Rat-Nix kept to the side of the path as he scampered toward the Dotha Compound. The town was littered with dragon spawn and descendants, but the Nether Rat took advantage of cover when he could find it.


    The Courtyard was easy to find, the small building had three stories, but instead of being a long rectangle, it was a perfect square, less than 20 meters across. A quickp around the building led to an essible entrance through the kitchen. The smell of burning food wafted out of a window near the stove that had been opened to air-out the room. Rat-Nix scampered up on the ledge and paused for a moment to check for kitchen staff.


    /Alpha: Nix: I''m in. Time to look for the stairs down.


    Pon scowled at the Inferno Leader, sittingfortably in the chair. "Shit... I want to be in!"


    ****************


    Rat-Nix slithered through the walls of the basement; asionally, he would stop to gnaw a hole and scout out the room. His senses picked up no other rats nearby, but he''d been moving steadily towards the screaming that seemed to echo through the walls. It wouldst for a few minutes and then stop. Finally, he was able to pinpoint the room and crawled up toward the ceiling. Within a few seconds, his rat teeth chewed through the old wood and presented him with a view of the room.


    /Alpha: Nix: Found our friends. Dotha, Mmber, and Raya.


    /Alpha: Pon: What are they doing?


    /Alpha: Nix: Not sure. Wait a moment.


    Mmber was sitting calmly in afortable looking chair. Directly across from him was a male prisoner chained to the wall. Dotha had a long ck chain in his hand; the ends of the chain were capped with sharpened red stones. He handed Mmber one stone to hold and then plunged the second into the chest of the prisoner.


    /Alpha: Nix: The fuck are they doing... He has some sort of ck chain, one end attached to Mmber and the other to a prisoner.


    /Alpha: Una: Ruby daggers at the ends of the chains?


    /Alpha: Nix: Yep. Know what it is?


    /Alpha: Una: Life Siphon is a Necromancer ability that can drain stats, abilities, and health from one person and put them in another.


    /Alpha: Pon: They steal your Shit?


    /Alpha: Una: It onlysts half a day, but the benefits are real enough. If you had a lot of people, you could steal enough to double someone''s ability.


    /Alpha: Nix: Come start a fight in the Dotha Team courtyard.


    /Alpha: Pon: Finally. This is how we do stuff.


    /Alpha: Wind: We''ll be there in a few minutes.


    /ALpha: Nix: Need you to find the basement, Ducky.


    /Alpha: Ducky: Okay.


    /Alpha: Nix: This one is already dead, going to check for prisoners.


    *************


    The heavy metal door was kicked open, the loud bang it made when it impacted the wall made the prisoners jump suddenly, with the exception of one. The emaciated corpse was dumped on the floor in front of the cell, the smell of excrement and horrifying fear permeated the air around it. The woman nced at it withoutment, her warm brown eyes watching the guard as he leered at the group. Over the course of the two days, Cadie had been continuously sharpening the piece of metal she procured from the only cot in the cell.


    "Who wants to go next?" The man wasrge, broad shoulders with an exposed potbelly that stuck out from under his shirt. He smelled of body odor and blood. This was the game he liked to y, mentally tormenting them as he pretended to decide who wanted to take. "How about you?"


    Cadie shook her head slightly, her free hand creeping up to undo the top three buttons of her shirt. "How about we be friends instead? And then you let me go?"


    The man''s dark eyes seemed much too small for his yellowish face. His greasy ck hair hung down around his shoulders, the floor creaking under his steps as he approached the cell door. "Sure... We can y a bit. Dotha has plenty of other prisoners that he can use instead of you."


    Cadie stood slowly and undid another button on her shirt before pressing against the bars. Her lips curved in a smile when the guard pushed down the front of his pants. The young woman extended her hand as if to grab his member.


    "Yeah!! I''m definitely going to let you go after this." He watched as her hand touched his stomach, her nails sliding against his sweaty skin until she gripped his shirt. Without warning, she yanked him forward and stabbed him three times in the throat. When the guard copsed to his knees with a softly gurgling sound, she plunged the shiv into his eye.


    Cadie grabbed the keys from his waist and unlocked the cell. As a veteran prison guard, she was used to the dregs of society. Over the years, she had been attacked countless times and was no stranger to having to dodge body fluids or being shed with private parts. More than anything else, she knew how to make a dozen different types of prison-yard weapons. "Your security is shit..."


    "Cadie, right?" A green-haired young woman stood up from the group of prisoners. She was one of three yers that had been caught up when an unknown group attacked the caravan. "We can still fight, but something is affecting our abilities."


    Cadie nced at the rest of the group; most of them were in pretty rough shape. The heroes seemed to be ready to fight. "sses?"


    A tall athletic-looking man with curly brown hair stepped through the doorway. "Ranger, druid, and thief." He pointed to himself first, then the female and finally the third member of his group. "If we can get our weapons and disable whatever is limiting our abilities, we''ll be able to free these people."


    The thief confiscated a dagger that hung on a belt near the door. It was the only weapon in the room. He shed a smile at the other three. "Guess my luck is good."


    Cadie nodded in agreement. "You get to lead, lucky."


    *******************


    The thief led the way out of the room and down the short hallway. Unfortunately, a second locked door barred their exit. After trying the door, he turned back toward his threepanions and shook his head.


    "No lockpick skill? What kind of crappy jail-break is this?" A voice spoke quietly from above them, bits of wood fell to the floor as a hole near the ceiling expanded until a ck-furred head push its way through.


    The thief stared at the rat for a moment, not sure what to say. "I... er."


    After another few moments, it scampered down the hole andnded nimbly on the floor. "My team will be causing a diversion outside while one of mypanions fixes this mess. How many others are in here?"


    "Eight more inside." The female druid was the only one who didn''t seem surprised by the talking rat. "What should we do?"


    "Just wait while my people take care of Dotha''s cronies."


    "Cronies?" The tall, curly-haired man in back stepped around hispanions. "Nix?"


    Rat-Nix nodded. "Why are you three always in trouble?"


    Lu Ban has joined Alpha.


    Circa has joined Alpha.


    Mollie has joined Alpha.


    Cadie has joined Alpha.


    ***************Author''s Reminder************


    Lu Ban, Circa, and Mollie joined Nix in Ch. 317 Spire Chasers. They were three new yers who joined the expansion set as 125 level characters. They apanied Nix for a few chapters while he quested in the Ever me area.


    *********************************************


    /Alpha: Nix: Oi... pick me up. I''ve decided toe in person.


    Mollie scooped up the rat when it copsed lifelessly to the floor a momentter.


    /Alpha: Mollie: You''re getting us out? How?


    /Alpha: Nix: Going to try diplomacy.


    /Alpha: Lu Ban: How did you know we were here?


    /Alpha: Fey: We were looking, Cadie.


    /Alpha: Cadie: Fey?


    /Alpha: Fey: Don''t worry, Nix and Ducky will arrive soon. Stay behind Nix, and you won''t get burned.


    /Alpha: Cadie: I thought he was going to try diplomacy?


    /Alpha: Fey: Doesn''t that mean burn everything to the ground?


    /Alpha: Circa: No.


    /Alpha: Lu Ban: Nope.


    /Alpha: Mollie: Don''t think so.