A fleshy pop echoed as the tentacles slapped onto Cutlrey's wrists. The slime flash froze to her skin. Instinctually, Cutlery yanked her arms back. Half the skin on her hands tore off. Though she was free. The wash of pain she was expecting was smashed into her subconscious. Adrenaline and as well as whatever the sliver did pumped into her veins. The tentacles writhed with her loose skin still attached.
She kicked the chest and it snapped off the floors ice. With a crack it bounced off the wall. She held back a groan. Sweet numbness took off the small edge of pain that had crept through her defenses. She would get healed later anyways. Her whole body was going numb at this point. Pushing on the chest Cutlery tried to stand. Her feet slid about under her. She danced the chest back towards the door.
She got a good look at the situation. A growing pile of meat surrounded her ally's. Blood, ice, and squishy chunks caused them to slip constantly. Haze was fine, but Gill was missing his shield, she thought she saw it waving in the air. Fish had half his hair and Asims left leg was backward. Nice, going great.
Haze saw her and started backing out of the room. Cutlery shoved on the chest and flopped on top. She slide through the gore like duck landing on a pond. The others stopped fight and simply ran out of the space. The tentacles reached for their trailing hair and clothes. Haze slammed into one door. Once again the tentacles started pushed against the door. They slid off it. The pure number of them slapping it caused it to shake and Haze groaned with effort.
Gill turned and shoved into the other door. The doors shut with a loud thoom. Panting breaths filled the cavern. Everyone looked like shit for unique and horrible reasons.
"Move," Haze commanded. He shoved the chest with his foot. Cutlery went sliding towards the stairs. If it weren't for the sliver's pain dulling, that would be the most horrible command he could have given. Asim seemed like she was on the brink of fainting. Gill held one of her arms up and they hopped behind Haze. Cutlery had an idea.
A second later Fish was shoving a grimly smiling Asim on the chest while Cutlery ran, her teeth chattering. They managed to get Asim up the slopes on either side of the stairs by some miracle. They reached the huge tunnel once more.
Looking up, no army of heretics greeted them. Haze glanced at the other doorways and then up the tunnel. His gears turned inside his head.
"We'll try the tunnels." Haze announced. Asim let out a sigh of relief but Fish clicked his tongue.
"I don't like it either," Haze said. No further argument was given.
-
They slid Asim to the far end of the pit. Gill and Haze still spearheaded the scouting. Cutlery was in charge of watching the rear. A small creak of sound from within the hallway ahead of them. Everyone jumped to the sides of the doorway. Cutlery peaked around the corner.
One doorway on the left side of the hall swung inward. A figure in a blue robe stepped out, stretching. They had a lean figure. A small book was strapped to their hip. From what Cutlery could see they had an messy beard and pale skin.
The lean individual finished stretching. A finger lightly tapped their book and they peeked inside its pages. After murmuring something a small sled-like shape formed out of the glacial floor. They stepped onto it and turned towards them. Cutlery jerked her head back.
A skidding noise could be heard and the figure rocketed past them. Fish stuck out one of his hooked swords and caught them by the neck as they went by. Their ice board went out from under them. Their legs swung upward in a comical way. As they swung Haze grabbed at their book. Haze's hands got drenched. The figure melted into water and reformed a few dozen feet away in an instant. They coughed and rubbed their throat. A trained fighter. This could be the ice mage.
Asim brought up her hands and Gill began to glow as he moved in front. Cutlery tossed two throwing daggers at the mage and dived behind Gill. A second later particles of ice sprayed onto her. Gill shook as several spikes of ice shattered against his heavy armor. Asims spells flickered but held.
Fish and Haze sprinted at the Mage. In response the mage slammed their palms down and yelled.
"Begone slaves of the Tower! Thraktur!" They yelled. The last word echoed with odd reveberation. Two huge pits opened under the two men running at him. Haze performed magnificent splits and caught the edges of his pit with his heels. Fish fell out of sight as his hooks slid off the edge of the hole.
Cutlery threw two more daggers. One of her earlier ones had hit, it was joined by another. Red blood stained his blue robes. A golden shield formed above Cutlery and another mist of ice fell around her. Looking up a small cloud was already disspating. She hadn't even seen it coming.
Haze broke his stretch and started running again. The mage rushed backward as Cutlery made it ahead of Haze and caught the mage. She slid out her rapier and barraged him. He brought up his hands and water spewed from them around her blade. He twisted his palms as the water froze around her weapon. He yanked it out of her hands.
He grinned widely. Then his head tilted to an impossible angle. It flew off his body towards the far wall. For no reason. Then Cutlery saw floating blood in the shape of a giant sword that traced back to Haze. His invisible blade had beheaded the man in one swoop. What a scary tool.
-
The blade slowly turned the red liquid on it to nothing. The bloody outline had briefly revealed the hidden blade to be a massive greatsword. He was one handing a blade that must be at least five feet long and over fifteen pounds. Sliver weapons were insane.
The ice mage's head skidded across the ice with a smirk still on it. A trail of blood led between it and Haze.
"Hmm, must have taken him a lifetime to make this place if that was all he could do," Haze said. He slid his unseen blade back into its sheath.
"It seems easier to fight from the chest," Asim said from the other side of the room. "This chest does seem to slide around on its own sometimes," Asim noted while looking down at the chest. Even from the middle of the pit, Cutlery could see it moving. It was sliding slowly toward the rooms the ice mage had come out of. Cutlery squinted into the hallway. She saw some movement.
A hand peeking out of a doorway only a foot off the ground. It was making a 'come here' motion toward the chest. Each time it completed a finger wag the chest slid closer. Asim was already six feet from where she had started the fight. She was inside the doorway.
"There's someone in there." Cutlery whispered to Haze and pointed. Haze turned from his handiwork and squinted. The hand seemed to realize the jig was up. It clenched at an invisible force and yanked. Asim lurched into the hallway. She reactively grabbed onto the chest and as she rocketed away.
Everyone ran. Before they reached the doorway the hand flipped them off. The doorway froze. From thin air ice appeared. A semi-transparent blockade formed. It grew more opaque by the second.
Gill pushed off for a ram. His shoulder collided with the ice. It cracked and bent slightly. Haze smashed right through it a second later. Once inside they found Asim.
She was crucified on four huge icles coming from the floor.
A small figure stood in front of her. They were half Cutlery's height. Blue robes marked by a huge white tidal wave on their back adorned the tiny figure. They turned to face them. Their face was an extremely pale soft featured gnome of some kind. Their eyes were completely white. Then they raised their hands and the floor started moving towards the ceiling.
"There's that ice mage," Haze said with a grin. He sheathed his huge sword and rushed ahead.
