Genesis Locorum

✦✦✦

Sarah wakes up attached to a web. She tried to move, but her body was wrapped in a tight silken cocoon, her body stiffed by the constraints.

Through the opening in her cocoon, she could see several Arachne congregating.

“Our god needs more mana,” one of them says.

“Patience,” another says. “Out priests are already searching for suitable offerings.”

“Offerings?” Sarah thought. She tried to free herself again, but the threaded cocoon would not permit her to so much as squirm. She feels parts of her body go numb in the attempt.

As she attempts to free herself, she sees several other cocoons in the web, they look identical to the sphere she saw earlier, the silken spheres where she harvested thread from. A realization dawns on her. She couldn't feel her hammer or her bag. Her eyes dart around trying to find any presence of the items, but her eyes could not find them.

“Are the ‘visitors’ enough?” Sarah hears an Arachne expressing a certain concern. “That dwarf girl doesn't seem like she has much mana.”

“Didn’t you hear them say the priests are searching for offerings?” another Arachne said.

A third Arachne sighs, “Some of them are probably awake by now. Who wants to fix that?”

A group of Arachne silently volunteers, each one peering into the cocoons on the webs and at the base of the trees.

“What are they doing?” Sarah thinks. Her mind races as she struggles to find out what they plan to do to her. Eventually, her turn comes and her gaze now meets the eyes of an Arachne.

The eyes of the spider look normal, but for some reason Sarah couldn’t look away from them, as she states deeper into the spider’s eyes, she barely notices drool forming in her mouth, not did she notice her consciousness slipping into a trance. A few minutes later, she stopped thinking. Her mind as stiffed as her body. The Arachne leaves her cocoon revealing Sarah’s eyes had dimmed. For now, the only thing on her mind is the sound of her breath, the beating of her hearth. Not a solitary conscious though remained in her mind.

✦✦✦

Richard offered them a stay in some guest room at his atelier. Heathcliff takes the opportunity to get a paramedic to heal Elizabeth’s wounds. As the fairy’s wounds are knitted up. Emily is surprised to learn that the medical practitioner uses healing spells as well as the thread to close the wounds.

Later, as Elizabeth rests, Tim and Heathcliff get to cooking. After dinner, Heathcliff then offers to clean the dishes.

“Remember to save the dishes,” Heathcliff says. “We’re guests here, Tim.”

“Of course,” Tim says. “As young as you try not to argue with the host. We’re guests here, Heathcliff.”

“As long as he stays clammed about my sense of aesthetics we’re good.”

“That’ll be the day,” Tim says.

“Cher,” Heathcliff shakes his head. “Please don’t.”

At the same time, Emily and Elizabeth talk more about how Richard reached his conclusion. Richard shows them the fabrics with the missing silk.

“Prices were jacked up compared to the week before,” Richard said. “Even if we had a sufficient supply of everything else, the silk is the most important part of the dress. It cannot be completed without it. Sarah knew that I’m certain of it.”

“And so you think that she might have headed out to Tarantuapolis herself?” Elizabeth says.

“I am certain of it,” Richard says. “At least I’m certain of it now. “We barely had enough money to hire adventurers, so I’m certain that she had to come there alone.”

“How so?” Emily says.

“An Arachne-populated dungeon,” Elizabeth says. “That does seem like an easy place to try to get silk from. As long as you can defeat the residents of course.”

“I know little about the place,” Richard says. “I do know its name and its proximity to Websdale, even the idea of it being a source of silk is my speculation. But with no sign of her in the dungeons we explored so far and absent any other clues, this is my best, no my only lead now.”

“I understand,” Emily said. “Don’t worry, we’ll help you find her.”

“I knew you would,” Richard says. “Sorry for dragging you into this.”

“It’s no problem,” Emily says. “We’re happy to help.”

“Shame we can’t help your friend with his wardrobe,” Richard says. “Does he take the price for being a fashion disaster?”

“Probably,” Elizabeth says. The three giggle over the idea of Heathcliff wearing garish outfits for contrarianism’s sake.

“The paramedic says these wounds would be healed by the morn,” Elizabeth says. So we can start heading out then.

“Elizabeth,” Emily says. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Don’t worry. It’ll take a lot more than wind cuts to kill me.”

“I’d hope you’re right,” Emily considers having Elizabeth learn the art of swordplay from Heathcliff later.

The topic turns to the Aerosphere. Emily tries to absorb it, but nothing happens.

“Usually the Elementalist’s Spheres have to be affixed to the dungeon itself,” Elizabeth says. “Their avatara can absorb them, but it usually occurs under rare circumstances.”

“So that means we have to to attach this to my body alter?” Emily says.

“Perhaps.”

Richard begins to make a connection. “Wait a moment,” he says. “You’re a dungeon Emily?”

Emily and Elizabeth realizes that Emily had just revealed her status as a Divine Dungeon to Richard and nearly panics. Despite her attempts at denying it, her expression made it all to clear to Richard that she is a dungeon.

“Don’t worry,” Richard says. “I’m not interested in your core, if that’s what your concerned about.”

Night falls and everyone rests in their rooms at Richard’s workshop, prepared to head to Websdale and Tarantuapolis tomorrow.

✦✦✦

Emily and her party arrive at Websdale, a town that’s a dozen miles away from Eastshire. Populated by Arachne. They see the buildings and trees decorated with webs as the local population goes about their day. The denizens of Websdale, busy with their affairs, pay no heed to the travelers.

“Well,” Heathcliff says. “We’re here. How should we ask about Sarah and that dungeon?”

“Leave it to me,” Richard says. “I can ask if they have seen Sarah.”

“They seem less hostile than the one we found at the mines,” Tim says.

“Didn’t we also see one at the ruins as well?” Emily says.

“Arachne are spider people, Emily,” Heathcliff says. “People is the operative phrase. They are among other forms of beast folk that live in…relative harmony with us.”

Richard asks the locals about his missing sister. His search was fruitless until he saw a trio of Arachne chatting at a cafe.

“I think I seen another dwarf ‘round these parts,” one Arachne says.

“Hmm,” another says. “She came here looking for silk right?”

“Must’ve gone to that weird place,” a third Arachne said.

Richard thinks the third Archane is talking about Tarantulapolis. “Might you lead me and my entourage there?”

“No can do, buddy,” he says. “Our ‘friends’ there, are a very secretive bunch.”

“They don’t seem to see eye to eye with outsiders,” the first Arachne said.

“If she did go there,” the second Arachne said, shuddering. “I hear they perform weird rituals there. That they offer prey up to a god”

“They’re probably some pretender,” the first one says. “Rational folks know that the only real gods are the Administrators.”

