[center][h3]Tora, Poppi, and Big Band[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky - Inner-Mountain
Level 9 Tora (120/90) Level 9 Poppi (120/90) Level 5 Big Band (59/50)
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Fox’s [@Dawnrider], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Primrose and Therion’s [@Yankee], Yoshitsune and Sora’s [@Rockin Strings], Laharl’s [@Dark Cloud], Raz’s [@TruthHurts22]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2343[/center]

Tentative steps, and even more ginger breaths, were in order as the heroes set out to brave the jagged path of ice, beneath the sightless gaze of its imprisoned overseer. Walking on ice made for a difficult challenge even without the rather extreme hazard of a bottomless drop on either side, and with the all-too-present sharp turns, the bridge demanded not just bravery, but an exceptional amount of focus.

Yet try as he might to concentrate, with Poppi at his back ready to pull off a rescue at a moment’s notice, Tora found his mental state nibbled by his allies’ speech again and again. A discreet -and prudent- request for help at the start from Yoshitsune, before they grew close to the ice-bound giant, wasn’t so bad, but others spoke up even after the treacherous trek got underway. No doubt Raz felt that his thoughts on the giant were important enough to warrant attention, but his conjecture came as a bad time. Luckily his questions didn’t provoke the dormant Typhon, but that stroke of luck emboldened a few others into picking up the psychic’s baton. Provided he was even trying, Laharl failed to keep his voice to a whisper when posing a few less-than-relevant questions to Primrose, although Therion hearing them was the least of his concerns. While the dancer replied in a much more situationally-appropriate tone, Midna took it upon herself to answer Raz, albeit less definitively. Even Fox chimed in, and though he sought to shut down the conversation as fast as possible, his voice was a small addition to the overall level of disturbance nonetheless. It wasn’t long, in that wide-open cavern of savage cold and dead silence, where even whispers and the scrape of feet across ice rang off the frozen walls, that the pilot’s confidence in the situation’s immutability endured.

A muted symphony of faint crunches echoed through the cavern as Typhon moved ever-so-slightly, contorting and cracking the ice that frosted his sickly flesh. A rush of air coursed past ears as he inhaled, long and slow. Then, after a poignant moment’s delay, he exhaled out in a tremendous sigh, his breath a buffeting glacial wind. Those in the middle of the group began to slide, pushed toward the brink of their precarious bridge. Skull went down on his side, suppressing a pained cry into a strained grunt with a Herculean effort, and next to him Panther fell on her front hard enough to knock the wind out of her lungs. It was all she could do to bury her new claws in the ice for purchase, quell the bitterly cold tears that welled up in her eyes, and hold on for dear life. Necronomicon hovered over as fast as she could to buoy her back up. Big Band’s inertia allowed him to shuffle against the wind before he could be pushed far enough to fall off, but judging by the look on his face, he was by no means a happy camper. When he turned his eyes on Typhon in anticipation of an attack, however, the detective found no sign of hostility. The wind that threatened to send almost half the group to oblivion had been nothing more than a murmur in the giant’s sleep. Band clenched his jaw and, one careful step at a time, moved on.

A few minutes more and the Seekers reached the opposite side of the cave. Even if the perilous episode failed to make the fliers and a few of their more seasoned veterans anything other than nonplussed, it left the others at least a little shaken, especially those unused to such fantastical environments. Once out of the giant’s domain and in the shelter of [url=https://i.imgur.com/t5vxHvn.png]deathly cold catacombs[/url], the less dauntless Seekers could let out whatever breath they’d been holding.

“Damn, I think I busted a rib,” Skull moaned. As Mona rolled his big eyes and begrudgingly healed him with a Diarama from Zorro, he gave his most courageous smile. “Hey, coulda been a lot worse, though.”

Band took the chance to touch on the subject Raz threw out earlier. “Not sayin’ anythin’ one way or the other, but is there any way to be sure that big guy back there wasn’t the guy we’re after, after all? Nice as it’d be to take everythin’ at face value, I still don’t know how I feel ‘bout that black-coated bunch.”

