“Mikel says they? Would be… I don’t know that word. Maybe honored?” Ashley said then shrugged, gesturing at the gravely nodding Muskrat-kin beside her.
“He seems to agree,” Lynn agreed. “I thought you couldn’t work green wood with your magic, though,” she pointed out.
“No, but I think Ashley’s Rot pyth will allow me to, after a couple casts,” Chess reasoned while taking a few deep breaths.
“Okay, in that case, we’ll have to harvest these spiders before they start to spoil,” Lynn said, pointing to the large pile of bodies that they had trapped in with them.
Lynn turned to Ashley. “What was the range of your ability?” She asked.
Ashley’s eyes went distant for a moment before she responded. “Two yards, but I can narrow it down to whatever I want.”
“Even better,” Lynn allowed. “Do the sticks for your mother then the two of us can get to work breaking these down while she makes as many bolts as she can. Mikel can use the spear to kill as many spiders as he can manage through the walls. Tell him to be careful not to lose my spear,” Lynn commanded.
They all split and started on their tasks. Chess waited the minute it took Ashley to cast her spell twice before she grabbed one of the sticks to confirm her idea would work.
“Yep, I was right,” she confirmed for the others before returning to her spot against the wall and her kit for creating arrows.
“I am gonna run out of ironwood for heads after a couple dozen more shafts,” Chess warned.
“Use this,” Ashley said, passing her the large bowie knife Chess had made her over a week ago now.
“Thanks, this should be plenty for what we need,” Chess said, giving her a reassuring smile as she took her knife from her belt and passed her smaller blade to Ashley in exchange.
Chess’s eyes hurt by the time she hit the time limit on her Wooden Gem. She’d made it about a quarter way through the bundle of bramble sticks and was feeling a little nauseous from the persistent headache.
“I need to do something else,” Chess said, leaning back to rest her head against the wall and rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her hands.
“You have been using your magic a lot today,” Lynn agreed. “Sleep would be best if you can manage it with this racket outside." She paused for a moment. "Yeah, try to get a nap in,” she added with a wry smile. "We have plenty to do while you rest."
I need to come up with something better to sleep on, Chess thought as she tried to make herself comfortable in one of the out-of-the-way corners. I miss my hammocks.
Despite her discomfort and the scratching of spiders not a foot away Chess quickly fell into a restless sleep.
She dreamt of fighting skeletons and spiders until she too became a skeleton. The fight never ended.
The images faded away, and it seemed she’d only had her eyes closed for a moment when a hand was shaking her awake again. Left feeling almost as tired as when she closed them.
She blinked up at Ashley’s looming, glowing figure, forced to shield her eyes from the ice-pick light she gave off.
“Yeah?” Chess asked.
“We need you to store what we got from the spiders,” Ashley explained, shaking a double fistful of small bags for emphasis.
It took Chess a few more seconds to process that and nod then a few more to realize it was quiet in the tunnel. The sound of their foes was missing.
“What did I miss?” she asked with a groan while sitting her protesting body up and rubbing her face. She felt like she was waking from an all-weekend bender. Her head was the same hollow throbbing mess, and her body hurt like she had a bad flu. "And who was driving the truck that hit me?" she murmured.
“We spent a while killing the spiders through the holes you left with spears before they retreated out of range. Then Lynn switched to the crossbow. Now they even hide from that, and it’s been some time since they’ve tried anything. Lynn decided to just let you sleep,” Ashley explained, pride clear in her voice.
“Alright,” Chess said, rubbing her eyes before indicating her daughter should lay the Pyth bags down. “Anything new?” she asked before summoning her vault. She pulled out the party's pyth box and a pail of berries. One of the last with sweet ones. Even that small spell made her throat tighten.
“No, same as last time. There are more inventory Pyths, though not enough for an upgrade for you,” Ashley said.
Chess nodded and looked around picking out Lynn guarding the cavern side grate with Chess’s purple bow. She had the bow’s stirrup resting on one of the horizontal bars and Dent standing with a shield pressed firmly to the other. Mikel was curled up in the corner opposite her with the heads of his two friends facing Chess with their empty-eyed gazes. She suppressed a shudder and started eating some berries while dumping the bags of pyth into the box and returning it to her vault.
On the second handful of berries, her mind stutter-stopped as it struck her just how much she had changed in the last month. How am I eating surrounded by this much death? she wondered with her hand halfway to her mouth. A little bile moved up her throat before she throttled it with a hard swallow.
No, no time for that, she shook the thought off, forcing herself to eat a few more berries before turning to Lynn
“Hey, Lynn, do you want me to take a turn while you rest for a bit?” she offered.
“No, there is too much to do,” Lynn shook her head while keeping her back turned to Chess. “While there is no need to press our advantage yet. We must clear the dead from in front of our walls and prepare as best we can. Plus the more we can kill from the safety of this fortification the better for us. So, if you could...” She indicated the grate in front of her.
“Yeah, sure,” Chess said, pushing herself to her aching feet. She moved over to stand beside Lynn and opened the window for her.
Lynn grabbed Mikel's pole from where it leaned against a stud and started hooking and dragging spider bodies inside their bolthole. Chess nervously summoned her vault to retrieve a pole of her own and got to work helping after a spell, rubbing her temples.
They passed the bodies to Ashley and Mikel who dragged them into an open spot opposite the already dismantled corpses.
The whole task, at both walls, took less time than Chess thought it would, and she soon found herself helping with the gruesome task of harvesting as best she could.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to store all of this and my wood,” Chess pointed out to Lynn.
