The Tower in the Shadows

As they descended, they explained each floor to Hena. The fact that they could travel through the Dungeon to the floor they wished without fighting their way through it was a source of both amazement and consternation.

"That is a trap, is it not?" As they walked, she talked to Mags, slightly turning her head to see the other woman.

"Yes. This Dungeon is far more intelligent than the typical young one."

"Wasps with floor traps on the first, with Toads and water environment on the second and here on the third boars?" She turned, facing the others behind her as they walked.

"We were just as surprised." Woodland added from the group's rear.

"It was quite the impression. Eh, Nilus?" Mags said to the group's archer.

"Do not remind me." They could not see his face, but his shoulders tensed up. The rest of the group chuckled as they reached the third floor. Hena gathered it was not a pleasant experience for him and would ask Mags about it later.

"I see the new stairs." Kimor spoke.

"Be ready, people. From here on, we have no idea what we will face." Gran spoke to the whole group. Hena had joined them because of their reputation as a dependable group. In response, the group's attitude went from ready to wary.

"Let us go," Gran said after a quick glance over everyone. They moved on down the stairs.

"I hear water running. Soft, but it's there." Kimor said from ahead. Nilus groaned—definitely a story she needed to know.

"Kimor scout ahead." Gran instructed. Hena could not see her because of Tobar's bulk but knew the woman was moving.

They continued a short distance, following the curve of the stairs until they reached the bottom. There was a large opening that showed a cave with two things that stood out straight away. First was the soft blue light in the room, giving everything illuminated a blue otherworldly feel. Second were the spider webs, which were very large and dense. Each group member carried a magical lantern whose light was far stronger and easily drowned out the blue.

Kimor was kneeling at the entrance, looking at the room. The rest of them were gathered a short distance behind her. Woodland had begun taking notes and drawing the map of the floor.

"What do you see, Kimor?"

"There is a stream running through the cave. Blue Moss is producing the light. I cannot see the spiders that made the webs. The cave turns to the northeast and might be larger. There is a door over there."

Kimor's tone was like she was talking about the weather as she broke down what she was seeing, not studying a Dungeon floor they knew nothing about. Hena had many questions about the group's rogue but was professional enough not to ask because you sometimes had to wait for someone to tell their stories.

"We are going in. Kimor, stay close to Tobar. The rest, keep aware if we are dealing with spiders, they will most likely ambush. Keep your lanterns on. The light produced by the moss is not strong enough to go without them." Gran quickly planned their moves. Woodland was omitted, as she would not enter the room until it had been cleared or a section declared safe.

The group got to organising themselves. Mags and Hena took positions in the back and in front of Woodland. Gran turned, looking them over as he was at the front with Tobar. Looking back to the cave, he spoke.

"Move in."

They began moving. The cave was eerie due to the light and webs casting shadows everywhere, which was only worsened by their lantern's light. Kimor checked for traps and hidden dangers with her skills, while Tobar stayed close to protect her if needed. Gran was next to him, with Nilus behind in front of Hena and Mags, with an arrow notched but with the bow undrawn. Hena had her magic ready and her wand in hand.

"I hate spiders." Nilus muttered, but Hena heard him.

There were paths through the webbing that allowed a person to walk around the cave, but it would also be easy to get stuck. Hena thought of the Jungles of her home and the spiders there. The monster species were the only type that created webs this dense. The Yellowback was the most common and their spider silk was worth a good price in the village and town markets.

"Kimor, check the door." Gran's voice brought back to the present.

She did not respond in words but in actions. In near-total silence, she went to the door and looked it over. Hena was unsure if she was only doing a visual inspection or using skills as well. The latter was most likely. As this happened, the rest kept a lookout for danger. The webbing around the cave limited their view. It caused a sensation of claustrophobia even in such an ample space.

"The door opens one way like the other floors." Hena jumped slightly at the sound of Kimor's voice. She had looked away and not heard her return.

"That will be the exit from the boss room. We continue." Gran indicated the path further into the cave.

They started walking again. The cave was covered in webs, and they had to cut some away as they walked. Tobar was leading, using his mace to sweep away the webbing in their way. He and his mace were covered in a lot of webbing very quickly.

The group was tense but ready for an attack. When it came, they were still surprised.

A black shape detached itself from the ceiling of the cave. It fell onto Tobar as another shot from the side. With that, the fight began.

"Kimor, help Tobar. I will take the other one!" Gran yelled as he attacked the second monster.

