D.E.M.O.N.S: GETTING SUMMONED WEEKLY ISN'T SO BAD

— Kat —

Kat simply reacted. She didn’t know why, even after her motions were done but something was wrong. Her tail swiped out to the left hooking itself around Green, the hand for that side reached forward and wrapped over Gareth’s shoulder. Kat’s right hand extended out to block Nixilei’s passage and Kat herself was a good enough block to keep Kress in place.

“What’s the issue?” asked Gareth, his weapons were already out while walking and he was slowly glancing around.

“I… I don’t know. Something is wrong I’m sure of it. I don’t feel wrong in stopping you all… but I don’t know what that something is…” mumbled Kat.

Kress snorted as he leaned backwards slightly to give him a bit of space to swipe at things. He was a bit too close to Kat to properly make use of his weapons even if it was his daggers, “Well, far be it from me to complain about you saving us all from a terrible fate… but what IS it?”

Kat frowned as the rain bead down on the ground area them, soaking into most of the clothes the group was wearing. Kat was mostly hydrophobic and Lily had a little shadow umbrella keeping her somewhat dry… but everyone else was soaked and just standing in the middle of the jungle, far away from trees or any other obvious hiding spot was making them a slight bit annoyed. They were willing to trust Kat had a reason for her call… but was it enough of one.

“Shit,” cursed Green. “I know what it is,”

Kat glanced over as she carefully pulled her limbs away from the other three. If Green knew what it was, then there was no need to keep everyone else from moving. “Well?” hissed Nixilei. “I’m soaked to the bone already. No sense waiting for the stars to align. What’s the issue?”

“I… I think we’ve got a Rank 4 Treekeeper on our hands… or at least… it’s large enough to be one. I think Kat noticed it’s eye. I don’t want to risk pointing, but it’s over on our left, it’s um… north-westish and you can just barely see the eye around some fallen leaves. I can hardly make it out and I’m meant to be the scout of the team…” grumbled Green.

Nixilei glanced at the tree in question and it was ages away. They were basically in a clearing at the moment. It wasn’t the closest tree to them, not by a long shot… but Green might just be right. “Are we really in range? That fucker is huge if we are… it’s easily thrice the size it should be, perhaps more… dammit that’s not good… if it’s really Rank 4 it’s not going to allow us to leave…”

“I think it’s got the range,” mumbled Gareth. It might not be the eye Kat saw. It’s… buried about three steps ahead of me is a bit of a tree root. I thought it was from the one just to the right but… the angle is wrong and it’s mostly buried. I think it was completely buried before the rain…”

Kat glanced over Gareth’s shoulder and looked at the ‘root’ in question and Gareth seemed right. It was mostly buried but what little of that blue-green ‘bark’ was visible seemed too shiny. The bark had a bit of a sheen to it sure, but that was just the water reflecting the light. This looked like it was some sort of mucus mixed in and really shined if you looked at it the right way. Then again, the roots might just look like that, Kat was no expert on Tree-octupus-trapspider things.

“Well that’s not good,” sighed Green.

“Why?” asked Kat.

“Well… I think we’re already inside its range and while we might not step anything to set the thing off… we’re pretty powerful. The keeper might just decide we’re too good of a snack to let go, especially if it IS Rank 4. I can’t hear it digging more to properly trap us but if we get too close to the edge of its range it might attack anyway…” explained Green.

“Right that’s obviously not good… what should we do then? Back up? Attack? What’s the play?” asked Kat.

“Attacking… well that’s definitely going to set it up and the issue is we don’t really know where its tentacles are or exactly what the range is. Oh, and Kat keep in mind that while I used the example of an octopus when describing this thing know its not limited to eight tentacles,” added Nixilei.

“Just great,” grumbled Kat. “How many does it have then?”

“That’s the issue. You can’t know. They grow as many as they feel they need, though usually in pairs because they have a bit of a thing about symmetry. Six is the lowest the ever go and there are records of them having as many as twenty… but most stick closer to between eight and ten,” offered Green.

“Right but we think it’s Rank 4,” cut in Nixilei. “So the chance it has twelve or more tentacles does increase… somewhat. The only recorded instance of a twenty tentacled one was actually only Rank 2 somehow…”

Kat frowned, “Ok… so do you guys just like… know this stuff?”

“The adventurers guild puts out exceptionally comprehensive guides on all of the monsters. Not the basic bitch pamphlets but full in depth taxonomical diagrams and histories of all important monsters in the region,” explained Nixilei. “They cost extra but Green as our scout and myself as… an intelligence officer read them religiously. Don’t get distracted though. This is not really the time…”

“Sorry. Um… in that case why are we worried about this thing? Like, I get its strong, and the tentacles can be a problem but what are the main worries?” asked Kat.

“The main worry, especially with attacking out of the blue is that it may have too many limbs for us to block. If this thing really is Rank 4? It’s going to take everything the rest of us have to block even one tentacle each and even THAT isn’t a certainty. The issue is you’ve only got five limbs Kat. If it comes at you with eight, nine, or worse? Even more? Then we might be fucked.

“Just because all of the tentacles are spread out at the moment doesn’t mean that can’t change fast. They’re beyond flexible and sending all of the tentacles over to us will be bit a moment of thought…” explained Nixilei.

“And yet it’s safe to stay here chatting?” hissed Kat.

“Yes, yes actually it IS,” insisted Nixilei. “They are fundamentally ambush hunters with ingrained instincts on how to go about that. If we LEAVE then that triggers a whole different set of priorities. Right now, we’re in its grasp but not in quite the right position. So… any crazy suggestions?”

Kat frowned. “I… I might be able to just pour on the demonic fire? The problem is… if the number of tentacles is an issue and it decided ‘fuck you in particular’ and just tries to end us with everything instead of like… cuttings is losses then that might be worse then just fighting the thing. Because fighting it while on fire is not a fun prospect,”

“Don’t you have control over who your demonic fire hurts?” asked Nixilei.

“Technically, but I’ve never got a super clear answer on how that process works even if I REALLY should. D.E.M.O.N.S is no help in that regard… and the issue is I need to be ‘controlling’ the fire more directly for that effect. If the fire spreads to the octopus thing and I’m not consciously controlling that part and it smacks you? I have NO idea what could happen,” explained Kat.

“No fire, got it,” mumbled Green. “Any other awesome tricks?”

“Well… I could try and fly us out? I don’t love it though… I’m not strong enough for everyone… but I can maybe jump? The issue is with how big this thing may or may not be. I have no idea how far I’d need to jump or if it could like… catch my legs or something after I leave the ground,” offered Kat.

“Hmmm…” Gareth hummed. “Lily how strong are your shields?”

Lily hopped over to Kat’s shoulder and transformed there, just in case standing on the ground triggered something. “My shields are at best Rank 3 material. I don’t have a tonne of practice there, and I’m not entirely convinced I’m really there… but I think a ball of shadows protecting us would count as Rank 3… which this thing might not be. In fact… I can sort of just feel that it’s not?”

“Hmm, that’d be those beastkin instincts at work,” grumbled Green. “I thought it was likely, but you can probably smell something about it I just can’t. Urgh… we’re going to have to take a risk regardless of what we end up doing. I’m really not sure what to recommend here,”

“Nothing jumps out as the least risky option?” asked Gareth.

“No, I’m afraid not,” sighed Green.

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