Waterweaver spiders started flowing out of the small opening in the ceiling and the pool behind the pair.
“Shit!” Chess cursed and tripped forward, scraping up her hands in her haste to get under the trapped abomination. Her vision went white from the agony in her arm and the next thing she was conscious of was Lynn putting her back to what remained of the tattered wall.
Lynn took a step back then retrieved Chess's hammer from where it had fallen.
"As soon as Ashley gets here do your best to thicken this mess. We can't fight them like this. Too many of us are injured," Lynn said in a neutral tone.
How is she so calm? Chess wondered, her mind not quite working properly. Her arm was a rolling ball of agony, and the world kept tilting in her vision.
As soon as Ashley and Mikel stumbled under the shelter of the entrapped abomination, Chess gave them a reassuring smile and started singing again.
"I heard it through the grapevine, ooooh," she giggled. "I heard…"
She put her entire will into the song and plants, feeling increasingly loopy and giggly by the second. Punchdrunk.
She was unaware she had nearly finished as blackness swallowed her in front of a charging horde of spiders.
----------------------------------------
Ashley let go of Mikel's arm, letting him support himself against a quivering spider abomination's leg before collapsing to her knees beside Chess's slumped form. Her heart was in her throat at the sight of Chess collapsing and her, albeit helmeted, head bouncing off the stone floor with a dull thwack.
You just promised! Ashley pressed her lips together until they turned white. As she held her eyes fixed on Chess.
Her new mother stayed unsettlingly still for a few long heartbeats before Ashley saw her chest rise and fall minutely.
Ashley let out a whooshing sigh at the sight and reached forward calling on her magic to heal.
"Don't!" Lynn's whip-crack voice startled her to a stop, and she turned to glare at the Skunkkin.
"What? Why!?" Ashley demanded nearly snarling at the Skunk-kin.
"She has mana sickness! Your spell could kill her!" she said, and the bottom fell out of Ashley's fragile world. I almost… She looked back to Chess, her heart in her throat.
"Now, get on your feet and spear any of these things that get close!" Lynn ordered while splattering a Waterweaver with Chess’s hammer.
“With what!" Ashley gritted out, turning her anger at herself onto the kin woman. She spread her empty hands out wide and shook them.
Lynn just pointed at the spear in Mikel's shaking hands. “That.”
Ashley snarled and grabbed it from a mute Mikel, his big eyes round as saucers, before stepping up beside Lynn near the small opening that remained in the mess of branches Chess had created. It, unfortunately, faced the pool.
After a few long moments, she had to begrudgingly admit to herself that killing a few of the things helped settle her fury. She just wanted to help Chess. She glanced back at her mother's slumped form and waited for her chest to rise and fall again before turning back to her task.
After another frantic minute or two of stabbing, Lynn addressed her again. They’d built up a significant blockage of bodies in the short opening, enough to give them a short breather while the spiders attempted to pull their dead away.
Ashley’s everything burned from running, fighting, and an assortment of scrapes and cuts from her mad dash ahead of the abomination that’s bulk now protected them. She was not looking forward to defending the hole from the small spiders until Chess woke up again to fix it properly.
"Come," Lynn said, turning to kneel beside Chess.
“I think her arm is broken. We need to set it first and get food into her before you can even think of healing her,” Lynn said softly from beside Chess after an inspection.
"Her head hit the ground really hard also," Ashley supplied, almost wringing her hands as she watched Lynn work.
Lynn shook her head. "The helm would have blunted the worst of it. The rest is in the hands of the gods."
“Why did they come back?” Ashley asked, taking an opportunity to spear another spider that had managed to make it past the block. She shoved its corpse into the opening with her foot wedging as best she could.
“I don’t know, I can’t even hazard a guess at this point,” Lynn said while standing and watching the spiders as they used their lines to drag the dead out of the way.
Ashley speared another that was pushing through then frowned at Lynn before looking back at Mikel. He had his head tilted back and was staring up.
"Look," he said, and she followed his gaze to the huge swarm of spiders that now covered the abomination and brambles.
“Lynn?” Ashley asked, pointing out the clutter overhead.
“Damn, hold them off a minute,” Lynn said looking around on the ground and checking what each of them had on them while Ashley fended off the few spiders that tried to make their way in.
