Your Inventory has been confiscated

All Armor Pieces have been removed*

*Covenant cannot be unequipped

The Following Talents have even Disabled:

Charge

Battle Rush

Pommel Strike

Punishing Parry

Bloody Haste

You have received a Quest!

"Out of the Web and Into the Burrow"

Objective: Reclaim your Equipment and Escape!

Rewards: Jorogu Social Link Increase | XP | Dreadknight Set Piece

Tony woke to the series of notifications and updates finding himself in a plush chamber. Pillows, Hookahs, drapery, and oil lamps formed a majority of the room's decoration. He was almost comfortable in the room until he noticed the leather cuffs around his wrists that attached to chains bolted to one of the four pillars in the room. In place of his armor and other normal attire, Tony was dressed in billowy red pants that reminded him of "Aladdin" and a tight linen crop top in the same color.

"Oh what the fu-" he started to groan before silencing himself.

Rule number one of being captured and imprisoned, don't make any noise until you've checked the room, dumbass. Tony scolded himself.

The room was massive, seeming to be a function hall with large stairways going up and out in the center of each of the main walls. The large pillow he'd come to on was just one of many in the room that laid next to large seating areas. With the slack left in the chain, Tony guessed that he would be able to move into the entire seating area, complete with a very sturdy table in the center. His skin started to crawl as his imagination wandered involuntarily toward what he or others would be forced to do at, on, or under the table. In each corner of the chamber was an "Arachne" of the Padinus Swarm, their bottom halves were those of Emperor Scorpions, complete with pincers and a barbed and segmented tail while the top halves were humanoid female bodies, covered in chitin armor. The weapons they carried drew his attention away from their physical forms.

Each guard carried a pole weapon. On the end that they pointed at any of the servants who thought to disobey was a shepherd crook with blunted spikes on the inside of its curve, the other end of the weapon was home to a spear point, presumably for the servants that got too far out of line. Lashed diagonally across their torsos were a pair of whips, two of them to be precise. From one of the whips dangled shards of glass with razor edges, and from the other were small hooks. Tony could only guess that the dual whips were purposed similarly to the two ends of the polearm, one for recapturing willful slaves, and the other to put them down.

Summon Dreadblade and Adamant Slash hadn't been disabled, but, trying to fight his way out seemed to be a poor decision. The flowing pants and belly shirt didn't even register as armor in his interface and those whips would tear him apart before he could break through the group of guards in the room, let alone however many more there were in the corridors beyond. Tony continued to survey the room as he stood from the massive pillow. The other servants in the room were still sleeping, except for one.

She looked like a Celestial Elf but the glowing white point above her head was eclipsed and somehow more vibrant. Her skin was darker than the elves he'd seen, her hair and eyes were brighter, almost a luminescent white which contrasted sharply against the crimson uniform she was also dressed in. Tony tugged at the chains around his wrists, testing just how secure they were. The bolts keeping one end in place groaned as he pulled hard on the right chain.

Before he could react in a meaningful way, a whip cracked across his back, claiming five percent of his HP and applying the Bleeding Status for thirty seconds.

Bleeding: Lose 15% HP over a duration of 30 seconds.

"Son of a Bitch!" Tony shouted, "what the Hell's the matter with you?"

The guard with the offending whip screeched at him and waved their crook at him.

Language: Padinus Rating: Inconherent

"Well Aaaaaah! To you too!"

Tony's eyes flicked to the top left corner of his vision, he almost had enough lore to activate something. He was sick of this, being chained up and put on display like a piece of meat. The subtle clack of arachnid appendages against stone flooring told him that one of the guards was approaching. Maybe he could take advantage of the closed distance.

You have recieved a Party Invitation from:

Name: Vixie Race: Void Elf Level: 17

Class: Alchemist (Natural Concoctor)

Do You Accept?

Yes No

Tony accepted the invite and was greeted by two notifications.

You have recieved a Private Message. Please configure your Private Message preferences in the Party Settings Screen.

Achievement Unlocked!

Smooth Sliding: Send or Receive a Private Message from an individual who is not on your "Friends" list.

Tony focused on the message notification, causing the "channel" to open up between him and Vixie. The messages exchanged over distance were done "through" the system, so, Tony heard them in his head.

"Whatever you're thinking about doing, don't. There are only four guards in here now, but if you start a fight there will be ten more in here in a second." Vixie said.

"So I should just continue being beaten?" Tony said back.

"It's either that, they'll haul you off to the torture chambers, or they'll kill you. Your call."

"My how encouraging you are," Tony said as the guard arrived where he was.

She hissed, clicked, and screeched at him more and menaced him with the whip, his blood still dripping from its sharpened edges.

"I don't know what you are saying," Tony said loudly and deliberately, trying to drive his lack of comprehension home.

"No pull! No break! Or get whip!" the half-scorpion hissed at him.

For a moment, Tony considered relaxing. However, as curious as he was about just what the scorpion-folk wanted him to do, chained up and in a belly shirt, being chained up for the second time in as many times as he'd regained consciousness had made him grumpy, to say the least. His eyes flicked to his status bars and he needed to do a double-take. He was back to full HP.

Tony took inventory of his traits and talents, he'd underestimated the effectiveness of the Ascendant Healing Factor. While his blood still coated the shards of glass and metal at the end of the lash, the cuts they'd left had stopped bleeding, and the bleeding status didn't deal enough damage over time to impact his overall health pool in a meaningful way.

Tony smirked as he ignored the guard's warning and continued to pull at the ties that bound him, activating Invincible Will, its enhancement, and its upgrade Indomitable Self. He felt the swell of his muscles and a sense of numbness came over his body as the temporary HP kicked in. The crack of the whip against his skin and received thrusts of the sharp end of the polearm felt far away. What Indomitable Self didn't affect was how it looked as the temporary HP was chewed away. Long gashes, deep punctures, and streams of blood made Tony a grisly sight.

"Stop!" Vixie shouted from across the room, kicking bottles, glasses, and lounge paraphernalia at the guard.

The guard's head snapped around at Vixie. At that moment, the chains finally gave way and sprang from their post. Tony closed his arms, almost as if hugging himself, causing the chains to fly inward and slam into the guard. The chains tangled with the guard's many limbs and weapons, causing it to disengage.

"Vae Victis!" Tony roared, sacrificing the last of his temporary HP to summon Legion. The Dreadblade sang through the air and cleaved through the chains connected to Tony's wrists like they were paper mache, then looped around and settled into his grip.

Tony lunged forward, surging at the surprised guard and burying his blade into its humanoid chest, then pressing through into its arachnid "preabdomen" pinning it back to back with itself. He twisted the blade with both hands before tearing it sideways out of both torsos.

Your Dreadblade has absorbed a new soul

Time to Process: 3 hours