Post by Vance Finiraldi on Aug 13, 2022 1:53:32 GMT -5
A frustrated sigh echoed throughout the spacious Calcified Caverns, the only other noises resounding the area being the shuffling of Vance's boots against the dirt and the occasional growls of the monsters prowling within as if he were invading their personal den.
Should have taken a look at the information on this place…
When he took up the task of collecting the ingredients for the Thunder Brew, the Crusader's initial assumption was that it would be a more traditional monster drop. After all, the name "Yellow Sludge" could easily give one the impression that they came from some sort of goo-like creature, and since the end product was the Thunder Brew, he figured that if anything were to drop it, it would be of the Lightning element as well. Thus, with the image of a plasma slime rooted firmly in his mind, he immediately went for the caverns and tunnels where the monsters would lurk, hoping to see them in abundance. Much to his disappointment, however, there were no electrically-charged goo monsters in sight. It was only after he spent several minutes searching the caverns when he eventually took a look at the area's stat summary, learning that its innate elements were of Earth and Ice. Of course there wouldn't be any Lightning elemental monsters, slime or not!
Essentially, he had just wasted his and everyone else's time.
With a click of his tongue, he brought up the quest info on his UI, a small screen appearing before his character.
Damn it, I'm not letting this trip be a complete waste of time. Let's see what the others haven't taken yet… wait, seriously? None yet?
A quick skim showed him that no one had found the Wailing Bats for the Moon Brew yet. It was definitely odd to him, considering that beside the Yellow Sludge, this was pretty much the only thing remaining for the group to collect by the time he left the room. One would think that with the time he spent searching for slimes in vain, they would've procured at least a couple of them before he realized his error. If they were preoccupied with something else, though, then it would be a good time for him to take care of a second task along with what he originally intended. He walked along the paths within the vast cavern listening and looking for any sign of what looked or sounded like a "Wailing Bat". Soon enough, a high-pitched screech in the distance rang in his ears, and he looked toward the ceiling.
Jackpot.
It was a whole cluster of them just casually fluttering about. More than enough for what the group needed. Taking out his Super Soaker of Justice, he aimed carefully at the bats while they remained inattentive of his presence and began shooting them down.
Vance stared at the last, slashed block of ice containing a Wailing Bat lying on the floor as it vanished into his inventory, a disappointed frown on his lips. It went far too quickly. The consequences of his excessive power-leveling reared their ugly heads once more. A freeze-inflicting shot from the Super Soaker and slashes with his sword as he flew up close to those that remained airborne were enough to take down the entire group. Still, at least a bit of time had passed. Perhaps one of them eventually saw that he had switched his focus and went to find the sludge inst—
Oh come on… nothing this time either!? What are they doing back there? Whatever it is that's holding them back must be really distracting…
Hence, his search for the Yellow Sludge continued. Knowing that he wouldn't find anything else useful in these caverns, he backtracked to the main area where busy and distracted oni roamed, hoping to find another miscellaneous storage room like he had with the letter writing materials. Making sure that his paper mask disguise remained secure, he strolled through long, wide tunnels until finally finding someplace that was promising — a room filled to the brim with jars and bottles filled various substances, protected only by a shoddily built door. It was left unattended, so he was free to peruse through them at his leisure. He looked over shoulder before stepping inside and closing the door behind him, the torches hanging on the walls being the only source of light.
Though the oni had enough wit to have a room specifically for jar and bottle-like containers, they were not, by any means, efficient and cleanly, much to the Crusader's dismay. Regardless, he diligently looked through each of them row by row, shelf by shelf. Some of the jars and bottles were empty. Some of them contained harmless liquids like water. And others… well, they appeared unsanitary to varying degrees, to put it lightly. For a while, it seemed as if his search would be fruitless with this room as well, as the shelves and cabinets near the front of the room gave him nothing. However, luck would soon come his way once he reached the out-of-sight back corner. Scattered among the back shelves where at least five clear bottles, glowing slightly from the lightning discharged from the yellow, viscous liquid they contained. Sighing in relief, he carefully picked them off the shelves one at a time and stored them away to bring them back over into the kitchen.
"There. Still, no one seemed to be collecting anything in the time I was checking the room. Seriously, what are you guys…? Wait…"
Though there was merely mild discomfort on Vance's expression, Claude felt sweat on his brow as a cold chill ran through his entire body, as a sudden realization him like a truck. The Crusader's hand shook as he once again brought up his UI and looked at the quest progress once more, his fears gaining credibility as one particular bit caught his attention: like the bats and sludge, the ingredients for the Peach Brew were confirmed to be in the party's possession but were not yet used for the brew. Those genuine love(?) letters he wrote? They were left unattended long enough for one of the others to grab hold of them.
And they were very likely to be reading them this very instant.
At this point, pretty much anyone in his position would have burst out of the room and make a mad, desperate dash toward the kitchen in hopes of stopping them from reading too much. But... no, Claude knew better. The damage was done, and he knew it was his fault for leaving the letters alone when he should have used them for the brew before he left. Instead, he slowly left that storage room nearly dead inside, his face pale and his body slightly slumped over as he dragged his feet back to the kitchen. An overwhelming sense of dread filled him as he wondered what reactions would great him once he returned. Geumsaek was a non-issue, of course, due to having just met him and not even knowing whether or not they'd even meet again. Velten… well, he wasn't sure, but she didn't seem the time to roast him over it, so he wasn't worried. And Ingine? He didn't give a damn about what he would think or say. But C? Any one of those letters was potential ammo in her hands, and he had come to expect that from her in the time that he knew her, but that last one? The one in particular that he never intended to let fall into her hands?
Oh boy.
He let out a miserable groan as he saw the way to the starting area where they would be, far off but still within sight. The clocktower bells in his mind were ringing ominously as he sluggishly trudged his way back to the kitchen.