Rune Seeker

As the sphere of light faded, a stocky, four-legged form stalked forward, then turned sharply to the side and… posed. There really was no other way to describe what Wallop did, raising one of his front legs up like he was going to take a step, and arching his back to hold his head high. New – sparkling – horn displayed proudly in front of him, and his thick, leathery hide replaced with heavy plates, he was a whole, new Rune-o.

“Look at you!” Romin said, running forward with his arms wide as the newly evolved Heavy Runeoceros pranced and preened around. “You’re so big and…” He knocked on the plate, which looked like hitting a boulder. “Tough. The other Runocerii are going to be so jealous.”

Wallop let out a snorting huff, then turned around so Romin could get a good look at his other side. With each step he took, small ripples spread from his feet, though his Bonder hardly seemed to notice.

A quick notification sprung up in Hiral’s vision to tell him he was immune to the companion’s Tremor Step ability since they were in the same party, and he dismissed it.

“So,” Yanily said from beside him. “Companion evolutions count as Rank-evolutions, huh?”

“Looks that way,” Hiral replied. “Another plus-two to all our attributes. I won’t complain.”

“Was kind of hoping for an upgraded ability, or maybe something new,” Yanily said, then shrugged. “Ah, who am I to complain? Bonuses are bonuses.”

“What are you all even talking about?” Gran asked. “You lot did the same thing when Hiral here exploded.”

“We have an ability that lets us get bonuses when people – or companions – evolve nearby,” Hiral explained. “Our PIMs pick up a trace amount of the inspiration from the evolution and improve themselves.”

“They do?” Seena asked at the same time Yanily and Seeyela said the same thing.

“Uh, yes?” Hiral said. “At least, that’s my current theory. Remember the PIM Upgrade we got from running into Banst? I think it’s like that. Our PIMs aren’t static. They can grow and improve, right along with us. Having seen inside a few of them now, too, I’m sure that’s the case. For me, the runic scripts themselves can evolve.”

“Are our PIMs alive?” Seena asked, looking down at her hand, and to Hiral’s senses, there was another pulse of her concept solidifying even further like she’d had an a-ha moment.

“As a Grower, I’d find it hard to argue your PIMnot being alive,” Hiral said, half of his attention on what was changing around the party leader. “As for me and Gran…?”

“No life in me at all,” the vampire said with a cackle. “But you’re close, boy. The PIMs are a kind of alive, though not like you’d normally term it. More artificial. Their magic was made to grow and change. To get better.”

“Really?” Hiral asked, and Gran nodded. “How do you know this?”

“You get as old as me, boy, and you learn things,” Gran said with another cackle.

Hiral stared hard at the darkness within the hood of the vampire’s cloak, only her red and blue eyes visible within. Her face remained completely hidden by the magic shrouding her identity, and it wasn’t the first time Hiral wondered about who she was. He was just about to open his mouth to ask…

Yanily’s hand cupped over his lips. “Don’t ask her how old she is,” the spearman hissed. “It’s not polite!”

Hiral leaned back from Yanily’s hand to glare at the man. “I wasn’t going to ask…”

“Thank you all so much,” Romin came over, Wallop at his side. “Your generosity has allowed Wallop to evolve to a new race I thought was only a dream. I promise we’ll do everything we can to repay your kindness.”

“Just keep us safe in the dungeons,” Seena said.

“We will do our absolute best,” Romin replied seriously, and even the proud Rune-o bowed his massive head in agreement.

“Good. With his new evolution, does that change your class at all? Give him any new abilities?” Seena asked.

“It didn’t change my class – though maybe it will give me an advanced class option in the future – and did grant him several new or improved abilities,” Romin said. “Would you like me to review them with you?”

“We’ll get into the details as we travel to the dungeon,” Seena said. “For now, how do you keep attention on Wallop?”

“He has a number of abilities that have the Infuriate debuff, which…”

“We know that one,” Seeyela said. “Nivian has it.”

“Of course he would,” Romin said, nodding. “Wallop’s new Tremor Step ability has a minor Infuriate effect on it now, while his Charge and Gore abilities also do.”

“Getting gored would definitely make me angry,” Yanily said.

“Those abilities use his runes?” Hiral asked.

