The night was still as they stood in front of the Druid's Satchel, a tiny little inn in a tiny little village.

"Well, here we are. More oozes to research, more excitement to be had, oh joy!"

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Quest Name: Mold on the walls

Chapter: Two

Description: We have received a report from a local tavern owner that an ooze has taken up home in the cellar of the establishment. It is causing issues for the owner and disturbing its guest, spoiling goods and lashing out at people. We need you to venture to one of the taverns or inns in Charon and SAFELY remove the creature from the building. It might strike out at you and try to defend itself, so you may need to fight, but please dont kill the creature, and instead remove it from the premises without too much harm.

Requirements:

- Requires at least two people (you and one other)

- You must make at least 5 post to complete the mission with each post being at least 200 words

- Must Fight off and quell the angry Ooze

- Must find a way to remove it from the building without killing it

- Once you complete this mission you gain access to chapter three. (which needs to be a separate topic)
The events of chapter one take place in Sticky Situation

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After Krazdan's and the Beanies' little scrape in the Werewolf Woods, they headed to Moonveil village for a reprieve after their close encounter with some hungry oozes and some angry hunters. However, as the party entered town and were asking around the village for a good inn to rest at, everyone told them the only inn around was closed due to some invasive pests. Inquiring further revealed that, indeed, these pests were oozes that had made residence within the Druid's Satchel's cellar. The moment oozes were mentioned, Krazdan made his way over to the inn to investigate without a second thought, for better or for worse, dragging the Beanies along with him.

And now here they were, in front of the Druid's Satchel with potentially more gluttonous oozes to face, Krazdan was visibly vibrating at the prospect. He stepped up to the inn's door and opened it. As Krazdan and the Beanies stepped through the threshold, they were greeted by a conversation taking place between a moon elf woman standing behind the bar counter, perhaps the proprietor of this establishment, and a man who's back was facing the group.

"Well, I can take care of them for about... 50 solars each."

"50 solars!" the moon elf exclaimed.

"Hey now, I said I do good work, not cheap work. Oozes are dangerous little critters and if I don't kill em now, they'll just keep multiplyin-"

As the door was closed behind the group, interrupting the conversation, the man turned towards them, revealing a familiar scarred face.

"By Lunala's grace, not you freaks again!"

The Beanies, upon hearing that the only inn in the village was unavailable due to an unexpected Ooze infestation, were going to suggest that they could lend their tent to Krazdan when they were summarily Beanienapped to investigate the tavern. They didn't like slime, much less the acidic type! But they could do nothing but flail impotently in Krazdan's embrace since they were, at the end of the day, a trio of plush toys who were most definitely incapable of overpowering a grown man. Demony quite enjoyed the idea of the Beanies being corroded and seared and burnt, so it willingly tagged along even though it did not want to deal with the gelatinous gluttons either.

Oh dear. The group just had to run into the scarred meanie again, didn't they? The hunter happened to be alone this time around though, so maybe, just maybe, they could get him out of their collective cloths.
"Mr. Hunter? We'll give you 50 Solars, so could you please leave this to us?" Star asked in the sweetest tone they could muster, working a little of their magical charm in the process.[1]

"Now why in Lunala's name should I-" The hunter started before the magic kicked in and he momentarily stopped. "Eh, I'll take it. You freaks will probably fail miserably anyway. I'll be checking in tomorrow." The hunter took the pouch and exited the inn, leaving Krazdan and the Beanies open to negotiations with the likely proprietor. The Beanies were personally disinclined to assist in the resolution of this issue, but they were already here, and they did just bribe the meanie hunter with quite a lot of Solars, so the sunk cost fallacy was in full force.

---

[1]Charming Grace

“Ah, good work Goodie.” Krazdan said, misnaming Star again.

The moon elf woman jumped and yelped as the discordant voices of Krazdan’s psychic connection wormed its way into the poor woman’s mind.

“Greetings, I am Krazdan and these are my companions Star, Goodie, Chili, and Demony. We heard you had a bit of an ooze infestation.”

“Uhh, yea?”

“Well, we would be happy to take those oozes off your hands.”

“Oh, ah, well, how many solars would it cost?”

Unfortunately for the Beanies, especially after that hefty bribe, Krazdan replied, “Oh, no need for solars, the joy of researching these oozes is payment enough!”

