I just lay there and breathed for a while. A long while. Taking in the beautiful, wondrous air. My travelers clothes somewhat dripped dry as I lay on the pond’s shore like a landed trout. Still absolutely sodden though.

Finally, I staggered to one knee and looked around. No obvious threat. The corpse of the spider still floated in the shallows of the pond, bobbing slowly in the low waves. I shivered. It was cool here.

Pulling the spider fully onto the beach I waded into the water to fetch my shiny new staff and my old winter blanket. The blanket was floating, spread out on the water. It had acquired a sort of tie dye pattern from spider blood. That wasn’t gross or anything, considering I sleep on it. (shudder) The staff had sunk to the bottom. I waded in and grabbed it, walking back out.

There were piles of rotted cloth, random detritus and shoals of spider silk on the shore. This must be where the spider made its den. I gathered up a store of materials and used Candleflame to ignite it. Once the fire was crackling merrily away I spread out my clothes, gear from my pack and armor.

It was really cold so I got close to the fire. Sitting in a cave dressed only in my small clothes was a great time to reevaluate my life choice. I sat so my hands were held almost right above the flames, feeling the blessed warmth pulsing against me. This cold weather can suck it. I’m ready for the warmth. I was considering moving to Florida back on Earth. Even in Virginia the winters had gotten to be too much.

As I sat there shivering I tore one of the legs off the spider corpse. This time I’d come prepared and snuck some butter out of the kitchen after my last shift. I held the spider leg over the fire, smelling the meat crisping. Once I figured it was done I dipped it on the butter.

CRUNCH. Ah, bliss. There were some great parts of this life. Not many, but at least a few. I leaned against a rock and crunched my butter dipped spider leg. Unlike eating crab back home I didn’t have to bust open the shell. I just at that, little claw on the end and all. My dwarven digestive system devoured the whole thing.

By the time I’d eaten two of the spider legs I figured my stuff was at least a little dry. I put on some trousers and stretched out on the blanket, catching a few Z’s. I don’t think I was out long, just long enough to get sore.

I stretched and got dressed. The fire had long since burned low but radiated enough heat to have mostly dried my stuff. Packing everything carefully, I got it all back into place and myself dressed. Harvesting the fangs, poison glands and spinnerets of the spider I was ready to go.

I was on a little island against the back wall of the pond. Staying on ground level there wasn’t a good way to get here, so I climbed the wall. Underground the dwarves made use of the vertical spaces. It was an important lesson to remember.

Once I got back on the ground I reequipped my shield and axe. I got to moving, still with my shoulder against the right wall. Anything coming at me should hit my shield first.

The cheeping of bats was louder here. They made it hard to concentrate. Between the noise and the steady movement on the ceiling I kept looking that way and had a hard time forcing myself to watch ahead. I grabbed the staff and tried to poke the ground before I stepped on it to try and make sure there was solid ground where my foot would go next.

Their droppings had mounded up, forming drifts of decomposing bat turds. Bugs crawled all over it, some of them quite large but none the equal of the huge centipede I’d killed in the first area of the tunnel. Some of its smaller cousins trooped around eating roaches and beetles.

In many areas the bat feces had decomposed into a fine sand-like coating on the floor. I tried to keep to those parts of the cavern and avoid the ones where I crushed enough bugs so it sounded like popcorn. I just had to ignore that.

A long dragonfly like critter buzzed at my head. This thing had four pairs of wings along its thorax and a total length about the same as my arm. It hovered there, looking me up and down, then turned and flew away.

I was watching it vanish when one of the bats flew down and grabbed it. I pumped my fist. Team bat!

At that moment the ground gave out under me. I started to slide forward. The ground was extremely unsteady. I found myself backstroking in the loose sand as something of an avalanche preceeded me.

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Sand was getting in my mouth and was certainly all in my hair. I kicked, I grabbed at anything available. Nothing arrested my slow slide into the bottom of the pit.

Two arm long mandibles emerged from the bottom of the pit. I scrambled harder, trying to dig my feet or find purchase with my hands. The gnashing, biting jowls clashed against one another anticipating my arrival.

I thrust down with the quarterstaff. It struck the outer lip of the mouth, holding fast. I put a foot on top of the quarterstaff to keep me away from the bug for just a moment.

Grabbing the horn out of its pocket I chanted. The rabbit appeared. The ant lion grabbed at it but the bunny was too fast. The sand colored, hard shelled creature emerged from the sand, biting at my summons. It knocked the quarterstaff away and I rode the collapsing wall of sand in, axe raised.