“He can enhance them with his Rune of Rejection and now his new Rune of Impact,” Romin said. “There is a solar energy cost, but it increases only the damage and speed. The Infuriate effect isn’t improved.”

“How many runes can he use?”

“Just the two, for now,” Romin said. “He only had Rejection until he evolved and gained Impact from absorbing the horn you gave us.

“Maybe Hiral can teach him a few more,” Seena said.

It only took Romin a few seconds to put together the statement and the runes on Hiral’s Second-Skin of Amin Thett. “You can use runes as well? I’ve never met anybody other than the Runeocerii who could, though our records tell of the Builder race. It was said they could construct weapons and golems to channel their runes through. You do that?” His eyes went to the RHCs on Hiral’s thighs – and the Ring of Amin Thett floating behind him – as if he was seeing them in a new light.

“Something like that,” Hiral said. “I’ll show you more in the dungeon. Do you think Wallop could learn new runes? I’d be happy to teach him or you if you…” Hiral trailed off as Romin shook his head.

“I don’t believe he can learn them,” Romin said. “I think they have to come naturally to him. He was, for example, born with access to the Rune of Rejection. Then Impact from the horn. They may be the only ones he ever uses.”

“Those are good ones to have if they’re your only two,” Hiral said with a nod.

“And how about you?” Seena continued her questions. “What weapon do you use? What kind of abilities?”

“Ah, the best weapon I have is my crossbow,” he said, pointing over near the table where said weapon rested. “It’s from the D-Rank dungeon.”

“What’s the cooldown on it?” Seeyela asked. The weapon was clearly designed to be used with two hands.

“No cooldown,” Romin said. “Unless you count how long it takes me to reload it.”

“You have to reload it?” Seeyela asked, clearly shocked. “Yourself?”

“Yes, though it has an ability that summons the bolt into my hand when it’s time to reload. It’s very convenient.”

“Uh… yes, I bet it is,” Seeyela said. And then she did nothing to explain how her two hand-crossbows automatically reloaded themselves after every shot.

“Isn’t that difficult in the middle of a fight?” Hiral asked.

“With Wallop watching my back – and the party – and the fact I can use other abilities at the same time, it’s not too bad. Also, one of the abilities I use the most is called He Did It. For every second – up to two – between shots, my next attack will generate additional threat that will pass on to Wallop.”

“What’s threat?” Yanily asked.

“Hate?” Romin suggested.

“Hate what?” Yanily asked, then quickly answered. “Spiders!”

Romin shook his head. “Threat and hate are two words we use interchangeably for how much a monster will focus on one target. Infuriate generates a lot of instant threat, which is why it can be used to draw a monster’s attention most of the time. Doing damage will also generate natural threat, but it can be overcome – sometimes only temporarily – but using Infuriate.”

“Like what the Queen of the Swamp did,” Hiral said. “Killing her children must’ve built this threat until she decided who she would attack.”

“Got it,” Yanily said, getting his little notebook out. “I’ll add that to the guide notes so everybody knows the lingo. And,” he turned his attention back to Romin, “your crossbow lets you do that?”

“Not the crossbow itself,” Romin clarified. “It just works well with the ability since two seconds between shots is the ideal amount for a balance between damage and threat passed on to Wallop. I could do it with any weapon, and my crossbow sometimes takes more than three seconds to reload. For now, it’s just the best I have. I’m hoping to get an upgrade whenever I clear the B-Rank dungeon.”

“Two seconds is the ideal time between shots?” Hiral asked, and Romin nodded. “Two-handed, ranged weapons are your preference?”

“They are.”

“Then, maybe you don’t need to wait to clear the B-Rank dungeon,” Hiral said, and pulled the Runic Blunderbuss from his Arsenal of Amin Thett. Though the weapon hung in the air beside him, Hiral grabbed it and then extended it towards Romin. “It’s A-Rank, though be careful because it has a bit of a radius to its impact blast.”

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Romin looked at the crystal blunderbuss for several long seconds – probably activating View – before he stepped forward and gingerly held his hands up. “You would… give this to me as well? You’ve already done so much for us, with giving us the materials for Wallop’s evolution. But an A-Rank weapon such as this as well? I… I don’t think I could ever pay you back for it.”

