“What? Are you serious?” Asked the guard stumbling over his words.

“Very. Answer me.” Deacon said.

“Rolento Taurant, scion of House Taurant.” Mumbled the guard cowering at the opening to Deacon’s cage.

“How do I lower this cage?” Asked Deacon.

“You can’t from here, only up by the secure room. But you can’t get in there, its warded.” He said.

“Fine. You push this down.” Deacon turned and called to the now slowly flickering Phantasm Knight. It tilted its head like a dog that didn’t understand. During this awkward moment most of the spirits the knight called started disappearing or being absorbed by Deacons breathing technique. The Phantasm Knight lifted its fist and slammed it down on the top of the cage forcing it back down without breaking the bars. As a side effect he crushed the guard Deacon was interrogating as well.

Back in the holding pens, Ralph watched as an unimaginable amount of blood came streaming through the seams where Deacon’s cage lifted. He whispered a silent prayer to himself on Deacon’s behalf. The adventurer was young but brave. Ralph thought it was a shame he had to go out that way. Then he noticed his health bar was almost full. Deacon was still in his party and his health was creeping back up to full as well. What was going on up there?

“Hey, is that your buddy's blood?” asked another prisoner.

“I don’t think so, according to my slate he’s healing up quite nicely.” Ralph replied.

“Never seen that much blood make it down here. Names Eugene by the way.” Said Eugene.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ralph. Be ready for anything, he has a reputation for being unpredictable. At least that’s what my fellow adventurer said.” Ralph replied.

Just then Deacon’s cage came slamming back down. The bars of his cage bowing ever so slightly. Inside the cage was scene from a nightmare. The bars were covered in gore and there was a nude Deacon with glowing green veins and eyes. Easily describe as nude he had a layer of blood over almost every inch.

“By the Ten Hells! What happened to you?” Ralph exclaimed.

“Got into a brawl with the upper management. I doubt we’ll be seeing any of them anytime soon. Now to get you out of here.” Deacon said as he began bending the bars the rest of the way. He was finding it difficult.

“Nope. That’s not enough. Why are you naked?” Ralph asked.

“They stripped me when they brought me in. You had to have seen that.” Deacon replied incredulously.

“I can see your dick!” Ralph yelled.

“Oh, gimme a sec.” Deacon reached into his bag and grabbed a pair of his recently acquired pants. As he put them on, he noticed ice was forming on the bars in front of him. If he could get them cold enough, they might become more brittle.

“I know this isn’t the best time, but have you seen Amanda around? She was acting weird the last time I saw her.” Ralph asked.

“I have a lot to tell you about that, but we should focus on getting out of here first. I don’t know how much time I’ve bought us. I don’t think they’ll come down here looking for me.” Deacon replied as he strained against the bars. Finally, with a groan, one bent far enough to break and let Deacon through. Once on the other side of his cage, he looked at the state of Ralph. His bruises were all gone, and he looked like he was in fighting shape. Deacon stepped over to the bars and tried focusing his aura on a smaller section. With any luck he could drop the temperature faster and both could pull the bars apart.

“You could just get the keys.” Said Eugene from his cell.

“What?” asked Deacon startled by a new voice.

“They keep them on a hook just up those stairs. I saw them put them back after they locked you in. I’m Eugene by the way” stated Eugene.

“That’s a much better idea. It’s getting cold in here.” Ralph said. With that Deacon jogged up the stairs and found the key ring. He’d take the win this time. After unlocking both Ralph and Eugene he checked the other cages. No more contestants in here. Deacon approached the chute they send the dead bodies down and felt an itching from his shoulder. The closer he got the worse it was. Then he remembered the undead sense he got from Bael.

“Nope not going that way.” Deacon said.

“Why not? It’s probably the most unexpected option. No doubt they are amassing upstairs waiting for you to come out.” Ralph said.

“Not sure about amassing. I made a big mess. Most were running for their lives. Doesn’t matter, I’m sensing undead down there. I’ve got a pair of pants on and both of you are in your small clothes. Oh right I got more clothes while I was upstairs.” Said Deacon handing out shirts and pants he took off the dead guards. He kept a pair of boots for himself. Didn’t want to keep walking around bare foot. He put them on.

“This shirt has brains on it.” Said Eugene.

“Best I can do right now. We go up the stairs. Eugene, was it? Can you fight?” asked Deacon.

“Not really, I’m a cobbler. If I had a needle or a hammer, I could do some damage, but they broke my hand the last time I was up there.” Eugene said.

“What about that War-hammer?” Deacon asked.

“Too big for me.” Eugene said.

Deacon dug into his bag and took out one of the potions he made the previous night. He handed it to Eugene who looked at it with awe. It was a standard healing potion, but it would have to do until they got out of here.

