==========

  [Dungeon]

  Watching the adventurers wake up and set off to explore the first of the ice floors was a lot of fun and they pulled off the fight with the yeti that surprised the fire mage, with a coordination and skill that was extremely impressive to behold.

  From the teamwork of Sigurd and Jackson to the timing of the others for their ranged attacks, the yeti stood no chance. Nor it seemed did any of the others. The group didn’t encounter any of the ice phantasms, courtesy of the fire aura that the fire mage provided scaring them away. Surprisingly, the spell released a constant stream of mana that was easy to absorb, a very nice surprise for me. But the yetis were taken down with ease and each and every snow bank was attacked to make sure they were never surprised.

  It was a good thing, her spell, the fact I could get mana from it without killing them meant that although I didn’t get points from them, I was getting something. Since I doubted this group would make a mistake and die, it meant that I was not as motivated to wipe them out. The huge bonus that the mystery man and the goblins had provided had gone a long way and I was looking forwards to getting the next influx. This mana was helpful in convincing me not to try and take one of them.

  Intellectually I knew I shouldn’t, I wanted them to report back and give me more idiots to kill. But that didn’t stop the desire to crush them to a paste and absorb all that goodness. I wanted to, but I wouldn’t.

  I was glad to note how appreciative they were of my dragon, it was magnificent after all! It was nice to be appreciated. It felt…right.

  I had thought for a minute they would try and get to the heart, but they had more sense than that, the fire mage cottoning onto it.

  They moved off quickly and the rest of the floor troubled them little. Despite that, I was happy with the yetis and the rest of the floor.

  As they descended the stairs, I focused all my attention on them, I was especially excited for the first trial of the ice run. Well, the first trial not using helpless animals being pushed down. This would be fun!

  “What in the hells is this then?” the big man asked in confusion.

  “I’m confused” said the healer, Jenna.

  It was as expected, now I just had to wait to see what they would do.

  ==========

  [Jenna]

  Staring down the icy slope, Jenna couldn’t decide what to make of it, it didn’t seem like it could be here -in a dungeon. But here she was, and here it was, in front of her. Confusion was Jenna’s main emotion at the moment. Why?

  Just, why?

  What?

  She just couldn’t make heads nor tails of it; it had put her off guard and that wasn’t good.

  “Seb?” she asked, hoping he had more of a clue.

  Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone else was just as dumbfounded by it as she was.

  It would be unusual in any dungeon. Obstacle runs were not unheard of, but they consisted of jumping between platforms and narrow balance beams with swinging weapons and the like, not whatever the heck this was. If it had been man-made then she would be excited, but in a dungeon where all manner of traps, monsters and death awaited, it mostly made her scared.

  In front of her was a long slope, perhaps a good couple hundred metres long, she didn’t know and couldn’t see the end, but she could see the wall at the other end extending down and so she guessed at maybe a couple hundred metres.

  Said slope was covered in slippery ice and down the slope several long channels were carved that twisted and turned and wove all along the slope. Then, partway down, some of these channels entered tunnels, criss-crossed with others, or just abruptly ended, slamming you into walls of spikes or pitfalls, or just disappeared behind other obstacles. A sick, slippery, slope of murder.

  The ice gleamed with white light and a faint mist rose off the super cold floor, flowing over the ridges and valleys like liquid smoke, hiding some of the dangers and obscuring her vision.

  It was an intimidating floor and Jenna was worried. There was very little that good teamwork could do here and as a support class, she didn’t have the most versatile skill set to get her through it.

  But they’d figure it out. Seb was a genius and if there was anyone that could ensure they’d all be safe it would be him.

  At the other end of the room, above the course was a small room carved into the far wall, from the floor entrance she could see several large chests sat open that shimmered with gold, practically taunting her that there was a wealth of treasure there.

  But, for the life of her, she couldn’t see how you could get there, short of flying. And there was no-way they were flying anytime soon.

  So distracted by the looming treasure were they that all but one of them forgot to check their surroundings.

  Over to the left, on the starting platform, was a large wooden chest. It had wrought iron caps on the corners for strength and a brass handle inset into the lid. A relatively plain lid, except for the carved patterns adorning the surface. There was very little that stood out about the chest, except for its straightforward position and seeming lack of challenge to get to it.

  Plodding over to the chest, shield raised in defence of whatever might pop out to surprise him, Jackson paused before opening it.

  “Guys…” he called to get their attention.

  “A small hand-held pick for hacking ice.” He read off a piece of paper in his hand, whilst holding a small hatchet in the other.

  “It has a useful fire enchant that helps it dig into ice. One feels it could be useful in the future, take ONE!” he exclaimed, “how odd, it’s like the dungeon is speaking to us.”

  Saying nothing they walked over, careful not to slip or knock each other down the slope. Jenna glanced back down at the sharp ice spikes, gulping with nerves. No, that wouldn’t be good at all.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “I think that this is the most unusual dungeon that I’ve ever been to. It’s just weird.” Sebastien muttered as he took the paper and read the words to himself.

