After taking leave, we headed directly for the gatehouse. It takes a little longer to arrive, and I've taken note of a couple of things so we can get them fixed before we start building more buildings in the settlement. A couple of those items were the moat and the wooden spike traps that were planted in the moat.

  It seems odd to have those defenses inside the walls, but that is something I will work out with Laxreal if he doesn’t notice it before we return. Other than that, we continue to move through the gatehouse. Turning, I asked the group, “What is the first mission we have, and are we close to any of them?”

  It takes us a moment to realize that we've taken on missions that are spread out throughout the entire settlement area. This is beneficial for us, as I wanted to explore the area further, but it also makes it less convenient since there is only one gatehouse at the moment. Taking a moment to orient ourselves, it doesn’t take long to determine we should head to the eastern side of the settlement since that is the direction of the hills.

  As we start walking, there are several times when we are either passed by groups that had left after us, or we encounter a single person returning from a mission to the settlement to turn in what they had completed. Overall, it was an enjoyable time walking around the settlement. I started planning out what I want to do with the defenses so we can have a more complete picture of the structure. Having at least one more gatehouse on the hillside would be the best option, but I also need to ensure that some defensive towers can cover the entrance.

  It won’t take long to get everything situated, but I still need to look into it when I get back. Approaching the eastern side quickly, we haven’t run into anything yet, but I don’t expect that to be consistent once we get a certain distance from the settlement.

  My hunch wasn’t wrong either, on the way we did run into a couple of low-level undead that quite honestly stumbled up to us. Not wanting to worry about trying to get my mana to replenish, the rest of the group starts to clear them out.

  It only takes a couple of minutes for Strauvana and Xelyphe to clear them. Neither Muiress, Gibnic, nor I had moved, and the two undead were cleared.

  Having not contributed towards the fight, I didn’t receive anything, which makes sense. We continue to move on eastward. As we approach the settlement's boundary, I notice more hills and cliffs that lead into caves, and there is an immense gorge that separates the boundary from the rest of the settlement. It is enormous, stretching from north to south.

  “This is a great defensive measure at least,” Strauvana mentions.

  “True, we won’t have to worry about things attacking from this direction for a while. Or at least until we have expanded to the point that we either have to incorporate the gorge, or we can just use it as a natural blockade.” Gibnic says.

  When I look down from the top, I can see small figures rushing to and fro. Sighing, I look at the party. “We need to go down there and clear out the goblins. I can see all of them, and if they are as likely to dig as I am sure they are, then they could be digging a path to the top of the gorge at this moment.”

  “What do you think we should do then?” Xelyphe asks, “It’s not like we can reach them currently. Should we wait for them to create the path so we can figure out if we need to collapse it, or do we look for another way down that would be safe for us to use?”

  “I think the worst thing we could do is have them create a path up, that would lead to anyone that survives the fall…” I was about to rebut, but then I looked at the drop that someone would have to survive, and quite honestly, a 50-meter drop is not something someone can casually walk away from.

  “Maybe they have already created a path to the top of the gorge; we did see some caves that we didn’t explore.” Muiress offers.

  Acknowledging the point, we head back a bit and find a large cave. The inside is dark, but there are a couple of torches scattered on the ground in front of it. We all look at the torches, and then someone goes forward to grab on. Nothing happens, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something we shouldn’t be worried about.

  Wanting to light the torch, we all realize that no one has brought anything to light it. It was up to Gibnic or me to light it, since I had gotten my affinities and evolved class, I don’t think I would be able to cast a fire spell. Perhaps I should look into obtaining a holy fire spell or something similar.

  Thankfully, we don’t have to head back, and Gibnic was able to light the torch. Xelyphe took it and led the way into the cave. Occasionally, we would hear the scuffling of feet or a clicking noise. Not wanting to think about what could be making such a sound, I can only hope that we will find what we are looking for quickly.

  As we progress into the mouth of the cave, the walls start to get narrower, to the point that we can only proceed in a single file. Continuing in this manner for several minutes has made everyone a bit jittery as the group progresses. Since I was the only one who could heal, I was placed in the back of the line. They knew I wasn’t defenseless, so it wasn’t bad for me to be back there. I started to catch more signs of webbing above us; it has reached the point where there is a thick coating of it, almost reaching the flames of the torch being held up.

  Looking closer at the webbing that coats the ceiling, I notice a bludge moving through it. It is about the size of my palm, but it still gives me concern. I haven’t seen anything of that size since arriving. I mention it to everyone else, and they keep their eyes above themselves as best they can as we progress further into the cave. After another couple of minutes, the webs have reached the point where we are ducking below them, well, most of us, Gibnic is still standing tall, but there are flames slowly flickering in his hand.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Feeling like we are about to be pounced on by these giant spiders, we finally come upon a cavern. It is massive and covered in webs. The floor is blessedly clear of them, but there is one thing that we spy upon looking closer at the center of the room. Hanging a couple of feet off the ground is a cluster of something.

