The sudden and intense whistle was wholly unlike anything I could even remotely contribute to a forest bird. There was no elegance, no melodic tune, and certainly none of the jovial lightheartedness I normally associated with coming from a blissful bird. Instead, it was a stress-filled note ringing shrilly by someone who could only have been utterly terrified. It cried vulnerability and, when it was abruptly cut off a second later, signaled the worst may have happened to its source. My imagination ran rampant, making me believe it sounded like a death cry that was savagely cut off as the victim’s throat was torn out. In its wake, only a vague echo was left hanging in the air around us until it, too, vanished.
Any pretense of stealth was immediately abandoned as Stedious brought our column to an abrupt halt. Everyone pulled back hard on their reins. I glanced about nervously while the head warden looked in only one direction. Our horses whined their displeasure after being forced to come to an unexpected stop.
“That was Kali,” Stedious breathed out, urgently orienting his horse where he was facing. It was easy to deduce he knew exactly where the whistle came from. Kali must be one of the wardens assigned to scout our sides, though their names had not been shared previously. Stedious’ breaths were coming fast and heavy as his eyes flashed back and forth in an attempt to make out anything within the darkened forest. “Her whistle is reserved for ambushes only. There was no follow-up whistle signaling she got away. We must get to her. Now!”
Stedious cried out, “Hiya!” before slamming the heels of his boots into his horse’s flanks, driving his horse to leap away at incredible speed. We followed suit a moment later, reaching top speed in less than a few seconds. Unable to do more than hold on for dear life, Dutch sprinted after Stedious' lean mount. In the corner of my eye, Ripley ran beside me, seeming to easily match our breakneck pace.
“Help Stedious!” I screamed to my skeletal friend, unsure if she could hear me over the rush of wind past my ears. Though I could barely hear myself, Ripley knew my intent the second I started speaking. She somehow found an extra gear in her long strides and began pulling away from us. It was an impressive display of physical strength, to say the least.
I twisted my head to the side, attempting to pick out Lowki within the dense undergrowth we galloped through. He had generally stayed at our side, content with allowing the wardens to handle his usual assignment of scouting for danger. Now, he was nowhere to be found, but I trusted he would find himself wherever needed the most. Thankfully, with everyone’s Darkvision or similar enchantment going, we could keep a line of sight on Stedious for the most part. We only briefly lost sight of him as his path took him around a mighty redwood tree. With Dutch’s resolve to get alongside the departing warden, I doubted we’d lose him. Tallos was slightly behind me, to my left but was keeping pace with Jax’s help.
Moments later, something felt off. Something was gently hitting me across the face, and I couldn’t grasp what it was. Thin filaments, like ghostly strands of hair, were lightly slapping against my exposed skin—specifically, my face and brow. I hadn’t noticed it at first due to our speed and the fact that they were nearly imperceptibly thin, but as we continued to press forward, the strands began growing in diameter. It was fine and delicate, breaking without much resistance as we charged forward.
The strands were spider webs. As soon as I realized this, I began spotting more of the sticky strands branching out from tree to tree all around us. The webs grew more dense with each passing moment though were hardly strong enough to impede our progress.
I stole a glance once more behind me, this time in an attempt to spot the other wardens. Our perimeter scouts would have likely also shot off towards Kali’s warning, the same as Stedious had, but I found none nearby. Turning my attention back around, Stedious and his thundering horse disappeared around yet another redwood.
A moment later, as Dutch and I came around the tree, I had to suddenly pull back on his reins or risk slamming into the backside of Stedious. We were both breathing hard as Dutch pulled alongside the chief warden and then my eyes opened wide as we finally saw what ambushed Warden Kali. Noise from the rear right attempted to steal my attention, likely our other friends soon to arrive, but we only had eyes for what lay ahead.
What completely dominated my attention was the gigantic spider anchored several feet off the ground, its eight legs holding the creature fast to the bark of a redwood tree. Each jet-black leg was longer than I was tall and had barbed protrusions running up its entire length. The spider held something under itself, a body by the look of it. The form dangled several inches off the ground. Without any urgency, the spider slowly spun the figure as its swollen abdomen spat a thick stream of webbing, effectively cocooning the hapless victim. Kali’s riderless horse was several feet away from the giant creature, attempting to run off but, for some reason, could not do so.
In a few short seconds, Kali’s half-recognizable leather armor was lost beneath white webbing, most looking to be thicker than my finger. Compared to the behemoth of a spider, the trapped body seemed tiny by comparison. Entirely encased in sticky string, Kali was utterly helpless to the terrifying creature’s machinations.
The spider’s armored carapace was pitch black, though it may have been an incredibly dark shade of green if seen in direct sunlight. If it wasn’t for our Darkvision, the enormous spider may have been entirely undetectable, even with its bulging abdomen. The creature seemed to blend in with the background, clearly marking it as a nocturnal predator. Given its size, this was no easy foe.