“Like Seena said,” Hiral said with a smirk. “Just keep the rest of us alive and you’ll have more than paid for this. Besides, I’m not using it nearly enough, so it’s just a waste sitting in storage. Uh… assuming it will work with your abilities?”

“It will definitely work,” Romin said, finally seriously taking the weapon in both hands and lifting it to his shoulder to sight down the barrel. “The weight is good. Much better balance than my crossbow. And you said it does area-of-effect damage?”

Hiral thought about the terminology – it fit – then nodded. “It uses a Rune of Impact and a Rune of Expansion to create bursts of force. Do you think your threat-generating ability will work with it?”

“Is the explosion a secondary effect, or a direct result of the shot?” Romin asked.

“Direct result,” Hiral said. “I think.”

“Then it should work with me ability,” Romin said. “It’s worded that it applies to my next attack.”

“Great, though we should probably still test it to make sure it works like we think it does,” Hiral said, then his eyes went back to where Romin’s crossbow rested against the table. “Do you have an Interspatial Ring, Romin?”

“A what?” the Bonder asked.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Hiral mumbled, then held up his hand with the ring on it. “The Interspatial Rings are items we can use to store things inside.”

“Kind of like a backpack,” Yanily said. “Without the weight or having to wear it on your back. Also, much bigger. It’s where Seeyela kept the horn and armor piece from the Reinforced Runeoceros.”

“I was wondering where she’d pulled that out of…” Romin trailed off. “What? I didn’t think it would be polite to ask.”

“Probably fair,” Hiral said. “I guess that makes sense. Wait, no, that doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Romin asking Seeyela where she kept the horn?” Yanily said.

Hiral shook his head. “We got the rings from the Asylum, as part of a currency exchange. Romin, you’ve cleared the E-, D-, and C-Rank dungeons, haven’t you?” Hiral waited for the Bonder to nod before he continued. “So, that’s three dungeons. Haven’t you been to an Asylum?”

This time it was Romin who shook his head. “The Ascender’s Tower’s dungeons don’t count towards Asylum access. Sorry, I should be more clear. Any of the dungeons only count towards one of the three needed for Asylum access. We haven’t been able to find the other two dungeons we’d need. None of us have ever been to an Asylum.”

“Oh, wow,” Hiral said, letting that sink in for a moment. The Bonders had been running dungeons for… a long time, and they’d never gotten an advanced class or gotten Asylum access. “Well,” he said, moving on. “Since you’re part of the party now, you should have access to the Shared Storage ability through the Party Interface. It works the same way, and all you need to do is concentrate on depositing something into it, and it’ll automatically store the item. Retrieval is just the reverse, and you’ll be able to pull out anything any of us have put in.”

“Just don’t touch my pastries,” Yanily said.

“Why’d you even put them in there then?” Seeyela asked.

Hiral ignored the two for the moment, another thought coming to mind. “Hey Romin, you haven’t cleared the B-Rank dungeon?”

“Nobody has,” Romin said while practicing with Shared Storage to deposit and retrieve his new blunderbuss. “It’s High-B-Rank, and none of us are higher than Mid-B.”

“How far have you gotten in it?”

“Not past the opening room. We haven’t been able to clear the first monsters, and our researchers died. None of us have gotten past the first encounter, let alone to the Mid-Boss.”

“Researchers?” Seena asked, perking up. “Dr. Benza?”

That question had both Romin and Gran looking at the party leader.

“Who’s that?” Romin asked.

“The researcher?” Seena asked right back.

“I’m… not sure. None of them introduced themselves to us,” Romin admitted. “And, I never thought to ask. Maybe one of the other parties did. We could ask them?”

“We’ll see him again soon enough ourselves,” Seena said, waving a hand like it didn’t matter. “But you said they died? You have to escort them somewhere?”

“Deeper inside the ruins, apparently,” Romin said.

“Ruins?” Hiral asked, thinking about it. “What are they after?”

“Again, I’m not sure. My party was on the way to give the dungeon a serious attempt when the Chimeras arrived. We’d entered once before, but had been forced to retreat. All of the Ascender’s Tower’s dungeons have a safe zone you can retreat to if things get too dangerous. Assuming you can survive long enough to make it back. Not all our parties have been so lucky.”

