aviscouscurse

[aviscouscurse]

Making a New Friend - Simon 

Start | Prev

You are currently in motion. 

Or are you? 

It’s somewhere in between… 

Time is distorting in an almost nauseating manner. You are already at your destination, yet living through the journey retroactively. 

Something fundamental about the world seems to have changed while you were in captivity. 

“Hey, you’re awake,” cheers a voice from next to you. 

You’re sitting in the back of a cart that is traveling down a dirt road. 

The young girl you met in the box when the ceiling caved in is sitting next to you, looking very happy. 

“Hello,” you say for lack of anything useful. 

“I hope you don’t mind me bringing you along with me. You were out cold even after you respawned and I wasn’t sure what to do,” she says apologetically. 

You shake your head. As long as you’re getting further away from Jade, it doesn’t matter what direction you go. “That is just fine.” 

“Oh, good,” she says. Then she looks away, seeming almost shy. 

Her ears are very long and pointed, and seem to move around according to her mood. How strange. 

“Um. Did you maybe want to join my party? It’s okay if you don’t, but I thought that maybe it would be nice to have someone to travel with since you seem to be just as alone as me right now,” she says, half-mumbling. 

You don’t understand half the things this girl says, regardless of whatever magic her ‘translator’ seems to be doing. 

Honestly, what was the point of studying your languages if such a shortcut is readily available these days? All your hard work…

Then again, what is the point of such a shortcut if it only works in half-measure? 

“Is that a no? Sorry. I can take a hint,” the girl says, her ears dropping low. 

“I was considering it. What does this ‘party’ entail?” you ask. 

The girl’s eyes go wide in surprise. “Seriously? Wow, you really must be new. But even then, a guide is supposed to explain these things to you before you get to a dungeon…” 

Her eyes dart around as she seems to be thinking many thoughts at a rapid pace. “Unless… random encounter? Before they can teach you anything, though? Hm… But if you were cursed… like a sort of hard mode? Even worse than mine…” she mutters to herself, a hand on her chin. 

You decide not to interrupt her. 

There is ground beneath your feet at the end of this half-memory. 

Your mind just isn’t there yet. 

“Okay. Clearly you got the short end of the stick when it came to your introduction to being an adventurer. But your luck has changed! I used to be a guide before, so I can teach you how things work,” the girl says, her dark eyes shining with enthusiasm. 

“Is that so?” 

She nods. “It is. I can even teach you Common, if you want. Not many people speak Kulvish in this area, and I’ve never even heard the other language you seem to have skill in,” she says. 

So people do still have to learn languages, it isn’t all automatic? 

“I will accept your kind offer,” you say. 

“Yes! Okay. We can get started on the way,” the girl says. 

She takes a book out of her bag and opens it. 

Time gets even more distorted once she does. It is a struggle to stay conscious against it. 

The girl doesn’t seem to be causing it herself, so much as the lesson necessitates a distortion in order to work. 

Well. You do want to be able to communicate with other people. You will have to let this happen. 

You let your consciousness drift. 

Now the two of you are standing in a town, ground solid under your feet. 

“Thank you for the lesson…” you say, your headache finally clearing. 

“No problem… Oh! We still haven’t introduced ourselves. I’m Trilline, the eighth of my name. Some people call me eight, since my adventurer name is the same as my true name, but it’s up to you,” she says with a bow. 

“I am…” you hesitate. You’ve had so many names in your time. Which one… 

“My name is… Simon,” you say.  The name falls from your lips like a wish, a desperate prayer to return to the past.  

“Adventurer name or true name?” Trilline asks. 

“...Yes.” 

“Oh, you’re just like me in that respect. That’s nice,” she says with a bright smile. 

You find it surprising that this child can still smile like that after what she’s been through in the span of a day. Though you suppose you can’t be sure how long you were unconscious for. 

“Anyway! Why don’t we stock up on some provisions before I show you what being an adventurer’s all about,” she says with a decisive nod. She takes off running, fast enough that her curly hair moves with the breeze she creates. 

This does not allow you to object, although you would like to. You have no idea what currency is in use these days, to say nothing of having any on your person. 

You follow after her anyway. It would be rude to keep her waiting. 

A few people stare at you as you follow Trilline into what appears to be a market square. 

Trilline darts into a rather sturdy looking building. 

When you enter after her your heart stops for a moment. Or it feels like it does. You don’t have one anymore, though. And that’s not what’s important. 

What’s important is that on the back wall of this establishment is shelf after shelf of stoppered bottles filled with all manners of liquid. 

