Soul spiders - Prompt #12 a plant or animal that lives in an inhospitable region
Prompt #12 a plant or animal that lives in an inhospitable region – Soul spiders
He looked down at her, sneering, “Where are these spiders so I may crush them with my boot, be done with them, and return to a real warrior’s duty?” Daisy rolled her eyes at him. Abri stared at his brother, feeling the coldness that had typified Yuri’s attitude in the last great war. “These are not normal spiders.” To Yuri’s mind, he whispered, ‘What are you doing?’ No answering his mental question, Yuri raised an eyebrow. “Show me.” “I’ll take him. Abri have the guardsmen finish searching for the two missing miners.” Daisy stomped out of the building and toward the mines. They rode in a transit cart to the place they had come earlier. The underground tunnels were stiflingly hot. “And this is the weird stone made from amylase and salts that radiates low level dark energy.” Running his hand over the surface, Lars frowned, “It feels cold.” “And it wasn’t here three days ago,” Daisy revealed. “This tunnel opened into a cavern system that has only been partially explored and mapped but several miners have died here in curious accidents that weren’t accidents at all. Asha found soul spider bites on all of the bodies recovered.” “We’ll have to blow through the wall,” Yuri growled. “Or go around.” Daisy pointed out. “There is another way in one level down.” She led them through three tunnels, down two ladders and a set of stairs. Then she led them through an area of columns made of the weird stone. Lars and Yuri both had to duck their heads. “Daisy, do you know where you are going?” Yuri called to her after the second time he hit his head. “Yes.” “Really?” “I memorized the map.” She called back, but her voice echoed weirdly. “Oh well, then we shall be lost for all time,” he retorted snarkily, twisting to get through the stone columns. Chuckling at their banter, Lars squeezed out between the last stalactites and stalagmites. “This is on the map?” He was shocked at the size of the huge cavern. Yuri stepped beside them. High above, there were cable bridges strung across the dark void with huge support tripods rising from somewhere below. There were glowing spots of lampstone reaching out into the void but the darkness of the place permeated even the air. “It’s so humid.” Daisy started across the narrow bridge in front of them made of three cables. “It’s a field (kilometer) across here and about that deep from the ceiling or so the map stated. It didn’t have and accurate measure and this isn’t even one of the big ones. Midas thought this place was part of a lake that got covered over with a layer of pyroclastic flow and the hot rock and ash formed a shell. Over time, the water evaporated mostly. There are pools of hyper-salinated liquid in the bottom and quicksand. Ground penetrating scans showed dozens of places like this.” They crossed in silence then Daisy stopped at the last tripod and swung under the cable grabbing a rung attached to a tripod leg before climbing down. “Don’t fall.” The further down they went, the less Yuri wanted to be there. It reminded him of the feeling he got in the tunnels under the City of the Blood Temples on Xelusia. He tried not to remember the sensation of the ghost there trying to cling to him like cold damp spiderwebs. Daisy began to glow enough for them to see but even with the salt crystals reflecting her light the lack of any other source of illumination would make this place a challenge, even with sight magic. She stopped at the bottom and then walked forward into cave. “We are almost to where the first body was found.” She pulled her sword. Lars immediately did the same. “This place is wrong... Why would they come here?” “Greed.” Daisy tapped the vein of green crystal protruding from the wall. “Emeralds?” “No, these are green sapphires, so far they have found a dozen colors of sapphires in the great cavern alone. Plus every form of salt mineral crystal from aluminum alunite to zinc-bearing staurolite,” Daisy revealed. Yuri stepped in front of her, “Where does this set of tunnels lead?” “I don’t know. The maps end here.” Daisy revealed. “All the rest of the bodies were found on the higher levels. This is where the first who went missing was found, and the deepest. But even from where we were above, I could feel the darkness down here. Like in the tunnels under Damien’s citadel.” She shuddered involuntarily. Yuri nodded. “Stay behind us.” He was