Winter personified

Young Frost Wyrm, Level 43
Monster, Wyrm, Magical
An adolescent, and relatively weak, frost wyrm. Frost wyrms absorb heat, causing them to be freezing cold to the touch and chill their local environments. Fully grown adults can be nearly invisible when still due to their glassy, transparent bodies.

The creature in the cave in front of you stretches nearly twenty metres long. Its body is like a long and thick snake, with the head of a dragon. It lies still as if sleeping, but occasional flicks of its tail carve deep trenches in the ice and belie its alertness.

"Are you done sitting around 'scouting?' Let's kill ourselves a dragon already!" Seramiel doesn't seem to care about the massive level difference between your party and the wyrm, toying with her sword while you peek around the corner.

"Okay, wait until I shoot a fireball, then everyone in. Sera and Tlax, you're in melee. Everyone else keep your distance. We don't know what this thing can do."

"Aw, can't I be in melee on this one?" Ari pouts and gives her sword a test swing.

"Actually, can you lend Sera Frostfang for this fight? She might need the cold resistance: it sounds like this thing is freezing cold up close."

"Hmph, why can't she use a bow for a change?"

"She's specialized for swords, you aren't." Ari rolls her eyes at this and keeps waving Frostfang around. "Please? You can have me all to yourself for a night after we get back."

"And don't you forget it," she gives you a quick peck. "But I still want to stab the next thing we fight."

Having quelled the dissension in the ranks, you glance once more around the corner. The wyrm's lair is a massive, hemispherical cave, numerous bones littering the icy floor. Long icicles hang down from the ceiling and stab up from the floor, giving the impression of a giant, icy mouth. The stairs where the roar came from are on the other side: unless you want to backtrack and brave your way past who knows how many winter wolves, you need to get past this wyrm. Steeling yourself, you step out into the tunnel and loose a fireball.

The ball of golden flame streaks across the room and strikes the frost wyrm. The fire itself almost immediately dissipates, tongues of flame bending towards and then sinking into the wyrm's body, but the holy magic scorches its thick, glassy scales. The beast roars in pain, and although the damage was not as severe as it ought to be it's good to see that the wyrm isn't completely immune to your abilities.

Behind you, your companions leap into the hall, weapons drawn. However, just as they start to charge, the beast opens its mouth to reveal jagged teeth in front of a dark tunnel. Its pitch-black throat begins to glow, only in the back at first, and everyone barely manages to dodge back behind the icy walls before a torrent of flame shoots from the monster's maw and fills the hallway. You and the twins avoid the worst of it due to your affinity for fire, but Tlax and Ari whimper in pain as their skin nearest the hallway turns an angry red: even metres away the air is scorching hot. Finally, the flames abate and you leap back into the action.

The five of you dash down the corridor as quickly as possible, dodging behind the massive icicles at the last second as another cone of fire illuminates the room in a red glow. You have to take care not to slip on the melted ice as you leave cover, the slippery surface an unfortunate side effect of the wyrm's attack. Your group splits up before it can breathe again, spread around the circular room to prevent all of you being caught in the same arc by the burning breath.

Ari steps out to shoot an arrow, but has to duck immediately back behind the icicle as the snake-dragon darts forward, jaws wide open and large enough to swallow her hole. Its forward momentum carries it past her position, slamming into the wall at high speed and shaking the cavern, a few broken icicles raining down. Seeing that it's momentarily stunned, Tlax slithers up onto its body, fangs trying to find purchase between its scales to little effect, while Sera hacks at it with her sword. Even the enchanted weapon has trouble piercing its hide, but the black rot that appears where it strikes and where she stabs at it with her tail shows that her efforts are having at least some effect. Mariel rains ice arrows on it from a distance while you launch a fireball at its incapacitated head, and Ari relocates to a better hiding spot before joining in.

After fifteen seconds or so, the wyrm's tail suddenly flicks to the side, the heavy impact sending Seramiel flying across the room. She crashes through two icicles before falling to the ground, one wing bent at an odd angle as she pants. Undeterred despite her injuries, she shakily stands up using her sword as a crutch before uncorking a potion and downing it, broken bones cracking into place as the draught heals her injuries. Tlax bites deep between two scales and holds on for dear life as the wyrm's thrashing causes her body to fly about. Finally, it dislodges its head and spins around, charging at Mariel this time. She flies up in an attempt to dodge it, but just as it nears her it suddenly raises its head above the ground, and she barely flits to the side, her body careening through the air due to an impact with the wyrm's scaled cheek. Momentum halted by its relatively successful attack, it wheels around and charges at you, and you take the lesson to not try anything fancy: you set yourself on the other side of the biggest obstacle at the last moment.

This time, the huge beast bursts straight through the icicle, its now-closed mouth slamming into you and knocking you off your feet. It thrashes its head side to side as you fly through the air, the huge chunk of ice forming a makeshift collar holding it in place. You manage to stabilize into a glide and land relatively gracefully, nonetheless wincing in pain at the substantial damage you took from the initial impact. Sera and Tlax are back to their **** on its side, and Ari's volley of arrows is soon join by those of a recovered Mariel. The chamber glows red again as the wyrm breathes fire, this time directed at the far wall. Its intent becomes clear when the fire bounces back into its face, vaporizing the ice into a cloud of steam and freeing the massive reptile.