The woman’s brows furrowed in puzzlement after Krazdan’s insistence of not receiving pay. “Oh. Well in that case, I suppose I can lead you to the cellar.”

The moon elf led the group into a kitchen. Towards the back of the kitchen random cooking appliances, pots and pans and the like, were piled up on the floor, reaching an impressive height.

“The trap door lies underneath that pile. I just wanted to make sure the oozes wouldn’t come up without anyone knowing. I don’t really know how they got down there to begin with.”

“Hmmm… how many oozes are down there and how long have they been in that cellar?”

“They’ve been down there for about… two days? And there’s two of them down there.”

Krazdan turns towards the Beanies.

“Well, if they’ve been down there for two days then they’ve probably cleaned that cellar out. It probably wouldn’t be too hard to tempt them with food like you did last time, but it could be tricky leading them out of town if some villager accidentally gets too close and the oozes find them a more promising meal. Do you have any ideas you’d like to share?”

"Star is Star!" Star was annoyed at being misnamed yet again. They had wings and a brown nose, darn it! Goody would give Star some calming face rubs, and Chili a pat in the shoulder.

Star already had a feeling they were not going to get paid when they put out that offer, and Krazdan's words only put the final nail in the coffin. Oh well. Helping people was usually its own reward, and the Beanies were not so selfish as to abandon someone in trouble without at least trying to help. Demony quite enjoyed this madman denying the Beanies a chance at recompense, enough to forget for the time being that his insanity could very well spell trouble to itself too.

"Well... We do have a magical key that allows us to conjure a gingerbread cottage," Goody suggested somewhat reluctantly. It was Goody's best foodie friend, after all, and using it meant no gingergoodie for the hatted Beanie tonight.
"If we could lure it inside the cottage and carry the confection out of the village in the meantime, we could probably safely release the Oozes into the wild." Chili chimed in.
"Only problem is that the cottage is pretty big. Big enough that it won't fit through the trap door." Star waved their arms, gesturing for Goody, Chili and Demony to position themselves and demonstrate the rough size of the cottage, which spanned about one and a half tavern tables wide.

“Well, if the opening is too small, then perhaps we could widen it, hehehe. I could rig up some explosives around the trap door-”

“Absolutely not.” The moon elf interjected, fixing Krazdan with a stare cold enough to freeze a phoenix in place.

“…or maybe not.”

Krazdan thought to himself for a moment before speaking again.

“Perhaps instead of trying to summon the gingerbread house in the cellar, we could put it just outside of the inn. That way we just need to lure the oozes out of this establishment and then carry it the rest of the way out of the village. However, I do have one query. Will this gingerbread house be able to withstand the oozes' corrosive nature?”

“What’s that smell?” The moon elf inquired.

Indeed, now that the woman mentioned it, there was a strange smell in the air. It was an acrid scent that burned the nostrils slightly. Looking in the direction of the trap door revealed that the pile of kitchenware stacked on top of the trap door appeared to be slowly sinking into the floor and a sizzling sound could be heard.

“Well, it appears time is running out, we better do something fast.”

"Well, the gingerbread cottage can withstand torrential rains," Star pondered as they replied.
"Saved us from many a rainy day!" Goody chimed in with a literal statement.
"Pretty thick gingerbread too!" Chili would spread both arms horizontally and hop left and right crabbily, attempting to demonstrate the width to Krazdan.
"And the whole cottage is edible~!" Goody's eyes sparkled as the flavour of gingerbread spawned in their head, threatening to turn the currently goody Goody into a less goody Goody soaked in selfishness. Goody is Goody though, and would shake away those no goodie thoughts and resolve themselves to use the key to help someone in need.
"There's furniture inside too, which should buy us more time!" Chili animatedly drew a bed and table in the air with their arms.
"Time we are absolutely going to need! Watch out!" Star shouted as they took on a defensive stance.

The trap door disappeared in its entirety, sending the kitchenware falling and clanging onto onto one another, but there would be no sounds of metal falling to wood. The Oozes slowly slithered along the newly-established opening and began consuming the surrounding space.
"Goody-plush! Potato!" Star threw their Enchanted Potato straight towards Goody, and Goody would dash towards the... Oh dear. There seems to be a third Ooze now, and it sure seemed like potato was on their menu, as they would quite summarily target Goody who found themselves dancing around the floor trying to weave their way to the exit.

