Two guards stood at the mouth of the cavern outside Archet. Tonight was supposed to be a night like any other When darkness fell over the land, the spiders whom haunted beneath would emerge. It was the duty of the guard to keep watch for these creatures, and fell them as soon as they came near the palisades that surrounded the town. But tonight...was different. There were no spiders skittering in the dark, only silence....silence and corpses.
The pair gawked at the scene before them. Ichor was splattered though the ruined pillars and grasses and bits of chitinous carapace was strewn about the area. Could this be the work of of hunters? Rangers? Brigands? No These spiders....the pair surmised....did not succumb to bow and blade....their corpses...they were ripped apart. Whom, they thought. Whom could have brought such a destruction and terror to the webbed caverns that still plagued their town?
"Twas a vagrant....came 'round 'ere earlier t'day?" one said. "Big as a tree, that feller...y'don't think 'e..." His companion cut him off before he could finish. "Balls to that.." his companion spat. "We've 'ad good men, armed men, die to these bastards. Yer mad if ye be thinkin' some tall drifter with a pointy stick be comin' in here and causin' this mess."
The guard blinked...and twirled his mustache in thought "Well if it wasn't the tall feller...then...what ye thin-"
The roar echoed out of the cavern in a deafening wave. interrupting the guard's thoughts for the second time. It was deep, guttural, feral in every sense of the word, and it shook the pair of guards to the bone. Gathering themselves but for a moment, they fled in terror. Whatever beast lay within the cave...the boon it brought felling the spiders was sure to be coincidental. They had to alert the Captain, they needed men, no, an army to flush out and fell this new beast. With the rebuilding of the town well underway, the threats of monsters and foul men could exist no longer!
--
There were only 6 men, and the Captain that ventured into the dark of the cave, swords, spears, and torches at the ready. It was all they could muster, but it had to have been enough. The trail was as easy to follow inside as it was outside. Chitin and ichor littered the web covered walls....as well as evidence..of another. Claw marks raked the stone and mud, and prints of an immense bear weighed deep into the cavern floor. But there was no beast to be found...it had simply...moved on...it would seem.
"There y'ave it." The captain barked. "Mother's lost'er cubs...went on a fury. Let's be off, lads" One guard replied in a shaky tone. "B-but...sir...these prints're at least twice big as any of'em bears in the wood.." The captain grimaced. "I'll 'ear none of it. Its settled. Bear got lucky...an' ye should be greatful fore it.".
It was true...the captain was not blind to such things. These prints were enormous, and these scratches...even a bear couldn't leave such marks this deep in stone...but what was he to do? Archet suffered so much recently...and other matters took priority. Whatever this creature was...it was gone now, and with any hope, it would never return.
