The iconography of a spider with red bands across its abdomen etched itself into CJ’s right shoulder. No larger than a half dollar coin. For the briefest of moments CJ thought he would scream. Then it all passed like it never happened. His shoulder felt fine, and he had new notifications from his slate.
New Deific Ability: Cytotoxic Transference- You may inject a necrotic poison to any damage done twice a day. This ability is granted by the Mark of Anansi and remains as long as your standing with the god is favorable.
New Deific Ability: Call of the Swarm- You may call upon Anansi’s children to swarm any target once per day. This ability is granted by the Mark of Anansi and remains as long as your standing with the god is favorable.
You have been granted access to the Arachnid Web Works. This is an information gathering network of spiders across the world. It allows you to speak with any arachnid and you will be viewed as kin by them.
“Fuck yea! I don’t have to be afraid of spiders anymore.”
“I am glad you are happy. There is a great deal of work yet to do and you must convince your kind to do it. Africa is on the brink of collapse. Our mutations are the extreme of the extreme. Time grows short. Return to your reward chamber at the end of the bolster dungeon. The bunny is worried about you.”
With that CJ was thrust forward toward the tree of crawling spiders. He had just enough time to cross his arms in front of his face before the world around him spun back into that kaleidoscopic tunnel he was used to.
On the other side of the tunnel was a dark room with a spotlight over a single pedestal. Within sat a bored looking Monty. His black furred ears perked up and the pink flesh within turned toward the arriving CJ. Monty hopped over to him scowling.
“I’ve been waiting here for like ten minutes. Where the fuck were you?”
“You’re not going to believe this. I just met Anansi. The Anansi from African folklore.”
“You did?” shock plastered across Monty’s face. “What did he say? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Replied CJ as he began to pace back and forth, “He gave his mark and warned me that things are looking bleak in Africa. Not sure why I should care about that, but he seemed pretty concerned about it.”
“What did Anansi say exactly?” questioned Monty, his ears flopping down around his head.
“That the mutations in Africa were the extreme of the extreme. Not one hundred percent on what that means.”
“Shit,” replied Monty, as he began to pace back and forth himself. “We need to get more humans to clear dungeons faster. If the mutations are that bad in Africa it’s because the corrupted mana is creating nastier and more lethal mutations. This is happening much faster than it should. We need to talk to Sun Wukong. To do that, we need to clear two more bolster dungeons. There’s not enough time for all this. Let’s get out of here and talk to the others. Figure out a plan.”
That said, Monty bounded back toward the pedestal with CJ in tow. Once CJ approached the table, he looked down to see it had two boxes on it. The first was box of thirty count revolver ammo. He sucked his teeth before swiping the box and adding it to his inventory.
“Must be the common item reward.”
The second box had a golden sheen but looked like it was made from wood. The individual grain lines could be seen in the gold colored planks. There was even some knots here and there. CJ lifted the lid of the four by eight inch box to see a brown seed nestled into a bed of hay.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
New Item Acquired: Johnny’s Apple Seed- Legendary Item/ Earth Magic. Once planted this seed will grow a one acre apple orchard in a matter of minutes. The apples it produces will grow in all seasons. Whoever consumes one of these apples will be cleansed of any disease. The seeds from the apples produced are non-viable and cannot germinate.
“Holy Shit balls!” shrieked CJ as he quickly closed and stuffed the box into his inventory.
“What was it?” asked Monty has he quickly jumped up to look before the box disappeared, “It was legendary right? What does it do?”
“Grows a whole apple orchard. It’s amazing. I wonder how long I’d have to study it to make spell out of it.”
“Is it permanent or temporary?”
“Permanent.”
“Longer than you have. Legendary magical effects are some of the toughest and most complex spells.”
“Fuck knuckles. Let’s get out of –” CJ never finished as they were roughly ejected from Dungeons’ treasure room.
----------------------------------------
“Where the hell are they?” asked Elena as she sawed through another vine.
The party was disbanded, and she didn’t understand what was happening. She and Jenn exited the dungeon like normal. Just like last time they only got the two rewards. The class point and the common item. Elena received a can of oil for her chainsaw while Jenn was sporting her newly acquired plague doctor mask. She even let Elena read the prompt after she got it.
New Item Acquired: Plague Doctors Mask- This is a common plague doctors beaked mask. It will filter some toxins from the air but is otherwise unremarkable.
Elena had to admit it gave Jenn a creepy mad scientist vibe. Jenn was ecstatic about it though. She went on and on about how she could work with more toxic concoctions now. Every now and then Elena wondered if CJ was right to nickname her psycho.
None of that mattered once vines and plant pods started blooming into the loading bay.
“Buy me some time. I can fill my sprayer with weed killer. Should make short work of them,” called Jenn as she swung her backpack around to her front.
“I’ll make short work of these damn things. You can have what’s left,” replied Elena as she shouldered a nearby dumpster to close off the loading bay door that led deeper into the building.
All it took was one slam from Elena attribute enhanced strength to send the heavy slab of metal sliding across the concrete. It left deep furrows in the ground before stopping in front of the double doors. It didn’t quite cover the whole entrance, but the plants would have to snake around the obstacle now. All the while Elena carved through sap spurting vines.
The pods on the other side of the dumpster began to slam into it. They were lucky it wasn’t on wheels, or it might have slid far out of the way to make the effort to get it there pointless. Every time the plant gained an inch of space Elena was there to boot the obstacle back into position.
“I’m ready, back up sweet cheeks,” spoke Jenn as she put one foot up on the metal lip of the dumpster and began spraying a yellow foaming liquid around the edges touching the door. “This is going to stink pretty bad in a minute.”
Elena decided to take her girlfriend’s council and back up to the rear of the truck that housed the dungeon entrance. She heard a sharp snap from behind her. She spun to see an ever grinning CJ and an extremely excited Monty exiting the trailer.
“Where the fuck were you?”
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
“Because you decided to have a chit chat with another god while they… gardened?” Monty chimed in looking around.
“For some reason the plant monster grew out in this direction.” Elena commented with a scowl on her face directed at CJ, “Any idea why that would happen? Wait, did he say God?”
“You know we just came out of the dungeon right. Wasn’t me… why is the party disbanded?” asked CJ as he added all three of his contemporaries to the party again. “Shit, your dad’s not here. I can’t add him if I can’t see him. Let’s beat feet. Come on we’ll squeeze past the truck on the opposite side of this trailer.”
New Message from Psycho: I’ve almost got this. No new plants… Shit never mind. Everybody, run!
Jenn spun around and baseball slid off the loading dock past the tires meant to cushion the concrete from the trucks backing into it. Then the makeshift barricade bounced out of the way of the door as a green and orange pod split down the center forced its way through the double doors. The seam began to separate pouring sap and viscous fluids. It had to be as large as an elephant is wide. Jagged sharp teeth could be seen within as new vines sprouted from behind it dragging it onto the docks.
New Message from CJ: Outside. Now! No need to fight if we can just leave.
New Message from Elena: I could hit it with the grenade launcher.
New Message from Monty: Do you still have that? Who let her have the explosives?
New Message from Elena: I didn’t hear you complaining when you were hanging off the bridge ready to be wasp food.
New Message from Monty: Touché.