“Anyway,” the third Arachnid said. “ They move around the nearby wildernesses, they do not stick around in one place.”

“I gotta go,” the second Arachne said. “Got to pick up little Nina from the Broodmother.”

“I have to get some silk for my webs,” the first Arachne says. “Heard some folks were giving our free threads to the citizens here.”

The trio disperses, leaving Richard with a small lead. He returns to the party.

“How’d it go?” Emily says.

“Well, I think we got something to work with.” He explains what he had learned from the three Arachne.

“A moving dungeon?” Tim says. “Is that possible?”

“I don’t think so,” Elizabeth says. “But…”

“But what?” Richard says.

“It might be possible that Tarantuapolis’ residents might be moving around the dungeon. Migrating along a route as the dungeon expanded.”

“They mentioned something about a ‘god’,” Tim says. “Maybe that’s the dungeon’s core?”

“It could be,” Elizabeth says.

Emily recalls Elizabeth’s words at the Cloudstone Ruins.

“Well,” Richard says. “It was also said that someone was visiting Websdale and handing out free silk. They might know something about my sister.”

“Makes sense, “Heathcliff says. “Assuming she did come here for fabric at least.”

Emily’s party tours the town, mingling with the local Arachne population and trying to find out where this silk vendor is. They soon find one of the Arachne Richard had talked to earlier, alongside a smaller Arahcne girl.

“Excuse me?” Emily says. “Do you know anything about someone giving away threads?”

The female Arachne notices a familiar blond dwarf among them and recalls her friend mentioning it. “Lindon did mention something about that.” She tries to recall where they might be.

“Mommy,” the smaller spider said. “I’m hungry.”

“Not now, dearie,” the mother spider says. “Mama’s busy.”

The mother introduces herself to the party. “My name’s Minerva,” she says, “My daughter’s called Nina. Say hi to the nice strangers.” She seemed like a kind lady, a little well-off, laid-back, and easygoing.

Nina cheerfully greets the party. She takes an interest in the attire Emily and her party are wearing and realizes they are adventurers.

“Maybe we can make some lunch?” Heathcliff said. “Stomach’s been growing for a while.”

“Yeah,” Tim said. “Didn’t get breakfast on the way here.”

“I know a perfect restaurant,” Minerva said. Eager to please Webdale’s guests. She leads the party to a steakhouse down the road.

“Table for seven?” Minerva said to the cashier in the restaurant’s waiting room. The employee leads them to a table near the windows.

“I do recall you were asking about your sister,” Minerva said to the dwarf.

“I did,” Richard says. “I’ve reason to think she came here looking for silk so that we could finish a dress for a client.”

Minerva notices Richard’s attire matches a tailor’s to a T. Nina meanwhile is more amazed at how his fellow travelers look.

“Are you guys adventurers?” The spiderling said.

“That obvious huh?” Elizabeth said.

“Well,” Richard says, “some of them do look like the most sharp-dressed adventurers I’ve ever seen, the swordsman however.”

Heathcliff is slighted by Richard’s remark, but he tries to keep his furor in check. Minerva giggles a bit.

“Can I join you?” Nina says.

“Nina!” Minerva says. “You know that lifestyle is too dangerous!”

The waiter arrives to take their orders.

“Steak, medium rare,” Heathcliff said.

“Ceasar Salad,” Tim says.

“Fried platter,” Emily says.

“The usual,” Minerva says.

“Some blowout patches,” Richard says.

The waiter leaves. Minerva turns to Emily. “You’ll have to forgive her. She grew up on tales of Adventurers and harbored a desire to be one herself”

“No problem,” Emily says.

Nina crosses her arms, in a huff.

“So you think your sister might be lost ‘round these parts,” Minerva says.

“I do,” Richard says.

“Any reason why someone would come all this way from Eastshire?” Minerva says.

“We ran short on materials,” Richard says. “I think Sarah went to get some more fabric specifically so that we can finish the dress.”

“There had been reports of disappearances, lately,” Minerva said. “Radio’s been claiming that people were getting kidnapped left, right, and center here.”

“Come to think of it,” Heathcliff said. “You never did tell us what that client was like.”

“I mentioned, she was from Noir,” Richard said, his fork sticking out on a stack of pancakes. “But besides that, she was a rather wealthy but rude customer, with very demanding criteria. She says it’s for the Gala at Gatsby Tower next month.”

“Sounds like a tough job,” Tim says.

The conversation was interrupted by a commotion heard outside. The party looks out to see several Arachne gathering outside the restaurant.

“Looks like the silkman’s here,” Minerva says.

Richard quickly scarf down his food and rushes out the door. He sees several Arachne crowding around the silkman and his carriage. Each clamoring for various types of spider silk.

“And this one goes to the little lass in the back,” the silkman says as he hands some spools to a young girl. “This one to the man to the right. And this one too--”

“Excuse me,” Richard says. “May I ask you a question?”

“Why sure, little man,” the silkman says. Richard tells him about his missing sister and asks if he has handed her anything recently.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like her recently, chum,” the silkman said. “My apologies.”

The rest of the group left the restaurant after Minerva asked for a check. They find several of the Arachne being discontented with Richard interrupting the silkman. Richard notices the rancor in the air and politely leaves.

As the silkman hands out spools the crowd quietly thins out. He gives his last spool to Richard for his troubles. “If any word of her pops up, I’ll let you know, chum.”

“Thanks,” Richard says.

The silkman prepares to leave, Nina notices something in the carriage move and curiously climbs onto the back. Beneath Minerva’s notice. She sees several cocoons in the back of the carriage. The silkman notices the stowaway before he drives out. His shocked reaction alerted Minerva to what her daughter was doing.

“Nina!” Minerva shouts. “What has gotten into you!”

Minerva scolds Nina, then apologizes to the silkman. The friendly man takes the incident in stride. He notices something about Emily before driving off.

“I’ll let you know if anything regarding Sarah comes up,” Minerva says. “Coem to think of it, you guys had forgotten to introduce yourselves.”

“My mistake,” Richard said. “Name’s Richard.”

“Emily,” the purple-haired avatara says.

“Pleasure to meet you, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Heathcliff Ford, and this here’s Tim.”

“My name’s Elizabeth,” the fairy says.

“Thank you,” Minerva says. She then leaves the group with Nina and returns home. The party meanwhile rents some rooms at a motel, selling some of the marble slabs to cover the expenses.

✦✦✦

Emily’s party takes a look at their motel rooms.

“Quaint place,” Heathcliff said. “Rustic. I like it.”