My horned rabbit kept moving, staying ahead of the clashing jaws of the massive beetle by the skin of its teeth. As I slid my feet came down on the back of the huge bug and I chopped. The axe didn’t penetrate its tough hide. I gulped in fear.

The six legged monster was biting at my rabbit, trying to catch it and so far failing. I opened the top of my bota and splashed water across my shaking fingers. My shield slid away from where I’d set it, lost in the churning sands. I shakily twisted my hands through the gestures and said the words.

A double fist sized ball of ice appeared in my hand. I raised it up and SMASHED it down on the creature’s head. It flashed and exploded into freezing webbing. I grabbed my axe in a two handed grip and raised it high.

The ice vanished as I chopped down. The exoskeleton cracked beneath the blade. The insect bucked, letting out a high pitched keening sound.

I dropped down to my knees, left hand grabbing at the wound. My right hand held the axe and chopped down, deflecting off the still solid exoskeleton of its lower abdomen.

Sliding, grabbing for the hole in its back I came off the bug, flying through the air. I landed like a ton of bricks. Only the looseness of the sand prevented the wind from being blasted out of my body. It didn’t prevent me being buried a hand deep though.

The monster’s entire boy was out of the sand now. It was sand colored with irregular deep brown splotches across its carapace. Its lower body was shaped like a kite shield and its upper body was dominated by those massive mandibles. Six thick legs wrapped in long hairs held it on the sand.

It bit at the horned rabbit again, missing. My summons broke down, then exploded into the air, spiraled horn leading the way as I jumped at the bug’s face. It broke into a compound eye then POPPED out of existence. The duration on the spell had expired.

I cast Tough Hide, moving through the gestures faster than I ever had in training. The strip of leather armor I held out as a physical component vanished and I pulled my axe back into my hand. I didn’t know where my shield had gone and couldn’t climb the unsteady walls of the pit.

Only one choice. I rolled at the beetle, catching two of its legs on this side and hearing the crunch as they gave beneath my weight. It dipped low and keened again. I was under it now, chopping upward with my axe.

The crackle of breaking exoskeleton was music to my ears. The huge bug tried to crab walk off me but I grabbed its remaining leg on the one side with my left arm and kept chopping away at its underbelly. Finally, that leg came off. The gigantic insect was in trouble now, unable to completely control its movements.

The thing moved off me and I stood, axe in hand. I swung again. The axe blow deflected off the tough hide of its back armor. It bit at me but I managed to avoid it. It kept trying to spin, but with only legs on one side it wasn’t going much of anywhere.

I chopped again, deflected again. The hide of its back was just too thick. One of the claws on its foot grabbed me and clamped down. I could feel it trying to saw through my skin, but my newly toughened hide held up. I chopped the claw away before it could do any damage.

That’s the play! I chopped the rest of that leg off. Then the next. Then the next. The beetle lay there, chittering like a mad thing but unable to move.

Getting my shoulder under, I managed to flip it over. Its oversized mandibles opened and closed like a machine press but it couldn’t reach me. It took a while but I chopped its head off. The jaws opened and closed for a long time after it was beheaded. I sat there watching it.

After a while I started moving again. Going over to the creature I cut away the massive back plate of its armor. If it was too much for my axe to penetrate it might just make good armor for me or some of my friends.

It came off in a single plate roughly pie shaped and longer than I was tall. I also cut away its mandibles, throwing them on the piece of armor. Pulling one of my knives I worked a hole in each of the top ends. Running my rope through it I made a sled. During combat I’d drop it to recover it afterwards but it should work.

I found my shield and slowly worked my way up the slope. Dragging the sled didn’t appreciably slow me down. I fell back into the pit a couple of times but probably would have done that anyway.

Once I’d gotten to the top I went back to the slow, careful movement. I had two more trophies to get and to survive to get them.

After about an hour of ear and eye straining movement I found an empty cubby hole. I went into it and leaned the armor plate against the door. There I rememorized my spells and rested for a few minutes. Eating another spider leg, I was ready to go.

I Moved Silently against the wall of the cave until I came upon another pond. This one was larger and flowed into a shallow creek. Minnows swamp about the bottom of the glass clear water.

No way I was getting taken by surprise again. I got out the quarterstaff and waved it above the small lake, trying to knock down any spider webs. It didn’t hit any. I moved to the shore and leaned upward, waving the quarterstaff. Nothing.

I felt something against my right ankle. Looking down a tentacle had wrapped around my boot.