The asphalt of the motorway lay littered with the detritus of their battle with the first Shadowweaver Arachnis.
The little group stood around the smouldering corpse of the giant spider, breathless but feeling no little sense of victory. But then the ground trembled once more as three more creatures burst out of
"Shit. It never rains. Almost like we've got a fucking bad penny on our side. Form up behind us!" Hild shouted, running forward, her axe raised in a defensive posture. Pete, jogged to join her, his mismatched armour clanking as he moved. Lorelei couldn't help but be worried about the tank's beet-red complexion. She'd had a Great Uncle who died of a heart-attack during a blazing row at a family meal; he'd looked just like Pete in the moments before.
Steffan gathered the remainder of his Zombie Cheerleaders and directed them forward, hoping to buy the rest of them some time to devise a plan. "Hold them off!" he commanded down his mental link. His little army vaulted and gambolled forward to engage the approaching spiders. Looking at the size disparity, he didn't hold much hope that they would be able to delay them for long. Zorrobar wasted no time, teeing off and hurling fireballs like a baseball pitcher. Explosions scorched each of the creatures' exoskeletons, but they kept advancing. "Fuck's sake, Z!" Hild yelled, "wait until we've got them under taunt!"
Michael and Michelle vanished into their shadow portals, and - considering the growing chaos - Lorelei couldn't blame them. She had no doubt they'd be popping up behind the spiders when the moment came for some sneaky backstabbing action but, for now, better they were out of danger. On the other side of Zorrabar, for her part, Chrissy had been putting arrow after arrow into the lead spider's eye but stopped at Hild's frustrated shout.
"Don't aggro the fucking monsters! This is basic stuff, people!"
Grimacing, Chrissy lowered her bow, swapping out the mundane arrows for something that glowed fiercely. She took aim but waited this time.
Lorelei watched everything unfold, heart pounding, holding her Double-Headed coin tightly. Every instinct was telling her to wade in and help her new friends, but she feared using her Skills in case it made things worse. At least the party was benefiting from her extra critical hit chance . . . Although, thinking about all the arrows and fireballs that had failed to put a dent in the monsters, it didn't appear that bonus was doing them much good. She clenched her fists, feeling utterly helpless.
The spiders were moving ridiculously fast, crushing cars under them as they scampered their way. Steffan's zombies were left in their wake, the monsters barely paused to knock them away before they were on the tanks.
The one on the far left lunged at Pete, one of its forelegs aiming for his neck. He raised his sword in time, but the force knocked him away into a vehicle's wreckage. Kris threw a
Hild swung her axe in a wide arc, forcing the central spider back and buying some space. "By Frig's frigging finger" she taunted, causing the other two spiders suddenly to look her way, hiss and pounce on her. She vanished under their skittering bodies.
Now all attention was on Hild - and Kris was channelling everything he had to keep her in one piece - Zorrobar sent one of his most powerful spells,
At his shout, Michael and Michelle appeared, coordinating their strikes to slash at the indicated spiders' legs. That creature slowed its assault on Hild for a moment but didn’t stop the others from trying to tear her to pieces. By the look on Kris' face, Lorelei thought, it wasn't going to take much longer before he couldn't mitigate that damage.
The motorway was a wall of noise. Steel clashed, fire crackled, and the spiders screeched. Pete stumbled to rejoin Hild in front of the three monsters, pulling her clear from under them, but the two were clearly overmatched. Their weapons flashed as they parried and struck at the monstrous spiders, their voices growing hoarse using their taunts to keep the focus on them. The level disparity was too big, Lorelei thought. Were it not for Kris pouring everything he had into the two of them, it would already be game over.
"Steffan, pull your head out of your arse and do something. We need more support!" Hild screamed, her voice strained as she took a powerful swipe from a spider's leg to her chest. Cursing, she dropped to one knee and Pete moved to stand over her. If his face was red before, it was now ashen as blood poured from thousands of cuts Kris didn't have the spare mana to fix.
Steffan nodded desperately and directed his zombies to reinforce the tanks. As one, the undead figures swarmed the biggest of the three spiders, their relentless biting and scratching attacks buying precious moments for Hild to stagger back to her feet.
Zorrobar unleashed a torrent of flame at that same spider, the fire dancing across its carapace and, crucially, not going out this time. "Keep up the pressure! We're getting somewhere" he yelled, his face illuminated by the fiery glow. He seemed to be enjoying himself a little more than anyone else.
But it was all going to be too much.
The three spiders were seconds away from overwhelming the tanks and, after that, the fat lady would be back in her dressing room, slapping herself on the back - or at least trying to - over another gig well delivered. Lorelei's eyes darted across the scene, her mind racing. She had to do something, but she couldn't risk throwing in a
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Then she had an idea. Without another thought, Lorelei sprinted toward the edge of the fight, waving her arms and shouting to draw one of the spiders' attention. "Hey, bug face, over here!"
