The body of the spider came into view and through the dim ambient light in the room I saw a black body with a red triangular mark on its abdomen. The creature was huge, about the size of a sedan. It was creeping along the web that covered the roof. I gulped again as the legs came into the light with glowing runes on them. It crawled closer, a quiet bell ringing with each step, like the chimes of the dead calling me. The creature was upside down and in the darkness I saw red glowing eyes, too many eyes.

“Another creature in my web…” an airy voice whispered from the darkness. They laughed, a cold sound that made me shiver. “Don’t worry darling it will be over soon.”

I felt my blood run cold, the voice skittering in my ear as the thin legs stabbed the web beside me, the orange rune beside my face illuminating me and warming my body. I saw the shape of it, and twisted my neck to look at it square on.

“Igni?” I asked.

“You're not a dungeon creature, and you know magic?” the voice asked in surprise. They rustled with a pouch of some sort. “Light!”

A wand glowed and as the light expanded I leaned back to see the speaker, expecting them to be ridding the spider. I was greeted by seeing a tall woman, she was pale, with silver hair and a thin nose. Her lips were slightly open as she regarded me, showing off thin needle-like fangs. Her eyes looked at me quizzically and I saw they were completely red, with dots for pupils. I saw on her head a black pointed cap with silver rings around the rim, and tiny red bells attached to the point. She had a thick cloak on her shoulders made with silk and padding for warmth, which was in contrast to the low cut corset made of similar material and glittering metal pushing up her massive breasts that could make even Lin blush.

I had to admit my eyes were on her bust for perhaps a second or two too long, my brain trying to comprehend this woman’s outfit. She looked like a witch riding the giant spider, and somehow not falling off despite being upside down. Then I looked down towards her legs and noticed they were absent, instead just seeing the spider body.

“Hang on a second here,” I mumbled, my brain trying to piece all this information together of an attractive woman and a menacing spider. “Are you…a spider?”

“Hold on Josh!” I heard Snowflake shout below me as Lin ran over with a step ladder that was way too short. Snowflake jumped up the ladder with a single leap, and threw me a rope. It flew up and the end slapped me in the face before falling down. “Josh, grab the rope!”

“How?” I shouted back down, wiggling against the webs holding me. “I’m kind of bound here-”

I was cut down and I screamed like a little girl as I spun towards the ground. I envied Lin, if I could land on my feet my boots could save me, but it looked like I was going to land flat on my back. I abruptly stopped and I looked up to see Lin holding me like a princess.

Lin kissed me on the forehead and purred. “Did you fall from the heavens?”

“Cute,” I said.

“Because your face is really jacked up,” Lin said, sticking out her tongue.

I heard the witch above laugh and Snowflake help up her mace to illuminate the room. It was a library with hundreds of bookshelves, most damaged by fire. There was a second floor to the place, but it had collapsed and in its place was webbing to navigate the few remaining untouched bookshelves safely nestled into the walls far out of reach.

The witch was just as I thought she was. Half busty woman with a dangerous edge, and half horrifying spider with legs coated in magical runes. She also wore a thick belt between the two halves and had satchels attached to it. She had all kinds of tools, rulers, protractors, quills, wands and thin daggers that looked like letter openers instead of weapons.

“Face judgement, evil creature! Come down here and fight me” Snowflake challenged, swinging her mace which had no chance of reaching.

“Why am I evil?” the woman asked, clearly annoyed. “The first divine surface warrior I meet and here you are sprouting nonsense.”

“Your…god is evil…right?” Snowflake quitely mumbled.

The woman held up a finger and went to speak, but paused with her mouth open. She tapped her chin with a manicured nail that was painted glossy black with white web marks. “That’s fair. My god is very evil and most of my kin follow her teachings pretty closely, but I guess I’m different. Looking at you all upside down is tricky, I’m coming down.”

The spider woman walked on the webs and reached the wall, walking straight down while one of her legs glowed. I didn’t recognize the runes and saw they were a brownish yellow colour. When she reached the ground level she went towards the far side of the library, and between the broken shelves I could see she had tried to make herself at home.

There were dungeon lights that still had power here, but not a lot. They glowed faintly but made the place feel more welcoming than the rest of the dungeon so far. I did see the library here had been repaired extensively, with new rock used to support the walls and ceiling above the webs. The three of us cautiously followed, looking over a set of shelves that had been erected as a barricade. I saw a small stone box with a flickering flame within it covered by a grate, a large bundle of blankets near it and beside a half repaired desk, a huge pack full of papers.

