by Skyler Grant
I gave them a summary of the night's events and the sheer strangeness of the encounter. “I’m having second thoughts about this whole alliance thing. It was really strange and I’m not sure she's actually human at all.”
Ashley said, “Walt, give us a few minutes?”
“Erm.. okay,” said the wizard, conjuring one of his fireflies and making his way out the door.
Once the door closed she glared at me and said, “Okay, I’m not the one to be giving this speech and I’m pissed off you're making me. But you need to listen.”
“I’m listening,” I said carefully.
“You want to fuck around. You’re horny, you have a high Charisma, and you represent some crazy-ass Goddess that makes fucking around a holy thing. The game is going to give you a lot of chances, it’s what your whole goddamned character is based around. That is not an excuse to be a fucking dick.” Ashley was jabbing me in the chest with her finger.
My temper rose. “And how am I being a dick? Because I said, oh, I’m having second thoughts, because I’m pretty sure with more evidence this girl is a lot less human and a lot more scarier than she led us to believe? That’s being smart.”
“That is being a dick. You don’t say you're on a girl's side, fuck her, and the next day decide maybe she’s the big bad and you shouldn’t have crawled into her bed after all. Sure, she’s pale, creepy as fuck, and covered in goddamned spiders. Did you think shit wasn’t going to get weird?”
I wanted to lash back, but she had a point . “I guess I thought stuff might get a little kinky.”
“I’m not talking about goddamned bondage or shit. You can do or not do whatever you want in the bedroom. Did everything about her not scream scary and weird from the moment we first set eyes on her?”
“I… Like you said… She was creepy as fuck and covered in spiders. Yeah, I knew that isn’t normal.”
“Right. And yeah, she propositioned, and yeah I kind of stepped up and said yes on your behalf. But fuck, Liam. You could have gotten out of that, if you wanted. But you wanted to fuck her. And that's okay, I’m not saying that's wrong. I am saying that once you did, we picked a side. It's the same with her and it will continue to be that way or you are going to have to deal with me.”
“So I should just throw good judgment out the window?”
“If you're going to use it, you should use it before your dick. Whatever weird shit she is, you were into it. You accepted it. She wasn’t hiding it. You signed on to at least give Team Creepy Spider Chick a chance. So don’t be a dick. She tries to betray us, I’ll backstab the bitch myself, but not until then.”
That was harsh. That was truth. I again found myself rather appreciating Ashley’s presence.
“I get it,” I said. “Really. I was wrong and you're right.”
Ashley let out a long sigh and said, “I’m not much of a team player, but we have to be. You are our tank, you have the piles of Charisma, that makes you the leader. So far you haven’t been much of an asshole, just don’t start. Okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed again, leaving it at that.
Ashley weighed me with a considering look once more and called out, “Walt! You can come back in now.”
Walt entered with Maria close on his heels. I really hoped that she hadn't heard much of the conversation. I felt even more guilty, seeing her. There is the secret language of lovers, the familiarity shared, offering insights denied to others. She gave no physical sign, yet somehow I could sense she was more relaxed and at peace with herself. Thinking about it, I was as well. It really had been a nice night, apart from the hallucinations.
And the spiders, obviously.
Relationship Gained
Maria Alera Sardonis: The Queen of Spiders
Lovers
Lovers share a sense of each others physical and emotional well being that may go undetected by anyone else. Both positive and negative interactions tend to be intensified.
Reputation Gain
Yvera
You have used seduction to further Yvera’s goals. The Queen of Spiders likely to be both of use in reaching the top floors and taking the castle.
I sighed at the game prompts. Seriously.
“Questions?” Maria asked. She must have been talking. I’d gotten so lost in reading the announcements it had gone right past me.
“I think it’s straightforward enough,” Ashley said. “Your spiders clear the trash and keep the common rats busy. We go after the King. You’ll do the best you can to poison, but since the King can replace parts of himself at will with other healthy rats, it’s going to be more of a slug fest.”
“Yes,” Maria said with just the faintest hint of a smile. “It will be brutal.”
“Teeth and claws, do you think that salve we picked up in the Earth laboratory will help?” I asked the others.
Ashley nodded. “The resistance should help a lot. They're going to try and fuck us all up, but you’ll get the worst of it, if you're holding the King’s attention.”
Maria offered a vial to each of us. “An antidote to the poison we shall be using. Take it before the fight, there will be a billowing cloud around me and you shall not want to breathe without this in your system.”
I wondered where she was keeping vials of anything and realized she must have an invisible inventory just as we did. Handy.
Maria gestured to me and said, “I think you need to finish getting dressed, everyone else should prepare.”
I followed her out of the room and back to her chamber. Candles had been lit. No sooner were we in the room than she kicked the door closed and was pressing herself against me.
You might think, after my earlier objections, I hesitated here. She might be creepy and strange, and to some degree literally toxic, but in the heat of the moment any reservations were instantly forgotten. Story of my life.
