Scout out the new location

In the end I really do not have a goal that would make going to the city more appealing. Discovering cultural secrets? This is as good a place to start as any. Obtaining riches to fund my journey through the world? Might as well begin with the wealthy. I think my plan is to sleep in this stable until I trust the cave enough to sleep there. In the meantime, I might as well scope out the situation here. The lawn care leads me to believe I am not generally welcome, but maybe I can discover something to make myself approachable.

Still, I do not see an easy way to approach the house. There is no surface or table or anything the sludge bane would not be spread on. It is a beautiful lawn, only occasionally broken by flowers or bushes, and an annoying obstacle. I suppose this is a good opportunity to test how badly the bane would harm me. I need to know how well I match up against a common garden remedy after all.

Working my way down from the stable roof, I work my way around to the end of the house opposite where the young elf entered earlier. There is a little table here, though it is far away from the tall door that sits above a wooden deck. With the lack of decoration, this area seems to be the rear end of the house. I stretch and shape my body to prepare myself for a sprint across the lawn. Quadrupeds are good at sprinting, right?

I step as lightly as I can over the lawn as I rush for the back door. I feel an itchy irritation on my feet that increases every time they touch the ground. After a few seconds of sprinting I slide as silently as I can onto the small deck beneath the door. I reassume a blob form to discover the damage the sludge bane has done. The parts of myself that made contact with the powder are stiff and dried like mud. It seems more difficult to control these scraps of myself, but I fold them back into my body and they quickly soften to a normal consistency.

Poking around the door, the easiest way in I discover is through the abnormally large keyhole. It seems more like a bolt against animals and the wilderness than a proper lock. It’s probably the tightest fit I can make, but I do fit through as I spill into a mud room on the other side, complete with shoe shelves, benches and coat racks. As I fish myself through the rest of the way I hear the sounds of an occupied home. Close to this room I hear the splashing and clanking of someone washing plates, and I hear feet pacing upstairs.

The floor has no piles of dead leaves, so I can actually move more quietly while liquid instead of standing. With that in mind, I press myself into the foot of the wall and lengthen out to slither along like a snake. I hug the foot of the wall and slither out of the doorless mudroom, into what I assume is the kitchen.

The scents of fire and cooking are prominent in the air, overlaid with the scent of soap and an elf recently returned from a jaunt outdoors, who I assume is the one I followed. Well, if I poke around her house I’ll just keep seeing her. She seems occupied washing dishes in a big wooden tub at the far end of the narrow kitchen, so I am confident I can slither around the narrow kitchen and into the next room.

A small hallway connects the kitchen to a dining room sized for several people and a foyer. The foyer has several large chairs heaped with blankets and what appears to be a fur rug. It’s probably quite cozy around Christmas time, assuming Christmas is celebrated here. Interestingly, the foyer has two doors. One leads to the outside, but I slide under the other door to find a stairway that leads up and another that leads down.

I find going downstairs disappointing. There’s nothing but a small closet with some bottles. It seems like an unfinished cellar. Upstairs is a bit more interesting. At least the construction is certainly more complete. The hall runs between rooms that loop all around the house. The pacing I heard earlier is coming from a room in the first corner of the hall. I can hear a deep feminine voice speaking to themselves inside. Focusing my attention, I try to listen in. The language makes no sense to me. It’s certainly not Elvish. It’s probably best not to disturb them in case they don’t like devil-slimes.

The rooms on this floor are really easy to slide under. A peek behind the first door reveals a large bedroom filled with scattered clothes and pieces of junk. Following the hallway’s course takes me to a small branch of the hall illuminated by sunlight from a large window. The one out-of-the-way door leads to another bedroom, this one fastidiously neat with a large couples bed as the centerpiece. This seems like the more interesting room of the two. I stroll up to the mattress, hoping to test that old stereotype about money under the bed.

Even if the standard is true, it seems the people living here have a better system. There’s nothing under the bed, and I only find clothing and some jewellery between the two wardrobes. I do note a difference between the wardrobes with and without jewelry though. This room is kept fastidiously clean, I barely even pick up dust as I go across the floor. Everything is neat except for this jewellery wardrobe. It is not necessarily messy, but the clothing and possessions seem to have been piled up rather than organized.

Just as I consider this, I’m startled by the sound of footsteps out in the hall. I dash under the wardrobe as quickly as I can. There is hardly enough space to fit me, so I squeeze myself behind it as well as I can. I calm down after a moment of waiting. Whoever was walking went past this room and up the hall.

I wait a little longer and the footsteps return. They sound rather heavy. There’s no way it could belong to the same elf girl I followed here through the woods. This time, I hear the steps come right up to the bedroom door before stopping. Then, I hear a rich alto voice calling out. “Hey there, need any help? Alright, I’ll be down in just a moment.” They leave without entering the room.

Maybe this is a mistake, but this could be my best chance to check out the previously occupied room. Just a moment after the hall quiets I snake my way back into the corridor. The window is open now, and I can feel the chilling autumn air coming into the house. With everyone downstairs, I move into the now empty room.

It seems like an office with a rug and a huge desk with a closed front. There are some cabinets as well, but I move to the top of the desk in view of the long window. The surface is stacked with papers, desk supplies and knick-knacks. I can read the papers by pressing myself into them and tasting the ink on the page. It tastes gross, but I might as well make use of my education.

At least I make use of my Elven Lore, as most of the papers are lists of items written in elvish. I brush over those quickly, but I do find something interesting before I move on to the drawers and cabinets. There’s an open book sitting on the table surrounded by some pens and powders or something. Also written in elvish, the book is open to a page detailing cleaning spells. Now, as interesting as housekeeping can be, I prefer to hurriedly flip through the book to find the first spell I could learn. Sadly, my lack of sight stops me from speed reading. “Tidy surface” seems more convenient than useful. Do I even need “see in darkness”? Hey, “heat metal”! That’s a sick spell from Dungeons and Dragons. I begin reading through the entry, but it seems to go a little over my head. Before I know it, I hear footsteps coming up the stairs.

I dive into a drawer. Before I pointlessly try to stuff myself into a small box I think better of it and go for a cabinet. I set myself as delicately as I can between stacks of boxes and jars and pull the door shut on myself. I would say I hold my breath, but again I remember my lack of lungs.

Beyond the cabinet doors I hear someone come in and pick up a book. I guess they need to stow the spells, because I hear them fiddling with the drawers. They stay in the office for a few minutes. I can’t guess what for. I hear the scratching of writing on paper and the shuffling of supplies. When they finish, they leave and don’t come back for a few minutes. I assume the coast is clear.