Chapter One: Welcome to My Parlour

In a hole in the ground, there waited a spider. It did not matter to the spider whether it was a warm and dry hole; all that concerned her was that it concealed her well enough to get sufficiently close to her targets for her to kill them. She had planned this encounter for two days and was growing eager to finally strike at her unwitting prey. Clackhissis was patient and could remain immobile indefinitely, but she preferred the exhilaration of the encounter more than the hunt. Spiders of the Death's Head weald were not patient hunters who lazed about in the center of their web and waited for their prey to come. No, they were active hunters who stalked, cornered, and killed swiftly without a second thought about what they were doing. Clackhissis knew, however, that there were times when patience was required. She would let the Icthyoid come to her.

Then, she would slaughter them. She would kill them all. She would feast on their fluids and leave a trail of their desiccated husks behind her. She would show them no mercy and would expect none from them. She would teach them what it was to be a true predator. She had already prepared her classroom. All she needed now were her students.

Kaali, the god of her "people," had charged her with protecting the man-thing humanoids called Cushing. She would have preferred to simply drain the man of his bodily fluids and leave his dried-out corpse behind in a tightly bundled cocoon of her webbing. Still, both the god and her mother felt that this manling was important enough for her not to kill and possibly even have her die for him. She held no illusions that she could even consider going against either one of their wishes. To this end, she had been sent to a crucible, a trial in another world known as the realm of monsters, and upon surviving her trials, she had been gifted with new abilities, dark abilities that made her far more dangerous than your average Death's Head weald spider. Hers were the powers of the wicked web, the shadowed strike, and the vile venom. She was more than her mother, the great and deadly Queen could ever be, and far less, as she would never brood her own clutch of hatchlings. That option had been taken away from her when her god had remade her.

She did not let these thoughts take her too deep into contemplation. She was hunting, and her prey was close by. Clackhissis could tell by her vibrational sense that she had discovered a small squad of the creatures known as the Icthyoid as she had silently trailed the man known as Cushing. From the moment she returned from the realm of monsters, she had quietly followed and watched over him per her lord's orders. For the most part, the man was capable, and she left him on his own, permitting him to deal with his enemies how he saw fit without her interference. A few times, she had intervened on his behalf, albeit each of those intercessions occurred without his knowledge. She had killed several creatures of ill intent while he had slept, creatures that could not withstand her speed and fangs. Creatures that never stood a chance against her dark gifts and natural abilities.

Clackhissis had many dark talents that she had unlocked since her transformation. She had powers and abilities that even her mother could not conceive of. They were gifts from her dark lord, Kaali. First, she examined her basic Death's Head weald Skill Web.

Her Vibrational Sensitivity was her highest skill, and that was because it used to be an innate ability from before her transformation into a Patchwork Weaver. All spiders are attuned to vibrations. It is how they track their prey; Clackhissis's sensitivity differed in that not only was she aware of localized movement, but she could, as her skill increased, discern how many moving targets were in an area, their location, and even how fast they were moving. Her sphere of alertness, or in more generalized terms, her radar, improved and became more prominent with each point she sank into. In her mind, this was her most powerful asset. It allowed her to hunt and be aware of dangers before potential attackers knew she was there.

She opened her skill web and inspected it. It was strange having to do this, and she doubted she would ever get used to it. Not so long ago, she had been a simple Death's Head Spider, but then Kaali had taken her to his home in the land of the gods and remade her. First, he gave her the gift of gigantism, as Death's Head Spiders never grew larger than a man's hand. Then he took bits and pieces of every species of spider and gave her the ability to partake of their individual gifts. Thus, she’d become a Patchwork Spider, barely resembling what she had once been. The only thing he had taken from her was the ability to procreate, as she was the only spider of her kind.

Her Skill Web was unlike any other skill tree that existed. Because it was a web, she could skirt specific abilities and move past them altogether if she wanted. In fact, Clackhissis could pretty much cherry-pick whatever ability she desired. There was only one thing that she would never take, and it sat in the center of her web. Human form? Why she would ever want to be human was beyond her. There were options for hidden skills she could find, or even create abilities on her own. Why would she ever waste a single point on something like human form?

