Trout's Landing.
Suffice it to say that while progress towards making a new home at the fishing lodge was going steady, the recent appearance of the strange frog/fishlike creatures obviously worried the kobolds. Course it worried Jeb too. Especially as it seemed like they just got done with one encounter and were already facing another threat to their new home!
It was just as bad because the kobolds didn't consider a threat coming from the cold waters of the river! The cold weather was already putting them through their paces and putting extra lookouts next to the freezing river just made their jobs even harder as they were subjected to wind and water and didn't have the protection of the trees to stave off the worst of the cold wind.
Jeb was no less worried. What should've been a pretty peaceful area was already becoming just another holdout instead! At least this time they didn't have to worry about people coming by and trying to kill the kobolds. Yet.
Which left what to do about the murlocs, Jeb thought as the Chief and Trap Master talked with one another nearby with some of the tribe throwing in their own opinions. The prevailing option being to clear them out before they become a problem like they did with the giant spiders. But that had the problem that they would need to go upriver to deal with them. The other, minority, opinion was to leave them be and just guard against further thefts or possible attacks until the weather allowed a proper assault against the murlocs. Which also had the problem that they didn't have the numbers, or biology, to be toughing it through an Appalachian winter. Not that the murlocs could be any better. But they already showed they didn't really mind the cold water if they were willing to brave it just to snag a fish trap in broad daylight so such an option was quickly smothered in its crib.
As they continued to argue and debate solutions, Jeb already figured out what had to be done. HE would have to go and deal with the murlocs himself. It was one thing having them go into a spider's nest with him, it was another risking their lives just to go up the river! If they got into the water because the boat was overturned then they'd potentially be paralyzed and even drown because of the cold!
No, Jeb thought resolutely. They need to be dealt with and he was the only one that could do it. He wasn't going to have them risk themselves further than needed. So he gave simple non-committed answers whenever the kobolds turned to him and asked him for his input.
Eventually it was decided that they would guard against further attacks until morning and then Jeb and a handful of skirmishers would take a boat upriver to deal with the murlocs. The Trap Master wanted to go as well but Jeb managed to convince him to remain behind and guard the lodge while they were gone. He didn't look too thrilled being left out of the attack, but he relented.
So lookouts were placed near the shoreline and pier with fires burning all through the night while the rest of the tribe retreated into their cabins for warmth and safety. Ruby huddled with their eggs in the bed that they all shared with Jeb as she quietly snored away. Jeb however was wide awake as he prepared himself for the battle to come. He waited until he was sure that Ruby was deep into slumber before slowly and gently leaving the sleeping bag. Aside from their eggs clinking together and the bed creaking Jeb barely made a sound as he left the admin building and slowly made his way over to the boathouse. He was tempted to go for one of his guns, but it would just risk the Trap Master seeing him and wanting to go when he realized what Jeb was doing.
That and the guns would just alert the rest of the kobolds as well as any other nearby murlocs of what was happening. No, he'll go in quick and quietly, Jeb thought with a groan as he heaved one of the good canoes down and gently lowered it into the water. He wrapped the oar in some boat cover to dampen the noise it would make in the water and he gently pushed away from the boathouse and into the river proper. He paddled low and quietly as he fought against the stream. The only noise was the soft trickles of water from the oar and his suppressed grunts as he forced the canoe against the water.
Then came the tricky part. The kobold lookouts. If he wasn't sure of his plan before he was now as Jeb looked at them as they fought to stay awake near the river and were all but laying in the firepits for warmth. Their night vision would be shot because of it, but Jeb didn't want to take any chances alerting them to his presence. He picked up a sinker that was forgotten in the canoe and tossed it over the lookouts' heads.
The noise wasn't much and their reactions were painfully slow. But it got those still awake to turn their gazes towards the noise and gave him enough time to paddle by. With the risk of being seen by the kobolds gone, Jeb continued to push upriver towards wherever the murlocs made their camp at. Unaware that a small eight-legged passenger came along with him, hidden in the collar of his coat.
-----
The Broodmother watched Jeb's progress through her spider's eyes. After such a display last time she had sent the smallest of her brood to keep an eye, or eight, on the growing deity. So far she was rather disappointed in how he lived. Such a rundown hovel was unfitting for him, she thought as she gracefully skittered around her lair beneath the mountains.
