Reina chuckled, squinting into the gloom. “Are you really scared of a little hognose?” she asked with the same amount of bravado.

  Rook frowned. “Serves me right for being chivalrous.” Shaking his head, he steeled himself. Stealing a glance at the dumbfounded Reina, he took a cautious step into the darkness. “How do they even get into the cellar in the first place?”

  “They burrow, using their legs to swipe away debris, and can break through simple stone. They do so to find a suitable nest for their offspring.” Reina coughed. “There was an outbreak about fifty years ago in the eastern quarter. Webbs everywhere, God Maker, it was a mess.” She adjusted her travel pack, tight to her back.

  “Webs?!” Rook whirled toward her. “What exactly are hognoses?” Rook asked desperately hoping hognoses were boars that could sling webs or some other weird Yorthon bullshit.

  “Spiders. They can get as big as wagons, with stinging fangs the size of daggers.”

  “There was nothing about spiders…” Rook said, emphasizing the word. “I was told nothing about there being spiders.”

  He put an arm out to the wall to brace himself, and something caught his glove. Peeling his hand free, he inspected it. What the hell is this? He inspected it on his fingertips, sticking to his palms. Feeling the tinge of panic, Rook took another step down the slick staircase, and the air at this point took on the faint smell of rot. Focus, breathe. He thought, breath hissing from his nose.

  “You ok?” Reina hissed, nearly scaring him from his skin when she touched his shoulder.

  Their steps echoed down into the stone cellar, and their footsteps resonated in the moist air. Something foul, almost like decay, struck his nose, and he blew a breath out. He trekked through a sticky substance. Against his better judgment, he pulled it free from his shoe. Spiderwebs… Rook paused, holding the strands of thick web.

  “Hognoses.” Reina swallowed hard. “The females find dens like this cellar and lay eggs in their spider web.”

  “Dont remind me. Let’s just get it done.”

  As they reached the bottom of the stairwell, his foot stepped into a brittle pile, and he silently cursed. What is this? He reached down and pulled something round from the pile. Bringing it up to his face, he blinked. It was a partially eaten skull. He scambled backwards, letting the skull drop to the ground. A chittering emitted from deep within the cellar.

  “Please tell me I’m having a stroke or something, that I didn’t just hear a low growl.”

  “No.” Reina swallowed hard. “I heard it too. Unfortunately, that’s all I heard, no rats, no bugs”

  Rook knew from his survival training that whenever critters aren’t around, it’s because traps were set out, or a predator was about. Rook felt the latter was more likely. Above in the ceiling of the cellar, low-hanging cobwebs stretched from one side to the other. It gave the place a ghostly appearance. Rotting fruit lay in crates stacked nearly to the ceiling on either side of the wide walkway. They continued further into the low light, towards the end of the cellar, when another chittering rang out, pausing them in place.

  “Shh.” Rook held a hand up to conduct a SLLS check.

  The low light of the cellar offered little as well as the damp smell. However, he heard a low whistle from just ahead. He followed the sound until his hand met a sticky portion of the wall. What is this? He grabbed a handful of the wall and pulled. The spider’s web stretched until it broke in his hand.

  “I think it burrowed through the wall.”

  Reina nodded. “Stand back.” With a quick albeit sloppy succession of attacks, she cut through the spider web. She touched a glowing green hand to herself and then sighed.

  Rook entered the space and found a tunnel that wound on a slope. It became progressively colder as they descended into the cellar. Rook gripped his cudgel tight, cursing himself for not having the genius to get a weapon above the starter one.

  “How far can this lead?”

  “I’m guessing a few hundred feet. There’s no way the spider traveled further than that. They like to stick to a food source, which probably means that this leads to the sewers. When it tires of rats, it may hunger for a gnome.”

  “Jinxor,” Rook whispered.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  A thin cobweb hit her across the face, resulting in several frantic swipes in the empty air. She looked as if she were having a karate match with an invisible opponent.

  “God Maker,” Reina hissed.

  “Bravo,” Rook said, with mock satisfaction. “Allow me, my lady.”

  Taking a cautious step deeper into the den, his boot caught on a thick strand of web, pitching him forward into the rotted barrels lining the cave wall. Silently cursing, Rook shot his hands forward, bracing for impact. The wood barely broke his fall, and he lay there for a moment, cursing his clumsiness, his anxiety in the spider cave.

  “What the hell, man?” Rook groaned. As all the piss, vinegar, and bravado leaked from his shattered ego.

  Reina stared at him, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “You want to make any more noise, or are you done?”

  Rook winced as he pulled a finger-sized splinter from his hand. “Guess it wasn’t all rotted.”

  Ignoring him, she continued a short distance away to inspect the barrels. “This must be an old smuggler’s cave.” She said, absentmindedly shining the torch around the space.

  Rook pushed himself free of the barrel and followed her gaze. The cave was covered in webbing, like a Washington winter, where layers of snow blanketed the area. He scraped the web from his boot on a nearby rock and watched the wispy trap sway in the stale air. The broken web strand shimmered in the torchlight, waving like a ghostly hand before settling on the wall closest. It was stark white against the dull gray stone of the cave wall.

  Forgetting where he was for a moment, he took in the view, in awe of the intricate spider’s web. The hognose really made its home here under Ollar. A low chittering growl emitted from deeper in the cave. The moment was gone, and the nightmare tagged in.

  “Did you hear that?” Reina asked, cautiously inching forward, beside him.

