Knights of Anathaeum Hungry Folk and Sickly Spiders

[Lorinna Astarel]

The cloaked man turned slowly. Lorinna, unable to see his hands, let her own rest on the hilt of her knife. Up close, it was much quicker to draw that than her longsword.

The stranger, who apparently did not go by Malleck, looked at Ophelia. Then he looked at Lorinna.

Apparently preferring Ophelia to the sight of battered armour over a six foot frame that was Lorinna.

He smiled and then abruptly ran away.

Ophelia Tirion Josai

 

[Ashling Delaney]

Fingers lightly brushed against the silken threads as she followed close behind Josai. Never in her lifetime would she have thought she’d be right where she was, not that many would want to be in a burrow of these largely overgrown spiders. Ash on the other hand, couldn’t pass up the chance.

“Lichen? What is that?” There were still many things that, although common to most, were not to her. “Is it that reddish brown growth that I keep seeing or is that something else entirely?” Then it dawned on her, what Josai had said might mean that whatever this is isn’t in the water? “If it means good water, then the chances of the water being affected would be slim, right?” Sure, she was going out on a limb with that one.

Watching others perform their magic was something she never got tired of, always left amazed by what others could do so easily. Such as the ethereal wisp of light Josai had created to aid them on their way. “You know, I don’t think I’ve asked you yet but what is it you think this could be?”

The vibrations of whatever was ahead caused the goosebumps to form on her skin.. “It feels.. Odd. I can’t quite pinpoint it but it feels familiar in the oddest of ways. Is there any reason for warding signals to be sounding down here?”

---

Josai

 

[Josai]

"Aye," Josai said easily in response to the squire's question, her eyes, however, were cast down into the dark depths of the hollow. "Normally, the lichen would be a pale green color, like a ghostly moss, similar to the coloration of a young fir," she stepped forward, and another set of thumps sounded ahead. "These are dried out, dead," she added. "In a healthy tree, the lichen are of little effect, no real harm, nor detriment, but, they do tell us what is going on," she looked back to Ashling. "That these are discolored, orange even, tells us that there is something wrong with the water,"

The thumps came again. Faster. Closer. Something stirred before them, the silks shook and a large hairy mass scrambled toward them.

Josai's eyes went wide, and her feet slid wide across the floor as she dropped into a stance, yet her spear still rest at her shoulder, only an open palm went out to meet the threat.

It was a great spider. Large as a horse. Its hairy legs bristling as it flared them out and showed them its large chittering fangs. Its many eyes gleamed in the blue glow of the were-light, but it did not press further.

A sense of earthly calm exuded from the sworn knight, the bone charm tied to her spear's neck rattled and swirled around its jade colored string. "Calm, burrowing sister, calm," the spear witch whispered, and the spider let down its legs with a thump, and its large eyes watched the two intruders. "It is afraid," Josai warned, her eyes narrowed. "Likely feeling a ravenous thirst,"

What josai couldn't see, was that some of the fungi growing upon its back had shrivled. A few even turned strange and dark, oily, near metalic in sheen.

The spore-spider two steps back.

"Might be," Josai said, her palm still raised between them and the creature, "You can try and offer it some fresh water from your own supply?" Josai suggested. "They drink from their own webs, see if you can run some water along the threads,"

Ashling Delaney

 

[Ophelia Tirion]

"Fuck."
Ophelia shot a glance at Lorianna before racing after the man. Fortunately she was quick on her feet, agile and did not have armour to wiegh her down.
The stranger seemed to know his way, running inbetween and past obstacles he seemed to know were coming.
"See if you can cut him off!" She shouted to her counterpart. Ophelia did her best to keep up, stumbling once or twice when the suspect would pushed over a barel or bop between carts.
Then her chance came, he faultered for a second, unsure which turn to take...and in that second Ophelia drew her dagger and threw it.
Second was up, her blade in the suspects calf and him screaming on the floor.

 

[Ashling Delaney]

Try as she might, Ash couldn’t keep focused on Josai’s explanation of the lichen. Not that she didn’t want to know, more so due to the thumbing growing ever so closer. It left her uneasy, even knowing that it likely was nothing more than one, maybe even two of the spore spiders.

The ground beneath her feet shook and the thudding reverberated all around as it closed in on them. Fingers were quick to wrap around the hilt of the dagger at her side, nothing more than precaution.

What came into view before her was.. Well, it was beautifully frightening.

Its stance was threatening but it felt more like an act of defense than anything else. Ash took little time to look it over in all its glory. With fangs like that, she could only hope to never end up on its bad side.

It wasn’t until Josai seemed to calm, that she let her fingers release from the dagger and watched as she tried to put its weary mind at ease. “Afraid of us?” She questioned

Without hesitation, Ash removed the waterskin from her bag and opened it. With slow steps, she moved closer towards the spider and the threads that were closest to it. Lifting it above one of the threads, tilting it just enough that water poured out in quick droplets, one by one they moved down the thread and towards the spider.

“We have to figure out what’s going on before anything worse happens, surely they can’t go too long without fresh water.”

---

Josai

 

[Josai]

"Surely," Josai repeated, her voice grim in its agreement with Ashling's conclusion.

All the bristly hairs across its carapace attuned themselves to the pour of liquid. They turned, ever so, and twitched as the water ran down the silk strands of web. The creature shifted slowly with octopodal dance, and lurched toward the freshly spilled droplets, its long dagger sized fangs protracted outward, their hypodermic hooks gingerly plying the water slick web into its maw. Stitch by stich.

Josai let down her tall wide-brimmed hat, and it rest against her back. The blue pulse of the magick light hung about her shoulder, illuminating the walls and painting all the webs a ghostly blue. "We'll have to go deeper into the nest, and see if we can't find any hint as toward what might be causing this," she gave an assured nod, and moved on, deeper into the network of spider tunnels.

The big spider did not seem too concerned, still taking in the fresh water that glittered along its web.

Faint glowing spoors fell gently from the garden of mushrooms on its back, most giving a gentle and earthy green and gold. While one or two, their caps and stalks oil slick and the color of pitch, poured out a veil of black slime that pooled an drip down the creature's round thorax.

Ashling Delaney

---

The man fell to the ground with a loud shout, the throwing knife stuck in the flesh of his leg. He scrambled on the ground, gritting his teeth as he reached down to take the weapon out from the meaty part of his leg.

"Damn it all," he cursed, and tried to scramble back up to his feet, blood oozed out from the knuckle deep wound, and he managed to get up to his feet. Some of the villagers stared wide eyed at it all, quick to scurry away and hide.

He tried to limp away, his hands hidden beneath his cloak.

Ophelia Tirion Lorinna Astarel