Nilus drew his bow while Hena focused her mana to cast her offensive spells.

They were spiders but unlike any she had seen before. It was hard to make them out. Tobar had the spider on his head and shoulders. It was large, but he was larger still. He remained upright but was staggering as the monster attacked him. The fight was developing fast. The lanterns were casting wild shadows around as the combatants fought.

Tobar was struggling against his attackers on uneven ground, which caused him to trip and fall into a dense patch of webbing. Kimor was stabbing the spider that was now on top of him while Gran was fighting the other. He was using his shield to block the attacks. The spiders were large and it was clear that any bite would be dangerous.

"Gods damn it all! I have no clear shot!" Nilus was frustrated and Hena understood, as she also had no line of sight to cast. Mags, however, did do something.

“[Blessings of Ilinia: Resistance to Harm].” As she cast her priest spell, Hena could see a glow around Tobar the spell was directed to.

"How are you doing? Gran called to Kimor." Gran was holding his attacker off, but Kimor was having less fortune helping Tobar.

"The webs are causing issues!" Kimor's voice was strained, but the tone was still the same.

"Nilus? Hena?" Gran called out.

"No shot. Trying to get a clear view." Nilus was moving, trying to get the sight on a target, but the webbing was hampering him.

"Same with me. I am moving closer." Hena had realised she was going to have to get closer.

"Not much further. This damned webbing is sticking to everything!" Gran was now getting hampered as he tried to swing his sword by the webbing. The blade edge was cutting through, but the flat had webbing cling to it.

Hena moved forward only a few steps and focused on the spider attacking Gran. She saw her opening. Channelling her mana through her wand, she cast Mana Arrow.

The spell shot from her wand tip and took the form of a rough arrowhead light blue in colour. It hit the spider attacking Gran. It let out a screech in pain, leaping back with a would oozing greyish yellow blood. Gran used the distraction to follow up, driving his sword into its head, killing it. Pulling his sword out, he turned to Tobar and Kimor. Kimor was finishing the second spider off with Tobar trapped in the webs, struggling to get up with the spider on top of him.

With another screech, it died, ending the fight.

"Injuries?" Gran asked the group. Nilus, Mags and Hena all said no.

"Tobar's injured. But I am all right." Kimor spoke, helping the group's biggest member to his feet. She was cutting the webbing off of him and Hena realised they all had some on them. Mags went over to him.

Gran was getting it off his blade and himself but was failing to get it all. Nilus saw the reward arriving and collected it.

"How is he?" Gran asked Mags.

"Not bad. One bite wound and a lot of scratches. [Blessings of Ilinia: Minor Healing]." Mags called upon her power again to heal Tobar's injuries by laying her hands on him. A soft white light surrounded him. When it was done, she stepped away.

"Good work, Mags, but from here on in, we ration magic and rely on our supplies." Gran was looking around as he spoke.

"Understood." Mags was not happy but obeyed her team leader.

"Nilus, what do we have?"

"Fourteen Cythian copper coins." He was counting them in his hands.

"Right, we move on in a minute. Catch your breaths and be ready. We walked right into an ambush. I don't want another!" He was now looking at Woodland, who was inspecting the spider he had killed. Hena went over to get a closer look. Gran was talking low with Kimor.

The spider was a six-legged, hairless creature. It was a deep grey with a shell on its back. It also had four black eyes with strange grey/yellow blood. Some aspects of it were disturbing in a way she found hard to articulate. Was the spider too angular?

"Never seen or heard of anything like this. You?" Woodland was taking notes and updating the floor map she had started.

"My homeland has giant spiders…. But nothing like this." She knew that Woodland knew of her lands and their most famous export of spider silk garments. Gran had come over to them now.

"I will have to check the continent's bestiary volumes. But I am sure it will not have an entry for this," she indicated to the body with a quill. Hena believed her, as she had never heard of anything like it during her studies and travels.

"Kimor never spotted them until they attacked." Gran spoke to Woodland. "She is damn good at what she does, but these things are good enough to avoid her."

"That means we are looking at a marked increase in danger on this floor." Woodland was frowning. Hena knew why. Her team was a respected Copper grade group, so she joined. Typically, Dungeons increased in danger level every three to five floors. If things on this one stayed at the same threat level, the Dungeon would be upgraded to a Copper grade from Iron by its fourth floor, which was unprecedented to her knowledge.

"Let's keep going." Gran got the group moving. They were tense, knowing things were now closer to their level.

