D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2257 Choosing the Road Forward

--- Kat ---

With that ominous statement Kat wasn’t sure what to say... but Hedera didn’t suffer from the same problem, she simply replied with, "That’s not good at all, but you’re finally on the mend now?"

Weaver nodded. "Indeed. It seems that the curse I was inflicted with was one that... essentially, scrambles my body continually as I try to repair it. I could not imagine things ending up quite so... twisted otherwise. Still, the years made me well prepared for a bit of extra pain, and I was still missing my additional limbs so the damage was something I could survive."

"Are you able to simply remove it?" asked Kat.

Weaver shook her head. "No, not at all. It’s anchored... strangely. I suspect some sort of ritual was done. The wound itself IS the anchor for the spell. I’d need to heal it to stop the spell from effecting me... but of course..."

"The spell stops you from healing," finished Hedera. "And there’s no work around for that? Clearly healing yourself... poorly wasn’t the correct way to fix things."

Weaver nodded, "Oh I’m sure there’s some work around but the issue is how much time I might waste looking for it. This is a slow but sure path to healing. Well, I say slow, but considering the amount of time I have lived with the injury it’s still quite a speedy recovery. As for the ’healing myself wrong’ breaking the spell? I suppose it’s more like the curse is tied to the idea of my body being broken... or something. Truly I don’t know what that madman did to me. I’m just trying to slowly unwind the trap.

"Once I am fully healed I should possess the extra magical might to allow myself to remove it. Though that might involve me literally ripping it out of me so I might be in for more healing afterwards. It’s not something I can allow to remain in the end though,"

"That makes sense," Hedera said with a nod. "It’s not hurting you to maintain the passages though... right?"

"No not at all, it’s probably helping my recovery if anything. Most of the silk used to make the paths was already made and enhanced LONG ago. The upkeep isn’t much, or, it’s not any more than it already was. I might have still been paying for the crumbling upkeep before? I still might be? It’s hard to tell and I don’t really notice the drain from that either way.

"My wound eats up most of my mana regeneration and keeping my body running. It’s slightly better now, but even if I look mostly healed on the outside I still need to keep a number of my damaged organs running using my silk which is the real issue, except I can’t really fix them while there is such a huge hole in my body so I have to fix most of that first and then put things back together you see..." explained Weaver.

"Of course, of course, take your time with that," nodded Hedera.

The conversation moved onto lighter topics, with Weaver and Hedera going back and forth. Weaver would mostly talk about how she was fixing the area up and what food that got her access too, while Hedera focused similarly on food, likely more for Weaver’s sake, as well as what she’d been up to recently. Stuff Kat would have assumed was already covered in their regular contact they apparently had but... whatever Kat didn’t let it bother her, and Lily had taken this as a chance to sleep.

Eventually, Weaver did pause the conversation. "I think we’ve dallied enough, or at least, your other two friends have. If you don’t mind, I’ll sort out my business with them first and then we can go back to chatting."

"Oh, yeah, that’s fine," agreed Hedera.

Weaver nodded and turned to Kat, "So, where are you planning to go?"

"I have it on good authority that the centre is opening up, so I plan to head there, and Appoline wanted to come along for the ride," explained Kat.

Weaver nodded, "I have not felt the lock on it stirring... but if you believe it likely I won’t disagree with you. It does not obey the standard laws of the rest of the island. One example of this is that, while I can provide you with another node to open a tunnel to the centre, you likely can’t use it to leave swiftly outside of specific times,"

"Um... why?" asked Kat. "Unless you just mean the lock? But it seems like no..."

Weaver smiled, "I’ll keep that little secret. It shouldn’t change your plans much if at all, and you can think of it as a small rebuke for not travelling to Summer or Spring and getting distracted."

"Sorry," admitted Kat.

Weaver shrugged, "The two connections you granted me have been great stabilising forces so I’m not angry. Really this is more of a practical joke from my end. Oh, though one thing to note is that I do not want to waste too many nodes in the centre, but I am still interested in major landmarks.

"If you place down the first one I’ll try to provide you with a second, and later a third. Assuming none of those three are wasted simply for a basic escape plan I might allow a fourth but that is the limit of what I can spare for such a venture," explained Weaver.

"Really? That’s... still more than anywhere else," commented Kat.

Weaver nodded, "Yes but unlike the other areas my network has been completed decimated. There are not, or rather, was not many people living in the centre and it’s possible none live there now. As such it’s not necessary to have a strong network there... but simply placing one tunnel and calling it down wouldn’t be ideal either. The network is stronger with more branches so I would like you to place at least two down once your inside."

"Alright... with that in mind, can you drop us off near the centre? I don’t really mind what part of the island, just that it’s close to the centre. Oh, and do you want us to simply use a node straight away?" asked Kat.

Weaver shook her head. "No I’d like you to head at least somewhat into the centre. I want the tunnels on the main feature of the centre section. I won’t say more just... you’ll know it when you see it."

"On the note of where I can drop you off..." Weaver continued, "There are a few options in Autumn and basically just the one in Winter. The Winter node is likely the furthest away on foot, but considering you can fly you might be able to make it swiftly using that exit. In Autumn you have two nodes that are somewhat close, with one of them being the town... and the other simply being out in the wilderness, but about half a day away from the centre."

"If I fly too high in the Winter area will I get struck by lightning?" asked Kat.

"Pardon?" asked Weaver.

"Last time I tried to fly more than a bit off the ground I got zapped," explained Kat.

"Oh... I... I mean I don’t know why that would happen anywhere else? It might be something new... then again I wasn’t one for flying nor did anyone else really fly around. Monsters do though... are there flying monsters around?" asked Weaver.

"There seems to be," commented Kat.

"Then I’m afraid I can’t really tell you... though I will say the main issue with the path is that there are a bunch of sheer drops that can’t be too safely navigated on foot. Flying down them shouldn’t be too hard if the wind isn’t too much for you," Weaver explained.

Kat glanced over at Appoline... in rather normal warm weather clothing. "Assuming Appoline has something to deal with the chill I think we’ll go for the Winter path."