Runeblade

Night had long since fallen over their foothill camp, and the cold mountain air was crisp against Kaius's skin. It sunk into his scalemail, penetrating deep into his body — though thankfully with his Vitality it was barely more than a slight discomfort.

He still pulled his heavy wool cloak tighter around him, enjoying its comforting weight as he peered out into the night. With Truesight his vision was unimpeded, his view of the obsidian obelisk clear as it had been during the day. Clearer, even, thanks to the dull orange glow let off by the runes that shifted across its surface.

This much closer, it was an imposing thing. A spire of magic and glass that dominated the field around it. It was out of place — arcane, in the truest sense of the word.

A rustle came from his left, right where their tent had disguised itself as a loose pile of rubble. He knew who it would be: his bond made it clear enough. Porkchop, shaking himself slightly as he entered the cold.

His brother padded over, sitting next to him.

"Are the others still asleep?" Kaius asked.

Porkchop was silent for a moment, looking out towards the obelisk — and the curled up lump sleeping at the edge of the runed glass foundation surrounding it.

"Yeah — I just thought I'd come check on you."

"Getting sentimental on me?" He grinned, leaning over to give his companion a friendly shove on the shoulder. "I'm fine, just enjoying the quiet."

Porkchop silently leaned in, dense fur enveloping Kaius's side as warmth radiated through his cloak. Returning the gesture, Kaius rested his head on the side of Porkchop's leg.

"How are you doing? I know this whole Vos thing has been frustrating. Even if you understand it, and accept it as a worthwhile price to pay for future strength, I can still feel that it bothers you."

Kaius shrugged, shuffling to readjust his seat as his scale rustled against the large stone he was using as a backrest.

"It is what it is. I'll admit it can be a little difficult when I get to watch the rest of you jump straight in though. Sure, it's potent and powerful, but that almost makes it worse when I can't even risk using it at all, let alone consistently."

"You'll get there, just bad timing is all."

"I know — I just hope we won't end up in a situation where we're at a disadvantage because of my missing power."

Shaking his head, Porkchop huffed slightly — a sign of mild amusement that Kaius had long since become familiar with.

"We'll be fine. Even if the manticore is tough, we've gotten a pretty good picture of its capabilities by now — we can manage.

Kaius agreed on that front, at least. Oh, it would be a fight for the ages, but as potent as the manticore looked, they were tougher and had a full team.

He was still uncomfortable. No matter how prepared they were, things went wrong in a fight. Vos might be the only thing that could pull them out of a bind, but he had to weigh that up against the difficulty of using it, and the obscene cost of preparing Redoubt of the Speaker.

At this stage, another two dozen inscribed spells would be more valuable than a single use of a skill that would likely disable him at least partially with backlash.

Plus, like Porkchop had said, they had prepared. They'd watched the manticore for two days now, gathering every scrap that might help them prepare for the battle ahead. There'd been some concern that it would simply laze about and give them nothing, but luck had been on their side.

On four separate occasions, packs of ridgechargers and small groups of boulder-scales — the other major depthsborn they'd found in the biome — had attempted to cross the Guardian's territory. Their intrusion had incited a brilliant fury, the manticore tearing them apart with its strong body and potent skills.

It was more than enough to give them an idea of how it fought.

It was a fire affinity beast for one. In every fight, a blazing line of fire would erupt down its spine as it used a variety of flaming enhancements to bolster its maul-like tail and claws. Hells, at one point they'd seen the beast breath a gout of white-hot fire to roast a ridgecharger where it stood!

Beyond those most obvious facets, it had become clear that it relied on physical strength and overwhelming aggression to win its fights — falling on its enemies in a torrent of raking claws and smashing bashes. It was single minded, utterly focused on whatever had the poor luck to be its current target as it tore through groups one by one.

In many ways, it was a perfect match-up. He, and by extension Porkchop, had fire resistance, and its temperament would be something they could use to their advantage. The main problem was how damn agile it was — no way they would be able to risk having their backline anywhere near as close to the action as they normally did.

He was definitely going to need to inscribe a hefty helping of Hateful Nail and Trusant's Expedient Shunt. With its speed, he'd need some way to hinder its mobility and enhance his own if he wanted to play the harasser like he normally did.

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At the very least, the manticore's regeneration only seemed to be average for a creature of its power — wearing it down should be a far sight easier than some of the more persistent creatures they had fought.

Porkchop broke their silence once more.

"What do you think we'll find in there?" He nodded out into the plateau, towards the only landmark of any real note. The obelisk.

That was the question on all of their minds, wasn't it? The only constant was that the obelisk promised danger and opportunity — the form that took was anyone's guess.

"As much as I wish it were so, I doubt it will be a pile of treasure and a tonic to double all of our stats." Kaius dragged his eyes away from the obelisk's magnetic pull, meeting his brother's green-flecked-gold eyes. "I think you're onto something about it being a trial, though that's not particularly specific."