"Ms. Tavern Owner, hide all your food! Demony, door! Chili-plush, to Star-plush!" Star barked orders left and right as they too prepared to head towards the door. Demony jumped up at the handle and pressed at the mechanism while pulling backwards with all the strength a kitty could muster. Star and Chili would be standing by the entrance waiting for Goody. Unfortunately, it seemed the Ooze were set on surrounding Goody and leaving them without a harm-free exit.

As the oozes were encroaching upon Goodie, the moon elf took this opportunity to follow Star’s orders and hide anything she thought would attract the oozes. It was mostly alcohol she stowed away, most of the food must have been in the cellar. Meanwhile, Krazdan was observing the oozes. There were several pieces of kitchenware still dissolving within the oozes’ bodies. Krazdan focused on a large metal bowl that was being warped within one of the oozes. Krazdan used the arcane to pull at this bowl and drag the ooze away from Goodie, giving them an opening to escape the other two oozes. (Telekinesis)

“Run Goodie!”

As Goodie ran away, the oozes pursued them. They must have really wanted that potato. Krazdan continued to use telekinesis on the various kitchen equipment in the oozes‘ bodies to sort of herd them through the door without them straying away and damaging more of the inn. He also used telekinesis to slow them down enough to ensure that Goodie would be a safe distance ahead of the oozes, however, as they got closer and closer to the door, Krazdan’s magic waned as the kitchen appliances began to be too far corroded for the telekinesis to grip onto them.

“Make sure you have that house ready!”

"Thanks Mr. Krazdan!" Goody took the opportunity to leap out of the encircling without hesitation, weaving and bobbing before throwing the potato at Chili.
"Demony, catch!" Goody threw the potato towards the door as they rendezvoused with their fellow Beanies and charged out the door, with Goody taking the key out of their hat and twisting the key[1] in the open air as nimbly as their little limbs could manage. A cozy gingerbread village would materialize out of thin air, whereby Star would swiftly open the door to let the Oozes in. Now all that was left was Demony to do its part and-
"Chili! No eat gingerbread cottage!" Goody glared at Chili attempting to steal a nibble of the roof like the gluttonous food lover they were. Goody wanted gingergoodie too! But helping people comes first!

Demony seethed internally at the instruction directed its way, but it will perform. Goody being denied gingerbread was already a reward of its own, but them having to witness their gingerbread being consumed by some eternally hungry abomination who had no appreciation for it? Now that was an unholy bliss it would deeply relish, and so it intercepted the potato, used its tail to redirect the momentum onto its head, and charged straight at the gingerbread cottage door, where it stood tauntingly on a table at the center of the space, beckoning the Ooze coming in like the gluttonous jellies they were. And the bait they took, voraciously reaching for the potato on the shadowy feline's head, only to miss thanks to a gracious maneuver befitting that of a genuine cat. With that, they tasted food in the form of confections, and would leave Demony be as the jellies began eating away at the furniture instead.

Demony summarily exited out the door and the three Beanies would shut the door tight, locking it from the outside. Now they just needed to get Demony to carry this house to the forest, and fast, since they didn't know how long it would actually last. The tenebrous silhouette[2] transformed, and flipped the gingerbread house onto its back while the Beanies grabbed their rope[3] and tool pouch[4] to tie it around Demony. Finally, the quartet would look to Krazdan for guidance on where they should actually head towards. The Beanies were not familiar with the geography here.

---

[1]Gingerbread Cottage Key

[2]Armored Feline

[3]Rope

[4]Tool Pouch

Though Krazdan had familiarized himself with the surrounding forest before embarking on this quest to study oozes, he was still not nearly as familiar with it as he was with the Marsh Flats.

Krazdan once again pulled out the soggy map, he hoped the magic in it had recharged since he had last used it. Its recharge time was completely random, sometimes he could use it multiple times per day and sometimes he couldn’t use it again for weeks. Krazdan violently shook the map. When he looked back down he had hoped to see the detailed sketches of an accurate map, but his hopes were dashed as the parchment only held faded splotches of color.

“Ok, guess I’ll just have to use my own wits for this.”

Krazdan looked back at the gingerbread house as he ran ahead of the Beanies. They weren’t kidding when they said the gingerbread house was sturdy. So far it didn’t look as if it was being affected by the oozes within, though he did hear the telltale sign of sizzling. The house would buy them some time to be sure, but they would still have to hurry.

