Words that earned more than a few curses, but they all picked up their pace, and Jack found he wasn't the only one who had been blessed with more resilience than he had ever had before as they all raced ahead at a sprint, just barely catching up with Barlton before he seemed to slip impossibly far away through the oddly winding tunnels of shadow and dream they now found themselves racing along.

"Barlton! Wait up!" Jack screamed.

"I can't, lad! I scent somethin' glorious up ahead! We have ta catch it! Everything depends upon it!"

"Barlton!" But it was no use. The dwarf was ever closer to slipping out of Jack's sight completely.

And somehow he knew that would be a very, very bad idea. "Link hands and come on, everyone! Faster! We have to go faster!"

Jack was heaving for breath, drawing in great big lungfuls of air as his thighs burned with the fires of exertion, for just a heartbeat envisioning himself in track and field once more, forced to do endless sprints when the coach had caught him making out with a certain cross-country all-star who just happened to be from East Lane High, their most hated rivals. And the girl had actually had the gall to smile and wink when the East Lane coach, who also happened to be the girl's aunt, was leading her back to their car, both of them giving Jack a thumbs up.

That day had been hell on earth, and Jack had all but sworn off girls from that moment on, just weeks before he met the love of his life. Just months before the world ended entirely.

Jack shook away bittersweet memories that were both dreamlike and every bit as real as the life he embraced at that moment, pushing himself to run ever faster, desperate to escape the endlessly stretching caverns before smacking right into Barlton's back, who paused only to glare at the party collapsed at his fit.

"Took ya all long enough! Best be boostin' that vitality stat. Now keep quiet! We got trouble up ahead."

"Don't do that again, Barlton!" hissed Drake, eyes wide with fury and terror. "You tore off so fast, going in such strange directions, we almost... we could have..."

He blinked, stuttering to silence when the giant dwarf glared back at him. "I said shush, yer lordship!" the dwarf snapped with a strangely loud whisper. "Spiders ahead, and I do believe they're making dinner of a bunch of noobs!"

Jack blinked at this, the terror of jumping out of nightmare just in time, for of course when they looked back there was nothing but a limestone alcove, no trace of their passage at all, replaced by utter confusion, combined with terror of a different sort when he took Barlton's lead and crouched down before sliding forward after bumping his thankfully armored head against a too low cavern ceilin before realizing they were all on a ledge overlooking a vast, web-strewn cavern.

And some twenty feet below were a trio of desperately fighting women kitted out in blue lamellar armor, open faced helms, and wielding what looked like katana blades affixed to five foot long wooden shafts Jack believed were called naginatas but wasn't entirely sure. What he was sure of was that the panicked screams were those of women fighting for their lives, not trained warriors, for all that they struck with impressive force as one massive spider jumped on the largest warrior's back, sending her crashing to the ground, streams of spider silk shooting out of a trio of massive spiders Jack now noted on the web just a few dozen feet from where he and his friends were watching the soon to be butchery.

Warriors or not, the girl's cries cut through Jack's soul. He didn't think to consult with his party, he knew there was no time

"Sublimato! Sublimato!" Jack hissed, massive balls of caustic death shooting forth from his fist to slam into first one massive spider and then the second, and much to Jack's fierce satisfaction, their carapaces did nothing to stave off caustic death as they squeeled, smoked, and seemed to shrivel upon themselves, collapsing from their perches as the spider silk was effortlessly dissolved, crashing to the ground a good dozen feet from the women now striking out in tandem against the last giant spider still on their friend, Jack knowing better than to aim artillery sized rounds of caustic death so near what he chose to think of as friendlies. He wouldn't even use the far more compact Acid Arrow, with the spider right over his prey.

"Jack, what the hell are you doing?" Aroust hissed.

"What's it look like? Clearly he's saving them damsels in distress!" Barlton snapped, pulling out a massive double shot crossbow Jack blinked to see, realizing there was a lot more to the dwarf than he had first thought, not the least of which was storage space well worthy of any, well, noble or royal, he supposed.