Porkchop hummed in excitement, returning to the glowing pillar. "I just hope it'll be exciting. It's been nice to really cut loose and focus on growing strong and having good fights again. As nice as the Frontier has been, it's been getting old pretending to be weak and stupid."

Kaius nodded, feeling the simple contentment within Porkchop. He understood — hells, he felt much the same way. There was a certain purity of purpose to the depths — you killed and grew, or you stagnated and died. Even with the danger that had come with the integration progressing, the world above had a tendency to be…messy. It was nice to only have to think about the next fight — the next milestone.

"It'll change once we're out, I promise — no more hiding. We might not be the biggest dogs around, but we'll be strong enough that it'll give even the major players pause. We'll be impossible to bring in quietly or cheaply, and Rieker will be able to move ahead with sharing aspects and Honours. We'll have the full backing of the guild. It'll be enough — even if we'll no doubt still have to deal with politics."

Porkchop snorted, an image of someone smiling while hiding a knife behind their back appearing in Kaius's mind.

He grinned "You get it."

Silence returned as they sat quietly in the night.

Kaius couldn't help but think on the realities of being more public with their capabilities.

Really, it was a bit of a moot point anyway. Once they'd crossed the second tier, pretending to be small fry would be all but impossible. The jobs they would have to take would be high profile, but even if he ignored that there was still the matter of the strange aura that most everyone he'd met in the second tier had possessed. He wasn't exactly sure how it worked, but they had a presence — demanded acknowledgement, if not direct respect and deference.

Could it even be concealed in the first place?

And what of when they left Deadacre — moved on to the Greenseed Dukedoms? Deadacre was small — small enough that Golds like Rieker and Ro could hide much in their wake. A larger city, a true metropolis? There would likely be competing factions, multiple people jockeying for power and influence. Not exactly the best environment for hiding their abilities.

Kaius glanced at Porkchop. His brother had been broadly supportive of their next steps, but surely he had something he wanted to do. Kaius knew he had Porkchop's unwavering support and backing to investigate the mysteries of his family — he just hoped that the big lug wasn't putting off his own goals out of a misguided sense of duty.

Kaius wasn't blind — he'd caught the signs. While he wouldn't go so far as to call it cagey, Porkchop had definitely tended towards talking around why he even left the Deep Sea in the first place. There'd been tid bits here and there, murmurs of some sort of disagreement or difference of opinion. Nor had he missed the vague frustration that crossed their bond half the time Porkchop brought up the dens in anything more than passing detail.

"What do you think of the plan to check out the dukedoms?" Kaius hedged — deciding to just bring it up.

Porkchop looked over at him curiously.

"I mean, it makes sense right? The library Ianmus mentioned does seem like a decent place to look for any trail of your family. Plus, with the backing of a fully resourced guildhall in a major city we will have a better shot at helping us track down information about the man with the scar. Why? Did you come up with something else?"

Kaius shook his head, pausing for a moment. "Just wanted to be sure I wasn't bulldozing through your own plans — I doubt you left your den so young purely for a grand adventure."

Pokrchop stilled for a moment, before leaning more into him, "Ah, I wondered when you'd ask. No, I didn't. The dens have grown fossilised — stuck in a rut of tradition and isolation. I'm not exactly…pleased with it. Nor were my Matriarchs and Patriarchs particularly pleased with my ideas. Still, their current path is stagnant — stagnant and dangerous. Especially with the rapid changes of the integration progressing: it might be the thing that finally tips them over the edge. Starts a decline."

Ah, that explained much. Porkchop had always been open about his differences in thought, but it seemed he'd made himself into something of a firebrand. In some ways it was hard to imagine — Porkchop was definitely the most easy going of their crew. In others, it made perfect sense. His brother had never been one to hold much stock in the status quo — the influence he'd had on Kaius about sharing information instead of hoarding it was testament to that.

Kaius still couldn't help but feel a flash of guilt. It was a heavy burden his brother carried, and he didn't like the thought of Porkchop ignoring his people's plight to help him alone.

"What do we do?" Kaius asked.

"Now?" Porkchop turned to him. "Nothing — we're already living proof of the limitation of their ways. Unfortunately, we'll need to be much stronger if we want to actually change anything. Strength is important in my society, and if we can rub their noses in our success, they might actually listen to me this time. We're already working on that, so I didn't see the reason to lump another problem on your plate."

Kaius reached over and slapped Porkchop on the back of the head. His brother whipped his head around, staring at him in shock.

"None of that! If we aren't here to support each other, then who is? Just tell me next time — and let me know when you think it's getting close to time to go to the Deep Sea. I've always wanted to see it in person. When you're ready, I'd also like to know more about the problems with the dens — even if just so that you're not ruminating on it alone."

Porkchop huffed, but settled down.

"Fine. But we should be going to bed — we strike tomorrow and there's no point in being tired before our fight."