Rune Seeker

After getting everybody served – including almost forty Bonders and their companions – Hiral sat with Seena, Seeyela, Nivian, and Wule. Romin had returned to discussing the dungeon with his people, some of them even taking notes between spoons of stew. Somehow, like the pot, the bowls seemed to hold more than one would expect. There were going to be a lot of food comas in the very near future.

Yanily had hunkered down with Igwanda and Bash again, continuing their previous discussion. Gran, well, she obviously just needed some space for the moment. She’d said she was ready to go back in when they wanted, but other than that? “Go the hell away!” had been her exact words.

“So,” Hiral started when people were settled. “How did you deal with the Boss?”

“The Colossus?” Wule asked, and Hiral nodded.

“Did you figure out how to drop the mace on it?” Seeyela asked a little smugly.

Wule and Nivian looked at each other, then both laughed.

“Figure out?” Nivian asked, at the same time Wule said, “It was supposed to do that?”

“There was a switch…” Seeyela said, then went on to explain the control area she’d found, and how she’s used the levers there to manipulate the metal plates and drop the mace.

“Oooooh,” Wule finally said when she’d finished. “Yeah, that sounds like it would’ve been useful.”

“You… didn’t use it?” Hiral asked. “Then how did you know about the mace?”

“Bash,” Nivian said, another chuckle. “As soon as we saw the Boss, he threw one of his hammers at the thing’s head.”

“Did it work?” Seena scooped stew into her mouth as she asked.

“Not at all,” Wule said flatly. “The hammer hit the helm, then ricochetted up, hit one plate, then the next. Just when we thought it was done, there was one more crash where it hit something up on the ceiling. Next thing we know, the plates are falling, and this huge macecame swinging out of nowhere.”

“Smashed right into the Boss,” Nivian continued for his brother. “While the plates fell down to block some kind of energy beam from the helmet.”

“Bash jumped up into the air after that,” Wule said. “And let me tell you, that little guy can jump. Anyway, he’s up there, hammer in both hands, and he just swung. Hit the mace-thing like a nail straight into the Boss’s chest.”

“Right did the same thing,” Hiral said.

“It was obviously a very good plan,” Right said, not far from them where he sat with Left. The two doubles had their own stew, of course.

“Obviously,” Hiral agreed. “What happened after that?”

“Well, from there, we…” Wule went on to explain the rest of the encounter. There had been a few tricks the party had missed – like a way to block the sweeping hand and disable the chest guns – but also a few others they’d found. All in all, if they were to go back in and do the dungeon again with the goal of completing it, both groups would have a much easier time of clearing it. Also, it made great info for the guide Yanily continued to take notes for.

Like that, they also reviewed the other two Mid-Bosses and even what they’d learned from the smaller encounters. If there had been any real worries about Nivian and Wule before going into the B-Rank dungeon, they were quickly squashed. Just like Gran had said, they were strong. And smart. They’d worked out the actual mechanics of the fights, instead of simply trying to power through – even though they probably could have.

Igwanda and Bash, appearances aside, were both incredibly capable. Even Politet, once he’d figured out what they were up against, had developed – practically in no time – an acidic mist that greatly degraded the armor of the constructs. It didn’t allow the party to get critical hits or anything, but it made the enemies significantly easier to damage.

And Finotol? Apparently, it had taken her a bit to get used to taking orders instead of giving them – since she’d been the party lead previously. Luckily, she hadn’t been difficult about it, and it had been more about learning to trust Nivian’s judgement. The B-Rank dungeon had been a good place for that, and already by the end of the dungeon run, she wasn’t hesitating. Better yet, she was smart and quick to act, sometimes already anticipating Nivian’s instructions.

Character aside – Nivian and Wule both spoke highly of the Bonder – her damage was also top notch. Her companion was a type of panther, though almost the opposite of Wallop – high damage and low durability. She also had stealth abilities similar to Seeyela, and did devastating damage when the enemy didn’t know she was coming. It was pretty clear from the looks on the twins’ faces they were happy with how their party had performed.

“What do you think, Mr. Raid Leader?” Seena asked Hiral. “Think they’ll be able to pull their weight?”

“That was never a question,” Hiral said. “Once we get to the raid zone, we’ll have to figure out how to form up a raid group. Assuming we can use the Party Interface for it, and it’s not in name only.”

“Even if it is, that wouldn’t be the end of the world,” Seeyela said, then seemed to think about her figure of speech, and the fact Vorinal may be in there with them. “You know what I mean.”

“I do,” Hiral said, forcing himself not to overthink things too much. “Having the party chat alone would be very useful though.”