“Oh, good, you made it. I was so excited I hadn’t realized you weren’t right behind me anymore,” Trilline says, turning away from a person that is presumably the shopkeep. 

You’re standing in the doorway, still staring at the potions on the back wall. 

Surely Jade is not the only thing in this world that can make those. Surely you haven’t just walked right back into the lair of one of their subordinates. 

“Hello? Simon? Has your deity left without freeing you? Is there a connection issue?” Trilline says, coming closer to you. 

She has her hands behind her back and she sways a bit as she looks  over you for signs of… something. 

You need to play this off. Just in case. Even if this shopkeep is in league with Jade, they don’t necessarily know of your escape yet. 

“Yes, sorry.” you say, shaking your head slightly. 

“I hate it when that happens. It’s fine though,” she says with a shrug. Then, she straightens up fully. “Anyway. Let’s get shopping!” she says, swinging a fist in a way that you think is meant to display enthusiasm. 

“I… unfortunately do not have any of the local currency on hand. Do feel free to shop without me,” you say. 

“You don’t? Not any?” Trilline says, tilting her head to the side and looking perplexed. 

You shake your head. 

She frowns. 

“If you’re new, you should definitely have some, even if it’s just a little..” she crosses her arms and frowns. “Unless having your intro interrupted means you missed out on your starting gold…? What bad luck,” she says. 

The shopkeep is standing eerily still behind the counter, seemingly oblivious to this entire exchange. 

Trilline holds her chin and seems to think things over. 

“I’m pretty sure my deity will have me buy stuff for the both of us, so don’t worry about it,” she says after a bit. 

“I…” you start. 

“I at least owe you some new clothes. Yours are full of little burn holes from the spark storm,” she points out. 

You look down. Your clothes are indeed full of tiny little holes. None of them are big enough to be considered exposing, but it is hardly proper to be walking around like this. 

Still… 

You open your mouth to protest again, but she shuts you down. “Nope, no arguments. If me and my deity agree on what to do, we do it. That’s how it all works, you know? Unless your deity doesn’t want to be friends with mine? Nothing we can do about that, but if they already accepted the party request it would be a silly stance to take,” Trilline says, cutting you off with another tirade of half-nonsense. 

All of this talk of a deity… 

In your time, deities did not manage their champions so closely. You certainly didn’t. 

Still. If there is a higher power pulling this girl’s strings… perhaps you could communicate with them? 

The seal on the back of your neck is, of course, still intact. But this wouldn’t be using your own power. It would simply be… touching the power of another. 

And with a bit of focus, there it is. Small threads leading from the girl up through the ceiling and presumably into the heavens. 

You want to follow those threads. 

But… 

You glance back over at the shopkeep, and the wall behind them. 

Maybe that can wait until later. 

You settle back into yourself. Trilline has been speaking for an unknown amount of time. 

“... again? Well I guess that’s fine. I can pick some stuff out while I wait for them to reconnect to you,” she says. She walks back over to the shopkeep. 

You still don’t feel quite right about allowing this child to pay for your expenses, but you suppose you have little choice at this point. You will find a way to repay her when you can.

Next

[aviscouscurse]

I'm giving up on Nano

I lost one of my wrist braces which means that typing 1k+ words every day is Very Inadvisable.

that said. this doesn't mean i'm planning to give up on potion tester. it will probably be better for the story to work on it at my own pace anyway. quality over quantity and all...

i will probably put out an update for scorpion grass first. once my wrists have some time to rest.

[aviscouscurse]

Navigation

What is this? (WIP Intro)

Polls

Table of Contents

Testing a Potion

[aviscouscurse]

Awkward First Meetings - Trilline

Start | Prev

Esk has one hand on the rope as he reaches down to you. 

“Here, toss up the artifact, it’ll be easier for you to climb with both hands free,” he says with that kind smile of his. He’s always been a considerate leader. 

You struggle to keep your grasp on the rope as you throw the artifact up to him. He catches it deftly.  “Thank you,” he says, handing it off to Cherring. “And… I’m sorry about this.” 

“About wh-” you start. 

You don’t finish, because Esk has already cut the rope and you’re falling backwards. 

His expression is no longer kind, an ugly sneer you’ve seen on so many people’s faces before. 

He turns away before he’s out of sight, not even having the guts to watch you splatter on the floor of the pit trap. 

Well, that’s for the best, you suppose. Because you aren’t falling nearly as fast as you should be. 

No one ever expects you to have a harpy feather in your boot. 

They say you never learn, but if that was true you’d be dead, wouldn’t  you? 

As your feet touch the ground, you look around again. Nothing has changed since you were last down here, it was only a couple of minutes ago. 

