Silence greeted my offering, before her webs shook again, her enormous bulk shifting as she moved forward.
First one, then another, and gradually all of her legs appeared before and around me, and she towered over me. I could hear the rest of my party shifting uneasily, but they didn’t say anything.
I heard a sword being unsheathed and Lydia’s barked order to sheath it again, then silence.
I felt Ashrag lower her huge head, until it was before me, and I looked up at her, waiting as her eyes searched my own for long seconds.
She said something in a language I didn’t understand, and a soldier scuttled forward, moving with horrific speed as it shot across the floor to me. I forced myself to stay still, my muscles shaking under the strain.
I felt a hot searing pain across my right cheek, and then the spider was crushed by Ashrag, a long leg smashing down with stunning force to pierce its abdomen, killing it instantly. She threw the corpse aside effortlessly, and it fell, twitching, into the darkness of the chasm.
I kept staring at Ashrag, even as I felt hot air entering my face through the slashed cut that separated my cheek into flaps.
“I accept your apology, Lord of the Empire, and I accept my Oath’s renewal, on the conditions offered...” she said eventually, straightening up and returning to her web. “You will destroy the Drow that infest these paths, and then we will accept you as our lord. You will provide safety for my children, food, and the chance for them to grow."
"Do these things, enable us to stand tall and free in the world above again, and we will consider the debt paid, but be warned: do not fail us again, for we will not be taken by surprise a second time.”
You have received a Quest from your Goddess: ‘Keep your Word’
You have given your word to an ancient Cave Spider Queen. Kill her enemies, grant her and her brood safety and food, and she will consider her Broken Oath to be renewed, binding her and all her brood to your orders and laws. You must kill thirty-five (35) Drow and their leader.
Drow Killed: 3/35
Locations Cleared: 0/3
Drow Leader Killed: 0/1
Reward: Oracle’s Freedom, Sworn Allegiance of One (1) Greater Cave Spider and her Brood, access to Cave Spider Silk, Cave Spider Nest Treasury and 50,000xp
I grinned in spite of the pain it caused as I stood up, my legs shaky as I relaxed slightly, knowing that the riskiest part of being here was over. Now all I had to do was what I was going to do anyway: gut the fucking Drow for taking Oracle.
The notification that had popped up let me know that Jenae was watching over me as well, especially with the experience boost her latest quest was offering me. I accepted it and dismissed the screen.
I looked up at Ashrag and her brood, and I knew it was going to give me nightmares every time I remembered how close I’d come to being killed, but I was alive!
Dancing on the edge of the razor still, just like I had been since I’d been picked up by Daphne, and I spared a grin, thinking of how pissed he’d been when I renamed him. I wondered idly if the name had stuck, after all.
“Thank you, Queen Ashrag.” I said formally. “So, is it going to be an issue if I heal myself now? Because this is fucking stinging,” I asked, pointing at my face.
“Do what you wish,” she replied, and I healed myself again, stifling a groan as my skin knit back together. The feeling of veins reaching out and reattaching made me think too much of things burrowing through me after everything had happened so far today.
“So, how far away are we from the Drow?” I asked, resuming my seat and gesturing for my people to come forward. “And why did you kill the spider that cut me?”
“You are an Imperial Citizen, as am I. Harming you would have harmed me, but there are ways around the Oaths; as long as I defended you, it was sufficient. When all is restored, I could not do this, so do not fear,” she rumbled away, and I grimaced.
“Well, there’s a different Oath that my people take, so we will have to talk about that later. It’s simpler, but more personal, based around the one rule of ‘don’t be a dick’, but we can discuss it,” I said.
“We will see. The Imperial Oath was enough for us. As to the Drow, the nearest clutch of them is just over a mile away. It has grown concerning to us how close they are coming.”
“How far is it to the city?”
“Three or four miles from here, or so I think. I remember the measurements, but if an Imperial Mile and your own are the same, I neither know nor care.”
“Fair enough. The Drow, then; if they’re a mile away, can you get us close to them? We sure as shit can’t climb back up without help, after all, and we could use a few of your soldiers, a few scouts, and a princess to communicate between them all.” I asked, trying my luck.
“No. We will return you to a close point to them, and carry you that far, but none of my brood will help further. If you are so weak that you need more, then we are better off without you. If you die, this costs us nothing, yet,” she said,
