Rune Seeker

Before the group moved out, Hiral gently channeled solar energy into some of his runes, then extended that influence out to the others around him. Almost immediately, four heads looked down at themselves, then turned in his direction.

“What did you do?” Seena asked, bobbing up and down on her tiptoes. “I feel lighter.”

“Lots of exercise and less of Nivian’s cooking?” Yanily asked, before he too started bouncing. Then he patted his tummy and shook his head like something wasn’t adding up.

“I didn’t lose weight…” Seena said. “And I’m not the one with the pastry…” she cut off to rub the bridge of her nose before looking again at Hiral.

“Decreased gravity’s hold on you,” he said. “By maybe fifteen percent. Not enough to let you fly off or anything, but it should help you all move faster. And, before you ask, yes, I think you should be able to cancel the effect any time you want.”

“You buffed us?” Seena asked, then her eyes glazed over. “And there it is. Edict’s Command – Gravity.”

“Really?” Hiral asked, having not actually expected it to result in a system buff. “Does it say what it does?”

“No description,” Seena said. “Maybe, though, before you test those other Edicts, ask us first?”

“I… um… yeah, that’s a good idea,” he admitted a bit sheepishly. He’d been so sure it would work, he hadn’t even considered there could be a downside. Like, who knows, launching his friends into the sky if he messed up the gravity alteration. He should at least warn them. Well, maybe not Yanily – the spearman would probably get a kick out of it. Besides, he had wings now. Sometimes. Sort of.

“All that aside,” Seeyela interrupted his thoughts. “We ready to go?”

“Ready,” Seena said for everybody. “Lead the way.”

Seeyela gave a small but overdramatic bow to her younger sister. “Right this way, Mistress.”

“Good, good,” Li’l Ur said. “Another has acknowledged your greatness and joined the cause.”

“I don’t think that’s exactly what’s going on here,” Seena said as the group took off at a brisk jog. With the lowered gravity for most of them – and the pseudo-aspect for Hiral – they devoured the distance while barely feeling like they were pushing at all.

In fact, as Hiral circulated solar energy through his channels and expanded the sensory domain he’d been working on previously, he found the process even easier. The dome of perception expanded out in an almost instantaneous wave, rushing ahead of – and around – the group. A small stumble as the overload threatened to overwhelm him, and then his Atn showed its worth.

The massive amount of information quickly filtered into categories of useful and useless. Constant things – like trees and the falling rain – quickly got processed out of his attention. They weren’t more than background noise, like conversations in a crowded room, and he had no trouble ignoring them.

On the other hand, unique things almost glowed to his attention. Small animals he’d never noticed made their homes within the low-lying woods around them, while clearings and paths wound within an almost three-dimensional image in his head. It was like he had a miniature map of the nearby topography that moved with him. And, there, standing out even among the rest was…

“A lake?” Hiral asked through the party chat. “Ahead of us?”

“How did you know?” Seeyela asked, leading them around a curve in the path. Another hundred or so feet beyond that, previously invisible in the dark of the falling rain, stretched the flat surface of a large body of water. Though the heavy rain splished and splashed to make the surface dance, no waves disturbed the surprisingly peaceful scene.

“How much you want to bet there is something hungry – and B-Rank – waiting in there for us?” Seena asked. Flames flickered around the bulky gauntlet on her right hand as if she were preparing to deal with something just like she’d described.

“Since we didn’t actually get experience for those dog things,” Yanily started, “I wouldn’t mind something else trying their luck against us. We were totally cheated on that last fight.”

“You said you found the entrance?” Seena asked her sister instead of responding to the spearman.

Before the other woman even had a chance to respond, Hiral was already moving off to the side where he sensed a familiar archway. Interestingly, his sensory domain couldn’t seem to pierce the entrance – like there was a solid door in the way – and it wasn’t until he was physically looking that he saw the stairs leading down into the darkness.

Seeyela was the first to arrive at his side, and she gently bumped her shoulder against his. “Did you know this was here or something?”

“Oh, sorry, no,” he said. “I’ve been experimenting with something similar to my domain. Lets me ‘see’ around me by combining my runes with my attunement.”

“That’s how you knew about the lake and the entrance?” Seeyela asked.

Hiral nodded.

“Nope. Not OP or anything,” Yanily said flatly.

