Guildmaster Willarm, the last to succumb to the chloroform filling the room, suddenly got back up. And rushed over to grab the fox woman sent to retrieve them.

She instinctively reacted to the noise by backing away, while turning her gaze toward it. To find out what it was.

The dungeon/Hero reacted to it with half-panic, half deciciveness. Quickly opening up the Resource tab to form a stone ball about the size of a large beach ball. 60 centimeters wide. (23 5/8 inches)

Then popping it into mid-air at the ceiling over the pit.

With the acceleration of gravity, it took 1.4 seconds to fall to head height down in the holding cell. In this time, the guildmaster successfully grappled the fox. Holding her in his left arm and pulled her back toward the knotted rope. Still hanging down from the top rung. While he craned his neck upward to see into his escape route, *SMACK* the small boulder connected with a glancing blow straight to his right temple. It continued down to strike his shoudler directly. The rebound from this was enough to crack the rock nearly in half.

The larger piece fell toward his front, hitting his foot as well, though with less force.

The cranial impact concussed him enough that he didn't feel the pain of his shoulder dislocating. Nor that of three of his toes breaking.

It also dazed him enough that his grip on the fox woman loosened. She broke free, jumped up by nearly a meter, and grabbed the hanging knotted rope. With that as a handhold, she unleashed a flurry of stomping kicks onto his injured head and shoulder. Until he dropped, his conciousness overwhelmed by pain as well as a severe concussion.

A stone slab then appeared. She read it by the light from the several everburning torches. Which were dropped by the adventuring party who had also been dropped.

{Sorry about that. I guess his Con stat was too high for him to be affected by the gas so quickly. Seems fine now. Leave him until morning. Otherwise, continue as planned. Hurry, before the others start to die from it.}

A voice echoed down the hole "Are you okay, Dara‽"

"I'm fine Tivor, Petunia! The last one was just a bit more lively than expected! Give me a moment to ready the first one!"

¤

Like originally planned, the beastkin adventurer slaves were removed from the depths. As well as their slave collars. Their soon-to-be-former owner Rex was left on the edge of the gas filled area. And the lively man was left where he fell, for later retrieval. The first had all his belongings Inventoried into a pile in the basement. All of his bags, weapons, armor, various other gear and enchanted accessories, even stripped down to his birthday suit. The other was treated the same, but with it all going to the hidden archery range. Both were left with a few new black iron accessories.

¤

A bit over an hour later, the rat and tiger began to awaken first.

"Two of them are stirring. Fetch some food, the good stuff."

The strange situation, combined with the unknown voice caused their adrenaline to spike. Waking them up fully in less than a heartbeat. They sprang from their restive positions. An instant later grappling with the other two present in the bedroom.

The rat hissed at their newfound captives. "Where is this? What do you want with us?"

The tigress glanced around the room, noticing the two long-time comrade wolves were still asleep. "What did you do to us? Where is our master?"

The zebra she held in her grasp offered no struggle. The difference in strength way too much to overcome. "Well that's a fine hello, kitty. Check the necks. Then check your Status. You aren't slaves anymore. And neither are we."

While the fox sighed, still pinned by the rat. "To answer your questions, the bedroom of the owner of madam Jodie's brothel. Which unofficially, is now me. To hire you for my protection. A sleeping gas. Still in range of the sleeping gas. For your next questions, I'm the Mother of Destiny. You were sent to retrieve me, and presumably escort me to have my son-" She paused to rub her belly. "-the Hero, be trained to protect the human kingdoms. Or maybe just whichever one sent you here for me. He used his Inventory skill through me to remove your collars. If you choose, you can leave town by yourself tomorrow night. This will give us just enough time for the escape tunnel to be built. As well as giving you cover of darkness."

She quickly explained how the runes and collars work to enforce slavery. At the same time, they were finally released. But the newcomers were still understandably wary.

This is when Petunia the husky returned with a pair of bowls. "Sorry, this is the best food we have available."

"We just ate not long ago." the rat declined.

"Speak for yourself, it's been years since I could fill my belly." chided the tigress. Grabbing at both bowls with gusto.

The fox got up to leave. "We'll need to discuss your former owner. But that can wait until your friends awaken as well. Wouldn't want to repeat ourselves more than necessary."

The doggy and zebra quickly followed her out. Unconciously (or perhaps deliberately?) taking on the role of her attendants.

Between checking their status for themselves, and her mollifications sounding logical, no matter how unlikely, the two chose to believe her. For now.

After all, only the Hero could have an Inventory. Anyone else has to make do with spacial packs. Which greatly reduce the size of their contents, though only slightly lower the weight. If they can even afford them.

Which they now also notice, piled in a corner.

Along with all of their equipment, weapons and armors.

Pan whispers over her near empty first bowl "Do you think all that was true?"

Lule pauses from checking the packs to turn toward her, responding "Either we were meant to think so, or they are unbelievably inept. For someone who took down a silver rank team without even trying. They didn't even rummage through these. It's like they completely trust us."

"Must've gotten the guildmaster too, presumably. Otherwise how could they even retrieve us?"