As she did so, she picked up a chunk of road debris and hurled it at the nearest arachnid, breaking the tenuous hold Pete's taunt had on it. The spider’s many eyes swivelled to lock onto her, and it broke away from the main fight, charging towards her down the motorway.
"Well, fuck. Why do only my crap plans work out exactly the way I intended . . ."
Turning around, Lorelei's heart pounded as she ran, the spider gaining on her at a terrifying pace. It was right about now she would be delighted to see the Guide's snarky words running across her vision. A bit of advice on how to avoid being one-shot would be very welcome. But no. Nothing. Her notifications remained resolutely silent. As Lorelei ran, she ducked and weaved between abandoned cars, using them as obstacles to slow the creature's advance.
It all seemed a touch futile.
*
Now that the third Shadowweaver had been pulled away, Hild and Pete could finally assert some control over proceedings. They were still being royally fucked up, but they were getting somewhere in allowing the damage dealers to attack without being in danger of pulling attention. Chrissy, in particular was doing the business, pouring
Then, with a scream that was part triumph and part unhinged terror, Hild's axe cleaved into the joint of a spider’s leg, black ichor spraying from the wound. The spider screeched and recoiled, giving Pete the perfect opening to drive his bastard sword deep into its thorax, gritting his teeth against the resistance.
Kris's hands were a blur of motion, healing magic flowing constantly to keep the tanks on their feet. "Not much longer now. Everything is under control. I got you." His voice was steady, a calm centre in the storm of battle. This was a complete contrast to Michael and Michelle's blitzing, hit-and-run tactics, their shadowy forms appearing and disappearing with deadly precision. They were now focusing on the wounded spider, aiming to exploit the wound Pete had opened up.
Commeth the moment, commeth the fire mage. Zorrobar, seeing the opportunity, activated his most mana-heavy spell and, because he had loved Mortal Kombat in his youth, couldn't help but intone out a "Finish him!" Flames engulfed the arachnid with a thunderclap, its screams echoing across the motorway. With a final, desperate lunge, it collapsed, twitching and burning.
*
Lorelei continued to lead her pursuer through a gauntlet of wrecked vehicles. She felt the heat of its breath on her back and heard the grinding of its legs on the concrete as it moved. If she hadn't had arachnophobia before, she was willing to subscribe now.
Then, ducking low and rolling forward, she spotted an abandoned petrol lorry ahead, its massive bulk offering protection but also was able to start an idea forming in her head. Something like this had worked against the
She could almost hear the dice roll in her head, testing her luck. But no. No giant explosion, although the spider was just momentarily dazed.
"Oh, come on!"
*
Hild and Pete were now into a nice rhythm. With one spider down, they fell into the routine that had served them well against that first opponent. The big difference now, though, was that they were utterly knackered, their mana stores were low, and the rest of the party wasn't in much better of a state. Nevertheless, Hild’s axe swung in vicious arcs, each strike aimed at critical points. "Keep pressing!" she urged, "it hasn't got much left!"
Pete, almost naked again as his armour had been smashed and crushed to atoms, held his ground. "It's not the only one, pet" he grunted, more to himself than anyone else.
Sweat beaded Kris' forehead as he maintained a constant flow of energy into their two protectors. He drank the last of his mana potions and took a deep breath. It was against his nature not to be the positive voice, but they needed to know the healing tap would be turned off soon. "I'm afraid I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, guys. If we don't kill this thing soon, I worry we're going to lose someone."
Zorrobar nodded, his face bathed in flame. "Okay, so let’s end this," he said, conjuring another roaring inferno. Jets of flame erupted around the creature, and he kept the flames as intense as he could, pushing the spider back and away from Pete and Hild.
The Shadowweaver reared up as if preparing to jump over the wall of flame, but then Michael and Michelle appeared on its back, knives glowing redly as they drove them downwards with a shout. At the same moment Chrissy unleased three massive
That was all she wrote.
"Two down!" Pete shouted, his voice hoarse but triumphant. He leaned heavily on his sword, exhaustion clear on his face. Hild flopped down to sit next to him, drenched in sweat.
Steffan recalled his zombies, wincing at the state of them, and looked about him. "Hang on. Has anyone seen Lorelei?"
*
Lorelei stared at the disorientated monster and then down at the coin in her hand. She had to be far enough away from the rest of the group to be able to risk it now, surely? She tossed the coin a few times experimentally, checking its weight.
With a little shake, the Shadowweaver seemed to be coming back to its senses and was beginning to extricate itself from the petrol tanker.
"Now or never," Lorelei thought, and threw the coin at it, remembering to do a little jig just in the case, somewhere, the Guide was watching.
Original Attack Outcome: [Negative Result] Lvl 10 Shadowweaver Arachnis is healed to 100%
Mitigation roll due to dance routine.
Mitigation successful.
New Attack Outcome: The coin bounces off the spider's carapace and strikes the petrol tanker, which then explodes.
Damage Dealt: 20k fire damage
The spider vanished in a cloud of ash.
Lorelei had just a moment to feel a sense of disappointment at the lack of snark in the description, before the fire swallowed her up too.