Slimes & Magic

6. Party time

Walking in to the village the group goes along the main road looking for the adventurer guild. "*First off we need to sell the materials that we collected from the animals that we killed on the way here, as well as getting that bear skinned.*" Explains Elvan, "*And ill say this quietly, after that we also need to register you Alex as a member of our party. There should be someone at the guild who is able to take care of that. For the time being the guild should be the only ones to know about your abilities.*" It seems to Alex that if the general public were to know about their unique high intelligence they would be in some level of danger. Being asked to stay in slime form by May earlier as well to hide the golden eyes, and now Elvan whispering about Alex's registering. Seems like a creature like them is quite valuable. Jumping along next to the group Alex looks at all the houses they pass by. They all have a stone foundation, with the rest of the house made out of wood, most have a chimney as well for heating during the colder seasons. On their way they also passed by what looked like a blacksmith's workshop, a large furnace with some still glowing coals next to an anvil and a rack of tools. On the other side of the road there was a larger house that had a sign hanging above the front door displaying a large mug and a plate. "*Here we are*" says Carl as they came to a stop in front of another larger building that bore a sign showing several different weapons over a large shield "*This is the guild.*" They all enter and May holds the door open for Alex. On the inside there are a couple tables and chairs set out on the right hand side with a large pinboard hanging on the opposite wall from the entrance. On the left the counter with a lady standing behind it, as well as a door on the far end leading to another room.

 
"*Welcome to the guild here in Thawn, how can I help you three?*" the lady behind the bar asks the group. "*Good morning. First we have some materials that we would like to sell that we collected on our way here.*" Elvan tells the lady "*and second, well, its about it actually being four of us*" he says as May picks up Alex and brings them up to the counter. "*For the second part we'd hope to be able to use a private room to talk, which I think we might actually have to do first.*" adds May. "*Oh no problem, we can talk in the room behind me, come right this way.*" The lady says, leading them to the door on the far end of the counter. Once seated on the chairs inside the lady says "*First off let me introduce myself, I'm Ellen, and I handle the front end stuff here in the guild. So, its about this slime, do tell.*"
 "*Well, we would like to register this slime as a member of our party. Alex here is a bit of a special slime you see.*" replies Elvan. May puts Alex down on the table in front of them, "*go on, turn in to your little snake form and show Ellen.*" she tells them. Alex hops over to the other side of the table to sit in front of Ellen and takes their smaller snake shape and looks her in the eyes. "*Oh! Indeed special. Alex you say?*" Ellen says in a surprised tone, Elvan nods, "*Transformation is quite the skill, and even more impressive is the golden eyes. Do you have another form you can take Alex?*" They nod 'yes' and turn in to the horned rabbit that they had absorbed the previous day. "*Oh how cute. Yes, yes I'm quite sure. Having the golden eyes in both of these forms confirms it, yes. We do indeed have a unique intelligent slime here.*" Ellen says and Alex turns back in to a slime, she reaches out with both hands towards them "*May I?*", and Alex hops on to her hands as she takes a closer look at them. "*What can you three tell me about Alex here.*"
"*We found Alex 4 days ago in a meadows on the edge of the forest right after they were born into the world. We asked if they wanted to come with us through yes and no questions. Then by the first night we were convinced by Alex's skills and agreed that they could join our party.*" Explains May. "*What sorts of skills?*" Asks Ellen. "*What we found out so far is the transformation ability that you just saw allowing Alex to turn in to whatever they absorb. Then there is also the reason why we showed up only carrying our weapons. If you'd please drop out our backpacks Alex*." Continues May. Jumping down on to the ground by the edge of the table Alex brings out the three backpacks putting them against the table. "*Alex seems to be able to store a great number of things inside of them without damaging those things in any way.*" She says. "*As well as being able to hold their ground well in a fight Alex is able to follow along with any conversation, being the intelligent slime.*"
"*I am well impressed to say the least.*" Ellen says after May finished explaining. "*Being able to store away extra weight sure is exceptionally useful as adventurers. At this point I see no way I can't allow Alex to join your party. If you would wait here a moment I'll go and fetch Nellie, she can make Alex here a guild card.*" Ellen quickly goes out the door and comes back moments later with Nellie in tow. After brief introductions and a quick explanation, Nellie equally amazed by Alex, pulls out a blank card from one of her pockets. "*I'll perform a little bit of magic that will link this card together with you, Alex, once its done it will show your membership to the guild and your party. On the backside it will also show your stats and level in real time. As an extra bit of personal protection the information about your stats will only appear if you will it to.*" She explains to Alex, "*Sit still for a bit, ill be done in just a moment.*" Nellie places the blank card in front of Alex and holds out her hand over it and Alex. Closing her eyes in concentration her palm glows a bit, and the information on the Card starts appearing with a soft golden glow. "*There you have it.*" The card in front of Alex had now turned their green colour and showed the same logo as the sign out by the front door in gold. The writing is shown in the same golden colour, name, species, and party members, reading; 'Alex', 'Slime', and 'May, Carl, Elvan' respectively. To turn the card around Alex instinctively forms two little stumps as mini arms using their transform skills' side effect. The backside of the card is the same green colour and golden writing showing Alex's exact level and stats, identical to the box that they can make appear. "*Woah Alex I didn't know you can make yourself have little arms!*" Says May suddenly. Realising what they had done Alex reforms the little arms and waves them around a little before picking up the fresh guild card and jumping over to the trio to show them. "*Well look at this, so fancy looking.*" comments Carl as they check out Alex's new Card. "*I believe the card took on Alex's colour as a slime and their golden eyes.*" Adds Nellie. "*You should now be able to look at Alex's stats too.*" Turning around the card in May's hands the three of them let out a small gasp in unison;

