Yep, that’s a corpse. Alexander thought as he took a few steps forward to look at it from a different angle. His notification changed. From one of three to two of three, meaning this was one of the sources of dark energy.
He of course wouldn’t get near the corpse as this was now to be a crime scene. It was an older corpse, likely washed out of the river during the last heavy rainfall. The skin was black and there was enough rot to see the teeth through the lips. Alexander was loath to admit his CSI skills were not the best.
The corpse didn’t necessarily creep him out all that much, he had done some time in biology labs doing minor dissection work.
What did creep him out were the long, spindly, black legs that started pushing out of the corpses shadow. The chitinous spear like forms bent and extended from the dark nothingness.
That's a lot of legs… six, seven, yep, eight of them.
As the spiders finished climbing onto the physical land he saw a pair of lips form in the shadows they emerged from before they too began to float several feet into the air. The lips formed an unsettling, disembodied smile before they spoke.
“Bring me the Wizard, he must pay!” It whispered in a raspy voice from all angles.
^
New Quest!
Summoned Resentment - part 1
An unknown entity is targeting you for capture with a cluster of Corpse Spiders.
Objective: Avoid capture by any means necessary
Quest rewards:
-750 xp
- 6 silver
Alexander counted two figures nearby, they had a white skull pattern on their faces, and were roughly the size of his dinner table at home. It was beginning to get dark, so he wasn’t certain if there might be more about camouflaged into the shadows. He would have made a hasty excuse to run at this point, but they were directly between him and the vines he had used to climb down.
He felt his mind start running at double time, a small part of it was analyzing the beneficial effects of adrenaline on his brain function. Looking over his shoulder, the river bank ran partially underneath the eroded dirt cliff. So he ran that direction, hoping that the spiders didn’t like the water.
Running under the cliff face his legs started splashing through ankle deep water. It was like he was in a watery tunnel that had been cut in half. As he got a few dozen yards in, he stopped and turned around. Up until this point Alexander had not needed to use violence using his new-tolerated abilities. In general, he was certain it would be unnecessary given enough time to think through any given situation. That mild pacifism did not extend to spiders. He tried to value all life on the planet, but spiders simply didn’t make the cut.
So when the first spider entered the cut-away he looked at him said, “I regret to inform you, but I find your species repulsive.”
With a gesture he cast his enhanced floating disc. It appeared beneath the spider tripping it up as it fit right between all of its legs. It gave Alexander just enough time to move it upwards, straight into the top of the half domed cliff face, squishing the main body with the pressure. The legs wiggled and twisted as it was dying. He lowered the disc down a bit before ramming it into the ceiling again. It seemed sufficiently crushed as Alexander turned and ran. The second spider scurrying forward just behind the first.
As Alexander neared the end of the eroded cliff side, he tried his little trick with the floating disc again. He only managed to pin the back of its abdomen to the ceiling. Its legs and head were able to flail about trying to reach him and tear him apart.
The erosion of the earth made it possible to free itself at a decent pace. Alexander likely only had a few seconds. He cleared the half tunnel wall and started climbing up a slight embankment. As he climbed he felt another dark source just beneath him and to the right. He saw a handle sticking out of the dirt and pulled it out with a grunt.
What he found was an odd looking dagger. It had 2 blades, a large one at the end of the handle and a second on that came out of the butt of the handle and wrapped in-front of his fist. It looked like one of those impractical weapons that a knife shop would sell to a 14 year old going through an emo phase.
Is someone supposed to punch someone or stab them with this?
Another final notification popped up showing three of three. At the same time the large spider managed to free itself.
Alexander finished climbing up the embankment and looked for a flat open area to make a stand. He found a clearing that had some gravel on the surface, certainly better than the uncompressed river sediment his feet were constantly sinking into. As he got to the far side of the little clearing he was breathing heavily, but still turned to face his enemy who was limping slightly from the earlier attempted crushing.
He held out the dagger, and took a stance wishing he had a rapier instead. He had some fencing experience from when he was in High School. As the spider came up the embankment Alexander pointed as he shouted, “Piercing winds!”
The wind whipped up around the spider causing debris to spin around it. Light cuts began to appear on the spider but its tough exterior helped it resist. Only slowing it down slightly it managed to climb forward and run at Alexander. He was thoroughly in a fight or flight mindset, so he made a decision that a non-adrenaline fueled mind would find foolish. His instincts told him the best chance for success was to charge the spider. Uncharacteristically, he shouted as he did so, like in an old action movie, he screamed from his gut. He was just able to make out its sharp fangs and talon like hooks at the end of its legs.
When they reached six feet from each other Alexander cast another floating disk lifting the spider up just high enough for Alexander to run underneath it. He dispelled the disk , dropping the Spider before it could move its legs underneath itself to change directions. Now behind the monster he lunged with the dagger stabbing into the back of the abdomen and ripping downward.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He was surprised at how effortlessly the dagger was able to pierce the giant spiders exoskeleton. The cut spilled a greenish goo all over Alexanders hands and arms. The spider let out a screech that surprised Alexander. He didn’t realize that Spiders could project noises as they had no vocal cords. Something worth researching? He didn’t much like the idea of dissecting a giant spider.
The corpse spider began to whip around to slash at Alexander from the side but he used a floating disc to elevate himself before the spider could strike. His stomach lurched from the sudden upward movement but he maintained his balance.
