Nothing Gained

The episode opens where we left off, Corrax frantically shaking Mjina awake. The Casmander slavers have arrived! Mjina is disoriented but grabs his weapons. He inquires about the status of Sephoni and Arua but gets blank stares from Corrax and Seydlitz. At this, Mjina runs out. He sees Dreshin attempting to fight off a slaver, beating him feebly with his fists. Mjina charges in but is knocked back by this slaver. We see the man is carrying Arua.

Outside the tavern there is a large wheeled cage with several people inside. The slave master stands nearby armed with a nasty looking whip, and a nimbus above his head glows faintly. Sephoni is inside the cage.

Seydlitz looks out the window and sees the slaver trying to leave with Arua. He tries to take him down with a crossbow attack, but misses. Corrax runs down and surveys the scene. He sees Sephoni in the cage and takes note of a defiant-looking woman inside with her. The others are all sullen and defeated except for her. Corrax runs that way. Mjina continues to attack the slaver and manages to snatch the baby out of his arms. Seydlitz enters the fray of combat after climbing down from the window. Corrax sneaks to the back of the cage and picks the lock. He passes a sword to the defiant woman, asking for her help. She regards him seriously but takes the sword and runs out. This is Antares. She attacks another slaver as he drags a woman towards the cage, but he sees her coming. He almost gets a whip attack around her neck but Antares manages to dodge.

Mjina manifests his nimbus as he protects Arua from the attacking slaver. Both Seydlitz and Antares are engaged in brutal combat. Meanwhile Corrax unhitches the beasts of burden from the cage and frees the rest of the captives. He then runs to Mjina's aid as the slaver's whip wraps around his neck. The slave master also joins the attack against Mjina with his nasty whip attack. The slave master's nimbus glows, and Mjina is fraught with an unbearable sense of dread and hopelessness.

Corrax runs over to help, shouting a prayer of protection to the gods. This causes his nimbus to manifest and flare brightly. Even the tone of his voice changes, becoming louder and more commanding. As he does this, the slave master's arm stops mid-attack. This allows Corrax to grab Arua from Mjina and pass her to Sephoni.

Seydlitz takes out the slaver he was fighting then moves to the cage to light it on fire. Corrax steps between Mjina and the slave master. Now free of the momentary hold on his attack, the slave master brings down the whip. There is a flash of light from Corrax which causes him to miss, and his whip hits the fellow slaver attacking Mjina instead. This kills him. Antares takes down her guy and runs in to help. Mjina uses his spear and shield to force this guy backwards towards the burning cage. Corrax shouts another prayer of protection and a blue bubble forms around him, Mjina, and Antares.

Enraged, the slave master pulls out an indulgence and decrees all the things to be claimed for Nulumriel. As he does this his nimbus flares and he appears to grow in size. Their attacks against him continue with vary levels of success. Mjina keeps forcing him towards the burning cart, and Antares resorts to grappling his whip arm. Corrax tries to steal the indulgence but is kicked away. He attacks Antares with the whip and she also feels the unbearable sense of dread and hopelessness. There is another prayer of protection shouted by Corrax which stops the slave master from attacking. They desperately force him against the side of the cage.

In an attempt to keep him pinned against the bars, Antares goes to climb into the back of the burning cage. She pauses as traumatic memories flood her mind. Memories of being beaten into submission, and thrown into the cage months ago. She manages to push past these horrible thoughts and goes in, wrapping the whip around his neck, holding him to the bars. She's trying to choke him. He's very strong and has to stop his attacks to fight her off.

Seydlitz grabs bottles of spirits to use as molotovs. He starts throwing them at the feet of the slave master. Corrax manages to cut the scroll case off his belt just as one of the spirits bottles explodes at their feet. Corrax, Mjina, and the slave master are caught in the burst of flames. He breaks free of Antares' hold and smashes her against the bars knocking her unconscious. Mjina has to break away momentarily to save her from the flames of the burning cart.

They eventually take out the slave master who dies in throes of pain and fire. One of the healing cyphers is used on Antares to bring her back to consciousness. There is a flash of purple light and smoke is seen coming out of the tavern. It rises into the air and moves in the direction of Corso.

They survived the battle. Just barely.

Corrax approaches the body of the slave master. He kneels beside him and performs a ritual to intentionally damn his soul to Soulrest. The others slowly recover and make their way back into the tavern. They know this is just the beginning and that retribution will be swift for their actions here.

The scene leaves our weary heroes and flies across the Afterworld countryside. Through the Kraken mountains, over the Runescape, we arrive in Soulrest. We see a woman sitting on a desecrated throne. Her body is twisted and malformed. Next to her sits a massive dog-like creature. This is the Hell Maw. Kneeling in front of this woman is the soul of the slave master. She thanks him for the information and grabs him, his body twisting and reshaping into the grotesque form of a Rakshaka.

## Corruption Bars

1. Sephoni and Arua being captured by the slavers
2. The Slave master bolsters himself using 2 divine shifts, increases his level from 6 to 8
3. The indulgence scroll explodes into smoke which moves towards Corso

## GM Intrusions

1. Failed attack by Antares, the slaver almost gets his whip around her neck.
2. Failed attack by Mjina, slaver gets his whip attack around his neck.
3. Corrax's nimbus manifests when he's shouting his prayer of protection
4. Slave master gets Corrax away from him and attacks Antares with his special whip
5. Antares gains PTSD from climbing into the burning slave cart
6. The molotov from Seydlitz explodes and catches Mjina and Corrax on fire
7. Corrax's actions to damn the soul of the slave master is known. By whom, we don't know.