C15: Hunter Henryk
pub-11/27/2025
----------------------------------------------
I stand beside the traveling survivors as we all observe the solidary figure standing before Gascoigne's grave. The figure is unmoving but the hunter pistol in his left hand is a quick indicator of who or what he is, yet since he has no memories of this individual, he cant think of why he is here.
"Alright, here is what is going to happen. You all are going to hug the wall here on the right side while I deal with this person. If they are hostile, you all get to running but if not then just move on at your own pace. Make sure none of you are left behind" I tell the whole group a simple plan where I act as the diversion for them to run.
Then as they get into place, I approach Cherry and move her aside to explain the plan but her's is different as I know that these people, at least most of them are 'meant' to turn into beasts later down the line but I can't tell when these people would transform. Or if not at all due to the chapel's incense, so he is planning to have her go down the stairs with a bold hunters mark and molotov.
He briefly teaches her how to light it and to try throwing it at the feet of whatever tries to approach her then try to use the mark, if neither works then run back up the stairs and do the same as the others by hugging the wall.
When she gives me a nod, I usher her away while the other adults give me weird looks that question my motive for not having her join them but I simply state: " New Foundling Hunter Training. Do you wish to join her in her first kill against some giant rat?" That seems to create a strange scene but they are too worried about more beasts coming than about a little girl that hung around a hunter.
Just as I am about to mentally prepare myself for fighting another hunter, Cherry comes. "Mister Hunter, I just remembered but have you seen my grandpa too? Papa worked with him a lot during the hunt. Im sure he is worried bout Mummy too" Cherry suddenly asks me
"Why mention him now" I ask in confusion as I can take the time to find her grandpa later. She simply shrugs and says the man inside reminds her of Grandpa.
"Alright, I'll look for him but for now, stay safe and do what I told you. I'll be back shortly" She nods in acceptance and goes down the stairs.
With everyone sorted away, the granny I can tell is cursing me like usual with her typical glares but I just wave at her with a cheeky smile until she looks away.
"Alright, all of you get moving" I say as I reenter the graveyard, saw cleaver and pistol in hand, a similar set up as the one opposite of me as he seems to sense my presence. I choose to speak up to find out who he is. "Hail friend" I begin tentatively as I begin my approach. "May I ask what you are doing at my teacher's grave?" I get no response in turn
Taking up his own saw cleaver that he had resting on top of the gravestone. His clothing is similar to the typical Yharnam Hunter Set but older. I can see the lines adorning his face, showcasing age.
"Gascoigne, you failed me. You failed Viola. Now Nothing Else Matters" he mutters out his grievances but I do not hear him as he seems to rush at me randomly. I parry his saw cleaver with my own but he then just shoots me.
"Gah, RUN" I back step after being shot and yell at the civilian group who does as I say while I return my focus to the hunter.
"That wasn't very nice" I state as I ready myself once more for whatever comes next.
"Beasts, why do you protect them. You should just cull them as they are, at least that way they will remain human" His voice raspy reminding me of batman but I do not agree with him and I make this known.
"Only a small handful of people do I care about, whether they turn into beasts or die is not my problem but If there is one less beast I have to kill then the better. Saves me some effort since I'm a fair bit lazy" I state my conviction regarding beasts as well as the remaining Yharnaminites of this city.
Afterall, it is the truth that only Mar, Cherry (who replaced Gascoigne) and maybe whatever remains of my foster siblings is all that really matters to me. While most of my siblings had gone off to do their only thing, they had kept in touch over the years.
I don't have any more time to think as the opposing hunter rushes me spouting that I too will fall and become a beast, how it is better for everyone to simply die.
He hits me upside the head with the blunt edge of his cleaver, a small trail of blood comes down the side of my face as I still got nicked by the serrated blades.
I switch to the Vileblood title which boosts my strength and stamina as I reengage with this hunter who is obviously far more experienced than me with the saw cleaver. We exchange blow for blow as the durability of both our cleavers begins to drop but not so much they are irreparable.
