Rune Seeker

Fifteen minutes later, almost to the second, Dr. Benza and the other researchers were ready to go, Laseen having woken up and worked to help the other two finish. Left and Right had also just returned from doing a quick scout to make sure they had an idea of which path to take. If it was anything like when they’d escorted the prior NPCs, they’d be running straight into trouble, and knowing where they were going could make all the difference.

“A new door opened up on the second level,” Left said. “After we defeated the Lady, I think, and it leads out to the other side of the building. There’s a main street there that looks like it will take us almost straight to the eastern tunnel. Right and I only had time to go a few blocks, but we didn’t see any monsters.”

“No spiders?” Seena asked.

“None—and I was specifically watching for the Ghost-Web Assassin Spiders,” Left said. “No monkeys, either. This side of the city has grown oddly quiet as well.”

“Dr. Benza, do you know the street Left is talking about?” Hiral asked.

Dr. Benza nodded. It was kind of odd, but none of the three researchers had made any sort of comments about Left and Right looking almost exactly like Hiral—or their names. Another quirk of the dungeon?

“He’s right,” Dr. Benza started, though Yanily interrupted.

“He’s Left; the other one is Right,” the spearman said helpfully. “They just look the same, but once you… ” He trailed off at a glare from Seena.

“He’s correct, then,” Dr. Benza clarified. “The street will take us directly to the eastern gate. It curves slightly—bad city planning, if you ask me, but serves its purpose. Perhaps we can find a taxi or carriage to get us there?”

Then the doctor looked around the web-filled room again and shook his head. “Well, perhaps not.”

“You have everything you need?” Hiral asked. “The PIM research?”

“Yes,” Dr. Benza said, then paused. “Though I don’t remember telling you the type of research we were conducting here.”

“We were told about it before we were sent to rescue you,” Hiral quickly said. “In case we saw any of the need-to-know-type stuff.”

“Ah, that would make sense,” the doctor said. “We’ve each got a copy of the data, in case something happens to one of us.” He pulled a hand-length crystal out of his pocket and showed it to the party. Fenil and Laseen each did the same. “More importantly, we uploaded the most recent parameter findings to the core system before cutting the connection. A pity. A few more months and we probably would’ve had enough data to activate the system. This will set us back…”

“It’s not so bad, Doctor,” Fenil said. “If these people can get us out of the city, we can continue our work in Trevallen. The Prime connection there is just as reliable, and the city itself is deeper. If it wasn’t so far away, we could’ve just gone there in the first place.”

“If the disc tunnels haven’t been compromised, we can still get there quickly,” Laseen said. “Relatively speaking, of course. On the other hand, if the tunnels are gone… it’s going to take much longer.”

“And be far more dangerous,” Fenil added. He turned to Seena. “Are you going to escort us all the way to Trevallen?”

“We’ll see,” Seena said. “Our first job is to get you to the eastern gate. If everybody’s ready, let’s get going.” Then she paused. One second passed, then three… five. “Did anybody get a quest notification?”

“Nothing here,” Hiral said as he glanced at the researchers, all of whom seemed to have that paused look on their faces. “Maybe when we get out of the building?”

“Sure, let’s try that,” Seena said. “Nivian, if you’d take the lead?”

“Stairs leading up to the second level over there,” Left said. “On the second level, you’ll see a door opposite where we came in. That hall will lead to the street. Just turn right when we get outside.”

“Got it,” Nivian said, and the party was underway. Following Left’s instructions, they passed through the building quickly, though they kept their eyes open for potential ambushes, and reached the street with no trouble.

“Still no notification window,” Wule said as everybody stepped out onto the web-covered road. “And Left wasn’t kidding. It’s eerily quiet.”

“Probably because you killed the matriarch of the spiders,” Dr. Benza said. “Though I didn’t expect her to be altered in such a way by the Enemy. She was quite terrifying, from an academic perspective.”

“And from a completely-normal-person-reasonably-afraid-of-spiders perspective,” Yanily said.

“So, she was engineered to be like that?” Hiral asked, well-practiced with ignoring Yanily’s contributions to the conversation.

“Yes. I hadn’t realized they’d gotten so far with it,” Dr. Benza said.

“The matriarch must be an exception, not the rule,” Fenil said. “If they had more monsters like that to throw at us, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“What about the normal Ghost-Web Spiders, or the Bladed Frenzy Monkeys?” Hiral asked as Nivian started down the street towards the eastern gate.

“You stay and talk to the doctor,” Left said quietly to Hiral. “I’ll keep watch in your place. Get answers to your questions.”

