Well, gang...

"Saaammy! Saaammy! Where are you?! Damned adorable dolt..."

"Come on, ye' goopy dollop!"

"Big sister Saaammy! Please come back!"

The last half hour had been spent walking about Bludbag, aimlessly searching for the missing Slime. None paid us any mind, nor asked if we needed help; does this town even have guards?

"Alright, everyone on me! Group talk!" Says Ashes, taking on an authoritative tone; none argued, coming back from their short ventures down various walkways. "I've had to go through searches for a few lost children during my time as a guard back home. The best thing to do is to split into groups of two, spread out, and search for her that way. By dusk, return back to the tavern; if you don't, we'll have to assume you're in trouble. How does that sound?"

"Your plan has sound logic." Says Eve; her screen displaying a thumbs up.

"Ru roh..." Whispers Trixie; probably another Earth thing.

Now it was time to decide the groupings. Naturally, Ashes and Zana were together; there is no **** strong enough to split those two. Gabriella and Eve paired up, not a surprise since they were comfortably chatting earlier. Cilla decided that Trixie would be a good pick; I assume her choice was mostly because she needed a good distraction for Carrie, and who better than a "pretty wee fairy" with lots of stories. Leaving me with Scott, not that I minded; as it meant I wouldn't get my bones jumped.

Me and the cursed gentleman head north, and I try to keep my ears keen; listening for sloshing, giggling, or punching noises. Passing several taller buildings before emerging into an odd clearing. A large, rounded building stood out, with massive amounts of space between it and the other buildings. Etchings were carved around the enormous structure; a unique weave of cuts, dents, and gashes. The smell of sweat, and blood come from it's general direction.

"Oh my... I should have expected a temple to Tailum here; given all the sword bashing I can hear." Says Scott, thumbing at his stopwatch. "We won't find much here, I'm sure. It sounds like a match is on; no one enters, no one leaves."

"That's a temple?" I ask, walking with Scott in a wide berth around the building. "It looks more like..."

"An Arena; yes. For Tailum's faithful, they are one and the same." The Tailor answers, trying his best to look anywhere except towards the temple. "See the etchings? Those are made each time one of the participants is wounded in a match."

As if fate were listening to us, a deep gash rips through the stone wall of the temple; soon followed by a bloody, gurgling scream. I see a shudder go down Scott's spine as he hears it.

"Barbaric..." He says; not noticing the irony of his words. "Almost half as bad as the one in Hoctin."

We continue our search for Sammy; finding nothing as the light above beams brightly, and as the day goes on, begins to fade. Stomachs rumbling, and with no other choice, we begin to head back to the tavern before dark. Then, I hear it. Something below me... moving.

"Hold on." I whisper; activating God's Eye as I do so.

Then, I see something utterly odd. Hidden by illusions, there was a manhole cover; an old, rusted one, that seemingly hadn't been replaced in decades. I lift it up, and have a waft of odd smells come from the sewer; not the kind one would expect, either. The smells were of a chemical nature; the distant sounds of bubbling liquids grabbing my attention.

"Scott, I think this is it." I say, grabbing onto an old ladder that lead deeper down.

"How!? What!? You're going through the ground!" He says; whisper-screaming, almost reaching the volume needed to just talk with a raspy voice.

"Illusions." Is all I answer with, making my way quickly down the ladder.

"I can't see down there..." Says Scott, poking his head past the illusion. "Should I just go grab the others, Chap?"

"And a snack." I say, heading further in; unimpeded by the shadows.

Now alone, I sneak along through the abandoned sewer; how had no one in the town found this place yet? Either way, the sounds and smells were getting closer. Then, I hear something fantastic.

A distant, familiar voice, saying things like. "Ooo!" And "Shiny!"

Sammy!

I start moving more hurriedly, thankful that this sewer was no longer in use; I really don't want to step in... "Stuff." I nearly bump into an odd door while my mind lingered on that intrusive thought. It was old; older than the stone around it. Prying it open, the rusted hunk falls off it's hinges, smashing to pieces on the ground.

"Boss!" Exclaims a certain slime, who quickly globs onto me in a hug. "Look what I found!"

Tired, and hungry; yet finally relieved to see my fellow Initiate safe, I sigh. "This is great and all Sammy, but we should head back to..."

"It's one of Creator's labs! Look! Here's their favorite flavor of formaldehyde!" She says, shoving a bottle in my hand, labeled as 'Diet Cherry.'

I look down at the flavored carcinogenic in my hand for half a second, registering her words slowly. "Wait, what? Did you know this was here?"

Sammy shakes her head, sloshing back into the main room. "I just fell through the ground. But look! Cool stuff!"

I don't even try to stop her as she moves from thing to thing in the room; which itself was around the same size as our dining hall in the Domain. The lab had various metal desks, with a wide array of still-filled flasks, burning-heaters, and other unknown tools. On the wall to my right, there was a black-board, much like the one we had for Cilla's lessons. On my left, there were odd, teal strips of silky parchment; displaying bodies in what looked like various stages of decay, or some similar, less natural decomposition. Faint, white lights of magical flame flickered in bobbles above us. The thick layers of dust on everything irritated my eyes and nose; this place has been abandoned for a while.

I spot something on one of the desks, the only piece of wood I could see in the room; speaking to Sammy as I investigate. "The others will be here soon. Maybe we can use this place to hide the Domain instead of the Tavern. Would save some g..."

I freeze at what I see when I take a hold of the old, crumbling wood. It is a picture frame; one for a small, detailed painting. It shows a human-looking man with graying hair, and wrinkled pale skin. Beside him, a short, tanned, tomboy-ish girl; a bandage plastered over her nose covering a small bruise, and a large chip taken from her front-left tooth. A girl who, despite being flesh and blood...

...looks almost exactly like Sammy.