“Welcome adventurer’s to my humble abode, it’s honestly about the same quality as I had in the great abyssal caverns in my home,” the spider woman said. “Oh right, character swap?”

Insight : Success!

+1 XP gained.

She seemed interested in us, and kind of lonely. I didn’t detect any hostility from her and I glanced at the others. Snowflake, Lin and I were all looking at each other and in unison we shrugged. We sent off our info and she gave us hers.

A’rea, Arcanie, Level 5 Witch / Architect

“You can class as an architect?” I asked.

“Hey,” Lin whispered, elbowing me. “She’s another spell caster, maybe we can take her home for magic class. She keeps looking at you like she thinks you're cute, or maybe because you're a snack.”

My body didn’t know if it was supposed to blush from the teasing or kick in my fight or flight. I glanced at A’rea out of the corner of my eye and she brushed her hair back behind pointed elf-like ears. Her red eyes focused on the stone box and she turned a knob to make the flames dance higher, heating up the place. With the added light I saw she had more than two eyes, she had eight. Two regular sized eyes where I expected them and six smaller ones under her bangs, one of which looked at me, and winked.

“That’s…a bit unsettling. Should we try the massive deadly bug swarm instead?” Snowflake whispered.

A’rea took out a huge frying pan and set it over the flames. She opened a tiny metal box, took out strips of fish, bags with goopy dough that looked fresh and mushrooms. The box held more food than it should have and our new host started to cook up a meal.

“Hey, I’m not passing up free food,” Lin said, jumping over the barricade and taking a seat on one of the blankets.

Snowflake and I followed, taking a seat as A’rea cooked up the first plateful. It cooked quickly, and smelled great. She added some salt on top of it, and put it on a plate for a grateful Lin. She began working on the second, and Snowflake removed her helmet looking excited for some good smelling food.

“So, what’s the story about this place?” I asked, looking around at the destroyed library. I saw the desk has designs and drawings. “Recording the room size?”

“In a sense, yes. Do you want the long story or the short version?” A’rea asked. She smiled at me, and then froze. Her eight eyes focused on me and I started to sweat. A’rea voice came out ice cold. “Is that… a magic cloak that can change colours? Is it from a dark tower with a gem to power it?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said.

“Oh my gosh!” A’rea squealed, sounding ecstatic as her voice jumped up an octave. “You have a real genuine magic item from the great witch Kin!”

“I got the bra and panties to match,” Lin smirked, putting aside the empty plate and unbuckling her belt. She tugged her pants down an inch and lifted her shirt showing off her abs.“They fit like a dream and feel really comfortable. One of the first sets I’ve ever found that fit me right.”

Snowflake’s breath quickened and I saw her bite her lip. I had to admit they did look good on Lin, and since we were behind her we could see her nice ass cheeks at eye level. A’rea’s many eyes were all on the garment however.

A’rea snapped her fingers at me. “Man, do your duty and take over the cooking. I need to take measurements.”

The sudden command shook me from my thoughts. “P-pardon-”

“Yeah, do your duty. You're my man and I agree with her,” Lin said, looking over her shoulder and winking at me. She was loving this. “Oh and if you burn the cooking I might have to spank you.”

“You keep a good handle on him, and even send him first into danger. I commend your choice,” A’rea said, gathering a paper, quill and a soft measuring tape. “May I take your measurements?”

“Will I need the cloak?” Lin asked.

“It would help,” A’rea said, nodding.

Lin stole my cloak from me, and stripped down to socks and underwear. I face palmed seeing her strut around the dungeon practically nude while Snowflake blushed, enjoying the show. I did my best with the meal, flipping the strange pancakes the dough formed and trying my hardest not to burn the fish. I kept an eye on them as A’rea used the tape measure to check over Lin and waved a wand near the bra and cloak.

“Oh my goddesses, that is genuine Kin clothing. If you had a matching pair of robes and hat you could have a full equipment set!” A’rea said, clapping and showing Lin her sketch. “Oh these are your numbers if you ever want to get a tailored set of clothes.”

“You're a seamstress too?” Snowflake asked.

“Yeah, but all the girls have to do three years of training with the temples and you have to either take tailoring or martial classes. I’m not a fan of unnecessary violence,” A’rea said.

“What’s this about a full set?” I asked, putting the cooked food on a plate for Snowflake, hoping no one noticed the pancake was burned. “Salt?”

Snowflake nodded and I put a pinch of salt from a bowl A’rea had out onto the fish and mushrooms. A’rea got out a journal and cracked it open. She got herself comfortable and looked ready to spin a tale.