Krazdan knew of a river nearby. If the oozes were similar to other acids, perhaps the water would “dilute” them. If they were able to relocate the oozes to the opposite side of the river from the town, then the oozes might be dissuaded from going back to the village. It certainly wasn’t a perfect solution especially considering most of what Krazdan knew about oozes was conjecture, but the river was close enough to hopefully be able to unload their “cargo” before they melted through the house.

Minutes passed by as they ran through the woods, long enough for Krazdan to second guess if he was even going the right way. Soon after though, they could all hear the rush of a river flowing. They were getting close now.

Star and Goody's instinctual hydrophobia intensified as the sounds of running water echoed from a distance, while Chili remained largely unaffected because their foodie obsession all but overwrote their instinctual fears towards fire and water and a whole lot of other things, really. The three were riding on Demony's head as the latter ran steadily along the forest since it was much faster that way and with how the Beanies secured the gingerbread cottage around the shadowy creature, it was going to be a complete pain for Demony to try to remove the tethers. It loathed how it could not directly disobey the Beanies and leave them to their doom, and it sorely desired to know why that was the case given its deep-seated hatred of these saccharine sops.

Soon, they would be upon a river, and while it was not all that wide, the rapid currents were still scary enough to make Star and Goody want to disembark from Demony. Unfortunately for them, however, Demony would deny them that choice as it began to accelerate upon getting a clear view of the water, sending the Beanies flying away from its head and forcing them to hang for their dear lives on the ropes fixing the gingerbread cottage in place as it leaped, narrowly avoiding the river surface as it arrived on the other side of the bank. The inertia from the landing would swing the Beanies to the opposite side of the ropes and make for very groggy teddy bears.

No time like the present, though, as pores began to emerge along the windows, the telltale signs of corrosion reaching the outer surfaces. Demony would swiftly lie sideways without hesitation, nearly squashing Star and Goody who happened to be hanging from the relevant side and only barely avoided that fate by quickly jumping away.
"Demony!" Star yelled angrily. The situation was fast devolving though as the pores were further widening. Goody had gotten a head start while Star was being annoyed and frantically untying the knots to get Demony away from the painful sizzles before the Oozes got to it. Star and Chili would quickly join in as well and soon enough, the ropes would be loose enough for Demony to raise back up without moving the cottage with its momentum, just in time as the floors finally gave way and the ever-ravenous Oozes started becoming visible.

Needless to say, none of them wanted to be around these Oozes any longer, so the Beanies tied themselves around Demony with leftover rope and the quartet would attempt to return to the other side of the river, though unfortunately for them, it seemed that the Oozes were now more interested in the tenebrous shadow and was attempting to lash out at it.

Maybe it would have been smarter to use telekinesis to break off a loose part of the gingerbread house and push the ooze away or maybe even throw a tri-beam at it to dissuade its attacks, but the ooze was already upon the Beanies, there wasn’t any time to spare for logic. Pure instinct guided Krazdan as two giant mole-like paws shot out from the depths of his cloak and wrapped around the ooze’s midsection, the claws of the paws dug into the gelatinous mass. (Claws) In the back of his consciousness, Krazdan could hear a familiar voice he hadn’t heard from since leaving the marshes.

Caution: No! Don’t do this, you’ll destroy yourself!

But it was too late to heed those words as Krazdan’s flesh already began to peel off. Perhaps there were more logical paths to take than the ones Krazdan has stumbled onto, but it had been a long time since logic had dictated his footsteps. Krazdan threw the ooze to the ground, then jumped into the river. A pair of blue scaly hands popped out as well as a pair of matching blue feet, both with webbed digits. (Webbed Digits) Using these strange appendages, Krazdan began swimming upstream in the hopes of washing off and diluting the ooze slime that still clung to his body.

Krazdan's clearly illogical act of thrusting their paws? into the Ooze bought Demony enough time to jump back to the other side, where the Beanies quickly slipped out[1] and threw out the rope for Krazdan to grab onto if necessary and help the man out of the river as best as they can with their shadowy frenemy doing most of the pulling.

