Cessation Contingency

Nahida quickly pushes Isaac into Ellen’s grasp. Ellen almost falls over. She raises her working arm towards them and exhausts a day’s worth of her power supply to cast Divine Light on the both of them. Ellen and Isaac both look very confused. She had approximately four-and-a-half days of power remaining.

Nahida’s power demands had not been satisfied, only mitigated. She would still require regular Bixite consumption. On top of that, there was the now glaring oversight of being a potential infection vector for abyssal influence.

She had been operating under an emergency state, a high-load execution mode that prioritized her imminent shutdown risk, the active threat of the reanimates, the mission critical objectives, and sustaining damage to her arm. She hadn’t been in the state to run that sort of self-diagnosis.

She immediately began correcting that error and running a full-system diagnostic.

There was still a distinct possibility that she may become fully inoperable if not a hazard to Isaac’s health. It was imperative to prepare contingencies should that come to pass.

Ellen showed potential and has proven dedicated to monitoring and addressing Isaac’s condition, but she still didn’t have the necessary skillset and knowledge base should the potions fail.

A new critical objective is added, transfer care skills and knowledge to Ellen. She also adds a new protocol: Run diagnostics after all abyssal interactions.

Nahida further restates that the abyss is their reason for being brought here. Isaac is to be the person that stops the infection at its source.

Allowing Isaac to interact with any abyssal matter directly conflicts with her prime directive. Analyzing the state of this world further, however, there is no guarantee that they can return to their own world to escape this one. If the authority figures of this world are incapable of stopping the spread of abyssal infection without Isaac, the world will be consumed by it, Isaac included.

Though it conflicts with her prime directive to allow Isaac to proceed as the hero, preventing him from taking this role will also result in his demise along with the rest of the world. This conflicts with nearly all of her core directives. Isaac taking the role of the hero increases his chance of survival in the long run.

Isaac is no longer a patient to be stabilized, he is a mission-critical asset requiring development. The more Isaac develops, the better his odds of survival. Harlan has shown a level of competency in the martial tutelary role. To that end, Isaac’s training with Harlan is necessary for Isaac’s long-term survival.

Another objective is added, discuss a training regimen and physical therapy plan with Harlan that suits Isaac’s condition with and without potions.

Lastly, restoring optimal function while minimizing risk to Alex. She again recalls Alfred’s mention of dwarven artificers and elven lords. Distancing herself from Isaac as a potential infection vector while traveling to seek repairs would be a semi-optimal choice, but there i also the risk of Isaac’s condition worsening in her absence, or running out of power before repairs could be completed.

The courier named Sunny seemed to be on good terms with Ellen and Isaac, he could potentially seek out a technician for her, but she couldn’t be certain that he would find the right one, or how long it would take. She also couldn’t be certain that he would interpret her needs correctly.

Sunny could still prove useful. He could travel to the places where eligible technicians could be and probe them for answers. She would have to select careful language that has a lower risk of misinterpretation. If Sunny is able to locate a capable technician, they may be able to travel to Mistral and repair her on-sight. If not, Nahida would be able to travel directly and continue the search herself once Isaac’s condition was confirmed to be stabilized.

Additional objective added, solicit Sunny’s services to seek out repairs.

That would be the first step. She could begin knowledge transference while waiting for news from Sunny. Until Nahida’s was certain that she was not an infection vector, Ellen will need to serve as her surrogate in Isaac’s care.

As Nahida considers these factors around Isaac and the abyss, another abyssal outbreak was occurring in a dwarven village to the southwest along the Mistral/Gorse border. Two abyssal flowers had bloomed, and while a handful of Healing Church practitioners had been present, they were unprepared for this. 

Rutger is a veteran mercenary. He is middle-aged, rare for orc mercenaries who believe to die in battle is to die honorably. His olive-green complexion is typical for that of an orc, his greying red hair is not. Today is not the first day he has encountered the Abyss, and it will not be his last.

He emerges from the woods with a deer over his shoulder and surveys the scene. Without a moment’s hesitation, he drops the deer and brandishes his club from under his pelt cloak. It is like a branch with a gnarled and knotted head and a spike on the opposite side, carved and lacquered to smooth perfection.