“I know but if we are lucky we will get enough for you to get yet another upgrade to your Inventory Pyth, which will nearly double the space you have again,” Lynn explained.
“I can get behind that," Chess said with a forced smile and a little more enthusiasm for the task.
Chess found it interesting what Lynn thought might be valuable from the bodies, aside from the meat in their legs. First was organs: the heart and brain most of all. Apparently, these had the most value for people that wanted to boost their power through the slower means of eating magical creatures, and these spiders definitely fell under the description of magical creatures. She already had a few pails of the stuff in her vault from the last group. They agreed if they didn’t find enough pyth for an upgrade they would be taking strictly organ meats over their legs.
Lynn believed the harvest from the spiders alone would make the place a valuable rift to cultivate in the future. It was rare to find such palatable creatures. Many magical creatures became tough or gamey if not downright poisonous to weaker people the older they grew. According to Lynn, the spiders tasted remarkably consistent no matter the size she tried. Chess still wasn’t brave enough to try it raw.
Other than the organs Lynn was interested in the silk glands, ovaries, spinnerets, short fangs, and eyes of the creatures. All items she believed would be of interest to Alchemists and other crafters. Their carapace was too soft for any application Lynn could think of so they only had a small sample from the previous battle.
“So what’s the plan?” Chess asked wiping her bloody hands on the wall, trying to get as much grime off as possible before using a sparing amount of water.
She’d created a tidy stack with meat and the skulls she’d pulled from the wall. Sadly they’d not found enough Inventory pyth for an upgrade yet. They’d found another 34 doses to add to the 6 they had left from the last upgrade. She was hopeful the dead that were out of range would hold the remainder. Ashley's stack of harvest pyth was increasing, with the 47 doses they found, though nowhere near the 32 full measures she needed for an upgrade.
“We leave your walls here so we can retreat if we need, and we move out to collect as many of the bodies as we can get safely,” Lynn explained. “Mikel and I can live a long time on their blood and meat if we need to hole up, which leaves the berries and fish for you two. Which we have a couple weeks' worth of. The casks of water you made should be plenty for just as long.”
“Want me to make a door?” Chess asked.
“Yes, but a narrow one,” Lynn said.
Chess did as asked. Made a basic hinge out of the wood but a piano-style one that ran from top to bottom of her short and narrow intended opening, making it open in towards them, before willing a seam to appear in a rectangle. The top half of the door was largely made from the grate she’d left in the wall.
She then made three bar and holder arrangements from the blocks she had set aside. No handle on the outside.
Again her head throbbing intensified from the effort, but she shrugged it off and gave her companions a grin.
“Ready?” She asked.
Lynn peered into Chess’s eyes and shook her head. “You’re staying here,” she said, passing the crossbow to Chess.
“But,” Chess started to protest.
“You have the beginnings of mana sickness. Don’t think I haven’t noticed your headaches. You’ve been rubbing your temples, and a few hours of sleep isn’t enough. You’re staying here. We are only grabbing the close ones first. Shoot any that try to get in behind us. Do not fire with us downrange though. Ashley, send Dent first, maybe he will distract any that come close,” Lynn commanded and hefted her mace.
The trio, with Dent blocking, got to work moving through the door and making a line to pass the nearest bodies back through into their enclosure. The spiders left them alone. Not a one showing itself.
Chess leaned against the wall and thought the best she could through her pounding skull. She looked closer at the crossbow in her hands then her hammer at her waist and frowned. I wish I could make enchanted items. They seem so powerful. I do have that totem Pyth but only one rank. Can I afford to have another summon instrument? Is that fair? I have been stuck here and in the forest. Maybe it’s more common in the city? What should I do with Sprig? She needs to be planted soon. She's already starting to lose durability.
When Lynn felt they’d brought enough new bodies in and they bolted the door, Chess spoke up.
“Hey, Lynn?” she asked, drawing the Skunkkin’s attention from her and Ashley’s Pyth harvesting. “Are Totem Pyth’s hard to find or buy? I’m considering taking it before my next update. That should be today or tomorrow. It's hard to tell with the lack of sun down here. I’ll be hitting level five and I wanted the possibility of an enchanting ability to compliment my wood skills.” Chess asked.
“Totem isn’t the best Pyth to start down that path,” Lynn said while tapping her chin with a finger. “But for you, it may work out better than most. With the close connection you have with your goddess it could be amazing. You’ll have to be careful though, your enchantment options may be heavily influenced by her aspects. Totem Pyth is Faith-based. So if you don’t have a decent bonus in that Stat I would try something else,” Lynn talked as she worked. Dragging spider bodies back and forth for the sitting Ashley. “To answer your question, it shouldn’t be too hard to find. It’s a niche Pyth with very low demand because Rune, Ink, and a few combinations of other Pyth’s, though harder to acquire, generally produce better Enchantment options.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about what Ashley said the other day about knowing what she wants and making choices toward those goals. I’m playing support at best no matter how I twist it,” she said with a sigh.
“I need to embrace that and frankly without more training or being more prepared, I don’t think I’ll be doing something like this again any time soon if we survive this cursed place and I have any say about it. It’s just too dangerous.” She looked at Ashley to emphasize her point. “If I play my cards right with my music, wood manipulation, and Enchanting I think I’ll be able to make a decent living and afford that training for Ashley and me,” she explained. Though I’ll have to find a way to travel and spread Freya's word at the same time. Eh, I’ll think of something. Survive first. She was glad the urge to complete the task for Freya was still only a small ember in her gut so far. She could feel it egging her on from time to time.