“It could use something…more,” Tim says.

“Boy,” Heathcliff says. “It’s been how long since you left that palace?”

“Enough,” Elizabeth says. “I had enough squabbling for one week!”

“Fine, fine,” Heathcliff says. “So, that Minerva, she a nice lady.”

Richard ponders on the silkman for a bit. He couldn’t help but notice something off about him. He gazes at the spool of silk he got from him. A strange smell catches everyone’s attention. Pungent, with a hint of citrus.

At the same time, Minerva is at her house, ready to take her daughter to bed. The varnished periwinkle walls with their simple square moldings, give an aura of modesty, yet the white ceiling, with silver shapes decorating it and a small crystal chandelier, grants the room an air of majestic opulence. The furniture contributes to this aura, with its bold sharp shapes and black, lavender, and chrome color schemes. The floor, patterned with zigzags alternating betwixt black and white, completes the opulent look of the living room. The Arachne mother notices a strange spool of thread on her counter and a stranger scene in the air.

“That is curious,” Minerva thought. She decides to check the air conditioner.

While looking at the spool, she senses strange rustling in the nearby bushes. She hears noises from the various topiary in her garden and suspects there are intruders at her home. She heads out to the garden to check.

Nina meanwhile has finished brushing her teeth and fangs. She notices a strange fruity smell in the air. “Mommy,” she yells. “Did you put air fresheners in my room again?” She notices the house is empty, or so it seems. She sees a shadow at the edge of the hallway, thinking it’s Minerva she follows it.

Arriving at the living room, she finds some strangers. Arachne much like herself, her mother, and their neighbors. Yet something about them seems a little off.

“There she is!” one of them cries. The invaders prepare to take Nina. The young girl tries to run, but her small frame is easily outsped by the kidnappers. She lets out a scream as she is grabbed by their hands. She struggles to escape, using her arms, her wight legs, and her teeth to fight her captors, but it is to no avail. The Arachne kidnappers proceed to wrap her inside a silken cocoon.

Nina is left terrified. While she is often used to sleeping in a blanket made from her mother’s silk, wrapping around her and attaching her to the webs she uses as a bed on the walls. She knew this time it was different. From slumbering in the safety of her home, she is instead being primed to be taken away from it, to where she does not know.

Minerva finds nothing in the garden. “Maybe I’m being paranoid,” she thinks. She suddenly hears a scream. She rushes in to find that her home has been invaded, and that one of them had lit a match and dropped it.

Meanwhile, Emily and her party are fighting similar Arachne in their motel rooms, including some of the motel staff.

“Get the dungeon!” one of them says as they try to attack the party.

“So much for quality service,” Tim says as he uses kicks, palms, and shoulder strikes to ward off the hostile Arachne.

Emily drives away from the assailants with some sword dances, but they soon overwhelm her. Her bag drops and the Aerosphere falls out.

Heathcliff and Elizabeth try to get Emily away from them, but the kidnappers manage to repel them and place Emily’s avatara inside a silk cocoon.

As Emily becomes webbed up, she reaches for the aerosphere on the floor and manages to touch it. The sphere resonates with her and allows her to absorb its power. A cyclone erupts from her palm, breaking her free from her incomplete cloth prisons and driving the imprisoners back. Elizabeth, Tim, and Heathcliff feel a surge of mana from Emily’s absorption of the sphere and realize what this means. Elizabeth puts her newfound abilities to the test by conjuring up a small storm in the morel room, carrying the belligerent Arachne outside in a burst of wind.

Tim follows them out and uses his palms to create a cyclone, his wind magics unbound to his Qiang now. Emily stands up and raises the wind to the motel’s garden, she then casts lightning spells at the sides, driving them away from good. The spiders flee on the web roads set aside for the denizens, ascending the rooftops through the draglines.

Richard is confused as to what just happened before he smells a familiar order, not stronger than ever. He follows his nose to the silkman’s spool. He looks up and sees smoke in the distance, and Minerva running away from the blaze.

“Something has gone wrong,” Richard says.

The party approaches Minerva, “What’s wrong, dearie?” Elizabeth says.

“It’s Nina,” Minerva says. “She’s been kidnapped! And they…”

The party sees Arachnes hopping on the rooftops, their direction revealing that they are at Minerva’s house. One of them is carrying something on their thorax.

“Well this just got a whole lot stranger,” Heathcliff says.

“Come on!” Emily says. “We have to follow them!” She uses her new wind powers to jump to the rooftops.

“You serious?” Heathcliff says. “They could—“

“No, she’s right!” Richard says. He could not shake the feeling that their assailants had something to do with Sarah, and with Tarlantulapolis. Elizabeth sees the look in his eyes.

Elizabeth turns to Minerva “Can you help us catch up to them?” she says.

Minerva nods. The group ascends to the roof of the motel and Minerva tells them to hang onto her as she maneuvers the web infrastructure that connects the rooftops of Websdale together, a highway network made by the Arachne, for the Arachne, and something only they can easily traverse.

✦✦✦

Minerva allows Emily and Richard on her back, as she scales one of the buildings near the Motel. Tim, Emily, and Heathcliff used their wind magic to propel themselves to the rooftop. There they can see the Arachne that kidnapped Nina as they use the webs connecting the building to flee. They follow them, with Minerva using the draglines to maneuver the space between rooftops, Emily flying over the gaps and Tim and Heathcliff leaping over them.

A group of Arahcne is making their trip home, when one of the assailants barreled pasted them, only to be followed by Minerva with Emily and Richard on her abdomen. “Sorry,” the white-haired Arachne says.

Another group of Arachne notices the chase and piece together that something has happened, they head to the police station to report the chase.

Minerva is determined to rescue her daughter and catch up to the kidnappers. Emily uses her sword to cut a web ahead of them, but the one carrying Nina simply turns.

Nina’s head pops out of the cocoon she was wrapped in. She sees her mother and calls out for her. The chase reaches the edge of Websdale. There, the kidnappers would have to either turn or head to the ground. Elizabeth and Tim cut them off at the right and Heathcliff at the left. The kidnappers however remain determined and make a mighty leap off the edge of the building into the ground. Minerva, not willing to let her baby daughter get abducted follows suit, with Richard and Emily hanging on to her.

Upon landing the kidnappers were far ahead of Minerva, and she and Emily’s party chased them deep into the woods. Unfortunately, the web-coated trees provided enough cover for the kidnappers to escape.

The group tries to find their bearings, but the unfamiliar place is too confusing for them to tell exactly where they are.

“Well,” Heathcliff says. Breathing heavily. “That was a workout.”

