The descent into the depths of the dungeon was silent save for Red's constant humming. She was never one to be quiet, especially when it was a good idea considering she could be rousing anything in the darkness. But hum she did, even as the jittery mechanism of the gate gave way behind them. She hummed until the ghost appeared. Then she lost her appetite for humming.

Reality came crashing down like a searing knife. It wasn't possible. It was a game, a game her father's company had done back-end work on it, the systems were flawless. There wasn't a chance in the world that it could have been compromised. In a moment, that cruel demon, doubt, crept into her thoughts and she found herself staggering, eyebrows forming a frown. Her mind ticked over every detail, every flare of emotion the admin displayed. It couldn't be a trick, it would be a PR disaster if there was even a slight hint of technical failure in the VR device. And so, within a few moments her hope had been eaten away and she came to realise that this wasn't just a game anymore.

Her mind would have wandered further had it not been for Landon and his explosives. She didn't even think. Breathing fire into her hands, she lit his fuse and watched with eager eyes as fire engulfed the metal frame of the gate... and left it untarnished.

Her hands felt like lead, her feet like concrete blocks pulling her deeper and deeper under the waves of torment lashing at her. She had only put him to bed an hour before logging on, he was probably still asleep now, blissfully unaware. The strangest thing happened then - she laughed. She laughed because there was not much else she could do. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she laughed.

All he would remember would be her voice, her quiet reassurances. He would grow up an orphan and he would curse her to the day he died for dying in a stupid game. She eventually stopped laughing and resigned to leaning against a wall, her eyes staring off to some distant object. Sky couldn't leave him, not alone to face the world. He was everything to her and if she didn't at least try to get back to him then she wasn't a true mother. Her resolve hardened, her tears stopped and she let her nails dig into her the skin of her palms to bring herself back around. If the gate didn't work then they weren't about to just sit around and wait until something came to kill them. There was only one way out.

"There's only one real option and you all know that. If they're smart then we'll just have to be smarter. We're all high level players, the chanc..." She quieted and lowered her head and for a moment, it was Skylar in that dark dungeon. People didn't want to hear about chances or how good they were. They needed the truth. "Listen, I know a lot of us are here because we didn't like our lot in life. We were outcasts or we fucked up and we came here. But there's something out there for all of us, something that stops us from just giving up and staying here forever, something real. So isn't it worth a shot just trying to get back to that real thing?" She frowned once more but this time she looked determined. It was a bad situation but she had every intention of beating it and it just so happened she needed everyone around her to beat it as well.

Graves stood in stoic silence, softened eyes cast over the rest of his newfound companions. A number of them stepped forward to say their piece on the matter. With each voice that rang out in those damnable halls, the inner gnawing of doubt and fear began to slowly quiet. Elian's words held a heavy truth to them. No one there was anything special. Not really. They hadn't logged on earlier that day expecting to be shoved into a life or death situation with no hope of escape. If they knew what they were getting into, it was likely none of them would've came. Yet here they were, all the same. Graves understood her fear. Hell, he held it within his heart all the same. The tank let his arms drop from his chest, taking a singular foot forward. He was intent on moving to Elian's side, to make the healer feel better in some respect.

Or, he would have, if not for the intervention of Tiferet. Their resident fiddler was alongside the healer, a confident, reassuring hand upon the woman's shoulder. What Tif said was true, too. The only way their party was getting out of their was through the monsters; sitting back and waiting guaranteed nothing, other than the same fighting that would come for them whether they moved through the dungeon or remained where they were. This wasn't about heroics, like Elian said. This...this was about survival now.

"Elian?" Graves spoke her name in the hopes of getting her attention. "I'm gonna keep you safe. I promise." The Blood Knight spoke with a confidence he didn't have. Faux though his courage may be, Graves meant what he said. He'd keep their healer safe. It was his job, after all. No different from any of the other dozen times the tank and the dancer worked together. Well, mostly. There was one difference: they were playing for keeps this time around.

The bounty hunter's shaky, cold hands returned to cross over his bare chest. The crimson eyes of the bulky warrior turned away from Tif and Elian, moving over to where Sky was...well. Sky looked like she was losing it, to put it lightly. The fire mage was laughing hysterically while hot tears ran down her cheeks. Just looking at her, it felt like someone had punched Graves in the gut. 'Damn..' Once more, the typically prickly man felt...compelled...to move. To speak, at the very least. Protecting people was second nature to the tank. But how could he protect them from this? There wasn't an ogre to fight. No horde of goblin archers to knock down. It was the fear of death that weighed on them all; something no weapon could hope to harm.

