Chapter 143: Spider Legs

  The bck spider had eight thick, hairy legs. Each was as thick as my wrist and the hair thiough to be wire. The worst part about the araid was the smell. Now, admittedly, after weeks iy, none of us was very hygienic, but this spider emitted an odor that reminded me of pu urihat had been sitting in the sun all day.

  Schor Favian was called up with his cookbook of dungeon delicacies. Even though he had once beeed at the prospect dungeoures, he turned up his nose whe close. “It looks like a rappelling bck spider. They are the only bck spiders mentioned with thick hairy legs within the recipes.”

  Castile firmed his guess, “I entered a rge room, and it dropped on it from above on its thread.”

  “Well, yes. Let us see: the legs should be boiled or steamed to start. Then, they should be cracked open for the flesh. The flesh be grilled with a gze or baked with butter,” the Schor recalled.

  Lirkin, our cook, noted sarcastically, “Let me go and check the pantry. Nope. Don’t have any of...” He paused, “We have a tiny bit of honey left...”

  With a bad arm, Konstantin put a damper on an early dinner, “We should wait till dark if we are going to start a fire in here. The smoke may attract the specters or let the Summoner know where we are iy.”

  “Agreed, it should be dark in a few hours,” Castile firmed the need for caution.

  Schor Favian noted, “The book said you have about eight hours before the spider meat starts to spoil.” Lirkin nodded as he hauled the spider toward the firep the tavern and began giving orders for water and the rge cast iron pot to be hauled up from the space we were using in the uy.

  Castile motioned me to a table. I made my way to sit with Castile and Adrian. Castile opened with her experien the dungeon. “The entry was different from the one you described Adrian. It was oval with two exits. Each exit led to an interse about forty feet down. I followed the corridors with my all-seeing-eye, but the dungeon disrupted it when I was removed from the line of sight.”

  “What?” Adrian interrupted with surprise.

  “It is not unusual. The walls of the dungeon probably tain trated aether. If it is a maze, then it makes sehat the dungeon would have ters to expl with magic.” Castile sipped on her teen before tinuing. “I stayed right and came te chamber, maybe fifty feet across. I teased out one of the spiders from the ceiling by stepping into the room and pulled it into the corridor before dispatg it.”

  “Do you think anyone in the pany hahe dungeon alone?” Adrian asked seriously.

  “Maybe the goliath and Konstantin if he was healthy,” Castile gave her opinion.

  “What about me?” I asked, and immediately regretted it. I had been surprised she had not sidered me capable of going in alone.

  Castile studied me and tained a smile. “I would have included you if you let me finish. After we see how edible the spider is, we decide who goes i. One of us has to remaio use the kettle. I also dehis.” Castile pced a small sphere oable.

  The dark pink sphere rolled oable. It was a minor essence of coordination. Castile had carried Sebastian’s rge collector in her backpack, but it had been so long that I had fotten about essences. My own stolen collector was designed for dungeons. Castile asked. “Who deserves this?”

  Adrian was quick to reply, “Benito has not fortified his coordination attribute, but his broken wrist hampers him, and he is not fighting effective at the moment.”

  I put forth Maveith’s name. “Maveith prevented us from being overrun by the specters. He saved all our lives.”

  The two of them made eye tact, and Castile stated and nodded. “Maveith it is.” Adrian pocketed the essence for now to give to the goliath ter.

  Adrian tapped the table with his fiips, thinking. “Are we going to try and map the dungeon? There only be so mary rooms.”

  “Let’s pn on just getting some food into everyone first. There were supposed to be bears in the maze, but I didn’t see any in the small area I explored. There was elven writing on the wall, probably to alert the delver which safe room they had arrived in and where to go.” Castile informed us.

  Adrian thought momentarily, “There was writing in the rooms I entered as well. Maybe we should send in the Schor to read the script and theurn.”

  “Not yet. That first enter was much too dangerous for one person. There were maybe a dozen of those spiders in the ceiling, waiting. I think we are missing something.” Castile looked deep in thought.

  I thought about it, too. “If there are a fixed number of entry rooms, then couldn’t you just keep exiting aurning until you end up in the same room as someone else?”

  “Perhaps. Adrian, why don’t you try that with a legionnaire? We o uand the rules of this dungeon.” Castile ordered.

  Adrian stood and looked around the room, deg, “Fvius, you and I are going to try and puzzle out the byrinth. e with me.”

  Castile also stood to whisper softly to him, “Don’t leave the safe room entrance. We will have food ready for you when you return.”

  Fvius didn’t look too enthused about beied. He talked with Adrian briefly before they both headed down the snow tunnel. I was ole duty while Castile rested, and we waited for the sun to set.

  The fire was started as soon as it was dark, and the iron cauldron we hauled from the library had the water boiling. It took about two hours. The spider legs went into the water, and soon, the eavern smelled like a wet dog. The cauldron foamed and boiled over, causing even more foul air to fill the space. Fifteen mier, Lirkin dragged the kettle off the coals and removed the steaming legs. They had turned white. “Perfect,” Favian said excitedly, “That is exactly how they should look! Just crack them open to retrieve the flesh and do the sedary cooking.”

