[Do you wish to enter the dungeon: Great Tree Of the North? Please note, there is a special event occurring, which will add additional complexity, risk, and reward to this dungeon. Player limit: 5]

Mason winced, knowing somehow Streak wasn't finished with his kin and wouldn't be soon. That meant he could have brought another player and didn't.

And, he suspected the 'event' had to do with getting to this tree last. But unless he was willing to turn around, go back and get someone else, it seemed they were just going with four. He accepted the prompt.

The world faded to black, and as Mason blinked his eyes back to focus he expected small, wooden halls and a generally 'tree like' setting so far seen in all the other tree dungeons. Instead he saw only ice.

"Wow. It looks like Elsa's palace."

Mason raised a brow and glanced back at Rebecca.

"Y’know? From Frozen? The Disney movie?" When Mason said nothing Becky just rolled her eyes. He turned back and inspected what looked like a ramp made of smooth ice going up, and a tunnel going down.

He moved closer and tried to listen, hearing clear growls that were probably gnolls from above, and vague sounds of scratching or digging below. Then he smelled it. Sour. Acidic. The familiar scent wafting clearly from below. Just like the Devourer's lair.

"Did your Disney movie have six armed giant bug men, by chance?" he asked.

"Umm. No."

The others all leaned forward to try and look down the hole over Mason's shoulder, and he sighed.

"Go underground and deal with humanoid bugs? Or climb up ice ramps and deal with hyena men?"

"Master salesman is our Mason," muttered Seamus. "I vote, emm, up? I guess? Figure I can deal with cold. Course I might melt through a ramp and fall to me death...ah hell."

"Hard to fight with a sword in a tunnel," Phuong said. "I vote up, too."

Becky just shrugged, and Mason sure as hell preferred to avoid getting buried alive again.

"Up it is." He took a tentative step onto the ramp and winced slightly. It was slippery for his bare feet, and rather unpleasant. But he kept going, and saw Duality of Strength and Transformation flicker in the corner of his vision. He suspected it wouldn't be a problem long.

Together they climbed and stared at the crystalline insides of a spiraling circular tower. It was the inside of the tree, Mason supposed, but he hardly saw how that was possible.

Then the ice ramp ended, though above them the hollow structure continued on and on. There was no way to go. The way up just...stopped.

"Emm." Seamus glanced around, then peeked over the edge and pulled back with a cringe. "Am I missing something, then?"

"A great deal of things, I expect." Phuong gestured, and Mason soon saw a nearly invisible platform of ice or glass maybe five feet away and slightly higher than the platform.

"Ah Jesus. I change my vote." Seamus shook his head and stared as they all took turns spotting a series of the platforms leading up. "No fecking way can I do that. Not a chance."

Rebecca didn't look wild about it, either. Mason took a deep breath and decided he'd scout up a bit first.

"We have rope. Phuong and I can lead, and we can go slow. But maybe first I'll take a look."

"Aye, take a good, long look, I'll be right here." Seamus hunched slightly and stretched out his hands, like the thought of going up was already giving him vertigo. "Ah bloody hell mate look down. You can see through the ramp a little. We're already pretty high."

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Mason gave Becky's shoulder a squeeze, then without much more than the thought to do it, leapt to the first platform.

It was pure ice, and he slid.

He dropped instantly and flattened himself as he heard the others gasp, quickly slowing and soon stopping the slide. His heart did a bit of a tango, and it occurred to him he probably should have tied a rope first because actually...Seamus was right. The drop was already a good fifty feet.

He very much doubted it would kill him, but he might wish it had for a minute or two. Then he'd be back climbing up...probably with, well, flying squirrel flaps, or thicker bones. Or who the hell knew what.

The platform 'ice' seemed surprisingly sturdy, at least. Mason really didn't want to test the limits until they had some safety plans in place, but he'd leapt to it without any hint of a crack or sign of weakness.

He stood back up and looked for the next platform, spotting at least two or three he could likely reach. Options were good, that was for sure, though he suspected it might be some kind of maze going up.