The spiders legs dipped and sprung upwards trying to jump up and reach Alexander to no avail, as he now sat at his maximum height of ten feet in the air. As he took a second to catch his breath, he had an idea, and decided to use one of his spell-casting points. He lowered himself just a bit to lure the spider back down the embankment. He stayed on his disc and as they neared the bottom, he summoned another disc under a large boulder that had been revealed by the creeks erosion. As the spider lined up perfectly down hill from the boulder, he commanded the second floating disc to cast under the lip of the boulder. The spell casting point he had used was modify the strength of his floating disc, increasing its maximum lift weight from 500 pounds to a full ton. Not enough to lift the boulder straight up but enough to leverage it down a hill.
The boulders roll started slow but accelerated quickly, managing to smash into the side of the spider and continuing to roll right over it. Seeing the pulped spider, he let himself down.
^
You have defeated a Corpse Spider!
You have gained 350 xp
Dropping the knife he pulled out his water bottle and began washing some of the goo off of his hands. Thinking about it, this was the first time he had killed something with the his abilities. Shrugging Alexander decided he didn’t really care for it.
He was about to get a stick to scrape the caked mud off of his shoe when he heard a stumbling noise behind him. He snapped around and saw a half crushed corpse spider about to skewer him with one of its spindly legs.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Alexander could just make out three green jets of spider goo spurting from the side of the spiders head before it collapsed to the ground.
^
You have defeated a Corpse Spider!
You have gained 175 xp
^
Quest Complete!
Summoned Resentment - part 1
An unknown entity is targeting you for capture with a cluster of Corpse Spiders.
Objective: Avoid capture by any means necessary
Quest rewards:
-750 xp
- 6 silver
^
Quest Complete!
Where Evil Grows
There is a source of dark energy growing nearby.
Objective: Find 3 sources of dark energy in the surrounding area.
Quest rewards:
-750 xp
-5 silver
-Novice Wizard’s Cape
He sighed with relief when he saw the quest complete screen.
His head swiveled in the direction head heard the popping noise from but he couldn’t make anything out at that distance from the dim lighting. He waited a minute to see if anyone would reveal themselves or alternatively shoot him, but nothing appeared.
He moved back to grab the knife and as he looked down at it a thought struck him. What if this is the murder weapon for the corpse back there. It will be problematic if the authorities are forced to question him and he accidentally became a suspect. He decided to put the knife back where he had found it and call the police. This would regrettably consume his time so going to clear out another hazard tonight would be unlikely.
As he put the knife back he thought of another problem. If the police show up and see a bunch of giant spiders they would ask him how he managed to kill them all. Leading to undesired attention on his new secret hobby. Moving back to observe the spider corpses more closely he began to think of a plausible but morally legal answer to his quandary, he however discovered there was nothing to worry about. The spiders body had completely disappeared. He looked at his arms and shirt where the goo from the spider had gotten on him and it to had disappeared.
Near the boulder that had crushed the Spider, something glittered in the light and emitted a faint energy like the knife, boulder, and corpse. He picked up three dark stones that had a similar shape and feel to them as the crystallized essence of earth, but far smaller. Each of them about the size of his hand. Resting next to them was an orange tipped foam dart. Like those that would be launched from a nerf gun. He chalked it up to litter and placed it in his pocket to dispose of.
He moved back to where the other spider corpse would have been and found four stones for a total of seven. Alexander didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he found it likely that he might have made a nice dent in the number of stones needed to upgrade his encyclopedias.
Placing the stones in his little backpack and took a deep drink of water. He took out his gps and put precise coordinates on the body and the knife, then he called the police. When they asked him his name, address, and contact information he gave it to them even though he wasn’t necessarily required to. When they asked his business in the area he knew he simply said he was geocaching, which was technically true.
Alexander asked them if they needed him to stay at the scene and they told him it would be helpful if he did so. So as he waited he went to take a closer look at the large boulder that was emitting the menacing energy. He placed his hand upon it and he extended his mana into it for a moment. He felt the dark energy start to seep into him as he did. He quickly pulled his hand back and decided this experiment needed to take place in a more controlled environment.
Taking another rock he chipped off a decent size piece of the boulder and after confirming energy still resided in it he put it in his bag. He waited about fifteen minutes before he heard police sirens. It was another ten minutes before they appeared on the scene. He diligently answer all of the questions with honesty but leaving out any non-relevant magical components and shadow teleporting spiders. He showed them the location of the knife as well and dismissively said it was unlikely the murder weapon, as it looked more like a cheap kids toy.
They still marked the location and took pictures. Alexander told them if it was unrelated to the murder he would like to keep it, so they wrote down a receipt and kept a copy to file with the knife. They told him it could take a week or a year before the cause of death was determined but if he really wanted it he could check in periodically. After he had answered all their questions diligently and assured them he was not hunting. They let him go with a thank you.
As predicted it just about sunk too much of his time for any further geocaching, but one location was near a street on the way home so he hoped into his Civic and drove up to the little park.
What a nightmare it would be if these events had taken place near a children’s play area. He got out of his car and looked at the playground, the trees, and the pile of cement rubble in the corner. As he approached the rubble he used detect magic. He found one small crystalline stone exactly matching the inferior magic stone he had been rewarded for previous quests. It was located near the remains of a large round pillar. As he looked at the broken cement, he recognized a piece that was shaped like a finger.
“The city really should have put some warning tape around the area after demolishing it like this. Kids could easily get hurt over here.”
Naively satisfied with the idea that the pedestal had simply picked up a single crystal, Alexander took the little magic stone and headed home.
