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

— Kat —

The group ended up deciding on the Twisted Space. Kat wasn’t sure why, and hadn’t given any indication for a preference. The only one with less input was Green and that’s because she remained asleep for the entire discussion. In the end, it came down to the safety issue. When prompted, Eleanora revealed that the city guard wasn’t allowed to raid the premises. Only the most elite were eve allowed to investigate inside… and at the moment it was basically just her, Malve and Strooth.

With Eleanora as my guard, Strooth in medical and Malve remaining a coward it meant that staying there made them exceptionally safe. Heck, Nixilei even brought up the fact that Eleanora could be sent on food or grocery runs to prevent anyone from needing to leave the safety of the Twisted Space until it was time for the tournament to start. Kat thought it was a little weird how on board everyone suddenly became but Lily had asked to go there and Kat didn’t care enough about the potentially interesting food at the Golden Goose. Not when you could also just book into the restaurant there if she HAD to eat there for some reason.

*Though we probably can’t get a reservation until after the tournament is over… but with no real knowledge of how long we’ll be away it would be hard to book a spot. Annoying… maybe Mint would be willing to do it for us in exchange for a favour or something? Though… what do they even MAKE there?*

[From my understanding it’s a bunch of experimental dishes made with rare herbs, monster parts, and magic. All of the cooks there are wizards as well and each dish is partially alchemy. Their food does technically provide buffs but their focus is always on enhancing the taste so the effects are muted compared to what it used to be.]

*Wait… how do you know that?*

[Kress asked what the food at the Goose was like after you zoned out of the discussion. Eleanora couldn’t give any specific dishes because apparently they rotate the menu regularly based on what ingredients they have access to and the results of experiments with said ingredients.]

*Huh… well… alright then.* Kat took the time to glance around and it seemed as though they were heading further away from the centre of the town. “So where are we going?” asked Kat. “Like I know the destination but… I’d expected it to be closer to the centre of town with it being so old?”

“That is one of the awkward things about the Twisted Space. It was originally placed outside of the original town and didn’t really pay taxes because of that. Some argue it was there before that but well… records are spotty on that part. Anyway, as the city grew it eventually encapsulated the hotel and adjust to it. You’ll see what I mean soon,” explained Eleanora.

Kat shrugged as they kept walking down the various streets. It was about five minutes later when the orderly streets started to curve oddly and Kat started to get an idea of what was going on. After turning the corner, the Twisted Space came into view. It looked like a kid had shoved a bunch of lego bricks together and called it a house.

It was a blocky construction with windows slapped onto weird areas. Each rectangular section was a slightly different colour and the building had plenty of pieces of ’empty air’ in the middle of some of the various outcroppings from the building. Nothing had support poles, because really why would it at this point. The scary part was though? It was clearly a bit too heavy for the area. The entire street sloped down slightly to accommodate it and the fenced off land around the Twisted Space was sunk even further.

“Do we need to worry about getting buried in the building?” asked Kress, only somewhat joking.

“No. It hasn’t sunk further in over a century and the fenced off area is all considered part of the Twisted Space. The footpaths will always give you a way out… if you can find them. Despite the fact you can only see one right now I assure you there are quite a few more,” answered Eleanora.

[She’s right. Space here is… weird. But like… in a good way. It’s… deeper in a way I can’t properly see and I struggle to explain my normal space senses. It’s like… like somebody was able to knit a beautiful sweater out of an old carpet? That’s… god it’s an awful explanation but it’s the closest thing to correct I can manage. Space here is… something else certainly. I… I’m not quite so confident I can find my way around anymore. I can probably find the way out? There are patterns and the exits are fairly obvious in those patterns but…]

Kat stumbled as they crossed the threshold and suddenly when looking around Kat could see three slightly different copies of the hotel overlayed on each other, all hovering around slightly. When Kat narrowed her eyes and empowered them slightly to look over the differences the three seemed to fade and split into nine instead. Kat shook her head and blinked a few times and it was back to three. *What… the fuck? Is… well it can’t be an illusion? Or… well… damn…*

Kat had no idea what to think of the place as Eleanora gently guided her into the front door and things seemed to snap back into place… though based on the massive amounts of curiosity that Lily was radiating things in here were probably a lot weirder then they seemed. The main lobby was normal looking at least.

There was a few couches on either side with some single chairs and a few coffee tables. A big door sat at the back, about ten feet high and the reception sat behind the main counter with a bunch of individual boxes set against the wall. Though only a few of them seemed to be labelled and they weren’t in any sort of order Kat could recognise. The only issue was the reception. A female elf lay face down on the desk snoring away and dribbling a little on the wood.

Where some of the others looked unsure Eleanora simply marched up to them and rung the little bell, which wasn’t a modern desk bell but a tiny little church bell complete with a tiny hammer to use on it. Eleanora was strong enough not to worry about the little mallet and simply whacked a finger into the bell.

The elf at the desk jolted upright at the sound and quickly took in her surroundings… before yawning and stretching a bit. Clearly taking her time with things. She had a basic uniform on, white shirt and blank pants with some gold trim on the seems and buttons. The sleek effect was somewhat ruined by the various old stains that hadn’t been washed out. Slight marks that really stood out against the white of her shirt. Her hair was a messy blonde mop that fell over her eyes obscuring her vision somewhat and looked like it needed a proper wash though according to Lily she smelled like flowers and dirt which wasn’t too bad.

Eventually the woman did manage to speak up, “Hello and welcome to the Twisted Space, where we can be certain of your safety but not your sanity. We’ve got rooms for you to stay however long you want but you’ll need to sign a waver first if you’re interested to say we’re not responsible for much of what goes on in the hotel,”

Gareth took a slight glance back at Eleanora who nodded, saying this was normal. “Alright. Do we need one for the group or…”

The tired woman nodded, “One for the group with everyone’s signature on but I can give you extra copies if you want to read it all through,”

“Yes that’s probably for the best,” said Gareth with a thin smile. The receptionist nodded and ducked under the counter for a few moments before she popped back up with a number of stacks of paper. They looked to have been bound together with dried vines or something.

“These are copies. Please return them before heading to the rooms. It will be a bit more for me to get the official forms so don’t go anywhere. If you don’t take a room key… bad things tend to happen to you,” the woman said before disappearing under the desk again. Kat, somewhat curious leant forward and off to the side a bit to see if she was crouched down searching for something…

But the space under the desk was now empty. The woman was missing. Kat blinked a few times and tried to look for more… only for Lily to bop her on the back of the head with a shadow hand. [Don’t keep looking. There’s a huge number of space corridors connecting to the desk. I think she slipped into one leading to a storage room or something. I can’t really follow it so… yeah just don’t try to look past it. Your eyes were bleeding for a bit there. Perhaps you trying to see the truth of space here or something?]

Kat shivered. *Well alright creepy hotel. Keep your secrets.*