Open Chronicles Spiders in the Hall

[Igni Ymaranath Ythys]

"What about you, scared of spiders?"

"Don't be obtuse," Igni said, then watched as Arnor darted off in pursuit of the fleeing spiders, that lanky puppet Nycto darting after him like a badly-animated marionette. To the small giant, Oleg, she said, "You should go help them."

With a little difficulty, Igni stepped off her seat to offer the crouching doctor her hand. She smiled, though cocked her head when she noticed the Tera's skin had turned grey and hard like rock.

"What's this then, doctor? Do you know a little magic, as well as medicine?"

 

[Lechies Delrio]

The spiders' assault fell apart with disturbing ease before the combined power of their counterattack, . From her perch on the wagon, surveying the scattered corpses, the piles of viscera and torn limbs, Lechies almost felt pity for the creatures.

Almost, because she hadn't escaped the splash of their blood, either. The foul stench clung to her cloak, and Lechies was certain some of it had landed in her hair. She didn't particularly want to check right this minute.

"Say, do spiders get this big normally, or?"

Lechies came down from the wagon, grimacing as she landed in a puddle of spider guts. "No. This is highly irregular," she agreed. She stamped her feet against one of the rare patches of clean grass, trying to get the muck off her boots. "Their suspicious size points to the possibility of outside influence."

Arnor and Nycto departed, presumably to trail the spiders back to their lair. Lechies followed as well, hindered somewhat by the descent into the dry creek. She slid down the bank carefully, staff planted in the dirt for balance, and was quietly relieved to reach its bottom without falling over.

With Arnor providing light, Lechies felt little need to expend her own mana for illumination. She instead devoted her focus to listening for the scuttling of spider legs, or perhaps the warning crack of loose rock overhead. Neither came to pass, but as they ventured deeper, the familiar buzz of the arcane pressed in against Lechies's senses. She was even more certain now that the spiders weren't natural.

They stopped then, and Arnor voiced what Lechies had already felt. She came to his side to have a better look at their impediment.

"A strong illusory magick," Lechies said, impressed. "Of rigid and orderly construction. However, such a magick is susceptible to disturbance. If I introduce some instability to its weave, then perhaps..."

She tapped the wall here and there with a gloved finger, each time leaving a purple glyph shining gently on the surface. There came a pulse of energy, the still air of the cave giving rise to a momentary breeze -- and then the rock before them melted away, hard stone dissolving like spun sugar tossed into water.

The tunnel continued onward, as did the spiders' blood on the ground.

 

[Tera Lynx]

"I am a-okay," responded Oleg, giving her a half-hearted thumbs up. "Can't say the same for my clothes, or them," pointed the man, gesturing at the clumps of wet exoskeleton that used to be spiders. "What about you, scared of spiders?"

At least nobody was hurt, but she was also painfully aware of how useful she was just now... Nada.
"Not scared of spiders, per say; I learned I'm more suited to staying out of the way, I'm not much use in a fight..."

She was grateful when Igni came to her defense and she sat down in her original seat again with a sigh. She was painfully aware of how helpful she was in that fight... Nada... And she was alright with that, she was a doctor, not a warrior. Her usefulness came after the fighting when the wounded needed treatment.

"What's this then, doctor? Do you know a little magic, as well as medicine?"

Tera looked down at herself, grey really wasn't a flattering look on her. She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
"No, I thought it was one of you that cast the spell, but I uh... Wasn't exactly paying attention..."
She twisted a lock of her ponytail nervously around her finger as the spell faded and her skin was no longer hardened by Lechies' spell.
She debated on whether she should go with everyone else to have a doctor on hand as they hunted the spiders, but figured that would simply put her underfoot and unnecessarily in harms way, she was better off here with Igni and Abrielle.
And so, watching the group recede into the forest, she resigned herself to waiting. Perhaps she could somehow salvage some useful bits off the decimated spiders here...

 

[Oleg]

At least nobody was hurt, but she was also painfully aware of how useful she was just now... Nada.
"Not scared of spiders, per say; I learned I'm more suited to staying out of the way, I'm not much use in a fight..."

She was grateful when Igni came to her defense and she sat down in her original seat again with a sigh. She was painfully aware of how helpful she was in that fight... Nada... And she was alright with that, she was a doctor, not a warrior. Her usefulness came after the fighting when the wounded needed treatment.

Lechies came down from the wagon, grimacing as she landed in a puddle of spider guts. "No. This is highly irregular," she agreed. She stamped her feet against one of the rare patches of clean grass, trying to get the muck off her boots. "Their suspicious size points to the possibility of outside influence."

"Was guessing as much." Oleg crouched near the giant spider's corpse. The one Igni did her best to immolate. He planted the sole of his foot against the creature's thorax, seizing it by one leg and tugging on it.