“Got any swords in that bag of yours? I won’t be much help without one. I don’t have any skill levels in hand-to-hand combat.” Ralph said.

“Sorry, there are a lot of weapons on the arena floor right now. If we get up there fast enough, you can have your pick of the liter.” Deacon replied as they made it to the top of the landing. Deacon opened the door to find no one in the hallway. They took their time going down the hall until they arrived at a T intersection. Deacon looked left to find the wide-open arena entrance with bodies strewn everywhere. He indicated to Ralph to grab some gear. He came back in about five minutes wearing a bloody chain shirt, some armored boots, and a long sword at his hip. He handed Eugene a small mallet he found. Eugene took it in his good hand and followed the adventurers down right turn in the intersection. Every time they passed a door they checked to see if there was anything useful. One set of double doors led to a bestiary with all manner of creatures. One cage was so large Deacon didn’t know how they got it down here let alone get it through the hall to the arena.

Once they found another staircase, they slowly made their way up. Deacon put his ear to the door but didn’t hear anything. He sniffed the air coming from the cracks and got hints of grass and fertilizer. Quickly turning to Ralph he signaled he was going to open the door. The three escapees braced themselves as Deacon pushed the door open. On the other side of the door was a well-manicured yard. Several acres in fact leading to the back of a large manor. Deacon poked his head out looking around. To their immediate left was a large gate house and gate. It looked like several deep tracks were in the dirt road and the gate was wide open. Ralph popped out to look.

“These look like carriage tracks. I think I know where we are.” Ralph said.

“This is definitely Taurant Manor.”, Eugene said. Both adventurers looked at him. “What? I made shoes for them.”

“How do we get out of here?” Deacon asked.

“Well we are on the east side of the Plateau if memory serves. We need to circle around to the south entrance and go up the Ascent Road.” Ralph answered.

“All those people couldn’t have come out this way.” Deacon said.

“There must be an entrance atop the Plateau.” Ralph guessed.

Just then the gate closed shut and two men strolled out of the gate house. They started talking quietly with each other checking their gear and heading toward the doorway Deacon was standing in. When they noticed the door was opened, they became alarmed and drew their weapons.

“Shit! I think they saw me.” Deacon said.

“Oh I think we can take them.” Ralph said with a wolfish grin. Deacon thought he looked a little too excited.

Deacon and Ralph burst out from the doorway at the approaching guards who stopped in their tracks. One of them started to mutter under his breath and his sword began to crackle with lightning. The other took in deep gulps of air then pushed his right hand forward at Ralph knocking him over with blast of wind. Deacon closed the distance with the electric sword wielder and struck out with a kick. He received a nasty slice on his thigh for his troubles. That strike took thirty percent of his health and his leg felt numb.

You have been affected by Paralysis Blade. Your leg will not function for the next twelve seconds.

The wound was closing rapidly thanks to being in Ralphs party, but his movements were now hampered. The guards face was implacable. He stood there waiting for Deacons next attack. Ralph had gotten back up and closed the distance with the wind user. There was a flurry of strikes back and forth. Ralph used a parry and riposte move and got his blade into he guards shoulder. That forced him to drop his weapon but that was all Deacon was able to see. His opponent took his momentary distraction to lunge forward luckily Deacon's aura has been up for awhile now, he spectral dodged to the side punched the guard right in the kidney. His wounded leg didn’t like that, and he fell on his ass after the strike. The guard winced in pain tucking his left arm into his body.

Critical Strike- You have damaged your opponent’s organ.

Deacon never saw a notice like that before. He was down to his last five seconds of paralysis. Deacon began spinning his hand for an Ice Sickle when the guard Jumped up and smashed both feet Deacons knee in the blink of an eye. The move hit hard enough that Deacon heard a crunch from his leg. The guard projectile vomited blood and fell over. That’s when Eugene showed up and smashed his head in with the hammer. Deacon looked down at his leg. There was a bone protruding from what was left of the initial sword slash, and he was bleeding heavily. His vision started to waiver from the pain.

“You can’t pass out. You need to stay awake.” Said Eugene lifting Deacons head up. That’s when he saw the other guard sliding off Ralph's blade. Ralph came running over.

“We need to push the bone back in.” Ralph said.

“The guard used Crippling Stomp. He must have used the last of his stamina to do this much damage.” Eugene said getting side eye from Ralph.

“How does a cobbler know that?” Ralph asked.

“No time for that now. We need to get out of here before we are discovered. That was not silent.” Eugene replied. Ralph began pushing Deacons bone back through the cut. Eugene covered his mouth to muffle the scream of pain that came from him.

“He needs a healer.” Eugene said.

“No he doesn’t. He’s got a Perk that is constantly healing both of us.” Ralph said.

“That explains why you’re back in fighting shape. Quickly, there must be some mechanism in the gate house they used to shut it.” Eugene replied.