Rune Seeker

The conflagration finally faded a moment later, and a notification window appeared in front of Hiral.

Dynamic Quest: Update

The Lady of the Web has fallen, but what of the researchers?

Researchers remaining: ?/6

“You all get the notification?” Hiral asked, sheathing his RHCs and vaulting over the railing.

A quick use of his Rune of Rejection made for a soft landing, and he jogged across the scorched ground to join Left and Right as they moved towards the remaining cocoons.

The first researcher the Lady had stabbed was obviously dead—liquified—but that still left five more cocoons. Two of them had been blackened during the Lady’s transformation, but maybe the people inside would be okay.

“Got it,” Seena responded via the party chat, “and an achievement too. Huh. I’ll look at that later. Seeyela, can you get me and Wule down there? I think he’d break a leg if he tried what Hiral did.”

“You’re wrong, Seena,” Wule said directly into the party chat. “I’d break both for sure. Portal, please.”

“Here,” Seeyela said, and a portal appeared next to the cocoons at the same time Hiral and his doubles arrived. Nivian was close behind, while Yanily was off looking for his spear.

“I’m never walking anywhere again,” the healer said as he stepped out of the portal beside the two sisters.

“Don’t get too used to it,” Seena said. “She’s not your personal portal slave.”

“Maybe not,” Nivian said, “but the way she used those portals during that fight completely changed it. It was like she was controlling everything.”

“Sure saved my life,” Wule agreed. “Even if it nearly gave me a heart attack. Remember, I can’t heal those.” He gave Seeyela a faux-stern look.

“Thanks,” Seeyela said. “I figured I could be more useful doing something to counter her speed. I’ve got some ideas on how I can use the portals better in the next fight too. Like Seena’s achievement, though, that’s for later. The researchers?”

“I don’t think these two made it,” Left said, inspecting the blackened cocoons. Looking at them closer, it wasn’t like they’d been burned, but instead more like they’d dried out and shriveled up. When Left gently touched one, the whole thing just collapsed into a pile of dust on the ground. “Theory confirmed,” he added flatly.

“The other three?” Seena said, and the party moved over to them.

“How can anything be alive in there?” Wule asked. “Wouldn’t they suffocate?”

“Sure hope not,” Hiral said, putting his hand against one of the cocoons. Then, while focusing his mind on separating the webbing from the person within, he activated his Rune of Rejection. The cocoon puffed out, the individual strands parting like somebody had blown air between them, to reveal a person hanging within, and then everything fell to the ground in a heap. “Glad that worked.”

“Wule, check on him,” Seena said, sending the healer toward the motionless researcher. “Hiral, can you do the other two as well?”

“No problem,” Hiral said, repeating the process with the second cocoon while Wule inspected the first researcher.

“He’s alive, just unconscious,” Wule told the group at the same time the second researcher dropped to the ground, this one a woman. The healer quickly moved over to check on her while Hiral went to the third and final cocoon, once again activating his Rune of Rejection.

This time, when the threads parted to reveal the hanging researcher, Hiral froze, eyes locked on the man’s face.

“Dr. Benza?” Hiral said.

The unconscious man didn’t respond, and instead dropped to the ground with the webbing.

“What did you say, Hiral?” Seena asked him, coming over.

“Does this look like Dr. Benza to you?” Hiral asked, pointing at the researcher.

Seena squinted at the researcher as she leaned closer, but then her eyes widened, and she stood up straight. “It absolutely does. Wule? How is he?”

“One second,” Wule said, solar energy flowing out of him and into the female researcher. “This one has some kind of debuff. Probably another type of venom. Not as bad as the Ghost-Web Venom, though.” He delivered another pulse of solar energy. “There, cleared it up. Let me look at the last one.”

“I think Hiral’s right,” Nivian said while his brother knelt down to inspect the researcher. “That’s definitely Dr. Benza.”

“Or his twin,” Wule agreed, settling the man onto his back.

“What do you think he’s doing here?” Nivian asked.

“We’ll ask him when he wakes up,” Seena said, then looked at Wule. “He will wake up, right?”

“No venom or debuff,” Wule said. “Also didn’t suffocate in the web, in case anyone was wondering.”

“You don’t say,” Seena said. “So does that mean…?”

Dynamic Quest Complete

Researchers saved: 3/6

Congratulations! Achievement unlocked – A Lady’s Touch

You interrupted dinner and defeated an engineered abomination.

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

Note: Rewards will be adjusted for number of researchers saved.

“I don’t really see how we could’ve saved more than three,” Nivian mumbled, but Hiral’s eyes were locked on the line after the achievement.

An engineered abomination? Does that mean the Lady of the Web wasn’t a natural creature? Who made her? Hrm… and the notification says “an” engineered abomination, not “the.” Are there more?

