Totally didn't forget about her. Erm, people in the Dimensional Nexus can come and go as they please, she's probably passed through one of the Archcrystals for an adventure of her own.
Why B first? Negotiations with the Paladin shouldn't take long, and if she's a classical paladin, then she'll have some knowledge of healing and thus be easily coaxed into helping patch up Elene. Leaving us free to find somebody to, eheh, indulge with.
I don't recall what magic, precisely, the Paladin's pendant had... depending on what magic it is, it might be worth trying to renegotiate away from tapping her heirloom for power and instead finding something else she can do for us.
First things first. Care for Elene. She's unconcious on the floor, so you squirm across the ground to the Paladin. She's better able to provide help than you.
"Ah, the slithering scum returns," says the Paladin, looking across at you as you slide closer. "May you rot forever in blistering torment."
You don't have time for this bullshit.
"Can you help me save this woman?"
To her credit, the Paladin pauses for only a second.
"Yes, absolutely."
She strides over to where Elene is lying on the ground, and tuts loudly. Without further comment, she bends down and draws a strange bottle out of one of the folds within her clothes. Dabbing a small amount onto her hands, she starts to rub it gently into Elene's wounds, singing softly as she does so.
Several minutes later, Elene is still unconscious, but there's a bit more colour in her skin and her breathing is calm. The Paladin stands up and admires her work.
"She will live, thanks to the wisdom and benevolence of The Maker."
"Thank you,"
She turns and walks back to her seat by the red Archcrystal without a word.
"Wait!" you call out after her retreating form. "Did you receive the NeverMeltIce I sent back here?"
"That was your work?" She sniffs haughtily. "I thought the Ice had the foul stench of sin around it."
With difficulty you bite back an angry retort. "Do you remember our arrangement?"
"Of course, foul tapeworm of Hell's mighty gut. And though it hurts me bitterly to empower you further, I must be true to my word." She reaches once more into the folds of her cloaks and draws out a shiny metal trinket; different to the pendant you saw before, but powerful in its own way.
"This energy will help you... develop."
A flood of power - not quite energy, but something - flows into you, before the Paladin walks away, turning her back on you once more.
Satisfied, you slither across the dirty floor to the pool of water that surrounds the Blue Archcrystal. In it lies Martha, floating peacefully on its surface.
"Hi," you call out. "What can you tell me about the Knife?"
"Straight to business is it?" She chuckles. "It's the Subtle Knife, and, as you no doubt remember, it can cut through anything. But my readings tell me something else; what it really needs is a wielder. If the right person uses this, they'll be marked, and they'll be able to cut through into different dimensions at will. But it takes a very special kind of person to use this Knife; you or I could use it for cutting all material, maybe, but never for that."
Holy shit. Something to think about.
Your work in the Dimensional Nexus concluded, you slide over to the brand new Green Archcrystal, and press yourself through in the world beyond.
****
Woah... it's hot. That's your first impression. Second is the humidity; it's sticky, overbearing, beating down on you like a cloud. Looking around, you see you're in a dense rainforest; deep green trees spiral into the skies, vines clinging thickly around them, and the sound of birds and insects calling out is deafening. You yourself are in a thick clump of brown, dirty leaf-litter, with the undergrowth green and vibrant all around you.
A quick probe of the immediate environment reveals a few things. Directly ahead of you is a river; wide, fast and you imagine deep, but you could probably swim across it fairly well. To your right is a pit; deep, dark and murky, you can't see what lies in its depths without crawling right in. And from one tree you can hear a bizarre hooting; something not a bird, but almost... ape-like? It's hard to tell.
Which path is the best?
----
Option A) Swim across the river, exploring its bed and the other side.
Option B) Investigate the pit; something interesting is bound to exist in its depths.
Option C) Climb the tree and find out what the hell is causing that hooting. Thrill of the mystery!
The Paladin's pendant power allows you to pick one new Evolution completely free of charge. It can be any of them.
Evolutions:
- Thunder Bolt I (Like Fire Bolt, Thunder element).
- Water Bolt I (...ditto).
