As Roland was sitting at the table in the kitchen, he was thinking about Nipper. The guy wasn’t an animal, he was an arachnid. He was speaking to the spider like he would another animal but this spider was more intelligent than most of the animals he had dealt with. Shadow was the exception. The owl was fairly intelligent too. Was using Nipper as a type of guard going too far? Was he violating the rules of an Animal Bond? He wasn’t bound to Nipper, they just helped each other out. This was going to be a question for Eli.
Roland met Hazel and Vivi at the gate when they returned home later that day. He stomped twice to let Nipper know they were friends. Hazel was looking at Roland like he had two heads, and Vivi had a look of confusion on her face. They knew something was up. Roland had never before met them at the gate when they came home. Roland’s stomping confused them both.
He brought them into the living room to discuss what had just happened. They really should know a spider was guarding the house. “I wanted to speak with you about some changes that have occurred around the house.”
Hazel’s eye shot up and had a huge smile. “Did we get more furniture? I love the new furnishings we have, but you can never have too much.”
“No, nothing like that. Let me ask you both what you think about spiders.”
This was a bit of an eye opener for both girls. The conversation was way off track. Hazel was the first to respond. “I hate them, if I see them I usually crush them. Spiders may kill insects, but I don’t care, I’ll kill them as soon as I see them.”
Vivi was a bit more timid of the two girls. “I avoid spiders at all cost. If I see them, I have Hazel kill them for me. They give me the heebie jeebies.”
“What would you say about having a guard at the house?” Roland asked the two.
Again, Hazel jumped right in on the topic. “We don’t need a guard Roland. We can take care of ourselves. They are too expensive for the limited amount of income we have. If our business grows in the future, I’m sure we will eventually have to hire someone, but for now it is out of the question. Remember, Roland, come to me about the finances. I hope you haven’t hired someone already.”
Vivi’s answer was short and to the point. “I like guards, they make me feel safer.”
“Well, we have had someone volunteer to be our guard, so it won’t be an additional expense. He will be at the house all the time. I doubt he will leave very often, if ever. He is a bit shy and you will probably never see him, unless there is a problem. If that’s the case, you need to be aware he is here.”
“So, we are going to have to feed him? That is a cost too. Where is he going to stay? I was planning on putting someone upstairs in the bigger room, but I guess he could stay there.”
“He will be staying outside and he will take care of the food himself. If he catches anyone trying to enter the house, or into the yard for that matter, he will tie them up and leave them just outside the door. So, if you get up in the morning and you find someone tied up outside you will know why.”
Roland continued, “The other thing you need to know is that when you bring anyone into the yard, you need to stomp on the ground twice to let him know they are friends, and they will be safe. If they are an enemy don’t do anything. If they are neither friend nor foe and they don’t need to be stopped, stomp on the ground once.”
“Ok, that is weird. Why all the stomping. Is he on top of the warehouses looking down and needs to have notified in such a weird way?”
“No, he is underground. It is convenient way for him to hear the stomps.”
“Roland, this is really crazy. How is he underground and guarding the place at the same time? It just doesn’t make sense,” Hazel replied.
“Here is the deal, so don’t go getting all upset. He knows you both are my friends and he will protect you. Nipper is his name. He is a Giant Ogre Faced Spider.”
“You have got to be joking!!!!! We have a giant spider in the yard right now?” Vivi was aghast, her face showing shock.
“Yes, he has a special trap door by the front gate. He will be keeping the rat population down, as it is part of his diet. His looks are quite remarkable. He has lots of eyes, an ogre face, and two large fangs that hold a poison that will kill just about anything. His silk thread is incredibly strong. When I say he will have any trespassers tied up at the front door, they literally will be tied up.”
Hazel had a smirk on her face. “Can we meet him?”
Vivi had a look of horror on her face. “He isn’t dangerous, is he?”
“After it gets dark, I will invite him in so you can meet him. You will probably need to let him in the house on occasion, especially if rats get inside. He will take care of the problem. He had been a captive of the thieves and we need to keep this a secret. We don’t want the thieves coming after us for revenge, and Nipper doesn’t want to go back to the cage. They put drugs in his food and after he was knocked out, they would come in and harvest the spider silk and the poison from his fangs. He was miserable.”
“After Shadow and I freed him, he came back to the house and he liked it here. So, because he is grateful he has volunteered to become our guard. If we need spider silk, he can provide it. We won’t be able to sell it because it will bring the attention of the thieves to us.”
The girls were worried about meeting Nipper. They couldn’t stop talking about him and in one moment they wanted to meet him, and in the next they were scared. While the girls discussed happenings at the market that day, and Hazel’s apprenticeship, Roland pulled up his Skills Panel for Animal Bond. He had a hunch.
Animal Bond
Blessed with magic from the Elves you are able to bond an animal to your life. The two of you will complement each other even through death.