Thankfully, Sky was stronger than she looked. She was able to get a handle on her emotions and swallow the pain, at least for the time being. Graves held his gaze upon her. He listened, and he understood, but...Did he agree? The fire mage spoke of a world they all wanted to return to. Of things they missed out on by being stuck in this dreadful place. Yet Graves felt a nagging in the back of his head. A question that would never find it's way to his lips.

'Do I have anything to return to?'

Andrew had a fairly mundane life. He'd always thought the hand fate had dealt him was shitty. His family couldn't care less about him. He had no real friends, if he was honest with himself. Life was a cycle of waking up, going to work, then coming to home to play Pariah until he was too exhausted to continue. Pariah was the only place he had found any real joy. Everything else he did was, in essence, a way to continue to feed into his gaming habits. That didn't...that didn't mean he wanted to be locked up in here, though. He didn't want the threat of death constantly dangled before him every time he logged on; and he definitely wasn't going to let any of these other people be caught up in here because of his inaction.

Burdened by questions he really shouldn't be worrying about at a time like this, Graves's attention was quickly grabbed by the sound of Rael's voice. His eyes flickered over to her, narrowing into daggers as she outright insulted everyone for being afraid. No, that wasn't it. Rael was trying to make them feel better...in her own 'special' way. Graves didn't know how he'd missed it earlier, but the pipsqueak was smiling. She spoke with a confidence befit a warrior. Behind her courage, Rael had a point as well. They'd managed to handle the ambush without serious injury; the same threat of death had hung over them then, too, even if they didn't know about it at the time. If they could adapt to that attack, why couldn't they do the same to everything else that lay ahead?

Graves's hands steadied. The devouring teeth of terror found no purchase in the iron hold of his heart. Everyone had made their decision. They all knew what had to be done. Sitting around here and moping wouldn't help anybody. They had to clear the dungeon to get out; so that's what they were going to do. The Blood Knight found a smile breaking out without his consent. "You're a real bastard, ya know that?" Graves chuckled, his foot slipping underneath the shaft of the halberd upon the floor in front of him. With practiced ease, he kicked the weapon up and caught it in his waiting hand. "Anybody else feel like makin' a speech?" He asked, shifting his gaze around at the others. Orchid and Altissma were quietly huddled together, looking just as afraid as the rest of them. Landon and Mirage were fairly quiet, too. "Then how about we get the hell outta here?"

The bravado that had once characterized Graves's interactions with the rest of the party returned to him. He knew they were all still apprehensive- all but Rael, anyway. Probably afraid, too. But they had collectively decided to move forward, so there was no point in dragging their feet and crying about it anymore.

With a sigh, the tank gave a short nod and raised his voice. "Alright everybody. Back in formation, we're moving. Orchid!" Graves shot a serious look at the man. "You and 2Chainz watch our midsection. Keep your eyes peeled for any ambushed from above or below, got it this time?" Graves didn't know those two well, but he hoped they could be relied upon in a crisis.

Turning his eyes toward their damage dealers, the Blood Knight addressed them as well. "Mirage, Sky, Landon- kill anything before it gets too close. We'll keep you covered, just make sure everything fuckin' dies, got it?" They were the lynch pin to the formation. If the backline ever fell, none of the rest of them had the damage to deal with a horde of monsters descending upon them. It was the job of the tanks and the healer to make sure they stayed alive long enough to make sure the monsters fell.

Graves looked next to the pair of supportive casters. Tiferet was holding up surprisingly well. Probably better than Graves was, if...he was honest with himself. Most of his confidence was a flimsy facade meant to make the rest of them feel better. In all honestly, Graves was probably closer to Sky's reaction- breaking down into tears- than Rael or Tif's. Somehow, however, he kept up the mask. "Fiddler, Dagger-ears. You two stay right behind me, okay? I'll make sure you're safe." Graves looked between the two, but his eyes were mostly on Eli when he said that line. "Just keep us all up. That's all you gotta do. It's just another dungeon, right?"

Finally, Graves looked to Rael. She was the only one who looked like she had her shit together. Whether that was her hiding behind an impressive mask or the fact that she was just impossibly brave, Graves couldn't tell. But her ability to remain calm, or at least fake it, caused Graves to naturally rely on her more than the others. "Pipsqueak," He addressed her with a grin. "I'm counting on you to watch the rear and to fill in any gaps in our defense. If anything gets through, you peel back to deal with it. You can do that, right? 'Course you can." Graves dropped a hand from his halberd, the larger tank quickly went to ruffle the little ball of angst's hair. "Oh, and don't call my party members dummies- that's my job. Now! Let's move, people! We don't got all day."

