There wasn’t quite enough room to hold out his wings and flap correctly in the damp mossy tunnel David was busily lurking in, but he didn't let that discourage him. He slowly extended one wing at a time down into the steeply sloping tunnel that led into the den of the slithery dog things and shook it hard, shaking loose a thick cloud of silvery powder that drifted down the tunnel carried by a faint draft. It slowly coated the walls, floor, and ceiling in a thin and easily disturbed layer of Dusk powder that continued to spread as he alternated wings methodically to ensure the maximum amount of it drifted down the tunnel. Even in the oddly uniform colors that he saw in pitch blackness, he could see the difference between the first two-thirds of the tunnel and the bottom of the stone ramp that he was still working on reaching.

That’s gotta be enough right? They’re gonna be almost touching all the sides when they come up, it’s building up on the floor in some places. No way they aren’t all totally covered in it by the time they get out…Maybe just another five minutes.

David continued to fill the tunnel with Gloom until his wings started to itch and the silvery half-moon patterns seemed to lose their shine. He pulsed an Echolocation at them curiously only to find that the almost microscopic scalelike hairs were depleted, the membrane diaphanously thin in their absence. He shrugged a bit and admired his handiwork for a few moments, the entire slope of the tunnel now polluted by the silvery powder. Even the faint draft of air being pulled downwards was enough to disturb the almost weightless substance, making it roll over itself even further downwards in a curiously liquid-looking motion. Finally satisfied, David turned his back on the den and hustled back the way he’d come, stopping just before the ceiling started to open up.

Okay, I don’t think it’s worth Overcharging Screech for this. Man, I hope Claire didn’t fall asleep or something, that took a while. I should go warn her there’s more than we thought before I–

A sneeze rolled up the tunnel behind him and David, to his horror, replied without thinking.

“Bless you.”

His brain caught up with his mouth almost instantly, and he spun quickly enough that he smashed his left wing into the stone, ignoring the ache from the hit and the notification that popped up to accompany it.

–You have taken 1 Impact Damage–

He counted 8 wide, flat muzzles covered in silvery powder pointed at him as the creatures approached in total silence. They were bunched together tightly, uncannily long necks all extended over and under each other’s bodies to produce an almost solid wall of malevolent faces in the tunnel ahead of them. They were utterly coated in the Dusk Powder and every one of the creature’s pupils was massively dilated, the beasts shaking slightly despite their attempts to hold still and remain silent. At least two of the creatures seemed to be just going through the motions as their gaze wandered around thoughtlessly, clearly disoriented.

David’s heart felt like it would beat right out of his chest as he went cold, a tidal wave of adrenaline hitting him before his brain even had time to properly form a good swear word to describe the situation. Another of the beasts sneezed rapidly, breaking the standoff as David blasted out the breath he had been holding in terror. The explosion of sound had nowhere to go in the tight space, and the weight of the stone above only served to funnel and amplify it more effectively. The Screech hit the creatures like a solid wall, and their howls of pain were lost in the ringing that dominated even David’s hearing in the aftermath of the Ability. Blood splattered from more than half of the creature's ears as they shook their heads in agony, snapping and clawing at the others around them while they desperately tried to escape from the pain and confusion as the debilitating effects of David's abilities began to add up.

To David’s credit, he had already begun to run, whirling in place with an agile hop and darting as quickly as his stubby legs would carry him away from the pileup of nightmares while they raged in the darkness behind him. His wings scraped painfully against the tunnel walls and he charged forward as fast as he could, suddenly painfully aware that he wasn’t very fast on the ground. He reflexively pulled up his readout as the ringing in his ears began to recede and the sound of the unhinged snarling began to gain on him from behind.

–Health: 38/40–

–Stamina: 125/140–

–Screech has leveled up!–

–Gained 3exp!–

–Gloom has leveled up!–

–Gained 3exp!--

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–Slitherwolf’s Disturb has faded–

He glanced at the notifications quickly, skimming them for anything vital before a guttural snarl from close behind broke his concentration and he was smashed to the floor, teeth colliding painfully with the stone as his head was trampled. He caught a quick flash of the Slitherwolf as it bowled him over, ignoring him completely as it bit at the heels of something only it could see and surged past him at a hysterical pace up the tunnel. David was still scrambling to his feet as the rest of the group caught up to him and he was crushed by the weight of the creatures while he desperately tucked in his wings and curled into a ball. Sharp clawed feet tore into his hide and ripped his delicate wings as he was sucked into the group of maddened Slitherwolves and trampled again.

