Land of Slime

Shiro tried not to jump as a steam fissure vented closer than he was comfortable with, and marveled again at the guide's iron nerves.

The first leg of the journey had been easy with the ancient road that ran past Lasthaven being in relatively good shape for several miles into Slime lands, making progress easy and giving time for Shiro and Ezma to get used to their new gear.

Everything metal or wood had been left behind except a silver rod the guide held out in front of him. Actually most of their normal clothing had been left in storage at the inn too and replaced with a weird fabric that was a mesh as fine as could be woven then plastered with the still living… mixture that seemed to Shiro to be part vine and part algae, which now was grown over all the seams or gaps in the fabric making a one piece garment. The ensemble was completed with glass goggles affixed to a hood and bandana contraption, and was a pain to walk in.

By the time the two of them had gotten used to the arrangement the road had started to get treacherous as steam vents that had not existed when the road had been built flipped the enormous pavement tiles, or just blasted chunks out. Then all the lichens and other hardy, but slippery and sometimes acidic growths forced them to seek clearer trails among the weirdly shaped rock formations that looked more organic than the mosses.

Ezma had explained one night, while everyone lounged before bed in the tent sealed in the same manner as their garments with just a pinch of magic for extra security, that the road had been made by the giants back in the era of the first Champions. Though now only in a few places was it still passible, with those places being mostly on the boarders of modern territories since, for example, if they had been following the road north it would have eventually been in about the same state due to the affects of the Deepwoods as it was here in the steam pits of the Slimes.

As Shiro recovered himself and gave the rest of the group a thumbs up he had to admit that despite the hostile environment there was still a lot of beauty to be had in this land.

Pools of blues more vibrant than the sky, ringed by bright hues of oranges and yellows, terraces of rocks and minerals shaped with almost conscious geometric shapes.

The group was about two days in when they finally reached a slime settlement. Things had been going well until that day, Willow had been using her powers to keep any creature that got to interested distracted. As a white octopus looking creature leapt upon their guide as he passed its hiding place, it quickly became obvious to all why Willow had been unable to deter it or now seize control.

The beast was covered in the cursed purple crystals.

The group launched into combat, Willow manifested her whip of green light and wrapped it around the guide, yanking hm free and spinning him behind Shiro, who placed his shining gold shield between the guide and creature.

Ezma sang out about speed and accuracy as Aspen brought forth a bow of crackling lighting to rain down upon their adversary.

As quick as it began it was over, the land octopus laying still upon the ground.

That is when they emerged, a slime hunting party, some in human form, others in their more amorphous state. Several of the humanoid ones carried little glass boxes and brushes with which they efficiently sought out any particle of the evil purple growth and placed it in a glass box.

"Apologies for the improper reception travelers.' one of the slimes in amorphous shape said in greeting, 'We do our best to keep the paths clear of such pests but alas, lately the madness growths have been spreading faster than ever before. I am Sulfur leader of the road patrol, may we offer you escort the rest of the way?"

Willow smiled gladly "Of course Sulfur, I am Willowlark Beastsoul."

Sulfur quivered with emotion "Oh praise the giants! A champion has finally been freed of the madness! What grand tidings! Does this mean that you seek now to free Thallium?"

"Yes my new friend' Willow replies as the party falls in behind Sulfur 'The great balance has been skewed for to long and we must right it."

With delight the slime lead the party to its village, spreading the word to others they encountered on the way until a grand procession had joined them.

It took Shiro a while to notice in the disorienting mass of movement that many of the slimes were cycling between their humanoid forms and the amorphous blobs. When he realized this he picked one slime at random to observe as close as possible without being rude and discovered that, not only was it swapping between blob and humanoid forms, it was also swapping genders at will and a few times even casually switched which species of humanoid it was.

'How in the world do they tell each other apart?' he wondered to himself. Shiro turned to ask Ezma but before he could she made a tugging motion to her ear. At first he thought it was meant to tell him that she was not able to hear him right now, then as the procession continued he saw that she meant the ears on the humanoid slimes.

Regardless of the humanoid shape they were holding at any given moment they always had an ear chain with three to four shapes hanging from them. Once he saw that he discovered that those shapes stayed present to some degree when they switched to amorphous mode.

With this new knowledge gained the parade reached the village, though village was an awfully strong word. The housing for the slimes consisted of a porous central rock, through the holes and gaps of which the slimes entered and exited at will. The ones in amorphous forms raised no eyebrows as they went about slipping into sometimes close to invisible entrances, it was almost horrific for the mind to reconcile the same maneuver from the ones that maintained shapes that were expected to have bones.

Sulfur led them to an cave that took them down into the slime equivalent of a village commons where giant tardigrades were being tended like live stock and the slimes continued to come in and out of fissures on every available surface, and ushered the group into a cordoned off alcove that was big enough to seat them all comfortably and still have room left over for curtains do be drawn across sleeping areas for privacy.

With the equivalent of a bow Sulfur took his leave with many promises to be back as soon as he could bring the elder.

In the meantime they were all happy to wait in comfort while other slimes brought them bizarre dishes made of fungus and they were able to lounge without the fear of a sudden wind sweeping down death upon them.

After about an hour a slime wearing the shape of a goblin but in a rather translucent manner arrived

"I am Scandium, aid to the Champion, and with how bad things are getting I am very glad to see you."