The circumstances in which Jasained sciousness were unpleasant for a number of reasons. He was cramped up in some kind of tight space, forced into a foetal position. His head inning, and there seemed to be a little man i, trying to pickaxe his way out. His nose was gested with what felt like a fistful of bees, and to top it off, he had a sudden urge to vomit. He y curled up in the stricted space, throwing up on himself.

  As the vomiting subsided he noticed the head se of his health silhouette was now a warning e.

  “I am getting knocked out way too much.”

  He then heard a male voice.

  “He’s woken up.”

  Jason's eyes swam into focus, although they felt puffy and didn’t seem to open properly. He was in what looked like a dog cage, too small to stretch out his limbs. His new ability to see in the dark was intact, allowing him to make out that his cage was on a dirt floor in some kind of celr. The roof and walls were rough timber, and there ervasive smell of damp earth. There were four more cages in the celr with him, each taining a person. One had a bck guy, two had white girls. The st cage was bigger thahers, with thicker bars. Inside was an enormous, impossibly hairy man.

  “A Wookiee?” Jason asked deliriously.

  “What’s a Wookiee?” the hairy man growled.

  “Hey,” the bck guy called out to him. “Did they put a colr on you?”

  “Wha…?”

  Jason’s thoughts refused to walk in a straight line.

  “Try and focus,” the man said. “Looks like you were hit rather hard.”

  Jason ran his fingers over his face, feeling the dried blood thickly caked onto it. He yelled in pain as his fingers brushed against what turned out to be his very delicate nose.

  “Did they put a colr on you?” the man asked again.

  fused, Jason reached up and patted his neck.

  “No,” he croaked. “Why would they put a colr on me?”

  “To suppress your essence abilities. You still use them?”

  Jason nodded, whihe man in his head who went on a pickaxe frenzy.

  “Ow. Yeah, I use them, but I only have two.”

  “ they get you out of that cage?”

  “Os me see in the dark and the other makes me sparkle, so probably not.”

  “Sparkle?”

  “I’d show you, but I think I might throw up again. Actually…”

  Jason vomited again, ending in a coughing fit, after which he passed out again.

  ***

  Jason swam at the edge of sciousness, hearing two people talk.

  “He was in the underground ritual chamber?” a woman said. It was a trolled, elegant voice.

  “Yes, midy,” a gruff male voice replied.

  “You left him in quite a state.”

  “Actually, midy, that’s not much worse than how we found him.”

  “You didn’t put a colr on him?” she asked.

  “Mr. Caruthers only procured the four, midy. For the ones we were warned about.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” said the woman. “Feel how weak his aura is. I doubt he has more than two or three abilities at most. Do you really thihe ohat killed Landemere?”

  “That would be my guess, midy. He had more blood on him than wounds to produce it. He was also locked in the room with the young master’s body.”

  “How could he even do it?” the woman asked. “He’s so weak.”

  “It seems the young master had mostly done himself in, midy. Summoning spell gone awry, from the looks of it.”

  “Is that why all those little monsters are running around?”

  “It would seem so, midy.”

  Quest: [No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service]

  Objective plete: Discover the reason lesser monsters have ied the area 1/1.[Simple Shirt] has been added to your iory.Quest plete.100 [Iron Spirit s] have been added to your iory.Jason stifled a yelp. He had beeending to be unscious when a bright blue s appeared in front of him and his whole body went tehe pair tialking, however, as if nothing had happened.

  “So whoever this is got lucky and killed my son when he was at his most vulnerable?”

  “Not that lucky, midy. He met me.”

  “Just so, Dougall,” she aowledged. “Do we know what Landemere was trying to summon?” the woman asked.

  “I had a bit of a potter through his notes, midy. It was one of them entities from beyond the void.”

  Jason heard the woman sigh.

  “Astral beings,” she muttered unhappily. “I told that boy it would be the death of him.” She said. “We’re a raditional blood cult family. This nonsense about ineffable as from outside reality was never going to work out. What did you do with Landemere’s body?”

