Runeblade

"I hope real dwarven cities are built like this." Kaius said as he stared at a row of immaculately carved statues that were laid in a circle around the plaza that he had spotted earlier. Each and every one was easily twice his height, and looked like they could have been living figures simply transmuted into a soft brown stone. They depicted a dwarven warrior, garbed in full plate with a stern expression revealed by an open faced helm.

"Why?" Porkchop asked, clearly far more interested in what lay beyond the ring of statues.

"I mean, look at this stuff." Kaius replied, sweeping his hand across the plaza before waving it generally in the direction of the cavern walls. "It's master stonework, melded together to look like a single piece. Let alone the bloody cavern, which is clearly not natural, or the crystal sun which looks about as big as a castle. It's easy to imagine the Depths creating something like this, but I can't wrap my head around the fact that there might be an original out there made by bloody people. The time -the resources- this would take is mind boggling."

"Yes, yes, it's all very pretty." Porkchop said with a shrug. "But the Champion is right there. Now is not the time to be ogling buildings."

Porkchop was right, but he also didn't want to lose sight of the wonder of the Depths. It might have been a charnel pit of monsters and traps, but where else would you see a dwarven city right after exploring a glowing underground forest?

Kaius sighed. Despite his appreciation for the surroundings, he turned his mind to the task ahead. The goblin shaman seemed to be in the throes of some sort of religious ecstasy, its head raised to the sky while it screamed guttural chants with a fervour, its adherents hanging on to its every word.

Thankfully, it seemed far too preoccupied to notice them.

"You're still alright to keep the shaman occupied while I take care of his minions?" Kaius asked.

"It makes the most sense. Even with this ring you gave me, three goblins who no doubt have weapons would be hard to deal with. I'll be fine with my Spell Resistance."

Kaius nodded. "I think with how distracted they are, we should be able to sneak behind one of those statues. It should get us close enough that I can take out one of the adherents before we even begin."

"Not the shaman?"

"Too risky." Kaius shook his head. "For one, it's a Champion- so there's no guarantee a single shot will take it out. It's also a mage, so I'm worried it might have some way to deal with hostile magic."

Porkchop grunted, clearly not convinced but he didn't argue with Kaius either way.

"Once we're behind the statue, I'll get a cast off. That'll be the signal to charge in, okay? You go for one of the statues closer to the shaman."

"Got it." Porkchop said, before he slunk off to the other side of the street where he would have a better angle of approach.

Kaius took a breath to reassure himself, taking another look to make sure the Champion and his flunkies were still preoccupied. Whatever service the shaman was leading, it didn't look like it was going to end any time soon.

Dropping into a sprinters stance, Kaius felt his heart thump heavily in his chest. There was absolutely no cover between the road where he currently stood and the statue. Only a hundred long-strides of open pavement. If he made too much noise, or one of the Champions goons simply decided to watch their surroundings, he would be spotted in an instant.

"Here we go." Kaius thought.

He kicked off. Sprinting over open pavement, careful to keep his steps as light as possible. With every stride his boots clacked on stone and his scale rattled, the noise driving a spike of anxiety into his ears. He watched the shaman like a hawk for any sign of it hearing his approach. Nothing. Its screeching calls were loud enough to drown out any ambient noise.

He shuffled to a stop, crouching down behind the raised stone plinth of the statue he had chosen as cover.

Taking a moment to let his racing heart slow, Kaius looked a few statues over to find Porkchop hunkered down watching him closely. He shot his friend a nod, receiving one in return.

Drawing his sword slowly so as to avoid making too much noise, Kaius peered over the base of the statue to stare at the attendants. Two of them were covered by the large stone pillars that held up the roof of the pavilion the shaman had taken over, but one stood exposed in a gap.

A perfect target.

Kaius thrust out with his left hand, pointing towards the enrobed goblins head with his finger. With a flicker of intent he cast Arcane Bolt. Tightly bound mana roared forth, exploding through the carefully crafted channels of his glyph. One of his four runic hymns on the edge of his glyph burst into golden light, High Lothian characters dissolved in floating embers as the force of the mana fractured the sacrificial spell array.

A shard of azure shot from his finger, glowing to his mana sight as it rocketed towards the exposed attendant.

Rune forged magic met goblin flesh and won with ease, rupturing its head in a splash of shattered bone and pulped flesh.

**Ding! Level 20 Goblin Adherent slain**

For a moment, everything hung frozen. Still. Then the goblin attendant's body hit the ground with a wet smack.

**Ding! You challenged a Champion: Spiritcaller Grikx! **

Then Porkchop roared. Storming out of his cover to charge directly at the shaman. The goblin Champions chanting stopped, its eyes snapping open as it looked first at the headless body of its attendant leaking green blood on the pavilion floor, and then to the rapidly approaching red and black incarnation of bestial fury that was racing towards it.

It hissed, thrusting its skull-tipped staff towards Porkchop. A hail of what looked like shards of bone slamming into him and punching into his barding a few heartbeats later.

The remaining attendants drew their blades. Strange crescent moon things of glistening bronze. Far from the half-broken affair that he had seen on other goblins.

That was his cue.

Adrenaline dumped into his system as Kaius kicked his way free of the statue he had been hiding behind, racing towards the attendants with his sword held high and a roar of battle lust on his lips.