---

Ochre's proximity helped Tessa to calm down a bit. Yet as Rael and Graves, and even Redsky spoke up, Tessa's mind started going a hundred miles per minute as her clumsy thoughts tripped over themselves. If anything, she much preferred the other option Graves had put out; to entrench themselves here, fortify up, and wait for a solution.

"Alright everybody. Back in formation, we're moving. Orchid!" Graves shot a serious look at the man. "You and 2Chainz watch our midsection. Keep your eyes peeled for any ambushes from above or below, got it this time?"

"WAIT!..." Tessa said louder, and with more assertiveness than she expected, "This is suicide. We should stay here, by this gate. At least we'll have our backs to the wall. We can create a chokepoint and wait for the GM's to get their shit together. Sure, they can't log us out right now, but surely they'll think of other solutions to get us all to the safety of the town. Like, they could send us all teleport scrolls or something. It might be coming in a few minutes..." This last part she said with very little confidence. Pariah was a game that went for immersion, so quick-travel options were little to none. And one did not simply access their mail from a menu, needing instead to physically go to an in-game posthouse to collect things such as log-in rewards or special event items. yet surely these services were implemented, just never used. Surely the GMs would be willing to break the rules of immersion to provide them with just such a solution to get out of danger. After all, the GM announcer had broken character pretty hard. She could feel her mana slowly draining as she maintained her defensive auras. She was nowhere near having spent even an tenth of her mana, yet she was fingering a mana potion apprehensively, prepared to chug it down before she hit empty. Her eyes darted around at the other party members looking for validation. She also looked for signs of hostility, in case anyone decided to go ape-shit on them. In fact, she was certain she could see some signs...

@Stern Algorithm

Graves turned on his heel and started back down the tight corridor they'd come back to the main room from, a smirk plastered on his face. It may have been at Rael's expense, but the short girl's reaction to his teasing had helped raise his spirits a bit. The Blood Knight was feeling better about the plan to journey deeper into the dungeon in search of escape. Graves would always remember, in the back of his minds, the stakes that hung over their heads- failure meant death. Like actual, real, not-in-the-game death. It still sent a freezing shudder down the man's spine to think about. Still, he was doing better than when they first heard the announcement from the dev team. The rousing speeches from the likes of Tif, Rael and even Sky had turned back the darkness encroaching on his heart. Fear's devouring maw was held at bay for the time being by a cheap laugh at a girl's discomfort. Everyone seemed ready to continue the trek further into the unknowable halls of that damnable labyrinth.

Everyone except one. A loud shout to 'WAIT!' came to Graves's ears from behind him. Curiously, the towering knight of crimson turned to face the source of the yell. It was their control mage; the one he jokingly referred to as '2Chainz' earlier. With a raised brow, Graves turned fully to look down at the shorter woman as she spoke in a hurried, fearful tone. His expression fell. He...understood her concerns. He really, truly did. If Graves had even the slightest clue as to when the issue would be fixed, he would be right with Tessa. Staying still was...easier, even if it wasn't necessarily safer. A defensive position could be held with some difficulty. Enemies coming from above and below was a constant hazard. However, having a wall to their back gave them at least one reliable safety net in a fight. And...really, heading into the dungeon- of their own volition, no less- when death was permanent and real was suicidal at best.

"Listen." Graves let the tip of his halberd drop. He walked up to Altissima, towering over her with his abnormal height. "I know you're scared." A strong, gauntlet-covered hand lifted up and then dropped down on her shoulder. "I understand. I'm...terrified, too. This is way...way beyond me." The voice of the Knight was unlike before. It held no hostility, no presumption of authority or superiority. Graves spoke with a calm reassurance, and a deep understanding of just how Tessa was feeling. "But...We can't stay here. It does seem safer, yeah. But you heard the dev- he said they've been trying to fix the issue for hours. We have no idea how long it'll be before it's fixed. We could be stuck in here all night if we just sit and wait." Graves gave Tessa's shoulder a squeeze, his smile widening. "We're going to be okay. We've all done this a hundred times before. You and Ochre are going to watch each other's backs. And if anything goes wrong, call for us- we're going to keep each other safe, okay? I promise you're going to get out of here. We all are." Graves took a step away from Tessa, his other moving off her shoulder and back onto the shaft of his polearm. "Orchid. You keep her safe, okay? And she'll do the same for you. Now...we can't afford to stand around here too long, or another ambush is bound to come our way. You're going to be alright, Tess, right? You can do this?"

