Okay Reggie, find the moment between moments, cast out your senses, then grasp the time between times, and pull. Find the absence of time, settle in, and assess the situation. Get a layout of the procession, the sensory input, the thermal fluctuations, the—. There’s a massive cold spot, and several fading heat sources around it. The cold spot was moving, thrashing about. It’s the, or a, hydra. We got lucky too long, to go unmolested through Jaggedfen Bog. Our contingent of refugees has few warriors, since the Aasimovians were used to not having combat, and few dedicated themselves to professions like guardsmen, or hunters. Focus Reggie, focus. What else?
A lump catches in the throat of my telepathic avatar in my private, nearly-paused-time thinkspace. Analyzing the heat sources, the thermals within a few hundred feet seems to suggest that there are other cold spots just outside the range of the senses I was able to bring to bear. Worse, what does it say about this hydra that it was absorbing heat in rapid fashion? Is that its source of regeneration? Does it turn atomic energy into mass? I’ve done similar, with my thermokinesis on Can’Z’aas, sort of. I’ve brought air molecules closer together, making them denser, forming cold air barriers, or even shields of ice if there was enough moisture, or if I brought the temperature low enough to break atomic bonds. Will fire hurt the hydra, or make it more powerful?
Stay calm, breathe deep, exhale slowly. What else can you tell about the situation? Right, there’s panic, a mob mentality, people trampling over each other to flee. There was one heat source, gripping a fading heat source, and moving slowly. That would be someone with enough bravery and compassion to be trying to drag someone away from the hydra. Good, something, someone I can rely on, maybe put to work in shoring up a perimeter if I can’t slay the beast. Teuila should be somewhere nearby. She’d be north of me, nearer to the Altross estate, with Tiago and the injured, unless she spoke to Tiktik first, and then went to see the kobolds that are scattered about the contingent. Drat, yes, that likely happened. She would see Tiktik not in a state to talk much, do a quick chat in thinkspace, and probably give Tiktik a gentle shoulder punch, and forehead kiss, and order her to get better. Then Te would have sped off down the contingent, looking for various kobolds, to try to assuage her guilt.
Fricklefrack. Okay, it’s okay. Teuila will hear the commotion as the news of the attack spreads down the line. She’ll only be moments behind me. Hell, she might beat me to the hydra depending on where she is, in comparison with my slow, erratic movements. I almost regret having telekinesis up right now, but I don’t want to drop it, to be able to use the staff for fireballs. I can make do with torches, if fire would even help at all. I can float myself with telekinesis more smoothly than I can walk, especially trying to press through a horde of bodies coming in the opposite direction, or having to swim in swampwater. In that regard, it’s good that I have telekinesis up from the staff. It’s still slow, but I can’t run with all that much coordination right now anyway, so my speed is fairly limited. Deep breath Reggie, breathe air, breathe.
Hah, that’s sort of ironic, and silly. There’s no air here in thinkspace. There’s no motion of my actual lungs in this nearly paused moment of time. Still, it’s the focus, the stilling, the sense of balance, or rather, harmony, that the breathing brings. Are we equipped to drive off the hydra or hydras? Possibly. Are we equipped to slay the hydra? Less likely, with its odd thermal readings. What should be my plan of attack? I’ll float myself that way, and when I’m within range, I’ll pelt it with frost rays to get its attention, and try to keep floating myself out of its reach. Sadly telekinesis hates to lift things very far vertically, which is a pretty big limitation, or I’d just snipe it from above, out of its reach, until it realized it couldn’t get to me, and ran away.
I’ll be trying to hit it with holy halefire crossbow bolts, while quickening frost rays, all the while trying to micromanage using telekinesis on myself to dodge its attacks, maintain my balance in the air, and so on. When Teuila gets to the battle, well, she’s probably going to behead the thing at least once, so we can see its regeneration speed. How that goes will determine our plan of attack moving forward. Can I prepare myself any further? Probably. Is it worth the headache of holding back the flow of time this strongly? Probably not. Okay then, release this moment between moments. Let the flow of time fill in the absence of time.
Breathe deep Reggie. Breathe air, breathe. You’ve got this. Heh. I can’t fight the smirk that crosses my face as I recall Luni, My Anchor, our beloved Lu. She’d say that I always have, and always will. Let’s get to it then. A bit of a struggle utilizing internal electrokinesis, but every bit counts. I leap as high as I’m able, which is a fair deal, considering my current limitations, and catch myself with telekinesis, trying to maintain some of the upward and forward momentum. I stifle a chuckle at the apparent startlement of the town elders and various mayors and mairesses and so on nearby. They haven’t yet caught on to the commotion, the din. It’s too far away for normal ears. I’m pretty certain I’m not hallucinating it, based on what I was able to analyze from the thermal picture I took, during the time I took to do so.
