By the time the two men returned to Gazablaak, the sun had long since left the sanctuary of the sky. It was replaced by a brilliant half moon visible only through the gaps in the boughs of gnarled marsh trees even as they finally set foot on the dry land of Gazablaak. The trip back through the muck was more of a slog than the original; and after two self-imposed competitions and a brawl, even if both men were too proud to admit their exhaustion, they were.

Although questions remained unanswered between them, there was a silent, unspoken acceptance upon returning to the Safe, Dry, Sleep, Eat Spot that further conversation could wait until morning. Initially, such sensitive topics had not seemed right to bring up in the backdrop of a gurgling swamp; and Caedes felt the topics at hand were much more suited to a private, confined environment where one could go more than five minutes without hearing an orchestra of insects and swamp muck.

Perhaps Zarius felt similarly, because between the two of them, they had made mostly unimportant small-talk through the swamp on the round back; when they reached the inn, they parted ways without much fuss— simply hoping, at this point, for a hot bath and a night's sleep before Lloyd's research would bring them together again in the morning.

Unfortunately, it's only some hours after they've parted ways that the two will meet again— significantly earlier than expected.

In the latest hours of the night, Caedes sits cross-legged at the end of his stiff bed— Safe, Dry, "Comfortable" Sleep, Eat Spot is not the name of this inn, after all— ringing water from his hair off the edge, after a warm bath to rid himself of the unpleasantness of the day. His spider familiar is sprawled out on the pillow behind him, all eight legs ungracefully sticking in all directions, as it dozes. It's fallen asleep far ahead of him, and he'll probably need to move the dang thing if he wants to lie down.

Thump. Thdmp. Thnp.

He sighs as the sound of thumping reverberates the floor and thin walls of his room; he attributes the sound to rude and dreadfully noisy neighbours; when a different kind of sound catches his attention. The tinkling of dining-ware, the crashing of bottles, and the shattering of wood; it resounds far below— not from any of the rooms on the upper-floor— but somewhere farther down, in the lobby of the tavern's inn.

He furrows his brows, turning his gaze towards his door; the spider behind him rouses slightly, eight eyes opening one after the other. "..." Caedes stands, hair wet, and pulls his cloak off the frame of the bed as he heads towards the door; the changeling drapes his cloak lazily around his shoulders as he opens it and steps outside.

It seems a few other patrons have also been roused by the noisy evening, and Tiny Two Toes, owner of the inn, is already upstairs trying to ease them all off. "Everything's fine! Off to bed, off to bed. Just an accident in the basement." he dismisses in his high but grating voice. There's an odd, jittery nervousness to his body language as he skirts past rooms and tries to usher the patrons to bed; and the changeling narrows his eyes skeptically, watching him trot towards the doors that remain open, in order to quell any nerves left from the patrons with a chattering, but not-very-comforting voice.

Just a barrel that fell over downstairs, he says; but something seems off about how exaggerated his hand gestures are, and the way he won't make eye contact when he talks.

The owner of the inn is lying, isn't he?

As much as Zarius wanted to sit down and pick Caedes' brain, he still had lingering suspicions of the man. He couldn't shake the dread that Caedes might actually have survived because he played some part in the horrific murder of his family and the Shadow Crawlers as a whole. He had no real reason to think this, but one rule in Darkveil that all hold dear is not to trust anyone.

What's more, there was still that more personal reason to hold doubts. Before the Shadow Crawlers had met their grizzly end, his family had found his father's sister murdered in her own home. There was no forced entry, no witnesses, no struggle. Just a quick, clean kill from a highly skilled individual.

Now, there were no shortages of assassins for hire in Darkveil. The reason why his family suspected the Shadow Crawlers of this was because it was so carefully and effectively carried out. His family dealt in information gathering and investigation after all. They had numerous ways to solve such a mystery. Yet they had never found any clues to even start.

His family didn't have the greatest relationship with the Crimson Hand. Most of the crime families in Darkveil only tolerated one another's existence after all. Everyone was competition. Everyone was an enemy. He hoped that wasn't true of Caedes, but he couldn't be sure yet. 

After returning to the inn, parting ways, and getting cleaned up, Zarius sat on the bed reviewing his notes. It was mostly to distract him and keep his mind focused on a single train of thought rather than spiral into conspiracy theorizing. As tired as he felt, his mind never seemed to tire. It made it hard to sleep, even more so than the hard bed. 

He looks up abruptly when he hears the commotion downstairs and in the hall outside his door. Great. What now?

He half expected those hunters from before had barged in to get their revenge. Closing his notebook, he gets up and heads out the door.

Caedes was already standing out there. They exchange a look, a silent understanding that the innkeeper was too nervous for just taking his word at face value and returning to bed. Zarius sighs and walks barefoot down the hall. 

"Sir, sir! Please, there is nothing to worry about, I assure you!" The innkeeper fuses and tries to block his way.

Unimpressed with the man's attempts to stop him, Zarius just hops over him. The innkeeper is confused and turns around. "Sir, I-"

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time. I am so assured that there is nothing going on downstairs that I feel completely safe going down there. As you said, everything is fine, correct?" Zarius interrupts him shooting him a look.

The innkeeper stammers and glances about the other patrons in the hall. 

Zarius doesn't wait for an answer, the question was rhetorical after all. Of course everything was not fine. He walks past Caedes and gives him a bit of a smirk.

"I can handle this while you get your beauty sleep. Lunala knows you need it." He says with a teasing tone before heading down the stairs to the lobby of the tavern to see what was going on. 

Zarius seems to have been equally roused by the noise; and he looks towards the Tiefling as he spots the man stepping out of his room. They exchange a look of silent acknowledgement, each presumably noting the odd behaviour of the innkeep. He looks over his shoulder, snapping his fingers towards the bed; the spider, perched on his pillow, perks up. It scuttles its way over to him while Caedes steps out from behind his door.

He's fastening his cloak properly when Zarius goes pacing by. 

"I can handle this while you get your beauty sleep. Lunala knows you need it." 

He pauses only momentarily in his adjustment of his cloak, looking after Zarius with a mildly bemused, but begrudging exasperation; he closes the door behind him once he feels the weight of his familiar scaling up his leg, and follows closely. "Coming from a man who's clearly never had a wink of it in his life?" he jaunts back. "It might be time to take your own advice."

