“You stay the hell back or I’ll spray her life all over this carriage.” Said the man with the knife.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. How do we end this with nobody’s life spraying all over anything? Really gross by the way.” Deacon said as he hoped off the carriage back down to the street. He needed the hostage taker to exit the vehicle. Maybe he could pay him off. A bloodless interaction would be a nice change of pace. They managed to climb up and out with his hand firmly clasped around the little girls neck.

“You say anything, and I’ll bleed ya.” Said the knife wielder to the little girl.

“So what’s this about money? I’ll give you some coin to walk away and leave the girl with me.” Deacon said.

“Generous offer. We’ll take your coin off your body, no matter what happens.” Said a new voice from behind Deacon.

Deacon spun around to see Efimeo, that little shit from the other day who was taken away by Mr. Clean. Behind him were three other goons slowly closing in on Deacon. With one carriage on its side and the other tangled up in horse meat, they had him boxed in really well. Too well. Someone else had to plan this since he didn’t believe Efimeo to be that clever.

“I almost thought you’d walk away like someone with a brain. The icing on the cake was the girl calling out. Pay her and let her go Pete.” Efimeo said.

“Seriously, you think me going missing isn’t going to be noticed? All the racket this crash caused will surely bring the guards.” Deacon said.

“Oh no! The guards!”, mocked Efimeo, “No they are bought and paid for. Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you here. I must make up for my mistake the other day. If you can’t make money on it why bother? That’s the lesson I keep forgetting. At least that’s what my instructors tell me.”

Deacon noticed the little girl run down an alley leaving him with four grown men and Efimeo. He grunted again as he tried to clench his aura. If no guards were coming, he was going to have to kill all of them, but the little girl could place him at the scene if pressed. He really wished he had some pocket sand right now. His only option was to surprise the one coming off the carriage. He would be unbalanced and vulnerable. Deacon did just that, as the man put his hand on the edge of the carriage to brace himself for the leap down, he found a spinning roundhouse kick to that hand toppling him over onto two of the three men boxing Deacon in. Efimeo and the other man lunged for Deacon allowing him to use Spectral dodge. Learning a lesson from his initiation fight he curved the dodge around Efimeo backhanding him to the head. Efimeo sprawled out on the floor face down. Deacon now had a clear path to run. Turning around he came face to face with Amanda who blew some strange powder into his eyes and shocked open mouth.

Notice-You have been dosed with Sleep Powder. You have fallen unconscious. This affect will last 1 hour per level of the creator.

Deacon watched the world around him wink out. He vaguely remembered hearing Amanda calling the others amateurs. This must be the end. It was a good run for a second life, Deacon thought. Maybe he’ll finally get the afterlife he deserved. Unlikely.

“Wake up.” Said Zageracks.

“I’ve been chemically knocked out. I can’t just wake up.” Deacon thought back.

“They are dragging you somewhere. Killing you isn’t their plan. I need you to remember what you just saw. Think hard Deacon, I know its not your strong suit.” Zageracks said.

“What? That crazy bitch blew powder into my face.” Deacon responded.

“It was Amanda, but she was only escorted out a few hours ago. She didn’t have time to prepare all of this. Think harder, remember every detail.” Zageracks implored.

“Well I turned around ready to bolt and I saw Amanda right in front of me. She raised her hand to my face and…” Deacon started to say before an image appeared in his mind. It had green borders around the edges and was a perfect snapshot of the moment.

“I have to intercede; your human memory leaves out so many details. Look at her hand.” Zageracks urged. Deacon studied the hand in the image Zageracks was showing him. It appeared to have a ring on the index finger with red veins traveling from the ring into her hand. The ring had a red stone in it. A ruby red stone.

“Elder RUBY!” Deacon mentally screamed. That realization explained why Amanda was acting so batshit crazy. It never had anything to do with being humiliated in his entrance exam. Elder Ruby continues to play the puppet master. Did this Efimeo kid even know what was going on? How was he going to get that ring off Amanda’s finger? Could he even do that with all those veins…no ruby shards like when the knife was growing into his side. This is above and beyond dogmatic faith, we are clearly into zealotry now.

New Quest- Shouldn’t Put a Ring on It- Amanda Siegfried is being controlled by a cursed ring. Remove the ring and return her back to her old self. Reward- Loyalty of Amanda Siegfried and Ralph Tanner, Guild Renown, and an increase in Guild Tier.