“Okay, all we have are a mace, this hammer, and that spear,” Lynn declared with a sigh. “I wish we still had the crossbow to get some of the ones up top and to maybe finish off this creature.” Lynn patted the nearby abomination leg.
“What about Dent?” Ashley offered, feeling the bond with her undead minion still strong and steady, just like her amulet and bead.
“What about it?" Lynn asked, her forehead furrowed.
“He’s still over there.” Ashley pointed towards the entrance tunnel.
“What! How? Is he damaged?” Lynn wondered out loud.
Ash shrugged. “Maybe they ignore the skeletons? And I don't know, he seems fine through the bond?”
“Hmm, it would explain why there were so many still roaming the tunnels. Their aura alone wouldn’t keep the Waterweavers away forever,” Lynn mused. "Not like there is any meat on a skeleton."
“Can you see him through all this mess? Better yet, can you see the crossbow or that crate of bolts?” Lynn asked, hope blossoming in her voice.
"I think I can see the bow. It's still where I dropped it. I can't see the bolts, the spiders keep blocking the view of the tunnel," Ashley said looking back to the skunk-kin woman. Lynn smashed two more enterprising spiders to a pulp before turning back to meet Ashley's eyes.
"Well? Get Dent to retrieve them," Lynn said before turning back to her fight.
Ashley bristled then peered out into the cavern with a frown. She'd never tried to command Dent when he was out of sight before and racked her mind for a way for him to do what she needed.
"Follow," she tried raising her voice to be heard over the clamor Lynn was making while pushing on the command link with her minion.
To her relief, an untouched Dent soon appeared from behind a nearby stalagmite and strode slowly towards her. She ordered him to stop and turn around before heading back to the tunnel to retrieve the crate of bolts first. After getting him back near the entrance to their hidey-hole she turned to Lynn.
“How’re we going to get them in here?” Ashley asked.
“Well, they’ve ignored him this long, see if you can’t simply walk him to the entrance,” Lynn said.
“Okay,” Ashley said and commanded her minion around to the entrance to deposit his burden near the opening. All it took to retrieve it after that was to pull a few dead spiders inside and hook the crate with the end of her spear.
Ashley sent him back out, still unmolested, to retrieve the bow and return it before turning back to Lynn.
“Do you think I should use him to kill them?” She offered.
“I hesitate to have him kill a few because they may pull him apart, and he’s much too useful out there,” Lynn tapped her chin before shrugging. “Have him block the entrance with that shield of his and let's see to Chess’s wounds then ours. We likely need to set her arm; it doesn’t look right, and it's better to do it while she’s still out cold.” Lynn gestured for Mikel to take the spear and hold off any spiders.
"Is it bad?" Ashley asked nervously before doing as Lynn suggested.
Lynn cut a handful of the brambles off and removed their thorns with her knife before peeling back the plates that made up the pauldrons on Chess’s upper arm. Revealing a quickly darkening bruise in a line across the top, near her shoulder.
“I think it’s a fairly clean break,” Lynn said, lifting Chess’s arm gently and putting her hand under it. “If I were forced to guess, the back of this inner plate took the force and lifted, pressing in with an edge. She’ll have to fix that flaw in her armor,” Lynn explained. “Now hold her upper body still and I’ll put it back in place so we can brace it for now. We don't want it to start healing wrong.”
Lynn removed the bracer then pulled down on Chess’s forearm and used her hand in the armpit to set it before indicating Ashley should hold the handful of sticks around the bicep.
Lynn, limping, returned to fighting the spiders, grabbing the crossbow and a handful of bolts.
Ashley watched the rise and fall of Chess’s chest grow steadier for a bit, blinking against the urge to lay down and sleep. You don’t get to make a promise then die on me, Ashley told Chess’s resting form.
“Okay, spiders to kill,” Ashley told herself and stood, shaking out her aching arms.
Ashley and Lynn, and after a bit Mikel, took turns at the opening killing spiders and dragging their double fist-sized bodies into the small amount of free space under the Abomination or letting their brethren drag them off. It seemed to Ashley like they fought for hours before Lynn decided they’d use Dent to crawl into the short opening and block off the entrance again so they could rest and possibly harvest more spiders.
By the end, Ashley just wanted to huddle in the corner and curl up into a ball. Her body and lungs hurt so much.
