The cave entrance was under a pile of objects so tall that it looked like a huge red sand dune from a distance. This hoard even had real treasure in it. Shelby saw an old-fashioned mermaid bust ripped away from some ancient ship that was jutting from the lip of the pile, and a huge iron lockbox nearly completely crusted over in barnacles and branching coral growths. If I opened that, would there be gold inside?

  The cave was also very low on the beach, so much so that its slick floor was submerged in a few inches in briny water. The excessive stockpile of natural items was a wonderful medium for all sorts of marine life. Shelby spotted some troublingly large hermit crabs skittering through the shallow water in tall spiraling shells, and packs of tiny turquoise fish darted in and out of long dead coral tubes. What makes some of these animals monsters and some of them just normal, everyday creatures, anyways? Shelby wondered as she tried and failed to cast Shadow on a hermit crab.

  Thimble walked a few yards into the cave and the water rose to his thigh. He waded forward cautiously. It wasn't terribly dark inside, because the roof was dotted with pinprick holes, but they had been warned that there was a particularly dangerous dragon somewhere inside. To Shelby's surprise, Mallow, her new fluffy companion, glowed softly in the dim light. She, I think, was perched safely on Shelby's shoulder and the glow from her many small leaves helped Shelby slowly walk through the water while avoiding hitting her head on the low ceiling.

  The walls had remnants of some kind of guide rope system, although most of the rope itself was long gone. There were thick iron hoops bolted to the wall every ten feet, and old, waterlogged torches were sagging in rusted metal braces. They followed the evidence of a path for a long time, sloshing forward until the only light they had left to see by was Mallow's viridescent glow.

  Eventually, the cave started to step upward. There were long, smooth and slightly slimy edges that dripped with sediment like a poorly frosted cake. They scrambled up the steps one at a time, and left the salty water behind them. Shelby had to imagine that they would be climbing for a while if they were going to wind up at the top of the cliffs. They had dropped down about 200 feet when they had descended the road to the beach, and another 100 or so from the cave where the Hodekin were holed up.

  The area they were climbing towards was giving off a slight glow, and the same glowing substance in Mallow's leaves started to appear in patches on the walls. Looking back, Shelby saw that they had climbed up a huge chimney cavern that spiraled downward into complete darkness. One more step up brought them to a huge tunnel that was 30 feet across as least. Now that there was dim light, Thimble trudged ahead confidently. Shelby hurried after, and the moment she walked into the tunnel she received a notification:

  Shelby squinted. Seahowl? She checked the cave-like icon above her health bar:

  Shelby's feet had been damp from the sea water below. She had felt a slight breeze from the tunnel as they entered, and sure enough, her feet were dry and she was at 76 of 80 health. That's a troubling condition. She hoped there wasn't too much water to deal with, but she knew in her heart there would be plenty. Why else would this condition exist?

  She caught up to Thimble and warned him about the effect, and he sighed, "This is my first time in a dungeon like this. I had heard that dungeons have conditions that make them dangerous, though. At least we have to touch water to activate it. In my homeland there is a dungeon that harms you for every step you take..."

  Shelby was reminded of the thorns she had walked through on the way to the upper entrance to the cave and winced, "That would be awful."

  "It's a rite of passage to traverse it," he replied offhandedly.

  The tunnel wound through solid stone for a short while before opening into a huge cavern. As expected, it was lousy with water. It was a tiered area that held a legion of small pools. The glowing moss in the area was especially dense inside the water and there were a few different colors of it present. The walls and ceiling were a mixture of green and white, while the pools and sections of the floor glowed a purplish red.

  The area apparently supported animal life too. Large white crabs picked through the moss in packs of three, and carefully edged around bodies of water on narrow strips of stone. There were also schools of small white fish that seemed to swim through air. They darted from thick clump of moss to the next, weaving around the thick columns of stone and delicate, milky stalactites connected to the ceiling. The fish seemed harmless, but the crabs were cousins to the ones they had fought on the beach earlier.

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  What the heck... why are they so much stronger? They're only one level higher, Shelby complained to herself.

  "Event monsters tend to be weak, even for their level, and dungeon monsters tend to be stronger than average," AIDAN said in his usual helpful way.

  "Great..." Shelby muttered aloud.

  Thimble glanced at her, and she pointed to the crabs, "They're strong, be careful."

  This might be a good opportunity to see how Mallow's powers work, Shelby considered. Coda would have a hard time fighting here, since there were so many obstacles, but Mallow's acidic attacks should work really well against a group of enemies or against armored types. Thimble might need some help if we can't fight the crabs one by one, though. She drew her bow and fixated on the crabs as they wandered from pool to pool.

