A Glorified Fetch Quest

A Glorified Fetch Quest
Ilona Raquel, Insecure but talented HAREON knight. (Hylian, 4/2/3) [Blonde Panther] Reward: Bomb Arrows, 30 Rupees.

It was a bit of a gloomy morning when Ilona walked through the HQ to Denolle's office. Her sparring match with Sayomi had been interrupted and she had been told the head of HAREON wanted to speak with her. That probably meant he had a mission for her. Good thing- it'd get her out of the barracks. She was bored, and sparring indoors could only keep her distracted for so long. The rain was making it inconvenient for her heavily armored friend to spar outside, but Ilona had no issues with going somewhere in this weather.

When she reached Denolle's office, she raised her hand. But before her knuckles managed to make contact with the door, his voice softly boomed from the other side. "Come in, Ilona."

Ilona walked in, a little nervously. "Y-yes, sir... you... called for me?"

The man stood up, walking towards a map of Hyrule on his wall. "I have a mission for you. And... As usual, in part due to your father's intervention, it isn't very dangerous. Ilona... You know he won't be able to keep you from the real missions forever, right?"

"Y-yes, sir." Ilona blushed, embarrassed by her father's overprotectiveness as usual. "I hope I'll be able to fulfill it, sir."

"I'm sure you will. You're a talented girl. But until then, he's got you on for another fetch job." The man motioned towards the map, pointing to a small flag placed on it. "But down to business. This here, is Stargazer's peak. It's an observatory just in Snowhead. It overlooks much of the mountain, so it should be fairly simple to find. Have you been to Snowhead before?"

Ilona thought on it a second. "Not up the mountain itself, sir. But I have been there a few times, enough to know I should not underestimate the cold. The snow on the mountain did not melt after Jayden-- I mean, sir Darrah destroyed that humongous White Wolfos, did it?"

"Yes it was. And good call for the cold. The observatory itself is warm, but getting there is the hard part. Once there, the head astronomer, Evan Oystin, should have a star chart for you to being to me. And it's as simple as that, Ilona."

"Understood." Ilona bowed lightly. "If... if you'll excuse me, I will gather my weapons and take my leave..."

"Very well. I've gotten a carriageman to get you into north hills, but beyond that, you're on your own. And Ilona?"

"Y-yes, sir?"

"Keep an eye out for anything... Strange. I have a strange feeling."

That, at least, was something she could do. She was a Hylian, after all. "I will, sir." She then turned around, bowing again, and left his office. She didn't want to keep her driver waiting, so she hurried to her own room. She already had her chainmail on and her lance on her from the sparring she had done with Sayomi, so she only really had to get her bow, fill her quiver and put it on her hip, and grab her Bombchu Supply.

She didn't want to be too heavy when going mountain climbing. Her brown longcoat and blue, thick woolen robe made her heavy enough, so she left her swords and her shield in the trunk. Putting down a bowl of fresh water and food for Sniffles (he could get here through the small cat's door in her own door), she then left and locked her room, hurrying outside to meet with her driver. She had her coat on, but her robe over her arm since it was not quite cold enough to put that on now.

"Good morning," she said, shaking hands with the portly, bald man who had easily as much black hair on his chin as she had blonde hair on her head. "Are you the good man who will be taking me to the Northern Hills?"

"Aye," he said, gesturing at the two huge workhorses in front of his carriage. "If yer Ilona Raquel, these two ladies will be doin' the walkin' for ye." His accent put her off a little, but he proved himself to be a gallant, opening the door to his carriage and making a bow. "Be seated, lassie."

Ilona climbed into the carriage and sat down on the bench, which was more comfortable than she had anticipated, putting her robe and bow down next to her and setting her lance against the window that was not part of the door. She then crossed her legs just as the man shouted something to the mares, and rested her head on her hand, gazing out the window as they started to move.

What seemed to be a few minutes after leaving town, the carriage was suddenly brought to a halt. Ilona, not expecting the abrupt brake, was sent reeling forwards off her bench, slamming her shoulder into the wall of the vehicle. She blinked a few times, confused as to where she was. She must have fallen asleep or something... Yes, the rocking of the carriage had helped her drift off to sleep minutes after leaving. She supposed she had only woken up when the cart had stopped.

