Over the course of the hour, Dimsai spilled everything she knew about the group she operated with. They had two infiltration teams, one which we had obviously caught, and four monster tamers that worked together to coordinate the assaults on the caravan. The group also had a dozen or so more members that were not taking an active part in the attacks. The interesting part was that they weren't thieves, not exactly, but a mercenary group called the Nimble Shadow.
They had been hired to target this specific caravan, at least as far as our prisoner knew.
She didn't know why, however, as their group worked on a need-to-know basis. The infiltration teams had only received their targets close to the mission. They knew exactly which cart to target and what to take from them. It was likely that their leader knew the exact composition of the caravan, not through simple observation but by having access to the manifest.
When the interrogation finished, I put the thief to sleep again.
"This is concerning …" Ottar said. "Will they stay unconscious if you sleep?" He asked me.
"The catalysts self-regulate," I nodded. "They'll follow me around and keep the spells active. You won't be able to cancel them, however."
"That's fine by me," he said. "Go rest, we'll increase guard on this segment."
"Alright."
I quickly tweaked the control spells in the catalysts that held the prisoners aloft to passively avoid any obstacle in their way and move away from anyone. The spells would also trigger an alarm if they were tampered with. Then, I moved towards the cart covered in spider webs that had been my bed for the last ten days.
"Miss Liscura," Jeremy, one of the drivers, greeted me. "Quite the day. Never seen someone your size move so fast, gave a right scare to the horses, and me to be fair."
"My apologies for that," I gave him a slight bow.
"Had to catch those thieves," he shrugged. "They're alright now. You're finally having some rest I assume? It's almost the end of my shift too."
I nodded and gently climbed onto the cart and lay on the small pile of pillows near the front. When I had made it my residence, I had shared a few of them with the drivers, much to their delight, and installed some catalysts to guard me while I'm asleep. I was sure that Alan kept watchful eyes over me as well, he was always perched on top of Gemtinker's cart when I woke up.
"Rest well, Jeremy."
"You too, Miss."
The monster attack went back to their usual level for the next two days. It seemed the mercenaries backed off after I captured three of their members. Alan spots some suspicious birds overhead, likely under the control of their tamer, and chases them off. Ottar and Rellen suspect that they have either cut their losses and abandoned their captured members or were preparing for a big assault to finish the job.
In case it's the latter, Ottar shifted some people around the caravan to prepare for it. The prisoners stayed with me, in the middle of the formation. I had to wake them up once a day when they are fed some stew and water. There were still questions about what their fate would be since there were no prison carts to hold them in the caravan. Vel and I took the time to prepare in case the mercenaries made an attempt to free their comrades. I wasn't sure they would but I wanted to be prepared just in case.
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Lorenzo approached the caravan under the cover of the night. Most of the caravan escort had been pulled towards the ends thanks to the attack triggered by Hidra and Bogru. Only a few scouts and the two dark elves, who were the section healers, remained. The half-spider one had gone to sleep on the grain cart a few hours ago and nobody had woken her up yet, it was perfect for him.
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His team was there to recover Dimsai and the two newbies. The spider had wrapped them up in some sort of web cocoons and they'd been dangled like meat for the last few days. He'd never seen the kind of magic she used but he wasn't a mage so there was a lot he didn't know about the subject.
They approached the prisoners under the cover of their stealth skills. He made a quick sign for Fearn to cut them free while he pulled his blowgun out. Predictably, the instant her knife made contact with the web, the spider woke up and looked in their direction. He shot the small dart Merwin had prepared and it nailed her in the neck.
Her red eyes widened in horror and he watched her try to cast a healing spell but the circle shattered in her hands. The Aetherbane Poison had already disrupted her mana and she wouldn't be able to cast for a long time. Not that it mattered since the other poison would kill her before she could recover.
"Lis!" The other dark elf shouted and ran towards the spider.
The two other scouts had noticed something was wrong but he grabbed Dimsai and threw some smoke balls their way to obscure their vision. His team made their getaway before they could react and they met up with Garvin on his team who were waiting for them. He tapped his communication stone to signal the tamers to bail, the job was done.
It took them a few hours to reach their current base camp. Dimsai woke up on the way, while they were still working to cut her free from the webs. She was pissed and grinned when she learned the spider bitch was dead.
When they reached camp, however, something felt wrong.
The fire burned strong but there was nobody around.
He turned around. Everyone had disappeared. His team, Dimsai, Garvin.
The jungle suddenly felt a lot more foreboding than before. Skittering noises came from every direction, almost like he had stepped right into a Taratect colony. Instinctively, he pulled her daggers out, ready to defend himself.
"Garvin!" He shouted. "Dimsai!"
His danger sense flared and he threw himself to the side but … nothing.
He looked around frantically as he scrambled up.
"Dammit! Show yourself!"
Something hit him from behind, completely ignoring his danger sense, and made him tumble towards the center of the camp. He managed to brace himself but his entire body hurt like hell. His vision was blurry and the only thing he could see was the large mass of black chitin advancing towards him.
"How?" He stammered. "You're dead."
The spider was there, an indifferent expression on her face. With a snap of her fingers, dozens of threads wrapped around his limbs and held him aloft in front of her.
"Simple," she said with a purr, "you stepped in my web."
There was the sound of glass cracking and the entire world shattered. He was back at the caravan, his body restrained by numerous vines. Dimsai and her team were still bound in spider webs, and the other members were … dead. Their bodies had been impaled by massive stakes a few paces away.
"What?" His heart hammered in his chest like a drum.
"I placed an illusory trap around this section of the caravan," the spider explained in an even tone. "You were absorbed in while the other two members of your team resisted. They tried to attack me, Velatha dealt with them."
Those bitches had killed Luca and Basil. She didn't even care! He used his Shadow Walk skill and vanished from the bindings. In an instant, his daggers were in his hands and poised to take the spider's head off. He would make her pay!
An instant before he could behead her, his danger sense blared at him and he Shadow Walked away. There was nothing where he had just been, so why had he felt that strongly? The spider leveled a hand at him and he threw himself away before a massive spike of stone erupted from the space he had just occupied. Then, he dodged several javelins of ice that turned into an explosion of spikes on impact.
What kind of monster is she? He thought as he parried and dodged a dozen daggers made of stone glowing with strange runes.
He dodged several more spells as he slowly advanced closer to her, his Shadow Walked an invaluable tool. When he was close enough, he used his Flash Step skill to close the gap. He appeared right behind her, right where he wanted, and sunk both of his daggers into her neck. She made a satisfying gurgling sound which soothed his soul.
"How does it feel?" He taunted.
"Extremely painful," she answered, from somewhere else.
His head whipped around towards the source of the sound and … she appeared out of thin air. While also still being under him. She was unharmed. His eyes widened. He had attacked a clone, it had been a trap all along.
He used Flash Step again, to get away from her, but he felt a pain in his neck. He tumbled forward and … rolled on the ground. The last thing he saw was the rest of his body, still straddling the spider's clone.