Rune Seeker

Nivian, using his movement ability, was the first to get to the Troblin Butcher. His whip lashed back and forth in a quick one-two combo that got deflected by the monster’s cleaver, and then it was right in front of him, a backhand swing from the large bone slamming into his shield. The impact sent a shockwave through the air, rattling the hanging slabs of meat all around, and tossed Nivian back to hit the ground.

The man rolled once, then twice before getting his hands and feet under himself. Armor smoking across his arms and back, he looked down at his left hand and the angry burns on his palm, already shaking it like he was trying to toss off the pain from the burn.

“It’s a debuff! From getting burned by the metal grating,” Hiral shouted at Wule. “You need to remove it. It’s bad.”

“On it,” Wule replied, energy already concentrating in his palm as he rushed to Nivian’s side.

Too bad the Butcher noticed the same thing. The tall creature lumbered forward and lifted its cleaver high into the air.

Familiar energy pulsed from Seena, Spearing Rootstaking shape on the floor, but the heat from the metal and coals turned the wood to ash even before the ability could strike the monster. It brought its weapon down like a headsman’s axe toward the healer.

CLANG. Yanily slid in front of Wule—not a second too soon—to catch the descending weapon on his spear. Still, the power of the blow drove him straight to his knees, and the Butcher leaned down over him. Sniiiiiiiiiiff. The monster sucked in Yanily’s scent even though it didn’t have a nose.

“Bet I smell better than you do…” Yanily gasped, the strain of keeping the cleaver at bay evident in his voice.

Then, quick as lightning, the Butcher stood up straight and pulled its cleaver away. Yanily overbalanced forward at the sudden movement, then shot backwards as the Butcher’s shin connected with his chest in a vicious kick.

Wule, having trusted in Yanily to cover him, reached Nivian, and green light pulsed out of him to wash over the tank. Nivian’s eyes cleared almost immediately, and he sprang up and around Wule to intercept the descending cleaver with his shield. Stronger than the spearman, Nivian managed to keep his feet—barely—but the Butcher was already winding up with the heavy bone in his other hand.

Whomp. Right’s glowing fist hit the grotesque Troblin hard enough in the side to bend it around the blow, and caused the swinging bone to whiff over Nivian.

The thing growled, cleaver grinding against Nivian’s shield as it pulled away, then backhanded a swing at the tattooed double.

Right ducked under the blade, sidestepped the swinging bone that followed, then darted back to evade the cleaver as it came across again. The Troblin wasn’t done yet, though. It charged forward, weapons swinging in wide arcs that kept Right moving, but also not giving the man an opening to counter or truly escape.

Alone, he wouldn’t have been able to keep dodging for long—the Troblin was obviously no novice in a fight—but Right wasn’t by himself.

As the Butcher wound up for another powerful swing, Vix ducked into the opening from a blind spot, fists blurring in a focused combo. One, two, three, four, five times he lashed out, spiked knuckles coming away bloodier with each blow as he tore into the Butcher’s thigh.

The Troblin roared in outrage and pain, turning its attention from Right to Vix, and lifted the bone-club straight up to smite the stinging Grower. Down came the powerful blow, whistling through the air, only to miss as Hiral pulled it out wide with his Rune of Attraction. Right dashed back in as the grating shook from the blow, his own fists pounding into the Troblin’s exposed lower back, each punch sounding like he was beating a drum.

Another backhand swing forced both Right and Vix back, but not before their Lashing Vines each scored a pair of hits, and a thorned whip snapped in to leave a bloody line on the Troblin’s chest.

Nivian followed up the whipping attack with one more, then charged in, shield leading. The Troblin actually looked away from the rushing tank, turning its attention to the more dangerous pugilists on each side of it—until Spearing Roots burst out of Nivian’s shield. Then, sliding in behind Nivian, Hiral added to the tank’s momentum with his Rune of Rejection, practically launching the man forward like a giant ballista bolt.

