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

--- Kat ---

The group moved through the forest at a moderate pace. They were limited by Bower and Kamiko, though Kat had some suspicions about Bower. He'd occasionally have his gaze snap to a location then move swiftly to get a better view before dropping back down to his 'normal' speed. Kat was starting to wonder if Bower didn't want to single Kamiko out as being the slowest by far.

On the other hand, monsters were still no issue. They could be dealt with just be applying demonic fire. Lily got some practice in, when she was awake and Bower could easily take them down, but quickly stopped. This was because while he could take down plenty of monsters with ease using his crossbow, he didn't have unlimited ammo.

The arrows he did have were sturdy, and he picked them up after battle… but that was most of the problem. Just how long it took to pick them up after a fight.

The group was spending more time on that then the fighting itself. See, even if they were quite sturdy Kat knew enough about arrows to know you couldn't just rip them off. Well that and the first time Hunter tried she ripped off the arrow head as well by accident.

This meant you had to slowly and somewhat carefully extract the arrow to ensure that it remained in good condition and that all just took too much time. Bower did apologise about it, but nobody really minded.

This mostly leisurely stroll changed when they came upon some mist. Kamiko, Kat and Hunter all bunched up intending to stay together… and Bower just kept moving forward. "Wait what are you doing?" asked Kat.

Bower turned back, body half into the mist. "Oh, right. Yeah nah, this isn't THE mist, it's just some mist. Probably from one of the plants around here. It attaches itself to root systems and then expels the water it takes in back into the air. It keeps everything misty, and sometime spawns a little pool.

You tend to find them in the more carnivorous plant areas but they can show up on the edges sometimes to,"

"I see, so you mean to say this is no difference then standard water-based mist?" stated Hunter. "While that in itself is not a worry, is there any way to tell the difference with just a glance?"

"Oh, yeah I spose you would need that. Everyone around this area knows what the mist looks like, even those who don't go into the forest often. See, it's got quite a few different tells. The first is that it doesn't allow most smells to escape it. Granted its not the mist your smelling right now, but I'm sure ya understand what I'm getting at?"

Everyone nodded and Bower continued. "Right so that's the first thing. The second is that the mist is… thicker in a way? It swirls and acts almost like a liquid that's managing to float then the cloudy stuff you see here. It doesn't really cling to you, and it's not a liquid, it just looks like that. Um… hmm… what else.
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The colouring is a bit more silvery? But ya tend to need sunlight for that, something you might not see when you get deeper in,"

They accepted that answer and kept moving. Sure they got attacked by a whole bunch of things in that small little bit of mist but Kat just threw out some fire and froze them all. Bower did shiver a bit didn't complain about the cold at all. He just sped up a bit until he was away from the chill. Which of course, was another point in favour of him being faster then he was showing.

When they made it to the transition to more lethal flora Bower held up a hand and said, "So past here is where we'll be getting into the more dangerous plants. They aren't going to be everywhere unless you stumble into a particularly dense section. Most of the plants here are normal, so the few that do attack you are always a surprise,"

"I could try sending out my calming aura again?" offered Kat.

Bower shrugged, "If it worked before it'll work again but we ain't making it through this section of forest in a day. So if you can't keep it up forever it'll be best to wait till its getting darker and we're looking for a spot to sleep,"

"How are we going to find that?" asked Kamiko. "Um… I mean," stumbling after people turned to look at her. "If the plants are willing to attack us and the whole area is filled with monsters… um… how do we keep ourselves safe?"

"I just so happen to have a few options for that. The first," Bower pulled out a glass jar with yellow liquid inside. Kat could already guess. "This here is mushroom badger piss. It stinks horrifically and they're not just ornery fellas but also really toxic. Most monsters will avoid the scent to avoid dealing with them.

Just a few drops splashed around and the are will be safe for a few days and the scent fades,"

Bower grinned at the annoyed looks on three of the girl's faces. Hunter however, just nodded along as if this was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. "I see. That is quite useful. Is the scent itself a repellent or are the monsters in this area attuned to it?"

"Heh, a true Hunter I see," said Bower with a grin. "It's a bit of both if you're wondering. You can use it in other areas but it ain't so reliable and ya can normally get something better. Especially considering not much smells worse then this stuff,"

"I take it you have other options though?" stated Hunter. "I doubt you would be grinning so much if this was simply something you felt we needed to use,"

"Ruin the joke early don't cha Snakey?" said Bower with a sigh. "Still, ya are right. So, second option is to wait for a monster attack or two, slaughter them all as brutally as possible and then just leave the corpses around. It's a tad less safe, but a lot of monsters will assume you're so tough that you don't need the food, get scared, and back off.

"So of course I've got a couple more solutions! See, next one is finding a good spot up in a tree, stringing a hammock between the branches, and you're pretty well alright. Don't rightly know why that one works so well honestly. Plenty of the monsters in the forest can climb, a few can fly, and a bunch live in trees… but they tend ta just leave ya lone.

Which I must say is might strange but convenient.

"Then there's the fire method. If you get a real smoky fire going then the monsters tend to stick away, not liking the smell of the ash, but that one does have ta be watched a bit. If ya fire goes out part of the way into the night you might get some critters sniffing around. I tend to just use the ol' piss method because I'm used to the smell but I ain't gonna force that on ya youngins,"

"You do realise I am approaching eight decades correct?" offered Hunter.

"Yes, and ya be a fantastic hunter for just that little bit of time, but you're still a youngin," stated Bower.

Hunter just accepted that while Kat jumped in to ask. "So there's nothing we need to do for the plants?"

"Oh just take them out before ya set up camp. They ain't exactly the most mobile of things, and while they tend to regrow pretty well as long as ya don't uproot them they ain't growing back overnight. So just move around a bit, get them attackin and then tear em to pieces. It really ain't that complicated. Course, some people have problems with even that much, but if so?

I say they shouldn't be this deep in the forest just yet," explained Bower.

"That seems fair to me," agreed Hunter. "If such a small obstacle is proving an issue they need further training,"

*Not sure I'd agree that it's a small obstacle… but I suppose for the kind of place this is it probably does count as small. So… I'd call it fair in the end I guess? I know we won't have issues, even Kamiko can probably deal with all of the plants by herself.*

With all that confirmed the group stepped deeper into the forest. It wasn't all that late, and while they'd skipped lunch nobody was feeling too hungry just yet. They'd had a few snacks early on, and everyone other than Kat had eaten a good breakfast.

The plan was to stop for a large, if bland dinner before they all went to sleep, and a similarly large meal in the morning, though perhaps a bit fancier then. They could afford to fight off some monsters before clearing out for the day.