His question prompted Poppi to adopt a thoughtful pose, tilting her head down as she raised a fist in front of her mouth. “Well, it just Poppi conjecture, but that seem too easy. Barring hidden magic or break out from ice, he not seem that capable. Friends could just sit safely outside range on one side or other and shoot to death. No protection, no build-up, nothing. Compared to others, fight with him seem like anticlimax; just not have that much going on.”

“Plus, if it actual biggy boss, we run into Master Hand first, meh!” Tora piped up.

“Oh, very good point.” Poppi looked mildly impressed. “Rare observant moment from Masterpon.”

“Meh!?”

The detective looked confused. “Hold on a moment, back up. What’s this Master Hand y’all mentionin’?”

“It say on tin, meh. Giant flying handypon that show up and ruin Tora day right before biggy boss fight. Friend Band know when he see it,” Tora assured him.

With that matter definitively settled, the team could move on. Without even the faint light filtering through ice that illuminated Typhon’s cavern, the catacombs wallowed in Stygian blackness, and was it ever cold. The heat of torches, similar devices, and even a Fire-attuned Poppi barely radiated at all. Even back on the ice bridge, Sectonia’s fire antlion didn’t cast enough heat to be in jeopardy of melting the ice, and it was even worse here. Shadows cast by fickle firelight took on startling and fleeting forms, which went a step beyond the product of jumpiness when [url=https://i.imgur.com/ZWTOO2t.png]Draugr[/url] rose from their resting places to shamble around, attacking anything with a pulse that dared traipse through their dominion. The first one fell on Tora before he even realized what was happening, but a panicked flailing knocked the undead warrior back before its blade could bite into his flesh. From there a sound pummeling from Tora’s Mech Arms took the thing apart, but even in broken pieces the Draugr’s attack continued unabated. Only a spray of fire from Poppi reduced it to ash for good, and after that, the heroes tread that much more lightly. Paranoia was one thing, but when enemies were actually lurking in every shadow one had a good reason to be cautious.

Dead Nords weren’t all that awaited the heroes on their trail through the catacomb caves, either. Here and there they found bone-white [url=https://i.imgur.com/9TMLMgW.png]warriors of ice[/url] marching through the halls on silent patrol, icicle spears at the ready. Rather than blindly rush the intruders like the Draugr, the Chilfos struck from a distance with the advantage of range, throwing their javelins to reach targets that the thrust of their polearms could not. The cramped confines of stone passageways not only limited how many Seekers could act at once, but increased the chance of friendly fire. When the mazelike catacombs opened up in several directions, the party had to choose between splitting up in order to cover more ground and find the right way out, or stick together in one big, ponderous group. Alongside danger, however, the heroes found scattered troves of treasure, be they coins or gems stashed in funerary urns or precious keepsakes that must be pried from cold, dead hands.

Leaving the loot to his more nimble compatriots, Big Band prioritized defense. His armored Brass Knuckles proved to be an invaluable tool against the team’s lifeless enemies, allowing him to power through their attacks and strike back with hydraulic might. He still took the damage from their attacks, which had the potential to add up into a problem if he didn’t receive any medical attention, so if a cluster of enemies confronted him he opted for a different approach. A well-spaced Giant Step could knock them down so that he could swoop in without worry, or a thrown urn could break their formation from afar–and if one happened to explode in a shower of hidden treasure, so much the better. Those who didn’t crumble beneath his first strike fell victim to his combos, which he kept short but sweet with the added benefit of both walls and ceilings to slam his lightweight foes into. Some of the Draugr and Chilfos had the intelligence to block, but even if his overzealousness got him punished here and there, Band came out on top with his throws and Take the A Train.