They look at the web-coated trees, threads of silk hang from the dead branches in the midnight wind. The various plants are connected by webs at various angles. The moonlight leaves shadows in the form of horrific faces and twisted entities from the webs.

Emily has a hunch. “Is this?” she says

“I’m certain of it!” Richard says as he dismounts from Minerva. “This has to be Tarantulapolis.”

Minerva examines the webs on the trees. “This odor,” she says. “It’s the same as the spool on the counter.”

“Counter,” Elizabeth said. “What do you mean?”

Minerva begins to explain what happened. “I found a spool of thread placed on the counter in my living room. Right after that I noticed that someone was lurking around. I checked the garden but couldn’t find anyone, by the time I went back inside I saw the intruders. The next thing I knew, they set my home on fire and absconded with Nina.”

“Meanwhile,” Tim says. “We were ambushed at the motel.”

Richard takes the spool from his bag. He compares its pungent odor to that of the trees. “So, the silkman is involved.”

“Looks like,” Minerva says. She is having trouble how such a gentlemen would be aligned with kidnappers. “He seemed like a gentleman back at the restaurant.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of this!” Emily says.

“Nowhere to go but forward then, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Allons!”

✦✦✦

The party explores Tarantulapolis but finds no sign of any other Arachne besides Minerva for miles. Instead, they find several cordyceps-infected beasts. Emily and Tim use lightning spells to fend off the animals.

“Hey,” Emily says. “How was I able to absorb the Aerosphere?”

“Hmm,” Elizabeth says. “I said avatara can absorb them under rare circumstances, but I must admit the specifics are beyond me. It happened when the attackers tried to abduct you, right?”

“That’s right,” Emily says. She wonders if that had anything to do with it.

“Was her desire for freedom the cause for her absorbing the Aerosphere?” Elizabeth thinks.

As they venture deeper into Tarantulapolis. Emily takes the opportunity to experience her new powers. She mostly focuses on wind spells but also tries Light and Lightning magic on occasion.

They soon find a Sentinel, a dire deer, with a large fungus growing out of its head and antlers. The beasts attack the party. Heathcliff shields them from its charges and hind kicks but finds his body grows more numb with each attack.

“Stupid chervreuil’s spores,” Heathcliff says. He slashes at the fungal growth at the antlers.

Elizabeth uses her Bardsong to enchant everyone with the wind. Tim uses that to make rapid strikes with his body and Qiang, pushing the deer away from Heathcliff and causing it to lose movement of one of its legs. The Sentinel tries to jump away, but its leg injury hinders its sleep. Emily casts a light spell to blind the beast and then combines her swords. She throws the shining chakram at the boss. Minerva then tangles its other leg together with a venomous thread. The deer is left bound and poisoned. As it madly tries to escape the venom takes hold and knocks it unconscious.

Though not dead, a deer is defeated and a chest drops from a broken web from above. Emily opens it and finds a fist weapon, a crossbow, and some spider silk robes.

“I’ll take those,” Minerva says as she arms herself with the fists.

“May I have the crossbow then?” Richard says.

“Of course,” Emily says, “but why?”

The blond dwarf takes the ranged weapon and the accompanying bolts. “Though I should do more than just cower away, especially when we’re so close to finding Sarah.”

“Do you even know how to aim a crossbow?” Heathcliff says.

“No,” Richard says.” But I was a dab hand with a regular bow when I was little, shouldn't be that different.”

The party goes forward into Tarantulapolis. There they find several Arachne rushing towards them.

“They cannot reach the altar!” the incoming Arachne says.

“Nice for them to roll out the welcome wagon,” Heathcliff says.

The group fends off the attacking spiders with Minerva and Richard’s surprising efficiency with their new weapons, supplemented with Heathcliff’s provocative techniques and Emily and Elizabeth’s magical powers.

The hostile Arachne are thinned for now, but they run into a new problem as they feel the earth rumble beneath them.

“What was that?” Heathcliff says.

“An earthquake?” Elizabeth says.

“Come on!” Richard says.

The group finds another group of Arachne spiritualists. “He lives!” one of them shouts. “He breaths!” The trees around them begin to move, animated by the spiritualists. The Thrashing Tangors attack the party.

Emily cuts one of the walking trees down with her blades. Tim uses a gust of wind to topple another. Minerva and Richard coordinated to cause a third to fall. The trees meanwhile try to pelt them with fruits and snare them with their web-coated branches.

Heathcliff provides a tree into attacking another, then gets out of dodge. Arachne spiritualists swarm the party, but the knight makes sure their attention is focused only on him.

The last tree soon falls when Elizabeth uses a lightning spell to set it ablaze. A rainstorm emerges to douse their fire. By the time the flames were quenched, only the party and some retreating Arachne remained

Minerva corners one of them. “Where are the victims?” the silver-haired Arachne said to the other one.”

The spiritualist laughs madly. “The ritual is well underway, our god will soon rise.”

“Tell me!” Minerva says. Her visage frightens the rest of the party. The face of a mother hellbent on getting her daughter back no matter the cost.

“Follow the path,” the spiritualist says. “It matters not, you’re too late, but our good will happily accept your offer—“ Minerva lands a right hook on the spiritualist. He faints from unconsciousness.

“Quickly,” Minerva says.

✦✦✦

The party follows the path to a cleared-out space, filled with a myriad of silk cocoons, and Arachne ritualists deep in prayer. A large flame shines at the center of the open space. They fight their way to the center of the altar.

“We are gathered here on the holiest of days,” a priest says from atop the altar. “To make these humble offerings to our guardian god!”

Tim uses whirlwinds to get Arachne out of the way and the others follow on his tailwinds.

“We offer in sacrifice, the blood of intruders, the blood of innocents,” the priest says. “May the great guardian accept these blessings.”

Several mesmerized people line up around the large altar. Arachne, Centaurs, Dwarves, Elves, and other people among them. Minerva sees Nina among the children of that group. Her movement is stiff as she walks in a daze.

Spiritualists attack the party, but Minerva zips past them at a breakneck pace and gets her daughter away from the altar.

“Nina, honey,” Minerva says. “Wake up dear!”

Nina is unresponsive. Her face is black. Minerva looks at her daughter’s eyes, urging her to wake up.

At the same time, Emily and her party are confronted by the head priest. “I will not allow you to disturb the ritual. May the great guardian grant me strength!” His legs begin to morph into enchanted scythes. The party has no choice but to fight this Arachne.

The high priest commands a legion of Arachne to gather the hostages and ferry them to the altar. Several of them converge on Minerva and the children, but they are repelled by Tim and his wind spells.

“Go!” Tim says, “It’s too dangerous here!”

