The sudden noise of the splash shattered the eerie silence that permeated the dank junction, and beneath the smooth, salty surface of the water the pale shape moved.  For a few seconds, all that could be seen in Edwin's flare was the undulation of long, conical appendages, but soon after the creature made itself known.  With a guttural gurgle the thing pulled itself out of the canal onto the very concrete walkway upon which Edwin stood, and revealed itself to be a corpse-white, mockingly squidlike mass covered in  tentacles with no visible head.  Propping itself up with some of its limbs, the wretched vermin reared back, revealed a long, grooved slit lined with teeth on its underside, a gruesome parody of some freakish starfish.  Though the creature could be observed to be lethargic in motion, it needed no excess of speed to release a noxious, purplish cloud from that awful mouth to waft Edwin's way.  For now, the creature ignored Mr. Ghurst, whether out of not being able to attack him or not being able to sense him.

[h3][center][color=BFC1C2]Depth Plumbers HQ[/color][/center][/h3]

As the warped wizard Mancer reluctantly probed a slimy jacket for any items perhaps of use, Dane Joshin advanced to the rear of the living quarters, unfazed by the albino muck he ground into the carpet beneath his boots.  He approached a mass of the stuff clinging to the wall just above a chair, and as he closed the distance the warrior became increasingly aware of an odd fluctuation on the gray goo's surface.  Fascinated, he stood still, watching the slime on the wall twist and shape itself into the vague outline of a dwarf.  Not fully realizing what was happening, Dane suspected nothing as one of the dwarf's arms began to solidify.  Finally becoming aware of the profundity of faint squelching noises, Mancer glanced the warrior's way and froze.  [color=BFC1C2]“Uh, sir?  I don't know if that's safe...!”[/color]

With a particularly thick springing noise, the slime dwarf lurched off of its chair.  Dane's lips began to move, attempting to summon his Unyielding Aegis, but the amorphous being proved faster.  It jammed its hand into the warrior's face, stretching the limb farther than a proper dwarf ever could, as befitted its unstable structure.  Dane cried out as the fingers pierced his eyes and stumbled back, blind and bleeding.  Mancer stood immobile still, full of terror, but the sight of the very floor starting to move galvanized him into action.  From the slime covering the ground, all around the foyer and living quarters of the Depth Plumbers HQ, sprang a squad of gelatinous dwarfs with empty white eyes, crying out in a senseless, garbled tongue as they attacked anyone they could see.

Mancer leaped against the wall and yelped, [color=BFC1C2]“Cold Snap!”[/color]  The slime dwarf assailing him suddenly halted, enveloped in a shell of obstructing ice.  Mancer wasn't done, however, and the lack of humanity shared by these beings permitted him to be brutal.  [color=BFC1C2]“Heartseekers!”[/color]  A trio of ethereal, hot pink daggers materialized in the air, and zipped forward to embed themselves in the frozen creature's head.  The iced slime shattered, scattering the pieces over the floor, but there were more where they came from.  [color=BFC1C2]“Agh!”[/color]