"H-Huh? Ah, thank you," Lynn mumbled as she accepted the gold piece from him. "Um, well, I'm a member of Heka's guild, and-" She caught herself before she went any further, now remembering the flow of how a normal first encounter should go. Introductions first.

"My name is Lynnette Loxaerion. I just joined Heka's guild, but, um, I don't really know how to do anything just yet." Her face flushed slightly. "But I need to go into the Labyrinth. There's...someone I'm looking for." Lynn's eyes traveled briefly to the staff by her side before returning to Vincent's chest. "...would this be enough?"

Lynn held out her palm full of coins, looking up at Vincent misty-eyed.

"I-I have more," she added quickly after a pause, long enough for both of them too sense but too short for Vincent to react.

Giving a slight sigh at the low quality of her loot, Senna decides she would be best off sticking with the group, and follows along closely, bow drawn, keeping behind Alexander as he travels further into the Labyrinth. Her senses and thoughts were sharpened, carefully considering her surroundings as she walks, preparing for any more surprise attacks from their mysterious enemies.

She didn't have much to say, for now. She was more consumed with relishing in the adventure of the experience, and also in keeping herself alive.

Enjoying yourself was fine. Letting your guard down wasn't.

So, she watched, ready to offer her assistance at a moment's notice.

The soul of the Labyrinth spoke. From that heart that dwelled in the bottom of this damnable crypt, something beyond human understanding whispered to that it had forged, to that whose precepts it had designed, to that whose reality it shouldered.

It awakened. The core that gave it life, formed by a magic long since lost to the sands of time, thrummed as it gathered the basis of its essence. The boundary between Same and Other was bridged over, made inconsequential as Other became same.

The point at which water met earth. Expansion to contraction.

The two danced the ephemeral as they merged into one. For this is the nature of such a being, a being created to "take everything into itself". Power, knowledge, ideals, none of that sophistry matters in the face of such a being.

From the cracks in the stone that comprised the ceiling of the cave, "something" melted out. Separate the self from the world of stone. Designate a sense of self. Coalesce into a form. Alter premise of material construction.

Rather than purity, rather than nobility, rather than holiness..

-It is corruption, it is baseness, it is sacrilege.

This torrent of stagnant, profane darkness generated a form. No, not one form, but two. Two separate forms, two separate beings, two separate worlds unto themselves that served as damnations of everything your nature stands for.

Run away.

Against this foe, there can be no victory.

The presence of "life" had urged it to action, and so, something which had slumbered for countless eons descended from above, a dazzling star falling into hell.

Against this foe, there can be no hope.

These two bodies struck the ground, directly before Alexander and Senna, and displayed their might in full.

For the beings that stand before you now...

---

-They were blobs.

Two transparent masses of a jelly-like substance with something embedded in each of their centers, maybe a leftover piece of rock from when they were living in the ceiling.

They were slimes.

They had been aiming for Alexander's head, but they had missed.

Damn.

As Lynn mentioned the name Heka, Vincent gave a nod in understanding. Right, so she was a member of a guild- that at least meant she wasn't going to be dead weight. The name Loxaerion rung a bell, though Vincent couldn't quite tell why off the bat.

"I wouldn't worry about that, it'll come to you if you need it," He started, addressing the fact that she'd only just joined a guild. Per his experience, much of the knowledge and basic ability granted by a God's blessing was instinctual- green around the ears or not, the girl was now a superhuman existence and would be able to conduct herself like one. Provided this display indicated that she was more nervous than stupid, she would likely be fine-

But of course, the sight of the handful of gold being offered to him was enough to ease any of Vincent's doubts. Screw the medical supplies, the thought of all the meals and liquid lunches he could fund put an expression on his face much like that of a man who'd just dug up ancient treasure in his garden.

"We can work it out later, but you have my full co-operation for now," Vincent replied to Lynn with another nod, an uncharacteristically friendly if somewhat indecent-looking smile crossing his face as his ears pricked up at the sound of "I-I have more."

"The entrance to the Labyrinth is in the south, if I recall. Try out your new abilities on the way, it might be a fair walk but you'll cover it in no time at all with those."

"R-Really?" Lynn was taken back with surprise for a few seconds before she nodded, a genuine smile rising to her face. "If you're fine with leaving now..."

She silently fell into step behind Vincent, deciding to let him lead the way. Was this old man really planning on going with just the two of them? Lynn was very doubtful that a member of Thoth and a member of Heka would get very far by themselves, but she didn't want to bring that up in fear of offending him.