"Good technique hunter but you're rusty, I can tell." He rushes at me again. I had to discard my gun as I had no chance to use it. He moves too fast to be hit by them unless he is right in my face but then he either gets me first or I panic dodge away from him. I still feel the metal on my throat from my last encounter with an unknown hunter.
I take out Gascoigne's axe in my left hand as I integrate it into my fighting style.
I was already pretty good with the axe but I just don't have one of my own since the Messengers still have it. Yet Gascoignes will fill that void in familiarity.
The fight progresses in a reverse manner as I expertly if not minorly awkwardly due to using the axe in my non dominant hand, am able to parry more of the unknown hunters attacks which creates an opening for me to attack with my cleaver.
As for any time I actually mess up, I can simply use shadow step to get around the hunter to strike him. Though it does have to be noted that he truly is an expert as during our initial fights he got my timing down and staggered me but for some reason never went for the kill. Which of course I appreciate.
It's as if he is grappling with his humanity still. Or maybe the sight of Gascoigne's axe was part of the reason. He did question me about it but then stopped himself as he just assumed I was Gascoigne's murder. Which is true, by technicality.
Our fight continues for a few more minutes until another figure approaches, it's the crow lady.
"You should not be here. And you shouldnt have brought a little girl here either" She nags at me but I scoff as I duck underneath another swing of the mad hunters cleaver.
"Im bringing her to a safe place, who told this guy to get in my way. The other survivors have already run off and are safe." I state as I take another bullet to the shoulder from the unknown hunter but this time the crow lady rushes in with her Blade of Mercy.
She quickly redirects the incoming strike away before clicking her weapon and separating them into two short daggers that she uses with great finesse but the old bird still gets smacked around a few times. The unknown Hunter seems to have even less regard for the crow than for me.
"KYAAAHH" I suddenly hear a cry in the distance, all three of us stop at the same time though I can still faintly see twitching in the unknown hunter's body.
"Cherry!!" I call out as I run away from the two. Yet as I reached the stairs, I heard a followup cry from her.
"Grandpa!!"
I nearly feared for the worst, thinking her grandfather had turned into a beast but still greatly resembled his original form and was now terrorizing her.
I begin sprinting down the stairs when I see the unknown hunter dash over me, jumping the entirety of the stairs before doing that again and reaching the upper bridge area where Cherry is surrounded by two Huntsman Minions (brutes).
I arrive at the scene just as the unknown hunter slays the two beasts. He then looks to the little girl and my heart sinks, thinking this bastard was about to kill a little girl. The crow seemed to share my sentiment as she rushes down alongside me.
Yet our worst fears do not come true…this time around. The man drops his weapons and hugs the little girl, she reciprocates by hugging him around his neck and cheerfully calling for him.
"Grandpa, I missed you, thank you for saving me."
"Cherry, are you alright darling. Why are you out here" The old man questions her, anxiety present all around as Eileen the crow stops in her tracks. A questioning look on her as she tries to determine whether the hunter has truly gone mad as she does not see those traces anymore.
I choose to bypass her and approach the hugging duo.
"Are you alright Cherry?"
"Mister Hunter! Thank you for finding my grandpapa." She lifts her head to look at me with a cheerful smile on her face which alleviates my worries.
"Yea no worries, he did beat me up a bit though. You might want to get him a new pair of reading glasses." I try to play it off with a small joke but she only tilts her head in confusion.
"Grandpa, you shouldnt beat up mister hunter. He told me momma and papa were in a safe place now and I was going to see them soon. Is it safe to meet them now?" She waves her little finger at old Hunter Henryk as she explains why she was with me and then asks me a question.
A special question which makes the old hunter glare at me with accusation apparent.
"Yea" I huff a bit, fairly tired from that extreme duet, "we are close. The safe place is just on the other side of the graveyard. We will see your mom and dad on the way."
"What are you doing?" Henryk questions me as we both share a knowing look about the fate of Gasoigne and Viola.
"She has a right to know, a right to see her parents. I will not deny it to her, I was also the one told to look after her. Something you nearly messed up by attacking me, Henryk." I set the scene and he at least has the ability to look guilty at his mad actions.
