The fires had been put out on the pathways and any ruined foundation sets have been removed, along with the fallen bandits that were severely injured or killed during the attack. Shade unfortunately was still entombed in ice and was showing little signs of movement from inside her prison. Kitsuno was still under heavy watch from the bandits as Blake and Ken had their orders to keep guard of the slaves after the destruction of the gargoyles. Some of the slave buyers have returned after hearing that the attack was subdued with ease from The Black Serpent. Though a few turned heel upon seeing Shade present on stage.

Vern on the other hand was nowhere in sight. The brown furred wolf bandit had disappeared after talking with some other members. Kitsuno was looking outside her cage to see what else was happening before Blake kicked the edge of her cage. "Get back in there you idiot, before someone decides to off your head." Whether or not if he was serious, Kitsuno slunk back inside.

A few slaves in the other cages had slumped down onto the floor of the metal cages. Some huddling together to stay warm due to a mix of furred and scalies placed together. Ken was glaring at the serpent and his boss as they were chatting to the audience before one of the other wolves came over to drag a slave out of the cages. The auction had resumed and the slavers were shouting amongst each other on prices. "Come on... morning is almost here and we still have well over half the slaves to burn through. Call it quits now damnit."

Blake looks over at Ken before rolling his eyes. "Stop fussing Ken, if you need to we can take turns sleeping." The black wolf rubs his eyes before looking up towards the trees. "And risk getting my head cracked in by boss' crossbow? Not again." He then looks around as one of the other wolves came up to him and whispered in his ear. "There's what!?" He keeps his voice down as Blake turns his attention to Ken. "What's going on?"

Ken looks over to the boss before looking back at one of his team members. "Find Vern outside the main entrance and tell him what is going on. He needs to get the others ready immediately." She nods before taking off through the back way. Blake nudges a hand on Ken's right shoulder, "Ken, what's happening?"

He shakes his head, "Someone spotted a pack of direwolves nearby. Normally that wouldn't be an issue, but something has got their attention and they are on their way." The two then pause a bit before looking at Kitsuno. Ken stares for a few more seconds before turning his attention to Shade on stage. "You have got to be fucking with me. You two are related to direwolves?"

Kitsuno shakes her head before standing back up, "Last I checked, Shade and I are just kitsunes. There's no way we are related to those beasts." Blake looks at Ken before letting go of him and pulling out the keys to the other cages. "There has to be a reason why a pack is on the way. We have done this many times here and only now has their attention been grabbed by something." Ken swipes the keys away from Blake before he stopped at the right one on Kitsuno's cage. "Wait. This could be beneficial."

Blake glares before grabbing the keys back. "At what? Getting more people killed? We need to get the ones here back into the cave section so we have a choke point." Kitsuno turns around to look at the cave before looking up towards the manor. "That's not a good idea. The manor seems more promising."

Everything goes silent as a chime of howling echoes in the distance. The Black Serpent had his hands on a young avian female as he looked up towards the folliage, "Hrmmm... this is odd." The red wolf waves his hands about before the crowd, "Don't worry about it folks. That's probably nothing. Now, where were we? Thirteen hundred thousand for the bird with the--"

The howling grew louder in unison. One of the slave buyers with two rabbit slaves next to him slowly walked back and yanked on the leashes the two to follow him. "That's the sound of direwolves... a pack no less."

The black serpent moves the avian towards his nonchalant assistant. "Get her back in the cage. The wards should still be active, and yet...." he focuses his magic in his own hands and forces a vision through the cracked eyes of the gargoyle that laid inside the manor. The visual flickered heavily of the room that the two were in and he focuses on a glowing blue sigil on the floor. "Something is amiss. No direwolves should be able to detect this place."

The vision in front of him fades away as he looks up towards the folliage. As something large was breaking through some of the bushes. In turn of events, one of the slavers that had left with her slaves in tow had swiftly returned with scrapes on her clothes and came tumbling down the main pathway before landing hard on the ground near the auctioneers. The boar woman had a harrowing look on her face as she managed to get back up and started limping through the crowd. "I need to run. I need to run and hide. Those things are after me!"

