Hash wanted, more than anything else, to hug a giant otter. She stalked the thing with her spell ready, waiting for it to get distracted.

9 was moving parallel to her, not nearly as quiet. He was supposed to draw the creature's attention; stealth would be wasted.

Finally the giant otter noticed him. It chirped (adorably), lifting onto its hind paws. Hash was sure its teeth and claws looked terrifying to 9, but all she saw was grey-brown fur.

Deciding to do it, she darted forwards and wrapped her arms around the giant otter.

It was so soft.

It was also incredibly angry. It spun around, trying to dig claws into whatever was on its back.

Hash let herself get thrown off. She rolled a few times, going down a hitpoint, and let the spell loose as soon as she was still.

BOOM!

A wave of sound hit the poor otter square in the chest, knocking it backwards. It squeaked angrily, dazed.

9 ran up with his battleax and decapitated it.

The giant otter vanished, leaving behind a nice pile of loot.

Hash healed herself as she got up.

"Couldn't help yourself, could you?" 9 asked, shaking his head.

"They just look so soft," she shrugged. "I wish I could get the skin off one and make it into a sleeping bag."

9 looked horrified. "No. I'm not sleeping in a fur sleeping bag. What if there are fleas?"

"Fine, sleep alone," Hash said, transferring dropped gold to her inventory.

"You are truly evil."

She smirked at him. "Just as well they don't drop fur. You'd look all cold and pathetic by yourself and I'd have to get rid of it."

"I wouldn't ask you to, but… fleas."

She patted his arm. "I know, sweetie, I know."

*****

Frog cursed, watching his goggles get sandblasted. Sure, it was better than getting his eyeballs sandblasted, but he'd hoped wearing goggles would let him see.

He was wrong.

Never mind. He heard Octavius cast a spell, felt the sand stop moving, and cleaved through the air with his greatsword.

Frog felt resistance twice before the tip of his sword hit the ground. He grimaced, knowing it would take hours to get his sword sharp again. They had to find a better way of killing air elementals.

"Two more down!" Ringo called. "One left!"

"On it!" Kerav shouted. Lightning flashed.

Frog pulled his goggles off and tried to spot the last air elemental.

"Not on it!" Kerav shouted, covering his head with yellow wings as a sandstorm formed around him.

Frog looked at Octavius.

"Cooldown!" Octavius reported.

"Ringo!"

"I'd have to drop the snakes!"

Behind Ringo, a dozen snakes were happily doing the conga around a rock pillar. Releasing them from charm magic would mean Frog would have to fight them, and he'd really rather not.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to his greatsword, kissing the blade tenderly before giving a warcry and swinging through the sandstorm at the last air elemental.

*****

"I've never drowned before," Fire said dreamily as Steel frantically pulled levers.

The room was filling with water, and Steel didn't know how to make it not do that. The last two cycles he hadn't paid attention to the combination, and he wasn't smart enough to figure it out on his own.

"I wonder what it will feel like," Fire continued as she floated in the middle of the room. "Air gone, water rushing into the lungs… It will probably burn. And then we will respawn and get to do it again. And again. And again."

She kept going, but Steel tuned her out. He was pretty good at tuning her out. Especially when she got that tone of voice.

"...Won't it?" Fire asked.

Steel looked at her, his toes no longer touching the bottom of the room. "Sorry?"

"I said, it will be a fun experience, won't it?"

"Well…" Steel looked at the ceiling. "I don't think so. I don’t want to drown."

Fire blinked in surprise. "Oh?"

Steel shrugged.

"You have a fire resistance potion?" she asked calmly.

Steel nodded, pulled it out of his inventory, and drank it. He was very well-trained. Unfortunately.

Fire waited five seconds, focused, and cast a spell. Water around them boiled, turning to vapor. Steel's feet touched the floor as Fire focused her spell into basically a blowtorch.

The solid stone door melted under the power of her magic. She turned to him and nodded once. Steel sloshed over, pulled his fist back, and punched the door with all the strength he had.

Pieces of rock bounced down the stairway as the door exploded, followed by a flood of hot, grimy water.

"Perfect," Fire said, flapping her wings.

"I need to figure out how to open the door correctly," Steel sighed, punching the opening wider.

“No. This works,” she said, flying through.

Steel followed on foot.