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

--- Kat ---

"So… do you think we CAN open this door? And if so… should we?" asked Kat.

"We have come this far and taken considerable time with this distraction due to my request so I am willing to let it go if you wish… but at the same time the evidence indicates there is more worms inside, so if you do not wish to investigate I will likely flood the area with demonic fire using the provided holes.

"As to if we can open the door? I suspect that the person responsible for this fell into the common trap of creating a bunker, massively reinforcing the door… and only the door. It is a simple mistake to make, especially amongst those prone to poor ideas.

I suspect that if the enchantments on the door still hold it will be easier to simply rip the door out of the wall and get in that way," stated Hunter.

[OPEN THE DOOR! I need to know! We can't just leave the end of this expedition up in flames! Bring down the door I say! Bring it down!]

*I hadn't realised you were paying such close attention, nor that you were so enthusiastic about opening doors.*

[Well… most of that was for comedic effect but I see it's confused you more than anything else. More seriously I'm interested in if any notes survived. I might not want to replicate any of this creepy stuff but knowledge is knowledge… and creepy fantasy knowledge is extra interesting as long as it doesn't give me too many nightmares.]

Kat gave a mental nod of acknowledgement and turned to Hunter, "Apparently Lily thinks I should open the door, if only so she can look at the notes," Hunter gave Kat a concerned look. "Ah don't worry, she was very clear in saying she doesn't want to use it for anything… but Lily is very much a book-fiend,"

Understanding bloomed in Hunter's eyes. "Ah yes I see. We have some people like that in the clan though they are quite rare and highly valued. They tend to focus on hunting for knowledge instead of monsters… it is a rare and unpopular path. Many in the clan do not respect them for this choice, but the more important members all seem to. I myself will admit to looking down on them a touch.

While I do understand the work is important it seems so much less fulfilling to me," stated Hunter.

"Eh I can see it," said Kat with a shrug. "So how do you want to crack open this door?"

"I'd suggest we both take a side, dig our hands slightly into the dirt to get a good grip on the frame, and then pull out and up at the same time," said Hunter.

Kat shrugged and nodded. The rock around the door wasn't too soft, but compared to the strength of the two demons it might as well have been sand. Once they were both in position Hunter gave the signal and they yanked. There was a groan but quickly the door was ripped from the wall and Kat had to partially let go of it as it sailed over her head to avoid being pulled by the weight of it.

Hunter was doing a lot better, clearly prepared for this and guided the door onto the ground, slamming it into the stone so that it was now sitting upright behind them. Stay in the adventure with m-vl-em,py-r

In the same motion, Hunter flicked a bit of demonic fire into the room. There were a few corpse worms still out and about but only a few dozen and they were quickly, and carefully, dealt with by Hunter without destroying anything in the room. Though Kat was more concerned about the skeleton that had just fallen over next to them. It was really hard to tell anything about it.

It was humanoid but clearly not quite human, and you could see places that had been bitten into by the worms.

"What was it doing by the door?" asked Kat.

"I suspect they worms were trying to use the corpse of whoever this was to open the door up and failed. They likely did not understand what he or she was doing to open the door, and even looking at the door myself I am not entirely certain. I suspect a mana pule pattern of some kind unlocks it, but without mana myself I cannot test such a thing," stated Hunter.

Kat gave a nod and slowly walked into the room. The floor was wrecked and horrible stained with all sorts of things and Kat quickly turned to other features of the room. There was a now broken chair with two of its legs snapped off and the back filled with holes.

A number of remarkably intact looking cupboards, and on the table was a considerable amount of broken glass alongside what might be the remnants of a notebook but it was hard to tell.

Turning to the side Kat saw what looked to be… the head of a giant ant? Kat wasn't certain, as the worms had clearly gotten to it, but one antenna happened to still be intact and Kat could sort of make out the remnants of mandibles now lying detached from the main structure. The weird part was the large crystalline gem that was on the bench.

It glowed a light purple that bordered on pink though didn't quite make the jump in Kat's eyes.

Aside from that, there were debris and remnants of other parts of the room along the wall facing the worms, but there wasn't enough left of whatever the things were for Kat to take a guess at their purpose. Hunter might be able to piece it all together, but Kat didn't think believe herself to be up to the task. "So… what's all this? And should we take a look in the cupboards?" asked Kat.

"This is clearly a research lab of some kind. Likely personal on account of the small size and the single chair. I suspect they were either researching the worms that they found somewhere else, and they escaped due to the fact only the door is reinforced, from here they spread out and found the surface…

"Or alternatively they were created in this lab. I suspect the former because I do not believe this place to be of sufficient size to conduct such experiments, and the technological and magical prowess of the local populace seems insufficient for something on that scale.

Though… if they were brought in from elsewhere and escaped I do wonder why they only spread out in a single direction," pondered Hunter.

"Right… well what about this ant thing?" asked Kat pointing out the likely ant remains.

Hunter turned to look at where Kat was pointing, it was a shelf just above her 'natural' eye level so Hunter coiled the end of her tail around a bit and lifted the rest of her body up to see. "And suddenly this all makes more sense. That appears to be the remains of a giant ant queen, one that likely manages a hivemind when in active operation. I suspect that this was the basis of the research here.

Attempting to create a true hivemind out of the worms, perhaps with whoever that was," Hunter jabbed a finger towards the corpse, "in control of the entire structure.

"I suspect that the lingering mental imprint of the jewel there is responsible for the worms' strange behaviours. The specifics are beyond me without significant time investment and additional knowledge about the ant species that produced this specimen but I can at least guess this much.

I do wonder why that manifested in limiting the worms' defences, but I'd guess that either that was the entire point, or they were simply trying to get as far away from the crystal as possible,"

"But then why was their main pit still here?" asked Kat.

"The crystal cannot operate forever without being fed compatible mana, I suspect it ran out and the worms just continued to dig straight-ish because that's what they were already doing" answered Hunter easily.

"Oh… yeah ok that makes more sense then I thought," mumbled Kat.

"Now as for these cupboards, I suspect they contain a number of things, though… one moment," Hunter paused as she reached up and gently placed a hand on the cupboard doors. She held her hand in place for about a minute before shrugging, "I am not the best at this sort of identification but I think the cupboards have some perseveration enchantments on them. Likely why the worms left them alone.

"If we are to open them, do be mindful of what's inside. While at least one will be notebooks and things of that nature I suspect that there will also be other less pleasant things. We will should determine what we are to do with them before opening in case the mixtures have become volatile over time,"

"Didn't you say there are preservation enchantments on the cupboards? Why would some of it be volatile?" asked Kat.

"These are almost certainly not time-based protections Kat. They are almost certainly either water, wind, fire, or earth based simply because that is what most people know. They are not frozen in time, the effects of time are merely blunted by other factors, or so I suspect anyway,"

"Huh," mumbled Kat as she looked them over.