In a strange world as a Doppelganger

Chapter 54 - Grime and Slime

The air gets sucked into the hallway that's opened up in front of us and what remains of my firelight is snuffed out. I light it back up and take a step closer to the doorway that's now been revealed. Inside it looks murky and it smells of stagnant water. Moss, fungus and dripping roots overhead. I squat down and look around the edges, tracing the seam of where the stone slabs disappeared.

"It looks safe...ish", I say without looking back.

I hear a small grunt of effort and then a soft splashing sound ahead of me. I whip my head around and glare at Bewella.

"What?", the gnomeblin says, "rather try it with a rock than my foot."

While she's not wrong, I'm not amused by her sudden brashness.

I take a long gingerly step into the hallway and feel the damp and somewhat soft ground. It's slippery with old much and dirt.

"Watch your step." I say back at my companion as I step in completely.

The corridor itself is rounded and there is no comfortable way to stand, like walking inside a cylinder with muck at the bottom of it and slippery, slimy walls. We carefully make our way forward for what feels like maybe five minutes or more when the path branches. We can either head left, right or straight ahead. The various pathways continue too far in for my firelight to reveal much.

"I say left." Bewella whispers behind me.

I shrug and turn left. The moment my foot touches the water in the intersection I feel a sudden sting and burning. I look down and in the water there are faint shapes of something. Before I can even finish processing a larger shape swells up out of the grime. A slightly translucent blob with bits of junk stuck to it and inside it raises up and sluggishly comes in our direction.

"Back up!" I call out to Bewella before I summon another flame to my other hand and launches it at the things enveloping my feet. The fire hisses as it contacts not only water but these smaller globules of slime. The creatures let go of my foot and I back up into the corridor with Bewella.

Whatever they are, they're not particularly fast. I chuck another fire at the fleeing shapes in the shallow sludge. Some of the shapes dissipate into the murky sediment leaving only a handful left. I carefully step back until I am just in front of my friend.

The larger one moves closer but is moving nowhere near fast enough to catch up with us if we keep backing up. It's just about to enter the cylindrical corridor when Bewella pops her head out beside me and lobs a small sachet at the thing.

Midair, the little bundle opens up and a viscous liquid impacts the oncoming ooze. We both watch for a moment as nothing happens and with defeated humor in her voice, Bewella says "Well, maybe we don't use acid?"

"Got it." I respond sternly. While they seem to shun fire, acid had no effect what so ever.

The smaller ones finally make it to the deeper end of the sludge underfoot and submerge themselves to stop the fire that had caught on their surfaces.

Now, if we assume they are made out of some sort of congealed liquid, would they freeze? With that question in mind I step a few inches closer and in my free hand I gather frost. I hold the cold back until the pressure builds and then launch it forward. A faint layer covers the surrounding moss and soil. The ice covers some of the creatures surfaces and the smaller ones in the back are moving even more sluggishly.

The large one shakes it off, neither more or less impacted than I expected. I'm fairly certain it's size has diminished but I can think on that later. I back up again and the slime rolls into the hallway and comes closer. Suddenly I see limbs form and a piece of its body slams towards me like a swung club. The hit itself isn't anything special but it leaves droplets of its body on my skin and I feel the same tingly and burning sensation as it must be some sort of acid.

As it retracts its limb Bewella throws two more things at it, one looks like a small clay pot and the other a stick with some gunk on it. The stick hits the thing and sinks into its body. A sudden sweet smell erupts and stings our noses. Quivering and shuddering the blob did not appreciate the blight bomb. The little clay container shatters against the floor and I can see the repulsive mush of her Necrotic bomb spill out. Some of it gets on the creatures but not really enough to do much.

Luckily though, the smaller creatures are mostly gone and the remaining ones are staying docile in the back of what light we still have. Only the big one left to worry about. I'm not too keen on how close it's getting so I summon the reservoir within me to the surface and unleash a pressurized gush of water to try and push it backwards.

As the water and mist settles, blob was indeed pushed back and a massive hole was blasted through its body. Slowly morphing back into its original shape, the slime looses mass and I take the opportunity to launch another small water bullet at it. Ricocheting off its membranous skin the bullet does nothing.

With distance put between us it doesn't take too much between myself and Bewella to pepper it down from afar before it can close the distance again. We watch as the fascia-like membrane spreads out in the grime and liquid pours out of it.

Bewella takes a glass jar from her pack and carefully starts scooping up the skin.

"What?" She looks at me and I guess my absolute disgust must have been showing.