Runeblade
B3 Chapter 304: Further Reaches, pt. 2

B3 Chapter 304: Further Reaches, pt. 2

Kaius descended into the tower, his blade drawn and ready. Dozens of new inscriptions wound over his skin, black marks of arcane potency ready to burn at the slightest sign of trouble.

Other than a still-repairing tear in the shoulder of his scalemail, he was in peak condition — an hour of rest all he needed to recover.

Porkchop took the lead, his jade armour clicking slightly as it butted up against the stone steps.

There was more than enough light to see thanks to the burning sconces that lined the walls at regular intervals — at least for the members of his team without darkvision — but it mattered little.

The stairway was no grand shaft that revealed the interior of the tower, it was a tight corridor of the same infused sandstone that lay above, gradually descending down one side of the tower. While it was still carved like the walls above, the stairwell was far less ornamental. No elaborate depictions of the creeping sand swallowing a city of four-armed people. No dark rituals. Just an endlessly repeating pattern of graceful curves that repeated like ripples on water.

Ahead of them, the stairwell turned sharply to the left and continued down the next edge of the building.

He still couldn’t hear a single sign of anything moving down below — or anything other than their soft breaths and light footsteps, really. Hopefully a sign that they were moving in the right direction, and not that this entire biome had been cursed with a population consisting solely of ambushers.

“You’re absolutely sure there’s no champion in here?” Ianmus whispered softly. Quiet as he was, the sound still felt jarringly loud — overpowering in comparison to the pervasive quiet.

“Positive, the closest one was far off to our right on our approach,” Kaius replied.

“It’ll be fine — we walked the equivalent of a full day to get here at a straight shot, easily several leagues with our stats. That’s far larger than any other biome I've seen, at least in terms of absolute diameter. I’d say there’s a good chance that this is an exit.”

Kenva offered a grunt in response. “It’s not a certainty though — just be ready.”

“We always are.”

The silence returned as the unknowns that lay ahead of them stifled their already meagre conversation. Turn by turn, they descended through the tower — far enough that he was certain that they were now below the desert sand — with no change to their surroundings.

Then, right as they rounded another corner, light spilled across the far wall. Unmoving white and far brighter, it stood out against the flickering orange of the braziers, throwing the sweeping carvings into a crisp relief.

“That’s different!I think we did find the end.”

Kaius grabbed hold of his brother’s under armour as his pace started to pick up.

“No reason to hurry — let’s still be cautious. This stairway could be a nightmare to fight in if it comes to that, so be ready to break us out of it.”

Even if he agreed with his brother, that was no good reason to get lax with discipline — things didn’t always work out the way you expected, afterall.

Still — he had hope, and was more than ready for a change in scenery.

While the Temple-palace of Hyythenal wasn’t the worst biome he’d been in, the oppressive heat and endless sand was more than a little uncomfortable. That, and it was simply poorly suited to their needs.

The ruinbringers were not only tough bastards, they were almost impossible to hunt in a reliable way for them to level as quickly as they needed. Sure, they could have descended below the sands to test their mettle against the four-armed beings that lived there, but that had its own problems.

Right now, with their current strength, they needed open space — the tight corridors of an underground city would make it almost impossible to selectively pick their targets. Undoubtedly, they’d eventually find themselves battling a group far too large, with few options to flee.

No, they needed a biome that was open, but with plenty of cover to move through it in secret.

Porkchop paused, before he nodded and resumed his cautious advance. Reaching the corner, he poked his head out to survey what was waiting for them — only to suddenly bound forwards, armour clacking together as he raced forwards before Kaius could stop him.

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“Definitely the end!”

Forgetting his earlier words, he lept after Porkchop as his heart thudded in excitement. This could be it!

Descending the steps three at a time, the stairway opened into a large room that was a mirror of the one above — with one main difference.

The far wall looked like it had been cut away by the hand of god, a craggly natural face of grey stone with a cave set in its centre replacing it. There were no smooth gradients where stone met carved masonry, but neither were there any gaps. Two different materials, melded impossibly together with a clean line between them, like the striated layers of a cliff.

From his angle high up on the stairs, Kaius could barely see more than a few strides down the natural passage — but it was well lit, spilling a pale natural light into the gloom of the sandstone tower.

He grinned. The split between biomes was a jarring and unnatural transition, but oh so welcome and familiar.