"Now if only I could line up a beed without worryin' about the girl underneath!"

Fortunately, the adventurer's powerful chops had had the desired effect, the leaping spider hissing and retreating, but not without spitting something caustic at the warrior's eyes, the creature scurrying away for all that it's carapace looked badly damaged, the pair of girls whose smoking vambraces had thankfully protected their eyes not even bothering to give chase, just picking up their fallen member with cries of "Su Li!" the girl shaking and trembling but still alive, for the moment as they retreated to what Jack thought must be the entrance.

Jack swallowed, fearing the worst and wanting to come to their aid, but not such a fool as to assume real life was anything like the storybooks.

So instead he kept his perch, putting his 16 perception, Mage Sight and Infravision to best use, peering as carefully as he could for any other web spinners or ambush predators, eyes widening when he sensed the peril the retreating adventurers were heading into.

"Look out! It's a trap!" Jack screamed.

Just as a massive spider pounced from a shadowy alcove, and Jack knew he dared hold nothing back.

"Sagitta Acidum!" He roared, aiming a stream of caustic deadly globes right for the massive giant arachnid's eyes, even as the beast spat streams of liquid that trapped a second adventurer, the third barely dodging back in time.

"Ah Lam!"

The giant arachnid lurched back as a good half of it's eyes were seared from it's head before a second and third volley of caustic arrows slammed into its shiny carapace, followed by Veti's own words.

"Os Infirmare! Sicco Impetus! Tarda!"

Jack flashed a fierce smile as he sensed the giant spider's carapace hissing far more readily as it's carapace weakened under Veti's onslaught of curses, brittle limbs struck with sudden clumsiness collapsing as the spider crashed to the ground, struggling to right itself as the one still whole warrior desperately worked to drag her friends back across the cavern floor and away from the titan sized spider that could so easily crush them all underfoot with its struggles, tripping over sticky glops of webbing and all too human looking bones.

And before the massive beast could get it's bearings, it had been struck by another series of caustic balls sizzling and eating through its carapace which almost seemed to enrage it... before it stiffened and collapsed as not one but three massive crossbow bolts burst through it's already corroded carapace, Aroust and Barlton exchanging satisfied smiles over their massive double shot crossbows, which Jack supposed was de-rigor for any adventurer worth his salt with any sort of storage container, or perhaps it was just these two.

Either way, the giant spider was now very much dead.

Yet the way the one still-upright girl was desperately trying to revive her friends made it clear that the two fallen, at least, were still very much in dire peril.

Sensing no other predators, Jack was determined to make his way down and see if he could help.

"Formo!" He cried with a hand to the steep wall of the ledge they were perched on, flashing a fierce, satisfied smile when he sensed not one but a dozen deep indentations forming even as he sensed the shape of the cavern entire with his mind's eye.

Adept use of Artisanal Manipulation allows for near effortless manipulation of mundane material at close range. 24 stone groves formed. 5 cubic feet moved in total. Zero potency expended. 1 Mana expended.

"Jack, don't be a fool for a pretty face!" Aroust hissed.

"Just be careful, I don't know if we share the same language," Veti simultaneously said before frowning her disapproval at a softly cursing Aroust.

"If he gets himself killed for stupidity, Veti..."

"He won't. He's smarter than that."

But Jack was hardly paying either of them any mind, solely focused on the panicked, sobbing girl now just a dozen yards before him, carefully making his way across uneven terrain covered in loose rocks, bones, and sticky webbing. Because Veti was right, he was no fool. As much as his heart was moved by the girl's anxious sobs, he noted her well-worn lamellar armor, the naginata she still had had the discipline to keep within a quick roll and grab as Jack cleared his throat, suddenly snapping her head up to glare his way, looking both fierce and beautiful with her High cheekbones, Han Chinese features, and soft brown eyes.

"Easy. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name? My name is Jack." He spent long moments just gazing at the girl now clutching her naginata, still spattered with spider ichor in a trembling yet fierce grip, tears of worry and panic for her friends, for herself, perhaps, spilling freely from eyes that still locked with Jack's own.

