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

— Kat —

The rest of the day was spent going over strategies… but also showing off the other teams and what information Nixilei had managed to grab. Kat would keep that info in mind when the next day came around and they headed out of the hotel. It didn’t take too long to get to the park now they knew where they were going… and were willing to jog a bit to get there.

Surrounding the tree was a curtain of vines and a number of people poking around. As their group approached the vines parted allowing them to walk through. Seeing this, a few other people tried to sneak in but the vines closed up as soon as everyone in Kat’s group was through, clearly Thyme wasn’t allowing anyone to sneak in. There were of course five sets of tables and chairs scattered around the area with a small stage at the back and a clearly panicking Mint. Seems they were the first to arrive.

Kat walked over to Mint and asked, “Hey, so… what’s wrong?”

“Well I’ve not heard anything from Thyme so I have no idea what I’m meant to do… except all of this stuff sprang up without me noticing! I’ve been keeping a better eye on the place since I had those people… alert me by mistake and I STILL didn’t notice the change. I think Thyme HAD to be the one to do it but I still haven’t heard anything and so I’m just worried I guess…” stammered Mint.

Kat nodded, “That’s understandable… maybe…” Kat paused in what she was going to say when a face poked out of the tree behind Mint. They had a big Tophat with ‘Thyme’ written across it to make it clear who they wanted to be thought of as. *Is it? Is it not? I mean…* a hand joined the face and made a shushing motion before disappearing back into the tree. “… maybe it’s all fine?” Kat didn’t know what else to say.

[Surely the only one who can sneak by Mint like this is Thyme.]

*I think the worry is that it can only be another dryad… and if Thyme was having issues back at the dryad’s main… city? Town? Home? If Thyme was having issues there and it was enemy action there’s a good chance another dryad was at least somewhat responsible. Still… this DOES seem like a very Thyme thing to do. If perhaps a little mean considering how worried Mint seems to be.*

[Perhaps it’s Thyme’s way of toughening her up a bit? If she’s already panicking over this much how does she expect to regularly deal with nobles at her inn? I imagine there’s been no problems so far… but once they start up she’ll have to deal with them.]

*Yeah maybe…* Kat paused in her thought to look around. The vines were opening to let in another team… and it was… Kat had to blink a few times. *Is that Skye and her team?* Kat was certain it was… but at the same time they all looked so different then they once had. Even still, Kat vaguely remembered that odd flower symbol of Skye’s that was present once again on her outfit.

Skye once had slightly glowing golden hair in a bob cut and it still sort of was. One side looked like it had been sliced off by a blade though it was hard to tell if it was intentional or an attack as it had grown back somewhat since then. Her hair was more obviously glowing now and Kat had to wonder why that was.

Her armour had changed. Completely. Her mostly cloth armour had been entirely replaced by a set of half plate armour, though her rather eye-catching and heavily enchanted sash remained. It was tied underneath the armour around her midsection and glowed with runes like always. Her skin was tanned compared to before and her eyes were slightly harder.

Her husband, Clive Moore was much the same. Now wearing half-plate with the same white-wood runic bow. He’d changed a lot less. Still a little short but what could be seen of his undershirt seemed in good condition unlike before. The only truly notable change was to his face. A scar ran from slightly above his jaw all the way to the side of his lip. It was a thin line now… but considering his wife was a healing that told Kat nothing about how recent the wound was.

Dusk still wore his all black getup but even he had grabbed some armour. It was just a chest piece, unlike his companion his arms and legs remained free from obstruction. His opera mask had been kept though the top right section of it had been completely shattered. Though even with that you still couldn’t see his face properly. Kat was sort of surprised that even for her it was missing.

*I’d assume my truesight could see through whatever magic was hiding his face… unless he just has black cloth? Or maybe a collection of darkness? Wait… if either of those was true how does he see? Does he not have real eyes? Hmmm…*

Evangaline ‘Eva’ Day stood proudly behind them. She hadn’t gained any extra armour technically… but it was clear that her entire loadout had been upgraded, or at least modified. Mostly because she’d gained a bunch of extra muscle and height. She was now a bit larger than Gareth though still not at the same level as March. Her greatsword now looked like it shining slightly in its sheath though it was hard to tell with her standing so close to Skye.

Finally, Kutruph. He’d changed the least in terms of equipment. He had his original set of full plate, though touched up a bit perhaps. No gloves still, relying on his scales to save him if it came down to it while allowing for more flexibility then metal gloves. His horns black horns and red scales were the same as ever. Perhaps those scales had creeped a little further up his neck? It was hard to say even with a direct comparison. Kat thought there was one extra line but that might just be how he was wearing the armour instead of any true change.

Kat decided to go and say hello. “Hey guys! Hello Skye! It’s great to see some familiar faces in the final round,”

Skye winced at Kat’s jovial tone. “It… is indeed…” Kat felt her eye twitch slightly. *Oh? A lie perhaps? Skye, aren’t we old friends.* “It has been… an effort to get here,”

Kat frowned at that, “Why do I think ‘an effort’ implies more than just a bit of effort?”

Skye sighed, “We originally didn’t realise there was a way back into the tournament. For the first few weeks after we lost it was a simple matter to accept it… but then we heard there was a chance. That we would later compete for a spot in the semi-finals and… and it was hard to say no to that.

“We trained, and we trained hard. Took missions outside our comfort zone, upgraded our arms and armour and got used to the new equipment and then… we still nearly lost. Getting back into the tournament was a very, very close run thing. So we poured ourselves into more training. It was… risky and we nearly died a few times. Got more than a couple of new scars and when I was still wearing leather I nearly had my stomach clawed out…

“But we made it. We actually made it. The… the relaxed nature of the semi-finals probably helped us in more ways that one but… it just made us want to see this through to the end. Also… sorry about how things went down in that first round. Shouldn’t have been so quick to turn on you…”

“It’s fine,” said Kat with a wave. “I’ll admit… for a team that was just competing because nobody else in your… what town? Area? Whatever it was… you guys were really serious about the whole thing,”

Skye winced, “Yeah that… was… not quite a lie but perhaps disingenuous. We’d intentionally moved our headquarters in the leadup to things so that we would be either the only valid entrant, or close to it. The only other team in the area was aging out of the tournament’s age bracket and I was pretty sure nobody else had noticed so… yeah took advantage of that to get in. My… casual attempts at trying to play it cool clearly did not work. Took it both too seriously and not seriously enough,”

Kat shrugged, “I really do mean it when I say there are no hard feelings and that it’s good to see you. Did you want to take the seats near us while waiting for the other people to arrive? We can share stories about being locked up!”

“Wait that happened to you guys as well?” asked Skye with a frown.

“Yes? Did you not get told? I got locked up outside the city and then everyone else got jailed after they arrived without me. It turned into a big thing with a jailbreak,” said Kat.

“Wait that was YOU?” hissed Skye as she started to follow Kat over to the others.

“Yup… and it was something…” offered Kat with a wry smile.