Porkchop was already at the mouth of the cave, his whiskers twitching and his ears perked as he stared towards the light. He rushed down to join his brother, the rest of their team close behind him as they hurried to see what Porkchop had found.

Spikes of stone jutted from the ceiling and floor of the passage at uneven intervals, as if they were looking out from the mouth of some terrible beast into the world outside. Easily a couple hundred strides long, it undulated in width — enough for them to walk ten abreast at its widest, while its narrowest was a bare ten strides in width.

Kaius flicked from the fang-like spires of stone that were strewn through the cave, to his brother, and back. The thinner sections might be a bit of a squeeze, but Porkchop should have the room he needed to maneuver around the obstacles. He hoped.

“Well I’ll be damned, I was sure there was going to be something miserable and deadly down here, but it looks like we got lucky.” Ianmus muttered, stepping forwards to stand beside him.

Kenva snorted. “It’s still going to be deadly, I’ll take an oath on that — the elders are still deliberating on just how miserable it’ll be.”

“It can’t be that much worse, can it?”

Freezing in place, Porkchop pulled his attention away from the entrance of the next biome to fix Ianmus with a serious stare.

“Mage.”

Ianmus focused on him immediately.

“The first Champion I fought alone was a ball of organs and mouths whose main method of attack was to vomit at me. Prodigiously and forcefully. Kaius glosses over some of the more disgusting aspects of our first delve, but believe me — it can always get worse.”

Ianmus paled.

“Hah! That was a good fight — you had your own fighter’s pit and everything. Plus, the tent was pretty nice.”

“Cutting it out of the thing’s stomach wasn’t — and you didn’t have my nose, I had nightmares about the smell for weeks.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Kenva grimacing at the tightly packed tent that was secured to Porkchop’s flank — the sort of look you expected to see after someone bit into an apple and found an unexpected worm.

“Okay, it can get worse then — I suppose we hope for the best?”

Despite his efforts to be positive, it didn’t look like Ianmus’s heart was in it.

Kaius chuckled. “Our chances are probably pretty good — regardless, let’s find out shall we?”

Turning his attention back to the far end of the tunnel, Kaius narrowed his eyes in an attempt to make out what he could. Truesight was a potent skill, but it did little to help with the obstructions that barred a clear view, nor the tight field of view the cave gave them.

What he could see was promising. A slip of a cavern ceiling dominated most of his view, far enough in the distance to suggest that the biome was as large if not larger than the desert above them. On the upper left side of the cave, that far off roof ended abruptly in an opening that revealed a brilliant blue sky — a gargantuan hole to the world above. The source of the natural light that seeped through the cave into their sandstone room.

The edges of the opening were hazy. He focused, clarity coming to his vision as he flexed Truesight to its maximum. Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Kaius realised that it was mist — water falling from a dozen spots into the pit below and nourishing an ecosystem of vines and creepers that draped over the lip of the cavern opening.

The sight of greenery brought a smile to his face. While it was by no means a certain bet, the distinct lack of burning rivers of fire, or alien fields of glowing crystals made him hopeful. If they were lucky, there wouldn’t be anything too weird to contend with.

He nudged Kenva with his elbow.

“See that?” he pointed to the lip. “Anything I might have missed?”

Her Farseer was not only higher level than his own ocular skill, but was also slightly better at seeing things at a distance. To his eyes the waterfalls and hanging vines were small enough that he was struggling to make out the fine details — Kenva might have a better shot at it.

She nodded, focusing intently. “Not too much more. It’s got an echo system though, there’s beasts flying around them, maybe even nesting there. Hard to tell what or how large they are though — it’s got to be leagues away.”

Another promising sign — beasts and water was good. They wouldn’t have to dip into their supplies nearly as much if they could forage while they moved.

“Alright — we’re moving. Let’s get battle ready. I’ll take the lead with Kenva just behind me, just in case there are traps. If this biome has a natural theme, they’re less likely, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be there. Ianmus and Porkchop, wait for us to reach the other side of the cave, just in case we trigger something. No point you two getting caught up as well.”

Getting focused nods, Kaius stepped forwards — Kenva close on his heels — and crossed the threshold into the cave.

**Biome Entered: Godmaw Jungle**

**Ding! Moderate Feat of Strength performed under Observation. You have been awarded a Minor Honour: Persistent Survivor IV**