I nearly shit myself. My knife is in my hand before I can think, my pulse hammering in my ears. How the fuck did it get outside? Why is it outside? That crypt has been on the outskirts of Mistvale for longer than the village itself, and no one has ever seen giant spiders. Not that I’ve heard of.

  Shit! Did I fuck things up when I broke into that chamber? Maybe it was walled off for a reason.

  But then… how is this one outside? Did it crawl out ahead of me? I didn’t see it… did it take another route?

  The spider offers no answers as it creeps closer.

  I circle around it cautiously, my muscles tensed, ready to spring away at the slightest provocation. Now, in the moonlight, I can finally get a good look at the thing.

  It’s grotesque, with an elongated body, ending in a bulbous abdomen and covered in a black, hairy carapace. Its legs bend at unnatural angles, jagged and serrated like blades, twitching in ways that make my skin crawl. Green pustules pulse across its swollen back, oozing a foul liquid over its body. The longer I look, the more terrified I get, its great long mandibles are each the length of my own knife and its eyes.... is it looking at me? They don't have pupils... but it's facing me. It must see me as its prey, right?

  "Fuck me...." I curse, furious at my own rotten luck.

  It’s one of the larger ones, about the size of a small wolf.

  In a contest of strength, I should be able to overpower it. But those mandibles, and its poison…. I’d rather not try.

  I mean, is it even an animal? Because I've never seen anything like this before. Then again, the world is vast, and nature comes in many forms, or so Rose used to tell me. Surely this thing is just another predator… another animal.

  Which means I can outsmart it and I can kill it... right?

  *HISS*

  It moves when I move, its grotesque legs dragging its bloated body closer, slow but deliberate. I match its pace, keeping my distance as I circle it. My back is to Mistvale now, if I can get it to the village.....

  I take a slow step back. Then another. The spider bristles, mandibles twitching, its eyes, or whatever those dead, glassy orbs count as, fixed on me. It knows what I’m doing.

  It lunges.

  Fuck!!

  I throw myself sideways, rolling over snow and dirt as it collides with the tree I was in front of, splintering the bark in an explosion of force. It’s dazed from the impact, so I lunge forward and plunge my knife into its head. There's a sickening crunch and then a shriek, high-pitched, furious, it thrashes with terrifying strength. I release the blade and scramble backward, slipping on the snow. It convulses violently, limbs flailing, ichor spurting from the wound. Then it rears back, knife still embedded, those black eyes locking on mine like burning coals.

  "S-Shit-"

  I turn and break out into a sprint, Mistvale is close.

  If I can lure it toward easier prey, it’ll abandon me. I don’t care what… or who, I just need something to distract it.

  The creature chases me, closing the distance frighteningly fast. I sprint toward the farm on the village’s outskirts, vaulting over a fence and diving into the stables. The thick scent of hay and manure fills my lungs, but I barely register it.

  Because behind me, the spider follows, crawling inside.

  I dash through to the far end, sidestepping the farmer's horse as I vault back out of the stables into the farm proper. The horse rears up with a terrified shriek, its hooves lashing out wildly as the spider’s legs coil around its body. The sound of tearing flesh follows, but I don’t stop to watch, relief flooding through me as I flee-

  "Wha-"

  Only to nearly crash into a broad, furious figure blocking my path.

  Pudgy Podrick. The farmer.

  He storms toward me, pitchfork raised, his face twisted with rage. "What in the hells are you doin’ in me stables, you overgrown wastrel?!"

  I raise my hands defensively. "Wait, Pod. We have to go-"

  He doesn’t listen. He jabs the pitchfork toward my chest, demanding answers. But then, from behind me, he hears the the guttural gurgle of a dying horse.

  "Sally?"

  The farmer’s expression shifts in an instant. He looks past me, his eyes widening as the horse smashes through the stables wooden doors, the spider clinging to its back. Podrick's lips part in a silent curse as he tightens his grip on his weapon.

  "By Lude's flaming hammer... what the fuck is that!?"

  The horse gallops towards us, bringing the spider with it.

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  "RrraaaaAAarrgHH!!"

  But showing no fear, Podrick lunges with his pitchfork, its tines sinking deep into the spider’s side. It shrieks, its bloated abdomen convulsing as black ichor spews from the wound. But it isn’t dead.

  It leaps off of the bleeding horse and latches onto the farmer, its mandible stabbing and biting. The burly man grapples with the creature, avoiding the lethal bites by a hairs breath.

  "Fuck-" I curse, taking up the man's pitchfork.

  This is a stupid idea, the whole point of coming here was to let it find easier prey.

  "HaaarrrrghhHH!!"

  Even so, I stab the bleeding spider through the back, leveraging my long weapon and lifting it into the air like meat on a fork. The spider squeals in agony, eight legs writhing on the pitchfork. But my height has its advantages, strength being chief among them. I holding it there as it ichor falls all over me, the disgusting liquid coating my ragged clothes.

  "Urgh- shit...."

  I wait.... longer.... and longer still, bleeding the foul animal out. Finally, after what feels like hours, it falls still and I let the pitchfork topple over, far away from me.