“You seem like you’ve already made up your mind. So you might as well take it. Worst case it doesn’t produce something you desire and you have to pay to have it purged,” Lynn said.
“Is two considered a good mod for a stat?” Chess asked.
“At your age? It’s fantastic,” Lynn confirmed. “You must devote a lot of time to your goddess,” Lynn added her voice trailing off at the end.
Chess coughed into her hand trying to hide her smile at the confirmation of what she’d suspected since talking to Kan about constitution.
“What kind of animal would produce Rune Pyth?” Chess asked to change the subject. She started summoning her vault to bring out the Pyth box again to retrieve the small bag of totem Pyth.
“Other than sentients? Mostly turtles and some shellfish, though there are a handful of rare magical beasts that have been known to have it too,” Lynn explained.
Chess thought about pursuing the topic further but let it drop. Instead, she dug out her small bowl and waterskin.
“You should hold off on that for a bit. Maybe get some more sleep first. The mana in it may push you over your limit. I don’t have to tell you about mana sickness,” Lynn said, grabbing the bag from Chess before she could start mixing it.
Chess grimaced but nodded. Yeah, I don’t want that if I can avoid it. Her headache had been consistent for a while now, and her mouth had turned pasty.
“Okay, do you mind if I try to rest while you girls do this group of spiders?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Lynn confirmed with a wink. “We’ll wake you when we want to grab more. We have enough of your thin pails to last a while yet.”
Chess returned to her corner and spent a long time thinking about the throbbing in her skull before she found a fitful sleep.
Each time the others woke her to open and guard the wall, she found sleep easier to find, and on the fifth, after they’d retrieved all of the safely reachable spiders, she was finally free of the pounding icepick in her skull. Instead, she just felt hollowed out.
She woke to find Ashley had joined her and despite her best efforts, when she moved, her daughter woke.
“Hey,” Chess said as Ashley blinked her eyes open.
“Hey,” Ashley yawned and stretched like only someone with the blood of a cat could before snuggling in closer.
“Tired?” Chess asked with a bemused smile. She tilted her head back and caught sight of Lynn dutifully guarding the grate to the large cavern.
“Hm hmm,” Ashley responded.
“Well, I should take a watch so Lynn can get some rest,” Chess suggested.
“You should stay," Ashley countered. "You need to take it easy on magic for a bit yet. I heard it takes a while after you feel better to really get better,” Ashley mumbled from where she was curled up next to Chess. She snuggled in closer.
“I will. Only small things, I promise,” Chess assured Ashley and mussed her hair with a fond smile. “Did the spiders try anything while I was out?” she asked.
“No, quiet,” Ashley mumbled.
“Lynn?” Chess inquired. “Want to trade?” she asked despite Ashley’s protest.
“Yeah,” the skunkkin said with a relieved sigh. “We found enough Inventory Pyth to finish yet another upgrade for you. It’s by your cup. You should take that and your lesser totem but hold off on other magic if you can,” she suggested handing over the crossbow as Chess slipped out of Ashley's grasp.
“The damaged bolts we recovered are in that pail,” Lynn said, gesturing behind her. “If you're feeling well enough later you should do what repairs you can and store at least the organ meats. The sooner they are put away the better,” she added while taking Chess's place cuddling up with Ashley.
Chess leaned the crossbow against the wall and returned to her little makeshift workstation, retrieving her cup, and pyth bags, and dragging the damaged bolts near the wall. She was surprised at how many shafts the pail contained. I made way more than I thought.
After mixing the first vile cup of inventory pyth she plugged her nose and downed it, then rewarded herself with a handful of berries. It didn’t help. It only gave the berries a disgusting undertone. Seven more to go, she told herself with a fast head shake to psych herself up.
She repeated this a few more times while keeping a weather eye on the cavern ahead. After the fourth cup, she had to take a break. She just couldn’t stomach any more cilantro.
So instead, she gave the totem pyth a taste test, wetting and dipping the tip of her finger in the powder. Chess frowned at the taste. The best she could liken it to was how pine needles smelt. Like mint bubblegum that is just off in an unidentifiable way. Might make a decent breath mint. She reasoned. It will be hard to eat a lot of it though. For the same reason eating a lot of mints is hard. It’s strong.
I only need to take the one helping today and can just start to use the rest as a breath freshener. She decided while pouring the concoction into her cup and adding water. I have 24 doses so plenty to last a long while. At least until I get more.
That’s when she got an idea and using a pair of the busted bolts from the pail she made another cup and dumped a quarter of the pine flavoring in then added a full measure of inventory pyth.
Still not great, but a bit better, she decided after finishing the first cup.
Diligently she took the rest until she received the awaited messages.
Inventory upgraded to rank 4
Infuse Minor Totem Pyth: Uncommon: Rank 1
Active: Infuse and combine your magic and magical ingredients into small detailed charms that can boost your God or Goddess’ natural or animal aspects. The only restriction is your imagination and available materials. Requires materials in line with the desired effect. More potent imagery and materials will generally create stronger effects. Expect to fail.
You can produce Musical charms without the following restrictions or faith requirements.
Freya’s available aspects: death, love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and magic.
Freya’s Animals: Cats, Boars, and Falcons.
Restriction 1: All Charms are restricted to use by worshipers of Freya or Divine interpretations of her associated Animals.
Restriction 2: All Charms require consistent exposure to worshipers of Freya or Divine interpretations of her associated Animals or will lose power over Rank x Faith(mod) days. Items in stasis are unaffected until removed.