On their own path, Tora and Poppi blazed a fine trail for anyone to follow.  The Nopon’s short stature but excellent defense meant that he could hold off the opposition while others attacked over or around him. Once the artificial blade Poppiswapped to her Alpha form for both a stronger shield and a sturdy sword, their company swept through the forsaken halls, stymied only by Tora’s insatiable desire for treasure. Without a single thought for the significance of their presence here he helped himself to over two hundred gold pieces, seven [url=https://i.imgur.com/SH3yVe4.png]rainbow gemstones[/url], and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/AmDSUHf.png]nice necklace[/url] he would have put on the moment he got it if not for his profound lack of human-sized neck. Even after totally filling his pockets he continued to loot, right up until he threw open a chest only for it to come to life and attack him. Tora’s bloodcurdling scream echoed through the catacombs until Poppi managed to kill the thing and free her Masterpon from its chompers. Though covered in bite-marks, Tora looked more horrified than seriously hurt. “That is EVIL!” he cried. “Tora never feel so betrayed in whole life! How could such terrible thing exist!?”

“Maybe it supposed to punish the greedy? Teach some sort of lesson?” Poppi ventured.

“That stupid, meh!” The Nopon crossed his wings in annoyance. “If Tora not supposed to have treasure, why it just sitting there, ripe for taking?”

Eventually, one of the teams found a way out of the labyrinthine catacombs, a broken wall that brought them back into undeveloped tunnels. They demanded calculated jumps, deft climbs, and careful descents, which were feats that numb extremities made all the more difficult. By the time that a light at the end of the tunnel appeared, Tora was tucked snugly into Poppi QT Pi’s arms, soaking up every ounce of heat that her ether furnace managed to generate. He ignored the indignity of it and fixed his gaze ahead, which allowed him to be the first to lay eyes on the [url=https://i.imgur.com/FMSfBDu.jpeg]new cavern[/url]. It wasn’t so big, and in a strange turn seemed to foster life in the form of strange fungi. “This not at all what Tora picture. Did friends take wrong turn…?”

A brief look around turned up little. These organic chemical processors emitted light, but only the faintest trace of warmth, so despite appearances this cave wasn’t all that hospitable. It did offer a straight path forward, and this time the tunnel opened up into an [url=https://i.imgur.com/80LofhW.png]immense cavern[/url], larger still than that which held Typhon in its icy grip. As best Tora could tell, it seemed like some sort of long-abandoned mining center. All the wooden scaffolding, carts, tracks, ladders, pulleys, and so forth suggested as much. In the center of the room, past the various unstable-looking bridges and such, dangled a gigantic set of pincers. Only when Tora followed its chain upward did he truly begin to grasp the place’s staggering proportions.

[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoF92TjbDbU&ab_channel=Qylex][img]https://i.imgur.com/AJtsnTm.png[/img][/url]
[i]Click for music[/i][/center]

What he assumed would be a tunnel upward through the cavern ceiling actually opened up in every direction, becoming an incredible hollow extending untold distances both vertically and horizontally. The sight of entire ships lodged in the ice hundreds of meters above blew the Nopon’s mind. “...Meeeeh,” he murmured in awe, his breath misty and warm. Even as the spectacle dazzled him, however, his mind raced to come up with a path forward.

“That must be lift oldypon mentioned!” he observed after a moment. “If friends use that, we get to top in no time! Except, it not have actual floor. It just giant crane game right now.” Tora took a few steps forward to get a better look around. “Tora not want climb giant chain. Or make Poppi climb it, for that matter. Maybe some way to make go up?”
With his hand resting in his chin, Joker had been pondering the issue. “Perhaps we could position a platform for the ‘crane’ to grab. As long as it’s secure, we could ride it like a real elevator.”

“Failin’ that, we can always hold on for dear life an’ ride it up, long as there’s a way to control it,” Band remarked.

“There one other problem.” Poppi’s optics zoomed in on a point of contact between the giant chain and one of the ice-covered ships. “It look like chain frozen to ship masts. Someone need fly up and break free. Maybe look inside ship in process?”

Necronomicon whirred, agitated. “Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re not alone in here. I’m picking up cave monsters skulking around the place. Maybe some of us should clear them out so we don’t get any nasty surprises when it’s time to use the lift.”

“Sounds like everyone has somethin’ to do.” Band gave a stiff nod of approval. “Let’s get to it before we all freeze to death.”