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Skill: Vibrational Sensitivity

Vibrational Sensitivity creates a sphere of awareness that alerts the Spider to the slightest movement within a fifty-yard range. As this skill increases, the range expands to include an area of an additional 5 yards per point invested in the ability. At the first level, the user is aware of motion in a general direction; with each increase, the user will be able to ascertain more information such as the number of enemies, locations of enemies, and even type of enemies.

Essence Cost: None

Active/Passive: Passive, always on

Range: 50 Yards

Trigger: Must be in contact with a surface. It does not work while the arachnid is airborne or submerged in fuids. Range reduced by 50% when water walking.

Cooldown Time: None

^^

Another skill that had migrated from her time as a "normal" hatchling was her Trapdoor skill; before she had been transformed into a Patchwork Spider, Clackhissis had been a "normal" spiderling, and they had a different skill web than she did as a Patchwork Weaver. In spite of the fact that she had never used it while a spiderling, it was still something that nature had gifted her with instinctively. Granted, had she used it as a hatchling, she would have had to find a suitable hole in the ground either and then prepare the hinged lid herself, or she would have had to dig it out on her own and then prepare it. This skill allowed her to expend some essence and instantly create a trap custom-made for her.

The nice thing was that Clackhissis still had the innate ability to make trapdoor hideaways on her own. The ones that required essence faded after she left them, so if she wanted to create multiple locations that she could move to and from then, she had to do it the old-fashioned way, but they were permanent. It was a fair trade-off, speed over permanency, and one she could work with depending on her circumstances. For example, The hole she was currently in was one of her own manually built burrows. She'd had the time and did not like trusting to a growing reliance on her Essence-fueled skills overly much. Besides, she had wanted to make several of the traps for her purposes of the day. One mystically generated hiding spot was not enough for her needs.

^^

Skill: Trapdoor

Through careful use of webbing, the Spiderkin can create a borough that will comfortably house the Spiderkin. Additionally, Trapdoor effectively hides the Spiderkin from potential threats while simultaneously granting them the ability to surprise any perspective prey that encroaches too near to their hiding spit. Using this skill results in creating a space in which the Spiderkin can hide and wait for potential prey to come close enough for the spider to execute a surprise attack. With each point applied, the trap door is better hidden, making it more and more difficult for the trap to be noticed before it is sprung—+15 % Concealment. The Trapdoor space will last until the Spiderkin leaves the trapdoor space, remaining active for an additional 10 minutes. For each skill point placed into this ability, an additional 5 feet will be added to the Patchwork Weaver's burrow.

Essence Cost: 50 Essence points

Active/Passive: Passive, always on

Range: 50 Yards

Trigger: Placing two legs on he area you wish to place the trapdoor for five seconds

Cooldown: 10 Minutes

^^

The other innate skill she had evolved when she'd transformed was the ability to walk on a vertical surface, better known to the gamers as wall crawling. A skill so simple that it was possessed by nearly every arachnid and insect, but in her case, it had morphed into a far more efficient ability than simply being an ability to walk across a surface; Wall Crawling enabled her to walk across any terrain no matter how slanted it was. Eventually, the skill would grow strong enough to allow Clackhissis to stride across a frictionless area without fear of slipping. She could fight on a ceiling and not feel the effects of gravity. Clackhissis was smart enough to realize just how powerful a skill it was.

^^

Skill: Wall Crawling

When activated, Wall Crawling mildly negates the effects of gravity and increases traction on smooth surfaces. Each point placed into Wall Crawling decreases the effects of gravity when walking on the surface of a ceiling and adds a 5% increase to friction on any smooth surface.

Essence Cost: None

Active/Passive: Passive, always on

Range: Self

Trigger: Placing a footpad onto a vertical surface.

