System Log
Your group has defeated [Young Barbcat (Rank 3, Level 34)]
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Your group has defeated [Hooded Baron Viper (Rank 3, Level 40)]
Your group has defeated [Hooded Baron Viper (Rank 3, Level 43)]
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Reached Level 50
+5 SP, +2 AP, +2 CP
Your group has defeated [Barbed Duke Cobra (Rank 3, Level 35-40)] x 5
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Experience gain increased by 50% for fighting a group
Reached Level 51
It took us half a day to reach the ruins. Even from afar, the structure looked much more impressive than the fort we had visited. The outer wall was mostly crumbled, the tree line had grown closer and closer to the dark bricks and taken it down through sheer inertia. Further ahead, I could see the first structures that were still mostly standing.
Alan provided a good view of the complex from above. There were three concentric squares of covered walkways that connected various buildings. The remnants of gardens were interspersed between them. It looked like a cross between a monastery and a temple, built with a style reminiscent of the Aztec back on earth with a dash of gothic architecture mixed in.
"It looks to be some kind of old temple," I said, "and … ugh, more taratects."
Visible as well with aerial reconnaissance were the multiple taratect nests, and large ones at that. The silver lining was that the spiders usually kept any other monster away from their territory. I had Alan avoid flying too close to the ground, I didn't want him get caught in a web.
"Any idea if it's one or multiple colonies?" Vel asked.
"Not from this distance," I answered, "no signs of battle but I doubt they would last long."
"Let's poke around the edges and see how they react," Vel said. "The terrain looks clear enough to make a quick retreat."
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Identify
[Adult Taratect Worker (Rank 3, Level 26)]
[Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 46)]
I watched from the shadows as two spiders cross each other in the hallway, one was carrying a cocoon towards one of the buildings while the other was likely patrolling. The presence of workers removed any doubts as to the presence of at least one queen and the presence of a warrior caste told that she was at a high level.
The warrior caste was dedicated to protecting the area around the nest. Hunters filled this duty in smaller sized hives but some mutated into warriors when the hive became large enough and had the spare resources to feed them.
'Queen confirmed,' I signed to Vel, 'worker and warrior present.'
'Attack or retreat?'
'Stealth and ambush,' I suggested.
With the both of us, we would be able to take care of small groups and eliminate them before a patrol stumbled on the fight. We could store the bodies and vanish. A few drops of hemolymph on the floor would not raise any pedilap.
Despite their hive-like organization, taratects weren't true eusocial creatures. From studies down by the village, the queen and higher level members kept the hive in check through force. Infighting or defections, if they could be called that, weren't uncommon occurrences.
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A group of three warriors rounded the corner. The one in the lead was slightly bulkier that its companions, a different evolution?
Identify
[Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 46)]
[Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 43)]
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[Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 48)]
The leader stepped on the trap rune and lightning coursed through its body. The two followers barely had time to react before they were struck by arrows, the fiery explosion on impact scorched most of their heads. The two volleys of arcane darts fired from my left and sunk deep into their exoskeleton. At the same time, the leader was impaled by several sharpened stakes falling from the ceiling.
System Log
Your group has defeated [Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 46)]
Your group has defeated [Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 43)]
Your group has defeated [Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 48)]
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Reached Level 53
Taking clues from the taratects, Vel had set up a web of vines near the ceiling where we were operating from. I dropped down and stored the three corpses into my necklace. Vel retracted her vines and dropped behind me. We disappeared down a hallway to our next ambush point.
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System Log
Familiar Template [Shadow Spider] created
Skill [Mind Partition (II)] gained 3 levels (8 to 11)
Skill [Psychic Lore (I)] gained 2 levels (14 to 16)
Memorized Spells
[Dominate (3rd)] [Share Thoughts (3rd)]
[Minor Image (3rd)] [Chameleon (3rd)]
Cost: 12 memory (24/54)
While waiting for the next opportunity, I took some time to expand my repertoire of spells. With five mental partitions I had enough leeway to use two of for background tasks like spells research. Psychic magic was an interesting beast. Access to illusions at low level was a powerful tool. The mental aspect of the spell also had some scary potential.
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The group of four skittered under us. I cast dominate twice and aimed for the first and last of the pack. Dominate, and most mental or illusion spells, worked better on targets with mental attributes lower than mine. From the results, it looked like the spiders hadn't put that many points there.
The first sign that anything was wrong for them was when the leader suddenly jumped on its companion. The surprise meant that it got some good hits in, the second spider tried to come to the aid of its companion but my second pupped struck from behind. The messy battle lasted for a few seconds before my side came out victorious. I had the most wounded kill its companion and I finished off the last one.
System Log
Your group has defeated [Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 45-49)] x 4
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Reached Level 55
+5 SP, +2 AP
If I needed to sow chaos in a group of monsters, I knew which spell to use. I put the use of it on other sapient individuals as a last resort measure.
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The next ambush was Vel's time to shine. I watched as the group of two walked below us and stepped on the trap she had prepared. The vines on the floor looked perfectly normal at first glance but they turned the spider's tricks against them. The sticky sap trapped their legs to the floor and slowly immobilized them.
The vines then slowly grew on them like a carnivorous plant and injected paralytic toxin with their thorns before crushing the insects to death. The sound of chitin cracking was particularly unpleasant.
System Log
Your group has defeated [Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 41-44)] x 2
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Reached Level 56
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System Log
Your group has defeated [Adult Taratect Warrior (Rank 3, Level 43-48)] x 3
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Reached Level 57
Alan, in the form of a small spider, made for an excellent scout. Especially when I shared my perception sphere with him. After a few hours of exploration and ambushes, we found no nests in the buildings we checked on the outside of the square.
Most of them were half crumbling and I had little faith in their structural integrity. Some collapses looked somewhat recent as well. The walkway itself was two stories high and in a bad shape. The inner wall was frequently interrupted by windows and doors to access the smaller courtyards between buildings. Some sections had two levels where they connected the second floors of two adjacent buildings. There had to have been stairs at some points if the piles of rubble were any indication. The wall facing outwards was continuous on the first floor but had frequent windows on the second.
From the number of spiders we encountered, it looked like the outer square was used only for patrols or transit. Workers came and went through the openings in the walls with their cargo, their destination was further in. The density of spiders in the outer buildings was fairly easy to sneak around and ambush but I had a feeling that, the closer to the center we went, the stronger and more numerous the spiders would become.
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The night started to approach and exhaustion was starting to creep up. We had two options, the first was to retreat back to the jungle and make camp there, the second was to find a safe corner inside the buildings and make camp.
I toyed with the second idea but in the end, we sneaked out and made camp at the edge of the forest. Vel shaped the tree to allow us to set up inside the trunk and covered everything with thick foliage. It was a true tree house.