(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)

[DracoOmega]

>Are there any other signs of webbing about?
>Can we ascertain where the unfamiliar scent is coming from?
>Guesstimate how high Yellow and his web are above us.

>You can see some scattered strands among the nearby stalactites, though no other complete webs.
>If you had to guess, you'd say somewhere further ahead.
>The web starts at perhaps about 8 feet above you and continues up to the ceiling、at least another 8 feet above that.

[Oldmansour]

>Live and let live. Just stay up there, ugly.
>Continue on ahead, following the unfamilar scent.

[DracoOmega]

>Live and let live. Just stay up there, ugly.
>Continue on ahead, following the unfamilar scent.

>You decide to leave the spider be and continue forward. For its part, it seems just as content to let you pass by and you move out of sight of it without further incident.
>The tunnel continues on for another while and then slowly flares out into an irregularly shaped chamber over the course of few dozen feet.
>This new chamber seems quite a bit larger than the last, though its extent is harder to gauge; its contour is ragged, forming numerous alcoves along the exterior wall, while large rock formations divide sections of the space. At some points, the ceiling descends almost to touch the floor. All in all, it is difficult to observe a very large part of the chamber at once. A couple of the alcoves end in small tunnels winding away in to the rock. Most of these are too small for you to do more than stick a hand in and certainly too small for any of the spiders you've observed to fit through, although there is a somewhat larger one in an alcove along the southwest wall which is probably wide enough; it would be little more than a crawlspace for you, however.
>Moving around the room, you find a small and largely stagnant pool in another alcove. Water drips torpidly into it through a crack in the adjacent wall. The scent is rather pungent, through very little down here could be described as pleasant-smelling.
>As you work your way towards the northwest of the chamber, you start to hear sounds of activity in the distance ahead, followed by a skittering noise considerably closer to you and moving closer, also from the north and beyond the range of your light.

[Oldmansour]

>Sniff for unfamiliar scent.
>Scan chamber for available cover.
>Listen closer to skittering noise, try and identify numbers and/or size of skitterers.

[DracoOmega]

>Sniff for unfamiliar scent.
>Scan chamber for available cover.
>Listen closer to skittering noise, try and identify numbers and/or size of skitterers.

>You think it's stronger towards the northern end of the chamber, at least vaguely so.
>A chamber with as poor sight lines as this offers multiple points of cover close-by. You could duck into a nearby alcove further back along the western wall, or shift behind a place where the ceiling sweeps downward, a couple feet to your right. This would only conceal you above the ankles, though. There is also a large outcropping of rock about 20 feet southeast of you that you could hide behind. Unfortunately, being physically behind an object will do little to conceal your presence while you're carrying a torch in a pitch-black area.
>Listening to the closer sound, you think it may be a single spider, of moderate to small size. Or at least what passes for small these days.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hello there. Shall we have nice chat, perhaps?"
>Listen for spitter noises.

[Oldmansour]

>Add: "I come in peace?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Hello there. Shall we have nice chat, perhaps?"

>Add: "I come in peace?"

>You greet the as-yet unseen spider and offer it a proverbial olive branch. The sound of its movement stops after a few more moments. You can just barely make out a vague form in the dim light at the edges of your vision. It seems approximately similar in build to the smaller spiders you've encountered several times already, although perhaps slightly smaller. Its coloration is indistinct in this light.

>Listen for spitter noises.

>You hear nothing of that nature at the moment, though you remain wary. While this spider has stopped moving, there are still sounds of more numerous activity further onward in the distance to the north.

[Hello Purvis]

>Observe the spider for a few moments. Does it seem to be doing anything?
>If not, say, "So, you going to say anything?"

[Oldmansour]

>Can we guess at just how much more numerous the activity furthur on is?

[DracoOmega]

>Can we guess at just how much more numerous the activity furthur on is?

>The sound is too far and faint to really tell. The best you can say is 'probably more than a couple'.

>Observe the spider for a few moments. Does it seem to be doing anything?
>If not, say, "So, you going to say anything?"

