The Starlight Spear

The group anxiously arrived at the third and final door of the dungeon, its doors rose high enough to reach the forty-foot ceiling above, along each of the brass colored doors emerged the image of a spider, their silk circling and spinning together to form a doorknob, the battles to get here hadn’t been too troubling, especially with the help of their newest member Morana. She was a warlock, and her resume was enough to impress a group calling themselves “The Starlight Spear”. In a local tavern situated in a city not five miles east of here, Morana expressed her desire to delve deep into a dungeon known as "The Spider's Lair".

It had not taken much convincing after hinting the possibilities of gold and other; more basely desires, to assemble alongside The Starlight Spear. On first impressions, the group was without a doubt a collection of naive simpletons, yearning for stardom and riches. Morana sized them to be lesser than her in power; even combined for that fact, but they had quickly accepted her offer to loot this dungeon, so she could not be choosey. The fact they had agreed to aid her so willingly was enough to forgive them of their intolerable shortcomings, the heavyset fighter Duke, who favored himself the leader of the group out of principle of size alone was especially intolerable.

“When this is all over baby” he had said to her, his breath heavy with ale “I’ll show you the girth doesn’t stop below the waist”

Morana could do little in response but gag at the thought of his “girth” on top of her, truth be told she preferred the more feminine aspects anyway when it came to sexual preference. In this regard their cleric Olivia overly compensated, her long golden hair hung shimmering down to her hips, its shine seemed forever glossy and perfect. Her face portrayed similar features to the fair virgins you see depicted in books. She was young and Morana guessed possibly early twenties, but she could have been younger, and a virgin without a doubt. Morana had an eye for such things and the girl radiated purity in all its aspects, the fact she had to avoid the consistent advances from Duke had her sympathies.

But it was not just Duke’s advances that chased her, bringing us to the third member of the Starlight Spear. An older man pushing the edge of fifty to be sure, his talents as a wizard had kept him in the game of dungeon delving, or maybe his desire for gold. But his frailty was obvious enough from perception alone, Tim was a renowned wizard in his youth or so he claimed, apparently, everyone in the capital knew him by sight once upon a time, long, long ago. But that begged the question of why he is this far east tagging along with this lot. Morana figured him to be just another old man with fake stories to compensate for his boring mediocre life, stories that no one could disprove because all that knew him are dead. His old age however hadn’t seemed to slow his desires for woman, much younger woman to boot, and when Duke was away emptying his bladder or passed out drunk, Tim would circle in, like a vulture, and seedily try his luck. When Morana thought about it, Olivia must have been relieved now there was a new addition to the group. Now Morana and her more robust beauty were present within the group, Olivia could relax knowing her maidenhood was not in as much immediate danger, there was new flesh on the menu now.

There was a third female in the group, but her beauty could have been compared to that of a ghoul maybe, the groups rogue was a spiny and withered thing, providing no intrigue for male attention. As well as her dark robes that hung off her loosely, she also decided to sit like a frog, squatting uncharacteristically at bars was enough to avert the most lustful eyes. The girl was deathly pale and never talked. To this day, the Starlight Spear hadn’t got her name so just called her ‘Widow’, assuming she probably had a man at one time but ate him, along with her own children. Morana didn't care as much and shared the group's enthusiasm that; so long as she could kill effectively, who cares who she is.

So here they were, outside the tall doors of the third and final chamber, inside would undoubtedly have the meanest and most difficult monster waiting, but also the most loot. Even though they hadn't gotten close to being killed in the previous chambers, they had indeed taken some wounds, the fighter mostly. His armor was dented and scratched in places; his leather boots would need repairing too. But a healing potion later, he took point and bragged about his hearty constitution. The wizard and rogue were untouched but grudgingly the cleric took a fireball to the chest. Grudgingly because the damage dealt was not anything to be concerned about, but the flames had licked their way around the cleric’s robes, burning away the thin cloth that concealed the slender body below. Now to the great appreciation of both Duke and Tim, Olivia now exposed a pale thigh, a belly button, and some side boob, Morana caught Tim’s lips curl around his teeth when the fighting had ended, Duke made doubly sure, no, triple sure the flames were indeed out by patting the singes on her chest and buttocks.

But that was all behind them now and treasure awaited ahead.

"Well," Morana stated. “Open it”

The group looked at Morana, who looked at Duke. Duke tried to conceal his face, now turning the faint color of beetroot, and turned to face the door.

"Maybe it's trapped" he bellowed at last, his voice echoing slightly within the spaced interior.

Tim and Olivia looked at Morana, who looked at Widow, who approached the door swiftly. She knelt at the doors knob, the spider's silk combined into a ball, and Widow began to cast her spell on it. Duke backed away hastily at first in fear, but then morphed it into a sort of casual nonchalant walk. They watched for a moment in anticipation until Widow stood turning, she shook her head and Duke gasped in relief. They waited, all staring at the back of Duke to lead them until at last he turned, noticing their gaze.

“P-perhaps Tim should take point” he spat out. “fire some spells to soften up the poor creature first”

“Absolutely not, I’m extensively more effective at range Duke, you know that” Tim replied pompously.

"Well, maybe Widow should sneak in, just so we know how best to approach, you see" Duke retorted.

