Rune Seeker

A second screeeech echoing near the ceiling drew Hiral’s eyes—and his RHCs—as something blurred through the darkness. Whatever it was, it was fast.

“We’ve got a flyer,” he told the group, assuming they hadn’t realized it already.

“Any idea what it is?” Seena asked.

“None,” Hiral responded, another hint of movement up and to his left drawing his weapons in that direction. Still, he held his shots, as the thing was already gone. If it had some kind of ranged attack, they’d be in trouble. On the other hand, if it didn’t, it would have to…

With another screeeeech, the darkness parted to the side, and something came racing out like a runaway carriage. Just as big too.

Nivian got his shield up in time to keep a hooked, snapping beak from tearing into his shoulder, and his Orbital Shield glowed to life to block a huge, bird-like claw.

Some kind of giant eagle?

But then the momentum of the attack carried the monster and tank past the party, and Hiral spotted rotten, lion-like legs on the back half of the creature. A tail with exposed muscle and bone whipped as Nivian’s roots halted his backwards momentum, allowing him to twist and hurl. Powered by the vambrace on his right arm, he tossed the undead to go rolling wing-over-wing into the same display Yanily had just crawled out of.

Metal clanged and clatteredas it rained from the destroyed exhibit, and as the Mid-Boss righted itself, a name and health bar appeared above its head.

Sinewy wings stretched to both sides of the monster, muscle and bone visible beneath the sparse feathering—How does it even fly?—while the eagle-head leaned forward and screeched again.

So, Hiral shot it. Twice.

The first shot hit it square in the forehead, snapping the head back with a crack, while the second slapped into its shoulder, landing his Distracting Shot debuff. A bloody wound opened a second later from Seena’s Cinder+, but it didn’t seem to bother the Mid-Boss much.

“How do I get my fire back?” she asked the mini-lich beside her while Nivian, Yanily, and Right charged onto the exhibit.

A single beat of its massive wings churned up a gust of wind to stop the party members in their tracks, and then its tail lashed out like a clubbed whip to catch Seeyelaas she bamf’d above its back. Bones as thick as Hiral’s wrist caught the woman in the side and batted her out of the air to rocket into the one shelf still standing. The whole thing toppled sideways in a cacophony, and Wule was already moving in that direction.

“Don’t let it get back in the air,” Seena shouted, a fiery Cinder+ slashing across one of its wings, Nivian’s whip snaking out to snag the other.

A quick tug of war showed the gryphon it wasn’t getting out of the tank’s grip that easily, and it instead charged forward, talons swinging.

Nivian deflected the blow with his Orbital Shield, and Right and Left darted around him to attack. The snapping beak and other claw chased them away before they could throw a punch. Even tied up as it was, the monster became a whirl of gnashing beak and slashing claws. Relying on its speed—which was getting faster—it even managed to get a hit around Nivian’s never-stopping shield, and his whips finally lost their hold on the wing.

Forward came the wings, another powerful gust of wind literally lifting Left and Right to toss them back, and then the gryphon charged ahead. Bowling over an off-balance Nivian, the monster took a swipe at Seena, catching her in the arm and flinging her sideways to slide along the path, then leapt skyward. Powerful beat after powerful beat of its wings lifted it into the air, and Hiral’s shots did nothing to slow it down.

They needed to hit it now, while it was still building up speed. Maybe one of Seena’s fireballs…?

A glance in her direction showed she was just now pulling herself up to a sitting position, right hand on her left arm, blood gushing between her fingers from where the terrible talons had caught her. Li’l Ur hovered protectively beside her, but there was a worried look on his little lich-face.

The Ring of Amin Thett? Since they’d only fought the Nightmare since defeating the Hulking Behemoth, it wasn’t charged.

Another flap lifted the gryphon further from the ground. One or two flaps more and it would be in position to make another one of its diving attacks. If they…

A bolt of lightning shot towards the ceiling, lighting up hanging displays by the dozen, then seemed to hit the stone above with the boom of thunder. The whole room shook as the thunder echoed, and the lightning tore back down.

Yanily’s Skyfall hit the Mid-Boss like… well… a lightning bolt, knocking it clear out of the sky as he buried his spear behind its head. WHAM. The ground shook as the massive body hit the stone floor, shattering a display of some kind of old pottery. The wings still twitched, though one was clearly broken in the wrong direction, and the claws scrabbled for purchase. It was still alive, health bar sitting at around thirty percent.

