The Shadow Plague was relentless and it was endless. No matter how many shadows you killed they just came back even in greater numbers. But the King of Spiders didn’t wallow in despair, nor did he give up. If you asked him about it he would simply say, “It’s what it is,” such was life.
Similarly, some other areas, some distant kingdoms, had to deal with draughts, floods, hurricanes and other forces of nature. Thinking about it, there were things you shouldn’t do and things you should. Like in the areas with strong winds, you shouldn’t build your house using plywood, that’s just common sense. And in the case of periodically drought affected lands you had to prepare in advance, like storing water. So here, in the Spider Kingdom, it wasn’t too different. Granted, the Shadow Plague was a big and scary ‘force of nature’ to fight off, but the King knew that the spiders were resilient people. So far they have persevered and persevere they will!
The sun disappeared over the horizon and the darkness descended upon the farm. “So it begins,” he said in a monotone because this was routine already - this was simply work.
The last of the spider farmers hurried towards the centre of the MegaFarm and under the protective magical barrier. The running spiders greeted the other group in passing. These were spider exterminators clocking in for their night shift. It looked rather funny from a distance, two massive conga lines running in opposite directions, a wave of spider arms formed where they met and ended at the tail of the line.
The spider exterminators took their posts and waited with anticipation for their first monsters. But also there were Drow Archers and Lamia Warriors mixed in their ranks. Well, the farm protection was work all around the clock, but for obvious reasons, the shadows got cheeky during the the night.
Of course, the spider mages were scrambling for a universal solution, but at the moment most of the defence was rather physical.
Also, a few things were confirmed. There was a magical cycle of sorts going on. The shadows would spawn here on this very farm, grow and evolve, then they would desperately try to leave the farm. The shadows which escaped then would evolve again spawning a new bunch of different variants. Then, they would attack the farm from outside again. They did so mostly to cause more chaos so that their more primitive kin could escape to the jungle as they did, but also they aimed to molest the innocent TomGrape even further.
So as it stood, a wall had to be erected to prevent the flow of shadow monsters. And really, sometimes it was hard to predict what sort of monster it would be standing against this time. Ever so often the Shadow Plague liked to mix things a bit, almost as if it was adapting.
Incidentally, a previously unseen shadow monster had emerged from the jungle. It was a behemoth of its kind, larger than any of its predecessors. Well, maybe not that large, it was the size of a rhinoceros but if we had to liken it to an animal it mostly resembled a triceratops. It had a large shadowy protective plate jutting from its head and protecting its sides and back from frontal attacks. Currently, it was charging towards the wall, obviously, in hopes of smashing a hole and freeing its shadow kin. And it wasn’t alone, there were more monsters like this charging from the jungle.
The King had somewhat expected something like this to appear eventually, so preparations were made well in advance. A spider loaded a Great Arrow into a contraption resembling a ballista. The original design was elven, but this one had a spider twist on it. And of course, everything was forged of the best materials available and even Reinforced.
“Fire.” A spider chirped after finishing to load the arrow.
Another spider pulled down a large lever firing the projectile towards the behemoth of a monster. The enchanted arrow lodged itself deep into the shadowy body and then deployed a Draining Web, yet another enchanted item, and what that did was self-explanatory.
The monster staggered but didn’t die, its charge was only slowed. Two more Great Arrows, but without the web this time, were shot at the monster from nearby balistas. The monster exploded with a loud pop expelling clouds of dark smoke.
“Big monsters. Are easy to pop.” The spider chirped to its partner.
“Indeed,” it agreed with a spider nod. “The small fry. Are much harder.”
Insidentally there also were Shadow Roadrunners sprinting towards the wall. An agile type of shadow vaguely resembling a bird.
On the top of another tower, a different type of contraption was making a rhythmic clicking sound. A very giddy-looking spider wielded something similar to a crossbow. The device was bolted to the ground and had a box wedged on top of it. The arrow box was on a larger side and thus obfuscated a good part of the vision. The prototype design wasn’t perfect but it did its job rather well.
The Arrow Turret was spewing one arrow after the other and the spider was cackling like a maniac. “He. He. He.” It held the lever pressed all the way down. “Ha! Ha! Ha!”. As it turns out the spider was quite an exceptional shot, he had barely missed any of his shots. The rushing road runners were popping en masse, pop-pop-pop.
There were other contraptions implemented all over the farm, but the projectile weaponry wasn’t the only weapon here. There were also traps.
The classic TrapBush did its job springing its cage-like branches from the ground and entrapping the monsters. But also there were patches of ExplodingCabbage, for now the foolish monsters still hadn’t wizened up to the fact that that cabbage wasn’t food and exploded in an attempt to drain it. And of course, the ShadowVine did its job too, binding and preventing the monsters from further entry, somehow its Drain ability superseded that of the monster’s. So yes there were natural remedies to fight the plague.
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Magic Scrolls, Grenades, Boost Potions and other expendable items were reserved for when things went from bad to worse. Which they did sometimes. Also, when the incursion got very bad there was a FireAgave Juice moat surrounding the farm, it could be set on fire stopping the ground monster assault entirely. And the fliers could be taken care of with wide-scale spells and rituals; it was rather convenient that unlike the ground you couldn’t destroy the sky with craters and stuff like that.
And so, like the night before this one, the shadow plague was pushed back.
...
The morning came, but it wasn’t a particularly bright one. A thick shadowy mist blanketed the ground. The mist was enriched with mana, this was the stuff that made the shadow monsters. With time it will disperse, but recently it has been becoming thicker and thicker.