grateful for wearing the hot climate gear he normally wore on Jura. They walked for hours with several spots of the strange stone appearing on the walls, ceiling, or floor. But more worrying was the appearance of web-like structures along the walls. The air was getting cooler. Daisy stopped and touched one. “It’s stiff like spun glass or sugar.” Yuri bent and picked up a handful of the fine sand on the floor. He poured it out of his fist. There was a breeze that pulled at the grains, and a sound ahead like wind or water far away. “I think we are close to another large cavern.” “Let’s have a look and go back. I’m starting to get tired,” Daisy announced. She had been glowing for several hours. “We can return tomorrow. The tunnels distort the sound, it could be many fields away,” Yuri announced. They walked back the way they came and found a dead end. Yuri looked confused as he touched the wall. He pulled out his ax and struck it, watching how the vibration moved through the stone but it acted more like mud that had dried in the sun. It was too solid to break through. “Did we turn in error?” Lars asked. “We have not strayed.” Yuri answered. “Someone or something has blocked our return path.” “Why are there more webs?” Daisy was looking upward, She glowed brighter and then backed quickly toward them. “Something moved up there.” Yuri grabbed her arm as tugged her with him as something made angry clicking sounds from above them. Whatever manner of creature lived there, was there was now pursuing them. Lars sprinted ahead looking for a defensible spot, when he came out into a cavern. There was an alcove to one side that looked promising. “Lord Yuri, Lady Daisy, over here.” He shouted as he checked the room. To his surprise there was debris that looked like a realm gate had been blown up and a faintly glowing sword impaled through the bodies of three giant spiders. Lars began shooting beyond them as they ran toward him. Daisy turned and pulsed her light as the hissing and clicking horde. As the blinding light faded, she screamed. The strange stone floor melted like wax. Daisy’s light faded like a flare falling down the face of cliff as she and Yuri tumbled into the abyss.
<*><*><*><*>
As Daisy pulsed her light at the corrupted spiders, the floor became soft and melted away then she was falling. She screamed out of reflex and reached out for something to grab but there was nothing except Yuri’s half gloved hand. He pulled her to him. “Try to catch us.” She pulsed downward and managed to cast three stepping glyphs that they crashed through before the fourth one caught them. They were still falling but at a manageable rate. As the glyphs vanished, Daisy made another and another until they landed in the soft sand at the bottom. She was exhausted as Yuri sat her on her feet. “How far do you think we fell?” Daisy panted out her question. Yuri shook his head as he pulled his bow and fired upward using all his magic. The glow of the arrow vanished for almost a second before there was a flash. “Three and one quarter fields.” “That’s almost two miles,” Daisy exclaimed. “We are fortunate the gravity on this world is less or we would be dead,” Yuri announced. He heard something move to his right and turned. It was trying to approach them stealthily. “Daisy, how bright can you shine right now?” “Why?” Daisy asked wearily, she was almost out of magic. “We need to find the walls,” He push her to move but she jumped back colliding with him. “There’s a pool of dark water.” She started to walk in another direction then stopped, slowly she walked in a large circle. The water seemed to move away from her. Daisy inhaled and pushed her light out as hard as she could. The cursed liquid retreated but as Yuri rotated he realized they were trapped on an island in the middle of a lagoon of Dark Water surrounded by the melted-looking stones and spun-glass spiderwebs. The surface rippled and a giant spider leaped out at him. He cleaved it in half with his sword. “Don’t let them bite you!” Daisy cried out as she stabbed the one that tackled her. Yuri knocked it to the side as Daisy rolled to her feet and stabbed another through the head. Two more jumped at them and Daisy pulsed one as she sliced the legs off another. Yuri stabbed with his long knife and hacked with his axe. He and Daisy tried to stay back to back. As the spiders attacked them, Yuri stepped back and one bit his calf. He cursed and cut it off at the fangs, then he pulled one out. “Daisy, pulse them