The cave went north and turned east, shaped like a kidney bean. They encountered no more spiders, but the ever-present webs stuck to everyone. Kimor discovered more ambush locations as the webs hid nooks in the walls, allowing spiders to hide. Gran cursed several times but was forced to keep his blade clean.

"Gods damned webs stick to everything!"

"That they do. Collecting them is always a complicated job." Hena mussed, remembering her home village and their journeys into the jungles.

"Wait. Why did you collect spiderwebs?" Nilus asked.

"Ever heard of spider silk garments?"

"Of course, I always wanted to own some."

"Well, what do you think they are made from?"

That stopped the group dead.

"You mean this webbing is worth something?" Gran asked.

"Oh yes. Depending on the quality of the web and who processes it, the silk can be worth a lot."

Suddenly, her group was looking around, not at an annoying danger-filled hazard but at a revenue source.

"How?" Tobar rumbled.

"It is done in three stages. Collection of the webbing. Creation of the raw silk and finally the making of the garment."

Before any more questions were asked, Gran spoke.

"That is a conversation for later. We clear the floor first."

With that, they moved on.

Kimor discovered a passageway leading south. It was artificial and created by the Dungeon as it mirrored the stonework above. As for the cave, Hena was unsure if it was natural or dungeon-created. She felt that it was natural.

The passageway was web-free but had blue moss growing on the walls.

"No indications of traps." Kimor was kneeling at the edge of the passage.

"Advance."

They continued in. Behind them, Woodland was muttering notes into crystal. Hena could make out some of it.

"Stream following through the floor with moss growth focused along it. Webs is a possible new income source for Adventures and the town."

Hena was interested in some of her guild's inner workings. Dungeon mapping and surveying were two that she was flirting with pursuing if the opportunity appeared.

"What do you see in the room?" Gran's voice pulled her back to the situation at hand.

Kimor was looking into the room that the corridor led to. Again, she was kneeling at the threshold, looking around. She took longer to answer.

"The room had two cross beams. A lot of webbing and I can make out several places where the spiders might be hiding."

"Can you see them?" She did not respond immediately, again focusing on the room. Hena wondered what skills she was using. Most Adventures spoke their skills as it was the fastest way to activate them. The truly experienced did not need to and that made them dangerous.

"Got a location of one. There might be another."

"This is what we are going to do…."

## ## ## ## ##

Watching Gran's team in action was always instructive. They had a new member, a spellcaster named Hena and she cast a fascinating spell against the first two spiders. I had learned some new things from her about the world beyond my aura and its economy. I had caught the casting while using Mana Sight to inspect her for magical auras.

They were assaulting the second room at the moment.

"I wonder if the smaller room will hamper or help the spiders?"

"These intruders you are watching are expected to reach me?"

Her question shook me out of my thoughts and reminded me that I could talk to her. After so much time alone, I had developed the habit of being in my own head.

"Sorry. Yes, I expected them to reach you, but the fourth room on the floor will be their biggest challenge before they reach you."

"The room with eight lesser of my kind."

In our brief conversations before Gran's team arrived and descended, I gave Queen a rough overview of the floor.

"I think I will call you Queen. It is easier."

"I am a Shadow Spider Queen, so that would be the correct thing to call me."

The two spiders were attacking them now, but they did not surprise them like the first pair. The webbing and beams added to the difficulty of the fight, but the spiders were overcome. Nilus collected the twelve copper coins and the group went on.

The next room was the octogon-shaped one. The two spiders here were taken down, but one got a solid bite on Nilus's leg. The first had drawn his attention, but he did not see the second until it was too late. Gran killed it with help from Hena.

"That looks like it hurts."

He was not able to put weight on it and collapsed. Mags was at his side, binding the wound with a bandage. The spider had ripped his leather breeches open on the thigh. There was plenty of blood, but the bandage was beginning to control it. His face was paler from shock and blood loss. Maga reached into her side pouch and pulled a small bottle from it. The contents were something new. The bottle was clear, but the liquid was blood-red and glowed slightly.

"Healing potion?"

I needed to get my hands on one of those! The possibilities for new options for my Dungeon were immense. He drank the concoction and the bleeding stopped. Some colour returned to his face. A few minutes later, he was standing, but the wound still gave him issues as he favoured that leg. The bloody bandage was still wrapped around his leg.

They stopped and rested for several minutes. I knew things were about to get dangerous, as the next room had eight spiders in it.