@Duthguy@Major Ursa

Birds were singing, trees were thick and green, and the ground was covered in a nice layer of slime in slime forest. Today our heroes seemed to be in the middle of gathering ten jars of slime juice for old man slym. What he used it for, well that was a question better left unanswered. Though, why they couldn't just pick up that he slime juice on the ground was another question entirely.

---

@Iatos@Duthguy@AirBender@supertinyking@Major Ursa

Oh no. Not again. It was tutorial season in slime forest. For 9 months out of the year, slime forest was a peaceful home for Slimes where they could be slimy in all of their wonderful sliminess, but for three months... they had to endure endless slaughter by evil heroes and their evil master, dark lord tuto rial, slym! And this year it seems that the evil lord of tutorials was starting early this year, sending in two heroes. A mage, and a half orc warrior.

If Negi's teacher knew he was out adventuring instead of studying she wouldn't be happy, but learning from books was boring and took forever. To be honest he wasn't sure if fighting slimes would be any faster but it had to be more interesting, and if he improved enough he might avoid punishment. Besides there was no way it could be dangerous he was going to fight a bunch of weak slimes, he probably wouldn't even need the meat-shield Slym insisted he brought along. In fact he doubted the half orc would do anything then take away experience points, oh well not much he could do about it. "You see any slimes yet?"

---

Speaking of slimes Yamamori was unaware that their biggest enemy had sent his minions to attack early this year and was out taking his daily stroll without a care in the world. By pure chance he came across the two heroes and immediately hid in a nearby bush, hoping they would walk past him with noticing him. "What, heroes?! But tutorial season isn't supposed to start yet. I have to warn the others." Unfortunately at the moment all he could was wait.

"ONE PUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!" Technically speaking, the small low-level slime had been lobbed at the tree. It managed to make a high-pitched squeak as it flew through the air, before hitting the tree with a loud splat. Splattering along the bark, it's HP going from 100 to 0 in an instant, it despawned and Moosie had a chance to go over and check, "Uhg...crap." The jar of slime juice inside of it also shattering and became useless...this had to be the fifteenth one today!

Hearing the other hero's question, the half-orc warrior kicked some dirt over the broken jar and came running through the brush, out and over to the tiny human mage, "S-slimes?! Where? I don't see any slimes...maybe we should move on to the next area, yeah, that's probably a good idea!"

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The gold slime splashed along the surface of the water, enjoying the sunshine and surf. It had to be one of the most terribly nice days out, so why not? Taking a dry, flat stone, the gold slime shot it across the surface, watching it skip over with pride. Brilliant! Always the most brilliant slime! Coming closer to the water, and peering down at it's own refection, "...YES! Still the most handsome slime I've ever seen!" Humming to itself, clearly pleased, it picked up another stone to skip over the surface, unaware that the heroes were out on questing season.

In a very very, very... Shady, dark forest where the sun didn't shine. There in a bright pink sparkly candy cabin sat a very Dark Vampiric slime. He was cursing so loud that frogs were leaping out the windows, and as he starred at the wall he were even more pissed off. "Curse you patch 2.5!!!!!! Why am I to spawn in this stupid looking capin!!!!!! And why every day of the year????.... I LIKED Hibernating and silentlt cursing every cursing hero from my peaceful 365 days to spawn timer." he shouted at the walls.

"I shall have my Revange!.... KILL SLAUGHTER, MURDER!!!! Eat and devour. Every last one of them" he shouted until he had to stop to pant heavily. But for those not understandin slimish, he probably sounded like he cackled gibberish.

"Oh no no no, not tutorial season! Last year, I barely made it though, being a slime with the sense to run..and to have shields....but still! What if I'm unlucky this year?!" Herald thinks, as he is carried by a goblin he had hypnotized. Luckly, he was small enough to be hauled around by the small green humanoid, as he was searching for another low level monster...Rats. Yes, rats! Easily dominated, and making great shields, he was searching for his new party of meat shields. Sneaking though a bush, Herald spots one...a large, tutorial rat. Weaker than a slime, but being able to give adventure's nasty disease debuffs that they had to go to a church to have healed, they acted as good deterrents, some adventurers finding them to much a hassle to deal with when in a large group, at least at first......

