It had started as a few puddles. Droplets spattering as hooves slapped carelessly upon the pristine surfaces. Then the faint smell of damp permeated the air, growing heavier and heavier as the air grew colder and colder.

Soon enough, the group found themselves splashing through water that kissed the tops of their hooves, sending chills creeping up their legs. It grew deeper and deeper until they were wading, the ripples tickling their knees.

Autumn had clambered onto Aislinn’s back demurely flicking the damp from her russet coat as she began to clean herself in a way that was more feline than fox.

Emberclaw was having trouble, the water rising steadily higher and higher against their fiery body. They were too big to climb onto anyone’s back – even Karlach’s – and with their body so low to the ground, they were beginning to chitter worriedly.

The corridor they’d been wandering down widened into a cavernous room, archways rearing up all around them, archaic and ancient, cracked and crumbling. The silence echoed louder than any words, disturbed uncomfortably by the splashing of their movements. Here, now, the water level seemed to settle, though Castalla doubted Wolf’s lava ant companion wanted to stay here any longer than they needed.

“Hey,” Wolf exclaimed, his voice loud in the towering room, “we can get clean now.” He wiggled in the water, trying to free the grime from their tumble down the slope.

Aislinn blinked and lowered herself slightly into the water, sighing in relief. She’d fallen on her side and the gloop from the slope coated even the left of her face.

Castalla, unable to quite let go of the instinct that told her to always be on alert, to always watch for threats, scanned their surroundings. Though much of the cavernous room was bathed in gloom too deep to pierce, their torches lit the immediate surroundings well enough that Castalla spotted a shape in the water. She narrowed her eyes.

It moved steadily, gracefully closer, an ominous hump in the waters.

“Heads up,” she growled, drawing her weapon and squaring her stance.