Passive 1: Increases resistance to Faith-based attacks and unwanted Faith-based effects by Rank X Faith (mod) when wearing a charm you create, [Current 2%]
Passive 2: Increases the efficacy of charms for the creator’s personal use by Rank x Faith (mod)% [Current 2%]
For filling 4/4 free Pyth slots for the first time +1 stat point awarded.
Nice, but a little vague on how it actually works. Chess thought.
She was sorely tempted to start experimenting but held herself back still a little worried about full-blown mana sickness.
She spent a long while simply staring into the cavern ahead thinking of all that had happened since she arrived on Astra while everyone slept behind her. It was sobering how much can happen in a short amount of time. I wish I had more time to think things through. Everything is happening so fast I feel like I’m just reacting. It sucks. She rubbed at her eyes and yawned wide.
I’ve killed people. A shudder went through her. I wish gramps was here; he knows what it’s like. He’d know what to do and say. Probably something like 'man up and put dirt on it' or 'trust in God’s plan.' I wonder how he’s holding up with me dead? Or missing? Did Freya leave my body? Either way, probably not good for the old man's heart. The thought made Chess a little depressed, and she decided to slump down with her back against the wall.
The spiders hadn’t ever shown, and she soon felt like she could nod off again.
It was a shock to think of the only real family she felt she had left for the first time since this ordeal started. If wishes were fishes, I guess.
“What would gramps do?” she found herself wondering aloud in English. Probably go with the old boy-scout motto. Be prepared.
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“What would gramps do?” Ashley’s voice repeating the words interrupted her. Chess looked over to find her new daughter in the process of climbing to her feet and smiled warmly at her.
"Hey, did you sleep well?" Chess asked before translating the words for Ashley who nodded and yawned.
“Gramps, my grandfather is... was the only one left before I came here,” Chess explained with a sigh and a matching yawn.
Ashley came over to stand in front of her. Looking out onto the cavern before invading Chess's personal space to hug her. After a moment of awkwardness, Chess returned it fiercely. Hugs are nice, Chess thought as the simple gesture calmed her.
“You don’t talk about your other family, or anything about home really,” Ashley said pulling back and giving her a gimlet eye.
“Insightful of you,” Chess gave her a wry smile. “Truth is, I didn’t like talking about it, even before I came here, but I guess you should know. They are your family now too. Though I fear neither of us will ever see them again,” Chess explained while trying to run her fingers through her tangle of hair.
“It’s just after Kira... died, everything went to shit, then it was just me, Gran, and Gramps,” she explained lamely, unsure where to start.
“Kira?” Ashley asked tilting her head.
“She was my twin sister,” Chess said with a heavy sigh. “It’s still hard for me to talk about her.” Her eyes lost focus for a moment remembering how she'd found her sister that dreadful night.
“What about your parents?” Ashley asked instead, drawing Chess from the memory.
Chess shook her head once then sighed again. “Mom left when I was young. I only have the vaguest of memories of her. I was only five when she split.” Chess pulled hard at a knot in her hair.
“Dad went away for killing the guy that… well, for what happened with Kira when I was 12. I was lucky Gran and Gramps were around to take me in after.”
“Went away? Like was sold as a slave?” Ashley asked her brows furrowed.
Chess shrugged with a wry grin, “No, not quite but close enough. Some see it that way. I don’t blame him for what he did but… Just... he left, you know? Didn’t even fight it. I was angry for a long time. Without music, or Gramps? I don't know where I'd be." Chess still felt the bitterness of the short time spent in court sandwiched between Gran and Gramps as her dad was sentenced.
“I know,” Ashley said faintly and nodded, and when Chess noticed tears building in the corners of her daughter's eyes, her stomach ached.
“Hey, hey, sorry, I didn't mean... I didn’t want to upset you. Oh, come here,” Chess said, pulling her new daughter into a tight hug.
She held her for a long while before speaking, letting her cry before speaking again. Chess felt tears of her own slipping down her cheeks in empathy.
“Look, you got me now,” Chess reassured her. “And I promise I’m not going anywhere if I can help it.” Ashley sobbed and nodded against her chest before looking up to give Chess a tear-stained smile which Chess matched with her own.
“Okay,” Chess said then coughed, backing up a step and wiping tears from her eyes.
She took a deep setting breath and forced a wider smile that she was surprised felt real after a moment.
“I should store some of this stuff now that I’m feeling a bit better. Did you want to sort through the damaged bolts and separate out the worst of them so I can fix those first? If you find a good head and a good shaft combine them like this,” Chess prompted, showing Ashley the twist-off arrowheads.
“Sure,” Ashley said giving her a knowing look before nodding. She squatted down, then knocked the pail on its side to spill out arrows in front of her.
Chess took another look out the grate then moved to the other side to check the tunnel but it was all quiet on the spider front. Where are they? She wondered.
They spent the next hour fixing arrows and storing everything in Chess’s vault. The new space was incredible, and she managed to fit everything Lynn had set aside with space to spare. I’ll have to build shelves to reach the top eventually. Eight feet is still manageable for stacking things, barely.
“So, what brand of infusing totem did you get?” Lynn asked Chess once she’d woken and joined her at the door. Chess noticed Ashley’s ears perk up at the question and smiled.
Chess told her the gist of it.
“That sounds pretty limiting. Not all versions limit you to worshipers like that. Good for you and Ashley though," Lynn mused. "What are the available aspects?” she asked with a frown.
