Tradden looked down at the green slime now dribbling down his chain mail. He couldn’t tell for sure whether it was venomous, but surely that would make sense?

Ah, yes, it was taking the shine off the steel rings as it dripped towards the floor. It seemed as though Caldring would have more than one repair to do when they got back.

Thinking about the training, hints and tips Khalin, ever wise in the ways of war, had been giving him, his first thought was that as they had a numerical advantage, they should try and use that by flanking it.

Crouching down at first, the young fighter moved towards the eight legged monster in a hop-skip-jump maneouver, firstly taking a spring off the first step on the crumbling stairs, then using the momentum to leap up towards the wall.

The spider made a fairly half hearted snap at him, but he was already over the top of it, kicking off from the wall and turning into a half-pike before landing expertly on the stairs behind it.

‘Maybe just having two legs has its advantages!’ he mocked, before launching into an attack. Arguably the comment was lost on the arachnid.

‘That’s a biggie for this time of year,’ remarked Khalin matter-of-factly. The dwarf had seen enough creepie-crawlies, both big and small, in the mountains and caves around the dwarven stronghold to take the sudden appearance of this little blighter in his stride. ‘Watch out for the mandibles though, they’ll give you quite a sting!’

As he spoke the dwarf deftly moved into a flanking position behind the spider…

…and brought his hammer down in a neat arc to splat the creature.

‘Grrr!’ grumbled the dwarf as the arachnid felt the sudden movement of air and scuttled quickly aside.

The dwarf then quickly raised his shield to better parry any counter from the creature.

‘Tricky blighter!’ commented Tradden, holding his blades in a defensive position, ready for the spider’s next attack, should it choose him. It certainly was menacing. ‘Must be something in the mainland air that makes them so big!’ It wasn’t like the little, old purplebacks that used to run around his old house in The Mavens, back in Deepingwald that was for sure.

Tradden allowed himself a grin — he and Khalin had struck in unison — firstly the dwarf had barged his shield into the side of the spider to slow its movement and that had been quickly followed up by the young fighter aiming a solid kick at two of its legs, which had given way. The prone spider had then been an easy target for their blows.

Looking to now take further advantage of their combined assault, Tradden weaved his swords this way and that, trying to ensure that the arachnid would not know where the next strike was coming from despite its many eyes.

The dwarf swiftly followed up once more with his hammer.

Just as Tradden grinned in victory, the smile was wiped from his face as two new spiders appeared!

Seeing them both start to attack his friend, without a second’s thought he leaped off the crumbling stairs — right onto top of the nearest spider! It was not enough to cause any harm to the large arachnid, but it must have enraged it to have the young human use it as a stepping stone!

Now behind the two creatures, he lashed out with his longsword.

It was at times like this — where it didn’t matter — that Tradden displayed signs of insight well beyond his years. ‘Uh oh, Khalin, I think you killed its mate — it looks… mad.’

‘You don’t say!’ responded the dwarf. ‘I hate spiders…’ he grumbled, before lashing out with his hammer once more…

As his trusty hammer hit home once more he shrugged and steeled himself against the venom-induced fog in his brain.

He cleared his head and readied himself for the next attack.

Not stopping at all, Tradden followed through on the slice that had sent one of the spider’s legs flying across the courtyard and span round. The movement gave him momentum to once again cleave through both creatures.

However, the young fighter had just been a fraction too slow and both spiders saw him coming.

Quickly, he spun again.

They did not see the second spin and cleave, though, no human or goblinoid of this land had ever done anything quite like it as it cut the spider in two.

‘Yeow!’ screamed Tradden in pain, his vision starting to go a bit green around the edges. ‘Get this thing swatted will you?’ he asked with gritted teeth of his companion.

‘Darn things…’ Khalin was still muttering, while wondering what Zero would’ve made of the multi-legged monsters.

He shimmied round to better shield Tradden…

…while arcing his hammer in another almighty swing…

Wobbling only slightly as his body fought the poison now looking to take a hold, Tradden tried to attempt a similar manoeuver to that which had initially taken him onto the steps when fighting the first spider.

The young fighter’s legs felt light however, and this time the move was far from graceful. However, he got there in the end and stabbed downwards, hoping to end the foul creature and so be able to take a rest.

He felt his blade stab home, and the entry point showed signs of his blade’s frost damage coming into play, a flower of ice expanding across its slimy abdomen.

Things started to blur again — he shook his head violently, trying to clear his senses.

His vision came slowly back into focus.

‘Gah!’ sputtered Tradden, once again through gritted teeth. ’It’s my birthday soon,’ he shouted down to Khalin. ‘I would like some leg armour!’

‘Kireth can get his own books next time!’ grumbled the increasingly irritated Khalin. The final arachnid was proving more than a nuisance now. Still he was loathe to once again kill a creature, despite the fact the spiders had attacked first. Perhaps he could scare it off…

‘GAARRR!!! Away with you, before more blood is spilt!’ snarled the dwarf, thrusting his visage at the beast.