The Floor 6 portal deposited them into an antechamber that felt less like a room and more like the inside of a glacier. The temperature drop was immediate and violent. The ambient cold had shifted from a harsh environmental hazard to a critical threat; it clawed at their skin and seeped into their bones. Even wrapped tightly in their Winterhart cloaks, the chill was suffocating, forcing the air out of their lungs in ragged, barely visible puffs.
"Five minutes," Nathan said, distributing warming crystals from the pouch Vex had given him. "Potions if you need them. We've got two floors before the boss."
The party settled into the antechamber, backs against the ice walls, weapons close. Red's wool had softened to its non-combat state, the Mad-Sheep's four eyes half-closed. The Cloud Serpent coiled around Dillon's shoulders, its scales crackling with faint static. Elise's Frost Golem stood motionless near the portal, drawing ambient cold into its crystalline body.