Twinned Chain Lightning+changed that in a heartbeat, beasts of electricity exploding out from the blue-glowing eyes and ripping down across the monster’s back. The legs continued to twitch and scratch at the floor, but they weren’t under the Mid-Boss’s control anymore. Up went the wings as if to try and flap, but electricity instead arced between them, ionizing the air with a roar like tearing paper before jumping to Yanily’s back.

Now another pair of wings formed, this time from solid lightning, taking on a shape similar to a bat’s. Out they spread, then beat down, launching Yanily again into the air, though he left his spear buried in the gryphon’s spine. After rising ten, twenty, forty feet up in a heartbeat, he twisted in the air, then shot back down to slam the palm of his hand into the butt of his spear.

SCHWOOOOM! Thunder and lightning erupted in a sphere around the Mid-Boss, completely obscuring everything within a field so bright Hiral had to turn away.

When he could finally open his eyes again, Hiral saw small arcs of electricity pulsing over everything: the displays, the floor, himself, even the air. It didn’t hurt or feel uncomfortable, but when he looked back at the gryphon, it wasn’t likely the monster could say the same thing.

What had once been a gruesome zombie was now little more than charred bones left smoking on the floor. Yanily stood atop its twisted spine, lightning still crawling along his hydra-scale armor—though the wings were gone—and ripped his spear free from the skull.

“Who’s OP now?” Hiral asked with a shrug, one RHC pointing at the obliterated Mid-Boss.

“A lucky hit,” Yanily said, but Hiral could only shake his head, which made his eyes land on Seena again.

“Wule, Seena needs you,” Hiral said.

“Go on,” Seeyela said over the party chat, her voice still strained a bit. “I’m good.”

“Coming,” Wule said, obviously reluctant to leave one patient for another. “How bad is it?”

“Arm is… still attached… mostly…” Seena said, sounding like she was talking through clenched teeth.

“Coming faster,” Wule amended, scrambling out from behind a display just as a notification window popped up in front of Hiral’s eyes.

About time.

Dynamic Quest: Update

You have defeated one of the second seal’s guardians.

Guardians Slain: 2/?

Uhhhhh…

Hiral slowly turned in place as the prickling sensation that’d been there since they entered the building started swelling again. While the adrenaline had gotten them through to this point, there was no way he could just shake it off now. The prickling became stabbing, his hands shaking like he was back at his first Shaper test.

Shadows moved with sinister intent, and the air hung heavy on his shoulders and made breathing difficult. All across the room, the temperature seemed to drop a dozen degrees in a heartbeat. Even with the cold resistance provided by his Coat of Ur’Thul, Hiral shivered, and his breath came out frosty in front of his face.

Something was coming. Something bad. Something they couldn’t beat. What were they even doing there? They needed to get away. Get away before it caught them… before it ripped them apart and sucked…

“Left…” Hiral forced out between chattering teeth, the others frozen where they stood. Even Wule, only halfway to Seena, couldn’t seem to move, his eyes wide as saucers. “Left… Banner…”

Nothing happened.

A scraaaaaatch off to Hiral’s right, and he slowly turned his head in that direction. Thump. Crash. Sliiiiiiiiiide. Thump. Thump. Something approached from within the impenetrable darkness. Every step sent vibrations through the floor and built the intensity of the fear effect holding Hiral in place. His lungs felt like something had their claws wrapped right around them, squeezing out what little air he managed to suck in. His feet were rooted in place, and one of his RHCs clattered to the ground, his shaking hand unable to hold on anymore.

What… what…?

He couldn’t form whole sentences, even in his own head, as he spied twin orbs of blue flames and the telltale glowing tears underneath lifting into the air. They had to be fifty feet up, looking straight at him.

Another thump, and the eyes got closer. Thump. Closer. Thump. Closer. Thump. Closer. Thump. A skull bigger than all of Hiral resolved from the shadows, the long snout lined with teeth like curved swords. It looked kind of like a Lizardman’s head, but twisted horns extended from the thing’s temples. The skull got closer again, revealing the bleached white of bone, and a sinuous neck snaked out behind the beast until it connected with a spine above cavernous ribs.

Thump. Its right leg slammed down to the ground and dragged the huge beast forward. A wing shaped from nothing but bone extended out from its right side, big enough to blot out the sky if not for the empty space between the wing digits.

Before the monster, Hiral couldn’t even blink, and his View conveniently brought up the creature’s name and health bar.

(Mid-Boss – Undead) Dracolich – Unknown Rank