Hollow Henry

Is it alright to say you need more food because you're doing the walking for 6 people?

Henry wondered that among other things as they trudged through thick mud in the rain. They had steered their path onto what Lee called ‘the old road’, and it was living up to its namesake. It didn't look like anybody had been along the road in a long time. It was hard to see where the road was for most of it. The forest and swamps had taken over the path and claimed it for themselves. It would have been impossible for the full troop to take the old road with everything they had with them. The advantage to the overgrown path however, was the amount of time it cut off their journey. If anybody still followed them, it'd also make them a lot harder to track.

Where they were at that moment was anyone's guess. It was a hell scape of grey stone pillars and thick brown mud. There hadn't been a tree in sight for a good 2 hours. Canyon walls loomed either side of them, reaching nearly half a kilometre into the sky. The rain was coming straight down, giving Henry and the current crew of walkers no reprieve from the icy cold water. It was nearly time to switch out guards. Lee was coming out for the next shift, since they needed her spells to cross a gap where a bridge used to be.

It turned out that the princess had a knack for runecraft. He knew about her grimoire full of useful spells, but he was surprised to learn she'd written most of them herself. She never struck him as much of a mage. She was taking most of the walking shifts to spare the guards the displeasure, but she'd been shut in to work on a spell for the past 2 shifts. That gave Henry a peaceful 16 hour span without being insulted once. Once he found the broken stone bridge, he sighed and started the shift change. Hamish and Andy stayed behind to reduce the cost.

The warm air hit him like a hug. He almost wanted to curl up and go to sleep right there. With a flex of his will, he absorbed the water on his skin and clothes into his essence. It was a handy trick that left him feeling fresh and clean every time. Sooner or later he would figure out how to take the dirt and grime away too. For now he didn't want to risk ripping off his own skin though. The guards would have to dry off in front of the fire unfortunately. He considered trying to dry them in the same way, it just wasn't worth the risk. People were already apprehensive to be in his Temple to begin with. They were only just starting to settle after all.

The next group of guards were ready and waiting with Andy's boat. Lee stood with them, holding her grimoire and crystal. They had a wooden platform with them that was painted with large glyphs on either side. The glyphs looked rather simple, being only a triangle with a vertical line through it. He wondered what it would be able to do, considering every other glyph he'd seen was a lot more elaborate.

“You look like a bunch of drowned rats,” she offered cheerfully.

“It's like having a really long shower, just without any of the comfort,” Henry laughed. “I hope it lets up soon, or I'm calling it a day.”

“You poor thing,” she mocked. “I can have one of the guards make you an umbrella if you like.”

“Umbrellas are for the weak,” he said with a hand wave. “And Rhianna,” he added as an afterthought.

She just rolled her eyes. She was used to his strange jokes by that point. “Suit yourself. I think we should call it a day after the next shift though. The men could use a longer rest.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Are the men getting tired in their 8 hour shifts? I'm sorry, I'll try to be more sympathetic,” he said sarcastically.

“My mistake. The boys are getting tired and cranky too,” she jabbed.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I appreciate the recognition, even if you are a dick.”

“I'd appreciate it if we could get this cart on the road,” she declared. “I want to get back to Therven by the end of the week.”

“Anything you say, princess,” he complained, before twisting them back to The Hollows.

Thunder cracked above them just as they arrived, as if to emphasis the misery of the environment. The downpour had intensified in the few minutes he was gone. It was like stepping directly into the bottom of a lake. He was surprised they had room to breathe between the heavy drops. Hamish and Andy sat huddled beneath a wooden platform of their own. Their shelter was a wall that Hamish had built in Henhole. Henry retrieved the wall for them before he left to switch out the guards, but it didn't look like it was doing much.

All 6 of them crammed into the tiny vessel as best as they could manage. The Therveinian guard didn't seem to believe in light armour at all. The boat dipped at the rear where the guards sat. Lee stood at the front with her new spell at the ready. She had written a spell that allowed her to control the wooden platform like a shield. Wherever she aimed her crystal, the platform would follow. It was fortified to a significant degree by the spell as well. She had made vague mentions of a threat at the crossing, he just didn't know what kind of threat that might be. Seeing the shield had him nervous. He still didn't know what would happen if he entered his Temple while he was in a boat either, so his quick escape would be a risky move. He didn't want to find out the hard way if the boat would leave him behind or not. He no longer had his slow fall enchantment, since the other player had destroyed his armour. If he came back to the world in the middle of the sky, it would make for a painfully repetitive death experience.

The boat crossed the threshold, and the crevasse below threatened them with a seemingly endless fall. Nobody was concerned about the boat tipping or failing on its own. The concern came from whatever had the princess and her guards holding their breath. They could barely see through the thick rain. Henry suggested throwing some balls of light into the haze to make it easier to see, but he was just told to keep his voice down in response.

“What's got everyone so worked up?” He whispered to Tillie.

“Stoners,” she whispered back ominously.

That caught Hamish and Andy's attention too, and the three players shared a knowing smirk with each other.

“I don't know if stoners are anything to be worried about,” Henry whispered back, trying not to laugh.

“For you maybe,” she said, looking over the edge. “Tell that to the last crew that tried to cross through here.”

“Were they conservatives?” He asked, earning a snicker from Andy.

“They were guards and merchants,” she said, ignoring whatever his joke was. “The stoners gathered under the bridge in a place nobody could see them. The first sign was the bubbles, and then came the smoke. Before they knew it, they were coughing and choking with desperate red eyes. Within minutes of stepping onto the bridge, they couldn't even move.”