Only when she got to her knees, touching her shoulder and concluding she'd have a bruise there tomorrow, she heard the loud neighing of the horses and their owner's shouting in a vain attempt to calm them, as well as... were those Moblins?

Grabbing her lance, she used her good shoulder to bust out of the carriage and rolled over the ground to avoid any attacks that may have been directed at her. None came, however, as the Moblins were too busy attacking her driver and the horses. Good- that gave Ilona something of an element of surprise. Getting to her feet, she ran towards the nearest one, whistling sharply to get its attention. It turned its head, just in time for the knight's lance to bury itself in its pig-like nose.

The shape of the spearhead, more specifically the downwardly hooked edge where it connected with the shaft, disallowed the beast to pull its head back off the weapon and into freedom of movement. Ilona had to plant her foot in the beast's stomach to have something to exert force on as she violently pulled her weapon free, sending blood gushing out of the Moblin's nose and using the force from the pull to spin around. Judging from the blood already on her lance, she'd gotten it nice and deep.

Still, not really wanting to get attacked in the back by this thing as it was bleeding out, Ilona finished the quick spin around her own axis, plunging the spear into the Moblin's heart to finish it off. Immediately, she pulled her weapon out and back up, using the treated, heavy shaft to block a swipe from the heavy blade another Moblin used. Now in front of the carriage, she could see there were two left, the last one wielding a lance different from her own.

The Moblin currently fighting her tried to push her down for a second, and when she didn't give in it became angry, making a couple of wild swings with its enormous sword. Seeing it used like this, it seemed more like an axe! It was fortunate that Ilona's lance was treated, and that she managed to deflect the swings at such an angle the blade could not cut into the wood properly, otherwise the Moblin would probably have cleaved her weapon in two. And her along with it.

Not tired in the slightest, the Moblin raised its sword a lot higher above its head for a devastating blow. Ilona was faster. She quickly turned her lance around, stuck it between the beast's legs and dashed around it to one side. The Moblin, focused on what its arms were doing and lacking the mental capabilities to focus on four limbs at once, immediately lost its balance and somersaulted to the ground fast. Ilona left her spear where it was, instead running to pick up the enormous sword dropped by her foe.

By the time the Moblin realized that he'd fallen on the ground, he was a head shorter.

Ilona quickly dropped this weapon, too, when a crude lance with several orange-reddish hairs tied to it grazed her coat. Instead of bothering to pick up any of the three weapons around her, she pulled an arrow out of her quiver and took her bow from her back.

The first shot was in the neck, making the Moblin gurgle and slow its advance. The wild flailing it did made it impossible to shoot it between the eyes, though, so instead of following up with a second shot Ilona ran towards it, switching her bow for her lance as she passed it, using a roll forward to not waste her momentum through picking it up, and ended her roll sitting up, thrusting her lance upward at a low angle.

She got the Moblin in the privates, provoking a howl from it, and got up to put an end to it all by burying her hooked lance in its belly. Once again requiring tremendous effort to get it out, the result was a wound that would leave the Moblin, now reduced to whimpering and gurgling on the ground, bleeding to its slow death.

Exhaling deeply and then inhaling normally, Ilona put her lance over her shoulder and started walking back to the carriage, where her driver was busy trying to calm the horses. On her way there, she passed her bow and picked it up, pulling some wet blades of grass off of it. "Are they okay, sir?" she asked her driver as she reached the carriage, getting a rag out of her pocket to clean the blood off her lance.

"Them's be fine, lass." He patted one of the mares' neck, and upon a closer inspection, while the horses were still breathing heavily, they didn't really seem to be panicking anymore. "Them beasts done left 'em be when ye started wailin' on 'em. I'll need me a minute or two an' we'll be ready to move again."

"I'm very glad to hear that," Ilona said, taking care not to get too close to them. She remembered that her father's horse had never liked the scent of blood, and she didn't want to upset them again. "I do wonder why those Moblins were here. Isn't all monster activity supposed to be halted as soon as possible by Hyrulean knights?"

"Aye, and it was."