"Hmmmm...Zim-bop, Hypnotize!" Herald says, a few circles of magic blasting from his singular large eye, striking the rat, hypnotizing it to his side. As it was a weak monster, he could keep it under his control indefinitely. The rat walks with him, and the goblin, as they continue to look for other low level monsters, to add to his small army of meat shields.

Negi was completely unaware of the fact that his partymember had already killed several slimes in one attack each, thus proving her stronger than him, since instead of paying attention to his surroundings he was too busy wondering which no doubt incredibly powerful spells he would get at level eleven. "With my skill I might even unlock Meteor, the single strongest attack-spell."

He was forced to stop fantasizing when Miss Toodumbforarmor suggested they went looking for slimes in the next area. "That might just be the one smart thing you ever said in your life, lets go."

---

Yamamori couldn't believe his luck the heroes completely overlooked him, sure he felt a bit sorry for the slimes that were killed, but they would respawn. Him being happy didn't last when he remembered he was supposed to be a rare encounter in the next area. He rushed over there hoping to find a spot where the heroes wouldn't find him while he was still technically doing his job.

Looking down at her companion, squinting a bit dumbly, "Uh, it is? Yes, it is! Lets go!" Yes, as the great and powerful warrior, she would lead the charge! Running off down the path, full speed ahead, still cleaning off some stray bit of slime that had splattered onto her armor, she noticed a shiny in the grass. Stopping, and walking past a bush, she nudged it with her feet. It rolled just a bit, and Moosie let it, before finally bending down and picking it up. Examining it, it looked to be a perfectly formed apple, skin shining like a million rubies...

Ruby Apple - a rare crystallized fruit. Sell to a collector for up to 500G. Tastes...

Taking a bite, "BLECH!"

Ruby Apple - a rare crystallized fruit. Sell to a collector for up to 5000G. Tastes gods awful.

Gods damn. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? Turning back to the path with a sound of disgust, she chucked the nasty tasting fruit over her shoulder, she returned back to her party companion looking a bit defeated...after all, nothing was more scarring than a pretty piece of fruit that tasted terrible. Nothing. Shoulders slumped, sniffing a bit sadly, "Uuuuuuu...you lead."

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Continuing on his not so straight or obvious path, the Vampire slime was still cursing to himself and frogs were still occasionally leaping from his mouth because of it. However how difficult he might be to spot in a dark forest while donning a dark color, the black cloud that were constantly flashing and cracking with lightning above his head was probably a bit more easy to see. He were just so pissed... about EVERYTHING. He hated the fact they had picked a stupid candy house for him to spawn in like if he were a witch in some child story... even if he did like candy. The only thing good about it was that he had no obvious place to be, he were a wandering monster meaning he could go where the 'hell' it pleased him and that was something he used to his advantage.

He also had the advantage of not dropping any Slime jars as they were quest items assigned to 'normal slimes' of appropriate level for this zone. However Vampire slime were an 'Elite', which meant that he were no 'ordinary' Slime, he were a big evil badass slime that you didn't want to aggro on a not appropriate level. He had heightened stats above normal, more hp... and he was damn sure he could kick the butt of most slime's around here. But sadly he knew he was damn worth the time killing too... because he gave like 10x the experience a normal slime of his level did. Even if his loot table was mostly still only 'Event' items. It usually meant that any high level player would kill him if they saw him... only to get some fluff... or rarely something good. And that sucked...

Yet as he walked onwards he eventually noticed something... it was a couple of 'DAMNED Heroes'. Just seeeing them made his blood boil!... he wanted to tear them apart which probably were a normal and obvious reaction. This meant that they were within his Aggro range... meaning the range he Got 'FRIKKING PISSED at them' of course because they were 10 levels lower than himself... that range increased with a lot. Yet ripping them apart no matter how fun it sounded carried two problems... 1 they would know he was there. and 2 they could probably get higher level characters to kill him because of it. Thinking about it for a moment he chose to leave them for now... but he wouldn't hesitate to attack if they even dared to stare too long in his direction. That to be said, he probably showed up as a 'Skull' level Elite mob for them, meaning he was at least 6 lvls higher than them.