Even the kobolds that seemed to serve him were unfitting and useless, she thought. The cold was obviously slowing them down and he's had to resort to actually doing things FOR them! She sneered at such a thought! If any of her slaves from when she was a Mistress of Spiders back in Kyerix-Khern dared to be so useless she would've had them sacrificed for the Spider Goddess!
She sighed, that was centuries ago though, she thought. Her slaves had been replaced by her brood that followed her will without question or hesitancy. They also didn't grumble about insignificant things like being whipped and beaten or not having enough food or water. Petty things a good servant should never trouble their Mistress about. If they knew what was good for them.
"No. This will not do." She declared as she watched as the godling went off to battle while his servants remained behind, being useless and weak.
She tapped her chin in thought as she continued to watch Jeb paddle along on the dark river. As useless as the kobolds were, they were still under his protection and so she couldn't, nor wouldn't dare, dispose of them. As weak and simpering as her former slaves were they were still HER slaves after all. As pathetic as they were, if any noble or would-be suiter disposed of them to satisfy her she would've had them flayed alive for daring to take what was hers!
No, she would have to wait until an opportunity presented itself for her and her brood to step in and prove to the godling that they would be much better than the kobolds ever could. The lazy lizards didn't even offer him tribute!
Her brood hissed as they sensed her displeasure. But with a gesture they silenced. Thinking of the useless kobolds would do her no good other than to spoil her mood. So instead she watched as Jeb rounded a bend in the river and they both saw the outline of a murloc village.
-----
Jeb breathed heavily as the murloc village came into his sight. If it could be called that, Jeb thought as he could see the three huts that seemed to be fashioned from a mix of reeds, wood, and moss. It was built on a clear patch of ground that hugged the mountain behind it.
"No lookouts." Jeb muttered as his eyes shifted to the couple of rickety towers that looked one good wind, or cough, away from falling over.
He kinda forgot that his eyes glowed in the dark now. Which he only noticed about halfway up the river when he turned and looked at a cliff wall and noticed the eerie blue glow that seemed to surround him as he paddled.
As he neared the small collection of huts he could see various traps that looked like the ones back at the lodge. No wonder there were so few of them, they've been swiping 'em! Like the spiders they've probably been here for a few weeks now at least, Jeb thought by the looks of the village.
"Well, they won't be for long." Jeb muttered to himself as he beached his canoe and lowered himself out the boat and produced his pocket knife.
In and out, Jeb thought as he inched towards the first hut. It didn't even have a door or flap to keep the wind and cold out. It was just a small semi-circular hut made of waterlogged wood and whatever else was dredged up from the river. He peeked around the corner and looked in and could see almost a dozen of the murlocs scattered tightly around.
Jeb bit back a curse. If he gutted one he'd be swarmed before he could get the second one, he thought as he looked around the small patch of land. He turned back and saw one of them close to the opening where he was with its froglike leg sticking straight out!
Jeb got an idea that he hoped wasn't a bad one, and he reached out and grabbed the slimy leg and gently pulled it, and its owner, towards the opening, and him. He stopped when the other murlocs shifted a little from the movement but kept going when it was clear that they weren't going to wake up and swarm him.
Gently, gently, gently, he thought as the slimy thing was dragged out of the hut and just around the hut. He held his breath as he plunged his pocket knife into the things head! Or what he assumed was its head, he thought as he clamped a hand over the things maw to keep it from warning the others as it awoke and tried to fight Jeb even as the wound began to bleed profusely. Eventually the murloc's movements weakened and slowed before finally ceasing all together. Jeb slowly let out his breath and looked down at the dead fish/frog thing.
"One down." He whispered and scooted forwards and peered within the hut.
"And about a dozen more to go."
So that was what Jeb did. He would grab a protruding limb and pull it painstakingly slowly out of the hut before killing the thing. Or trying to. After the first one he had to experiment just trying to find where the things throat, brain, or heart was!
After about the eighth one he finally found where the heart was located. Turns out it was fucking tiny and if he didn't hit it just right then the little bastards just fought and flailed. Forcing him to either hold them down and wait until they bled out or to shank them repeatedly until he either hit the heart or they bled out still.
It was a messy night for Jeb and it wasn't over yet. There were two left in the hut. The rest were now rotting corpses stashed behind it and out of sight and the way. These two however were entangled in one another. He cursed silently as he realized that his carefully honed murloc killing method wasn't going to work now! He shuffled quietly into the hut and hovered over the two murlocs. Their slimy skin shining a pale blue from his eyes as they stared down on them. Unaware that this would be their last night.
