The Runesmith

“Did I really have to come over here myself? I already told you that I can’t do anything about that Platinum team, they will get here when they get here and why are we meeting in this blasted tower?”

A disgruntled large bald guild master opened the door to the guard tower that Arthur was occupying. On the inside, he spotted the young lord already dressed in a set of armor. The long white hair went well together with the silvery armor that he was wearing. To the side instead of the usual longsword, a somewhat lavish-looking rapier adorned his side.

“What’s with you? Do you intend to use that on someone?”

“I hope not guild master, we have a problem, please sit down.”

“It’s fine, what happened? Are the monsters actually coming?”

Aurdhan after glancing over the young lord and his maid instantly knew that something was afoot. Normally a noble like this would only put on armor and grab weapons if someone was attacking the city, with how they had a skeleton problem this was probably the case.

“You are correct and it's not just the weak ones, the Lich is among them.”

“Oh? That thing actually came out but how can you be so sure about this?”

The old man was more surprised about Arthur receiving the information before he did. The dungeon and everything around it was supposed to be his specialty. His contacts were supposed to keep him informed about the state of it from the outside. There were many people with advanced tracking classes and magical items that could observe everything from a safe distance but he did not hear any word from them yet.

Instead, this young man had called for him with the emergency runic device he was given recently. It looked similar to a crystal ball but only relayed short pre-recorded messages. It also changed color depending on the seriousness of the occasion. This time around it started blinking red which meant that he needed to ignore any other meetings.

“I’m sure, the information came from a reliable source, it seems that the previous attack was only a test, the monster is coming out in full force and we are looking at several tier 3 undead within their ranks.”

“Several?”

“We confirmed at least four and with the Lich that makes it five but there could be more and we don’t know how the monster produces them yet, he could be able to reanimate them instantly.”

“That would be a problem…”

Arthur continued to talk about the intel that Roland had given him. Liches required bodies to produce the regular undead minions, that was a truth known to everyone. This rule didn’t apply to the special summons that the black skeletons were part of. It was possible that after one went down the monster could instantly summon it back as long as they were close.

“We need to decide on a way to tackle this problem.”

Arthur commented while motioning with his eyes to Mary. The maid did a little bow before walking towards the entrance to this office. After leaving she soon returned with a man dressed in official soldier armor that was a bit more intricate than the others.

“Lord Arthur, you needed something?”

The man bowed lightly while also holding his helmet to the side. At first glance, the man looked to be at the age of forty. He had a well-trimmed beard that somewhat enhanced his jawline but even without it, he did look like a man that meant business.

“I’m not sure that you two have ever met, this is Guard Captain Edmond.”

“Think this is the first time we met, but I heard of him getting the position after the late captain was found embezzling those funds…”

Replied the guild master as he acknowledged the man’s presence. This man before him had spent some good years in the city and was an actual local. He was somewhat the second in command behind the old leader of the city guards. After Arthur arrived on the scene he was removed for taking bribes and hanging around the red light district a bit too much. He was on the level of a weaker silver-rank adventurer.

“Yes but let’s not talk about the past and focus on the future. We will need the adventurers to work with us again and your services might be needed, guild master.”

The guard captain seemed a bit dejected at the comment that Arduhan slipped in but was in no position to argue with a tier 3 class holder. Instead, he just stood there at attention as a proper soldier would and waited for an order to be given.

“So that’s what this was all about, you want me to fight that Lich?”

“I hope that it won’t come to that but you also must remember that you have clear duties to fulfill.”

There was an agreement between the kingdom and the adventurer guild. While the latter was not part of the official military and could operate independently there were times when they were required to take action. This mostly concerned official guild members like Ardunhan here, he was required to take up arms against monsters in a situation like this. If he decided to run without confronting the Lich, he would be committing a crime.

“I know what I have to do, you don’t need to remind me but remember that I only need to act if the monsters actually make it into the city.”

“Of course, for the time being, we will still wait for that adventurer party to arrive, I just wished to remind you of the possibility.”