After about five minutes the two heroes were certain they were in the next area because for a few seconds neither of them could move "I hate those so called loading times." As Negi was actually paying attention to his surroundings it didn't take before he spotted a weird looking slime with wings and a tale. If it wasn't for the skull floating above it he would attacked it then and there, however as it was the slime was probably more trouble than it was worth so he ignored it.

---

At around the same time as the heroes Yamamori had entered the next area, and tried to think of a good hiding spot."It's common knowledge that heroes tend to look in out of the way hard to reach places in case there is something there,so that would make a terrible hiding place." After thinking it over he than decided that the best hiding place would have to be in the open and "hid' in the middle of the path.

While the heros had most likely heard something rustling in the brush at odd intervals, semi-silently tailing them, with a... lack luster amount of stealth, the brief pause when they were helpless to resist in their so called 'loading time' in the transition between areas is when their pursuer decided to strike. It was a rather grizzly sight as an armored beetle, a normally level 30 mob lept out at them, mandibles open and light purple spittle dripping from it's mouth bits, it's chitonous armor open with a large hole on the bottom, gore sloshing around inside it showing that it was most likely undead, causing it to actually be level forty with the ability to ignore wound penalties and minor regeneration.

In reality, it was merely a dead husk, the parasite slime inside of it by the name of Rero cursing profusely under his breath as he repeatedly chanted to himself "they're going to notice" over and over again, his lack of confidence in the corpse of last years area boss he'd taken possesion of evident to any that could read minds. While his choice in armors was good, The poor little slime had forgotten that his damage was still tied to his own level as the sizable mandibles crunched down on the mage's arm, inflicting a lesser poison debuff and only dealing about 5-7 damage when the loading time ended, barely scratching his total health pool, the nameplate floating in his face reading "Infested: Armored beetle- LvL 10"

As if the whole loading thing wasn't bad enough Negi and his "partner" had to be attacked by some kind of giant bug which managed to attack and poison him. The good thing was it did only 5 damage, but the poison combined with the fact that mages weren't known for having a lot of hitpoints made it considerately worse.

"You will pay for that, beetle." It seemed he was already forced to go back to town for a potion and an antidote, so he might as well add a manapotion to his grocery list and hit that Infested menace with his strongest spell."Magic blast!" Negi spent the next few seconds converting all his mana into power for his spell before firing it off aimed at what he didn't know was Rero in disguise.

---

Yamamori could hear sounds of struggle and his curiosity was stronger then his desire not to be killed. He headed back to the start of the area and saw what looked like an undead version of the areaboss fight the two heroes. He knew enough about his species to guess that it was a parasite slime in disguise and wondered if he should help out or not.

@Duthguy @Tyki @Major Ursa
Herald stops, as he hears the sounds of battle near by, and quickly his party runs over to see what is happening. He had known it was hero season, but they were already near here? Quickly arriving near the point of battle, Herald and co were there just in time to see the beetle's attack end, and the mage start his spell.
"You will pay for that, beetle. Magic Blast!" A hero, who seems to be a magi screams. Herald knew what that meant.....uggg....but, he had an idea.
"Goblin, go, block that attack!" Herald said to his minion, who rushed forwards.
"LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOlOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!" The Goblin says, running out form the bushes, taking the magic blast, blowing him to little more than a green paste on the ground. Herald sorta cringes, as much as a slime can, as he notes with how dead his minion was. "..That..could of been me...." He says, shivering. He then notices the heroes, and he sees the warrior.
"Hmm......I think it is time, for myself to appear formally!" He says, hatching an idea in his slimy brain. Suddenly, he, and two rats leap from the bushes, the Hypno-Slime taking the backline, hoping to avoid injury.

"Zim-Bop, Hypnotize!" He shouts, into the minds of all near by, as he tried to take over the mind of the Orcish Warrior. It would be a test of cunning, and of willpower, to see if Herald stole control of her, from her.....aka, make a will roll to see if she gets hypnotized.

@supertinyking

In response to this sudden call, the RNG would awake angrily from its nap. Transparent incorporeal intangible dice would fall, and the number.... 1 would appear over the slimes head.

With such a spectacular failed roll, the hypnotize would backfire so horrendously, that rather then hypnotize the orc warrior, the hypnotize skill would literally bounce off of the half orc, and onto a group of nearby, NPC green slimes. All level 1, and all nearly entirely useless.