He can hear the innkeeper hurriedly rushing the rest of the patrons off to their rooms— but his voice is pitched with a new annoyance.

That annoyance being Zarius and Caedes, specifically.

The changeling follows Zarius down the stairs and into the lobby; he looks around as it comes into view. It looks normal downstairs for the most part... except for the chair crammed awkwardly in front of the basement door. It's angled in a way that suggests someone wants to keep something in... or perhaps something out. "Excuse me!! Sirs!" As Caedes descends to the last step, Tiny Two Toes comes flying by the both of them, arms extended wide to block Zarius' path before he can move much further into the lobby.

Not that the small goblin's really going to stop either of them, but he supposes he admires the effort.

"If you could please go back to bed, everything is fine!"

"What's the chair for?"

"Door doesn't lock, so we prop it up with a door at night!"

When it's clear that neither of them plan to do follow his request to stop, Tiny Two Toes starts to back towards the basement; most definitely, very obviously, wanting to keep them away from it.

"Then it should be fine if we take a look downstairs, just to be safe; we'll even help you clean up the mess."

"No, I— Rrrh!" The goblin's back eventually hits the chair in front of his door; he stands there, arms stretched wide to try and keep them out. He flails his little arms, trying to add something to the intimidation. "Stop, stop! Look," He puts his hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes at the two men. "If I tell you, will you please go to your rooms?"

Caedes offers Zarius a glance, before looking back at the goblin without speaking.

"...Rrgh. There's an ooze in the basement, okay?" Tiny Two Toes whispers it, like it's a massive secret. "This is the Safe, Dry, Sleep, Eat Spot! There can't be an ooze in the basement! Do you know what that would do to my reputation if it got out that Tiny Two Toes has an ooze in the basement?? That's not safe! Or dry! And if it stays down there, there will certainly be nothing to eat! And then, there will be no one to sleep in this spot!"

He stomps one of his feet, fuming. "It's been down there for almost a week now, and I keep trying to lure it out, but it just won't leave! Stupid, stupid slime!"

"No sleep for the wicked I am afraid." He's too tired to even be insulted by the insinuation.

He looks down unimpressed at the goblin blocking his path. Did he really think he could stop either of them? He had half a mind to punt the goblin across the room for underestimating just how stubborn he could be.

It was exhausting listening to the goblin's excuses and he couldn't help but wonder why this goblin hadn't just recruited those monster hunters they had beat up out in the wilds. The slime had been there for a week and no one had caught on until now? That was hard to believe. He didn't even really care about all those little details. He just wanted to get some damned sleep.

"I keep trying to lure it out, but it just won't leave! Stupid, stupid slime!"

All in all, Zarius usually had a fair amount of tolerance and patience for fools and their problems. It might have been how tired he was, or how annoying the goblin was being that brought out his more malicious side.

"Well, I think the problem is fairly self explanatory." He leans down in the goblin's face with a devious grin. "You simply have not been using the correct bait."

With that he snatches the goblin by the back of its shirt and roughly lifts it off its feet.

"AAH! What are you doing?!" Tiny Two Toes flails in protest to no avail. Zarius' grip was nothing to sneeze at.

"My good sir, we just spent the whole day wading through the marsh. We are tired and we would love to have a peaceful night. Since you evidently cannot deal with this issue yourself, we have no choice but to help you."

"Wait, wait! If you mess with it, it could do more damage to my inn! And if you die then I'll lose all my business!"

Zarius rolls his eyes. "Seems to me that letting it stay down there any longer will do just as much harm. And you best hope we do not die since you are coming down there with us."

With that said, Zarius uses his foot to dislodge the chair from under the door handle. The wooden legs skrrrrt loudly across the plank flooring. Holding the goblin at arms length with one hand, he opens the door with his free one. It creaks on its hinges as he steps around to take a glance beyond the threshold.

Through the door is a rickety set of wooden stairs that go down into the dark murk of the basement floor. There is the smell of damp earth and fungus which is not uncommon for this area. What was unusual was the sharp tinge of something acrid and rotten, akin to the smell of egg that had been left to rot. It looked like part of the stairs had dissolved away into nothing.

Zarius steps back after peering down into the dark. He looks at Caede, ignoring the goblin's squirming and shouts of protest, smirks, and steps aside with a slight bow.

"Ladies first."

Caedes watches idly, arms crossed over his mid-section as Zarius lifts the goblin off its feet; he looks pensively between the two of them. Is he suggesting that they... use Tiny Two Toes as bait?

... That's clever, actually; Ooze, despite their mysteries, are quite well known for their attraction to organic material above all other things... and what holds more organic material than a living, breathing creature? He smirks to himself, listening to the way the goblin protests in contrast to Zarius' tired, done-with-it tone. As they're going back and forth, he takes a glance towards the bar. A lantern sits there, casting a warm glow; he takes it as the escalation between goblin and tiefling comes to a halt.

"Huh!? What do you—" the goblin doesn't finish his objection. Caedes watches as the Tiefling pushes aside the chair with one foot and opens the door with his free hand. A stink wafts from the basement; not the normal, earthen kind that one would smell in the Marsh Flats. It has him wrinkling his nose, lightly and subtly covering his mouth with one hand, when Zarius steps back from the door with a bow.

"Ladies first."

This guy...

Caedes breathes an exasperated, but tired laugh. "Awh," he mock-swoons; placing his hand over his chest, he cocks his head with a smile towards the tiefling. "Aren't you such a gentleman? How charming." The changeling steps forward, and pulls back the edges of his cloak with one hand. "Go on, then; ladies first— and don't get stuck on the way down." he remarks, seemingly to nothing at first; but as the seconds pass, a small glint of light starts to descend from Caedes' black boots.

The black widow emerges in a flicker of refractions, its long legs making tiny clicks as it crosses the gap between Caedes and the basement door. Distantly, he hears the goblin exclaim about the spider's massive size, but it's still preoccupied (mostly) with squirming in Zarius' grip. The widow clicks its way onto the wooden steps, then turns to look at both Zarius and Caedes once it has passed the doorframe.

With a tilt of his head, Caedes offers Zarius a smile and a dismissive flick of his hand. "Don't hold us up too long, old man." he teases in return as he follows; once he starts moving, the widow heads for the wall— using it as a platform instead— to make room for him. As Caedes passes the spider, he gives it a gentle tap on the abdomen; the spider starts looking towards Zarius and the goblin, fangs clicking slightly.