"Tough critter," Oleg commented offhandedly, putting his back and lower body into the motion, wishing to remove one of the still intact appendages. It was no easy task, but he succeeded eventually, de-limbing the spider with a gut-wrenching snap.

Oleg sneered now that the segmented body part was in his grasp, clutching tightly enough that its outer shell (exoskeleton) started to cave in around his fingertips.

"Would you look at that?" His eyes gradually dilated as he inspected the limb, seeing wisps of tingly energy evaporating off it. The thing was glowing on the inside, even if only faintly. A sickeningly green, nearly fluorescent shade revealed itself to Oleg in all of its unholy glory.

"Giant spiders and magic," he turned to smile at Terra, having figured out something yet unknown to her and possibly their team as a whole. "I mean, it makes sense if you consider the implications. Not only are these things far bigger and seemingly far smarter than their diminutive counterparts, but they also act nothing alike."

Oleg applied further pressure against the spider's carcass, tipping it a few inches off the ground. It was light, much to his surprise. Far lighter than it had any right to be at that size, yet when he stomped it with a considerable amount of force, the carapace neither cracked nor fissured, attesting to its unnatural durability.

"Spiders are by no means social creatures, but these came at us in numbers unprecedented and with a non-insignificant degree of coordination, not unlike a wolf pack."

"Also, I don't want to scare you, but," he pointed at the unmoving spider whose body was no longer bleeding. Had Terra taken a better look at it, she could've seen its fractured flesh knitting back in real-time, "that thing is regenerating. We should do something 'bout that."

Igni Ymaranath Ythys
Arnor Skuldsson
Nycto

 

[Nycto]

"That's awfully rich coming from you. You have more make-up on that face of yours than all the women in our party put together."

"Make-up? What the hell is make-up? I'm wearing a mask." Nycto replied. He had no idea what Oleg was talking about. He had never even heard of the word "make-up" before.

He continued to follow Arnor Skuldsson through the woods as he tracked the spider blood. Eventually, they reached a solid wall, where the trail stopped right in front of it.

"I suppose we can rule out natural spiders. And- I hope one of us knows how to defeat a magical barrier."

Before Nycto could respond, Lechies stepped forward. She tapped on the wall, using some sort of strange magic with glyphs and such. Suddenly, the rock wall seemed to melt away as the illusion fell. As Nycto looked into the dark cave, he nodded. Excellent... They wouldn't be able to hide in the darkness...

"Try to keep up!" Nycto said. Then, suddenly, he seemingly merged with the shadows. He seemed to fully dissolve into the shadows, melding with them, before fully disappearing from view as he fully slipped into the shadows, vanishing completely from the physical realm. He now was one with the shadows.

Nycto traveled quickly through the shadows, still merged and melded with them. He traveled through the realm of darkness, searching the cave as a shadow. Travelling further down the cave, he noticed something strange. He could sense a weird feeling coming from deeper within the cave. Something... unnatural. It smelled like magic. Nycto could also smell more spiders down that way, too. Some spiders exited out of a branching cave passage, scuttling around. Nycto quickly dispatched them, exiting from the shadow dimension and dragging the spiders back into the realm, effectively making them disappear from reality. The only things that could exist in the dimension of shadows was Nycto and other shadowkin.

Nycto zoomed back towards the group, zipping through the shadow realm. Once he found the group, he merged out of the shadows, seemingly appearing from thin air in front of them.

"There's something down that way. Big, scary, powerful, all the works. The spiders are crowding around the area that it's in." He reported.

 

[Arnor Skuldsson]

Arnor didn't seem remotely phased when the Shadowkin appeared seemingly out of nowhere, after the mage cleared the path ahead of them.

With a deep inhale, Arnor crouched down, folding his hands together. He seemed to ponder for a moment, listening intently, using all of his given senses.

The Spiders ceased their movement up ahead, before screeching in unison. And then, they came forward. Hundreds, dozens upon dozens, came barreling down the narrow tunnel. But they didn't attack.

They ran past the group, in terror. Something even frightened the spiders, down in the depths. Arnor waited, curled into a protective ball while the legs of the last remaining spiders crawled over him.

Then, a voice, like a chorus of many, echoed down further from the abyss that the group was walking into.

"Not a further step, not another inch. Turn back, son of the frost, witch, shadow one. Do not seek the abyss."

Arnor froze for a moment. The voice sounded familiar. Too familiar.

His eyes widened, and his head picked up.

"We must decide together how we proceed. Something evil lurks. We must be together, or not at all in facing it. I would not be remiss if we turned back."

 

[Tera Lynx]

"No. This is highly irregular," she agreed. She stamped her feet against one of the rare patches of clean grass, trying to get the muck off her boots. "Their suspicious size points to the possibility of outside influence."