"No, sir, it was not." Satisfied with her result, she slipped the rag back into her coat pocket and set the lance back inside the carriage, although staying outside it for a little bit longer. "If these Moblins had been handled properly, then they would not have been here to attack us."

"Aye. But ye handled 'em. Real nicely too."

"Yes, but a Hyrulean knight should have done so."

The man looked confused and pointed at her. "...Ain't ye an 'Yrulean knight, lassie?"

"Yes, I am, but..." SMACK. Ilona's hand connected with her forehead. She kept forgetting that she was an Hyrulean knight these days, and that monster activity stopped by her was monster activity properly dealt with. Shaking her head, she stepped back into the carriage and pulled the door shut. "Real smooth, Ilona. Very professional."

The second time the carriage stopped, it was in a much less sudden manner and under a lot more peaceful circumstances than the first time. "Oy. We've done reached them Northern Hills, lassie."

"Understood, sir. Let me just get-" Ilona interrupted herself, hopping out of the carriage while putting on her thick robe with one hand. The Northern Hills had recently been the source of severe blizzards that had covered Hyrule with cold, ice and snow. While most of their results had been diminished and Hyrule Castle Town was free of snow again, the Northern Hills themselves still maintained a certain dusting of snow and she already felt that it was colder here than it had been at home, or on the plain where she had fought the Moblins.

The Hills lived up to their name, she knew from hiking vacations and training voyages she had made with her father. It was part of the reason why she had chosen her lance of all weapons to come here, and why she understood Denolle would send someone to retrieve the star chart rather than getting it himself. Once she was comfortable with the way her robe rested upon her shoulders, she turned her lance around in her hand, pointing the tip at the ground. "Thank you very much, sir. I'm fairly certain I will make it on my own from here on out." Her driver nodded, waving at her as she started walking further north.

While not exactly steep, the Northern Hills developed more significant height differences as Ilona progressed north. Or rather, as she looked at her map and compass, northwest. Using her lance as a hiking stick of sorts, she supported herself and made the walk quite a bit easier- however, she couldn't deny that this was in fact not what the weapon had been made for, and she was a little worried about what it might do to it. Still, right now it was more important to reach the marked place on her map- if worst came to worst, she could use her payment to get a new lance.

She really wasn't worried about crossing the hills, it was scaling Snowhead Mountain she somewhat dreaded. It was not a very forgiving mountain to scale, both in terms of terrain and of the consequences of any misstep. Ilona knew this, and it was probably the reason her father had never taken her all the way up there. Who knew, this mission might turn out to be dangerous after all...

No way. If she thought a little tricky terrain was dangerous, then she wasn't cut out for HAREON at all. Anyway, it was no concern of hers right now. She'd worry about scaling Snowhead when she reached the actual mountains.

The Northern Hills got steeper as she got further northwest, closer to Snowhead. Which... made sense. Soon enough, Ilona reached a ledge, and knowing what this meant, she put her lance back over her shoulder and climbed on it. As she looked up, she saw Snowhead Mountain, foggy but close.

She'd arrived. From here on out she was at the base of Snowhead, and the terrain was going to become her enemy. Provided she didn't run into any monsters, that was...

Her memory proved itself to be very reliable, and Snowhead Mountain a pain to climb. Ilona kept her map in one hand and her lance in the other, grateful that the observatory was apparently only a third of the way up the mountain. While she climbed, occasionally reaching into her pouch for her compass to check her direction, she continuously poked her lance into the ground in front of her to test it.

Sure enough, as she got about halfway up to where she had to be, her lance went into the snow a lot deeper than she would like. As she carefully swept some of the snow aside with her foot, she saw it had been a good idea to poke around. There was a massive crack in the rock floor in front of her. Looking up, Ilona sighed. The mist up there made it impossible to see, but she knew she was close to her goal.

She had been taught well, though. Well enough to know that no matter how close to her destination she was, it wasn't worth falling into a mountain trap over. She'd have to find a way around... preferably without climbing too much and risking falling in all the same. But even that wouldn't be very easy. As she walked past the crack, still testing the ground as she walked along.

Until she heard something above her. Her head jolted up and she peered at the higher ground, where a single, White Wolfos stared down at her. Dropping her lance and grabbing her bow instead, she notched and wanted to shoot at the canine monster, but by the time she aimed up it was already gone. "Huh..." She put away her arrow but kept her bow in her hand, taking up her lance again and proceeding on.

