I knew the set process pestilence took was derailed but this was just something else. I watched blankly as the three men were brought to their knees. This was part of the first stages of the kill process, and it normally doesn't start within days of the first infection. The screams that pierced the air abruptly stopped as larger spiders flooded into their mouths. The man in the mask showed no reaction to this new development. After a second of emotionless starting, he waved a gloved hand. The fire suddenly lurched forward engulfing everything in its path. With a gait telling of confidence, the man walked forward. The fire split forming a path in front of him as he moved forward.

Well, he moved too soon and the spiders moved to kill. I was curious though, about where the group was being taken. So I waved the spiders down and moved to follow. Like little ducklings the group moved single file through the small path and I was the last to pass through. But as I walked by one of the corpses I saw something shiny in its mouth. My instincts took over and my hand darted into the fire to snatch it. It happened so fast that no one had time to notice before my arm was right back inside my cloak. Not even the fire had time to react. A stupid move but a shiny thing is a shiny thing. I could feel whatever it was writhing in my palm but I kept it concealed and moved on. Once everyone was clear of the flames the masked man lazily waved his hand and the walls of flame slammed together. Throwing a plumbing cloud of flame upward.

With that done the man turned on his heels and renewed his confidant gate. I internally snickered at his confidence that it only took regular flames to eradicate the pestilence. He knows not of its power. As we walked my pace slowed until I was far enough back that no one would notice me checking the shiny. I slowly opened my hand and saw light blue crystalline legs frantically reach out. They were thin and fragile-looking narrowing into ghastly sharp points. In the faint light of the hall, there seemed to be a subtle halo surrounding each one. I raised my hand to my eye level only to have web shot at me. I was faintly annoyed at having at getting my cloak covered in it but I was amused nonetheless. I relaxed my grip a bit and let the little creature wriggle out. It was hard to reign in my senses enough to not snatch it back up again but I managed.

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The crystal-like entity made quick work of escaping my grasp and trying to run away only to freeze when it looked into my eye. It was a relatively normal creature from my experience. Hell, there's a small realm where everything was turned to crystal during a demigod's hissy fit. The strange thing was the fact that it was able to move so quickly. Usually, these kinds of things walk slower than a honey drunk jackalope, slow movements between long waits. Also, the fact that it has a shiny silver marble in its thorax. It faintly resembled a spider, eight legs, thorax, abdomen, and fangs, but it was missing a lot of the finer details. Its general form resembled the old bone spiders from my early days, long legs and a body on the smaller side. Thinking about those little buggers caused my hand to flex slightly in phantom pain. I got a bad bite from one hiding in a twisted dee, the thing almost completely froze my hand in place for a couple of years. I may or may not have made it my goal to wipe them out after that. And… I may or may not have designed a pesticide so potent it wiped 3 entire species off that realm. Not my proudest moment.

The crystal spider panicked when my hand flexed and completely froze, staring at me with eight violet eyes. I lightly placed the spider on my shoulder and moved to rejoin the group. They had made good time, almost reaching the area where I had found the cowering man. But they had stopped before it though when a man began hacking up his lungs. Wheezing cough after wheezing cough until literal pieces of lung and pieces of flesh came flying out. This will not end well for him. The victim fell to his knees as he began to throw up a mixture of vomit and blood. With a faintly audible gurgle, the woman rolled onto her back. Boils began to grow on her previously smooth skin until they were larger than a fist. Everyone quickly vacated her surroundings just in time to avoid puss being sprayed at them.

Well, now things just seem mixed up. Meh, nothing I can do about it now. I slipped into the shadows along the walls and appeared behind the group. Panic had began to spread and the masked man finally showed signs of unease in his stance. He soon stopped ogling the corpse and resumed his confident stride. Following his lead, the rest shook the sudden death off and followed. It was amusing seeing the confidence in their safety quickly being eroded. I suddenly felt a gaze on me and turned to meet the eyes of a certain gnome. That's right, they tend to have the ability to smell fear. And I bet I'm the only one absent of it. I let a sliver of my presence slip through my gaze and watched in mild amusement as he clutched his stomach in pain. The gnome looked back up at me, eyes full of terror. He quickly duct to the other wall and tried to make himself smaller. I gave him one last look and continued following the crowd.