“Any idea who the third group will be?” Nivian asked. “Burs and his party?”

“We’ll have to see if he even comes to the raid zone,” Seena said. “Somebody is going to need to stay behind to defend the wall and the Hanging Garden. Other than Romin and Finotol, I’m not entirely sure how many Bonders are coming.”

“Or how many can enter the raid zone,” Wule said. “It’s pretty clear it’s got to be more than the eighteen we were taught fit into raid groups. But, how many more?”

“Then there’s the reinforcements Drahn will hopefully bring from Fallen Reach,” Hiral said. “Makers and Growers. There’s a good chance there will be at least one really strong party there we may want to team up with.”

“We might need multiple raid groups,” Seena suggested. “If Burs and his party do come, and we do need at least two raid groups, it might be best to partner him up with a couple of Maker and Grower parties. Get them working together.”

“You’re highly optimistic about the Makers’ ability to get by their racism,” Hiral said. “Then again,” he admitted. “Anybody coming would’ve been working with Growers to get into the dungeons and get Asylum access.”

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“Exactly.” Seena pointed her spoon at Hiral. “And if we bring the Bonders in to this, and show the value of working with them, I’m hoping it’ll help bridge those gaps between our… races.”

“Being more open minded wouldn’t hurt,” Hiral said.

“Hey now,” Wule jumped in. “Let’s also not forget the other race everybody is going to get introduced to.” Then he pointed at his brother. The undead.

“That… may take more of a sales pitch than the Bonders,” Seena chuckled.

“Drahn will fill Grandmother in on everything going on,” Nivian said.

“And she’ll hopefully share it with Ilrolik,” Hiral added. “Honestly, having Nivian being undead – sorry – will help with any natural distrust.”

“See?” Nivian said to Hiral. “There are benefits to this. It’s not all bad.”

Hiral nodded, thinking back to the conversation he’d had with the tank. It was true, there were some upsides to everything that’d happened. And, if Nivian wasn’t holding a grudge against his circumstances, should anybody else?

Probably not.

“So,” Nivian continued. “We rest up, farm some experience in this dungeon, then head to the raid zone?”

“Seems like the best plan,” Seena said. “Don’t know if we’ll be able to reach A-Rank, but a few more levels couldn’t hurt.”

“What about the A-Rank dungeon?” Wule asked.

“Do you think your group could handle it?” Seena asked. “Given how hard the B-Rank one was…”

“Do we have any information on it?”

“None,” Hiral said. “None of the Bonder parties cleared Tomorrow’s Vigil, so they couldn’t enter the A-Rank.”

“What’s it called?” Wule asked. “The A-Rank dungeon, I mean.”

“I… have no idea,” Hiral admitted.

“I’ll go find out,” Left said, putting his bowl down and standing up. “Won’t take more than a minute.”

“Thanks, Left,” Hiral said as his double jogged up the stairs. There were a few Bonders looking over and wondering if the party was about to challenge the next dungeon, though they quickly went back to Romin – and their stew – when they didn’t see anybody following the double.

“I still think we’re better off focusing on this B-Rank dungeon,” Seena said. “Since things are higher rank, they’re good experience, and the last thing we need is for somebody to get hurt. Or worse. No, our priority is the raid zone.”

“I agree,” Nivian said. “

“All those plans aside,” Seeyela said. “What did you think of back what we were talking about before the stew? The Fallen and how they seemed in the dungeon.”

Wule and Nivian exchanged a short look, and it was Wule who spoke.

“If somebody I didn’t trust had told me,” the healer started, “that those eleven researchers would be responsible for the end of the world, I never would’ve believed them. Even coming from you, I have a hard time lining up what we saw with the results."

"Sometimes the best of intentions lead to the greatest of evil,” Li’l Ur unexpectedly said from Seena’s shoulder. “Even legendary ones.”

“What do you mean, Ur?” Seena asked the lich.

“Just that they aren’t so different from me,” Li’l Ur said. “Like them, I started out as a scientist. Albeit, an ancient one with nearly endless knowledge and near-immortality, who’d crossed a threshold of a godhood-adjacent proportion. Other than those small differences, very similar.

“And, like it seems for them, my good intentions led to me becoming a legendary evil.”

“Were you trying to stop the Enemy too?” Hiral asked, thinking back to the theory the squids had attacked the Progenitors long ago.

“No, the war with them had already ended,” the lich said, then paused like he was surprised he remembered that. “It was… Amin Thett stopped them. Chased them away from this world. Temporarily, it would seem. But, no, I wasn’t trying to fight the Enemy. I was trying to bring back my friend. Trying to resurrect Amin Thett.”