Although they've come to a truce, Caedes does not fully trust Zarius just yet; the jaunts are fun, and the teasing reminds him of something he's missed for some time... but the idea that the Tiefling has something to do with the Crimson Hand simply won't leave him. He does trust the spider, however, to make noise if something is wrong while his back is turned to Zarius.

The spider walks in an impatient circle on the wall, waiting for Zarius and the goblin to pass, before following them.

The light of the lantern casts a warm, orange glow in the darkness; indeed, the rickety wooden stairs closest to the bottom of the stairs have been burned away. It's singed at the edges, tinted a charcoal brown, as though it's been burnt; and it doesn't take an Ooze researcher to know what's caused the damage. He tests his weight on the first stair, and it holds; then he moves to the second, and it holds; the third step, he hears a suspiciously loud creak and a snap.

"Watch the third step," He pulls back, taking a larger step to bypass the third stair.

The fourth seems to hold his weight just fine.

He swings the lantern out, observing the immediate area briefly; there is evidence of the acidic damage of an ooze wherever one looks. Half-burned crates, with their contents spilled across the floor, equally as damaged; half-eaten foods and meats; spilled mead and wine across the floor... it's a mess. He narrows his eyes for evidence of the ooze, but he can't see it beyond the lantern light; so he descends the fifth step, and hops off the edge onto the earthen floor of the basement with a slight thmp! .

There's a small, but notable gurgle from somewhere further in the darkness.

"Don't hold us up too long, old man."

Zarius laughs. "Excuse you, I am not even in my third decade yet."

The goblin pipes up in a shrill tone. "Sir! I must insist you put me down and leave immediately!"

"Put you down? Certainly." Zarius steps through the threshold of the door and proceeds to dangle the goblin over the stairs to the basement. 

"No, no! Please, I do not want to go down there!" Tiny Two Toes reaches up and clings to the tiefling's arm, now regretting even giving the two shady looking men rooms to begin with. 

Zarius looks at him unimpressed. "You either go alone, or you go with us. It is your choice."

The goblin's eyes are wide with fright of the idea of being tossed down the stairs and left with the hungry ooze. "Wha-what are you even going to do? You're not even wearing shoes!"

"I do not need my shoes to kick your ass." He hisses in the goblin's face.

Tiny Two Toes eeps and shuts up. 

Zarius steps down the first few stairs past the spider. He must have been too tired to pick up on Caedes' silent orders to the creature. The spider also was not currently brandishing a dagger, so what harm could it actually do?

He glances about in the dark, his eyes slowly adjusting to the light level. The ooze sure had made a mess of things. 

Descending a few more stairs, avoiding the third, he looks at Tiny Two Toes. "How did the ooze even get down here?"

He throws up his hands. "I don't know! It just appeared down here!"

"I take it that means you did not see it slides its way through the front door then?" Zarius asks, exasperated. 

Tiny Two Toes crosses his arms in indignation. "Don't you think I would have mentioned that if I did?!"

"Considering you were willing to lie to all your paying customers,  yes."

Tiny Two Toes huffs and glances about nervously at the sound of the gurgles.

Zarius steps down next to Caedes and finally releases his hold on the goblin. "Do not dare run back upstairs until one of us tells you. Do I make myself clear?"

Tiny Two Toes nods nervously. "Fine! Just get rid of the slime!"

"We will certainly try." Zarius slowly creeps forwards past Caedes to peer behind some crates of ruined food stocks. He doesn't see the slime there, so he carefully makes his way further back into the depths of the basement. He calls back. "If we are successful, you are going to apologize for your rudeness and waive the fee for our stay."

"What?!" The goblin stomps his feet and points at Zarius accusingly. "This is extortion! You thief!"

"I could charge you for our services instead. I assure you our rates are significantly higher than a single night in your inn."

"Rrrrrgh, fine! You better protect me!" He changes the target of his point from Zarius to Caedes. 

Zarius rolls his eyes and shakes his head. He really should have put his boots on before coming down here. His bare feet find every edge of burnt wood and piece of half melted food. Picking up a broken wine bottle from the floor, he follows the sound of the gurgling and steps around a freestanding storage shelf in the middle of the room. The light from Caedes' lantern casts long flickering shadows across the room but it does not reach the deepest corners of the space. 

Sloooorp.

A few bottles clink together and a crate skids across the floor as if pushed by something. Zarius holds up a hand to Caedes without taking his eyes off the movement and points with two fingers to the other side of the shelf to indicate the direction the slime was headed.

He listens with distant interest to the conversation happening behind him; Zarius' impatient tone with the goblin innkeeper cuts through the otherwise thick silence of the tavern's earthy cellar, accompanied by the creak of the stairs as he descends. He would be lying to say he didn't sympathize with his curtness on the situation: after all that they've been through today, he wants nothing more than to be done with it. Call it a day. It's far too late in the evening to entertain this kind of chicanery.

He waits in the darkness, keeping an eye on their surroundings before turning towards the staircase. He makes room for the tiefling as he descends the final step onto the dirt floor and drops the goblin; with that taken care of, he steps forwards to begin the search for their unwelcome, slimy friend. The sound of soft clicking resounds from just behind him, and he hears a soft, "Eck—" as the black widow slowly scuttles past Tiny Two Toes to follow along behind.

He moves aside broken crates with one boot, cautiously lifting his lantern over small obstacles in their vision, to clear certain areas of the room as, 'Free from Ooze'. "Go scout from the ceiling; and don't get stuck in anything." he says quietly to the spider as he plucks a piece of soiled meat from the ground with the tip of his dagger. He looks at the way the meat has spoiled; not naturally, by any means, but like it's marinated in something acidic for a little too long. He wrinkles his nose at it, lifting his eyes to the sound of gurgles somewhere in the room.

He turns to look over his shoulder at the goblin while it's complaining, a brow quirked. "Of course... you'll be safe, so long as you follow our directions exactly." he smiles lackadaisically; his eyes catch Zarius' gesture, however, and he starts to move quietly towards the man. "But if you try to go on your own accord, and get yourself assimilated? Well, there's simply nothing we can do about that..."

