Chapter 39 A Real Monster.

“You said something about a job for us?” Isaac reminded Alice as she continued to stare at the floor where the dragon had been.

“Oh!” She exclaimed. “Yes, it’s one you both passed up a few times before.” She told them and walked back around her desk and climbed back up to her stool.

“Which one?” Lenna asked. She was afraid that she already knew the answer.

Alice smiled and shrugged apologetically. “The drider.”

Lenna sighed. Isaac looked at her. “I know you said that we weren’t ready for it before, do you still think that?” He asked.

“Before you make your decision.” Alice cut in. “The bounty has been set to platinum. She is becoming a real problem.”

“What information do you have about her?” Lenna asked.

“This one likes to use invisible webs and a khopesh-like weapon.” Alice explained. “Remember that group that you two sent us from the bad side of town?”

“With the goliath and the swordswoman?” Isaac asked.

Alice nodded. “And a wizard.” She added for him. “They took the job. That is why it was raised up to platinum.”

“They were wiped out?” Lenna asked.

Alice shook her head in the negative. “No. The big guy is missing an arm at the elbow, the wizard’s staff is in five pieces last I saw, and the swordswoman’s sword was bent.”

“Bent?” Lenna asked, surprised that that was even possible. “It was a magic sword.”

Alice nodded again. “They only confronted her once and that was how they came back.” She warned. “There isn’t anyone else here right now who can handle her. The platinum tier adventurers that cover us aren’t due for a while yet.”

“Due?” Isaac asked.

“Yes. They run a circuit. There are five cities and twelve towns on their loop so it takes them a while. Since the Guild Master retired the number of active double platinums has dropped to seven in the entire kingdom.” She sighed. “I heard something about a few human demigods stepping in to pick up the slack in some extreme cases.”

One word peaked Isaac’s interest. “Demigods?” He asked. “Which ones?”

Alice frowned in thought. “Catastrophe and Judgement I believe. It is hard to tell because many of the other ones are really hard to track. Sometimes double platinum level monsters just show up dead so we aren’t sure who or what took them out.” She explained.

“Which ones would do that?” Isaac pressed.

“Hmm… Space, Time, Storm, and Gravity for human demigods.” She answered and continued to think for a bit with furrowed brows. “The Wolf or Gaia’s Guardian for elvish ones. Most of the others keep to themselves and are easily tracked.”

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“There sure are a lot of demigods just running around.” Isaac commented.

“Are you going to go say hi?” Alice asked. “I know that sometimes you guys just start fighting for no apparent reason so, if that happens please make sure you aren’t in any cities.”

Isaac chuckled. “Don’t worry. If anyone comes looking for me I’ll politely ask them to fight outside.” He shook his head. “But to answer your question, no, I don’t plan to go looking for any of them. I’m here so I’ll take care of Safeharbor as long as I continue to get paid.” He glanced in the direction of the wizards’ towers. “I recently made an investment that needs to pay itself off.”

“So about the drider?” Alice asked to bring him back on topic.

Lenna shook her head. “I don’t think we should fight her without a dedicated fire mage.” She advised. “Maybe if we could get Celeste out of retirement?” She offered.

“I’m going to need filled in on this one.” Isaac told her.

“I think I know who this drider is.” Lenna began. “Shaeo’ahna the Silent Fang. She is an old drider, around a millennium if my memory serves.” Lenna explained. “She knows drider magic and unlike most of her kin, never picked up a bow. She only kills with a sword she made herself from a dragon skeleton. She is also a master of traps. Many of them are lethal but she makes sure to kill you herself before you bleed out.”

“Sounds like a real monster.” Isaac said with a grin. He was getting excited.

Lenna nodded. “Fast, lethal, and silent.” She looked at Alice. “If it is her, I’m surprised those idiots are alive.”

“Seven healing potions.” Alice explained. “Eleonora’s wound was already healed but it looked like it had been deep. Brick’s stump had also been healed over. Bartholomew looked a little fried. If I had to guess he was too close to the webs when they lit them on fire.”

Isaac winced. It sounded like they really had gotten their asses handed to them. “All three of them were over level ten right?” Isaac asked.

Alice nodded. “Yes, all of them were gold rank.”

Isaac looked to Lenna. “So?” He asked. “Do you think we can kill her?”

Lenna sighed. She thought long and hard about their odds and all of their abilities. Shaeo’s traps were masterpieces of mechanical engineering. They were almost always invisible unless you were at the edge of her territory. Isaac could likely feel her location so that would help but Lenna never really thought the drider herself would be the problem for the three of them, she was counting Kahtesh. They needed a way to either find the traps or dispel the illusion hiding them. She remembered Isaac dispelling Shroud when they were attacked.

“Can you remove any illusion?” Lenna asked him.

Isaac shrugged. “Anything that can be dispelled by a wave of mana. I should be able to overload wards too. You said something about drider magic?”

Lenna nodded. “They use their own mana and their silk to create rituals. They are only used in securing their lairs.” She explained.

“It takes too long to set up?” Isaac surmised.

Lenna nodded. “Yes. Also it is easily destroyed by fire.”

“I keep hearing about fire. Why?” He asked.

“Fire is the only way to destroy drider silk.” Lenna explained.

“The only way?” Isaac questioned.

Lenna nodded firmly. “Yes. Perfect mana conductivity, complete lightning insulation, cold temperature does nothing, acids and poisons roll off of it, shockwaves only make it stretch, blades can’t cut it.” She explained.

Isaac swallowed. “Why don’t the drow use it for everything?” He questioned.

“It’s blasphemy.” She replied simply. “Drider are as close to Dri’El as anything can be. There have been times where great heroes are awarded something made of drider silk but that is it.”

“So the only reason the drow warriors are killable is because the miracle material that would save them is locked behind a wall of religious sacrament.” Isaac stated with some amusement.

Lenna nodded. “Yes.” She replied simply.

“It sells for a lot too.” Alice chipped in which made Isaac chuckle.

“I can’t imagine why.” He replied sarcastically. “How do we go about collecting it?”

Alice shook her head. “It is spiderweb that is unbreakable, highly flammable, and often tangled up and stuck to itself. There is no easy way. Oil? It should help it not stick to itself at least.” She offered.

Isaac nodded. “Let’s get a barrel of oil and stuff it in the bag.” He told Lenna. “You can use scrolls right? Your mana won’t cause the spells to break?”

Lenna nodded. “My mana is fine. The problem with scrolls is you can’t make them last longer.” She explained. It wasn’t possible to continue pouring mana into a scroll to cause the spell to continue until the mage ran out of mana like they could with a normally case one. This meant that Isaac’s plan needed a bit more gold than he would have liked but if all went well he would be making a large enough return on the investment the current monetary loss would be quickly forgotten.

The pair got a bill for all of the food they had eaten at the Guild Hall and a mild price of ten gold a day for them taking up the conference room which was quickly paid off. After that the pair took a quick trip to the general store and Adventurous Taste to stock up for their journey, they informed Alexander that Fen and Jala were his problem for the next few days, and retrieved their bottomless bag. They stopped at Celeste’s for lunch and then headed out to kill a drider. Not just any drider, Shaeo’ahna the Silent Fang.