[center][h1][color=red][u]G R A V E S[/u][/color][/h1][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]  • Tʜᴇ Dᴜɴɢᴇᴏɴ • [/center][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

A bone chilling breeze swept in from above, rattling the chains that hung down from the vaulted ceiling. Bits of frost gently clung to the darkest corners of the cavernous room as that accursed howling of the wind sent a tingle down the warrior's spine. Graves hadn't noticed just how [i]cold[/i] it was in here until he'd stopped moving. He swore it was getting colder with each passing second, too. An irritating fact, considering his character typically neglected to wear a shirt.

Pushing passed the inconsequential fact, he turned his attention to finding a way forward. The longer the party tarried here, the greater the risk of another ambush befalling them. Everyone was of a similar mind: this room felt far too empty for comfort. It was the largest they had encountered thus far by a good margin, and they hadn't encountered significant resistance since the floor burst out from underneath them earlier. This was the perfect place for an attack, so it followed that everyone would be on edge.

Some of them were a little [i]too[/i] on edge, with Tessa sounding like she was somewhere between hyperventilating and having an outright panic attack. Graves turned to look in the control mage's direction just in time to witness her snapping one of her ethereal chains like a bullwhip. Her massive, coiling steel slammed harshly against stone all around them, sending forth a cacophonous roar that echoed through the halls for an uncomfortably long time.

Graves froze, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he waited, and listened. He expected to hear her crash followed by a chorus of goblin bellows and ogreish howls and the rushing of feet, yet nothing of the sort came. A disturbing silence was all that followed. The tank glared in Tessa's direction, debating whether or not they would lose anything of value if he beat her into unconsciousness. [color=red]"Nice."[/color] He hissed under his breath, his teeth gnashing together as he held back a torrent of curses and shouts.

While the rest of the party was close to losing it, one member decided to break away from the main contingent. Ochre approached the stream of strange liquid that ran throughout the crypt, that curious spark in his eye. He could see that the channel flowed with a strange consistency. It was not as liquid as it appeared from a distance. Whatever odd concoction filled the trench stuck together like glue, churning like a living body but not quite [i]flowing.[/i] The closer he got to the stuff, the colder the air about Ochre became, up until his breath was visible beside it.

The ogre's tooth touched the blue substance, and immediately became stuck within it. Frost rapidly crept up the enamel, approaching Ochre's fingers with frozen intent and a frightening speed. If he didn't remove his hand from the tooth, Ochre would quickly find his fingers encased in several layers of ice so cold that it burned flesh. 

The atmosphere in the room shifted. The temperature plummeted as the wind picked up, it's ghostly howl violently shaking and rattling the chains throughout the cavern. Before them, that river of an unknown concoction began to dance. It shook and grew as the liquid almost seemed to come [i]alive[/i] with activity. The slimy substance lurched out of the trench, grabbing forth at cool stone as it dragged itself from the channel. 

Frost slimes split apart, forming individual entities numbering well into the dozens. Each voluminous blob stood at roughly two feet in height and less than half that in width. They climbed from their resting place, clinging to the floor as they started to crawl toward the nearest living things. Compelled to snuff out the heat in their warm bodies, those icy demons came at them from all sides.

Some clung to the pillars and walls, ascending into the air so that they could leap at the party from above. Others formed grotesque, makeshift limbs from their opaque bodies, using them tear off their own liquid flesh and using those slime balls as projectiles. Wherever they roamed, the slimes left a trail of frost and ice in their wake. Ice that seemed to be spreading independent of the slimes' movements, covering the floor in a slippery obstacle that made moving in certain areas quite difficult for those intrepid heroes.

[color=red]"Everybody form up!"[/color] Graves screamed above the roar of the wind, his throat raw as his heart pounded in his bared chest. They were surrounded on all sides by enemies that would be an absolute bitch to fight with physical attacks. The amount of maneuverable space was quickly drying up as ice formed throughout the room. Worst of all, however, was the frigid air clinging to his pants. [color=red]"Back to back, make a circle! And for Christ sake, Red, start frying these assholes!" [/color]