The rubble from what used to be the floor where the pit trap crumbled is strewn about unnaturally. You aren’t sure exactly how long you have until the ceiling reforms and traps you down here. 

You guess there’s always a chance another party could come through and trigger the trap again, opening up the pit and allowing for your escape. But you’d still need to be able to scale the walls, which are designed to be unscalable without a rope. 

So you’re screwed. 

You don’t even have any food in your inventory. You gave your rations to Prussel to hold onto so you’d have more slots free for items. 

Now that you think about it, that was their idea, wasn’t it? Holding onto your stuff. 

Probably so they could keep it once you were out of the way. 

How long had your party been planning this? 

Well. No point in standing around and moping about it. The clock is ticking. 

Maybe you can stack some of these ceiling chunks up and climb them? 

Chances are the stack will be unstable and you’ll fall or get crushed, but it’s better than waiting to starve to death. 

You strain to pick up a ceiling bit that’s half your size, but manage to get it up in the air. You look around for another rock to stack it on top of. 

And almost drop it on your feet when you hear something that sounds like a human voice. 

You set the rock down safely and turn to look for the source of the voice. 

Peeking out from around the side of a rock is a hooded figure, sitting on the ground. 

“Hello?” you call out. You hadn’t understood what the figure said before. 

It speaks again, but you still don’t understand. 

“Can you switch to common, please? I don’t think I have that one in my skills,” you request. 

The figure stands up and moves out of the shadow. 

You shudder in revulsion as light hits its face. 

It’s a slime wearing human clothing. 

It must have dissolved the original owner and taken its shape. 

“Ugh, gross, I hate slimes,” you say, backing away. 

You open your inventory and rummage around for a suitable scroll. 

The slime moves closer.

Well, what is this, if not an emergency? 

Spark storm will have to do. 

You activate the scroll and send the sparks out in a flurry towards the monster. 

The slime stops in its tracks. The sparks eat little holes in its clothes and burrow into its goopy flesh. 

A sweet but charred smell fills the air, like sugar melting until it burns. 

The slime does not seem to be affected, otherwise. 

Even its clothes stay pretty much intact, which should be impossible, since you just used a high level fire scroll. 

Fuck your life.

It says something again. Now that you know it’s a slime, you know it doesn’t have any sort of translator. It must be mimicking human speech as part of a trap. 

Wait a minute… 

Mimicking… 

Oh you are in deep shit now. 

Aren’t mimics usually in northern dungeons? This is so unfair. 

But, far or not, you’re going to need to step it up. 

“Right, here we go,” you say, and select your strongest scroll from your inventory. You can worry about how much it will cost to replace later if you live. 

Blue white lighting flashes down onto the slime-mimic thing. You can see electricity coursing through its translucent ‘skin’. 

The boom hurts your ears, but that’s a small price to pay for defeating- 

The slime takes another step towards you. Its hands are up as if in supplication. 

It is not dead. 

It barely even looks hurt. 

Maybe a little smaller than it was before? Some of its slime probably burned off, but it couldn’t have been much. 

Well, that’s it. You’re toast. 

“Well. A high level mimic isn’t the most embarrassing way to go,’ you try to console yourself. You back away further from it, not wanting to 

“Mimic?” it echos. 

You don’t bother answering it, you’re trying to think of a way to get out of here before it can get a hold of you. Maybe its balance is that despite its high defense and hp, it has a slow movement speed? 

“What… mimic?” it asks you. And you understand it this time, because it’s speaking in Kulvish, which you do have skill in. 

You’ve never come across a monster that could speak any human language, unless it was part of a quest. 

You haven’t gotten any new quest markers. 

“You speak Kulvish?” you ask, just to make sure you haven’t gotten it twisted. 

The slime-mimic stares at you unblinking for a while before saying, “...yes.” 

Ah. 

Well. 

You may have fucked up. 

“Shit, are you an adventurer, then? Why didn’t you say something? Oh, wait you did… Did you not take common as one of your languages? That’s an odd choice. Sorry for attacking you, I thought you were a monster. Speaking of, why do you look like that? Are you cursed? Is the curse making it so you can’t speak common? Does your curse buff your defense at the cost of turning you into a slime?” you say, putting out ideas and questions as they come to you. 

The… person… doesn’t respond until you stop talking. 

“Yes,” it says hesitantly. You aren’t sure which question it’s answering. You’ll just assume it’s all of them. 

“Woah, I’ve never seen a curse like that before. Pretty brutal,” you say. 

“I do not understand,” the person says. 

You frown. “Is there something wrong with your translator? You might need to change your language settings in the menu,” you say. 

