Deacon and Ralph arrived at the temple with no further delays. The western path to the temple was surprisingly clear of fighting. Once they were in the home stretch, they noticed people lining the streets. They were all injured in some way, shape, or form. The light emanating from the temple had a strange blue hue to it that Deacon didn’t notice the first time they were there.

They came in through the gates to find the inner courtyard packed with people trying to escape the fighting. Ralph ran forward looking for Genevieve while Deacon took Amanda out of the cart and placed her on the ground next to the steps into the temple. She had stopped squirming once they entered the light. Ralph came back out followed by Genevieve who gestured for him to bring the girl. Once inside Genevieve had them place her down on one of the pews. She began untying her and slapped Ralphs hands away when he tried to stop her. Once freed from the ropes Amanda just sat there weeping.

“She is in agony. I must work fast.” Genevieve said.

“But she’s dangerous, shouldn’t we hold her down at least?” Ralph protested.

“There will be no violence in the light of peace.” Said Priestess Malory stepping into the aisle with them.

“She means there can’t be. Astrael’s light is preventing all aggression and calming all hearts in its range,” Genevieve Explained, “Now stand aside, we need to draw the curse from the ring and bring her back to us.”

Genevieve and Malory began chanting over Amanda. They could visibly see the bruising and swelling of her arm begin to subside. The red lines that have been corrupting their way up her arm started to recede back into the ring. Suddenly the ring tightened before expanding and falling off her finger. Clattering to the ground. Malory sighed as she enveloped the ring in a globe of light. Another priestess joined them and took the orb away.

“We will lock that horrible thin in Astrael’s vault for safe keeping until we find a way to destroy it. There are others that need my attention. Please send others here you might find in trouble out in the city.” Malory said before turning and walking away.

“I will heal her, but you better leave her with me for now.” Genevieve assured Ralph.

“I’m sorry.” Amanda said exhaustedly slumped in the pew.

“We need to get going. Are you in communication with the Guard Captain?” Ralph asked.

“Yes, we have a crystal.” Genevieve answered.

“Then tell him there is an issue with the above ground cemetery south of the Adventurer’s Guild. Deacon and I are going to check it out. People are just lined up outside the gates. Something is terribly wrong.” Ralph replied grabbing Deacon by the arm.

Quest Complete-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. You have earned one hundred and eighty Guild Renown; you now qualify as a Generalist within the Guild. Your Guild Renown is now two hundred. To qualify for the next tier you will need four hundred and fifty Renown.

“Deacon, I can’t thank you enough for helping us. If you ever need anything all you need do is, ask.” Ralph said as they moved back down the street headed in the direction of the graveyard.

“What’s a guild mate for?” Deacon replied.

“It’s more than that. You could have killed her, but you made sure she was captured. We are in your debt.” Ralph said.

“Fine, then as of right now the three of us will bring down Elder Ruby together.” Deacon said as he nodded sharply at Ralph.

After only a few minutes of jogging they back in the neighborhood of the above ground cemetery. Pressed up against a wall, Ralph peeked around the building to see that the line had gotten longer. Only this time they could see someone organizing the civilians. Ralph snapped back before he was spotted.

“We have a problem.” He said.

“What else is new?” Quipped Deacon.

“No a real problem. What do you know about the Vasilly Empire?” Ralph asked.

“Less than you could imagine, bud.” Deacon answered.

“Well their ruling class have no legs below the waist, just a snakes tail. Then there are the worker classes that have legs but are still covered in scales. After that they have slave races. Most other races fall into the last category for them.” Ralph explained.

“Doesn’t seem sustainable. Wouldn’t they be ripe for a rebellion?” Deacon asked.

“Well that goes back to their ruling class. They have an ability to hypnotize their targets by starring into their eyes. I just saw one lining up the people out there. We have to kill it.” Ralph said.

“Say no more.” Deacon said as he started to turn the corner before Ralph pulled him back.

“Are you really this stupid or is this some kind of act?” Ralph admonished.

“But you said…” Deacon started but got cut off.

“A Vasilly Lord would be a tough fight on its own as it tries to get you to look at its eyes. While you try to avoid them you will be attacked by its guards. Never mind it might just turn the crowd against us. Then we are fighting civilians, The Empire, and whatever guards he has. You need to think before you act.” Ralph said.

“And your proposal is?” Deacon asked tamping down his frustration.

“We circle around to the far side of the cemetery and attack them from behind. That keeps the civilians outside the gates out of it and gives us time to scout their numbers.” Ralph said.