  “Mulch, midy.”

  “You mulched my son?”

  “Well, he won’t be mulched yet, midy. posting isn’t a quick process. I fetch him out of the pile if you like, but milord wont be happy. He was quite specific as to the dispensation of the body.”

  “I don’t care what my stupid husband thinks; he married into the family. This is my manor, my family and we do things the traditional way. Goodness knows oor Landemere will taste like after having gone in the mulch pile.”

  “I’ll give him a good and proper wash before I bring him into the kit, midy.”

  “Thank you, Dougall. Excellent work, as always. Now, do we know where this man came from?”

  “No idea, midy. As you said, he’s too weak to be an adventurer and he wasly well-equipped. He did have a good khough. Not sure if he took it from the young master, so I put it with the gear we took off these others.”

  “You don’t think he’s with them?”

  “I wouldn’t think so, midy. He wasn’t up to much.”

  “Did he say anything?”

  “I think he might have been about to, midy, but that was when he walked into me shovel.”

  “Why did you take his shirt?”

  “He didn’t have one, midy. Didn’t have the ce to ask why, on at of his walking into me shovel again. Do you wao send him to the kit as well?”

  “No. If he really did kill my son, I don’t want him trotting off to death with his soul intact. Put him with the others for the blood feast.”

  “Yes midy, although that will be ooo many.”

  “I don’t think the extra blood will be a problem.”

  “I was thinking about the high priest, midy. You know how he gets.”

  “Yes, quite right, Dougall. Very well. Pick out one of the others you like, and keep it for yourself.”

  “Very generous, midy. I’ll take the elf, if midy had no objes.”

  “Are you sure, Dougall? Elves are quite stringy.”

  “Derrick was keen to try one, midy. I told him, of course, but you know how young ones are.”

  “Oh, yes,” she said. “They never believe you until they suffer the sequences for themselves. Just look where it got Landemere, and my daughter isn’t much better. If it wasn’t for the cult, I swear I never would have had children. Go fetch my idiot son’s body before you take the elf. I don’t want him pig up any more fvour than he already has.”

  “Of course, midy.”

  The pair left and Jaso out a long breath. He didn’t know who those people were, but he heard enough to know that he wahe hell out. He manoeuvred about for leverage and tried to force the door with his legs, but it wouldn’t budge no matter how much strength he put into it.

  “That’s not going to work,” the bck guy told him.

  “Have you got a name?” Jason asked. “I’m Jason, and just thinking of you as the bck guy is making me feel racist.”

  “Rufus,” the man responded.

  “G’day,” Jason said. “If you’ve got a better idea, I’m all ears.”

  “Afraid not,” Rufus said. “Unless you’ve got some spirit s tucked into those pants, you won’t get it open that way.”

  “Spirit s?” Jason asked. “Sure, I’ve got some, but how will that help? I don’t think these cages are operated.”

  “This guy’s an idiot,” one of the women said.

  “Not helping,” Rufus said through gritted teeth. “Jason, you don’t happen to have a silver old ranked , do you?”

  “Hang on a sec,” Jason said, cheg his iory. There were sixteen silver s and fold ones, all looted from Landemere Vane’s body. He took out one of the silver ones.

  Item: [Silver Spirit ] (silver rank, on)

  A distilled quantity of raw magic. (crafting material, currency).

  Effect: Used to fuel silver-rank magic items or as a ritual po.Effect: e to briefly increase all attributes to silver rank.“Oh,” Jason said. He had previously examihe lesser spirit s, which didn’t have an option to increase attributes. He tried to remember if there was a strength attribute.

  “So, I e this to increase my attributes?” Jason said. “e, as i?”

  “Yes, Jason, it’s very easy,” Rufus said. “You just put the in your mouth. Once you do, you’ll only have a few moments to force open the cage.”

  “So these attributes,” Jason said. “I assume one of them is strength?”