"Try out your new abilities on the way," he had said. Well, then...

"Ha!" Lynn let out a cry as she swung her staff down in mid-air. Nothing happened.

Well, that was stupid.

"Yah!" She tried one more time, swinging horizontally. A few birds pecking at crumbs on the ground nearby flew away, cawing as they left. "Auu..."

Lynn covered her face with her hands, feeling a heat rise to her cheeks. She wasn't sure if this man was trying to make her look stupid, or if she herself was doing something wrong. She kept walking along, sulking at Vincent's back.

While normally Alexander would have been more open to conversation, the cave walls seemed to carry his footsteps well enough. Without any real idea what sort of creatures might have lurked in the darkness ahead there wasn’t a need to add his voice into the mix as well he supposed. Thus, the party advanced in relative silence for quite some time before something broke the peaceful, if tense, walk.

To his irritation, he didn’t hear a damn thing until the creature’s body was already falling through the air and pushing it aside. With wet splotches, the pair of blobs hit the ground ahead of them and his eyes narrowed. The Goblins were easier to take in, given they still had a humanoid form in the end, but these creatures were damn strange. Beyond that, they seemed rather problematic to deal with. His best guess, and hope, was that the object that floated in their bodies served as a some sort of organ to maintain the creature. The problem then was the material that made up their bodies. It looked rather thick and easy to get his weapon imbedded in if the creature’s proved to be hardier than expected.

“Back!” He ordered as he began to back away from the pair of monsters. “Senna, shoot one of them please.” From what he’d seen her arrows had splendid penetration, so it’d serve as a sort of benchmark.

'... Maybe it's different with her Guild,' Vincent felt somewhat inclined to re-assess the idea that Lynn wasn't dead weight, though he kept that thought to himself. Aside from anything else, the girl seemed earnest enough about everything that he didn't feel any particular need to be unpleasant. The money helped too, of course.

"Just try the physical abilities, then," He said to the girl, as she began to sulk behind him. What he knew of her Guild suggested that they were relatively lacking there, but lacking as a superhuman wasn't the same as lacking as a regular human. "If your particular blessings are magic-based, they might not work properly until you get into the Labyrinth. Just see if it's any easier for you to run."

It was just a guess- maybe even a little bit of encouragement, for all that was worth- but Vincent did recall being told something similar to that- the Labyrinth was a bizarre place, and God(s) knew what was down there besides treasure and monsters.

He did hope that it wasn't going to be the two of them on their own, though. An old geezer like him and a little thing like her with their particular blessings weren't exactly going to take the Labyrinth by storm.

Not that he particularly liked the look of some of the other Guild members he'd seen about the place. They just didn't seem like team players, to him. Lacking in character, just shuffling along in their roles. It was still early, perhaps there were still some people on the first floor of the Labyrinth that they could intercept.

It didn't have to be said that, with the arrival of the brand-new "Jelly" Monster, Senna was once again surprised at the creativity of the enemies they were facing. She had never imagined a Monster like this could even exist, let alone that she would be fighting it on such short notice.

"They seem rather... jiggly," she comments calmly as she produces an arrow and pulls back her bowstring. "I can't see any vitals."

Well, given that she couldn't really get a read on this strange creature's biology, there was no real question as to where she would aim her shot.

"Ha!"

She exhales.

An arrow is loosed, aimed at the "center" of the slime's body. Hopefully, a direct hit would be strong enough to stun the creature, although Senna herself doubted the arrow would be very effective. This Monster, no, this "Slime" seemed to be the type of enemy that would be hard to defeat.

That said...

Could something like this even be harmful? Senna couldn't even imagine how it might decide to attack them. Maybe it would try to make them slip, or something.

The arrow sliced through the air, its target being one of the slimes that stood before the pair of adventurers. Its speed, far surpassing the realm of humanity, was beyond the capacities of the slimes to react to.

It began and ended in an instant. The arrow flew into the slime, puncturing through its mighty surface tension. Its speed slowed but still considerable, it cut through the slime, gouging out a hole in the rock that floated in the middle of it. and then stopped upon the tip of it striking the ground; the slime's considerable viscosity had slowed it enough to where it thankfully didn't break.

Meanwhile, the rock wasn't a rock. Shocking. Wow. It was a core. Shocking. Wow.

