Colin's posts

Adym noticed this, and the sudden stop of the spear allowed the guardian to use of its massive legs and destroy the conjured weapon.

It then lifted another leg and sent it right towards the two of them in a piercing motion, and Adym pushed Callie away, sending them both in opposite directions, as the leg smashed into the ground between them.

"Callie!" he exclaimed.

"Are you all right!?" he asked.

"What happened!?" he asked her, looking at the guardian's leg, causing the gears in his head to start turning.

Sure enough, as the air chilled, the smaller spiders seemed to slow down immensely... to the point that many of them just stopped altogether.

"It's fine." Adym responded.

"They... they all must go." he said.

"They'll die when the guardian does, anyway." he then informed her.

The guardian then lifted one of its large legs, and slammed it into the wall, causing a large section of it to come falling towards Adym and Callie.

"CRAP! LOOK OUT!" Adym shouted, tackling her out of the way, as the debris barely missed them.

As she said that, they noticed that swarms of smaller spiders were coming out from everywhere, and Adym just sighed.

"It probably is." he said.

"I don't even know if there's anything left of it inside that body now." he admitted, before looking at the guardian... small tears trickling down his cheeks.

"....forgive me, guardian." he whispered.

"Forgive me, Prefect... everyone in the village..." he went on.

"But as the Crux of Nature... I have my duty." he finished, before launching an arrow towards the ceiling, causing some of the stone to fall and collapse onto some of the approaching spiders, killing about 10 of them.

"....it can be." Adym replied.

"By the way, it knows we're here." he then said, as the colossal arachnid made its way to the opposite wall as them, climbed down, and faced them, towering above them like a monster.

"....hello, old friend." Adym commented.

"You're hurting, aren't you?" he asked.

The creature let out a sickening screech-like sound in response, with a primal guttural utterance in its undertone.

"Callie..." Adym said quietly.

"I think... it's too late for the guardian." he told her, knowing she would know where he was going with this.

Adym's ears twitched a little, and he reached back, tugging at her shirt sleeve. He motioned for her to follow, and the two of them very slowly crept forward, until they were at an arched door that led to a VERY large room.

In the room, she saw... a lot of nothing. There were some webs everywhere, of course, and the moss was about, but there wasn't a lot there, aside from more stone pillars.

…and the abundance of bones and skeletons strewn about.

Adym then pointed upwards, and in the darkness that was above them... she saw a large furry body... pulsing with each breath they heard.

No mistake... that was the guardian.

Adym shook his head.

"The guardian normally doesn't have venom." he told her.

"Doesn't need it. It's so... monstrously large, that it just overwhelms with brute force." he continued. "The venom comes from the sentinels, sentries... the army of smaller spiders under its command." he explained.

"However, with this corruption? I don't know." he then admitted, as the webbing around them started to get more and more prevalent.

He then looked back at her and gave her a silent 'shush' with his finger... as they both heard monstrous breaths being taken.

Adym was silent, and just sighed.

"I'd love to say that this place is a lot nicer without the corruption and such... but..." he started to say before pausing and letting out a heavy breath. "...it really isn't." he admitted.

"This place is meant to keep the guardian safe from any real threats, so of course it's going to be creepy and uninviting and dangerous and all that." he reasoned.

"I mean... there IS another way directly into the guardian's chamber... but... well... it's the path the guardian takes to get topside, in case of an emergency." he informed Callie further.

"And that's just a tunnel straight down." he explained.

"...I don't think I need to go into detail about why going THAT route would be... less than optimal." he then finished, as they started to take VERY cautious and light steps forward once more.

Ryker just sighed.

"No." he replied.

"...'family' was a concept that... well... I didn't think I would EVER get." he told him.

"I never knew my parents, had no siblings, nobody cared about me, and when the incident happened, I figured I was doomed to be alone forever." he continued.

"...never thought I would find meaning in my life while trying to have it end in a horrific way."

"That was something I wasn't even sure would work." he whispered.

"But we managed it." he said.

"That would not have been good if they'd approached us." he went on. "...to understate it." he said further.

"....but we're close." he then said.

"Sentries tend to stay close to the guardian in large droves." he informed her.

"...so we're close to the guardian's chamber."

Adym's eyes widened as the arachnids stopped and all seemed to look down the hallway.

'No, no, no, no, NO!' he panicked mentally.

He then paused for a moment, as they started to slowly walk towards them... and caused his energy to create some roots down the hallway that they were headed. He jarred some rocks loose from the wall and caused them to tumble.

This caused the sentries to suddenly turn their attention to the sound of THAT, and they continued on their original path... until none were left.

Adym then whirled his head around and looked at Callie with an expression of 'that was close'.

Adym didn't seem to notice that she had to sneeze... he was too focused on what was before them.

Sure enough, some large spiders, a little smaller than their heads, started to skitter by, paying no need to the two of them.

It looked like they were on patrol... and it seemed like they were, indeed, motion-based.

Some appeared to look down towards the two of them, but then continued on.

The problem was... there seemed to be a fair number of them.

And they were certainly taking their time on their patrol.

They continued to walk, before Adym stopped suddenly, and threw his arm out to the side, signalling Callie to stop.

When she did, she saw his ears twitching... and after a few seconds, she heard it.

Skittering.

A LOT of skittering in the distance.

"...stay... absolutely... still." Adym whispered.

"If you stay still... they won't notice you..." he finished, as she saw very distinct 8-legged shadows at the end of the corridor they were in, and around the corner.

And they seemed... big. Odds are the creatures that were throwing the shadows had to be at least as big as her head.

As she looked around, the saw that their surroundings were indeed illuminated from the moss... and there was a soft blue light all around them. It was almost serene, in an odd way.

There was moss on the floor as well, which was what made it all so slippery, but because of their shoes, they were safe from the poison.

She DID notice that her footing was unstable, though.

She also noticed that the corners of the walls and ceiling had... webs.

A LOT of webs. Old cobwebs, and fresher webs as well.

"Careful." Adym whispered.

"We don't want to alert any of the sentries down here."

"That's about it." Adym confirmed.

He then used his strength, as well as some conjured roots, to shift the slab so that it was open, revealing a stairwell that led deep underground.

"Oh, one more thing." he said.

"There should be plenty of light down there from all the poisonous moss." he informed her. "They're bioluminescent. So they'll give off enough light to see." he continued.

"Just... don't touch." he muttered.

"And be careful, it's probably slippery down there. Our steps will need to be slow and calculated at times."