Part 10: Colchis and the Slime Pit

Update 09 – Colchis and the Slime Pits

Before I begin, I want you all to know that this update consisted of 296 images before I started to trim them down in the face of writing the update. I ended with 189. This one will be big.



"Well, this is – or was – Colchis. Wonder what it was like?"

"Maybe there are survivors hidden in town, waiting for rescue!"

"Keep dreaming."

"I will! Thanks!"

"I see movement in town, it looks like the Slimes are present."



"Good eye."

"How do these things see anyways?"

"Perhaps we should ask that woman back in Krizsan, or see if the people who are doing studies in Fort Exile have a clue."

"Emergence, Matthias. Not Exile. Exile is where we came in, remember?"

"Please don't conflate a slip of the tongue with an implication for dementia."



"Slimes everywhere, but they're just reacting to our presence, not actively hunting."



"Not a big dock. I think Silvar is the primary port on this river."




"Whoever this was, died trying."



"Nothing on the bookshelf."





"I haven't seen this much destruction since Cotra."

"I know what you mean. I was in the first wave of people to try and restore the city after the Empire withdrew."

"I was the one who found where the attack was staged, and hit it in return."

"I hear we burned down the first town they built in Exile in retribution soon after. Seems petty to me, targetting civilians like that."

"I assure you, there were more soldiers than civilians in Harston, and I gave the civilians warning before I got that fire started."






"The only reason I can think of that this is still here is because the Slimes thought they were rocks."



"It's a poor design choice when these things are so easy to disrupt with Fireball."



"Hey! I told you there were hidden rooms!"



“Except there's no way anyone could be alive in there!”



“Oh.”

This spirit seems to be struggling to remain in this place. It wavers and warps, and it so unstable you can't tell anything about its shape.

"Who are you?"

"Not important. Must help you."

“What are you doing here?”

The words are a whisper. It is clearly struggling to form them. "Help you."

“Very well. How can you help us?”

Its speech trickles out, one pained word after another. "Your foes are strong, and you are the only force up here to battle them. I wish to give you aid, but can do little. I made this room to wait for you. I have found gifts."

“What are these gifts?”

It wavers. "Two things are hidden in this ruin, one in the pillar, one in the anvil. They can make one of you an avatar against the slimes. Now I must depart, before I am discovered."

“Discovered? By who?”

It tries to say something else, but fades away. You are left alone in the room.



“It said 'up here', like it was understanding of Exile.”

“What does it mean, 'as an Avatar'? I know of that spell, but if we need that power, we are sorely outclassed.”

“...”

“It's not like it matters.”

“I remember seeing a pillar in the room with the book case.”

“I wonder how they knew about Exile, if he died before he came up?”

* * *



“I see the anvil – or one of them anyways.”

“Clearing out the slimes.”

“You young kids, never giving a chance for your Elders to shine. But it's clear now. Let's have a closer look.”



“I have no idea what this does.”

“We can work on figuring that out later. For now though, someone should put it on.”

“What? Put on random equipment, just like that?”



“I think that's the worst of the Slimes in town taken care of. Let's go get that pillar.”




“Feels tingly.”

“Are you going to touch everything we find?”

“Yes?”

“Well, I've figured them out.”



“The helm prevents the person from falling asleep, while the necklace exudes a chemical counter-agent to deal with the Slime's acid.”

“And knowing that the slime creation pits are covered in fumes that cause drowsiness, it seems like a good option.”

“Except for the part where you or I can toss a fireball at it from a safe distance.”

“Art gets them!”

“What? Wait. Why?”

“You're the leader!”

“That's a stupid explanation, and you know it.”



“Even the road has been eaten away. It'll take weeks, or months for this to get restored.”



“According to the map, this valley should lead to the Slime Pit.”




“Of course there would be guards.”



“Still just as vulnerable to Fire.”

“Assuming they cooperate in lining up.”








“Go west, here.”





“Ugh! So many Mauve Slimes. At least their magical powers aren't great. Sass is as good as them.”

“Thanks!”





“We're here. Rest up, then we make our move.”




“Let there be light!”




“This is not good for my constitution.”




“Behind!”

“Ahead!”



“Burn them all!”

“With pleasure!”

“Seriously. Is there something about casting spells that gives people a god-complex?”

“I don't have one!”

“Nether do I!”

“I'm too old to have one. Can I have a youth complex instead?”