Minerva takes her daughter and several of the hypnotized children away from the altar.

Heathcliff tries to engage the priest in combat, but his efforts are thwarted by the emergence of Arachne from the ground below. He tries to use a lightning spell to stun them, but his attack misses and instead hits the bonfire. The pure roars as it enlarges itself.

“Never was that good with spell-slinging,” Heathcliff mutters under his breath.

Emily dashes and waltzes forward, slicing the Arachne in her way, and uses wind magic to repel them. Allowing Heathcliff to lock blades with the scythe-legged priests.

“You hasten the arrival of our guardian!” the priest says. “He will smite you all!”

Heathcliff uses his shield to bash the priest’s head. “Shut up!” The priest recoils from the bash but regains his footing. He uses his legs to attack Heathcliff.

Emily, Elizabeth, and Richard try to keep the priests from harming the hostages. The wind howls as ash and smoke from the bonfire fills the air. Richard soon finds a dwarfette in a group of hypnotized people, a sitting duck for Arahcne’s incoming lunch. Her silver hair and dark complexion made it clear just who that dwarf was.

“Sarah!” Richard yells. He takes out his crossbow and hastily aims it. He keeps it lined up with the Arachne as he fires his first bolt. The crack shot hits Arachne in the abdomen, causing them enough pain to hinder their advance as Richard rushes to Sarah and takes her by the arm. The mesmerized dwarf is dragged along, her trance forbidding her from even taking a step unless the Arachne priest and ritualists command it.

Elizabeth uses her magic to buff the party, fortifying both their offensive and defensive prowess. Mineral uses her new fist weapons and her threats to repulse the hostile Arachne as she maneuvers towards Elizabeth.

“How well do you understand Bardsong?” Minerva says. “ My eyes can’t break the spell. Whatever the kidnappers used, its hold on them is strong.” She spits venom at an Arachne behind Elizabeth, temporally blinding it.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Elizabeth says. She fired a bolt of lightning at a ritualist emerging from their burrows. “But we need to get them to a safe place first.”

The bonfire’s glow coats the battlefield in an orange hue. Sparks from the flame land on the webs of the trees and ignite them. Amidst the blaze. Tim takes as many hostages as he can to a clearing several hundred yards from the altar. He uses his wind magic to make large leaps. As he returns, he is attacked by spiders but his shoulder strikes and Qiang makes short work of them. He finds Emily carrying another of the entranced hostages.

“There’s a clearing to the east,” Tim says.

“Roger,” Emily says as they part ways.

While the rest of the party focuses on freeing the hostages, Heathcliff keeps his eyes on the priest. He duels the spider with his sword and shield. Slicing one of the scythe-legs of the priest off with several swings.

The priest is steadfast. Engaging Heathcliff with his remaining legs and his other tricks. He uses light magic to try to blind him, or rather to force him to look into his eyes, but the seasoned knight knows of their hypnotic power and looks closer to the legs. The arms of the spider grasp one of the torches near the bonfire.

Heathcliff tries to cast a spell again. He manages to push the Arachne back from melee range and closer to the flames with a wind spell. Sweat drips from his forehead as he thinks about what to do. He isn’t about murder, as an adventurer he has to kill. He knows this. The priest is similarly willing to use leather force as he tries swiping at the knight with his legs.

Heathcliff blocks it with his shield and pushes him further into the fire. A spark lands on one of the priest’s scythes and it ignites. The burning leg causes him some pain, but his piety allows him to withstand it and continue fighting. With one leg severed and another ablaze, the priest tries to leap. He aims to force the knight into the fire as the first offering to their god.

✦✦✦

Rain falls as smoke rises in the sky. Whereas the heavenly tears were enough to quell the flames of a single burning tree, the bonfire was made to not be as easily snuffed out. The Arachne ritualists had practiced these arts for a thousand years, they had made thousands more in offerings. They know how to make a pyre that would not be easily extinguished.

Heathcliff charges forward and the priest jumps behind him. His gambit failed as Heathcliff stopped an inch before the fire. “Really now, cher,” he says as he faces the priest. “You take me for a fool?”

“You are the ones who dared intrude on our sacred rite!” the priest says.

Heathcliff smirks, “There is nothing ‘sacred’ about offering up innocents to the pyre.”

“Our land requires mana, as does the rest of the world!” the priest says. “Does it matter how it is obtained?”

Richard, with the hypnotized Sarah in tow, manages to find Tim as he is taking more hostages away from the growing blaze. “Take her please,” he says. Tim looks at the blond dwarf’s eyes and knows that he has found who he is searching for. He takes Sarah over his shoulder and jumps into the unscarred woods. Richard followed his direction to the clearing.

At the opening, Elizabeth and Minerva work on breaking the hold the ritualists have over their victims’ minds. “Is that all the hostages?” Elizabeth says.

“That’s all of them,” Tim says. He was placing Sarah’s unconscious body gently on the ground before leaving with Emily to assist Heathcliff.

Richard gazes over his sister, her motionless body not reacting to the rain, the sight of the smoke, or any other stimuli.

The same is true of Nina. No matter what Minerva tries, her daughter is unable to wake.

It’s the same for the other hostages. It is as if they are corpses, even though they still draw breath, even though sanguine essences still flow in their veins.

Elizabeth and Minerva pool their knowledge of Bardsong and the hypnotic eyes of Arachne together to devise a means of breaking the spell.

Meanwhile, Heathcliff is still in combat with the head priest, his back to the growing pyre. Many of the other ritualists had fled the growing fire. Some were in jubilation, as they saw the blaze as a sign that their god was awakening. Others are in terror as they fear the flames themselves. Tim and Emily arrive to assist Heathcliff.

The priest cackles madly. His leg burned off from the fire that ignited it. He struggles to maintain his balance with only six legs. “Our guardian stirs! What you do matters not, for he shall arise and give us providence.”

The Arachne priest lunges forward, but Emily intercepts with an electrifying dance. The lightning-wrapped blades cut off a pair of the priest’s legs, causing him to lose balance. Tim makes a charging step and kicks the spider high into the air. The priest tries to recover by making a dragline to anchor him to the ground, but Tim severs the threads with his Qiang. They exchange strikes in the air, Tim using his control over the wind to dodge the spider’s sickle-shaped legs as if they were the rain. Emily joins Tim in his assault, using Light magic to create illusions and confuse the sight of the priest.

Tim kicks the priest upwards one land time and Emily throws her combined weapon into the air above him, using the lightning to create a bolt of skyfire that strikes the priest. The two gently land on the ground, hand in hand, as they witness the flash of lightning strike the spider.

