Drow Assistant was sitting in her study, it was very late so only the warm light coming from a lantern illuminated her desk. She was slightly hunched over the piece of paper and in her left hand she had a fountain pen. She was writing a 'An Introduction to Spiders’; it was fashioned like an information leaflet and it was written in a casual tone.
===
The idea of what it means to be a spider is rather unconventional here in The Dreaded Place. First of all, these lovely and hardworking creatures are called spiders, but they aren’t actually related to anthropods at all. What they actually are is hard to tell, but it's best to definite them as people because certainly they are sapient and intelligent.
Over time ‘spiders’ had evolved so many times, and in so many variations that it’s hard to generalize their appearance. Some are big, while others are small. Some are human-like but even then some remain animal-like. Some have arm-like appendages, two or even four, while others make do with their mandibles only. But there is a common trait: they all have six legs, and those iconic four yellow gem-like eyes.
Like ants or bees, these spiders serve a central figure, and would readily die for it if asked to. For them, the Spider King is the highest authority. And like bees or ants they like to specialise for their tasks, hence diverging evolutions. To name a few: Spider Crafter, Spider Farmer, Spider Scout, Spider Warrior, Spider Mage, Spider so and such; there are too many to name them all.
(insert with a rough picture of Spider Mage)
What is interesting about them is that they are within a select group of creatures that can reproduce asexually (no partner needed). They can lay between 1 and 10 eggs throughout their lifespan. The more powerful individuals tend to have fewer eggs, but that is not a hard rule. What is even more interesting is that their hatchlings retain the memories of their parents. How it is achieved is the biggest mystery of all.
As for their personality, they are diligent and hard-working. Also, very polite; if you saw the spider already, your first memory must be of them waving a greeting to you. They have an affinity for plants and animals, and it is not unusual for spiders to have pets. However, it might be hard to make friends with them. They might seem boring or even cold and uncaring. But for those who strive to have a spider friend, there is a trick: they love to learn, especially the things relevant to their selected role, so teach them what they don’t know and you will find a spider opening up for friendship in no time at all.
And there is one other thing I must mention, a common sense really, never ever openly speak ill about their King. It is a grave sin that will get you killed! Otherwise, there aren’t other taboos.
===
She finished compiling the leaflet. Its purpose was to educate the newcomers in the Spider Kingdom.
...
The Spider Mage had managed to put a tracker on the shadow wolf; a tricky business considering the monster was made out of magical darkness. But Spider Mage managed, somehow. It took a few tries and a couple of magical devices but eventually a tiny pebble was pushed deep inside the monster's body.
“This should do.”
Everyone watched expectantly and the tracker stayed inside this time.
“How did you manage that?” The King asked curious.
“A Dark enchanted stone...” The spider began explaining.
It was a long-winded explanation. The pebble wasn't just a stone, it was a very complex device. The Dark affinity kept it in the shadow wolf's body, and also there was a draining spell woven into the enchantment. This further prevented the stone from being expelled.
"But won't it die eventually because the pebble is draining its energy?"
“Eventually.” The spider chirped in agreement. “But not any time soon.”
Everything seemed to be ready." So should we release it?"
The spider nodded.
The two heavily armoured humans raised their sticks ready to counter the monster in case it decided to attack.
“[Wither]”, the Spider Mage invoked a Dark spell.
The ShadowVine withered, its stem and the leaves crumpled to small pieces like some dry leaves from a year ago. The monster jumped towards the wooden cage bars and then simply phased through them. It kept running away from the farm and towards the jungle.
“[Track]", the spider invoked another spell. "You'll need this." It threw another pebble to the King. “[Shadow Form]". Turning into a shadow the spider disappeared.
The King looked at the pebble, the spider forgot to brief him about this part of the operation, and he forgot to ask. But he knew what to do, “[Track], [Dark Shroud]." He disappeared turning into a shadow.
The two humans looked at each other.
“Should we follow?”
“And how do you suggest we do that?”
"..."
The King soon caught up with the spider. The two were rushing towards the jungle at great speed. In his vision he saw a purple beacon in the distance, it was moving quickly; they followed it at a respectable distance.
After a while, the shadow wolf was tricked into a sense of security and stopped running. It began walking randomly around the jungle; its movement gave the feeling that it walked with no purpose, it was just strolling aimlessly.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The King wondered if the shadow creature was pulling an act and was just pretending. So he kept observing it throughout the day. He and the spider didn't even talk so that they didn't give themselves out.
He watched the creature throughout the night. And even by the morning, nothing was happening, it just kept walking randomly, sometimes even backtracking. And then it just turned to smoke and dispersed into the air. The tracking pebble dropped to the ground.
The King ran towards the dispersing shadow cloud. “What, did it die?” He fanned the smoke out of his vision.
The spider collected the pebble. “It shouldn’t have.” It chirped in puzzlement. “The pebble doesn’t. Drain that much.” Then the spider took the jar out of the robe and collected some of the smoke.
“You know, it looks like it just gave up...”
“I think so. Too.” The spider put the jar back into the robe for further research. “We need. more subjects.”
“I think so too. The way it died was so odd.”
...
Trapping the Shadow Wolves wasn't a particularly hard task, it only took time. And with time they had plenty of subjects to study. However, the same just kept happening: the shadow wolves just kept wandering the jungle until they turned into smoke. The smoke was investigated and it turned out that it retained a lot of Dark mana.
The spider mage proposed an interesting idea, “They are draining. The mana. In the farms. And. Dispersing it in the jungle.”
If he looked at it objectively, it was exactly what was happening, but, “This is crazy! Why do they do this?”
