Friend or Foe..?

The Matriarch—no, the woman who had been the Matriarch—rose from the split chrysalis with languid grace. Pale shoulders gleamed beneath the sullen wash of lava-light, full breasts rising with a slow inhale. Her face carried the impossible beauty of high elven nobility, cheekbones like carved marble, full lips parted on the edge of a sigh, and grey eyes heavy-lidded and unmistakably sated. A delicate tiara of black chitin crowned damp blond hair that spilled across her collarbones.

Below the waist, the spider remained. A massive glossy abdomen still twitched with fading aftershocks while eight powerful legs unfolded with quiet mechanical clicks as she settled onto the silk-carpeted stone.

A faint violet sheen flickered through her eyes like ink spreading through water. Graz’zt’s signature, unmistakable. The Sensitivity Curse mark on her foremost leg had already faded. The curse was gone. Whatever it had wrought inside her remained.

“Daaaarling…” she purred, the word rolling out low and posh.

I found my voice. “You’re… not hostile.”

A melodic laugh drifted from her throat, soft and almost fond. She tilted her head, the motion spider-quick yet strangely elegant. “Oh I was, very much so. You disturbed me in my old home, killed my children, and threw me in a ravine to die.”

Karlach made a small choking sound behind me.

Those violet-threaded eyes held mine without blinking.

“But that is in the past,” Her smile grew. “Be welcome, dear guests.”

Without immediate danger hanging over us, we could take a real moment to further study the room. What had once been the Grymforge’s central worksite now wore draperies of spider silk spun into tapestries that caught the red light and turned it into something almost regal. Great sweeping arches of webbing formed vaulted ceilings. Intricate patterns shimmered along the walls. Chains that had once held forges now supported swaying curtains of silk.

Lae’zel stood rigid as a statue, jaw locked tight. Shadowheart and Karlach weren’t much better—each of them still carrying the memory of our brutal first clash with the Matriarch, now staring in stunned disbelief at what she had become.

Only Kagha watched with open, almost reverent curiosity. “Did you build all this?” she asked with awe in her voice.

Eliette chuckled. “Oh no. My children did most of the work.”

She lifted one elegant clawed hand in a graceful sweep. The walls came alive.

Hundreds of small bodies spilled from hidden crevices—spiderlings no larger than house cats, their chitin gleaming wetly in the lava-glow. They poured down the silk curtains in rippling waves. They flowed across the floor, encircling us in a tightening ring of clicking legs.

Karlach’s shoulders bunched. “Shit—”

Lae’zel’s sword flashed free in a single smooth motion. “An ambush!”

Shadowheart's fingers ignited with the first hungry sparks of a Fireball.

Kagha merely turned her head toward me, calmly awaiting my command.

“Behave, children.” Eliette called out loud.

The swarm halted almost at once.

Almost.

Hundreds of tiny legs continued clicking against the silk with restless impatience. Several spiderlings rocked back and forth where they stood, bouncing excitedly on the spot. One ignored the order entirely and tried to squeeze between two of its siblings for a better look at me before being bodily shoved back into line.

Eliette closed her eyes for the briefest moment.

“Honestly...”

She looked back at us with an apologetic smile.

“Forgive them, darling. They are terribly excited. You see we don't often get visitors,” Her eyes drifted fondly over the fidgeting swarm. “...And they have heard SO very much about you.”

A handful of adventurous spiderlings continued edging closer despite the order.

Lae'zel watched them with cool military detachment, her eyes tracking every movement. “T'shk..”

Shadowheart quietly stepped behind Lae'zel. “Nope.” She folded her arms. “This isn't my job.”

Karlach's engine radiated enough heat that every spiderling gave her a respectful distance.

Kagha slowly extended a hand. One curious spiderling reached out with a foreleg, tapped her palm once, then skittered happily away.

I did my best to ignore the dozens brushing against my boots.

“How did you survive the fall?”

She lowered her gaze almost shyly. “The shield you delivered to me. I felt its magic. ‘This battle.. Then the next’. It angled at the moment that I struck the bottom leaving me at the brink of death. But alive. After that, fury kept me moving. The mark you bestowed on me sharpened every sense I possessed. Every vibration, every heartbeat. I learned quickly how it worked it along my threads. At first I stayed away from dangers, anything down here would have ended an old broken lady such as I. But I healed. My web expanded. Then I began to thrive. Easy prey first, lone Hook Horrors, distracted stragglers. Then the Deep dwarfs by the lake. They were delightfully split from each other, I snuck up on them, one by one, and turned their little camp into a delightful little stay.”

“But then... I felt something calling to me. Something across the far waters. My distant kin. Countless tiny hearts crying out to Lolth in desperation. I could not abandon them. I crossed the waters, slew their keeper with surprising ease, and I led them to the far corner of this place. Together we built this nest.” She hesitated, genuine embarrassment coloring her cheeks as the great abdomen behind her gave a slow involuntary pulse.

She laughed softly at herself.

“Your gift allowed me to feel the pleasure of childbirth, of motherhood. Every contraction, every emergence. I realized then that what you left me was never a curse.” She looked at me with quiet devotion. “It was a blessing. Since then I have prayed for your return, not for revenge. You are my rightful partner. The one who remade me.”

Eliette carefully produced the shattered remains of the Shield of Safeguarding, broken cleanly in two. She regarded it for a brief moment before making another graceful gesture.

Spiderlings hurried away and soon returned dragging silk-wrapped bundles nearly as large as themselves. One by one they deposited their treasures neatly at my feet: a soot-blackened hand crossbow enchanted to deal damage against burning foes; a pair of boots hammered with latent magic, promising safe passage over treacherous terrain; a stout barrel stamped with bright warning runes containing volatile runepowder powerful enough to bring down entire buildings; a slender rapier whose blade emitted a soul-rending scream whenever it drew blood; a single slab of infernal iron; two chunks of raw mithral ore; and finally piles of basic weapons, armor, jewelry, coins, and every other curiosity the Grymforge had once possessed.

“...You managed to get that?” I pointed to the runepowder impressed.

“Yes. It was guarded by a female Gnome in a distant chamber.” Eliette smiled pleasantly. “She was wrapped before she managed to blink.”

“What did you do with her?”

Eliette’s grey eyes stayed soft. “We ate her. She served no purpose. Only the menfolk remain, hanging in the cocoons outside.”

She said it with such matter-of-fact politeness that it took my brain a moment to catch up.

I nodded slowly. “...Right.”

“But they are no longer needed.” Her full lips curved into a slow, indulgent smile. “...Not as you have arrived home, my darling. You shall never want for anything again.”

I looked toward the others.

Karlach scratched awkwardly behind one horn.

“...Boss?” She pointed a thumb toward Eliette. “I think she wants you to stay.”

Kagha positively beamed.

“My heart... you’ve claimed an entire kingdom without drawing a blade.”

Lae’zel’s yellow eyes burned with open fury, all of it aimed at me. Shadowheart caught Lae’zel’s look, then turned her gaze to me.

Shadowheart's voice came first "We need to talk."

"Sure," I said. "Tonight, at camp—"

"NOW!" Lae'zel barked.