When we were done she helped me to put on my armor, a process made considerably easier with another set of hands, and we went to rejoin the others.
We moved through the corridors to the very edges of the rat's territory, where we paused for a last minute discussion.
“You should stay here for the moment, Maria,” I said.
“Why? We agreed to do this together.”
“If we go in violent, we're going to have to fight through the entire rat population, and if the King decides to, he’ll have plenty of time to hide. He’s expecting us. We’ll go in first, he’ll welcome us in to hear how we butchered you, and then we’ll strike.”
Ashley and Walt weren't happy and I couldn't blame them. This plan did have a better chance of success, but put the three of us in more danger.
Maria considered this and nodded, resting a hand upon my shoulder. I thought it simply a fond gesture until a spider scurried along one of her fingers to hop onto my armor, finding a gap and slipping beneath. She said, “A watcher, so I will know when you strike and we may launch our assault.”
Right. Spiders. Always the damned spiders.
We took a moment for prep-work, applying the salve to give us resistance to slashing and piercing, and Ashley smearing poison on her daggers. When we were ready, we entered the well-lit portions of the rat’s territory. Tiny heads swiveled up to peer at us. We waited, and before long a guide rat appeared to take us through the corridors.
I hoped the little spider somehow took note of all this, for I’d be hard-pressed to describe the bewildering twists and turns that led to the throne room. The King was waiting, a patchwork assortment of oh-so-many rats sitting on the throne. Countless glistening eyes peering at us hopefully.
“You have returned!” the King boomed with a bit too much cheery enthusiasm for my comfort. “Have you slaughtered our foes? Dealt with them as you did with the traitors before? Are the spiders no more?”
I had to reflect on how cheerful this guy was. It really made me feel kind of bad about the whole thing. I said, “You didn't inform us the Queen of Spiders wasn't a spider herself.”
“She is the Quee
n of Spiders and not the Spider Queen,” said the King, bemused. “I thought that perfectly clear. Do you have proof of your kill?”
“We do, Your Majesty” Ashley said. “May I approach your highness to deliver it?”
The rats squeaked happily amongst themselves, altogether thrilled and the King gestured Ashley forward.
I watched her, eyes lingering upon the sway of her hips more than was really appropriate for the moment and I cursed myself. My sex drive was getting me in enough trouble, I really didn't need to add that complication to our lives. Still…
Fortunately, I wasn't left with my inappropriate thoughts for long. When Ashley was before the King she reached out as if grabbing into her inventory—and suddenly her daggers were in her hands and both jammed upwards into the collection of rats forming the King’s head.
Surprise Attack
I wondered if it mattered at all that she hit in the head, and if those rats were any smarter than the ones elsewhere. It was a nice blow and I checked the King’s stats.
Rat King
Elite
Level 9: Type: Animal Construct HP: 130/150
Poisoned
The Rat King is a conglomeration of rats formed out of a desire for order and pattern within their society. As a collective he is far stronger and more potent than the combined strength of the component rats. Due to his ability to heal and throw off status conditions by discarding and reabsorbing new rats, attrition tactics don’t tend to be effective.
An Elite? I didn't know what that meant exactly and worried why it was included. Even the Warden, who kind of kicked our tails, didn’t have that classification.
“Save your mana,” Ashley told us. She must have seen the same thing, but behind me I heard Walt already casting.
Tangleweb
The shimmering magical net sprang out and covered the King. The rats strained against it in an effort to break off.
“Right, he can’t shrug off the poison. Smart,” Ashley said, impressed.
“Walt, keep enough mana for another net, if he breaks this one,” I called out as I charged towards the King, my shield and sword ready.
Rats flung themselves at me from all sides, teeth and claws scraping against my armor and making a furious din as they raked the chainmail. The resistance salve was working well, although a bleed effect was gaining a truly alarming number of stacks. A diseased status impaired my healing, too.
No wonder this guy would be hard to beat, any long-term effects on him would normally be shrugged off, while the rats applied a devastating combination of their own.
With the net though we stood more of a chance and I blessed Walt’s quick thinking as I swung my sword again and again into the mass of rats.
Ashley was beside me, the poisoned daggers slashing and stabbing both at the king and at any rats that clung to her too stubbornly.
Ashley’s smaller health bar was dropping fast. I was doing far better against this endless swarm of rats. Hands sadly occupied, I hip-bumped her and focused upon the Lay on Hands spell, hoping any physical contact would be sufficient. A moment later her health bar blossomed back to full.
With triumphant squeaks the rats broke free of the net and peeled off the King. More leaped to the ground.
Patchwork Rats
Crap. In an instant the King shed the poisoned status and healed 15 HP.
Walt stopped bashing rats with his staff to chant again and once more threw the net over the King. I had enough mana for a Smite and focused on the spell.
Smite
There was a familiar pillar of fire and stench of singed rat, and those 15 HP were back off.