The gaze of a warrior willing to do whatever it took.

"Please. I don't know if you can understand me, but maybe I can help."

She gave an angry shake of her head, shouting at him with words he didn't understand.

So Jack, desperate to break the deadlock before her friends slipped beyond all hope of succor, solemnly stepped six paces back before slowly, deliberately, nicking one now naked and temporarily unarmored hand against the near impossibly sharp edge of the sword still at his hip that he only unsheathed a few cautious centimeters of before sheathing once more and slowly raising his bloodied hand for the inspection of the girl before him.

Before focusing his will and whispering two words that might mean the difference between life and death.

"Sana Injuriam." Jack took a deep shuddering breath as the surge of tingling healing near instantly sealed up his tiny nick, impurities squeezed out with a final drop of blood before wiping it away and showing the now wide-eyed girl who took off her helm in amazement his uninjured finger.

He then pointed at the pair of girls who's breathing had worsened in just the seconds they had delayed.

"Please, put down your weapon. I just want to heal them."

Her eyes widened with what seemed sudden hope, and Jack received a message he hadn't expected ever to see again.

Chu Hua wishes to form a party with you! Do you accept?

You have countered with an offer for Chu Hua to join your party! All of Chu Hua's former party members are incapacitated.

Chu Hua accepts your invite!

Jack blinked at those messages even as the girl before him flew into a prostrate bow Jack somehow knew was called Dogeza.

"Please, hero, I beg of you. Save my sisters and I, Chu Hua will be in your debt!"

Jack swallowed, feeling both relief and a terrible pressure with those words, not hesitating to wonder at how the hell his interface was allowing him to instantly understand the girl's words as she spoke them, merely nodding his aquiescence and putting his hands on the nearest girl.

Sensing her terrible peril as wide, panicked eyes locked with his own, the girl clearly suffering some sort of muscle paralysis.

A paralysis that was now hitting her diaphram and slowly suffocating her.

"Sana Injurium," Jack whispered, closing his eyes, and preparing for the battle of his life.

You are attempting to heal Lesser Poisoning!

You have failed to fully understand Spider Venom Toxin!

Healing has partially rejuvenated target Su Li from asphixiation!

Jack furrowed his brow, having sensed in those endless moments he had lost himself somehow communing with Su Li's ailing body as if it were an extension of himself, a sticky residue somehow covering countless millions of her cells. Treating it was different than regenerating critically wounded cells in a matter of seconds. He understood that intuitively. But as to how to extend his gifts of rejuvenation to treat a toxin affecting the receptors of her entire nervous system? That was going to take time.

Time Jack realized he didn't have when Chu Hua's panicked cry made it clear her other friend was close to death as well.

Jack grit his teeth, swallowing back his sudden panic as he quickly turned to the other girl who's desperate rattling wheeze made it clear she was seconds away from her last breath.

"Sana Injurium!" Jack whispered, now with a hand on each girl's chest, flooding a steady trickle of his mana and will into both his patients, doing everything he could to rejuvenate their heart, lungs, and brain, at least enough to stave off breath as his mana slowly trickled away, knowing he was running out of time.

Jack lifted tired eyes to meet Chu Hua's desperate gaze, forcing himself to ask what must sound like madness. "Can you wipe the sight where your friends were injured with a clean cloth?"

Eyes widening at what she must have thought was common sense or basic wound care she should have already performed, she instantly nodded an turned one friend over, careful not to break the connection between Jack and his hand, has he desperately split his focus, sensing that, somehow, his streams of healing energy was just barely keeping the pair of girls alive.

If only he understood just a bit better how the poison worked... if only he had several hours of time to experiment with his too infrequently used Natural Alchemy skill.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

But time was one thing they didn't have.

"Honored brother, I see no trace of their wounds!" Chu Hua said with both relief and worry.