They breathed wet gurgling breaths as Jeb hovered. Deciding what to do about this. He couldn't kill one without alerting the other and he didn't have a way to kill them both at the same time. What he wouldn't do for twin wrist blades, Jeb thought as he positioned his knife carefully where the heart on one of them was while moving his other hand into position to keep the other one quiet when he struck. This wasn't ideal, Jeb thought as he could keep himself from getting anything more than some light scratches from the small claws on the murlocs before. But now he would have to deal with four arms trying to claw at him with both his arms busy.
Here goes nothing, he thought as he thrust both arms forwards. One plunging into the murloc's heart while the other gripped the rough area of where their throat was. The first one gurgled and sputtered for a brief moment before shaking and giving a death rattle before expiring. The other however hissed and swung its claws at Jeb's face while letting out stressed gurgles and gags.
Jeb pulled his knife from the other and tried to plunge it into the other, but kept missing as the thing kept moving! Earning it nothing other than more pain as he ended up having to shiv it over and over before it slowed down enough for him to stab at its heart. Jeb let out a breath. His face was sore and probably bleeding from the damn thing's claws! But at least it was over, he thought as he slumped back and took a moment to rest.
MRRRGLGLG!!!
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Jeb's eyes snapped open and he cried out as a sharp pain bloomed in his right shoulder just after hearing the gargled cry from behind him! Slimy appendages wrapped and clawed at him as he struggled to fight off the ambushing murloc! Jeb reached up and felt the damn thing bite him! He took the chance and grabbed something wet and slimy and yanked it!
The murloc tumbled off him and Jeb took the opportunity to stab it in the eye with his knife! Again and again! Tough little shits, Jeb thought as he finally killed the murloc and yanked the stone knife out of his shoulder. Then he heard something. A clear sound of two rocks being smashed together. He turned and looked out the hut and saw another murloc as it looked right at him and slammed two stones against one another.
"Shit." Jeb cursed as the murloc dropped one of the stones before rushing at him as it let out a gurgled cry, followed by several more. No doubt from the other huts, Jeb thought as he threw the stone knife into the open mouth of the murloc before quickly rushing out of the hut and only just barely dodging a spear thrown at him!
He turned and saw easily two dozen more murlocs streaming from out of the other two huts! Some were small like the one he saw back at the lodge, others were about the same size as the kobolds were, and they all looked pissed!
One jumped at him and a well placed boot sent it flying into the mass of slimy bodies. Another rushed him with a spear that he kicked aside and jammed his knife into the top of its head. They did have a brain, but it must've been about the size of a peanut because he never did hit it. Not once during his little assassin roleplay did stabbing the damn things in the head actually manage to kill them.
So he wrenched his knife out and kneed the ugly thing before swiping at the next one in line. Unfortunately, this wasn't like the spider den where their numbers could be easily funneled and he could only deal with so many at a time. Instead he was in an open area and was quickly being surrounded.
He roared and yelled as he slammed his boot into fishlike maws and slashed faces with his knife. But they weren't just letting him go unhindered. He growled as a stone knife was plunged into his leg and a jerk to the side earned him a slash across the chest rather that through it.
He lost the knife at some point. Either lost in the slimy flesh of a murloc or discarded somewhere during the fight. Which left him with nothing more than his fists and feet against crude stone knives, maces, and spears. While Jeb fought valiantly, it was a fight he was quickly losing. They surrounded him and it took everything just to not get skewered by a spear. In the meantime he felt his ribs break from a stone mace, his arm slashed by a stone knife. Eventually they were practically throwing themselves at him and began to grab, cut, and slash at his neck, head, and face.
During a situation like this most people would probably feel remorse, fear, a number of emotions as it seemed like death was coming to collect. But not Jeb. All he felt was pure, unbridled, rage! It was like something clicked in him. How DARE these filthy things think they could beat him! They trespass on HIS land, steal from those in his care, and now they think to harm him with nothing but claw and stone?!
The fucking GALL, Jeb thought as a deep growl resonated from the earth below the swarming murlocs. The gurgling noises of the murlocs ceased as even they felt that something was different now. Then a thorned claw cleaved through four of the slimy creatures with ease. Then another. The murlocs began to disperse and run as they quickly realized that this was a fight they no longer had the upper hand in.
