Treachery

The **** cries wake Dana. "Huh? What's happening?" she asks blearily. The spiders are under attack. I'm going to go help. Don't leave the clearing, stay here," you say. "Wait! What?!" Dana exclaims. You don't have time to answer her questions. I mean it Dana! Stay. Here. With that you set off into the night, moving as fast as you can. You meet the spider coming to find you, who starts trying to explain everything. It's meaningless; he barely knows what is going on himself. You cut through his babbling, Lead the way. The spider stops speaking, and immediately turns to guide you through the trees.

After several long, breathless minutes spent running through the dark, you and your guide arrive at another clearing, smaller than your own. It is filled with spiders fighting each other, black chitin against mottled brown and green bark. In an instant, you grasp the situation: Drux has sent those spiders still loyal to him to try and destroy those who were transformed by you. How he knew where to find them is anyone's guess, your priority now is to make sure his plan doesn't succeed.

From the look of things, you may have your work cut out for you. You can see that the larger, stronger forest spiders clearly outclass their former brethren in one-on-one engagements, but they are having trouble dealing with the black spiders' far superior numbers. One by one, they are gradually being overwhelmed and cut down by their former compatriots. Time to even the odds.

You charge into the fighting with a tremendous roar. You strike out with your Vine Lash, flinging several black spiders into the air, while at the same time unwinding more vines to start spraying Herbal Flow over your allies. The black spiders are caught completely off guard, allowing you to easily push them back. A few of them try to rally for a counterattack, attempting to leap onto you and bring you down. However, they are met by crippling blows that swipe them from the air, leaving them easy targets for the forest spiders.

By a stroke of luck, you'd entered the fight from behind, striking the assaulting **** in the rear. Now, they are left with no way to retreat. Realizing this, your allies push forward to completely envelop the black spiders, trapping them in place. With this achieved, forest spiders press the ****, collapsing their lines inward.

While the enemy still has superior numbers, your presence tips the balance of power in your favor. None of the black spiders can stand against you, so instead they focus their attacks on the forest spiders, desperately try to break out through their lines. The forest spiders though are slightly heavier thanks to their armor. They use their extra mass to their advantage, focusing on blocking the black spiders escape, leaving you to do most of the killing. It works. You quickly make short work of the black spiders, leaving none alive.

When the fighting is done, one of the forest spiders approaches you. "Thank you, Great One, for coming to our aid. We could not have won without your help." You agree with his assessment, but decide to employ a smidge of tact. You're welcome. You and your brethren fought well. We made them pay dearly tonight. "Not enough, Great One," the spider replies bitterly, "Not nearly enough. There will be a reckoning for tonight, mark my words."

You are a bit surprised by this sentiment. You hadn't thought your losses had been that bad, nor were you all that shocked at Drux's sneak attack; it was completely in character. However, you want to return home quickly to check on Dana, so you decide not to question the spider. Farewell, spider. I will take my leave. "Farewell, Great One," the spider replies. You turn and head for home.