Tera furrowed her brow a little, "Actually, giant spiders are not that uncommon, though they vary depending on the region you live in. They are popular enough to have been well researched in most medical textbooks, in fact, the parts I plan on harvesting are generally only able to be recovered from spiders of enhanced sizes."

"Would you look at that?" His eyes gradually dilated as he inspected the limb, seeing wisps of tingly energy evaporating off it. The thing was glowing on the inside, even if only faintly. A sickeningly green, nearly fluorescent shade revealed itself to Oleg in all of its unholy glory.

"Giant spiders and magic," he turned to smile at Terra, having figured out something yet unknown to her and possibly their team as a whole. "I mean, it makes sense if you consider the implications. Not only are these things far bigger and seemingly far smarter than their diminutive counterparts, but they also act nothing alike."

She watched as Oleg worked on the spider, her inquisitive mind overcoming her initial fear of danger... She was most intrigued by the visual manifestation of magic in its body. According to a popular theory put forward by many in the research field, magic is present in everything in the world, some types of magic could even be called the actual essence of life... But for it to physically manifest itself would indicate that these spiders were enhanced in some way, or were summoned as magical constructs or conjurations from another plane sustained with magic... Both implications were troubling.

"That is indeed unusual... Like I said, giant spiders are pretty common and these seem to be of a local variety of The Spine, but this is indicative of some outside interference, perhaps an arcane nexus or some enhancing spell of some sort, I'm no wizard... They could even have been summoned from elsewhere, I hear there are magic users capable of such things..."

"Spiders are by no means social creatures, but these came at us in numbers unprecedented and with a non-insignificant degree of coordination, not unlike a wolf pack."

She pondered this as well, he was right in most cases, but giant spiders were generally more intelligent than their smaller counterparts... an infestation such as this couldn't really be called unusual, of giant spiders coordinating like a pack... She shook her head, she knew this wasn't unprecedented, but something wasn't lining up.

"Also, I don't want to scare you, but," he pointed at the unmoving spider whose body was no longer bleeding. Had Terra taken a better look at it, she could've seen its fractured flesh knitting back in real-time, "that thing is regenerating. We should do something 'bout that."

Her eyes widened in surprise and she looked at the creature... Just as he said, the flesh was indeed knitting itself back together, She watched as the wounds were healing and she recoiled in terror, most of their group had gone on ahead, it was only herself, Igni Ymaranath Ythys , Oleg and Abrielle Huxley . And Tera wasn't a fighter!
In a silent panic she looked around at all the other spiders around the wagon also repairing themselves from various stages of destruction. Wide eyed she tried to come up with a plan, Oleg didn't seem to have any problem killing them, nor did Igni... But how long could they keep it up? When would the others be back? They were still a few hours from the ruins, maybe they could run and the others could catch up?

That was the best plan she could come up with on the fly. They were tough and smart, they could figure out where they went.
"Mister Oleg! We should go on ahead before their vital organs repair themselves and they wake up! We might be able to rendezvous with the others at the ruins?"
She disliked the idea of running ahead and leaving the others behind. So she looked to both Igni and Oleg hopefully for a better plan.

 

[Igni Ymaranath Ythys]

Igni looked back at the horse-drawn cart, led at the front by two draft horses. The big brown-and-white brutes had been particularly calm during the last attack, though the whites of their eyes still showed as they gazed about the field of expired battle.

"We could go ahead with the horses and the cart, but that would leave both groups more vulnerable." Not that she was worried for herself. "Although my fire could easily incinerate these spiders, if you were willing to place them in a big pile. Actually, just a moment."

Then she looked over to Tera and Oleg and grinned, her blue eyes lighting with mischief.

"Don't be alarmed at what you're about to see." With those words, Igni disappeared. Space itself distorted around her in ripples, as if the light was bending and warping. The warping grew larger and larger and then faded, only instead of the large lady standing there, a great winged beast sat instead.

Though its wings were batlike and its body shaped just like a dragon, instead of scales it was covered in fur predominantly red and black, like a red panda. Large pink ears flapped about her neck and wiry whiskers protruded from its snout and and cheeks, and above its eyes. Just like her human form she was incredibly fat. What would have been a slim and serpentine neck was covered in rolls of blubber. As were her six limbs and tail. Her black-furred belly was likewise bigger than the cart they arrived on, and rolled and rocked with a life of its own.

"I can use my true form to dig a pit," Igni said. Presumably it was Igni - it even had the same blue eyes - and though the cadence of its voice was similar its words rumbled like a distant waterfall. It uncurled itself and stretched, standing with little difficulty despite its corpulence, then proceeded to use its paws to shovel at the earthy ground.

