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

--- Kat ---

Lachlann sighed, ”I’m sorry, I simply can’t remember more about that house. I also... find myself struggling to care. I never really knew the boy personally, and the old debt of watching over him...” Lachlann shook his head. ”There was even a specific provision for ’until the boy left on his own adventures’. Which, sure he didn’t REALLY do, but I’d say this is close enough... if we assume that he did actually leave. Regardless, I won’t ask you to go double check, there was plenty of good evidence for everyone else... and he might not have even been home.”

Lachlann shrugged. ”So, with that all in mind, I’ve got a reward for you. If you go into the basement using the staircase entrance, there should be a bunch of chests in sight. It’s the second closest one to you. I’ll unlock it, and inside there will be a bunch of junk. Inside, you’ll find what looks like a ratty old scrap of paper. Grab that and bring it here. I’ll show you how to use it. Should be helpful from what you’ve told me...”

From the side Appoline nodded and added, ”I’m also nearly finished with this brew. So I can be ready to leave somewhat soon. Or we can stick around longer... it’s up to you of course.”

Kat nodded, and left the room. Lily signalled mentally that she was just going to wait here. Kat wasn’t exactly going far, and she could listen to more of Appoline’s potion lectures if she waited. Though personally, Kat thought Lily just wanted to see what the potion looked like once it was finished and bottled. Whatever the case, Kat descended into the basement alone... and swiftly found the chests in question.

She also found a sign posted outside of Weaver’s tunnel. It read ’Tunnel Established, connection currently closed. Node on back of sign.’

Shrugging, Kat moved over to the sign... and didn’t see a node. There was a moment of worry... before Kat reached out anywhere and her hand managed to fall into the sign itself. Letting her hand sink in, she eventually managed to catch onto what felt like a node. Pulling it out to confirm its appearance, Kat tucked it under her obi and went back over to the chests.

When she bent down to open it, the chest clicked open by itself. Hmmm... Lachlann seems to be quite aware of the entire house. I suppose this is a subtle warning. Lifting the chest the rest of the way open Kat started to look for the paper in question. It really did look like someone had just thrown in a bunch of junk.

Kat decided to carefully lift a few things out rather than simply rummage. She had no idea how sturdy this magical paper was after all. There were a few broken sword hilts, a helmet with the faceplate shattered, what looked to be a second, smaller chest, as well as a few other odds and ends Kat couldn’t even fully identify. Eventually she found the paper, and took it out.

Kat swiftly piled the rest of the chest’s contents back inside and ensured the lid was firmly closed before heading back upstairs. When she showed it off to Lachlann he nodded. ”Yup, that’s correct. Now, pass it over here and let me show you how it works.” Lachlann grabbed the paper after Kat handed it towards him.

”Alright so it goes like this,” Lachlann said. ”Open, close, open, close, open, so open it three times,” Lachlann performed the actions as he showed them. ”Then you flip it around once, and then right back.” As he finished speaking and performing the actions, the paper bloomed. Ink spread across it rapidly forming... what looked to be a map of the house? ”And there you go. Magic map.

”It keeps track of everywhere you go... though the explosion probably messed with it a good deal. It should be fine. Just ignore any old markings in your explorations and it will probably be fine. I doubt they’re correct anymore after everything else.

”Now, a few features. If you drag your hand across the map, it will follow your finger where you are going. If you pinch you can make it bigger, or smaller, and if you hold your finger on a location the map will try to guide you to that area if it can. Now, that part isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good. Just don’t be stupid about it.

”Oh! And if you hold down two fingers and then speak aloud it will register a name, trying to fit the words between your two fingers. It’s not smart about this. It doesn’t really know what you’ve named places so you can’t say, name a place ’Mulberry Hill’ and then later request it direct you there.

”It also doesn’t make a distinction between ’Forgotten Island’ and ’Forgotten Island Village’ or whatever you put down. The name is stuck in the place you put it. Though if you try to put two names too close together the map will assume you’re trying to erase the first one so keep that in mind as well. Personally, I recommend working out a system for how you name things. Maybe keeping the important stuff in the zoomed out version of the map?

”Oh right, that part. So... the map works in segments almost? Up close it tries to show everything it can, but as you zoom out it loses detail. Every time you get to a set of detail loss, that’s another layer of the map, and names don’t show up if you’re not looking at the right layer,”

Lachlann nodded a few times to himself. ”Yeah-p. I think that’s everything. You shut the map just by closing it of course, and um... yeah that’s it. Works even when closed so you don’t need it out and recording everything. Should work even with space all fucked up. Tends to be decently smart about that sort of stuff... can’t quite remember how it works with portals but I ran into a few during my adventuring days and I remember thinking it worked fine.”

*Huh... that’s actually pretty useful. Sure we have great memories but with this we might be able to see what islands are closest or maybe work out if there’s some sort of pattern?* ”Thank you very much,” said Kat with a slight bow as she took the map back from Lachlann before pausing and handing it over to Lily, along with the node. *Hopefully it works while you’re transformed.*

[We’ll see... though I’m not sure I can truly claim to have a ’great’ memory compared to you.]

*Bah, you had the better memory between us before I became a demon, so I still consider it great.*

Lily didn’t comment, she simply hopped back up into Kat’s arms as Appoline packed up her equipment. The three of them stopped to look at Lachlann one more time, who laughed when he noticed. ”Ah don’t worry about me youngsters. I’ll be just fine. I’m sure next time I wake there will be more interesting things going on. Perhaps this odd spell over the town will be further weakened.”

”So it IS weakening?” asked Kat.

Lachlann nodded, ”I think so. It was a constant struggle to get even a few moments with my family back before they all left but I’ve been able to stay awake and aware for your entire visit. I likely could manage to stay awake for a few days after you leave. Not that I want to. That sounds boring, and I’m still stuck in this chair because of my legs... but give it some more time and who knows? Perhaps the visitors from that space tunnel you put down will be enough to remove the spell.”

”So you think it’s people then?” asked Kat.

Lachlann shrugged. ”People, time, the stars, who can say really. Now, stop worrying and head off. The map will serve you well. Keep it safe... but not too safe. It can repair itself without trouble. It’s just not fast. I recommend keeping as many bits as you can if it gets all torn up. Though that might be a week or more for the repairs if it’s THAT bad. So once again, don’t be stupid.”

”Alright, we will,” said Kat with a wave as she headed out the door and down the stairs. The group was mostly quiet as they left the house. Lachlann even opened the front door for them so they had a clear way to leave. ”So... do we need to look around the area more? I didn’t notice any more portals, but I can’t say this has been a bad stop. We’ll just have to head back to... squirrel island and pick another direction.”

”Could also try the lower portal on the cliff face,” commented Appoline.

”Oh, yes of course,” agreed Kat with a nod. ”For some reason I was thinking we’d need to completely backtrack. I wasn’t thinking about that other portal. So that’s the goal then?”

Appoline shrugged, ”Might as well. I wonder how the map will fill out while we’re falling?”

”Oh and we need to check that it’s working while Lily has it stored away...” mumbled Kat.