“That’s a pretty good plan. When it all goes to shit, then I’ll attack the snake guy.” Deacon said through a toothy grin.

“It’ barely midnight and the others are still hunting Vampire Cullep. I still can’t believe that one. This is our contribution. Let’s get it right.” Ralph said as they turned down an alley on the far side of the cemetery.

In the rear of the cemetery was a wrought iron fence. Deacon found a bent bar and began to widen it. He slowly started to bend it further when he saw Ralph drop down on the other side and beckon him forward. Not one to be left behind Decan started to climb and fell on his ass on the inside of the fence. Getting up he followed behind Ralph coming up behind what looked like a statue but was in fact a Vasilly guard with his back turned. He appeared to be wearing commoners clothes. From behind you could easily see the stub of a tail just above its butt. The guard had a pipe it was puffing on making rings of smoke. Deacon looked at Ralph who gestured for him to go left. Ralph went right. When the next puff of smoke went up Deacon took out his legs while Ralph impaled him on his sword with a thrust. The guard didn’t even have time to scream as the smoke from his pipe billowed around Ralph. They dragged him off behind a mausoleum. The second they put the body down they heard a hissing sound and some other voices. Deacon and Ralph crouched down real low to listen.

“The child of ruin has captured my agent. That was only plan A. I still have others that will kill him.” Came Elder Ruby’s voice.

“If you weren’t so incompetent, the champion would be already dead, and he wouldn’t have been there to interfere with my plan. If he wasn’t there, they would not have been able to seal those doors. The Guild Masters would have been overwhelmed and Eobard would be in control of the city. All because of your failure.” Said Lord Cullep.

The next voice was in a language Deacon and Ralph didn’t understand. Deacon put one finger up in the air and used SAYance to consume the soul of the soldier they just killed learning the Vasilly language.

New language learned- Vasill common, this is the language of the worker cast of the Vasilly empire. By using SAYance to learn this language, this knowledge is temporary. You will have one week before it is no longer available.

“…for you both. This city will be ours tomorrow no matter what. The Empire has paid you handsomely for your efforts in this. Blood for your nest and slaves for your cult. I do not want to hear about this champion anymore. He is one low level human. I fail to believe it’s his fault and not your collective incompetence. Now Ruby, do you have the map to the old one?”

“I do.” Answered Ruby.

“Take your cult there and secure the temple. With their rise, these shadow operations will no longer be necessary. Leave now and only contact me when you arrive. Cullep, my agent tells me the evolved kobold reinforcements have been wiped out. That means your mines will only have the soldiers I provided you.” Said the Vasilly Lord.

“I’ve passed a message to a group of Marauders I hired to weaken the southern territory. I haven’t head back from them yet so we should expect assistance from them. Your troops in the west should be more than enough to take the city.” Replied Lord Cullep.

“They better be. I will continue making thralls here. You may want to show yourself in the northwest of town to keep the focus there while I work. If we are lucky, we will have a full third of the population under our control before daybreak. Now, get back to work.” Said the Vasilly Lord ending the conversation.

Deacon quickly relayed what he heard from the Vasilly Lord to Ralph. Deacons eyes were wide as he realized everything he’d done up until now was connected to this invasion plot. That can’t be, how would he have been in the path of all these separate things. He’d have to worry about this later since they heard movement coming from the mausoleum.

“Sven?! Where the hell are you? You come here. Go find Sven, he must be off somewhere with that pipe of his.” Said the Vasilly Lord.

Deacon and Ralph slowly crawled away in the opposite direction of all the shouting. When they were far enough away from the shouting, they got up to their knees. Looking over a gravestone they could see at least three figures walking around and one big half snake man slithering through the cemetery.

“Ok there are at least three soldiers in disguise and the lord. We might be able to do this, but I’d rather have some help.” Ralph said.

“Nonsense. I’ve learned my lesson about soldiers. If don’t give them the opportunity, they can’t break my legs.” Deacon replied smiling.

“If Amanda were here, she could sneak up on one of them leaving the other two for us. Then we could take on the Lord together.” Ralph said in hushed tones.

“Well she isn’t here. I have an idea, but you aren’t going to like it.” Deacon said.

One of the Vasilly soldiers opened one of the above ground crypts and looked inside. They had no idea where Sven went. Suddenly he felt a weight slamming him into the crypt. He stumbled and sprawled out on the floor. He quickly popped up to turn around and see a human closing the door and locking them both inside. It was unseasonably cold in this crypt, but he’d warm up by cutting this human in two pieces. He must be an idiot. He drew his weapon and the human just stood there. The next thing he knew the world was spinning and everything went dark.