But Jeb wasn't about to let these vermin flee so quickly. With a dash of speed he didn't know he was capable of he disemboweled and gutted those that tried to flee from his fury! He seemed to teleport around as slimy flesh was shredded and viscera sprayed over the murloc village. Guts and gore painted the huts and watchposts and drenched the ground as the last remaining murlocs were butchered like the animals that they were.
Jeb stood there and breathed heavily as he looked around at the slaughter he committed. He looked down at his han-claws, crimson blood streamed down and began to pool among the rotting remains of the worthless vermin. In that moment he felt ALIVE! He smiled and breathed deeply the smell of carnage and death that surrounded him.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Jeb turned his head towards where the river continued on. He could hear the sounds of rocks being smashed together in a familiar way as the one murloc had done to alert the rest of the village.
CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!
Then he heard more as he counted one no... at least four more primitive alarms going off further upriver. Just how many were there, Jeb wondered as he turned and made for his canoe. It was going to be a long night, Jeb thought. A thought that startled him a little when he realized that he was looking forward to it!
-----
The Broodmother cooed and hummed as she watched from the little one. She was worried that she had lost it when those filthy beasts had rushed the godling. But it had just sought safety within his clothes. A good thing too, she thought as she watched as he cleaved and carved a brutal and bloody swath through the murlocs!
She enjoyed watching him paint such lovely murals of murder along his path. After the first village, where he was so careful to not alert the rest of the village, he has since thrown caution to the wind and has eagerly thrown himself into combat. From that point on it was trivial for him to decimate any of them that challenged him! An excited shiver rushed up her spine as she considered that she was so close to experiencing it first hand not long ago. Would she have survived such an encounter? She wasn't sure then, even now she believed that her venom might've allowed her an upper hand in their hypothetical fight.
But there wasn't a guarantee she would've survived even if she would've managed to kill him, she thought as she continued to watch as it seemed he got more brutal and savage the more he fought. Something she recalled seeing in those that devoted themselves to the God of Murder and Carnage. Where many tired and weakened from battle, they would instead grow stronger as they bathed in the glow of battle and carnage! The only thing seeming to temper such power and rage was the time between fights where he was forced to return to his boat and paddle along.
The Broodmother knew that such a cycle wouldn't last long though as he was nearing the largest of the murloc settlements along this stretch of the nearby river. She's known about them since her broods' arrival. They've kept it fed for some weeks now when the rest of the animals nearby have abandoned the area either due to the changing seasons or fear of them. But the murlocs are stubborn and dumb. No matter how many times she wipes out some of the villages and has them carried back for food or living incubators they always seemed to bounce back. They probably have settlements all along this river by now. Which means that they'll more than likely move back at some point after the godling's slaughter has finished.
A slaughter that looked to be reaching its crescendo, she thought as he neared one of the villages before the largest settlement. Perhaps it was time for her to show the godling just how capable she and her brood were.
-----
Christ just how many are there, Jeb wondered as he looked around at the dead murlocs strewn about. He's been at this for hours, eight. There has been EIGHT of these damn villages that he's had to cleanse and raze! But at least now it seemed to be ov-
Out the corner of his eye he saw three murlocs slinking against the shadows at the edge of their little village. One slid into the water with barely a sound and Jeb's eyes widened. That must be how they've been so prepared the further he went. The first few villages were fairly close enough that their little rock alarm was sufficient enough to warn the others. But as he went further and further upriver the longer it got between villages. After the fourth he didn't hear any rock alarms but continued upriver just to make sure. Only to find the little shits prepared and waiting for him!
Now he knew why, while he was butchering their comrades these little shits slunk away to warn the rest of them! But not this time, Jeb thought as he dashed and bisected one of them. The other cried out and made to jump into the water, but he only got within an inch of it before Jeb plunged his claw into the things chest.
He sneered as he discarded the clammy corpse. One still managed to get away though, Jeb thought. Another merry chase it is. Or it would be if he didn't turn around to see two of the vermin destroying his canoe!
"Hey!" He called out, though he didn't give them a chance to respond as one of them was turned into nothing more than splatter and the other hardly got a wet gurgle out before Jeb's claw smashed into its head and wrenching something small out.