  Turning to Gibnic, I ask him, “Do you think you can throw your flames near that cluster in the center? It would be best if we had a general idea of what we are dealing with.”

  Nodding lightly, he quickly casts a firebolt spell, which passes a couple of feet from the cluster of what we can now see are spiders. Tens of them clustered around a larger one in the center of the mass. They are hanging from a thick strand of silk that is attached to the ceiling. As the bolt dissipates just past the spiders, there is movement from the cluster, and the spiders start to lunge in the direction where the bolt dissipated.

  “That…That is a lot of spiders.” Muiress whispers.

  There are nods of agreement, “Should we return the way we came?” Xelyphe asks.

  I turn around, and there is now a small cluster of spiders about the size of my forearm slowly approaching from behind. “We don’t have any options, we are surrounded,” I answer in a hushed tone. I analyze the spiders to gather information about them.

  - Juvenile Cave Spider

  Level 3

  HP 9/9

  Juvenile Cave Spider

  Level 4

  HP 12/12

  Juvenile Cave Spider

  Level 6

  HP 18/18 -

  “Good news, they aren’t that strong… Bad news, the moment we engage, there is a high likelihood the rest of the nest will come after us.” I tell them, we don’t have long to make a decision, but we slowly start to move around the outside of the room in hopes of giving us some more space for the slowly approaching spiders.

  “Gibnic, do you know if the webs are flammable?” Strauvana asks.

  “To mundane fire, probably not, but I can try with my flamebolt.” He offers.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked her.

  “From what I saw, they lunged at the heat source, and if my guess is correct, they can’t see us. There's no need down here, so they might have a higher heat sense. If we can cause a flame, they might run straight into it and slowly burn themselves alive. Granted, they could also just try to put out the fire, and then they would look for those who have a different sense than themselves. I haven’t dealt with cave spiders often, but the couple of times we did, it wasn’t pleasant, let’s say.” Strauvana shivered at the thought.

  “Alright, if we look at this webbing, we should be able to safely say there is probably one broodmother, tens of guards, and the rest are young brood like we have following us.” Muiress offers his insights.

  Looking back, I see that more spiders have slowly been joining the mass behind us. Currently, there are about 12, but if my eyes don’t deceive me, there are many more under the webs attached to the walls and ceiling.

  “We need to make our move soon. If we don’t, we might end up covered, and the last thing I want is to have a spider drop on my head.” I shiver at the thought of one of these spiders dropping onto me.

  “Alright, give me a moment, and I will see if there is anywhere we can use to help protect us from the fallout,” Strauvana says and then scurries off in stealth.

  Wanting to get another question answered, I asked, “We found the source of the clicking. I gesture at the spiders, but what happened to the shuffling sound?”

  “Is this the time to be worried about something else?” Xelyphe asks a bit short of me for my lack of focus on the current situation.

  “Well, it could mean that there are other enemies in here that we haven’t seen yet,” I answer.

  “Drake, we are surrounded by cat-sized spiders and about to light a literal room full of them on fire. If there are other enemies in this room, they might have been caught by the spiders already.”

  Taking a moment to think about it, her words made sense, but I am still curious. “Did you notice anything about the webs since you were in the lead?”

  “I did see some of the webs had been ripped through like something just walked into a straight line without noticing them.”

  Taking a look at the writhing mass of spiders, I can only hope that whatever they are doing has taken care of the extra potential enemy we could have faced. After another minute of us slowly walking around the outside of the room, Strauvana appears.

  “There aren’t any good spots for us to hide; everywhere has been covered with webs, and if we were to break through them before lighting the room up, we could be ambushed. I did see some sections of the web were thinner than the rest, which might lead us to another room or at least a small space where we could hole up from the brunt of the heat.” She explains.

  “It’s better than nothing,” I agree, “Let’s start the fire a bit behind us so those spiders tailing us are pulled away and might leave us alone.”

  Gibnic nods and starts to cast another spell, this one a bit larger than the middling firebolt he set out earlier. As the spell gathers in strength, I can feel the heat. Quickly turning around, I see the spiders have sped up and are approaching us, ready to lunge once they get close enough.

  I frantically whisper to Gibnic, “Now or the spiders will be upon us!”

  Not missing a single beat, he quickly sends the fireball into the air above and to the left of us. It crashes into the ceiling with a thunderous bang, sending flames arcing to the wall closest to its blast and lighting up the room. Looking at the ceiling, we can’t help but stop to look into the dead eyes of an enormous spider positioned in the center of the web, slowly waking up from the flames, and feel the webs under its body moving.

  “I take my assessment back,” Muiress starts, “I have no idea what that is.” He says while pointing up at the spider.

  - Broodmother Queen Cave Spider (Journeyman Boss)

  Level 12

  HP 3000/3000 -