Tunnel Rat

As the spiders surged forward, intending to swarm over the improvised barricades. With only a second to spare, walls of earth and rock erupted from the floor, and the magical stone grew upward until it merged with the cavern's ceiling. Not all mages spent their time studying advanced dueling and battle magics in the Tower of Spite. Several miners were Earth Mages and had been moving rock all their lives.

Two narrow areas were left that acted as funnels. The spiders trying to move forward had to do so one at a time or climb the walls and try to squeeze through the narrow openings, each of them just big enough for one eight-legger. The ratkin on either side of the slots turned to attack the flanks of the arachnids coming through—they surrounded their foes, giving them many attacks on each spider. The dwarves referred to this tactic as a 'murder hole,' while the elves called their version 'a bouquet of spears.' The ratkin called them 'Spider Traps.' Eight ratkin could attack one monster as they came through the opening.

The brave two miners in front blocked mandibles and leg spikes as best they could, giving way and counting on the others to do the killing. The six on the sides swung their heavy mining picks at the spiders. The heavily muscled miners could dig their picks deep into a rock wall, and spiders were made of much squishier stuff. Carapaces were shattered, and organs pulped. Twice, the picks rose and fell before both spiders were dead. The ratkin hadn't gotten off unscathed. One defender had a broken arm, and another took three steps back before dying of poison. Two more spiders crawled over the dead bodies while the rest attacked the earthen wall to destroy the spell.

Clawhammer blocked poisonous mandibles with the pick in his left hand and brought down his heavy forging hammer on a spider's head. The stunned spider could only hiss as it was attacked from the sides and repeatedly smacked in the head by an angry crafter. Clawhammer caught a breath and looked to the other opening. Two more spiders were inside, and two ratkin were down on the ground, bleeding. His concern for his miners almost cost him his life. A spider had climbed the wall and come through the gap up high. Now it dropped from thirty feet up on the unsuspecting Master Crafter.

Or rather, it tried to. It was like a giant, invisible hand smacked the spider back against the wall and pinned it there. Clawhammer could see the massive wound in its thorax, and green ichor was pouring out from the other side. Something had punched all the way through his ambusher. With a hiss of pain, the wounded spider fell to the ground, and wobbly gained its feet only to be slain by several enraged ratkin.

Clawhammer saw Tallsqueak racing across the room, fully clad in the strange bone armor that he conjured. He took a skull from his belt and tossed the glowing object through the hole in the wall. A loud explosion and the hissing of injured spiders told the rest of the story. Five of the enormous spiders were now dead; Tallsqueak leaped in the air as a sixth came through the hole and surprised it by putting a spikey-stick into its skull. The spider fell, and Tallsqueak rode it to the ground, twisting the weapon in the wound, splattering brains and ichor on himself. Clawhammer almost yelled out a warning that the ichor was a minor poison but chuckled, remembering that Tallsqueak dueled with Cremona each night. Only Professor Arlothe might have a higher poison resistance than Tallsqueak.

It was suddenly quiet, the spiders pulling back. The ratkin prepared for another charge, and the wounded were taken to the healers. Then a thunderous roar began as the Iron Spider entered the fray. The heavy metal balls fired by the Dwarven Chain Gun rapidly destroyed the earthen walls. It was only a matter of seconds before they shattered. Clawhammer didn't want to move the fight further into the cathedral cavern, but they were about to be crushed. "Back off another hundred feet. Get me some ten-foot high, triple thick walls to give us cover from that gun." The two miners with Earth Magic cast their spells, then collapsed to the ground, their mana exhausted.

The miners fell back and took cover behind the thick wall. The first set of earth and stone walls crumbled, and the remaining spiders advanced in a line, their images outlined in the remains of the smokey fire that was still burning some spiderlings pouring into the cavern. Smoke began to fill the top of the cavern. The crispy bodies of the fallen had choked off most of the fire. The vast bulk of the Iron Spider followed her brave champions forward.

