[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6w4V9ZJ.png[/img]

Level 9 Blazermate - (46/90)
Level 7 Geralt - (94/70)
The Maw > Storage Room
Words: 1468 (3 XP)
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Blazermate found that the storeroom was... well the proper term was industrial creepy as if she walked into an industrial warehouse at night that was not well kept. And this wasn't aided by the mimics in the corner that she had seen before. Heck, if it wasn't for the fact the dead zone got nuked, she'd say they'd have walked back into it here. Still, there were quite a few useful items here. While the Koopa troop were looking around one area and Geralt another, Blazermate looked near the crying child. There wasn’t too much Blazermate could do for him right now, as he wasn’t injured or really afflicted by anything, he just seemed to… be there. For how long Blazermate didn’t know, maybe they could grab him on the way out?  The floating items near him looked unappealing, being mostly... fecal based? ...what? But nearby him on another shelf were some more interesting items, although one of them was very... questionable. But considering the questionable stuff that the others found it wasn't too surprising in the end.  And unlike the other 3 items, two of them were at least food based.

[hider=For Blazermate]
[url=https://imgur.com/3dpnXL1]Mega Bean[/url] A large bean that causes a massive, earth-shattering fart when used that causes earth to fly, petrifies and poisons any nearby enemies for a short time. Recharges after 3 rooms/areas.
[url=https://imgur.com/3WjcUws]Red Stew[/url] A delicious looking stew made of red lentils. Has the feeling of betrayal around it. Eating the stew causes the eater to be fully healed and massively increases their damage for three minutes.
[url=https://imgur.com/cvuLnQW]Purgatory[/url] A crack will form on the ground in the current room. Stepping on this crack will cause it to open revealing a single ghost before closing completely and reappearing somewhere else. This ghost will aggressively home in on the nearest enemy and explode. These explosions don't hurt the one that summoned the ghost.[/hider]

Most of these items Blazermate couldn't use, due to her being unable to eat and two of them being food based. However these items could be helpful for the others, as they most certainly weren't cursed as they were bean based, right? After all, this was a storage closet, so food stuffs kinda made sense? And upon grabbing the third item, a cute grateful looking ghost, the pickup just disappeared as its power flowed into Blazermate. Blazermate wasn't sure what just happened, but got the idea that it was 'help from beyond' or something and should she look closely, she will have found a red crack had suddenly formed on the ground.

She didn't have that much time to look though, as the noise of everyone moving, shifting, and finding objects attracted the attention of baddies, most of which looked like they were also from the dead zone, sorta. The snake being the most troubling of them all. Blazermate, unlike the kids, was much larger then them. But unlike them, she was a full robot and they were in a storeroom with various nicknacks, some of them being mechanical in nature. So Blazermate found an empty part of a shelf to sit on, and made herself to look like a shut off mechanical doll. This wasn't too hard, since her eyes never looked like they moved, so she could keep watch on the snake while hiding in essentially plain sight.

Geralt’s own search took him along with Bowser, though not quite as close as the Koopa King was originally intending. The plan that Kamek and Bowser had was good, insofar as it allowed the group to cover more ground while not losing track of one another. Geralt’s own search, slightly separated, was...frankly, not particularly fruitful compared to the others’. 

[hider=For Geralt]
[url=https://i.imgur.com/2pyyzVD.png]Pendant[/url] A pendant, which does nothing. You’ve been tricked into thinking this was important!

[url=https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41+CUB7K3QL.jpg]Freeze Spray[/url] A single-use attacking item which deals a small amount of ice damage to a single opponent

[url=https://cdn2.bulbagarden.net/upload/9/9d/Dream_Safety_Goggles_Sprite.png]Safety Goggles[/url] A pair of goggles which protect the user from weather-related damage and powder/spore-based moves and attacks.
[/hider]

In one box, he’d found a pendant which reminded him, in a vague sort of way, of his missing Wolf Medallion, and he took it, immediately wearing it around his neck. He didn’t feel any different wearing it, and the pendant didn’t seem to be reacting to anything around him, so Geralt chalked it up to being one of the personal effects of one of the Guests. Given that he doubted they’d miss the thing, he shrugged and carried on, pendant still hanging from his neck.

