Chapter 2356 Using Grunkle’s Advice

--- Kat ---

Kat and Lily didn’t end up coming to a quick decision, especially not when Grunkle got up to take them to his map. It was upstairs and took up essentially the entire second floor. The only thing else here were the stairs taking you further up, or back down. The whole room was a gigantic table... that Kat couldn’t see. She had to rely on Lily’s vision. It was a stunning illusion of the entire mountain and you could pan around it to see increased details and zoom in on various little things. It was truly a marvel of enchanting... and the fact that it was illusion based sort of broke the entire thing for Kat.

You know, it’s not the first time I’ve had the idea, but I’m starting to get the feeling that True Sight isn’t always convenient. If I had some way to turn it off that really would be nice. If I didn’t have you I wouldn’t even know the table is working... and heck, as we saw Meng. I didn’t KNOW she was under an illusion because nobody told me what she was supposed to look like.

[I think the benefits probably do outweigh the costs, and certainly do in regards to us considering you can see through my eyes... but yes they’re not a completely good feature.]

Of course despite the detail Grunkle went into for each of the islands... they weren’t perfect. This wasn’t a one-to-one recreation or anything. Plenty of spots were left somewhat blank, due to a combination of cloud cover and just general things in the way. Further, a lot of the islands were just basic maps without any markings on them. It was fancy and impressive, but only the stuff near Grunkle’s house or on the ground directly below him were done in great detail.

This meant that, especially the stuff hidden behind the massive pillar of lightning was still a big question mark. There was also no clear indication of where most of the portals were. Apparently they didn’t show up properly in his equipment, nor did he know how they connected... but this was great information even still. The giant beams of light had been recorded and he could point out roughly where each of them had gone off.

Kat couldn’t really find a good patten for that though. Just as an example, was the very first one she found. Directly above it, honestly maybe just an hour’s flight away, was a second big rune. It had also been claimed but maybe not by Kat. The details on that particular island were quite sparse, and there was actually a small collection of them that could have held the rune.

Most of the other spots were the same, but it was hard to tell, with so much three dimensional space, what exactly counted an empty spot to find the runes. The only ones that Kat could really be sure about was the stuff above... and there you ran into the issue of Grunkle having almost no information. His ability to view things was clearly quite limited to his telescope, and though it could see far and through some things, solid rock was not one of them.

So the path upwards was mostly just a spotty mess of what he could see depending on the rotation of the various floating bits of mountain above him. Though one thing was for certain... the journey was nearly over. Even if the group had to travel through every single island along their way to the highest point it was still less then they’d taken to get here. There were only a handful of places left... in theory.

The icy island that Grunkle was sending them too next was far off in the distance, about a third of the way across the map and actually a little lower down then his house. This hopefully would mean that the lava areas weren’t going to be downwards as well. Though, Grunkle confirmed he’d be able to tell us. That’s what the scanning devices were for after all.

They would help map out the area and add it to this big map of his that allowed for tracking of the weather across the entire area... in theory. In practice he only had real time information around his house and a few other spots, and the half baked devices he’d be providing weren’t going to change that but they were still going to be extremely useful information.

With the knowledge that Grunkle could tell them which of the two lava portals would send them higher up, Kat and Lily agreed together without any argument at all, that returning for that info would be necessary... if Lily didn’t stick around for a while that was. Which is what lead the pair to simply deciding to talk to Appoline and Wiggles about it.

Grunkle had simply headed off after showing off his map. Something about needing to observe a few things. He told them to discuss if they were taking his job or not and then to bother him in about an hour, or perhaps he’d come bother them if they took too long.

As they were heading back to the table, Kat spoke, "So I think the information is worth doing this at the very least... but it means we’ll have to come back to talk to Grunkle, or perhaps, as Lily and I have been talking about, having Lily and you guys wait here to relax while I go ahead and deal with the lava for a bit on my own. What do you both think about that."

Wiggles nodded, seemingly interested in... something. His nodding wasn’t too clear on which parts he agreed with. Appoline at least, had actual words to say. "I wouldn’t expect something as potent as fire resistance to be done soon. I mean, we have an hour so I could get started but it will likely take me at least two hours to get some high quality stuff done. By then you could be most of the way to the lava, and while I do have cold resistance potions... not sure they’ll work for Wiggles here."

Wiggles shook his head and then ran his paws across his fur. "Though maybe he doesn’t need it?" Appoline added uncertainly. Wiggles nodded at her guess. "Well alright then, in that case I DO have potions for the ice area, it’s just the lava stuff I’ll need to create, and from the sounds of things we’ll need to get through it either way so I will have to make some..."

Kat nodded, "It does seem that way as long as you don’t mind."

"Of course not," Appoline said with a dismissive wave. "Perhaps I’d mind the assumption I’d give them away for free... but that was understood as a condition of my coming along. Not like you really have anything to pay me with anyway. Besides, I’ve got a bunch of free ingredients so it’s not like this has been an unequal trade...

"Though it is going to be a touch annoying to make some fire resistance potions for Lily and Wiggles here. Fire resistance tends to be pickier then cold resistance which is why it might take me a while. Then again, it could just be my heightened familiarity..." Appoline shook her head. "I’m letting myself be distracted by potions once again. My point, that I suppose I didn’t properly get to, is that I’m perfectly happy to stick around this... house while you go off and explore regardless of if Lily waits around with me or not."

Lily transformed and sighed. "Urgh, I know it’s probably the wrong call to force myself to go along, especially when I’ll need something for the heat even if I can just snuggle with Kat through the ice areas... but I just want a chance to stick by her this time."

Kat rubbed her girlfriends hair, scratching a bit around Lily’s ears. "You know it’s not your fault that the portal closed right? We knew you wouldn’t be able to keep it open forever and we couldn’t have known I’d end up so far away,"

Lily pouted, glaring at Kat as she said, "It’s not about that." And Kat had to laugh. The lie was so easy to catch she wasn’t sure she even needed her truesight for it. Then again, knowing Lily also knew it was a lie probably helped... but it was partially true. It wasn’t JUST about that at least.

Apparently Lily was feeling a bit clingy after the birds and then getting separated by such a distance. It hadn’t even really been that long. They’d gone weekends without seeing each other before... but Kat couldn’t deny she did find it rather cute and quite endearing regardless. So there was that Kat supposed.

Nodding she continued to scratch Lily’s ears to keep her calm while turning to Appoline and asking, "What do you think? Lily clearly wants to go, and I’m willing to indulge the time loss it would take to have the potions ready. If we do wait for that, what are you likely to do?"

Appoline shrugged, "I’m fine staying here truthfully. It seems quite safe and I’ve noted quite a few defensive enchantments. I wouldn’t be cool with staying here for too long, but if you’ll take me through those areas later I’m not even missing any ingredients."