The air seemed to snap from Nivian’s sudden acceleration, and the Troblin—with arms out to its sides to ward off Vix and Right—took the viciously spiked shield square in the chest.

The monster roared, pushed back from the impact but not falling—until Left slid in behind it and brought his liquid dagger across the back of both its knees in one fluid motion. The strength left its legs, and the Troblin toppled backwards. Nivian rode it down the whole way and leaned on his shield to drive the spikes even deeper.

A resounding thud rang out as the Butcher hit the metal grating, quickly followed by the sizzling of its bark-like skin. Weapons fell from its fingers as it frenziedly tried to get Nivian off it, the pain from the debuff maddening its eyes, its long nails scratching at the tank’s back.

To his credit, Nivian ignored the gouging wounds despite the Butcher tearing through his armor and the flesh underneath.

“Just. Die,” Nivian grunted, burying his head behind his shield to protect it, leaning down as hard as he could on the Troblin’s chest.

“I can help with that,” Yanily said, suddenly standing right by the Troblin’s head.

He drove his spear straight down. The metal spear blade pierced directly through one of the Troblin’s frantic eyes—as well as the metal grating underneath—and the monster’s hands froze. A twitch of the thing’s whole body, and its limbs fell limp to the floor, the skin sizzling not even a second later.

“Maybe do the other eye too, just to be sure,” Vix said, hands on his knees as he took deep breaths.

Dynamic Quest Complete

You have not been made into lunch.

Congratulations. Achievement unlocked – Just the Right Amount of Heat

You withstood the heat and stayed in the kitchen.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

“Uh, or maybe we’re good,” Vix amended, everybody’s eyes flashing past the notification that popped up.

“How about we just get out of here?” Wule said, shuffling from one foot to the other.

“Yeah, it’s really hot in here,” Right agreed.

“Okay, but I want everybody on the look out for more Troblins when we get out there,” Senna said. “Who knows what’s waiting for us outside?”

She offered a hand and helped Nivian pull himself off the Butcher. The shield didn’t seem to want to come out, producing a wet, sucking sound every time he yanked on it—until Seena dispelled the roots with a wave of her hand.

“Thanks,” Nivian said. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Me neither, until I tried,” Seena said with a shrug. “I’m just glad it worked.”

“I think we all are,” Hiral said, and the group moved toward the only exit out.

After Seena gave Nivian the familiar tap on the shoulder, the tank led the group back outside, each of them taking a wonderful breath of fresh air even as their heads swivelled for threats.

“Looks clear,” Hiral said, the platform around the building and the bridge leading up to it empty of enemies.

“That may not last,” Seena said. “Wule, can you patch us up while we catch our breath?”

“Sure—everybody mind sticking close?” Wule asked, and the Grower group moved in together.

There, Hiral picked out wounds and injuries he hadn’t noticed in the thick of the fight. Vix had a nasty gash across his chest, Yanily struggled to breathe, Seena had burns on her left arm, Nivian had tears across his back, and even Left and Right were leaking solar energy.

Just how much damage did that Troblin do while the room was filled with smoke?

“That was a tough monster,” Yanily said, as if reading Hiral’s thoughts.

“Another Mid-Boss, according to the notification,” Nivian said. “Quite a bit of experience from it, though.”

At the comment, Hiral checked his own notifications, and couldn’t help but smile at the fact he’d even gained two more levels, putting him at 14 now.

“Did you two level as well?” he asked Left and Right, and they both nodded.

“Spend the points the same as before?” Right asked.

“Please,” Hiral said at the same time a wave of refreshing energy washed out of Wule, healing Left’s and Right’s wounds. “Done? Okay, let’s merge back up to restore your solar energy.” He pulled his doubles back into himself with a touch.

Energy filled his body as his tattoos and Meridian Lines reformed across his skin. While he couldn’t access his runes or the powers of the tattoos and the lines while merged, having a third of the stat bonuses from Left and Right was noticeable on top of his base stats and what he was getting from his own PIM.