You beat a slime. Congrats. You should be really proud.

The core-with-a-hole-in-it simply disintegrated in the middle of the slime, crumbling into a cloud of black dust that then melted away in the slime's fluid. The slime, lacking the power that animated it, simply melted to the floor in a puddle of the gelatinous mass.

The slime's brother, however, was not so easily vanquished.

Inexplicably, impossibly, it leapt.

While Senna had prepared her arrow, and a mere moment after she had loosed it, it had finished its preparations. The second slime jumped from the ground, a quivering, amorphous sphere that flew through the air towards the head of the nearest human: Senna.

Behold, its transcendent might.

"Oh! Nice shot," Alexander called out as he watched her projectile rip through the monster's body, punching a hole in its core as well. As he had suspected, the damage done to that center piece caused it to disintegrate and the slime's body simply melted into an inanimate puddle afterwards. His eyes naturally went to the remaining monster and widened slightly as it tensed and then propelled itself airborne towards Senna.

While his initial thought had been to shield bash the creatures in hopes the blunt force would disrupt their gelatinous bodies, upon seeing Senna's success Alexander figured a stab would work just as well. He stepped in front of the archer and gave her a slight nudge backwards before he gripped the weapon with both hands; one half-way up the blade to guide his attack true. There was only a moment to brace himself as the blob slammed into him, but using both the monster's own momentum and his strength Alexander stabbed upwards at the creature's core. His shield, held onto his arm by straps, was angled in such a manner that it served as cover for his face against the unknown liquid that composed the creature.

Alexander's strike was a success. Against the existence known as the punching bag of RPGs everywhere, it would be disgraceful were anything else to have happened. The slime's core was pierce by his sword and disintegrated a moment later. However, the slime's motion did not come to a stop, and the quivering mass continued to fly through the air.

As it was aiming for Senna's head, this meant it struck Alexander on his chest, a rather large quantity of slime sticking to it. The same served for the sword he had used to kill the monster. It didn't seem to be harming him in any way, but...well, it was kind of disgusting.

He felt the tip slide through the creature’s body smoothly and shudder slightly as it carved cleanly through slime’s core. Dead but still in motion, Alexander grimaced as he felt the gelatinous mass crash against his chest plate, splattering in every direction. He was probably lucky that any harmful properties, if there were even any, seemed to have been rendered inert after the creature’s death. Unfortunately the stickiness was still the same and he could feel it cling to him.

“Ugh…” He could just imagine how hard it would be to move when the slime dried up and gummed up his armor; his gauntlets were already locking up. Reluctantly he began to take off his armor that had been covered in the goo, leaving him with the mostly clean layer beneath. “Going to take a bit of time for me to clean this off,” he told Senna as he set the pieces down on the floor around him and pulled up a rag to wipe what slime he couldn’t get off with just his hands. There didn't seem to be any real reason to rush headfirst into danger, so hopefully she wouldn't have any issues with waiting.

Nodding appreciatively at Alexander, Senna takes a moment to check out her surroundings as the larger man cleans off his gear. Her bow is still raised, and with her sharp eyes, she peers out into the darkness. If anything came out at her, this way she would be able to send an arrow their way before Alexander was in any sort of danger.

...

She erases her presence and hides close to one of the cavern's walls. I guess I'll just wait, she thinks to herself quietly.

It's not like we have anything to talk about.

As Alexander cleaned his armor off with Senna standing guard, nothing seemed to happen. It appeared that there weren't any approaching monsters; maybe those three Goblins and two Slimes were the entirety of this floor's monsters? Only heading further into the tunnel of the first floor would tell for sure.

Incidentally, Alexander's efforts to wipe off the slime would be largely successful, enough that it wouldn't affect his movement much when dried, but for a complete job he'd need some water.

You know, while those two are standing around here, now would be a good time for other people to show up.

Lynn decided to pretend not to hear Vincent, sure she'd probably just make a fool out of herself again. She was staying quiet until they got to the Labyrinth, and that was that.

"..." Vincent just eyed the girl as she gave him the silent treatment, grumbling something quietly before he turned his attention back to what was in front of him. It wasn't far to the Labyrinth even if they didn't rush there, maybe she'd open up a bit more when they arrived. At the very least, he didn't feel particularly inclined to continue prodding her, encouragement or otherwise.

