There was a flash of white, then a bright glow of orange. The webs burned hot and fast as the fire front spread. The trees were only stained by soot and otherwise unscathed until the fire reached the canopy, where leaves caught fire and burned into embers that drifted down like fiery snow. The fire moved onwards, burning all it could in its wake and leaving behind only smoke, soot, and still charging spiders that soon succumbed to their burns.
Autumn paid the fire no mind. She sprinted through the woods behind the front line, taking every opportunity she could to rip bark off a tree and slap it somewhere on her body, where it quickly molded into an armor plate. Both her arms were covered up to her shoulders, a large chunk of bark covered her upper back and the back of her neck, and her right thigh was partially armored by a thin strip. In whichever hand wasn't ripping off bark she held a full sized axe roughly molded from a chunk of wood and a mostly unaltered branch, she had used whatever small rocks she found in her pockets to make sharp spikes, which she had embedded into the striking edge of the axe head.
She dropped low and slid on her back across the roots, now slick with rain, to dodge a leaping spider. She caught it from underneath with a crunching impact from her axe, the sharp spikes shredded the spider's abdomen and dumped purple guts just behind her. She abruptly planted her feet and used the last of her slide's momentum to swing herself back upright, she immediately carried through with a downward strike of her axe, crunching into a spider just before it could leap onto another adventurer.
With the oncoming horde slowed by the fire, many adventurers holding the front line soon turned their attention to the rest of the battlefield. It was in disarray, loose spiders attacking from all directions, adventurers screaming and sobbing from venom induced hallucinations, and the Matriarch still running rampant. The reinforcements helped, the battle turned from desperate to harrowing, and for the first time a serious offense was mounting against the Matriarch.
Ash Druga, and whichever adventurers she recruited or joined her on their own, were surrounding the giant foe. Ropes, chains and magical tethers grabbed hold of its legs one by one, while ranged attackers focused fire on its eyes. There were eight of the huge black orbs, varying in size and placement atop the spider's head. They were abnormally durable, and the spider queen crouched low to shield and obstruct its head with its front legs. Only two eyes had been successfully blinded so far.
Autumn watched in awe as Ash Druga leapt from the canopy, bringing down a glowing hammer strike on top of the creature's head. The strike exploded with yellow-white light on impact, sending the spider's front half rocketing downwards and slamming into the ground. Ash Druga had followed the strike through to the ground, and now stood with her hammer still pressed against the spider's head. There was a moment of stillness as she slowly lifted her hammer, then the Matriarch struck.
Fangs the size of swords pierced Ash Druga's armor and impaled her chest. She roared and brought her hammer down for strike against the creature's rear-most eyes, squishing one of them like a grape. The Matriarch twisted its body and whipped its head, throwing Ash Druga away like scraps. She bounced off the tree harshly, but landed on the ground in a crouch. Onlookers watched in shock as her wounds healed with a radiant white light. Self healing abilities were coveted, but not altogether uncommon -- it was surviving such an injury long enough to heal in the first place that was impressive.
The reverence and respect in the eyes of onlookers soon turned to abject fear as Ash Druga's dull gaze turned furious. She lunged at the nearest adventurer, grabbing him by the shoulder and slamming him chest down into her knee strike, crunching his armor and ribs. She pushed him aside and charged towards her next victim.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Several darts flew silently from the canopy, each one piercing Ash Druga between the plates of her armor. They slowed her slightly, but she still reached the next adventurer and broke his arm before the toxins brought her to her knees. Kerrick dropped down in front of her, holding out his hands as if trying to calm a wild animal.
"Easy there, Ash," he said.
She lunged for him. He stepped aside and let her move past him, casually tripping her with a lifted foot. He caught her from behind and guided as softly as he could to the ground, where she soon lost consciousness. He'd come stocked with tranquilizing darts for exactly such a purpose, and after dragging Ash Druga behind a nearby trunk where she'd hopefully be undisturbed, he moved on to find more delirious adventurers to subdue.
Meanwhile, the Matriarch thrashed and shook violently. It reached out with its free legs like multi-jointed spears while it tugged and twisted its captive legs against their restraints. Several adventurers were now on its back, slicing and stabbing away at its abdomen. One adventurer, wielding a flaming sword, charged the Matriarch head on and aimed for its head. The spider easily caught the adventurer by the waist with its fangs, then jerked its head to throw him downwards. He bounced limply off the ground.
A mage wearing long, flowy blue robes and a dark hood landed on the spider's abdomen. His boots glowed purple around the tread, adhering him securely to the convulsing creature. He wielded a small wand that sustained a thin beam of concentrated magic, which he used to carve an intricate series of concentric sigils into the spider's exoskeleton. It had broken two legs free, and was now able to twist around and attempt to free its other legs. The other adventurers bailed as the spider contorted and twisted its body upside down in an elaborate maneuver, but the mage's boots held him in place as he finished his inscription.
Autumn had joined the adventurers on the ground putting everything they had into crippling or severing the Matriarch's legs. The exoskeleton was thick and tough like a strong hide on most of its body, but around the legs it was stronger and rigid like metal plates. Like lumberjacks felling a tree, Autumn and another adventurer took turns driving full-forced axe strikes into a leg held captive by a series of robes wrapped around a joint and anchored into the roots with spikes. They were finally cracking through to the purple goo inside when the Matriarch twisted and contorted until it was on its back, hunched upwards and striking with its front legs at the adventurers that attacked its rear legs.
There were several screams as adventurers caught off guard were impaled and slung aside. Autumn released a battle cry and doubled her efforts, to which her partner responded by doing the same. Finally, on their third next pair of strikes, the exoskeleton caved in and gave way to purple goo that spewed outwards like water under pressure. The leg went limp, and the Matriarch stabbed at them with two other legs.
They dove opposite directions, both lucky enough to dodge the strikes, but more attacks followed. They scattered and ran for cover behind trees as the Matriarch repeatedly stabbed the ground around them with blurry fast strikes. A leg spike hit Autumn in the back at an awkward angle and glanced off her bark armor, but even the force of a glancing blow was enough to shove her hard into the ground mid-sprint. She landed with a pained, wheezing groan, but wasted no time in scrambling forward. She expected another strike to come before she made it to safety, but it never did. She rounded a tree and threw herself into a crevice at its base, desperate for a moment of safety.
The Matriarch broke its final legs free, still moving deftly through its natural terrain even with one limp and useless leg. It gave up on attacking, instead it darted through the trees back towards its web. The flames had long since succumbed to the heavy rains that now punched through the burned away canopy. The fire had left a wide swath of darkened trees that showed no trace of the now disintegrated webs. Despite the size of the fire, however, it had only made a dent in the massive labyrinthine lair of the Matriarch, and she sprinted onwards towards her sanctum.