D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad - Chapter 2147 Sticking your Necklace Out

Chapter 2147: Chapter 2147 Sticking your Necklace Out

— Kat —

Kat spent the night in bed, snuggled up with Lily though instead of sleeping she meditated through the night to keep an eye out for possible intrusion. Nobody snuck in, but Kat did work out that Tanisha and Furen weren’t just sharing a room. Nothing too salacious was happening, from what she could guess it was literally just sharing a bed instead of making use of the spare mattress in the room with them… but still, it was something to make note of.

Appoline and Tweedle didn’t have this problem. Though Tweedle also had her own room so perhaps that was to be expected. Regardless, Kat was well rested come morning where she got out of bed upon noticing Steel’s arrival. She hadn’t quite managed to work out who it was before making it to the door, but the calm approach to said door at least meant they probably weren’t hostile before she laid eyes on the culprit.

“Good morning,” said Steel when Kat opened the door to let him inside. “I’m not planning to stay long. I was just looking to grab something to eat and let you know that I’ve secured permission for you to go inside the poison with Furen. There is a slight worry, the poison hasn’t gone down at all and the pools have been increasing in size…

“But we have an enchanted set of necklaces that allow for people to go inside without suiting up. They’re not perfect, and can only keep you safe for about half an hour but it should be enough to get to the hidden area. If it’s filled with poison everywhere then you might need to come back, but it’s the best I can offer at the moment.”

“That’s… well it might be fine? The poison didn’t seem to be spreading too much and we made sure to… shut the door so to speak. That still probably means some leakage. I guess I’ll just hope it’s not too much? I can freeze it if there isn’t too much,” Kat explained.

Steel nodded, “Well the necklace will dim as it approaches its limit so you can work around that… oh and I CAN give you two but make sure that the area is completely free of poison because otherwise it’ll get through during the initial activation. You can’t swap them to get more duration. I’m only trusting you with two because I know you can freeze the poison and it should be in small enough doses.”

“That’s fine… but an hour doesn’t seem all that long?” Kat offered.

Steel waved Kat’s concern off. “It’s specifically thirty minutes for a certain concentration of the poison or higher. If the poison hasn’t spread too far into the underground area then Furen should be fine, and if not I trust you to rush her out of there before it becomes a problem. If there’s only a bit of poison around the feet you’ve likely got closer to five hours, but once again, just pay attention to the dimming of the light in the necklace for clarification.”

Kat nodded, “Alright, hopefully it’ll be fine… why not have us use suits though? Or at least Furen?”

Steel raised an eyebrow. “You’re going into monster infested caverns and you’re asking why a flimsy suit that can only barely keep the poison out is a bad idea?”

“Well I hadn’t assumed it was flimsy when I asked the question but I suppose you’re correct…” sighed Kat. “I guess that’s all fine though. Anything else?”

Steel shrugged, “Not really, though you don’t mind I’ve been grabbing those extra meals in the cupboards correct?”

“Oh, what? No not at all. Did… I not mention those are for you? The stuff in the underground pantry mostly. I’ve made a few extra full meals that I then portioned out into singular portions. Though for an active combatant such as yourself you might want more to eat. They’re portioned for the way I used to eat before my regeneration stopped me from needing all that much,” explained Kat.

Realising she was getting off track, Kat shook her head. “Sorry, what I mean is that I made them specifically for you and I’ll probably keep adding to the stockpile so you have a bunch of meals ready to go whenever you want. Potentially long after we leave. I guess it depends on how quickly they get eaten or how long the enchantments will preserver them.”

“Oh, you might have mentioned that before but it hadn’t really stuck in my mind. Thanks for that,” Steel said with a slight bow. “I’ll just eat what I feel like then. They’ve been good meals.”

“Of course. Now that I’m up I also plan to make some breakfast, did you want to stick around for that?” asked Kat.

Steel shook his head. “No, I’ve got to go pick up those necklaces personally. I’ll be leaving them with the guards at the same area the alchemy tent has been set up. Appoline can rest up for the day if she wants, or take on some jobs for the guard… though likely at a discount for us. I can’t just offer up more ingredients for a separate project at the moment for the stockpile. Even if I really want to.

“Anyway, after I deal with the necklaces I’ve got a couple other things to check up on. There’s been a murder on the other side of the city and a few other series crimes but nothing for you to worry about at the moment.”

“Are you sure?” asked Kat.

Steel nodded, “Yes… things have been… uneasy across the city. This district might seem fine, and in general it’s nothing too bad but the guards been stretched thin, the citizens are worried and we might be having a few new faces around as a bit of a trial run. So many people are asking to leave but they also don’t want to fill out the proper forms so they get angry when we reject them but…” Steel shook his head again. “Look, don’t worry too much about it. I’ll be fine,”

“Alright then, feel free to grab what you like. I guess I’ll be in the kitchen,” said Kat. Steel nodded and followed beside her until he got to the basement steps and headed down. Kat started to look through the cupboards, thinking about what sort of meal she should make for everyone. It certainly wasn’t going to be pancakes… but perhaps something similar? Like a quesadilla? No wait that wasn’t what she was thinking off… quiche? Not quite it either but might still be worth making.

Kat nodded to herself… before checking how many eggs were available. When the answer proved to be ’a lot’ she decided to make a bunch of different quiches. A vegetable one for the elves. One that was more of a mix for those interested, and probably Appoline, a fully meat based one that Lily might like, and if there was still enough dishes to make a final one for Steel… that would probably be mostly meat as well. Just with a few other spices or things to add some flavour.

Lily made her way downstairs before too long… and promptly fell asleep on the table. Apparently her girlfriend had just wanted to be closer and wasn’t ready to properly wake up. So Kat just smiled and ran her fingers around Lily’s fur for a few moments before getting back to her preparations. The quiches with meat in them were the being worked on first… sort of. Kat was cooking the various meat bits right now to ensure that they weren’t raw when the rest of the quiche finished.

Hedera made it downstairs next, a bit of a surprise… but everyone else had ended up going to sleep a lot later then her. “Hey Hedera… ah… hmm… ok that’s a problem.”

“What?” commented Hedera.

“Well, today, Lily Furen and I are going back into the poison. Steel came around earlier to give us the heads up and said he’d be handing out two necklaces to deal with the poison… but they don’t last that long and it was more for Furen to have a backup. I agreed at the time but seeing you here, I realise I didn’t even ask…” admitted Kat.

“It’s fine,” Hedera waved off Kat’s concern. “I’m happy to stick around with everyone else. Tanisha… still doesn’t really want to go home so she might be sticking around longer and Furen is probably going to end up back here even if you guys find the thing today. Appoline… not sure what she’s doing or Tweedle, but Tweedle at least will probably be safe,”

Kat nodded, “Ok, I’m glad you’re not annoyed. I guess Steel just assumed it would be the same group going inside like last time, and I did as well… but then I realised I didn’t ask you even though we have at least some protection against the poison. So… yeah sorry about that…”

Hedera shrugged, “Kat, after hearing about the monster you found down there I really have no desire to get tangled up with the mess in that quarantine zone. The poison sounds like something to avoid, and underground shapeshifting monsters sound a LOT worse.”