Jack forced a smile. "Call me Jack. And that's fine. Just wipe off some of the gunk that came out of the wound with my healing."

She frowned but jerked a quick nod, quickly doing so.

And Jack waisted only a moment, removing his hand from a suddenly wheezing girl as he willed a quick indentation in the stone floor before filling it with a quick splash of water.

"Formo. Aqua Effusorium."

The girl's eyes widened when a small bowl of water was suddenly before her, blinking back and hissing when the spray from Jack's instantly cut off water jet splashed across her face.

"Relax. It's only water. Now please, put the cotton cloth in the bowl."

Furrowing her brow, she dipped her head and complied, Jack allowing the cloth a good minute to steep in the water as he placed his hand back on Su Li's chest, desperate to intuit the nature of his patient's peril without embracing peril himself.

Yet simultaneously knowing he had no choice.

Not if he wanted to save the lives of the now very much aware girls both peering at him with desperate eyes conveying so much desperate hope and barely suppressed terror, fully awake, aware, in terrible pain, and knowing their lives were utterly in his hands.

You have accepted Ah Lam's party request!

You have accepted Su Li's party request!

Jack did his best to give them a reassuring smile. "It will be alright, just hang in there, okay? I'm going to try something a bit stupid... but I'm not sure what else I can do."

He could sense the surges of terror and desperate hope as the pair of girls both signaled surges of acceptance, and fear... as Jack quickly lifted his hands off their chests and cupped just a bit of the water as he sensed his increasingly worried friends slowly making their way down the stone ladder he had effectively made for them.

"Now don't be doin' anything stupid, boy!" cautioned a rapidly approaching Barlton, large dwarven eyes going wide as Jack took a careful sip of water tainted by a tiny bit of something that made his lips tingle.

"As soon ask a cloud not to rain as ask Jack not to do something stupid," Aroust huffed, shaking his head as Jack quickly wiped off his hands and spat out all but a few drops he allowed against his tongue and trickling down his throat.

Doing his best to ignore the sudden desperate pleas of Ah Lam and Su Li in his mind as they began to suffocate once more.

Feeling a curious weakness to his own muscles that lasted for long lingering moments before... there!

Finally!

He understood!

Taking only the time to take a handful of slow, deep breaths, purging the last lingering traces of highly diluted peril from his body, he quickly placed a palm upon each of the girl's chests, whispering the pair of words that had once cost him such pain to cast. Words he had mastered so well they could now pull a pair of girls from the brink of death.

"Sana Injurium!" He said, feeling a sudden blue tingle overtake both of them as his magic quickly and efficiently removed strange compounds from the victim's nicotinic receptors far more efficiently than he could moments before just directing healing at the oxygen deprived cells as a whole, now understanding both the poison, and the cure, the neutralized toxins emerging from the girl's bodies as an oil sweat, and moments later the pair of girls were sobbing their gratitude and kneeling before a suddenly dizzy Jack, surprised by how much mana he had expended in his desperate bid to save the girls' lives.

Congratulations! You have evolved Lesser Healing to treat poisons as well as traumatic injury! You have gained the Lesser Perk: Neutralizing Affinity! You now have +3 to all neutralize poison checks! This goes to +6 if you yourself dare to imbibe the poison in question. (And if you're smart, you'll make this an extremely small dose, lest it kill you as well!)

Your Greater Artifact of Healing, still linked to you by blood, now shares your additional affinity!

Lesser Healing is now Adept Rank 5!

Jack spent long moments just catching his breath with a relieved smile on his face, beyond grateful that the girl's lives were saved, and he couldn't deny that his cheeks flushed with the way Chu Hua was gazing at him with an odd mixture of awe and wonder.

It was enough so that he didn't feel a complete fool, his healing bracer having completely slipped his mind in the panic of the moment. But at least the girls were saved, and he didn't know to be awed or terrified that his artifact still had a bloodlink to him so strong that it was growing and evolving as he was.