- Ovipositor I (Allows you to lay eggs within the orifice of a host. At low levels, these eggs are weak and may not hatch properly. Further upgrades reduces this risk. Each egg costs 10 energy to plant, but the hatched tentacle is autonomous and commanded by you).
- Dread I (Releases pheromones that make organisms more afraid. The higher the level, the stronger the effect it has, and the better it works on people (lower levels are effective mostly against animals).
- Teleport I (allows you transport small, inanimate things back to the Dimensional Nexus, or wherever you set up a lair in the future. Further upgrades allow you to move bigger, and eventually alive things. NOTE: This spell will never be usable on yourself).
- Confusion I (Launch a magical blast that can disrupt the brain-waves of a foe. Useful against well-armored creatures that aren't very vulnerable to normal attacks).
- Firebolt II (Like Magic Sting II, but Fire Element).
- Scale Armor II (tougher scales, reduce damage taken).
- (Lust) Slime Ooze II (your slime induces lust in those that contact it).
- (Sleep) Slime Ooze II (you sleep makes those that touch it sleepy. Very... sleepy).
- Perception II (20 Energy. Use body language and other subtle, chemical clues to put together a general hint of what someone is feeling at any given time. Is that a molecule of sweat? They're nervous. Are their fingers tapping? Clearly impatient.)
- Aura Detect 2.55 (20 energy. Your sense of auras is refined, and you can see them from a great distance and judge their power levels more accurately. Also allows you to faintly detect Cursed auras).
- Stealth II (20 energy required. Become even sneakier).
- Swim II (20 energy required. Can you guess what this evolution does?)
- Body Shock II (20 Energy required. A powerful wave of magical energy runs over your skin. Akin to picking up a live electrical wire. Obviously limited to close-range combat, though).
- Tentacle Arts II (20 Energy required. Recover HP through sex).
- Infest III (30 Energy. Last almost indefinitely inside a host).
- Growth III (30 energy required. Grow to a chunky, 6-foot long python, complete with split heads.)
- Magic Shield III (30 energy cost. Lasts longer and tougher to break than Level II).
- Magic Sting III (30 Energy required. Costs 5 energy to use, but a direct hit will send most foes flying off their feet).
The reason? We'd be able to spot cursed objects! Undoubtedly useful!! That and I think it'd help us 'speak' to other creatures from a greater distance...? Not entirely sure how but if I remember right it is the skill that allowed us this. Not only that, but we'd be able to spot nasty things faster. Remember it is a level 3 (well... more of a 2.5 but whatever) spell.
B wins by all of 1 vote! Damn, that was tight. And the most voted-for Evolution is... *drumroll*... it's a tie! Please re-vote for an evolution again after this round (you can vote for any Evolution again, not just Magic Sting III or Infest III).
----
Your mind is made up - slide across to the pit! It tunnels into the Earth at a fairly sharp 45 degree angle, and is large enough to admit a couple of standing humans, so it should pose absolutely no problem to you.
With little to no hesitation you slither in along the ground, your purple body perhaps a little too visible amongst the slick brown mud and soil that makes up the passage. It only takes a couple of minutes of progress for the light to start to fade; eventually it only becomes a tiny pinprick behind you, and the stench of decay hangs thickly in the air. Luckily you have other senses to rely on.
Eventually the path forks; one strand of the tunnel, still the same size as before, veers to the left, another to right. Just as you ponder your choice, your aura sense kicks in! Buried in the wet ground of the left tunnel are Undead warriors. Lots and lots of them... ugh. And of course in front of the tunnel is a fine magical tripwire, presumably the work of a powerful Undead Mage (who doesn't seem to have hung around, oddly). You could probably bypass it with a lot of painstaking time and effort, but it's got to be easier to just take the right-hand passage.
So down you go. The right hand path stops declining almost immediately, leveling off into a nice flat tunnel. Or burrow.
As you pass a little moist alcove off to the side, your aura detect again goes ping; within the alcove is a sealed magical chest. It's no great shakes to open, and inside - thank the Gods! - a store of herbs. You know them to be Greenwarish herbs, and they are excellent for restoring health. You consume 50% of the bundle - more than enough to top you off - then continue on you merry way.
