The entire slime contracted, spurting slime across the entire area, I was shoved away, and slammed against a tree. Nothing was spared from the deluge, and all were coated in gel, my torch spluttered to life, and I quickly dived to cover it with my body, smothering the flames before they could fully take.

The slime tried to reform, but spasmed again, pushing me further. What in all… I asked myself, bracing myself as another burst struck. Something spasmed beside me, some kind of bird, it convulsed in agony, body coated in the slime that had been extruded. Oh, crap.

One of the poisons I’d used must have been a convulsant, I needed to get close and end the slime quickly, leaving it alive like this could cause serious harm if it managed to get away. I staggered to my feet, hiding behind a tree as it blew up again. I found my spear, brushing off the gel as I drew closer. Dropping to the ground, I used a dagger for purchase as I inched my way towards the slime. By the time I reached it, the slime had become a quivering wreck, its size halved by the expulsion of fluid. I thrust once from my position on the floor.

I surveyed the mess I’d made, gel now coated everything within my sight, and I myself was coated with a two-inch thick layer of it, that squelched as I moved. I wonder how long it would take for the poison to break down, or at least the convulsant part. I used my hand to brush off most of the layer where I could find it, walking out of the radius of gel relatively clean. Once I entered the less dense section of the forest I swept away the leaves, then sparked my flint and steel on myself.

The flames engulfed me, burning for a minute that I spent completely enclosed. I grew lightheaded, the sealed armour only able to contain so much air, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the flames died out, unsealing the armour. On the way many scavengers had gotten to the slimes I’d killed, and a few dodged away from me as I made my way back. Most appeared to be insects, a few looked like millipedes, if they were enlarged. Some were rodents, tearing chunks of slime in quick bites.

My journey back was mostly uneventful, perhaps the death throes of the slime had frightened most of the larger predators around the area. Whatever the case, my journey back to the farm was uneventful, any slimes along my path already killed. Lapi greeted me with a sniff, returning to her normal route around the farmhouses.

I didn’t bother removing my armour as usual, simply softening it as I collapsed face first into the straw mattress within the dormitories. The actual slime wasn’t much of a workout, the gushing simply pushed me away, a single spear thrust was hardly tiring. It was the other slimes I’d killed, and more importantly, the constant alertness that I had to keep while traveling in the forest. Lapi came in, laying her body horizontally across my back. I sighed.

The next day I prepared an excursion to deal with another, this time making sure to remove convulsants from the formula. “The gel sprayed everywhere, it was nigh impossible to move, just surrounded by thick, viscous slime.” I said to Elli, recounting the tale as she made the next formulation.

She laughed, amused by the accounts of my methods. “So how long does this last before it goes bad?” I asked, the principal question on my mind. She gave a long hum, hand raised to but not touching her chin. The other hand continued stirring the pot, a keepsake from her mother I believed.

“It should last for three days or so, unless it’s exposed, then it’ll break down in less than a day I think.” She remarked. “But if you want it to be at full strength I’d say go for less than half a day, a lot of the alchemical attributes disappear quickly.”

It was interesting to watch, she’d cut and crushed the plant sections, placing them into a pot, using brewed beer instead of water. She said the beer was an important ingredient, but I suspected the alcohol was meant as a solvent. There were a few times when she would stop to say something to it, though I didn’t see it visibly react. Even now, Delving produced nothing but inky blackness. Occasionally I would see pinpricks of light, stars perhaps, in another world.

After a while, she’d fish out the pulp that made up the plants, disposing of them under the hot raging sun. She finally poured it into a waterskin, the one I recovered after I had killed the slime, mostly none the worse for the wear. The glow seemed to come from somewhere in between, permeating the solution so gradually that I couldn’t tell when it started.

I made my way to Haen, moving quickly along the roads, it was closer than Hrothan, which made the journey a lot less dangerous than the journey to Hrothan. I still made the journey with caution, companionless for the journey.

The farm owner, Rael, greeted me, thanking me again for the help with the gnolls. I nodded, though I was quick to get to the point of my visit, before I could dwell on the tree close by. The farmhands gave me directions, Jerrin being one of them. They were still somewhat listless, a few volunteered to join me, but I refused. If someone had been with me on the last excursion, the poison would likely have killed them, best I don’t try anything until I was sure it’d be safe.

I set out as the sun was close to the middle of its morning journey, it seemed I’d have more than one target. They had slimes coming from two distinct directions. I sighed, setting off in the direction of one of them.

Once again, I found myself harassing slimes, the sword was truly better suited for this, causing wounds that were harmful, but not mortal to the slime itself. Once it began running I swapped to the spear, aiming with careful thrusts to kill the other slimes that tried to hunt me. This time the slime came from the front, a burst of viridian slamming into a tree as I ducked sideways.