“Oh great guardian,” the priest tries to get his prayer out as he plummets into the flames. His body was numb from the shock of the lightning bolt and his consciousness. “Avenge…” His body lands on the pyre, his body hidden by the incandescent flames, leaving only flickers of ash as the fire burns his flesh and bone.

The three look at the fire, as if anticipating something. “We need to book it,” Heathcliff says. “Allons vite!”

The group heads to the clearing where the hostages were relocated.

✦✦✦

Over at the clearing, Minerva, Elizabeth, and Richard see several people walking up. Nina is among them. “Mommy?” she says as she rubs her eyes. The previous day was a haze for her. “Where are we?”

Minerva hugs her daughter. Tears rolling down the arachnid mother’s cheeks. “You’re safe honey. That’s what matters now.”

Richard sees his sister walking up, similarly dazed. “Ugh, I can finally move again.” She turns her eyes. “Richard? What are you doing here?”

“I came to find you,” Richard says with a furor in his voice. “What were you thinking, going all the way out here alone?”

Emily, Tim, and Heathcliff arrive, finding the hostages roused. “Good job, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Got them up and at ‘em in no time!”

“I didn’t have anything to do with that,” Elizabeth said. “I wasn’t unable to learn anything about the enchantments used for the trance. They all woke up on their own.”

Sarah recalls something important. “My bag, where’s my bag?”

“We didn’t find any bags where we found you,” Tim says as he points in the direction of the fire. “If you lost it, it likely ash now”

Worry and fear wash over Sarah’s face. All the silk she has gathered is up in smoke. She is left empty-handed and unable to finish her and Richard’s orders. “We have to go back! Maybe we can still get silk!”

“Sarah,” Richard says. “Did you not see the inferno burning a few hundred yards away? It’s too dangerous!”

“But we need the fabric to finish the dress!” the passionate platinum-blond dwarf says.

“Forget about the damn dress!” Richard says. “We have to get out of here now!”

“Richard, brother,” Sarah says calmly before suddenly shouting “We don’t have enough fabric to finish the order. We will be bankrupt if we can’t get the client what she bought. Do you want Father’s workshop to go under?”

“Of course not!” Richard shouts. “But I’m certain he wouldn’t want his daughter following him to the hereafter! And I certainly would rather the atelier be closed than see you don a Gardenian overcoat!”

The argument is interrupted by a rumbling of the earth.

“Another earthquake?” Emily says.

The tremor spreads through the wilderness that comprises the Dungeon. A large silhouette of a spider is seen in the flames. Visible in the orange haze of the smoke and flames.

The ground rumbles once more. The tremors shake the site of the altar as a gigantic spider emerges from the ground. The wooden legs of the spider tower over everyone, standing several stories tall. Emily feels a strange yet familiar aura from it, for some reason reminding her of the time she met the cloaked man at the Wizard’s tower.

The gigantic arachnid sees them and quickly approaches them. It lets out a hissing screech as it makes its advance.

“Crap!” Heathcliff says. “This one’s coming our way!”

“Everyone evacuate,” Minerva says. “Now!” She begins to lead the recently roused people outside Tarantulapolis. Richard and Sarah follow her, to the latter’s chagrin and sorrow. Emily and her party stay behind to ensure the giant beast does not attack the fleeing hostages.

The party of four engages the giant spider in combat. The legs of the spider are as thick as tree trunks, and the spider commands earthen magics to assist it in capturing its prey. Arachne ritualists emerge from the ground.

“Our guardian has arisen!” one shouts.

“Capture the heathens!” another says.

“Glory to Tarantulapolis!” a third ritualist cries.

“Terrific,” Heathcliff says. “More spider acolytes.” He tries to get them focused on his provocative stunts, but the gigantic spider fires an earthen laser from its head, aimed at Heathcliff. The knight is petrified by the beam, alongside the acolytes.

Emily and Tim dodge the beam, but Elizabeth is also petrified by it as she tries to get Heathcliff out of the way.

“This thing could petrify an entire city!” Tim says. “We have to stop it!”

As Tim and Emily face the giant spider, they notice that it takes several moments to charge its magic attacks, including its beam. And that a ring of light converges on the spider’s head before the blast fires. They use this knowledge to dodge its attacks and avoid petrification.

✦✦✦

Minerva leads the evacuation away from the giant spider. Over rivers and steep hills, they traversed the treacherous terrain of Tarantulapolis as fast as they could.

Sarah tried to get as much silk as she could along the path, but the cocoons were destroyed in the blaze, to her utter dismay.

“Focus, sister,” Richard says. “We can worry about the order later!”

The dwarfette complies. She knows that they stand no chance against whatever that …thing is.

The evacuation comes across an impassable wall of rocks. “If I only had my hammer,” Sarah says. She laments that she was separated from her hammer as well.

“We got to hurry!” a centaur adventurer says. He charges forward and removes a rock from the wall.

As the evacuation tries to remove the rocks barring their path, they see a beam of earth magic on the horizon. The attack petrified the webs and trees in the beam’s path as it passed by them.

“The trees,” a female Arachne said. “They turned to stone?”

“We need to keep an eye out,” Minerva says. “If that beam catches us, we’re doomed!”

Richard wonders how Emily and the others are faring against the spider.

Meanwhile, Emily and Tim are still engaging the gigantic spider in combat. Its tree-like legs loom nearly sixty feet over them, and its use of earth spells, from summoning boulders from the sky to firing beams that turn those it hits to stone, make it a formidable foe. And the land warps with each step the monster takes. Trees move around it. Mountains and rivers make a path for their movements. Each step creates a small tremor in the leg’s vicinity.

The two try to use their weapons on the legs, but the seemingly wooden appendages are as hard as stone, and the rest of the spider is similarly covered in hard chitin.

Tim makes a mighty leap in the air, trying to find the weakness of the monster, as he ascends, he sees that the spider’s actual body is disproportionately smaller than the legs, looking more like a spheroid connected to eight legs. The legs themselves look more like pillars than they do the thin, tapered, and sometimes scythe-like ones of the Arachne they had encountered.

“What the hell is this thing?” Tim says. “It feels like we’re fighting the dungeon itself!”

As soon as Tim says those words, Emily has an epiphany. The source of the strange feeling she has. Why does it somehow remind her of the Wizard’s Tower. The Gigantic tarantula is Tarantulapolis itself. The core of the dungeon, much as she is the core of the Dungeon known as the Black Box.

The spider fires another beam, but Emily and Tim evade it. Tim jumps on top of a tree to the right and Emily moves directly under the spider.