He vaguely heard an enraged yelp as he became tangled in one of the beast's legs and it crashed to the floor on top of him, snapping viciously around itself in panic. David screamed in pain as one of the bites connected with his hind leg and the Slitherwolf locked its jaws, shaking him savagely and slamming him into the stone floor with every jerk of its head. Alarms screamed in the back of his mind and his vision swam crazily when his head smacked off of a protruding rock and he was momentarily stunned, body drooping and his wings going limp on the floor. The pain in his leg was excruciating, and he felt blood begin to pour onto the ground under him as the limb went strangely cold despite the fiery pain.

The creature released him after a moment and began to sniff at the blood seeping from his leg as David fought his way back from the edge of unconsciousness. The sheer pain of the bite had ignited a tiny spark of defiant anger deep in his chest and he clung to it like a lifeline, allowing it to grow and spread, pushing back against the pain. He snapped his eyes open and stared deep into the creature’s slightly surprised visage as it wrinkled its bloody lips in a snarl of surprise. He felt a wave of exhaustion seep into him as he activated a long-ignored skill out of pure instinct.

–Glare has leveled up!–

–Gained 3xp!–

–Glare has leveled up!–

–Gained 3xp!–

–Unnerving Mutagen has leveled up!–

–Gained 3xp!–

–Gloom has leveled up!–

–Gained 3xp!–

–Bonus: Control Combo |3|–

–Gained 9xp!–

David let out a sibilant hiss that seemed to go on endlessly as he pinned the creature with his gaze and lurched to his feet. The Slitherwolf had frozen in horror, dilated pupils fixed shakily into his own eyes as they desperately failed to look away. He maintained eye contact as he hunched low to the floor, ears pinned back along his neck as he slowly crept towards the beast in unthinking fury, and blood smeared along the passage in his wake. The beast leaned away in fear, angling its head up and away as it tried to flee with a strangled bark of alarm. David lunged the instant that the mouthful of lethal teeth was no longer pointing at him, jaws latching onto the creature's lengthy neck just below the jaw.

Cartilage crunched and skin parted as David dug his fangs into the creature's throat and yanked, tearing a large wound into the flesh that only widened as he frantically snapped and tore at it. He wrapped his wings around the beast's neck as it tried to buck him off, snatching up its shaggy pelt in his claws tightly and holding on for dear life as the beast screamed while he tore into it. They crashed to the floor and he felt the beast's sharp hind talons tear into his back as it attempted to kick him off of its neck, paws scrabbling at him savagely. David closed his eyes and continued to tear into the creature's throat until the retaliation turned into twitching and wet, labored breathing.

He released the creature and slumped to the ground, numbly limping away from its corpse as the breathing rapidly came to an end long before the twitching ceased. He glanced shakily at his readout out of reflex as his hind leg began to tingle and go numb.

–Health: 18/40–

–Stamina: 62/140–

–You are afflicted by Crippled–

–You are afflicted by Weakened–

Half health feels more like half-dead and I don't like how that sorta makes sense. I need to get the fuck out of here, Claire’s probably in trouble.

David crawled painfully over the corpse of the Slitherwolf and began to limp down the rapidly widening tunnel. He rounded one of the gentle curves in the wall and bright sunlight from the entrance suddenly stung his eyes, forcing him to squint as the barking and snarling outside grew to a frenzied pitch. A bone-shaking, raspy roar rang out that shook small pebbles loose from the walls of the cave entrance. It was followed by a split second of silence that segued smoothly into a long agonized Slitherwolf howl that cut off rather suddenly.

David sat down on his haunches and smiled woozily to himself as Claire continued bellowing in anger while she distributed a vintage prehistoric ass-whupping almost uncontested. Her Large scaly silhouette sprinted past the entrance to the cave holding one of the beasts in her jaws while she pursued three others.

I think I’ll let her take it from here.