The protective barrier flickered out from existence and the spider farmers rushed in to replace the spider exterminators. The TomGrape and other plants needed to be tended, and the wall and other damage needed to be repaired.
In a sense the dawn was just as busy as the dusk, but definitely not as dangerous. Slowly in a comparatively lethargic shuffle, the recent addition to the farm, the humans, began filtering towards the outer reaches of the farm. They didn’t wear much armour, but there was a simple uniform of sorts. It was a plain blue tunic. In their hands they carried a stick, an improved version of it. Their faces were somewhat gaunt and even haunted, it was clear they didn’t particularly enjoy the important task issued to them. But everyone had to work! There were no freeloaders here, not anymore.
The King had asked for volunteers but he had gained something else entirely. Somewhere, somehow there was a miscommunication and the people sent here appeared to be some sort of criminals. However, when asked if they wanted to go back to the Human Kingdoms they vigorously shook their head and paled; they didn’t! So yeah, they didn’t particularly like to be here, but that didn’t mean they didn’t work hard. Actually, they worked very hard, sometimes till exhaustion, and no, they weren’t forced to do so.
If asked about their current situation they would just shrug and say. “It’s as it is.” Were they parroting the King? Who knows?
Regardless, these humans here were rather essential. For some reason, the shadow monsters ignored their presence allowing them quite literally to pop the problem out before it budded into something bigger and more fierce.
So that was that.
Outside the walls, there was a large herd of Centauri. They too wore simple blue clothing. They galloped around casually, their task here was to retrieve the ammunition. The arrows both great and small were sturdy and well made, and much of it was reusable. And to persevere against this plague, everyone had to use as few resources as possible. Recycle and reuse was the current mantra.
To boost the morale, and definitely not because of selfish reasons, the King was here together with the girls. He was present during the night assault so he wasn’t working too hard here. The presence was what was important, right? Right?
He tried to make a casual conversation but the girls gave him short replies only. It wasn’t that they shunned him somehow, they were just too stiff around someone of his rank. Somewhy, when there was another figure of authority, like Centauri Champion, or one of her commanders, that made the centaurs more relaxed and open to his approaches. Unfortunately, those were away with an important mission to the Aurelian Kingdom.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the girls were giving him curious glances, but if he looked back to meet their gaze they would just pretend to look somewhere else. And if he tried to talk to them, that just made them stiff.
He wondered why it was so... He checked his aura again and again, but that didn’t seem to be the issue here. But despite the mixed signals, it was clear that his presence in the field was appreciated. The girls here were only apprehensive. How did he know that? He too sneaked glances then they weren't looking, and his hearing was way better than they thought. Or maybe it was Centauri who had a critically poor sense of hearing.
The things he heard... Those words didn’t belong on the lips of young respectable maidens. ‘I am married!’ he wanted to scream. But also, he felt strangely flattered.
He was almost finished filling his quiver with arrows when a flustered centaur approached him.
He smiled happily. ‘Finally, someone to break the ice with,’ He thought along these lines. He recognised the woman, she was an attendant to the Centauri Champion.
Since the Champion was often away with business, the attendant had a lot of free time for herself. She wasn’t on arrow retrieval duty, not today. ‘Was she here out of boredom?’ He wondered to himself.
The centaur gave him a curtsy.
“King,” she held a peculiar disc in her outstretched arms,” this seems important, "she displayed the magical device.
The flat disk had a glowing line coming from its centre, it was pointing to somewhere.
He didn’t recognise the item and he had no idea what it showed. “What is this?” He asked perplexed.
“Mana Compass,” she explained. “We used this to get to your Kingdom.”
The Centauri Champion had mentioned something along those lines before. Didn’t seem too significant at that moment
“I see, but why are you showing it to me?”
“King, please pay close attention.”
'I am!' He screamed internally.
She must have read his face, “The arrow isn’t pointing to the centre of the MegaFarm.” She moved the compass to demonstrate.
The arrow pointed somewhere to the north-west, but there was nothing in that direction.
It took an embarrassingly long time but it finally clicked.
“There is a new source of mana. Now, bigger than the Spider Kingdom!” He realised.
“Exactly!” She nickered. “I noticed the change only in an idle passing, but it must be a recent development.”
“Something is happening deep in the jungle...”
Well that one was obvious, but the spider investigations of the jungle had led nowhere. As far as he knew the jungle was mostly empty. But maybe something was hidden deep inside. With this device, the spiders will be able to pinpoint the source of this new mana.
“Can I borrow this?” He asked.
“Sure.” She handed it in without reservation.
“Thanks!” He hugged her without thinking. “You might have just saved this kingdom!”
The centaur developed a cute blush on her cheeks.
Although he was jumping to conclusions here, this was definitely a move in the right direction.
“Thank you. Thank you!”
He wanted to kiss his hero but stopped abruptly only inches away. This wasn’t something a dignified King should do, or so he reasoned. And everyone was looking at the two with eyes wide without hiding their hungry gazes this time. Apparently, he had made quite a scene out of this.
“Anyway, I must go and investigate it.” He started running. “And if you were on to something, I will reward you personally. Anyway, just come to my study later.” He said that line without much thought, after all, he tried to be a meritocratic ruler.
The centaur assistant made a low-pitched squeal at those words. Unbeknown to the King a lot of hot and saucy gossip was born in that morning. But that is a story for another time.