Draedon had finally noticed Venom wasn't one for conversation two brights after they'd encountered eachother.

Little had happened since the encounter with the bandits, all except for a particularly large alligator Venom promptly shot in the head.

It was early opening once again as the two adventurers packed up their supplies to get back on the trail. At least, Draedon packed his things. Venom hardly had things to pack, with the exception of his actual equipment pack housing all manner of items.

"You travel rather light." Draedon noted as he rolled up his sleeping bag and strapped it to the top of his own pack.

"I don't need excess weight." Venom stood, leaned against a tree, scanning the way down the path; all the same.

"When traveling across both the sea and a continent, I'd think it's necessary." Draedon explained as he lifted his pack onto his back. "By the way, where did you say you were from again?"

"I didn't."

"Well... could you tell me? I've told where I'm from."

"That was your mistake." He crossed his arms. "Showing your hand to someone you just meant is a dangerous gamble. And I don't generally play games of chance."

A long moment of silence passed before Draedon finally spoke up. "I'm not sure I understand."

Venom looked back at the orc for a moment. "Don't tell too much about yourself to people you met two days ago on the road."

Draedon's face suddenly downcast. "Oh. I'll admit," he sighed. "I have spoken more then most would think necessary to a stranger. But I think fate has pulled us together."

Venom turned to face the orc. He stepped towards him and put a hand on the orc's shoulder. "Draedon, right?" He looked up into the orc's eyes. "Shut the fuck up."

***

The next few hours were much less talkative. The only sound being the soft splat of their footfalls in the mud.

Suddenly, Venom stopped; Draedon only stopped once he'd bumped into the assassin's back.

"Why'd we-"

"There's tracks in the mud." Venom cut off the orc. Venom gestured to the ground in front of them.

Draedon's gaze fell to where Venom had gestured. In fact, there were a set of tracks leading from the path. The footprints were smaller than Venom or Draedon's. They were shaped like a reptilian predator: three toes up front with claws on the end.

"Kobolds." Venom knelt down to investigate the tracks, only to see a second pair. "And they weren't alone."

The second pair were nearly identical to that of the kobolds, but noticeably bigger, though they were still just shy of Venom or Draedon's footprints. Small specs of what Venom first thought was fur dotted the mud around each indention of the mud of the second set of footprints. Rather than fur, however, it was rougher; though it still bent with little resistance under the weight of his finger. It was a bristle of sorts. A sensory organ rather then something to keep whatever the bristle was attached to warm- though he supposed it could have done that as well.

"What are they?" Draedon knelt down alongside Venom.

Venom stood up and faced the trees. "I'm not sure. But I don't feel like getting attacked at night by whatever attacked the kobolds... or the kobolds." He drew his bow and stepped into the woods. It didn't take long for them to hear noises several trees away.

Through the trees, Venom saw three kobolds. One of which clutched a wound at its side. Each wielded some form of scrapped together blade. On the ground amongst them a strange humanoid creature.

Most of their body was covered in grey fur. Four arms stuck from its torso. Two were where most arms were: at the shoulders. But the other two poked out from its shoulder blades. It had 'hair' atop its head; long thick black strands that stuck trailed down to the middle of its back. The creature's mouth was mostly normal except for the two large mandibles on the sides. On its head there 6 glowing yellow eyes that now lacked life. All it wore was a simple tattered cloth around its waist.

Venom began to drawn back his bow, when the snapping of a twig suddenly caused his head to snap behind him, only to see Draedon looking down at his feet the large twig he bisected with his metal boot.

The kobold's head snapped over at the sound. "Gah, it's another one!" One of them shouted as they quickly drew a crudely made arrow from a quiver at their side.

Venom ducked behind a tree as an arrow made of bone pierced into the tree beside him. He appeared on the other side of the tree and fired an arrow of his own. The arrow shot right into the chest of the kobold with the bow, dropping then to the ground.

He knocked another arrow and aimed it at the next kobold when suddenly high pitched voice shouted from down the path.