The monster turns to see that Arialle and Mary have ended up near each other in the chaos, this time charging at the pair of them in hopes of an easy meal. They dodge to the side and it seems to stay its course, waving from side to side in indecision before crashing into a wall. Stunned again, the black wounds start to spread across more and more of its body as Sera makes the most of its paralysis.

"Ari, Mary, let's try that again. Stay in twos and split the same way!" When the wyrm frees itself, it charges the two of them and stuns itself again when they split in opposite direction. Having figured out its weakness, your group—mostly thanks to Sera—are able to dispatch it without much more difficulty. A few minutes of precise dodging later, the massive beast lies dead on the ground before vanishing into a heap of transparent scales that glitter in Frostfang's pale light. You collect the reward and regroup, you and Mariel each downing a healing potion and all of you downing mana potions from the resource-intensive battle.

"Thanks! Let me borrow it again some time?" Sera hands Ari back her silvery sword after wiping away a bit of silvery blood. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Enileve's angels weren't made for sneaking about."

"I'm proud of us and all too, but we're still almost out of potions already. We need to be careful if we want to make it out of this dungeon with the necklace." Mariel carefully goes over your remaining supplies while she talks. Apparently some of Enileve's angels don't mind sneaking about after all.

"Just remember, next time I get to do some stabbing," Ari's mock pout does little to conceal her happiness at the victory.

"Hssssssss," the naga lets out a sad hiss, contrasting with the feeling of the rest of the group.

"Yeah, sorry Tlax, I really do need to spare some mana to get you some new abilities." You scratch her head, a little embarrassed that you've neglected your first champion so much recently. Enthusiastic though she is, there's only so much she can do against the huge beasts and powerful adventurers you've faced more and more of late.

After a few minutes of rest, Mariel seemingly satisfied now that she's counted everything three times, you stand up and begin to walk towards the stairs on the far side of the cavern. Another roar echoes from far above, the shaking knocking you off your feet on the slippery surface. You swear and rub your banged knee before pushing yourself to your feet and resuming your trek upwards.

The climb up the stairs is long, and your party's earlier excitement is banished by the anticipation of meeting whatever is responsible for the noise. You had hoped it was the drake you fought earlier, but it seems you aren't so lucky. Finally, after fifteen minutes or so of climbing, the floor evens out, a faint golden glow emerging from an archway ahead.

The chamber beyond is breathtaking. Piles of gold and jewels are heaped haphazardly throughout the massive room, its ceiling so high it's barely visible despite the glow. Manasilver ingots lie in huge stacks along the walls, and racks hold exquisite weapons and armour while others are tossed onto the heaps of treasure. Ari and Sera step forwards, but you and Mariel grab their arms and pull them back.

"Wh—" you cover Seramiel's mouth before she can yell out, and she squirms in your arms.

"Shhh. If I'm right, I think we might have found our 'mascot's' friend." You whisper so quietly you can barely hear yourself.

Understanding dawns in the fallen angel's eyes and she quits squirming, so you let her go and she stands quietly at attention.

"Everyone stay low and see if you can spot our necklace. I'd like to get in, grab what we're here for, leave the letter, and get out. The treasure is tempting, but I can't help but feel it's a one-way ticket out of here."

A minute later, Mariel grabs your arm and points. A necklace fitting the one described by the daemon lord sits around a bust of a regal woman with fox ears carved out of pure manasilver. You point it out to Tlax and the naga grabs Zoxxzzixxaith's letter in her fangs and creeps into the room at a glacial pace.

The room suddenly glows with a bright red light as a massive plume of flame erupts deep in the heaps of gold. The ground rumbles and you squint your eyes at the bright light, then suppress a gasp as you notice that a huge section of air, nearly forty metres long, shimmers slightly as if something is moving. Your whole group freezes, the environment so still and silent that you can hear Ari's heartbeat, but after a moment the blaze subsides and the shimmering stops. Tlax goes back to creeping along, even slower than before, towards the statue.

After what seems like an eternity the naga has reached the statue and reaches up to the necklace, nudging it with her head until it slips over the top of the bust. It falls into the adjacent pile of gold with a clatter, and you all freeze once again as the room begins to shimmer once again. Suddenly, your attention is drawn to voices from another door far across the cavern: Amara peeks out, and with a shout of triumph charges at the heaps of treasure in front of her.

"Nae, lassie, wait! I ken sense that something odd's afoot!" The dwarf's cries are ignored, and suddenly you can't hear anything but the deafening clatter of falling metal as the room itself seems to move towards the barbarian. Tlax rushes towards you, necklace clenched in her mouth, as fast as she can as you can barely make out the silhouette of a massive beast, easily 100 metres long, pushing its way through the heaps of treasure.

Niriossa, Level ?????
Monster, Wyrm, Magical, Legendary
Known as the mother of all frost wyrms, legends say that a great ice age gripped the realms when Niriossa's boundless hunger threatened to devour all warmth. She was driven back by a coalition of heroic adventurers and has not been seen in aeons, but they say that she will live as long as fall turns to winter every year.

"My lord, why are you just standing there? We need to go!" You feel yourself being dragged away by your two angelic concubines as a huge burst of fire ignites in the cavern you just left, its baking heat so intense that the ceiling begins to drip. You throw yourself down the stairs, two steps at a time, until the screams of the adventurers fade into the distance, only the roars remaining.