Runeblade

Chapter 55 : Sandwiches?

After spending a few more minutes to engrave a route through the twisting alleys of the dwarven military district, Kaius reduced the power of his Eagle Eye skill until he no longer felt like a giant was rapping him over his skull. Rubbing at his eyes, he stepped back from the ledge.

"What'd you see?" Porkchop asked, pushing into his side affectionately. Apparently he was feeling less grumpy now that the arrow holes in his back had healed.

"Found our Champion, he's way off by the entrance to the next tier of the city. Big bastard." Kaius said, scratching his friend behind the ears while he blinked to clear his eyes. "Plenty more goblins between here and there, looks like we'll have to go through the alleys. I've memorised the route." He continued, tapping his temple.

"Let me guess. More archers?" Porkchop grumbled.

"That's why we're taking the alleys, more cover. You ready to go?" Kaius asked, itchy anticipation thrumming up his legs as he thought about the beefy goblin that was awaiting them by the next set of walls.

"Not yet. Found something. Come look." Porkchop said, leaving his side to wander over to the other edge of the roof.

"Oh?" Kaius asked curiously, hurrying after his friend. A wooden hatch was recessed into the building's ceiling, a thick steel ring embedded in one side. A way in. He must have missed it, too focused on killing the archers.

"Let's take a look then." Kaius crouched down and heaved on the hatch. It was heavy, made of thick planks of hardwood, but it swung open smoothly on well oiled hinges. A set of stairs ran down into a hall. It was austere, though well lit from a number of embedded crystal light fixtures in the walls.

Kaius took the lead, puffs of dust kicking up with every descending step. The building had lain undisturbed for quite some time, it seemed. Reaching the bottom, Kaius found the hall to be an awkwardly short height. Not enough for him to stoop, but low enough that he could comfortably reach it with an outstretched hand.

Exploring the building, Kaius and Porkchop walked through bunk chambers, abandoned offices, and other common use areas. Each and everyone of them was in perfect condition, like they had been unoccupied and waiting for years. Bed covers were in perfect order, offices had neat stacks of paper on their desks, and common rooms were neatly arranged. It was an eerie experience, like their very presence was intruding. Quiet. Solemn.

They drifted into a natural silence, unwilling to disturb the abandoned building more than they had to. Kaius knew it was most likely another oddity of the Depths, just another strange happenstance amongst innumerable others. Yet, he couldn't shake the unease he felt. Why would the Depths go through the effort to make the streets seem so chaotic, strewn with dwarven corpses and battle scars, but then leave the building interiors in perfect -if abandoned- condition?

He slowly pushed another door open, peering into the room cautiously. A long wooden bench stretched across the centre of the room. Shelved underneath was a massive and varied collection of pots, pans, and cooking implements. A metal wrack hung above the bench, utensils and knives hanging from hooks.

Kaius stepped into the room, his unease at the building's atmosphere forgotten.

A row of half a dozen ward-stoves lined one wall opposite the bench, enough realestate to cook for a battalion. Which, if this was a barracks like Kaius assumed, made sense.

"Kaius, over here." Porkchop said. Kaius looked over to find his friend pushing their nose into a wall to ceiling row of cupboards recessed into the stone, sniffing deeply.

Kaius hurried over, pulling open one of the doors.

"The Depths provides." He said in wonder.

The cupboard was absolutely stacked with food. Dried meats, flour, trail rations, lard. Even perishables such as bread, eggs, fruit, and cheese. Impossibly, they all looked fresh. Untouched. Like they had just left the market yesterday, with nary a spot of decay or dust in sight.

Porkchop all but lunged forward, rushing towards a box of globular dried fruit.

"Woah." Kaius said, shoving his hand out to stop Porkchop. "Gimme a second to check something."

Porkchop gave him a huff, staring longingly at the food before backing off.

Kaius leaned closer. Even leaning heavily on Sense Illusion he felt nothing, the food was really there. Peering at the door frame, he found his answer. A dense line of large runes inscribed around the inside edges of the cabinet. Glowing slightly with a ghostly aura only just visible to his Sense Mana skill.

"Preservation runes, it must be." He murmured to himself, tracing his fingers along the script. It was an unfamiliar style, angular and blocky, but carrying all the telltale signs of the inscrutable workings of the system. They were supposed to be delicate things, requiring plenty of upkeep to keep functioning. It made absolutely zero sense to him that the combat grade inscriptions of the dwarven armour on the corpses outside had burnt out, but this had not.

Yet another example of the Depths being selective of the accuracy of its constructions. The more time he spent down here, the more its artificiality became burningly obvious.

"Is it safe?" Porkchop asked impatiently.

Kaius rolled his eyes, quickly swiping some bread, cheese, cured meat, and some sort of jarred pickle. "Yes it's safe."

He let out a short laugh as he was forced to jump clear of Porkchop's charge towards the food. He moved over to the bench, making himself a sandwich, smiling as Porkchop massacred fruit, meat, and eggs with equal violence.