As far as I can tell, there are already three dead, and six wounded, possibly dying. The heat projection image isn’t a perfect topographical map, so I have to guess my best estimates as to whether someone was breathing or not, or moving at all. The vaguely humanoid-in-length heat sources that were cooling, sprawled flat on the ground, seemingly unmoving? It’s a pretty easy conclusion to jump to. Flashes of lightning illuminate the panicked, fleeing people as I float over the masses in the direction of the disturbance.
I almost wish my eyesight hadn’t recovered yet. The scene is grim. It’s as if the hydra is causing havoc for havoc’s sake. Amidst the chaos of this massacre, the scene unfolding before me is horrific. The long line of desperate refugees flees through the muck and mire, no longer content to run tramplingly north or south, the flow staunched by their own fleeing neighbors. Instead, some are beginning to wade or swim through standing water, in the hopes of going around friends, family, loved ones, or even just acquaintances, all in the hopes of getting away. Panic and fear grip the air as the people stumble and scramble, or splash and squish, each of their faces etched with terror.
The few brave souls that aren’t fleeing in as much of a rush are trying to drag injured bodies into semblances of cover, or darting from cover to cover, to avoid the ire of the beast. Amidst this turmoil, the hydra weaves through the chaos with a sinister grace. Its scales are stained crimson with the blood of its victims, in such a short time since the beginning of its gruesome rampage. Its necks end in splayed frills, like the petals of a vicious flower, swaying in the breeze. The spiky frills are adorned with tattered remains of clothing, and smatterings of gore. The hydras heads bear eyes that gleam with malevolent intent, and its maws each snap and lunge with a ferocity that’s startling to say the least. The beast virtually glows with some sort of feral hunger, its animosity almost palpable, an oppressive weight in the gloomy air.
Worse, the hydra moves with lethal swiftness, back and forth across the clearing it has made, ignoring some of the few souls who are taking cover amidst the chaos. Instead, it seems to be punishing those attempting to flee, striking out en masse, injuring and crippling with steady blows, using its skulls as bludgeoning weapons as much as anything else. I can scarcely watch as several of its jaws snap shut with a sickening crunch over one victim, the nearby people already battered to within an inch of their life by the flailing heads. The victim in its maws is torn to pieces in its razor-sharp teeth. I’m still too far away, and there are still too many hapless people in my way to get clear shots at the hydra, without chancing missing it and blasting someone in the back as they flee.
For the briefest of moments, I almost think I have an opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief, as it stops rushing back and forth between the north and south ends of the herd of people. It seems to be heading west, into the murk and mire. My relief is short lived, when I realize it’s terrorizing those that attempted to flee off the path, leaving more devastation in its wake as it relentlessly pursues its prey. At this point, I chance several pot shots at the hydra, since I’m unlikely to hit any survivors if I miss, and miss I do. From this distance, with my shakiness from floating in the air, and being forced to use electrokinesis to control my muscles manually, I’m not aiming very well.
The refugees' cries for help are drowned out by the thunderous sounds of the hydra's onslaught, as it leaves a trail of destruction in its wake. The once serene swampy bog is now a nightmarish battlefield, with the hydra at the center of the carnage, its monstrous form wreaking havoc among the helpless refugees. Despite the darkness of the stormy skies, the hydra's monstrous visage is illuminated by the flashes of lightning, revealing a ghastly sight that strikes fear into the hearts of those who witness it. Its visage is one of a monstrous horror, as it continues its merciless rampage, causing untold devastation in its wake. Its senseless act of brutality is a force of destruction that strikes without mercy. It mercilessly preys upon the fleeing refugees, a fearsome embodiment of the chaos and murder.
If I had any doubts that I’d be wanting to slay this beast and its ilk, they’re certainly dispelled. Okay Reggie, breathe air, breathe. Deep in, slowly out. You’ve faced dragons, Octorochi, Vampguppy, the Cragbeast Queen, the Mite Hulk Queen, insane cultists. This isn’t the worst thing you’ve ever faced. No, but it is the most visible carnage I’ve ever faced. Thirteen dead, over thirty wounded that I can get a sense of at the moment, each of them likely dying, unable to be saved, and in all likelihood, will be trampled by the hydra in its mad dashes as it flits from one region to another to engage in skirmishes. I need to pin this monstrous beast down, so that I have a chance of fighting it. Hellga was able to break through my telekinesis by struggling hard enough, so this hydra will definitely snap the bonds that my Telekinesis tries to trap it in. Wait, what if I use more than magic? Magic, and the mundane.
Glancing around, there are few carriages, fewer horses, or anything to pull them with, let alone any heavy duty restraints. I sigh as I have to abandon the idea of using telekinesis to wrap a chain around the beast and tether it to something heavy. It seems to have taken note of me, and for some reason, it advances slowly, its eyes flash with predatory intent as they remain locked on me. I’d be intimidated, but I knew what I was signing up for.
On the off chance that I can reason with it, or scare it away, that it might possess more intelligence than its brutal nature implies, I call out, “Hail, hydra.”