Chapter 3

Tamalain spent the next several weeks aiding the fishing crews that kept the islanders fed for the most part, she also prove to be an excellent goblin hunter when dealing with the diseased Sipwell clan members. She knew in time her curiosity would have her out trying to find the cause of the sickness and insanity in them. One afternoon she saw a hunting party come back from the upper wooded region dragging several of their party on makeshift travois. They were in a hurry as several had been bitten by the spiders and they hoped to reach the healers in time to save them. It was then she decided it was time she dealt with the spider menace of the small island woods. The following morning she visited Murrar Sharr to let him know what she was planning to do and went to the bank, collected her battle leathers and weapons, then suited up for battle.

A small hunting party was dispatched to stay with her and assist if needed. They followed her to the gate that kept the woodland creatures away from the village, muttering and wondering how she planned to deal with the hoard of spiders without getting killed. The first time the group saw several small spiders, no larger than Tamalain's hand, they ran away from them causing her burst out laughing at their behavior.

"Those are the terrors of the wood? All I see are a bunch of bugs that need stepping on." Tamalain quickly ran to the spiders and proceeded to jump on and stomp the small spiders to mush. She finished the first group when several more came out of the brush and tried to jump on her from behind. Her blade made short work of them as they couldn't penetrate her tough leather armor. This went on for close to an hour before no more spiders appeared from the surroundings to attack her.

After waiting for a few minutes to see if any more would appear, she returned to the hunters and asked, "Fellows, why are you afraid of those tiny bugs?"

One of the human hunters replied surprised, "Tiny, those are very large for around here lady. They are also quite poisonous if they bite you."

She cocked her head to the side and looked at him, "Did any of them even come close to being able to bite me?"

The hunt leader thought about what he had witnessed her doing, "No, I guess not. Even still, they were a threat and where glad there are gone."

Tamalain smiled, "I have dealt with spiders that you could fit ten of those little bugs in. The queen I and several cadets faced was a massive thing, bigger than your horse cart back at the tower. It took everything we had to take her down, then she played dead on us and started to regenerate. We found her later on our return trip and burned her to ashes."

The hunters looked at her in disbelief, several snickering and muttered, "Yeah right, tell us another tall tale lady elf."

Tamalain looked at the men and sighing in frustration. "The Greater Faydark is no joke when it comes to danger. This place is not a real threat to me compared to my homelands. Now where is this massive queen bug you are so afraid of supposed to be living?"

One of the men pointed of to the right, "Just around that small ridge there ma'am. Do be careful though, it is much larger and faster than the ones you stomped. She is also much more intelligent than the average spider. Her venom is also caustic as well as deadly. Leather won't last long if she spits on you."

Not heading the last warning, "Good, maybe she will be a bit more of a challenge," She said in a dismissive manner. With that Tamalain spun and stomped towards the spider layer, not making any effort to sneak up on her target. Her Rangers arrogance was her undoing on this occasion. She failed to note the way the webs and the way they were strung up. The Queen had set in her upper webs and seethed as she watched her brood being devastated by this troublesome newcomer. She knew she was not the largest of her kind, but she was smart, and she was very sneaky.

As Tamalain walked around the end of the ridge, the queen slowly dropped down behind her, staying just above her head. Even though she moved in near total silence, Tamalain felt her presence before she could drop and strike. As Tamalain spun about to face the Spider, the Queen slid sideways on a line she had placed several days before, avoiding the rapid sword strike. Once clear of the blade, she climbed up the nearest dragline to plan and better face her enemy. Looking down at Tamalain, she chattered evilly and spit a stream of venom.

Tamalain, on seeing the stream of venom, spun to the side, dodging the poison, pulled out her bow, and in seconds sent three arrows at her foe. "Oh you did not just spit that green shit at me you eight legged bitch, Nobody spits venom at me and gets away with it!" The spider Queens response was a loud chitter that almost sounded like laughter. Tamalain attempted to bracket the Spider Queen but the Queen dropped several feet to another web line, then dodged to the left, swinging around a nearby tree on her webbing, allowing her to quickly climb up out of sight in the upper branches. Tamalain cursed silently and went into camo mode. She knew now she faced a Mob that was going to test her hunting and tracking skills to the limit. She activated infravision and saw a faint outline of the Queen near the top of the tree. The branches made a clear shot impossible, so she climbed the trunk in order to catch her prey.

The Queen hissed quietly at this clumsy approach in mild amusement, then quickly slid down an adjacent line as Tamalain reached the upper levels of the tree in question. The Queen, being ready for this, came up from below and sprayed Tamalain's leather armored legs with her venom. The leather quickly started to smoke and melt, burning her legs in the process. Tamalain quickly dropped to the ground and started trying to remove the ruined armor. She had just gotten both legs clear when the Queen struck at her again from above.

Tamalain was ready this time and quickly fired her bow as fast as could from her sitting position through the burning pain in her legs that was rapidly spreading up to her thighs and hips. She knew she only had a minute before the poison reached vital organs and killed her. She heard a scream from above and saw the Spider drop as one of her wildly fired arrows tore off the left front leg. Tamalain fired again, hoping she could finish this fight right then. Her hopes were dashed when the Queen hissed at her angrily and skittered off into the woods on another web.