I turned to take aim, if I could kill this one by a spear thrust that would leave me with the other to deal with via poison. I settled into a low stance, thrusting once quickly as I moved forward. It pierced, but the core shifted as it penetrated, failing to pierce it. I drew it out, twisting as it tried to strike me again. So it went, Dodging blows and growing ever frustrated with my lack of progress.

As I spun, hoping to catch it again this time, the slime exploded, throwing me onto the ground. I scrambled to my feet, careful to keep my footing on the slippery ground. Suddenly the slime began to draw together, pulling me along with it. I slid back, shifting myself to keep from falling down again, the viscous gel undulating as it slid beneath me.

I stuck the spear down point first, holding myself in place. A burst of gel struck me, dislodging me and sending me sliding across the ground. I snarled, a deep exhalation opening a valve and pushing away slime. I pushed myself up, planting the spear again and swinging myself aside as the slime struck.

The spear dislodged, and I lost my balance, falling down to slide across the slime. I drew the dagger with my left to stop myself, pushing myself up again. I tried again, staying standing for all of two seconds after the spear dislodged. As I passed the slime I stuck the spear into it, the spearhead cutting a long gash from the momentum.

My movement stalled with that, my spear stuck awkwardly within the slime, which moved to smother me. I stabbed the dagger into the earth, pulling myself quickly as a pseudopodium slammed into where I’d been. My spear had barely missed being crushed, and I pushed away as the slime shot a jet of gel at me again.

I’d begun to get my balance down, haphazardly skidding across the slime arena. A bump in the slime threw me off, my feet leaving the ground for a brief moment. I snarled, jamming the spear down again. A gust of cold spread along the ground, the slime freezing solid and forming bumps and edges that I bowled across.

I skid straight off the slime, unable to find any purchase with my dagger or spear. I rolled up to see the slime panicking, stripped of gel layer by layer. All of a sudden the cold stopped, and panting alerted me to a figure that stood off to the side, now leaning heavily against a tree.

I hesitated for a moment, but charged onto the frozen slime, skidding straight into the now diminished slime. With so little area to move the core, it was easy enough to bring my dagger to it, slicing it apart, as the gel fell apart around me.

I shivered in the cold, white vapours rising from the frozen slime, as I used my spear to push myself carefully off the ice. I walked up to the shrouded figure, who straightened, but kept their hood lowered. In this darkness, it was impossible to see beneath it. “Who are you?” I asked, the question leaping to my lips as my mind wondered at the shroud itself.

“I came to find one who hailed from Soren, who slew the gnolls laying siege on Haen.” The voice was rough, the words each spoken with deliberate pronunciation as though the language itself were a struggle. I narrowed my eyes, the news wouldn’t have spread far, perhaps where the warrior and mage had passed, though they did not seem the type for boasting. He raised him arms, clad in leather and cloth, as though to placate me. “Please, I do not wish to fight, and you do not seem like someone who would attack without reason. You carry yourself like a soldier.”

He’d perhaps deduced it somehow, perhaps it was posture, or behaviour, or just a wild guess. “Take off the hood, and we’ll talk. Elsewhere.” I said. I was hardly going to have a conversation with what was likely a gnoll in the deep forests.

I directed him from behind, his ears pricking and facing outwards as we went. He was indeed a gnoll, silver streaks of fur framing his face. A single set of claw marks left thickened scar tissue on his face, and he would not be described by any as anything save rough. I motioned him around the farm, circling to where I would need to begin my search for the next slime. Here, screened from the farm by a layer of trees, I told him to speak. He breathed out heavily, leaning on his staff as he spoke.

“I am Arrgyk, Chief of the Koro Brethren.” He sighed. “We have lived in relative peace with Haen for decades. Rael is, was, perhaps, a friend. We entertained the idea of forming a closer bond, initiating trade and advancing us out of our practically self-imposed stone age. My father believed than one day it would come to pass that we were no longer able to stand on our own.”

“You slew my brother during that battle, he was chief to another of our Brethren.” He looked at me in the eyes, an impressive feat considering the armour I wore. “I will not seek to avenge him, we were not close. He was part of something much larger though. A movement has ignited where it once merely simmered. They are not coordinated, but their targets are not castles or forts, but farms, hamlets and villages.”

“We do not follow them, unlike other gnolls, but I believe that entering Haen now would only cause hysteria and fear.” He said. “I would like you to pass a message to Rael when you return.” He handed me a roll of sealed parchment. “Tell him I remember our covenant, and will honour it.”

He stared through the trees to the farm. “Could you not have had me converse with you closer to my Brethren? It is a very long trek.” I said nothing at his attempt for levity, instead preparing myself for the next slime. One threat at a time. I thought to myself. Feels like the world’s ending.