Rune Seeker

With the music resounding off the walls and the Infested standing at the edge of the stage, Hiral reached out with his Connections to the other party members. Big talk or not, there was no way Banst would be a pushover. And she said she had talent with runes. Until he knew what she was capable of, he couldn’t try to counter anything – like he did against the Fiendish, yet misunderstood, Tree – so he settled for an Increase to their attributes.

Except it didn’t work as smoothly as last time. The instant Hiral tried to reinforce that concept on his party members, there was a resistance to it. Like the whole area was already locked down by something much broader. And, now that he noticed it, it wasn’t just suppressing his ability to buff his allies. It was a debuff!

You have been afflicted with the Threnody of the Empty Troupe debuff.

Threnody of the Empty Troupe: Music not of the ears – but of the soul – that controls all around it. Derived from a Primal Chord, this melody will lead those who experience it to the grave.

Your will is not your own.

Note: Effects cannot be negated while the music plays.

Hiral’s eyes practically bugged out of his head at the notification window that popped up. An entire orchestral performance based on a Primal Chord? Not good. He’d seen – firsthand – how his own Primal Chord of the Lost Echo had controlled his opponents. If Banst could do that to them…

No. It’s not that bad. My buff on the others worked, it just took more effort. We can do this.

Surprisingly, up on stage, Banst hadn’t taken immediate advantage of the Threnody’s power, instead gently waving her hand in tune with the music. “Almost there,” she said, her hand rising, rising, rising… and stopped well above her head. Then it came crashing down, the music of the orchestra behind her following it like a tidal wave of sound and power that flooded outward.

The walls of the auditorium shuddered while the bolted-down seats rattled in place. Behind the party, the doors slammed closed, energy shimmering across them as the music locked the place down. Even the air itself felt thicker, heavier, and each beat of the large drums reverberated out to hit the party like a physical blow.

“That did damage,” Drahn grunted, only for them to get hit with another BOM, BOM, BOM, from the drums.

“Orchestra needs to go,” Seena said. “Yan, you’re with me on trash duty. The rest of you, take care of Banst.”

“Take care of me?” Banst said from right next to Hiral, and he snapped his head around at the same time he folded Rejection around his arms. Except… she wasn’t standing right beside him. “Not goin’ ta happen.”

CRACK, from the front of the room, and Hiral spun again to look in that direction, just in time to see Banst shooting for Seena like a loosed bolt. Her right hand cocked as she flew, but she wasn’t holding a weapon. She wasn’t even making a fist. She just had her thumb and middle finger pressed together.

What is she…?Questions for later!

The others hadn’t recovered from the… the whatever he’d heard beside him. Pushing his will against the Threnody, Hiral forced Rejection under his feet, and launched himself on an intercept. Even with the music pushing down on him – slowing his rune to activate – his natural reflexes and the benefits of his pseudo-aspect seemed less affected.

The blink of an eye – that’s all it took either of them to reach the middle of the room – and Hiral’s left hand snapped out to push aside Banst’s right. Back of his hand to the inside of her forearm, he shoved at the same time her gaze met his. Glowing with Impact, Hiral’s other fist was already halfway to colliding with the side of her head. Infested or not, this was going to hurt.

Except Banst almost seemed like she was ready for it. No, it was worse than that. It was like she’d planned for it. The moment Hiral’s left hand met her forearm, the woman’s body twisted, with her other hand coming up perfectly to mirror his initial movement. The back of her hand to the inside of his right arm casually pushed his punch out wide, leaving them both completely exposed, though with neither of them in position to…

Banst pursed her lips slightly in that brief second, then let out a sharp, high-pitched whistle.

Pain tore down Hiral’s chest like somebody had taken a sword from shoulder to hip across him, and blood flashed into the space between them. Continuing her turn, Banst directed him up and over her, using his own momentum – and the surprising pain – to hurl him past. Stunned from what’d happened, Hiral crashed into the theatre seats, smashing half a dozen of them in a series of unfortunately painful collisions before he came to a stop.

Through his sensory domain – barely still active beneath the continued pounding of the music – Hiral felt Banst finish her spin to land deftly on a seat back. Then, just as the party was turning to catch up with what had happened, she extended that cocked right hand.

And simply snapped her fingers.

A concussive wave of force like a titan’s fist slammed into Seena, crushing her back into the wall so suddenly the balls of fire forming above her hands got left behind. Along with Li’l Ur.

To either side of the party leader, Seeyela and Yanily didn’t hesitate to go on the attack. A bamf of purple flame, and Seeyela was gone, while Yanily lunged forward – wings of condensed storm powering his charge.

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If Banst was threatened by the ability usage under the blanketing effect of the Threnody, she sure didn’t show it. Contrary, balancing on just one foot on the seat back, she leaned forward to mule kick straight back. Bamf, Seeyela appeared – in the perfect place to take the kick square in the chest. And just like that, it was the other sister’s turn to shoot across the theatre and crash into the foot of the stage.

At the same time Seeyela made a sudden – and very painful – stop, Banst once again stood up just as Yanily closed in on her. Spear sparking with lightning coiled like serpents ready to strike, the spearman’s weapon drove forward.

The Infested casually clapped her hands.

Seating all around the woman tore away in a shockwave that shredded fabric, cushion, and metal. Yanily didn’t do much better, the wave hitting his spear like he’d run into a solid wall. Up went the tip as it forced his arms to move, then the blast hit him. Fragments of his Hydra-Scale Armor ripped off, while Yanily himself got thrown aside to slam into one of the pillars supporting the balcony above.