Chess coughed and said, “Death, love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, magic, cats, boars, and falcons.”
“That's quite the spread at least. So, you can make genuine love, wealth, and fertility charms?” Lynn said with a smile.
“I guess? Why?” Chess said with a shrug.
“There are a lot of fakes sold in the lower markets,” Lynn answered with a shrug. “I think it’s funny.”
“I think it’s a little confusing. How do I know what materials to use? Well other than actual animal parts or Pyth with the effect I want?” Chess asked.
“A simple one is using Pyth powders generally harvested from one of her aspect animals. Use that to line up with her aspects, and you’ll find some successes. I will warn you though. Enchanters fail a lot and waste a lot of materials as a result. At least until they find recipes that work for them,” Lynn offered.
“Makes sense,” Chess conceded and fell into thought. Too bad spiders aren't part of her aspects. We have plenty of that. Although fate weaving? No. I better not test that. I have enough problems already, Chess reasoned.
“No spiders?” Lynn asked.
“Not since you went to sleep. I’m starting to worry about what they’re up to,” Chess confided.
“Me too, though it could be as simple as they see us as a danger now and don’t want to expose themselves,” Lynn reasoned. “Still, it could complicate things. Are we ready to take a look around?” Lynn asked.
Chess nodded and looked to the other two who also nodded after Ashley told Mikel what was happening. “Looks like it,” Chess confirmed.
“I thought about asking you to make another crossbow but you got too close to mana sickness with the first one,” Lynn said before going over and checking everyone's armor and weapons to be sure nothing was out of place.
With a nod of satisfaction, she gestured at Chess to open the door and they set out. Dent in the lead.
"Where are they?" Chess asked as they ventured closer to the large pool in the center.
Large lines of spider silk still hung from the roof and attached to most of the surfaces Chess could see with a few dozen thicker lines disappearing into the pool itself.
For all that, there was no sign of the swarm of spiders they'd been fighting. Only the odd body they had deemed as too far out to get.
"They might have abandoned the cavern. We did kill a significant amount of them," Lynn reasoned. "It isn't unusual for Rift creatures to protect themselves. Look," she added pointing to a corner. "That looks like it once held eggs."
There was a strange arrangement of spider silk balls in the corner Lynn pointed out. All of the ones Chess could see were broken or torn up. I'll have to take her word for it.
"Okay," Chess said, still eyeing the cavern nervously. "Now what?"
"The eggs would explain their disregard for the pack if they were biding time to remove the eggs or young," Lynn suggested. "We may be safe. Although I'm not going to bet my life on that."
"So, where do you figure they went?" Chess asked.
Lynn shrugged, but Ashley spoke up.
"Up there," she pointed to a small, maybe basketball-sized hole in the ceiling. Chess was surprised and delighted to see actual sunlight reflecting down the narrow chute.
"Huh," Chess said and started pacing further out into the open while keeping her eyes on the ceiling. It wasn't long before she found another similar opening. The top of this one was filled with a blue dot. The sky! Chess thought, pleased by even this small slice of the outside world. She was growing tired of the amber light Ashley’s armor cast.
"There is another here," Chess told the others and they spread out a little.
In all, they found half a dozen similar holes. Other than these the cavern appeared to be a dead end. Except for the pool of course. None were anywhere near big enough to allow them to fit through and all looked quite tall. Not to mention the roof was a good 18 to 20 feet tall where they found the chutes hidden in amongst the stalactites.
Lynn kept the crossbow aimed at the nearest hole in the ceiling while the party approached the body of water in the center. It was a strange yellow-brown color. Like a pool of diarrhea. Although it didn't smell that bad.
They stood staring at it for a moment before Chess reached forward and grabbed one of the taut lines of spider silk that disappeared into the water.
She tugged at it. It didn't budge. The thing was as tight as a piano wire. Chess gave it a flick and it rang dully from the blow.
She tried another line and it was the same.
"Help me pull on this," Chess asked Lynn, returning her hands to the first and closest one.
Lynn shrugged, and with the two of them, Chess felt there was a little give. Once they added the other two and Dent, they found it much easier to move and putting their backs into it, they turned and tugged their catch out of the pool and onto the cavern floor.
“Looks like we might have found their food source,” Lynn observed, being the first to turn.
Chess copied her, and her mind had trouble parsing what she was seeing. Once she could distinguish shapes, her belly did a flip-flop.
“Urg.” Chess fought the bile that rose into her throat at the sight, and she turned away. “That’s worse than the ghoul’s mess,” she complained at the sight. Then the smell reached her, and her mouth filled.
She forced herself to swallow the vile mess and thankfully the acrid smell of bile filled her nose and disguised the smell from the mess in front of her.
“It’s moving!” Ashley announced and turned with Chess. She was unable to retain her meal and vomited on her boots.
“Undead,” Lynn said dryly while setting the crossbow down gently. “Zombies, at least for now.”
They’d pulled a mess of rotting humanoid forms from the water that were in the process of trying futilely to escape the cable-thick strands of silk that made up the net they were trapped in, all mixed in with a mess of living, half-eaten, and rotten fish.
“Come,” Lynn demanded and hefted her mace before striding towards the struggling undead.
“No, nope,” Ashley shook her head emphatically and started commanding Dent forward instead. She had the skeleton step on then use its inhuman strength to simply pull the head from the first zombie it reached then drop it.