"Wait! Wait! Don't shoot, it's Draedon!"

Venom ducked behind a tree and turned to see another kobold, this one donning a dented and well-worn breastplate. "Wait.... don't..." just as he reached the edge of the trees he bent over on his knees and began to catch his breath.

Draedon quickly ran forward and helped the kobold to his feet. "Kalan? What are you doing here? Did you follow us?"

The kobold shook his head as he finally regained his breath. He pointed towards the group of kobolds, specifically, the corpse of the thing amongst them. "Those things kept attacking us. After you killed the hag at Rockbush we decided to move deeper towards the Grove. But the passed bright or so those things have been attacking us. They normally come at night, but that one we managed to capture for a little bit until the atlas opened. Then it went all angry and we had to kill it."

Still within the trees, Venom loosened the string of his bow, but kept an arrow knocked. "These are the kobolds you talked about I assume?" He glanced to Draedon. The Paladin nodded.

Kalan smiled suddenly, glancing up to Draedon's eyes. "Actually, since you're here, could you find where all these things are coming from?"

Draedon pursed his lips. "I'm not much of a tracker. Though, I do have an idea. Hey Venom,"

"Whatever you're about to ask, no." He shouted as he put his bow on his back.

"Oh come on Venom." He grumbled. "Help us here, and I swear my lips will be sealed until we reach the Grove."

Venom just groaned. "Fine, but I better be getting something out of this." He turned to Kalan. "Kobold, where have these been coming from?" He gestured to the dead thing between the kobolds.

Kalan shrugged. "We haven't really been able to check. Like I said, they always come when we are sleeping. They've kidnapped two of our camp so far. And this other Gnome guy one of our watchers saw wandering the road at night."

Venom sighed. "Just show us to your camp for now. When the-" he gestured to the creature. "Whatever that is- comes, we kill it and track its fresh tracks to where ever it came from."

Ultimately, Kalan led them about a half hour down the path and through some trees until they finally reached the 'camp'.

"This is what you call a camp?" Venom raised a brow at Kalan under his mask.

The camp simply consisted of a few cloth tents hardly big enough for even a kobold to scurry under. Half of them looked flimsy enough that a particularly strong breeze could cause it to collapse. On top of that, there wasn't even any evidence there had ever been a campfire set up. With how little the kobolds seemed to layer their clothing- he could see the bare torso of over half of them- he doubted they were very cozy at night.

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"Eh, we brought what we could with us when we were moving." Kalan said as he walked towards one of the tents which was slightly larger than the others. "Anywho, get some good rest everyone. No one is gonna get captured tonight.

***

Venom had propped himself in a tree a few yards away from the kobold's camp. Draedon lay against a tree within the camp, ready to defend against whatever beast came by.

The first few hours after the closing were silent and boring. Venom spent half of the time in a trance atop the tree, resting his body but keeping his senses alert. The other half was spent taking inventory of his poisons and potions within the compartments of his armor.

He was counting his arrows- seeing he was missing one for one reason or another- when a brief flash of movement caused his head to turn.

He quickly knocked an arrow as he began to track the movement. Through the darkness of the night, the form was nearly invisible. The only reason he could see it properly was due to a mix of the creature's yellow eyes, and his elven eyes adjusting to the darkness. The creature was, in fact, the same thing the kobolds had killed.

He only saw the creature for a few seconds as it ran before an arrow pierced into its leg. The creature let out an insectoid screech as it stumbled to the ground in the mud. The beast flailed about in the mud for a few seconds before another two arrows in its torso finally put the beast down.

Venom fell from the tree, landing next to the creature's corpse. He kept an arrow knocked on his bow just in case something else showed up. He rolled the creature over with his foot. Then his eyes were drawn to something in the creature's hands. A pair of stone knives were grasped tightly in two of the creature's hands. One of the stone daggers dripped with some sort of thick liquid that Venom didn't recognize.