Though its paws and head were large, they seemed oddly small compared to the rest of her. Still, the paws were much larger than the hands of her human form. She was done in short order, then picked up the nearest twitching spider between two fingers and threw it in. Then another, and another.

"Quickly now, they're coming awake," she said.

 

[Lechies Delrio]

"Try to keep up!"

Before Lechies could respond, Nycto stepped towards the wall -- into the wall -- and was gone as abruptly as if he'd melted into the shadows themselves. Caught off guard, Lechies could only stare at the now empty space. Then she shook her head and followed after him, slowly, ever alert for danger.

She didn't make it very far before Nycto reappeared at her shoulder. Lechies jumped a little, then frowned at his report of 'big, scary, powerful'. She too sensed something deeper within, something with a magical aura of troubling density. At this juncture, Lechies could only assume this strange source was what had enchanted the spiders and compelled them to strike out at innocent travelers on the road.

Arnor crouched then, his face a mask of concentration. Lechies turned to him, about to ask what he sensed -- but the sudden screech that echoed through the tunnel answered her unspoken question.

Lechies pressed herself flat to the wall, too terrified by the stampede to cry out. Spiders of all sizes scuttled through, large and small, their many eyes glinting as jewels in the dim light. A particularly portly spider squeezed by Lechies close enough for her to feel the hairs on its body brush against her face... But there wasn't time for more than a moment of disgust before the last of the herd was gone.

Witch. Lechies had been called worse, she supposed.

"I... I would face it," she replied to Arnor, still a little wide-eyed and breathless. She shoved the memory of those stiff hairs into a corner of her mind with a shudder. "I came here to help, and it wouldn't be the first evil I've had the pleasure of meeting. But I agree that there's wisdom in collecting our whole party first. Shall we regroup with the others?"

 

[Nycto]

Lechies Delrio Arnor Skuldsson Igni Ymaranath Ythys Oleg Tera Lynx

Before Nycto could say anything else, he heard the skittering and screeching of a horde of spiders coming their way. Nycto turned, and saw hundreds of spiders come out from deeper within the cave. Nycto melded back into the shadows to avoid the swarm. He watched the swarm pass, observing safely from the shadow realm.

Once all of the spiders passed, he reemerged from the shadows, popping back into existence out of nowhere. Before Nycto could comment on what just happened, a voice interrupted him.

"Not a further step, not another inch. Turn back, son of the frost, witch, shadow one. Do not seek the abyss."

"Sounds friendly." Nycto said. "We should go say hi."

Nycto noticed that the big man seemed... distraught by this. He seemed even more alert than usual. His eyes were wide, and his head shot up. Well... that was concerning, if the big man was in a panic, that didn't bode well for them.

"We must decide together how we proceed. Something evil lurks. We must be together, or not at all in facing it. I would not be remiss if we turned back."

"I... I would face it," she replied to Arnor, still a little wide-eyed and breathless. She shoved the memory of those stiff hairs into a corner of her mind with a shudder. "I came here to help, and it wouldn't be the first evil I've had the pleasure of meeting. But I agree that there's wisdom in collecting our whole party first. Shall we regroup with the others?"

Nycto shrugged. "Whatever you guys want. I don't really care if we go on with or without our party, I'm just here to get the job done. But they'll probably be mad if we let them miss the fun. So, let's go collect our compatriots." He affirmed.

 

[Tera Lynx]

"We could go ahead with the horses and the cart, but that would leave both groups more vulnerable." Not that she was worried for herself. "Although my fire could easily incinerate these spiders, if you were willing to place them in a big pile. Actually, just a moment."

Then she looked over to Tera and Oleg and grinned, her blue eyes lighting with mischief.

"Don't be alarmed at what you're about to see."

Don't be alarmed... Right... In Tera's experience that phrase was soon followed by something very alarming.
And her experience wasn't misleading! Even with warning beforehand she yelped in surprise when suddenly there was a draconic creature where Igni was. Tera's eyes just about popped out of her head as she gawked at the huge creature.

"I can use my true form to dig a pit,"

Tera shook herself out of her momentary shock and registered Igni's plan and what she was doing. She was right! Regenerating creatures all over Arethil feared the continuous effects of fire, they could burn them to ashes to prevent their regeneration!

"Quickly now, they're coming awake," she said.

"Oh... Yeah, right!"
Tera jumped down out of the wagon and began working to pile up the spider parts into a single mass. But her scientific mind could not be satisfied. She gathered a small sample of one of the regenerating spiders, a claw, she expertly dissected the limb and contained it in a glass jar which held a magical seal on its lid.

With the sample safely secured back in her satchel she quickly backed up to avoid the dragon's breath... Too late she would realize that she needed to harvest the parts she actually needed from these spiders... But only too late...
"Oh no, wait!"