Step 3: Surprise!

You crouch in the bushes frozen, staring at Drux and his spiders. It looks as though he has his entire army with him. Lucky you.

The black spiders stand on the edge of a fairly large, bowl-shaped depression, clear of any trees. You have managed to creep round one side of the dip, putting it between you and your pursuers. The thick layer of mast and detritus that covers the ground is untouched, giving no clue as to your direction of flight.

Your body is tight with tension as you watch Drux confer with some of his spiders. He looks out at the trees surrounding the bowl, trying to decide which way you went. Given enough time, the enemy will eventually track you down. Even running is only a temporary solution. It is time for you to finally act.

Steeling yourself for what must come next, you rise from cover, and show yourself. The enemy spiders don't even spare a second to question your strange action. Filled with rage and the thrill of the chase, they charge down across the dip towards you.

You take a few steps back, but go no further. Standing still, you watch with sick fascination as the black, teeming, clicking hoard descends. The leading edge the army reaches the bottom of the depression, and begins to climb, even as the last of the spiders cross over the edge of the dip.

The space between you and your pursuers shrinks with alarming speed. As you watch them rush towards you, your body clenches tight with pure terror, and you regret every decision that led to this moment. You wish you had chosen to remain hiding and crept away; you wish you had never come up with this stupid plan; you wish this war with Drux had never happened; you even wish you had stayed a Weed Fiend, and never done any of this at all.

They're not far away now. In a few seconds they'll be on you. Your mind fills with what will happen when they catch you: white, gleaming fangs; thick, cloying web; painful, slow poison; ****. Creeping tendrils of fear weight down your limbs. You fight against it, thrusting an arm into the arm.

The entire army stops. The spiders begin tugging at their legs, looking around in confusion as they attempt to understand what's keeping them stuck. One of the spiders looks down, and lets out an outraged hiss of dismay.

"It's a trap! He tricked us!"

Upon closer examination, it is revealed that Drux's army is held fast by strands of light green webbing covering the ground. The black spiders curse and hiss, creating a great furor as they pull fruitlessly against there bounds. As the enemy struggles, forest spiders emerge from the treeline all around the bowl. One by one, all of Drux's spiders cease their straining as they realize they are surrounded.

You lower your arm, regarding them silently. The mix of residual fear and sudden elation leave you trembling slightly, as you slowly regain control. The gamble has paid off, and you are alive and unhurt.

No one makes a sound, allowing your foes to fully grasp the situation they're in: helpless, at your hands. At last the silence gets to Drux.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Let the slaughter begin. No matter how many of us you kill, we shall just rise again to avenge ourselves."

An almost hysterical laugh rips itself out of you, booming over the assembled spiders. Oh, Drux. We're not going to kill you. We're not going to touch a hair on your disgusting, little body, you say.

Your amusement infuriates Drux. "Really? Then, what is your plan. You can't keep us here forever," he spits back.

If you could, you'd be grinning like an idiot. Can't we? you ask.

It is unfortunate that the spiders' faces aren't more expressive. As it is, you have to be content with the small shiver of fear that runs through Drux's body as he comprehends your meaning.

"You can't mean..."

I do, you say, suddenly serious, all levity gone from your tone. Welcome to your prison, Drux.

The conversation ends abruptly as you signal to the forest spiders. They step forward and start to shoot out layers of thick, adhesive web over the still struggling black spiders. The weight of the accumulating web serves to muffle your prisoners, eventually cutting of noise from them altogether.

Concurrently, you unravel you vines, spreading them out over Drux's army, and begin to shower them in a constant stream of Herbal Flow. As you do, more spiders approach the edge carrying giant vessels made of Barrier. Containing large quantities of Herbal Flow, they start to empty the vessels, pouring them down into the dip.

While this happens, you sink your roots into the ground, and start constructing a Barrier around the lip of the depression. Your initial focus is to send roots around the circumference of the bowl, creating a solid foundation on which to build. Once that is achieved, you start to increase the height of the wall, millimeter by millimeter.

As you work, Dana walk up by your side and taps you on the shoulder. You barely spare her a glance, and simply nod. Satisfied, she sits on the ground cross-legged and begins to Meditate. You spare a few roots to wrap around her and begin to Absorb her mana. You hear spiders in the trees above you breaking branch in order to ensure you receive as much sun exposure as possible

Even with Dana's help and standing in full sunlight, the expenditure of mana in enormous. When you start the sun is barely above the tree line. By the time it overhead, you have only managed to create a wall as high as your chest.

Fortunately at this point, you stop spraying the black spiders with Herbal Flow, and focus your attention entirely on building Barrier, using your vines to support the efforts of your roots. By now, the forest spiders have ceased covering Drux and his forces in web, and are reinforcing your wall with strong, durable webbing.

Come sunset, you are still not finished, but the wall is high above your head. It is now possible to see a definite inward curve to the walls, and a low dome-like shape is now taking form. The webs that cover your Barrier now glow with pale green luminescence in the gloom, giving both you and the spiders light by which to work, as you continue into the night.

It is dawn by the time the dome is finished, and you collapse exhausted, but satisfied. The depression containing the black spiders is completely covered with a shallow dome made of your Barrier, which in turn is covered by multiple layers of light green, webbing. Underneath all of this Drux and his followers remain, stewing away in Herbal Flow, bothersome flies forever caught in amber. You feel confident Drux won't be going anywhere anytime soon.