  “You’re right on, about that, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Sigurd responded, flashing a smile at her. She smiled awkwardly back. They were both right, whatever this was, it wasn’t a regular old dungeon, something was different, and it made her nervous.

  “So…I guess we use these to help navigate… all that?” She said, gesturing out over the ice run.

  “Um…” Seb said before pausing to slam the pick into the ice wall, it sunk in with ease, kicking out a small plume of powdered ice and water. He gave it a sharp tug and watched it cut through the ice slowly. “Yep, that ought to do it. I don’t like the look of that mist though, and those ice spikes look deadly, I’m not sure Jenna could heal you guys if you crash into them.”

  “No, I don’t think I could heal you lot from that” she replied looking back at the spikes again.

  “Bah, you worrywarts. Nothing is going to go wrong, it’ll be easy” Kael commented breathing some brevity into the mood. Jenna glared at him, but he didn’t notice, too busy looking over the course with excitement gleaming in his eyes.

  “It’s alright for some.” She said.

  “Yeah, easy” Jackson replied at the same time, full of sarcasm and not at all convinced by Kael’s nonchalance.

  “We’re not all lacking common sense like you seem to be Kael,” Lore replied harshly, though Jenna could tell it was meant in jest.

  “You’re just jealous of my magnificence,” he retorted picking up one of the picks and flipping it in his hand.

  “Not all of us can be as roguishly handsome, quick witted and skilled as I am.”

  “Pfffff” Jenna snorted at him.

  “Fine, fine, if you guys can’t handle this” he said gesturing up and down his body, “I’ll just leave.” Fake dismay roughing his voice.

  “Bye-bye amigos” he said, before taking a step backwards and onto the slope and beginning to slide away.

  “Kael!!!”

  She shouted out in alarm as he waved at her and descended down the slope in perfect balance whilst standing up, the man had the agility to rival a cat.

  “Woohoo, I feel alive” she heard him yell a few moments after he passed out of view.

  Later a series of sharp turns caused sprays of ice chips to fly into the air as he banked hard changing course and entering one of the tunnels, a running commentary of his prowess ringing out.

  Jenna blanked it out in worry though.

  “For fuck’s sake, does that man-child think about anything for longer than a single second.” Lore complained next to her.

  “Nope, and I think a second is being generous” Jackson commented with a chuckle.

  A few moments of appreciative silence followed before a squeal split the air. “Oohhh, yes!!!” and “Goddamn I love this dungeon.”

  She sighed, “Well I guess we’d better follow then.”

  They all sighed again, this was classic Kael, and as aggravating, silly and rash as he was, she loved him for it. Loved and hated. Of course they hated him a bit as well. It was hard not to. Who wouldn’t? She couldn’t imagine such a saint existed.

  Turning to look at the slope, she pondered how she would get down it. Gripping her pick with white knuckled hands she forced herself to relax just a smidgen.

  “Right, so… since we haven’t heard a scream of pain yet I’m going to assume that Kael’s path is at least do-able. He might have changed direction several times though so let’s keep our eyes out for that.” Sebastien said, taking charge once more.

  “KAEL! ANY ADVICE?” he yelled out.

  There was no response beyond the most vague noise from down below. It was too far.

  “Right so how should we do this? Who wants to go next or do we go as a group?” Sebastien asked.

  “I’ll vote for not me.” Said Jackson to Jenna’s amusement. The man mountain was pale with apprehension and she understood why. He was a tank, an immovable wall of muscle and steel that dished damage and kept aggro; dancing around on an icy slope was not his forte, nor something anyone else had had the displeasure of trying either, but they at least, were not so musclebound and stiff as to have a good enough chance at doing it.

  Jenna thought Jackson’s best bet might be to just bulldoze down the slope, wiping out traps and walls with his big shield and absorbing the damage like normal.

  “Well, you’ll have to do it at some point” she said, “think you can just bulldoze through them all in a straight line and I’ll heal you up afterwards?”

  “I guess, but I’m still not going next.”

  “Ok, well that’s Jackson’s plan sorted then, I suggest we go in two pairs, Lorelei and myself and Sigurd and Jenna then.” Sebastien stated.

  She nodded, thinking that was also the best bet. Lore and Seb were the next most agile of the group and had the best chance of getting through unscathed, whilst she could heal and Sigurd could hopefully take any damage needed.

  If they had to fight, she was most comfortable being next to Sigurd alone as he was more of an all-rounder; he could attack well and take damage well.

  Jackson as a tank took damage very well but didn’t attack that well. Sebastien as a primary damage dealer could dish it out but wasn’t that defensive and Lore as a fire mage was pure offence, no stopping power though as magic lacked that physical component a lot of the time and, obviously, she had no defence. Kael was sneaky but not strong in a straightforward fight. These roles were well defined for their group but the one position they had been missing was a central role that Sigurd fitted in well.

  Now they just had to figure out how to get down she thought, turning to look at the slope.

  “Thoughts?” she asked, turning to him.

  “Um, not yet, give me a moment and I might have something?” he said back.

  “No, nothing,” he said moments later.