You wait for his deity to do that. 

After a while, you ask again. “Is that better?” 

He doesn’t respond. 

“Huh. Maybe there’s some issue on my end?” you’re sure your deity will try to fix whatever issue there is. 

It’s awkward waiting around when you can see some of the smaller bits of ceiling starting to rise up to reform, but what can you do? 

“Okay, can you understand me better now?” you ask after you figure it’s been enough time. 

The person looks surprised. “Yes, I can,” he murmurs. 

“Sweet! Now, I’m super sorry to ask this of you since I did just try to kill you, but um. Do you have any teleportation abilities or know any ways out of here?” you ask, talking as quickly as you can now that you don’t have to worry about comprehension. 

“I came through there,” he says, pointing to a crack in the wall. It’s wide enough to make you worry for the structural integrity of the wall, but not wide enough for a non-slime person to fit through. Damn. 

“And that’s a no on the teleportation?” you ask again. 

He shakes his head. 

“Any chance you know the route up to the level above us so you can retrigger this trap?” you ask hopefully. 

He shakes his head again. 

You slump. “Oh.” 

“I can… try to retie your rope? So you can climb back up,” he offers. 

You snap your attention back to him. “You can scale this wall?” 

He nods. “I believe so. “Slime can be… sticky,” he says, holding up a slimy hand and wiggling his fingers. You try to repress the involuntary shudder. It would be rude. It’s not his fault he got cursed. 

“If you think you can make it without getting hurt, then please. I have absolutely no other way out of here that would be fast enough at this point,” you urge. 

The person nods and walks over to where the long end of the rope fell. 

Instead of holding it as he climbs, he threads it through his arm so he has both hands free. 

You wonder if that hurts or not. 

“I am… a little dry,” he observes as he climbs. 

That would probably be your fault. Oops. 

Still, he manages to make it to the top of the pit after a while. He’s pretty quick, which detracts from your original theory about the curse sapping his speed. 

Once he’s over the edge, he removes the rope from his arm and reties it to the original anchor point. 

He then climbs down the wall a bit. He lets go of the wall and puts his full weight on the rope. You gasp in surprise. You’ve never seen someone test a knot like that. 

“It should hold,” he calls down. 

You don’t need to be told twice. Some of the larger chunks of ceiling have reformed, so you need to get going. 

The person waits for you outside the trap. 

Once you’ve made it close to the top, he offers you a hand. 

Your heart freezes for a moment. 

But no, this person is not Esk. 

Setting aside your reservations about touching something so slimy, you accept his hand and he helps you up. 

His hand doesn’t feel sticky or slimy at all. Instead, it’s warm and smooth like polished amber. 

You wonder if he’s able to control the properties of his slime. 

That’s probably rude though. 

“Thank you so, so much,” you enthuse once your feet are back on solid ground. 

“It is nothing,” he tries to brush you off. 

“No it’s not, you saved my life! Even after I was so rude to you and tried to kill you!” 

He shakes his head again. “I scared you. You owe me nothing.” 

You frown, your ears drooping. 

“Aw. At least let me lead you back out of here? I know where all the traps are, since I was in charge of disarming them on the way in,” you say. 

He is silent as he seems to mull it over. 

“I will accept your offer. Thank you,” he finally agree. 

“Yes! Okay, follow me, and make sure to stay behind me. We don’t want you triggering any floor traps,” you cheer. 

You’re going to live to see another day. Things are looking up. 

You try to chat with your new friend as you walk. He didn’t seem to want your apologies so you’ll just have to find a different way to thank him. In the mean time you tell him about how you ended up in the pit to begin with, and about what monsters you fought on the way in. 

You’re pretty sure none of them will have respawned so soon, so it should be fine 

You hope. 

Cherring had offered to hold your axe so you could climb better. 

Those fucking bastards. 

Nope! You’re not thinking about that right now, you’re having a nice chat with your new friend… 

“Say, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet,” you ask, turning around to face him. 

Except. He’s not there. 

“Um. Mr. Slime man? Where did you go?” you call out. 

You backtrack. Maybe he took a wrong turn and got lost? 

Luckily, you don’t have to look far. 

It seems like he fainted a while back. 

You guess even slimes with high defense can’t take a hit of lightning with zero consequences. 

You’ll just have to carry him out, then. 

Well. Since it’s only a faint and not a death, he should respawn outside the dungeon. You’ll just have to meet him there.

Next

[aviscouscurse]

it's a Trilline! made with this picrew

[aviscouscurse]

going to do a little bit of housekeeping tonight. get the table of contents set up, add chapter title and denote point of view.