  She tried to single one out as it lagged behind its group, but the second the arrow struck it the entire group turned and scuttled towards her. Thimble was ready to step in, and he slashed at one of the crabs to get its attention, but the other two streamed right by him. One of the white crabs snapped a hefty pincer at Shelby's leg and Thimble blurred into place, knocking it aside and retaliating with a powerful stab.

  The other crab was able to bypass Thimble and pinched Shelby's arm. She felt herself take 18 damage as she wrenched her arm free and stepped back. Thimble cracked it over the head with his sword a moment later, but he was in trouble. The crabs were circling him and he was barely able to deflect their attacks as he tried to break free of their formation. Shelby fired two quick attacks and then launched a Cutting Shot that knocked a pair of crabs onto their backs.

  This was the perfect time to use Acid Wash, Mallow's ability that created a pool of acid. Shelby turned so that Mallow could target the flailing crabs and commanded her to attack. The leafy slug shivered and an orb of shimmering water shot out from inside of its fur-like foliage. The attack barely managed to splash onto the first crab, but it took 4 damage and then another 2 as the rock around it sizzled with a biting yellow field. Shelby stepped forward a few feet to give Mallow sufficient reach and then ordered a second shot. The crabs were already starting to find their footing, but the second bubble splashed between them and they were subjected to the acid effect.

  Thimble performed a nimble step and kicked the third crab into the acidic pool. It wasn't a gigantic area of effect, only about 4 feet across, but seeing all three crabs briefly take 2 damage from it made Shelby happy. What a fun ability! She immediately ordered an Abrasive Jelly attack and Mallow chirruped in her ear. A heavier orb dropped to the cave floor with a squelch and quickly rolled into the melee ahead of them. It slammed into the back of one of the crabs and burst with a blue flash. All three crabs took 6 damage, and then they took 4 damage from the acid beneath them soon after.

  It stacks up! That's fun too! These abilities work really well together. Thimble's next attack hit especially hard as well. While Thimble was having difficulty with the mob of crabs, the combination of Mallow's afflictions and Shelby's continuous fire and piercing attacks quickly brought down one of the crabs and left the other two in rough shape. The stream of white damage numbers, even though they were small, was a satisfying sight.

  Inevitably, the crabs died, and Shelby got two more hunks of [Crab Meat] from the bodies. Thimble's health had fallen to half without Coda's healing, but they had plenty of time to recover as they climbed up through the grotto. The topmost tier of the area held two deep lakes that extended down well past the glow coming from the moss around them. The only way past the lakes was a thin strip of serpentine stone separating the lakes. The path went on for a few hundred feet towards a narrow tunnel on the far side.

  The water of the lakes was eerily calm, and there was nothing moving inside of them, not even the motes of glowing moss that were so plentiful in the ponds below. Shelby took a few steps out onto the lakeside path when Mallow began to chitter. She ran a hand over her companion's leafy fur and looked around for the source of worry.

  Thimble stepped up beside them and squinted into the gloomy depths of the lakes, asking "What's wrong?"

  "I think Mallow felt something..." Shelby responded.

  They stood still on the thin walkway and listened. Shelby felt a small, but growing, vibration. The water around them started to glow faintly pink. The vibrant water would have been pretty if it wasn't an omen of something horrible coming their way.

  Thimble gazed wearily at Shelby, "Should we be running?"

  She nodded. There was no good way to fight something between two gigantic lakes when they would take damage from Seahowl. Thimble turned on his heel and took exactly one step before a column of water exploded to their right.

  A long, undulating form arced through the air above them. Its body was flowing and white, with blossoms of red cones topped with searing white tips that covered its back. It had six arms draped with wavy folds of red translucent skin that trailed behinds sharp claws as they swam through the air. With its flight came a downpour of water that drenched Shelby and Thimble, and they immediately started taking damage. Shelby felt her fur start to dry as soon as a sharp gust of phantom wind bit into her, but she didn't have time to wait around for the effect to stop.

  Thimble grabbed her by the wrist and started sprinting towards the other side of the lake. The monster splashed down to their left and a fresh spray slammed into them, physically forcing them to slide towards the opposite lake. Thimble dug his heels in and Shelby braced herself against his arm. It took a few seconds, but they recovered and ran forward again. The dull red light under the water darted by them and grew in intensity until the dragon burst from the lake and twirled overhead a half dozen yards ahead of them. Thimble raised his shield over his head and kneeled to catch what little water he could on the small coppery circle as the monster crashed into the water again. Shelby didn't bother to try to avoid the geyser. The water was everywhere.

  Instead, she followed the creature with her eyes and read it with Shadow. Maybe they could put it down before this got out of control.

  Or not...