Suddenly, a yellow light brightened up the area. Venom quickly turned and pulled his arrow back, only to see Draedon coming forward, a golden axe in hand.

They looked at eachother confused for half a second before Draedon spoke. "I heard a screech."

Venom kicked the corpse next to him as he loosened the string on his bow. "It was just this thing."

"Oh." The glow on his ax dulled. He glanced back at the camp he had come from. "Well the kobolds are fine for now. We best track where the beast came from. Seeing as they keep coming every night. I assume we'd be facing an entire nest of these."

Venom looked at the mandibles of the creature, then in the direction it had come from. Nearly immediately he saw tracks in the mud. "That shouldn't be a problem." He began walking. "Have anything flammable?" He asked.

Draedon began following the assassin. "If you mean something that could make a particularly large explosion? No. But I have a torch."

"That'll be fine. Just keep it on hand." Venom said as they continued down trail of footprints.

Ultimately, the tracks became faint as the mud gradually turned to stone. They came to the base of small cliff. Into the cliff was a small cave, hardly big enough for Draedon to fit through with his armor.

"It came from within there." Venom said. "Light that torch up once we get into its nest. We'll smoke them out if need be."

"How far do you think the cave could go?"

"Far enough to where I can't see the back from here." Venom said as he stepped into the cave, knocking an arrow onto his bow.

As Venom had expected, the cave was rather deep. A few twists and turns were rather cramped as they were forced into some tight squeezes to advance; mainly Draedon. At one point he was forced to toss his axe to Venom to get through a gap.

As they progressed inside, webs became more abundant, as did spiders. Most quickly scurried into tiny holes and crevasses as the light of Draedon's axe passed over them.

"Ugh, these webs are getting annoying to walk through." Draedon noted as he picked off a lump of cobwebs from his shoulder.

"We're in a fucking cave. You better get used to it." Venom muttered as he passed through another thin crevasse. As he stepped out of it his foot hit slanted stone. "Shit-"

He slid down about 10 feet before he grasped a stalagmite. He glanced up as he saw the orc beginning to step out from the crevasse Venom had just squeezed through.

"Wait Draedon don't-" he began just as Draedon's boot slipped on the stone.

Draedon lost his footing immediately and began to slide downward. The armored orc collided directly with Venom, sending both of them careening down the stone slope.

It didn't take long for the slope to end, and a sheer drop to begin. However, they didn't fall far before Venom found himself caught by a large cobweb. Draedon, on the other hand, fell through another and landed on stone a few feet below. His axe clattered to the ground beside him, now devoid of its light.

"I told you not to step forward." Venom hissed.

"I was already doing that before you said it." Draedon retorted as rose to his knees and began to feel around for his axe, eventually finding it among the stone.

Venom was about to open his mouth to speak, when he noticed something humanoid walking on the webs: the same creature he'd killed outside the cave. Venom cursed he began to pry his arm free.

The creature was nearly on top of him when he managed to unsheathe the dagger at his side and stab the creature in the neck. The beast died and fell to the side, but not before dripping a non-insignificant amount of blood on the assassin. Venom finally managed to cut himself from the cobwebs before falling to the floor.

Draedon muttered something under his breath as his axe began to glow once again. "I think... we've found the nest."

Venom dusted himself off as he gazed into the depth of the cave. The once cramped pathways of the cave opened up to a wide area. They stood upon the peak of a one of three stone pillars. At the base of each were a clump of large cobwebs as well as various creatures spun in the substance.

Several creatures scoured the cave, both atop the pillars, as well as below them. Some were noticeably bigger than the rest. Wielding actual metal blades and wooden shields rather than the pair of stone knives like the others. Some even had pouches at their side made of webs.

A suddenly burst of movement and shouting caused the two adventurers' heads to turn. At the base of a nearby pillar. A burst of fire erupted from one of the bundles of webs that- until then- had held someone. Several of the grey creatures ran towards the burst bundle of web as a gnome bathed in fire erupted from it.