At Altissima's side, Ochre could already see the circumstances changing. With each player that rose from their despair, another would rise and answer the call. Graves had started the flame of determination, but everyone else had fanned it into a roaring fire, their hearts ablaze as they steadied themselves for what was to come. Of course, the fear and desperation wasn't entirely quenched, with each conflagration flickering with hesitation even as they poured out their embers to spark the others into ignition. But it did not matter. As long as they kept their spirits high, reliant on the experiences they've shared as strangers and friends banded together, he was sure it would turn out alright.

Despite the situation, the armorsmith couldn't help but snicker slightly under his breath, totally unbecoming of his usual self as he realized that his entire allegory was caused by a single glance in Redsky's direction when he was observing everyone's rise in morale. Maybe her fixation on fire magic had more bearing than he thought. But he digressed. He was thinking too much again, wasting energy he could be saving for the dungeon. Coming to this conclusion, he instead focused said energy on checking his gear, noting the current state of his armor, weaponry, and the current level of his mana pool, the later more of a feeling rather than something he could see. Everything was in good condition, for now, and thankfully his past self had conserved enough energy that his mana felt hardly dented.

As he finished his check-up, he eventually detected the change of subject, and as he looked up from his sword he caught sight of Graves locking him down with a serious gaze. "Orchid! You and 2Chainz watch our midsection. Keep your eyes peeled for any ambushed from above or below, got it this time?" As the words reached him from across the room, Ochre returned the Blood Knight's stare with his own, half-lidded one. But beneath his drooped eyelids were hints of understanding and determination, his slow, weighted nod caught by the acting commander before the pikesman turned away. Graves did well in this situation, almost as admirably as Rael, who seemed almost entirely unshaken by the event entirely. If it wasn't for the fact that they were all undoubtedly player characters, he would've believed that the latter wanted to be stuck in this death game.

With a shake of his head, he shed his thoughts once more, adjusting his breastplate slightly for maximum protection as the group seemed geared up for the continued exploration. That is... until a voice cut through the air like a knife. "WAIT!..." Ochre didn't think he could ever note a time that his business partner's voice had been as equally loud and forthright as it had been with that single request for a halt... and as equally filled with such distress. "This is suicide. We should stay here, by this gate. At least we'll have our backs to the wall. We can create a chokepoint and wait for the GM's to get their shit together. Sure, they can't log us out right now, but..." By this time, her words had faded into the background for him, merely a cover for what was truly being said. The person he had thought was prepared for whatever came... was just as afraid as the rest of them.

Honestly, despite the shock and fear that came with the administrator's declaration, Ochre had believed that the situation wouldn't have phased the enchanter. Throughout his playthrough of Pariah, Altissima had always been composed and unshakable each time they had met, capable of irritation and frustration when things went wrong, but never to a point of despair. Of course, he should have realized that the difficulties of running a fantasy business were an entirely different plane of field compared to the possibility of death, but before this moment the image of her aloof nature had overidden the signs of her fear. Now, as his mental pedestal of her had been pulled away, he could now see her actions as what they were. Her preparations weren't a sign of bravery, ready for the dangers to come with a stoic duty. They were actions to protect oneself from a world that had changed its meaning within seconds.

But even more surprising than that was to see Graves of all people approach them to console the enchanter. Once again, the social norms he had constructed over each of the members in the party were blindsiding him as they were stripped away by circumstance, leaving him scrambling to reorganize his stances towards each of them. Mentally thanking the Blood Knight for doing what he couldn't, Ochre closed his eyes as a soft, almost inaudible sigh released itself from his lips. There was too much effort being used in comparison to the diminishing returns of his understanding. He was going to have to relearn who everyone truly was before he could spend his time readjusting his ideas of them in his mind.

As his conscious thoughts resurfaced towards the world around him, the armorsmith sluggishly realized that the pikesman had apparently finished his piece, and had moved his attentions from Altissima to him. "Orchid. You keep her safe, okay? And she'll do the same for you." In response, Ochre merely sent him another, resounding nod, almost entirely similar to his agreement to the plan a few seconds before. "Now...we can't afford to stand around here too long, or another ambush is bound to come our way. You're going to be alright, Tess, right? You can do this?" Ochre's helmet creaked slightly as he turned his head towards the woman next to him, his drooped gaze searching her own as he placed a hand on the pommel of his sword, readiness visible underneath the perpetual lethargy in his eyes. "...He's right. Certain death or fight. Can you?" Unlike the concern clearly audible in Graves' question, his own was masked beneath a layer of professionalism, his inner thoughts pulling his inflections from every business deal the two of them had participated in. It was his subconscious way of trying to calm her down, to give her something recognizable in this harrowing situation, as if this was merely another transaction between them both rather than a task that could lead to their doom. He could only hope it worked.

