D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2301 Lachlann of Ogreem

--- Kat ---

As Kat gazed into the final room it was the strangest of the lot. The door itself had a raised wall at the entrance to keep in a surprising amount of packed dirt. Grass dotted the floor and the furniture seemed almost like part of the walls. Though Kat didn’t have the chance to properly admire everything because of what else was in the room to draw her attention.

Off to the side next to the bed, was a rocking chair. Sitting on it was... a dryad perhaps? For some reason the descriptor felt wrong but there was a person made out of wood, half fused into the ground and the wooden chair they sat upon. They had a beard still made out of hair though twigs grew from their head and leaves hang from their fingers. They did have a shirt and pants on... but their feet were fused together, and then to the floor, while their hands looked to be almost a part of the chair.

How did those clothes even get on them? Kat supposed they could move at one point. A quick yell got the other two to come over and look but they seemed similarly confused. Lily agreed with her that something felt off about calling the man a dryad, while Appoline lamented that yet another source of ingredients was frozen in time. "Is it really appropriate to consider a person a source of ingredients?"

"Why not?" retorted Appoline. "The hair of powerful elves works well in potion. Same with beard hair for dwarves. The older and more well taken care of them better."

Kat grumbled internally, but decided not to say out loud. Appoline would probably reply with something like ’well they’re dead and there’s no family around to be offended what’s the issue’. Kat stepped up onto the grass, wobbling a bit as she did so. With the grass frozen in place you had to be careful where you stood. It wasn’t all level, and the room didn’t have the greatest coverage anyway.

As Kat took a few steps inwards, suddenly their was a creaking sound, and the face that had been turned to the giant window at the back of the room snapped to her. Kat nearly jumped into the ceiling as a voice rang out. "Oh! Visitors! I’m Lachlann Ogreem, how can I assist you?"

"You’re alive?" Kat asked. "I mean, no wait. How are you not frozen?"

The main seemed to be losing some of his tree features as he shifted and moved. The bark that made up his face receding into skin as he positioned himself to speak better to her. Cracks rang out as his arms freed themselves from the armrests. Notably, this did not go all the way. The twigs in his hair and... basically all of his legs remained as they are. "Ah, the day of salvation... and judgement." Began Lachlann

"I wasn’t actually awake for it. Hence my state. You see, from what my family told me, before they left, was that a great beam of light struck our mountain. Sundering it to pieces. This was immediately followed by a second flash. One that froze everything in the town... except the people. It saved us... most of us," Lachlan sighed.

"For myself, I was... a little more saved then the others. I invented this nature spell to turn myself into a tree back when I was an adventurer. It kept me safe from the beasts of the mountains while I was resting you see? It... also means I lose track of time a bit, and I can’t sleep any other way. Not anymore." Lachlann sighed again. Kat could see the age on his face. Even without the bark he looked old. His hair a deep grey and his skin marked with countless wrinkles and more than a few scares.

"Anyway, it meant I had a... unique reaction to the event. I was frozen as well, along with the other trees and the buildings. It took them a while to get me moving you see? I had to help out to get the doors open. To get everyone else out... but I couldn’t leave," Lachlann tapped his ’legs’. "Can’t seem to unfreeze these. Perhaps cutting them off would’ve worked, but I’m an old man. Not sure I’d have survived that."

"Oh," mumbled Kat. "So... what happened to everyone else?"

Lachlann shrugged, "They had to leave. I’m afraid I couldn’t tell you how long ago that was. Could’ve been weeks or months, or maybe even years. I might be the last of my family left... though I try not to think of that much when I wake. It happens sometimes. I was disturbed by a bird once you know? Not sure how they navigated to the room here but..." Lachlann shook his head. "It’s fine. I’m luckier then some... and so where my family."

"What do you mean?" asked Appoline.

"All the doors are frozen," Lachlann stated. "I can... move parts of the house. Connect the wood to myself, give it a bit of life. Just enough to move some things... but for most people? If there wasn’t a way out... then that was the end. I could actually help a few people. I was able to stretch my power to the few that live nearby... but I know there were others further out that I could not reach. Nobody could."

Kat winced at that statement but Lachlann waved them off. "There were meant to be attempts to free them, and most houses don’t have windows. Not like my own... it means that... after a while. After a long struggle... they should be thin enough to fit. In at least a few cases anyway. Perhaps there were some with a spell or a potion to shrink people down? There are options... I can only hope someone took them."

"Where did they go?" asked Kat. "And if there were options, then... why not take you along as well? Or try to?"

Lachlann smiled, showing a few missing teeth and sad eyes. "I don’t think you two get how old I am. I built this little place you know? It’s not the only village on the mountain. Though I suppose ’ON’ isn’t quite correct anymore. Still, I raised this place all by myself... and now, I am a tired old man. My magic is likely all that keeps me moving, and it’s been that way since before I got frozen.

"I’d likely be more of a burden then a helper if they’d dragged me along. Certainly so if they’d needed to take more extreme measures. Plus, because I could freeze myself I wouldn’t notice the time passing. The goal was to come back for me if they found a safe enough place to set up another village... or if they found a clean solution."

Kat pursed her lips. Not commenting on the rather obvious hint as to... how things played out if nobody had come to help him. Then again, with the portals and everything perhaps they got lost, or maybe they were all frozen for a time as well? Perhaps the spell weakened over time and they’ve only been gone a week or two. The area did just open back up again after all... so if a shift did happen recently that wouldn’t have been too strange.

"Did you want some food?" asked Kat after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"If you want to waste it on me I won’t say know. My tree form keeps my fed by the sunlight," Lachlann said as he gestured for the window. "Though I would appreciate the taste I suppose. Still, up to you,"

Kat decided, considering she was going to ask him to use his cellar it was best to offer him something. Kat pulled out one of the pancakes she’d made... and added syrup too. Lachlann nodded and took the food. Kat was going to offer some cutlery... but Lachlann simple picked up the pancake in one of the spots lacking in syrup and started to eat it a bit like it was a taco. Kat decided to just leave him to that.

"Very sweet. Did you want something for this?" asked Lachlann after he’d gotten though half of it.

"Well... we have a teleportation node we can set up and using your basement for it would be ideal. At the same time, you actually live here... sort of. Though on the other, other hand, we can set up multiple so if we found the others..." Kat left her statements hanging there.

Lachlann finished the pancake in a few bites while nodding. Clearly thinking the offer over. "Hmmm... I see why you’d want that, and I see both sides of the argument. Part of my wants to say no, part of me wants to offer another nearby house. Remember that I was capable of opening those up? Of course they also aren’t really mine to give away... so it’s likely quite rude to offer it instead. Then again, nobody is using it at the moment. Hmmm... decisions, decisions..."