Year 190.3
Jothgar, still depressed, stumbles onto an exceptionally large cavern arachnid. Roll for whether Jothgar recovers from his depression long enough to react to the exceptionally large cavern arachnid, and for whether the exceptionally large cavern arachnid attacks him.
Jogthar's Senses:
1d20=20!
Mama Spider vs. the underground:
1d20=5
a short story about two broken souls
Jogthar, the dwarf, had been wandering through the caverns for years now, finding no way back to the surface, he had become depressed and disassociated from the world, spending his days subsiding off of mushrooms, and living in a fantasy world in his own head. The clothes he had worn when he wandered into the cave network were now ragged and tattered, he hadn't groomed his hair or beard for years, and had become more hair, than dwarf, at least at first glance.
He had wandered through many caves, many filled with beautiful sights he paid no attention to in his withdrawn state. Underground ravines filled with massive crystals, Subterranean lakes and even forests of large mushrooms. all of it and more, none of which he could recall. As he continued to travel through the underground, eventually he came upon a narrow crevice and without really even thinking about it much, be began squeezing his way through. Eventually, it opened into a large, rocky cavern lit dimly by bioluminescent mushrooms and mosses. He began to walk forward, until he saw it: many little glints of light, reflecting off of something no more than a few dozen steps away, and then he heard it: A strange, deep , eerie, almost sad-sounding chittering coming from right
there. And in an instant, it began to move and move toward him.
And as it came into view, lit by the same bioluminescent lights, something in Jogthar's mind jolted into place, and for the first time in years, he could actually see the world around him and more importantly what was in front of him. What he saw, was a gigantic, furred spider. It had been laying down and now when it was its full height, it could barely fit into the cavern. It was covered in many scars, indicated by patches of missing fur or large cuts in its armor.
Jogthar thought that this was the end for him, that this is how he would die, he was cornered and had nowhere to run so he did the only thing left to do: Grab anything to use as a weapon and prepare to defend himself. But the giant spider didn't attack, instead, it bowed, lowering the front of its body down to the ground. Another jolt went through Jogthar's mind and suddenly everything clicked:
These kinds of spiders carry young spiderlings on their back explaining why the spider was
that exceptionally big; it was a female... but there were no spiderlings to be found on her back so the only conclusion that could be drawn from it, was that she had... lost them. While the spider could not speak, Jogthar somehow understood her anyway and she understood Jogthar and his predicament.
Perhaps wishing to redeem herself, her bowing was an offer.. No an insistence for the dwarf to ride on her back, like she would carry her spiderlings and bring him out of the caverns. So she bowed herself even lower, pressing her body against the ground. Jogthar understood, approaching her slowly before first climbing onto one of her front legs, then onto her body and finally onto her soft abdomen where he grabbed hold of her fur.
With the dwarf on her back, the spider carefully turned herself around in the narrow cavern, and began her ascent. But the journey would not be peaceful, after all she had to contend with all the things that took her children from her and all the things she got her scars from. And despite Jogthar's firm grip on her fur, she could not climb up the caves vertically or upside down for the fear of dropping him.
So, she had to take the very long route up.
The many-month long trip to the surface was filled with wonders, all the things Jogthar missed when he lived in his mind and blind to the world; Caverns filled with glowing crystals whose light reflected in a rainbow of colors off the spider's carapace where it was exposed. How she could walk across the fragile crystals without even breaking a single one, unlike Jogthar, who would break chunks off of the crystal and use the claw of some cavern beast as a chisel to make little crystal amulets that he would then hang off the spider's body using string made from cavern plants. They made a satisfying "tink" noise when two crystals collided. He could swear that she moved in a way so that the crystals would produce little tunes.
The underground lakes that she would "accidentally" drop Jogthar into, and when one time when the lake was too deep for Jogthar, despite being deathly afraid of water herself, she wasted no time in jumping into the water and dragging him back out and then she would dry herself by shaking like a dog would... Little things like that showed that she too had emotions and a personality, even if she couldn't speak to express it.
But the trip was fraught with danger too: Subterranean birds as big as she was, with razor sharp bills, and other dangerous predators that lived underground. She had little trouble fighting off any single one, they were still just dumb animals... and she was something more. While no single monster could defeat her, the number of wounds she had increased with every day but she was committed to the goal of helping Jogthar out of the caves, even if it were to come at the cost to her own life, after all, what had she left to live for? She was the last of her kind. What would she do? Rot away in some cave for hundreds or maybe even thousands of years? No. She wanted to see the dwarf get out safely, to save even one life that isn't her own. But the dwarf, Jogthar, would do everything he could to mend her wounds as they traveled, using whatever knowledge of plants and mushrooms and whatnot he acquired when he was mindlessly wandering the caves, that he was only now starting to remember.
In the end, the trip up to the surface took many months, and she had a few more nicks on her armor when they started but both of them were alive, well and at last they could see a bit of sunlight out of a tunnel, and when the spider stepped through and out of the cave, she and Jogthar found themselves in the middle of a meadow at dawn, far away from any town. A small stream could be heard bubbling nearby as could the songs of various birds and grasshoppers. The land was vibrant and green and the sun peeked between the leaves of trees, casting rays in the morning fog...
Too bad that Jogthar hated the outdoors. He hopped off the spider and bid her farewell... and yet... she refused to be left behind. She admired the beauty of the outside world for a few more moments before following Jogthar and once more offering to let him ride on her back. He gladly accepted and they set off toward some unknown. The end?
(OOC sorry torturing you all with my crappy writing, i just saw an opportunity and wanted to take it. If the thread dies completely now, at least i'll know what caused it... Sorry in advance Lord_lemonpie.)