D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad - Chapter 2024 In a Trunk Spot
Chapter 2024: Chapter 2024 In a Trunk Spot
— Kat —
As soon as Lily threw open the trunk she knew this one was the one. It was the seventh trunk she’d checked, not counting the original, and the space here just felt… different. It was subtle, but the enchantment had a… density to it that the others simply lacked. There was no great way to describe it. [Ok. So I’m happy I found this, but kind of annoyed my guess was correct. The problem is. What do we do now?]
*What do you mean?*
[Well… I have no idea where I need to place this or what exactly I need to do to get access to the secret room through this trunk. Worse, once we activate it we’re basically committed. There’s no way to hear Appoline coming and pack up in time. We’d need to put everything back INSIDE the lab, then bolt out and hide the trunk all in a matter of moments. We’d probably make too much noise moving that swiftly.]
[Plus, we don’t know how exactly the secret room works. It might actually be a secret passage TO a secret room and running back in time would be even more annoying. I think, if we’re doing this you should come down with me and we just try to look in as many places as possible.]
*Would it perhaps be better to wait for Appoline to go to sleep here? Or perhaps find out if she’s even in the complex at the moment?*
[Yeah but how? We can’t ask, and nobody is just going to randomly mention it.]
*I suppose. I’m just worried because we’ve seen one person leave this area and nobody come in. At all. It’s getting later, or… early I guess? I just feel like someone is going to be back sooner rather than later. I’m wondering if waiting would be better.*
[We did warn Hedera we might be longer then scheduled, but we were heavily encouraged to only spend the night inside here.]
*I guess so… and we weren’t really told much about Appoline’s schedule other than the fact she doesn’t teach classes every day. We’ve got not idea if that implies she doesn’t sleep here every night or if she spends most of her time holed up in her lab. It’s entirely possible she’s out teaching at the moment.*
[Hmm… we have only been searching through her stuff for… maybe thirty minutes? Forty five? I wasn’t keeping super close track but it’s been a while. How long do you think classes would take?]
*How should I know? How long does it take to make one potion?*
[Really depends on the potion and what ingredients you need to prep. Plus, it also depends what you mean by ’one potion’ because a lot of potions can be scaled without too much trouble if you have the equipment.]
*How so?*
[Well, it’s only the really difficult ones that you’d do in single use batches. Most common healing potions, that are basically just ’scratch removers’ are made by the barrel. It’s still not a fast process but you can make fifty doses or so with a big enough cauldron. Heck, from my understanding if you could scale them up to industrial vat sizes the recipe wouldn’t be much harder.]
*Really?*
[Well, I make it sound easier than it is. You’d need to make sure it was stirred evenly across the whole thing, that fire wasn’t applied only to the bottom or sides and that the ingredients added during the mixing spread out evenly through the mixture. So there are challenges, but yeah barrel sized is fairly common for easy potions.]
*Interesting… but I feel we’re getting side tracked. How long would her classes take?*
[Yeah as I said it’s hard to say. Some potions don’t take too long. Or rather, once you put all the ingredients in you can just leave it for a few days to ’ferment’. Other potions need you to babysit them for hours on end.]
*So… basically we’ve got no idea how long her classes take?*
[Perhaps… I’m thinking they aren’t going to be too long. From what we know of her Appoline doesn’t like people all that much and doesn’t do too many classes. Instead she just wants to focus on poisons.]
*Right, but what if she enjoys sharing that information?*
[Jen didn’t seem to think so? But… no you’re right. If she does have a personal grudge against Jen and her family, or just Lin, then it’s possible she’d be less then enthused in that class specifically. While I think knowledge should be shared, and I’d be happy to teach just about anyone magic… that doesn’t also include you-know-who.]
*I think that’s fair considering what she did. Though… it’s a bit different when you’re a teacher and it’s the woman’s ’grandchild’ rather than the person in question.*
[Eh, intellectually sure but if I found out Stella’s kid had signed up for class I can imagine it being REALLY hard for me to stay professional. I’d try my best sure, but that doesn’t mean I’d succeed, or truly be able to teach this theoretical kid as if she was just anyone. I could see it being the same for Appoline.]
*Alright. So… we check out the box then?*
[I think we have to. I’m not sure what we’re going to find inside but it should help with something. If Appoline catches us, we’ll just need to be ready to fight our way out. Though… I think, if Appoline DOES come in we hide first. We risk getting locked in the secret lab and see if we can trick her into thinking she just left it out.]
*Hmmm… sure. I’ll promise not to attack until we’re spotted.*
The decision had now been made to get go inside immediately… but Lily still had to work out how exactly that was done. Her guess with placing the trunk in a specific spot on the floor was the best she had, and she still needed to test it. Carefully lifting the trunk off of the rack Lily then started to move it across the ground. She kept a little tiny bit of shadow under the corners so that it could glide, and hoped it wasn’t sufficient to break whatever ’connection’ the box might be trying to make.
After running the trunk over nearly the entire floor, Lily felt something reaching out. Carefully adjusting the trunk to match along with the feeling the trunk almost seemed to ’sink’ into the ground just a bit. It didn’t make any sound, simply settled into place. Lily supposed that made sense. You wouldn’t want to let anyone know there was something odd, but you did need something to keep it in place when going inside.
Lily flipped open the trunk with her shadow and then carefully moved the clothes out of the way. This trunk in particular was filled with servant outfits of all types. While they were all kept clean, there seemed to be no distinction between high class maid outfits that were clearly more of a fetish thing, and the drab browns and blacks you’d expect from someone actually working as a maid. There were also the same but for men. Though perhaps they’d still fit a woman’s figure? Lily didn’t know enough about tailoring to say with just a quick glance.
The problem came once the clothes were removed. The bottom of the trunk was completely normal. Despite the fact Lily could FEEL the odd twist in space now open up underneath the box. Frowning in confusion she threw out some more shadow and lifted the trunk up. The connection was immediately severed. Frowning, Lily placed the trunk back down and felt it reconnect. Then gently placed the clothes back in their resting spot.
*Why not try lifting up the whole clothing section?*
[How?]
*I’m not sure, but that’s my best guess. There’s some lock or something that will let you move the whole thing up and out of the way.*
[HMmm…] Lily let her shadows poke around the edges of the trunk for some sort of handle but didn’t find anything. However, the inner walls DID have something of note. Pressing down on the indent had a small handle pop out. Lifting it, Kat was proved correct as the entire clothing section folded out like one of those neat toolboxes. Lily padded over to the side and let her shadows raise her up so she could see into the box better.
She did not like what she could see inside. The space seemed to twist and distort massively, leaving the tunnel looking like it went on forever and twisted in on itself like a kaleidoscope. Lily poked the box slightly and it shifted. The mess of space that had once looked like a death sentence now looked like a ladder into a dark hallway. [Ah, much more reasonable. Now let’s go down and investigate what’s in here before Appoline shows up.]
Kat nodded, and poured herself down into the hallway, letting her mist spill out as best she could to check for traps before Lily risked herself coming down. There didn’t seem to be anything, but you can never be too careful.
