Rune Seeker

The group moved faster than was safe, their feet slipping in the slick mud every second or third step. The rain was pounding down on their heads, having picked up again, and their legs were leaden from the constant running. Even Hiral, with his 18 End, was getting close to his limit after the chaotic day, and he wasn’t even one of the injured. Worse, the throaty croaks continued to hound them, echoing off the trees all around.

“That sounded closer,” Yanily said, nearly falling with the words until Hiral snagged his arm to keep him upright.

“All the more reason to stay on your feet,” Hiral said, though he smiled to let Yanily know he was only half-joking.

“Not all of us have twenty-nine dexterity,” Yanily responded with a chuckle, but another bellowing croak wiped the grin off his face. “How many of them are there? Where did they all come from?”

“I count at least thirteen, unless they’re moving around a lot, based on where the calls are coming from,” Hiral said. “As for the other question, I don’t know. I thought lizards liked the sun, not the rain. And hiding up at the tops of trees? Something is messed up here.”

“Thirteen is twelve more than we can handle,” Seeyela said from the head of the group.

Lonil was closer to the middle due to his injuries. Wule and Cal had done their best to patch him up, but it would take more time than they had to get him back to one hundred percent after the mauling he’d taken.

Near Lonil, Vix wasn’t doing much better, the man leaning heavily on Right as they ran. Even Fitch, usually the most vocal about Hiral’s presence, leaned occasionally on Left as he half-limped. They’d mostly closed up the claw marks on his leg, but he ran like it still hurt, and the rest of the party spread around the injured to insulate them from any further attacks.

So far, they’d managed to stay ahead of the lizards—if the monsters were even interested in them—but they weren’t out of the woods yet. Literally.

“Sorry, it all looks the same in this rain,” he said, putting a hand above his eyes as he tried to get a better look around them.

“It’s fine—keep moving,” Seena said as the familiar crack of breaking branches sounded off to their left.

Snap, SNap, SNAp, SNAP. The breaking branches tracked the falling lizard, so Hiral threw out his right hand and activated the Rune of Rejection. A conical wave of force blasted the rain to intercept the falling lizard sac, slapping it away to pinball off one tree, another, and then finally a third before it thumped to the ground somewhere further in the woods.

“That won’t do more than slow it down, probably,” Hiral said, picking up the pace to catch up with the Growers who’d gotten ahead.

Crooooooooak, croak, croak, croak, croak. The noises echoed behind them, somehow piercing the muffling rain. But they were all behind the party now.

“I see something,” Seeyela said from her lead position. “Rocks, I think. It’s the dungeon!”

That simple statement reinvigorated the tired limbs of the runners, and they threw their last surge of strength into their flight as they left the woods. Like Seeyela had said, the muddy path led down the side of a rocky cliff, around a bend, and then right there was the archway, the runes etched in the stone glowing softly.

“Never been happier to see a dungeon entrance, even if the glowing writing is kind of creepy,” Cal said while Nivian turned to watch their backs.

The injured went in first, and Hiral stopped beside Seena. “Didn’t you say something about only six people being able to go into a dungeon at once?” he asked her.

“We haven’t had the problem here, but after what we saw from the interface earlier, I’m thinking that rule of six might apply to the inner dungeon. This, out here, where the Quillbacks are… That might not actually even be the dungeon. But we’ll find out soon, won’t we?” Her voice held nervous excitement despite the fatigue.

“Getting a good sleep might be a better idea first,” Nivian said. “Looks like it’s just us left. You two go first. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Right,” Seena said, patting Nivian on the shoulder and heading through the arch. Hiral followed after her, and Nivian was quick on his heels.

As before, there was a strange rippling sensation that ran over Hiral’s flesh as he passed the archway, along with a noticeable increase in temperature. A soft light emanated from ahead.

“Might not even need a fire,” Nivian said behind Hiral, apparently noticing the same things.