“Yanily, what’s taking so long?” Seena asked, snapping Hiral out of his inner thoughts.

He closed the notification window to see the spearman jogging over. One hand held his spear, untouched despite the powerful blaze it had endured. In his other hand, however…

“Are those the Lady’s fangs?” Hiral asked, spotting the very carefully held weapons.

“Yup,” Yanily said. “Found them near my spear. You think we can take them with us?”

Hiral looked at the two curved daggers in Yanily’s hand until his View ability activated.

(Lost) Fangs of the Lady

Venomous daggers that were once the fangs of an ancient spider before her alteration.

Fangs have a 25% chance to inflict Ghost-Web Venom (debuff) on hit.

Ghost-Web Venom (Debuff): Inflicts cascading damage every 6 seconds. Damage based on target’s Solar Energy Capacity. Duration: 42 seconds or until target dies.

Note: Ghost-Web Venom (debuff) is difficult to remove. Don’t poke yourself.

An ever-helpful notification, as usual.

“The View notification says they’re Lost weapons, so maybe we can take them with us,” Hiral said. “Nice find, Yanily. Oh, and in case you didn’t use View yourself, don’t accidentally stab yourself. It’d be… bad.”

“Kind of figured that,” Yanily said, carefully putting the weapons on the ground.

When Hiral looked at them again, they both had sheaths on them. “Were those there before?” he asked, pointing at the leather belts.

“Definitely not,” Yanily said.

“Why don’t you and Hiral each take one of the daggers?” Seena suggested to Yanily. “You could use a backup to the spear, and Hiral is the next best choice. Nivian can’t use Infuriate without his whip.”

“Uh, I’m not very good with daggers,” Yanily said, eyeing the daggers like they were venomous spiders. “Especially the kind that could accidentally kill me from a scratch…”

“Well…” Seena started.

“I think I’ve got a better idea,” Hiral interrupted, and the party leader looked over at him. “Seeyela should take them both.”

Seena’s older sister looked at Hiral once to make sure he was joking, then a second time when she realized he wasn’t. “Me?”

“You,” Hiral said. “With your new portal ability, you have a lot of mobility. More than any of us. Once you get the hang of it, what better weapons for hit-and-run tactics? You can get in, stab, and get out, all through the same portal.”

“I…” Seeyela began, but she was considering it. “I was starting to think about how I could use the portals for more than just moving you all around. That’s not a bad idea, if you’re all okay with me taking them.”

“Totally fine with it—just don’t stab me,” Yanily said, gesturing to the two sheathed fangs.

“The dying from an accidental scratch could be an issue, though,” Seeyela admitted. “I don’t have a weapon style to use them with.”

“I can teach you,” Hiral said.

“You can teach me a weapon style?” Seeyela asked, a bit of disbelief on her face.

“Hiral doesn’t use weapon styles, Sis,” Seena said. “All his fighting, he learned the old-fashioned way. Practice.”

Seeyela again looked at Hiral to make sure it was a joke. Then again-again when she realized it wasn’t. “Who in their right mind tortures themselves with learning how to fight through training?”

“Somebody who spent most of their life without a class,” Hiral reminded her. “Look, I can teach you what I know, but I bet you’ll get a weapon style skill from it anyway. I can even guess what it’ll be called.” He gave a small smile. “Twin Fang Style.”

“You really think I’ll get a skill from practicing with you?” Seeyela asked.

“Yanily got Dancing Spear Style from imitating the Lizardmen in The Mire dungeon, so it’s possible,” Seena said.

“Okay, let’s do it, then,” Seeyela said, picking up the sheathed daggers and belting the first one around her waist. When she had both of them on, they sat in the small of her back, the hilts just above her waist. “Pretty comfortable. I wonder what the belts are made out of. Soooo smooth…”

“Hey, guys, I think he’s waking up,” Wule interrupted from where he crouched beside Dr. Benza.

“I’m either not dead, or the afterlife looks unfortunately like my laboratory after a bad remodel,” Dr. Benza said, only to then notice the people standing over him. “I take it I can thank you for getting me out of that… sticky situation?”

“Yes,” Hiral said, offering his hand. “Can you stand?”

“Do I have to?” Dr. Benza asked.

“Uh…” Hiral faltered, glancing at Seena.

“Yes, he has to stand,” Seena said flatly. “We aren’t carrying him… wherever we’re going next.”

A hand met Hiral’s, and he turned back to find Dr. Benza hanging on. “Well, are you going to help me up to just enjoy the softness of my hand?”

With no good answer to the question, Hiral pulled the man upright, then held on a second longer when he swayed. “You good?”

“Just the blood rushing to my head,” Dr. Benza said, steadying himself, then let go of Hiral’s hand. “There, fine. How are the others?”

“I’m afraid three of them didn’t make it,” Wule said. “The other two are still unconscious.”

