Rune Seeker

After waking up from a peaceful sleep with Seena in his arms, Hiral and the rest of the party gathered for a quick roundup on the new abilities they’d gotten. All while he did everything he could to avoid the big-sister look he was getting from Seeyela. Yes, she’d known they were an item for a while – and had mostly gotten past it – but seeing them cuddled up like they were was apparently pushing things.

Luckily, Seena was having none of it, and quickly took control of the situation to review their gains prior to setting off – out of earshot of most of Nivian’s party. Politet was still giving them the stink-eye, but they had invited Gran to join them. Best she know how the party operated if she was going to support them as a healer.

“Hiral, since we already know about…” Seena trailed off, a glance at Gran. Apparently, some things would still remain a secret from the newcomer. “About your last ability – the domain that repeats abilities used within it – let’s just continue with you. What else did you get?”

“Sure,” Hiral said. “First off, I got an upgrade to Power Attack. It works much better now, in that it stores the potential damage from every attack I would’ve done during the time I hold the attack, then adds bonus damage. It should hit hard.”

“But you have to delay actually attacking?” Seena asked, thinking it through. “Usually you’re the one delaying an enemy while we – mainly me – charge up and attack. We’ll have to figure out how to work that in. Okay, what else?”

“Echo Aura got another upgrade too,” Hiral continued. “The Lost Echoes will chase and attack – once – whatever caused them.”

“Do they still explode?” Yanily asked.

“This is Hiral we’re talking about,” Seeyela said. “Of course they still explode.”

“They still explode,” Hiral confirmed, not even bothering to argue with it anymore. “I also got an ability that should synergize pretty well with Echo Aura. It lets me store damage I would’ve taken when I avoid attacks, then use that on an attack or ability of my choice, within a certain period of time.”

“No idea. PIMP shenanigans, most likely,” Hiral said. “Other than that, I got the Call of the Wild upgrade for the Party Interface and the bonus experience for killing enemies higher Rank or unknown Rank. Oh, and the PIM upgrade. You all got those last three?”

A quick series of nods from the rest of the party – other than Gran – confirmed they’d all gotten the same rewards for the Wild Boss and for completing the dungeon.

“Not bad,” Seena said. “I’ll go next. Two of the abilities I got go hand in hand. The first leaves a fire-based, damage-over-time effect on anything I hit with my fiery abilities. Each application stacks more damage, and it reads like the lingering effect is based off how much damage the initial hit does.”

“Kind of like a poison?” Seeyela asked.

“Yes, but don’t worry.” Seena smiled at her sister. “I’m not elbowing in on your thing. It’s strictly an external burn.”

“She’s lighting things on fire,” Yanily said, like it was pretty obvious. And, considering the explanation, it was, when he said it like that.

“What’s the second part that goes with that?” Hiral asked, and that made Seena smile. Which meant it could only mean one thing – more fire.

Such an adorable pyromaniac.

“The second ability is called Detonate,” Seena said. “Any of my fire abilities have a chance to consume all the lingering effects – the window calls them DoTs – in an explosion. Yes, Hiral, I am elbowing in on your thing.”

“We all already saw that this morning,” Yanily said, which got him a pair of scathing looks from Seena and Seeyela both. “Whoa, not that thing. At least, I didn’t see that.” He looked at Seeyela. “Did you see… you know what? Never mind. Detonating and explosions. Let’s get back to that. Sounds safer.”

“Smart man,” Seena said. “Anyway, it makes the DoTs explode, and adds some bonus damage. For weaker monsters, I don’t think it will do much – since I don’t think they will live long enough to stack up the DoTs – but for Boss fights? Should be great.”

“Do we have to watch out for the explosions?” Seeyela asked.

“I… don’t think so,” Seena said, eyes glazing over as if she was reading a window. “We’ll have to pull a Hiral and test it to be sure.”

“Pull a Hiral?” Hiral asked.