Hiral rounded the familiar corner to the Quillback nesting area, and found the scene much the same as they’d left it—except this time, the walls were softly glowing. No, it wasn’t the walls, not exactly. Thin roots growing along the walls gave off the soft yellow light.

“I think this is sunlight…” Wule said just off to the right of the door, his hand held up near one of the glowing lines. “Weak… but enough that it’s slowly restoring my solar energy.”

“That solves one of my biggest worries, then,” Seeyela said. “Cal, Wule, think you two can take a look at the injured?”

“Should we pull up the interface? Get in the dungeon first?” Fitch asked, though he had one hand on his injured thigh. “Assuming the Islander can even do it.”

“I don’t think we should,” Hiral said, looking toward the pedestal.

“Oh, here we go,” Fitch said. “Time for the excuses after dragging us all the way through the forest and dealing with those… things.”

“Giant Horned Lizard, to be exact,” Yanily said. “And the experience for beating it was pretty good, even with two parties.”

“That’s not the point,” Fitch snapped. “The Islander is backing out of doing what he said he could.”

“Fitch, cool it,” Seena said. “My whole party saw the dungeon interface open. You calling us all liars?”

“He must’ve tricked you all, somehow,” Fitch said. “I bet…”

“Fitch,” Seeyela said, gently putting a hand on his shoulder, “why don’t we ask Hiral why he doesn’t think we should open the interface?”

“I…” Fitch started, only to finally nod, cross his arms, and look at Hiral.

“I was just thinking,” Hiral started, “based on what Seena was saying, that maybe there’s a second area to this dungeon, and the idea of clearing it—it may not be friendly. We probably want to be in the best shape we can before we face it. Your parties are organized around things you call tanks and healers, which tells me there is something to fight in the dungeons. Or am I totally wrong in my thinking?”

Seena and Seeyela looked at each other, and then both nodded. “It’s a good point, and you’re not the only one who’s thinking it,” Seena said. “We’re lucky this room has some light and a way to regain our solar energy, so let’s take advantage of it. We’re still going to set up a watch, and I want us to sleep on the far side of the room, just in case anything can get inside here.

“As soon as we’re rested, we’ll open up the interface again, see what that tutorial or whatever has to say, and then enter the dungeon. If it’s a place we can stay until the islands come around again, we’ll figure out what we need for supplies and get started on that. If it isn’t… well… we’ll deal with that if it comes to it.

“Any objections or questions?” she asked, eyes landing firmly on Fitch.

The man glared at Hiral, but finally turned around and limped toward the far side of the room. “Let the Islander and his copies take first watch, then.”

“That’s fine with me,” Hiral said to Seena quietly. “We can keep an eye on the entrance, and I’d like to test out these runes a bit.”

“Works for me. Wake me and Yanily in a couple hours, and we’ll take over,” Seena said.

“We will?” Yanily asked.

“Yes, we will,” Seena deadpanned back, following in the same direction Fitch and the others had gone.

“You’re going to take my advice?” Left asked as he and Right joined Hiral.

“It was good advice—why wouldn’t I?” Hiral asked, sitting down on one of the few clear sections of floor. They’d have to do something about the Quillback bodies if they planned to stay. “How much solar energy do you two have left?”

“I used a lot against the Horned Lizard,” Right said. “Fifteen percent left.”

“Twenty-two percent here,” Left said.

“Do you two need to sleep?” Hiral asked, suddenly unsure of their needs.

“Not exactly,” Left said. “I don’t believe we can sleep, but we will need to rest as part of you at some point. We are mostly made of solar energy, after all.”

“Okay, then let’s run some tests and see what we can do with these runes, then we’ll merge back up when Seena and Yanily take over. I’m recovering solar energy pretty quickly, so we should get back to full before we go inside the dungeon.”

“Sounds like a plan. What’s the first test?” Left asked.

“That depends,” Hiral said, looking between his two doubles. “Who wants to be a target?”