The evacuation arrives at a small bank of a river, they prepare to cross it when a scout sees a line of light inching towards them.

“We need to book it!” the scout says. “That beam is heading our way.”

The evacuation looks at the direction the scout pointed to and sees a large beam coming from the southeast moving towards them. They hastily cross the river. The Arachne, including Minerva and Nina, use webs to safely and quickly traverse with some of the others rising on their backs as passengers. Richard and Sarah ride on Minerva’s back this way. Other evacuees swam through the river itself, fighting its currents as they pushed themselves toward the other edge.

The beam soon arrives at the river, intercepting the river, and petrifies the people trying to cross. The beam passes through and those on both banks look on with shock and horror as statues flow in the waters where people once swam.

Nina cannot hide the shock on her face as she sees the petrified people being carried away by the river. Her mother was similarly stunned but regained composure and reminded the evacuation to push forward.

“If we are to survive,” Minerva says. “We must escape!” But a thought occurs to Minerva as she says those words. What would she do after they escape? The denizens of Tarantulapolis had already reduced her home to cinders. What belongings she and Nina had there were gone, along with the inheritance left behind from her deceased husband. As the evacuation marches past her she realizes that even if she and Nina escape, they cannot return to the lives they had in Websdale.

“Mommy?” Nina says, snapping Minerva out of it.

“Right,” Minerva thinks, “The future can wait, right now we must make sure we still have one, first.” She leads the evacuation closer to where she thinks the exit is.

The Core of Tarantulapolis has finished firing its beam. Emily notices that the colossal spider doesn’t move as it fires. She also sees something connecting the monster’s legs to the core body, a kind of muscle that attaches the segments, more flexible and softer than the legs themselves.

Tim sees the same tissue from the canopy of the trees. He has an idea and searches for Emily. They regroup behind the spider.

“Do you think we can cut off its legs?” Tim says.

Emily gazes at the top of the colossus’ legs before looking back at Tim and nodding. With this, the two prepare their plan. Emily grabs ahold of Tim’s shoulders “You the one most used to wind spells,”

Tim sternly nodes and uses his spear to conjure a tornado capable of propelling them into the air. They are launched into the canopy of the trees. Raindrops fall on Tim and Emily’s faces as Tim searches for the nearest leg. Upon locating it, he launches himself and Emily towards it.

The core doesn’t notice the pair scaling one of its legs as it scours its domain looking for them, firing beams and causing rocks to appear from the blue. The water causes Emily’s hand to slip from the vertical structure of the leg, but she is caught by Tim before she can fall. The two use a combination of wind magic and their weapons to ascend the colossus. Upon reaching the top of the leg, Emily rushes forward to the threads of tissue connecting the leg to the rest of the spider, carving at it with her swords. After a few slashes, the leg is nearly severed. The pain alerts the spider to the pair’s location. Its head turns and another beam is fired from its head. The leg’s connection to eh body snaps and the leg falls rapidly. Emily and Tim narrowly dodge the beam thanks to that.

The spider is still as mobile as ever, but they now know its weaknesses. Tim and Emily prepare themselves to ascend and cut off the legs of the core one by one.

The evacuation runs through dense webbed woodland, crossing a patch of forest filled with stone trees. The raindrops flood the lowest parts of the patch as it becomes apparent that one of the colossal spider’s beams has petrified this part of the dungeon.

Sarah tries to get some silk from a petrified web, but the brittle construct shatters to the touch. Thoughts race through her head as she wonders how are they gonna finish the dress now. The rain does little to obscure Sarah’s tears. “Why am I so useless?” she yells. Kicking herself for her failure to get silk and the mess she landed herself and her brother into because of it.

Richard himself muses on the fate of the workshop. He cares for his sister dearly, but he also knows that their atelier cannot survive without the client’s patronage now. He approaches Sarah. “We’ll find a way, somehow.” He says, trying to console her. “We do have other fabrics, I’m sure the patron will understand. But right now, we have to get out of the dungeon.”

Sarah knows this. Nina sees the two dwarfs and rushes towards them with a panicked expression. Parts of her abdomen and legs turned to stone. “It’s mommy, she’s been…“

Richard and Sarah look towards several statues of men, women, and children. They were recently petrified from the beam, as well that the survivors panicked around the sight. The dwarfs had failed to notice that they had narrowly missed a petrification beam and that the one who had led the evacuation so far was not as lucky.

Tim arrives at the top of the titanic spider’s legs again. He uses his Qiang to slice it off the body.

Emily’s similarity arrives atop a third leg. She uses lightning spells to stun the spider as she dances towards the thin membranes keeping the leg attached. With a dance of blades, she made enough cuts for the appendage to detach from the core’s core body.

Tim uses the moment of the falling leg to leap onto the spider’s conjured boulders, using them as platforms as he dodges the beams fired at him. He lands on a fourth leg and makes a charging step towards its joint, using the momentum to make a clean cut on the threads.

The spider struggles to maintain its balance with half of its legs cleaved from its body. Ir begins charging its beams faster and firing them just as rapidly, but Tim and Emily deftly dodge these spells. It uses its remaining legs to disturb the ground enough to hinder their movements, but Tim anticipates this and propels himself and Emily into the air. They land on falling boulders and use them as platforms to reach the joint on the fifth leg. Emily throws Tim to the top of the leg and he cleaves the joint off with the piercing blade of his spear, landing atop the tree.

With only three legs left, the colossal spider desperately tries to stop Tim and Emily, whose nimble moments evaded everything it has thrown at them thus far. It could not flatten them with its legs, for they are not quick enough for them to not avoid it. The shockwaves it creates does not deter them and the petrification magic it uses cannot affect that which dodges it so easily.

The pair make it towards the sixth leg.

“Think this is it?” Tim says as they land on the leg.

“It has to be,” Emily says they run towards the joint. “Don’t think it could stand with only two.”

The head of the core turns towards it and begins charging its beams. Tim and Emily rush towards the joints and cut them off with their weapons. But a second afterward, the colossal spider fires its attack. Tim realizes what is happening and uses a wind spell to suddenly launch Emily above the spider. He slides off the leg as it falls, but is caught in the beam and petrified.

Emily looks back and sees what happened to Tim as his petrified body falls. “Tim!” she shouts as she lands on the core body. The cellar spider, with six of its limbs severed, is on the precipice of toppling. As it falls, Emily hands it to one of its branches. The colossal spider collapses with a tumultuous thud.