“If I weren’t mistaken” Morana began “I’d think you were afraid Dukey”

“Afraid!” he laughed. “Nonsense, well fair enough, I’ll take point”

Duke approached the door hastily but resorted back to his casual walk as he got closer. Taking one last reassuring look over his shoulder that they were indeed waiting for him, he placed a single hand on the knob and pushed. It took some force and all the weight he had behind him to swing the door inward, after an inch was gated from the door Duke recalled back quickly, as if being stung or electrocuted. From the inside a feint mist exhaled out, the sound of a rumbling hiss sang. Duke stood there for a moment looking over his shoulder once more to assure himself they had not run off and abandoned him. Realizing it was safe, at least for now he pushed again, using his shoulder this time. He was able to open the door about three feet before inside issued a horrendous smell, the same smell you get when you leave meat to spoil for weeks on end. There wasn’t any light inside but Morana paced forward with intent and the group followed her ambitiously, simply showing confidence was enough to swat fear from these people she reflected. When they entered, the darkness consumed them and even the dim light from the previous chamber was not enough to penetrate this new black void.

“Tim?” Duke Whispered. “You want to do something about this darkness”

“Oh-oh yes” a weak voice replied, and the next moment four small globules of light fluttered from Tim's palm and floated upwards, like bubbles trapped underwater. As the lights rose their hearts fell. Surrounding them were layers of string and white webbing. It covered the floors, the walls and even the ceiling. They had wandered into the middle of the nest and as the name had implied, they were now in the Spider's liar. Duke drew his blade, its metal hissed from its scabbard echoing dimly around the chamber. Tim's hands turned to purple flame and Widow crouched low, curved daggers in each hand.

Suddenly there was a boom, from behind, from where they came in? The group turned and saw Morana standing at the foot of the door. It was slammed shut and there was now little chance of escape if things went bad. The group looked at each other and all came to the same naive conclusion. This girl is so confident she does not even want the spider to have a chance of escaping.

Morana saw this thought painted across their faces, the smiles they gave were short before their eyes rose sharply, something had shifted, black and silent. Morana gazed up too and chuckled in ecstasy.

“I’ve brought you what you asked!” she screamed in almost erotic pleasure. “Master!”

Then everything happened too fast. The walls were alive with insectoid legs and eyes, sprouting from the deep holes woven in the walls, tens of giant spiders rushed the prey that had so appetizingly found their way into the nest. Duke let out a shriek, Tim fired a jet of purple light before collapsing, clutching at his chest. Widow was gone, disappearing into the darkness. Olivia froze wide-eyed in fear, but Morana stayed put, her arms outstretched like a woman awaiting rainfall after a heated day. The screams filled the chamber as the spiders swarmed, they pounced at Duke who raised his sword puncturing a spider in its large underbelly, but three more were on him before he could remove his blade from the spider's underbelly, one tore at his arm, greedily ripping it free and scurrying away, while another chose a more crunchy part of the human body. The sound of a skull-cracking under pincers was enough to cause Tim’s heart to finally fail, he was pulled limb from limb in a moment, a heart chilling scream came from the corner of the room, Morana listened to the tormented screams thinking; So she does have a voice.

Amidst the center of all this, the eight-legged monsters scurried around Olivia, avoiding her like she was stale or rotten. She remained there frozen, tears silently dripping down her cheeks as her companions were eaten alive. Her breaths were shallow but rapid. When the feeding was done the spiders returned to there burrows, some carrying prized bits of body with them, silence swallowed the chamber and in the dim light from Tim’s globules, an enormous eight-legged monster approached Olivia. Its many eyes were carved across its face like a concave of shining beetles, the light shimmering across there surfaces. Olivia did not look but began to stammer incoherently at the presence of such a monstrosity.

“A virgin master, a delicacy” Morana stated coldly.

Olivia whimpered for a second expecting what would come next. The underbelly of the beast rose high over her, it snapped down wickedly fast, sinking its large fangs into the soft flesh of Olivia, three gulps later she was gone, her legs protruding from the mouth before the final swallow.

After its fill, the beast approached Morana silently and slowly. Morana shrank down on her knees and averted her gaze obediently. She felt the hot breath on her head, the smell of blood intoxicating. It warmed a part of her she liked. The monster clicked its foot rapidly against the ground signaling her attention, she looked up and was overwhelmed with happiness and lust at what she saw. Its eyes gazed into hers, raw power and evil incarnated she observed with admiring clarity. She raised an arm to stroke its face, maybe just to touch it, perhaps that would have been enough to give her a….

SNAP!

As quickly as it lunged before, fangs met flesh and bone, and a second later even before the pain had a chance to register, Morana noticed her forearm was gone. White bone protruded from her elbow and flesh hung stomach churning from it. Crimson liquid sprayed from the wound at first before supplying a steady stream. Morana opened her mouth to scream in pain but before she could.

SNAP

Another bite, this one with intention, now she was in its mouth. She could feel; but more terrifyingly, hear her bones crunch, her flesh rip, and another moment later, darkness.

*

Like waking from a dream Morana lost all perception of time, it could have been a month, a day, maybe even a minute. But as her mind came to consciousness, she realized she was laying upon a cold sticky floor, white string clung to her like hot wax and something was soaking her body. It felt thick and slimy. She struggled to her feet before a large black mass moved next to her silently. She flexed into an upright position in fear, before realizing the black mass was her master, its body turning and its many eyes locking onto her.

"Why-why did you do that master" she managed through a stutter, now realizing that she was naked. But the body she looked down at was not hers, perky breast lay beneath a tangle of golden hair. Her skin was tight and lean, a layer of mucus stuck to her coldly, its wetness drying rapidly. Morana raised her small hand curiously, investigating the clean nails and narrower wrist, suddenly the dots connected. it did not look like her body because it was not her body, it was Olivia’s.

“Gooooo” the spider hissed. “Bring me more” it commanded.

Morana lowered the hand she had been investigating, unable to resist slipping it between the gap in her thighs.

“Yes master”