Chapter Text
GoodTimeWithScar fell from a high place
The message had been the last one sent via the communicator and it had been from two days ago. Grian had not thought much of it the moment he received the death message, it was normal for Scar to die multiple times a day. Especially now that he was working so hard on yet another building, so it had been nothing peculiar.
But Grian had not heard anything from Scar after that. He had not seen him go around Boatem, had not seen him at the ever growing chest monster behind his house, had not seen him say anything via the communicator. He might have gone off mining, but knowing Scar he would first have cleared out the G-Train for resources before he would go mining himself. The G-Trains stock was not stellar at the moment, as Grian had a hundred other things on his to do list, but there were still some resources Scar could have taken.
It had gotten to the point Grian had decided to go look for his friend. He did not really want to get up into his business, Scar could get pretty distracted while building, but he had to calm his own nerves. He had barely slept because of it tonight and his sleep schedule was already terrible. It was early in the morning, very early even, as Grian made his way across the wet grass and paths. It was quiet in Boatem, which was something rare on its own. But this early, the others were probably still asleep or they had forgotten the time somewhere deep underground while mining. Grian knew Impulse had been on a bit of a grind lately, he had not seen him emerge from his ever growing factory in days now.
But he knew that. Impulse told him in passing, asking to contact him if anything came up. Scar had not told a thing, he had not even left a note in the Boatem meeting room or anything. It still felt somewhat wrong to be so nosy, but Grian just could not help himself.
The rising sun casted golden rays over the Boatem area, making the nightly mobs retract back into their dark crevasses. There were plenty, with the rising mountains near the sea where Mumbo, Pearl and Grian himself had decided to work on their big builds. And Scar, of course, but the madman had been building all over Boatem. Stacks and chests of supplies had piled up at the foot of of the mountains and because Grian had moved al his stuff inside the cave he was building in it actually looked like he had his things sorted out.
He had not, for a matter of fact. He tried that once, but now he had quickly embraced the ever growing chest monster. As long as he could find his materials, it was fine to him.
Nothing had changed at Scars house in the last two days. The colorful copper roof stood out against the dark deep slate trims and the garden was lush as ever. Grian hoisted himself up the narrow ladder, his muscles protesting against the small work out so early in the morning. He had not even had breakfast yet, but maybe he could enjoy some with Scar. That was if he even was at home, of course.
Once he stood on the incredibly small platform in front of the door, Grian pulled the cord to activate the doorbell. Mumbo had probably installed it for Scar, and on the inside a short melody played. Of course, it could not be a normal bell, that would be way to boring. When nothing happened after a good minute, Grian pulled the cord again and knocked on the wooden door.
“Scar?” he asked, leaning in to peek through one of the small windows next to the door. The interior was dark, without any sign of life or movement. Grian hesitated for a moment, but pushed the door ever so slightly to check whether it was even locked. He was not really surprised when he found the door moving under the pressure he applied. There was little use locking doors on Hermitcraft, especially when they were so high up no mob or monster could reach it.
Grian stepped into the building, quiet in case Scar was just still sleeping upstairs. He maneuvered himself carefully through the tight interior, checking every dark corner for a surprise creeper. He had blown up this house once before because Scar had barely lit up the place, he was not planning on doing so again.
Grian climbed a second ladder, leading to what he knew were Scars living quarters. Down here was just storage, though Grian was almost certain most of Scars belongings were stored in his chests outside. They both worked according to the same principle in that way: as long as you could find what you needed, there was no problem at all.
There was slightly more light upstairs as the sun had risen a bit more and natural light fell into the mostly wooden interior. There was an empty bed, some mob heads on display on shelves along the wall and a neatly trimmed potted azalea plant. A chest full of junk stood opened in one of the corners and the copper that the whole building was engulfed in made the room smell somewhat weird.
All of that, but no Scar. The bed was made, though a bit messily. A chest plate was chucked to the side and two bowls stood at the end of the bed. Grian frowned at that for a second, only to realize those were probably for Jellie. The fact that the bowls were empty, worried Grian even more. Had Scar gone somewhere and taken Jellie with him? He did not even dare to take her mining with him, let alone let her wander around on his building sites. As far as Grian knew, the grey and white cat stayed indoors, patiently waiting for her dad to come home every evening.