What they really needed was some way to mark the damn things and keep themselves from just slipping all over the place. Rope was better than nothing, but the people they tied it to might just slip and fall off, too...

"Sand," he said as it occurred to him, then glanced back at the others. "We go down to the tunnel. We get sand or dirt or whatever, and I'll go first and cover the ice sheets with it."

"Clever." Phuong said, Becky grinning as Seamus closed his eyes.

"Thank God. I thought I was going to shit myself."

Mason leapt back and slid into the wall to stop himself, looking at his strange, barely visible reflection with a curious stare. He almost looked...hairier? Had he already started to transform into something more useful? Surely it wasn't so cold that he'd need to be covered in...

A huge crack sent him a step away from the wall, and he summoned a Claw. Ice split all along the frozen ramp, the wall next to it rattling with crashes and scratches and breaking ice.

"They're in the walls," Mason said, feeling a deadly calm take over his mind as the others summoned weapons and stepped around him shouting in confusion and panic.

The bloody gnolls were in the walls.

* * *

The crystalline structure shattered in patches, revealing another 'mirrored' ramp on the other side, covered in white-furred gnolls.

Like their previous kin, these stood slightly taller than a man, their hands ending in long claws, their mouths open to reveal two rows of sharp teeth. They cackled and growled as they charged towards the icy platform, and Mason ran to meet them. Rebecca stepped up beside him.

Every instinct in his body told him to push her away from danger, to keep her far in the back while he handled the threat. But he knew he had to trust her. She was a player, like him, and a hell of a lot tougher than she looked.

With the limited width of the connecting ramp, the gnolls could only cross two at a time.

"They'll get close, then leap," he said. "I'll wait for them to hit your shield, then hack them apart."

Becky nodded, her breathing fast. At least ten gnolls were lining up to take their turns. Behind them, even more were moving to other ramps going up and down, and Mason suspected would have ways to reach them.

The first two crossed the ramp, then roared and charged with claws extended just like the gnolls Mason fought in the tutorial. Both hit Becky's shields and slowed like they'd struck water.

They raked their claws and gnashed their teeth at the translucent blue barrier, but looked like dogs pressed against a window. Except it wasn't a window. And it was only one way.

Mason slashed straight through the shield, feeling only a tiny loss of momentum as his Claws carved two lines of blood. The gnolls howled in surprise as they pulled back, and Mason followed hacking limbs and torsos until one then both dropped and slipped off the platform, falling the good fifty feet to the bottom.

Then Mason stepped back behind the shield and waited.

"Two down," he said. "Maybe thirty to go." He glanced up to see more gnolls were breaking through above them, leaping to icy platforms with clawed feet and impressive agility. Something about it confused him and felt wrong, but he was too busy to grasp it.

"Seamus." Mason slashed at another gnoll as it struck the shield. "Start making the lives of those platform leapers miserable. Phuong, get ready to replace Becky, I think we can just cut them apart."

Seamus grinned as his eyes blazed. His staff materialized in his hand, and he held it up and started loosing fiery missiles above.

"But don't..." Mason kicked a gnoll flying back and started to remember he wasn't a normal human in a tutorial anymore. "Don't break or melt any platforms. We might need to use them still."

"I'll do my best, chiefy," Seamus said, loosing more fire just as Mason saw a flaming gnoll drop in his peripheral vision.

Becky and Phuong swapped in the narrow space, and Mason gave the older man a wink.

"Let me know if you get tired."

Phuong glared, then weaved his sword through the air, making a purplish glow and a building hum like an electric generator. As the next two gnolls charged, the glow solidified and loosed, smashing into them with enough force the first blasted backwards like he'd been hit with a truck, the second flying sideways off the platform.

Mason raised his brow, and the old soldier grinned.

"New power. I'll use it in our next duel."

Mason grinned, but it faded as he watched the next group of gnolls climb over the body of their comrade without hesitation.

"Save your mana for Phuong and Seamus," he said in Becky's direction. "I think we're going to need it."