"GIVE ME MY ELT!", Wilmarina screamed as the flashbang went off behind me and I began sprinting through the balcony turned hallway to the north. I didn't bother to look back since I couldn't afford to. I knew that some of them, most likely Wilmarina, would be giving immediate chase once the flashbang wore off, which was only a matter of time. My only goal was the royal dressing room a little further up ahead. My compass registered it as around 70 meters away.
"Okay, I should be able to make it in time before they recover and reach me.", I said to myself in a low tone. Elt bounced limply over my shoulder as we bound down the unbelievably long halls. Seriously, how big is this place? After a few twists and turns, I could hear something gaining on me from behind at an alarming rate. It didn't matter, though, as I had reached my destination.
I grabbed the handle to the dressing room and yanked the door open violently, dashing in and slamming it shut, not bothering to try and play it stealthy. This bitch was able to fucking SMELL Elt, I'm not taking a chance of losing precious time sneaking when it won't even work. I suppose I might be able to kill Wilmarina and whoever else is chasing me, but if Druella is with them, I'm fucked. The only thing worse than a Legendary Deathclaw is a Legendary Deathclaw surrounded by regular Deathclaws. Well, I suppose there ARE other worse things than a Legendary Deathclaw, but that's beside the point.
Once the door was slammed shut behind me, I grabbed a nearby wardrobe and pulled it onto it's side with [Strength 8] in front of the door. It was heavy, and should help keep them out long enough for me to find the escape tunnel. Looking around, I immediately found the wardrobe the compass was pointing to: a single, large wardrobe at the back of the room that Elt mentioned. Running up to it, I opened it to find...a standard wooden panel. Right, it wouldn't be secret if it was so easy to access. I began to look for some sort of lever or button that might make it open, but was interrupted by banging on the door I came from.
"Shit, no time…", I muttered as the banging became more and more frantic. Materializing my Combat Shotgun, I held it in my dominant hand as I held onto Elt with my other. With a shaky aim, I fired the shotgun from the hip causing pellets to completely shred the wooden panel, revealing the hidden passage. It also really hurt my hand.
I digitized the shotgun and jumped through the wardrobe into the dark passage, but before continuing, I decided to try and slow them down a bit. First, I closed the wardrobe doors to hopefully force them to search a bit. Next, I placed down a Frag Mine on the inside of the wardrobe between the room and the passage. That way, when someone opened up the wardrobe, the proximity sensors would go off.
With that, I flipped on my nightvision and began running down the dark tunnels.
I eventually made it out of the tunnels and to a hidden alcove on the northern side of the city's wall. As I exited the tunnel, I heard a faint explosion behind me. I suppose they found the present I left them. Maybe I should give them another. I went ahead and set down another Frag Mine at the exit of the tunnel, but hid it under a few leaves and bits of shredded grass with [Explosives 100]. Good thing about these mines was that not only would they slow down and maim my pursuers, they also serve as good noise indicators about where exactly my pursuers are along the trail. After that, my Pip-Boy beeped signifying the completion of the quests "The Coming Storm" and "The Only Way Out Is In". Afterwards, it beeped again signifying that a new quest was added.
You Can Run...
}Find the Lescatie Leopard's Paw
With that, I pushed my way out of the bushes hiding this secret tunnel and into a field full of grassy hills. At least, they looked grassy. Nightvision isn't perfect, what do you want from me? Looking around, I also noticed the place the Paw's and I were supposed to rendezvous. All that was left of there presence, though, was what looked like faint tracks in the ground made by a wagon.
"Great, those fuckers made off with my transportation as well…", I muttered in frustration as I began to move north and a bit to the west with a purpose. From what I remember, their map had a small farm marked in this direction. With my luck, there will be a horse or something similar for me to steal and use to get out of here. Looking up, I could see a few flying monsters coming to and fro, but none of them seemed to notice me, even after I had moved around 150 meters away from the city walls. If I'm careful, I should be able to avoid detection by-
"Well, well, it seems my hunch was correct.", I heard a familiar voice call out."And that smell...all but confirms it." She was familiar, but different somehow. Turning to see who it was, I was unfortunately not surprised at who I saw. Standing about 30 meters away was a now monsterized Sasha Fullmoon flanked on either side by Elora and that one other knight monster I never got a name for. Surprisingly, Anastasia and Ender were completely absent, even upon doing a complete IF sweep.