“How did you know something was wrong?” Deacon asked the dragon.

“I can sense Ruby’s taint ever since you got stabbed. I don’t think she is strictly following the doctrine anymore. Amon is one of my oldest enemies and I can tell this isn’t his doing.” Zageracks said.

“Oh good. You are enemies with a god. Glad I’m carting you around.” Deacon replied.

“Focus. We’ve just been dropped in a cell. They are taking your clothes and wrist wraps. You’ll most likely see a reduction in effectiveness.” Zageracks said.

Attribute

Score

Intelligence

15

Strength

35

Speed

36

Agility

17

Wisdom

14

Luck

300

“Well at least they can’t take the bag.” Deacon said.

“They are trying to cut it off you. These guys aren’t very smart. Now they are trying to cut the skin around the strap off you. Good idea, just not going to work with your protections. They’ll need better gear, and it looks like these guys can’t afford it. Ok you are coming to. Good luck.” Said the fading voice of Zageracks.

Deacon started groggily moving his head. His eyes fluttered a little bit as dim light reached his eyes. Not knowing how long he was out, he started slowly moving his arms and legs. No damage. His health bar looked good, and his soul energy was topped off. The only downside is he was down to his small clothes again. Typhus would be laughing his ass off if he was here. He missed Typhus.

“Looks like he’s awake.” Came a voice from a cell on the opposite side of the room. Deacon could see pretty well in the dark and it was a shape vaguely familiar to him.

“It’s me, Ralph Tanner. The guy from your initiation. Amanda’s partner.” Ralph said.

“Where have you been? Sorry, here obviously. Where is here?” Deacon asked.

“It’s not good Deacon. We are in the Shadow’s Ring. Their fight pit. These fights have no rules. I have been down here for days. I’m pretty beat up. Does anyone know you are here?” Ralph asked.

“Nope, got nabbed right off the street. Not important, Party up with me.” Deacon said.

“Now? We are in prison cells.” Ralph said.

“Trust me.” Deacon said.

Party Invite- Guild member Ralph Tanner has invited you to join his party. Joining a party allows you to see your party members health, mana, and stamina. If a party member can inspect, the information is shared with the party. Skill growth will count for all members as well. Join the party Yes/No.

Deacon mentally smashed the “Yes” option and quickly looked at Ralph’s status. He was right, Ralph was only down to twenty-five percent health. Ralph wouldn’t last much longer if that kept up. Good thing Triage was a fantastic Perk. Ralph’s health started to greatly improve. By Deacon's estimation he should be up to full health in the next ten minutes or so.

“What the… are you doing this?” Ralph asked.

“Keep it under your hat. Now how often do they feed us?” Deacon asked.

“Feed us? They just beat on us until we expire then they dump whatever’s left down that chute over there.” Ralph pointed as he answered.

“Keep quiet down there or we’ll drag you out to the Arena.” Came a voice from the doorway.

“Why don’t you go fuck yourself?” Deacon yelled.

“Not smart.” Said Ralph.

“Which one of you practice dummies just said that?” Asked a burly man with a War-hammer working his way down the aisle.

“It was me chump change, what’s it to you?” Deacon said.

“Oh the new meat, you were next up anyway. Let’s see how big your mouth is after a few rounds with the beasts.” Said hammer man as he stepped just a little too close to the bars. Deacon's right hand shot out grabbing his tunic. This whole time Deacon had been letting his aura loose on full blast so there was a significant amount of ice coating the ground in and in front of his cell. Yanking hard he smashed the man’s head against the bars repeatedly. He had no secure footing to pull back away from Deacon, so he just kept falling face first into the bars until he just slumped on the floor bleeding from his smashed-up face. Deacon began trying to force the bars apart in front of him. With a groan the bars began to bend ever so slightly. The drop in temperature was causing the solid iron bars to chip and fracture. Then the whole cage started to move up slowly.

“Deacon don’t die!” yelled Ralph.

Deacon found himself lifted to the ground floor of a caged in arena. This was easily eight times as big as the one he had his initiation in. As his cage finished lifting the front bars slid down and got stuck. Apparently, there was an obstruction. Deacon looked down to see half of hammer boy’s body caught in the mechanism. There goes the whole no killing thing he thought.