She was interrupted by Hamish bursting into laughter. “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,” he said, wheezing. “That sounds like a tragedy, truly.” He was trying desperately to bring in his outburst.

“Shut up! You fucking morons,” Lee hissed, not bothering to face them completely.

They followed her instructions, and for a minute it was silent. But soon enough, Henry started to hear something through the rain with his high perception. It was hard to tell what it was at first, so he activated Hyper Focus. Immediately he was able to separate and identify the different sounds. He suddenly felt a lot less funny when he heard the bubbling coming from above all around. It sounded like a slow boiling and thick stew. Sniffing the air, he took in the acrid scent of sulphur and iron. He really wished it was actually stew. He looked around the boat to see that nobody else had noticed. He was about to alert the crew when a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. There was a smoking stone shooting directly towards them. It wasn’t moving very fast, but it was definitely going to hit them. Hamish and Andy started to react too, but they were moving too slow. Without much other recourse, he activated Hyper State and summoned his wand into his hand.

A ball of screeching force collided with the stone projectile, exploding it into a cloud of black smoke. The rest of the crew was drawn to action as soon as they heard the sound of Henry's spell. Andy pulled the ship away from the smoke, bringing them into the path of oncoming boulders. They all held on as he rolled the craft onto its side for a quick change of course, narrowly avoiding a stone pillar. Henry couldn't believe his eyes when he noticed the tiny men swinging down from the same pillars. They lobbed much smaller smoking stones, and Lee had to bat them away with her shield. Henry was too busy firing screeching balls of hate at the incoming boulders to notice the man that leaped from a pillar towards their boat. The thud of his tiny pickaxe puncturing through the side caught everyone's attention. Hamish pulled him up and tossed him overboard in the next moment. Henry got a good look at the man as he flew by his head. He was only about 3 or 4 feet tall, and his hands and face were as black as tar. He wore rough linen pants, a gas mask, a small satchel with stones falling out, and a tight fitting backpack. Other than that, he was entirely exposed to the elements. The little dude actually flipped Henry the middle finger on his way past.

Andy sent the boat into a dive, and Lee forced her shield to flip over itself at an intense speed. The wind it generated was enough to push the heavy black smoke out of their way. It was a fruitless endeavour though, since one of the swinging stoners managed to lob a smoking stone into their boat. One of the guards picked it up right away and tried to throw it over the edge, but it exploded in his hand. His agonised scream quickly became a cough when the cloud of smoke from the grenade swallowed the ship. Everyone started coughing, including the players. It stung Henry's throat like a swarm of fire ants, and he could feel himself getting dizzy.

ALERT:

Your Stamina is below 50%! You might pass out soon.

His head spun. If his Stamina was that low, the others would really be struggling. The thought brought his attention back to the crew.

Hamish was the only one still conscious. Lee had fallen back into the empty place left by one of the guards. The man that picked up the grenade was missing. The boat jolted when it hit another pillar, sending it into a slow spin while it descended. Hamish grabbed Andy and held on tight. They were going down in the smoke and rain, and there was no way of telling what waited for them at the bottom. Henry grabbed Lee and Tillie and tried to press the three of them into the bottom of the boat. His mind was desperately searching for an answer, but he couldn't think straight. His eyes were blurry and he struggled for breath.

“Take him!” Hamish screamed between coughs, pushing Andy's limp body towards Henry.

Henry was confused. He reached up to grab his friend, and his senses started to come back to him.

He didn't want to risk going into his Temple, but that didn't mean other people couldn't. He sent the 3 unconscious crew members into his Temple, feeling a sense of relief. His skills were still active, so he used the extra time to think. He held his hand out to Hamish, but the big man shook his head. It was the two of them against whatever was ahead once again. Henry tried to take the smoke around them into his Temple, but it was too thick to clear quickly. Switching tactics, he summoned the air itself from his Temple. It worked immediately, and he gulped in a breath of fresh air. His essence was draining rapidly from his new trick, since he kept a constant flow of air pouring out around his entire body. He focused on only summoning the air to only appear around his head, and the essence loss settled to a much more gentle depletion. He did the same around one hand, and held it out to Hamish. The big man gulped at the fresh air, fighting off his own fatigue. The boat ripped into a wild spin with the collision of a flying boulder at the stern. They held on with all of their strength until it collided with its final pillar. The wood exploded into splinters and debris, with both players scattered in different directions.

Henry hit the gravel floor, still spinning out of control. He was moving with enough speed to bounce a few times. When he came to a stop, he was sure he'd broken something in his shoulder. He groaned, and pulled himself to his feet. The smoke was heavy on the ground, mixing with the rain and mist. He could hear the sounds of crunching footsteps on the gravel around him, but even with his high perception he had no way of seeing where they were coming from. Whatever he'd breathed in with the smoke had him disoriented. His body felt relaxed and unresponsive, and his thoughts trailed off as fast as they came.

The same bubbling sound he'd noticed earlier join the roar of the rainfall. He searched the area desperately to see where it was coming from, but noticed its origin a moment too late. A popping sound rang out accompanied by an orange flash of light. He dived out of the way as a smoking boulder bounced past. It clipped his ankle and sent him into another spin. When his belly hit the rocks, he wanted nothing more than to twist into his Temple. Hamish was still out there somewhere in the haze though, and he wasn't leaving him behind.

He pulled himself back to his feet, and summoned his new enchanted blade. He knew exactly how well that thing could cut from first hand experience. He chuckled to himself. He was about to spend the afternoon chopping up surrounded by stoners.