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Next Mission
"So, how did you two meet?" Kira asked.
Mia and Jasper had joined Edgin and the others for dinner while the finishing touches were being applied to the real version of their replicated armor, though right now both of them had swapped the armor for normal clothes.
"Well..." Jasper considered how to answer, given how young Kira was. "I visited the place where she worked and...bumped into her, and we realized what each other was and sort of connected."
Kira frowned. "That's it? For some reason I was expecting something more exciting."
"Oh, the more exciting stuff happened when I left my job to work as a mercenary with him and we ended up having to fight a small army of Giant Spiders," Mia smirked, Jasper cringing.
"If I never see another spider, it'll still be too soon," Jasper grumbled.
Kira laughed, standing. "I'm going to go to the bathroom."
Edgin nodded, and Kira walked away, Edgin instantly turning back to Jasper and Mia. "How'd you actually meet?"
"After I lost my son, I took up work in a mercenary band. After one particularly difficult job, we stopped by a brothel for a relaxing night of whoring. By pure chance, one of the four I rented for the night-"
"Four?" Doric yelped, blushing.
Jasper shrugged. "Monogamy's not quite as important to Changelings as other species. Anyway, I payed extra to get a handful who didn't mind me also being female-"
"I'm sorry, what now?" Edgin asked.
"You're female?" Holga asked.
"I was at the time," Jasper nodded, then sighed. "Look, Changelings don't view a lot of things the same as you. Part of being able to change who you are, including personality, at will, means that a lot of things don't hold the same meaning. Mia and I can alter our hobbies, fears, pet peeves, and interests at will. We can change our physical appearance entirely, including gender. We don't particularly care what gender we are. Now, granted, I prefer male forms and she prefers female ones, since that's what we are in our true forms, but we don't much care if we're the opposite, either.
"Anyway, at the time I was a female, so I paid extra for a group that didn't mind I was female. At some point during our fun, Mia and I both realized what we were, so after my time had expired, I paid extra for some more time with Mia, and we talked. We both understand what it can be like to be Changelings, and we bot understand that people finding out what we are can be dangerous. So, for the next few mission, I made it a point to go to the whore house to check on her, and also to employ her, and then eventually I decided her job sounded fun. So, I quit the mercenary group and changed my identity, then got hired on at the whore house. We got employed as a group as often as alone, but it was fun. Then, one day, a client came in that was...unpleasant. He payed for both of us, but then he hurt Mia, so I killed him. Our patron was displeased, but covered the incident up, and me and Mia left the whorehouse, changing our identities and becoming mercenaries together."
"Damn," Edgin nodded. "And you guys have done just about everything, right?"
"Mostly with illegal stuff, but yeah," Jasper nodded as Kira returned.
"Like what?" Kira asked.
"Mercenaries, spies, assassins, thieves, bandits, soldiers, turncoats, conmen, pickpockets, executioners, farmers," Mia listed.
"Farmers?" Holga asked flatly. "You two."
"Druid," Jasper and Doric both reminded her.
The others all shook their heads.
"So, what are we up to next?" Simon asked.
The others considered before Mia spoke up.
"There was a notice on a message board about a missing son from the city," Mia offered. "We've never done rescue work, so it could be an interesting adventure."
"Did the notice say where they disappeared?" Doric asked.
"Uh, yes," Mia said hesitantly.
"Oh boy," Edgin sighed, catching her tone. "Where?"
"Lurkwood," Mia said, almost innocently.
Jasper groaned instantly. "Really? More spiders? Didn't we just address my view of spiders?"
"How do you know there are spiders in the Lurkwood?" Simon frowned.
"It's where we fought that army," Mia said. "We were supposed to kill the queen, but we failed to find her."
"So this could also be unfinished business for you two," Edgin mused. "Alright, as soon as you two's armor is finished, we'll go."
"Alright," Mia smiled as Jasper groaned.
The others laughed again, and they finished their dinner before heading to bed for the night. Then, the next morning, they picked up Jasper and Mia's armor, the two of them changed, and they left the city, heading for the Lurkwood.
"So, what kinds of Giant Spiders were there?" Edgin asked as the Lurkwood came into view.
"Everything but ice, I think," Mia recalled.
"There was a big one that was our main problem," Jasper sighed. "It was this big black one that-"
"That scared the heck out of you and you ran away, yeah, we know," Edgin dismissed, mostly jokingly.
Jasper narrowed his eyes, then shrugged, looking around before taking his javelin from his back, Mia drawing her bow and nocking an arrow. The others glanced at them and all drew their weapons as well, Edgin glancing at the rapier Jasper had given him.
