Tantus was all cloth robes and scrabbling limbs as he tried to climb down into the council room from the broken window. Eventually he fell and stumbled his landing. Next to him slammed the boots of Ralph. His sword out and scanning the environment. Deacon was standing in his small clothes, eyes unfocused on his surroundings as he read something from his tablet. There were ten spinning circles orbiting behind him as golden energy began to dim around him. Typhus was brushing off his backside as he stood up. The boxes containing the five houses were in disarray with people shouting between each other and throwing out wild accusations. Next to Deacon stood a fully armored Deep Dweller with a shining hammer. Whatever he was doing burned away all the fog that was left in Amanda’s wake.

“Deacon! What in the ten hells is happening?” asked Ralph as he jogged over.

“I think the boy just got his specialization. None too soon either,” commented Typhus.

“Oh really? What is it? I bet it’s something outrageous,” asked Tantus.

“I’ll take that bet,” replied Deacon, “I’m now a Heretic of Ten Hells.”

“Never heard of that before. Certainly outrageous. You definitely hold opinions at odds with established doctrine. Anything interesting in the skill tree?” asked Tantus.

“We don’t have time for this, we need to help Amanda,” shouted Ralph as he stomped his way towards the secret door beneath the house Hascavir box.

“Wait! I was warned not to let her kill you. I think it might have something to do with her new powers. We all contracted a disease from whatever she spewed out. If you get too close, she might kill you by accident. I should go first,” replied Deacon as he grabbed Ralph’s arm to stop him.

As soon as they began arguing, the stone wall started to slide shut. Deacon sprinted into the doorway with a burst of speed he never displayed before. Both hands slapped against the sliding slab of rock and held firm. Ten yards further into the corridor Deacon noticed a man in red robes cranking on a wheel. He leaned into the wheel to try and clothes the door, but Deacon shoved his shoulder into it. A few seconds passed before Deacon’s feet began moving. He pushed at the door even harder until it slammed back open. The force exerted spun the wheel at the corresponding end snapping the arms of the robed person. He had at one point put both arms through the spokes for better leverage on the wheel. The scream was heard throughout the council chamber.

“We need to go. They must know something went wrong or Amanda is making a big mess. Either way there won’t be any sneaking going on here,” said Deacon as he let the pressure off the door and stood back up.

“Champion, we will handle things here. There shouldn’t be an unmarked passage into this chamber. We will seal it on this end so you’ll need to find another way out. Now get going,” added Daskus as he dropped down the five feet from the Bloodbeard box to the floor.

He melted his way through the floor even after the magic barriers came down. Tantus and Ralph followed Deacon into the tunnel. It was a little dark, but Deacon’s Soul Sight was compensating. Ralph and Tantus on the other hand couldn’t see at all. A small ball of light shot out of Typhus’s beard. It flew into the passageway and hovered above Tantus’s head.

“Deacon, I have to tell you something… did you just kill that guy?” asked Ignis.

“Not yet,” answered Deacon before curb stopping his bare foot through the screaming cultists head.

“Perhaps we should find you some clothes,” said Tantus.

“Haven’t you learned by now? The Champion of Chimera likes to adventure in the nude,” quipped Ralph.

Deacon looked at the skull fragments and brains on his right foot. He decided that Ralph had a point. A pair of pants and a sleeveless shirt appeared on Deacon’s body. They just popped into existence in front of everyone. Deacon then manifested his belt complete with enchanted buckle. He still didn’t have any boots. Deacon spun the corpse around and measured his foot up against the boots of the cultist. They looked to be a perfect fit.

“Well, that was lucky,” said Deacon as he knelt down and removed his new boots before putting them on.

“You’re going to wear a dead man’s boots?” asked Ralph.

“They’ve been torturing me since I was abducted from the battlefield. If you think I’m letting anyone out of these tunnels alive, you might as well stay behind. I’m taking every piece of equipment, every item we come across, and all their souls. You understand me?” asked Deacon before he strode forward not expecting a reply.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

They moved through the newly dug tunnels with Ignis lighting their path. They came across several T-intersections. Deacon kept choosing what direction they went at random relying on his luck stat to select the proper path. At this point he could almost feel the ebb and flow of chance swirling around him. It wasn’t until the next turn that Tantus spoke up.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to notice the glass was ensorcelled. I’ve only had one day to study the art of rune crafting,” said Tantus sheepishly.

“Not your fault. What tipped you off?” asked Deacon, eyes forward.

“You were behaving yourself. You never act cordially to nobles and people in power,” replied Tantus.

