"Now, Elof, strike!"

A somewhat rested if still weakened Jack couldn't hold back the surge of anticipation he felt, mixed as it was with excitement and dread. Gazing at the enlarged singular hole in the wall before him, glowing faintly with bloodrunes that made their bullwark neigh unbreachable, but the way the hideous abomination of bear, serpent and, living hate roared and squirmed to force itself through, snapping it's hideous distended jaws at them as it's awful hooking claws tore through the air was a chilling sight to see. Especially when they pounded into the floor with such force that Jack knew it would have torn open a steel covered knight as easily as Jack could a tin of sardines, though the fearsome claws failed to do more than leave the faintest of scratches, the floor and walls equally reinforced with Jack's bloodrunes, and the cost he had paid had been just the tiniest bit of his potency, his life force, his potential to level up... the equivalent experience point drain being only in the dozens to secure their tiny 15 by 30 foot sanctuary still thick with darkness they could now all pierce with the ease of perks gained or spells known, for all that the lightless nightmare they had been stuck in for countless days as hideous abominations roared for their death had definitely taken a tole on their psyches. Yet now, finally, they could fight back.

"It's ready!" Jack whispered with a mixture of pride and exhaustion, his experiences drawing in the liquid potency of mithril making his soul that much more attuned to drawing the tiniest filaments of liquid darkness all around them, saturating them, drawing in that potency hour after hour until finally it was complete, a second wall well over a foot thick had slowly formed like flowing molasses a short distance back from the hideous abominations even now doing all they could to power through Jack's Resilience-boosted barrier with the single enlarged murder hole that, much to their horror, at least one of the four Shadow Bears was well on its way to squeezing through.

And if it actually managed to succeed, one 16th level abomination against a handful of mortals pushed to their limits, still in the single digits, and Jack with no level at all... he shuddered at the thought, mentally sending a command to Ariel, his air spirit familiar, to prepare for what he feared might cook them all alive.

"Now, Elof! Strike Now!" snapped a now panicked sounding Ah Lam, the smallest member of their party, for all that she, like her sisters, possessed the physiques of olympian gymnasts and flawless features all but glowing with health that granted them all a beauty no less striking for the sweat, dirt, and terror that covered all their faces, though now Ah Lam's glorious features were set in a fierce glare of disapproval that instantly struck at the heart of the boy she had allowed to share her bed and her heart.

It was a look that any boy instantly knew met trouble, and it said something about how effectively Su Li wielded his weapon by the way Elof's mindless terror before the abomination roaring and tearing free of the hole Jack really should have made tighter turned to sudden resolve as Elof finally brought to bear the feat he had ranked up thrice in these last perilous days, the head of his naginata flashing with a brilliant crystalline light as he windmilled his polearm forward and dared to strike the hideous abomination that was well over twice his level.

"Cleave!" Elof shouted, the most amateur of moves for any adventurer, to roar out their feats as they unleashed them. Because it did help to bring focus and that extra tiny 10% edge could mean life or death until true mastery was achieved.

Minimum mastery for anyone insane enough to dare these depths, and the fact that Elof still needed to say the words aloud spoke to how utterly out of their league they were, daring deeps no one under level 16 should embrace.

Truths all of them instinctively knew, no one more so than Elof, who's expression was an odd mixture of terrified resolve, knowing he risked instant death when his weapon bounced out of his hands and the monster would surely retaliate when it's own distraction turned to furious retribution against the mortal who really was to close to those hideous disemboweling scyth-like claws...

And no one was more surprised than Elof when his Soul-Bound artifact, scintillating with flashes of liquid darkness fracturing to light and dream against the impossibly sharp edge of his blade... cut through not only the abomination's wildly flailing claw, but blasted completely through its skull as well.

Washing the room in a shower of hot caustic blood that Jack's air elemental quickly swirled away as the creature's massive limb and snapping maw continued to twitch on the rune covered stone floor, Jack embracing his own madness, racing forward to take desperate advantage of that moment of shock to unleash the second part of their trap, praying he would get it off in the hot second the creature's spurting body toppled back, knowing that if he didn't time things perfectly... his friends would fry or he would be ripped open by the same hideous claw that had come so close to disemboweling a panic frozen Elof... before he showed their entire awed group just how hideously effective a monofilament edged frictionless blade could be.