Then he blinked when Chu Hua took his hand and lifted him to his feet, intent brown eyes gazing into his own. "Thank you, hero. For saving the lives of my sisters. To have earned the beneficence of a natural healer in my hour of greatest need... It is a debt I will never be able to repay."

Jack swallowed at those words, feeling a hot blush creep up his cheeks with how intently Chu Hua was gazing at him, eyes widening in alarm as he saw that her sisters were still performing dogeza.

"No, please, I'm happy to help!" he assured. And it was true. Sensing the desperate relief and gratitude that Ah Lam and Su Li had sent his way through their party link, had filled him with a sense of warmth, accomplishment, and fiercest relief that he had been able to pull two beautiful young women with their whole lives ahead of them back from the brink of death. In truth, he had never felt like such a hero as when he was able to come to someone's rescue, and there was no greater boon, he thought, than to know that one's sacrifices were honored. Were appreciated. He already intuitively knew that a lot of jaded bitterness came from people's best efforts being met with derision, indifference, or artifice. But these girls' appreciation, and need, had been real. And he could ask for no more than that.

He would ask for no more than that.

No matter how his cheeks flushed under the trio of intent gazes before him, before Ah Lam broke the unexpectedly sweet tension with a smile.

"And we will always be grateful." She then turned to the quintet of adventurers now rapidly approaching, honoring them with what Jack understood to be a warrior's bow.

"I, Ah Lam, Warrior of the Dawn, do greet and honor the party of Jack..."

"Evergreen."

"Evergreen," she finished with a smile. "These are my sisters, Ah Lam, and Su Li, also Warriors of the Dawn."

Elof's eyes widened, looking a bit awestruck by the trio of warrior women before him. "I'm Elof," he quickly said.

"Barlton Strongthews, miner extraordinaire, at yer service!" said the massive dwarf with a smile, still holding his now re-cocked double shot siege crossbow.

Aroust, now armed with his favored glaive once more, dipped his head. "Aroust Craveat. A pleasure."

"Drake de Leone, handy with cantrip or quip, and I can pretty much shout your slippers right off your feet!" Jack's friend said with a smile and a fluid bow.

"Veti Girig. Arcanist," said their final party member with a half-curtsey, and Jack was impressed to find her moving so easily in what was now most definitely a blood-mithril reinforced aketon. Jack wasn't sure if it was thanks to absorbing so much Mithril potency or prudent choices with her level ups, but it seemed that Veti had been wise enough to boost her Vitality and Strength, very useful for anyone who dared the deeps. Either way, her added strength suited her, Veti earning approving nods as well from what were now three additional members of their party.

Veti furrowed her brow ever so slightly. "And um, forgive me for saying this, but I thought one could only form parties with a single band who would then define each other for life?"

To this Chu Hua flashed a brilliant smile. "I thought so as well, honored Veti. But in my hour of greatest need, I sent my plea to the heavens, and they answered. And I am forever grateful that my party is no longer limited to just my sisters and I." She flashed a haunted smile. "I will not bore you with the sad state of affairs that led to the three of us being forced to dare a delve far beyond us. But I am beyond grateful that the heavens saw fit to bless our perilous mission with figures out of legend."

Jack blinked at this, feeling a sudden tingle of alarm. "What do you mean by figures out of legend?"

Chu Hua flashed Jack a bemused smile. "I mean you and your friends, Jack. Outsiders with hair the color of straw, with your wide tiger eyes that glitter like precious jewels. It's been centuries since the last true outsider has come so close to SanDushi city for purposes of diplomacy or trade. To say nothing of heroes with the blood of Dwarves or... other races coursing through their veins."

She said this with a pointed look Jack's way that made his cheeks flush.

Because, really, how could she possibly know?

So instead, he focused on what she had said before. "What exactly do we mean by perilous mission?"

The three girls exchanged an anxious glances.

"We nearly died, sister," said Ah Lam.

"We're the only ones left," said Su Li, eyes gravely taking in the remains of the spiders and the heroes that had rescued them from certain peril. "With the city overrun, there's nowhere else to flee, save here, and no one left to cleanse this place, save us."

