could weaken the molecular structures of the slimes' bodies in any way, shape of form, even if it was just a small amount. And she had just the weapon and the technique to do so.
 
"Spider Slash," Basia made a myriad of small cuts across the slimes in front of her, inching forward as she did so. The slimes could no longer provide resistance and, sure enough, she slipped her way through the wall of slimes with some effort. The slimes coagulated again just as Basia made it to the other side, and she considered turning around and continuing to hack at the slimes from a safe distance. But she realized one thing; she was getting tired of fighting these worthless things, and without any magic, she had no way of clearing them terribly quickly. So she left them there to guard the treasure room, and made her way to the others.
 
...
 
As she traveled, she had found a couple of dead wolves. What those were doing in a place like this, she didn't know; as far as she was aware, wolves often preferred the outdoors so that they'd have plenty of space to hunt their prey. But Basia kept walking down the path that Solomon and Leo had already taken and, after going straight near the end, turning to her right and continuing until the path forced her hand, she found herself staring at... her own reflection?
 
"This can't be right; there shouldn't be..." she was about to say that a wall shouldn't be able to cast a reflection like it had. But then Basia saw that, since this whole time she was fighting through the wall of slimes, her kimino had slowly but surely loosened up as she moved, and was now at a state that looked as though Basia threw it on half-assedly. A bit much skin could be seen as a result. Screaming, Basia rushed to tighten the kimino back up to its normal state, before taking the time to calm herself. Swearing this discipline training that her sensei put her through was going to be the end of her, Basia nervously continued on...
 
...and bolted the moment she heard a clang of metal. Sure enough, this was the sound of Solomon being knocked back by a strange monster that was beginning to emerge from a mirror of all things, and that had now turned its attention to Leo. It shot a stream of water at the insectoid, but before it could meet its mark...
 
"GET DOWN!!" Basia tackled Leo, the collision driving the both of them away from the pressurized stream of what looking to be boiling water; realizing that could have scalded Leo badly, Basia quickly rose to her feet and, while extending her free hand towards Leo, kept Starshatterer in front of the emerging monster.
 
"Are you alright?" she asked the fallen insectoid, before turning attention towards the monster that attacked him, "And... what do we have, here?"

[cardgameking]

---

Solomon slammed into the wall, and landed on his knees with a grunt. The throw had had a lot of strength behind it, but not enough to put him out of the fight. Not even close to being nearly enough Solomon told himself, hissing as he rose to take a look at his foe. He hadn't gotten a good glance at the time- just a flash of green and muscular arms. Before he could take a good look, a shout came from the other side of this cavern/  

"GET DOWN!!"

It seemed that the wolf woman- Basia- had returned from her foray down the side tunnel, and with a great sense of timing too. She tackled Leo, putting him out of the way of a... jet of water? Judging by the way steam came off it as it hit the wall, that would have been enough to disfigure or maim the bug for life. Thankfully, Basia had arrived saving the bug, and reuniting the trio. Morale lifted slightly, Solomon turned to examine their foe and was not disappointed.

"Which of the hells did that climb out of?" he asked, examining his first demon. While not all of it could be seen, it appeared to have a serpentine body and a deceptively slight frame hid the massive strength within. Its green scales contrasted with some sort of blue fin on the back, and its face was covered in teeth and tusks. It seemed content to watch them for now, which gave Solomon time to come up with a plan.

 "And... what do we have, here?"

"If I was a guessing man, proof of several religions," Solomon replied, slightly sarcastically. In truth, the demon resembled nothing he'd ever heard from the various priests he had met over his lifetime, which was worrying as most demons priests described came with nice, easy to find, weaknesses.

He gave the cavern another look. It was big enough for them to fight unhindered, but co-ordination would be made difficult thanks to the fog, mirror and the secretive whispers in the background. Thinking about the mirror gave Solomon pause. The creature had come out of the mirror when it was attacked. Was the mirror important to it somehow? Perhaps destroying it would hurt the creature? On the other hand, it may just summon more of the vile beasts. Considering how dangerous the creature appeared, Solomon decided, it was too dangerous to risk making more of them appear. It was best to deal with the first one instead of taking the risk of getting swarmed. Turning round to the others, he resolutely told them his plan

"I'll take it head on. Make sure Leo is alright, then back me up. This thing is stronger than it looks, so stay out of its grasp and avoid anything that comes out of its mouth, so some long range support would be nice." 

Having issued instructions thusly, Solomon readied his spear and charged at his opponent, with his spear and eerie silence.