back so I can get...” He staggered as everything started to unfocus. “The other fang out." Daisy’s light exploded, driving the spiders back as he fell down. She bent over him and managed to get the fang out of his leg. He rolled them. His arm took the bite of the next spider that tried to get her. “Fluer,” he gasped out as purple magic glowed in his eyes. They fluttered shut as Daisy turned to strike the soul spider. Casting a blast of oracle light to kill the Soul Spider, Daisy stumbled back and tripped over Yuri, lying unresponsive with purple glowing eyes. She shook him, “Yuri, wake up, we’re in trouble.” She stood over him as she fought to keep the spiders off them. “Yuri, get up! Don’t go to sleep.” She was exhausted from using her magic. An arrow knocked another spider away from her and she looked up to see Lars shooting from the wall high above. “Lars, get to safety.” She shouted as she cast two glyphs to strike spiders crawling down toward him. A third spider tackled him, and he tumbled downward. Daisy cast a glyph under him trying to catch him, but it shattered. She tried to cast another one as a soul spider bit her. She felt the venom burning cold in her thigh and screamed, “Get off me.” She stabbed it through its eye with Yuri’s knife without looking away from Lars’ fall. Her magic waivered. Three more spiders jumped onto Lars as he tumbled downward, but they weren’t biting him. The jumble of Huntsman and soul spiders crashed into the dark water, splashing toward her with the freezing liquid. Her light magic flashed against liquid evil forming a bubble to protect her and Yuri. She tried to push her magic toward Lars but instead it waned as the venom tried to make her sleep. Fighting for her consciousness, she waved her sword at the approaching soul spiders gathering around her, then she saw it rising up from the oily ripple. The Shadow that controlled them. “Sleep, Oracle, my master has need of you and your Huntsman,” the voice vibrated the liquid. “Give him back to me.” Daisy demanded, forcing more magic to shine around her as she sank to her knees. “The younger Huntsman has gone into the Light... Sleep, Oracle...” the Shadow compelled her. “No... he’s not forever dead.” Her voice was a thready whisper as she fell backwards across Yuri’s prone form. Her light and hope faded with her consciousness. There was no light except the faint glow of soul spider eyes and crystal spun webs reflecting her Oracle stone’s glimmer.
He looked down at her, sneering, “Where are these spiders so I may crush them with my boot, be done with them, and return to a real warrior’s duty?” Daisy rolled her eyes at him. Abri stared at his brother, feeling the coldness that had typified Yuri’s attitude in the last great war. “These are not normal spiders.” To Yuri’s mind, he whispered, ‘What are you doing?’ No answering his mental question, Yuri raised an eyebrow. “Show me.” “I’ll take him. Abri have the guardsmen finish searching for the two missing miners.” Daisy stomped out of the building and toward the mines. They rode in a transit cart to the place they had come earlier. The underground tunnels were stiflingly hot. “And this is the weird stone made from amylase and salts that radiates low level dark energy.” Running his hand over the surface, Lars frowned, “It feels cold.” “And it wasn’t here three days ago,” Daisy revealed. “This tunnel opened into a cavern system that has only been partially explored and mapped but several miners have died here in curious accidents that weren’t accidents at all. Asha found soul spider bites on all of the bodies recovered.” “We’ll have to blow through the wall,” Yuri growled. “Or go around.” Daisy pointed out. “There is another way in one level down.” She led them through three tunnels, down two ladders and a set of stairs. Then she led them through an area of columns made of the weird stone. Lars and Yuri both had to duck their heads. “Daisy, do you know where you are going?” Yuri called to her after the second time he hit his head. “Yes.” “Really?” “I memorized the map.” She called back, but her voice echoed weirdly. “Oh well, then we shall be lost for all time,” he retorted snarkily, twisting to get through the stone columns. Chuckling at their banter, Lars squeezed out between the last stalactites and stalagmites. “This is on the map?” He was shocked at the size of the huge cavern. Yuri stepped beside them. High above, there were cable bridges strung across the dark void with huge support tripods rising