“Yeah,” Seena said. “You have two things – exploding and testing.”

“You should’ve gotten one more ability,” Seeyela said, clearly not comfortable with her little sister talking about Hiral’s thing.

“Like Hiral, my final ability is a type of domain ability – my first one!” Seena said.

“Let me guess,” Yanily said. “It involves fire?”

“Absolutely. What fun would it be if it didn’t? It creates a flaming briar patch that has giant versions of my Lashing Vines – from the ground instead of from us – that attack anything I consider an enemy within the range. It’s not nearly as big as Hiral’s Domain of the Sun, but…”

“But my domain might be able to absorb yours?” Hiral said, getting a nod from the party leader. “Okay, that could be crazy good.”

“Exactly,” Seena said. “First Boss we find is going to be our unfortunate test subject.”

“I should probably go next then,” Yanily said, looking at Seena. “Unless you got any more you need to talk about? No? Okay, I got a domain ability too. Seems like a trend, and yes, you guessed it, it involves lightning. Mine creates a storm with lightning strikes and thunder to attack enemies. Maybe we can combine both with Hiral’s arena of fun and death?”

“Arena of fun and death is a much better name than Domain of the Sun,” Hiral admitted.

“I thought so too,” Yanily said. “As for my other two abilities, the first one says it’s a breath attack…”

“You’ve weaponized garlic?” Seeyela interrupted.

“Not yet,” Yanily said, like he was totally serious about the idea. “From how it reads, it’s a hard-hitting, single-target kind of ability. Similar to Skyfall+ and with the same cooldown. I’m kind of excited to give it a try for the first time. My other ability is defensive – electrified, scale armor.”

“The same thing you did when the Infested Enemy tried to move to you?” Hiral asked.

“That’s the one,” Yanily said. “Combines well with my Hydra-Scale Armor, and reads like it’s a step closer to getting my Aspect.”

“Hopefully it’ll help you take a hit,” Seena said. “Sounds like some solid abilities you got. Anything else? Okay, Drahn, over to you. How’d you make out from your first Lost dungeon?”

“Very well,” Drahn said. “Lost dungeon abilities are on a whole other level compared to normal rank ups and dungeons.”

“They are,” Seena agreed, and everybody else nodded along – even Gran.

“Like you all, I got a domain-type ability. For me, it summons a flower that needs time to bloom – thirty seconds, to be precise. During that time, it doesn’t do anything, unfortunately. But, after it blooms, it adds massive buffs, similar to Left’s Banner of Courage within its pretty large radius, and lasts for almost twenty minutes. Even better, it leaves a kind of pollen on anybody who gets the initial buff, which lingers even outside its radius – though at half the potency.”

“Thirty seconds is a long time for short fights, but for Bosses…” Seena said. “Long cooldown on it?”

“Long enough we won’t be using it more than once if it’s a quick dungeon,” Drahn said. “If it was like that one we just went through though, maybe the first Mid-Boss and the Boss, if we aren’t rushing.”

“Good to know. What else?”

“Like Yanily, I also got a defensive ability. Another flower, but this one has five petals and grows on my shoulder. Each petal will absorb eighty percent of the damage I take from one hit before falling off. So, it can reduce damage from five hits before it expires. It also has a kind of long cooldown, so I can’t keep it up all the time, but it’s really powerful when it’s active.

“My last reward doesn’t involve any flowers, but it’s… apparently this whole party’s thing is explosions.”

“You got some too?” Yanily asked. “Exploding arrows?”

“Exactly that,” Drahn said, then puffed out his chest a little in pride. “Igwanda was very jealous of it. I needed a good instant-damage ability, and this will fill the role nicely. I can either charge it up a bit or release it for boosted damage. Either way, after I’ve loaded something up with Pollen Poison, I can switch to this to keep contributing. Fixes a big hole in my…” he looked at Yanily. “In my build.”

The spearman gave Drahn a thumbs up.