---

Tessa flinched as Graves put his hands on her shoulders, but otherwise remained stiff and unmoving. She was going to disregard everything that came out of his mouth until he said-

"But...We can't stay here. It does seem safer, yeah. But you heard the dev- he said they've been trying to fix the issue for hours.

-reminding her, and dashing her hopes that the GMs would come up with a solution. She continued to stare at him with a skeptical gaze, grinding her teeth. The simple fact was: she didn't trust him. After all, PARIAH was, for most people, an escape, a place for people to go and be themselves, their inner selves, their true selves, free from societal inhibitions, free from consequences, free from backlash. After all, it was just a game, people could be as mean and brutish as they wanted. And Graves, the Graves that she had seen only moments ago, the crass, belligerent, and prone-to-violent-outburst Graves, taht was his real self. And the Graves standing in front of her right now? The Graves that talked about camaraderie, and protecting each other, who showed concern for others? That was fake. Had to be. People's true selves were always their worse selves.

But what choice did she have but to go along? The admins have already demonstrated incompetence, so relying on them no longer seemed viable. Did she dare risk moving deeper into the dungeon on the vain hope that they'll be able to clear it and make it out alive? Who would betray them? Who would crack under pressure? But if everyone was going, then her chances of holding this position by herself were laughable at best.

"...He's right. Certain death or fight. Can you?" Unlike the concern clearly audible in Graves' question, his own was masked beneath a layer of professionalism, his inner thoughts pulling his inflections from every business deal the two of them had participated in. It was his subconscious way of trying to calm her down, to give her something recognizable in this harrowing situation, as if this was merely another transaction between them both rather than a task that could lead to their doom. He could only hope it worked.

Tessa gave Ochre an unreadable look. Did she ever really trust her clients? Only enough to do business with them, which quite frankly, was no small amount of trust. This was the same. She didn't have to trust any of them, but the very fact that there was some give and take involved, Tessa could trust in the nature of human need.

"...yes...I can fight..." Tessa replied, almost inaudibly, taking a step forward, her chains following, but maintaining the channeling circle.

Landon sat on the ground for several more moments, still quite stunned by that much explosive not even putting a dent into the walls or gate that blocked their primary escape route from the dungeon. Or was he stunned by the fact that he had escaped death in the "real world" only to face it again here in this one?

Landon - no, Watts Broker - didn't just view Pariah as a fantastical escape from an inconvenient existence. It was literally salvation, a second chance at life. He was terrified of dying the slow death that awaited him back "home." And even the slimmest chance of bringing some kind of immortality to the real world from this video game...he thought that was worth every risk he could possibly take.

And yet, as he reflected on it, he realized that he probably had the least reason to worry about going back to the "real world" than any of the others. Landon's real body was hooked up to life support machines already, a measure he had taken to ensure that he could spend as much time in Pariah as he possibly could. His servants, though some of them were practically family, would follow his instructions to keep his body alive even if he became unresponsive. That wouldn't prevent brain death at the hands of the game's machinery, but it did mean he was in no hurry to awaken in the real world.

As Graves rallied the group, Landon watched him, still pale and in a nervous sweat, but fascinated. Heckuva lot different than he was before, thought Landon as he idly put another cigarette into his mouth and lit it with his own lighter, trying to ignore the shakiness that made it hard to keep the lighter still long enough to do the job. Guess now that this isn't "just" a game, it's getting to everybody...kids. Most of these guys are just kids. They still have the rest of their lives in front of them, and they probably have friends, family even, waiting for them to get back. I don't got nobody to go back to...

And right there, Landon steeled himself with all the courage he could muster, pricked with the memory of what it felt like to be defying death every time he had to disarm a bomb as a combat engineer back in the military. Hadn't he risked life and limb before, long ago? Sure, he had been too young and stupid to know his own mortality back then, but if he had cut even a single different wire, or if any battles he had been in had gone even a little differently...

No, the memories of courage were too faint in themselves after all these years. He couldn't possibly rely on those alone. He had been young, idealistic and far too stupid to realize how much danger he had really been in; only later, when he was old enough to feel aches in his bones and muscles left over from all the crouching, running and tightly-gripped field tools from those days, that he had the wisdom to see just how terrifying being a demolition specialist had been. Even in his reborn form in Pariah, he didn't have the same youthful sense of invincibility he once had.

It was the fact that he needed to get these kids out of this dungeon that he could rely on. His entire life, he had tried to make things better for the younger generation. And here, now, this group of kids needed him far too much for him to give up now.

He got up to his feet, dusted himself off from where he had sat on the hard rock-block floor, and then dug around in his backpack for several vials of a purple fluid that glimmered with an inner light that hinted at their magical origin. He nearly dropped one when Tessa had her outburst. Her very reasonable outburst. With Ochre's help, he could probably lay out a minefield of explosives in front of a defensive position...