"Just make sure your wrist doesn't twist," Jasper advized him. "Stab, don't slash. It's easier. But be quick about it. Don't keep your sword in more than a second."
Edgin nodded, and they all fell silent, entering the woods not long after. The forest was unnaturally silent, not even the trees moving. It felt as though the entire world was holding its breath.
"I don't like this," Doric whispered. "Something's wrong."
"We're being watched," Jasper whispered back. "It was like this before."
"They're waiting to trap us," Mia warned.
Everyone tensed further, finally reaching the level of tension Jasper and Mia were at, and a few minutes later, the first attack finally came. A square piece of ground off to their right flipped up as a giant Trapdoor spider launched itself at them. Jasper spun, slashing the spider across the side with his javelin, severing three of its legs and knocking it off course so that it missed Doric, who instantly transformed into an Owlbear and crushed it under her hands. As she did, Mia spun, drawing back her bow and loosing the arrow just as another section of ground swung up, only for the arrow to drill into the spider's face, knocking it back into its hole. Several massive, black spiders, each about diaphragm height on their feet, fell from above, only for Doric to smash one away and Simon to blast it with a fireball as Holga planted her axe in the other's face, then wrench it free. The spider skittered backward, shrieking, and Edgin jabbed his rapier into its ass, then ripped it out, doing very little but getting splattered with blood.
"The front half!" Jasper instructed him as he ducked aside from a jumping spider, then slashed its legs off with a twirl of his javelin before stabbing its cephalothorax.
Edgin jabbed his blade into the spider's body again, this time making it recoil, nearly taking the sword with it, but then it collapsed and Edgin ripped the sword out. Another shrieked as it scurried toward him, but Mia sent an arrow into it, killing it before Doric slammed into it, knocking it away from Edgin safely, then leapt onto another just as it emerged from the bushes, crushing it. Jasper darted past Mia, swapping his javelin for his rapier, slashing a trio of spiders as they landed behind her, and she fired arrow after arrow into an especially large crowd of them as they reached the small clearing, killing all but one, which Holga killed a second later anyway.
Simon sent a bolt of lightning into one, used the same cobblestone hand spell as he'd fought Sofina with to crush one, blew one into a tree with a vortex of wind, allowing the spider to be impaled on a branch. Holga slammed her axe into one, smashed another to Edgin with the back end, allowing Edgin to stab the spider and kill it, then planted her axe in another. As one leapt at her from her left as she was freeing her axe, Jasper's Shadow shot up at it from below, transforming into a Horned Felldrake, impaling the spider with its horns before flipping, dropping the spider on another before becoming a massive serpent with a cobra hood, crashing down on the pair and crushing them before taking off, snapping up and hurling spiders, spitting shadowy acid on others, smashing spiders aside and into the ground with its tail.
"That Shadow's the most useful thing I've ever seen!" Edgin cheered as it crushed a spider leaping at him.
"Not against anything that knows how to use light magic!" Jasper said, severing a spider from between its mandibles to its abdomen, then stabbing another through the face before ripping the sword out and sending a short barrage of Flame Arrows into a trio of spiders as they arrived. "Even the spell Light is potentially deadly to him!"
Finally, the spiders they hadn't killed yet pulled back, vanishing into the trees.
Jasper sighed, wiping his blade clean with a rag. "I hate this place."
"Did this many attack you right out of the gate before?" Edgin asked.
"No," Mia said. "Something's got them riled up."
"That can't be good," Simon groaned.
"I'm sure we'll find out," Jasper said. "Come on. If the spiders attacked us this early, they probably attacked the boy we're looking for, too."
The others nodded, and they made their way deeper, all of them keeping their eyes moving, looking for any sign of another ambush. As they walked, spiders assaulted them in small groups of three or less, seeming more to be trying to delay them than to kill them, now, but with them all present, it was barely more than an inconvenience. Finally, they stopped, deciding to rest for a few minutes, as they'd been walking for hours even before reaching the forest. However, as the others began to pass around a bottle of water, Jasper looked around, catching movement on his right. Instantly, he dropped to the ground as a serpent, unnoticed by any but Mia, and raced into the trees. The person running through the trees stopped, staring at the campsite and frowning as they noticed the difference in number. However, before they could realize what had happened, Jasper transformed back behind them, placing his rapier to the left side of their neck.
"Turn around slowly," Jasper instructed.
