Devi groggily woke up to the worst hangover she had ever had in her life. Even worse than the time she had gone out and bought a whole lot of vodka for her 21st birthday and didn’t realize how much of a lightweight she was. Her head pounded as if a drum circle had decided it was a great day to move in.
She groaned as she tried to stretch out, only for her arms not to move an inch.
That startled her into wakefulness. Her eyes snapped open only to be met with oppressive darkness. Not even a glimmer of light was to be found. Her body was hanging, upside down, the blood pooling in her head. Something was wrapped tightly around her body, rendering any movement besides wiggling futile. With the skittering sounds she heard below her, it wasn’t hard to guess she was wrapped up in a cocoon of spider silk. A tasty little treat for whenever the monster decided it was dinner time.
Well fuck.
The situation seemed pretty bleak. Being suspended from a web with a massive headache would do that. On top of that, she was extremely hungry, not to mention dying of thirst. The universe hadn’t even allowed her to drink one sip of her coffee before deciding it was time to end the world. Quite rude of it if you asked her. She’d go for just plain tap water at this point, let alone a cup of coffee.
Her dehydration did not help her throbbing headache in the slightest. It made thinking about anything difficult, but the threat of being eaten alive by a giant spider helped cut through the pain. Certain death would do that to a person.
Devi took stock of what she had. She couldn’t feel her bag, or crossbow inside the cocoon with her, so all she had was her trusty firestarter and the clothes she had on. All her other equipment was probably sitting next to the corpse, where she had put it down to concentrate on crafting. Not the most advantageous position, seeing as she was hanging upside down in a spider web. A gun would be very nice right around now.
She was struggling to figure out a plan that would get her out of this situation when she noticed she had a few notifications that she had been ignoring. Devi had been too preoccupied with more important things, like the prospect of being spider dinner, that she hadn’t noticed them.
Congratulations
A new Magic Item (G) (inferior) has been created
XP has been awarded
So, I really did make the array disk, or at least, close enough that it was recognized as a magic item. She would have pumped her fist if it wasn’t wrapped tightly to her chest. The notification said magic item though, not a magic tool like the previous ones she had gotten for her firestarters.
How much of a difference is there between a magic item and a magic tool is there anyways? She thought about it for a moment, the puzzle distracting her from the current predicament. The only real difference she could see was that for a magic tool, she had to send mana through some sort of conducting material, like her blood, while a magic item just let the mana flow through the whole thing.
She felt as if there was more she was missing between the distinction, but again, she didn’t have nearly enough information to make any sort of concrete conclusion. It was hard to think about things like that while all the blood was pooling in her head.
XP threshold reached
Novice Tinkerer (inferior) lvl 2 -> lvl 3
1 Int, +1 Free
The level-up was a nice addition, though it really didn’t add much to the options she could use to get out. A free point was a free point, so she’d take it, as small of an advantage it was, it was more than she had a few moments ago.
Congratulations
For being the first from your planet to have created a magic item (inferior) a title has been advanced to the next rarity
Magical Foreleader (E) (Very Rare)
+25 Int, +25 Wis, +15 Free
+15% Int, +15% Wis
A surge of energy washed over Devi’s body as she read the next notification. In the darkness, the multicolored light was far more noticeable than ever before, illuminating the space around her. A shadowy figure scuttled back in shock from the light, beady eyes glinting in the fading glow.
She didn’t have much time to process what the blue box had said, as the spider below let out a shrill shriek and began scuttling back toward her. Though, something the blue box had done seemed to have cleared up her headache. Moving her head didn’t cause flashes of pain anymore, which was good, since she could hear the spider getting closer.
Devi struggled against the webbing, but no matter how hard she pulled, the sticky strands held firm. She didn’t have any leverage to try and break out, or anything sharp to cut it with. Which left her with only one option, fire.
She usually would have gone with fire first, as any sane, nonpryomanical girl would do, but the webbing was wrapped around her. Burning it off seemed like a last resort in this situation, which was exactly the case at the moment.
The firestarter was thankfully still in her pocket, but her hands were tightly pressed to her body. She squirmed her hand over to her pocket, fighting the constrictive webbing. Her fingers finally made contact with it as she struggled to grip it. The skittering of the spider neared, as she felt her cocoon jostle in the web it was attached to.
She could hear a clicking sound right next to her face, so she pointed the firestarter away from her leg and channeled a blast of fire through it. Devi could feel the heat blossoming out, but instead of the webbing catching fire, it just melted. The flames flickered out of the molten webbing, sending the spider screeching back.
The hole was progress, but the majority of her body was still covered in the webbing, so she got to work, carefully positioning her hand to melt away the cocoon. Devi managed to free her other hand and began to use it to rip apart her bindings. Each time she heard the massive spider start creeping up on her, she would blast a small tongue of flame at it, trying to scare it away. Every time she did that, the spider took less time to skitter up to her, large mandibles clicking in hunger.