@Absolis @Duthguy
((Yay! Rng! Just like in real life!))

"...Not quite what I had in mind........" Herald says, but it was a bit more useful than a total fail. He directs the slimes to be walked infront of the rats.

With the bugs jumping out in an ambush, Moosie…let her adventuring buddy take this one because, well, insect! Ugh, she already had to clean slime off of herself a handful of times, and that wasn’t great. Watching the tiny guy fight with ooooo, shiny magics, the half-orc was completely caught off-guard by the rats and slime jumping out from her other side.

Drooling slightly at the instance she was hit, and just staring at the enemies dully as rats, and then common green slimes approach, the female warrior snapped out of it long enough to let out a battle cry, “HOYA HOYA HOY-YAH!” Attempting to grab the nearest monster, she would throw it at the next nearest monster reflexively.

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On the other side of things, a certain golden slime in the very next area was loitering peacefully in a flower field. Goorudosuraimu wasn’t usually so lax, but it was a terribly nice day, and it had been a while since it made a flower crown to wear. Typically Goorudosuraimu preferred actual treasures, real crowns from a dragon’s hoard, but when it often spawned out here like this, it had to make do.

Vampire smime could feel the heroes prying yet dismissing gaze, their stare.... Stupid hurtful gaze had licked him.... Anf he were pissed!. Noise came as they engaged in battle, and soon enough he were positively bubbling with anger. "Okay.... You asked for it!..." he roared and charged out from the brush. Just as a small level one slime splatted towards him causing him to totally enrage. He bull charged the Orc warrior. "Dieeee.... Die dieeee" he growled

Negi was in trouble poisoned, out of magic, and attacked by a large group of admittedly weak monsters and without the option to retreat to the previous area because of the loading time. He could only think of one option namely: bluff and hope the monsters were both smart enough to understand him and stupid enough too fall for it. He didn't believe for a second the half-orc could handle them all and that was counting the fact that she seemed to be ignoring the "Infested: Armored beetle- LvL 10".

Before he began talking Negi cleared his throat. "Okay monsters, I'm giving you till the count of ten to leave before I cast Meteor on you. " As he made his threat he kept looking straight at the entrance of the previous zone.

A young thief with a pair of cat ears saunters into view stopping at the loading barrier, "wheezy" she waves to the mage and warrior, "the tutorial guy said there was a sword and sorcery pair out here, so I came to complete the thematic trio.", after a brief pause she adds, "Also i'm kind of strapped for cash" she indicates to a light pack dropped over her shoulder, upon the completion of her loading she charges up to the vampire, dagger drawn,

"Coochie coooo" she begins to tickle the unsuspecting vampire, while one hand reaches into his oozy pockets

Rero just sort of stares blankly at the rather obviously bluffing mage, the beetle he'd infested just sort of sitting there as though contemplating it's turn usage before he just simply shrugs inside it's carcace, the blow that would have splattered it all over the field being just kind of... tanked by a random low level mob of little repute. Although, one thing that was begining to bother him was the fact that there were now three heroes, and he'd lost the element of surprise... although, upon further inspection, two of the three were being otherwise occupied, and frankly, the mage's health was ticking down as he watched it so he did what any intellegent mob would do in a mix of time and turn based combat: he waited until the poison delt it's full damage before selecting a ranged attack that came curtousy of a gentle squeeze of a few select glands from the beetle, causing a viscous spray of rapidly hardening material to be jetted at the mage's face with a fair bit of force, inflicting a blind and poison, though it did minimal damage even when compared to the bite.

Negi rather quickly realized that his bluff had failed, and was certain he and his "partner" would get killed. Sure death was a minor annoyance, but still getting killed by slimes would be humiliating. Luckily things began looking better when a third hero showed up to complete their party. Unfortunately the new girl quickly proved as useless as the other one by trying to pickpocket the skull marked enemy.

As if things weren't bad enough the beetle managed to both poison the mage a second time as well as bind him, meaning he couldn't even try to whack anything with his staff. It seemed time for drastic measures. "Orc, thief I don't care how but if one of you saves me, I can pay you when we're back in town!"