“Well, we're clear.”

“Large, open area. Lots of smaller side passages. If it weren't for the ichor, this would be just like home!



“There is not enough Fire in the world to purge this place.”



“You haven't seen quickfire in action.”

“I've heard of it, and being aware of what it does it part of the training for all members of Unspecified Services.”



“Really? Huh, must have happened after I retired then.”



“We'll come back to this later.”

“But the source has to be further underground!”

“We also need to reconnoitre the rest of this section of caves first.”



“Like, you wouldn't want these slimes to sneak up behind us, would you?”

“No...”



“You can't be serious.”

“What? It's food!”

“Rations that were inside a slime!”

“I have to agree with her. If it couldn't eat it, how can we?”



“Ugh... dead bodies...”



“Clear it out.”



“Sorry, this place is getting to me.”

Believe it or not, Matthias is going to have his disease trigger so many times in this dungeon that it stopped being funny. I spent more SP on him than I did on killing the enemies.



“Careful with the bodies. We don't know what sort of condition they're in.”



This notice means that everyone in the party just got Diseased. I wasn't about to tolerate that, so I reloaded my previous save. It's always the same bodies that do this, so I'll mark them down when I get around to the First Great Map Update.



“Ugh! What's that?”

“A Slime ZOMBIE?”

“What horror is this? How? Why?”



“It must have come from down there.”

“We can come back later.”



“Oh no!”



Reload.



“I feel like we just avoided a very bad result there.”



“We can slip through these rocks.”



My mind is blown – an actual, honest to Vogal three tile Secret Passage! An Exile First!




“Explains the webbing we pushed through – it was to keep the Slimes away.”

“They have some nice stuff.”



“I'll take the powder and potion. The former will keep my sickness at bay for a while.”

“And I'll ditch the sword. Glad to see someone marked it as cursed.”



“No way through this, and I don't have the skill to take it down.”

“We'll come back later then.”



“!!!”

“NO!”



“Nothing back here anyway.”



“Oh! We should Scry that zombie thing!”



2 x 2d5 attacks can be dangerous, but on a foe so fragile at this point, it's not that bad.



“They blow up nice!”




“Do we really want to go where the mindless Slimes don't?”

“Yes.”




Oh frak me. Causes Disease? That's just mean!



“That thing is HUGE!”



And it spits acid. Please note that this Scrying happened after I had beaten down on it for a couple turns, including a few Fireballs. Art is standing in front of it, drawing Aggro, and depending on the Basic Necklace to keep the Acid away, even as it's eating at Matthias.







“That's it? I suppose the Slug was keeping the Slimes away, being able to dissolve them and all that.”

“Yes, but that took a lot out of us. We should get out of here and rest up.”

“Agreed.”



Damned Disease not triggering a pause in the rest. Thankfully it only cursed him, then gave him a level of Dumbfounding which won't affect his spellcasting.



“What's this?”



“I think these runes keep the Slimes away.”



“Curious, those two upper buttons roughly correspond to the two entrances to the lower caverns to the north east we found. I wonder if there is some correlation?”

“Well, I just pressed the one in the upper-right, so we can go check!”

The joys of having certain solutions memorized, years after playing this game last.



“So, what happens if we're wrong about the panel?”

“We keep looking around the top floor.”




“Fireballs!”





“Well done.”




“This is restorative.”




“We should remember this is here.”



“Hey! Wanna bet that button I pressed opened the gate?”

“I actually wouldn't be surprised.”




“Allow me.”

“No, you got to destroy the one Jordan made. I got this one.”






“There were five buttons. Five pits we need to destroy?”

“Sounds about right. You two up for burning things?”



“Well, that may happen sooner than you think – there's a back way out of here.”




“And blocked off.”



“Pressing Second Button!”



“I think he's right.”



“Oh joy. Gauntlets.”



“Well, I stand here, and the Slimes come closer, letting those two have their own fun.”




“Hold on!”




If you're really needing help, there's this Empire Archer who can wipe the floor with the Slimes in the room – assuming he wanders over to them.



They can also take everything we can dish out at this point – I don't have enough magic to bring one down.



“Um.. He's not hostile to us. Let's just keep going forward.”



Not pictured: Multiple Slimes sliced, diced and blown up.



“My turn.”

“So, I get the next one then?”

“I think this is getting a little easier as well – less Slimes every time we take out one of these pits.”