He looked down and beheld what looked like a brain barely bigger than a pea.
"Huh, guess they do have one."
It wasn't much but it was enough for them to think to destroy his boat and keep him from going further.
"Well now what the fuck do I do?"
Jeb looked around, the murlocs didn't have any boats. Why would they when they could swim? He didn't have any tools that he could use to jury-rig a patch job. He cursed and kicked a stone into the river and looked around. There had to be something, he thought.
Then he idly glanced down at his claws. Then up at the stone mountains that followed the river.
"I wonder?"
He walked over and took a deep breath and readied himself for possibly making a really dumb move as he plunged his claw into the solid stone of the mountain! He peeked an eye open when he didn't feel anything like pain. What he saw was surreal! His claws went clean into the stone up to the knuckle! He hardly felt a thing!
"That's... worrying." He muttered as he could just imagine what they were capable of already.
Another time, he thought as he plunged his other transformed claw into the stone. He had some pests to clear out! So he began the slow process of climbing along the mountain along the river. As he went though, he found it easier and easier the more he went. To the point it almost seemed like he was running along the mountain!
He could just make out the dark shadow of the murloc in the water as his baleful eyes swept over the murky depths. He growled and followed it. He'll be damned if he misses another again, he thought as his rage rekindled. As he ran along the walls he caught glimpses of what looked like spiders in his periphery. But when he looked closer he didn't find anything. Got spiders on the mind, Jeb thought as he shook his head and rushed onwards.
There it is, Jeb thought as he rounded a bend some further miles upriver and spotted a pretty sizable settlement of the murlocs that was thrown together against the mountain wall that stood unblemished save for some scraggly plants and a hole near the bottom where the river had cut through from the other side millennia ago. The settlement itself was built on a mix of mud, stone, and forest floor. Lookout towers were placed in seemingly random places and dozens of huts littered about. The murlocs didn't use fire to see but instead had some kind of luminescent stones and algae that provided them with light. As he neared he spotted the murloc snitch rushing out of the water and slapping across the rock and dirt as it gurgled loudly in whatever annoying language they had!
"'Bout time I shut you up!" Jeb declared and stopped running for a moment before he pushed himself off the mountain and divebombed the annoying creature!
Its gargling was quickly cut off and was replaced with a splat as Jeb smashed into the beast with such force that viscera splattered around and a small crater formed where he landed. He glanced up and saw that all around him were scores of murlocs of various colors and sizes. Among them were some strange giant crawfish that was as tall as he was! The air went silent and tense as he and the aquatic creatures sized one another up.
Then a commanding gurgle rang out and the mass of slimy murlocs and clattering crawfish surged towards him. His rage burned hot and he found himself roaring some unholy bugle that sounded like a banshee wail and dying animal echoed across the mountain walls before lunging forwards and cleaving scores of the little bastards. Claws swept and swiped this way and that as slimy flesh and hard carapace were wrenched and sundered by him as he waded into the thick of a true blood frenzy!
If he noticed the spiders that swarmed the edges of the settlement he didn't care. His target tonight was the murlocs, he could deal with the spiders later, he thought as something clattered against his head. Or above it, he realized as he noticed a weight on his head that he didn't before.
A curious feel brought to his attention that he had antlers on his head now, and that he could see bone jutting out infront of his vision, bleached white was now smeared with the blood of murloc and crawfish both. But in this moment he didn't even care. If anything it just gave him some new toys to play with, he thought as he racked his antlers and gutted several murlocs that rushed towards him before skewering one of the crawfish. He hoisted the thing up as it clicked and gurgled itself. Jeb grabbed its tail and head with both claws and pulled.
Carapace cracked and organs popped and burst as the creature was torn apart! Its insides raining down upon Jeb in shredded and torn giblets as the sticky blood drenched him as he roared. Yet he still didn't care. He didn't care as he wrought destruction and death upon the village. He didn't care as he gored scores of murlocs. He didn't care as the very earth seemed to writhe and answer his call as the ground blackened around him and thorns shot out and utterly shredded the murlocs. The crawfish held out for but a moment before they themselves were cracked open or their armor was punctured with blackened vines.
He even conjured his blue flame and bathed a swath of murlocs in the balefire. Some tried to rush to the water to put it out. But it still burned even as they dove below the water's surface and it continued to burn until their charred forms floated to the top of the water.
