The spider spread it's fangs and hissed. I could see muscles under it's head spasming, getting ready to attack. I threw my crowbar at it as it spewed webbing.

Spider webs may be strong and light but they need structure. When the weight of my crowbar hit the fibers before they could form their cloud it folded them up and they stuck directly to the spiders head. The spider continued for several seconds before it realized something had gone wrong. It now had a giant four foot long sticky beard.

I turned towards Mike and yelled at him. "Do it again!"

Mike shook his head. "I'm empty." He looked it, being empty of MP felt a little like the flu and he was pale and sweating. It could have been the spiders though, even I was freaked out a bit from them.

"Fuck." I watched the spider jump, it disappeared into the ceiling like a fish into water. It's unintentional beard hung down out of the leaves covering the ceiling. At least we could track it now. It started moving towards Mike.

"Mike, move!"

"Yea, no shit." Mike waited until it was right above him. He jumped away as soon as he saw the legs start emerging. The rest of us were rushing towards it.

Stew and Meagan's weapons skidded off it's carapace. I managed to tear up one of it's eyes with my hatchet in exchange for a body blow from a leg that sent me flying.

‡ Axe Proficiency Unlocked ‡

‡ You have received a heavy blow -20HP ‡

It jumped to the ceiling leaving behind a half dozen spiderlings to harrass us. Stew and Meagan managed to squash them while I stood up.

The Spider dropped down between us and the exit. It hissed and raised up it's front legs. Spiderlings began dropping off its back and down to the floor. They were all level two.

After a couple dozen spiderlings were massed under it the giant spider jumped back into the ceiling. The spiderlings scurried towards us. We tried to keep an eye on both the floor and ceiling with mixed results. These spiderlings were faster and could climb so any that we missed had to be brushed off as they climbed our legs. The green spider chose Stew as it's next target.

This time instead of trying for another decapitation it knocked Stew to the ground. Holding him in place it raised its fore legs and prepared to skewer Stew. The rest of us rushed towards the giant spider, hoping we could do something and knowing we were going to be too slow.

An orange orb flashed past from the direction of the entrance and impacted and entered the spiders thorax. I thought I saw a brief flash of light from the hole before the world exploded into spider goo.

‡ You have defeated Lvl(7) Green Spider +150XP ‡

‡ You unlocked Green Spider Bestiary entry +5XP ‡

+ Green Spider +

Spider species are a favorite form of Shadow creatures.

+ A smaller species of Macro Spider the green spider focuses on stealth over power. +

‡ Congratulations! You gained a level ‡

‡ +1 Attribute point gained ‡

‡ You have wrested one shadow level from an enemy! ‡

‡ Will you attempt to absorb it? ‡ ‡ Will you expand Shattered but Whole? ‡

As I tried to wipe goo from my eyes I automaticly dumped the level into my Title. I smeared more goo around than I got off.

Meanwhile I could hear Stew yelling. "Oh god, I'm blind! Oh, I can taste it. It tastes really bad. And it's warm. It's warm and it tastes bad! Oh I'm gonna throw up." From the sounds I could hear through my goo filled ears he did exactly that.

Finally I managed to get enough goo out of my eyes to see a blurry picture. Quickly I squashed the few spiderlings that were left wandering around leaderless. Once the last one was squashed we got our notification.

‡ Quest Completed! Squash that Spider ‡

‡ The infamous Green Spider has been stopped before it could breed and overwhelm the area. ‡ ‡ Reward: One Shiny Gold Coin! Also dig right in there for that egg. ‡

I decided the egg wasn't worth more goo.

Two gold coins appeared above the giant spider and rotated for a few seconds before they sped off. One hit my Codex and disappeared with a chime, I now had a thin gold line next to the black of my Codex. I followed the course of the other and saw Gilberto standing just inside the entrance and staring at his wrist.

"Hey guys, what's this gold thing?" Gilberto said.

"I think it's the Shiny Gold Coin it mentioned in the quest rewards. If you focus on it you should get a description." I answered.

‡ Shiny Gold Coin - Awarded by the system to acknowledge notable contributions to the greater good. You can trade them in for goods or services by speaking to the nearest Administrator. ‡

I looked at every one around me and was glad to see everyone was still alive and didn't look like they had lost any limbs. "Was that your, uh, orb Gilberto?"

