Rune Seeker

“Everybody ready, then?” Hiral asked, standing beside the dungeon interface with only a few minutes left on the dungeon timer. One way or another, it was time to leave.

Nivian flexed his new gauntlet and hefted the skull-shaped shield in his other hand as he said he was ready. If Hiral hadn’t known the tank so well, he would’ve been intimidated by the new look.

“Do it, Hiral,” Seena said.

“One portal to an undead Lizardman city coming right up,” Hiral said, swiping his hand above the crystal. “Exit Dungeon,” he added when the notification window appeared.

Blue light swirled from a central point, the familiar pull on his Rune of Gravity the whole time, then formed into a portal looking out onto the roof of a dark, rainy city.

“It’s putting us outside,” Seeyela said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“First priority is going to be finding cover,” Seena said.

“Let me go out first, and I’ll signal if it’s safe,” Nivian said, but Seena snagged his arm.

“No, we all go out and move together. Yes, I know, but it’s dangerous either way, and we have toleave here. Form up.”

Hiral pulled up the hood of his new coat, drew his RHCs, and moved to the back of the line. He’d summon Left and Right as soon as they got out, but for now, useless tattoos and Meridian Lines covered the black fabric.

“Go,” Seena said, tapping Nivian on the shoulder, and the whole group moved through the portal in quick succession.

Cold air and rain hit Hiral’s face as soon as he was on the other side. He activated Foundational Split, his doubles peeling off in their own black outfits. A quick look around showed they were on the top of one of the taller structures in the city, lightning flashing to reveal what could only be called a castle. The main spire of it stretched far into the sky, a massive, carved snake wrapping around it the entire way. On the roof next to the spire stood an obvious likeness to the King of the Swamp, and the whole structure must’ve covered the equivalent of dozens of city blocks.

Thousands of people—well, Lizardmen—could’ve easily fit within the buildings surrounded by the tall walls. And, was that Hiral’s imagination, or did he actually see lights inside some of the windows? Reds and oranges instead of the blues and greens everywhere else.

Are there still people alive here? Is this where Odi was coming back to?

“Options?” Seena asked. “We need off this roof.”

“Looks like a way down over here,” Left said, pointing at a portion of the roof. “Stairs.”

“Good enough; let’s move,” Seena said. “We can get our bearings when we’re out of the rain.”

The group ran over to the staircase Left had found, then down the spiraling steps to the next floor. A few more feet down the hall took them out of the rain, and everybody let out a breath of relief that nothing had caught them up there. A little further and they found themselves in a large, empty corner room of the building. From the looks of the place, it had once been some kind of atrium or something to overlook the city. The wreckage of metal tables and chairs still littered the room, but at least there weren’t any undead there… for the moment.

“We probably shouldn’t have worried,” Hiral said, thinking about it. “The Troblin Throne wouldn’t let us out while there was an Enemy outside, after all.”

“Who knows with these Lost Dungeons, though,” Seena said. “Hiral, you seemed to be staring at something up there. You find where our next dungeon is?”

“I don’t know if it was the dungeon,” he admitted, “but I saw a huge castle, and maybe I was seeing things, but it looked like there were lights on inside. Not the glowing root kind,” he added, pointing at the blue and green plants running along the walls and ceiling around them.

“You think it’s worth checking out?” Wule asked, but it was Seeyela who answered.

“Not unless it’s a dungeon or on the way to the Asylum,” she said. “We’re still on a timer here, and we lost a lot of that to the forge dungeon.”

“Not to mention we don’t regain solar energy as quickly out here,” Seena said. “Yes, the Cycling ability helps, but it’s not going to solve all our problems if we get swarmed again.”

“Plan?” Nivian asked.

“The other dungeon exits always put us near the path leading to the next dungeon,” Seena said. “I’m hoping that still holds true. Hiral, you and Left still have the best attunement scores. Can you take a look out the windows? Try not to get spotted.”

“Got it,” Hiral said, pointing to one side for Left while he went to the other. Pressing himself up against the wall, he peeked around the windowsill with just one eye. There had been plenty of wights on the rooftops before, and it wouldn’t do them any good to get spotted by one of those.

