#ice rot

A doodle/inspo idea that I was brainstorming with @knox-enden-main, and had to draw out

{Combat Phase Start}:{Cal}: [2][Attack][Attack]{Magily}: [5][Dash][Attack]: Legs[Duck]{Gestalt}: [2][Dash]+[Attack]

Cal shoots their new shotgun twice, the gun sounds like thunder and even briefly lights up the cavern with its muzzle flash. The massive blast shoots sparks and fire all over the two rot, they seem to be thrown off balance and you take your opportunity to slash at the legs of the first rot, but your slash seems to do nothing.Before the Rot can retaliate, a glowing [Shield] materializes in front of you, and before you can blink, Gestalt cleaves the two monsters in half and they both burst into a flash of light. Two [Glowing blue spirits] emerge and vanish into the cave ceiling.

And just like that the fight is over. A wave of relief washes over you and suddenly you fall to your knees. Your head swims and everything goes dark.

…

{[You Have Reached: [Level 4]}

{[You now can invest your experience.]}

Leveling Up:You have 1 point to invest in:[The House of the North][The House of the East][The House of the South][The House of the West]

You have 1 point to invest in:[The Sign of the Lion][The Sign of the Bull][The Sign of the Beetle][The Sign of the Spider]

[STATUS] (New!)[QUESTS] [MAP]

{[GO]: [LEFT] and [DOWN]}

You head back to the middle of the bridge and begin climbing down the metal ladder.

Cal grabs the side of the railing and slides down ahead of you, and Gestalt lets you go ahead of them, but they don’t seem to follow at first.

The ladder is much longer than you expected, going down and down until the cave ceiling vanishes into the inky darkness. For a few minutes it seems like you are climbing downwards into empty space. The ladder sways and shakes under the weight of you and Cal. You are worried that there will be nothing at the bottom and you’ll be stuck hanging in a void.

Soon enough the walls curve back into view and your orb illuminates several wooden scaffolds in the distance.

As you, Cal and your orb reach the bottom of the ladder, the bone chilling cry of an Ice Rot. Before you can and Cal can get ready to fight it off, Gestalt plummets through the air and lands on the creatures head.

A horrifyingly wet crunching noise comes from under Gestalts boots, the weight of their armor and the speed of their fall causes the rot’s head to cave in and their entire body snaps in half, spraying black goo into the air. The pale blue spirit leaves the crushed body as it vanishes.

You hear Gestalt growl something under their breath as they clean the blood of their boots.

You are rather shocked that Gestalt just jumped down the pit that took you and Cal several minutes to climb down. The pain from your short fall the other day is still lingering in your legs, so a fall of this height had to have hurt, but Gestalt looks unfazed.

You inspect your surroundings. You are in a massive pit of debris, wooden railings, crushed mine carts and bent pipes fill the area until it forms a massive mouth of rubble.

Only one [Mine Cart] seems to be intact, but there are no functioning rails to push it along. Dozens of [Bones] litter the floor and clatter under your feet. Where Gestalt crushed the rot is another [Shining Glint] that might just be another ice crystal.

There is a [LEFT] and [RIGHT] path, but both are equally dark and there are no landmarks in this pitch black pit to tell you which way you should go. 

You feel a great unease down here, even the upper level felt unsafe but down here, you feel there is nowhere safe to stand. This whole place feels like you are standing just a few feet away from a hungry beast you can’t see.

[STATUS] [QUESTS] [MAP]

{[GO]: [RIGHT]}

You continue across the bridge until you find where the bridge reaches another stone path.

Unfortunately your path further [RIGHT] is blocked [Two Glowing Rot Hunters]The two creatures roar as your team approaches. Until now, the Rot’s cries have been guttural and animalistic, but these creatures make a sound like shattering glass or stones being smashed together. There is definitely something different about these rot, from their noises, to their soft blue glow to the single pulsating eye in the center of their heads.

Considering how fast these things are, running doesn’t seem like an option. It looks like combat is inevitable. You all draw your weapons, and Cal even has their new Spark Shotgun.

Heeding Gestalts advice you take in your surroundings, you don’t have solid footing just yet as you are still on the bridge. Above you appears to be several [Lanterns] that are without power. In the platforms above there is another piece of [Rusted Machinery]

The [LEFT] path leads back out to the [Frozen Mineshaft Bridge 2]The [RIGHT] path is blocked by the two rot.

[STATUS] [QUESTS] [MAP]