Holowin special - Act II - Following The Stars – Started!
Once certain they had all the equipment they might need for their expedition, Lisa and Eula headed to Good Hunter to get provisions for their adventure. Sara, the owner and main cook of that small restaurant, greeted her two customers with a wide smile... and with a relatively big bag. That bag was containing a few meals for the trip consisting mostly of snacks and foods easy to carry while on the road, and judging by the weight of the bag, they wouldn't get hungry for sure during their expedition. Lisa and Eula asked Sara how she knew they were heading out and how much they owed her, questions to which they saw Sara point towards a young man leaning against the wall a few meters from the restaurant. As soon as they turned their heads, they noticed Kaeya who nodded towards them and blinked, with the eye under his eye patch unfortunately, and wished them a safe trip; showing them he was watching their backs. Both ladies waved at him and headed outside the city, ready for the long walk ahead of them. They passed the guards at the gate, crossed the bridge where Timmie asked them if they could share some food to feed the ducks, request they stopped a short moment to answer with a few bread crumbs they happened to have in their baggage, and finally departed the city to embark on their mission.
The first stop along the road arrived fast, a small village named Springvale. As soon as they set foot inside the town, they saw Diona waving at them and questioning them with high interest: "Good morning! Are you heading out to investigate the constellation? Is Mona going with you?
-Good morning sweetheart, answered Lisa calmly. We heard about your involvement in last night's observations. We were tasked by Jean to head to the location pinpointed by Mona following your astrology session.
-I'm so excited! It's my first experience observing the stars and it was amazing. May I be of any help? I know! You should have those drinks and that frost potion I prepared yesterday, I know they will come in handy!
-Thank you, sweetie, replied Lisa. Can you do one more thing for us tonight? Can you check on Mona and assist her if she needs help?
-Yes! You can count on me! Travel safe! waved Diona to send the expedition party off to a successful adventure."
The path leading to the Dawn Winery passed in a heartbeat for the two travelling ladies who stopped at Master Diluc's small mansion for their first meal of the trip. As expected, the owner of the place greeted them with his usual absence of smile, but showed genuine surprise when he saw Lisa accompanying Eula. As it had been the case since the beginning of the expedition, the investigation team shared the story with their host who added a few ideas of his own, including interesting observations of higher than usual hilichurl activity further towards Liyue, around the location where Lisa and Eula were heading. Even though he always avoided direct interaction with the Knights of Favonius due to past events not to be mentioned here, he still always made the extra effort to support people sharing the same objectives he did. Sharing information was, to him, his way of contributing to the expedition even though he couldn't join himself due to his obligations at the winery. Furthermore, he offered the meal as well as a bottle of his finest wine on the house. He wished a safe expedition to his friends and sent them on their way with a comment about hilichurls again, making sure they were aware of their likely presence further down the road.
Now with a full stomach, a bottle of fine wine, new intel to guide their investigation and a boost from their friends' support, both ladies walked with energy while discussing the potential correlations between the presence of the hilichurls, and potentially representatives of the abyss, and Mona's observations. Even though they couldn't get to any certainty, they got so focused on theories and speculations that they covered the remaining distance before they actually knew it... and were actually taken out of their conversation by a familiar but unexpected voice : "Eula! It's been some time since we met! Oh, hello there Lisa! What is bringing you two here?
-Xiangling, nice meeting you here. Are you looking for ingredients to serve in elaborating new recipes? guessed Lisa.
-I have a feeling we are all converging here following the same objective, intervened Chongyun looking around expecting some other presence. Have you been sent here to investigate?
-That affirmation is correct, confirmed Eula. Is it also the reason of your presence here?
-It is, acquiesced the young man. Considering we are two small groups, how about we join forces and share our knowledge?"
Chongyun's question remained unanswered as Guoba suddenly started breathing fire behind Eula, immediately drawing everyone's attention. In the midst of the burning breath, a round-ish shape seemed to be forming slowly, indicating the presence of an intruder. After he identified and attacked the dendro slime waiting in ambush after moving just behind Eula, the adorable fire-breathing former god moved a few steps away to allow the newly formed team to dispatch the identified menace. Xiangling, thanks to her bond with her friend, took out her spear and charged the enemy right away, landing a few accurate slices in barely two seconds before Lisa took the relay and sent the poor slime flying with an accurate lightning discharge. The attack caused a small explosion, finishing the slime right away before a real fight could even start. Eula, who didn't have the time to engage in the battle, turned towards Guoba and said : "Thank you for breaking this slime's cover, it saved us some trouble for sure...
- Wing! energetically answered Guoba.
- Don't forget I'll have my vengeance! replied Eula, causing Lisa to burst out laughing.
- Vengeance? repeated Chongyun in a confused voice.
- There's nothing to feel threatened about, continued Lisa. It's Eula's way of thanking people who help her. You'll get used to it."
Just as those last words were coming out of her mouth, Lisa pointed towards a small hill to the north and took her catalyst out of its storage again. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, a group of around ten humanoid earth slimes were slowly approaching the adventuring party. Two more of those slimes, a bit bigger than the others, came out of the ground and turned slowly being their advance towards their targets. This time, Chongyun was the first to charge in, brandishing his greatsword in a way similar to a baseball player would his bat, and slammed it against the first slime that flew a few meters before decomposing into magical energy. Xiangling followed close behind and rapidly took care of a second slime with a few swings before turning towards the next one and preparing her next attack. Eula, who was a bit further back, gave a quick glance towards Lisa who was busy preparing her spell and decided to stay close to her to protect in case other enemies joined in the fight from the other side. Hits were happily and energetically distributed by members of the small exploration party until only the two biggest slimes were left. However, unlike their smaller counterparts, the bigger humanoid slimed proved to be more trouble. They were showing interesting movement capacities and some decent reflexes to dodge hits aiming at them.
Suddenly, Lisa paused her casting for a brief moment, turned to look behind her and decided to interrupt her casting completely. In front of her was literally a small hilichurl army slowly advancing towards her and her friends. Those hilichurl, even though not carrying any special weapon of any sort, had something unusual about them. They seemed surprisingly focused on the adventuring party and to have the clear intention of making their life miserable. A single abyss mage was levitating a few meters behind the troops under its command and raised its hand to give new instructions to the hilichurl army. The hilichurls stopped abruptly and stared at the explorers as if you provoke them, an eerie glow faintly visible deep in their eyes which was more visible thanks for the natural light slowly fading away as the sun was saying its daily goodbye to the world before entering its daily sleep. They then resumed their walk at a faster pace at the exact moment where the two larger humanoid slimes finally fell under the repeated assaults of Xiangling and Chongyun. A few moments later, once the slimes were totally dispersed, a larger rock structure erupted from the ground a few meters away from the adventuring party, with a door on one side. As Chongyun approached that door, it slowly opened by itself with a long slow squeaking sound accompanied by a gentle air current coming from inside the massive structure.
A few moments passed during which the party looked around, evaluating their options between entering the mysterious structure or facing the eerie looking hilichurl army... Even though they didn't know what to expect by entering the unknown, they finally decided to follow that option when they saw around fifty if not sixty more hilichurls approaching followed by two more abyss mages. Without looking behind, they passed the large door that slowly closed behind them as the sun was slowly starting to disappear at the horizon.
Holowin special - Act II - Following The Stars – Completed!
To be continued...