[aviscouscurse]

the poll is obviously a bit ahead of were the story is here, but i'm not really sure how to balance the occasional choose your own adventure aspect with the writing this for nano aspect

[aviscouscurse]

A Hasty Escape - Simon

Start | Prev

You wake up very uncomfortable. You’ve long since gotten used to sleeping on stone, so you shouldn’t be. Unless you’ve rolled onto some of your books in your sleep again, perhaps? 

You open your eyes to an unpleasant sight. You are being impaled several times with metal rods. 

It doesn’t hurt, but it’s still not nice to look at. 

As you wake up more, you realize the rods are the bars to your cage. You pull away from them, back inside the space. 

Your… slime… parts around the bars and then reforms in the correct shape once you’re away from the metal. 

How strange. 

You press your hand against one of the bars. After a certain point of pressure your ‘flesh’ parts around it and reforms on the other side. 

It feels very strange. 

Pulling your hand back, you don’t leave any slime behind on the bar. 

You can feel your heart beating hard as you realize the possibility this change may provide for you. 

Looking down at your chest shows that you currently do not have a heart to beat. 

Strange, but not something you’ll worry yourself with overmuch. 

Because. 

You could probably squeeze through the bars of your cage right now. 

You could probably run. 

But you don’t know where Jade is right now. It’s been a long, long time since you came to this place, and you don’t know the layout. 

You need to be sure it will be preoccupied before you make a run for it. 

But. 

You could test it. 

Just to make sure you can. 

Pressing yourself through the bars somewhat resembles pressing aspic through the holes of a sieve. 

The difference is that on the other side you return to your original shape, while aspic typically does not. 

You have to take several deep, shaky breaths as you stand on the other side of the bars unauthorized for the first time in at least a century. 

The clothes still sit on the table. 

Jade has gotten forgetful in its old age. Likely it won’t remember having left them there if it doesn’t see them again. 

You’re willing to take that gamble. 

If you’re going outside you will need clothes. 

You put the clothes through the bars before you. The bars have always been wide enough to pass objects through but just too narrow for you to fit your body though when turned sideways. 

It’s not a problem now though, is it, Jade? 

You push that thought away. You don’t want to summon your captor by thinking in its direction. 

Once you’re back inside your cage, you unfold the clothes. A robe and an undergarment. That’s actually quite generous even for Jade’s standards. 

Perhaps it was expecting a guest of some sort soon and wanted you to look presentable. 

You fold the clothes back up and hide them in between some books just in case Jade comes back sooner than expected. 

It does not. 

After some time you do hear sounds coming from its laboratory again. 

Jade is once more speaking with someone. Something about rare ingredients and needing more time. 

Ah well. That’s of no concern to you anymore if you manage to leave. 

You won’t be able to bring all of your books, they would be cumbersome and slow you down. But your journal should be okay. Though you are in danger of losing some of the loose bits of paper you’ve torn from elsewhere to supplement the amount of writing space… 

But if you leave it behind you likely will never get it back. 

Best to take it anyway. 

You flip through your books while you wait, trying to retain as much knowledge as possible. You never know what might be useful. 

Finally, after quite some time, you hear the sound you’re waiting for. 

Another explosion. 

Jade will likely be occupied with cleaning up its mess for quite some time. 

You should go now before they have a chance to discover the clothes, rather than wait and risk discovery. 

First you put the clothes and your journal on the other side of the bars, then you slip through.

You equip the robe and undergarment. They don’t fit the best, but it’s certainly better than being naked. 

You hold your journal tightly as you take your first few steps towards freedom. 

You know that a right turn at the end of the hall will take you towards Jade’s laboratory, so you take a left. 

The halls are in great disrepair, walls cracked and crumbling. You wonder if it isn’t some sort of ruin. 

There are many doors and offshoots that you suspect lead to other cells, and behind some of them you can hear the sounds of what might be animals. Growling or the sound of claws against the stone floor. 

The right thing to do would be to set them free. 

But there’s no guarantee they wouldn’t try to harm you. It wouldn’t be anything permanent, of course, but it would slow you down. 

And then Jade would catch you both and the poor thing would die. 

No, you can’t free any of these creatures right now. 

There is no clear direction that screams “this is the way out”, so you find yourself winging it just a little bit. 

You try to stick to the widest hallways, as those are likely to be the main thoroughfares of whatever this place is. 

An unearthly scream pierces through who knows how many layers of stone. 

You feel safe betting that Jade has discovered your disappearance. 

Who knows how quickly they will find you? 

You suppose you’ve taken the most obvious path you could… 

How can you change that? 