“Thanks,” Hiral said quickly, turning his attention back to the doctor’s answer.

“The other spiders aren’t modified, from what I saw of them,” Dr. Benza said.

“You mean the monsters on the surface are normally like that?” Wule asked.

“Well, of course. That’s why we chose this location to build the city. We believed the natural wildlife roaming the surface—calling them monsters is a bit harsh, isn’t it? Though, I do like that term… Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, we thought the wildlife above us would keep the Enemy from bothering us.”

“None of our forecasts had them actually using the creatures against us,” Fenil added. “But monsters? The terminology seems oddly appropriate when I think about it. Perhaps it would be better than the mobs term we planned on using for the dungeons?”

“Have you seen some of the dungeon designs?” Laseen said. “A mob is a very accurate description.” She looked again at Hiral and Wule, who were walking close and obviously listening. “Ah, you said you had clearance for all this, right?”

“We do,” Hiral said simply, and the woman visibly relaxed.

“Change mob to monster in all the documentation,” Dr. Benza said, and the other two researchers visibly paled.

“All of it?” Fenil asked weakly.

“You said you preferred the word,” Dr. Benza said. “We don’t want later readers of our work to be confused by the wording change midway through.”

“Think I suddenly prefer mob,” Laseen said quietly.

“How did the Enemy change the matriarch into the Lady of the Web?” Hiral asked.

“The lady of the…?” Dr. Benza asked, tapping his lip. “You come up with the most fascinating names for things. Something like that would be wonderfully dramatic for a Mid-Boss or something, don’t you think?” His attention was back on the two other researchers.

“I do like the direction of his nomenclature,” Fenil said. “We should use dynamic naming for all of the important mobs… er… monsters within the dungeons.”

“Excellent,” Dr. Benza said with a loud clap of his hands that echoed oddly off the webbed buildings.

Seena and the others snapped to attention at the noise. “Could you… maybe…?” she asked, patting the air while her magic tome floated beside her.

“Ah, yes, sorry,” Dr. Benza said. “Ahem. You, what was your name?”

“Me?” Hiral asked, pointing at himself. When the doctor nodded, he gave the man his name.

“Did you catch that, Fenil? Hiral, we’ll give you a footnote, or maybe a co-authoring credit, in our reports for helping us come up with the new naming convention.”

“Uh, thank you?” Hiral said, then gave his head a shake. Having a conversation with the real Dr. Benza was just as disorienting as watching the weird images of him. “Back to my question?”

“Ah, yes, the Lady of the Web,” Dr. Benza said, his eyes practically twinkling. “How delightfully dramatic. Anyway, technically, I suspect it was one of the Fallen who transformed her using the Enemy’s techniques. They have the raw power, but not the ingenuity to craft something so… so refined.”

“You seem impressed by the monster that almost killed you,” Wule said.

“Professionally, very impressed. If we had an army of Ladies, we might not be in the situation we are now.” Dr. Benza looked up at the massive hole in the ceiling, and the pouring rain falling through it. “Then again, the opposite would also be very true.”

“Can you tell us more about the Fallen?” Hiral asked. “How did they make the Lady?”

No response, and when he looked over, the three researchers were still walking with the group, but their expressions remained frozen.

“Is that what you were talking about?” Seena asked Hiral quietly when she noticed the sudden silence.

“Yeah,” Hiral said.

“I just want to point out, we haven’t been attacked yet,” Nivian said. “Which normally I think I’d be happy about, but it’s making me nervous. And I think I see an end to the webs a few blocks ahead.”

“That’s because we’ll be leaving the spiders’ territory soon,” Dr. Benza said, suddenly lively again, but then his brow furrowed. “You mentioned the monkeys had a presence in the city now too?”

“Yeah, so?” Hiral asked.

“On the surface, the two don’t share territory, and their borders are notoriously violent, but I don’t see any signs of that ahead,” Dr. Benza said. “I guess it would be reasonable there aren’t enough of them down here to monitor their entire territory. But, unless my eyes are deceiving me—and I’m not that old yet—it looks very quiet ahead.”

“Could there be a third force from the surface down here?” Hiral asked.

“That’s just it,” Dr. Benza said. “There is no third force. The monkeys and spiders are the only native wildlife that live on the surface above us. Well, aside from the things they feed on.”

“There were a lot of soldiers with the NPCs we saw,” Wule said. “They probably chased any monsters off.”

“NPCs?” Fenil asked.