Before she could move any further, she trips and collapses on top of someone. One of the nearby bandits came into the crowd and lifted her up, "What happened out there? And where are your slaves?" She shakes her head before forcing herself out of his grip. "Dead for all I care along with your friends out there. I don't want to die!"

This threw another wave of dread across the slavers as from the previous attack to another one brewing, the auction was, to them, considered a failure and the time to leave was now. The Black Serpent was annoyed and looked at the bandit leader. "You!" The red wolf jerks up and looks up at the towering naga, "Yes boss?"

"Get those stupid pups of yours out there and get rid of those direwolves. I don't want to hear any excuses." He slams his tail down as a sign of command and the bandits started to gather in a formation. The leader points at a couple of the bandits in the group, "Alright. You, you, you, and you. Unlock the cages and get those slaves back into the cave immediately. This includes the kitsune." He then turns around and leaps off the stage to work his way up towards the main pathway. "The rest of you, follow me so we can deal with the problem."

As some began to follow, their leader stopped shortly after the pathway as some of the ones from outside were leading some of the slaves they had found. He looks at them with shock and rage started settling in as he realized which slaves those were. "What the fuck are you doing? Why are those slaves with you!? Where are the slavers!?"

Vern, who was leading the pack of slaves with a few other bandits shoved his way through his boss, "We saw them get massacred. The slaves bolted as soon as they could but some went a different direction. Get the defenses ready now as the direwolves were dead set in this direction!" As Vern and his team lead the slaves back towards the cave, the attack team looked at the red wolf as he growls. "One thing after another. Well what are you standing here for? Get moving!"

The group dispersed out forward on the path before disappearing past the folliage. The Black Serpent takes account of Vern and the slaves he brought back. He then slithers his way towards Blake and Ken as they were assisting in unlocking the cages before he grabbed both of them by their tails. "Not so fast you two." The duo turn around as he let go of their tails and gave a forced salute to him. "Leave the kitsune and bring that other welp that was suppose to be watching the other cages. Don't think I didn't hear your little conversation earlier."

Blake steps back from the naga as he was trying to not be intimidated by him. Ken shakes his head, "With all due respect sir, we have no true intentions of disobeying you." The serpent glares before lowering down to meet Ken face to face and his eyes pierced through his, Ken's tail shakes a bit before cowering down between his legs. Kitsuno watches the fear effect the large serpent had on them.

A loud scream is heard that drew their attention as one of the bandits came flying back into the grotto and landed roughly into one of the towers before falling limply onto the ground. The rest of the attack force came falling back in full retreat, but with danger trailing behind them as the pack had made their way into the grotto. The Black Serpent stands tall as he counted the numbers. "This is not normal. No pack has five alphas working together like this." One of the alpha direwolves growled as it locked eyes with the serpent and let out a ghastly howl before charging forth through the stand.

As it leapt up onto the stage it charged forth, but was soon intercepted by a wall of ice as the serpent raised his arms up to defend himself. The large beast reels back and tries ramming into the ice barricade, causing a few cracks to form against it. Blake and Ken looked at the ice as the cracks grew bigger with each strike and looked at Kitsuno before noticing another direwolf was making its way from behind. Ken grabbed the keys from Blake's belt and rushed to get the caged unlocked.

The ice barrier shatters from another strike and that direwolf met up with the serpent and roared at him as it began to pounce. He acts quickly however and forms a sphere of energy between his hands and thowing it at the beast for ice to coat its face, causing it to stagger and fall off the edge of the stage. Once that one was dealt with, he turns around to see the cage being opened and Kitsuno was making her way out before he grabs her by the throat, "You're not going anywhere!

As Kitsuno attempted to pry his hand off her throat, the direwolf behind her leapt up and swiped a claw at the serpent, forcing him to duck. Ken mustered up enough courage to punch the naga in the face to loosen his grip on Kitsuno before Blake force his hand open to have her escape. The three then make their way towards the cave before ice starts building up around it, "Dammit, he's blocking it off." Blake grabs Kitsuno's left arm before diverting their course towards the manor.