He hears the goblin sputter a few little curses beneath his breath; he's just as finished with Zarius and Caedes as they are with him. "Speaking of which... Tiny Two Toes, why don't you come over here with us?" Caedes doesn't look back at the goblin; instead, he looks up. "Catch." He tosses the lantern up towards the ceiling; and the handle is caught between the fangs of the black widow lurking up above. "Stay above it, make sure we can see it."

A small hush of whispers, like a passing wind, echoes in the emptiness. If one were to listen closely, the cacophony of tongues might sound distantly like an agreement of some kind. Gentle clicks resound from above as the spider crawls forwards, carrying the lantern with it. Caedes tosses the spoiled meat from the other side of the room towards the space Zarius had pointed at before as a small tidbit for the lingering creature.

Slrrrrrrp.... schlp....

A crate displaces from the corner of the room; and as the spider above gets closer with their light source; the ooze's semi-transparent form glints and refracts in the warm, orange light. Scchhlppp. The sound of acidic gurgling resounds from the meat as the creature slimes over it; bubbles rumble in its oozing form, and quickly, the meat slab is disintegrated inside of it. "There he is." Caedes muses, motioning for Zarius to back up as the slimy beast rounds the corner.

It's quite a sizable ooze, bigger than the ooze they'd seen in the Marsh Flats: this one is well fed after sliming its way around the basement of the inn. It doesn't seem particularly hostile right off the bat; it's almost lethargic, like it's eaten too much; but that doesn't make it any less of a danger. "Two Toes," Caedes calls, looking over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. "Come over here."

"Near that thing? No way!" Tiny Two Toes looks alarmed at the size of the beast. "It's bigger than last time!"

"Well, someone left it down here to feed... and we had a deal, didn't we? Come over here."

Hesitantly, the goblin starts to scuttle towards them,; and the moment he's within range, Caedes scoops down and pushes the goblin in front of them. He drags his feet reluctantly in the dirt floor. "We're much too big to look like an easy meal to it, but you're the perfect height."

That's not necessarily true; he doesn't think the ooze has a preference.

"Huh??" Tiny Two Toes looks at him with a slight panic.

As the ooze rounds the corner, it schlorps up against the corner of the wall, gooping its way towards the trio in a slow, undulating path; it seems to be following their vibrations. Up above, the spider follows its movements with the lantern, keeping it in the light.

The light is a welcome aid in this task. Zarius had to admit, the spider was as much an asset as Caedes was. The two seemed to have a good relationship. He'd never had a pet himself. Never had the time for it. Maybe he would get one for his younger brother to keep him company and keep him out of trouble. He doubts a spider would be appreciated, but his reaction may be funny so it was tempting. 

Slrrrrrrp.... schlp....

The ooze was definitely larger than expected. It would be challenging to get it up the stairs considering their condition. Zarius glances around and gets an idea. He backs off from the others over to some ruined crates are. He carefully pries the sides apart with his bare hands to avoid bending the nails and splintering the wood. 

"What is he doing??" Tiny Two Toes nervously asks Caedes. The ooze was still approaching and the goblin starts inching his way back towards the stairs. 

Zarius works as quickly as he can until he has about half a dozen intact sides. He takes four of them over to the stairs and glances back at the ooze and Caedes. He'd have to risk it getting agitated, but Caedes was nimble so he should be able to play keep away long enough for him to finish.

"Goblin, stand at the base of the stairs and wait for it to get closer."

"I'd feel a lot better about this if you explained what in Charon you are doing!" He won't argue with getting closer to the exit and scuttles over to the stairs. 

He ignores the goblin and waves to Caedes to get his attention. "Grab one of these and follow the ooze. If it gets stuck on the stairs you will have to push it from behind. Watch out for its acid trail." He says quietly, but loud enough for the changeling to hear. 

Zarius hauls a side onto the first few stairs and uses his fist like a hammer to drive the embedded nails into the wooden treads.

The ooze gurgles and starts heading towards the stairs due to the vibrations. 

Tiny Two Toes starts sweating. "Nmmmmgh, it's coming!"

"Stay. There." Zarius says firmly, but he does keep an eye on the ooze as he drags up another side and secures it over the next section of the stairs. 

Again, the ooze slides closer, absorbing food scraps and other debris as it goes. With the spider's lantern dangling above, it was easy to see the debris enter the gelatinous form and slowly dissolve into nothing. 

The goblin's face goes pale as it gets closer. "G-get me out of here!"

"STAY. THERE." Zarius hisses as he pulls up the last side and covers that pesky third stair. 

The ooze was almost upon the goblin at this point. "H-help!"

Zarius bounces on the stairs and it seemed to be steadier than before, but who knows how it will hold up against the ooze's acid. "Alright. You can come back up here now. Make sure to stomp all the way up."

He didn't have to ask twice. The goblin turns tail and flees up the stairs which were now more like a ramp with his shoes slapping across the solid surface the whole way up. Zarius lets him run by him then jumps up and down at the top of the stairs to make as many vibrations as possible. He needed the ooze to keep up its momentum while going up the stairs so it could get out of the basement. 

The ooze's form rolls up against the first part of the ramp. It seems to hesitate for a moment, prodding at the surface with its pseudopods. Zarius sees the wood start to burn from its contact and he stomps hard on the top of the ramp, making the staircase shake. 

"COME ON! You want to eat someone? You have to work for it!" He yells at the ooze, knowing that it doesn't understand him but it at least made him feel a bit better. 

That gets its attention and it starts undulated up the ramp towards him. The trail of acid it leaves behind starts eating away at the wood. Zarius keeps a close eye on its progress then spots Tiny Two Toes just rubbernecking from behind the door. 

"What are we supposed to do once it's up here?!" He asks urgently. 

"Do not just stand there. Tip over the tables and use them to make a channel to the door." Zarius snaps at him. "Or swap places with me and play bait again."

The goblin springs into action clearing a path to the door then shoving the furniture around to make temporary barriers. "I got the tables!" 

"Don't worry about what he's doing; worry about what you're doing." Caedes gives the goblin a push towards the ooze to redirect him; and he stands up on his tip-toes, flailing his short arms wildly to keep his balance. "H-hey!" Caedes has the goblin by the back of his shirt; not fully intending to throw him into the acidic ooze. "Keep making noise, Tiny; he can feel the vibrations." The goblin scuttles back a few steps against the push of his hand, still very distracted by whatever it is Zarius is doing behind him, because he continues to complain about it.