“The Enemy killed the Emperor?” Hiral asked, a little surprised. From everything he’d learned – though it was arguably very little – Amin Thett was very powerful.

“Not exactly,” Li’l Ur said. “I still don’t remember all the details – though more comes back to me with Mistress getting stronger – but he sacrificed himself to close the gateway. And he died in the process.”

“So what did you do?” Seena asked.

“I created the undead race,” Li’l Ur said. “I raised an army and stormed across half the world to retrieve his body. Crushed anything that stood before me, regardless of whether they were friend or foe. I was… focused on my goal, and not on the consequences of my immediate actions. I did anything – and everything – I could in the name of bringing back Amin Thett.

“Being named a legendary evil for the acts I committed was not an overstatement. If my ex-wife hadn’t stopped me, even I can’t imagine the lengths I would’ve gone to.”

“Was it all necessary?” Seeyela asked, though she asked softly. “Hiral came back from the dead. So did Seena and Yanily. Didn’t Amin Thett have anything like that?”

The little lich shook his head. “There are two kinds of death. Three if you include undead, but it’s more of a limbo between life and death than actual death.

“What my would-be apprentice experienced, as well as my Mistress,” the lich continued. “It was the first kind of death – that of the body. For that, there are ways around it, if one acts quickly. That was how the two of them ‘survived’.”

“What about Yan?” Seeyela asked.

“Ah, the spearman?” Li’l Ur said, like he didn’t remember Yanily’s name again. “I don’t believe he ever actually died. He got close. Very, very close. Far closer than I thought possible, but then Heaven’s Punishment pulled him into the Spear of Clouds at the last minute. From there, my would-be apprentice used the Rune of Connection to transfer him to the real spear through the breach in the dungeon. This is all a theory, of course, but it has a high chance of being true.”

“Okay,” Hiral said, letting the whirlwind of information pass over him – he’d think about it more carefully later. “Then, what’s the second kind of death? Is it what happened to Amin Thett?”

“Yes.” Li’l Ur nodded. “The second kind of death involves the soul. Not just the separation of it from the body – as in normal death – or the tethering of it back to the body through artificial means, such as through undeath. No, what Amin Thett suffered – and what I was hoping to fix through undeath – was the shattering of the soul.

“Shattering of the…?” Hiral started. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s not,” Li’l Ur confirmed. “There is simply no coming back from that. For anybody. I originally pursued my research into undeath as a means of seeking out the fragmented soul shards and tying them back together.”

“It didn’t work?” Seena asked.

“No, it did not,” Li’l Ur said. “Even after I transformed myself into a lich in an attempt to better understand it, I couldn’t make it work.”

“That doesn’t sound so evil,” Seeyela said, comforting the little guy.

“The evil came after that, when I determined I needed to continue testing. And needed subjects for those tests. Including other Progenitors,” Li’l Ur said, voice heavy and shoulders slumping. “I started with those who’d fallen during the war with the Enemy. Those who could’ve – would’ve – been resurrected through normal means and time.

“I didn’t give them that time. Landbreaker the Titan. Malakai Eight-Winged, of the Host. Ban-Shee, the Voice. I took their bodies and… defiled them. Experimented on them. Stole their rebirth and made them my generals.

“And when I still wasn’t any closer to solving the problem of reviving Amin Thett, I began looking for new test subjects. Living ones. Yes, I began my campaign to kill more Progenitors, and any of the races foolish enough to protect them.

“Luckily, my madness – and me – was stopped.”

Silence hung around the cookpot after the lich finished. Nobody was really sure what to say to any of that.

“What about now?” Seena finally asked. “Are you still…?”

“No,” Li’l Ur said. “The only world domination I seek now is that in your name, Mistress.”

“I’m really not…” Seena started.

“I know,” Li’l Ur said softly. “This form,” he gestured down at himself. “Is good. It’s given me a chance to remember who I was before I became Ur’Thul the Undying. It only comes back in bits and pieces, but the madness from the change has receded. Little by little, I become myself again. Something I haven’t been in millennia.

“For this, I would conquer the world in your name. Or travel beside you as you seek to save it. If you hadn’t stopped me and my Urn, I would’ve returned to trying to bring back Amin Thett. And, while I’d give almost anything to see my friend again, I know that’s not how he would want it.”

“Maybe we’ll find another way,” Seena offered.

“That would be nice,” Li’l Ur admitted, then leaned up against the side of Seena’s head. “That would be nice.”