✦✦✦

The rain finally stops as sunlight peaks through the clouds for the first time since Emily and her party arrived in Tarantulapolis. She sees something emerging from the core body of the spider. It looks like a spider, yet its ethereal glow and translucent appearance suggest otherwise. It tries to flee, but Emily quickly corners it, breathing heavily as she attunes to it. She is absorbing its mana into herself. The core tries to resist, but it cannot as its earthen mana pouts into Emily’s own and is subsumed by it. As the last of its energy fades, it assumes the form of an orange spherical crystal. An object that looks like the Aerosphere she obtained from the Jade Necropolis. The amber object, the Geosphere is absorbed by her as well.

The stature of Tim, having landed in a web, de-petrifies and turns back into flesh. Tim wakes up and sees the dawn’s light through the canopy. He remembered what had happened before. “Emily!” he says as his eyes widen. He frees himself from the web and searches for her.

He sees Emily having finished absorbing the mana of Tarantulapolis and the Geosphere. She turns to Tim and breathes a sigh of relief. Before suddenly falling and collapsing on eh ground. Tim rushes to her aid. “Emily,” he says. They had finally done it, they had defeated the gigantic spider.

Heathcliff wakes up, having also been de-petrified. He stretches his arms. “Well, damn spider left me feeling stiff,” he says. He sees that the area around him feels different. What was once an ominous dense woodland is now a serene forest. What was the dark of night is the light of Day. He sees Elizabeth Waking up, a little dazed.

“What happened?” Elizabeth groggily says. As if she had awakened from a long nap.

“Beats me, cher,” Heathcliff says. “One thing we were fighting a gargantuan bug, the next thing I know…”

They are soon interrupted by the rustling of leaves behind them. They turn around and see Tim carrying Emily’s avatara. Unconscious since he found her.

“I see,” Elizabeth said. “Emily had absorbed the dungeon’s core.”

Emily soon awakens in Tim’s arms. “It’s too bright,” she says. She then notices Tim carrying her. Tim promptly drops her to the ground.

“Ow, Tim!” a now fully awake Emily says.

“Had a nice dream?” Tim says while denying carrying her.

Elizabeth giggles as she sees the two of them argue before she realizes something. “The hostages, we need to find them.”

The group searches for the evacuation. They find one group surfacing on a lake, several of them with missing appendages. They were surrounded by several pieces of eerily familiar statues. Their testimonies reveal that the last thing they knew was getting blasted by petrification magic. Which Tim explains came from the colossal spider.

“There you are!” a voice says.

They turn around and find Richard and Sarah near them. The dwarves explained what happened after the river incident, and led them to the patch of forest where they were.

There they see Nina sobbing while in Minerva’s embrace. Minerva turns to the party. “I take it the ‘god’ has been dealt with?”

“Yeah,” Emily says.

Minerva stands up and asks Nina to climb onto her abdomen. “We should go.” With the dungeon core absorbed by Emily, Tarantulapolis is no more.

✦✦✦

The evacuation arrives at Websdale. To the sight of a gathering around the charred remains of the neighborhood Minerva lived in. Blackened remains of homes burned by the ritualist Arachne as they had kidnapped Nina and attempted to kidnap Emily surround the crowd. At the other end of them is the mayor of Websdale, preparing to give a speech.

“I promise you, “the mayor says. “Our officers will do everything in our power to—“ he stops as he sees Minerva in the back of the crowd.

The crowd turns to find Minerva alongside Emily’s party and the hostages abducted from Websdale.

“Hello there,” Minerva says. She explained what had occurred at Tarlantulapolis to the Mayor and the citizens.

“The silkman was part of a cult?” one of the Arachne said. The crowd murmurs about the revelation that the residents of the Tarlantulapolis dungeon had engaged in abducting the people of Websale to sue as ritual sacrifices to the dungeon core.

“Rarely do a dungeon’s residents act in such proactive manners,” the mayor says. “And you say the dungeon is no more.

“I do,” Minerva says. “Though I do not know how that came to be. I’m sorry.”

Later, Emily’s party prepares to head back to Eastshire, but as they do, they are approached by Minerva again.

“I’m sorry to bug you,” Minerva says. “But you came from Rosenkreuz, right?”

“We are,” Emily says. She is surprised to hear Minerva ask about that.

“Any reason why ask that now, cher?” Heathcliff says.

“We were wondering if the guild knows of any place we can stay for a while?” Minerva says. “As you saw, the Weaverweb Parks were now ash and dust. And the town is unable to afford reconstruction at present. The mayor has told me that a new dungeon had recently emerged under that guild’s district.” She gives a knowing look at Emily. “It is with acknowledgment of the irony at present that I ask if me, my daughter and those affected by the cult could live there?”

“Of course,” Emily says. “But is there any reason why?”

“Websdale is a quaint town, not very well off, and the people of nearby settlements seeing Arachne as uncivilized monsters have hindered efforts to foster relationships with other cities. Even Noir, with its population of Arachne, is unwilling to bring succor to the town. The destruction of Tarantulapolis means that the closest dungeon is five hundred miles off, depriving many aspiring adventurers here of a safe space to train themselves and provide for Websdale.”

“You sure, you want to do this, cher?” Heathcliff says. “We certainly have room, but still.”

“I'm sure,” Emily says. She knows she is to blame for the dungeon’s lack of existence, for she absorbed its core. “It’s the least we can do.”

“Does that offer extend to a pair of dwarves?” a voice pipes up from behind them. The party sees Sarah. Wanting to thank them for rescuing her. “Brother and I decided to move our workshop somewhere cheaper.”

“Of course,” Emily says.

“We could use a blacksmith around,” Tim says.

“Gonna take a while getting everyone there,” Heathcliff says. He turns to Minerva, “Keep in mind that if you’re gonna live in a dungeon, any dungeon, you’re gonna have to protect it.”

“I understand,” Minerva says. “The displaced Arachne of Websdale thanks you.”

Emily turns to Sarah, “Are you still planning to finsih the dress?”

“Of course!” Sarah says. “Silk or no silk, we’ll find a way.”

“Actually,” Minerva says. She approaches Sarah with a bag in hand. “I understand you’ve been searching for thread for a dress. Several of us had agreed to grant you this as a token of our thanks.” Sarah opens the box and sees it filled with spools of thread. Her smile beams with delight at the sight of the silk, knowing their plight is no more.

“Okay, so several dozen Arachne and two dwarves,” Heathcliff says. “Pauline is gonna have an chat about this I’m sure.” He seems to nearly dread the idea of having to explain what happened to Pauline.

Later, The party leaves Websdale, with their new dungeon-mates in tow. As they leave for the Black Box, several of the Arachne turn back to their former home, including Minerva and Nina. They hope what whatever awaits them at their new home is a bright future.