The person turned, staring at him fearfully and in surprise, and Jasper's own eyes narrowed, flicking over their body. It was a girl, one looking somewhere between late teen years to early adulthood, probably no older than twenty three years. She had silvery-white hair in a messy ponytail and a pair of locks, one on either side of her face, bound in thin, red ribbon, the pointed ears of a half-elf, a slim, petite build, barely reaching Jasper's collarbones and with very small breasts, which were hidden behind only a tattered strip of faded cloth, one so faded, in fact, that besides it being a dark color, he couldn't tell which color. She also wore a loincloth of equally faded cloth, one which ended high on her hips, but hung down almost to her knees in the front and back. She was barefoot, but didn't seem troubled by it, had clearly been living in the forest for a very long time, and seemed untroubled by the webs sticking to her hair and body here and there. She was paler than he would have expected her to be, if his suspicion as to her race was accurate, and he would have expected brown hair.
"You're an Aranea, aren't you?" Jasper asked, just as the others joined them.
"Yes," she nodded, frowning. "How did you know?"
Jasper shifted into his true appearance, the girl's eyes widening, though she didn't seem afraid of him, or any more distrustful than before. "One shapeshifter can recognize another more easily."
She nodded as he lowered his sword, making her eyes widen slightly in surprise. "You aren't going to kill me?"
"We should," Edgin said.
"No, we won't," Jasper said, the Aranea again staring at him. "Aranea aren't inherently violent creatures, nor are they evil. They're able to transform into spiders, so they are hunted as monsters. As a result, they live away from society, where they're safer. As a Changeling, I understand how it feels to be persecuted."
The Aranea nodded. "I suppose you would."
"Your spider form, it's a big black one, right?" Mia asked.
"Grey rings on top of your abdomen?" Jasper added.
"Fifteen feet tall on all eight legs?" Mia finished.
"How did you...know that?" the Aranea asked.
"Because she and I were here once before, and you chased us out of here," Jasper explained. "At the time, we were hired to kill off the spiders attacking and killing travelers who passed too close to the forest."
The Aranea shrank back defensively. "I was sick. My family brought me food so that I could survive. I...never paid too much attention to where it came from."
Jasper nodded. "And by the time we arrived, you were healed enough to drive us off along with the normal Giant Spiders you command. You're the queen."
The Aranea nodded. "You were the two mercenaries who had been hired to kill me. One of my sisters raced you to this forest to warn me, so I drove you out myself."
"Hold on," Edgin said. "I thought Aranea's spider forms had arms. How'd you not know that there was an Aranea attacking you?"
"My spider form lacks arms," the Aranea explained. "You're thinking of Calishite Aranea from the Spider Swamp. Although it's not well-known, we spread from there a long time ago, but very few of us survived. To try and rebuild without risking inbreeding, we mated with the people near where we were every other generation. It wasn't perfect, but it helped. However, it also caused other changes that we didn't see. For example, we don't all look Calishite anymore, and out spider forms are more varied than Calishite Aranea."
Edgin scratched his head, nodding. "Okay."
"Why are you here?" the Aranea asked. "Have you come to kill me?"
"No," Jasper said. "Like I said, we won't kill you. We came because we were looking for a young human boy who went missing."
"I know the boy you speak of," the Aranea nodded. "My spiders have been protecting him."
"Protecting him from what?" Holga asked, frowning.
"The monster," Aranea hissed. "A terrible, unkillable creature. My sister led a force against it when it appeared in the eastern Lurkwood, but it killed her and all of her forces."
"It killed your sister?" Doric asked.
The Aranea nodded, sadness and rage burning in her eyes. "I'm the only surviving Aranea in these woods. Hunters, Lycanthropes, Orcs, Ettins, and now this monster have killed my whole family. All I have left is my spiders."
"I'm sorry," Jasper said. "Truly." He looked around. "Your spiders, and you, you've concentrated in the western side of the Lurkwood. The monster drove you out, didn't it?"
The Aranea nodded. "I disguised myself as a human and posted a false bounty for any adventurer who could kill the creature, but so far, none have succeeded."
"What is it?" Doric asked.
"I don't know," the Aranea said. "I've never seen or heard of something like it before. Its body is fat, disgustingly so, but it's fast. It has eight stubby legs, each of them bearing long, sharp claws, somewhere between five and seven per foot, it has no face, but has a mouth ringed in teeth, and is immune to venom. Even mine."
Jasper frowned, looking to the others, who all shook their heads.
"Never heard of it," Simon mused.
"Sounds creepy," Doric commented.
"How big is it?" Edgin asked.
"Standing on all of its feet and not rearing back, it's about twenty feet across," the Aranea said.