No. Digging their heels in here would be the worst thing they could do. And they had no idea if this dungeon had any burrowing monsters, which would make such explosives worse than useless; it would box them between impassable walls, and the only possible exit forward.

Once everyone had been reorganized, Landon passed out the slim vials with the purple liquid. "Everyone gets one o' these elixirs," he explained, letting himself go into lecture mode, which helped him ease his trembling voice back to his normal gruff baritone the longer he spoke. He was still somewhat pale, but he was no longer sweating with raw anxiety. "They will refill your health and mana pools to the max. Obviously, if your HP goes to zero, you can't use it on yourself, but you can use it on someone else who goes down. Doesn't have to be drunk - skin contact is enough to activate it, so just pour it on or smash it if you can't get it unplugged. Remember, they said that your HP has to be down to zero for more than fifteen minutes, so this is a way to make sure that doesn't happen."

He didn't have to mention that he had been saving these for the final room of the dungeon, or why he was passing them out now instead of later. Survival had now become the priority, instead of maximizing their overall effectiveness. He hoped that mentioning the time limit would remind everyone they still had the ability to be healed before that limit was reached.

Of course, he still had his max buff bolts ready in case they were needed...now he wished he hadn't wasted one showing off earlier. He would hate to think he had used up the one last buff they needed on a whim. And he had healing bolts, too. But it was his explosive, acid, napalm, and Tesla bolts that he made sure were closest to his hand from his bolt case.

"So, what are we waiting for?" he growled as he racked one of the explosive bolts onto his crossbow. "Sooner we clear this dungeon, sooner we can go back for drinks. Heck, I'll even buy for everybody!"

Oh yes, he was certainly willing to do that...but he mostly just wanted to get this over with, and some bravado was helping him cover his nervous fears just like it had back when he was a soldier.

She was glad of Tiferet's reassurance, and even Graves had something supportive to say. Red veered into the hysterics that Elian herself had only barely avoided, but regained control before long. She managed an unsteady smile at the fire mage, until Rael put her idiotic two cents in. She grit her teeth so hard she heard them creak. "Were you born that stupid, or did you have to practice?" she snapped, her voice coming out in a low growl. Fear was easier to handle if you were angry, and the spearmaiden had just made herself into the perfect target. "This isn't a game anymore. Weapon skills or not, magic or not, fucking hero character or not, there are real consequences now. Maybe you're just some pimple-faced child playing make-believe, and you think this is your time to shine, but let me set you straight. If you wouldn't do it irl, don't do it here."

Elian walked her closed fan through her fingers, something of a nervous habit. "Call me a cowardly bitch if you want, but I have actual people counting on me besides those here, and I mean to get back to them. If running away like a pansy is what it takes, then you bet your pimply prepubescent posterior that I will, and I'll encourage everyone else to do the same." She lifted her voice loud enough for everyone to hear, hating the words even as she spoke them, but it had to be done. "The rules are the same. Anyone sticks their dumb neck out where it will drag the rest of us into trouble, and if I have to choose between a damned idiot dying and everyone dying, then I will hate myself for the rest of my life but I will watch the idiot get swamped. Tiferet's right, nobody plays hero today. We stick together, and we don't take needless risks. I know most of you well enough, gamewise. I wouldn't have sent an invite if I didn't think you were any good. So...same idea, but this time for keeps, eh?"

Landon's elixirs were welcome news, and Elian slid hers into her satchel. "I'm gonna need a drink once we're through," she told him, her expression drawn tight with nerves. An awful thought crossed her mind, and she prayed they weren't trapped for too long. "...I just hope someone thinks to make Freddie dinner."

'You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me.'

Graves was just thanking Landon for the elixir, letting the concoction join the rest of the potions on his belt, when Elian decided to have an outburst. A sigh was on his lips and a grimace across his visage as he turned around, glaring eyes dancing between the near hysterical healer and the lithe tank she chose to call out. This was seriously not the time for them to drag each other through the shit. Yet as utterly irritating as the exchange was, the Blood Knight kept his mouth shut. It wasn't his place to get involved. As much as he might look like he was trying to lead them, that was a...misconception. Graves just wanted to survive. He didn't care how it had to happen. Getting out alive wasn't just his number one priority; it was his only priority. He wasn't their babysitter. If the party wanted to tear itself apart over stupid bullshit, Graves wasn't gonna try to step in and 'resolve' their issues for them. They were adults, most of them. They could handle their own shit without big, bad Graves sticking his nose into every little disagreement.