Ashley wanted to ask her what the point of harvesting now was, as she slumped in exhaustion near Chess’s prone figure, but stopped herself with the realization that Lynn hadn’t made a bad call yet aside from butting heads with Chess. She shuddered thinking of how much worse it could be without her expertise in this never-ending hole.
Lynn’s limp grew worse as they fought and worked, and Ashley offered to heal her.
“It resets at midnight, and the light in the holes has darkened again.” Ashley pointed to the one hole that was still easily seen through their morbid shelter when Lynn told her to save it.
Lynn looked at Chess’s still unconscious form before nodding reluctantly. “We should’ve stayed in the enclosure until she was better,” she said with a sigh before gorging herself on spider legs for a bit.
“Okay, go ahead, it will likely be hours until she wakes as it is. I just hate that you used both casts on me like this.”
Ashley embraced her magic and healed the kin-woman again before returning to her spot beside Chess. “You get the first watch,” she told Lynn, giving her a cheeky grin like Chess usually did before resting her head in the crook of Chess’s uninjured arm and closing her eyes. Her exhaustion quickly dragged her into sleep.
----------------------------------------
When Ashley woke again, it was quiet. She looked at Chess's slumbering form, seeing her breathing steadily before looking up and around.
The spiders were gone again. A further look showed Mikel awake and on guard with the spear with Lynn snoring softly on a bed of spider thoraxes. The sight made her shudder lightly before rolling away from Chess and getting up.
"Spiders?" She asked Mikel in her stilted version of his language.
"Away," he said and made a sweeping gesture.
"Oh, okay," she muttered and yawned. Now what do I do? she wondered.
The nearest leg of the abomination continued to fight against its restraints.
"Probably need to kill it soon," she reasoned. What did Chess say? Breaking the skulls disables the legs? Good enough.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
After taking the spear from Mikel she got to work. First, she stabbed each leg skull until the attached appendage went still. Then when it still wasn't lootable she frowned at its actual head. This is gonna be hard, she reasoned studying the dense growth that surrounded the head.
After much finagling, she got the spear set in line with the first skull and simply jammed it back and forth until the bone splintered and cracked to pieces. She repeated the same thing for the rest and was pleased and tired again when she finally got the option to loot.
Activating her harvest pyth with a hand full of bags she was overjoyed with what came out.
Waterweaver Spinneret Core rank 3
Decomposition Core rank 1
Harvest pyth 9 doses
Rot pyth 13 doses
Strengthen bone Pyth 16 doses
She contemplated simply hiding the second core in her belt, but. No. She told herself firmly.
"What did we get?" Lynn asked over her shoulder. Ashley felt as though her soul left her body for a moment as she jumped.
----------------------------------------
Ashley coughed then met the Kin woman's eyes before wordlessly handing over the bags while hiding a growing awkward smile.
"Two," Lynn sputtered then choked after opening them all. "Two cores!" She said with wonder, dumping the two spheres into her open palm. Then she frowned studying them both.
“I’m a shadow caster,” she said quietly before meeting Ashley’s eyes again. “I’m not sure either of these fit my build. How about you hold onto them both for now? Until we can all talk about it together.” She looked at Chess.
“Okay,” Ashley agreed, taking the bags back and adding them to the large collection from the spiders they’d harvested while Chess had been, resting.
“What do we do now that the spiders are gone again?” Ashley asked sparing a concerned look for her still unconscious mother then over to Mikel as he watched for the return of the spiders.
“We look for a way out,” Lynn said with a resetting of her posture. She turned to look at the narrow entrance that was still blocked by Dent's bulk. “Last time they were gone for a goodly part of the day. It’s been less than half that already as best as I can tell from the light in these tubes. I think we should explore the cavern more fully before committing to exploring the pool.”
“Okay,” Ashley said, then turned to Mikel doing her best to bring up her limited knowledge of his language. “Mikel,” she drew his attention. “We,” she gestured at them all, pointed at her eyes, and then twirled her hand at the surrounding cave.
He smiled his toothy smile and nodded before gesturing at Dent’s bent form and making a sweeping movement with his hands.
“Yeah, I’ll move him,” she said in her best remembrance of his tongue.
+1 Language of the Dryads Rest Muskrat-Kin
“Nice!” Ashley said breaking into a smile.