Through the intermittent bursts of flame, Devi got a vague layout of the cavern she was hanging from the ceiling in. It was filled with webs, stretching from floor to ceiling, covering every available space. Other, smaller cocoons were strung haphazardly throughout the cavern. The one thing she couldn’t see was an exit.
That was the only thing on her mind, she had no delusions that she could fight the massive spider that had her trapped. Her only weapon was a small flame thrower, and both her health and stamina were barely at 50%. There was absolutely no way she could win, and she didn’t feel like throwing her life away, just to squash some bug.
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Taking a deep breath, she pointed the firestarter at the strand of webbing that connected her cocoon to the ceiling and basted it with fire. It wilted into a puddle of goop just like the rest of the webbing that had covered her, wincing as a few drops hit her skin. The webbing holding her feet was suddenly free, and gravity took over, pulling Devi down into the ground below.
She landed with a thud on the cavern floor, the landing knocking the wind from her lungs. Only her white-knuckled grip on the firestarter prevented it from flying from her grasp during the jarring impact.
Groaning, she struggled to her feet, ripping out of the last few strands of the webbing in the process. She quickly checked her Status, looking at her resources.
Health 65/150 Stamina 80/120 Mana 162/483
What surprised her was a blue box with only her Health, Stamina, and Mana popped up, not the whole thing. Devi wanted to theorize why that happened but didn’t have the time.
Theorise later, escape flesh-eating giant spider now.
Her health was distressingly low, not even halfway full, but her other two resources were doing fairly well. It only reaffirmed her decision to run, and not fight.
She channeled a small amount of mana into the firestarter, just enough so that she could see around herself, just in time to spot a dark shape descending from above.
Devi dove to the side as the bulbous body of the spider crashed into the spot she was residing just moments before, chips of stone flying as it landed. It spun around and opened its pincers wide, something dark dripping from each fang.
She pointed her magic tool at it and sent a stream of fire washing over its face as it reared back in fright. The fire left white spots in her vision as she toned it down to just a flickering torch, eyeing the massive spider.
Now that she wasn’t hanging upside-down, and had some light, she could make out a bit more about the spider. It had long legs, ending in dark claws that glinted in the flickering light. Eight beady eyes stared at Devi as it skittered around her, trying to get behind her. Two large mandibles clicked opened and shut, fanged tips ready to tear into her.
The spider was slightly smaller than she had imagined, her expectations colored by the massive spiders that had chased down hobbits. But just because it was slightly smaller, didn’t mean it still wasn’t massive. The largest spider she had ever seen had been a few centimeters across. This one was at least a meter tall, which was way too big for a spider to be.
She had never been afraid of spiders, but now, she was reevaluating that position. Seeing a giant spider close up really put things into perspective, and that perspective was that spiders were terrifying.
Devi slowly backed up, keeping her makeshift torch between herself and the advancing spider, desperately trying to find a way out of the cobweb-filled cavern.
The spider seemed to get braver, losing some of its fear of the fire, darting in closer before Devi could fend it off with a wave of the magic tool. She couldn’t quite force as much mana through the tool as she wanted, and so her gouts of flame were fairly short-ranged. It hadn’t been a problem before, as everything she had fought so far had charged straight for her face. But now, this spider was being cautious, keeping well outside the range of her magic tool.
Devi didn’t want to get any closer than she had to, wearry of the poison the fangs carried. She kept backing up, angling away from the giant spider, but it wasn’t letting her. It circled around her, forcing her to change directions multiple times, waving her torch through the air, melting the spider webs that threatened to trap her.
In the corner of her eye, she saw something glint in the flickering flames of the magic tool. It was coated in layers of old spiderwebs, but it seemed circular in shape, and roughly the right size for the missing part of the door.
The only problem was that it was behind the giant spider.
Just my luck.
Devi eyed the spider, and it stared back, unblinking.
She quickly cycled through a couple of options, like making a mad dash of the door piece or trying to burn through the spider with her mini flame thrower, none of them good. Most of them she felt would inevitably end up with her dead. Something she was trying to avoid.
Her choice was made for her as the spider suddenly thrust its abdomen at her, a glop of webbing flying her way. A quick burst of fire melted the attack before it could reach her, but the spider was already rushing at her, skittering to the side before charging in.
She once again dove out of the way, but not in time, one of the clawed legs stabbing out at her, catching her side as she narrowly avoided the outstretched mandibles. Pain laced through her abdomen as she staggered to her feet. She thrust her hand out sending a wave of flames to ward off the eight-legged monster with the magic tool.
