Hunted | A HermitCraft AU

Plot development strikes

Scar felt a nervous pit in his stomach. Not fear, nerves. 

Why? 

Well, Doc had finally decided that they needed to confront Rowan. He had said that Rowan was either in control of Mumbo, or no one, since Xisuma was part of their team now, and based on Joe and Xisuma's research, they figured it was the latter. When going through some bookshelves Joe had stolen from a villiage, he'd found something. 

It was entirely based around villiager mythology, but according to that book, these entities, refered to as "Ludridum" by the book's author, would pick a target, and grow attached. That first target that they controlled would be their preference, and they weren't quick to change and pick a new favourite target. 

Classified as a parasite, according to the book, they shut down all systems in the brain and opperated their host's body entirely. It's up to the Ludridum whether they want to let their host's convience remain active, and able to witness what's going on. 

It was slightly complicated, but when Doc had described it, he'd said that Joe and Xisuma had hypothesised that Rowan wouldn't be as willing to move on from Xisuma that quickly, and would be without a host. Xisuma and Joe had considered the possibility that Rowan might have started to control Mumbo, the only Hermit in Rowan's possession (aside from Stress, Kady's host, and assimung False had vanished ia other means. Scar had a feeling that she was dead, although he wasn't entirely sure), but it was unlikely. 

Which kinda made sense. 

So now Scar was in the nether hub, Iskall by his side. He wore heavy diamond armour over his clothes, as did all the others (save for Joe and Iskall, the former who didn't want to be involved in the combat and the later who was unable to wear armour). Xisuma and Ren were trying to make small talk, while Doc and Joe were going over their plan once more.

Then Doc spoke again. 

"For those who don't remember the plan, we're going to go through the portal. They won't expect us, so we should take them by surprise. Ren and I will target Kady, and try seperate her from Stress. Xisuma, you fight Heidi. Scar, you and Iskall will target Rowan." Doc drew a few nether stars from his inventory, tossing one in Scar's direction. He caught it, and tucked it into his pocket. 

"If they're too hard to find, then we focus on finding, and getting Mumbo out of there." Doc finished, before moving to stand in the purple glow of the portal leading to Grian's base. 

Scar followed Doc's lead, beconning for Iskall to follow a long, who happily did. 

Closing his eyes to prevent travel sickness, Scar heard the portal drown out the sound of his friends, and let himself get teleported to the overworld. 

---

When Scar was able to properly take note of Grian's base, he noticed quite a few things wrong. 

For one, it looked like Stress was managing to overpower Doc and Ren. They were fighting, Doc with his trident in hand, Ren baring his teeth and using hand to hand combat. 

Xisuma looked like he was doing well against Heidi, although the red bird kept eavading Xisuma. She looked panicked, since Xisuma was clutching onto a nether star, which was a pretty big givaway that they were right in saying that a nether star was the best way to get rid of them. 

Iskall's growling brought Scar back to the present, him remembering that he either had to find and free Mumbo, or find and capture Rowan. 

Which should have been simple enough. 

Until it wasn't. 

Scar had entered one of the towers through a hole in the wall, following the sudden sound of Mumbo's shrieking. He'd found Mumbo, curled up in the corner, bleeding, while Tango stood over him, a dull iron sword in his hands. 

When Tango looked over at Scar, he saw that Tango's eyes had gone dark, like Xisuma's had been while possessed, and Scar felt a pit sink into his stomach. 

Iskall seemed to remember something though, upon seeing Mumbo. They visibly perked up, and stumbled over their words, eventually stuttering out Mumbo's name. The redstoner in question looked over when Iskall said his name, holding his stomach and chest. A pained smile crossed Mumbo's face, and Scar himself must have grinned. 

Iskall was getting better!

The only issue with that, however, was that Iskall was now distracted. And Scar wasn't prepared in the slightest when Tango launched forwards, embedding the iron sword in Scar's stomach, his enchanted diamond chestplate tearing to accomodate for Tango's blade. Scar audibly gasped, Iskall and Mumbo both turning their focus to Scar. 

His stomach was screaming at him, burning, and Scar was starting to feel dizzy and lightheaded. Then Tango was gone, and Xisuma was by Scar's side. Doc was holding Mumbo, carrying him, and Ren and Iskall were going back and forth between Scar and Mumbo. 

Not that Scar really noticed. He was too busy sobbing in pain. 

---

Scar awoke seeral days later, to find he was in Area 77. He was laying in a warm bed, the cell he was in surprisingly warm. When Scar managed to sit up despite wincing, he could see bandages wrapped around his stomach. Looking over to his left, he could see Mumbo was asleep, having kicked off the blankets. 

Mumbo had bandages wrapped over his chest and stomach, and wore no shirt, scraps of fabric which might have been Mumbo's undershirt peeking out from under Mumbo's bed. 

Looking away and stretching out, Scar looked over to the door when the hingest squeaked, the flick of a lever giving away someone's presense. To Scar's delight, it was Joe and Xisuma. Joe was fiddling with a nether star, while Xisuma just looked glad to see that Scar was awake. 

"How are you?" Xisuma's voice was eerily quiet, although Scar had a feeling it was for Mumbo's benefit, the redstoner still sound asleep. Scar just shrugged. 

"I feel alright. My stomach hurts if I moe tooquickly, but aside from that, everything seems okay." Scar responded. Xisuma nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed while Joe remained standing. 

Then Joe spoke, looking up. 

"We bring good news, Scar. Heidi's hubris has been her downfall, and we have her caught in this nether star. One down, two to go."