“What?” Lynn prompted.
“I got my first skill level in his language,” Ashley said with pride.
“Congratulations,” Lynn said, giving her a respectful nod. “New language skills are very difficult to acquire. You must have some natural aptitude for them.”
Ashley beamed.
“Resummon your armor,” Lynn ordered and gathered up the crossbow and Chess’s hammer before returning to check Ashley and Mikel over. She nodded in grim satisfaction then nodded towards Dent. “Let’s not waste time,” she said and led the way once Ashley had Dent back out of the narrow space into their shelter.
They spent the next hour searching every nook and cranny of the cavern for anything that may lead to a different way out of their predicament. They all remained on edge with Lynn spending more time looking at the holes in the ceiling and the pool than on the task at hand.
They found nothing but more of the broken silken spheres and lines hanging from the ceiling. At Lynn’s encouragement, they gathered a bunch of the spheres and other silk to pile in the back of their bramble. Then they retrieved as many spider corpses as they could reasonably fit in their enclosure. They also retrieved all their weapons and shields.
Not long after they’d returned with the last of their burden, the light in the holes above changed, and in a streaming skittering horde, the spiders returned. This time they forced Dent into the hole with his shield out before they were forced to fight them.
“Are we going to shoot them?” Ashley wondered.
“No. We now know they leave regularly, it’s better if their population remains for future delves. We will only do something if it looks like they are trying to break in here,” Lynn explained. “Time to get back to work,” she added pointing at all the spider corpses.
“Won't they go bad if Chess can’t store them?” Ashley asked.
"It all depends on how long she is out. However, many Alchemists desiccate their ingredients. So, we can endeavor to do the same. With the vents overhead I think we are safe to start a fire to smoke a little of the meat also. We have broken bolts, and shields. And maybe the remainder of Mikel's brambles? With your rot spell we can likely burn mushrooms and some other things if we do it properly," Lynn said.
"Okay, but we should remove all the arrowheads and keep any good bolts," Ashley suggested after watching the spiders flowing over and about their shelter for a moment.
"Of course," Lynn nodded approvingly.
The next few hours were spent getting the fire started and harvesting the spiders. They only stopped once when the spiders made a concerted effort to break through a thinner section of the makeshift space.
Once they had done all they could, they slept and took turns on watch.
The watch was particularly nerve-racking for Ashley as the spiders never left the surface of her shelter. In fact, they'd started to encapsulate the exterior in a thin layer of silk. Once they'd covered most of the top Ashley was forced to put the fire out and periodically poke holes in it so she could still catch glimpses of the spiders.
Then it was Mikels time on watch, and Ashley snuggled up to Chess's wane form and tried to sleep. Please wake up soon, she implored her mother shortly before an exhausted sleep found her.
Mikel woke her and Lynn the moment the spiders disappeared.
A bleary-eyed Ashley blinked at Lynn as she dictated through Ashley what she wanted Mikel to do.
"Are you sure that's safe? We don't know what's left in there. How many zombies did we pull up already?" Ashley questioned the plan before she started translating.
"We don't have a choice!" Lynn snapped then sighed. "Sorry, he's just the best swimmer amongst us and our best chance. Would you rather go yourself?" Lynn rubbed at her eyes.
"Alright," Ashley sighed and turned to Mikel. She pointed at the pool and mimed swimming then looked about.
To her surprise, Mikel nodded enthusiastically and immediately started stripping off everything he wore. Keeping his small loincloth and the catchpole of all things.
Ashley and Lynn stood and watched as the muskrat lowered himself into the brown pool and in a silent turn disappeared below.
They stayed silent as they waited just outside the shelter, eyes vacillating between the pool and the chutes in the ceiling and weapons tight in their hands.
The long seconds dragged into even longer minutes without a sign of him returning. It's been longer than when he dove for the spear by the Ghouls cave.
Ashley opened her mouth to express her fears but found the words wouldn't come.
It took an equal amount of time for the familiar form to emerge from the filthy water.
Mikel looked pale, as much as Ashley could tell through his fur, and shook slightly when he finally stood before them.
"What, wrong?" Ashley asked, taking a step forward, concerned.
"Good." Mikel shook his head slowly then made a dome shape over his head with his hands then lowered them to his neck and mimed choking.