The goggles were sat upon one of the shelves, and after testing them, Geralt found that they didn’t impact his visibility much at all, so he decided to take them along with the hopes that they’d come in handy, whether it be in the salty sea air or at some point down the line. 

The can of freeze spray, being cold to the touch, gave the Witcher pause for a moment before he grabbed it and stuffed it in the pockets of his pants, figuring he’d find a use for it then.

After a bit of shuffling about and searching the shelves and boxes, Geralt found himself confronted with a strange situation: tiny pieces of paper were stuck to various objects littered about the area, and Bowser was acting with an abundance of caution around them. That behavior itself was enough to warrant suspicion, but the words on those papers gave him pause: ‘Not a mimic’ indicated that something [i]was[/i] a mimic, and with a name like that, Geralt didn’t need to guess to figure out what they were capable of. 

As Geralt was heading towards Boswer, he passed a mug with the same note on it, but this mug was a liar. A liar, and a mimic. Leaping at him, the horrific creature managed to land one of its legs on Geralt’s bent arm, before attempting to force another down his throat. Lifting his free arm, thankfully still gripping the Nail, Geralt drove it through the creature’s body, causing it to leap free of him and run off, perhaps seeking prey elsewhere. “Boss, we’d best be careful.” Geralt reported, unhelpfully. He didn’t doubt that they’d just seen what happened, but it was still good to at least assuage any fears that he’d been hurt badly. “Managed to stick it, but the damned thing ran off before I could finish the job.”

When a sudden noise spooked a group of the weird things, which now that he thought about it really resembled what the Runaway Kid had turned into, Geralt watched with amusement that turned to horror, which then turned to anger as the Resentment stepped through the door into the storage room. 

As the others scrambled to hide, Geralt noticed a familiar shade of blue hiding on one of the shelves, and sneakily made his way over to her and whispered. “Hey.” Bowser’s own ruckus was likely distracting the thing, so he wasn’t overly afraid of alerting it to their position.

Blazermate, not moving, replied when she saw that it was Geralt talking to her, also keeping her volume low. [color=0072bc]”So uh… about that plan of Jrs…. I think I got something good for it.”[/color] When the snake wasn’t looking, Blazermate put power into one of her arms to grab and remove the red stew from her backpack, handing it to Geralt. [color=0072bc]”This might help? It looks like a bean soup. I don’t know what it does though, but maybe give it a shot?”[/color]

Geralt looked at the weird bean stew in Blazermate’s hands. Then he looked at Blazermate. Then he looked back to the stew. And back to Blazermate again. After a moment, he shrugged. “Don’t suppose it’ll hurt any.” Grabbing the spoon, Geralt shoved the stew into his mouth quickly, some dripping down his chin, but thankfully splattering on the floor and not his shirt. It was actually quite good, and that wasn’t just the hunger talking, now that he’d gotten that small meal into him earlier. How it didn’t spill in her backpack, though, he didn’t question.

[color=0072bc]”By the way, I found that near this cute ghost powerup thing I absorbed”[/color] Blazermate said, omitting this information until Geralt ate the lentil bean stew. She omitted the crap based items also nearby it entirely.

Geralt let out a sigh and turned a glare on Blazermate that would have been much more intimidating were he his usual self. “And you waited until [i]after[/i] I ate it to tell me that. Thank you.” Shaking his head with the snark, he dropped the emptied bowl and whistled for the Nail, which flew up from where he’d left it against the shelf and into his waiting hand. “Forget it, let’s go get this done.” He stated, perhaps a bit more curt than before, moving back to the others at a quick run.

Blazermate stayed in her spot due to her size, staying motionless until the plan went into motion or things went south. If they went south quick, she’d move herself over to the others posthaste.

[hr]

As the Resentment was struck with the doughy projectile, Geralt and the others descended upon it like ravenous beasts, though they refrained from attempting to eat the thing, despite its appearance. As much as this place drove one to hunger, it’d take a lot more to get Geralt to try and eat anything that creature had turned into. Instead, he drove his Nail into the beast-shrimp again and again, powered by fury and, unbeknownst to him, the power boost provided by the soup he’d eaten. 

Among the group, they were strong, but unless this new ability of Kamek’s lasted a while (Geralt having been unconscious-or near enough-when he fused with the Spirit), they’d have a new set of problems when the thing came back. 

Best to kill it now, then. Assuming such a thing were possible.