As Cixelcid promised, this dungeon is indeed Ice themed. Cain and Misha are standing at the entrance, marvelling at being able to see their breath after leaving the summer air outside.
The interior of the dungeon is a giant ice cave, icicles hanging from the roof and growing from the floor, random holes in the ice leading to the dens of the dungeon's residents. It's all blue and white and beautiful. But perhaps they only think that because they haven't seen the monsters yet.
The first pull brings them to what the dungeon calls Yeti, four of them to be exact. The plan is to alternate poison arrows to bring them down at a reasonable pace, while the shield Golems keep them off the human party members.
The shield Golems charge, starting the fight with a solid shield bash, moving two health bars from green to bright yellow, meaning that one slam took between a third and a half of this giant monster's health. The small Golems follow close behind, stabbing with their little knives and punching the huge, white-furred monsters.
Cain has only fired a few arrows, now noticeably dropping the monster's health on hit thanks to his new bow, when the first pair goes down.
The other two appear to be below half already, due to the efforts of the lesser Golems, and they're fading fast. The fight is over without Misha having to cast a single spell. In fact, the tanks are barely damaged.
Now a bit more confident, seeing the capability of the new and improved Golems, the duo pushes forward. Ice snakes, that look like the ice, but are warm to the touch, harpies and yeti meet them at every turn.
There seems to be no logical route through this place, it's all winding caverns and monster patrols. There also seems to be no boss, but they do come across two packs of elite Yeti that give the durability of the shield Golems a severe test. They're so physically strong, that their giant fists shake the ground with every hit, causing cracks to form in the icy floor.
Two hours in, they find a tunnel that leads down to a lower floor and follows it through. The contents appear to be more of the same, but with some huge burrowing worms that like to attack out of the floor with little warning. If they come up under you, Cain is quite sure they could swallow a person whole.
Another hour of Monster chasing and they've built up quite the assortment of loot, this new title seems to be no joke, or maybe it's just the nature of this dungeon.
[Cain has received a Grade D ability book]
[Book of Multi Shot] has dropped
[Multi Shot] fires three arrows at the same target. Compatible with known skill [Poison Arrow] Usable by Hunter, Ranger
"Hey, multi shot only uses 5mp, that's half what poison arrow costs. Now I'll be able to constantly shoot without buying physical arrows or running out of MP. " Cain gloats, looking over the book description.
"Your Golems will still do 90 percent of your damage except on bosses though." Misha teases him.
"Details, details. I'll feel much more useful if I'm doing something other than watching the Golems have fun or ordering them around."
Multiple hits from [Poisoned Arrow] turns out to be deadly against elite targets, the increased amount of poison burning their health away in no time at all.
It also makes fighting harpies a lot easier. They can't get too high above you inside these caverns, but they're hard to hit from the ground. Firing multiple arrows into their wings gets them to land pretty quickly though. Not that it's any safer, their long claws are savage, but at least you can fight them when they're on the ground.
Cain and Misha break for lunch, scanning over the hand drawn map of places they've been, looking for something they missed. Misha is sure they're just hopelessly lost, but Cain insists there's something more, something important.
"There, see there in the exact middle of this floor? A perfect circle with no caverns passing through it. I am sure it's a hidden room. We just need to find the entrance."
The place is feeling quite cold and lonely before Misha accidentally activates the hidden door, hitting her staff against the trigger in an effort to find traction in the icy tunnel they're exploring. A short hallway leads to a perfectly round room, as Cain surmised. One of dark colored stone, not ice like the rest of the dungeon.
But it's not the room that draws their attention, it's the giant Ice Dragon in the middle.
"I don't suppose that's what might drop the bow you wanted, is it? Because if not I'll gladly leave it be." Misha whispers.
"Unfortunately, I think it is. I'll have the Greater Golems go to the far side of the room, so they can fight it facing away from us, you can heal that far from here, right?"
Misha nods "Let me put the long lasting heal on them before they go. We don't know how much damage this thing will do to them."
The Golems successfully sneak across the room before the Dragon notices them and stands up with a roar. It's far larger than it looked all curled up, almost as long as the room is large, Misha will need to hug the wall to be safe from the angry swings of its tail.
The shield Golems are not having a good day fighting this scaled and fanged mass of pure rage. Cain had to call off Misha's active healing, leaving only the slow heal active, as it was burning through her mana too fast.
Instead, every minute or so, Cain replaces them and she puts timed heals on them, plus sporadic larger heals to keep the one taking the most damage alive.
Their interrupt ability has kept the boss from using its breath except for once, and most of its bigger spells, but Cain has had to physically block for Misha a few times, taking larger ice strikes with his much more durable body. After all, he's wearing Brigandine, she's wearing a dress with a wool cloak.
The Ice Dragon also seems to be resistant to poison. The debuff is visible in his system interface, but it should have been long dead from the effects by now.
Finally, the beast drops, bringing sighs of relief and a system notification.
[Player Misha has received a quest]
[Quest: The Legendary Tailor] has been accepted.
[Player Misha Has Received Legendary Recipe]
[Plans: Ice Dragon Robes] has dropped
[Player Cain Has Received Epic Item]
[Wing Of Frost] has dropped
"What's that quest? It gave you a legendary recipe?" Cain mumbles as the looks over the quest notification. Only Misha can get the reward, but both of them are on the quest.
Gather all materials from inside Icy Caverns and talk to a hidden tailor in town to learn [Plans: Ice Dragon Robes] and skill [Tailoring] lv20
That's not too bad, they've gotten most of the items already, and the quest says they all come from inside this dungeon. Plus, the recipe has no prior tailoring skill required, it grants [Tailoring] to whoever uses it.
Cain looks at his Epic Item drop, wondering what he managed to get.
[Wing Of Frost] bow, required level 30. Requires Hunter, Ranger. Cold damage +60, Chance to [Freeze] on hit.
"Look, I got my bow, we can move on now" he laughs.
"Yes, move on to the Hot Springs. I am positively frozen over here." Misha agrees, leading the way back to their apartment.
"You can head in first, I'll check over my inventory." Cain offers, seeing how even after the short walk back, Misha is still shivering.
"Would you like to join me instead?" Misha offers with a mischievous grin. Why yes, he definitely would.