Our group took the tunnel out of the underground complex and emerged in the warehouse once again. I kept a net of sensor spheres and arcane eyes around in addition to Alan who had taken to the skies again. The nests were in complete disarray. I watched several groups of warriors tear each other apart while the workers skittered about aimlessly.

"It's pandemonium out there," I remarked, "I don't think they will be much of a problem for a while."

"Our mission is fulfilled then?" Darrel asked.

"Unless you want to hunt all of them, I'd say it's all good. The scouts from Asril should be able to handle small groups of rank fives and lower."

"Let us be on our way then."

The group naturally organized itself into formation. It seemed that the group tactics taught in Niu were somewhat standard. Darrel was at the front with Hamak, Gwynn covered the rear, Katherine disappeared into the shadows to scout around, and the mages in the middle. I was at the center due to my large size with Velatha to my right and Elyssa to the left.

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With such a big group, we moved slower through the thick jungle. Darryl and Gwynn were both clad in heavy armor which slowed them down compared to the rest of us. Vel and I weren't too bothered, it gave me more time to get used to the new terrain. The stone floor of the ruins was much easier to navigate than the soft dirt outside. My legs sank a few centimeters into the top layer of unpacked soil which forced me to change how I walked.

I had taken some time to observe the taratects and I changed things to mimic them. I moved two pairs of legs at once, alternating between them. My previous technique of moving one leg at a time was visibly slower and required much more concentration.

"Looks like you figured out a better way to walk," Vel said, "it looks more like a proper spider than a centipede."

"I did some observation," I smiled.

"You had to figure out how to walk?" Elyssa asked.

"Yes. It took a few hours of Vel moving my legs about before I could stand properly."

The snow elf nodded with a smile.

"You are handling this situation far better than I would have thought."

"Sometimes it's better to just … roll with the punches. Take what life throws at you and make it your own. I would've preferred to keep my legs but this new form isn't the worst, I could have been turned into a slime or just died."

"I can’t picture you as a slime," Vel joked.

"That's a nice way to see things. And who knows? Maybe there's a way to reverse the transformation as well."

Gaia likely knew. I didn’t know what the class evolutions held in store for me but I suspected there was another tier after the Arachne Prinzessin class. The name itself was a fairly big hint, there were no princesses without queens after all. Though I wondered what it entailed.

Hopefully I wouldn't have to lay any eggs, I wasn't ready to be a mother.

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We encountered a few monsters while we traveled but most seemed wary of large groups. The ones that attacked worked in packs and were mostly at the upper end of rank four or early of rank five. With the hefty experience penalty and larger requirements of the fifth rank, I didn't get a single level. Since my essence was at its maximum as well, I didn't get much out of it overall.

The need to quickly raise our level wasn't as pressing as it once was. Vel and I could handle most of the monsters in the jungle by ourselves thanks to our strong classes. This would give us more time to plan for the future and to investigate what had happened to the villages.

When the lights started to dim, Darrel chose a spot to camp for the night. With a big group like ours, it wasn't practical to sleep in the trees, instead we stopped at a small clearing. The adventurers pulled out their tents from storage and arrayed them in a semi circle around a fire pit Hamak had dug out.

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Vel offered to prepare something for all of us to eat. Meanwhile, I walked around the perimeter of the camp with Hamak and strung strands of web around to act as an early warning system. Thread Creation and Thread Control worked miracles in this situation to pass the thin lines around branches. We tested it and my pedipalps and legs were able to easily sense when the webs were disturbed.

Next, I started to build a hammock between some trees. This caught Katherine's attention and then, everyone else's.

"I can't really sleep in a tent," I explained to the group, "and it's not all that comfortable to sleep on the ground with my legs."

"I don’t know why I'm surprised a spider would build a web," Katherine said. "Will you be fine if we get ambushed?"

"My webs are flammable," I said, "I can free myself with a quick fire spell if necessary."

"I don't see a problem with it," Darrel nodded. "Will you be able to monitor your web while sleeping?"

