The expedition's loose formation collapsed into a steady stream of adventurers rushing towards the western front, where the Matriarch's web had been discovered. Scouts and fighters filled the canopy and root covered ground alike, most kept a healthy distance of two or three trunks between themselves and the web, while the highest level and bravest mid-level adventurers stood closer. Many torches and lanterns were lit across the gathering, creating a large, red-orange glow deep within the dark, damp woods.
There was no delineation between the untouched woods and the dense labyrinth of webs as far as the trees were concerned. They were thick and dense regardless, having grown to maturity long before the web was formed. If one wasn't careful and traveled too quickly through the woods, they could quickly find themselves surrounded by webs in less than a breath.
A somber silence hung over the collective as eyes lingered wearily on the mega structure of web, voids of darkness within threatening to swallow minds and bodies alike. A wild scream cut through the quiet. An adventurer sprinted out from beneath the webs, gasping and screaming like a frantic animal, trailing loose webs behind him. He tripped on the uneven roots, but was caught in a soft embrace.
"Shh," the Dreamweaver whispered to the wide-eyed adventurer, "it's okay now."
The adventurer's gaze locked with hers, and his face softened.
"Show me the nightmares," she said hypnotically, pressing into his consciousness with her own. She saw distorted visions of hideous monsters ravaging the strewn bodies of adventurers, each face was frozen in an expression of overwhelming horror as the blood was sucked from their web-wrapped corpse.
"Forget what you've seen," she whispered, "it wasn't real. Sleep now."
The adventurer nodded as his eyes drooped closed and he drifted off to sleep. The Dreamweaver supported his weight down to the ground, where she laid him gently and gave him a pitied look. She had told him a lie. When she rose to her feet, lieutenants Kerrick and Ash Druga were waiting before her.
She pointed at a small group of adventurers that looked competent, "get this one to the healers."
As the adventurers rushed to follow her order, she began walking along the border of the Matriarch's web, her lieutenants falling in beside her.
"Update me," she said simply.
"Should we discuss this out in the open, ma'am?" Kerrick asked.
The Dreamweaver looked out over the assembled adventurers watching them wearily, all unaware of the subtle spell she had them under, "they'll hear only gibberish, and see only murmuring lips. Continue."
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"My warriors are tired and hungry, ma'am," Ash Druga said before Kerrick could speak, "but they stand ready for your command. We've suffered minimal casualties, and morale is high."
"I wish I'd been so lucky," Kerrick said, "I've lost several scouts to the wildlife, and several more have disappeared into the web. None have reported back yet, and our senses can't penetrate far inside, we still have no idea what's going on in there. We're still at operational numbers, however."
"It's not pretty," the Dreamweaver grimaced, "it wasn't venom that drove that boy mad."
Kerrick's face was shrouded beneath his hood, but the Dreamweaver felt the hollowness in his aura where he suppressed his pain.
"There's no purpose in going in now," the Dreamweaver said after a quiet moment, "I'll give the order for the expedition to return to base camp. We'll regroup here tomorrow and begin establishing a forward outpost and staging an assault. Any complaints?"
"No ma'am," Ash Druga replied quickly.
Kerrick took a moment longer to reply, "no ma'am."
The Dreamweaver stopped and turned to face the bulk of the adventurers, her eyes lingering on those perched in the trees, and then those standing in small groups on the ground or leaning against trunks. Many of them were already bloody, some had crudely bandaged injuries, and a few had torn clothes or armor above now healed wounds.
She closed her eyes and reached out with her power, feeling each mind come into her awareness as her consciousness washed over the adventurers in a slow wave. Soon the bulk of the adventurers were within her range, but she pushed further still to reach the scattered stragglers of the back line, those who lingered in the darkness behind their allies rather than move nearer to the web. As her consciousness reached the last few adventurers, she prepared to send them each the same illusion, providing their next command. Then she felt a mind that shouldn't be there.
Her eyes cracked open, and she peered into darkness beyond the torchlight of the gathering. She saw nothing, sensed no auras, yet the mind was there, vast, intelligent, alien -- and hungry. In her moment of shock, she faltered. Her fear rushed out to the minds she had tethered to her own, in an instant every adventurer felt her surprise and horror as if it was their own.
The Matriarch scurried from the darkness like a hunting spider scurrying through blades of grass. A sharp, hairy leg impaled an adventurer against a trunk like a javelin as the spider sprinted a hundred feet in an instant. The light from beneath the behemoth cast a broad, flickering shadow across the canopy above and revealed the deep purple ink splotch of a marking on its dark black, bulging abdomen. Its jaws pierced the plate armor of a fighter like a pointed can-opener, sinking deep into flesh beneath to an orchestra of screams and yells from all around.
Ash Druga leapt into the air towards the spider with her hammer ready. The Dreamweaver held tight to her mental connections and flooded her own consciousness with sensations of strength, glory and valor, which poured out into the minds of the expedition. The screams of terror turned to battle cries, and soon arrows lodged in the spider's abdomen and bolts of magic flew towards its jaws as heavy swords and hammers were swung at its legs.
"They're behind us!" Kerrick shouted, slinging a knife into the eyes of a torso-sized spider sprinting towards them from the webs.
Scouts and fighters alike fell in around him, forming a front against the swarming horde of young spiders crawling out of the webs and infesting the forest.