  “The power attribute increases strength,” Rufus said. “The will increase them all, but only for a very short time.”

  Jasohe uainly on his tongue, where is dissolved, like a soluble tablet. His body was immediately flooded with a tingliion and he felt an immense sense of power. His senses were sharpened. Eyes, already able to see through the dark, suddenly took ihing as if seeing it for the first time. His ears picked up ambient sounds he had previously missed. He could taste the blood, sweat and dirt on the air. It only sted a fleeting moment before the world went back to normal, suddenly seeming dull and pin.

  “Uh, Jason?” Rufus asked.

  “Yes, Rufus?”

  “Did you use the ?”

  “I did, yes.”

  “I don’t want to pressure you, but did you, perce, fet to open the cage?”

  “Sorry,” Jason said. “I got distracted.”

  “This is who you’re relying on to save us?” the woman’s voice spoke up again.

  “Still not helping, Anisa,” Rufus told her.

  Jason took out a sed silver-ranked and put it in his mouth. This time, as the sensation of power came over him, he pced his feet against the cage door, easily brag himself iight fines. His feet pushed out with the temporary surge of strength, the hinges on the cage door immediately starting to . He pushed harder and the door fell away just as the strength drained out of him again.

  He crawled out of the cage and stood up. Waves of dizziness washed over him and he gripped the cage to stay upright. His body felt weak, even more than it had when he woke up.

  “Are there side effects to those s?” Jason asked.

  “You used a with more power than your body could handle,” Rufus said. “It will recover. A little more slowly, having used two of them in quick succession.”

  Jason looked over at the es, and a s popped up.

  New Quest: [Escape!]

  You have been trapped in the celr of the blood cult and you o get away.

  Objective: Leave the grounds of Vae without being caught 0/1.Reward: Esseional objective: Rescue your fellow prisoners 0/4.Reward: Awakening stone.“Good job,” Rufus said. “Now you o find something to get the rest of us out. Giving us some silver s would work, if you have more. That won’t be enough fary’s cage, though. You shouldn’t use more s yourself until you’ve recovered.”

  Jason pulled out the big key ring.

  “I’m hoping this does the job,” he said. “Couldn’t reach the lock from ihe cage.”

  “Eveer,” Rufus said. “I’d rather not have to fight our way out of here suffering the after-effects of using a .”

  Rufus pointing to the rge, hairy man in the oversized cage.

  “Him first,” Rufus said.

  Jaso over to the big cage, getting a better look at it’s oct. His body was size and shape of a professional wrestler and the parts not covered by his clothes were covered in fur. His head looked like a lion, plete with a glorious mane.

  “So yary?” Jason asked. He crouched down and started trying keys on the lock.

  “That’s right,” the big man said. His voice had a deep, growling timbre.

  “I’m Jason,” he introduced himself. “You look like Ron Perlman from that old Beauty and the Beast TV show.”

  “I have no idea what that means,” Gary said.

  “I’d say good to meet you,” Jason said as he tirying keys, “but the circumstances aren’t terrific.”

  “Thanks for not just running off,” Gary said.

  “Are you kidding? I need you lot to get me out of wherever it is we are.”

  “We’re in a ste celr,” Gary said.

  “I see that much,” Jason said. “I meant this whole pce. I have no idea where we are.”

  “You don’t know?” Gary asked. “Did they kidnap you?”

  “Someone did,” Jason said. “I woke up in the hedge maze.”

  Gary the lion-man’s voice seemed to be growly as a default.

  “Look out!” Rufus called out and Jason turo look around.

  There was a doorway that seemed to lead into another se of the celr, through which the man Dougall had returned, shovel in hand.

  “Cheeky little sod,” Dougall said.

  Jason tried to think quick, but his head was far from in its best state. Shoving the key ring bato his iory, he got up from his crouch, but was hit by a dizzy spell and stumbled. The shovel came down and everythi bck.