Justin was on guard at the back gate. It was always a good day when he got guard duty. Justin liked his job and liked being a guard. Nothing could be better. And he got extra cheese! The cheese had been delicious lately. Assistant Cheese Master Rifkin was doing a good job. Rifkin had told him so, and Justin believed him. He stared out over the gathering fields with glassy eyes as he heard the first screams. They bothered him for some reason, but he was guarding the back gate, so he stayed at his post.

Gatherers and their children were running toward him, yelling loudly. Behind them came spiders. Some of the spiders made bounding leaps or scuttled quickly across the walls of the caves, cutting off groups of ratkin and trapping them in thick webs. Slower spiders came behind, binding the fallen into small cocoons. Justin wanted to help, but he was guarding the back gate!

He saw Mistress Brownfur run at a spider and crush its skull with a flying kick before engaging a second. He remembered that she had been a champion claw fighter in her youth. It was fun that he saw her fight before she...before...

Justin's head ached. He had to guard the back gate!

And then something snapped in his mind, and he was racing at the spiders.

"Fight me!!"

The taunt caused every spider in fifty feet to focus on Justin, and they raced to attack the large guard. He looked at Brownfur and yelled. "Save who you can, but get to the Tower; we need to hold the passage and not let them into the hollow." Mistress Brownfur limped as fast as she could away from the fight, gathering children and urging them to speed. The spiders ignored her, their attention all on Justin now.

Justin spun in a circle, burning stamina as his long halberd glowed and sliced through the advancing spiders. Three more times, he yelled for them to attack him until the entire army engaged with him. As Brownfur ran through the tunnel, she looked back once, unable to see Justin as he collapsed, poisoned by many wounds. Only a massive pile of spiders could be seen.

H'Spat considered. Things were going so much better since the idiot had decided to take the scenic route through the mines. Resistance was slight, and they had already captured many of the small mammals for eating. She had planned to leave as the abomination led her forces against the ratkin and race to join the main army, but victory here was tasting sweet. She would get no acclaim if she left, but if she quickly took control of the hollow, she could claim a great victory. Wouldn't the rest of the army be jealous? And wouldn't that taste sweet? She climbed on top of the large body of a fallen guard and yelled at the spiders around her. "Onward, my victorious host. We will have a feast to celebrate our victory over the ancient enemy tonight!" The spiders in the army obeyed. One noble was much the same to them, and orders were orders.

"Inform the princess that all troops are now in position according to her plans." The petite scout barely came up to the brute's knees, and the enormous spider didn't like the tone she used. The annoyance made her vent some of their anger at how long this march had been. "Finally! This has taken far too long. A rush with two dozen royals would have brought this hollow to its knees, yet we have to wait for you to scout for a full day?!"

The petite scout seemed unworried in the face of General T'nigit's anger. That might be because impatient commanders often yelled at scouts for doing their jobs correctly. Or it might have been her high perception that let her know they weren't alone. The shadows parted as the Princess appeared beside T'nigit, her black carapace gleaming in soft light. "And you would have died and embarrassed me. Did you hear nothing I said in the war councils? Did you listen to the scouting reports at all?"

The general bent their knees but argued. "They are weak, and we have created distractions, drawn off parts of their forces. A hammer blow..."

"Would have failed. Do you remember the damage that a fully grown Cheese Fiend can do? And they have an unknown number of mages, along with reports of many warriors. Not taking the time to scout and understand these things is the mark of a fool. But don't worry, I will reward you anyway. Take the Wolfen Dragoon Company and any royal that will follow you and attack immediately. Our forces are in a position to support you, thanks to the hard work of our scouts."

T'nigit saluted and left, glad of the honor. The head scout watched her go. "It's never bad to clear out some of the royals now and then; that was nicely done." The princess accepted the praise of her old tutor. "Yes, I thought so. Any royal dumb enough to follow T'nigit at the head of the army is one we don't need breeding the next generation. But either way, the hollow will be ours today."