Rune Seeker

“You did?” Seena asked, excitement leaking into her voice. “Is he okay? Is he alive?”

“He’s…” Hiral started and stopped. “I… don’t know. The connection is starting with Ur’Thul’s corpse, so… it’s possible Nivian… isn’t… I mean…”

“It’s fine,” Seena said, visibly steeling herself. “It wasn’t fair of me to ask. You think you can find him?”

Hiral added a touch of Increase to the strand of Connection, then followed the thread as it led straight into a wall. “Uh…”

“What’s wrong?”

“The line goes into the wall. Maybe I did this wrong…?”

“The threads you’re looking at connect directly between subjects,” Li’l Ur filled in. “Things like walls, other people, or even mountains mean nothing to them.”

“You know a lot about this.” Seena turned her head to look at the lich on her shoulder.

“Of course. I used them to create the first undead, and to code into their very beings the ability to propagate,” Li’l Ur said.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Li’l Ur said confidently. “It’s one of the many things I’ve forgotten the details to. Though my mind becomes more… clear as the Mistress grows in strength, there are some things I fear I will never recall.”

“Which might be for the best,” Seena said. “I prefer you a reformed, legendary evil.”

“Then reformed is how I shall stay. Until you change your mind and wish to pursue world domination, as is your right.”

“We’ll just leave that on the to-do list for now,” Seena said, then turned back to Hiral. “So, the connection. Walls, huh?”

“I guess so.” He shrugged. “We’ll have to get a better look from outside.”

“What happens if you lose sight of the connection you’re following?”

At the question, Hiral roped his own thread of Connection to the one leading to Nivian. “Got it covered. I can find it unless we get too far away.”

“Good. Let’s see how Drahn made out.”

The two left the corpse smashed into the wall, and joined Yanily, Drahn, and Right… in the middle of a flower bed.

“When did this get here?” Hiral asked, looking over the dozens of different colored flowers. Really, he suspected the answer to the question. Though it was kind of funny that stalwart Drahn’s abilities were centered around flowers. Even the solar energy poison he used stemmed – no pun intended – from a type of pollen. The other abilities he’d shown them back in the Endless Tunnels likewise utilized flowers or flower-like effects.

“Each flower represents a different solar energy trail,” Drahn said. “Yours,” he pointed at Hiral, then at a yellow flower that had red spots on the petals.

Actually, at a closer look, those spots resembled written characters. Not quite actual runes, but the likeness was unmistakable.

“Then, let me guess,” Hiral said, pointing at red flowers with petals shaped like flames “Seena.” Next his finger went to a blue flower with jagged yellow lines on them. “Yanily.” The purple flower with drooping petals that definitely had sharp fangs on each one could only belong to one person. “Seeyela.”

Within the flower bed, two types remained. The first was also red, though a deeper, crimson color, with long stamens that had slightly glowing tips. The other stood blockier, an off-white color, with petals that almost looked withered.

“Wule and Nivian,” Hiral said quietly. It had to be them. “You found them too.”

“Here, in this room,” Drahn said. “Where they spent a significant amount of time, they’re easy to detect. Their trail goes in two directions, though. The first…” he pointed towards the same hallway they’d entered the room from.

“That had to be when they came down to the Disc of Passage with us,” Seena said. “What’s the other way?”

Drahn pointed to another hall at the far end of the room, and now that Hiral was looking for them, he spotted several more of the white and red flowers in that direction.

They’re forming a trail for us to follow.

“We follow the flowers, and we’ll find them?” Hiral asked.

“It may not be so easy,” Drahn admitted. “Notice how few of their flowers are around me compared to each of yours. Where their energy is weaker – or harder for me to detect – the flowers will have a reduced chance of blooming.”

“And they probably need you to be within a certain radius to power the ability, right?”

“Correct. About two-hundred feet. Also, my flowers will follow their path. Not lead us directly to them.”

“That’s… not too bad,” Hiral said, looking again to his thread. Considering they were on a higher floor of the castle – and the fact the thread wasn’t going down at a steep angle – the twins likely weren’t anywhere too close. Sure, maybe they were on a roof right outside the castle waiting for the party to come find them, but that was pretty unlikely.

No, they’d probably moved on to somewhere further away in the zone. Maybe even outside the city.

“Between our abilities, I think we have a good chance of finding them,” Hiral said. “We can use my thread of Connection like a compass to keep us going in the right direction. And, if we find any crossroads – or anything like that – Drahn’s flowers will tell us which path is the correct one. Honestly, I don’t think we could ask for a better combination.

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“Unless they learned how to fly. That could be problematic.”

“We’ll go with the assumption they aren’t flying,” Seena said, then changed the tone of her voice. “Sis, we think we’ve found their trail. What are we walking into when we leave here?”

“A whole lot of nothing,” Seeyela’s voice came through the party chat, even though she wasn’t anywhere close. “Well, a lot of corpses. I haven’t seen anything moving yet though.”

“Dead corpses or undead corpses?” Yanily asked. “They were doing that sleeping-on-their-feet thing before.”

“Dead, dead corpses,” Seeyela said. “The whole place looks like a warzone, with the undead strictly on the losing side.”

“We’re coming out to take a look for ourselves,” Seena said, then tapped Hiral on the shoulder.

“Let’s follow the flowers for now?” he asked, and the party leader nodded. Without another word, his RHCs were back in his hands – runic circles appearing on the barrels again as soon as he drew them – and he headed down the hallway.