Arduhan gave out a sigh as he knew that he couldn’t really weasel himself out of this one. If he decided to abandon ship while being in his position the only place he could run to was the thieves guild. Outside of it, he would be a wanted man, perhaps a high enough noble could hire him as a lowly knight but he would rather go to prison than be forced to work as one of those.

“Hah fine, was this all you wanted to talk about, or can I leave?”

It didn’t seem that the guild master appreciated the tone that Arthur was taking with him but he could also not refute the request. If the monsters made it into the city he would need to face them.

“Almost, Edmund here will act as a proxy as I’m sure you don’t want to be called each time there is news about the monsters. For the time being the skeletons are gathering on the outside of the dungeon like this, Mary would you be so kind?”

“As you wish Lord Arthur.”

The guild master wasn’t sure where this was heading. The guard captain or one of his people would relay the information and probably call for his help if the need arose. He didn’t really need any outside help as he had informants of his own at various locations in the city.

This should have been the end of it but the woman brought out a strange rectangular square covered in runes. It was around the size of a chessboard and had four identical iron rods in each corner. They were less than half a meter long but thick enough to not wiggle around while the runic object was moved around.

It took a while to prepare this magical contraption. After putting it on the desk the maid had to bring over another item that looked like a black box with a cable sticking out of it. This cable was then connected to this board and only after did the runes start to activate.

“This looks like Wayland’s handiwork.”

“Yes, he does give his works a certain flair…”

“Yeah, they tend to look like junk an old wizard flushed down their toilet.”

“Quite… but to his defense, I don’t think he had much time to make this and at least when it comes to the magical effect, it’s truly amazing.”

Everyone nodded as they looked at the rough shape that wasn’t very pleasant to the eye. Most of the time runesmiths would spend some extra time to make their designs somewhat eye-catching and streamlined. This runesmith didn’t seem that bothered by people scrutinizing some of his designs, if it did the thing it was supposed to do, then he was fine with it.

“What does this tool do? If those monsters are gathering outside of the dungeon I don’t think we should be wasting time on some magical gadgets?”

“Don’t worry guild master, this one could save a lot of lives.”

Finally at the end right before activating the device a map was placed on the flat surface and over the runes. Then when the preparations were finished the maid tapped a rune on the side which made the whole contraption glow in a blue color. Arduhan didn’t think of himself as someone that was versed in magical devices so he wasn’t sure what this was about. To him, it looked like a toy as it only produced glowing lights and nothing more.

“What is this supposed to be? A light box? What’s with the round dots, I don’t think I understand…”

“Guild Master, are you sure? Look at the map, doesn’t this look familiar?”

“The map? Isn’t that just the area around the dungeon, why would you place that map there… oh…”

“I see that you see it now.”

“Wait… are those supposed to be?”

“Yes, the smaller ones are the regular blazing skeleton and the larger ones are the obsidian ones. That’s not all, the most important thing is… how did he describe it… shown in real time?”

“Real, time?”

“Yes, as you can see some of those small dots are slowly changing location. We are seeing the true current movement of the undead.”

This magic map that Roland produced relayed information to this device in real-time. It did not use any holographic images nor was it created through crystals like the crystal balls used for talking. Instead, it produced low-leveled light spells in the shape of circles slightly above the map. The regular skeletons were shown as small blue dots while the tier 3 monsters were larger red dots. The image would be updated every so often to minimize the mana use.

“These three red ones are the tier 3 monsters, Wayland said that if the Lich appears its color will be green so for now we have some time. The blue light blends together due to the number of skeletons but at least we can see where they are gathering.”

“...Interesting.”

The guild master nodded while looking over the lights on the board. The blue dots kind of blended together to produce a blob of light. in three locations the three red dots were sticking out and the two monsters that were at the entrance still remained in the usual position with a new one moving a bit to the front.

“This does look strange, its as if…”

“I see that you noticed it.”

The two men nodded at each other while looking at the mapping device. The blue blob of skeletal lights was spread to the sides with the middle remaining empty. The two red dots that represented the obsidian skeleton guards were at the entrance of the dungeon and the third one was away in a straight line. It looked like the monsters were clearing a path for something or in this case, someone.

“This doesn’t look good, I haven’t heard of anything like this ever happening. What is this blasted Lich… could it have someone behind it?”

