With my vigor and spirit renewed (both figuratively and literally), the battle was a rather decisive one. There were still quite a few left, but after another divine strike, there weren't enough to inflict damage beyond what I could heal. By that point, it was pretty much over, with each fallen foe making surviving all the easier.

I was even able to take a round to heal Slave in the midst of being attacked. I'm not positive if she urgently needed it. She was in rough shape, but it's difficult to say how close that translates to dying. Still, it didn't hurt. Like clockwork, all of the spiders at once would regularly try to web me, and I would immediately free myself, making the efforts a wasted time all around.

At no point did they run, however, even as their numbers were steadily whittled down. The last few made no effort to even defend themselves, focused entirely on attacking Slave. now that the battle is finished, I'm really sure of how to free her. I awkwardly bite at the webs a bit, but they're too soft and spongy, and taste terrible. In the end, I just decided to spend a while healing her, just to be safe, and then hit her with a divine strike, the area of affect taking out all of the webs as well. As for Slave, she barely seems to feel the attack.

Freeing Vile is another matter, and while the same approach might work, it would surely kill her in the process. Fortunately, the dexterous claws of the black cat make short work of the bindings, operating in a far more precise manner than my own teeth or sword.

"See? No problem, just as I said." the rat says with a somewhat awkward smile. I can tell that she's still feeling rather embarrassed over her lack of contribution. I consider saying something to make her feel better, but knowing how she is, I doubt that it would work. Instead, it's better to just pretend I hadn't noticed that she was unable to help.

"Ugh, disgusting creatures. So clumsy, too. You'd think that with a lifetime of experience with using webs, they would have some sense of artistry. They could use a few lessons from Mistress about tying ropes." Slave says, shaking her head, surveying the carnage all around.

I bite my lip and look away, pretending to not be embarrassed, and take in the surroundings as well. The fires are all out, which is nice, but between the blackened branches, the countless corpses, the green gore which litters the terrain and the ancient bones of long dead meals which are scattered everywhere, the place offers nowhere close to the serene and tranquil image that it had once held.

"Right." Vile says, her own head lowered.

"Um... Mistress Vile? There... there is something I wanted to say..." The black cat says, suddenly sounding shy and meek. I would claim it was uncharacteristically so, but it's far from an uncommon tone she holds when addressing the rat.

"I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to free you during the battle." The rat sighs, having since left my back. "That was a stupid miscalculation on my part."

I'm about to argue that she can't blame herself. We, me especially, have put a lot of pressure on her to handle the strategy, and nobody is perfect. It is instead Slave that speaks up, however.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Oh, it's not that. You are, of course, under no obligation to unbind your slave, under any circumstances." The cat smiles, before going shy again, "I, uh, just wanted to say that... um... when you were tied up in the webs earlier?" she says, pausing briefly, "I thought you looked very pretty that way."

She says that last part especially quietly, as though expecting angry recriminations. I wouldn't have though that a black furred rat was capable of visibly blushing, but there it is. I can't help grinning. It's petty, perhaps, but it's nice to see her being the flustered and uncomfortable one, once in a while. I imagine it's the first time that anyone has ever called the ugly little creature 'pretty', and while I do question Slave's tastes, that the rodent being bound up in cords brought out any sort of inner beauty, I can still appreciate the sentiment. Naturally, Vile is a creature that is far from beautiful, but I guess that beauty exists in many forms.

"Um... right..." Vile clears her throat, looking to her feet. "We'd better be off. We aren't out of these woods yet, and who knows how many more death weavers we'll run into." she sighs upon thinking. "It's not impossible that we'll need to stop to sleep again before we can escape this awful place."

"So what if we do? We handled it once, and if those dumb spiders come along expecting an easy meal again, we'll deal with them!" I say, proudly, overflowing with confidence despite barely surviving the last encounter.

"Yeah." Vile grins. As much as I respect Slave's opinions, I can't say I could ever imagine associating the rat with anything 'pretty'. Still, I'll admit she doesn't look quite as objectionable in my eyes as she used to. "Are you good to go, Squire, or do you need some more rest?"

"Let's get moving. I'm getting tired of this place, anyways." I smile back. I could use a little rest in truth, but my endurance training did help in that regard. Plus, despite how big I was talking just moments ago, the last thing that I want is for more spiders to show up.

Things don't look so good at first. Hours pass, with no signs that we're on the verge of escaping the death weaver territory. Camping another night seems almost inevitable, but with no real warning of fanfare, the webs above begin to thin out, and more and more sunlight manages to fight its way through the canopy above. It isn't long before we hear singing birds, scurrying wildlife and all of the other sorts of regular ambient noises that a forest is meant to have.

"Huh, that was a little anticlimactic." I say. We did encounter a couple of small spider groups as we traveled, but nothing which couldn't be dispatched within a single combat round. "I was expecting a big boss battle with a super huge one at the end there."

"Why would you expect that?" Vile sighs. "The AbyssalWood is a huge place, and death weaver colonies only have a single queen." the rat pauses, "...and trust me, you do not want to meet it."

"I'm sure you're right, but I do sympathize with Squire. That does feel like the sort of thing that you expect to happen once one escapes a hazardous region." Slave says. The rat upon her back just shakes her head.

As the woods gradually thin, I am greeted with a majestic sight: A great, walled city up ahead. Who knows how many people live there, and are in need of aid? Sure, travelling to find my master is incredibly important, but I've been missing questing, not to mention the regular pets that they earn.

Before that, however, exhaustion eventually overtakes us. On the outskirts of the woods, we take a rest. It turns out that Vile's sanctuary spell has a cool-down of a few days after being dispelled, and she couldn't make another quite yet. As a result, we found ourselves endlessly harassed by rabbits, slimes and other weak little forest critters throughout the night.

---

Squire: "Next time on 'An Adventurer's Best Friend': There's so many people! I can only imagine just how happy all of them must be to have so many other humans around for company!"

Slave: "Um... do you want to tell her, or should I?"

Vile: "Let's just let her enjoy the fantasy for as long as she can."

The Carrion Arc: The party journeys to an ancient city, where the encounter allies and enemies, both old and new.