Passive Abilities
Share Attributes
Increased Healing +.005/Second
Increased Stamina +.05/Second
Increased Strength +1/Per Level
Active Abilities
Cast Heal on Bonded Animal (50 mana)
Interact with other Animals
Interact with sentient Arachnids, Insectoids, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Arthropods
Just as he thought, he had gained another ability. He could interact with something other than a bird, or mammal. He knew what most of the creatures were except for that last item, arthropods. What was an arthropod? Something Eli would have to help him with. Why did they have to be sentient? Were these creatures unable to interact with the Animal Bond if they weren’t sentient?
Later that evening after it grew dark, Roland went outside and called out to Nipper. If you’re going to be part of the family you’ll need to be known by everyone. It is going to be tough, and the girls are a little scared. To overcome their fear means getting to know you. Hopefully after they meet you, and get to know you more, you will all become friends. Are you good with this?
I’m good with meeting your cluster. I haven’t been part of a cluster since shortly after I left the egg sack. Spiders don’t get along well with one another. The females always want to mate and when they are through they eat the males. It’s good for them, but bad for us males.
That would keep a guy celibate. Roland chuckled.
They walked into the house with Roland leading the way. Hazel and Vivi were sitting on the couch. As Nipper came into the living room, Hazel gasped and froze, staring at Nipper. Vivi let out a screech of fear, pulled her legs up off the floor and grabbed her knees forming into a tight ball. Her breathing was more of gasping. She really did have a fear of spiders.
“Let me introduce you to Nipper.” Nipper let me introduce you to Hazel and Vivi. Vivi is the one who is really scared. Hazel’s eyes aren’t usually that large, but she doesn’t seem to be as scared.
Hazel broke out of her frozen state. “It is good to meet you.” She looked at Roland. “Does he understand language?”
“No, but I will translate for him. I know he looks intimidating, but he wants to be part of what he calls a cluster. That is what you
call spiders in a group. So, he is now part of our cluster and I hope we can all get along.”
After about an hour, the girls finally were able to pet Nipper. They even worked out times for him to come into the house in the evening. This would let him make sure no nasty rodents had taken up residence in the house. They were also sure that no one would ever want to trespass on the property once they saw Nipper. Nipper went back out to his hidden home, continuing to guard the house.
Roland and Shadow took off later in the night. As was their custom, they left through the window in Roland’s room. Roland cast the shadow illusion and they took off running through the city. Roland wasn’t sure but he thought he saw Nipper’s eyes peek out of his trap door when they left.
He had the coiled spider silk over his shoulder. It wasn’t long before they made it to Gnorbit’s house. He was working in his workshop when they arrived. “Come on in you two. Did you get me some spider silk?”
“We have what I would consider a lot of spider silk,” Roland said as he unveiled what he carried.
“My word, Roland. Did you steel a year’s supply of silk? I’ve never seen so much silk in one place.”
“It was given to me by a friend of mine named Nipper, who was kind enough to supply us with what we needed. You should come by soon and I will introduce you to him.”
“You brought another vagrant into your home? Some day one of those vagrants is going to steal everything you have.”
“I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. Nipper is my guard, he stays on my property and is very adept at ensnaring trespassers. He is the Giant Ogre Faced Spider himself. The thieves were holding him in a cage in the tunnels below the city. He stays hidden at the house and I strongly doubt they will ever find out what happened to him.”
“Well, this silk is wonderful. As you can see I’ve made some improvements to your bag already. I had two runes of Feather Light placed on the bag, one on the top, the other on the bottom. If you ever leave your bag empty and out in the wind, it will most likely blow away. Now the pack is not only water proof, it is incredibly light.
“With the silk, I’m going to make a rope with a grappling hook. I’m also going to give you one piece of the silk for your bow string. You will love that because it will never stretch when it gets wet like your present string will and it should last for several decades. I was thinking about improving your bow. With spider silk, I think my idea will work. “
“Now back to your pack. You will notice I have placed a hidden pocket in here to hold another set of lock picks. You can never have enough. I have also hidden several pockets for throwing knives as you can never have enough of those, either. The last thing I have added is here at the frame. Pull and turn this edge of the frame.”
Roland twisted and pulled. As he did, the end of the frame detached and attached to it was a small wire. Gnorbit took hold of the wire, pulled it across the table and attached it to the wall. “After attaching the wire, go back to the pack and push this hidden button. Now the trap is set. If someone either pulls or cuts the wire, the trap with be sprung.” He reached out at a strange angle and tripped the wire. A blade came out of the top of the pack swung around 360 degrees almost slicing Gnorbit’s arm.
“You can never have enough traps, Roland. If you never remember anything else, remember that. With these additions, the feather light runes were a necessity. You should also put some type of poison on that blade. If the person trying to steal your pack lived beyond the knife slice, the poison will kill them. Which reminds me, tomorrow I’ll put a series of small pouches along the top part on the inside of your bag. The pouches will hold one of these vials.” He picked up a small glass bottle with a cork in the top. “Put your poisons in here. I’ve colored the stoppers with different colors. That way you will know which vial holds which poison. Will three pouches be enough for you?” He laughed at his own comment.