Cooldown: None

^^

She had grown bored following the human, Cushing, without his knowledge. It was easy for her to do, after all. He did not hold dominion over the stealth ability, although she had to admit that he was quite capable in that regard. While she had grown bored with him as an object of protection, her respect for the human had surprisingly grown due to his skills. So far as she could tell, he was a capable hunter in his own right, and like her, he used every advantage he could. Admiration aside, he was only human. Humans were prey animals. Technically, anything not spider was prey, which was not entirely true. Spiders hunted other spiders all the time.

During this time, she discovered that she was not the only one following him. By her count, there were ten of the things called the Icthyoid that stalked the odd man. She could tell by their actions that they were waiting for a moment to ambush him. As vigilant as the man was, she knew that he would not see their threat until it was too late. They would swarm him and his companions, and when it was over, they would most likely all be dead. She could not permit this. She might not care for the manling, but she had been given a quest to defend him, and nothing would dissuade her from that task. Yesterday, they had begun to skirt his position in order to get ahead of him without his knowledge. She watched their progress and predicted where they would go.

So, she scouted ahead of them and found the location that she was confident they would choose to attack him from. She could feel it instinctively and knew without a doubt that they would not pick another setting to strike from. It was the perfect place for an ambush. Unfortunately for the Icthyoids, what applied to the manling also applied to them.

She looked at the area with the eyes of a predator and could see the places where they would hide. The area held no shortage of large rocks and trees they could conceal themselves behind, and there were bushes and lush plants that would lend to their concealment. It was a spot that she would have chosen for herself. She was a day ahead of them. She had more than enough time to prepare and was not one to waste time.

Normal spiders were architects of death. They could build hidden traps and triggers their prey would never see until it was too late. Clackhissis was an altogether different breed of spider, which meant she was an even more deadly designer of ambushes and assassinations than her smaller cousins could ever hope to achieve. Thanks to the intervention of Kaali, she was something much more than a simple Death's Head weald Spiderkin. Now, she was also a Patchwork Weaver—a creature with Arachnid Powers unknown to most of humanity. And with that upgrade had come new and deadlier skills:

^^

Skill: Trapmaker

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Spiders are natural trappers, the best and most obvious example of this skill is the web. The Patchwork Weaver is of high enough intelligence that it can devise new and innovative ways to make and set traps. These traps do not necessarily need to have webbing involved, although if it is used, it increases the probability of the trap working by 10%. Traps start at a base 55% chance of working and increase by 10% per point added to the skill. For every ten times a trap is created, such as a simple snare, the probability of success increases by 2.5%

Essence Cost: 20 Essence points

Active/Passive: Active

Range: N/A

Trigger: Patchwork Weaver begins the construction of a device. It takes 1 minute to activate.

Cooldown: 1 minute

^^

Now she waited. Still as death and silent as a tomb, she sat immobile. She no longer thought. The spider had opened her senses so that she could feel every tremor near her; however meager each vibration was, it roared in her ears and tingled her fur. Each hair on her body quivered, acting like a vibratory sonar, and her patience was rewarded when she felt the presence of the first of the Icthyoid scouts approaching her position. Her Vibrational sensitivity was innate and always active, so she never worried about being surprised or taken unawares.

Clackhissis snapped back to attention and followed his every movement even though he was hundreds of yards away. To her heightened senses, his attempts at stealth against her were meaningless. They could not escape her awareness unless they could fly. Even then, she would have been prepared for them. Spiders were also experts on catching things that flew.

Clackhissis noted the presence of two of the assassins. One was very near her location; she had chosen her ambush spot based on the premise that the bipeds would have to follow the path near the place she awaited simply because the terrain was too rough for them to traverse easily otherwise. These creatures were foolish. They were overconfident and lazy. She could hear them now, calling to one another in hushed voices. The god-forged spider assumed they were noting how the area would make an ideal ambush site. They had no idea how right they were.

Five minutes passed, and her heart had not beaten even once. Her body was as still as a stone and as hungry for battle as a murder hornet in a bad mood. Finally, one of the scouts strode near her cubby, and when he was a mere foot away from her entrance, she burst from the trapdoor that hid her presence, grabbed him, and dragged him back into her hiding place in a blur of movement. She was fortunate to have taken the time to observe her enemies before she encountered them.