Behind the massive creature, hundreds, no thousands, of spider webs clung between the half-dozen nearby trees. By the look of it, Kali must have walked near a particularly dense section before being ambushed from above. Considering the angle, she was lucky to have gotten off even her single warning whistle. Had she been unable to do so, we may not have noticed her missing until it was far too late. Considering the dozens of spiderwebs we broke in an attempt to reach this point, Kali’s presence had likely been detected long before her arrival. Thus giving her attacker an incredible advantage.
As the spider delicately spun another layer of webbing around Kali’s limp form, I alarmingly noticed each of the monster’s overlong legs appeared to end as two-foot-long sword-like blades. Such wicked instruments probably worked wonders against the thick bark of the High Thicket trees, granted easy purchase, but would be next to useless if the creature tried walking across the earth. Clearly, this disturbing creature was solely designed to live high among the trees, coming down to the forest floor only when a juicy morsel appeared.
Unfortunately for us, the sword legs were not the most shocking attribute of the fearsome creature. Previously hidden behind its wagon-size body, a humanoid torso came into view as the monster turned around to face us. As if a man’s torso had been spliced onto the base of the spider’s spherical abdomen, the creature reminded me of the dreadful driders from some of the stories I read from my previous life.
The athletic humanoid torso was bare-chested, had two muscular arms that ended in ebony taloned fingers, and a grotesquely shaped head that may have once been an elf but was far larger than it should have been. Where a pair of eyes would generally be, the elf-spider hybrid had two bulging obsidian orbs entirely devoid of emotion, as if each were an endless pit to the abyss. Below the incongruous eyes, where the nose should have been, were another two sets of eyes. These four emotionless hemispheres were only half the size yet peered with no less intensity than the creature’s primary visual organs.
As I studied the monstrosity, the beast opened its thin-lipped mouth, showing off rows of glistening fangs dripping with venom. With shocking speed, the arachnid brought the cocooned form to his mouth, where it bit down hard. Kali didn’t so much as flinch as the dastardly venom was injected into her body. As it bit, the spider’s mouth had seemed to elongate and widen to unnatural proportions. The beast stared at us before grinning, silently communicating a promise we would soon be sharing our friend's fate.
The abomination tossed aside Kali’s body to the side, where it crashed with bone-crunching force against a nearby tree. Instead of falling to the forest floor, the body bowed forward but remained latched against the bark. By the look of it, it hung suspended due to a combination of the sticky cocooning and the mass of webbing running up the entire length of this particular tree. We had no way of knowing if Kali was alive or not, though I could only hope the toxin was simply a paralytic. If it was corrosive or necrotic in nature, I doubted we would have a chance to save her. With deliberate force, the giant spider slammed its remaining sword legs into the bark behind it as if reading itself to spring forward the dozens of feet towards our position.
Movement from behind the giant spider caught my attention once more. Trying futilely to escape, Kali’s horse struggled to free itself of the thick strands of spider web stubbornly clinging to its long legs. The horse was facing away from us and appeared to have darted away the moment Kali had been snatched from above. Sadly for the animal, it sprinted in the worst direction possible and was instantly snared by the hundreds of strands, likely purposefully placed there for that exact reason. Thankfully, other than its plaintive attempts to break free, the horse appeared otherwise uninjured.
“Monstrosity!” Stedious yelled at my side, breaking me out of my contemplation. My brain had been working in overdrive to understand everything I was seeing. To everyone’s surprise, the elf-spider responded. At least, it tried to.
The horror’s mouth opened wide in a sneer, showing off his terrifying fangs once more before an indecipherable gurgle of words attempted to reply to Stedious’ accusation. It was unlike any language I had ever heard and was certainly not the common tongue or any language of the elves. The spider burbled a complete sentence before ending with a long hiss of warning. Though I couldn’t understand the words, if that’s indeed what they were, the creature’s humanoid features were easily deciphered.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
It's telling us to back off, I said to myself. Instead of immediately attacking, with me, Stedious, and Ripley so close, it’s not confident it can take us all on.
The humanoid face bunched up in anger as he threatened to spring forward, though, to me, it looked to be all bluster. Neither Stedious nor I backed off in the slightest. Even our horses were unfrightened by the seemingly aggressive gesture. Seeing our unconcerned response, the spider took a few steps backward, effectively moving higher off the ground. Another indecipherable gurgle blustered out of the thing's mouth, though we had no more luck understanding exactly what he was trying to communicate.