from somewhere below. There were glowing spots of lampstone reaching out into the void but the darkness of the place permeated even the air. “It’s so humid.” Daisy started across the narrow bridge in front of them made of three cables. “It’s a field (kilometer) across here and about that deep from the ceiling or so the map stated. It didn’t have and accurate measure and this isn’t even one of the big ones. Midas thought this place was part of a lake that got covered over with a layer of pyroclastic flow and the hot rock and ash formed a shell. Over time, the water evaporated mostly. There are pools of hyper-salinated liquid in the bottom and quicksand. Ground penetrating scans showed dozens of places like this.” They crossed in silence then Daisy stopped at the last tripod and swung under the cable grabbing a rung attached to a tripod leg before climbing down. “Don’t fall.” The further down they went, the less Yuri wanted to be there. It reminded him of the feeling he got in the tunnels under the City of the Blood Temples on Xelusia. He tried not to remember the sensation of the ghost there trying to cling to him like cold damp spiderwebs. Daisy began to glow enough for them to see but even with the salt crystals reflecting her light the lack of any other source of illumination would make this place a challenge, even with sight magic. She stopped at the bottom and then walked forward into cave. “We are almost to where the first body was found.” She pulled her sword. Lars immediately did the same. “This place is wrong... Why would they come here?” “Greed.” Daisy tapped the vein of green crystal protruding from the wall. “Emeralds?” “No, these are green sapphires, so far they have found a dozen colors of sapphires in the great cavern alone. Plus every form of salt mineral crystal from aluminum alunite to zinc-bearing staurolite,” Daisy revealed. Yuri stepped in front of her, “Where does this set of tunnels lead?” “I don’t know. The maps end here.” Daisy revealed. “All the rest of the bodies were found on the higher levels. This is where the first who went missing was found, and the deepest. But even from where we were above, I could feel the darkness down here. Like in the tunnels under Damien’s citadel.” She shuddered involuntarily. Yuri nodded. “Stay behind us.” He was grateful for wearing the hot climate gear he normally wore on Jura. They walked for hours with several spots of the strange stone appearing on the walls, ceiling, or floor. But more worrying was the appearance of web-like structures along the walls. The air was getting cooler. Daisy stopped and touched one. “It’s stiff like spun glass or sugar.” Yuri bent and picked up a handful of the fine sand on the floor. He poured it out of his fist. There was a breeze that pulled at the grains, and a sound ahead like wind or water far away. “I think we are close to another large cavern.” “Let’s have a look and go back. I’m starting to get tired,” Daisy announced. She had been glowing for several hours. “We can return tomorrow. The tunnels distort the sound, it could be many fields away,” Yuri announced. They walked back the way they came and found a dead end. Yuri looked confused as he touched the wall. He pulled out his ax and struck it, watching how the vibration moved through the stone but it acted more like mud that had dried in the sun. It was too solid to break through. “Did we turn in error?” Lars asked. “We have not strayed.” Yuri answered. “Someone or something has blocked our return path.” “Why are there more webs?” Daisy was looking upward, She glowed brighter and then backed quickly toward them. “Something moved up there.” Yuri grabbed her arm as tugged her with him as something made angry clicking sounds from above them. Whatever manner of creature lived there, was there was now pursuing them. Lars sprinted ahead looking for a defensible spot, when he came out into a cavern. There was an alcove to one side that looked promising. “Lord Yuri, Lady Daisy, over here.” He shouted as he checked the room. To his surprise there was debris that looked like a realm gate had been blown up and a faintly glowing sword impaled through the bodies of three giant spiders. Lars began shooting beyond them as they ran toward him. Daisy turned and pulsed her light as the hissing and clicking horde. As the blinding light faded, she screamed. The strange stone floor melted like wax. Daisy’s light faded like a flare falling down the face of cliff as she and Yuri tumbled into the abyss.