The bounty hunter impatiently tapped the end of his halberd against the stone floor, his battle worn, calloused hands changing their grip upon the polearm several times over. Graves was tired of waiting. He was tired of listening to everyone whine and complain. 'Oh, we're never gonna get back home.' They cried. 'I'm so sad and scared.' Well no shit, Sherlock, they all were. No point standing around moping all day. They were losin' daylight. If everybody wanted to stand around and cry until they were all mauled to death by the dungeon's monsters, they could be his guest; Graves was leaving, whether it was with them all or by himself.

Thankfully for Graves's sanity, Elian's bait wasn't taken by Rael. She shrugged it off and- hopefully- their healer would just let it drop. It didn't matter. Really. She had misconstrued Rael's attempt at helping as her not taking the dungeon seriously. Maybe it was because Graves thought on a similar wavelength to the other tank, but this might be the first time the bounty hunter hadn't taken El's side in awhile. 'She's just...scared.' He sighed. She had plenty of reason to be high strung, so there really was no blaming her.

"This'd be a hell of'a lot easier if I had that drink now." Graves muttered to Landon, turning his attention toward Rael as she addressed him. "For the love of God, yes. Let's get the hell outta here already. Everybody on my flank. I'm movin' now. If you wanna get left behind, be my fuckin' guest, but I'm ready to go." It felt like the millionth time Graves had to say that. They just weren't moving. Every single time Graves started forward, somebody had to go and say something- delaying their advance yet again. The bare chested tank wasn't keen on waiting any longer. Weapon firmly in hand, he started out of the room and back toward the tunnel they'd just exited. They had a lot more dungeon ahead of them, and couldn't be bothered to wait around here anymore. It was a waste of his time.

---

"Thanks, Landon," Tessa said, taking the vial of purple liquid. She normally tried not to give the lecher the time of day, but in this situation, he was one of people she was most acquainted with, and as much as she hated to admit it, the familiarity was calming. "If anyone feels even the slightest bit threatened, just hop back in the circle," Tessa said, offering protection. "But remember to do your jobs." She didn't normally keep the protective circle of spells up while traveling, but this was no time to be taking chances. She only hoped her mana and stock of potions would last the entirety of the dungeon.

Given that there weren't any monsters around, Tiferet took a moment to appreciate the scenery. She said in a voice that was just barely not a whisper, "I gotta say, I like the way this place is put together. Very 'dungeon gothic.'" She took a couple steps towards a nearby channel filled with an odd blue liquid, footsteps, soft as they were, still managing to echo out over the quiet chamber. Tiferet took a gander at the stuff. "Pff. With our luck, this is gonna be radioactive monster jizz or something." At a glance, it seemed like she was still holding up fairly well. But the slight tremor to her voice, and the fact that she whispered all of her jokes, indicated that she was rather more nervous than it seemed.

Tiferet carefully walked forwards another couple steps, brushing a dangling chain out of the way as she checked around the room. Voice still at a whisper, she returned to the group and said, "Alright everyone. Looks like we've got three options: left, right, and forwards. Which one do y'all think we should take?"

Tension laced Graves's form. His every digital muscle was taut with stress and anxiety. Ready to strike out the instant another monster deigned to show it's ugly mug. Tight, cramped corridors, with his back all but pressed against the party member behind him, wreaked havoc on his fortitude. Blood still dripped from the head of his halberd's ax from the last scout that Graves had managed to catch. Others fell to the chains of Tessa, or the arrows of their ranger- several, though, were too quick for any to catch. The monsters were watching them. It was the only explanation for it. Since when were monsters programmed to perform reconnaissance? They knew exactly where their party was. An ambush could've been waiting around the corner. Or maybe it'd just come right from underneath them.

This...this didn't feel like a game anymore. Not with their lives hanging on the tip of a needle. Not with the creatures of the dungeon acting the way they were. Graves was a wreck. His heart was racing a thousand miles a minute. Everywhere he looked, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. The relative silence of their march made things all the worse. Graves found himself glancing backward to check on everyone else- making sure they were alright, and that they were still with him. At the very least, the Blood Knight could say he was lucky that he had others around to make him feel secure when the warning came from the devs. He didn't want to imagine what it'd be like to be in this kind of situation alone. Knowing his usual playstyle, it was a miracle that hadn't happened to him.

Thankfully the labyrinth of tunnels ended, at least for a short while, as they came upon a cavernous room. A ceiling so high that sunlight could be seen peeking through the grates at the top. Far...far out of reach. Chains hung from above like vines, thick and metallic. And there were odd channels dug into the floor around the room, where a thick, sapphire liquid flowed. What was most apparent between the heavy pillars and chains, though, were the three doors, one that led in each direction.

