Shen looked at her sideways, also backing up slowly. Two more had appeared now, one on either wall and slowly creeping their way toward them. Shen was unfurling the chain from about his waist, his eyes on the approaching slime things the whole while.
"Oh... it's more than a light show, but I'm rather determined to keep our only light source presently...."
Marlena nodded but her chest tightened slightly as she noticed more of them appearing on the walls. She would have to be careful, Shen had some range with his weapon but Marlena would have to get in close. Her fingers flexed again as she felt the cold of the weapon against her arm and she quickly took in their surroundings. Shen was closer to the wall where as she was backing directly down the center of the passage.
She stopped moving back and instead stepped to her side to the wall opposite Shen. There was nothing else she could do so she ran forward, the one closest to he having the unfortunate privilege of being her first target. The points of the sai dropped and then arched upwards swiftly, there was nothing to aim for except a large lump of jelly, so Marlena was less than careful about where she attacked it. Bringing her arms outward, the sai slashed with them before she moved back down the tunnel to a pace or so behind Shen , she wanted to see what damage, if any, that she had caused.
Marlena's twin weapons cut easily through the gelatinous mess of the slime creature and filleted it, cutting a large portion out what was it's central mass. The green ick flung free and spattered across the wall much like disecting a jellyfish, the rest of it's body the hissing as it started to puddle and disolve.
The muck on her blades smoked some, but it seemed the steel was far more resistant to whatever corrosive properties the slime had than Shen's leather boot.
Shen had watched with some interest as Marlena dispatched her foe and with her clear, the lazy swirling of his weapon changed immediately. Whipping it about much faster, he tugged in, wound the chain about his arm and elbow and then down to where he kicked the weight with his foot, sending it hurtling into another slime. The weight hit the slime with a wet thump, carried into the body a short ways and then tore out of it cruelly. Unsatisfied with his attack, he shifted out his foot and spun, the chain whipping about his middle and his other hand tugging up now, the his wrist spinning the scythe end before sending it out wide at that same enemy.
It sliced through the slime, then whipped back to Shen with a jerk before it could hit the wall. There was a lot of motion in very little time, but the complexity of his dance made his weapon both fast, accurate and unpredictable. He snatched the handle of his scythe from the air and flicked the gore from the curved blade.
Looking over his shoulder, he smiled with a devilish delight.
The movement of Shen's weapon caught her eye and she watched as he moved. When she first saw it on his waist at the docks, she had thought it looked clumsy, something that would be thrown around without much thought, but Shen had made it look almost elegant. Marlena allowed herself to laugh at his comment as she watched the residue of the slime dissolve from the shaft of her own weapon, her eyes raising to fix on the one other slime on the ground.
Unwilling to go for the one on the wall just yet, Marlena surged forward, her sai leading her to the slime that moved in the center of the passage. The weapons slid easily into the thing in front of her and she let them sink deep as she could without touching it, the slashing motion of earlier repeated. Her right hand came down again, the tip running through it as she whipped around, spinning on her toes and turning to the wall.
Her hair fanned out with the momentum and her eyes set on the slime in determination, her fingers moving over the grip of her sai and she held them with the shaft leaving the bottom of her fist as she reached up, driving them into the slime and dragging down, taking a slight step back to avoid any slime that may fall.
Shen was grim, his glasses glaring against the sphere or light, his jaw set as he turned and flung out his hand. The weighted chain slammed into the jello exterior of one of the wall slimes, Shen jerking on it once with one hand, then with the other as he stepped forward, feet moving in unison with his hands. He spun the other way now and leaned, the chain whipping out like a loose anchor line, it quickly slapping over the surface of the slime and spattering it quite well. He wasn't letting up though, his weapon was fast and again, with another step and another whirl of his arm, he struck it a last time.
Slimy gore spattered from the wall and fizzled, him having killed that one as well.
Marlena meanwhile was making deft, precise attacks with her dual sais, the thick blades quite suited to gouging messily through her opponents. Slimes tended to heal quickly from neat, precise cuts; but the three pronged weapons and the raking motion of her attacks removed to much mess for their to be any chance to heal.
Great globs of green goo gloriously gouged from it's guts, her opponents both dying in a smoking, acrid mess. Seems all enemies were now slain.
Marlena stepped back, a somewhat satisfied smirk on her face as she flicked her wrists, most of the slime on her weapons hitting the floor. She turned her head and gave a smile to Shen before side-stepping the hissing puddles on the floor. She moved forward slowly, keeping her weapons in hand as she got closer to the boardwalk, her eyes constantly looking around, the water, the boardwalk, the walls and the ceiling.
Taking one step onto the wooden planks, she paused for a moment then turned to Shen, her brow had knit together and slight confusion was easy to see as she thought about something.
The thief came this way, yes? Do you think he made it past those things?
Shen was winding his chain about his midsection and stopped to think on that for a moment. He paused, looking about just as Marlena was. Undecided mostly, he continued to walk along the boardwalks over the water pooled here.
"Well we found no remains. Just the one empty vial. No, if he's still here then I intend to find him. And really, they didn't seem terribly tough."