  Her eyes bulged towards the darkness beyond the torchlight. The metallic jungle of her rapier echoed in her trembling hand. Are we going to live through this? What good is that sword if there’s no confidence behind it? Rook sighed inwardly. I’m no better; I don’t want to fight a spider either. Rook forced down the thoughts of his party’s current strength. He always compared himself to everyone around him in an unhealthy manner.

  A floating web shimmered in front of him, and he swiped it aside, letting it cling to his hand. As quick as it landed, a draft in the cave coerced the web beyond the torchlight, to an unseen location.

  The chittering echoed once again, sending his hair on end.

  Why am I doing this again? Rook held his mace up, waiting for the moment the spider would surprise them. All the movies he saw, the games he played with spiders featured the creepy crawlies descending slowly from the ceiling and wrapping the proverbial noose around the adventurers’ necks. Glancing upwards, he smiled. The cave ceiling was too low for a spider the size of a horse to surprise them.

  They weren’t ten feet from where the barrel attacked when he noticed them, Clumps within the webs. That’s not good. He glanced at his partner and shook his head, reaching for the clump. Tearing it open, he gasped, yanking his hand away. Inside the macabre wrapping was the carcass of a cat. Patches of orange fur stuck to its moistureless body.

  “This is what they do,” Reina whispered. “They wrap up live prey and drink them from the inside like soup.”

  Command presence activated.

  Fuck. Bossfight.

  The sound of wood breaking, followed by a low chittering, snapped Rook into a state of complete calm focus. It’s real and it’s coming. The sound first came from his left. Reina whirled to meet the foe, but then the sound was behind them. The chittering was closer now. Too close for comfort. Rook’s gaze rested on the darkness near where he guessed the end of the cave would be. Four orbs big as cantaloupes reflected the torchlight.

  Not good.

  Hognose Soldier

  Level 13 (Bronze)

  Out of the darkness, the spider, if you could call the horse-sized nightmare that, charged with blurring speed. Rook moved to the side, pressing himself against the wall, fumbling fingers desperately trying to produce a projectile from the mushroom quiver.

  “You’re a battle mage! Not a sorcerer, rely on your strength too!” Reina cried out.

  He clutched his mace, holding it up like a batter and swung it down into the front legs, slamming the crude club into the leg with a hollow thwack. It squealed, shaking the pool noodle-sized leg. With a chittering roar, it shot its leg forward, its brown shell rushing past his face into the wall behind him with a crash. The air filled with pencil-sized hairs with each thrust. He spat out thin fibers, ducking to the side, and swept his mace low for an attack to its front leg.

  “Hold strong, Rook!” Reina yelled, stabbing the beast in its swollen abdomen.

  It cried out in agony, spinning to meet the enhancer. Rook was quicker, pushing Reina out of the way, he was hit by the pool noodles slash, sending hot fire into his chest.

  “You fucker,” Rook growled, touching a finger to the tender wound.

  “Gah!” Reina yelled, waving the torch in its chittering face.

  It bent its large abdomen and shot a web towards Reina, catching her torch hand and pinning it to the wall. She held her sword out, ready for a follow-up.

  Rook’s vision swam, his heart palpitated in his chest, and cold sweat trailed down his forehead.

  Current status: Poisoned.

  He ignored it. Impact to the head will kill it. Using a small stone as a stepstool, Rook climbed onto the Hognose’s back, ignoring the burning in his chest. The rough hairs pricked his shins, hands and knees as he crawled towards the head. He grabbed a hold of the beast and stood, his feet struggling to gain purchase. Here goes nothing. He held the mace overhead and put everything into his swing. His weapon flew into the back of the Hongnose’s head with a wet squelch, sending it to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

  Fuck. Fuck. The spider’s carcass folded, bucking him violently overhead into Reina as it curled into a twitching mass. They lay tangled on the web-covered ground in a painful pile of limbs.

  The ichor leaked from its head, leg, and abdomen, filling the air with a strong tang, intensifying the ache in his head and sickness. He produced the potion of antivenom and held it out with shaking hands.

  Reina sighed. “I got it.” She took the crystal vial of glittery purple liquid and held it to his lips. “Drink.”

  The bitter liquid stung his throat, but flooded his body with immediate relief.

  He gave her an appreciative nod and wiped his mouth. “That’s better. We should get the eyes back to Jinxor. I don’t want to stay here any longer than we must,” Reina said, wiping green blood from her face with the back of a hand.

  “I can’t believe we killed that thing,” Rook said excitedly, riding the high of facing his fear.

  Would you like to loot hognose soldier?

  Y/N

  Yes.

  You have obtained

  250 experience

  3 gold

  2 pristine hognose eyes

  Damaged hognose carapace

  260 experience of 300 until level 6

  They went up the tunnel, back through the cellar, and into Jinxor’s shop. He gasped when he saw them.

  “It looks like I severely underestimated you. Curious, you shouldn’t have been able to beat her by yourselves.” He tapped his cane on the ground. “I expected you to run back up,” he continued, narrowing his eyes at Rook.

  Quest completed: Cellar clearance.

  Quest reward

  300 experience

  1 gold

  45 silver

  18 copper

  Studded Mace (Bronze)

  You have reached level 6

  260 experience of 350 until level 7

  “Good, then Rook, read that goblin journal in your room over the next two days. But do it crouching and walking like a duck.” Jinxor gave Rook 10 silver for the goods. “Oh, and before you go to the Stumbling Ogre, speak to the builder’s guild shop. They should have some beginner spellbooks you can get your hands on.” He regarded them for a moment, looking them over with slight disgust. “I have something else that might interest you.”

  Do you like spiders?