“You go down yet?” Hiral asked Seeyela.

“No, went back to get you. What’s down there?” Seeyela said.

“Can’t tell. Whatever keeps the rain and animals out does the same for my domain.”

“Are Nivian and Wule down there?” Seena asked, bringing them back to the whole reason they were down on the surface again.

Wincing a little at forgetting all about the brothers with everything going on, Hiral turned his attention to the thread of Connection they’d been following. His eyes landed on it extending down the stairs ahead of him at the same time flowers began to bloom around the entrance.

“They’re down there…” Hiral said, almost disbelieving it.

“Unless there’s another exit,” Drahn pointed out. “But, the energy around here is recent. No more than a few hours old. They’re close.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Seeyela asked, looking at the others.

“For Seena to give Hiral the shoulder tap,” Yanily pointed out.

“Go,” the party leader said at the same time Hiral felt a hand on his shoulder.

One step inside the archway – the familiar sensation of crossing the boundary – and Hiral pushed solar energy into his runes. Threading power into Gravity, Sealing, and Rejection, he isolated himself within the stairwell, then shot down the lengthy tunnel without his feet touching a single step, twin scarves of energy snapping behind him. Another small burst of power as he reached the end, and he undid the binding around him to gently reach the dungeon entrance room.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

With his sensory domain having extended ahead of him, he wasn’t surprised when he found the room mostly empty – just the dungeon interface at the far end. What did surprise him was what appeared to be a caved-in tunnel beyond that interface.

Tons of rock lay piled with some of it spilling out into the dungeon-entrance room, small streams of water running between. It wasn’t enough to flood the room, but based on how long the stairwell had been, he had to be standing somewhere under the lake right now. A glance up at the stony ceiling above him, and it looked intact, though he couldn’t help feel just a touch of anxiety at the thought of that much water right above his head.

We shouldn’t stay here any longer than we need to.

“Well?” Seena’s voice said over the party chat, the others obviously taking longer to navigate the painfully long flight of stairs.

“They’re either in the dungeon itself, or…” Hiral trailed off, looking again at the caved in tunnel. They couldn’t have been in there when that happened, could they?

But, even as Hiral asked himself that question, he focused his attention on the hanging thread of Connection. The one that didn’t lead into the caved-in tunnel. No, it ended abruptly in mid-air.

Right where a dungeon entrance would be.

“Or what?” Seena asked.

“Never mind,” Hiral said. “They’re in the dungeon. I’m sure of it. We’ve found them.”

Bamf beside him, and he turned to find Seeyela standing there. “I know Seena said to ask us before you try your rune-things, but that doesn’t apply when there are that many stairs in front of us. Especially when we need to go back up.”

“You could just teleport, like you did…”

“Line of sight, remember? I had to do more than half the stairs before I could see the end.”

“Oh, I guess it was kind of long.”

“Small understatement. Anyway, they’re in there… and… whoa, what happened?”

“What? What’s wrong?” Seena’s voice came over the party chat.

Seeyela looked at Hiral before she responded. “You’re sure they weren’t in… there?”

“I’m sure,” he said. “They’re definitely in the dungeon.”

“It’s easier to see than explain,” Seeyela said to her sister.

It took a few more minutes for Seena, Yanily, and Drahn to finally join them, and even Li’l Ur leaned heavily against Seena’s head, as if he was winded from the long walk. Er, the long ride on her shoulder…?

“What happened?” Seena asked, eyes locking on the same cave in the others had spotted. “Are they…?”

“Definitely not,” Hiral said. “The thread of Connection vanishes right where I think a dungeon portal will open.”

“How’d they get it to open?” Yanily asked, and Hiral opened his mouth to respond.

Except… he didn’t have an answer. Unless…

“Is Undead considered one of the races?” Hiral asked, and everybody just sort of shrugged at him. “That has to be it, right? Nivian as an Undead, and Wule as a Grower. That’d be two races to satisfy the dungeon requirements.”

“There is another possibility,” Seena said, and everybody turned to look at her. “This is a B-Rank dungeon – probably – and even as a healer and tank, they’d be stupid to try it on their own. I mean, maybe, they got chased in by an Enemy. Wouldn’t be the first time. But, what if… what if they went in with somebody else?”