"Sasha. Just couldn't fucking help yourself, huh?", I asked her in a clear tone before continuing."Sorry, but I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I don't have time to deal with your bullshit right now, so if you would kindly fuck off, that would be great."
"My, such crude vocabulary, I simply don't understand what it is Anastasia sees in you.", she shook her head before continuing."Regardless, I'm afraid I can't let you do that. You have something of mine, you see, and I won't let you take him from me."
"Not to mention your crimes against the Demon Lord!", the knight girl yelled while raising her sword at me."For your transgressions, you will face subjugation the likes of which have never been seen before!"
"Sorry not going to happen.", I responded,"Besides, you're the one who asked me to do this, Sasha, or are you so stupid that you have forgotten?"
"Yes, I do remember.", she said before adding,"You must understand, Six, I made stupid decisions and requests as a human. I was not thinking clearly, so I now ask that you disregard my request, drop my Elt and come quietly."
"Yet you forget that I'm not doing this for you.", I retorted,"In fact, I don't even like you. You are also conveniently forgetting what you asked me to do in case you tried something like this." As I said that, I materialized my .44 Magnum Revolver in my duster.
"I see...so in the end, it always comes down to violence with you…", she sighed as the girls next to her readied their swords. In a quick flash of light, Sasha reached into two glowing, runic circles that appeared from thin air and pulled out a longsword and an ornate staff, holding one in each hand."Then we have no choice. In the name of the Demon Lord's Fourth Born, Druella, we will bring you to your knees, Six."
"That's cute, seeing as how I've already won.", I responded before adding."Let's get this over with." As I finished that, I opened VATS and zoomed in on their confused faces. Aiming at all their faces, in order of Sasha, Knight, and Elora, I whipped out my Revolver and fired three .44 Magnum rounds. Sasha was able to react slightly on time, attempting a shoddy deflection with her sword. Unfortunately, while she kept it from hitting her head, it instead glanced off of her sword and went into her unprotected right leg, tearing a massive hole into it and making her drop to the ground screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Hu-", the knight girl was cut off as she stared dumbly at me. Next thing she knew, the round had passed cleanly through her forehead and she was dead. Interestingly enough, her head also went flying off of her shoulders when shot, which made me a little confused. Elora was different, however. Being the last one to be shot at, and having prior experience with my weapons, she was able to evade in time and rush me, closing the distance very quickly. Quickly sidestepping her, I switched out my Revolver for the Shishkebab Mk. II, a one-sided broadsword with a fuel line running along the base and connecting to a fuel pack on my back, allowing the sword to be coated in flames. I also dropped Elt onto the ground, but kept myself in between her and Elt so that she couldn't grab him and run. After deflecting a few strikes with my new weapon, we locked swords and stared each other down.
"This time will be different!", Elora said through gritted teeth."This time, I'll bring you down for my Lady!"
"Oh, this time will be different alright.", I responded,"Different in that I won't be sparing your life again!" With that, we broke from the stalemate and began slashing at each other, each one deflecting the other. My [Melee Weapons 100] helps, but this girl has likely been trained using only the sword, not to mention her superior reflexes. I'm having to activate my [Kinetic Accelerator Implants] just to keep up with her. I need to get this battle back in my favor before I run out of energy.
Keeping up with her, I materialized A Light Shining In Darkness behind my back and waited for an opening. Once she gave one, I aimed at her and fired at her. I didn't have enough AP to use VATS, so I had to rely on hip fire which, with [Guns 100], wasn't an issue. I didn't hit her in the head, but I did get her in the shoulder causing her to grunt in pain and flinch back, but not drop her sword. I began to clash blades with her again, but she was noticeably slower and weaker now, likely due to the pain. She was still able to keep up with me, though, which was surprising.