This food-thing was very tall and thin, and that foreknowledge allowed her to make her hiding space big enough to accommodate both his and her bodies simultaneously. Clackhissis was not all that small either. She was the size of a small pony, her body being four feet in length, with a leg span of ten feet when outstretched, which made her perfect for scuttling through dungeon passageways and tree branches unnoticed, but large enough to deal with a two-legs one on one.

The foul creature did not even have time to draw breath, let alone make a sound, before her fangs had pierced its pale gray throat, and she had numbed its mind with venom. Clackhissis did not hesitate as she casually drove her right foreleg through the Icthyoid's back and into its barely beating heart. In less than two seconds, she had captured, killed, and hidden the biped securely. She stared at the tattoos on its body, which pained her eyes. So, she instead turned her attention outwards once more. Again, she became rigid and listened. Had the other scout witnessed her attack? No. She was confident it hadn't because otherwise, it would have approached her location or fled. It did neither and instead continued on its original course, unaware that it was now her target.

A blue light flashed in the corner of one of her eight eyes. She knew it was a notification of her quarry's death, and she ignored it. Notifications were something that she had come to view as a necessary evil. They let her know when she was hurt or harmed an opponent, but she felt they were annoying. Most especially during the battle, she only reviewed them once all the fighting was done. Even now, she had barely allowed the alert to distract her from her other target.

Irritated with her slight loss of focus, Clackhissis waited a minute until she could feel the biped once more. It was striding over the embankment that she had examined earlier. It would not be able to see her if she left her hole now, and she tentatively opened her trapdoor and scuttled over the escarpment behind her prey. She had to hurry because she did not want it to discover the surprises that she had set for its companions. Unlike the clumsy creature before her, she was silent and gave no hint of her presence. Her scopula pads barely grazed the ground as she crept, and no other entity less than an inch away from her would have been able to hear her tarsal claws as they brushed the earth beneath her. Clackhissis caught sight of the Icthyoid scout only a hundred or so feet away. It appeared that the pathfinder had finally noticed that its partner was missing.

The lanky being drew its black blade from its sheath slowly and deliberately as it cautiously looked around. Clackhissis could have hidden and struck it from behind, but th spider had other plans. She spun away from the fish-mouthed warrior and exposed her abdomen to its attack. CLackhissis pretended that she had not seen the thin giant and kept her focus away from it. She could feel its hesitant steps change into a fast-paced pounding as it charged her. She admired that it did not give itself out with a battle cry, as many thoughtless two-legs often did when they attacked. This Icthyoid was shrewd as well as swift.

Clackhissis waited until it was mere feet from her delicate backside, and as soon as she was sure it was in range, she triggered her ability.

^^

Skill: Urticulation

Fire a cloud of urticating barbed hairs penetrating an opponent's armor and flesh. This attack blinds an enemy and makes it difficult for them to breathe. As a result, foes affected by this attack are unable to breathe correctly, causing them to choke and gasp, which reduces their speed by 40%, as well as causing partial blindness in which they are only able to detect basic shapes and movement for a period of 50 seconds. Sole targets and groups of up to three will find their airways severely blocked and will add a suffocation Status ailment. Duration is 1/2 minute per character level.

Essence Cost: 30 Essence

Active/Passive: Active

Range: 15 Yards

Trigger: Abdomen must be within 5 feet of the target. It takes 5 seconds to activate.

Cooldown: 10 minutes

^^

Clackhissis's abdomen erupted in a volley of wiry hairs; a miasma of hairs swirled around the face of the Icthyoid like sharks sensing blood in the water. He gave a gasping gurgle and rubbed his eyes. That done, she thrust herself forward in a great leap, flying through the air effortlessly until she alit softly some dozen yards away. The warrior had unwittingly inhaled the hairs as he ran at her, and the follicles had buried themselves into his eyes like tiny glass shards. They burrowed into his eyes and throat, going in deeper and deeper each time he blinked or took a breath, leaving him unable to breathe or see. He dropped his sword and brought his hands to his eyes as he tried to choke in a nearly impossible breath.