He reaches back with that same hand to ready a spear, fletched at the end with feathers like a massive arrow. He aligns the spear’s butt end with the spike of his club and repositions himself to stand in line with the two blooms.

Rutger brings his arm up overhead and readies his stance. He takes a deep breath in through his wide, flat nose, and exhales through the fangs and tusks that frame his mouth. Red energy concentrated up from the ground, through his legs, past his chest, and into his arm.

He breathes in once more as his arm alights a bright cherry neon, then with an exhale, he pivots his hip and catapults the spear with a shockwave. It rips through the two blooms as it rips through the air, cratering the impact sight on the other side of the village. The glow of his arm is dispersed as he finishes his throw.

He hides the club away and walks with a purposeful pace towards the location. From a pouch on the same side, he pulls a bottle of cheap alcohol. He arrives at where the first bloom arose and sprinkles it across the area. He pockets the bottle, then pulls out a palm-sized tinderbox. With a practiced motion of his fingers, he sparks the alcohol ablaze with one hand. The area burns.

His attention turns next to the groans of dwarf unattended by healers. He steps over to the source, pocketing the tinderbox and unsheathing a cleaver. He inspects the downed dwarf, and sees that the man’s leg is showing signs of advanced abyssal infection. The black threads are already crawling up his knee, and the masses are starting to form buds.

Rutger kneels down, raises his cleaver, and brings it swiftly down just above the dwarf’s knee. The dwarf screams. Rutger tosses the cleaver aside and retrieves the alcohol once more. He dumps it all over the stump of the Dwarf’s leg. He observes closer as he does, no signs of the infection taking root deeper within.

He tosses the empty bottle, then pulls a knife from his pocket and takes it to the dwarf’s shirt. He slashes a strip or two from it and kicks the discarded leg aside, tossing the knife as well and swiftly tying the strips strangling tight around the stump with a practiced one-handed motion.

The dwarf passes out.

“You’ll live,” Rutger remarks gruffly.

The bloom on the discarded leg stirs, then bursts open into a third flower. It grows tendrils and lashes out.

Rutger raises his other arm to block, and the tendrils wrap around his leather-gloved wrist. He glares down at the vile tendrils. “Never again,” he declares. With his free hand, he pulls out the tinderbox again and uses the single-hand technique to light his own arm ablaze.

The flames trail down the tendrils and to the bloom. Some alcohol was still on the discarded leg from his treatment of the dwarf earlier, the bloom swiftly ignites and burns. The tendrils are quickly reduced to ash as they pull the glove from his hand. Underneath the glove, there is a mechanical facsimile of a hand.

He observes the hand. Some parts of the wrist were bent out of alignment by the tendril’s grip. He’d have to do some repairs soon. Hopefully it was a quick job, otherwise he’d have to take it into the shop for a closer look. He shuddered at having to deal with that tinkerer and their family.

That was the last of his alcohol. He’d have to buy more if these blooms kept popping up at the rate they’ve been.

Rutger grumbles as he thinks through the steps to ready up for the next encounter. Finally, one of the healers comes by. “What did you do to him!?” They shout.

Rutger collects his tools. “Kept him alive. That bloom popped seconds after I got that leg off. He’d be dead if I didn’t.”

After collecting his tools, he stands again and leers down at the healer. The healer glarea right back at him as they cast divine light on what was left of the dwarf.

Rutger walks over to retrieve his spear. He first settles his tools around it, then with his good hand, he casts an incantation. It comes as an orcish song in a hushed, soft tone.

“Weary men, sleeping sound, no more danger to be found. Gentle voice, flower bed, live forever never dead.”

As he chants, the blood and ichor melt away from his tools and weapons. Soft blue light motes linger like will-o-wisps for as long as he chants.

He sings the orcish song over his equipment for nearly a half an hour, then stuffs everything back into its appropriate pockets on the left side and the great quiver across his back.

Time for a bit of a restock, he thinks. Given the tensions in Gorse right about now, it might be best to try in Mistral.

Rutger makes his way to the northeast… without the deer… damn.