“Ah, sorry. Non-party citizens,” Wule said.

“Party?” Fenil followed up, furiously scribbling something on a notepad.

“Uh… us?” Wule said, gesturing at the group.

“Fascinating. NPCs, party… These new names are revolutionary. I’ll make sure you get more than a footnote.”

“You will, will you?” Dr. Benza asked.

“Uh… I’ll nicely request that they get more than a footnote?” Fenil asked with a shrug.

“Better,” Dr. Benza said.

“This is like listening to a conversation with three Yanilys,” Seena said flatly into the party chat.

“I know, right?” Yanily said. “Wait…”

“If it’s not monkeys or spiders, then what could it be?” Hiral asked.

“Nothing good,” Dr. Benza said.

“Wonderful,” Hiral muttered. “Seena, since the street seems pretty quiet, why don’t we have Left and Right scout ahead?”

“We might need them if it comes to a fight…” Seena said, mulling it over. “No, you’re right.”

“He’s Hiral,” Yanily interrupted. “Really, is everybody having trouble with this today?”

“Go on ahead, you two,” Seena said, completely talking over Yanily like he hadn’t said anything. “Be careful, though.”

“We always are,” Right said, and the two doubles jogged ahead while the group continued at a steady pace, eyes on the webbed buildings on either side of the street.

Are we not getting attacked because we didn’t get a quest? Or is it something else? Something worse…?

“Hey, Dr. Benza,” Hiral started, “how important are quests in dungeons?”

“Hrm? Oh, very. One of the driving forces behind the balance of how a dungeon works. Risk versus reward and all that.”

“The greater the risk, the more powerful you can make the reward?” Hiral guessed.

“Exactly that,” Dr. Benza said, looking somewhat impressed. “I see you’ve studied some of the theory of magical balance. If we succeed, the system we’re creating will allow something like guided evolution. By pushing the limits of risk within the dungeons—the quests—we’ll also create the opportunity for the most powerful evolutionary steps: the rewards.”

“The achievements?” Hiral asked.

“The…?” Dr. Benza said, his eyebrows climbing his forehead until they almost reached his hairline. “That’s brilliant! Fenil, did you get that? Achievements. That’s how we’ll track quest completion and the associated rewards within the dungeons. Yes, yes, I can see it already. They’ll fit perfectly within the system we’re building…”

“And we can use the same type of dramatic naming… like… like flavor text, to give information on what the achievements actually do,” Fenil said, his eyes likewise wide enough they looked like they were ready to roll out of his head. “You’ve solved one of our biggest hurdles. We couldn’t figure out how to explain the rewards to the recipients. Achievements… We…” He slapped his forehead with one of his hands, another clap echoing down the street.

“Seriously?” Seena hissed, but the three researchers completely ignored her.

“We can use the same system as the PIM status window to give achievement notifications…” Fenil started, and then the conversation devolved into wildly technical terms that sounded like complete gibberish to Hiral’s ears.

Maybe it was the dungeon somehow blotting out what the researchers were saying, or maybe it was just that far above him, but all he could do was shake his head.

“Hiral, what did you just do?” Seena asked quietly. “I mean, this isn’t real, right? You didn’t just…?”

“Right and Left are coming back,” Nivian interrupted. “Quickly.”

The party instantly perked up and looked down the street at the approaching doubles—though the researchers remained completely engrossed in their own little conversation.

“What did you find?” Hiral asked, moving to join Nivian.

“First,” Left said, “something is blocking the party chat beyond about a hundred, maybe a hundred fifty feet out. Unless you were just ignoring us? From the look on your face, that’s a no.”

“Let’s assume it’s one hundred feet,” Seena said. “Try not to spread out too much.”

“What else did you find?” Hiral asked as the others nodded at Seena’s instructions.

“Definitely no war between spiders and monkeys ahead,” Right explained, but he shared a sideways look with Left. “If the spiders fled when the Lady died, they did not go east.”

“I know that look,” Seena said. “Hiral does the same thing when he knows something he doesn’t want to tell us. No, don’t even deny it. You might be good at faking emotions, but you’re terrible at keeping secrets.” She looked at Hiral, then at Right again. “What did you find?”

“Bodies,” Right said simply. “A lot of them. Looked like one of the soldier groups who were escorting NPCs.”

“Bellina?” Seeyela asked. “Her son?”

Right shook his head. “I don’t think it was her group. We didn’t see anybody we recognized.”

“But there’s still something ahead killing off groups of soldiers,” Seena said. “How many fighters did you see?”

“Dozens.”