“Huh, that’s interesting,” Seena said.

“The monsters didn’t chase you?” Yanily asked.

“Not the ones in the B-Rank dungeon, no,” Romin said. “After killing the researchers, we got kicked out of the dungeon. Before killing them, where was a safe room we could retreat to.”

“Then,” Hiral went back to what he’d originally planned to ask. “How did you get to B-Rank? If you haven’t been in an Asylum, you wouldn’t be able to reset the dungeons to farm, and after three clears… well, what do you do for experience? The savanna is B-Rank, but what would you do before that?”

“The Ascender’s Tower works a bit differently than how we’ve been led to believe other dungeons work,” Romin said. “Since we haven’t been to another dungeon, we can’t confirm it, but, these dungeons reset every four-hundred hours. And,” he held up a finger while a sneaky smile spread across his face. “If you don’t kill the Boss, but instead retreat to the safe zone and wait until the dungeon instance expires, it doesn’t count as a clear. You can keep going back in and rerunning the dungeon for experience.

“The C-Rank dungeon, especially, is good for that. It’s twelve waves of increasingly difficult monsters, with Mid-Bosses at waves four and eight. We clear up to eleven, then retreat and wait the dungeon out. Then repeat.”

“That’s… brilliant,” Hiral said. “Since you don’t get any achievements or loot for clearing it repeatedly anyway, you’re not actually losing out on anything.”

“Boss?” Yanily said, turning to Seena, that gleam in his eyes. “After we clear the B-Rank dungeon, what do you think?”

“I think we may have some time to kill, and a way to do it,” Seena said, clearly on to the same thing Yanily was.

“Do you really think you have a chance at the B-Rank dungeon?” Romin asked. “You’re all Mid-B as well, and it’s High-B. It’s not easy. Unless you think we’re weak…?”

“Not at all,” Seena said, quickly shaking her head. “You’ve only got three dungeons worth of loot and achievements though. We’ve had… what now? A dozen? No, fourteen I think.”

Romin’s eyes bulged at the statement. “You’ve cleared fourteen different dungeons?”

“Something like that,” Seena said.

“Fourteen?” This time it was Gran asking, her head going to Nivian who still sat at the table. Likely to see if he’d correct Seena. The man just nodded like it made sense. “What kind of monsters did I saddle up with?”

“The best kind,” Yanily said.

“Yan’s not lying,” Hiral said to both Gran and Romin. “We’ve been in a lot of tough spots, and… mostly made it through. Somehow. If you stick with us, it’s not going to be easy, but it will be rewarding.”

“If we survive,” Gran pointed out, then let out her trademark cackle. “Then again, I’ve already died once. What’s one more time?”

“It’ll catch you up to Hiral,” Right said.

Gran’s cackle cut off as she tried to figure out what the double was talking about.

“Anything else you want to share, Romin?” Seena jumped in, bringing the conversation back on track before it could go anymore sideways. “Ability-wise, I mean.”

“The only thing is that Wallop has a number of Charge-type abilities,” the Bonder said. “They make him quite mobile, and allow him to close distance with enemies and allies both. However, well, he’s big, so it’s important we work that into our tactics.

“My last group mainly consisted of sending our companions out into the fray to attack, while the Bonders and Grower supported from a range.”

“Most of your damage dealers were ranged-types?” Seena asked. “Less mobile?”

“We had one Stalker – that was his class – who had invested in dexterity, but the rest were high-damage Predators. Another class. They all focused on long-activating, hard-hitting-type abilities. With our companions to stall stronger enemies, or outright defeat weaker ones, it brought a powerful option to our group.”

“Hrm,” Seena said, hand going to her chin in thought. “Working with us is going to be a lot different. We’ve been running without a tank for a while, so we’ve kind of evolved into a highly-mobile, fast-hitting group. We have some big damage abilities, along with some powerful buffs, but none of us are standing in one place for long. Maybe me while I charge up an attack, or Gran while she’s healing, but the others? Hiral, Yanily, and Seeyela are all over the place.”

Romin nodded. “Wallop’s differing charges will help with that. And I can move around and use my threat-transferring ability easily enough. The combination of your group’s agility and my threat abilities might actually confuse a number of enemies, and keep them moving from target to target instead of actually attacking.”