“Oh, oh no," Ashley said as she thought she understood.
“Yeah, bad air,” Lynn said.
Mikel then mimed swimming again poking his head up then the choking motion then swimming again. He looked at them each in turn then shook his head before adding a few select words to Ashley none of which she remembered hearing before.
“He doesn't think we can swim that far,” Ashley guessed.
“Yeah,” Lynn agreed sourly.
"What do we do now?" Ashley asked in a small voice.
Mikel shook his head firmly then pointed at the pool again then himself. "I return, help," he said in broken Brastian while straightening his spine.
Ashley gave him a broken smile. She'd suspected he'd grasped more of her language than he'd let on.
Mikel didn’t wait long before sinking from view once more.
The wait was torture.
When the spiders returned and he did not, they fell into despair. Lynn threw herself into killing spiders and smoking meat again. After adding new holes to the silk coverings.
Ashley did her best to fuss over Chess and sleep fitfully. When Chess wakes up, she'll know what to do, she decided.
It was a long time after the spiders had left again and while they waited near the pool's edge not willing to admit their faint hope, that a pair of heads appeared, pushing up through the muck.
Ashley's hand tightened on her weapon, and she stepped forward before registering that they were both muskrats. Though these looked much older than Mikel and carried more of the bone-tipped spears they'd found with the dead kin.
They stayed in the pool and studied Ashley and Lynn with open wonder in their big expressive eyes for a long moment.
"I'll be damned. The fool found his tribe," Lynn cursed.
Ashley felt relief swelling in her stomach and looked back at Chess's slumbering form. We're going to be alright. She thought with no small amount of shock. The feeling was so powerful she felt tears building in her eyes and threatening to spill over.
Constitution increased by 1
She giggled suddenly at the absurdity of the world. Constitution?
She didn’t stop for a long time.
----------------------------------------
Chess woke, feeling the worst she could ever remember feeling. Her whole body ached like someone had beaten every inch of her with a rolling pin then used an even bigger one to smash her skull a few times, but her arm was by far the worst.
When she tried shifting to get more comfortable, she also discovered Ashley pressed firmly against her other side sawing logs. It was kind of adorable, and Chess decided to leave her be and close her eyes again, seeking sleep in the warmth the little furnace of a daughter gave off. It didn't take long despite the all-encompassing pain.
When she woke the second time, Ashley’s warmth had left, and her skull only pounded with every other beat of her heart. I think I was run over by a bulldozer this time, she thought between beats of pain. She did her best to keep her arm immobile and her eyes firmly shut after a first blink open.
Breathe, she told herself. Freya, but I hate this, she decided.
She tried getting another look around but quickly blinked her eyes shut against the pain only to be interrupted by a familiar screen lighting the backs of her eyelids. She groaned at the radiance.
A week in review.
She read the two entries at the top for the skeletal abomination giving a huge exp boost, 9000, and the sealed bearing giving 20000 then dismissed the rest, her head simply hurt too much to concentrate.
Total exp 102458
She brushed away the leveling notifications next, leaving only the ability choices, hoping for something that could relieve her misery.
Please Choose One Active Ability
Singing Effigy, (Totem, Thump)
Inspire heroics, (Amber, Thump, Totem)
Thunder-snow, (Snow-flurry, thump, totem)
Elegy of the Fallen, (Summon Instrument, Thump, Amber)
Totem Pole, (Totem, Wooden, Amber, Thump)
Summon spirit animal, (Totem, Wooden, Amber, Summon instrument, Thump)
Spread the Magic, (Wooden, Totem, Summon Instrument, Thump, Amber, Snow-flurry)
Set the stage, (Wooden, Totem, Summon Instrument, Snow-flurry, Thump, Amber, Inventory)
Please Choose One Passive Ability
Resist exposure, (Snow-flurry)
Emotional Resonance, (Thump, Amber)
Greater Amplify, (Summon instrument, Thump)
Faithful (Amber, Thump, Totem)
Charismatic (Wooden, Amber, Thump)
Improved Charms, (Totem, Inventory, Amber, Wooden)
Spiritual Instrument, (Wooden, Summon instrument, Totem, Thump)
Singing Charms (Summon Instrument, Thump, Amber, Totem)
Alas, nothing seemed to address mana sickness.
