After picking Beth up at the stables, they made their way to the first area indicated on her map. There was overlap between the areas marked for the Ravens and the Spiders, so Anika headed straight for the intersection, which appeared to be a woodland with very few paths leading into it. She wondered how she would spot a rare creature, how would they differ from the regular ones?

She made it into a dense part of the forest, an area where it was hard to walk upright because there was a chaos of fallen trees, dense undergrowth and no clear path to follow. She was pleased to notice that the few spiders they came across would not be a problem. Most of them were between level 4-7, and they seemed to skittle away whenever she and Beth came close. The spiders were not anything like the house spiders back in London. These were the size of footballs. On top of that, the webs they spun were also nothing like the cobwebs back at home. There were times when she didn't spot a web in her path, she would get tangled up, and it took several minutes to cut herself free. The web was as thick as her little finger, and it was tough to cut through as well as being very sticky. If she hadn't been alert and ready with a knife, she could see how these little creatures could easily catch much larger prey in their wide nets.

The spiderwebs were becoming more frequent, so she was heading into an area where there were either more spiders than before, or there had just not been any beasts passing through this part of the forest in a while. One time, Anika and Beth got quite caught up in a combination of low hanging webs and some steep terrain. As they struggled to get free, she noticed that several spiders had appeared around them, looking for an opportunity to feed. There was to be no confrontation though. Anika worked hard at freeing herself and Beth, but it got her thinking how on earth she was supposed to tame one of these things.

Anika had chosen the most complicated and dense parts of the forest to walk through. She wanted to follow Fitch's advice and was looking for some clue that would tell her she was on the right track. When she spotted an opening to a cave, about the size of a tall person, she guessed that this would be as good a place as any for a rare creature. The area looked like it had been untouched for many weeks, so there was also a good chance that whoever had spun the web that covered the entrance, must've given up and gone elsewhere.

Anika and Beth got up close to the entrance of the cave, and something told her she had hit the jackpot. Perhaps it was the setup. She knew the game designers would have paid extra attention when creating these rare creatures, and this place looked like it fit the setting for a rare creature. Beth was getting uncomfortable. She looked like she didn't want to be there and was looking around for signs of danger.

When Anika thought about how to tackle the situation, she remembered her first try at taming those pheasants in the forest near Ralph's cabin. Maybe the same trick would work here? She needed bait to lure whatever was lurking in there out into the open. It didn't take long for Beth to realise what she was thinking, and she was not happy about it. Anika thought it through and became sure that the only way forward was to use Beth as bait. The plan was to have Beth get caught in the web in the entrance of the cave and then use the element of surprise when the spider came out to catch its prey to tame it.

Anika climbed to the top of the mouth of the cave, she could hardly see the web from there, although it was possible for her to get on her chest and lower head down so she could see into the cave a short distance. Beth had been waiting outside the cave when Anika gave her the command to step into the web. She did so, with some hesitation, and within a few minutes, she had herself tangled into what was a solid and thick web. Almost defiantly, she sat down and waited.

When nothing happened for a good while, Anika commanded Beth to make some commotion. Perhaps the struggle of something in the net would alert the spider in the cave it had gotten lucky. But it was still not clear if there was anything inside the cave. It would be disappointing if that weren't the case, this seemed like the perfect spot for a rare creature to hide away.

Beth continued to struggle against the web, getting more and more caught up in it until they both heard a spine-chilling sound. From deep within the cave, they could hear hissing, a slow and wet hissing sound. Beth stopped struggling and watched in nervous anticipation for any sign of the spider. The hissing sound got louder, but Anika couldn't see anything from her position above the mouth of the cave.

Beth whimpered in panic, the spider must have been getting close. Anika had to do something, this could all go wrong. Her plan to just wait above the mouth of the cave did not seem so bright all of a sudden. The spider was on the inside of the cave, and there was no way she could get to it from where she was. With Beth getting more and more anxious, doing everything she could to get free of the web, Anika climbed down to get closer to her. Even if she couldn't get to the spider from there, at least she could free Beth, and they could abort the mission and find another target.

When Anika got to the mouth of the cave and was close enough to Beth to cut her free, she saw the spider. It was a hideous-looking thing, and she guessed it would reach up to her knees if she stood close by it. It was certainly larger than the ones they had come across so far, and after focusing on it for a few moments, she realised from the info tag that this was a rare creature. It was level 10, and its tag had an orange outline to it, as opposed to the white outline on the normal creatures she had come across. This was the rare creature they had been looking for.

As Anika cut some of the webs from where Beth was standing, she noticed that the spider had climbed to the side of the wall, and it was spitting new strands of webbing at Beth. It kept moving around the walls of the cave to get different angles and for each strand that Anika could cut free; it had tangled Beth in another one. Anika realised she was fighting a losing battle and had to do something.

She pulled out her bow and took aim squarely at the spiders head. When it realised what she was doing it stopped focusing on covering Beth in more webbing and got into a defensive position, hissing louder than before and squaring up to Anika.

Anika hesitated. She was about to kill what was most likely the only creature that would allow her to learn the unique ability if she tamed it. Was there another way? Might it even be better to let the spider have its catch? Sacrifice Beth to get her prize?

Before Anika could analyse the situation further, the spider she was facing had shot two strands at her feet. They wrapped themselves around her ankles and with a sharp tug Anika lost her balance. She was now being dragged, with what in hindsight was an extreme strength, towards the spider. She got her knife out, intending to cut herself free, but then a thought occurred to her. What if she used herself as bait this time?

It felt risky, and everything could go horribly wrong from this point on, but she let herself be dragged into the cave without much struggle. Beth reacted badly to this, she was immobilised by the spider's web, but she fought to get free now she could see her master being caught up in it as well.

Anika was getting dangerously close now. She could see the sharp teeth glistening in the light from outside the cave. What was most likely venom, was dripping from its mouth, and the hissing sound was so characteristic because of all the liquid that was spilling out its mouth. At the last possible moment, Anika got out the taming collar she had received from Ralph and was getting ready to make a move.

It was as if the spider had realised it was being tricked. It stopped pulling Anika in and looked at the taming collar in her hand. She wasn't close enough, or in the right position to reach the spider, so she did what seemed to be the only option left available. She launched the collar at the spider, only to see it skittle away sideways hissing furiously. This was not going at all according to plan. The spider was too smart and too agile for her to get a catch by using the collar as a lasso.

Luckily her lasso didn't get trapped in any of the webs, so she pulled it back and considered trying again. Then, almost without thinking she grabbed the webbing attached to her feet and gave them a yank as hard as possible. It resisted for a split second, but like a rubber band, the force of her pull resulted in the spider flying through the air and landing straight at her feet. In an instant she had placed the collar on the front of its head, its hissing subsided, and Anika could take a deep breath knowing she had successfully tamed her rare spider.

The spider waited while she freed Beth from the web, and Anika was so disgusted by it she didn't even pay attention to it until they were free and had a chance to sit down and take stock of their situation.

Beth was not impressed with the new addition to their group. She kept a distance and made it clear to Anika that this new thing would not be a friend of hers. Anika felt the same, how could you build a relationship with a thing so ugly and venomous?

"Well, I suppose we better give your name. Can't have you running off before we get back to the city. What do you think Beth?"

Beth looked indignant as if she didn't even want to consider that this thing should have a name like she did.

Anika opened the tab next to her character screen showing the pets in her under her command.

"I think we'll call you Hissy."