Five minutes later she found the Wolfos again. Or rather, it found her. It snuck up on her from behind and pushed its muzzle into her leg. When Ilona turned around, it jumped back, effortlessly dodging her spear attack with an almost elegant backflip. The knight took a defensive stance, but the beast didn't seem about to attack, walking to the cliffside and turning around to look at her.

It was certainly strange behavior for a monster, so while Ilona did follow it as it went into a cave of sorts, she kept her lance out just in case something would happen. The cave turned out to be part of a network of tunnels, through which she followed the Wolfos which occasionally stopped to sniff the air. By now she started to suspect the beast might actually have been a domesticated White Wolfos. She'd heard tales of people taming monsters and keeping them as pets- this one might not be any different.

It was a miracle Ilona could see anything at all, and she didn't know how long she followed the Wolfos for when they finally came out another cave and... wait. Was that the observatory? As she approached the building, now followed by the White Wolfos, the doors were opened long before she could even knock.

In the doorway was a balding man with some black hair and a small black beard but a noticeable mustache, wearing what seemed to be a long white coat under his fur robe. He pushed his glasses higher up on his nose, seemingly gauging Ilona and the White Wolfos, before his stern expression changed into something almost... fatherly. "Ahh, sie sind ja die Fraulein!" He suddenly grabbed her hand, shaking it with serious strength. "Willkommen to Stargazer's Peak! I am Professor Oystin, but you may call me Evan. Fraulein Raquel, yes? Christopher said you would be coming. Do come in, do come in."

Stargazer's Peak was, like Denolle had said, warm. Ilona slipped out of both her winter robe and her longcoat five minutes inside the complex. Professor Oystin led her through the hallways, and she didn't think it would be wise to protest or deviate from the path he set. He seemed a nice enough man, but she didn't really want to know what would happen if she were to get on his bad side.

The most notable part of the professor, aside from his accent, was probably just how much he talked. "Christopher had sent word that you were coming, Fraulein. Sadly he's chosen a very bad time to send you. I already have the chart ready to go, you see, but my assistant foresees bad weather for the remainder of the day. And I wouldn't dream of sending you back down the mountain at night, oh no." Ilona was used to silent people who said just enough... but she wasn't too annoyed by Professor Oystin's talkative nature.

"Wait... your assistant?" Ilona had noticed an utter lack of people in the complex.

"Jawohl. Alphons is very good at anything related to the sky- a very convenient person to have around to be sure." Ilona supposed, yes. Having someone who would know when the skies cleared up would be useful to have around an observatory. "Come, let us procure the chart and see if we can find a room for you to stay in." The professor led her to a strange contraption looking like a very small room on a cable of sorts. As the two stepped in, it slowly started pulling them upwards, to the next floor, this much to Ilona's amazement. However, as she looked down into the hall, she saw a red-haired woman in a labcoat much like Professor Oystin's.

"P-professor! You have an infiltrant!" She pointed down, but the supposed Gerudo had already disappeared. "T-there was a Gerudo there, I swear it-"

"You must have seen Amira." The professor didn't seem fazed in the least. "My other assistant."

"Y-you have a Gerudo working for you?"

"Jawohl, Fraulein Raquel." The professor turned to her. "I am not inclined towards racism. Sind sie?"

"N-no, of course not... it's just a little unusual to see a Gerudo on this side of Death Mountain."

"Vielleicht. But Amira does fine work and she does it without complaining."

Once their 'elevator,' as Ilona later discovered the contraption to be called, reached the second floor, Professor Oystin led her through another long hallway. When passing through it, they encountered yet another strange sight at these cold heights- a Zora. "Ah, Alphons. Could you see to it the Fraulein has a room at her disposal tonight?"

"Yes, professor. The skies seem clear tonight, too."

"Wunderschön, wunderschön." As the Zora, Alphons, walked off towards a room the other two had passed before, Professor Oystin led her to a room at the end of the hallway. From the looks of it, this was his office. He rummaged through the drawers for a few seconds and then gently, but firmly landed his hand on his forehead. "Natürlich," he said, "It's in the observatory. I apologize, Fraulein, but could you follow me for a bit longer?"