As you walk, you notice a particularly deep crack in the wall. There’s a murky darkness inside that implies there may be another hall or room on the other side, rather than more stone. 

It’s wide enough for you to squeeze through, though it takes some maneuvering to get your book to come with you. 

Hopefully this will buy you some time… 

The new room that you’re in is different from the hall you were just in. The door is made of wood rather than the solid metal of the beast doors you had been passing before. 

It opens easily into a new hallway. 

This one looks like it has seen less use, full of dust and cobwebs as it is. 

This means Jade probably does not come here often. 

It will do for now. 

You continue your journey, trying to keep track of what turns you make so you don’t get lost. 

Each time you come across a crack wide enough to get your book through, you do so. 

The more walls between you and Jade the better. 

Even liches can’t move through solid stone. 

Unless it has developed a potion for that.

They probably have. 

You will have to hope it is out of stock. 

You continue through the halls, taking turns  somewhat at random and seeping through cracks where possible,  until you come to a near dead end. 

The hall stops in a high wall, but it looks like there is a gap between the top of the wall and the ceiling. You could possibly climb it if you wished. 

This seems a better option than going back the way you came. 

It is easier than you expected. Your new flesh can become somewhat sticky if you wish it, allowing you to climb up the stone without proper hand or foot holds. 

It does, however, take quite a bit of energy out of you.

As hard as you try to keep from getting tired, eventually you cannot ignore the drooping of your eyelids. 

Your movements are becoming sluggish. 

You need to find a safe place to hide while you rest. 

It takes a while yet for you to find a suitable place, but one of the cracks you squish yourself into opens up into a box of sorts. In the center of the box is a golden something with a glowing gem set into it. 

You have no real need for gold or gems at the moment, so you leave it be. The glow of the gem is the only source of light.

There are no doors in or out of the box. The ceiling has many cracks in it, and looks as though it should not still be stable. But it also shows no signs of caving in. 

With such a hard to enter room to hide in, you feel safe in at least hoping Jade won’t find you before you wake up again. 

You  put your journal under your head for safe keeping and curl up in one corner of the box.

[aviscouscurse]

Another Test - Simon

Prev

You are unsure of how much time has passed, but you are sure that you hear the sound of Jade’s voice. 

It seems to be having a conversation in two different languages at once. Potentially speaking to two different people, but you can only hear the voice of Jade. 

You manage to understand the words ‘unusual request’ and your stomach sinks. An unusual request always means more testing. It doesn’t need you for things it already knows how to make. 

‘Rush order’ also does not bode well. The lich’s work is always sloppy when it tries to work quickly. 

Well, you can only hope that this time it will get its concoction right on the first try. 

Or that this one will somehow kill you permanently. 

You bat that last thought away. It’s never a good time for those thoughts. 

Finally opening your eyes, you sit up. You suppose now would be a good time to start categorizing your new vocabulary words by part of speech. 

It thinks it was clever, giving you a journal but no writing  implement. Taunting you with a useless prize. 

It was mistaken, though.  

Yes, blood was sacred to your people, to spill a single drop in vain was heresy. But there are none left to judge you for the things you do. 

Distantly you can hear the sound of shattering glass and Jade swearing. 

You should have time enough for some writing. 

You keep your handwriting as neat as you can, considering you are writing with a sharp bit of rock dipped in your own blood. 

Your skill at this has improved over the centuries. 

Some words are new, mostly proper nouns, the names of flowers and fungi. Some words are old but you are just now coming into a recognizable context. 

This word here, you think tapping the point of your rock to it, should be the word ‘found’ in the context of ‘this object can be found at place’. 

You’ll have to go back through your other books and note instances of the word to see if it sheds any new light on things. 

As you work you can hear more of Jade’s work going wrong. The bubble-splatter-sizzle of something boiling over, a minor explosion, a series of expletives you’re fairly certain mean ‘ow, the bastard bit me’. 

You think that if it did not have eternal life on its side, that Jade would likely not have amounted to a very good alchemist at all. The only reason it manages to get the results it wants is that it has all the time in the world to fail over and over again. 

You push that thought away as well. 

You know failing is an important part of learning. 

It’s just hard to be charitable when it comes to thinking about your captor. 

After getting a decent bit of work done, you decide to take another nap. You don’t want to be still working when Jade returns. It might realize you haven’t completely lost your spirit. 

Some time later you are awoken by Jade. 

“Come on, pet, it’s time to do some work,” Jade prods at you with its staff. 

You aren’t even sure which language it is speaking, but the meaning of this phrase never changes. You are always awoken this way. 

