Chapter 1491: Chapter 1491 Bracing for the Future



--- Kat ---

"Well the differences seem to be rather obvious... but can you give us some specifics?" asked Kat.

"Right, can do," said Bower as he threw on the bracer and pulled the rope around his shoulder, wincing a bit at the weight as he leant against the tree to help with that. "So, the big obvious one is that the rope keeps us all together, but the bracers give more freedom of movement. Sure I got a lot of rope, but that comes with the issue of it being heavy.

Not so much an issue for you kids, but for me? It's a bit of an issue these days.

"Nothing major of course, I can handle the weight... but it will slow us down just with that. Then there's the mobility concerns in general. Hard to dodge and attack if ya can only get so far away from the monster. Might not be a worry right now but some of the later stuff we're likely to encounter will be.

"Of course the opposite is true. If you take up a bracer and move about to fight a monster you might stumble into a little pocket and be stuck away from us. The bracers will point you in the right direction... but that includes threw walls, cliffs, trees, whatever have you. Heck, I know mine led me through an underground waterway once and it was SWAMP water.

Took a week to get the smell out once I got back home.

"So ya, not perfect but they work quite well. The only thing is the pull gets stronger the further away ya are... up to the point where it can literally drag ya forward if you're not careful. Can't take them off either because once ya activate them as a set? They stay active as a set.

"So if ya took off the bracer and left it to the side it's quite likely to go flying away. Hard to get off, and no monster can do it... but if you're the idiot? Well that's gonna cost ya."

"It seems like the bracelets are still the best option," said Kat as she glanced around.

"Ah, you're just saying that because you've never taken two steps away from ya group to take care of some business, then be forced to track across a bleating dessert for six hours before getting back to ya group... that hasn't moved more than a dozen paces," said Bower.

"Oh..." intoned Kat. "Can it really be that bad?"

"I understand," accepted Hunter.

*I don't.*

[I think Bower was indicating either that there is sufficiently fancy areas deeper in that could all possibly be the centre, or he used the stars to make a guess at the centre and found himself close enough... but perhaps not at the perfect centre?

Actually it might be more likely that he DID find the perfect centre but something felt off about it and decided it must not be the ACTUAL centre of the mist.]

*That makes sense I think?*

"So, ah think we've been drifting off target here a touch. Let's put it to a vote within your team, do ya want the bracelets or the rope?" asked Bower.

"I vote for the bracelet," stated Hunter. "We are going into this mist intending to fight an extremely powerful foe. The rope will not be sufficient for such a thing, and I would like to get used to the bracelets before we arrive so starting now instead of switching as we get deeper in seems to be the best idea to me,"

"I... I'd like to go with the rope..." mumbled Kamiko. "I... I don't know... I mean... I get that we'll have to fight... but I think the rope will... will help us get a bit used to things before we... before we get too deep into the mist. Give us... um... a transitional period? Yeah. I mean... you and Kat will be fine... but I sort of worry what will happen if I end up alone..."

Lily transformed to say, "I'll have to go with the bracelet, I don't have the best combat skills and instincts in my human form so I'd want to be sticking to my Memphis one... but there's no way to wrap a rope around me like that. I'd be safe in Kat's arms sure... until we get attacked by something and Kat has to drop me to keep me safe. So I vote bracelet,"

"Will the bracelet work even then?" asked Kat. "I mean, it's probably got some amount of resizing on it... but can it resize ENOUGH to work on your Memphis form?" .net

"Huh... I was just sort of assuming I'd put it on my arm then transform... but you're right it probably won't work like that. Maybe around my stomach? It'd be a massive pain to move around but it would fit... probably. Um... pretty sure I could follow our connection if push came to shove... but... hmm... ok I admit we might need to think about this a bit more..." mumbled Lily.

"Um... why not both?" everyone turned to look at Kamiko. "I mean... I know I said rope... but why not tie the rope around everyone and also put on the bracelets? Well, maybe not around Lily... but you guys know what I mean,"