"Yes, of course..." This time, the professor led her towards a much larger room, mostly dominated by the enormous telescope in the middle of it. In fact, the ceiling had been removed so that the second and third floor were one and the same, and Ilona could only stare at it for a good few seconds.

"Wunderbar, isn't she?" Professor Oystin grinned to his side. "How do you like Sasca?" Sasha? Ilona gave him a stupefied look and he laughed out loud. "Worry not, my dear Fraulein, I'm not crazy in the coconut. This is Sasca- our Sky And Space Constellation Allocator. She does the hardest work in this building. Amira, whom you saw before, is mostly tasked with her maintenance."

"Wow..."

"There we go." The professor had walked over to one of the many tables lining the wall in this room and took a large sheet of paper, looking like it had been folded many times over for a long time. "This should be the chart Christopher wanted." He handed the char to Ilona, who folded it according to the very obvious fold lines in the paper, and put it in her pack. Part one and two of her mission were done... and tomorrow she'd have to descend the mountain again. And find her way back to Castle Town somehow.

When Ilona's eyes opened, she immediately sensed something was wrong. She couldn't put her finger on it, but judging from how dark her room still was and how her Sense was giving her a massive headache, she assumed trouble and leapt out of the bed she had been lent to put on her clothes. She hesitated a second, looking at her chainmail, and eventually decided against putting it on. Once fully dressed, she took lance, bombchus and bow and left for the hallway.

She had been certain that the hallway had been lit by torches when she had first come here. Now they were all extinguished, and she heard growling in front of her. She took a battle stance, but then Amira came around the corner bearing a lantern. She was a not unattractive young woman, her fine red hair curly and waist-long, but this wasn't the time to evaluate each other's looks. "Hush, Snowball!" She nudged the White Wolfos with her foot, and it promptly became quiet. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite. People." She then extended the hand in which she wasn't holding the lantern. "Amira Qalik. Assistant to professor Oystin."

"Ilona Raquel," the Hylian introduced herself, "HAREONite. What's going on?"

"Trouble. The eastern wall's been breached and monsters are pouring in. We don't know what they want, but the professor is afraid they will ruin Sasca and he demanded that I go and get you. You're a warrior, right? You can fight?"

"Yeah..."

"Good. This way." Amira led her back to the big observatory, where Professor Oystin, Alphons, and presumably Amira herself had lit enough torches that they could clearly see what was happening. The door on the far end had been barricaded, but Ilona needed only a single glance to see that it wouldn't hold out for long if monsters started bombarding it. With the professor and the Zora were two White Wolfoses much like Snowball, howling in anticipation of the enemies to come.

"We used to breed them," Alphons said when he saw Ilona looking. "We've only kept three of them in the end, but they're extremely good watchdogs. They'll be able to handle some of the monsters that are coming in."

"Does this happen often?" Ilona asked, having noticed how calm both Zora and Gerudo were.

"This is Snowhead," Amira said as she put on a shoulder protector and strung a bow, "There's monsters everywhere around these parts. The eastern wall has been breached and repaired multiple times now, it's getting annoying. Still, this is why we're here really..."

"Mein Teleskop," professor Oystin muttered as he quickly paced back and forth, "Sie gehen mein Teleskop zugründe richten... Mein Sternwarte..."

"Worry not, professor." While Amira prepared her bow, Alphonse had taken a long, white wooden staff to hand. "We will stop them before they get to Sasca. As we always have."

It sounded like the monsters were at the door, and Ilona considered her options. In the end, she decided to take out her own bow and checked the string. She then suddenly found Amira next to her. "I don't suppose you have any sort of explosives on you?"

"I do... I have Bombchus..."

"How many?"

"As many as you want."

"That's the right answer. Gimme one." Baffled, Ilona pulled a Bombchu out of her pouch, holding it out to the Gerudo, who shook her head. "Too big. I need a small one." Still a little confused, Ilona set down her bow and pulled the pouch from her waist, opening it fully so she could rummage in it with two hands. The Bombchu Supply always confused her, but she KNEW that there was an infinite supply in there, so there had to be a little one... "Oh! That one's good!" Amira snatched a small, somewhat lighter Bombchu from Ilona's hands, and when Ilona set to closing the pouch and setting it back on her waist, she was not sure she was dreaming.