Isn't always the way? The very moment you say something, you're forced to regret it immediately. That was the case when the water suddenly shifted and rose and in an instant, massive walls of gelationous goop stood tall, then folded in upon the pair. Encased and without air, darkness took them both very quickly...
The sound of shuffling, muttering and dripping awoke Marlena. She could feel the wet stones pressed against her back. She could not move her arms, now that there were pulled out either side and stuck fast to the wall. She could move her head it seemed, but she was captive.
Shen stirred into consciousness on her left, his glasses crooked.
In front of them both was the layout of this chamber, as strange as it was. A man, bent over and broken was shuffling about in his strange, tattered clothing. A well sat in the middle of the room, but very little light shone upon it. Their eyes adjusting to the gloom, both could see the man talking to a slime creature which rubbed at his leg, somewhat like a domestic cat.
He clutched a number of vials in his hands, not unlike the one they'd found venturing into this underground lair.
Marlena's eyes open slowly, the low light taking some time to get used to. Lifting her head, she leaned it back against the wall behind her, frowning as she tried to pull her arms free. She stopped though when she heard Shen wake, turning her head to him, checking him over briefly. Neither of them seemed to have injuries that she could see, that was good at least. She looked for their weapons next, remembering Shen had wrapped his around his waist again, her sai had been in her hands when the slime engulfed them. Not that weapons would do them much good now.
The movement on the floor caught her eye and she looked to the man in the room with them. He looked as if he had been down here far to long, the slime at his feet just made the sight even more strange. Her eyes found the vials in his hands, was this the thief, or had the thief ended up trapped against this wall with them. She leaned her head forward and tried to look for another person along the wall, looking to Shen for a moment, but not wanting to speak, the man was very much distracted it seemed and she was hesitant to draw attention to them just yet.
Marlena spotted nothing in the gloom, it seemed that they were the only prisoners presently. She did take not of a couple of other things though. There was more movement in the room through the refuse and grime, something slurped and moved here and there, rose and fell, a burrowing or slithering about. The longer she looked, the more it seemed like their might be many more of those odd slime creatures present.
She did notice that Shen's weapon was about his waist, though his arms were bound as hers were. It did him little good. There was hardly any light in here and though she did not know him well, it stood to reason that any attempt to use it might just make matters worse for them. Low on ammunition so to speak. Her sai were at her feet, it seems that they may have been transported here and discarded with little care. She could not reach them of course with her hands bound stretched out to her sides.
Shen checked her over as well and between them, they ascertained that neither was greviously wounded. Just very, very wet and sticky. Not fun. The man was petting the slime at his legs now, then started to rummage through the vials in his hands, then in a haversack that hung at his side and clattered, likely filled with like items.
Shen looked entirely displeased but at present, was plotting.
Marlena took a deep breath, giving up quickly on the idea of counting the number of slimes she could see. They were moving around the room, in and out of shadows. It was impossible to keep track of them. They weren't about to get free anytime soon and that raised annoyance and frustration in her, resisting the need to pull and try to free her arms.
The sound of glass vials hitting each other brought her back to the strange man, from Shen's expression, the haversack was no doubt filled with his possessions. They'd found who they were after, but what would this man want with the chemicals? The behavior of this man was as odd as the creatures around him, and whilst Marlena would usually be curious about it, right now, the strange relationship was the last thing on her mind.
Shen looked rather intent on something, maybe he had a better idea on how to get out of this than she did. They could do nothing like this. Too much noise would draw attention, but then, they had no other option. Giving a quiet huff of frustration, Marlena kept her eyes on the man across the room as she whispered.
Shen did not, partly because he was also the GM in the adventure and partly because he was just as restrained and smothered in goop as she was. He was about to say something to the latter, when the man stood up and stared at her, eyes wide and glimmering in the dark. She'd gotten his attention.
"OH, YOU'RE AWAKE! MARVELLOUS! JUST MARVELLOUS!" It might be said that that degree of enthusiasm might make people questions one's degree of... sanity. Perhaps.
Marlena winced at the sound of the man shouting, turning her head to glare at him. The voice put her on edge and made her grit her teeth. She mumbled something, loud enough that Shen could probably hear, something along the lines of things not being so exciting anymore. She could do nothing but listen to the man, though every part of her wanted to hit him, take Shen's chemicals and go home. There was no point to it, but she started pulling again, hating the feel of the slime and the fact that she was trapped.
The man watched Marlena struggle then and shook his head as he scrambled closer, his strange slime pet slithering along after him. He slipped almost hazardly in the muck on the floor in his haste to approach, rather excited.
"Oh no! You can't get free of those ones, I gave them the brown juice! It makes them very strong you know, very strong indeed! Isn't it exciting?"
And he was, entirely elated at whatever the hell he was babbling about.
Shen looked simply puzzled and entirely unimpressed.
Marlena was confused, though a thought came to her. It may have been off the mark, but the way the man had been shuffling through the vials, she had a suspicion. She stopped struggling though, a quick glance around the room before she breathed deep, her sweetest smile gracing her lips and directed at the man in front of her. If she couldn't pull herself free, she would make him free her. Or try at least.
Can't you let us go, please? It's rather uncomfortable like this.