Interface

Mara

These woods are evil.
The girl is most likely hopelessly lost, or splayed in some sort of ditch. Maybe she's been consumed by something, and her mangled corpse is being digested by a creature of some sort.
Perhaps she's already dead.
Either way, the odds that she is still alive aren't favorable in the least.
Then again- my own chance of survival isn't great either.
I push away a clump of briers, then move forward. My pipe is my only defense within this forest, and I'm not very confident that I could win in a fight.
Even an infant of the Other People could defeat me in my present condition, and I am in no condition to even move, let alone trek through various plants in search of someone who I'm not even sure is still living.
I  take a moment to congratulate myself on not running into any more weird scenarios.

As if to jinx my own statement, the brush density decreases at a rapid rate, and I stumble into a new clearing.
Thick strands of smooth rope are suspended across the clearing, and there are massive bundles stashed here and there.
One of the bundles squirms weakly, and a woman's head emerges.
She looks painfully emaciated, as though she's been drained of nutrients throughout the course of several weeks.
She opens her mouth, but she's too weak to speak, and even if she could speak, the effort might just drain any remaining fight that was in her.
I feel one of the ropes dip ever so slightly, and I turn around slowly, not quite wanting to see what monster has appeared behind me.
My first impression of the creature is that she is beautiful.
My second impression is of the spider half of her body that is scuttling towards me at an uncomfortably fast pace, and that the first two or so legs are covered in dark blood.
I'm not sure if the blood belonged to a human or one of the Other people, as it is hard to see in the rapidly dissipating light, but blood of any type is generally a sign of a dangerous adversary.
The creature continues towards me at a steady pace, but she stops just short of running me over.
Her dark eyes are like bottomless pits, and I can easily picture someone falling to their death within them.
She extends one silk-clad arm towards me, and smiles in a saccharine-sweet smile, then she trails one sticky finger under my chin to tilt my head upwards so that I'm forced to look her directly in the eyes.
Her laugh is like broken shards of glass wrapped in thin strips of sandpaper wrapped around it, and I flinch purely out of survival instinct.
" why have you encroached upon my territory little fly?" she purrs.
" did you not realize that a spider was within this web?"
I shake my head, and nearly fall from the way my knees are knocking together.
My mind is helpfully providing me with more than enough ways that I could die tonight, and most of those scenarios involve a worrying amount of rope in my lungs, or ending up inside one of the woven caskets that are strewn about the cleared area.
That voice cuts into my thoughts again. She sounds almost concerned for me.
" you are bleeding, little fly."
I feel blood trickling down my face, and for the first time since entering this forsaken forest, I feel weary as well as wary. I don't want to do anything except fall to the floor and sleep my troubles away,  but I need to stay awake, and more importantly- alert.
To sleep now would mean certain death.
The spider woman leads me to a small dip in the ground, but I wrench myself away from her and her freakishly long fingers.
I finally realize what species this spider-being is... an Atenzi. They are rare, famed for the venom within them that slowly liquefies the entrails of their victims.
The silk they weave is highly prized as material to build the Domes, and many survivors of this once proud and numerous race have been reduced to a maker of building materials... or exotic pets that big people ogle over and boast about. I always thought the way Atenzi were treated was inhumane, that the creatures should be utilized as a powerful ally, and not locked up like simple-minded beasts.
The Atenzi woman scuttles closer, her eyes gleaming as she draws near. I try to remember what I've heard about the Atenzi, but all of it is useless from interweaving with the lore associated with Ghouls, Bocoblins and Fiends.
The Atenzi reaches out towards me, and I flinch away, but the creature- instead of clawing my face off, like how I had imagined my no-doubt gruesome fate- she gently plasters a bandage of some sort onto my forehead.
It smells strongly of the forest, and unfamiliar herbs, and I nearly gag over the grassy taste the smell leaves in my throat, but I can already feel the throbbing in my head receding.
The Atenzi woman crawls back towards the center of her web, her expression gentle as she retrieves a water skin made of dyed leather.
She makes her way back to me, forelegs tapping their way across the cables, and dodging the occasional woven casket.
" let me guess. You thought that I would kill you! The imagination that you humans are in possession of is astounding!"
She hands the water skin to me, and I try to ignore the way the leather feels suspiciously like human skin.
If I somehow offend this majestic creature, then no force on earth would be capable of saving my life.
I take the waterskin and offer a pathetic 'thanks' towards my generous host, before taking a sip of the surprisingly cool water.
Perhaps she drugged the water, and is waiting for the poison to affect me.
Maybe she's just playing nice so I'll let my guard down, so I'll be less likely to notice that she's plotting to use me as a food source.
I hope that neither scenario comes true, or this could end badly for me, but I need the water so I don't die from dehydration.
My host bustles around, trying to clean up the meadow, though it looks spotless to me.
" my apologies for the mess, little fly. I was not expecting any visitors, especially not this late. Where are your parents? Surely they didn't abandon you here!"
I shake my head, still feeling a tad dizzy from my head wound.
" my mom... probably dead. I never knew my dad, and mom never mentioned him. I ran away from the city because of the fires."
The Atenzi's eyes couldn't get any wider if they popped out of her head, and I wonder if I've made a mistake by telling her so much about my personal life- even if the information is purposefully vague.
I hope she doesn't ask more questions about my past, because then I might have to lie about how my mother treated me, and other trivial things.
The Atenzi woman starts using her human hands to braid my hair, and a clicking noise makes me think that she is content with this small pastime.
" my daughter- Emilie- went down to a village full of soldiers- human soldiers- a few ropes ago. I begged her to have even a shred of forethought, but she assured me that the humans would be welcoming. Like a fool, I let her go, even giving her supplies for the journey. In the end, I waved her goodbye as she went to the soldiers."
I swallow nervously.
" what happened to her?"
The Atenzi woman wipes away what passes for tears, then takes a deep breath.
" she was taken, to a big grey dwelling, and forced inside. I have not seen her since, and- while I hope for the best- I can only expect the worst."
I gulp and look down at the earth. I expect the worst myself, but that's just how I was raised to expect.
This woman merely wanted her daughter to return safely. She didn't deserve this, and neither did her poor daughter.
I look up again when a stupid idea pops into my head.
If I can find the girl, then I might be able to help this Atenzi woman regain her daughter, but- based on her story, Emilie has been taken to one of the silk-production factories.
The Atenzi woman wipes away more tear equivalents, and looks at me with her unblinking eyes.
I bow my head quickly, and run out of the clearing to find the girl- wherever she might be, and then find the silk-production factory so we can rescue Emilie.
What could go wrong?