“I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever be clean again,” Chess grumbled. While fighting her gorge, she joined Lynn in the disgusting task of bashing in the mushy heads within the ball of the undead. Followed a step behind by Mikel, who employed the butt of his spear to the task.
“Try not to destroy the heads, it sometimes ruins the Pyth,” Lynn advised.
Chess flipped her hammer around and started using the spike. It had the added benefit of not splashing as much gore back on her.
Ashley groaned behind them. “You want me to actually touch them don’t you?” she whined.
“You’re the harvester of this merry band. Get used to it. You’re likely to see far worse in the profession you’ve chosen,” Lynn said sternly between hits.
“Can we... at least let them dry out first?” Ashley begged and then threw up again.
“No. We shouldn’t be out in the open like this for any longer than we need. Now come loot,” Lynn’s tone brooked no dissent. Her point was emphasized when her mace pulped the next of the last moving slime-sacs.
Chess decided to remain quiet on the subject. She was unsure if this was normal in this world or not. And Ashley had already seen it, so…
Ashley joined them very reluctantly and gave Lynn the stink eye between hiccups before she took out a handful of Pyth bags from one of her belt pouches and knelt near the skull Dent had pulled off. She touched it with one finger, careful not to touch any more than necessary.
“What did you get?” Lynn asked her face still a neutral mask.
“Chess will like this,” Ashley hedged, she was still looking a little green. “More Totem and Rock-claw Pyth.”
“So, more muskrat-kin. I thought so.” Lynn nodded and dropped a new head next to the first.
Ashley cringed but dutifully stuck out her single finger to touch it. Her tongue even hung out of the corner of her mouth from her concentration.
For some reason the sight made Chess bark out a half-laugh. It took all her power to prevent herself from breaking into full-blown belly laughter. Everything, the whole situation, was just that absurd all of a sudden.
She took a few steps away and turned to take a few deep breaths but allowed herself a chuckle before fixing her gaze on the holes overhead again. I think I’m losing my mind.
When she turned back to the others, she heard Lynn counting softly under her breath.
“Seven more lines that we can reach without swimming,” Lynn said, reaching out for the nearest.
“You want to drag them all out?” Chess asked trying to not look at the mess they’d just pulled out.
“We haven’t seen a side tunnel big enough for us to squeeze through in days. Do you really want to go back all that way? I feel this pool is likely like the last one. The fish in the nets alone suggests the way out is through it. And I’m not jumping in there when it's filled with zombie nets,” Lynn reasoned. "Besides we're getting close to the surface now."
“Fine,” Chess harrumphed and joined her. This one was lighter than the first, and the two of them had no trouble dragging it out. Thankfully it only had a pair of animated skeletons and a bunch of still-living fish. The skeletons were quickly dealt with; the heads stoved by a few blows from Chess’s hammer.
“How are they still alive?” Chess asked doing her best to corral the fish and dump them into pails made from some of Mikel’s brambles.
“I suspect the nets are open before we drag them in,” Lynn said with a grin.
“Oh, okay that makes sense. Next?” Chess asked while setting herself and grabbing the line, leaving Ashley and Mikel to finish with the fish.
“Sure,” Lynn said.
Sadly, the next one was more like the first. Just with fewer fish.
They fell into a grim rhythm and grew a little more comfortable in the cavern for the next three nets, two with just fish and another with a mix of skeletons and mush zombies.
“Girls…” Ashley, her voice quavering, interrupted their efforts as they dragged in the seventh and second to last reachable line.
Lynn followed suit and did a slow-motion look over at their catch before bellowing “Run!”
They all dropped everything and bolted.
Chess couldn’t help herself and after a few strides, she looked back then nearly face-planted at the horror trying to escape from their net. “Yep! Run!” she reinforced the command.
It wasn’t so much a huge spider that had risen as undead. No, this thing more resembled a rough approximation of what a spider should be built like. Only huge and made from the bones of a multitude of humanoids. The high joint on each of its legs rotated on a muskrat skull and its head was formed from a cluster of the same heads. Its bulbous body was formed from more spines and rib cages than Chess could count. The whole body glowed with a faint green light, and its brightly glowing soul stone eyes made it look even more sinister.
Ashley quickly outpaced them all, going to all fours and gaining a handful of body lengths before reaching their bolt hole's relative safety.
They got the first bar in place a moment before the horror plowed into Chess’s makeshift construction. The weight of the blow shook the dust and a smattering of fungus from the ceiling.
“Freya's-fantastic-fanny! It held!” Chess crowed then ducked to grab the second bar. Slamming it home before the Spider thing threw its weight at the wall again.
This time the blow knocked even more dust and small rocks from the tunnel ceiling.
It slammed in again just before Chess got the last bar in place. Then as quick and dirty as she could manage she knit the wood together with large dovetails in between blows from the tank outside.
“This won't hold it for long!” Lynn got out between raspy breaths. “It’s a skeletal abomination!” Lynn hissed between pressed lips.
“How do we kill it?” Ashley asked Lynn from where she’d plastered herself against the far wall with Mikel.
“Where is Dent?” Chess asked, dodging to the side when the abomination stuck one of its legs through the grate.
"Smash its bones." Lynn took the opportunity to slam her mace down on the limb with a full-body two-handed blow that cracked bone into splinters.
Ashley raised a finger and pointed out behind the raging beast.
“Do you still feel him? Is he damaged?” Lynn demanded between one blow and the next. The third didn’t land when the thing withdrew the leg.
“Yeah, and I don’t think so?” Ashley said.
