83 Weird Room (1/2)
The small clay doll rushed towards the back room, away from the party, and closed the door behind him.
”Did we scare him?” Blue asked.
”Maybe, I'm not sure,” Hera just shrugged. The thing moved so fast that she wasn't even able to trigger her [Observe].
The group walked towards the door and tried to open it. It wasn't locked, but it seemed like something was holding the door. They kept pushing and slamming at the door. When they finally busted the door open, several clay dolls fell from behind the door. The puppets scrambled away and hid behind various wooden dollhouses.
Careful, Hera and her friends stepped inside the room. Ready to fight the creatures. As they crossed the threshold to the door, one of the dolls appeared in front of the group. Leo froze, his eyes stuck to the small creature. Hera took this time to use her [Observe] on it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minor Earth Elemental - Clayman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The clayman took out a flower from behind his back and pointed towards Blue, who was in front. The controller opened a big smile and kneeled down to receive the flower.
”Blue! What are you doing?” Leo gasped, looking at her.
She just waved him off, ”Relax. I'm they are adorable,” she reached out and took the flower, ”Thank you, little one. You are really cute. You know that?”
As she spoke, the clayman jumped and started waving his arms. Soon about twenty other small claymen appeared on top of the dollhouses. Unsure of what would happen, Hera stepped in front of Bonnie to protect the researcher from any attacks.
The claymen all started shuffling in place, stomping their feet on the roofs of the houses. Suddenly, a series of trapdoors in the ceiling flung open, and the group was showered in flower petals. A line of small earth elementals came marching towards Blue, carrying a large necklace made of flowers, and presented it to the controller.
”What is that?” Blue asked.
”It looks like those necklaces we get when we go to a paradise island. If I remember correctly, it means friendship,” Bonnie replied, still unsure of what to expect.
Blue took a moment looking at the necklace, having the same expression anyone would have while using their [Inspect], ”It seems harmless. In the description, it even says that it is a gift of friendship,” Blue said, picking the necklaces and placing around her neck.
”What if that's a trap? Or if there is some type of poison in it?” Leo gasped.
”But it seems fine, and they don't seem hostile,” Alex said.
”Hera, you have a thing that shows when there is danger nearby, right? What do you feel?” Leo had his eyes open wide, with a small glint of panic on his face.
”Not quite, it tells me when monsters are closer than 5 meters away from me. Yeah, right now it's going off like crazy, but it doesn't mean that they are bad.”
”But these dolls are possessed, how can that be ok?” The hunter cried. A few of the claymen looked at each other with worried expressions.
”Leo, did you check their name? They are not dolls, much less they are possessed. They are earth elementals,” Alex said, placing her hand on the man's shoulder.
”What?”
”You didn't even check it?” Hera asked, raising one eyebrow.
Leo looked down, then towards one of the clayman atop a house, ” My bad. For a moment I thought this was the spirit room,”
”Dude, are you really that terrified of spirits?” Blue asked while she gave head pats to the claymen around her.
Leo rolled his eyes, ”Oh, sorry for not liking the idea of something that can enter my body and make me do things I wouldn't do.”
”I think you are seeing too many movies. Spirits don't do that. Not down here, at least. Some spirits are capable of possessing people, but they are only seen after the 12th layer. Even then, they can at most just keep talking to you and be a bit annoying, nothing life-threatening,” Bonnie explained as she started to play with a few cleymen.
Leo kept mumbling while the rest of the group interacted with the elementals. They were very friendly, not only they offered flower necklaces for everyone, but they showed their houses and the garden they tended to. Hera felt like she was interacting with a village of enthusiastic children. Looking around, it didn't seem like there was anything controlling tower's magic or making it change.
The elementals lead the group to a set of stools and even proceeded to massage them using their tiny arms. Leo still protested the idea, but that only lasted until they started. The small hands were perfect for the job. After around one hour, the group said their goodbyes to the elementals. Not only feeling refreshed but having received a buff from the claymen. They went back to the center room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cleymen's Boon
The massage of the cleymen helps your body relax. Due to the magical nature of the elementals, it also reduces the amount of energy you spend by doing physical tasks and improves your natural stamina recovery.
Bonus Recovery + 20%
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The room now had another different lighting. The one in front of the earth door now had a yellowish-brown hue. Not only two lights remained blue, the one from the entrance and the one from the spirit door. Leo tried to check the exit, but it seemed that they still haven't completed the quest.
”Leo, do you want to stay in the middle of the group?” Alex asked.
Blue held out her hand, ”You can even hold my hand, we won't laugh. It's just like Alex and the frogs.”