Rune Seeker

With his goodbyes done, Hiral took a step back and motioned at the two men in armor. Seeing their cue, Bellina and the others went with the soldiers to join the larger gathering, and Hiral jogged back over to Seena and the others.

“All done?” Seena asked.

“Yeah, it’s weird,” Hiral said. “They’re using the glyph of fertility—or something very close to it—to ward off the Enemy. To prevent them taking over people, Bellina said.”

“What?” Seeyela said. “Why? What would it even do?” Her hand unconsciously went down to her own stomach.

“I don’t know,” Hiral said. “But Bellina said they don’t use it for fertility, so it must’ve changed for some reason over the years. Anyway, not that it really matters, I guess. Left, did you get the directions?”

“I did,” Left said. “They’ll take us close to the center of the city, but we shouldn’t be in the rain… yet.”

“Knowing the dungeon mechanics, I bet that’ll change as soon as we start moving,” Seena said. “So, before we get a timer—I just know another one is coming; I can feel it—let’s talk real quick about that last battle.”

“It was a bit rough,” Nivian said. “Having to protect all those extra people while dealing with the monkeys…”

“Not to mention the ones throwing stuff,” Yanily said.

“It was. Nivian, you said you got an achievement or something?” Seena said, cutting through the chatter to the important bits.

“Yes, though like I said, I’m a bit insulted by the achievement name,” Nivian said. “Here, I’ve still got the notification open. Let me share it…” He trailed off until a green notification window appeared in front of the party.

Congratulations. Achievement unlocked - Just Shut Up and Take It.

You took a pounding… and kept taking it… while under the effects of a stacking debuff.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

“Oof, that’s a bit…” Wule started.

“Direct,” Yanily said. “You’re like some kind of damage sponge.”

“You should see the other guy,” Nivian said, nodding towards the pieces of the Alpha on the ground a short distance away.

“Not like you did that,” Yanily said flatly.

“No, and we’ll get to Hiral in a minute,” Seena said, turning a flat look to him, then going back to Nivian. “No new skill yet? Just the achievement?”

“Just the achievement,” Nivian confirmed.

“Okay, let us know what you get when you clear the dungeon. Now, Hiral, you obviously got a new skill. Let’s hear it.”

“Ah, I got an ability evolution called Distracting Shot,” Hiral started.

“The death beam was a distracting shot?” Yanily asked.

“I know I was distracted,” Wule said, glancing at the carved path in the stone road. “Kind of still am…”

“Umm,” Hiral started, then shook his head. “No, that’s… that’s something else. I don’t know exactly what it was. Something to do with the ring.” He thumbed over his shoulder.

“The Ring of Amin Thett?” Wule asked.

“The what of what now?” Hiral asked the healer.

“That’s what it says when I use View on it,” Wule explained, pointing at the ring floating behind Hiral.

Hiral spun around, but of course the ring followed his motion perfectly, and he spun a second time before realizing he’d never catch up to it.

“Like a dog chasing its own tail,” Seeyela said with a shake of her head.

Hiral did his best to scowl at her, but he was much too interested in the ring to put any real effort into it, and he willed the crystal to float out in front of him. A second of concentration to use View on it, and a yellow item window popped up.

The Ring of Amin Thett

The crowning creation of the Runic Armsmith, Amin Thett.

Within the void lies truth; within truth lies power.

By combining solar energy stolen during combat with the Rune of Energy, the Ring of Amin Thett is able to produce: The Annihilation of Amin Thett (ability).

The Annihilation of Amin Thett (ability): Fires a beam of concentrated energy.

Note: Damage is based on the amount of solar energy collected prior to use, and is modified by the user’s Dex and Atn.

Note (2): Additional damage based on target’s missing health.

“Huh,” Hiral said, reading through the notification quickly, then sharing the window with the others.

“Wall of text,” Yanily said with a wave of his hand. “What’s the short version?”

“Uh… the beam…”

“Death beam,” Yanily corrected quickly.

“I thought you wanted the short version,” Hiral said flatly.

“Guys,” Seena interrupted, “the ring collects energy from stuff we fight, then uses it to make the beam. And, the more injured the target is, the more damage it does?”

“That’s what it looks like to me,” Hiral said. “It must’ve done extra since the Alpha was around twenty-five percent after Yanily hit it.”

“Yeah, extra death,” Yanily said.