I decided to try a feint maneuver that would hopefully end the fight. I first baited her to come in for an overhead slash. Once she did, I pretended like I was going to meet her strike with my own sword, but instead I digitized my sword and brought the hand that was holding it into her gut as a fist. Before she could double over, though, I stepped behind her and grabbed onto her ponytail, causing her to yelp. With it, I was able to wrench her head backwards and over my waiting handgun barrel. There was nothing she could do as I pulled the trigger and fired a .45 ACP round through the back of her head and out the front in a gory display that completely wrecked most of her face and caked my Elite Riot Gear Helmet in her brains. Like that, I dropped Elora to the ground in a dead heap.
Before I could do anything else, I heard an explosion go off where I came from. Shit, my second mine, which means my pursuers have exited the tunnels. Digitizing A Light Shining In Darkness, I picked up Elt and began to run towards the farm again, completely ignoring the whimpering Sasha still lying on the ground.
I managed to make it to the farm on time while dodging and shooting a couple flying monsters here and there. Looking around, it looked like the farm had been deserted. Things were left on the ground and the door the farmer's abode was wide open. Doing a quick sweep with my IF vision, I saw that there was nothing here besides a few pings inside the barn. Running over to it, I wrenched the barn door open with [Strength 8] to find a couple cows and a single, brown and white horse that was drinking from an almost empty metal bowl of water.
Slowly approaching the horse as to not scare it, I examined it to see it was in good health and was already saddled up and ready to go. There was even a couple bags hanging from the sides of the horse with various necessities in them. It's almost as if the owner of this farm was planning on leaving very soon. Oh well, his loss is our gain. Throwing Elt over the back of the saddle and tying him down securely, I mounted the horse with only a bit of whining on the horses part. After a bit of calming, I grabbed onto the reins and slid my feet into the stirrups before lightly whipping the reins and making the horse trot forward and out of the barn.
Once out of the barn, I could faintly hear murmurs coming from back south. Knowing it was likely my pursuers, I went ahead and made the horse begin to cantor and then gallop away from the farm to the north. I wasn't too far from the north roads, so all I had to do was reach the road and follow it northwest a ways until I reach the town Bartsville just before crossing the border. That's where those bastards from before are supposed to be going, so if I hurry, I should be able to catch them. They are in wagons, so they should be moving at a much slower pace.
Checking behind me as we galloped, I made sure that we weren't being followed by anyone or anything. After not seeing anything giving chase with my nightvision, I turned back to face where we were headed. While I normally wouldn't like traveling in an open field like this, being on horseback really helps. I'm really just glad I'm not going to get into any risky engagements on horseback. If I did, I might end up scaring my mount with my guns, and that's the last thing I want.
I highly doubt they'll just let me go free, though. With all the death and destruction I caused, not to mention getting Elt out of there, I'm likely going to have hunting parties sent after me. I quickly took a peek at my Pip-Boy and flipped over to the reputation tab to see if it changed thanks to my escape.
The Demon Realms: Merciful Thug. Despite your reputation as a thug, you are known to occasionally show a charitable side.
Regardless, I was at least able to escape Lescatie with Elt. All that's left now is to find the Paws, have a "talk" with them, and get the kids somewhere safe. I'll likely leave Elt with the kids as he knows them and will likely be the best choice for helping care for them, then I'll move on to my next objective.
As I thought about that, I wondered just where I would go. I would, first and foremost, need more information on magic in this world as that's my only potential way out of here and back to my own dimension. I have no equipment or anything of the sort to make those modifications to the device conventionally, so that's my only option. The only question is where?
Magicor seems the obvious choice. It's the capital of Fenrim further north and is said to be the magic capital of the world, as the name would imply. Only problem is the distance and the fact that they are not too welcoming of outsiders. More specifically, humans. It's said to be a demi-human paradise free from any sort of prejudice, and only humans extremely gifted in the magical arts are allowed entry. Still, it's better than nothing. If I need to, I could always try and sneak my way in like I did with Lescatie.
