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

--- Kat ---

"I feel as though my words were quite clear," stated Meg causing 'Clyde' to start shivering again.

So Kat cut in with, "I think they were just uttering an exclamation of surprise but even if they weren't… I want to know what this means. Like… what do you mean by 'the nobles are involved' and also 'what does that mean for us' as well? Hunter seems to know, and I can at least make a few guesses… but not really? Like I don't see you caring about the nobles much,"

"Well it has quite a few effects but we can start with what I mean exactly when I say the nobles are involved. It's quite simple really. A noble, or more likely a coalition of a few nobles are paying Pebbles in high quality goods for his bandits at the very least, with perhaps other things on the list as well. I don't know how much exactly they're paying him…

"It could be anything from regular arms and armour all the way up to real money and perhaps even men… which brings us into the next issue. Pebbles might have some sort of trap card. I thought this enchantments were good for a bandit, but thinking on it again… they might be TOO good for a bandit.

"I'm guessing they've got a master enchanter that either built the traps themselves or they taught Pebbles for quite a while. Sure this is decently impressive but with the new context this trap is likely just one they gave to Not without much care. I suspect they'll have better closer in… and perhaps even some precious life saving items.

"Which introduces issues more issues finding the crystal and defeating the bandits. Still, we can get to those later. The other immediate concern is that the leadership of the town probably know this. Not… Not might be even less important then I thought because he clearly didn't realise the wider implications,"

Not made aggrieved noises from the floor. Everyone, even Clyde ignored him as Meg continued. "Now. For you goody-two-shoes the reason that's an issue is that if we take out the bandits the nobles will spin it as us attacking 'innocent civilians' so now we have to be a bit more careful with the planning… and unless this is the last drake piece we need we can't afford to waste time with a political shitstorm,"

"I thought you said it was," pointed out Kat.

"I said I was CONFIDENT it was the last one. I'm more than 90% sure it's the last one… but the problems come if it's not and I'm not sure I'm willing to risk that so… major kid gloves for everyone I think. It's still going to cause a massive headache for the town now regardless of what happens… but hopefully something can be worked out," said Meg with a sigh.

Pacing swiftly Meg continued after a few turns. "Now, the issues with the enchanter. I'm most worried about one of two things. Both annoying in different ways. Luckily the 'least bad' is the one I can see us dealing with… but depends on what the enchanter specialised in and how much the nobles are banking on this.

"The big scares would be a teleportation talisman that sends Pebbles away, especially if he has the drake part on him. While the worst option would be a time bubble of some kind. Either a shield or a trap it doesn't really matter… because it's likely that energy will be fed back into the drake limb.

"Perhaps not enough to return it to full power… but likely enough energy to return it to a movable form. Especially if it can use the power to kickstart things instead of just consuming it. Perhaps using that bit of energy to suck in more time energy and have things get really bad really fast,"

"Wait… you're after a drake piece?" asked Strdl.

"It's not your concern," said Meg dismissively.

Strdl looked like she was about to say something so Kat jumped in to ask, "I get why this could cause I whole bunch of issues… but why would it also cause problems for the town?"

"Eh… it's all politics you understand? They don't need it to be true, just 'true enough' for the justice system to get locked up and start creating problems. Heck I wonder if Creep had some contacts or if he's been employed the whole time. He seems like a smart guy… just a question of how smart exactly. Honestly… if he's been working with them the whole time he definitely has an escape plan. Just gotta hope it's doesn't include a time artifact.

"Though to get back to the town… well… they can't hold all of those people. Most of them will need to be let go simply for space reasons and that's going to cause a LOT of problems. Bandits angry that they got caught and likely angry for getting punished even if they're getting of easy. Normal towns-folk scared and angry because they can't trust their neighbours…

"It's stuff like this is one of the reasons that makes me so fine with killing. Oh sure it's the end of a life and that's real sad for people but once they're dead it gets a lot harder for them to cause long lasting problems," explained Meg.

*Pretty sure that's not the real reason but I suppose she was able to say it.*

"I had not considered that angle Ma'am. The jails have never truly had capacity issues because the town is usually so quiet and the earth mages that set the place up kept expanding it as the town got bigger and bigger… but they likely oversized it each time. Not sure if they were bad at judging things or just that they wanted to be sure…

"Though even with the over engineering you are likely right. Especially if we include the families of bandits though… will… will they likely to be in trouble?" asked Strdl hesitantly.

"Eh I don't know really. In the first wave they'll get off easy because they need the space… but in the second wave? It depends. Arguably banditry is treason and undermining a whole town for profit? That's probably treason… but a lot of monarchs don't like to throw around the T word because it gives people ideas. Plus the punishments go straight to the extreme.

"I imagine, for social reasons if nothing else, most will cry and scream about how they're totally innocent and that their evil bandit husband, son, father, wife, daughter whatever forced them to move out of the town and that they were just so scared at the time," explained Meg.

"They would really stab their relations in the back like that? Um… Ma'am?" asked Strdl with a touch of hesitation when adding the Ma'am at the end.

Meg shrugged, "Eh… if the 'relation' is already up for serious charges it wouldn't be hard. Or you could start saying it after the judgement is rendered… or you could try and swing it that someone else, probably Pebbles or Creep was leaning on that family member? It really depends. Not all families are particularly close… and I imagine quite a few will be angry at the bandit member for 'getting them into this mess'. It's all fun and games when they're making more money for the family with it… but when the consequences come knocking rarely are they willing to just own up,"

Kat let the silence linger for a bit before asking, "So what's the plan now?"

Meg turned slowly to Kat while still pacing, "The plan is that we rely on a combination of my compass and Lil Sis' excellent smell to navigate to the hideout as best we can. Lament at the fact that stealth probably won't be an option because I'd bet most of the entrances are sealed, and all of the ones we can access. Then we bust in, knock them all out of we can, and try not to trigger whatever last resort safeties Pebbles has, hoping that they can't be manually triggered,"

"How likely is it they can be?" asked Kat.

"Depends on how much he's trusted I guess? Perhaps how skilled the enchanter is? For some, adding in that manual component makes the enchantment weaker and more finicky so a lot don't bother if they have it set to trigger automatically when something happens," explained Meg.

"Wait… it's worse to have a manual trigger?" asked Kat.

Stay connected with empire

"No it's worse to have BOTH Kat. The automatic ones are much harder to design and keeping them in proper working order can be extremely tricky especially if you need the enchantment to last,"

Kat nodded slowly… "So the plan is just to break in and hope for the best really?"

Meg sighed, "While it's a touch more complex and likely involved Lil Sis sneaking around to get us more info while we fight… yes the plan is mostly just to break in and hope for the best," Kat just sighed. *I really thought we'd have something better but aw well I guess…*

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