"Ignis Ventus Sanguis!" Jack desperately screamed, forcing himself forward , his clenched, crimson-armor covered fist that he used to focus his spell pushed right at the lip of that too wide hole that even now not one but two Midnight Bears were tearing free their still spurting brother from to lash out with their own fearsome claws in the blink of an eye...

Before being pushed back by a roaring maelstrom of liquid flame.

A plasma jet blazing forth like the corona of the sun.

You have struck 2 Midnight Bears with Windfire for Catastrophic Damage! Bloodflame Perk and enhanced Willpower pierces inherent Arcane Resistances of all your targets!

2 Peripheral Targets have additionally suffered critical damage!

Greater Elemental Familiar fails to fully counter backdraft!

Your allies have suffered Light Wounds from superheated air!

Artisanal Manipulation skillcheck success!

You have sealed up Murder Hole!

Present Heat in Safe Zone now exceeds 200f.

Greater Air Familiar is reducing heat 5f per second.

Jack roared with the howls of his foes, face twisting in a furious rictus of satisfaction as all the exhuastion, dread, and growing weight of hopeless despair was transformed to hot, furious vindication as all his pent of fury blazed with a fiery heat worthy of the stars above.

He could only maintain his deadly stream for a handful of seconds, but that was more than enough to utterly obliterate the two caught directly in his stream of hellfire, the other two trapped in the sealed off chamber taking a few seconds longer to die, and all Jack felt was furious exhilaration at as their howls of mad hate turned to terror and pain for perhaps the first and most definitely last time in their soon to be extinguished lives.

Only peripherally did he notice the heat roaring back in his face, despite the best efforts of his familiar and the powerful forward gust of his own spell, a blazing communion of the essence of Air, Fire, and Blood, his Masterwork Equivalent Tier 3 spell doing to his foes what they had so longed to do to him. And he was more than willing to pay for the right with a bit of his own scorched skin, his artifact and growing elemental affinity, thanks in part to his growing mastery of spells just like this one, being all he needed to endure.

But not so his friends, he realized only after a handful of furious hot seconds, their cries of alarm and hisses of pain finally jolting him out of his unexpected homicidal fury, so badly did he want his foes to burn for all they had done to him and his.

Only to find that it was he, not the already frying remnants of his foes, that could spell the doom of the people he had fought and bled beside for countless weeks and months.

"Jack! What the hell are you doing?" Aroust's panicked, furious voice blazed through their party interface.

"Jack, please stop!" Chu Hua's desperate cry.

And the alarmed cries of his friends instantly dampened his killing rage.

"Formo!" He choked out, his own voice dry an ragged as the whole instantly sealed itself, Jack now dizzy with the furious surge of potency gained from 5 kills, for of them directly by his own hand, such a change from being so utterly depleted his own soul had paid the balance for the artifact he had dared to forge.

An artifact that had allowed their greenest and arguably weakest party member to decapitate a Shadow Bear that had been positioned by it's mad frenzy in just the right spot to do so.

A friend who was suffering even now for Jack's own beserker fury, so like the monsters he was so hungry to kill.

"Ariel! Cooling wind! Maximum!" Empty words, Jack knew, as his familiar was already doing that, but it was all he could do or say to show that he was trying to make things right.

Yet even stopping as abruptly as he had, cooling the surroundings as best he could, the interface made it damn clear it was well over 200f in their little oven.

Jack's thoughts reeled with desperation as he caught the panicked, gazes of his friends, most holding their breath, several in clear pain from having inhaled the super hot air.

He had to do more. There had to more that he could do!

Of course there was.

"Aqua Effusorim Majoris!"

"Glacio Effusorium!"

And within seconds Jack was pouring forth cool water on the walls, ceiling and floor, before blasting the stone at his feet with shards of ice, until they were all in six inches of chilly ice water in very short order.

"Ariel! Whip the ice water into the air! Freezing mist powers, activate!"

Jack wanted to cry with relief when the blazing hot air was soon the temperature and humidity of a muggy summer's day, water both warm and ice cold splashing over them, his party members either crying with relief, hooting with victory, or glaring at him angrily.

"That was too damn close, Jack! You could have killed us all!"

Jack winced, bowing his head in shame before a glaring Aroust and the wheezing girl he was holding, Ah Lam, the oldest of the three sisters who had clearly taken an interest in Aroust, now holding the wheezing girl chuckling softly in his arms, her warm hazel eyes gazing so fondly into Aroust's arm.

