The Survivor Becomes a Dungeon

Virtisa POV

The last fifteen minutes were a blur as she was rushed out of her workspace on the back of a prowler and taken halfway up a mountain before being brought to some sort of magically lit stone training room. The scene was grisly, to say the least, and while she has seen worse, the acrid stench of actively dissolving flesh singed her nostrils in a way she'll never really get used to. "Alright, so you're dealing with severe slime injuries… No…" She sniffed again, approaching a human man with a missing arm as she looked him over. "Ooze, a particularly acidic one at that." She said more firmly, though she jumped with surprise as a voice that wasn't her own echoed in her head.

'So, you've seen these injuries before? What do you need?' Vitmori asked in a way that she could sense the genuine concern in his ethereal voice.

She blinked a few times, refocusing herself as she examined the human man's shoulder. "Well, of course, I used to be a somewhat respected healer in the capital. I dealt with many adventurers, mercenaries, and even some... Some..." She took another look at the face of the man before hurriedly looking over the faces of all the others around her and suddenly getting to her feet. "Knights… What in all that is good are they doing here?" She said, whirling around on Basti and Jack.

The prowler casually lay near the entrance as she catnapped after their jaunt up the mountain. Meanwhile, Jack didn't understand what was going on, flapping his wings as he looked around curiously.

At that, Vitmori spoke up once more, echoing in her mind. 'I know what you're thinking, but look again, these aren't the same people who took you and the others. Not their souls, at least; I just reused their bodies.'

She freezes at that, taking a moment to process what was just told before looking back to the human man and sniffing at him some more. "Necromancy? No… There's no rot." She murmured to herself before moving around and checking the others and stopping in front of a dwarven woman that was ripped in half from just below the waist down. Her nostrils flinched at the stench of the acidic ooze, but she couldn't help but examine the injuries with new appreciation. "Considerable healing factor, based on what you told me and the severity of the wounds, this woman should be dead, and the ooze should have eaten up to her belly button by now, her hands should be reduced to stumps at the wrists, not to mention the burns of ooze on her face would've eaten into her skull..." She then reached out, placing a hand on the dwarf's stomach and closing her eye thoughtfully. "She's burning through mana fast…"

'So what do you need?' Vitmori pressed more urgently within her skull, the weight of his sheer presence almost distracting.

Virtisa huffed before looking around quickly as she came up with an idea. "I need water, lots of it, to dilute the film of ooze on this dwarf's eyes… The ooze around her leg stumps is too thick for just water, and I don't have the right ingredients to deactivate it." Looking around, she spotted the weapons but realized they were all made of stone. "I need a metal blade, heated until it's glowing. Hurry." She ordered with resolve as she went for her water skin, emptying the contents into the dwarven woman's eyes as she did her best to mitigate the damage until they could get her some more water.

Jack whistled over at the blue cub as he flitted over to Gluttony. "Come here, small one; between the two of us, we should be able to do what the lady needs." He explained, his tone still even and grim as he looked over his wounded comrades. He watched the cub scamper hurriedly, the blue feline looking Gluttony over with concern before closing her eyes and focusing, conjuring a water ball. From there, Jack pitched in by adding more water to the cub's ball and then began swirling the contents of the ball around, lowering the ball down on Gluttony's face. The dwarf visibly tensed before relaxing with vague relief.

Virtisa watched on with curious surprise at the two mana beasts before jumping with surprise as a glowing red hot ax clattered onto the stone beside her. She went to reach for the weapon when a large orcish woman approached, scooping up the ax by its wooden handle before looking down at Virtisa herself.

"What needs to be done?" The large woman asked as she looked over the dwarf.

Virtisa swallowed before refocusing as she looked over the dwarf, tracing a nail a couple of inches above the ooze-affected flesh around their wrists and thighs. "Cut these places, we can't let the ooze eat any more of her and the heated metal will stop the bleeding, keep her from using what remains of the mana that is resisting the ooze."

No sooner than when Virtisa finished her instruction did Wrath bring down the ax, precisely slicing and cauterizing Gluttony's limbs as the dwarf cried out through gritted teeth, writhing uselessly before falling unconscious.

Virtisa reached out, pressing her hand to the dwarf's stomach and closing her eyes before looking around at the others. "She's still alive, stable, but only just." She explained, opening her eyes and pulling away as she moved to the next injured. "Come here, you two. That should be enough for her. Many of these other injuries should be easy enough to dilute with your help, and I've got something to staunch any further bleeding without having to resort to burning the wound." She explained as Jack and the cub made their way over.

Vitmori echoed within her mind once more, the pressure seemingly lessened from moments earlier. 'Thank you for your assistance Virtisa, I am in your debt, and that is something I don't say lightly. If you need anything at all, ask.'

Virtisa blanched, glancing around the room for a moment before going back to spreading a poultice over the back of a thin elven man. "W-well, thank you, Vitmori; I'll certainly keep that in mind… Anyways, that dwarf may have a good healing ability, as well as the rest of these… People…" She said with a bit of hesitancy before clearing her throat. "Her body has too much damage; any mana recovery that she can even attempt in her state will be wasted, not to mention the lack of limbs. The same goes for the man over there." She mentioned as she pointed out the armless human man. "It's gonna take a lot of mana to repair himself, but I'll do my best to prevent any further damage from the ooze."

It took a few moments, but after a bit of silence, Vitmori spoke up. 'I see, so we need a lot of mana then? Very well. Basti, go for a hunt, and try to keep the bodies intact.' He instructed, the prowler rising to her paws as she trotted out.