“But there's still those sounds. And three more buttons, and whatever is behind that barrier back there.”

“We'll just blow them all up!”

“I like the way you think.”

* * *



“I wonder what happens when I hold the button?”

“I am more concerned that we don't know where the other three access points are. We'll need to explore some more.”



“It would have to be this way, won't it?”

“Sure, but left, right, or straight ahead?”

“I sense power from the left. We should go that way.”




“See?”



It's just flavor – these four Slimes aren't really regaining strength, they're locked in place by no-pass tiles.



“I'm sorry, I seem to have run out the Cleansing Powder – this place is very bad for my health.”





“Curious, is this where the Slimes first came from?”




“Here, let me get that.”




“Curious. Everyone, look around.”



“Plenty of material here, including spare arcane robes – or at least, they look like it. Any magic in them is long gone.”



“A horrible caricature of Nephil society, and Adventuring 101.”

“So, what's in this back room then? More Adventurers?”




“AAAA!”

Let's see what he does...



HE DRAINS EXPERIENCE! KILL! KILL!



“Alright, that could have been worse.”

“A little over-reacting to a single Wight?”

“In close quarters? Sure. I worry about all undead.”



“This book is well preserved.”



“But I can't make heads or tails of this.”

Come back when the party has sufficient Mage Lore.

“We'll come back to that later.”









“Ugh... I'll kill it.”



“The Slimes were attempting to merge with the living creatures? Were not the dead enough?!?”





“...”





“We find the source of this infestation, and we slaughter it!”

“Agreed. I wouldn't wish that fate even on my enemies.”



“Found the way down.”





“I've seen this before.”

“The part where the dead rise up behind us to trap us in a confined space and try to overwhelm us?”

“Isn't that a standard training module?”



And thus, a bunch of Slime Zombies got beaten down.



“I think it's your turn, Matthias?”



“And another one down.”



“And another blocked passage.”






“We are getting out of here as soon as possible.”

* * *



“The fourth location should be around here...”



“OW!”

“Or not.”



“A bridge is a good sign.”



“Found it!”



“And today's gimmick is a boat ride.”



“As long as we keep the lights out, we can probably sneak past the worst of them.”






So, this particular underground lake is dotted with islands, each of which has a selection of Slimes on it.



However, the exit from the lake is locked behind an island with Ochre Slimes, whose Acid Touch will wreck you in very short order. Thus, the best way to clear this gauntlet is to keep your lights on and island hop, using Fireball or archery to clear out the next island.



Like so.



Oh, and do be careful, Mauve Slimes can stack damage very fast when you have limited space to move.



“My magic is more powerful!”

“That's nice, but I have the energy to deal with the next one.”



* * *




“One last pit.”



“Good, we're almost out of it.”




“This doesn't scream trap at all.”



“No, just constant waves of Mauve Slimes until we reach the far end.”



“Yeah, I see that.”



“Well, might as well use that Energy Potion now.”



“That never gets old.”



“Huh?”



“...”

“Come on, check the walls for passages. Something has to be this way.”



“Found it.”

“No more guards – this one is mine.”




“Five for five, and one last one behind those barriers.”



“Which would be through here...”




“What is that thing?!?!”



Meet our first proper boss fight – the Alien Slime! It's a whole stack off HP, is immune to Poison (of course), and can take a beating like nothing else we've seen so far. But, there's no real gimmick to the fight. It summons Slimes at Random, and is just a pile of HP which Art, Sass and Bronwyn can beat down after time.

“DIE!”



“That thing was not natural. At all. How did it come to be?”

“I... I don't know. Everyone, look around, see if you can find anything about it. Where it came from... something!”



“Relax, there's this side passage here. Ole' Blubbler there couldn't squeeze in, it seems.”



“What do we have here?”



“Someone with an ego, that's who.”

“Make a copy – carefully, then we'll get out of there.”

“I don't hear any more slimes, and the stuff on the walls is starting to flake.”

True to form, with the Alien Beast dead, Slimes will only very rarely spawn now on the over world, and any Slimes attacking the cities stop. I intend – at some point – to demonstrate what happens when you are slow in killing the Slimes, as well as dealing with other plagues. It's Day 9, and the first changes to the towns start on Day 10/11.



“Alright, rest up, and then we head back to Krizsan and the Fort. Try to figure out who or what is behind this.”