“We should definitely be able to work that into our strategy,” Seena said, nodding like she was already planning how to do just that. “You’re next Sis. What did you get?”

Seeyela nodded. “I guess I’m the odd one out. I didn’t get any kind of domain ability from the Banst fight.”

“No?” Seena asked.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Nope. I got a… what did the window call it? Right, a summoning ability. Apparently, I can open a portal to my patron’s territory and call on some of her followers to come help us.”

“You can summon… spiders?” Yanily asked, clearly nervous at the implications of that.

“Don’t worry,” Seeyela said. “They’ll follow my commands – or my intentions, more likely from the way it reads. And there are a couple of choices depending on what we need. A tank spider, some assassin spiders, or some ranged, artillery spiders. Not sure how powerful they are, but, yeah, we’ll pull a Hiral.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about becoming a verb,” Hiral said.

“Not technically a verb,” Seena said.

“And in this case,” Yanily interrupted. “I’m hoping you mean the testing and not the exploding. Pretty sure that second one is still bad for some of us.”

“The testing,” Seeyela confirmed. “It also reads like the spiders will get sent back to their home if they get close to dying, or if the timer on the summons runs out. Either way, a little extra support when we need it.”

“The tank spider sounds very handy,” Seena said. “Considering we have a full party right now and no tank. Will it last a whole dungeon if Gran is healing it?”

“You’re assuming I’d heal a spider,” the hooded woman said, practically spitting out that last word.

“Guess Yan isn’t the only one with a phobia,” Right whispered, so only Left and Hiral could hear.

“Would you if I asked nicely?” Seena said to the healer.

Gran turned her concealed face towards Seena – shivered – and then nodded. “If I have to.”

“Please,” Seena said. “And thank you.”

“Mmmm,” was all Gran said.

“You should’ve gotten at least two other abilities, Sis,” Seena said, once again back to Seeyela after settling things with Gran.

“You bet I did,” Seeyela said. “The first one… I’m sorry, Yan.”

“What are you… yikes!” the spearman practically leapt back as four spider-legs emerged from Seeyela’s back, curling around in front of her just like the Lady of the Web. “What… what are those?”

Even Gran took a step back from the display, her hands – and the knitting needles in them – coming up like she was getting ready for a fight.

“One of my new abilities,” Seeyela said.

“Are those from the armor?” Hiral asked, watching the legs as they hung perfectly still.

Seeyela shook her head. “No, they’re actually mostly intangible when they’re like this, but they can help defend me from attacks. They turn solid – just for a split second – and then they go back to this. They’re made of solar energy, so they only really cost anything when they’re parrying things.”

“They’re made of creepiness, if you ask me,” Yanily said, keeping his distance from the woman suddenly with eight limbs.

“You can’t attack with them?” Seena asked.

“Nope,” Seeyela said. “Only defense. Maybe if I upgrade them later?” She shrugged.

“Good to know. And your other ability?”

“Please don’t be more spiders,” Yanily said.

Seeyela chuckled, but shook her head again. “No, my last ability is similar to what the Fiendish Tree did with elemental vents. I can open small windows that blast things with pure energy – different kinds of energy. They’re pretty expensive, but they give me another ranged option other than my crossbows.”

“Do you have to open them beside you?” Hiral asked.

“No,” Seeyela replied. “I can do them anywhere within line of sight, but the further from me they are, the more expensive.”

“Fair trade-off,” Hiral said.

“I like to think so. That’s it for me, though,” Seeyela said.

“Okay, Gran, you’re last up,” Seena said, turning to the hooded woman. “It looks like Nivian’s group is almost ready to go, so instead of listing off what all of your abilities can do at this point, you’re a healer?”

“You could say that,” Gran said.

“Like Wule? Can you do buffs and debuffs?”

“Some.”

“Care to… elaborate?”