  “Ok, well any idea which path we should take?” she asked.

  “Well, we know that one is safe enough” he pointed at the one Kael had used.

  “Or at least it’s not immediately deadly” she added.

  “We decided on that one then?”

  “Yeah, I guess so, you want to go first, and I’ll follow or…”

  “Okay”

  “Thanks”

  “Just follow me down and send healing out I suppose.”

  “Got ya” she said giving him a thumbs up.

  In a penguin waddle, Sigurd walked over to the edge, staring down the slope, Jenna followed. Kael’s chosen path went straight for about 20 metres, before twisting off to the left and banking hard, disappearing behind a big spike wall that blocked off one of the other paths. After that point she thought it emerged from the left of the wall before banking right and disappearing once again down into a dip. But she wasn’t sure.

  Sigurd seemed to think the same, “Let’s get a better angle, see if we can see what’s behind that wall?” he said pointing to the spike wall.

  They waddled back and forth along the top for a minute trying to get a better point of view but still weren’t sure.

  Settling in at the edge they counted down.

  “Three”

  “Two”

  “One”

  “Go!” and they jumped down, Sigurd in front, Jenna holding onto the straps of his armour.

  Closing her eyes seemed like a good decision and as soon as they shut, it was only a few big jolts and swinging turns, followed by the crash of ice and a really big jolt and a spray of icy water that forced her eyes to snap open as they stopped moving on a platform, hidden further along the path.

  Step one done.

  Climbing to her feet, she wobbled briefly as she stood, managing to find her balance after a moment.

  Looking around the platform she saw Sigurd and tottered a few steps to give him a hand getting to his feet also.

  “You guys good?” a voice called from above.

  “Yep, we’ve stopped on a platform, you three should join us and we can figure out the next step together” she shouted back up.

  “Got it, Jacksons coming down now!” Sebastien replied.

  “Um, Jenna, do you think Jackson will stop before sliding off the edge?” Sigurd asked.

  She turned looking at where they had stopped - about four feet from the edge – and winced. “Let’s help him stop then, grab the axe and use it as a pick to stop us moving?” she commanded.

  By the time Jackson emerged from the slide, they had sunk their axes into the ground to use as chocks for their feet and braced for impact.

  And what an impact it was, but they managed to stop him from sliding off, so Jenna was pleased at her quick thinking.

  Soon after, Sebastien and Lorelei joined the group on the platform. “What’s next then?” Jackson inquired. Looking to her.

  “Don’t ask me, I’d just found my feet when we realised we needed to stop you sliding off the edge, ya great big lump. Had to work on stopping you, rather than scoping out the next step.”

  “Well, I’m very grateful my lady.”

  “Good, that’s a better,” she said, imperiously, a cheeky smile on her face.

  They edged out to the edge of the platform, looking down the slope at the next section. She could see the easiest to reach path ended in a drop onto ice spikes. and so that one would have to be avoided, further over one and the path disappeared off into the ice, tunnelling down and crossing under the other routes. She wasn’t she where it ended up but that was also unknown.

  The one after that came from above, presumably the top and went straight past the platform they were on, before it terminated on another platform, although there was a spike wall at the far end. She thought that if you had come from the top, you wouldn’t be able to stop in time but perhaps if they could cross over the other two paths and get to it, they would stop in time.

  It looked about as steep and far as the path they had already taken and so they should stop before the spikes. If they used their axes to get across, well, she thought it was doable.

  Voicing her theory to the group, the others seemed to agree, and couldn’t find a better option. The question was who should go first.

  Jackson, they decided. He was the toughest and if he crashed into the spike wall, she would be coming down soon after to heal and extract him. And if she over-slid, she would only crash into his body, saving herself and then letting her heal him.

  She felt bad, but the man was a tank and that was quite literally his job in normal fights.

  Together, the group helped lower the man off the platform and onto the closest path where he dug two axes into the ice. Shuffling over again they handed their axes over to him where he shoved them deep into the ice in the second path to make a rung like ladder to help them climb across.

  Sigurd lowered her down, and she worked along, beside Jackson to get across the path and onto the third one.

  “Doing good Jackson; ready?”

  “Nope”

  “Gotta do it”

  “Yep” he said releasing and sliding down the slope.

  “Weeeeeeee!” she heard him yell or scream. She wasn’t sure which one.

  Hearing no slamming crash, she shuffled over once more, and she too let go.

  Gravity took hold quickly and she began to slide, feeling the soft undulations in the ice massaging her back as she slid, feet first.

  First to the left, then right and back left again, the slide banked before depositing her out onto the platform.

  “You good buddy?” she asked.

  “Yep, nearly hit the wall but not quite.”

  “Good, that’s good” she said groaning as she sat up and began to get to her feet.

  “Weeeeeeee!” came the next voice, she turned hearing the ominous sound of Sigurd sliding down behind her.

  “Look out!!” he called, but it was too late.

  She just managed to glimpse her impending doom come sliding towards her before the small man clattered into her.

  “Eeep” she squealed. Oh no.