You’re standing before you even get your eyes open. You don’t wish to be punished today, you’re feeling very tired. 

“We have something very new for you to try today, pet,” the lich says, showing off a round stoppered bottle filled with amber liquid. The fluid does not slosh as Jade moves it around, implying that it is quite thick. 

Jade removes the stopper and hands you the bottle through the bars.

“I may even have a reward for you if this goes well,” it says,  gesturing to the little table it sets things on days where  multiple potions are tested. You can see a bundle of cloth. You aren’t sure you want it, but you have little choice in the matter either way.  

You shake the bottle a little. As you thought the liquid has a rather high viscosity. 

“Go on, bottoms up,” it says. There’s a glint to its eye that says this one is going to be bad.

Might as well get it over with. You upend the bottle completely as you try to drink it, hoping it will run fast enough that you don’t have to taste much of it. 

Unfortunately the potion does not want to take part in such plans. It runs slowly from the bottle and across your tongue, tasting of paint thinner and sweet nectar. 

The potion is heavy as well as thick. You can feel it crawl down your throat and hit your stomach like mercury. 

Jade is muttering notes about fixing the viscosity, but you can’t care. 

You look down at yourself to watch as your flesh turns to jelly in a very literal sense. Skin, bones, muscles, veins, all converting into a slimy liquidous substance. It doesn’t hurt, exactly, but it doesn’t feel good. 

The sensation in your stomach begins to abate once you can see you no longer have one. 

Jade sounds very well pleased with these results. Your hearing distorts for a moment, you assume that’s your ears converting from flesh to gel, but once it comes back you can hear the cheer in its voice. 

“Very good. Yes, of course it is, I made it. Everything I make is flawless, just like I am,” Jade is congratulating itself. 

You feel dizzy. Moving is very strange like this. 

“Alright, Pet. One more test and then you can have your treat. If you behave,” Jade says. 

Ah. You should have known that two treats so close together would mean something was amiss. 

You must have been too caught up in your own thoughts to notice the second bottle. 

Or maybe Jade concealed it. 

It does seem to like seeing you distraught. 

“Oh, don’t make such a pitiful face, pet. Don’t you want to go back to normal? Being a slime must be so unpleasant,” it mocks. 

Then it seems to have a realization. “You know, maybe this reversal should be the real treat. I’m sure you’d like that much better than the clothes I was going to offer you,” it says with what passes for a grin. 

You very much would have liked some clothes, actually. 

But you’re sure this is all just another game to demoralize you. It was never going to give you those clothes. 

“Come on, pet. Bottoms up,” it says as it hands you the second potion. 

It’s a ruddy red with what appears to be quite a lot of sediment in it. 

Your stomach would churn if you still had one. 

You take the bottle and drink from it. 

It’s very gritty, like water taken from the shore with much sand still in it. There is also the tang of blood, still raw. 

It is not a pleasant combination, but you manage to finish the last drop. 

Unfortunately, other than the bad taste, it doesn’t seem to have any real effect on you. 

This could be another placebo trick, but you doubt Jade would play such a game on a rush order. 

Indeed, as the minutes pass with no change, Jade’s mood  goes from sunny victorious to stormy displeased.

“Why isn’t it working, pet?” it asks, looking you up and down. 

You have never managed to convince it that a failure of its potions is not your doing. 

“Do you want to stay a slime so badly? How strange. Well. If you want to stay like that I will let you, for now. But you will be punished for snubbing the treat I offered you so kindly,” it says coldly, taking the bottle from you. 

“I’ll need to come up with a suitable punishment for a slime. Perhaps being roasted in an oven? Or being dissolved in a bath of acid…” it trails off, getting lost in the joys of finding new ways to hurt you. 

That… could have been worse. 

It didn’t fly into a rage this time. 

And neither potion completely dissolved you into a puddle of  insentient goo or killed you. Yes you think you can handle being a puddle of sentient goo for once. 

The punishment will come, it always does. But at least it’s not immediate. 

You look longingly at the clothes that were set on the table. It really would have been very comfortable to wear clothes again. 

But it is not to be. 

Wishing for things you know you cannot have will only make you sad. 

You’re feeling quite tired now. Transformational potions like that always take it out of you. 

You don’t want to sleep, that will just bring the time of your new impending punishment closer. 

Sleep takes you against your wishes. 