Caedes rolls his eyes, but releases the goblin as Zarius beckons him; Tiny Two Toes flies his way to the stairs like he's sprouted wings. The changeling chuckles, stepping backwards with long and heavy steps towards the staircase. The ooze jiggles, attracted by the vibrations of his steps; and as he looks over his shoulder, double-checking Zarius and Tiny Two Toes, he notes the man's wave. "Grab one of these and follow the ooze. If it gets stuck on the stairs you will have to push it from behind. Watch out for its acid trail." 

He nods, slowing his steps, and making them lighter; for just a moment, the gelatinous blob stops wiggling and jiggling. It globs and shifts as its oozing mass comes to a standstill; it seems like it wants to redirect its attention, but then Zarius takes the reigns. As Caedes skirts to the side of the room to pry the side off one of the smashed crates, Zarius starts slamming his fists into the boards to create a makeshift ramp.

Embedding the nails further into the staircase, even.

Ouch— but impressive.

Caedes tosses his end of the crate into the air and catches it, holding it carefully on either side as he watches the ooze slime towards the staircase again, its interest in whatever 'massive creature' must be making the sound is great. Caedes remains where he is, watching as the ooze gurgles towards the staircase. Once the big blob has made its turn, Caedes slowly steps behind it. "No, Char— keep going with it." he mutters, gesturing for the spider above to keep following the blob, even when she turns to head towards him.

She hesitates, but scuttles back towards the ooze to keep it lit from above.

"Just be patient, Tiny." he hisses from behind the ooze. "Stay where you are."

Debris and food scraps are slurped into the beast's gelatinous body, dissolving with great ease regardless of its organic, or inorganic, nature. Tiny Two Toes starts to fidget, pale and frightened, as the ooze comes upon him— and then Zarius calls him up— and Caedes has never seen a goblin move so fast in his entire life. He laughs a little, the sound drowned out by Zarius stomping up and down on the top of the stairs.

The ooze finds it interesting, and starts to head towards the stairs; Caedes sees it start to hesitate, and moves cautiously behind it. Using his part of the crate, he pushes against its back-end while it prods cautiously at the wood with its pseudopods. "Come on, big guy; there's something better up there than what you've been eating down here." The ooze's body coils upwards like a caterpillar; and Zarius' shouting and stomping gives it all the encouragement it needs. It starts to undulate up the ramp.

Caedes can hear the wood hissing and splintering as the big slime globs its way up— every now and then, it seems to lose track; at one point, it tries to undulate off the side of the ramp— to which, Caedes quietly leaps off the edge, and pushes up on its oozing sides to get it back on track. An angry pseudopod lashes out at him, snapping the board in his hands— but his redirection does succeed, and the ooze undulates the rest of its way up the last few inches of ramp towards Zarius.

"It's coming up! You better have those tables ready, Tiny!"

The ooze slorps up into the tavern of the inn, coming into the light of the space. It pauses and seems to shrink back. Was it the light? There was no time to extinguish all the lanterns. The ooze starts leaning backwards towards Caedes. Nope. Not happening. He’d drag it out if he had to.

Zarius reaches forward and tries to get a grip on the ooze.^[1] His hand contacts the surface and the ooze retaliates with a pseudopod lashing around his wrist and sucking his hand into its form. Zarius braces with his other hand and both feet against the door frame. This was not ideal.

“AAAAH! You’re going to get eaten!” Tiny Two Toes starts freaking out in the background.

Zarius’ eye twitches and he snaps at the goblin. “JUST GET THE DOOR.”

Tiny Two Toes runs over to the door and throws them open before running over to the bar and hiding behind it.

Zarius feels a burning sensation as his glove starts to dissolve from the ooze’s acidic body. He had better hurry and get this thing out of here and off him or he’d risk losing his hand, if not more. He tries to get a hold on anything solid in the ooze but it’s just not happening. That said, the ooze itself has a good hold on him all on its own. Guess that’ll just have to work for now.

He leans back and gets his feet back on the floor. It’s awkward and does not look at all easy, but he starts dragging the ooze clinging to his arm across the floor one step at a time. Each time he feels it try to pull him in more he throws all his weight in the opposite direction. The ooze gurgles with agitation.

The door is soon clear for Caedes to come up from the basement, though there was still a burning trail of acid being left by the ooze.

Zarius breaks out in a sweat and starts panting from the effort. The ooze weighed a ton thanks to its density and it also kept pulling against his every effort to move it by force. He grits his teeth and supports his arm stuck in the ooze as he leans back again and drags the ooze closer to the door.

His glove is basically gone by now and his skin is starting to blister from the acid eating away at his flesh. It is excruciatingly painful like the worst burn he had ever experienced combined with hundreds of tiny needles being pierced into his arm.

He bumps back into a chair Tiny Two Toes had left in the way. He grunts and grabs it and throws it across the room and it clatters against the bar where the goblin is hiding.^[2] Was he trying to hit him on purpose? Not really. Would it make him feel better if it had hit? Yes.

He glances back at the doorway, only a few more feet. He breathes and gathers his strength and hauls the ooze clear of the doorway and out into the street. Mission accomplished, the ooze was clear of the building...but there was still the issue that the ooze would not loosen its grip on him.

“Caedes! Help!” He calls between puffs as he still has to keep it from pulling more of his dissolving arm into its form.

---

[1] Iron Grip. Due to all the training and strengthening of their hands, the brawler has gained an incredible grip strength, able to hold onto anything or anyone. Their grip is so tight now that they can no longer have things ripped from their grasping, preventing things from knocking or pulling objects out of their hand, regardless of how hard it was hit or how strong the force was. This also makes them excellent grapplers, able to hold onto an enemy without easily being pushed off.
[2] Improvised Weapons. Improvised Weapons While the brawlers best weapon is their fist, they realize that sometimes the situation calls for more creative means of offense. They can turn any mundane item at their disposal into a make shift weapon, allowing it to deal damage equal to the lowest form of their damage type. They can grab things like a chair leg and use it as a club, or a iron bar and use it as a dagger. This gives the brawler access to a multitude of weapons regardless of what situation they are in.