Gran gave Seeyela – and her extra four arms – one more look, then took a step further away. “My healing isn’t like Wule’s. I store up healing energy by dealing damage. No damage means no healing. In other words, don’t get hurt in the middle of nowhere with nothing to kill around.”

“That’s quite a limitation,” Hiral said. “Is it balanced by being stronger healing? And do you have to do the damage yourself, or can anybody?”

“I have to do it myself,” Gran said. “As for how strong it is, you’ll have to see for yourself.”

“I’d really like to know a little more about how that works…” Seena trailed off, then sighed. Hiral followed her gaze to see Nivian and his party approaching. “Looks like it’ll have to wait until we’re moving. Will you share your status window with me later?”

“If I must,” Gran said.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Nivian said. “It’s that time.”

“It is,” Seena agreed. “Before we go out though, Left and Right found something we all need to know about.”

“The raid zone you mentioned before?” Nivian asked.

“We don’t have all the details on it – getting to you was our first priority – but, Left, why don’t you tell us what you know?” Seena said to the double.

“It’s not actually much more than we shared before,” Left said. “While Right and I were evading an attacking Enemy, we found a mountain path the squid seemed reluctant – or unable – to follow us up. Like it completely lost track of us, even though we were still in the rain.

“When we got to the end of the path, we got a notification window stating we were at an entrance to a sealed raid zone. At the moment we found it, it said there were almost a hundred and fifty hours until it opened, and when it did, there would be challenges inside for almost all ranks.”

“Almost all ranks?” Nivian asked.

“Almost all ranks,” Left confirmed. “It specifically mentioned E- through A-Rank challenges, and that admittance would not be limited to six or eighteen people.”

“Any idea why it was sealed?” Igwanda asked.

“None,” Left said.

“The fact the Enemy lost track of you when you got close to the raid zone is very interesting,” Hiral said. “I wonder if it could be used as a safe area. Like an Asylum.”

“Assuming we manage to capture it,” Seena said. “We mentioned this before, but if Vorinal – the Fallen who Fitch freed – is actually trying to get in from the other side, we’ll have more to deal with than just the raid’s challenges. And we’ll need the Bonders’ help, as well as reinforcements from Fallen Reach.”

“You mentioned your dungeon told you how to get to this village,” Wule said. “Wait, let me guess, you made Left remember the way.”

“We didn’t make him,” Hiral started, and his double just looked in his direction. “Okay, maybe we asked him to, really nicely…”

“I know the way,” Left said. “And while the raid zone isn’t directly on the way, the detour to get to it would only take a few hours.”

“And that’s where we should go first,” Seena said. “Might as well check the place out for ourselves. Anybody have any questions or concerns about it?”

Surprisingly, it was Left who put his hand up.

“Left?” Seena asked. “Something else to add.”

“Yes,” Left said. “New information, actually.” He held up the book Nivian’s party had gotten from the dungeon. “I’ve only barely begun to translate it, but something I found may be relevant. The book seems to contain myths and stories, similar to the legends around the Makers’ tattoos.”

“It’s a novel?” Yanily asked.

“More like a collection of short stories,” Left clarified. “Most I’ve hardly figured out more than the title, but one in particular caught my attention.”

Seena was already rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Something tells me I’m not going to like what you found.”

“Depends,” Left said. “The name of the story isn’t important, in this case, but it seems to tell the tale of a lost Progenitor research facility. One hidden deep within unnamed mountains, and filled with experimental creatures. One of these creatures was described, and though the shape of it was different, it was mentioned to have infectious blood, and the ability to consume others like it to grow in strength.”

“The Chimeras,” Hiral said, and looked at Li’l Ur. “Is there a Progenitor who had a place near here?”

“Near here?” the little lich asked. “I barely know where here is, but I could see TheCustodian of Tomorrow working on something like what we fought, now that you mention it. She always dabbled in things best left alone. Unlike some of us, she tried to create dozens of sapient races, but never finished one before moving on to the next. Shiny-object syndrome, like the others of her kind.”

