“I’d like to clear the air about what scouting means.
There are many jokes about how our job is essentially glorified retreating, that all we do is run away right after seeing an enemy, that it is nothing more than professional cowardice. I wish to tell you that all of that is correct. But the one thing those rumors entirely fail to mention that our job is honorable cowardice.
If three soldiers, by their lonesome, were to charge an entire enemy army with no reinforcements or anyone knowing where they were, would that not be the height of foolishness? Do not tell me it is honorable to die for no reason. That is no great and heroic sacrifice, it is suicide.
But to take the information about the enemy army and bring that back to your superiors, so they can use that knowledge to fight more intelligently and sacrifice fewer of their own lives? Now that is honorable.
But that brings up one more rumor that I wish to clear the air about. Scouting isn’t easy. Many just say it is running away, and all that takes is turning around and using your legs. But what of the steps before that? How far can a scouting party safely explore such that they can outrun cavalry far enough to get back to their army? What is suitable to drop when being pursued to decrease your weight to allow for longer and faster running? These are all questions scouts must answer, and it is never simple.
Scouts play an integral part of any army, and can change the tide of any war. Whatever myths and rumors the common folk may have about us, the military’s officers at least understand our worth and can make the most of us.”
-Excerpt from “Scout’s Honor” by Agustus Finnegan, Commander of Shostran’s 3rd Scouting Party
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This should be a good spot.
Click sat upon Bored the Alpha who made their way across the cavern floor as a small group of spiders followed right behind. A bit over a dozen total, the equal mix of web and hunter spiders, trudged along with eagerness. Not that they knew what awaited them, but that was the attitude they held towards all of their leader’s orders.
Alright, let’s stop here. And the others should be here too. [Command Subordinates]! Spin a web down, the rest of you!
From up above on the cavern’s ceiling, half a dozen web spiders came crawling down through a thick strand of silk. As they reached the floor, they began to spin around each other, allowing each individual string to twirl together into a single, stronger cord. They stuck it onto the floor before walking up to Click for more orders.
This should be a good spot for a lookout point. It’ll have to be a bit off the ground to keep you all from getting ambushed by predators, and it needs to be supported from above so it can’t be knocked down. I really don’t think just the few of you can hold off a pack of them, juvenile or not.
Click decided to keep that last sentiment to themselves. They had no idea whether they’d even be able to understand it if [Command Subordinates] was used to get it across, but there wasn’t any point in making them feel bad. They had a job to do, after all, even if that job was to be a guinea pig.
[Command Subordinates]! Climb that rope one at a time and anchor it to the stalactites coming off of the ceiling. Then build a large, flat web like the flycatcher back in our fortress. You all need to eat while you’re here, after all.
The other spiders did brighten at that last part, even Bored, who had somehow been caught up in the command.
Not you, Bored. You have plenty of food waiting for you back home.
The Alpha began to droop.
Oh come on, it’s not like you can even fill yourself up with just flies anymore!
While Click continued to try and cheer up their massive brethren, the others got to work. Each [Web Spider] climbed the silk strand in single file. The combined strings were more than enough to support their weights, and even allowed the [Hunter Spiders] to make their way up top alongside the others. Once there, the [Web Spiders] each took point at the bottom of a different stalactite, and after attaching a web to the bottom tip, jumped and practically flew over to the main vertical strand.
Wherever they latched on, they connected their webbing to the center thread. Thankfully, they each only jumped one at a time, so the force of each of their jumps didn’t make the strand come undone. They then climbed back up their single strands and began to add onto them, creating a small net that added additional structure and support.
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The hunters, on the other hand, were contributing to the central cord. Even though they weren’t the most cut out for weaving webs, they still made themselves useful by reinforcing the original six strings and making sure it wouldn’t break even if all of the spiders jumped onto it at once.
It took half an hour before the skeleton of the scouting tower finally took shape. It looked a lot like a lantern hanging from both the ceiling and several chains, though everything was made of webs.
And bless their heart, Bored the Alpha stood stoically still through the entire process.
And for that, I’ve got a very special reward planned for you.
Click made sure to deliver the message through [Command Subordinates], and the Alpha began to vibrate.
Alright, things look like they’re going well here. We can check up on them later when they’re finished, so in the meantime, let’s head back.
Bored began to charge back to their little corner of the cave, and Click had to hold on tight not to fall off.
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We’re going on a raid! Click gesticulated with their legs.
In front of the lead spider was the entirety of the tribe, or at least whoever was available. That still made up several hundred spiders who all jumped up and down at the promise of adventure.
I can’t exactly take you all, however.
They all stopped.
Maybe I shouldn’t make any promises without thinking things through first? Click thought to themselves for a moment before continuing with their speech. The invaders who came before most of you left powerful artifacts in the floors beyond this single cavern. If we can find them, we can take their power for ourselves!
As to the nature of what was left behind, Click knew not. Only that the intruders felt frustration and loss at not being able to retrieve them. [Decipher Language] was a strange Skill, and the [Anthropologist] Class was stranger still, especially because it was apparently crossed out in the status screen. But the [Spider Army Commander] could see its usefulness and was grateful for being able to understand the intruders enough to know that they left something valuable in the floors below.
So who should I bring along? Click thought to themselves again. I’ll of course start with the second floor, and that place contains many creatures stronger than the [Dungeon Hounds]. The [Dungeon Boars] can put up a much better fight, and they’re likely to have greater numbers down there than the predators up here.
Toting an army of spiders was well and good for getting them all experience, but swarm tactics had the drawback of attracting trouble. And the only reason there hasn’t been outright war on the first floor was because the [Dungeon Hounds] simply didn’t have the numbers to make it one. Click knew that.
So a smaller strike team would be able to move around somewhat inconspicuously, or at least not attract too much attention. If one of the [Dungeon Boars] does spot us, it will pick a fight. I was spotted by one earlier despite my size, so outright stealth is likely not possible. Likewise, an entire army would probably attract one too many of them, and the newborns aren’t strong enough to take on many of them, I feel. A smaller group, it is, then!
[Command Subordinates]! Alright, I’ve made my choice! And if you don’t get picked, you have a chance of coming on the next raid, so don’t worry!
The spiders began to vibrate. Click didn’t know why they were so concerned with their emotions to such a degree when they were all essentially creatures of pure instinct, but something about keeping them happy and hopeful felt like it was the right thing to do. Right for a leader, that was. Morality was something the lead spider didn’t have much of a reference for in the darkness of their dungeon.
First of all, the veteran spiders, I’ll be taking half of you along with me! The others will guard the base. I’ll switch out between raids.
They all jumped for joy, or simply lifted their mandibles in a facsimile of a smile. They remembered the euphoria of the actual dungeon raids, and equated this raid to the same feeling.
Next, the newborns. The thirty of you with the highest level in [Venom Gland] or highest level in general, you’ll be coming along.
It took quite a while to pick those thirty out of the massive crowd, but the newborns somehow themselves knew which ones were the strongest. The few who jumped into battle first to get the most bites in, the ones who understood the flow of battle, the ones who could avoid attacks or knew when to keep their distance in order to keep their lives. The ones who knew how to fight.
Click knew that those thirty had the greatest potential to get even stronger deeper down in the dungeon. Anyone else would likely become pig food, or worse, a positive association between the spiders and a good meal.
Alright, into the depths we go, let’s find some treasure!
As the strike team charged past the old spike trap and down into the depths of the second floor, one additional spider ran just behind them. A lone arachnid, a [Web Spider], that happened to have twenty one levels in [Silk Spinning].