Risha opened her eyes the next morning to see one of the elders standing over her patiently. Roa, the spider-tamer elder, immediately walked over to Risha as soon as she saw that she was awake and gently pulled her towards one of the larger spider pits. Roa was a sweet goblin, but very quiet, communicating mostly in the thumps that the goblins used to communicate with the spiders.

Roa jumped into the pit, landing easily. Risha only hesitated for a second before following her.

In the darkness, rested the oldest spider among those kept by the goblins. It was as tall as Risha, but at least twice as wide. Scars covered her thorax and abdomen, while one of her legs was missing. Risha immediately felt bad for the poor creature who had clearly suffered so much. The spider chittered, and Roa nodded.

Risha felt as her skill [Brood Mother] took effect, the spider's words becoming clear to her.

“Risha greets spider-mother.” Risha said, and the spider paused, looking at Risha curiously.

“Hello Risha. I am Klaz’zks.” The spider's name was actually a series of leg thumps and chitters, but it somehow translated for Risha. “Roa tells me that you are the reason for the changes among your people.”

Risha nodded. “I helped them evolve.”

“Risha Grand Mother.” The spider lowered its head, until all eight of its eyes were looking up at her from half her height. “This war you wish to bring my children into will see many of them die against the orc war bands. Would you give my children a chance to prove themselves and evolve as you have evolved your own people?”

Risha studied the old spider for a long moment, the weight of her request resonating in her. “I don’t know if my power will work on spiders. But if you’d like… can I try on you?”

The spider was hard to read, but Risha had spent enough time around her spiderlings to recognize the surprise in the movements of the creature.

“If you would be willing, this old spider and her brood would gladly follow where you lead.”

Risha took a deep breath, then activated her skill.

Analyzing Wolf-Spider Klaz’zks feats

Possible evolutions:

War Spider

Spider Hunter

Brood Mother

Trap Weaver

Spider Queen

Something about the last option stood out to Risha. It held more power in it than the others and called to Risha in a strange way.

Risha chose it, and words poured out of her, wrapping around the old spider. Before her eyes, the other spider grew larger, becoming almost twice as large as she was previously. A red hourglass etched itself into her abdomen as her color turned black. The injured leg straightened before fixing itself.

The much larger spider looked down at Risha and tilted its head. A chittering sound escaped the spider that Risha recognized as laughter.

“Thank you Grand Mother Risha. You forever have my gratitude for this gift. I will gladly help your people in what is to come.” The spider continued to laugh as it pulled web from its abdomen and started to redecorate its home. “No spider will go against you, and no goblin will suffer the harm of our bite.”

Risha watched as the legs moved faster than she could follow, her new web practically invisible to her eye.

She looked over to Roa, only to see the old goblin smiling from ear to ear, two fangs standing out among the sharp teeth of the goblin. Risha even noticed the glint of venom in her mouth. It made Risha wonder what other physical changes the different evolutions brought.

The two goblins left the pit, and Risha finally took a moment to notice the changes to her village.

There were two hundred goblins total in the village not counting the eighty children. Every single one was hard at work. The two High Goblin Builders cut down trees in preparation to make new homes, while the Craftsmen improved the spears and weapons of her people.

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Her gaze caught on Glo, who was in a large circle with all the goblins that had gained combat focused evolutions. Mook and Sook led a pack of hunters through the village carrying a large scaled beast that would’ve been unthinkable for them to hunt previously. Goblin children and those who didn’t have evolutions yet ran through the village, helping those they could.

Roa slipped away, heading off now that her mission of bringing Risha to Klaz’zks had been accomplished.

Risha watched her village prepare, filled with life in a way that she’d never seen before. Yes, goblins loved to party, but it was the kind of partying that came from always being on the edge of death. Today was not like that. Today felt filled with hope.

Risha turned away from her village and went back to the pit where her spiders rested. All thirty four surviving spiderlings were hidden in the warmth of their webbed holes.

She watched them, the noises of her village droning out. Risha had made a decision, one she was only now starting to fear.

Her mind went back to her fight with the orc. Two arrows through his eyes, a third in his brain through his mouth, and he’d still been moving, still reaching for her. That orc was smaller than the others, weaker. She dreaded what a fight with the overseer would look like. And she knew that that fight would be coming soon.