Taking a bite, Kaius couldn't help but moan. After months of a diet of mostly unsalted meat, the sandwich was nearly enough to make him cry.

After eating their fill, Kaius abandoned the last of their jerky, his precious pemmican, and some of the more palatable mushrooms he had poached from the fields outside. In their place he backed his bag, and the pouches integrated into Porkchop's barding, with as much food as they could comfortably fit.

Hefting a salami in his hand, Kaius looked between it and his already stuffed back. Mournfully, he placed it back in the cabinet.

It was highly likely that most of the buildings in this city were similarly stoked, but on the off chance they weren't, Kaius wasn't going to miss the opportunity to stock up. He hauled his bag back on, giving Porkchop a look.

"Ready?"

….

Kaius crouched down behind a stone pillar, taking his time as he slowly inscribed another rune in the flagstones. Gradually linking it to the next in his circle.

Pushing through the alleys had been slow going, but they'd finally made it. His memory had been far less accurate than he had thought. After the third wrong turn, he'd entirely given up on trying to map the entire path to the Champion. Instead he'd simply used Eagle Eye at every roof that they took back from the goblin archers, mapping a route from group to group. Zigzagging their way across the district.

Unfortunately, that meant facing far more encampments that they otherwise would have. Luckily their tactic of rushing the stairs and holding them had proven effective, as the worst they suffered was a few broken bones and deep cuts for their troubles. By the time they had pushed halfway through the district, the hanging crystal above had started to dim. While both he and Porkchop could have pushed through the night, they didn't need to.

Instead they'd holed up for the night in another barracks. Every group of goblins seemed to be centred around one. Taller than the surrounding buildings, the goblin archers invariably used them to gain a longer sightline of the surrounding area. Not that it seemed to matter much, when they seemed to be all but invisible to the depths-born if they kept a few hundred long-strides away.

At the very least, the constant use of Eagle Eye for navigation had done wonders. Finally capping the skill at twenty half way through the second leg of their journey. Adamant Body had gotten a slight boost too, thanks to all the arrows he had been enduring.

They'd arrived not too long after that, popping out from between two large workshops that lined the massive open square at the base of the next district's walls. Those very same buildings had shadowed a line of short stone pillars that surrounded the open space from his early looks.

He was hiding behind one now, scrawling a runic formation while Porkchop waited in the shadowed alley. It was a basic thing, maybe a few steps across. A binding formation, but a weak one. Kaius doubted it would manage to hold the Champion for more than a second or two, if that. However, if they were forced to flee, a second or two opening might be enough for them to turn the tides. Worth it for less than an hour's work. It wasn't like he was using his mana for anything else, anyway.

As he worked on the next rune, Kaius thought on his next skill. True Sight. He was ready to merge it now, and it sat in the back of his mind like an itch he couldn't scratch. He wanted to deal with the Champion first though. His next two skills were the kind he could train holed up in a dwarven house somewhere, whittling away at them over the course of weeks while he rested. There was little about them that could be pushed to grow through combat.

Besides, if he had to sit around all day working on skills while knowing that a Champion was right there for the slaying, he might just go insane.

Another swooping line, and the rune was done. Standing up, Kaius took a couple of steps back to admire the rune. He could see it pulling in mana from the atmosphere, channelling it through the lines he had carved into the stone. No way this one was going to blow up, he thought, giving it a nod of satisfaction.

A wave brought Porkchop padding over.

"All done. You sure you don't want to take this one on yourself? It looks like a fairly straight forward physical fighter." Kaius asked. They'd talked about it when they had first arrived at the square, but Porkchop had been adamant they face it together.

"No." Porkchop said, shaking his head. "Things with weapons are a poor match up, even with my skills and this armour. I would be much more comfortable waiting until we found some beasts. At least I have experience fighting them alone."

"If you're sure. If we can't find any in time you might have to anyway." Kaius replied sceptically.

"That's fine, if that happens it's likely we would have already gotten the Honour for slaying Champions in a group. I'd feel a lot more comfortable with that sort of power boost." Porkchop said, bending down to take a closer look at the inscription. Carefully staying outside of the runic circle. "You sure this will work?"

Kaius nodded. "Not for long though, enough to give us an edge if we need it. Ready to do this?"

Porkchop huffed. Having already stashed his pack, Kaius gave his gear a final once over to make sure nothing had come loose. Satisfied with his preparations, he stepped out from behind the pillar. Drawing A Father's Gift in a smooth flash of gleaming steel.

Ahead of them the Guardian prowled through a field of ancient slain dwarves. Waiting for a challenger. They managed to make it a dozen paces before it noticed them.

The Hobgoblin stopped fast, hefting its weighty axe. It slapped it into its off hand and held it at the ready. Kaius felt his blood heating up as the hob stared at them, trembling in rage. They took another step.

**Ding! You have challenged a Champion: Bloodtotem Hobgoblin Lieutenant**

The Champion snapped, screaming in fury.

It Charged.

Kaius and Porkchop met the bellow with cries of their own. Sprinting into the square to meet it on the field of battle.