“The great witch Kin visited our realm a hundred years ago standing on the highest mountain peak on the greater silver moon Anthanas. She viewed the world of Ewyernar with interest wondering what secrets it held. She picked up a fist full of moon dust and blew on it, raining a thousand stars onto our world. Each star struck the earth and birthed a tower with a dungeon below, all stocked to the brim with items for her use. She visited each tower, learning from the locals and giving them gifts before leaving the towers to locals if they earned her favour. To meet the great Kin is a blessing, like meeting a living god,” A’rea said, her voice dripping with barely contained enthusiasm.

“Whoa, she’s like a keeper,” Lin said, and I saw her tail’s fur stand on end for a moment. She played it off with a laugh, but looked at me with an apologetic look, mouthing sorry. She glanced at Snowflake but lucky for us the ram girl was looking at Lin’s thighs. “Like what you see cutie?”

Snowflake let out an eep as Lin scratched her head and the ram girl let out a giggle. “I do, thanks.”

“Is there a witch tower here?” I asked.

“Hush, the women are talking,” A’rea said, waving me back to the cooking stone. She took out a bottle of wine and filled mismatched cups, giving me a drink last. “But yes, the researchers here built an observatory and put up the brass dome to protect Kin’s tower and the magic garden below it. It’s one of her constructor type dungeons, less traps, but very deadly, more magical tools and gear for her use.”

Snowflake leaned back against the bookshelf barricade taking the weight off her shoulders. “You sound really well read on this.”

“Oh, I’m a bit of a researcher. When I first found one of her towers connected to the abyssal caverns I was instantly hooked. Whenever paths to the surface open up I take a look to see if I can find a Kin tower.” A’rea said, taking out a set of armour, weapons and wands from one of the satchels. It had to be one of the magic bags I wanted. “These are just a few of the helpful pieces I found.”

Knowledge Arcane : Success!

Knowledge Arcane : Success!

Knowledge Arcane : Success!

…

I brushed the notifications off and let A’rea tell us about them. Most of them were what I would consider basic magic items. The weapons were just magical metal, allowing the user to hit spirit type enemies, and they were very resistant to wear. The armour was also resilient to wear, could reshape to fit the user and provide a tiny resistance buff to fire, cold and lighting damage. The wands were the ones that interested me the most. A’rea explained as a witch and because she was multiclassed she was limited in mana points and spellpower, but had bonuses to using magic items. She had a good selection of spells, the light wand, one for water breathing, one that turned her into a small animal for an hour and the last one which had a very potent spell that made me drool, fireball.

Knowledge Arcane : Partial Success!

Fireball is a classic spell used by all would-be pyromaniac wizards, which is a surprising majority of wizards. The spell deals a massive amount of fire damage in a huge area of effect. It will set all objects not worn or carried by creatures ablaze and can also leave an ash cloud that lasts a few seconds…

Sadly that’s all I got, but there was no mistaking it, that was a true fireball. The magic equivalent of a rocket launcher in video games and I felt some envy build up in me. That was the kind of spell I wanted as a wizard, something that could have helped us against the bug swarm. I could have cleared them with a single spell. I sighed, I would just have to work hard to earn such power.

There was a creak and a section of floor on the second level that was near us broke off, falling down. The webs caught it, and I started to notice just how many webs there were. Some of the webs were just netting to catch falling debris, there were some webs to help support the walls from more damage, and in some places were attempted repairs.

Cooking : Success!

+1 XP gained.

Cooking has increased to rank 1!

+1 XP gained.

I put the next batch of food on a plate and it was yanked away by A’rea. She used a fork to nibble on it, and nodded. The spider woman let out a happy hum and added some more salt before digging in.

“Your man isn’t too bad, does he have any levels in cooking?” A’rea asked.

I was starting to feel annoyed. I puffed up my shoulders and sat up. “Actually I just got-”

“We have two amazing fox girls at home who are master chefs. He’s been working the kitchen as an assistant. He might not have levels to show for it, but he’s picking up things,” Lin said. She sat behind me and pulled my head back to rest on her chest. She gave me a kiss on the top of my head and whispered. “Josh, she has a fireball wand, play nice. Just act dumb, and I will make it worth your while when we get home. We can do anything you want. I’m looking forward to experimenting with you.”

I felt my veins flood with fire. Wisps of smoke came off my ears and my heartbeat raced. Anything? I guess I could play nice for a bit. I told my body to behave, we needed focus for now, because the pay off would be worth it. I kissed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, letting her know I accepted the offer. I leaned forward and finished making my own meal with the remaining food stuff.