Deacon successfully separated one soldier from the rest by shoulder tackling him into the crypt. Quickly following him in, he slammed the crypt door shut. While the soldier was getting to his feet Deacon used his aura to lower the temperature in here hoping it would slow down the reptilian mans reaction speed. This idea came to him based on the lizards that would fall out of trees in Florida when the weather dropped below the average. Being inside the crypt he didn’t have to spread the effect over too large a space. Luckily for Deacon this strategy worked. It almost appeared like he was moving in slow motion. Deacon had two Ice Sickles meet in the middle of its neck and watched his head bounce along the floor.

Deacon rifled through the dead soldiers belongings finding a communication crystal, five gold pieces, and necklace. The necklace was in his left pocket and Deacon wondered why he wasn’t wearing it.

New Item- Summoners Necklace of the Four Winds- This necklace allows anyone with the Summoner specialization class to call the air elementals of the four winds. Three out of four charges left.

Notice- You do not meet the restrictions of this item…Rule Breaker has activated you can now use Summoners items.

Deacon grabbed his head in preparation for Rule Breaker migraine. Only this time he heard a loud noise, but it wasn’t crippling. That was a nice change of pace. He put the necklace on immediately knowing it would come in hand. Deacon then exited the crypt to find Ralph dragging another body his way.

“Hurry up I think they…” Was all Ralph said as four-foot-tall tombstone slammed into him knocking him on the ground. The Vasilly lord stood rose up dropping the tombstone. It slithered over to where Ralph was trying to shake the cobwebs off and get to his feet. It hadn’t noticed the open doorway with Deacon inside. As soon as he got near Ralph there was a sharp whistle from the crypt.

“Hey ugly. Why don’t you bring that ass over here instead?” Deacon yelled.

“You dare!” Screamed the Lord switching targets and moving toward Deacon.

“You won’t leave this graveyard alive. You understand? You face Deacon Champion of Cheshire.” Deacon said confidently with his hands on his hips.

“Champion of Cheshire?!” The lord asked letting out an unnatural coughing sound that Deacon could only assume was laughter.

“Now!” Yelled Ralph as he drove his sword deep into the end of the Lords tail changing laughter to screams of pain. Then Deacon used Spectral Dash to close the distance between him and the Vasilly Lord delivering a wicked gash to its midsection thanks to his micro–Ice Sickles. Green fluid started to pour out as the Vasilly Lord ripped his own tail off and started to slither away. The final guard rushed in to cover his lords retreat and was greeted with a roundhouse kick to the face from Deacon followed by a beheading from Ralph. Now there was just Ralph, Deacon, and the Vasilly Lord.

Ralph still looked a little woozy, but he was healing fast thanks to being in a party with Deacon. They both circled the Lord in opposite directions. He was bleeding out, that much was apparent. The question was will this be a blaze of glory or out with a whimper.

“If you kill me, there will be nothing to stop the forces to the west from burning this city to the ground.” Said the Vasilly Lord.

“What’s he saying?” Ralph asked.

“Empty threats, we need to kill him so I can take his soul.” Deacon said emphasizing the second part in fluent Vasill.

“I can pay you. Just don’t let me die.” Pleaded the Lord.

“Pay back all the people dying tonight and tomorrow.” Deacon said Nether energy radiating from his eyes.

“You are some kind of demon!” Hollered the Lord before lunging at Deacon. He moved fast enough to slam one of his claws into Deacons chest and lifted him off the ground. Ralph was already in motion, but he would get there too late. Deacon grabbed both of the Lords wrists and crushed the ulnas with his strength forcing it to drop him. Deacon then looked at his health bar seeing he was at twenty percent. What the hell were his claws made from that they could do that much damage to him. As Deacon hit the ground Ralph attempted to run the snake through. His sword bounced harmlessly off his hide. Ralph received a stiff backhand for his trouble getting another grunt from the lord considering the sad state of his wrists. One hand over the bleeding wound in his abdomen and the other limp at its side, he decided to wrap around Deacon like and anaconda and squeeze the life out of him. As it started to move toward Deacon it lit up with blue light that constricted it down into the size of a rolled-up carpet. Deacon took this opportunity to create an extra-large Ice Sickle and plunge it into his heart. There was a spurt of green blood and then it stopped moving.

“Holy shit. We almost lost that one.” Deacon said rubbing his chest as the wounds began to close.