Rune Seeker

With Nivian’s cooking supplies once again back in his Interspatial Ring and everybody topped up on solar energy, the group moved across the bridge towards the only open door.

“More Lizardmen, from the looks of the statues,” Hiral pointed out. “Makes sense, I guess, since we were just in their city.”

“If it comes down to a fight, we’ve got Racial Growth on our side,” Yanily said. “Fifteen percent bonus.”

“Seems likely,” Seeyela said. “If they’re anything like the ones from The Mire, they won’t be happy we’re here.”

“I’m so happy you’re here!” a voice suddenly called out from within the shadows of the large doorway as they approached.

Easily thirty feet tall, twenty feet wide, and carved with intricate pictograms, the massive stone doors had been pushed open, and a single man walked through the space between them.

Correction: a single Lizardman.

“I didn’t think anybody else had made it inside before the entrance sealed itself,” the Lizardman went on. “Here I was, worrying over how I would ever get through by myself when I heard your voices. Like music to my ears.” He clearly didn’t have visible ears, but he still gestured emphatically as he continued towards them.

For their part, the entire party had hands on their weapons. Hiral gripped the stocks of his RHCs tightly, though they stayed on his thighs as he watched the Lizardman approaching.

Dressed in knee-high leather boots, practical pants, a dirty white shirt, and a leather jacket to match his boots, the Lizardman pulled his wide-brim hat off his head and gave a slight yet graceful bow. The only weapons he seemed to have were a whip coiled at his right hip, and something similar to Hiral’s RHC on his left thigh.

“Did anybody else make it through with you?” the Lizardman continued. “Any of my supplies or the other researchers?”

“Uh… no… just us?” Hiral said after sharing a look with Seena.

“Ah, a pity,” the Lizardman said. “But we will have to make do with what we have.”

“Who… exactly are you?” Hiral asked.

“Oh, they didn’t tell you who you were coming to assist? Hrmph. What was the point of all the documents I filled out, then? There was a stack this big.” He held his scaled forefinger and thumb a good two inches apart. “This big! Each page requiring a signature of authorization, a co-signature for supplies, collateral, and assurance from my bank. Bureaucracy, really.”

“Ah, yes, but your name…?” Hiral said, his eyes going to the others. They just shrugged, but nobody had released their weapons.

“Of course, of course. Where are my manners? I am the famed and esteemed archeologist, Doctor Geckodiana. My friends call me Odi. That’s O-Dee. Odi.”

“Nice to meet you, Odi,” Hiral said. “I’m Hiral.”

“Seena,” she said. “These are Nivian, Wule, Yanily, Seeyela, Left, and Right. I’m afraid we weren’t, uh… given copies of the paperwork you filled out. Care to explain why we’re here?”

“Certainly,” Odi said. “The sooner we get through the temple, the sooner we can all leave again.”

“Or we can just wait three hours,” Yanily said quietly, nudging Wule in the ribs with his elbow.

“Oh, I’m afraid that’s completely impossible,” Odi said. “Weren’t you informed before entering? The only way out is through. Unless we make it to the exit at the other end of the temple, well, we might die of old age in here! Ah, technically dehydration or starvation would be first. None of you are cannibals, right? Can never be too careful with hired help…”

“The hired help can hear you,” Nivian said flatly.

“And yet you didn’t answer my question…” Odi pointed out.

“Not cannibals,” Hiral assured the Lizardman, who visibly exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Good to hear. Back to my point. The main door is sealed, and another group won’t be able to enter until we’re either dead or pass through the exit. Not that there will be a next group. We’ll either succeed here or it’ll be the end of the kingdom. I don’t know about you, but I definitely have a preference.”

“End of the kingdom?” Hiral asked.

“Yes,” Odi said, his face serious. “One way or another, those doors will never open again. It’s too dangerous outside to risk letting… anything… in here.”

Too dangerous? Does he mean the undead? Is this place… real? Now? Could that actually be true? The dungeon interface had mentioned something about the exit being in a different place, so does that mean we have a chance at saving the city?

Do we even want to?

“Uh, anybody else see the dungeon timer?” Seeyela asked just as Hiral was considering the ramifications of reviving the Lizardman empire.

At the question, he opened his status window to look at the timer on the dungeon clock. 999:99:99 remaining.

There aren’t even ninety-nine seconds in a minute… and the timer isn’t moving. That’s… not a good sign.

“That can’t be right,” Nivian said. “Can it?”

“Wild dungeon,” Seena said. “I guess the old rules don’t apply. We might be stuck in here until we clear it.”

“That’s not so bad,” Yanily said. “If there’s another road like in The Mire, think about how much experience we can farm. Just need to kill some monsters.”

“Which brings up a good question,” Hiral said, looking again between the two sets of statues on opposing walls, and then back to Odi. “What kind of monsters are we going face in the temple?”

“This is absurd,” Odi said. “Really, nobody told you what this temple is?”

“Paperwork got lost,” Hiral said with a shrug. “You know how it is.”

Odi literally huffed, then put his hands on his hips. “Should I start from the beginning?”

