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

— Kat —

An hour later and two orbs richer Kat and Lily had exited the swamp… sort of. It was more than they’d managed to follow it all the way to the ocean and a beach was encroaching slightly on the territory of the swamp itself. The beach didn’t seem to be made of sand though, instead it seemed to be a mixture of ground up and still living mushrooms. Kat could confirm it when she shook off her shoes.

*I don’t know if this is gross or super fun.* Kat thought as she pressed down on the ‘sand’. It had a lot more give then normal sand and water was squeezed out of the shredded mushrooms when you stood on them. It felt somewhat nice on the feet but the water was muddy and didn’t look appealing at all. *How do you think something like this happens? Is it natural or just Thyme interfering.*

[I’m more interest in the sunken temple.]

*We’ll get to that in a moment.*

[Fine. If I had to guess? There’s some sort of monster that eats the mushrooms by shredding them. Or maybe they tend to them mushrooms in some way? Honestly this just seems like something Thyme meddled with. Now… can we look into the ruins?]

Fine. Kat moved her head up and to the side. Up the beach a short distance away from where they were sanding was what looked like a rock formation, but with a closer look you could see that it was a bit more than that. The rocks were broken parts of pillars and the entrance was just barely poking above the water, showing off the remains of the doors. Alright, let’s head over then.

Of course, Kat continued to walk instead of flying over mostly to be amused by the feeling of the ‘sand’ under her feet. She still hadn’t decided if she liked it or not but it was interesting as it was.

Once Kat got to the ruins she could see… basically nothing. The passage sunk into the water and took a swift turn off to the side meaning that if she wanted to see more she’d have to swim down and take a look in a more personal manner. *Alright so… do you want to stay up here while I go down? Do you want to go down and I stay up here?*

[You’d let me go on my own?]

*Well you’ve got more experience with underwater combat then I do and you’re smaller so if there’s a blockage or something you might be able to just squeeze through. My main concern is that you can’t hold your breath as long as I can and we have no idea how deep this is. It’s possible you’re meant to find a water breathing artifact somewhere on the beach.*

[Hmm…] Lily looked at the salt water and frowned. [Yeah I don’t want that anywhere near my coat. It would take forever to clean it. You can just let it all fall off you! Honestly I never realised how convenient that little trick for Succubi is.]

*Not sure I’d call it a trick but fair enough. Wait here for my I guess.* Kat gently placed Lily down on top of the rocks nearby and then took in a few deep breaths and ducked under the water. Kat found her eyes didn’t burn at all despite the salt though her vision wasn’t all that clear. Kicking off against the ground Kat gently floated over to the corner and found… a bunch more corners. It seemed to be a winding path going deeper down.

Kat followed along while keeping an eye out for any traps and whatnot but they seemed to have been destroyed or hidden. The curves weren’t ‘intended’ as part of the experience but instead bits and pieces of collapsed walls that were now blocking the main path. The regular damage made it seem deliberately placed but there was no way to confirm that.

Kat continued to swim downwards until she reached a dead end. The stone had completely covered this area and there was seemingly no way forward. Kat looked around for any sort of hidden lever or secrets but didn’t immediately find anything and just started to shift the rocks. They weren’t heavy at all even with the restrictions. The fact this was all underwater helped quite a bit as well.

It didn’t take long for Kat to remove enough of them to see through a gap in the top. There was a big central room on the other side with a chest… except it was locked up in a cage on an altar. *Hmm… Lily do we go for the chest now? Or board this place back up and leave?*

[I say we’ve got enough space in the storage bracelet to keep this one on us.]

*Alright. In that case… do you want to come down here and sneak through the small gap I’m making or do you want to wait for me to make it larger and go in myself?*

[What sort of a time difference are we looking at?]

*Not much of one. I’ve got a hole large enough for you already while we were chatting and I’ll probably have one large enough for myself to squeeze through by the time you swim down so… up to you.*

[I’ll just wait up here then.]

Kat sent a feeling of acknowledgement across their link and kept moving aside the rocks. Once she had made enough space Kat started to squeeze herself through, ignoring her horns gouging out part of the ceiling in the process. It wasn’t too bad, and Kat was able to essentially pull herself through the gap by gripping into the ceiling. Soon she found herself in the central chamber.

There were three exits other than the one she’d just left. One right at the front, and two to either side, though they were closer to the back then the sides. The cage for the chest seemed to be somewhat rusty and there was a rather obvious indent in the cage where a key would normally be. Clearly they wanted you to find something and stick it in there to get the thing open…

Still, Kat had to try. Swimming up to the cage Kat gripped one of the bars in her hand and yanked backwards with as much force as she could manage. Kat could feel a film of resistance form around her as she did so, and while the cage groaned under her ‘assault’ but didn’t seem to be too damaged.

Kat brought out her flame which swiftly started to freeze the water around it regardless of her intent.

Kat quickly jammed it into the metal and forced more power into it… only for Kat to feel the demonic energy getting siphoned away somewhere. *Ok… so this trap at least was designed to make sure I don’t just break into it with demonic energy. A bit annoying but fair enough.*

[Do you think it was designed that way specifically for the demons?]

*Hard to say… let me see what else is around.* Kat swam over to the left door and pushed it open. The door swung open easily. It wasn’t airtight or anything like that, the area behind it was flooded just as surely as the main cavern… which was annoying. This door led to what was clearly a library once upon a time. The problem was none of the books were enchanted to survive in the water. Most of what remained was debris attached to the ceiling and the occasional cover. The shelves had mostly collapsed in on themselves though the tables and chairs were still in… acceptable condition.

Kat didn’t really know what she was looking for, but she did have the rough shape and that should be enough. No reason for the challenge to be impossible after all. With that in mind Kat swiftly made her way around the library, checking under the tables and chairs, and inside some of the piles of rubble. The closest thing to a clue she found as a desk that looked practically pristine compared to the rest of the place.

Kat swam over to it and started to pull open the various drawers, freeing a quill and half a dozen sheets of paper that had ‘survived’ until now without too much worry. Finally, in the last drawer Kat checked she found something. A third of something to be exact. It matched up roughly with the indent if she imagined the other two parts. Still, it was a start so Kat pressed it against her bracelet and returned to the main room. A quick check and yup, she had a third of the ‘key’.

Kat considered leaving it there for a few moments before deciding that was stupid. She had plenty of space in her storage ring and getting the first one wasn’t much of a challenge. The real issue was running out of breath but Kat knew she still had a while before that became a serious issue. Onto the next room!

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