“Important points only, please,” Seena said, and Yanily muttered something about death being pretty important, then held up his hands like he wasn’t going to say anything else. “Hiral, you can’t use it on demand?”

“No. Or, maybe I can use it sooner? But it won’t hit as hard.”

The notification window didn’t say anywhere that the ring needed to be fully charged to use the Annihilation of Amin Thett. A dramatic name, but another look at the dead Alpha, and he couldn’t really argue with it.

“And that Distracting Shot?” Seena asked after she apparently made a mental note about the ring’s ability.

“Doesn’t do much damage, but applies a debuff for six seconds,” Hiral explained. “Reduces hit chance, critical hit chance, and damage by ten percent.”

“Cooldown?”

“None, apparently,” Hiral said. “But total duration can never go above six seconds.”

“A debuff?” Yanily asked, perking up. “Maybe that’s why I got a passive ability evolution.”

“You got something too?” Seena asked, obviously interested. Two evolutions and an achievement from one fight was a good haul.

“Sure, here, lemme just share…” Yanily started, and a green window appeared in front of him.

Class Modification – Predator’s Eyes

Predator’s Eyes – Gain +2% hit chance and critical hit chance, and +5% critical hit damage, for each debuff on your target.

“When we were fighting, I noticed Hiral’s shots were creating openings for me, making it easier for me to land hits,” Yanily said. “Then, soon as the fight was done—boom, got the ability evolution.”

“That’s nice. Simple too,” Seena said, apparently reading the notification again.

“Good. Yanily needs simple,” Wule said.

“He does,” Seena agreed. “We’ll need to make sure we’re using more debuffs to capitalize on this. Nivian, your whip counts as a debuff, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, Infuriate,” Nivian said.

“Great. And now Seeyela, what the hell was all that?” Seena asked, turning on her sister. “I expect crazy, reckless stuff from Hiral, but you too?”

“When was I reckless this time?” Hiral asked quietly, and Right put a hand on his shoulder.

“Just let it go,” Right said with a shake of his head.

“Sorry, you’re right,” Seeyela said. “I shouldn’t have tested out my theory in the middle of the fight like that. It was reckless of me. It’s just… since we came through that last portal, I’ve had this tingle in the back of my head. Like… like I was really close to figuring something out. And I did.”

“Lucky you didn’t explode,” Nivian said, looking sideways at Hiral.

Hiral opened his mouth, but closed it again at another shake of Right’s head.

“What is it, and can you keep doing it?” Seena asked.

“Yes,” Seeyela said. “I got an ability evolution too. Short version is the portal that brought us here used gravity to connect two points, somehow. I don’t know exactly how it works, but I did the same thing with my ability.

“I can create portals now. They cost a lot of solar energy, though.”

“Can we move through them?” Seena asked. “Safely?”

“Yes,” Seeyela said. “Don’t think I can do anything as big as I did at the end there. Now that I actually have an ability, there seem to be limits on it. Should still be useful for moving around the battlefield, though.”

“That’s great. Will help take some of the load off Nivian’s solar energy consumption from using his Swarm Tactics.”

“Costs a similar amount, I think, so we can’t abuse it too much,” Seeyela said.

“Noted,” Seena said. “Okay, anybody else get anything? And everybody good on solar energy now?” When nobody answered, she nodded. “Good. Let’s go rescue some researchers.”

With the decision made, Left let the banner fade—they didn’t need to walk around with a glowing, fifty-foot dome announcing their location—and the group started in the direction he pointed. They didn’t even get fifteen feet before another loud CRACK announced the further breaking of the cavern roof, and the ground shook a moment later from the ensuing crash.

“You know, I really expected…” Seena started, but a notification window appeared in front of Hiral’s eyes, and she cut off. “Damnit,” she muttered, and Hiral turned his eyes to the quest update.

Dynamic Quest: Update

The sky is falling (literally) and monsters prowl the streets. The researchers won’t be able to stay hidden for long. Find them before something else does.

Time remaining until the researchers are found: Approximately 20:00 minutes

“Approximately?” Hiral said. “That can’t be good.”

“No. We need to hurry,” Seena said. “Left and Nivian, take the lead. If any monkeys try to slow us down, deal with them with extreme prejudice.”

“Ah, my favorite kind of prejudice,” Yanily said, then looked at the others. “I mean… I don’t really like prejudice in general, but that sounded…”

“We know, Yanily,” Seena said. “Just kill stuff, okay?”

“You got it, boss.”