"Holy shit!" Edgin yelped.
"That might be a problem," Holga said. "Good thing we're only here for the kid."
"Are we seriously just going to let something like that live?" Doric asked.
"And we're seriously not going to help her?" Simon asked.
"I am," Jasper said.
"So am I," Mia nodded, setting a hand on the Aranea's shoulder, the Aranea flinching but not pulling away. "You all don't have to help, but me and Jasper are going to try and kill this thing."
"I'm in," Simon nodded, Doric nodding in agreement.
"Ed?" Holga asked.
"Oh, fine," Edgin nodded. "But what about Kyra?"
"I can protect her," the Aranea said. "I can't help you fight this thing, but I can look after anyone not participating in the battle."
"Show us that the boy's safe, first, then we'll see," Edgin said.
The Aranea nodded, and began to lead them through the woods.
"I thought you were terrified of spiders," Edgin said to Jasper as they walked.
"I am," Jasper nodded. "Because she," he nodded to the Aranea, who he could tell was listening, "nearly killed us repeatedly. She's exceptional at illusions, so one second she'd be there, then she'd be gone, then she'd be attacking from somewhere else. It took everything we had to escape the Lurkwood alive. She's terrifying."
The Aranea smirked slightly, looking back at him. "You two were the most dangerous beings I had ever fought, until this creature. You nearly killed me, as well, without realizing it. A few of her arrows almost hit me, and your Flame Arrows hit me a few times. I only avoided burning to death by having other spiders roll over me to put the fire out."
Jasper grimaced. "I'm not sure if I should be proud or apologize."
"Why not both?" the Aranea asked.
Jasper hummed thoughtfully and nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry for trying to kill you."
"So am I," Mia agreed.
"And so am I," the Aranea offered. "Granted, you were there to kill me, but I'm sorry for it causing you lasting distress."
Jasper nodded, catching Edgin throwing Holga a confused and exasperated expression, Holga merely shrugging. Finally, they reached a small cave, little more than a pile of rocks forming a shoddy shelter from the elements. Around the mouth of the cave were more than a dozen giant spiders of various types, and inside the cave was a young boy of about eight with tan skin, messy brown hair, dirty clothes, and webbing sticking to him everywhere. He was sitting curled against the back wall, a single spider with him, a young one that barely reached the boy's waist, but the boy was stroking its body affectionately. And as soon as he saw the Aranea, however, he pushed himself up, eyeing Jasper, who had returned to his normal appearance again, and the others hopefully.
"You're back!" the boy smiled at the Aranea, then looked to Jasper. "Are you here to take me home?"
"That's right," Jasper nodded. "But first, we're going to be trying to deal with whatever monster is in the far side of the forest."
The boy went pale, shaking his head. "You shouldn't. It's really big. A bunch of the spiders attacked me when Miss Aranea saved me, but it just kept rolling over them and eating them and stepping on them."
Jasper nodded, frowning. "Miss Aranea?" He looked to the Aranea, who shrugged.
"It was easier," the Aranea explained. "So, do you trust me, now, that I'll protect whoever stays?"
They all looked around at each other before Edgin nodded. "Alright, Kira can stay, but Holga and I stay with her."
"Why you two?" Simon asked.
"I'm not a good enough fighter to help with some twenty foot monster," Edgin pointed out. "And Holga's not exactly a speed fighter, so if it's fond of rolling over on things, she'd be crushed."
"That's a valid point," Jasper nodded. "Doric and I can both become creatures with enough speed to avoid being crushed, and Simon and Mia can both fight from range." He looked over at the Aranea. "Does it spit acid or venom or anything?"
"Not that I'm aware of," the Aranea shook her head. "So far as I know, it only rolls over its victims, stomps on them, eats them, or rips them apart with its claws."
Jasper nodded.
"One other thing," Edgin added. "The Aranea goes. If she's as dangerous as you say, she'll be useful."
"No, you don't understand," the Aranea said. "I can't fight it. I'm too afraid of it, and if the spiders sense that fear in the pheromones my body produces to control them, they'll attack anything around themselves indiscriminately. That's either each other, the monster, me, or all of you."
"Oh," Edgin frowned. "Alright, then. Guess you'll be staying with us after all."
The Aranea nodded. "I can send a few of my spiders with you, if you'd like. They could be of some use. Maybe they can slow it down with their webs, at least."
"Keep them," Jasper said.
"We can manage," Mia nodded.
The Aranea nodded, and Jasper and the others walked out of the clearing, heading east.
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