  Maveitn used his hammer to crack the hot legs, and the flesh inside didn’t look or smell too terrible. It was rubbery and had an off-white color. Lirkin had set up a makeshift grill using the runic armor. It was too narrow and long for anyone in the pany to wear it. It was gross when you thought a zombie elf had worn it for fifteen hundred years, but Lirkin first heated it in the fire, and this was no time to worry about such things.

  The gze was a honey and wine mixture that he reduced i. The first k of meat hit the runic armor and sizzled. It almost smelled like grilled chi. He tur and gzed the seared side, then tur again and gzed the other side. The first piece of spider meat was ready for ption. My mouth couldn’t help but water, even knowing where it had e from. It actually smelled good!

  Everyone was iavern as the firepce heated the room well, and the smell of cooked food was too powerful to ighe question as going to try it first. Lirkin held up the cooked flesh, and Mateo volunteered, “Give it to me. If I die a horrible death, I will haunt you for eternity, Lirkin.” Lirkin wasn’t fazed by the threat and passed the seared spider flesh to Mateo.

  Everyoched in anticipation as Mateo ched into the piece. He chewed slowly, and a myriad of expressions crossed his face. He took a sed and third bite. Through a mouthful, he announced, “It is actually kind of good.”

  Lirkin soon cooked up rows of the spider flesh oremely expensive grill. When my turn came, and I bit into the chy and sweet outer crust, my long-fotten taste buds came alive. The spider flesh texture reminded me of scallops. The actual taste of the flesh was somewhat bnd and chewy but definitely edible, with just a hint of sweetness from the honey-wine gze.

  Everyone received a palm-sized piece of spider meat. Unfortunately, the honey used in the gze was all that Lirkin had left. I brought Castile a sample of the food and sat with her. She ehe solid food as much as everyone else but still mao take almost half an hour to eat it. Mine had been devoured in just a few seds. Adriaurned shortly after she finished, a with us. Kolm brought Adrian a piece of spider flesh and pced it in front of him. I could see his mouth-watering, but he paused to give the unwele news first. “There are over fifty entry rooms. Fvius never moved, and I exited aurned nearly a huimes. I never appeared in the same room as him. Eatry room had Elvish script.”

  He couldn’t wait any longer. He tried the spider meat, and it was gone in three bites. Castile let him finish before asking her questions. “How did you know there were more than fifty entry points to the maze?”

  “I marked the wall every time I entered. On my ninth reentry into the dungeon, I was in the room I had marked two. I never found Fvius in my wo attempts to appear in the same room as Fvius before the agreed two hours were up,” I could see Adrian keep looking toward the fire for more of the food, but one spider was just enough food for the twenty-three of us to get half of a meal.

  Castile seemed to sider. “Eryk, you will go in tomorrow. Try to get one dungeoure.” Her face got worried. “I think I will not give you the collecter in case you meet an unfortunate end.”

  “I uand.” I replied reflexively. Castile suspected I had Durandus’ collector, so this would be my first opportunity to see how it worked on dungeoures. I was also looking forward to entering the duo have some privacy. I definitely wouldn’t feel guilty now about eating some of the small amount of food left in my spaow that the pany had access to the dungeon.

  Adrian poi my chest. “You should probably leave your dreamscape amulet with Castile as well.”

  Castile’s face was impassive, and she had not asked to use it since she learned her nightmare spell. “Before I eomorrow, I will.” I was relut to part with it.

  Lirkiinguished the fire, and Adrian called for everyoo return to the uy room. The mood ositive and almost boisterous as we prepared to sleep. Castile forced seveo sleep with her nightmare spell, and five men remained on first watch. I slept o Maveith, who tio improve from the earlier fight.

  I ehe dreamscape and immediately went to the spider bridge in the liminal space. I practiced fighting the rge spiders fht hours. They were monstrous pared to Castile’s harvest, but I figured the experience couldn’t hurt. I then studied a bit more of the elvish nguage figuring every little bit would help if there was writing on the walls. Wheed the dreamscape, men were whispering nearby. The versation seemed to revolve around the possibilities of more solid food today. The pressure was going to be oo deliver.

  Castile led a lead element to the tavern, and we followed an hour ter. I walked to Castile at a table, and she informed me. “Seveers and two peists this m. It is good that we are thinning them, but I am still worried there may be many thousands iy.”

  I relutly handed over the dreamscape amulet to Castile. She immediately put it on, “I will keep it safe. Proceed cautiously. Just harvest one spider aurn, Eryk.”

  I checked my gear and ducked low as I made my way down the snow tunnel with a glowstone. Some of the snow had melted around the door, which might have been a problem if we had tinued using the firep the tavern. I reached the bck, oily surface. My glowstone did not refle the dungeorance, which I thought was odd. I hesitated for just a moment before taking a careful step and pushing into the bck veil beyond.

  ? Chted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne

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