“That could be a possibility but for now we don’t have anything to confirm such a claim or anything that could interest a third party to go to these lengths…”

How the monster acted was quite unique. It was possible for an undead monster like this to have a powerful necromancer behind it. However, if such a person really existed then he would be doing a disservice to themselves. Why would they be making such a strange spectacle to attack the city?

Was this a smoke screen to get to something or someone during the chaos? This was a possibility but nothing of worth existed here that should interest a high-level tier 3 or tier 4 class holder. They couldn’t just throw away the idea as the monster’s movements were strange.

“I guess I’ll look into this, I’ll also see why those idiots are taking this long to get here.”

Finally, the two men were done with their meeting and the guild master left. The main strategy was easy, they would wait for the platinum adventurers to arrive before confronting the tier 3 skeletons.

“Lord Arthur, are you sure we don’t have to make preparations?”

“For my escape?”

After Arduhan left Mary and Arthur continued a different conversation. They were already looking at potential four tier 3 monsters and a large wave of undead. The people that were supposed to be here to clear them out didn’t arrive yet. Everything could potentially go south at any moment, there was no way of knowing if the adventurers could even beat the Lich or if there was some kind of ploy involving a necromancer or cultists at work in the background.

“Yes, if the monsters get through the city gates, I propose that we use the escape tunnel.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“But my lord…”

Mary looked at Arthur who just shook his head and decided to not press this matter. She knew that if he abandoned this city during this period he would instantly lose everything he worked for. The war for succession was almost an afterthought as he had almost no chance of succeeding. If he abandoned the city he was given by his father however, this would end his already desperate struggle. This was his only chance and both of them knew it.

…

“They are taking their time this time around…”

Back at Roland’s underground workshop, he was looking at the crystal screen. There he saw similar dots as Arthur did before they were just moving a lot smoother. The board he made for Arthur was a quick implementation of his monitoring system that barely worked. It would be updated by another device that was here and every ten seconds an update would be sent out. One of the reasons for this was to give the city lord an idea of the situation and also so that he wouldn't need to make constant reports.

“There it is and he isn’t really in a hurry…”

Finally, on the map at the furthest part of the dungeon, he could see a large dot appear. It was a lot larger than the ones representing the obsidian undead and it was easy to compare.

“There are two obsidian ones next to it… five could be the limit.”

Five obsidian undead had now been identified by him or at least they were on par with the others. The dots kind of informed him about the level of the monster there but not about their true form. This meant that the city would be facing five lower level tier 3 undead and a Lich that had control over them.

“Why couldn’t those idiots have gotten here by now, Arthur should have given them enough of an incentive.”

The most stressful part about this all was that the platinum party of five was missing. Together with them, it wouldn’t be outlandish for them to achieve victory. They should have been at least able to contend with the five black skeletons.

The Lich could be taken out by the Guild master who was probably of a higher level than the average tier 3 class holder. Roland had even told Arthur to increase the reward which he would even cover part of. Being a Runesmith allowed him to earn a lot of money that he could use to take care of the blunder he was part of.

Now the monster that he helped create was coming here and he was already convinced about its destination. After it was outside it would probably detect the whereabouts of his home and either send its troops toward his location or perhaps do something a bit more drastic.

“I hope my preparations will be enough, otherwise …”

While looking at the map he went over his armor once more. It was mostly the same model that he used during his gold rank quest. It had been repaired and the runes were enhanced slightly. The factor that made him stronger though was the higher level that he now had. There was one more thing he could do to help him go through this incident, a thing that he would rather avoid.

“It should be possible but it will destroy my future prospects and rebuilding this place is always possible…”

The runes on his armor started glowing brightly as he attached his helmet. A faint reddish glow filled the visor as he connected with the mapping device. It was finally time, the monster was going out of the dungeon and his next destination would be where Roland was staying.

The moment that he was trying to avoid was right around the corner. He prepared as much as he could and would not give up this place that he created without putting up a good fight. All the times he was forced to run had been slowly building up to this moment of stubbornness. He would not stand for it anymore and finally defend what was his.