The Way Ahead

The hunter advanced inside Obairlann, hefting a wicked-looking harpoon-spear. He paused, and Edwin tried to tell what was happening. Was he sniffing the air? Could he not see him?

Edwin dashed out from his cover and up the stairs, snatching a row of glowing potions from their shelf. Sure, they didn’t actually have any alchemical effect, but he could still throw them and maybe use them for cover?

As soon as the first potion started passing through the strange dark mist surrounding his attacker, he jerked out of the way, and the bottle crashed against the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.

Edwin winced. Intentional or not, it was still painful to see some of his few glass containers shatter in front of him. He’d take it over dying, though. He didn’t have any time to really think it through, though, as the hunter seemed to use his attack to find Edwin, and the spear flashed out towards him, fortunately falling short.

Edwin followed up the first throw with several more harmless vials, each of which was effortlessly dodged. He quickly started throwing just his earthenware containers instead of the glass, but even empty ones were all swiftly avoided.

Soon, the hunter’s slow advance brought him to the top of the stairs, and Edwin promptly fled through the roof, climbing over the edge of the wall and slipping out of the leaves which made his roof. Once he was on the outside, the magic of Obairlann supported him and he ascended to the top of the roof. There, he had a chance to breathe and let his wounds recover somewhat.

His hearing returned enough to hear a commotion inside, specifically the commotion of pottery and glass breaking, and Edwin winced. He didn’t want to know what some of his creations would do when mixed, but it sounded like he was about to find out. He’d also probably have to remake most of his alchemy equipment as well.

The branches near the edge of the roof rustled and parted as his assailant figured out where he’d gone, and the shadowy figure pulled himself onto the roof, only to be met with Edwin’s entire bottle of concentrated knockout potion straight to the skull.

Edwin looked on in dismay as his efforts to make a tough container for what was by far his most impactful potion succeeded, and the ceramic vial failed to shatter on contact. Instead, it bounced off the hunter’s head and rolled off the edge of the roof, leaving him in the awkward position of having just thrown away his best weapon with nothing to show for it.

By the time he’d prepped a firebomb, the hunter had already closed much of the distance between the two of them, and Edwin frantically slid down the far side of the roof. He managed to stop himself before he fell off the edge, transferred his firebomb from his left hand to his right hand, and lobbed the grenade just in time before he fell.

Edwin took the landing relatively hard, which just meant that he went almost entirely limp to absorb the shock of hitting the ground before springing back up- Flexibility was great- and dashed to the talsanenris hedge. Behind him, he heard the figure curse as the grenade detonated, hopefully as it came into contact with them, but didn’t look back right away.

In the bushes, he finally turned around to see what he needed to prepare for. Edwin’s eyes widened in shock as the assassin took a leap from the top of the roof, diving gracefully to the ground. Wait, no. Through the ground. He had vanished into the soil without so much as a trace.

Edwin stood back warily, not sure where they might reappear next, and a flash of motion from near the cliff drew Edwin’s eye just in time to see his attacker emerge from the rock, face and body tense. The shadows reappeared, enshrouding its body from the head down, but before they did, Edwin managed to make out a powerfully built, furred body with a wide, monstrous head and fanged mouth. As the shadows returned, it looked more relaxed. The light hurt it, then? Or was just uncomfortable? Hmmm. He needed to try and figure out flashbangs.

Edwin’s eyes grew wide as the assassin produced a crossbow from… somewhere, and began the process of loading it. Within ten seconds, it was already cocked and ready to fire. That was way faster than the pattern he’d counted out earlier! Was the hunter trying to bait him out before? Probably, come to think of it.

He dashed through the bushes, intentionally rattling some that he wasn’t near to try and confuse his assailant as crossbow bolts peppered his surroundings. He managed to remain mostly unharmed, save for some cuts that came from the bushes tearing at him. The bushes seemed to do a good job of foiling accurate shots.

If Edwin were to guess, maybe the assassin was used to underground fighting, and so wasn’t used to undergrowth? It would explain stuff like the stone and earth travel and the discomfort with light. That confirmed that he likely was sent by the dwarves, even if he wasn’t one himself. Edwin shuddered at the thought of having to deal with this assassin in enclosed spaces.

He really hoped Inion made it back soon. He could only stall so long, especially against someone actually good at their job, no matter how out of their element they were. The assassin seemed mostly unfazed by the explosion, barring some likely disorientation, and Edwin certainly didn’t have anything which could hit harder in his arsenal. His next option would be his knockout potion, but that had been knocked off the roof and lost to him for the time being.

So, time to just run around and hope that his accuracy didn’t improve? There had to be a better idea than that, and Edwin had a sudden realization about something that might help. He broke from the bushes near the garden and, taking a deep breath, dove into Inion’s pond.

It was freezing, naturally. It always was unless Inion specifically willed it otherwise, but Edwin couldn’t let that hold him up. He swam to near the bottom of the very, very deep pool and looked up. He could see a couple bolts floating at the top, and another slammed into the water as he watched, disturbing the surface and penetrating just a few feet under before its momentum was sapped and it floated to the surface.

