Being a hunter tied to the Dream was often difficult work. The more he did, the more Balyn felt like Yharnam's trashman, cleaning up the refuse produced by blood ministration, research into the so-called Eldritch Truth, the search for the Great Ones, the hunt for the lost secrets of fallen Pthumeru, and all the other howling abominations against nature and basic sanity pursued by pretty much everyone he'd met. Sometimes, the problems posed by the Healing Church and its misbegotten rise to power were subtle and complex, with results that played out over the dance of years and stretched between layered dream-worlds until one was never quite sure what "awake" meant.
Other times, the problems were refreshingly direct, such as a beast the size of a house that hit like the Grand Cathedral was falling in on him while it belched lava that burned his body down to charred bones.
~X X X~
"That went poorly," he summed up as he reawakened in the Hunter's Dream. The raw heat of the battle was gone, but Balyn still pulled off his cap and mask and let the cool autumn air of the Dream soothe his face.
"Welcome home, good hunter," the Doll said. "Did your hunt go well?"
His eyes narrowed as he glanced at her. It was all well and good that she felt liberation from heavy shackles, but he was getting the strong suspicion that she found his numerous fatal mishaps amusing, like the pratfalls of a carnival clown.
Ah, well, the kid needs some entertainment, stuck in this place with Old Sourpuss.
"It was…efficient," he decided. "I'll say this for Laurence: he did not keep me hanging around in suspense. It's rare to meet a clergyman who gets right to the point instead of making you sit through the whole sermon. Of course, that's probably because he knows all he's got to say is a load of hot air."
There were no crickets in the Hunter's Dream, but Balyn swore he could hear them chirping.
"Anyway," he said, "do you know where Gehrman's got to? I'd like to talk to him."
"Oh? What has caused your interest?"
"Well, he was around when the Healing Church got going, I think, and I'm really curious as to how its philosophy caught on with the people of Yharnam enough that it became powerful."
"Does this surprise you, good hunter?"
"A lot! 'Cause from what I've seen, this Laurence guy who founded it doesn't have a leg to stand on."