The walk to the cave was spent with the group chatting about what they had done with their professions and the traits they had earned from evolving. Vladimir’s was called mind over matter, and made his physical stats slightly weaker at a good boost to his mental stats. Nema’s was called energy conversion, and that allowed her to use mana in the place of stamina, at a steep conversion cost.
The rogue declined to share his trait, which the group simply had to accept. Mike shared his, and the others were a bit jealous that he didn’t seem to have a drawback like theirs had. Aarons didn't have a drawback either, but the others felt that it wasn’t super useful compared to what they had. He was a bit jealous of the fact that some of their bonuses from their traits came in the form of new skills, like in the case of Nemas energy conversion, on top of just having more stamina.
After the dick measuring contest that was comparing traits was done, they chatted about professions, and what they did to reach level 10 in them. Aaron had apparently been level 10 in his profession long before his class. His profession was a medic, and after the evolution he became a combat physician. Nema had made a great bow, and was sporting it as she walked around.
She had also used the fragments in her soul to create an arrow, which would return to her soul shortly after hitting its target. Mike was surprised to see it had taken so long for others to begin using their fragments, but he supposed they probably didn't like floating through their souls for hours at a time trying to shape items through trial and error.
Vladimir was someone whom everyone already knew about his profession. He had grabbed a stick from the trees nearby and carved a flute. He practiced in his free time, and enjoyed showing his skills to people. He had crossed over to level 10 after performing a song for the whole encampment after one particularly cheery day, and evolved into a Bardic Performer.
The rogue decided to not be as cagey about his profession, as it wasn't something he could easily hide from others. He had pulled out several mini figures made of wood, each only a few inches tall. He was a carver, and had evolved after making a small statue of an alpha night stalker. Mike hadn’t gotten the chance to see it, but given the level of detail in each of the small versions, he really wanted to see the carving.
Mike hadn’t been idle during those days of course, and had made several rare items to hand out to his teammates and to people in the camp. Most of his group sported new armor and weapons, courtesy of his craft. Aaron was given Armor made entirely from the carapace of the tarantula he had killed. It took almost all the materials from the beast to make, as Aaron was quite a large individual.
Vladimir had a new staff, similar to the one Aaron had been given before Mike’s evolution. Nema and the rogue were both sporting alpha night stalker armor, identical to his own. The rouge was also gifted daggers made from spider fangs, which had some nasty poison constantly accumulating at the tips. He had felt good, ensuring the strength of his team was up to the task, but most of all, he felt good from the progress his profession had earned from the work.
Profession: Arcane Artisan (level 16)
He had leveled 3 times, and split his free points between wisdom and intelligence. He smiled at the excuse to spend time focusing on his class, thanks to his profession being leaps ahead of it now. Overall, the team was entirely different from what they had been just 3 days ago. He was sure that with just the 5 of them, they could handle an entire night raid with ease. Speaking of the night raids, they had been getting stronger.
Not super fast or to the level of being super dangerous, but he had stopped seeing beasts below level 5 around 2 nights ago. It wasn't that big of a deal, as the humans grew faster and stronger than the monsters did, but if people stopped growing, then the waves would catch up to them and be a serious problem.
They finally made it to the cave, taking their time as they talked, trying to put off going down into the spooky spider hole as long as they could. After a little hesitation, they bit the bullet and entered the mouth of the cave. They ran through the cave, confident in handling any swarms that they angered from their noise. It only took them an hour to get to where they had been previously, and they started seeing the tarantula workers again. They were much easier for the group to handle now, with all but Aaron able to kill them on their own. They descended further and further into the cave, encountering a tarantula guard identical to the one Mike had fought.
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The fight was significantly easier, with everyone in the group all leveling up from the fight. All except for Mike of course. He was a bit sour about that, but it really had been him just kiting the beast while the others attacked its weak spots and Aaron kept them topped off and healthy. There had been a brief panic as a worker entered the fight, almost tackling Vladimir. It had been quickly dispatched with an arrow from Nema, but not before the man had received a dose of poison. It spread quickly throughout his body, much quicker than it had through Mikes.