An arm Jack gently claimed, placing his healing amulet on it, even as he whispered the words to the one spell healing spell he now knew well he could heal internal injuries and poisoned organs as well as he could the blood loss and flesh wounds most combat oriented healing spells were known for. Though he could do nothing for lost memories or crashing neuromatrixes, injuries which, miraculously, the three temple warrior maidens they had rescued, Paladins of a different sort, Jack now thought, had been able to do just that when Barlton's skull had be cracked, brain damaged by a particularly perilous encounter. An injury they healed in ways Jack couldn't hope to, for all that their healing hands uses per day were limited, needing a good hour's meditation or longer to recharge that which took only seconds for Jack's mana pool to recover, at least hear where the potent thick essence of chaos, creation, and magic was so perilously thick.

"Sana Injurium," Jack whispered, taking a deep relieved breath when Ah Lam's breathing quickly began to ease, Jack's ears now picking up Veti muttering the words to that exact same spell that Jack had taught her, she assigned to level up her skill by treating all less severe injuries, Jack treating the lungs after superficial reddened skin had been healed, all of them agreeing to save the Dawn Warrior's Healing Hands skill for when it was truly needed.

And with Ah Lam's continued easy breaths and relieved smile, the ordeal was finally over.

"Thank you, Jack," she said softly, fingers gently brushing his cheek before turning her gaze to Aroust, gazing down at her with the helpless look of a man drowning in perilous waters of the heart he had thought sworn off for good. "It's alright, Aroust. Jack did what needed doing. He always does. And now we know better what to prepare for."

Aroust glowered for a long moment, before flashing a bleak smile. "That he does," he said, giving Jack the tiniest of nods. "Still, a little warning wouldn't have been amiss, Jack."

Jack nodded in whole hearted agreement. "You're right, Aroust. I was just so boiling over with anger at those bastards, and yes, smarting at the cost I paid forging our latest prize that, well, I wanted my pound of flesh from those bastards. So they know there's a price for crossing our band, and they will pay it in fire and blood."

Ah Lam gave a fierce approving smile. "Well said, Jack." She then gazed at Chu Hua flashing her a grin that made Jack's ears burn. "You chose well with this one, sister."

Then Jack felt a soft hand caress his neck, before warm lips claimed his own, Jack's heart skipping a beat as he was lost in Chu Hua's warm amber gaze as she stepped back, favoring Jack's flushing countenance with a secret smile all her own. "I did indeed." Her heartstoppingly beautiful features, no less striking and precious for the growing power and poise she now claimed as her own, gave the gentlest of reproving frowns. "Though best we work on our tactics just a bit, Jack, before daring that bit of madness yet again."

Jack swallowed the lump in his throat, jerkin a nod. "My plan is to flood the floor with ice water before we do a repeat of this. Then Ariel will have a nice icy sleet storm to super cool us while my Windfire spell does its thing."

Aroust, still frowning, gave a slow nod. "That might work, much as we'd get sick as the dickens with the surges of heat and the cold fucking water even now freezing my ass and feet, if we were still mortals, I mean. But why are you going for the long blaze when a couple dissolution orbs and a single blast of those super hot flames would keep them burning long and hot and dissolve what's left?"

Jack flashed a bleak smile. "Simple," he said, turning his gaze to the ebony dark claw and twisted double hinged skull, jaw locked in a too wide bite, floated by their feet in the 6 inches of now chilly water on the floor of their sanctuary. "We need food, and dissolution orb leaves nothing left but inedible slime, especially after its set ablaze like the ultimate accelerant."

He flashed a bemused smile when Aroust did a double take, looking ready to gag.

"Really? After the phase spider meat we all agreed tastes just like friend chicken?"

Aroust snorted. "I never said that."

"Well I did. Because bottom line, we're running out of rations."

Chu Hua chuckled softly, her husky voice sending shivers down Jack's spine, even as his cheeks flushed under her warm regard. "We have weeks worth of rations, my Jack. For all my clan's flaws... preparatory planning has never been one of them."

Jack flashed the girl he was desperate to hold tight in his arms, no matter the sharp edge of guilt he felt for the one he had left behind, a tight smile. Because here was a girl who danced between life and death at his side for constant days that were blending into weeks, and the beautiful angel of storms he had met and savored so hungrily, so briefly, was literally a world away.

