D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

— Kat —

Nobody was entirely pleased with Kamiko’s suggestion. Well, except for Kamiko herself and perhaps Lily who was remarkably unconcerned. Kat felt it might be a bit much and Hunter felt it was an insult to the groups skills to need two safety nets, but neither actually argued over it.

Kat found herself geared up, with a backpack for Lily and a bracelet on her hand. It was remarkably awkward. Bower’s description didn’t properly prepare her for actually using the damned thing.

See, the issue was, why the pull couldn’t be called ‘strong’ in comparison to the true strength of the team… it DID overwhelm the ‘mortal’ strength people tended to default to when they weren’t thinking about it much.

It just barely road the line, where you certainly could force it back into place with ‘mortal’ strength but it was inconvenient to do so. Kat found this out by moving around the clearing and testing out the limits of the rope, mostly to get an idea of her limits with it… but the bracelet proved to need a bit of testing as well.

A brief test from Lily proved that the bracelet didn’t work at all while she was in her Memphis form, but that she definitely had a sense of where Kat was. Nobody knew if it would dim with distance, but there wasn’t a great way to test it right now.

As they prepared to enter the mist, Kamiko had another insightful question. “Um… is the mist safe?”

“Of course not,” said Bower as he gave Kamiko a confused look. “It’s full of all manner of aggressive and stealthy monsters, some of the fauna still attacks you, not all of the pockets are safe to stay in long, be it from the heat or the poison that gets you. The unwary can even find themselves falling to their death all of a sudden. It is most certainly not safe,”

“Um… yes… well… not that? I mean… is the mist itself safe to breath in? Kat’s… Kat will probably be fine, but like… I’m just Rank 2 and I always have been. I don’t have any healing… so like… what would it do to my lungs?”

“Oh,” said Bower, freezing up completely as the question properly registered. “That’s an interesting question Pinky… and I too would like to know the answer,”

“AREN’T YOU THE GUIDE!” hissed Kamiko.

“Well, yes. My job is to keep you from dying inside the forest. If you die outside of it due to lung related issues? That’s very much not my job,” assured Bower with a large grin. Kamiko of course, pouted at his nonchalance in return.

Hunter, figuratively for she didn’t have legs, strode forward to ask “While I do appreciate the attempt at humour, a proper answer may be required. Many suffer from altitude sickness, and I cannot help but wonder if a similar situation arises within the mist,”

“That’s not a bad point,” agreed Bower. “I joke about this because honestly I’ve not thought about it, neither has anyone I brought with me, clearly. I don’t… think it causes any problems? Certainly not any I’ve noticed. Then again, I’ve got quite a few problems already so I mighta just missed it,”

Hunter sighed, “Kat if you wouldn’t mind?”

It took Kat a second to work out what Hunter was asking until the answer came to her. “Sure just watch Lily for a second,” [I am not on board with this.] Kat ignored Lily’s complaint and strode into the mist as far a she could with the rope still attached and breathed in deeply.

Kat watched as the mist got sucked into her mouth, tasted the water inside of it, and tried to feel it as it went down her throat.

Kat wasn’t noticing anything odd. Even after taking a break for a few moments and then intentionally sucking down as much mist as she could. One further test, was stepping through the barrier with mist clearly still inside of her mouth… but nothing seemed to go wrong there either. “No idea how it works, but it seems to act like normal mist once it’s inside you.

Just a touch watery and I had no problems breathing.

“Good to know, I apologise for the suggestion,” said Hunter as she held a bag filled with a hissing Memphis. Kat retrieved the bag and tightened it against her back. Said backpack was filled with small pillows that would, hopefully, prevent any issues from the jostling movements.

Lily did wish she had a way to properly see outside, alas, she didn’t remember the shadow eye spell and even with Kat’s mind to help parse the memories it just wasn’t clear enough to risk trying. Not here. A paper version would be nice as well, but alas, Lily didn’t recall seeing one the book, or elsewhere for that matter.

“With that out of the way, is everyone ready?” asked Bower.

“Yes,” said the demons.

“Great, in that case, follow me. You obviously can’t get too far away but it’d be annoying if I got in trouble because you guys hung back and the rope got tight. Just keep your eyes forward, and I’ll shout if you need to do something specific. Be prepared to see nothing for a while,” said Bower.

A moment later he marched forward into the mist. Kat was up next, mostly to allow her to take damage for Bower in front, or Kamiko just behind her. It wasn’t said aloud, and Lily wasn’t pleased with it but Kat understood her role on the team and honestly didn’t mind a bit of pain for her group’s safety. Kamiko was next, mostly because Hunter the other major combatant was taking up rearguard.

As soon as they entered the mist, everything else seemed to vanish. The sounds of the forest were dulled to the slight crunching of their feet on the fallen leaves. Even with Kat’s true-sight she saw nothing more than a thick coating of silver just a bit ahead of her. She could just barely make out Bower ahead, but that was mostly due to his course pushing aside some mist.

If they stopped Kat wasn’t sure how long that would continue.

Their progress was rather slow compared to what they were used to, remaining at just barely above a walk. Nobody was complaining about that. The terrain was treacherous even with just a few roots and slightly uneven ground. Bower had clearly used this path before, old signs of passage clearly evident… but even with that it was a hard walk.

Without being able to see everything properly they were nearly blind. Walking wasn’t quite so automatic more because the mist swirled thickly around their ankles, blocking out a lot of the ground and quickly filling and brief gaps that did occur. It became half a process of memorising the path, and half being ready for anything.

Kat wondered if it would be better for her to just fly, the trees seemed far enough away from her for it to be possible… but that was uncertain. Kat couldn’t be sure of anything in this silver world. Her worries were not helped by the fact that Bower shouted for a stop, just moments before an attack.

Kat had no idea how he managed that, nor how he managed to hit the monster straight on with his crossbow.

It looked a bit like a giant squirrel had sex with a skunk. It had a skunks size and tail, with two large front teeth and rather small feet for its size. It had slight skin flaps around its arms that might help it glide… or it might not. It was only a bit.

The worst part was its coat, a similar silvery texture to the mist and the only thing that let them spot it was the large crossbow bolt sticking out of its chest. The silvery blood it leaked seemingly blending straight back into the mist.

“Careful of these buggers, I call them Silver Squirrels, but they ain’t nothing cuddly. Their teeth have a space imbuement and can slice through anything including armour. If that wasn’t bad enough the bliters also have poisonous spurs on the back of their legs.

We’re unlucky to see one so close to the edge, they tend to be grouped up further in… but one of the few monsters that roam the mists proper instead of a bubble,” explained Bower.

“How did you notice it?” asked Hunter. “I spotted it before you shot, my skills are sufficient for that much… but I did not have any warning of its approach before you made your call. I know I am at the back of this caravan, but I feel as though I am lacking if I did not see this coming,”

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“It’s really more of a feeling Snakey,” said Bower. “Ya just… have to feel how the mist moves. It’s a bit different if something is coming for ya. Might also be that I hear it a bit before I see it, but I don’t rightly know. I don’t hear it hear it, but perhaps something is there? Quiet buggers though.

Notice how even when I pinned it to the tree, even now, it doesn’t make a sound. It looks dead… but I wouldn’t count on that just yet,”