"Ya' think you could hold me down ya' damned chitine!" They shouted before another burst of fire erupted from their hands to wash over one of the approaching creatures. As soon as the flame touched their fur, their body erupted in embers. The chitine let out a screech and began to flee as it desperately tried to put itself out.

Despite the flames causing the chitine to flee, several more still closed in on the gnome. Suddenly, an arrow pierced the neck of one chitine. At the base of a nearby pillar, an orc with a glowing axe crushed another with the weight of its fall before cleaving another nearly in half as it reeled from the light in their eyes.

A few moments later, the remaining half-dozen chitine began to flee through the holes in the cave wall; a few were felled by an arrow to their back as they reached the entrance.

Draedon approached the gnome as he continued his shouting, hurling a bolt of flame at one of the fleeing chitin; missing and hitting the cave wall. "Come back here and face me like a real monster ya' insects!"

As the paladin approached the gnome turned around, flames held in both his hands. He looked the warrior up and down as if suddenly realizing his existence. "Who the hells are you?"

Draedon bowed slightly. "My name is Draedon." He gestured to the top of one of the pillars Venom began climbing down. "And that is my comrade, Venom."

The gnome nodded. "Comrades..." his eyes widened. "Wait, shit." The gnome turned suddenly toward the several bundles of webs. "Sri? SRI?" He shouted, tearing through a few of the webbed pods with his hands. He got through three- one of which holding the body of a kobold- before he tore one open only for a white humanoid canary to fall face-first onto the stone ground.

The bird let out a mix between a squawk and a groan as she got up, holding a talon against the stone wall to keep her steady. "I... was upside down for..." she was cut off as she turned away and hurled.

The gnome and Draedon exchanged concerned glances. The humanoid canary turned back before looking between the gnome and orc. Finally her eyes stopped on Draedon. "Um... hello?"

Draedon bowed lightly again. "Hello, I am Draedon." He turned to Venom just as he walked into view. "This is Venom."

"How many people are we going to meet in this cave?" Venom mumbled.

The bird waved with one of her talons. "I'm S-Sri'blanka." She gestured to the gnome. "This is Karji. He's a gnome." She let out what might have been a grin, seemingly happy on the fact she knew the gnome's race.

Karji looked between the assassin and paladin. "So what're you two doin' here? You get captured by these fuckers too?" He said as he kicked one of the chitine corpses.

"By the way, what are these?" Venom asked, kneeling down to roll over one of the larger creatures.

"They are called chitine. A weird mix between spiders and shadowfey. Though from what I know, they hardly have any of their magic. Oh, and one last thing." He gestured to Draedon's glowing axe. "They hate light. Anything lighter than a candle will send em scurrying to the shadows. They're nearly completely blind in light. Like they're staring right into the Atlas. Normally they rest in either the Upperdark or deeper down within the Hollows. Not entirely sure why they're way up here."

Draedon tilted his head to the side. "The Upperdark?"

"Yes the..." the gnome looked quizzically at the orc. "You don't know of the Upperdark?"

Draedon shook his head and let out a light chuckle. "Until about a journey ago, I hadn't ever left the Crags."

Karji's eyes widened. "Ohh... well you got some learning to do. But first," he turned toward an exit to the cave the chitine had fled towards. "I think it best to track them down and take out the Queen."

"These things have a Queen?" Venom said as he stooped an empty vial into a dead chitine's mouth to gather some of its viscous green venom.

Karji nodded. "The chitine work like ants do. They have the basic workers and ambushers," he gestured to many of the dead chitine around them. "A handful of royal guards, and a queen. She's about twice the size of the regular ones, if not bigger."

Draedon turned toward the entrance to the cave depths. "The kobolds have been getting captured the past many brights. I do not intend on letting even one more get killed by these chitine. The kobolds have suffered enough."

Venom stood, pocketing the venom he collected in a compartment of his armor. He looked among the three others he found himself with. An Orcish paladin. A gnome pyromancer. And a bird. "Let's just get this over with and kill this damned queen."