“That’s only five. What about the other thirty-four?”

Wule paled. “I’m sorry,” the healer said finally. “You six in this room were the only ones we found.”

“Damn. They were good researchers. Good people. Who survived?” He then spotted the other two lying on the ground. “Ah, Fenil and Laseen. Good. When will they wake up?”

“I’m not sure,” Wule admitted. “Soon, I hope. The woman…”

“Laseen,” Dr. Benza supplied.

“Laseen, she had some kind of debuff on her. A paralytic, I think.”

“A debuff? I didn’t realize we’d already started using the lingo outside of the labs. I guess it explains things well. Good enough. And you were all sent here to rescue us, I assume?”

“We were,” Seena said. “Left, did the soldier tell you where we should take them?”

“The east tunnel, where they were headed,” Left explained.

“Hrm?” Dr. Benza said. “The tunnel? Yes, that should work. I need to prepare copies of my research to bring with us. We’ll leave when I’m ready.”

“And how long do you expect that to take?” Seena asked, arms crossing in front of her.

“A few minutes at most,” Dr. Benza said, then looked around at his web-covered lab. “Maybe fifteen.”

“I’ll help,” an unfamiliar voice said, and Hiral looked over to see the male researcher sitting up.

“Ah, Fenil, good to see you finished your nap,” Dr. Benza said.

“I thought I was just having a weird nightmare,” Fenil said, also looking around the room. “Kind of wish I could go back to sleep now.”

“No time—world to save and all that,” Dr. Benza said while Nivian helped Fenil to his feet. “Come on.”

“Yes, sir,” Fenil said, and the two of them headed to one of the web-covered workbenches.

“Another escort quest, you think?” Seena asked when the party was on their own.

“Probably,” Hiral said.

“Uh, why aren’t we asking Dr. Benza all the questions the interface-Benza wouldn’t answer for us?” Yanily asked.

“We can ask while we move,” Seena said.

“Probably won’t be able to answer,” Hiral said. “I tried asking Bellina some questions earlier, and she sort of just… paused. I think the wild dungeons have limiters on them too.”

“Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try,” Seena said.

“Oh, total agreement here,” Hiral said. “He knew what debuffs are, though, so this time must be while he was building the PIM system? None of the guards had one, and that’s what I was asking Bellina about when she froze up.”

“He might be able to tell us about Fallen Reach and what’s threatening it,” Nivian offered.

“Do you think they really built cities underground?” Wule asked. “How long did the war against the Enemy last for them to be able to do that? Entire cities! This place is huge.”

“Another thing to ask Benza or one of his assistants,” Seeyela said. “Wule and Left, while we’re moving, I want you two questioning them. Find out anything and everything you can. The rest of us are going to be keeping an eye out for ambushes, but I don’t want to miss the opportunity to get some answers.”

“How far do you think that east gate is from here?” Nivian asked.

“Not close,” Left said. “Just over a mile.”

“That’s not bad,” Yanily said. “We can do that in a few minutes.”

“We could, but do you really think they can keep up with us without PIMs?” Seena asked.

“Hiral did,” Yanily pointed out.

“And you’ve seen his stats. They’re researchers. How much you want to bet none of them have a physical stat in double digits?”

“Seeyela could portal them there?” Yanily suggested. “Actually, can you portal us all there?”

“Line of sight only,” Seeyela said.

“Booo,” Yanily said.

“Yeah,” Seena said. “How’s everybody doing? Ready to move when we have to?”

The others nodded.

“Left, Right, come join up so we can restore your solar energy,” Hiral said. “You must’ve used a lot in that fight.” He absorbed his two doubles when they took his hands. A quick look over at the two researchers showed them still busily working with some crystals on a table they’d cleared of webbing. Hiral turned his attention back to the party and asked, “Seena, you said something about getting an achievement?”

“Yes. It’s called From the Ashes,” Seena said. “Got it as we finished off the Lady. The flavor text says, Fire is just one step in the forest’s cycle. Whatever that means.”

“Guess we’ll find out when we get to the interface,” Hiral said. “If this is like the other dungeons, we should expect one more Boss encounter.”

“It’s been monkeys and spiders so far; maybe Dr. Benza can tell us what else lives on the surface above the city,” Nivian suggested. “Seems to be the theme of this dungeon.”

“Speaking of themes, do you… do you think this all really happened?” Wule asked. “Is this the real Dr. Benza? Well, not the real real one, but you know what I mean. The other dungeons were just… different.”

“I think it really happened,” Hiral said. “Somehow, we’re seeing a small part of the history of our world.”

“Are all wild dungeons like this?” Seena asked, then shook her head. “Never mind. That’s not important now. We’ve got a few minutes before we’re leaving, so why doesn’t everybody grab a bite to eat? Who knows the next chance we’ll have.”