Before long, however, you hear the sound of a fight; the sound of metal swinging through the air, the crunching of a carapace, and the smell of arcane fire. And... is that light?
Good lord, it is. Two figures are dancing through the slightly widened tunnel ahead, each with a lantern swinging from their waists. Wait, not dancing; fighting. And not fighting each other; there's some kind of monster down there with them. It scuttles around the tunnel at terrifying speed, some sort of horrible fusion of spider and crab; it has the low slung body and slender legs of the former, and hardened carapace and large slicing claws of the latter. As you watch, one of the figures - male, human, dives out of the way as the Spidercrab races to the ceiling of the tunnel and tries to land on him, only narrowly missing. Stunned from impact, the second individual (female, but not human - bipedal insect? You catch a glimpse of antennae and a shiny exoskeleton) tries to take advantage. She slams her magical staff into the ground and launches a ball of fire at the Spidercrab's head. It only rebounds off and into the tunnel wall, however, and the Spidercrab shrieks horribly.
What to do?
----
Option A) Slink meekly past the fight. You can probably avoid all the combatants if you're quick enough.
Option B) Strike both figures with magic whilst they're unaware, giving the Spidercrab a chance to finish them off. Once that happens, it'll be considerably easier to get past.
Option C) Enter the fight and target the Spidercrab. C1) Try and beat it down with Magic. C2) Try and lure it back to the left hand tunnel, and get it to trigger the magical tripwire and awaken the Undead. They might be enough to overpower it. Can't hurt, at least.
- Thunder Bolt I (Like Fire Bolt, Thunder element).
- Water Bolt I (...ditto).
- Ovipositor I (Allows you to lay eggs within the orifice of a host. At low levels, these eggs are weak and may not hatch properly. Further upgrades reduces this risk. Each egg costs 10 energy to plant, but the hatched tentacle is autonomous and commanded by you).
- Dread I (Releases pheromones that make organisms more afraid. The higher the level, the stronger the effect it has, and the better it works on people (lower levels are effective mostly against animals).
- Teleport I (allows you transport small, inanimate things back to the Dimensional Nexus, or wherever you set up a lair in the future. Further upgrades allow you to move bigger, and eventually alive things. NOTE: This spell will never be usable on yourself).
- Confusion I (Launch a magical blast that can disrupt the brain-waves of a foe. Useful against well-armored creatures that aren't very vulnerable to normal attacks).
- Firebolt II (Like Magic Sting II, but Fire Element).
- Scale Armor II (tougher scales, reduce damage taken).
- (Lust) Slime Ooze II (your slime induces lust in those that contact it).
- (Sleep) Slime Ooze II (you sleep makes those that touch it sleepy. Very... sleepy).
- Perception II (20 Energy. Use body language and other subtle, chemical clues to put together a general hint of what someone is feeling at any given time. Is that a molecule of sweat? They're nervous. Are their fingers tapping? Clearly impatient.)
- Aura Detect 2.55 (20 energy. Your sense of auras is refined, and you can see them from a great distance and judge their power levels more accurately. Also allows you to faintly detect Cursed auras).
- Stealth II (20 energy required. Become even sneakier).
- Swim II (20 energy required. Can you guess what this evolution does?)
- Body Shock II (20 Energy required. A powerful wave of magical energy runs over your skin. Akin to picking up a live electrical wire. Obviously limited to close-range combat, though).
- Tentacle Arts II (20 Energy required. Recover HP through sex).
- Infest III (30 Energy. Last almost indefinitely inside a host).
- Growth III (30 energy required. Grow to a chunky, 6-foot long python, complete with split heads.)
- Magic Shield III (30 energy cost. Lasts longer and tougher to break than Level II).
- Magic Sting III (30 Energy required. Costs 5 energy to use, but a direct hit will send most foes flying off their feet).
C1 Kill it! Kill it with fire! (I don't know how effective our attacks will be since the fireball bounced off, but I am somewhat hesitant to awaken an undead army. When you say lots and lots, do you mean hundreds upon hundreds? Or enough that they and the spider crab thing would kill each other, or one force would lose and the other would perhaps be weakened somewhat?)
also, maybe we can infest the crab thing? An organic tank sounds pretty cool to me
