The Forgotten Legacy

Just as he was about to break his stealth and shout at the team, the spiderling, with another loud hiss, dropped from the ceiling into the middle of the group. As the group had been moving through the tunnels, they had been staying close together as they had all assumed that if a monster was going to attack them they would be able to see it come from in front of them and they would have the warriors who were in the lead best able to defend the rest of the group and attack anything that came to attack. However, as the monster had instead dropped on top of them from above this was the worst position that the team could have been in. The Cave Spiderling was huge, no natural spider could have grown so large as each of its eight legs were easily a metre long and its body the same size. Aside from its red eyes the spider was black all over, easily able to blend in with the darkness of the surrounding tunnel, explaining how no one noticed it on the ceiling until it decided to make itself known to them.

The spiderling landed on top of one of the mages from Trevor’s team and with its long legs knocked aside everyone else who was unfortunate enough to be close to it. People were sent flying into the walls of the tunnel with enough force that you could hear the sound of impact, there was no way that a spider, no matter how big it was, should have the strength to throw a person that hard. Everything dissolved into chaos, people started screaming, while those that hadn’t been knocked aside looked to be in shock.

“Run, everyone run!”

“No, if we run then everyone left behind dies. We have to stick together and fight!” Michael shouted.

Shaun looked around to see that 3 people had been knocked into the walls by the spider and weren’t moving, probably unconscious, although they could be dead, Gabriel having also been knocked down was trying to get back to his feet but it was clear that he was struggling. Then there was the mage underneath the spider screaming but alive. Drawing his sword Michael looked like he was trying to hype himself up to attack and with a yell ran at the monster with his sword raised.

“Like hell I’m going to let you get the first kill!” Travor drew his own sword and started following. Just as he was getting closer to the Cave Spiderling Michael was already taking his first swing at one of its legs. Expecting the sword to cut right through its leg he was not prepared for the sword to only sink maybe an inch into its flesh and then stop in its tracks. While Michael stood there in shock it gave the Spiderling enough time to knock him to the side with enough force to throw him on his back. Seeing that Michael couldn’t even take off one of its legs with a full swing of his sword Trevor yelled at everyone to attack.

Eric, the last of the conscious warriors drew his sword and started slowly getting closer to the spider, while Jessica and the other mage in Trevor’s team drew their wands. Gabriel now on his feet pulled the bow off of his back and looked to be trying to figure out how to knock an arrow. Shaun, still in stealth along the wall, stayed still and watched what was occurring. He knew if he ran at the monster with his dagger in hand there was no way he would be able to get to its body, and there was no way that his dagger was going to be able to cut through its legs if even Michael’s sword didn’t even cut through it.

Jessica started shaking her wand around, having no idea how to use it, why would she? She hadn’t been practising and had never used magic in her life. “It’s not working, why won't this thing work!”

Shaun had to hold back a chuckle, he knew that this wasn’t the right situation to find anything amusing, but if they had let him speak and explain using skills and being able to level them up they would have been better prepared for the situation they now found themselves in. An arrow went flying and went right over the spiderling, nowhere close to even hitting it, while the three warriors continued to try and hit the spider’s legs without also getting hit in the process. A white light started to glow in the tunnel and went flying towards the spider’s body, “I did it!” Jessica yelled.

Once the light cleared everyone looked to see what it had done, nothing, it hadn’t even left a mark. What it did do was annoy the spider as it started to turn around to now face Jessica. Hissing in annoyance, it then started to move in her direction until Michael jumped in front of it with a broad swing of his sword.

With the spider’s attention now on Michael, the others took the opportunity to start hacking at its legs, still not being able to get anywhere near its body. Another arrow let loose but this time hit the spider’s abdomen “I got it!”.

Another white flash went off as the other mage hit the spider, followed shortly after by another flash from Jessica, neither of which looked to do any damage but did seem to infuriate the monster. Arrows kept flying from Gabriel with only 1 of 3 actually hitting and staying in the monster’s body. The warriors continued to attack at the legs, even managing to cut off one of them.

“I’m out of arrows” Gabriel shouted at the group as one last arrow flew through the air, he then went running to stand behind Michael next to Jessica who then yelled that she was out of Mana, followed shortly by the other mage. This left the only people left to do any damage to the first monster that they encountered being the warriors.