“Perfect,” Seena said with a clap of her bulky gauntlets. “Then, the last thing we need to do before we go is just review quickly what the rest of us got as rewards from the Siege. I think we all got mostly the same abilities from the standard dungeon achievements, but let’s confirm that first.

“Starting with loot, you all got this?” With the question, Seena reached inside the neck of her armor to pull out an undeniably creepy-looking amulet. Reminiscent of the Unnamed, this looked like ones of its mouths on the end of a blood-red chain. Sharp, needle-like teeth criss-crossed the closed mouth, just enough to keep it from stabbing into skin, but the whole thing seemed like it would open up for one of the mouth-ended tongues to come lashing out.

Still, Hiral pulled his own amulet out of his Coat of Amin Thett – while Yanily, Seeyela, and Gran did the same – then stared at it until View activated.

(Lost) Amulet of Consumption – A-Rank

Made from the remains of a lost creature seeking an identity.

+10 to all stats.

Effects: Grants user access to Ability – Delicate Balance

Ability – Delicate Balance: Exchange health for bonus damage for thirty seconds.

Note: Bonus damage is equal to twice the % of health sacrificed to the ability, with a maximum sacrifice of 50%.

Note (2): Health cannot be sacrificed below 50% through the use of this ability.

It’d been a bit of a discussion to opt for the new amulet over the previous Torc of the Hive they’d been using. Critical hit chance and damage were both very good – especially the stacking kind – and it applied best when they were all piling up on single targets, like Bosses. Still, the plus-ten to all stats helped them shore up attributes they were ignoring, and the on-demand nature of Delicate Balance seemed better overall. There were still times they didn’t crit – as Yanily would say – making the Torc do nothing in those situations.

Especially for Seena’s Burning abilities – which apparently couldn’t crit – and Seeyela’s venoms. As soon as the new amulet became better for half the party, the stacking nature of the Torc’s boons lessened dramatically. That said, Nivian’s party had no objection to taking the older neckwear, handing them out to their damage dealers. All in all, it was an upgrade for both groups.

And, disturbing as the new amulet was to look at, Hiral couldn’t argue with the potency of the effect. Especially with his Regeneration. It wouldn’t be unreasonable – though slightly risky – to halve his health to double his damage.

Then again, does it actually double? I’ll have to experiment with it a bit to see how the damage modifier works with the other ones I have, to figure out if it’s additive or a multiplier.

The lower-Rank dungeons probably wouldn’t be very good for the testing, with E- and D-Rank monsters dying with barely a dirty look. C-Rank might be the best place to test – those monsters should hopefully be able to take a soft hit. Almost chuckling at the poor monsters – test subjects – he’d be on the lookout for, Hiral tuned back into Seena as she continued.

“I’ve already spoken to Gran about these amulets, and she’s very confident at keeping us topped off on health if we only use this at the ten-percent mark,” Seena went on. “That gives us a flat twenty-percent boost in damage.”

“Even twenty percent shouldn’t be too much,” Gran said. “If you warn me and don’t use your face to block an axe. Thirty and a above might get dicey if it’s more than one of you, and we’re in the middle of it.”

“Which is all to say, if you’re seeing an opportunity or need to go above thirty, make sure you warn the rest of us first. Hiral, I know you have your regeneration, so you’ve got a little more wiggle room to use this. Just, please, don’t be too reckless with it.”

Hiral replied by giving her a thumbs up.

“How fast do you heal, boy?” Gran asked. “You went from a hole in your stomach and no spine, to on your feet in practically no time.”

“I wouldn’t call it no time,” Hiral said, thinking back to the large hole the Unnamed Boss had put through him when it had taken on Seena’s shape and abilities. “Even though my body was whole again, it took a while for my ability to reconnect everything – my PIM included – and before I could walk again.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Gran pointed out.

“Uh, well, I evolved it again from the achievement we got for the Boss of the Siege of the Hanging Garden – Unnamed and Unmade,” Hiral said.

“That was the ability you chose?” Seena asked, and he nodded. “Well, that’s as good a segue as anything. Let’s talk about our new abilities.”