Immediately outside of Ur’Thul’s throne room, Hiral saw signs of the warzone Seeyela had talked about. Bodies lined both sides where skulls had been smashed into the stone walls – hard enough to leave craters – while other corpses looked ripped in half. And, just like the ones in the previous room, these undead were particularly desiccated.

“Nivian feeding the hunger?” Seena asked Li’l Ur.

“Yes,” the lich said. “I sense none of the energy that would’ve animated these pawns.”

Despite Li’l Ur’s observation, Hiral kept a close eye on the corpses as he passed them. The last thing they needed was a group of the undead rising up behind to ambush the party. But, no matter how many he looked at, none of them had the telltale blue eyes. And it wasn’t like any of these had eyelids they could close to try and hide.

Through the hall and down several flights of stairs Hiral followed the sparse trail of white flowers. They seemed to grow almost anywhere, in corners where stone met stone, out of the undead corpses, or even hanging from the ceiling. A final one at the far end of the current hall led outside, and Hiral carefully exited, only to find Left there waiting for him in the falling rain.

“The inner city is quiet,” the double said. “I went as far as the wall without spotting a single unliving thing. Even when I scaled to the top of the walls separating us from the outer city, I didn’t see anything – either inside or out.

“No hordes of zombies and skeletons waiting for us outside the gates. No Wight Blight-Rangers on the roofs. Not even the Shambling Graveyards patrolling their usual routes.”

“Even the A-Rank Elites are gone?” Hiral asked, and he couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice.

“Even them,” Left confirmed. “I did spot mountains of corpses though.”

“Could they be sleeping again?” Seena asked.

“No, even from the distance, I could see the damage to their bodies. Something killed these things. Again.”

“Nivian and Wule,” Seeyela said, appearing with a bamf beside them. “I examined a few of the bodies, and though the wounds aren’t exactly the same, some of them remind me of Nivian’s whips. And that hammer he used to pound Ur’Thul into the wall like a nail. A nail that pissed him off. Or called his stew soup.”

Yanily shuddered. “Yeah, never do that.”

“Any idea how long ago they did it?” Seena asked her sister.

“No idea,” Seeyela said with a shrug. “I stab things, not tell you how long ago they were stabbed.”

“The flowers go in three different directions,” Drahn said, pointing each way from their exit.

From a quick look, they were at some kind of side door, with the main gates to the castle off to their left.

“Nivian is that way,” Hiral said after double-checking the strand of Connection that was still at least thirty feet above them. “Pretty far, too, I’d guess.”

“If the city really is… empty,” Seena said. “Then Nivian and Wule must have left it. Which means we should too. No reason to linger.”

“I’m curious how they managed to take down a Shambling Graveyard,” Hiral said.

“And we can ask them when we find them,” Seena said, flames billowing out of her hand as Vili emerged from her Interspatial Ring. “We’re moving since the rain in this zone isn’t bad. Yet.”

“I saw lightning in the distance,” Seeyela said. “We’re going to have to watch out for the Enemy.”

“I agree,” Left said. “The rain isn’t the same as last time we were here. It’s falling harder already, and the clouds in the distance are different. Whatever was keeping the Enemy away before – be it the Urn or something else – is gone. They’re already on the way back to investigate. Judging the speed of the clouds, we don’t have much time before they arrive. An hour at most, minutes at worst.”

“All good things must end,” Seena admitted. “Hiral, keep Left out. Need his eyes.”

“I won’t be able to use my flowers from the air,” Drahn said, then shrugged. “But I can reactivate the ability easily enough now that I have a better idea what their energy is like.”

“Great. Everybody, mount up,” the party leader said, and three more flying companions emerged.

Drake didn’t roar as he emerged, though he did turn his large head to look back at the castle they’d emerged from. A rumbling growl reverberated from his chest as he seemed to stare at something through the stone walls. From the angle of his head – he was looking towards the Urn of Ur’Thul.

“What’s wrong, big guy?” Hiral asked, and Drake replied with another growl. “Don’t worry, it’s all sealed up. We checked.”

“You coming, Hiral?” Seena asked.

“Yes, sorry,” Hiral said, reaching out and reabsorbing Right. Even with that done, it took three tries to get Drake’s attention enough to help him and Drahn up. Left made it up with a quick use of his own Wing of Anella. “Drake, what’s gotten into you?” Hiral asked his mount quietly.

Another growl from Drake, and the Dracolich turned its big head to look at Hiral. Eye contact, just for a second, then Drake looked at the wall again. Another growl.

Okay, that’s not normal. Does he know something we don’t? Maybe I should just go back and…

“Hiral,” Seena said again, more urgently this time.

“Something’s bothering Drake,” Hiral said. “Something about the Urn, I think. I can just run up and check.”

“We’ll check again on our way back,” Seena said. “We were just there. Rain’s already getting heavier, and I’d much rather fly than walk while we can. Besides, Li’l Ur says nothing’s changed.”

“She’s right,” Left said. “He probably just doesn’t like the Urn anymore than we do.”

“Yeah.” Hiral patted Drake on the bone in front of the saddle. “Let’s go, buddy. We’ll check it again when we come back. I’m sure it’s fine.”

Drake let out a small whine – which still made the falling rain vibrate thanks to his size – but relented and gave one great beat of his wings to leap into the air. Two more powerful flaps took him above the castle roof, and allowed Hiral to see beyond the inner city’s walls. Just like Left had said, the city stretched quiet ahead in the darkness.

The city really is dead now.

“Which way?” Seeyela asked.

“Follow me,” Hiral said after another few seconds of gazing at the still city, then turned Drake and shot in the direction his strand of Connection led.