Drake frowned. "Wait, what's this about a city being overrun?"

Chu Hua gave a bitter shake of her head. "A Dark Pustule of a wild delve was allowed to fester just outside the city. After Administrator Shan Hu's entreaties to the emperor to send a company of royal troops to cleanse the infestation went ignored, he drew recruits at spear point from the few adventuring clans that chose to settle here in SanDushi... never mind that they were young, barely trained, and hadn't even been properly initiated by their parents before they had been forced to serve the emperor in his latest campaign, all summoned at once, just the year before."

Fists clenched, Chu Hua gave an angry shake of her head. "Not a one of those children was over sixteen. But if they could hold a spear, Shan Hu didn't care, threatening to cut down their younger brothers and sisters if they didn't do their duty and enter that pustule. Never mind that they were barely trained and had no real idea what they were doing. Those children were, for all intents and purposes, sent to die. For not a single one returned. Parents forced to serve a mad emperor while their children lie in unmarked graves as panicked administrators throw their lives away like they were less than nothing, seeking only to buy time and flee with their sycophants before the pustule burst and our city was overrun."

Jack gazed at the sobbing Chu Hua in horrified disgust. "That damned monster!"

The girl gave a bitter nod. "I agree completely, Jack. He's lucky I didn't kill him myself when he fled with our mothers, like the coward he is."

Drake's eyes widened at this. "Wait... that monster wasn't afraid the parents would be back for retribution? And he's now holding your mothers hostage?"

The girl known as Su Li lowered her head in shame. "No, brother Drake. Shan Hu is betting that all the delvers the emperor has forced to serve him who aren't of royal blood will die as front line shock troops in his campaign of conquest. The emperor's disdain for anyone who achieves power without being of his blood or otherwise beholden to him is well known. And Administrator Shan Hu isn't holding our mother's hostage... they are his wives."

Drake blinked. "Wait, you mean..."

Chu Hua bowed her head. "Yes. He is our father. Who refused even to let us dare the pustule ourselves, saying it was the duty of the common-born who dared to rise above their station. According to him, our only duty was to engage in only the most carefully curated hunts where our targets would pose absolutely no threat to us at all, and he had actually expected us to use all our earned potential to boost our appearance, charisma, and finesse exclusively, regardless of the needs of our class, so as to secure the most advantageous marriages as we could, all for the sake of his purse. And it is our greatest shame that we didn't flee his thumb and dare the pustule before the final hour." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Before we realized just how far our father would go to buy himself time."

Strangely, it was Barlton giving the girl a gentle pat on the back as she sobbed in her sister's arms, the peril of narrowly avoided death, the desperate surge of adrenaline fighting for their lives, the very horror of their circumstances, fighting for their lives, finally catching up with all of them.

"Now now, girl. It's not for ya ta take on the burden of yer father. His sins are his own, and from what I can see, yer playin' the role of hero rightly enough, yer sisters as well, and it had nearly cost yer lives."

Chu Hua bowed her head. "You're right, of course. The three of us daring the delve would only have kept the gate sealed a handful of hours, at best." She took a deep, trembling breath, looking all around them. "The only stand my sisters and I could take, when my father finally admitted just how far he had gone to buy him and his toadies time, was divorce ourselves from him and take up arms and armor in defense of our city, knowing the peril we would soon face, even as our father screamed at us and declared us cast off, ordering the city guard to kick us out as he and our mothers fled."

She flashed a bitter smile. "But that captain is no fool. The moment my pathetic excuse for a father left the city, Captain Zha and his men kneeled before us, declared us the city's protectors, and said they would fight under our banner, having conveniently misheard Father's parting spiteful words."

"But once we caught sight of the hoards heading our way... we realized there was nothing we could do," Ah Lam whispered.

"Except plead with the monks for any aid or resource they might have," chimed in Su Li. "And it was they who revealed the nature of this hidden sanctuary, Warded against all unnatural predators, save for the monsters that had spawned from the gate within, not having been culled in years, after the emperor kicked out the Guild, and declared all adventurers as his personal property."