A girl he hadn't seen for he couldn't even fathom how many months, who's face was even now a blurry half-memory. A girl who herself had emphasized that their relationship was free of strings... and perhaps her sadly smiling eyes had understood what it meant to be a Delver far better than he.

But still... the cloying mixture of shame, desire and hunger he felt right then was almost too much to bear. And the bemused, oddly sympathetic smile Aroust flashed him made it painfully clear his friend, far more experienced than he, understood exactly what he was going through.

"But here's the thing, Chu Hua," Jack said after a few ragged breaths. "We're not hiking down a mountain range, or mapping out a new dungeon. Not at the rate any sane adventurer dares."

He caught her gaze with his own, gently squeezing her hand. "We're turtling up every 30 feet, slowly eeking out our own safe zone, one square hex a time, with enemies in front and behind us. Were it not for the fact that we seem to live on the shadowy mana infusing the air as much as oxygen, did Veti an I not have access to unlimited fresh air and elemental water just in case..." Because of course that was another pair of spells he had made damned sure to teach Veti, no matter how much she was specializing in banes at the moment, because the entire party depended on water, healing, and at least partly, even here in the deeps, clean air.

Jack slowly shook his head. "We'd be long dead."

Chu Hua's delicate brows widened at those words. "Jack, what exactly are you saying?"

"He's sayin' we could be stuck here fer months, lass," Said Barlton, one of his massive arms now wrapped protectively around an exhausted Veti, nuzzled and dozing by his side, the pair no longer bothering to hide their own relationship, such was the trust of their band, and the depth and length of the trials they had endured. The dwarf's gaze hardened at the sisters' disbelieving gazes.

"Months?" said Ah Lam.

And it was the man she had claimed that nodded. "Yes, Ah Lam. Months. For months the six of us have already been trapped in the deeps, mining prizes that our Jack-of-All-Trades has been forging in to tools just barely strong enough to assure our own lives here, in what I'm all but certain truly is an orange tier dungeon.

But Ah Lam and Chu Hua exchanged a long poignant glance of sisters who could communicate without saying a word at all.

"Month," both softly said, all of them shivering in the dark, feet and legs now drenched by icy cold water. Jack could all but sense how dark a turn their moods were about to take, before all of them were suddenly reminded about just how sweet the wages of peril could truly be.

"Wohoo! I did it! I killed that bastard!"

"That ya did, me boy!" said a cheerful enough sounding Barlton.

"And I did it! I earned another level!"

The rest exchanged glances, more than a few now holding back smiles.

"I'm on the cusp as well, sister," said Ah Lam.

Chu Hua nodded, delicate hands still holding Jack's. "As am I. Had we ourselves been directly involved with the kill..."

Aroust nodded, now flashing Jack a bemused smile. "I think most of us are on the cusp of a level-up. And how many are you directly responsible for killing in your fire trap, Jack?" He chuckled softly. "And still not having a class. I'd say it's a waste but..." he pointedly gazed at the chests of the girls, and all of him knew he met the silvery mithril tattoos Jack had forged upon their souls, just like he had the backs of their original party.

"It's clear as the day I fear we'll never see again that you've tapped into abilities that transcend mere class. Still, I'd feel a damn sight better about the prospects of your continued survival, which also means our continued survival, if I knew you were leveling up like the rest of us."

But Jack was no longer listening. With the madness of battle and the near peril he had put his friends through finally abated, his mind was entirely focused upon the furious storm of Air, Fire, and Crimson potential flooding his psyche... and the messages flashing across his mind's eye.

Excess Potency has been fully converted to spell potential.

Congratulations! Windfire is now Adept Rank 1! You may choose between the Perks of Mana Efficiency, Fast Casting, Advanced Manipulation, or Spell Evolution!

Words that flowed across Jack's mind as he felt himself swim in those seas of superheated plasma, as much the spell channeled through the caster as he was the man learning to master his gifts. He could so easily imagine his increasing mastery making his spell usage ever more efficient, the mana transformed to superheated plasma so efficiently as to allow him endless seconds of obliterative heat.

Yet he already knew the peril of constant unlimited plasma blazing into a confined area, even with a greater air elemental now forged to his soul in the form of a familiar somehow dancing in currents of fire and air beside him. And Spell Evolution... as glorious as the thought of casting mighty 4th tier spells, imagining the incredible destructive potential of a dragon-like cone of fire well able to destroy half a city block, he was sure, he already knew that the peril this would put on his friends in a confined area would be beyond even his familiar's ability to counter.