Drahn’s arrow – which had been loosed at the same time Yanily charged – got turned aside by the same blast that threw Yan back, though a second was already on the way. One Banst casually leaned to the side to avoid – long before the arrow even reached her. It was like she had the whole fight scripted out ahead of time.

She even looked bored.

Until Right appeared through a portal right beside her, solar-gauntlet-covered fist leading. A second of surprise on her face, Banst still managed to dodge the punch and leap across the five-row-dead-zone she’d torn in the seating. Quickstepping from seatback to seatback, she lifted a foot over Right’s low kick, leaned to dodge a left jab, then spun down and around to escape a cross as the double gave chase.

Like a pair of dancers – who really didn’t like each other – the two closed into a tight melee as Banst launched her own counter attacks. No flashy moves or big abilities, Right and Banst pushed skill against skill, limbs blurring in a non-stop exchange of punches, kicks, knees, and elbows.

“Ya’s music is distorted,” Banst said – the only thing she had time to say before the other double landed behind her.

A faded, inky Dagger of Sath swept around with a stuttered coil of water hanging behind it, Left having leapt up with his Wing of Anella to literally get the drop on Banst. But it still wasn’t quite enough. Twisting to dodge Right’s punch, the Infested ducked low and under the dagger – evading its deadly edge – then rose with thumbs and forefingers together on both hands.

Snap, snap.

And the doubles shot in opposite directions, while Banst leaned her head to the side. A heartbeat later, one of Drahn’s arrows sailed past, and the tracker cursed.

Through all of this – happening in a scant few seconds – Hiral pushed himself to his feet. One hand on a chairback for support, the other on the inch-wide-wound running across his chest. Whatever had hit him had even scarred the bone, and blood pooled on the ground around him. Luckily, like his pseudo-aspect, the music of the Threnody didn’t seem to be impacting his High-Speed Regeneration+ much, and he could feel the benefits the Rune of Restoration had given him working as well.

To anybody else, the injury would be very bad. Banst was a threat – and he still wasn’t even entirely sure how she’d hit him. A Rune of Separation, maybe? Then there was the orchestra itself, another pounding drum sequence jarring Hiral’s bones with every beat and making his regeneration work even harder.

Out came his RHC in his left hand – Piercing Shot appearing at the end of the barrel – and he turned and fired. Even Banst wouldn’t be able to react fast enough to stop the shot from putting a hole in the drummer’s head.

The Infested didn’t even move – a curtain of glowing light appearing two feet in from the edge of the stage to block the blast.

“Oh, don’ be like that,” Banst said from right beside him.

Hiral’s other RHC came out in a heartbeat, spinning and firing at… empty air.

The woman was still standing on the seatback, casually leaning to the side every second or so to avoid one of Drahn’s arrows. She was chewing on her bottom lip and looking at each of the party members getting back up.

“Got ta say,” she said. “I’m surprised y’all ain’ dead yet. I only had them security golems ta play with, but I was pretty damn sure I hit y’all with enough pizazz,” she wiggled her hands at the strange word, “ta make y’all inta pancakes. Great. Now I’m hungry.”

“Kind of feel like a pancake, if that makes you feel better,” Yanily said, using his spear to stand back up. A roll of his neck, then a shake of his head, and he seemed to be fine though.

“I’ll give y’all one more chance,” Banst said. “Ya could help me. Y’all are stronger than I gave ya credit for. Ya should be on the right side.”

“Killing all our friends and family on the island doesn’t sound like the right side to me,” Seena said, likewise back on her feet. Li’l Ur floated above her shoulder again, and blue energy crawled around his outstretched hands. Whatever the Threnody did, it affected the little lich as well.

“We can make sure they get the same offer,” Banst said. “The Heroes respect strength. And, after bein’ trapped like they was, I’m sure a little extra muscle waitin’ for any Enemy that comes lookin’ would be appreciated. Buddy here says he can guarantee y’all a place of status. Or safety. Or whatever y’all want, once we have our world back.

“Ya said y’all are from one of the islands, right? Then you don’ know what it was like. The world before the Enemy took it from us. I was young, and we’d already lost most of it, but I remember some. I want that back. Don’ you? Freedom ta not be afraid all the time. Ta not be lookin’ over y’all’s shoulders for invisible tentacles. The Heroes can give ya that.”

“I think you believe what you’re saying, Banst,” Hiral said, RHCs still in hand, and the wound on his chest mostly healed. “And parts of it sound appealing. They really do. I wish we could work together to achieve what you’re after, but the price you’re asking is too high.”

“We don’t need your heroes,” Seena added from the other side. “We’ll kick the Enemy out of the world ourselves.”

“Y’all aren’t strong enough ta do that,” Banst said. “If ya can’ even handle little ol’ me, what chance do ya have against the Enemy? Or the things that sent them here? No. Ya need the Heroes, even if you don’ realize it yet.”

A cold shiver ran down Hiral’s spine at the words “the things that sent them here”. Are the Enemy not even the worst of it?

“Maybe,” Seena said. “Or maybe not. Either way. That’s the choice we’ve made.”

“Then only one of us is leavin’ this theatre,” Banst said. “I can’ have y’all standin’ against us later. I wanted ta let ya live for getting’ me out of here, but y’all just be a threat down the road. It’s a pity.”

“I wouldn’t count us dead quite so quick,” Seena said, flames spilling off her like they’d been kept boiling in a pot with the lid on. That whole side of the theatre lit up orange and red – though nothing else seemed to catch on fire – as her Aura of the Mother of Flame spread to the rest of the party. “I think you’ll be surprised just how strong we are.”