Having the stats at least offsets not being able to use any abilities if I get caught flatfooted.

“Hey, Hiral, where’s your sword?” Seena asked, and Hiral glanced over his shoulder to find the empty sheath.

“Uh… I dropped it inside there… somewhere…” he said, eyeing the smokehouse.

“You dropped it? Your only weapon? In there?”

“I was debuffed and going mad with pain,” Hiral said flatly. “Ask Nivian how bad it was.”

“It was bad,” Nivian said. “Like one of your sister’s lectures, bad.”

“Oooh,” Seena said, wincing.

“Says the guy whose had a crush on Seeyela since he was old enough to pick flowers,” Wule said, poking his twin brother in the shoulder with every word.

“You’re such a gossip,” Nivian said.

“One of us has to be,” Wule said with a chuckle.

“Well, you going to go back for it?” Seena asked, ignoring the back and forth between the brothers.

Hiral peered through the door at the smoke still clouding the room, lit up by a woof-flash.

“No, I don’t think I will,” Hiral said. “Could be a good test to see if objects get forcibly ejected as well, and I don’t know if I could find it in there anyway. I was pretty turned around when I dropped it.”

“You might need it,” Seena pointed out. “We’ve still got the keep to clear, and I have a feeling there might be something labeled as a Boss in there.”

“You want my backup dagger?” Yanily offered, holding out the sheathed weapon. “I’m not very good with it anyway. All my abilities need a spear to work.”

“Thanks,” Hiral said, taking the dagger and strapping it around his waist.

Seena shrugged. “Suit yourself, I guess. You’ve been doing pretty well with those runes anyway. Okay, folks. Five minutes to regain some solar energy, rebuff, and then we’re finishing this dungeon.”

“We haven’t even been in here twenty minutes,” Vix said. “I think we’re doing pretty well.”

“Don’t get cocky,” Seena said. “Both Mid-Bosses were strong. Stay focused until we’re out. I’ve already seen more of our blood today than I have in the last year.”

Yanily poked at his bloody thigh armor, the tears in it from the smoke monster cutting clear through to the skin beneath. “I really didn’t expect to have trouble with Troblins. Last time we struggled in a fight with them was, what, ten levels ago?”

“Something like that,” Vix said. “Since we’re sitting here for a couple more minutes, Dr. Benza said we could clear the dungeon up to three times. Are we going to do that? I can think of a few ways we could do this better next time.”

“I’m always open to more experience,” Yanily said. “Unless the keep gives a huuuuuge amount, I don’t think I’ll hit twenty even clearing this place twice more.”

“Really?” Hiral said. “I’ve gotten, what, four levels since we started in here?”

“That makes you, what, around fifteen now?” Wule asked.

“Fourteen,” Hiral clarified.

“Yeah, you’re getting more experience per kill because of your level, and the experience required to the next level is a lot lower. Given what we’re getting here per fight, you’ll probably slow down pretty dramatically around seventeen, if not sooner.”

“Seventeen, huh? Still, not bad.”

“What’re your dexterity and attunement at now, then?” Vix asked.

“Uh, when Left and Right are out, my dexterityis thirty-four, and my attunement is thirty-two,” Hiral said.

“You’re still not spending the free points, huh?” Seena asked.

“Not yet,” Hiral said. “Dexterity and attunement have a really interesting interaction, but I want to learn a bit more about my class still.”

“Fair,” Seena said. “And that’s enough time. Let’s buff and clear out this dungeon. Just the keep left.”

“I think the entrance to the keep is actually up there on the third level,” Vix said, pointing almost directly across from them.

“Looks like it, but, uh… doesn’t that kind of make no sense from a design perspective?” Yanily asked. “Who wants to climb up or down three floors every time they go in or out?”

“Probably secret entrances down on the first level,” Seena said. “Maybe we can find one from the inside after we clear it out. Might make it easier to get in next time we enter.”

“Which means the entrance we can see is probably a trap,” Hiral pointed out, and the Growers all groaned.