And here were as where the idea of Advanced Manipulation, being able to direct the shape of his cone, to narrow or widen it, no doubt with increasing benefits as his skill improved, held particular appeal. It was definitely a path of mastery he intended to take.

But not today.

For nothing brought home just how perilous their circumstances truly were, how close to the razors edge they constantly danced with massive nightmare ursine horrors that moved near as fast as scorpions, their scythe claws having effortlessly torn through their armor, before Jack had made sure they all, without exception, wore armaments entirely covered by near indestructible blood mithril, no matter how steep a price they had paid. And even with that protection, a direct strike would instantly shatter limbs or rupture organs.

Reflexes and a quick reaction time were everything down here.

And having to juggle and perfectly time the endless seconds he was taking casting a Tier 3 spell was perilous indeed.

Had he been even half a second longer...

He shuddered at what would have happened if a second Shadow Bear had burst through the opening after tearing away the first bear's corpse... how easily it could have chomped Jack's arm clean off.

Disciplined speed and efficiency executed by well-trained troops, Jack was forced to admit, trumped a budding prodigy's raw power 9 times out of 10.

But nothing was better than having both.

Fast-Casting perk Chosen! You may now cast your Tier 3 Windfire spell (4 seconds basic casting time) as fast as your Firestream spell! Constant consistent practice well help reduce this casting time even further!

Jack blinked, feeling a delicious shiver tingle down his spine as those words echoed through his skull, even as his mind shuddered with sudden ephemeral insights, appreciating more than ever before just how related those two spells were.

Yet his inner gamer couldn't help wonder... if he managed to somehow, whether through diligent practice or an earned perk, to transform his Firestream spell into an instant cast ability...

Jack gazed for long moments at his friend, Aroust's gaze an odd mixture of exasperation, admiration, and concern.

He furrowed his brow, now feeling the weight of Jack's gaze. "Jack?"

Jack grinned. "How'd you like a Soul-bound Dread Glave, Aroust?"

His friend blinked, customary cynical expression morphing into a look of eager surprise. "Truly? Jack... I'd be lying if I didn't admit how hungry I am to not have my underpowerd weapon constantly sliding off those bastard's hides, making a mockery of all my perks and feats... to finally make those fuckers bleed!"

His fierce look of hunger instantly cooled to one of concern, his worry mirrored by Ah Lam and Chu Hua both. "But Jack, we're not blind. We could all tell that you had paid a price in forging Elof's masterwork."

Chu Hua squeezed his shoulders. "Please, Jack. Be careful, alright?"

Jack chuckled ruefully. "Believe me. No one feels the lost of those ten HP more than me, stuck on level zero."

"Exactly! Ah Lam hissed. "You're too fragile, too much of a glass spear as it stands! You dare not make yourself any weaker than you already are!"

Chu Hua nodded. "We need you too much for that."

Jack bowed his head. "I agree completely." His gaze hardened. "Aroust? Do you have a spare glaive you would dare give me?"

His friend gazed at him for long moments, before solemnly pulling out a prize from his storage.

Jack frowned as he held the obviously well-used but well cared-for glaive his friend solemnly placed in his hand. Before smiling in sudden approval, sensing the quality of the mundane steel, how well balanced the polearm was, the wooden shaft well polished with years of sweat, blood, and use, now as much a part of the haft as the wood itself.

Which was good.

It would make the forging easier, linked as it already was to Aroust's soul.

Jack flashed his dwarven friend a rueful smile. "Ready to make another edge sharp enough to cut through blind fate and death itself?"

Barlton flashed a fearsome grin. "You know it, friend Jack!"

And taking time only to drain the chamber with a hole placed as a drainage outlet against the far wall, flowing out at the feet of the Shadow Bears still screatching for blood on that side of their shelter, Jack took a deep breath, and once more forced himself past all anxiety and fear, facing his own anxiety head on as he first reinforced the steel core of the blade with runes of Permanence and Resilience after Barlton sharpened the weapon to an impossibly fine edge, only then plunging the potency of his soul into yet another forging of mithril, blood, and dream.

Congratulations! You have successfully fused the Mithril components of your weapon into a perfectly bound molecular whole! You have successfully synergized the runes of Resilience, Resonance and Dream once more!

Saving Throw made!

You have once more compelled the forces of living Nightmare to bend to your will!

Monofilament edge now resonates between multiple dimensional states! This Soulbound artifact is capable of cleaving through the links between reality and dream!