A loud yelp was heard as the direwolf that was engaging with the serpent had been knocked down with a forceful slap with his tail. Before it could get up, he forces his magic to surround it in a dome of ice. Right when he can get his bearings to take note of the area, two of the remaining alpha direwolves had taken point in guarding the main entrance the auctioneers would come through. "Someone has to be commanding these beasts. There is no rhyme or reason they should be acting this tactfully on their own... wait. Where is the fifth one?"

Kitsuno, Blake, and Ken were halfway up the path towards the manor on their escape, but came to a halt as the unaccounted direwolf loomed over the ledge near the path and had gripped onto a tree before forcing it down on the pathway. The trio looked back between both the blocked pathway and to the serpent before their gazes loomed over one of the towers as it falls over from a group of smaller direwolves destroying the foundation, causing it to collapse.

What was left of the auctioneers had been cornered by some of the beasts and very few of the bandits were with them. On the onslaught, what remained of the bandit group had after Shade and Kitsuno's strike, little was left as they had either managed to flee or were torn apart by the direwolves. As a few of them got closer to the cowering slavers, the alpha that had ice struck on its face let out an eerie howl and the smaller direwolves stopped in their tracks.

As the strange howling echoed through the grotto, the direwolves all joined in unison and everyone had covered their ears as the sound was deafening. The Black Serpent was slinking down on the stage to place his hands on the floor and blue light focuses harshly in his spot. "God damn hounds.... of the three hundred years of doing this, this has by far been the most annoying incident to happen." His eyes glow blue for a few moments as the howling continued, shortly before bolts of magic flowed around the ground towards the direwolves at frightening speed.

The moment the magic approached each large beast, ice quickly formed around them in a circle before thrusting out viciously and impaling them, ceasing the howls. Minutes pass as the air grew silent and the serpent raises himself up as his eyes return to the deep red and orange he had. Slowly approaching the nearest alpha that had stopped moving after impalement, he observes it for a moment before a large chunk of ice comes flying towards him and scrapes past his robe to land on the ground with a forceful thud.

He immediately turns to the direction that it came from and his eyes sharpen to the sight of Shade, who had just broken her way out of her icy prison. A darkened glow pulsed from her body as she shrugs off some of the clinging ice to her armor and her eyes were a darkened red. She pauses for a moment before slowly turning her gaze towards her target. "ᛁᛟᚢᚱ × ᛏᛁᛗᛖ × ᛁᛊ × ᚢᛈ..."

Fire starts enveloping her hands before turning into sharpened claws and heat begins to flare up around the enraged kitsune. The serpent, however. Stared at her in shock. "That tongue..." In short timing, he moved out of the way as Shade had leapt towards him in a slashing motion in an attempt to carve him to pieces.

Kitsuno, Blake, and Ken watch as Shade continues to leapt with reckless abadon towards the naga, her claws making contact with chairs and the floor, leaving deep scars into it. Blake rubs his eyes at what he was seeing. "What... what even is she?" Another ice wall forms between the two, but Shade growls and focuses her magic heavily and instantly shattered the barrier with a hard tackle. "ᚺᛁᛞᛁᛜ × ᚹᛁᛚᛚ × ᚷᛖᛏ × ᛁᛟᚢ × ᚾᛟᚹᚺᛖᚱᛖ!"

Kitsuno held onto her head as a headache formed from hearing what Shade was saying. Ken looks at her before grabbing her by the waist as she fell over slightly. "Hey, what's wrong?" She couldn't answer as her thoughts were pounding her head. Something about the language her sister was speaking felt too familiar.

The sound of ice erecting from the ground and shattering from sheer force was occurring more frequently as Shade kept up her assault. The air was twisting in temperature from ice and fire as with each strike Shade made against the ice The Black Serpent was using to defend himself with, the air began to warp slightly where her claws struck. His confidence was waning as he was not able to keep up with the girl's movement to find an opening to strike. But what was the real concern to him was the way the elder kitsune was speaking. This was where his eyes caught a glimpse at Kitsuno as she held onto her head, ("Could the legend be true? Do the ancient ones really still exist out there?")