The last was said with a bitter shake of her head. "Most of our delvers left in well ordered platoons along with the Guild Chapters, carrying a fortune in wealth and with enough power to stop entire regiments, but the emperor didn't even try to stop them. It was probably his intention all along, compelling them to leave without being forced to waste the lives of his own men, all to consolidate his own power. So that all that was left was himself and a loyal band of powerful Delvers to defend him, and everyone else given the choice of fleeing or kneeling. And who cares if countless provinces are overrun by horrors? That madman's power is now more secure than ever."

Chu Hua nodded bitterly. "The only fools, sadly, were those delvers who couldn't fully believe how much the tides had shifted when a single tyrant claimed the imperial throne, though the death of all his political opponents should have been clue enough, I suppose. And those who remained were left well enough alone, even without any formal Guildhalls, for a few years, at least."

Ah Lam nodded. "But now, with any commoner born with Delver's blood in their veins either dead or fled... or claimed by the emperor as his personal property, there is no one able even to cleanse the single White gate fueling this Sanctuary's protective aura."

Aroust flashed a bitter smile. "Because no one bothered to cull even the smallest fraction of beasties and horrors generated by nightmare and darkest dream..."

"They eventually spilled over," Chu Hua said. "Because our city lacked even a single party to do weekly delves within a single White gate. And of course our father forbid us to do anything but train since the time we were twelve, after we had taken the classes our masters prepared for us. And now it is for us to cleanse them. As soon as we damn well can. For at any moment..."

"The city beyond these caverns will be completely overrun," Jack realized, exchanging solemn looks with his friends, before turning to Barlton. "You weren't looking for wealth this time, were you, friend dwarf?"

Barlton had the grace to blush. "Perhaps not, friend Jack."

Jack grinned, sharing nods of silent agreement with his friends. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's clean this sanctuary and save the day. Even if it kills us."

Drake winced. "Not funny, Jack!"

Jack's now serious gaze met Aroust's own. "But first thing's first. We have three new members of our party, and we can worry about exactly how we managed that feet later. And it doesn't matter how much of a rush we think we're in... we need to coordinate our tactics or all we are is easy prey for more spiders and whatever the else is down here."

This earned a number of worried frowns that eventually turned to nods of acceptance.

"He's right," Aroust said, eyeing their newest companion's weaponry. "Alright. The way I see it, we have four halberdiers and two shieldmen who will lead, with artillery to shoot off volleys and soften up our foes."

Jack nodded, recalling the challenges they had had with their first encounter, and having already thought of ways to counter. "Alright. How about two sisters be ready to thrust between Barlton and Elof, with a third sister ready to lash out to Barlton's left, and Aroust ready to strike from Elof's right flank?"

Aroust frowned thoughtfully before giving a slight nod of his head. "Honestly I think we'd be better off with all six warriors using polearms and thrusting or chopping in unison, thanks to our spare spears in storage, but with those spiders shooting webs and venom... that idea has merit, Jack."

The three sisters peered thoughtfully as Jack's friends took up their hypothetical positions before giving tentative nods.

"We could try it," Chu Hua said. "As long as you allow us flexibility once combat is engaged. But what about you three in back?"

Jack grinned. "We'll have a couple code words in play. When I shout 'Split!' it means everyone steps away from the center, like a crab opening his pincer and Drake, Veti, and I, will unleash our shouts, curses, and elemental spells to soften up our enemy. Once we shout 'Close!' you know it's time to close ranks and slice any surviving fuckers to pieces."

This earned him a concert of disciplined nods that filled Jack's heart with a fierce pride for his group. "Alright then! These spiders were courteous enough to leave us a number of targets to practice on! Let's take the time it takes to get our methodology down pat, and then we'll do our best to clear these chambers, top to bottom!"

The excited nods were everything he could have hoped for, even if the end results left a lot to be desired.