[Slime level 6 Stats:
Health: 30
Defence: 17
Strength: 18
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 125
Agility: 22]

"*Woah, Alex is already at level 6 in just the 4 days of traveling with us!*" Says Elvan, impressed "*and look at that Intelligence stat, normal level 6 slimes would only have an intelligence of 6.*" Ellen and Nellie also lean in to take a closer look, "*quite incredible*", May says speaking everyone's thoughts. Happy with all the praise Alex jumps down to sit on May's lap as Nellie excuses herself and the rest in the room sit back down. "*For the time being we would appreciate it if the guild could keep the information about Alex within the guild. At the moment we probably wouldn't be able to protect each other against a targeted ambush or anything.*" Asks Elvan of Ellen. "*I don't think however that spreading the information to the other guild locations would do us any harm, it would probably save us some time on explaining things.*"
"*Not to worry,*" replies Ellen, "*Ill make sure that the information about Alex is spread to the other guild locations properly. Now that this is done I believe you said you had some materials to sell. For that you need to visit Don around the back side of the guild building, he handles those kinds of things.*" They all stand up as Ellen leads them out of the room, Alex quickly storing their new guild card in their stomach and jumping in to May's arms. May carries Alex as they go outside and around the corner, as Ellen mentioned on the back side of the guild building there is a workshop attached with a burly man working on sharpening a large knife. "*Hi there what can I do for you*" Don asks standing up from his bench and walking over to the group. "*We have a couple of skins that we would like to sell*" replies May, putting Alex down on a nearby table. Taking out the 5 boar skins and the two horned rabbits from their stomach Alex waits a moment before brining out the large bear. "*Alex here also stored a bear that we killed, we are hoping to sell its skin as well, and we'd take the meat with us on our travels.*" Continues May. "*A bear you say, you can bring it out on to this workbench here.*" Don says as he walks over to the back of the workshop to the largest bench. Jumping over in one go Alex spits out the dead bear so that it lies face down on the bench. "*You guys did a good job on killing this guy. Minimal cuts and just two arrow wounds on the side of the neck. I can probably give you a couple iron coins for this one, as well as a couple for those skins there. If you come by tomorrow morning I'll give you the payments.*"
"*Thanks! We'll pass by on our way out tomorrow morning then.*" Carl says as the group walks out of the workshop waving goodbye to Don. Turning around the corner Elvan stops by the front of the guild building. "*Wait a moment, I'll go and ask for a room quickly. Then we can go grab a drink in the bar.*" He says, opening the door to the guild. A minute later he comes outside again with a pleased look on his face. "*We got ourselves a good room*" he says as they all start walking down the road, "*there are currently no other adventurers in town, the last ones left this morning apparently. which means that we got the three bed room easily.*" They turn off the road and May opens the door to the building that had the mug and plate sign out front, holding Alex in her hand against her stomach. Looking inside most of the floorspace is covered with tables and chairs, about half of them filled with villagers eating and drinking. The back wall of the room is covered in shelves holding several different bottles and barrels with a bar in front of them. Carl gives a wave to the bartender as they enter "*3 ales for us if you would*" and leads the group over to an empty table. As they sit down May sets down Alex on the table in front of her and continues to pet them. The bartender comes over with three large mugs setting them down on the table, "*that will be 2 silver and a bronze*" he says. "*oh right, Alex could you bring out that money pouch I gave you this morning?*" Asks Elvan, putting it out on the table Alex pushes it towards him. Handing the three coins to the bartender he says thanks and turns back to the table. The three of them pick up their mugs "*Cheers to Alex joining us*" May says as she pushes Alex to the middle of the table. The three of them knock their mugs together above Alex and each take a swig. "*Now then, lets get down to business.*"