“Others of her kind?” Hiral asked. “This Custodian wasn’t a Progenitor then?”

“Oh, she was. For some reason, the dragons had three. Heaven’s Punishment, The Custodian of Tomorrow, and The Final Tide. Never really got what made them special, but I guess the Squalians had two Progenitors between me and my ex-wife. Hrm, and those filthy Troblins had…” the lich trailed off, his little eyes blinking as the thought fled his mind.

“And he’s gone again,” Yanily said, Li’l Ur’s hands already twisting Seena’s hair like it was the prettiest thing in the world. “Speaking of gone, he mentioned the Progenitors left – where did they go? Er, and where did they come from? Did we ever ask?”

“We didn’t…” Hiral admitted. “At least not that I can think of.”

“We’ve had a lot on the go,” Seeyela pointed out. “When things calm down again, we can worry about that. If it even matters.”

“Correct,” Seena said. “Back to what Left was saying. If this raid zone is some kind of Progenitor’s research facility, all the more reason we can’t let Vorinal have his way with it. We’re heading there first to confirm there’s no way in, then we’ll go meet up with the Bonders.”

“We could split up,” Nivian suggested.

“You trying to get away from us already?” Seena asked the tank.

“Of course not,” Nivian said.

“From where we are,” Left said. “The raid zone is probably a one or two-hour detour. Depends on the rain and how slowly we have to move.”

“Let’s stick together for now,” Seena finally said. “We can split up later if we need to. Everybody ready to go?”

A round of nods from both parties, and they walked across the cavern to the very long flight of stairs extending up ahead.

“Ugh,” Seeyela groaned. “Forgot about these.”

“I can handle it, if you’d like,” Hiral offered.

“All of us?” Seena asked.

“Only one way to find out.”

“He’s pulling a Hiral,” Yanily said.

“Since he is Hiral,” Seeyela said. “That’s probably accurate. Everybody get ready to get groped.”

“Uh…” Wule said.

“Don’t worry,” Hiral said. “It’s like a warm hug.”

“From your creepy uncle,” Yanily whispered to Wule.

“It’s not… never mind,” Hiral sighed. “Just, don’t try to resist. I don’t think it’ll work if you push against it.”

“Don’t think what will… whoa!” Igwanda started, only to cut off when one of Hiral’s scarves wrapped around her. The next second, she was practically floating as his Rune of Gravity did its work.

“Bash fly!” the Troblin shouted excitedly. “Fly and smash!”

“No smashing,” Nivian said flatly, but Hiral’s attention was on Politet. Grabbing a dozen people with his scarves was already hard enough, and the undead alchemist didn’t seem to be going along with it.

“Politet, you want to…?” Hiral asked.

“No,” the undead said. “I’ll walk.”

“Politet,” Nivian said evenly. “We’re going to be working together from now on. Hiral isn’t trying to hurt you.”

“So you say.”

“Yes. I say.”

Tension rose as the two stared at each other, the alchemist’s hand even reaching for one of the vials on his apron before he shook his head with a scowl. “Fine,” Politet said, and Hiral felt the resistance to his scarf lessen. It didn’t completely vanish, but it would be enough to get them all up the stairs.

“Great, now…” Hiral started.

“Here’s where he tells us to hold on,” Yanily said. “Without ever actually giving us anything to hold on to.”

“I still don’t even know what we’re doing!” Wule said.

“He means hold on to your lunch,” Seeyela informed the healer, while Hiral just gave up and stepped into the stairwell. Pulling the others in behind him, he threaded his runes together, then shot up the stairs without another word.

Well, without another word from him. Shrieks of surprise – and cackles of glee from Gran and Bash – and suddenly they were right back outside, the rain falling all around.

“That wasn’t what I…” Wule started, then trailed off as he noticed the same thing everybody else had. The forest that’d been around the dungeon entrance – and the lake – was completely flattened.

“Well, that can’t be good,” Yanily said quietly.