“Like… a Shaper?” Hiral asked, trying to imagine how a Maker could’ve made it all the way there. “That would…”

Hiral’s words cut off as Seeyela clapped her hands together. “Guessing won’t change anything. At most, they’ll be back out in three hours. But! Let’s see what this dungeon is? Maybe we can run it while we wait.”

“Now you’re speaking my language,” Yanily said.

While the look on Seena’s face said she was inclined just to wait for the two friends to exit the dungeon, she shrugged again instead. “Can’t hurt to see what it is.”

That settled, the five walked over to the dungeon interface and stood in a semi-circle in front of it.

“Who gets the honors?” Yanily asked.

“All yours, Yan,” Seena said, flicking her hand in the interface’s direction.

“Thanks!” the spearman said cheerfully, walking up and waving his hand across the crystal. However, instead of Dr. Benza appearing, or the usual dungeon message popping up, a surprising window flashed in front of Hiral’s eyes.

Dungeon – The Placid Lake has been temporarily subsumed.

Dungeon – The Placid Lake has become: Wild Dungeon – The Lost Refuge of the Lost

Note: Wild Dungeons are rare instances containing powerful Lost equipment and unique quests.

Note (2): Wild Dungeon—The Lost Refuge of the Lost will cease to allow new entrants once it has been completed a single time.

Note (3): Any parties within the Wild Dungeon when it is completed will have the opportunity to finish the dungeon.

Note (4): Wild Dungeon—The Lost Refuge of the Lost will count towards unlocking the Asylum if it is completed successfully.

Enter Dungeon?

Yes / No

“A wild dungeon, here?” Hiral asked what had to be on everybody’s mind.

“We have to go in,” Yanily said.

“Yan, the last wild dungeon you ran…” Seeyela started.

“I died,” Yanily said, his face serious. “I know. I was there. But these wild dungeons have all been important. The PIMP put them in front of us for a reason.”

“If Nivian is in there…” Seeyela started.

“Yanily is right,” Seena said. “If you’re sure you’re up to it.”

Just like that, the spearman’s grin came back. “Of course I’m up to it. It’s experience!”

“Yan…”

“Really,” he said. “We need to see what this dungeon has to tell us.”

“Tell us?” Drahn finally spoke up.

“Wild dungeons are… unique,” Hiral said. “So far, all the ones we’ve been in have held important information about things that happened in the past. Things we needed to know to get us ready for something we faced later.”

“Or stop something really bad from happening,” Seeyela added. “Like the Urn of Ur’Thul or the Fallen.”

“You probably heard about the wild dungeon inside the Grandfather,” Seena said. “When we went up to Fallen Reach, that turned into another wild dungeon. Like Yanily said, if there’s one here, it’s because the PIMP thinks there is something we need to know.”

“Is the PIMP really that… smart? Does it think? Like we do?” the tracker asked.

“Sure seeming like that, lately,” Hiral said. “If we have to enter before Nivian and Wule leave, we should get in there right away. Since we don’t know when they went in…”

“You want to call Left and Right back?” Seena pointed out.

“Good point,” Hiral said, cancelling Foundational Split. The tattoos and Meridian Lines appeared across his Second-Skin of Ur’Thul a second later, but he didn’t reactivate the ability. “We’ll ask them what they found after we get inside.”

“Okay folks,” Seena said, taking a deep breath. “Guess we don’t have time for a rest. Everybody ready? Good. Yan, hit that Yes button, and let’s go.”

With a nod, the spearman tapped the air, and a red portal spiraled open exactly where the hanging thread of Connection ended. Nivian and Wule really were inside the dungeon. And, once Hiral and the others completed this Lost Refuge of the Lost – little redundant on the naming there – they’d be reunited again.

Unless the two friends exited the dungeon and immediately left.

On a whim, Hiral pulled one of their tents from his Interspatial Ring and tossed it out into the middle of the floor. When Seena looked at him, he said, “So they know we’re here and don’t run off again.”

“Good thinking,” she said. “Come on. Sooner we finish, sooner we see them again.”

Hiral smacked one fist into the palm of his other hand – his best imitation of Right – and grinned at her. “This dungeon won’t know what hit it.” Then, since Yanily, Seeyela, and Drahn had already entered, he twined his fingers into Seena’s, and they entered the portal together.