She grabbed her dagger and her bow. She quickly realized that the bow was now too small for her. With an irritated noise, she jumped out of her pit and made her way to one of the Craftsmen that she’d seen making weapons.

The craftsman, a goblin named Ego gulped when he saw her expression, then noticed the small bow and arrows in her hands.

He quickly motioned for her to wait for him and ran over to Elder Milo. Milo looked up at her, and smiled wide, showing his sharp teeth.

He waved her over and she went over to him. He reached down to the pile next to him and pulled out a beautifully carved bow.

“I made this and thought of you. Milo is proud of his first creation.” He handed her the weapon, and Risha realized that it was strung with spider silk. She’d never seen spider silk that wasn’t sticky. She looked closer at the bow, and couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face.

Milo watched her examine the bow with an equally proud smile. He then reached back and pulled out a quiver designed for the larger arrows. He’d only had time to craft seven bone-tipped arrows, but they were much stronger than the wooden arrows she’d used previously.

Risha took them without thinking. “Risha is grateful.”

Milo hugged Risha. “Our whole village is grateful to Risha.”

Risha pulled away from the hug, unable to stop the blush that darkened her purple skin. She took a deep breath, then grabbed her new weapons and made her way into the forest.

Risha needed to practice, she needed to get ready- to get stronger.

She quickly traversed the forest, moving at a pace that would’ve been impossible for her previous self. She moved with direction, knowing what she wanted to hunt.

Her [Hunter] skill activated, and her body moved silently through the forest, her presence nearly undetectable as she passed by trees with huge claw marks along their length.

She knocked her bow, and slowed her pace. The creature she hunted was not one to be underestimated. She tested the wind, making sure it wouldn’t carry her scent, then followed a growing trail of destruction.

She eventually found the creature gnawing on bones by the river.

Old arrows still punctured its fur from the hunters of her village that it’d killed many moons ago, and scars lined its side from the claws of an equally fearsome beast. The monster in front of her was a bear, twice as tall as her when standing on its hind legs, and covered in brown fur.

Risha studied the creature from where she stood, her arrow nocked to her bow. The monster in front of her would have been impossible for her old self, and was still incredibly dangerous for her.

But if she couldn’t take down this creature, how was she supposed to face a war party of orcs?

Risha drew back her arrow, took a deep breath, then released. The arrow flew straight, with more force than any arrow she’d ever released.

But Risha had underestimated the strength of her new bow, and the arrow flew high, puncturing deep into the wood of the tree behind the bear.

The bear quickly responded as it rose to its feet and started running towards Risha. She had kept some distance for her first shot, but that distance quickly decreased as the bear moved with incredible speed.

Risha kept calm as she pulled out another arrow, drew it back, took a deep breath, then released.

The arrow punctured the leg of the bear, and it tripped, rolling over itself a full five meters away from Risha.

Risha jumped back, creating more distance as she nocked another arrow, aimed, and released.

This arrow pierced the other leg of the bear as it attempted to stand, and the bear roared with anger.

Another arrow pierced through its open mouth and the bear choked on its roar. With surprising strength in its hind two legs, it leapt at Risha, closing the distance quickly.

She rolled away as it swiped at her with its injured arm. Arrows spilled out of her quiver, but she didn’t care as she pulled back the arrow she still held in her hands, aimed, and fired into the eye of the beast.

A whimpering sound came from the beast as it fell to the ground.

Risha waited calmly as the beast slowly died.

Level up!

Risha was startled by the message, not sure what it meant. One of her feats had granted her five levels, but she didn’t know what that did. She quickly dismissed the message, and stared at the dead bear in front of her.

It took her a good hour to put together something to carry the bear on, then it took a surprising amount of effort to roll the creature onto her makeshift sled.

It was another three hours of pulling the sled before she encountered a couple hunters that helped her pull.

When they reached the village, word had already gone ahead of her feat and every goblin stopped their tasks to watch as they pulled the monstrous beast into camp.

Risha dropped the sled, and stepped forward to gather the attention of every goblin. “Goblins strong!” She pumped her fist forward. “The orcs will shake in fear!”