Clackhissis studied him intently as her urticating bristles did their work. She watched as his eyes swelled and sealed shut. His gasping drew to a conclusion while his throat closed like the door of a vault. The spindly man-thing dropped to its knees and clutched its neck. Its fish mouth gurgled out one last feeble syllable and meek "Ghak," then it spiraled to the ground dead.

Clackhissis was pleased with herself. She had only just grown experienced enough to perform the flicking of her hair, and this was her first time applying it. She could still see the cloud of hair slowly falling to the ground. By her estimation, she could most likely affect three humanoid foes with that attack or spray the air behind her and allow any number of enemies to bustle blindly through them. She clicked a chelicera and sighed. That was an extraordinary ability, but she could only perform it once per battle due to the cool-down. She did, after all, have to regrow the hairs.

She would have preferred to have had it available for the upcoming battle with the rest of the Ichthyoid, but she knew it was unwise to use an untested ability in battle. Clackhissis told herself that she neededn't worry, though, as she had other means of handling the remaining Icklings. With that thought in mind, she skittered over to the dead Icthyoid, picked up its body, and headed for her hidey-hole. When the rest of their compatriots arrived, there would be no sign that anything had ever happened. The best thing about that ability, she mused, was that it left no trace of blood or foul play. Even her hair would fade away in time, making her instrument of death even more mysterious.

Six hours later, Clackhissis could feel the rest of the Icthyoid approaching. She had overestimated their speed. She had her hair back and could use that skill at least once in the upcoming fight if needed. Like most of their ilk, the Icthyoid warriors were loud and ignorant of their surroundings. She doubted they had even noticed their scouts had not returned from their "intelligence" gathering. There were eight members left for her to deal with. She knew now that she could kill them quickly and efficiently if she could take them by surprise. She was strong and swift but doubted that she could handle more than two at once in a straight-up fight. Monsters that fought fair were not real monsters. To one of her kind, every battle was one of life or death, and in such a fight, anything goes. That was why she played dirty.

She disliked that terminology, but she had heard Cushing talking about fighting dirty and doing whatever it took to win. She had respected the idea of doing whatever it took to win, but she could not wrap her head around why anyone would consider that a bad thing.

Twilight had come and gone and it was now dark by the time the Icthyoids had entered her designated place of slaughter, and Clackhissis had hunkered down a distance from the trail that the first two Icthyoids had bumbled their way through. Even though the sun was still in the sky, Clackhissis found herself embraced by shadows. The darkness loved her, and she reciprocated that alien emotion. Since her time in the Realm of monsters, she never felt more powerful or alive than when she was in the dark. It was home to her.

As she had expected, the reedy beings recognized an excellent ambush spot when they saw one and took steps to prepare. The strange man would not be coming this way in the dark. They could situate themselves and be ready for him when he appeared in the morning. She swore that they would never see the light of day again. She readied herself and waited for the sun's wan to dissolve into the background.

An hour later, she crept within one hundred feet of a bored warrior. His absent nose snuffled as he licked his needle-like fangs. His fishy lips moved soundlessly as if he were talking to himself. He was in a squatting position, with his sword laid between his thighs and his stomach. His right hand rested on the hilt, and his left rested on his knee. He was exactly where she wanted him to be, and she was positioned perfectly. She decided that it was time to strike.

Clackhissis gave a soft trill, just loud enough to get the manling's attention. As she expected, his head jerked upwards at the noise, and he squinted in her direction. She repeated the noise and gently scratched the stone before her. The sword-bearer rose from his position slowly, making no sudden movements. His dark sword was firmly in his hand now, and he edged closer to the darkness that cloaked her. He took two more steps and then suddenly jerked into the air. His sword suddenly dropped from his grasp as he rose fifteen feet upwards. His hands clutched his throat in a futile attempt to grab whatever it was that was choking him.