Amira pulled out a bit of string, and started attaching the Bombchu to her arrow. She then took the key out of the explosive and notched her arrow. At the very second the door gave way, she fired her shot...

The Gerudo was nowhere near as much of a crack shot as Lando was, but her arrow got the job done. Especially since, the very moment it connected with the floor in the middle of the invading monsters, the Bombchu disagreed with the impact and blew up. The monsters surrounding it shielded the observatory from the explosion, but they took significant damage. "Bomb arrow," Amira said when Ilona gave her a stupefied look, "I can explain later. Get in there!"

Getting the hint, Ilona leapt forward without her bow, but with her lance in hand and ran towards the nearest enemy. There weren't a whole lot of monsters, now that she looked at them better. Small fireballs and regular arrows picked off the flock of Ice Keese flying above her head, and Snowball and his brothers did battle with the five White Wolfoses the enemies brought with them, so Ilona really only had to worry about the vaguely humanoid enemies. A couple of what seemed to be slow-moving frostbitten zombies, and five Bokoblins covered in so much wool-like fur they resembled Yetis.

The zombies were quickly taken care of- they were slow, and the blast from Amira's Bomb Arrow had weakened them to such extents that a single swipe from Ilona's lance sent them to the floor, where she could put the tip through their throats in a matter of seconds. The Bokoblins weren't TOO much of a threat either. They surrounded her, but between the ranged attacks of professor Oystin's assistants, the earlier blast, and a couple Spin Attacks, they were down.

After felling the final Bokoblin and watching the final Ice Keese fall to the floor harmlessly, Ilona wiped the sweat off her brow and looked around. The White Wolfoses on their side had several red patches in their fur, blood that seemed to be their own just as much as it was that of the other canines they had killed. Still, it didn't look like anyone was too awfully hurt, so she simply walked back to Amira. "...you have to teach me that trick with the Bombchu and the arrow."

The next morning, the field around the observatory shook with the explosion of a Bombchu. "Ack!" Ilona fell backwards in surprise, being caught by Amira.

"Not bad at all! But you need to be more careful, Ilo. You can't just grab the first the best Bombchu you get your hands on and put it on your arrow. That's not just for weight, but for the blast radius, too, you know." She chuckled. "Contrary to popular belief, more power is not always better."

"I... guess that makes sense." Ilona got back to her feet, looking at where her arrow lay in the snow. Now that the blast had passed, Snowball and his two brothers sniffed at the arrow, wagging their tails in curiosity. Almost like normal dogs.

"You're doing great, though. You're getting your arrows from your institute, and your Bombchus are infinite, right?" Ilona nodded. "You'll be fine. Just be sure to practice with it plenty before you actually use it in battle, because if it goes wrong it goes MAJORLY wrong."

"You don't need to tell me that," Ilona said, picking up the bow she'd dropped in her surprise. "My father pretty much hammered that into my mind when I first started using explosives. Walking ones, at that." Amira laughed at this remark, but before she could say anything, professor Oystin approached them.

"Fraulein, I think it's best you return to Christopher now." He handed her her bag with the Star Chart, her lance and a small pouch. "Thirty rupees," he clarified when he saw her look, "For the trouble we put you through with the overnight stay and the battle last night. Will that be enough?"

"Oh, you shouldn't have..." Ilona took the pouch, as well as her own belongings, and put her bow over her shoulder. "Could someone guide me back down the mountain?"

Amira nodded and whistled. Immediately, Snowball came in their direction. "Snowball is very good at playing shepherd. He'll take you down to familiar grounds."

"That'd be nice." No longer afraid of the White Wolfos, Ilona petted the beast on the head before it darted away and she turned around to follow it.

Saying good-bye to the inhabitants of Stargazer's Peak, she had the odd feeling that it wouldn't be the last time she saw the observatory and its multiracial staff... and that was without her seeing the figure on the third floor, who pushed aside the curtains to watch the unexpected intruder leave.

~*The end?*~