And yes, I did know him, just not personally as all my interactions with Gascoigne only mentioned Henryk in complaints or how he was related to the man's wife, needing Henryk's approval and whatnot but not their proper connection or what he looked like.
I had theorized he was a very protective brother or something and not Gascoigne's father in law who was also his hunter partner.
The man still glares at me as he walks past me and Eileen, returning to the graveyard. I give him a stink eye in return as I follow along after grabbing his weapons as well as the unused molotov I gave to Cherry. Eileen follows too but only to keep watch on Henryk.
"You have Gascoigne's axe, were you the one who set it up?" Henryk asks me a question as he goes up the stairs. "I did, someone had to make sure they were at peace"
"Thank you" A silence flows around us as the three of us plus Eileen arrive at the sizable gravestone demarcated with my carvings for the child's mother and father.
"Grandpa, where is mummy and daddy?" Cherry asks in a confused tone of why we stopped here. I take a deep breath as I force my will into action.
"I'm sorry Cherry, both your mom and dad can't be with you anymore." I place my hand on her head but she just looks around in confusion until the sense of mourning that both me and Henryk are emitting catches up to her.
Tears start to well up on her face as with a shaky voice she tells me. "Mister Hunter, you told me my mom and dad were safe. Why did you lie to me" Her words sting at my heart but my autismo wins out in this situation as I try to explain to her.
"They are safe, nobody can harm them anymore. And you will be safe too but in a different way. Just above is plenty of incense to last the night. We'll leave this city when the night ends…together. You won't be alone any more" I attempt to comfort her but Henryk keeps her close to him as he comforts the now crying child.
Cherry ignores me as she keeps hugging her grandpa who nods at me in thanks for explaining but it's now up to him to help her calm down. We all march up the stairs, past the gates and then Henryk and I work together to bring Cherry up who was still crying.
I am not a good guardian, I know that, I'm sure Gascoigne also knew that, but this is how things are, there was no one else there who could be her protector. An old man on the brink of madness is certainly not one of them. My mood only continues to plummet as we walk by the idle survivors who have set up shop in the workshop at the top of the ladder but below the chapel itself.
I pay them no mind as I have done my duty. We all reach the chapel itself and Henryk finds a chair in a corner where he sits down with Cherry still on his lap. I set down her bags of toys and clothing next to them as i collapse near the lamp.
[Hidden Quest: Help Eileen the Crow deal with Old Hunter Henryk.
1/1 Henryk dealt with.
Reward: 10k echoes & Old Hunters blessing.]
[Side Quest: Take care of her, Part one has been completed. Cherry has been relocated to a safe zone.
Rewards provided: 1 Kin of kin (consumable), 1/4th of NG+25 Gascoigne echoes * 3 skill shards have been deposited in your inventory.]
I pause as I feel the huge chunk of echoes flow into me once more. Doubling my overall echoes.
Originally, I only had 552 echoes when i returned from the dream and met the cleric beast.
It's chase gave me a few hundred echoes and then combined with the towns folk I cleared up and dogs, I gained 2114 after a positive increase for my hard work. Then I also had the 85k from 'beating' Gascoigne. Now i got another 85k for completing the first half of this quest, leaving me at a rich 184,078 if I include the hidden quest reward.
There are still the two thousand on the bridge in Central Yharnam but that was remade into the Cleric Beasts arena again and I'm still not strong enough to get those back but that is about to change.
I wave the duo in the corner off as I return to the dream. I have a plan (",Arthur").
-------------------------------------------------------------
Word count is 2822
Eileen's questline which at the time I first played this game, I knew nothing about. I mean I found her the first time around but never later nor came back to the Oedon chapel lamp to find it was inactive (due to henryk's arrival). As such I missed the entire questline. I was more into the lore back then but I was also getting my ass beat since I had gone from Sekiro to the DS1 Remake to this. I was pretty jumbled up by everything at the time.
Whether you like the chapter or not, drop a comment. I can't be letting myself get complacent in my writing. I still have plenty of growth in all forms.
discord channel still has the next chapter preview like usual: https://discord.gg/rE6gtg28XH
Patr-eon.com/Xanok to find me. take out hyphen from word