He nodded absently. "{Mana Bolt}."

"Gilberto you are a lifesaver. You mind keeping watch outside while we look around for diapers though? I've had plenty of surprises today." I said.

"Yea, no problem. I just saw something in here and decided to check it out."

"It is very appreciated."

"Let's get these diapers for Stew's new best friend." Meagan said.

"Fuck you. Oh I can still taste it." Stew was standing holding his arms out trying not to touch himself anywhere.

The diapers were right where Mike had thought. We tore a box open to see if they were any good. Also to clean ourselves up a bit. The diapers seemed usable even though the cardboard box was falling apart.

When we checked through other stuff we found that none of the frozen or refrigerated goods were any good. They looked like they had spoiled quite a bit in the last day. We couldn't find anything edible until we walked down the canned food aisle. We rearranged our carts and loaded them up until their cheap axles were squeaking.

As we were about to leave we made an interesting discovery. We hadn't expected the produce to be any good after we saw the other perishables, and it wasn't. It had however sprouted small trees that looked like nothing we had ever seen. We thought about bringing one but that went out the window when we tried to pick one up. No way could we manage all our carts as well as a banana/mango tree growing out of a four foot table.

"Come on guys. We've left Gilberto out there wondering long enough. We must have taken an hour rearranging these carts. We'll talk to Sam about the rest, maybe he can come back and help." I said.

We all pushed our squeaking carts outside. "Sorry about the wait Gilberto. We found some weird trees and couldn't figure them out." I explained.

"No big deal, just twenty minutes." Gilberto looked us over as I processed that statement.

"How long have we been in there?" It had to have been longer than twenty minutes. I had filled back up on Mana after healing everyone.

"You went in about two hours ago. Then I saw a flash of light and saw you guys. I thought you could use some help and that was twenty minutes ago." Gilberto said.

I considered it for a brief moment. Then I realized I was still covered in more spider goo then I liked and I didn't care. Whatever.

"What was that spell you used again?" Mike asked.

"{Mana Bolt}. I put my Attributes in and got that Average Title you guys mentioned. I worked on getting skill points to unlock it. Pretty cool right?"

Mike with his one shot fire breath and my wet firecracker version had nothing on Gilberto's utterly devastating version.

"Mike I think we're doing something wrong." Turning back to Gilberto I continued. "You helped us out and we appreciate it, but we are wiped out. You probably have questions for us so if you want, Meagan can bring you around tomorrow?" I looked to Meagan and got a nod. "Also we can give you a share of the loot."

"Yea, like where is an Administrator sort of question. Sounds good though."

"Meagan we owe you too." 

Meagan interrupted me. "Don't even go there. We're a team now, right?"

"Yea I think we are." I smiled. "Want to pick up your cart tomorrow? Maybe you can avoid a few questions from the association that way."

When she nodded we grabbed the carts and started off, we could take turns pulling the wagon and behind us.

"Hope to see you tomorrow Gilberto." I waved.

When we reached the sidewalk Stew bumped into me. "Hey Dave I got some good news. While you and Mike were sneaking around I dropped a few hints to Meagan about how you like blond and stacked girls. You know like Kirsten. I was so smooth."

"I bet you were. Smooth like Ex-Lax." If Stew had thought he was being smooth then it was no wonder Meagan had been pissed earlier.

We heard an engine coming towards us. Weaving around stalled cars I could see a car going at least fifty. A classic yellow  Mustang.

The bumper and grill were covered in dents and blood spatter. There were cracks running across the passenger side of the windshield. Blasting Dragula it sped down the street. As it flew past the diver threw an empty pop can on the ground in front of us. "Apocalyptic, motherfucker!" The driver yelled.

"Fuck." I said.

I felt tired and I didn't know if it was the dungeon, Stew's revelation on trying to set me up, or having a can thrown at us.

"Yea. Treating a beautiful car like that should be a crime." Stew said in what he thought was agreement with me.

----------------------------------------

‡ Quest: Survive until help arrives in 6 days ‡

‡ Reward: Life is struggle, You get to live! ‡

‡ Failure: Death is release, however you die knowing you have failed not just yourself but your very race. ‡