Freeze or Fall

Chapter 5: Whispers

ET narrowed his eyes at the screen. Sam had been clueless about the spawnpoint change, so they'd taken a look at the changelog. The change was easy to spot, a little bit of reverse hacking and it was back to normal.

Evil Xisuma has left the game

"So. What does this mean?" Sam asked, twirling a knife in his fingers.

ET closed the screen with an impatient huff. "It means that part two must be put in motion."

"Sweet! I assume you want to do this yourself right?" Sam answered, sheathing the knife.

"Yes. My work here is done. If you need to find me, you know what to do." ET pulled out his own communicator. "Hermitcraft has no idea what's coming for them."

ET left the game

__________________________

Jrumbot stumbled through the jungle, making their way to the giant snail that rested on the ground. A wizard was rummaging through a chest monster, but glanced up when Jrumbot ambled into the clearing.

"Hey little guy! You're a bit far from home, shouldn't you be with Mumbo?" Scar wondered, walking over.

Jrumbot didn't answer, just making grabby arms with a sweet smile.

"You want up? Okay." Scar chuckled, picking up the small robot. "I hope you don't make Jellie jealous. Now, where was I?"

Scar hoisted the small robot's weight over to one arm, freeing one to continue rummaging through the chests. A few minutes later and Scar found what he was looking for.

"Ah! There it is!" Scar grinned, slipping the Jellie snacks into his inventory.

"You're a lot like your host, hmm?"

Scar frowned, glancing around.

"Don't you think it's unfair, being trapped in that body?"

"Jrumbot, you can't hear that, can you?"

The robot shook its head.

"Maybe I should go back to the mindspace." Scar mumbled, setting Jrumbot down.

"Back to the place you cannot escape? You know, he used to hate that place. He saw what I can see."

"Who?" Scar frowned, glancing around for the disembodied voice.

"You know who. BadTimes. But of course, an evil alt only gets so much freedom. Besides, being tied to the Vex gave him an easy escape, able to go back to Hels. I never got that luxury."

"Who are you?" Scar asked out loud.

"It doesn't matter. But I know who you are, Wizard Scar. You have a lot of leeway, being an alter that's so similar to your host. It would be so easy to just... Take over."

"What?! No!? Why would I do that?!"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way then."

_______________________

"Jrumbot? Jrumbot where are you?" Mumbo called out, trudging through the jungle.

"JRUMBOT. ARE YOU CLOSE?" Grumbot asked, falling in step.

The little guy had wandered off after Mumbo took his eyes off him for two seconds. Grumbot had been able to track him to the jungle biome, but the dense trees had made the racker impossible to find once they entered.

"Jrumbot? Oh thank goodness!" Mumbo breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Jrumbot outside Scar's snail. He ran forwards and hugged the robot, checking over for any damages, and pausing when he saw the worried look on Jrumbot's face.

Jrumbot grabbed Mumbo's sleeve and tugged him over in the direction of Scar's snail. As they rounded the corner, Mumbo paled.

"Grumbot, go drop Jrumbot off with Iskall."

The taller robot nodded, scooping up their sibling and hurrying away. Mumbo pulled out his communicator and privately messaged Xisuma.

Mumbo Jumbo: Xisuma, something bad happened to Scar. We're at his snail, please hurry!

Xisumavoid: On my way, is there by any chance a black unidentifiable substance around him?

Mumbo Jumbo: Yes, how'd you know?

Xisumavoid: Something happened to Ren too. Just whatever you do, don't touch that black stuff. Wels made that mistake, and now he's in the same state as Ren, and as I'm guessing Scar too.

Mumbo Jumbo: Should I DM Doc?

Xisumavoid: He's watching Ren and Wels, but I'll let him know about Scar. Stay safe, I'm almost there.