The spider’s alien eyes darted to the left and the right, though I didn’t know how I recognized this, considering the orbs didn’t have irises. Our friends had arrived. Two wardens came from the left and the rear warden appeared on the right. The spider was even worse off than before, far outnumbered, and it was not dumb enough not to recognize this. As the spider’s legs flexed, preparing to leap higher into the tree for cover, one of the humanoid hands made an abrupt tugging motion. As if connected by a string, Kali’s enveloped body detached from the tree and swung towards the large creature.
Thankfully for us, the elf pendulum didn’t make it the entire way before hitting a dense patch of foliage and sticking fast to a new anchor. The bulbous creature, not deterred by the setback, still wasn’t about to abandon its meal, however. He seemed ready to dart to the side to pick Kali up, and if it could manage the feat and climb into the safety of the canopy above, I didn’t like our odds of ever seeing the female warden ever again.
No one moved for several seconds as if an unsteady standoff held everyone’s weapons at bay. Stedious had his bow fully strung and an arrow lightly notched to the string. I hadn’t noticed it before now. He must have managed to ready his weapon while riding full tilt atop his horse, an impressive feat, all things considered, as I had been holding on for dear life during the short trek. Sadly, for us, the standoff didn’t last long as a new set of gurgling voices called from above, pulling everyone’s attention skyward as two more of the giant spider-men lowered themselves towards us. Both were male, though one appeared to have a human body instead of the elven features the other two possessed. Sword points bit hard into their respective tree’s bark as they sat six feet off the ground.
“Kill them all!” Stedious shouted as he pulled up his bow and, barely pausing to set his sight on the center spider, released an arrow in one fluid motion. “Artin, flank right. Mulviel, Shawin, flank left!”
It made sense that Stedious would shout orders only to his wardens, as he was unfamiliar with our group's fighting prowess or tactics. I suppose he hoped we would not find ourselves engaged in combat with his group as they attempted to move us through their forest. Now, though, there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Our party was left to decide how to best engage the gigantic foes. Thundering hooves from to our right heralded the last of the wardens would soon join the fray. Deciding to split our forces like Stedious had, I first inspected the closest bulbous spider to see what we were dealing with, though my inquiry was only for the creature's name and level. The other details we could sort out later. As the information flowed into my psyche, I prepared to call out to my party.
Miscreant Arachne Marauder (Level 40)
Crap, they’re high, I said to myself after absorbing the snippet of information.
“Ripley, help with the right spider. Tallos, you and me are on the center spider,” I ordered. It would leave two wardens attacking the leftmost spider, three of us on the center spider, and two attempting to slay the last spider on the right. Lowki, wherever he was, would show up soon. I was certain of it.
Ripley reached over her shoulder, grasping the handle of her great sword, before dashing to the side to help the rear warden. An arrow shaft flew past my head, swiftly followed by another, each trailing different colored sparks of arcane energy. Tallos was using his enhanced arrows right away, a wide decision given what we were up against.
Enabling my quick cast ability, I leaned into my intimate understanding of my spells and started with the arcane passes of my favorite spell, Blood Boil. Stedious, seeing the vulnerable warden hanging in the air, changed tactics and charged forward with his long sword bare after firing his single arrow. He was intent on dissuading the giant spider from taking off with her, though with the appearance of two of its comrades, the earlier sign the creature was about to take off vanished as it prepared to meet the warden’s charge.
My spell completed, and a ripple wave of superheated energy shot away, striking the spider in his hardened abdomen. A part of me worried if the high-leveled monster would have some innate magical protection, but it appeared my fear was unfounded. The elf’s face made no indication he felt any pain from the spike of initial damage, but I was hardly going to leave the enemy with only a single spell tearing away at its insides. As battle engaged on all sides, steel and arrowheads clang against the Arachne marauder’s exoskeletons. Already deep into another spell casting, I wove my most potent damage over time spells, one after another, layering my own web of destruction upon our enemy.
Stinging swarm descended for the first time, creating an incredibly dense cloud of small stinging insects, each with a needlepoint proboscis ever-hungry for vulnerable flesh. The tiny things quickly focused their assault against the elf’s torso as their stingers found little purchase against the spider’s protected carapace. Next, pyroclastic funeral pyre caused a sphere of burning embers and ash to swirl around the hacking creature as it flailed its sword legs towards the dancing Stedious atop his mount. The spell would not only blister and burn the creature’s flesh but also send healing magic into Stedious and our cocooned friend due to its regenerative secondary effect. If we were lucky, perhaps it could wake Kali if she was still alive, prompting her to try to get out of the thick webbing surrounding her.
An arrow trailing blue sparks slammed into the Arachne’s stomach, finally eliciting a response as it flinched back against a wave of cold lancing away from the impact sight. The sound of cracking ice could be heard over its burbling scream as the monstrosity movement noticeably slowed courtesy of the arrow’s magical properties.