The ooze tries to shrink away from the light at the top of the stairs; and like hell he's going to let it. Caedes reaches out with a hand, fingers prepared to snap; when suddenly, Zarius is quicker. The Tiefling reaches forward and tries to grab the ooze; and succeeds in a way that was most definitely not completely thought through because the ooze lashes out to grab him in return.

Almost in conjunction with the goblin freaking out from the distant tavern lobby, Caedes sputters a stunned, "What are you doing!?" at him; but Zarius is certainly not hearing any of it. He snaps at the goblin to open the door; and Tiny Two Toes obliges, before running out of his view. Caedes grimaces; he had promised the dang thing a better meal, but he hadn't really meant it. "Charlotte, follow them out." he directs the spider with a flick of his wrist, twirling on his heel to pry away another couple of crate slabs from the shattered and broken boxes.

Charlotte crawls out the tavern door from the ceiling and scales easily over the doorframe without issue; she proceeds to crawl up the wall.

Caedes meanwhile, is trying to get out of the basement to assist Zarius. As soon as the Tiefling clears the door, Caedes carefully skirts up the side of the ramp. With one hand supporting him against what is most certainly the tavern's dampest wall, he throws down one of the crate slabs atop the acid trail. It crackles and hisses as it makes contact; but its just enough for him to use it like a stepping stone out of the basement without burning through the soles of his boots.

It is not embedded into the floor, however, and slips slightly with the displacement of his weight; by sheer miracle, he manages to jump and catch himself on both sides of the door-frame. It is, by no means, a graceful leap while he straddles the pool of acid— but it's enough to keep him from melting into a puddle like the slush down in the basement— so it will do.

As he sidles around the acid spill and into the full width of the tavern, he looks towards the door; he sees the great glob trying to resist the last pull to the outside. Caedes spits a sputtering curse beneath his breath; bounding over the table, he runs towards the door— clear from the acid trail. “Caedes! Help!” 

He bounces over the last table in the row, nearly tripping over one of the table legs, and staggers out the door to spot Zarius fighting back against the ooze's tightening grip. He circles quickly around the slime. "Are you trying to lose that arm?" he hisses; he grabs hold of the tiefling's upper-arm tightly and starts pushing him back to create tension between him and the ooze; and in a, perhaps, insane turn of events... Caedes plunges his hand onto the ooze as well.

There's a sizzling pop as he does so, and Caedes sputters a sharp and unabashed curse as one of the ooze's pseudopods writhes around his arm in an expected response. In the same breath, the changeling blinks once through his grimace of pain; and his eyes glaze over black. Shadows writhe beneath his cloak as his own skin sizzles; it is an excruciating, horrible feeling.

Dying was actually less painful than this; at least, it was quicker than this.

As the slinking shadows writhe against the ooze, however; something odd happens— the blistering burns dissolving his skin begin to mend, burn, then mend again.⁽¹⁾ It's almost as though his very being is fighting to remain in balance with the digestive enzymes eating away at him. His free arm trembles against Zarius' shoulder with the effort of maintaining a spell while under the intense pain; but eventually, the pseudopod starts to loosen its grip on him. The ooze jiggles, wiggling uncomfortably as the shadows latch and cling to it, burrowing into its malleable form like a parasite.

Beneath his feet, the shadows writhe as though angry— or, perhaps just as equally as pained as he.

Something hisses deep inside his mind, but does not form words.

As the ooze starts to deflate— becoming flatter despite its massive density and blobbish form— its pseudopods loosen their grips on the two men. Caedes sharply shoves Zarius by the shoulder the moment he feels it let up; and the ooze's tendril releases him— slime threads snap away from Zarius' burned arm like fragile cobwebs. Caedes pulls away as well, gasping as the tendril snaps from him; and finally, the ooze settles.

In a weird way, it seems a bit tired.

It just sits there, idle; its tendrils slowly slurp back into its bean-shaped visage with a sloth-like urgency.

Caedes pants from the extent of the pain; gripping at his forearm as the blisters recede, and the skin mends itself. He sputters a flurry of curses, sweating lightly from the exertion; but his mind returns to him from the pain eventually, and he looks sharply at Zarius. He could say a lot of things; many of them quite mean; but he takes a breath and moves over to him with a slight urgency.

"How bad is it?"

---

^{(1) Vampiric Touch — By touching an enemy's flesh or clothing, you are able to sap their life energy from them. You will cause them to grow fatigued for their next post, feeling dizzy and weak. Their movements will slow and they will stumble for a brief moment. In addition you will heal yourself of all surface and minor wounds, such as scratches, bruises and cuts.}

"How bad is it?"

It's bad.

Approaching the tiefling, Caedes could see that the skin of Zarius' arm had been burned away, exposing the muscle tissue of the hand and the forearm partway up to the elbow. His arm still has residual slime from the ooze eating away at the tissue, though at a slow rate.

Zarius had fallen back when the ooze had finally let go of its hold on his limb and is now on his knees doubled over in agony. He's sweating, shaking, and breathing hard. His eyes are tightly shut and he can't even hear Caedes over the sound of his own heartbeat throbbing in his head.

He grits his teeth and swears in infernal. His mind is swimming from the pain, but he knows he can't just sit there doing nothing. He opens his eyes and looks at the damaged flesh now starting to weep blood. He catches sight of Caedes' legs out of his periphery. 

"F-find soap. Acid...can be neutralized with soap." He manages to force the words out between this teeth, trying to speak as clearly as possible.

He resist the urge to clutch at his injured arm. No need to lose both hands if the limb couldn't be saved after all. 

Tiny Two Toes had been peeking around the corner and has this horrified expression. His goblin ears do pick up the words though. "Soap! I have soap!" He runs back into the tavern to a back room. 

Zarius pants and forces himself to get up off the ground. His legs shake from the exertion of having dragged the ooze all the way out of the inn. And the pain. The pain wasn't helping.

Involuntarily, he leans his forehead against Caedes shoulder and closes his eyes again. "My apologies, give me...a minute." The pain rolls through him in waves and threatens to take him back to the ground. He just needs to steady his breathing. He could stay standing if he could keep breathing.

After a bit he straightens up, steps back from Caedes. He was doing his best not to show the agony he was in. He had to save some face in front of the assassin.

He looks over at the ooze. It appears to be chill for now, but they still need to get it clear of the town or else someone else would get hurt.