Of course his eyes went to the castle first, but he purposely forced himself to look away from it. They were on a floor easily three hundred feet up from the streets, no other buildings nearby more than half that height. That was a good start—less likely something would be looking up there. Now, what about the undead?

There were one… two… three small hordes within easy view on the roads, and what looked like a much larger one off in the distance. It was possible it was several small hordes in close proximity to each other, but something in Hiral’s gut told him there was a solid mass of undead spread over four blocks. They didn’t want to go that way if they didn’t have to.

On the rooftops? There… and… there. At least two wights patrolling from roof to roof, though their eyes mostly seemed to be watching below.

They don’t have a reason to be looking for us up here… yet. Which means we’re safe for the moment. Still, where’s that next dungeon?

Again, Hiral’s eyes drifted towards the large castle, and he soon noticed what was grabbing his attention.

“Found the path,” he said. “Oh… and I think that’s the interface.”

“What? You can see the interface from here?” Seena asked, and the whole party moved closer, though they still stayed a safe distance from the window.

“Maybe? Left, come take a look. Right down there, in front of the gate leading to the castle. Do you see it?”

His double looked out another nearby window. “That certainly looks like a dungeon interface. Really, we aren’t far. Ten blocks? Twelve at the most.”

“If the dungeon was going to pop us out this close, why not take us the rest of the way?” Yanily asked.

“Probably something to do with the thousands of undead between us and the interface,” Left said. “Several hordes, and… yes, there’s a Shambling Graveyard patrolling nearby. There’s no way we can get to the interface without getting spotted.”

“Not to mention the wights on the rooftops,” Hiral said. “I counted at least a pair of them, but I bet there are more.”

“Can we fight our way through?” Nivian asked. “We’re all a lot stronger than we were before we went into the dungeons.”

“He’s right,” Seeyela agreed. “Sis, your From the Ashes alone could probably wipe out a horde or two with those exploding pets.”

“If I was confident it would just be zombies and skeletons, I’d agree,” Seena said. “Hiral, the wights?”

“They’re trickier than the others, and they’d be sharpshooting us the whole way,” Hiral said. “But, if we moved quickly enough, maybe it wouldn’t matter. We have the skates, after all.”

“What about one of Seeyela’s portals?” Wule asked.

“I can’t do ten blocks,” Seeyela said. “Maybe three? Four tops for all of us. The abilities and items we got help a lot with efficiency, but even with Portal+, the range isn’t enough.”

“Punching through on the skates sounds like our best plan, then,” Yanily offered. “We can throw lighting and fireballs as we go, cut right through them.”

Hiral half-listened while he watched the hordes through the window, another flash of lightning cutting across the distant sky. The rain didn’t seem to be hard enough for the Enemy to show up, but the big issues would still be the undead numbers, the A-Rank Shambling Graveyards, and whether or not any of those Vampire Monks were hiding somewhere down there. The wights could be problematic, but nothing they couldn’t handle.

“I don’t think we can punch through the undead like that,” Hiral said without looking away from the window. “There’s too many of them. If we got slowed down even a little, we’d get surrounded and overwhelmed.”

“Then there are the Shambling Graveyards; they move surprisingly fast,” Left said.

“Unless there are enough undead between us and them to act as a buffet-distraction,” Right said.

Hiral kept watching out the window while the others discussed, lightning illuminating the hordes, but his eyes narrowed. Why aren’t there any hordes closer to the castle walls?

“Left, do you see any undead close to the castle?” he asked. “I’m not seeing anything within three blocks of the wall.”

“Nothing,” Left said a moment later. “Even the giant isn’t getting any closer.”

“That sounds like good news to me,” Yanily said. “Means we only have to cross nine blocks instead of twelve.”

“Still nine blocks packed with undead,” Hiral said, deciding to take a risk by looking out the window straight down. The rain splashed onto his face, then the back of his head as he peered down the side of the stone building to spot wandering undead in the streets below. A quick look in both directions, and he scooted back inside.

“Hiral?” Seena asked.

“I… maybe have an idea,” he said, turning back to the group. He couldn’t keep the slight grin off his face.

“By the looks of things, it’s a reckless one,” Nivian sighed.