It came from one of Tallos’ ice affinity arrows and reminded me of my own ice-aligned spell. Perhaps I could stack onto the slowing effect already afforded by the enchanted arrow. My hands moved rapidly through the air as Dutch stomped nervously underneath me. Words of power passed through my lips, giving me the impression of two great icebergs crashing into one another. An instant later, a blistering wave of ice formed around the centermost spider and swirled as if a miniature hurricane had just formed with the creature at the epicenter.
Deep in spell casting with my latest spell, a sound from my right caught my attention. Pulling my eyes from my target, I spied as the last warden rushed into our makeshift battleground, already firing arrows as Ripley fought with powerful slashes against a musclebound version of the half-elf, half-spider atrocity. The elf's torso looked more like a professional bodybuilder instead of the typical lean frame most elves had. Ripley interposed herself in front of the dangerous opponent, drawing the monster’s attention away from the closest warden.
As I turned back to the centermost spider, who was exchanging sword strikes with Stedious, Lowki made his appearance known against Ripley’s foe. Crashing atop the spider’s swollen abdomen, the midnight panther dug his claws into the hardened carapace as the cat’s twin barbed tentacles slammed down to either side with resounding cracks.
Unable to follow both battles, I focused squarely on my opponent. Stedious was deftly weaving his sword in an attempt to strike a lethal blow but, to this point, was unable to do much of anything. His opponent was attempting to use his numerical advantage afforded by his bladed legs, raining down piercing attacks at varying angles. As my latest spell completed, the tenacious spider finally broke through Stedious’ defenses, sinking a black-bladed leg deep into the warden’s thigh.
Unfortunately, the spider’s anatomical weapon didn’t slow as it sliced through muscle tissue with ease before bursting through to the other side. The blade stabbed into Stedious’ horse as well. Both warden and mount flinched back in pain, the spider rearing back to thrust three more legs into the exposed ranger’s chest.
Seeing the dangerous position Stedious was in, I averted casting another DoT in favor of a spell dealing straight damage. As fast as I could, the words to lightning bolt hammered out of my mouth. As if in slow motion, the three spider legs seemed to slow as they inched forward at Stedious’ chest. At the same moment, a thick beam of electricity shot from my outstretched hand. The smell of ozone flooded the forest as brilliant light momentarily flared to life. The bolt arrived a split moment too late, right as the tips of the spider’s legs began piercing Stedious’ leather armor. Only able to pierce a few inches, the entire creature was blasted backward from the sheer impact of the spell slamming in between where the monster’s humanoid waist connected with the hardened exoskeleton.
A sensation in the back of my mind lit up as the electricity raced through the spider's body, effectively notifying me that the lightning bolt’s secondary paralyzation effect had been triggered. Stella confirmed this a moment later, shouting out the spider was stunned for the next four seconds. The monstrous spider crashed heavily against the bark of the tree it had been perusing to anchor itself to. Unable to move, the giant creature crashed into the forest's foliage.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity of a stunned enemy, I quickly intone the words to my ignite bones, followed immediately by synaptic toxin. Not finished nor satisfied, this thing likely was inches away from penetrating Stedious’ heart. I retrieved a particular wand from my inventory and leveled it at the disheveled spider monstrosity. Leveling the dense ashenwood wand, I spat out the trigger word.
An incredibly anger fire serpent burst from the tip, streaking away towards its target and leaving a wake of burning pitch in its wake. It’s sliced through the air as fast as one of Tallos’ arrows, connecting a split second later against the spider’s humanoid body. In an instant, the blazing snake snapped around the spider’s body right as it started regaining his footing. Like an unforgiving vice, the giant serpent constricted around the spider’s humanoid body, determined to both burn and crush the life out of the abomination. An inhuman scream split the air as the misshapen beast was immolated in the raging inferno.
Finally satisfied the spider had no chance of surviving the potent spells ravaging its body, I set my sights on Stedious as the elf’s fingers attempted to stop the blood flowing from the puncture wounds on his chest. Regenerative magic soon enveloped his entire body sending relief surging through him. Combined with the healing effects from the funeral pyre devouring the nearby Arachne, Stedious would soon be fully restored.
Turning my attention to the spider on our left flank, I found the creature waving its bladed legs as it engaged with two mounted wardens. One of the elves was back a goodly distance, firing arrow after arrow towards the humanoid section of the spider. By the look of it, the warden’s arrows were deflecting off the hard carapace of the spider’s giant abdomen. The other warden was up close, swinging his gleaming long sword in defensive patterns. Blood ran down both the elf and the spider, though none looked serious at first glance.
For the two elves to be victorious, I would certainly need to intervene and likely would need to do the same with the third spider currently exchanging blows with Ripley. A plan swiftly formed in my head. Smiling to myself, Quintessence Empowerment would soon be unleashed to wreak havoc upon our foes for the first time.