"Maybe give it a nudge towards the forest. Or give it a bread crumb trail to follow." He suggests to Caedes, he certainly was not going near the ooze again himself. He was done for the night. 

Tiny Two Toes runs out with a bucket of water and a bar of soap. He doesn't go right up to the two men though, still anxiously glancing at the drowsy ooze. "I got the soap!"

Zarius lets out a long pained breath and keeps his melted arm held out away from his body as he goes over to the goblin. He crouches down over the buckt and submerges his arm.

There's a sharp inhale of pain from the tiefling. He grits his teeth and takes the soap to start using the suds to neutralize the remaining acid. It stings like crazy, but there wasn't many other options available to them. It isn't long before the water is saturated with blood. 

Tiny Two Toes looks disgusted at the sight of Zarius' arm and he gives a wincing, unsure look at Caedes who seems unharmed from the whole ordeal. "I don't know if-"

"Hey."

The goblins attention snaps back to the tiefling.

"I have a medical kit in my room. Go get it. Touch nothing else." He hisses. 

The goblin looks a little incredulous. "How about a thank you for the soap?"

Zarius just gives the goblin a murderous glare which causes Tiny Two Toes to jump back defensively. 

"Nrrrgh, fine! But after tonight you are banned from my inn!" The goblin scampers away to get the medical kit. 

Once the goblin is gone, Zarius hangs his head a bit and closes his eyes again. The pain is overwhelming and he couldn't tell if he could even feel his arm anymore. He tries to flex his hand but an intense wave of pain makes him visibly cringe.

It also didn't help that he was losing a lot of blood quickly. The soap may have stopped the acid from eating away at his flesh, but now the severed blood vessels were irritated and flowing unrestrained. He knows he needs to stop the bleeding and get the injury dry and covered as soon as possible. He curses the goblin in his mind.

Hurry up.

Everything hurt intensely and he feels his vision blurring and his consciousness fading.

Dammit, hurry up!

The soap bar slips from his hand and plops into the bucket as his vision goes black and he collapses in the street.

He doesn’t even need to ask; approaching the tiefling while he’s doubled on his knees, his steps slow upon seeing the full extent of the open wound. A shaky breath escapes between his lips; a small, exasperated sound of disbelief at the damage done to his skin— if it can be called that, at this point. It’s a stark contrast, the way the bleeding and exposed muscle gives way to his charcoal skin at his elbow. Caedes grimaces, stooping to crouch down next to him; a part of him wanted to scold Zarius; tell him how idiotic of a move it was to do what he did.

It was still dumb, but now wasn’t the time to heckle him about it.

"F-find soap. Acid...can be neutralized with soap."

Before he can agree, Tiny Two Toes pipes up that he has soap somewhere; and he rushes off before anything more can be said. “Go quickly!” he calls after the goblin, scowling as he looks back to Zarius; he doesn’t try to speak with him, but does lay a hand on his quivering shoulders. Gradually, the Tiefling tries to find his footing; and Caedes slowly stands with him, guiding him up as he exerts himself to do so. Still keeping a loose grip on his shoulder, Zarius suddenly leans forwards against him.

At first, he tenses; but gradually, he eases.

“You’re fine.” he mumbles, keeping his eyes on the ooze from the corner of his eyes; it’s still dormant, but it won’t be for long. “Take a minute.”

He stands there, holding Zarius steady with his hands loosely gripping his shoulders; holding him up to some degree while he wavers against him in the pain. He looks down, catching the extent of his wound as the blood and ooze coagulate; and he winces softly at the sight, turning his eyes away once Zarius starts to shift. Caedes takes a step back, his arms extending as he cautiously releases Zarius, and allows him to stand on his own.

There’s a particular watchfulness behind his gaze as he studies Zarius’ stance; he’s still clearly in agony; he has to be; but he seems to be choking it down. “Mm.” he agrees with a hum; the ooze is going to continue to be a problem if he can’t get it out of here— preferably, away from the Tiefling in his current state. He steps aside as Tiny Two Toes comes stumbling out, carrying a sloshing water bucket and a bar of soap.

He’s on the verge of chewing the little coward out when Zarius moves over to him without complaint; with a slight scowl at the goblin, he watches him scuttle off angrily. “Chase him. Make sure he doesn’t touch anything else.” he directs Charlotte; who is waiting patiently on the wall above the door frame.

She moves back inside after receiving her orders, scurrying after the goblin to Zarius’ room.

He takes a last look at Zarius as the man winces against the introduction of soap and water to his grievous wounds; and turns away. The ooze begins to jiggle again, waking from its sleep as Zarius falls into unconsciousness.

---

Thnck!

“Do we look like we’re in a position to leave right now?” His pale eyes narrow as he leers into the goblin’s face, “Come to the door to try to kick us out one more time, I dare you.” His voice drips venom, dagger held firmly in his hand as he drags Tiny Two Toes up the wall of Zarius’ room to eye level, knuckles curled into the goblin’s shirt. “It was your incompetence that got us into your mess,” A tap of the flat of his dagger against Tiny Two Toes’ arm has the goblin whining, “You’re lucky I don’t take your arm to replace his as compensation.”

Nervous laughter; Tiny Two Toes kicks at his forearm with the strength of a flopping fish.

“F-fine! Fine! A little longer— but as soon as he’s awake, I want you both gone! You've ruined my establishment enough!”

"Whose fault is that, really?" Caedes drops him, and Tiny Two Toes grunts as he flops onto his rump on the wooden floor. “Get out. Come up here one more time and see what happens.” The goblin looks at him, full of spite, fear, and hostility; then rubs his lower back as he scuttles from the room; he doesn’t bother to close the door behind him.

Caedes does.

It closes with a creak, and a snap as the lock latches.

Morning has come by the time everything has calmed down.

The night prior, Caedes had started to lead the ooze out into the swamp towards the wilderness, then let Charlotte take over once she returned with Tiny Two Toes; the brave little spider had trudged calmly through the forest for a good while paces ahead of it, leading the ooze on a wild goose chase through the bog and trees, before scuttling her way up a tree. Then, back to the inn.

Safely dispersed— for the ooze, anyways.

It left him time to come back to Zarius before Tiny Two Toes could proceed to rip every single supply out of his medkit in a frantic state of urgent uncertainty and throw it on the floor; so, pushing the goblin aside, he took up the mantle. It was good that Zarius was knocked out cold, because there are worse things than death; and the tiefling was currently experiencing one of them.