“Good!” Lynn said. “Now get up here!” she deflected another limb with her shield that tried to spear her through the opening with a sharpened bone claw on the end of its leg. This time Chess managed to score a hit with her hammer completely pulverizing the end of the limb just behind the claw when it touched the tunnel floor.
Then Ashley and Mikel joined them and they broke chips from the leg for a while before the spider retrieved the damaged limb. They’d managed to remove a good foot from the end including its claw.
Next, It tried two limbs at once, forcing them through then swinging them about.
Then Chess got a bright idea. She gave up on hitting the limbs with her hammer and instead reached out and rested her hand on her wall.
She willed the wood to move. It flowed from the bars and twisted them so they gripped the legs of the spider in a braid before Chess flowed even more wood from the stronger structure to reinforce the grip. Binding both legs so they barely moved.
Chess turned and smiled in triumph at Lynn. “There, now it’s fucked.”
“Now what?” Lynn asked Chess and put her mace hand on her hip. “We can't exactly get out and attack it like this.”
“Oh, hmm. Maybe Ashley can tame it?” Chess suggested with a hiccup laugh while watching the spider caught in her wooden net. It used all its legs to leverage against the wall itself in a ploy to get free.
“It’s much too strong for her,” Lynn shook her head.
“We could just remove these two legs and let it go?” Chess tried again. “Hope it tries the same thing again?”
“No, that’s potentially worse,” Lynn sighed.
“It gives us time to plan, right?” Chess asked.
A loud creak then a splitting crack sounded out from Chess’s wall, countering her argument, then with a whoosh of displaced air, the whole assembly was dragged back into the cavern still attached to a now even more pissed-off skeletal abomination.
“You spoke too soon,” Lynn said dryly striding after it purposefully, mace gripped tight in her hand. “The gods hate me,” she cursed.
Chess couldn’t suppress a giggle when the spider thing got the wall caught on the first stalactite and was stuck simply pulling on it for a few seconds as she and the others followed Lynn out hesitantly.
Lynn turned back and glared at her.
“What!? That’s funny,” Chess said while pointing at the spider abomination trying to free itself from the wall with the help of the same stalactites it had gotten it hung upon. Unfortunately for it, all it managed to do was break the top off one of the roof spears that then crashed down on its torso, breaking a few rib cages in the process.
“Maybe it will kill itself,” Ashley suggested hopefully.
Chess hung a thumb over her shoulder to point at Ashley. “She gets it.”
“Shit! Split!” Chess ordered when she saw the thing coming back towards them after getting the wall caught a second time and switching directions.
They all ran in different directions leaving Mikel who hesitated a second. He scooted left then right then back left, psyching out the beast, and it just barely missed him with its wall as he darted right and passed it. He could’ve stayed there, the wall wouldn’t fit. Chess noted as she bolted for the water.
The spider thing turned again, and again got its new accessory caught, this time between the cavern wall and a stalagmite.
“What’s the plan!” Chess yelled at the others when she reached the water and turned back to face their foe who had freed itself.
“Get your plants going! Tie it up like that cat. We’ll distract it,” Lynn called back and charged toward the beast from where she stood with Ashley. She stopped well short then bolted back the way she’d come when the abomination saw her and gave chase. She scrambled between a pair of stalagmites before turning sharply and dodging a pair of clawed legs by inches. Two more steps and she was safe when the wall caught on the floor spikes and the beast crashed into the wall with the rest of its body, piling up like a car wreck. Chess chuckled again at the absurdity.
Ashley was sneaking up behind it with Chess’s crossbow for some reason. Her shield on her back and mace on her belt.
Chess heard the sound of wood splintering and shook her head. Get in the game fool! she reprimanded herself.
Chess gulped, hung her hammer from its hook, and started summoning her guitar while looking about the cavern and the pool for inspiration. There were fungi everywhere and water in the pool. It was a start, but none of it seemed to have a good grip on any of the surfaces. Nothing that will easily hold it.
She even looked at the tight beams of light offered by the holes overhead. Is it just me or is the light fading?
Then her eyes fell on the zombie nets and a few nearby stalagmites. It’s worth a shot, she decided and started her vault spell. She only made it halfway through the cast before being interrupted.
“Split!” Lynn yelled, using Chess’s word.
Chess looked up to see a wall bearing down on her in an ear-punishing racket. In her momentary panic of deciding which way to bolt she tripped and fell backward onto her butt and into the water only a step behind her. She sank fast.
The fall saved her when the spider passed overhead and the bottom edge of the wall caught on the edge of the pool. Tripping up the beast and creating a ramp that slammed down on Chess’s side with bruising force and trapped her underwater for a handful of hair-raising seconds. The air whooshed from her lungs, and they burned from a lack of oxygen as she desperately tried to keep her mouth shut.
Then the weight was gone as the beast went back the way it had come.
She popped her head up for a few quick gasping breaths when it had passed, made sure the coast was clear, then pulled her sodden self from the pool.
I hate water, she decided as she regained her shakey feet then cursed when she realized her guitar had disappeared.
“Freya’s sodden snatch!” she swore when she jostled her arm against a nearby stalagmite and a nauseating spike of pain lanced through her. She almost lost her feet.
She knew that feeling and consciously decided to not look down at the likely fractured arm.
She started the vault spell first this time, nearly losing her lunch again when the surge of vertigo combined with the pain in her arm, completing it while watching the abomination bumble about the cavern with her wall splintering with every impact, chasing after a scampering Mikel.
Thank fuck, it can't walk on the walls or ceilings, Chess thought then winced in sympathy when Mikel slipped on a cluster of mushrooms and went sprawling into a tumble.