Whew. He was safe down here, for a little while at least. He’d never tested exactly how long he could stay underwater before he’d drown, but so long as he wasn’t super active and just let Breathing slowly work its magic, he could last about twenty minutes. Hopefully, that would be more than enough for Inion to return. He gently wedged his foot in the crevasse of a rock to help him keep his position and looked up at his shadowy foe, who had arrived at the edge of the pond and was staring down at him through the crystal clear waters.

Edwin wasn’t sure why the small waterfall pouring into Inion’s pond didn’t disturb the surface, but he suspected fey shenanigans, especially as he didn’t remember it happening before she woke up. Still, in this instance, it was very useful as Edwin and his hunter stared at each other in silence. The assassin prodded the pond with his foot, then withdrew.

If Edwin was above water, he would have sighed in relief. He was safe. Inion was bound to make it here before he needed to go up for air.

An enormous splash broke Edwin out from his reverie. He looked up and released most of his breath in surprise. A massive boulder had broken the top of the pond and was now sinking like, well, a rock directly at him.

He hastily extracted his foot from the crevasse it was wedged in- oh come on, it wasn’t this hard last time- and darted out of the way just in time, joining the many fish displaced as the gigantic stone dropped through the water. Athletics was working overtime, and his lungs began to burn in protest at the sudden exertion, and even then he was still caught by the wake left by the stone, pulled in towards where it had just been while it settled to the bottom with a gentle crack.

There was another splash above Edwin. Then, another one. And a third. And a fourth. He looked up in panic, and saw four more stones- not as large as the first, thankfully, but still at least as big as he was- sinking towards him. Ah, shoot.

He needed to do something, and fast. His lungs cried in protest, but how was he supposed to get to and be at the surface safely with boulders being chucked at him? More stones kept raining into the pond, and it was only a matter of time until Edwin was hit.

Hmmm… He hadn’t tried it, but couldn’t Packing be of use here? Rock was something like 1 and a half times denser than water, so if he activated Packing on one of the stones falling towards him, given his current Packing level, it should then be… what, 1/20th of the weight of the water? It would practically function as a flotation device! He could ride it up to the surface, using it as a shield, and then hide under it while taking the occasional breath.

Plan in mind, Edwin pushed himself just a bit further to grab a slightly concave stone. He grabbed it, the rough surface of the rock hard on his hand, and… nothing. Edwin frowned, intentionally trying to get Packing to work. Nothing happened. What was going on?

The rock dragged Edwin down, and another stone crashed into his foot, making Edwin recoil. Why wasn’t Packing working? Wait, no. It was, it just… wasn’t doing anything?

He released the boulder before it could pull him further underwater, and another rock struck him in the back, driving out the last bit of breath from his lungs and threatening to crush him under it. He rolled out from under it before it could sink so deeply and frantically swam towards the surface. He’d take his chance with the boulders, he just needed air.

Edwin broke the surface of the pond with a gasp, and immediately dove back underwater, grabbing on a rock for weight, to avoid the rain of stone projectiles. Yeah, his attacker was absolutely geared for underground attacks if he could do this much with stone. There weren’t many rocks that big in the surrounding area, he must have been pulling them from the cliff face itself.

Edwin continued the cycle for a little while longer, ducking up to the surface to get air, hitching a ride on a rock down. Then, his hunter caught on and started mixing in crossbow bolts every once in a while, catching Edwin in the side before he started becoming more cautious. Where was his attacker, anyway? He wasn’t sure how long he could keep this up, not with a crossbow bolt sticking out of his gut and slowly bleeding him out.

The pond was flooding with every boulder thrown in, great splashes drenching the surrounding area and filling the stream to near-bursting. Was he just trying to fill up the entire pool? That…. Honestly, Edwin didn’t know if that would work. Inion would be peeved, though. Honestly, she would be regardless. The boulders had piled up significantly in the pool, and Edwin was almost considering trying to hide between them for shelter, but immediately dismissed that idea for being utterly idiotic. He’d never have time to make anything stable, and if it wasn’t perfect, the shifting rocks as more struck them would make the whole thing collapse.

Come on, where was Inion? She had to know to come when she heard the explosion. How long had it been, anyway? It had felt like hours, but ‘minutes’ was probably the better measure here. Each time he went up for air, he lasted less and less time. While twenty minutes might normally be his limit, this was far from normal. Panicked gulps with highly injured lungs interspersed with playing dodgerock and avoiding being shot at barely got him a minute at a time, if that, and when a rock actually did connect, it tended to knock any remaining air from his lungs.

After what felt like an eternity, salvation arrived.

“Hey!” a voice boomed from the top of the cliff, melodic and terrifying, “Stop throwing rocks at my human!”

The sound echoed through the water, and Edwin looked on with hope, hesitantly climbing onto the shore in utter, pained exhaustion.

“Break it up! Now!” She sounded like she was scolding a kid, or maybe a dog. Honestly, might not be the worst comparison.