  “Thank the goddess… it’s over.” I say with a deep sigh, my body exhausted.

  I spot my knife, still embedded in the creature. I pull it out with a grunt, the blade's in poor shape, still cracked from my battle with Jonah and now eaten away after spending so long in this spiders foul body.

  "What in the hells was that thing?" Podrick asks, walking up beside me.

  I shrug my shoulders "A spider, I suppose. Though not like any I've ever seen."

  The farmer looks at me suspiciously. "Why in the hell did you bring that thing here? I have a wife an child in this house!! What are you playing at!!?" The broad man confronts me angrily, grabbing me by the tunic. "It killed my fucking horse!"

  I shake him off. "I had no choice. It came for me out of nowhere, I ran and just happened upon your farm. It's not my fault!"

  He glares, but before he can do anything more, the upright pitchfork falls. The impaled spider begins to move once more.

  "Fuck me...." I back away, drawing my knife.

  "Lumina protect us...." Podrick does the same, snatching up the shovel that leans against his wooden house.

  The spider doesn't come after us immediately. It waits motionless, its spindly legs half-folded, as though it were sitting down. The brittle plates of its exoskeleton twitch at irregular intervals, the hairs on it twisting all at once, until they're facing eastward.

  It tilts its head, as though thinking, considering... or listening.

  I hear something on the wind…. whispering, an incomprehensible babble of barely audible voices. And one great one that drums through my head, overpowering the rest.

  I look to Podrick, he doesn’t seem to notice, his gaze fixed on the spider.

  I shake my head, doing the same, looking forward. It still hasn’t moved, its many eyes, if they are indeed eyes, do not focus on us. Instead, they’re retracted, rolling inward towards its hairy carapace as it sits and waits…. helpless.

  I take the chance.

  Snatching the shovel from Podrick's hand, I bash it into the monsters eyes. It shrieks once, but only once. As I bash it in again and again and again. This time, I take no chances. I crush its head entirely, beating on it until its no more than mush.

  I hear a slam behind me. Podrick's front door, slamming shut. I can't blame him, this thing was a nightmare.

  I look down on it, curious. What in the hell was it doing? What is it in the first place?

  Despite everything, I linger close to the dead insect, my curiosity gets the better of me.

  It really is disgusting up close. Its head is now goop with shard of black shell mixed in. But its body seems mostly intact. Black liquid spews from the pitchfork wound still, it looks disgusting. Its bulbous backside seems to have deflated somewhat too due to the wounds, and its spinner is leaking silk. What interests me though are its legs, they seem double jointed, able to bend back and forth. The tips are sharp like knives, tools that appear made for killing. Very strange, very unnatural.

  I draw my knife, using it to hack away at some 'flesh' and tear out the monster's mandibles, along with the venom glands behind it.

  Rose would've killed to get her hands on something like this. And while I never really shared her passion, I must admit that my aversion to the alchemical arts has waned as I've matured.

  Unfortunately my fellows in Mistvale aren't of the same mind.

  Taking a large vial from my pouch, I carefully extract some of the venom, keeping it for study later.

  Rose's tools are still at her... or I suppose I should say, my house. I can take a look there, I’m almost looking forward to it.

  "There!"

  I drop the mandible, hearing a voice in the distance. I look and see several torches coming towards me. Half a dozen men, each one with an axe or a hunting blade or some sort of weapon in hand.

  The village watch.

  This isn’t good….

  They're followed by a balding, middle-aged man wearing clothes far finer than that of his companions. Yusef, the village headman. Mistvale’s current leader.

  "What in Lumina’s name is going on!?" The headman man shouts. But before he goes further, he stops, his mouth hanging agape, just like that of his retinue as they spy the dead horse and the huge spider by it.

  "Hells, what is that.....?" One of the watchmen, the village butcher says as he leans in, holding his torch out to get a better look. They all curse at once as they get a good look at the monstrous animal.

  Yusef glares at me. "What have you done?"

  I meet his glare with one of my own, while discreetly tucking the vial of venom into the hidden pocket of my trousers. "Nothing. That thing attacked me and Podrick. We killed it together."

  He raises a skeptical brow. "And you just happened to be on his farm in the dead of night? When it attacked?"

  I hesitate, trying not to reveal too much while thinking fast. "I like to walk in the moonlight. It came at me from the shadows. I ran and ended up here." I lie through my teeth, of course. Entering the crypt is expressly forbidden by Mistvale law, perhaps for good reason I now realize. If they were to find out that I brought this thing from there….

  Yusef scoffs, shaking his head. "A pagan, worshipping the moon, just like your aunt. And look at what you’ve brought down upon us!”

  I push past him. "You should be thanking me for killing that beast. Now it won’t trouble the vlllage."

  The watchmen hesitate, glancing between Yusef and me, but none of them move to stop me.

  Once I’m clear, I break into a run, sprinting to Rose's house.

  They’ll easily be able to track my footsteps through the snow. Especially with the spider chasing me, it’s only a matter of time before they find out what I did.

  I have to run.

  I have to get out of Mistvale.

  Results

  + 1 Spider Venom

  + 1 Skill

  - 1 Rusty Dagger

  Stats