A spider the size of a large dog scuttled past on a web strand about ten feet from our hiding spot. It paused, mandibles twitching as if it sensed something, then continued on its patrol route.
"Time's up," I whispered. "The transformation venom is getting worse. We need that ichor soon, or it won't matter if we survive the spiders."
I could feel the truth of it in my blood. Something alien spreading through my veins, changing me from the inside out. Kira and Morrigan looked pale and strained, fighting the same battle.
"All right," Kira said, gripping her hammer. "Let's go kill some spiders."
We moved out, following the safe pathway I'd identified. My Silent Movement skill kept our footsteps muffled, while my trap detection guided us around the most dangerous web configurations.
The first guard spider never saw us coming. Kira's hammer crushed its head before it could make a sound, dark ichor splattering across the stone.
"One down," she whispered. "How many more?"
"Too many," I replied, but we pressed forward anyway.
We moved through the web maze like ghosts, my Silent Movement skill keeping our footsteps muffled while my trap detection guided us around the most dangerous strands. Each step had to be precise, One wrong move and we'd trigger an alarm that would bring hundreds of spiders down on us.
The first checkpoint came sooner than expected. A cluster of six medium-sized spiders had positioned themselves around a natural choke point, their legs spanning the only safe passage forward.
I held up my hand, stopping Kira and Morrigan. My Threat Assessment skill analyzed the guards' positions and patrol patterns. They moved in a loose formation, but there were gaps, moments when their attention focused elsewhere.
"Two on the left move together," I whispered. "The big one on the right has a blind spot. When I signal, Kira takes the left pair, I'll handle the right."
"What about the other three?" Morrigan asked.
"That's where the oil comes in." I pointed to a web junction directly above the guards. "Drop some on that strand, light it, and watch them panic."
Morrigan nodded, carefully extracting her flask. She climbed silently up the wall. Apparently information brokers developed useful skills beyond just trading secrets. From her elevated position, she could drizzle oil onto the web structure without being seen.
The skill was highlighting the perfect moment to strike. In thirty seconds, the patrol pattern would create a brief window where most of the guards would be looking away from our position.
Twenty seconds. Morrigan was in position, oil ready.
Ten seconds. Kira shifted her grip on the hammer, muscles coiled.
Now.
Morrigan struck flint to steel, igniting the oil-soaked web strand. Flames raced along the silk, creating a brilliant flare that sent the spiders into chaos. The two on the left scrambled toward the fire, exactly as predicted.
Kira's hammer caught them both in a devastating arc, crushing exoskeletons with wet cracks. I lunged at the large spider on the right, my Kobold Fang Dagger finding the gap between its head and thorax. The bleeding enchantment activated, dark ichor pouring from the wound.
The remaining three spiders turned toward us, but they were disoriented by the fire and the sudden death of their companions. Morrigan dropped from above, her curved blade slicing through silk and chitin with equal ease.
"Six down," she said, wiping ichor from her weapon. "How many more?"
"Too many to count," I replied, but the plan was working. The fire from our first attack had spread to nearby web strands, creating a growing conflagration that was drawing spiders from across the chamber.
"Time for phase two," I said, pointing toward our real target—a massive structural support web that anchored nearly a quarter of the chamber's network. "That's our demolition point."
We moved quickly now, speed more important than stealth as spiders throughout the chamber began responding to the growing fire. My trap detection skill guided us along a path that avoided the worst of the web triggers, but we couldn't avoid them all.
A strand snapped under Kira's boot, sending vibrations through the web network. Immediately, chittering sounds erupted from three different directions as spiders began converging on our position.
"Company!" I warned, just as a spider the size of a pony dropped from above.
I rolled aside as it landed where I'd been standing, mandibles clicking with predatory hunger. My dagger found its eye cluster, the bleeding effect causing it to stumble backward into a burning web strand.
Kira's hammer crushed another spider's thorax, sending it flying into the chamber wall. But more were coming, a steady stream of arachnid fury descending from the web network above.
"The support!" Morrigan called, reaching the massive web column. She doused it with the remaining oil from her flask, then added what was left in her lamp for good measure.
A spider launched itself at her from the side. I intercepted it with my dagger, opening its throat before it could reach her. The creature collapsed, ichor pooling on the stone floor.
"Light it!" I shouted, blocking another spider's attack with my reinforced armor.
Morrigan struck her flint. Sparks flew, and suddenly the entire structural support was engulfed in flames. The fire raced up the oil-soaked silk, reaching the junction points where dozens of web strands connected.
The effect was immediate and catastrophic.
A quarter of the chamber's web network collapsed in a cascade of burning silk and screaming spiders. Creatures that had been suspended thirty feet in the air suddenly found themselves falling toward the stone floor, their carefully constructed highways reduced to ash.
"Run!" I yelled, pointing toward the far end of the chamber where the Queen's massive cocoon lair sat partially isolated from the collapsing web network.
We sprinted across the chamber floor, dodging falling spiders and burning debris. Behind us, the fire continued to spread, consuming web after web in a growing inferno that filled the air with acrid smoke.
The Queen's lair loomed ahead. A structure of silk and shadow the size of a manor house. Unlike the geometric webs throughout the chamber, this was organic, pulsing with a rhythm that suggested life within.
"There!" Kira pointed to an opening in the cocoon wall, barely large enough for a person to squeeze through. "Entry point!"
But as we approached, something shifted inside the massive structure. The pulsing rhythm accelerated, and the opening began to dilate like an enormous eye.
A leg emerged first, black chitin as thick as a tree trunk and easily twelve feet long. Then another. And another. Until something that barely fit through the opening pulled itself free of the cocoon.