The metallic object was only a few feet away, and this close, Devi could tell it was definitely the key to the door unless there was another circular piece of metal with odd symbols carved on its surface laying around.
The spider was circling again, trying to find an opening it could exploit. The last attack dropped her below 50 health, and that was after avoiding its fangs. She did not want to know what would have happened if she didn’t. Devi needed to get the key and get out.
“[Attribute Enhancement],” she yelled out, focusing on her Agility.
The brief multicolored glow made the spider hesitate for a second, and Devi capitalized on it, sending a tongue of flame at the coated key, hoping to melt it.
The webbing burst into flames with a loud whoosh, causing her to stumble back. The spider shrieked and scuttled away from the fire as it began to spread rapidly through the surrounding webs instead of just melting like the previous times she had sprayed flames around.
More and more sections of the web started to burn, quickly turning the dark cave into a raging inferno. As the flames spread, some webbing just melted, like the cocoon she had been held captive by just a few moments ago, while others burst into flames.
The fires were short lived, erupting into flames, only to burn themselves out as quickly as they had started, leaving a thick cloud of smoke hanging in the air. Devi rushed forward, pulling her shirt up over her nose, and started frantically looking for the door key.
Her foot connected with something heavy, and she quickly bent over, seeing the key on the ground. Through the smoke, she could hear the spider screeching as its web burned around it, and Devi wanted to be gone before the air cleared. She grabbed the key, only to snatch her hand back as the metal surface was still very hot to the touch, having just been in a fire moments before.
Devi let out a curse as she put the somewhat burnt fingers in her mouth, trying to cool them off. Thinking quickly, she ripped part of her shirt off and wrapped it around the key. No use being modest, epically when there is no one around to see it, she thought to herself. An angered shriek ripped through the smoke. Not counting the giant spider that is.
She grabbed the bundle and started moving through the smoke, keeping low to the ground, trying not to cough. One hand still clutching her magic tool, keeping the small flame going. The fires around her had died out quickly, leaving only smoldering spots and a lot of acrid smoke in their place.
Up ahead, the cavern seemed to open up, leading out into a tunnel, the smoke gently wafting out in that direction as well. Seeing a bit of hope to get out of this situation, Devi quickly made her way over, doing her best to keep an eye out for the monstrous spider, but was very distracted by the promise of escape.
That’s why she didn’t notice the dark shape moving in the smoke until it was almost too late. The massive spider dropped down from the cave’s ceiling, trying to take her by surprise. She lashed out with a gout of flame as she tried to sidestep the monster.
It twisted in midair, avoiding the attack, while still managing to knock Devi to the ground with its bulk. The heavy abdomen of the spider was sitting right on top of her, keeping her pinned to the stony ground, unable to get up.
Near her face were two protrusions, spider silk quickly being created from them, as the spider tried to catch her in its web again. While it was disgusting to be so close to the spider’s anatomy, it did present a very nice target.
Devi grinned as she wiggled her arm out from under the bulk of the spider, and pointed her modified firestarter right at the silk making machine.
With just a thought, she sent a burst of flame directly at it. The spider let out a pained shriek as its lower half was engulfed in flames, the spider silk bubbling and melting. Devi winced in pain as more than a few drops of molten spider silk landed on her face and shoulders, but it was worth it. The spider skittering off of her, dragging its abdomen against the ground, trying to stop the damage.
Not letting the opportunity go to waste, Devi rolled to her feet and dashed past the distracted spider into the tunnel ahead. She stumbled out of the smoke into the relatively clear air of the tunnel and kept running. The sounds of the spider following echoed behind her as it put out its smoldering backside.
She spun around and blasted fire at it, trying to keep it at bay. It paused its charge, clearly afraid of the flames. Devi took a step at it, waving her firestarter in front of her, and the spider slowly retreated down the tunnel. Another blast of fire sent it scuttling back, out of range of the light.
Devi kept her looking in that direction, waiting for it to leap out of the shadows at her, but it didn’t. After a few tense minutes of staring into the dark tunnel, she slowly backed up, still keeping watch, following the tunnel.
Her heart rate slowly eased back into normal levels, though the intermittent coughing fits from the smoke still in her lungs did not help. Her throat was dry and scratchy, only exacerbated by the fact she hadn’t had any liquid for two days. Just thinking about water made her want to cry, except she didn’t have the liquid to spare for tears.
She made her way down the twisting tunnels, ignoring the branches she deemed too small for the spider to fit through, backtracking quite a few times. Eventually, after quite a bit of wandering, always on edge and ready to be attacked by the giant spider, she saw the light of the array disks up ahead.
Now all she had to do was complete the other five, go through the stone doors, and kill a large, scary monster, all the while keeping an eye out for a man-eating spider. Should be simple.