Several stabs from Ashley restored the poison, but we still seemed to be going nowhere fast. Ashley was already down to half her HP despite the earlier healing. Walt was at somewhere around a quarter and I was at half myself. The King still had half his health bar. It wasn’t hard to see where this was going. We had a bit of fight left in us, but he had more.
Then the spiders showed up.
In any other circumstances it would have been a sight to inspire terror. A horrific scene and the stuff of nightmares as a wave of blackness composed of tiny skittering shapes swept into the chamber and began to fling themselves through the air.
They were our salvation. Maria walked in after them, a virulent green haze swirling in the air around her.
Poisonous Fog
You are immune to Poisonous Fog
The surrounding status bars gave me some idea of what I was avoiding and I was glad to skip it. Every rat in the room took on a slightly greenish tint and health bars began to drop. While some continued to bite and claw at us, most break away and fled the toxic smog.
I circled around the King and bashed him with my shield, driving him in Maria's direction, forcing him deeper and deeper into that poisonous fog. Ashley stabbed with mad glee and for the first time the King seemed to shrink. As more and more rats perished and he had no way to replace their mass, he became ever smaller.
Five Finger Spider Death Touch
Maria reached out to grasp him firmly by the head, the spiders running in a torrent down her arm and completely engulfing the King. I admired the reveal of her form—I really needed to stop thinking about sex in the middle of combat. Seriously, was there some kind of treatment for that?
Maria didn't remain unclad for long, the spiders returning up along her arm to coat her once again. The King wobbled, the last sliver of his health bar finally dropping away and with an almost disappointing thudding noise a pile of rats fell to the floor. We and the spiders were the last living things in the chamber.
As a party we were wrecked. I could only hope that Maria would keep her word. That despite whatever lack of humanity I suspected, she would prove honorable.
63
Maria regarded the piles of corpses, her face wearing an indulgent and satisfied smile. She really did enjoy the slaughter.
“You performed well,” Maria said. “You shall have safe passage to the next floor, and the spiders as allies should you take the throne above. The loot of the King is ours, as is this floor.”
“We never agreed to that,” Ashley said, looking rather riled up. It wasn't wise to get between her and any loot.
“No, perhaps you should have negotiated it, but you did not. This is our home, this was our enemy and the profits of this battle are ours. You were gifted poisons, and shall receive more. Walt was promised a robe of silk and shall have his payment as well.” Maria's tone brooked no argument.
“We did more than originally planned,” I said, moving between the two. Not a good place to be.
Maria’s eyes were cold and dangerous for a moment, before she nodded slightly. “You did. The thief will take one item that I select. An added reward for your boldness, and to keep the peace.”
Ashley looked mollify enough. Good.
“Agreed,” I said.
Spiders scurried everywhere in an undulating dark wave and Maria walked over towards one pile of rat corpses that were once a part of the king. She pulled out a set of gloves, offering them to Ashley, who studied them.
“Okay. These are pretty badass. I wish I had the full set…” Ashley began, “Fuck it. A steady supply of poison is pretty badass, too. Thanks.”
Maria said, “I would offer to show you the way to the surface now, but all of you could use some rest. A few hours, some food and a chance to replenish, and then we can make our way up.”
Maria led the way and we stepped into place behind her.
“Do you know what we’ll find on the floors above?” I asked.
“The spiders have been there,” Maria said. “The floor immediately above us was home to servants and guards of the castle. Since the castle’s fall many have become undead and now wander the halls.”
“Not zombies?” I asked with my stomach sinking. The last zombie we’d met had made an impression.
“A few, but mostly skeletons.”
“Does that mean that there is a necromancer a
s well?” Walt said. “I thought that raising undead required one.”
“Binding the dead to a purpose does the same,” Maria said as we continued to walk, seemingly not fazed by the windings of the corridors. “The undead here already had a purpose. Those who died in service to this castle and the kingdom were never given a proper burial. Given enough time that purpose seizes them even in death and they live again. After a fashion.”
“We met a zombie in the cells below,” I said. “Who was still determined to see us remain imprisoned. So the castle servants will be doing what? Trying to do our laundry and cook us dinner?”
“Probably,” Maria agreed to my surprise. “Reliving those tasks and duties they performed in life. It is the castle guards who will be the danger.”
We passed back from the lighted halls of the rats into the darkness of the spiders. I supposed that soon the whole floor would be dark. I still wondered if we had truly picked the right side in this particular struggle, unable to forget that expression on Maria’s face when she looked over the slaughter.
She opened a door and lit several candles, revealing a small table and chairs. A number of bowls contained piles of what looked like fungus.
“The food is simple, but not poisonous,” Maria said. “I expect you’ll find it quite terrible.”
“We’re all starving,” Ashley said. “I almost grabbed a few rats back there to start chowing down on. I can go for an underground salad.”
Walt didn't look quite as enthused, but moved to sit down. I started to join them and felt Maria’s arm slipping into mine.
“We’ll eat in my chambers,” Maria said.
