Friedrich, Marina, Teleri, and Pheston tried to pull themselves free of the spiderwebs, but the webs were too sticky and strong. The clicking noise from the unseen Valmyra grew louder and louder as the seconds passed, leaving the group with precious little time left before she started devouring them one by one.
“Nothing else for it,” said Friedrich, knowing he had no choice but to reveal his powers to the traitorous Nelmor who was watching from above.
He turned into a minotaur, breaking the webs as he grew, but found that even in his larger form he was still stuck to the sticky threads of the spider pit. He transformed into his fox form, shrinking so rapidly that the webs snapped as they tried to hold onto him.
“What sorcery is this?” barked Nelmor as he stood with his arm cocked and ready. The glass vial in his hand contained an orange liquid and he was just waiting for the Queen of Spiders to appear so that he could begin his fiery assault and claim her soul for himself.
Realisation struck the dark elf a she touched the soul gem he possessed. “He is a soul masker,” spat Nelmor, infuriated that this had been kept from him.
Friedrich fell to the bottom of the pit and kept low beneath the webs as he turned back into a human. He crawled over to Teleri first and cut her free.
“Thank you,” she said as the webs were sliced apart by Friedrich’s blade.
“You can free the others quicker than I can,” said Friedrich, looking toward the darkness.
The Alaurian drew one of her fire arrows from her quiver and nocked it as she thudded on the ground. With a plink, she let it loose and it struck the net of webs. They caught fire and the flames spread rapidly as the pit was revealed by their flickering and rapidly-spreading orange light.
Valmyra, the Queen of Spiders, was crawling towards them and she was a behemoth of a creature. She must have been at least twelve feet tall with legs that were even longer at their full length. The venom from her fangs dripped as she scurried towards Pheston, eager to devour one of the two remaining trapped mortals that had fallen into her lair.
“I’d appreciate some help!” barked the smith, but the burning webs gave way and he fell to the ground along with Marina.
“My staff!” cried the lightning witch, scrambling to reach her magical implement.
A flick of web from the Spider Queen and the staff was thrown from of the pit, sending it clunking to the corridor above, leaving Marina unable to fully harness her magic. She turned around and held out her hands, sending waves of electricity crackling through them should Valmyra come any closer or dare to shoot web at her.
“Kyick!” screeched the spider as an arrow pierced one of her many eyes.
Friedrich ran towards her with his shield raised and then slammed it into her fangs, knocking her head backwards. He swung his sword, aiming for her throat, but a spindly leg shoved him aside and he was sent rolling across the floor.
Another flick of web and Teleri’s legs were caught. Valmyra whipped the high elf into the air and then slammed her onto the hard ground. Despite her attempts to cling to her bow, the spider caught it and flung it out of the pit to join Marina’s staff.
“A little closer together,” muttered Nelmor as he leaned aside to avoid being stricken by the flying bow. “Just a little closer and fire will rain down.”
The Spider Queen looked towards him and shot a web at the man’s arm. In a panic, he screamed and drew his dagger to slice himself free, but not before he dropped three of his vials.
Friedrich saw them fall into the pit and panic struck him. He transformed into a minotaur and dove towards them, catching all but one of them in his large hands. He flung them across the pit as the bottle he missed cracked and immediately exploded, sending a shock of fire across his hairy body.
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“Friedrich!” called Pheston, running toward his friend, but the Spider Queen tripped him with one of her webs.
From the corridor above, more explosions of fire that sent a burst of intense light throughout the pit, forcing Nelmor to dive to avoid being hit by his own exploding vials of flame. With nobody or nothing to be set alight, the fires faded much quicker than the one in the queen’s lair.
Friedrich roared in pain as he was burned alive. He was in utter agony as his hair and flesh was seared by the intense magical fire. Fighting through the excruciation, he mustered just enough focus to turn back into a human to heal his wounds before he succumbed to death. The burning continued and it was even more agonising in his natural state, forcing him to revert to his minotaur form. With the flames slowly fading and free of his wounds, his increased durability as the bull-man let him smother the rest of the flames by rolling on the stones.