<*><*><*><*>
As Daisy pulsed her light at the corrupted spiders, the floor became soft and melted away then she was falling. She screamed out of reflex and reached out for something to grab but there was nothing except Yuri’s half gloved hand. He pulled her to him. “Try to catch us.” She pulsed downward and managed to cast three stepping glyphs that they crashed through before the fourth one caught them. They were still falling but at a manageable rate. As the glyphs vanished, Daisy made another and another until they landed in the soft sand at the bottom. She was exhausted as Yuri sat her on her feet. “How far do you think we fell?” Daisy panted out her question. Yuri shook his head as he pulled his bow and fired upward using all his magic. The glow of the arrow vanished for almost a second before there was a flash. “Three and one quarter fields.” “That’s almost two miles,” Daisy exclaimed. “We are fortunate the gravity on this world is less or we would be dead,” Yuri announced. He heard something move to his right and turned. It was trying to approach them stealthily. “Daisy, how bright can you shine right now?” “Why?” Daisy asked wearily, she was almost out of magic. “We need to find the walls,” He push her to move but she jumped back colliding with him. “There’s a pool of dark water.” She started to walk in another direction then stopped, slowly she walked in a large circle. The water seemed to move away from her. Daisy inhaled and pushed her light out as hard as she could. The cursed liquid retreated but as Yuri rotated he realized they were trapped on an island in the middle of a lagoon of Dark Water surrounded by the melted-looking stones and spun-glass spiderwebs. The surface rippled and a giant spider leaped out at him. He cleaved it in half with his sword. “Don’t let them bite you!” Daisy cried out as she stabbed the one that tackled her. Yuri knocked it to the side as Daisy rolled to her feet and stabbed another through the head. Two more jumped at them and Daisy pulsed one as she sliced the legs off another. Yuri stabbed with his long knife and hacked with his axe. He and Daisy tried to stay back to back. As the spiders attacked them, Yuri stepped back and one bit his calf. He cursed and cut it off at the fangs, then he pulled one out. “Daisy, pulse them back so I can get...” He staggered as everything started to unfocus. “The other fang out." Daisy’s light exploded, driving the spiders back as he fell down. She bent over him and managed to get the fang out of his leg. He rolled them. His arm took the bite of the next spider that tried to get her. “Fluer,” he gasped out as purple magic glowed in his eyes. They fluttered shut as Daisy turned to strike the soul spider. Casting a blast of oracle light to kill the Soul Spider, Daisy stumbled back and tripped over Yuri, lying unresponsive with purple glowing eyes. She shook him, “Yuri, wake up, we’re in trouble.” She stood over him as she fought to keep the spiders off them. “Yuri, get up! Don’t go to sleep.” She was exhausted from using her magic. An arrow knocked another spider away from her and she looked up to see Lars shooting from the wall high above. “Lars, get to safety.” She shouted as she cast two glyphs to strike spiders crawling down toward him. A third spider tackled him, and he tumbled downward. Daisy cast a glyph under him trying to catch him, but it shattered. She tried to cast another one as a soul spider bit her. She felt the venom burning cold in her thigh and screamed, “Get off me.” She stabbed it through its eye with Yuri’s knife without looking away from Lars’ fall. Her magic waivered. Three more spiders jumped onto Lars as he tumbled downward, but they weren’t biting him. The jumble of Huntsman and soul spiders crashed into the dark water, splashing toward her with the freezing liquid. Her light magic flashed against liquid evil forming a bubble to protect her and Yuri. She tried to push her magic toward Lars but instead it waned as the venom tried to make her sleep. Fighting for her consciousness, she waved her sword at the approaching soul spiders gathering around her, then she saw it rising up from the oily ripple. The Shadow that controlled them. “Sleep, Oracle, my master has need of you and your Huntsman,” the voice vibrated the liquid. “Give him back to me.” Daisy demanded, forcing more magic to shine around her as she sank to her knees. “The younger Huntsman has gone into the Light... Sleep, Oracle...” the Shadow compelled her. “No... he’s not forever dead.” Her voice was a thready whisper as she fell backwards across Yuri’s prone form. Her light and hope faded with her consciousness. There was no light except the faint glow of soul spider eyes and crystal spun webs reflecting her Oracle stone’s glimmer.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Soul spiders are many times the size of cave spiders and their venom as been adulterated to cause hallucinations so their victim's life-glow and memories can be harvest by the shadows.
Genetics and Reproduction
Soul Spiders are unable to reproduce and must be made by mutating cave spider eggs
Ecology and Habitats
Dark, damp caves with a source of cursed water or Dark water.
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