So the two were completely quiet for the rest of their trip, not deigning to talk to themselves or any of the various bystanders and fellow, less distinct in character Guild members that they passed along with the Vishnu and Hephaestus Guilds on their way along. After what was roughly a five minute walk, they reached the area of the independent zone where the buildings became far and few between, where what buildings did exist shrunk away from a rock formation rising out of the earth with a gaping wide, ominous maw.

"Well, this place is as goddamned creepy as I remember it being," Vincent muttered, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the mouth of the cave that lead into the Labyrinth depths. It was a pretty spooky sight, to be sure.

Lynn had never gone this distance before; although she did have a passing interest in the place, it was too much work for her to actually check out in person. She could agree with Vincent on that point, though. "C...Creepy or not, we're still going," she responded, unsure of the truth of this statement herself. "...I'll take the back."

"Sure thing," Vincent replied, walking up to and taking a step forward into the cave without a moment's hesitation. Unlike Lynn, he'd come to check out the exterior of the Labyrinth a handful of times before, when he was nearby- he understood well enough why she'd want to take up the rear, but his previous visits had prepared him for this.

The air and atmosphere that met Vincent as he entered was quiet and still, even as the actual structure of the gateway to the Labyrinth became visible a short distance away. He couldn't even hear the sounds of other Guild members nearby, let alone any of the monstrosities that he had been told were lurking down here.

"It feels kind of...empty, don't you think?" Lynn asked in a whisper, still afraid of alerting any living being in the area to their presence. Well, until she accidentally stepped on a stick, breaking it under her foot with a loud snap. So much for that. Nothing seemed to be trying to murder them yet, though, so everything was probably going fine.

"Yeah. Maybe a group already passed through here-" Without any further delay, Vincent pressed through the gate into the Labyrinth, craning his neck to look around as he entered the first floor proper.

It was like Lynn had suggested- this floor was completely emptied of anything alive. The only sign that something HAD been alive here were what Vincent assumed were a couple of corpses a short distance away, but they looked pretty far from human.

In fact, a sudden, rather curt voice in his head suddenly felt fit to lay out details about the dead creatures. Goblins, apparently, stupid and violent creatures, and completely worthless in terms of salvageable material.

"Figures, with my luck," Vincent grumbled, the informative voice in his head tuning out as he yelled back across to the entrance- "All clear! Bunch of dead Goblins, and that's all. We might be able to head straight through to the second floor, if we're lucky!"

Lynn made sure to stay a good distance away from the Goblins - they were gross, smelly, and very unattractive. This adventure was already turning out to be not very fun. "If there's nothing here, then can we move on?" Although... she was supposed to be figuring out how to use magic or something, and the enemies were only going to get tougher from here on out. Still, there's no helping what's already been done.

"Like I said," Vincent replied, a little perturbed by having to repeat himself. "If we're lucky, whoever killed these Goblins cleared the path to the second floor for us." Clearly about as willing to waste time as Lynn was, he began to walk towards and then past the corpses before so much as another syllable slipped out of his mouth.

As with the walk to the Labyrinth, the walk through the Labyrinth was a quiet one. True to her word, Lynn stuck behind Vincent as he led the way, and in a few minutes, they reached what seemed to be a tunnel heading further into the dungeon-

"Ah, here we go."

- and the first Guild member they'd seen since they entered the labyrinth, a young, redheaded lad cleaning his armour. He could have sworn that there was someone else there, but he couldn't see or feel anything to suggest that there was.

"I take it you're the one who killed the Goblins?" Not the most elegant way of starting a conversation, but nonetheless it bore asking. There had been a fair few corpses, and even if they were weak beasts the lad seemed in fair shape for someone who might have been swarmed on his own.

Lynn watched cautiously from behind Vincent's back, passing by Senna without even noticing her. To be honest, this warrior dude was a little scary - he did certainly seem strong enough to defeat those goblins, but that also meant that he could probably crush her in half an instant. It'd be nice if he were willing to work with them, though.

It didn’t take more than a quarter hour for him to clean his equipment off as best as possible in the current circumstances. Alexander sighed and shivered as he quickly donned the plate, the remaining slime cloy and icky. As he did so, he scanned his surroundings and almost missed Senna. His gaze actually slipped right over her a few times before he began to actively scan for her presence. “Huh,” he muttered, impressed at her skills in stealth, as he secured his equipment and glanced down at the slime soaked rags at his feet.