Caedes doesn’t envy his position.

After cleaning the wound with soap and water— requiring more than one water change from a goblin fretting more over the stains on the floor than the injury itself— he had covered his lower forearm with a cool cloth, and picked the Tiefling up. Tiny Two Toes complained the entire way, in charge of following him to Zarius’ room with the medical kit; where he was promptly kicked out once the situation was more under control and his whining was no longer tolerated.

Stopping the bleeding had been… tricky, though.

Caedes wasn’t a medic, but he knew the basics; he couldn’t heal, but he could make do with what he’d found in Zarius’ medical kit. The wound had been cleaned, the bleeding stopped, cleaned, dried, ointment applied, and covered. Zarius had been laid in bed, carefully positioned with his feet up to ensure he didn't fall further into a shock, and monitored.

The room did look like a murder scene, and Tiny Two Toes had been kind enough to complain many times about it, but eventually Zarius was…

More stable.

Thnck!

The the sound wakes Zarius up. He opens his eyes slowly and his vision clears as he glances about the room. He spots Caedes giving Tiny Two Toes a hard time over giving them a hard time after having a hard time the night before. He chuckles and stares back up at the ceiling. Caedes defending him was kinda touching. He’d have to tease him about it later. Maybe. Only after he could defend himself.

Part of him is surprised Caedes is still hanging around. He wouldn't have been surprised if he left him to bleed out and just make off with his belongings. The changeling would have found answers eventually if he could figure out the cipher and decode his notes. Even if he couldn't, there were plenty of people in the world much smarter who could break the code given enough time and resources. 

The tiefling stiffly pushes himself up and swings his legs over the side of the bed. A wave of dizziness comes over him and doubles over and hangs his head between his knees. He had lost a lot of blood, it would take time for his body to replenish it. He’s careful not to put any weight on his arm as he takes a few deep breaths. Once his head clears he slowly raises his head.

Glancing down at his arm, he sees all the work Caedes put into treating the wound. It would do for now so long as he was careful not to get it damp or torn. He tries to make a fist, but intense pain shoots up his arm and makes him wince. No good. He couldn’t use it at all anytime soon. Grabbing the ooze was dumb, he knew that, and he knew Caedes knew that too.

He looks over at Caedes and eyes him. The changeling didn’t appear injured. That was good. “You look like you are all there. I assume that means the ooze is gone?” He says a bit hoarse in the throat. He’s still very tired, but from what he overheard, it did not sound like they could stay here and rest much longer.

He looks back down at the floor and considers their options. Tiny Two Toes wasn’t going to leave them be, which means they need to move on. He knew his arm likely would not recover fully on its own, so his next priority should be to seek out someone with magic that can restore it.

Veliky was an option, but he had no idea where the short-tempered divine-blessed half-halfling half-goblin was. And she would likely demand a ridiculous amount of Solars for the service.

Edward was off adventuring who knows where. While he was sure the paladin would help, he had no way to track him down currently.

The only person he for sure knew the location of was Kamille as he had been to her home once before. A skilled alchemist like herself would likely have something sitting around for just this situation, or have someone she could recommend. She claimed to help people in need solve their problems after all, and this certainly was a problem he needs solved. She would also likely be willing to trade her services in exchange for information. Even Caedes might appreciate being introduced to someone like her, and most importantly, Moonglade wasn’t too far away.

He made up his mind. To the Witch of Moonglade then.

He surveys the room, seeing all the blood everywhere. Guess it had to be his. Honestly, he’s surprised he even woke up at all. A thought crosses his mind that he likely would have died had Caedes not stepped in. He owed him his life. That was a scary thought. Owing ones life to a trained killer did not usually end well for the one in debt. Shaking his head, he looks to Caedes again. “You sure made a mess of things in here.”

Slowly, he pushes himself to his feet and staggers a bit before he lets out a long breath and straightens up. “Let us get out of this damned ooze-infested swamp. I know someone in Moonglade who may be able to help with this.” He lifts his arm a bit. “It is a long walk, so that gives you plenty of time to have me all to yourself.”

At least his stupid smirk was left unscathed by the ooze. He carefully gathers his things and heads out with the changeling on the next leg of their odd journey through the Marsh Flats. 

As he turns away from the door, he sees Zarius; the Tiefling has sat up at some point during his exchange with Tiny Two Toes. “You’re awake,” he remarks in a matter-of-fact tone.

“You look like you are all there. I assume that means the ooze is gone?”

Caedes breathes a sigh through his nose. “I wish I could say the same about you; but…” He looks Zarius over from head to toe. “I guess on the bright side, you finally got some beauty sleep… Goodness knows, you needed it.” Caedes offers him a taunting smile, though he seems tired; he didn’t get much sleep, himself. “To answer your question, though… yes. Charlotte took it out into the swamp.”

Charlotte, who has made a rather impressive and massive web in the corner of the room throughout the course of the night, stirs at her name. Her narrow legs cause slight vibrations in her web as she turns to look towards Zarius and Caedes. It’s the first time he’s said her name out loud; and whether it was from exhaustion, or from some tiny sliver of familiarity; it’s personal information.

With a sigh, Caedes strides back across the room.

“You sure made a mess of things in here.”

He flops into a chair, pulled out from the table, close to where Charlotte has made her web. He rests his elbow on the table, leaning his cheek against it with a smile. “You think this is a mess? You should see the front door… you had that goblin scrubbing until the wee hours of the morning. I heard him complaining from up here.” That’s what he assumes happened, anyways; there’s a wicker mat over the spot Zarius had collapsed on this morning to cover what’s left of the stains.

Zarius stands up, staggering a bit on his feet; Caedes watches him warily.

“Oh, you know a miracle worker? Good, we'll need one.” he chuckles, eyes narrowing as Zarius gestures towards his arm; slowly, the changeling pushes himself to his feet. He reaches out towards the web above him; Charlotte obediently crawls forwards, onto his arm. “Oh, after spending the entire night in your room, I get to have the entire day as well? Fantastic.” While the delivery is, in and of itself, a snarky comment; there’s some sincerity to it.

There are questions to be asked, after all; and after gathering up what little they have, the two depart the inn together.