[aviscouscurse]

WIP Intro - A Viscous Curse

Genre: Fantasy, comedy, occasional horror POV: Second person present, multiple points of view. Synopsis: Simon spent centuries underground being kept as a prisoner and test subject. He had nearly lost all hope of ever seeing the sun again when an experiment gone wrong alters his physiology in a way that even the world's best alchemist cannot reverse. While his captor is preoccupied with its failure, he manages to use his strange new body to slip out undetected. Now he needs to figure out how to navigate a world that has long since moved on without him. With a bit of luck on his side, he might not need to do it alone.

You can read the first chapter here, and join the tag list here.

[aviscouscurse]

Testing a Potion - Simon

It tastes like green and grasshoppers, like someone couldn’t be bothered to pick out the bugs before making wheatgrass juice. 

The liquid is completely smooth and it feels a little cool as it slides down your throat. 

You wait for the potion to take effect. 

Jade is watching you closely, pen poised to take notes as soon as you show a reaction.

Your pulse quickens as a minute passes and nothing seems to change.  

You hold your hands out in front of you and examine them. No change in the color of your skin, the structure of your bones. You pinch yourself on the forearm. No change in skin elasticity or sense of touch. 

Panic starts to seep into your stomach. 

You pace the length of your cage. No change in speed, proprioception, or the way your legs are structured. 

Could it be your eyes? Maybe it did something to your eyes. 

But Jade didn’t bring a mirror. 

“How do you feel?” it asks. 

You freeze. It asked you a question, so you have to answer.

And you can’t lie. It always knows. 

But admitting that the potion might have been a failure might net you worse punishment than lying. 

You search Jade’s frozen face, looking for any sort of hint of what the right answer is. 

“How do you feel?” Jade repeats, sharper this time. 

This is not good. “I. I.. Don’t feel anything,” you admit, slumping as the will to fight leaves you. 

Jade narrows its eyes. “Nothing? Are you sure?” 

“I. It. In my throat it was a little bit cool when I swallowed but that was all.” You resist the urge to move farther away from it. Running never helps. 

Jade makes a note on its clipboard. 

“Come here,” it orders. 

You do as you’re told, for lack of any better option. 

Jade unlocks the door and grabs you by the arm to pull you through the threshold. You suppress your flinch at its icy touch. 

It positions you to stand in front of it. You remember not to slouch, as you know it hates that. 

You wait for your Jade to announce your punishment. 

And wait. 

You don’t manage to suppress your flinch as Jade’s hand approaches your head, but instead of a blow, you receive a pat. 

“You passed the test. That’s a good boy, not lying to me to try to escape punishment,” it says with faux-sweetness.  

What? 

Jade’s eyes flicker with smug satisfaction, the way they always do when it’s feeling smarter than you. 

“I have to test you from time to time, make sure you’re reporting honestly. Can’t have you spoiling my data, can I?” it coos. 

You don’t respond. You know it doesn’t need an answer from you. 

“I think I’ll give you a little reward,” it says, turning away from your cage. 

It disappears around the corner of the hall. 

You’re still reeling a little bit from surprise when it returns. 

“So, what will it be? I have some jellied fruit confections, very tasty, I made them myself,” it says, holding up a small plate of colorful cubes. “Oooor… I have another book. Though… You still don’t know how to read, do you?” It says with a chuckle. 

You don’t remind them that you can read just fine, provided the book is in a language you know.

You choose the book. Food is tempting, but you won’t feel hungry unless you eat, and you have no idea when the next reward might be. 

Not to mention food made by the lich is suspect. It could be poisoned again…

“What a studious boy you are. Keeping your mind sharp is important,” Jade praises. 

The book it slips through the bars is written in a language you’ve grown more familiar with in the last decade or so. You’re pretty sure it’s a field guide for spotting alchemical components that can be found locally. Or At least you’re pretty sure that’s what it says. You wonder if this guide is for the area outside the dungeon. 

“Maybe one day, if you’re very well behaved, I’ll let you outside so you can collect components for me,” Jade says, drawing you from your thoughts. 

You doubt that will ever happen. Its idea of well behaved fluctuates far too often. 

“I’ll be back soon with something new,” Jade says as it guides you back into the cage. “Try not to miss me too much, okay?” 

It closes and locks the door before slinking off around the corner to its work station. 

You sit down in your favorite corner and have a better look at the book. 

You can hear Jade muttering to itself as it works, but you know how to tune it out by now. All the world falls away as you try to work out what the words on the page might correspond to in your own language. 

You’ve managed to puzzle out quite a bit of the language over time. Things started making some sense when you realized the typical structure of a sentence was verb-subject-object instead of subject-verb-object. Though you suppose you still have no way of being sure that any of the things you’ve assumed are correct without something to check it against. Eventually your eyes grow heavy and you drift off to sleep, book falling from your grasp to the floor.