Meet a spider woman

“Was that your ‘Demon Lord’ I heard talking?” asks the newcomer as she saunters over to where the lit up mana crystal is currently resting. The spider-like woman then leans down, brushes back her long, black hair with one hand, and picks up the crystal with the other. Bringing it within inches of her face, she squints at the light-emitting mineral for a second or two before losing interest and dropping it back on the ground.

“Yes,” says Blythe. “He woke up a few minutes ago.” You glance at the elf and are surprised to find her totally at ease with the presence of this spider person. The last encounter that the two of you had with monster girls didn’t go well, so what’s the deal here? Who is this mystery woman, and why does Blythe trust her?

“That’s a relief.” The warmth of the new woman’s voice is familiar to you; it’s like you just heard it somewhere else, but you can’t quite figure out where. “I found him something nice,” she says, before reaching into the neckline of her tunic and pulling something out from between her small breasts. She then casually approaches your party, making you more anxious with every step. You don’t know this spider girl, nor her intention, yet Blythe allows the woman to come right up and hand her a small, glass bottle filled with liquid of some sort. “I’ve seen magic users drink this before. It might help.”

Blythe uncorks the bottle carefully, then brings it to her nose. Whatever it smells like, the elf is pleased enough to smile and thank the eight-eyed woman. The busty blonde then spins around and kneels beside you once again. Holding the bottle of mystery liquid out for you to see, she says, “It is a mana potion. Do you think you can sit up long enough to drink it?”

That’s a mana potion? you think while staring at the little bottle. The glassware isn’t the same design as the one you’ve grown accustomed to seeing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the liquid inside is different. You decide to trust Blythe, and try to move again. Unfortunately, your body simply won’t allow it. Blythe observes your struggle for a couple of seconds, then gestures for you to relax. Rather than have you drink it on your own, Blythe downs the bottle herself. You’re stunned at first, but the intent of the act starts making itself clear when she leans over you in the same way as she did minutes ago. You cease your efforts to move, and allow her to lift your head slightly before moving in for the kiss. Blythe passes the liquid from her mouth to yours, slowly, making sure that you swallow every ounce of the stuff. It doesn’t taste exactly like the mana potions you’ve had before, but you feel the positive results immediately.

The fiery warmth of mana kindles within you once again, and with every passing moment a sense of ease spreads throughout your body. You flex your toes without issue, and find strength returning to your legs. You try to flex your fingers next, but find that your right hand is tightly bound by something. With the strength returning to your arms, and despite the brain-burning soreness that still plagues your muscles, you fight through the pain to pull your right hand out from under the blanket. With Blythe’s help, your right hand is carefully fished out of the blanket. Now that it’s out in the open, you see that it has been encased in a rock-solid wad of white fiber. You wonder briefly what you’re looking at, but then flashes of a memory come back to you: a pain you felt while you were drifting in and out of consciousness, like something was pulling your thumb hard enough to rip it off. Whatever happened while you were out, it must have broken your thumb.

So this white stuff is like a cast, you think. Looking at the material used to make the ‘cast,’ it’s clear that it didn’t come from Blythe’s medical supplies. If I had to guess, I’d say that spider woman made this. As your thoughts return to the mysterious monster girl, you realize that she has gone to sit at the table in the lower section of the cave. With all of your strength, as well as Blythe’s assistance, you manage to sit up and get a better look at the unknown woman. She has taken up the knitting needles, adding to the ongoing project using silk yarn that seems to magically appear out of the palm of her hand. “Who are you?” you ask. “And why are you helping us?”

“The wizard named me Cady,” says the knitting woman. She turns her face in your direction, but you get the sense that her eyes aren’t actually focusing on you — or anything, for that matter. “As for why I’m letting you recover here, it’s because I was curious.”

The fact that she mentions ‘the wizard’ completely bewilders you. No other NPC has mentioned him, so how does this monster girl know? “Curious? What does that mean?” you ask, realizing that she said something after mentioning the wizard. “Curious about what?”

“About how far you got in the wizard’s game.” One of the spider-like legs on her back moves slightly, and suddenly your right hand is hanging in the air, held there by some mysterious ****. “I tag everything that moves in this forest with invisible thread,” she says. The unknown **** lifting your hand slowly abates in sync with the motion of Cady’s spider leg, until your hand is safely lying back on the blanket. “That’s how I knew you three were in the Trials, and it’s how I pulled you out. That project was… really important to him, so I… I just wanted to know how it went.” Cady’s knitting hands slow to a halt, and her unfocused gaze falls to the floor. “Now that it’s gone forever,” she says.