“Please,” Hiral said.

“Stupid paperwork. What was even the point? When I get back to the guild, they are going to get such a piece of my mind.” After that fuming, Odi seemed to push it all down and focus on the party, dramatically explaining, “This, my friends, is the Forge of Ur’Thul. A long time ago, in a land far, far, away…. really far… really, really far… one of our great ancestors discovered an artifact of incomprehensible power.

“An item tied to fate and history. Cause and reaction. Memory and foresight. If you missed it, the artifact is really powerful. With this power, our Ancestor forged our empire and forced back the iron-grip rule of the Troblin Kingdom. No longer would they make slaves of us or treat us like playthings for their sick desires.”

“Troblin Kingdom?” Yanily asked.

“Sick desires?” Wule asked more quietly, visibly shuddering.

“Yes!” Odi said. “Our Ancestor led the rebellion against the dominant Troblins and cut a place for us through fire and blood.”

“What about those monsters over there?” Hiral asked, pointing at the statues of things far more terrifying than Troblins.

“Ah, yes, she also took care of those lesser threats,” Odi said, waving a dismissive hand at the statues.

“Maybe we know different Troblins?” Yanily said quietly.

“After forging a territory for her people, our Ancestor knew she couldn’t hold the power of the artifact for herself any longer,” Odi said. “Even for one as great as she was, the strain was too much. She’d fought long and hard, her unbeatable army at her back, but she grew tired. With the burden too much for any single individual, she instead had this temple built.

“Well, I say it’s a temple, but it is called a forge for a reason. Not for weapons, mind you, but for people. Here, we train our brightest and most promising, and further reward them for succeeding.”

“They get the artifact as a reward?” Nivian asked.

Odi shook his head. “No, not the artifact itself. The true power of the item is its ability to connect our ancestors to their descendants. Knowledge, power, skills. All these things can be transferred from the item to one who successfully passes the trials, like pouring tea from a pot to a cup. The scope of the artifact is, in fact, so great the human nation once sent its top researchers to study it. They hoped to replicate some of its functions for some secret project, though I don’t know if they succeeded.”

“Humans? Like us?” Wule asked.

Odi just blinked at the question, staring at Wule like he’d grown a second head. Then the Lizardman burst out laughing. “Oh… oh, that was a joke, wasn’t it? You? Humans? If you’re a human, then I’m just a very handsome and fashionably dressed gecko.”

“Isn’t your name…?” Hiral started.

“An unfortunate mistake on my parent’s part,” Odi interrupted. “One I still haven’t forgiven them for. Regardless, that’s not part of the story.” He looked at Wule again and chuckled. “A human. Oh, funny man.”

“Sounds like this artifact is similar to the PIM,” Seena said quietly, so only Hiral could hear.

Hiral nodded, but when he spoke, it was to Odi. “So, we’re here to clear the trials and get some of this power?”

Odi shook his head again. “No, this time, we’re here for the artifact itself. If we’re to have any hope of saving the empire, we need the full might of the Urn of Ur’Thul.”

“Okay,” Yanily said, “I can get behind that. But, back to the earlier question, what kind of monsters stand between us and the Urn?”

“None,” Odi said.

“None?” Nivian asked.

“None,” Odi repeated.

“Okay… what does stand between us and the Urn?” Seeyela asked.

“The three trials, of course,” Odi said. “Oh, and it’s a good thing there are at least six of you. Six just happens to be the magic number needed to succeed at each one.”

“Of course it is,” Hiral said. “No monsters, though?”

“You’re all really fixated on monsters, you know?” Odi said. “I don’t think that’s healthy. There are no monsters in this temple… other than my monstrously good looks. Ho, ho, ho.” He held up one hand to his mouth as he chuckled. “Ahem,” he continued when nobody even smiled. “The trials are tests of skill. Dangerous, of course, but not something you can pass through brute force.”

“And the rewards you mentioned?” Yanily asked. “Do we get some of those for passing these trials? Even though we’re”—he lowered his voice—"here to steal the Urn thing?”

Odi seemed to stop and think about it for a minute, one finger patting the bottom of his scaled chin while his toe tapped in time. “I believe you’ll be eligible, yes,” he finally said. “We’ll be clearing the trials prior to reaching the Urn, so you’ll be able to receive the rewards. That’s rather fortunate, don’t you think?”

“Well, then, what are we waiting for?” Yanily said. “These trials aren’t going to clear themselves.”

Odi clapped his hands together. “Excellent. Follow me to the first trial!” He then spun on his heel and strode back between the massive doors he’d appeared from.

“These wild dungeons are strange,” Seena said, and Hiral nodded.

“Who cares if they are?” Yanily asked. “As long as they keep giving us rewards and making us stronger, does it matter?”

“It’ll also get us one step closer to the Asylum and a way back home,” Nivian said.

“Not to mention the fact it sounds like we can’t actually leave unless we clear this place,” Hiral pointed out.

Odi’s head popped back out from between the doors. “You all coming or not?”

“We’re coming,” Seena said, starting forward with the rest of the party following behind.