The attendant's eyes snapped towards him. Good, he had their attention. With each step Kaius launched himself faster and faster, eating away at the distance between him and the attendants.

He hit them at full speed, lashing out with his sword to catch the left most goblins' initial assault. He pivoted, shifting his grip to break the bind and deflect another slice from the other. The ringing crashes of steel and bronze rang out across the pavilion as Kaius pushed the goblins with every inch of his skill.

The two attendants were good, far better swordsmen than anything he had seen from the goblins so far. Worse, they were fast. It was only by leveraging his longer blade and reach that he was able to keep up. Thank the gods they weren't stronger than him, otherwise he really would have been in trouble. As it was, the rapidfire staccato of clashing blades brought a smile to Kaius's face as the rush of battle fell over him.

With each turned blade Kaius felt his vambraces suck in more and more force. It was surprisingly fast, far faster than it had been against the other goblins he had faced so far. Though, with the sickening pace of the attendants assault it didn't really surprise him.

Smashing aside a low sweep from one of the attendants, Kaius lunged in with a quick thrust, punishing the attempt as the tip of his sword sank deep into its chest. Before he could follow up with a killing stroke he was forced to leap back, the injured goblins companion raking its blade across his armoured chest in a squeal of tortured metal.

Kaius winced, a line of dull throbbing crossing the front of his chest along the line of the goblins' blows. That hurt. The scale might work wonders for protecting him from edged weapons, but it did little for impact.

**Ding! Fast Healing has reached level 18!**

Beyond the attendants, Kaius could see that Porkchop was struggling to pin the Shaman down. Every time he would get close, Kaius watched as the goblin mage glowed to his mana sight, only for Porkchop to bellow in agony a moment later as a lash of ethereal energy smacked into him.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 10!**

"Definitely an affliction specialist! Pain!" Porkchop growled.

"That's good!" Kaius yelled back, grunting as one of the attendants slipped past his guard to bash him in the ribs with its curved bronze blade. He kicked out, booting the goblin back before pivoting on his front foot to hammer on the others guard. "Pain won't kill you!"

"The bone shards its shooting from its staff might! Hurry up!"

Kaius grunted, easier said than done. The two goblin attendants may as well have been a brick wall with how perfectly they covered each other. Whenever he got a flash of insight from Explorer's Toolkit about a potential opening, they moved, closing the gap. The problem was that they were too bloody fast.

**Ding! Explorer's Toolkit has reached level 13!**

Flicking his blade back and forth he deflected a perfectly synchronised flurry of slashes from the goblins, giving ground to their assault. With each block Kaius felt his vambrace get closer and closer to full. At the very least, if he really couldn't find an opening he would be able to force the issue with that.

Peering over the attendants shoulders, he watched the shaman dive out of the way of Porkchop's paw, channelling glowing mana into its staff to pelt him with another hail of razor sharp bones.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 11!**

Individually, they seemed to do little, but Kaius could see that his friend's face and exposed arms were littered with dozens of shallow cuts. Inconsequential with health, but with each barrage more of Porkchop's health would burn away to seal the wounds.

That could be an issue. He had to do something.

Knocking aside one attendant's blade he stepped in and rammed the goblin with his shoulder, sending it staggering back. His hand snapped up, lighting up in burning gold as he shot an Arcane Bolt directly at the shaman's back.

Its eyes widened with the flash of light, the shaman throwing itself to the side in a last ditch effort to avoid the spell. Kaius was already turning away as it squealed in pain, slipping around a slash as the closest attendant screamed in fury at his assault of their master.

Kaius punished the missed swing with a pommel strike to the goblins brow, sending it reeling. The act just barely gave him a moment to breathe before both attendants came back at him in a synchronised blur of scything bronze.

Kaius grit his teeth, hearing Porkchop roar in agony once more.

He did his best to defend from the attendants assault, blocking and parrying slashes where he could, but even with all his skill he wasn't able to stop a growing number of heavy smashes of blunt force that sunk deep into the muscle beneath his armour.

**Ding! Adamant Body has reached level 17!**

One of the attendants rushed in, curved blade held high overhead. Kaius swept his sword up, binding the strike in an edge to edge clash. He twisted his wrists, casting the bronze sword to the side as he pirouetted into a whirling cut that slashed it from shoulder to hip. Blood flooded free from the wound, staining the front of the attendants robe a murky green.

The other attendant rushed him. Kaius only just managed to bring his sword up into a clumsy block, the goblins bronze blade skittering down his sword-edge to catch on his crossguard. Then he felt his vambraces saturate, a pool of energy entering his awareness.

Feeling his blood sing with the heat of battle Kaius redoubled his efforts, waiting for his opening.

Only for a virulent wasting energy to seep into him from behind, punching through his armour to target his bones as the shaman cried in victory. Kaius risked a glance behind him, seeing Porkchop had jumped on the shaman's distraction to rake his claws along its back.

The shaman had still hit him with something. He knew it, he could feel it in his teeth, smell it flooding his nose. It tasted of the ravages of time, of the weakness of old men. The attendants cackled in glee, rushing him.

Grunting in frustration, Kaius flicked his blade up to catch one of the crescent bronze blades. They clashed.

His arm cracked. Agony lancing up into his shoulder as the pressure of the goblins attack stressed his fractured limb.

**Ding! You have been afflicted by Skeletal Weakness: Curse of Brittle Bone**