Prompt: You bat away sticky drippings dangling from the ceiling as you duck into a new passage. A moist haze keeps your torchlight from revealing much, so you don’t see the downward slope ahead of you until your hoof slips on the mucky floor. You are suddenly speeding down a slick, gooey slide into darkness, gaining momentum as the dungeon whips past you.

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Paladin brought the sword down upon the skull, missing the crack entirely. A resounding CLANG filled the chamber making the rest of the team wince. The sword was vibrating from the impact, making Paladin vibrate with it. Hooves clattered upon the skull’s surface until Paladin was able to shake it off, just in time not to vibrate right off the top of the skull.
“You might want to aim!” Majesty called up.
Paladin shot her an unimpressed look to say the statement was not funny.
Jin and Cordula were still shaking the sound out of their ears.
“Okay, gonna try again…” Paladin mumbled around the handle of the sword.
Lifting the sword, then slowly dropping it down to line up his move with the crack in the skull, he raised it once more and then brought it down with all his might. Bullseye. The sword met its mark and they were met with a loud CRACK as the split grew longer. Paladin then pulled the sword one way, then the other. Using the sword as a bit of a lever he managed to widen the crack, then the skull began to split. The surface beneath him began to move in two different directions, both splanting and pulling him.
“Get down from there!” Jin called.
They were trying to be calm but everything began to move more quickly bringing a worried edge to their voice.
Paladin first stepped onto the half of the skull furthest from the wall, not wanting to get pinned or squished. Then the skull began to tip. Paladin slid across the surface, sword still in mouth.
“EVERYONE, MOVE!” Cordula yelled.
Jin, Majesty, and Cordula spun on their heels and bolted out of the way of the skull. Hoping to avoid getting crushed beneath it.
Paladin finally got his footing enough to jump off from the skull. Flying as far as his legs could carry him, he barely managed to land on his feet and take off running to join the other three coursers as they watched the skull fall. The far half leaned against the wall while the half falling before them rocked a few times on its side before settling.
“Well, the tunnel is still blocked, so what now?” Majesty asked.
“Half the skull is going to be easier to pull away from the wall than the skull fully intact,” Jin replied.
Paladin and Cordula looked at each other and nodded. Making their way over to the skull half leaning against the wall. They found a spot where the stone jutted from the wall, creating a center point for their lever. Wedging the tip of the sword between the skull and the wall and leaning the sword against the lifted stone, the two both pushed on the handle. A deep scraping sound reached their ears bringing relief to Jin and Majesty who had both been worried about having to turn back. This had so far been the most hopeful path and they weren’t sure they could find something better if they turned around.
“Almost…” Cordula started to say.
“There…” Paladin finished.
They gave one final push and the skull moved away from the wall far enough for a single courser to pass through.
“Got it!” Cordula chimed.
Jin and Majesty trotted over and Jin took a look down the passage. It was dark and they could not really get a good look.
“Alright, you two catch your breaths, we’ll mark the map and then get ready to head in,” they said.
While Paladin and Cordula rested, Jin and Majesty marked the map, adding the new tunnel and chamber, including the skull and noting what they had done there. They marked their suspicions about the other two tunnels they had noticed most likely led to the home, or prison, of the courser-like creature. Majesty also helped Paladin to pack up the sword in a safe way so he didn’t stab himself with it as they moved or in case they fell on it with all the incidents they had gotten into so far. With the monsters they had come across so far they all knew the sword could come in handy and they did not want to lose it.
“Well, I think I’m ready, you?” Cordula asked Paladin.
“More than ready,” he replied.
Jin looked over at them just as the two looked at them.
“Alright then, let me just pack up this map and then we will continue on our way.”
Carefully they packed the map and returned it to their pack. Standing, they turned to the group to make sure they were following, and then he began to lead the way over and into the tunnel.