The Oozes did not seem to be giving a damn, however, despite the river, and so Star and Goody would be pleading at Chili yet for that nifty spell they had bought the other day.
"(Does Chili have to?)" Chili still hadn't gotten to enjoy the harvest spell for their intended purpose.
""(Pleaseeeeeeeee,)"" Star and Goody stared at the polar bear plushie with the pearliest eyes they could muster, arms on their jaws.
"Chiiiiiii..." The beige-furred teddy, selfish as they could be at times, could not resist their friends' earnest requests and crossed their arms in annoyance. "(Fineeeeeeee.)"

And so Star and Goody would put their arms on Chili, and a moment later pumpkin vines and tall wheat stalks would grow[2] all over the surrounding terrain, even on the river itself, causing the water flow to become erratic as it met resistance, and likely causing Krazdan to lose balance. That should hopefully buy them enough time to get away for good.

---

[1]Escaping Technique

SPOILER: Click to show

A very useful skill to have for people who are use to getting caught or restrained. This skill gives you the knowledge and ability to free your self from normal restraints such as rope or manacles. You know the precise way to free yourself from bondage and can do so in a quick and quiet way. This does not help with magical binding or restraining effects.

[2]Harvest of Plenty

SPOILER: Click to show

Autumn is the optimal season for harvest, where connection with the earth is strong as the seasons change. You can tap into these energies, allowing you to bring forth the harvest. You can call forth vegetables that burst from the ground, creating difficult terrain from pumpkin vines and tall wheat stalks, covering a 20 by 20 foot square. If these plants are attacked in an attempt to clear them out, they grow back twice as plenty, multiplying the more they are met with violence.

Even with his grafted limbs, Krazdan found it difficult to tread these chaotic waters. When the Beanies threw a rope out to him, Krazdan gladly grabbed it and allowed himself to be pulled out of the river. Looking back over his shoulder, Krazdan could see the oozes eating away the vines and other plant life that seemed to have grown around them, but for every chunk the oozes ate, the vegetation would grow three times as much.

“So, this is what an all you can eat buffet looks like for an ooze, hehehe. By the way, how were you able to do all that?”

Krazdan’s curiosity was undercut by stinging pain that enveloped his mole arms.

“I suppose before you answer that question, we’d best leave the oozes to their business. It seems like they’ll be preoccupied for a while, and I bet that lady at the inn would like to know that her problem is taken care of for now.”

With that, Krazdan began walking back towards the inn while he used his human hands to patch up his mole arms which were pockmarked with acid burns. (Medicine Kit) Luckily the arms were the only thing that really took any damage, though he certainly earned a few new holes in his cloak.

The quartet all collectively agreed that they should get the heck out of the Oozes' activity range and would gladly follow Krazdan back to the inn.

"Chili bought Harvest of Plenty from Jackie's Fall Shop! Sounded like infinite foodie spell!" Chili replied perkily with their unerring dedication to all things culinary.
"Demony is, well, Demony. We don't really know how it does what it does either." Star shrugged, even though they are aware deep down they ought to try delving into that one of these days. Demony knew not the 'why' either.
"The Gingerbread Cottage Key, Goody won from a lucky wheel!" Goody's eyes sparkled as they recalled the pure, unadulterated joy they felt when it happened. The Beanies had been out shopping at a fancy bazaar that happened to be hosting a lucky wheel event, where the grand prize was an item from the fabled Mystical Archive. They had no idea what a Mystical Archive even was at the time, and they didn't really have any high hopes or anything, so one could imagine the sheer excitement exuded by the three little teddy bears when the wheel actually stopped right at the slice with the grand prize. Oh, and there was quite the ruckus after that about people accusing the hatted plushie of tampering with the wheel, though no foul-play was detected. Anyway, Goody picked the Gingerbread Cottage Key because gingergoodie is gingergoodie and Goody will always love gingergoodie.

Arriving at the Druid's Satchel once more, the Beanies would see the innkeeper being a busy bee and cleaning up after the mess caused by all the corrosion. and that while she could offer her saviours a room for free tonight, she was in no condition to serve any meals until she could resupply.
"It's okay, we have our wagon." Star politely declined the offer.
"Mr. Krazdan can have it if Mr. Krazdan wants," Goody gestured towards their fellow research companion.

"No food. Chili sad." Chili was just plain depressed though.

Either way, the Beanies would leave the inn with or without Krazdan, regroup with Demony who went to guard the Travelling Beanbag, and retire for the night. They would gladly offer a tent[1] for their friend if he decided not to rest in the inn.

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[1]Tent (item)