“Everyone group together, with me!” Michael yelled as the warriors all formed a line, everyone else in the group was behind them on one side of the tunnel with Shaun on the other, the spider was in the middle, separating the two. The three unconscious people were still off to the sides of the tunnel and the screaming of the mage underneath the spider had long since gone quiet.

Shaun surveyed the situation around him, he was alone, unnoticed behind the spider who had its full attention on the group to the other side. Looking at the spider it now had several arrows poking out of its abdomen and has also now missing two of its eight legs. It was by no means close to defeat and seemed like it could continue on indefinitely, while the warriors all looked to be breathing hard, clearly not used to swinging a sword around, let alone fighting off giant spiders. From Shaun’s view they had two choices: fight and in all likelihood die, or run and leave everyone else behind to become food, that was if he chose to do nothing.

Looking at the spider it was 3 levels higher than him and it was clear that it was a big gap when you were still level 0 and had never fought a monster before, but this was what his class was meant for, lying in wait until you had the perfect opportunity to pounce from the shadows and deal damage. This was the perfect situation for Shaun, the monster had no idea he was there still lying in wait in the shadows, it had its back to him and was vulnerable to an attack from this angle. All he had was his dagger, but if he attacked from stealth, the skill said there was a small chance at doing critical damage. If he only had one chance to do any real damage he needed to hit it where it was most vulnerable, if he hit a leg there was no way that it would do enough damage to make a difference, if he hit it in the abdomen he could potential hurt it but not enough to kill it if he was going from what damage the arrows did. The only option was to make sure his dagger landed right between its head and abdomen where he hoped that if he got his dagger deep enough that it would put it down for good.

Taking a deep breath while the spider was still distracted by the warriors still attacking from the front, he slowly crept away from the tunnel wall, using everything he had learnt from his stealth skill to make sure he didn’t make a sound. When he was in what he thought was the perfect position to be able to jump onto its back and drive his dagger in he took one last breath, It’s now or never he thought.

With a few quick steps he jumped onto the spider's back and slammed his dagger in, hitting right where he wanted to. The dagger drove down right to the hilt and Shaun held on tight to make sure he didn’t fly off the spiders back. The spider reared back onto its remaining back legs and made a painful screech, it was so loud that he almost let go of his dagger to cover his ears. The spider started swinging its body around violently, trying to shake him off but he refused to let go. It was clear that his attack had done significant damage, as the spider had lost all sense with its only goal to him off. Trying to keep hold of the dagger while the spider was frantically moving nearly made him lose his grip, when his shoulder brushed against one of the arrows sticking out of the abdomen that Gabriel had shot earlier. Keeping one hand on the dagger he grabbed a hold of the shaft of the arrow to help keep himself on the spider's back. As it kept swinging around, the arrow that Shaun held on to slowly started to dig deeper into its abdomen which seemed to infuriate the Spiderling more. With the last of his strength, he pushed as hard as he could, forcing the arrow deeper, slowly the spider's movements started to lag until finally, with one final sway, it dropped to the ground unmoving.

*You have defeated a (Cave Spiderling – Lvl 3). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 15 TE awarded*

*Class: Rogue has levelled up by +1 levels. [Basic] Rogue has reached Level 1. +1 Str, +3 Dex, +1 End, +3 Per gained*

*Skill Level up: [Basic] Short Blade – Level 4*

*Skill Level up: [Basic] Stealth – Level 4*

*Skill Level up: [Basic] Stealth – Level 5*

Laying on top of the spiderling, taking deep breaths, Shaun let the feeling of the new stats he gained wash through his body. It was incredible, he had never felt anything as good as the feeling he now felt course through his body. It was like he had not only gained back all of the energy he had spent fighting his first monster but it was as if he had just been hit with enough caffeine that he could run a marathon without breaking a sweat, he felt invincible. Too quickly though the feeling went away and he started to feel more normal although nowhere near as tired as he felt when battling the spiderling.

Suddenly, he felt himself getting ripped off of the monster’s body and found himself pushed against a wall with Trevor’s face just inches from his own. “Your going to regret taking that kill from me you little –“