Huts, lookouts, flesh and carapace all burned in the ghostly flame even as he continued to howl while he rent and gored and eviscerated all that came close to him! The spiders on his periphery kept a good distance from him even as they joined the battle. Not eager to get close to the blue flames or his wrath while Jeb was in the state he was in. Unlike the wickerbeasts that had appeared at some point during the slaughter. They moved with stilted movements and butchered as freely and without care as Jeb did.
Then the time came. The time where no matter where Jeb looked, all he saw was death. Not a single murloc remained. Nor the strange crawfish. The only thing he could hear was his own breathing and heart hammering mixed with the crackling of the settlement as it burned. All around him was nothing short of annihilation. There was possibly hundreds of the creatures.
Yet he didn't care. All this death and destruction around him. The pools and streams of blood and gore that seeped into the earth or flowed towards the river. The smells of putrefaction, fish, blood, and burning filled his nose. Yet he didn't care. For in this moment he felt at peace. All the worries and stress and warring conflicted emotions over the weeks were gone. He felt WHOLE!
He turned and saw his reflection in a lake of blood. He saw what he looked like. He heard the word god in his mind. An image of him being served by creatures twisted by his power into whatever form he wished of them as they offered him sacrifice and tribute as they bowed before him.
Monster.
Then just like that it was all gone. That word that echoed in the back of his mind was like a bucket of ice being thrown on him. He shook his head and glanced down at the pool of gore. His visage was rapidly returning to normal. He looked at his claws as they shifted back into regular normal human hands, covered in viscera. The smell around him made him want to retch as copper mixed with burnt flesh and fish!
Have to get out of here, Jeb thought as he turned around, or tried to. His vision was failing fast and his arms and legs grew heavy. His head felt like it was swimming as he searched for a boat nearby. But even if his vision wasn't going blurry he wouldn't find one.
As he trudged through the blood and gore towards the river his consciousness finally left him and he fell to his knees before collapsing into the blood soaked mud. The wickerbeasts soon faded from mortal view not long after. Strange tracks in the mud would be the only thing that would ever hint that they were there at all. Leaving the only things left nearby were the spiders as they inched closer to the fallen Jeb.
-----
The Broodmother bit her lip and purred with excitement. She got to see Jeb in all his glory as she was meant to! She only wished she was there to see it herself, to feel what power he unleashed as he utterly decimated the filthy vermin!
A shiver raced up her spine as she recalled the brutal bloodshed. The flesh and carapace that he torn and shredded like paper! The burning conflagration that engulfed their wretched bodies and souls both! The dark vines that eviscerated at his command! The constructs that butchered at his will!
"Oh yes! Such a delicious~ display!" She cooed as she cradled herself as her body heated up with excitement.
The only thing that could come in comparison was during the ritual slave fights in the arena. Watching the pathetic things try and fight against seasoned warriors with centuries of experience was amusing. Watching them fight and betray each other even more so! Then watching as on the rare occasions that a slave managed to win that they would think themselves freed from their bonds. Only to find themselves sacrificed upon an alter instead.
It was quite entertaining to say the least, she thought. But there was something about watching a being of divine power slaughtering these hapless creatures with glee and fury in so many ways compared to seeing a slave be executed by sword for the thousandth time.
"And he will only grow stronger." She mused as she watched him from many eyes as his form reverted back to that of a human and walk away before collapsing.
"Hmmm. I think it's time that we be properly introduced, don't you think my brood?" The Broodmother said as her spiders hissed.
Though excited she grimaced at the words. Such an early introduction was improper for a mistress such as her. But when would she get another chance where he wasn't constantly suffocated by those useless lizards? No, she thought as she ordered her spiders to retrieve the godling and bring him back to her lair. As much as she is loath to resort to an early meeting without a proper rapport, sufficiently complicated courting rituals, and the necessary introductions and courting of favor by various other intermediary parties beforehand, former courtiers and would-be suiters suffered greatly for such improper etiquette after all, she may not get another chance again.
So she watched as her brood skittered through the death and destruction and secured the godling before making their way back to her lair. She had to get ready for when they would finally meet after all. While she may be forced to skip a couple steps, she wasn't going to do away with the rest! She needed to organize her lair and chambers to receive him, she needed proper attire spun and woven for such a meeting, so much to do so much to do, she thought as she skittered away while sending the rest of her brood to prepare to receive their guest!