The sword clanged on a stone below him,, and his attempts to breathe drew the attention of the rest of his group. They arrived, weapons in hand,, within seconds, but had arrived in time to could see their brother floating seven feet off the ground as if he were held by some unseen hand. His legs spasmed and jerked as his fingers raked the flesh from his throat, but nothing he did managed to free him from the invisible constrictor around his neck that was her web strand. One of his boots flew free and sailed across the air,, landing solidly in a tree branch. To Clackhissis, it looked as if the man-thing was performing some macabre dance. She watched in fascination as his HP fell like a spider descending from its web in a steady,, unending flow. Then his hands fell away from his neck,, and his legs stopped moving. His eyes, though bulging from his sockets, saw no more. His companion's reaching hands returned to their weapons as they realized they could not help him.

Seven left, she thought. Her noose trap had worked as well as she had hoped it would. Her line was all but invisible to the naked eye, at least to a half-blind biped's eyes, and was as strong as steel. She knew she would be able to lure one of them into the noose, her only concern being that she had not estimated his height and weight accurately enough for the snare to hold her victim. She was pleased to see that her trap had performed admirably so far. She scuttled backward and away from the others before she was noticed. They had a long night ahead of them. It would be a long night that would end in an eternal sleep for each warrior by the time she was finished with them.

Clackhissis had considered using her Umbral Web ability when they had all grouped together, but she far preferred her natural skills and abilities over the magic, hence her use of the snare. She had only used her urticating ability earlier to try it out. She had used her new gifts only sparingly since she had returned to the land of the sun and was not confident enough to attempt to grab such a large party all at once. The spider chided herself for that. Her trepidation reduced her fighting ability, and she would have to overcome her concerns about magic, or her limitations could lead to her death. A true predator utilized every tool at her disposal. Clackhissis had earned the right to use that dark magic, and she was foolish for dismissing it so quickly. She would rectify that in future encounters, she decided.

She watched the remaining warriors from a distance. They struggled to discover what it was that now held their brother in the air. His head lolled to one side, and his swollen tongue bulged from between his lips. These assassins were not brilliant; they stood and looked dumbly at him until the larger manling of the group urged them to ignore their dead comrade and keep an eye out for what it was that had killed him. That one had to go, Clackhissis realized instantly. The others were deadly, but they were not thinkers. He was. Her eyes clinically scanned him. He was about a foot taller than his companions and was somewhat broader in his shoulders than they were. He chattered his teeth as his eyes scanned his surroundings. The warrior carried a huge ebon battle axe and a kite shield. His armor was studded leather, which was better than the simple black leather that the others wore.

Clackhissis noted that his eyes were cunning, and while he had the air of danger about him, she remembered that he was not cautious. She would be somewhat warier of him than the others, but she would not let his presence distract her. He did not worry her that much. A creature that threw caution to the wind was unpredictable and more dangerous than one who was concerned about preserving its life. She had his measure.

Under his direction, the other invaders turned away from their dangling colleague and became vigilant, their heads frantically turning to and fro. She needed them on edge and ready to jump at the slightest sound. So far, everything had been going to her plan. She would slowly cut their numbers down with the traps she had laid until only the influential leader remained. Then she would accept the challenge he presented and defeat him. The challenge, however, would be met in the form of a single strike from behind. There was no reason to risk an injury when one swift strike could decide the battle.

The silence of the air was suddenly broken as she heard her name called from over the ridge. It came from a deep baritone voice that resounded in the chill night air. "Clackhissis!" She froze. No one outside of her clutch knew her name. No creature knew she was here, yet someone or something now called out to her, and that single action spoiled her plans. The voice emanated from the area that the invaders had come from. The section of land where she had not laid any traps. The Ichthyoid thugs sprinted towards the voice in the dark without hesitation. They were fools, running headlong into the unknown, ready to throw their lives away carelessly. Her instincts kicked in. Prey on the run had to be chased, and for Clackhissis, it was all about the hunt.