Dread Glaive successfully forged in Tier 4 Depths. Skill check needed to manifest in less Mana-dense tiers!

And it said something that no one said a word as Jack stumbled to his feet, holding the shaft of the glaive that had been transformed from plain wood to a weapon somehow both ephemeral and so real it could cut through reality itself, flashing Aroust an exhausted smile as he solemnly handed his friend back his weapon.

And how odd it was how no one said a word, just gazed at Jack with wide, silent eyes, Aroust's arms trembling even more than Jacks, his eyes filled with tears.

"Heaven's mercy, boy, this is a masterwork!" Aroust whispered, gazing at the edge that sparkled, flickered and flashed, as if the edge was somehow cutting through the darkness itself, motes exploding into brilliant light and magic both.

Veti trembled, shaking her head, wide haunted eyes gazing so intently upon Jack's own. "And with all the books I've read, all the living dreams I tasted in Etherium, embracing the stories of scores of wizard's lives... never have I read a single treatise allowing for what you have forged. Wands capable of unleashing phantasms and nightmares? Oh yes. Rods of flame as well. But never have I ever tasted memories anything like what you dare, Jack."

Veti gave a strained chuckled. "By all accounts, what you have done transcends mere improbability. It flies in the face of every theorem, every treatise..."

"Which just tells you how wrong they were," said an admiring Drake, gazing with pride at his friend. "Or how vast the world truly is, with more secrets and wonders than even the wizards at the Academy can truly fathom."

Barlton was gazing at Jack with eyes twinkling merrily, his face filled with a father's pride. "Never would I have thought ta see a master craftsmen with such skills. The elders o me clan would be weepin' with envy, did they know what you could do, Jack."

Yet Chu Hua's voice touched Jack most of all, filled not with admiration, but simple concern. "Are you alright, Jack?"

Jack dipped his head. "I am." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "The forging cost me 950 potency points. But it didn't touch my baseline resilience at all." He flashed a grim smile at his friend's looks of horror. "I can now forge Dread Weapons without penalty, so long as I'm willing to pay the price."

"No penalty? Jack, that's practically a level right there! At least your first level," said Drake.

Elof nodded, looking strangely shamed. "Jack, what you're doing... the artifacts you made for us... I had no idea it was costing you levels."

Jack snorted. "What penalty? I can't level up, remember? All that experience would go to waste or, hell, I don't know... tear me apart. Since there's only so much I can push into spells." His gaze turned intent. "And thank you all for allowing me to shoot off my spells in all our encounters... being able to channel my magics at least gives the potency an outlet whenever we make a kill. I do hope you'll continue allowing me to get off at least a spell or two before making our kills... however things turn out in the future."

Words that instantly earned Jack a cohort of nods.

"But you might need a more group-friendly spell than that fire blast, Jack," Veti noted with a bemused smile. "You do know more than a couple Banes, after all."

Jack grinned. "I do, thanks to you. And I'm happy to say, we no longer need a 4 second window for me to cost Windfire. So when it comes to traps like the one we just unleashed on those bastards? We have more room for error, and don't worry. I'll be keeping our feet in a nice ice water bath before we dare that again."

Those words were received by relieved chuckles, though Veti was gazing at Jack in wide-eyed disbelief, and Su Li and Ah Lam were gazing at their chosen beaus with alarm, exchanging a quick glance before speaking as one.

"Jack, are you an idiot?"

Jack blinked at those words, even as Veti said, "Jack, you better not tell me you've actually gone and... oh you did, didn't you! You actually got Windfire to Adept Rank? It's a Tier 3 spell, and you're level zero!"

But Jack's eyes were on Ah Lam, "I'm sorry, why am I an idiot?"

"Because you just gave my Aroust a Vorpal Weapon... and you're proposing he use it on a floor slicked with ice water?"

"And you know my Elof's not that coordinated, Jack!" Huffed an irate Su Li, earning an embarrassed grimace from Elof who, to be fair, Jack thought, was looking more buffed, capable, and assured every time Jack glanced his way, now moving with the grace of a ballerina, or highly trained martial artist.

But still. Jack couldn't help flushing his embarrassment, imagining a DM of a lifetime below laughing at what Jack was proposing.

“Frigid icy water, and two teamates preparing to cleave the heads off level 16 beasties with vorpal blades in hand.

Critical fumble checks, anyone?”