Blake shakes his head to focus on the situation and looking behind them at the fallen tree, then his gaze lowers down towards the ice on the entrance of the cave. There was some condensation dripping from the wall and a small opening appearing from the top. "Ken, do you remember how to disassemble the cages?"

Ken looks up at Blake as he makes his way to the nearest empty cage and started fiddling with the cage door. "Look for the latches up top on the sides and twist them counter clockwise until you hear it let go of something. Just be careful to not collapse with it." Blake nods as he climbs up on top of the cage and looks around for one of the latches. Once he found two on the right side, he went to each one and did as Ken instructed before a loud clunking noise emits from the cage and it begins shaking. The grey wolf leaps off and lands back onto the floor to grab one of the metal poles to attempt forcing it up. "Ken get over here and help me."

The black wolf looks at Kitsuno for a bit before letting go of her to run towards Blake, "Blake what are we doing?" Blake shakes his head and grabs ahold of Ken's hands to place it on the pole he was lifting. "There is an opening in the cave, the air is thawing it out and I think we can pry it open to get to the others hiding in there." With the plan on motion, Ken helps by adding some force into lifting the pole out of place on the cage. With some force, the top of the cage bends a bit as the pole slips out of its socket and Blake held it around before taking it in both hands and ran towards the fallen tree to hop on top of it and slowly balanced his way closer to the cave. "Be careful Blake. Don't go falling."

He shakes his head and focuses on his balance. "Shut it Ken and keep an eye on the girl, or even her sister. The more she keeps speaking in that weird language the more she looks like she is about to pass out." Ken looks at Kitsuno, who was breathing heavily as her conscious was fading slowly out of reality. Her mind was affecting her badly to where she was not being able to see straight. "Hey, stay with us. We're getting you out of here, alright."

The Black Serpent staggers as he was growing tired from evading Shade's rage. She was slowing down herself but showed little signs of giving up. Slithering back slowly towards a dead end of the grotto, he looks back between himself and the corner had ended up in and in a low ditch effort, forced his magic around him to shield himself in an ice dome. Shade growls heavily before she starts clawing at the dome, but scratches were barely making any dents this time. This was due to the naga continuously casting his spell to make sure the barrier doesn't shatter easily. "ᚲᛟᚹᚨᚱᛞ! × ᛁᛟᚢ × ᚨᚱᛖ × ᚷᛟᛁᛜ × ᛏᛟ × ᚱᚢᚾ × ᛟᚢᛏ × ᛟᚠ × ᛗᚨᚾᚨ × ᛊᛟᛟᚾ. × ᛁᛟᚢ × ᛟᚾᛚᛁ × ᛞᛖᛚᚨᛁ × ᛁᛟᚢᚱ × ᛃᚢᛞᚷᛖᛗᛖᚾᛏ."

Sweat forms around his head as he can hear her swiping at the barrier. ("I need to escape. Once I evade her next few strikes, I need to get out of here and head to the empire. Surely they know about the legends.")

Blake makes his way to the edge of the tree and looks down towards the cave, "Damn, not close enough." Looking at the entrance and doing a quick guess in his head, Blake takes a deep breath, "Hope this works. Otherwise this is gonna suck." He then leaps off the tree and aims with the metal pole to thrust it into the hole on top of the ice.

With sheer luck, the pole sinks part of the way through into the hole and gets stuck. Blake jerks a bit as his weight snares onto the pole and he almost loose grip on it. The ice cracked a bit from the impact but still held strong. "Damn, wasn't expecting it to actually stick." Dangling there in midair, Blake starts swinging his body around to move the pole back and forth against the ice and little bits start chipping away from the hole.

Between both ice barricades, Blake was making a fair size crack into the one guarding the cave, while Shade was finally starting to leave more permanent scratches into the barrier protecting the serpent. She was however, getting more winded as time went on as her body was starting to catch up with her. This still only delayed things as the ice barrier was starting to show openings and Shade can catch glimpses of black scales before the ice started closing around it.

Then, she stopped. Shade began walking away from the barrier, sending concern to those that were still there in reality. She stopped part of the way through the stands and started warming up. Wind started blowing into the grotto and worked its way towards Shade as she held her hands up above her head and sparks of flames started growing into a ball.