The waterfall cut off suddenly, and a low rumble filled the area. A second later, Edwin’s attacker was blown out of the cliffside, a pressurized blast of water carving a hole in the solid rock and breaking against Obairlann. His hunter, devoid of its shadowy occultations, slumped to the ground.

Then Inion crested the cliff, appearing to ride a wave of water to her pond. She floated over to where Edwin lay, a broken and bloody mess, “Are you okay? I’m sorry I took so long.” Her voice was… unusually caring. She seemed like she might almost actually care about him personally, rather than just contractually.

Edwin managed a weak smile, “I’ve…” he coughed, blood and water coming up from his lungs, and his side and entire body a mess of cuts, scrapes, bruises, and crossbow bolt, “I’ve been better.”

“It’s all gonna be okay, m‘kay Edwin? I’m here now.” She cupped her hand around Edwin’s head and gave him a smile, then turned back to a somewhat-recovered assassin who was trying to stand up and flee.

“And just where do you think you’re going, you little insect? Uh-uh. You stay here.” Inion snapped, and vines burst from the ground, ensnaring the hunter until Inion was able to reach them. Then, they retreated.

Before Edwin’s former attacker could make a break for it, though, Inion reached out and grabbed them by the heel, her grip supported by a tendril of water, lifting them into the air and assessing them like a particularly interesting piece of meat.

“Eck. Honestly, people like you are why there’s such a stereotype about bugbears. Like seriously, Terror of the Depths?Haunting Nightmare? Abyssal Predator? What sort of person takes Paths like that? What do you have to do to get Paths like that? Someone seriously messed you up at some point.”

The hunter- bugbear, apparently- growled something which Polyglot began to translate, but Inion interrupted, returning the speech to snarling, “None of that, thank you very much. The children are listening.”

Edwin… felt like he should be offended by that description, but he was in too much pain to really care.

“Now, what to do with you, though? Hmmm…” Inion paused for dramatic effect, “Ah yes, I know.”

She hefted the hulking figure like it weighed nothing, and slammedhimt into the side of Obairlann. Edwin could hear something crack from where he was, and the yowl of pain which accompanied it almost hurt his ears. Or maybe that was just his head in general, and sympathetic wince.

Inion wasn’t satisfied, though, and brutally slammed the bugbear into the ground a couple more times, then threw it bodily against the cliff. The hunter jumped at its chance and tried to dive into the stone. He was halfway into the rock when Inion suddenly arrived next to it, and a tendril of water wrapped itself around his ankle and yanked him out of the stone, “I told you. I will have none of that.”

He didn’t come alone, and rocks ripped from the cliff seemed half-merged with the bugbear, now a bloody mess even beyond Edwin’s current state. It was missing half its forearm, only a splintered stump remaining of what was once its left hand.

Edwin couldn’t help but wince as Inion refused to let up on her savage beating, and the intermittent screams were the only thing which let Edwin know that he was still, somehow, alive.

“This isn’t what you wanted? THIS IS WHAT YOU EARNED.”Inion screamed at the hunter, her appearance shifting somewhat, becoming lankier, more distended, and hands slowly elongating into claws “THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.”

“Inion!” Edwin called out, and she dropped the broken attacker in a heap, immediately reappearing next to Edwin.

“Yes, Edwin?” The tonal shift was… immense, and sudden. Same with her appearance. She looked no different from how she normally did.

“Just… stop.” Edwin slumped in his plea, “I can’t watch this. Put him out of his misery, or let him go, or… something. But I can’t see you doing that to someone anymore.”

“He would have killed you. Brutally. Painfully, if possible. Dragging your final moments out into hours, ensuring you were a broken, nervous wreck begging for death.”

“I… I know. But please. I… don’t want to return the favor,” she looked unconvinced, so Edwin pulled out what he hoped would work, “And I need your help besides. I can’t move… hardly anything.”

She seemed torn between her conflicting urges, before settling on one and giving a curt nod and a sigh, “Fine. For you.”

The bugbear hadn’t moved from where Inion had dropped him as she reappeared, picking him back up, this time by his splintered arm, “You hear that? You get off easily. This time.”

With that, she wound back, enshrouded the hunter with water, and threw the assassin as hard as she could. The bugbear seemed to rouse slightly at the water’s touch, and as he arced through the air, a trick of the light almost made it look like the creature’s shadow cloak was re-manifesting.

Edwin took a deep, rattling breath and leaned into Inion’s embrace as she picked him up and carried him inside Obairlann.

“I really need to stop getting myself injured so much,” he muttered as Inion gently laid him down on his ‘recovery’ mat, “Maybe we scale down training a bit?” he tried to joke, but his heart wasn’t into it.

“Ya,” Inion carefully caressed his face, “Maybe a bit. Now sleep, Edwin. I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

“Good luck.” He mumbled, and his friend smiled.

“Sleep, Edwin. You need your rest.”

Edwin sighed, and with a tug of his Skills, let darkness envelop him.