Aaron quickly dealt with the poison while Mike kept the guard distracted from trying to take advantage of the opening.
In the end, it was an easy fight, save for the small hiccup of Vladimir getting bulldozed by a spider. They walked further and further into the cave, encountering spider guards with a higher and higher frequency. Several hours, and many dead guards later, the group came across a chamber, stuffed to the brim with eggs, workers, two guards, and a new enemy they hadn't yet encountered.
Tarantula Brood Mother (level 20)
It was higher level than anything they had seen by quite a margin. It was also a lot bigger than any other they had seen. It was at the same height as Mike, and that was with it simply laying on the ground. They stepped back from the entrance, lucky having not been seen.
“How are we going to handle this?” Mike asked, looking to the group for answers. He was strong, but he wasn’t exactly a tactician.
“We need to provoke them to come out here, where we can get them in a choke point.” Nema said.
“That brood mother looks like she would barely notice anything we try to do to her.” Aaron replied, glancing back through the entrance at the massive spider.
“I can scout it out a bit, all I need is a bit of time.” The rogue said. “I can figure out exactly how many of the creeps we need to deal with.”
“Got it, just yell if you need us to come bail you out.” Mike said, worried that something was going to go wrong.
The rogue pushed his mana into the panther armor he was wearing, simultaneously using some kind of stealth skill to avoid detection. After not too long, Mike lost track of the man, instead turning to the rest of the group to try and brainstorm more ideas. They had a few more back and forths, no great ideas coming from the discussion. A few minutes later, the rogue approached the group, Mike not noticing him until he was just a few feet away.
“There are the two guards we saw, plus about a few dozen workers. The brood mother does not seem to be very mobile, but I tried poking its carapace and it is extremely durable.” he reported.
“You stabbed it?!” Nema hissed at him.
“Relax, it's asleep. If it had woken up it probably wouldn't have even realized I had done anything. My dagger barely made a scratch mark.”
“That was pretty reckless,” Mike said. “ and I very much approve.”
The rogue gave him a smile, before they went back to planning. They deliberated for several minutes, before they finally came up with a plan. Mike had to say, he really wasn't a fan of this plan, as it involved him being a human shield for the entire group, taking all the hits, and all the poison that came with it. They got into a formation with Vladimir, Aaron, and Nema in the back, with the rogue standing just behind Mike. They walked back into the entrance of the cavern, Nema and Vladimir firing off attacks at one of the guards. Taken by surprise, the guard sustained heavy damage fairly quickly, making it much less of a threat than it would have been otherwise.
Every spider in the room began charging at them, save the brood mother. The group backed up further into the cave, limiting the spiders to only being able to attack from one direction. The brood mother sent out a whip-like attack made of mana, making a crack in the ground where the group had just been. They continued backing up, killing spider after spider as they approached.
Mike did his best to defend with his hammer, but with an absolute sea of legs and fangs constantly attacking him, it was inevitable he would take a few hits. Aaron worked to counteract the poison that continuously entered Mike's blood stream, with Mike adding touches of his own mana to help the process along.
Whenever a spider got too close or over reached, the rogue snuck a dagger around Mike, sending a stab and some nasty toxin into the attacker. The poison wasn't super effective against the very spiders it had come from, but every bit counted in that moment. They had backed up pretty far into the cave by now, and nearly all the spiders were dead, creating a bit of a hazardous floor to walk on if they wanted to go back. After finishing the rest off, they ran back to the cavern, ready for a fight that was bound to be far harder than the minor challenge of endurance they had just faced.
They walked back into the opening, the brood mother standing against the far wall. It was too large to fit through the cave they had escaped through, and had prepared for them to come back. Strings of mana stretched across the room, only visible thanks to the dim glow they gave off. Aaron got his arm stuck in one very quickly after entering the room, with the rogue needing to cut him free.
They were very sticky, and an almost certain death sentence if the spider got to you while you were stuck. The group hesitated, feeling the desire to retreat and come up with another plan. All except for two of them. Mike and the rogue ran straight at the brood mother, both laughing as they charged the utterly massive beast.