The tunnel was actually quite wide, they just had to get through the opening they had created first. At first the terrain was flat, but it slanted a little ways in from what they could see, so they knew they were about to head further down into the dungeon. The group felt hope they would make it down to the base level of the main chamber at this rate.
Jin and Cordula took the lead, the two walking side by side while Paladin and Majesty followed behind them.
“Do you guys hear something?” Majesty eventually asked.
All of their ears swiveled at the suggestion, and they slowed, but did not stop. One more step and there was a squish beneath Jin’s hoof. Looking down they realized the floor was now covered in slime of some kind. Jin then looked up.
“That is a lot of slimes.”
As they all looked up, they could see many slime, almost enough to completely block the ceiling from view. There were blobs of all colors and their slime dripped from them and down to the floor below, covering it and making it slippery.
“Be careful everYONE!”
Just as Jin was warning the others they shifted their weight and were sent sliding forward. Down the incline they slid.
“JIN!” Cordula called.
Paladin tried to lunge forward to stop the fellow courser’s slide, but the momentum of his movement only sent him sliding forward, bumping into Cordula who began to slide. Majesty had tried to grab Paladin’s tail but that pulled her forward as she didn’t have enough strength. Soon they were all slipping through the darkness, hooves scrambling for ledges beneath the slippery layer of slime.
With Jin further ahead of the others, they tried to warn them about what was coming up.
“Watch out! The tunnel curves!”
They hit the wall with a decent amount of force, but no amount of scrambling against the stone wall could stop their descent. Their hooves were slick with the slime and there was nothing for them to bite down on to stop them. The others prepared to try as they watched Jin fail, but they saw it slowed them down, something Jin did not notice themself. They managed to slow their slide, allowing them all more time to think and prepare for what was next.
“Fork in the path!” they yelled next.
Jin looked between the two, trying to slow themself so they could decide, but the slime chose for them, sending them careening to the left.
“GO LEFT!” they yelled behind them.
Cordula leaned upon hearing that, moving themself to the left side of the tunnel. Paladin scrambled to follow but was not quick enough and Majesty still bit down on his tail. Cordula slid down the left fork while Paladin and Majesty slid down the right.
“WE LOST PALADIN AND MAJESTY!” Cordula called to Jin.
“WHAT?! DANG IT!”

“NO!” Paladin yelled as they slid the wrong way. “Majesty, hold on!”
“No duh!” she mumbled around a mouthful of tail.
“We can not get separated.”
"Again, no duh!” she grumbled.
The two tried to slow themselves, find any purchase in which to stop themselves. They had no idea where they were going and no idea where Jin and Cordula would end up.
“How do we get to them?” Paladin asked.
“I don’t know! First we figure out how to stop or not die, THEN we find them!” Majesty snapped back.
Before Paladin could reply, they saw a fork in the path, it was coming up fast. Majesty tried to think, tried to decide.

Jin and Cordula flew down the tunnel, both trying to slow and find a way to get back to the fork in hopes of finding Paladin and Majesty. Then they saw it, a tunnel in the wall but it was not something they could follow, it actually looked like it came from above and was covered in slime like their own. Cordula had an idea then.
“IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, FOLLOW MY VOICE!” she yelled up the tunnel as they passed it.

“If you can hear me, follow my voice!”
Majesty’s ears perked.
“LEFT!” she yelled at Paladin.
Together they leaned, getting themselves to the left side of the tunnel and down the left fork. Sliding around a curve and failing to group the wall, the tunnel soon joined another and they could see a pair of figures ahead of them.
“JIN! CORDULA!” Paladin chimed.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Jin sighed with relief.
“Look! There’s a platform with no slime! We need to aim for it!” Majesty called.
Jin and Cordula quickly looked ahead and saw what she meant. To their right was a decently large platform without slime, but the tunnel was equally wide and it was at an odd angle, barely visible from their direction.
“RIGHT!” Jin yelled.
They all leaned and prepared to make an attempt at the platform, the only chance they had seen thus far to stop themselves from this undesirable ride. Jin reached for it, hooves clambering for a grip. Then, the moment of truth was upon.