Valmyra scuttled towards him and leaned down, only to find a pair of delicate hands wrapped firmly around her legs. Marina unleashed a burst of electricity from her palms that shot through the Spider Queen’s leg. With the swing of a magically lengthened hammer, Pheston snapped her leg off, leaving the removed limb in Marina’s clutches.
Being deprived of one of her legs was enough to distract the spider from Friedrich, who turned back into a human now that the flames had died down. He thrust his sword up at the spider, piercing her chest and forcing her back as blood dripped from her.
“Yes,” said Nelmor quietly from above as he retrieved a final vial he had concealed in his cloak. “Hurt her just enough that this will finish her off.”
Teleri looked up just in time as he drew back his arm. She ran and jumped onto Valmyra’s back, using the spider to leap to the edge of the pit and curl her fingers around the bricks. She hoisted herself up and grabbed the vial from his hands, only to be kicked back into the pit by a furious Nelmor.
“Gah!” he cried, looking desperately around for something to help him kill the four adventurers and the spider.
“Throw me!” Friedrich demanded of Pheston before running towards the smith and turning into a fox. He leapt into the old man’s burly hand.
“Get him, son,” said Pheston, tossing Friedrich up and out of the pit.
“You’re not getting away,” said Friedrich, transforming from fox to human as he landed in the corridor.
With a look of panic on his face and the soul gem in his hand, Nelmor bolted down the passageway. Friedrich did not need to transform to catch the man, so speedy was he as a human. He tore along and followed Nelmor around the corner. He spotted the dark elf glancing over his shoulder with fear in his eyes.
The Balmorian yelped as he tripped over a three-foot-long spider that was rushing towards his mother’s aid. The spider turned on the elf, sensing that the bipedal creature had a hand in the agony he could her his mother in. He must protect her at all costs, for he was one of her last remaining children.
Fearing his imminent demise with Friedrich drawing closer to him, Nelmor drew his dagger with his free hand and focused on the soul stone. Friedrich could see it glowing lightly as a swirling turquoise vapour manifested from it, encircling Nelmor’s hand.
The dark elf plunged his blade into the spider, who let out a horrified clicking. It was not yet dead as it fell back on its legs and Nelmor drew back his blade once more and stabbed the crawling beast for a second time. This time, the spider died.
The second its life was snuffed out, something changed. It was not granted a peaceful passing. From its body, poured more of the ethereal vapour that Friedrich was so familiar with. As he ran, the young man saw it being drawn into the stone held in Nelmor’s hand. He was almost there, but Nelmor was not yet out of options.
The would-be soul masker shakily pulled the wooden mask from underneath his cloak and pressed the soul gem to it. There was a flash of light as the gem sank into the mask’s forehead, merging with it, and the blank wooden face transformed before both Friedrich and Nelmor’s eyes.
As the swirling vapour surrounded it, it sprouted a pair of fangs from where the mouth was. Its shaped wobbled and contorted as its edges shifted and the two eyeholes vanished in place of bulbous spider-like eyes made of a red glass-like material. The brown wood turned black and the woodgrain became almost tufty like the hair of a spider. As the soul magic withdrew back into the gem, the mask settled down and sharp, blade-like purple lines were marked. The poor spider who only sought to find its dying mother had been trapped within the soul mask.
“Goodbye,” said Nelmor with a faint smile as he raised the spider mask to his face.
“No!” called Friedrich, but as he ran, an arrow flew past him and it pierced Nelmor’s temple, tearing a clean hole through his skull, and flying out the other side for a few feet before clinking to the ground.
Friedrich spun around and saw Teleri standing with her brow raised. He heard the rustling of Nelmor’s body slumping over and the spider mask fell from his hands. It hit the bricks with a clunk and bounced a couple of feet away before settling still. Its red eyes stared at the ceiling with the soul inside unable to move, forever imprisoned within the soul gem.