“Jellie~,” Grian looked around, calling out for the cat. If Scar was not here, he could at least take care of the cat. He eventually found the container with food and as soon as he opened it, Jellie appeared seemingly out of nowhere. There had to be some crevasse she had been hiding in and before Grian could even react she had already jumped straight into the container with pellets.
“Woah!” Grian exclaimed, grabbing for the cat to yank her out of the tiny container. “Somebody is hungry, I see. I – hold on Jellie, you can’t eat the whole box.” Jellie struggled in Grians grasp, trying to escape, but Grian managed to close the container before letting go. Jellie meowed, disappointed if that was possible for a cat. A pet on her head did not seem to make it any better.
“I’ll give you some,” Grian said to her, grabbing the empty bowl. “Where is your dad? Has he not fed you?”
Grian was silent for a second, halfheartedly expecting an answer from the cat. Jellie just stared at the food container, not focused on Grian at all.
Grian fed the cat and filled the other bowl with water. He watched as she ate, inhaling the food at an incredible speed. She really had been hungry. It was unlike Scar to leave Jellie unattended like this. Grian had taken care of her before, when he went for big mining sessions or would be off to the other side of the continent for some days. Had Grian missed a message, perhaps?
As soon as Jellie had finished eating, her grumpy demeanor seemed to diminish. She pushed her head against Grians legs, begging for some pets which Grian gave her. The low purr was the only sound in the room.
Something definitely was wrong, Grian now firmly dared to make that conclusion. Scar had died and mysteriously vanished. Even if he had lost his respawn point in some way, the trek from spawn back to Boatem should not take any longer than half a day. He would have said something in chat, would have asked for somebody to pick up his stuff. But it had been death silent ever since that last message from two days ago.
That was the second weird thing. Complete radio silence on the communicator for two days straight. Grian had honestly been too busy with the build of the Midnight Alley to really notice, but now it dawned on him. He had not heard from any other Hermit, and neither had he tried to contact Scar via the handy device. He sat down on the bed, pulling the sleeve of his sweater up to reveal the metallic band around his wrist. Not all Hermits had their communicators in the form of a bracelet, some had them in glasses or necklaces. Xisuma could easily customize them and happily did so. Grian found that this was the best form for him. He pushed the dimly lit red button in the center, and a holographic screen popped up, showing the chat log. The last messages had been nothing out of the ordinary.
BdoubleO100 tried swimming in lava
<TangoTek> You alright? That is the third time in like ten minutes dude
<BdoubleO100> The nether is the WORST
<TangoTek> Need some help?
<BdoubleO100> If you can spare the time, meet me at Fifi
<Etho> Anybody seen Iskall lately?
<Stressmonster101> He’s been busy at VH I believe. He’ll be back.
GoodTimeWithScar fell from a high place
Grian pulled up the keypad and started to type. Just a very simple You good Scar?. If he would get a reaction out of that, he had nothing to worry about. Maybe he should take a break from building, he had been going hard for the last days. His brain needed some rest and it had made him just a bit paranoid.
As Grian pushed the send button, the text disappeared. The chat log did not change, his question to Scar disappearing into the ether. Grian frowned, that was a weird bug, but he tried again. Still, the message disappeared once he tried to send it away. He closed the device, only to open it up a minute later to try and send the message once again. Still, it did not work.
In the two seasons he had been tagging along with the Hermits now, he had never heard of a broken communicator. Xisuma made them himself and even though they did not look like much, they were the toughest little devices Grian had ever seen. They reappeared right with you when you respawned, never getting lost like so much other stuff when a player died. Was it just Grians communicator that had this issue?
Questions started to flood his brain and he knew he would drive himself crazy if he stayed here trying to answer them on his own. He stood up abruptly, scaring Jellie in the process and made his way out again. He made a mental note to check up on Jellie later that day. He quickly clambered down the precarious ladder, walking across the grassy fields of Boatem. The sun had risen well into the sky now, illuminating the Boatem Pole in the center of their little community. It had been one of the weirdest things Grian had been a part in of constructing, and he loved it. It was chaotic, is was spontaneous, it was weird. Just like the Boatem Crew itself.