>You observe the spider. As best you can tell, it appears to be observing you back. Either that or scared rigid, but you're not willing to bank on that just yet.
>The spider does not react to your question and is silent for several more moments. Then it makes a series of short shill sounds, rather loudly in fact. Your musing about whether this counts as a response is cut short when another sound calls out from the distant caverns to answer it, and then another and another. Soon, a whole chorus of them echoes away into the distance, each further than the last.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we hear any of the others coming?

[DracoOmega]

>Do we hear any of the others coming?

>Nothing close enough to hear over the echo of vocalizations, at any rate, though that seems to be dying down.

[Hello Purvis]

>Take a step forward. Let's get a bit more light on this spider.

[DracoOmega]

>Take a step forward. Let's get a bit more light on this spider.

>You take a step forward, hoping to get a better look at the spider. As you do, it turns and scurries away to the northwest, although not particularly speedily. It wasn't in the light long enough to get a good look at, though you think it was greyish-red in color, and of a somewhat more slender body than the other smaller spiders you've seen.

[Hello Purvis]

>Can we hear much from the others?

[Oldmansour]

>We've never seen one that colored before, have we?

[DracoOmega]

>Can we hear much from the others?

>You still hear activity to the north. Some of them may be heading towards you, although most don't seem to be; it's a little hard to tell, to be honest. You don't hear anything obviously close to you, aside from the fleeing spider.

>We've never seen one that colored before, have we?

>You hadn't, no.

[Oldmansour]

>From where we are, can we determine where the sounds are going, at least the sounds that don't seem to be coming towards us?

[DracoOmega]

>From where we are, can we determine where the sounds are going, at least the sounds that don't seem to be coming towards us?

>Not especially. You don't think they're all moving in one direction, or necessarily all moving all that much, for that matter.

[Oldmansour]

>Edge towards the north.

[[Y]oukai [J]esus]

>Stick close to a wall is possible.

[Hello Purvis]

>Stick close to a wall is possible.

>Don't do this. We don't need to be hemmed in if they charge.

[[Y]oukai [J]esus]

>If they charge, would'nt they charge straight? I doubt they're smart enough to instantly surround you. Everything needs some time to coorodinate themselves, well as long as you spot them before they spot you.

[DracoOmega]

>Edge towards the north.

>You edge northwards, passing several more alcoves along the western wall. A high rock formation presses close on your right as you proceed, forcing you further west, though a narrowing of the path alongside this end of the chamber. You emerge into a wider open area on the other side of the rock, near what you suppose could be considered the northwest corner of the overall chamber. It extends out of sight to the east, with the ridge of rock that you just passed serving as its southern edge, forming almost a secondary chamber. The ground here is fairly level, with a scattering of medium-sized stalagmites, rarely large enough to block sight except immediately at their base.
>You can see two tunnels extending off this corner, one leading west, and the other more northward. Both are large enough to comfortably stand in.
>You can heard something approaching from the western tunnel, and several somethings coming from further east.

[Oldmansour]

She raises a decent point. And given the option between having our back to a wall and being surrounded, I personally would lean towards the former. And if I'm right, we may have to choose between the two very soon.

>Assess the incoming sounds.
>Check for the unfamiliar scent we followed here in the first place.

[DracoOmega]

>Assess the incoming sounds.
>Check for the unfamiliar scent we followed here in the first place.

>They are definitely the sounds of spiders moving, but it's hard to tell much more than that. You hear only a single creature approaching from the west while there are perhaps three coming from the east. These seem to be moving quicker than the solitary one. The one in the west might be larger, but you can't be confident of this.
>It's hard to be sure, but you think it may be coming moreso from the east.

[Hello Purvis]

Spiders are much, much easier to move through and around when we don't have solid rock to restrict how we can move.

>Do we hear a larger one coming toward us?

[[Y]oukai [J]esus]

Spiders have a fail sense of sight. As long as we generate enough air movement by breathing if it charges at us, while we're at the wall, and we dodge, it'll most likely knock itself out. But, a rock does restrict movement somewhat.

[DracoOmega]

>Do we hear a larger one coming toward us?

>It's possible the one to the west may be, but the lack of foliage here for it to be disturbing as it moves makes it somewhat harder to gauge size.