The spider's eight eyes stared at the strange biped in front of him. The silence stretched for a minute, then two. Eventually, seeing that the invader wasn't feral, the guard took a few steps back and lowered his spear-leg, then, without lips or tongue, it spoke:

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Why do you come from the Necropolis?"

Despite the creepy metallic sounding voice of the creature, Rivel was relieved.

"You speak!"

The guard looked at him like a dumb animal.

"Of course I speak. Name your business, outsider! Do you come on behalf of the sun-lovers?"

Rivel couldn't hold back a small chuckle, which seemed to anger the guard.

"Why do you laugh!" It approached him with its weapon back up but seemed to relent when Rivel held his hands up and lowered his head.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. I come on behalf of the Tenebri, from lands far, far away. So far you can't even imagine. Would you mind if we moved this conversation to a more civilized location? You have a leader I can speak to?"

More spiders crawled out of the rock-like homes, attracted by the commotion, and watched the exchange. Now it was the spider's time to laugh, or well, shuffle on its several legs and make a clicking sound that Rivel interpreted as laughter.

"Outsider, you have quite the audacity to make demands after showing up unannounced and sullying the sanctity of our necropolis. The only place you'll be visiting is the pit!"

The guard moved aside and jabbed threateningly toward him, motioning him to walk presumably to this "pit" place. Rivel was annoyed by the rude behavior of the creature before him and knew that he could easily snap his tiny stick he was so proud of, even without any magic. But then he remembered that he wasn't there on vacation; he had a duty to fulfill, and to face Malcolm in battle, an army was going to be absolutely necessary. So he complied, for now. Getting imprisoned wasn't the ideal footstart for diplomacy, but then again, butchering half the population wasn't either.

Rivel walked down the roads of the spider city, and even with the annoying guard pushing him to hurry up, he couldn't help but assess their culture: the roads weren't made of stone gravel but a softly packed mixture of dirt and sand, and each of his steps left a clear footprint, proving that the mixture went several inches deep. The guard, on the other hand, barely left a mark. Clearly, the sense of comfort that the spiders had was different from his and other humanoids; it made sense that with such sharp-tipped limbs, it would be uncomfortable to move on very solid ground.

As he pondered the weird physiology of a spider unsuited for solid rock floors living in a cave, many other residents came to see him like a curiosity, clearly they didn't get many visitors. They came in many sizes, some would fit in one's hand, and others towered at least two heads over him. He greeted them with a friendly smile and waved at them, but they didn't respond.

Perhaps they had no "waving" culture

As he saw more and more, he realized that several subspecies lived within the town, not much unlike Erebus, where no Tenebri was alike. He noticed that while sharp-tipped limbs were relatively common, most spiderlings had tiny furry claws unfit for combat but probably better for other tasks.

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While most had some form of hair, this feature varied wildly, in quantity or color. He made a mental sigh, as distinguishing individuals by facial features would be challenging. His least favorite was one giant spider that had its front claws ("challengingly?") crossed like they were arms, completely bare of hair or fur of any type ("bald?") and instead had brightly colored spots randomly distributed across its body like abstract art. It was like a giant signpost saying "stay away."

It was when he took a sharp turn next to Baldy (as he temporarily dubbed him in his mind) and saw a dark pit on the ground next to him that he realized the hugely poisonous-looking spider was supposed to be his jailkeeper. He looked at the white-furred guard sternly:

"I trust your higher-ups will come soon? Remember, I'm compromising for now, but if your intention is to leave me to rot in some godforsaken pit..." He closed in on the guard, and this one took a swing at him. Rivel allowed the shaft to pierce his chest and, without even flinching or changing his tone, whispered, "I'm going to have to rethink your value to me." He then stepped away slowly from the guard and past Baldy, who seemed unsure whether to act or not, and simply jumped into the pit.

Rivel flinched, disgusted by the downgrade of his "accommodations". He powered through the feeling and took a seat in the foul-smelling dirt. He closed his eyes, not that any of the already dim light reached this place, and started pondering.

"I need to start thinking about my strategy. I don't know what circumstances were presented to Malcolm; he could be lost in a forest or on a faraway island. He could also have formed a pact with an unknown tribe of Tenebri and be training them for war as I speak. Relying on luck is certainly a bad move. I need to capitalize on my advantages; my circumstances are pretty good, better than I expected, anyway. I was prepared to summon my minions out of the void, but it seems that won't be necessary. It also covers my need for nourishment; I'll probably put that chip into negotiation. That guard's got his days counted...

But what can I offer them? Sometimes I forget not everyone is aware that I'm the High Mage of Erebus. They don't even know about Erebus." He ruffled his hair in exasperation. "They don't even seem to know about the Gift. Really primitive creatures, ugh. I suppose I can always turn to a show of force if necessary, though I don't know about their numbers or capabilities; it could turn sour real quick. Think, Rivel, think!" He rubbed his temple; if only he had more information. But he can't wait to be at the table to know his cards; he needs something. "Wait, aren't these spiders a little thin?" He tried to remember the guard, his excessively aggressive behavior, his extremely thin limbs, and the hungry look on some of the citizens he'd assumed was hostility, which might have been a clue to something else entirely. He smiled to himself. "So that's how it is, eh?"

He had the dumb insects on the bag. They probably were moved from their hunting grounds due to territorial battles, perhaps with these sun-lovers the guard spoke about, and now their hub was hosting more citizens than whatever farming system they had was able to maintain, should such concept even fit into their tiny brains. A sudden realization made him gag when the distinct lack of children clicked into place. Insects never shunned cannibalism; they had been the first to go. How many were needed to maintain a big fellow like Baldy over there? He quickly passed on those thoughts since he didn't have any water to rinse away the phantom taste of eating tiny spiders.

"It's not enough. Even a battalion of spiders under my command will need a considerable boost to be a force to be reckoned with. I can imagine that animal laughing at me for sending an army of malnourished insects against him. The first thing I need is to take a good hold of my newly acquired troops, feed them, make sure they'll obey me. Taking out their ruler is not out of the question, but directly ruling a completely different species would require a lot of cultural changes I don't have the time to make, so I'd need to get a "puppet" ruler. But convincing one of them would also take a lot of time, and summoning something resembling them would require "materials" and several attempts, so if I can help it... I also need additional forces.

Having an army comprised of a single type of unit would be foolish, especially one better suited for stealth and trapping. I can already imagine that animal laughing at me at the sight of a bunch of spiders running on the open field, where he surely will take the battle to, the bastard."

So that means expanding his operations. "Step one: Get out the cave, preferibly with the spiders backing him up. Step two: Enhance the conditions and loyalty of the spider minions. Step three: Create a way to make them independant from me. Step four: Start collecting summoning materials. Yes, yes. It's all coming together"

Meanwhile, the giant spider Xeria, whom he had rudely called "baldy" was shaking her head at the madman rambling in the pit. "It hasn't even been a day and he's already broken, flimsy two-legs."