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

--- Kat ---

After they finished up with the break and got moving again Kat couldn't help but see mushrooms everywhere. Now that she knew the trees were mushrooms it was almost as if something had been unlocked in her head. There were mushrooms EVERYWHERE. Like that rock they stopped to use? Kat was pretty sure that had been a mushroom. She hadn't sat down on it or tested things… but she noticed several nearly identical 'rocks' as they travelled and Kat was assuming they were mushrooms now…

But that wasn't the end of it. Oh no. Firstly, just under the snow were plenty of little mushrooms just everywhere. The long spindly ones. Lily informed Kat they were called 'Enoki' or at least, the closest equivalent back on earth was anyway. It didn't end at just having mushroom stalks everywhere, soon Kat noticed that there were mushrooms growing on the 'trees' as well. Mushrooms on top of other mushrooms.

There were also mushroom 'bushes' that were apparently morel type mushrooms that looked sort of like honeycombs. They were fairly regularly as well but only as they got deeper into the area. Kat was quite sure that they hadn't been around before because while Kat would admit to being somewhat inattentive, she wasn't quite that bad. The morel bunches were quite large too, about the same size as a tire.

When they turned in for the night it was in a cave that had been used by somebody else recently. The ashy remains of a fire quite obvious as well as a neat bundle of firewood that had been left behind by the previous group. Kat didn't think much of it until Hunter said something, "Why would someone leave the wood behind without properly shielding it from the elements?"

"I mean, there's wood everywhere so why does it matter?" asked Kat thoughtlessly.

"Ah, but there ISN'T wood everywhere," said Meg with a smug grin. "Seems you've already forgot about the mushrooms everywhere. Sure they might burn, but they probably don't burn as well as nice and dry wood from somewhere else. Now, if they'd secured it properly I would assume they were leaving it behind for someone else to use… but just leaving it here like this? It's practically asking for it to rot,"

"Ah…" intoned Kat as she glanced at the leftover wood.

If you can't get wood here that means it's probably worth quite a lot…

"Perhaps but it's right next to the entrance…" hedged Hunter.

Kat shrugged and there wasn't much else said on the subject. It was strange but not the strangest thing they'd ever seen.

--- Kat --- (Around lunchtime the next day)

Kat's group was moving across some treacherous terrain. The road had dropped them off at the edge of a thawing river, a rather wide one. There was a bridge but it was almost useless because it was mostly underwater, with only the fence posts sticking out over the side. There were large chunks of ice flowing down the river that had been trapped by the bridge but it wasn't exactly stable. Every now and again the ice stuck on the bridge would crack and get pushed underneath it by the weight of the ice that was added to the pile shrinking it somewhat until the next bundle of ice made its way down the river.

Kat was somewhat worried about how they'd get across… only for Hunter and Meg to just jump across the entire thing.

Oh right. Duh.

Kamiko looked a touch uncertain so Kat simply picked the other girl up and made the jump herself. She was able to make it without too much trouble and landed softly using her wings to glide down onto the road. All in all it was a rather tame obstacle that didn't stop them for long at all.

It was two hours later that they encountered another issue. It started with the sound of arguing voices as they approached a turn in the road. It was hard to make out what they were saying because of the distance and the echo but as they got closer it became clearer that they were arguing about the road being blocked.

A few turns later and what they were talking about became clear. The road between two mountain peaks was completely covered in snow easily twice as tall as a house. There was three different camps set up just off to the side of the road and the arguing was coming from one of those camps. Kat wasn't sure of the exact number of people, some likely resting in tents or the caravans but she could make out at least fifteen moving about… and watching the argument.

Meg slowed down long before they arrived, ensuring that while they were probably within visual range nobody would be able to hear them unless they chose to yell. Once everyone had stopped Meg asked, "Do we want to get involved in that at all?"

Hunter glanced over at the tents, listening to the yelling for a little bit and perhaps getting more information out of it then Kat ever did before shrugging at Meg and saying, "What does the compass say? Is there a chance one of these groups has the shard on them?"

Meg pulled the device out and checked the heading, then ran off to the side for a bit, before moving the device around and running back. "It's not these guys. The drake piece is off that way," Meg pointed exactly towards one of the camps in the direction she'd ran. "but the needle barely moved when I went over there to double check so it's way passed them,"

Hunter nodded at this and glanced around the area. They were in between two relatively large peaks of the nearby mountains that met here in the middle for the road. The snow had clearly come down in an avalanche at some point, blocking the road… but the cliff faces nearby were relatively sheer. Climbable for them sure, but not for the group on the ground.

Before anyone could voice support for any particular idea they noticed that somebody was running over towards them. Meg shared a glance at Hunter who'd disappeared. Meg sighed, "Right guess we're talking to them then. Need to get Lil Sis to drop that habit…"

"Why does she do that anyway?" asked Kat. "I mean, she didn't back before you joined up with us… or at least I didn't notice it as often?"

"It's something she does once she's confident in the group. We're obviously not going to run off without her, and she believes that we can handle ourselves in any fights we run into without complaining that she wasn't there to help. Oh, sure she's probably ready with that rifle of hers, or looking around those camps for information… but the vanish act is annoying," grumbled Meg.

"But it's because she trusts us?" asked Kat.

Meg nodded, "Yup. Lil Sis is very much not a 'social confrontation' type of person. If she can avoid it without causing friction in the group she will because guess what? Causing friction with the group can lead to more 'social confrontations'. She's loosened up a bunch because she trusts you more and because I'm here to explain things or head off any complaints by poking at people. She's never going to get better at them if she doesn't practice,"

Kat wanted to ask more but the person was getting closer. They had bright and shining scales that looked like they were polished exceptionally regularly. The only thing that marred… the woman's appearance was a deep crack that ran along the scales on her left arm. She was bundled up in rather thick clothes though the reason for that was obvious, as was the green glow around her shoes. Likely some kind of magic or magical artifact to boost her movement speed.

As the woman approached, she slowed down and looked at them there was a flash of fear before she continued her approach. Eventually shouting out "Hey there! How did you guys get here?"

"The road?" replied Kat confused. Meg snorted but Kat wasn't sure why.

"Does that mean the river has stopped flooding?" asked the woman.

*AH Woops.*

Meg spoke up before Kat could, perhaps wanting to be the bearer of bad news for the fun of it. "Nope, I'm afraid not."

"Ah… well do you have a way to cross it?" asked the woman. "Oh, and I'm Julyn by the way," she added after a moment of thought.

"I'm Meg, and this is Kat, and Kamiko. As for how we crossed, we just jumped. We're all quite strong," explained Meg with a grin.

Julyn winced. "Ah… that's… well that's fine but I'm not sure if you'll want to head into the camps then. You might get drafted into helping out. I mean it would be great if you did but… well I understand that if you're strong enough to jump the river none of us can force you and some idiots are quite certain to try… but we do have other issues…"

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