Dungeons & Disappointment

Chapter 28: Arachnophobia

I stared around the corner of the wall, trying to make out anything else in the nest, and thankfully, due to the rather dim light of the stone's reflection, I saw a trio of spiders, all of them huddled around some eggs. In the corner, there were a couple of skeletons that were housing some other eggs, and right next to them was a chest, just made out of simple metal and wood. I held up the contract, trying to compare the eggs, but they weren't a match. These were dark black, and the eggs we were looking for were black with red spots.

"Well?" Finana whispered. "What's in there?"

"Three of those bastards, some spider eggs, a couple of skeletons, and a chest," I said. "And beyond that, I see another tunnel, probably leading to another chamber."

"Any chance we can sneak past those spiders?"

I looked back at the spiders, and one of them hissed, looking around the chamber fervently.

"Probably not. How about I distract them, and then both of you run in and blast the things with some spells." I said. "And I'll mop up whatever remains with the Halberd. How about that?"

"Sounds like a plan," BahnBarr said, then grabbed a small, red scale out of her pocket and held it at the ready, while Finana readied her tome and her glaive. "Alright, go!"

I ran into the room, and immediately, I started screaming my head off. I screamed, hooted, and hollered at the spiders while jumping up and down, waving my Halberd to try and get them scared enough to attack. But instead, the spiders backed up, skittering up the webbed walls, right as they aimed the backs of their abdomens right at me.

"BLAPBLAPBLAP!!!!"

In rapid succession, the abdomens all fired globs of spiderweb at me, and all three of them hit, knocking me into the wall and restraining me against the older webs. All three of the spiders started running right at me, and I started freaking out.

"ANYTIME NOW WOULD BE NICE!!"

And with that, both BahnBarr and Finana ran out from behind the wall, and first Finana casted her spell as BahnBarr ducked to the side and I braced.

"THUNDERWAVE!!!!"

Immediately, a wave of thunderous force shot out of her hands, and while one of the spiders was alright, the other spiders immediately got blasted against the other wall as lighting arced all over them. The spiders twitched from the force of the damage, and while they looked around, dazed, BahnBarr raced forward and held up the dragon scale. She screamed in Elvish, and suddenly, a massive line of fire burst out from her, arcing over all three spiders, and the two spiders that had been knocked against the wall were killed instantly, collapsing under the weight of the flames, and the one that was in the front roared and hissed, then dropped down dead, leaving us along in the room. And I was still pinned to the wall by the spider webs.

"Well, that went well, huh?"

"Yeah, and if you guys can let me out that would be great."

"I got it, I got it," Finana said, then slashed her glaive across the webbing.

All of the webs snapped, and I slid off the wall, tearing the rest of the webs off and throwing them on the ground. I shivered, trying to get over the feeling of the webs all over me, and I looked around at the cavern, right as I heard chittering from behind me. I turned with a start, then swung my Halberd as another of the giant spiders came crawling out of a small enclave in the wall.

"FRAHREAK!!!" I shouted, letting the Halberd flame to life right before cutting the spider. With one, powerful strike, I sliced the spider right across the front, loping off a leg along with some pincers as the thing hissed. The spider chittered and spat, then came at me again, snapping its pincers, but I grabbed it by the mouth and wrenched sideways, nearly throwing the thing off its feet as I forced it away from me. It hissed yet again, and before it could attack or run away, BahnBarr pushed me to the side and casted another spell, her elvish words nearly exploding through the caves as a bolt of molten fire shot out from her fingers and hit the spider right in the face. The spider screeched yet again, and I charged in, screaming a battle cry, and I smashed my right fist right into the spider's head, cracking the thing's skull and sending it down on the ground with a splat. It chittered one last time, then went silent, and I breathed a sigh of relief.