Impulse was somewhere deep in his mines of the factory and Mumbo was probably checking on his farms this early in the morning. That left Pearl as the only one Grian could go talk to. He adjusted his elytra ever so slightly, checking the leather straps of the near magical device as he pulled out a rocket and pushed himself off the ground. The whole movement was so natural to him, he could probably do it in his sleep. He wondered if that was a thing, sleep flying. It sure would be dangerous.
Pearls magnificent base was perched on the flat mountain to the right of Grians cave, the reds, whites and blacks making a stark contrast against the greys and browns of the rocky ground. Grian did not know what Pearls final vision for this build was, but it was already looking marvelous. If he did not know any better, it would feel like Pearl had been a part of Hermitcraft much longer than just this short amount of time. She had blended in so well with everybody and Grian was happy she found her place here in Boatem. He knew how difficult he found it, his first season. Trying to mingle yourself with others who already had deep and long relationships could be scary.
It took Grian a solid fifteen minutes to find Pearl within her base. She was working on an interior, fully engrossed in the project as she flipped through some color combinations in a notebook. She only looked up as Grian softly knocked on the door to the large room she was in.
“Oh, hello Grian,” she said somewhat startled and she put away the notebook. “Good morning.”
She was wearing her staple dark blue hoodie with soft fur lining, brown hair falling over her shoulders. She was still wearing shorts and Grian did not understand how she was comfortable like that. It could become very cold in Boatem, especially in these high terrain places.
“Hi,” Grian said briefly, walking into the room. “I have a weird question.”
“Alright…” Pearl frowned a bit, not sure to be concerned or not.
“Is your communicator working?”
Pearl seemed surprised and she did not respond immediately. Then, she pulled up her arm where a bracelet not much unlike Grians was located.
“I have been busy doing interiors, to be honest,” she said, vaguely gesturing to the room. “I have not checked chat in a bit. O god, poor Scar.”
She chuckled, a smile creeping on her face.
“Is that you last message?” Grian walked towards her, but because of the way the communicators worked, he could not actually see was Pearl was looking at. Something to do with personal player codes or something, he had honestly forgotten what Xisuma had explained about it. It was way too complicated for him.
“That Scar fell?” Pearl looked up. “Yep.”
“That has been two day ago,” Grian clarified. “Nothing has been said for two days and now I can’t seem to find Scar anywhere. He did not even message somebody to take care of Jellie. When I tried to send a message, nothing got through.”
“That is weird,” Pearl agreed in a stern voice. “Let me try…”
Her fingers flied through the air, typing away at the keypad only she was able to see. Grian pulled up his bracelet, waiting for her message to come through. When Pearls fingers froze in the air and it stayed dead silent in the room, a slight panic started to build in Grians chest.
“Mine does not seem to work either,” Pearl concluded. “Alright, that is weird. Have any ideas about what could be wrong?”
“How should I?” Grian said almost desperate, throwing his arms in the air ever so slightly. “These communicators are like magic to me. They have never malfunctioned before.”
“Would Mumbo know?” Pearl pulled the sleave of her vest over her wrist again, turning her attention back to Grian.
“Maybe,” he said with a shrug. “But I have not seen him yet today.”
“We can just – “ Pearl started, cutting of her own sentence midway. She voiced a small oh and Grian could guess where her train of thought had gone to. They could not message him to ask about it. That was the entire problem.
“No need to panic yet,” she quickly recovered. “We’ll just wait until Mumbo gets back and ask him then. We don’t need communicators to build.”
“But what about Scar?”
“I – “ Pearl felt silent again, thinking. She bit her lip, and then she just shrugged. “I honestly don’t know, Grian. But I think it is a bad idea to fly around the continent like headless chickens causing a panic. There probably is a very logical explanation for this.”
Grian wanted to believe her. He really did. And he told himself he did.
But deep, deep down, he did not.
Welsknight was blown up by Creeper