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

Chapter 2324 Rabbit Box

--- Kat ---

Thirty minutes later and of course, no sound of Souris. Kat hadn’t really expected it if she was being honest. Something was either going to happen just as things settled down, or they were going to happen some time later. The idea of nothing happening on that end seemed low... unless Kat and Lily went out of their way to get away loose the mousekin. Though neither really thought that to be an easy thing and weren’t seriously considering it.

Souris had ears larger than her head after all, and the idea that she couldn’t use those things to track them for kilometres seemed ridiculous. Only entering a portal would have the potential to lose her, and you’d need to go through two in quick succession with multiple portals around to lose her. Though... there was the idea of perhaps going through the portal and then setting up a trap on the other side. They already knew the portals didn’t update to show you what was going on right at that moment, just what things looked like when the portal was originally created.

Regardless, Kat and Lily first made their way over to Appoline, Wiggles still firmly in those shadow hands. ”Do you have anything to restrain the rabbit? Either by putting it to sleep or something else?”

Appoline nodded, ”Of course I do, in fact, we’ve got options. So, firstly, I could just put him to sleep, I could also use some of that earth moulding potion so you could trap the bottom half of the rabbit in it. I have some rope we could use, though it seems like a waste in this case. I have paralysis potions though they’re more expensive and not as long lasting as the sleep ones. I have a water breathing potion that we could use...”

”Wait how would that work?” asked Kat.

”It specifically makes it so you HAVE to breath in water. You can’t breathe in the air. So we give it to the rabbit, and then dunk in in a bowl. It’ll have to stay in the bowl to breathe, and if it tries to leave... well... the end result should be obvious right? And the thing seems smart enough to know what not to do,” Appoline explained.

And she was right. Throughout her suggestions Wiggles had been rather obviously reacting to the suggestions. Most with slight annoyance, though he really didn’t seem to like the idea of the paralysis one for some reason, and seemed fond of the trapping him in earth idea. Perhaps he had some control over it? Or just trust that Souris could use that control to free him. Though, with the water breathing one even he didn’t seem to know how to react. At least, until Appoline baited him a bit. Then he started glaring at her. Not that Appoline seemed to care about that.

*You got a preference for this?*

[Not really. Whatever works, works. Though, I think I remember now that there’s a rule about long term hostages? Not sure what it was...]

*Oh but I’ve got it now. Hang on though. You just have to incapacitate them for twenty seconds right? That was the rule? Same with familiars... so does... this not count? Is it because we’re not pressuring them? I’m actually sort of confused now.*

[Maybe one of the rule changes then?]

*Maybe... but I don’t remember any of them involving this stuff... unless it’s another hidden rule? Or perhaps it’s because they don’t want to be sent back right now? For Souris, we started chatting, and sure, we weren’t forcing her to talk but we were holding her in place. Though... yeah best guess is that because she accepted being held then it was all good? But I don’t think that was part of the rules?*

[It could specifically be unconscious then? Like, because we’ve kept them awake it’s fine? Plus, they can just request medical evac. That was specifically in the rules.]

*Hmmm... yes I suppose so. Which means... do we want to just use a sleep potion then? I’m not against putting Wiggles to sleep and having Thyme collect him.*

[I thought the plan was to bait Souris into coming after us.]

*It was, and still sort of is... but I’ve realised that she can just request medical evac on Wiggle’s behalf. So she doesn’t NEED to fight us. She just needs to waste our time and then call for medical. She could be running full sprint away from us right now, and then call medical and just deal with not having Wiggles for a few hours afterwards.*

[That... dammit that’s probably what she’s going to do.]

*In that case, how about we make him some tiny stone handcuffs and leg cuffs? Annoying but not completely unescapable. If he escapes... well, I was going to say if he escapes we follow but the same issue applies and he could just lead us on a wild goose chase.*

[Right... but it’s been a while. Souris might not remember the rules, or at least, not the specifics. So she might not take advantage of it.]

*Fair enough. I think... on balance we try to keep Wiggles, but we don’t bet on it. We just continued out journey while letting Wiggles hang around basically. Though we’ll need to be careful not to give away too much info. Even if he can’t talk, I’m sure he can answer basic yes or no questions.*

[Alright that’s a good point. So... how do we want to do this.]

*I think I want to get some info... let’s see.* Kat made sure to keep the corner of her eye on the rabbit as she spoke to Appoline. ”So, I’m thinking either the sleeping potions, or the cuffs. What are your thoughts?”

Appoline shrugged, ”The cuffs seem easier. Don’t need to keep dosing him, nor be too careful with the dose because we’re not feeding him the cuffs. The issue with monsters is that they can react wildly differently to certain potions and while most things sleep in similar enough ways it’s still a risk. Of course, the issues with the cuffs is of course the earth wielding mage that has him as a familiar,”

*Not quite true but close enough.* Kat had been watching Wiggles for any sort of preference between the two... but it seemed like that wasn’t the case. Kat wasn’t certain that meant anything, but it did imply Wiggles hadn’t realised that we couldn’t keep him here. Well, that or he HAD realised it and thus didn’t care. Still, the lack of reaction to either option was telling. ”I think it’s probably fine enough to go with the cuffs even with that. Though is there anything you could do to stop that?”

”Turn it into glass?” offered Appoline with a shrug. ”I don’t think it would hold up all that well, structurally, but I could do it. Less likely Souris turns it into a way to attack us, but also more likely for the rabbit to escape,”

”Yeah not sure what her spell range is so I think we should stick with the stone,” commented Kat. This, Wiggle did seem to have a reaction to. Preferring the glass it seemed. Perhaps he was confident in breaking the glass?

Regardless, with a plan in mind they swiftly got to work. They dug down a bit through the dirt to get to the harder stone, then applied the potion and just... pushed Wiggles into it. Once the stone hardened they cut around him and lifted the whole block up. From the way he was moving it seemed like he’d made a bit of space for his feet to move about... but that was fine.

If he used that to break apart the stone and escape, Kat was planning to let him. There was also the fact that it was holding his front paws down pretty massively, and those were going to be harder to free. Especially if he wanted to do so without anyone noticing. Kat was planning to carry him after all, and breaking out from the stone, and then slipping her grasp afterwards was going to be difficult for the rabbit. Kat had him wrapped up in her tail as well.

It left her hands free just in case, while allowing for him to be wrapped more thoroughly. It meant Kat wasn’t just holding the rock, but also had a limb around Wiggle’s body. It was fucking with her balance a bit, but it wasn’t too hard to adjust. Kat managed it before too long. Though it did mean her tail was being held in a slightly awkward spot, it still wasn’t as bad as getting used to the constantly shifting feeling of gravity.

All that was left was choosing where to go from here. There was a few portals in this place... but the fact Souris had ended up here meant that one of them probably took them ’backwards’ and there was no good way to work out which portal that had been. Souris was unlikely to have left behind a convenient hole in the ground marking her passage or something like that. Perhaps if they found monster corpses on the other side that would be a big clue?