The tigress taps her ear, then points to the closed door. The rat nods back at her. They sneak over as best they can, with the years of experience and high-leveled Skills to do so. Then lay their ears against the door to hear into the room beyond.

voice A 'Do you think they'll help?'

fox's voice 'I hope so. But if they decide not to, we'll have to let them leave. After all, we aren't strong enough to stop them in a frontal attack. Let alone a sneaky one.'

voice B 'I still say we shoulda kept the weapons til they accept.'

fox's voice 'And what would that have accomplished? Really, Tivor.'

husky's voice 'What about the other two? It's not like we can just convince humans to help out.'

fox's voice 'I put enough slave collars on them both that they won't ever regain their mana. But if the mage wakes up before it's drained, then he'll still be a threat. As for the other one, we don't have any slaves of his to switch with. So we may have to kill him. He'd rather we don't, as the big guy is more useful alive than he had hoped for. But without a way to control him...However, I disagree. He's the one who organized the raid on my tribe where I was captured. And my family was killed.'

voice B 'Are you going to do it to him then? Or can I?'

husky's voice 'We don't even know yet whether that's necessary, are you even paying attention?'

voice C 'Why didn't we just evacuate right away?'

fox's voice 'His ability is somewhat limited. Besides, Rex down there is a fucking magister. Specializing in stone. He woulda found our trail in under a hundred heartbeats.'

voice A 'Hey, calm down.'

. . .

fox's voice 'Sorry girls, I feel better now. As I was saying, he would have found us if we hid, or our trail if we ran. The only way to keep from being recaptured was by catching him first.'

voice B 'Or ya coulda killed 'em.'

fox's voice 'We aren't monsters. I'm not too sure about these humans though. But there was no way to only trap the beastkins while only killing the humans. And besides, he could still be useful. If he can be (mumble, mutter) by his former slaves in here.'

voice C 'Yeah, what's taking them so long?'

fox's voice 'I'm waiting for the wolves to wake up before we handle him.'

voice A 'Can't you do that with just the two?'

fox's voice 'Probably, but it would be easier with all four.'

zebra's voice 'And it would be faster if you started right now.'

fox's voice 'You're right I'll go ask th-'

The two slunk back away from the door. Favoring quickness over quietness, but just barely. Pan the tigress going back to her food bowls. And Lule the rat returning to the packs, checking them over.

*knock knock*

(shared glance) "Um, come in?" he said.

.

The fox (maybe mother of destiny?) beastkin asked them "We need your help with Rex."

"What about master?" asked the male wolf.

"Oh, good. You're awake. Listen up, so you can explain all this to the other one later."

"With your collars gone, you aren't his slaves anymore. In fact, since he's wearing your collars, he is your slave instead. Now, all of you are his master. Or at least you will be once his mana empties out. Which is what we need your help with. I want you to disobey his standing orders, presumably including not to hurt him. This will drain your mana, which you now recover once more, since you don't have collars. While also draining his, which he can't recover while wearing your collars. We need him emptied of mana before he wakes up. Since he was affected by the sleeping gas more than you, you have some time to do so."

"Wait, so we-" the tigress said. Pointing a claw to herself, plus her three comrades, "-are now his masters‽"

"Only if you hurry up and torture him for a while."

""Then what are we waiting for‽""

She says to the wolf "Explain all of that to the other one when she wakes. I'll instruct my human slave to lead you there when you two are ready." Then to the others "Let's go."

¤

In the basement about a minute later.

"How did you get a human slave?" asked the rat beastkin.

"The same way you all just did. Down there, see where we left him? That's right on the edge of the sleeping gas. You'll need to bring him up here first, so you don't collapse again. We almost couldn't bring you out the first time."

"I got it." answered the tigress.

[Yeah, he should be easy for her to carry around. Her shield alone weighs almost as much as he does. Then add in her plate armor. And those heavy weapons. And she still walks around normally somehow.]

Once he's back up in the basement, the first thing they do is the two newly freed slaves wet their hand-claws by gouging through his arms and sides. Concurrent with that, the Hero channels his healing magic through his mother to keep him from the worst effects.

"Why bother healing him?"

"To train up the magic, for one. So the other two can get a turn at this. And unless I miss my guess, he deserves a lot more of this than you can give him in one night. So you can continue his punishments anyday you want. Rather than slowly kill him here and now, while he can't even feel it. Also, I've been told he could make a good magic tutor for me and my son."

"GAHR!" the rat suddenly stopped to grasp his head in pain.

"You have to keep track of your mana." the fox beastkin admonished the rat. "Your actions are draining his mana, but by sacrificing your own. So you have to take a break when you run low. Otherwise you'll still get hit with mana burnout."

"Oh" says the tigress, checking hers. "I'm down to three."

"Does he keep mana restorers? Potions or infused snacks?"

Her father had taught her about using mana supplementals, when training her to use magic as a kit. They fall into 3 general categories, each with their own effect. A potion will quickly restore a set amount of mana, in about one or two heartbeats. An infused snack will also restore a set amount, but taking significantly longer to do so. Usually three to five minutes at a minimum. They also have a lower cost as they're easier to make. No need for a highly trained and tempermental Skill like Alchemy. Along with the complicated recipes and huge piles of equipment. The snacks also have the added benefit of technically being a food item.

A restorative works much differently from the other two types. Increasing your natural regeneration rate based on a combination of its quality and size. A better one will last longer, the mid-range ones lasting as much as a whole candle (~80 minutes). While a bigger one will work harder. The usual size set to double one's mana regen. But smaller sizes are available, and the effect stacks.

A high level mage prefers this last type for its greater effectiveness on them. While low-level or non-mages prefer the others for their lower cost, especially since the expense of a restorative would mostly be wasted on them.

As was typical of a mage who just barely reached the high level category, he carried all three types in roughly equal amounts. To prepare for different situations. No sense in wasting an expensive restorative when a much cheaper potion or even a mere snack will be good enough.

"The left pocket of his belt pouch."

It vanished from the pile created just a bit earlier, to reappear in the vixen's hands. Who then sat in between them.

A pair of snacks each, and they got back to work. Working him over with their claws.

This time with their Status kept opened.

. . .

After two more snack breaks, the pair of wolves came down to join them.

The newcomer wolf girl immediately turned savage upon him. Bounding her way across the room. Then she tore his crotch region apart.

[DANG! Karma's a Bitch, and so is she!]