“Actually, no. I’ll need four. I have forest asp, Manticore, Stun Lizard, and Ogre Faced Spider poisons.”
“Really? Three of those will kill, and one will paralyze. Do you really need three killing poisons?”
“Well, the forest asp is more of a slowdown poison. It makes you sick and if you don’t get any healing it will kill you but it is slow and miserable. Manticore poison means death in approximately three seconds. The spider poison also means death, but can take up to a minute or two. It’s also is a preservative. Put a few drops of that onto food and its effects will last a long time. You can also eat it. It will only kill you if it gets into the blood.”
“Roland, I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about poisons. Remind me not to trip one of your traps. Please never serve anything preserved with a poison to me. I don’t care if it only bothers you when it gets in your blood, the whole idea of eating poison is disquieting.” Gnorbit shivered slightly after his last comment.
“How much longer are you going to be working on the pack? I am interested in what you said a minute ago about improving my bow. What do you have in mind?”
“I had a thought about making a bow much stronger, but the strength to pull the bow back would need to be tremendous. To overcome the strength issue, we would need to rig some type of pulley system. Then you would need to limit the length of the pull. To get that to work, I need something that is very light weight and very strong. The spider silk is strong and light weight, but the problem is making it more rigid. In some places I need flex and others it needs to be stiffer.”
“The only way I can think of making spider silk stiff is to put a layer of silk down, then paint it with amber slime. The slime has to be thinned with an oil based thinner. After the first layer dries, we’d need to put down some more spider silk and repeat. Build up the layers in a form. When we get to the required thickness, we’ll need to place three layers of the amber slime on the outside to seal the whole thing. The amber slime adds to the weight, but not by much. It’s incredibly durable stuff.”
“I suppose this means you need more spider silk and some amber slime then. I can get the spider silk for you, but you will have to get the amber slime yourself.”
“No Roland, you will have to get the amber slime. I wouldn’t last a minute in the Endless Swamp. You get amber slime from an Amber Slime. They suffocate their victims and they place their kills in amber which preserves the meal for another time. It also keeps other predators and scavengers from eating their meal. Nothing can break through that amber except for the amber secretion of Amber Slime.”
“You want me to go to the Endless Swamp and get some amber slime from an Amber Slime? Where would I find one of these Amber Slime creatures and how would I extract the amber slime secretion?”
“The Amber Slime themselves can be found in the center of the swamp. They can be quite large, so you will need something more lethal than a bow and arrows, or even that knife of yours. I would suggest a spear actually. In the center of the slime is a small black sack that contains the nerve center of the creature. Stab that sack and it dies. It is very simple really. You should take a lot of distillation of resin with you. It is the only thing that will get the slime off of you.”
“After you kill the Slime, only take the secretion on the outside of the creature. Don’t take the slime from the middle of the creature, it isn’t concentrated enough. You will need scrapers and a container to put the secretion in so it doesn’t harden before you get it back. Drop a few drops of the distillation of resin in the container every day. Take some adventurers with you because no on survives the Endless Swamp alone. Not even you Roland.”
“Am I going to have to pay for this adventure myself?”
“Your payment will be the new bow. It will be the greatest bow ever made, if I say so myself,” Gnorbit smiled.
“Where do I get the distillation of resin? Also, is there anything else I can get from the swamp while I’m there? I might as well make the most from the trip.”
“The distillation of resin can be purchased from the Alchemist Guild. It is
fairly inexpensive and it comes from trees. Hazel should be able to retrieve it for you. As far as items you could collect in the swamp, there are boundless possibilities. There are magical creatures all over the swamp. Take someone with you who knows the swamps and if you’re fortunate, you will find the slime quickly. If not, you are going to be miserable.”
The next day, Roland was able to pick up his new pack from Gnorbit, along with a spear that Gnorbit fashioned for him after finishing the pack. At the same time Roland was retrieving the pack, Hazel purchased the distillation of resin. When Roland had everything packed and ready, he went to the Adventures Guild to post his own job.
Chapter 7
Into the Endless Swamp
Roland and Shadow entered the Adventures Guild. Imala was standing at her usual place as hostess for the guild hall. “Imala you are looking cheerful today.”
“Thank you, Roland. How about you and Shadow? Are you two doing well today?”
“We are doing well, thank you. I was needing a little help. I am wanting to advertise a job that I would like to pay for.”
“Well, that is easy enough, just fill out this form. You will need to have our guild bank sign off on the job. They make sure that whoever advertises a job can pay for it. The other guilds that advertise obviously never have to worry about being checked. The guilds possess a standing agreement between themselves. The Crown never has to worry either. If they don’t pay, we withhold enough taxes to pay for the job. Very simple really. What type of job are you needing?”
“I need to get some slime from an Amber Slime in the Endless Swamp,” Roland replied.
Caged: Book 2 Of the King's Hand Series Page 15