She brushed them aside also and stared at the ceiling overhead. Wait am I moving? Yep, she confirmed after a moment. It felt like she was floating.
She groaned hoping to get someone's attention.
“You're awake!” Ashley said swimming up beside her. Her daughter took a waterskin from somewhere near Chess's feet and helped her take a few sips. The liquid was ambrosia in her parched mouth.
Chess looked at her daughter's bright form with one squinty eye after she'd had her fill. “What did I miss?” She asked.
"Well, it's been at least a couple of days. Oh, and I got to level five! Lynn let me choose Einherjar!” Ashley was particularly bubbly in her enthusiasm.
“What does it do?” Chess decided to indulge her with a faint smile.
“It lets me raise someone as a golem. I can't use it yet. I wanted to try it on Dent but Lynn said we don't know anything about him or if his soul would even be around. That, and she got mad at me for not reading the description fully,” she said, frowning with her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth. “Oh, here,” she gave Chess the prompt for the ability.
Einherjar:
Rank 1: Raise a max of (1) willing humanoid warrior as a permanent Sap Golem to defend you. It requires 80% of the body's skeletal mass to form the golem. The Soul must still be present with the body, and receive Freya's permission through an appropriate ceremony or reside in the halls of Fólkvangr or Valhalla; some linger longer than others. Valkyrie must be near or witness the death of potential risen. Potential risen must agree to be raised and to the terms and duration of service. Potential risen can’t be ardent followers of a god or goddess outside the Norse pantheon. Limited ‘Speak with Dead’ granted for communication with viable dead. Golem has access to its strongest hereditary Pyth at the max rank of the Einherjar Ability if unharvested before raising. If harvested, the caster can slot one pyth, Core, or Gem up to rank of the ability. Durability is equal to a Flesh Golem. Stats of Golem are equal to the raised individuals in life, minus 4 to each mental stat.
Rank 2: Increases the healing Sap-Golems receive from Caster by Will(mod) x Rank %. Now grants access to the Golem's second strongest hereditary Pyth, Core, or Gem at the max rank of Einherjar ability. If harvested, the caster can now slot an additional Pyth, Core, or Gem. Stats of Golem are now equal to the individuals in life, minus 3 to each mental stat, and +1 constitution.
Caster passive: Golem counts as two people when the caster’s Shield Pyth is active and the Golem has a shield equipped.
“Anyway, Mikel swam through and found his tribe. They lowered the water level with pails so we could get through this tunnel safely. It's too long to swim through underwater for us,” Ashley explained.
“What about the spiders?” Chess prompted.
“Oh, they leave to hunt and fish for a good portion of the day. Lynn didn't want to kill them all because she thinks they'll be more valuable in the long run if they can breed," Ashley nodded sagely with this explanation. "It's why this took so fucking long. That and the tunnel refills a bit every night. They, the muskrats, had to leave before the spiders returned."
Chess cringed then smiled fondly at her daughter then reached out to muss up her hair. I need to stop swearing so much around her, don't I?
"Oh! And apparently, they know where the exit is!" she added. "As long as I got what Mikel said correct," she murmured with a nod. “He says you can see the exit from anywhere on the surface,” Ashley declared.
Chess listened to Ashley's chatter on and felt okay for the first time in a long time. Her daughter's mood was infectious.
Chess smiled despite her pounding head and aching limbs as they floated along. When she looked to the side, she saw a few more Muskrats swimming alongside the raft she was on.
Despite her pain, she smiled and closed her eyes. This smile deepened, even more, when the radiance of an actual sun hit her face and turned the backs of her eyelids red with its brilliance.
She fell into another fitful sleep only to be jostled awake when the litter she was on was placed on the ground. She opened her eyes reluctantly, but the predusk light wasn’t as devastating as she feared.
“So, where is this exit?” Chess asked Ashley who turned and repeated the question to Mikel who smiled and pointed up. Chess followed his finger to find a large chunk of what looked like black granite floating at least 300 yards in the air. She gaped at it for a long minute. A literal floating island?!
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Chess groaned when she realized there was no way up to it.
“Don’t worry, Lynn already has a plan. She said it shouldn’t take more than a day or two for you once you’re better,” Ashley reassured her with a pat on the shoulder.