Ken looks at the flame that was growing above the kitsune and grew concerned of what she was about to do. He looked back at Kitsuno as she was near passing out as she was laying on the ground, her eye was twitching from whatever pain she was experiencing in her head. The wolf sighs before letting go of her and then rushing up on top of the fallen tree and quickly made his way towards Blake. "Blake, scooch over!" Blake looks up where Ken was before seeing him jump, "Ken what the fu--" Ken lands on the poleand held onto Blake as their combined weigh stacked and the ice cracked further where it was, but the pole slides inward and the duo come barreling towards the barrier.

With the combined heat building up in the grotto from Shade's attack and the cracks that were made from Blake, the two wolves smashed a hole through the ice and landed on the inside of the cave. Blake groans before getting up and brushing some ice off his head. "A little warning next time?"

Ken gets up and leaps up at the opening, "I sand scooch over." He then climbs out of the hole and rushes towards the pathway where Kitsuno was and syarted lifting her up. He then realized some of the slavers and other bandits were still there. Petrified with fear as they were still surrounded by direwolves, despite them being frozen. Ken then pulls a hand up to his lips and made a loud whistling noise. This got the attention of one of the bandits and she shook her head and looked where Ken was. "Get to the cave now! She's going to incinerate this place!" The female wolf bandit looks at the cave and then towards where Shade was, where a large fireball was building up above her.

Without hesitation, she went to whoever that was near her and snapped them back to reality and pointed to the cave. Her group booked it to the opening and Ken followed suit down the path and waited for some to clear out into the hole. Once the last person made it in, he hoisted Kitsuno onto his back and climbed in as well, "Blake, help me out here. The girl isn't exactly with us currently." Blake nods as he got closer to the ice and held his hands up as Ken kept his footing still enough on the ice and slid Kitsuno into the hole. Blake catches her and carries her deeper into the cave. Ken follows suit after he drops in and ushers people deeper into the cave.

When the two made their way with the rest of the crowd, Vern had started preparing defnses in case the direwolves made their way inside. Once he saw Kitsuno's state he stopped working on the cage wall he was reinforcing and looked over at the slaves. "Make a hole, we got an injured person coming in." Many of the bodies moved as Blake and Ken moved deeper inside, but soon one person came running towards them. "What happened to Kitsuno? Is she okay?" Ken looks at the ferret, "We don't know kid, she started getting like this when her sister broke out."

Liam followed behind the two for a bit before they laid her down on a makeshift cot on the floor. The mage pulls onto his collar, "Phoebe and I might be able to help, but we need these collars off." Blake looks at the collar before gripping onto it and turning Liam around to inspect it. "I can, but without the proper key it is going to be a pain in the ass. You might get shocked." The ferret pauses a bit before shrugging himself away from Blake. "Where would the actual key for this be then?" 

Before the grey wolf could answer, the sound of an explosion is heard from outside the cave. Some had covered their ears as the sound reverbed against the cave walls. Along with the explosion came the sound of shattering and chunks of ice came flying around the bend of the cave. Ken looks at Vern and Blake before heading off to see what was happening. As he got to the entrance, the force of the explosion had caused the barrier to fully shatter and fire burned forth against the remains of the stage. Shade was running up against the main pathway before leaping against the tail end of their leader. A loud scream is heard from him as Shade had sunk her claws into his scaly flesh and he thrashed about before slamming her against the alpha direwolf that laid there on the pathway, to where she had fallen off as he retreated. The sunlight peaks slightly through the remains of the treeline as smoke built up in the area.

Ken retreats back into the cave and meets up with the rest. "Okay, good news is The Black Serpent is out of here. The girl managed to chase him off. Bad news, the grotto is on fire. We need to evacuate out of the cave and out of the tree lines."

Vern sets down the tools he was using to disassemble another cage. "What about the direwolves?" Ken started ushering some people to move, "Potentially dead as I saw her get slammed against on of the alphas. It didn't even move at all from the impact. We need to hurry before it gets worse."