"I have skills that allow for it," I explained. I could operate one Mental Constructs while I slept, it couldn't use mental partitions but it would be enough to monitor the webs and perception sphere. "My familiar can also assist with the watch, he doesn't sleep."

"Hamak is slated for the first shift and I will take the second. More help is always welcome but you should rest, after what you went through good sleep can be hard to come by."

"Thanks," I said.

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Vel had prepared an extra large batch of soup for all seven of us. Gwynn had helped by sharing some of the group's provisions. There were several vegetables I hadn't seen before floating in my bowl. If the smell was anything to go by, they weren't bad at all. I took a sip of broth alongside some soft white cube, after an hour in the liquid they weren't crunchy any longer but had a rich earthy taste. Like a cross between a potato and a beet.

"Hmmm, tasty," Katherine said. "So much better than travel rations."

"Indeed," Darrel added.

I enjoyed the meal and discussion. Vel and I talked a bit about our village and our roles as healers. Elyssa talked for some time about her time as a guild clerk. Hamak recounted a few stories of his own life before he joined the Windmire Wanderers.

At first, I was hesitant to mention the attack but in the end I felt that they were trustworthy enough. After Vel and I recounted the events and what I had discovered about the invaders, Elyssa confirmed some of my suspicions.

"There are rumors among the Snow Elves of this happening as well," she said, "I grew up in a big city but there was sometimes news of a border village suddenly dropping off the map. In Windmire, I sometimes heard adventurers mention they were searching for someone missing, family or friends. They were always of the more … exotic races, elves, therianthropes, the likes."

"Any idea of who they might be?" Vel asked.

"No … it was all rumors. You're the first to have directly witnessed it to my knowledge."

"They're known as the Crimson Lys in underground circles," Katherine said, "they're said to deal in the slave trade and the more sordid areas of the black markets. It very probable they operate with the backing of highly influential people from the eastern empires where that kind of practice is legal. As far as I know they are blacklisted from every thieves' guild on the continent."

"Well, that's more than we knew five minutes ago but …"

"… not much, eh." Katherine finished. "I'm sorry for your loss. If it's any consolation, your people will likely have better treatment than most in their situation."

"Because they're exotic merchandise?" I felt a little sick that it gave me hope.

"Yes," the rogue said. Her ears were flat against her head and I realized that it must have been difficult for her to talk about it. Vel, always the more perceptive between us, took her into a hug.

"Thank you," she said, "for giving us hope."

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Once everyone had retreated to their tent for the night, Vel climbed up in my web.

"I assume you picked Scrying with your priestess class," she said.

"I did," I confirmed. "Think it's time to test it?"

"I think we need to know," she said. "And between the two of us, you're the better mage."

"Let's see then," I stood up and crossed my pedipalps around Vel to keep her close.

I pulled my focus out of storage and, after a few modifications, it was attuned to divine magic once again. Scrying was not an easy spell to cast, it required a familiarity with the target and a lot of concentration. Thankfully, I had both at my disposal.

I brought dozens of mental threads to bear on the spell and cast it. Four spell circles appeared in front of my hands and I directed them like an orchestra. A translucent sphere materialized in between them. It was still clouded as the spell hadn't locked onto its target yet.

I was searching for my little sister.

"Found you," I said as I felt the final part of the spell latch into place. The sphere went from cloudy to transparent and I could see through it. The sensor had appeared right in front of Lussernia. I felt Vel grip my pedipalps tightly.

She was alive. She looked dejected but healthy. I couldn't see any marks on her skin or scars. She was clothed with a plain gray dress and had a black collar with a silver clasp around her neck. My ability to perceive magic didn't work through the spell but I could see the runes inscribed on the device around her neck.

I rotated the sensor around to observe the surroundings. My sister shared a cell with several other girls of her age group from the village. There were three triple bunk beds and a small area with a table where they were all congregated. A few high windows with bars let some light in from the outside. It was clearly a cell but it wasn't the insalubrious conditions I had expected.

It didn't diminish my anger one bit. I still wanted to violently blast that mage across the cavern. But I was glad my sister was alive.