Ozzy looked at the oncoming horde of fur and teeth, then turned and grabbed Ben.

"UP! Get in the rafters!" Ben got the idea immediately.

Ozzy bent to form a saddle out of his hands.

Ben stepped into it and Ozzy heaved him towards the ceiling.

Ben slammed into the ceiling and rebounded onto a rafter, stunned.

Squirmie grabbed Rolly, his six legs biting into his pet and drawing blood.

Squirmie wasn't worried, Rolly healed quickly.

He tried to replicate Ozzy's slam into the ceiling, but Rolly was too heavy.

Rolly grabbed hold of the rafter and pulled himself onto it just as Ben was starting to slide off.

Rolly grabbed for Ben, but only managed to hold onto one foot.

Worse, Ben's weight pulled him off the rafter.

He held on with his feet hooked over the edge, and Ben dangling down beneath him.

"Shit! Squirmie! Do something."Squirmie shot a sticky wad of webbing onto Rolly's feet, keeping him attached to the beam.<You cannot fall now Rolly, and if you get tired, it's easy to let go of the weight.

His body will kill many weasels.

They are small and weak.>While this was happening, Ozzy tossed Suzette up.

She glared at him.

"Gently! Don't pulp me like you did Ben." He carefully tossed her up, but not quite high enough to grab a rafter.

She used Suspend to keep herself from falling.

The weasels were starting to pile into the room now, swarming over Ozzy.

He stomped and crushed them, but there were simply too many.

He was losing health, their tiny fangs finding bare skin and biting hard.

Their damage was only a couple of points a bite after his mitigation, but that was enough.

Their were a lot of weasels.

"Oh hell, this is like the death of a thousand cuts."Ben shook his head and regained his senses.

Ozzy was below him and off to his right a bit, but upside down.

No, not Ozzy.

It was him who was upside down.

He looked back and saw Rolly barely holding on to him.

Weasels were swarming over Ozzy just below him.

"Ozzy! This may hurt a bit; I hope you still resist fire." Ben spread out his hands and flames fanned out, crisping the top layer of weasels."Don't stop, I'm fine.

When did you learn to do that?"Ben took a breath and continued to cast the spell.

"About 15 minutes before we went into the dungeon.

I allocated 50 of the experience from our last fights to Flames of Phoenix to level it from 0 to 1; that gave me a new spell called Fan of Flames - low damage and low range, but it will kill weasels."Ben cast the spell over and over.

Suzette saw this and started throwing oil flasks at the front of the room where weasels were still pouring in.

The oil blazed up immediately.

Unlike magical fire, this produced a lot of smoke, the ceiling began to fill up with fumes.

Ozzy saw what Suzette was doing and moved up a couple of steps up, and into the fire from the pool of oil.

"Can you still hit me, Ben?" "Just your backside, start turning around slowly so I can get all the ones on you."Rolly wondered how bar-b-que weasel tasted, "It's like a weasel rotisserie!"The flow of weasels was slowing.

Some turned and ran back the other way when they saw the fire and heard the horrible sounds of pain from their maddened fellows.

Suddenly any weasel left alive was leaving.

Ozzy crawled to a corner in the back and slumped against the wall.

He was bleeding from a hundred small cuts and his pants and apron were torn to shreds.

he drank a healing potion and poured four more over his wounds.

"Damn, those little suckers did over two thirds of my health."Suzette dropped down next to him, her Ring of Feather Falling slowing her descent.

"And you were on fire, I'm sure that didn't feel good.""Actually, it did feel good.

Fire really doesn't bother me much anymore, as long as it doesn't surprise me.

And I'm around it a lot, working with Joe in the pit."Suzette rolled her eyes.

"You are so weird sometimes - scared of a few weasels, but not burning to death.""Says the girl who goes into a dungeon looking like she just walked out of a Victoria's Secrets photo shoot."Rolly swung back and forth, helping Ben do a flip to land on his feet.

His scythes cut through the webbing on his feet and he tried to imitate Ben's landing, but spun too far and landed flat on his back.

"Oof, that hurt a bit."<Pain means you need to work harder on your agility! Maybe the large one could throw you up in the air a few times so you can work on your landings?"Rolly considered this, "That's not a bad idea, Squirmie.

We can do it a few times each day when we come in for lunch."Ben also thought this was a good idea, "That really is a good idea.

Ozzy needs to learn the limits of his strength - you nearly knocked me out when you bounced me off the ceiling."Ozzy looked a bit sheepish.

"Yeah, forgot I upgraded my STR.

Nice recovery though." "No shit, that flamethrower spell was nice.

How did you get more spells? Spill the beans!" Ben now had three decent spells, while she just had cantrips.

Suzette was anxious to learn how he was doing it."It's the skill I picked up on my courier run, Flames of the Phoenix.

Give me a second, I'll share the notification."

You have been given access to the Tier 2 skill: Flames of the Phoenix.You have agreed to accept the skill: Flames of the Phoenix.

Cost = 11 CSP.You have gained 3 points of Radiance.You have gained the sub-skill: Lay HandsYou have gained the sub-skill: Flaming BrandFlames of the Phoenix is a complex aspect that includes both the Aspect of Fire, and the Aspect of Healing.

RAD is the governing statistic.

For each level of a complex aspect, (including level 0), sub-skills will be available to you.

Sub-skills use the rank of Flames of the Phoenix and use of them will earn experience for Flames of the Phoenix.