A’rea finished up eating and gestured to the library. “Well you caught me in a web of my own making. I followed a crack up to find this dungeon and the aftermath of a warzone. While exploring the fort above trying to get to Kin’s tower I set off a trap and summoned the bugs. Someone covered up the entrance I came in, and I ended up finding this library some wizard made when he extended Kin’s dungeon. It's been a good hiding spot from the bugs. I did find the note book of the head mage here, a kind of half keeper apparently.”

Snowflake sat up and Lin’s nails dug into her palms as she tried to hold back a comment. A’rea got out another journal, this one black and covered in silver runes. She started to read passages out of it, and things started to take shape.

A’rea put on her story voice, excitement bleeding into her narration. “We found a dangerous mage’s tower, made by the witch Kin. We have set up this observatory to study her magic as well as count the stars to start our experiments… hang on, let me get to the good stuff.”

While A’rea searched the journal Lin got redressed and rearmed, much to the disappointment of Snowflake. I took the opportunity to cram the hot meal into my stomach before I was told to go do something else. Lin sat between Snowflake and I, pulling us in to cuddle together for story time. It was cute, the three of us cuddling by the fire, bellies full of hot food while a magical woman wove us a story of magic.

“Here we go.” A’rea cleared her throat. “We have managed to magically summon a connection to gain keeper crystals for our use. Having a workforce to build a fortress will be a boon since there is so much to study here. We have left the book with our combined studies at the shrine of Icharn, an area built near my room because it has the greatest magical line underground. However, as a side effect of our process we cannot create minions naturally. We can make golems like them and the false keeper crystals with a bit of prodding can give them false life. They act like minions, work like them and can fight like them. They lack the great versatility of minions from the nexus, but we can build our dungeon. The four of us agreed to make our own wings of the dungeon, that way we can specialize our workforce and pool our resources together.”

“I bet that didn’t last long,” Snowflake said, shaking her head. She let out a long draw out sigh. “Classic evil wizards. Build a fortress together and turn on each other.”

“It seemed to happen some time later, they did work together for nearly a decade. Now stop distracting me, seeing two lovely ladies who could be models for the finest garments of my people already takes effort to ignore. I just can't stop thinking about Lin in a thin gossamer nightgown,” A’rea said.

Lin purred at the praise while Snowflake blushed, her cheeks turning red as her eyes. I narrowed my gaze, and I saw a golden pop up appear in the corner of my vision. I mentally clicked on it, seeing a window for Icharn’s quest, and watched it update.

Acquire the book of keeper studies!

During your next rest phase in a safe location you will be summoned to turn it over to the quest giver.

Quest Reward : ???

I smiled and settled down with Lin. Now I had a good lead, and with any luck A’rea might know where the shrine was too. We could snatch the book, meet up with the others and if they got their item, we could get out of here.

“The head mage, whose name was magically struck from all these books by a petty spell, turned out to be the most skilled with these false minion amalgams. He learned to make charcoal golems and the others stole his technique. When he learned to make artificial beast-kin women he kept them secret and taught them martial combat. Of course when the others found out they became furious, and an all out war brewed. Each of them wanted all the magic knowledge and Kin’s tower to themselves. Which sadly took a ton of damage,” A’rea said, closing the journal. “But that’s the long of it.”

“I like his choice of cat girls,” Lin laughed. She wiped a tear from her eye and cracked her knuckles. “Well, let’s make sure that book doesn’t fall-”

“Hey big sister Lin,” I said, with a dim witted grin, patting her leg to get her attention.

I sent Lin my quest pop up and she stopped mid sentence. She cleared her throat and smiled. “We need that book for a quest. Our benefactor will make sure it gets to the authorities so no one can repeat the sins of this place.”

Ally has critically succeeded on a deception check!

+10 XP to Lin

+5 XP to Josh

Lin’s tail curled around my side and I stroked the end of it, feeling her soft fur between my fingers. I gave it a gentle squeeze and mentally thanked her. She was certainly the most interesting girl I ever had a relationship with, and one of the most skilled. She was fun and my best pal here. Even if she took me to places that tried to kill me.

Snowflake put on her helmet, looking imposing, and ready to fight anything in the way. A’rea gathered her wands and checked the runes on her legs. She had a plethora of spells at the ready and I couldn’t wait to see them. Lin did a backflip, landing flat on her feet, and drew her daggers from her belt, spinning them on the palm of her hands. I stood tall, took out my sword and set my shoulders.

“Let’s explore a dungeon,” I said.