“Further Research is needed.” The spider chirped excitedly.
That spider did love its research!
“We need to figure this out. The Shadow Plague is spreading and it’s getting harder to fight it.” He was referring to the fact that higher and higher amount of the plants were affected.
“Hmm. We need to fight it.” The spider chirped something obvious.
“But they are avoiding the spiders, and I and the two humans can only do so much...” Unless, “No, I’m not burning my farm.”
“Then. Get more humans. Simple.” The spider chirped.
Right... He didn’t even consider that. There was a reason the spider was a researcher. Smart!
“Hmm. I’ll do that. But until then we need a way to fight it. How about Drow and Lamia?"
The spider shook its head there was a reason it didn't suggest them. "Almost the same as spiders. Mostly avoided."
And the agoraphobic kobolds probably wouldn't fare well against the much larger monsters.
“So why is it only humans?”
“More Research is needed.” It chirped.
Right... "I guess we just have to keep trapping and killing as much of them as we can."
...
The combination of ShadowVine and TrapBush was increasingly deployed all around the farm. The spider farmers took turns standing and guarding the plants over the night. And new protective buildings were being built.
Even the tall and sturdy IronOaks were employed to protect the farm. In a very much Elven fashion, on the top of the trees, crow’s nests were made to serve as improvised watchtowers. Drow Bowmen staffed the watchtowers. Yes, the shadow monsters were wary of the Drow, but the ex-elves retained their keen sight and their skill in archery; every so often, they would manage to snipe an unsuspecting monster.
The first humans haven’t arrived yet, but the first defences were taking shape. And those defences were needed very much so because the shadow creatures had grown bold and numerous. The word plague described what was happening surprisingly accurately. Much like a nasty infection, it had spread all over the farm and it just refused to go away.
Shadow monsters were forming spontaneously all around the farm, it happened mostly during the night. First, the shadows would birth Shadow Dolls, and once they sneakily engorged themselves on enough energy they would, for a lack of a better word, birth a Shadow Wolf. Then the wolves would readily jump to cause even more devastation.
One thing was clear, for some reason the Shadow Wolves were very motivated to leave the MegaFarm. And despite all the security measures they were largely successful.
...
There, high in the crow’s nest, was a person perched on the chair. She had long white hair and light grey skin. The light armour she wore was positively unusual: It was made using the combination of CentipedeChitin plating and ShadowAgave cloth. No, it wasn’t unusual because of the materials used, it was so because the light armour was more revealing than protective. Scandalous even!
She finished eating the juicy fruit, “They do taste the best when fresh," she wiped the juice off her pointy chin, stood up and grabbed her IronOak Bow in her right.
“It’s almost time.”
The Drow Archer gazed upon the horizon. As far as she could see there were blue webs dotted with delicious TomGrape fruits. The last rays of sunlight had left the sky. She sighed deeply preparing herself mentally. This was the silent call for battle.
“Soon ‘it’ will begin again.” She squinted her purple eyes ever so slightly.
Even in the oppressive darkness she could see no problem, all thanks to her racial skill – DarkVision. She gazed at the spot right under the vine; if it was lit it would be where the shadow was.
“Spot’s like these...” Spots hidden and dark corners, "are the places where they spawn,” she finished whispering mostly to herself.
She continued staring without even a single blink. And surely, something did move.
“Aha!” Without a shred of hesitation, she realised an enchanted arrow out of her bow.
*Pop
“One.” She began her routine count.
Her personal record was 69, a number neither high nor low. On a bad day, she could get twenty pops by the daybreak. On a good day, it was close to fifty. Or should we swap the good and bad around, well it depends on how you saw the situation. Incidentally, the high record was 420, and the current holder was the King himself. So yeah, she was rather average. But even so, she took pride in her work.
Keeping the concentration was the hard part, and after a while it felt draining. “*sigh.” The time seemed to stretch with nothing happening. But then...
*Pop, *Pop – She got two in quick succession.
“Huh, it seems like today will be a busy night.”
She was right. She didn’t even need to wait another ten minutes for her next 'pop'.
“That’s four, and I’ve just started.”
The monsters were bolder and more reckless for some reason. That trail of thought was confirmed by the dull popping sound coming from all over the farm; her colleagues were just as busy.
“Maybe, I will break my record.” She scanned hard-to-see spots with increased vigour.
She was combing the ground with her eyes concentrating on where the monsters often lurked, but even when, despite her lowered gaze, the trembling top of a nearby web had caught her eye.
“Huh.” She wasn’t sure what she was seeing. “A shadow?” It was hard to tell, even with DarkVision.
Just as her character dictated, without even a shred of hesitation, she loosened an arrow.
“Five.” But there was no pop. “Huh?” She yelped indignantly.
It was unlike her to miss, but miss she did. The shadow did the unexpected and jumped in the air. No, it did something else entirely.
“It flies?!" She still struggled to accept that fact.
The shadow indeed was capable of flying. It was flat and had two vaguely triangular wings at its side and a very long and slim tail at its rear.
“A kite?” It looked familiar.
It was not a kite, this was a Shadow Stingray. However, she didn't know its name, nor did she care.
*Pop, “Five.” She grinned happy at her successful revenge.
However, with her eyes now off the ground and back to the skyline she observed something highly concerning.
“A dark cloud?.” She yelped in disbelief. “No!” She exclaimed in horror.
There was an entire flock of Shadow Stingrays coming from the jungle. There were so many of them it was easy to confuse them with an oppressive cloud, there were enough monsters to cloud a cloudless sky. Scary!
"Do I even have enough Arrows? This, however, was her main concern. "Spider. Arrows!” She yelled hopefully.