And hey, who knows. Even if I don't learn anything new about how to get home there, I'm willing to bet their libraries are much fuller and clear of bias then the ones in an Order controlled nation like Lescatie. With that thought, the horse bound across the plains until finally reaching a road. Once there, I began to gallop down the road as the moon began to head towards the horizon.
"Hmmm?", I heard a hum as Elt stirred behind me, trying to move."Hey...Why can't I move?"
"About time you woke up.", I said as I steered the horse. We had downgraded to a canter as the horse was starting to get rather tired, but we were still making good time."We're long out of the city, you can relax now."
However, Elt didn't relax. The second he heard me say that, he tried to shoot up, going against the bindings that kept his body in place. The sudden movement and thrashing startled the horse, causing it to rear up and stop with a loud whine.
"Elt! What the Hell are you doing!?", I yelled as he continued to struggle. Eventually, he got himself free of his bindings and fell off the horse. Standing up, he ran to look around at his surroundings. The sun had just crested over the horizon, and yet Lescatie was so far away it was now obscured by some hills and forests.
"Take me back!", Elt yelled as he turned to me, drawing his sword in the process."Take me back to the castle! I have to save my friends!" I went ahead and dismounted the horse, patting it to ease it's nerves thanks to this dumbass yelling.
"Elt, that's not gonna happen.", I said calmly to him.
"Why not!?", he asked in response.
"Because they've already been turned.", I told him, causing his eyes to widen."You saw it yourself, Elt, don't try to deny it. They are monsters now, and nothing you do will change that."
"No...you're wrong…", he began to shake, gripping his sword so tightly his knuckles began to turn white. He was also seemingly shaken by my appearance."You...you're covered in blood. You didn't…"
"No, I didn't kill your friends.", I answered with a sigh."But we aren't safe, Elt. They will be sending hunting parties to look for us, and I don't have to tell you what will happen if we're caught." In response to that, his shaking got even worse and he dropped his sword, bringing both hands to his head and beginning to weep.
"I…I don't understand why this is happening to me…", he cried out loud,"What did I do wrong, God?" Jesus, what a crybaby. I rolled my eyes behind my Gas Mask as I went to console him.
"...Look, Elt, this is what happens in war.", I explained."It's not virtuous, it's not heroic, and it sure as shit isn't pretty. In war, you lose people. That's just how it is, and I bet all your friends signed up knowing this might happen. Now, you can either move on and keep moving forward, or you can dwell on it and end up losing yourself."
"But...but I can't just move on…", he responded,"I want to see them again...I want to go back to how things were!"
"That's impossible, Elt.", I told him firmly as I grabbed his shoulders."Unless you want to be violated by the friends you hold oh-so dear, you're gonna have to suck it up and come to terms with the past. It doesn't have to be instant, but understand where you need to be is not here." With that, he began to nod.
"Y-yeah, you're right. Thanks, Six.", he choked out as he wiped away some tears and snot and picked up his sword. Honestly, I'm not really sure how what I did worked, but hey, if it shuts the crybaby up, I'm not complaining."We can't stay here, do you have a destination in mind?"
"Yeah, remember those fuckwits I told you about earlier?", I asked.
"The kidnappers? I believe you called them asswipes, though.", he responded with a short laugh.
"Tomato, tomahto, my point is they were heading to Bartsville to resupply before venturing into Fenrim to meet with the rest of their group.", I responded before explaining the plan."We're gonna get to them before that happens and get the kids back."
"I suppose that's a solid plan, but what about the hunting parties you mentioned?", he asked.
"I'm only guessing that they'll be sending some after us, but as long as we move fast and don't linger in any one place too long, they should have a hard time tracking us.", I responded as I cut loose Elt's restraints and hopped back into the saddle."Now hop on, we've got no time to lose."
"R-right.", Elt said as he sheathed his sword and hopped onto the horse behind me and held onto the saddle. With that, I set the horse to begin cantering again and we began to make our way along the road again towards our next destination. Next stop, Bartsville. Although, something doesn't feel right. It's almost as if that was a little...too easy of an escape. I don't know why, but I get the feeling we're not out of the woods just yet.