Kneeling, he fished out one of the pieces of wood that could function as a torch and wrapped one of the slime-soaked rags around the end. He had no idea if the gelatinous mass would ignite, but a little experimentation couldn’t hurt and it would be a nice way to save on supplies. Besides it was of a similar consistency to the solidified oil he occasionally got for the lanterns. Before he could put the brain spark to use though, the sound of approaching footsteps had Alexander on his feet and ready to defend himself.

An unnecessary action as two humans, probably Guild Members like himself, came into sight. The man was without a doubt one of the oldest Members he had seen from any guild and had to be over their mid 30s if his guess wasn't off. His companion struck a rather stark contrast in both appearance and demeanor. Where the man seemed straight forward and gruff, the young girl hung to his back and seemed almost afraid to do anything. Her attire didn't really help the impression that she was a sheltered Member with no idea what she was in for.

Their attention seemed to be solely focused on him for the moment and it didn’t seem like Senna had been seen just yet. “With some assistance, but yes.” If she wanted to, Alexander was sure Senna was capable of introducing herself. He knelt back down and fished a flint and striking steel from his belt pouch, keeping an eye on the two, before he sparked the soaked rag.

Senna's reaction to the arrival of new party members was even more subdued than her partner's. She glances at them, giving a reassured smile from the shadows at the fact that she wasn't the only backrow fighter on the team. Then, nodding towards Alexander, she silently begins to creep down into the dark cavern depths beyond.

"I'll scout ahead," she explains calmly, raising her bow so that she was ready to defend against potential threats.

Her breathing was careful, and quiet, her footsteps silent against the hard stone floor. As she passes it, she stoops down briefly to pick up her lost arrow. She regards her slightly slimy arrow with some mild discontent, deciding to wipe it off with the sleeve of her sweater and then replace it into its quiver.

After this, she heads forward cautiously, all senses aimed forwards and ready for the incoming waves of hellbeasts and doomguards.

There were no hellbeasts. There was no squish. There was no slime killing. There were no slimes.

A short distance down the tunnel, the first floor seemed to end, a mangled stone formation like some sort of misshapen statue placed next to a downward staircase. One of considerable inductive and deductive might could stand to reason that said staircase was how one could enter the second floor of the Labyrinth.

Besides that, there wasn't a whole lot to write home about. No monsters, no cool stuff, no-

Wait.

Pressed against the cave wall next to the staircase entrance, half-tucked behind the weird statue thing, was a glint of light. Further examination would reveal two flasks containing a viscous, gross-looking, light green liquid.

Maybe it was the Goblin's treasure?

After checking to make sure there were no threats in her immediate vicinity, Senna walks over to where she could spot the glint, and finds two flasks of... something. Frowning slightly, she leans down and picks up one of the flasks, examining the liquid within by swirling the flask a little.

Huh... some kind of fluid, although she could not discern its purpose. She knew better than to go sniffing mystery liquids, so instead, she simply grabs the flasks and places them carefully into her bag. She would check them out later. The whole thing took only a few seconds, so even if she was being followed, her fellow party members wouldn't be able to see her picking them up.

It was her loot, after all.

After making sure there was nothing dangerous around, and briefly examining the strange, stone formation near the stairs, she quickly turns around and creeps her way to the rest of the party. Once she reached somebody, she would pass on the information she had gathered in her short excursion.

"I found a stone statue of some kind, and stairs leading downwards. No traps or enemies, as far as I could sense, so it must have just been those Goblins and Slimes."

To his disappointment the scattered sparks failed to cause the slime soaked rag to burst in flames. “Ah well,” Alexander muttered as he unrolled the slimy cloth, threw it to the ground, and placed the piece of wood back into his pack. He gave Senna a small wave and nod to see her off before he turned his attention to the pair. “Well follow along if you want,” he told them with a carefree shrug as he reslung the pack, picked up his sword and shield, and followed after his younger party member.

It didn’t take long for Senna to run back and report what she had seen. “No loot, huh.” Well, there had only been five creatures on this floor and the battles had only taken a few seconds each. Get out what you put in and all that Alexander supposed. “You want to continue on?” He asked her as he walked past to find the statue she had mentioned, curious if it was related to the one at the entrance. Despite her information on the lack of danger, he nonetheless stayed attentive and ready to react as he approached the staircase downwards. Regardless if Senna continued on or not and assuming he was unable to discern anything of note from the ruined statue, Alexander would then slowly begin his descent to the second floor.