[h3]The Hunter's Dream[/h3]
In his fervor to close the distance and engage the twisted creatures the Messengers had become, Farren quickstepped forward before fully comprehending the situation and, upon realizing that a ranged attack was being directed at him, attempted to divert. It was at this point that Farren learned a very important limitation of the otherwise immensely powerful quickstep: once initiated, changing direction in any way during it was impossible, and there was a brief half-second delay from the end of one quickstep until he could muster the power to perform another.
As such there was nothing Farren could do to stop the arcane bolt from hitting him, only for him to discover that the bolt hitting him did not actually cause injury nor pain. Instead he found that the bluish energy instantly expanded in a flash of light, and he a force like invisible ropes suddenly wrap around his body. This arcane prison not only bound his arms tightly to his torso, preventing him from defending himself in any way, but also seemed to root him in place. No matter how he tried to twist or lean, his torso was immobilized at a specific point in space, to the point where he would remain stuck even if he pulled up his legs and no longer touched the ground.

Letting out horrid celebratory screeches after their first attack had struck true, the two abominations rushed – their movements not those of a humanoid, but rather a bug-like skitter – eagerly toward their defenseless prey. The front-runner of the two, the same one that had shot the arcane bolt at him, grasped toward him greedily with its hand... only for a large object to whistle past Farren's right ear, just several centimeters from his head, past the creature, and impact the ground right behind it and between the two monsters.
Upon impacting, this projectile – a metallic ball of some description – instantly detonated in a powerful fiery explosion. Both of the twisted Messengers screeched as they were flung away, sprawling onto the ground on either side of Farren, while Farren – immobilized as he was – merely got to experience the searing heat on his skin and several small pieces of shrapnel embedding into his flesh.

The arcane prison finally relented, releasing Farren and allowing him to move again, while his two assailants moved frantically to get back on their feet. Behind him, up on the stairs to the workshop, the Shopkeeper sprinted down toward him with what appeared to be a cannon strapped to their left arm.