“In hindsight, I should have picked up on that too,” added Tantus.

“I’m not that bad,” said Deacon followed by silence.

“I think you’re very polite,” chimed in Ignis.

“Didn’t you have something you needed to tell me?” asked Deacon turning to face the group before hearing the sound of scraping metal.

Punching forward, Deacon’s arm smashed through a discoloration in the wall. As the wall crumbled around his fist a passage was revealed. The sound got louder as a warm orange light could be seen from the opposite end of the hallway. Deacon made the universal sign for quiet as he proceeded down the corridor.

The hall opened up into a large chamber that had ten launch bays. The bays themselves contained makeshift minecarts. Two of which just rolled uphill and parked themselves. The carts themselves looked like wooden boxes affixed to metal frames at the bottom. Those frames consisted of metal struts with four concave wheels. They reminded Deacon of train wheels and how they hugged the tracks they were on. All the tracks sloped down into a chasm in the ground the light was coming from. Each bay had a curved archway above it with a different rune emblazoned into the stone.

“Those are just numbers. That much I know. Strange that some are dim, but others lit up,” commented Tantus.

“They had runes and sigils surrounding me the torture chamber. That’s how they cut me off from powers. They even held Sun Wu back,” added Deacon.

“No wonder you couldn’t escape on your own. They were prepared for you,” said Ralph.

“It’s worse than that, they needed my blood and hair for some ritual. I even overheard Efimeo saying something about taking my bag. Jokes on him, Zageracks planned for that,” relayed Deacon.

“I don’t like the sound of that. Who else was there?” asked Ralph.

“I saw Efimeo, some Dwarves, Ruby, and the Fates,” answered Deacon.

“The Fates?!” asked a shocked Tantus.

“Yes, they wanted my family name. Also, I’m sorry but they murdered Hani. I… couldn’t stop them. They forced me to give up the name and killed him anyway. We need to put an end to this Efimeo Cullep bastard once and for all. If we find him down there, he’s mine,” said a less angry more sullen Deacon.

“What?” gasped Ralph, the question was rhetorical.

“We can’t let this stand. Hani was one of us,” said Tantus with more venom in his voice than Deacon had ever heard before.

“Are you talking about the funny hat man? I liked him. Shoot,” added Ignis.

Deacon stood up straighter firming up his resolve. They all moved to the nearest cart bay with a lit symbol above it. It was clear Amanda came through here as the cart held poisoned and dead cultists. Deacon reached down and tipped the cart up on the wheels dumping the bodies over the side and down into the magma filled cavern below. The souls were quickly snatched up by his breathing technique. His soul energy bar just hit one fifty from these cultists. Far below the tracks curve to the left and Deacon felt like that should bring him closer to where his cell was originally before he was lifted up.

“Get in,” ordered Deacon.

All three of them rocketed down the tracks closer to the river of molten rocks. Deacon had them all duck down as a curve came into view. Ignis was screaming with joy the whole time as he held onto Tantus platinum hair. Lowering the weight distribution in the cart helped to rocket them forward out of the turn. Various types of minerals and stone flew by them as they banked the turn. Ahead of them was another suite of cart bays with tracks coming from multiple directions. Behind the bays stood large double doors with the symbol of Hipag painted across them. There were even red bolts of cloth framing the doorway. Much to Deacon’s dismay, the area in front of the doors was guarded by fifteen to twenty cultists all armed and waiting.

“I think Amanda kicked the hornets’ nest,” said Deacon.

Several of the cultists were coughing and they got pushed out in front. As the cart approached the bay at speed, Deacon triggered Spectral Jump with reduced cost. Using the momentum, he built up, Deacon lunched directly at them like a bullet. He crashed into the gathered cultists like a rocket. Deacon spent twenty eight percent of his soul energy to create fourteen Ice Sickles. He turned his landing zone into a blood soaked nightmare. Fourteen individual blades spinning at incredible speeds and scything through the gathered defenders. His expenditure was soon replenished as the cultists began to die. Most of their souls counted as common to uncommon. So that netted him five percent or ten percent with every death. Deacon soon found he was back up two hundred percent soul energy. The time walking with his party had already healed him to full health.

Deacon’s opening salvo made a clear landing area for Tantus and Ralph to exit the cart unharmed. There were still around eight defenders standing before the doors. They all pulled crossbows and opened fire at the gathered adventurers. Tantus stepped forward and screamed at them while raising his magic shield deflecting all the bolts.

“Give us back our friend!”