He was saved as Ashley shot the thing in the ass with the crossbow drawing its attention. It turned supernaturally quick and charged Ashley. Who swung her shield around then stood frozen for a second too long.
“Shield!” Ashley cried and dove to the side just in front of the charge, putting her shield between her and the abomination.
Chess was reaching in for her seedbox, which she kept near the opening, just as it barreled into Ashley.
The edge of the increasingly tattered wall deflected off a crouching Ashley’s shield which was held at a perfect angle. The force of the blow forced Ashley to slide to the side a pace, where she used the full force of her legs to propel herself up and over, doing a handstand on her shield that let her slip perfectly between two legs then falling into a front roll to miss the next two and end up behind the spider. Still, in motion, she pivoted on her toes and slammed her mace down on the last leg breaking off its claw.
The spider turned on a dime again, allowing Ashley another leg blow before trying to hit her with the mass of wood stuck to its front two legs. Ashley charged it at an oblique angle and seemed to flow through the legs again miraculously appearing behind it unscathed.
Chess stood gape-mouthed for a second, her seedbox forgotten in her uninjured hand before she shook herself.
That’s when Lynn charged it breaking part of yet another leg off. “Hurry!” Lynn snarled just before the thing punted her into a nearby stalagmite with its wooden battering ram where she slumped bonelessly.
Chess's stomach dropped further.
“Lynn!” Ashley yelled and rushed towards her while Mikel got the abomination’s attention again by piercing one of the leg skulls with a spear making it go limp before he bolted for the entrance tunnel.
"If you destroy the leg skulls, the leg dies!" Chess yelled.
We need to end this. Chess decided, heart in her throat, and opened a corner of her seedbox with a surge of wooden magic and dumped the handful of tiny seeds into her hand with a wince.
She sucked in a quick breath through her teeth against the agony and threw the seeds liberally on the piles of zombies, without raising her arm before opening another corner and tossing the seeds into the pool behind her.
She cleared her throat, gulped on the pasty dryness then activated Thump.
The others were yelling at each other, but she did her best to tune it and the pain out and concentrate on her task.
I need a real instrument, something one-handed, she decided, then she started singing again at the top of her lungs. This time she indulged herself and sang one of Gramps’ campfire favorites, 'I heard it through the grapevine' by CCR, mainly because it was the first to come to mind and because she'd sung it so often in the past. She started stamping her foot lightly for a beat; trying her best not to jostle her arm or increasingly aching side.
It seemed each word was furthering her lightheadedness, but she pushed through, desperate not to let the others down.
She stood in the middle of the zombie piles and grew her brambles up then around some of the floor cones. Then with a surge of inspiration, she flowed some branches in and around the spider silk lines that were still hung from the ceiling. Pulling them taut in the process.
With one more look at what she had made after a dozen seconds, she returned her attention to the fight that had thankfully ignored her for the time being and yelled “READY!” before continuing her song.
She held back on growing them more, worried that she wouldn't have enough nutrients to entrap the horror.
Chess watched, as still as possible, as Lynn got to her shaking feet while Ashley ran around the perimeter of the cavern weaving between stalagmites on all fours, barely keeping ahead of the monstrosity.
With a tinge of horror, Chess realized Ashley had lost her shield and weapons and now only sported her glowing armor.
The spider's wall had been reduced to under half its original size from the many impacts it had taken and no longer did anything to impede its chase. Only the stalagmites and Ashley's zig-zagging path allowed her to keep her minuscule lead.
“One more circle around!” Lynn yelled towards Ashley and gamely limped towards Chess, a busted shield and her mace in her hands.
“Shield,” Lynn demanded and let hers and her mace drop to the ground. “And your hammer.”
Chess nodded and mutely handed the items over with care before stepping to the side so she could hide behind one of her bramble clusters.
“Okay, ready,” Lynn said in a firm and commanding voice.
Chess swallowed hard then forced herself to start singing again as Ashley made a sharp turn and sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her toward the waiting Lynn.
“Be fast,” Lynn advised Chess a second before Ashley darted past and the abomination rounded one of Chess’s bramble piles and reared up to spear Lynn with its free and largely intact front leg.
Chess poured her everything into forcing the brambles to grow together and close the trap as Lynn expertly deflected the blow and took a step back.
The first brambles reached the abomination's ribcage-carapace just as it brought the mass of the remaining wooden wall up to smash Lynn.
In what Chess thought was a crazy move, the Skunk-kin woman dived forwards under the beast to avoid the blow, its razor-sharp claws threatening to skewer her at any moment. But when it tried to turn to find its foe, Chess saw the brilliance as the dive forced its body further into her brambles on either side, and she capitalized, inserting more branches amongst its bones and tangling it faster than she thought possible.
Her voice rose with her excitement as she started using her three groves to tie spider legs to their neighbors. Soon she had it completely immobile and off the ground a bit so that it couldn’t get any real leverage.
“Finally,” Lynn said, taking in hard ragged breaths from beside Chess who startled and winced before looking over at her with a scowl, but she nodded.
“Ashley! Get Mikel. Make sure he’s ok,” Lynn ordered. “Oh never mind,” she added when the pair passed into view from behind a stalagmite; Mikel leaning heavily on Ashley's arm.
Chess looked up at her catch and smiled. "You've got to admit it will make a helluva fishing tale," she joked.
Lynn didn't respond, instead, giving her a flat look.
Naturally, that’s when shit went sideways.