Graves tore his gaze away from the tiny speckles of sunlight that leaked down into the darkness, his eyes shifting over toward the first of the crew to really speak up in the last twenty minutes. Tif had her humor about her, somehow. Graves hadn't the heart to draw up a smile, his lips still twisted down into an uncomfortable frown. "Well, we're not splitting up, so nobody even fuckin' suggest it." There was no way Graves was letting any of these idiots out of his sight. The second they took a few steps away from him, they'd end up dead; and really, Graves didn't want to have to live with that on his conscience.

The more he looked around, the more uneasy the tank felt. This room had the looks of a boss room. And though this dungeon shared little in common with other games, or even the rest of Pariah, Graves couldn't shake the feeling that they were going to be dealing with an attack imminently. It kept his grip on his polearm tight, and head on a swivel. He didn't really care what direction they decided to take. They were going to end up backtracking anyway, more than likely; so it wasn't too important. "Everybody holdin' up okay?"

Dangerous. That was the first thought that crossed through Ochre's mind as his gaze slowly surveyed the room, a hand clenched firmly onto the pommel of his sword. From his place in the middle of the party, the armorsmith couldn't help but liken the space to a transitional stage within a dungeon, where the enemies would begin to rise in strength or the stage for a mini-boss. Orbs of jade glanced to and fro in a slow, methodical fashion as his eyes processed the environment around them. Pillars to use as cover, chains to manipulate and restrain pursuers, an unknown liquid that could or could not be an environmental hazard. It was all to keep down the anxiety that rose from the situation, as well as prepare for any surprises that the dungeon may have in store.

He wasn't a fool to believe that the room had been left empty as a rest point, a brief moment of relief before one continued through the gauntlet. No, this was a trap, and he would need to treat it as such until proven otherwise. As the others continued to be preoccupied with how to go about the advance through the room, the armorsmith began to make his way out of the center, the clink of his bronze armor audible beneath the mutters of his peers. Ochre eventually found himself at the middle of the vanguard, amongst the other tanks and bruisers of the party while his half-lidded gaze glanced between the three doors. "Should move at some point," he offered unhelpfully towards those who had kept the party intact so far. He didn't mean to seem rude, but they really did need to get going. The longer they tarried at this empty room, the faster the groups morale will deteriorate before they could even reach the final boss room.

Even after his announcement, however, not many seemed willing to step forwards. So, with an internal sigh at how bothersome this game had become for him, he took the first step out of formation. Someone had to do it. It was inevitable, and needed to happen at some point. While he was perfectly fine with waiting and being patient, they couldn't waste time. Who knows what was happening above ground, and to be perfectly honest he could only hope a bit of rushing could lead to a period of long, uninterrupted rest. So he took a few steps out towards the blue liquid, his body moved into a crouch next to it as he pulled out one of the ogre teeth he had "gathered" from the ambush a few rooms back. And, with the grace of a scientist hoping that a chemical mixture won't explode in his face, dropped it into the channel of azure. At the very least, if this somehow killed him, he could rationalize that being dead was less troublesome than dealing with this death game.

---

"Shit, shit, shit, boss room, boss room, boss room..." Tessa thought to herself as the party entered the massive hall. On-edge the whole trek, Tessa had said very little and went a bit overkill with her offensive spells whenever a goblin so much as peeked around a corner. Every threat, no matter the size, absolutely had to be nullified immediately.

Tiferet carefully walked forwards another couple steps, brushing a dangling chain out of the way as she checked around the room. Voice still at a whisper, she returned to the group and said, "Alright everyone. Looks like we've got three options: left, right, and forwards. Which one do y'all think we should take?"

Tessa thought to herself before remember a surefire method for getting out of a maze, the right-hand rule. "We should go right," She said with some confidence, before looking down at her feet in confusion. ...or was it the left-hand rule?

Before she had time to figure out the algorithm in her head, a small rat ran out from a crack in the wall. Instinctively, Tessa cast Kinetic Chains, causing the web of chains that followed her to send out a wave, like someone whipping a jump rope, in all directions, doing a mild amount of damage, but used mostly as a pushback, to keep enemies away from her squishier allies. What she didn't account for however, was the din this caused, as the rattling of the chains echoed in raucous cacophony through stone halls. The rat of course, died, it's carcass limply tossed aside by the force of the spell as the noise continued to travel away from the party in all available directions.

"...shit..."

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 cold 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 too 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. "Nice." 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 flowing. 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 alive 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.

"Everybody form up!" 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. "Back to back, make a circle! And for Christ sake, Red, start frying these assholes!"